T24 Mobile

T24 is a mobile service launched by Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL) & Future Group. There are many aspects to this partnership and offering.

Firstly, seeing the growth of mobile penetration, traditionally retail companies like Future group has entered into this space. The Indian industry already has more than 15 mobile operators and share more than 600 million subscribers among themselves. The need of hour is to improve service and connectivity but instead there are new brands which are getting launched. Though T24 aspires to capture 10 million subscribers in the period of 3 years, which is very less as compared to its target audience. Future group has various retail formats in all parts of the country and having launched in 18 circles, it could get more subscribers, if they offer better service.

Secondly, the positioning which T24 has taken is on price. UNPAID, is the key word which company is promoting as customers get free talk time when ever they shop in future group. Future group has more than 1000 stores in 120 different locations and they touch base with more than 200 million customers in a year, which makes Future group the largest retailer in India. The market which is already very price sensitive, and players like Videocon offering call rates at 0/paise has opened new fronts for companies to fight. No doubt this is very innovative idea where retail company has ventured into this space and Future group with Big Bazaar its flagship chain portrays itself as a retail outlet of common man. But the challenge of TTSL & Future group would be to ensure the service and hence they will be able to retain the customer.

Thirdly, the marketing and promotion which T24 is doing is aggressive. They have taken big hoardings in mumbai, pune, hyderabad, chennai and other big cities. Once you walk down the streets of Mumbai, you will find almost every second bus shelter painted with "UNPAID" message. That's an irony, the cities which already have tasted the service of big players like Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, Reliance etc. will take some time to try this new service. Though free connections in the retail stores will get them to sell their connections but success of T24 depends on recharging. 

Hafte ka sabse bada din!!!

Hafte Ka Sabse Sasta Din, a marketing strategy used by Retail chains to attract more customers to their stores. This is to increase the sale of the store during weekday also. Sabse Sasta din- the best bargain day for Shopping- this concept was started by Shoprite, one of the main retail companies in South Africa. This concept was carried in India also. But unfortunately they were not able to carry forward this successfully. This concept was then acquired by RPG group’s Spencer’s and the Future group’s Big Bazaar.On this day the retail stores offer heavy discounts.

Wednesday is promoted as Hafte ka Sabse Sasta Din. The reason to choose Wednesday for best bargain day is that majority of Indians don’t shop on this day of the week. Reports have suggested that on wednesday there are approximately twenty five percent footfalls as compared to weekends. Being middle day of the week, working women don’t visit stores. Major customers of these superstores are housewives. So if discounts are given, footfalls can be increased and that result into more sales for the store. Everyone wants to saves and wants value for money, so customers get fascinated by these promotions and tends to shop more to save.

For companies it’s all in volumes. They play on volume which compensate for the lower margins. In Big Bazaar on the day of Hafte Ka Sabse Sasta din, single store is able to sell 800 kgs of water melon. On a single day store is able to do business of more than 70-80 lakhs. Big Bazaar, in order to get more footfalls on Wednesday invite customers to there stores by sending door to door greetings and taking rally on roads, advertisements on radios etc. Retail chain offers different discount schemes and increase there ticket size by this. Merchandise Presentation is made to look attractive so that customers comes and buys . 

As Big Bazaar Promotes Hafte Ka Sabse Sasta Din as Wednesday Bazaar, Spencer’s had launch ‘Hara bhara Wednesday’ scheme of offering discounts on vegetables. 

According to some customers due to this concept they able to save around Rs 3,000- Rs 4000 a month which means a big amount so they prefer to shop on this day. And for companies it’s a big business day as they able to get volume sales during this day.