Monday, September 20, 2004
Retail Destinations
Article being published in the monthly magazine, Images Retail, October 2004 issue:
SHOPPERS' STOP, Hyderabad
“If it’s on your mind, it’s on our shelves.”
The standalone retail outlet of Shoppers’ Stop at Hyderabad has proved to be the preferred shopping destination for the denizens of Charminar City. Awarded “The Store of the Year” by CMAI (Clothing Manufacturers' Association of India) in August 2004, the outlet also has the satisfaction of attaining the highest Customer Service Index across the retail chain.
Positioned as a family store dedicated to delivering a complete shopping experience to its customers, Shoppers’ Stop Limited, the Rs. 4044 million (2003-04) organisation is part of the K. Raheja Group promoted by Mr. Chandru L. Raheja. Currently, this retail giant, engaged in the business of retailing apparel, accessories and home furnishing, owns a chain of some 15 odd department stores strewn across the length and breadth of India. Six at Mumbai, one each at Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Jaipur, Delhi, Gurgaon and two in Kolkata. But it’s the Hyderabad store, the second largest through out the Shoppers’ Stop chain of stores, which has managed to walk away with the accolades.
It would be too simplistic to say that for a city as yet unexposed to a glut of malls and hypermarkets such as a Gurgaon or a Mumbai—the six-storied, 72,287 square feet of pure shopping space has caught the imagination of the genteel Hyderabadis. So what is it exactly? The convenience of shopping under one roof, the tasteful ambience, the sophistication and variety of the store’s product range or the frontline service? Our guess would be that a clever amalgamation of all these elements in generous proportions has contributed to its present popularity.
Researchers would have us believe that the average Hyderabadi, not unlike his Bangalorean cousin, puts a large premium over his time—attaching a great deal of importance to the time spent with his family. The city’s standard shopper, therefore, is always on the hunt for a destination that would allow for the maximum shopping convenience with the minimum of time and effort spent. What better place than a six-storied shopping paradise, showcasing everything from cargos and kurtas to cosmetics and kitchenware!
Unlike some of its other regional counterparts that are structured as large format stores in malls that automatically attract a high-footfall rate, Shoppers' Stop, Hyderabad, with its standalone format, has had to work that much harder at creating a ‘destination’ that would attract customers from a city with hitherto conservative spending habits. Though it has to be admitted that the simultaneous growth of employment opportunities in erstwhile Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s Cyberabad helped to a large extent by creating a concurrent increase in the disposable income of the city’s middle-class—fashioning the upwardly-mobile class of urban shoppers that the store mainly targets.
But whatever their spending habits, the store has had to constantly contend with both traditional commercial hubs as well as upcoming malls for attracting its customers. This has undoubtedly led to a continuous process of re-invention and self-improvement in terms of quality of service, motivating customers to come back for more.
Location, as any hardened real estate man would tell you, is all. Situated bang in the plush locality of Begumpet, Shoppers’ Stop stands out as the largest department store in the city. Its proximity to the international and domestic airport, the railways station and major hotels makes it equally accessible for both residents as well as visitors to the city.
But customer loyalty is an altogether different kind of fish. It takes much more than space and location to nurture a faithful buyer-base. Convenience and quality of merchandise aside, the customer also needs to feel pampered and taken care of. Valet car parking, central air-conditioning, well-maintained restrooms and trial rooms, an in-store café (Stop Over) and services like gift wrapping, alterations and product exchanges are facilities that keep ‘em satisfied. But it is the attention to individual needs that really makes a shopping destination worth coming back to. And this is what the Hyderabad store delivers to its customers with its play areas and store-prams for children, day-care facility for infants, wheel chairs for the handicapped and a customer paging system.
The creator of the country’s first loyalty membership program called the First Citizen’s Club, which offers privileged shopping experiences to its members, the chain now has a 3 lakh-strong membership base—with a considerable chunk of the pie belonging to Hyderabad. Such loyal customers are treated to exclusive cash counters for express checkout. While accepting payment, the store also accepts foreign exchange in most of the currencies, a practice that has helped it earn brownie points with foreign customers. The outlet has also hit the bull’s eye where efficiency is concerned by earning a reputation for taking less than a half-hour for every alteration job!
All in all, if Shoppers’ Stop, Hyderabad, has been voted as “The Store of the Year”, it would certainly appear to be a sobriquet well earned!
WAY TO GO!
In this special section, Saon Bhattacharya takes a look at some of the hot and happening retail destinations across the country. Large format shopping centres or standalone stores, these have become urban landmarks in their own rights and are creating profitable retail avenues for brands and retailers. However, certain issues—tenant-mix, space leasing practices, product visibility and strategies for increasing footfalls with higher conversions—are common concerns faced by most of these shopping havens.
SHOPPERS' STOP, Hyderabad
“If it’s on your mind, it’s on our shelves.”
The standalone retail outlet of Shoppers’ Stop at Hyderabad has proved to be the preferred shopping destination for the denizens of Charminar City. Awarded “The Store of the Year” by CMAI (Clothing Manufacturers' Association of India) in August 2004, the outlet also has the satisfaction of attaining the highest Customer Service Index across the retail chain.
Positioned as a family store dedicated to delivering a complete shopping experience to its customers, Shoppers’ Stop Limited, the Rs. 4044 million (2003-04) organisation is part of the K. Raheja Group promoted by Mr. Chandru L. Raheja. Currently, this retail giant, engaged in the business of retailing apparel, accessories and home furnishing, owns a chain of some 15 odd department stores strewn across the length and breadth of India. Six at Mumbai, one each at Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Jaipur, Delhi, Gurgaon and two in Kolkata. But it’s the Hyderabad store, the second largest through out the Shoppers’ Stop chain of stores, which has managed to walk away with the accolades.
It would be too simplistic to say that for a city as yet unexposed to a glut of malls and hypermarkets such as a Gurgaon or a Mumbai—the six-storied, 72,287 square feet of pure shopping space has caught the imagination of the genteel Hyderabadis. So what is it exactly? The convenience of shopping under one roof, the tasteful ambience, the sophistication and variety of the store’s product range or the frontline service? Our guess would be that a clever amalgamation of all these elements in generous proportions has contributed to its present popularity.
Researchers would have us believe that the average Hyderabadi, not unlike his Bangalorean cousin, puts a large premium over his time—attaching a great deal of importance to the time spent with his family. The city’s standard shopper, therefore, is always on the hunt for a destination that would allow for the maximum shopping convenience with the minimum of time and effort spent. What better place than a six-storied shopping paradise, showcasing everything from cargos and kurtas to cosmetics and kitchenware!
Unlike some of its other regional counterparts that are structured as large format stores in malls that automatically attract a high-footfall rate, Shoppers' Stop, Hyderabad, with its standalone format, has had to work that much harder at creating a ‘destination’ that would attract customers from a city with hitherto conservative spending habits. Though it has to be admitted that the simultaneous growth of employment opportunities in erstwhile Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s Cyberabad helped to a large extent by creating a concurrent increase in the disposable income of the city’s middle-class—fashioning the upwardly-mobile class of urban shoppers that the store mainly targets.
But whatever their spending habits, the store has had to constantly contend with both traditional commercial hubs as well as upcoming malls for attracting its customers. This has undoubtedly led to a continuous process of re-invention and self-improvement in terms of quality of service, motivating customers to come back for more.
Location, as any hardened real estate man would tell you, is all. Situated bang in the plush locality of Begumpet, Shoppers’ Stop stands out as the largest department store in the city. Its proximity to the international and domestic airport, the railways station and major hotels makes it equally accessible for both residents as well as visitors to the city.
But customer loyalty is an altogether different kind of fish. It takes much more than space and location to nurture a faithful buyer-base. Convenience and quality of merchandise aside, the customer also needs to feel pampered and taken care of. Valet car parking, central air-conditioning, well-maintained restrooms and trial rooms, an in-store café (Stop Over) and services like gift wrapping, alterations and product exchanges are facilities that keep ‘em satisfied. But it is the attention to individual needs that really makes a shopping destination worth coming back to. And this is what the Hyderabad store delivers to its customers with its play areas and store-prams for children, day-care facility for infants, wheel chairs for the handicapped and a customer paging system.
The creator of the country’s first loyalty membership program called the First Citizen’s Club, which offers privileged shopping experiences to its members, the chain now has a 3 lakh-strong membership base—with a considerable chunk of the pie belonging to Hyderabad. Such loyal customers are treated to exclusive cash counters for express checkout. While accepting payment, the store also accepts foreign exchange in most of the currencies, a practice that has helped it earn brownie points with foreign customers. The outlet has also hit the bull’s eye where efficiency is concerned by earning a reputation for taking less than a half-hour for every alteration job!
All in all, if Shoppers’ Stop, Hyderabad, has been voted as “The Store of the Year”, it would certainly appear to be a sobriquet well earned!
Comments:
Post a Comment
