DAILY SALES REPORT
Requisition is planned based on the sales of the said product.product. The sales are tracked either by the daily sales report (DSR) or the sales withdrawal report (SWR).
It is very essential for the employees to understand and analyse the sales report as it gives information of all the activities related to merchandise and sales. A common DSR which is generated will give information on the store sale, customer entry, conversion, number of products sold, average value of product sold, various category sales, in depth report of products sold SKU-wise, style wise, colour wise and size wise. It gives a detail report of the product line in width as well as in depth. This report helps the sales team to analyse the sales and do the requisition of stocks.
Based on this report and also after analysing the stock position physically, stocks are ordered from the warehouse. The fast moving stocks based on size, content etc.running sizes are ordered a bit more in numbers.
For the apparel category tThe standard ratio as per retail norms is to indentplace two pieces of small size, three each of medium and large size and two pieces of ex-large size and one piece of double ex-large size in apparels. This is as per requirements in a lifestyle format store or a departmental store. Most of the software is equipped to generate the stock withdrawal report which shows the number of pieces sold SKU wise and how many of the same have to be replenished. Bu.t Iit is better to do the requisition same manually as it helps in understanding your products better and at the same time keeps one updated on the sales and movement of stocks within the department.
Focus should be to keep the departments within the store neat and tidy, to make sure of availability of all the stocks and make a customer feel very comfortable to shop inside the store. Apart from this they are also expected to receive the new stocks or the requested stock from the warehouse to their section, price them if required and also to security tag them on the floor. They are also expected to display the signage and shelf talkers required to be placed on the fixtures with respect to the merchandise placed on them. They also need to ensure that all the merchandise has the required barcode on them. A good understanding of the customer’s behaviour is expected from them, analyse the sales and to achieve targets provided, analyse sales of merchandise as to which line is selling and which line is not selling and come to a conclusion. It’s also the moral responsibility of the staffs to check if all the spot lights are working should check for expiry dates on fire extinguishers at regular intervals, if the lifts and escalators are functional, if the speakers in their section are performing well or not, etc. It is the duty of the floor staffs to inform immediately to the concerned team if any of the same is not working or performing. The security in terms of inventory and store assets is also the responsibility of this team. Hence they are also required to conduct global counts, cycle count or stock take as per the requirement and need of the store. Global count is the process where each and every stock keeping unit (SKU) is counted every day at a global level. In a cycle count a particular departments within a store are selected and products from this department are counted in cycles. Stock take is an exercise where the entire stocks within the store are counted physically. These activities are very essential to know the total stock quantity within the store and to understand the shrinkage value of the store. Basically stock take is conducted to tally the physical count and system count. Hence this activity needs to be conducted with cautious and in a planned and systematic order. Stock takes are conducted yearly, half yearly or quarterly depending on the products sold and the size of the store. Apart from all these activities the frontline sales staffs are also required to man the trial rooms in their respective departments. We will see the same in detail separately. These are the various activities which the frontline team need to do over and above selling of products to the customers and achieving the required sales. Because the frontline team is the pillar and face of the organisation they are the brand ambassadors. They therefore need to have a good understanding of retail etiquettes and grooming standards

PLACEMENT OF MERCHANDISE

Placement of merchandise is the art of displaying merchandise in an organised manner so as to offer the right quantity of the right merchandise in the right place at the right time. The concept of S-T-P is implemented in this process.

The objective behind placement of merchandise inside the store is to allocate correct space to all products, and to make sure that the products are grouped together as per the assortment plan and aligned in the right way so as to make it visible to the customer Proper planned placement of merchandise allows enough aisle space for customers, and racking space as well as stacking space for merchandise. This helps in easily identifying slow sellers and fast sellers, missing goods with respect to size or colour or pattern. It also helps to avoid damages to the goods, and helps customers to be able to browse, identify and pick the required merchandise easily. The format and layout of the store place an important role when it comes to placement of merchandise. The placement varies from one type of format to another. For a value format the placement of the merchandise is based on volumes, while for a lifestyle store format the placement is more based on merchandise assortments.
Further the placement of the merchandise also varies based on the verticals i.e. for Apparel, General Merchandise and FMCG products. Within verticals also it varies based on the type of merchandise.
Let us understand this with some examples of products from different verticals.

The placement of stocks in case of Apparels should be:
Ø brand wise,
Ø product wise,
Ø style wise,
Ø size wise,
Ø colour wise and
Ø price wise as per the demand of the store and the nature of the merchandise. The direction of placement should be top to bottom and left to right.

FMCG products
When placing merchandise on shelves and other fixtures one needs to note the first in first out method (FIFO). It helps the retailer to clear the stocks that have come in first on the floor from the shelves first.
In this method the products are placed as per-
Ø Brand
Ø Type
Ø Batch No
Ø Expiry date
Ø Weight
Ø Size
Ø MRP

All the products which have come recently are placed behind on the shelves and the products arrived earlier are placed in front on the shelves. This way the older products are sold ahead of the recent ones.
FIFO needs to be strictly followed for FMCG goods as they are perishable goods. Retailers cannot afford to keep these goods on the shelf for a longer period as they will increase the retailers’ shrinkage.
Loose food grains, and other types of staple products mostly come in sacks. Care should be taken when they are stacked on top of each other. The stack of sacks should not be very tall, but convenient enough for the staff to manage it.
Soft drinks, tetra pack products, mineral water bottles need to be stacked along with the carton one above the other. Only the top most carton need to be opened and the product displayed for the customers.

General Merchandise
Under this vertical let us first understand placements related to electronics and home appliances.
· The heavier products are placed at the bottom and the smaller units are placed on top.
· The gradation in the shelf is big to small –left to right as we face it, the prime reason being our tendency to look from left to right every time, and not the other way round, hence even the higher priced products are placed at the left hand corner.
· The eye level shelves which are between shoulder height to hip level get maximum reach, here the main products are displayed and focused upon.
· All products placed on pallets should be at chest level.
· Merchandise displayed below the knee level is lost to a customer. This space should be utilised to store excess merchandise required for replenishing. Hence in some stores cabinets are placed below the shelves at knee level.
Product handling is a very crucial aspect in retail. Stacking same items one above the other must be carefully executed to avoid unnecessary damage / scratch to the items.
Movement of items is to be limited and performed only if it is to be replenished.


In most of the general stores and supermarkets in India the placement of stocks on the floor is not up to the mark. One will notice that stocks are just placed wherever space is available and a signage is placed besides it. You will also notice signage which says,
“TOUCH IT, FEEL IT,
BUT CONSIDERED SOLD IF BROKEN”

Such signages are very prominent near crockery and gift article section. I personally as a retail expert would not entertain any signage conveying such a negative statement to a customer. Simply because it is the responsibility of the store staffs to take care of the merchandise, and the way they are placed on the fixtures.

Just to make maximum utilization of space does not mean one should get into such an activity inside the store. It is very essential to plan your space properly to display merchandise. Proper stacking of merchandise on the store floor plays an important role in reducing stock damages. Merchandise should be stacked on the floor in such a manner that goods are not dumped on each other thereby damaging them.

Because of not placing merchandise properly on shelves the chances of damage to goods is high. Items which are fragile in nature e.g. crockery, toys, electronic items, etc, should always be placed or stacked one by one on a rack. They should never be all dumped together or placed haphazardly. For fragile goods the shelf space should be enough for just one row of items. The staffs should also take care to place every product in such a manner that there is adequate space between items to enable one to easily pick a piece from the rack.

SHOP FLOOR ACTIVITIES








Activities performed within various departments in a retail store

Frontline sales team oOn the shop floor:-

Once the staffs enter their department they need to be dressed in full uniform as per company norms, and also get properly groomed as per the service standards.

Appearance
The frontline team is the brand ambassador of the store. The customers visiting the stores are greeted by this team and are assisted by them. Hence they are expected to present a neat & clean appearance. They are expected to be in uniforms (including shirt, trousers, shoes & socks) which must be worn clean & ironed. Care should be taken so as no stains, broken buttons, or loose thread is present on the uniform. Shoes should be clean & polished all the time. No sandals/slippers/sports shoes and white socks shouldqq233 be worn while on duty. Nails must be clean & cut as most of the time one will be handling merchandise. When in store premises, even during off-duty hours, a well dressed appearance needs to be maintained. Hair should be combed before commencing duty, never in front of customers.

Specifically for Men
· Uniform prescribed should be clean and pressed.
· Shoes should be clean and polished.
· Hair must be short, clean & tidy.
· One is expected to have a clean shaven look.
· In case of beards/moustaches, must be trimmed, neat & tidy.
· Nails should be cut or trimmed neatly at regular intervals.
· Any type of earrings studs & bracelets are not to be worn on the floor during official hours.

Specifically for Women
· Lady staffs having long hair should tie their hair not keep it loose, not much oil applied to it.
· No (gajras) string of small white jasmine flowers hooked on the head.
· They should avoid bright coloured nail polish and long nails as they will be a cause to distract customers or damage the merchandise on display.
· Minimum, non-flashy jewellery should be worn.
· Dangling earrings, noisy anklets & bangles must not be worn on the floor
· Only very light make-up to be applied (lipstick of very light shades only)

Personal Hygiene/Body posture
· Staffs need to keep their Hands clean at all times as they mostly will be handling merchandise or in contact with customers.
· Floor staffs should avoid biting nails on the floor.
· Floor staffs should also manage body odour & bad breath to be under control as they are offensive to the customer.
· Presenting Self by maintaining straight & upright posture on the shop floor, should be the floor staffs motive.
· Slouching on the floor should be avoided and hands in pockets & hands on the hips are not courteous to the customer & hence should also be avoided.

Dress Code
· All frontline staffs in the store should wear a prescribed uniform everyday.
· The back-end staffs mostly are expected to be in formal dress code.
· The direct & indirect staffs need to display ID cards when on duty so as it helps the customers to identify the staffs.
· Service staffs handling edible foodstuff should wear clean gloves while all staffs working inside the kitchen & live bakery sections at FMCG stores need to wear caps when on duty.
· The shop-in-shop staffs & brand promoters have their approved uniforms.
· Mostly black socks & black belts are preferred as a part of staff uniforms.

Housekeeping, security & other contractual staff also have their own prescribed uniforms with shoes.

The employees will then attend the daily meeting conducted by the line manager or the store manager, who will brief the team on the previous day’s sales, the stores performance and the target for the day. If any corporate announcement has to be made it is done in this meeting. During such meetings the store manager also chooses to wish staffs on their birthdays, congratulate them on some achievements or appreciate and reward them for any job done well on the previous day. He may also discuss specific responsibilities for the day. After the meeting the staffs will enter their specific department and will arrange the merchandise and place the merchandise in an orderly manner depending on the type of product they are handling. If its apparels they will arrange the merchandise product wise, all formal shirts grouped together, within which all full sleeves should be grouped together and short sleeves grouped together, all plain shirts grouped separately, striped shirt separately and check shirt separately and so on , and then place it style wise, then colour wise and then size wise. Same with the entire bottom wears. All stocks need to be arranged in a top-to-bottom, left-to-right pattern, reason being when a customer browses through the merchandise the movement of the customer is from left side to the right and also while looking at merchandise placed on shelves they tend to look from top to bottom.

Once the staffsy have arranged the merchandise neatly they will have to replenish the stocks sold the previous day. The stocks are replenished from the back end store warehouse or stock room. The replenishment of stocks need to be made keeping in mind the racking and stacking capacity of the respective fixture where the product is displayed. This is very essential as if not taken care of it becomes very difficult for the staffs to manage inventory as well as becomes inconvenient for the customers to pick stocks from the fixture. All staffs working in the FMCG section should regularly check if the cold storage in the warehouse and the chillers on the store floor kept for perishable goods are functioning properly or not and their temperature set to the appropriate range. On a day to day basis the maintenance staff along with the relevant floor staff should ensure that relevant temperature standards required for the various perishable items (e.g. milk and dairy products, meats, frozen desserts) are maintained and items stacked within the capacity of the chillers.

STORE OPENING PROCESS CONT'D...

Process:
· The opening and closing of the store is done by two different managers according to the schedule provided by the store manager. Every organization has a fixed process which is followed and adhered to.
· The main entrance to the store is never opened first.
· The back door namely staff entrance is the first door to be opened.
· The store should be opened for the day for trading by a management staff along with the security guard.
· The person assigned for opening the store checks the lock if it is sealed properly, and not tampered with.
· The seal to the lock should have the following information:
Date of closing
Time of closing
Closed by
Signature

It is very crucial for the manager to observe these information mentioned on the seal before opening the lock. The signature should match to the one disclosed by the core member, assuring no other initial or signature is present. The time of closing should be the same informed to him by the closing manager the previous day.

· He then opens the door, gets in along with the security guard and puts in the entry time and signs in the store opening/closing register.
· He then immediately needs to check the checklist and see for any remarks entered in it the previous closing time so as can act accordingly
· He switches on the minimum lights as required.
· He has to then check all the sensitive rooms such as the cash room, the server room, the panel room, etc. whether they have been tampered with or not and accordingly note in the register.
· All the doors to these rooms will be sealed the previous day.
· He will then allow the security guards to enter the store.
· All the security guards will get stationed at their respective posts as decided by the security supervisor.
· The guards get posted at the main entrance, at the customer service desk, at all the trial rooms, the entrance to the back office, the main entrance to the store, the ware house exit/entry door, and at all the other necessary place as required by the manager.
· The housekeeping supervisor will then allow his men to enter the store to begin with the house keeping activities.
· The team gets divided floor wise, department wise, and section wise.
· As per retail standards the floors are first swept, and then wet mopped and then followed by dry mop.
· If the floor is having carpet it is vacuum cleaned thoroughly twice in a day.
· All the washrooms are then cleaned, water tanks are filled.
· The cooler for drinking water is kept ready, back office computers, desks and cabins are cleaned.
· The food and grocery section is thoroughly cleaned, and the chillers are also wiped.
· All the fixtures, browsers, wall panels are also wipe cleaned.
· All the trolleys are also cleaned and then counted and taken out of the store and parked near the entrance to the store.
· The shopping baskets are also cleaned and placed at the entrance to all the departments.
· Trolleys and baskets are cleaned on weekly basis or as per requirement.
· This entire process should take one hour before trading begins. One has to ensure that proper cleaning materials are used to clean the fixtures and other materials in the store. Care should be taken when cleaning all wooden fixtures. Proper polish especially meant for polishing wood should be used for the same. Separate solution is used for metal and glass fixtures. Room fresheners also need to be used whenever necessary.
· Half an hour before trading the staffs is allowed to enter from the staff entrance.
· The security guard present does the frisking of the staff as mobile phones and other valuables are not allowed to be carried inside the store.
· Lady employees are frisked by the lady searcher. The valuables are all placed inside the locker of the individual staff.
· The staff then signs in the in/out register and settles in his respective department.
· The head cashier opens the cash room,, the systems personnel opens the server room and the maintenance in charge opens the panel room.
· The maintenance person switches on all the lights and air conditioner.
· The systems person switches the server and computers on and the head cashier takes out the float money float and stationary required at the cash desk and hands over to all the individual cashiers.

Float money is fixed amount of change given in all denominations less than INR. 100/-. to all the cashiers at the beginning of the individual cashier’s trading period on the till. Mostly the float money ranges from between INR.1000/- to INR.2000/-. The cashiers are supposed to hand over the float money back to the head cashier separately at the end of the shift apart from handing over the day’s collections.











· The customer service desk in charge opens his cabin and logs onswitches open his computer.
· Once all the cashiers have logged on their point of sale machine and ready the main entrance to the store is opened for customers.

Any deviation from the above process is immediately recorded in the log book. Also if any untoward incident occurs and is observed by the opening manager he immediately informs the store manager and necessary action is taken accordingly

STORE OPENING PROCESS
To understand the operations of a store one needs to be aware of all the day to day activities happening within a store. He needs to be a keen observer and should have a hunger for learning.

One needs to ask questions to himself when inside a shop floor as to why the store lay out is in the way it is, why such a merchandise mix, understand and ask why fixtures are placed in a particular manner, and how it solves the problem, and which fixture is used when and where and why, and try to analyse each and every activity happening in the shop floor. The more you observe and the more you ask questions the more you come closer in understanding operations. You also need to understand the SOP for each and every process inside the store. Let’s understand this step by step. What is the first activity that happens when the store is ready to open?

Store opening process:
Every retailer ensures that his store is properly secured and proper safety and security has been taken care of. It is a very critical responsibility of store operations managers to take care of the store so as to ensure that all the merchandise and valuables inside the store is properly arranged and safe at all times.
Every day hundreds of customers enter the store for shopping hence it becomes very important to open and close the store at a fix time so as it does not cause any inconvenience to a customer. To ensure this is in place a proper process needs to be followed during the store opening and closing time.

It is very important that the store is ready and spick and span before opening for trading for the day. A customer judges the servicethe service provided by the store by the ambience it provides to one. Hence to take care of all these the store should be opened one hour prior to trading.

Responsibility:
Only the core management team is responsible and authorized to handle the store opening and closing process. The core team will disclose their individual signature among themselves, which they will use only for store closing and opening process. This sample signature would not be disclosed to anyone other than the core team. It is the store manager’s responsibility to ensure that a register is maintained to track the store opening and closing process.
The store manager needs to prepare a schedule as to who will do the store opening and closing. The designated manager for the store opening and closing process needs to ensure that the register for the same is updated, checked and signed on a daily basis. He is also responsible for the store keys and needs to log the same in the key register on a daily basis. Managing keys at the store is a critical and sensitive operational function, which needs to be handled in a secure manner. Being inattentive to these critical areas will expose the entire store resources to serious risk.
The store is responsible for minimizing the risks involved in movement of keys and providing complete security for all the resources at the store.
The store opening and closing register lists the details of timings, signatory of authorized person, key details, etc. Any deviation in the process is noted in a separate log book. A check list also is in place which the manager needs to adhere to accordingly. The check list acts as a guide and ensures nothing is missed out during the opening and closing process.

HANDLING SCHEMES - II

Communicating the team about the scheme
First and foremost the relevant manager needs to communicate to his team regarding the scheme. It is his responsibility to explain each individual staff the application of the scheme in detail so as the staff feels comfortable during its operation and while explaining to the customer about the scheme.

To stock enough merchandise on offer
The staffs from the respective department need to ensure that stocks for the said period the scheme or offer that is going to run is available. The manager need to ensure that every staff takes this as an opportunity to liquidate his or her stocks and hence to stack all fixtures with maximum number of stocks. Availability of stocks during the schemes also entertains more walk-ins to the stores. During any scheme running in the store if stocks or proper merchandise mix is unavailable then it does not satisfy customers, its focus is lost and one ends up losing sales and the scheme turns out to be a flop show.

To keep the department ready
The manager needs to ensure that the department where the scheme is running is kept neat and clean, all the fixtures are aligned properly, merchandise displayed neatly so as it gives customers an impression to shop in the department.

To arrange for all signage
All signage need to be prepared with the updated schemes mentioned on them. These signages need to be then placed on the fixtures accordingly so as it communicates properly to all the customers entering the department.

To inform IT to update the scheme in system
The manager has to ensure that all schemes are updated by the systems personal so as during the billing the customer does not face any problems due to the same if not updated.

To inform Head Cashier about the scheme
Head cashier needs to be informed about the scheme running in the store so as he can communicate the same to his cashiers. The cashiers need to be aware of all schemes running in the store.

To inform CSD about the scheme
The customer service desk team also need to be updated about schemes running in the store so as accordingly announcements can be made to inform customers about the schemes running inside the store. Also it will help the desk staff to answer telephonic queries from customers regarding the schemes in case it has been put up in the media as well.

To inform the marketing team about the scheme
The marketing team need to be informed about the scheme well in advance so as they are prepared with all logistics required accordingly.

Pre-Event Preparations
In retailing major events are planned during festive seasons so as to attract customers. The traffic to the stores during the festive season is phenomenal and to make the full utilisation of the same retailers come up with good offers and schemes. Almost 40 -45% of the sales for the entire year is covered during the festive season. Hence it’s a very critical period for the retailers and to make it a successful event retailers need to plan and prepare well in advance for smooth operations so as the customers are benefited and also the store benefits from the same.
The success of the store and good business depends on how efficiently the event was pre-planned how effectively it was put into action.
The manager is responsible for the effective operation of the store during this period. He needs to check personally the requirements of each and every department. A checklist needs to be in place to take care of the same.

Checklist-Department wise:
Shop-floor:
· Extra sales staffs need to be manning the department.
During major events huge customer walk-ins is expected and hence there is a requirement of extra sales staffs (on temporary roles) for back-up and floor coverage.
· All cashiers need to be present.
Because the walk-ins will be high there will also be a huge conversion rate. Due to this to avoid long ques at the cash desks and to enhance the billing efficiency every cash till within the store need to be kept operational, for which there will be requirement of full coverage of cashiers.
· Check all merchandise have proper tags, barcodes to ensure fast billing
The loss prevention team need to ensure all merchandise is individually tagged to avoid pilferage which will be very evident due to the crowd expected. Also to avoid problems and delay in billing at the cash counter all merchandise need to be checked thoroughly for availability of barcodes.
· Sufficient availability of hangers
Merchandise is ordered in volumes during major events, and hence it becomes very necessary to also avail extra hangers from the warehouse to display the same in the store.
· All VM signage to be in place
The department managers should keep all the signages mentioning the offers ready well in advance to avoid last minute mess up.
· Extra stocks of essential merchandise (socks, vests, etc.)
Such merchandise should never be out of stock at any given time
· Fill in all shelves to capacity
All the fixtures and shelves should be available with merchandise as per capacity; no fixture should be seen with less stock or sizes not available.
· Arrange back stock areas
Most of the stores have a back stock area to keep excess merchandise as well as back up stocks. This area needs to be well arranged at all time so as it becomes easy for the floor staff to pick stocks from the stock area whenevr required without difficulty.
· Size sets to be organised
All merchandise displayed on the fixtures need to be merchandised size-wise so as it becomes convenient for customers to identify and pick the stock they require.
· Colour blocking to be done in advance
Colour blocking means arranging merchandise as per their shades of colours in a specific section to visually appeal the customers and attract them towards the section. Refer chapter on visual merchandising.
· Impulse areas to be fully stocked
Many essential products like handkerchiefs, socks, wallets, cookies, ready to eat items and other accessories are usually and most oftenly placed near cash counters. these products help to top up sales as they act as impulse products to a customer at the shop floor or standing in a que at the cash counter, who pick these products just for the sake of it or got an interest in the product at the last moment and made a decision to buy. Such a purchase is termed impulse buy and products are termed as impulse products. The areas, mostly at the cash desk, are termed as impulse areas. Mostly stall bins and stack bins are used to display these impulse products.
· All cartons and empty boxes to be removed from the shop floor
The shop floor should not be seen with cartons or boxes of the merchandise lying around as these cause a hindrance and inconvenience to customers.

· To create proper aisles for customers
All departments and sections need to be clearly demarcated with proper wide walking aisles. The floor should not look very congested with excess fixtures and merchandise displayed. All damaged goods to be cleared from the shop floor

Co-ordination with supply chain for timely delivery of stocks
Warehouse to be kept ready on-call for urgent deliveries
During events the warehouse need to operate on twenty four hour basis. It needs to be well equipped to deliver in times of any emergency, be it supply or delivery of stocks or home deliveries to customers.
· Systems(IT) to be tested for all discounts and overall efficient functioning before hand
· Updating and circulation of schemes sheet to all staff members
· Roster to be prepared well in advance
Cash counter:
· Additional cash tills to be installed.
If possible additional cash tills need to be installed in the shop floor to reduce customer traffic at payment counters, and to avoid inconvenience and problems for customers. Lack of cash tills within the stores lead to customers leaving the merchandise selected for billing to avoid standing in ques for long hours during peak time. Additional tills will help the store in efficient and quick billing, thus increasing business for the store.
· Float-coins and sufficient change need to be kept ready for the cashiers
The head cashier need to arrange for good amount of change from the bank well in advance to avoid falling short of change at the cash counters. Being proactive and giving a better service to the customers by arranging for such activities well in advance will certainly build the companies loyalty towards the customer and avoid the worry of losing customers in the long run due to lack of service.
Apart from this the head cashier also needs to take care of supply of consumables-shopping bags, staplers, staple pins, and other stationary requirements, Q-managers to control the que, check the functioning of EDC machines and adequate supply of EDC rolls. He should arrange for extra sets of manual cash memos in case of emergencies, and make arrangements with associated banks for extra lines and support and Cash pick up arrangement. Hot listed card list also need to be provided to the cashiers.

Facility:
· Extra housekeeping staff
Because there will be a lot of customer walk-ins during any major events requirement of extra housekeeping will be necessary to cope up with the extra amount of workload that will exist.
· Additional security guards
Looking at the present scenario of major risks involved at public areas it becomes essential for retailers to arrange for extra security for safety purpose. Also stores become sensitive and get exposed to untoward incidents, theft, etc. during events. The deployment of extra security guards tends to minimize such incidents.
· AC maintenance, filters cleaned before hand
The maintenance department need to check maintenance of all A/C. Check has to happen to see whether the centralised A/C is functioning to its full capacity. All light bulbs and electrical points should be properly checked to avoid short circuits, etc. Generators servicing and stock of diesel need to be looked into.
· Opening and closing hours of the store need to be extended
· Valet parking needs to be under control
· Disaster management and evacuation plan should be in place
· Extra waste bins to be in place
· Extra chairs for senior citizens
· Delivery counter should be put up by the operations team
· PRO to keep all government officials informed accordingly well in advance
· A special team to be arranged to handle emergencies
· Extra plastic glass and drinking water facility to be arranged for customers walking inside the store.




CSD:
· Dedicated person for announcement
· Updated list of schemes running in the store
· Gift wrappers in place
· Scotch tape, rubber stamps, etc. in place
· First aid box to be re-filled
· Music and in-store entertainment to be organised
· Extra Tokens to be in place for baggage counter

HRD:
· Staff motivational incentives and rewards to be announced before hand
· Arrangement of refreshments for staffs
· All staff members to be advised to wear comfortable shoes
· Supply of Glucose for staffs need to be organised

HANDLING SCHEMES - I

Handling schemes

Sujith called Ramesh in his cabin and informed him that as sales were very low in his department he wants to put up some good schemes for the weekend. He wanted to put up two schemes-
Avail 25% off on all tops in the ladies wear,
Buy 2 trousers and avail 50% off on the third. It had given tremendous response last year.
During the weekend as usual there were lot of customers on the flow and everybody was busy purchasing. Sujith noticed that most of the customers were not aware of the offer being run in his store. Also the billing process was slow at the cash counters as most of the customers were verifying with the cashiers if there was any offer on the specific product purchased by them.
At the customer service desk he noticed that some customers were complaining that they were billed wrong on the products they purchased and they wanted a refund. On attending to one of the customer the staff at the CSD noticed that some schemes that was available on the ladies products were not updated in the system, even though signages were placed on these products informing about the scheme.
Sujith also noticed Ramesh running to and fro from the cash desk to the IT room along with some merchandise. He also noticed that some customers were also shouting at him.

What was the major problem in Sujith’s store and what was the reason for the same. What should have Ramesh done to avoid this?

Scheme Preparation
In retail stores to satisfy customers as well as to improve sales and liquidate stocks exciting schemes and offers are often put up in the stores. To put up the right scheme on the right product at the right time is in itself a skill which the retailer or the store in-charge needs to have.
The store in-charge needs to have a thorough understanding of the products in terms of sale, age of the stock that is the period between the time it has hit the store till date, stock-in-hand, performance of the stock related to profitability, the best sellers and the slow sellers, customer profile, and market trend.

To make it simpler let us take take an example of a departmental store dealing with apparels. In the mens formal section there exists 5 lines of shirts which have been received in the store at various intervals. Assume that the cost price of the shirts is Rs.300/- and selling price of the all the shirts are 750/-.The category has informed to maintain a 60% margin on all the lines. The sales performance of the shirts also varies. Now two more new lines of shirts have reached the warehouse and need to be accommodated in the formal section. Hence to create space for these two new lines the department manager needs to come up with a good scheme so as clear the existing stocks and create space for the new stocks.

Below chart shows the data of the stock-in-hand of the five lines of shirts

SHIRT 1 2 3 4 5 New New
Line 1 Line 2
Stock-in-hand 575 425 567 250 565 750 750

Arrival Date Nov- 07 Dec- 07 Nov- 07 Jan- 08 Jan- 08 in-transit in-transit

Sales qty. till 175 325 183 500 185 NA NA
Mar-08

MRP 750/- 750/- 750/- 750/- 750/-

From the above data it is clear shirt 1 was a slow seller with lot of dead stock and also shirt 3. Shirt 4 is the best seller. To introduce the two new lines schemes have to be put on shirts 1, 2 and 3 with maximum offers on shirts 1 and 3.

Let us consider shirt 1
Total no. of shirts ordered is 750
Cost price = 300/-
MRP= 750/-
Profit Margin= 150%
Margin to be maintained= 60% i.e. can relax the discount maximum to 480/-
No. of pieces sold= 175

This means the shirts can be sold under two conditions:
1. 125 more shirts need to be sold for break even if sold at maintained MRP of 750/- and open to maximum schemes on the balance 450 shirts.
· For ex: Avail 50% off or 60% off and so on. Can also use a scheme which will benefit the sale of other lines.
· For ex: To promote the sales of shirt 5 which is a new entrant compared to the rest of the stocks an offer can be put where one can avail shirt 1 for free. This will help clear the dead stock, increase the sale of the new entrant as well as make space for the new lines.


2. Sell the rest of the shirts (575pcs.) at 480/- (35% off) maximum and still make a profit.
· Shirts 1 and 3 can also be sold as “Buy 2 for 999/-” and clear maximum stocks and also maintain the required margin.

While putting such offers care should be taken to maintain the margins as expected by the category team, to achieve top line and bottom line.

To make it a success the employees within the store need to plan and prepare well in advance so as no goof up takes place during the schemes being operational within stores.