Introduction:

Croma is Indias first national, large format, retail chain for consumer electronic and durables. Croma simply believes in the philosophy We help you buy.

The Aim of Croma is to ensure that their shoppers make informed purchases each time they shop. Croma is promoted by Infiniti Retail Ltd, a 100% subsidiary of Tata Sons. Woolworths, one of the worlds leading retailers, providestechnical and strategic sourcing support, ensuring that you buy nothing but the best. Croma's first store opened on October 9, 2006 at Juhu in Mumbai, and it's rolling out many more stores across India Infiniti Retail Limited is a 100% subsidiary of Tata Sons. The company has launched Croma, a national chain of mega stores of consumer electronics and durables. Infiniti Retail Ltd., owns and runs Croma's retail operations in India, while Woolworths provides technical support andstrategic sourcing facilities from its global network. Woolworths Ltd, the Australian retail giant, provides technical support and strategic sourcing facilities from its global network. Woolworths provides pricing of different products at the Croma Stores . The products at the Croma Store are priced at relatively cheaper price then the market price

Location :
The total numbers of stores it has is approximately160 across India The various Croma stores are located in: Mumbai Pune Gujarat Chennai Bangalore Hyderabad Aurangabad Delhi NCR

Brand Philosophy:
The main philosophy of Croma is that ,we help you buy. The reason why people could choose croma over other stores are many and a few are stated below :

Widest range of products

Choose from 6000 products across eight categories

We help you buy

Sound and knowledgeable advice from well-trained advisors to help you make informed buying decisions

Customer commitment
Croma not only gives you a world-class shopping experience, but also backs it with great after-sales service.

Great deals and offers

Croma periodically offers exciting deals on all your favorite products

A first of its kind

Consumer electronics and durable retail is a fragmented segment and has been largely catered to by regional players

Croma is the first of its kind

Large-format, specialist and pan-Indian Currently organised retail is only 3 to 6 per cent whereas the total retail turnover in India was 250 million dollars last year. But organised retail is growing at a speed of 40 per cent. The pie is large enough." At croma the buyer is spoiled for choice, with nearly 6,000 products and 180 brands to choose from.

RETAILING:
Retailing includes all the activities selling goods or services directly to final consumers for personal ,non business use. CROMA IS A SPECIALITY STORE SELLING ELECTRONICS.

SEGMENTATION:
The croma stores directly SEGMENTED the areas they wanted to work upon i.e cities with high per capita income or simply metro cities..the stores are designed in a contemporary fashion with state of the art architecture to give you the best experience while you shop. The plan was only made after realizing that every class needs a product which can deliver that required economy of scale in terms of price and quality.

TARGETING:
Marketers in Woolworths, then decided to target people with disposable incomes in middle class and classes above them who have a sense of indulgence while shopping and are looking for the right price with quality and which can be tested physically with live demos. The value-base retail business has received a phenomenal acceptance from the customers.

POSITIONING:
As it was a tata enterprise concern people wanted to believe it and as per the deals and the type of aggressive marketing they did with introducing low prices with combo deals and seasonal sales . Basically,their concept and style worked for them. In the beginning only it got a hugecustomer base and if we look at the facts margin in durables retail is wafer-thin and hence scale is the single-most important thing.

PRODUCTS:
Croma has over180 brands and 6000 products for you to choose from Own brand Computers Home appliances Communication Gaming Small applications Imaging Entertainment Health care

The products at the Croma Store are arranged as per the sections allotted for a particular product

1. Own brand: Croma has products in almost all the categories .

2. Computers:
Brands which are available like Apple, Lenovo, H.P. ,Sony, Acer, Samsung ,Compac

3.

Home Appliances:

Brands which are available like Lavasa , Morphy Richards , Bajaj, Philips, Samsung, Whirlpool, L.G., Hitachi, Electrolux, Voltas, Optima, etc.

4. Communications:
Brands which are available like Nokia, Samsung, Blackberry, L.G. as well as Codless phones.

5. Gaming:
Brands which are available like XBOX, Playstations, Gaming C.D., etc.

6.

Small Application:

Brands which are available like Croma pendrives , Scan Disk pen drives, Sony pen drives, Croma hairdryer, Croma Kettle, Croma Juice Extractor ,etc.

7. Imaging:
Brands which are available like Canon , Sony, Nikon, Kodak.

8. Entertainment:
Brands which are available like L.G, Samsung, Croma, Philips, Sony

Croma at Connaught Place :

Croma at Cannought place started in 19th September 2010 in New Delhi. The Store is located near the Bharat Pertroleum petrol pump. The Store is company owned. The Store has well finished infrastructure. The Store covers 7000 Sqft Area with a highly advance electronic technology. The arrangement of products are divided in section wise format which is helpful for customers to easily select the product. At Store, well-trained store advisors are present who have an in-depth knowledge of the products, guide, and advice and help their customers, choose a product that's just right for them. At the store, clients are encouraged to get a feel of the product they intend to buy. The mobile phones are pre-activated and the 45-odd laptops and computers on display are Wi-Fi connected, so clients can browse the net and decide which one to buy. The store also provide the facility of seeing the product physically and getting their feel. In this particular store there are 20 well trained workers who engage the people and make the customer aware about the technology. Along with the trained employees there are 2 employees for account department, 2 Assistant Store Manger and 1 Store Manager. The Store has completely modern infrastructure with small halogen lights which specially focus on products so that it helps the customers to make the right decision to buy a particular product. Croma store especially follows the colour pattern of white and red which are their symbol.Croma store always try to aware the customers about their schemes and discounts by using of audio instruction C.d.s. The store is well equipped with CCTV cameras which continuously monitoring the entire store. The store is opened throughout the year in 365 days. The average footfall of the customers is around 1200 per day. The number of customer visiting the Croma Store is maximum on weekends as compared to the other days of the week. Purchasing conversion rate of the store is 15% per day. This Store works on the basis of Profit sharing concept which means that as the particular product is sold some part of the profit goes to the owner of the place (Store location) and the rest part is taken up by the Croma Store. The revenue generation of the store is around 2 Crore each month.

Recient Scheme at Croma Store:

Presently their are two schemes in croma stores Samsung and L.G. product get instant finance at 0% interest and 0% processing fees. Croma Independent Sale, Flat 5% cash back ICICI Credit card holder gets 5% money back on their purchase.

Exchange Policy:
Exchange within 4 days of purchase. Original Invoice must be present.

Recruitment process:
The recruitment process that Croma follows for new stores has saved the company lacs in spending on advertisement and recruitment consultants. This process also allows just-in-time recruitment and ensures that the company does not overstaff. Before any store opens (around 2 months before the opening date), the preparation work starts in the new stores. This is the time where Croma advertises simultaneously to future customers and potential candidates the openings of the new store. A walk-in interview occurs 45 days before the scheduled time of opening and the store gets more than 80% of the personnel required from this simple and economic source of candidates. The company encourages its young and vibrant workforce to focus on achievement through collaboration and innovation. On monthly basis, divisions are given targets based on units sold the target set is a team target and the achievement of this target will mean payment of incentives for the complete team. Similarly, failing to achieve this monthly target means that nobody from that team gets incentive. This model seems to work very well as the ratio of stores achieving their targets is between 60 to 80 % in any given month. Product understanding and RSS - Retail Selling Skills are key modules that help improve customer service in associates.

Criteria of Opening the Croma Store:

Before a new store opens, a specialized team of Operation Managers travels to the new location of Store to coach the new team and arrange the operation of Stores properly. A new team checks all specification that is required for opening the Croma Store. Croma also have a planned training periodically to ensure that every employee is abreast with the latest in both soft and hard skills. The requirement of Croma Alone Stores is around 15,000 to 20,000 sq. ft. Whereas Croma Stores which is located in Malls is around 5000 to 10,000 sq. ft. The panel of members allotted for searching out new location for the Store select an appropriate location for the store to open. Croma sales people have visited clients' homes to measure the size of their bedrooms and recommend a TV. They have also visited kitchens to measure the space left by the architect for the fridge and recommend one accordingly. Croma also makes recommendations, based on the energy- and water-saving potential of the product. Croma also has a planned refresher training periodically to ensure that everyone is abreast with the latest in both soft and hard skills. The croma stores directly SEGMENTED the areas they wanted to work upon i.e cities with high per capita income or simply metro cities. The stores are designed in a contemporary fashion with state of the art architecture to give you the best experience while shopping.

COMPETITORS NOW :
Next,a venture by VIDEOCON groupdid a business of Rs 1,100 crore in FY 2010 and expects around Rs 1800 crore business this year. Croma, however, did much more business per store with its turnover touching Rs 1,000 crore in FY 10. Ajit Joshi, managing director and chiefexecutive of Infiniti Retail, which runs Croma Stores, wants to double the turnover in this financial year. Next, the consumer durable and electronic chain promoted by the Videocon Group, is the largest player in the market and has 526 stores already over 10 times than Cromas. Next plans to add 300 more stores by the end of this fiscal. The other leading players in this segment are Kishore Biyani's Future Group which runs 36 standalone stores of eZone and 16 shop-in-shops, and Reliance Digital with 39 stores. Tatas have so far invested Rs 280 crore in the business.