Big Bazaarization of India!

By : Chetan Khanna
Big Bazaar has managed to take make the most of the changes in the post-liberalisation era.
It has managed to create an equity that differs from convention. Through emphasis on
subject of enquiry it has managed to create a new consumption culture called Big
Bazaarization. Now it has spread to perpetually all sectors of Indian society.
Big Bazaarization has basically started from where Ritzers McDonaldization of Society
(1993) ends. Mcdonaldization comprises Efficiency, Calculability, Predictability, Control
and Replacement of human labour with technology. Big Bazaarization does have the above
factors as its backbone but also have the following seven factors that Big Bazaar has
worked upon and made it work in Indian conditions.
The factors can be seen in the figure where there is an hour glass model with sand flowing
from the top half to bottom. A strong upper principle is more about attitude and bottom is
more related to development of a superior influence. It has been used by project managers
across the board to iron out the flaws in implementation purposes.

Defining the Product
Big Bazaar has been able to merge the look and feel of the local markets with modern retail
features of quality, choice and convenience. Now the consumers expect low prices of goods
and save on every purchase. Its not limited to a particular food item and can be as diverse
as apparel or staple.

Comparative Advantage
Big Bazaar has created a context where the customers pay for different goods and services
happily. They have started a store that always looks crowded. The U-shaped section with a
low clearance and island style on multiple floors has been noteworthy. The creation of a
demand led approach in terms of design has been in coherence with the customers need
and demand. Now customers do not just come to shop but have a great time. They have
created an ambience to chat, gossip and eat. They had been the first one to create an
experience culture whereby customers used to seek out services in a memorable way. Also,
adapting it accordance with the local culture has been a feather in their cap.
The no frill design of the store epitomises simplicity. It has been designed to ensure that
the target audience is reached. Its not limited to one particular region and has infact taken
the whole country by a storm. For example Big Bazaars Sangli store was the first store to
sell loose edible oil as this was how the locals desired to purchase the oil.
The deep understanding of local tastes and preferences has ensured that Big Bazaar sets
the standard for retail. The creation of Big Bazaarization has enticed the consumers into
consumption beyond necessity across the length and breadth of the country.
Relativity on Context
Big Bazaar has tapped into the functions of a mind. To be more specific they have managed
to establish an emotional bond with the shopper.
Big Bazaar has studied human behaviour in depth and managed to derive the maximum
benefit out of it. They have created an illusion of lower prices for a limited period of time.
Ultimately customer purchases more than s/he need and they tap into the fundamental
human behavioural tendency of greed.
The icing on the cake had been the introduction of exchange programmes for old clothes,
utensils, newspapers, bottles from car and autos, etc. The goods were weighed and coupons
issued for a fixed price for every kg of goods collected. The customers then used coupons to
pay one-fourth of the total bill. This initiative created a lot of goodwill and customers built
up a tendency to compare the Big Bazaar prices with the market!
Artificial Scarcity
The initiation of Sabse Sasta Din when the sales are supposed to be sluggish during the
week on a Wednesday has helped them to create a new context to tap into. Now the
consumers have been forced to come out of the homes and ultimately save the maximum
amount of money in the middle way of the week.
The same is true when the Sabse Sasta Week that was initiated around the Republic Day
when the sales were supposed to be sluggish. In 2006, when this was introduced for the
first time police had to come in due to overcrowding! The creation of this context has been
an overwhelming success. The preference of footfall over margin has put the customers in
a quandary and eventually managed to won their hearts. Now perpetually every online and
offline firm tries to replicate the same.
Measurement
Big Bazaars key differentiator has been of knowing the customers well, clarity of thought,
ensuring the same message across different points of contact and the ability to innovate.
They have been blessed with a promoter who is hands on and measures the trait of how
they shop, what they wear, what they buy and how they interact. It does help when he
watches the customers every Sunday from a distance in any of the stores and improves
upon those from the very next day.
Decoy Tactic
By preferring to design the stores through categories over brand, Big bazaar has managed
to force the customers to buy the products they want the want the consumers to purchase.
This has ensured they sell the products which have the highest margin and the lowest
price. The tactic has helped them reap the maximum benefit. This has ensured that those
entrepreneurs, who had a long term relationship with them, have grown side by side. It has
also helped them to maintain the same quality of the goods.
Tapping the free mentality
Big Bazaar has managed to give an emotional charge to perceive the offering as more
important than it actually is. They have tapped into the fact that humans have been more
intrinsically afraid of loss. Ultimately they have made the target audiences believe that
there shall not be any sense of loss when a Free! item is consumed. Recently, Big Bazaar
had launched a scheme to buy one get one free on Basmati Rice in one of the stores. The
consumers went head over heels over the ready-to-eat product and it got finished in a few
hours!
They have used the Free! Mentality eloquently and covered perpetually all products
available in their inventory. Through this they have made increasingly numerous
customers.
Now, even the e-commerce companies have tried to piggyback on the lead of Big Bazaars
free strategy!
Effectiveness
Big Bazaars effectiveness can be measured through a small incident. Usually the shirts at
Big Bazaar had been priced at Rs 349 in the time. Post inception a store manager had
sourced 1 lakh shirts and kept the price at Rs 149 to introduce white shirts to their
collection. Unfortunately, the decision turned out to be farce. But, contrary to expectation
the shirt was sold at Rs 49. The management took responsibility of not knowing the target
audience. There had been a mismatch between product and the customer. The customer
had been coming in buses and trains and for them maintenance cost for the white shirt was
very high. The big picture thought process has helped to focus on opportunities than
problems and ensuring more number of customers are made in the process. Thus, in the
above example they managed to make more than 50,000 customers in the process!
Target Audience
For any firm its important to know the customers and Big Bazaar knows how to cater to
them in a succinct manner. They have built up on the Pantaloon experiment of theirs an
reaped the benefits through Big Bazaar. The division into 3 classes of consuming, serving
and struggling class has helped them immensely to understand the customers. Consuming
class has a substantial disposable income and form part of the upper and middle classes
that are supposed to be 14% of the customers. Serving class depend solely on the
consumers and constitutes 55%. Struggling class are the rest of the population who live in a
hand to mouth manner in the country. Through Pantaloon their target had been the
consuming class and through Big Bazaar it had been the serving class. Thus, they have
managed to effectively create and ultimately reach the desired consumer.
Conclusion
Big Bazaar has managed to grab attention through careful plantation of anecdotes in the
creation of a new consumption culture. Now customers expect all the above 7 factors in
addition to the Mcdonaldization factors of Efficiency, Calculability and Predictability from
Big Bazaar. Now any other store that comes up has to first come up to Big Bazaar standard
and then deliver a point of difference.
The promoter has actually made us believe that ordinary individuals can make
extraordinary things happen. A dukaandar with typical Baniya mentality knows the
customers so well that it has managed to charter unknown territory to create a new
consumption culture called Big Bazaarization! Its indeed a far cry from the pandemonium
of the first store that opened in 2001 in Kolkota.