How to build a successful Retail Brand?

In this ever escalating Retail War in India, ultimately the " DIKHTA HAI TO BIKTA HAI" factor will take serious precedence followed by the Quality & Price factors...

The ATL( above the line ) advertising will help a bit, but only create a recall value. The consumer will value what is on the Shelf, in his visibility, understanding & pocket permission.

The War is On...

I guess the biggest factor which affects the footfalls in a major way are the promotions which are being run coz as of now a very few people are brand loyal and the rest are interested only in the discounts being run.Whichever retail is providing the best offers during the buying cycle gets the most share of customers.

Brand value should be clearly transmitted to the customers. For this various levels in retail concern like marketing, human resources,distribution, logistics, administration and sales have to work towards a common brand value that has to be communicated to the consumer. It should be meaningful and should attract the customers and make them walk to the retail concern.

People come to know about the promotions when they come to the store. To encourage them to come to the store more often, they should be told about the most lucrative offer going on in the store on their mobiles to encourage them to come to the store. Once the customer is in the store, the in store promotions can do the trick.... i'll be lookin forward to your comments on my idea..

In starting stage......Instead of giving individual franchisees.....spread everywhere through hire space in different leading stores....so the customer find you everywhere where he goes.....it gives a positive impression on customer's mind about the brand. Also put a suggestion book on your each counter and ask every visitor why he/she purchase or not purchase the stuff. It helps a lot to improve the quality and other things to move the products in the line of hot products......

And always beware of giving heavy discounts.....it gives the wrong impression on customers mind abt the quality and price of products.

One should think of its customers not for creating wealth, many Brands still survive successfully to serve its target audience because of 'word of mouth' one wrong step spoils your leg. dont serve them - delight them.

The first thing that should be there for successful retail brand is that there should be amble merchandise available in the shop. Customers should be satisfied when they walk out from the shop and also there should a proper Supply Chain Management which can provide goods at the right time with right quality. Customers should be able to select goods according to their demand.

In store promotions is becoming very important. A customer who has come to the organized retail store is likely to buy the product which is there in fromt of his eyes with a promotional offer displayed prominently. in case of low involvement products, product placement determines the chances of product being purchased by the TG. Thus, the player which provides a complete experience to the consumer has chances of having a much more favourable response from the prospects.

The basics of branding apply here with a few minor changes. First get your pricing right, your merchandise should cater to the season and consumer demands, need the right location with adequate parking and foremost the retail store should always be happening and aim to deliver a new shopping experience everytime a customer visits. Be it changing the floor layout, displays, lighting etc.

I think already many learned people have contributed their ideas to this topic. I would just like to add that a Retail Brand is a holistic term and it should be dealt with in a holsitic way. Apart from all the factors mentioned, I would say that customer interaction is very important. The retail brand should boast of people who can explain the product well, help the customer reach the RIGHT product, should be trained in its demo, have good market knowledge and give the idea that they are there to HELP more than just SELL. Here, understanding the costomer's needs and advising accordingly is much more impressive than just pushing a product. The customer should feel - "Alright, here is someone who can actually help!" Companies should spend on training on this part. More than language skills (which are not to be anyhow underestimated), I think there should be emphasis on soft-skills, training on customer types, customer psychology, assessment of customer needs, body language among others. I think the first step of customer's self-identification with the product/brand begins with the sales communication. If it conveys the message - "Here's what you are looking for" rather than "We are here to sell you this!", its done its job.

Retail revolution that began in developed countries has arrived finally in india.The time of the organised retail business is perfect as india is gearing up for tremendous growth .The retail business on a mall format is devised to give the customers right ambiance so that he can decide upon the things he would like to purchase.Here you  would get everything under one roof.Now building a brand wud never mean  that you sell something cheap and people will flock to buy it.The product needs to be of the desired quality and at the right price.Further to it there has to be CRM  done so that the same customer will repeat the purchases.This is how value addition will help generate brands that will be global in nature as these brands will have lots to bck them.Basic marketing techniques will follow soon in the shape of reminder of sales on phones or net to further add convenience in knowing the discounts.