Big Bazaar to greet shoppers with new look

MUMBAI: The country's largest hypermarket chain Big Bazaar, part of the Kishore Biyani promoted Future Group, is undergoing an overhaul. Big Bazaar, popular for its deals and discounts, will now be seen in a new avatar, as it looks to enhance customer experience in the wake of growing competition.

These stores, six of which have opened in cities like Chennai, Hyderabad and Delhi, are in the pilot stage currently but will eventually become a pan-India model, said an official from the group. The new model of Big Bazaar stores will have an upgraded sense of space, furniture, fixture along with an increased focus on fresh farm produce, fruits and vegetables, bakery products and live kitchen. These changes are also being made to Food Bazaar, the food retail outlet from the Future Group.

"The Big Bazaar brand is a decade old and in this time our consumers have undergone changes. The next version of the brand is going to cater to the new aspirations of the Indian consumer. We are assessing how far this is going to work with our customer base. We will analyze every catchment area before determining the profile of each of the stores going forward," said Damodar Mall, president, integrated food strategy, Future Group. This is an attempt to make the brand more inclusive and attract a wider spectrum of customers, Mall added.

"Big Bazaar being the first modern retailer needs to reinvent itself as the newer players like Tata's Star Bazaar or Aditya Birla's More have learned from the experiences of the first mover. But the store has a certain positioning which caters to the middle end of the market which will not change as it is the biggest revenue generator for the retailer," said Arvind Singhal, chairman, Technopak Advisors, a retail consultancy.

Besides having a fuller range in the food category, another big focus area for Big Bazaar will be to expand its line of international brands that it stocks currently in its stores. At present, typically 10-15% of food products are from imported international brands but now the retailer is looking to take it up to as much as 30%. Mall said the retailer was talking to a number of importers to strengthen its international line of products at Big Bazaar.

The Future group recently launched a gourmet food retail concept, Foodhall, to cater to the high-end of the consumer chain. Mall said segmentation is the way ahead for the retailer and Foodhall will target the mature consumer with its mix of products.

Big Bazaar currently has around 150 stores while there are 35 stand alone Food Bazaar stores across the country.