MIP – SUMMER PROJECT REPORT

D E L L E XC L U S I V E STO R E E XPA N S I O N &

EFFICIENCY

D E L L I N T E R N AT I O N A L S E RV I C E S I N D I A P V T LT D

Industry Guide: Mr Devendra Sawlani

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the Post Graduate Programme in Management at

TAPMI, Manipal by:

Name: Anit Lahoty

Roll No: 15F309

Batch: 2015-17

Date: 13th July 2016

TAP MI , MANI PAL , KAR N ATA K A - 5 7 6 1 0 4

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
These enriching two months at Dell International Services India Pvt. Ltd, Bangalore
would not have so fruitful had it not been the support and contribution of some people.
I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to my mentor, Mr. Dushyant Gupta
Program Manager - Business Transformation (Dell India, Sales) as well as Mr.
Krishnakumar P. – Vice President and General Manager Consumer & Small Business at
Dell India Private Limited, who gave me the golden opportunity to do this wonderful
project on the topic- Dell Exclusive Store Expansion and Efficiency, which also helped
me in doing a lot of Research and I came to know about so many new things. I am really
thankful to them.

I would also like to thank the project lead, Mr. Devendra Sawlani, who guided me
patiently throughout the course of the project and taught me so much about the
technicality of the project. This project would not have been successful without his
constant support and guidance.

I would also like to express my sincere thanks to the entire Operations and Marketing
team who were there to support me at every stage and helped me out whenever I had a
problem or doubt.

Lastly, Sincere thanks to the Management and the HR Department of Dell International
Services India Pvt. Ltd, Bangalore for organizing the whole process so beautifully and for
giving me the opportunity to intern at Dell.

The entire course of the internship was a wonderful experience for me and I look forward
to work with Dell in the near future.

Place: Bangalore
Anit Lahoty
Date: 13th July 2016 PGDM 2015-2017
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
DELL EXCLUSIVE STORE EXPANSION AND EFFICIENCY – DELL,
BANGALORE

Dell International Services India Pvt. Ltd,Bangalore

The Dell exclusive store (DES) was a step towards enhancing the overall purchase
experience for consumers in India. Dell has rapidly increased its presence in the
consumer market with new products and by expanding its reach. With the launch of Dell
exclusive stores, it offered its customers the touch and feel for Dell branded products
within a unique shopping experience. It was planned to attract young customers,
especially students, to the personal computer (PC) and notebook market. That is where
Dell is working on increasing their presence through brand stores and educating more
people to get the support of computers.
Dell currently have 627 stores across India and a target of expanding it to 825 stores till
next financial year. This project involved choosing the strategy and apt location for the
next Dell Exclusive Stores in Bangalore.

The objectives of the project were:

To locate the areas for expansion of Dell Exclusive Stores and to check the
efficiency of the existing Stores:
 To locate areas for expansion of Dell Exclusive Stores
 To keep a check on the store hygiene by conducting mystery audits of DES
 To compare quality of the Large Format Retail stores’ (LFR) hygiene to that with
the Dell Exclusive Store’s hygiene and to identify opportunity areas.

The first objective was met by doing channel mapping. For the purpose I visited various
different locations and markets in Bangalore where a new store can be opened. Located
each and every store which sells laptops including Exclusive stores, Large Format
Retails and Multi Brand Outlets. Also found out how many units of laptops per month
each store sells. Also, pointed out competitor’s exclusive stores in various markets
where Dell stores are not present.

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The second and third objectives were met by doing mystery shopper audit of the stores.
To solve the purpose 15 Dell Exclusive Stores, 10 Croma stores and 9 Reliance Digital
stores in different areas across Bangalore. For conducting this audit 26 criteria’s were
set for Dell Exclusive Stores and 23 criteria’s were set for the Large Format Retails.
The Major Findings of the projects are:
 Area’s that require a new Store: Marathalli & Whitefield (Bangalore).
 In Store Promoters (ISP) in DES need to demonstrate product features through
apps.
 A Scope for improvement in Upselling Skills of ISPs.
 There is a need of more customer engagement on High end Laptops( XPS and
Alienware).
 There is a need for appointing more Dell in store promoters in LFRs.
 High end laptops (Alienware & XPS) not in display for customers in LFRs.
 Relevant brochures were unavailable in almost all the LFRs.

Few Recommendations are as follows:

 More focus on training related to highlighting products with Demo through apps
should be given to ISP’s in DES.
 HD videos and demo apps should be pre downloaded and installed in all the
demo units available and should be shown to the customer every time in DES.
 ISP’s in DES should be trained such that they focus more on upselling laptop,
accessories & services.
 Incentives should be given to the ISP’s in DES on selling accessories/services so
as to motivate them leading to increase in sales.
 At least ‘1 HD game’ (gaming content) should be installed in each of the
‘Alienware’ demo units in DES.
 XPS 13 vs. Macbook
Comparison between the both should be displayed in DES either in the form of a
video, brochure or chart.
 Dell should appoint more of their In store promoters at LFRs (with high volume
sales)
 The in store promoter appointed in LFR should be Dell trained to promote our
laptops to the maximum.
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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

DES - Dell Exclusive Store

LFR - Large Format Retail

ISP - In Store Promoter

MBO - Multi Brand Outlet

HD - High Definition

TAM - Total Addressable Market

HP - Hewlett Packard

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………………................................................1
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY………………………………………………………………….….2
LIST OF ABBREVIATION.………………………………………………............................4
INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………….………......6
PROJECT OBJECTIVES………………………………………………………….……....…8
SCOPE……………………………………………………………………………….………...8
METHODOLOGY…………………………………………………………………….………..8
ANALYSIS……………………………………………………………………………….……10
Total Addressable Market……………………………………………………………….…..11
Suggested Locations for Dell exclusive Store Expansion …………………………....12
Dell Exclusive Store (DES) Audit *………………………………………………………….13
Large Format Retail (LFR) Audit *…………………………………………………………..15
Comparison between DES and LFR………………………………………………………..17
Demo units for display in LFRs……………………………………………………………...19
Brand recommended by ISPs in LFRs……………………………………………………..20
LIMITATIONS…………………………………………………………………………………21
CONCLUSIONS………………………………………………………………………………22
APPENDIX…………………………………………………………………………………….24
REFERENCE………………………………………………………………………………….29

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INTRODUCTION

Dell International Services is a well-known end to end solutions provider in the field of all
IT hardware. Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data storage devices,
network switches, software, computer peripherals, HDTVs, cameras, printers, MP3
players, and electronics built by other manufacturers. The company is well known for its
innovations in supply chain management and electronic commerce, particularly its direct-
sales model and its "build-to-order" or "configure to order" approach to manufacturing—
delivering individual PCs configured to customer specifications. Dell was a pure
hardware vendor for much of its existence, but with the acquisition in 2009 of Perot
Systems, Dell entered the market for IT services. The company has since made
additional acquisitions in storage and networking systems, with the aim of expanding
their portfolio from offering computers only to delivering complete solutions for enterprise
customers.

Dell was founded by Michael Dell, who started selling personal computers out of his
dorm room as a freshman at the University of Texas in Austin. Dell bought parts
wholesale, assembled them into clones of IBM computers, and sold them by mail order
to customers who did not want to pay the higher prices charged by computer stores. The
scheme was an instant success. He was soon grossing $80,000 a month, and in 1984
he dropped out of school to found Dell Computer.

Dell strives to provide a smooth experience to all of those who wish to purchase its
goods. When it comes to laptop selling Dell has divided potential customers to three
categories with massively different requirements in order to provide with a better
experience to all kinds of buyers. These three categories are: Consumers, commercial
customers and channel partner. Commercial customers and channel partners are out of
scope of this report.

Dell has tried to connect directly to its customers. Dell laptops can be configured and
bought directly from its official website dell.com. Dell also has a store chain labelled ‘Dell
Exclusive stores’ which not only sell laptops but also PCs, laptop accessories, etc.

The Dell exclusive store (DES) was a step towards enhancing the overall purchase
experience for consumers in India. Dell has rapidly increased its presence in the
consumer market with new products and by expanding its reach. With the launch of Dell
exclusive stores, it offered its customers the touch and feel for Dell branded products
6 | Dell International Services India Pvt. Ltd
within a unique shopping experience. It was planned to attract young customers,
especially students, to the personal computer (PC) and notebook market. That is where
Dell is working on increasing their presence through brand stores and educating more
people to get the support of computers.

Dell currently have 627 stores across India and a target of expanding it to 825 stores till
next financial year.

This project involved choosing the strategy and apt location for the next Dell Exclusive
Stores in Bangalore and also to check the efficiency and hygiene of the existing stores.

7 | Dell International Services India Pvt. Ltd

PROJECT OBJECTIVES
The objectives of the project were:
To locate the areas for expansion of Dell Exclusive Stores and to check the
efficiency of the existing Stores:

 To locate areas for expansion of Dell Exclusive Stores

 To keep a check on the store hygiene by conducting mystery audits of DES
 To compare quality of the Large Format Retail stores’ (LFR) hygiene to that with
the Dell Exclusive Store’s hygiene and to identify opportunity areas.

SCOPE
 The Scope is limited to Bangalore region.
 The comparison of hygiene is done between Dell exclusive Stores Vs. Reliance
digital and Croma Stores across Bangalore. No other LFRs are included in the
study.

METHODOLOGY
 Channel mapping :

Visited various areas in Bangalore and located all the stores that sells laptops
including Exclusive Stores, Multi Brand Outlets and Large Format Retail stores.
Also, went into each store and talked to the store owner/ manager about the
number of units which they sell every month. Also, pointed out competitor’s
exclusive stores in various markets where Dell stores are not present.

This helped in calculating the total addressable market and the market potential
of the area according to which we made the decision whether a new store can be
opened in that area or not.

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  Mystery Audit :

Visited all the 15 Dell Exclusive Stores in Bangalore and conducted mystery audit
for all the stores. This helped in identifying the quality of the In Store Promoters
and to keep a check over them that they are following all the rules and
regulations set by the organization.

Also conducted mystery audit for 9 Reliance Digital and 10 Croma Stores across
Bangalore to check the hygiene of the stores and to compare them with the Dell
Exclusive Stores

For conducting this audit 26 criteria’s were set for Dell Exclusive Stores and 23
criteria’s were set for the Large Format Retails.

 Dell Exclusive Store Expansion:

Recommendations were given on the basis of channel mapping and mystery

audits regarding opening of the new stores and improving the hygiene of the Dell
Exclusive stores. Also recommendations were given in order to increase the
sales of Dell Laptops through Large Format Retail Stores.

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ANALYSIS

STORES IN VARIOUS AREAS ACROSS BANGALORE:

Total Stores Visited = 118

The above graph give the details of the number of the stores and the type of stores
(Exclusive, MBO or LFR) that sells laptops, present in various areas that I visited across
Bangalore.

Out of all the locations there is no Dell Exclusive Store present in Marathalli and
Whitefield. In Marathalli and Whitefield all the major LFRs i.e. Reliance Digital, Croma,
Pai International, E-zone, Girias etc are present. Also in Marathalli Lenovo exclusive
Store is present which is a major competitor for Dell.

In all the other locations there is a Dell Exclusive Store present. In SP Road there are
two Dell Exclusive Stores present. The main reason of the presence of two stores in a
close proximity is the high potential of the market, since SP Road is the major hub of the
laptop sellers.

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TOTAL ADDRESSABLE MARKET

No. of Dell
Total Units No. of
Exclusive
Areas sold per stores in
Stores
Month the area
Present

Koramangala 1062 17 1

Rajaji Nagar 765 17 1

Malleshwaram 677 11 1

Indira Nagar 415 7 1

Whitefield 400 13 0

Marathalli 334 16 0

Mantri Mall 233 5 0

HSR 149 8 1

Sahakar
98 4 1
Nagar

Total 4133 98

Total addressable market (TAM), also called total available market, is a term that is
typically used to reference the revenue opportunity available for a product or service.

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SUGGESTED LOCATIONS FOR DELL EXCLUSIVE STORE EXPANSION

 Marathalli (1 Store) - ‘Outer Ring Road, Munnenakolalu Village ’ or ‘Varthur

Main Road, Marathahalli’

Rationale:

 Total addressable market currently is approx. 334 units per month

 All the other exclusive stores, big MBO’s and LFR’s are located on the
same street
 No Dell Exclusive stores in about 10 KM range
 The presence of a large number of Tech parks in the area makes it highly
potential area
 Lenovo Exclusive Store present in this area, No HP World.

 Whitefield ( 1 Store) - ‘Phoenix Mall’, ‘VR Mall’ or ‘Whitefield Road, Opp. HPCL,
Singayyanapalya, Mahadevapura’

Rationale:

 Total addressable market currently is approx. 400 units per month

 All the LFR’s are located in the mall
 High potential area as a lot of large residential societies and corporate
crowd with high disposable income are present.
 No Dell Exclusive stores in about 15 KM range
 Limitations: No MBOs are present in this area.
 Opening a store in a Mall involves huge Investments.
 No competitor’s Exclusive Stores present in this area.

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DELL EXCLUSIVE STORE (DES) AUDIT *

Call Outs:

Favorable:

• Successful in displaying of accessories

• All the variants of laptops were in display in almost all the stores
• ISPs have good technical knowledge and are able to deliver it to customers

Unfavorable:

• The 3 stores which are located at: Jaya Nagar, HSR and Sahakaar Nagar lack in
overall when compared to other stores.

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The above data is for the 15* Dell Exclusive Stores in Bangalore. The data is collected
by conducting mystery audits of the stores. For doing mystery audit I with the help of my
mentor designed a questionnaire (attached in appendix) consisting of 26 different
questions. The mystery audit was conducted for two main reasons, one to keep a check
over the quality of the In Store Promoters in DES and other to make sure that all the
DES maintain same hygiene so as to give customer same experience in every store
irrespective of the area he visit.
Different weightage was assigned to different questions based on the necessity of the
criteria.
Any score below 90 % is unfavourable.

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LARGE FORMAT RETAIL (LFR) AUDIT *

Call Outs:

Favorable:

• Effective in store promoters, influencing customer’s decision making

• Effective upselling, recommending MS Office with every laptop
• Suggesting customers to buy extended warranty

Unfavorable:

• The 2 stores which are : Reliance Digital ,JP Nagar and Reliance Digital,
Kalyan Nagar lack in overall hygiene when compared to other stores

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The above data is for the 10* Croma Stores and 9* Reliance Digital Stores in Bangalore.
The data is collected by conducting mystery audits of the stores. For doing mystery audit
I with the help of my mentor designed a questionnaire (attached in appendix) consisting
of 23 different questions. The mystery audit was conducted to compare the hygiene of
LFRs and DES and to compare quality of the Large Format Retail stores’ (LFR) hygiene
to that with the Dell Exclusive Store’s hygiene and to identify opportunity areas.

Different weightage was assigned to different questions based on the necessity of the
criteria. Any score below 90 % is unfavourable.

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COMPARISON BETWEEN DES AND LFR

Criteria DES LFR

DES better than LFR

Store Signage 100.0% 97.4%
Relevant Brochures 80.0% 0.0% 4
Laptops switched on 86.7% NA
Demo placement of Tulip
Series 86.7% NA
DES at par LFR
Area in Front of Façade 100.0% 100.0%
Customer Call outs 100.0% 100.0%
Enquiry for Customer
needs 100.0% 100.0%
Accessories on Display 100.0% 100.0% 1
Condition of Branding
Materials 100.0% 100.0%
Condition of Furniture 100.0% 100.0%
Condition of Customer
sitting area 100.0% 100.0%
DES lagging LFR
Sales rep's grooming 96.7% 100.0%
Greeting Customers 80.0% 100.0%
Uniqueness of the Brand 80.0% 100.0%
Demo through apps 66.7% 100.0% 3
Upselling accessories/
Services 53.3% 100.0% 2
Condition of AC 86.7% 94.7%
All lights in use during
working hours 90.0% 97.4%
Thanking Customers 93.3% 100.0%

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Call Outs:

Favorable:

1. All Dell Exclusive Stores are successful in displaying of accessories at par with LFR’s

Unfavorable:

2. Upselling is much better in LFRs (MS-Office and Warranties)

3. In Store Promoters in DES lack in highlighting product qualities with Demo through
apps
4. No relevant brochures are available in LFR’s for any brand including Dell

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DEMO UNITS FOR DISPLAY IN LFRS

Call Outs:

• Dell High end laptops (Alienware and XPS) are displayed only at 2 stores among
LFRs.
• Only 2 stores have Desktops on Display
• All the LFRs are stocked with all the HP models that are available in the market.
• Envy 13, which is a high end model from HP was placed on a separate platform
at a height, and thus catching the attention of the customers.

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BRAND RECOMMENDED BY ISPS IN LFRS

No. of stores
No. of
which
Brand Stores Percentage
recommended
Visited
the brand
Dell 3 19 15.7%
HP 13 19 68.4%
Lenovo 1 19 5.3%
Indifferent 1 19 5.3%
Others 1 19 5.3%

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Call outs:

• In store promoters in LFRs focus on HP brand of laptops which results in

increased sales of HP laptops
• HP In Store Promoters are present in almost every store whereas Dell sales rep
are present only in a few stores
• In Store Promoters get more incentives on selling HP laptops than on selling Dell
laptops

LIMITATIONS

 The main requirements to open a store are sales potential of the area, Location
of the store, rent of the store etc. Some stores can’t be opened in a particular
desired area due to unavailability of any one of the requirement

 The credibility of the monthly sales data of laptops collected from the store as it
was collected from the store owners/managers by verbal communication

 The Dell laptops stock kept in the Croma stores is owned by Dell whereas for all
other brands is owned by the Croma store itself, which may also affect sales of
Dell laptops

 The scope of the study was focused only on Bangalore

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CONCLUSIONS

 Area’s that require a new Store: Marathalli & Whitefield (Bangalore)

 Need to demonstrate product features through apps in Dell Exclusive Stores

o More focus on training related to highlighting products with Demo through
apps should be given to In Store Promoters

o HD videos and demo apps should be pre downloaded and installed in all
the demo units available and should be shown to the customer every time

 Scope for improvement in Upselling Skills of ISP’s in Dell Exclusive Store

o ISP’s should be trained such that they focus more on upselling laptop,
accessories & services

o Incentives should be given to the ISP’s on selling accessories/services so

as to motivate them leading to increase in sales

 Need of more customer engagement on High end Laptops

o At least ‘1 HD game’ (gaming content) should be installed in each of the
‘Alienware’ demo units

o XPS 13 vs. MacBook

Comparison between the both should be displayed in DES either in the
form of a video, brochure or chart

 Need for appointing more Dell in store promoters in LFRs

o Dell should appoint more of their In Store Promoters at LFRs (with high
volume sales)

o The In Store Promoter appointed in LFR should be Dell trained to

promote our laptops to the maximum

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  High end laptops (Alienware & XPS) should be displayed in the LFRs as to
create awareness among customers and increase sales

 Relevant brochures should be supplied to all the LFRs frequently

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APPENDIX

Total Addressable Market (Area Wise), Bangalore

Rajaji Nagar

Mantri Mall

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Whitefield

Marathalli

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Sahakaar Nagar

Kormangala

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Indira Nagar

HSR

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Malleshwaram

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REFERENCE

About the Company. Retrieved from Dell International Website

http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/uscorp1/corp-comm

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