A

ON

“Customer Preference Analysis and Increase in the Sales of the Garment Section.”

JAIPURIA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT

Submitted By:
Sajal Khanna
PGDM(RM) 2009-11
JIML-09-R-017
 PREFACE

PGDM is the one of the most reputed professional coures in the

field of Retail Management.It include theory as well as its
practical application.Summer Training is an integral part of
PGDM-retail programme, for sucessful completion of this
programme require two months summer training in retail
organisation.

So after completion of third trimester each student at Jaipuria

Institute of Management, Lucknow need to under go two months
training in an organisation.

This training serves the purposes of acquainting the student with

environment of an organisation in which student have to work
hard in future .Only theoretical knowledge is not enough but its
practical application is also required to be learned.
I was fortunate enough to have an opportunity of doing summer
training at Spencer’s Hyper, Lucknow. Every trainee was
required to prepare a report of his working in the organisation. I
was assigned a project on

“Customer Preference Analysis and tools to increase the sale of

the garment section.”

In this report,all the important findings of the project are

included ,over and above an overall profile of the company(RPG
Group) is also given.It is hoped that this report will make the
readers familiar with the store and also give the idea about the
product and services offered by the company.

2
 D
ECLARATION

I, Sajal Khanna student of Jaipuria Institute of Management,

Lucknow, hereby declare that this project report entitled
“Customer Preference Analysis and the Increment in the sales
of Garment section.” for Spencer Retail Limited (A RPG
Enterprise), Lucknow, is a bonafide record of work done by me
during the course of summer internship project work of PGDM
program and all contents and facts are prepared and presented by
me without any bias.

Place: Sajal Khanna

Date:

3
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I express my sage sense of gratitude and
indebtedness to the Directorl, Prof. S. Chakraborty of “JAIPURIA
INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT”, LUCKNOW, from the bottom
of my heart, for his unprecedented support and faith that I do the
best and his valuable recommendation and for accepting this
project.
I sincerely express my thanks to our Marketing lecturer
Dr. Shalini Nath Tripathi for her valuable guidance and
intellectual suggestions during this project.
Also, I also express my sincere thankfulness to my mentor
Ms. Reeti Agarwal for their kind advice, suggestions and constant
help in a lot of various ways during project course.

I take immense pleasure in thanking Mr. Rajneesh Rai, Store

Manager and Mr. Shekhar Sharma, HR Manager, for having
permitted me to carry out this project work.

I wish to express my deep sense of gratitude to my Internal Guide,

Mr. Anubhav Kesarwani for her able guidance and useful
suggestions, which helped me in completing the project work, in
time.

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Needless to mention that Mr. Pranav Tripathi, who had been a
source of inspiration and for his timely guidance in the conduct of
our project work. I would also like to thank Anna Ma’am and
Sheffali Ma’am for all their valuable assistance in the project
work.

Finally, yet importantly, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks

to my beloved parents for their blessings, my friends/classmates
for their help and wishes for the successful completion of this
project.

Sajal Khanna

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 Retailing – Customer is King

“A Customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is

not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an
interruption on our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an
outside of our business. He is a part of it and we are not doing him
a favor by servicing him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an
opportunity to do so.”
Mahatma Gandhi

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 The Indian Macro
Economy
• Tops AT Kearney list of emerging markets for global
Retailers to enter.
• 2nd Fastest growing economy in the World and 50% of the
total GDP led by services such as IT, telecommunications,
healthcare and retailing.
st
• GDP growth rate for the year 2007-08 ended at 9.4% (in 1
quarter) and current GDP (6 %) is better than China and
other developed country.
• Reserves crossed the $150 billion mark, showcasing India as
one of the top ten holders of Foreign exchange reserves.
• Population – 1000+ Million – 50 Million Rich and 300
Million Middle class

• 65% of population below 35 years and 54% below age 25

years

• Working population in India is growing like most other

developed countries.

• China has issues of median age 30-34 years at the early

stage of development and psychology issues after
implementation of “one child policy”

• Housing Boom – due to nuclear family, low interest rates,

tax benefits from government and lastly strong Indian values
driven by savings and “owning home”

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• Economy - 4h largest economy in the world on PPP basis
(next only to USA, China and Japan) -One of the fastest
growing economy with 6.5% average growth in GDP for last
10 years and is expected to rank 3rd by 2010, just behind the
US and China

• Fragmented retailing with 5 million retailers and 95% less

than 500 sq ft – nation of shop-keepers -brilliant trading and
entrepreneur community

• Over 3.9 million tourists visited India this year, up from 3.0
million last year.
• India is on the track to be the servicing capital of the world
(As China is manufacturing capital) and Organized retail
growing at 25-30%+ p.a. compound growth.

• IPL has again drastically changed the outlook of the whole

world towards India. It has the highest paid players across
the Globe / Sports.

• Real Estate & Retailers in India are the most aggressive in

Asia in expanding their businesses, thus creating a huge
demand for real estate. Their preferred means of expansion
is to increase the number of outlets in a city and also expand
to other regions.

• Driven by changing lifestyles, strong income growth and

favorable demographic patterns, Indian retail is expanding
at a rapid pace.

• Besides the 6 metros, India has 61 other cities with

populations greater than 0.5 million and contributes about
14% to the country’s GDP.

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 India Vs World

• Indian retail is fragmented with over 12 million outlets

operating in the country which is 13 times more the all retail
outlets operating in USA (0.9 million outlets).

• India has the highest number of outlets per capita in the

world - widely spread retail network but with the lowest per
capita retail space (@ 2 sq. ft. per person)

• Annual turnover of Wal-Mart (Sales in 2001 were $219

billion) is higher than the size of Indian retail industry.
Almost 100 times more than the turnover of HLL (India's
largest FMCG Company).

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• Wal-Mart - over 4,800 stores (over 47 million square meters)
where as none of India's large format store (Spencer’s, Big
Bazaar, Shoppers' Stop, Westside, Lifestyle) can compare.

• The Wal-Mart sales per hour of $22 million are

incomparable to any retailer in the world. Numbers of
employees in Wal-Mart are about 1.3 million where as the
entire Indian retail industry employs about three million
people.

• One-day sales record at Wal-Mart (11/23/01) $1.25 billion -

roughly two third of HLL's annual turnover.

• Developed economies like the U.S. employ between 10 and

11 percent of their workforce in retailing (against 7 percent
employed in India today).

• 60% of retailers in India feel that the multiple format

approach will be successful here whereas in US 34 of the
fastest-growing 50 retailers have just one format
• Inventory turns ratio: measures efficiency of operations. The
U.S. retail sector has an average inventory turns ratio of
about 18. Many Indian retailers have inventory turns levels
between 4 and 10 - KPMG surveyed.

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• Global best-practice retailers can achieve more than 95
percent availability of all SKUs on the retail shelves
(translating into a stock-out level of less than 5 %).The
stock-out levels among Indian retailers surveyed ranged
from 5 to 15 percent.

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 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

India is undergoing a retail revolution from the unorganized to the

organized sector. There are now more modern retail formats such
as hypermarkets, supermarkets and malls. Several international
companies such as Wal-Mart, Carrefour, and Tesco are planning
their entry and establishment into the Indian market while several
domestic companies are setting up their retail setups, exclusive
showrooms and large format stores such as Reliance, Tata and the
whole concept of shopping has altered in terms of format and
consumer buying behavior, ushering in a revolution in shopping in
India.

These trends indicate that retailing, as an industry, has come into

its own. According to a study by the Confederation of Indian
Industry organized retail sales in India were a mere Rs. 135
billion in 2000 but today with over 15 million outlets, that provide
employment to over 74 million people (7% of the population), the
size of the retail industry stands at USD 350 billion and it is
expected to grow at a compounded 30% over the next 5 years.

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Retailing is an important infrastructure perquisite for modernizing
India and can facilitate rapid economic growth. Modernization of
all retail services would enable efficient delivery of goods and
value-added services to the consumer, making a higher
contribution to the Gross Domestic Product.

This project focuses on taking an in-depth analysis of Customers.

The analysis is done by looking at Global retail trends vis-à-vis
the ones in India, the current state of the Indian retail industry,
industry characteristics and Economic drivers of change, to
understand the consumer buying behavior and what it foretells
about the nature of the Industry. To predict the kind of retail
models that would work in India, besides analyzing the existing
ones, the attempt has been to predict potentially promising
formats.

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 TABEL OF CONTENTS

S.No. CONTENTS Pg No.

1. Introduction to Retailing 14
2. Objective of the Study 16
3. Company Profile
RPG Group 17
Spencer’s Retail Ltd
4. Customer Catchment Analysis 39
5. Data Analysis and Interpretation 41
6. Findings of the Study 75
7. Challenges and Opportunities 78
8. Suggestions and Recommendations 80
9. Limitation of the Study 82
10. Conclusion 83
11. Garment Section Sales Increased 85
12. Annexure 88
13. Bibliography 92

Introduction

The word retail has its origin in French word retaillier and means “to cut a piece off’’ or
“to break bulk”. The term Retailing is defined as “All activities involved in selling goods

14
and services directly to final consumers for their personal and non-business use”. In
simple terms, it implies a first-hand transaction with customer. Retailing involves a direct
interface with the customer and the coordination of business activities from end to end
right, from the concept or design stage of a product or offering, to its delivery and post
delivery service to the customer. The industry has contributed to the fastest changing and
dynamic industries in the world today.

Retailing, it is an emerging trend in the India and Lucknow is not far behind which is also
witnessing the stupendous growth and opportunities presented by this sector. Many
institutions- Manufacturing, Wholesalers and retailers – do retailing, but most retailing is
done by Retailers. A business wholesales come from primarily from retailing. It is a
proven fact that in India the retail industry has become the 2 nd largest employer after
agriculture. Indian retail sector is in boom period and many reasons are contributing to it.

The retail scenario in India is unique. Much of it is in the unorganized sector, with over
12 million retail outlets of various sizes and formats. Almost 95% of these retail outlets
are less than 500 sq. ft. In size, the per capita retail space in India being 2 sq. ft. compared
to the US figure of 16 sq. ft. Thus India’s per capita retailing space is the lowest in the
world.

With more than 9 outlets per 1000 people, India has the largest number of outlets in the
world. Most of them are independent and contribute as much as 95% to the total retail
sales. Because of the increasing number of nuclear family, working women, greater work
pressure and increased commuting time, convenience has become a priority for the Indian
consumers.

The growth and development of organized retailing in India is driven by two main factors
– lower price and benefits the consumers can’t resist. According to experts, economies of
scale drive down the cost of supply chain, allowing retailers to offers more benefits
offered to the customers. Globally, retailing is customer-centric with an emphasis on
innovation in products, process and services. In short, the customer is the king.

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The Indian retail market is the 5th largest retail destination globally. It is estimated to
grow from the US $ 330 billion in 2007 to US $ 427 billion by 2010 and US $ 637 billion
by 2015.

In Lucknow, Spencer’s Retail came up as the organized retail outlet in the form of a
Hypermarket in the year 200, with its inception in Lucknow, shopping got an altogether
new meaning in Lucknow. Some of the striking features of Spencer’s Retail – a big and
different formats having nice store image, along with soothing music and luring visual
display of the products with self-selection facility magnetizing customers to choose from
a wide assortment and variety of the products priced with entrancing discounts and
fabulous offers.

The emergence of organized retailing has led to competition which has resulted to the
demographics & psychographic changes in the life of urban consumers. The life style and
purchasing power of the middle class & upper class segment have fuelled the growth of
organized retailing to intense competition among the big players.

Spencer’s Retail is facing big intense competition from organized retail outlets like Big
Bazaar, Shopper’s Stop, Pantaloon’s, Vishal Mega Mart etc, to name a few, and from
unorganized retailers like Kirana shops, Garment shops etc. Competition in retail sector
has become extremely keen. Many new players coming in the retail market has increased
the degree of competition by adopting 5 P’s (i.e. place, product, price, promotion and
people) for successful retailing. While some of the exiting retailers survived, others failed
to do so.

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 Objectives of the study
1. Demographic analysis of Trade area of Spencer’s Hyper, Lucknow.

2. To study about the perception of customers with reference to availability of

products and services in Spencer’s.

3. To study about customer preferences and frequency of shopping.

4. To know the target customer’s of Spencer’s Retail at Gomti Nagar.

5. To understand the customer’s expectation from retail service provider

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 About Company

Type: - Private Conglomerate

Founded: - Mumbai, India (1979)

Founder(s):- RP Goenka

Headquarters: - Mumbai, India

Key People: - RP Goenka (Chairman Emeritus)

Harsh Goenka (Chairman)
Sanjeev Goenka (Vice Chairman)

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Industry: - Power, Retail, Tyres/Tires, Transmission,
Technology, Entertainment and other

Revenue: - US$3.25 billion

Employees: - 58000

Website: - www.rpggroup.com

RPG Enterprises:-
RPG Enterprises, established in 1979 by RP Goenka, is one of India’s fastest growing
business groups with a turnover touching Turnover of Rs. 13,500 cr. and initially
encompassed Phillips Carbon Black, Asian Cables, Agarpara Jute and Murphy India.
Currently, RP Goenka retains the title of Chairman Emeritus, while the chairmanship and
vice-chairman ship have been assumed by his sons Harish and Sanjeev Goenka
respectively.
The group has more than twenty companies managing diverse business interests in the
areas of Power, Tyre, Transmission, IT, Retail, Entertainment, Carbon Black, and
Specialty.
The conglomerate’s major companies, subsidiaries and affiliates are…..

Power
• CESC
• Noida Power Company Limited

Tyres / Tires
• CEAT
• CEAT Srilanka
• Phillips Carbon Black

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• Harrisons Malayalam

Transmission
• KEC International
• RPG Transmission
• Nitel

Technology
• Zensar Technologies
• RPG Cables
• RPG Life Sciences
• Raychem RPG

Retail
• Spencer's Retail
• Music World
• Books and Beyond
• RPG Cellucom

Entertainment
• Saregama

Other
• Spencer's Travel Services
• Spencer International Hotels

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Wide-ranging businesses, growing returns and a reputation to reckon, makes working
with RPG an enriching experience. Where entrepreneurial skills are valued, excellence is
the by-word, and performance is a pre-requisite.

Management
The RPG Management Board is the backbone of the conglomerate. Its members
are highly qualified professionals, well experienced in their respective fields.

Values
RPG’s business ethics promote higher levels of excellence. The group’s values of
Customer Sovereignty, People Orientation, Innovation & Entrepreneurship,
Transparency & Integrity and Passion for Superior Performance, Anticipation, Speed
and Flexibility propel it to perform and excel in all spheres of the business.

Quality
For RPG quality determines success. Continuous process improvements are
carried out to ensure complete satisfaction of customer and market requirements.

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 Beyond Business
RPG is a socially responsible organization; believing in giving back to the
community what it has gained from it. The group regularly contributes toward the
welfare of various social groups and is involved in promoting social activities in the
field of sports and arts.

History of RPG Group

The history of RPG began in 1820 when Ramdutt Goenka, from a small town in
Rajasthan, came to Calcutta to do business with the British East India Company. The
following milestones speak of his enterprising efforts, and the subsequent growth of the
RPG group.
• By the 1900s the Goenka’s establish themselves in diverse business sectors like
banking, textiles, jute and tea.

• Sir Hariram Goenka and Sir Badridas Goenka are conferred knighthood by the
British for outstanding contribution to business and the community.

• In 1933, Sir Badridas Goenka becomes the first Indian to be appointed Chairman
of the Imperial Bank of India (now the State Bank of India).

• He is elected President of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and

Industry (FICCI) in 1945.

• Keshav Prasad Goenka (son of Sir Badridas Goenka) continues the successful
trait of entrepreneurship.

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• In 1950 Goenka’s acquire two British trading houses - Duncan Brothers and
Octavius Steel.

• After successful acquisitions in the areas of tea, automobile, tyre, jute, cotton
textile and electric cables, Keshav Prasad Goenka retires in the 70s. His business
is taken over by his three sons.

• One of the sons, Rama Prasad Goenka (better known as RP Goenka), starts RPG
Enterprises in 1979 with Phillips Carbon Black, Asian Cables, Agarpara Jute and
Murphy India.

• The 80s see further acquisitions by the RPG group, the first being CEAT Tyres of
India in 1981. The group then went on to acquire KEC (1982); Searle India, now
RPG Life Sciences (1983); Dunlop (1984); HMV (1988); and finally CESC,
Harrisons Malayalam, Spencer & Co. and ICIM in 1989.

• RP Goenka’s sons Harsh (Chairman) and Sanjeev (Vice-Chairman) spearhead the

group’s management from 1990.

• RP Goenka currently oversees the group’s affairs as “Chairman Emeritus”.

Today, RPG has more than twenty companies across eight business sectors, with a
Turnover of Rs. 13,500 cr.

• The group recorded a turnover of Rs 11,500 crore (equivalent to Rs. 115 billion)
for fiscal year 2007.

Management Board

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 Company History
Cont…..

YEAR
EVENTS
1987 - The company was established in the year. The main objects of the company are
marketing and distribution manufacture of Pharmaceuticals-Aerated waters and other
food products- Marketing of consumer durables- Trawlers and marine products
processing- Travel and shipping- Imports and Exports - Hotels and Catering- Tea estater-
Chain departmental stores-computer and computer services- Real Estates.

- M/s Kellner Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Vulcan Electricals Ltd., Spencer International Hotels
Ltd., Spencer, Furnitures & Furnishing, Spencer Estates Ltd., Spencer Consumer

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Products and Services Ltd., Spencer Pharmaceticals Ltd., G.F.Kellner & Co. Ltd., Fiesta
Restaurant Ltd., Kartik Pharmaceuticals Ltd., and Spencer Information Services are the
subsidiaries.

1995 - Spencer Industrial Fund Ltd has become a Subsidiary of Spencer International
Hotels Ltd under provision of Section 4(1) (a) of the Companies Act, 1956 and
accordingly a Subsidiary of this Company also from 24th January.

1996 - The Company has entered into a Technical Assistance cum Joint venture options
Agreement with M/s. Dairy Farm International Holdings Ltd., a major International
retailing force operating in several countries.

1997 - During the year the company has entered into a Joint Venture agreement with DFI
Mauritius Limited to enter yet another Retail Format. A chain of retail drugstores, dealing
in Medicines, Cosmetics, Toiletries and allied Health and Beauty products, is proposed to
be set up on a nation-wide basis.

- A new company has been named as RPG Guardian Private Limited and is on a mission
to lop a highly regarded retail business in India by offering excellent service and value to
customers. The company has been set up on a 50 : 50 equity partnership basis. The total
paid up capital of the company will be Rs. 450 lakhs consisting of 45,00,000 of equity
shares of Rs. 10/- each.

1998 - Mr P.K. Mohapatra appointed as Managing Director w.e.f. 1st April.

- The Company's expansion into Food Retailing through the chain of Food World
Supermarket started during 1996 made significant progress during the year. - Foodworld
has became a household name in three cities enjoying high patronage from its customers
and suppliers.

2000 - Spencer & Company, an RPG group outfit, has signed a joint venture agreement
with Dairy Farm International Mauritius (DFI) to launch a chain of large distribution
infrastrucutre, essentially meant to serve the small retailer.

- The Company will form a joint venture company, as a subsidiary of Spencer’s.

Spencer's Retail
.
RPG Enterprises is not only one of the biggest, but also of the most respected names in
the industry. A US $ 3.25 billion dollars business conglomerate, RPG is one of the

25
powerhouses that drive Indian industry. With more than twenty companies, it spans six
business sectors - Power, Tyres, Transmission, Technology, Retail and Entertainment.
With such a diverse portfolio, RPG Enterprises has had unrivalled success which speaks
very highly of the efficiency and vision with which the group is run. Over the years, RPG
Enterprises has built a huge reservoir of trust and goodwill among the people of India.
We at Spencer’s are truly proud to be a part of the RPG family.

About Spencer’s Retail Ltd.

Spencer’s Retail Limited, part of the Rs 13,500 crores RPG group, is one of India’s
largest and fastest growing multi-format retailer with 350 stores, including 35 large
format stores across 60 cities in India. Spencer’s focuses on verticals like food and
grocery, fruit and vegetables, electrical and electronics, home and office essentials,
garments and fashion accessories, toys, food and personal care, music and books.
Established in 1996, Spencer’s has become a popular destination for shoppers in India
with hypermarkets and convenient stores catering to various shopping needs of its large
consumer base. We are proud today of our 350 stores across 60 cities covering a retail
trading area of 1.3 million square feet and an astonishing 4.5 million customers a month.
Spencer’s is one of the earliest entrants into the retail space and literally introduced the
Indian consumer to the concept of organized retailing. In fact, the first ever hyper store in
India was launched by Spencer’s at Hyderabad in the year 2001. The journey onwards
has been one of the most aggressive of all the retail players in India. The company started
its operations way back in the early 90’s in the south and over the last one year-and-a-
half, it has ramped up operations to about 350 stores across 60 cities in India. Spencer’s is
on a high growth path.

Important Point:-
• Fastest growing retail stores with multiple formats and retailing food, apparel,
fashion, electronics, lifestyle products, music and books.
• Established in 1996 and headquarter is in Chennai.

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• Retail footage of over 6 million square feet and over 350 Spencer’s stores in 60 cities.
• Spencer’s Retail has a loyalty program. They offer a co-branded credit card with
HSBC bank (HSBC Spencer's Retail Credit Card).
• Spencer's Retail Limited, one of India's largest food first multi-format retailer, has
been awarded the Coca Cola Golden Spoon "Most Admired Food & Grocery Retailer
for Convenience and Express formats" Award at the Food Forum of India, 2009 held
in Mumbai and this is the third award that the organization has received, three years
in a row. Spencer’s was awarded the Turnaround Retailer of the year 2006 at the
India Retailers Forum, 2007 in Mumbai. And Most Evolved Retailer of the year 2007
at the India Retail Forum, 2008.
• With an immense amount of expertise and credibility, Spencer’s Retail has become
the highest benchmark for the Indian retail Industry. In fact, the company’s
continuing expansion plans aim to help Spencer’s Retail meet the challenges of the
retail industry in an even better manner than it does today.

New Ventures
• Spencer’s retail has announced a tie-up with British retailer Woolworths Plc for
exclusively selling its famous toy brand Chad Valley through its outlets.
• Besides the Chad Valley range of toys (available at prices Rs. 49 upwards),
Woolworths is also planning to introduce the Ladybird range of kids wear.

Vision
To “build Spencer’s as the most professionally managed retail business in the country
through:-
• Excellence in all operating processes;
• Nurturing and facilitating a learning and growth culture;
• Building a unique retail experience for the customers.

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 Mission
Strives to exceed the aspirations of its customers for a healthy and fulfilling lifestyle by
providing:-
• The most innovative consumer goods and delectable taste experience.
• The ultimate shopping experience.
• Unsurpassed customer service.
• Unbeatable value
• The ‘next’ place away from home or office to relax and indulge themselves.

Major Future Plan

• It will be going in for public issue within the next 12 months to raise capital for
expansion.
• The company plans to focus on the larger format stores in the identified growth
clusters with higher market potential value and stronger brand equity for
Spencer's. These clusters are Bangalore, Hyderabad, Coastal Andhra Pradesh,
Chennai, Delhi NCR, East UP, Pune, Mumbai, South Kerala, Aurangabad, Punjab
and Kolkata.
• The company will be investing Rs. 10 billion over the next 3 years using both
internal source and an IPO.
• The company has already reserved 1 million square feet of space all over the
country and will be creating close to 10,000 jobs in its different formats.
• Spencer’s Retail currently employee’s 4,500 people and has 6 million square feet
of space.

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 • In every financial year, Spencer’s is increasing its stores from 150 to 250 with a
target of expanding by 400 more in the next two years.
• The company had last year announced a Rs 1,500 investment plan to expand its
business across the country.
• Spencer’s was the first to introduce the concept of music retailing with "Music
World" chain of stores, followed by "Books and Beyond"[Retail chain of Book
Stores] and "RPG Cellucom"[Retail Chain of Mobile Stores]. They are planning
to setup 1,500 cellcoms and 400 Music Stores by 2010.
• Spencer’s has announced that it will very soon launch CRT TVs under the brand
name Yashika.
• Spencer’s is all set to enter the standalone Lifestyle Retailing segment by opening
American Lifestyle Brand stores in India - Beverly Hills Polo Club [BHPC]. The
company plans to setup five BHPC stores all in the Delhi NCR region and then
move to other metros.

Technology in Retail: The ERP

Initiative at Spencer's Retail Ltd.
Over the years, during the turn of twentieth century as the consumer demand increased
and the retailers geared up to meet this increase world over, technology evolved rapidly
to support this growth. The hardware and software tools that have now become almost
essential for retailing can be classified into 3 broad categories:

Customer Interfacing Systems

• Bar Coding and Scanners

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 Point of Sale (POS) systems use scanners and bar coding to identify an item, use
pre-stored data to calculate the cost and generate the total bill for a client.

• Payment

Payment through credit cards has become quite widespread and this enables a fast
and easy payment process. Electronic cheque conversion, a recent development in
this area, processes a cheque electronically by transmitting transaction
information to the retailer and consumer's bank.

• Internet

Internet is also rapidly evolving as a customer interface, removing the need of a

customer physically visiting the store.

Operation Support Systems

• ERP System

Various Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) vendors have developed retail-

specific systems which help in integrating all the functions from warehousing to
distribution, front and back office store systems and merchandising. An integrated
supply chain helps the retailer in maintaining his stocks, getting his supplies on
time, preventing stock-outs and thus reducing his costs, while servicing the
customer better.

• CRM Systems

The rise of loyalty programs, mail order and the Internet has provided retailers
with real access to consumer data. Data warehousing and mining technologies
offers retailers the tools they need to make sense of their consumer data and apply
it to business.

• Advanced Planning and Scheduling Systems

APS systems can provide improved control across the supply chain, all the way
from raw material suppliers, right through to the retail shelf. They enable
consolidation of activities such as long term budgeting, monthly forecasting,
weekly factory scheduling and daily distribution scheduling into one overall
planning process using a single set of data.

Strategic Decision Support Systems

• Store Site Location

30
 Demographics and buying patterns of residents of an area can be used to compare
various possible sites for opening new stores. Today, software packages are
helping retailers not only in their locational decisions but in decisions regarding
store sizing and floor-spaces as well.

• Visual Merchandising

The decision on how to place and stack items in a store is no more taken on the gut
feel of the store manager. A larger number of visual merchandising tools are available
to him to evaluate the impact of his stacking options

To manage this kind of growth, it was necessary to move out of legacy systems, as they
didn't provide the scalability that was needed. Plus, some of its stores are currently
working on as many as four different legacy systems, managing which was very difficult.
It needed a solution to manage everything under one umbrella. So it engaged a team of
experts to evaluate various solutions in the market. Spencer's found that SAP came
closest to fulfilling its needs. Project Shakti has been operating for the last two years out
of Chennai and it has already gone live in seven States – Andhra Pradesh (Vizag since 17
November 2006), Haryana (Gurgaon, since March 08, 2007), Maharashtra, Gujarat, West
Bengal, Jharkhand, and Karnataka (Bangalore, since 1 July 2008). Spencer's Retail has
rolled out its SAP solution to approximately 207 stores and expects to complete
deployment to more than 350 stores by October 2008. While 53% stores run on SAP,
28% stores run on Oracle and 18% stores run on FoxPro.They are using the latest
MySAP ERP IS Retail ECC 6.0 for their operations in Books & Beyond, and are
gradually migrating the rest to SAP.

At RPG, the businesses are divided into three entities (Spencer's, Music World and Books
& Beyond). Spencer's business is basically procurement of articles from respective
distribution centres (DC) and selling to customers. The DCs in turn would be procuring
articles based on the site's need from different vendors. The business processes covered
under this are purchase, sales, inventory controlling along with financial accounting. The
challenges faced during the implementation are managing the different pricing
procedures which change very rapidly, managing the promotions; automation of the POS
information, high volume of information to be processed, GMROI (Gross Margin Return
on Investment) etc.

They have followed SAP Methodology during the course of this implementation. The
Project leader from SAP India gathered the necessary KPI's, Dimensions and reports
from the functional consultants. Based on these inputs he prepared a Data Model and the

31
Blue Print. Taking this Blue print as input the team at RPG was responsible in preparing
the technical specs and also realize/develop the objects.

With ERP, high-availability is a challenge as the network over which the data travels
from, say, a datacenter to the store is not within its control and belongs to an external
agency. Spencer's ERP datacenter is based out of Kolkata along with the business
warehousing servers. For data processing, they have 'staging servers'. These are
intermediary servers to store data temporarily before moving it to the SAP Production
server. Eventually, all stores and warehouses across all locations will be integrated with
its datacenter and shall be working on a real-time basis, except for the PoS billing system.
At the end of each working day, the data is sent to the parent datacenter for processing
and analytics.

In its legacy systems, they have deployed solutions like SAS and SAPZone. They use
them to do bill-value and time analysis. They are also using MySAP Business
Warehousing BW 7.0 for analytics. While their aggregated sales data goes to the SAP
production server, the non-aggregated data goes to the business warehousing server for
analytics at Kolkata. The latter helps them analyze customer buying patterns. The former
data helps them manage inventory, stock

keeping, etc. While some basic infrastructure is in place already, they are gradually
implementing business intelligence into their system in due course.

An important pillar of retail business is ERP, which has three elements – People, Process
and Technology. The People part is most difficult to manage as it needs to recruit, train
and motivate people constantly, generate awareness and do change management. This
makes the task more challenging, as it needs to manage deployments in such a dynamic
environment keeping pace with the company's exponential growth plans.

Operations
Spencer's has retail footage of over 1 million square feet and over 275 Spencer's stores in
50 cities. The company operates through the following formats:

• The Spencer's Hyper stores are destination stores, of more than 15,000 sq.
ft in size. They offer everything under one roof. The merchandise ranges
from fruits & vegetables, processed foods (Ready to Eat, Ready to Cook,
FMCG products),specialty foods including international, sugar free,
organic foods, etc...groceries, meat, chicken, fish, bakery, chilled and
frozen foods, garments, consumer electronics & electrical products, home

32
 care, home décor & home needs, office stationeries, soft toys. Besides, the
stores also comprise book & music retailing, electronic gadgets and IT
accessories. On an average, a Spencer's hyper stocks 70,000 SKUs across
35,000 items.

• The Spencer's stores are neighborhood stores ranging from 1500 less than
15000 sq. ft. These stores stock the necessary range and assortment in fruit
and vegetables, fmcg food and non-food, staples and frozen foods and
cater to the daily and weekly top-up shopping needs of the consumer.
Some of these stores which have floor area of more than 10,000 sq ft
sometimes offer home care products; personal care products, bakery,
chilled and frozen food; baby care, basics in garments and limited range of
electronics and electrical.

Formats of Spencer’s outlets

Spencer’s has retail footage over 2 million square feet and over 400 Spencer’s stores
in 65 cities.

33
The Company operates through the following formats:

1. Spencer’s Hypermarkets: A fast growing retail network of

hypermarkets with large format stores in Mumbai, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad,
Lucknow, Calicut, Hyderabad, Vizag, Vijaywada, Aurangabad, Durgapur and
Kolkata.

2. Spencer’s super: One of the largest supermarket chains in the food and
grocery segment in India.

3. Spencer’s Daily: Small format stores conveniently located with a range of

products to meet daily household needs.

4. Spencer’s express: Food and grocery store next door.

Spencer’s Daily

34
 Fresh Fruit Stall Market stall Manton Market

 The Spencer’s Daily store is a friendly neighborhood store, which caters to the
entire daily shopping needs- from regular groceries to fresh food and also weekly
top-up shopping.

 It is about 4000-7000 sq ft in size and with a bright and friendly atmosphere;

Spencer’s Daily saves the hassle of bargaining with the local kirana shop owners
(because it offers the lowest possible prices).

Spencer’s Express

35
 Spencer’s Express is a store next door for the fresh needs at arm’s length.

 These stores are around 1000 sq ft in size. They are open from 7 am to 9 pm and
also provides with home delivery.

 The Express stores stock dairy, fruit and vegetables, bread and bread products, cut
vegetables/ready to cook, fruit juice, fresh batter, fresh coffee/tea, fresh masalas,
fresh pickles, fresh Ghee, fresh Fish and meat.

36
 Spencer’s Fresh

 Spencer’s fresh stores provide with an enjoyable and convenient

shopping environment in very own neighborhood. These 2000 sq
ft. air conditioned stores are well stocked with Fresh food of very
best quality, such as fresh farm produce, vegetables, fruit, milk,
eggs, breads and much more. With an impressive range and a
clean, bright and hygienic ambience, Spencer’s Fresh is far better
the regular sabzi mandis or local vegetables markets and at
Spencer’s.

 Fresh consumers not only do get fresh, clean and tasty farm
produce but also the lowest possible prices in the locality, yes even
lower than sabziwala!

37
 Spencer’s Super

 The Spencer’s Super is the place to go for the monthly shopping.

 About 8000-15000 sq ft. in size, the Spencer’s Super not only

caters to the daily needs but also stocks home care products;
personal care products, Bakery, Chilled and frozen food; Baby
care besides groceries & staples, Fresh fruits and vegetable.

38
 Spencer’s Hyper

 The Spencer’s Hypermarkets are huge destination stores, more than

25,000 sq ft. in trading area. Shoppers come here looking for fantastic
deals across all categories.

 Hypermarkets ensure a comfortable, clean, bright and functional

ambience to shop along with the convenience of finding everything
under one roof at the best value for money.

39
 India’s first modern format hypermarket was opened by Spencer’s in Hyderabad in
January 2001. Located over an area of 1,20,000 sq.ft., the store has a trading area of
36,000 sq.ft. The Spencer’s hypermarkets, located across the country, are open
throughout the day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

Spencer’s already employ over 9000 employees across 60 cities. Roughly 1/3rd of the
team are women.

Spencer’s began its operations in India way back in 1863 and since then has
remained a part of the lives of Indian consumers. 145 years later, the Spencer’s name
still evokes special memory of authentic quality at affordable prices.

Currently, RPG’s Retail activity comprises Spencer’s Retail, RPG Cellucom, Books
& Beyond and MusicWorld. RPG’s total retail outlets are more than …… The total area
of all Spencer’s stores across the country is over ….. sq.ft. Spencer’s currently has a
national consumer base of over 48 million people, who walk into the store every year.

Snapshot
Different Formats of Spencer’s
For Stocks Minimum
mat Trading
Area
(sq. ft.)
Spencer’s Express dairy, fruit and vegetables, bread and bread
products, fruit juice, fresh batter, fresh 1000
coffee/tea, masalas, pickles, Ghee, Fish and
meat.
Spencer’s Fresh vegetables, fruit, milk, eggs, breads 2000

Spencer’s daily regular groceries 4000-7000

40
 Spencer’s Super home care products; personal care 8000-15000
products, Bakery, Chilled and frozen food;
Baby care products
Spencer’s Hyper Miscellaneous More than 25000

CATCHMENT ANALYSIS

Introduction about Gomti Nagar, Lucknow:-

Gomti Nagar is developing area of Lucknow and it consists of all class of family. In his
area 5.4% families belong to Socio Economy Class (SEC) A+, 38.6% families belong to
SEC A, 52% families belong to SEC B and 4% families belong to SEC C. All this result
has been found with the help of Area Mapping technique and catchment analysis, all
these data are approximate. By all these data we can find that this area is having good
market opportunities retail Hypermarket.

• If a company doesn’t know who its shoppers are, how can company give them
what they want? If company doesn’t know where they come from, how can
company communicate with them? Finding answers to these questions is vital but
catchment analysis is very helpful in that.
• A company or retail store will be able to optimize its activities if and only if
company knows its market in depth. Its market penetration, its success and its
potential depend on geographical factors, hard to grasp, hard to fully understand,
but catchment analysis is very helpful.
• In the catchment analysis, first part is the area mapping of that local market and
through that finds the locations of the competitors, customers and traffic between
them. Through that we quantify the sizes and potentials of that local catchment
areas and market of that area as whole.

41
 • With the help of catchment analysis, company knows the best location for
business, target and potential customers

Type of catchment area

There are four type of catchment that is following,

Unitary Catchment

It is hub of the catchment area around the outlet, from where maximum number of
people comes to the retail stores for shopping.

Secondary Catchment

This area is called secondary catchment area which is around 2 km far away retail
stores from where some people come to the shop for shopping.

Tertiary Catchment

The area from where only some selected or loyal customers come to the retail
stores that is more than 2 km far from outlet.

Outer Catchment

Outer catchment area is totally outer area from where only less no. of person
sometimes comes to the outlet,

42
 Data Analysis and
Interpretation
Research in retail is very essential, as customer preferences and choices are dynamic and
change frequently, the retail company needs to understand these before redesigning its
processes for enhancing business and many more. Since customer interaction takes place
at the store and near store, there is a big opportunity to gather first hand information and
feedback from customers through research and survey. Research is carried out at the
retail level for concept testing, business feasibility analysis, identification of the right
product mix, target customer and market potential.

The major objectives of analysis of data are:-

• To evaluate and enhance data quality

43
 • Describe the study population and its relationship
• Examine effects of other relevant factors
• Seek further insight into the relationship observed or not observed
• Evaluate impact and importance

Target Customers- Age Wise:-

This Table reveals about age group of customers at Gomti Nagar, Lucknow.
Table-1

Age Group of Respondents

Age Group No. of % of
18-25 134
Respondents 33.5
Respondents
26-35 152 38
36-45 56 14
46-55 27 6.75
56+ 31 7.75

44
 Pie Chart: 1
Source: Primary Data
Inference:
From the Table-1 and Pie chart-1 depicted above,
Out of 400 respondents who answerd the questionnaire, 33.5% people fall in the age
group 18-25 years, 38% people fall in the age group 26-35 years,14% people fall in the
age group 36-45 years, 6.75% people fall in the age group 46-55 years and 7.75% people
fall in the age group 56+ years.
From the above analysis, it is observed that majority of the residents fall in the age group
18-25 and 26-35

No. of family member’s of the

Respondents
This table explains about No. of family member’s in a family of Gomti Nagar, Lucknow.
Table-2

No. of Family and Family Member's of Respondent

Member's of family No. of Family % of Family

45
 1 2 0.5
2 20 5
3 42 10.5
4 123 30.75
5 138 34.5
6 54 13.5
7 15 3.75
8 4 1
9 1 0.25
11 1 0.25

Column Chart-2

Source: Primary Data

Inference:
From the Table-2, Column chart-2 depicted above,
Out of 400 respondents who answerd the questionnaire, 34.5 people belong to 5
member’s family, 33.75% people belong to 4 member’s family, 13.5% people belong to 6
member’s family, 10.5% people belong to 3 member’s family, 5% people belong to 2
member’s family, 1% people belong to 8 member’s family.

46
 Target Customer- Education
Wise
This table explains about education level of customers of Gomti Nagar, Lucknow.
Table-3

Education Level of Respondents

Education Level No. of Respondents % of Respondents
S.S.C. 7 1.75
Inter 28 7
Graduate 215 53.75
Post Graduate 138 34.5
Others 12 3

Pie Chart-3

47
Source: Primary Data
Inference:
From the table, pie chart depicted above,
Out of 400 respondents who answered the questionnaire, 1.75% people belong to S.S.C.
category education level, 7% people belong to Inter category education level, 53.75%
people to Graduate category education level, 34.5% people belong to Post Graduate
category education level and 3% people belong to others category education level.

Occupation of
Respondents
This table describes the occupation of respondents who gave the answer of questionnaire
and explain class of customers of Gomti Nagar, Lucknow.

Table-4

Occupation of Respondents
% of
Occupations No. of Respondents Respondents
Student 73 18.25
House Wife 27 6.75
Service 172 43
Business 87 21.75
Others 41 10.25

48
 Pie Chart-4
Source: Primary Data
Inference:
From the table, pie chart depicted above,
On this basis of 400 respondents who answered the questionnaire, 43% people belong to
Service category, 21.75% people belong to Business category, 18.25% belong to Student
category, 6.75% people belong to House Wife category and 10.25% people belong to
Others category.

Monthly Income of
Respondents
This table states about the monthly income level of Respondents who gave the answer of
this survey questionnaire and belong to Gomti Nagar, Lucknow & so taken by me as a
sample of the entire population for the analysis.
Table-5

Monthly Income of

49
 Respondents
% of
Monthly Income No. of Respondents Respondents
< 5k 68 17%
5k-10k 78 19.5%
10k-20k 149 37.25%
> 20k 105 26.25%

Pie Chart- 5
Source: - Primary Data
Inference:
From the Table-5, Pie Chart-5 depicted above,
Out of 400 respondents who answered the questionnaire, 17% people belong less than
5000 monthly income category, 19.5% people belong to 5000-10,000 monthly income
category, 37.25% people belong 10,000-20,000 monthly income category and 26%
people belong to more than 20,000 monthly income category.

50
 Regular shopping place of
Respondents
This question reveals about preference of Respondents regarding retail stores where they
shop regularly.
Table-6

Regular Shopping Place of Respondents

Shopping Place No. of Respondents % of Respondents
Supermarket's 284 71
Kirana Stores 45 11.25
Others 5 1.25
Supermarket's & Kirana
Stores 66 16.5

51
 Pie Chart-6
Source:- Primary Data
Inference:-
From the Table-6, Pie Chart-6 depicted above,
• Out of 400 respondents who answered the questionnaire, 71% people go to
Supermarket’s for shopping, 16.50% people shop at Supermarket’s and Kirana
Stores, 11.25% people shop at Kirana Stores and 1.25% people shop at others.

52
 Shopping place of
Respondents is Spencer’s or
not
This question tells about respondents shop at Spencer’s or not and also it tells about
brand awareness of Spencer’s in market.

Table-6

No. of Respondents who visit Spencer's for shopping

No. of Respondents Shop at Spencer's % of Respondents
203 Yes 50.75%
197 No 49.25%

Bar Chart-6

Source:- Primary Data

Inference:-
From the Table-6, Bar Chart-6 depicted above,
• Out of 400 respondents who answered the questionnaire, 50.75% people go to
Spencer’s for shopping but not regularly. By this question it reveals that brand
awareness of Spencer’s in Gomti Nagar is nice.

53
 • 49.25% people do not go Spencer’s.

No. of times in a week

shopping at Spencer’s by the
Respondents
This table explains about frequency of shopping in a week by the respondents in a week.
Table-7

Shopping at Spencer's in a week by Respondents

No. of times in a
week No. of Respondents % of Respondents
1 76 19
2 98 24.5
3 20 5
4 8 2
20 1 0.25
203 50.75

54
 Column Chart-7
Source:- Primary Data
Inference:-
From the table, column chart depicted above,
• On the basis of 400 respondents who answered the questionnaire, 19% people go
to Spencer’s for shopping once in a week, 24.5% people shop at Spencer’s twice
in a week. 5% people shop at Spencer’s thrice in a week and 2.25% people shop
at Spencer’s 4times in a week.

Perception of Customers about

visiting to Hypermarket
This table reveals the opinion of customers for visiting a Hypermarket. It means the
convenience of the customer to visit a supermarket based on the different factors like
better price, accessibility, availability of variety of products, parking facility, store
ambience (it determined by store layout, soothing music, tempting visual display of the
products with self selection facility, etc.), customer service, range of items, product
quality, value for money, offers and discounts, after sales service.

Table-8

55
 Perception of customers for visiting Supermarket
% of
Very % of % of % of % of % of
Poor Poor Avg. Good VG No
Respon Respons Respon Respon Respo Respo
Outlook se e se se nse nse
Better
Price 0% 4% 28.50% 44.75% 12% 10.75%
Good
Quality of
Products 0% 0.25% 5.5% 46.75% 36.75% 10.75%
Variety of
Product
to choose 0.5% 3.75% 37.25% 35% 12.75% 10.75%
Parking
Facilities 0.75% 5.75% 43.25% 33% 6% 11.25%
Convenien
ce or
Opening
Hours 0% 1.25% 3% 57% 28% 10.75
Product
Knowledg
e of
Employee 1% 1.5% 22.5% 57% 7.25% 10.75%
Store
Comforta
ble to
shop-in 0% 0.5% 6.5% 43.5% 38.75% 10.75%

For Better Price

56
 Column Chart-8

Source:- Primary Data

Inference:-
From the Table-8, Column Chart-8 depicted above,
• Out of 400 respondents who answered the questionnaire, 44.75% said good about
pricing of products, 28.5% said average, 12% said very good and none said very
poor regarding Better Price in reasons for visiting a Hypermarket.

57
 Column Chart-9

Source:- Primary Data

Inference:-
From the Table-8, Column Chart-9 depicted above,
• Out of 400 respondents who answered the questionnaire, 46.75% said good about
quality of products, 5.5% said average, 36.75% said very good and none said very
poor regarding Good Quality of Products in reasons for visiting a Hypermarket.

58
 Column Chart-10

Source:- Primary Data

Inference:-
From the Table, Column Chart-10 depicted above,
• Out of 400 respondents who answered the questionnaire, 35% said good about
availability of variety of products, 37.25% said average, 12.75% said very good
and none said very poor regarding Variety of Products to choose in reasons for
visiting a Supermarket.

59
 Column Chart-11

Source:- Primary Data

Inference:-
From the Table, Column Chart-11 depicted above,
• Out of 400 respondents who answered the questionnaire, Out of 400 respondents
who answered the questionnaire, 33% said good about parking facilities, 43.25%
said average, 6% said very good and 0.75% said very poor regarding Parking
Facilities in reasons for visiting a Hypermarket.

60
 Column Chart-12
Source:- Primary Data
Inference:-
From the Table, Column Chart-12 depicted above,
• Out of 400 respondents who answered the questionnaire, 57% said good about
convenience or opening hours, 3% said average, 28% said very good and none
said very poor regarding Convenience or Opening Hours in reasons for visiting a
Hypermarket.

61
 Column Chart-13

Source:- Primary Data

Inference:-
From the Table, Column Chart-13 depicted above,
• Out of 400 respondents who answered the questionnaire, 57% said good about
products knowledge of employee, 22.5% said average, 7.25% said very good and
1% said very poor regarding Convenience/Opening Hours in reasons for visiting a
Hypermarket.

62
 Column Chart-14

Source:- Primary Data

Inference:-
• Out of 400 respondents who answered the questionnaire, 43.5% said good about
Store comfortable to shop-in (ambience), 6.5% said average, 38.75% said very
good and none said very poor regarding Store Comfortable to Shop-in
(Ambience) in reasons for visiting a Hypermarket.
Hence from above analysis, customers show the maximum view on following things in
the reasons for visiting a supermarket— product knowkedge of employee (57%),
Convenience/Opening Hours (57%),Good quality of Products (46.75), Better Price
(44.75%), Store comfortable to shop-in ( 43.50%), Parking Facilities (43.25%) and
Variety of products to choose (37.25%).

63
 Respondents View in
selecting a Hypermarket
This question tells about important things for a Supermarket on the basis of customer’s
view.

Table-9

Important things in selecting a Hypermarket in

Respondents view (in %)
Somew No
Not all hat Un Somewh Extreme Respon
Outlook Imp. Imp. Neutral at Imp. ly Imp se

Security 1.50% 5.50% 13% 28.50% 41.75% 9.75%

Close to
where
You live 1.75% 2% 16% 20% 50.50% 9.75%
Convenie
nce of
Parking 0% 0.75% 5.75% 57.75% 26% 9.75%
Courteous
Friendly
Employee 0% 0% 5% 20.25% 65% 9.75%
Offers
Several
brands 2.50% 1% 4.50% 29.75% 52.50% 9.75%
High 0.50% 0.50% 5% 11.75% 72.50% 9.75%
quality
Fruits &
Vegetable

64
 s
Diff.
Variety of
Dairy
product 8.75% 1% 5% 32% 43.50% 9.75%
Non Veg.
& Sea
food 6% 12.75% 10.50% 52.25% 8.25% 10.25%
Home
Delivery 0.50% 1.25% 4.25% 42.25% 42% 9.75%

Column Chart-15

Source:- Primary Data

Inference:-
From the Column Chart-15 depicted above,

65
 • Out of 400 respondents who answered the questionnaire, 41.75% respondents
give their view regarding Security as extremely important, 28.50% respondents
somewhat important, 13% respondents neutral and 5.50% respondents somewhat
important during selecting a Hypermarket.

Column Chart-16

Source:- Primary Data

Inference:-
From the Column Chart-16 depicted above,
• Out of 400 respondents who answered the questionnaire, 50.50% respondents
give their view regarding Close to where you live as extremely important, 20%
respondents somewhat important, 16% respondents neutral during selecting a
Hypermarket.

66
 Column Chart-17

Source:- Primary Data

Inference:-
From the Column Chart-16 depicted above,
• Out of 400 respondents who answered the questionnaire, 57.75% respondents
give their view regarding Convenience of Parking somewhat important, 26%
respondents extremely important, 5.57% respondents neutral during selecting a
Hypermarket.

67
 Column Chart-18

Source:- Primary Data

Inference:-
From the Column Chart-17 depicted above,
• Out of 400 respondents who answered the questionnaire, 65% respondents give
their view regarding Courteous friendly employees as extremely important,
20.25% respondents somewhat important, 5% respondents neutral during
selecting a Hypermarket.

68
 Column Chart-19

Source:- Primary Data

Inference:-
From the Column Chart-18 depicted above,
• Out of 400 respondents who answered the questionnaire, 52.5% respondents give
their view regarding Offers several brands as extremely important, 29.75%
respondents somewhat important and 4.5% respondents neutral.

69
 Column Chart-20

Source:- Primary Data

Inference:-
From the Column Chart-19 depicted above,
• Out of 400 respondents who answered the questionnaire, 72.50% respondents
give their view regarding High quality fruits and vegetable as extremely
important, 11.75% respondents somewhat important, 5% respondents neutral and
9.75% respondents No Response during selecting a Hypermarket.

70
 Column Chart-21

Source:- Primary Data

Inference:-
From the Column Chart-20 depicted above,
• Out of 400 respondents who answered the questionnaire, 43.50% respondents
give their view regarding Offers different of dairy products as extremely
important, 32% respondents somewhat important, 5% respondents neutral and
9.75% respondents No Response during selecting a Hypermarket.

71
 Column Chart-22

Source:- Primary Data

Inference:-
From the Column Chart-21 depicted above,
• Out of 400 respondents who answered the questionnaire, 52.25% respondents
give their view regarding Sells fresh Non-Veg. & Sea food as somewhat
important, 12.75% respondents 12.75 somewhat Un important, 10.50%
respondents Neutral, 10.25% respondents No Response during selecting a
Hypermarket.

72
 Column Chart-23

Source:- Primary Data

Inference:-
From the Column Chart-22 depicted above,
• Out of 400 respondents who answered the questionnaire, 42.20% respondents
give their view regarding Home Delivery as somewhat important, 42%
respondents extremely important and 9.75% respondents No Response during
selecting a Hypermarket.

73
 Customers Expectation with
respect to Services
This table tells about what kinds of services, customers expect from Spencer’s and other
Hypermarket.

Table-10

Kind of Services customers expect

No
Services Important Not Important Response
Fast Billing 90.25% 4.50% 5.25%
Ticket Booking
Counter's 24.50% 69.25% 6.25%
Ample Parking 70.25% 24.25% 5.50%
Home Delivery 79.50% 15.25% 5.25%
All C. & D. cards
Should accept 92.50% 2% 5.50%

74
 Column Chart-24

Source:- Primary Data

Inference:-
From the Table-10, Column Chart-23 depicted above,
• Out of 400 respondents who answered the questionnaire, 90.25% respondents
give their view regarding Fast Billing as important, 69.25% respondents give
their view regarding Ticket Booking Counter’s as not important and 24.50%
respondents important, 70.25% respondents give their view regarding Ample
Parking as important, 79.50% respondents give their view regarding Home
Delivery as important and 92.50% respondents give their view regarding all
credit and debit cards should accept as important.

75
 SEC Category of Family at
Gomti Nagar
This table explains about SEC (Socio Economic Class) category of family at Gomti
Nagar, Lucknow. This is done with the help of Area Mapping technique.
Table -11

SEC Category of Family

Family class No. of Family % of Family
SEC A + 538 5.40%
SEC A 3824 38.60%
SEC B 5148 52%
SEC C 391 4%

Pie Chart-25
Source: – Primary Data
Inference:- From the Table-11, Column Chart-25 depicted above
Gomti Naar is developing area of Lucknow and it consists of all class of family. In his
area 5.4% families belong to Socio Economy Class (SEC) A+, 38.6% families belong to
SEC A, 52% families belong to SEC B and 4% families belong to SEC C. All this result

76
has been found with the help of Area Mapping technique and all these data are
approximate. By all these data we can find that this area is having good market
opportunities retail Hypermarket.

77
 Findings of the Study
After completing the survey and analyzing the responses of the persons contacted. I came
across the following facts—
• Consumer life style and spending pattern are changing, more and more customers
are visiting hypermarket.
• Demographics of Gomti Nagar are very nice for retail business. In this area 38%
people belong 26-35 age group category, 33.5% people belong to 18-25 age group
category, and 14% people belong to 36-45 age group category and rest other age
group.
• Gomti Nagar is mixture of Joint family and Nuclear family because 34.5% family
are having only 5 family member’s, 30.75% family are having only 4family
member’s, 13.5% family are having 6 family member’s and 10.5% family are
having 3 family member’s.
• Residents of Gomti Nagar are well qualified. 53.75% people are Graduate, 34.5%
people are Post Graduate and 7% people have studied Intermediate/ S.S.C.
• In Gomti Nagar area most of the people are service man. 43% people are job
holders, 21.75% people are business man, 18.25% people are students and 6.45%
women are house wives, 10.25% people do other works. Among the women
respondent most of them are job holders or business women. This finding
indicates that earning person is the decision maker for a family even for shopping
or any other work.
• As we know in this area service holder people are maximum and this shows their
monthly income would be good. In this area, 37.25% people earn 10,000-20,000
monthly, 26.25% people earn more than 20,000, 19.50% people earn 5000-10,000
and 17% people earn less than 5000 monthly.
• In Gomti Nagar, 71 % people go to Hypermarket regularly for shopping only,
16.5% people go to Hypermarket & Kirana Store both and 11.25% people got to
Kirana Store for shopping only. This finding shows that hypermarket customers

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 are more in this area, Spencer’s can enhance its business by providing better
services.
• In Gomti Nagar, 50.75% people go to Spencer’s for shopping and 49.25% people
don’t go. In 50.75% people, 19% people shop at Spencer’s once in a week, 24.5%
people shop at Spencer’s twice in a week, 5% people shop at Spencer’s thrice in a
week and 2.25% people shop at Spencer’s several times in a week.
• In reasons for visiting a Hypermarket, people of Gomti Nagar gave their
preferences regarding Better Price 44.75% good &28.50% average, regarding
Good quality of products 46.75% good & 36.75% very good, regarding Variety
of products to choose 37.25% average, 35% good & 12.75% very good,
regarding Parking Facilities, 43.25% average & 33% good, regarding
Convenience/Opening Hours 57% good, 28% very good, regarding Product
Knowledge of Employee 57% good, 22.5% average & 7.25% very good,
regarding Store comfortable to shop-in (ambience) 43.5% good & 38.75% very
good.
• In the important things in selecting a Hypermarket, people of Gomti Nagar gave
their view- regarding Security - 41.75% extremely important & 28.50%
somewhat important, regarding Close to where you live – 50.50% extremely
important & 20% somewhat important, regarding Convenience of Parking –
57.75% somewhat important & 26% extremely important, regarding Courteous
friendly employee- 65% extremely important, 20.25% somewhat important,
regarding Offers several brand-52.50% extremely important & 29.75%
somewhat important, regarding high quality fruits and vegetables- 72.50%
extremely important, regarding Offer different variety of dairy products-
43.50% extremely important & 32% somewhat important, regarding sells fresh
Non-Veg. and Seafood- 52.25% somewhat important % 8.25% extremely
important, regarding home delivery- 42% extremely important & 42.25%
somewhat important.
• People of Gomti Nagar gave their expectation regarding different-different services, --
Fast billing – 90.25% important, Ticket booking counter’s- 69.25% not important &

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 24.50% important, Ample Parking – 70.25% important, Home Delivery- 79.50%
important, All Credit & Debit cards should accept – 92.50% important.
• Gomti Nagar is developing area of Lucknow and it consists of all class of family.
In his area 5.4% families belong to Socio Economy Class (SEC) A+, 38.6%
families belong to SEC A, 52% families belong to SEC B and 4% families belong
to SEC C. By all these data we can find that this area is having good market
opportunities retail Hypermarket.
• Most of the customers complained---
• In Spencer’s, several variety of product is not available, stock of 1 variety
of any brand is not sufficient; company should keep more variety of any
product.
• We never understand the pricing strategy of Spencer’s Hyper.
• Product assortment is not good.
• Arrangement of products is not systematic, we face problem many times
for selection of products.
• Dabur products are not available in sufficient amount.
• Organic products are not available in the Spencer’s Daily since last two
month.
• For vegetables and fruits, carry bag is small.
• Store closing time should be increased.
• Most of the customers were not too happy with level of service.
• Maximum time A.C. doesn’t work properly.
• Products are not updated; new launched products are not available.

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 Challenges and Opportunities
At Gomti Nagar, 2 retail companies are doing their business. These are-
1. Spencer’s Hyper
2. Big Bazaar

Out of these 2 Supermarkets, on the basis of customer preferences, market survey Big
Bazaar is much more preffered by the customers as compared to Spencer’s Hyper.

Challenges at GomtiNagar Market:-

• Customers are flexible towards discount and offers with respect to
Hypermarket’s.
• Despite high footfalls, the conversion ratio has been not good in the Spencer's
Hyper.
• Big Bazaar is creating intense competition before Spencer’s with the help of
various promotions schemes.
• Promotional activities Big Bazaar are continuously going on in the market with
the help of Templates and Kiosks Show.
• On the basis of customer’s preferences, Big Bazaar is having several varieties of
products with deep assortment and Big Bazaar has covered more market.
• Personalized service offered by Mom-&-Pop stores.
• Brand awareness of Spencer’s is not quite good only 50.75% people shop at
Spencer’s.
• 29% people shop at Kirana Stores.
• Knowledgeable sales person inside store for motivating to the customers.
• Competitors follow competitive and discount pricing strategy.

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Opportunities at Gomti Nagar Market:-
• Gomti Nagar is developing area of Lucknow and it consists of all class of family,
38.6% families belong to Socio Economy Class (SEC) A, 52% families belong to
SEC B. this shows that Hypermarket’s going people are available.
• Urbanization is increasing of Gomti Nagar in broad form, also disposable income
of people.
• People of Gomti Nagar are changing the Pattern of consumption along with
shopping trends.
• 71% people shop regularly at Hypermarket’s, 16.5% people shop at
Hypermarket’s and Kirana Stores both and 11.25% people shop at only Kirana
Stores. This shows maximum no. of people shop at Hypermarket’s and if
Spencer’s will provide better customer service in comparison to its competitors
with help of attractive offers, promotions and marketing activities then Spencer’s
can enhance its sales.
• Most of Gomti Nagar people are educated and job holder, Spencer’s can do better
promotion through pamphlets about facilities and services of Spencer’s.
• Most of the people of Gomti Nagar earn 10,000-20,000 and more than 20,000.
• Customers are very eager to know about offers, discount schemes provided by
Hypermarket’s/Spencer’s then Spencer’s should do better promotion for creating
awareness about all offers.

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 Suggestions and
Recommendations
• Fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) or daily used items should be available in
more number of varieties because customers of Gomti Nagar complain regarding
this and FMCG product should be placed near exit door as customers can
purchase the daily use items at the time of exit, which can directly increase the
sales of Spencer’s as done in other retail outlets.
• Most of the customers believe that stock is not updated and no offer schemes are
provided by Spencer’s on the old stock. Same price is charged for both the fresh
stock and old stock. Respondents feel offers should be provided on the old stock,
as is done in other retail stores.
• As the majority of population at Gomti Nagar area are falling into the age group
of 26-35 and 18-25.Company should concentrate on the need of people falling
into that category.
• People of Gomti Nagar, say that Spencer’s should employ experienced sales staff
so that they can better explain the quality and features of the products.
• Some of the people find in-store environment of Spencer’s very dull, so try to
maintain nice store image which attracts the customers and it works in word of
mouth marketing for attracting more customers.
• Variety of products should be increased for better selection by the customers so
that customers can choose from a huge lot of items of different companies having
different features as the customers of Gomti Nagar complained more regarding
variety of products.
• Store layout should be redesigned that a customer can have easy access to the
product.
• Spencer’s should provide club Spencer’s membership card (apart from HSBC
Loyalty card), on that card one unique no. should be there and offer some point

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 system on every purchase that will attract the customers, through that Spencer’s
can increase its sales.

• People generally search for the product on offer so the high margin product
should be up fronted that mean those item should be in the eye height so that it
easily catches the customers’ attention and generates impulse purchase.

• Company should try to include mens’, ladies’, and kids’ apparels segment in the
Spencer’s daily for attracting the customers.

• At Gomti Nagar area, the percentage of family member group 5 and 4 is more.
Therefore company should try to attract that family by providing family pack
apparels. offer at discount rate
• To improve Product visualization the Company should do visual merchandising in
better way.

• Spencer’s should do intensive advertisement through pamphlets, local newspaper,

banners, FM Radio, Kiosks for creating more awareness.

• Variety of products should be increased with deep assortment for better selection
by the customers so that customers can choose from huge lot of items of different
companies having different features.
• Customers are very eager to know about offers, discount schemes provided by
Supermarket’s/Spencer’s then Spencer’s should do better marketing for creating
awareness about offers and discount schemes.
• Complained and feedback should be taken care in well manner to create the
loyalty and goodwill.
• Merchandise should be arranged properly.
• Company should offer competitive price with good quality of products because
most of the customers visit to Hypermarket for better price and quality of
products.
• Company should give information to the customers through the marketing
gimmick (sms) using database of customers.

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 • Keep high quality fruits and vegetables in the stores, employees must be
courteous and friendly as most of the customer gave their preferences regarding
these.
• Billing should be fast because customers don’t want to stay in the store after
purchasing the products.

Limitations of the Study

Following are the few limitation of the particulars research study.

• The sample size chosen is limited to 400 only because of time and financial
constraint.
• This study was based purely in Gomti Nagar, Lucknow.
• Data collected may not be a representation of the entire population.
• The time duration for this project was only for a period of 45 days.
• I also took the view of respondents who don’t shop from Hypermarket’s.
• This study was limited to the capabilities and willingness of the respondents in
appropriately answering the questions and information given by respondents may
be correct and may not be correct.

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 Conclusion
In the organized retail market of Lucknow, Spencer’s has come up with Hypermarket in
Lucknow after Big Bazaar, giving good competition to its competitors like Big Bazaar
and other retail outlets. In the near future, it plans to open many stores in Lucknow and
some stores in other parts of U.P. . Many more competitors has entered the market and
many are about to enter the market, making Spencer’s journey even tougher. Hence,
Spencer’s has to take some important steps to overcome its problem areas and implement
the suggestions before the existing and new retailers grab the opportunity making
Spencer’s existence even more challenging.
To sum up, Spencer’s is facing tough competition from its competitors Big Bazaar, More,
Vishal. Vijetha, Heritage Fresh@, Magna, Food World etc, who have grabbed half of the
market by establishing its stores in prime area of the city. Spencer’s has to do intensive
media advertisements by roping in celebrities as brand ambassadors to create awareness
of its existence, since most of the customers came to know only through friends and
family.
Spencer’s has completed 3 years of its launch in Lucknow; also Spencer’s Hyper at
Gomti Nagar has good brand awareness but still Spencer’s lacks in terms of availability
of products, range of items, pricing and advertisement regarding offers and discounts
which can mesmerize the customers to walk in to Spencer’s as compared to its
competitors Big Bazaar etc, also parking space should be increased and quality of sales
executive should be improved by appointing experienced sales staff who can cater to the
needs of the customers. The management has to take some major steps and implement the
above mentioned suggestions/recommendations as it directly affects the sales of

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Spencer’s. Gomti Nagar market have good opportunity for retail business, most of the
people belong to SEC A & B, educated and earning more money. 86.5% people go to
Supermarket’s. Company can enhance its business or increase its sales by providing
better customer service than its competitors, increase the variety of merchandise with
deep assortment and intensive promotion with the help of pamphlets, kiosks, radio about
various offers, also provides club Spencer’s membership card.

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 Garment Section Sale
Increased
The ultimate goal of most business is to increase sales and income. Ideally, we want
to attract new customers to our products and encourage repeat purchases. Awareness
refers to how aware customers and potential customers are of our business and its
products.

Garment Section in Spencer’s was not showing any positive response in the sale graph.
Section is not even able to achieve the 50% of their target sales, on the weekdays as well
as on the weekends too. We are assigned in the garment section to checkout the faults and
the gaps that hinders the sale. After a careful analysis for about about 3 days(including
weekends) conclusion drawn from it was ,
Weakness
1. As spencer’s a two floor retail hypermarket, groundfloor for the
staples, HWP, fruits and vegetables where as the first floor for the
garment and accessories. Very big gap was the communication of the
garment section which was comparatively very low, due to
unawareness in the customer. Mainly customer doesn’t knew about
that there is any garment section on the first floor.

2. Secondly, the walls on the garment section were not utilized for the
wall hangings or for the display on the wall. Which make them loose
almost an area of 60 sqft.

3. The display of the gondolas and the browser was also a topic to
discussed upon, which does not follow any of the format.

4. Cartons of the products were left on the floor area only, which was
leaving a bad and negative impact on the mindset of the customer.

Strength
1. Communication level of the Customer Care Assistance is very high, having a
complete knowledge not about their department, as well as having a knowledge of all
the fabrics and other departments too.
2. A complete range of garments available for Mens, Womens, Kids and Infants.
3. Retail area for the garment section is quiet very big as compared with other
departments.

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 4. Coordination among the floor workers was also a strength, as they have a very high
level of coordination among themselves.
5. Not only having a complete range of the garments, but also focused on the quality of
the fabric, which was also very good.

Action

Now was the time to take an appropriate action to remove the weakness and increase
the strength. This was not one man army, this process took a group of more than 5
members including 2 summer trainiees and a marketing person of spencer, department
manager, CCA’s. To work together for taking out something positive.
Steps that accelerated us towards the success,

1. Communicating to the customers about the garment section through paging, and
not only communicating them, but also make them to walk-in to the garment
section through activites ( like T-20 – hitting stump with a ball, Chess, Jenga,
Dedicate a song) to attract not only an individual but inculcating a whole family
into the process. Which not only helped in the increment of the footfall but also in
the rise of the sales graph by more than 105%.

2. Using the left wall in the women section by hanging up the latest and the
exclusive arrival in the store.

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3. Rearranging the gondolas and the browser and the bins, so as to make the
customer walk freely and make him/her excited during the shopping.

4. Removing the unwanted cartons and the articles which were of no use and just
leaving a bad impact. Which not only cleaned up the messed space but also
provided us more space to use.

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 Annexure

Questionnaire

FEEDBACK FORM

Name:-

Address:-

Contact No:-

1. What is your age group?

i) 18-25 ii) 26-35 iii) 36-45 iv) 46-55 v) 56+

2. How many Members’ do have in your family including with you

3. Your Education Level

1. S.S.C 2. Inter 3. Graduate 4. Post Graduate 5. Others

4. Your Occupation
1. Student 2.House Wife 3. Service 4.Business 5. Others

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 5. What is your monthly income?
1. < 5000 2. 5000-10,000 3. 10,000 - 20,000 4. >20,000

6. Where do you shop regularly?

1. Supermarket’s 2. Kirana Stores 3. Others

7. Do you shop at Spencer’s ……………… store?

Yes / No If Yes, how many times per week

8. Reasons for visiting supermarket:

Please highlight or enter the appropriate number

Index: 1 for Very Poor and 5 for Very good

Very Poor Very Good 1-5

Better Price 1 2 3 4 5

Good Quality of Products 1 2 3 4 5

Variety of products to choose 1 2 3 4 5

Parking Facilities 1 2 3 4 5

Convenience/Opening hours 1 2 3 4 5

Product knowledge of 1 2 3 4 5
Employee

Store comfortable to shop-in 1 2 3 4 5

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9. In your view what is the important thing in selecting A SUPERMARKET:

Not Somewh Extreme

Somewhat
All Neut at ly
Description Unimporta
Impo ral Importan Importa
nt
rtant t nt

Security     
Close to where you live     
Convenience of
parking
    
Courteous friendly
employees
    
Offers several brands to
choose from in a     
category
High quality fruits &
vegetables
    
Offers different variety
of dairy products
    
Sells fresh Non-Veg. &
seafood
    
Home delivery     

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 10. What kind of services you expect?
Please put a mark
Not
Services Important
Important
Fast Billing
Ticket Booking Counter’s
Ample parking
Home delivery
All credit and debit cards should accept

If, any other please specify

SUGGESTIONS

THANK YOU
Spencer’s Retail Ltd.

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 Bibliography

Bibliography

Books:-
• Marketing Management (13th Edition) - By Philip Kotler, Keller, Koshy and Jha
• Principles of Marketing (11th Edition) – By Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrong
• Research Methodology -- C.R. Kothari
• The Art of Retailing - A.J. Lamba

Reference:-
• www.google.com
• www.rpggroup.com
• www.indiaretailing.com
• www.retailindustry.com
• www.spencersretail.com
• www.ibef.org

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• www.thebrandreporter.com
• www.fiber2fashion.com

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