Marketing “Go- Live” Project D’s Clothes and Accessories
Ghatkopar East, Mumbai
Group MembersIshan Kelvalkar Amrita Lokhande Shyam Mange Chirag Parekh Abha Kulkarni 71 82 85 107 118
1
D’s Clothes and Accessories is small retail outlet which was started with the basic idea of selling high end products of international brands from all over the world at cheaper prices. The owner has realized the gap between availability and affordability. He believes that customers are passionate about branded clothes and accessories but are not able to afford them and hence the concept of foreign brands at affordable rates. The outlet is based in a small rented flat in Ghatkopar (East). It was set up in 2012 by a young entrepreneur who, out of his passion for branded clothes, had a vision of selling premium products at affordable prices. He stands firm with the business model which engages in providing high quality branded clothes and accessories to the customers which involves promotion only through word of mouth publicity. The outlet offers clothing and casual wear of top brands like Armani, D & G, E-sprit, Tommy Hilfiger, Diesel, Versace, Nautica, Paul Smith and accessories like bags from Louis Vuitton, Gucci; glares from D&G, Ray Ban; wallets and belts from Hugo Boss, Tommy Hilfiger, Mont Blanc and perfumes from Azzaro, Hugo Boss, Dunhill etc. All the products are genuine from respective brands. The owner mostly imports the accessories from Singapore and Thailand at very cheap rates. The products are offered at almost half the price than that available in the respective showrooms of the brands. The only way to reach the outlet is via common contacts and the people are recognizing the outlet through word of mouth publicity. The target group is mostly young guys and gals within the age group of 18-30 years. The target group is mostly from middle class whose desire is to buy premium brand clothing but at affordable rate. The business being in its introduction stage operates on a very small scale and customers are also limited. Due to no advertising there is lack of awareness of the shop within the public. But the owner is optimistic about the growth because of his large number of contacts among friends and relatives. The price is very important as it distinguishes D’s from other retail shops. As the place is small and there is only 1 salesman working full time so the expenses of running the shop are quite low. The higher end brand at around half the price is the USP. As it doesn’t use any promotional strategy the advertising cost is zero unlike other retailers hence it can offer the branded clothes and accessories at lower cost. The revenue model uses Markup pricing strategy. Due to the smaller space and inventory it has an advantage of less rental and other expenses so it can offer the products at less cost.
2
Having studied the business we presented our suggestions which could be implemented to increase the sales, increase customer base and improve visibility to customers.
Suggestions Overview Suggestions Social marketing via 1. facebook page and twitter account ? Accepted Rejected Reasons Would attract people from different corners of the city, Accepted the suggestion, in the process of developing page
2.
Advertisement through Print Media
?
Cost too high.
3.
Pamphlets Distribution through News paper vendor
?
Will be preparing pamphlets for promotion
Would not like to deviate from 4. Introduce local brands ? its concept of foreign brands at affordable rates. The retail shop has overheads Organize the business by starting a shop like wages to salesmen, ? electricity bill and higher rental of shop. Owner will think about it in 2-3 years.
5.
3
1. Social Media Marketing Social Media is emerging as a strong inexpensive tool for reaching towards masses specially marketers can reach to youth segment by having fan page on Facebook and Twitter. We suggested the owner to target social media platforms to create awareness of the store. Reaching the masses through social media would create awareness among people in the entire city. Currently the customers that visit the outlet are from Ghatkopar East and nearby areas of Ghatkopar West, Chembur and Tilak nagar. The owner perceived this as an opportunity to attract people from different corners of the city. Hence he agreed to create a facebook page of the store.
2. Advertising through Print Media D’s clothes and accessories is located at first floor of a small apartment so customers find it hard to reach to the store. The only way of publicity used is word of mouth through existing customers. Hence if the store is advertised through print media like news paper or through local magazines then there will be awareness among the potential customer resulting in improved sales. Though, advertisement through newspapers or magazines would create awareness among people, it would be a bit expensive. Hence this suggestion was rejected. In view of above, we came up with a better and inexpensive solution of pamphlet distribution.
3. Pamphlet distribution The shop, which is located in Ghatkopar (East), fails to attract considerable number of youngsters from that locality as it does not indulge into any kind of promotion. Thus to get the benefit of local customers we suggested promotion by pamphlet distribution through newspaper vendors. This technique will be instrumental in bringing more of customers from the locality.
4
After having thought about the idea and calculating the cost of implementation, the owner has accepted our suggestion. He is now preparing pamphlets and is also in talks with local newspaper vendors.
4. Introduce local brands The shop sells only foreign brands with the concept of making them available to customers at affordable rates. It does not have any of the local brands. The branded clothes which are sold start from the range of Rs. 600 and go up-to Rs. 2,500. So there are no clothes available in the range of Rs. 300-500. This keeps away customers looking for clothes in that range. There are also customers who wear local as well as imported brands, as in local brands for normal and casual wear and imported brands for occasional wear. So introducing local brands could increase the sales as customers buying imported brands could also buy some from the local stock. The owner believes that introducing local brands would alter the concept of his shop. Also if he introduces local brands there are great chances that customers walking in for foreign brands may buy less of those and would walk out with more of local brand products. Though this would increase the volume of sales but would adversely affect the purpose and objective of the shop. Hence the owner rejected the suggestion of introducing local brands.
5. Organize the business by starting a shop Currently the shop is located in an old society which has limited access. Since it is set-up in a flat it does not have any front display where it could display banners or posters. We suggested that the outlet could be shifted in a proper shop, strategically located so as to make it accessible to a large number of customers. A well located shop on a busy street would give the advantage of a good display of merchandise and a sense of presence in the market which is not at all possible in the current outlet and also walk-in customers which in the current setup are negligible. A nicely designed shop would create an ambience making the buying process a pleasure. The owner says that moving out from here and starting a shop would be very expensive for him. Under his current set-up, the overheads i.e. rent of premises, salary of one salesman,
5
electricity charges and miscellaneous expenses are easily payable. But if he starts a shop the overheads would shoot up making survival difficult. According to his calculations his monthly expenses would increase by three times with rent contributing to a large portion of the increment. He is also of the opinion that it wasn’t the right time for him to start a shop in the main market. He wants to try out his concept in a smaller space, check out the demand, track the growth in sales and built a sufficient customer base so that he can confidently move out to a larger and prominent space in the market. And for this he requires 2-3 years time. So for now he has rejected the suggestion and says that he will think about it few years down the line.
Future Aspects The owner is working on future expansion by introducing more global brands in his offerings. He is planning to showcase a section for shoes from Harley, Diesel, Louis Vuitton, Paul Smith and other designer shoes to make the shop as complete one halt shopping place. In the near future he has plans to move into organized retail sector which might raise the expenses but the visibility among people and sales will improve.
6
doc_663352235.docx
Ghatkopar East, Mumbai
Group MembersIshan Kelvalkar Amrita Lokhande Shyam Mange Chirag Parekh Abha Kulkarni 71 82 85 107 118
1
D’s Clothes and Accessories is small retail outlet which was started with the basic idea of selling high end products of international brands from all over the world at cheaper prices. The owner has realized the gap between availability and affordability. He believes that customers are passionate about branded clothes and accessories but are not able to afford them and hence the concept of foreign brands at affordable rates. The outlet is based in a small rented flat in Ghatkopar (East). It was set up in 2012 by a young entrepreneur who, out of his passion for branded clothes, had a vision of selling premium products at affordable prices. He stands firm with the business model which engages in providing high quality branded clothes and accessories to the customers which involves promotion only through word of mouth publicity. The outlet offers clothing and casual wear of top brands like Armani, D & G, E-sprit, Tommy Hilfiger, Diesel, Versace, Nautica, Paul Smith and accessories like bags from Louis Vuitton, Gucci; glares from D&G, Ray Ban; wallets and belts from Hugo Boss, Tommy Hilfiger, Mont Blanc and perfumes from Azzaro, Hugo Boss, Dunhill etc. All the products are genuine from respective brands. The owner mostly imports the accessories from Singapore and Thailand at very cheap rates. The products are offered at almost half the price than that available in the respective showrooms of the brands. The only way to reach the outlet is via common contacts and the people are recognizing the outlet through word of mouth publicity. The target group is mostly young guys and gals within the age group of 18-30 years. The target group is mostly from middle class whose desire is to buy premium brand clothing but at affordable rate. The business being in its introduction stage operates on a very small scale and customers are also limited. Due to no advertising there is lack of awareness of the shop within the public. But the owner is optimistic about the growth because of his large number of contacts among friends and relatives. The price is very important as it distinguishes D’s from other retail shops. As the place is small and there is only 1 salesman working full time so the expenses of running the shop are quite low. The higher end brand at around half the price is the USP. As it doesn’t use any promotional strategy the advertising cost is zero unlike other retailers hence it can offer the branded clothes and accessories at lower cost. The revenue model uses Markup pricing strategy. Due to the smaller space and inventory it has an advantage of less rental and other expenses so it can offer the products at less cost.
2
Having studied the business we presented our suggestions which could be implemented to increase the sales, increase customer base and improve visibility to customers.
Suggestions Overview Suggestions Social marketing via 1. facebook page and twitter account ? Accepted Rejected Reasons Would attract people from different corners of the city, Accepted the suggestion, in the process of developing page
2.
Advertisement through Print Media
?
Cost too high.
3.
Pamphlets Distribution through News paper vendor
?
Will be preparing pamphlets for promotion
Would not like to deviate from 4. Introduce local brands ? its concept of foreign brands at affordable rates. The retail shop has overheads Organize the business by starting a shop like wages to salesmen, ? electricity bill and higher rental of shop. Owner will think about it in 2-3 years.
5.
3
1. Social Media Marketing Social Media is emerging as a strong inexpensive tool for reaching towards masses specially marketers can reach to youth segment by having fan page on Facebook and Twitter. We suggested the owner to target social media platforms to create awareness of the store. Reaching the masses through social media would create awareness among people in the entire city. Currently the customers that visit the outlet are from Ghatkopar East and nearby areas of Ghatkopar West, Chembur and Tilak nagar. The owner perceived this as an opportunity to attract people from different corners of the city. Hence he agreed to create a facebook page of the store.
2. Advertising through Print Media D’s clothes and accessories is located at first floor of a small apartment so customers find it hard to reach to the store. The only way of publicity used is word of mouth through existing customers. Hence if the store is advertised through print media like news paper or through local magazines then there will be awareness among the potential customer resulting in improved sales. Though, advertisement through newspapers or magazines would create awareness among people, it would be a bit expensive. Hence this suggestion was rejected. In view of above, we came up with a better and inexpensive solution of pamphlet distribution.
3. Pamphlet distribution The shop, which is located in Ghatkopar (East), fails to attract considerable number of youngsters from that locality as it does not indulge into any kind of promotion. Thus to get the benefit of local customers we suggested promotion by pamphlet distribution through newspaper vendors. This technique will be instrumental in bringing more of customers from the locality.
4
After having thought about the idea and calculating the cost of implementation, the owner has accepted our suggestion. He is now preparing pamphlets and is also in talks with local newspaper vendors.
4. Introduce local brands The shop sells only foreign brands with the concept of making them available to customers at affordable rates. It does not have any of the local brands. The branded clothes which are sold start from the range of Rs. 600 and go up-to Rs. 2,500. So there are no clothes available in the range of Rs. 300-500. This keeps away customers looking for clothes in that range. There are also customers who wear local as well as imported brands, as in local brands for normal and casual wear and imported brands for occasional wear. So introducing local brands could increase the sales as customers buying imported brands could also buy some from the local stock. The owner believes that introducing local brands would alter the concept of his shop. Also if he introduces local brands there are great chances that customers walking in for foreign brands may buy less of those and would walk out with more of local brand products. Though this would increase the volume of sales but would adversely affect the purpose and objective of the shop. Hence the owner rejected the suggestion of introducing local brands.
5. Organize the business by starting a shop Currently the shop is located in an old society which has limited access. Since it is set-up in a flat it does not have any front display where it could display banners or posters. We suggested that the outlet could be shifted in a proper shop, strategically located so as to make it accessible to a large number of customers. A well located shop on a busy street would give the advantage of a good display of merchandise and a sense of presence in the market which is not at all possible in the current outlet and also walk-in customers which in the current setup are negligible. A nicely designed shop would create an ambience making the buying process a pleasure. The owner says that moving out from here and starting a shop would be very expensive for him. Under his current set-up, the overheads i.e. rent of premises, salary of one salesman,
5
electricity charges and miscellaneous expenses are easily payable. But if he starts a shop the overheads would shoot up making survival difficult. According to his calculations his monthly expenses would increase by three times with rent contributing to a large portion of the increment. He is also of the opinion that it wasn’t the right time for him to start a shop in the main market. He wants to try out his concept in a smaller space, check out the demand, track the growth in sales and built a sufficient customer base so that he can confidently move out to a larger and prominent space in the market. And for this he requires 2-3 years time. So for now he has rejected the suggestion and says that he will think about it few years down the line.
Future Aspects The owner is working on future expansion by introducing more global brands in his offerings. He is planning to showcase a section for shoes from Harley, Diesel, Louis Vuitton, Paul Smith and other designer shoes to make the shop as complete one halt shopping place. In the near future he has plans to move into organized retail sector which might raise the expenses but the visibility among people and sales will improve.
6
doc_663352235.docx