Student's SIP Experience - My Internship with Shoppers Stop

I am delighted to get an internship with Shoppers Stop – the behemoth of Indian Retail. Being my first assignment in Sales, I was overjoyed and excited that I got the opportunity to work with a brand like – Shoppers Stop.

From day one, I was sure that my tenure over here will provide me with learnings that I will remember all my life. My journey with Shoppers Stop started as a result of a mandatory 3month internship that all MBA students in the state have to fulfill.

Thanks to my institute – Sinhgad Institute of Management, I got the glorious opportunity of interning with this retail giant.

After getting selected for the internship, I was very excited because I knew that this opportunity was going to help me gain a lot of learnings and a tremendous working experience along with earning a certain amount of income, sounds like a good deal.

Having got my Internship at Shoppers Stop, I got to know many things about Shoppers Stop.

It is the First Department store launched as long ago as 1991, – it is over 30 years old and well established. Having launched the first customer loyalty program, it surely has a voluminous number of loyal customers built up over the years.

Shoppers Stop also has many other firsts, like the first loyalty program launched in 1994 under the title ‘First Citizen’, the first ‘no questions asked’ return policy and many such new practices in the Retail business in India.

There are 86 stores across 40 cities in India, with clothing, accessories, handbags, shoes, jewelry, fragrances, cosmetics, health and beauty products, home furnishing, and decor products – and a wide range of other products as well. Shoppers Stop also has stores at Airports – Mumbai & Bengaluru Airports. 

The Mission Statement and the Service Vision Statement of Shoppers Stop are equally inspiring.

Mission Statement – Nothing but the Best

We will provide the "BEST" value in terms of products and services and adopt "best" processes for stakeholders, without compromise, thereby matching global standards of performance.

Service Vision Statement – It’s Magical, It’s Comfortable, It’s My Store.

To be an inspirational and trusted brand, transforming customers’ lives through fashion and delightful shopping experiences every time.

The workplace learning for the next 3 months at Shoppers Stop through my Internship is expected to be awesome.

The showroom is located at Shankar Seth Road and covers a floor space of about 10,000 sq. ft with over 150 people employed in different functions dealing with customer care, service, marketing and sales, finance, HR, and so on.

I have an inclination toward sales & marketing. Therefore, I opted for a marketing specialization. I always wanted to learn how to get customers, how to retain customers, and how to expand the customers across markets across locations. Shoppers Stop is a real-time study on all this and much more.

My Reporting Manager, my immediate boss at Shoppers Stop is Mr. Abhay Kshirsagar, a marketing veteran by all standards. I am lucky to have such a person as my Reporting Manager. He guided me and made me comfortable from day one.

My assignment at Shoppers Stop consists of the following activities: -

1.    In-store telecalling and conversion of customers.

2.    Inviting and taking appointments to visit our stores.

3.    Designing and implementing strategies for increasing the sale of label brands.

4.    Customer interaction and learning daily operations in Retail.

Customer Relationship is very important especially when it comes to retail. Understand the customer need, understand the customer perception and take every opportunity to interact with customers to get as much insight into their perceptions which will prove to be a great guiding factor. I learnt this in theory and here I am getting to work in a real-time workplace and getting to meet real-time people.

Shoppers Stop also has online options. One can shop online for the latest apparel, beauty, home decor products, and more at attractive prices from Shoppers Stop. An e-store with delivery across major cities in India was launched in 2008, with a smartphone app in 2016. At Shoppers Stop, the policy is – When it is Shoppers Stop - Shop Anytime & Anywhere: Whether you shop online or in-store or at any of the leading third-party marketplaces you get the same experience in terms of merchandise, price & service.

Now, Retail business needs a lot of understanding of inventory – product placement, product positioning, and keeping a close watch on the stocks to manage the required balance between inward and outward stock. One gets to see the fast-moving items – this is like actually witnessing the fashion trend happening right in front of you.

On understanding more about Shoppers Stop, I found that Shoppers Stop adopts both ATL and BTL marketing strategies to promote its brand in the consumer market. Above the Line, or ATL Marketing, refers to generally untargeted, massive campaigns to raise brand awareness and reach more people; Below the Line, or BTL Marketing, refers to the much smaller and highly targeted campaigns, aimed at individuals - a definitive audience with easy to track returns on investment.

Shoppers Stop has also implemented Interactive as well as Guerrilla marketing to increase brand awareness. Shoppers Stop has launched several advertisement campaigns and promotional policies with help of electronic, digital, print, and social media platforms.

Wow! There’s lots and lots of marketing learning plus sales and marketing experience to be had at Shoppers Stop. I am highly excited to get to learn so many things and I am putting my best foot forward toward this internship.

I am grateful to Director Dr. Daniel Penkar Sir, Academic Head Dr. Sagar Pawar Sir, SIP Guide Prof. Altamash Garade Sir, Class Coordinator Prof. Rajit Panickar Sir, the corporate placement team, and all concerned for providing me this opportunity.

Bhavin Thakkar

SIOM (MBA): Batch 2022-23