Page 227 - DMGT522_SERVICES MANAGEMENT

Services Management

Notes Home Delivery: Central Bazaar catered to convenience shopping, with the facility of
ordering from home coupled with free home delivery. This was especially useful in
Bangalore and Chennai, where, due to overt dependence on public transport such as
Rapid Mass Transit System (commuting electric train service!), it was next to
impossible for the customers to shop and then carry the bulky parcels home during
the rush hour.
5000 brands: The electronic retailer, with over 5000 brands, offered a wide choice of
varieties and assortments of products, to cover the widest possible customer base. It
also was the intention of the retailer to be a one-stop-shop for home products.

Special Promotions: Central Bazaar offered not only the usual promotions of the
FMCG vendors but also its own store promotions. This helped in not only setting
the tone of differentiation amongst other retailers but also in communicating its
enhanced value propositions.
EDLP: The pricing strategy of Central Bazaar was Every Day Low Price, meaning
that all merchandise was available every day at a one per cent discount to Maximum
Retail Price (MRP), and unbranded goods at a five per cent discount to existing rates.
This was a competitive advantage on price that was hard to ignore.

For Central Bazaar:

Adapting to the changing demographics of family, gender, income, occupation,
education, etc. Urban India in general and Mumbai in particular, has been witnessing
perceptible shifts in its demographic profile. Joint families are giving way to nuclear
families for various reasons:
Lack of living space: With increase in family size across three generations, it
was about time for the new family to relocate itself.

Job opportunities: The new generation got a job in another part of the
megalopolis, and preferred to stay close to the work area instead of
commuting. New Bangalore was a classic case. It was fast becoming an
institutional hub for BPOs, educational institutions and, of course, IT
companies.
Individualism: The new generation and the new family were reluctant to
conform to the joint family code and sought a greater degree of individual
expression in respect of food, interior décor, child rearing as well as lifestyle.
Additionally, women were joining the workforce in larger numbers. Dual income meant
not only more scope for conspicuous consumption, but also less time for leisure and
shopping. The convenience offered by online shopping was irresistible, freeing time for
leisure and self developmental activities. This new generation customers were more
educated and aware, and recognised brands and their promise better than the previous
generation. They did not feel the need to compare shopping products and were comfortable
ordering through the phone or net.
Central Bazaar felt that they were offering the market just the right kind of format,
considering the changing demographics. With the family spending more time in their
occupation, commuting, and lifestyle changes, ordering on the phone was one more of the
adaptive behaviours.

escaping the location trap: “Location, location, location” was the call sign for any
retailer. Its decisive competitive advantage lay in the right location choice, which

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