arvind brands and retail- august 2012

Copyright ©2012 Great Place To Work® Institute, Inc. All rights reserved

Great Place To Work®

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Case Study – Arvind Brands


Arvind Brands is a well known brand in the Indian

market Arvind Brands and Retail Limited is one of India’s most well known brands in fashion apparel.

A Product to suit every Pocket !


The retail industry face many challenges ..

Ensuring customer’s shopping experience is delightful –

number one driver of brand loyalty

Ensuring adequate range of products to suit a wide section of customers

Ensuring adequate knowledge of the frontline retail workforce

Ensuring employee retention in an industry where attrition is very high

The key differentiator is the behaviour of the frontline staff and their willingness to stay longer


and Arvind Brands had some more!

How do we ensure consistency in service standards in service standards between company owned and franchisee owned stores?

How do we ensure ownership of store managers to developing frontline workforce?

Overriding questions for Arvind Brands were how can frontline retail workforce live the brand and does the HR have the credibility to drive the change?


The need for change was compelling ..

Industry growing very fast, danger of missing the bus

Sustaining growth dependent on frontline workforce

who also constitute 85% of total workforce

Senior management, including Retail Operation Managers committed to delivery of superior customer experience

Opportunity, rather than threat, was the key driver


and the strategy for change was simple

Leadership in the marketplace was contingent in achieving the following: 1. Develop frontline workforce to enable them to deliver

superior customer experience.

2. Engage frontline workforce to retain them longer.

3. Ensure Ownership and support of managers.

HR was able to demonstrate that the above will impact both top line and bottom line.


1. Develop frontline workforce

Arvind University

Arvind University comprises of three parts: 1. Arvind Retail Academy

2. Arvind Leadership Academy

3. Arvind Functional Expertise Academy


1. Develop frontline workforce – Arvind Retail Academy

Arvind Retail Academy

Level 0 Induction

GUEST

Level 1 Product Training

Level 2 Advanced Selling

Techniques- O2, ABC,CLAP

PQRS

Retail Success Formulas -PQRS

Friedman Training


1. Develop frontline workforce

2. Arvind Leadership Academy

Offered to employees who demonstrate leadership potential. Arvind Express

3. Arvind Functional Expertise Academy

Caters to employees other than those at the stores, behind the scenes.

Eg. Wine and fashion forum – for apparel designers


2. Engage frontline workforce- the need for an employer brand

• Concept-

• Application-

Consumer Brand &

Product Recall

Brand loyalty & repeat purchase

Employer Brand &

Product Recall

Higher retention and more discretionary

work


2. Engage frontline workforce- other advantages of building the employer brand

• Reinforced the importance of branding at Arvind Brands

• Introduced the flavor of fun to HR processes and practices


Experience Efficient Enjoyable + +

2. Engage Corporate Team – The 3 Es of the Employer Brand


Brands

Retail Operations

Supply Chain

2. Engage frontline workforce – The 3 Es of the

Employer Brand - Experience

Portfolio of brands across all market segments and categories

Techniques and tools of retail operations

Complex supply chain management


Business Drivers (PEAK)

Values (SILC)

Operational Efficiency

Drivers (SMART)

2. Engage Corporate Team – The 3 Es of the

Employer Brand - Efficient

Will Do Attitude

Top 5 Co.s in retail

Best in Class Financial Metrics

HIP – High Impact Performance


2. Engage Corporate Team – The 3 Es of the

Employer Brand - Enjoyable

Series of fun activities spread over 3 weeks in December culminating in Family day.

Exclusive and informal capability building and engagement forum for all apparel designers across the company.


2. Engage frontline workforce- summary of the Employer Brand - SMILE

S - Salary and incentives on time

M- Medical benefits

I - Involve & Recognise

L- Learning and Development

E - Enjoyable workplace


2. Engage workforce- keep repeating the brand messages

1. Brand message # 1 – Arvind’s 3 Es

2. Brand message # 2 – The HIP Model

3. Brand message # 3 – Never stop learning @ Arvind University

4. Brand message # 4 – SMILE


3. Ensure ownership and support of managers

• Deliver clear and measurable business results

– Learning & Development

– Talent acquisition at stores

• People Development – part of KRA of heads of retail operations

• Area/ store managers are the trainers- Train the trainer to equip them

Key message- “Finding and keeping people is the responsibility of the store manager”


The 3 pronged strategy of Arvind Brands has started delivering results – to employees..

Happiness IndexOver the last 3 financial years (2009-10 – 2011-12) has gone up by 40% as measured in retail stores. Attrition From 40% in 2009-10 to 15% as on June 2012. Increase in Number of Achievers Number of employees appearing in the “Hall of Fame” has doubled over the last twelve months. Monthly Incentives The number of employees earning Monthly incentives has increased from 30%-35% to 60% over the last two years. Arvind Express The number of employees becoming Asst. Store Manager from Customer Service Agent increased from 2 in 2009-10 to 20 in 11-12


and to customers,..

Mystery Customer Survey: Over the last 12 months, the ‘Mystery Customer Survey’ has shown that the customer satisfaction has gone up from 74 % overall to 80% in the brand stores.

Sales per square feet at brand stores increased 1.36 times in a span of two years


and to the Organization

Profit Margin and Inventory Turns: The Profits of 2011-12 were 2.23 times that of 2009-10, while Inventory Turns went up by 1.15 times over the same period. ROCE: Return On Capital Employed went up 1.45 times in two years. Expansion: The number of stores as of March 2012 were twice the number as of March 2010. Total Retail Space as on March 2012 went up by 1.75 times over the preceding two years


Key Takeaways

• Be clear about your target group

• Link your development agenda to business results

• Branding of HR initiatives helped in communicating effectively to the last person in the store

• Keep things simple – lest it scares away the target group.

• Measure the People- Service- Profit link

The key is to answer the question, “ What’s in it for our people?”

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