SHOPPER’S STOP LTD.

Positioning strategies adopted by the company for its various stores and its imp
act on brand identity.

Contents
COMPANY BACKGROUND 3
SWOT ANALYSIS 4
MARKETING MIX 5
TARGET GROUP 8
POSITIONING OF THE STORES 9
ADVERTISING & PROMOTIONS 13
LOYALTY PROGRAMS 18
IMPACT OF POSITIONING ON BRAND IDENTITY 20
BIBLIOGRAPHY 22

COMPANY BACKGROUND
Shoppers’ Stop is promoted by the K Raheja Corp Group, one of leading players in r
eal estate development and hotels. Shoppers’ Stop has progressed from being a sing
le brand shop to a family orientated fashion and lifestyle store. Shoppers’ Stop o
perates under the
Departmental store format, and was one of the pioneers of the large format store
s in India. Shoppers’ Stop hass created a new business unit to manage its specialt
y businesses like Crossword, Mother care, F&B business and MAC.
They benchmark with global retailers, and strive to enhance their service offeri
ng in line with the emerging global trends. They began by operating a chain of d
epartment stores under the name “Shoppers’ Stop” in India. Currently they have twenty
four (24) such stores across the country and three (3) stores under the name “Home
Stop”. Over the years, they have also begun operating a number of speciality store
s, namely Crossword, Mothercare, Brio, Desi Café, Arcelia, Stop & Go and MAC. They
are also experimenting with other formats of retailing through their various ve
ntures.

SWOT ANALYSIS

MARKETING MIX
PRODUCT
1. General Products : Shopper’s Stop includes domestic as well as internation
retail articles and products
2. Private Label:Shopper Stop has also launched their own private labels su
ch as STOP.
3. Others : In addition to the above,Shopper Stop also does promotional mar
keting.e.g.They launched ZooZoo range and also other similar products have been
launched. These also form the part of the Product as SS.
Private Labels of Shopper Stop

PLACE
1. Shoppers Stop is Indian largest chain of Super Stores and has many store
s in whole of india
2. Shoppers Stop Ltd. Excels in Service quality and the stores of a high cl
ass feel which is different from Big Bazaar or similar stores.
PROMOTION
1. The communication strategy of Shopper’s Stop has been to reach out to the
customers in their own style and language
2. SS uses print as well as OOH media to promote the brand.The brand uses b
rand ambassadors like Kareena Kapoor to endorse the brand.
3. The private label STOP is promoted in store through logo and proper plac
ement in the store adjoing similar national brands
4. Associates itself with Local festivals and events
PRICING
• SS has a proper mix of both premium and affordable priced products.The brands ar
e sold at MRP and lower. The main USP is the choice given to the customer rather
than the Price.

Various Pricing Strategies used by Shopper’s Stop are as below:

1. Premium Pricing
2. Economy Pricing
3. Psychological Pricing
4. Optional Product Pricing
5. Promotional Pricing
6. Geographical Pricing
7. Value Pricing

TARGET GROUP
Shopper Stop mainly divides its customers on the basis of 2 main variables
1) Geographic and Demographics : Age,Gender,Income on the basis of geograph
y
2) Psychographics(or behavioral)

Shopper Stop is present in many cities across India so it has to modify itself a
ccording to the geography. Geographical segmentation is very important for SS.
SS mainly targets people with high disposable incomes in Tier 1 Cities like Mumb
ai,Delhi etc.
Within Mumbai also their stores are in areas like Juhu,Nirmal Lifestyle Mulund.T
he malls and places which are considered to be high class,modern and upmarket.
On basis of Psychographics, the SS targets people who want a choice of good clot
hing and products which are branded, high quality and in the upper price range.

POSITIONING OF THE STORES

Shoppers’ Stop
Shopper’s Stop is the flagship business of departmental stores. They retail a rang
e of branded apparel, footwear, perfumes, cosmetics, jewellery, leather products
, accessories, home products, electronics, books, music and toys in their stores
. They also retail their own private label apparel, footwear, fashion jewellery,
leather products, accessories and home products. These are complemented by cafe
, food, entertainment, personal care and various beauty related services. Promot
ions and events are an integral part of their service
offering to their customer, which helps them to create a unique shopping experie
nce. They retail products of domestic and international brands such as Louis Phi
lippe, Pepe, Arrow, BIBA, Gini & Jony, Carbon, Corelle, Magppie, Nike, Reebok, L
EGO, and Mattel among others, through their stores. They retail merchandise unde
r their own labels, such as STOP, Kashish, LIFE and Vettorio Fratini, Elliza Don
atein, Haute Curry, I Jeanswear, Insense, Mario Zegnoti, Acropolis and Indi-Visu
al. Their designer section show cases some of India’s prominent fashion designers
(Ritu Kumar, Satya Paul and LABEL), retailing affordable designer wear. They are
also licensees for Austin Reed (London), an international brand, who’s mens’ and wo
mens’ outerwear are retailed in India exclusively through their chain.
Crossword
Crossword is a speciality store in the leisure bookstore category. The store foc
uses on methodical classification, clear signages, and dedicated enquiry/order d
esks. There are cafes, reading tables and stores within the store to enhance the
customer experience. The product mix consists of books, magazines, CDROMs, musi
c, stationery and toys. Forty eight (48) Crossword stores are currently being op
erated, out of which twenty six (26) stores (including 10 shops in shops) are ru
n by the Company and twenty two (22) are run by external franchisees

HomeStop
HomeStop is a format which retails hard and soft furnishing and home accessories
. Their offerings through HomeStop ranges from hard furnishing such as home furn
iture, modular kitchens, health equipment and recliners, and soft furnishing suc
h as mattresses, draperies, carpets and home accessories such as decorative acce
ssories, kitchen accessories and appliances,. They are currently three (3) HomeS
top, one each in Mumbai, Bangalore and New Delhi.
Brio and Desi Café (F & B)
Their foray into Food and Beverages (“F & B”) began with Brio. Brio has been designe
d with the intention of providing a warm and friendly place to relax, revive and
reflect. It currently operates twenty (20) Brio stores. They have started an In
dian cuisine concept under the name of Desi Café as another concept to add to the
food and beverages offerings. It currently operates three (3) Desi Café stores in
Mumbai, Lucknow and
Rajouri.

Hypercity
They have a 19% stake in Hyper city Retail (India) Limited, which operates the s
tore named “HyperCity”. The store, having an area of approximately 124,500 square fe
et offers food and grocery, general merchandise and apparel. Currently, there is
one HyperCity store in operation.
Hypercity Retail (India) Limited has also opened three (3) stores called ‘ExpressC
ity’ in Jaipur and one (1) store in Thane, to experiment with smaller versions of
the format. ExpressCity is a retail format which is similar to a convenience sto
re format primarily retailing food, grocery and household needs
Their growth strategy is based on increasing the reach and penetration across th
e country by opening new stores and through multiple retailing channels and form
ats, and furthering Shoppers’ Stop as an experiential retail brand through unique
national and international products. They also look at enhancing their merchandi
se width by adding new product categories and services, and strengthen their off
erings by adding new brands and private labels to offer a better depth in each c
ategory.
They also endeavour to enhance their base of loyal customers through the First C
itizen Programme. They believe that as they grow in size and scale and expand th
e reach further, their current economies of scale would be further enhanced. The
y also continue to focus on at enhancing their operational efficiencies and huma
n capital, which is critical in any service driven industry such as retail. They
are also investing in other formats by way of joint ventures, licenses and fran
chisee arrangements. The following are the initiatives under such arrangements:
M.A.C.
They have opened M.A.C. stores under a Supply and License Agreement with the cos
metics major Estee Lauder. Currently it is operating four (4) MAC store in Mumba
i, Bangalore and Delhi.
Arcelia
Arcelia is a new retail concept aiming at the bridge to luxury segment, with a s
trong emphasis on experience and indulgence and is primarily caters to discernin
g women shoppers. It primarily retails cosmetics, fragrances, fine jewellery, fo
otwear, handbags etc. They currently have two (2) stores operational in Delhi an
d Pune.
Mothercare
Under an exclusive franchisee arrangement by virtue of a Development Agreement w
ith Mothercare UK Limited, they have opened Mothercare stores, which market a va
riety of products for expecting mothers, babies, toddlers and children, the focu
s being on style, function and safety. It currently operates eighteen (18) Mothe
rcare stores; out of which ten (10) are shop in shop and eight (8) are standalon
e stores.
Nuance Group
They have forayed into airport retailing through our joint venture with The Nuan
ce Group AG, Switzerland. They will handle the retail operations in the domestic
terminals while the joint venture company will handle the operations at the dut
y free zones in international terminals. The joint venture company, called Nuanc
e Group (India) Private Limited, has already bagged contracts to operate outlets
at the international airports at Bangalore and Hyderabad.

Timezone
Timezone marks their foray into entertainment retail. They have acquired a 45% s
take in Timezone Entertainment Private Limited which is in the business of provi
ding family entertainment centres. It currently operates six (6) outlets in Mumb
ai, Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Hyderabad.
HyperCity-Argos
They have ventured into new formats of retailing, namely catalogue stores, call
and collect stores, internet retail website and telephone orders through their s
ubsidiary, Gateway Multichannel Retail (India) Limited under the name of ‘HyperCit
y-Argos’. Currently operating five (5) stores at Thane.

ADVERTISING & PROMOTIONS

Advertising strategy is based on creating a bond with the customer and enhancing
their trust in Shoppers’ Stop. Advertisements thus promote the Shoppers’ Stop brand
and not the merchandise, store or the property location. They extensively use p
romotions and events to further their relationship with the customers. They have
a central marketing team at service office in Mumbai, supported by representati
ves at their stores.
Advertising
Being in the retailing business, Shoppers Stop has been a pioneer - and that s n
ot just a juicy compliment. They were the the first in India (since 1991), they
have a fruitful IT setup, and they have constantly expanded their product line,
encouraging even unconventional tie-ups like Om Shanti Om movie clothing line. T
hey have also pioneered in developing their B2B sourcing technique. Some online
interviews revealed that they intend to rapidly expand to over 50 stores in 2 ye
ars, from the current strength of 22 in eleven cities.
The original logo now functions as the Raheja group s logo for retail stores. I
was surprised to know about their diverse investments. Apart from Crosswords, th
ey own other speciality store brands including HomeStop, mothercare, Brio and de
sicafe .
Old logo New logo

The Ad Campaign
The current campaign speaks of a logo change and a untenable Start Something Ne
w tagline. Such rebranding campaigns communicate an underlying reason for the c
hange, benefits (if any) to the consumer. This campaign seems to starkly lack th
at.
Here s one of the Print Ads

The management of Shoppers Stop have got strong business acumen. The advertiseme
nt of Shoppers Stop directly relate to their target audience in terms of style,
classy look and wardrobes available. The ad here tries to mix the western influe
nce on the wardrobe collection in terms of style and class, and still tries to c
orrelate with the Indian culture.

Shopper Stop also advertised its product range by being the official wardrobe pa
rtner for various events and parties. Due to uge demand and craze of such fasion
able products, such schemes work out well for Shoppers Stop. For eg people adore
d Deepika Padukone’s style in Love Aaj Kal and they could purchase two of her sign
ature kurta’s from the movie at Shoppers Stop!!!

Promotions
Shoppers’ Stop use promotions as an important part of our marketing tool to reinfo
rce the brand positioning ‘Feel the experience, while you shop’. The promotions are
targeted at enhancing the fun in shopping and providing the customer with a uniq
ue shopping experience and not just on offering discounts and bargains. Their be
lief is to give more for same and not same for less.
The companies plan their annual promotions calendar and carry out these promotio
ns simultaneously across all our stores.
Some of our promotions and events include:
• Parikrama: Festival celebrating Indian tradition and culture, which not only ser
ves to bring the consumers closer to culture, but also provides a platform to pr
omote upcoming artisans from remote and rural areas giving them an opportunity t
o showcase their art and craft at Shoppers’ Stop.
• Fly to Santaland: Customers shopping upto or more than a predetermined value wou
l be eligible to enter a contest and win a holiday to The Santa Village in Finla
nd showcasing apparel and accessories for men with offers ranging from gifts to
trips to international destinations and discounts etc. with every buy that they
make. The event serves to bring men into the stores.
• Wardrobe Exchange: A charity promotion under which customers donate their old ga
rments and accessories and earn discounts on new purchases at Shoppers Stop. Th
e old garments are donated to Concern India Foundation.
• Rims And Dials : A festival which solely focuses on watches and sunglasses
• Do Your Denim : This event is geared towards bringing out the creativity of cust
omers to design their own denim jeans
Besides these, they organized several other festivals such as:
• Disney Carnival, in 1993, with official Disney characters from Disney Inc (Micke
y, Minnie, Donald and Goofy) participating.
• The Tycoon Tie Festival in 1994, in which the largest tie in the world was displ
ayed and featured in the Guinness Book of World Records.
• Festival of Britain, in 1996 in collaboration with the Government of Great Brita
in.
• The Buy and Fly to Seven Wonders of the World, in 2001 which provided customers
an opportunity to win a trip to the Seven Wonders.
They also hold sales at the end of each season (twice a year to mark the end of
each season) wherein they offer a range of discounts on our merchandise. These n
ot only help them clear their inventory, but also bring in larger number of cust
omers into the stores.
First Citizen Programme
Started in April 1994, the First Citizen programme is the center of loyal custom
er management process. We had 971,537 First Citizens as on December 31, 2008. Fi
rst citizens accounted for about 62% of their sales for the year ended March 31,
2008 and 61% of the sales for the nine months ended December 31, 2008. They hav
e three levels in First Citizen membership namely Classic Moments, Silver Edge
and Golden Glow, depending on the spend in our stores:
First Citizens receive:
• Reward points on their spend in our stores, which can be exchanged for merchandi
se
• Special schemes and promotions available only to First Citizens.
• Extended or exclusive shopping hours, especially during festivals
• Invitations to select events and celebrations
• Home delivery of alterations.
• Comfort Lounges at select stores.
It is a tradition to invite First Citizens to inaugurate new stores.
‘First Update’ from Shoppers’ Stop
‘First Update’ is a complimentary bi-monthly magazine sent to Golden Glow First Citi
zens. The articles are written keeping in view the lifestyle preference of the c
ustomer covering various topics such as health, shopping, product specific infor
mation, , fashion trends, new arrivals in store, store updates, contests/offers,
entertainment and travel.

First Citizen Co-branded credit card

They have introduced Co-Branded cards as an extension of the First Citizen progr
amme. They currently offer (subject to fulfillment of conditions) a First Citize
n Citibank –co branded card to First Citizens. This card provides additional point
s over the regular reward points besides other benefits such as free insurance,
offer alerts, EMI schemes, etc. The reward point system allow the member the fle
xibility to earn reward points by shopping at any place of their own choice and
still have them redeemed at Shoppers’ Stop.
LOYALTY PROGRAMS
To enhance the shopping experience of customers and offer the ‘ultimate shopping e
xperience, Shoppers’ Stop started a loyalty program named ‘First citizen’. It is this
emotional connect that they have been able to create with our customers through
their service offering and special promotions that has helped them convert many
of them into loyal customers.
A person can become a First Citizen club member by submitting an application for
m. The club provided membership to the frequent customers in three stages- Class
ic Moments, Silver Edge and Golden Glow. The customer gets reward points every t
ime he shops and these points can later be redeemed for any item in the Shoppers’
Stop store. The First Citizen Program membership also entitles the customer to e
xclusive privileges such as product previews, priority billing and other special
benefits. These benefits are highlighted as under –
They were entitled to various offers at selected departmental stores in other co
untries.
The card holders can also earn a point if they used their cards even at places o
ther than stoppers’ stop.
Accident insurance up to Rs. 20,00,000 for first citizen golden glow Citibank ca
rd holders and Rs. 10,00,000 for first citizen silver edge Citibank card holder
s.
They received invitations to exclusive preview sales, discounts and other promot
ional activities.
All stoppers’ stop outlets across the country featured Citibank financial centres
at which the first citizen card holders could avail of the various services offe
red by Citibank like loan facility for homes and automobiles.
Shoppers’ stop also launched a co-branded card named First Citizen Citibank Maste
r Bank in collaboration with Citibank in 2001. The customer of shoppers’ stop who
joined the First Citizen club would get the First Citizen Citibank Master Bank.
This was the first co-branded card in India. Thus, the First Citizen Citibank
Credit Card truly meant more rewards for the loyal customers of Shoppers Stop.
It also had a loyalty program, called ‘SKIDS’ for children of First Citizen Club mem
bers who were of the age group 4 to 14. This is a program offering members an op
portunity to avail of a variety of special benefits, by amassing points on their
purchases, and it also offers them privileged shopping experiences.
Currently, Shoppers’ Stop has a database of over 4.5 lakh members who contribute t
o a large percentage of the total sales of Shoppers’ Stop. Incidentally, Shoppers’ S
top is the only retailer from India to become a member of the prestigious Interc
ontinental Group of Departmental Stores (IGDS). The IGDS consists of 29 experien
ced retailers from all over the world, which include established stores like Sel
fridges (England), Karstadt (Germany), Shanghai No. 1 (China), Matahari (Indones
ia), Takashimaya (Japan), C K Tang (Singapore), Manor (Switzerland) and Lamcy Pl
aza (Dubai). This membership is restricted to one member organization per countr
y/region.
The Key benefits of a Loyalty Program
The underlying principle of loyalty cards is based on structured marketing effor
ts that reward, and therefore encourage, loyal buying behaviour. The various stu
dies on loyalty behaviour of a consumer towards a particular store and the key b
enefits he derives from any loyalty program are mentioned as under –
If the customers seek the benefits from loyalty programs then he/she tends to ma
ke more utilization of such programs.
His/her number of visit to the particular store increases considerably.
Purchasing decisions of customers under such loyalty programs is confined and th
ey visit the company’s store when the customer wants to purchase certain items whi
ch are sold in the company.
Customers also tend to involve their family members, friends and others in such
programs so that they can also enjoy the benefits of the programs and ultimately
it increases the customer base of the company which runs such loyalty programs.
Since all the time customers get one or more benefits from these programs, so th
ere is inclination in purchasing of products and services from the same company.
Other than financial benefits customer also get the privilege of insurance (in s
ome cases) and make purchase of goods from other stores etc.
Sample Value Table
Monthly Expenses Cost (in Rs.) Reward Points
Shopping at Shopper’s Stop 3,000 120
Restaurant/Entertainment 9,000
Grocery 3,000
Travel 5,000 170
Total for the Month 20,000 190
Full Year 190 * 12 = 2,280
* Every Rs. 100 that First Citizen Citibank Golden Glow Card members spend at Sh
oppers Stop will get them 5 Rewards Points and every Rs. 100 that First Citizen
Citibank Silver Edge Card members spend at Shoppers Stop will get them 4 Rewar
ds Points. Every Rs. 100 that is spent elsewhere will earn them 1 Rewards Point.
IMPACT OF POSITIONING ON BRAND IDENTITY
BRAND IMAGE BRAND IDENTITY BRAND POSITION
How the brand is now perceived How strategists want the brand to be perceived
The part of the brand identity and value proposition to be actively communicated
to a target audience
The postioning used by Shopper Stop has lead to a strong Brand identity formulat
ion and hence stronger Brand Image.
The Shopper Stop has made their positioning in sync with their brand identity th
rough
• Focused on Delivering and Measuring Customer Service
• Training Employees to Deliver Customer Satisfaction
• Offering Trust in Price and Quality versus ‘Mom and Pop’
• Private Label Contribution to be Limited to 25%
• Product Brand Proliferation
This report gives a perspective of Shopper Stop and its various programs with th
eir positioning, advertising and positioning.
Due to the repost and specifically the above points we conclude that the impact
of their strong positioning and positive communication of the brand identity,the
brand image of SS has come out be positive and strong.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. www.shoppersstop.com
2. www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoppers _Stop
3. http://www.indiaretailbiz.com
4. http://www.indianrealtynews.com
5. http://www.retailangle.com

Products
Shoppers Stop retails products of domestic and international brands such as Loui
s Philippe, Pepe, Arrow, BIBA, Gini & Jony, Carbon, Corelle, Magppie, Nike, Reeb
ok, LEGO, and Mattel. Shoppers Stop retails merchandise under its own labels, su
ch as STOP, Kashish, LIFE and Vettorio Fratini, Elliza Donatein, Acropolis etc.
The company also licensees for Austin Reed (London), an international brand, who’s
men s and women s outerwear are retailed in India exclusively through the chain
. In October 2009, Shoppers Stop has bought the license for merchandising Zoozoo
the brand mascot for Vodafone India.
Marketing
In April 2008, Shoppers Stop changed its logo and adopted the mantra "Start Some
thing New" repositioned to bridge to luxury segment and introduced international
brands like CK Jeans, Tommy Hilfiger, FCUK, Mustang, Dior across the stores. Th
e focus of the reposition was on the service, ambience upgradation and customer
connect.
• Connect with Youth
Shoppers Stop connects with the youth audience through adopting the communicatio
n routes relevant to youth, up the fashion quotient through merchandising, and c
reate ambience that connects with the mindset. The brand campaign addresses envi
ronment-related issues in a youthful, tongue-in-cheek manner. Shoppers Stop as a
brand active on social media marketing platforms with Facebook and Twitter to c
onnect with this audience.
• Merchandising
Merchandising opportunities like the launched Zoozoo merchandise and film mercha
ndise with om shanti om and Love Aaj Kal.
• Sensorial experience
Creating an environment conducive to relax in-between shopping introduced Shoppe
rs Stop Radio that plays youthful music and Cafe Coffee Day was given the manage
ment of the Desi Cafe and Brio cafes.
Loyalty program
Shoppers Stop’s has a loyalty program called First Citizen. They also offer a co-b
randed credit card with Citibank for their members.
Customer Rewards:
Shoppers Stop‘s customer loyalty program is called The Fir st Citizen. The
program offers its members an opportunity to collect points and avail
of special benefits. Currently, Shoppers‘ Stop has a database of over 2
.5 lakh members who contribute to near ly 65% of the total sales of Shoppe
rs‘ Stop. They also offer a co-branded cr edit card with Citibank for their
members.