Retail project2 (Observations at D-Mart mall)

D-MART

Location
D-Mart is situated at a strategic location at Bhandup and Mulund Junction. There has been a drastic change in the Bhandup-Mulund belt since last two years. Most of the industries along this side are converted into residential areas while the remaining are closed down. This area has got lot of potential in terms of customers. This is the reason malls have cropped up in this area. There are 2 more malls nearby namely Nirmal Lifestyles and R-Mall, which are crowded. The middle income group resides in this and nearby areas. There is lot of traffic (both vehicular and pedestial) along this belt since it is the main road towards Thane. Easy to access from Bhandup and Mulund side since BEST bus stop is nearby. For Navi Mumbai-ites, the accessibility is a bit difficult since they have to pay a heavy toll charge. Visibility is poor from outside. One can hardly see the board of D-Mart. The entrance has lot of trees which makes it difficult for a new comer to identify the place. Also, there are no hoardings near the mall to indicate that the mall is on this side. ATMs are available near the mall for one to withdraw money, if required.

Parking
Parking at this mall is a problem on weekends and national holidays since the visiting crowd is more than the available space. On Sundays, when we visited in the afternoon there was lot of space available and by evening it was almost full. When we visited on the Raksha bandhan festival, we somehow managed to get our vehicle parked luckily on the ground floor but it was away from the entrance. We had to take the the trolley to the car and it was quite a bit distance. We had to travel through the wet path, since it had rained, which left us feel uncomfortable. It was a totally unpleasant shopping experience,

Advertising
When D-mart had opened up, on the way towards Nahur station, there was a hoarding nearly for 3 months to advertise that the mall has opened up at Mulund.

Prices
The prices offered are economical over here. D-Mart offers minimum 5% discount on MRP on all items except medicines, grocery and vegetables and fruit items.

Merchandise
The product mix was fairly good. Lot of variety was available for all types of products. The assortments done for apparels was as per the price in descending order and as per the size i.e. extra large, large, medium and small. Also, in nearby racks the assortment was as per size nos. i.e. 28, 30, 32, etc for trousers and 38, 39, 40, 42, 44, etc. for shirts. The D-Mart offer price and the Max. Retail Price both were visible on the price card. During the festival season, the festival items were kept in the main area. This was done because they knew maximum customers will be looking for these festival items. A wide variety of Rakhis for Raksha bandhan festival and decorative items for Ganpati festival were kept along the main passage.
The whole area was divided as per the products that they offered like apparels, stationeries, crockeries, sanitary items, books, gift articles, steel items, furnitures, detergents, vegetables, fruits, etc. Each section had two to three attendants on average. Floor managers were monitoring the area. Also, the marketing employees of the respective companies were seen promoting their product. The floor cleaning activity was outsourced.
The products were not properly kept on the shelves. Chocolate products that needed appropriate cooling were not stored properly. The Cadburys chocolate had begun to melt on the rack itself. As a result these items were not very appealing to buy.Also packets of chocolate which were damaged were kept on the shelf where it was easily visible and easily accessible to the ccustomers In the passage lot of material was stored thus blocking the movement of the customers. One way movement was possible. And if a customers has parked his trolley to select a particular product then the other customer had inconvenience to move ahead. At the apparels section, the new entries were displayed by hanging it on the wall. These products were placed at such a height that it was difficult to see them. Looking at it for 2 minutes would strain ones neck.

Services
The service offered was somewhat okay. As soon as we went in, the security (lady) informed us that she was putting our belongings inside a D-Mart’s green clothed bag and sealing it. Even the purse bag of my mother was sealed inside. We had to argue with the security guard and finally we managed to get the purse out. We began shopping with 10 minutes of wasted time and a rather bad mood to begin shopping with.

The staff was unfriendly and unfamiliar with rules. It seemed as if they wanted to sell without understanding the requirements of the customer. On the Priya pickle offer ( 1free for 2 bought) the staff lady wanted us to buy the same pickle three times. This was a stupid idea, what would we do with 3 achaars of the same mango, or ginger, or lime? Finally after we explained the stupidity behind her reasoning she relented and let us chooses a variety of three.

Personal Selling
There were personal Personal Selling for some newly launched products . We encountered an instance of personal selling for Procter and Gamble products like the olay cream.Also there was a huge amount of personal selling in case of perfumes and cosmetics.

Promotion
Promotion and sales offers were present for most of the items.There were a discount of 10 % on all Navneet products and Cadbury celebrations.There was one separate whole shelf for garbage dust bin bags selling at Rs.29 wherin the actual MRP was Rs.45.In case of apparels there is a variety available ranging from menswear,womenswear and kidswear.

External Design:
As mentioned earlier D-MART is located in the middle of three bustling towns, namely Mulund, Bhandup, Nahur. The exterior design of D-MART is very ordinary and functional at best. It consists of a small complex with trees lining its front entrance. The building is painted white with D-MART logo clearly visible from the road. The exterior also houses certain food and refreshment stalls for the shoppers to enjoy.

Interior Design
The interiors were predominantly green thus associating it with the colour of their logo.This also made the store look more spacious and organized. As far as the flooring is considered the whole store was floored with ceramic tiles.Adequate light was present focusing on the merchandise as well as for the convenience of the customers. Music was pure soft hindi music which appealled to the target customers. Separate entrance is present for the physically challenged.


Layout:
Layout is fairly simple and it is kept simple with a view to keep everything that customer in his eye sight and reach. The whole store has been divided into various sections according to the categories that are stacked there. Is was found the most used products i.e. FMCG were very easy to spot and purchase.

Image Set up:
The image that D-Mart wants to set up is that of a discount store that offers most of the products with all the major brands. D-Mart is a store offers value for money. The store puts various offers on products some throughout the year and some periodically. When a customer enters the gate first thing he notices are the boards that say “ Minimum 5% discount on all products”. This itself makes customer think of a good value for money.

Target customer
D-mart projecting itself as a discount store targets the middle income group. The area in which it is located is predominantly middle class residential area. So the location is such that it is very convenient for its target customers. Also it is a very fast growing and value conscious segment. In order to attract their attention, D-mart keeps giving several offers that directly projects greater value to the customer.

Suggestions
1) Ladies purses should not be sealed in the bags which becomes inconvenient at the time of payment.
2) Adequate trial rooms should be provided to avoid rush during holidays
3) Damaged products and sealed boxes should be kept in warehouses instead of shelves
4) Adequate shelves should be made instead of using the bunch of boxes as a shelf.