Our students had visited the retail outlets of H&M and Zara at Select City Walk Mall, Saket. The students had a different experience by visiting these stores not merely as a customer but as an observer.

We all know that Five years behind Zara, the Swedish high-street giant has opened its first store in India. The Zara comparison has got everyone talking. After five years in the country and with 16 stores now open, this July, Zara became the first apparel brand to cross the $100 million sales mark in India. When the H&M store opened at the end of last month, Indian newspaper Business Standard contrasted the queues at H&M with photos of relatively quiet Zara and Gap stores.

Thus, the purpose of the visit was to conduct an observation study on following parameters and further make a comparative analysis of both the retail stores on the same parameters.

– Store Overview
Store Size (single floor or multiple floors)
Location in the mall
Display
Current Ambience / Theme in terms of colour scheme, music, spacing and type of lighting
Convenience Shopping for customers (multiple billing desk, spacing, trail rooms, in store lifts / elevators and availability of shopping bags)

– Product Mix
Apparels – Men, Women and Kids
Accessories
Beauty and Personal Care

– Customer Observation
Footfall
Gender
Age group

– Brand Marketing
Demonstrations
Banners, Posters, Digital Display
Promotional Offers
Packaging ( Signature Covers )

– Pricing
– Apparel Colour Scheme and Pattern Study
– Signature Colour / Patter, if any