Retail environment v/s Advertising

Well, these are the results of my first major survey-based research that was aimed at comparing the effectiveness of in-store promotions, visual merchandising (store environment in general) with that of mass media advertising and other marketing communication. I was all on my own on this one, running around surveying. It helped me make sure I get as relevant results as possible. I could also control the segments that I was researching.

I later took this forward and explored as many aspects of the contemporary retail industry as possible. Many of the later results were a combination of what I found on surveying and from the bibiliography listed below.

Wonder if anyone will rip me off though... but I hope that I get some good inputs and feedback rather than just have people copy this into word docs (in that case don't forget to remove Hyperlinks!!!)

Exec Summary Vara Indi

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For my surveys and for the full research email me: thapasjosepht@gmail.com

Time period - Dec 07 to Feb 08; Place: Mumbai

Results purely based on my survey:

1. The store environment matches and outperforms the mass media when it comes to customer influence. Thus private labels are on a level playing field with manufacturer’s brands.

2. Even though store environment has a lot of influence, the mass media marketing, if used effectively to form awareness and recall, definitely aids in sales even at the retail level. An integration of the mass media marketing and in-store promotions is necessary in order to avoid the dilution of the brand image, seen especially in the case of overdoing retail promotions.

3. Organized retail falls behind traditional retail by being impersonal and having no ‘face’.

4. Location dictates sales in the current scenario.

Results from survey and other sources

1. The emergence of private labels is going to give FMCG players tough competition, resulting in them going to traditional retail and ‘jazzing it up’ in return for patronage.

2. New hybrid formats (large format kirana store etc…) are emerging which are looking for more innovative competitive positioning.

3. Home-grown department stores, which grew from small to large-format, enjoy the advantage of an established rapport as well as the ability to offer a more exhaustive product range.

4. Sampling and store activities are yet to catch up in India to full-scale

5. Cash and carry systems are a good option to help traditional retail catch up with modern retail faster.

Methodology

I took two highly advertised FMCG brands and tested recall and associations in different environments - traditional retail, modern retail and non-shopping. Consumers who responded were those who had actually made the purchase decision (in case of families, I asked the incomed member, who prompted them to buy the product and then interviewed him/her).

I also did elaborate interviews with managers of different retail formats (for which I was accussed of several unheard of methods of espionage). But anyway, I used my chipped-tooth smile and charming South Indian accent and finally won over them ;)

Bibliography

1. The Business World Marketing Whitebook 2007-2008.

2. USP Age October 2007

3. The Economic Times

4. Outlook December 31, 2007

5. Images Retail December 2007 – Special edition on the 20 retail concepts of 2007.

6. Retailer December 2007.

7. It happened in India – Kishore Biyani.

8. The Knowledge Company Retail Research Results

Interview References

1. Harish Bijoor – C.E.O, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc.

2. Rodney Fitch – Chairman, Fitch Design, WPP

3. Kishore Biyani – Chairman, Future Group

4. Prof. Dwarika Prasad Uniyal – Asst. Professor (Retail) MICA

5. Gurpreet Wasi – C.O.O, Go Fish Retail Solutions.

6. Partho Dasgupta – C.E.O, Future Media (I) Pvt. Ltd.

7. Shailesh Chaturvedi – C.E.O, Tommy Hilfiger Apparel India

8. Sonia Manchanda – Design Director, Idiom Design (affiliated to future group)