A PROJECT REPORT ON CUSTOMER SERVICE WITH REFERENCE TO BIG BAZAAR INDEX CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION2.RESEARCH METHODOLOGY3.DATA ANALYSIS4.CONCLUSION5.RECOMMENDATIONS6.7.BIBLIOGRAPHYANNEXURE: QUESTIONNAIREINTRODUCTION Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited, is Indias leading retailer that operates multiple retail formats in both the value and lifestyle segment of the Indian consumer marker. Headquartered in Mumbai (Bombay), the company operates over 5 million square feet of retail space, has over 450 stores across 40 cities in India and employs over 18,000people.The companys leading formats include Pantaloons, a chain of fashion outlets, Big Bazaar, a uniquely Indian hypermarket chain, Food Bazaar, a supermarket chain, blends the look, touch and feel of Indian bazaars with aspects of modern retail like choice, convenience and quality and Central, a chain of seamless destination malls. Some of its other formats include, Depot, Shoe Factory, Brand Factory, Blue Sky, Fashion Station. The company also operates an online portal, futurebazaar.com. As customers tastes and preferences are changing, the market scenario is also changing from time to time. It is the changing tastes and preference of customer which has bought in a change in the market. Income level of the people has changed.New generation people are no more dependent on haat market and far off departmental stores. Today we can see a new era in market with the opening up of many departmental stores, hyper market, shoppers stop, malls, branded retail outlets and specialty stores. .My study is based on a survey done on customers of a hypermarket named big bazaar. Big bazaar is a new type of market which came into existence in India since 1994. It is owned by pantaloon retail India Ltd. It is a type of market where various kinds of products are available under one roof. My study is on determining the customers buying behavior of customers in big bazaar and the satisfaction level of customers in big bazaar. My study will find out the current status of big bazaar and determine where it stands in the current market.This market field survey will help in knowing the present customers tastes and preferences. It will help me in estimating the customersfuture needs, wants & demands.BIG BAZAAR RESEARCH METHODOLGY Methodology adopted for study Observing the working of various departments like finance. Human resource, marketing, purchasing, production. Discussion with the executives, managers, employees.Visiting & surfing websites of company.Meaning Research Methodology is a set of various methods to be followed to find out various informations regarding market strata of different products. Research Methodology is required in every industry for acquiring knowledge of their products.Area of study The study is exclusively done in the area of marketing. It is a process requiring care, sophistication, experience, business judgment, and imagination for which there can be no mechanical substitutes. Sources of Data Primary Source Secondary Source Primary Source- The primary data was collected by means of a survey. Questionnaires were prepared and customers of the big bazaar at two branches were approached to fill up the questionnaires. The questionnaire contains 20 questions which reflect on the type and quality of services provided by the Big bazaar to the customers. The response of the customer is recorded on a grade scale of strongly disagree, disagree, uncertain, agree and strongly agree for each question. The filled up information was later analyzed to obtain the required interpretation and the findings. Secondary Source- In order to have a proper understanding of the customer service of Big Bazaar a depth study was done from the various sources such as books, a lot of data is also collected from the official websites of the Big bazaar and the articles from various search engines like Google, yahoo search and answers.com.RESEARCH DESIGN The research design is exploratory till identification of customer services parameters. Later it becomes descriptive when it comes to evaluating customer perception of customer service of the big bazaar. Descriptive research, also known as statistical research, describes data and characteristics about the population or phenomenon being studied. Descriptive research answers the questions who, what, where, when and how. Although the data description is factual, accurate and systematic, the research cannot describe what caused a situation. Thus, descriptive research cannot be used to create a causal relationship, where one variable affects another. In other words, descriptive research can be said to have a low requirement for internal validity. The description is used forfrequencies, averages and other statistical calculations. Often the best approach, prior to writing descriptive research, is to conduct a survey investigation. Qualitative research often has the aim of description and researchers may follow-up with examinations of why the observations exist and what the implications of the findings are.RESEARCH SAMPLE SAMPLING PLAN: Since it is not possible to study whole universe, it becomes necessary to take sample from the universe to know about its characteristics. Sampling Units: Customers of Big bazaar. Sample Technique: Random Sampling. Research Instrument: Structured Questionnaire. Contact Method: Personal Interview.SAMPLE SIZE: The work is a case of Big bazaar one of the Retail Sectorindustry together representing great per cent of the market share of Indian retail sector. The survey was conducted in the city of Delhi with two branches of big bazaar, with 50 customers as respondent. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS The study is only for the big bazaar confined to a particular location and a very small sample of respondents. Hence the findings cannot be treated as representative of the entire retail industry. Respondents may give biased answers for the required data. Some of the respondents did not like to respond. Respondents tried to escape some statements by simply answering neither agree nor disagree to most of the statements. This was one of the most important limitation faced, as it was difficult to analyse and come at a right conclusion.In our study we have included 50 customers because of time limit.DATA ANALYSIS Ques.Income MONTHLY INCOME FREQUENCYPERCENTAGECUMULATIVE PERCENTAGE Below Rs.10000244 Rs.10000 Rs.20000 102024 Rs.20000 Rs.30000 122448 Above Rs.300002652100 TOTAL50100 4202452MONTHLY INCOMEBelow Rs.10000Rs.10000 Rs.20000Rs.20000 Rs.30000Above Rs.30000INTERPRETATION From the table and graph above it can be seen that 4% respondents income are below 10000. 20% respondents income are between 10000 to 20000. 24% respondents ageincome are between 20000 to 30000. 52% respondents income are above 30000.Ques. Educational qualifications CATEGORYFREQUENCYPERCENTAGECUMULATIVE PERCENTAGE UNDER GRADUATE122424 GRADUATE265276 POST GRADUATE1224100 TOTAL50100 INTERPRETATION From the table and graph above it can be seen that 12% respondents are Under graduate. 26% respondents are Graduate. 12% respondents are Post graduate.Ques. 1 How frequently do you visit Big Bazaar.SCALEFREQUENCY Twice in a week7 Once in a week18 During Special offers15 Whenever the need arises10 TOTAL50 051015202530SCHOOL GRADUATE POST GRADUATEEducational qualificationsEducationalqualificationsINTERPRETATION This is aimed at understandinghow frequently customer visit shops & buy their product or avail their services. The highest responses have been attributed to once a week shopping. Such customer can be presumed to have high disposal income & may buy more daily & fashion products. Whereas 15% of them visit during special offers, 18% when need arises, 7% twice in a month. 0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%Twice in a weekOnce in a weekDuring Special offersWhenever the need arises7 18 15 10How frequently do you visit Big Bazaar.How frequently doyou visit Big Bazaar.Ques. 2 Are you happy with the location of Big Bazaar. SCALEFREQUENCYPERCENTAGE Yes3366 No1734 TOTAL50100 INTERPRETATION Big Bazaar physicalfacilities are visually appealing. From this statement I found that 66%of people are happy with the location of big bazaar as compare to other 34%. It means that big bazaar is available at most preferred places.6634Are you happy with the location of Big Bazaar.YesNoQues. 3 Staff was available in a timelymanner. SCALEFREQUENCYPERCENTAGECUMULATIVE PERCENTAGE EXCELLENT 183636 GOOD244884 AVERAGE3690 FAIR510100 TOTAL50100 INTERPRETATION Total sample size was 50. Here analysis shows that among the total respondents 48% people agreed with this statement. They think that Big Bazaar staff was available in a timely manner. 36%48%6%10%Staff was available in a timely manner.EXCELLENT GOODAVERAGE FAIR36% people rate this statement as excellent. Also 6% & 10% respondents rate it as average and fair. Ques. 4 Staff greeted you and offered to help you.SCALEFREQUENCYPERCENTAGECUMULATIVE PERCENTAGE EXCELLENT 122 GOOD102022 AVERAGE153052 FAIR183688 POOR612100 TOTAL50100 INTERPRETATION Employees in Big bazaar are willing to help you. With this statement more respondent give weightage to average. Good were 10 people i.e. 20% respondents, 18 people agreed i.e. 36% respondents agreed .02468101214161820EXCELLENTGOOD AVERAGEFAIR POORStaff greeted you and offered to help youStaff greeted youand offered to help youQues. 5 Staff answered your questions. SCALEFREQUENCYPERCENTAGECUMULATIVE PERCENTAGE EXCELLENT 81616 GOOD214258 AVERAGE132684 FAIR51094 POOR36100 TOTAL50100 INTERPRETATION From my analysis I found that 42% respondents agreed that employees of big bazaarhave complete knowledge to answer their questions. 26% respondents rate it as average to this statement and only 16% to excellent. 10% to fair %6% to poor.0510152025Staff answered your questions. Staff answered your questions. Ques. 6 Staff showed knowledge of the products/services.SCALEFREQUENCYPERCENTAGECUMULATIVE PERCENTAGE EXCELLENT 112222 GOOD173456 AVERAGE122480 FAIR71494 POOR36100 TOTAL50100 INTERPRETATION Employees of big bazaar understand specific needs and have great knowledge of all product & services. With this statement most of the respondents were rate this statement good i.e., 34%.. Among the total respondents 24% respondents agreed with average and 22% for excellent, 14% for fair and 6% for poor. 223424146Staff showed knowledge of the products/services. EXCELLENT GOODAVERAGE FAIRPOORQues. 7 Staff was courteous throughout. SCALEFREQUENCYPERCENTAGECUMULATIVE PERCENTAGE EXCELLENT 366 GOOD81622 AVERAGE204062 FAIR173496 POOR24100 TOTAL50100 05101520Staff was courteous throughout. Staff wascourteous throughout. INTERPRETATION According to 40% of people feel that Employees of big bazaar are very much courteous throughout. Others rate at it as34% in fair, 16% as good , 6% as excellent.Ques. 8 Overall, how would you rate customer service of Big Bazaar.SCALEFREQUENCYPERCENTAGECUMULATIVE PERCENTAGE EXCELLENT 488 GOOD142836 AVERAGE234682 FAIR918100 TOTAL50100 0510152025Overall, how would you rate customer service of big bazaar8) Overall, how wouldyourate customer service of big bazaarINTERPRETATION According to research it has been proved that Big Bazaar accept most major credit cards. 46% of respondents strongly agree this statement, whereas 38% agree and 16% are uncertain about this statement. Ques. 9 What about the service could be improved?SCALEFREQUENCYPERCENTAGECUMULATIVE PERCENTAGE Service can be faster/more efficient . 112222 Service could be friendlier. 4830 0510152025NEITHERAGREE NOR DISAGREEAGREE STRONGLYAGREE81923Big bazaar accepts most major credit cards.Big bazaaraccepts mostmajor credit cards.Staff should communicate better with customer.71444 Store needs to be cleaner. 71458 The location needs Parking. 112280 The location needs to be closer. 81696 Other please specify.24100 TOTAL50100 228141422164What about the service could be improvedService can be faster/more efficient .Service could be friendlier. Staff should communicate better withcustomer.Store needs tobe cleaner.The locationneeds Parking.The locationneeds tobe closer.Other please specify.RECOMMENDATIONS Advertising is the basic and most prominent tool to increase the awareness of product. So, Big Bazaar should use this tool to increase their share in the market.Retail business is successful only when they have a good customer services. Customer loyalty can only be gain by providing good or satisfied services to the customers.Most respondents take on the spot decision of buying different products because of the various attractive products displays. So pretty combination with good services should be done to retain customers.Quality play a major role because most respondent said that they want a quality product and thats also the one of the reason for most of the respondents sticking to particular brand.Customers are very price conscious they are having many options in the market. The following steps should opt :-Should follow more of high low pricing rather than everyday low pricing Should go for a weekly coupon system as it holdmore of the loyal customers.Should provide good customer services so that customer like to visit again.There should be a proper assortment of various product categories.Proper training should be provided to the customer so that they can deal with customer efficiently Various offers can be provided to themto attract new customers.Quality in product should be reach up to mark. CONCLUSION As most of the retail industries did market research before entering into market. Same thing was done by Big Bazaar. Location, market, consumer perception analysis was done by big bazaar. In one year, much more diversification was done in it. And to retain customers they use many loyalty programs & IT techniques.Big bazaar, a part of future group is a hypermarket offering a huge array of goods of good quality for all at affordable prices.Big bazaar with over 140 outlets in different part of India is present in both the metro cities as well as in small towns.Big bazaar can attract more customers by differentvariety an d assortments.They can improve customer satisfaction by providing home delivery services. We can conclude that Big Bazaar has one of the major retail industry in india.Working environment is good and also the various facilities is provided toincrease the customer services.There exist a healthy & strong relationship between employees and managers.The employees accept their responsibility wholeheartedly and perform the services in well manner that satisfied the customers.BIBLIOGRAPHY References 1. Philip Kotler, marketing management, (Pearson education, 12thedition) 2. Naresh Malhotramarketing research (An applied orientation), Research design, (Prentice hall of Indiapvt. 5th edition) 3. Berman B and Evans J.R, Retail Management(Pearsoneducation, 10t h edition 4. Service Marketing by M.KRampal5. Integrated service marketing (4t h edition) by ZeithmalInternet web sites 1bigbazaar.co.in 2literature review on bigbazaar.com 3retailseminar.in 4organizedretail.co.in 5google.com 6www.futuregroup.com QUESTIONNAIRE Customers Name Age : Monthly Income Level: Below Rs.10000 Rs.10000 Rs.20000 Rs.20000 Rs.30000 Above Rs.30000 Educational Qualification:Under graduate Graduate Post Graduate 1) How frequently do you visit Big BazaarTwice in a weekOnce in a week During Special offersWhenever the need arises 2) Are you happy with the location of Big BazaarYesNo Excellent good average fair poor 3) Staff was available in a timely manner.4) Staff greeted you and offered to help you.5) Staff answered your questions.6) Staff showed knowledge of the products/services.7) Staff was courteous throughout.8) Overall, how would you rate customer serviceof big bazaar? 9)What about the service could be improved?Service can be faster/more efficient Staff could be friendlier Staff should communicate better with customers Store needs to be cleaner The location needs parking The location needs to be closer