INSTITUTE OF PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION AND RESEARCH, BHOPAL

PROJECT REPORT ON IMPLEMENTATION OF VISUAL MERCHANDISING DURING THE RELAUNCH PHASE OF RELIANCE MART AMHEMDABAD
UNDER THE GUIDELINES OF PROF.HERSH SHARMA SUBMITTED BY: POOJA SHRIVASTAVA SUBMITTED TO: IPER PGDM, (BHOPAL)

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF:-

POST GRADUATE DIPLOMA IN MANAGEMENT

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I wish to express my gratitude to those who, helped me in accomplishing this challenging project on No amount of written expression can show my deepest sense of gratitude to my guide PROF.HERSH SHARMA IPER. Special thanks to PROF. (Dr.) A.S.KHALSA (DEAN) (FACULTY FINANCE) IPER, PGDM, Who motivated me to receive enormous amount of input and inspiration at the various stages during my project preparation and assisted me in bringing out my project in the present form. I thankfully acknowledge an active support by my Project Guide who overwhelmingly shared his knowledge with me and strengthened my conceptual framework. Special thanks to my mentor at reliance mart Ms Megha mam who guided me at the various stages during my project preparation. I am also thankful to all the Faculties of INSTITUTE OF PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION AND RESEARCH (IPER), BHOPAL who supported me in various ways and enlightened me about the valuable information pertaining to my research work

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PREFACE

This project report is related to the IMPLEMENTATION OF VISUAL MERCHANDISING DURING THE RELAUNCH PHASE OF RELIANCE MART AMHEMDABAD It contains the information regarding an overview of retail sector and its importance, it also contain a brief note of merchandising planning and visual merchandising, its importance for a retail sector with respect to increase in consumer buying habit. It also throws light on various advantages of visual merchandising for a retail sector. The project report comprises of information related to retail sector and visual merchandising practices in retail sector, project contain various picture , sample of different visual merchandising tool used in retail sector and some specific tool of visual merchandising used in RELIANCE MART (AT THE TIME OF RELAUNCH) and my learning during my internship at RELIANCE MART AHMEDABAD ( 1 STMAY TO 31 TH JUNE )

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DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the project work entitled IMPACT OF FOREIGN INSTITUTIONAL Investments ON INDIAN EQUITY AND DEBT MARKETsubmitted to the INSTITUTE OF PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION AND RESEARCH (IPER), BHOPAL is a record of an original work done by me under the guidance of Prof. MILIND PATIL IPER and this project has not previously formed the basis for the award of any other degree, Diploma, Associate ship, Fellowship or other POOJA SHRIVASTAVA IPER PGDM, (Bhopal)

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Contents
Content

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .......................................................................................................................... 6 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 7 LITERATURE REVIEW ...10 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................ 19 Objective ................................................................................................................................................. Methodology ........................................................................................................................................... Significance............................................................................................................................................. Limitation................................................................................................................................................ OVERVIEW OF RETAIL SECTOR AND RELAINCE RETAIL ...................................................... 21 IMPLEMENTATION OF VM DURING THE SIP AND ITS ANALYSIS ......................................... 34 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND ....................................................................................................... 42 FINDINGS .............................................................................................................................................. 52 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................................... 55

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Executive summary
This report contains a wide description of my summer internship at reliance mart Ahmedabad. The topic for my summer project deals with visual merchandising at retail level. It also comprises a wide overview on Indian retail sector, big players in retail sector in India. This study is done to know what are the various tools involved in visual merchandising. And how it affects the consumer buying in present scenario. Report is well informative in respect of retail sector in India, its growth drivers; also I have thronged some light on the challenges faced by Indian retail sector. Factors affecting consumer buying behavior includes both internal and external. During my internship I have worked with the marketing dept. and as that mart is going through the relaunch phase, activities of marketing dept. has to be very effective and focused. I learned lots of thing related to retail operations, also got the exposure of SLP dept. of the MART. This report contains all the working which I was performing during my SIP journey. Attending meetings, training sessions, talks with managers, organizing event in the MART, visits of higher authorities really gave me great experience for my carrier.

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CHAPTER :- 1 INTRODUCTION

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RETAILING
Word 'retail' is derived from the French word 'retaillier' meaning 'to cut a piece off' or 'to break bulk'. In simple terms it involves activities whereby product or services are sold to final consumers in small quantities. Although retailing in its various formats has been around our country for many decades, it has been confined for a long time to family owned corner shops. Englishmen are great soccer enthusiasts, and they strongly think that one should never give Indians a corner. It stems from the belief that, if you give an Indian a corner he would end up setting a shop. That is how great Indians retail management skill is considered. The Facts Retailing in more developed countries are big business and better organized that what it is in India. Report published by McKinsey & Co. in partnership with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) states that the global retail business is worth a staggering US $ 7 trillion. The ratio of organized retailing to unorganized in US is around 80 to 20, in Europe it is 70 to 30, while in Asia it comes to around 20 to 80. In India the scenario is quiet unique, organized retailing accounts for a mere 5% of the total retail sector. Although there are around 5 million retail stores in India, 90% of these have a floor space area of 500 sq.ft. Or less. The emergence of organized retailing in India is a recent phenomenon and is concentrated in the top 20 urban towns and cities The Reason This emergence of organized retailing has been due to the demographic and psychographic changes taking place in the life of urban consumers. Growing number of nuclear families, working women, greater work pressure, changing values and Lifestyles, increased commuting time, influence of western way of life etc. have meant that the needs and wants of consumers have shifted from just being Cost and Relationship drive to Brand and Experience driven, while the Value element still dominating the buying decisions. Retailing consists of the activities involved in selling directly to the ultimate consumer for personal, non-business use. It embraces the direct-to-customer sales activities of the producer, whether through his own stores by house-to-house canvassing or by mail-order business.

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Even a wholesaler engages in retailing when sells directly to an ultimate consumer, although his main business may still be wholesaling. A retailer is a merchant or occasionally an agent or a business enterprise, whose main business is selling directly to ultimate consumers for non-business use. He performs many marketing activities such as buying, selling, grading, risk-trading, and developing information about customer's wants.

VISUAL MERCHANDISING
Visual merchandising is the physical presentation of merchandise and the design of a place of business for the purpose of increasing sales. Visual merchandising is often referred to as the silent salesperson. The purpose of visual merchandising is to attract customers to the merchandise for closer examination. The store image is the idea of a store in peoples minds. Store image is created by visual merchandisers through the design and dcor of the store. 1. Visual Merchandising allows your product to be seen in its best possible way. 2. VM increases perceived value of any given product and instantly suggests "go-with" items to a customer. 3. Visual merchandising is known to increase sales, units/$ per transaction, and inventory turns. 4. Proper visual merchandising will also draw more customers into your store and make them want to return sooner due to an easy and enjoyable shopping experience.

Visual Merchandising is creating visual displays and arranging merchandise assortments within a store to improve the layout and presentation and to increase traffic and sales. and Visual merchandising is the art of displaying merchandise in a manner that is appealing to the eyes of the customer.

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CHAPTER :- 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

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India Retail Industry

The Indian retail industry is the fifth largest in the world. Comprising of organized and unorganized sectors, India retail industry is one of the fastest growing industries in India, especially over the last few years. Though initially, the retail industry in India was mostly unorganized, however with the change of tastes and preferences of the consumers, the industry is getting more popular these days and getting organized as well. With growing market demand, the industry is expected to grow at a pace of 25-30% annually. The India retail industry is expected to grow from ` 35,000 crore in 2004-05 to ` 109,000 crore by the year 2010. In the Indian retailing industry, food is the most dominating sector and is growing at a rate of 9% annually. The branded food industry is trying to enter the India retail industry and convert Indian consumers to branded food. Since at present 60% of the Indian grocery basket consists of non- branded items.

Growth of Indian Retail

It is expected that by 2016 modern retail industry in India will be worth US$ 175200 billion. India retail industry is one of the fastest growing industries with revenue expected in 2007 to amount US$ 320 billion and is increasing at a rate of 5% yearly. A further increase of 7-8% is expected in the industry of retail in India by growth in consumerism in urban areas, rising incomes, and a steep rise in rural consumption. It has further been predicted that the retailing industry in India will amount to US$ 21.5 billion by 2010 from the current size of US$ 7.5 billion. According to the 8th Annual Global Retail Development Index (GRDI) of AT Kearney, India retail industry is the most promising emerging market for investment. In 2007, the retail trade in India had a share of 8-10% in the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the country. In 2009, it rose to 12%. It is also expected to reach 22% by 2010. According to a report by Northbride Capita, the India retail industry is expected to grow to US$ 700 billion by 2010. By the same time, the organized sector will be 20% of the total market share. It can be mentioned here that, the share of organized sector in 2007 was 7.5% of the total retail market.

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In the past few years the whole concept of shopping has been altered in terms of format and consumer buying behavior. With the increasing urbanization, the Indian consumer is emerging as more trend-conscious. There has also been a shift from price considerations to designs and quality as there is a greater focus on looking and feeling good (apparel as well as fitness). At the same time, the Indian consumer is not beguiled by retail products which are high on price but commensurately low on value or functionality. However, it can be said that the Indian consumer is a paradox, where the discount shopper loyalty takes a backseat over price discounts. Indians have grown richer and thus spending more on vehicles, phones and eating out in restaurants. The spending is focused more outside the homes, unlike in other Asian countries where consumers have tended to spend more on personal items as they grow richer. Spending on luxury goods have increased twice as fast with 2/3 of India's population is under 35, consumer demand is clearly growing. The mall mania has bought in a whole new breed of modern retail formats across the country catering to every need of the value-seeking Indian consumer. An average Indian would see a mall as a perfect weekend getaway with family offering them entertainment, leisure, food, shopping all less than one roof. Indian consumer is also witnessing some changes in its demographics with a large working population being under the age group of 24-35, there has been an increasing number of nuclear families, increase in working women population and emerging opportunities in the service sector during the past few years which has been the key growth driver of the organized retail sector in India. The emergence of a larger middle and upper middle classes and the substantial increase in their disposable income has changed the nature of shopping in India from need based to lifestyle dictated. The self-employed segment has replaced the employed salaried segment as the mainstream market, thus resulting in an increasing consumption of productivity goods, especially mobile phones and 2 - 4 wheeler vehicles. There is also an easier acceptance of luxury and an increased willingness to experiment with the mainstream fashion, resulting in an increased willingness towards disposability and casting out from apparels to cars to mobile phones to consumer durables. Indians spend over USD 30,000 a year (in PPP terms) on conspicuous consumption that represents 2.8% of the entire population
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(which is approx 30 million people) making it the 4th largest economy in PPP terms next only 19 20. to USA, Japan and China. Facilities like credit friendliness, availability of cheap finance and a drop in interest rates have changed consumer markets. Capital expenditure (jewelry, homes, and cars) has shifted to becoming redefined as consumer revenue expenditure, in addition to consumer durables and loan credit purchases. Trends in Present Retail Market New Product Categories: For a long time, the corner grocery store was the only choice available to the consumer, especially in the urban areas. This is slowly giving way to international formats of retailing. The traditional food and grocery segment has seen the emergence of supermarkets/grocery chains (Food World, Nilgiris, and Apna Bazaar), convenience stores (ConveniO, HP Speedmart) and fast-food chains (McDonalds, Dominos). It is the non-food segment; however that foray has been made into a variety of new sectors. These include lifestyle/fashion segments (Shoppers' Stop, Globus, LifeStyle, Westside), apparel/accessories (Pantaloon, Levis, Reebok), books/music/gifts (Archies, Music World, Crosswords, Landmark), appliances and consumer durables (Viveks, Jainsons, Vasant & Co.), drugs and pharmacy (Health and Glow, Apollo). Increasing competition in the retail market: New entrants such as Reliance, Bharti Enterprises and the AV Birla group will compete against wellestablished retailers, such as Pantaloon Retail, Shoppers stop, Trent, Spencers and Lifestyle stores. Foreign retailers are keenly evaluating the Indian market and identifying partners to forge an alliance with in areas currently permitted by regulations. With an estimated initial investment of USD 750 million, Reliance is planning to launch a nationwide chain of hyper marts, supermarkets, discount stores, department stores, convenience stores and specialty stores. These 5,500 stores will be located in 800 cities and towns in India.

Increase in Private Labels:

With the emergence of organized retail and modern retail formats, private labels have been gaining significance. They enhance the profitability levels of product categories, increase retailers negotiation powers and create consumer loyalty. More retailers are introducing their own brands in all categories including Food & Groceries, apparel, accessories, and footwear. These own brands also do not have to manage intermediaries since retailers maintain oversight of the supply chain.
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The label penetration is in a huge rise. Private Label penetration has been on a rise. It is mainly growing among FMCG products in most supermarkets with groceries accounting for 45.9%. Expanding to Tier II and III cities: Indian retailers are planning to extend operations into Tier II and Tier III cities as heightened IT off shoring activity in these locations have increased consumers disposable income. The population in these cities is typically well educated and willing to purchase goods and services. Some major retailers, like Globus, Reliance Retail and Pantaloon, have already begun building a retail presence in Tier III cities before many retailers have finalized their Tier II retail operations. Foray into Retail AgriBusiness: Indias most prestigious business houses and global retailers are planning to enter retail agri-business. Market entrants plan to invest in the entire value chain, moving goods from the farm to the fridge at home. Viewed as Indias next Sunrise Sector, retailers are employing contract farming as a means of boosting their ventures. Contract farming enables farmers to access land, manpower and farming skill without having to purchase land. Of the total Cultivable land of 400 million acres in India, contract farming represents 7 million acres thus indicating a tremendous opportunity. For pure corporate contracts between farmers and companies, only 2, 00,000 acres are used. Experimenting with formats

Challenges facing Indian retail industry

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. The tax structure in India favors small retail business, Lack of adequate infrastructure facilities, High cost of real estate, Dissimilarity in consumer groups, Restrictions in Foreign Direct Investment, Shortage of retail study options, Shortage of trained manpower, Low retail management skill.

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INDIAN RETAIL SECTOR

The Factors Influencing Consumer Buying Behaviour. There are many factors that influence consumer-buying behaviour. Many factors play into the buying behaviour of the consumer. Successful marketers take into consideration the beliefs and culture of the buyer, as well as the family situation and even the psychological outlook of the purchaser. Psychological Influences on Consumer Behaviour Role of Perception in Consumer Behaviour. The Psychology of Buying In order to market a product to a target group, manufacturers should determine the needs of the buyer. Some buyers are looking for a sense of safety and belonging, while others want to gain esteem in the eyes of their peers. When providing information to buyers, marketers must understand how the product is perceived.
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Chances are the buyer will interpret information about the product based on previous knowledge and beliefs, but learning about the product can change the buyer's behavior. Buyers will also purchase products based on their personalities and lifestyles. For example, people who want to live an active, healthy life may opt for organic foods and reject sun-tanning products.

Family Situation
Many buying decisions are based on what is best for the family. The marketer should be aware of who is making the buying decisions for family products. For newlyweds with no children, purchasing might be a joint decision between husband and wife. For families with young children, it might be a stay-at-home parent making the decisions. Once teenagers enter the picture, they may have buying power on their own, aside from family purchases.

Social Class and Culture

According to Alex Brown, a former professor of marketing at the University of Delaware, social class determines to some extent, the types, quality, (and) quantity of products that a person buys or uses. For example, your social class may determine which jeans you will buy. An upper-class woman with inherited wealth would probably buy a different pair of jeans from what would appeal to an inner-city male. Deep-fried food may be an easier sell in the South, where it is a traditional part of the cuisine, than in California where the food has pan-Asian influences.

The Buying Process

The buying process starts with the consumer recognizing a need, or a difference between what he now has and what he needs to purchase to change his condition. At the basic, physiological level, hunger stimulates a need to buy food. The next step is to seek out information about the product and evaluate the alternatives. The purchase decision can be based on such elements as packaging, method of payment as well as the features and benefits of the product. Often there is a postpurchase evaluation, with the consumer forming an opinion about the item obtained.

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External Influences on Consumer Behaviour In a consumer society, the choice of things to consume is vast. In their own economic interests, producers of commodities undertake in-depth research on consumer psychology in order to determine what causes people to buy what they do. The consumer-product interface is the result of a extensive array of influences, ranging from the consumer's past history, needs, and preferences to the qualities of the product to the nature of the surrounding environment. The Mind of the Consumer
o

Although the mind of the consumer is by definition an internal rather than an external construct, it is formed in large part by previous external influences. A person's attitude toward consumption, desire for this or that object, willingness to spend various amounts of money, and expectations for the consumer experience are all influenced by upbringing and previous experiences, and will all affect what that individual chooses to buy or not to buy. More time-specific aspects, such as mood, feelings of relaxation or being rushed, and sense of personal financial security will also affect consumption choices.

Competition
o

The availability of competing products has an effect on consumer choices. If a consumer requires an object, and there is only one available, there is a very high probability that that consumer will purchase that object. The higher the level of competition, the more uncertain any particular purchase is. This equation is further complicated by the inclusion of varying factors such as quality, style, price and trendiness of an object. All of these factors interact to create vast arrays of choices from which consumers must select the one most appropriate for themselves.

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Demographics
o

This is a field that advertisers and marketers put a great deal of time into studying. A person's age, race, socioeconomic status, location, political views and cultural tastes will all affect what is bought. By understanding what products appeal to what demographics, marketers can more accurately pinpoint their advertising efforts and increase their profit margins. Most demographic qualities are things beyond an individual's control, yet tastes and consumption choices are affected by these qualities, often without the consumer's conscious awareness.

Habit
o

Many people will simply do what they have done before, because it is easy and requires little thought. Consumption habits can even span generations; individuals may prefer a certain brand because it's what their parents used. This phenomenon is often called "brand loyalty" by marketers, but it may have as much to do with inertia as loyalty to any particular company.

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CHAPTER :- 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

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OBJECTIVE
Is to find out various visual merchandising tools used by the R-MART during the phase of relaunch , also analyzing the effect of visual merchandising on the buying behavior of the customers

METHODOLGY
RESEARCH DESIGN 1. The research based on gathering data through secondary sources. SECONDARY DATA is being search sites like magazines, newspapers, journals, websites and the data has been collected through other approaches. 2. Also through various Observation in the relaunch of R- MART during the summer internship at Ahmadabad.

SIGNIFICANCE
This study will give the idea of different VISUAL MERCHANDISING TOOL for a retail outlet to implement for the growth prospects of the retail outlet. Also a wide range of information related to India retail sector. The study will provide a very clear picture of the impact visual merchandising on the consumer purchasing. The study would be helpful for further descriptive studies on the ideas that will be explored. Moreover, it would be beneficial to gain knowledge regarding foreign institutional investments and their impact on Indian stock market.

LIMITATION
There are many more factors which affect purchasing of the consumer. Factors like local retailer, perceptions of the customer for any retail outlet.
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CHAPTER :- 4 SECTOR AND COMPANY OVERVIEW

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OVERVIEW OF RETAIL SECTOR

All over the world, retailing is undergoing a process of evolution and is poised to undergo dramatic transformation. With special reference to India, the retail sector employs over 10 percent of the national work force but is characterized by a high degree of fragmentation with over 5 million outlets, 96 percent of whom are very small with an area of less than 50 m2. The retail universe doubled between 1986 and 2006 and the number of outlets per 1000 people at an All India Level increased from 4.9 in 1988 to 14.8 in 2006. Because of their small size, the Indian Retailers have very little bargaining power with manufacturers and perform only a few of the flows in marketing channels unlike in the case of retailers in developed countries. The corner grocer or the 'Kirana' Store is a key element in the retail in India due to the housewife's unwillingness to go long distances for purchasing daily needs. Although convenience and merchandise were the two most important reasons for choosing a store, the choice interia varied across product categories. Convenience was indicated by consumers as the most important reason in the choice of groceries and fruit outlets, chemists and life style items while merchandise was indicated as the most important in durables, books and apparel. In recent years, there has been a slow spread of retail chains in some formats like super markets, department stores, malls and discount stores. Factors facilitating the spread of chains are the availability of quality products at lower prices, improved shopping standards, convenient shopping and display and blending of shopping with entertainment and the entry to industrial houses like Goenkas and Tatas into retailing. The retail industry in India is currently growing at a great pace and is expected to go up to US$ 833 billion by the year 2013. It is further expected to reach US$ 1.3 trillion by the year 2018 at a CAGR of 10%. As the country has got a high growth rates, the consumer spending has also gone up and is also expected to go up further in the future. In the last four year, the consumer spending in India climbed up to 75%. As a result, the India retail industry is expected to grow further in the future
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days. By the year 2013, the organized sector is also expected to grow at a CAGR of 40%.

IMPORTANCE OF RETAILING
The retailer is an intermediary in the marketing channel because he is both marketer and customer, who sells to the last man to consume. He is a specialist who maintains contact with the consumer and the producer; and is an important connecting link in a complex mechanism of marketing. Though producers may sell directly to consumers, such method of distributing goods to ultimate users is inconvenient, expensive and time consuming as compared to the job performed by a specialist in the line. Therefore, frequently the manufacturers depend on the retailers to sell their products to the ultimate consumers. The retailer, who is able to provide appropriate amenities without an excessive advance in prices of goods, is rewarded by larger or more loyal patronage.

GENERAL SERVICES PERFORMED BY RETAILER:

The general services which a retailer provides are: 1. The retailer anticipates the wants of the consumers and then supplies them the right kind of goods at reasonable price. His job is to make the consumers buying as easy and convenient as possible i.e. he acts as a consumers' agent. 2. He performs the service of bulk-breaking i.e. dividing large quantities into small units, such as individual cans, bottles, boxes, wrappers, packages, appropriate for consumer use. 3. He offers a large assortment of merchandise, of suitable size, color, design, style and seasonal items-ranging from domestic utensils, household requisites to specialty goods. 4. He creates time and place utility by storing the products in off season and by transporting these goods to the places where they can be readily available as and when needed by the consumer. 5. He also assumes risks by guaranteeing the goods he sells to the consumer.
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6. He also offers free delivery of goods, credit on open accounts, free alteration, liberal exchange facilities, and instructions in the use of goods, revolving credit plans, and some time long term instalment programmes. 7. He adds to the convenience and ease of consumer purchasing by offering convenient shopping locations, market information's and other services such as free parking privileges, lessons on product use and a multitude of other facilities may be offered and found sufficiently desired to result in increased patronage. 8. He helps the producers in distributing their products by using advertisement display.

FACILITATING SERVICES PERFORMED BY RETAILERS:

In order to carry out functions involving transfer of ownership and physical supply effectively retailers perform a number of facilitating functions i.e. functions relating to standardizations and grading, financing, risk-taking and market information. A retailer of fresh fruits and vegetables has to standardize and grade these to make these acceptable to customers. They establish standards, inspect goods they receive, and sort them in various classifications. Quite often they purchase in large quantities and then divide them and repack them before selling. When the retailer sells goods on credit he performs finance function. From the moment he sells and collects the last rupee from the customer, when goods are sold on credit, he is said to be performing a financing function. Another function performed by retailers is that of risk-taking. During the entire time a retailer holds title to particular goods, he must inevitably bear a wide variety of risks. Not only the goods may be destroyed through fire or flood, but also, there is often the danger of theft, deterioration or spoilage. Furthermore, such merchants are also faced with the threat that consumers will not accept their product or will purchase them only at unprofitable prices. He also undertakes risk in handling of fashion goods and other items for which consumer demand varies greatly from time to time.

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Since the retailer knows about the wishes of his customers the price, quality and the kind of merchandise available in the market as well as the existing and anticipated style trends, he keeps in stock the goods usually required by customers.

RETAIL IS USUALLY CLASSIFIED BY TYPE OF PRODUCTS AS FOLLOWS:

1. Food products 2. Hard goods or durable goods ("hardline retailers") - appliances, electronics, furniture, sporting goods, etc. Goods that do not quickly wear out and provide utility over time. 3. Soft goods or consumables - clothing, apparel, and other fabrics. Goods that are consumed after one use or have a limited period (typically under three years) in which you may use them. There are the following types of retailers by marketing strategy: 1. Department stores - very large stores offering a huge assortment of "soft" and "hard goods; often bear a resemblance to a collection of specialty stores. A retailer of such store carries variety of categories and has broad assortment at average price. They offer considerable customer service. 2. Discount stores - tend to offer a wide array of products and services, but they compete mainly on price offers extensive assortment of merchandise at affordable and cut-rate prices. Normally retailers sell less fashion-oriented brands. 3. Warehouse stores - warehouses that offer low-cost, often highquantity goods piled on pallets or steel shelves; warehouse clubs charge a membership fee; 4. Variety stores - these offer extremely low-cost goods, with limited selection;
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5. Specialty stores: A typical speciality store gives attention to a particular category and provides high level of service to the customers. A pet store that specializes in selling dog food would be regarded as a specialty store. However, branded stores also come under this format. For example if a customer visits a Reebok or Gap store then they find just Reebok and Gap products in the respective stores. 6. Hypermarkets: provides variety and huge volumes of exclusive merchandise at low margins. The operating cost is comparatively less than other retail formats. 7. Supermarkets: is a self service store consisting mainly of grocery and limited products on non food items. They may adopt a Hi-Lo or an EDLP strategy for pricing. The supermarkets can be anywhere between 20,000 and 40,000 square feet (3,700 m2). Example: SPAR supermarket. 8. Malls: has a range of retail shops at a single outlet. They endow with products, food and entertainment under a roof. 9. Category killers or Category Specialist: By supplying wide assortment in a single category for lower prices a retailer can "kill" that category for other retailers. For few categories, such as electronics, the products are displayed at the centre of the store and sales person will be available to address customer queries and give suggestions when required. Other retail format stores are forced to reduce the prices if a category specialist retail store is present in the vicinity. 10. E-tailers: The customer can shop and order through internet and the merchandise are dropped at the customer's doorstep. Here the retailers use drop shipping technique. They accept the payment for the product but the customer receives the product directly from the manufacturer or a wholesaler. This format is ideal for customers who do not want to
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travel to retail stores and are interested in home shopping. However it is important for the customer to be wary about defective products and non secure credit card transaction. Example: Amazon, eBay etc . Retailers can opt for a format as each provides different retail mix to its customers based on their customer demographics, lifestyle and purchase behaviour. A good format will lend a hand to display products well and entice the target customers to spawn sales.

Reliance Group
The Reliance Group, founded by Dhirubhai H. Ambani (1932-2002), is India's largest private sector enterprise, with businesses in the energy and materials value chain. Group's annual revenues are in excess of US$ 66 billion. The flagship company, Reliance Industries Limited, is a Fortune Global 500 company and is the largest private sector company in India. Backward vertical integration has been the cornerstone of the evolution and growth of Reliance. Starting with textiles in the late seventies, Reliance pursued a strategy of backward vertical integration - in polyester, fibre intermediates, plastics, petrochemicals, petroleum refining and oil and gas exploration and production - to be fully integrated along the materials and energy value chain. The Group's activities span exploration and production of oil and gas, petroleum refining and marketing, petrochemicals (polyester, fibre intermediates, plastics and chemicals), textiles, retail, infotel and special economic zones. Reliance enjoys global leadership in its businesses, being the largest polyester yarn and fibre producer in the world and among the top five to ten producers in the world in major petrochemical products. Major Group Companies are Reliance Industries Limited, including its subsidiaries and Reliance Industrial Infrastructure Limited .

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Company Overview
Reliance Retail Limited operates retail outlets in India. Its retail outlets offer foods, groceries, apparel and footwear, lifestyle and home improvement products, electronic goods, and farm implements and inputs. The companys outlets also provide vegetables, fruits, and flowers. It focuses on consumer goods, consumer durables, travel services, energy, entertainment and leisure, and health and wellbeing products, as well as educational products and services. The company was formerly known as Reliance Petroleum Retail Private Limited and changed its name to Reliance Retail Limited in January 2006. The company was incorporated in 1998 and is based in Mumbai, India. Reliance Retail Limited operates as a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd. Reliance Retail is the retail business wing of the Reliance business. Many brands like Reliance Fresh, Reliance Footprint, Reliance Time Out, Reliance Digital, Reliance Wellness, Reliance Trendz, Reliance Autozone, Reliance Super, Reliance Mart, Reliance iStore, Reliance Home Kitchens, Reliance Market (Cash n Carry) and Reliance Jewel come under the Reliance Retail brand.

Growth through Value Creation

With a vision to generate inclusive growth and prosperity for farmers, vendor partners, small shopkeepers and consumers, Reliance Retail Limited (RRL), a subsidiary of RIL, was set up to lead Reliance Groups foray into organized retail. Since its inception in 2006, Reliance Retail Limited (RRL) has grown into an organisation 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 continued to expand presence of its value and specialty formats. During the year, Reliance Retail opened 90 new stores spanning across 'value' and 'specialty' segments. In-store initiatives, wider product choice and value merchandising enabled the business to achieve robust growth during this period.
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Its presence in the optics business is in partnership with Grand Vision. 51 new stores were added during FY-11 taking the total presence to 100 stores across key markets in the country. The retail chain offers single brand optical products including Vision Express frames, lenses, contact lenses, sunglasses, solutions and accessories. For the very first time, consumers in India got the opportunity to experience Hamleys, which is considered to be the world's most wonderful toy shop. The brand was launched in India with opening up of 2 stores during the year. iStore by Reliance Digital is a one-stop-shop for all Apple products and services. There are 17 such stores currently operational. Reliance Brands also announced exclusive licensing arrangement with two leading international brands: Steve Madden, a leading designer, wholesaler and retailer of fashion-forward footwear and accessories for women, men and children. Quiksilver, a leading outdoor sports lifestyle company to launch their core brands 'Quiksilver' and 'Roxy'. Across India, Reliance Retail serves over 2.5 million customers every week. Its loyalty programme, "Reliance One", has the patronage of more than 6.75 million customers.

SOME BIG RETAILERS IN INDIA:

REI AGRO LTD Retail: 6TEN and 6TEN kirana stores Future Groups-Formats: Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar, Pantaloons, Central, Fashion Station, Brand Factory, Depot, aLL, E-Zone etc. Raymond Ltd.: Textiles, The Raymond Shop, Park Avenue, Park Avenue Woman, Parx, Colourplus, Neck Ties & More, Shirts & More etc. Fabindia: Textiles, Home furnishings, handloom apparel, jewellery
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 The Tata Group-Formats: Westside, Star India Bazaar, Steeljunction, Landmark, and Titan Industries with World of Titans showrooms, Tanishq outlets, Croma. Reliance Retail-Formats: Reliance MART, Reliance SUPER, Reliance FRESH, Reliance Footprint, Reliance Living, Reliance Digital, Reliance Jewellery, Reliance Trends, Reliance Autozone, iStore Reliance ADAG Retail-Format: Reliance World K Raheja Corp Group-Formats: Shoppers Stop, Crossword, Hyper City, Inorbit Mall Nilgiris-Formats: Nilgiris supermarket chain Marks & Spencer: Clothing, lifestyle products, etc. Lifestyle International-Lifestyle, Home Centre, Max, Fun City and International Franchise brand stores. Pyramid Retail-Formats: Pyramid Megastore, TruMart Subhiksha-Formats: Subhiksha supermarket pharmacy and telecom discount chain. Trinethra- Formats: Fabmall supermarket chain and Fabcity hypermarket chain Vishal Retail Group-Formats: Vishal Mega Mar Aditya Birla Group - "More" Outlets Nmart Retails with 153 operating Stores till now and total 219 Stores in India and 1 to open in Dubai Shortly. (Expected to be 500 by the end of Aug-2012) Gitanjali- Nakshatra, Gili, Asmi, D'damas, Gitanjali Jewels, Giantti, Gitanjali Gifts, etc.

MAJOR RETAILERS IN INDIA

Pantaloon:
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Pantaloon is one of the biggest retailers in India with more than 450 stores across the country. Headquartered in Mumbai, it has more than 5 million sq. ft retail space located across the country. It's growing at an enviable pace and is expected to reach 30 million sq. ft by the year 2010. In 2001, Pantaloon launched country's first hypermarket Big Bazaar. It has the following retail segments: Food & Grocery: Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar Home Solutions: Hometown, Furniture Bazaar, Collection-i Consumer Electronics: e-zone Shoes: Shoe Factory Books, Music & Gifts: Depot Health & Beauty Care: Star, Sitara E-tailing: Futurebazaar.com Entertainment: Bowling Co.

Tata Group
Tata group is another major player in Indian retail industry with its subsidiary Trent, which operates Westside and Star India Bazaar. Established in 1998, it also acquired the largest book and music retailer in India Landmark in 2005. Trent owns over 4 lakh sq. ft retail space across the country.

RPG Group
RPG Group is one of the earlier entrants in the Indian retail market, when it came into food & grocery retailing in 1996 with its retail Foodworld stores. Later it also opened the pharmacy and beauty care outlets Health & Glow.

Reliance
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Reliance is one of the biggest players in Indian retail industry. More than 300 Reliance Fresh stores and Reliance Mart are quite popular in the Indian retail market. It's expecting its sales to reach ` 90,000 crores by 2010.

AV Birla Group
AV Birla Group has a strong presence in Indian apparel retailing. The brands like Louis Phillipe, Allen Solly, Van Heusen, Peter England are quite popular. It's also investing in other segments of retail. It will invest ` 8000-9000 crores by 2010.

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RETAIL GROWTH DRIVERS

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There are three segments contributing to the growth of retailing and in turn boosting the economy and the countrys GDP. The parties involved are the consuming public, the manufacturers and retailers and finally, the government. Following are the contributions by one or more parties to this growth saga. ECONOMIC GROWTH India is one of the largest economies of the world. The GDP has gone up from $600 billion in 2003 to $ 1.25 trillion in 2008. Current estimates are that the GDP of the country has grown @ 6.6 % (2009-10) and is projected to grow @9% in (2010-11)5.The growth of retailing is intrinsically linked to the Growth Rate of a country. In the Indian context major growth in retailing has developed during the last one decade when the GDP growth picked up and grew as follows: 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 3.8% 8.5% 7.5% 8.1% 9.2% 9.0% 6.7%

Source: Ministry of Food Processing, Government of India In terms of PPP (purchasing power parity) the country is placed 4th behind United States, China and Japan. Germany comes behind India. DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGES In 1985, 93% of Indias population had disposable income less than Rs.0.09 million. By 2005 the figure was 54% (ie.431 million people are above the line). By 2025 it will be 22 % 7.Again the average disposable income will grow from Rs.0.114 million in 2006 to Rs.0.319 million by 2015. It is estimated that India will emerge as one of the worlds youngest nations as 54 per cent of its current population is aged 24 years and less (see table below). By 2020, the country is expected to represent
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17 per cent of the world's working age population.With the availability of easy credit cards and a rise in the aspirational class, the major beneficiary would be the retail industry more specifically the apparel segment of the business. Proportion of Young Population Country India China 42% Indonesia US Brazil Japan 30% 30% 29% 27% Germany 26%

Age 53% below 25 years

CONSUMERISM
Indias middle and high-income population has notched up an impressive growth and the countrys middle class will grow from about 5% of the population to more than 40% and create the worlds fifth largest consumer market10.As a country with a high percentage of youth (33% below the age of 15), consumer spending has risen sharply. Increased awareness has resulted in a perceptible change in behaviour and they are on the lookout for convenience, speed, efficiency and a wide range of products, simultaneously a one-stop shopping experience. Compared to the eighties, India has seen brand explosion in almost all categories of goods providing ample choice to the customer. Their economic well being, increasing aspirations for higher standards of living and comforts are responsible for the increase in consumerism.

GROWTH OF NUCLEAR FAMILIES AND SATELLITE

TOWNSHIPS With most major cities getting overcrowded new businesses and industries are being located on the outskirts of major cities resulting in people migrating to these areas for their livelihood. These proliferating satellite townships provide a big opportunity for retailers who open outlets in order to target this captive consumer base. With a shift in family structure, nuclear families have become a significant component of urban markets. Large families fragmenting
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into nuclear families translates into increased footfalls and more shopping baskets providing a great opportunity for the retailers.

CHANGE IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOR AND THE IMPACT OF WORKING WOMEN

Changing income levels and occupation have resulted in a change in the consumers buying behavior. More urban women are seeking employment resulting in dual income families. This results in more disposable income that in turn spawns consumerism. Moreover, in households with working women there is greater work pressure and increased commuting time resulting in adjustments being made to the food habits (cooking vs. ready to eat) as well as clothing. The focus shifts to convenience and comfort. The size and composition of the shopping basket has changed over time. Todays consumers are looking for shopping convenience and want to have all their requirements under one roof, coupled with speed in the retail store operations. Due to time constraints, families are now looking for shoppertainment combining shopping with entertainment. This is one of the causes of increased footfalls at malls with multiplexes.

TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES
From bar code scanners to RFID, technology has been one of the most important drivers of change in the retail industry. To leverage on the growth of internet usage, online etailing is growing as an alternate channel. Mobile marketing is another available tool. While Planogram software enables retailers in planning the store layout, managing shelves and designing interiors, CRM software applications aid retailers in developing a database of customers under different classifications. Global Positioning Systems have been adopted to monitor the movement of merchandise.

ELECTRONIC MEDIA

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As against two channels in the early 90s there is an explosion in the number of TV channels through which retailers have access to a larger audience. Due to creative advertisements across channels and print media, kids related products have registered stupendous growth. In fact media invasion has changed the lifestyles of consumers resulting in greater demands on variety and assortment, value, service and convenience. Media has helped in two ways; on the one hand, it has resulted in booming sales for the retailers and on the other, by creating awareness, has ensured that the consumer gets value for money.

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CHAPTER :- 5 IMPLEMENTATION OF VM DURING SIP AND ITS ANALYSIS

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Techniques of visual merchandising

Visual merchandising builds upon or augments the retail design of a store. It is one of the final stages in setting out a store in a way customers find attractive and appealing. Many elements can be used by visual merchandisers in creating displays including color, lighting, space, product information, sensory inputs (such as smell, touch, and sound), as well as technologies such as digital displays and interactive installations.

TOOLS OF VISUAL MERCHANDISING :1. POINT OF PURCHASE (POP) : 2. POINT OF SALE (POS),(POS-2) : 3. PLANOGRAM (POG) :A planogram allows visual merchandisers to plan the arrangement of merchandise by style, type, size, price or some other category. It also enables a chain of stores to have the same merchandise displayed in a coherent and similar manner across the chain. POG sheet is the address of all product containing following information (This address is fixed for the product in future also when ever that stock comes it has to be placed at that particular address only) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. BAY NO. ( 190017) SHELF NO. 1,2,3,4,5,6 LOCATION NO. 1,2,3,4,..N HORIZONTAL FACING LIKE - 1 FACING,2 FACING .... N FACING. VERTICAL FACING 1,2,3,..N DEPTH OF THE PRODUCT Means how many units should be placed behind each facing

HORIZONTAL FACING * VERTIC AL FACING *DEPTH = NO. OF PRODUCT IN A PERTICULAR SHELF.

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Workings at reliance mart

Worked for Loyalty programme of reliance mart (R- ONE membership card): We have to fill membership card at cash till of the mart. In which we issue a plastic card to the new customer those doesnt have membership card. Also renew the old paper card with new plastic card

POS 2 implementation : POS-2 is a upgraded version of POS-1 in POS 1 fixtures are different like standees jackets etc and in POP 2 fixture used is flipcharts which is a calendar type fixture which have various option that can be changed as needed. It has separate area for product name, MRP , Our price, promo like NEW,HOT OFFER,RELIANCE EXCLUSIVE,SAVE ETC. Planning of all these thing is done at NHQ level, only implementation is done at store level.

POP WORK Our manager assign us a dept, to check POPs of their dept. whether all POPs are placed All the POPs are preprint in form of pdf files. They have N no. Of pre-printed POPs on the portal to make easy and uniform formats in all over India. POPs are of 4 types A6,A5,A4,A3 Smallest is A6 and biggest is A3 sheet

POG implementation - POG sheet is the address of all product containing following information (This address is fixed for the product in future also when ever that stock comes it has to be placed at that particular address only)

Worked with marketing team to check POPs on the floor. ( POINT OF PURCHASE) and updated them day to day basis.

Printing of SEL for POG implementation SEL (SEL- SELF EDGE LEVEL)
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 Finding out the NIP SKUs (NIP- NOT IN POG ) while doing POG we have to find out which stock is NIP SKUs. If SEL of any product doesnt come when we print SEL of a full bay then that product is called as NIP SKUs.

Managing of fixtures like Jackets barkers, frame, bin rap, clip strip, side panel, data strips, floor stag, four way browsers in apparels, floor standing units.

Promo check of different dept 1. Personal Care 2. Processed food 3. Home care 4. House ware .

POP audit of following dept. 1. Personal Care 2. Processed food 3. Home care 4. House ware

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 POG audit 1. Personal Care 2. Processed food 3. Home care 4. House ware

Organised event of unicham - mamy poko pads event did Encoring in kids fashion show (1 - 3 yrs) .

Filling of loyalty card on the floor itself while customers are shopping (Experiment task given by the Paresh sir (cluster manager to pooja and abhishek)

My Contribution at reliance mart

Contribution in loyalty programme

Completed the task of filling (R- ONE CARD) membership card we took the percentage of loyalty from 50 to 79.83 %. Our team did efficient work and achieved the target of loyalty card on Saturday, Sunday. Form filling on the floor itself is also achieved with 80 % response of the customer which is a (Experiment task given by the Paresh sir (cluster manager to pooja and abhishek). Before relaunch of our mart we have interacted atleast 2000-3000 customers and during the period of relaunch this figure has crossed 7000 customers.( in 10 days of relaunch process)

Contribution in POS- 2 IMPLEMENTATION

I have contributed in arranging the fixtures of POS 2. Almost all the fixture of POS-2 is been placed by our team. Every we take a floor walk and see that whether

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all fixture are placed in proper place or not. We help also dept. managers in updating the flipcharts, end cap headers, shelf takers, and barkers.

Contribution in POP MANAGEMENT

I have worked with marketing dept. for managing POP. Promotion cycle is of 15 days every Wednesday it is updated by the marketing dept. Marketing dept. provide a promo sheet and all printed POPs to the respective dept. manager to update current PROMOs of their dept. they update these POPs on Wednesday before 9 am. These PROMO files are uploaded at the portal on Friday and Saturday by NHQ (MUMBAI). Promo checking is regular task of marketing dept. every wed. They take the ad paper of R-MART and check the promos which are shown on the ad paper. I check each SKUs which are printed on the ad paper on the training mode cash till by scanning the barcode of SKUs and checked that promo shown on the ad is coming on POS or not and reported the result to marketing dept.

Contribution in POG IMPLEMENTATION.

During the relaunch period completing POG is a big task, I have done POG of around 5 dept. 1. Personal Care 2. Processed food 3. Home care 4. House ware 5. FMCG 6. NON-FOOD FMCG

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 Contribution in POG AND POP audit.

POG Audit / POP Audit are done just before the relaunch of the MART. During the audit we have been given a file of POG sheet to give 3 type of remarks (POG DONE OUT OF STOCK, NOT MAPPED) in the sheet. I have completed POG/POP audit of following depts.

Remark meansPOG DONE-All SKUs are placed at the right place with right facing. OUT OF STOCK SEL is present but product is out of stock, NOT MAPPED- both SEL and stock is not place 1. Personal Care 2. Processed food 3. Home care 4. House ware

Learning at reliance mart

During this period I came to know various reliance owned products through which I came to know that company owned product enjoy more profit margin as compare to other products. Learned to communicate with various different customers and got experience of handling various hard situations with customers. Talked to various managers of different section and learned how they take thing in their jobs. I have attended 5-6 meeting with managers got lot of leanings of how an official meeting is conducted. Attending meetings really gave me big learning during my internship programme.
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I also got an experience of using cash counter; update POPs, POS 2 implementation. Also got a brief knowledge about the portal of the company how thing are downloaded and used by the marketing dept. learned how POG cycle is implemented (6month period) , it make customer confuse as some product are placed at different place after the POG implementation but each manager helps the customer at their best level. Got an experience of using cash counter while checking the promos and saw what is the task of marketing dept. when promo cycle changes and performed some of them with respective dept. managers. Saw a new look of mart during the relaunch week of mart. Marketing dept. gave a new and better look to the whole mart which is more connected to the customers. Worked on a new idea at FNV dept. which is putting POPs of benefits of fruits veg. and being recognised by the visitor (MARKETING HEAD R -MART ) and he said this idea will be implement in different parts of India also in future. At a store level only implementation is take place but when any new policy came all manager sets and plans a strategy for implementation of that new policy/ new plan in an optimum time and recourses.

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Photos of visual merchandising implemented at the time of relaunch of R- MART Ahmedabad.

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CHAPTER :- 6 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

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MERCHANDISING PLANNING
The activity of promoting the sale of goods at retail is merchandising planning. Merchandising activities may include Display techniques, Free samples, On-the-spot demonstration, Pricing, Shelf talkers, Special offers, and Point-of-sale methods. According to American Marketing Association, merchandising encompasses "planning involved in marketing the right merchandise or service at the right place, at the right time, in the right quantities, and at the right price." To ensure sales, companies go to great lengths to make sure that their products are visible in stores and are presented in an appealing, 'sellable' way. This is called merchandising, which includes product packaging, placement, promotions and pricing to appeal to the target market In the broadest sense, merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of products to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to the variety of products available for sale and the display of those products in such a way that it stimulates interest and entices customers to make a purchase.

MERCHANDISING OF APPARELS
In case of merchandising of apparels colour theme is considered. Colour in your display is the first thing you probably notice as a customer, details come later. Sometimes it's hard to just pick 3 main colours, because your stock is varied.

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But, you could place different items of the same colour for a dramatic effect. Experiment with different props to create different moods. 1. Remember the colour circle 2. Complimentary colours - blue/orange, purple/yellow, red/green, black/white. These are stimulating and bold. 3. Variations or tones of the same colour - harmonious and restful. 4. Colours either side of a primary colour - red/orange. Red/purple can be discordant but can create startling effects. 5. Warm colours advance, cool colours recede.

VISUAL MERCHANDISING
Visual merchandising is the activity and profession of developing floor plans and three-dimensional displays in order to maximise sales. Both goods and services can be displayed to highlight their features and benefits. The purpose of such visual merchandising is to attract, engage and motivate the customer towards making a purchase. Visual merchandising commonly occurs in retail spaces such as retail stores and trade shows.Visual merchandising today forms a critical element of retailing. Besides the facade and windows, which are clearly done up with an objective to attract passer-bys and induce walk-ins, there is also in-store decor that is designed to enhance the customers comfort and convenience while shopping and overall, offer a superior shopping experience. Another way of thinking about visual merchandising is that it provides silent service for consumers, helping them to find products more easily, providing inspiration and solutions, advising on product information etc., and all without the help of a sales person. Therefore, successful visual merchandising involves developing all areas of store presentation to promote the brand and product range more effectively.

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It means getting range segmentation, store layouts and use of space, merchandising principles and techniques, window and instore displays right. And, it includes developing effective POS & POP solutions, seasonal events and promotions to stimulate shopping behaviour.

THE PURPOSE OF VISUAL MERCHANDISING IS TO:

1. Make it easier for the customer to locate the desired category and merchandise. 2. Make it easier for the customer to self-select. 3. Make it possible for the shopper to co-ordinate and accessories. 4. Recommend, highlight and demonstrate particular products at strategic locations. 5. Educate the customer about the product in an effective & creative way. 6. Make proper arrangements in such a way to increase the sale of unsought goods.

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Visual merchandisers usually evaluate each display to determine whether it is meeting these goals. Does the display fit our store image? Does it grab customers attention? Is focus on merchandise? Are signs clear and easy to read? Is there enough light? Is the display neat and clean?

How does it affect consumers - does it make them buy more? Successful VM and brand delivery is all about understanding and satisfying customer needs. So the more that a company understands its consumers, brand and competitors, the better it can define and refine its own VM practice to deliver better solutions in store to improve the customer experience.

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Its a fact that good VM will get consumers to buy more. Essentially, VM is a set of practical selling tools (levers) to influence what, when and how consumers buy and no serious 21st century retailer can afford to ignore the powerful effects and huge commercial potential of implementing better VM! Whether this is achieved by increasing the size of spend, type and number of items that people buy, the frequency of purchases, the brands and lines that shoppers select and even down to the stores they choose to shop in. Practical examples of VM techniques could include prioritizing the location of certain items that are on promotion to increase the volume and rate of sale. The basic objective for visual merchandising is a desire to attract customers to a place of business in order to sell the merchandise. Visual merchandising is offered to the customer through exterior and interior presentation. Each should be coordinated with the other using the stores overall theme. Creating and maintaining a stores visual merchandising plan, however, is not a simple task. It is necessary to continuously determine what the customer sees. This evaluation from the customers perspective should start on the exterior and work completely through the interior of the store.

Exterior Design
The quality of a store front is a major determinant for a customer, particularly for a new customer, and should not be underestimated at any cost. The exterior appearance of one store, a block of businesses or a cluster, silently announces what customers can expect inside. Good exterior visual merchandising attracts attention, creates interest and invites the customer into the business. The exterior presentation can offer a conservative, progressive, lavish or discount image to the customer. How a store visually welcomes customers has a lot to do with whether or not they enter the store. Although good prices and positive word-of-mouth advertising are important, it is hard to overcome the negative image of a poor store exterior.

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Interior Design
Selling space is the most important part of a store and, therefore, efforts to utilise each square foot will help maximise sales. One proven way to do this is through interior displays that effectively show merchandise to the customer. When planning interior displays, one should remember that the theme and image presented on the exterior must be carried throughout the interior of the store to provide consistency for the customer. The purpose of interior display is to develop desire for the merchandise, show what is available, and encourage both impulse and planned buying. Three major goals of a store should be to motivate the customer to spend money, project the image of the store, and keep expenses to a minimum. Promotion and advertising costs are less effective or even wasted when efforts are not made within the store to effectively merchandise the products. Well-designed displays and in-store promotions are essential for a consistent theme and to help the customer find advertised items.

Display Design
An effective way of attracting customers to a store is by having good displays, both exterior and interior. A customer will be attracted to a display within three to eight seconds and that is the time a customer spends to determine interest in a product. This is why it is critical to have a properly designed display. Every display should be planned and have a theme. Good design makes a visual presentation come together. This means the design attracts attention in a way that strengthens the store image as well as introduces merchandise to the customer.

Colour and Lighting

Colour contributes significantly to peoples impression of a display, as well as a stores overall appearance. Colour in a display can catch the eye and make people pause and look. The colour combinations of the ceiling, walls, floor covering, and the overall decor can affect the atmosphere of a store. Changing the colour scheme can change peoples attitudes and perceptions of a store, and can increase (or
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decrease) business. Colour can change the shape and add interest to a dull room, and can direct attention toward a specific object or away from problem areas. People tend to respond a certain way to different colours. Warm colours (red, yellow, orange, and colors with red or yellow hues such as yellow-green, beige, peach, brown, and orange-red) are stimulating and cheery. They make a room feel warm and intimate. Warm colours make a room seem smaller while making objects in the room appear larger. A warm colour on the end walls of a long narrow room will appear to shorten the room. Blue, green, violet, and colours containing blue, such as blue-green and violetblue, are cool colours. These help create a relaxing atmosphere. Rooms decorated primarily in cool colours tend to appear larger and more spacious. Cool colours are especially pleasing in smaller rooms.A colour wheel is a handy tool to use in developing a colour scheme for a store. Several colour schemes are possible by choosing different combinations. Lighting is essential in calling attention to merchandise in a display. A shoppers eye is drawn automatically to the brightest item or area. There are three types of lighting used in store illumination: primary, accent and atmosphere lighting. Lighting treatment may be used to draw attention to a part of the display area, a specific item in the display, or to coordinate parts of the total display area. Lighting can also be used to direct shoppers through the store, attracting them to various displays along the way. Because of this tendency to follow a lighted path, display lights should be two to five times stronger than lighting in other parts of the store. All these efforts ensure that customers, right from walking inside a store to selecting the merchandise, have a positive and entertaining feel about the store. This also ensures to a large extent a good conversion. Hence visual merchandising in retail stores plays a very vital role in attracting customers and increasing sales, thus boosting profitability.

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Visual Merchandising Trends

Visual Merchandising means different things to different retailers. Visual merchandising trends are constantly fluctuating because retail is always changing. The challenge for retailers is to react to the evolving needs and wants of their customers. Visual elements in a retail store have always been very important in attracting and keeping consumers. But in the past, visual merchandising trends dictated that featured merchandising be used primarily to promote sale prices. End caps were and still are, used for this purpose. However, twenty years ago the visual merchandising trend was to bulk stack end caps promoting prices on single items. Today retailers often use end caps to promote new items and to inform customers of those items specific purposes or benefits. End caps today are also more attractive. The visual merchandising trends of today find retailers using end cap fixtures, lighting and color to highlight featured products. Visual merchandising trends have also influenced the way store aisles are merchandised. Focal points are often developed in the middle of categories or aisle runs. This is referred to as micro-merchandising. Sections of particular groups or products are featured by changing the type or color of fixture on which those products reside. Visual merchandising trends have also led retailers to sometimes include radius shelving in their product sets. Radii shelving are shelves with rounded front edges. When used as feature elements, they extend past the straight front of neighboring shelf sections. Product visuals are improved and the items featured have an distinct advantage over products that are adjacent and not featured. Current visual merchandising trends have seen overall fixture heights drop in many stores. By dropping fixture heights customers can be enticed visually to explore other areas of the store. Today, retailers use visual cues to guide customers through their stores for the purpose of increasing unplanned purchases. New store layouts not only use visuals to plan fixture placement, they also use visual merchandising techniques to design store dcor. Visual merchandising trends have definitely influenced store signage. Retail store signs have gone from Styrofoam letters glued to a wall to colorful high impact three dimensional graphics. Even now we are seeing a shift in visual dcor.
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Visual merchandising in stores is going digital. Flat screen TVs are being utilized everywhere, not only presenting products in full color, but also communicating and in a very literal sense, selling. These digital signs are like having another salesperson on the floor. Visual merchandising trends have led to merchandising that improves profitability and exposes shoppers to more key elements within a store. Visual merchandising is just one of the essential elements of the discovery process. Research Results Show that Visual Merchandising Impact has on the Sales of retail outlet. Getting and getting more retailers are realizing the value of visual merchandising to increase sales volume. In fact, more department stores nowadays are already hiring visual artists, graphic designers, fine arts artist, window dressers and other related professionals to become in-house visual merchandisers and perform visual merchandising responsibilities; hence, many schools today are already offering visual merchandising course. The major role of visual merchandisers is to maintain the good store image through effective graphic designs and attractive visual arts with the aim of increasing foot traffic to the store and to boost the income.

Display Can Increase Sales

The self service merchandise presentation which allows customers to have direct contact with the merchandise. Being known as the silent salesperson, visual merchandising introduces the merchandises to the customers, it calls the attention of the customers to come closer and make a purchase, it tells the consumers the information they needed about the products, it understands the needs of the customers and it even lure customers away from your store if it is unplanned and poorly done like an untrained salesperson. The research carried out by Russell R. Mueller shows that displays can increase sales in excess of 540%, a well planned hot spot can increase sales by 229% and some of the items on Rolling Racks with signage posted sales increases well above 134%.
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CHAPTER :- 7 FINDINGS

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 Visual merchandising plays a vital role in consumer buying as the retails is just a experience shopping for the customers Many retail industry players in India believe that merchandising and display
are frivolous extra expenses for the retail business owner who is just starting up.The justification given is that expenses such as marketing, rent, inventory, utilities, staffing, etc. are 'serious' expenses for a small business while merchandising and display are 'frills' and can be avoided.

One could not be more wrong on this as merchandising and display are an
important part of the retail marketing plan, and should have a reasonable budget allocated - even for a retailer operating on a shoestring. The customer has more options at his disposal than ever before.

Indian retail companies have to play each aspect of their marketing effort
including merchandising, in order to attract & retain the customer. The customer is bombarded with a lot of distractions in his daily life; retailers have to stand out of these distractions to grab the customer's attention. A lot of effort and resource are dedicated towards store

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
BOOK Retail Desire: Design, Display and Visual Merchandising Visual Merchandising- By Swati Bhalla, Anuraag S. Retail Merchandising - Publisher: TATA MC-GRAW PUBLISHING CO.LTD.-NEW DELHI RESEARCH PAPER

HILL

Impact of Visual Merchandising on Consumer Behaviour and Sales of the Product Visual merchandising and the creation of discernible retail brands Visual merchandising and the creation of discernible retail brands Author(s): Shona Kerfoot, (Shona Kerfoot is based at Matalan Retail Ltd, Skelmersdale, UK.), Barry Davies, Visual Merchandising-A Smart Model - Hemanth Y, Trading Densities of Organised Retail Formats. Study Series. 2010 Srivastava, R.K. "Changing retail scene in India, International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Vol. 36 (9), 2008 A T Kearney (2010) Global Retail Development Index (GRDI) 2010 Paran Balakrishnan, India in 2010: The Making of a Blockbuster.2007

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