RETAIL MANAGEMENT

PROJECT ON RELIANCE TRENDS

YTreTRENDSS

BY: Group - 6
Amit Ranjan
Danish Anwar
Pragya
Priti Mishra

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We take this opportunity to express our profound gratitude and deep regards to Prof. G.
K. Murthy for his exemplary guidance, monitoring and constant encouragement
throughout the course of this project. The blessing, help and guidance given by him time
to time shall carry us a long way in the journey of life on which we are about to embark.
We are obliged to Mr. Sashi Kumar, Store Manager of Reliance Trends, Patna, for the
valuable information provided by him in his respective field. We are grateful for his
cooperation during the period of our assignment.
Lastly, We thank almighty and friends for their constant encouragement without which
this project would not have been possible.

Table of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT................................................................................................................................... 2
HISTORY OF THE COMPANY.......................................................................................................................... 4
RETAIL STRATEGY.......................................................................................................................................... 6
Target Market: .......................................................................................................................................... 6
Merchandise Assortment:......................................................................................................................... 7
Human Resources: .................................................................................................................................... 9
Store Location: ........................................................................................................................................ 11
Pricing: ....................................................................................................................................................12
Communication Mix:...............................................................................................................................13
Store Layout:........................................................................................................................................... 14
Customer Service: ................................................................................................................................... 15
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE.........................................................................................................................16
REFERENCE..................................................................................................................................................19

HISTORY OF THE COMPANY

Reliance retail is the subsidiary of reliance industry which is opened in 2006. Under this
subsidiary, reliance opens several specialty stores those are:

Figure 1

Reliance Trends one of the subsidiary of Reliance Retail was opened in 2007. They are
doing their business in Patna since 2012. The store which we have visited was opened on
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28th March, 2012. We visited reliance Trends store at East Boring Canal Road, Buddha
Colony, Patna. At that store we interviewed Mr. Shashi Kumar, Store Manager.
Reliance Trends is an APPAREL SPECIALTY STORE that sells men, women and
childrens garments. The store carries the best of national and international brands like
John Players, Peter England, Indigo Nation, Wrangler, Reebok, and Lee, apart from inhouse brands. The store layout is to compliment the evolving taste and preference of
fashion savvy consumers, giving them an opportunity to view/shop with ease, along with
well trained customer service associates, to compliment the entire shopping process.
Mission Statement:
To be the most admired and successful organized Retail Company in India that
materially enhances the quality of life of every Indian.
Reliance Trends started its business as private label brand. But to achieve its mission they
tied up with different brands like John Miller, Puma, etc. They also launched their catalog
to support the customer for shopping and also provide ease of shopping. Reliance Trends
is great example of a brand taking advantage of Facebook Marketing. With an objective to
understand the shopping behaviors of consumers and drive traffic to their stores,
Reliance Trends set up Trends Spotting, a feedback app on their Facebook page and
rewarded their fans for their valuable feedback with a discount voucher. As a result, the
brand not only generated six-figure sales through Facebook, but also reached out to the
right set of target audience for a more meaningful engagement.

Reliance has recently launch new brand like Intribe to expand its private label business.
Apart from launching new private label brand, it also tied up with the California Clothing
Company to launch Point Cove brand in India. The launch was supported by an
integrated marketing plan that included a fully-developed in-store brand presentation,
signage, social media and lifestyle photography that evokes the brand's inspirational
essence, "Chase Your Dreams. At Reliance Trends they are always looking to strengthen
their apparel offerings with brands that can create emotional connections with the
consumers. Apart from these, they also plan to open more store across the country.

RETAIL STRATEGY
Target Market:
Reliance Trends is apparel specialty store, so offer narrow and deep product assortment.
It offers product to all category i.e. baby, teenage, mens and womens. Among all these
customer 60 percent belongs to age group of 19 to29 years. Thus we can say that its target
customer group is young. It target segment of reliance trend comprises of male and
females in equal majors with no particular segment getting a special preference. The price
range of product varies from 299 to 3000 so it mainly target middle class and upper
middle class.

TRADE AREA:
This outlet is located in Buddha Colony so majority of its customer are from nearby area.
Its primary trade area is Boring road, Polytechnic, Rajapur, Raja bazaar, Buddha colony,
Exhibition road, Frazer road and all other nearby area where as its secondary trade area
include Digha, Kankarbagh, Aashiyana and tertiary trade area include Patna city,
Phulwari sharif, and rest of Patna.

Merchandise Assortment:
Major brand at Reliance Trends:
Table 1

SL.NO

MEN

1
2
3
4

FORMAL
John Miller
John Player
Crimsoune club
Indigo Nation
Qxemberg

WOMEN
CASUAL
Sin
Killer
Moustache
Lee Cooper
Flying machine
Peter England

Jealous 21
Fig
W
Rio
Kraus

KIDSWERE

Rio Girl
Ginni&Jonny
Frendz
Nawatinati

Table 2

SL.NO

1
2
3
4
5

Footwear

Accessories
JEWELERS
Stoln
Jewel

Lee cooper
Adidas
Reebok
Puma
Fila
7

BAGS
Baggit

There are total 18 private label brands in Reliance Trends. Some of them are:DNMX
Netplay
Pureza
Teamsprit
Awesha
Hi-attitude
Reliance Trends a APPAREL SPECIALTY STORE fits on fashion merchandise under
the category life cycle. A fashion is currently accepted or popular style in given life cycle.
Fashion passes through four stages: distinctiveness, emulation, mass fashion, and decline.
Under all these stage Reliance Trends focuses on mass fashion because it help in
maximizing the economics of scale.

Figure 2

The company has chosen this strategy as it is more profitable. Also at Reliance Trends
cycle changes every 30-45 days to keep the fashion fresh and trendy. It will reduce the
risk of over stocking as compared to fad strategy. By using this kind of strategy the
inventory turnover will be low in respect of style strategy as the company doesnt prefer
repeating its product. Also with this strategy the company can deal mass customer with
fresh stock that will attract customer.

Human Resources:
STORE HIERARCHY:
Store manager is the head of the particular store. They are hired at central level through
various processes like reference check, campus placement, Job Portals and internal
promotion/transfer.

STORE MANAGER

DEPARTMENTAL MANAGER

TEAM LEADER

SALES ASSOCIATE/ CUSTOMER

SERVICE ASSOCIATE
Figure 3: Store Hierarchy

ROLE OF STORE MANAGER:

To make profit from the store.
To know the customer requirement.
To observer the current Trends
Increase the conversion rate of the store: Ideal conversion rate is 30% for Reliance Trends
but the store studied for the project has a conversion rate of 35%.
Hire all the employees in the particular store below the store manager
position
ROLE OF DEPARTMENT MANAGER:
Control and manage allotted department like Kids Section, Men Section, Women
Section etc.
Maintain the SKUs of the allotted department.
ROLE OF TEAM LEADER:
They are allotted any segment under the Department store. E.g.: In Mens section
they are allotted either formal/casual section.
ROLE OF SALES ASSOCIATE/CUSTOMER SERVICE ASSOCIATE:
Interact with the customer
Assist the customer whenever they need assistance.
The employees at Reliance Trends are trained on the bases of their current position and
previous experience (if any). For the profile of sales associates, the employees are given 15
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days class training were they are given back office training, information about company
policy like SOP (Standing Operating Procedure).
Reliance Trends follows the cost to company (CTC) structure for remunerating its
employee that reflects the total cost of an employee to an organization. It is designed in
such a way that it provides flexibility to an employee to structure their benefit package.
Most of the employees at Reliance Trends are paid a basic fixed salary along with
incentives based on their performance in achieving target allotted to them. The store
manager basic salary is Rs. 30,000 (approx) + incentives while the sales associates are paid
basic of Rs. 10,000 (approx) + incentives.

At Reliance Trends the sales people are allowed to cross sell. For e.g. Sales person from
John Miller can suggest their customer product from Van Heusen if customer are not
satisfied with the available product in John Miller. Some of the activities that are
outsourced at this store are security and some transportation activity.

Store Location:
Reliance Trends is located in Main Street that refers to traditional shopping area in
secondary business district. Main streets share most of the characteristics of a Central
Business District (CBD). They chose this location because the occupation cost of the store
is slightly lower than CBD. It is located in East Boring Canal Road, Buddha Colony, Patna.
Boring canal road is adjacent to Boring Road and both are considered posh area. Majority
of the affluent population live here. Hence, they can be potential customers. Gradually,
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more apartments, shopping complexes, specialty stores like Godrej Interio and banks
have come up in this area. This location is also hub of coaching centers of IIT, Medical,
MBA, Bank P.O, etc. Therefore, a lot of traffic is at this place which can be potential
customers. Moreover, Pantaloons is also located approximately at a distance of 200m, so
people looking for comparable shopping would get attracted to this place. This site is
accessible to the customers because there are two routes to reach this place, one from
Boring Road side and the other from Gandhi Maidan side. People can travel by own
vehicle or public transport like autos and rickshaws. Reliance Trends also provides
parking space (but its not of ample size).

Pricing:
Reliance Trends follows high/low pricing policy. It gives discounts up to 50% (varying on
different brands) at the end of seasons like in July and in January. And special discounts
are given on festivals like Dusshera , Diwali, Holi, etc. To compete with other retailers,
the store does price bundling (buy 1 get 1 free or buy 3 in Rs.600), provides reward points
on loyalty cards. Apart from this, for example if a person buys products worth Rs.5000,
then 10%- 20% off on the next purchase. Reliance Trends uses cost-oriented method of
pricing. Retail price is set by adding some mark up value on the cost of the merchandise.
They also provide frequent shopper program by offering loyalty cards and attractive offers
like Shop for Rs.2999 and Get Clothes worth Rs.1500 Free at Reliance Trends. By
providing this, they try to achieve customer loyalty.

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Communication Mix:
Reliance Trends uses both above the line and below the line in advertisement.
For above the line advertisements they use are:
Print media Majorly uses newspaper, pamphlets for promotions.
Radio
Hoarding
For below the line in advertisements they uses are:
Direct mail
Online catalogue (www.tiendeo.in)
Sales promotions
In- shop activities
Directly visiting customers home (in case of sale going down adversely but it
never happened yet )
For publicity:
Reliance Trends is dependent on word of mouth communication. Sometimes Reliance
Trends uses cooperative advertising with brand like John Player, Peter England, and
Indian terrain so on.
For sales promotion the retailer mainly uses are:

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Loyalty Cards In every purchase some point is issues on the card and this point
can be redeeming on the next purchase.
Gift voucher discount- A discount is offered which has certain minimum purchase
in case of Reliance Trends it is five thousand.

Store Layout:
Reliance Trends store has been designed and furnished in such a way that it can offer a
high quality and lavish shopping experience to the Indian Consumer. The store layout
compliments the evolving tastes and preference of fashion savvy consumers, giving them
an opportunity to view /shop with ease as it follows a free form design layout. Though
other stores in India are big but the store in Patna is not so large. It uses three floors. The
ground floor has women apparel, accessories, and footwear, first floor has men formal
and kids clothing, while the third floor has men casual and footwear. The store is not very
spacious. They use straight rack, four wall fixtures, and gondolas for apparel, footwear
and accessories. They mostly use vertical merchandising and idea- oriented presentation.
They also perform in store advertisement through posters and mannequin. The lighting
is not very attractive particularly in Patna store as compared to other Reliance Trends
store in India. The store is using used yellow-whitish ceiling light. Soothing Bollywood
music constantly plays in the store like Aaj unse milna hai humein ..Chal unke liye
kuchh lete chalein from Prem Ratan Dhan Payo. Jasmine and rose room fresheners are
used in the store for attractive ambiance.

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Customer Service:
Customer service is set of activities and programs undertake by retailer to make the
shopping experience more rewarding for their customers. These activities increase the
value that the customers receive from the merchandise and the service they purchase.
Reliance Trends offers following services:Gift Wrapping
Alteration of merchandise
Acceptance of credit cards
Trail room
Parking
Personal assistance in selecting merchandise
Signage to locate and identify merchandise

It was found that customers perception for this store was satisfactory, as were happy with
the service offered by Reliance Trends. The salesperson are always there to help them and
the whole store is organized in a proper way like there is different section for men,
women, kids and in men there is separate section for formal and casuals wear, also there
is separate section for footwear and accessories. So they can easily identify the product
according to their needs.
The store has a separate desk for customer complain i.e. customer relationship desk
where a salesperson is there to solve customer problem. The complaint is mainly about
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color fading, bubbling and they find it genuine then they take return back the products.
For having the surprise check on the level of services provided the company sometime
even sends mystery shoppers to the store. The sales associate in the store are not
empowered to make decisions as it up to management or the store manager.

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
Main mantra of Reliance Trends is to provide good quality products at lower price. The
competitive advantage of this store is attractive price, best hospitality and provision of
good offers and discount schemes. The apparel brand has adopted mid-level pricing
combined with shorter fashion cycle to differentiate itself from other apparel brands.
Fast-fashion is a term used to denote the speed with which designs move from catwalk to
store to capture current Trends in the market. Globally, it has also become associated
with disposable fashion because it delivers designer products to a mass market at
relatively low prices. The prices are value-equation for the consumers and the products
are current as anywhere in the world. Their private label brands like Rio, Pureza, etc. are
of superior quality and stand on equal footing with other national brands. Moreover, this
store particularly provides Giza cotton at Rs.999 a meter while Pantaloons provides the
same quality at Rs.3000 a meter. Hence, they provide at lower price and the quality also
remains good.
Reliance Trends caters to a larger consumer base. Since its inception in October 2007, as
a concept aimed at Democratizing Fashion Reliance Trends objective is to create
affordable fashion solutions for all through an extensive geographic reach, exemplary
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customer service and a product portfolio for diverse consumer needs across the various
consumer segments. It has taken the uncharted path of reaching out to newer markets,
smaller towns and offering the extreme value proposition to consumers; exemplifying its
positioning Sirf Dikhne Mein Mehenga. Reliance Trends also believes in bringing to the
Indian consumers a high quality experience with the Trendy layout of its stores that
compliment the evolving tastes and preference of fashion savvy consumers.
Reliance Trends has nearly 200 stores in India while its nearest competitor Pantaloons
has only about 115 stores. This is a source of competitive advantage for Reliance Trends as
it has reached to those corners of the country where there is a considerable chunk of the
fashion conscious consumers. In recent times, the young population of India has become
increasingly fashion conscious and they wish to look good at all times. With the opening
of stores in untapped locations, Reliance Trends has made the correct first move towards
capturing the lions share of the market. Value fashion retailing has huge potential and
Reliance Trends with its superior service quality can effectively drive competitors out of
the newer markets. Japanese value fashion giant Uniqlo has business similar to Reliance
Trends. Japans urban population is a mere 85 million as compared to Indias 150 million
urban consumers who like to shop in modern retail outlets. Uniqlo has 1213 stores serving
85 million consumers so Reliance can have at least 700-750 stores to cater to the 150
million consumers. So the first mover advantage can be a source of competitive advantage
for Reliance Trends.

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Just developing a competitive advantage is not enough. It is necessary to ensure that the
competitive advantage is transformed into a sustainable competitive advantage. Reliance
Trends can transform its competitive advantage into a sustainable one by offering
innovative, excellent and unmatched services to its consumers. This will in turn help
Reliance Trends to build a pool of extremely loyal customers which is also a source of
competitive advantage for any retailer. The business of any retailer is mainly driven by the
number of loyal customers who patronize a particular retailer and by building a huge
loyal customer base. Reliance Trends can effectively develop a sustainable competitive
advantage over its competitors.

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REFERENCE
1.

LEVY M., WEITZ B. & PANDIT A. 2012. Retailing Management 8 th Edition, New
Delhi, India

2.

Menon,B. D.(2013, September 2). Reliance Trends wants to be fast fashion brand.
Business Line. Retrieved on Dec 10, 2015
fromhttp://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/reliance-trends-wants-tobe-fastfashion-brand/article5086254.ece

3.

Time to go mobile. (2013, Dec 26). Business Line. Retrieved on Dec 10, 2015
from http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/variety/time-to-gomobile/article5504839.ece

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