Initiatives
Viveks pioneered various innovative offerings to its customers including the New Year Sale, the Aadi Sale, the Diwali Sale, exhibition-cum-sale, etc.
Viveks Service Centre was established to provide both warranty and post warranty service to customers in Chennai. It is today the only one of its kind in the country, a multi product, multi brand service centre authorised by 34 brands. The service centre has about 200 technicians of which 120 have been provided with motorcycles and modern tools to provide onsite services to customers in Chennai.
Marketing Initiative
Viveks follows a multipronged marketing strategy which includes special price offers on specific events, combo offers providing economic solutions to customers, zero interest hire purchase, extended warranty, free installation, offers of freebies
with specific product purchases, prize schemes, etc.
Brand proposition
The trust that has been earned by Viveks by living up to the customers’ expectations over a long period. The strength of this trust has been amply validated by the global consultancy firm, McKinseys, in whose study on Indian retail, conducted for CII, Viveks was named as “a brand more trusted than the brands it sells”.
The challenges overcome
Today’s challenge is how to exploit the market opportunity. To address this, the company was transformed from the retail business into a corporate entity, registering Vivek Limited in 1994. This enabled the company to get support of banks and financial institutions to fund its growth. In a period of ten years, the company grew from 5 stores to 50 stores with turnover moving towards Rs 400 crore. The other challenges are management and competition which have been well handled by management team, excellent retail experience and competitive pricing and offerings.
Expansion plan
The company presently operates 42 stores in Chennai and 16 other locations in Tamil Nadu and 8 stores in Bangalore. The current expansion plan envisages establishing another 30 stores in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in the next three years.
His understanding of the retail business and his learning in this process
“Customer orientation has been a way of life at Viveks and the experience of dealing with customers under transforming market conditions has helped in developing a clear understanding of customer expectations and the importance of living up to them.”
