Kazo stores Styled to 'kill'

Georg C. Lichtenberg, a famous German scientist, once said, “Even truth needs to be clad in new garments if it is to appeal the new age.” While there are numerous brands and fashion creations that are following this axiom to cater to the fashion world, Kazo has created new-age fashion for India’s changing women to match their lifestyles.

 

Store position & presentation

The fashion brand Kazo has nine exclusive stores in prime retail hubs across the country. Dressing the urbane and modern woman and meeting her daily needs are the mantras that Kazo upholds. Kazo stores are designed to ensure that they lure young women with visual treat along with promising merchandise. All the stores are located in prime positions – be in the main shopping centres or in premises located in city centres - with adequate parking space and comfortable accessibility. The dimension of the store is anywhere within 800 - 1,100 sq.ft carpet area.

 

An impressive show window with mannequins garbed in the latest collections beckons a customer inside. Black is the colour statement of Kazo stores. On entering a Kazo store, one would feel as if he or she is entering in a premium restaurant lounge with its retro-chic look created with tiny bulbs enclosed in four-flipped sockets on the store roof and shades of light-blue glowing from the set of lights fitted on the floor giving a modern youthful ambience.

The stores walls are designed with hard dark-brown clay finish of coarse unpolished look and the flooring is done with black tiles. The edges of the walls have or are filled with white pebble (2.8 - 3.5 cm in diameter).

The two trial rooms, though not carrying the ambience of the store, are located at the far end of the store and are done up with four sided glass walls and a sit-down stool for easy sitting and dressing comforts. Black mannequins don the collection of Kazo and the merchandise hangs in deep-black hangers embossed with the logo of Kazo.

The layouts, equipments and displays demonstrate a touch and feel appeal to the ambience. The store has superior iron display racks for garments and accessories with a carousel placed in the middle of the store for displaying merchandise. The fashion statement is further emphasised with popular channel playing fashion movements on a LCD screen.

 

Customer service

Kazo has yet to acquire a definitive intellectual property (IP) for definite customer service programme. To start with, an explicit area has not been set aside to keep bags and baggages of the customers visiting the store. The consumers are not insisted to leave their bags either at the POS or with the guard.

There are four to five service staffs per store. Male service staffs are clad in black shirts and trousers whereas females wear black dress with neckties or scarves. When asked by the customers for any help or information, they are keen to help and are ready to extend their services both in English and regional language. However, they do not seem to possess serious consumer-orientation regarding up-selling. But, we cannot say that they are not well informed about the products, prices and don’t have the caliber to offer polite ideas to customers based on their physical appearance and personal choice. Kazo stocks merchandise mostly for customers who prefer lifestyle. Thus, its clientele fits in the up-market segment. Given this fact, operations within a store run smoothly as the footfalls are manageable.

 

Store products & marketing

Kazo, with its utmost fashion orientation, captures the image of the urbane, confident, playful, mysterious yet elfin women. The store décor reflects very sharply these traits of the urbane woman. The store carries garments with unusual cuts, which are unfamiliar at a first glance, but carry an astonishing combination of fabrics, applications, small chains, artificial fur, corduroy and leather assorted varieties of western costumes like tunics, trousers, jeans, jacket, night wear, long and short kilt, camisole, spaghetti uppers, lingerie and scarf. The brand also has its own line of accessories, which includes shoes, sunglasses, belts, fine jewellery and trinkets, and light and spacious handbags. The entire collection is created by an in-house design studio of B.L. International, the promoters of Kazo. The company has also entered into agreements with design firms in Spain, London and Paris who provide them with inputs on the latest fashion trends, fabrics and designs almost every week. The costumes are divided section-wise with accessories segment placed at the end corner so that customers can match a fascinating accessory with their chosen apparel.

Catalogues on the Kazo summer’08 collection are made available on request for customers. Kazo organises an ‘annual sale’ offering 33 per cent discount. This year, the brand started it on July 4. The store policies in terms of exchange or refund are declared at the POS and, for its operation, the Wizapp technology has been implemented. The store imagery is well enhanced by shots of models adorning the latest collection. Kazo image is supported by impressive advertising campaigns, which has created brand familiarity and favouritism with women.

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