A PROJECT REPORT ON:

BRAND SALIENCE OF PRIVATE LABEL BRANDS IN RETAIL OUTLETS

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR MASTER OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES BY:

POOJA SHARMA MMS- MARKETING 2008-2010

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF PROF. D. MAITRA

N.L. DALMIA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES & RESEARCH UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Ms. Pooja Sharma, student of N.L. Dalmia Institute of Management Studies and Research has successfully completed the project titled To study the Brand Salience of Private Label Brands in Retail Outlets under my supervision and guidance as partial fulfillment of requirement of MMS course 2008 2010.

Project Guide Director

Prof. D. Maitra P.L. Arya

Prof.

Place: Mumbai Date: 31/03/2010

DECLARATION

I, Pooja Sharma, student of N.L. Dalmia Institute of Management Studies and Research (MMS-Marketing; Sem IV) declare that I have completed this project on Studying Brand Salience of Private Label Brands in Retail Outlets in the academic year 2009-2010. The information submitted is true and original to the best of my knowledge.

The report embodies the findings based on the survey conducted by me and it has not been provided to any other university or institute for award of such degree.

Pooja Sharma MMS-Marketing

Project Guide: Prof. D. MAITRA

Place: Mumbai Date: 31/03/2010

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Many hands have toiled to ensure that this project finally sees the light of the day. It required continuous guidance, inspiration and support from many people and without their cooperation; this project would not have been complete. I take this opportunity to express my sincerest gratitude to my Project Guide, Prof. Maitra, who lived up to his Designation and was a constant source of guiding light for me at each and every stage of the execution of this project. I would like to thank my well-wishers and my colleagues who were a constant source of inspiration and in some cases also motivation as it ultimately has led to the completion of this project. Finally I would also like to give due credit to people, who knowingly or unknowingly have guided, supported and helped me in the completion of this project as without their support this project would have never seen daylight.

Pooja Sharma MMS-Marketing

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Sr. No
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

INDEX Certificate Declaration Acknowledgement Table of Contents Title Page Executive Summary Introduction Secondary Research
1 2 3 4 6 7 9

Pg. Nos

Westside Pantaloons Shoppers stop Lifestyle Globus Other Private Label Brands

11 15 18 21 24 27

Primary Research

32

Research Design Focus Group Discussion Pilot Survey Sampling Design Data Collection
37 53 55 56 59

10 11 12 13 14

Data Analysis Measurement of Brand Salience Conclusion Annexure Bibliography

TITLE PAGE

Studying Brand Salience Of Private Label Brands In Retail Outlets

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Brand Salience: Salience is conceptualized as the probability that a customer will think of the brand at some point of time. This is a broader interpretation than the usual frame of reference for the term salience, which although conceptualized as the prominence of the brand, is commonly used interchangeably with, and measured via, top of mind awareness with the product category cue. Thus while a brand that is top of mind is also salient top of mind awareness is not the only way in which this salience can be expressed. The salience level was converted from the number of times the brand is mentioned to a percentage of the total possible number of times the brand could be mentioned. Private Label Brands: Today, in every category, retail outlets are aggressively stocking private label products next to national brands, and often using private labels to attract customers into their store. From packaging down to performance, private labels are giving the national brands a run for their money. To find out the salience level of some of the private label brands among the customers across various demographic segments and to focus on creating brand salience by focusing on some narrow range of attributes is what the objective of this research is. It also involves a study of some premium private label brands. The two types of research methods used are: Primary research and secondary research: Secondary research involves a study of some premium private label brands. The secondary research is followed by a Primary research involves interviewing customers. A different brand image measurement approach is adopted in which the respondents have to retrieve brand names from memory. It also includes carrying out focus group
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discussions, surveys. Primary research, involving a focus group discussion and a survey for a sample size of 300. 60 respondents were surveyed outside 5 retail outlets. 150 female and 150 male were surveyed and segmentation on the basis of age was 18-25, 2635 and above 35. 100 respondents of each age group were surveyed. A detailed analysis of the questionnaire was done to find out the salience level of the premium brands across different demography. It also involved finding out the most important attribute which these retail outlets can focus on, to build the salience level of their brands. Three hypotheses were also formulated for the same and they were tested using parametric and non-parametric tests of Z-test and chisquare test, using SPSS. Moreover, a correlation between the buying behavior of national brands and private label brands were also found out using SPSS. A detailed analysis was being done. Product category selected for the research was apparels because the retail outlets sell this particular product category under different brand names and hence salience can be measured and created for apparels whereas in the other product categories such as basic staples, dry fruits, spices, pulse, wheat etc where the retail outlets sell the private label products, they sell it under the name of their retail stores itself and not under different brand names. So salience in that case cannot be created. In that case, it is not salience that is important but the product positioning that is important. Hence, the product category taken for this research is apparels and not any other product category.

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INTRODUCTION
Indian Scenario Of The Private Label Brands:
A few models of private label brands emerge in the Indian market place. The store brand is different from brands in the store: This model is quite evident in a number of the existing brands like Lifestyle, Shoppers' Stop and Pantaloons. What drives consumers is the store brandthat is, Pantaloonsrather than the private label brands in the store. In fact, most people dont quite remember the private label brands in these stores and have great difficulty in articulating the values of these brands. Since the in-store brand is never going to be sold anywhere brand. The store brand is the private label: A good example of this is perhaps a brand like Gap overseas. You can get Gap apparel only in Gap stores and nowhere else. This means that the scope and potential of the Gap brand is entirely dependent on what distribution width the brand can attain as a retail store. In our own case, Wills Lifestyle perhaps already follows this model and no doubt there will be many more. The issues of brand stretch become even more pressing when we look at the current retail milieu, with the proposed advent of large format multi-brand retail set to take off. With cross-category offerings under a singular umbrella brand, maintaining consistency is critical to being able to command higher realizations. else except in the store, the fortunes of this brand are indelibly linked to the fortunes of the store

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The important question is how private label brands can ever hope to compete effectively against the big brand marketers. Perhaps the answer lies in the delivery. The unique advantage of private brands is that they provide the end delivery or fulfillment to consumers within the purview of the store brand. A consistent delivery mechanism and careful attention to detail may lead consumers to prefer the in-store brand to competing offerings. Line extensions provide another lesson for private label manufacturers (or the retailer). The presence of other branded outlets extend the offering and brand equity of the parent store as in the case of Lifestyle Internationals Kappa (a sportswear brand) and provide a distinct identity by targeting a well-defined audience. After all, the existing reason for brands is to command premium over competitive offerings. If private labels can shake off their closet existence and come into their own, its only the consumers who will stand to benefit. Heres to heralding in a new age of retail. Viva Le Consumer![1]

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SECONDARY RESEARCH
Purpose of Secondary Research: A study on some premium private label brands is conducted through secondary research to fulfill the research objectives on finding out: across what product categories the retail outlets are providing the private label brands, what are their profit margins from private labels, what are the private labels available in the premium retail outlets, what are they doing to create brand awareness and hence salience for these private label brands in the product category of apparels.

A Study Of Some Premium Private Label Brands: WESTSIDE:

Style, affordable prices, quality: these are the factors that have shaped Westsides success story in the retail fashion stores business. Launched in 1998 in Bangalore, the Westside chain has, ever since, been setting the standards for other fashion retailers to follow. Westside stands out from the competition for a variety of reasons. One is that a majority of the brands the chain stocks and sells are its own, unlike retailers who store multiple labels. About 90 per cent of Westsides offerings are home-grown, and they cater to different customer segments. The other 10 per cent includes toys, cosmetics and lingerie. Westside has recently expanded its range of merchandise by offering outfits from some of Indias best-known fashion designers, among them Wendell Rodericks, Anita Dongre, Krishna Mehta and Mona Pali. This is an interesting marketing shift, since it means moving away from the chains only-our-own-brands concept. The age group of people visiting the store is in between 18-40. (Upper middle and middle class) The attraction of the shopping is basically the female population. The movement of mens apparels is also due to the ladies buying for the men.[2]
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Private Brands in Westside: 2 F 4 U, SRC, Gia, Urban angel, Intima, David jones, Ascot, Black berry Facing the challenge: The greatest challenge for Westside in its quest for a place in the retail sun is not the competition from similar organized players, but from the unorganized sector (98 per cent of Indias retail garment industry operates in the unorganized sector). The other challenge for Westside is that the retail fashion business in the country is becoming increasingly crowded with new players, Indian and foreign. Among the new entrants have been Wills Sport, Lifestyle, Raymonds (Be), Globus, Nike, Crocodile, Mango and, the latest, Marks & Spencer. Westside is trying to create brand awareness through its promotional programmes: 1. Club west card program An assured return-and-exchange policy reinforces customer confidence in the chain. Another winning Westside idea is Club West, a customer loyalty programme launched in May 2001. The 30,000plus members of this club get rebates at restaurants and on holiday packages from the Taj Group of Hotels, home delivery of alterations, and best of all, special shopping hours on the first day of any discount sales event organized by the chain. Westside does its regular brand building through advertisements in the media with brand ambassador Yuvraj Singh and other young models; more important are its in-house promotions, which peak during the three main festive seasons: summer, Diwali and Christmas. The promotions are mostly theme based, with decorations to match, live bands and other attractions. 2. Fashion logy

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Westside has launched a new ad campaign titled 'fashion logy'. The campaign is designed to provide the buyer with not just clothing, but also guides and aid on dressing smart, styling and accessorizing. The campaign sees on-ground activities and promotions designed to interact with the consumer about their style It includes womens corporate wear, girls wear, glam denim. Marketing Strategies adopted by Westside Attract shoppers & keep them in stores- the amount of time shoppers spend in a store is perhaps the single most important factor in determining how much they will buy. Honor the transition zone- on entering a store, people need to slow down & short out the stimuli which means customer will likely be moving to fast to respond positively. Dont make them hunt- put the most popular products up front to reward busy customer & encourage them to look more. Womens need more space- A customer especially a woman is far less likely to buy an item if her derriere is brushed by any other customer. In a rapidly evolving retail scenario, Westside has carved a niche for its brand of merchandise creating a loyal following. Currently, the company has 28 Westside stores measuring 15,00030,000 square feet each across 19 cities in India. With a variety of designs and styles, everything at Westside is exclusively designed and the merchandise ranges from stylized clothes, footwear and accessories for men, women and children to well-co-coordinated table linens, artifacts, home accessories and furnishings. Welldesigned interiors, sprawling space, prime locations and coffee shops enhance the customers shopping experience Each of the stores covers an area of 10,000 20,000 square feet, stocking apparel, home furnishings, cosmetics, toys and tableware. Other than cosmetics and toys all products are sold under the Westside brand.

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Ultimately, what drives sales is the complete product experience. Westside does not retailing any other garment brands. It stocks only own store brands. This means that all the stuff available is made or sourced by Westside itself and therefore the store label Westside acts as a product label. Only in a few categories such as cosmetics and toys are brands other than Westside present. Those are categories that complement the Westside range. The private-label strategy of Westside also helps the company eliminate intermediaries. The result is higher margins. The world over, retail chains that follow the private-label approach enjoy higher margins than those that don't. Tata says retail chains need minimum margins of 40 per cent to be comfortable; Westside boasts margins as high as 50 per cent. Rival multi-brand store Shopper's Stop's are in the 20-25 per cent range. Positioning of Westside: Westside is positioned on the fashion at affordable pricing plank. By retailing our own Westside brand we are able to eliminate intermediaries and therefore offer better prices. Westside is unique with its own brand of merchandise, which is trendy and individualistic. We cater to the shopper who values not just the product but the total shopping experience. To cater to this need, Westside has its team of in-house designers who design exclusively for the store. All merchandise passes the stringent quality standards that befit everything that carries the Tata name. The products at Westside are not just of high quality and reasonably priced but are contemporary and stylish as well. The stores are divided into many departments -- menswear, womenswear, kidswear, household accessories, gifts, cosmetics, perfumes and other accessories. For women, there are casuals, formals and chic Indian wear. The range has great depth spanning from basic clothing to very trendy wear. Unlike a lot of stores, the range at Westside caters to a wide age group and takes into account differing tastes and

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requirements. We offer accessories as well, such as handbags, jewellery, scarves and hair accessories. In menswear, the range goes from formal to casual and sporty. And, price wise, it extends from the value to the premium segment. Kidswear at Westside is designed to follow international trends; it is uniquely styled, whether you opt for the dressy, smart or casual. The household section is extremely contemporary. Westside stands out from the competition for a variety of reasons. One is that a majority of the brands the chain stocks and sells are its own, unlike retailers who store multiple labels. About 90 per cent of Westsides offerings are home-grown, and they cater to different customer segments. The other 10 per cent includes toys, cosmetics and lingerie.[3]

PANTALOONS:
Pantaloons biggest advantage is that is offers quality. The price is not quite reasonable. But most people don't mind because the quality of goods and apparels is very good. The place hosts four different levels- Mens, Women, Children and household. The Men's section exhibits a huge range of branded as well as Future Groups (the owner) own factory made clothes. The brands include- Denim, Spykar, Levis, Koutons , Umbro and many others. Pantaloons itself has its own clothing brands- Bare. The Mens and Womens sections also hosts their own footwear range with brands like Reebok, NIke Addidas, Bata and Converse. Among the groups private label brands are John Miller, Bare, DJ&C, Buffalo, Knighthood, RIG, Indigo Nation, Scullers, Urbana The entire range of Pantaloons popular apparel brands such as, John Miller, Lombard, Urbana, Scullers, RIG, UMM, BARE Denim, BARE

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Leisure, JM Sport, Ajile, Annabelle, Honey, Akkriti, Chalk, BARE 7214, etc (in the apparel category); Tasty Treat, Care Mate, Fresh n Pure, Clean Mate (in the FMCG category); Dreamline (in the general merchandise category), Koryo , Sensei and IQIP (in the consumer durables and electronics category), as well as co-creations like Sach, which is a venture along with Sachin Tendulkar. Currently their private labels generate between 75 per cent and 80 per cent of the revenues. Some of these brands have taken a natural level of growth in certain areas. For instance, one of its oldest menswear brands, John Miller, has achieved `critical mass' to exist as a standalone store brand. Unisex brands such as Bare (denim and leisurewear), Ajile (sportswear) and Rig (utility weekend wear) have also been registering significant volumes to serve as individual store brands. Besides, the higher margins registered by the private label brands has led Pantaloon to exploit the potential of these brands. As the brands are directly sourced from the manufacturer, it is easy to get higher margins. There is now a deliberate focus on these brands to take them out of Pantaloon into new formats. At present, Pantaloon sports nearly 20 private label brands and it is the ladies' ethnic wear segment which is pegged to grow in excess of 50 per cent. Its private label in ethnic ladies wears Akkrruti has already tied up with designers such as Rocky S. Pantaloon is eyeing the ladies' Western wear segment and the men's party wear segment in which it might rope in more designers to give impetus to its private label exercise. At the same time, Pantaloon has been refurbishing its acquired denim brand - Jealous - belonging to Indus League Clothing, in which it has a stake. The Jealous 21 range comprises casual, club and denim wear. The brand is being reinvented to infuse energy into it. The company

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plans to expand its retail network for a nationwide presence with 120 stores in the next three years. Future Brands, a subsidiary of Pantaloon [PRIL] plans to not only take existing PRIL private labels national but also do brand consulting and launch international brands in India. Future Brands plans to select some of PRIL's private label brands such as John Miller and take them national by launching both Exclusive Brand Outlets and selling through multi brand outlets. Future Brands will focus on building the brand and appoint a national distributor for each brand to roll out distribution. For John Miller, the company has appointed Indus League as their national distributor. Future Logistics is likely to manage PRIL's entire supply chain from supplier to store warehouse for a fee that is likely to be lower than PRIL's existing supply chain cost. Pantaloon Retail, part of the Kishore Biyani-promoted Future group, has set its eyes on enhancing the basket of private label products sold at Big Bazaar, the hypermarket format from the retail major. The portfolio of products in food, electronics, apparel and cosmetics would be expanded. The company, however, would take the outsourcing route instead of having its manufacturing lines. A big chunk of private label products would come from outsourcing.[4] Positioning of Pantaloons: The thought behind 'Fresh Fashion' is that An idea that has captured the imagination of young India. With a focus on the youth of today, Pantaloons offers trendy and hip fashion that defines the hopes and aspirations of this demography. Pantaloons Fresh Fashion stands out as a fashion trendsetter, on the lines of how fashion is followed internationally. The look and whats in today for the season is sacrosanct. Pantaloons take its promise of 'fresh fashion' very seriously making available to its customers the latest in fashion every week! All Pantaloons stores reflect the new ideology -- Fresh Feeling, Fresh Attitude, Fresh Fashion. The stores

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offer fresh collections and are visually stimulating thanks to appealing interiors and attractive product display! Pantaloon already has an in-house design studio comprising 16 qualified NIFT professionals. These designers work with category managers, understand their requirements, analyze the likely trends for the various markets and set about designing various options. While this in-house team has been largely responsible for Pantaloons success, Springboard is expected to bring it close to another class of customers who believe in making fashion statements. The store provides great shopping options to consumers in apparel (men, ladies, kids & infants); footwear; sports apparel; lingerie; accessories; watches and sunglasses; fashion accessories; cosmetics and perfumes and fine jewellery. Creating brand awareness: Pantaloons has roped in Bipasha Basu and Zayed Khan as their brand ambassadors to create brand endorsements. Private label contribution in the Pantaloon departmental stores is currently over 70 per cent. They are in the process of increasing it to more than 80 per cent. In Big Bazaar, private labels have just been launched in the apparel segment (five labels have been launched over the past three months and three more are expected to be launched in the next month). It expects private labels to contribute more than 50 per cent in their respective categories.

SHOPPERS STOP:
Shoppers Stop is an Indian department stores promoted by the K Raheja Corp Group (Chandru L Raheja Group), started in the year 1991 with its first store in Andheri, Mumbai. Shoppers Stop Ltd has been awarded "the Hall of Fame" and won "the Emerging Market Retailer of the Year Award", by World Retail Congress at Barcelona,

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on April 10, 2008. With the launch of the Navi Mumbai departmental store, Shoppers Stop has 26 stores in 13 cities in India. Store: Shoppers Stop is one of the leading retail stores in India. Shoppers Stop began by operating a chain of department stores under the name Shoppers Stop in India. Currently Shoppers Stop has twenty six (26) stores across the country and three stores under the name Home Stop. Shoppers Stop has also begun operating a number of specialty stores, namely Crossword Bookstores, Mothercare, Brio, Desi Caf, Arcelia. Shoppers' Stop too has seen the share of private labels rise to 18 per cent. Shoppers' Stop, the retail chain has brands such as Life, Kashish and Vittorio Fratini in its portfolio and recently launched two more. While the chain is growing at about 35 per cent per annum, the private labels at the store have been growing at about 40-45 per cent. At Shoppers' Stop also, for instance, while the retail chain has launched private labels to fill in the gaps in its portfolio, the retail chain feels that it is unlikely that its brands would pose a major threat to other ones. At present, while approximately 80 per cent of its sales come from outside brands and the balance from private labels, the chain is targeting to change this ratio to 70:30. Competition: The competition will come from other known brands in the retail segment like Pantaloon, Westside (Trent earlier) and Lifestyle. Brands: Shoppers Stop retails products of domestic and international brands such as Louis Philippe, Pepe, Arrow, BIBA, Gini & Jony, Carbon, Corelle, Magppie, Nike, Reebok, LEGO, and Mattel. Shoppers Stop retails merchandise under its own labels, such as STOP, Kashish, LIFE and Vettorio Fratini, Elliza Donatein, Haute Curry, I Jeanswear, Insense, Mario Zegnoti, Acropolis and Indi-Visual. The designer section show cases some of Indias prominent fashion designers (Ritu

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Kumar, Satya Paul and LABEL), retailing affordable designer wear. The company also licensees for Austin Reed (London), an international brand, whos mens and womens outerwear are retailed in India exclusively through the chain. Shoppers Stop Limited is an India-based department store. The Company houses a host of international and domestic brands across categories, such as apparel, accessories, cosmetics, home and kitchenware as also its own private brands.. The Company also houses some of the international brands like M.A.C., Lancome, Chanel, Clinique, Tommy Hilfiger, Esprit and Frich Connection, among others. It offers more than 400 national and international brands for consumers. Moreover, Shoppers' Stop's retail outlets sell world-famous apparel clothing brands like Louise Philippe, Arrow, Levi's, Arrow, and Lego and Mattel in the toy segment. Significantly, 80% of Shoppers' Stop's revenues are generated selling these brands and the remaining 20% through Shoppers' Stop-owned private labels like STOP, Kashish, LIFE and Vettorio Frattini. Creating Brand Awareness: In April 2008, Shoppers Stop changed its logo and adopted the mantra "Start Something New" with a view to increase its awareness. Loyalty program: Shoppers Stops has a loyalty program called First Citizen. They also offer a co-branded credit card with Citibank for their members. Customer Rewards The First Citizen Shoppers Stops customer loyalty program is called The First Citizen. The program offers its members an opportunity to collect points and avail of innumerable special benefits. Currently, Shoppers Stop has a database of over 2.5 lakh members who contribute to nearly 50% of the total sales of Shoppers Stop

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Positioning: Shoppers Stop is positioned as a family store delivering a complete shopping experience defined by its mission, vision and values. Customer Profile: Shoppers Stops core customers represent a strong SEC A skew. They fall between the age group of 16 years to 35 years, the majority of them being families and young couples with a monthly household income above Rs. 20000 and an annual spend of Rs.15000. A large number of Non resident Indians visit the shop for ethnic clothes in the international environment they are accustomed to. Range of merchandise: The stores offer a complete range of apparel and lifestyle accessories for the entire family. From apparel brands like Provogue, Color Plus, Arrow, Levis, Scullers, Zodiac to cosmetic brands like Lakme, Chambor, Le Teint Ricci etc., Shoppers Stop caters to every lifestyle need. Shoppers' Stop retails its own line of clothing namely Stop, Life , Kashish, Vettorio Fratini and DIY. The merchandise at Shoppers Stop is sold at a quality and price assurance backed by its guarantee stamp on every bill. Their motto: We are responsible for the goods we sell. Shoppers Stop aims to position itself as a global retailer. The company intends to bring the worlds best retail technology, retail practices and sales to India. Currently, they are adding 4 to 5 new stores every year. [5]

LIFESTYLE:
Lifestyle is part of the Landmark Group, a Dubai-based retail chain. With over 30 years' experience in retailing, the Group has become one of the foremost retailers in the Gulf. Positioned as a trendy, youthful and vibrant brand that offers customers a wide

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variety of merchandise at an exceptional value for money, Lifestyle India began operations in 1998 with its first store in Chennai. Positioning: Positioned as a trendy, youthful and vibrant brand that offers customers a wide variety of merchandise at an exceptional value for money, Lifestyle India began operations in 1999 with its first store in Chennai. Currently there are 14 Lifestyle stores, 7 Home Centre stores and 1 Baby Shop store across Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Mumbai, Pune, New Delhi, Noida and Gurgaon. Today Lifestyle offers a truly international shopping experience, a fact borne by numerous accolades Stores: Lifestyle retail stores are divided into five sections: apparels, babyshop lifestyle, homecentre lifestyle, lifestyle accessories and shoe mart lifestyle. The shop-within-a-shop concept is what Lifestyle is aiming at. People look for everything under one roof in a retail store or mall environment; hence Lifestyle has divided its outlet between five lifestyle concepts. . Brands: The Apparel section at Lifestyle offers a stunning range of wardrobe essentials, formals, casuals, ethnic wear, sportswear and denim for men and women. A host of brands are a part of this festival including Arrow, Wills Lifestyle, Louis Philippe, Van Heusen, Park Avenue, Zodiac, ZOD, Giovanni, Provogue, Allen Solly, Chromozone, Colour Plus, Dockers, Indian Terrain, Tana, Vivaz, Le-Buck, Bossini (Men and Woman), Benetton (Men and Woman), Kappa (Men and Woman), Springfield, Zync, Proline, Lee, Lee Cooper, Pepe, Levis, Wrangler, Killer, Forca and Excalibur. Haute Trail is simultaneously running across all Lifestyle stores in Mumbai, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Jaipur & Pune.

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The private label brands include Code, Forca, for men. For women, Code, Ginger, Melange. For kids apparel, it includes Lifestyle's Kids' section offers a complete range of products for all children up to the age of 14 with leading international brands that are exclusive to Lifestyle. Discover your child's favorite cartoon characters or get hold of Lifestyle's own brand called 'Juniors', which offers an extensive range of merchandise across all categories. Splash, an in-house brand, that the chain controls, provides garments for all in a family and has found acceptance among customers who expect quality as well as a well-known brand. ShoeMart, for instance, offers footwear and has among the best brands available along with in-house brands. According to a survey; LifeStyle, with an overall 14 per cent consumer recall, has the highest `top of mind' awareness among the respondents as compared to other retail outlets. The highest cognizance of 18 per cent was registered by the 21-30 years age group. The other two age groups namely 31-40 years and 41-55 years also registered significant recalls of 12 per cent and 10 per cent respectively. The women on the other hand followed the youngsters and registered the store's second highest recall of 12 per cent.. Creating Brand Awareness: Recently the race between Lifestyle and Globus has concentrated on retaining their customer base. Brand awareness which ultimately leads to brand recall is created through in-store promotional offers and the retention is done through loyalty programs. A look at two of such programs. Lifestyle - gathering loyalty around them Lifestyle International (P) Ltd., cossets its loyal customers by inviting them to be part of an exclusive circle they call The Inner Circle. Membership to the circle can be obtained in two ways-by-purchasing merchandise worth 1500/- or by paying RS 150/-. The store also has

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free corporate membership programs with big corporate like ICICI, Reliance Infocomm, etc. The circle members are given membership cards, which when presented at the billing counter automatically earns privilege points. BenefitsPrivilege points accumulated on the membership card translates into gift vouchers for a host of items as also value adds like special offers, discounts, exclusive movie screenings, special invites, get together events, and more. Sometimes just stepping into a Lifestyle store can fetch one a free cup of cappuchino coffee at Qwiky's who have a presence within the store. A lot of pamphlets are printed as also mailers. But apart from this, the store used an engaging method of letting customers know of their latest promotion. Lifestyle had launched a one of its kind shopping festival exclusively for Men called "Haute Trail" across all Lifestyle stores in the city. The festival offers great deals on apparel and footwear for men along with watches, sun glasses and fragrances. Consumers are sure spoilt for choice with all the exciting offers from leading brands in the country. Lifestyle has five business groups specializing in five product categories like garments, children, footwear etc. Each business group has a senior buyer who is responsible for sourcing and merchandising. Also, our store design, layout and display systems are very different and more in tune with international standards. The objective is to make Lifestyle the most desired shopping destination. We had to make it a happening place, which adults, teens and children would like to visit frequently and also do their shopping. We will like to emerge as the most preferred retail store for fashion in all the major cities of India. Customers can now avail irresistible offers Benetton, Arrow, on leading brands such as United Colours of Levis, Blackberrys, Indian Terrain, Zodiac,

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Provogue, Pepe, Allen Solly, Wills Lifestyle, Nike, Adidas, Lee, Melange, Van Heusen, Basics, Colourplus and Esprit. Currently, there are 10 Lifestyle stores in the country, of which the Hyderabad store is the best performer. [6]

GLOBUS:
Since 2001, this has been a business that deals in own-brand merchandise. Product is displayed by category, with lifestyle areas including women's and men's Western and Indian clothing. Owing to the somewhat fragmented nature of this offer, the retailer concentrates on an Indo-Western look, an area in which it is an organized retail market leader. Moving away from being a multi-branded retail chain, the $1.5billion Rajan Raheja-promoted Globus Stores Pvt Ltd has become a single store label brand under its own name. Discontinuing its previous formats, including its value-for-money format Globus has launched smaller stores under its private label. At present, the Rs 145-crore Globus Stores has 19 outlets and plans to ramp up to 152 stores with a presence across 70 cities and a turnover of Rs 1,800 crore by 2011-12. Positioning: Globus also wants to position itself as an affordably priced fashion brand. Globus Stores Pvt. Ltd. was formed to contribute in the revolution sweeping the retail industry. Globus promises to bring about a perceptible change in the way apparel and lifestyle retailing has been carried so far. Creating Brand Awareness: Adopting a single brand strategy for its stores, Globus plans to build its brand by roping in actor Kareena Kapoor as its new brand ambassador. Highlighting the new business model, Mr Akshay Raheja, Vice-Chairman, Globus Stores, says, There are higher margins in private labels but at the same time it is
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a harder model for retailers. It is going to take additional effort to build the private label business but that is the new business strategy we have decided for our stores. With designing as its USP, Globus would be relying on its design studio to create new fashions targeting youth between the ages 18 and 30. Besides, it has decided to create smaller format stores, especially in the malls coming up across the country. Considering it started its first outlet in Chennai with an area of 20,000 sq ft, it has now decided to drop the idea of having larger stores. As Mr Raheja says, We now plan to have smaller stores with an average of 10,000 sq ft. Allocating 6 per cent of its turnover towards advertising spends, Globus now has the onus of building its private label brand with the help of the new brand ambassador. Last year, it had roped in actor Soha Ali Khan as the face of its brand. Akshay Raheja, Globus Vice Chairman, commented that Kareenas sense of style, charisma and attitude reflected the aspirations of millions of young Indians. She has experimented with a variety of roles and hence one has seen her in different stunning looks, he added. As part of its strategy in developing fashion apparel brands, Globus has built design studios in Mumbai with more than 50 designers and product specialists creing the latest and trendiest merchandise that will be available under the brands Globus and F21at their fashion stores. Fashions keep changing and so do brand ambassadors, claims Mr Raheja who plans to build the Globus brand on the fashion quotient. It has also appointed a Mumbai-based creative hot shop Civilisation to build its brand. The Globus Privilege Club card is a 1st of its kind in India. Members are immediately rewarded for purchases at any of their stores, in addition to a host of other privileges such as exclusive tie ups, promotion and special shopping hours.

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Privilege Card: Purchase of merchandise over Rs. 2000/- get you the most sought after card. These purchases can be spread across the first 3 months of the first purchase at Globus. Globus is on a mission to democratize fashion and be the iconic youth fashion brand in India. It aims to create deep connections with the Indian youth through inspiring product design, signature store experiences and compelling marketing.Globus will undoubtedly generate unique fashion products/trends and powerfully inspire its young customers to further imagine and experiment in order to selfcreate their individual style statements. Globus Brands: Youth Fashion Brand: Globus aspires to be the iconic youth fashion brand in the country. Globus is a complete fashion brand its the apparel brand and the destination brand. Three words which capture the spirit of the youth vibrant, maverick and expressive. Globus is exactly that --their vibrant and maverick designs are not just setting fashion trends but more importantly helping customers express themselves. The entire fashion range comprises of apparel for men, women, kids and accessories at amazing prices. The range spans across usage occasions work wear, campus wear, club and lounge dressing and genres Western, Indian and mix-n-match. A well researched sizing ensures a good fit for the Indian silhouettes. Eye candy fashion: F21 is an accessible hi-fashion brand, offering high-quality apparel. F21 the edgy fashion brand - is designed to appeal to the more experimentative and adventurous consumers who seek cutting edge fashion. Styling and fabric innovations help F21 offer high end fashion at prices which are affordable for the young consumers. From everyday casual occasions to club wear, F21 promises consumers attention unlimited.

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Globus retails its own in-store labels - Globus and Fashion 21 - as well as other national and multinational brands in the men's and women's wear category. Plans are to concentrate more on in-store labels to introduce speciality fashion garment store concept in the Indian market. This will help Globus take a strong market position and offer [7]

OTHER PRIVATE LABEL BRANDS: Max:

Max Retail of the $1-billion Landmark Group (Dubai), a leading retailer in West Asia launched its first `Value Retail' store in Hyderabad. Dubai based Landmark groups value retail chain Max Retail (Max) which currently has 10 stores in India The chain is currently present in 8 cities in the country with three stores in New Delhi and one each in Mumbai (Vashi), Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Indore, Agra and Lucknow. Max offers apparel for the complete family - women, men and children - besides footwear, accessories and Home furnishings for all occasions. Positioning: The merchandise is fashionable & competitively priced in the range of Rs. 99 to Rs. 599, making it quite affordable. The store ambience offers global shopping experience with imported fixtures and customer friendly layouts. Max offers its Indian customers the same depth of quality and style that it offers in the Middle East. Launched in early 2004 in the Middle East, Max today is a popular brand in the region with over 50 stores in 6 countries. Typically, Max's stores have an area of about 15,000 sq ft. plus on a single floor. Creating Brand Awareness: Max spend around 4 per cent of our revenue towards promotion spends. This is mainly by way of

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sponsoring events with a social cause, and through advertisements in the print media. Max will also continue print advertisements in the regional media, and we will maintain about 4 per cent of turnover spends towards promotion Lifestyle is the other chain that is owned by the Landmark group. Max Retail has 51 stores in six countries. The Landmark Groups Indian division, Lifestyle International announced that it will be making major expansion moves for its value retail chain, Max and will be targeting tier III cities. The Landmark Group runs the Lifestyle retail chain, an exclusive department store format chain; Max, a hypermarket value retail chain; and also has several international brands such as Bossini and Kappa. Maxs company owned stores will be located in tier I and tier II cities. At present there are 6 Max stores, with 65% of its revenues coming from apparels and the remaining 35% from footwear and accessories.

Vishal Retail :
Vishal Retail Ltd started in the year 1986 as discount retailer in Kolkata and is focused on tier II and III cities in the country. About 80% of the companys stores are located in these cities. Vishal Retail (VRL) is a value retailer with focus on apparels. Besides apparels it has a presence in a wide range of household merchandise and other consumer goods like footwear, toys, home furnishings to mobile phones, watches, toiletries, and grocery items. VRLs outlets sell over 70,000 products, which meet all household requirements. The company has focused on the lower middle-income group as its customers and the strategy has served its well so far. To increase its penetration the company has also experimented with small formats and it also plans to re-size around 25 of its stores. They have also opened restaurants within their stores to gain a higher share of customers wallet. As of now the company has 181 retail stores across 107 cities covering a total area of 2.98 million sq feet. VRL has an edge over peers with its focused business model operating largely

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through hypermart format. Thus it helps to being in economies of scale for sourcing raw materials and pass on the benefits to consumers. The companys focus continues to remain on Tier II and Tier III. Apparel share ranges from 57% to 62% . In comparison, revenues from FMCG and other non- apparel goods rose to 24.1% (19.7%) and 18.2% (16.7%) respectively. This has a positive impact on the margins. The company is gradually increasing share of its private label in every category. This will further boost margins. sThe company expects to continue its 40-50 % sales growth in the coming future. The company earns around 5-7 % of its operating profit from its private label products. Going forward, the company is looking at further increasing share of this high margin segment to drive growth and maintain EBITDA margins at around 12%. The overall share of private label is expected to increase from the current 18% in FY08 to 25% by end of March 2011. The company has adopted the franchisee model for future store expansion. This would help to curb its operating costs as well.

Koutons :
Delhi based Koutons Retail has shown tremendous growth post its listing in 2007. The company operates in the fashion wear apparel segment category. However it has now expanded its product merchandise to become a complete family shop. Incorporated in 1994, Koutons is an integrated apparel manufacturing & retail company. It is in the business of designing, manufacturing & retailing apparel under the Koutons & Charlie Outlaw brands. They have a network of 1420 exclusive brand outlets across India. Positioning: The company has positioned the Koutons brand in the middle to high fashion segment ranging from formal to party wear. The company had reinvented & re-launched their old premier

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brand Charlie as Charlie Outlaw. It forayed into women wear with Les Femme and kids segment with its Koutons Junior brand. As of September 2008, Les Femme contributed 6% of the revenue, & Koutons Junior contributed 5% of the revenue and the Mens segment contributed 89% of the revenue. The company increased number of stores from 1,175 in FY08 to a little over 1300 stores as of now. It is looking to expand the store count to 1,800 in FY09. This will entail expansion of space from 1.20 million square feet as on September 08 to 1.5 million square feet in FY09. The company has already forayed into footwear. It would also introduce mens accessories like innerwear, womens accessories like handbags and kids accessories. This will help in maximizing the overall sales per square foot for its stores. Its acquisition of Upper Class range of womens wear marks its entry into the premium segment. Its presence in the West Asia will also help Koutons make an entry into this region . The average sale per sq ft for Koutons is about Rs 12,000 and for Charlie it is Rs 8,000. The company has been doubling in size compared to about 40-50 % YoY growth reported by other retailers. However it cannot be directly compared to other players because its format and business model does not permit so. The company will be able to maintain its high profit margins as its offering is attractively priced. Their franchisee model relieves them of the burgeoning rental costs, which are eating into retail margins. But the aggressive expansion has resulted in blockage of funds in inventory. This has forced the company to go for working capital funding. Larger volumes would bring in economies of scale thus further reducing cost. The company has been making a conscious effort of not rapidly opening new stores but rather expanding the existing stores. Foray into women wear and kids wear will drive companys growth in future. Kids segment requires quick replenishment as the child

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outgrows its outfits within six monthsthus providing huge sales potential. The company also plans to foray into West Asia and China.

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PRIMARY RESEARCH
Purpose of Primary Research: To fulfill the research objective of finding out how brand salience can be built by focusing on a narrow range of attributes and the factors that influence the consumers to buy private label brands. To identify the factors that influence the consumers to buy the private label brands, a focus group discussion was conducted and a pilot interview was also conducted.

FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION:

Sample Size: 10 respondents Age group: 20-25 Topic given: What factors influence the purchase of private label brands over branded apparels? Objective of the F.G.D: To find out the parameters which people use to compare the private label brands and branded apparels which would be included in the questionnaire for further study. Results of the F.G.D: People came out with different parameters. Out of the 10 respondents, brand recall in case of branded apparels was higher as compared to private labels. 10 respondents were asked to recall 5 brands or private label brands with respect to apparels. Total brand recall in case of private label was 11 and the total brand recall in case of national brands is 39 among the 10 respondents. Thus brand salience which is measured by the number of times a brand is mentioned divided by the total number of times it could have been mentioned, is higher in case of national brands as compared to private labels. Brand salience for private label brands as concluded from the F.G.D was 22% and in case of national brands it was 78%. Second, they were asked to identify the factors which may influence them to buy private label brands over branded apparels. The

35

respondents came out with the following factors on the basis of the G.D conducted and they were: Lower price Better offers Availability Reference group Value for money More variety of choices Word of mouth Store image Impulse buying

PILOT SURVEY:
The pilot test was conducted with a sample size of 20 to check the validity and reliability of the questionnaire which was prepared on the basis of the factors recognized through the focus group discussion. Hypothesis was formed on the basis of questions which are: H1: PLB(Private Label Brands) will score more on pricing attributes than NB(National Brands). H2: PLB will score less on quality related attributes than NB. H3: Store image of the private label brands have an effect on customer buying decision Results of the pilot testing: During the pilot test, as suggested by the respondents, some flaws were noted and the respective questions were modified accordingly which did not cover the hypothesis. Question no 8 was replaced with a different question where the respondents were asked to recall the private label brands of the following retail outlets of pantaloons, Westside, shoppers stop, globus and lifestyle.
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Earlier Big Bazaar was also taken as a part of the study but after the pilot test, it was replaced with Globus because Big Bazaar stores the apparels of pantaloons itself. Moreover, it was realized that the study should not be limited only to apparels and other product categories should be included in this. Thus one more objective was added a part of the study and that is to compare that creating salience in the product category of apparels is more important than the other product categories like basic staples. In the later case, it is product positioning that is more important and not salience. It was realized that in question no:5 where respondents were asked to recall any five private label brands, 85% of the respondents recalled the names of retail stores instead of the private label brands available in the stores whereas in question no 4 where they were asked to recall the names of the national brands, they could easily do so. This again proves the hypothesis that national brands have a better recall and hence salience than private label brands which can be proved by applying Z-test in case of the sample size of 300 which the actual survey is carried out. It was also recognized that the actual respondents who would fill the questionnaire, should be the loyal customers of the store. So the primary research has to be conducted outside the retail outlets for the customers coming out of the stores of pantaloons, Westside, Globus, shoppers stop and lifestyle. Also, the similarity between the private label brands and national brands can be found out from question no 6 by applying correlation. Similarly hypothesis 2 and 3 can be tested by applying Z test. The number of hypothesis for testing was limited to three. And as the pilot testing showed that the questionnaire fulfilled all the objectives and covered all the hypothesis, a full fledged survey was carried out on a larger scale outside the retail outlets for a sample size of 300.

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SAMPLING DESIGN
Sample Size: 300

Sampling Method: Quota Sampling No. of Female Respondents: No. of Male Respondents: Age groups surveyed: 150 150 18-25, 26-35, >35

Retail outlets: Westside, pantaloons, Shoppers Stop, Globus, Max 60 respondents outside each retail outlet outside five of these retail outlets. Out of these 60, 30 were female and 30 were male who were surveyed outside each retail outlet.

Product Category: Apparels

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Data Collection
Data Collection Sources Secondary Sources (Journals and Text Books, Internet) Literature Reviews Primary Sources Surveys (Questionnaire ) Yes Yes Yes Yes

Research Tools With primary data collection method in use we would be applying survey as an instrument to collect the required data. This would involve the application of questionnaires. Statistical tools Statistical tools used are Simple Correlation and non-parametric tests like Chi-square testing. Software to be used The software to be used while computing the results are: SPSS Excel

Method of data collection: Survey Instrument of data collection: Questionnaire with open & close ended questions Contact Method: Face to Face Results: Results will be shown in the form of graphs and pie charts

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DATA ANALYSIS
Q1. Are you aware of the private label brands in apparels? Number of respondents who said yes was 249 out of 300 and the number of respondents who said no out of 300 was 51.

Percentage of females who said YES was 56%. Percentage of male who said YES was 44%.

Percentage of female who said NO was 20% and the percentage of male who said NO was 80%.

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Among the total number of respondents who are aware of the private label brands, 90 fall in the age group of 18-25, 80 fall in the age group of 26-35 and 80 fall in the age group of above 35.

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Q2. Do you purchase apparels of private label brands? Out of 250 respondents who are aware of the private label brands, number of respondents who said yes that they purchase the apparels of the private label brands are 220 out of the sample size of 300 and the number of respondents who said no are 80.

Out of the number of respondents who said yes i.e 220, 120 are female and 100 are male who buy private label apparels. Percentage of female who buy private label brands is 55%( 120/220) and the percentage of male who buy private label brands are 45% (100/220).

Out of the total number of respondents who said that they buy private label apparels, 80 fall in the age group of 18-25, 80 fall in the age group of 26-35 and 60 fall in the age group of above 35.

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Out of the number of respondents who said no i.e 80, 30 are female and 50 are male who do not buy private label apparels. Percentage of female who do not buy private label brands is 37% (30/80) and the percentage of male who do not buy private label brands is 63% (50/80).

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Q3. For which of the following attributes will you prefer private label brands over branded products? The attributes which were recognized from the focus group discussion, covered all the 4 Ps, product, price, place and promotion, to understand which of the following attributes is most important for the customers which influence him to buy the private label brands so that brand salience can be built among the customers by focusing on the attribute which is most important for the customer. The results were: Low Price 140 Better Quality 40 Better Offers 130 Store Image 80 Any Other 0

The survey shows that the customers pay more importance to the price factor while buying the private label brands as they are lower priced than the branded products. 46% of the people said that lower
44

price is an important attribute for them, followed by better offers at 43%, store image at 27% and better quality at 13%. Thus price should be paid more importance to while building salience followed by the promotional factor which is covered by better offers. The private label brands provide value for money by giving better offers in the form of lower price or more quantity (like buy 1, get 1 free). Thus, salience can also be built by either reducing price than the branded products or focusing on better offers.

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Q4. What influences you to buy branded apparels over private label brands?

The results Of the survey were: Better Quality 160 More Variety 70 Competitive Mktng Pricing 40 Comm 150 Brand Image 90 10 Any Other

Out of the 300 respondents, 160 i.e 53% said that it is better quality of the branded apparels that influence them to buy it. Second, it is the marketing communication that is associated with the branded apparels which plays an important role in influencing the customers with 50% of the sample size responding in favor of marketing communications. As marketing communication leads to more brand recall and more brand recall leads to more salience, therefore salience for the private label brands can be built by focusing more on the promotional aspect i.e marketing communication, as compared to private label brands where salience can be built by focusing more on price, followed by the offers. But in case of branded apparels, it is the

46

product

which

shows

better

quality

along

with

marketing

communication through which salience can be built for the branded apparels. The other attributes are more variety, competitive pricing, and brand image where the responses were 23%, 13% and 30%.

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Q5. Does your choice depend on the store image of the brand? Out of 300 respondents, 240 said yes that their choice depends upon the store image of the private label brand and 60 respondents said that their choice does not depend upon the store image of the private label brand.

Out of 240 respondents who said that their choice depends upon the store image of Female and 100 were male.

Out of the total number of respondents who said that their decision depends upon the store image of the brand, 90 fall in the age group of 18-25, 90 fall in the age group of 26-35 and 80 fall in the age group of above 35.

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Hypothesis1: H0: O=E : Store image of the private label brands do not have an effect on consumer buying decision. HA: O<>E: Store image of the private label brands have an effect on consumer buying decision. In order to prove this hypothesis, chi-square test was applied since it is a nominal scale. The results of chi-square test are:

Non-Parametric Tests
Chi-Square Test Frequencies store image Categor Observed Expected 1 2 Total y yes no N 240 60 300 N 150.0 150.0 Residual 90.0 -90.0

store image Chi-Square df Asymp. Sig. 108.000a 1 .000

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a. 0 cells (.0%) have expected frequencies less than 5. The minimum expected cell frequency is 150.0 The critical value with the degree of freedom (d.f) of 1 and significance of 0.05 is 3.84 and the calculated value of 108 is greater than the critical value, so the null hypothesis is rejected and the alternative hypothesis is accepted. Therefore it can be interpreted that the store image of the brand has an impact on the consumer buying decision.

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Q6. Rank the following attributes with respect to private label brands and national brands separately. In order to prove the following hypothesis, For this question, first the correlation among the consumers of the private label brands and national brands were found out for the attributes. Whether the customers of the private label brands and national brands show any correlation with respect to the attributes that they give more importance to, while making their purchase decision. Using Spss, Pearsons coefficient of correlation and spearmans rank correlation was found out and the results are:
Correlations PRIVATE PRIVATE Pearson Correlation 1 Sig. (2-tailed) N NATIONAL Sig. (2-tailed) N 300
**

NATIONAL .360** .000 300 1 300

Pearson Correlation .360 .000 300

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Correlations PRIVATE Spearman's rho PRIVATE Correlation Coefficient 1.000 Sig. (2-tailed) N NATIONAL Sig. (2-tailed) N . 300 .077 300 NATIONAL .102 .077 300 1.000 . 300

Correlation Coefficient .102

From Pearsons coefficient of correlation and spearmans coefficient of rank correlation, it can be found out that The private label brands and the national brands are weakly correlated with respect to attributes. It means that the customers while purchasing the private label brands and the national brands, do not give importance to the same set of attributes.
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The most important attribute in case of national brands is better quality as 250 respondents out of 300 have given the first rank to better quality as the most important attribute they look for in a national brand. 40 respondents said that they look for good value while purchasing national brands and just 10 respondents gave importance to store image.

A second hypothesis was formulated on this basis to prove that better quality is the most important attribute which should be focused on while trying to build salience for the national brands as the customers gave more importance to better quality while purchasing national brands, as compared to private brands. Hypothesis 2: H0: National Brands will not score more on quality related attributes than private brands. HA: National Brands will score more on quality related attributes than private brands. A two tailed Z-test was applied with the help of excel sheet to prove this hypothesis.

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Z(cal) for the attribute better quality for the sample size of 300, applied in excel was 1.98 where the standard deviation was 1.40. Interpretation: As in a two tailed Z-test, the critical area is between -1.96 to +1.96, therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected and the alternative hypothesis is accepted since Z(cal) is greater than Z(crit) and the calculated value of Z for better quality, through excel sheet, does not fall within this area. The most important attributes in case of private brands is low price as 180 respondents out of 300 said that low price is the most important attribute for them when purchasing private label brands, 50 respondents said it is good value that they look for, followed by 40 respondents who said better quality and 20 of them said store image and just 10 of them said that they are looking for more variety of choice while purchasing private label brands.

Again, a third hypothesis was formulated to prove that low price is the most important attribute that people associate with private brands and the retail outlets, in order to build their brand salience for private brands, can focus on this particular attribute.

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Hypothesis 3: H0: Private label brands will not score more on pricing attributes than National brands. HA: Private label brands will score more on pricing attributes than National brands. A two tailed Z-test was applied with the help of excel sheet to prove this hypothesis. Z(cal) for the attribute low price for the sample size of 300, applied in excel was 2.05 where the standard deviation was 1.41. Interpretation: As in a two tailed Z-test, the critical area is between -1.96 to +1.96, therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected and the alternative hypothesis is accepted since Z(cal) is greater than Z(crit) and the calculated value of Z for low price, through excel sheet, does not fall within this area.

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Q7.

Recall any five private label brands of the following retail

outlets:

Pantaloons Westside Shoppers stop Lifestyle

1.___2.____3.____4.____5.____ 1.___2.____3.____4.____5.____ 1.___2.____3.____4.____5.____ 1.___ 2.____3.____4.____5.____

This question was asked to measure brand salience of the private label brands for these four premium retail outlets. Brand salience was measured as a percentage of the number of times a brand is mentioned to the total number of times it could have been mentioned.

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MEASUREMENT OF BRAND SALIENCE:

Pantaloons: For pantaloons, the responses for 150 female were 340 whereas the total responses that could have been is (150*5) i.e 750. So brand salience for pantaloons among female is calculated to be 45%. In case of male, out of 150 male where the total brand recall could have been again, 750(150*5), it was just 330. Thus brand salience of pantaloons for male stands out to be 44%. The total brand salience is 44% which was calculated by taking the total brand recall that was being obtained for the sample size of 300 to the total brand recall that could have been obtained. i.e. (670/1500). Age group of 18-25 recorded the highest recall of 270, followed by the age group of 26-35 which recorded a brand recall of 200 and the age group of above 35 also recorded a brand recall of 200. Therefore salience level was highest among the age group of 18-25 at 54%(270/500), followed by the age group of 26-35 and above 35, both at 40%(200/500). Westside: For Westside, the response for 150 female was 300 whereas the total responses that could have been is (150*5) i.e 750. So brand salience for Westside among female is calculated to be 40%. In case of male, the total brand recall was just 180. Thus brand salience of Westside for male stands out to be 24%. The total brand salience for Westside is32% which was calculated by taking the total brand recall that was being obtained for the sample size of 300 to the total brand recall that could have been obtained. i.e. (480/1500). Among the total brand recall of 480 the age group of 18-25 recorded a recall of 180 and the salience level is calculated to be 36% (180/500), age group of 25-35 recorded a brand recall of 170 and the salience level is 34% (170/500), and above 35 recorded a brand recall of 26%(130/500).

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Shoppers Stop: For Shoppers Stop, the responses for 150 female was 240 whereas the total responses that could have been is (150*5) i.e 750. So brand salience for shoppers stop among female is calculated to be 32%. In case of male, the total brand recall was just 190. Thus brand salience of shoppers stop for male stands out to be 25%. The total brand salience for shoppers stop is28% which was calculated by taking the total brand recall that was being obtained for the sample size of 300 to the total brand recall that could have been obtained. i.e. (430/1500). Among the total brand recall of 430 the age group of 18-25 recorded a recall of 160 and the salience level is calculated to be 32% (160/500), age group of 25-35 recorded a brand recall of 140 and the salience level is 28%(140/500), and above 35 recorded a brand recall of 26%(130/500). Lifestyle: For Lifestyle, the response for 150 female was 120 whereas the total responses that could have been is (150*5) i.e 750. So brand salience for lifestyle among female is calculated to be 16%. In case of male, the total brand recall was just 70. Thus brand salience of shoppers stop for male stands out to be 9%. The total brand salience for lifestyle is 12% which was calculated by taking the total brand recall that was being obtained for the sample size of 300 to the total brand recall that could have been obtained. i.e(190/1500). Among the total brand recall of 190 the age group of 18-25 recorded a recall of 70 and the salience level is calculated to be 14% (70/500), age group of 25-35 recorded a brand recall of 70 and the salience level is 14%(70/500), and above 35 recorded a brand recall of 10%(50/500).

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CONCLUSION:
The brand salience of pantaloons is highest at 44%, followed by Westside which recorded a brand salience of 32%, followed by shoppers stop at 28% and lifestyle at 12%. In case of all the four retail outlets, females recorded a higher level of brand recall and hence higher brand salience than men. Moreover, on the basis of age, the age group of 18-25 recorded a higher level of brand recall and hence brand salience for all the premium retail outlets as compared to the other age groups. Respondents, in some of the cases, misunderstand the retail outlets itself as brands. So it is important for the retail outlets to create brand salience of their private labels by focusing more on low price and value related attributes as it was found out from the research. Low price, better offers and value related attributes can draw in more customers to the stores as they associate the private label brands with these three attributes. It will create brand awareness among them and once brand awareness is created, it will automatically increase brand recall and hence a higher degree of brand salience.

ANNEXURE
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Questionnaire
1. Are you aware of the private label brands in apparels? A Y Yes No

2. Do you purchase apparels of private label brands? D Y Yes No

3. For which of the following attributes will you prefer private label b brands over branded products? L Low Price S Store image Better Quality Better offers

Any other, pls specify _______

4. What influences you to buy branded apparels over private label b brands? Competitive pricing Better quality marketing communications more variety brand image

Any other, pls specify_____

5. Rank the following attributes with respect to private label brands and national brands separately. (Rank1 for the best and 5 for the worst)

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Private label brands brands Low price Good value Better quality Variety of choice Better Store image

National

6. Write down 5 main brands in the market with respect to apparels: 1._________ 2._________ 3.__________ 4.__________ 5.__________

7. Recall any 5 private label brands of the following retail outlets: Pantaloons Westside : 1._______ 2.________ 3________ 4._________5._______ : 1._______ 2.________ 3________ 4._________5._______

Shoppers Stop: 1._______ 2.________ 3________ 4._________5._______ Lifestyle : 1._______ 2.________ 3________ 4._________5._______

8. Does your choice depend on the store image of the brand? Y Yes Personal Information: Name: Gender: No

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Age :

Monthly Income:

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REFERENCES:
[1] www.privatelabel-india.com www.fibre2fashion.com www.bcognizance.iiita.ac.in [2] www.mywestside.com [3] www.icmrindia.org www.westsidemedia.com www.spectator.co.uk [4] www.pantaloon.com www.hotfrog.in www.futuregenerali.in [5] www.shopperstop.com www.domain-b.com www.indiaretailbiz.com [6] www.lifestylestores.com [7] www.globus.in BOOKS:

Strategic Brand Management - Kevin Lane Keller Retailing Management Swapna Pradhan Research Methodology - C.K. Kothari Marketing Management - Philip Kotler

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