Mothercare Pakistan: An Insight to its Retail Strategy..

Contributed by: Rabiya Inayatullah 

Mothercare works with various store formats to meet its customer’s needs; involving small shop-in-shop format to mid-sized high street store to the larger out-of-town or larger store in a mall. Internationally, the mothercare products are sold through its Franchise Partners’ retail stores with a small but growing online presence and a fledgling wholesale business for territories where it doesn’t have Franchise Partners. In Pakistan mothercare is operated by Gull Sons Group of Companies with Yaseen Paracha being company's CEO. 

TYPE OF OWNERSHIP

mothercare in Pakistan has franchise type store format. The franchise is operated by Gull Sons Group of Companies & run by qualified management members.

RETAIL FORMAT

mothercare is a speciality retail store, a one stop shop for parents which aims to be the world’s leading mother and baby specialist in the markets in which they operate.

·         Store Location:

The store is located in the Dolmen Mall: Shahrah-e-Ghalib, Marine Drive, Block 4. Clifton. Karachi. The store is on the First floor, shop no F-8. The store can be seen easily & it is convenient for the customers to locate the store as the customer’s footfall is very high on the first floor because many international outlets were there. 

·         Store Design:

The mothercare store is designed very creatively. The merchandise shelfing, the merchandise category segments & baby’s mannequins are designed in a way that it captures one’s site. All the elements which attracts the consumers are involve in its store design that it attracts the consumer. The elements that compliments the store design are:

RETAIL IMAGE MIX

a.      EMPLOYEE TYPE & DENSITY:

mothercare’s employees are well trained & representative. They were in clean & well designed uniform with the colour combination of light purple & black. The employees are well informed about their brand, & they guide their customers in a very impressive way. In the store, there are four employees from which three are females. The Area Manager is a female & the outlet Manager is a Male.

b.      FIXTURE TYPE & DENSITY:

All the fixtures in the store looks high Standard. They have used style/item presentation technique, that every merchandise is placed in its own category type. They have used beautiful wooden mixed with metal shelves, straight racks, four-way & promotional Aisles. The walls are painted with white textures & they used green colour for highlighting their ELC section. The flooring is granite in a light ash colour.   

c.       ODOR TYPE & DENSITY:

The store smells fresh. There is nothing that can irritate their customers. The clean & refreshing environment of the store encourages their customers to spend time in the store for examining merchandise.

d.      VISUAL TYPE & DENSITY:

The store looks very creative as the merchandise is placed item/category wise, the lighting in the store is so bright that it creates a sense of excitement in the store, the use of white, light ash & green colour creates a calming environment. The store looks clean, well-managed & appealing. The window displays, mannequins & promotional aisles, promotional signage captures the customer’s attention towards the store.

e.      MERCHANDISE TYPE & DENSITY:

The merchandise density is high. The merchandise is placed categorically with different SKU’s such as size, colour & fabrics. The store shows great management of merchandise within category. The apparels are placed on straight racks while the Home & Travel, ELC merchandise are placed in promotional aisles and on free-standings.

f.        SOUND TYPE & DENSITY:

There is no use of soft music in the mothercare store. The whole store is quite and peace full.

DISPLAYS

The display represents the merchandise management & designing. The entire store looks classy & well-managed. The people who walks through the aisles can easily see every category of merchandise they display. People can be attracted also by the watching the stores frontal display design.

SPACE MIX

The space mix in mothercare store is 65% selling area, 20% ELC area & 15% circulation area.

Impulse merchandise: The impulse merchandise in the mothercare store are the merchandise which are placed besides the cash counter and which are baby liquid talc, soaps, baby cotton pads, baby bubble bath, water teether & kids bags.

Demand merchandise:  The demand merchandise is placed in the inner side of the store but displays properly that anyone who enters the store can easily see the merchandise. The demand merchandise in mothercare store are pushchairs, feeding products, buggy & car seats.

SPECIAL MERCHANDISE: The special merchandise in mothercare store are its Early Learning Brands in which they offer different toys for children up-to 8 years. The innovative toys for every children according to their ages. The toys boosts children’s creativity & helps to have a healthy play. The toys include inflatable bowling, flying disc, trampoline & enclosure, bounce castle, etc.

Retail Space Management

The retail space is used in a very systematic way. The merchandise is placed categorically & the fixture design attracts the consumers. The stores frontal view attracts many people & increases footfall. The mannequins of baby’s apparels in the front window, the promotional signage, the ELC toys & the background also captivates shopper’s attention.

Layout & Circulation Plan

mothercare store has a Free-Form Layout as it is a speciality retail store in which they have placed all the merchandise in an asymmetric pattern which provides the customers a relaxing environment for shopping. Customers can circulate easily in the store for browsing as everything is ordered in a systematic way.

Floor Space Management

·         Hot spot: The entrance of mothercare store where the new baby boy’s apparels on   the left side & new baby girl’s apparels on the right side are displayed is the hot spot because it is the high traffic area in the store.

·         Cold spot: The area where the traffic is medium in the store is the back side where the car seats, push chair & bedding furniture’s are placed.

·     Warm spot: The warm spot is the fitting room & ELC brand segment where customers traffic flow is low.

MERCHANDISING

1    Hierarchy

      Clothing & footwear:

·         New baby

·         Girls clothes

·         Boys clothes

·         Kids essentials

bHome & Travel:

·         Bed time

·         Bath time

·         Dinner time

·         Car Seats

c      Toys ELC Brands:

·         inflatable bowling

·         flying disc

·         trampoline & enclosure

·         bounce castle

d     Maternity Products

·         Feeding bottles

·         Maternity towels

·         Nursing cream

·         Toiletries

RETAIL MARKETING STRATEGIES

a)      BRANDING: The mothercare is a well-known international brand. The brand is distinct because of its products offering. The merchandise category & the customer service of mothercare is its unique selling proposition. The brand is customer centric because of which is it able to satisfy its target customers.

b)     POSITIONING: The mothercare brand has a unique positioning in the speciality retail market. The brand is in the leading position because of its innovative offerings & valuable service. Mothercare is the pioneer in offering parenting & baby’s products. They got a unique & strong position in the market as they are focused on offering style, quality & innovation in product & great service.

c)      RETAIL MARKETING MIX: The retail marketing mix of mothercare includes:

·         PRODUCT OFFERING:

Mothercare have a wide range of merchandise with different SKU’s. The products are designed to satisfy customers, creates style, provide high quality & building loyal relationship.

THE PRODUCT LINE INCLUDES:

•             Clothing & footwear:
•           Home & Travel
•           Toys ELC Brands
•       Maternity Products
•      Parenting Guides/ Expert in Store Advice

·         PRICE: The mothercare products are affordable for their target customers. They have catered elite class so their price range is High & it is so expensive on some products such as on bedding furniture.

·         PLACE: The store is located in the Dolmen Mall: Shahrah-e-Ghalib, Marine Drive, Block 4. Clifton. Karachi. The area is reputable & dolmen mall is the place where many customers went for shopping as the mall includes many big brands so we can see high traffic over there. The store location captivates shopper’s attention as it is on the first floor and has an excellent design.

·         PROMOTION: mothercare promote their brand through print advertising in which they use many international magazines, the use digital catalogues for promoting their new offerings, through website of their own & through partner’s websites, the brand promote itself, also in UK the brand had organised many events for mothers & babies. Through sales promotion techniques such as 50% sale, discount offers & gifts they attract many consumers towards their store. Its recent sales promotional offer is “A bundle of Joy” in which they offer the customers to Shop at mothercare & get a toy of your choice, at “Half Price”.

·         PEOPLE: mothercare’s employees & staff are well trained & well mannered. They have skills to handle high traffic & they have experienced to satisfy moody customers. The staff guides their customers in browsing their products. They greet the customers on the entrance of the store & also when they exit the store.

·         PRESENTATION: The store’s presentation is spacious. The store looks presentable & beautiful which catches eye of many shoppers. The store in terms of display of merchandise looks beautiful, everything in the store is properly placed on the shelves & racks that are superbly designed.

ADVERTISING

mothercare advertise through online catalogs, print catalogs & magazines, banners & flyers.  Internationally, it uses celebrity endorsement for promoting their brand. They use celebrity’s pictures on the banners, catalogs & magazines. The online advertisement on retail websites such as baby shop & Zubeida mother shop can also be seen.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

Mothercare is a customer centric brand. They are focused about their consumer’s needs & they strive to give best product, guidance & service to their customers. The strong relationship of the brand with its customer’s increases loyalty. Their sustainable quality & service encourages their customers to keep in touch with the brand.

FUTURE OUTLOOK

mothercare is an international brand & famous for its specialty merchandise retailing service. In Pakistan & in other Asian countries; mothercare can open stores in well-reputed areas to attract its target market. The brand is at the maturity level, so they can even increase their product line in some regions. The brands aim to leave its footprints in the globe can be achieve strategically if they provide the same standard of quality & service to their customers.