Unlike others, why has Pantaloon followed multiple formats–Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar, Gold Bazaar and Pantaloon Stores?
India is a very divided society with a clear hierarchical system–the rich, the poor, the haves, the have-nots, and the aspirational class–not unlike the caste system, where each caste has its own community and aspirations. There’s no way one format can address all these groups. There’s scope for further formats. We plan to enter the home segment along with the Unitech group. We are also adding on to our food, fashion and merchandise categories. This Diwali we sold white and brown goods in many of our stores. The response was very encouraging. Can inventory management improve? Retailing involves anticipating demand on a particular day or while opening new stores. That’s why there’s always a build-up of stock. But this has to be seen in the context of expected growth. Our inventory terms (the average time a good stays in the store) are good at 86 days, down from 112 days in 2000-01. To improve efficiency, we have assigned category managers for every product group. They are responsible fo
