Project On MARKET STATUS OF RELIANCE FRESH

SUBMITTED TO Punjab Technical University IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE DEGREE OF Master Of Business Administration (MBA) BATCH (2008-2010)

Submitted By Mohit watts Roll no :- 80802320212

RIMT School Of Management Studies Mandigobindgarh

CERTIFICATE

I, Dr. B.S Bhatia hereby certify that this Project report titled Market Status Of Reliance Fresh. has been successfully carried out by Mr. Mohit Watts . with Registration number 80802320212 under my supervision and guidance during the months of April -2010.This project report is prepared in partial fulfillment of Master of Business Administration (MBA) to be awarded by Punjab Technical University ,Jalandhar. To the best of my knowledge ,this piece of work is original &no part of this report has been submitted by the student to any other Institute / University earlier.

Dr.B.S.Bhatia
RIMT-SMS,Mandi Gobindgarh

DECLARATION
I hereby declare that the project report entitled MARKET STATUS OF RELIANCE FRESH submitted for the degree of Master of Business Administration, is my original work and the project report has not formed the basis for the award of any diploma, degree, associate ship, fellowship or similar other titles. It has not been submitted to any other university or institution for the award of any degree or diploma.

Mohit Watts MBA- IV

PREFACE
For a deep inclination into the managed concepts, practical training is an important talk. Theoretical knowledge without practical knowledge is of little value. Theoretical knowledge gives us the fundamental concepts of management and practical training teaches us those tacts and skills, which are successfully employed to capture todays competitive market. Theoretical lectures must be correlated with practical training to make learning process more effective and to provide a plate form to judge and apply theoretical knowledge to practical situation. Practical training thus plays an important role in developing and sharpening ones skills in the field of business management and administration. I prepared this report for my two-year course in Master of Business Administration. The topic of my report is students. RELIANCE FRESH RETAIL. The project report includes general information about role of media among the college going

Mohit Watts

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

In this planet one owes a great deal to others, and I am no exception. With grace of the almighty, I express my profound gratitude and thanks to all individuals who have been extremely inspirational and have helped me in completion of this project. Firstly, I express my sincere thanks to our college RIMT-SMS for giving me the privilege of being part of this institute. .

Finally, just a word for my parents, if not for whom this would be pointless

Mohit Watts

INDEX
Contents Page No.

Chapter I:

INTRODUCTION Introduction to Reliance Fresh History of Reliance Fresh

7 8-9 10-31 32 33 34 35-37 38-54 55 57 58

Chapter II: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Objective of the study Scope of the study Research methodology Chapter III: DATA ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION Chapter IV: Findings Chapter V: Limitations

Chapter VII: Suggestions

Introduction

Introduction

Reliance Fresh is the convenience store format which forms part of the retail
business of of Reliance Industries of India which is headed by Mukesh Ambani. Reliance plans to invest in excess of Rs 25000 crores in the next 4 years in their retail division. The company already has in excess of 560 reliance fresh outlets across the country. These stores sell fresh fruits and vegetables, staples, groceries, fresh juice bars and dairy products. A typical Reliance Fresh store is approximately 3000-4000 square. feet and caters to a catchment area of 1-2 km.

Reliance Retail Type Founded Headquarters Key people Industry Website Supermarket 30 October 2006 Mumbai, India Mukesh Ambani, CEO Retail www.ril.com

RELIANCE FRESH IN LUDHIANA

After having opened five stores in Jalandhar , from where it began its foray into Punjab, Reliance Fresh opened two stores in Ludhiana in june 2007. Two more Fresh stores in the city became operational in the same year . Retail offering will deliver a win-win partnership between farmers and customers, said Rohit P.Jain, on the occasion. On the one hand it will provide unmatched affordability, quality, choice of products and services to the consumers on the other hand it will bring prosperity to the farmers by giving them better value for their produce, added Jain. Reliance Fresh stores in Ludhiana occupy gross floor area of 12,000 sq.ft. and employ an average of 20 Sales Associates each. Reliance Fresh is a part of the retail inititiave of the Mukesh Ambani owned Reliance Group. Fresh is a neighbourhood convenience format which apart from fresh vegetables and fruits stocks food, grocery, and dairy products. Reliance also offers select food products under the private label of Reliance Select. Reliance offers Membership and Loyalty programme, RelianceOne, across all its retail formats and stores. The programme is meant for offering customised benefits to frequent shoppers.

History
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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 stores 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. 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

Retailing Industry

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India has often been called a nation of shopkeepers. Presumably the reason for this is; that, a large number of retail enterprises exist in India. In 2004, there were 12 million such units of which 98% are small family businesses, utilizing only household labour. Even among retail enterprises, which employ hired workers, a majority of them use less than three workers. Retailing is the combination of activities involved in selling or renting consumer goods and services directly to ultimate consumers for their personal or household use. In addition to selling, retailing includes such diverse activities as, buying, advertising, data processing and maintaining inventory. While sales people regularly call on institutional customers, to initiate and conclude transactions, most end users or final customers, patronize stores. This makes store location, product assortment, timings, store fixtures, sales personnel, delivery and other factors, very critical in drawing customers to the store. Final customers make many unplanned purchases. In contrast those who buy for resale or use in manufacturing are more systematic in their purchasing. Therefore, retailers need to place impulse items in high traffic locations, organize, store layout , trains sales people in suggestion , and place related items next to each other, to stimulate purchase.

WHAT DOES THE RETAILING INDUSTRY INCLUDE?

Department Stores Discount Stores Clothing Stores Specialty retailers Convenience Stores Grocery Stores Drug Stores Home furnishing retailers

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Auto Retailers Direct Sales Catalog and mail order companies Some e-commerce businesses

THE IMPORTANCE OF RETAILING

Organized retailing in India was estimated at Rs.18,000 crores in 2002-2003 and has grown at about 40% over the last 3 years (Source KSA Retail Outlook). Retailing has a tremendous impact on the economy. It involves high annual sales and employment. As a major source of employment retailing offers a wide range of career opportunities including; store management, merchandising and owning a retail business. Consumers benefit from retailing in that, retailers perform marketing functions that makes it possible for customers to have access to a broad variety of products and services. Retailing also helps to create place, time and possession utilities. A retailer's service also helps to enhance a product's image. In general, retailers perform four distinct function as, shown in Figure 1.1 below:

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Retailers participate in the sorting process by collecting an assortment of goods and services from a wide variety of suppliers and offering them for sale. The width and depth of assortment depend upon the individual retailer's strategy. They provide information to consumers through advertising, displays and signs and sales personnel. Marketing research support is given to other channels, members. They store merchandise, mark prices on it, place items on the selling floor and otherwise handle products; usually they pay suppliers for items before selling
,,

them to final customers. They complete transactions by using appropriate

locations, and timings, credit policies, and other services e.g. delivery. Retailing in a way, is the final stage in marketing channels for consumer products. Retailers provide the vital link between producers and ultimate consumers.

RETAIL STRATEGY AND STRUCTURE

Successful retail operations depend largely on two main dimensions: margin and turnover. How far a retail enterprise can reach in margin and turnover depends essentially on the type of business (product lines) and the style and scale of the operations. In addition the turnover ,also depends upon the professional competence of the enterprise. In a given business two retail companies may choose two different margin levels, and yet both may be successful, provided the strategy and style of management are appropriate.

1.4.1 Margin Turnover Model

Ronald R. Gist "Suggested a conceptual frame work, using margin and turnover, for understanding the retail structure and evolving a retail strategy." Margin is defined as the percentage mark tip at which the inventory in the store is sold and turnover is the number of times the average inventory is sold in a year.

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Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic representation of the frame work and can be applied to almost any type of retail business. Depending upon the, combination of the two parameters, a retail business will fall into one of the four quadrants. For instance L-L signifies a position which is low on both margin and turnover; whereas, H-L indicates high margin and low turnover.

Low Margin High Turnover Stores Such an operation assumes that low price is the most significant determinant of customer patronage. The stores in this category price their products below the market level. Marketing communication focuses mainly on price. They provide very few services; if any, and they normally entail an extra charge whenever they do. The merchandise in these stores are generally pre-sold or self sold. This means that the customers buy the product, rather than the store selling them.

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These stores are typically located in isolated locations and usually stock a wide . range of fast moving goods in several merchandise lines. The inventory consists of well known brands for which a consumer pull is created by the manufacturer through national advertising. Local promotion focuses on low price. Wal-mart in the United States is an example and Pantaloon Chain or Reliance fresh are Indian examples of such stores.

High Margin Low Turnover This operation is based on the premise that distinctive merchandise, service and sales approach are the most important factors for attracting customers. Stores in this category price their products higher than those in the market, but not necessarily higher than those in similar outlets. The focus in marketing communication is on product quality and uniqueness. Merchandise is primarily sold in store and not pre-sold. These stores provide a large number of services and sell select, categories of products. They do not stock national brands which are nationally advertised. Typically, a store in this category is located in a down town area or a major shopping center. Sales depends largely on salesmanship and image of the outlet. High Margin High Turnover Stores These stores generally stock a narrow line of products with turnover of reasonably high frequency. They could be situated in a non commercial area but not too far from a major thoroughfare. Their locational advantage allows them to charge a higher price. High over head costs and, low volumes also necessitate a higher price.

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Low Margin-Low Turnover Stores Retail enterprises in this category are pushed to maintain low margins because of price wars. Compounding this problem is the low volume of sales, which is probably a result of poor management, unsuitable location etc. such businesses, normally get wiped out over a period of time.

RETAILING FORMATS (CLASSIFYING RETAIL FIRMS)

Regardless of the particular type of retailer (such as a supermarket or a department store), retailers can be categorized by (a) Ownership, (b) Store strategy mix, and (c) Non store operations. Figure 1.3 illustrates this concept.

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1. Form of Ownership A retail business like any other type of business, can be owned by a sole proprietor, partners or a corporation. A majority of retail business in India are sole proprietorships and partnerships. 2. Independent Retailer Generally operates one outlet and offers personalized service, a convenient location and close customer contact. Roughly 98% of all the retail businesses in India, are managed and run by independents, including barber shops, drycleaners, furniture stores, bookshops, LPG Gas Agencies and neighbourhood

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stores. This is due to the fact that into retailing is easy and it requires low investment and little technical knowledge. This obviously results in a high degree of competition.. Most independent retailers fail because of the ease of entry, poor management skills and inadequate resources. 3. Retail Chain It involves common ownership of multiple units. In such units, the purchasing and decision making are centralized. Chains often rely on, specialization, standardization and elaborate control- systems. Consequently chains are able to serve a large dispersed target market and maintain a well known company name. Chain stores have been successful, mainly because they have the opportunity to take advantage of "economies of scale" in buying and selling goods. They can maintain their prices, thus increasing their margins, or they can cut prices and attract greater sales volume. Unlike smaller, independent retailers with lesser financial means, they can also take advantage of such tools as computers and information technology. Examples of retail chains in India are Shoppers stop; West side and IOC, convenience stores at select petrol filling stations. 4. Retail Franchising Is a contractual arrangement between a "franchiser" (which may be a manufacturer, wholesaler, or a service sponsor) and a "franchisee" or franchisees, which allows the latter to conduct a certain form of business under an established name and according to a specific set of rules. The franchise agreement gives the franchiser much discretion in controlling the operations of small retailers. In exchange for fees, royalties and a share of the profits, the franchiser offers assistance and very often supplies as well. Classic examples of franchising are; McDonalds, Pizza Hut and Nirulas.

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5. Cooperatives A retail cooperative is a group of independent retailers,that have combined their financial resources and their expertise in order to effectively control their wholesaling needs. They share purchases, storage, shopping facilities, advertising planning and other functions. The individual retailers retain their independence, but agree on broad common policies. Amul is a typical example of a cooperative in India.

Store Strategy Mix

Retailers can be classified by retail store strategy mix, which is an integrated combination of hours, location, assortment, service, advertising, and prices etc. The various categories are: (A)Convenience Store: Is generally a well situated, food oriented store with long operating house and a limited number of items. Consumers use a convenience store; for fill in items such as bread, milk, eggs, chocolates and candy etc. (B)Super markets: Is a diversified store which sells a broad range of food and non food items. A supermarket typically carries small house hold appliances, some apparel items, bakery, film developing, jams, pickles, books, audio/video CD's etc. The Govt. run Super bazaar, and Kendriya Bhandar in Delhi are good examples of a super market. Similarly in Mumbai, we have Apna Bazar and Sahakari Bhandar. (C)Department Stores: A department store usually sells a general line of apparel for the family, household linens, home furnishings and appliances. Large format apparel department stores include Pantaloon, Ebony and Pyramid. Others in this category are: Shoppers Stop and Westside. (D)Speciality Store: Concentrates on the sale of a single line of products or services, such as Audio equipment, Jewellery, Beauty and Health Care, etc. 19

Consumers are not confronted with racks of unrelated merchandise. Successful speciality stores in India include, Music World for audio needs, Tanishq for jewellery and McDonalds, Pizza Hut and Nirula's for food services. (E)Hyper Markets: Is a special kind of combination store which integrates an economy super market with a discount department store. A hyper market generally has an ambience which attracts the family as whole. Pantaloon Retail India Ltd. (PRIL) through its hypermarket "Big Bazar", offers products at prices which are 25% - 30% lower than the market price.

Non Store Retailing

In non store retailing, customers do not go to a store to buy. This type of retailing is growing very fast. Among the reasons are; the ability to buy merchandise not available in local stores, the increasing number of women workers, and the presence of unskilled retail sales persons who can not provide information to help shoppers make buying decisions The major types of non store retailing are:

(A)In Home Retailing: Where, a sales transaction takes place in a home setting - including door-door selling. It gives the sales person an opportunity to demonstrate products in a very personal manner. He/She has the prospect's attention and there are fewer distractions as compared to a store setting. Examples of in home retailing include, Eureka Forbes vaccum cleaners and water filters. (B)Telesales/Telephone Retailing: This involves contact between the prospect and the retailer over the phone, for the purpose of making a sale or purchase. A

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large number of mobile phone service providers use this method. Other examples are private insurance companies, and credit companies etc. (C)Catalog Retailing: This is a type of non store retailing in which the retailers offers the merchandise in a catalogue, which includes ordering instructions and customer orders by mail. The basic attraction for shoppers is convenience. The advantages to the retailers include lover operating costs, lower rents, smaller sales staff and absence of shop lifting. This trend is catching up fast in India. Burlington's catalogue shopping was quite popular in recent times. Some multi level marketing companies like Oriflame also resort to catalogue retailing. (D)Direct Response Retailing: Here the marketers advertise these products/ services in magazines, newspapers, radio and/or television offering an address or telephone number so that consumers can write or call to place an order. It is also sometimes referred to as "Direct response advertising." The availability of credit cards and toll free numbers stimulate direct response by telephone. The goal is to induce the customer to make an immediate and direct response to the advertisement to "order now." Telebrands is a classic example of direct response retailing. Times shopping India is another example. (E)Automatic Vending: Although in a very nascent stage in India, is the ultimate in non personal, non store retailing. Products are sold directly to customers/buyers from machines. These machines dispense products which enable customers to buy after closing hours. ATM's dispensing cash at odd hours represent this form of non store retailing. Apart from all the multinational banks, a large number of Indian banks also provide ATM services, countrywide. (F)Electronic Retailing/E-Tailing: Is a retail format in which retailers communicate with customers and offer products and services for sale, over the internet. The rapid diffusion of internet access and usage, and the perceived low cost of entry has stimulated the creation of thousands of entrepreneurial

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electronic retailing ventures during the last 10 years or so. Amazon.com, E-bay and Bazee.com HDFCSec.com are some of the many e-tailers operating today.

THE WHEEL OF RETAILING

Is a hypothesis that attempts to explain the emergence of new retailing institutions and their eventual decline and replacement by newer retailing institutions. Like products retailing institutions also have a life cycle. According to this theory new retailers enter the market as, low margin, low price, low status institutions. The cycle begins with retailers attracting customers by offering low price and low service. Over a period of time these retailers want to expand their markets and begin to stock more merchandise, provide more services, and open more convenient locations. This trading up process. increases the retailers costs and prices, creating opportunities for new low price retailers to enter the market. The evolution of the department store illustrates the "wheel of retailing" theory. In its entry phase, the department store was a low cost-low service venture. With 22

time it moved up into the trading-up phase. It upgraded its facilities, stock selection, advertising and service. The same department store then moves into the vulnerability phase, because it becomes vulnerable to low cost/low service formats, such as full line discount stores and category specialists. Figure 1.5 illustrates this theory. While the wheel hypothesis has a great deal of intuitive appeal and has been borne out in general by many studies of retail development, it only reflects a pattern. It is not a sure indicator of every change, nor was it ever intended to describe the development of every individual retailer.

RETAILING DECISIONS
There are many factors for retailers to consider while developing and implementing their marketing plans. Among the major retailing decisions are these related to (a) Target markets (b) Merchandise management (c) Store

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location (d) Store image (e) Store personnel (f) Store design (g) Promotion, and (h) Credit and collections. This is shown diagrammatically in Figure 1.6.

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Target Markets: Although retailers normally aim at the mass market, a growing number are engaging in marketing research and market segmentation, because they are finding it increasingly difficult to satisfy everyone. Through a careful definition of target markets, retailers can use their resources and capabilities to position themselves more effectively and achieve differential advantage. The tremendous growth in number of speciality stores in recent years is largely due to their ability to define precisely the type of customers, they want to serve. Merchandise Management: The objective here is to identify the merchandise that customers want, and make it available at the right price, in the right place at the right time. Merchandise Management includes (i) merchandise planning (ii) merchandise purchase, and (iii) merchandise control. Merchandise planning deals with decisions relating to the breadth and depth of the mix, needed to satisfy target customers to achieve the retailers return on investment. This involves sales forecasting, inventory requirements, decisions regarding gross margins and mark ups etc. Merchandise buying involves decisions relating to centralized or decentralized buying, merchandise resources and negotiation with suppliers. Merchandise Control: deals with maintaining the proper level of inventory and protecting it against shrinkage (theft, pilferage etc.). Store Location: Location is critical to the success of a retail store. A store's trading-area is the area surrounding the store from which the outlet draws a majority of its customers. The extent of this area depends upon the merchandise sold. For example some people might be willing to travel a longer distance to shop at a speciality store because of the unique and prestigious merchandise offered. Having decided on the trading area a specific site must then be selected. Factors affecting the site include, traffic patterns, accessability, competitors' location, availability and cost and population shifts within the area.

Store Image: A store image is the mental picture, or personality of the store, a retailer likes to project to customers. Image is affected by advertising, services; store layout, personnel, as well as the quality, depth and breadth of merchandise. Customers tend to shop in stores that fit their images of themselves. Store Personnel: Sales personnel at a retail store can help build customer loyalty and store image. A major complaint in many lanes of retailing, is the poor attitude of a salesperson. There is a growing trend now, to provide training to , these sales clerks to convert them from order takers to effective sales associates. Store Design: A store's exterior and interior design affect its image and profit potential. The exterior should be attractive and inviting and should blend with the store's general surroundings. The term "Atmospherics" is used to refer to the retailer's effort at creating the right ambience. Merchandise display is equally important. An effective layout guides the customer though the various sections in the store and facilitates purchase. Promotion: retail promotion includes all communication from retailers to consumers and between sales people and customers. The objective is to build the stores image, promote customer traffic, and sell specific products. It includes, both, personal and non personal promotion. Personal communication is personal selling - the face to face interaction between the buyer and the seller. Department stores and speciality stores, emphasize this form of promotion. Non personal promotion is advertising. The media used are TV, Radio, Newspapers, Outdoor displays and direct mail, other forms of promotion include, displays, special sales, give always and contests etc.

Credits & Collections: Retailers are generally wary of providing credit, because of additional costs-financing accounts receivables, processing forms and bad debts etc. But many customers prefer some form of credit while purchasing. This explains the popularity of different types of credit cards and debit cards. EMERGING TRENDS IN RETAILING In recent years the nature of retailing has changed dramatically, as firms try to protect their positions in the market place. Many customers are no longer willing to spend as much time on shopping as they once did. Some sectors of retailing have become saturated, several retailers are operating under high levels of debt and number of retailers after running frequent "sales", have found it difficult to maintain regular prices. Retailers are adapting to*the shopping needs and time constraints of working women, dual earner households and the increased customer interest in quality and customer service: Shopping Malls: A growing number of shopping malls are coming up all over the country. In north India; there seems to be a proliferation of such malls surrounding Delhi, in places like Gurgaon and Noida. In general they target higher income customers, with their prestigious speciality shops, restaurants and department stores.

Factory Outlets: Manufacturers are opening factory outlets to sell off surplus inventories and outdated merchandise. This forward vertical integration gives manufacturers greater control' over distribution, than selling the merchandise to off price retailers. Mohini knitwear of Ludhiana (Punjab) and number of woolen and hosiery manufacturers set up their outlets in Delhi during winters.

Non Store Retailing: Non store retailing is accelerating at a faster rate than in store retailing. This includes direct marketing. In Home shopping TV shopping and e-tailing etc. Diversification of Offerings: Scrambled (unrelated products or services) merchandising is taking on a broader meaning and inter type competition among retailers is growing. For instance Citibank is organizing tourist trips and sending mail order catalogues to its credit card customers. Impact of Technology on Shopping Behaviour: The way retailers present their merchandise and conduct their transactions are changing. Cable TV Channels are used to present merchandise, Videos have replaced catalogues and computer linkages to acquire information and make purchases are on the increase. Virtual shopping through PDA's is another possibility. Multi Channel Retailing: Traditional store based and catalogue retailers are placing more emphasis on their electronic channels and evolving into multi channel retailers, because they can reach new markets and overcome limitations posed by traditional formats,

SUMMARY
Retailing encompasses those business activities involved with the sale of goods and services to the final consumer for personal, family or household use. It is the final stage in a channel of distribution. Retailing has an impact on the economy because of the high volume of sales generated and the number of people employed. Retailers perform a variety of functions such as product assortment, providing information, handling merchandise and completing transactions.

Retail businesses maybe classified according to a number of criteria including, variety of products they sell, types of ownership and style of operation. A number of hypotheses, including the "wheel of Retailing" have been proposed to explain the evolutionary development of retailing institutions. Traditional retail businesses (super markets, convenience stores, department stores, discount and speciality stores) have been joined by category specialists, super stores, hyper markets, and catalog show rooms etc. super markets are focusing more on food items and perishables.

The company is also working on strengthening its business intelligence solution and is developing it in-house. A separate team is using internal data on price points, stock movement and purchase The solution is likely to make available real-time information on price points of various commodities stocked in the store. It may also be used for real time data capture and coordination between the store and the supply chain.

Patterns to build a company-specific solution.

The company's recent customer loyalty programmes are based on some of this data and it is putting in place solutions that will directly impact the supply chain. Reliance fresh is also migrating its existing backend InfoTech deployments to the SAP platform to make scaling up operations easier. Reliance fresh , no frills, discount retail chain, which recently hit the 500-stores mark, has catapulted itself into one of the countrys largest supermarket chains, with over one million sq. ft. of retail space, spread across five states of the country.

Unlike Big Bazaar, its discount, food and grocery, retail counterparts, Reliance fresh believes in setting up non-air conditioned small neighbourhood stores (near the community) measuring around 2,000 sq.ft. in retail space. As such, while Reliance fresh competes with big store chains on regular discounts, it competes with traditional father and son kirana stores on close proximity to its customers.

Reliance fresh operates in four verticals fruits and vegetables, pharmaceuticals, FMCG and telecom. Beside loyalty discounts and regular discounts of 10% on medicines and 8 to 10% on FMCCG products. The retail chain also makes the Every Day Low Price (EDLP) offer to its customers, which is sustained through discounts obtained by the chain from direct supply arrangements with manufacturers, along with bulk purchase and cash transactions.

While the discount model of Reliance fresh is based on world famous Wal-Mart strategy, the carpet bombing model is based on the Starbucks strategy, in which the coffee retail chain opens a cluster of stores in close proximity to each other, in a geographical area which has high population density with purchasing potential. This enables the chain to cannibilise sales within its own network rather than allowing them to go to other individual stores or retail chains. Even, Reliance, so far seems to have followed a similar strategy having opened a Cluster of Fresh stores in Hyderabad and Jaipur.

While, the decade old, Rs. 340 crore in turnover, Reliance fresh retail chain, has invested about Rs. 300 crore on its first phase of expansion, the total outlay for 1,000 stores will be around Rs. 500 crore. It may be recalled that ICICI Venture Capital holds 24% of the equity in the company. The company is mulling over making Initial Public Offering (IPO) in the second half of 2007.

Retail as we know it today is but only a trailer of the real full-length movie that is due to unfold on the Indian market-scope. Today, organized retail comprises 3.6 per cent of the total pie in terms of volume share of trade. The rest is run by small mom-and-pop stores in every category, whether it be apparel, food and grocery or whatever.

Except for petroleum, organized retail in India is still in a nascent stage in every category. Therefore, the face of emerging retail in India is likely to be very different from the face it sports today.

For one, New Retail in India is going to be about brand ubiquity in the future. The brand will stare back at you every 300 yards in the market you will tend to walk in. And there will be options in every category that will flummox you. So much so that reach and convenience in terms of distance will start dictating your franchise of a particular retail outlet. In many ways, it is back to the days of kirana retail when you bought groceries from the grocer closest to you.

There will also be several models at play. The mom-and-pop outlets will morph in to a retail segment of their own. Each store will reinvent itself and offer relevance, originality in merchandise stocking and innovation in the offers. In addition to the traditional mom-and-pop store in the morph mode, there will be the 7-11 formats that will be of a chain origin. Add to that the larger format departmental stores a la Reliance fresh. Add further still to this mlange the supermarket of a Wal-Mart origin. Add the hypermarket that caters to retail and the superstore that caters only to the B2B business.

There is going to be plenty on offer. In the Indian market, each of these will coexist with one another with little method and a lot of madness.

The first couple of years will decide the winners and the losers. It is then that we will enter a consolidation phase where the biggies will grow bigger and many will fall by the wayside. Emerging Indian retail will also be about clonal offerings.

The moment a Croma Zip store at Mumbai airport makes an impression, there will many me-toos that will want a piece of the action. At the end of the day of course, a form of retail Darwinism will prevail and the fittest will survive. The fittest in terms of offerings, deep pockets to survive wafer-thin margins, and the fittest in terms of the tenacity to fight competition that is irrational in its attack. Of the total retail space, 3.6 per cent valued at $330 billion is in the hands of organised retail. India therefore remains a nation of small shop-keeper

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

OBJECTIVES
The basic objective of the study is to:
To study the reliance fresh retail stores; To know the factors that affects consumer perception; To know the satisfaction of customers. Role of advertisement on people s buying behavior Measuring success at store level;

Scope of the study

Main objective or the scope of the study of this project is to know the perception of customer towards market status of Reliance Fresh in the Ludhaina city .

MARKETING RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The research is for study of specific problem and opportunities. There is a market survey done and a product performance list also. Marketing research is systematic design collection, reporting of data, analysis and is relevant to specific marketing situation facing the company.

MARKETING RESEARCH PROCESS

Marketing research involves five steps, which involves Decision Source, Research Approaches, Sampling Plan and Contact Methods.

(a)

TYPE OF RESEARCH: -

Here the method used for the

research study is the survey research as the descriptive research process. This type of research stands midway between the operational and the most popular device for obtaining desired data they are used to learn about peoples knowledge, status of reliance fresh and so on. And to measure these magnitudes in the population so have the survey is carried out in order to know the consumer perception towards the purchase of retail untruly over the facts that may affect the consumer characteristics of interest in the study.

TYPES OF RESEARCH DESIGN

In my project work I used exploratory research, as it aim to answering question about sale, brand availability, service quality, distribution pattern etc.

For conducting this study, Exploratory Research design was used, since: It is natural. It is flexible. It is useful to find out the most likely alternatives. It is appropriate, when hypothesis have been established. The objective of exploratory research is to find out new ideas, it is important to give respondents to greatest freedom of response have conducted individually or in depth interview, by which respondent asked to project themselves into a particular situation.

RESEARCH DESIGN
A research design is the specification of methods & procedure for acquiring the information needed. This is overall operation pattern or frame work that stipulates information is to be collected from which sources and by what procedure.

DATA SOURCES
These were to type of data sources which were helpful in preparing this project report. i. Primary Data ii. Secondary Data

The research plan can call or gathering secondary data, primary data or both. Secondary data consist of information that already exists somewhere having been collected for another purpose.

Primary Data:
This marketing research project involved some primary data collection. The normal procedure was to contact the respondent and have their personal interviews together relevant information on the research topic. In this project the data collected through various respondents in this field is used as primary data.

Secondary Data:
Some of the records available within the internet on the topic acted as a source of secondary data.

METHOD OF COLLECTING DATA

1) self analysis, Questionnaire and Survey 2) secondary data from newspapers, internet and magazines

SAMPLE DESIGN
Sampling is defined as the selection of some part of an aggregate. Sampling in simply the process of learning about the population on the basis of a sample drawn from it. Thus, in sampling instead of every unit of universe only part of universe is studied and the conclusion are drawn for the entire universe.

In area of Ludhiana, survey in Reliance fresh retail store. So these were the respondents where the study was to be focused. For this purpose I did a survey of these respondents. These respondents were visited in outlet and required data was collected from them.

SAMPLE SIZE:

100 RESPONDENTS

SAMPLING TECHNIQUE: Non probability

Data Analysis And Interpretation

TOTAL NO OF RESPONDENT: 100 PEOPLE

RESULT CAN BE MORE THAN 100% DUE TO MULTIPLE CHOICE OF RESPONDENT.

1. WHAT IS AVERAGE BUDGET OF YOUR SHOPPING ?

A. 0-500 B. 500-1000 C. 1000-1500 D. ABOVE 1500

AVERAGE BUDGET 0-500 500-1000 1000-1500 ABOVE 1500

NO. OF RESPONDENT `13 58 20 9

NO. OF RESPONDENT

`13

ABOVE 1500 10% 1000-1500 23% 500-1000 67%

500-1000 1000-1500 ABOVE 1500

INTERPRETATION: MOST OF THE RESPONDENT HAVING MONTHLY SHOPPING BUDGET OF 500-1000.

2. WHAT ARE THE FACTORS WHICH INFLUENCES YOUR SHOPPING ?

A. WORD OF MOUTH B. PARENTS C. ADVERTISEMENT/MEDIA D. NEIGHBOURS

INFLUENCING FACTORS WORD OF MOUTH PARENTS ADVERTISEMENT/MEDIA NEIGHBOURS SALES PROMOTION SCHEMES ROLE MODEL

NO. OF RESPONDENT 20 7 13 28 30 2

NO. OF RESPONDENT WORD OF MOUTH WORD OF SALES ROLE MODELMOUTH PROMOTION 2% 20% SCHEMES PARENTS 30% 7% ADVERTISEME NT/MEDIA NEIGHBOURS 13% 28% PARENTS ADVERTISEMENT/MEDI A NEIGHBOURS SALES PROMOTION SCHEMES ROLE MODEL

INTERPRETATION: MOST OF THE PEOPLE ARE INFLUENCED BY THE SALES PROMOTION.

3. AT THE TIME OF PURCHASING DOES IT MATTER .WHETHER THE GOODS HAVE BEEN ADVERTISED OR NOT ?
A. YES B. NO

GOODS ADVERTISED OR NOT YES NO

NO. OF RESPONDENT 72 28

NO. OF RESPONDENT

NO 28% YES NO YES 72%

INTERPRETATION : 72% OF THE RESPONDENT SAYS THAT AT THE TIME OF PURCHASING ADVERTISEMENT NOT MATTERS.

4. TO WHOM YOU CONSULT BEFORE PURCHASE ?

A. FRIENDS B. PARENTS

C. SELF DECISION D. NEIGHBORS

WHOM YOU CONSULT BEFORE PURCHASING FRIENDS PARENTS SELF DECISION NEIGHBOURS

NO. OF RESPONDENT 16 34 44 6

NO. OF RESPONDENT

NEIGHBOURS 6%

FRIENDS 16% FRIENDS PARENTS PARENTS 34% SELF DECISION NEIGHBOURS

SELF DECISION 44%

INTERPRETATION :SELF DECISION IS TAKEN BY MOSTLY RESPONDENT.

5. HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT RELIANCE FRESH ?

A. NEWSPAPER (PRINT MEDIA) C. TELIVISION B. INTERNET D.RADIO

E.WORD OF MOUTH

SOURCE NEWSPAPER(PRINT MEDIA) INTERNET TELIVISION RADIO WORD OF MOUTH

NO OF RESPONDENT 44 8 33 6 9

NO OF RESPONDENT

WORD OF MOUTH RADIO 9% 6%

NEWSPAPER(PRINT MEDIA) INTERNET NEWSPAPER( PRINT MEDIA) 44% TELIVISION RADIO

TELIVISION 33%

INTERNET 8%

WORD OF MOUTH

INTERPRETATION : MOST OF THE RESPONDENT KNOW ABOUT RELIANCE FRESH FROM NEWSPAPER

6. DID YOU THINK THAT DISCOUNTS STORES LIKERELIANCE FRESH;OPERATE ON A LOW MARGIN,HIGH TURNOVER PHILOSOPHY ?
A. YES C. DONT KNOW

B. NO

OPERATE ON A LOW MAGIN,HIGH TURNOVER PHILOSOPHY

NO. OF RESPONDENT

YES DONT KNOW NO

77 13 10

NO. OF RESPONDENT

NO 10% DONT KNOW 13% YES DONT KNOW NO YES 77%

INTERPRETATION: 77% OF THE RESPONDENT SAID THAT RELIANCE FRESH;OPERATE ON A LOW MARGIN,HIGH TURNOVER PHILOSOPHY.

7.RELIANCE FRESH HELPS TO CREATE PLACE,TIME AND POSSESSION UTILITIES ?

A. YES B. NO

RELIANCE FRESH HELPS TO CREATE PLACE ,TIME AND POSSESSION UTILITIES

NO. OF RESPONDENT

YES NO

78 22

NO. OF RESPONDENT

NO 22%

YES NO

YES 78%

INTERPRETATION : 78% RESPONDENT AGREED THAT RELIANCE FRESH

HELPS TO CREATE PLACE ,TIME AND POSSESSION UTILITIES

8. DOES RELIANCE FRESH OFFER ECONOMIES OF SCALE IN BUYING ?

RELIANCE FRESH OFFERS ECONOMIES OF SCALE

NO OF RESPONDENT 82 18

YES NO

NO OF RESPONDENT

NO 18%

YES NO

YES 82%

INTERPRETATION: MOSTLY PEOPLE THINKING THAT RELIANCE FRESH

OFFERS ECONOMIES OF SCALE IN BUYIN

9. IS RELIANCE FRESH PERFORM A VARIETY OF FUNCTIONS SUCH AS ?

1. PRODUCT ASSORTMENT 2. PROVIDING INFORMATION A. YES B. NO 3. DISCOUNT ON PRODUCTS

RELIANCE FRESH PERFORM A VARIETY OF FUNCTIONS

NO OF RESPONDENTS

YES NO

87 13

NO OF RESPONDENTS

NO 13%

YES NO

YES 87%

INTERPRETATION: YES MOSTLY RESPONDENT SAID THAT RELIANCE FRESH PERFORM VARIETY OF FUNCTIONS.

10. ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH THE SERVICES OF EMPLOYEES OF RELIANCE

FRESH?
A. YES B. NO

SATISFIED WITH EMPLOYEE OF RELIANCE FRESH

NO. OF RESPONDENT

YES

NO

74 26

NO. OF RESPONDENT

NO 26% YES NO YES 74%

INTERPRETATION: MOST OF THE PEOPLE SATISFIED WITH THE SERVICE OF

EMPLOYEE OF RELIANCE FRESH.

11. IS RELIANCE FRESH FULFILL YOUR REQUIREMENT?

A. YES B. NO

NO. OF RESPONDENT YES NO 60 40

NO. OF RESPONDENT

YES 40% NO 60%

YES NO

INTERPRETATION:

MOST OF RESPONDENT REQUIREMENTS FROM RELIANCE FRESH.

NOT

FULFILLING

THEIR

12. ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH THE SERVICE OF RELIANCE FRESH?

A. YES B. NO

SATISFIED WITH SERVICE

NO. OF RESPONDENT

YES NO

44 56

NO. OF RESPONDENT

NO 56%

YES 44%

YES NO

INTERPRETATION: MOST OF RESPONDENT NOT SATISFIED WITH SERVICE.

13. ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH THE PRICE OF RELIANCE FRESH?

A. YES B. NO

SATISFIED WITH PRICE

NO. OF RESPONDENT

YES NO

75 25

NO. OF RESPONDENT

NO 25% YES NO YES 75%

INTERPRETATION: 75% OF RESPONDENT ARE SATISFIED WITH PRICE.

14. ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH THE DISCOUNT OF RELIANCE FRESH?

A. YES B. NO

SATISFIED WITH DISCOUNT YES NO

NO. OF RESPONDENT 7 93

SATISFIED WITH DISCOUNT

7%

Yes no

93%

INTERPRETATION: 93% OF RESPONDENT ARE SATISFIED WITH DISCOUNT.

15. YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH RELIANCE FRESH IS.

A. GOOD B. BAD

EXPERIENCE WITH RELIANCE FRESH GOOD BAD

NO. OF RESPONDENT 80 20

EXPERIENCE WITH RELIANCE FRESH

20%

GOOD BAD

80%

INTERPRETATION: 80% OF RESPONDENTS HAVING GOOD EXPERIENCE WITH

RELIANCE FRESH.

16. DO YOU FEEL THAT RELIANCE FRESH IS GOOD AS COMPARED WITH..

1. SUPER MARKET 2. LOCAL MARKET A. YES 3. CONVENIENCE SHOP 4. SPECIALIST SHOP B. NO

RELIANCE FRESH IS GOOD AS COMPARED WITH ANOTHER

NO. OF RESPONDENT 40 60

YES NO

RELIANCE FRESH COMPARED WITH OTHER

40% 60%

NO YES

INTERPRETATION: 40% OF RESPONDENT SHOP, LOCAL MARKET,SPECIALIST SHOP.

FEEL THAT RELIANCE

FRESH IS GOOD AS COMPARED WITH SUPER MARKET,CONVENIENCE

FINDINGS
Most of the respondent having monthly shopping budget of 500-1500. Most of the people are influenced by advertisement/media or Sales of promotion.

72% of the respondent say that at the time of purchasing advertisement not matter. Self decision is taken by mostly respondent. Most of the respondent know about reliance fresh from newspaper. 77% of the respondent said that reliance fresh; operate on a low margin, high turnover philosophy. 78% respondent agreed that reliance fresh helps to create place, time and possession utilities. Mostly people think that reliance fresh offers economies of scale in buying. Yes mostly respondent said that reliance fresh perform variety of functions. Most of the people are satisfied with the services of employees of reliance fresh. Most of respondent not fulfilling their requirements from reliance fresh. 75% of respondent are satisfied with price. 93% of respondent are satisfied with discount. Most of respondents having good experience with reliance fresh. 40% of respondent feel that reliance fresh is good as compared with super market, convenience shop, local market, specialist shop.

LIMITATIONS

1. As the respondents behavior differs, the information supplied by the informants may not be correct and it may be difficult to verify the accuracy. 2. For accurate conclusive results a sample size of 100 Questionnaires is not sufficient. 3. Respondents were reluctant in showing their real preferences and tend to fill up the fake Information. 4. As our survey was restricted to particular limited region i.e. Ludhiana so comparison could be drawn with the customer of other regions also.

SUGGESTION
Reliance fresh retail stores should introduce more variety of goods. Reliance fresh operates in four verticals fruits and vegetables, pharmaceuticals, FMCG and telecom.they will have to introduce more sectors like..garments,shoes,kitchen,furniture etc.

Some customers want credit facilities. Home delievery should be starts if a customer purchase goods worth Rs. 500/with in the city. Reliance fresh can provided giving 14-20 % of discount on every segment ;once in a month.it will increases the sale of Reliance fresh.

ANNEXURE

QUESTIONNARE

1. WHAT IS AVERAGE BUDGET OF YOUR SHOPPING ?

C. 0-500 D. 500-1000 C. 1000-1500 D. ABOVE 1500

2.WHAT ARE THE FACTORS WHICH INFLUENCES YOUR SHOPPING ?

A. WORD OF MOUTH B. PARENTS C. ADVERTISEMENT/MEDIA D. NEIGHBOURS

3.AT THE TIME OF PURCHASING DOES IT MATTER .WHETHER THE GOODS HAVE BEEN ADVERTISED OR NOT ?
A. YES B. NO

4 . TO WHOM YOU CONSULT BEFORE PURCHASE ?

A. FRIENDS B. PARENTS C. SELF DECISION D. NEIGHBORS

1. HOW DO YOU KNOW ABOUT RELIANCE FRESH ?

A. NEWSPAPER (PRINT MEDIA) C. TELIVISION E.WORD OF MOUT B. INTERNET D.RADIO

6. DID YOU THINK THAT DISCOUNTS STORES LIKERELIANCE

FRESH;OPERATE ON A LOW MARGIN,HIGH TURNOVER PHILOSOPHY ?
A. YES B. NO C. DONT KNOW

7 .RELIANCE FRESH HELPS TO CREATE PLACE,TIME AND POSSESSION UTILITIES ?

A. YES B. NO

8. DOES RELIANCE FRESH OFFER ECONOMIES OF SCALE IN BUYING ?

A. YES B. NO

9. IS RELIANCE FRESH PERFORM A VARIETY OF FUNCTIONS SUCH AS ?

1. PRODUCT ASSORTMENT 2. PROVIDING INFORMATION A. YES B. NO 3. DISCOUNT ON PRODUCTS

10.

ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH THE SERVICES OF EMPLOYEES OF RELIANCE

B. NO

FRESH?
A. YES

11.

RELIANCE FRESH FULFILL YOUR REQUIREMENT?

B. NO

A. YES

12. ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH THE SERVICE OF RELIANCE FRESH?

A. YES B. NO

13. ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH THE PRICE OF RELIANCE FRESH?

A. YES B. NO

14. ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH THE DISCOUNT OF RELIANCE FRESH?

A. YES B. NO

15. YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH RELIANCE FRESH IS.

A. GOOD B. BAD

16. DO YOU FEEL THAT RELIANCE FRESH IS GOOD AS COMPARED WITH.. 1. SUPER MARKET 2. LOCAL MARKET 3. CONVENIENCE SHOP 4. SPECIALIST SHOP

17. ARE YOU FEEL THAT RELIANCE FRESH IS GOOD AS COMPARED WITH.. 1. SUPER MARKET 2. LOCAL MARKET A. YES 3. CONVENIENCE SHOP 4. SPECIALIST SHOP B. NO

Bibliography
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http://www.google.com 12th edition of Marketing management by Philip kotler Weekly, monthly journals and news papers for knowledge Updating about retail outlets .