A PROJECT

ON

“WILLS LIFESTYLE”
- Based on a Comparative Study
Conducted in the C.P. Market

SESSION 2007-2010

Submitted to
Prepared by
MS. SUMEDHA DUTTA ROOPESH
KUMAR
(Project Guide)
0191471707

Maharaja Agrasen Institute Of Management Studies

Rohini sec-22 New Delhi 85

Affiliated to GGS Insdraprastha University Delhi Gate New DelhI

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 TO WHOM SO EVER IT MAY CONCERN

This is to certify that the project work title “ WILLS LIFESTYLE BASED
ON A COMPARATIVE STUDY ” made by ROOPESH KUMAR
(0191471707) is an authentic work carried out by him under my
guidance and supervision in the Marketing of Maharaja Agrasen
Institute Of Management Studies.

The report submitted has been found satisfactory for the partial
fulfillment of the degree of BBA.

MS. SUMEDHA DUTTA

(Project Guide)

DECLARATION
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The project titled “ WILLS LIFESTYLE BASED ON A COMPARATIVE
STUDY ” being submitted by ROOPESH KUMAR in the partial fulfillment
of requirements for the award of BBA degree from Maharaja Agrasen
Institute Of Management Studies, affiliated to GGS Indraprastha
University, Delhi.

I, anywhere else for any other degree or diploma have not submitted
this work.

All sources of information and help are authentic and have been
acknowledgement in the report.

ROOPESH KUMAR
0191471707

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
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Nothing concrete can be achieved an optimal combination of
inspiration and perspiration. No work can be accomplished without the
guidance of the experts. It only the critiques from ingenious
intellectuals that help transform a product into a quality product

First, I would like to express my gratitude towards

MS. SUMEDHA DUTTA, my faculty guide who always helped and

provided guidance during the course of my project.

Finally I am grateful to DR.N.K.KAKKAR who provided all the necessary

suggestions, information and guidance to complete this project.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

OBJECTIVE OF STUDY
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• To study the about Wills Lifestyle brand.

• Increasing awareness of various products of Wills

Lifestyle brand.

• To formulate the ways for paving a path for forming Wills

Lifestyle as the number one in the segment.

INTRODUCTION

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PURPOSE & IMPORTANCE
It is vital for every organization to ‘know’ its consumers inside
out and act accordingly & timely to the ever changing trends
of the market. Along with this know-how of consumers, it is
also crucial to be acquainted with the competitors. The report
deals with gaining an insight into the choices and preferences
of the customers of high-end apparel brands. It delves into
knowing what the expectations of a consumer from a brand
(or product) are and what leads him into making a purchase
or into choosing a brand over another.
This project undertaken is an attempt to measure the brand
effectiveness of Wills Lifestyle, based on a comparative study
conducted in the Connaught place market. This study takes
into account both the consumers and the competitors of the
brand.

LIMITATIONS
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  The study conducted for the brand has been undertaken
in the Connaught Place Market. All the surveys conducted
as well as the showrooms of the competing brands visited
were limited to this market.

 The survey method takes into account the responses of

customers. These responses may be incomplete and
sometimes biased.

 Paucity of data related to competitors is another

limitation which might lead to insufficient knowledge
about the competitor.

COMPANY PROFILE

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 ITC Lifestyle Retailing Business Division made foray into the
Rs. 200 billion ready to wear apparel industry with the launch
of its Wills Sport range of internationally-styled premium
relaxed wear for men & women in the year 2000. The
company’s first exclusive store “Wills Lifestyle” was opened in
South Extension in Delhi in July 2000.
The WLS chain of exclusive stores later expanded its range to
include Wills Classic formal wear in 2002 and Wills Clublife
evening wear in 2003. Later in 2006, WLS became the title
partner of the premium fashion event “India Fashion Week”.
This association has helped the brand grow stronger and also
make the product portfolio richer.
The lifestyle retailing business division also caters to the mid-
segment market through its brands John Players and Miss
Players.

HISTORY
THE REVOLUTION
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The Connaught Place Market

Connaught Place, popularly known as CP, has a long and

distinguished history behind it.

Named after the Duke of Connaught, a member of the British

royal family, this market was designed by Robert Tor Russell
in collaboration with WH Nicholls.

The British believed that a market in the shape of a horseshoe

would prove lucky for both shoppers and shopkeepers.
Definitely, there may be something in that as Connaught
Place, which was built in 1931 when capital shifted from
Calcutta to Delhi, continues to be Delhi's premier shopping
destination even today.

Apart from being the commercial and business hub of Delhi,

CP has countless restaurants, watering holes, shops and
cinema halls too. One can find outlets of almost all
international brands available in India in the Inner Circle:
Benetton, Van Heusen, Allen Solly, Louis Philippe, Reebok,
Nike, Levi's Strauss, Puma - to name a few. The state emporia
buildings are also located in this area, so are the head offices
of major banks, airlines and other such things of importance
to the tourist. The complex is an important meeting point for
all sections of people. Even tourists don’t miss it for nothing
else than for its architecture and the humdrum of everyday
life. There are some excellent bookshops too.
CP mainly consists of fast-moving shoppers where mornings
cater to the school or college going kids in the age group of
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16 to 22. In the afternoons, maximum people found roaming
here are working professional or government employees
working in the vicinity of the market (from LIC or Barakhamba
Road like Prakashdeep building, etc), coming to the shopping
areas in their lunch breaks. Towards the evenings we can see
more of couples & families coming in for shopping. Also, a lot
of tourists from abroad come to shop here mainly in day time.

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Comparative Study of Brands
“Poor firms ignore their competitors; Average firms copy their
competitors; Winning firms lead their competitors.”

Competition can be defined as “A market in which rival sellers

are trying to gain extra business at one another's expense
and thus are forced both to be as efficient as possible and to
hold their prices down as much as possible.”
Competitors, on the other hand are, “those firms or
individuals who seek to satisfy the same customers or

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customer needs and offer similar products or services, close
substitutes or brands to them”.

CP inner circle mainly consists of international brands like

United Colors of Benetton, Van Heusen, Levis, Louis Philippe,
LP Youth, etc. which majorly cater to the same target segment
as WLS and thus count as competitors for the brand. Since
Wills is a ‘complete wardrobe solution’ with its brand Wills
Sport, casual wear brands Benetton and Levis also form
competition. Along with the presence of all these international
brands, there are Indian brands like Raymonds, Prax, and
many more which also compete for the customer’s share of
wallet.

Block-wise location of Brands:

Block C – Van Heusen (Men)
- Lee
Block D – Louis Philippe
Block E – Wills Lifestyle
– Van Heusen (Women)
– Benetton
– Allen Solly
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 – Color Plus
– A new Benetton store is scheduled to open at E-3 in the
month of May.
– Along with these there are brands like Spykar & Puma
in the same block which are coming up very well.
Block F – Levi’s Store
– LP Youth
Apart from this, Blocks A and B witness the highest footfall in
CP due to the presence of some famous eating joints like
Wengers, Keventers and McDonalds.

Actual Competitors: Van Heusen, Louis Philippe, Allen

Solly, Levis, United Colors of Benetton, Color Plus.
Also the following Potential Competitors namely Puma,
Spykar & GAS were identified during the course of the survey
as a large number of people were found to be interested in
these brands and were also seen shopping from them
(number of carry bags spotted with shoppers).

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Methodology

For the purpose of conducting a comparative study, two

methods were adopted – Questionnaire Method and Self
Observation.
 A questionnaire was prepared & administered to
the shoppers in CP market. The target segment was
people shopping from the brands which are competitors to
WLS as well as customers of the brand itself. The sample
size taken is 100. Most of the people surveyed were
shoppers in blocks D, E and F since these are the blocks
which have the maximum no. of competitors’ stores. The
questionnaire is provided in the annexure for reference.
Target Segment – People shopping from Wills Lifestyle, Van
Heusen (both VH Men & VH Women), Allen Solly, Puma,
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Spykar, Levis, Benetton, Louis Philippe, LP Youth & a few
general shoppers.
Blocks Covered for Survey – B, C, D, E, & F
Sample Size – 100, out of which 92 are usable.

 In the self observation method, a personal visit to

all the stores was made to collect first hand information
about the brands. The various aspects of the stores were
taken note of.

FINDINGS

In this part, the questions are individually taken up to state

the rationale behind each of them being taken up as part of
the survey. The brands included for the purpose of analysis
are Benetton, Wills Lifestyle, Levis, Van Heusen, Louis Philippe
& Allen Solly.

1. Which brand do you usually shop from? (Rank from 1

to 6 in order of preference, 1 being the highest)
The first question is included to analyze the shopping
preferences of the people shopping the target market. It asks
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 the respondents to rank the brands according to their
shopping preference or most frequently visited brand.

 Individual, brand-wise rankings are given below.

We can see that

maximum number of
people who voted for
Benetton also consider it
as their “most
frequently shopped
from” brand. 23% of the
people voted it at Rank
1; 21% at Rank 2; and

Wills got an overall 83

votes out of which 23%
respondents said it was
their third most preferred
brand. 16% voted for it as
the 1st and 4th most
preferred brand. And a
good 19% i.e. 17 people
said it was their second 19
Levis had the maximum
number of people voting in
favor of it as the number 1
choice for shopping. A good
32% indicates the same.
Overall, it shows a
consistent pattern with
21%, 15%, 13%, 7, 5 & 7%
ranking it on 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th
and 6th position

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Van Heusen had the
highest percentage at
Rank 1 with 19% and
a very close 18% for
Rank 5 & ‘No
Opinion’.

Louis Philippe shows a

maximum percentage of
22% for ‘No Opinion’, i.e. a
large number of people
interviewed did not consider
LP as a favored brand to
shop from. Apart from this
19% respondents have
ranked it at No. 6 and 17%
at No. 5. 14% also favored it

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Allen Solly shows a
consistent trend all
through with a
highest of 19% for
Rank 3 & 4; 15% for
rank 5 & 6; and 14%
& 12% for rank 2 &
‘no opinion’
respectively.

2. What attracts you to the following stores? (For

each brand, please give a ranking of 1 to 6 to the
mentioned parameters.)

This question attempts to gauge the ‘why’ behind the

preference of brands in the first question. It attempts at
gaining an insight into the customer’s mind as to which
parameters out of the six mentioned here attract a customer
towards choosing a store over another. These parameters are
Brand Image, Look of the Store, Product Quality, Styles/
Variety, Customer Service, & Price.
Since the most attractive parameter is marked as 1 and the
least attractive as 6, the parameters with the lowest mean are

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the most favored factors for that particular brand and the
ones with the highest mean are the least favored.

3. The first word that comes to your mind when

you think of:

The word association method tells us the perception of the

brand in the customers mind and how it would influence his
brand selection decisions at the time of shopping.

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The one word definitions for the brands were as follows:
 Benetton – Colors, Casuals, Funky, Cool.
 Wills Lifestyle – Fashionable, Stylish/Trendy,
Classy, Quality, Expensive.
 Levis – Jeans/Denims, Awesome, Comfort/Casual.
 Van Heusen – Formals, Elegance, Good Fits, Style.
 Louis Philippe – Official Wear, Class, Formals.
 Allen Solly – Formals, Fridays, Quality, Affordable.

Implications of the perception of these brands

• Benetton – people wanting a “cool & vibrant” kind of

look would choose Benetton as their shopping
destination. E.g “I want to buy something nice & colorful
today!” would lead a person to choosing Benetton.
• Wills Lifestyle – would be preferred by fashion
conscious people & shoppers “for evening or party wear”.
Also assurance of quality to customers comes from this
brand.
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 • Levis – for comfort wear or simply the one stop shop for
denims.
• Van Heusen – a person looking for well fitted & elegant
formals would certainly choose to purchase from a Van
Heusen store.
• Louis Philippe –again, for people looking for official
wear.
• Allen Solly – it offers quality formals at affordable prices
to people.

4. Do you associate any of the brands with

having a global image?
A large number of respondents associated Benetton & Levis
with having a global image. This shows their awareness &
consciousness towards these brands. Though Van Heusen,
Louis Philippe & Allen Solly are also brands of international
origin, the brand recognition for them as “global” or
“international” is less.

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On the other hand, Wills Lifestyle has 29% of the people
recognizing it as a brand of global eminence. It shows that the
brand’s image & its offering goes well with the audience and
in turn acts in favor of it.

5. What do you like/dislike about the brand you

most frequently shop from? (Brand Name: … )
Here the customer’s favorite brand or the brand where he/she
most frequently shops from is selected and the reasons
behind his selecting that brand on the basis of the parameters
like – price, quality, service, variety & visuals are gauged.

Allen Solly
6%
Louis Phillippe
Benetton
18%
22%

Van Heusen
12%

Wills Lifestyle
18%

Levis
24%

Figure 6: Overall brand preference.

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According to the responses obtained through the survey, four
people selected Allen Solly as the brand they most frequently
shop from; Eleven people chose Benetton; Ten people Levis;
Three Levis; Four Van Heusen; and Ten Wills Lifestyle. We can
see that as compared to the formal wear brands, Wills
Lifestyle is much ahead with 24% as compared to 10%, 9% &
7% of Allen Solly, Van Heusen & Louis Philippe respectively.

6. Suggestions for the brand above (or any

other brand):
It is an open ended question for the customer to give any
statements or suggestions about a particular brand.
A general suggestion for all the brands was to lower their
prices. Majority of the respondents felt that these brands were
too expensive. This shows the price sensitivity of the
customers.
A few people, suggesting for Benetton, commented on the
quality of its products. They said that the quality of the fabrics
used by Benetton could be improved. Also, a few people felt

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that the customer service provided at Benetton was not up to
mark and should be improved.
For Wills, many people felt the pinch of the prices. Apart from
that, many females felt that larger sizes in women apparel
were what Wills was lacking in. A few respondents also
mentioned the need for outer-branding on the garments of
Wills.

SELF OBSERVATION

United Colors of Benetton

 Look of the Store

o Visibility from outside – Sober lighting with a
creamish-yellow effect. The whole store is visible
from outside at one go which works as a marketing
technique in itself for the merchandise.

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 o Displays – Huge and catchy displays are especially
visible at the first floor. The displays are full of colors
& show happy expressions on the faces of the
models.
o Size – relatively small store with approximately 2100
sq. ft. of selling space.

 Layout
o Mannequins – A lot of display has been done through
the use of mannequins. Six female mannequins &
seven male mannequins have been used.
o Fixtures –

 Low height rectangular tables are used to

display tops and t-shirts, again with the purpose
of easier accessibility to merchandise.

 Small and light colored wooden panels are used

to stack merchandise. These wooden panels are
alternated with bars for hangs.

 Market Activity
o Promos – Assured voucher of Rs. 500 on purchases
worth Rs. 3999. Started on 29th of April.
o Benetton has come up with its new store in inner
circle, Block E.

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 Price Points
o Casuals – Rs. 299 (t-shirt) to Rs. 4999 (jacket)

o Formals – Rs. 599 (shirt) to Rs. 6999 (formal suit)

o Accessories – Rs. 299 (flip-flops) to Rs. 3999

(handbags)

VAN HEUSEN

 First look at the Store

o Visibility from outside – a very bright looking store.
Use of prominent bright yellow lights with clean
white interiors.
o Size – comparatively huge store with an area of
approximately 7000 sq. ft. It has a high ceiling with
mannequins displayed at a high level.
o Advert on window announcing the ‘New Season
Launch’.

 Layout
o Mannequins – 4 for the main window display along
with 3 mannequins in the middle of the store which is
a very unique mannequin display as compared to the
other brands.

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 Separate
section for
Shoes,
Handbags
& Stoles.

Mannequin
display in
the middle
 Market Activity of the
store
o Promos – APRIL: “Exciting offer on
catches
women’s bags & shoes. Buy any item attention
and get accessories worth 50% of the at Van
value free”. Heusen
Women
 MAY: “We Win, You Celebrate.” Buy
merchandise worth Rs. 3000 & get
accessories worth Rs. 1500 free.”

o New categories – “V•” (V-Dot)  evening wear &

party wear category from Van Heusen. Consists of
bright colored, flowery & patterned shirts for men.
Also more new introductions in casual wear T- Shirts
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 showing an inclination to attend to the demand for
casual wear in market.

ALLEN SOLLY

 Look of the Store

o Visibility from outside – The Allen Solly store is a
narrow & long store. Therefore the visibility of the
store from outside is limited.

 Layout
o No. of mannequins – Since the store is not a very big
one, there only approximately four to five
mannequins.
o Fixtures – Low height tables are used for displaying
selected styles in tops. White wooden panels are
used at the top for stacking with bars for hangs
below them.

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 Stacks &
hangs with
clear color
blocking
 Market Activity (theme
‘Collection
o New categories – Allen Solly Youth,
Metal’)
which was launched around a year
back is the only new category, with
new styles being introduced in it at lower
& affordable price points.

 Price Points
o Allen Solly Youth priced at Rs. 399 to Rs. 1499.

o Formals – Rs. 999 (shirts) to Rs. 2499; Suits – Rs.

7995

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 o Accessories – Rs. 109 (socks) to Rs. 2500 (handbags)

Devising Promotional Strategies based on

Customer Profiling.

In accordance with the study conducted outside the store, to

measure the effectiveness of the brand it was also important
to note the trends occurring inside the store. Therefore a
small project was taken up towards the end of April to do an
in-store study of the buying patterns of customers as well as
the sub-brand performance (Sport, Classic, Clublife, and
Signature).
In this project basically a customer profiling was done. It
aimed at observing the trends or buying patterns of the
customers based on their age, gender, and the hour at which
they visit & purchase from the store.
A record of 840 transactions has been made, which includes
the trend for the period of one month.

Limitations:

• The mapping for the age of the shopper is done on the

basis of assumption.

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 • The tracking is done from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. only

On the basis of the above observations the

following promotional strategy has been
devised.

PROMOTION NAME:“Fashion by Wills”

PROMO OPTION 1: Buy Wills Signature collection worth Rs.
2500 (or above) & get Gift Vouchers worth Rs. 500. (Gift
vouchers applicable on accessories & Essenza Di Wills)

PROMO OPTION 2: Buy Wills Signature collection worth Rs.

2500 (or above) & Pick Fiama Di Wills worth Rs. 250.

TIMINGS (during which promo is applicable): Applicable

between 1 p.m. & 4 p.m. on weekdays.

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RECOMMENDATIONS

From the study of the other brands along with the experience
of working at the store, a few points were identified which are
mentioned here. An attempt has been made to come up with
a few suggestions which would help in increasing the
effectiveness of the store as well as the brand.

• The sub – brands Wills Classic, Wills Sport, Wills Clublife,

and Wills Signature can be advertised separately to
increase the awareness these brands. This can be done
by putting up separate, easily movable (to facilitate
regular change in VM), signage for each brand showing
their respective logos, within the store.

• CARRY BAGS – Carry bags are a great means of

advertising.

 The new season launch should be advertised through

carry bags also.

• TRIAL ROOMS – The trial rooms don’t look like that of a

premium brand. It doesn’t match up to the facilities
provided at the South extension and Ambi store as well
as other stores like Levi’s.

 Centralized cooling is required.

 Sofas required for comfort (like that at other Wills

stores).

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• SIZES – Waiting for sizes becomes a turn-off for the
customer if it takes too much time. It sometimes results
in the customer walking out of the store.

 The stocks in the back room should be kept size-wise

as well as brand-wise (classic, sport, etc) and the
racks can be tagged with stickers indicating the sizes
it contains.

 Training house-keeping staff for faster service &

quicker replenishments throughout the day.

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INITIATIVES & CONTRIBUTIONS

 A contribution of approximately Rs. 2,65,000 has been

made to the company, through sales, during the period of
the internship, with the highest invoice value of Rs
35,000.

 A micro marketing activity was initiated to take care of

the decreasing footfalls. Different restaurants, bars and
stores like that of watch companies or camera
companies, which were also in proximity to the store,
were targeted. The following places were visited for this
purpose – Indian Coffee Home, Spirit Restaurant & Bar,
World of Titan, Canon and Oriflame.
The deal with Spirit Restaurant & Bar has been
successfully converted. A two way tie up has been
finalized. 100 Gift Vouchers of denominations of Rs. 500
of Wills Lifestyle will be given on a bill of Rs. 3000 at
Spirit. Similarly, a discount of 15% at Spirit will be
applicable on an invoice of Rs. 3000 at Wills Lifestyle.
 An opportunity was received to interview candidates for
the post of ‘customer associate’ for the store. The
interviews were held on the 11th of March within the store
itself.

 An initiative was taken to make the store presentable at

all times. Visual Merchandising exercises were taken up
regularly with a change in the Window Displays every 10
to 15 days.

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 QUESTIONAIRES
Study on the High-End Apparel Brands Present in
CP Market

Name: Age:
Gender: Occupation:

1.Which brand do you usually shop from? (Rank from

1 to 6 in order of preference, 1 being the highest)
a. Benetton _____
b. Wills Lifestyle _____
c. Levi’s _____
d. Van Heusen _____
e. Louis Philippe _____
f. Allen Solly _____

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2. What attracts you to the following stores?
(For each brand, please give a ranking of 1 to
6 to the mentioned parameters.)

Benett Wills Levi’s Van Louis Allen

on Lifesty Heuse Philip Solly
le n pe

Brand
Image
Look of
the Store
Product
Quality
Styles /
Variety
Customer
Service
Price

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3. The first word that comes to your mind
when you think of:
a. Benetton
_________________________________
b. Wills Lifestyle
_________________________________
c. Levi’s
_________________________________
d. Van Heusen
_________________________________
e. Louis Philippe
_________________________________
f. Allen Solly
_________________________________

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4. Do you associate any of the brands with
having a global image? (Please Tick)
a. Benetton ____
b. Wills Lifestyle ____
c. Levi’s ____
d. Van Heusen ____
e. Louis Philippe ____
f. Allen Solly ____

5. What do you like/dislike about the brand

you most frequently shop from?
(Brand Name: )

Highly Somewh Can’t Somewh Highly

Satisfi at Say at Unsatisfi
ed Satisfie Unsatisfi ed
d ed
Price

Product
Quality

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 Custom
er
Service
Styles /
Designs
Look of
the
Store

6. Suggestions for the brand above (or any

other brand):
Brand Name:
Suggestion:______________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
____________________

Thank You!

REFERENCES

Books

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 • Levy & Weitz – “Retailing Management”, 6th Edition,
McGraw Hill International Edition
• Churchill & Iacobucci – “Marketing Research”, 9th
Edition

• “Why We Buy?” - The Science of Shopping, by Paco

Underhill

• “How Customers Think?”

Articles
• “Challenges & Opportunities of Organized Retailing in
India”. Journal of Marketing & Communication,
September – December 2007 Vol. 3 Issue 2.

Websites
• http://www.itcportal.com
• http://www.willslifestyle.com
• http://www.vanheusen.com
• http://www.benetton.com

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