Acknowledgement

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We would like to express our sincere gratitude towards our director sir and our Marketing Management teacher Dr. Shahid Akhtar provided us with such a knowledgeable project to work upon. I would like to extend our sincere thanks to them.

We are highly indebted to the Reliance Mart, Reliance Fresh, and Reliance Footprint for their guidance and constant supervision as well as for providing necessary information regarding the project and also for their support in completing the project.

We would like to express our gratitude towards our parents and teachers of our college for their kind cooperation and encouragement which helped us in completing this project successfully.

We would like to express our special gratitude and thanks to the industry persons for giving us such attention and their precious time.

Lastly, special thanks and appreciation also goes to the group members without whose new ideas and efforts this project could not be completed.

PREFACE

This project is a true and fair copy on the research on the market strategy of Reliance Retail. Starting with the introduction to reliance retail the project proceeds towards the company profile of reliance retail.

The country's second largest retailer after the Future Group, Reliance Retail runs about 1,200 stores across multiple formats in 86 cities covering six million square feet. Reliance Fresh, its fruit, vegetables and grocery stores, constitute the mainstay of its business and accounts for 50% of the 1,200 stores.

In addition, it operates a line of specialty stores across different format such as apparel (Trends), books (Timeout), consumer durables (Digital), footwear (Footprints) and jewellery (Jewels). Its other retail chains include joint ventures with Marks & Spencer, Vision Express and Hamleys, Big-bazar, vishal mega- mart.

Also, the corporate social responsibility has been discussed doing a SWOT analysis.

The future plans of reliance retail have also been discussed here.

The reason why reliance entered in the retail business is that In the past few years, looking at the evolution of the retail sector in India, Reliance Retail have changed their market strategies three to four times already.

For instance, while Reliance Retail had traditionally focused on smaller format stores, it is now stepping up its presence on big-box stores or hypermarkets that are built on about 60,000-80,000 sq. ft. and stock everything from food to apparel to furniture.

This project ends with the suggestions and conclusion to the Reliance retail.

DECLARATION CERIFICATE

AMRITA GOSWAMI (19)

HARSH VIJAY (03)

KUNDAN KUMAR(07)

MADHU KUMARI(14)

SHAILESH KUMAR (06)

SHILPA KUMARI BARANWAL (01)

RESEARCH ON RELIANCE RETAIL We declare that the project provided is not copied or published from anywhere. It contains all true and fair and to the best of our knowledge.

Signatures of students

LIST OF CHARTS AND FIGURES

CONTENT PAGE NO.

CHAPTER-1

 Introduction of the Project

CHAPTER-2  Objective, Scope & Limitations of the Study

CHAPTER-3  Research Methodology

CHAPTER-4  Data collection & Sources

CHAPTER-5  Findings of the study

CHAPTER-6  Conclusion

 Suggestion

Appendix

Bibliography

Questionnaire

INTRODUCTION 2

This project is all about marketing strategy applied by RELIANCE MART, RANCHI. Here we will deal with the organizational structure of reliance mart and brief knowledge about organised retail in India as well as Ranchi. The purpose of this training was to have practical experience of working within the organization, in the field of marketing and to have exposure to the important management practices in field of marketing. While writing this report the language has been keep simple and the entire discussion has been logical and has coherent outlines. The main motto of the project work was marketing strategy of Reliance Mart, Ranchi.

The project report is divided into several parts; first part consists of Introduction to Reliance Retail. In which company profile has been included with brief introduction to reliance mart. Next part consists of retail sector in India. This also deals with growth of organized retail in India. Third part includes the marketing strategy used by reliance mart. It includes their profit maximization strategy and how to retain their customer and how to increase the no. of customer. Now going through the CSR doing the SWOT analysis we come towards the market plan mix. At last this project contains the conclusion and suggestions.

Retail industry in india

Retailing in India is one of the pillars of its economy and accounts for 14 to 15 percent of its GDP. The Indian retail market is estimated to be US$450 billion and one of the top five retail markets in the world by economic value. India is one of the fastest growing retail markets in the world, with 1.2 billion people. India's retailing industry is essentially owner manned small shops. In 2010, larger format convenience stores and supermarkets accounted for about 4 percent of the industry, and these were present only in large urban centers. India's retail and logistics industry employs about 40 million Indians (3.3% of Indian population). Until 2011, Indian central government denied foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail, forbidding foreign groups from any ownership in supermarkets, convenience stores or any retail outlets. Even single-brand retail was limited to 51% ownership and a bureaucratic process. In November 2011, India's central government announced retail reforms for both multi-brand stores and single-brand stores. These market reforms paved the way for retail innovation and competition with multi-brand retailers such as Wal-Mart, Carrefour and Tesco, as well single brand majors such as IKEA, Nike, and Apple. The announcement sparked intense activism, both in opposition and in support of the reforms. In December 2011, under pressure from the opposition, Indian government placed the retail reforms on hold till it reaches a consensus. In January 2012, India approved reforms for single-brand stores welcoming anyone in the world to innovate in Indian retail market with 100% ownership, but imposed the requirement that the single brand retailer source 30 percent of its goods from India. Indian government continues the hold on retail reforms for multi-brand stores. June 2012, IKEA announced it has applied for permission to invest $1.9 billion in India and set up 25 retail stores. Fitch believes that the 30 percent requirement is likely to significantly delay if not prevent most single brand majors from Europe, USA and Japan from opening stores and creating associated jobs in India. On 14 September 2012, the government of India announced the opening of FDI in multi brand retail, subject to approvals by individual states. This decision has been welcomed by economists and the markets, however has caused a massive upheaval in India's delicate governance structure.

Growth of Retail industry in India

This graph shows the growth of retail industry in India starting from 2006- 2016. When reliance came into the organized retail there was very few corporate backed retail giants Like BATA. After 2006 when reliance came into this sector other players also came into existence eg:- Big Bazar, vishal mega-mart, subhiksha.

Contribution of retail industry in Indian GDP is 28% approx.

COMPANY PROFILE

RANCHI PROFILE OF RELIANCE MART DATE OF ESTABLISHMENT 14th Aug. 2007

REVENUE RS.2500-5000 crores MARKET CAPITAL US $27.4 billion HEAD QUARTER RCP STTC Industrial Area, Tanabelapur Road, Ghansoli , Mumbai - 400701 BRANCHES Over a 100 stores across India COMPANY TYPE HYPERMARKET MANAGEMENT TEAM Mukesh D. Ambani - Chairman & Managing Director Nikhil R. Meswani - Executive Director Hital R. Meswani - Executive Director H.S.Kohli - Executive Director Ramniklal H. Ambani Mansingh L. Bhakta Yogendra P. Trivedi Dr. D. V. Kapur M. P. Modi S. Venkitaramanan Prof. Ashok Misra Prof.Dipak C Jain Dr.RaghunathAnantMashelkar OVERVIEW Reliance Retail Limited (RRL), a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited under MukeshAmbani, is Reliance Group’s foray into organized retail. RRL is based on the growth strategy of backward integration, and it generates inclusive growth and prosperity for farmers, vendor partners, small shopkeepers and consumers. RLL is the second largest retailer in India. Its retail outlets offer foods, groceries, apparel and footwear, lifestyle and home improvement products, electronic goods, and farm implements and inputs. The company’s outlets also provide vegetables, fruits, and flowers.

SUBSIDIARIES &  Reliance Fresh - Retail Outlets of fruits, DIVISION UNDER Vegetables & Groceries RELIANCE RETAIL  Reliance Digital - Consumer Electronics retail Store  Reliance Jewels – Jewellery Reliance Time-out - Lifestyle store of Books, Music, Movies, Toys, Gaming, Fragrances,

DIVISION OF RETAILERS IN INDIA

The retail sector in India can be divided into two major categories:

1) Organized 2) Unorganized Marketing Strategies of RELIANCE MART

RELIANCE RETAIL LTD has launched its much-awaited hypermarket format (which also happens to be India’s largest hypermarket) called “Reliance Mart” at Iscon Mall, SG Highway, Ahmadabad on August 15. After the successful launch of the supermarket format ”Reliance Fresh” and the consumer electronics concept mega store “Reliance Digital”, the hypermarket is the third retail format launched by Reliance Retail.

Spread across 165,000 square feet of shopping area, Reliance Mart will provide the shoppers a never-before-experienced shopping delight. The hypermarket will carry a range of over 95,000 products catering to the entire family. Shoppers will have the option to choose from a wide array of products in every category ranging from fresh produce, food & grocery, home care products, apparel and accessories, non-food FMCG products, consumer durables and IT, automotive accessories, lifestyle products, footwear and much more.

Commenting on the launch, Shri. Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries Ltd, said: “Organized retail has the potential to trigger socio-economic transformation on an unprecedented scale in our country and will bring about enormous spin-off benefits to the Indian economy and its various constituents”.

“The launch of Reliance Mart is yet another step by Reliance Retail towards providing international shopping experience to all our customers at unmatched affordability, guaranteed quality and choice of products and services. Reliance Mart marks the achievement of another milestone in our effort to unleash a retail revolution in India.” Shri Ambani added.

Reliance Mart offers some unique services to the shoppers like tailoring, shoe repair, watch repair, a photo shop, gift services and laundry services, all within the store. The store also houses its own fresh bakery, serving “hot, off-the-oven” bread and bread products throughout the day and local savories, an ice-cream train for the kids, a chakki, ready-made batter and loose tea and pickle for the housewives. Reliance Mart will also sell fine jewelry and fashion jewelry as part of its lifestyle section.

Introduction to Retailing sector

Retailing sector of India can be split into two segments. They are the informal and the formal retailing sector. The informal retailing sector is comprised of small retailers. For this sector, it is very difficult to implement the tax laws. There is widespread tax evasion. It is also cumbersome to regulate the labor laws in this sector. As far as the formal retailing sector is concerned, it is comprised of large retailers. Stringent tax and labor laws are implemented in this sector.

If the retail industry is divided on the basis of retail formats then it can be split into the modern format retailers and the traditional format retailers. The modern format retailers comprise of the supermarkets, Hypermarkets, Departmental Stores, Specialty Chains and company owned and operated retail stores

The traditional format retailers comprise of Kiranas, Kiosks, Street Markets and the multiple brand outlets. The retail industry can also be subdivided into the organized and the unorganized sector. The organized retail sector occupies about 3% of the aggregate retail industry in India.

Size and contribution of the retail industry in India

In terms of value, the Indian Retail industry is worth $300 billion. India retail industry is the largest industry in India, with an employment of around 8%. Its contribution to the Gross Domestic Product is about 10%, the highest compared to all other Indian Industries. The retail sector has also contributed to 8% of the employment of the country. The organized retail sector is expected to triple its size by 2010. The food and grocery retail sector is expected to multiply five times in the same time frame. The major reason behind the low participation in the Indian retail sector is the need for lumpy investments that cannot match up their break even points. The government policies are being revised from time to time to attract investments in this sector.

The Indian Retail Industry — Sky is the limit In terms of the retail development index India ranks fifth. In Asia it occupies the second position, next to China. Among all the global markets, the Indian retail market is the most expanding. This is owing to absence in restriction at the entry level. So the large foreign companies can reap the benefits of economies scale by entering the green retail fields of India. There are many reasons why the retail industry in India can reach the zenith.

Firstly, the organized retail sector in India has a very low contribution to the entire retail sector in the country. Hence there is ample scope for the new players to achieve success in the backdrop of soaring disposable income of the upcoming generation. Secondly, not only have the incomes increased but there has been a sea change in the preferences of the consumers. These factors have acted as a stimulus for the ushering of foreign players retailing in apparels, accessories, electronic appliances etc. Large shopping malls have already mushroomed in the metropolitan cities. There still lies untapped potential in the Indian Retail Market. The size of retail industry in an economy depends on many factors and the level of consumer spending is the most important among these factors. The retail sector in India has grown by leaps and bounds in the last five years. The reason behind this growth has been the synergy of many propellants. However the growth is not always genuine as there are exaggerations as well. But these exaggerations also have benefits since they given a feel of growing competition all around. Secondly the present situation is just a depiction of nascent stage. The future of the trajectory may not be as steep as it is now or may be even slope downward. 'What will be the future size of the retail industry' is the mind boggling question. Another moot point that will gain importance in due time concerns the future of the unorganized retail market which constitute a significant proportion of the whole industry. The retail stores have proved to be a vantage point for the customers. This implies that the small farmers who used to sell their product in the sabji-mandis and on roadsides are going to lose a significant market share as they can't employ the two profit maximizes-economies of scale and economies of scope. Retailing in India: the present scenario

The present value of the Indian retail market is estimated by the India Retail Report to be around Rs. 12, 00,000 crore ($270 billion) and the annual growth rate is 5.7 percent. Retail market for food and grocery with a worth of Rs. 7, 43,900 crore is the largest of the different types of retail industries present in India. Furthermore around 15 million retail outlets help India win the crown of having the highest retail outlet density in the world. The contribution of retail sector to GDP has been manifested below:

Country Retail Sector's share in GDP (in %) India 10 USA 10 China 8 Brazil 6

As can be clearly seen, retailing in India is superior to those of its contenders. Retail sector is a sunrise industry in India and the prospect for growth is simply huge. There are many factors that have stimulated the rise of the shopping centers and multiplex-malls in a jiffy. Some of them can be listed as follows:

 Rise in the purchasing power of Indians- the rise in the per capita income in the last few years has been magnificent. This has led to the generation of insatiable wants of the upper and middle class. The demand of new as well as second hand durables has risen throughout the country thus providing the

incentive for taking up retailing.

 Favorable to farmers- retailing has helped in removing the middlemen and has thus enhanced the remuneration to farmers. This is a new revolution in the agricultural sector in India and will go a long way in amending the condition of agriculture, a major concern among policy makers.  Use of credit- a typical Indian is most conversant with using credit cards than carrying money. These have led to a shift of the consumer base towards supermarkets and make the payments in the form of credit.  Comfortable Atmosphere- a visit to a retail store appears to be more soothing for the generation-Y. People and kids prefer to shop in an air conditioned a tech savvy manner. The retail industry is the second largest employer in India. It currently employs about 7 percent of the total labor force in India. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram's recent statement “salaries ought not to be legislated” is a welcome move as most of the organized retail is in private hands. However only about 4.6% of the total retail trade is in organized sector. It generates about Rs.55, 000 crore ($12.4 billion). The major and minor players desperately need to work hard in this direction so that next time the figures look more decent. The government must also make an attempt to ameliorate the situation as political instability and infrastructure namely power and roads are the major roadblocks in the path of smooth functioning of the market. Retail sectors in neighboring countries:

China - The total sales from retail market in China reached US$755 billion in 2005. However organized retailing in China accounts for only 20% of it. Also the fragmentation of China's retail market is so high that top 100 retailers make up for only 10.5% of the total market. The registered sales of department stores grew by 25.7% and that of convenience stores grew by 36.5% in 2005. The Chinese retail market is expected to reach new highs as the population of strong middle class is expected to double by 2020 and mergers and acquisitions among retailers are3 going in great guns. The WTO restrictions are also expected to have a favorable impact on its retail sector.

Japan - total annual sales for the Japanese retail industry for 2003 amounted to JPY 133,273 billion. Japan had 1.2 million retail establishments in June 2004 and there were 42,738 specialty superstores. Between 2002 and 2004 annual sales per store increased by 3.8%. The growth was mainly driven by the grocery superstores but the number of superstores specializing in clothes gradually came down. The organized retail sector in Japan couldn't perform at its full efficiency because of collapse of the 'bubble economy' in the early 90s.

Retail Distribution in India

The distribution sector bridges the gap between the producer and consumer and thus forms a crucial link. Distribution of retail in India has multiple dimensions. Its uniformity is difficult to decide and easy to argue. Distribution in any sector is usually measured by the reach of its products to people. But in case of the retail sector in India it also implies the dispersion among the organized and unorganized spheres. The question of distribution hovers mainly around the intentions of private players to reach out to the less rich people. But the point that has caught the public eye recently is the ambiguous mood of the beneficiaries and the chauvinist government that produces civil service. Propagation of the retail sector:

The expansion of the retailing in India has been magnificent especially after the advent of liberalization and the abolition of licensing. A comparative study with other developed countries indicates that the retail sector has achieved a fantastic breakthrough in the Indian economy. India topped the A.T. Kearney's Global Retail Index in both 2005 and 2006as can be seen below: The GRDI Score as calculated by A.T. Kearney is a weighted average of market attractiveness, market saturation, country risk and time pressure. India had a GRDI score of 100 in both 2005 and 2006. Implying market potential and attractiveness. As the graph clearly depicts, India's contenders like Russia and China are nowhere in competition. This result has been obtained mainly because of a higher APC (Average Propensity to consume) of the Indian people. According to IMF, India has a APC of more than 60% while the corresponding figure for Japan is 57% and China is 39%. Also Indians tend to exhaust 40% of their consumer spending on groceries (foodstuffs). These figures are intensified by the fact that Indians have special preference for lifestyle products and they feel comfortable in buying against credit as the credit card and mortgage market has been growing by more than 30%.

We present the results from another survey below in order to strengthen our findings.

Availability of Retail Stores

Country Number of stores per 1,000 people India 22 Japan 10 USA 38

The above table reinforces our view that India has done a great job in retailing. One noteworthy point here is that Japan in spite of being one of the most densely populated countries has fared poorly than India. But this euphoria loses its charm if we compare the percentage of organized retail in the total value generated by the retailing sector.

According to international standards, a retail store is nominated as organized only when it features more than 10 employees. The above chart clearly portrays the miserable condition of India's organized retail A forecast of 40% annual growth in the organized retail sector seems sound. The number of shopping malls in India has grown from 1 in 2001 to 100 in 2005 but still more effort is needed to turn the predictions into reality. Studies have further showed that non-urban areas account for only about 15% of organized retailing So it is high time that the retail industries pay importance to diversification and reach out to non- urban markets. If they remain confined to the metropolis then they will soon hit a ceiling and will be able to grow no more. But at the same time they must realize that the rustic people are sceptic about the urbane lifestyle habits. The mega retail players will have to drop their policy of full extraction of consumer surplus and will have to employ the local people to overcome the myth that entry of a branded retail will displace the millions of traders, shopkeepers and hawkers. Protests must be welcomed and meetings encouraged making life easier. Retail markets in Germany, South Africa and many other countries allow 100% foreign investment in retail. This has helped in setting up of cash and in creating wholesale markets. However, in India, only 51% FDI is allowed in single-brand retail and that too with prior approval. In case of multi-brand retail, FDI is completely prohibited. This is a perfect beginning but foreign investment should be gradually liberalized to modernize farming and help farmers scale up. Moreover, restricting FDI for protecting mom-and-pop stores seems unjustifiable since Tata, Reliance and Bharti have already made a foray in the sector.

Components of Retail Sector

The major components of the retail sector are:

Food and Grocery, Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCGs), Consumer Durables, Apparel, Footwear and leather, Watches, Jewellery, and Health and Beauty

The anatomy of the retail market has shown that the clothing and textiles constitutes 39 per cent of the organised retail pie, followed by food and grocery, which accounts for 11 percent of the total retail market.

However, according to the survey conducted by KPMG for Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), among these, the food and grocery is expected to witness the fastest growth followed by clothing as the second-fastest growing segment.

Marketing Strategies

Marketing strategy is a method of focusing an organization's energies and resources on a course of action which can lead to increased sales and dominance of a targeted market niche. A marketing strategy combines product development, promotion, distribution, pricing, relationship management and other elements; identifies the firm's marketing goals, and explains how they will be achieved, ideally within a stated timeframe. Marketing strategy determines the choice of target market segments, positioning, marketing mix, and allocation of resources. It is most effective when it is an integral component defining how the organization will successfully engage customers, prospects, and competitors in the market arena. Corporate strategies, corporate missions, and corporate goals. As the customer constitutes the source of a company's revenue, marketing strategy is closely linked with sales.

Types of strategies

Marketing strategies may differ depending on the unique situation of the individual business. However there are a number of ways of categorizing some generic strategies. A brief description of the most common categorizing schemes is presented below:  Strategies based on market dominance - In this scheme, firms are classified based on their market share or dominance of an industry. Typically there are four types of market dominance strategies:

o Leader

o Challenger

o Follower

o Nicher

 Porter generic strategies - strategy on the dimensions of strategic scope and strategic strength. Strategic scope refers to the market penetration while strategic strength refers to the firm‟s sustainable competitive advantage. The generic strategy framework (porter 1984) comprises two alternatives each with two alternative scopes. These are Differentiation and low-cost leadership each with a dimension of Focus-broad or narrow.

o Product differentiation

o Market segmentation

 Innovation strategies - This deals with the firm's rate of the new product development and business model innovation. It asks whether the company is on the cutting edge of technology and business innovation. There are three types:

o Pioneers

o Close followers o Late followers

 Growth strategies - In this scheme we ask the question, “How should the firm grow?”There are a number of different ways of answering that question, but the most common gives four answers:

o Horizontal integration

o Vertical integration

o Diversification

o Intensification

Marketing Strategies of RELIANCE MART

RELIANCE RETAIL LTD has launched its much-awaited hypermarket format (which also happens to be India‟s largest hypermarket) called “Reliance Mart” at Iscon Mall, SG Highway, Ahmadabad on August 15. After the successful launch of the supermarket format ”Reliance Fresh” and the consumer electronics concept mega store “Reliance Digital”, the hypermarket is the third retail format launched by Reliance Retail.

Reliance Mart will also house a health and wellness store providing pharmaceutical drugs and other wellness products. For the shopper‟s convenience, the store has a cafeteria providing quality food and beverages for ready consumption, an ATM machine and a consumer service/membership desk to provide the customer a truly international shopping experience.

The hypermarket also launched a host of Reliance‟s own brands in select categories with superior quality and affordable prices like “First Class”, “Network, Netplay, Team Spirit” and Sparsh in Men‟s and Women‟s Formal / Casual and Ethnic wear, “DNM- X” in the jeans category for men and women, “Panda” for kids clothing and “ Grip” in the luggage section. The footwear category will carry “Zig” in formal wear. “Hi Attitude” for semi -formal, “Tosco” for party wear and “Monza” for the sports enthusiast. There are many products that will be exclusively available in Reliance Mart stores only.

Reliance Mart, with 61 check-out counters has for the first time in India introduced the Mobile POS system for faster check outs. This is aimed at reducing customer wait-time. The store planning, atmospherics and layout has been designed specifically to provide “a complete solution” to the customer. Reliance Mart will remain open from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., seven days a week. The store has over 400 highly skilled and trained customer sales representatives. Reliance Mart will continue to offer all its customers Reliance One, a common membership and loyalty program across all its formats, which follows the philosophy of „Earn Anywhere, Spend Anywhere‟. Reliance Mart will also provide easy and attractive finance options, including 0% financing for your purchases on select products. Reliance Retail plans to have a pan-India presence by opening over 30 Reliance Mart hypermarkets this year and over 500 by the end of 2010.

Services Offered It offers some unique services to the shoppers like tailoring, shoe repair, watch repair, a photo shop, gifting services and laundry services all within the store under one roof and also it has its own bakery shop. Reliance Mart will also provide easy and attractive finance options, including zero per cent financing for the purchases on select products. Reliance Mart will continue to offer all its customers Reliance One, a common membership and loyalty programme across all its formats, which follows the philosophy of 'Earn Anywhere, Spend Anywhere'.

Future Plans The next two hypermarkets are to be opened in Jamnagar in Gujarat and in the NCR by next month with plans to open 30 such marts by the year. Raghu Pillai, President and CEO (operations and strategy), Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) said the company is planning to set up 500 hypermarkets across 784 towns by 2010.

Strategy The hypermarket would be selling the products on EDLP (every day low price) basis at prices 15-20 percent lower than market prices. In order to grow faster and better in local markets with higher margins, it has focused largely on local brands instead of national brands or private labels. Local brands include Induben Khakrawala‟s Namkeens, Lijjat Papad, Wagh Bakri and Madhur (spices brand). This is in addition to 100 private labels that Reliance plans to display. Company‟s Sources says that the share of regional brands in the hyper marts would be over 10%.

Strengths Keeping local brands at the outlets is more profitable and also makes the supply chain more efficient. Being a bulk purchaser, Reliance Mart can offer products at very low prices. Also taking into consideration the local brands, the products at the outlets would be easily acceptable by the customers. And there would be comparatively less efforts needed by the marketer to explain the product to the consumers. Weaknesses In some cases, few regional brands strongly liked by the consumers offer lower margins than that offered by the national brands. It has to face a tough competition by big shopping malls i.e. Big Bazaar, Spencer Hyper, Vishal Mega Mart and the upcoming Wall Mart.

Advertisement & promotion:-

Because of having very powerful brand image reliance mart don‟t invest on digital media promotion. They use on print media only for make customer aware about their offers & loyalty programs. They distribute broachers at the entry of the store and sometimes in markets.

Popular Brands of Reliance Mart are:

Zeppelin : Mens Shirts & Fizzy Ladies & Kids Trousers Babe : Girls Kitaan Mens Shirts & Jasmine : Ladies & Kids Studio : Trousers Girls Blues & Mens Trousers Zero Kids Boys Khakis : Degree : Paranoia : Mens Shirts & T-Shirts Soil : Mens Shirts Chlorine : Mens Shirts Massa Mens Trousers Bay : & Bermudas

PRODUCT CATEGORIES HOME FURNISHING

Drawing Room Bedroom Door Mat Bed Sheet Carpet Pillows Curtains Pillow Cover Kitchen Bathroom Apron Bath Mats Kitchen Napkin Towel Gift Sets

FOOTWEAR

BOYS GIRLS Shoes Slippers Sandals Sandals LADIES MENS Shoes Shoes Slippers Slippers

MENS

Upper Lower Shirt Casual Jeans(MP) Shirt Formal Cotton Trouser(MPC) Ethnic & Sports Winter Wear Night Suits Suit(WMC) T-Shirts Blazer(WMB) Dupatta Windcheater(WMW) Sherwani Jacket

LADIES ACCESSORIES

Upper Lower Kurta Pants Jeans Skirt Top Capri Ethnic Winter Wear Nighty Jackets Lancha Stawl Sharara Blazer Salwar Suit Track Suit

INFANTS

Garments Accessories Hot Pant Bed Sheet Frock Under Garments Baba Suit Socks

WOMEN

Sarees Personal Items Fancy(SRF) Cap(LCA) Synthetics Socks(Las) Banarsi Jewellery Cosmetics Necklace LIp Gloss Ring Nail Polish

KIDS BOYS

Lower Sets Winter Wear Jeans Night Suit Suit Bermudas Baba Suit Blazer Dungries Jacket Upper Ethnic Shirt Formal Kurta- Pyjama T-Shirt Sherwani

KIDS GIRLS

Lower Sets Winter Wear Hot Pant Night Suit Hipster Set Skirt Capri Set Blazer Dungries Jacket Upper Ethnic Tops(GWT) Sharara Frock(GFK) Lancha

HOUSEHOLD

Dinner Set Jug Cake Server Home Aids Pressure Cooker Non Stick Floor Wiper Cooker Handi Sanitary Brush Pressure Pan Dosa Tawa General Plastic Electrical App. Bone China Goods Coffee Mug Chopper Soup Set Bucket Microwave Oven Dessert Set Glass Ware Thermo Ware Porcelain Cup Tiffin Cup & Saucer L$emon Set Container

LIFESTYLE

Time Zone Opticals Gifts & Novelties Ladies Wrist Ladies Sun Glass Flower Vase Watch Mens Wrist Mens Sun Glass Key Chain Watch Mens Accessories Electric & Perfume/Deo Electronics Items Belts Battery(ABT) Spray Wallets Calculator(EEC) Deo

TOYS & GAMES

Soft Toys Dolls Cycles & Scooters

Musical Toys Barbie Doll Cycles Non-Musical Other Dolls Scooters Board Games Infant Toys Video Games Wooden Blocks Teether T.V. Video Game Puzzles Swing Hand Video Game

FOOD MART

FOOD & BEVERAGES Snacks Drinks Cereals Vegetables Fruits

Objectives of Study

. To study the promotional strategies of Reliance mart

. To study the challenges and future prospects of Reliance mart

. To study the different Brand offerings by Reliance mart

. To study the distribution strategies of Reliance mart

Scope of study

This project gave us great exposure to the customer‟s perception to the marketing strategies adopted by the Reliance mart. Because it includes the service offered by them. The study also identifies the attitudes and preference of the consumers. The study also focused on Media through which the product reaches the consumers this project helped us in knowing the market practically.

Research Methodology

Research Methodology is a way to systematically solve the research problem. When we talk to research methodology we not only talk of research methods but also consider the logic behind the method we use in the context of our research results are capable of being evaluated either by researcher himself or by other.

The purpose of this section is to describe the methodology carried out to complete the work. The methodology plays a dominant role in any research work. The effectiveness of any research work depends upon the correctness and effectiveness of the research methodology.

This section deals with research design used, data collection, methods used and sampling methods used. Research design

A research design specifies the methods and procedures for conducting a particular research.

According to Ker linger “Research design is a plan, structure and strategy of investigation conceived so as to obtain answers to research questions and have to control variance.”

Our research design

We have chosen descriptive research design for our study because we have been provided with the project about the marketing strategies adopted by Reliance Mart.

To accomplish the predefined objectives of the research, descriptive research design is used to collect the require information from the sources. It‟s a fact finding approach generalizing a cross sectional study of the present situation.

Designing the questionnaire

Structured questionnaires and observation method have been used to conduct the research.

Sampling method

Specific sampling method was used to collect the data from the respondents because sample size is large. Customers & employees of Reliance Mart were selected for the survey.

Sampling unit

The data was collected from the Customers & employees by questionnaire and observation method in the Reliance Mart (Crown Interiors Mall) & Vishal mega mart (sec-31.faridabad)

Sample size

The data were collected from:

 50 customers  50 employees

Data collection:

There are two major methods of data collection:

 Primary data  Secondary data

In my research study I have used both primary as well as secondary data collection method. For primary data observation method is used, and for secondary data the sources used are books, journals, magazines and Internet. DATA COLLECTION SOURCES

PRIMARY SOURCE :- Primary data collection is used when there is need for collecting first hand data. In such cases, no adequate and usable data is available to the researcher. The following data have been collected by using following primary sources.

1. QUESTIONAIRE 2. COLLECTION OF DATA DIRECTLY FROM THE EMPLOYEES 3. OBSERVATION 4. INTERVIEW (1) TELEPHONE INTERVIEW (2) GROUP INTERVIEW

SECONDARY SOURCES:- Secondary data collection is used where adequate and usable data is available to researcher. Primary data collection by one person may become secondary data for another. The following secondary sources have been used in collecting information about the project.

1. MAGAZINES 2. NEWSPAPERS 3. WEBSITES

CRM POLICY OF RELIANCE MART CRM policy of reliance mart can be divided into four major parts, namely; 1) Customer loyalty 2) Customer retention 3) Customer communication 4) Customer gratification

There exists a blanket customer relationship programs called the reliance one membership program for the purpose of maintaining customer loyalty. The membership program is a very simple one where a willing customer is required to fill a form giving personal information and he gets a temporary card which will be made permanent after six months. On each purchase of Rs. 100 the customer gets one redeemable point on the production of card at billing counter. The collected points can be redeemed in form of discounts on future purchases on demand of the customer. The customers also get the opportunity of availing four different kinds of insurance on the payment of a nominal fee. For example a customer can get an accidental death insurance of Rs. six lacks on the payment of Rs. 400 only. Other forms of insurances are disability, hospitalization and home insurances. The members of reliance one get the opportunity of taking part and winning prizes by the way of lucky draws on regular intervals.

Customer retention policy implementation is at the zonal level. Generally each state is regarded as a zone and the offers and discounts in a zone are not available in other zones. Such policy helps reliance retail to understand and capture the local markets better. The products which show improvement due to offers and discounts on them are repeated with these offers again so as to retain the sales of the customers who bought it the last time. Also such the day‟s best offers are constantly announced in the store making the regular customers aware about them. Maintaining a good store ambiance is also a part of customer retention policy of reliance retail. Clean and hygienic environment with properly and well spaced products along with a uniform color theme attracts the existing customers to the store again and again. A fast billing system and good and easy grievance handling system which can be accessed thru customer service desk and company website ensures that customers feel satisfied with the store management. Less harassment to customers means better customer retention. Communication to existing customers takes the form of sums and e- mails, generally sent to reliance one members. They get information about ongoing offers and also information and latest news about their nearest stores and the company in general. Another source of customer database is the information collected during the organizing of special events in the stores. Customers participating in such events provide their contact information which are also used in form of database for communication purposes. Thank you and festive cards on special occasions are an innovative way of communicating with the customers. Trained salespersons make customer gratification very easy. A simple thank you with a smile goes a long way for the store to keep the customers happy. The special events organized by the stores across India are also a way to gratify the customers by allowing them to play and win prizes. Gift vouchers and discount coupons are an attraction for the customers and give them the feel that the store cares about them and their money. Local customers many a times make limited personal contacts with the store staff just like that made at a kirana store and help the store to some extent to maintain a relationship with the customers. The implementation of the policies brings out certain limitations in them. Few major ones are as follows The personal contact numbers of reliance one members are open to tele marketing calls from various marketers as they leak out of the reliance retail‟s database, causing unnecessary harassment to customers. The customer communication policy is less followed in small towns and cities and is more concentrated towards the metro cities. There is a common CRM policy for both reliance fresh and mart. This should not be the case as both the stores offer different kinds of merchandize and generally attract different kinds of customers.

Reliance retail generally delays the processing of permanent membership cards to those customers who have not paid for such a card. Customers have been waiting for over three months for their card. Those who have paid the nominal fee of Rs. 50 get their permanent card within 15 days but the rest who have optioned not to pay the fees do not receive the card until too late. Unmanned billing counters create long queues at the open counters. This creates impatiens in the customers as they expect faster billing at the stores and do not want to stand with too much of goods held in their hands while billing.

SWOT ANALYSIS

The SWOT analysis contains the

 STRENGTH  WEAKNESS

 OPPURTINITIES

 THREATS

Of any company. Now we see the SWOT analysis of Reliance Mart.

RELIANCE MART

Strengths:

 High quality,  latest in-style products,  international shopping experience  value for money pricing  loyal following  Own brand of merchandise, which is both trendy and individualistic.  new introductions every week  variety of designs and styles  exciting mix with a range extending from stylized clothes, footwear and accessories for men, women and children to well- co-coordinated table linens, artefacts, home accessories and furnishings.  Well-designed interiors, sprawling space, prime locations, lovely coffee shops add to the customers‟ shopping experience.

Weakness:

 Needs to expand faster to maintain market share  Size of the stores should be increased to stock more products.  Targets the middle-class segment. Higher class customers do not prefer west side.  Trent limited may not be able operate west side efficiently due to its other operations.

Opportunities:

 To survive in today‟s world globalization is important. Reliance mart has a wide opportunity to go more global to improve and expand its business.

 They also have the opportunity to consider more overseas supplier which will actually give them cost advantage, rather than suppliers available on a local level.  They also have the opportunity to maximize the use of available technology to improve their functioning and to gain competitive advantage.

Threats:  If the unorganized retailers are put together, they are parallel to a large supermarket with no or little overheads, high degree of flexibility in merchandise, display, prices and turnover.

 Shopping Culture: Shopping culture has not developed in India as yet. Even now malls are just a place to hang around with family and friends and largely confined to Window-shopping.  Cultural Variation leads to variation in merchandise in India at different geographical locations.  Competition from future group and various other retail stores which are growing rapidly.

INDIAN CONSUMERISM

The lifestyle and profile of the Indian consumer is going through a rapid transformation. The population of India is young, energetic and full of enthusiasm. 50% of the Indian population is under the age of 25. There has been a transition from price consideration to quality and design, as the focus of the customer has changed. The upper and middle- class population of today needs a feel good experience even if they have to spend a little more for that. People are moving towards luxury and want to experiment with fashion and technology. There is an increasing need of better apparels, cars, mobile phones and consumer durables.

The food & grocery, clothing, consumer durables and books & music sectors are the major retail sectors. However, unorganized small outlets largely control the sector. Hence there is tremendous potential for the organized sector in various formats, such as hypermarkets, supermarkets, specialty stores, category killers and discount chains.

FINDINGS

1. The choice of a store location has a profound effect on the entire business life of a retail operation. A bad choice may all but guarantee failure, a good choice, and success. 2. Choosing a retail location is, at best, a risky undertaking. Considering the consequences of choosing a location that proves to be unsuitable, it pays to get as much assistance as possible. According to a survey more than 60% of the customer prefers to shop in a retail store which is easily accessible to them. 3. Advertising plays a very important role in achieving growth for any retail company. This is evident from the fact that Advertising by Retail Industry registered a rise of 14 percent during January - May 2009 over January - May 2008. 4. The right location, trained manpower, software assistance, product with a distinct differentiation, a strong value proposition, efficient supply chain management - these are the factors that influence the success of a retail outlet. With competition in this segment increasing, differentiation and a strong value proposition assume significance. Retail chains are realizing that they cannot be another „me-too‟ store. The differentiation today among the 5-6 retail chains has come through private labels, which in some cases account for as much as 70 per cent of the total merchandise in the outlet. 5. Variety offered by any retail store is of very much important to attract all type of customers in the stores. A large variety of products caters to each segment of customers. 6. Shopping experience within a store also has a great impact on selecting a product from a particular retail store. Overall ambience includes infrastructure facilities provided by the store such as air conditioners, lighting etc. Pricing is in fact a dramatic controller of at least 3 key strategic elements to any company's success: Company‟s image, the product and services company sells and consumer behavior. The Importance of Pricing their Products' will give them an insight into developing appropriate costing methods and the impact of getting it wrong in today's competitive creative market. This topic should be of interest to anyone who is unsure if they are getting it right. Remember the difference between:

1. Over or under-pricing their work can mean a very short future for any business. Approximately 60% customers think that Price is the most important factor while they go for shopping in a retail stores 2. Quality in everyday life and business, engineering and manufacturing has a pragmatic interpretation as the non- inferiority, superiority or usefulness of something. This is the most common interpretation of the term. The quality of a product or service refers to the perception of the degree to which the product or service meets the customer's expectations. Quality has no specific meaning unless related to a specific function and/or object. Quality is a perceptual, conditional and somewhat subjective attribute. And in addition to that, more than 90% of customers place quality as the most important factor than anything else in the list to shop in a retail store. 3. More than 70% of customers place variety as an important factor to shop in a particular retail store. 4. Brands name bears an important role while shopping of any type of goods. So building a brand for a retail store is important as 80% of customer still prefer to buy branded clothes in the retail store instead of local or unbranded clothes.

CONCLUSION

Given the developments and prospects, the Indian retail sector is in its nascent stage of evolution. While there are obstacles, there are clear opportunities in modern retailing in India. There are many lessons that India can take from other countries, which have moved along the path of retail evolution. The retail sector has proved to be of immense significant from macro-economic point of view. The sector‟s capability to give strong growth momentum by creating multiplier effects on other sectors is not in dispute. It is now necessary to cautiously expand and develop the sector, as the government, at present, has done by permitting partial FDI in the sector. Given the scope, the retail sector is certainly expected to fetch the long-term economic benefits for the country.

The convenience and personalized service offered by the unorganized sector holds its future in good stead for the future. Organized retail of late has seen a tremendous boom and is attracting more people to the malls.

What is to be seen is how organized retail can duplicate the same level of personalized customer service levels offered by the unorganized sector to have a higher conversion ratio. The target audience for both the organized and unorganized retail formats remains relatively the same. When shopping in malls, people value the experience related to the trip the most and return most frequently for the same. Besides, while enjoying the experience they seem to buy high ticket and items of conspicuous consumption most frequently.

Gaining and maintaining consumer preference is a battle that is never really won. Continued and consistent branding initiatives that reinforce the consumer‟s purchase decision will, over time, land the product in consumer preference sets. Attaining and sustaining preference is an important step on the road to gaining brand loyalty

SUGGESTIONS

1. Include more trained sales person to help customers in the store while shopping. 2. Improve quality of the products especially clothes. 3. Play good songs or soothing music in the store rather than cheap filmy songs. 4. Customer care service can be introduced 5. More branded products can be displayed in the store as people still prefer branded clothes than offered by local vendors. 6. Constant reminder of discounts through pamphlets, speakers inside the store for inducing consumers for impulse buying. 7. Add more cosmetic products as its having a huge market of consumers attached to it. 8. Display of product should be improved so that the product is easily visible to the consumers. 9. Proper advertisement in press and outdoor to make Vishal Mega Mart should be visible in the eyes of consumers. 10. Should have parking spaces in front of every store. 11. Hire more salesgirls as in ladies section its very difficult for both the consumers and salesman to interact with each other. 12. Regular training to sales person to improve there overall performance. 13. Customization of clothing should be given an important consideration. 14. Proper packaging and provide contrast labelling in displays of product. 15. Should apply electronic supply chain management for better inventory management. 16. Proper power back up as air conditioners are not working to their full capacity at many stores. 17. Proper placements of Gondola in the stores as space between them are very less. 18. Proper display in the gondola and top most rack of the gondola should be used for storing of inventory rather than display of product. 19. Should provide more festival schemes and at proper time. 20. Should use psychological pricing-more discounts by increasing the price 21. Proper display of cutlery items 22. Clothes should be in sync with fashion.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

Although it would have been nice to conduct a perfect research study, but this study is conducted under certain limitations, which were faced while doing this research. So it is highly recommended to consider these limitations while going through the project study.

These limitations are as follows

1. LIMITATION OF DATA

The statistical data regarding the city was not available to us on secondary source of data and to generate such data on the primary source was a task, which cannot be achieved in such a

short time.

2. LIMITATION OF TIME

The limitation of time was another constraint in the study as the study had to be conducted in few days therefore many aspects have been left unexplored. Research period is not just much enough to know fully about the strategies & consumers perception

3. INHIBITIONS OF THE RESPONDENTS

The respondents did not reply the question with precision as they were busy with their own work or they were not interested in taking part in such a research. Employees sometimes feel hesitated while telling about their view about their marketing strategies.

4. RESEARCH HAS BEEN CONDUCTED

IN A LIMITED AREA

The research has been conducted for the reliance mart(Maru Tower, Kanke Road) but not all their retail outlet have been covered therefore it has been mentioned that the research has been conducted in a limited area.

5. THE SAMPLE SIZE IS LARGE

The sample size taken of the respondents is large therefore a very rough picture of their marketing strategies has been generated therefore this limitation has to be considered in the study.

These limitations were very common and yet we came across these with a positive note and the subsequent chapters in this report shall explain the rationality behind the structural compilation.

WEBLIOGRAPHY

1. www.reliancemart.com 2. www.ril.com>bussiness 3. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reliance_Fresh 4. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Reliance_Mart 5. www.scribd.com/.../marketing-strategies-adopted-by- reliance-mart-vi... 6. www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/states/article3847767.e ce 7. www.customercareinfo.in/reliance-retail 8. relianceworld.in/ 9. www.offersincities.com/product.php?id_product=79 10. www.reliancedigital.in/returnpolicy.html

REFERENCES

1. The Hindu 2. Times of India 3. Economic Times 4. Reliance Fresh Bahubazar 5. Reliance Fresh Plaza 6. Reliance Mart Kanke 7. Reliance Footprint Upper Bazar