Power of brand in retailing

Abstract

India is a country of 1.2 Bn people out of which 377 Mn are part of urban population. Day to day needs for apparels, food & grocery items, footwear’s, consumer durables, stationery, food, luxury items, sports equipments, home appliances etc are being fulfilled by the retailers in cities. The 12 Million stores in India make highest number of per capita stores in the world. The per capita spending is expected to increase from $793 in 2010 to $1160 in 2013 due to growing economy and increasing working population in India will increase the demand at retail stores. The Indian retail industry is showing huge potential and has attracted investments from the foreign players. With the increasing competition in the market, companies are continuously trying to do innovation in the retail formats to build strong brand image and create a valuable intangible asset that is difficult to imitate. Brand image for the retail constitutes of several factors like ambience, customer service, convenience, product assortment etc. Companies need to incorporate these factors in their stores to build a powerful brand image and differentiate them from the competitors. The analysis of these important factors has been done on the basis of secondary and primary research. Consumer survey was done for the top 3 Indian retail brands (Reliance Mart, ABGmore and Big Bazzar) to study their perceptions about these retail stores. The model for creating brand image in retailing have been developed by using various techniques like Spider Diagram, Factor Analysis and Regression. The final three parameters In store experience, Convenience and customer service are the findings of the study.