RETAIL MANAGEMENT PROJECT

ByArun Karthik.N Karthik.S Suryakumar.N Shyam Sunder.M

CONTENTS
Introduction
About TRENT The WESTSIDE story Mission Hierarchy of the officials Retail format and Target audience

Site location & site evaluation Store layout

Ambience of the store Store interiors and exteriors

Merchandise management
Product Assortment &Brands in WESTSIDE Promotions

Inventory management SWOT analysis of the Store References

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INTRODUCTION
ABOUT TRENT:
Established in 1998 as part of the TATA group, Trent ltd. operates Westside, one of Indias largest and fastest growing chains of retail stores. The company has already established 49 Westside departmental stores (measuring 15,000 - 30,000 square feet each) in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad & Noida (to be considered as 1 city), Hubli, Hyderabad, Indore, Jabalpur, Jaipur, Kanpur, Kolkata, Ludhiana, Lucknow, Mangalore, Mumbai, Mysore, Nagpur, Nashik, Pune, Raipur, Rajkot, Surat, Vadodara and Jammu. The company hopes to expand rapidly with similar format stores that offer a fine balance between style and price retailing. Trent ventured into the hypermarket business in 2004 with Star Bazaar, providing an ample assortment of products made available at the lowest prices, aptly exemplifying its Helping you spend less motto. In addition, Trent acquired a 76% stake in Landmark, one of the largest books & music retail chains in the country. Landmark began operations in 1987 with its first store in Chennai with a floor space of 5500 sq. ft.

THE WESTSIDE STORY:

The story began circa 1998 when the TATAs acquired Littlewoods, a London based retail chain. This acquisition was followed by the establishment of Trent Ltd and subsequently Littlewoods was renamed as WESTSIDE. In a rapidly evolving retail scenario, Westside has carved a niche for its brand of merchandise creating a loyal following. With a variety of designs and styles, everything at Westside is exclusively designed and the merchandise ranges from stylized clothes, footwear and accessories for men, women and children to well-co-coordinated table linens, artefacts, home accessories and furnishings. Well-designed interiors, sprawling space, prime locations and coffee shops enhance the customers shopping experience. WESTSIDE has garnered numerous accolades namely:

Balanced Scorecard Hall of Fame

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India Brand Summit Brand Leadership Retail IFA Visionary of the Year Award, 2002 Mrs. Simone N. Tata Most Admired Large Format Retail Chain of the Year - Lycra Images Fashion Awards 2005 NDTV Profit Business Leadership Awards 2006 - Retail Category

MISSION:
The mission of the store is to be the most preferred and consistently profitable lifestyle retailer. In order to achieve this goal it focuses on developing a comprehensive understanding of the needs of the customer, strive to win their confidence and offer them best-in-class products and services at affordable products. WESTSIDE will always be in the forefront of fashion and services by anticipating and exceeding the expectations of our customers. The policy of the store is to satisfy its customers with the range, quality and value of the products it offers.

ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE:

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RETAIL FORMAT & TARGET AUDIENCE:

Westside stores are department stores. These are the general merchandise retailers offering various kinds of quality products and services. A department store is a retail establishment which specializes in satisfying a wide range of the consumers personal and residential durable product needs and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of merchandise lines at variable price plants. Department stores usually sell products including apparel, furniture, home appliances, electronics and sometimes other lines of products such as paint, hardware, toiletries, cosmetics, photographic equipment, jewellery, toys and sporting goods. Certain department stores are further classified as discount department stores. Department stores are usually part of a retail chain of many stores situated around a country or several countries. When asked to the store manager about the format of the retail store the reply was that it is a mature store. WESTSIDE is a fashionable lifestyle store for the teenage segment of customers. Target audience are in the age group of 25-30 years of the elite class. The price range of the apparel is Rs.199 Rs.6000. As far as competitors are concerned manager said that pantaloons and Lifestyle are its major competitors.

SITE LOCATION & EVALUATION:

The Project team initially locates potential locations where a store can be established. The locations are selected based on various factors like the demographics the locality, disposable income of people, proximity to the customers etc. Based on the results of the research the best location is decided for the store so that it could enjoy maximum ROI and profitability. Then the plan is devised which gives details about the area of the store, layout, budget etc. The layout of the store depends upon the area. In our case the area is and accordingly the store has got just one level where all the products are exhibited. If suppose the area was more the store would have got multiple levels, one for males, one for females, and another one for kids and furniture.
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After the store layout is decided the budget is given based on which the lightings and brands of the store are decided. In the Coimbatore branch the store has got enough amount of lighting but it does not have brands. Almost all of them were private labels. This is because the store area is very less compared to the other stores of Westside in other metropolitan cities.

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STORE LAYOUT: MERCHANDISE MANAGEMENT:

BRANDS & PRODUCT ASSORTMENT IN WESTSIDE:
In Westside there are a total of 85 brands overall out of which 22 are private brands. As mentioned earlier, the Coimbatore branch does not have any of the big brands. The store has got only private brands in all the sections. In the footwear section it has got only WOODLANDS and the rest are private brands. In the garment section the private brands kept are 2F4U SRC Ascot Westsport Gia Urban angel

These apparel brands are given separate space for displaying their merchandise and more promotional offers are there for them to increase their sales. The fast moving segment are ladies and kids garments. Even the space allotted for womens section is more than mens section in the Coimbatore store.

VISUAL MERCHANDISING
Visual merchandising is changed once in 3 days. There are certain ways in which the products are displayed. For example woollen clothes are not hanged, formal shirts are folded and t-shirts are hanged.

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PROMOTIONS:
When the sales is dull there is a price discount offer given to the customers. This is a yearly price discount offer which the store gives and this is uniform across all the retailers in India. Since the kids and ladies section are fast moving more attractive offers are given in that section than mens section. The store manager told that 30% of the customers who enter inside the store are brand conscious and it is up to the salesmen to push the private brands. Initially the customers are reluctant in taking a look of the product. But the sales people in the store show them different designs and patterns and ask them to try. This would increase the chances of the customer buying that product. The conversion rate of a customer in the Coimbatore store is 40%. The transaction time depends on each customer and the number of products he/she takes a look or buys. The store offers a feature which no other retail store offers the customers. It is refund of cash within a 7 day window for the product purchased. The store manager claims that there are customers who take advantage of this feature. They take clothes and use it for the occasion and come back to the store asking for a cash refund with dissatisfaction with the product as the reason. But then customers after a couple of times become guilty of what they are doing and they themselves stop this. When it comes to loyalty programs, the store has a membership card which on possession, the customer will get discounts for subsequent purchases. Another type is intimation to the customers through call, media, sms etc so that they are informed about the latest offers in the store. This also helps in pulling the customers inside the store eventually increasing the footfall and revenue per customer.

INVENTORY MANAGEMENT:
The maximum shelf life of an SKU is three months. If the product does not sell for more than a month the visibility is increased. Else the same product is sent to another store in another location where there is demand for it. If the product does not sell anywhere the sales

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people are instructed to somehow push the product to the customer. If the merchandise still does not sells the store sends it back to the main warehouse in Pune. Westside has an ERP system in place. Each and every SKU is marked with a unique identification number which is fed into the system. While the billing is done for a particular SKU the system is updated immediately. This information directly reaches the main warehouse and also to the main office in Mumbai. The replenishing of the inventory is automatically done from the main office because they have the data as to which product has sold and which has not. The forecasting of inventory is done from the main office based on various factors like season, festivals etc. The store manager need not place an order each and every time the store is in need of stock.

SWOT ANALYSIS:
STRENGTHS:
Has good brand name of TATAs Location of the store Good customer base Apparels are cheaper by 5 to 10% while the price difference on the other products varies between 5 to 20% Attractive promotional schemes and cash refund options Private labels are good in quality

WEAKNESS:
Very less garments for the middle class segment Lack of differentiation among the malls that are coming Lack of innovation Well established brands are not present

OPPORTUNITIES:
Huge untapped market

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 Rising disposable income increase in number of people in the earning category and women earning category also Urbanization changing lifestyle and consumer habits

THREATS:
Competition from other retail players like pantaloons and lifestyle

Shop lifting

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