After checking credit and debit balances, the group got rejuvenated again in the month of November and opened ‘Mega eZone’ in Chennai. Speaking on the store launch, Manoj Kumar, CEO, eZone and Electronics Bazaar said, “eZone is not only about showcasing electronics, consumer durables and gadgets of best of the brands, but about enabling the consumer to truly experience products, through touch and feel.”

Later the same month, Future Group announced its plans to create strong Indian brands across categories like FMCG, household, consumer durable, electronics and apparel categories with projected revenue of Rs 100 billion by 2012. Keeping pace with that initiative, the group opened a new format store Big Bazaar Express in Tarapur.


Branding and marketing initiatives in 2008:

Besides opening stores aggressively, the company, as part of its branding, marketing and crowd pulling strategy, organised events, fashion shows and book releases across its stores. In March, eZone stores organised ‘Intel - eZone Laptop Fashion Week’— a unique fashion show, which was hosted to showcase the latest laptops and accessories. Pantaloons also unveiled the Pantaloons Femina Miss India 2008 collection in that month featuring brand ambassador Lara Dutta to walk the ramp. In April 2008, Big Bazaar signed MS Dhoni as brand ambassador and introduced a whole new range of fashion products inspired by the seasons’ colours and textures. In this month, Pantaloons launched an exclusive line of film merchandise of the movie Tashan. In May 2008, Depot and Big Bazaar hosted the release of Chetan Bhagat’s book – The 3 Mistakes of My Life.

Further, in June 2008, Depot and eZone hosted the launch of Rabbi Shergill’s album ‘Avenge ja nahi’ at the Oberoi Mall. The group also organised a promotional campaign for Priyanka Chopra and Harman Baweja recreated the magic of ‘Love Story 2050’ at Pantaloons, Mega Mall, Oshiwara. In this month, Depot also launched Virgin Adulteress — a book by Nargis Natarajan. In July, Depot hosted the home video launch of movie Aamir. From July 12- 20, 2008, eZone arranged Yo Zone in all its stores with a funky look to excite younger customers, and organised exciting activities like gaming competitions, live demos, DJ gyan, early bird gifts, etc.

The show ended with a bang:

The year-long show ended in December 2008 with the mega shopping event 'The Great Indian Shopping Festival', which was organised across all format stores and lasted for 32 days till January 11, 2009. The event was remarkable for the group, as Damodar Mall, group customer director, Future Group said, “The festival brought Future Group brand to the customers’ space, which was earlier limited only on the corporate and retail space.”