PART – A

BIG BAZAAR

INTRODUCTION

Big Bazaar a flagship retail chain of the Future Group is not just another hypermarket. It

caters to every need of a family. Where Big Bazaar scores over other stores is its value

for money proposition for the Indian customers. Big Bazaar’s journey began in October

2001, when the young, first generation entrepreneur Kishore Biyani opened the

country’s first hypermarket retail outlet in Kolkata. In the same month, two more stores

were added – one each in Hyderabad and Mumbai, thus starting on a successful note

which began the chapter of organized retailing in India.

Though, Big Bazaar was started purely as a fashion format including apparel, cosmetics,

accessory and general merchandise, the first Food Bazaar format was added as Shop-In-

Shop within Big Bazaar in the year 2002. Today, Big Bazaar, with its wide range of

products and service offering, reflects the aspirations of millions of Indians.

The journey of Big Bazaar can be divided into two phases – one pre and the other post

January 26th, 2005, when the company rewrote the retail chapter in India, with the

introduction of a never-before sales campaign “Sasbe Sasta Din”. In just one day, almost

the whole of India descended at various Big Bazaar stores in the country to shop at their

favourite shopping destination. Further, what followed was the time and again rewriting

17
of the Indian Retail experience, wherein understanding of the Indian consumers reflected

in the products and services offered, creating innovative deals etc.

Future Group is confident of the Indian Retail Story. The Group has not slowed down its

expansion plans despite the fiscal woes in the economy present today. Future Group plans

to have 300 stores and is expecting revenues of Rs 13,000 crore by year 2011.

17
SERVQUAL Analysis tool:

1. RELIABILITY

Figure 1:- Percentage of service experienced Figure 2:- Percentage of sales promotion
awareness

17
To understand the reliability of the services provided by Big Bazaar the respondents were

asked to rate the services they had experienced the first time they shopped in Big Bazaar.

They were also asked about the sales promotions offered by Big Bazaar.

To the query on the services experienced for the first time, 60% of the respondents said

that the service encounterd was good. 10% of them said that it was very good. With the

increasing number of retail outlets coming up in Bangalore competition has intensified

among the outlets. Big Bazaar has realized this fact and focus a lot on customer retention.

The employees in Big Bazaar are very friendly and try to satisfy the customers that walk-

in, in the best way possible. Only 10% of the respondents said that had a bad experience

the first time they shopped in Big Bazaar. The main reason for this is that during the peak

hours the outlet tends to get quite crowded and the employees may not be able to give the

same attention to all the customers.

With regards to the sales promotion awareness of Big Bazaar, 100% of the respondents

said that they were aware of the sales promotion offers that Big Bazaar offered. The main

reason for this is the aggressive advertising strategy that they follow. Big Bazaar

regularly advertise through newspapers, they also regularly provide additional

supplementary along with newspapers where they provide information about the different

offers that they currently have. One of the respondents coated that she specially liked the

super shopping week offer where there were special discounts offered for the entire week.

Apart from this Big Bazaar regularly advertise through radio and aslo have some

hoardings in the city. The Big Bazaar outlets also have almost all the offers painted on

17
the buildings which help people passing by to get to know about the different offers that

they provide.

17
 2. RESPONSIVENESS

Figure 3:- Percentage of prompt services Figure 4:- Percentage of willingness to help customers

17
 Figure 5:- Percentage of response to the customer request

To understand the responsiveness of the services offered by Big Bazaar the respondents

were asked to rate some of the services provided by the employees of Big Bazaar. With

regards to prompt services 40% of the respondents rated Big Bazaar’s employees as good

and 20% of respondents rated them as excellent. Some of the respondents reported that

they were immediately attended to as soon as they entered the outlet. Only 10% of the

respondents did not find Big Bazaar’s employees services to be prompt enough.

With regards to Big Bazaar’s employees willingness to help customers, 46% of the

respondents rated it to be good. Another 9% of the respondents found it to be excellent.

Most of the employees of Big Bazaar always go out of their way in assisting the

customers. They are always ready to provide a helping hand. Some of the respondents

also coated that they feel comfortable shopping in Big Bazaar. 18% of the respondents

found it to be poor. The main reason for this is at times the outlet gets very crowded and

the employees may not be in a position to entertain all of them.

With regards to response to customer request of Big Bazaar employees, 60% of the

respondents rated it as excellent. Another 30% of them rated it as good. All most all the

respondents reported that the Big Bazaar staff are very helpful and always responded to

the queries that they had.

17
 3. ASSURANCE

Figure 6:- Percentage of employee behavior Figure 7:- Percentage of employee attributes

To understand the level of assurance of the services provided by the staff of Big Bazaar,

the respondents were questioned on the employees behaviour and knowledge.

Of the 10 customers of Big Bazaar, 60% of the respondents stated that the Big Bazaar

staff’s behavior was consistently courteous and another 40% of them stated that it was

17
courteous. They reported that the staff were always warm and friendly while interacting

with them. Even if any queries arised, the staff responded to them in a polite way.

With regards to employee attributes, 50% of the respondents stated that the employees of

Big Bazaar were highly knowledgeable about the products and offers that they offered.

Another 40% of them felt that the staff were knowledgeable. Big Bazaar makes sure that

they regularly provide their employees with the required training thus making sure that

their staff is in a position to handle any query if arised.

17
 4. EMPATHY

Figure 8:- Percentage of attention given to customers Figure 9:- Percentage of understanding customer needs

Figure 10:- Percentage of level of satisfaction

17
To understand the level of empathy that Big Bazaar employees show towards their

customers, the respondents were questioned on the individual attention that they got as

well as on the employees understanding of their needs. They were also questioned about

their level of satisfaction with regards to the behavior of the employees of Big Bazaar

during their experience.

Of the 10 customers surveyed, 70% of the respondents stated that they were given

individual attention and 30% of the respondents stated that they were not given individual

attention. Big Bazaar tends to get crowded during peak hours, as a result the staff

sometimes is not in a position to attend to all the customers in the same manner. But on

the whole the employees generally give individual attention to their customers.

With regards to understanding customers needs, 60% of the respondents stated that their

needs were understood by the Big Bazaar staff. The staff in Big Bazaar generally take a

keen interest in their customers. They interact politely with customers about what they

are looking for which gives them an idea of what excatly the customer is looking for.

40% of the respondents stated that their needs were not understood by the staff in the

outlet. This is because some of the employees may not be well-versed with some

technicality of some products and could not interpret what the customers were looking

for.

17
To the query on whether the respondents were satisfied with the behavior of the staff of

Big Bazaar, 60% responded as satisfied and another 30% of them stated that they were

highly satisfied. The respondents reported that the Big Bazaar staff in most occasions go

out of their way in assisting them with their shopping. Queries also are quickly responded

which made their shopping experience very satisfactory. Only 10% of the respondents

stated that they were not satisfied with the behavior of the Big Bazaar staff.

17
 5. TANGIBLES

Figure 11:- Percentage of neatness & professionalism Figure 12:- Percentage of customer ideal time to shop

Tangibles are also important aspects of providing good service quality. The modern

equipments, ambience etc all add up in providing good quality of service to the

customers. In order to get a better understanding of the tangibles offered by Big Bazaar

the customers were questioned about the staff’s neatness and professionalism as well as

their ideal time to shop in Big Bazaar.

17
On neatness and professionalism 70% of the respondents rated Big Bazaar staff as good.

Another 20% of respondents rated them as excellent. Big Bazaar employees have a fixed

dress code with ID cards. This actually portrays a very professional atmosphere and make

customers comfortable shopping at Big Bazaar.

With regards to customer ideal time to shop, 70% of the respondents prefer to shop at Big

Bazaar from 6.00 pm to 9.00 pm. Another 20% prefer to shop from 3.00 pm to 6.00 pm.

This shows that the customers prefer to shop mostly in the evening probably after work.

Big Bazaar outlets are open till 10.00 pm. This shows that Big Bazaar have realized that

the evening time is more convenient for the customers and they have kept their outlets

opened till 10.00 pm to make shopping more convenient for their customers.

CONCLUSION

For a long time, sales has been perceived to be mostly about trying to convince the

customer that he needs the product. But now things have changed, it is important for

companies to understand the fact that they need to first understand the customer’s needs

and provide the products based on that. The concept of customer retention has also

become very vital these days. All this has brought about the concept of service quality.

With the increasing number of competition these days, companies have to focus a lot on

providing good quality service to retain their customers. According to the survey

conducted, the service provided by Big Bazaar is quite good. Majority of the respondents

were satisfied with the service provided by the Big Bazaar staff. The company constantly

17
tries to improve their service delivery through constant interactions with customers to

understand their needs and wants.

17
 PART – B

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

Everyone in this world must have had bad experiences in one or the other way. I have

had an experience while ordering for my dinner.

Two years ago, I had a very bad experience with Dominos while I ordered pizzas on a

promotional offer. I was at my friend’s place and it was Twenty-Twenty season. Cricket

match was very interesting as always. The mood fetched us an idea of ordering dinner

for door delivery and my friend suggested pizzas. We went through online search for an

offer. Dominos made a great choice and had an offer of delivering the pizzas to the door

step in 30 minutes, else would be free of cost. This was the ever best option we could get

and ordered for 4 chicken pizzas at 8:10pm.

The cricket was so interesting that we didn’t realize the time. It was 8:50pm, which went

beyond the specified half hour ETD. For the moment, we felt happy that we could get

pizzas free. The doorbell rang and it was 8:55pm. Fresh and hot pizzas was delivered

and, to our surprise, with the bill. We reminded him that his delivery was beyond half

hour and per the promotional offer, the pizzas would be free of cost. The boy tried his

hand to reason about the traffic conditions and denied free offer. We explained him

about the promotional offer which was advised by Dominos. We called them in turn to

explain about the situation. Their response portrayed irresponsibility and they told us to

make the payment. They reasoned that the delivery cannot happen per the promotional

offer in peak hours and sounded rude which was unexpected.

17
Once the call got disconnected, we told the delivery boy to take back his pack but he

pleaded to accept it by making the payment, else will be sacked out of the job. Not to

cause a discomfort, we accepted his delivery for payment. The party mood was in pieces

and this was the first time ever I have had such a bad experience. Never faced such

situations before. This made me switch the brand to Pizza Hut, whose service is 100

times better than my expectations.

COMMON THEMES IN CRITICAL SERVICE ENCOUNTERS RESEARCH

Figure 13:- Common themes in critical service encounters research

According to the critical service encounters research the problem that I faced with

Dominos pizza fell under the recovery category, where initially the problem was ignored

by the delivery boy and later by the company itself. The service failure was not even

acknowledged by the company.

17
RECOMMENDATIONS

First and for most the delivery boy as well as the company should have acknowledged

their mistake instead of just ignoring it. They should have apologized and explained the

problem in a better way. They should have taken responsibility for what went wrong and

should have come up with some alternate solutions instead of acting as though nothing

went wrong. Mistakes are part and parcel of human life but if all the above mentioned

would have been done then probably we would just pay for the pizzas and I would

continue to opt for Dominos pizzas.

17
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

• http://www.pantaloon.com/companyinfo.asp

• http://www.projectstoday.com/News/NewsDetails.aspx?Nid=22818

• http://www.afaqs.com/news/company_news/Marketing/7061.html

• http://www.blonnet.com/catalyst/2007/02/28/stories/2007022800060200.ht

17
 ANNEXURE
QUESTIONNAIRE

1. COMPANY NAME:

2. LOCATION:

3. ON A SCALE OF 1-5 RATE THE SERVICE EXPERIENCED BY YOU IN BIG

BAZAAR FOR THE FIRST TIME

1 2 3 4 5

4. ARE YOU AWARE OF THE SALES PROMOTION CARIED OUT BY BIG

BAZAAR

YES YES NO

IF YES SPECIFY:

5. RATE THE SERVICE PROVIDED BY THE STAFFS OF BIG BAZAAR?

(PLEASE TICK)

EXCELLENT GOOD AVERAGE POOR

PROMPT SERVICES

WILLINGNESS TO
HELP THE CUSTOMER

RESPONSE TO THE
CUSTOMER REQUEST

17
6 . HOW WAS THE BEHAVIOUR OF THE EMPLOYEES DURING YOUR
EXPERIENCE IN BIG BAZAAR?

RUDE COURTEOUS CONSISTANTLY

COURTEOUS

7 . WHAT DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE STAFFS TOWARDS YOUR EXPERIENCE

IN BIG BAZAAR?
KNOWLEDGABLE HIGHLY KNOWLEDGABLE

AVERAGE LO VERY POOR

8. WERE YOU GIVEN INDIVIDUAL ATTENTION DURING YOUR VISIT IN

BIG BAZAAR?
YES YES NO N

9. DID THE STAFFS IN BIG BAZAAR UNDERSTAND YOUR NEEDS A BIG

BAZAAR A CUSTOMER

YES YES NO N

10 . HOW WAS THE BEHAVIOUR OF THE EMPLOYEES DURING YOUR

EXPERIENCE IN BIG BAZAAR?

NOT SATISFIED C SATISFIED HIGHLY SATISFIED

11 . RATE THE APPEARANCE OF THE EMPLOYEES OF THE BIG BAZAAR

INTERMS OF THEIR NEATNESS AND PROFESSIONALISM.
EXCELLENT GOOD

AVERAGE LO POOR

12. WHAT IS THE IDEAL TIME YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHOP IN BIG BAZAAR?

9.00AM-12AM 12.00PM-3.00PM

3.00PM -6.00PM 6.00PM-9.00PM

17
17