PREFACE

This Project Report has been prepared in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the Subject: Practical Studies of the programme M.B.A. in Marketing Services (Sem. IV) in the academic year 2013-2015. The Project Report starts with the basic concepts of retailing, history of retailing sector and also covers the general information of the retail store visited and its functional departments like marketing department, human resource department and financial department.

This training serves the purposes of acquainting the student with environment of an organisation in which student have to work hard in future .Only theoretical knowledge is not enough but its practical application is also required to be learned.

I was fortunate enough to have an opportunity of doing research at VISHAL MEGAMART, KANGRA. I was assigned a project on

“CUSTOMER PRECEPTION TOWARD RETAILING WITH REFRENCE TO VISHAL MEGAMART.”

The information presented in this Project Report is obtained from sources like CompanyPersonnel ,  Company Websites,  Other  Websites,   and Other  Literature.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Indian retail industry is now beginning to evolve in the line with the transformation that has swept other large economies. It witnesses tremendous growth with the changing demographics and an improvement in the quality of life of urban people as well as rural people. The growing affluence of India’s consuming class, the emergence of the new breed of entrepreneurs and a flood of imported products in the food and grocery space, has driven the current retail boom in the domestic market.

The concept retail which includes the shopkeeper to customer interaction, has taken many forms and dimensions, from the traditional retail outlet and street local market shops to upscale multi brand outlets, especially stores or departmental stores. Though at this moment, it is still premature to say that the Indian retail market will replicate the success stories of names such as Wal-Mart stores, Sainsbury and Tesco but at least the winds are blowing in the direction of growth.

Hence, focusing on two aspects of retail marketing i.e. Store Retailing and Non-store Retailing. Store Retailing as the departmental store, which is a store or multi brand outlet, offering an array of products in various categories under one roof, trying to cater to not one or two but many segments of the society and Non-store Retailing as the direct selling, direct marketing, automatic vending.   

Therefore, this concept of retail marketing through departmental stores, which is coming up in a big way in India was decided to be studied in detail, through an exploratory and conclusive research.

The objective being to assess the various parameters that influences a buyer to visit or shop at departmental store thereby contributing to its turnover (in terms of sales and profits) hence leading to its overall success.

The extensive research brought me to conclude that departmental stores are soon emerging on the top priority lists, amongst the shopping spree in India, as they seem to derive immense pleasure of convenience and exposure to variety under one roof, in their extremely busy lives, when they don’t have time for things.

Though some of the customers perceive departmental stores to be expensive and only high income category’s cup of tea, the stores make constant efforts to induce them to at least visit the store at once during the sale period, or discount offers.

Most of these stores believe in creating not just a marketing activity with its customers, but rather favor relationship building with him so as to convert first time customers into a client.

Hence this document entails me through these aspects in great detail, helping me to understand the concept of retail marketing through departmental stores in Kangra.

INTRODUCTION TO THE TOPIC

What is Retailing? 

The word "Retail" originates from a French-Italian word. Retailer-someone who cuts off or sheds a small piece from something. Retailing is the set of activities that markets products or services to final consumers for their own personal or household use. It does this by organizing their availability on a relatively large scale and supplying them to customers on a relatively small scale.

Retailing involves selling products and services to consumers for their personal or family use.  Department stores, like Burdines and Macy's, discount stores like Wal-Mart and K-Mart, and specialty stores like Wallmart, Big Bazar and Vishal Megamart etc, are all examples of retail stores.  Service providers, like dentists, hotels and hair salons, and on-line stores, like Amazon.com, are also retailers.

Many businesses, like Home Depot, are both wholesalers and retailers because they sell to consumers and building contractors.  Other businesses, like The Limited, are both manufactures and retailers.  Regardless of other functions these businesses perform, they are still retailers when they interact with the final user of the product or service.

For a retailer it is essential to see in which segment it is catering in the above division of villages.

Retailing In India

The India Retail Industry is the largest among all the industries, accounting for over 10 per cent of the country GDP and around 8 per cent of the employment. The Retail Industry in India has come forth as one of the most dynamic and fast paced industries with several players entering the market. But all of them have not yet tasted success because of the heavy initial investments that are required to break even with other companies and compete with them. The India Retail Industry is gradually inching its way towards becoming the next boom industry. The total concept and idea of shopping has undergone an attention drawing change in terms of format and consumer buying behavior, ushering in a revolution in shopping in India. Modern retailing has entered into the Retail market in India as is observed in the form of bustling shopping centers, multi-storied malls and the huge complexes that offer shopping, entertainment and food all under one roof

A large young working population with median age of 24 years, nuclear families in urban areas, along with increasing workingwomen population and emerging opportunities in the services sector are going to be the key factors in the growth of the organized Retail sector in India. The growth pattern in organized retailing and in the consumption made by the Indian population will follow a rising graph helping the newer businessmen to enter the India Retail Industry. 

In India the vast middle class and its almost untapped retail industry are the key attractive forces for global retail giants wanting to enter into newer markets, which in turn will help the India Retail Industry to grow faster. Indian retail is expected to grow 25 per cent annually. Modern

retail in India could be worth US$ 175-200 billion by 2016. The Food Retail Industry in India dominates the shopping basket. The Mobile phone Retail Industry in India is already a US$ 16.7 billion business, growing at over 20 per cent per year. The future of the India Retail Industry looks promising with the growing of the market, with the government policies becoming more favorable and the emerging technologies facilitating operations.