Oct 19, 2007 09:19 PM
7539 Views
(Updated Oct 19, 2007 10:48 PM)
Retail industry in India is getting a new facelift in the form of new malls & bazaar's swarming up in the country. With the ever increasing cut throat competition each retail industry is trying to brag about itself & outdo the other one. Take for example westside , lifestyle & Big Bazaar. There is tremendous competition between these three. They adopt various marketing gimmicks like giving catchy punchlines "**isse sasta aur acha kahi nahi" , "keep west aside make a smart chocie" & "change your lifestyle , make a smart choice"
*However my review doesnt revolve around the marketing strategies & gimmicks , but I am gonna point out some pro's & cons of Big Bazaar
Big Bazaar was started by Kishore Biyani. It is presently one of the largest retail chain in India. Currently they have 40 outlets all over India , they are planning to increase the figure upto 100 in the near fututre. With the onset of Big bazaar shops like shoppers stop & small retail shops have taken a backseat.
I absolutely love shopping , window shopping too for that matter. I love to check new products in the market , their contents , quality , nutritive value & other details as I always prefer to buy cautiously rather then just splurging money on products which are of cheap quality.
I normally do my household shopping from Subhiksha or apna bazaar , but this time I got carried away by their tag line "isse sasta aur acha aur kaha". I got a chance to witness two outlets in Mumbai , one at milan mall (santacruz) & another one at kandivali east.
Lets look at the pleasant side of Big Bazaar.
Its pretty much covers up all the products which range from household items like crockery , food products , confectioneries , grocery , bedsheets , linens , towels. Name it and you have it here. Also you can find other electrical products , gadgets & other stuff. So it is pretty self sufficient by itself as you find everything under one roof & you dont have to take the pain to travel to different shops for every different item.
Here you get clothes at a cheaper rate , as low as 150 bucks. This is where it scores a point. It is a good option for the "aam admi" who doesnt want to burn his pocket, but for people who are very brand conscious its not the right place to be. They can try other outlets like lifestyle & shoppers stop where you get designer stuff on which your friends will drool over.
The household stuff is quite good as you get most of the ready to eat stuff , confectionary , sauces , pickles , vegetables , fruits , aata , dal , chawal well almost everything. The price is pretty much at par with the market rate , but be a little cautious while buying the grocery items as they maybe a little over priced.
Coming to gadgets they have a wide variety to offer cell phones , mp3 players , music system , televisions , washing machines & what not. But then there is nothing special about the brands. Make sure you dont get cheated with the quality.
They also have a inhouse cafeteria , so you can grab a quick bite while you do the shopping.
*Looking at some of the cons :
The santacruz outlet is very badly laid out. It is very congested & parking takes a hell lot of a time. On weekends it is very crowded and I was almost pushed & jostled most of the time. There is a huge rush at the counter which results in frequent trolly jams. The time taken to purchase all your stuff is less then the time you spend in the queue waiting for ur turn to pay the bill.
Please avoid this place on weekends .
The kandivali outlet is much better designed as it has good parking space & the interiors are well decorated & everything is organised impeccably.Do your shopping very cautiously as you might suffer on the quality & might get cheated seeing the discounted prices.
So in the end its your call , whether you want a complete set of clothing under 500 bucks or you want those four figure amount for branded stuff.*
