CBL

In India, shopping for books has always been thought of as a book-lover's hobby. The traditional
bookstores, with their dreary, dusty and browser-unfriendly atmosphere, have discouraged all
but the serious book-buyers.

Crossword Bookstores Ltd. was a wholly owned subsidiary Company of Shopper's Stop Ltd -
India's leading department store chain. The Holding Company inter-alia also acts as a Master
Franchisee of the Company

The Crossword Chain:

Crossword with sixty stores, across Mumbai, Bangalore, Ahmadabad, New Delhi, Pune,
Nagpur, Vadodara, Kolkata, Chennai, Jaipur, Amritsar and Hyderabad as on today is India's
fastest growing chain of bookstores.

We could go on. But Crossword is really much more than words can tell.

Products & Services:

Crossword also addresses a wider audience than existing stores with its unique product mix.
There is of course, the widest range of books for the young and old alike, along with magazines,
CD-ROMs, music, stationery and toys. With its large children's section and its focus on making
the store a friendly, safe, fun-filled place, Crossword attracts many families who normally don't
think of visiting bookstores. Services like Dial-a-book, Fax-a-book and Email-a-book enable
customers to shop from their homes; and when they come to the store, the unobtrusively helpful
staffs assist them in finding the right book, the right CD or the right gift for the right occasion.
Facilities like the Crossword Gift Vouchers, the friendly 'Return, Exchange & Refunds' policy,
the Cafes within the stores and the unique store experience make it easy and enjoyable for
customers to shop at Crossword. Over 2,00,000 loyal customers are rewarded through the
Crossword Book Rewards Program with points, discounts, promotional offers and more.
'eWords', a monthly e-newsletter with reviews of new books, news about in store events and
bestseller lists, is currently mailed to these members.

Culture:

Our employees can attest, working for Crossword is the chance to be a part of a company
unlike any other in the retail industry. It’s more than a job; it’s a place to develop your skills and
build a career with competitive pay. To work for Crossword is to be welcomed into a diverse
family, where the individual contributions of every associate are respected and valued. At
Crossword, you will find challenging opportunities in an environment that recognizes and
rewards exceptional performance.
If books, customers or retail excites you, Crossword will be the place you are looking for. We
can /give you exceptional support, real progression opportunities, a range of excellent rewards
and all the potential associated with working for a brand that is a leader in the industry

Crossword’s Position

Crossword, positioned as a lifestyle bookstore, has been able to change this by designing large,
spacious, well laid out stores, with bright cheerful interiors that encourage people to stay and
browse. Simple innovations such as methodical classifications, clear signage, a dedicated
enquiry /orders desk, electronic POS and inventory control systems and attractive displays
make looking for books a much more pleasurable experience. A welcoming café, reading tables
and chairs and toilets within the store, (some of the innovations pioneered by Crossword in
India) help to ensure that customers are able to browse in comfort for several hours without
having to leave.

Why the name Crossword:

While we do crossword puzzles for fun, they are also a learning experience. The name
Crossword was therefore chosen to reflect the dual fun and learning experience of a visit to
Crossword. The name embodies our vision of Crossword as a place and space for people who
seek information, knowledge or just the pleasure of reading.

Mission:

• To fulfill the information, knowledge and leisure needs of the community profitably
through the retailing of books and related products.

• To be customer focused in every aspect of the business. To build life-long relationships

with customers.

• To build the reading habit, and to promote books. To nurture and reward the best of
Indian writing.

• To create retail environments that are oases in the urban jungle - friendly, fun, relaxing
and rewarding.

• To provide a platform for the cultural and social interaction of the community - to be a
community center.

Vision:
 • The dominant network of profitable community centers, where people gravitate, to be
informed, to be entertained and to be enlightened, led by books and related products.

Values:

• Fun: We will build stores that are fun, enjoyable spaces to be in. We will build an
organisation that people enjoy being with and working in.

• Learning: We will create stores and an organisation that enable continuous learning.

• Excellence: We will constantly strive for excellence in everything we do.

• Fairness: We will always act fairly, with respect for all people, and with a win-win
attitude.

• Integrity: We will always conduct ourselves and act with integrity.

• Social Responsibility: We will be socially responsible.

• Make a Difference: We will work to make a difference to our customers, our

stakeholders, our community and ourselves.

Is the value system actually followed:

Crossword Bookstores highly values its values & the way it functions truly reflects it. Following
are few instances to throw a light on the same.

Fun:

Employee Engagement activities take place in Crossword on a very big scale. It is ensured that
the employees are engaed in activities which keep them motivated, happy & engaged. Such
activities are namely, Birthday Celebrations, Online Lotto, Festival Celebrations, Parichay, etc.

• Birthday celebration is done every month.

• Online Lotto is played by employees on last Friday of every month.

• Festivals like Diwali & Christmas are celebrated full fledged.

• Parichay is the annual function of the organization. Celebrated in full zest across the
country, zone wise. Families of all the employees are invited to witness the event and
also to know and grow the Crossword family.

Learning:

Crossword does not only promte the readiing habit for customer but truly believes in it and
hence creates a learning environment for employees in the organization. It does so by giving
away books on hire to employees without any cost. This motivates employees to read and learn
more. Also training is conducted on huge scale for employees across the system at all levels.

Excellence:

There is no compromise in the kind of service we provide. The same is within the organization
too. We ensure that the environment is the best suited to the employees comfort & growth.

Fairness:

All the policies are designed in a fair manner. No hidden rules. It is to promote a win win
situation for the employees and the organization.

• Since it is a retail organization, working on public holidays is a must. To ensure that the
zest of the employee is maintained and also to ensure that we make up for the loss of
enjoyment, we provide a compensatory off & one extra day’s pay to all employees
working on public holidays.

Integrity:

There is no compromise when it comes to integrity. There have been instances where
employees were sacked because they crossed the line of integrity. Also we follow the Whistle
Blower policy to ensure that a crime seen is a crime reported without fear of negative
consequences.

Social Responsibility:

We are socially responsible towards our employees too. WE ensure that each and every
employee is taken care of in times of crisis / emergencies.

Make a Difference:

We ensure that we make a difference to every person associated to Crossword by following and
truly believing in the value system.

What employees actually see, hear and experience:

• The ASI (Associate Satisfaction Index) is calculated every year to tap the employees’
satisfaction while working with Crossword.

• It is important to identify areas where we need to improve, to ensure that the employees
are happy and motivated & to create a culture of openness and feedback.

• This is conducted by an external agency called CSMM. A third party vendor is appointed
in order to maintain the level of anonymity & trust that no negative consequences will
follow negative feedback. This survey is conducted across the country and the report is
created and shared with the employees.
 • An action plan is drawn and shared with the employees based on the feedback provided.

• The parameters of measuring ASI are Care & Concern, Trust, Accomplishment,
Communication, Fairness & Training.

• This helps us know the plain fact of how the employees feel and experience working with
us.

Real Life Instance – What happened to Crossword during Recession:

During the recession period in the financial year 200-09, retail was the most burning sector.
Every retail organization was going through a terrible phase in managing its funds and standing
the high costs it hits them every single day. Duirng this period there was high level of insecurity
in the employees re the job security. At this point in time, The then Chairman Mr B S Nagesh
had made a conference call meet with all the units across the country to tell them that we will
not terminate any employee and ensure that everyone takes back home the same salary they
did until now. Also the top management which had lavish offices in a different building close to
the corporate office made a decision to give it away and save on cost. Salary cuts at a small
level was faced by the Corporate office staff but we ensured that the front ende staff were safe
& sound economically. This event had raised the bars of respect that the leaders in the
organization held in the hearts of thousands of employees. Hence keeping up to the values of
the organization.

Open Door Policy:

An open door policy is followed in Crossword. The sitting are is open cubicles. There is 100%
transparency. Everybody can see what everybody is doing. The seating is the same for
everyone right from the junior staff to the senior most management. This creates high level of
trust and also gives everyone a freedom to voice their opinion.

Overall, Crossword is a highly ethical organization which does not just talk about value systems
& culture but truly believes in it. Just as the mother company – Shoppers Stop Limited,
Crossword is a wonderful organization to work in. Most importantly one organization which truly
cares for its employees.