Report on Store visit

Retail Operation-
Retail operations generally refer to the daily business activities of a retail
business, which is a business that sells products directly to consumers.
These activities, or operations, range from choosing and buying products
for the store to accepting payment for the product from consumers and
everything in between. Retailing involves all activities required to market
goods and services to consumers who are purchasing for fulfill the needs.

Significance of Retail Operation-

Retail operation is a essential part of business activities, for the growth of
the organization and at the same time fulfilling the needs of the consumer.
All the goods produced have motive to be sold, retail operation play a vital
role for this. It help to grow the organization both economically and
personally by generating revenue and costumer satisfaction at the same
time. It helps to increase standard of living of the consumer and provide
better service and goods. Retail operation provide new goods and services
to every consumer. Inventory control is a vital part of retail operation.

Store Visit-1
Store: Puma
Store manager name: Mr. Shivang
Store location: Phoenix Palassio (Lucknow)
Date: 29/10/2021

Market Presence-

The sports wear industry in India has a very close working relationship with
the sportsmen which are the midst of a major transformation. In Indian
market Puma is existing from many years and a good brand image to
the Indian. A convergence of the user, developer and producer has
provided Indian with the regions most sophisticated sportswear sector.In
the Indian market athletic sportswear began to evolve from a product line
aimed at small and unique market into a main stream fashion product.
That’s the reason I have chosen this store for my overall development of
my knowledge regarding retail operation.

Questionnaire:
Q1- What is your company profile?

Q2- How many types of retail operation do you use?

Q3- Being a store manager, what is your opinion regarding the importance
of retail operations?

Q4- Which types of customer attraction strategies do you follow?

Q5- Which mode of orientation is more preferred?

Marketing oriented
Sales oriented

Q6- What are the duties and responsibilities of a store manager?

Q7- As a store manager, what are the majors would you take to meet the
customer satisfaction?

Q8- Which type of forecasting or study of market and consumer done for
the selection of merchandize?

Q9- Which system or processes do you prefers to facilitate stock

management?

Q10- According to you, what is the importance of store ambience?

Q11- What efforts do you make to create a good ambience at your store?

Q12-How do you ensure proper promotion and visibility of your brand

inside the mall premises as well as outside?

Q13- What type of Logistics operation do you use?

Q14- What type of software are used in the store and what are the major
functions they perform?
Q15- What is the customer retention strategy that you follow?

Q16- How efficient and profitable has your business been after E-
commerce came into effect on a large scale?

Q17- Did E- commerce helps in providing a back to the sales during the
Covid times?

Report on Store Visit-

As I am doing specialization on merchandising, I have many doubt
regarding retail operation, store management, software used etc. Therefore
when I got the opportunity I utilized it in the manner which leads to increase
my personal as well as technological knowledge. I went to Phoenix palassio
mall on 29th Oct 2021. I went to Puma Store which is quite famous for there
appropriate store ambience, store management, visual merchandising and customer
satisfaction. There were many questions in my mind, so I made a questionnaire
which I took along with myself. My prime focus was to know about the ongoing
retail operation in Puma store. All the answers are discussed below.

Role of a Store Manager-

At my first interaction I have asked the very first question about his role as
a store manager. He told me everything about his presence and role in the
store, how he run the store without any difficulty and ignoring all the
problems which can occur in future that may disturb the free flow of retail
operation. He also told me how he look after the customer and ensure that
they are satisfied. The store manager is responsible for the management of
staff,cash,stock and store ambience. Store manager set the arrangement
of fast-moving goods in front of the store because demand of products can
be high and slow - moving slow selling goods in some other location and try
to sell on the discounted price. Stock of high selling goods are maintained
so that they are available for the consumers.

Customer Attraction Strategy-

For this primarily there nothing to do with the store manager because these
are managed by people sitting on higher level, they take the decision
regarding the collaboration with celebrity which will be the face of there
brand and attract new customer to the stores. As well as brand offers
discounts based on seasonal sales, and can give Gifts and vouchers.
To attract the customer, the good store ambiance (like – music, lighting,
cleaning etc.) are very important.

Customer Satisfaction Function

Much of a store’s success depends on customer service - how it treats its

customers. Customers may not always be right, but they’re always the
customer, representing a potential sale and potential review. With excellent
customer service, stores can increase their competitiveness, and even
make up for shortfalls in other areas, such as convenience or pricing.

Influence the consumer to buy and providing required services after

purchase

When the customer enters the showroom gate its the responsibility of the
sales person to introduce all the product in a manner that he/she got to
know all the benefits of the product and how they need it in day to day life.
Provide all the information regarding the product thus building a necessity
in their life of that product and finally influence them to purchase it. They
should also differentiate two or more product so that the consumer should
know why they are purchasing that specific product. Services like returning
the product is done once the product is sold, that is also the responsibility
of the sales person.
Inventory control-
For a store to succeed, it needs to have the products to satisfy its
customers. Stores do their best to balance supply and demand for products
in a constant cycle of selling and restocking. If a product doesn’t move well,
it is replaced with something that does. If a product does sell well, the store
increase its inventory.
 Standard Operating Procedure -

To run smoothly and efficiently, stores should define their daily, weekly,
and monthly processes in written standard operating procedures. These
procedures can be paired with checklists to ensure they are being carried
out properly, by the correct people at the correct time. Virtually every
operations function detailed in this article should have a written procedure
compiled into an operations manual to ensure uniformity and consistency.

The store should be opened to the public on time, indicated with signs or
lights as appropriate.Employees should begin preparing at a designated
time for the store to close. This typically includes cleaning and other
preparation for opening the next day.The store alerts customers at a
specified time, such as thirty minutes before and again ten minutes before,
that the store will be closing. Staff may pull gates, change the lighting or
perform other steps to alert customers.All cash is counted, reconciled,
checked by a manager, and locked. All keys go to the person in charge of
that. The procedure should define in detail how important matters like this
are carried out.Opening and closing work is subject to inspection by
someone responsible for that, as appropriate.

Store Visit-2
Brand: Sketchers
Store manager name: Mr. Ashish Rajpoot
Store visit location: Phoenix Palassio (Lucknow)
Date: 30/11/2021

Market presence-

Skechers has strong competition and it has consistently performed better

than competitors. The company has had strong growth over the last few
years along with a strong increase in its stock price. Overall, the shoe
industry being cyclical in nature has both positive and negative aspects.
Questionnaire

Q.1 As far as the basic retail operations is concerned, what are the basic
retail operation procedures?
Q.2 What are the daily store activities which a store manager needs to
check upon on a regular basis?
Q.3 What are the basic housekeeping guidelines and how important role
do they play in a retail store?
Q.4 How are the house keeping guidelines delivered to the staff?
Q. 5 Which methodology is used for cash management?
Q. 6 How efficient have online payment and card payment has become
as compared to cash payment?
Q.7 What type of expenditures are included in the store expenses?
Q.8 What measures do you take to control store expense?
Q.9 Which system of merchandize organization is used in your store?
Q.10 What are the checkpoints to be looked upon during the store
auditing?
Q.11 Who is responsible for store auditing in your store?
Q.12 What are the return policies at your store?
Q.13 What are the quality checkpoints to be looked upon when return
policies are to be applied?
Q.14 What steps are taken to control shrinkage?
Q.15 Importance of store employee management?
Q.16 Criteria of manpower planning in retail?
Q.17 What steps are taken for the determination of the adequate amount
of manpower for retail handling?
Q.18 Do you use any staff motivation or incentive planning strategy? If
yes, what are they and when?
Q.19 What measures are taken to facilitate the induction and training in
retail?
Q.20 What factors promote team building and leadership at your store?

Detail Report on store visit:

A visit to phoenix palassio was organized by FDDI for students with
Specialization in merchandising in order to learn better about the
functioning of managing operations and retail standard operations
procedures of a retail store.
Store ambience also assists in enhancing the brand value of the various
products. It helps to increase consumer Foot fall and provokes them for
repeated purchases. It is possible to attract the customers using the right
mix of elements of store ambience.

Cash management-
Cash management is the process of collecting and managing cash flows.
Cash management can be important for both individuals and companies. In
business, it is a key component of a company's financial stability. ... Banks
are typically a primary financial service provider for the custody of cash
assets.
Any of the following spending actions can qualify as an expenditure: (1)
capital spending, (2) distributing funds to owners, (3) retiring or paying off
debt, or (4) paying expenses. Note that accountants define expense
spending as an action that reduces owners equity by using up assets.

Team Work-
Encourage trust and cooperation among employees on your team.
Remember that the relationships team members establish among
themselves are every bit as important as those you establish with them. As
the team begins to take shape, pay close attention to the ways in which
team members work together and take steps to improve communication,
cooperation, trust, and respect in those relationships.
Encourage team members to share information. Emphasize the importance
of each team member's contribution and demonstrate how all of their jobs
operate together to move the entire team closer to its goal.
Delegate problem-solving tasks to the team. Let the team work on creative
solutions together.
Facilitate communication. Remember that communication is the single
most important factor in successful teamwork. Facilitating communication
does not mean holding meetings all the time. Instead it means setting an
example by remaining open to suggestions and concerns, by asking
questions and offering help, and by doing everything you can to avoid
confusion in your own communication.
Establish team values and goals; evaluate team performance. Be sure to
talk with members about the progress they are making toward established
goals so that employees get a sense both of their success and of the
challenges that lie ahead. Address teamwork in performance standards.
Discuss with your team:will learn by trial and error on the job, which is
rather costlier.

Importance of Store Visit for the completion of the Course-

We came know how a brand retail store works.We get the practical
knowledge of retail store.Got retail exposure.Learn about the roles and
responsibility of store manager. Know about the retail store policy.Learn
retail skills

Conclusion-

Firstly I would like to thank to our FDDI team for taking this step.The visit
was really helpful to us as we haven’t experienced such this before.Many
operations should have left unknown if we would not hit this visit. The
knowledge that we have gained from the visit is really helpful. I would like
to have a ovation for our hod to take this step.
I am pretty sure that this has been really helpful and will help us in future.
The things that we get to know the operations that was done in the mall
was really helpful.
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