Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies

(For-(MBA programme only)-Defence Personnel and Their Dependants)

Constituent of Symbiosis International University

Retail Management

Store Studied: Pune Central, Shivaji Nagar

Submitted to: Dr. Komal Chopra

Submitted by:

Aashna Mahanti A-03

Bharat Yadav A-24
Ishaan Malhotra A-26
Karan Arora A-33
Palak Teotia A-44
Naina Batra A-63
 PUNE CENTRAL

Located in the heart of the city, in Shivaji Nagar, Pune Central is a vibrant shopping destination
that offers the latest in fashion & accessories. It offers discerning shoppers options of choosing
from best brands across categories including apparels, cosmetics, fragrances, eyewear, watches,
accessories, sportswear, toys, mobiles, electronics, home and much more for the entire family.

The top floor of the mall has a food court which caters to the varying tastes of the customers who
visit Central. This makes the place although more attractive.

A study was carried out to understand the various underlying factors of a successful retail store.
These factors include:
 Product Analysis
 Pricing Analysis
 Promotional Strategy Analysis
 Store Atmospherics
 Employee Analysis
 Customer Experience
 Environmental Friendly Initiatives in Store
 Location Analysis
 Employee Analysis
PRODUCT ANALYSIS

1. Presentation of the products

Visiting Central has always been a fun for one and all. A certain sense of collective hustle-bustle
and social commotion gives people a different high that online shopping can’t provide. Pune
Central has been designed keeping in mind the convenience of the customers with an arresting first
impression i.e the mannequins showcasing the latest trends and latest handbags right in front of
the entry. As soon as the customer enters the store, to their left is the section for cosmetics and
accessories and to the right is Ladies western wear. The windows are empty and nothing has been
showcased on it. Coming to the shelves and the product placement, denim jeans have been stacked
size-wise in an ascending order. The shelves are placed towards the corner of the store. Other
shelves comprise of different sizes available for the tops showcased.

2 Product categories floor wise:

 GROUND FLOOR: Cosmetics and accessories (handbags, watches, etc)

Women’s footwear
Men’s footwear
Women’s western wear
 FIRST FLOOR: Women’s western wear

Women’s ethnic wear

 SECOND FLOOR: Youth wear
 THIRD FLOOR: Men’s formal wear

Men’s casual wear

 FOURTH FLOOR: Sportswear

Men’s casual wear

Men’s accessories
 FIFTH FLOOR: Food court

Kids wear
Toys
The placement has been done keeping all the related products together. For e.g.: Ladies cosmetics,
watches, sunglasses, etc have been kept on the same floor as ladies western wear, which makes it
convenient for them to shop. Food court is placed on the top floor and not haphazardly placed on
any other floor. It is placed on the top as the customers will have to cross all the floors to reach to
the foodcourt. This increases the chances of purchase as the customers might look around and find
something interesting to buy on their way to the foodcourt.

3. Location of the private labels

The in-house brands have been positioned and placed in the centre with other prominent brands
on the sides. The in-house and local brands have been strategically placed so that the customer’s
attention goes to the products of the brand.

PRICING STRATEGY

Pricing is what differentiates one store from another. It is what attracts customers and creates
associations in their mind when it comes to shopping casually or for a certain occasion.
Pune Central has never been able to make a mark in the retail segment despite having few of the
largest stores in Pune. Its competitors like Lifestyle have always attracted more customers and this
is not only because of the ambience of the store but also because of the prices and offers that are
provided to the customers. In order to stand a chance in this cut throat industry it is important for
Pune Central to up its game and start providing great prices in its stores.
Since Pune Central has multiple established brands like Benneton, Roya Enfield Levis etc. the
pricing of the products is decided by the original brand but certain discounts are provided year-
round. This makes the shopping experience at Pune Central quite convenient and enjoyable.
The in-house brands of Pune Central such as Heat are priced at very affordable prices and hence
provide competition to the other brands. The average price of a t shirt of the in-house brand would
be Rs 600, which is almost half the price of t shirts from an established brand. Thus, by using in-
house brands they are taking an upper hand in terms of choices available to the customer.
Recommendations- Our recommendations based on our trip to the store would be that Central
should capitalise on the products that are on discount so that they can increase their sale. Offers
should be present year-round on the in-house brand to increase awareness about it among the
customers. Certain segments of apparel that are not performing well should be put on sale
immediately to remove the stock from the store.
PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY

Pune Central has always done good promotion in both the print and television space. They always
print newspaper ads when a sale is starting and the ads are very noticeable. The biggest drawbacks
in the promotional strategy is the positioning that Central has done. With brands like Tommy, Gas,
Calvin Klein, Nautica and more, Central is not an average retail store. The positioning for apparel
has always been generic with almost no focus on the segment that would be attracted by such
names.
Portraying themselves as a “One Stop for Fashion”, Central has not really penetrated the market
the way it could have. The social media presence is strong on Facebook with around 1.1mn
followers, but the promotion is not very strong on these platforms.
On our visit we were surprised to notice that none of the sales people brought up a loyalty program
which almost every retail outlet does. A membership program of Central does exist and
usually this is the most important thing that a store uses to expand their database. We feel this is
one of the reasons customers aren’t able to create a connect with the store because they feel that
they are not important enough, which is what a store like Lifestyle uses strongly.
Recommendations- Our recommendation to the store would be to use the city newspaper (Pune
Mirror) to promote its offers to the general public. They could also use social media extensively
to create awareness about the brand among the public. In fact, social media is a great way to interact
with the customers and get feedback from them about their experience. Promotion is a very
important part of any retail store, because of the immense amount of investment that they have
made in terms of infrastructure and buying of products.
Another recommendation would be using the membership program as a tool to connect with
customers and offer them customised deals that attracts them to the store. A simple form that asks
details like birth date could allow Central to hit home with the customers on their special day. The
membership program could provide certain points to customers every single time they shop at a
Central outlet, which enhances the shopping experience of the customers.
The key takeaway from our research remains the repositioning that Central needs to undergo in
order to stay relevant in the market.

STORE ATMOSPHERICS
 1. Describe the layout of the store.

The layout of Pune Central is that of a racetrack. The entry and exit points of the store are separate
which allows the customers to get a full view of all that the store has to offer and gives multiple
opportunities to the store to attract the customer through various segments along the way.
Even though the layout is an ideal layout for a retail store like Central, they haven't really made
the best use of it. The store is too congested with improper lighting that actually makes looking at
anything very difficult. Central would need to space out their brands better to increase the chances
of converting prospects into customers.
The floor wise segmentation is done well with the most appealing segments being on the ground
floor and the food court being on the top. Having the food court on the top would allow the
customer to at least glance at every floor and maybe buy something. This is a strategic move that
most retail outlets follow.

2. Describe the ambience of the store

Ambience of the store makes or breaks the chances of repeated purchases. The use of the colour
red signifies fashion and glamour. Walls are white and beige in colour with vibrant colours of the
clothes popping out. This is done to enhance the clothes and to attract customer’s attention. Space
planning hasn’t been done well. The store seems very cramped up and congested with clothes
everywhere, on shelves, hangers and racks. With hardly any walking space, the credibility of the
store has gone down.
3. Mode of providing information
The store uses banners and placards to give information to the customers. Announcements are also
made to bring to the notice of the customers of the exciting offers on brands.
4. Does the store provide complete information?
Yes, the store provides complete information relating to promotional offers, return of sold goods,
working hours, etc. The policy on returns is shown at the billing counters via banners. For
promotional offers, placards are used which shows
EMPLOYEE ANALYSIS
1.Are the employees in uniform?
As Pune Central caters to a variety of brands, the employees who take care of a specific brand
wears uniform for that particular brand only. This made it easy to recognise the employees. On the
other hand, the other staff of the Pune Central wore black trousers and black shirts along with an
ID card with a red tag. This made identifying the staff a little confusing. There were instances
where we spotted some staff without ID cards, which made it difficult to ask for guidance and help
in the store.

2.Are the employees neatly dressed?

Upon closure inspection on the uniforms, it was noticed that not all employees wore neat and tidy
uniforms. The uniforms of some employees were not well laundered and some employees did not
have their ID cards on. This made it difficult to differentiate between a customer and the staff.
Employees who represented a particular brand, were well dressed and easily identifiable.

3.Are the employees courteous and helpful?

As noticed, the employees of Pune Central did not seem very helpful and were not proactive. The
staff did not seem to pay too much attention to the customers around them, unless asked.
The employees at the ground floor section where, the accessories, cosmetics and footwear were
placed, reached out to the customers with the prevailing offers and sell products which were on
promotion.
In the kids’ section, there weren’t enough employees to assist the customers and it took us a
considerable amount of time to find an employee who could help us with the products. A similar
situation was faced in the ladies’ section for Indian clothes.
In the men’s section, there were quite a few employees present to attend to the customers’ queries.
In the women’s section, for western clothes, shoes and bags, the employees who belonged to the
respective brands were very proactive, courteous and helpful.

4.Are the employees knowledgeable?

The staff knew well about the placement of the products. They also had knowledge on the various
ongoing offers on those products. They were aware of the available stock of products and their
sizes.
The staff also was well versed with other offerings of their brands such as fits and alternate colours.
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
1.Does the customer spend too much time in product search and at the billing counter?
As witnessed, there are 2 billing counters on the ground floor and 1 centrally located on each other
floor.
During non-peak hours the timing of every billing is short and quick wherein it takes an average
time of 2-5mins in the billing queue.
During peak hours (like sale and weekends) the timing varies based on the number of people
standing in the queue (that is >10 people more time) and it takes an average time of about 8-10
mins on every billing counter.

2.Are you satisfied with the handling of queries by salesmen?

The staff at Pune Central seemed to have lacked enthusiasm in handling customer and their queries.
They would respond only upon queries put forth by the customer himself. This actually made
potential buyers lose their interest in buying the product.

3.Do you have to show bill to security at exit counter and does it hamper your experience?
Yes, a customer has to show their shopping bill at the time of exit for the lady at the counter to
punch into the bill as a security measure.
This does not hamper the experience during non-peak hours but, during peak hours as their only
one person to look after this, it builds up rush and causes chaos at the exit gate.

ENVIRONMENTAL FRIENDLY INITIATIVES IN STORE

As per the new government ruling of ban on plastic, Pune Central has shifted from plastic bags to
paper bags which are only available on a payment of Rs10.
A suggestion here which could be made is that the store can switch over to LED lighting instead
of regular tube lights and bulbs to save on electricity.

LOCATION ANALYSIS
Pune Central is very centrally located and is directly connected to the main highway which
connects the Pune University to the rest of the city. The mall is easily visible from the main road
and has parking facilities for both 2 and 4 wheelers. A separate foot path has also been made for
pedestrians.
The store being located around colleges and the Pune University, a large population of students
come here for their shopping.