Field Visit Report on Big Bazaar

Group Name - MARKETEERS

About Big Bazaar

Big Bazaar is the largest hypermarket chain in India. As of April 16, 2014 there are 267

stores across 120 cities and towns in India covering around 17 mn sq.ft. of retail space.

Big Bazaar is designed as an agglomeration of bazaars or Indian markets with clusters

offering a wide range of merchandise including fashion and apparels, food products,

general merchandise, furniture, electronics, books, fast food and leisure and

entertainment sections. Big Bazaar stores are aimed at providing a local marketplace

feel to the shoppers. They offer a wide variety of household items including retail

apparels, food products, general merchandise, furniture, electronics, books, fast food,

etc. Several stores also have leisure and entertainment sections. The hypermarket

chain crossed the 100 store mark in 2008. Owned by the Future Group, the idea was

pioneered by entrepreneur Kishore Biyani, the head of Future group India. It follows the

business model of US based Walmart. Big bazaar is a hypermarket format that

combines the look, touch & feel of Indian bazaars with the choie & convenience of

modern retail. The idea from the very beginning was to make Big Bazaar very

comfortable for the Indian customer. That was Kishore Biyani’s strength as a retailer. He

had a lot of confidence in what he was doing, even though it defied conventional logic.

Big bazaar is not just another hypermarket. It caters to every need of your family. Where

Big Bazaar scores over other stores is its value for money proposition for the Indian

customers. At Big Bazaar, you will definitely get the best products at the best prices -

that’s what they guarantee. With the ever increasing array of private labels, it has

opened the doors into the world of fashion and general merchandise including home

furnishings, utensils, crockery, cutlery, sports goods and much more at prices that will
surprise you. And this is just the beginning. Big Bazaar plans to add much more to

complete their customers shopping experience. If one looks at Indian bazaars, mandis,

melas, they are environments created by traders to give shoppers a sense of moment,

of event, of place. They provide an inclusive environment where men and women from

all castes, creeds and classes can come and shop at the same place. The founders of

Big Bazaar were from the beginning very clear that they had to reflect the look and feel

of Indian bazaars at their modern outlets, so that no customer would feel intimidated

with the surroundings

Big Bazar, is the chain of retail stores of the big banner Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd.,

which in turn is a segment of the Kishore Biyani, regulated Future Group of Companies.

Moreover the customer friendly ambiance and the organized retailing of products also

makes Big Bazar one of the successful retail companies in India.

Big Bazaar: Overview

Big Bazar, a part of the Pantaloon Group, is a hypermarket offering a huge array of

goods of good quality for all at affordable prices. Founded in 2001, Big Bazaar is one of

the oldest and largest hypermarkets chain of India, housing about 250+ stores in over

120 cities and towns across the country, is present in both the metro cities as well as in

the small towns. Big Bazar has no doubt made a big name in the retail industry of India,

moreover shopping here is further made a memorable experience with the varied rates

of discounts on products as well as discount vouchers available in a variety of amounts,

like INR 2000, INR 3000, INR 4000, INR 5000 and INR 10000 on all Big Bazar products

and accessories.
This large format store comprise of almost everything required by people from different

income groups. It varies from clothing and accessories for all genders like men, women

and children, playthings, stationary and toys, footwear, plastics, home utility products,

cosmetics, crockery, home textiles, luggage gift items, other novelties, and also food

products and grocery. The added advantage for the customers shopping in Big Bazar is

that there are all time discounts and promotional offers going on in the Big Bazar on its

salable products.

The significant features of Big Bazar

Shopping in the Big Bazar is a great experience as one can find almost everything

under the same roof. It has different features which caters all the needs of the shoppers.

Some of the significant features of Big Bazar are:

 The Food Bazar or the grocery store with the department selling fruits and

vegetables

 There is a zone specially meant for the amusement of the kids

 Furniture Bazar or a large section dealing with furniture

 Electronics Bazar or the section concerned with electronic goods and cellular

phones
  FutureBazaar.com or the online shopping portal which makes shopping easier

as one can shop many products of Big Bazar at the same price from home

 Well regulated customer care telecalling services.

Format under which big bazar at Ameerpet operates

A discount store is a retail store which sells products at prices that are lower than

the typical market value. A "full-line discount store" or "mass merchandiser" may

offer a wide assortment of goods with a focus on price rather than service,

display, or wide choice where as Large retail establishment with an extensive

assortment in variety and range of goods, organized into separate departments.

All departments are housed under the same roof to facilitate buying, customer

service, merchandising, and control.

The big bazaar that we visited at Ameerpet Hyderabad was a mix of both

discount and department store since it had many different brands under one roof

,from grocery to apparel to jewellery to food and frozen goods that comes under

farm products category , under each category there were different brands that
the store deals in which showcased the product breath that the Ameerpet big

bazar store had.

Big Bazaar in India operates as a chain of hypermarkets, discount department

stores, and grocery stores but for the store that we visited operated in Discount

department store format, since most of the customers that we came across were

from low and middle income group that look for heavy discount while shopping.

Retail location & Retail site

Since the location of the store is in an area closer to the middle class of the

consumers, a lot of retail outlets and supermarkets were present in the vicinity.

Most of them were small Kirana stores, More Supermarket etc. The store location

is best for the business it does as the location is based on the population living

near by location cater to the need of the population in not only in the locality but

people from different parts of the city visit the store. When we spoke with the

manager of the store we asked him about the total footfall per day in the store to

which he mentioned some 800 to 1200 people visit the store everyday which

makes it a busy centre. The area surrounding the store has proper roads,

transport facilities therefore the movement of the people to the store becomes

easy the operation cost for the store is reduced and people could easily visit the

store which not only makes the shopping easier but fun at the same time.
Also one important aspect of the store location and site was that the store was

easily visible from about 500 meters, this not only attracts the buyers but also

add to the existing buyers list as more people will see the store and would want

to visit it.

Advantages of retail location

 Access Labour:.

 Better Serve Customers:

 Increase visibility:.

 Reach/tap into new market:

 Upgrade facilities:.

 Lower costs:

 Increase cash flow:

 Quality of life:

Disadvantages
 Risk losing labour
 Lose customer base
 Costs:
 Risk
 Time & Effort
 New environment & regulations
Catchment analysis of Big Bazaar
A catchment area is the area and population from which a city or individual service
attracts visitors or customers. So by doing catchment analysis Big Bazaar will come to
know its loyal customer population area. And better marketing strategy at BTL level can
be made for retention of the customer as it plays a major role for the withstanding of
the business in the market at long run

Customers visit according to age

Customers visit according to the distance

Customers visit to store with

How you want us to convey the message

Findings of the catchment analysis

 41.4% of the respondents visit monthly, 28.6% of the respondents visit

weekly and 11% of the respondents visit occasionally to the store.

 31% of the respondents wants Big Bazaar offers through SMS, 21% of the
respondents wants Big Bazaar offers through banners display.

 50% customer visit the store with family and 43% customer visit the store
with friends, which shows that Big Bazaar is much popular among the
family member of the customers and youth.

 Customer service is one of important factor that influence the customer to

visit stores.
 Offers/discounts also the factor that help store to increase number of
footfalls.

 The general public at Hyderabad does not consider shopping as a wasteful

extravaganza. This is a good indicator of a good future ahead for Big Bazaar
Ameerpet as, here shopping is turning out to a family experience
MARKETING MIX

The marketing mix of Big bazaar discusses the Service marketing mix or the 7 P’s of Big bazaar.

I) Product:

Big Bazaar offers a wide range of products which range from apparels, food, farm
products, furniture,child care, toys, etc of various brands like Levis, Allen Solly, Pepsi,
Coca- Cola, HUL, ITC, P&G, LG, Samsung, Nokia, HP etc.

Big Bazaar also promotes a number of in house brands like:

DJ & C
Tasty Treat
Clean Mate
Sensei
Care Mate
Koryo and 44 other brands.

CATEGORY MANAGEMENT ASPECTS

Pricing
The pricing objective at Big Bazaar is to get “Maximum Market Share”. Pricing at
Big Bazaar is based on the following techniques:

1. Value Pricing (EDLP – Every Day Low pricing): Big Bazaar promises
consumers the lowest available price without coupon clipping, waiting for
discount promotions, or comparison shopping.

2. Promotional Pricing: Big Bazaar offers financing at low interest rate. The
concept of psychological discounting (Rs. 99, Rs. 49, etc.) is also used to
attract customers. Big Bazaar also caters on Special Event Pricing (Close
to Diwali, Gudi Padva, and Durga Pooja).
Differentiated Pricing: Differentiated pricing i.e. difference in rate based on
peak and non-peak hours or days of shopping is also a pricing technique
used in Indian retail, which is aggressively used by Big Bazaar.
e.g. Wednesday Bazaar
 3. Bundling: It refers to selling combo-packs and offering discount to
customers. The combo-packs add value to customer and lead to increased
sales. Big Bazaar lays a lot of importance on bundling.
e.g. 3 Good Day family packs at Rs 60(Price of 1 pack = Rs 22)
5kg oil + 5kg rice + 5kg sugar for Rs 599

Place:

The Big Bazaar stores are operational across three formats — hypermarkets
spread over 40,000-45,000 sq ft, the Express format over 15,000-20,000 sq ft
and the Super Centers set up over 1 lakh sq ft. Currently Big Bazaar operates in
over 34 cities and towns across India with 116 stores. Apart from the Metros
these stores are also doing well in the tier II cities. These stores are normally
located in high traffic areas. Big Bazaar aims at starting stores in developing
areas to take an early advantage before the real estate value booms. Mr. Biyani
is planning to invest around Rs 350 crore over the next one year expansion of
Big Bazaar. In order to gain a competitive advantage Big Bazaar has also
launched a website www.futurebazaar.com, which helps customers to orders
products online which will be delivered to their doorstep. This helps in saving a
lot of time of its customers.

Promotion:

The various promotion schemes used at Big Bazaar include:

“Saal ke sabse saste 3 din”

Hafte ka sabse sasta din “Wednesday bazaar”
Exchange Offers “Junk swap offer”
Future card(3% discount)
Shakti card
Advertisement (print ad, TV ad, radio)
Brand endorsement by M.S Dhoni and Asin
Big Bazaar has come up with 3 catchy lines written on hoardings taking on
biggies like Westside, Shoppers stop and Lifestyle. They are:

“Keep West- aSide. Make a smart choice!”

“Shoppers! Stop. Make a smart choice!”
“Change your Lifestyle. Make a smart choice!”
People:

Well trained staff at stores to help people with their purchases

Employ close to 10,000 people and employ around 500 more per month.
Well-dressed staff improves the overall appearance of store.
Use scenario planning as a tool for quick decision making multiple counters for
payment, staff at store to keep baggage and security guards at every gate,
makes for a customer-friendly atmosphere.

IV) Process:

Big Bazaar places a lot of importance on the process right from the purchase to
the delivery of goods. When customers enter the stores they can add the
products they which to purchase in their trolley from the racks. There are multiple
counters where bill can be generated for purchases made. Big Bazaar also
provides delivery of products over purchases of Rs. 1000.
PRIVATE LABELS
Big Bazaar, the hypermarket of Pantaloon Retail, has come out with a breakfast

cereal range under its private label, Tasty Treat. Big Bazaar already sells

noodles, pasta, vermicelli, soups, namkeens, chips, toast, khari, papads, jams,

pickles, carbonated drinks, ketchup and fruit beverages under the brand. It has

now added breakfast cereals to the range. The breakfast cereals will be available

in three variants — plain cornflakes, chocolate-flavoured Choco Gols and honey-

flavoured Honey Circles.

VISUAL MERCHANDISING

Visual Merchandising at Big Bazaar uses “Store display for promotional

purpose”, but as customers are becoming more sophisticated, Big Bazaar has

found various techniques for effective display for providing information and

communicating image of the store to the customers, helping them in taking

purchase decision and creating exciting shopping environment. Big Bazaar not

only uses visual merchandising for promoting their product, but they use it as a

significant tool for creating appropriate store environment and influencing

purchase decision of customers.

They use danglers and hoardings at the entrance of the store as this may be a

deciding element in a consumer’s decision to enter a store. It uses various visual

merchandising like it uses remarkable window display for creating a shopping

environment as it creates initiative impression in the mind of customers as

window display also sometimes become a deciding factor whether to enter the

store or not.

Retailers develop visual merchandising in order to relate customer’s social life

with the product, arouse their personal interest for the product.

Visual merchandising includes:

1. Interior merchandising
Sufficient visual merchandising within the store that include danglers, signage, standees,
distribution of pamphlets, which gave details of the offer.Display, point of purchase, fixture,
equipment and furnishings store layout.Product packaging and labels

2. Exterior merchandising
TVC on popular entertainment channels like Star Plus,Sony, Set Max, and Star One.Road
shows carried out by the Big Bazaar staff with announcements about the offer to make people
aware.Newspaper ads in almost all the local dailies like Sakal,The Times of India, on different
days during the period of the offer.

Store atmosphere

POS DISPLAY
Big Bazaar stores are designed like convenience stores so that people feel like
they are shopping on the streets. The design is like a planogram, providing
ample space for customers to walk and see the products on display.

Products in Big Bazaar are properly stacked in appropriate racks. There are different
departments in the store which display similar kind of products. Throughout the store there are
boards/written displays put up which help in identifying the location of a product. Moreover
boards are put up above the products which give information about the products, its price and
offers. Big Bazaar stores are normally ‘U shaped’ and well planned & designed.

With an eye to earn some brownie points and draw more customers in times of
cash crunch, around 150 high-end retail outlets across the country have decided
to dispense cash from their points of sale (PoS) machines, a move that was
initiated by Big Bazaar.

Banks that provide these terminals to retail outlets will have to tweak them in
such a way to allow both payments and cash withdrawals by customers.
CUSTOMER FOOTFALL AND MOVEMENT AT BIG BAZAAR

On a typical weekend day, an average of 20,000 customers would visit the

50,000 square foot store, the first Big Bazaar store, Parel in Central Mumbai. It

resembled a crowded Indian “bazaar” (marketplace). The Parel store was one of

the first Big bazaar stores, Pantaloon Retail India Ltd. (PRIL), Big Bazaar’s

parent company had opened. The store had been extremely successful since its

inception and subsequent Big Bazaar stores had also thrived.

The footfall of Big Bazaar is 3.5-4 million per week, which averages out to around

15,000 per store per week. The footfall increases substantially on offer days and

in the festive season.