Marketing Mix Of Spencer’s Retail and 7Ps (Updated 2024)

The Marketing mix of Spencer’s Retail analyses the 7Ps of Spencer’s Retail, which includes the Product, Price, Place, Promotion, People, Physical Evidence, and Process of Spencer’s Retail. Spencer’s Retail is associated with the lifestyle and retail industry. It is of Indian origin and was founded in 1863 under the brand name Durrant & Spencer by its co-founders William Spencer and Charles Durrant. It operates as a subsidiary of its parent company, RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group. Spencer’s Retail has prioritized quality in service standards, products, and customer engagement programs. It faces competition from the following:

• Pantaloon Retail
• Lifestyle Brands Ltd
• N Stores Food Retail Pvt Ltd
• Aditya Birla Retail Ltd
• Big Bazaar
• Reliance Fresh

About Spencer’s Retail

• Type: Retail Company
• Industry: Food and grocery retail
• Founded: 1992, Kolkata, West Bengal, India
• Founder: RPG Group
• Headquarters: Kolkata, West Bengal, India
• Area served: India
• Key people: Sanjiv Goenka (Chairman) and R. Subramanian (2018–present)
• Number of employees: 12,000

Spencer’s Retail Product Strategy

As the name suggests, Spencer’s Retail is an example of a retail chain dealing in diversified products. It started with the Food-First format, but most outlets have expanded to include multiple items. Spencer’s Retail encourages weekly, daily, and specialty shopping by fulfilling customers’ needs and requirements.

The new Product Mix of Spencer’s Retail in 2024 is as follows (Source).

1. Electronics and Home Appliances: Spencer’s Retail focuses intensely on electronic products and home appliances. They offer a variety of electronic goods, including smartphones like the iPhone 15 and Redmi 13C 5G, as well as the Apple Watch SE 2023. Additionally, they provide a range of home appliances from brands like LG, Samsung, and Daikin, including Ultra HD Smart LED TVs, fully automatic washing machines, and inverter hot and cold ACs.
2. Kitchen Appliances: Beyond electronics, Spencer’s Retail also caters to kitchen needs with products like IFB’s Convection Microwave Ovens and A.O Smith’s MiniBot Instant Geysers. These offerings reflect their commitment to combining functionality with style in kitchen appliances.
3. Personal Care, Fashion, and Home Essentials: Spencer’s Retail encompasses a broad spectrum of products, including personal care items, fashion apparel, and essentials for home maintenance.
4. Food and Grocery: As a part of their comprehensive retail strategy, Spencer’s Retail provides a wide range of food and grocery items, serving as a one-stop shop for everyday consumer needs.
5. Private Brands: Spencer’s Retail has developed its private brands across various categories. These include 2Bme, Smart Choice, Healthy Alternatives, BESSER, doubletick, Kitch, Tasty Wonders, Clean Home, Hands-on, and Inscapes.
6. Gift Studio (TGS): Another unique offering is their Gift Studio, which allows customers to purchase customized gifts and choose from a broad selection of flowers, gourmet food, and gadgets.
7. Omnichannel Approach: Besides its physical stores, Spencer’s Retail focuses on significant growth in its omnichannel model, highlighting its adaptability and modern retail approach.

Spencer’s Retail Pricing Strategy

Spencer’s Retail employs a nuanced pricing and distribution strategy that reflects a blend of market responsiveness strategies and customer-centric approaches:

1. Affordable Living Focus: Spencer’s has adopted a “make living affordable” strategy, emphasizing reduced pricing and value-oriented positioning. This approach is tailored to attract price-conscious consumers, especially those who are more category-loyal than brand-loyal. This strategy balances affordability with maintaining a diverse product portfolio, including food and lifestyle products.
2. Cost Reduction for Competitive Pricing: In their effort to stay competitive and profitable, Spencer’s actively works on reducing costs for products deemed overpriced based on customer feedback. This cost reduction is not just about lowering prices but also improving operational efficiency, which can all result in more competitive pricing.
3. Addressing Operational Challenges: Spencer strives to maintain profitability while contending with challenges such as high operating costs and the bargaining power of suppliers. Their pricing strategy is thus also a response to these operational realities, aiming to ensure sustainability and market competitiveness.
4. Market Expansion and Consumer Growth: Spencer’s strategy involves expanding its market reach and increasing its consumer base. This could include adjusting prices to be more appealing in new markets or for new customer segments.
5. Responsive to Indian Market Dynamics: Understanding and responding to the Indian market and consumer buying behavior is crucial to their pricing strategy. This involves not just competitive pricing but also ensuring that the product range and price points resonate with the diverse consumer base in India.

Spencer’s Retail Place Strategy

Spencer’s Retail has spread its presence across thirty-five cities, including one hundred and twenty locations in India. Its headquarters are in Kolkata, West Bengal. Spencer’s operates via a retail chain in a twin-format distribution system. Hypermarkets are known as Spencer’s Hyper and Convenience stores as Spencer’s. Its largest outlet is at Kolkata in South City Mall, spread across 72,000 square feet.

Other retailers with essential stories are at Allahabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Baroda, Durgapur, Ghaziabad, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Mumbai, Noida, Warangal, Varanasi, Tanjore and Haridwar. Spencer’s Retail offers a convenient and customized shopping experience at convenient locations in a soothing ambiance via Spencer’s Hyper, Spencer’s Super, Spencer’s Daily, Spencer’s Fresh, and Spencer’s Express.

The place strategy analysis of Spencer’s Retail can be summarized in the following points:

1. Multi-Format Retail Operations: Spencer’s Retail operates a variety of store formats, including hypermarkets, supermarkets, departmental stores, and convenience stores across India. This diverse presence caters to different customer needs and shopping preferences.
2. Wide Geographic Coverage: The company has established its stores in multiple states across India, such as Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, and West Bengal, ensuring a widespread presence in both urban and rural markets.
3. Digital and Omnichannel Focus: Spencer’s is leveraging digital technologies to enhance its retail operations, aiming to provide a seamless shopping experience that integrates their physical stores with online platforms.
4. Private Label Brands: They offer a range of private label products under brands like Tasty Wonders, Smart Choice, and 2Bme, providing customers with various choices across different product categories.
5. Customer-Centric Services: Spencer’s Retail focuses on customer-centric services such as home deliveries and gift cards, enhancing customers’ overall shopping experience and convenience.

Spencer’s Retail Promotion Strategy

Spencer’s Retail has adopted promotional and advertising strategies to increase and expand its brand visibility. It advertises via print media in newspapers and brochures by giving informative details about recent incentives. It has been the recipient of awards and accolades in multiple categories like Most Admired Food & Grocery Retailer of the Year at Cocoa Cola Golden Spoon Awards 2016, Best VM & Retail Design in Hypermarket Category, Highest Job Creator in the Eastern Region, Best Practice Award and Most Admired Retail Company of the Year 2013. Marks & Spencer uses email marketing campaigns to inform customers about new product launches, promotions, and other news.

As part of its promotional sales strategy, Spencer’s offers incentives like Monsoon Dhamaka, Discount Sale and Periodical Sales. It rewards its loyal customers through the Smart Rewards Program. A regular customer earns points on every purchase and can redeem new products after accumulating a particular sum. Spencer’s Retail has launched Spencer’s Gift Card as an ideal Gift for friends and family, and it can be loaded with an amount of rupees 500- 9,999.

Some Recent Video ads and Print ads for Spencer’s Retail are:

Spencer’s Retail People Strategy

Understanding the “People” aspect of the Service Marketing Mix for a business such as Spencer’s Retail involves analyzing how the company manages its staff, customer service, and overall human element to enhance customer experiences and drive business success. Here are some key points regarding the “People” aspect of Spencer’s Retail’s Service Marketing Mix:

1. Employee Training and Development: Spencer’s Retail invests in comprehensive training programs for its employees to ensure they have the necessary skills and knowledge to provide excellent customer service. This includes product knowledge, customer interaction techniques, and efficient customer queries and complaints handling.
2. Customer Service Focus: The company strongly emphasizes customer service, aiming to create a positive shopping experience for every customer. This includes greeting customers warmly, assisting in finding products, and offering suggestions based on customer preferences.
3. Staff Professionalism: Employees at Spencer’s Retail are expected to maintain high professionalism. This includes dressing appropriately, being punctual, and behaving in a manner that reflects positively on the company’s image.
4. Employee Empowerment: Spencer’s Retail empowers its employees by giving them the authority to make confident decisions on the spot, such as handling returns or resolving minor customer issues. This improves the customer experience by providing quick solutions and boosts employee morale and job satisfaction.
5. Teamwork and Collaboration: The company fosters a culture of teamwork and collaboration among its staff. Employees are encouraged to work together to achieve store objectives, share knowledge, and support each other in their daily tasks.
6. Diverse Workforce: Spencer’s Retail values diversity in its workforce, recognizing that a diverse team can offer various perspectives, ideas, and solutions. This diversity enhances the company’s ability to cater to a broad customer base with varying needs and preferences.
7. Feedback Mechanism: The company has mechanisms to gather feedback from customers and employees. This feedback improves service delivery, addresses issues, and adjusts employee training and development programs.
8. Recognition and Rewards: Spencer’s Retail recognizes and rewards employees for their contributions, exceptional performance, and service excellence. This not only motivates employees but also encourages them to maintain high standards of customer service.

Spencer’s Retail Process Strategy

The “Process” aspect of the Service Marketing Mix for Spencer’s Retail involves the procedures, mechanisms, infrastructure, and flow of activities through which the retail service is delivered. This includes how customers are handled from the moment they enter the store or interact with the company online to the point of sale and beyond. Here are key points regarding the “Process” aspect of Spencer’s Retail’s Service Marketing Mix:

1. Streamlined Shopping Experience: Spencer’s Retail aims to provide a seamless shopping experience, whether in-store or online. This includes clear signage, well-organized product layouts, and an easy-to-navigate website and mobile app.
2. Efficient Checkout Process: The company implements an efficient checkout process to minimize wait times. This includes multiple payment options, self-checkout counters, and trained staff to handle peak times effectively.
3. Inventory Management: Spencer’s Retail utilizes advanced inventory management systems to ensure that products are available and restocked as needed. This process is critical for customer satisfaction, as it minimizes the chances of out-of-stock situations.
4. Customer Feedback and Complaint Resolution: The process for handling customer feedback and resolving complaints is structured and responsive. Customers can provide feedback through various channels, and the company aims to address and resolve complaints swiftly to maintain customer trust and satisfaction.
5. Delivery and Fulfillment Services: Spencer’s Retail has a reliable delivery and fulfillment process for online purchases. This includes timely delivery of products, proper packaging to prevent damage, and clear communication with customers regarding delivery status.
6. Return and Exchange Policy: The return and exchange process is designed to be customer-friendly, ensuring customers can quickly return or exchange products if unsatisfied. This policy is communicated to customers to avoid any confusion.
7. Customer Onboarding and Education: For new services or products, Spencer’s Retail may offer onboarding or educational resources to help customers understand and get the most out of their purchases. This could include product demos, usage guides, or in-store assistance.
8. Technology Integration: The company integrates technology into its processes to enhance efficiency and customer experience. This includes using CRM systems for personalized marketing, automated inventory systems, and digital payment options.
9. Health and Safety Measures: Especially recently, Spencer’s Retail has implemented health and safety measures across its stores, including sanitization procedures, social distancing guidelines, and safety protocols for staff and customers.
10. Employee Roles and Responsibilities: A clear definition of employee roles and responsibilities ensures that all processes run smoothly. Staff are trained to handle specific tasks efficiently, from stocking shelves to managing customer inquiries, ensuring a cohesive operational flow.

Spencer’s Retail Physical Evidence Strategy

The “Physical Evidence” aspect of the Service Marketing Mix for Spencer’s Retail encompasses the tangible and intangible elements that customers interact with, directly or indirectly, contributing to their perceptions and experiences of the brand and its value. Here are key points regarding the “Physical Evidence” of Spencer’s Retail’s Service Marketing Mix:

1. Store Layout and Design: Spencer’s Retail stores feature a clean, organized, and welcoming layout that enhances the shopping experience. The design and aesthetic of the stores, including lighting, signage, and product placement, are carefully curated to make shopping easy and enjoyable for customers.
2. Branding Elements: The company’s branding elements, such as its logo, color scheme, and in-store graphics, are consistently displayed across all physical and digital platforms. These elements help create a solid and recognizable brand identity.
3. Website and Mobile App: The user interface of Spencer’s Retail’s website and mobile app is designed to be user-friendly and visually appealing, providing customers with a seamless online shopping experience. High-quality images, detailed product descriptions, and easy navigation prove the brand’s commitment to quality and service.
4. Packaging: Product packaging at Spencer’s Retail is functional and aesthetically pleasing, reflecting the quality of the products and the brand’s image. This includes using branded bags, boxes, and other packaging materials that customers take home.
5. In-Store Ambiance: The ambiance in Spencer’s Retail stores, including background music, temperature control, and cleanliness, is carefully managed to create a comfortable shopping environment for customers.
6. Employee Appearance: Employees at Spencer’s Retail must adhere to a dress code that aligns with the brand’s professional image. This includes uniforms or badges that readily identify them as store associates, contributing to the physical evidence of a well-organized retail environment.
7. Signage and Wayfinding: Clear signage and wayfinding tools are strategically placed throughout Spencer’s Retail stores, guiding customers to different sections and providing information about products and promotions. This enhances the shopping experience by making it easier for customers to find what they need.
8. Physical Comfort: Spencer’s Retail ensures physical comfort for its customers by providing amenities such as shopping carts, baskets, seating areas, and well-maintained restrooms.
9. Receipts and Documentation: The physical evidence of transactions, such as receipts, warranties, and return policies, are provided clearly and professionally, reinforcing the reliability and trustworthiness of Spencer’s Retail.
10. Health and Safety Measures: Visible health and safety measures, such as sanitization stations, social distancing markers, and store cleanliness, serve as physical evidence of the brand’s commitment to customer and employee safety, essential in the context of recent global health concerns.

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