Final Desrtn

FINAL DISSERTATION
Enhancing the profitability of electronic retail business through new and effective marketing strategies. A case study of Currys
SUBMITTED BY ARUN SANAL BITE ID: 42196

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the MBA Innovative Management In collaboration with Coventry University and the British Institute of Technology & E-commerce
Dissertation Statement of Originality
Statement of Originality Except for those parts in which it is explicitly stated to the contrary, this work is my own. It has not been previously submitted for assessment at this or any other institution. Checklist Please check the following statements are true, tick the appropriate box and sign the declaration . I have included a full reference list using the Harvard style of referencing I have provided Harvard style references for all the ideas, empirical evidence and other materials I have used. I have referenced all passages from my source material. Wherever I have copied someone elses words (a quotation), I have clearly shown in the text how much was copied by using speech marks. I have not committed any falsification. This means I have not presented invented data, by for example claiming that I have conducted interviews or sent out questionnaires when I have not, or altering or making up my results. I can make available evidence of originality, including notes, photocopies, drafts, primary data and computer files.
Student name: ARUN SANAL
Student ID: 42196
Student signature:
Date: 09/01/12
TurnitinUK Originality Report desrtn by Arun Sanal From Dissertation (MAY 2011 - GROUP J (Organisation Management))

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Submitted to London School of Marketing on 2011-12-23
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http://www.kuhngroup.com/PDFs/Whitepaper%20The%20Effects%20of%20POS%20Implementa tion%20and%20Retail%20Tech.pdf
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Merlin Stone. "The effect of retail customer loyalty schemes Detailed measurement or transforming marketing?", Journal of Targeting Measurement and Analysis for Marketing, 02/01/2004
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http://www.chinakdd.com/portal.php?mod=list&catid=30

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http://zindagitrust.org/e-updates.asp
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Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal, Volume 1, Issue 1 (2006-09-19)

http://www.ooz.nu/Volvo_SwedishExperience_Stefan_Karl.pdf

http://retailreflexionz.wordpress.com/

http://dspace.fsktm.um.edu.my/bitstream/1812/917/5/Chapter%202.pdf

http://eprints.utm.my/6543/1/jacquelinesimphekkimmp041177d06ttt.PDF
http://www.slideshare.net/cirving/the-role-of-information-literacy-in-addressing-a-specific-strandof-lifelong-learning-the-work-agenda-2729283

http://scholar.sun.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10019.1/5201/vanderlinde_magazines_2010.pdf?seque nce=1

Submitted to British Institute of Technology and E-commerce on 2010-08-30
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I am sincerely expressing my thanks to my research supervisor Mr. Hector Dela Victoria for his guidance and support to complete this dissertation. His vast knowledge and experience in the marketing field has helped me a lot in collection of literature, conducting a research, data analysis and writing the dissertation thesis. Without his interest and support it would have not been possible to complete this dissertation. Thank you very much Sir.
I take this opportunity to thank MBA programme manager, academic staff members and also administrative staff members.
DEDICATION
I dedicate this dissertation to my parents who have supported and encouraged me for the education, development and success in my life. I have to be always thankful to my parents for their love and affection, motivation and inspiration in building up my character and personality.
Abstract
This project deals with the ways on how to improve the profitability of retail business, particularly in electronics store: Currys. What all new strategies (marketing) the company can implement in order to improve its performance, what all tactics the company have developed so far, how they have manage to float their business in this highly competing ,market etc... In short this project should also help in identifying the SWOT of the concerned sector i.e. the Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats of the company. The need for a research in this project is to have a clear cut understanding of the various strategies implemented by retail business particularly electronics business in order to improve its overall performance. And how it takes new innovative ideas to compete from its close competitors in the same sectors and also chance of competition from new markets. It should also help the business to identify the market segment for which it should concentrate. The research has to be done through carefully analysing the existing strategies implemented in the company, the various brands with which the company have tie-ups the offers they provide for the customers, how they attract new customers, and how they retain the existing customers etc...
Table of contents
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction.................1 1.2 Research aim.....2 1.3 Research objectives...3 1.4 Research question..3 1.5 Conceptual frame work.....4 1.6 Important of study.5 1.7 Operational definition of terms.5
CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 2.2
Literature review..6 Retail business..........6
2.3 Retail Marketing................6 2.4 Marketing concept......................6 2.4.1 Marketing environment.....7 2.4.2 Micro and Macro environment..........7 2.5 The concept of retail marketing.....7
2.6 Retail Theory of wheel.........................8 2.7 Marketing strategy.8 2.7.1 Functional strategies...............8 2.7.2 Analysing the market..................9 2.8 Customer relationship management.....9 2.9.1 Customer....10 2.9.2 Relation with consumer brand and seller........11 2.9.3 Customer loyalty schemes..11 2.10 Retail branding.................12 2.11 Retailers as brand.....12 2.12 The dimension of retail image..............................13 2.13 Retail Branding: advantages13 2.14 Retail modernization..............13
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2.14 Pricing..........................14 2.15 Pricing strategy.....14 2.17 Advertising.......15 2.17.1 Advertising its types..........17 2.17.2 Dynamic advertisement..17 2.17.3 Innovative methods....17 2.17.4 Push and pull strategy18 2.17.4 Customer perception decision making19 2.18 Technology in retailing.....20
2.19 Interactive kiosks....20 2.19.1 Point of sales....21 2.19.2 Customer data base.......21 2.19.3 Online technologies.........21 2.19.4 Automatic vending......22 2.20 Effect o private brands on retailers...22 2.21 Store location........23 2.20.1Types of Store location....23 2.20.1 Understanding retail branding23 2.20.2 Store atmosphere..........23 2.22. dimension of retail image.........................24 2.7.5 Types of location..........25
CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY Research approaches26
3.1
3.1.1 Qualitative research.26 3.1.2 Quantitative research...27 3.2 Research design..27 3.2.1 Descriptive method..28 3.2.2 Survey method.28 3.3 Data collection..29 3.3.1 Primary data collection.29 3.3.2 Secondary data collection.29
3.4
Sample size and sampling..30
3.4.1 Population..30 3.4.2 Sample size31 3.4.3 Sampling technique31 3.5 Treatment of data...31
CHAPTER 4
ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS
4.1 Introduction...32 4.2 Analysis and findings32 4.3 Summary....44
CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSION
5.1 Conclusion of the study.45 5.2 Discussion on the evaluation of strategies.45 5.3 Recommendation....47 5.4 Research limitations....47 5.5 Limitation of research.......47
CHAPTER 6
REFERENCES...46
APPENDIX Copy of the Questionnaire52
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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introduction

According to Roger Cox (3), Retailing is the sale of goods and service to consumers for personal, family or household expenses. In all over the world retail firms are growing day by day. The rate at which they are growing is really fascinating. The competitions between these firms are increasing at a much faster rate. In such a competing market the firms have to plan properly, effectively and efficiently in order to stay afloat in the market.
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United Kingdom or the Great Briton as it is always known is famous for its highly recognised retail brands such as Currys, Argos, Tesco, Asda, Bright House etc... All these are retail firms which specialises in selling a variety of products which includes the grocery items, kitchen appliances, furnitures etc... Apart from these big names there are various other retail firms which have only one or two stores but still have a high name in their particular area. And hence the competition between these super stores themselves and between them and the conventional stores are highly aggressive. And in order to compete in these markets every retailer has to adopt various innovative marketing strategies to improve its overall performance. (Source:http://www.uksharenet.co.uk/Currys/curryshtml,httpwww.pcronline.biz/news/read/pc -world-and-currys-trial-joint-store). The aim of this project is to understand how to enhance the profitability of retail business particularly in electronic sector through an effective marketing strategy. The study also includes analysing the existing marketing strategy of the concerned retail sector and also to analyse the marketing strategies in the concerned sector and there by identify their potential market and growth of the firms sales of their competitors, their advertisement tactic etc... The research also includes conducting a SWOT analysis of the sector or the company i.e. to identify the Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats of the sector. The project also focuses on the strategies of the retail sector to improve its overall financial performance by means of implementing new marketing strategies. The firm selected for this purpose is Currys an electronic retailer in United Kingdom, which specialises in electronic home appliances such as computers, laptops, cameras, mobile phones and various other kitchen appliances. Currys is one of the leading electronic retail stores in United Kingdom which is owned by Dixons Retail Plc. Apart from U.K it also have stores in Ireland and some other European countries. It sells over a variety of products especially electronic appliances of all the famous brands such as Samsung, Dell, Nokia, Apple, Sony etc... It has nearly 200 stores within the U.K. The firm have many strong competitions across the country from various established brands as well as sole proprietors the main competitor of Currys is Argos, another retail electronic agent. Apart from the retail stores these giants also have online trade or online shopping facility. These stores have their own websites where the customers can select for any particular
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product and can even buy these products online and make the payment also online and can even book the products in advance. It also helps them in getting all the informations regarding offers and gifts the stores are providing them.
1.2 Aim
Every research or project has certain aims which need to be satisfied or answered. The aim of this study is to explore the marketing strategies of the retail firms particularly in electronic and home appliance sector. The aim of the research also includes applying various marketing and strategic management theory to these retail sectors in order to improve its all over performances and also to enhance the overall profitability of the firms. This research as mentioned earlier is based on electronic store Currys for doing its research on retail electronic sector. The main aim of this research is to identify the ways on how profitability can be enhanced in electronic retail sectors. And also as to what are the new marketing strategies to be included in this research.
1.3 Objectives
Every research has some objectives and it is all done to satisfy that particular objectives. And the researcher should prepare the project in such a way that it should satisfy the answers of the objectives. The objectives of any research are things which the researcher should keep in mind while preparing the project, based on these objectives the researcher have to formulate an efficient way to formulate strategy. And the objectives for this research are as follows: 1) To research into the practical application of marketing and its strategy in an organisation. 2) To explore how marketing decisions are taken in an organisation (retail)
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3) To analyse the business in a retail firm sector 4) To differentiate between the marketing strategies used in the pros and cons of Currys
in its retail sector
1.4 Questions
Every research involves certain questions which need to be answered. And the objective of every researcher is to find an answer for these questions. This can be done only if the researcher undertakes a detailed study of a particular research he has done; which sometimes includes preparation of questionnaires, conducting surveys etc... And the main question in this particular research which needs to be answered is as follows: 1) How to develop new and exciting marketing techniques for the retail sector? 2) What are the existing marketing strategies that are followed by those firms?
3) What are the ways for improving the financial performance? 4) What
are the influences of new marketing tactic in improving the performance of these stores across the country?
5) What are the drawbacks the firms are facing with the existing marketing strategies?
1.5 Conceptual frame work
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Effective Marketing Strategies
Profitability
Enhancing the profitability of electronic retail business
1.6 Importance of study
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Every research or study have its own importance, the importance of this study is to identify the ways to enhance the profitability in retail sectors. And the retail business sector selected in this particular research is about electronic industry. The study tells us about various marketing strategies through which the firm can improve its overall financial performance and that too within a short period of time. And the industry selected for this purpose is Currys Electronics which is a famous superstore in London. 1.7 Operational definition of terms
Evaluation- it means to identify, to evaluate, about the quality, nature, significance etc.. of the work. Retailer it is a person who sells goods to the public, it have stores or other building and they generally sells at a fixed price called the retail price Profitability- profit is the amount a firm or business receives in excess of its total cost of production. And profitability is the amount of quality of affording gain. Consumers- are the persons who buys or purchase products from the retailers or manufactures at a fixed price, they can either be a individual or a group of person or an organisation. Manufacturers are the persons who makes and sells goods to the public or the consumers. They are generally a large organisation which generally composes of more than one or two person.
Kiosks. It is a machine, software or an operating system which provides all the details about a product which the customer need to get from a store or staff members of an organisation without directly interacting with the staff but buy the use of certain computers etc...
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Chapter 2 Literature Review

2.1 Introduction Literature reviews of a particular research or project have some main functions with in itself. It helps in understanding the details or assumptions in the research questions which the researcher is suppose to answer and it helps the researcher in getting some basic knowledge regarding the subject he or she have undertaken. And most importantly it helps in answering the research questions as set by the researcher. Literature review can be said to be the exchanging of ideas between researcher and the related literature (Marshall and Rossman, 2006) 2.2 Retail business This is the sale of goods and other products from a building, store, department etc...for personal, household or farm consumption (Paul, 1979). The retail sectors often have the highest number of employers. The number of retail stores is also more than the number of wholesale or manufacturing units present. 2.3 Retail marketing It can be defined as a set of activity, which occurs approaching within existing retail firm location.(Richard: 2010). The products that are generally available with a retailer can be categorised into three different sets or types: I. II. III. Branded products Retail products Marketing and branding by the retailers and their stores in the marketplace.
In simple terms it can be defined as the task of planning, executing, buying, and selling goods or ideas in order to achieve the goals of the organisation (David Loudon et al: 2005). 2.4 Marketing concept The main concept of marketing itself is to achieve the goals of an organisation while giving the consumers a better satisfaction than their competitors. (Philip Kotler: 2010). The basic rule of business is to get profit and the rule of marketing is to make profit for the business with satisfying the customers as well.
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2.4.1 Marketing environment Richard J. Varey (2002: 96) The marketing environment of a business or organisation comprises of a interacting people, process, techniques and various other situations. These factors are outside the control of the business, organisation or its management. The changes in the marketing environment are continuous as well as rapid. And hence every management have to try to cope up with the changes in its environment. And this is done with the help of a marketing research and formulating a marketing plan. The marketing environment has to be constantly monitored and studied, as a slight change in a firms marketing environment can cause a huge change in its overall financial performance. The marketing environment are generally categorised or differentiated into two types: Micro environment and Macro environment. (Kotler, 2010)
2.4.2 Micro Environment and Macro environment The micro environments of a company or organisation are factors which closely affect a companies ability to serve its customers, competitors, markets etc...(Kotler: 2010). The macro environment on the other hand includes factors such as demographic, technical, political etc... these are generally not close to a company or organisation.
2.5 The concept of retail marketing The concept of retail marketing can be defined as the selling of products and commodities directly to the consumers. These markets are extremely competitive in nature and hence there is often high risk involved in these types of marketing. Supermarkets, super stores, cooperative stores etc... are all a part of retail marketing. Retail marketing can be defined as the activities that occur within a retailing location. ( Dick Blatt et al...:2010).
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2.6 Retail theory of Wheel Patrick Dunne (2002:120) tells that new retailers enter into the existing market with a low profile, and offers the customers products at a considerably lesser rate than their competitors and there by tries to capture the market. Once the presence of new retailers is felt to the customers they start investing more and more money onto the business in order to capture more and more market share. These retailers may sometimes give new and exciting promotional offers to the public to gather their attention. And gradually they establish their business, but once the business it also faces the potential threat from the new firms, who are trying to expand their business. During the initial years of retailing or retail business the retailers used to sell all products in one store alone, but during the years that followed owing to the rising number of competitors in the market and the changing marketing environment; it gave rise to retail shops that specialises in each items (Michael Levy, 2005). These shops include shops which specialises in garments, dress, food items, electronic items, household appliances etc...
2.7 Marketing strategy Marketing strategy can be divided as set of activities or process in an organisation, where the organisation should use its resources to the maximum to increase sales of the firm. (Baker:2008). These are the main underlying factors which stimulates a firm to form its marketing plan and also to achieve the objectives of organisation. There are various types of marketing strategies which are present in an organisation.
2.7.1 Functional strategies Every organisation or firm should have a strategy for its future establishment and development. The strategies of every firms should be prepared in such a way that all its resources should be utilised. The resources of a company include the human resources, financial resources, manufacturing department research and development department etc...these activities are generally done by the mangers of each respective sections or departments. Functional strategy of any firm or organisation aims at achieving the results of an organisation by working in a team. (Ferrell and Hartline, 2005:29).
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2.7.2 Analysing the market It involves the analysing the market for an organisation in order to identify to identify its potential use in terms of its competition, pricing, promotion, etc... the managers often need statistical data for analysing the things. This is a hideous task for any managers or leaders as it involves a lot of research work, assumptions etc...The main reason behind its difficulty is due to the fact that the data to be collected is spread among a lot of area. SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threat) analysis and PEST (Political, Economical, Social and Technological) analysis are some of the common and important tools of analysis of marketing. The former comes under the external environment and the latter comes under internal environment of an organisation (Ferrell and Hartlin, 2005:34).
2.7.3 Retail market segmentation Segmentation is simply dividing the larger and complex market into simple and smaller ones. Segmentation is mainly done by the managers to identify their potential customers i.e. to identify in which group or category does their customers fall into. It helps in wastage of resources and thereby it also helps in increasing the profit of the business. Once the company or firm have segmented the market it is easier to identify the area or market they need to concentrate. The markets are generally segmented on the basis of location, age group, gender, social status, etc....Once the target customers are identified then the firms can start making strategies to attract customers in that particular group or segments. This in turn saves both time and money for an organisation (Chetan Balaji et al, 2005).
2.8 Customer relationship management Customer relationship management or commonly known as CRM is another tool of marketing which keeps tracks of the relationship between the customer and the management. It helps in identifying the customers and also the potential customers of an organisation. It
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uses various tools and softwares for selecting and identifying the customers. CRM also stores the buying pattern of each customer. And there by it helps in identifying the potential customer of every organisation (Kracklaurel et al, 2004). It unlike othe marketing strategy is based mainly on after sale services, feedbacks etc... of the customers. It is a comparatively newly developed business strategy of an organisation. (Shanmugasundaram:2008)
2.9.1 Customer Customers or consumers are the person who consumes or uses the products produced by the organisations. And that is the reason why they are the called the end users of every product. (Tim Hannagan:2002). The customer can be an individual, a group of person or even an organisation. Every company or organisation can have success only if the company is benefited from its customers. And in order to capture the customer and also to add up the potential customer the firms and their management have to attract the people and for that purpose they need to give attractive offers, benefits etc.. to the customers. Satisfying a customer should be the main objective of every organisation. And this is because an organisation can become successful only if it is able to satisfy its customers properly. This has a dual aspect as well an i.e. if a customer is satisfied then he becomes the regular buyer of the product and such behaviour of a company induces other customers also for the products. Customer satisfaction should be the prime task or duty of every organisation or company. The company management should make a proper planning for satisfying the customers, and this comes under formulating a marketing strategy. The main reason why customer satisfaction is considered important is because of the fact that all that the number of competitors in every organisation or product is high, and hence there is a number of choices among the customers. And hence the choice of every organization is to satisfy the customers. (Narver and Slater, 1990). Every company or organisation should and must give importance to their customer relationship management, this is an important aspect of every organisation where participation of organisation is proved to be worthy in their future. There should be a mutual understanding between the customers and the organisation. The relationship between both these parties should be a friendly one it often goes in a circle i.e. the producer sells their products to the consumers and the consumers buy them, the manufacturers or producers then
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give them after sale services and the customer again return for purchasing new products. The manufacturers then invest a part of money from these products for the customers in order to make profit for the business and also for future expansion (Patrick Dunne, 2002:454).
2.9.2 Relation with consumer brand and reseller Brand is a name, term, symbol of an object which helps in identifying a particular product or product from its competitors. Companies try to create brand name of their products in the minds of people. This is done in ordered to capture the market of a product and also to create a name of the product and organisation in the mind set of the people. It helps in creating product recognition. Study proves that there is nearly 70% rise in the sale of products in a company is because of the high growth in retail sectors. The researcher states that the not all the customers look for cheap products, the customers prefer quality as well a value. (Frederick, 2000). 2.9.3 Customer Loyalty schemes Customer loyalty means the loyalty of customer towards a particular product or service. As the customers are loyal to a particular brand or product the same rules apply with retailers as well. The retail program has come into practice in the late 1990s and has been proved to be one of the most successful tools of business. Now days they acts as key link of a marketing or a business. And ever since its huge popularity quite a large number of firms have started their own retail shops which sells product to the customer and that also provides services and there by makes the customers loyal to them. Such retailers often use brands of a products to capture the customer and make them loyal to their retail shops (Pressey and Mathew, 1998). Stone (2003) is quoting that IBM research shows that increasingly discerning customers are demanding more services and information, heightened competition in mature saturated markets is making it more difficult for retailers to sustain differentiated brands and value propositions, rapid evolution and adoption of new technologies present both opportunities and risk for companies seeking to innovate. The research also tells that majority of the store people are using more and more technologies in order to attract more and more customers to their stores. And in this way the retailers are trying to create a bond between the firms and the management. This can be also quoted as building a customer relationship between the firms
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and the management. When there is a good relationship or rapport between the customer and the management then the person or the customer continuous to visit and purchase from the same shop or retailers or the same brand even though there are various brands or products available i.e. the number of competitors are high. 2.10 Retail Branding Brands are a firms, most valuable assets, this have gained importance recently i.e. during the past decade. As already mentioned brand and branding are highly competitive in nature and hence they influence customers greatly in buying products. The brands if not influence, induce customers to buy a product. If a brand is popular then automatically the customers prefer that particular product only over the traditional ones. And there by it increases the sale of stores or super stores where this product is available. From the brand image created by this already established brands it can be noted on how retailers can create a brand image for their products and also on how their private labelled products can be established and created a brands in the minds of the people. This also helps in also highlighting areas which needs further improvement and research.( Kusum L:2007)
2.11 Retailers as brands During the last couple of years there have been a high rise in retailers; it was evident from the sales of firms in U.S grocery and other merchandise industry. The growth of retailer was evident from the high rise and growth of promotions of private labelled products in all retailing industries across the world. At the same time the high rise in the growths of certain warehouse clubs have forced a rise in competition in retail sectors within themselves and also within among themselves. Majority of the sales or revenue of every retailer comes from brands or branding i.e. from the sale of branded products. As these brands are well established in nature it is extremely difficult for new and traditional retailers to compete in these market. Majority of the revenue of every retailer comes from selling these already established branded products, the competition between these firms are also high. Though there are many principles of branding, the retailer brands are entirely different from other application of retailers. Retailers need to depend on various unique technique to sell their products to the customers. They create their brand image by creating various associated product, offers, packages etc...to the existing customers.
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In all the industries the image of retailer and his or her brand depends on the image of manufactured brands as well .The reason why the retailers use manufactured brands is because of the facts that it generate consumer interests i.e. it induces the customers to buy their products and there by create a loyalty of the products.
2.12 The dimensions of retailer image With regard to the American Marketing Associations definition of a brand, helps in identifying a retail business, goods and service of retailer of its competitors. The brand equity of a retailer is shown when consumers react favourably to a product and their marketing reactions.(Keller 2003). The researcher have got a list of attributes which can influence the overall influence brand image of products, services, the build or look of the stores etc... Lindquist (1974) and Mazursky and Jacoby (1986) suggested that these can be subdivided into smaller categories. In order to understand the important aspects of image research the management agree to this categorisation but at the same time they make slight modifications in it The five dimensions we use to review past research are: 1) access, 2) in-store atmosphere, and 3) price & promotion, 4) cross-category product/service assortment, and 5) within-category brand/item assortment.
2.13 Retail modernization Ever since the 2000s the effect of retail modernization on food systems have been an area of major focus. It is considered that super market is the result of these types of researches. They were in existence a early as 1960s but got popularity only during the economic boom period. Soon after that there has been a huge growth of the super market in rest of the world (Reardon et al, 2004). The growth, of these supermarkets along with the growth of the retailers have given the researcher new techniques of study and also to draw policy on the existing technologies used. Although there are various differences between the geographical location; which includes countries, regions, revolutions etc... There is difficulty on behalf of the retailers to compete with the supermarkets. (Reardon et al, 2004).
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2.14 Retail branding: Advantages Many researchers have conducted various researches and studies to explain the relationship of branding with the customers and also the advantages of branding for retailers. Boyett (2003:43) mentions about branding and customer in his book that 72 percent of customers say they will pay a 20 percent premium for their brand of choice, relative to the closest competitive brand. 50 percent of customers will pay a 25 percent premium. 40 percent of customers will pay up to a 30 percent premium.
Any products which satisfy the requirement and also meets the demand of a consumer can be sold out in a relatively in a relatively quicker manner. Branded products take comparatively lesser time to be sold in the market compared to the traditional retailer brands. Another main advantage of branded products is that these products have created a goodwill in the mind set of the people and hence any retailers selling a brand product do gain these goodwill for his firm as well. As the branded products have a huge reputation in terms of its quality, price, nature etc... these products are expected to be more durable in nature. The branded products are supposed to have a better quality compared to the traditional ones and hence they are are more preferred by the customers (Pillai and Bagavathi, 1987:160). 2.15 Pricing It can be defined a process or activity which a company or organisation can receive in return of its ideas, beliefs, service or products. It is one of the most important aspect of any organisation or business. The price for any particular product is set by the management only after a detailed calculation or research. This is based on various factors such as the cost of raw materials, production units, cost of production, market of operation, marketing techniques, profit of business etc... Another aspect to be considered for fixing the pricing for a product by an organisation is that the price should be such that there is a difference between retail price and wholesale price of every organisation as there are various middlemen within these parties. (Pillai and Bagavathi, 1987:145)
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2.16 Pricing Strategy Every firm or organisations have certain strategy for fixing the price of a product. Some of the popular strategies of the firms are the following Price skimming: in this method of pricing strategy the firm introduces a new products at a higher cost and then gradually decreases its price as the products gain more popularity among the costumers. This is done when the company aims to achieve the profit of its organisation within a short span of time. Once the product has gained some market among the customers then its price is slowly reduced. By doing this particular strategy the firm is able to get the revenue it had invested for the business in a short time and also it is able to capture the market. Market penetration pricing: It is another pricing strategy adopted by the firms where the price of products introduced is fixed at a comparatively lower rate compared to its competitors. It is done to capture a large market share of people and that too in a shorter period of time. This strategy helps in capturing a very large market at a faster rate in a short time. Once the firm have captured the market with its low pricing strategy then the organisation slowly starts increasing the price of the products. Relatively lower prices of a product attract more customers and hence often this strategy is tending to have more success compared to the price skimming strategy. The wholesalers i.e. the customers who purchase the products in bulk quantity prefers the low price strategy (Bell an Latin, 1998). Price promotion induced store switching. The third research area studies whether retailer price promotions result in store switching by consumers. Kumar and Leone (1988) and Walters (1991) find a significant impact of promotions on store switching/traffic. However, it is unlikely that consumers would keep track of weekly promotions on a multitude of categories in all the stores in their neighborhood. Bucklin and Lattin (1992) show that retail promotions in any one category do not directly influence a consumers store choice decision, but they indirectly affect where the category is purchased. Consumers typically shop in more than one store. They may purchase a promoted product in the store they happen to be visiting whereas they would otherwise have purchased it in another store. This also reiterates the important moderating effect of in-store atmosphere.
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2.17 Advertising Advertising is an important marketing tool of every organisation. It is an important tool for the promotional of business in the marketing world. It is tool of marketing which gives information about the products and services of a firm to the customers. It helps in customer retention as well as in capturing new customers. Advertising is an efficient tool of marketing as it helps the organisation in the promotion of its products. A successful advertising means a successful profit for an organisation. If advertising becomes successful then that particular product or service has gotten into the mindset of the people. This in turn means that the demand for that particular product also increases. And there by the profit of the firm also rises. Thus advertising creates demand among customers and this demand in turn induces the customers to buy or purchase new products (Pillai and Bagavathi, 1987:186). Murthy and Bhojanna (2007:4) define advertising as advertising promotes ideas, goods and services of an identified sponsor. The first and foremost task of advertising is to maximise the profit and increase the sales and revenue of an organisation. And keeping in mind these things every firms spend huge amount on advertisement. It considered by the managements as an efficient way of communicating the products services etc to the customers. The advertising often carries information such as the name of the product, its logo, brand name, price etc... Sometimes it is also used to inform customers about a new product a firm had launched or a new offer or benefit the company provides etc...And hence it is often quoted that advertising helps in the spreading and distribution of knowledge to the customers for business promotion and various other activities. Majority of the large organisations and multinational companies have their own department or sections for advertisement; some firms outsource these things as well to various agencies. Creativity is something which is required in advertising. And this is done by all the firms with the help of using certain technologies and informations and data. With the rising use of technology advertising has reached new levels and the costs of advertisement have also been reduced. There are various methods of advertising which are present in an organisation. Some of the common methods of advertising which a firm follows are as follows Print advertising- this is the type of advertisement where the organisation gives information about their products or service in newspapers, magazines or other sources of print media.
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This is a popular method of advertisement. Another mode of print advertisement is the advertisement in which the organisations give away brochures; booklets, notices etc...of the company or the organisation. This is comparatively a cheaper mode of advertisement as it doesnt require a huge amount for its work. Outdoor advertising- these are the types of advertisement are also very popular in nature. It is the types of advertisement where the companies or firms uses billboards, signs etc... to make use of advertisements these types of advertisements are a bit more costly compared to the traditional ones but at eh same time they are more eye catching. The main limitations of these type of advertising is that it is costly and difficult to erect and build billboards etc for the sake of advertisements. Broadcasting advertising- these are the types of advertising which uses various mediums of technological and electronic medium to advertise about the products or services of a firm. These various mediums of advertisements include internet, radio, television etc...these are the most popular and most attractive means of advertisement. Advertisement through internet radio and televisions etc...have the advantage of showing the customers a three dimensional image of their products, and as these types of advertisement includes either audio or video or both, it have a upper hand in inducing the customers. And because of these reasons these types of advertisements are gaining more popularity in todays world. 2.17.1 Advertising functions: its types Social function: social function of advertising is an important and efficient way of advertising. This is the type of advertising which uses advertising to communicate effectively with the social group or public. These types of advertising are generally non profit oriented as these will be mostly related to the information to the public, regarding their health, safety, diseases, threats or any other source of vital information that needs to be communicated. Psychological function: advertising passes information about the need of people and also about the products of the organisation. The customer gets attracted to the product psychologically and there by buys the product. Economic function: this particular function of advertising brings the relationship between the organisation and the customers in order to help the business to increase tos total volume
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of sales and production. Advertisement is often a trick or magic which forces the customers to buy a product (Murthy and Bhojanna, 2007:13)
2.17.2 Dynamic advertisement Simester et al (2009) stated that retail advertising focuses on influencing where the customers purchase rather than simply what they purchase. The content of retail advertising typically provides information about multiple items and specific details about how much to purchase. Advertisement helps in making the customers loyal to a particular product by inducing them; advertisement creates an image of a product in the minds of the people. All these activities there by lead to a rise in the profit of a firm or an organisation.
2.17.3 Innovative methods: Advertising The international company IBM have suggested the following types of advertisement. This type of advertisements includes the following: Consumer innovation, Business model innovation and Business design and infrastructure innovation. Consumer innovation- it is the type of innovation which brings the advertisement into an interactive manner. It merges the professionals and develops materials required and there by induces the customers to buy the products. This type of advertisement gives sense of satisfaction to the customers and thereby it encourages the purchase and use of those products. Business model innovation- this type of innovation are of the opinion that each distinctive managers or leaders should formulate an advertising strategy which provides or acts as a solution to the problems faced in the business world. Broadcasting advertising have brought out a new diversified and changed fashion from the old traditional ones and it attracts more number of people compared to the traditional ones. And because of this new and eye catching trend; it catches the minds of the customers in a much faster rate compared to the older ones.
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Business design innovation- this is the type of innovation which tells us on how products are manufactured and from where it is produced. It means nothing expect for the fact that the advertisement should include the ways or process on how the products are produced. The advertisement should contain some sort of information which shows how it is done. It can be either a pictorial representation, a voice statement, or a visual one. Such activity also induces a customer in purchasing a product, as they may be of the opinion that these products may be of a better quality (Berman et al, 2007). 2.17.4 Push and pull strategy: Advertising This is a strategy which helps in persuading the retail people to gain more on their products and it also induces the customers to purchase more and more goods. Sometimes due to various obvious reasons the firms may resist certain brands as they are having certain difficulties with broadcasting or advertising, in such situations the firms promote these products by a pull strategy; i.e. they put in more and more money for the advertisement and also by giving a lot of offers and benefits, gift vouchers etc...which in turn stimulate the customers to buy more of their products. And as such it results in the retailers selling more goods to its distributors or wholesalers. There are certain manufactures who asks the distributers to hold more stock of their materials in order to make the maximum sales. Most of the organizations uses this pull and push strategy thing considering their availability of funds for production capacity (Murthy, 2007:33). 2.17.5 Customer perception decision making The perception of customer is one thing that forces the customer in deciding about a product or services. The buying behaviour of the customer starts with the perception of the product. Every advertisement is designed to induce the perception of the customers mind about the product. That is the main principle of the advertisement. The three types of the perception of advertisement are as follows: selective attention, selective retention and selective distortion. Selective attention: in this the people have seen the advertisement on a daily basis and hence the advertisement is registered or stored in the minds of the people. The advantage of such a advertisement is that the customers can easily recall what they had already seen from the advertisement and can remember almost everything from the visuals. And because of this reason most of the advertisements are based on attractive, colourful objects.
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Selective retention: the human beings have a tendency to remember those items which have their desire and thoughts. And hence the advertisements should be designed in such a way that the customers are able to remember all the attractive things that are present in that particular add. The main advantage of preparing such advertisement is that it stimulates the customers to choose their product ever their competitors product. This method is often used in selected targeted markets where it is often repeated. Selective distortion: This is a type of advertisement where the organisation changes the information so that it will suit the products of the organisation. In this the advertisements are designed in such a way that the customers will notice the messages as soon as the add is broadcasted. Such messages are stored in the minds of the people and it often resemble an emblem or a symbol, color or an object (Murthy and Bhojanna, 2007:82).
2.18 Retailing: technology This is about retailing and the technology used by these retailers for the business, for its promotion and expenses. In this era of business the customer is the king as they have a lot of choices for their tastes and preferences. And technology is one of the important aspects which helps in inducing customers for a product or a retailer. And this also helps in maintaining the customer relationship. Piyus Sinha (2007:510) states that consumers are increasingly using tech-driven tools when the shop. In a study conducted in the US, it was found that 18 percent consumers searched for the product information on the internet and 13 percent used it to make purchase. There are various typoes of technologies that are used in retailing. The two main technologies which are used in the retailing is: in-store technologies and online technologies. These technologies are used for displaying product information, for identifying the products, their sign boards, the individual barcode of the product scanning etc...
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2.19 Interactive kiosks Kiosks is a technology is used to check the availability of products in store or with a retailer. It uses computers and softwares to check the product availability. With the help of this facility the customer do not have to search the entire shop to find if an item is available or not they can search it with an ease with the use of these computers. Certain products have some tags around them, which helps the customers in getting the details of the products as where was it made, where was it produced etc...(Piyus Sinha, 2007:513). It helps the customer in saving time as they do not have ask for a staff or even wait for a staff to give out the information about the products they want to seek. 2.19.1 Point of sales It is the point or place or location where the producer sells his or her product to the consumers, this is the place where the goods of the customer are exchanged for money. And to serve the customers in a better and faster way the managers have done many a things such as recruiting a n efficient staff, payment through debit or credit cards, better payment machines etc... This is all done with the aspect of making the customers do the shopping quickly and conveniently without frustrating. (Jon Green, 2007). The rises in technology and development have seen tremendous improvements in the field of billing as well. Earlier the billing system was manual, then it was changed to electronic machines and later it was modified to computer controlled business. And recently it the facility of debit and card is also being used. Dion (2003) states that data from a 1998 technology study indicates that on average store experience minimum sales increase of 16%, with some stores experiencing up to 23% thanks to deployment of technology. The expense savings in the study were an average of 13% after deployment of POS and slightly higher for merchandise system (14.3%) and customer data base (15.7%).
2.19.2 Customer database Now a days most of the retailers have started recording the buying behaviour of customers which is constantly monitored with the use of computers, and with the help of this the retailers are able to understand the tastes and preferences of the customers. And they can
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create a huge data base on a number of customers. With the help of customer database the retailer can predict the purchase behaviour of the customers in the future. They can be informed about the new arrivals of products which match their tastes, and it also helps in identifying the regular customers and they can be give special offers or benefits or gifts vouchers etc... Based on the data from the database the retailer are able to find loyal customers of the product (Dion, 2003).
2.19.3 Online technologies Now a days the customers can shop with the help of using computers and internets. Through shopping online the customers are able to select products of their choice, their make, their model, their colour, brands price etc... They can select the products based on their individual specifications and taste. Customers can do the shopping by sitting in home an can even get the products delivered to their home. Yet another new technology is 3D virtual store; it gives the customers a real store like purchase experience, they can virtually walk around the stores and can also see the products in stores, their prices details and other packaging details. Through this details the customers can find details about the nearest store available, the direction to reach these stores etc...the customer can even check if the item he or she booked or preferred is available in the store next to where he or she lives an if necessary can even book these items (Williams and Larson, 1999).
2.19.4 Automatic vending Automatic vending simply means the purchasing of goods or products from stores without the help of any of the staff members of the stores. These methods of purchases are very helpful for customers as they look for a faster purchase of goods and also for those who prefer privacy for their consumer behaviour. These machines are mainly used in big retail firms or supermarkets, and in case of an emergency there are technical staffs present as well.(Pillai and Bagavathi 1987:392). 2.20 Effect of private brands on retailers As is known, the structure of the assortment of retailers can be composed as to include different types of brands: the manufacturer's or a national brand, private brand or store brand
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and generic brand. The manufacturer's or a national brand products are manufactured and controlled by the manufacturer. They are well known, supported by the manufacturer sometimes before the actual sales to customers, retailers require limited investments in marketing, often represent the maximum quality for customers, and dominate in sales of many product categories. Retailers who prefer manufacturer brands are small firms, web firms, discounters and others who want to have a well-known manufacturer brands and strategies that have lower prices (customers are able to compare prices of different retailers for items of the same name brand). (The Effect of Private Brands on Business Performance in Retail ;Radojko LUKI)
2.21 Store location This tells or mentions about selecting a location a place for stores. This is an important factor for the sales of product as the customers prefer stores that are located at convenient places, where they can shop effectively and conveniently and quickly. The availability of transport facility to the locations, the area of choice, parking facility etc... are some of the factors which the customer considers for selecting a retail shop. And hence every retailer should keep in mind these things for selecting a location for their retail shops. Mazze (1972) expresses the a common cause of business failure among retailer is the selection of the wrong store location. Store location can be used as a competitive advantage since each store location is unique. Another factor to be considered by the retailer in selecting location for products are the area they have chosen, the value of building, the taste and preference of people. The density of population in that particular area, the life style of people their habitat etc... The location of a store and the distance that the consumer must travel to shop there are basic criteria in their store choice decisions. Beginning with gravity models (e.g., Huff 1964) store choice and the optimization of retail site location attracted a lot of research attention in the eighties (e.g., Achabal, Gorr, and Mahajan 1982; Ghosh and Craig 1983; Donthu and Rust 1989). Today, suburban sprawl, greater driving distances, the appearance of new warehouse retail formats that are often located in large spaces away from residential areas, and online retailing have made location somewhat less central as a store choice criterion.
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2.20.1 Types of store location Free standing location: These are the types of stores that are located in areas where there are not much retail outlets or shops around them. And hence these stores will attract a lot of customers to it. Such stores are popular in rural areas. As there is no competition in those areas it can be concluded that these retailers will have a huge profit as all the customers in that area will throng on to their particular product for shopping. It has some other advantage such as lesser amount of rent and property cost. And this area does not have much other locations it will also have the facility of lesser traffic, convenient parking facility etc... Although these stores have various advantages they have some disadvantages as well. It is that due to the lesser availability of traffic number of customers may be less, and also the density of population in these areas will also be less. Neighboring stores: This are the stores which is located in areas near to residential complexes and homes. They are mainly products which sell items such as groceries and other household items. Highway stores: These stores which are located in the highways the main buyer of these stores are people which passes through that road or highway. The main items of these stores are food items and other necessary items which are required for a customer who is traveller (Balaji, et al 2005:303).
2.21 Understanding Retail Branding: Conceptual Insights and Research Priorities With the growing realization that brands are one of a firms most valuable intangible assets, branding has emerged as a top management priority in the last decade. Given its highly competitive nature, branding can be especially important in the retailing industry to influence customer perceptions and drive store choice and loyalty. We integrate lessons from branding and retail image research to provide a better understanding of how retailers create their brand images, paying special attention to the role of the manufacturer and private label brand assortment. We also highlight some important areas that deserve further research in the form of three sets of research priorities. 2.20.2 Store Atmosphere
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Mehrabian and Russell (1974) note that the response that atmosphere elicits from consumers varies along three main dimensions of pleasantness, arousal, and dominance. This response, in turn, influences behavior, with greater likelihood of purchase in more pleasant settings and in settings of intermediate arousal level. Different elements of a retailers in-store environment, e.g., color, music, and crowding, can influence consumers perceptions of a stores atmosphere, whether or not they visit a store, how much time they spend in it, and how much money they spend there (Bellizzi, Crowley, and Henderson 1983; Milliman 1982; Eroglu and Machleit 1990; Grewal et al. 2003). Baker et al. (2002) provide a good review of this research and categorize the elements of in-store atmosphere into physical features like design, lighting, and layout, ambient features like music and smell, and social features like type of clientele, employee availability and friendliness. They note that atmosphere can affect consumers perceptions of the economic and psychological costs of shopping in a store and find that pleasing physical design lowers both economic and psychological costs while music lowers the latter. Store atmosphere mediates consumer perceptions of other dimensions of store image. For instance, Baker et al. (2002) find that store environment factors, particularly physical design perceptions, significantly affect consumers perceptions of merchandise price, merchandise quality, and employee service quality. Schlosser (1998) argues that, since store atmosphere has a social identity appeal, a pleasing atmosphere in the store should influence perceptions of socially communicative products in the store, not so much intrinsically rewarding products. This logic can be extended to argue that store atmosphere would have a greater impact on perceptions of products with higher perceived (social) risk. Indeed, Richardson, Jain, and Dick (1996) do find that consumers ratings of the private labels quality are higher when the store is aesthetically pleasing than when it is less attractive, although there is no significant difference in their ratings of national brands quality. Store price perception- A retailers price image should be influenced by attributes like average level of prices, how much variation there is in prices over time, the frequency and depth of promotions, and whether the retailer positions itself as EDLP or HILO. Decades ago, however, Brown (1969) highlighted the difference between consumers perceptions of price levels in various stores and reality, showing that consumers may use non-price related cues like service offerings and quality levels to form their price perceptions. That consumers may not form valid perceptions of actual prices in a store is supported by Dickson and Sawyers (1990) widely cited work, but consumers do develop some general price perceptions of
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products in a store, and can evaluate their expensiveness in relative terms (Monroe and Lee 1999).
2.22 The dimensions of retailer image Following the American Marketing Associations definition of a brand, a retail brand identifies the goods and services of a retailer and differentiates them from those of competitors. A retailers brand equity is exhibited in consumers responding more favorably to its marketing actions than they do to competing retailers (Keller 2003). The image of the retailer in the minds of consumers is the basis of this brand equity.
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Chapter 3 Research Design and Methodology

This section helps in the conducting a research about a particular product or subject. Every individual research should have its own individual pattern or mode of doing research. This particular pattern is decided by the individual researcher. The researchers are generally classified or categorised based on the following approaches i.e. qualitative and quantitative approaches. Based on the researches done the researcher is able to obtain a clear cut idea regarding the work or question or task he or she have in his or her mind. 3.1 Research Approaches Research helps in solving various operational and functional problems in a business and industry. It is something which is necessary for every organisation or individual to make some new changes in them. There are various modes and ways of doing a research, taking the decisions based on a case study of an organisation is one among them. The organisation selected for this particular project is Currys, an electronic retail chain in the entire United Kingdom which sells over a variety of products especially electronics and various other household expenses. It is vast electronic store giants which have been in established for more than hundred years and have more than ten thousand employees. The study of this organisation is based on the data of the particular organisation collected through internet and various other sources of information. Jick (1983) says that qualitative and quantitative research can be considered as a trustful source for the researches in an organisation or management. Since both of these approaches of researches are time consuming it is better to complete the research in one particular approach only. 3.1.1 Qualitative research Boje (2001) says that during the recent years there have been increasing trends for using qualitative approaches in various fields of managements. These types of research approaches have a lot of definition and perspectives. The term qualitative research is used generally by the management in order to give importance to certain particular terms of the management. It is not used to convey the meaning of a particular term or definition but rather it is used to understand or give a sense of meaning during its communication. Comparatively a much
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more clear and precise definition of qualitative management research can be difficult; perhaps because the definitions in-use are often tacit, and emergent, rather than explicitly formulated (Van Maanen, 1998). The authors and editors of many a famous journals, periodicals and magazines tend to publish qualitative articles in their journals. Many other magazines feature qualitative research submissions (Lee, 2001; Sparrow, 1999; Gephart and Rynes, 2004) as their main stream topic of publications.
3.1.2 Quantitative research This research as the name suggests is based on the quantity or measurement of the products selected. It is mostly about getting information from the people based on surveys of customers on the products and its feedback and also on preparing questionnaires for the necessary market research. In these types of researches they ask the respondents to answer a specific set of questions where they are given a specific set of answers as well, and all they have to do is to select from them which among them is the best. It apart from qualitative research requires more time and resources.
3.2 Research Design Research design can be defined as something which is a plan for collection of data analysing it and finally presenting it to the researcher. The research design of a particular researcher will be nothing but a plan on as how the question will be answered by the researcher. This particular research should contain the objectives of research, the sources of collecting data. In research design we should make differentiation between research design and tactics for these designs. The design includes formulating a plan for the research and tactic are all about data collection and analysis for a particular research. The tactics involves the collection of datas based on various techniques and procedure; which in turn is based on the qualitative and quantitative method of data collection.
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3.2.1 Descriptive method This method uses qualitative as well as quantitative method for finding out data. It unlike other method gives importance to observation for collecting datas. It uses pictures, diagrams graphs and other illustrations in order to give support to the readers regarding the data obtained. The main aim or objective of this method is to depict a clear and accurate profile of persons, events or situations. (Robson 2002:59)
3.2.2 Survey method This method is extremely popular in collecting data in business researches and management researches. These methods of data collection are extremely popular as these are based on the data collected from a group of people in a particular locality, region, age group or sex. It uses quantitative data to collect and analyse datas. And in case of sampling data, survey method is used for generating findings from the data. This often involves conducting direct interviews, giving out questionnaires. Asking the managers and other respondents to fill out the details etc...In order to get the desired results in this particular method of research it is necessary to focus on the subject of research alone. (Nicholas Willman 2005:116) The datas collected using this method is wide-ranging compared to the various other methods of research. It can be said so because of the facts that if the researcher is preparing a questionnaire then there will be a limit to the number of questions to be included in it and hence the researcher may not get all the details as required. Apart from preparing questionnaire the main other technique for data collection is the interview method, where the researcher asks a set of prepared questions to the intertie.
3.3 Data Collection Data collection is an important aspect of every research and research methodology. The data can be collected in many ways but one. It can be collected in the form of questionnaires, surveys, interviews, case studies etc... The details of data collection should be the part of questions that should be adopted in the research method. These questions of data collection are of two types: 1.) To have a clarification on the situations that you have onserved
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2.) To clarify the details and accounts about a particular situation. (Robson 2002) The datas are mainly categorised into two types: a.) Primary data and b.) Secondary data
3.3.1 Primary data collection This is the set of data which is collected directly through a study or research. It is also called raw data, i.e. it is the data collected from a firsthand report. It is obtained from an organisation or an institution which collects the information originally from its users. (James E.Burt,2009). In short these are the datas which are collected from the primary sources. The researcher needs to have a clear cut observation power in order to collect and interpret these types of data. Sometimes we use research or surveys to get these types of datas. In the particular research the author uses questionnaires and surveys to get a better result for their datas. The questionnaire for this particular research was developed by the researcher keeping in mind the objective of the research i.e. what the answer to the objective of question should be. And it is done once the objective for research is finalised.
3.3.2 Secondary data collection These are the types of data which are collected through secondary sources and hence the name secondary data. These datas are not often as reliable as primary data as the datas in these might be altered, modified, or forcibly created one. As far any researcher for any purpose collecting secondary datas are an easy task as it can be collected from, books, periodicals, articles journals, publications, internet websites etc... A collection of these types of datas helps in reducing the time taken for a research. It also saves resource and money as well.
3.3.3 Sources of data There are various sources of collecting a data for a research, and the researcher for this particular research used articles and datas from some well known publishers and authors for
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his research. Apart from these things peer revived articles and researches done by other researchers in this behalf was also taken into consideration.
3.4 Sample Size and Sampling Sampling is one of the most popular techniques used by any researcher for his or her own research. It can be best described as selecting a small unit of people or group from among a larger category and it is assumed the results from these group obtained is same as that of the whole group.( Connaway, Powell:2010). This technique is used by most of the researcher because of the facts that they cannot get details or data from the entire population or group of people from which they are supposed to obtain the results. And also the budget of the researcher does not allow such a hideous task. Sampling can be used with all sorts of data collection, whether it be the preparation of questionnaires or interviews or any other mode of collecting data. There are various important aspects to be considered for a sampling technique. Some of the most common technique are as follows:
3.4.1 Population Population in sampling; is not the population of a particular country or region, but it is the number of people from which the researcher have to collect data in order to obtain the results for the research. The researcher makes his data collection, findings, analysis etc... based on the data obtained from this Populatiion. They are generally categorised as probability sampling and non-probability sampling.
3.4.2 Sample size It is the number of people or respondents needed for this particular research by the researcher the researcher have planned to interview hundred employees and hundred customers but it was then later rounded to fifty each. All the people who were given the questionnaires have participated actively in the research. The other people who were interviewed apart from the
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customers are the employees and staffs of the organisations which include the leaders managers, employers, supervisors etc... the reason for limiting the sampling was because of the fact that the budget of the researcher was low and also the time period given for the research was also not satisfactory.
3.4.3 Sampling technique It is the different ways and techniques of obtaining samples from a given group of people, i.e. from a given population. Some of the common sampling techniques are as follows: 1.) Simple random sampling- it is the most commonly used sampling method as well as the easiest one. In this method of sampling all things considered under this are given equal probability, i.e. it is not further divided or subdivided. 2.) Cluster sampling- in this type of a sampling a group of individuals are selected in certain clusters and based on that datas are analysed. This is done in case of categorising datas based on time period, geography etc... 3.) Systematic sampling- in this type of sampling technique a target group is selected for sampling, this sampling also begins with a systematic sampling and then later a group is created or followed according to the desired results. 4.) Quota sampling- in this method of sampling the total group of people or the total population will be broken down into different parts or segments. And then categorised according to the need. It is non random sampling method 5.) Convenience sampling- as the name suggests is the type of sampling which is based on the convenience of the users, it comes under non-probability sampling, in this the researcher usually does the sampling form the people or respondents that are easily available. (Sage, 1983) 3.4.4 Treatment of data The data collected are treated through various modes of statistical tools. It includes certain tools which includes mean, median or mode. Which includes various statistical data for its preparation and analysis. The mean median mode are some of the most common methods for the treatment of data.
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Chapter 4 Findings and Analysis 4.1 Introduction

This particular chapter helps us to understand how both of the primary as well as secondary data helps in finding the desired results for the particular research. This can be done only in a set of steps, stages or procedures. First of all for this purpose the researcher had obtained the details from the questionnaire prepared. And based on the answers of the questionnaires, some information regarding the project can be obtained.
4.2 Findings and analysis

The questionnaires set by the researchers are of the two different types i.e. one is for the managers, supervisors and other staff members of the organisation and the other set is for the consumers of these electrical stores. Based on the responses obtained from the questionnaires prepared for the mangers and other staff members of the organisation it, can be concluded that the staffs working in the organisation are provided proper training for the job required. It can be also concluded that the pay scale for each employee is also satisfactory. The employees, sales persons etc... have no direct contact with the management. All decisions regarding the sale of a product, its pricing, offers benefits etc... are decided by the management alone. The employees are only supposed to conform with these persons. The managers also stated that each staffs asked to give a feedback on all the new policies and also on the work of the stores. The managers and team leaders of each particular stores also assess each employees based on their performance. And they give their necessary feedback as well. The members have reported a friendly working environment in the firms. The response from the questionnaires prepared by the researcher for the consumers also gave some significant results for the research undertaken by the researcher. The consumers mostly gave a positive feedback of the organisations and its policies. They also had a positive report about the organisations overall performance which included its location, offers, customer services, after sale service and maintenance etc... The only negative feedback they have reported was that of lesser number of brand availability compared to its competitors and also on the high hidden price cost on behalf of warranty, guaranties etc... Also its pre booking system through website is not as advanced as that of its certain competitors. Some of the
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customers reported that all the items are not present in all the stores some are limited to the main branches only. These where the findings which were reported from both sets of questionnaires prepared by the researcher. And based on this the researcher have come to certain conclusions regarding what all improvements are need to be done in the firms.
4.3 Analysis of data

In the analysis of data the researcher has tried to answer to the questions of his research. The questions were as follows: 4.3.1 Gender The first question is about the gender of the people who were interviewed. In order to have a clear cut regarding the taste an opinion of the people it is necessary to know their gender. From the results obtained the researcher states that 76% of customers were males and that of 24% were females. And the number of males under the category of staffs of the retailers are 74%, and females are 26%. Gender ratio of customers: Gender No. of respondents Total Male 38 Female 12 Unspecified 0 50
4.3.2 Age group: The second question in questionnaire is the age group of people who were interviewed. The researchers have considered five category of age group for the research. The age group 21-30 has the highest and the majority is in the age group 21-40
Age group No. of respondents Total
below 20 6
21-30 21
31-40 14
41-50 5
above 50 4 50
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No. of respondents
below 20 21-30 31-40 41-50 above 50
No. of respondents
25 20 15 10 5 0 below 20 21-30 31-40 41-50 above 50 No. of respondents
The graph In this graph the X axis contains the age group of the customers and the Y axis contains the number of customers participated in the research interview. 4.3.3 (1)Customer service and the nature of customers : There are two sections in this question. The first part is about what the customers feel about the availability of staff for assisting the store. As far as a retailer is considered customer service should be given prime importance. In the research, the researcher states that 18% are highly satisfied customers, 73% of customers have replied positively, 4% of customers are of the opinion that it is satisfactory where as 1.9% customers are dissatisfied.
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Satisfactory level No. of respondents Total
Highly satisfied 8
Good 37
Satisfactory 4
Poor 1 50
No. of respondents
40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Highly satisfied Good Satisfactory Poor No. of respondents
4.3.3(2) Arrangement of store and its presentation This is the second part of the third question. It simply means that the stores should be extremely clean and pleasant and neat. When the customers looks at the products that are displayed he or she must feel or have an attraction towards the items that are displayed in it. From the research conducted it had been proved that 18.% customers are highly satisfactory, 58% are satis factory, 19% customers are only satisfied and 3.8% are dissatisfied. Highly satisfied 8
Satisfactory level No. of customer Total
Good 30
Satisfactory 10
Poor 2
50
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No. of customer
35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Highly satisfied Good Satisfactory Poor No. of customer
4.3.4 (1) Brands The branded products of a retailer are more popular than the traditional products. A customer who uses the same brand for more than a year will not be able to change his brand within a short span of time or quickly. From the research conducted it has been proved that. The research results of the researcher shows that highly satisfied customers are 54%, 36% percent are of positive opinion, satisfied category is 9% and no one in the poor section. More than 50 percent customers are with high satisfaction shows that store is maintaining well the brands for the customers. Highly satisfied 28
Good 20
Satisfactory 2
Poor 0
50
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No. of customer
30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Highly satisfied Good Satisfactory Poor No. of customer
4.3.4(2) Price promotion It is the price promotion offers are the attraction for the customers and they are always looking for it. In the price promotion results shows that 11.5%, 53.3% customer have written as good, 28.8% customers are satisfied and the 5%t customers are not satisfied and they wrote as poor. Highly satisfied 6
Good 28
Satisfactory 15
Poor 3
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No. of customer
30 25 20 15 No. of customer 10 5 0 Highly satisfied Good Satisfactory Poor
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4.3.5 (1) Advertising:

This is the fifth question, in which the researcher asks about whether the respondents have noticed any advertisement in their area, or have they remember any adds 58 percent of the answer was yes. The advertisement is an integral tool of the marketing and this tool is getting its popularity over the years. The management has given a lot of importance to advertisement for the promotion of business; they considered advertisement as inevitable for marketing of business. The result is attached for the further reference. Option No. Participants Total Yes 78 No 12 50
No. Participants
35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Yes 4.3.5(2) Advertising: new product This is the second part of the fifth question the customer are asked the question whether the advertisement is essential for a new product developed by a firm, which have been introduced into the stores. From the research it can be proved that 66% of respondents have replied Yes whereas nearly 34 percent respondents are of the opinion that the advertisement is not necessary and hence have given the statement as No. The results of this particular research about the new product developed are as follows or are mentioned in the table below: No No. Participants
50
Option No. Participants Total
Yes 33
No 17 50
No. Participants
40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Yes No No. Participants
4.3.6 (1) Technology used to enhance the business effectively The respondents have requested regarding the various technologies used in the business and also to see if it helps in enhancing the business of the firms. From the study it can be concluded that 12 percent responded it as extremely efficient whereas 38 percent have responded it as jus the average or have responded positively, 42 percent of the respondents are satisfied with the results and 8 percent of the people are not satisfied or dissatisfied. The result is relevant from the following table. Very effective 6
Satisfactory level No. of customer
Good 19
Satisfactory Poor 21 4
Total
50
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No. of customer
25 20 15 10 5 0 Very effective Good Satisfactory Poor No. of customer
In this representation the satisfactory level is taken in X axis and the number of customers are taken in Y axis.
4.3.6(2) Satisfied with existing technology in store This is the question where the customer or the respondents are satisfied of the existing technologies used by the firms. The results shows that of respondents 8 percent expressed it as very effective, 30 percent responded positively, 54 percent customers are satisfied with the results 8 percent responded it as extremely poor or dissatisfied. The results are shown below Very effective 4
Good 15
Satisfactory Poor 27 4 50
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No. of customer
30 25 20 15 No. of customer 10 5 0 Very effective Good Satisfactory Poor
The X axis contains the satisfaction level of the customers and the Y axis contains the number of customers participated in the research. 4.3.7 (1) Store location at convenient place In this the researcher asked question about the location of the stores regarding its ease of reaching and other facilities. And the results shows that the respondents who have satisfied comes up to 44 percent, 52 percent of the respondents it as good or satisfactory, 4 percent are satisfied with the result and as far as the dissatisfied category was nil. And hence it can be interpreted that all the respondents are happy about the store location. Highly satisfied 23
Good 27
Satisfactory Poor 2 0 52
53
No. of customer
The X axis contains the satisfactory level and the Y axis contains the number of customer participated in the interview.
4.3.7 (2) satisfactory results with store environment

This question is asked to know the consumer feeling or freeness and happiness during their presence in the store for purchase. The result shows that 9.6 percent customers highly satisfied with store environment, 38.5 percent customers have written as good, 48.1 percent customers are with satisfactory and 3.8 percent customers are unhappy and written as poor. Highly satisfied 5
Good 20
Satisfactory 25
Poor 2 52
54
No. of customer
In this graphical representation the X axis is considered for the customer satisfactory level and the Y axis is considered for the number of customers joined with us for the research work. 4.3.8 Suggestion from the customers This was the only question in the questionnaire which was left unanswered by the majority. Of all the respondent nearly half have not responded to it. And the other half which has responded is also not reliable. But the main argument which came up was regarding the space o these stores it was to be noted that 50 percent responded that the stores are not large or does not have enough space move around especially during when the store is offering some benefits or offers. The management of these stores may consider this for the future improvement. In the conclusion part the recommendation for this issue will be given.
Summary
As it has been already mentioned that the customers are satisfied with the over all performances of the firm and also of the marketing strategies which was also mentioned in the previous chapters. It was evaluated and also identified with these sets of questionnaires. And also the strategies is also identified and it also helped in understanding the factors where the customer are not satisfied as expected interviewed the customers to know the feelings and thinking about the business. The main advantage of this particular survey or research is that all the respondents have participated actively in the research. An also they have devoted their time and money for this research and hence the researcher was able to analyse it more clearly
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and precisely. The last chapter i.e. the next chapter; the researcher mentions about the conclusion of this particular research. It mention about the improvement in the retail business and particularly about the firm currys.
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Chapter 5 Conclusion and Recommendations

5.1 Conclusions of the study undertaken: The study undertaken by the particular researcher has shown us on how we can enhance the profitability of an organisation in a retail electronic sector and it also shows us the ways in which a marketing decision are taken in an organisation. And thereby helps in analysing the business in a retail firm sector. This particular research by the concerned researcher states; with the help of questionnaires, surveys and interviews the different ways of enhancing the profitability in electronic sector and also the various tools to be used for this marketing. The research helps in understanding the new marketing techniques for the retail sectors, the strategies to be followed by these firms and also the ways for improving their financial performance and also most importantly the drawbacks with the existing strategies. The market trend of every organisation changes with the time. And hence no market or firm or organisation can use the same marketing techniques or strategies again and again. They need to be changed or the least modified. This era is of technology and communication and hence the firms should use the maximum use of these things and provide better benefits to the consumers. 5.2 Contribution of this research: From the analysis of datas of the organisation i.e. both the primary data and the secondary data, the researcher have finally succeeded in getting answers to his research objectives and aims. The answers to question regarding how new and exciting marketing techniques are formed for retail sector and what are the existing marketing strategies followed in these firms, and what are the new marketing tactics etc...was also being able to answer. These findings of the researches in turn helped the mangers in focusing more and more on various other business strategies which can be created with the help of these ones. It was also to be noted that the findings also revealed certain flaws with the existing marketing techniques and hence the mangers where able to alter or change those strategies and prevent such things in the future. 5.3 Limitation of research The main limitation of this research can be quoted as the limitation of personal interviews with the various managers or team leaders of the respective store. And another mail limitation
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is that most of the personal datas where collected from the superstore located in one particular location only and not from the whole United Kingdom. One other limitation of this research is the overwhelming dependency on secondary data for the purpose of data collection, research, analysis and findings. Another limitation of the research can be stated as, all these strategies are based on certain assumptions and calculations and no such calculation can give the accurate results as expected when these are put into practice.
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CHAPTER 6 REFERENCES
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Frederick, E. Webster, Jr (2000) Journal of the Academy of marketing science: Understanding the relationship among brands, consumers and reseller. USA: sage publication. Glass, Gene V. and Hopkins, Kenneth D. (1984) Educational statistics:Psychometrics. 2ndedition.NewJersey: Prentice-Hall. Available from:http://www.getcited.org/pub/102358708 [Accessed on 26th November 2011]. Goldman et al (1999) The Persistence Competitive Advantage of Traditional food retailers in Asia: Wet markets continued dominance in Hong Kong. Journal of macro marketing Vol. 19. http://eeea.fr/docs/LocationOpportunitiesDetection.pdf http://www.newagepublishers.com/samplechapter/000896.pdf http://www.newham.info/research/CFProfiles/EastHam.pdf James E. Dion (2003) Microsoft Business Solutions-Winning strategies for the retail industry: The effects of POS implementation and retail technology on sales and profitability for a small to mid-sized retailers. [online]. Available from: http://www.dionco.com/public/POS_Study_White_Paper.pdf/ [Accessed on 26th Dec 2011]. James, M. Latin (1998:66-88) Shopping behavior and consumer response to retail price format: Why large basket shoppers prefer EDLP. Marketing science 17(1). Jarrat, D.G. (1996:6-15) A comparison of two alternative interview techniques used within an integrated research design. Marketing intelligence and planning, 14(1). MCB University press. Jick, T.D. (1983) Mixing qualitative and quantitative methods (Ed) QualitativeMethodology, Sage, London. Jon Green (2007) Technology advances in retail: Improving margin using wireless networks.California.http://www.arubanetworks.com/pdf/technology/whitepapers/wp_ Retail_advances.pdf Kothari, C. R. (1985 2006) Research Methodology Methods & Techniques 2nd edition. Delhi. Kotler, P. (1984) Marketing management analysis: Analysis, planning and control. 5th edition. New Jersey: Prentice hall. Kracklauer et al (2004) Customer management as the origin of collaborative customer relationship management-taking CRM next level 3-6.
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Kumar, V. and Robert P.Leone (1988:178-185) Measuring the effect of retail promotions on brand and store substitution. Journal of marketing research, 25(2). Kusum, L. Ailawadi and Kelvin Lane Keller (2004) Understanding retail branding: Conceptual insights and research priorities. USA. Latchezar Hristov and Dr. Jonathan Reynolds. (2007) Innovation in the UK Retail Sector. Oxford. http://www.nesta.org.uk/library/documents/inno-in-services-retailreport.pdf Lynch, John G., Jr. (1999:367-376) Theory and external validity. Journal of the Academy of the Marketing Science, 27(3). Mason, T. (2000:27) The importance of being ethical: Journal of marketing. Mendes, A. B. and Themedo, I. S. (2004) Multi outlet retail site location assessment: International federation of operational research societies. [online]. Available from: http://www.amendes.uac.pt/SEIO/ITOR.pdf/ [Accessed on 28th Dec 2011]. Michael Levy et al (2005) Journal Retailing: The concept of the Big Middle. USA: Elsevier. Mishra, B.B and Manit Mishra (2008) Retail Marketing. 1st edition. Delhi. Morton-Williams, J. (1993) Interviewer Approaches. Aldershot:Dartmouth. Murthy, S.N. and Bhojanna, U. (2007:4) Advertising An IMC perspective. New Delhi:Excel books. Narver, J. and Slater, S (1990:20-25) The effect of market orientation on business profitability: Journal marketing, 54(4). Natasha Mack., et al (2005) Qualitative Methods: A data collectors field guide. USA North Carolina. Nicholas Walliman (2005) Your Research Project: A step-by-step guide for the firsttime researcher. 2nd edition. New Delhi:Vistar Norton Paley (2005:10) The Managers Guide to Competitive Marketing Strategies. 3rd edition. London. OHair, H. Dan, and Gary L. Kreps (1990) Applied communication theory and research. New York:Routledge. Patric M. Dunne et al (2002:120) Retailing. 4th edition. USA: Mike Roche. Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrong (2010:34) Principles of Marketing. 13th edition. London:Pearson.
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Pillai, R.N.S and Bagavathi (1987:156) Modern marketing principles and practices. 3rd revised edition. New Delhi:Chand and company. Piyus Kumar Sinha and Dwarika Prasad Uniyal (2007) Managing Retailing. New Delhi. Pressey, A. and Mathews, B. (1998:39-52) Relationship marketing and retailing : Comfortable bedfellows? International journal of customer relationship management, 1(1). Reilly, W. J. (1931) The law retail gravitation. Ney York: Knicker bocker press. Rick Mathieson (2007:22) Branding Unbound The future of advertising, sales and the brand experience in the wireless age. New Delhi:Prentice hall of India. Roger, S. David (2007:73) Retail location analysis in practice: Research review 14(2). USA. [online]. Available from: http://tngacommercial.com/resources/pdf/RETAIL_LOCATION_ANALYSIS.pdf/ [Accessed on 28th Dec 2011]. Sashittal, H.C. and Wilemon, D. (1996) Marketing Implementation in Small and Midsized Industrial Firms An Exploratory Study. Industrial marketing management 25, 67-78. Saul, J. Berman et al (2007) The end of advertising as we know it. IBM Global business services. USA. [online] Available from: http://www-05.ibm.com/de/media/downloads/end-of-advertising.pdf/ [Accessed on 25th Dec 2011]. Shanmugasundaram, S. (2008:9) Customer relationship management. Modern trends and perspectives. New Delhi: Prentice hall of India. Stone, M. et al (2003:305-308) the effect of retail customer loyalty schemes Detailed measurement or transforming marketing? Journal of targeting, measurement and analysis for marketing, 12(3). Theresa Williams and Mark, J. Larson (1999) Retail technology in the next century. USA. Indiana University. [Online]. Available from: http://kelley.iu.edu/CERR/files/study_on_retail_tech99.pdf/ [Accessed on 27th Dec 2011]. Tim Hannagan (2002) Mastering strategic management. New York: Palgrave Tschirley, D. (2007:1) Supermarket and Beyond: Literature review on farmer to market linkage in sub-saharan Africa and Asia.
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Yin, R. (2003) Case study Research design and methods. Third edition. USA:Sage publications. Zikmund, W. (2003) Business research methods. USA: South-Western.
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RESEARCH QUESTIONNAIRE
I am Arun Sanal studying my MBA at British Institute of Technology and E-Commerce, Coventry University doing my dissertation in marketing strategies to explore the effective marketing strategies which can enhance profitability of the retail business. I would like to request you to spend your valuable time to answer few questions which are very important in the dissertation work and I assure you that all the information and details are treated as very confidential and not used for any other purpose. Thank you. Name: Date: Position: Organisation: Questions for dissertation (Please encircle your answers) 1. What is your gender? A. Male 2. What is your age group? A. Below 20 B. 21-30 C. 31-40 D. 41-50 E. Above 50 B. Female C. Unspecified
3. How do you feel about the customer service in the stores? 3a. Availability of staff and their assistance helpfulness nature in store A. Very good B. Good C. Satisfactory D. Poor 3b. Presentation of store and arrangement of the products A. Very good B. Good C. Satisfactory D. Poor 4. Brand and price promotion 4a. Are you satisfied with brands available in the store A. Very good B. Good
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C. Satisfactory D. Poor 4b. Have you satisfied about the price promotions offer maintained by stores A. Very good B. Good C. Satisfactory D. Poor 5. Advertising strategy 5a. Have you seen any advertisement of Shakthi cash and carry A. Yes B. No 5b. Do you think advertising is required for introduction of new product A. Yes B. No 6. Technology adaption 6a. How the technology used to enhance the business effectively A. Very effective B. Good C. Satisfactory D. Poor 6b. Are you satisfied with the existing technology in Shakthi cash and carry A. Very good B. Good C. Satisfactory D. Poor 7. Store location 7a. Do you think the store is located at convenient place A. Very good B. Good C. Satisfactory D. Poor 7b. Are you happy with store environment A. Very good B. Good C. Satisfactory D. Poor 8. Any suggestion you would like to tell us for further improvement in the business.
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FINAL DISSERTATION

SUBMITTED BY ARUN SANAL BITE ID: 42196

Dissertation Statement of Originality

Student name: ARUN SANAL

Student ID: 42196

Processed on 09-Jan-2012 11:59 AM GMT ID: 14060878 Word Count: 13024

sources: 1 7% match (Internet from 17/10/10)

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Literature review..6 Retail business..........6

CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY Research approaches26

Sample size and sampling..30

ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

4.1 Introduction...32 4.2 Analysis and findings32 4.3 Summary....44

APPENDIX Copy of the Questionnaire52

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Introduction

in its retail sector

1.5 Conceptual frame work

Effective Marketing Strategies

Enhancing the profitability of electronic retail business

1.6 Importance of study

Chapter 2 Literature Review

Chapter 3 Research Design and Methodology

Chapter 4 Findings and Analysis 4.1 Introduction

4.2 Findings and analysis

4.3 Analysis of data

Age group No. of respondents Total

below 20 21-30 31-40 41-50 above 50

Satisfactory level No. of respondents Total

Satisfactory level No. of customer Total

Satisfactory level No. of customer Total

Satisfactory level No. of customer Total

4.3.5 (1) Advertising:

Option No. Participants Total

Satisfactory level No. of customer

Satisfactory level No. of customer Total

Satisfactory level No. of customer Total

4.3.7 (2) satisfactory results with store environment

Satisfactory level No. of customer Total

Chapter 5 Conclusion and Recommendations

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=8&hid=17&sid=2706eaca9798-4875-976f-2da0322e0013%40sessionmgr104/ [Accessed on 26th Dec 2011].

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