An excellent report on Tata Croma- Bhayander (MUMBAI) Retail visit. Tata croma is one of the leading specialty store of Electronics and Consumer durables. Presently, there are total of 101 Tata Croma stores in 25 cities in India. It offers its customers over 6000 plus products across eight categories

1. 2014
Bhavesh M. Bhansali
MBA3-1313
[RETAIL VISIT REPORT]
TATA CROMA

2. Individual Retail visit report April 18, 2014
RETAIL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM BHAVESH M. BHANSALI Page 1
Table of Contents
Executive Summary………………………………………….2
Socio-Economic Importance of Tata Croma………………...4
Identifying the Retail Type and its Product categories………7
Key Strategic drivers of the Retail Industry………………...10
Modern Technologies deployed by Tata Croma…………….12
Marketing Mix Strategy applied by Tata Croma……………14

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Executive Summary
Launched in October 2006, Tata Croma is an Indian retail chain for consumer
electronics and durables. Tata Group of company’s Infiniti Retail runs Tata Croma
stores in India. Infiniti Retail Ltd is a 100% subsidiary of TATA Sons. Presently,
there are total of 101 Tata Croma stores in 25 cities in India. It offers its customers
over 6000 plus products across eight categories in a world-class ambience and its
offerings are growing every day. These categories include Phones, Camera,
Computers, Entertainment, Home Appliance, Kitchen Appliance, Gaming and
Accessories. At Croma, their endeavor has always been fulfilling every electronic
requirement by helping customers choose the best product, as per their needs.
Croma's efficient, well-trained and knowledgeable store advisors are completely
equipped to offer sound and personalized advice for helping a customer and
receive the best value for money. It also offers and helps customers to buy their
favorite products for their own place through Croma’s online portal known as
‘www.cromaretail.com’. An authorized Croma Care Centre provides after sales
support for all Croma branded products 24/7.

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Brand Philosophy
If service wasn't important
If technology wasn't complex
If variety wasn't confusing
We would have no reason to be in business
We help you buy.
“Croma is passionate about combining technology and world-class retailing to
give customers an extensive assortment of their favorite products. We invite you to
enjoy great-quality merchandise, knowledgeable service and a pleasant shopping
experience.”
BY: TATA CROMA

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Socio-Economic Importance of Tata Croma
With the fast growing Consumer Electronics and durables Retail Industry, Tata
Croma is one of the leading players to cope up with the growing Industry and
fulfilling the customer’s needs and wants by giving superior value.
I have chosen Tata Croma located in Bhayander (West) as it is located at the place
where Bhayander’s most people spend their evening for shopping, for enjoyment,
people come there for coffee and finally for relaxing. It is also the main area in
Bhayander having various other outlets such as Bata, Reliance fresh, D-Mart, Big
Bazar and even Maxus Mall in located behind Tata Croma. So the traffic is always
at its top.
The total population of Bhayander is around 8,15,000 plus; of which male and
female are 4,34,000 and 3,81,000 approx.( 2011, Census data) excluding the
nearby suburbs which also constitute a large number of population. Enough
number of them buys their electronic and durable products for households from
Croma (as per my knowledge and understanding because I lived there for almost
22 years) because:
 Non-availability of other branded electronics and durables retail outlet.
 Attachment with the brand.
 Thought process that Croma will serve them in better way.
 Value for Money
 People don’t want to travel to other places when they are getting the same
product at their place with little difference in price.
Tata Croma-Bhayander has no adjacent retailers with which they have to share
traffic. Therefore it has quite a few advantages which work in its favor.
The advantages are:
 No Competition by Specialty stores in close proximity.
 Low rental cost.
 Huge parking space availability.

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 Huge traffic of people.
 Pleasant ambience of the location.
 One stop electronics and durables store in 12-15km radius.
 Infrastructure development on a large scale.
 Migration of people from different locations to this location because of
development.
 Medium and High income level of people in that specific area.
The disadvantage from which Croma-Bhayander suffers is quite less in numbers.
They are:
 Bit high in price as compared to other local electronics and durable stores.
 More focus of promoting products through window display is giving to
gaming products, Led TVs and digital products. Washing Machines, Fridges
and others are giving less importance for advertising.
 Late arrival of products at Croma-Bhayander because Croma follows its own
distribution structure which makes delay in delivery at Croma- Bhayander.
 Non-availability of free demos of products such as Xbox, Mobiles, etc…
because of unexpected things like Battery dying problem, etc…
Consumer Buying behavior towards electronic and
durable products
Consumer durables and electronics are items that provide a flow of services to a
consumer over a period of time. Examples include TVs, household appliances,
audio-visual equipment, furniture etc. The real level of spending on durables has
surged in the last eight years.

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The reasons are:
 Falling prices for many durable products.
 Low interest rates which have encouraged people to spend more on “big
ticket items”
 Strong consumer confidence and borrowing levels. The demand for
consumer durables is more income elastic than for non-durables which are
usually staple items in people’s monthly budget.
(Source: www.scribd .com)

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Identifying the Retail Type and its Product
categories
The whole retail industry is categorized into different types of retail
Categories/Type.
RetailType
Big Box stores Wal-Mart
Departmental
stores
Shopper's Stop
Discount Stores Subhiksha
Variety Stores Max
Super markets D-Mart
Hyper markets Big Bazar
Specialty Big box
stores
Tata Croma
General
merchandise stores
Pantaloons
General stores Local Kiranas

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The above red shade shows that Tata Croma falls under the Category of Specialty
Big Box store as it deals only in electronics and consumer durable products. They
offer it in a way which makes them special. Most of the specialty stores use a self-
service approach but Croma on the other hand has customer assistance as well.
Tata Croma serves its customers with 6000 plus different types of products in
different categories such as Small appliances, Digital products, Entertainment
products, Large appliances, Music and Movies, Computers and peripherals and
even with In-house products.
The detailed product categories are given in the diagram below

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Services
Ecommerce is the latest venture to achieve yet another important goal, which is to
bring customer the best shopping experience on the go & reach every door step in
the nation. With www.cromaretail.com, customers can now explore, browse and
purchase from the finest and the most varied range of electronic products in the
comfort of your home. Well-structured product information, great deals and swift
home delivery service are prioritizing for customer's satisfying shopping
experience.

11. Individual Retail visit report April 18, 2014
RETAIL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM BHAVESH M. BHANSALI Page 10
Key Strategic drivers of the Retail Industry
With the growing pace in technological advances, educational, changing trends and
hyper competition, it is very difficult for the retailers to survive this competition,
on and off the web. Revolutionary thinking needs to be possessed by the retailers
to thrive in today’s world. There need to be a few changes that have to be made by
the retailer to sustain in this hyper-competitive retail world.
They are:

A focused approach to strategic planning. 
1. Strategic pricing of products
2. Proper formulation and execution of Business models for different
outlets

Advanced marketing skills.

A stronger customer focus. 

Enhanced exposure on the Internet. 


Chart for Strategic Key drivers
Strategic
drivers
Focused approach
on Strategic
planning
Advanced
Marketing skills
Strong Customer
Focus
Exposure to
Internet

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Some of the few drivers in the electronic and consumer durable industry
which are and can be used by Tata Croma.
 Price Sensitivity:
The consumer electronics and durables industry is highly price sensitive.
The low end models sell due to their volume and low pricing strategy for the
lower range consumer. For the medium and upper range customers - brand
name, technology and other features are important to sell.
 Availability of newer variants of a product:
In today’s hyper-competitive business scenario, the consumer have a large
variety of choices in his/her hand. Consumers are looking for new products
which are to be developed and sold according to the consumer’s changing
behaviors, taste and preferences.
 Increase in disposal Income:
With the growing levels of education and growing economics, the net
disposal income is also growing accordingly, thus, the standard of living is
also rising which results in rise of purchasing power.
 Availability of Finance Schemes:
In today’s world, EMI has become very common where consumers pay a
certain amount at the point of purchase and the remaining payments are
spread over a time period depending on the consumer. This gives the
consumer access to expensive products.
 Advertising and Brand Promotion:
The unique style of promoting and advertising for discounts, free gifts and
exchange offers helps Croma distinguish itself from the others.
 Festival Seasons:
Festivals in India are in abundance. During this season, retails come out with
offers and discounts to cash in on the festive mood. This period will always
be one of the most important growth drivers of the consumer electronic and
durables industry.

13. Individual Retail visit report April 18, 2014
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Modern Technologies deployed by Tata Croma
The evolution of technology within the retail and e-commerce space is shaping
how consumers behave and interact with brands and savvy, smart retailers know
that understanding shoppers’ behavior is a key for success. These retailers realize
they can utilize technology to capitalize on consumer needs and customized
offerings to help significantly increase their bottom lines.
Croma as a retailer follows a lot of modern trends to increase customer satisfaction
and save time on both ends (retailer and customer). The modern technologies
deployed by Croma are given below:

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 Electronic Point-of-Sale System:
An EPOS system is one in which a universal product code (black and white
stripes or barcode) is read by a laser scanner connected to a computer. On
scanning a product, the computer records the sold items and displays the
price of the products to the customer. Eventually, an itemized bill is
generated and given to the customer as the receipt.
 Electronic Funds Transfer at Point-of-Sale:
An EFTPOS system is one which facilitates cashless payments by the
customers. An EFTPOS terminal is connected to the retail store on one end
and the other end to multiple banks and credit card companies. This system
enables a customer to use credit and debit cards for their purchases. It is
convenient for the customer as it is quicker and less open to fraud. The
retailer is happy as he receives his payment in his account immediately.
 Electronic Data Interchange:
EDI is the electronic exchange of data that takes place between the retailer’s
computer and that of his supplier. The exchange consists of orders, delivery
notices, invoices, returns and sales data. Its saves the lead time of deliveries
and large savings can be made by the consequent reduction in inventory
required. Given below is the process a business would take have to go
through with and without EDI.
 Quick-Response Replenishment Systems:
When EPOS systems are combined with EDI, retailers are in effect adopting
just-in-time replenishment or quick-response (QR) replenishment methods.
Ordering merchandise is not based on historical but current sales. An
advantage that that the QR Replenishment Systems have is the reduction in
stock outs and the amount of inventory carried. This reduces the cost to the
retailer and improves the service to the customer. The image below shows a
simplified quick-response replenishment system.

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Marketing Mix Strategy applied by Tata
Croma
Product:
A product is the most important factor of marketing mix strategy for any company
or brand. Tata Croma-Bhayander serves the customers with almost around 6000
plus electronic and consumer durable products. Its product portfolio includes only
electronic and consumer durables, but with a variety of these product categories. It
Retail
Marketing Mix
Product
Price
Place
Promotion

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serves its consumers with excellent brands akin Dell, HP, Apple, Sony in
computers, Godrej, LG, Haier and many more in appliances, Samsung, Nokia,
Motorola, Micromax, Apple, HTC, Blackberry in Mobiles, Nikon and Canon in
Cameras, etc… It also serves its customers with accessories such as Scandisk
Pendrive, Boss speakers, etc… In today’s world, customer is very choosy about
what to buy, thus stocking such a large stock gives Croma an edge.
Price:
Pricing is an integral part of the retail marketing mix. The customer profile and the
target audience decide the price policy of the retailer. Croma-Bhayander sells their
merchandise at the market price or less. Regular discounts and cash back schemes
are provided by Croma. If a customer compares the price of a product with another
store and is found cheaper, Croma reduces the price to match the other store with
the consent of the manager. Croma knows that if they don’t reduce the price, they
will lose a customer.
Place:
Tata Croma-Bhayander has the biggest advantage of location. It is a unique
location where Croma-Bhayander is located because of pleasant environment,
place for shopping, full with crowd, thus, companies are dying to open their stores
at that particular location. Place is most important in marketing mix because if
your store is at an unpleasant place with no traffic, you are dead.
Promotion:
Tata Croma-Bhayander creates a communication strategy with their target
audience in such a way which keeps them informed about various offers and
schemes. Posters and hoarding around the area (Bhayander), sign boards to the
store, delivery vans with Croma branding, multiple advertisements in different
types of media and many more promotional strategies are used by Croma.