A Study of Customer Loyalty Program
First Choice
At Shoppers Stop
Submitted by
SUBHRODIP GHOSH
Under the Guidance of
Prof. Geeta Sheety
A Project Submitted in
Part Completion of PGDM to the
Chetanas Institute of Management and Research
Bandra (East), Mumbai-400 051
2011-13
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Declaration
I, the undersigned, hereby declare that the project report entitled A Study of Customer loyalty Programme First Choice ,Shoppers Stop written and submitted by me to Chetanas Institute of Management and Research in part completion of P.G.D.M under the guidance of Prof.Geeta Sheety , is my original work and the conclusions drawn therein are based on the material collected by myself.
I further declare that the information presented in this project is true and original to the best of my knowledge.
.
SUBHRODIP GHOSH
C.I.M.R
P.G.D.M-Marketing
ROLL NO: M-60
(2011-2013)
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Certificate
I, Prof. Geeta Sheety, hereby certify that Subhrodip Ghosh, student of Chetanas
Institute of Management & Research specialization in marketing has completed the
project report on A Study of Customer loyalty Program First Choice, Shoppers Stop,
Andheri , under my guidance in the academic year 2011-2013.
Prof.Geeta Sheety
(Professor Marketing)
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Acknowledgement
Exchange of ideas generates a new object to work in a better way. Whenever a person is helped and co-operated by other, his heart is bound to pay gratitude and obligation to them. I am honored to be attached with prestigious organization. I extend my sincere gratitude to the management of CHETANAS INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT AND RESEARCH for availing me and giving me an opportunity to work with them and assisting me in my project whenever required. I thank PROF. Geeta Sheety, who spared her valuable time and gave me opportunity to work and undertake this project and guided me throughout this project. I would like to express my sincere gratitude for providing me the opportunity to work and learn with her and with indispensable help and guidance throughout this project and for inspiring me to strive to achieve the best in difficult situations.
SUBHRODIP GHOSH
C.I.M.R
P.G.D.M-Marketing
ROLL NO: M-60
(2011-2013)
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Table Of Contents
Topics Page No.
Executive Summary 6
About Shoppers Stop 7-15
Objectives And Hypothesis 16-17
Secondary Data And Literature Review 18-28
Research Methodology 29-30
Primary Data Analysis 31-41
Hypothesis Testing 42
Findings 43
Recommendations 44
Limitations 45
Bibliography 46
Appendix 47-48
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Executive Summary
The main objective of the project was to understand, First Choice the customer loyalty program of Shoppers Stop is effective in retaining its customer or not with respect to Schemes and Offers,Pricing,Merchendaising and Ambience, as well as whether the customers are satisfied or not . Analysis of these factors was necessary so that exact effectiveness of First Choice can be determined. To investigate this in detail a survey was undertaken to understand various aspects of customers. The report encloses in depth description about the topic A Study of Customer Loyalty Program First Choice At Shoppers Stop.
In this project my focus is on tracking down the customer retention of Shoppers Stop due to the loyalty program provided by them along with their changing requirement, preferences and their changing perspective on different schemes offered
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About Shoppers Stop
Shoppers Stop is an Indian department store chain promoted by the K Raheja Corp Group (Chandru L Raheja Group), started in the year 1991 with its first store in Andheri, Mumbai Shoppers Stop Ltd has been awarded "the Hall of Fame" and won "the Emerging Market Retailer of the Year Award", by World Retail Congress at Barcelona, on April 10, 2008.Shoppers Stop is listed on theBSE. In 2011, Shoppers Stop has 53 stores in India.
It is one of the leading retail stores in India. Shoppers Stop began by operating a chain of department stores under the name Shoppers Stop in India. Shoppers Stop has 56 stores across the country (with the latest one being the outlet at Kumar Pacific Mall, Pune) including three airport stores.
Shoppers Stop retails a range of branded apparel and private label under the following categories of apparel, footwear, fashion jewellery, leather products, accessories and home products. These are complemented by cafe, food, entertainment, personal care and various beauty related services.
Shoppers Stop launched its e-store with delivery across major cities in India in 2008. The website retails all the products available at Shoppers Stop stores, including apparel, cosmetics and accessories. Shoppers Stop opened stores in Amritsar, Bhopal and Aurangabad.
Shoppers Stop retails products of domestic and international brands such as Louis Philippe, Pepe, Arrow, BIBA, Gini & Jony, Carbon, Corelle, Magppie , Nike, Reebok, LEGO, and Mattel. Shoppers Stop retails merchandise under its own labels, such as STOP, Kashish, LIFE and Vettorio Fratini, Elliza Donatein, Acropolis etc. The company also licensees for Austin Reed (London), an international brand, whos men's and women's outerwear are retailed in India exclusively through the chain. In October 2009, Shoppers Stop has bought the license for merchandising Zoozoo the brand mascot for Vodafone India.
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Vision
To be a global retailer in India and maintain its No.1 position in the Indian market in the Department Store category.
Values that help us in achieving our mission and vision:
We will not take what is not ours
The obligation to dissent (against a viewpoint that is not acceptable).
We will have an environment conducive to openness.
We will believe in innovation.
We will have an environment conducive to development.
We will have the willingness to apologise and forgive.
We will respect our customers' rights.
We will create an environment of trust.
We shall be fair.
We will be socially responsible.
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Associate Companies Nuance Group Nuance Group with Shoppers Stop makes an entry into airport retailing. The alliance is marked with a joint venture with The Nuance Group AG of Switzerland, the worlds leading airport retailer. Shopper's Stop Ltd. is handling the retail operations at the duty free zones in international terminals. The joint venture company, called Nuance Group (India) Private Limited. is operating outlets at the International airports at Bengaluru and Hyderabad.
Hyper City-Argos Hyper City-Argos and Shoppers Stop, the two retail ventures of K Raheja group had signed a memorandum of understanding with UKs leading retail chain Home Retail group to develop the Argos (retailer) retail format stores in India. Two years later, Shoppers Stop Ltd has informed Bombay Stock Exchange shall wind down and discontinue its catalogue retail operations under the Hypercity-Argos brand. The product range varies from Foods, Homeware, Home Entertainment, Hi-Tech, Appliances, Furniture, Sports, Toys & Clothing. The first Hypercity store opened in Mumbai in May, 2006, spread over 120,000 sq.ft. of retail space. Besides introducing several firsts to Indian retailing, Hypercity has an exclusive supply agreement with Waitrose, a top supermarket super market chain in U.K. and an exclusive arrangement with Raleigh Cycles for India.
Timezone
Shoppers Stop forayed into the Entertainment sector by acquiring 45% stake in Time zone Entertainment Private Limited which is in the business of setting up and operating Family Entertainment Centres (FECs). It has 5 outlets in Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Navi Mumbai and Mumbai. Shoppers Stop Ltd. and LAI of Australia are the Joint venture partners of Timezone Entertainment Pvt Ltd in India. Currently, Timezone operates 17 FECs with a retail space of 117,608 sq. ft. in India.
Page | 16
OBJECTIVES AND
HYPOTHESIS OF
THE PROJECT
Page | 17
Objectives of the Study:
Is First Choice the customer loyalty program is effective in retaining its customer.
To understand if customer are satisfied with First Choice the loyalty program of Shoppers Stop.
To study the customer perception of schemes and offers of Shoppers Stop.
To study the customer satisfaction level with regards to pricing.
Hypothesis Hypothesis is the guess researcher makes which either solve the problem or guide him in further investigation. If the hypothesis is proved the solution can be found. If not proved, alternative hypothesis need to be formulated and tested. Hypothesis arises from intuition. Initially Considering the objective the hypotheses are:
Ho(Null Hypothesis):-First Choice the Customer loyalty program is effective in retaining its customer.
H1(Alternate Hypothesis):-First Choice the Customer loyalty program is not effective in retaining its customer.
Page | 18
SECONDARY DATA AND
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Measuring the experiences of about 6,000 U.S. consumers across 11 industries, the
study found that retail consumers loyalty is strengthened by shopping experiences
that forge powerful psychological connections, and not by points or rewards programs
alone. To create such experiences, you first need to understand the experience
attributes your customers value most. These may include ease of accessing and using
an offering, ease of obtaining service support before and after a purchase, a products
quality or aesthetics, and a sense that an offering enhances a customers personal brand or connection with others.
Once youve segmented customers according to their most valued experience
attributes, you must develop and deploy an action plan to deliver a matchless
customer experience. Get it right, and you attract profitable new customers, keep your
best customers, boost your profit margins, and command a price premium over competitors. Get it wrong, and your savvier rivals will swiftly pull ahead of you.
The most potent way to create an unforgettable customer experience is by investing in
knowledgeable staff and making the most of front-line employees. In fact, PwC found
that staff members product knowledge and recommendations accounted for almost
one third of all good experiences related to service support. Contrastingly, only 1% of
the shoppers surveyed ranked rewards programs alone as the top influencer of purchase.
Of course, rewards programs are importantbut the real power comes from
augmenting such programs with differentiated experiences. We recommend developing
an experience action plan thats built on the customer knowledge youve already
extracted from your loyalty programand that activates the following five experience enhancers:
Focus first and foremost on the shopper experience: Use front-line staff to craft experiences that create psychological connections with consumerssuch as affirming customers purchase decisions, providing friendly assistance, and preventing buyers remorse.
Make satisfied customers your brand ambassadors: Consumers who experience a positive shopping experience can become your best marketers. Encourage your brand ambassadors to generate buzz through social media-based viral campaigns, or help them host community-based events with their personal networks.
Help consumers avoid risk: Attract new customers by helping them overcome psychological hurdles to making a purchase, such as concerns about shipping costs or
Page | 22
rigid return policies. The study revealed that retailers could improve margins by 8-12% by offering free shippingyet as many as 59% of retailers charge for shipping.
Embrace the anytime, anywhere economy: With consumers researching products and shopping both online and offline, understand their preferences before your competitors do. Develop a multi-channel strategy that enables customers to easily research offerings and to shop where they wantwhether its online, offline, at home, or in stores.
When something bad happens, fix it: Our study found that 72% of consumers are unwilling to repurchase from retailers who fail to resolve their issues. And a whopping 49% of customers dont tell a retailer about their bad experiences. So you often may have no idea that customers are unhappy until they leave. To address bad experiences promptly, provide customers with feedback channels. And make sure theyre happy with your responses to their feedback. A simple apology may be all you need to transform an irate customer into a passionate evangelist for your company.
Even as the recession loosens its grip on the economy, consumers wont likely relax
their hold on their wallets anytime soon. Therefore the ability to create memorable
experiences for them will remain a critical capability. Businesses that understand
what their customers value most in the purchasing experience, and that build strong
psychological bonds with them, will pull ahead of their rivals and strengthen their customer loyalty.
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Evolution of Loyalty : Traditional views The concept of loyalty first appeared in the 1940s. In its earliest days loyalty was proposed as a uni-dimensional construct, which was related to the measurement perspective taken by the researcher. Two separate loyalty concepts evolved. namely, brand preference (Guest, 1944, 1955) and share of market (Cunningham, 1956), which was later referred to as attitudinal loyalty and behavioral loyalty respectively. Nearly 30 years after loyalty first appeared in the academic literature, researchers (e.g. Day, 1969) proposed that loyalty may be more complex and that it may comprise both attitudinal and behavioral aspects. This two-dimensional concept has since been combined and referred to as composite loyalty (e.g. Jacoby, 1971). The composite definition of loyalty has become the basis for loyalty research that has since been undertaken (for examples see Jacoby and Kyner, 1973; Bloemer and Kasper, 1995; Bennett, 2001). The composite definition of loyalty considers that loyalty should always comprise favorable attitudes; intentions and repeat-purchase (see Jacoby and Chestnut, 1978). Some researchers (see Oliver, 1999) suggest that Loyalty evolves and that there are stages of loyalty. In a personal sense loyalty is a feeling or an attitude of devoted attachment and affection. This feeling of loyalty tends to imply that a person feels an obligation to stay with a brand in good and bad times. Loyalty is the key to the longevity of any brand and one type of loyalty, namely word of mouth has recently been correlated with company growth (Reichheld, 2003). It is possible that each and every customer has loyalty qualities or states in varying degrees, and that customers have a different mix of loyalty qualities or states. Marketers can activate different loyal states or qualities in different ways. For example, word of mouth behaviors may be encouraged through reward programs while attitudinal loyalty may be encouraged through emotive advertising.
As the concept of loyalty is dynamic, managers need to study how these intentions evolve through different phases of a brand life cycle. Loyalty intentions are a function of perceived value early in the life cycle. Over time, more affective attitudes toward the brand and the relationship with the company come to mediate the effects of value on intentions. From the introduction to the growth stage of a life cycle, managers must adapt from improving value per se to measuring and managing relationships and brands directly. Providing customers with perceived value or satisfaction is widely recognized as a means of improving loyalty intentions (Fornell et al. 1996; Zeithaml, Berry, and Parasuraman 1996) and actual retention (Bolton 1998; Bolton and Lemon 1999; Mittal and Kamakura 2001). However, research demonstrates that these relationships are potentially complex and dynamic and that the drivers of intentions change and evolve over time (Mittal, Kumar, and Tsiros 1999; Slotegraaf and Inman 2004). Recent research has suggested that intention drivers vary considerably over time. Mittal, Kumar, and Tsiros (1999) compare the drivers of perceived performance and subsequent loyalty intentions for new vehicle owners 3 to 4 months after purchase
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and again 21 months later. They find that service satisfaction has a greater impact on intentions early in the relationship, whereas product satisfaction has a greater impact later in the relationship. In a subsequent study, Mittal, Katrichis, and Kumar (2001) examine the drivers of customer satisfaction for people who owned a credit card for less than a year versus more than a year. They find that the weight customers place on different performance attributes shifts on the basis of their tenure with a firm. Again, in an automotive context, Slotegraaf and Inman (2004) study changes in the effects of resolvable attributes (attributes that can be fixed or repaired under warranty, such as a faulty part) versus irresolvable attributes (attributes that cannot be fixed or changed regardless of the warranty, such as size or gas mileage). They find that resolvable attributes have greater influence on satisfaction over time, whereas irresolvable attributes have less influence. So from the above literature we conclude that these studies reinforce the need for a dynamic perspective. As the customers experience with a particular offering grows over time, attitudes toward brands and relationships become stronger, more top of mind or accessible, persistent, resistant to change, and likely to guide intentions and subsequent behavior. (Fazio, Powell, and Williams 1989; Priester et al. 2004).They suggest two important attitude-type constructs. The first is affective commitment (Morgan and Hunt 1994; Verhoef 2003), or the factors that create stickiness in a relationship. This commitment is affected directly by the degree of personal interaction between a customer and a company and how the company manages the customers account over time (Bendapudi and Leone 2002). The second is brand equity, which is influenced by factors such as repeated performance and satisfaction (Keller 1993; Selnes 1993), word of mouth or the buzz about the brand (Rosen 2000), the degree of identification with the brand, and its relevance to a customers situation (Aaker 2004; Keller 2003). As the market grows and customer experience accumulates, more affective attitudes toward the relationship and brand come to drive intentions. With respect to relationship commitment, the implication is that the personal relationship between a customer and a company should be measured, nurtured, and managed effectively (Bendapudi and Leone 2002) through a companys customer relationship management system. For brand equity, the implication is that the degree to which customers identify with a particular brand and find it relevant to their situation should also be measured and managed effectively.
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Loyalty in Retail Industry, INDIA The Raheja chain that started the retail revolution in India in 1991 and now organized retail is booming in India with national and international players. According to Kishore Biyani, the big brain behind Big Bazar, price, quality or service is the only way to retain customers in retail. The repeat customers spend more than the average customers and need to be encouraged to come back. That's why the stores have started offering special discounts to customers who join their loyalty card program. Lifestyle, for instance, has a loyalty program called `The Inner Circle', while Pantaloons offers a `Green Card'. Rewards programs, Westside has `Club West' and `First Citizen' from Shopper's Stop to woo the customer. The competition being intense, more retailers - Reliance Fresh and Subhiksha for instance - have introduced membership programs. Trumart from pyramid group plans to introduce a credit card for its shoppers to give the benefit of buying goods on credit. The purpose is to emulate the services provided by the local kirana store, which also sells on credit. Getting one of these cards is easy. On a bill of Rs 2500 or above, stores such as Lifestyle, Westside, or Pantaloons or even at a Titan showroom or a Landmark bookstore issue a membership card. First Citizen Citibank Card and ICICI Bank's tie-up with Big Bazaar. Reliance entered into retail in December 2006, was distributing free 1/2 kilo sugar & ice-cream for every purchase of Rs 100 for the first few days. They have also introduced a reliance card which is free. Cardholder gets 1 point for every 100Rs of purchase after 25 points they give a cash-voucher which can be used again. They also have a feed back form to get valuable inputs from regular buyers.
According to an FMI study, many US food retailers are attributing 10 to 20 per cent increases in sales to their loyalty programs. The UKs largest supermarket chain, Tesco, attributed one-third of its 6 per cent volume increase in sales over six months to its recently launched Club card. The profit increase comes from several directions: the acquisition of new customers, increased customer retention, increased basket size, a shift towards owns (private) label and other high profit lines and the ability to recover defectors. Other reasons are more value from marketing spend (above the line marketing costs can be reduced by targeting offers more specifically) and the sale of data to other manufacturers.
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RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY
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Research Design The research is based on DESCRIPTIVE STUDY and I have used CONVINENCE SAMPLING TECHNIQUE to serve the purpose.. Sampling Unit: - College students, Working Professional, House wifes. Survey: The survey was carried out in Vile Parle(E), Mumbai.
Sample Size: A sample of 100 was taken which included youth and adult.
Data Collection Sources
a. Primary Data Primary data was collected by the survey method. The respondents
were personally interviewed with the help of a structured questionnaire.
b. Secondary Data - Secondary Data was collected from Magazines, Journals,
Newspapers, and Internet etc.
Research Approach: Survey
A survey is a research technique used to gather information from a sample of
respondents by employing a questionnaire. Normally surveys are carried out to obtain
primary data.
Data Collection Instrument Structured Questionnaire (Non-Disguised Questions) A questionnaire is a set of structures questions to be asked from respondents in a
particular order with appropriate instructions. A questionnaire serves four functions
enables data collection from respondents, lends a structure to interviews, provides
standard means for writing down answers and help in processing the data collected.
Tools Used for Research
Tools used for this research are Questionnaire, Short Interviews, and Google
Documents. A brief questionnaire focused to collect the relevant information was
prepared. Respondents were asked to fill the questionnaire.
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PRIMARY DATA ANALYSIS
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Q1.How often do you visit shopping malls? a) Once a month. b) Once in two months. c) Once in three months. d) Very rarely.
Answer No .of Respondents(100) Percentage (%) Once a Month 40 40 Once in two months 30 30 Once in three months 20 20 Very rarely 10 10
Interpretation: It is observed from the above data that 40% of people visit shopping malls once in a month, Followed by 30% who visits once in two months. There are only 20 % people who visit only once in three months and 9% people visit rarely.
40%
30%
20%
10%
How often do you visit shopping malls
Once a Month
Once in Two Months
Once in Three Months
Very Rarely
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Q2.Which is the stores you frequently visit? a) Shoppers Stop. b) Lifestyle. c) Pantaloons. d) West Side. No. of respondents(100) Percentage (%)
55 55 25 25 10 10 10 10
Interpretation: Maximum number of people visit Shoppers Stop which is 55%.LifeStyle is the second store with 25% of visit followed by Pantaloons and West Side with 10% both respectively.
55%25%
10%
10%
Stores you frequently visit
Shoppers Stop
Life Style
Pantaloons
West Side
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Q3.How often do you purchase at these stores? a) Once a month. b) Once in two month. c) Once in three month. d) Very rarely.
Answer No. of Respondents(100) Percentage (%) Once a month 55 55
Once in two month 25 25 Once in 3 month 15 15
Very rarely 5 5
Interpretation: Maximum number of people purchases once a month that is 55%, followed by 25% of people who purchases once in two months 15% of people buy once in three month, only 5% of people purchases rarely.
55%25%
15%
5%
How often do you purchase at these stores
Once a Month
Once in two Month
Once in three Month
Very Rarely
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Q4.)How often do you visit Shoppers Stop? a) Once a month. b) Once in two month. c) Once in three month. d) Very rarely.
Answer No. of Respondents(100) Percentage (%) Once a month 60 60
Once in two month 20 20 Once in three month 15 15
Very rarely 5 5
Interpretation: Out of 100 respondents 60% of respondents visits Shoppers Stop once in a month, while 20% visits once in two months,15% visits once in three months and 5% visits rarely.
60%
20%
15%
5%
How often do you visit Shoppers Stop
Once a month
Once in two month
Once in three month
Very rarely
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Q5.Are you aware of First Choice Shoppers Stop loyalty program? a) Yes b) No
Answer No. of Respondents(100) Percentage (%) Yes 78 78 No 22 22
Interpretation: Maximum number of people i.e. 78% of people is aware of the program which means that the store is very successful in reaching out to the customers and making them aware of the existence of the loyalty program.
78%
22%
Aware of First Choice Shoppers Stop loyalty program
Yes No
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Q6.Are you a member of Shoppers Stop First Choice loyalty program? a) Yes b) No
Answer No. of Respondents(100) Percentage (%) Yes 66 66 No 34 34
Interpretation: A whopping 66% of people are member of the loyalty program because it is observed from the earlier question that more than 75% of the people are aware of the existence of the loyalty program itself. This implies that the store has reached out successfully to the people.
66%
34%
Member of Shoppers Stop First Choice loyalty program
Yes No
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Q7.It is easy to avail the benefits of First Choice loyalty program? a) Yes b) No
Answer No. of Respondents(100) Percentage (%) Yes 58 58 No 42 42
Interpretation: Maximum number i.e.58% of the respondents feel that it is easy to avail the benefits of the program because they are very clear about the whole process of redeeming it. The store should take some action so that the 42% of the respondents who says its not easy to avail benefits of the loyalty program so that they can get the benefits easily.
58%42%
Easy to avail the benefits of "First Choice" loyalty program
Yes
No
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Q8.The store keep me informed of all the upcoming offers and events at which I can avail some benefits? a) Yes b) No
Answer No. of Respondents(100) Percentage (%) Yes 61 61 No 39 39
Interpretation:- Maximum number of respondents i.e.61%feel that they are aware of any upcoming events related to the store but as observed in the earlier question that still 42% respondents are unable to avail the benefits because the process is complicated.
61%
39%
Store keep me informed of all the upcoming offers and events
Yes
No
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Q9.At times due to First Choice offers I have ended up over spending in a) Apparels b) Accessories c) Others.
Answer No. of Respondents(100) Percentage(%) Apparels 57 57
Accessories 30 30 Others 13 13
Interpretation: Due to the loyalty program 57% of the respondents ended up with overspending in apparels followed by 30 % in accessories and 13% in other, which indicates that that the loyalty program First Choice have an effect on the mind of the respondents.
57%30%
13%
Due to First Choice offers I have ended up over spending in
Apparels
Accessories
Others
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Q10.) Are you satisfied by the services that have been offered to you being a member of the loyalty program First Choice? a) Yes b) No
Answer No. of Respondents(100) Percentage (%)
Yes 68 68 No 32 32
Interpretation: Majority of the respondents voted that they are satisfied with overall services of the loyalty program First Choice i.e. 68%.The major reason for satisfaction that are found in the survey are:
The redemption process is clear to maximum no of respondents. The reward to billing amount ratio is clear to the respondents. The communication in terms of making customers aware about the program is very
effective and hence the program is very successful and they are loyal to Shoppers Stop.
68%
32%
Satisfied by the services that has been offered to you being a member of
the loyalty program "First Choice"
Yes No
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Hypothesis Testing A majority of the respondents i.e. 78% say that are aware of the loyalty program First Choice of Shoppers Stop and 66% are member of the loyalty program. This implies that because the process of redemption of points and also the reward points to billing amount ratio is clear, the respondents feel that they are benefitted after becoming the member of the loyalty program. A lot of customer also seemed to be happy about the fact that Shoppers Stop has an exclusive shopping days for its First Citizen members. This means that the store is able to retain its customer with them. Also majority of the respondents i.e. 68% were satisfied by the services offered by the Shoppers Stop. Therefore We select the Null Hypothesis and reject the Alternate Hypothesis because First Choice the customer loyalty program for Shoppers Stop is effective in retaining its customers.
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Findings:
Majority of people are aware of the Shoppers Stop loyalty program.
Out of the respondents who are members, maximum of them knows how to redeem the loyalty points.
Customers are satisfied with the communication strategy of the loyalty program by Shoppers Stop.
Customers feel it is easy to avail the benefits of the loyalty program First Choice.
There are various interesting schemes, offers or other facilities like free parking which excites the customer.
Promotional activities (gifts, discounts, coupons)should be enhanced more.
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Recommendations
The overall image of the customer loyalty program First Program was found to be good and there are not much loop holes related to redemption of points.
The company should be more prompt in handling the queries and problem of the
customer, which is very essential to retain the customer with the customer in future.
Press release of any new products or ventures should be entertained.
The entire process to redeem the reward points should be made much simpler and clear to the customer.
Event promotion: taking advantage of upcoming festivals, concerts so that more
people come to know about the Shoppers Stop Loyalty program.
The company should increase their sales period as customers are somewhat
dissatisfied with time duration of it.
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Limitations
Although I have tried my level best to prepare this report an error free report every effort has been made to offer the most authenticate position with accuracy. But there may be a possibility of some error in my report also.
As whole of my project and my findings are based on the information collected through survey fact sheet, hence there might be a possibility that respondent may have given wrong or partially correct information.
The research was conducted in a limited area.
The time period allotted for the study was less, which may provide a deceptive picture in comparison to the study based on long run.
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Bibliography:- www.forbesindia.com www.shoppersstop.com www.retailindia.com www.economictimes.com Loyalty program applications in Indian service industry IIM-Ahmedabad ,India
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Appendix Personal Details Name: Gender: Male ( ) Female ( ) Please tick on the appropriate option for the following questions Q1.How often do you visit shopping malls? a) Once a month. ( ) b) Once in two months. ( ) c) Once in three months. ( ) d) Very rarely. ( ) Q2.Which is the stores you frequently visit? a) Shoppers Stop. ( ) b) Lifestyle. ( ) c) Pantaloons. ( ) d) West Side. ( ) Q3.How often do you purchase at these stores? a) Once a month. ( ) b) Once in two month. ( ) c) Once in three month. ( ) d) Very rarely. ( ) Q4.)How often do you visit Shoppers Stop? a) Once a month. ( ) b) Once in two month. ( ) c) Once in three month. ( ) d) Very rarely. ( ) Q5.)Are you aware of First Choice Shoppers Stop loyalty program? a) Yes. ( ) b) No. ( ) Q6.)Are you a member of Shoppers Stop First Choice loyalty program? a) Yes. ( ) b) No. ( )
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Q7.)It is easy to avail the benefits of First Choice loyalty program? a) Yes. ( ) b) No. ( ) Q8.)The store keeps me informed of all the upcoming offers and events at which I can avail some benefits? a) Yes. ( ) b) No. ( ) Q9.)At times due to First Choice offers I have ended up over spending in a) Apparels. ( ) b) Accessories. ( ) c) Others. ( ) Q10.) Are you satisfied by the services that has been offered to you being a member of the loyalty program First Choice? a) Yes. ( ) b) No. ( )