PROJECT On MARKETING STRATEGY OF BIG BAZAAR

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INTRODUCTION Indian retail sector is witnessing one of the most hectic marketing activities o f all times. The companies are fighting for mind share and heart share which can finally be converted to market share. There is always a first mover advantage in an upcoming sector. In India, that advantage goes to Big Bazaar. It has brought ab out many changes in the buying habits of people. It has created formats which pr ovide all items under one roof at low rates, or so it claims. In this project, w e will study its marketing strategies. Big Bazaars main competitors are other business houses which are planning to ente r the market as well as long established Kirana stores which feel threatened by hu ge retail chains. BIG BAZAAR FOR THE GREAT INDIAN MIDDLE CLASS Kishore Biyani led the companys foray into organized retail with the opening up o f the Big Bazaar in the year 2001. It is a unit of Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd and caters to the Great Indian Midd le Class. It was started as a hypermarket format in Mumbai with approx. 50,000 s qft of space. Its values and missions are to be the best in Value Retailing by p roviding the cheapest prices and hence goes the tag-line Is se sasta aur achcha kahin nahin It sells variety of merchandise at affordable rates, the prices of which it clai ms are lowest in the city. Usually the items are clubbed together for offers as on the lines of Wal-mart and Carrefour and it also offers weekend discounts. It currently operates out of more than 100 stores and top 25 stores register a cumu

lative footfall of 30 lakh a month on an average.

4Ps OF MARKETING "Marketing" is the promotion of products, especially advertising and branding. M arketing practice tends to be seen as a creative industry, which includes advert ising, distribution and selling. Marketing mix is a deciding factor in formulating marketing techniques for the s uccess of a particular brand, commodity or company. The components of marketing mix are: Product Price Promotion Place PRODUCT: Big Bazaar offers the maximum variety for each category of product. The product is the same in every store in the city but the brand options are more in Big Baz aar. Also, the quantity for each product is not limited to large packs only. The commodities sold by the retail chain also includes its own products which get a r eady distribution network. The own products of Big Bazaar include My World fashi on magazine which is not available anywhere else. So costs are low for such prod ucts. PRICE: Price is the critical point in a competitive industry. Big Bazaar works on a low cost model. It considers its discounted price as its USP. There is an average d iscount of 7-8% on all items in respect to their MRP. Prices of products are low because it is able to secure stock directly from the manufacturer. There are hu ge synergies in terms of bulk purchasing, central warehousing and transportation . These all factors help the retailer to keep low prices. PLACE: Place means the location of the business. Big Bazaar has always worked on low-co st locations. It targets semi-urban population with its placement. Its strategy is to find a cheap location and it never goes for hot spots in the city. It reli ed on promotional activities to make up for unattractive locations. Another stra tegy used by Big Bazaar to overcome location disadvantage is use of internet. It has launched a merchandise retailing website www.futurebazaar.com which targets high-end customers ready to use credit cards. The promotion of this website is done through advertisement on Google. The website is put as sponsored link. PROMOTION: Big Bazaar has huge promotion budgets. The biggest idea behind all advertisement s is to make people do bulk shopping. There are 2 types of promotional strategie s of big bazaar. One is the holistic advertisement which promotes the brand and creates awareness among people. It is not targeted at promoting each store but o nly creates an image of Big Bazaar as low-cost shopping option. The store has ad vertised through TV, road shows and also started reality show-typed promotional campaign The Big Bazaar Challenge. Promotions like Sabse Sasta Din are a very succes sful strategy to get footfall. In this products across categories such as appare ls, furniture, electronics, utensils and food products at the lowest possible pr

ices, coupled with attractive promotional schemes. Some of the most attractive o ffers being a 20-litre branded microwave oven with grill for Rs 2,499, jeans and trousers for Rs 199 and HCL laptops for Rs 22,990. Other type of promotion is the particular store oriented promotion which include s speaking on the loudspeaker in nearby blocks. Leaflets are given in local news paper. There are promotional efforts even inside the store. Buy 2 Get 1 Free typ e of promotions are very common. Original prices are cut down and new prices are shown, of which customer takes quick notice. There are loyalty schemes which re ward regular clients. Promotion is also done through co-branded credit cards wit h ICICI bank. Big Bazaars New Marketing Strategy: Big Bazaar has launched new marketing strategy which is based on Guerrilla Marke ting. Guerrilla marketing warfare strategies are a type of marketing warfare str ategy designed to wear-down the enemy by a long series of minor attacks, using p rinciples of surprise and hit-and-run tactics. Attack, retreat, hide, then do it again, and again, until the competitor moves on to other markets. Herein guerri lla force is divided into small groups that selectively attack the target at its weak points. In the world of cut throat competition, corporate use extension of the same strategy in marketing. Corporate like Coke, Pepsi, etc have been using the same for quite some time now and the latest entrant is our very own Future G roup- Big Bazaar, Pantaloons, Future Bazaar, eZone are all part of this group and they are taking on the biggies like Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle, and Tatas Westside . In order to do the same, Future Group have come up with 3 catchy/cocky and cheek y ad campaigns which surely do catch our eyes and surely one cant resist apprecia ting the same. Keep West-aSide. Make a smart choice! Shoppers! Stop. Make a smart choice! Change Your Lifestyle. Make a smart choice! Future Expectations: Big Bazaar is planning to have 300 hypermarkets in the country by 2010-11. The c ompany may also increase its annual turnover to Rs. 13,000 crore by 2010-11, up from Rs. 3,600 crore last fiscal on the back of its expansion. The company has also gone on record saying that it would have another 35 stores by the end of its fiscal in June 2009 to take the total number to 135. To achiev e this they are targeting a turnover of Rs. 5,000 crore in the current fiscal ye ar and have formulated plans for reaching a figure of Rs. 13,000 crore by 2010-1 1 fiscal. For the expansion, the company would be looking at both the metros and Tier I ci ties, besides Tier II cities & smaller cities. The marketing strategy seems to be perfectly on track as the Big Bazaar hypermar kets had a footfall of 11 crore last fiscal and the company is aiming for an inc rease in the numbers up to 14 crore this year. The average size of a Big Bazaar hypermarket is 30,000 sq ft to one lakh sq ft. Advertising: The departmental store chain Big Bazaar has launched a commercial sometime back to promote The Great Exchange Offer . The commercial portrays how customers can exchange any old and broken items (junk) and get new products at a discounted p rice from Big Bazaar. The 30 seconds film unfolds through the eyes of a cabbie in a busy city street, he is intrigued by the disruptive visual of a well-dressed office executive carr ying a bundle of old newspaper and walking through a crowded place. The cabby then notices a young office going lady in western wear carrying a rust y bucket filled with broken utensils, the cabbie is absolutely confounded but co

ntinues to follow her with a broken tyre in his hand and comes across another ab surd situation of a highly placed executive in a chauffeur driven car with a bro ken commode on the top of the car. Penultimate situation reveals everybody is heading towards Big Bazaar for the ex change offer; the cabbie comes out of the store happy and excited after getting an amazing deal for his junk tyre. Moving images are interspersed with supers that hi-light the amazing prices a co nsumer can get for his junk. The sound track uses a typical kabada guy s shout a s he walks through City Street calling for junk. The month of January and February is generally a low-key affair in terms of cust omer footfalls and revenue generation. Innovative, out of the box promotions is one of the effective ways to draw customer attention and shore up the revenue. H istorically Exchange schemes have been used to induce better sales, it also has a strong appeal with the Indian mindset of getting value even for their junk, st ates an official release from Big Bazaar. Brand Ambassador: A brand ambassador is a celebrity (or an attractive or interesting person) used to help advertise a product or services. Big Bazaar, has roped in cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni as the Brand Ambassador for its new range of fashion apparel. Dhoni would feature in a series of adverti sements across all media. Dhoni and Big Bazaar have a lot of synergies as the In dian one-day international teams captain stands for the aspirations of youths, wh ile Big Bazaar is looked up to by millions of Indians to fulfill their aspiratio ns.

In this way, Big Bazaar make full use of the marketing mix for a new venture whi ch earlier belongs to the unorganized retail sector i.e. kirana stores. Applicat ion of the best marketing practices helps Big Bazaar in a great way. ________________________________________