Page 61 - DMGT550_RETAIL_MANAGEMENT

Retail Management

Notes 1. Locomotive: My style
Locomotive fashion for the young gun includes fashion polos, round neck fashion
T’s, stylized shirts, denims and jackets.

2. Highlander: Easy confidence
Highlander includes stylish business casuals: chinos, polos, washed shirts and
trousers. These are the best chill pills for today’s man.

3. Mark Taylor: Buttoned up
Mark Taylor is a range of formals for the man who needs to make the right
impression.

4. Black Coffee: Big business with style
Premium formal trousers and shirts for man in command.
F-Square Operations
F-square operates under the value retail format. Value retail is the recent buzzword with
many established and new players adopting the model. Value retail format is a type of
retail format where customers can buy products at lower prices with better quality. The
main aim of F-square is to come out with combo price offers to create complete wardrobe
solutions and offer unbeatable value and create the concept of pocket money shopping.
The F-square customer is a Mass Indian male, 18 to 30 years seeking fashion at value. The
customer seeks attractive price point and F-square merchandise is affordably priced in the
range of ` 99–` 699 with almost 80% of the merchandise under ` 499. F-square has its own
outlets and also follows franchisee model. It is present only in Karnataka and has not
penetrated into other markets still. There is terrific competition in this segment and the
stores competing with F-square are Megamart from Aravind retail, Brand factory from
Pantaloons retail India Ltd, Big bazaar, Star bazaar and Trent from the Tata group and
other regional players. Many customers have started preferring value retails compared to
other retail formats which is the reason why the competition is increasing day by day. The
company takes lots of measures to increase the visibility of the stores. The choice of
location for F-square is linked to the core objectives of brand building by reach and
market potential. Hence the stores are generally located in prime localities like near
bustling street markets and shopping streets, value for money environments,
hypermarkets, high streets and swank malls where there are large footfalls. Currently
there are more than 100 stores in Karnataka in all prime locations. Visual merchandising
plays a very important role in retailing and this is carried out by F-square in a very well
planned manner. The store also comes out with lots of special offers and discounts regularly
to attract more customers. Regional and National newspapers serves as an important
media vehicle to communicate the offers to the customers along with local celebrity
endorsement. The store also comes out with sudden offers with attaching a time period to
it. For example it comes out with 50% off for 48 hours, Buy 1 and get 2 free in 24 hours etc.
The store gets its inventories directly from its parent company- Prateek group. The store
also provides training to the employees joining them to better serve the customers. The
company is in the rapid expansion mode with a plan to open 100 F-square stores in this
fiscal. It’s planning to double its turnover to touch ` 700 crore with 240 F-square stores by
the end of year 2014.

Question:
Describe the business model of F-Square.

Source: www.novonous.com

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