Shoppers’ Stop Bets Big On CRM Moves Attracting Sales  ( June '7,2004, FE)

Retail chain Shoppers’ Stop Ltd, is eyeing over 50 per cent sales this year from its customer relationship management (CRM) initiatives. The company has also lined up an aggressive expansion plan targeting smaller towns and cities in the country.

BS Nagesh, managing director and CEO of Shoppers’ Stop, told FE that the company has given a new direction to its CRM initiatives after it acquired a business intelligence software called ‘Business Solutions’ about eight months ago.

The new software helps generate intelligent data from Shoppers’ Stop customer base of about 2,30,000. The company then collects this data and touches base with customers via direct mailers informing them of all new promotions that is currently on and also updates them about the upcoming events.

“Last year, about 50 per cent of our sales came from repeat customers and this year too we are expecting this number to grow,” Mr Nagesh said.

Shoppers’ Stop claims that it has taken its CRM initiatives to a new height and now calls it’s loyalty programmes Customer Experience Management.

“If we find from the data that a customer had bought a pair of trousers, we tell him about a new range of shirts that we have just brought into our store,” says Mr Nagesh.

The Rs 400-crore Shoppers’ Stop currently has 15 stores spread across Kolkata, Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, New Delhi, Jaipur, Pune and Gurgaon. The company on Sunday inaugurated its second outlet in Kolkata.

“We are planning to open 35 outlets within the next three years. We have identified 21 new locations including Kanpur, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ahmedabad and Indore, among others to set up these outlets,” Mr Nagesh said.

Shoppers’ Stop, which sells more than 250 labels in its outlets, is also putting a major thrust on accessories this year. According to Mr Nagesh, customer behaviour indicate that there will be a surge in demand for accessories in retail outlets in India. Anticipating this demand, the retail chain is devoting more space to consumer electronics items like digital cameras and designer watches in its outlets, especially the new ones that are being set up.

According to Mr Nagesh, the company’s own labels account for 18 per cent of its revenues. UK based ready-to-wear menswear range Austin Reed, which has a sole licensing agreement with Shoppers’ Stop, is also likely to come out with a women’s range later this year.

The company is also keen to enhance training for its 1,800-odd employees. Vijay Kashyap, vice-president of HR at Shoppers’ Stop said, “We have a kangaroo programme in our company which is a development programme for workers and so far has been a very effective way to groom talent.”

As a first step under this programme which is called “Baby Kangaroos”, the company chooses about 400 people from the front-end operations and makes them undergo a six-month development programme. After assessment, about 30 employees qualify to become supervisors.

The process is repeated under different conditions for supervisors to qualify as departmental managers which is called the Kangaroo programme. In an even more advanced level called the senior kangaroo, the departmental managers qualify to become unit heads.

“We call this kangaroo because like the animal which carries a pouch, the employees have to undergo training in the hands of seniors,” explained Mr Kashyap.