Product Planning in Yellow’s Retail Stores

Product Planning in Yellow’s Retail Stores

BEXIMCO is one of the largest groups in Bangladesh and highest GDP contributor. Here, this is a great chance for me to do my internship in one of its concern organization YELLOW by BEXIMCO Textile Division. This is a large Retail stores and has factory with all the facilities to composite yarn.

Here the production process runs from making yarn to fabric and from fabric to finished garment. In this age, of globalization , Yellow wants to go global too. Bangladesh is flourished with RMG sector where this division has its immense contribution as a large textile industry BEXIMCO has large numbers of employees but the productivity is getting slow day by day. So, it is a matter of concern that why this huge industry is doing stagnant profit.

In order to grab more customers, there comes the retail store of Yellow fashion clothing, by tapping in the niche market. This store in case of production, sample goes small not in bulk compared to the huge BEXIMCO TEXTILE. The responsibilities become huge because careful vigilance is required because they are most likely to ignore such a small number of production. Hence extra care is always needed to monitor till the delivery of the product from the production to the point of sale and it comes to the relation with operation also. I was selected for the Yellow, as a product planner and this team is really supporting from any side I wanted their help. Yellow is full with new styles and different designs which push merchandisers to face huge stress and deal with lots of challenges from the changing of customer taste to predicting market demands to planning the product . Here, these are all procedures that I tried to portray, as the team tried their best to help in preparing this report.

INTRODUCTION

RMG (READY MADE GARMENT) is very important and helpful for Bangladesh. Bangladesh emerged as a key player in RMG sector since 1978. Textiles and clothing account for about 85% of total export earnings of Bangladesh Out of which , 75 % comes from the apparel sector which covers the major products of knit and woven shirts, blouses, trousers, skirts, shorts, jackets, sweaters, and many more casual and fashion item. Beximco Textile division produces all of the above, and from where the birth of Yellow, fashion retail brand took place. Yellow launched in 2004, aims to bring world class fashion, quality & service at a justifiable price. It is such a retail store that works continuously on international design and product development and catches fast fashion responses to retail trends. Moreover, The Yellow now entered the wide range of products, including men’s wear, women’s wear, kid’s wear, accessories, home accessories, paintings etc. The internship report I did revolved more around the product planning in the retail system of Yellow’s Retail Stores.

COMPANY BACKGROUND

HISTORY OF BEXIMCO:

Today the BEXIMCO Group (―BEXIMCO‖ or the ―Group‖) is the largest private sector group in Bangladesh. BEXIMCO was founded in the 1970‘s by two brothers – Ahmed Sohail Fasiur Rahman and Ahmed Salman Fazlur Rahman. Since the early days, the Group has evolved from being primarily a commodities trading company to a leading, diversified group with a presence in industry sectors that account for nearly 75% of Bangladesh‘s GDP.

BEXIMCO‘s corporate mission is ―Taking Bangladesh to the world‖. As BEXIMCO has grown over the years, the flagship platform now has operations and investments across a wide range of industries including textiles, trading, marine food, real estate development, hospitality, construction, information and communication technologies, media, ceramics, aviation, pharmaceuticals, financial services and energy. The Group sells its products and services in the domestic Bangladesh market as well as international markets.

BEXIMCO is the largest employer in the private sector in Bangladesh and employs over 48,000 people worldwide.

The Beximco Group (DSE : BEXIMCO CSE: BEXIMCO LSE: BXP) is one of Bangladesh’s largest and most diversified industrial conglomerates. The group’s key businesses include ceramics, pharmaceuticals, textiles, jute, information technology, aviation, media, finance, real estate, construction and energy. Its major industries are located at the Beximco Industrial Park in Gazipur, outside Dhaka. The group is listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange and the Chittagong Stock Exchange, with a market capitalization of over US$ 2 billion. Its pharmaceutical division, Beximco Pharma, is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

The BEXIMCO name has now become one of the most recognizable brand names in Bangladesh. It is synonymous with innovation, trust and quality. The Group consists of four publicly traded and seventeen privately held companies. The publicly traded companies – Bangladesh Export Import Company Limited, Beximco Pharmaceuticals Limited, Shinepukur Ceramics Limited and Beximco Synthetics Limited – have a combined market capitalization of approximately $0.00 million. The Group had total revenues of $834 million in the year ended December 31, 2010.

BEXIMCO encompasses one of South Asia‘s largest vertically integrated textile and garment companies. The Textile division is a fully integrated manufacturer of cotton and polyester blended garments for men, women and children, both for domestic and export markets. BEXIMCO is also the largest exporter of pharmaceuticals in Bangladesh with a presence in 45 countries. The Pharmaceuticals division manufactures and sells generic pharmaceutical formulation products, active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) and intravenous (IV) fluids. The Group is also the largest ceramics exporter and has an investment in GMG Airlines, the largest private commercial airline in Bangladesh and in Unique Hotels & Resorts, which owns the Westin Hotel in Bangladesh.

State-of-the-art manufacturing plants located in the vicinity of Dhaka provide the Group with a highly cost effective manufacturing base. A majority of its plants are in the BEXIMCO Industrial Park, a vertically integrated self-contained facility. This facility provides ready access to captive power generation, water purification, liquid nitrogen, waste water treatment and other key infrastructure. The Group‘s global clients include some of the world‘s best known brands including BT, BASF, Chevron, Calvin Klein, H&M, JC Penney, Macys, Zara, UNICEF, Royal Doulton and Villeroy & Boch.

BEXIMCO is well positioned to capitalize on strong growth across industries in both the domestic and global markets. Each Group company is managed by an independent, professional team with significant depth of experience. Management teams have established a clear strategic plan that will further strengthen the overall platform. BEXIMCO intends to leverage its market position and global scale, further diversify operations into highly profitable sectors, capitalize on the domestic growth opportunity and selectively pursue international opportunities going forward.

In recognition of its corporate success and creation of shareholder value, the BEXIMCO Group has and continues to make significant contributions to Bangladesh‘s society. Sponsored organizations include ―Proyash‖, a specialized institute that works for the holistic development of children with special educational needs and ―Gono Sahajjo Songstha‖, an institution that provides education for the underprivileged. BEXIMCO was also an official sponsor of the Bangladesh National Cricket team for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 and also the official title sponsor of the FIFA friendly match between Argentina and Nigeria held in September, 2011.

Since independence Bangladesh has come a long way, and the Beximco Group of Companies is honored to have had a role in the development of its parent nation. The Group has worked with a simple philosophy; identify an important need and then do everything possible to successfully satiate that need, in a manner which best facilitates the well being of the nation.

As a result Beximco has focused on those industries which give Bangladesh a competitive advantage in the global market place in many cases creating the industries for the first time in the region. Throughout its four and a half decade journey the Group has been one of the leading innovators in the country. Presently Beximco Group comprises twenty one companies of which five are listed with the Dhaka Stock Exchange employing over 35,000 personnel and is the largest private sector industrial conglomerate in the nation. . In the course of its growth, it has created industrial and management capabilities that will serve the country for generations to come. It was the first local conglomerate to embrace an international corporate structure which is the foundation of its success. BEXIMCO‘s industrial businesses include jute, textiles, basic chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and ceramics. BEXIMCO‘s non-industrial undertakings are focused on real estate and construction, engineering, media, information technology, trading and financial services. It is the creation and expansion of businesses critical to Bangladesh development, businesses, which are developed and run by Bangladeshis, businesses that develop technologies and practices specific to the needs of the country, which is the defining characteristic of the BEXIMCO story.

BEXIMCO- INDUSTRY VERTICAL

BEXIMCO GROUP OF INDUSTRY

TEXTILES

Over the years, BEXIMCO has developed in-house design capabilities with teams based in Bangladesh and Spain. Furthermore it has partnered with some of the world‘s renowned design institutes, including Fashion Institute of Technology, Parsons, London School of Fashions, NIFT and NID, for access to talented designers. The Group has built strong working relationships with its core clients through a continuous dialogue. The Group’s technology partners include Invista, Huntsman, CHT, Rudof and Clariant. Key clients include American Eagle, Arcadia Group, Calvin Klein, H&M, JC Penney, Macy’s, Tommy Hilfiger, Warnaco and Zara. The Group is planning to expand the textiles business through capacity additions. Post expansion, the annual capacity of knit fabric is expected to increase to 80 million lbs from 11 million lbs currently and the annual capacity of apparel knits is expected to reach 145 million pieces from 20 million pieces currently.

YELLOW BY BEXIMCO

The Group is also present in retail apparel through ―Yellow‖, a youthful brand sold through BEXIMCO owned outlets. Yellow is a design driven brand that celebrates creative and original thinking to highlight a lighthearted and optimistic view of life through a superior quality product. Yellow captures a modern interpretation of fashion and relaxed attitude expresses a comfortable and confident quality. The adventurous spirit of the line is built from BEXIMCO Group’s heritage in innovation and living a life full of passion that is open to discovery. Yellow is inspired by its customers; Unconventional yet high-quality.

BEXIMCO SYNTHETICS LTD

Beximco Synthetics Limited, a member of BEXIMCO Group, has been a manufacturer of Polyester Filament Yarns, namely, Partially Oriented Yarn (POY) and Draw Texturized Filament Yarn (DTFY) since July 1, 1994 and has an annual production capacity of 28 million linear meters.

BEXIMCO JUTE

The Group is the world’s premier jute manufacturer and exporter. The Group supplies yarn to the world’s premier carpet and rug manufacturers in Europe and the United States. Besides carpet yarn and twine, the Group also produces yarn and twine for producing Tatami mat and other floor coverings for gardening and household purposes. The Group specializes in producing high-valued yarn with special treatments (dyed, sized, polished, rot-proofed and waxed).

BEXIMCO PHARMACEUTICAL

BEXIMCO manufactures and sells generic pharmaceutical formulation products, active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) and intravenous (IV) fluids. The Group‘s product portfolio includes a variety of therapeutic areas, such as analgesics, antibiotics, cardiovascular, central nervous system, dermatology, gastroenterology and respiratory. It also has contract manufacturing agreements with global pharmaceutical firms. Selected customers include Asthma Drug Facility, GlaxoSmithKline, Raffles Hospital, UNICEF and UNESCO.

The Group is planning to expand manufacturing capacities in value added products such as inhalers, eye drops and sprays. Targeted global expansion areas include Middle East, European Union, Latin America, USA, Australia and New Zealand.

SHINEPUKUR CERAMICS LTD

BEXIMCO produces high quality porcelain (15 MT per day) and bone china (3 MT per day) tableware. The Group also plans to expand bone china capacity by 4.5 MT per day. The manufacturing facilities are equipped with state of the art testing and quality control laboratory facilities, decal plant, carton packaging plant, modeling unit and a gas based captive power plant, and the best effluent discharge mechanisms. Selected clients include Libbey, Porsgrund, Portmeirion, Royal Doulton, Richard Ginori, Villeroy & Boch and Wedgewood.

REAL ESTATE, CONSTRUCTION, MARINE FOOD AND TRADING

The Group is one of the leading real estate developers in Bangladesh with a large, high quality land bank in and around Dhaka.

The Group has been a technological leader and pioneer construction firm in Bangladesh for years and uniquely serving the needs of the construction industry in a world of rapidly changing technology. Beximco Engineering Ltd. (BEL) is a wholly owned construction unit of the Group. This unit has accumulated experiences in diversified projects like roads & railways, bridge & offshore structure, power/gas transmission line & sub-station, and in various commercial & industrial projects.

It has a presence across the value chain from culturing, processing, packaging and selling marine food products. The Group has over 1,000 acres of land with best in class infrastructure in this segment. BEXIMCO also plans to enter the deep sea fishing business and value added production including ready to eat and ready to cook products.

The Group capitalizes on its industry knowledge and identifies market opportunities in actively traded commodities. It engages in yarn trading for captive use in the Textiles division as well as for sales to third parties.

ICT & MEDIA

INDEPENDENT TELEVISION LTD.THE

The Group is a leading provider of banking and general purpose software and high speed internet services in Bangladesh. It has a high quality customer base supported by long term contracts.

The Group services over 750 bank branches in Bangladesh. Selected customers include British Airways, Emirates Airlines, Chevron, Dhaka Stock Exchange and Graphic People. The Group also owns a 24 hr TV news channel – Independent Television. This 24 hr news channel presents a full spectrum of news and analysis to its viewers. The Group sets world class standards in the Bangladesh broadcasting industry.

THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER WEBSITE

‗The Independent‘ is a leading English language daily newspaper in Bangladesh and the only newspaper to have all 32 color pages. Its weekly supplements include Young and Independent, Faith, The Weekend Independent Magazine and Dhaka Live (daily).

MISSION:

Each of their activities must benefit & add value to the common wealth of their society. They firmly believe that, in the final analysis they are accountable to each of the constituents with whom they interact; namely; their employees; their valued customers, their suppliers, their business associates, their shareholders & their fellow citizens.

YELLOW, the trendiest fashion brand from Bangladesh, is mostly distinguished for its true international quality designs and fabrics. We are inspired by our customers- souls full of unconventional fashion senses. As a retailer of our parent brand BEXIMCO, we started our journey in 2004 and now we have 14 outlets across Bangladesh and Pakistan including a 24/7 online store. Since origin we have been offering world class designs at amazing value price. Our product line includes a wide range of formal and casual wears for men, women, and kids. Explore YELLOW and look through our windows for contemporary global fashion trend.

YELLOW POWERED BY BEXIMCO

Yellow was launched in 2004. The fastest growing brand in Bangladesh and Pakistan never failed to delight their targeted group customers. Since its beginning, Yellow’s target group of customers were the fashionable youth, yet trendy, modern and who is very confident in wearing the most comfortable fashionable clothing’s. Here the Designs and Fashion driven and the Fashion drove as per international trend standards. Our brand name is yellow and yellow color present in our every product. The meaning of yellow to Pakistan people is happiness, wisdom, imagination and shrewd personality. The birth of Yellow was started from Spain. Second competitive advantage is our products are cheaper since the quality we use is directly imported from China or made in our own factory, quality wise it is cheaper from others competitors products, we sell our product in PREMIUM PRICE AND REAP PROFIT as because in our country labor cost and raw materials are cheap so production cost is also low. With these advantages, we try to promote our product in Pakistan and Bangladesh successfully and it’s our main objectives. In our report, we briefly discuss about our selected product, our brands, our main competitors and most importantly about its product planning in its retail stores. After careful market research Yellow was made, where we they researched to Know about the people and their culture and which types of dress and which color of dresses they like and what types of price they like in which ever countries they established their feet. Future plan outlays Bangladeshi company Beximco will open a chain of stores named Yellow in a number of cities in world, international expansion will be in huge scale. Beximco Textiles Ltd, an export division of Beximco Group, has gone ‘YELLOW’, setting up a new chain of exclusive fashion shops in Bangladesh and sell the high quality garments that it produces for exports. Yellow is a design driven brand and celebrates creative and original thinking to highlight lighthearted and optimistic view of life through superior quality product. Their style capture a modern interpretation of fashion and their relax attitude expresses a comfortable and a confident quality. The adventurous spirit of the line is build from Beximco group heritage in innovation and living a life full of passion that is open to discovery. They are inspired by their customer, unconventional yet high quality.

Progressive yet tastefully casual-yellow embraces harmony through conflict. Beximco eventually plans to establish the Brand “YELLOW” worldwide, starting from the Asian Market. Beximco Textiles is a vertically integrated self sufficient company. They manufacture everything from yarn to fabric to garments in their own factories. Since the company has in house laundry, printing, embroidery and lab it can make garments for the retail market in a very cost efficient manner and sell at an affordable price range. The stores offer a truly international shopping experience with well-designed spaces. Yellow plans to open stores in South East Asia, The Middle East & Europe

PRODUCT PLANNING

In order to maximise his sales revenue and profits, a business firm must continuously adjust and adapt its products and services to the changing requirements of customers. From time-totime, it may have to design and develop new products.

Product planning is the process of searching ideas for new products, screening them systematically, converting them into tangible products and introducing the new product in the market. It also involves the formation of product policies and strategies.

Product planning includes improvements in existing products as well as deletion of unprofitable or marginal products. It also encompasses product design and engineering which is also called product development. Product planning comprises all activities starting with the conception of product idea and ending up with full scale introduction of the product in the market.

It is a complex process requiring effective coordination between different departments of the firm. It is intimately related with technical operations of the organization, particularly with engineering, research and development departments.

Any product has two broad objectives—immediate objectives and ultimate objectives. Immediate objectives include satisfaction of immediate needs of consumers, increasing sales, utilizing idle plant capacity, etc. Permanent or ultimate objectives consist of reduction in production costs, creation of brand loyalty, monopolizing the market, etc.

SIGNIFICANCE AND OBJECTS:

Product planning and development is a vital function due to several reasons. First, every product has a limited life span and needs improvement or replacement after some time. Secondly, needs, fashions and preferences of consumers undergo changes requiring adjustments in products.

Thirdly, new technology creates opportunities for the design and development of better products. Product planning and development facilitate the profitability and growth of business. Development of new products enables a business to face competitive pressures and to diversity risks. Product is the most important constituent of marketing mix.

Finding and meeting the needs of customers is the key element in a successful marketing strategy. New product development has become all the more important in the modern world characterized by technological change and market dynamics.

New product development brings opportunities but also involves heavy commitment of finance, technology and even emotional attachment. New product decisions are necessary as well as costly. Many new products fail causing ruin to business firms.

Product development is a continuous and dynamic function. Continuous adjustments and improvements in the product arc necessary to minimize costs of production and to maximize sales. High rate of product obsolescence requires product innovation frequently. At the same time, cost and time scales have increased. In some products, the gestation period is very long, sometimes longer than the life of the product.

As a result the role of R&D expert has become very important. He needs to be in touch with sales persons and actual end users. Successful technological innovation involves great resources as well as great risks. Product innovators face spectacular successes as well as disastrous failures.

Most of the new product ideas do not become actual products. Many new products achieve limited acceptance in the market. This is so because firms very often are reluctant to move away from tried and tested products.

Thus, product planning is required for the following reasons:

(i) To replace obsolete products;

(ii) To maintain and increase the growth rate/sales revenue of the firm;

(iii) To utilise spare capacity;

(iv) To employ surplus funds or borrowing capacity; and

(v) To diversify risks and face competition.

COMPETITION IN MARKET:

Bangladesh has recently come to the focus. Along with the world demand, the local market is Also altering itself to rapid changes in fashion trends. Bangladesh’s largest sector Garments/Textiles is recently looking for Fashion Designers and Highly skilled technical Personnel. So they know about the latest trends and tastes in this field. This field is highly Competitive and they need to be not just talented, but also very determined, ambitious, Hardworking and needs to have good business sense. Communication skills are important to be able to put across ideas and concepts clearly for the workers as well as the clients. A good hand at sketching can be helpful. In the long run, to make it on their own, they should have knowledge of colours, styles, shapes and the various types of fabrics. A well-groomed and attractive personality is also important. Since here are lots of well-known brand such as Arong, kay kraft, Artiste, Ecstasy Anjan, Jatra, Deshal, Vasavi, Nabila, Mantra, Cats eye, Westecs, Annamela, Rang etc. These all are local brands and these are main competitor of Yellow. They also know latest trends and tastes of customer

PRODUCTS OF YELLOW:

They have their own Fashion design and Product development department where designers study The globally Yellow’s creations evoke a sense of freshness, energy & exuberance. The Yellow brings to its customer high quality fashion & life style at affordable prices. They produce different types of products such as Shirt, T-Shirt, Trousers, Jackets, skirts, tops, bottoms, jeans, Sweater etc.

Yellow is a design driven brand that celebrates creative and original thinking to highlight a lighthearted and optimistic view of life through a superior quality product. Our style captures a modern interpretation of fashion and our relaxed attitude expresses a comfortable and confident quality. The adventurous spirit of the line is built from Beximco Group’s heritage in innovation and living a life full of passion that is open to discovery. We are inspired by our customers; Unconventional yet high-quality. Progressive yet tastefully casual—The Yellow embraces harmony through conflict.

THE YELLOW MAN

You are a confident, intelligent and successful individual who believes in making his own destiny. Your clothing reflects your personality. You dress creatively, and are not afraid to wear a crisp dress shirt with a pair of jeans to the office. You reflect a confident quality through your cool, comfortable and relaxed attitude.

Yellow compliments your lifestyle by offering products for every occasion. From office mornings to an evening with friends, Yellow answers your need for individuality, quality and style by providing superior, fashion forward products.

THE YELLOW WOMAN

You are a stylish, intelligent and confident soul who enjoys her success. You juggle between your home, work and social circle, and your wardrobe compliments your modern lifestyle. You are on top of the fashion trends, but carefully choose those outfits that enhance your individuality, confirm with your high standards of quality and reflect your young and lighthearted approach to life.

Yellow knows what you want. We dress you up in semi-casual attire for your business meetings, and provide the matching accessories to go with that, and then cross-compliment those to go with the head-turning and sexy outfit that you will be wearing out with your friends tonight. Yellow products are inspired by you; young, confident and successful.

THE YELLOW KID

Yellow kid is a child of a successful couple who is inspired by the success and style of his parents. He has a sense of style and a desire to stand out among his peers. You want to reflect your personality and style through him. You want him to be cool, smart and trendy. This is where Yellow steps in, by providing clothing and accessories for the kids, which are an annex of the parents’ personality.

RELATING THEORIES WITH YELLOW’S STRATEGY DRIVEN PRACTICES

THEORY OF GLOBAL MARKETING: The process of conceptualizing and then conveying a final product or service worldwide with the hopes of reaching the international marketing community. Proper global marketing has the ability to catapult a company to the next level, if they do it correctly. Different strategies are implemented based on the region the company is marketing to. For example, the menu at McDonald’s varies based on the location of the restaurant. The company focuses on marketing popular items within the country. Global marketing is especially important to companies that provide products or services that have a universal demand such as automobiles and food.

Our product is cloths and our brand is Yellow and its Bangladeshi products and we promoting our product in Pakistan, Bangladesh the reason why we change our marketing strategies for Pakistan people and analyze Pakistani culture and we find out the choice and demand of Pakistani people. So we change our local market strategies for promoting our product in Spain and capture Pakistani market and so was the case in Pakistani, although the Pakistani outlet has been closed, yet the Pakistani Outlet is going fabulous, and plans are to open in Singapore, India, Sri lanka in the near future.

MASLOW‘S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS: Maslow hierarchy of needs are Five and they are Physiological needs, Safety needs, Belongingness and Love needs, Esteem needs, Self Actualization needs . Our product is cloths and it is physiological needs for human. So we want to fulfill the physiological needs of the people and we think that our Brand Yellow perfectly fulfill this needs.

ENTRY STRATEGY: We already enter in Pakistani market in alone and we have local marketer for marketing our products and we have also local distributor for distributing our product in Spain. The marketing decision is taken by Pakistani marketer because they know the market and other competitors. For influencing Pakistani customer for buying our products focus on the Pakistani culture in our products. We collect raw materials from Bangladesh and also production activities held in Bangladesh. If we collect raw materials in Spain and our production units also established in Spain these time we are not complete in the Pakistani market because this time the cost of product is high. We try to charge low price with High quality products to Pakistani consumer.

SWOT ANALYSIS: provides information that is helpful in matching the firm resources and capability to the competitive environment in which it operates . As such, it is instrumental in strategic formulation and selection. The following diagram shows how a SWOT analysis fits into an environmental scan

Strengths: A firm strength are in resources and capabilities that can be used as basis for developing a competitive advantage. Examples of such strengths include:13

Patents
Strong brands name
Good reputation among customers
Cost advantages from proprietary know-how
Exclusives access to high grade natural recourses
Favorable access to distribution networks

Weaknesses: The absence of certain strength may be viewed as a weakness. For example, each of the following are considered weakness:

Lack of patent protection
A weak brand name
Poor reputation among customers
High cost structure
Lack of access to the best natural recourses
Lack of access to key distribution channel

Opportunities: External environmental analysis may reveal starting new opportunities for profit and growth. Some examples of such opportunities include:

an unfulfilled customer need
Arrival of new technologies
loosen of regulation
Removal of international tradebarriers

Threats: Changes the external environment also may present threats to the firm. Some examples of such threats include:

Shift in customer tastes
Emergence of substitute products
newregulation
Increased trade barrierin Global market

ITEM/ PRODUCT PLANNING

―Item Planning lets you build plan by item, key item, or assortment—by vendor, class or item attribute—and across multiple sales channels. With Item Planning you can plan and forecast sales and inventory requirements in line with changes in demand to maximize margin potential for key items at every stage of the product lifecycle.‖-Manhattan Associates

Our Item Planning solution also focuses on powerful attribute planning capabilities that make it easy to incorporate attributes into your planning process and explore ―what if‖ planning scenarios to weigh the benefits of different strategies based on customer preferences, market demand changes. Retailers can determine the optimum product mix across the attributes that matter most to customers. This approach improves sales, turn and inventory management by putting customer preferences in sync with financial targets.

Item Planning is a flexible, easy-to-use solution that allows you to:

Micro-manage your key items that contribute the most profit to your business
Improve forecast accuracy at item level with built in integration to Demand Forecasting solution
Use attribute planning to gain visibility into customer preferences and react quickly to their changing needs
Execute assortment plans to get the right product, at the right price, in the right locations at the right time
Rapidly respond to changes in demand and align inventory accordingly to increase sales, margin and sell through.

PRODUCT PLANNING IN YELLOW’S RETAIL STORES- JOB DESCRIPTION IN BULLET POINTS

Stock Distribution
Style Replenishment
Size Ratio Analysis
Forecast Quantity of Production
Mid – Season Sales for Slow sellers
Consolidate stock
Previous season performance analysis

RETAIL PLANNER JOB DESCRIPTION IN DETAILS

Retailers and vendors need to develop a new game plan to grow and prosper in tomorrow’s environment.

Retail Planning: The first step is to engage in an intense self-analysis. This includes consumer research in order to determine the wants and needs of the target customer, increase the value proposition with new and differentiated merchandise, find a path to a more efficient sourcing and logistics structure, strengthen its brand (whether national or owned), and implement a multichannel distribution network. Success will be tied to customer satisfaction.

―Risk of failure and collapse are always with us. But the culture of innovation across the globe is more robust than ever. We think that’s worth celebrating‖. – Forbes

During the internship period, my work mainly revolved around managing the product, monitor the product, and if possible to analyze the trend, research and make the whole retailing system more efficient and effective.

Day to day monitoring and all the raw data was provided by the Yellow‘s internal web report. The process is simple, Almost all the information for instance, season wise, category wise, size wise, style wise information are provided by the internal web report.

1 – STOCK DISTRIBUTION

Stock distribution throughout the entire store was critical to efficiency. Let’s say, Yellow has many outlets in Dhaka, online shop, yellow online sale in Daraz, one in Chittagong and some in Pakistani too. Now problem arises when we know all the shops is not equal in size. Meaning some shops are small or some are too big. And, after keeping that in mind if we start distributing our stock that will also not do since we don’t have any hard and fast rule about making such decisions, here then we need to focus onto our observation power. For say, the shops like Mogbazar,Mohammadpur is small and since for the people there Yellow has not been so popular yet, mainly because of their premium pricing, sending one set of the stock is quite reasonable. However, the same decision cannot be taken for the stores that we have in Pink City, Banani as they consist of the most bustling crowd of youngster hanging out every day, where one of the hype of the youngsters are to shop till their heart’s content ! Now Bingo, it also located in such a place where no one can miss to see it. Right it is either then and there on Banani 11 Street or Right in front of the entrance of Pink City. For this group people price does not matter, and they will love to shop if they liked something fashionable to their taste. Therefore we needed to decide to increase the number of sets sending to these stores for example a set of two or three will suffice. Thence, this type of requirement analysis was to be done by me in order to ensure the right number of quantity is going to the right stores.

2 – STYLE REPLENISHMENT

Not all styles go as a hit hype to the customer, but some do make a magic blast as customers buy it so quickly that they make it a hot selling item of the season. That Item which becomes the most popular and sells like hot cake. Now in Yellow, day to day I kept close eyes on such items. I figured out there could be two types of work which could be done. First of all, from the beginning of the season tracking these hot sellers gave me an idea, that this particular item is so in this season. Customers are very much accepting and liking them. Hence, after talking to the Head of Women’s’ Wear Designer- Ms. Belen, we would check the inventory to see if we had that particular item’s left over fabric or not. If yes, then we would proceed in making some extra order quantity of the fastest selling item. Lastly, during the mid-season or near the end of the season, may be say when the hot selling items are sold out then it is great. But, if it has only 20 or 25 pieces left out of 180 pieces produced quantity. What do you think 20 pieces of one item displayed in twenty different stores, like one here two there, or All 20 pieces displayed together in one big store will catch more attention? Here we made a decision from this current Spring 215 season, we will do style replenishment in Yellow, which was never done before. Now it is done as frequently as it is required. For me, I make it every week for special categories such as Women and Kids and often times Men’s wear too. For example, after tracking that 20 pieces, I call it down from each store, and from the web report I make a store wise Performance analysis for that particular style only and figure out the bestselling store particularly for that style only. Usually fr the analysis I take the percentage sell through and for each styles store wise and the highest will indicate the bestseller shop for that style. For instance, for Women’s Ethnic Top (WET)- Bashundhara City is the Bestselling selling stores. I send those 20 pieces to Bashundhara City and set them arrayed together and through the rate of sale increment we can assure this is a good process for organizing more sale. Later on, we also ranked the bestselling shops category wise, with the help of which we could understand for which shops which category sells the best.

3 –SIZE RATIO

One of the important job responsibility I had was to measure the size set ratio is alright or not. Likewise to see, are we properly identifying the right size ratio or we need less or more of may be a new size.

Previously we had S: M: L and just for some few shops XL was distributed in Women’s top. Earlier they used to speculate, the bigger the shop the more the stock should go rest there. To some extent they were right, but, practically the situation depends. Since, there are different customers and each individual has different needs, we can say this ratio will depend on the customer demand. Thus I went for a thorough market research, by visiting each stores and asking the customers and the sales people about their actual needs, this is how we got to learn the size XL needs to be in greater quantity & a completely new size is urgently needed to be made i.e. XXL and also a new pant size is highly demanded by the customer, Size 36 is needed to be produced. We used to make 27, 30, 32, and 34 but after careful market research, customers hardly buy 27 or 30 size, so the quantity we were sending becomes too much, since most of them comes back. And consumers buy more size 32 and 34, so we needed to increase the number of quantity in these size sets. The process of making the extra new sizes has already been approved and the production is work in process.

Then again, after seeing a pattern of consumer buying habits, it was clear to conclude that, Ethnic top (WCS, WEF, WET,WETH,WEVT,WFT) which are fusion of traditional and western fashion dress, this style was craved by customers of all sizes. Especially stores like Dhanmondi, Bashundhara, Banani, Pink City, and Jamuna. The same I can assure about the Women’s casual bottom, Women’s Legging, Women’s Denim (YWT, WDT, WKL) that included variety of colorful printed palazzo, printed denim, designer leggings of different cuts and variation was also popular amongst the youngster, plus Women who didn’t get their pants of their size were quite disappointed to see Yellow was not keeping them in mind, as a brand loyal customer they felt unwanted. Then again it is very bad for the brand reputation. Anyways, in order to compensate that depending on the average women figure and market demand in Dhaka a new size- 36 was a necessity to make in Yellow. Thus the decision was perfect to bring customer’s delight towards our brand.

4 –FORECAST ORDER QUANTITY & PREVIOUS SEASON PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS

In yellow the Warehouse Mr. Zakir Hossain along with his partners Mr. Kabir and others manage the inventory. Usually they forecast quantity seeing the last season‘s production quantity. Since it is a growing business, new ways and efficient ways are always appreciated. Mr. Abdul Basit Raja, who was Assistant Manager in Finance and Accounts helped me into this task. He made me do various reports such as Gross Profit Margin Projection, for both last year and this year. We closely monitor daily sales to last year sales and so on. We saw both the reports were along the line with their target Gross Profit for the year 2015. Anyways, with the help of these reports we were looking deep into the forecast quantity. Head of Women‘s Designer, Ms. Belen Gonzalez increased and decreased a lot of quantity, category wise. The work which I was left to do was whether the quantity forecasted was pleasing or not. We had to keep a number of things in our mind while critically analyzing the forecast quantity. For example- we saw the categories which she increased, compared with the years of selling patterns. Just too simply- among numerous others she increased WET, Women‘s Ethnic top which was a good decision, because it is the fastest selling item. Then WTT, Women‘s Tank Top, this category she decreased the number of quantity. It is the slowest item when compared with the trend of selling patterns of the customers. Most of them come back, since it is a complimentary item, it needs to be there. Similarly, I can happily conclude this was the most appropriate decision. After making the forecast, I would rather go to the inventory to check the production,

Whether they are actually producing the number of quantity that we have ordered. If the matching of forecasted quantity and quantity produced is equal then we are going at the right track.

5 – MID –SEASON SALES FOR SLOW SELLERS

At the present we came up with a brand new idea of what we should do with the slow sellers. As a matter of fact not all items are fast sellers, some or sometimes a significant number of items happens to be categorized as slow sellers. Then the action I needed to take was to track those slow sellers from the web report. Identify them, the ones which are doing incredibly badly only those ones. As a product planner, I sit and plan with Ms. Belen and also with the Executive Director who happens to be my respective Supervisor, Mr. Shehriar Burney. Together we decide to make a mid-season sale, a 30 % cut in price sharp might do the trick to sell these slow sellers and quickly finish the stock likewise. This is the newest process we are implying and is still in work in process mode, from this season onwards this will be start to be in implementation stage.

6- CONSOLIDATE STOCK

This process is not just a process it is an integrated process. This process of uniting/ gathering the stock is interlinked with several other factors.For example- the factor could be anything, sometimes it might be an unexpected problem for which we needed to collect all the stock of garments from the stores. This Spring Season, in the beginning of the sale, a style WETR 43D/ SP15 sold like hot cakes, but also came back even faster they got sold. The problem was regarding the mistaken sizes. The people who wear S, cannot wear the S size instead the M size was fitting to them. Some brand loyal customers did not even gave a trial since they know which sizes they need in Yellow. Then they all came back. We figured out problem was with the size ratios and flawed measurements of the sizes. In order to control the situation, we consolidated all the garments of WETR43D/SP15, so that we can fix it. If you saw the previous description of Style Replenishment there we unite the few items that are left in store and display them in their bestselling store. A very major part of my job was to keep track of all the items specially kids and women items going to store and collect them whenever it is needed.

NO.7 -FREQUENT STORE VISITS, MARKET SURVEYS, PRODUCT ANALYSIS

One of my job responsibilities is to physically visit stores to look upon what is going on. My focus includes a lot of areas, such as product problems, challenges the sale force is facing while purchasing a particular item, what is happening with slow sellars, for example finding out the reasons why are they not selling, and then report them to the designers, the merchandisers, the market managers, area managers etc. And to contuously work on it, make solutions, find reasons, give recommendations etc. Below is an illustration of how I report it.

FINDINGS: TECHNICAL PROBLEMS OF SPRING 2015 COLLECTION

As a part of my job I was required to do a regular market survey. Most appropriately twice a season or sometimes thrice if needed. We used to do it by visiting all the Yellow Stores in Dhaka. Our Most popular stores were Pink City, Bashundhara City, Banani, Dhanmondi, Uttara, and Jamuna. The market survey carried a standard procedure of taking the feedbacks of the customers, be it good or bad. Lastly, we used to wrap up the survey by informally jotting down all the feedback and follow ups from the Sales man and Sales Manager of that store. For example we used to collect their possible problems or challenges they are facing every moment every day, the operational problem, or the technical problem like quality of the fabric, customer’s dissonance for too high price in LSKD etc.

Below are some of the reports I made after doing the market surveys. After which, we reported to the Head of Designers and Merchandisers to sit and find out plausible solutions of each problems.

CATEGORY: WOMEN’S BOTTOM

DESCRIPTION:

Colorful denims and palazzo are demanded more.
Sizes 27, 28 to be sent in lower quantity and sizes 30, 32, 34, to be sent in more quantity because the market demand is more of these styles than of sizes 27, 28.
A new size, size 36 is demanded in all the stores. Thence, an urgent addition of the new style will fulfill the new demand.
The viscose fabrics we are using are of pretty much lower quality because of which the ‘peeling problem’ arrives. A defected product going to the store is pretty much harmful for the reputation of the brand. It ensures customer’s discord and disappointment towards the brand.
Instead of the printed skirt, the customer demanded more palazzo made out of it
The new leggings the one which has embroidery on it, in two color ways-black and white was very popular among the customer, usual leggings are quite unwanted by the customers, yet the legging with a touch of difference is very much accepted and liked by the customers.
WKL-122, BLUE FLORAL PRINTED, in all of its color way had zipper problem. The zipper wasn’t opening and was very hard too, customers couldn’t give a trial
And lastly, the glittery big bow in the black bottom did not get a positive response from the customers

FINDINGS

Yellow‘s target is to be a top notch international brand. Now it is already a top brand in Bangladesh, established in Pakistan, further planning to open in Singapore, India and so on and so forth. By stepping onto one stair at a time, Yellow is will meet its target to be a global brand soon if it maintains fast pace of the fashion craving industry.
Since the workplace is quite far from the city, skilled and amazingly talented people don‘t get motivated enough to travel to this far and settle for a job. Their office is in Sarabo, Kashimpur. On the other hand, the management committee is unable to maintain a pool of talented people who are already there in Yellow mostly because of their attitude problem and ignorance. It is one of the major problems they have.
One of the appreciable facts about Yellow is they very much want to believe in innovation. The proof is the internal sophisticated web report they have, the online shop they have in yellow‘s website and also in Daraz, a shopping website. They are willing to accept the new change, hence they are accepting my work which is completely new in Yellow. Although, the Chairperson Mr Shohel F. Rahman is not interested in any procedural work, he seldom wants changes; he is only bothered about the amount of profit/loss we make. The Directors however are different, so is the head of designers, they are willing to accept any effective tool that makes their resources efficient and thus more profit.
Among the popular stores of Yellow, Banani and Pink City are one of the most remarkably popular stores with youngsters always over crowded there. Yet, I figured out after going to those stores that they are small, the inventory room they have is quite small for products to fit in. As a result even if we want to send in more sets of garments to them, we cannot. Unfortunately, here we are losing more sales.
Although repetition of one style is strictly prohibited in Yellow. However, some of the styles done in 2 to 3 years back, the designers made a repetition. And the very obvious happened. The customers noticed it and had a very negative feedback.
The management is highly ignorant about the kid‘s category. If you can notice, you will see, there is no promotional activity, advertising, related to kid‘s category. To my surprise, Ms. Belen puts in a lot of varied lively collection for kids. But sadly, hardly anyone knows Yellow sells Kids item too. Although the collection is so good, but most of the hard work goes in vein because of the ignorance of the higher authority, who are unwilling to invest in this category.
To make kid‘s category more irresistible to the customer, we needed more different and varied fabrics to make our collection outstanding. Unfortunately, we were only allowed to make kids garments from the left over fabric, since it is cost cutting. Talking to many merchandisers, we came to know the price of stitching, washing, ironing, cutting is same as the adult‘s garments. Then again, Men‘s pant can be worth 2000 tk, however same pant for kids have to keep a price of 995 tk. mainly because the costing problem will never be understood by the customers and they will be very unwilling to pay 2000 tk for kids item. Hence, Yellow uses the left over fabric, seems like this is the only way to reduce cost that‘s why.
Another problem was forecasted quantity most of the time doesn‘t match with the finished quantity. For example- 180 pieces was the ordered quantity for a style. After the finished goods came out we saw that only 100 pieces were produced. There could be several reasons; the roll of fabric might become short in quantity since mostly Yellow uses fabric from Beximtex. Another reason could be because of some technical glitch while making many of the garments got spoiled.
Super bestselling stores like Dhanmondi, Bashundhara City, Pink City, Banani, Jamuna, Chittagong is doing great. After observing I got a little worried about the rest of the other store wise innings. The other stores are in dire need to get popular in that area. For that we need to understand the people and culture and habits of that particular area. For example- In Wari, girls are most likely going to buy ethnic clothes, LSKD (Lawn Salwar Kamiz Dupatta) rather than WKT (Women‘s knit top) T-shirts that is. The reason is they are more conservative, traditional. The same we cannot say for the Uttara Store or Banani Store. Women of all shapes and sizes here are more open to try out different attire, be it western or fusion. Different area, Different taste, and taste has no color written on it. This is the key which the management needs to understand and customize their action accordingly.
LSKD (Lawn Salwar Kamiz Dupatta) is being designed by the Pakistani Designers sitting in Pakistan. The fabric also comes from there. However, the costing becomes huge. Yellow‘s rule is to always keep a 60-70% margin while making the price of each garment. On the other hand, their price starts from tk 6495 and onwards this makes the mass consumers quite skeptic and unwilling to buy with such a huge costing. Think about People in Mohammadpur, Moghbazar, Wari, Bashundhara City etc, these area stores contains the most of the consumers of LSKD. But the price range is way too much for them to get used to and hence they are not accepting. Still, the customers of posh areas can afford. Now the question is how many and how often do the customers of the posh regions wear LSKD. I will leave this question to the readers to ponder about.

INTERNAL CHALLENGES

Washing requirements was also a bit problem that BEXIMCO needed to overcome that it wanted the ACRU look which is the pure fade white type of color garment becomes after the bleach wash. This was hard to achieve because of trims color as in bulk production garments are washed in heavy machine mixing huge amount of garments. So, when all the garments mix together sometimes color splits so, keeping the fresh look is a challenge. Therefore suppliers need to request the designers to take the garment as closest as possible.
Generally, for a sample the standard time is 30 Days for development to production. Communication gap between the management stuffs can stretch the process as for their bit ignorance an approval could have been sent for several times and organization can face a big loss.

EXTERNAL CHALLENGES

External problems include the monitory policy and the exchange rate of foreign transaction. BEXIMCO needs to import many items from abroad due to the unavailability of our production capacity. For example, the last winter‘s sweaters were imported. So, the cost sometimes gets higher because locally sourced products cannot meet the quality. In that case, if the exchange rate increases it has to face slight money constraint.
In case of RMG buyers China, Hong Kong, Taiwan is the competitor suppliers of Bangladesh. So, buyers can choose anyone if they do not get in competitive price. This is also depended on the relationship with the local office of buyers as they are the media of communicating with suppliers. So, maintaining a good relationship is important for suppliers.
Demand of buyer sometimes go beyond the possible capacities and can be changed at the very last moment of time which is a big risk for supplier that at the last moment production can be hampered as well as the assembly line. Unrest of country‘s political and business condition is a reason of losing the confidence of buyer to continue the business with Bangladeshi supplier.

RECOMMENDATION

BEXIMCO Apparels Ltd is the largest textile group in Bangladesh. It has outstanding reputation in the global market for excellence. In contrast to that, Yellow is an international brand now. And has plans to not only go global, but also to become well known all across the globe. The Beximco Textile from which Yellow works it production, is a composite factory where they have all the sectors of woven and knit item like spinning, knitting, dyeing, printing, embroidery, accessories, and garments production. So, this is huge in case of production and maintenance both.

However, this huge organization is facing difficulty in gathering the maximum profit due to many of reasons what I have observed from the internship period Supply chain or procurement department is not very strong in this company which causes that the merchandisers procure all the raw materials of garments that’s why they feel more pressure to complete shipment and some time also over the shipment date then company should pay the extra money for air shipment. So when supply chain department procure all the raw materials then merchandiser can easily shipment the goods within lead time

Planning department of operation should be strong and the time management should be followed. Here, productivity is low due to less command of the authority towards the production. It should be increased for the higher productivity.
Quality assurance system should be modernized because quality is the top priority of all international buyers.
Pay scale is very poor which is needed to be increased because company will lose potential employees due to their policy.
Distribution of power should be well managed and transparency among the workers and the management should be followed.

The organization is one of the biggest organizations in Bangladesh and contributing the highest Amount of GDP in the economy but if it follows these areas then it will be among the greatest in the region.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion I can say that this internship report is really essential for every student of Business Administration to get idea about textile industry By completing this report I have got overall idea of RMG sector and these may be helpful to know about the technical and management knowledge of garments industry also these sector related organizations. This is a huge sector and yet to discover the whole. I want to thank my department Head for giving me great opportunity of learning. This Internship program will help me in the further challenges of life. I try my best to make this project enriched with lots of apparel related documents. BEXIMCO group is really a good experience for me because every person of there so much helpful and give me the proper methods of practical Learning. So, at last, there is a hope of eradicating all the obstacles and become the leader of Garment industries in near future.