TO STUDY THE EFFECTIVENESS OF CUSTOMER SERVICE OF RELIANCE FRESH STORES IN BHUBANESWAR

By Ganesh Panigrahi (PGDM 09017) Satyam Kr.Prasad (PGDM 09028) Priyanka Raj (PGDM 09034)

A Management Traineeship Segment Report Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the requirement for the Post graduate Diploma in Management

MTS Advisors Prof. Madhumita Das (HDFSOM) Mr. Sabyasachi Biswal (Reliance Retail Ltd)

Previous degree: Satyam Kr. Prasad B.A (History Hons.) Chotanagpur College (Ramgarh Cantt.) Vinoba bhave University Priyanka Raj B.C.A (Computer Hons.) Nalanda College Biharsharif Magadh University Ganesh Panigrahi B.Tech (Comp.Sc.) R.I.T Berhampur B.P.U.T

Organizational Attachment: Reliance Retail Limited, Bhubaneswar

HDF School of Management Cuttack, Odisha, India July 2010

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Nothing concrete can be achieved without an optimal combination of inspiration and perspiration. No work can be accomplished without taking the guidance of the experts. It is only the views and advice from ingenious intellectual that help in the transformation of a product into a quality product. We take this opportunity to place on record our grateful thanks and sincere gratitude to Mr Sabyasachi Biswal and Mrs. Luxmi Verma from Reliance Retail Limited who gave us valuable advice and inputs for our study. Our study could not have been completed if we had not been able to get the reference materials from the company. We are immensely grateful to our esteemed guide Prof. Madhumita Das (Economics) and our MTS coordinator Prof. Pabitra Kr. Rath from HDF School of Management whose continued and invaluable guidance can never be forgotten by us. Without them, this study could not have got present shape. Last but not least, we would also like to express our thanks to our family members who inspired us to put in our best efforts for the Research/Project Report. Also, we are really grateful for the cooperation of all the store employees in all the Reliance Fresh stores in Bhubaneswar.

Ganesh Panigrahi Satyam Kr. Prasad Priyanka Raj

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
I Title : To Study the Effectiveness of Customer Service of Reliance Fresh stores in BBSR II III IV V Organisation Reporting Officer Faculty Guide Partici pant's Name : Reliance Retail Limited : Mr. Sabyasachi Biswal : Prof. Madhumita Das : Priyanka Raj, Ganesh Panigrahi Satyam Kr. Prasad

This study is intended to help Reliance Retail decide upon the steps to be taken care for customer satisfaction so that the growth of the company keeps on improving. Also assess the factors responsible for customer satisfaction in Reliance Fresh in Bhubaneswar. Primary data have been used for analysis. However, secondary source have yielded preliminary information. Research conducted was descriptive in nature. Descriptive research helped us to develop the concept to clearly establish priorities, to divulge adequate information which helps us in decision making and thus essential for making the study a success. A structured questionnaire was used to obtain required information and to assess the customer satisfaction level and to find the ways through which the company can come up to the expectation of customer so that the optimum satisfaction level can be achieved. We have used random sampling for our project survey. Care was taken that the respondents were as diversified as possible. A sample size of 200 respondents was taken from each of the nine stores in Bhubaneswar. We collected data and analyzed them. We have critically analyzed each and every question in the questionnaire and then given the managerial implication. This analyzed data was later converted into bar diagrams and pie charts for convenience. This also made it easy to draw a conclusion based research and provide a presentable format for the report. Along with this we also got lot of ideas about how a Reliance Fresh Store operates. A better strategy to satisfy customer is only the way to gain customer attention and to penetrate more in own catchment area. Strategy must be in all area like Promotional offer/Scheme, Product Pricing, Employee behavior, Billing Process, Product Assortment, Product quality .It is found in the research that customers are price sensitive. Reliance Fresh should give those offers which can facilitate more money saving as the customers are price sensitive. Last but not least Bhubaneswar is not as much developed as metros as thinking and attitude of customers is conservative. So the concept of retail that is Touch and Feel the product would take time to be properly applied.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER T I T L E T i t l e P a g e A c k n o w l e d g e m e n t E 40 41 42 39 19 39 21-38 39-40 18-20 18 18 I II III IV V VI 1 1-15 15 15 15 PAGE

x e c u t i v e S u m m a r y T a b l e o f C o n t e n t s L i

s t o f F i g u r e s List of Tables List of Abbrevia tions CHAPTER-I IN TR OD UC TI ON 1.1 Ba ck gro un d 1 . 2 R e

l e v a n c e o f t h e s t u d y 1 . 3 O b j e c t i v e o f

t h e s t u d y 1 . 4 S c o p e o f t h e s t u d y 1 . 5

C h a p t e r p l a n CHAPTER-II LITERATURE REVIEW CHAPTER-I II METHODOLOGY 3 . 1 R e s e a r c h M e t h o d

o l o g y 3 . 2 R e s e a r c h P r o c e s s 3.3 Researc h Design 3.4 Sample design 3.5 Data Collectio n Method CHAPTER-IV

TABULATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA CHAPTER-V RECOM MENDA TIONS AND CONCL USIONS Findings Recomm endation s Limitatio ns Conclusi on Annexur e Bi bliograp hy

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure no. Figure No. 1 Figure No. 2 Figure No. 3 Figure No. 4 Figure No. 5 Figure No. 6 Figure No. 7 Figure No. 8 Figure No. 9 Figure No. 10 Figure No. 11 Figure No. 12 Figure No. 13 Figure No. 14 Figure No. 15 Figure No. 16 Figure No. 17 Figure No. 18

Title Age of the Customers Number of Male and Female respondents Salary of Customers Numbers of times visited Reliance Fresh in a month Staffs Availability
Helpfulness of Staffs in the Store

Page no. 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38

Availability of branded products in the store Opinion about products of Reliance brands Opinion about price and quality of vegetables and fruits Opinion about price and quality of other products Opinion about store ambience Opinion about billing timing Reliance one card holder Benefit of Rel i ance one card Response while enquiry or complain Response while returning or exchanging the products After purchase evaluation Compare Reliance Fresh to other malls

LI S T OF T A B L ES

T a b le No.
Table No.1 Table No.2 Table No.3 Table No.4 Table No.5 Table No.6 Table No.7 Table No.8 Table No.9 Table No.10 Table No.11 Table No.12 Table No.13 Table No.14 Table No.15 Table No.16 Table No.17 Table No.18

T itle
Age of the Customers Number of Male and Female respondents Salary of Customers Numbers of times visited Reliance Fresh in a month Staffs Availability
Helpfulness of Staffs in the Store

Page
21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38

Availability of branded products in the store Opinion about products of Reliance brands Opinion about price and quality of vegetables and fruits Opinion about price and quality of other products Opinion about store ambience Opinion about billing timing Reliance one card Benefit of Reliance one card holder Response while enquiry or complain Response while returning or exchanging the products After purchase evaluation Compare Reliance Fresh to other malls

D CSA CSD DC

AB B R E VI A T I ON S US E D
Assistant Store Manager Best Before Date Customer Service Associ ate Customer Service Desk Distribution Center Direct Store Delivery European Article Number Electronic Data Capture End Of Day Goods Returned to Distribution Center Goods Received Note Goods Returned to Vendor Goods Returned to Warehouse

N EDC EOD

Hand Held Terminal Integrated Line Out - MFT - MSR - PI - PO - POP - POS - SEL - SM - STN - UPC Japanese Product Code Maximum base quantity Membership Finance and Traveling Membership Service Representative Physical Inventory Purchase Order Point of Purchase Point Of Sales Self Edge Label Store Manager Stock transfer note Universal Product Code

CHAPTER-I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background 1.1.1 Retailing

Retail has emerged as a booming sector in India, especially after the liberalization of our economy paving newer avenues by generating potential sources of employment in different areas of specialization and accelerating the pace of economic progress and productivity. The business of retail thrives on an integrated approach from every department aiming at satisfying both the unexpressed and expressed customer needs which ultimately be multiplying the profitability of the company.

1.1.2 Reliance Retail Ltd.

Reliance Retail Limited (RRL) has grown into an organization that caters to millions of customers, thousands of farmers and vendors. Based on its core growth strategy of backward integration, RRL has made rapid progress towards building an entire value chain starting from the farmers to the end consumers. Reliance Retail recorded sales of Rs 4,500 crores in the financial year ended March 2010. It operates nearly 1,150 stores in 86 cities across 14 states. Reliance Retail has strategic tie-ups with a few international brands such as Marks & Spencer, Pearle Europe, Asics Corporation (Japan) and British toy major Hamleys. The company reported a decline in its losses to Rs 239 crores in the year ended March 2010 from Rs 424 crores a year ago. Reliance is gearing up to revol utionize the retail industry in India. Towards this end, Reliance is aggressively working on introducing a pan- India network of retail outlets in multiple formats. Reliance Retail has announced plans to set up one store for every 3,000 families within a radius of 2 km across all locations by 2011. The company is competing directly with the large number of traditional local provision stores. Reliance Retail is either going to set up new stores in the identified areas or take over existing stores. The company has already done that in Mumbai and other cities. Of the four million sq ft of retail space to be created under the Reliance Fresh brand (for groceries), one million will be through acquisitions. The retailer is also moving into laundry, personal care and apparel product lines, in which it plans to launch private labels.

1.1.3 Mission
To generate inclusive growth and prosperity for farmers, vendor partners, and consumers, Reliance Retail Limited (RRL), a subsidiary of RIL, was set up to lead Reliance Groups foray into organized retail.

1.1.4 Vision
To become the largest organized retail in the country by creating value for the share holders as well as for the consumers.

1.1.5 Objectives
To enrich customer's shopping experience through customized offers, private labels and 'value-for money' merchandise. To foster relationships with partners that will create new avenues of value enhancement for its customers. To bolster its agribusiness & dairy value chain to support its rapidly expanding store footprint. To ensure fair and timely payments to the farmers. To reduce spoilage through its state of-the art supply chain and logistics network. To provide high quality product to its customers.

1.1.6 Strategies
To set up a chain of hypermarkets, supermarkets, discount stores, specialty stores, and convenience store formats in 800-odd cities and towns across the length and breadth of the country at an investment of around Rs 30,000 crores (US$ 8 billion). To establish a pan-India presence of all its formats, targeting not only the major metros and cities, but also the 2nd-tier towns and semi-urban and even rural centers. To include a pan-India footprint of its stores, across multiple formats and categories, in more than 800 cities and towns, and in record time. To make the company profitable by strengthening presence in multi-format retail stores, focusing on hypermarkets, building world class infrastructure and training facilities.

1.1.7 Products and Services

1.1.8 SBUs of Organization

Food & Grocery Lifestyle Products and Services Healthcare, Financial Membership, Tra Reliance Consumer Market) Reliance Footprint Apparel & Footwear Fresh(SuperAuto and Entertainment Services Durables and Electronics
Reliance Mart

Reliance Timeout Furniture & Furnishings FMCG & Personal Care Reliance Digital Reliance istore Reliance Jewels Reliance AutoZone Reliance Living Home ware Reliance brands limited

Reliance Trends Reliance Wellness Reliance Super(Mini-

Hypermarket)
Reliance Petro marketing limited

1.1.9 Competitors
1)Pantaloon Retail 2)Raheja Group 3)Tata Group 4)RPG Group 5)Landmark Group 6)Piramal Group 7)Bharti - Walmart 8)A V Birla Group

1.1.10 Key Executives

Name Raghu Pillai Designation Director, Chief Executive and President of Retail Operations & Strategy Venkataramana B Tina Khurana Mohit Kanodia Ajay Baijal Manu Kapoor Sr.Vice President - HR Chief Manager- Buyer for Speciality format Vice President and Zonal Head President of Corporate Planning Senior Vice-President of Corporate Affairs Division Bijay Sahoo Nikhil R. Meswani, Hital Head of Human Resources R. Meswani, Executive Directors

Hardev Singh Kohli, PMS Prasad and R. Ravi mohan Gwyn Sundhagul Chief Executive of Value-Format Division (Rs. in Crore)

1.1.11 Financial Highlights of Reliance Retail Limited (2009-10)

Capital Reserves Total assets Total Liabilities I nvestments Turnover/Total Income Profit Before Taxation Provision For taxation Profit After Taxation 5,730.00 (13.75) 5,984.76 5,984.76 167.77 290.72 (7.00) (25.22) 18.22

1.1.12 Reliance Fresh

TypeFoundedHeadquartersKey peopleIndustry-Punch line-WebsiteNeighborhood store/convenience store 30 October 2006 Mumbai, India Mr. Mukesh Ambani, CEO Retail www.ril.com

Reliance Fresh is the convenience store format which forms part of the retail business of Reliance Industries of India which is headed by Mukesh Ambani. The company already has in excess of 560 reliance fresh outlets across the country. A typical Reliance Fresh store is approxi mately 3000-4000 square feet and caters to a catchment area of 23 km.

1.1.13 Products and Services

1.Staples 9. Confectionaries 10. Dairy 11. Non Food 2.Processed Food 3.Non-vegetarian 4.Hard-line

12. Apparel

5.Homecare 13. Fresh Fruits & Vegetables 6.Personal care 14. Bakery

7.Baby Care 15. Stationary 8.Beverages

1.1.14 SWOT Analysis Strengths

Private label sale own products (Reliance Select) Contract Farming Network 1600 channels in villages

Weakness
Poor inventory control Staff products Parking Lack of knowledge about

Opportunities
Farm to fork, No middlemen, Farmers Customer Hundreds of farmers 1 million farmers next five years

Threats
International Retail Giants: Carrefour, Metro AG, Tesco. Bharti Wallmart (Farm to Fork) Operating cost are too high

1.1.15 Stores in Bhubaneswar Store location

Kalpana Square Gopabandhu Square Lewis Road Bomikhal Samantrapur Nayapalli , I RC Baramunda Unit IV Sahid Nagar

Date of inauguration
7/10/2007 9/10/2007 30/10/2007 7/11/2007 4/11/2009 17/11/2007 24/11/2007 23/2/2008 03/09/2008

Total area in square ft.

2600 3259 2200 6368 2358 4935 4176 3428 5254

1.1.16 The Hierarchy of Employees in the Store

1.1.17 Inside the Stores 1)Bay

Bay is the combination of shelves which are present in the store to accommodate the products. There are two types of bays in Reliance Fresh one is of 90 cm and the other one is of 60 cm.

2)Jackets

(3) Rack

These are used to display the promotion or offers which are running in the store on that day. As it can be seen from the figure, discount of 7 Rs. has been given on Britannia Butter 500gm. That means on that particular day this offer was running. I n the store everyday some offers are given.

It is combination of Bay, which are being used to display the product. It has five or six shelves. The counting of shelves starts from the bottom. The bottom most is the 1st self and accordingly it is counted upwards. There are two types of rack that is wall rack and impulse rack.

(4) Alligator

(5) Weight Machine

It is used for keeping those products which is to be sold in a short period. It is also used to display that product on which there is an offer or the product whose price falls that time, also the product whos BBD (Best before date) is nearer.

The weight machine is used to weight the loose items of staples like rice, pulses, pease and vegetables. CSAs weight any staples and vegetables then a slip is outcome through machine on which price and weight is printed.

(6) Open Chiller

(7) Frizzer

It is a freeze which is used to keep the cold drinks, dairy items like milk and curd, also seasonal fruits. It is made open so that the customer can easily pick up those items that they want. Its temperature is kept between 2 to 4 degree Celsius.

This is also a freeze whose temperature is kept between -4 to -8 degree Celsius. I n this freeze mainly the ice creams are kept to protect them from melting. The Frizzer is generally kept in front of entry gate in the stores.

(8) Frozen

(9) Shelf Edge Label (SEL)

It is used to keep some perishable goods which can be destroyed in open air like cold drinks, butter, peas. Its temperature is kept between -18 to -24 degree Celsius. One CSA always present here and he/she give products to customers.

A label having the price of the product along with its barcode is placed on the shelves to make the customer aware of the price of that product in this SEL name of the product, price of the product, bar code and date is mentioned.

(10) Customer Desk

(11) POS

It is on the entrance gate. The quarries of the customers are solved here. Easy recharge of Air-Tel, Reliance and Tata I ndicom are also done here. The authorized person sitting over there has to see the promotion and offers and accordingly he/she has to make a print out of the same to be pasted in the jacket.

This POS is nearby exit gate where the billing is done and the complete process of purchasing ends. Here the cash counter is automatically locked; it cannot be opened unless and until the billing of a customer is not complete. Nearby POS some items like chocolate are kept because no one comes intentionally to buy the chocolates, chips.

(12) POP

(13) Bins

POP is point of purchase. It is the area where a customer collects his required products from the store is called the POP. Here the sales persons assist the customers and help them in searching the goods that they want.

The container which is used to keep the loose items like rice, Pease, pulses is known as Bins.

14)HHT
It is the device which is used to evaluate the price. It has the item code that is feeded and by that, the price can be known. We can also take out the print that is called SEL (shelf edge labeling).

15)Category
The Category is the basic unit of analysis of making merchandising decisions. It is the assortment of items that gives the customer reasonable substitutes for each products as well as makes them easily differentiated. In Rel iance Fresh there are different categories like Staples, Processed Food, Non- Food, Dairy etc.

16)Facing
The total number of products for a particular SKU in a horizontal row is known as the facing for that product.

17)Depth
The total number of products for a particular SKU kept back to back for a single facing is known as the depth for that product.

18)Stacking
The total number of products for a particular SKU kept one above the other for a single faci ng as well as back to back is known as stacking. 1.Horizontal Blocking :~ Sub Brick Blocking ~ Brand Blocking ~ Pack Size (Smallest to largest, from left to right) 2.Pack Size Location:~ Larger pack should be located at the bottom of the shelves. (To minimize accident). ~ Smal lest to largest , from left to right 3.To arrive at facing and MBQ ( maximum base quantity):~ By sales ~ Product lead time from D.C. to store ~ Safety stock

19)Universal Product Code (UPC) and European Article Number (EAN)

The machine-readable representation of the UPC Bar codes is read by a scanner that passes over the code and registers the UPC. The width of each black line and the subsequent white space between each line coincides with the numbers of the UPC. Universal Product Code (UPC), a unique 12-digit number assigned to retail merchandise that identifies both the product and the vendor that sells the product. The UPC on a product typically appears adjacent to its Bar code, the machine-readable representation of the UPC. The first six digits of the UPC are the vendors unique identification number. All the products which a vendor sells will have the same first six digits in their system. The next five digits are the products unique reference number that identifies the product within any one vendors line of products. The last number is called the check digit that is used to verify that the UPC for that specific product is correct. There are now five versions of UPC (A E) and two versions of EAN (European Article numbers; version 8 - 13). The Japanese Article Numbering (JAN) code has

a single version identical to one of the EAN versions with the flag characters set to ``49''. UPC and EAN symbols are fixed in length, can only encode numbers, and are continuous symbolize using four element widths.

20)Article Number
Article Number is the internal numbering code of Reliance retail which is used to recognize the product on the basis of number as the software can easily recognize the article no and it remains constant whereas EAN always varies due to offer. E.g. If the a product is having an offer and there is both old and new stock is available in the store, then on the basis of Article no EAN is changed on that product in which offer has been promoted.

21)Indenting
It is the core process of the store which ensures adequate stock on the shelves. Accurate indenting (request by the store to the category for SKUs to be delivered) will lead to the right quantity at the right time at the right place. Indenting has implications on the customer satisfaction, store popularity as well as supply chain efficiency. It can be done only once a day before 11 am. After the indenting is done the list of required products is sent to either distri bution center or to the vendors.

22)Reliance One Card

Reliance One Membership Application. It is the loyalty program to retain the loyal customer of Reliance Fresh. It provides discounts to the loyal customers, makes them updated regularly about offers in reliance fresh .Through this card a customer can get points on purchasing of any product from any of the stores across the country. If the customer purchases products worth 100 rupees then he will get one point. When the tally of points reaches to 25, one can redeem the discount for any purchase. A customer gets discount of 70 paisa for each point. When tally of these points reaches 25 points, the customer gets a permanent plastic R-ONE card. Through reliance one card customers knows about the offers, new products also. With the help of luxmi Mam and commercials managers of stores we were assigned to do the task

on system. With the help of ROMA we had to take out the total points, number of transactions, last purchase date and last purchase amount. The whole day we sit on the system to do this work. We were dealing with the customer query, solvi ng their problems regardi ng R-One card, exchanging their goods and other minor inconvenience faced by the customer in the store. At customer service desk, customer come and enquires about the points they had in ROMA, about the permanent R-ONE card, and issuing of the R-ONE card. We used to solve these problems and if not then we directly call Reliance customer service (Headquarter at Mumbai). We were totally involved in this activity. We also told about the benefit of Reliance one card to the customers who had not the card or totally unaware about the reliance one card. We also made loyalty card holder in different stores. Also we helped those people who didnt get their plastic card.

(23) SAP SAP as all the work which is performed in the Reliance Fresh is done through SAP. SAP is actually software which is specially designed for retaili ng purpose, basi call y there are 2 kinds of software used in Retail Sector to handle all the operational work and they are called 1. RETALIX 2. SAP

But the most widely used software is SAP and with the help of SAP almost each and every work becomes systematic and easier to do because we have not to maintain each and every manual files if we are using SAP as once the data is entered in SAP then it is automatically received by Head Office and the most important thing is that the chance of error is reduced when we use SAP. In Reliance Fresh we call it as RETALIX STORELINE. Some of the i mportant works which are done through SAP are as following:1.GRN 2.PO 3.PI 5. EOD 6. Store Performance 7. Store to Store

4.Commercial Activity

Transfer

These are the some major activity which is performed through SAP else each and every activity has to be entered in the SAP so that the work goes smoothly.

(24) Daily Activity which are Performed in the store are

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. Milk Indenting F&V Indenting Milk Receiving F&V Indenting Morning Briefing Job Allocation Float at POS DCC Energy Portal(morning) SEL Portal Promo Check Store Performance (morning) Bread Intending 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. DSD GRN Date Code Check Update Reports Store Performance ( afternoon) SOP Audit Checklist Customer Voice Entry Quality Audit Dump Markdown( food) GRN Deposit EOD Footfall Report DC GRN

25)Weekly Activity
1.Price Benchmarking 2.Leafleting 3.Impress Submission 4.Mark Down(Non Food)

26)Monthly Activity
1.Physical Inventory 2.Update Registers 3.Consumables Indenting 4.Consumables Booking These were the activity which we did practically on daily basis for this week, and learnt almost all the activity which is performed in the store.

1.1.18 Customer Service

Customer service is the provision of service to customers before, during and after a purchase. Customer service may be provided by a person (e.g. sales and service representative), or by automated means cal led self-service.

1.2 Relevance of the Study

This study on effectiveness of customer service of reliance fresh stores in Bhubaneswar will help the organization to understand that customer is satisfied or not of the service of the stores. Identify the need and demand of the customers. To come up with relevant and innovative ideas for the growth of reliance fresh.

1.3 Objectives
To know the actual need and expectation of the customer at Reliance Fresh. To assess the effectiveness of customer loyalty program. To assess the effectiveness of customer service provided in Bhubaneswar. To find out the causes of satisfaction and dissatisfaction of customers. To increase the footfall in the stores. To understand what the customers want to improve in customer service of Reliance Fresh.

1.4 Scope of Study

This study covers customers of Reliance Fresh in the area of Bhubaneswar. The catchment area of the Reliance Fresh is Sahidnagar, Baramunda, Unit-4, Kalyan, Samantarapur, Lewis Road, Nayapalli, Gopubandhu, and Bhomikhal. The study makes effort to ascertain the satisfaction level of customer of Reliance fresh through survey so that company would be able to come up to the expectation level of its customer. The company can come up to the expectation only by finding out the problem that customer are facing during their purchase from Reliance Fresh. The subject has been taken for the research as it plays key role in the success of retail sector. The research will also be beneficial in analyzing the overall market position of the company and measures which should be adopted by the Reliance Retail Ltd.

1 . 5 Ch ap ter Plan
In Chapter 1, brief introduction about the Retailing, Retailing in India and Bhubaneswar, brief introduction about the Reliance Retail, Reliance Fresh and its contribution, objective of the study, scope of the study, Relevance of the study, also it has been discussed about what is the learning from the stores. Chapter 2 deals with Literature Review. Chapter 3 reviews the methodology of project, data collection methods. Chapter 4 explains about the data compilation, data formulation, data interpretation and data analysis. Chapter 5 reviews about the projects findings, recommendations, limitations and Conclusion.

CHAPTER-II LITERATURE REVIEW

Piyush Kr. Sinha, Professor, Marketing and Chairperson, Centre of Retailing, IIMA said that Retail industry is growing at a rapid pace due to the changes in the consumption culture of indian consumers. Dwarika Prasad Uniyal, Assistant Professor of MICA said that Customer Loyalty is crucial to the success of a store since the catchment area of a store is limited and the business can survive only when more value is derived out of every customer. Top executives of Reliance Retail Limited said that Reliance Retail expects to break even in a year or two with the help of better business efficiencies. Philip Kotler, Professor of Northwestern University said that The I ndian Retailing I ndustry is shaping up to be very different from that of other countries. Pankaj Jaju, executive director of Enam Securities Ltd. Said There is underpenetration of organized retail in the country. It is easier to create large businesses in the speciality formats as the margins are better. Food and grocery retail is a difficult business with lower gross margins and higher competition from the corner shop (traditional) retail trade. Arvind Singhal, chairman of Technopak Advisors Pvt. Ltd, a retail consultancy said Food and grocery retail accounts for 30-35% of the overall $22 billion organized retail trade, followed by apparel retail.

CHAPTER-III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research Methodology

It is a way to systematically solve the research problem. It may be understood as a science of studyi ng how research is done scientifically. I n it we study the various steps that are generally adopted by researchers, in studying our research problem along with the logic behind it. It is essential for the researchers to know not only the research method technique but also the methodology.

3.2 Research Process

It consists of a series of action necessary to effectively carry out research and the desired sequence of these steps. Defining the problem and research objectives Develop the research plan Collection of data Analyze the information Present the findings Make the decision

3.3 Research Design

A research design is the arrangement of conditions for collection and analysis of data in a manner that aims to combine relevance to the research purpose with economy in procedure. Descriptive research is used in the preparation of the project. There is some point and facts which were not found earlier. Hence field study research is used. A descriptive research technique is also used as we again worked upon those facts which were earlier found by some other. Our studies were completely descriptive and field study research

3.4 Sample Design

For sample the feedback is taken from 1800 customers. The feedbacks are collected from all of 9 stores in Bhubaneswar. The data is collected from 200 customers from each store.

3.5 Data Collection Method 3.5.1 Primary Data

Pri mary data generally means those raw data or data structures that are collected first- hand and have not any previous meaningful interpretation. For our Summer Internship Project Report, We have collected such pri mary data through face to face interview method with the help of questionnaire.

3.5.2 Secondary Data

Secondary data is also used to find some facts regarding company (Supermarket) through Internet, Journals, Books, and Newspapers

3.5.3 Primary Data

Through:Questionnaire, Personal interview Observation.

3.5.4 Secondary Method

Companies website, Internet

3.6 Research Apparatus

Survey Method

3.7 Research Instruments

Observation, Questionnaire and Personal Interview

3.8 Sample Universe

Nine stores of the Reliance Fresh: - Sahidnagar, Baramunda, Unit-4, Kalyan, Samantaraipur, Lewis Road, Nayapalli, Gopabandhu, and Bhomikhal

3.9 Sample Size

The sample size collected is 1800. The data is collected from 1800 customers from the 9 stores in the Bhubaneswar. It was obtained from the loyal and disloyal customers. Loyal customers mean the customers who are R-ONE card holder at Reliance Fresh. Information was collected from sample size of 1800 respondents which included both male and female.

From that total data analysis is done and some recommendations are suggested so that footfall will rise at any instance.

3.10 Tools Adopted

For the project study the tools adopted is questionnaire having scale type questions in which it is measured as Excellent, Good, satisfactory, Fair, Poor. The questionnaire is close-end and open-end in which Rating scale Semantic differential are used. Also two open-end questions are asked. In which it is found that what customers want to see improvement in reliance fresh.

3.11 Data Analysis Method

Statistical tools 1. Bar graph 2. Pie chart 3.Column graph

CHAPTER-IV TABULATION & ANALYSIS OF DATA 4.1 Age of the customers

Table 4.1: Age of the Customers Age group division
18-25 25-30 30-40 >40 Total

No. of Respondents
354 264 750 432 1800

Percentage
20 15 41 24 100%

Figure 4.1: Age of the Customers

AGE

Customers between 30-4024% groups today are highly salaried employees and are not so price age > 40 sensitive and like to have a good purchasing experience. Working women and house wives of this age group are like to come to the Reliance fresh more. So we found more customers in this age and they are also having high purchasing power.
25-30 15 %

SEX

4.2 Number of male and female customers respondents

Table 4.2: Number of Male and Female respondents Male/Female
Male Female Total

No. of Respondents
739 1061 1800

Percentage
41% 59% 100%

Figure 4.2: Number of Male and Female respondents

It is found that females take more interest in purchasing the household products than their male counterparts and they come to Reliance Fresh because they are not finding the difficulties as they do in the Kirana store. We also took more interest in surveying the female customer in the hope of getting more concrete findings. These are some reasons for the higher percentage of female customers.

4.3 Salary of the customers (I n thousands) Table 4.3: Salary of Customers Salary division
<15 15-25 25-35 >35 No Salary Total

No. of Respondents
0 379 727 443 251 1800

Percentage
0% 21% 40% 25% 14% 100%

Figure 4.3: Salary of Customers

SALARY

Out of 1800 respondents 14% are students so they dont have incomes. And it is found out customers having income 25-35(thousands) purchasing the products more from Reliance Fresh. It has also marked the customers whose income more than 35 thousand are purchasing large number of products due to their high purchasing power.

NO SALARY

4.4 Numbers of times visited Reliance Fresh in a month

Table 4.4: Numbers of times visited Reliance Fresh in a month Reliance fresh visited in a month
Excellent Good Satisfactory Fair Poor Total

No. of Respondents
468 833 355 118 26 1800

Percentage
26% 46% 20% 7% 1% 100%

Figure 4.4: Numbers of times visited Reliance Fresh in a month

While asking this question it is found little difficulty. Because some customers they come more often but they purchase very few products like milk etc. We put them into excellent. But some customers they come 2 or 3 times in a month but they purchase everything from Reliance Fresh for their whole need of their month. We have also put them into excellent. So it is difficult to relate the footfalls with the purchasing amount.

4.5 Staff availability in the store Table 4.5: Staffs Availability Staffs Availability
Excellent Good Satisfactory Fair poor Total

No. of Respondents
172 1289 318 18 3 1800

Percentage
9% 72% 18% 1% 0% 100%

Figure 4.5: Staffs Availability

It didnt find more customers who are very much dissatisfied with the staff availability. Because we surprised to see that staff are so cooperative and didnt mind to do the overtime when more number of staff are on holiday at a particular time. Yes, more customers didnt say excellent because at some stores the attrition is more. So there is no adequate staff availability all the time.

SS OF STAFF HELPFULNE EXCELLENT 10% POOR 0% FAIR 1% SATISFACTORY

4.6 Opinion about Helpfulness of staff in the Store

Table 4.6: Helpfulness of Staff in the Store Helpfulness of staffs GOOD
Excellent Good Satisfactory Fair Poor total

No. of Respondents
187 1368 227 16 2 1800

Percentage
10% 76% 13% 1% 0% 100%

76%

Figure 4.6: Helpfulness of Staff in the Store

It is found out very few employees in some stores are not so helpful to the customers when they need them. I ts very difficult to attend each customer especially in the peak hours, so thats why it is found only 187 customers who said that Staff helpfulness is excellent. 76% customers said that staff is very cooperative, helpful and they help whenever they we didnt get anything also provide information about offers and new products.

4.7 Availability of all the branded products in the store

Table 4.7: Availability of branded products in the store Availability of branded products No. of Respondents Percentage

Excellent Good Satisfactory Fair Poor Total

35 898 636 218 13 1800

2% 50% 35% 12% 1% 100%

Table 4.7: Availability of branded products in the store

Very few customers said they dont feel excellent about varieties of brands available because customers are very particular about the brands they use. And everybody have their own choice so some customers dont get some brands of their choice, so they have put Good instead of Excellent.

4.8 Opinion about the products of Reliance brands

Table 4.8: Opinion about products of Reliance brands About products of Reliance brands
Excellent Good Satisfactory Fair Poor No Comment Total

Total No. of people

Percentage

8 453 804 312 16 207 1800

1% 45% 32% 13% 1% 8% 100%

Figure 4.8: Opinion about products of Reliance brands

PRODUCTS OF RELIANCE BRANDS ARE

207 customers didnt give any comment because we found they are completely unaware about the Reliance brand products. The customers who said well they also dont use all the products of Reliance Brand. We have seen Reliance Tea is more known to the customers.

P RI C E AN D QUA LI TY OF V EG ET AB LE S A ND F RUIT S

4.9 Opinion about price and quality of vegetables and fruits

Table 4.9: Opinion about price and quality of vegetables and fruits Price and quality of vegetables
Excellent Good Satisfactory Fair Poor Total

No. of Respondents
41 764 532 383 80 1800

Percentage
2% 42% 30% 21% 5% 100%

Figure 4.9: Opinion about price and quality of vegetables and fruits

5% of the customers said that, qualities of the vegetables are poor because they may be not finding the vegetables are as fresh as the local vendors. Very few people said excellent, they are generally the very loyal customers and customers who purchase fruits. Very few people complained about the price and quality of the fruits. 42% customers said that quality of vegetables and fruits are good than local vendor because they throw out the dump vegetables and fruits.

PRICE AND QUALITY OF PRODUCTS

4.10 Opinion about price and quality of other products

Table 4.10: Opinion about price and quality of other products Price and quality of other products
Excellent Good Satisfactory Fair Poor Total

Total no. of Respondents

95% 1127% 537% 41% 0% 1800

Percentage

5% 63% 30% 2% 0% 100%

Table 4.10: Opinion about price and quality of other products

Most of the people found it very difficult to answer. Very few complained about the quality of products but more number of customers said comparing to the general stores the costs are high. So they said Good and satisfactory instead of Excellent.

STORE AMBIENCE

POOR

4.11 Opinion about store ambience Table 4.11: Opinion about store ambience
FAIR SATISFCATORY Store GOOD EXCELLENT

Ambience

No. of Respondents
127 975 584 112 2 1800

Percentage
7% 54% 33% 6% 0% 100%

Excellent Good Satisfactory Fair Poor Total

Figure 4.11: Opinion about store ambience

More Customers found the store ambience Good and Satisfactory but they strongly felt that it could be improved.

4.12 Opinion about billing timing Table 4.12: Opinion about billing timing Billing Timing
Excellent Good Satisfactory Fair Poor No Comment Total

No. of Respondents
70 1176 383 78 11 82 1800

Percentage
4% 65% 21% 4% 1% 5% 100%

Table 4.12: Opinion about billing timing

BILLING TIMING

More number of customer said the Billing service is Good as comparing to other malls but They said it should be improved especially in the peak hours and weekends.

4.13 Reliance one card Holder Table 4.13: Reliance one card Reliance one card
Yes

No. of Respondents
1236

Percentage
69%

No

564

31%

Total

1800

100%

Figure 4.13: Reliance one card

R 1 C A ce H O card. Only 31% customers dont have RelianR D one L D E RWe found these customers are not regular

to the Stores or even if they come but they dont purchase much. 69% customers have Reliance one card and they are loyal customers, who purchase products from Reliance Fresh regularly.

4.14 Benefit of Reliance one card Table 4.14: Benefit of Reliance one card Benefit of R1 card
Excellent Good Satisfactory Fair Poor No Comment Total

No. of Respondents
18 820 365 75 6 516 1800

Percentage
1% 44% 20% 4% 0% 31% 100%

Figure 4.14: Benefit of Reliance one card

BENEFIT OF R1 CARD

516 customers dont have their R -one card. Most of the people are quite satisfied with the cash

back benefit the card provides especially who purchases more from Reliance Fresh.

4.15 Response w hile enquiry or com plain Table 4.15: Response while enquiry or complain Response while enquiry or complain
Excellent Good Satisfactory Fair Poor No Comment Total

No. of Respondents

Percentage

171 1042 441 40 8 98 1800

10% 58% 25% 2% 0% 5% 100%

Figure 4.15: Response while enquiry or complain

RESPONSE TO CUSTOMER ENQUIRY OR COMPLAIN

5% customers said No comment because they had never done any enquiry or complain. 58% customers are satisfied and they said that CSA listen their complain and take a quick action upon it. Also in every stores there are complain books to write the complain.

4.16 Response while returning or exchanging the products

Table 4.16: Response while returning or exchanging the products Response while returning or exchanging the products
Excellent Good Satisfactory Fair Poor No Comment Total

No. of people
139 1055 360 32 5 209 1800

Percentage
8% 59% 20% 2% 0% 11% 100%

Figure 4.16: Response while returning or exchanging the products

R E S P O N S E W H I L E R E TU R N I N G O R E X C H A N G I N G

11% customer neverM E N T N O C O M experienced the returning or exchanging situation. And the percentage of people who said poor O O R the service is 0%. Because we have seen the staff was really P about cooperative whenever the customer needs returni ng or exchanging.
FAIR 2 %
SATISFACTORY 20%

11%

0%

4.17 Feeling after purchase the products from Reliance Fresh

Table 4.17: After purchase evaluation After purchase evaluation
Excellent Good Satisfactory Fair Poor Total

No. of Respondents
198 1005 594 2 1 1800

Percentage
11% 56% 33% 0% 0% 100%

Figure 4.17: After purchase evaluation

AFTER PURC HASE EVALUATION

Not single customer felt bad after purchasing from Reliance fresh. But most of the customers cant able to clearly r ate their experience. It was overall a good experience for most of the customers.

200

400

600

800

1000

4.18 Com pare Reliance Fresh to other m alls Table 4.18: Compare Reliance Fresh to other malls Compared to other malls
Excellent Good Satisfactory Fair Good Total

No. of Respondents
400 870 507 20 3 1800

Percentage
22% 49% 28% 1% 0% 100%

Figure 4.18: Compare Reliance Fresh to other malls

POOR FAIR SATISFACTORY GOOD EXCELLENT

400 customers said excellent out of 1800 because they found it was less rush and peaceful as compared to other malls. So enjoy the purchasing experience immensely. 870 customers said it is good particularly due to the shorter queue in front of the billing counter.

CHAPTER-V FINDINGS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS 5.1 Findings

Most of the customers are coming to the Reliance Fresh because of M T Their proximity to the store G Good quality of the products available here For saving time and getting better purchasing experience

Customers are not satisfied with the replenishment of stocks Most of the customers dont like to

purchase vegetables here. CSAs are not attendi ng properly to the customers during afternoon hours Customer are not getting permanent Reliance one card. Indicators for products are not available in some stores.

5.2 Recommendations
There should be some arrangement for fast billing services during weekends CSAs must be trained to be more knowledgeable about the product and should be more initiative while attending the customers. Watering of the vegetables must be done in a timely manner. Varieties of cosmetic products for women must be increased. Drinking water facility and sitting arrangement for older people must be available. Promotion of private label products. There should be proper indicator in the store for product. There should be customer Feedback register as well as complaint box which should be clearly visible to the customer and it must be monitored by a single person.

5.3 Lim itations

Every project has its limitations. This project is no longer exception. We had faced a number of problems during the project work. Followings are the limitations of the study: 1.Some people had no time to answer the questions. 2.Sometime respondents were biased. 3.Some of the facts are being left because of lengthiness of questionnaire.

4.Some of the people didnt know Hindi for which we faced language problem
because we didnt know Oriya. 5.Time constraint. Because of the restricted time available for the completion of this project we felt restricted in covering more information for the project. 6.Some of the people got annoyed to answer the questions and they simply avoided us.

5.3 Conclusion
This study has tried to address the need for customer satisfaction in Rel iance fresh. From the foregoing analysis and finding it is evident that customers have much more expectation from Reliance fresh. Reliance fresh is not able to come up to the expectation level of its customer fully. Promotional offers are mostly confusing. In terms of RATER Rel iance fresh service is satisfactory. Supply chain must be more efficient, as thei r most of the time shelves are empty especially in case of Food & Vegetable, bakery and milk. And also for staples as the sale of staples is more and it get finish early and it take 3 days for new product come to store. Respondents suggested that there should be proper communication regarding promotional offer. That must be easy to understand. A better strategy to satisfy customer is only the way to gain customer attention and to penetrate more in own catchment area. Strategy must be in all area like Promotional offer/Scheme, Product Pricing, Employee behavior, Billing process, Product Assortment, Product Quality, Service quality, etc Last but not least is not as much developed as metros so thinking and attitude of customers is conservative. So the concept of retail that is Touch and Feel the product would take time to be properly applied. As some segment of the customer of Bhubaneswar hesitate to enter into the retail store. Once the conservative thought would abolish definitely the Retail will grow with leap and bound, ultimately it would benefit Reliance fresh & Reliance retail.

ANNEXURE

B I B L I OGR A PHY

B o ok s
LAMBA, A.J. (2007), The Art of Retailing, Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited, Retail operations, Pages 373-416 SINHA, PIYUSH KUMAR and UNIYAL, DWARIKA PRASAD (2007), Managing

Retailing, Oxford university Press, Building Store Loyalty, Pages 465-469,

Understanding shopping and Shopper, Pages 80-100, The Domain of Retailing, Pages 1-5 SHARMA, ANIL and GUPTA, RUCHI (2009), Customer service in retailing, Biztantra, Introduction of Customer Services, Pages 1-44 BAJAJ, CHETAN and SRI VASTAVA, NIDHI (2007), Retail Management Oxford university Press, Retail Customer, Pages 200-245 KOTLER, PHI LI P (2009), Marketing Management, Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt. Ltd., Managing Retailing, Wholesaling, and Logistics, Pages 430-437 MURTHY, C. (2009), Research Methodology, Vrinda Publication [P] Ltd., Methods of Data Collection, Pages 117-141

Web s ites
www.wikipedia.com www.ril.com www.scribd.com www.answer.com http://ti mesofi ndia.i ndiati mes.com/articleshow/1 52511 2.cms http://news.franchi sei ndi a.com/retai l/Rel i ance-Retail-Revenue-may-grow- 10-ti mes--2067/ www.retailangle.com www.livemint.com