SUMMER TRAINING REPORT ON

“A Study on Buying Behavior of Retail Shoppers and Experience

Evaluation Across Reliance Fresh Stores”

Submitted in the Partial Fulfillment for the Requirement of

Post Graduate Diploma in Management (International Business)
PGDM(IB)

Submitted to: Submitted by:

Internal Guide (Name): Dr. Mallika Mathew Student Name: Pragya Jain

External Guide (Name): Mr. Vimal Patel Roll No: 37

Designation: Chief Manager of Batch: 2018-2020

Marketing and Customer Services

Company name: Reliance Retail

Jagannath International Management School

Kalkaji, New Delhi

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2
 STUDENT UNDERTAKING

This is to certify that I Pragya Jain had completed the Project titled A Study on Buying Behavior of
Retail Shoppers and Experience Evaluation Across Reliance Fresh Stores under the guidance of external
mentor, Mr. Vimal Patel and internal mentor, Dr.Mallika Mathew in the partial fulfilment of the
requirement for the award of degree of PGDM (IB) from Jagannath International Management
School, New Delhi. This is an original piece of work and I had neither copied nor submitted it
earlier elsewhere.

By Pragya Jain

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4
 CONTENTS
Description Page No.

Acknowledgement (i) 5
List of tables
List of figures
List of symbols, Abbreviations or Nomenclature (optional)
Executive Summary 6
Certificate from Organization, faculty and declaration from
student
1. Introduction to topic
a) Origin & development of the industry.
b) Growth, present & future of industry.
c) Defining the concept.
d) objective of the project
2. Company Profile
a) Origin
b) Growth & present strategy
c) Products & Services
d) Market profile
3. Research Methodology
4. Analysis & Interpretation
5. Findings & Inferences
6. Recommendations and Conclusion
Appendices
Bibliography

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 ACKNOWLEDGMENT
I would like to gratefully acknowledge the contribution of all the people who took active part
and provide valuable support to me during the course of this project. To begin with , I would
like to offer my sincere thanks to Mr. Vimal Patel, Chief Manager, Marketing and Customer
Service , for giving me the opportunity to do my summer training at “Reliance Retail”. Without
his guidance, support and valuable suggestions during the research, the project would not
have been accomplished.

My heartfelt gratitude also goes to the departments of all Reliance Retail stores for their co-
operation and willingness to answer my queries, and provide valuable assistance.

I also sincerely thanks to our director to JIM’S kalkaji Dr. J.K Batra and Dr. Mallika Mathew
my faculty mentor at Jagannath International Management School, who provided valuable
suggestions, shared her rich experience, and helped me script the exact requisites.

Last but not least, I would like to thank all customers for sharing their valuable inputs and time
to me during the course of my project.

By Pragya Jain

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 Executive summary

The purpose of this research was to get the inclination of the customers towards the Reliance
brand and to enhance the chance of better service by gathering the view points of the
customers towards present services. During the training program, all the interns were trained
to how they should approach the customers to get their reviews on the standard form and what
are the essential information which needed to be covered during the interaction with the
customers.

The overall project was aimed at understanding various parameters pertaining to customer
experience across Reliance Retail companies, and define a holistic Reliance retail customer
experience based on the project findings. The whole project focused on the customers where
interaction took place with them inside Reliance Retail stores using structured questionnaires
as well as observational techniques to study and understand shoppers and their buying
behavior.

Therefore, the main objectives of the study was to explore the customers, to analyses customer
satisfaction towards Reliance store and to have deeper insight about customer buying behavior Commented [a1]: All To should be in small letter

and shopping experience. The work done is purely based on Primary data. The data was
collected through a structured questionnaire and observation technique was used.

The physical forms for the response have a standard format, created by the Reliance and the
researcher had to follow that during the entire internship process. The daily task routine during Commented [a2]: The researcher

the internship was: Commented [WU3R2]:

 Collect the data from the customers on physical forms

 Online punching of the data

After collecting the data, a proper analysis of all the aspects was done to check the credibility
of the data and the processes. The analysis includes every aspect which can be useful to
check the inclination and satisfaction of the customers towards the Reliance brand in different
outlets. Commented [a4]: A brief summary to be given here. Details can
be given in research methodology

On the basis of the results through these analyses a final draft is created with the suggestions
and conveniences or inconveniences of customers. The Overall result obtained are that the
customers don’t single handedly relay on the quality of product but pay equal attention to the
services and facilities like the staff behavior, the ambience inside the store, the washroom
facilities, hygiene inside the store and other such factors pertaining to hospitability.

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 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION TO THE TOPIC

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 INTRODUCTION

1.1) Origin & development of the industry.

Evolution of the Indian Retail Sector

The origins of retailing in India can be traced back to the emergence of Kirana stores and mom-
and-pop stores. These stores used to cater to the local people. Eventually the government
supported the rural retail and many indigenous franchise stores came up with the help of Khadi
& Village Industries Commission. The economy began to open up in the 1980s resulting in the
change of retailing. The first few companies to come up with retail chains were in textile sector,
for example, Bombay Dyeing, S Kumar’s, Raymond’s, etc. Later Titan launched retail
showrooms in the organized retail sector. With the passage of time new entrants moved on
from manufacturing to pure retailing.
Retail outlets such as Food world in FMCG, Planet M and Music world in Music, Crossword in
books entered the market before 1995. Shopping malls emerged in the urban areas giving a
world-class experience to the customers. Eventually hypermarkets and supermarkets
emerged. The evolution of the sector includes the continuous improvement in the supply chain
management, distribution channels, technology, back-end operations, etc. this would finally
lead to more of consolidation, mergers and acquisitions and huge investments.

Phases in the evolution of retail sector WeeklyMarkets,VillageandRuralMelas

The origins of retailing in India can be traced back to the emergence of Kirana stores and mom-
and-pop stores. These stores used to cater to the local people. Eventually the
governmentsupported the rural retail and many indigenous franchise stores came up with the
help of Khadi & Village Industries Commission. The economy began to open up in the 1980s
resulting in the change of retailing. The first few companies to come up with retail chains were
in textile sector, for example, Bombay Dyeing, S Kumar’s, Raymond’s, etc. Later Titan
launched retail showrooms in the organized retail sector. With the passage of time new
entrants moved on from manufacturing to pure retailing.

9
 Retail outlets such as Food world in FMCG, Planet M and Music world in Music, Crossword in
books entered the market before 1995. Shopping malls emerged in the urban areas giving a
world-class experience to the customers. Eventually hypermarkets and supermarkets
emerged. The evolution of the sector includes the continuous
improvement in the supply chain management, distribution channels, technology, back-end
operations, etc. this would finally lead to more of consolidation, mergers and acquisitions and
huge investments.
Phases in the evolution of retail sector
Weekly Markets, Village and Rural Melas

 Source of entertainment and commercial exchange

Convenience stores, Mom-and-pop / Kirana shops

 Neighborhood stores/convenience

 Traditional and pervasive reach

PDS outlets, Khadi stores, Cooperatives

 Government supported

 Availability/low costs/distribution

Exclusive brand outlets, hypermarkets and supermarkets, department stores and

shopping malls

 Shopping experience/ efficiency

 Modern formats/ international

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1.2) Growth, present & future of industry

The retail environment is changing rapidly across the world and India is one of the most exciting
markets today. The Deloitte FICCI Report 2018 says the retail market in India is expected to
reach $1.2 trillion in the next 5-8 years. Modern retail is expanding its footprint across India
and is expected to reach 25 per cent of total retail sales from the current 10 per cent. During
the same period, e-commerce is expected to double its share to 10-12 per cent of total retail
sales.

Such an optimistic outlook is backed by several factors — the country’s large and aspiring
middle class, rising disposable income, a supportive business environment, strong GDP
growth, and growing smartphone and internet penetration and use. The increasing growth
opportunity can even be attributed to the young demographic dividend which comprise 70 per
cent of our country’s population and fall below the age of 30 years.

Complementing the above is the tremendous push by the government to improve business
and investment climate. The debate is no more about whether the future of retail is offline or
online — it is imminent that India would have a mix of offline and online shopping experiences
that best serve consumers. The strategy therefore is to find innovative ways to serve the
discerning customers, and this also means being able to move with speed and create tailored
experiences.

A Brief History
At the time when the British government took over India, the share of India in global trade came
drastically down from a high of 22.5 percent to merely 2 percent. The situation continues to
stay like this, even after post independence with a combination of some wrong policies
contributing more to the issue.

However, even during these bleak times, what kept India going was the indomitable spirit of its
traders, who adapted to the new challenge, shrunk their costs to barely survival levels, but kept
at it relentlessly, providing the route to the market – from our farms to the homes of the
burgeoning population.

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Today’s consumers are becoming digital-first, hyper-connected, and expect engagement on
their terms. For most categories, the ‘Moment of Truth’ (the moment that customer would make
up the mind to buy) is now happening online. Therefore, customer ‘experience’ is getting more
real. With access to consumer data, and machine learning and Artificial Intelligence helping
drive insights faster, retailers are now competing on providing that seamless experience. This
is impacting the creation of niche jobs such as retail data analysts, digital imaging leaders, IT
process modellers, digital marketing specialists and customer experience leaders.

Including kiranas
“Partnerships” is the new normal as retailers are realising the power of more than one and that
they no longer can go at alone. The “ecosystem” along the customer journey will see
partnerships become more common and essential to meet customer requirements. New retail
models are also evolving as retailers are realising the potential of the kiranas and the
opportunity to include them in the whole journey of retail renaissance.

Social responsibility and sustainability, particularly in the supply chain, are gaining more
importance with increased awareness and accountability for businesses. This is true for not
just the retailers that assort brands but for the brands themselves. An international survey by
Cohn & Wolfe found that 87 per cent of global consumers felt that it was important for brands
to: Act with integrity at all times, ranking authenticity above innovation and product uniqueness
when asked what they valued most in a brand. Customers are demanding transparency as
they take an increased interest in the ethical practices of the brands they buy from.

The retail sector per se has immense potential to contribute to the country’s economy in various
ways, such as being engine of growth; spurring manufacturing; contributing to jobs;
strengthening supply chain and logistics and creating shared value.

Retail drives the virtuous cycle of growth in the economy because it is not at the end of the
chain but is at the beginning of it. Retail drives consumption which in turn drives demand and
hence therefore leads to capacity creation/utilisation. This cycle spurs local job creation, more
disposable income in the hands of people to further sustain the consumption cycle as part of
this growth engine.

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As a result of the ‘access to the market’ in the form of modern retail, food processing industry
grows leading to increasing income for small and medium farmers. In a nutshell, retail works
as the engine of growth in growing market like India. The Indian retail sector already accounts
for over 10 per cent of the country’s GDP.

A vibrant retail ecosystem plays a critical role in growing the economy and also leads to huge
exports. It also transforms logistics, supply chain, cold storage techniques etc.

In an interconnected world facing unprecedented environmental and social challenges, society

will demand and have a basic expectation from the companies that their business should
provide significant net positive return to the society at large. This is what “Shared value” is.
Retail sector, offline or online, has the tremendous ability to create shared value.

Retail growth is good for the country, and investments will support employment, give
opportunity to thousands of local suppliers and manufacturers accessing consumers through
all models of retail.

The retail industry in India has begun its journey, transforming its existence into mature
behavior and tenuous co-existence. This is emerging as one essential trend that has the
potential to revamp the retail industry in India.

From the murky waters of price wars and survival threats, the sector had been plagued by
several other things as well over the last few years.

The Indian retail industry is currently in its youngest avatar despite Indian well known for being
one of the finest traders in the world. The fine skills of negotiation, innovation, customer
service, reliable delivery, and ingenuity were honed at the altar of foreign lands spanning from
Indonesia and Malaysia in far-east right up to the farthest stretches of Africa in the west.

The Growing Factor

There are various factors that have highly contributed to the rapid growth and evolution of the
Indian retail industry. The highly developed naval capabilities followed by the fertile lands are
effectively contributing towards the growth of this industry. These factors are also rewarding
the local farmers currently present in the country.

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Therefore, the retail industry in India is developing at the global level, creating an eco-system
that is spawning the largest number of retail outlets as compared to any other nation worldwide.

Internet of Things to make shopping easier

As the business industries are rapidly growing in India, the rise of digitalization and
technologies have proved to be major elements for transforming the industry. As the Internet
of Things is connecting over 11 billion products every day, retailers could collect data, providing
context about their customers' product usage.

The Internet of Things is making the shopping experience easier and cheaper, satisfying the
new age customers. According to a report, the people are expected to possess twice as many
smart devices till 2020 that would hugely affect the Indian retail market.

Therefore, the Indian retail industry is assumed to grow at breakneck speed, nurturing and
modifying the retail scenario worldwide, including India.

1.3) Defining the concept

During my internship at Reliance Retail, every week I was allotted different formats of Reliance
Retail like Reliance Fresh, Reliance Smart, Reliance Digital, Reliance Jio stores, Reliance
Trends etc. Targets were given to us by the company as to how many interactions should take
place with the customers in a particular format every week. For Fresh stores the target was 20
customers per day. The interaction took place through a structured questionnaire. Questions
like What percentage of your monthly budget is spent on Reliance fresh stores?, Were you
able to buy all the items you had planned to buy today at this store? , How satisfied or
dissatisfied are you with the Store staff interaction, Freshness of the fruits/vegetables, price of
the products, Car parking etc.? A satisfaction and an agreement scale was used to ask some
questions. Based on this, a report is generated in this project, both quantitative and qualitative
where quantitative. The quantitative data has all the reports in form of bar charts and pie charts
whereas the qualitative data includes the feedbacks and suggestions by the customers in the
store.

1.4) Objective of the project

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 To reach out to the customers at the Reliance Retail Fresh store and conduct the
research with the help of a structured questionnaire and observation techniques

 To analyze customer satisfaction towards Reliance Fresh.

 To have deeper insight about customer behavior and shopping experience.

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 CHAPTER II
Company Profile

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 COMPANY PROFILE

2.1) History
Post launch, in a dramatic shift in its positioning and mainly due to the circumstances prevaling
in UP, West Bengal and Orissa, it was mentioned recently in news dailies that, Reliance Retail
is moving out of stocking fruits and vegetables. Reliance Retail has decided to minimise its
exposure in the fruit and vegetable business and position Reliance Fresh as a pure play super
market focusing on categories like food, FMCG, home, consumer durables, IT and wellness ,
with food accounting for the bulk of the business.

The company may not stock fruit and vegetables in some states. Though Reliance Fresh is
not exiting the fruit and vegetable business altogether, it has decided not to compete with local
vendors partly due to political reasons, and partly due to its inability to create a robust supply
chain. This is quite different from what the firm had originally planned.

When the first Reliance Fresh store opened in Hyderabad last October, not only did the
company said the store’s main focus would be fresh produce like fruits and vegetables at a
much lower price, but also spoke at length about its “farm-to-fork” theory. The idea the
company spoke about was to source from farmers and sell directly to the consumer removing
middlemen out of the way.

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Reliance Fresh, Reliance Mart, Reliance Digital, Reliance Trendz, Reliance Footprint, Reliance
Wellness, Reliance Jewels, Reliance Timeout and Reliance Super are various formats that
Reliance has rolled out.

In addition, Reliance Retail has entered into an alliance with Apple for setting up a chain of
Apple Specialty Stores branded as iStore, starting with Bangalore.

Reliance Retail started its journey in 2006 with the opening of its first Reliance Fresh store.
Today Reliance Retail operates 566 Reliance Fresh and Reliance Smart stores and sells over
200 metric tonnes of Fruits and over 300 metric tonnes of Vegetables every day.

Reliance Fresh is India’s leading neighbourhood retail chain, synonymous with freshness &
savings. With the three core promises of Fresh Hamesha, Available Hamesha and Savings
Hamesha, Reliance Fresh is a one-stop-shop for fresh shopping, fresh savings and fresh
happiness.

From fresh fruits & vegetables to dairy, cereals to spices, processed food & beverages to home
& personal care products, we have the entire gamut of your grocery needs covered.

Across our stores, we retain a strong customer centric approach to meet all your shopping
needs - be it routine or seasonal, well known brands or popular local products.

Continuing Reliance’s hallowed tradition of backward integration, Reliance Retail directly

partners with a large number of farmers and small vendors in a farm-to-fork model. The
linkages with the farm has brought about transformational changes in the quality of life of the
farmers as also enhancing the quality of produce, reducing wastage by shortening the time to
move fresh produce and reducing intermediaries in the value chain thereby benefiting all.

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2.2) Growth & present strategy

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Today when most of the companies are busy in making profits by any means, there are few
Ones who are focused to return this society, a part of what they have earned through this
society. Reliance retail is one of them. Following efforts of reliance retail are aimed at benefiting
the society making reliance socially responsible:

1) Reliance Retail aims at recruiting people from the underprivileged community in society.
“Hence, we are planning to train students from corporation schools and schools run by NGOs.
And, we consider this as a part of our corporate social responsibility,” he said. Asked whether
the company will take students on an employment basis and pay them a stipend during the
course period, he said that actually, it is planning to charge a “small fee” from those who want
to join the course “as we want to bring in some discipline and regularity among the students”,
and will reimburse that once they are inducted into service.

2) Farming in India is highly fragmented and subject to harsh climatic conditions:

Once harvested, it is very difficult to keep fruits and vegetables fresh. To secure high quality,
Reliance Retail is directly sourcing fresh agricultural produce from thousands of farmers from
villages through Collection Centers. With this concept, Reliance has built a business model
generating shared value that links the company supply chain more closely to poor farmers in
Indian villages. Reliance is providing a guaranteed market for the farmers’ produce, reducing
transaction costs and training the farmers in better and sustainable farming practices.

This initiative results in higher income and upgrading of skills for the farmers, and reduced
spoilage of produce (up to 35 percent) and better quality products for Reliance retail stores.

3) Reliance retail has adopted “farm to fork” theory which means it is procuring

Directly from the farmers thus offering them quite reasonable prices for their produce as now
no intermediaries are involved. In return Reliance is giving farmers information about how can
farmers improve their productivity.
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They have centers in villages who apart from providing information make farmers aware of
market rates of different crops so that farmers can choose crops they want to sow to become
profitable. farmers are provided technical help as well like information about quality of seeds
and fertilizers.

Service marketing environment

Service marketing environment of reliance fresh can be scanned by considering the six major
environment forces like demographic, economic, socio-culture, natural, technological, and
political legal. As the demographic environment consists of the age mix of population, literacy
and education level. Economic level consists of income distribution of different people. The
rich grew by 400% in urban areas and 200% in rural areas. Socio- cultural environment
consists of influence of religion, languages and customer that shapes the values and attitudes
of customer preferences, habits and behaviour.

Services Marketing and Marketing Mix

A service is the action of doing something for someone or something. It is largely intangible
(i.e. not material). A product is tangible (i.e. material) since you can touch it and own it. A
service tends to be an experience that is consumed at the point where it is purchased, and
cannot be owned since is quickly perishes. A person could go to a café one day and have
excellent service, and then return the next day and have a poor experience. So often marketers
talk about the nature of a service as:

Inseparable – From the point where it is consumed, and from the provider of the service. For
example, you cannot take a live theatre performance home to consume it (a DVD of the same
performance would be a product, not a service).

Intangible – and cannot have a real, physical presence as does a product. For example, motor
insurance may have a certificate, but the financial service itself cannot be touched i.e. it is
intangible.

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Perishable – in that once it has occurred it cannot be repeated in exactly the same way. For
example, once a 100 metres Olympic final has been run, there will be not other for 4 more
years, and even then it will be staged in a different place with many different finalists.

Variability- since the human involvement of service provision means that no two services will
be completely identical. For example, returning to the same garage time and time again for a
service on your car might see different levels of customer satisfaction, or speediness of work.

Right of ownership – is not taken to the service, since you merely experience it. For example,
an engineer may service your air-conditioning, but you do not own the service, the engineer or
his equipment. You cannot sell it on once it has been consumed, and do not take ownership
of it.

Western economies have seen deterioration in their traditional manufacturing industries, and
a growth in their service economies. Therefore the marketing mix has seen an extension and
adaptation into the extended marketing mix for services, also known as the 7P’s – physical
evidence, process and people.

(2.3) Products and Services

Reliance Retail is the retail initiative of the group and is central to our consumer facing
businesses. It has in a short time forged strong and enduring bonds with millions of consumers
by providing them unlimited choice, outstanding value proposition, superior quality and
unmatched experience across all its stores.

Reliance Retail has adopted a multi-prong strategy and operates chain of neighbourhood
stores, supermarkets, wholesale cash & carry stores, specialty stores and online stores and
has democratized access to a variety of products and services across diverse segments for
Indian consumers.

Serving the food and grocery category Reliance Retail operates Reliance Fresh, Reliance
Smart and Reliance Market stores. In the consumer electronics category Reliance Retail
operates Reliance Digital, Reliance Digital Express Mini stores and Jio stores, and in fashion
& lifestyle category it operates Reliance Trends, Trends Women, Project Eve
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Reliance Footprint, Reliance Jewels and AJIO.com in addition to a large number of partner
brand stores across the country.

Reliance Retail has the distinction of being the largest retailer in the country. Reliance Retail’s
commitment to “bettering the lives” has been embodied in its pursuit to make a difference on
social socio–economic issues in India. The initiative has brought millions of farmers and small
producers to the forefront of the retail revolution by partnering with them for growth.

Deep insight into India’s economic, cultural and consumption diversity drives Reliance Retail’s
vision in the retail universe. The operating model is based on customer centricity, while
leveraging common centres of excellence in technology, business processes and supply chain.
More importantly, it has built a strong and unwavering foundation through its extraordinary
people. Our nationwide network of retail stores offers a world-class shopping environment and
unmatched customer experience.

Reliance Retail has emerged as the partner of choice for International brands and has
established exclusive partnerships with many revered international brands such as Diesel,
Superdry, Hamleys, Ermenegildo Zegna, Marks and Spencer, Paul & Shark, Thomas Pink,
Kenneth Cole, Brooks Brothers, Steve Madden, Payless Shoesource, Grand Vision and many
more.

Reliance Retail reported a turnover of Rs. 1,30,566 crore for the financial year 2017-18. As on
31st Mar 2018, Reliance Retail operates 10,415 stores across 6,600+ cities with a retail area
of over 22 million sft.Reliance Retail Ventures Limited, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries
Limited is the holding company of Reliance Retail Limited which operates the retail business.

Brands by Reliance Retail

 Reliance Fresh
 Reliance Smart
 RelianceSMART.in
 Reliance Market

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  Reliance Digital
 Reliance Trends
 Project Eve
 Reliance Footprint
 Reliance Jewels
 AJIO
 Partner Brands
 Reliance Mall
 Jio Store

Reliance Fresh Marketing Mix (7 P’s)

After segmenting the market, finding the target segment and positioning itself, each company
needs to come up with an offer. The 7 P’s used by Reliance Fresh are:

1. Product
2. Place
3. Price
4. Promotion
5. People
6. Physical Evidence
7. Process
Target Segment what is Reliance fresh for me?
A Family with children, a purchase place to be for the children.

Urban customer on the move Great taste, quick service without affecting the work schedule.
But keep it affordable.

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Product:

How should the company design, manufacture the product so that it enhances the customer
experience?

Product is the physical product or service offered to the consumer. Product includes certain
aspects such as packaging, guarantee, looks etc. This includes both the tangible and the non
tangible aspects of the product and service.

Reliance fresh has intentionally kept its product depth and product width limited. Reliance
Fresh studied the behaviour of the Indian customer and provided a totally different menu as
compared to its International offering. India is the only country where reliance Fresh serve
vegetarian. Even the sauces and cheese used in India are 100% vegetarian.

Place:

Where should be the product be available and the role of distribution

channels?
The place mainly consists of the distribution channels. It is important so that the product is
available to the customer at the right place, at the right time and in the right quantity. Nearly
50% of U.S.A is within a 3 minute drive from a Reliance Fresh outlet. There is a certain degree
of fun and happiness that a customer feels each time he dines at. There are certain value
propositions that reliance fresh offer to its customers based on their needs. Reliance fresh
offers hygienic environment, good ambience and great service. Now Reliance Fresh have also
started giving internet facility at their centres and they have been playing music through radio
instead of the normal music. There are certain dedicated areas for children where they can
play while their parents can have some quality time together.

Price:
What should be the pricing strategy?
Pricing includes the list price, the discount functions available, the financing options available
etc. It should also take into the consideration the probable reaction from the competitor to the
pricing strategy. This is the most important part of the marketing mix as this is the only part
24
which generates revenue. All the other three are expenses incurred. The price must take into
consideration the appropriate demand-supply equation. Reliance fresh came up with a very
catchy punch line “Growth Through Value Creation”. This was to attract the middle and lower
class consumers and the effect can clearly be seen in the consumer base Reliance fresh has
now.

Promotion:

What is the suitable strategy and channels for promotion of the

product?
The various promotion channels being used Reliance fresh to effectively communicate the
product information are given above. A clear understanding of the customer value helps decide
whether the cost of promotion is worth spending.

There are three main objectives of advertising for Reliance fresh are to make people aware of
an item, feel positive about it and remember it. The right message has to be communicated to
the right audience through the right media. Reliance fresh does its promotion through
television, hoardings and bus shelters. They use print ads and the television programmes are
also an important marketing medium for promotion. Some of the most famous marketing
campaigns of Reliance fresh are:

·€ “Food and Fun”

People:
How to converge the benefits of internal and external marketing?
Reliance fresh understands the value of both its employees and its customers. It understands
the fact that a happy employee can serve well and result in a happy customer. Reliance fresh
continuously does Internal Marketing. This is important as it must precede external marketing.
This includes hiring, training and motivating able employees. This way they serve customers
well and the final result is a happy customer. The level of importance has changed to be in the
following order (the more important people are at the top):

1. Customers
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2. Front line employees

3. Middle level managers

4. Front line managers

Physical evidences
-Actual Experiferal evidence

-A good time entry.

-Sign boards.

-Essential eminence of service.

-Good parking place

Process
Process Exist are complex on railways like some processes are:

-refund process / claim process.

-Communication process.

-Entraining/Detraining Process.

The service segmentation

Reliance Fresh has segmented their service to all class of people like rich, poor by providing
standards of facility in different ways, for example – you can find different items/buget packs
for them these are the service segmentation of Reliance Fresh by which they are serving
different categories of people. In all these service segmentation Reliance Fresh is providing
different facilities and charging same money.

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‘Items at a Glance’ timetable, I have always used these on booking and have never had a
problem, write the abbreviation in which you want to purchase, next to the word on the
purchase form.

Organizations are taking an interest in the international marketing of services because of low
cost factors and the ability to compete in nearby country markets (Bradley 1995); however,
international services pose special challenges for marketing managers as a result of the
intangibility of services, the extent of customization, and differences in preferences across
cultures. Research on international service offerings has focused on entry-mode choices
technology growth , geographic roles, service influences on national competitive advantage
and strategic differences across services . Yet the marketing literature has not investigated
several key components of service strategy, particularly in the international domain.

Customers Requirements and Customer Expectations

Customers Experience after visiting the store can be said to be not much satisfactory. After
this entire buzz it seemed to be a damp squib to me.

1. Choice and Range. Reliance Retail is primarily a super market store. So, one expects a
wide range of goods available across various categories, brands and price ranges. Hardly
there is any range available. Not even, any categories of goods. Just one or two we can easily
live without.

2. Super Markets like Nilgiris, Trinethra (recently bought by Birlas), Subhikhsa, and Modern
Market especially the last one has a superb range and Reliance Fresh is nowhere in
comparison to them.

3. The Ambiance in the shop is good, but as I said nothing much different from the other super
market chains.

4. The staff is cordial and friendly very much eagerly looking forward to help. After I made the
payment, the staff greeting me by saying a Namaste. This I liked a lot. Especially after horrible

27
experiences of visiting shops in Kolkata. I do not know why but shop keepers in Salt Lake have
this tendency of looking at you as if why do these customers keep bothering us, when u visits
them.

5. They accept card payment even for payments less than a hundred rupees.

6. They have this membership card option with a free insurance thrown in, just to ensure that
you show loyalty to them.

As they go through the reviews by the members, they observe that the same points they have
quoted above are bothering them too. Some more reading, browsing and research made me
understand some of the aspects related to it, which I want to share with you.

1. Customer is the last person in the minds of these supermarket chains. Though it might be
surprising, that’s the fact straightly put. What matters the most is the number. The more the
number of stores opened, the more is the number of people visiting them, the more the chances
of success.

2. The commission they get for selling a product. They are least bothered about providing a
range of goods and brands to the Customer. In contrary, the companies that pay them the
highest commission get to sell their goods from them. When they have the numbers,
companies cannot afford to ignore them courtesy, the large number of customers visiting them.
But why are the Customers visiting them, when they are not getting what they want?

3. The feel good factor. The goods we buy here can be easily bought at any other grocery
store round the corner. Then why do we flock to them? Just because, we feel good. We feel
happy becoming a part of another India, which looks great much unlike the India we have
grown in. We love the ambience. We like being greeted.

4. By making a right balance between the numbers and the feel good factor, they achieve their
targets some times much beyond the expectations they have set. We are just part of the market
grind that is happening right now!
28
Service recovery strategies
-Improving the after sales services.

-Admit and apologies.

-rectification of any error

-Compensate

-Minor performance lapse need monitoring

Quality concern
Quality means watching the services from customer prospective.

The main quality concern of Reliance Fresh is:

To provide hygienic condition inside the stores.

Avoiding as much as possible the delay in the schedule.

Freshness is also one of the concern for Reliance fresh.

Improving the infrastructure to world class level of standards.

Integrated gap model of service quality

Revenue%

The central focus of gap model is the customer gap, the difference between customer
expectations and perceptions.

GAP-1 Not knowing what customer expect i.e. what are the expectation of customer of
Reliance Fresh which can be due to inadequate marketing research.

GAP-2 Not selecting the right service design and standards. Reliance Fresh have a good
service design but not reached to that level of standards to meet all customer expectations.
29
GAP-3 Not delivering to service designs and standards. This can be due to deficiency of human
resource policy of Reliance Fresh. And may be due to failure in meeting supply and demand.
Because of the huge population of India.

GAP-4 Not matching performance to promises. This can be due to lack of integrating services
marketing communication and ineffective management of customer expectation by Reliance
Fresh.

In this way the gap between expected quality and perceived quality can be calculated by
Reliance Fresh.

Pricing Strategies by Reliance Fresh

-Discount pricing strategy

-Wide price range of each items

-Credit card acceptance

-Accept coupons

– Competitive prices.

-Price marked in paisa’s

-comparable cost.

30
 Reliance Retail

Parent Company Reliance group

Category Retail

Sector Lifestyle and Retail

Tagline/ Slogan Aapki khushi hamari khushi

USP Trusted quality and strong backing of parent company

Reliance Retail STP

Segment Quality and price cautious group

Target Group Upper middle class and middle class

Positioning Quality and trust

Reliance Retail SWOT Analysis

Below is the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats (SWOT) Analysis of

Reliance Retail. Strengths are:
1.It is Indian retail chain with 900+ stores in 80 cities in India
2.Hyper market with 95000 markets with tailoring, shoe and watch repair, laundry
3.It owns various private label brands
4.It has strong distribution network- 1600 channels in villages
Strengths 5. Strong backing of the parent company

Here are the weaknesses in the Reliance Retail SWOT Analysis:

1.Product variety is available but more SKUs are not present due to inefficient back
end infrastructure
Weaknesses 2. Poor inventory control at certain locations is a concern

31
 Following are the Opportunities in Reliance Retail SWOT Analysis:
1.Sourcing directly from farmers; no middlemen could earn more profit as number of
farmers will increase five times in next 5 years
2.Leveraging on brand name and entering into Reliance saloon
Opportunities 3.Large potential to reduce operation cost in cities using strong supply chain

The threats in the SWOT Analysis of Reliance Retail are as mentioned:

1. Strong competition globally from Carrefour, Metro A.G., Tesco
2.Operationg cost are too high
Threats 3.Wallmart is biggest competitor when it comes to sourcing/ backward integration

Reliance Retail Competition

Below are the top 4 Reliance Retail competitors:

1.Subhiksha
2.RPG group
3.Future Group
Competitors 4.Star India Bazaar

32
 CHAPTER – III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

33
3.1 Title: “A Study on Buying Behavior of Retail Shoppers and Experience Evaluation Across
Reliance Fresh Stores.”

3.2 Title Justification: The title of the project is justified as the quantitative aspects of a
research study is done in the following chapter and the qualitative aspects are discussed as
well.

The internship program was of Eight weeks in which I had worked in seven different stores of
reliance retails which includes :

First week – Training

Second Week – Reliance Fresh (Madhur Milan,Zamroodpur (GK-1))

Third Week – Reliance Digital (Logix City Centre,Noida)

Fourth Week – Project Eve (Ambience Mall,Vasant Kunj)

Fifth Week – Reliance Fresh (Green Park)

Sixth Week – Reliance Jio (C.R Park,Kalkaji)

Seventh Week – Reliance Jio (C.R Park,Kalkaji)

Eight Week – Reliance Trends (Ambience Mall,Vasant Kunj)

During these entire eight weeks I have collected the response of the customers visiting the Commented [a5]: Not required here. Show it in Research
Methodology
store and with the help of the cooperative staff members. The actual footfall and the queries in
Commented [WU6R5]:
the store were made noticeable to the Reliance research department by the structure
questionnaire filled by me through the response of the customers followed by analysis done
on the results.

After collecting the data, a proper analysis of all the aspects was done to check the credibility
of the data and the processes. The analysis includes every aspect which can be useful to
check the inclination and satisfaction of the customers towards the Reliance brand in different
outlets. The aspects covered in the analysis are :

1. Shoppers Profile :
a. Who shops at Reliance store
b. What is their demographic profile- age, gender, occupation
c. How often they visit
d. Who all accompanied in shopping

34
2. Acquaintance with other Relinace stores :
a. Have the shopper visited other RR formats
b. Which formats have they visited

3. Catchment Analysis :
a. How far shoppers stay from store
b. How do they travel and time taken to reach the store

4. Overall shopping experience :

a. Will shoppers visit the store again
b. Will they recommend the store to others
c. How satisfying was their current visit

Approach to Problem

35
Physical Forms :

 Under the training period of 5 days, I had introduced with the four different formats of
forms to be filled related to different stores.

 These forms contain the questions related to the store’s product quality and satisfaction
level of the customer relating to different prospects.
 There are an average of 27 questions which I need to ask to customers regarding their
shopping experience.
 The target is of 18 forms to be filled in a day.

On line punching :

 After completing the physical forms, all the entries needed to be fill in the online platform
so that the data can be directly send to Reliance.
 The online punching process also contains a “customer bite of the day” section where I
fill the specific statement made by majority of the customers.

Analysis of the data :

 After the complete data collection for seven weeks, Reliance send me a MS excel file
with my data and gave a specific format for the analysis.
 The analysis comprises of the following factors :

1. Shoppers Profile

2. Acquaintance with other Reliance stores

3. Catchment Analysis

4. Overall shopping experience

 The proper graphical presentation is then made to get a clear view to understand the
role of different major factors in the shopping behavior of the customers.

3.3 Objective of Study:

 To reach out to the customers at the Reliance Retail Fresh store and conduct the
research with the help of a structured questionnaire and observation techniques. Commented [a7]: What is the meaning of this?

 To analyze customer satisfaction towards Reliance Fresh.

 To have deeper insight about customer behavior and shopping experience.

36
3.4 Research Methodology
The objective of this research is to find out the important factors influencing customer shopping
experience and also to know the current service levels of the RR stores.

In this regard, the data was collected on 29 factors about the retail stores – Quality, Variety,
Cleanliness, Behaviour & product knowledge of staff and management, Goods availability,
visual displays ,complaint handling, promotional activities, billing process, loyalty card system,
brand awareness etc.

 Sample Size :
A total of 200 responses through different structured questionnaires from the customers
of RR stores, were taken for the study. Convenience sampling method has been
followed for collecting the response from the respondents.

 Source of data :
The study is based on both primary data only. The primary data has been collected by
a self-structured questionnaire through interview method .It has been tried that samples
are selected to cover all classes of people and of different age groups as the sample
size.

 Tools for collection of data :

The questionnaire is the major tool administered for collecting primary data from the
respondents. The first few questions were devoted to age, gender etc. Thereafter, the
questionnaire contains the other factor questions related to satisfaction and brand
awareness.

 Tools for analysis :

The data was received in the Ms excel format from the company after the collection and
online punching of the data. Reliance shared a specific format to analyse the different
factors which I did by using pivot table and some formulas in MS excel itself to explain Commented [a8]: to

the influence of the factors through the graphs.

3.4.1 Research Design- In this study, Survey or Questionnaire design was applied as it
involves getting feedback from potential customers through a structured, multi-question
survey. We need to conduct several surveys to several groups in order to get feedback from
all possible types of customers.

37
3.4.2 Data Collection-

 Primary Data -: collected through face to face surveys while visiting different
formats of Reliance retail store.

 Secondary Data-: Recognizing major competitors in the market and

understanding growth and present strategy of Reliance through online websites.

3.4.3 Sampling
 Sampling Technique- Simple Random Probability Sampling.
This sampling technique is a subset of a statistical population in which each
member of the subset has an equal probability of being chosen. A simple random
sample is meant to be an unbiased representation of a group.
 Sample Area- The sample area was the Reliance Retail fresh store. Commented [a9]: which area

 Sample Size -200 customers interaction took place in the Reliance Retail fresh Commented [a10]: spelling

store.

3.5 Data Analysis Tools- Graphs, Chart, Percentage etc

Bar Graphs and Pie charts were used to scale and record the data of the questionnaire. It
includes:
 Shopper Profile
 Acquaintance with other Reliance Retail stores
 Catchment Analysis
 Overall Shopping Experience

38
3.6 Limitation of Study
1. This study is limited to New Delhi. Therefore the findings of this study cannot be
extended to other areas.
2. The samples have been collected from a limited number of respondents. Proper surveys
include thousands of respondents through a well established online network.
3. Some of the respondents were non co- operative. Not all the customers were giving
information while I was interacting with them.
4. The time was less for the survey.
5. The study is only for some of the listed stores, confined to a particular location and not
all type of stores were covered.
6. Respondents may give biased answers for the required data. Many of the respondents
did not like to respond.
7. Respondents tried to escape some statements by simply answering “ok” “good”, “fine”
etc. to most of the statements. This was one of the most important limitations faced, as
it was difficult to analyze and come at a right conclusion. In my study I have included
only 200 customers as the sample because of the time limit.
8. The information provided by the customers may not be definitely true.
9. Many of the respondents were not well versed with the English language hence it was
quiet difficult for them to reply to the questionnaire appropriately.
10. Senior customers or customers aged more than 50 years were very reluctant to fill the
questionnaire.
11. It was very difficult in convincing them to fill the questionnaire on busy days like
Wednesday and Sunday as most of the customers remained busy in shopping.

Commented [a11]: Give in research methodology

39
 CHAPTER-IV
ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

40
 Data Collection and Analysis and Interpretation

A survey was collected through primary data by using structured questionnaire. A convenience
sampling process has been used to collect data for this research. The questionnaire contains
questions related to age, gender, satisfaction level from (Very dissatisfied to very satisfied and
to brand completely agree to completely disagree). Later the data was processed in a set
pattern using MS excel.

Gender:

Gender
Male 68.10% 111
Female 31.90% 52
Total 100.00% 163

Table:1

Interpretation- -

A total of 163 convenient sample of customers is taken in the whole process and from the table
it can be easily assessed that out of the total sampling there were 68.10% males and other
31.90% were females. Therefore, I can conclude that this disparity in percentage of gender
shopping is because people generally send there servant’s for shopping who are
predominantly are males. Moreover for household shopping majorly husband’s shops more
frequently as compare to females.

GENDER
Female 31.90%

Male 68.10%

Figure: 2

41
Age Group:

AGE GROUP
16 To 25 21.60% 35
26 To 35 38.27% 62
36 To 45 24.07% 39
46 To 60 10.49% 17
60 above 5.56% 9
100.00 16
Total % 2

Table: 2

Interpretation –

The visitors or the shoppers of the age group between 16 to 25 was (21.60%), 26 to 35 was
(38.27%),36 to 45 was (24.07%),46 to 60 was (10.49%) & 60 above was (5.56%).Thus I can
conclude that the shoppers of the age group between 26 to 35 has the maximum influence and
awareness of the brand as it contains the maximum percentage of the visitors (62%), so the
targeted age group for the company should be more focused to this age group. Later the age
group above 60 (9%) which was mostly recorded in the Reliance Fresh stores.

Age Group
60 above 5.56%

46 To 60 10.49%

36 To 45 24.07%

26 To 35 38.27%

16 To 25 21.60%

Figure: 3

42
Occupation:

Businessman / Industrialist / Big trader / Contractor (Employing more

than 10 workers) 16.56%
Housewife / Homemaker (Not formally employed) 7.98%
Junior Executive Officer (Private Sector/Govt. Employee), Clerical staff,
School teacher (Primary/Secondary), Armed Forces (Non-officer cadre) 17.79%
Middle/ Senior Executive Officer – Govt. employee/Armed forces
(Officer cadre), Corporate executive (Senior/Middle level), School
Principal, College Lecturer, University Professor,
Doctor/Nurse/Compounder employed with hospital / clinic 9.82%
Response 0.61%
Retired 6.75%
Salesman/ Store Associates, 3.07%
Self Employed Professional: Doctor / Lawyer/Advocate / Chartered
Accountant / Architect / Management Consultant (with independent
practice), Artist, Author 10.43%
Skilled/ Unskilled worker, Farm worker, Urban household domestic
worker, Sanitation Worker (Safai Karmchari), Industrial worker 3.07%
Small Shop Owner, Small trader, Hawker 7.36%
Student 12.27%
Supervisor: Industrial / Construction / Service sector supervisor / Team
leader level supervisor (Non-managerial white collar worker) 3.07%
Unemployed 1.23%

Table: 3

Interpretation –

The visitors or the shoppers of almost all the profession comes to a Reliance Fresh store as
Businessman / Industrialist / Big trader / Contractor (Employing more than 10 workers) was
(16.56%), Housewife / Homemaker (Not formally employed) was (7.98%), Junior Executive
Officer (Private Sector/Govt. Employee), Clerical staff, School teacher (Primary/Secondary),
Armed Forces (Non-officer cadre) was (17.79%),Middle/ Senior Executive Officer – Govt.
employee/Armed forces (Officer cadre), Corporate executive (Senior/Middle level), School
Principal, College Lecturer, University Professor, Doctor/Nurse/Compounder employed with
hospital / clinic was (19.82%), Salesman/ Store Associates was (3.07%). Therefor I can
conclude that the shoppers of almost all profession are there in the table with a suitable amount
of contribution in the survey which shows that the brand has captured the needs of all category
of customers as there is a great price range of the products as per the different status of the
customers which makes it a store to all.

43
Formats Visited:

Reliance Fresh 29.17%

Project eve 4.17%

Reliance Digital 10.23%

Reliance Trends 20.45%

Jio Stores 10.98%

30.00% Table: 4

25.00%
Reliance Fresh
20.00%
Project eve
15.00% Reliance Digital
Reliance Trends
10.00%
Jio Stores
5.00%

0.00%

Figure: 4

Interpretation –

From the above table we can see that in Reliance Fresh (29.7%) visitors were visiting, in
Project Eve (4.17%) visitors were visiting, in Reliance Digital (10.23%) visitors were visiting, in
Reliance trends (20.54%) visitors were visiting, in Jio stores(10.98%) visitors were visiting.
From the above table and graph, I can conclude that the analysis contains a sample from the

44
different stores and there is a complete majority of the fresh customers so the whole analysis
is inclined more towards the customers from Reliance Fresh stores.

Frequency of visit:

First visit 18.40%

I (we) have shopped
before at this store 81.60%

Daily 2.27%
Every 2-3 days 22.73%
Once a week 27.27%
Once a Month 18.18%
Once every 1-2
month 1.52%
Once every 3
months 4.55%
Once in 1-2 weeks 23.48%

Table: 5
Interpretation –

The customers who have visited the store for the first time was (18.40%) and the shoppers
who was revisiting the store was (81.60%).Therefor I can conclude that the high percentage of
revisits of the customers shows that they are satisfied with the services provided by the
Reliance outlets and even the frequency of visit is accordingly satisfactory as it covers all the
segment related to different stores.

45
 Total
First visit
18%

I (we) have shopped

before at this store
82%

Accompaniment:

Alone 71.60%
In a Group 28.40%

Accompaniment
In a Group
28%

Alone
72%

Spouse – wife/ husband 30.00%

Kids 20.00%
Parents 8.33%
Relatives 6.67%
Friends/ neighbors 20.00%
Colleagues 8.33%
Domestic help (Servant / Maid/
Driver) 5.00%
OTHERS 1.67%

Table: 6

46
Interpretation –

The shoppers who was coming alone was (72%) and who were coming in a group or was
accompanied by someone was (28%).Therefor I can conclude that The percentage of the
customers coming alone is comparatively high, which may be due to the problem of parking
problem outside the store or collection of a big amount of sample from the Reliance fresh.
While the accompanied customers have a great accompaniment of their friends or spouse.

Planned Visits :

No 33.95%
Yes 66.05%

Mission Accomplishment

Yes I bought some of the things which I wanted to buy

36.42%
Yes I bought everything which I wanted
46.91%
No I did not buy anything today

16.67%

Figure : 5

Interpretation –

There are 66.05% of the customers who planned specifically to visit the store and 33.95% of
the customers who have not planned specifically to visit the store and 36.42% of the people
got portion of the things they planned to buy. Satisfaction of the customer to buy the desired
product is also good as the 46.91% of the customers got all the products they wanted to buy.
Therefor I can conclude that the availability of product inside the Reliance fresh store is good
as only 16.67% of shoppers were not buying anything else (83.33%) of customers were able
to buy the desired product.

47
Shoppers Satisfaction:
The satisfaction of the shoppers is registered under 29 different questions depend on different
stores. This involved the satisfaction of the customers under a standard which consists a
criteria from very dissatisfied to very satisfied under different satisfaction related questions.

Figure: 6

Interpretation –

The graph shows that many of the customers are either very satisfied or somewhat satisfied
category .Therefore I can conclude that a good service was provides by the stores in terms of
product quality, availability and other prospects.

48
 Brand satisfaction:

The questionnaire contains a set of seven questions related to the satisfaction of the brand
that how much the customer is satisfied with the brand and is the brand name attracts them
to buy from the different outlets of the Reliance Retail stores.

R6: I
R2: I get have
R1: I the best R3: I get R5: faith
shop at quality the best Reliance that I
this and prices store will get R7:
store genuine on R4: I sells the the best Reliance
because products products trust the latest service stores are
it is a at a at a Reliance and at a meant for
Reliance Reliance Reliance brand trendiest Reliance people
store Store Store name products store like me
Completely
agree (5) 53.70% 31.48% 31.48% 40.12% 22.22% 35.80% 20.37%
Somewhat
agree (4) 43.21% 62.96% 53.70% 50.00% 55.56% 51.85% 51.85%
Neither
agree nor
disagree (3) 3.09% 5.56% 14.20% 9.88% 19.75% 12.35% 20.99%
Somewhat
disagree (2) 0.00% 0.00% 0.62% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
Completely
disagree (1) 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% Commented [a12]: Format it properly

Table: 7

This questionnaire is focused towards the brand positioning analysis in the customer’s mind.
All the standard questions are formed by the Reliance to check the customer behavior and
inclination towards the Reliance brand and how much do the customer trust in the Reliance
brand.

49
Graphical Representation –

Figure: 7

Interpretation – Commented [a13]: What is the interpretation from the table?

The table shows that customers completely agree by (53.70%) that they shop at Reliance
Fresh store because it is a Reliance store and the customers somewhat agree by (62.96%)
that they get the best quality and genuine products at a Reliance Store. Therefore I can
conclude that the shoppers trust on the Reliance brand name and they shop at the Reliance
store because it is owned by Reliance brand and from the graph I can conclude that major
portion of the graph is at the right side of axis which shows that the customers have a great
influence of the brand and the Reliance brand has gained a huge majority of trust of it’s
customers and it gave a complete status of the brand at present in the market which can help
the company to know that how strongly the brand name actually working in the market. Commented [a14]: Statement not clear

50
Catchment Analysis:

Distance from store

Within 1 km 29.01%
More than 10 kms 9.88%
5.1-10 kms 9.26%
3.1 – 5 kms 11.11%
2.1 kms to 3 kms 17.28%
1 km to 2kms 23.46%

Figure: 8

Interpretation –

From the above graph we can see that (29.01%) of people were coming to the store who were
living within 1 Km of radius of the store, (9.88%) of people were coming to the store who were
living in more than 10 Km of radius of the store,(9.26%) of people were coming to the store
who were living in between 5 to 10 Km of radius from the store,(23.46%) of people were coming
to the store who were living in between 1 to 2 Km of radius from the store. So from the above
graph I can conclude that the customers who lived nearby under the radius of 2 km are more
likely to visit the stores so the location of the store plays a major role in the visit of the
customers.

Mode of Transport

Refused 0.00%
Car 30.08%
2 Wheeler 35.77%
Cycle Rickshaw 3.25%
Auto rickshaw / Cab 14.63%
Local train/ Metro 11.38%
Bus 4.88%
Walk 0.00%

Figure: 9

51
Interpretation – Commented [a15]: What is the interpretation from the table?

From the above graph we can see that (35.77%) of customers use to visit the store on 2
wheeler and (30.08%) of customers use to visit the store on the car. The mode of transport is
checked to analyze the space for the parking so that for the future an appropriate parking
space should also be considered in case of different outlets as there was a common parking
problem which was faced by every shopper.

Time taken to reach store

More than 90 minutes 1.23%

Less than 5 minutes 27.16%

61-90 minutes 3.09%

5-10 minutes
33.33%

31-60 minutes 6.79%

16-30 minutes 12.35%

11-15 minutes 16.05%

Figure: 10

52
Interpretation –

From the above graph we can see that (27.16%) of customers were visiting to the store who
can visit the store in less than 5 minutes,(33.33%) of customers were visiting to the store who
can visit the store in between 5 to 10 minutes,(6.79%) of the customers were visiting to the
store who can visit the store in between 31 to 60 minutes, only (3.09%) of the customers were
visiting to the store who can visit the store in between 61 to 90 minutes. So, I can conclude
that the time is a crucial element of life now a days as every person is busy in day to day
activities so everyone prefers to visit the nearest store for the convenience and it is also proved
through the graph that most of the visited customers were living in the time range of 5 to 10
minutes from the stores.

Moment of truth:

Shop Again

Yes

92.59%
Maybe 7.41%

Figure: 11

Interpretation –

The question was, whether the shopper will shop again in the store and the 92.59% of the positive
response shows the positive attitude of the customers towards the brand satisfaction and availability
of the product.

Recommend the store

Yes 91.36%

Maybe 8.64%

Figure: 12

53
Interpretation –

Recommendation or the word of mouth is a great part of marketing and promotion even in
today’s internet era so it becomes very important to know that weather the present customer
will become a marketer for the brand or not and here with the 91.36% of the positive responses
shows that in this field also the Reliance brand has a huge brand loyalty.

Overall satisfaction

Very satisfied: 5 30.25%

Somewhat satisfied: 4 61.73%

Somewhat dissatisfied: 2 0.62%

Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied: 3 7.41%

Figure: 13

Interpretation –

The satisfaction of the customer from their previous purchases is a great factor which bring
back the customer to the store. From the above graph we can see that (30.25%) of customers
are very satisfied,(61.73%) of customers are somewhat satisfies only (0.62%) of customers
are somewhat dissatisfied. The majority of the customers are satisfied from the overall
experience inside the store.

54
Online Behavior :

On line marketing is an essential platform for all the industries to capture the greater market
share and to sustain the competition in today’s market. To capture that area Reliance has
launched an app Ajio.com and making people aware of it.

Shop Online

Yes
66.67%
No 33.33%

Figure: 14

Interpretation –

This shows that how many of the shoppers do online shopping and it shows that 66.67% of
the shoppers have done online shopping in last 3 month and only 33.33% of the shoppers
have not done online shopping in last 3 months. Hence it proves the presence of a huge market
space to capture or bring awareness about the Ajio app.

Aware of AJIO

Yes 27.78%
No 72.22%

Figure: 15

Interpretation –

The graph shows that the only 27.78% of customers are aware of the Ajio app and 72.22% are
not even aware of existence of the ajio app. Awareness of Ajio is still very low and it need more
of the marketing strategy to bring into consideration, as there are many major players still
playing a successful role in the market i.e. Flipkart, Amazon etc.

55
 Shopped at AJIO

Yes 11.11%

No 88.89%

Figure: 16

Interpretation –

From the above graph it is clear that only 11.11% customers shop at Ajio and even after
awareness 88.89% customers do not shop on Ajio app.Hence it is clear that there is a lack of
trust or may be availability of the products in the online platform because instead of knowing
about the app there are very less number of customers who are actually using it. The trust
need to be built among the customers so that they give preference to Ajio app also in
comparison to the app like Flipkart or Amazon etc.

56
 CHAPTER V

FINDINGS AND INFERENCES

57
Results and Conclusion

 The respondents considered smooth billing process, cleanliness & ambience, customer
complaint handling and visual merchandising as one of the most important factors that
influence the consumer shopping experience in the RR stores. The mean scores of
these factors show that these factors are somewhat important for consumers and
management can pull a large crowd by working on these factors simultaneously.

 The respondents considered promotional activities and better loyalty card system as
the second most important factor. They are highly rated in their importance scale and
the management must focus on both of these aspects together to attract high footfall.

 The respondents considered, employees courtesy & behaviour plus their product
knowledge as the third most important factor. They are also rated somewhat important
and RR management should work on these factors also to attract the footfall.

 The respondents considered proper trolley management and availability of quality

products as the fourth most important factor specifically in the Reliance fresh store.

 Timely availability of products and variety in products are the fifth most important factors
that influence the customers.

 Only 0.62% of the total respondents seems unhappy with the courtesy & overall
behavior of the employees while other respondents do think that the staffs are
having a proper product knowledge. .

 On the other hand the store is doing quite well in the overall management as
92.59% of the total respondents seem happy with the current situation and are ready
to visit again the store.

Commented [a16]: Give in research methodology

58
RECOMMENDATIONS

 The store do have two express billing counters for those customers who had taken 5
items or less to shop but many of the consumers are not aware about this facility as a
result of which in spite of having 2-3 products they stand in the long queue along with
the other shoppers to get the billing done. Hence proper information about the location
and uses of express counters should be displayed at appropriate place & the same
information can be briefed by the cashiers to these customers in case they find them.

 During my training in the fresh store I found that the whole space was filled with the
products and there was very less space for movement which gives an unhygienic and
a very congested view of the store. The employees must be told not to do this in future.

 Retail business is successful only when they have a good customer services. Customer
loyalty can only be gain by providing good or satisfied services to the customers.

 Most respondents take on the spot decision of buying different products because of the
various attractive products displays. So pretty combination with good services should
be done to retain customers.

 Since Reliance Retail is a service oriented organization, hence providing continuous

training to the employees on issues like courtesy, etiquette and communication skills
while dealing with customers is of immense importance.

 Hiring potential human resource is a must. And for this reason, the management should
hire self-motivated, enthusiastic employees who will like to deal with customer and will
try to solve customer complaints and other issues in an effective manner. Only then the
store can render superior customer services and enjoy the benefit in the long run.

 In order to retain the existing customers and to improve service quality, the store should
continuously maintain error-free transactions, since monetary transactions are very
sensitive for each and every customer.

 The management needs to improve quality services so as to satisfy customer’s needs.

The management needs to pay much attention on the customer complaints in order to
satisfy the customer’s expectations. Individual attention should be given to customers
59
 in order to better understand their needs and better satisfy them. The management
should regularly run research activities in order to keep a regular track of customer
satisfaction level. Regular research should also be conducted to find out customer
expectations about various service aspects. As customer expectations and satisfaction
are not static figures, regular research at sufficient intervals should be conducted.

 I found that most of the people are unaware of Mobile loyalty linkage program. So
customers should also be made aware of it together with the various schemes of loyalty
program.

 There were many customers who refused to share their contact number even though
they liked the loyalty benefits. Most of them gave the reason that they are scared of the
fact that after sharing their contact number they might get a huge number of texts or
calls from the company. It was difficult to convince this kind of customers that the loyalty
program had no such risks. So proper advertising is necessary to remove these fears
from the minds of customer. Celebrity endorsements can be really helpful to gain the
trust of this kind of customer.

 The air conditioning of the fresh store is sometimes do not work properly as maximum
suggestions from the customers were regarding the A.C. only. Personally I also felt the
same situation and measures should be taken to rectify this problem.

The Reference Matter

60
  Kushwaha,S., & Gupta,M.(2011,November). Customer perception in Indian retail
industry (a comparative study of organised and unorganised retail industry). The
International Journal’s Research Journal of Economics & Business Studies, 01(01).

 Mittal K., Arora M., & Parashar A., (2011, November-April). An Empirical Study on
factors affecting consumer preferences of shopping at organized retail stores in
Punjab. KAIM journal of management and research.3 (2).

Bibliography

The books, journals, reports and other sources of secondary data according to alphabetical
order of last name (surname) of the author are to be listed in the format given below:

Book

Exmple: Dessler, Gary and Varkkey, Biju. “Human Resource Management.” Prehtice Hall,
New Delhi, 2009.

Articles

Example: Nirmala Banerjee, Trends in Women’s Employment, Economic and Political

Weekly, Vol. 4(2):1989, pp. 1022.

61
 Questionnaire

City of Survey
Delhi

Store Format
Reliance Fresh

Time of the day

07:00 - 08:45 hrs
08:46 – 10:30 hrs
10:31 - 12:15 hrs
12:16 – 14:00 hrs
14:01 – 15:45 hrs
15:46 – 17:30 hrs
17:31 – 19:15 hrs
19:16 – 21:00 hrs

Day of the week

Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday

Student Name and Code

Pragya Jain-10222309

Store Code and Name

Reliance Fresh

Date of survey
Date / Time

Interview Serial No.

62
*STORE LOCATION - AREA
Residential Area (1)
Office Area (2)
Commercial Area/Street (3)
Mixed use Area (4)

*STORE BUILDING TYPE

Stand-alone (1)
Residential building (2)
Commercial complex (3)
Inside a Mall (4)

Q1. Gender of the respondent

Male
Female

*Q2. For the purpose of classification please tell me which age group you fall under?
Less than 16 years
16 – 25 years
26 – 35 years
36 – 45 years
46 - 60 years
More than 60 years
*Q3. Is today’s visit your first visit to this store?
First visit
I (we) have shopped before at this store

*Q4. Have you also shopped at other stores of Reliance Retail?

Yes
No
If the respondent answer YES in Q-4 then ask Q-5

63
Q5. Please tell me which stores?
Reliance Fresh
Reliance Smart
Reliance Market
Reliance Digital
Reliance Footprint
Reliance Trends
Reliance Jewels
Reliance Petrol Pump
Jio Stores

Observe the respondent and code

Q6. HAS THE RESPONDENT COME ALONE OR IN A GROUP?

Alone
In a Group

If the respondent has come in a group than ask Q-7

Q7. Who all have accompanied you today for shopping?

Spouse – wife/ husband
Kids
Parents
Relatives
Friends/ neighbours
Colleagues
Domestic help (Servant / Maid/ Driver)
Others

Q8. When you left home today did you specifically plan to come to this store? [SINGLE
ANSWER]
Yes
No

64
Q9. When you left home today, did you have specific items / list of items in your mind before
coming to this store?
Yes
No

*Q10. Were you able to buy all what you had come to buy at this store? [SINGLE ANSWER]
Yes I bought everything which I wanted
Yes I bought some of the things which I wanted to buy
No I didn’t buy anything today

*Q11. Basis your overall shopping experience will you shop again at this store?
Yes
Maybe
No

*Q12. Basis your overall shopping experience in this store would you recommend this store
to your family/ friends/ neighbours?
Yes
Maybe
No

65
Q13. Which of the statement / smiley best describes how satisfied or dissatisfied you are with
your overall shopping experience today at this store?
Very dissatisfied: 1 Somewhat dissatisfied: 2 Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied: 3 Somewhat satisfied: 4

Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied:

Very dissatisfied: 1 Somewhat dissatisfied: 2 Somewhat satisfied: 4
3

*Q14. Following are some of the attributes which customers like you have used to evaluate
their shopping experience. As I read out each attribute please let me know with the help of
this response card, how satisfied or dissatisfied you are basis your shopping experience
today in this store?
It is not important whether you have purchased anything today or not in the store, we are
only interested in your opinion.

How satisfied are you with………?

R1:
Availa
R1: Availability bility
R1: Availability of R1: Availability of R1: Availability of R1: Availability of
of of
products products Very products Somewhat products Neither satisfied
products Somewhat produ
dissatisfied: 1 dissatisfied: 2 nor dissatisfied: 3 cts Ve
satisfied: 4
ry
satisfi
ed: 5

R2:
Variet
y and
R2: Variety and R2: Variety and range
R2: Variety and R2: Variety and range R2: Variety and range
range of products range of products Very range of of
of products Somewhat of products Neither
products Somewhat produ
dissatisfied: 1 dissatisfied: 2 satisfied nor dissatisfied: 3
satisfied: 4 cts Ve
ry
satisfi
ed: 5

R3:
Prices
of
R3: Prices of R3: Prices of R3: Prices of
R3: Prices of products R3: Prices of products produ
products in the products in the products in the
in the store Somewhat in the store Neither cts in
store store Very dissatisfied: store Somewhat
dissatisfied: 2 satisfied nor dissatisfied: 3 the
1 satisfied: 4 store
Very
satisfi
ed: 5

66
 R4:
Store
R4: Store Staff R4: Store Staff R4: Store Staff R4: Store Staff R4: Store Staff Staff
Interaction Interaction Very Interaction Somewhat Interaction Neither satisfied Interaction Somewhat Intera
dissatisfied: 1 dissatisfied: 2 nor dissatisfied: 3 satisfied: 4 ction
Very
satisfi
ed: 5

R5:
Time
R5: Time taken R5: Time taken R5: Time taken for R5: Time taken for R5: Time taken taken
for billing for billing Very billing Somewhat dissatisfied: billing Neither satisfied nor for billing Somewhat for
dissatisfied: 1 2 dissatisfied: 3 satisfied: 4 billing
Very
satisfi
ed: 5

R6:
Clean
R6: Cleanliness R6: Cleanliness liness
R6: Cleanliness R6: Cleanliness inside R6: Cleanliness inside
inside the store inside the
inside the store Very the store Somewhat inside the store Neither the
store Somewhat
dissatisfied: 1 dissatisfied: 2 satisfied nor dissatisfied: 3 store
satisfied: 4
Very
satisfi
ed: 5

R7:
Spac
e for
R7: Space for R7: Space for R7: Space for R7: Space for R7: Space for move
movement inside movement inside the movement inside the movement inside the movement inside the ment
the store store Very dissatisfied: store Somewhat dissatisfied: store Neither satisfied nor store Somewhat inside
1 2 dissatisfied: 3 satisfied: 4 the
store
Very
satisfi
ed: 5

R8:
Lighti
ng /
R8: Lighting / R8: Lighting / R8: Lighting / R8: Lighting / R8: Lighting / illumi
illumination inside illumination inside the illumination inside the illumination inside the illumination inside the nation
the store store Very dissatisfied: store Somewhat dissatisfied: store Neither satisfied nor store Somewhat inside
1 2 dissatisfied: 3 satisfied: 4 the
store
Very
satisfi
ed: 5

67
 R9:
Prom
otions
,
R9: Promotions,
Offers and R9: Promotions, R9: Promotions, Offers R9: Promotions, R9: Promotions, Offers
Offers and Discount and Discount Offers and Discount Offers and Discount and
Discount
Schemes Schemes Very Schemes Somewhat Schemes Neither satisfied Schemes Somewhat Disco
dissatisfied: 1 dissatisfied: 2 nor dissatisfied: 3 satisfied: 4 unt
Sche
mes
Very
satisfi
ed: 5

R10:
Overa
ll
R10: Overall R10: Overall R10: Overall R10: Overall
R10: Overall Checkout Chec
Checkout Checkout Checkout Checkout
Experience Somewhat kout
Experience Experience Very Experience Neither Experience Somewha Exper
dissatisfied: 2
dissatisfied: 1 satisfied nor dissatisfied: 3 t satisfied: 4 ience
Very
satisfi
ed: 5

R11:
Relia
nceO
ne
R11:
R11: R11: mobil
RelianceOne R11: RelianceOne R11: RelianceOne
RelianceOne mobile RelianceOne mobile e
mobile linked mobile linked loyalty mobile linked loyalty
linked loyalty linked loyalty linked
loyalty programme Somewhat programme Neither
programme Very programme Somewh loyalt
programme dissatisfied: 2 satisfied nor dissatisfied: 3
dissatisfied: 1 at satisfied: 4 y
progr
amme
Very
satisfi
ed: 5

R12:
Parki
ng
R12: Parking R12: Parking R12: Parking
R12: Parking facility for R12: Parking facility facility
facility for the facility for the facility for the
the store Somewhat for the store Neither for
store store Very dissatisfied: store Somewhat
dissatisfied: 2 satisfied nor dissatisfied: 3 the
1 satisfied: 4 store
Very
satisfi
ed: 5

68
 R13:
Signb
oards
and
directi
R13: Signboards R13:
R13: Signboards R13: Signboards and R13: Signboards and ons to
and directions to Signboards and
and directions to easily directions to easily locate directions to easily locate easily
easily locate directions to easily
locate sections and sections and sections and locate
sections and locate sections and
products Very products Somewhat products Neither satisfied sectio
products products Somewhat
dissatisfied: 1 dissatisfied: 2 nor dissatisfied: 3 ns
satisfied: 4 and
produ
cts Ve
ry
satisfi
ed: 5

R14 :
Air
Condi
R14 : Air R14 : Air R14 : Air tionin
Conditioning R14 : Air Conditioning R14 : Air Conditioning g
Conditioning inside the Conditioning inside
inside the store inside the store Somewhat inside the store Neither inside
store Very dissatisfied: the store Somewhat
dissatisfied: 2 satisfied nor dissatisfied: 3 the
1 satisfied: 4
store
Very
satisfi
ed: 5

R15:
Produ
R15: Product R15: Product R15: Product R15: Product R15: Product ct
quality quality Very quality Somewhat quality Neither satisfied nor quality Somewhat qualit
dissatisfied: 1 dissatisfied: 2 dissatisfied: 3 satisfied: 4 y Ver
y
satisfi
ed: 5

R16: Toilet / R16: Toilet /

Washroom R16: Toilet / Washroom R16: Toilet /
Washroom
facilities facilities Somewhat Washroom facilities Neither
facilities Very
dissatisfied: 2 satisfied nor dissatisfied: 3
dissatisfied: 1

ONLY TO RELIANCE FRESH/ RELIANCE SMART / RELIANCE MARKET CUSTOMERS

Somewhat Neither satisfied nor Somewhat

Very dissatisfied: 1 dissatisfied: 2 dissatisfied: 3 satisfied: 4

69
A1: Freshness/ A1: Freshness/ A1: Freshness/ Quality
Quality of fruits A1: Freshness/ Quality of A1: Freshness/ Quality of
Quality of fruits and of fruits and vegetables
and vegetables fruits and vegetables fruits and vegetables
vegetables Neither satisfied nor
Somewhat dissatisfied: 2 Somewhat satisfied: 4
Very dissatisfied: 1 dissatisfied: 3

A2: Availability of A2: Availability

your preferred A2: Availability of your A2: Availability of your A2: Availability of your
of your preferred
pack sizes preferred pack sizes Somewhat preferred pack sizes Neither preferred pack sizes Somewhat
pack sizes Very
dissatisfied: 2 satisfied nor dissatisfied: 3 satisfied: 4
dissatisfied: 1

A3: Range and A3: Range and

Quality of chilled A3: Range and Quality
Quality of chilled and A3: Range and Quality of A3: Range and Quality of
and refrigerated of chilled and refrigerated
refrigerated chilled and refrigerated chilled and refrigerated
products products Neither satisfied nor
products Very products Somewhat dissatisfied: 2 products Somewhat satisfied: 4
dissatisfied: 3
dissatisfied: 1

Q15. Generally which mode of transport do you use to come to this store?
Walk
Bus
Local train/ Metro
Auto rickshaw / Cab
Cycle Rickshaw
2 Wheeler
Car
Refused

*Q16. How far is this store from your house?

Within 1 km
1 km – 2kms
2.1 kms – 3 kms
3.1 – 5 kms
5.1-10 kms
More than 10 kms

*Q17. How much time you take to reach this store from your house?
Less than 5 minutes
5-10 minutes

70
 11-15 minutes
16-30 minutes
31-60 minutes
61-90 minutes
More than 90 minutes

*Q18. How frequently do you shop from / visit this store?

Daily
Every 2-3 days
Once a week
Once in 1-2 weeks
Once a Month
Once every 1-2 month
Once every 3 months
Once every 6 months
Once a year

Q18a. Which statement on this card best describes how much you agree or disagree with the
following statement?

Somewhat
Somewhat Neither agree agree (4) Completely
Completely disagree (1) disagree (2) nor disagree (3) Agree (5)

R1: I shop at R1: I shop at

this store because this store because it
R1: I shop at this store because it is a R1: I shop at this store because it is a
it is a Reliance is a Reliance
Reliance store Neither agree nor disagree (3) Reliance store Somewhat agree (4)
store Completely store Somewhat
disagree (1) disagree (2)

R2: I get the R2: I get the

best quality and best quality and
R2: I get the best quality and genuine R2: I get the best quality and genuine
genuine products at genuine products at
products at a Reliance Store Neither agree nor products at a Reliance Store Somewhat agree
a Reliance a Reliance
disagree (3) (4)
Store Completely Store Somewhat
disagree (1) disagree (2)

71
 R3: I get the R3: I get the
best prices on best prices on
products at a products at a R3: I get the best prices on products at a R3: I get the best prices on products at a
Reliance Reliance Reliance Store Neither agree nor disagree (3) Reliance Store Somewhat agree (4)
Store Completely Store Somewhat
disagree (1) disagree (2)

R4: I trust the R4: I trust the

Reliance brand Reliance brand R4: I trust the Reliance brand R4: I trust the Reliance brand
name Completely name Somewhat name Neither agree nor disagree (3) name Somewhat agree (4)
disagree (1) disagree (2)

Q19. For classification purpose can you please tell me how many people reside in your
house?

Q20. Can you please tell me number of your household members by each age group?
Children less than 18 years old

Working Adults more than 18 years – 60 years old

Non-working Adults

Senior Citizens (more than 60 years old)

Q21. For the classification purpose we want to know your working status, can you please tell
me what is your current occupation?
Skilled/ Unskilled worker, Farm worker, Urban household domestic worker, Sanitation
Worker (Safai Karmchari), Industrial worker
Small Shop Owner, Small trader, Hawker
Businessman / Industrialist / Big trader / Contractor (Employing more than 10 workers)
Self Employed Professional: Doctor / Lawyer/Advocate / Chartered Accountant / Architect
/ Management Consultant (with independent practice), Artist, Author
Junior Executive Officer (Private Sector/Govt. Employee), Clerical staff, School teacher
(Primary/Secondary), Armed Forces (Non-officer cadre)
Middle/ Senior Executive Officer – Govt. employee/Armed forces (Officer cadre),
Corporate executive (Senior/Middle level), School Principal, College Lecturer, University
Professor, Doctor/Nurse/Compounder employed with hospital / clinic
Salesman/ Store Associates,
Supervisor: Industrial / Construction / Service sector supervisor / Team leader level
supervisor (Non-managerial white collar worker)
Housewife / Homemaker (Not formally employed)
Student
72
 Unemployed
Retired
Refused
Other (please specify)

Q24. Can you please tell me on an average what is your household’s monthly budget for
food, beverages, grocery and other household cleaning products? (Enter response in
Rupees in numbers)

Q25. And approximately what % or proportion of the above monthly household budget do
you buy from Reliance Stores?

100

Q26. Have you purchased any product from online ecommerce websites or mobile apps in
the last 3 months?
Yes
No

Q28. Have you heard of ecommerce site ajio.com?

Yes
No
Q29. Have you purchased any product from ajio.com in the last 3 months?
Yes
No

NAME

AREA WHERE HE/SHE STAYS

73
PINCODE

As an esteemed customer we would like to take your feedback again during the year, would
you give us your permission to contact you again on your preferred mobile number/ email id?
Yes
No

Email ID

MOBILE NO.

Are you sure that you have filled all the variables correctly?
Yes
No

*Name of the Student

Thank you. The response has been recorded.

74