A Report on Visit to Brand Factory, Mysore

By Rakshith K Appanna

We the group of 12 students doing a specialisation in Retail & Supply Chain Management

visited the Brand Factory Mall on 28th March 2014 along with our faculty Mr. Raghav Prasad.

There we met the store manager Mr. Sharath B.S. We received a warm welcome into the

store. Brand Factory is one of the many retail outlets which are owned by the Future Group.

The purpose of the visit was to know how a retail store works. The store layout, strategies

used, merchandising, techniques adopted etc. were to be studied.

About Future Group

Future Group is an Indian privately held corporation that runs chain of large discount

department stores and warehouse stores. It was established in 1987 in order to provide

diverse services. Its founder and CEO is Mr. Kishore Biyani. Its businesses focus on

developing and operating modern retail, brands and distribution networks for the

consumption sector in India.

About Brand Factory

Brand factory is a fashion retail outlet which is a part of Future Group. It comes under

Future Lifestyle Fashions (FLF). Brand factory offers the best Indian and International brands

at Smart Prices. The emphasis at Brand Factory is to offer customers the widest range of

brands at absolutely great prices. These outlets are wide spread across the country and are

situated in every major city. Brand Factory offers several brands including Levis, Pepe Jeans,

Dockers, Wrangler, Provogue, Arrow, Nike, RIG, Scullers, Converse, Adidas, Reebok, Louis

Phillip, Allen Solly, Reid & Taylor and others. Future Group also has its own brands like Pink

& Blue and Knighthood.

At first, Mr. Sharath asked us to take a tour around the store and get to know about the

layout. Brand factory covers a huge area of more than 30000 sq. feet. It has 4 floors

excluding the basement for parking. Each floor is dedicated and targeted to a particular

segment of people.

In the ground floor we get watches and perfumes for men and women, sportswear, foot

wear, backpacks, women casual wear along with accessories. First floor is all about men

casuals. Kids wear is also available and also travel bags. The second floor completely

comprises of men’s formals. And the third floor is dedicated for women. A section for kids

wear is also present. As the name indicates ‘BRAND FACTORY’, each floor comprises of as

many as 15-20 brands.

We were then made to sit in a room where Mr. Sharath gave a small lecture. He first gave

an introduction about the Future group and its founder Mr. Kishore Biyani. He then briefed

about the success of Brand Factory. Then he lectured on various aspects of Retail

management. We came to know the current trends in the retail business, what they were

and what there are now. In today’s scenario there is a neck to neck competition in retail

business and Brand Factory has done an exceptional job in acquiring a major market share in

Mysore.

The reason behind this is that Brand Factory is a discount oriented retail store. Walk in any

time of the year and you can avail discount on all the brands. Discounts may vary from 20% -

60% depending on the brand. The customer traffic is higher in the festive season and

therefore more offers are given. As a customer loyalty program, Brand Factory offers

Payback Card where points are added every time a customer shops. These points can be

redeemed by getting more discounts.

Then Mr. Sharath took an important matter on cost reduction. As a store manager, he has

done everything that he could to reduce the cost expenses. As to any retail store, he has an

annual target to achieve. Cost reduction has helped him to reach those targets easily. Profits

have increased and financially it is healthy. Various policies adopted, tools and techniques

used were also discussed.

Later Mr. Sharath took us to the detailed tour of the store. First we visited the ‘Visual

Merchandising room.’ VM is the presentation of the store in such a manner to attract the

potential customers. And in this regard, Brand Factory has done a decent job. The store is

attractive and it has managed well in presenting all the brands. Then we made our way to

the ‘Fun room’, where the employees can have a break. Then he explained how the store

layout is planned. Each floor has trail rooms and two billing counters (also known as cash

tills or Point Of Sales). The store has enough sales force that is well trained to attend the

customers. A floor manager has been appointed to each floor that is responsible for

everything that happens in his/her floor. They too are provided with the task of reaching the

targets.

Every floor has a stock room. As the merchandise is sold the shelves are not left empty but

are replenished with fresh stock. At the ground floor, we visited the ‘In warding’ room

where the fresh stock is availed daily from the warehouse. In this room, apparels are sorted

out. Security tags are pinned to them and then sent to the respective floor’s stock room.

Necessary security measures have also been taken. There are about 40 surveillance cameras

installed around the store for optimum security.

As a whole, the visit gave us a clearer picture on how a big retail store like Brand Factory

functions. We gained a lot of knowledge and came to know some business terminologies.

The purpose of the visit was fulfilled up to the top.