Big Bazaar is Indian personification of retail. It's like an Indian bazaar or mandi or mela, the
environment created by traders to give shoppers a sense of moment. Its personality is of being an
entity away from fancy or pretty and being authentically "no-frills". Kishore Biyani never hired
any foreign consultant for Big Bazaar which is evident from Indian-specific personality of the
brand. The brand's personality is self-explanatory by its tag-line only. This statement places Big
Bazaar at the top of customer's mind. It reflects that entrepreneurship and simplicity are the
essence of character of Big Bazaar. To use predatory pricing is not in the personality of Big
Bazaar, they never sell goods below the price they have purchased it. Big Bazaar, the "Indian
Wal-Mart", is the modern Indian family's favorite store. Big Bazaar symbolizes modern retail,
the business which isn't looked up to in our country, is now in the eyes of many multi-national
biggies. Big Bazaar has shown a robust growth in recent years (.
Brands evolve from ‘unbranded commodities' to references, where the name is used for
identification. This is also evident from the Goodyear's (1996) chronological brand
categorization
People that produce commodities are referred to as "price-takers". This means that an individual
producer has no control over his/her price. On the other hand, people who are owners of brands
or differentiated products are "price-makers". Producer of a differentiated product creates a
separate market for his/her individual product.
Value of Branding
Branding plays a crucial role for all the products and services. A successful brand is an
identifiable product or service, and buyers or users perceive values in it which matches their
needs.
Product dies but a good brand never dies: The first car T-model is no more but the
brand 'FORD' is still alive. 'Pears' soap that was launched somewhere in the end of 1800
is still alive although they have changed the product. Even they are looking for line
extension but basic brand names are the same.
Sales or market share: A brand generates familiarity and trust, and hence, leads to
greater sales. Branded products have an edge over unbranded products.
Premium price: Brands generate trust, a brand manager can charge extra price and
people pay for that trust.
Differentiation: Creating a brand is nothing but creating a strong association. This
association clearly differentiates the branded product from the rest.
According to brand evolution model developed by Kunde (2000) (as the value of brand becomes
stronger and more relevant to customers, the brand becomes more involving, and thus, managers
need to make their brand values more relevant to increase customer's involvement. This is
explained by religion model also. The model distinguishes 5 types of brands: -
Product Brand: Products without any form of added value connected to the generic
element.
Concept Brand: Brands that are driven by emotional values - as opposed to product
characteristics.
Corporate Concept Brand: Brands that merge with the company and present
themselves in a sustained and consistent way.
Brand Culture Brand: Brands that are so strong that they - in the eyes of the consumer -
have become equated with the function they represent.
Brand Religion Brand: The ultimate brand position is that of brands that - in the eyes of
the consumer - have become a "must", a faith to which they profess.
Big Bazaar has established itself in the first quadrant of Organization Value and Customer Value
Matrix (Exhibit 5). The SWOT Analysis (Exhibit 6) of current strategy of Big Bazaar elaborates
the core competencies and areas of improvement. The key features that have shaped in
establishing of brand includes: -
Big Bazaar ensures that no other kirana store / departmental store are offering
considerable discount compared to its own price. This helped Big Bazaar in being the
"value for money" store.
Big Bazaar scores high on product mix as compared to kirana store.
Cheap and local products are heavily stocked in Big Bazaar which make it easier to
attract lower middle class category of customers.
Promotion of kirana is rare event but Big Bazaar used this channel efficiently to establish
itself as national brand.
7P Marketing Mix is more useful for services industries and knowledge intensive industries.
Successful marketing depends on number of key issues. The seven keys issues are explained as: -
Product
Big Bazaar offers a wide range of products which range from apparels, food, farm products,
furniture, child care, toys, etc. . Products of all the major brands are available at Big Bazaar
.Also, there are many in house brands promoted by Big Bazaar. Big Bazaar sold over 300,000
pairs of jeans, 50,000 DVD-players and 25,000 microwave-ovens. In all, the fashion, electronics
and travel segments made up about 70% of sales. Last year, these categories made up only about
60%.
Price
The tag-line is "Is se sasta aur accha aur kahin nahi". They work on the model of economics of
scale. There pricing objective is to get "Maximum Market Share". The various techniques used at
Big Bazaar are: -
Value Pricing (EDLP - Every Day Low Pricing): Big Bazaar promises consumers the
lowest available price without coupon clipping, waiting for discount promotions, or
comparison shopping.
Promotional Pricing: Big Bazaar offers financing at low interest rate. The concept of
psychological discounting (Rs. 99, Rs. 49, etc.) is used as promotional tool. Big Bazaar
also caters on Special Event Pricing (Close to Diwali, Gudi Padva, and Durga Pooja).
Differentiated Pricing: Time pricing, i.e., difference in rate based on peak and non-peak
hours or days of shopping is also a pricing technique used in Indian retail, which is
aggressively used by Big Bazaar.
Bundling: Selling combo-packs and offering discount to customers. The combo-packs
add value to customer.
Place
Big Bazaar stores are located in 50 cities with 75 outlets.Big Bazaar has presence in
almost all the major Indian cities. They are aggressive on their expansion plans.
Promotion
Big Bazaar started many new and innovative cross-sell and up-sell strategies in Indian retail
market. The various promotion techniques used at Big Bazaar include "saal ke sabse saste teen
din", Future Card (the card offers 3% discount), Shakti Card,
Advertising has played a crucial role in building of the brand. Big Bazaar advertisements are
seen in print media, TV, Radio (FM) and road-side bill-boards.
People
They are one of the key assets for any organization. The salient features of staff of Big Bazaar
are: -
Well-trained staff, the staff employed by Big-Bazaar are well-suited for modern retail.
Well-dressed staff improves the overall appearance of store.
Employees are motivated to think out-of-the-box. Retail sector is in growth stage, so staff
is empowered to take innovative steps.
Employs close to 10,000 people and recruits nearly 500 people every month.
Use of technology like scenario planning for decision making.
Multiple counters for payment, staff at store to keep baggage and security guards at every
gate, makes for a customer-friendly atmosphere.
Process
The goods' dispatch and purchasing area has certain salient features which include: -
Physical Evidence
It deals with the final deliverable or the display of written facts. This includes the current system
and available facilities.
Future Group is planning to split Big Bazaar into two entities. One will be front-end consumer-
oriented entity and other will be for back-end operations. Back-end entity may enter into joint
venture with leading international cash and carry retailers. Foreign partners like Carrefour,
Metro, Costco, etc., are in the race, and their role will be to improve efficiency in sourcing and
logistics, which will help drive down prices and boost margins.
The front-end operations will be further divided in three categories, Big Bazaar Express with
store area less than 40,000 sq. ft., Standard Big Bazaar with store area between 40,000 to
75,000 sq. ft., and Big Bazaar Supercentres with store area more than 75,000 sq. ft. . Future
Group is also planning to distribute financial products like consumer loans and insurance through
Big Bazaar outlets.
Big Bazaar is based on 3-C theory of Kishore Biyani. The 3-C symbolize Change, Confidence
and Consumption, and according to this theory, "Change and confidence is leading to rise in
Consumption". They divided Indian customers in three categories: -
India One
India Two
Serving class which includes people like drivers, house-hold helps, office peons, washer-
men, etc.
For every India One, there are at least India Two and have around 55% of Indian
population.
India Three
The potential customers of Big Bazaar are India One and India Two. The customer insights were
developed by close observation of the target set. The insights that came out were: -
The clean and shiny environment of modern retail stores creates the perception that such
store are too expensive and exclusive, and are not meant for India Two.
India Two finds moves and find a lot of comfort in crowds, they are not individualistic.
They prefer to be in queues.
Indian-ness is not about swadeshi, it's about believing in Indian ways of doing things.
Indian customers prefer to purchase grains, grams, etc., after touching them, so it's better
not to sell in polythene packs. Big Bazaar has counters where you can touch wheat, rice,
sugar, etc., before purchasing.
Advertisements about schemes and offers through local newspapers, radio in local
languages, inspires customer more than the traditional ways.
The guards, salesman at the Big Bazaar outlets should not look smarter than customer, so
they prefer not to have tie, etc., in their uniform.
Hypermarkets in India should be situated in city unlike western countries where they are
located away from city.
Purchased bags / goods should be sealed at check-out as customer can enter and exit
multiple times.
For Indians, shopping is an entertainment; they come in groups, with families so Big
Bazaar should offer something for every section of family. That also led separate section
for clothes, vegetables, food, etc., that is multiple clusters within a bazaar.
Developed a diversity tracing cell to cater local patterns, demands, festivals, as every
region of customers has unique demands.
Advertising is an essential component of brand building. The advertisement and brand building
is done through various ways, the techniques used are: -
Tag-line: Big Bazaar tag-lines are the key components of advertising. These tag-lines are
modified according to demographic profile of customers. These catch-phrases appeared on
hoardings and newspapers in every city where Big Bazaar was launched. Everybody understood
and connected easily with these simple one-liners. The catch-liners include "Hindi - Chane ke
bhaw kaaju", "Bengali - Rui er dame illish", "Hindi - Stall ke bhaw balcony", etc.
Print Ads: Big Bazaar newspaper advertisements are present just before launch of any new
scheme. This creates aura about the Big Bazaar brand in the minds of customers.
TV Ads: Kishore Biyani spends a lot of money in brand building exercise. Big Bazaar
commercials are shown on various channels in India. Presently, Fashion@Big Bazaar
commercial is aired.
Road-side Advertisements: Big Bazaar bill-boards are displayed on prime locations in various
cities as a brand building exercise. They display the catch-phrases now-a-days.
Radio Ads: This technique is used in cities like Sangli (Tier 1 / Tier 2 cities). Now-a-days, it is
replaced by advertisements on FM channels. This informs customers about all new happenings at
Big Bazaar.
Fashion Shows: "FASHION @ BIG BAZAAR - Desh Badla, Bhesh Badlo" is the latest
invention of the Indian iconic brand. In an effort to take the Fashion to the masses, Big Bazaar,
the flagship hypermarket brand of retail chain of Future Group, organized a three-day Fashion
Show on the streets of Bandra, Mumbai.
Brand Endorsement by Celebrity: Big Bazaar is always associated with celebrities for
advertising and marketing of its brand name. The current campaign is starred by Brand
Ambassador and Indian Cricket ODI Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Earlier Himesh
Reshammiya and Sanath Jaisuriya were associated with Big Bazaar.
The Big Bazaar brand name is in its growth stage Pantaloon Group faced various small and
large scales troubles in the introductory stage of the brand.
Present years are the high growth years in retail sphere as market has high potential to sustain
growth. The sales are increasing, more and more firms are coming to market, foreign players are
entering into retail sector, and pie of organized retail is increasing in retail sector.
The factors that shaped the brand during its life cycle are: -
For a retailer, location is one of the most important things. According to Kishore Biyani, real
estate cost should be less than 5% of total sales of store in order to provide maximum benefits to
customer.
The strategic decisions to secure spaces before other retailers join in have resulted in cost-saving.
Also, it has created early presence in market.
Nurturing Relationships
Kishore Biyani follows strategy to develop trust and nurture relationships with suppliers. This
trust led to strategically correct decisions most of the time. Whoever works with Future Group,
either leaves in initial deals or continues forever.
Big Bazaar planning and design used advance technologies like scenario-planning and story-
telling. These techniques were mainly used for store-design layout, store-location selection. The
strategy to use user-focused, prototype-based development tool made the brand adapt to the fast-
changing external environment.
Design Management
Design-led thinking helped Big Bazaar to achieve ‘customer-first' objective and ultimately led to
better financial performance. Big Bazaar strategy to focus on design led to creation of Idiom, an
independent design and consultancy firm, based in Bangalore. They are one of the few
organizations in India having economists, ethnographers and sociologists working across various
teams as a part of Design Management team.
Harvard Business School just did a case study on Pantaloons' Supply Chain and it says that
Pantaloons' is the most cost-effective supply chain in the world. India may not have a modern
supply chain but it definitely has a cost-effective one. Retailers have made use of the existing
supply chain.