NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF FASHION TECHNOLOGY

BHUBHANESWAR

MASTER OF FASHION MANAGEMENT

ASSIGNMENT -2

TOPIC - PANTALOONS

SUBMITTED TO- SUBMITTED BY-

SATYA BANERJEE ARPITA SELOT

AYANTRILA BAKSHI
ISHANI DASH
MANSHA PANDEY
TRUPTY SAHU
TUSHAR SINHA
INDEX

 INTRODUCTION

 PANTALOONS MARKETING STRATEGY

 STORE MANAGEMENT

 CUSTOMER VALUE ANALYSIS

 SUGGESTIONS BASED ON CUSTOMER VALUE ANALYSIS

 SUSTAINALBLE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

 PANTALOONS COMPETITORS

 HOW PANTALOONS IS TAKING AN EDGE OVER ITS COMPETITORS

 SWOT ANALYSIS

 REFERENCES
 INTRODUCTION
 Pantaloon Fashion Retail Limited is India’s leading retailer that operates multiple retail
formats in both the value and lifestyle segment of the Indian consumer market.
 Headquartered in Mumbai and the company operates over 12 million square feet of
retail space with 1000 stores across 73 cities in India and  employs over 40,000 people.
 Pantaloons is the among India's largest chains of fashion stores. It offers trendy and hip
collections that are in sync with the hopes and aspirations of discerning young and
‘young-at- heart consumers.
 Pantaloons Fresh Fashion stores have presence with stores not just in Metros but also in
smaller towns.
 All stores have a wide variety of categories like casual wear, ethnic wear, formalwear,
party wear and sportswear for Men, Women and Kids.
 Pantaloons Fresh Fashion stands out as a fashion trendsetter, on the lines of how
fashion is followed internationally. This 'fresh fashion' destination allows customers to
shop for the latest in fashion apparel and accessories throughout the year in an
attractive and visually stimulating ambience.

Company’s Vision:
Pantaloons shall deliver Everything, Everywhere, Every time for Every Indian Consumer in the
most profitable manner.

PANTALOONS MARKETING STRATEGY

As of 2020, there are several marketing strategies like product/service innovation, marketing
investment, customer experience etc. which have helped the brand grow.

Marketing strategy helps companies achieve business goals & objectives, and marketing mix is
the widely used framework to define the strategies.
Pantaloons Product Strategy:
The product strategy and mix in Pantaloons marketing strategy can be explained as follows:

Pantaloons is one of the leading fashion retail brands in India. Pantaloons offer Apparel brands
for Men, Women and Kids.

 WOMEN'S SEGMENT
The women’s section houses exclusive brands that offer different collections or a wide range of
occasions: Ethnic wear exclusive brands include the mix-n-match range by Rangmanch, fusion wear by
Akkriti and occasion wear by Trishaa. Western wear exclusive brands include Ajile for the fitness
conscious, trendy casual wear by Honey, smart formals and evening wear by Annabelle etc.

 MEN'S SEGMENT
The men’s section houses a plethora of options that includes our range of exclusive brands as
well as India’s favourite brands. Western wear exclusive brands include edgy casuals by SF
Jeans, preppy British sports inspired collection by Byford, sports luxury by Ajile and party wear
by F Factor. Formal wear section offers a range of crisp and well-tailored collection by popular
international brands like Van Heusen, Allen Solly, Peter England, Louis Philippe etc.

 KID'S SEGMENT
The kid’s section has something to offer for all age groups starting from1 month old toddlers to
12-year-old tweens. The portfolio of brands includes infant wear by Chirpie Pie, ethnic wear by
Akkriti, casual wear by Chalk and Poppers. In addition to this vast range of brands, Pantaloons
also has a well-established repertoire of partner brands such as Lombard, Bare Denim, Bare
Leisure, JM Sport Classic, RIG, Turtle, Spykar, Lee Cooper, 109F, AND, Chemistry, Global Desi,
Biba, Giny& Jony etc.

These brands are popular for providing quality products which help Pantaloons get more
customers. Pantaloons offer accessories from watches to shoes, bags, jewellery and perfumes.
The shops are designed in an aesthetically appealing way with excellent customer support. The
tagline of Pantaloons is “In love with Fashion”. Pantaloons offer products from traditional
outfits to high end western outfits as part of its marketing mix strategy. The target group is the
middle and upper middle class residing in Tier I, II and III cities of the country. They have
dedicated outlets and also presence in shopping malls. They launch new products every festive
season. Pantaloons have a dedicated website online that features collections-based seasons
like “summer” collection, “winter” collection etc. They have also featured an online catalogue
which is updated regularly that is in vogue with the latest fashion available.
 Brands available

Men’s wear Women’s wear Kid’s wear

 John Miller  Rang manch  Bare

 JM sports  Akriti  Rig
 Bare denims  Annabelle  Sach
 Rig  Ajile  Lee cooper
 Ajile  Rig
 Lombard  Biba
 Bare leisure  Trisha
 Blue diamond  Honey

Pantaloons Price/Pricing Strategy:

Price is one of the most important things to be considered while releasing new products in the
market. The target market of Pantaloons is usually middle and high-class customers. But after
the brilliant success of the brand, its new pricing strategy has included items for the customers
other than high and middle-class people as well. With this effort, Pantaloons is trying to reach
every customer and this has already helped them with expanding their business. Pantaloons
offer value for money strategy to all its customers. Pantaloons offer discounts during festive
season. They also have end of year clear off sales. All the goods are procured from private
small-scale producers and are bundled and sold under private labels. Pantaloons follow
relationship marketing where premium is charged for the in-store service offered by the shop.
Relationship marketing has helped bring customer service, quality and improving visibility into
closer alignment.

 Since pantaloons provides products to a potentially a large no of customers at affordable

prices, it falls in the High turnover-Low margin category.

Pantaloons Place & Distribution Strategy:

The distribution system of Pantaloons is basically zero level as it has more than 25 private label
brands, thus the product is directly delivered to the customers via Pantaloons exclusive retail
outlets. Non pantaloon brands are also procured directly from the manufacturers by Aditya
Birla Group and are delivered to their stores without any intermediaries involved. After
Pantaloons' acquisition by Aditya Birla Nuvo Limited, the logistics department of Pantaloons is
controlled by the distribution management system of Aditya Birla where the products are sent
to various warehouses and is further transferred to the respective Pantaloons stores. They have
their warehouses in Noida as well as Bangalore. These hubs are strategically used to distribute
merchandise to maximum stores in India. The medium of transport for the stock is mostly by
road and the cargos are tightly packed with full description of stock. They have an online
presence where items can be ordered from their home website. The website of Pantaloons is
designed in accordance with keeping e-commerce strategies in place. The items are
differentiated under headings suitably. Pantaloons currently has 130 visually aesthetic fashion
stores in 40 cities and towns in India. Pantaloons have a retail space of 1.7 million square feet,
which is among the largest in India. In stores they keep 70% of their own brand and remaining
30% of other brands.

This strong distribution network has helped Pantaloons sell more products.
Pantaloons Promotion & Advertising Strategy:
Pantaloons uses a diverse range of promotional activities to market its brands. Pantaloons use
media like TV, print, online etc as part of its marketing mix promotional strategy. Pantaloons
also offer its flagship Green card membership. It is available in 4 different offerings with one,
three, and five and seven-star. Discounts are offered based on the type of card the user has
purchased. This has helped in providing loyalty points which can be redeemed at every next
purchase. Loyalty programs are one the best ways of promoting, especially in the retail apparel
segment. Loyal customers of Pantaloons are always cheap to serve, they are willing to pay more
for a service and they act as brand ambassadors for the product, by word-of-mouth marketing.

This excellent promoting makes the brand more exposed to all kinds of customers who are
interested in clothing products. Discounts during festivals or specific seasonal discounts are also
offered to attract customers of any age.

Personnel:
Pantaloons values customer service and in-store service. Pantaloons have excellent customer
engagement skills. The higher management consists of people sourced from reputed institutes
and with years of excellent experience. Also, the salespeople at Pantaloons stores are very well
trained and equipped to handle queries of customers.

Learning & career development - Pantaloons are committed to develop its employees into
skilled, customer-focused, enthusiastic and motivated employees. They provide the employees
the scheme named “Seekho” which enables them to develop their skill sets and opt for any
educational courses so that they can increase their productivity which adds additional value for
the company development in future. An employee is equally responsible for learning and
development. Training is given as and when required e.g. the implementation of new systems.

Since this is a service marketing brand, here are the other three Ps:

People:
Pantaloons believe in providing good customer service. Highly educated people with brilliant
management skill and years of experience are part of it. These people check feedbacks from
their customers which help them improve the products. These kinds of interactions help the
brand maintain a good relationship with their customers.

Pantaloons values customer service and in-store service. Also, the sales people at Pantaloons
stores are very well trained and equipped to handle queries of customers.
Process:
Pantaloons have several processes in place for smooth execution of its business. The clothes
are shopped from manufacturers to warehouses to the Pantaloons retail outlets all across the
country. Also, the online model ensures online purchase, online payment and delivery at the
customer doorstep. Pantaloons have installed SAP based software to track movement and sales
of products through their retail stores. SAP has helped them in implementing ERP services
which has improved their tracking and sales of goods.

Physical Evidence:
Pantaloons’ stores are the biggest physical evidence of the brand. The uniqueness of stores,
store planning, colour & design etc are all unique across stores. The physical evidence also
includes its loyalty cards, carry bags etc. Pantaloons are a winner of the prestigious North-East
consumer awards. It is also one of the most preferred Fashion Retail destinations of the year.
Pantaloons also received the “Emerging market Retailer of the year” award. It has also received
HR excellence awards for some of its best industry people management standards. It has also
received awards for some of the best loyalty program awards.

Other than these they also have other factors which helped them to be successful in retail Industry and
also to help in their future retail strategies which are,

Accolades: Pantaloons has received a huge number of accolades such as ‘India’s Most Trusted
Apparel Retail Brand’, ‘Most Admired Fashion Group of the Year’ etc. With these accolades, the
brand has created a huge base of reputation. This reputation has also attracted many buyers.

Always Updated: The aim of the brand has always been to satisfy its customers. To complete
this goal, Pantaloons is always updated with everything in the fashion world. It also stays
updated with the consumers’ preferences, so the customers get not only what they want but
also what they need.

Campaigning
In the summer of 2008, Pantaloons launched ‘Colours of the Season’ market campaign. Blue,
Pink, Green coloured dresses were aimed to be promoted with this campaign.

After completing 15 years in the market, in 2012, Pantaloons had started a marketing campaign
which had the tagline ‘In Love with Fashion’. The goal of this aggressive campaigning was to
reach to the youth population who had a unique fashion sense. The campaign was started
during the famous Bengali festival, Durga Puja to catch the eyes of the customers and ended in
December. The activities of this campaign included fashion shows in malls as well as some
musical concerts. The brand had also tied up with the ABP group to promote their items. This
campaign was very popular and Pantaloons made a lot of profit by selling their products during
this period.

For the summer of 2019, Pantaloons has released a new campaign named ’Holiday in Style’.
This campaign is believed to highlight the trendy yet comfortable products which personify the
freshness of summer. Being true to its philosophy ‘Style your change’ Pantaloons has always
tried to bring new and fresh items in the market and with this vibrant summer collection, the
brand aims to bring more freshness to their arsenal.

With the campaign ‘How Blue is you’, also live this year, Pantaloons are attempting to pay
tribute to the fans of Indian Cricket Team. The brand has changed its Logo colour as a part of
this campaign. Even the loyalty program name of the brand has also changed to Blue card from
Green card but only for the India vs. Pakistan match in the Cricket World Cup 2019.

STORE MANAGEMENT

 Visual merchandising
 Store atmosphere
 Store layout
 Line of business

Visual Merchandising -

 Covers all the things from types of clothes to wears on mannequins, EPP’s etc.

 Photos of arrangement of brands and layout of storeis decided and are common to
all Pantaloon stores.
 Mannequins, window display, window dressing.
Store Atmosphere-

 Pantaloons follow a free form of store layout.
 Music mostly soft music is preferred; no particular music beat is followed.
 Light colored light (bulbs) mostly yellow colored light.

Store Layout-

 A common design of layout is followed in each of the Pantaloon store with respect

to brands and clothes arrangement.
 Pantaloons fall under following categories- Departmental stores, Malls, E-retailers.
 Herewhen it comes to arrangingthe clothes, same type of clothes are put up together in
different sizes so that sameclothes are available for everysize at one point only.

CUSTOMER VALUE ANALYSIS

To suggest on what to improve and how to improve their marketing strategy first we took the
help of “customer value analysis” process. It is an innovative research technique that assesses
how an organization is viewed relative to others in the marketplace. Customer perceptions of
value are a significant predictor of near-future market share. It gives a clear insight into the
sphere of opportunities that an organisation or brand may tap into and the threats that can be
eliminated.

ATTRIBUTES

On basis of the following attributes our team did a comprehensive survey: -

 Price
 Quality
 Convenience
 Staff service/Consumer handling
 Assortments
 Exchange policies
 Discounts and loyalty programs

These attributes preference differ from person to person. For some, price may be more
important than quality whereas for some quality can be a priority or may be something else. To
prioritize these attributes on the basis of what the customers looking for in apparel, we took a
feedback from some of the regular shoppers. Out of 30 feedback forms filled by the customers
we got the following statistics:

 14 customers were quality conscious.

 11customers were price conscious.
 4 customers were variety/collection conscious
 1 customer was convenience/place conscious.
From these numbers we came to know that the customers are mostly price and quality
conscious. These attributes are the tools that can be used by the companies to improve their
brand name and their customer liking to a great extent. Customer’s preferences can be tapped
by this and the companies can work on their better customer handling. If these attributes are
fulfilled then the customer is completely satisfied and becomes loyal to one’s brand. Keeping
this in our mind we further conducted the customer value analysis to know the value of these
multiband outlets in the minds of the customer. Customer Value Analysis is based on the above
listed attributes. These are those attributes that an individual evaluates as per his/her
preferences. Mostly the customers try to fulfil most of these needs when buying merchandise
but it depends upon the overall value that a particular brand is having in the minds of the
customers.

QUALITY >PRICE > PRODUCT RANGE

On the basis of those attributes, we did a survey outside the pantaloons store and then we
interpreted 30 surveys sheets and came to this result which is shown below-

Attributes PANTALOONS SHOPPERS VISHAL WESTSIDE

STOP MEGA
MART
Price 7/10 6/10 6/10 6/10
Quality 8/10 8/10 6/10 7/10
Convenience 6/10 6/10 7/10 5/10

Customer 7/10 8/10 6/10 6/10

service
Assortments 7/10 8/10 6/10 5/10

Exchange 6/10 6/10 5/10 5/10

policies
Discounts & 5/10 7/10 5/10 6/10
loyalty
program
 SUGGESTIONS BASED ON CUSTOMER VALUE ANALYSIS
It is the favourable situation for any organization which is present in the external environment.
The important thing is how the company or organization takes it or grabs it. Through our
findings and customer value analysis survey we came to know that there are various attributes
of Pantaloons on which they need to emphasize, to create value for customers and improve
overall brand image. The suggestions are as following:

 Open small size convenience outlets to maximize brand coverage.

 Better promotional and loyalty offers should be introduced.
 Can add more premium brands to increase their assortment size.
 Can add a new category and brand of innerwear, nightwear and thermal wear.
 Should work on having more customer friendly exchange policies.
 Should work on having more customer friendly exchange policies.

Our learning team analysed the Pantaloons product range and compared it with their
competitors. After doing so, and analysing the opportunity matrix we thought of suggesting
that the brand should think of providing exclusive retail store space for the launch of their own
brand of innerwear, nightwear and thermal wear products with its private label i.e., PRODUCT
DEVELOPMENT.

Objectives of new product development are as follows:

 To increase their product line and width.

 Satisfy all the needs of customers under one roof.
 To increase market share in a growing category.
 To maximize sales and profit.

SUSTAINABLE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

Any business effort taken by a retailer from time to time can be a reason for competitive
advantage but some advantages are sustainable over a long period of time, while others are of
trial nature. Sustainable advantages are usually hard nut to crack. A retailer puts its full energy
to keep competitors away from the market.

By providing, the same quality goods and services and by following the same price policy, any
retailer can be in and out of retailing competition.
If a retailer is successful due to its wide merchandise assortments, its competitors can be
provide wider and deeper merchandise to attract the customers. This phenomenon does not
come under the concept of sustainable competitive advantage.

Building a sustainable competitive advantage means besides developing private/ store brands,
lucrative offers and customer service, retailers should create certain advantages that enable
them to survive against all odds as and when presented by its competitors.

Knowing one’s competitive advantage is difficult for its competitors. To begin with, even for a
retailer, it is difficult to identify its own competitive advantages.

Particularly, competitive advantage is your unique skills and inherent resources

devoted/dedicated to your business that competitors cannot predict easily.

Though competitors continuously try to weaken these advantages, successful retailers sustain
these advantages by building strong cover against them. In nutshell, building a sustainable
competitive advantage is the path to survive for long.

The sustainable competitive advantages used by Pantaloons are:

1. Customer Loyalty:

Loyal customers are long-term assets for a retail organization. They have emotional bond with a
retailer and regularly visit the retailer. From a retailer’s point of view, customer loyalty means
that customers are committed to purchase merchandise and services as and when required
from the retailer with resistance of competitors’ move. To retain loyal customers is not an easy
task.

2. Store Location:

The selection of location for a retail store is one of the most crucial strategic decisions a typical
retailer makes. Since most of the retail sales in India take place at stores, utmost care should be
taken before taking a site location decision. A good location not only reduces distribution cost
to considerable extent but also attracts more customers. No matter what quality merchandise a
store offers, customer service or attractive pricing, every retailer has to compete over three
success elements: location, location and location.

3. Human Resource Management:

Human resource management plays a vital role in success of retailing. Despite technological
advancements, retailers still rely on people (human resources) to perform the fundamental
retail activities such as procurement, displaying merchandise and providing service to
customers. Retailers know the importance of hardworking and loyal employees.
4. Distribution and Information Systems:

All retailers wish that they should supply exactly the same quality, quantity and price what their
customers need. They take all possible steps to supply the goods well in time and at prices
which are lesser than their competitors. Some retailers instead of using low price policy provide
additional facilities (margin) to lure customers such as wide merchandise assortments under
one roof, even better customer service and visual presentations.

5. Unique Merchandise:

Technological advancement, borderless economies and free flow of goods across the countries
have enabled a retailer to procure any good and sell it in their stores, whenever and wherever
they want, but in order to keep themselves ahead in the retailing race, many retailers get
competitive advantage through development of personal/private/store brands.

6. Vendor Relations:

Having good vendor relations is another success key of retailing. Successful retailers develop
strong relationships with their vendors and get competitive edge over competitors by:

(i) Obtaining special selling rights to sell merchandise in a particular region where they have
monopoly bird position.

(ii) Obtaining special terms/conditions rights that are not available to competitors who lack
good vendor relations and

(iii) Obtaining popular/fast moving merchandise in short supply/short notice. The longer the
relationship exists, the longer the competitive advantage retailers will get.

7. Customer Services:

Good customer service has today become an integral part of the retail industry. In retailing,
where floor staff has to directly interact with the customers, customer service acts as lifeblood.
With the sales promotion and lucrative offers you can increase the temporary sales but out of
these customers if half or some of the customers do not come back then your store will not
survive for long time.
PANTALOONS COMPETITORS
 HOW PANTALOONS IS TAKING AN EDGE OVER ITS COMPETITORS

Pantaloon’s success and continuous growth in the Indian organized Retail market can be
attributed to a number of factors, some of which have been derived from the strategies of large
retailers in the west, while others are completely tailor-made for the Indian market.
Pantaloon’s major advantage over its competitors in the retail sector has been its unique
understanding of the Indian organized retail market with all its quirks, shortcomings and
challenges. By creating a retail business from the ground-up and expanding rapidly, Pantaloon
has followed a Wal-Mart-like pattern of growth. However, unlike Wal-Mart, it decided to
experiment with as many retail formats, product-mixes and brands as was possible in order to
gain maximum knowledge about the uncertain Indian mindset. In fact, newer entrants in the
organized retail market would learn the ways of the unique Indian organized retail sector as
well as find a way to combat Pantaloon’s dominant market share in almost all forms of
organized retail a daunting task.

Rather than expand as a menswear retailer alone, Pantaloon’s policy of comprehensive

experimentation has given it an important advantage – a versatile retail presence. Consumers
see Pantaloon as an exclusive brand retailer, discount retailer, specialty retailer and food
retailer: all at once. One of the reasons for this versatility is that the brand name has not been
forced on, or even associated with the different products and stores other than the original
menswear line. Instead, each store and product has been given its own identity and presence.
Pantaloon is essentially an organized retailer in the guise of a large number and variety of
unorganized retailers. Pantaloon has the upper hand as compared to most potential foreign and
domestic competitors. However the same characteristics that have made it an exclusive and
versatile retailer can prove to be a disadvantage. Much of Pantaloon’s competition comes from
either retail ventures of other large Indian industrial houses (Reliance Retail, Birla’s retail
venture) or foreign retail giants (Wal-Mart). In other words, Pantaloon’s competition is rich,
very rich. While the competition may not have made inroads into the Indian market as
thoroughly as Pantaloon, it still has enough money to compensate for this shortcoming.

Through a carefully executed policy of comprehensive multi-format experimentation, Pantaloon

has managed to understand and take advantage of the compressed evolution of the organized
Indian retail industry (mentioned earlier) to become the dominant player. As far as industry
knowledge, experience and skill are concerned, Pantaloon with its dream team is looking in
good shape. Now it is facing stiff competition that is financially better-equipped.
How it takes advantage of its existing resources, accesses additional capital and competes with
its competitors in a race to develop an efficient supply-chain will determine the future of the
company. While the task is daunting, Pantaloon has more leeway and an enormous head-start
compared to anyone else.

SWOT ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS WEAKNESS

THREATS OPPORTUNITIES
REFERENCES:

 www.pantaloon.com

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advantage-for-retailers/48395

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 www.fashionunited.in

 Apparel Industry - Pantaloons- Analysis, Marketing & Product Development