Arvind Brands and Retail- August 2012

Great Place To Work®
Conference

Case Study – Arvind Brands

Copyright ©2012 Great Place To Work® Institute, Inc. All rights reserved

Arvind Brands is a well known brand in the Indian
market
Arvind Brands and Retail Limited is one of India’s most
well known brands in fashion apparel.

A Product to suit every Pocket !

The retail industry face many challenges ..

 Ensuring customer’s shopping experience is delightful –
number one driver of brand loyalty

 Ensuring adequate range of products to suit a wide section of
customers

 Ensuring adequate knowledge of the frontline retail workforce

 Ensuring employee retention in an industry where attrition is
very high

The key differentiator is the behaviour of the
frontline staff and their willingness to stay longer

and Arvind Brands had some more!

 How do we ensure consistency in service standards in
service standards between company owned and
franchisee owned stores?

 How do we ensure ownership of store managers to
developing frontline workforce?

Overriding questions for Arvind Brands were how
can frontline retail workforce live the brand and
does the HR have the credibility to drive the
change?

The need for change was compelling ..

 Industry growing very fast, danger of missing the bus

 Sustaining growth dependent on frontline workforce
who also constitute 85% of total workforce

 Senior management, including Retail Operation
Managers committed to delivery of superior customer
experience

Opportunity, rather than threat, was the key driver

and the strategy for change was simple

Leadership in the marketplace was contingent in achieving the
following:

1. Develop frontline workforce to enable them to deliver
superior customer experience.

2. Engage frontline workforce to retain them longer.

3. Ensure Ownership and support of managers.

HR was able to demonstrate that the above will
impact both top line and bottom line.

1. Develop frontline workforce

Arvind University

Arvind University comprises of three parts:

1. Arvind Retail Academy

2. Arvind Leadership Academy

3. Arvind Functional Expertise Academy


1. Develop frontline workforce – Arvind Retail
Academy

Induction
Level 0
GUEST

Level 1 Product Training
Arvind Retail
Academy Advanced Selling
Level 2 Techniques- O2, ABC,CLAP
Retail Success Formulas -
PQRS
PQRS
Friedman Training


1. Develop frontline workforce

2. Arvind Leadership Academy
 Offered to employees who demonstrate leadership potential.

 Arvind Express

3. Arvind Functional Expertise Academy
 Caters to employees other than those at the stores, behind
the scenes.
Eg. Wine and fashion forum – for apparel designers


2. Engage frontline workforce- the need for an
employer brand
• Concept-
Consumer Brand loyalty
Brand & & repeat
Product Recall purchase

• Application-
Employer Higher retention and
Brand & more discretionary
Product Recall work


2. Engage frontline workforce- other advantages of
building the employer brand

• Reinforced the importance of branding at Arvind Brands

• Introduced the flavor of fun to HR processes and practices


2. Engage Corporate Team – The 3 Es of the
Employer Brand

Experience + Efficient + Enjoyable


2. Engage frontline workforce – The 3 Es of the
Employer Brand - Experience

Portfolio of brands across all market
Brands
segments and categories

Retail Operations Techniques and tools of retail operations

Supply Chain Complex supply chain management


Employer Brand - Efficient

Business Drivers
(PEAK)

Top 5 Co.s
Values (SILC) HIP – High in retail
Impact
Operational Performance
Efficiency Best in Class
Drivers (SMART) Financial Metrics

Will Do Attitude


Employer Brand - Enjoyable

Series of fun activities spread over 3 weeks
in December culminating in Family day.

Exclusive and informal capability building
and engagement forum for all apparel
designers across the company.


2. Engage frontline workforce- summary of the
Employer Brand - SMILE

S - Salary and incentives on time
M- Medical benefits
I - Involve & Recognise
L- Learning and Development
E - Enjoyable workplace


2. Engage workforce- keep repeating the brand
messages

1. Brand message # 1 – Arvind’s 3 Es

2. Brand message # 2 – The HIP Model

3. Brand message # 3 – Never stop learning @ Arvind
University

4. Brand message # 4 – SMILE


3. Ensure ownership and support of managers

• Deliver clear and measurable business results
– Learning & Development
– Talent acquisition at stores

• People Development – part of KRA of heads of retail
operations

• Area/ store managers are the trainers- Train the
trainer to equip them
Key message- “Finding and keeping people is the
responsibility of the store manager”

The 3 pronged strategy of Arvind Brands has started
delivering results – to employees..
 Happiness Index
Over the last 3 financial years (2009-10 – 2011-12) has gone up by
40% as measured in retail stores.
 Attrition
From 40% in 2009-10 to 15% as on June 2012.
 Increase in Number of Achievers
Number of employees appearing in the “Hall of Fame” has doubled
over the last twelve months.
 Monthly Incentives
The number of employees earning Monthly incentives has
increased from 30%-35% to 60% over the last two years.
 Arvind Express
The number of employees becoming Asst. Store Manager from
Customer Service Agent increased from 2 in 2009-10 to 20 in 11-12

and to customers,..

 Mystery Customer Survey:
Over the last 12 months, the ‘Mystery Customer Survey’ has
shown that the customer satisfaction has gone up from 74 %
overall to 80% in the brand stores.

Sales per square feet at brand stores
increased 1.36 times in a span of two years

and to the Organization

 Profit Margin and Inventory Turns:
The Profits of 2011-12 were 2.23 times that of 2009-10, while
Inventory Turns went up by 1.15 times over the same period.

 ROCE:
Return On Capital Employed went up 1.45 times in two years.

 Expansion:
The number of stores as of March 2012 were twice the number
as of March 2010. Total Retail Space as on March 2012 went up
by 1.75 times over the preceding two years


Key Takeaways
• Be clear about your target group

• Link your development agenda to business results

• Branding of HR initiatives helped in communicating effectively
to the last person in the store

• Keep things simple – lest it scares away the target group.

• Measure the People- Service- Profit link

The key is to answer the question, “ What’s in it for
our people?”

Global Headquarters India Office

Join the conversation

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Arvind Brands and Retail- August 2012

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