PHASE I

Consumer Behaviour: Meena Bazaar

MEENA BAZAAR
About the Brand Meena Bazaar is a 40 year old Delhi (India) based Premier Ethnic Indian clothing for womenbrand which stocks various fabrics and garments. Huge varities in silk, crepe, cotton, embroidery, brocades, handlooms are available at the stores. They offer traditional clothing with attractive colors, designs, embroideries and fabrics. With its roots in New Delhi, it has retail outlets in major markets of India, and is rapidly opening stores in other cities. With a firm hold in the retail sector, Meena Bazaar is well known for its exquisite collection of Sarees, Suits, Suit Pieces, Lehngas & Kurtis. The fabric is bought from abroad, however, all the designing and stitching is dome in-house.With its belief in providing the consumer with The Best Range andThe Best Price, Meena Bazaar is on the road of rapid growth.

Stores Meena Bazaar has 11 stores spread across Delhi. The rest of the stores in India are located in UttaPradesh,Haryana, Madhya Pradesh,Chattisgarh,Bihar,Rajasthan, Punjab and Uttrakhand.The brand has its reach to international markets of USA Washington,USA Californial,USA Shouth Hall and Hong Kong.

Store Location Meena Bazaar is centrally located in South Extension (part II) market. Its neighbouring stores, which mainly provide similar products, are Rabhya (Sarees& Suits), Greenways (Sarees& Suits), Gujral Sons (Fabrics & Stitching), Ahujasons (Shawls, Stoles & Scarves), RoopSarees and Rang De BasantiDhaba (North Indian Restaurant). This market is famous for Ethnic/Indian wear, further adding to the stores advantages. But since there are a large number of stores offering similar products (Sarees& Suits), the competition in the market is intense. About the Store (Meena Bazaar, South Ex Part II) The South Extension Part II branch of Meena Bazaar is more than 25 years old, being one of the oldest saree stores in the market. The store caters to all kind of

customers, i.e. the middle class and the upper class. It has a variety of sarees (daily wear, party wear and bridal collection) ranging from Rs.5,000 to Rs.1.5 lakhs.

The store is open 7 days a week from 10:00 AM to 08:30 PM. The maximum footfall at the store is usually between 02:30 PM to 06:00 PM.

With respect to the saree sales of the store, on the weekdays, an average of about 40 ladies visit the store with approximately 10 actually purchasing. The footfall and the sales on weekends is higher. Around 60 customers visit the store on weekends with 25 30 ending up buying sarees. This implies that not only the footfall on the weekend is higher but is also more productive. It is only 25% of the customers who finally purchase on weekdays as compared to about 50% purchasing on weekends.

Store Personnel

1 Store Manager

1 Cashier

7 Sales Persons

10 Stock Persons

The store personnel comprise of 1 store manager, who oversees the working of the store. He also participates in the regular sales of the store (speaking to the customers, understanding their requirements and guiding the sales personnel). 7 sales persons, placed behind the counters across the store, are responsible for the sales. Each sales person has detailed and complete knowledge about all the products (there is no particular sales person dedicated to one kind of product). This leads to an increase in the efficiency with which the store operates and services its customers.

The sales staff is quiet approachable and helpful to the customers enquires and requirements. At the same time, they are trained not to nag or consistently follow the customers. This ensures that the customer chooses only what he like and no product

is forced upon them. The motive of this is to bring in customer loyalty with customers being given ample time and opportunity to make informed purchases. The stocks persons are not actively engaged in sales but are responsible for the backend job of maintaining the stock of items (each design and quantity), folding the clothes etc.

Sales and Promotions

All the apparels have a Maximum Retail Price (MRP) displayed with them. Sales are held twice a year at meena bazaar in the months of April-May and October-November. No brochures are offered by the salespersons. Facility of online shopping and free delivery in India can be availed at the website www.meenabazaar.org . Meena Bazaar has a Bonanza Card Membership through which their premium customers are notified about the new collection and any promotional offers. Online promotions are through their facebook page which showcases the latest arrivals and latest news about the brand.The page shows the stylish and rich collection of high quality Indian designer sarees, embroidery suits, lehengas etc.

Gift vouchers are awarded to customers through online contests on facebook alongwith the polls which are conducted to know more about the customers preferences.

Store layout Store Area: The total store area is 800 1000 sq feet. Compared to its competitors the store area is relatively smaller.

Product placement: The store primarily deals in Sarees and Kurtis each of which are on display in different sections. In Sarees, there are separate counters and display sections according to the price of the sarees.

Space utilization: The walking space is low and the movement of the consumers is quite restricted. The store gets highly congested in case theres a heavy traffic ( 30 35 customers) because of a single point of entry and exit and low store area.

Store appearance: The store has a feel good factor associated with it. The interiors are well decorated and furnished.

Understanding

Our understandings from the visit to the store are as follows: 1) The sales persons are very polite and soft spoken. 2) There is sufficient number of sales persons to serve the customers in the shop. 3) The store offers a lot of variety and the sales persons are well educated about the several types of products. 4) The sales persons are not in a hurry to serve other customers while serving a particular customer. We understood that the sales persons try their best to satisfy a customer.