Five Ss in Retailing

Executive summary
The study gives an overview of retail industry, going through detail analysis about India retail industry, highlighting the importance of organized retailing in India. The Indian retail is one of the largest industries of India.

The earliest retail shopping areas were unplanned clusters of stores that evolved in city centers. Traditional retailing has established in India for some centuries. Organized retail outlets seem to be associated with branded items & special purchases. Now a days more and more people want something more from their shopping experience..... Organized retailing is shopping with a touch of excellence. Number of value added services are provided now a day for the shoppers. A special importance is also given to retail in India, with respect to five Ss of retail store with respect to opportunity problems faced and its impact on consumer buying behavior and there preferences. An Ishikawa model is adapted to study the relevance of the Ss in the retail store towards the growing retail industry. The study gives examples which shows the relevance of Five Ss and will also guide the managers how effectively to use an Adopted Ishikawa model for smooth operations of the Retail Store.

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Five Ss in Retailing

Objective of the Study To analyze and understand the Retail industry in India Understand what the challenge is perceived by expert,

practitioner & authors in Retail. It then aims to unpack some of the perceived wisdom as to what constitutes a successful retail operation

Reviews work related example on retail operations and identify five core elements of retail operations.

Proposes a method by which managers can examine ways of improving their operations by the use of a modified cause-effect technique.

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Five Ss in Retailing

Introduction
The emergence of retailing in India has more to do with the increasing purchasing power of buyers, especially post- liberalization, increase in product variety, and the increasing economies of scale, with the aid of modern supply and distribution management solutions. A definition of retailing is essential in order to be in a position to assess the impact of retailing and its future potential. The current retailing revolution has been provided an impetus from multiple sources. These "revolutionaries' themselves to include modern many conventional companies stores in upgrading competitive retailing,

environments entering the market directly to ensure exclusive visibility for their products and professional chain stores coming up to meet the need of the manufacturers who do not fall into either of the above categories. Attractiveness, accessibility and affordability seem to be the key offerings of the retailing chain Retailing is the most active and attractive sector of the last decade. While the retailing industry itself has been present through history in our country, it is only the recent past that has witnessed so much dynamism. It's the latest bandwagon that has witnessed hordes of players leaping onto it. While international retail store chains have caught the fancy of many travelers abroad, the action was missing from the Indian business scene, at least till recently.

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Five Ss in Retailing

Globalization Growing media penetration is leading to a convergence of aspirations of various classes of consumers, bridging the rural-urban divide. The modern consumer cannot be satisfied by any product or service that is lesser in quality than the best offered in any other place on the globe.

Retailing, one of the largest sectors in the global economy, is going through a transition phase not only in India but the world over. For a long time, the corner grocery store was the only choice available to the consumer, especially in the urban areas. This is slowly giving way to international formats of retailing. The traditional food and grocery segment has seen the emergence of supermarkets/grocery chains (Food Bazaar, More, and Godrej Natures Basket), convenience stores (In & Out) and fast-food chains (McDonalds, Dominos, and Pizza-hut). It is the non-food segment; however that foray has been made into a variety of new sectors. These include lifestyle/fashion segments (Shoppers' Stop, Globus, (Archies, Lifestyle, Crosswords, Westside, Landmark, Crossroads), Planet M), apparel/accessories (Pantaloon, Levis, Reebok, Marks & Spencer), books/music/gifts appliances and drugs and pharmacy (Health and Glow, Apollo).

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Five Ss in Retailing

Retailing
Retailing is derived from the French word 'retailer' meaning 'breaking bulk'. And breaking bulk quantities into smaller sellable units is what a retailer does. Just a few years ago shopping was just an activity. Usually all the household needs used to be sufficed from the local Kirana Shops. There were no complex supply chains or warehousing operations, which used to be undertaken since the size of operation of the individual stores used to be relatively small. This transition that we are witnessing of organized retail we can definitely say is more observed due to Globalization and in last 10 years it has been at its peak. Also the people are becoming more aware of the facilities available and the people now expect the great services. Unorganized retailing was and is yet observed rampantly in almost all the parts of our country. Even the big cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Calcutta have the local retailers who control the major share of trade however this trend is changing now and people are shifting though gradually to the culture of Organized Retailing. Today, organized retailing is the in thing. There are many small shops, which cater to the demands of various consumers however the transition from the small shops culture to the bigger, stylish and affordable malls is seen very much not only amongst the upper classes but also the middle classes of people. The traditional grocers, by introducing self-service formats as well as value-added services such as credit and home delivery, have tried to redefine themselves however; it has been confined primarily

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to the urban markets in the country.

Retailing Formats
Retail formats can be classified in the following ways which are as follows Mom-and-Pop Represent the small, individually owned and In many cases these are family-run

operated retail outlet.

businesses catering to the local community.

Mass Discounters - These retailers can be either general or

specialty merchandisers but either way their main focus is on offering discount pricing. Compared to department stores, mass discounters offer fewer services and lower quality products.

Warehouse Stores This is a form of mass discounter that often

provides even lower prices than traditional mass discounters. In addition, they often require buyers to make purchases in quantities that are greater than what can be purchased at mass discount stores. These retail outlets provide few services and product selection can be limited. Furthermore, the retail design and layout is as the name suggests, warehouse style, with consumers often selecting products off the ground from the shipping package. Some forms of warehouse stores, called warehouse clubs, require customers purchase memberships in order to gain access to the outlet.

Category Killers Many major retail chains have taken what were

previously narrowly focused, small specialty store concepts and have expanded them to create large specialty stores. These socalled category killers have been found in such specialty areas as

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electronic (e.g., Best Buy), office supplies (e.g., Staples) and sporting goods (e.g., Sport Authority).

Department Stores These retailers are general merchandisers

offering mid-to-high quality products and strong level of services, though in most cases these retailers would not fall into the fullservice category. While department stores are classified as general merchandisers some carry a more selective product line. For instance, while Sears carries a wide range of products from hardware to cosmetics, Nordstroms focuses their products on clothing and personal care products.

Boutique This retail format is best represented by a small store

carrying very specialized and often high-end merchandise. In many cases a boutique is a full-service retailer following a full-pricing strategy.

Catalog Retailers Retailers such as Lands End and LL Bean

have built their business by having customers place orders after seeing products that appear in a mailed catalog. Orders are then delivered by a third-party shipper.

e-tailers - Possibly the most publicized retail model to evolve in

the last 50 years is the retailer that principally sells via the Internet. There are thousands of online-only retail sellers of which Amazon.com is the most famous. These retailers offer shopping convenience including being open for business all day, every day. Electronic retailers or e-tailers also have the ability to offer a wide selection of product since all they really need in order to attract orders is a picture and description of the product. That is, they may not need to have the product on-hand the way physical stores do. Instead an e-tailer can wait until an order is received from their

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customers before placing their own order with their suppliers. This cuts down significantly on the cost of maintaining products in-stock.

Convenience As the name implies these general merchandise

retailers cater to offering customers an easy purchase experience. Convenience is offered in many ways including through easily accessible store locations, small store size that allows for quick shopping, and fast checkout. The product selection offered by these retailers is very limited and pricing can be high.

Vending Within this category are automated methods for While most consumers are well aware of vending

allowing consumers to make purchases and quickly acquire products. machines allowing customers to purchase smaller items, such as beverages and snack food, newer devices are entering the market containing more expensive and bulkier products. These systems require the vending machine have either Internet or telecommunications access to permit purchase using credit cards.

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Retail Summary Chart Retail format is classified by using the five categorization

characteristics.
Format Mom-and-Pop Target Market mass specialty Mass Discounter Mass Warehouse Store Category Killer Department Store Boutique Mass Mass specialty specialty exclusive Catalog mass specialty e-tailer mass specialty Franchise mass general specialty general specialty specialty discount competitive discount competitive full Competitive advertising stand-along strip center advertising online seller direct mail Products Carried general specialty general general specialty general specialty discount discount discount Pricing Strategy competitive Promotion Emphasis advertising direct mail advertising advertising advertising Distribution stand-alone strip center shopping area stand-alone strip-center stand-alone stand-alone strip center shopping area shopping mail stand-alone strip center shopping area direct marketer

competitive Competitive advertising Full selling

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Convenience mass general Full advertising stand-alone

Vending

mass

specialty

Full

none

Vending

Retailing the Indian Scenario

A retail revolution is sweeping through India. Organised retailing has grown from just Rs 5,000 corer (Rs 50 billion) in 1999 to estimated Rs 46,600 core in 2006, making it among the fastest-growing industries in the country. As the corporate like the Piramals, the Tatas, the Rahejas, ITC, S.Kumars, RPG, Bharti, Dabur, Mahindra and Mahindra, Reliance Enterprises even international retailers such as WalMart and Carrefour, and mega retailers like Crosswords, Shoppers Stop, and Pantaloons race to revolutionize the retailing sector, retail as an industry in India is coming alive. Retail sales in India amounted to about Rs.7400 billion in 2002, expanded at an average annual rate of 7% during 1999-2002. With the upturn in economic growth during 2003, retail sales are also expected to expand at a higher pace of nearly 27%. Across the country, retail sales in real terms are predicted to rise more rapidly than consumer expenditure during 2005-09. Modernization of the Indian retail sector will be reflected in rapid growth in sales of supermarkets, departmental stores and hyper marts. Sales from these large-format stores are to expand at growth rates ranging from 24% to 49% per year during 2003-2008, according to a latest report by Euro monitor International, a leading provider of global consumer-market intelligence. A. T. Kearney Inc. places India 6th on a global retail development index. The country has the highest per capita outlets in the world - 5.5 outlets

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Five Ss in Retailing

per 1000 population. Around 7% of the population in India is engaged in retailing, as compared to 20% in the USA. With the growth of malls, multiplexes, and hypermarkets, the consumer is being exposed to a new kind of shopping experience and services which is quietly and surely redefining her expectations from shopping. So with the growth of malls and hypermarkets, that has changed and consumers no longer think "expensive looking" means "expensive". To actually establish premium imagery through shopping environment is going to be that much more difficult! Need for customer service to encourage consumers to come back again and again and buy more. Quite contrary to the thought that technology will dehumanize transactions, the truth is humans will make all the difference. A couple of years ago, Shoppers Stop discovered that their Customer Care associates were an area of concern. There was high turnover and they were not motivated enough. Twenty thousand hours of training over four months of skill upgrade saw a 101 per cent increase in average sales of a card member -clearly showing the value of "people" in a business of bricks and mortar. McDonald's is a standing testimony to the power of human interaction. It may seem that in a vast country like India, this is restricted to a few urban towns. This could be myopic thinking. The revolution was brewing in South India in the 90s but seems to have taken speed in the 21st century. Today Big Bazaar is already present in smaller towns like Nasik, Nagpur, and Bhubaneshwar. As "retail" brands see the value of

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volumes (like mass marketers did in the 20th century) and with the ready availability of both technology for back-end management and real estate for front-end face, business compulsions and opportunities will make them expand faster than one can imagine. Look at mobile telephony. As recently as in 1999, it was a status symbol for the "puppy" with the few owners displaying it as something special. In half a decade, with new technology, it has become a "product of the masses" -- innovative roadside "bhajiwallahs" (vegetable vendors) seeing it as a business tool and using it for home delivery orders! Are "mass retailers" allies or competitors to "mass marketers"? This is one big question marketers of consumer goods -- FMCG or durables -- need to address in the future. Historically, retailers have been conduits for deliveries of products of mass marketers. With the upgrade of their environments and services, they seem to be enhancing consumer-buying experiences. However, simultaneously they are building brand equity for themselves within their sphere of influence. Clearly, they are able to offer consumer experiences unlike conventional mass-market brands. So there is little reason to believe why strong "retail brands" may not decide to backward integrate and turn competition to mass marketers in categories where sourcing, branding and selling have not too many barriers. This would see the emergence of store brands.

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Retailers in India
Early birds Retailer Brands Plans 310 Shoppers stop 2010, 70 by 60new Strength Challenges Threats

Shoppers Stop, K Raheja Crossword, Group In City orbit Mall, Hyper

Plus customer tastes vast

on with Keeping local Brand loyalty

Could get bogged up down g right in positionin itself

crossword by 2009, 14 new Hyper City A store a day next to years 3300

retailing experience.

Pantaloons, Big Bazaar, Future Group Food Bazaar, Fashion Station, Blue Sky Tata Group Trent

for Can three on

evolve vast

Expanding Sourcing products cheaper rate.

Straddlin with two many at retail formats.

four customer experience and existing

Customer Base, g

planned by models

2010 Looking to Already has Sprucing Register its an establish product presence in brand Hyper Markets : like offerings, opening outlets Westside

up Its smaller retail more operation and s.

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Currently operates in 21 stores

introducing new formats. retail

Pioneered the concept of Plans Landmark Landmark move newer regions to into multi product leisure store: Strong online presence family Could get Experimenting with products caught in consolidat ion. newer Industry centric,

Establishi Expansion into RPG Group Spencers Music World at cities other prime next major cities locations Bon the list Successful formats diversified presence ng it into newer Still considered regions, a Brand southern sourcing products at competiti ve prices.

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Debutants

Plans to setup a range of back fuel Getting the retail portfolio right Indian tastes for Product pricing, infrastructure, manpower, brands. different store formats, Strong Reliance Reliance Fresh convenience markets a backbusiness stores, hyper wide as retailing end well as create platform retail services end nation

Bhartis local Bharti Wal Mart Pan Indian Field Fresh operations expected expertise and Wal Marts back end make it a

Wooing the price sensitive Indian consumer Gaining

Productpricing, shelf and overall offerings.

Aditya Birla Group

Madura Garments, Birla Life Insurance and

lethal combo To roll out its Extensive retail within next

a Building retail formats from scratch

experience in national Supply Chain footprint the Management, 7-8 vendor

Sun business

Idea months with development

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Five Ss in Retailing

Cellular, Plant Fashion and Trouser Town a combination of large and small stores

with premium brands Louis Philippe, van heusen and Allen solly like

Pipeline Floated Aero Infrastructur e foray retail. Hero Group Easy Bill Currently developing two industrial parks haridwar at in Ltd. Strong Creating operation scratch in g sound financial base several retail sectors; from Little experien ce in everyday consume r retailing into Background manufacturin Announcing

uttaranchal Multi formats retailers Successful world operations Finding the local partners Cluttere d market can stifle

Carrefour/ Tesco

Still to open their cards

wide right

(Indian Management Jan 2006) Figure No: 1.3

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Some facts about Indian retailing

1.) Even though India has well over 5 million retail outlets of all sizes and styles, the country sorely lacks anything that can resemble a retailing industry in the modern sense of the term. This presents international retailing specialists with a great opportunity. 2.) It was only in the year 2000 that the global management consultancy AT Kearney put a figure to it: Rs. 400,000 crore which will increase to Rs. 800,000 crore by the year 2005 an annual increase of 20 per cent. Retailing in India is thoroughly unorganized. There is no supply chain management perspective. According to a survey by AT Kearney, an overwhelming proportion of the Rs. 400,000 crore retail markets are unorganized. In fact, only a Rs. 20,000 crore segment of the market is organized. 3.) As much as 96 per cent of the 5 million-plus outlets are smaller than 500 square feet in area. This means that India per capita retailing space is about 2 square feet (compared to 16 square feet in the United States). India's per capita retailing space is thus the lowest in the world. 4.) Just over 8 per cent of India's population is engaged in retailing (compared to 20 per cent in the United States). There is no data on this sector's contribution to the GDP. From a size of only Rs.20, 000 crore, the organized retail industry will grow to Rs. 160,000 crore by 2005. The total retail market, however, as indicated above will grow 20 per cent annually from Rs. 400,000 crore in 2000 to Rs. 800,000 crore by 2005 (source: survey by AT Kearney)

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5.) The first challenge facing the organized retail industry in India is: competition from the unorganized sector. Traditional retailing has established in India for some centuries. It is a low cost structure, mostly owner-operated, has negligible real estate and labour costs and little or no taxes to pay. Consumer familiarity that runs from generation to generation is one big advantage for the traditional retailing sector. 6.) India's first true shopping mall complete with food courts, recreation facilities and large car parking space was inaugurated as lately as in 1999 in Mumbai. "Crossroads" Local companies and local-foreign joint ventures are expected to more advantageously positioned than the purely foreign ones in the fledgling organized India's retailing industry.

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Five Ss in Retailing

Drivers for Retailing in India

Retail in the Golden phase

Infancy

Development

Maturity

Decline

Bangladesh, Sri Lanka China, India

South East Asia, Middle East USA, UK

Phase I

Phase II

Phase III

Phase IV

Stage 2: The Growth Stage This stage is reached when it is presumed that a majority of the retailer's target clientele veers towards his organised store and the services that it offers, and there are clear signals that the awareness and education campaign that the retailer conducted are paying off. In this stage, a large part of the target clientele begins to frequent the organised retail store more often and shopping here actually becomes a part of their routine lives. The time lag between the first and second stages can be quite substantial in some cases. In any case, once the store reaches the growth stage, there is a marked increase in its sales and profits figures and this is, in fact, the most exciting period of the operation.

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This is the stage when the retailer must move forward full throttle in his expansion plans and must try and capture as much of the market as possible Retailer can also demand much better bargains from his vendors and must also insist on stocking only those products that are also going through the growth stage of demand. This is the time to go in for the kill in every possible way as a large part of the future of the retailer is dependent on the strategy he adopts during this phase. This is the golden phase for an industry to be in irrespective of any country and this is where Indias Retail Industry stands.

Retail Consumer Behavior

Consumption Boom India is witnessing an unprecedented consumption boom. The economy is growing between 7 and 8 percent and the resulting improvement in income dynamics along with factors like favorable demographics and growth in aspirational consumption are the drivers. Retailing in India is currently estimated to be US$ 200 billion, of which organized retailing (i.e. modern trade) makes up 3 percent or US$ 6.4 billion. Organized retail is expected to grow at 25-30 percent p.a., and is projected to attain US$ 23 billion by 2010. At these levels, organized retail would constitute up to 9 percent of overall retail sales.

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The above diagram shows the age distribution of cell phones and the penetration level of cell phones between the age of 20 to 29 years. There are multiple factors driving Indian retail growth one of them is the consumption boom with roughly 60 percent of the total population below 30 years of age, favorable demographics are expected to drive consumption across categories. The purchasing power of a young consuming middle class has been talked of since the time of economic liberalization in 1991. However, it is only today that we are witnessing the spending power associated with this consumer segment. For example, 50 percent of cellular phone purchases in the past year were by the under-30 age group2. This consumption is expected to continue due to the aspirational nature of spending associated with this consumer segment. The AC Nielsen Online Omnibus Survey 2005 rates India in the highest category of Aspiration Index in Asia, along with China, Indonesia and Thailand. Working Woman

The woman of India is now more educated and also looking at their lives in a broader way not only restricting itself to becoming house wives but looking to make a mark at the corporate life. The above diagram clearly shows those today women are moving toward corporate life which is resulting the household to have dual earner
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which

results

into

more

disposal

income.

The higher the

disposable income the more spending of the household and even resulting into ready to eat food. Urbanization

Increased urbanization has led to high customer density areas thus enabling retailers to use lesser number of stores to target the same number of customers. Aggregation of demand that occurs due to urbanization helps a retailer in reaping the economies of scale. Covering distances has become easier With increased automobile penetration and an overall improvement in the transportation infrastructure, covering distances has become easier than before. Now a customer can travel miles to reach a particular shop, if he/she sees value in shopping from there. From the supply side also, a number of developments fueled the growth of the retail industry. Retailers understood the needs of the customers and realised efficiencies through investments in Technology Infrastructure and Employees. The outcomes were improved supply chains, increased service levels and satisfied customers.

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Changing age profile & Disintegration of joint family

India is believed to have an average age of 24 years for its population as against 36 years for the USA and 30 years for China. A younger population tends to have higher aspirations and spends more as it enters the earning phase. Also, nuclearisation of families has led to enhanced demand.

The above chart clearly shows that in the year 2005 2006 majority of the Indian population lies in the consuming class and climber class which are going to help the retailers to market their product to the masses that have the disposable income which is continuously rising.

Introduction to the Seven P's (7P's) of Service Marketing:

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All readers who have gone through a basic marketing course would be familiar with the 4 P's of marketing. These areproduct, pricing, place and promotion, based on which the majority of product marketers conceptualize and implement their marketing plans. These pertain to decisions regarding design or redesign of products or services (as part of the first P product), costing and other influences on pricing strategy (the second P of pricing), distribution channel management and supply chain management (the third P of place), and various promotion-related issues in the different types of media that marketers may use, ranging from personal/direct selling to advertising (the fourth P of promotion). Service marketers have for a fairly long time been mentioning the need for additional P's to take into account the special nature of services marketing. This demand has led to the emergence of various alternative P's. Presently the most widely accepted marketing structure contains 7 P's (though some authors (like Lovelock) mentions 8 P's to describe marketing plans of service companies). In addition to the four basic P's mentioned earlier, 1. Process, 2. People, and 3. Physical evidence is the three special P's for services. The reason for their addition and acceptance is fairly obvious. Services are delivered by people in many cases. Even when technology is used, people do form a very important part of the 'service experience', and technology is used only as an enabler for faster data recovery or entry. Besides, since there is a lot of interaction involved in the service process, (between people in the service company and people as in customers) it could create more emotional upheavals than in other jobs, bringing human resource (HR) issues to the fore. The attrition levels in some service industries like IT services are reported to be of comparatively high levels. Therefore, the 'people' issues in services

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marketing are worthy of a separate discussion. Similarly, the 'process' is an important way to look at any service situation. This applies to the most ordinary of service transactions (like getting your bed tea in the morning at a hotel, or even a wake-up call at a hotel). The way it is done can sometimes determine the customer satisfaction with the entire service experience, and it is important to view the process in terms of a visual map with various activities or stages listed explicitly, preferably from a customer's viewpoint. The visual map exercise can also add to the customer orientation of a company. It would also give major opportunities for redesigning the company processes, (i.e. business process re-engineering) for achieving greater satisfaction levels. The other P of 'physical evidence' is necessitated by the fact that services are largely intangible in nature. Therefore, the tangible elements have to be separately accounted for. Sometimes, these serve to differentiate between service providers, like the logos or uniforms or decor (like the big yellow arches of a McDonald's restaurant). Sometimes, like brochures of a travel destination, they tangiblise the service offering, providing information to the customer to decide on whether he wants to use a service (a holiday at the destination in this case). Therefore, there is a lot of merit involved in discussing separately these three additional P's in the context of services marketing.

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SERVICE PRODUCT What is a product? It can be defined as a mix of intangibles and tangibles offered by the marketer at a the product by paying the price. The first P in traditional marketing literature is the 'product'. Decisions related to a product may levels. 1. The concept or core product that delivers the functional benefit 2. Supplementary service/product featurespart of the expected/augmented product 3. Brand name and other distinctive featuresconstituting the differentiated product Even in services marketing, these three issues are the critical ones. How the marketer thinks, plans and the marketplace. puts into action his blueprint for these issues could determine his future success in include the following three price. A customer buys

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Place / Location
The importance to distribution for services is partly because services themselves may be intangible in many cases. Many experts say that location is the key to successful marketing of services. Though this might sound like a slight exaggeration, the argument does have some merit. This is because in a service market, a customer is often present at the same place where the service is "manufactured" and delivered. Some examples include a beauty saloon, a restaurant, and a hotel. A customer physically has to be present at each of these places to avail of these services. Some exceptions may exist, like for instance, the restaurant may also offer home delivery. But even there, it is usually offered in a limited geographical area or a part of town. Therefore, it becomes important to decide where to locate a service. The luxury that a goods manufacturer would have while distributing his goods from one factory to several outlying locations across a vast geographical area is a time not available to service providers.

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Promotion
Promotion is vital for any business. But you may find that many service businesses do not spend adequately on promotional activities. For example, the advertising agencies do not advertise for themselves. Marketing research companies rarely advertise (in India), mainly because mass advertising requires huge spending, and for many service products the target market may be a narrow segmenteither a geographically constrained area, or a small number of consumers known by their address listing or club membership, or in some other identifiable way. Moreover, many service providers would rely on word of mouth to increase their market penetration, as a recommendation from someone carries a lot of weight in the largely intangible world of services. Just imagine the number of times where you have gone to a restaurant, a tourist destination, a bank, a doctor, or a tutorial college because of a friend's positive recommendation. While it is true that word of mouth plays a critical role in getting future business, you still need a critical mass of early birds to try your service product in the initial stages. For this, an objective-based promotion plan is a must. In today's jargon, it could be termed an 'integrated marketing communication' plan. However, competition in most service categories is growing so rapidly that some earlier dormant categories of service businesses like colleges have significantly increased their promotional activity.

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PRICING
Pricing, as we all know, is the crucial "P" of marketing, because it determines the revenue that a compa ny's services will earn. Pricing has several components, and usually there are three major criteria involved in pricing a service: Cost Competition Objectivesstrategic or tactical

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PEOPLE
We are now used to the evolution of HRM (human resources management) as an area which has received due attention from researchers, academics and corporate entities. Much of this has happened in the context of production jobs and companies which had to learn how to handle human beings involved in laborious, repetitive work as in shop-floors, as brilliantly portrayed by Charlie Chaplin in his role of an industrial worker*. However, in the recent years, the manufacturing sector has seen a decline in its growth in the major world economies, and services now form the growth area. Ever since services took off on a growth path, the marketing concepts primarily developed for goods have struggled to keep pace. One of the major conceptual underpinnings of marketing plans has been the 4 Ps of marketing. These were presumably enough to cater to the manufacturing era, but unable to give due emphasis to the recent service industry paradigms. Thus, three more Ps has been added to the original four, 'people' being one among them. This is quite justified too, as most services are dependent on people to deliver them successfully.

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Physical Evidence
Let us understand the importance of Physical Evidence with an example of Restaurant. The first impression of a restaurant by the roadside comes from its physical evidence, or in this case, the look of the structure, the availability of parking, the layout, the colours of its walls, the sign with its name, etc. All these factors combine in a span of few seconds to form a positive or negative impression, and a quick decision on whether to stop there or not.

Process
'Process' is a critical variable from the point of view of the customer, because it determines what he has to do to get a service. For example, consider the case of opening a bank account. The old process at almost every bank in India used to be a humiliating experience for the customer. The bank employees at most of the public sector banks acted as if the customer opening an account was a nuisance. Of late, this process has undergone a pleasant change at most banks from the customer's viewpoint. Many banks have started sending employees to the customer prospective customer's home to do the needful. The same could be said about loan processing also. This activity, which was highly bureaucratic in India, not so long ago, has changed beyond recognition in several banks particularly at the more progressive ones. Earlier, only the HDFC, among the home loan providers, had any reputation for quality of service, because they operated with the marketing philosophy or orientation, and usually treated the customer with respect. Now, other banks and providers of home loans have followed suit.

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Key players in Retail Formats

Hypermarket
Big Bazaar Giants Shop rite Star Hyper CITY

Department store
Lifestyle Pantaloons Pyramids Shoppers Stop Trent

Entertainment
Fame Adlabs Fun Republic Inox PVR Planet M

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Food chains
Barista Coffee Company Caf Coffee Day Domino's Pizza McDonald's India

Apparel retailing
Adidas Levi Strauss & Co Marks and Spencer Nike Inc.

Food and apparel retailing likely to drive growth

With various factors impacting growth in retail, some segments are bound to grow faster than others. For instance, increasing affluence is driving growth in the watches and jewelry segment, while awareness of health is driving growth in lifestyle pharmaceuticals. The retailers who participated in the survey expect growth in retail segments across the board; however, food and grocery is expected to see the highest growth, with clothing emerging as the second fastest growing segment.

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The

modern

retailing

action

is

in

the

urban

areasfor

now

phenomenon so far. Organized retail has been more successful in cities, more so in the south and west of India. The reasons for this regional variation range from differences in consumer buying behavior to cost of real estate and taxation laws. More than 80 percent of our survey respondents indicated that the largest opportunity for modern retail is in the urban centers, specifically metros.

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Where is the retail market opportunity in India?

Nonetheless, the case for Indian retailers to explore rural markets is strong. Factoring the size of the rural population and agricultural income growth in rural India, the rural market is definitely an opportunity for retailers with an innovative retail proposition. A clear indicator of this potential is the share of the rural market across most categories of consumption.

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Share of market: Urban vs. Rural

Key challenges in tapping this potential are the fragmentation of the market, given the geographic spread, and infrastructure issues like lack of distribution and logistics.

Key challenges in the Indian retail market

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Retail formats: experimentation

In modern retailing, a key strategic choice is the format. Innovations in formats can provide an edge to retailers. A study of evolution of the largest retail market in the world, the U.S.A., highlights how formats evolved there. The last major development in the American retail landscape was the discount stores along the lines of Wal-Mart and Costco. Discount stores are large stores with more than 100,000 sq ft of

space situated at a distance from the city center or suburb Whether Indian retailers co-learn from such experiences and leapfrog to the most successful formats abroad is a key question on many of the survey respondents mind.

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Which format has the most potential? Format choices by Indian retailers

The respondents of the KPMG retail survey in India felt that the specialty and supermarket formats have the most potential for growth in India, followed by hypermarkets. Understandably, with poor internet infrastructure (in terms of PC penetration and internet connectivity), etailing was identified as a channel with the least potential by most respondents. Similarly, with traditional kirana stores offering an undisputed convenience proposition, our respondents felt that convenience stores may not grow as fast in the Indian context.

Fastest growing formats in India

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Introduction to Retail Operations Many expert, practitioner & authors articulate that Retailing is a simple business, Retail is detail and the three most important factors for success in retailing are Location, Location, and Location. If retailing can be reduced to such simplicity then successful retailers would abound. While some factors are clearly outside the control or remit of a store manager, it is suggested here that some retail problems stem from poor operational practices, and with that in mind this paper introduces one means of tackling operational issues. In order to do this, the paper considers the literature relating to retail operations and improvement. It then aims to take out some of the perceived wisdom as to what constitutes a successful retail operation, the reason for this focus being that, as The effective management of operations is crucial to the success of retailing companies. This is a point that resonates operations managers, hold the key to either satisfying or disappointing customers on whom the whole organisation depends. Even for smaller retailers the importance of operations cannot be over-stressed, Optimizing store operational performance is critical to retailing success. Given the pressures from competing channels of distribution, it is constructive to examine what makes for a successful operation in store format retailing and to identify and create some form of easily applicable framework in order to inform retailers problem-solving processes at the level of the shop floor. Store format retailing is still an important channel of distribution and

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while the full impact and potential of the Internet has yet to be unleashed it is quite apparent that customers will still frequent a physical store. Given that premise, it is important for retailers to ensure that their stores work and fulfill their financial objectives. In order to do this it is accepted that operations have to keep pace with customer change and one way of doing this is by focusing on the customerretailer interface. This is most clearly seen at the level of the store and therefore it is argued here that there is still plenty of opportunity for retailers to both satisfy and disappoint their customers at this point of contact.

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Retail operations A number of articles have been produced which focus on the role of operations in a retail setting. For example, operational aspects of retailing grouped under the headings of Marketing and merchandising management, Buyer-supplier relationships and logistics, Operations and customer service, and Human resource management. But is there enough priority given to the Operations in Retail which holds the key for the consumer delight? If yes we still find some fundamental problems in a retail store which are as follows: 1. Dirty Fresh rooms 2. Messy Trail /Dressing Rooms 3. Loud Music 4. Handwritten Signs 5. Stained Floor or Ceiling Tiles 6. Crowded Aisles 7. Disorganized Checkout Counters 8. Lack of Shopping Carts/Baskets And many more . Improving the store operation One of the key themes of all organisations over the last decade or so has been that of performance measurement and subsequent improvement. The balanced scorecard concept, developed by Kaplan and Norton has been touted as a useful tool for tracking the key

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elements that drive a firms performance. These are grouped into four central areas: 1. 2. 3. 4. The financial perspective; The customer perspective; The internal business perspective; and The innovation and business perspective.

As summarised The balanced scorecard defines and assesses the critical success factors (CSFs) considered necessary to fulfill the corporate goal(s) to ensure future success. This is achieved by close scrutiny and subsequent understanding of cause and effect relationships. As such, the balanced scorecard is adapted and refined according to the specific attributes and strategic objectives of the individual company. The balanced scorecard has been widely applied across different economic sectors. Problems with the scorecard have been that the absence of crucial stakeholder factors, including community role and supplier contribution, reduces the reliability of the balanced scorecard. A further performance tool for retail operations, the strategic resource management (SRM) model, has been recently developed by Ring, with the key elements in their model being gross and net margin return on retail space. Given its relative complexity, however, it is difficult to see how such a model could easily be applied on the shop floor. While models such as the balanced scorecard are useful in relating strategic objectives to improved performance, they are, by their very

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nature, applicable largely at the level of the firm. The present paper seeks to add to this body of literature, but by focusing very much on performance and improvement at the level of the store. This theme of improvement is quite clear that improvement is one of the main responsibilities of operations managers and an adjunct to being able to improve something is the ability to identify and solve problems. This then begs the question as to how retail managers in particular can improve their operations and what tools and techniques are at their disposal. Indeed, there is a lack of attention within general retail management texts relating the specific area of improvement and problem-solving, adds further weight to the need for to focus on this area. There is nothing on offer for retailers by any expert for solving a operation problem, no systematic tools for problem identification and solution, except by outlining a sequential problem solving process that details problem recognition, information gathering, evaluation of alternatives, choice of solution and evaluation of decisions. Only by identifying problems can a solution be found, and it is with this belief, and the evidence that retailers are faced with problems at the store level, that provides the rationale for focus here.

Problem-solving tools and techniques available According to my belief how problems could be solved is by using just some of the basic tools of operations management such as cause and effect diagrams, why-why analysis and Pareto analysis. It is apparent that potential benefits can accrue both from the point of view of the customer (through better availability, quicker service) and the

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company

(for

example

financially,

lower

stock

outs).

While

confidentiality prevents the reporting of the results of these incompany projects, two examples from elsewhere are provided later in the article. Identifying key factors Throwing into disarray practitioners claims that retailing is a simple business and the three most important factors for success in retailing are Location, Location, and Location. I purport that: [r]etailing is a complex and mysterious subject that can be viewed from a variety of perspectives. Many UK retailers have been prominent in his attempts to classify the various tasks involved in retail operations. Their work identifies the functional strategies that make up this model: Merchandise; Customer service; Trading format and store environment; and Customer communications. They suggest an operation is but one service function within the various functional strategies that help to make the positioning strategy a success. The focus is centered on focused strategy and focused execution. Critical to this execution is employees aspirations to perform manner. in a values-driven organisation that has a credible merchandise offer and provides goods in a timely and convenient

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This study has attempted a model for problem-solving tools and techniques to operations managers, specially made framework for retailers. The resulting ROIT is based on the work of Ishikawa and cause and effect diagrams.

Adapting the cause-effect diagram Put simply, how the cause-effect diagram, also known as the fishbone diagram, will help the mangers to solve problems? It is a tool that is supposed to help search for the root cause of problems. By asking the usual questions of what is going wrong, when, why and how, the problem solver also starts to think through and add some possible answers. The cause-effect diagram revolves around trying to find causes of problems based around the five Ms: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Machinery; Manpower; Materials; Methods; and Money.

Potential reasons (i.e. causes) for failures (i.e. effect) are plotted on to a diagram as outlined in Figure. Figure diagram Cause-effect

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With this model in mind it was decided to identify elements that are specific to retail operations that could be incorporated into an adapted and specially made cause-effect diagram. The paper now moves on to describe the specific elements of the ROIT. The adapted Ishikawa model Ken Morrison, chairman and chief executive of Morrisons supermarkets was quoted as saying about the success of the company that bears his name: Its simple. If you dont need it, dont spend it. Theres nothing sophisticated about that . . . we havent got a secret ingredient. Likewise, the theme of simplicity comes through even more strongly in the views of Ram Chandra Agarwal, founder of Vishal Mega Mart. What most annoyed him was staff overcomplicating simple issues. to just a few variables. This paper aims to identify some of these basics through adaptation of the Ishikawa model. The resulting model has been termed the five Ss of retail operations. The idea behind this is based partly on the need for simplicity and the ability to actually use the tool. While some academics have argued that retailing is complicated, practitioners The implication is that retailing is about simple issues and can be reduced

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(successful ones at least) have an opposing perspective in that retailing is simple. What this adapted technique attempts to do is to apply that activities should not be overcomplicated unnecessarily. It is evident that no retail organisation can exist without having a clearly identified customer segment at which to aim its goods and services. But that, in itself, does not guarantee success. Once the strategy is devised it then becomes necessary for the retail operation to fulfill the objectives set out in any plan or strategy. One set of commentators, for example, has attempted to identify the rules of retailing as footfalls, site locations, store displays and all that Despite another saying regarding the right goods at the right time at the right price in the right place this paper presents a much more operationally centered tool. Moreover, the paper supports the views of that (store) operations managers are at the core of the company-customer interface. The resources under their control are many and varied but can be assembled into three main controllable elements: 1. 2. 3. Space; Stock; and Staff.

These are three of the five Ss of the ROIT. This model articulates what has not been clearly identified in the literature to date. Although these three elements are linked, by addressing each in turn the rest of the paper seeks to provide illumination and clarification as to why they are worthy of inclusion. Furthermore, two other Ss are added to the model: systems and standards. Systems refers to both the hard information technology elements, such as cash taking and inventory management, and the

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general way things are done round here. Standards are about the adherence to set-down guidelines devised either centrally or locally. All of these factors blend together and, depending on how they are managed, can effect or negate customers/shoppers benefits. The amended fishbone diagram is shown in

Figure

Stock Simon Marks (chairman of Marks & Spencer, 1916-1964) reportedly stated that good goods will sell arse upwards yet even this, it could be argued, is a little too simplistic. There are many more issues under this heading that are of importance. For instance, having the right quantities at the right time, such as in season and at a price that will yield a profit is also important. Tailoring the stock offering to the

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locality is normally undertaken centrally for multiple retailers, but that does not preclude operations managers from closely monitoring the offer, and that of the local competition, in order to aid future stock planning. Although in pure accounting terms stock is an asset on the balance sheet it is of little value until sold, especially if the retailer has borrowings to purchase the stock in the first place. Too much capital tied up in stock can lead to cash flow problems, and therefore the ability to buy in more stock. An excess of stock leads to markdowns and damage, and consequently the management and control of stock is critical to the success of the store operation itself and, by extension, the existence of the company as a whole. Likewise, lack of availability can lead to customers migrating to other stores if there is no credible alternative product.

Space Once the stock is within the store operation the manager is responsible for laying out the stock in such a way as to entice customers, achieve a suitable return and make best use of the available space. The stock has to be displayed within company guidelines, rotated as necessary, especially for perishable products, and moved as appropriate to meet local trading circumstances. More specifically, the operations manager has to ensure that the layout and adjacencies are logical, that every piece of display equipment tells a story and that space-planning guidelines are followed. Latitude may be given, especially in multiple fashions retailing, where a head office may not specify the exact combination of goods to display on a particular piece of equipment as long as the layout and merchandising principles are followed.

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Not only does stock have to be promoted to increase sales, it simultaneously has to be protected so as not damage sales while reducing potential stock loss. The sales area of any one store is finite and therefore the need to identify and utilise the best selling space has to be set within, and balanced against, any corporate plan in such a way as to sweat any space. The ideal scenario of having fast selling goods in the best selling space leads to rapid stock turn and hence releases space for the next set of best selling stock. But the space element of the model does not merely include the display of stock. It also includes non-selling areas such as fitting rooms, cash desks, return and refund areas (if separate), queuing methods and non-selling display areas

Staff The third leg of the model is that of staff. Irrespective of the number of staff employed or the wage to sales ratio, all operations have some staff. Even Argos, the catalogue store operation, has staff to process customers choices and to collect and assemble orders behind the scenes. At the other extreme, a high contact retailer such as a tailor will obviously rely heavily on its staff to measure customers, suggest styles and cloths, and engage in various customer fittings of the partcompleted and finished items. In between these two extremes there is a whole range of retailers that have varying amounts of customer contact, but even these require staff on hand to replenish stock, patrol parts of the store to protect stock, be in a position to process sales, and be available to advise customers while also taking charge of discrete areas of the store.

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Systems For multiple retailers in particular, the systemisation of operations has become important in order to reap efficiencies and share best practice across a network of stores. While a small independent retailers systems may not be as overt as those of a larger competitor, some form of systems will also be in place. These include the ordering of stock, the display and rotation of stock, the procedures for selling, banking procedures etcetera. In terms of stock loss prevention, for example, Shrinkage clearly the difference between two forms of prevention methods based on procedural systems and physical systems. Similarly, queuing systems have been examined An example of a system is Marks & Spencers move to power hours, in which all staff focus on serving and selling for a critical hour in the trading day when there is an effort to focus even more closely on customer needs because of high traffic flows. Standards Retailing remains a very competitive business and it is becoming increasingly important that customers know what standards of service can be expected, whatever market position(s) a retailer adopts. Here, the term service is taken to mean more than just serving customers. Indeed, service can include opening hours, credit facilities, fitting rooms, returns policy, stock availability, and special ordering facilities and so on. The role of the operations manager in articulating these for the staff and ensuring that they are adhered to is important.

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Work Related Example One Based on assumption, at leading retailer outlet, two major problems discovered. One was inaccurate inventory records and the other was misplaced SKUs in store. Rather than recount in full the detail of their findings, it is perhaps instructive here to use these to demonstrate how the five S models of retail operations can be used to frame their work. In short, they first found that physical inventory was different to that showing in their (electronic) records, leading to incorrect ordering and re-ordering. Second, they discovered that stock was misplaced within the store, leading to it being missed when stock takes were carried out and also customers not being provided with the product. Both these execution problems, as they termed them, led to decreases in sales and profit as well as increasing labour and inventory holding costs in an effort to remedy the problems. Using this case as an exemplar shows that the key problem was an inability to provide shoppers benefits through the lack of available

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stock. This was driven by a failure to adhere to systems correctly by having poor operating standards of work, caused in part by staff turnover. Having poor standards meant that the stock was not in the right space, either on the sales floor or in the stockroom. More specifically, detailed how the simplest of systems breakdowns can result from not training staff correctly in procedures and a failure to adhere to standards of operating. For example, scanning lays salted twice when only one lays salted and lays masala should have been scanned leads to a replenishment of two lays salted and no replenishment of the lays masala. Consequently, a store can potentially be stocked with too many lays salted and not enough masala ones. Multiplied across different SKUs and a network of stores this can have quite serious implications for the ability to provide customers with the right product. Figure shows how the ROIT could be used to identify the various causes of the problem.

Figure Worked example one

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Work Related Example Two Based on assumption, this second example describes a specific stock loss problem. Faced with a stock loss level to the order of about 4 per cent of sales in ladies dresses, the company decided its annual stocktaking system was only useful in that it alerted local store management to a potential problem well after the event of the loss had
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occurred. Local managers addressed the problem by introducing a system of stock checking of ladies dresses on a daily basis. In order to affect this, staff were introduced to a paper-based checking and counting system that required them to physically count the stock at the opening and closing of business each day. Reconciling changes in stock movement through the use of data from sales registers alerted staff to any shortages, having also taken account of stock in non-selling spaces such as in window displays, on mannequins and in stockrooms. On a daily basis, deliveries received were added in, transfers out were taken off the stock count, and customer returns were reconciled. This new system raised awareness of the problem but in itself did not solve it. Introducing a reporting system of notifying known losses, such as a snatch of product from a piece of equipment, also helped raise awareness of stock loss problems. Staffs were encouraged to report known losses in a blame-free environment in order that a picture of losses could be developed. Standards of reporting these were explained and the management team reported unusual levels of loss to regional management on a daily basis. The second stage of analysis demonstrated that dresses were going missing on a specific day of the week, normally when a new delivery of dresses had been received. Re-allocating staff to this danger day helped, as did the introduction of hourly counts which gave further evidence of the loss occurring towards the end of the day when staffing levels were at their lowest. Ensuring the dress department was always staffed, promoting dresses prominently, but not in locations near to exits and entrances which precipitated easy theft, all helped stem the losses. The process of solving the problem (as shown in Figure 4)

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Figure 4 Worked example two

Scope of the Study

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It aims to unfold the importance of the retail operation in the store.

It also provides a model for the mangers to improve the performance of the store.

It also helps the manger to effectively and efficiently run a store.

The research will limit itself to stores only in Mumbai.

The store managers perception and authority influence over elements of the five Ss significantly.

Conclusion

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With the Indian Retail Industry growing at such a fast pace & with the introduction of various new formats, which are inspired from the West, Retail operation has become the most critical tool to attract customers by giving them best service so that they keep coming back to your store. It is clear from this research that Five Ss definitely affects the consumer service. The overall consumer satisfaction depends upon the Five Ss (Stock, Staff, Space, Systems and Standards). It will also certainly influences the consumer behaviour & his perception about the store. Today the expectation of the consumer has increased drastically. They are demanding more than just a normal shopping. Going shopping is no longer a part of household chores; it has now become a leisure activity. And these inflated demands of the consumer can only be fulfilled by giving them an excellent shopping experience that can be achieved by store managers by adopting the Ishikawa model of Five Ss. This can only be achieved by concentrating not only on the Seven Ps of Service Marketing but also equal importance to the Retail operation.

Bibliography
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Search Engine/ Web site Used 1. www.google.com 2. www. imagesretail.com 3. www.indiaretailing.com 4. www.rai.net.in 5. www.aboutretailing.com Books Referred 1. Retail Management Gibson Vedamani 2. Why We Buy Underhill , Poca 3. Retailing Management Lewi & Weitz

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