RETAILING MANAGEMENT

Crossword CASE ANALYSIS

ANALYSED BY-

Question 1
Benefit of book reward program Rewards point on purchase Information on instore offers and promotions Online checking of point balance Priority in buying/ordering new release as well as events at the store Free subscription to eWords Exclusive offers Associate membership cards Gift-a-membership

Based on member profile

Most of BRP customer are executive, top & middle management, IT professional(11.08+8.87+8.54= 28.59%), which are busy people. They have time constraint to visit book store. Large number of members were from outside the cities, so there was very little chance that they will come frequently to store. Membership card in present form has no usability for them. Presently This cards are for individuals only. But, It can be given to corporate and educational institutes member and discount on bulk purchase can be given.

Based on member segmentation

As Crossword Tribes which are only 10% of total are bring 48% of sales, But points awarded are flat as 1 point for per 40 Rs purchase. A good strategy can be that customer who are making more purchase should be awarded more. As Crossword climbers( 45%) are major part of BRP customer. CROSSWORD should target these customer to increase their total sales.

Based on image perception

41 percent of BRP customers has expressed desire to increase purchase from CROSSWORD. Which means there may be some constraint like unavailability of time or fixed prices. 80 % of BRP customer said they are loyal to CROSSWORD, which indicates that CROSSWORD has a good image among its member. 56 % BRP customers said that they will recommend CROSSWORD which suggest that CROSSWORD should give points to its member for recommendations.

Difference in opinion between Walk in & BRP Customers

Attributes Merchandise Range and display Overall merchandise range and quality Range of topic/sections Selection of titles within each topic/sections in books in the adult section Selections of authors Range of topic/sections in books in the children section Selection of titles within each topic/sections in books in the children section Selection of authors in children section availabilty of new arrival in books availability of best sellers range of toys available at crossroads range of music available at crossroad range of stat. in CW range of movies available in CW BRP Total Walk in mem 26 25 32 34 36 22*

29 24 31
29 20 22 23 24 21 19 17

29 26 32
28 21 23 24 26 20 19 17

25 13* 24
29 15 20 21 16* 22 21 19

 Out of all the attributes in Merchandize Range & Quality, BRP Customers were more satisfied in overall merchandize range and quality, selection of titles in each topic in childrens section and range of music available. High dissatisfaction is observed from BRP members in range of topics/section, selection of authors and range of toys available. Out of 13 attributes, BRP customers do not seem satisfied in 10 attributes giving a clear indication that there is no improvement in the range and quality of merchandize and they do not find range and quality attractive. This can be a serious threat as the customer who is regular to store, if he is not able to find new range or quality, his loyalty to the store might decrease.

Attributes - sales personnel

Overall quality of the sales personnel Availibility of sales person when you need them Allowing you to browse at your own pace Knowledge of salesperson about the books and other merchandise Politeness and courtesy Friendliness and helpfulness of sales personnel Ability of sales person to respond to queries Speed of the response of sales personnel

BRP Total Walk in Members 32 31 37

40 37 29 35 35 28 27 40 35 29 34 34 28 27 39 48 30* 40 41 27 28

This attribute of Crossword is highly appreciable by both Walk in and BRP members and the overall scores for different parametres is almost equal by Walk in and BRP members. There is a wide gap in the perception of Walk in and BRP members in allowing to browse at own pace, but the overall satisfaction still seems high.

Store Attributes Overall quality of store Adequacy of space in the store to allowbrowsing amongst various sections comfort of air conditioning /temperature in the store Ability to provide adequate lighting in the store to allow for comfertable reading/browsing Seating/book reading space inside the store Seating arrangements to sit and browse through books Ability to provide cheerful and warm ambience of the store Parking arrangements outside the store Location of the store

Total 49 45 35 32 27* 29* 32 18* 28

BRP Walk in Members 47 61 44 35 31 26* 28* 31 18* 27 53 35 37 37* 36* 37 18* 37

Seating and parking arrangements are major dissatisfied parametres which are essential for a book store, either walk in or BRP. The overall quality and ambience of the store is highly appreciated by BRP members which can be considered as a major factor for their loyalty towards the store.

Attributes -display of books(store wise) overall quality of display of books Convenience of arrangements/display of books

Total 42 43

Walk-in 40 42

BRP Members 58 53

neatness of arrangements of books

shelf planning and layout visibility of new arrivals/best sellers visibilty of recommendations attractiveness of display in the store overall quality of display of music and movies CDs/cassettes overall quality of display of toys and stationery

37
26 27 25 28 28 26

35
26 28 25 28 28 26

47
27 21 26 29 30 26

Both Walk in and BRP members seem satisfied with the books display, but BRP customers are less satisfied in visibility of new arrivals display. BRP customers are highly educated and are in search of range and quality and new arrivals is something that they look for, so there is a need to improve the visibility of new arrivals and best sellers.

Attributes -billing & cashiering Total Billing & cashiering Efficiency & helpful of the cashier Accuracy Of billing Adequacy of billing counters Ability of cashier to deal with your queries on LBR program,etc

Walk-in 33 39 35 32 34 38 34 32

BRP Members 29 45 43 32

28

28

29

Less score by BRP in billing and cashiering may be due to long waiting. Efficiency and Accuracy is highly appreciable by BRP members, a good sign for Crossword.

Attributes communication Adequacy of communication Relevance of communication

Total
20 14

Walk-in
14 16

BRP members
23 13

BRP Members perceive that there is lot of information available which is not relevant to their queries, giving an indication that there is a requirement of training program for the sales people in the store.

Question 4
Reward points are presently flat as 1 point for 40 Rs purchase, it can be make differentialy increasing as 3 points can be given for Rs 100 purchase. As unavailability of time is a major constraint to customer from purchasing book, Crossword can launch order on phone service for book and other products for BRP members. Sales personnel need to be given knowledge about books and new launches. , It can be given to corporate and educational institutes member and discount on bulk purchase can be given.

 For BRP member who are from outside the city, rather than giving them points for purchase, they should be given discount in next purchase, so that they have strong reason to come to store again. As price has been stated as major constraint from buying crossword, crossword should also give discounts to its BRP members. As Crossword is subsidiary of Shopper stop, they can give BRP cards to shopper stop regular customer also.

QUESTION 2
Key Issues Faced By Crossword More focus on gaining new customers rather than retention Only 60,000 members enrolled, 25000 were active members despite of lot of effort and ideas gone in the design of BRP. Awareness level of the augmented services was low among the customers Communication was not proper

Reasons of low Activity among BRP customers

Offers should be more lucrative should go beyond discounts on purchases Customers not segregated according to their purchasing habits and customized services not devised accordingly Expectation of better service delivery among BRM members Little customization for the priority customers No addition to existing offers for them Discounts offered only during promotions. BRM customers could have got more

Cont
Membership fees :- Rs 150 ; 1 point (Re) gained on every Rs 40 spent ; Break even occurs only when 40x150 = Rs 6000 spent => No incentive for a BRP customer 50 reviews of new books in the e-Word simply overloaded the data. It should have been customized according to the customers interets 60% of the books purchased were of < Rs 350. So purchasing them as a normal walk in or a BRP customer made no difference ( Avg. purchase of a BRP customer= 2,500 pa)

Cont..
Customer feedback should be incorporated in deigning the strategy rather than going by the normal market trends Improper billing, cashiering and irrelevant communication were also some of the issues.

Relationship Retailing
Retailers seek to establish and maintain long term bond with the customers rather than act as if each sales transaction is completely new encounter with them. Providing the customers with a more friendly, familiar environment to induce loyalty and long time patronage.

BRPs Low Performance

Structural Relationship Crossword provided a good ambience and layout. However, could not provide adequate range, quality and display to its BRP members Social Relationship BRP members found the team good and there were opportunities to socialize and be comfortable at the store. Financial Relationship The one time fees to be paid was very high as compared to the returns.

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