A study on customer interaction and customer satisfaction at pantaloons

A STUDY ON CUSTOMER INTERACTION AND CUSTOMER
SATISFACTION AT PANTALOONS
A Summer Internship Report
Submitted to
INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF
BUSINESS STUDIES
REPORT SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE
POST GRADUATE DIPLOMA IN MANAGEMENT
(MARKETING)
2017-2019
SUBMITTED BY – ASIMANANDA MAHATO
ROLL NO – 11

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF: Prof SOUREN KONER

Summer Internship Project Page 3
TABLE OF CONTENT
SL NO PARTICULARS PAGE NO
 Preface 02
 Declaration 03
 Acknowledgment 04
1. Executive Summery 05
2. Company Introduction 06
3. Introduction to my Project 10
4. Need for Study 14
5. Objective 20
6. Research Methodology 21
7. Interpretation 23
8. Research and Findings 33
9. Conclusion 34
10. Recommendations 35
11. Scope and Limitations 36
12. Appendix ( Questionnaire ) 38
13. Bibliography 43

PREFACE
As a part of MBA curriculum and in order to gain practical
knowledge in the field of management, we are required to
make a report on the “A STUDY ON CUSTOMER INTERACTION AND
CUSTOMER SATISFACTIONOF PANTALOONSGARIAHAT,KOLKATA ” . The
basic objective behind doing this project report is to get
knowledge customer’s satisfaction within the store and
interaction with them to understand their needs and
satisfaction level with the product and services being provided
by Pantaloons.
Doing this project helped me to enhance my knowledge
regarding the work in organised retail outlet and customer
handling.
Through this report I come to know about importance of
team work and role of devotion towards the work.

DECLARATION
This is to certify the completion of the project on “A STUDY ON
CUSTOMER INTERACTION AND CUSTOMERSATISFACTION OF
PANTALOONS GARIAHAT, KOLKATA ” submitted in semester III
of Master of Business Administration in International Institute
of Business Studies
by Asimananda Mahato
This is his original work carried out during the period 1st
august
to 30th
September 2018 under my guidance and the project is
based on the research done by him.
By Ms. Enakshi Das
Place : Gariahat, Kolkata

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my gratitude for the help given to me in
creating this project report. For their patience, and their
guidance I wish to thank all those who contributed to my report
by filling up questionnaires and providing me with required
information. I chose Pantaloons Fresh Fashion, Gariahat,
Kolkata for my project work and the customers of that store
helped me and provided me with all the viable information.
Mostly my thanks to Mrs. Afifa Rahaman, Department
Manager at Pantaloons, Ms. Enakshi Das, HR at pantaloons for
allowing me to handle this Project and letting me gain such a
knowledgeable experience, whose support and guidance made
this project possible.
Also, I would like to thank all the staff specially the Kids
Department team for their co-operative behaviour.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
I have been assigned a task as a project related to customer
satisfactionand the customer services provided at pantaloons. The
project title is “A STUDY ON CUSTOMER INTERACTION AND
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION PROVIDED AT PANTALOONS
GARIAHAT, KOLKATA”.
This project report throws light on the reasons behind customer’s
decision of choosing Pantaloons - Gariahat (Kolkata) for the purchase of
Apparels and various other products. A pantaloon as a Retail Brand is one
of the fast-growing players in the Indian retail industry and offers a deep
insight to the industry.
For completion of this report, a survey was conducted and for
fulfilment of questionnaires, a sample size of 30 was selected. Among those
who were interviewed consist of housewives, professionals, even students.
Though the sample size taken was small but it was varied to overcome all
the odds. A structuredquestionnaire was constructed to measure the
responses of the respondents on suitable scale so that it could be analyzed.
Primary data collection was done via questionnaires and secondary data
collection through company websites.
Through survey, effect of various factors like ambience of the store,
discount and convenience came in light and the reason of consumers
choosing Pantaloons over other retail outlets became visible.

INTRODUCTION
 COMPANY PROFILE :
Pantaloons, previously owned by the Future Group, has
recently been taken over by Aditya Birla fashion and retail
Limited, a US $360 Million (FY 16 -17) diversified industry
and India's largest manufacturer of linen fabric.
ABFRL is India's No 1. Fashion Lifestyle entity with a
combined revenue of INR 7,181 Cr. for FY 2018 and
EBITDA (Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and
amortization) of INR 501 Cr. for FY 2018.
PantaloonsFashion & Retail Limited is a premium Indian
retail chain. The first Pantaloonsretail store was launchedat
Gariahat, Kolkata in 1997.
ABFRL hosts India's largest fashion network with
over 11,000 points of sale, which include close to 2,500
exclusive ABFRL brand outlets across 700+ cities and
towns, 4,900+ multi-brand outlets and 4000+ Department
stores across the country. It has ~22 million Loyalty
Members as of 31st March 2018.

Pantaloons offers multiple accessories and apparel brands
including categories for men, women and kids. The collection
covers ethnic and western apparels for kids, men, women
complemented by a wide range of accessories. The variety of
brands and products has helped Pantaloons to become one of
the best retail brands in India.
India's Favourite Family Fashion Destination, Pantaloons has
emerged as a strong brand in the fashion industry over the past
two decades and is making fashion accessible across the length
and breadth of the country.
HEADQUARTERS - MUMBAI, MAHARASHTRA, INDIA
C.E.O – SANGEETA PENDURKAR
M.D - SANTANU KUNDU

 APPARELS, BRANDS AND ACCESSORIES :
Pantaloons offers, customers a variety of apparels and
accessories from the globally renowned brands. The labels for
men in western wear cover Rig, Lombard, Bare Leisure, SF
Jeans, Bare Denim, JM Sport, Byford, F Factor and trendy
brands like John Miller and Akkriti as ethnic wear.
The women’s section includes the private labels — Bare
Leisure, Bare Denim, Rig, Honey, Ajile and Annabelle— in
western, as well as the ethnic wears from RangManch, and
Akkriti. Popular brands as Lee Cooper, Biba are also included.
The formal wear offers a range of well-tailored collection by
international brands such as Allen Solly, Van Heusen, Peter
England and Louis Philippe.
Kids wear like Bare Denim and exclusive brands like Chalk,
Poppers, Doodle, Charpi pie and in addition to international
brands like Barbie and Disney. Pantaloons offers more than just
apparel. Customers can shop from a range of watches from
renowned brands. Trendy sunglasses from Polaroid, Guess,
Police are available.

The accessories and beauty product segments display a
remarkable collection of ladies’ handbags from Lavie, Caprese.
products from color cosmetic brands such as Chambor, Revlon,
Deborah, Maybelline, and Lakmé, as well as a wide collection of
attractive fragrances.
In its challenge to meet the consumer’s varying fashion needs,
Pantaloons has introduced new brands including Candies, Alto
Moda, Spykar, AND, Turtle, Global Desi, 109F, Chemistry, and
Giny&Jony. Pantaloons is a vital part of the prestigious Aditya
Birla Group, a USD 40 billion Indian MNC, operating in 40
countries across the globe with over 130,000 employees,
accepted as ‘India’s Most PreferredApparel Retail Brand’ in the
Brand Equity Survey 2014, Pantaloons continues to meet
consumer trust and confidence. With its overwhelming collection
of lifestyle apparel brands, the company is focusing on growth
while creating fresh fashion.

INTRODUCTION TO
MY PROJECT
My project title is “A STUDYON CUSTOMER INTERACTION AND
CUSTOMER SATISFACTIONOF PANTALOONSGARIAHAT,KOLKATA”.
involves studying customer’ssatisfaction within the store and
interaction with them to understand their needs and satisfaction level
with the product and services being provided by Pantaloons.
It is essential to understand customer’s needs to serve them
better and to do so, management should understand key purchasing
factors and prepare themselves. We must satisfy and even felicitate
our customer with the value of our products and services to gain their
loyalty and repeat purchases. Customer satisfaction should be the
initial target of any organization.One of the best ways to find out is to
ask them using customer satisfaction surveys.
Employee and the management of the store can use the
survey information to identify opportunities for ongoing process
improvement and to monitor the impact of those improvements.
An unsatisfied customer will exaggerate about their negative
experience. A satisfied customer will only tell a few people about their
positive experience. So a retailer

should always think in that way to satisfy
their customer and delighting them with the services
which enhances differentiation.
CUSTOMER SERVICE
 Customer service is the provision of providing service to customers
before, during and after a purchase of product.
 Customer service in pantaloons is a series of activities designed to
enhance the level of customer satisfaction : -
a) That is the rate a product or service has met the customer
expectation. Its vitality varies by product, and customer.
b) Defective or broken product should be exchanged, often only
with a receipt but within a specified time frame.
 Pantaloonshas a desk assigned to deal with returns, exchanges
and complaintsand performs related functionsat the point of
sale.
 From that perspective, customer service shouldbe includedas an
overall approachto systematic improvement.

 Customer service is an organization'sabilityto fulfil their
customers' wants and needs. Excellent customer service is the
abilityof an organizationto consistently exceed the customer's
expectations.
It consists of all following activities by the retailer that influence:
i. The ease with which a potential customer can shop or learn
about the store’s offering.
ii. The customer’s satisfaction with the transaction.

ADDITIONAL WORK
 Helping Customer to make Green card
 Mass GC entry
 Alteration
 Stock Check
 Shopper-friendliness
 Cash counter handling
 Customer profile and number modification
 Exchange policy
 Complain Handling
 SDM

NEED FOR STUDY
• Customer service is an unavoidablepart of a company’scustomer
value proposition.These are the parameters that indicatesthe level of
focus of any retailer to provide services to the customers.
• It is very important to make a point that unless a retaileris not
aware of the customer expectationsa service, it becomes quite difficult
to set his own service standards for the store.
• Customer service may be employed to create such competitive
advantageas a service propositionwould be harder to copy for
competitors. A company may try to differentiate itself from the
competitionthrough better customer service.
• The consistent delivery of superior service requires careful design
and execution of a whole system of activities that includes people,
technology, and processes.
• Technologyhas provided a wide range of customer service tools.
They range from support websites and the abilityto have live chats
with technicalstaff to databases tracking individualcustomers'
preferences, payment methods, pattern of buying etc., and providing
products and service responses based on this advanceddata. Specialist

software that is designed for the tracking of service levelsand for
helping recognize areas for improvement are often integrated into
other enterprise operationalsoftware tools such as ERP software.
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
ATTRIBUTES
i. QUALITY :
If you have a poor product or service, it affects the satisfaction level.
There’s a. No amount of aggressive PR or marketing that can make a
product or service sell. So, product should be up to the mark.
ii. DIFFERENTIATION :
In Kolkata market, there’s usually many players like big bazaar, max,
Brand factory, central etc. Customer service may not work when choosing
the appropriate product or service, but word of mouth certainly plays into
customer satisfaction. If a product is the best in quality and discounts, then
it’s necessary to separate it from the rest of the brands, through customer
service, marketing and product quality.

iii. ACCESS :
The era of digitalization has made finding products and services a
snap. What Emailing and finding products and services on the Internet
has become such a trend, companies have invested millions in making
sure access is free and extremely easy.
iv. FACE VALUE :
When a product or service costs high, but is worth it, the value which
becomes acceptable to the consumer. When a consumer specifically
buys trousers from peter England or bare denim, the positive features
of the products outweighs the cost, creating a strong sense of good
value. Pantaloons should have more international brands which is
rated excellent by the customers.
v. AMBIENCE :
When the customers shop at pantaloons, the first impression that
they look for is of a clean, safe and well-organized environment. The
store’s ambience affects the purchasing behaviour of the customers
immensely.

vi. FASTER SERVICES :
The services as in billing process, exchange process etc. should be
faster so that the customer won’t be waiting in a queue for a long
time. Pantaloons has come up with additional billing and exchange
counters so that they can attend more number of customers at a
time.
vii. TECHNOLOGY :
To satisfy customers, pantaloonshave come up with the latest
technologicaladvances. Technologylike capillarycashier terminal,
cashier in touch, quick cilver help improving the qualityof the
purchasing experience without delay or adding staff to the payroll.

LOYALTY PROGRAM
The PantaloonsGreen card, loyaltyprogram, has been
designed exclusively for Pantaloons' customers to enhance customer
satisfaction. Presently offered to over 4 millionmembers, the
programme entitles members to discounts, pointsredemption and
special privileges at all Pantaloonsstores.
The card has four tiers dependingon the year's
shopping. when a customer shops, the card updateswith increasing
privileges and discounts.
The benefits covered under Green card includediscounts,
complimentary parking, complimentarydelivery of altered garments,
relaxed exchange policy,complimentary shipping, exclusive sale
preview, exclusive billingcounters.
There is a membership criterion for customers in pantaloon,where
customers become members and enjoy discountson shopping.

1 STARS 3 STARS 5 STARS 7 STARS
 2 Points
per Rs. 100
• No
questions asked
Exchange Policy,
valid for 90 days,
bill not required.
• Instant
Redemption on
next bill at cash
counter .
• Convenient
Mobile based
program
Sale
Preview
 3%
discount as
points
• No
questions asked
Exchange Policy,
valid for 90 days,
bill not required.
• Instant
Redemption on
next bill at cash
counter
• Convenient
Mobile based
program
Sale
Preview
 5%
discount as
points
• No
questions asked
Exchange Policy,
valid for 90 days,
bill not required.
• Instant
Redemption on
next bill at cash
counter
• Convenient
Mobile based
program
Sale
Preview
 7%
discount as
points
• No
questions asked
Exchange Policy,
valid for 90 days,
bill not required.
• Instant
Redemption on
next bill at cash
counter
• Convenient
Mobile based
program .
Sale
Preview

OBJECTIVES OF STUDY
This marketing research aims to study:
 To check if the availabilityof goods and variety of products and
services attract customers towards Pantaloons.
 To measure the satisfaction level of overall shoppingexperience
at Pantaloons.

RESEARCH
METHODOLGY
RESEARCH APPROCH :
Depending upon the objectives of the research, the most suitable
marketing research approach is “Exploratory research”. The purpose is to
find out the experience of customers while shopping in pantaloons.
PRIMARY DATA :
To collect primary data best way is to interact with people directly it can
be through direct interviews and questionnaires. Both these methods have
used for collection of primary data.
SECONDARY DATA :
Secondary data is collected from company websites and various Literature
reviews. As Pantaloons is daily in news because of its wedding fest and
different offers, so I benefited a lot from updates on net.
SURVEY DESIGN :
Random stratified sampling was chosen for research. The CSD of
pantaloons, Gariahat was selected as the study area and people from this
area were selected for filling up of
questionnaires and collecting responses due to convenience of location.

SAMPLING PLAN :
Sampling plan for this project is divided into 3 steps:
Sample Size :
A sample size of 30 respondents was chosen. Though
small sample size but it consists of varied respondents to overcome any
error at the time of generalization of result.
Sample Unit :
Pantaloons store at Gariahat , Kolkata was chosen as sample
unit. Survey was conducted in August - September 2018.
Contact Method :
Questionnaire method was used to view responses of
respondents.

INTERPRETATION
1. AGE
As we can see, the age below 25 is 71%, which is much more than that of
other segments. The young population is dominant if we consider the
numbers. The maximum number of footfalls, are due to the young
population.

2. OCCUPATION
The student segment that is 65.8%, dominatesthe footfall especially on
weekends. So, offers shouldbe modified and approach can be
friendlier for their conversion and retention. The service sector gets a
20% of vote because of the festive occasionsand sales.

3. Frequency of Visiting Pantaloons
Most of the respondents have visited pantaloons every month as
it covers 50%.the other segment that visits
pantaloons once in a 6 month are 32%.
The reasons being pantaloons is easily reachable and
covers a large variety of apparel and cosmetics.

4. What is the most important factor that influence you to buy
from Pantaloons ?
Evidentlypantaloonshave a wide variety of productsand the
coverage is 54%. Better qualityhas been voted 30% better
services 11%. Customers prefer to shop at pantaloonsrather to
for an exclusive store having lesser variety.

5. Which of the following point you want improvement ?
As we see in this chart, 37%of respondent’scomplaintthe staffs
be reminding them of the products and service along with the
terms and conditions.29%of the customer suggest that the
services should be a little faster especiallyduring wedding fest or
weekends. Other issues such as parking lot space, baggage
counter issues are also being taken care of.

6. Variety and Quality of products available at Pantaloons
48 out of 80 respondentshave rated good with the existing
variety and qualityof products, 19 respondentshave voted
excellent and 10people have chosen average.

7. How is your experience at CSD (Customer Service Desk)
The service quality of a store can be sensed from the service desk and 60% of
the respondents are satisfied with the CSD where as 24.1%of customers reacted
excellent.12.7% of customers rated average. The personal interaction with the
respondents revealed that they had mainly some minor issues regarding cards
and points which was handled immediately.

8. Rate your opinion about CSD personal when answering your
queries ?
After purchase Services
Frequency Percent Valid
percent
Cumulative
Frequncy
Very poor
Below Avg
Valid Avg
Good
Excellent
Total
1
2
15
54
8
80
1.3
2.5
18.8
67.5
10.0
100.0
1.3
2.5
18.8
67.5
10.0
100.0
1.3
3.8
22.5
90.0
100.0
77% of the total respondents are satisfied with the after purchase services of
pantaloons mainly because of the better quality of the products and services.

9. Please rate the exchange policy of Pantaloons
Exchange policies have certain facilities for loyalty members as in they’ll get a 90
days extension for exchange and 54.4%of respondents rated good where as
26.6%of the customer voted average and the reason being no exchange on
footwear and selected garments. credit note issuance is another aspect of it.

10. How is your billing experience at pantaloons?
Among 80 respondents, 40.5% are satisfied with the billing experience
whereas 25.3% of the respondents have stated average because of the
numbers of counter available. 16.5%respondents have below average of
experience level because of the time factors. excellent and poor rating is
11.4% and 6.3% accordingly.

RESEARCH AND FINDINGS
This research helped us identify following problems where Pantaloon
has an immense scope of improvement:
1. People were found to be a little dissatisfied with the ambience of
Pantaloons as compared to some other outlets but mostly were
overall satisfied.
2. Ladies complaint about jeweller variety is not there, there should have
more variety.
3. Majority of respondents were complaining about the variety of
products,Different sizes are not available, footwear needs
improvement at Pantaloons.
4. Parking is also a problem at Pantaloons and some of the respondents
were dissatisfied with the parking lot at Pantaloons, as it provides
lesser parking space to customers. Mostly, Employees of Pantaloons
use the parking space provide by that mall only.

CONCLUSION
This research report aims to study consumer attitude towards
Pantaloonsand highlightsits strengths and weaknesses in order that
Pantaloonscan fight the competition in a smarter way. Though
Pantaloonscaptures a large market and is giving competitionto big
players like Central and big bazaar, retail in India is a booming sector
nowadaysand Pantaloonsshould try to benefit more from it.
Recommendationsgiven should be considered by Pantaloonsto come
forth as a winner in long run.
Now there are 65% of the customers comes in between 25-35.
Therefore, data suggests that they should emphasizing on this dominant
segment to add more loyal members and maximize the revenue. Providing
a better billing experience to the customers is vital for every retailer. This is
a bottleneck where customer can really get exhausted if they stand in a
queue to get the billing done, even for 10 minutes.
The factors that attractcustomers to the Pantaloons, as in, the store mainly
focus on their in-house brand availability and value of money. Many
customers believe that Pantaloons have their own branded products to
offer the customers with an affordable price.

RECOMMENDATIONS
This research throws light on various pros and cons of Pantaloons and can
help Pantaloons to improve on different aspects to have an advantage over
its peers. Based on the analysis and findings of my research, I have given
following recommendations:
1. Pantaloons needs to improve variety of products and provide space
for children coming with their parents for entertainment and have fun
so that visiting Pantaloons will be exciting for them.
2. Pantaloons should include more variety of products in its basket to
acquire the convenience of availability of all apparels under a roof
provided to its customers. Variety of products should specially be
increased in traditional wear for kids , jewellery, cosmetics, Footwear
and more varieties in watches.
3. More computers should be included at exchange counter and number
of billing counters should be increased especially during the sales and
festive season to fasten the billing process and minimize large queues.
4. Good quality of merchandise should be which should be trendy and
compete with the latest market trend.
5. If possible more lucrative discounts and offers should be implemented
to attractmore customers. The schemes and offers should be
analyzed before generalizing to customers.

SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS
SCOPE :
This research will help Pantaloonsto identify their competitors in
Gariahat, Kolkata and above all the areas in which they can have an
advantageon them.
I. Pantaloons gives various discounts and offers. This report will also
help in knowing whether various discounts and offers given by
Pantaloons are enough to attractcustomers.
II. This research is also helpful in knowing the loyalty of customers
towards Pantaloons. By Green card status we can get a notion about
it.
III. Very general mind-sets of customers like visits per month, importance
given to attributes like ambience, parking also become clear.

Limitations :
a. Questionnaires were filled in evenings, when most of the people are
in hurry and they might not have responded graciously to all the
questions.
b. Our research is limited to only one store of GariahatPantaloons,
Kolkata and sample size is of 40 respondents so errors may crop in
while analyzing the results.
c. Those who came out of the Store after shopping, were chosen for
getting the questionnaires filled but they held bulky polyethylene
bags, which they found difficult to stand for long and answer the
questions.
d. Most of the retail outlets mentioned in the questionnaire may or not
be visited by respondents; this affected their response to various
questions.

APPENDIX
Survey on the customer satisfaction and services providedat
pantaloons GARIAHAT KOLKATA.
1. AGE
 Below 25
 25 – 35
 35 – 45
 45 – 55
 Above 55
2. occupation.
 Student
 Self employed
 Service
 Homemaker
 Other
3. what is your casual preferencewhile buying products from
organized retailoutlets?
 Pantaloons
 Big bazaar
 Central
 Brand Factory
4. From which source made you buy products from pantaloons?
 Internet
 TV ads
 Hoardings
 Person or other

5. Frequency of visiting pantaloons.
 First time
 every week
 every month
 once in a 6 month
6. What is the most important factor that influence you to buy
from pantaloons?
 Better service standard
 Variety of products
 better quality of products
 price
7. Does pantaloons reminding& intimating their store discounts &
prices to you in a proper way?
 Yes
 No
 May be
8. Which of the followingpoint you want improvement?
 Service should be faster
 Staffs could be friendlier
 Staff should communicate all the points to the
consumer
 Others

9. Availability of staff in a timely manner.
 Excellent
 Good
 Average
 Below Avg
 Poor
10. How is your in-store experience?
 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
11. variety & quality of products available at pantaloons
 Excellent
 Good
 Average
 Below Avg
 Poor
12. How is your experience at CSD (customer service desk)?
 Excellent
 Good
 Average
 Below Avg
 Poor
13. Please rate the exchange policy of Pantaloons.
 Excellent
 Good
 Average
 Below Avg
 Poor

11. what is your opinion about after purchase services at
pantaloons?
 Excellent
 Good
 Average
 Below Avg
 Poor
14. what is your usage experience of pantaloonsproducts?
 Excellent
 Good
 Average
 Below Avg
 Poor
15. Please rate overall facilities like water, sanitary, washroom,
parkingetc. at Pantaloons.
 Excellent
 Good
 Average
 Below Avg
 Poor
16. Rate your opinion about Durga Puja offer in pantaloons?
 Excellent
 Good
 Average
 Below Avg
 Poor

17. How is your billing experience at Pantaloons?
 Excellent
 Good
 Average
 Below Avg
 Poor
18. what is your opinion about Green card (loyalty) facility at
pantaloons?
 Excellent
 Good
 Average
 Below Avg
 Poor
19. Rate your opinion about CSD personnel when answering
your queries.
 1
 2
 3
 4
 5
20. Feedback

BIBLIOGRAPHY
I. Wikipedia.
II. www.pantaloons.com
III. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retailing_in_India
IV. Principles of marketing By PHILIP KOTLER.
V. https://www.trendin.com/

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