RETAIL SELLING SKILLS REPORT

LIFESTYLE, THANE (VIVIANA MALL)

COMPILED BY Chandraveer singh shekhawatROLL NO 46

INDEX

Sr. no.TopicPage no.

1About the store3

2About the mall/ Location4

3Human resources5

4Inventory management8

5Visual merchandising9

6Consumer interaction and observation10

7Conclusion11

ABOUT THE STORE

Lifestyleis anIndianfashion retailer chain promoted by theLandmark Group. It started in the year 1999 with its first store in located inChennai.It has rapidly grown to a major retail store in India. Lifestyle Stores is headquartered atBangalore,Karnataka. It now operates in 26 major cities of India with more than 43 stores.

Parent company: Landmark Group, DubaiYear of establishment: 1999 in IndiaHeadquarters: BangaloreManaging Director (India): Mr. Kabir LumbaNumber of stores in India: 41 stores across 26 cities.In keeping with the Group's tradition of making every shopping experience more rewarding and memorable, The Inner Circle, Landmark Group's loyalty programme allows members to enjoy exclusive benefits and privileges such as reward points and exciting offers.

Features of the store:

1. Lifestyle, Viviana Mall, Thane started operations in 2013.2. The store has approx. 150 brands with a host of private labels like ginger, Paprika, Tresmod etc spread across 42000 sq.ft floor space with carpet space of 52,000 sq ft.3. All the cosmetic brands follow store-in-a-store concept.4. The store brings under one roof, five concepts: Ladies fashion Mens fashion Footwear Kids fashion Lifestyle 5.Its a two floor store with lifestyle products and men section at bottom whereas women section, baby section as well as shoe mart on first floor.

ABOUT THE STORE LOCATION/MALL

ADDRESS:Viviana Mall, Voltas Compound, Pokhran Road No.2,Subhash Nagar, Next to Jupiter Hospital,Eastern Express Highway,Thane (W)-400 610, Maharashtra.Timing:11:00hrs-21:30hrs

Viviana Mall(Vivacity), one of the largest malls in India, is set to become every shoppers dream destination. Built on prime land in the district of Thane, the mall is a first of its kind, not only in terms of its sheer size but also in terms of the quality of retailers and the overall shopping experience it has to offer. With 7 main-anchors, several mini-anchors and 150 shops, the mall offers shoppers one of the widest variety of brands. It also has enough food kiosks, cafes and fine dining restaurants to satisfy any demand or craving of its customers. And with unlimited entertainment provided by the multiplex and the entertainment center, the Vivacity experience is sure to keep them discoveringendlessly.

HUMAN RESOURCESTotal no. of employees in the store: 150

Division of responsibility

Responsibilities of the store manager1. Completes store operational requirements by scheduling and assigning employees; following up on work results.2. Maintains store staff by recruiting, selecting, orienting, and training employees.3. Ensures availability of merchandise and services by approving contracts; maintaining inventories.4. Co-ordinates and executes in-store marketing activities like advertising, sales promotion, and display plans.5. Secures merchandise by implementing security systems and measures.6. Maintains the stability and reputation of the store by complying with legal requirements.7. Determines marketing strategy changes by reviewing operating and financial statements and departmental sales records.

CUSTOMER CARE ASSOCIATES (CCAS)

Minimum Qualification- Graduate (earlier it was 12th pass)

Responsibilities and regimes1. Maintaining product knowledge and communicating the same to the customers.2. Manage daily sales, meet sales targets and maintain efficient customer care services.3. Building rapport with customers in order to retain them.4. Inform customers about on-going sales, promotions and loyalty programs.5. Analyse processes, inform supervisor on issues that aggravate customer complaint.6. Monitor and resolve all customer issues efficiently.7. Assist customers to various departments according to inquiries.8. Keep a check on customers to prevent shoplifting.9. Display the merchandise on shelves, gondolas, etc.10. Change visual merchandising elements as and when asked to do so.11. Count the merchandise and resolve any issues with regards to the same in terms of searching for the missing merchandise, keeping an account of the merchandise on mannequins, etc.12. Maintenance of the merchandise in terms of regularly cleaning them, folding them and keeping them in place etc.

ChallengesAfter careful observations and interviewing CCAs, it was observed that they generally face the following challenges:1. A major chunk of customers are impulsive buyers and do not clearly know what they want to buy which makes it difficult for the CCAs to understand their requirements.2. Customers are not very interested in add-on services which many times they have to specifically sell.3. Customers may not be very comfortable with the presence or intervention of the CCAs. This makes it difficult for them to assist the customers.4. Even if the customer is rude or out of line, CCAs are not encouraged to ask for a higher authoritys intervention.5. They are answerable to the higher authorities for shrinkages which sometimes untraceable.6. During training, only product knowledge is given i.e. softer elements like customer services or selling skills are not paid much attention to. Therefore, CCAs face a tough challenge in terms of acquiring and retaining customers.

INVENTORY MANAGEMENTMerchandise1. The store follows the traditional system of two seasons- spring summer and winter collection.2. Largely, every 3 months the merchandise is changed. However as and when the respective brands come out with new designs, they are added to the range offered by the store.3. The stock is replenished every week.

Procurement1. The main distribution centre of the store is located in Bhiwandi, Mumbai.2. The stock of the concessionaires is maintained by the respective brand itself and not in the stores distribution centre. 3. All the entry with regards to the number of SKUs sold, orders, shrinkages, variances, conversions etc. are entered into a computerised system which is shared with the regional office regularly.

4. The Brand manager communicates the requirements to the inventory management department. Then a PO and a bill is generated.5. At the arrival of the stock a gate pass i.e. a document mentioning the details of the distribution centre, order, order quantity, cost, MRP etc., is generated, stamped and signed.6. As the merchandise arrives, the following people have to be necessarily present: The Head of Inventory management One employee from each department Store manager4. Security seal checks are made as soon as the stock arrives.5. Sometimes, the number of SKUs received may be lesser than the number ordered. In such cases, the number received is entered in the system.6. Every inward unit is scanned with the item code which directly is noted in the system.7. Defective products are returned to the distribution centre and the respective entry is made in the system.Unsold merchandise of the season is sent back to the distribution centre called as RTV (return to vendor)

VISUAL MERCHANDISING

1. The store has an in-store visual merchandiser and a regional visual merchandiser. Also every store has 2 Visual Display Associates (VDA).2. A theme, decided by the VM is followed every month- usually based on festivals and seasons.3. Props for decoration are outsourced on the discretion of the VM and also certain essentials are dispatched from the HO.4. Props are used according to the kind of merchandise displayed and the brand.5. In-store visual merchandise is changed every three-four days to let the customer not get a feeling of monotony.6. Every Tuesday a report is given to the regional office to ensure the necessary VM is done7. Planograms are provided by the HO for each concept for display of the store.8. In non-apparel section the, the VM is done by the brands that are prevalent.=

CONSUMER INTERACTION AND OBSERVATION

Some observations in the Non-apparelsection,1. MGD is used and customers are directed to the brand.2. Cosmetics and fragrance usually have a promoter at the entrance to bring customers to the section.3. CCA in the fragrance section are more knowledgeable and ensure that the customer is notified about the product in detail.4. CCAs use link selling majorly in the store and try to convert customers who show no intention of buying.;In the Apparel section,1. Staff initially only shows interest in understanding the customer, once sure of the customer need, proceeds with selling the best in the available range.2. Particularly in this concept, the Concept manager had trained his employees on th3e buying behaviour of customers and it was observed that it was being followed.

CONCLUSION

The visit to store and be there continuously gave us a slight view of what happens in the industry and how things are managed other than the selling problems and challenges faced by the people over there.Even after all the merchandise availability, facilities and other things sales team need to work in a very co-ordinated manner to achieve the targets.Also the working of each and every department was clearly explained to our team by the executives to make us understand the real working of the retail store.There are a lot of things to be managed in a store other than just procuring the right material cause display of the material in a right manner is also required and also a set of rules are followed to achieve the organisational goals.

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