“A STUDY ON EFFECTIVENESS OF CUSTOMER

SERVICE AT MAX RETAIL, BANGALORE.”

ORGANISATION STUDY AND PROJECT REPORT

Submitted to

RAJAGIRI BUSINESS SCHOOL

In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

(2018-2020)

By

NITHIN N

ROLL NO: B2344

RAJAGIRI BUSINESS SCHOOL

RAJAGIRI VALLEY
 KAKKANAD, KOCHI

682039

DECLARATION

I, Nithin N, hereby declare that this report titles “A study on Effectiveness of Customer
Service at Max Retail, Bangalore” is a bona fide record of the project done by me as a part of
the final project during the period from 2nd April, 2019 to 25th May, 2019 at Landmark Group,
Bangalore.

This study has been prepared as a partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award of
the Master of Business Administration [MBA] during the academic year 2018-2020 under the
guidance of Asst Prof. Dr Simon Jacob, faculty Rajagiri Centre for Business Studies, Cochin.

I also declare that this report has not submitted in fully or partially thereof, to any
university or institution for the award of any degree or diploma.

Place: Kakkanad Nithin N

Date:
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It gives me immense pleasure to acknowledge all those who have given resources, time
and supply all valuable facts and opinion that has helped me out in bringing this project to
realization

Firstly, I would like to take this opportunity to express my hearty and profound thanks to
Dr.Binoy Joseph, principal for providing me this opportunity of practical learning experience at
Landmark Group, Bangalore.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Mr. Benjamin , Area Manager

Operations department of Max Fashion, Bangalore and Goa for his guidance, encouragement and
patience throughout the duration of this project. I also thank all the employees of the
organization for their corporation. Without their care and consideration this report would not
have been completed.

I express my profound gratitude to my project guide Asst Prof. Dr Simon Jacob, and
other faculty members of Rajagiri Centre for Business Studies, for their valuable guidance and
support throughout the course of the final project.

Above all, I am thankful to Lord Almighty, and my family members for helping me to
complete my study successfully.

Nithin N
 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The research was conducted for Max Fashion under Landmark Group, Bangalore titled “A study
on Effectiveness of Customer Service at MAX Retail, Bangalore” as part of Master of Business
Administration by Rajagiri Business School. It was done during the month of April and May,
2018.

Good customer service is all about bringing customers back. And about sending them away
happy enough to pass positive feedback about your business along to others, who may then try
the product or service you offer for themselves and in their turn become repeat customers.

Excellent customer service is not about sustaining the client; it is about wowing the customer.
Customer service is a vital slogan in the business world nowadays. Just about every company
seems to realize just how important customer service is and have started to find means to develop
and measure customer service.

The purpose of this research was to conduct a customer service survey for Max showroom in The
Forum Neighborhood mall Whitefield, Phoenix Market city and Maratahalli. The goal was to
evaluate how effective is the customer service in these stores.
SL.NO TITLE PAGE NO
SECTION 1 PROFILE STUDY OF
ORGANISATION
1.1 Industry profile 7
1.2 Porter’s analysis of retail industry 8
1.3 Industry future and growth 11
1.4 Major Indian retail players in market 12
1.5 Government initiatives towards retail industry 12
1.6 Fashion retail scenario in India: trends and market 13
dynamics
1.7 Challenges for fashion retail in India 14
1.8 Trends in fashion industry in India 16
1.9 Company history 18
2.1 Business and brands 23
2.2 Mission, vision, core values 24

2.3 Corporate office, units, products and customers 25

2.4 Operations 25
2.5 Functional departments and leadership structure 27
2.6 Products and services 30

2.7 Pricing strategy 31

2.8 Departments 32
2.9 Organisational structure and store structure 33
3.1 Future plans 34

3.2 Swot analysis 35

 3.3 Awards and recognitions 36
SECTION 2 PROBLEM CENTERED STUDY
Chapter 1 Problem Formulation 40
Chapter 2 Research Process 41
Chapter 3 Presentation and Analysis of data 42
Chapter 4 Conclusions 46
Chapter 5 Recommendations 47
Bibliography 47
Annexure 48
 SECTION 1

PROFILE STUDY OF THE ORGANISATION

1.1 INDUSTRY PROFILE

The Indian retail industry is one of the fastest growing in the world. Retail industry in India is
expected to grow to US$ 1,200 billion by 2021 from US$ 672 billion in 2017E.

India is the fifth largest preferred retail destination globally. The country is among the highest in
the world in terms of per capita retail store availability. India’s retail sector is experiencing
exponential growth, with retail development taking place not just in major cities and metros, but
also in Tier-II and Tier-III cities. Healthy economic growth, changing demographic profile,
increasing disposable incomes, urbanization, changing consumer tastes and preferences are the
other factors driving growth in the organized retail market in India.

The India Retail Industry is the largest among all the industries, accounting for over 10 per cent
of the country’s GDP and around 8 per cent of the employment. The Retail Industry in India has
come forth as one of the most dynamic and fast paced industries with several players entering the
market. But all of them have not yet tasted success because of the heavy initial investments that
are required to break even with other companies and compete with them. The India Retail
Industry is gradually inching its way towards becoming the next boom industry.

India’s population is taking to online retail in a big way. Online retail sale is forecasted to grow
at the rate of 31 per cent to reach US$ 32.70 billion in 2018@. Revenue generated from online
retail is projected to grow to US$ 60 billion by 2020. Organized retail penetration is expected to
increase to 18 per cent in 2021 from an estimated nine per cent in 2017. India is expected to
become the world's third-largest consumer economy, reaching US$ 400 billion in consumption
by 2025. ^Increasing participation from foreign and private players has given a boost to Indian
retail industry. India’s price competitiveness attracts large retail players to use it as a sourcing
base. Global retailers such as Walmart, GAP, Tesco and JC Penney are increasing their sourcing
from India and are moving from third-party buying offices to establishing their own wholly-
owned/wholly-managed sourcing and buying offices. India’s retail sector investments doubled to
reach Rs 1,300 crore (US$ 180.18 million) in 2018.* The Government of India has introduced
reforms to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in retail industry. The government has
approved 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail and 100 per cent in single brand retail under the
automatic route which is expected to give a boost to ease of doing business and Make in India,
and plans to allow 100 per cent FDI in e-commerce. India will become a favorable market for
fashion retailers on the back of a large young adult consumer base, increasing disposable
incomes and relaxed FDI norms.

TYPES OF RETAIL: RETAIL CLASSIFICATION

Retail industry can be broadly classified into two categories namely- organized and unorganized
retail.
● Organized retail - Organised traders/retailers, who are licensed for trading activities and
registered to pay taxes to the government.
● Unorganized retail – It consists of unauthorized small shops - conventional Kirana shops,
general stores, corner shops among various other small retail outlets - but remain as the
radiating force of Indian retail industry.

1.2 PORTER’S ANALYSIS OF RETAIL INDUSTRY

Michael Porter’s Five Forces Model helps in the determination of the industry attractiveness and
in analyzing the prospects of growth and opportunities by assessing the competitive trends and
the intensity of the rivalry amongst the existing competitors. It is a major strategic tool used for
determining the industry potential/prospects and the possible threats which may limit the
attractiveness of this industry and prevent new entrants from joining the competitive battle. It
provides key insights to the organizations for crafting and implementing both long-term and
short-term strategic plans.
Threat from the Competitors

This is one of the key factors which will ultimately be deciding the attractiveness of the retail
industry. New entrants will be able to learn from the mistakes of the existing players and may
join the industry with improved strategies or corrective measures. The new entrants can offer
low-cost offerings with improved features for luring the customers.

The competition in the retail industry is quite fierce and intense. As a result of this, the existing
players may impose barriers to entry in the industry for the new players. These barriers can be
imposed by strengthening the distribution infrastructure and the supply chain framework.
Barriers for the new entrants can also be imposed by gaining a cost advantage or low-cost
leadership and also in the form of economic regulations or trade barriers for foreign players.
Apart from this, the threat to the entry of new players could be from the differentiation of the
product, capital investment strength and strong loyalty of the customers for the existing players.

Threats from the Substitutes

The existence of substitutes will definitely affect the attractiveness of the industry and lower the
profitability. This is because substitutes directly influence the prices of the products and the
demand for the products from the customers as well. In the retail industry, the threat from the
substitutes is very high. With the availability of more substitute products, the buyers will get
more options to choose from the available alternatives for satisfying their requirements. The
willingness of the buyers to buy the substitute products is directly dependent upon various
factors such as quality, prices and the performance of the substitute products.

If we analyze the retail industry, various factors such as availability of alternative options for
buying like online shopping, different modes of payment, availability of home delivery service,
and cost of the substitute products can intensify the threats from the substitutes.

Bargaining Power of the Buyers

Buyers are the firms or the individuals who are the ultimate purchasers of the industry products
and services. Buyers include the end consumers, distributors, retailers and the industrial
purchasers.
A buyer’s bargaining power is expected to be higher if the scope for switching from one supplier
to another exists. Moreover, if concentrated numbers of buyers purchase a large quantity of
products, then the bargaining power of the buyers is expected to be higher. Apart from this, the
industry bargaining power will be expected to be high for those products for which quality is
given utmost importance.

Therefore, in case of the retail industry, the bargaining power of the buyers is expected to be
very high because of the easy availability of plenty of substitutes with better price offerings,
volumes purchased by the buyers, sensitivity towards the pricing/cost related factors and poor
loyalty towards the brand.

Bargaining Power of the Suppliers

Suppliers supply the required raw materials or the inputs to the industry players. These inputs
can be in the form of man, material, finance or technology related support from the suppliers.
Various factors determine the bargaining power of the suppliers. The suppliers bargaining power
is expected to be high if the quality of the raw material or the inputs are unique. The factors
which govern the strength of the bargaining power of the suppliers are the uniqueness of the
inputs or the raw materials, the quality of the product which is offered by the suppliers and more
demand for the supplier’s products will increase the bargaining power of the suppliers.

Competitive Rivalry

The higher the intensity of the competitive rivalry in the industry, the lesser will be the
profitability of the firms. In the retail industry, the intensity of competitive rivalry is affected by
a gamut of factors such as:

● Intensification of competition with new competitive players joining the industry.

● Gaining a competitive edge over the counterparts by achieving economies of scale in
production
● Stiff competitive rivalry amongst the established retail tycoons or major industry players.
● Varieties offered in the product offerings for maximizing customer satisfaction and
strengthening customer loyalty.
The other crucial factors which determine the intensity of the competitive rivalry are the pricing
of the products, service quality, strategic alliances as mergers/acquisitions, etc. High competitive
rivalry can be regarded as a threat because it weakens the profit prospects and the prices. On the
other hand, low competitive rivalry can be viewed as an opportunity because this will open new
avenues for maximizing profits for the firms.

1.3 INDUSTRY FUTURE AND GROWTH

As the retail industry story unfolds in India, new strategies come to the fore. Recent news of
Amazon acquiring a stake in Future Retail is an indication that the strategy will be differentiated
given the nature of the market and consumption trends.

Amazon's acquisition of a stake in Future Retail is in addition to the stake it took in Shoppers
Stop, and the earlier Aditya Birla-backed "More" chain. These acquisitions are an indication that
large retail players think that, to gain a greater market share, the online strategy will have to be
complemented with an offline route as well.

Online retail sales as a percentage of total sales have shown a tremendous rise, going from 0.8
percent in 2014 to 3.6 percent of total retail sales in 2017. While the growth has been enormous
and will continue to be fast, the fact that 95 percent of the market is still with the offline sector
drives home a few important points. Access to offline stores provides a vast distribution network
and brand accessibility, especially beyond the Tier 1 cities. Therefore, for a player interested in a
higher market share, an offline presence is non-negotiable.

The Indian retail trading has received Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) equity inflows totaling
US$ 1.59 billion during April 2000–December 2018, according to the Department for Promotion
of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).
With the rising need for consumer goods in different sectors including consumer electronics and
home appliances, many companies have invested in the Indian retail space in the past few
months.
Beccos, a South Korean designer brand is set to enter the Indian market with an investment of
about Rs 1.00 billion (US$ 14.25 million) and open 50 stores by June 2019.
Walmart Investments Cooperative U.A has invested Rs 2.75 billion (US$ 37.68 million) in Wal-
Mart India Pvt Ltd.
1.4 MAJOR INDIAN RETAIL PLAYERS IN MARKET
● Reliance Retail

● Future Group

● Trent

● Aditya Birla Retail

● Titan Company

● Shoppers Stop

● The Raymond Group

● Avenue Supermarts Ltd

● Godrej Consumer Products Limited

● Provogue

1.5 GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES TOWARDS RETAIL INDUSTRY

The Government of India has taken various initiatives to improve the retail industry in India.
Some of them are listed below,

● The Government of India may change the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) rules in food
processing, in a bid to permit e-commerce companies and foreign retailers to sell Made in
India consumer products.
● Government of India has allowed 100 per cent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in online
retail of goods and services through the automatic route, thereby providing clarity on the
existing businesses of e-commerce companies operating in India.
● The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has on 23 January 2018
issued Press Note 1 (2018 Series) to boost FDI inflows into the country.
● The Indian Government has allowed 100 % Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in online
retail. FDI in the retail sector is likely to boost investment and modernize the retail sector.
1.6 FASHION RETAIL SCENARIO IN INDIA: TRENDS AND MARKET
DYNAMICS

The Indian retail market is expected to demonstrate a promising year-on-year growth of 6% to

reach USD 865 billion, by 2023, from the current USD 490 billion. The share of apparel in
India’s retail market is 8%, corresponding to a value of USD 40 billion. In addition to fashion
apparel, the growing demand for fashion accessories makes the Indian fashion market both
interesting and lucrative.
The Indian fashion retail market has witnessed several fascinating changes and challenges in
recent years, which are indicators of the country’s evolving fashion retail market. The challenges
associated with these changes need to be addressed in the most efficient and prudent manner in
order to harness the concomitant benefits.

Trend
s in
the
Indian
Fashio
n
Marke
t

The trends emerging within the Indian fashion market can be broadly classified into four
categories, depending on their associations; these are discussed in the following sections.

India’s Macroeconomic Scenario

The sound growth of the fashion products market, driven by the 8-to-9% GDP growth and
positive investment sentiment, looks like a thing of the past. The growth story of one of the
largest emerging economies, India, has required severe revision. A growth rate under 5%,
coupled with double-digit inflation, has dampened consumer demand for fashion items. As a
result, the Indian fashion products consumer has become a cautious spender; demanding value
for the money spent. In many cases, the Indian middle class has started trading down by shifting
to either products available at a lower price-range or to lowering purchase volumes if within the
same price range. The recent inflation in food and vegetables’ prices has added to the woes of the
Indian consumer.

Evolution of Fashion Retail

The distinct trends in the macroeconomic scenario, the favorable demographic dividend, retail
specific policies, and consumer buying behavior, have triggered a transformation in the fashion
retail market which is also reflected in the changes undergone by the Indian retail industry. These
take the form of modernization and corporatization of retail businesses, the evolution of
alternative retail landscapes, the customization of product portfolios to address the specific needs
of various consumer segments, the increasing success of private labels, and the growing focus on
business efficiency.

1.7 CHALLENGES FOR FASHION RETAIL IN INDIA

Infrastructural Bottlenecks and Efficiency

Inadequate Infrastructure such as poor conditions of roads, highway, etc., is one of the challenges
faced by Indian fashion retail industry resulting in major roadblock in its growth story. India to
grow to its fullest potential would have to invest heavily in infrastructure such as proper
connectivity of roads, inland waterways, etc.

However, certain steps have been taken to address the infrastructure issue. The implication of
GST is expected to solve the hassle of documentation and long waiting queues at check posts for
inter-state transport of goods. E-way bills are implemented for trial period, which can reduce
wait time at checkpoints which is the main reason for delayed shipments. If implemented wisely,
e-way bills have potential to reshape the Indian logistic industry and make transport of goods
easier and faster.
Changing consumer behavior

In the business environment, consumer is the king. With the increasing media and internet
exposure, consumer is now well informed about fashion trends and demand. To ensure
sustainable growth, it has become inevitable for the retailers to cater to the consumer as per their
demand and preferences. Consumers have become more adaptable to change in fashion trends;
thus it has become challenging for retailers to stay upbeat with changing demands of customers.

Fast fashion

A few years ago, shopping of new clothes in India was majorly associated with major festivals or
with family weddings. But times are changing rapidly, witnessing a generation of shoppers
which are becoming part of the world of fast fashion. Fast fashion is a trend associated with the
designs that move quickly from the catwalk to showroom for the consumers. The increasing
disposable incomes coupled with consumer’s aspiration to follow global fashion have fueled the
growth of fast fashion stores in India. International brands offering fast fashion are forcing
Indian brands to rethink seasonal offering to the consumers. Domestic brands are adapting their
business model to compete with fast fashion trends and international brands. It is a challenge to
stay upbeat with the growing demand of fast fashion among consumers and with the stiff
competition by international brands in this trend.

Heterogeneity of the Market

Heterogeneity is a key characteristic of the Indian retail market in general. The complexity of the
market can be decoded by comparing it with the developed retail markets of the West. For
example, in the US, there are 4 shops for every 1000 people whereas the corresponding number
for India is 14 shops per 1000 people. The Indian retail market is characterized by a diverse
spread of customers with unique preferences. From a retailer’s perspective, this requires a
thorough understanding of consumer preferences across the country and of the similarity and
differences in consumer buying patterns.
1.8 TRENDS IN FASHION INDUSTRY IN INDIA

The global consumer spending on fashion crossed US$1.5 trillion in 2015. India’s fashion retail
market is itself set to grow to US$115 billion by 2026. However, Indian fashion and textile
brands need to warm up to the emergence of a new connected consumer, well synced with the
latest in global apparel and fashion trends, if they are to capture their due share of this growth.

In our recent research across the global textile value chain, we found five key trends shaping the
future of global fashion and apparel industry. Remarkably, these trends apply as much to the
Indian consumer as they do to an American or a British. Our data shows that fast fashion is
exploding in influence; as shoppers in India and elsewhere around the world shift to value-for-
money fashion, aligned with the latest global trends. People no longer consider apparels as a
durable item, to be shopped seasonally; instead, they are now chasing latest trends and hunting
for bargains. Clothes are seen as disposable and modern consumer’s closets which can be full of
many impractical and infrequently worn items.

Emergence of fast fashion

Apparel brands are forced to embrace what we are calling ‘a new design paradigm’ to create
collections faster and at lower Research and Development (R&D) costs. The traditional design
process with a three-six months time frame was designed for seasonal collections. It has now
given way to a ‘curation over creation’ strategy for monthly collections with a shorter time frame
of two months. As a result, players across the textile value chain must reduce lead times.

Rise of fit customer and wearable fashion

The rise of the ‘fit’ customer is another megatrend fueling the demand in activewear and
sportswear. Worldwide, there is a cultural shift towards sports including running as part of a
growing emphasis on fitness, especially among the urban population. Technology is getting
integrated as part of wearables. There are smart clothing items in the market with embedded
health sensors and medical monitors. Outside of apparel too, fitness wearables that sync to
smartphones have gone mainstream.
Viable eco-friendly products

The third trend is visible in how progressive apparel companies are addressing the latent
consumer demand for environment-friendly clothes. US-based Patagonia is an early adopter of
recycled materials and organic cotton usage in its apparel. While the Denali jacket from The
North Face is made with recycled yarn, recovered from fabric scraps and recycled bottles, which
uses less water for dying. From a composite value chain perspective, downstream companies like
Bolt Threads have developed bio-synthetic fibers that harness natural proteins; as an alternative
to petroleum-based fabrics like polyester or nylon. Patagonia is, in fact, a key user of these
alternatives, eco-friendly fabrics.

Preference to product personalization

Fourth, product personalization is going mainstream rapidly, creating whole new revenue
streams and possibilities for agile brands. Thursday Finest offers custom-tailored merino wool
socks that are made on demand using 3D knitting machines to a customer’s specifications: size,
shape, and colors. US-based MTailor has embraced smartphone-based personalization for suits,
shirts, and jeans – customers provide measurements and place the order on phone, and get the
products shipped via mail. Bombay Shirt Company in India has embraced a similar model.
Further, several mainstream jeans brands have started offered personalized fits.

Fulfillment of personalized fashion requires brands to re-engineer their entire value chain, use
cutting-edge technology for collaboration and communications and forge new types of vendor
relationships to ensure express deliveries; for the customer does not like to wait.
1.9 COMPANY HISTORY

Founded in 1973 in Bahrain, the Landmark Group has successfully grown into one of the largest
and most successful retail organizations in the Middle East, Africa and Indian Subcontinent. An
international, diversified retail and hospitality conglomerate that encourages entrepreneurship to
consistently deliver exceptional value, the Group operates over 2000 outlets encompassing over
27 million square feet across the Middle East, Africa and the Indian Subcontinent. The Group
employs over 55,000 people.

India Operations

In 1999, the Landmark Group entered India, to revolutionize retailing in the country. The group
now operates more than 350 stores in India and employs more than 15,000 people in the
following businesses.

Lifestyle
Lifestyle started its journey in India with the launch of its first Lifestyle store in Chennai in 1999.
Positioned as a trendy, youthful and vibrant store, Lifestyle offers consumers the latest in fashion
and lifestyle in an enjoyable shopping experience. Each Lifestyle brings together multiple
concepts under one roof – Apparel, Footwear, Children’s Wear, Beauty & Accessories offering a
convenient one-stop and a choice of leading national & international brands.

Home Centre

Home Centre is the Home Improvement Store under the Lifestyle brand, which offers customers
a varied range of furnishings and homeware based on trendy themes that make it easy to beautify
the house. A rapidly growing brand, Home Centre offers the best in home furniture and best in
class service.

Max
Max India, a division of Lifestyle International (P) Ltd., was established in the year 2004. It has
pioneered the concept of ‘value fashion’ in the country, thereby offering the discerning shopper a
vast choice with international fashion & quality.

It offers apparel, footwear & accessories that are of the latest fashion trends at a great price,
making it affordable to many. Max has its own label merchandise of in house designs and
planned color palettes for the season. Every season Max introduces a fresh collection of
international designs specially customized to the Indian market. The brand adapts to the
changing needs of the shopper every season and accordingly introduces new designs, silhouettes
& fabrics.

Easybuy
Easybuy is a value retail format started exclusively in India by Max Retail Division of Lifestyle
International Pvt. Ltd.

Easybuy started its journey in 2014 with its first store in Telangana. Each Easybuy store brings
under one roof a wide range of clothing for the entire family. Specialized in mid and lower mid
value retail format, Easybuy offers quality and affordability in men’s wear, ladies’ wear, kids’
wear, footwear and accessories. The Easybuy product range has over 1000 styles at reasonable
prices and is positioned as a store that provides super styles at super prices.

Max Hypermarkets

In India, Max Hypermarkets, a Landmark Group company, run the Spar Hypermarkets as a result
of a license agreement between the company and Amsterdam based SPAR International.

SPAR is an organization that provides its customers value for money. SPAR is passionate about
retailing and is driven by committed independent retailers who win the trust and friendship of
their community. Through its commitment to outstanding service and excellence in fresh foods,
SPAR meets the real needs of its customers.

Citymax
Citymax is a hospitality division under the Landmark Group. It currently operates the Krispy
Kreme and Fun City brands in the country.

Fun City, an international chain of ‘Family Entertainment Centers (FEC), is the first leisure
concept of the retail giant, the Landmark Group. It aims to bring the best of entertainment,
amusement, fun options under one roof for the entire family. Fun City offers truly world class
facilities with a value for money experience. Fun City also has an exclusive area demarcated for
activities such as celebrating birthday parties, small family gathering and special fun occasions.
Krispy Kreme is a leading branded specialty retailer and wholesaler of premium quality sweet
treats and complementary products, including its signature Original Glazed® doughnut.
Headquartered in Winston-Salem, NC, the Company has offered the highest quality doughnuts
and great tasting coffee since it was founded in 1937. Today, Krispy Kreme can be found in
approximately 694 locations around the world.

MAX

MAX is the international value fashion brand of the Dubai based Landmark Group. Established
in 2004 in the UAE, Max has become the largest value fashion brand in India and the Middle
East with over 200 stores across 15 countries; offering customers a one stop shop for clothing,
accessories and footwear needs for the entire family.

MAX India, a division of Lifestyle International (P) Ltd., has pioneered the concept of ‘value
fashion’ in the country, thereby offering the discerning shopper a vast choice with international
fashion & quality.

It offers apparel, footwear & accessories that are of the latest fashion trends at a great price,
making it affordable to many. Max has its own label merchandise of in house designs and
planned colour palettes for the season. Every season Max introduces a fresh collection of
international designs specially customized to the Indian market. The brand adapts to the
changing needs of the shopper every season and accordingly introduces new designs, silhouettes
& fabrics.

In India, MAX was established in the year 2006 with its first store in Indore. Now, Max has
around 160+ stores across 60 cities with over 3500 employees. Max stores typically measures
18,000 – 30,000 Sq. ft. The store ambience offers an international shopping experience making
shopping for the entire family an absolute delight. Max focuses on strong visual elements at the
store for engaging customers while they are in store. The stores are designed for easy navigation
with distinct category display to facilitate customers in easily locating product they are looking
for.

The target audience for Max India is primarily is contemporary middle class family and young
working couples within the age group of 25 to 35 yrs. As Max has positioned itself as a youth
brand, it also targets teenagers and college students within the age group of 18 to 24 years. Their
core customer profile is- Married women between 22 and 30 years and who has a child; both the
lady and the husband employed in service sector. The secondary base group comprises of
students- boys and girls in the age group 18-22, who wants to change fashion every month. The
third segment is the mature segment with 35 plus-people well established in their jobs, who want
to look smart but for whom affordability is an issue. Max would follow a 70 -30 equation, with
70% stores in malls and 30% in high streets because mall attracts the Max’s target audience.

Max is reaching out to customers in Tier II towns through brand initiatives like Max Fashion
Icon which addresses the aspirations of the stylish youth of the city and Max Little Icon which
captures the interest of family oriented markets.

‘Landmark Rewards' in a unique loyalty program, with current membership base of over 3.8
million customers, has emerged as one of India's leading loyalty programs offering customers
rewards and exclusive benefits. It helps the loyal customers to get more value every time they
shop at Landmark Group outlets.

Max has its footprints in Mumbai, Delhi/NCR, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Pune,
Bhopal, Indore, Kochi, Lucknow, Bhubaneswar, Jaipur, Jabalpur, Nagpur, Raipur, Surat,
Vadodara, Gangtok, Ranchi, Siliguri, Agra, Allahabad, Amritsar, Bareilly, Chandigarh,
Dehradun, Varanasi, Calicut, Coimbatore, Hubli, Kannur, Madurai, Mangalore, Mysore,
Pondicherry, Thrissur, Trichy, Trivandrum, Vizag, Jammu, Vijayawada, Kanpur & Udaipur. The
brand plans to have a network of 120 stores by the end of the financial year.

INDIA PRESENCE OF MAX

Max is a mono brand with its own label merchandise that is created by in-house designers for
every season, and is currently growing at a 35% CAGR year on year. Max caters to family as its
primary TG and Youth as its secondary TG. With Youth contribution to business growing by
68% every year, the brand engages with this target audience throughout the year. Max launched
three IPR’s in the space of modelling, design & acting, facilitating aspirations and democratizing
fashion for the youth.

● Max Elite Model Look

 ● Max Design Awards
● Max Emerging Star

Max also launched the Max Emerging Star in 2017 in 4 smart cities across India, a property
specifically targeted to enable young aspirants’ dreams of getting their foothold in the
Bollywood, entertainment and glamour industry. Max Emerging Star 2017 is associated with
eminent stars from Bollywood namely, acting Legend Anupam Kher and India’s favourite Dance
Guru Terence Lewis.

2016 was the third year of Elite Model Look India and Max association. This year, the property
was conducted at a grand scale in India across 7 cities with more than 10,000 participants along
with the grand world finale taking place in Milan, with India winners competing with 30 other
countries.

2014 – Max Fashion partnered with Elite Model Management to sponsor 'Elite Model Look
India 2014', the winners of which went on to represent India at the Elite Model finale in China.
Former Femina Miss India Supranational Vijaya Sharma and Rinku Malik, both from New
Delhi, were declared as winners of the event.

2015 – The winners of Elite Model Look India 2015, Dipti Sharma and Pranav Patidar, went to
represent India in the World Finale held in Milan, Italy.

2016 – The winners of the Elite Model Look India 2016, Ajay Singh and Priyanka BV,
represented India in the World Finale held in Lisbon, Portugal. Ajay Singh won People’s choice
award title in the world finale.

The third edition of Max Design Awards was conducted for fashion students from 60 design
colleges in 20 cities across the country. The esteemed panel of jury included Fashion Designers
Nachiket Barve, Varun Bahl, Priyadarshni Rao, along with expert Jury Max ED - Vasanth
Kumar, Design Head Kamakshi Kaul and Project Head - Marc Robinson
 2.1 BUSINESS AND BRANDS
Landmark Group's business can be broadly classified into Retail, Hospitality and Healthcare.
Retail is the group's core focus area and it deals mainly with apparel, furniture, footwear,
consumer electronics, cosmetics & beauty products, home improvement and baby products. In
India, the formats are different and include grocery retail in a joint venture with Auchan and
hence the list below does not apply to India.

Business Brand

Activity

Apparel Babyshop, Splash, Max, Lifestyle, Iconic and Centrepoint (a

single store format housing Babyshop, Splash, Shoemart and
Lifestyle],kotton

Footwear Shoemart, Shoe press, Shoemart International Footwear

Furniture & Homecentre, Q Home Decor, Home Box

home

improvement

Hospitality Citymax, Oasis Malls, Foodmark, Spaces, Fitness First, Fun City,
Funville

Healthcare iCare Clinics, Balance Wellness Club

Other retails E-max (Consumer Electronics), Sports One (Fitness Gear),

Candelite

(Confectionery
2.2 MISSION, VISION, CORE VALUES
VISION

TO BE AMONG THE TOP THREE RETAIL PLAYERS IN THREE OF THE FASTEST

GROWING RETAIL MARKETS IN THE WORLD (MIDDLE EAST, INDIA AND CHINA)

MISSION

● CAREFULLY LISTEN
● CONSTANTLY ADAPT
● ALWAYS DELIVER
OUR VALUES

● Passion for Excellence

● Integrity in everything we do
● Empowering people to strive and deliver
● Adapting to change market and customer needs

Guiding Principles

● Commitment
● Authenticity
● Validation
● Orientation
● Relevance
● Accountability
● Speed
● Friendliness
2.3 CORPORATE OFFICE, UNITS, PRODUCTS AND CUSTOMERS

The global headquarters of the group is Landmark Tower in Dubai Marina. The Indian corporate
office is at Bengaluru. Landmark group has 2300+ stores spread over about 22 countries of
Middle East, Africa and Asia. Max Fashions has 160+ stores spread over 60 cities in India. And
there are about 5500+ employees helping to spread value to customers in India. Max is a mono
brand with its own label merchandise that is created by in-house designers for every season and
is currently growing at a 35% CAGR year on year. They offer a wide range of products in
various concepts like kids wear, menswear, ladies wear, ethnic wear, footwear and other
accessories. Being a value fashion brand, the company targets the middle-class people of our
society and they are their main customers.

2.4 OPERATIONS

Max Fashions is a value fashion brand. They are an operations centric company. All other
functional departments align with the retail operation function of the company. They sell
products in their own brand that is created by in-house designers for every season. The designers
of the company conceptualize products suitable for every season, according to the latest trends in
the fashion industry. This process starts two years before the actual period in which the products
are intended to be sold. I.e. if the products are to be sold in the summer of 2018, the
conceptualization process starts in 2016 itself. This is an important stage as it is vital to predict
the trend that may be there in the sales period. Then the suitable materials or cloths are sourced
from the appropriate sources. Stringent quality checks are done in selecting the supplier to ensure
the quality of the product. The marketing and visual merchandising planning is done in the next
stage. Ware housing is another important function. The stocks are supplied to each store
according to the demand of the particular product at that store. The next stage is the display and
sale which is the revenue generating phase of the operations of the company.
OPERATIONS OF MAX
There are various functions for each of the operations of each activities and specific teams
allotted are also involved in the functioning of every operation which needs to be performed,
they are

a) Conceptualization

For the beginning of the activity it starts with conceptualization process, for that they have
design team for the purpose of carrying designing the products of max as per the needs of trends
demanded by the customers in the fashion industry. This process starts two years before the
actual period in which the products are intended to be sold. I.e. This is an important stage as it is
vital to predict the trend that may be there in the sales period.

b) Sourcing
After designing as per the latest fashion trends in the industry, they need to procure and source
their material from the right source and having proper quality assurance checking process. In
sourcing function it involves the sourcing, quality assurance and buying teams are involved for
carrying out each of their specific activities within the time limit.

c) Planning
The planning team consist of the central planning, internal audit and financial planning teams
which all are involved in the planning of each and every activities as per the planning chart
prepared by the concerned departments or teams and ensure that all the activities are carried out
as per the plans prepared by the concerned functional teams

d) Warehousing and dispatching

It consist of supply chain management(SCM) and inventory team where they deals with the
distribution of the products from various regional distribution Centre’s to the concerned stores
for the purpose of ensuring adequate availability of the sock under the control of the inventory
management team.

e) Display and sales

Display and sales team deals with retail operations of each and every stock or inventories which
they are dealt for the merchandising activities to the concerned customers in which they are
targeting ,project management ,visual merchandising and marketing teams where it is mainly
concerned with the product merchandising and all the marketing strategy related activities of the
company for the purpose of sale of the procured products to the end users which is mainly the
customers which are targeted by the organization.

2.5 FUNCTIONAL DEPARTMENTS AND LEADERSHIP STRUCTURE

LEADERSHIP STRUCTURE
The leadership structure followed is democratic. Every decision to be taken by the store manager
is taken through the participation of all the staffs of the store starting from the lowest level staff.
Personal grievances are heard while allocation of targets and the manager guides them in
achieving it through constant motivation techniques. The job hierarchy can be represented as
below:

• STORE MANAGER

• ASSISTANT STORE MANAGER

• DEPARTMENT MANAGERS

• SR. CUSTOMER RELATION EXECUTIVE

• CUSTOMER RELATION EXECUTIVE

FUNCTIONAL DEPARTMENTS

OPERATIONS TEAM

i. Plan store wise budgeting and quarterly updation based on potential to achieve overall
targets
ii. Drive SPD (Sales per Day) and ROS (Rate of Sale) for each department.
iii. Ensure adherence to store operations SOP’s.
iv. Ensure compliance to audits and audit reports as per SOP’s.
v. Ensure required resources, training and infrastructure is in place prior to store launch.
 vi. Ensure product presentation and continuous updation of the same is done as per
planogram.
vii. Collaborate with the marketing team to improve walk ins and conversion for the
season.
viii. Ensure store level profitability is achieved.
MARKETING TEAM

i. Understand market dynamics and be informed about market trends.

ii. Be aware of the products sold by competitors and the product categories that are new.
iii. Undertake competition benchmarking (in terms of product, pricing and process)
iv. Present strategy for the region/ store with holistic and long term perspective.
v. Proactively present ideas for business growth.
vi. Ensure competitive pricing.
PLANNING TEAM

i. Finalize OTB planning.

ii. Analyse the product mix performance and project the demand for fulfilment.
iii. Undertake bottom up planning and project next year growth by analysing existing store
sales, opportunity lost and new store sales mix.
iv. The planogram brief across categories and ensure implementation of the same as per
standards defined.
v. Align the product profile to the catchment potential.
vi. Audit and sign off on the range presentation every season.
vii. Review the product and category performance, identify product gaps & opportunities and
take required actions.

STORE MANAGER & ASSISTANT STORE MANAGER

i. Take active initiatives to achieve the store targets.

ii. Ensure the Key Performance Indicators of a store is achieved and all in order.
iii. Ensuring stock cover and keeping shrinkage level as low as possible
iv. Review and analyse the visual merchandise and planogram and control basic customer
 service standards.
v. Engagement and training off employees and keeping a check on the attrition rate
vi. Ensuring all staffs of a store are working and fulfilling their responsibilities as per their
checklist
vii. Ensure all the activities in the store are as per the SOP’s standards and audit parameters
viii. Take corrective actions in case of deviations from standards.
INVENTORY

i. To ensure all inventories related process at store is as per the internal audit parameters.
ii. To ensure control on outward and inward discrepancy at store.
iii. To minimize the loss in transit.
iv. Keep control on all inventory related documents both in physical form and in systems.
v. Monitoring and reporting and control on the negative stock on fortnightly basis.
vi. To control on damage stock and maximum recovery on damage stock.
vii. Carry bags, staff uniforms, hangers etc are recorded as and when they are issued and keep
a check on them.
viii. To publish monthly inventory with the targets.
ix. To ensure maintaining safety standards in the stores.
x. To keep proper record of the goods exchanged and altered.
xi. To minimize and control cases of shop lifting and theft.
CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP EXECUTIVES

i. Ensure sales target is achieved on daily basis and monthly basis both in terms of value
and quantity.
ii. They are properly groomed.
iii. Maintaining floor discipline within a store.
iv. Follow the visual merchandise and planogram in arranging the merchandise.
v. Damage control and clearance.
vi. Basic customer service standards are followed as per the store norms.
vii. Keeping a track of without bar code garments and merchandises.
VISUAL MERCHANDISING

i. Focus on the focal point and the window outside the store. It should be according to the
planogram given by the planning team.
ii. Focussing on wall props for the wall look. To ensure everything in the floor is as per the
planogram. It includes floor fixtures, displays, signages, and mannequin displays. This
should create an attractive look for the store.
iii. To check all signage’s are as per plan. It includes product signage, price signage and best
deals signage.
HEAD CASHIER & CASHIERS

i. Ensure till a management activities are as per order. It includes float amount is given to
all tills before opening the billing counter. Collection of 100% collection of proceeds.
Ensure correctness of all activities related to employee discunts, gift vouchers credit note
and issues related to membership rewards.
ii. All SOP’s related to cash is adhered to.
iii. Petty cash expenses are recorded as per order and vouchers maintained with proper
signatures for audit purpose.
iv. To undertake all the banking and cash deposit activities of the store in correct order.
v. To maintain all documents for the cashieing process including the back ground
verification of the cashiers, all cash memos and other documents.

2.6 PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Fashion is a apparel based company providing apparels, shoes and accessories for men, women
and children
 Product Line

Seasonal cycle of Merchandise

2.7 PRICING STRATEGY

● Value pricing: Best products with most reasonable price.

● Promotional pricing: Psychological discounting, Special event pricing
Contribution or profit on garments according to the departments:

Western wear department 20%

Ethnic wear department 14%

Footwear department 7%

Men’s wear department 21%

Accessories department 4%

Kid’s wear department 22%

Competition

1. Pantaloons
2. Reliance trends
3. Unlimited
4. Fashion at big bazar

2.8 DEPARTMENTS
There are 14 major departments in the Organization.
1. Buying and Merchandising
2. Distribution & Logistics
3. Quality Assurance
4. Business Development
5. Store planning & Projects
6. IT Department
7. Marketing and Communication
8. HR Department
9. Administration
10. Finance and Accounts
11. Legal
12. Operations
13. Customer Service Department(CSD)
14. Stock Controller
2.9 ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE AND STORE STRUCTURE
Organisational Structure
Store Structure

3.1 FUTURE PLANS

Expansion

Landmark Group’s apparel brand Max Fashions is eyeing revenue of Rs 3,600 crore (approx
$507.7 million) for the fiscal year 2018-19 and is looking to further tap the Indian market by
opening stores across India.

The company will continue to focus on metro cities for retail expansion, however, to tap the
market potential of tier 2, 3 towns it plans to open stores in the East, North, West and Central
India in the

coming month.

For online growth, Max Fashions is planning to go solo in the Indian market and will continue to
develop its own site and app to boost sales. The company also plans to use technology in its
stores and bring concepts like a Magic Mirror, QR-code-enabled shopping, and more to India.

The company said: “This year, we are likely to clock Rs 3,600 crore in revenue. We would
continue to penetrate in the micro markets of the top 10 cities because we are very strong there.
We are also keen on expanding in the East, North, West and Central India, where we have not
fully exploited the market potential.

Investment

Max Fashion is planning to launch 300 new stores in India by the end of 2019. The fashion
retailer targets to become India's first billion-dollar fashion brand in the next three years.

Globally, Max has more than 400 stores across 19 countries. In the last two years, the brand has
forayed into 50 new markets. It is further eyeing to enter 20 new markets in fiscal'20.

In India, Max Fashion has over 250 stores across 100 cities. The retailer looks to achieve a target
of 500 stores by 2022.

Max Fashion is growing at 32% for the past 10 years. It aims to create over 20,000 new designs a
year. The brand is targeting to close fiscal'19 at around Rs 3,600 crores in terms of sales.

3.2 SWOT ANALYSIS

Strength

● Value for money products.

● Customer friendly personnel.
● Attracting pricing strategy.
● Central location of Max Fashion stores leading to increased footfall.
● Omni-channel presence.
Weakness
● Not enough advertisements in any forms of media.
● Low number of collections in the ‘Ethnic Wear’ category throughout all Max stores.
● Poor social media presence.
Opportunities

● Penetration into rural markets.

● Rapid expansion in terms of demand in developing countries.
● Scope of exclusive tie-ups with e-tailing companies to scale up sales.
● Product development and diversification to cater global needs.
Threats

● High competition from other leading retailers like pantaloons, unlimited etc.
● Fluctuations in government policies.

3.3 AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS

● 2014
o Max won One Gold and one Silver at the 3rd Asian Customer Engagement Forum
Integrated Marketing Awards, 2014. The Gold was in the 'Integrated Marketing
Campaign' category and the Silver for the 'Brand Building' category.[14]
o Max won the 'People's Choice Retailer of the Year' at the Retail Brilliance Awards, 2014,
by the BOC.[15]
o Max won the 'Value Fashion Retailer of the year' at the Star Retailer Awards 2014 for
excellence in retailing.[16]
● 2015
o Max won the “Most Admired Retailer of the Year” – Affordable Fashion at the Middle
East retail Forum Awards, 2015.[17]
o Max won “Images Most Admired Fashion Retailer of the Year 2015” – Large format
store chain at the Image Retail Awards.[18]
o Max won the “Brand Excellence in the Retail Sector” and the “Marketing Campaign of
 the Year” at the 6th CMO Asia Awards, 2015.[19]
o Mr. Vasanth Kumar was awarded “The Retail Professional of the Year 2015” from
CMAI, for his contribution to the growth & performance of Max India.
● 2016
o At Retail Excellence Awards by CMO Asia Max won across multiple categories.
▪ Retailer of the year – Fashion & Lifestyle
▪ Retail marketing campaign of the year
o Awards for Customer Loyalty Program, Effective Retail through Supply chain, Impactful
Retail Design & Visual Merchandising and the Employer of the Year at the Ret
o Mr. Sandeep Narain was awarded the “Retail Leader of the year”
o Max won the “Marketing Campaign of the year” for the Kids Festival in Summer ’16 at
the 7th CMO Asia Awards for Excellence in Branding and Marketing held in Singapore
August’16.
o Max won the Images’ “Most Admired Retailer of the Year –Fashion & Lifestyle” at the
Images Retail Awards 2016, 2nd year in a row.
o Max won the 'JURY Award for Images’ Most Admired Fashion Retailer of the Year –
Marketing & Promotions' at the 16th Images Fashion Awards.
o Max won the “Best In-house Magazine” award of the year at the Middle East Branding &
Marketing Leadership Awards 2016 held in Dubai in October 2016
o Max won “Fashion Retailer of the year“award at the Star Retailer Awards 2016 held in
Delhi on October 2016.
o Max won "Asia's most promising brand" in Bangkok, by WCRC- World Consulting and
Research Corporation, 2016.
o Max was recognized by the Great Places to Work Institute as one of the premier brands to
work for. MAX received '12th Best Workplace in Asia' and '3rd Best Retail Company to
Work for in India' for 2016, in association with Retailers Association of India.
o Max won the “Marketing Campaign of the Year Award” at the Global Marketing
Excellence Awards 2016.
● 2017
o Max won “Images Most Admired Retailer of the Year –Fashion & Lifestyle” at the
Images Retail Awards 2017 for the third consecutive year.
o Max was awarded “Retailer of the year –Fashion & Lifestyle” at the CMO Asia Presents
Retail Excellence Awards that was held in Singapore.
o Max was awarded “Best Retail Licensing Brand” at the INDIA LICENSING AWARDS
2017 @ ILE 2017 Mumbai.
o Max won the award for the “Best HR initiative of the year 16-17” at the TRRAIN retail
awards 2017. Award was given to the “Know Your Values” campaign that Max Fashion
has been running at stores and regional offices over the last year.
o Max (India) won the “Images most admired retailer of the year –Fashion & Lifestyle” at
the Images Retail Awards September, 2017. This is the 4th year in a row Max has won
this award.
o Max (India) won the “Best Loyalty program” at the Images Retail Awards September,
2017.
o Max (India) won the “Fashion Retailer of the year” at the Franchisee India Star Retailer
awards 2017 held in Delhi on November 2017.
● 2018
o Max Life recognized amongst Top 15 BFSI companies to work for by Great Place to
Work Institute, India.

o Max Life Insurance wins the Life Insurer of the Year award at Outlook Money Awards.

o Max Life won the GOLD Award in the category of “Best Email Marketing Campaign” at
2018 - India Digital Awards.

o Max Life’s foray in strengthening the Protection Agenda Recognised with the Prestigious
Effie Awards for Communication Effectiveness.

o Max Life Insurance wins 'Best Customer Service Initiative' at Customer Experience
Awards.
 SECTION 2

PROBLEM CENTERED STUDY

INTRODUCTION

Today, providing good customer service is more important than ever. Consumers have high
expectations for customer service, no matter the size, nature, or location of the business. When
dealing with customers, they expect things to go smoothly when they have problems. Even
average customer service can create a huge impact on the business. If you don’t take care of your
current customers, they’ll go to one of your competitors and you’ll miss out on renewal or
repurchasing opportunities. Furthermore, you’ll lose referrals and brand recognition as customers
share their negative experiences on social media and online review sites. That’s a lot of revenue
at stake.

The key to good customer service is building good relationships with your customers. Thanking
the customer and promoting a positive, helpful and friendly environment will ensure they leave
with a great impression. A happy customer will return often and is likely to spend more.

In order to sustainably run a business today, it’s absolutely critical to provide excellent customer
service.

Providing excellent customer service isn’t something you can do once in a while you need to do
it consistently. Meeting and exceeding customer expectations needs to be top of mind at all
times. If the quality of your service is inconsistent, your customers will not be pleased. Once the
bar has been set, lowering it will disappoint customers.

The purpose of this research was to conduct a customer service survey for Max showroom in The
Forum Neighborhood mall Whitefield, Phoenix Market city and Maratahalli. The goal was to
evaluate how effective is the customer service in these stores.
CHAPTER 1 – PROBLEM FORMULATION

TITLE OF THE STUDY

A Study on the effectiveness on the customer service in max retail store

ELABORATION OF THE PROBLEM

The service provided to customers, at every touchpoint, must be excellent in order to foster their
loyalty. Their needs must be met with minimal effort required from them. Customer service
should always go the extra mile to ensure customer happiness and satisfaction. Customer
interactions need to be pleasant experiences, their problems must be resolved quickly and they
need to be totally confident in the services provided. The key to good customer service is
building good relationships with your customers. Thanking the customer and promoting a
positive, helpful and friendly environment will ensure they leave with a great impression. A
happy customer will return often and is likely to spend more. In this study how effective is the
customer service happening in the max retail shop is analysed.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

A better customer service is an important part in the day to day business operations. Good
customer service includes repeat customers, more sales, and better cash flow. This study is to
analyse how effective is the customer service happening in the max retail store.

RELEVANCE OF THE STUDY

It's important to provide good customer service to all customers including new, existing, and
potential customers. Although, it may take extra resources, time and money, good customer
service often leads to greater customer satisfaction. Customer Service is an important factor that
affects the smooth working of the shop. Customer service is unpredictable in any industry, but it
is a necessary practice to attract and retain clients. The purpose of catering to customers is to
ensure your company produces a profit and delivers services and products that satisfy and please
clients. Better customer service would ensure a healthy organization. With this study we can
identify any loophole in the organization regarding customer service and can be effectively
corrected. So customers can be retained.

CAPTER 2 – RESEARCH PROCESS

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

● To find out what factor affects customer service more.

● To identify areas of improvement.
● Preventing future issues.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

Time period

The time period for the study was from 2nd April 2019 to 25th May 2019, which was about two
months.

Place of Study

The study was conducted in the Max Store in Forum Neighbourhood Mall, Whitefield

RESEARCH DESIGN
The research design in the study conducted is exploratory study.

TOOLS FOR DATA COLLECTION

For collecting the response, we used questionnaire. Here in this survey I collected 216 responses.
I created the questions and took its printouts and these printed sheets are given to the customers
came to the max retail shops and obtained their responses.

METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION

Here the method used for data collection is survey. Survey data is defined as the
resultant data that is collected from a sample of respondents that took a survey. This data is
comprehensive information gathered from a target audience about a particular topic of interest to
conduct research on the basis of this collected data. Here the survey is done with 216 customers
who came to the shop for purchasing. For collecting the response taken the printout of the
questionnaire and given to the customers who came for shopping. These responses are entered
into SPSS for analysis.

SAMPLING AND SAMPLE SIZE

Here the sampling used is random sampling. The response is taken from the random customers
who visited the store for purchasing. The sample size used for the research is 216 responses.

CAPTER 3 - PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA

Staff Behaviour

When taking the case of staff behaviour, the mean value out of 5 scale is 3.95. From this value we can
understand that it is approximately equal to 4 and in the 5, point scale 4 is good. The staff behaviour can
be further improved by providing extra bonus, treating the staff in good manner, providing all benefits to
them, Reducing temporary staffing etc.

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent

Bad 3 1.4 1.4 1.4

Neutral 68 31.5 31.5 32.9

Good 81 37.5 37.5 70.4

Valid

Very good 64 29.6 29.6 100.0

Total 216 100.0 100.0

Billing Experience

Considering billing experience in the store the mean value out of 5 is 4.07 it is approximately equal to 4
that is good. Out of 216 responses collected from the max showroom no one given the value below 3 that
is neutral value. Out of 216 responses taken 47 given neutral, 106 given good and 63 given very good.
From this response we can say that the billing was not below neutral. The further billing experience of the
customers can be improved by giving better training to the staffs, introducing more counters for billing,
making the payment process little faster etc.

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative

Percent

Neutral 47 21.8 21.8 21.8

Good 106 49.1 49.1 70.8

Valid
Very good 63 29.2 29.2 100.0

Total 216 100.0 100.0

Effectiveness in resolving customer concerns

When coming to how effective is resolving customer concerns the mean value is 3.88. It is in between 3
and 4 and the value is near to 4. Out of 216 responses 7 people gave ineffective, 69 people gave neutral,
82 gave effective and 58 gave very effective. While looking into this it is one of the area requires some
improvement because out of 216 persons 7 gave their response below neutral. For improving this efficient
customer service staff must be appointed, try to clear the customer concerns on time, provide better
training for the staffs in resolving the customer concerns.

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative

Percent

Ineffective 7 3.2 3.2 3.2

Neutral 69 31.9 31.9 35.2

Valid Effective 82 38.0 38.0 73.1

Very effective 58 26.9 26.9 100.0

Total 216 100.0 100.0

Overall customer service in max fashion stores

When seeing the overall customer service in the max retail store the mean value is 3.76. Here the mean
value lies between neutral response and good response. The value is near to good. From this we can
understand that the overall customer service happening in store is less than 4. 4 is really good. But still it
can introduce new options like virtual fit and other innovative technologies to delight the customers,
rather than satisfying them.

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent

Bad 2 .9 .9 .9

Neutral 86 39.8 39.8 40.7

Valid Likely 90 41.7 41.7 82.4

very good 38 17.6 17.6 100.0

Total 216 100.0 100.0

CHAPTER 4 - CONCLUSION

Max retail is a pioneer in the field of clothing and apparels retail stores. MAX is the international value
fashion brand of the Dubai based Landmark Group. Established in 2004 in the UAE, Max has
become the largest value fashion brand in India and the Middle East with over 200 stores across
15 countries; offering customers a one stop shop for clothing, accessories and footwear needs for
the entire family.

So it is obvious that, Max with it's long term experience has been making substantial changes to its
organizational system constantly for a better growth and customer satisfaction.

This is clearly reflected in my study as all of the studied factors are above par.

From the above values the customer service happening in a better way in max retail store it can be further
improved by giving training, counselling etc to the sales staffs.
Thus, I am concluding that the Max is already showcasing a brilliant performance in all of the studied
factors. But still with a little more effort it can still increase its overall performance.

CHAPTER 5 - RECOMMENDATIONS

The mean value of overall customer service happening in max retail is 3.76. From the mean
value it can be concluded that the customer service is falling between neutral to good. That
means the customer service happening is nearly equal to good. This can be further improved by

● Strengthening customer service skill

Improving the customer service skills of the sales people in the store. This can be done
by giving training for improving communication, knowledge, adaptive skills etc.
● Customer feedback survey
Conducting customer feedback surveys in specific interval of time can be able to
identify the customer service happening in the store.
● Analyse errors and complaints

BIBLIOGRAPHY

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landmark_Worldwide

www.maxfinancialservices.com

www.investopedia.com
ANEXURE