UNDERSTANDING STORE OPERATIONS

AT

BIRLA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY

2018
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First and foremost, I would like to thank the Centre for Retail Management, BIMTECH for
providing me with this opportunity in the form of an On-Job Training programme. It has helped
me immensely in comprehending the various miniscule details about a store’s operations that
allowed me to understand the concepts taught in class in a new light.

I would also like to thank Future Retail Limited for deeming me a worthy candidate for the
OJT programme. My Industry mentor Mr. Mrinal Choudhary, DM, CSD, Big Bazaar Gen Nxt,
DLF Mall helped me every step of the way throughout the training period and provided me
with her help, anytime I needed it. It would be unfair not to mention Mr. Rohit Lakhyani, DM,
HPC, Big Bazaar Gen Nxt, DLF Mall and Ms. Tripti Tewari, HR, DLF Mall who extended his
support to me time and again without fault. In a new environment, the last thing a person wants
is to be standing alone with nobody by his side and I’m thankful to all the staff members at the
store who were equally welcoming and helpful right from security & housekeeping to the
ADMs & CSSs.

My faculty mentor Dr. Veenu Sharma was always a phone call away from helping me whenever
I felt lost during my training period. He shared his extensive knowledge with me from time to
time and provided his inputs for fine tuning the outcome of this report.

Last but never the least, I would like to thank my friends & family for showing me their support
throughout the training period and extending a helping hand whenever I felt burdened with
work.
 CONTENTS
S. No. Description Page No.
1 Acknowledgement i
2 Contents ii
3 Introduction 1
4 Objective 2
5 Company Profile 3
6 Weekly Report 5
7 Insights Gained 7
8 Summary of Job Accomplishments 8
9 Problems during Training 9
10 Comments and Recommendations 9
 INTRODUCTION

The OJT (On-Job Training) is a short duration training programme which enables the first-year
students of PGDM – Retail Management, BIMTECH to understand the operations of a retail
store by practically visiting the store on a day-to-day basis and compare the theory concepts
taught in class to the real-world situations. The On-Job Training programme helps the students
to experience real life operations at a retail store. The On-Job Training programme is divided
into two periods. The first period is of 10 days in Trimester II and the second period is of 14
days in Trimester III. The students are required to report to their industry mentor daily and
accomplish daily tasks assigned to the students by the Industry Mentor. These tasks help the
students to learn in detail the various processes occurring at the store in various departments.
The students are required to submit a report comprising of their learnings from the training
process to the Industry mentor and a copy of the report signed by the Industry mentor in the
Centre for Retail Management at BIMTECH. At the end of the training period, the Industry
mentor interviews the student to gauge the student’s learnings about the store’s operations and
the tasks accomplished. The Industry mentor is then supposed to judge the student’s
performance based on an evaluation sheet sent by the institute.

After the completion of the On-Job Training programme, the students appear for a viva process
where a panel of interviewers assess the learnings of the student from the training programme.

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 OBJECTIVE

For OJT 2 during Trimester III, I was assigned the Big Bazaar store in DLF Mall, Noida.

There, I was supposed to observe and understand the:

• Product Portfolio

• Categorisation of Products

• Store Opening and Closing Procedure

• Store Structure/Hierarchy

• Inventory Control, Sorting and Recording

• Sales Targeting

• Visual Merchandising

• Sales Promotion

• Private Label Marketing

• Customer Service Department (CSD) Operations

• POS software used by cashiers

• Categorisation of employees

• Transfer of Goods from Vendor/DC-to-store, store-to-DC/Vendor

• Indent generation for different categories of products

• Goods Inward process (IRN, GRN, Discrepancy Note)

• Handling DAD/RTV/Dump

• Maintenance process for available equipment

• Handling price mismatch, barcode error at warehouse

• Management of cash tills (opening, operation, closing)

• Updating of shelves according to MPM

• Handling shrinkage (pilferage & theft)

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 COMPANY PROFILE

HISTORY:

Future Group is an Indian private conglomerate, headquartered in Mumbai. The company is

known for having a significant prominence in Indian retail and fashion sectors, with popular
supermarket chains like Big Bazaar and Food Bazaar, lifestyle stores like Brand Factory,
Central etc. and also for having a notable presence in integrated foods and FMCG
manufacturing sectors. Future Retail (initially Pantaloons Retail India Ltd (PRIL)) and Future
Lifestyle Fashions, two operating companies of Future Group, are among the top retail
companies listed in BSE with respect to assets, and in NSE with respect to market
capitalization.

Future Group is a corporate group and nearly all of its businesses are managed through its
various operating companies based on the target sectors. For e.g., retail
supermarket/hypermarket chains Big Bazaar, FBB, Food Bazaar, Food Hall, Hometown etc.
are operated by its retail hand, Future Retail Ltd, while its fashion outlets Brand Factory,
Central, Planet Sports etc. are operated via another of its subsidiaries, Future Lifestyle
Fashions. With these many fashion outlets and supermarket, the group also promotes
respectively, its fashion brands like Indigo Nation, Spalding, Lombard, Bare etc., and FMCGs
like Tasty Treat, Fresh & Pure, Clean Mate, Ektaa, Premium Harvest, Sach etc. It also has
operating companies to cater specifically to internal financial matters and consulting within its
group of companies.

Big Bazaar is a retail chain of hypermarkets, discount department stores and grocery stores
setup in 2001. It was founded by Kishore Biyani under Future Retail Limited. It is the parent
chain of Food Bazaar and Fashion Big Bazaar. It has 250+ stores in 120 cities. Big Bazaar
offers a variety of products such as Grocery, Staples, Home Utility, Fruits & Vegetables,
Beverages, Bread Dairy & Eggs, Personal care, etc.

Big Bazaar also includes eZone, which deals in electronics and consumer durables which
allows Big Bazaar to cater to a larger array of customers. Big Bazaar has shifted eZone and
Fashion Big Bazaar towards an omni-channel strategy to serve its customers in an effective and
efficient manner.

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BACKGROUND:

Big Bazaar puts an effort on providing the best value to a customer by providing them a wide
variety of products at the lowest possible prices. Big Bazaar organises “Sabse saste 5 din” big
days to attract customers and it also has a lot of customer loyalty programmes such as Payback,
Big Bazaar Profit Club, Young Elders, etc. through which it aims to provide its customers with
better savings in the form of monetary benefits and reward points. Big Bazaar has also launched
its FuturePay app which can be integrated with existing loyalty programmes for a faster
checkout process.

Big Bazaar also offers a universal exchange policy wherein any product purchased from its
store can be returned at any Big Bazaar store in India by the customer and Big Bazaar will get
the product replaced or offer a refund to the customer.

BIG BAZAAR GEN NEXT

Big bazaar was relaunched in 2015 in a new and innovative way and given the name Big Bazaar
gen next. There are only two pilot stores of Gen Next that is in the Infiniti mall Mumbai and in
the Mall of India Noida. The Big Bazaar Gen Next stores are designed to be smarter and
experiential - through the use of technology, innovation in services, layouts and sections and
digital interfaces.

VALUES:

• Flow

• Indian-ness

• Leadership

• Adaptability

• Respect & Humility

• Simplicity & Positivity

• Introspection & Openness

• Valuing & Nurturing Relationships

VISION:

Future Group shall deliver Everything, Everywhere, Every time for Every Indian consumer in
the most profitable manner.

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MISSION:

• We share the vision and belief that our customers and shareholders shall be served only by
creating and executing future scenarios in the consumption space leading to economic
development.
• We will be the trendsetters in the evolving delivery formats, creating retail reality, making
consumption affordable for all consumer segments for classes and for masses.
• We shall infuse Indian brands with confidence and renewed ambition.

• We shall be efficient, cost-conscious and committed to quality in whatever we do.

• We shall ensure that our positive attitude, sincerity, humility and united determination shall
be the driving force in making us a success.

OTHER BUSINESSES/SECTOR:

Other than brick-and-mortar retail stores, Big Bazaar has expanded into online market space to
offer its customers the best shopping experience on the go & expand its reach to every door
step in the nation.

Big Bazaar also has its own label of products in staples, processed foods, beverages, home
utility, personal care, etc categories which are purchased through third-party vendors under the
brand name of ektaa, Golden Harvest, Fresh & Pure, Tasty Treat, Clean Mate, Care Mate, kara,
MyGHTY, etc.

DEPARTMENT/AREA OF ASSIGNMENT:

• Front-end Operations

• Inventory Management

• CSD Operations

• Back-office Operations

• Merchandising

SHOP LOCATION

The Big Bazaar Gen Nxt store is located in the basement level of DLF Mall of India, Sector
38, Noida, Uttar Pradesh 20130.

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SHOP LAYOUT

The Big Bazaar Gen Nxt store in Mall of India is spread over 55,000sqft and houses 3 sections–
fashion, food and home and electronics. The fashion section has been designed keeping in mind
the youngsters. It is, as Vishal Kapoor, Chief Design Officer, Future Group, explains ‘a
seamless vertical space broken by storytelling planograms and dynamic digital walls’. The
fashion section also has a beauty and health zone which has been differentiated through
environment design and imagery. All the floors have a different flooring. The food zone has a
live open kitchen, a pick-and-go food service, food displays and a large promotional area. The
design is minimalistic. Chillers, freezers, roti makers which are serviced by a conveyor belt etc.
make communication possible through info-graphics. The home & electronics zone is spread
out over 10,000 square feet and focuses on convenient design that helps to engage with the
products. A first-of-its-kind service area at the store exit has a sit-down billings facility, a first
in the world.

WEEKLY REPORT

Date: 13th Jan 2018

Time In: 10:00 am

Task: Sales operation in Fbb at Big Bazaar GIP
Time Out: 7:00 pm

Hours Spent: 9hrs

Date: 14th Jan 2018

Time In: 10:00 am

Task: Sales operation in Fbb at Big Bazaar GIP
Time Out: 7:00 pm

Hours Spent: 9hrs

Date: 15th Jan 2018

Task: Orientation at Big Bazaar Gen Next Mall Of India.
Time In: 10:00 am
Floor survey. Understanding the Product portfolio and
Time Out: 6:00 pm
categorisation in different sections.
Hours Spent: 8hrs

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Date: 16th Jan 2018

Time In: 10:00 am Task: Warehouse Management, Inward and outward

Time Out: 6:00 pm procedure, IRN, GRN, etc.

Hours Spent: 8hrs

Date: 17th Jan 2018

Time In: 10:00 am

Task: Visual Merchandising
Time Out: 6:00 pm

Hours Spent: 8hrs

Date: 18th Jan 2018

Time In: 10:00 am

Task: Store opening and closing procedure, SOPs
Time Out: 6:00 pm

Hours Spent: 8hrs

Date: 20th Jan 2018

Time In: 10:00 am

Task: Indenting, expiry date management.
Time Out: 6:00 pm

Hours Spent: 8hrs

Date: 21st Jan 2018

Time In: 10:00 am

Task: Private Label management
Time Out: 6:00 pm

Hours Spent: 8hrs

Date: 23rd Jan 2018

Time In: 10:00 am

Task: Cash Desk Management
Time Out: 6:00 pm

Hours Spent: 8hrs

Date: 24th Jan 2018

Time In: 10:00 am

Task: Understanding the functions of the Customer Seva
Time Out: 6:00 pm
Desk
Hours Spent: 8hrs

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Date: 25th Jan 2018

Time In: 10:00 am

Task: Operating the CSD
Time Out: 6:00 pm

Hours Spent: 8hrs

Date: 26th Jan 2018

Time In: 10:00 am

Task: Operating the CSD
Time Out: 6:00 pm

Hours Spent: 8hrs

Date: 27th Jan 2018

Time In: 10:00 am

Task: Operating the gift counter
Time Out: 6:00 pm

Hours Spent: 8hrs

Date: 28th Jan 2018

Time In: 10:00 am

Task: Operating the gift counter
Time Out: 6:00 pm

Hours Spent: 8hrs

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 INSIGHTS GAINED

SKILLS:

The OJT programme at Big Bazaar, GIP Mall, Noida helped me to develop the following skills:

• Customer interaction.

• Operation of POS software.

• Customer complaint processing procedure.

• Inventory recording and control procedure.

• Procedure of movement of goods (inward and outward).

KNOWLEDGE

The OJT programme at Big Bazaar Gen Nxt, Mall of India, Noida enabled me to observe and
understand:

• The product portfolio at the store.

• The product categorisation at the store.

• The responsibilities of all the store employees.

• The opening and closing procedure of the store.

• The sales pitching done by CSSs to the customers.

• The jargon used at Big Bazaar in different departments.

• The visual merchandising standards followed at Big Bazaar.

• The categorisation of product status based on quantity of sales.

• The operating procedure of CSD (Customer Service Department).

• The way of understanding a customer’s requirement and making suggestions.

• The recruitment process followed at Big Bazaar (for BB employees and Brand staff).

• The steps involved in the movement of goods from DC-to-store/store-to-DC/store-

tocustomer/customer-to-store/store-to-vendor/vendor-to-store.KNOWLEDGE:

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VALUES:

The OJT Programme at Big Bazaar- Gen Nxt, DLF Mall, Noida helped me to attain the
following values:

• Importance of grooming in retail business.

• Importance of customer delight for a business.

• Importance of retaining customers in the brand.

• Importance of discipline regarding one’s responsibilities.

• Importance of encouragement in a workplace to improve productivity.

• Importance of feedback process in driving sales and retaining customers.

• Importance of understanding a customer’s requirements properly for better demand

satisfaction.

SUMMARY OF JOB ACCOMPLISHMENTS

During the On-Job Training programme at Big Bazaar, GIP Mall, Noida, I accomplished the
following tasks:
Product portfolio and categorization: Big Bazaar holds a total of 4600 brands in the
following product categories.
1. Fashion for Big Bazaar: Fbb consisted of the following categories:
• Men’s Wear
• Women’s Wear
• Kids’ Wear
• Infants’ Wear & utilities
• Beauty & Grooming
• Footwear
• Toys, sports goods & stationary
• Luggage

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2. Food: Following were sold under the food category:
• Atta Dal Chawl
• Phal Sabzi
• Jhatpat Rasoi
• Jaldi Bites
• Bakery
• Fresh Dairy
• Thanda Thanda
• Meat, Seafood, Poultry
3. Home: The categories under Home section are as follows:
• Home Fashion
• Homeware
• Home Care
4. E-zone: This section consisted of Small electronic appliances, large electronic appliances,
IT and Communication equipment, Televisions.
5. Apart from this the new Gen Nxt store also had a Live Kitchen, where different types of
freshly made dishes (veg, non veg) were served.
They had different counters for veg and non veg
dishes. The live kitchen also had a small sitting
area besides it.

Store opening and closing procedure: The

store opening is done by the opening manager,
one department manager, TL, security and a
guard. The store opens at 8:00 am following a
procedure of checking of seals, opening of seals,
submission of key to the security and finally
opening the sales for the day in the SOD
Picture: Live Kitchen

The store closing follows a very elaborate procedure, first, when the final customer leaves,
the customer entry and exit are closed and sealed, the end of day (EOD) software is run and
the sales are updated in the system automatically. Then the staff leave and the staff entry
and all other entry and exit points are locked in presence of the closing manager and security
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 after which the closing manager takes the key with him and deposits it the next day at the
security following an entry in the key movement register.
 Goods inward and outward movement: The steps followed when the goods are received
at the store dock each day from the DC/vendor include confirming the intactness of the seal
on the delivery truck, physical counting of the boxes delivered, detailed examination of the
goods received, entry of the received goods into the store’s inventory, generating
IRN/GRN/Discrepancy Note, etc. The steps followed when goods are released include
generating a stock transfer order, an LR copy and a send request.

• Updation of shelves: The shelves and displays are changed according to MPM
(Merchandise Presentation Method) received by the store employees from the respective
categories. The frequency of presentation varies along with the offers and sales and also
during specific seasons.

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• Handling Dump/RTV/DAD: I observed how different products are handled in case of
expiry and how they are returned to Vendor (RTV) or dumped in case of fresh foods. I also
observed how Damaged & Defective (DAD) products are handled at the store’s warehouse.
• CSS-Customer Interaction: I observed how the CSSs understand the requirements of a
customer and suggest the right product to the customer and pitch in additional products by
cross-selling/up-selling.

• CSD Operations: I observed as well as worked in the CSD (Customer Service Department)
where one handles a customer’s complaint and do what all things can be done to address
the issue that the customer is facing. Based on the situation analysis, CSD can either replace
the product or refund the customer’s money in the form of a credit note which can be used
at their next Big Bazaar shopping within a period of 30 days.
• POS software: The POS software is used at the store by the cashiers, CSD and warehouse
office to sell, replace, refund and check the product’s correctness of specifications.
• Indenting and expiry date management: The store does an indenting of over 30,000
articles according to the MPM. The products are always bought ensuring a 70% shelf
validity. In case of approaching expiry, a liquidation or offer is put out with the approval
from the category manager ensuring no negative margin (offer price should be above
minimum actual price).
• Handling Dump/RTV/DAD: In case of not being able to liquidate all the products before
their expiry dates, the leftover articles are either returned to the vendor or dumped. I
observed how different products are handled in case of expiry and how they are returned to
Vendor (RTV) or dumped in case of fresh foods. I also observed how Damaged & Defective
(DAD) products are handled at the store’s warehouse.
• Visual Merchandising: The visual merchandising of the store follows the store
merchandise presentation method and aims towards increasing the ease of access of
products to the customer with minimum hassle and assistance. The store promotes self-
buying by focusing on providing every product to the customer easily and within reach.
The store follows a freeform layout giving unique visual stimuli for promotion of private
label products and the products that are on offer. Every section was following a proper
planogram.

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 .

 Thing that were different in the Gen Nxt store than the normal value oriented Big
Bazaar:
 This store had a modern interior to give the customers a premium ambience and a
good service.
 Big Bazaar Gen Nxt had strong VM standards that was being followed at the store.
 The signage that were used was on point and very helpful.
 The prices of the product kept in the store was premium.
 The store had a live kitchen.

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  The store also had a section where an atta chakki was there and you can buy freshly
ground atta.
 The Gen Nxt store promoted a merchandise mixture that consisted majorly of Future
group’s In-house brands such as Fashion brands like Indigo Nation, Spalding,
Lombard, Bare etc., and FMCGs like Tasty Treat, Fresh & Pure, Clean Mate, Ektaa,
Golden Harvest Harvest, Sunkist etc.
 The Gen Nxt store also had a sit down billing area, where the elderly people and the
Profit Club Card holders can sit and rest while their billing process is done in any
of the 40 billing counters.
 Other than the conventional cash tills this store had three other cash counter at Fbb,
Live Kitchen and E-zone. It also had a counter which was being used for fast billing
(for few items).

PROBLEMS MET DURING TRAINING

While the first day at training was a bit un-nerving, I did not face any problem during the
training period. All the staff members at Big Bazaar, GIP Mall were immensely welcoming,
and they made me feel right at home since day one and they helped me every step of the way
during my training. Also, having my friends alongside me during the training period made it
easier to learn each aspect of my training.

COMMENTS & RECOMMENDATIONS

The big bazaar Gen Nxt store is a pilot store and currently operating in de growth, even though
they focusing a lot on customer service, the store concept is not becoming very clear to the
customers who have been used to looking at big bazaar as a value retail format. There needs to
be more constructive promotion of the Gen Nxt format in order to increase the footfall of the
store.
The store could also use a bigger warehouse as the existing warehouse is small and there is a
problem accommodating all the goods.
Apart from this the store is very well managed and up kept according to the standards. The
operations of the store functions smoothly in all the different departments there is.

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