to study the brand salience of private label brands in retail
TRANSCRIPT
A PROJECT REPORT
ON:
BRAND SALIENCE OF PRIVATE LABEL
BRANDS IN RETAIL OUTLETS
SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR MASTER OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES
BY:
POOJA SHARMA
MMS- MARKETING
2008-2010
UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF PROF. D. MAITRA
N.L. DALMIA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES &
RESEARCH
UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI
CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that Ms. Pooja Sharma, student of N.L. Dalmia
Institute of Management Studies and Research has successfully
completed the project titled “To study the Brand Salience of
Private Label Brands in Retail Outlets” under my supervision
and guidance as partial fulfillment of requirement of MMS course
2008 – 2010.
Project Guide Director
Prof. D. Maitra Prof. P.L. Arya
Place: Mumbai
Date: 31/03/2010
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DECLARATION
I, Pooja Sharma, student of N.L. Dalmia Institute of Management
Studies and Research (MMS-Marketing; Sem IV) declare that I have
completed this project on “Studying Brand Salience of Private
Label Brands in Retail Outlets” in the academic year 2009-2010.
The information submitted is true and original to the best of my
knowledge.
The report embodies the findings based on the survey conducted by
me and it has not been provided to any other university or institute
for award of such degree.
Pooja Sharma
MMS-Marketing
Project Guide:
Prof. D. MAITRA
Place: Mumbai
Date: 31/03/2010
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Many hands have toiled to ensure that this project finally sees
the light of the day. It required continuous guidance, inspiration
and support from many people and without their cooperation; this
project would not have been complete.
I take this opportunity to express my sincerest gratitude to my
Project Guide, Prof. Maitra, who lived up to his Designation and was
a constant source of guiding light for me at each and every stage
of the execution of this project.
I would like to thank my well-wishers and my colleagues who
were a constant source of inspiration and in some cases also
motivation as it ultimately has led to the completion of this project.
Finally I would also like to give due credit to people, who knowingly
or unknowingly have guided, supported and helped me in the
completion of this project as without their support this project
would have never seen daylight.
Pooja Sharma
MMS-Marketing
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Sr. No INDEX Pg. Nos
1 Certificate 1
2 Declaration 2
3 Acknowledgement 3
4 Table of Contents 4
5 Title Page 6
6 Executive Summary 7
7 Introduction 9
8 Secondary Research
Westside Pantaloons Shoppers stop Lifestyle Globus Other Private Label Brands
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15
18
21
24
27
9 Primary Research
Research Design Focus Group Discussion Pilot Survey Sampling Design Data Collection
32
10 Data Analysis 37
11 Measurement of Brand Salience 53
12 Conclusion 55
13 Annexure 56
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14 Bibliography 59
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TITLE PAGE
Studying Brand Salience
Of
Private Label Brands In Retail Outlets
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Brand Salience: Salience is conceptualized as the probability that
a customer will think of the brand at some point of time. This is a
broader interpretation than the usual frame of reference for the
term ‘salience’, which although conceptualized as the prominence of
the brand, is commonly used interchangeably with, and measured
via, top of mind awareness with the product category cue. Thus
while a brand that is top of mind is also salient – top of mind
awareness is not the only way in which this salience can be
expressed. The salience level was converted from the number of
times the brand is mentioned to a percentage of the total possible
number of times the brand could be mentioned.
Private Label Brands: Today, in every category, retail outlets are
aggressively stocking private label products next to national brands,
and often using private labels to attract customers into their store.
From packaging down to performance, private labels are giving the
national brands a run for their money.
To find out the salience level of some of the private label brands
among the customers across various demographic segments and to
focus on creating brand salience by focusing on some narrow range
of attributes is what the objective of this research is. It also involves
a study of some premium private label brands.
The two types of research methods used are:
Primary research and secondary research: Secondary research
involves a study of some premium private label brands. The
secondary research is followed by a Primary research involves
interviewing customers. A different brand image measurement
approach is adopted in which the respondents have to retrieve
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brand names from memory. It also includes carrying out focus group
discussions, surveys. Primary research, involving a focus group
discussion and a survey for a sample size of 300. 60 respondents
were surveyed outside 5 retail outlets. 150 female and 150 male
were surveyed and segmentation on the basis of age was 18-25, 26-
35 and above 35. 100 respondents of each age group were
surveyed.
A detailed analysis of the questionnaire was done to find out the
salience level of the premium brands across different demography.
It also involved finding out the most important attribute which these
retail outlets can focus on, to build the salience level of their brands.
Three hypotheses were also formulated for the same and they were
tested using parametric and non-parametric tests of Z-test and chi-
square test, using SPSS. Moreover, a correlation between the buying
behavior of national brands and private label brands were also
found out using SPSS. A detailed analysis was being done.
Product category selected for the research was apparels because
the retail outlets sell this particular product category under different
brand names and hence salience can be measured and created for
apparels whereas in the other product categories such as basic
staples, dry fruits, spices, pulse, wheat etc where the retail outlets
sell the private label products, they sell it under the name of their
retail stores itself and not under different brand names. So salience
in that case cannot be created. In that case, it is not salience that is
important but the product positioning that is important. Hence, the
product category taken for this research is apparels and not any
other product category.
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INTRODUCTION
Indian Scenario Of The Private Label Brands: A few models of private label brands emerge in the Indian market place.
The store brand is different from brands in the store:
This model is quite evident in a number of the existing brands like
Lifestyle, Shoppers' Stop and Pantaloons.
What drives consumers is the store brand—
that is, Pantaloons—rather than the private
label brands in the store. In fact, most people
don’t quite remember the private label
brands in these stores and have great
difficulty in articulating the values of these
brands. Since the in-store brand is never
going to be sold anywhere else except in the
store, the fortunes of this brand are indelibly linked to the fortunes
of the store brand.
The store brand is the private label:
A good example of this is perhaps a brand like Gap overseas. You
can get Gap apparel only in Gap stores and nowhere else. This
means that the scope and potential of the Gap brand is entirely
dependent on what distribution width the brand can attain as a
retail store. In our own case, Wills Lifestyle perhaps already follows
this model and no doubt there will be many more.
The issues of brand “stretch” become even more pressing when we
look at the current retail milieu, with the proposed advent of large
format multi-brand retail set to take off. With cross-category
offerings under a singular umbrella brand, maintaining consistency
is critical to being able to command higher realizations.
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The important question is how private label brands can ever hope to
compete effectively against the big brand marketers. Perhaps the
answer lies in the delivery. The unique advantage of private brands
is that they provide the end delivery or fulfillment to consumers
within the purview of the store brand. A consistent delivery
mechanism and careful attention to detail may lead consumers to
prefer the in-store brand to competing offerings.
Line extensions provide another lesson for private label
manufacturers (or the retailer). The presence of other branded
outlets extend the offering and brand equity of the parent store—
as in the case of Lifestyle International’s Kappa (a sportswear brand)
—and provide a distinct identity by targeting a well-defined
audience. After all, the existing reason for brands is to command
premium over competitive offerings. If private labels can shake off
their closet existence and come into their own, it’s only the
consumers who will stand to benefit. Here’s to heralding in a new
age of retail. Viva Le Consumer![1]
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SECONDARY RESEARCH
Purpose of Secondary Research:
A study on some premium private label brands is conducted
through secondary research to fulfill the research objectives on
finding out: across what product categories the retail outlets are
providing the private label brands, what are their profit margins
from private labels, what are the private labels available in the
premium retail outlets, what are they doing to create brand
awareness and hence salience for these private label brands in the
product category of apparels.
A Study Of Some Premium Private Label Brands: WESTSIDE:
Style, affordable prices, quality: these are the factors that
have shaped Westside’s success story in the retail fashion stores
business. Launched in 1998 in Bangalore, the Westside chain has,
ever since, been setting the standards for other fashion retailers to
follow.
Westside stands out from the competition for a variety of reasons.
One is that a majority of the brands the chain stocks and sells are its
own, unlike retailers who store multiple labels. About 90 per cent of
Westside’s offerings are home-grown, and they cater to different
customer segments. The other 10 per cent includes toys, cosmetics
and lingerie.
Westside has recently expanded its range of merchandise by
offering outfits from some of India’s best-known fashion designers,
among them Wendell Rodericks, Anita Dongre, Krishna Mehta and
Mona Pali. This is an interesting marketing shift, since it means
moving away from the chains only-our-own-brands concept.
The age group of people visiting the store is in between 18-40.
(Upper middle and middle class) The attraction of the shopping is
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basically the female population. The movement of men’s apparels is
also due to the ladies buying for the men.[2]
Private Brands in Westside: 2 F 4 U, SRC, Gia, Urban angel,
Intima, David jones, Ascot, Black berry
Facing the challenge: The greatest challenge for Westside in its
quest for a place in the retail sun is not the competition from similar
organized players, but from the unorganized sector (98 per cent of
India’s retail garment industry operates in the unorganized sector).
The other challenge for Westside is that the retail fashion business
in the country is becoming increasingly crowded with new players,
Indian and foreign. Among the new entrants have been Wills Sport,
Lifestyle, Raymond’s (Be), Globus, Nike, Crocodile, Mango and, the
latest, Marks & Spencer.
Westside is trying to create brand awareness through its
promotional programmes:
1. Club west card program
An assured return-and-exchange policy reinforces customer
confidence in the chain. Another winning Westside idea is Club
West, a customer loyalty programme launched in May 2001. The
30,000-plus members of this club get rebates at restaurants and on
holiday packages from the Taj Group of Hotels, home delivery of
alterations, and best of all, special shopping hours on the first day of
any discount sales event organized by the chain.
Westside does its regular brand building through advertisements in
the media with brand ambassador Yuvraj Singh and other young
models; more important are its in-house promotions, which peak
during the three main festive seasons: summer, Diwali and
Christmas. The promotions are mostly theme based, with
decorations to match, live bands and other attractions.
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2. Fashion logy
Westside has launched a new ad campaign titled 'fashion
logy'. The campaign is designed to provide the buyer with not just
clothing, but also guides and aid on dressing smart, styling and
accessorizing. The campaign sees on-ground activities and
promotions designed to interact with the consumer about their style
It includes women’s corporate wear, girls wear, glam denim.
Marketing Strategies adopted by Westside
Attract shoppers & keep them in stores- the amount of time
shoppers spend in a store is perhaps the single most important
factor in determining how much they will buy.
Honor the transition zone- on entering a store, people need to slow
down & short out the stimuli which means customer will likely be
moving to fast to respond positively.
Don’t make them hunt- put the most popular products up front to
reward busy customer & encourage them to look more.
Women’s need more space- A customer especially a woman is far
less likely to buy an item if her derriere is brushed by any other
customer.
In a rapidly evolving retail scenario, Westside has carved a
niche for its brand of merchandise creating a loyal following.
Currently, the company has 28 Westside stores measuring 15,000-
30,000 square feet each across 19 cities in India. With a variety of
designs and styles, everything at Westside is exclusively designed
and the merchandise ranges from stylized clothes, footwear and
accessories for men, women and children to well-co-coordinated
table linens, artifacts, home accessories and furnishings. Well-
designed interiors, sprawling space, prime locations and coffee
shops enhance the customers’ shopping experience Each of the
stores covers an area of 10,000 – 20,000 square feet, stocking
apparel, home furnishings, cosmetics, toys and tableware. Other
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than cosmetics and toys all products are sold under the Westside
brand. Ultimately, what drives sales is the complete product
experience. Westside does not retailing any other garment brands.
It stocks only own store brands. This means that all the stuff
available is made or sourced by Westside itself and therefore the
store label ‘Westside’ acts as a product label. Only in a few
categories such as cosmetics and toys are brands other than
Westside present. Those are categories that complement the
Westside range. The private-label strategy of Westside also helps
the company eliminate intermediaries. The result is higher margins.
The world over, retail chains that follow the private-label approach
enjoy higher margins than those that don't. Tata says retail chains
need minimum margins of 40 per cent to be comfortable; Westside
boasts margins as high as 50 per cent. Rival multi-brand store
Shopper's Stop's are in the 20-25 per cent range.
Positioning of Westside: Westside is positioned on the ‘fashion at
affordable pricing’ plank. By retailing our own Westside brand we
are able to eliminate intermediaries and therefore offer better
prices. Westside is unique with its own brand of merchandise, which
is trendy and individualistic. We cater to the shopper who values not
just the product but the total shopping experience. To cater to this
need, Westside has its team of in-house designers who design
exclusively for the store. All merchandise passes the stringent
quality standards that befit everything that carries the Tata name.
The products at Westside are not just of high quality and reasonably
priced but are contemporary and stylish as well. The stores are
divided into many departments -- menswear, womenswear,
kidswear, household accessories, gifts, cosmetics, perfumes and
other accessories. For women, there are casuals, formals and chic
Indian wear. The range has great depth spanning from basic
clothing to very trendy wear. Unlike a lot of stores, the range at
Westside caters to a wide age group and takes into account differing
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tastes and requirements. We offer accessories as well, such as
handbags, jewellery, scarves and hair accessories.
In menswear, the range goes from formal to casual and
sporty. And, price wise, it extends from the value to the premium
segment. Kidswear at Westside is designed to follow international
trends; it is uniquely styled, whether you opt for the dressy, smart
or casual. The household section is extremely contemporary.
Westside stands out from the competition for a variety of reasons.
One is that a majority of the brands the chain stocks and sells are its
own, unlike retailers who store multiple labels. About 90 per cent of
Westside’s offerings are home-grown, and they cater to different
customer segments. The other 10 per cent includes toys, cosmetics
and lingerie.[3]
PANTALOONS:
Pantaloons biggest advantage is that is offers quality. The
price is not quite reasonable. But most people don't mind because
the quality of goods and apparels is very good. The place hosts four
different levels- Men’s, Women, Children and household. The Men's
section exhibits a huge range of branded as well as Future Group’s
(the owner) own factory made clothes.
The brands include- Denim, Spykar, Levis, Koutons , Umbro
and many others. Pantaloons itself has its own clothing brands-
Bare. The Men’s and Women’s sections also hosts their own
footwear range with brands like Reebok, NIke Addidas, Bata and
Converse.
Among the group’s private label brands are John Miller,
Bare, DJ&C, Buffalo, Knighthood, RIG, Indigo Nation, Scullers, Urbana
The entire range of Pantaloons’ popular apparel brands such as,
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John Miller, Lombard, Urbana, Scullers, RIG, UMM, BARE Denim,
BARE Leisure, JM Sport, Ajile, Annabelle, Honey, Akkriti, Chalk, BARE
7214, etc (in the apparel category); Tasty Treat, Care Mate, Fresh n
Pure, Clean Mate (in the FMCG category); Dreamline (in the general
merchandise category), Koryo , Sensei and IQIP (in the consumer
durables and electronics category), as well as co-creations like Sach,
which is a venture along with Sachin Tendulkar.
Currently their private labels generate between 75 per cent
and 80 per cent of the revenues. Some of these brands have taken
a natural level of growth in certain areas. For instance, one of its
oldest menswear brands, John Miller, has achieved `critical mass' to
exist as a standalone store brand.
Unisex brands such as Bare (denim and leisurewear), Ajile
(sportswear) and Rig (utility weekend wear) have also been
registering significant volumes to serve as individual store brands.
Besides, the higher margins registered by the private label
brands has led Pantaloon to exploit the potential of these brands. As
the brands are directly sourced from the manufacturer, it is easy to
get higher margins. There is now a deliberate focus on these brands
to take them out of Pantaloon into new formats.
At present, Pantaloon sports nearly 20 private label brands
and it is the ladies' ethnic wear segment which is pegged to grow in
excess of 50 per cent. Its private label in ethnic ladies wears —
Akkrruti — has already tied up with designers such as Rocky S.
Pantaloon is eyeing the ladies' Western wear segment and the
men's party wear segment in which it might rope in more designers
to give impetus to its private label exercise.
At the same time, Pantaloon has been refurbishing its acquired
denim brand - Jealous - belonging to Indus League Clothing, in which
it has a stake. The Jealous 21 range comprises casual, club and
denim wear. The brand is being reinvented to infuse energy into it.
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The company plans to expand its retail network for a nationwide
presence with 120 stores in the next three years.
Future Brands, a subsidiary of Pantaloon [PRIL] plans to not only
take existing PRIL private labels national but also do brand
consulting and launch international brands in India. Future Brands
plans to select some of PRIL's private label brands such as John
Miller and take them national by launching both Exclusive Brand
Outlets and selling through multi brand outlets. Future Brands will
focus on building the brand and appoint a national distributor for
each brand to roll out distribution. For John Miller, the company has
appointed Indus League as their national distributor.
Future Logistics is likely to manage PRIL's entire supply chain
from supplier to store warehouse for a fee that is likely to be lower
than PRIL's existing supply chain cost. Pantaloon Retail, part of the
Kishore Biyani-promoted Future group, has set its eyes on
enhancing the basket of private label products sold at Big Bazaar,
the hypermarket format from the retail major.
The portfolio of products in food, electronics, apparel and cosmetics
would be expanded. The company, however, would take the
outsourcing route instead of having its manufacturing lines. A big
chunk of private label products would come from outsourcing.[4]
Positioning of Pantaloons: The thought behind 'Fresh Fashion' is
that “An idea that has captured the imagination of young India”.
With a focus on the youth of today, Pantaloons offers trendy and hip
fashion that defines the hopes and aspirations of this demography.
Pantaloons Fresh Fashion stands out as a fashion trendsetter, on the
lines of how fashion is followed internationally. The ‘look’ and
‘what’s in’ today for the season is sacrosanct. Pantaloons take its
promise of 'fresh fashion' very seriously making available to its
customers the latest in fashion every week! All Pantaloons stores
reflect the new ideology -- Fresh Feeling, Fresh Attitude, Fresh
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Fashion. The stores offer fresh collections and are visually
stimulating thanks to appealing interiors and attractive product
display!
Pantaloon already has an in-house design studio comprising
16 qualified NIFT professionals. These designers work with category
managers, understand their requirements, analyze the likely trends
for the various markets and set about designing various options.
While this in-house team has been largely responsible for
Pantaloons’ success, Springboard is expected to bring it close to
another class of customers who believe in making fashion
statements.
The store provides great shopping options to consumers in
apparel (men, ladies, kids & infants); footwear; sports apparel;
lingerie; accessories; watches and sunglasses; fashion accessories;
cosmetics and perfumes and fine jewellery.
Creating brand awareness: Pantaloons has roped in Bipasha
Basu and Zayed Khan as their brand ambassadors to create brand
endorsements.
Private label contribution in the Pantaloon departmental stores is
currently over 70 per cent. They are in the process of increasing it
to more than 80 per cent. In Big Bazaar, private labels have just
been launched in the apparel segment (five labels have been
launched over the past three months and three more are expected
to be launched in the next month). It expects private labels to
contribute more than 50 per cent in their respective categories.
SHOPPERS’ STOP:
Shoppers Stop is an Indian department stores promoted by
the K Raheja Corp Group (Chandru L Raheja Group), started in the
year 1991 with its first store in Andheri, Mumbai. Shoppers Stop Ltd
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has been awarded "the Hall of Fame" and won "the Emerging
Market Retailer of the Year Award", by World Retail Congress at
Barcelona, on April 10, 2008. With the launch of the Navi Mumbai
departmental store, Shoppers Stop has 26 stores in 13 cities in
India.
Store: Shoppers Stop is one of the leading retail stores in India.
Shoppers Stop began by operating a chain of department stores
under the name “Shoppers’ Stop” in India. Currently Shoppers Stop
has twenty six (26) stores across the country and three stores under
the name Home Stop. Shoppers Stop has also begun operating a
number of specialty stores, namely Crossword Bookstores,
Mothercare, Brio, Desi Café, Arcelia.
Shoppers' Stop too has seen the share of private labels rise to
18 per cent. Shoppers' Stop, the retail chain has brands such as Life,
Kashish and Vittorio Fratini in its portfolio and recently launched two
more. While the chain is growing at about 35 per cent per annum,
the private labels at the store have been growing at about 40-45 per
cent. At Shoppers' Stop also, for instance, while the retail chain has
launched private labels to fill in the gaps in its portfolio, the retail
chain feels that it is unlikely that its brands would pose a major
threat to other ones. At present, while approximately 80 per cent of
its sales come from outside brands and the balance from private
labels, the chain is targeting to change this ratio to 70:30.
Competition: The competition will come from other known brands
in the retail segment like Pantaloon, Westside (Trent earlier) and
Lifestyle.
Brands: Shoppers Stop retails products of domestic and
international brands such as Louis Philippe, Pepe, Arrow, BIBA, Gini
& Jony, Carbon, Corelle, Magppie, Nike, Reebok, LEGO, and Mattel.
Shoppers Stop retails merchandise under its own labels, such as
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STOP, Kashish, LIFE and Vettorio Fratini, Elliza Donatein, Haute
Curry, I Jeanswear, Insense, Mario Zegnoti, Acropolis and Indi-Visual.
The designer section show cases some of India’s prominent fashion
designers (Ritu Kumar, Satya Paul and LABEL), retailing affordable
designer wear. The company also licensees for Austin Reed
(London), an international brand, who’s mens’ and womens’
outerwear are retailed in India exclusively through the chain.
Shoppers Stop Limited is an India-based department store. The
Company houses a host of international and domestic brands across
categories, such as apparel, accessories, cosmetics, home and
kitchenware as also its own private brands.. The Company also
houses some of the international brands like M.A.C., Lancome,
Chanel, Clinique, Tommy Hilfiger, Esprit and Frich Connection,
among others. It offers more than 400 national and international
brands for consumers.
Moreover, Shoppers' Stop's retail outlets sell world-famous apparel
clothing brands like Louise Philippe, Arrow, Levi's, Arrow, and Lego
and Mattel in the toy segment. Significantly, 80% of Shoppers'
Stop's revenues are generated selling these brands and the
remaining 20% through Shoppers' Stop-owned private labels like
STOP, Kashish, LIFE and Vettorio Frattini.
Creating Brand Awareness: In April 2008, Shoppers Stop
changed its logo and adopted the mantra "Start Something New"
with a view to increase its awareness.
Loyalty program: Shoppers Stop’s has a loyalty program called
First Citizen. They also offer a co-branded credit card with Citibank
for their members.
Customer Rewards – The First Citizen
Shoppers’ Stop’s customer loyalty program is called The First
Citizen. The program offers its members an opportunity to collect
points and avail of innumerable special benefits. Currently,
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Shoppers’ Stop has a database of over 2.5 lakh members who
contribute to nearly 50% of the total sales of Shoppers’ Stop
Positioning: Shoppers’ Stop is positioned as a family store
delivering a complete shopping experience defined by its mission,
vision and values.
Customer Profile: Shoppers’ Stop’s core customers represent a
strong SEC A skew. They fall between the age group of 16 years to
35 years, the majority of them being families and young couples
with a monthly household income above Rs. 20000 and an annual
spend of Rs.15000. A large number of Non– resident Indians visit the
shop for ethnic clothes in the international environment they are
accustomed to.
Range of merchandise: The stores offer a complete range of
apparel and lifestyle accessories for the entire family. From apparel
brands like Provogue, Color Plus, Arrow, Levi’s, Scullers, Zodiac to
cosmetic brands like Lakme, Chambor, Le Teint Ricci etc., Shoppers’
Stop caters to every lifestyle need. Shoppers' Stop retails its own
line of clothing namely Stop, Life , Kashish, Vettorio Fratini and DIY.
The merchandise at Shoppers’ Stop is sold at a quality and price
assurance backed by its guarantee stamp on every bill.
Their motto: “We are responsible for the goods we sell”.
Shoppers’ Stop aims to position itself as a global retailer. The
company intends to bring the world’s best retail technology, retail
practices and sales to India. Currently, they are adding 4 to 5 new
stores every year. [5]
LIFESTYLE:
Lifestyle is part of the Landmark Group, a Dubai-based retail
chain. With over 30 years' experience in retailing, the Group has
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become one of the foremost retailers in the Gulf. Positioned as a
trendy, youthful and vibrant brand that offers customers a wide
variety of merchandise at an exceptional value for money, Lifestyle
India began operations in 1998 with its first store in Chennai.
Positioning: Positioned as a trendy, youthful and vibrant brand
that offers customers a wide variety of merchandise at an
exceptional value for money, Lifestyle India began operations in
1999 with its first store in Chennai.
Currently there are 14 Lifestyle stores, 7 Home Centre stores and 1
Baby Shop store across Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai,
Hyderabad, Jaipur, Mumbai, Pune, New Delhi, Noida and Gurgaon.
Today Lifestyle offers a truly international shopping experience, a
fact borne by numerous accolades
Stores: Lifestyle retail stores are divided into five sections:
apparels, babyshop lifestyle, homecentre lifestyle, lifestyle
accessories and shoe mart lifestyle. The shop-within-a-shop concept
is what Lifestyle is aiming at. People look for everything under one
roof in a retail store or mall environment; hence Lifestyle has
divided its outlet between five lifestyle concepts. .
Brands: The Apparel section at Lifestyle offers a stunning range of
wardrobe essentials, formals, casuals, ethnic wear, sportswear and
denim for men and women. A host of brands are a part of this
festival including Arrow, Wills Lifestyle, Louis Philippe, Van Heusen,
Park Avenue, Zodiac, ZOD, Giovanni, Provogue, Allen Solly,
Chromozone, Colour Plus, Dockers, Indian Terrain, Tana, Vivaz, Le-
Buck, Bossini (Men and Woman), Benetton (Men and Woman),
Kappa (Men and Woman), Springfield, Zync, Proline, Lee, Lee
Cooper, Pepe, Levis, Wrangler, Killer, Forca and Excalibur. Haute
Trail is simultaneously running across all Lifestyle stores in Mumbai,
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New Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Jaipur &
Pune.
The private label brands include Code, Forca, for men. For
women, Code, Ginger, Melange. For kid’s apparel, it includes
Lifestyle's Kids' section offers a complete range of products for all
children up to the age of 14 with leading international brands that
are exclusive to Lifestyle. Discover your child's favorite cartoon
characters or get hold of Lifestyle's own brand called 'Juniors', which
offers an extensive range of merchandise across all categories.
Splash, an in-house brand, that the chain controls, provides
garments for all in a family and has found acceptance among
customers who expect quality as well as a well-known brand. Shoe-
Mart, for instance, offers footwear and has among the best brands
available along with in-house brands.
According to a survey; LifeStyle, with an overall 14 per cent
consumer recall, has the highest `top of mind' awareness among
the respondents as compared to other retail outlets. The highest
cognizance of 18 per cent was registered by the 21-30 years age
group. The other two age groups namely 31-40 years and 41-55
years also registered significant recalls of 12 per cent and 10 per
cent respectively. The women on the other hand followed the
youngsters and registered the store's second highest recall of 12
per cent..
Creating Brand Awareness: Recently the race between Lifestyle
and Globus has concentrated on retaining their customer base.
Brand awareness which ultimately leads to brand recall is created
through in-store promotional offers and the retention is done
through loyalty programs. A look at two of such programs.
Lifestyle - gathering loyalty around them Lifestyle International (P)
Ltd., cossets its loyal customers by inviting them to be part of an
exclusive circle they call The Inner Circle.
25
Membership to the circle can be obtained in two ways-by-purchasing
merchandise worth 1500/- or by paying RS 150/-. The store also has
free corporate membership programs with big corporate like ICICI,
Reliance Infocomm, etc. The circle members are given membership
cards, which when presented at the billing counter automatically
earns privilege points.
BenefitsPrivilege points accumulated on the membership card
translates into gift vouchers for a host of items as also value adds
like special offers, discounts, exclusive movie screenings, special
invites, get together events, and more. Sometimes just stepping
into a Lifestyle store can fetch one a free cup of cappuchino coffee
at Qwiky's who have a presence within the store.
A lot of pamphlets are printed as also mailers. But apart from this,
the store used an engaging method of letting customers know of
their latest promotion.
Lifestyle had launched a one of its kind shopping festival
exclusively for Men called "Haute Trail" across all Lifestyle stores in
the city. The festival offers great deals on apparel and footwear for
men along with watches, sun glasses and fragrances. Consumers
are sure spoilt for choice with all the exciting offers from leading
brands in the country.
Lifestyle has five business groups specializing in five product
categories like garments, children, footwear etc. Each business
group has a senior buyer who is responsible for sourcing and
merchandising. Also, our store design, layout and display systems
are very different and more in tune with international standards.
The objective is to make Lifestyle the most desired shopping
destination. We had to make it a happening place, which adults,
teens and children would like to visit frequently and also do their
shopping. We will like to emerge as the most preferred retail store
26
for fashion in all the major cities of India. Customers can now avail
irresistible offers on leading brands such as United Colours of
Benetton, Arrow, Levis, Blackberry’s, Indian Terrain, Zodiac,
Provogue, Pepe, Allen Solly, Wills Lifestyle, Nike, Adidas, Lee,
Melange, Van Heusen, Basics, Colourplus and Esprit.
Currently, there are 10 Lifestyle stores in the country, of which the
Hyderabad store is the best performer. [6]
GLOBUS:
Since 2001, this has been a business that deals in own-brand
merchandise. Product is displayed by category, with lifestyle areas
including women's and men's Western and Indian clothing. Owing to
the somewhat fragmented nature of this offer, the retailer
concentrates on an Indo-Western look, an area in which it is an
organized retail market leader.
Moving away from being a multi-branded retail chain, the
$1.5-billion Rajan Raheja-promoted Globus Stores Pvt Ltd has
become a single store label brand under its own name.
Discontinuing its previous formats, including its value-for-money
format — Globus has launched smaller stores under its private label.
At present, the Rs 145-crore Globus Stores has 19 outlets and plans
to ramp up to 152 stores with a presence across 70 cities and a
turnover of Rs 1,800 crore by 2011-12.
Positioning: Globus also wants to position itself as an ‘affordably
priced fashion brand’. Globus Stores Pvt. Ltd. was formed to
contribute in the revolution sweeping the retail industry. Globus
promises to bring about a perceptible change in the way apparel
and lifestyle retailing has been carried so far.
Creating Brand Awareness: Adopting a single brand strategy for
its stores, Globus plans to build its brand by roping in actor Kareena
27
Kapoor as its new brand ambassador. Highlighting the new business
model, Mr Akshay Raheja, Vice-Chairman, Globus Stores, says,
“There are higher margins in private labels but at the same time it is
a harder model for retailers. It is going to take additional effort to
build the private label business but that is the new business
strategy we have decided for our stores.” With designing as its USP,
Globus would be relying on its design studio to create new fashions
targeting youth between the ages 18 and 30. Besides, it has
decided to create smaller format stores, especially in the malls
coming up across the country. Considering it started its first outlet
in Chennai with an area of 20,000 sq ft, it has now decided to drop
the idea of having larger stores. As Mr Raheja says, “We now plan to
have smaller stores with an average of 10,000 sq ft.” Allocating 6
per cent of its turnover towards advertising spends, Globus now has
the onus of building its private label brand with the help of the new
brand ambassador. Last year, it had roped in actor Soha Ali Khan as
the face of its brand. Akshay Raheja, Globus Vice Chairman,
commented that Kareena’s sense of style, charisma and attitude
reflected the aspirations of millions of young Indians. “She has
experimented with a variety of roles and hence one has seen her in
different stunning looks,” he added.
As part of its strategy in developing fashion apparel brands,
Globus has built design studios in Mumbai with more than 50
designers and product specialists creing the latest and trendiest
merchandise that will be available under the brands ‘Globus’ and
‘F21’at their fashion stores.
“Fashions keep changing and so do brand ambassadors,” claims Mr
Raheja who plans to build the Globus brand on the fashion quotient.
It has also appointed a Mumbai-based creative hot shop –
Civilisation — to build its brand. The Globus Privilege Club card is a
1st of its kind in India. Members are immediately rewarded for
purchases at any of their stores, in addition to a host of other
28
privileges such as exclusive tie ups, promotion and special shopping
hours.
Privilege Card: Purchase of merchandise over Rs. 2000/- get you
the most sought after card. These purchases can be spread across
the first 3 months of the first purchase at Globus.
Globus is on a mission to democratize fashion and be ‘the’ iconic
youth fashion brand in India. It aims to create deep connections with
the Indian youth through inspiring product design, signature store
experiences and compelling marketing.Globus will undoubtedly
generate unique fashion products/trends and powerfully inspire its
young customers to further imagine and experiment in order to self-
create their individual style statements.
Globus Brands:
Youth Fashion Brand: Globus aspires to be ‘the’ iconic youth fashion
brand in the country. Globus is a complete fashion brand – it’s the
apparel brand and the destination brand. Three words which capture
the spirit of the youth – vibrant, maverick and expressive. Globus is
exactly that --their vibrant and maverick designs are not just setting
fashion trends but more importantly helping customers express
themselves.
The entire fashion range comprises of apparel for men, women, kids
and accessories at amazing prices. The range spans across usage
occasions – work wear, campus wear, club and lounge dressing and
genres Western, Indian and mix-n-match. A well researched sizing
ensures a good fit for the Indian silhouettes.
Eye candy fashion:
F21 is an accessible hi-fashion brand, offering high-quality
apparel. F21 – the edgy fashion brand - is designed to appeal to the
more experimentative and adventurous consumers who seek
29
cutting edge fashion. Styling and fabric innovations help F21 offer
high end fashion at prices which are affordable for the young
consumers. From everyday casual occasions to club wear, F21
promises consumers attention unlimited.
Globus retails its own in-store labels - Globus and Fashion 21 - as
well as other national and multinational brands in the men's and
women's wear category. Plans are to concentrate more on in-store
labels to introduce speciality fashion garment store concept in the
Indian market. This will help Globus take a strong market position
and offer [7]
OTHER PRIVATE LABEL BRANDS:
Max:
Max Retail of the $1-billion Landmark Group (Dubai), a leading
retailer in West Asia launched its first `Value Retail' store in
Hyderabad. Dubai based Landmark group’s value retail chain Max
Retail (Max) which currently has 10 stores in India
The chain is currently present in 8 cities in the country with three
stores in New Delhi and one each in Mumbai (Vashi), Bangalore,
Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Indore, Agra and Lucknow.
Max offers apparel for the complete family - women, men and
children - besides footwear, accessories and Home furnishings for all
occasions.
Positioning: The merchandise is fashionable & competitively priced
in the range of Rs. 99 to Rs. 599, making it quite affordable. The
store ambience offers global shopping experience with imported
fixtures and customer friendly layouts. Max offers its Indian
customers the same depth of quality and style that it offers in the
Middle East. Launched in early 2004 in the Middle East, Max today is
a popular brand in the region with over 50 stores in 6 countries.
30
Typically, Max's stores have an area of about 15,000 sq ft. plus on a
single floor.
Creating Brand Awareness: Max spend around 4 per cent of our
revenue towards promotion spends. This is mainly by way of
sponsoring events with a social cause, and through advertisements
in the print media. Max will also continue print advertisements in
the regional media, and we will maintain about 4 per cent of
turnover spends towards promotion
Lifestyle is the other chain that is owned by the Landmark group.
Max Retail has 51 stores in six countries. The Landmark Group’s
Indian division, Lifestyle International announced that it will be
making major expansion moves for its value retail chain, Max and
will be targeting tier III cities. The Landmark Group runs the Lifestyle
retail chain, an exclusive department store format chain; Max, a
hypermarket value retail chain; and also has several international
brands such as Bossini and Kappa. Max’s company owned stores will
be located in tier I and tier II cities. At present there are 6 Max
stores, with 65% of its revenues coming from apparels and the
remaining 35% from footwear and accessories.
Vishal Retail :
Vishal Retail Ltd started in the year 1986 as discount retailer
in Kolkata and is focused on tier II and III cities in the country. About
80% of the company’s stores are located in these cities. Vishal
Retail (VRL) is a value retailer with focus on apparels. Besides
apparels it has a presence in a wide range of household
merchandise and other consumer goods like footwear, toys, home
furnishings to mobile phones, watches, toiletries, and grocery items.
VRL’s outlets sell over 70,000 products, which meet all household
requirements.
The company has focused on the lower middle-income group as its
customers and the strategy has served its well so far. To increase its
31
penetration the company has also experimented with small formats
and it also plans to re-size around 25 of its stores. They have also
opened restaurants within their stores to gain a higher share of
customer’s wallet. As of now the company has 181 retail stores
across 107 cities covering a total area of 2.98 million sq feet. VRL
has an edge over peers with its focused business model operating
largely through hypermart format. Thus it helps to being in
economies of scale for sourcing raw materials and pass on the
benefits to consumers. The company’s focus continues to remain on
Tier II and Tier III.
Apparel share ranges from 57% to 62% . In comparison, revenues
from FMCG and other non- apparel goods rose to 24.1% (19.7%) and
18.2% (16.7%) respectively. This has a positive impact on the
margins. The company is gradually increasing share of its private
label in every category. This will further boost margins. sThe
company expects to continue its 40-50 % sales growth in the
coming future. The company earns around 5-7 % of its operating
profit from its private label products. Going forward, the company is
looking at further increasing share of this high margin segment to
drive growth and maintain EBITDA margins at around 12%. The
overall share of private label is expected to increase from the
current 18% in FY08 to 25% by end of March 2011. The company
has adopted the franchisee model for future store expansion. This
would help to curb its operating costs as well.
Koutons :
Delhi based Koutons Retail has shown tremendous growth post it’s
listing in 2007. The company operates in the fashion wear apparel
segment category. However it has now expanded its product
merchandise to become a complete ‘family shop’. Incorporated in
1994, Koutons is an integrated apparel manufacturing & retail
32
company. It is in the business of designing, manufacturing &
retailing apparel under the “Koutons” & “Charlie Outlaw” brands.
They have a network of 1420 exclusive brand outlets across India.
Positioning: The company has positioned the “Koutons” brand in
the middle to high fashion segment ranging from formal to party
wear. The company had reinvented & re-launched their old premier
brand “Charlie” as “Charlie Outlaw”. It forayed into women wear
with Les Femme and kids segment with its Koutons Junior brand. As
of September 2008, Les Femme contributed 6% of the revenue, &
Koutons Junior contributed 5% of the revenue and the Men’s
segment contributed 89% of the revenue.
The company increased number of stores from 1,175 in FY08 to a
little over 1300 stores as of now. It is looking to expand the store
count to 1,800 in FY09. This will entail expansion of space from 1.20
million square feet as on September ’08 to 1.5 million square feet in
FY09.
The company has already forayed into footwear. It would also
introduce men’s accessories like innerwear, women’s accessories
like handbags and kids’ accessories. This will help in maximizing the
overall sales per square foot for its stores. Its acquisition of Upper
Class range of womens’ wear marks its entry into the premium
segment. Its presence in the West Asia will also help Koutons make
an entry into this region . The average sale per sq ft for Koutons is
about Rs 12,000 and for Charlie it is Rs 8,000. The company has
been doubling in size compared to about 40-50 % YoY growth
reported by other retailers. However it cannot be directly compared
to other players because its format and business model does not
permit so. The company will be able to maintain its high profit
margins as it’s offering is attractively priced. Their franchisee model
relieves them of the burgeoning rental costs, which are eating into
retail margins. But the aggressive expansion has resulted in
blockage of funds in inventory. This has forced the company to go
33
for working capital funding. Larger volumes would bring in
economies of scale thus further reducing cost.
The company has been making a conscious effort of not
rapidly opening new stores but rather expanding the existing stores.
Foray into women wear and kids wear will drive company’s growth
in future. Kids segment requires quick replenishment as the child
outgrows its outfits within six months—thus providing huge sales
potential. The company also plans to foray into West Asia and China.
34
PRIMARY RESEARCH
Purpose of Primary Research:
To fulfill the research objective of finding out how brand salience
can be built by focusing on a narrow range of attributes and the
factors that influence the consumers to buy private label brands.
To identify the factors that influence the consumers to buy the
private label brands, a focus group discussion was conducted and a
pilot interview was also conducted.
FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION :
Sample Size: 10 respondents
Age group: 20-25
Topic given: What factors influence the purchase of private label
brands over branded apparels?
Objective of the F.G.D: To find out the parameters which people use
to compare the private label brands and branded apparels which
would be included in the questionnaire for further study.
Results of the F.G.D: People came out with different parameters.
Out of the 10 respondents, brand recall in case of branded apparels
was higher as compared to private labels. 10 respondents were
asked to recall 5 brands or private label brands with respect to
apparels. Total brand recall in case of private label was 11 and the
total brand recall in case of national brands is 39 among the 10
respondents. Thus brand salience which is measured by the number
of times a brand is mentioned divided by the total number of times
it could have been mentioned, is higher in case of national brands
as compared to private labels. Brand salience for private label
brands as concluded from the F.G.D was 22% and in case of national
brands it was 78%.
Second, they were asked to identify the factors which may influence
them to buy private label brands over branded apparels. The
35
respondents came out with the following factors on the basis of the
G.D conducted and they were:
Lower price
Better offers
Availability
Reference group
Value for money
More variety of choices
Word of mouth
Store image
Impulse buying
PILOT SURVEY :
The pilot test was conducted with a sample size of 20 to check the
validity and reliability of the questionnaire which was prepared on
the basis of the factors recognized through the focus group
discussion. Hypothesis was formed on the basis of questions which
are:
H1: PLB(Private Label Brands) will score more on pricing attributes
than NB(National Brands).
H2: PLB will score less on quality related attributes than NB.
H3: Store image of the private label brands have an effect on
customer buying decision
Results of the pilot testing:
During the pilot test, as suggested by the respondents, some flaws
were noted and the respective questions were modified accordingly
which did not cover the hypothesis. Question no 8 was replaced with
a different question where the respondents were asked to recall the
36
private label brands of the following retail outlets of pantaloons,
Westside, shoppers stop, globus and lifestyle.
Earlier Big Bazaar was also taken as a part of the study but after the
pilot test, it was replaced with Globus because Big Bazaar stores the
apparels of pantaloons itself. Moreover, it was realized that the
study should not be limited only to apparels and other product
categories should be included in this. Thus one more objective was
added a part of the study and that is to compare that creating
salience in the product category of apparels is more important than
the other product categories like basic staples. In the later case, it is
product positioning that is more important and not salience.
It was realized that in question no:5 where respondents were asked
to recall any five private label brands, 85% of the respondents
recalled the names of retail stores instead of the private label
brands available in the stores whereas in question no 4 where they
were asked to recall the names of the national brands, they could
easily do so. This again proves the hypothesis that national brands
have a better recall and hence salience than private label brands
which can be proved by applying Z-test in case of the sample size of
300 which the actual survey is carried out.
It was also recognized that the actual respondents who would fill the
questionnaire, should be the loyal customers of the store. So the
primary research has to be conducted outside the retail outlets for
the customers coming out of the stores of pantaloons, Westside,
Globus, shoppers stop and lifestyle. Also, the similarity between the
private label brands and national brands can be found out from
question no 6 by applying correlation. Similarly hypothesis 2 and 3
can be tested by applying Z test. The number of hypothesis for
testing was limited to three.
And as the pilot testing showed that the questionnaire fulfilled all
the objectives and covered all the hypothesis, a full fledged survey
37
was carried out on a larger scale outside the retail outlets for a
sample size of 300.
SAMPLING DESIGN
Sample Size: 300
Sampling Method: Quota Sampling
No. of Female Respondents: 150
No. of Male Respondents: 150
Age groups surveyed: 18-25, 26-35, >35
Retail outlets: Westside, pantaloons, Shoppers Stop, Globus, Max
60 respondents outside each retail outlet outside five of these retail
outlets. Out of these 60, 30 were female and 30 were male who
were surveyed outside each retail outlet.
Product Category: Apparels
38
Data Collection
Data Collection Sources
Secondary Sources (Journals and Text Books, Internet)
Yes
Literature Reviews Yes
Primary Sources Yes
Surveys (Questionnaire ) Yes
Research Tools
With primary data collection method in use we would be applying
survey as an instrument to collect the required data. This would
involve the application of questionnaires.
Statistical tools
Statistical tools used are Simple Correlation and non-parametric
tests like Chi-square testing.
Software to be used
The software to be used while computing the results are:
SPSS
Excel
Method of data collection: Survey
Instrument of data collection: Questionnaire with open & close
ended questions
Contact Method: Face to Face
Results: Results will be shown in the form of graphs and pie charts
39
DATA ANALYSIS
Q1. Are you aware of the private label brands in apparels?
Number of respondents who said yes was 249 out of 300 and the
number of respondents who said no out of 300 was 51.
Percentage of females who said “YES” was 56%. Percentage of male
who said “YES” was 44%.
Percentage of female who said “NO” was 20% and the percentage
of male who said “NO” was 80%.
40
Among the total number of respondents who are aware of the
private label brands, 90 fall in the age group of 18-25, 80 fall in the
age group of 26-35 and 80 fall in the age group of above 35.
41
Q2. Do you purchase apparels of private label brands?
Out of 250 respondents who are aware of the private label brands,
number of respondents who said yes that they purchase the
apparels of the private label brands are 220 out of the sample size
of 300 and the number of respondents who said no are 80.
Out of the number of respondents who said yes i.e 220, 120 are
female and 100 are male who buy private label apparels.
Percentage of female who buy private label brands is 55%( 120/220)
and the percentage of male who buy private label brands are 45%
(100/220).
42
Out of the total number of respondents who said that they buy
private label apparels, 80 fall in the age group of 18-25, 80 fall in
the age group of 26-35 and 60 fall in the age group of above 35.
Out of the number of respondents who said no i.e 80, 30 are female
and 50 are male who do not buy private label apparels. Percentage
of female who do not buy private label brands is 37% (30/80) and the
percentage of male who do not buy private label brands is 63% (50/80).
43
Q3. For which of the following attributes will you prefer
private label brands over branded products?
The attributes which were recognized from the focus group
discussion, covered all the 4 Ps, product, price, place and
promotion, to understand which of the following attributes is most
important for the customers which influence him to buy the private
label brands so that brand salience can be built among the
customers by focusing on the attribute which is most important for
the customer. The results were:
Low Price Better
Quality
Better
Offers
Store Image Any Other
140 40 130 80 0
The survey shows that the customers pay more importance to the
price factor while buying the private label brands as they are lower
priced than the branded products. 46% of the people said that lower
price is an important attribute for them, followed by better offers at
43%, store image at 27% and better quality at 13%. Thus price
should be paid more importance to while building salience followed
44
by the promotional factor which is covered by better offers. The
private label brands provide value for money by giving better offers
in the form of lower price or more quantity (like buy 1, get 1 free).
Thus, salience can also be built by either reducing price than the
branded products or focusing on better offers.
45
Q4. What influences you to buy branded apparels over private label brands?
The results Of the survey were:
Better
Quality
More
Variety
Competitiv
e Pricing
Mktng
Comm
Brand
Image
Any Other
160 70 40 150 90 10
Out of the 300 respondents, 160 i.e 53% said that it is better quality
of the branded apparels that influence them to buy it. Second, it is
the marketing communication that is associated with the branded
apparels which plays an important role in influencing the
customers with 50% of the sample size responding in favor of
marketing communications. As marketing communication leads to
more brand recall and more brand recall leads to more salience,
therefore salience for the private label brands can be built by
focusing more on the promotional aspect i.e marketing
communication, as compared to private label brands where salience
46
can be built by focusing more on price, followed by the offers. But in
case of branded apparels, it is the product which shows better
quality along with marketing communication through which salience
can be built for the branded apparels. The other attributes are more
variety, competitive pricing, and brand image where the responses
were 23%, 13% and 30%.
47
Q5. Does your choice depend on the store image of the
brand?
Out of 300 respondents, 240 said yes that their choice depends upon the store image of the
private label brand and 60 respondents said that their choice does not depend upon the
store image of the private label brand.
Out of 240 respondents who said that their choice depends upon the store image of the brand, 140 were
Female and 100 were male.
Out of the total number of respondents who said that their decision
depends upon the store image of the brand, 90 fall in the age group
of 18-25, 90 fall in the age group of 26-35 and 80 fall in the age
group of above 35.
48
Hypothesis1:
H0: O=E : Store image of the private label brands do not have an
effect on consumer buying decision.
HA: O<>E: Store image of the private label brands have an effect
on consumer buying decision.
In order to prove this hypothesis, chi-square test was applied since
it is a nominal scale. The results of chi-square test are:
Non-Parametric Tests
Chi-Square Test
Frequencies
store image
Categor
y
Observed
N
Expected
N
Residua
l
1 yes 240 150.0 90.0
2 no 60 150.0 -90.0
Total 300
49
store image
Chi-Square 108.000a
df 1
Asymp. Sig. .000
a. 0 cells (.0%) have expected frequencies less than 5. The
minimum expected cell frequency is 150.0
The critical value with the degree of freedom (d.f) of 1 and
significance of 0.05 is 3.84 and the calculated value of 108 is
greater than the critical value, so the null hypothesis is rejected and
the alternative hypothesis is accepted. Therefore it can be
interpreted that the store image of the brand has an impact on the
consumer buying decision.
50
Q6. Rank the following attributes with respect to private
label brands and national brands separately.
In order to prove the following hypothesis,
For this question, first the correlation among the consumers of the
private label brands and national brands were found out for the
attributes. Whether the customers of the private label brands and
national brands show any correlation with respect to the attributes
that they give more importance to, while making their purchase
decision.
Using Spss, Pearson’s coefficient of correlation and spearman’s rank
correlation was found out and the results are:
Correlations
PRIVATE NATIONAL
PRIVATE Pearson Correlation 1 .360**
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 300 300
NATIONAL Pearson Correlation .360** 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 300 300
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
Correlations
PRIVATE NATIONAL
Spearman's rho PRIVATE Correlation Coefficient 1.000 .102
Sig. (2-tailed) . .077
N 300 300
NATIONAL Correlation Coefficient .102 1.000
Sig. (2-tailed) .077 .
N 300 300
51
From Pearson’s coefficient of correlation and spearman’s coefficient
of rank correlation, it can be found out that
The private label brands and the national brands are weakly
correlated with respect to attributes. It means that the customers
while purchasing the private label brands and the national brands,
do not give importance to the same set of attributes.
The most important attribute in case of national brands is better
quality as 250 respondents out of 300 have given the first rank to
better quality as the most important attribute they look for in a
national brand. 40 respondents said that they look for good value
while purchasing national brands and just 10 respondents gave
importance to store image.
A second hypothesis was formulated on this basis to prove that
better quality is the most important attribute which should be
focused on while trying to build salience for the national brands as
the customers gave more importance to better quality while
purchasing national brands, as compared to private brands.
Hypothesis 2:
H0: National Brands will not score more on quality related attributes
than private brands.
52
HA: National Brands will score more on quality related attributes
than private brands.
A two tailed Z-test was applied with the help of excel sheet to prove
this hypothesis.
Z(cal) for the attribute better quality for the sample size of 300,
applied in excel was 1.98 where the standard deviation was 1.40.
Interpretation: As in a two tailed Z-test, the critical area is between -
1.96 to +1.96, therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected and the
alternative hypothesis is accepted since Z(cal) is greater than Z(crit)
and the calculated value of Z for better quality, through excel sheet,
does not fall within this area.
The most important attributes in case of private brands is low
price as 180 respondents out of 300 said that low price is the most
important attribute for them when purchasing private label brands,
50 respondents said it is good value that they look for, followed by
40 respondents who said better quality and 20 of them said store
image and just 10 of them said that they are looking for more
variety of choice while purchasing private label brands.
53
Again, a third hypothesis was formulated to prove that low price is
the most important attribute that people associate with private
brands and the retail outlets, in order to build their brand salience
for private brands, can focus on this particular attribute.
Hypothesis 3:
H0: Private label brands will not score more on pricing attributes
than National brands.
HA: Private label brands will score more on pricing attributes than
National brands.
A two tailed Z-test was applied with the help of excel sheet to prove
this hypothesis.
Z(cal) for the attribute low price for the sample size of 300, applied
in excel was 2.05 where the standard deviation was 1.41.
Interpretation: As in a two tailed Z-test, the critical area is between -
1.96 to +1.96, therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected and the
alternative hypothesis is accepted since Z(cal) is greater than Z(crit)
and the calculated value of Z for low price, through excel sheet,
does not fall within this area.
54
Q7. Recall any five private label brands of the following retail
outlets:
Pantaloons 1.___2.____3.____4.____5.____
Westside 1.___2.____3.____4.____5.____
Shopper’s stop 1.___2.____3.____4.____5.____
Lifestyle 1.___ 2.____3.____4.____5.____
This question was asked to measure brand salience of the private
label brands for these four premium retail outlets. Brand salience
was measured as a percentage of the number of times a brand is
mentioned to the total number of times it could have been
mentioned.
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MEASUREMENT OF BRAND SALIENCE :
Pantaloons: For pantaloons, the responses for 150 female were
340 whereas the total responses that could have been is (150*5) i.e
750. So brand salience for pantaloons among female is calculated to
be 45%. In case of male, out of 150 male where the total brand
recall could have been again, 750(150*5), it was just 330. Thus
brand salience of pantaloons for male stands out to be 44%. The
total brand salience is 44% which was calculated by taking the total
brand recall that was being obtained for the sample size of 300 to
the total brand recall that could have been obtained. i.e.
(670/1500). Age group of 18-25 recorded the highest recall of 270,
followed by the age group of 26-35 which recorded a brand recall of
200 and the age group of above 35 also recorded a brand recall of
200. Therefore salience level was highest among the age group of
18-25 at 54%(270/500), followed by the age group of 26-35 and
above 35, both at 40%(200/500).
Westside: For Westside, the response for 150 female was 300
whereas the total responses that could have been is (150*5) i.e 750.
So brand salience for Westside among female is calculated to be
40%. In case of male, the total brand recall was just 180. Thus brand
salience of Westside for male stands out to be 24%. The total brand
salience for Westside is32% which was calculated by taking the total
brand recall that was being obtained for the sample size of 300 to
the total brand recall that could have been obtained. i.e.
(480/1500). Among the total brand recall of 480 the age group of
18-25 recorded a recall of 180 and the salience level is calculated to
be 36% (180/500), age group of 25-35 recorded a brand recall of
170 and the salience level is 34% (170/500), and above 35 recorded
a brand recall of 26%(130/500).
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Shoppers Stop: For Shopper’s Stop, the responses for 150 female
was 240 whereas the total responses that could have been is
(150*5) i.e 750. So brand salience for shoppers stop among female
is calculated to be 32%. In case of male, the total brand recall was
just 190. Thus brand salience of shoppers stop for male stands out
to be 25%. The total brand salience for shoppers stop is28% which
was calculated by taking the total brand recall that was being
obtained for the sample size of 300 to the total brand recall that
could have been obtained. i.e. (430/1500). Among the total brand
recall of 430 the age group of 18-25 recorded a recall of 160 and the
salience level is calculated to be 32% (160/500), age group of 25-35
recorded a brand recall of 140 and the salience level is
28%(140/500), and above 35 recorded a brand recall of
26%(130/500).
Lifestyle: For Lifestyle, the response for 150 female was 120
whereas the total responses that could have been is (150*5) i.e 750.
So brand salience for lifestyle among female is calculated to be
16%. In case of male, the total brand recall was just 70. Thus brand
salience of shoppers stop for male stands out to be 9%. The total
brand salience for lifestyle is 12% which was calculated by taking
the total brand recall that was being obtained for the sample size of
300 to the total brand recall that could have been obtained.
i.e(190/1500). Among the total brand recall of 190 the age group of
18-25 recorded a recall of 70 and the salience level is calculated to
be 14% (70/500), age group of 25-35 recorded a brand recall of 70
and the salience level is 14%(70/500), and above 35 recorded a
brand recall of 10%(50/500).
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CONCLUSION :
The brand salience of pantaloons is highest at 44%, followed by
Westside which recorded a brand salience of 32%, followed by
shoppers stop at 28% and lifestyle at 12%.
In case of all the four retail outlets, females recorded a higher level
of brand recall and hence higher brand salience than men.
Moreover, on the basis of age, the age group of 18-25 recorded a
higher level of brand recall and hence brand salience for all the
premium retail outlets as compared to the other age groups.
Respondents, in some of the cases, misunderstand the retail outlets
itself as brands. So it is important for the retail outlets to create
brand salience of their private labels by focusing more on low price
and value related attributes as it was found out from the research.
Low price, better offers and value related attributes can draw in
more customers to the stores as they associate the private label
brands with these three attributes. It will create brand awareness
among them and once brand awareness is created, it will
automatically increase brand recall and hence a higher degree of
brand salience.
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ANNEXURE
Questionnaire
1. Are you aware of the private label brands in apparels?
Yes No
2. Do you purchase apparels of private label brands?
Yes No
3. For which of the following attributes will you prefer private label
brands over branded products?
Low Price Better Quality Better offers
Store image Any other, pls specify _______
4. What influences you to buy branded apparels over private label
brands?
Competitive pricing marketing communications
Better quality more variety brand image
Any other, pls specify_____
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5. Rank the following attributes with respect to private label brands
and national brands separately. (Rank1 for the best and 5 for the
worst)
Private label brands National
brands
Low price
Good value
Better quality
Variety of choice
Better Store image
6. Write down 5 main brands in the market with respect to apparels:
1._________ 2._________ 3.__________ 4.__________ 5.__________
7. Recall any 5 private label brands of the following retail outlets:
Pantaloons : 1._______ 2.________ 3________ 4._________5._______
Westside : 1._______ 2.________ 3________ 4._________5._______
Shoppers Stop: 1._______ 2.________ 3________ 4._________5._______
Lifestyle : 1._______ 2.________ 3________ 4._________5._______
8. Does your choice depend on the store image of the brand?
Yes No
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Personal Information:
Name: Gender:
Age : Monthly
Income:
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REFERENCES:
[1] www.privatelabel-india.com
www.fibre2fashion.com
www.bcognizance.iiita.ac.in
[2] www.mywestside.com
[3] www.icmrindia.org
www.westsidemedia.com
www.spectator.co.uk
[4] www.pantaloon.com
www.hotfrog.in
www.futuregenerali.in
[5] www.shopperstop.com
www.domain-b.com
www.indiaretailbiz.com
[6] www.lifestylestores.com
[7] www.globus.in
BOOKS:
Strategic Brand Management - Kevin Lane Keller
Retailing Management – Swapna Pradhan
Research Methodology - C.K. Kothari
Marketing Management - Philip Kotler
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