1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1.

1 OBJECTIVE: Main Objective

The study is aimed at studying the growth of private labels in stores of Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle and Pantaloon India and the factors that affect the consumers buying decision towards these brands.

Sub-Objectives
i) Estimate the ratio between quantities of private label products and national label products available in these stores. ii) Identifying the space allocation, placement of product and of the private labels in the store.

iii)

Understanding consumer buying behavior for private label versus national labels.

1.2 METHODOLOGY: 1.2.1Type of research used: descriptive research 1.2.2 Data Collection:
i) Primary data are originated by a researcher for the specific purpose of addressing the problem at hand. The primary data source for this study is the questionnaire developed for the customers of the stores and personal observation.
ii) Secondary data are data which have already been collected for purposes other than

the problem at hand. These data can be located quickly and inexpensively. The secondary data sources used in the study are e-newspaper articles, online retail magazines and journals and online databases like ebsco-host. The research follows quantitative and qualitative approach.

1.2.3 Sampling Process:

Sample size: customer survey sample size of 50 customers each of Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle and Pantaloon in Hyderabad.

Sampling Technique:
Probabilistic Sampling for the customer survey will be followed.

1.3 FINDINGS
1. Majority of the customers like to visit the stores monthly as well as once in 2 weeks to make purchases of clothes and accessories and thereby stores offer something new to the customer on a continuous basis and must have availability of stock.

2. There is a substantial awareness of the private labels of the stores among the customers of these stores and the leading private label of Pantaloons is John Miller, of Shoppers Stop is Stop and of Lifestyle are Life and Ginger.

3. Private labels are not as widely advertised as the national labels are and it could be act as a hindrance to its awareness.

4. The best seller private labels of these stores are : Bare & John Miller from Pantaloons Stop & Kashish from Shoppers Stop Mlange & Ginger from Lifestyle

5. Quality of private labels does not exceed the quality level of national labels, however it is satisfactory and customers are satisfied with it.

6. Customers have to pay the same price for private labels as they would for national labels followed

7. Private labels offer : Similar designs as are also available in national labels. Better deals to its customers in comparison to national labels.

8. Majority of people prefer to shop at Lifestyle store.

9. The attribute of brand name is very important consideration for the customers before purchasing or shopping from these stores.

10. The attribute of price is not the most important consideration but a fairly important consideration for the customers before purchasing or shopping from these stores.

11. The attribute of quality is of prime consideration for the customers before purchasing or shopping from these stores.

12. The attribute of design or trend is a fair but not important consideration for the customers before purchasing or shopping from these stores.

13. The attribute of brand name is not the most important consideration but it is fairly important consideration for the customers before purchasing or shopping from these stores.

1.4 CONCLUSION
Customers are aware of the private brands and frequently purchase these brands. Private labels are competing with national brands on providing better deals and lesser prices with similar quality and designs as found in national labels. These labels have potential to give good competition to the national brands and must focus on brand building activities. They are growing in awareness but are yet to be accepted by the Indian Customer.
3

2. INTRODUCTION 2.1 BACKGROUND

Twentieth century was the century of manufacturer brands. Initially, consumers bought manufacturer-endorsed brands as symbols of quality, trust, and affluence. Subsequently, these brands were consumed as symbols of aspirations, images, and lifestyles. Manufacturer brands reached consumers through distributors and retailers. For most of the twentieth century, retailers were relatively small, compared with their largest suppliers. This allowed branded manufacturers to ride a wave of quality products, innovation, and mass advertising to establish their power over distribution channels. Manufacturers exploited this power over retailers by becoming branded bulldozers, forcing retailers to accept their products with the associated price and promotion policies. 1 Retailers were usually given the classic take it or leave it choice.

Ascendancy of Retailers and Private Labels

Sometime in the 1970s, things began to change, albeit slowly, as retailers started to develop national chains. Some retailers, like Ahold, Carrefour, and Metro, even began to expand internationally, and consolidation of the retail industry from mom-and-pop stores to global players was well under way. Spurred by these pioneers, retailers of consumer packaged goods (CPG), such as Aldi, Auchan, Costco, Lidl, Makro, Tesco, and Wal-Mart, plunged eagerly into global markets over the last two decades of the previous millennium.

Apparel is one of the largest sectors for private labels. Private label or store brands now account for 45 percent of total U.S. apparel unit sales, up from 39 percent just two years ago and 35 percent five years ago. In categories like womens skirts and childrens clothing, the share of private labels is more than 65 percent.11This is partially driven by the resounding success of several private-label-only retail formats such as Gap, H&M, The Limited, and Zara. In response to the value provided by such specialty retailers, upscale department stores like Bloomingdales and Macys are also increasing their percentage of sales from store brand merchandise.

Private labels are slowly becoming the protagonist in the big Indian retail growth story. Taking cue from the West, Indian retailers are also churning out newer ways to increase their profit marginsone such initiative is the introduction of in-house brands. With Indian customers increasingly accepting these private label brands, they would soon be major contributors to the profits of Indian retailers.

2.2 OBJECTIVE: Main Objective

The study is aimed at studying the growth of private labels in stores of Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle and Pantaloon India and the factors that affect the consumers buying decision towards these brands.

Sub-Objectives
i) Estimate the ratio between quantities of private label products and national label products available in these stores. ii) Identifying the space allocation, placement of product and of the private labels in the store. iii) Understanding consumer buying behavior for private label versus national labels.

2.3 LITERATURE REVIEW:

Twentieth century was the century of manufacturer brands. Initially, consumers bought manufacturer-endorsed brands as symbols of quality, trust, and affluence. Subsequently, these brands were consumed as symbols of aspirations, images, and lifestyles. Manufacturer brands reached consumers through distributors and retailers. For most of the twentieth century, retailers were relatively small, compared with their largest suppliers. This allowed branded manufacturers to ride a wave of quality products, innovation, and mass advertising to establish their power over distribution channels. Manufacturers exploited this power over retailers by becoming branded bulldozers, forcing retailers to accept their
5

products with the associated price and promotion policies. 1 Retailers were usually given the classic take it or leave it choice.

Ascendancy of Retailers and Private Labels

Sometime in the 1970s, things began to change, albeit slowly, as retailers started to develop national chains. Some retailers, like Ahold, Carrefour, and Metro, even began to expand internationally, and consolidation of the retail industry from mom-and-pop stores to global players was well under way. Spurred by these pioneers, retailers of consumer packaged goods (CPG), such as Aldi, Auchan, Costco, Lidl, Makro, Tesco, and Wal-Mart, plunged eagerly into global markets over the last two decades of the previous millennium.

Apparel is one of the largest sectors for private labels. Private label or store brands now account for 45 percent of total U.S. apparel unit sales, up from 39 percent just two years ago and 35 percent five years ago. In categories like womens skirts and childrens clothing, the share of private labels is more than 65 percent.11This is partially driven by the resounding success of several private-label-only retail formats such as Gap, H&M, The Limited, and Zara. In response to the value provided by such specialty retailers, upscale department stores like Bloomingdales and Macys are also increasing their percentage of sales from store brand merchandise.

Private labels compete on quality Gap has introduced the 1969 label, which retails at twice the price of most Gap jeans, while The Limited has launched Seven7 jeans to compete against designer jeans by Calvin Klein, Diesel, and Hugo Boss.

Private labels are brands Brands give us meaning in our role as consumers. Consumers want brands for the quality assurance and the emotional satisfaction they provide. Any product that is not a brand will inherently have limited market appeal. However, brands do not necessarily have to be manufacturer brands. They can also be store brands. And this is what has happened over the last decade as retailers became bigger and more sophisticated and their private labels became more ubiquitous and successful providing the necessary mass for investments in
6

branding activities. Retailers now position their private labels as brands in their own right. Their store brands are increasingly imbued with emotion and imagery rather than only with the functional logic that dominated private labels a generation ago. (Source: Private Label Strategy, harvard Business school press Boston, Massachusetts)

Private labels in India in apparel According to Images Retail Report 2009, as quoted in "Indian Retail: Time to Change Lanes" by KPMG; private label brands constitute 10-12% of organized retail in India. Of this, the highest penetration of private label brands is by Trent at 90%, followed by Reliance at 80% and Pantaloons at 75%. Big retailers such as Shoppers Stop and Spencers have a penetration of 20% and 10% respectively. Globally, store brands constitute nearly 17% of retail sales. In fact, international retailers such as Wal-Mart and Tesco have 40% and 50% of in-house brands in their stores. (Refer Table 1) Lifestyle International Ltd, part of the Dubai-based retail firm Landmark Group, is betting big on its private label apparels labels Forca, Club Hopper, Fame Forever, Ginger, Junior and Melange and furniture label Home Centre. They are expected to contribute 25-30% to total turnover in a year or two. Department store chain Lifestyle owned ethnic wear private label Melange, which clocked 100crore revenue in three years since its inception, will be spun off as exclusive brand outlets. Lifestyle, which earns 40% margins on its private labels, is the second retailer after Future Group to spin off private labels into exclusive brand stores. Future Group launched its mid-priced mens private label, John Miller, as a stand-alone brand in 2008.

Exclusive brand stores enable higher impulse sales in categories such as accessories as the consumer does not have other brands to compare with. Retailers tend to expand their range under a private label to tap this. These labels are often priced lower even while expanding on their own. Lifestyle stores sell womens t-shirts, kurtis and mens shirts starting Rs 99, Rs 299 and Rs 199, respectively.
7

The contribution of private labels has been increased from 18-20 per cent two years ago to 25 per cent now. Profit margins on private labels for a retailer can be as high as 50 per cent, way above the 20-25 per cent offered by other brands. Pantaloons thus get 50-60 per cent of its business from private labels. With its private labels giving it higher margins and revenues, Pantaloon Retail is planning to spin them off into individual store brands in the near future. The retail major has identified four of its leading private labels to add to its retail format considering the healthy growth rates registered by each of them. Labels such as John Miller, Bare, Ajile and Rig have been shortlisted to make a foray into the retailing industry as standalone format stores. Shoppers Stop has a range of Private Labels across Men's casual wear to formals to Women's wear. Private Labels contribute a mere 20% to its Total Sales. In comparison, Private Labels contribute around 85% of Pantaloons' Total Sales. These are the Private Labels Sold in Shoppers Stop outlet:

Kashish - Mens's Ethnic Wear Stop - Western Wear - Men & Women Life - Mens Casual Wear , Jeans Wear Mario Zegnoti - Men's Formal Wear Acropolis - Men's Formal Wear Push and Shove - Eye Wear Vettorio Fratini - Premium Men's Wear

SSL's Private Labels registered Sales growth of 17% in FY2009, but contribution from the same dipped albeit marginally to 19.9% in FY2009. Shoppers Stop has several in-house brands and these products are not differentiated from the other brands in terms of store space. Price tag: These products were priced substantially lower than the other brands.

'Life' T-shirts for men from Shopper's Stop range from Rs 349-699, while 'Stop' ladies western wear is available for Rs 299-699. Factors affecting growth of private labels The reasons for the development and success of these private labels are:

1) changing consumer habit: one impediment to private label programs in fashion retailing has been the belief that stores have to carry a broad selection of styles to satisfy diverse consumer interests. 2) Information technology: one of the obstacle to private label program in the field of fashion used to be that it represented high level of risk. Dealers had to make commitments well in advance of selling season and later they could not return private label merchandise nor get markdown allowance from vendor. Availability of better information has reduced this risk significantly. 3) Changing consumer taste: the ageing of baby boom generation has produced shifts in apparel demand. The industry way tells consumers about latest fashion have also shifted. Music, videos, point of display has taken on greater importance in educating customer and promoting new styles.

(Source: private labels are back in fashion, Walter J. Salmon and Karen A.Cmar)

Private Label products have a higher gross margin and retailers believe this means theyre making more money. Private Label products are priced anywhere from 20 to 70 percent lower than the national brand. Even with larger discounts, Private Label products achieve a higher gross margin percent than the branded competition. Private Labels low prices do not equate to or increase sales. Neither does it increase market share. This confirms price is not the sole factor consumer use in selecting products. If the consumer determines the product performs in their household in an equivalent or acceptable fashion the quality is the perceived as equal. The second factor is packaging for Private Label. Products must be competitive and current in design.

The dominant pricing philosophies are Velocity and Size. The Velocity philosophy establishes a lower selling price for faster selling items and a higher one for slower selling items. The Size philosophy establishes a lower price per unit for the larger packages. Over-arching these two philosophies is a minimum and maximum gross margin range for the category. Private Label products are typically priced off the leading item. Since these leading items are priced off of competition, philosophy and gross margin range, the effect is Private Label products are reflective and not independently priced. The results are a significant opportunity for retailers. Comparing competition prices has limited value for pricing Private Label products. Few if any consumers actually compare Private Label prices among retailers. The reason for this is that it is extremely difficult for consumers to make a product quality comparison (Source: Is private label pricing the way to go? , W. Frank Dell II, CMC)

Consumer Behavior Manufacturers build their power through customer loyalty. Loyal consumers are more likely to pay full price for their favorite brands and look for them in any store they shop. If not found, they may shop elsewhere. Retailers acquire power similarly through the strength of their appeal to consumers. In recent years, private label brands have aided this end by building unique consumer interest in their stores. Similarities or differences in consumer reactions to national brand promotions and private labels may be ascertained by identifying antecedents to them both. As shown below.

10

Value consciousness has been defined as a concern for paying low prices subject to some quality constraint product value is often characterized as the ratio of the perceived quality of a product divided by the price paid for that product.

For private label brands, promotional messages used by retailers often focus on encouraging consumers to use product value as the determinant attribute in private label evaluations, rather than absolute quality perceptions or quality inferences associated with national brand names. It also has been suggested that where consumers balance price and quality there is a more favorable attitude toward private labels. Thus, given the literature on price and value relationship and empirical research that has identified value-related measures as positively related to private label attitude; we conclude that consumer value consciousness should directly and positively affect attitudes toward private label products. (Source: Antecedents of private label attitude and national brand promotion attitude: similarities and differences Judith A. Garretsona, Dan Fisherb, Scot Burtonc )

11

Recent literature in business suggests three broad sets of reasons that potentially underlie consumer receptivity to private label brands. Attitude toward private label brands are associated with consumer orientation toward and perception of price. For Eg. A consumer may view private lable products positively due to a desire to pay low prices or a strong desire to maximize ratio of quality received to price paid.

1) Attitude towards private label product is related to consumer price perceptions. Specifically private label attitude is a) positively related to price consciousness b) positively related to value consciousness c) negatively related to price quality perception.

2) Attitude toward private label product is a) negatively related to brand loyalty b)negatively related to risk averseness c)negatively related to impulsiveness d) positively related to smart shopper self-perception.

3)Private label attitude is a)positively related t general deal proneness level of consumer b)more strongly related to price related type of deal proneness(sale proneness, coupon proneness etc.) c)positively related to consumer reliance on internal reference prices.

12

4)Private label is positively related to percentage of private label purchases made on a shopping trip and is able to explain variance in private label purchases beyond that explained by price perception, deal perception and other marketing related constructs.

(Source: A scale for measuring attitude toward private label products and examining of its psychological and behavioral correlates, scot Burton, Donald R.Lichtenstein, Richard G.Netemeyer, Judith A Garretson)

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: Type of research used: descriptive research Data Collection:

i) Primary data are originated by a researcher for the specific purpose of addressing the problem at hand. The primary data source for this study is the questionnaire developed for the customers of the stores and personal observation.
ii) Secondary data are data which have already been collected for purposes other than

the problem at hand. These data can be located quickly and inexpensively. The secondary data sources used in the study are e-newspaper articles, online retail magazines and journals and online databases like ebsco-host. The research follows quantitative and qualitative approach.

Sampling Process:
Sample size: customer survey sample size of 50 customers each of Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle and Pantaloon in Hyderabad.

Sampling Technique:
13

Probabilistic Sampling for the customer survey will be followed.

4. LIMITATIONS:
The survey will be restricted to the stores of Hyderabad. Due to time and money constraint the survey sample size is restricted to 150 for customer survey.

5. ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS:

Analysis is based on the Questionnaire developed for customers (Appendix 2)

There were 68 percent female respondents and 32 percent male respondents. Income bracket varied from Nil to 6.75 lakh per annum. 72 percent of respondents were unmarried and 28 percent were married.

Occupation of respondents: Students Professionals Service class lecturer

14

1. How often do you visit the store?

Figure 1: The frequency of going to the store:

once a week only during sale 4% season 16%

Frequency
once in 2 weeks 16% once a week once in 2 weeks once in a month

once in a month 64%

only during sale season

The survey reveals that 64 percent of respondents visit the stores once in a month, while 16 percent of them visit the store once in 2 weeks or during sale season. This shows that majority of the people like to visit the stores monthly as well as once in 2 weeks to make purchases of clothes and accessories and thereby stores offer something new to the customer on a continuous basis and must have availability of stock. Also there are customers who visit the stores during sale season and they would like to grab more during the discount period.

15

2. Which of these labels do you recognize?

Figure 2: Recognition of labels

bare junior club hopper push and shove life rig john miller ginger forca acropolis stop ajile melange fame forever vettorio fratini maria zegnoti kashish 0 20 40 60 24 42 60 48 30 60 36 24 30 60

66

96

120 96

102

78

84 80 100 120 140

Out of the list of private labels of the 3 stores (Lifestyle, Shoppers Stop and Pantaloons) the most recognized labels are: John Miller of Pantaloons-80% Stop of shoppers Stop -68% Life and Ginger of lifestyle-64% Kashish of Shoppers stop-56% Mlange of lifestyle-52%

16

Many of the private labels of the stores of Pantaloons, Lifestyle and Shoppers Stop are recognized by majority of respondents. 80% of the respondents have a very strong recognition of John Miller of pantaloons, 68% of them recognize Stop of Shoppers Stop and 64% recognize Life and Ginger of Lifestyle. From this information we can infer that there is a substantial awareness of the private labels of the stores among the customers of these stores and the leading private label of Pantaloons is John Miller, of Shoppers Stop is Stop and of Lifestyle are Life and Ginger.

3. How did you come to know about the private labels

Figure 3: Source of awareness

do not know about these labels 4% advertisement 16% word of mouth advertisement when you visited the store do not know about these labels

word of mouth 8%

when you visited the store 72%

According to the data collected, 72 percent of respondents got to know about the private labels of the store upon visiting the store wherein the store has display of names for every brand in different sections allocated to each brand and the Visual merchandise of the store which has many life size advertised posters of the brand. 16 percent of the respondents got aware about the private brand through advertisement, 8 percent through word of mouth and 4 percent of them were unaware of such labels. From the above information, we can infer that the private labels are not as widely advertised as the national labels are and it could be act as a hindrance to its awareness.
17

4. Which labels of the above do you often purchase?

Bare Stop Mlange Ginger John Miller Kashish

Out of all the private labels of the stores, majority of the customers buy Bare & John Miller of Pantaloons; Stop & Kashish of Shoppers Stop and Mlange & Ginger of Lifestyle.

From the above information we can infer that the best seller private labels of these stores are : Bare & John Miller from Pantaloons Stop & Kashish from Shoppers Stop Mlange & Ginger from Lifestyle

5. Rate the Quality of private label in comparison to a national label: Figure 4: Quality comparison

Excellent Good At par Average Poor 0

6 60 36 42 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

18

According to the figure above, 40% of the respondents rated the quality of private label in comparison with the national label as good and 28% rated it as average or fair as compared to the national labels. 24% of respondents rated it at par or similar to the quality of national labels, 4% rated it excellent or more than satisfactory, while none rated it as poor.

From the above information, we can infer that the quality of private labels does not exceed the quality level of national labels, however it is satisfactory and customers are satisfied with it.

6. How do you find the pricing of private labels in comparison to national labels?

Figure 5: Comparison on price

comparison on price
cheaper 8% value for money 33% cheaper not much difference not much difference 46% over priced value for money

over priced 13%

As per the data collected, 46% of the respondents rated the pricing of private label in comparison to national label as similar, 33% of them rated it as offering value for money, 13% rated it as over-priced compared to national label and 8% of them rated it as cheaper compared to national labels.

19

We can infer that majority of respondents feel that they have to pay the same price for private labels as they would for national labels followed by few others who feel that private labels are value for money.

7.

7. How do you find trends and designs available in private labels as compared to national labels?

Figure 6: Comparison on trends

Basic & Regular 24 Poor & Outdated 0 Better & Appealing 36 Similar to National Labels 66 Latest & Upcoming 18 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

As per data recorded above, 44% of respondents rated the designs and trends offered by private labels as similar to the designs available in national labels, 24% rated the designs as better and appealing than national label designs, 16% rated designs of private labels as basic and regular as compared to national labels, while 12% rated them as latest and upcoming in comparison to national labels. We can infer that private labels offer similar designs as are also available in national labels.

20

8. How do you find the deals on private labels in comparison to national labels?

Figure 7: Comparison on deals

Poor deals 0

Poor discounts 30

Better deals 108

Higher Discounts 12 0 20 40 60 80 100 120

As per the above information, 72% of respondents rated the private labels having better deals, 20% rated them as having poor discounts, 8% rated them as offering higher discounts, while none rated them as having poor discounts as compared to national labels. We infer that the private labels offer better deals to its customers in comparison to national labels.

21

9. Which store would you rather shop for private labels?

Figure 8: Store Preference

Store preference
Any other 8% Pantaloons 16% Lifestyle Shoppers Stop Pantaloons Any other

Lifestyle 48%

Shoppers Stop 28%

As per the above data, 48% of respondents prefer to shop at lifestyle, 28% of them prefer to shop at Shoppers Stop, 16% prefer to shop at Pantaloons and 8% prefer to shop at other stores. We can infer that majority of people prefer to shop at Lifestyle store.

10. a) Rank in order of your preference, the attributes you see while shopping from a store, on a scale of 1 to 5: - Brand name, where 1=high , 5=least

Figure 9: Brand Name attribute

Rank 5 Rank 4 Rank 3 Rank 2 Rank 1 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 12 18 30 30 60 70

22

As per the above data, respondents rank the brand name attribute as follows:

Rank 1- 40% Rank 2-20% Rank 3-20% Rank 4-12% Rank 5-8%

We infer that, the attribute of brand name is very important consideration for the customers before purchasing or shopping from these stores.

10.b) Rank in order of your preference, the attributes you see while shopping from a store, on a scale of 1 to 5: - Price Figure 10: price attribute
Rank 5 Rank 4 Rank 3 Rank 2 Rank 1 0 10

24 18 48 42 18 20 30 40 50 60

As per the above data, respondents rank the price attribute as follows: Rank 1- 12% Rank 2- 28% Rank 3-32% Rank 4-12% Rank 5-16%

23

We infer that, the attribute of price is not the most important consideration but a fairly important consideration for the customers before purchasing or shopping from these stores.

10.c)Rank in order of your preference, the attributes you see while shopping from a store, on a scale of 1 to 5: - Quality Figure 11: Qulaity attribute

Rank 5

30

Rank 4

18

Rank 3

Rank 2

18

Rank 1 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

78 80 90

As per the above data, respondents rank the Quality attribute as follows: Rank 1- 52% Rank 2-12% Rank 3-4% Rank 4-12% Rank 5-20%

We infer that, the attribute of quality is of prime consideration for the customers before purchasing or shopping from these stores.
24

10.d)Rank in order of your preference, the attributes you see while shopping from a store, on a scale of 1 to 5: - Design and Trend of the product Figure 12: design and trend of product attribute

Rank 5 Rank 4 Rank 3 Rank 2 Rank 1 0 5 10 15

18 42 18 36 36 20 25 30 35 40 45

As per the above data, respondents rank the design or trend attribute as follows: Rank 1- 24% Rank 2-24% Rank 3-12% Rank 4-28% Rank 5-12%

We infer that, the attribute of design or trend is a fair but not important consideration for the customers before purchasing or shopping from these stores.

25

10.e)Rank in order of your preference, the attributes you see while shopping from a store, on a scale of 1 to 5: - Deals offered Figure 13: price attribute
Rank 5

18

Rank 4

42

Rank 3

42

Rank 2

36

Rank 1 0 5 10

12 15 20 25 30 35 40 45

As per the above data, respondents rank the deals offered attribute as follows: Rank 1- 8% Rank 2-24% Rank 3-28% Rank 4-28% Rank 5-12%

We infer that, the attribute of brand name is not the most important consideration but it is fairly important consideration for the customers before purchasing or shopping from these stores.

6. RECOMMENDATIONS:
Stores like Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle and Pantaloons should focus on advertising and creating more awareness about their private labels which have potential to give good competition to national labels like John Miller (Pantaloons), Stop (Shoppers Stop) and Ginger (Lifestyle).

26

These private labels must focus on brand building activities for potential brands.

Private labels should strengthen on attributes like quality and brand name in order to compete with the national brands. These attributes are the given prime importance before making a purchase. Also these brands must offer competitive prices to attract more customers.

7. CONCLUSION:
Customers are aware of the private brands and frequently purchase these brands. Private labels are competing with national brands on providing better deals and lesser prices with similar quality and designs as found in national labels. These labels have potential to give good competition to the national brands and must focus on brand building activities. They are growing in awareness but are yet to be accepted by the Indian Customer.

27

8. BIBLIOGRAPHY:
1. Private Label Strategy, harvard Business school press Boston, Massachusetts, Nirmalya Kumar and Jan-Benedict E. M. Steenkamp.
http://hbr.org/products/1673/1673p4.pdf

2. Time to change lanes, Images Retail Report 2009 3. A thrifty lifestyle, Bhupesh Bhandari & Sayantani Kar / New Delhi/ Mumbai August 9, 2010, 0:49 IST http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/a-thrifty-lifestyle/403903/

4. h Retail majors sold on private labels Published: Thursday, Apr 2, 2009, 2:37 IST By Shailaja Sharma | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA
http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report_retail-majors-sold-on-private-labels_1244594

5. Corporate Trends Private labels seeing strong growth in popularity: Nielsen Study Feb 21,2011
http://m.economictimes.com/PDAET/articleshow/msid-7331249,curpg-2.cms

6. Private labels are back in fashion, Walter J. Salmon and Karen A.Cmar

7. Is private label pricing the way to go? , W. Frank Dell II, CMC 8. Antecedents of private label attitude and national brand promotion attitude: similarities and differences Judith A. Garretsona, Dan Fisherb, Scot Burtonc 9. A scale for measuring attitude toward private label products and examining of its psychological and behavioral correlates, scot Burton, Donald R.Lichtenstein, Richard G.Netemeyer, Judith A Garretson

28

9. APPENDIX: Appendix 1: TABLE 1

29

Appendix 2 Customer Survey Questionnaire

A survey on Private labels and National labels

Dear Sir/ Madam, I, Upasana Virmani am a student of NIFT, Hyderabad, pursuing masters of fashion management. I am doing a research project on private labels and national labels of Panataloons, Shoppers Stop and lifestyle. There is a small questionnaire in that regard. Kindly fill it up. Thank you for your time. * Required Name *

age *

Gender *

Occupation *

Marital status

Income

1. How often do you visit the store? *frequency of going to the store Once a week Once in 2 weeks Once in a month Only during sale season

30

2.Which of these labels do you recognize? * kashish maria zegnoti vettorio fratini fame forever melange ajile stop acropolis forca ginger john miller rig life push and shove club hopper junior bare 3.How did you come to know about the private labels word of mouth advertisements when you yourself visited the store I do not know about such labels

4.Which labels of the above do you often purchase?

31

5.Rate the Quality of private label in comparison to a national label:comparison of private label as comared to national label Poor Average At Par Good Excellent 6.How do you find the pricing of private labels in comparison to national labels:price of prvt label in comparison to national label cheaper Not much difference in price Over priced value for money 7.How do you find trends and designs available in private labels as compared to national labels: Latest and upcoming designs Similar to the designs available in national labels Better and appealing designs than national labels Poor and outdated designs Basic and regular designs 8.How do you find the deals on private labels in comparison to national labels: Higher discounts Better deals Poor discounts Poor deals 9.Which store would you rather shop for private labels at: Lifestyle Shoppers Stop Pantaloons Any other

32

10. Rank in order of your preference, the attributes you see while shopping from a store, on a scale of 1 to 5: 1= highest preference, 5= lowest preference

Rank 1 Brand name Price Quality Design or trend of product Deals offered

Rank 2

Rank 3

Rank 4

Rank 5

33