CHAPTER SCHEME.

SL NO. Chapter1

CONTENT Introduction

PAGE No. Part- I 2-16 Part-II 17-24

Chapter2 Chapter3 Chapter4

Research design Company profile

25-26 27-33

Collection of data, analysis 34-46 & Evaluation Findings, conclusions & 47-50 suggestions Bibliography Annexure 51 52

Chapter5

CHAPTER 1 {Part 1}

Marketing Management Meaning

We can distinguish between a social and a managerial definition for marketing. According to a social definition, marketing is a societal process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating, offering, and exchanging products and services of value freely with others. As a managerial definition, marketing has often been described as the art of selling products. But Peter Drucker, a leading management theorist, says that the aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous. The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well that the product or service fits him and sells itself. Ideally, marketing should result in a customer who is ready to buy. The American Marketing Association offers this managerial definition: Marketing (management) is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational goals. Coping with exchange processespart of this definition calls for a considerable amount of work and skill. We see marketing management as the art and science of applying core marketing concepts to choose target markets and get, keep, and grow customers through creating, delivering, and communicating superior customer value.

Principles of marketing

Marketing as defined as "the total of activities involved in the transfer of goods from the producer or seller to the consumer or buyer, including advertising, shipping, storing, and selling." An alternate definition paraphrased from memory of an introductory business text is: Marketing is all activities conducted to prepare for sales. Sales is all activities required to close the deal. Shipping and customer satisfaction would be included in sales to avoid the customer from reversing or unclosing the deal. Thus Marketing can be categorized as a branch of business as well as a social science. We buy goods (thus becoming the buyer/consumer) from a vendor (or producer/seller), creating a transaction. In the past, marketing involved traveling salesmen, while in modern times, marketing is more likely to involve television, the internet, and other forms of media bombardment. As we progress in this age of technology it is vital for us to understand marketing and its place in the world. Understanding and applying the principles will be beneficial to the business person and the layperson.

BRAND EQUITY
What Is a Brand? Perhaps the most distinctive skill of professional marketers is their ability to create, maintain, protect, and enhance brands. The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of these, intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors. In essence, a brand identifies the seller or maker. Whether it is a name, trademark, logo, or another symbol, a brand is essentially a sellers promise to deliver a specific set of features, benefits, and services consistently to the buyers. Brand Equity is the commercial value of all associations and expectations (positive and negative) that people have of an organization and its products and services due to all experiences of, communications with, and perceptions of the brand over time. This value can be measured in several ways: as the economic value of the brand asset itself, the price premium (to the end consumer or the trade) that the brand commands, the long term consumer loyalty the brand evokes, or the market share gains it results in, among many others. From an economists perspective, brand equity is the power of the brand to shift the consumer demand curve of a product or service (to achieve a price premium or a market share gain).

BRAND EQUITY

PROCESS OF BRANDING

Quality
Quality is a vital ingredient of a good brand. Remember the core benefits the things consumers expect. These must be delivered well, consistently. The branded washing machine that leaks, or the training shoe that often falls apart when wet will never develop brand equity. Research confirms that, statistically, higher quality brands achieve a higher market share and higher profitability that their inferior competitors. 6

Positioning
Positioning is about the position a brand occupies in a market in the minds of consumers. Strong brands have a clear, often unique position in the target market. Positioning can be achieved through several means, including brand name, image, service standards, product guarantees, packaging and the way in which it is delivered. In fact, successful positioning usually requires a combination of these things.

Repositioning
Repositioning occurs when a brand tries to change its market position to reflect a change in consumers tastes. This is often required when a brand has become tired, perhaps because its original market has matured or has gone into decline. The repositioning of the Lucozade brand from a sweet drink for children to a leading sports drink is one example. Another would be the changing styles of entertainers with above-average longevity such as Kylie Minogue and Cliff Richard.

Communications
Communications also play a key role in building a successful brand. We suggested that brand positioning is essentially about customer perceptions with the objective to build a clearly defined position in the minds of the target audience. All elements of the promotional mix need to be used to develop and sustain customer perceptions. Initially, the challenge is to build awareness, then to develop the brand personality and reinforce the perception.

Long-term perspective
This leads onto another important factor in brand-building: the need to invest in the brand over the long-term. Building customer awareness, communicating the brands message and creating customer loyalty takes time. This means that management must invest in a brand, perhaps at the expense of short-term profitability.

Internal marketing
Finally, management should ensure that the brand is marketed internally as well as externally. By this we mean that the whole business should understand the brand values and positioning. This is particularly important in service businesses where a critical part of the brand value is the type and quality of service that a customer receives. Think of the brands that you value in the restaurant, hotel and retail sectors. It is likely that your favourite brands invest heavily in staff training so that the face-to-face contact that you have with the brand helps secure your loyalty. 7

ADVERTISING
Advertising is a form of communication used to promote products and services of a company primarily to generate sales and secondary to create a brand identity, introduce new products and services, communicating a change in the existing product line. It also helps in communicating social messages to the masses.

Types of Advertising:
There are various types of advertising which are mentioned below: Print Advertising: Newspapers, Magazines, Brochures, Fliers Broadcast advertising: Television, Radio and the Internet Outdoor Advertising: Billboards, Kiosks, Tradeshows and Events Covert Advertising: Advertising in Movies Public Service Advertising: Advertising for Social Cause Celebrity Advertising

Tools of Advertising
Radio
Radio listeners are drawn to a station's programming. Radio broadcasting is considered to be a traditional medium. Radio's strength lies in its ability to target audiences through its Programming, which is reflected in its advertising. Radio advertising is effective in that most commercials are targeted at local audiences, compared to television commercials, which are mostly national. A drawback to radio advertising is that the effectiveness of a message is audiodependent. This can present challenges in describing certain products or services being marketed.

Television
Television ads have the highest production costs Television is considered to be a traditional medium but has the ability to adapt to new media. Some television advertising strengths are its impact in combining sight and sound, its ability to reach local, national and global audiences, and its more recent adaptation to interactive marketing. Through service technology like On-Demand, viewers can engage in advertising messages with a remote control. Television advertising weaknesses are high production costs, programming disruption, and short-lived messages.

Newspapers
The newspaper is part of the print media, and is arguably the oldest form of traditional media. Newspaper advertising has many strengths that are being affected by new, interactive marketing strategies. Newspapers provide a loyal readership base for advertisers and low advertisement production costs. Newspapers also offer value through short lead times to insert advertisements and ensure high audience reach. Drawbacks of newspaper advertising include poor print quality, a decrease in overall readership, and a general sense of advertising clutter.

Magazines
Magazines have highly targeted readership rates. Another member of the print media is the magazine. The value in advertising in magazines lies in its audience selectiveness and high quality print. Magazines hold credibility with their audiences, allowing its advertisements to resonate with readers. Magazine advertising has several weaknesses to consider such as high production cost, limited frequency, and long lead times. Internet The internet has changed the face of advertising. It has affected practically every corner of the advertising spectrum and has forced traditional media to reinvent itself where it can. The advantages to internet advertising are many, but the most critical is its extremely low cost compared to other media. The internet offers interactivity, making it possible to involve a target audience in the advertising message. Such advertising can be very effective as interactivity is 9

memorable and satisfying to a user. Finally, internet advertising can be easily personalized, something that traditional media like television and radio is incapable of. Perhaps the largest drawback of internet advertising is its perception of clutter.

10

Creativity of Advertising
Advertising is both art and science. The science of advertising is the analyititcal part that we have been looking at up this point: deciding strategy, choosing among different creativity styles. Some people call this step convergent thinking because the process is to distillots of information into the core advertising strategy. What is it that adds sparkle and life to a well-planned and implemented advertising campaign? Its the ah factor: that brilliantly simple, but inspired creative edge. In Advertising the world is flat. Agencies are structured on a linear basis. Campaigns are created in linear formats. There are all kinds of rails and fences and obstacles to keep creative thinking linear. Advertising is a big business and ranks among the top industries in the world. The growth of the top advertising industry in any country is in direct relation, its creative senses and talents if the advertising professionals. The word advertising is derived from the Latin word adverto , that means To turn towards. Advertising leads to attention towards something i.e. the advertising message, which is the purpose of advertising and the objective of the advertising Creative Advertising starts with proper creative planning.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
The starting point for understanding consumer buying behavior is the stimulus response model. As this model shows, both marketing and environmental stimuli enter the buyers consciousness. In turn, the buyers characteristics and decision process lead to certain purchase decisions. The marketers task is to understand what happens in the buyers consciousness between the arrival of outside stimuli and the buyers purchase decisions. As this model indicates, a consumers buying behavior is influenced by cultural, social, personal, and psychological factors.

Cultural Factors Influencing Buyer Behavior

Culture, subculture, and social class are particularly important influences on consumer buying behavior.

Culture. Culture is the most fundamental determinant of a persons wants and behavior.
A child growing up in the United States is exposed to these broad cultural values: achievement and success, activity, efficiency and practicality, progress, material comfort, individualism, freedom, external comfort, humanitarianism, and youthfulness.

11

Subculture. Each culture consists of smaller subcultures that provide more specific
identification and socialization for their members. Subcultures include nationalities, religions, racial groups, and geographic regions. Many subcultures make up important market segments, leading marketers to tailor products and marketing programs to their needs. Latinos, for example, the fastest-growing U.S. subculture, are targeted by Dallasbased Carnival Food Stores, among other marketers. Dallas is one of the top 10 cities in terms of Latino population, and when the chain uses Spanish language promotions, customers are more responsive. Marketers are targeting another subculture, African Americans, because of its hefty $500 billion in purchasing power. Hallmark, for instance, created its Mahogany line of 800 greeting cards especially for African Americans. Age forms subcultures, as well; the 75 million Americans in the 50-plus market are being targeted by marketers such as Pfizer, which airs ads showing how its medications help seniors live life to the fullest. Social class. Social classes are relatively homogeneous and enduring divisions in a society. They are hierarchically ordered and their members share similar values, interests, and behavior. Social classes reflect income as well as occupation, education, and other indicators. Those within each social class tend to behave more alike than do persons from different social classes. Also, within the culture, persons are perceived as occupying inferior or superior positions according to social class. Social class is indicated by a cluster of variables rather than by any single variable. Still, individuals can move from one social class to anotherup or downduring their lifetime. Because social classes often show distinct product and brand preferences, some marketers focus their efforts on one social class. Neiman Marcus, for example, focuses on the upper classes, offering topquality merchandise in upscale stores with many personal services geared to these customers needs.

Social Factors Influencing Buyer Behavior

In addition to cultural factors, a consumers behavior is influenced by such social factors as reference groups, family, and social roles and statuses.

Reference groups
Consist of all of the groups that have a direct (face-to-face) or indirect influence on a persons attitudes or behavior. Groups that have a direct influence on a person are called membership groups. Some primary membership groups are family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers, with whom individuals interact fairly continuously and informally. Secondary groups, such as professional and trade-union groups, tend to be more formal and require less continuous interaction. Reference groups expose people to new behaviors and lifestyles, influence attitudes and self-concept, and create pressures for conformity that may affect product and brand choices. People are also influenced by groups to which they do not belong. Aspirational groups are those the person hopes to join; dissociative groups are those whose values or behavior an individual rejects. Although marketers try to identify target customers reference groups, the level of reference-group influence varies among products and brands. Manufacturers of products and brands with strong group influence must reach and influence the opinion leaders in these reference groups. An opinion leader is the person in informal productrelated communications who offers advice or information about a product or product category. Marketers try to reach opinion leaders by identifying demographic and psychographic characteristics associated with 12

opinion leadership, identifying the preferred media of opinion leaders, and directing messages at the opinion leaders.

Family
The family is the most important consumer-buying organization in society, and it has been researched extensively. The family of orientation consists of ones parents and siblings. From parents, a person acquires an orientation toward religion, politics, and economics as well as a sense of personal ambition, self-worth, and love.6 A more direct influence on the everyday buying behavior of adults is the family of procreationnamely, ones spouse and children. Marketers are interested in the roles and relative influence of the husband, wife, and children in the purchase of a large variety of products and services. These roles vary widely in different cultures and social classes.

Personal Factors Influencing Buyer Behavior

Cultural and social factors are just two of the four major factors that influence consumer buying behavior. The third factor is personal characteristics, including the buyers age, stage in the life cycle, occupation, economic circumstances, lifestyle, personality, and self-concept.

Age and Stage in the Life Cycle

People buy different goods and services over a lifetime. They eat baby food in the early years, most foods in the growing and mature years, and special diets in the later years. Taste in clothes, furniture, and recreation is also age-related, which is why smart marketers are attentive to the influence of age. Similarly, consumption is shaped by the family life cycle. The traditional family life cycle covers stages in adult lives, starting with independence from parents and continuing into marriage, child-rearing, empty-nest years, retirement, and later life. Marketers often choose a specific group from this traditional life-cycle as their target market. Yet target households are not always family based: There are also single households, gay households, and cohabitor households. Some recent research has identified psychological life-cycle stages. Adults experience certain passages or transformations as they go through life.10 Leading marketers pay close attention to changing life circumstancesdivorce, widowhood, remarriage and their effect on consumption behavior.

Occupation and Economic Circumstances

Occupation also influences a persons consumption pattern. A blue-collar worker will buy work clothes and lunchboxes, while a company president will buy expensive suits and a country club membership. For this reason, marketers should identify the occupational groups that are more interested in their products and services, and consider specializing their products for certain occupations. Software manufacturers, for example, have developed special programs for lawyers, physicians, and other occupational groups. In addition, product choice is greatly affected by a consumers economic circumstances: spendable income (level, stability, and time pattern), savings and assets (including the percentage that is liquid), debts, borrowing power, and attitude toward spending versus saving. Thus, marketers of income-sensitive goods must track trends in 13

personal income, savings, and interest rates. If a recession is likely, marketers can redesign, reposition, and re price their products to offer more value to target customers.

Lifestyle
People from the same subculture, social class, and occupation may actually lead quite different lifestyles. A lifestyle is the persons pattern of living in the world as expressed in activities, interests, and opinions. Lifestyle portrays the whole person interacting with his or her environment. Successful marketers search for relationships between their products and lifestyle groups. For example, a computer manufacturer might find that most computer buyers are achievement-oriented. The marketer may then aim its brand more clearly at the achiever lifestyle. Psychographics is the science of measuring and categorizing consumer lifestyles. One of the most popular classifications based on psychographic measurements is SRI Internationals Values and Lifestyles (VALS) framework. The VALS 2 system classifies all U.S. adults into eight groups based on psychological attributes drawn from survey responses to demographic, attitudinal, and behavioral questions, including questions about Internet usage. The major tendencies of these groups are: Actualizers: Successful, sophisticated, active, take-charge people whose purchases often reflect cultivated tastes for relatively upscale, niche-oriented products. Fulfilleds: Mature, satisfied, comfortable, and reflective people who favor durability, functionality, and value in products. Achievers: Successful, career- and work-oriented consumers who favor established, prestige products that demonstrate success. Experiencers: Young, vital, enthusiastic, impulsive, and rebellious people who spend much of their income on clothing, fast food, music, movies, and video. Believers: Conservative, conventional, and traditional people who favor familiar products and established brands. Strivers: Uncertain, insecure, approval-seeking, resource constrained consumers who favor stylish products that emulate the purchases of wealthier people. Makers: Practical, self-sufficient, traditional, and family-oriented people who favor products with a practical or functional purpose, such as tools and fishing equipment. Strugglers: Elderly, resigned, passive, concerned, and resource-constrained consumers who are cautious and loyal to favorite brands. Although psychographics is a valid and valued methodology for many marketers, social scientists are realizing that older tools for predicting consumer behavior are not always applicable to the use of the Internet or on-line services and purchases of technology products. As a result, researchers are coming up with new research methods for segmenting consumers based on technology types. Forrester Researchs Technographics system segments consumers according to motivation, desire, and ability to invest in technology; SRIs iVALS system segments consumers into segments based on Internet usage. Lifestyle segmentation schemes vary by culture. McCann-Erickson London, for example, has identified these British lifestyles: Avant-Gardians (interested in change); Pontificators (traditionalists); Chameleons (follow the crowd); and Sleepwalkers (contented underachievers). The advertising agency DArcy, Masius, Benton & Bowles has identified these 14

segments of Russian consumers: Kuptsi (merchants), Cossacks (ambitious and status seeking), Students, Business Executives, and Russian Souls (passive, fearful of choices).

Psychological Factors Influencing Buyer Behavior

Psychological factors are the fourth major influence on consumer buying behavior (in addition to cultural, social, and personal factors). In general, a persons buying choices are influenced by the psychological factors of motivation, perception, learning, beliefs, and attitudes.

Motivation
A person has many needs at any given time. Some needs are biogenic; they arise from physiological states of tension such as hunger, thirst, discomfort. Other needs are psychogenic; they arise from psychological states of tension such as the need for recognition, esteem, or belonging. A need becomes a motive when it is aroused to a sufficient level of intensity. A motive is a need that is sufficiently pressing to drive the person to act.

Perception
A motivated person is ready to act, yet how that person actually acts is influenced by his or her perception of the situation. Perception is the process by which an individual selects, organizes, and interprets information inputs to create a meaningful picture of the world.19 Perception depends not only on physical stimuli, but also on the stimulis relation to the surrounding field and on conditions within the individual. The key word is individual. Individuals can have different perceptions of the same object because of three perceptual processes: selective attention, selective distortion, and selective retention.

Learning
When people act, they learn. Learning involves changes in an individuals behavior that arise from experience. Most human behavior is learned. Theorists believe that learning is produced through the interplay of drives, stimuli, cues, responses, and reinforcement. A drive is a strong internal stimulus that impels action. Cues are minor stimuli that determine when, where, and how a person responds. Suppose you buy an IBM computer. If your experience is rewarding, your response to computers and IBM will be positively reinforced. Later, when you want to buy a printer, you may assume that because IBM makes good computers, it also makes good printers. You have now generalized your response to similar stimuli. A countertendency to generalization is discrimination, in which the person learns to recognize differences in sets of similar stimuli and adjust responses accordingly. Applying learning theory, marketers can build up demand for a product by associating it with strong drives, using motivating cues, and providing positive reinforcement.

Beliefs and Attitudes

Through doing and learning, people acquire beliefs and attitudes that, in turn, influence buying behavior. A belief is a descriptive thought that a person holds about something. Beliefs may be based on knowledge, opinion, or faith, and they may or may not carry an emotional charge. Of course, manufacturers are very interested in the beliefs that people have about their products and 15

services. These beliefs make up product and brand images, and people act on their images. If some beliefs are wrong and inhibit purchase, the manufacturer will want to launch a campaign to correct these beliefs. Particularly important to global marketers is the fact that buyers often hold distinct beliefs about brands or products based on their country of origin. Studies have found, Attitudes are just as important as beliefs for influencing buying behavior. An attitude is a persons enduring favorable or unfavorable evaluations, emotional feelings, and action tendencies toward some object or idea. People have attitudes toward almost everything: religion, politics, clothes, music, and food. Attitudes put them into a frame of mind of liking or disliking an object, moving toward or away from it. Attitudes lead people to behave in a fairly consistent way toward similar objects. Because attitudes economize on energy and thought, they are very difficult to change; to change a single attitude may require major adjustments in other attitudes. Thus, a company would be well advised to fit its product into existing attitudes rather than to try to change peoples attitudes. Of course, trying to change attitudes can pay off occasionally.

16

CHAPTER 1 {Part 2}

History of Greeting Cards

It is believed the early Chinese were the first to send what could be called a greeting card - for the New Year they sent tidings of good will. Evidence also shows that ancient Egyptians wrote greetings on papyrus scrolls. The next stop on the timeline is around 1400 when the Germans used woodcuts to print New Year's wishes. In the early or mid 1400s Europeans exchanged handmade paper greetings for Valentine's Day. The British Museum has a Valentine from the 1400s that is the oldest known greeting card in existence. The introduction of the postage stamp in 1840 helped the popularity of the greeting card. What was once relatively expensive, hand made, and personally-delivered gift became an effective and affordable means of personal communication. Another factor promoting advancement was the improvement of printing methods. Mass production didn't mean the end of the elaborate greeting card, however. The Victorian era saw some very ornate and intricate designs. John Calcott Horsley was commissioned in 1843 to design the first published Christmas card. A young lady from Massachusetts, Esther Howland, was the first regular publisher of valentines in the United States. She started in 1849 with handmade valentines, often using real lace and ribbon, and went on to found a successful publishing company with elaborately decorated cards as a specialty. The person generally credited with the beginning of America's greeting card industry is Louis Prang, a German immigrant. He started a lithography business near Boston in 1856 and soon his works were known as the best around. After a slump in the late nineteenth century, the greeting card industry saw more and more new publishers. Competition created advances in printing, decorative treatments, and artistic

17

techniques. The widespread use of color lithography in the 1930s fueled a continued expansion in the industry. A Greeting card is just a small piece of paper printed or hand painted or handcrafted with printed or handwritten message to convey your feelings to someone. Nowadays there are so many ways we can express ourselves, our feelings to someone such as a SMS, an email massage, an ecard, a fax message or just a telephone/cell phone. But still Greeting Cards are being used for this purpose. Some people think to such an extent that why to spend money and time in purchasing and sending a greeting card, instead why not send a SMS, so cheap and time saving option!!!Nowadays what matters in every field is the presentation. Greetings card is also one of the means of presenting your feelings. I would say that the Greetings card is an esthetic looking packing of your feelings/expressions so that the recipient feels delighted and honored. Hence Greeting cards can be used for almost all occasions, only thing that you should select the right card, appropriate color, design or picture along with the printed message or your own handwritten massage, which will reveal your affection. As Greeting cards are for many reasons, occasions and hence there are many types of Greeting Cards available in the market: 1. Birthday card 2. New year card 3. Anniversary card 4. Thank you card 5. Thinking of you card 6. Sorry card 7. Best wishes card 8. Good Luck card 9. Get well card 10. Flower card 11. Congratulations card 12. Engagement card 13. New baby card 14. I Love you card 15. Valentines day card 16. Christmas card 17. Dipavali card 18. Diwali card 19. Navratri card 20. Gudhipadawa card (Sankranti card 21. Mothers day card 22. Fathers day card 23. Congratulation card and so on. There are two major categories of greeting cards, one is mass produced ( printed on offset printing machines etc.) and other is handmade greeting cards. Hand painted greeting cards is also a separate category of greeting cards. These cards are also available but this type of cards can not

18

be mass- produced as each card has to be individually painted. So every hand painted card is unique. Birthday Card History is said to be over a hundred years old. Though there is no record to tell us who send or received the first birthday card but it said the tradition of sending Birthday Cards began in England a century ago. In those time people used to personally greet a person on a birthday, but when a well-wisher was unable to do so he send a Birthday Card. Thus Birthday cards were more like an apology at that time.

Birthday E-Cards
Greeting Cards have taken a new avatar in this present age of Internet technology. Today, they are being increasingly exchanged as electronic or e-greeting cards. Advancement in the technology that began in 1990s has lead to a further growth in card industry. People find it easier to send e-cards, as they are a cost effective and instantaneous means of exchanging greetings. Ecards are available for Birthdays, anniversary, Christmas and a host of other occasions. Use of Java and Flash makes them humorous. One can also personalize E-Cards that is available for Free at most e-cards sites.

Greeting Card Industry

Greeting Card Industry is burgeoning today. Concept on non-event casual greeting card has further lead to the growth in the industry. US Card Industry was valued at $7.5 billion in 2004 based on total unit sales of 7 billion greeting cards for the year. The industry reported a sales growth rate of 8.7% between 1999 and 2004. However, Birthday Cards alone are estimated to constitute 60 % of the total annual cards sales followed by anniversary with 8 % of the sale. Though greeting cards made their advent in India much after they appeared in US, Indian Card Industry has picked up fast. At present the industry is estimated to be around Rs 250 crore in terms of yearly consumer spend. Unorganized sector takes 40 % of the market share. The organized 60 % of the market is divided between Archies, Hallmark and ITC.

Significance of Birthday Cards

Greetings card is the most popular gift in the world. Everywhere, almost around all the corners in the world, people gift each other with greeting cards. Greeting cards are the most simple but also the most effective way of expressing your feelings to your loved ones. Greeting cards can help you express things which you find difficult to in to words. There are greeting cards for every situation out there. If you are having a tough time as to how can 19

you express your feelings for someone, you can go to your nearest gift shop, pick up a card that suits the best for your situation.

Greeting cards have become so popular because of their aforementioned quality. One can gift
a greeting card irrespective of an occasion. One can also use greeting cards to show gratitude to someone or can use it to apologies for something that you might have done. Greeting cards can express wide array of emotions right from congratulatory, to joy, celebrations to sympathy. Whatever may be the reason, you will find a card that expresses the thoughts you have so perfectly and elegantly, that you end up wondering how the makers of the particular card knew as to how you felt. Greeting cards are not just used as a personal gift. It can be and is used extensively as a business gift. Greeting cards are used by businesses to thank a client or a partner for a particular deal. Greeting cards are also used from time to time to maintain and build goodwill for your business. Greeting cards are also used to remind customers of their scheduled appointments or servicing of any of their equipments. Due to the focus on the environment these days, greeting cards are viewed by some environmentalist as an unnecessary evil since it requires trees to be cut. This has forced the greeting card makers to think of some alternative way to reduce the impact on the environment. Recycling has to some extent proved to be a worthy alternative. Major card manufacturers around the world are switching to recycled paper. This has brought smile to the faces of many people around the world including the environmentalist. Another major reason for the popularity of the greeting cards is the price. Greeting cards are the cheapest form of gift in terms of price one can give to their loved ones. Greeting cards come at a very low price, as low as $1, but they can also go as high as to $15. A study has shown that an average person sends about 55 greeting cards around the year and receives about 20 cards a year most of them being birthday cards

Cards have come a long way from simple floral designs to complicated cutouts and pop-ups.
COME MAY 9 and many fashionable offspring will make a beeline to pick up cards for Mother's Day. Even just a few years ago, the idea of an import like Mother's Day would have been laughed out of our living rooms. It is not so now. Media images and the greeting cards industry have ensured that it is a chic thing to give our mothers cards and gifts on this day. Although greeting cards have been around for a couple of centuries, the industry in India is fairly new. A couple of decades ago, there were just some small-time players. One chose from some staid floral designs and pictorial cards to go with any occasion (Season's Greetings, Happy Birthday, and so on). The scene saw a big change when Archies entered the market in 1980, bringing in its wake fresh looking cards in all sizes with smart legends in them. There followed even musical cards, pop-ups, and brilliant designs from many players. Simple designs gave way 20

to stylish and contemporary ones. The two-word legend was substituted by more substantial words that ranged from the mawkish to the tongue-in-cheek. "However, we found that the response from the retailers was not so great. They still sold cards out of brown boxes and drawers," says Pramod Arora, Executive Director of Archies Ltd. So Archies decided to go straight to the consumer with its Greetings and Gifts shops across the country, where cards were neatly displayed on well-lit racks. Many followed suit and the quality of greeting cards got better (good design, better scanning, offset printing, computerised paper cutting, and packaging) with major players like VintageHallmark, Wilson, Vakil, Meena, Ambassador and so on. Recently the ITC group entered the market with its Expressions brand. Greeting cards contribute significant sums to the organisations such as CRY, UNICEF, Helpage India, and the like.

The late Eighties and early Nineties was boom time for the industry with growing sales. International tie-ups brought big names to India and one could pick cards ranging from Rs. 5 to Rs. 550 a Valentine's card with embellishments. Clearly, the Rs. 250 crore industry got boost with westernisation and urbanisation of the population. However, the arrival of the Internet spoiled the party for the "social expression" industry. Pretty paper cards soon gave way to digital postcards, electronic postcards, e-cards, e-greetings, Netograms, and the more recent SMS and MMS. Today teenagers like Roshni Toniyot, who snapped up greeting cards before the coming of the cheaper SMS and e-cards, say: "We don't use greeting cards at all. Not even for Valentine's Day. We buy them very rarely, only when we really want to add a personal touch." Consequently, greeting card manufacturers have to really work at ensuring that sales don't fall. The industry leaders now trail fashion apparel trends and colours (currently white backgrounds and pastel shades are in). Styling varies from plain cards, die-cuts, pop-ups, and to cards with inserts to booklet kinds with four-fold inserts with funky, sober, and subtle designs. While traditionalists may argue that the card companies have brought in Western concepts such as Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Mr. Pramod Arora and others like him argue that "there is nothing wrong in thanking friends or expressing gratitude to your mother or father. Valentine's Day is again misinterpreted: it is not just for lovers but you have a card for everyone." While everyone may not buy that, mothers like Poonam Bhatia feel that: "We now have cards for all occasions from Rakhi, Onam, Karva Chouth, Ganesh Chaturthi, etc. It's definitely nice because it introduces all festivals to our children and gets them interested when they wish their friends."

21

Industry loyalists believe that even though technology affected their sales by almost 20-25 per cent, spam, junk SMS, choked cellular lines, the download time of e-cards and viruses have dented the novelty value of these alternative forms of greetings. Though Indian companies such as Archies have gone online with their paid e-cards like their counterparts in the West (American Greetings, Blue Mountain Arts, Hallmark Online), they believe there is a "small town" market out there for whom they have tailored cards with generic floral patterns and restricted humour, unlike the sophisticated humour cards that are hot in metros.

The industry blames falling sales on increased postal rates and "inconvenience of post offices here", according to Mr. Arora. Perhaps this is why only fewer everyday cards are mailed and most handed over personally. Quite a contradiction this, since the very purpose of these cards is to help people connect and stay in touch with each other because they don't meet. Of course, our postal system works overtime for seasonal cards, which are a big business in India, and delivers 99 per cent of our seasonal mail.

Today, greeting card manufacturers are fighting back with innovative cards in Indian languages now. Their fortunes may be turning again even as they look at different approaches like moving from retail approach to institutiondriven sales. Added to this, they find support from housewives like J. Prasath, for whom the world of technology hasn't quite opened up and who still believe in the good old greeting card: "I always buy greetings for all occasions in the family. It will be nice to send my relatives greetings in Tamil for a change."

22

Article on Greeting card industry

By Sheela Raval (India Today)

There is a card for every occasion and an occasion for every card. Enough for a fivefold growth in business.

Forgiveness Day? What's that? Ask the people at Archies. Observed on September 6, it was (so they'll tell you) a day after Teacher's Day. And if you missed those, there's Boss Day, Doctor's Day, Divorce Day, Secretary Day, Every Day, ToDay, 365 Days to choose from. If birthdays and New Year were once the only occasions for sending cards, companies like Archies, Hallmark, Giggles and Ambassador have changed all that. In India 1997, there's a card for every occasion and an occasion for every card. Says Runish Chheda of Satyam Collection, a shop in Mumbai which claims an annual turnover of Rs 1.5 crore: "The market is hungry, ripe and ready to accept anything. People now look for any reason to send a card." Innovation is where it's at. India, with its festival-dotted calendar, is a card-company's paradise. The manufacturers' list ballooned some years ago to Happy Diwali and Happy Every-Kind-ofAnniversary, but now it's Happy Navroz, Happy Eid, Happy Onam, Happy Pongal, Happy Anything! And if you've forgotten to send a rakhi, there's always another way -- through a Rakhi card. Says V. Chhabra, director, marketing, Archies: "We create cards for almost everything." It's not just about festival greetings and new "occasions" though. An exploration of emotions is on. Rachna Agarwal, 30, a chartered accountant, is a grateful customer. Buried in numbers on a trip to Delhi, she had forgotten her husband's birthday.Panic? Yes, but only momentarily. Out she dashed and bought him a card. It said: "I was a little absent-minded about when your birthday was due/But believe me, it's the date that slipped my mind, not you!" So just what do people too shy, verbally challenged or emotionally inarticulate do when they need to say I love you, I'm sorry, missing you? Play the card game, naturally. From syrupy to venomous, it's all there. Coming up: proposal cards for those too tongue-tied to pop the question. Says Anil Kapur, managing director of Vintage Cards and Creations: "We are responding to the specific needs of the customer and are constantly innovating." On popular demand, Vintage has introduced I-hate-you cards. One aversion-filled, rancour-dripping sample goes: "Sometimes things happen that just don't seem fair/Sometimes it's hard to understand why .../But all I know right now is that I'm terribly hurt by what has happened and what you've done .../... And I hate you for it." Love it or hate it, the card culture is here to stay. Says Raju Chheda of Gift N Such, a Mumbai shop: "It's not a fad, it's a ritual now." A ritual that people are willing to pay for. Prices range from Rs 2 (a rare species) to Rs 250 today. And if the consumer is shelling out money, so are companies. Archies is adding around 5,000 new designs to its existing 15,000. Hallmark has 16 23

artists replenishing its bank of 5,000. Foreign tie-ups have also helped. Vintage is the Indian partner of Hallmark, a US-based company with a turnover of $3.8 billion. Archies, in a tie-up with American Greetings, also brings out cards under the brand name Paper Rose. All of which has paid off. Five years ago, the turnover in the domestic greeting-cards industry was estimated at Rs 100 crore, today it is touching Rs 500 crore. Like everything else in the world, there is a reason why this is happening. "The exposure to satellite channels has completely altered the profile of the buyer," says Mumbai's K. Anita, general manager of the books-cum-novelties store Crossword. "It has become a necessity for the younger generation to express their feelings to match their everyday moods." Young people now also have far more money to spend. Says K. Ram, owner of Gift and Touch, a Mumbai shop: "The average price that a consumer is willing to pay has gone up to Rs 15 from Rs 10 last year." And while teenage students and office-goers are the main buyers, housewives and little children are also dropping in.

24

Chapter 2 Research Design

Research design
1. Statement of Problems - In every product manufacturing industry, there are important principles like the product design, product promotions, product placements & sales of the product. In India presentation of gifts and complimenting people with greeting cards are common during birthdays, marriages, and marriage anniversaries. Even the marketing system of product manufacturing companies is to give some gifts to the customers. The students give greetings to their lecturers during college socials, during house warming ceremonies and when people are sick their kits and kin send a greeting card wishing them speedy recovery etc. therefore the gifts and greetings are common in the society. The problem lies in designing the cards and gifts which must be suitable to the occasions. There are various changes in the gifts presentation; hence a project study is envisaged on marketing techniques of gift and greeting cards.

2. Objectives - The main objective of this study is to find out whether the common public, who use gift and greeting cards know about popular manufacturing company of gifts and greeting cards, do they know that there is competition in this business also. The secondary objective is to know the popularity of the presentation of gifts and greeting cards during special occasion.

3.

Hypothesis

- Since the presentation of gifts and greeting cards is important, the general

public is aware of the most popular brand dealing with gifts and greetings.

25

4. Scope of the study - The scope of the study is very wide because the gift and greeting card presentation is a general system among the people and it also contributes to the economic earnings of the country.

5. Limitations of the study - Since this is a general survey, the collection of data through respondents who are spread over the city was difficult. The selection of respondent too was difficult. Today because of mobile phones, greetings by sms, calls and internet has become more popular especially during festival greetings and therefore the number of respondents for this study had been restricted to 50 respondents.

6. Research methodology

a. Type of research this is not a business oriented research neither it is a customer survey, it is only a general survey conducted as a part of education to fulfill the requirement of a project study to be submitted to the Bhavans Rajendra Prasad Institute of Communication and Management, to acquire an educational qualification of Post Graduate Program in Marketing and Advertising. b. Sample design 50 respondents c. Sample design It is a random sampling method, selecting respondents from different area and different backgrounds. d. Tool for collection of data A structured questionnaire, a copy of which is placed in the project study. e. Method of collecting data The questionnaires were distributed to the respondents, they were explained about the objective of the study. They have filled in the questionnaire and returned. f. Method of analysis & evaluation The data so collected has been tabulated. The percentage has been worked out for each response. Analysis is done based on the weight age given to the data. Evaluation is made using probability factors as well as determinative factors. Findings were recorded, conclusions are written and suggestions are given wherever necessary. 26

Chapter-3

Archies: A brief History

It was in 1979 that a dream was born when Mr. Anil Moolchandani, Chairman cum MD, Archies Limited, introduced the first range of products like songbooks, posters and leather patches. In 1980 the company introduced greetings cards. In 1984 the company procured its first ever foreign license from Walt Disney, USA. In 1985 the company changed the misconception that India was a slow and traditional market; Archies Explosion at Taj Palace, New Delhi drew over 10,000 people. In 1986 Archies entered into its first major tie up with Paramount cards. In 1987 the dream of creating an exclusive chain of Archies Gallery was realized. In 1988 the company introduced a new chain of everyday cards that covered all possible occasions such as Thinking of You, Thank You etc. The same year the company also introduced the now massively popular Valentines Day. In 1989 Archies fulfilled its social responsibility by entering into a tie up with Helpage India. In 1990 Archies became a private limited company. In 1992 the company entered into collaboration with the oldest greeting card company in USA, Gibson Greetings Inc. In 1995 the company became a public limited company and came to be known as Archies Greetings & Gifts Limited. In 1996 the company issued its first public issue that was oversubscribed by four times. In 1997 the company saw another first for the companys music division. In 1998 Archies rode high on publicity by sponsoring popular programmes on MTV. This year the company was listed on the National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange. In 1999 the companys share price with an original offering of Rs 70 touched a meteoric Rs 1400. In 2000 Archies entered into an association with Cry. Also in, 2000 Archies went online. And over the last three years Archies has been growing from strength to strength maintaining its leadership position in the social expression industry.

Archies has been recognized as the strongest brand in its category by Superbrands, an independent body composed of legendary advertising, marketing, research
and media professionals mandated to recognize excellence in branding and promote the discipline of branding itself.

27

Archies has single handedly led Indias social expression revolution. While the Indian customer profile has changed from teens (in the 80s) to those in early 30s;and around Valentine day from largely male to an increasing number of females. Despite the changing socio-economic sentiment and technology Archies continues to be a link which fits every emotion related space.

25 years old company to cash in on the retail boom

The original creator of the Feel Good factor, Archies Limited, Indias top market leader in the social ex-pression industry with more than 50% market share and near negligible competition, which has completed 25 years in Indias Rs 500 crores social ex-pression industry, plans to open 50 more company managed / owned stores across the country in every happening shopping mall and other retail real estate. Over the next 24 months, Archies plans to consolidate its retail chain, which today consists of larger format company managed / owned stores and franchisees. The planned stores would be larger in format, stocking levels, wider in range, and would give the company greater access to its core target audience. Any franchisee growth would be in addition to these 50 stores. Being in the business of emotions like no one else Archies has been manufacturing and selling greeting cards and other social ex-pression products like gifts, posters etc since 1979. Having virtually created this industry Archies has today changed the way Indians express themselves. Undeterred by the threat from internet and SMS Archies has plans to counter technology. Archies has put in place a paid e-card service on archiesonline.com and a tie up with Indiatimes for Greetings Channel for 8888 in terms of MMS.The Product range of Archies includes Greetings Cards, Posters, Social ex-pression Stationery and Gifts. Over the next few years it is our vision, that we should be a part of any possible occasion that is being celebrated in any house in the country. Archies aims to be a one stop gifting and greeting option. To take a line from an old much used advertising campaign, whenever you think greetings and gifts, think of us. After all Archies creates the trends. In fact, the Greeting Card occasions in India have almost single-handedly been created by us. Valentines Day, Mother Day, Father Day, all international events brought to India by us. Friendship Day, is a day created by us. There was no such day until we created it. Where gifts are concerned, India tends to follow international trends for gift items and we keep abreast of those trends and try to maintain a first mover or exclusive advantage over introduction of gift items. Also, emotions are now being communicated via technology like internet and SMS. This kind of transition, is a time for regrouping, gaining a better perspective by moving back half a step and then moving forward again, in a much more focused manner. With all these steps behind us, we are now poised for a leap forward into the future., says Mr. Pramod Arora, Executive Director, Archies Ltd. And in the process Archies has created a massive property. The company today has one of the strongest brand recalls and brand equity. Take this 28

Selling Atal Just Like at Archies said The Statesman, India - 25 Feb 2004... It will be like Archies (a popular gift shop), Mr. Mahajan said. Mr. Vajpayees image will be on coffee mugs, T-shirts and caps he said. ... Brand Atal on poll roll read Calcutta Telegraph, India - 25 Feb 2004.... T-shirts and caps. Merchandising options like setting up Archies-typeoutlets are being explored, Mahajan said. If nothing works ... These are just a couple of examples of Archies brand image. As a result Archies today stands tall in the league of Indias Superbrands. Archies will feature in the first edition of the book Indias Superbrands, due to be released in 2004. The Greeting Card market in India is estimated to be around Rs. 300 crores at retail value. Of this the organized sector accounts for approx Rs. 150 crores, i.e. 50%, and Archies account for 50% of the organized sector i.e. Rs. 75 crores (at the retail level) The main competition for Archies is from the unorganized sector. Presently there are 2-3 major national level players while others are regional or local players. The leading player in the organized segment of the greeting cards industry is Archies. In comparison to the west that has mature greeting and gifting markets, India is still a growing market with a tremendous potential. Where Greeting Card usage is concerned, the US market has a per capita consumption of 40, the UK market has a per capita consumption of 50, and India, even accounting for the fact that only 25% on the population would be potential users, has a per capita consumption of only 0.5. The Archies story goes back to the 1980s when Archies pioneered social ex-pression by introducing greeting cards for all major Indian traditional festivals such as Holi, Rakhi, etc. besides the usual Birthday, Anniversary, New Year even introducing new concepts like Valentine's Day etc which have fast gained popularity and others like the soon to be introduced Halloween which are gradually attracting public attention. Having pioneered the concept of branded retailing in India over the last three decades Archies has grown with the spread of modern culture, increasing urbanization and improving standard of living. With close to 2,000 outlets including company shops, franchisees and independent retail outlets Archies greatest strength is its massive reach. Spread across 120 cities and 6 countries. Archies is now on an aggressive expansion spree focusing on the mall opportunity and B and C class towns. Archies has tie-ups and licensing arrangements for popular merchandising characters for Greeting Card design and worlds leading greeting card brands. This includes Dennis the Menace & Walt Disney Characters, Licensing arrangements with Paramount Cards. Inc, USA, Portal Publications Inc., USA, Anne Geddes, and the worlds largest publicly owned greeting card 29

company,

American

Greetings,

for

Greeting

Card

design

and

name

use.

Archies has actively brought in International Card Holidays which today form a part of the events calendar. E.g. Valentines Day, Mothers Day, Father Day.Archies today has a presence by way of franchisees in 5 countries. Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, UAE, Bahrain. In addition to this, Archies cards are sold wherever there is a sizable Indian population, where Indian occasions like Rakhi, Holi and Diwali are popular.

Market
Today, most urban and semi-urban Indians tend to follow international trends where gifts and greeting cards are concerned. This is largely because of the pioneering entrepreneurship and ingenuity of a company widely acknowledged as the king of the social expressions or emotions or feel good factor industry Archies The organization, through its mushrooming franchises, has been manufacturing and selling its products since 1979. In fact, it has virtually created this industry in India and changed the way Indians express themselves. Archies is Indias leader in this business with over 50% market share and the competition hardly anywhere in sight. (Source: IndiaInfoline). The countrys social expression industry is valued at about Rs. 500 crore (US$ 111.1million) with the greeting card market estimated to be around Rs. 300 crore (US$ 66.7 million) at retail value. Of this, the organised sector accounts for approximately Rs. 150 crore (US$ 33.3 million) and Archies greeting cards, projected for fiscal ending March 2007, at Rs. 100 crore (US$ 22.3 million) accounts for a little over half of the organised sector (Source: industry estimates). At 50% of the organised segment market Archies sits comfortably on top of the pyramid. In comparison to the West, however, India is still a growing greeting and gifting market. But it brims with a limitless potential for growth. The per capita consumption of greeting card usage in the US and the UK is between 40 and 50. Indias per capita consumption is minuscule compared to these figures. But Archies is now poised for another mega take-off that will add to its already gigantic dimension in the market. There are 67 company-owned Archies Galleries and ten Stupid Cupid stores across all the major malls and shopping areas in fourteen cities in India. This is in addition to its reach of over 400 franchisees in more than 100 cities and six countries. Archies is now on an aggressive expansion spree focusing on the mall opportunity and B and C class towns. The company is planning to open an additional 150 company owned stores in fifteen additional cities by the end of 2007/08.The marketing challenge from e- greetings is a reality. But market analysts do not foresee them replacing the physical act of choosing and sending cards. According to experts who have studied the impact of e-cards in developed economies believe e-greetings have an impersonal feel. They rubbish the argument that emails have virtually displaced the hand written letter with the counter argument that telephony has made easy the exchange of information, which is what letters were all about. Greetings they argue are different in as much as they express an emotion best articulated in the written form. These observations are supported by the ground realities of the booming American and European 30

greeting cards industry. Analysts benchmarked 1995 as the first full internet year for the US market; American greeting card sales grew from US$ 6.5 billion (Rs. 29,250 crore) to US$ 7.2 billion (Rs. 32,400 crore) in 1997. In short, the physical nature of sending cards will remain with no perceptible threat seen from the internet version of greeting cards.

Achievements
The companys most notable achievement has a purely psycho-emotional dimension to it: when at a loss for words think of Archies. The company has successfully engraved itself in the minds of consumers as a living and caring entity that speaks the right words at the right time and helps find a card for every cause and reason and a gift for every occasion. It is hardly surprising then, that this once small company, launched in a staid environment should be classified a Consumer Superbrand two years in a row. Thanks to its spirit of innovation Archies has been the market leader since its very inception. Today, the company boasts several collaborations and licensing arrangements. These include Walt Disney characters, Archie comics; licensing arrangements with the worlds largest publicly owned greeting card company, American Greetings, in addition to those like Anne Geddes, Simon Elvin and Kim Anderson. The year 1996 still stands as a testimonial to the companys commercial vibrancy and vitality. Its public issue that year was oversubscribed four times. Three years later the companys share price with an original offering of Rs. 70 zoomed to a meteoric Rs. 1,400.

31

Product
The Archies range includes greeting cards, posters, social expression stationery and gifts. Its unmatched quality and unique variety provides customers a plethora of choices ranging from a three-inch mini-greeting card for just Rs. 4 and a five-and-a half-foot teddy bear for Rs. 10,000 to elegant crystal masterpieces at over Rs. 25,000. Its exclusive and trendy products are selected and sourced from all over the world. Archies has always provided its customers with premium quality greetings and gifting collections such as curios, photo albums, soft toys, mugs, quotations and key chains. Archies maintains a strong back-end support to ensure that its galleries never run out of supplies. It has a highly efficient supply chain management system that helps build an effective retailing structure. Brought ARCHIES to you in India exclusively by

Recent Developments
Shopping malls have given Indian consumers a one-stop shopping experience and Archies, being present in most of them, has proverbially been at the right place at the right time. Being aware of the huge potential in the fashion accessories market, the company has also ventured into this arena with Stupid Cupid a range of trendy jewellery, handbags, sunglasses, hats and funky 32

belts. The brand is aimed at those who want to look different and do not hesitate to experiment when it comes to fashion and lifestyle. Stupid Cupid has opened nine stores in Delhi and one in Mumbai, in addition to Shopin- Shop counters within large format Archies Galleries.

Promotion
Greeting card occasions in India have almost singlehandedly been created by Archies. It has Indianised hitherto foreign events like Valentines Day, Mothers Day, Fathers Day and Teachers Day amongst others. It also created a day of its own Friendship Day. Over time, Archies promotions have married the medium and message to reap rich returns and to inch closer to its customers. The company has also ventured into in-film advertising with the Hindi film, Waqt: a race against time. This was preceded by a vast array of movie merchandise for widely acclaimed films like Speed, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, Devdas and Lagaan. Not to miss out on the growing FM radio craze, Archies has been airing promotional activities on radio.

Brand Values
Touching the emotional chord and feelings of people around India has been a trademark that is very specially Archies. It promises the most special way to say you care. It has kept this promise with an outpouring of desirable and unique gifting ideas. Its customers can always luxuriate in the constant variety the brand churns out. As a brand, Archies is committed to providing its customers with opportunities to vent their innermost sentiments. Throughout the year, they can say it with a card or a gift no matter where they live in India. As part of its core belief in social responsibility, the company has also extended a helping hand to foster the causes of some of the best known and highly regarded social institutions across the country. These initiatives include ties with HelpAge India, an organisation that works for the well-being of the deprived and desolate elderly, as well as Archies collaboration with Child Relief and You (CRY), that reaches out to the needs of the deprived and underprivileged children.

33

CHAPTER 4

Collection of data, analysis and evaluation

Greeting the people on their special occasion is an age old traditional system to earn human relations, however is the olden days greetings were confined to birthdays marriages and that too way the way of letters. Greeting cards with specials attractions attracted people and they started using cards to send their greeting not only during birthdays and marriages but also anniversaries, teachers day, mothers day, fathers day, friendship day and so on.. as the demand for greeting card increased the number of companies manufacturing and designing greeting cards also increased. The various companies manufacturing greeting cards are Archies, hallmark, C.R.Y, other local retailers and so on. However the name of Archies is found to be in every customers view. The greeting cards have now become products and therefore manufacturing of greeting cards has become a special industrial process, which requires a good marketing and sales technique. Therefore a project study is conducted. 50 respondents of different groups have been selected to collect the data.

34

Analysis and evaluation

I. Table 1 Name profile (name represents the willful participation of the respondents) Number 40 10 Percentage 80% 20%

Name given Name not given

It is seen from the above that 80% of the respondents have given their names and only 20% have not identified themselves. In view of the above it is confirmed that a large number of respondents have willingly cooperated with the project study. Table 2 Gender profile (gender indicates the ratio of men and women sending or receiving greeting cards) Number Percentage Male 18 36% Female 32 64% It is observed that 64% of the respondents are women and 36% of the others are men. Therefore, is it understood that the women prefer sending greeting cards as compared to men. Table 3 Age profile (age indicates as to which age group is interested in sending greeting cards) Age Number Percentage 18-25 years 40 80% >25 years 10 20% The data reveals that 80% of the respondents are in the age group of 18-25 years and only 20% of the respondents are in the age group of 25 years and above. Therefore it is clear that the younger group of the society is more interested in buying and sending greeting cards. Table 4 Occupation (occupation decides the position to send or accept greeting cards) Occupation Number Percentage Students 26 52% Working 24 48% Here it is seen that 52% of the respondents are students and 48% are working. Hence it is felt that occupation has no relevance to exchange of greeting cards.

35

Table 5 Average monthly income (this may detemaine the quality and number od occasions the respondents prefer to send cards) Avg monthly income (in Rs.) Number (total 24) Percentage 10,000 25,000 20 84% 25,000 50,000 4 16% This data is analysed only for working people who constitute 48% of the total respondents, among them 84% are drawing a salary of up to Rs.25,000 p.m and 16% are drawing salary between Rs.25,000-50,000 p.m Therefore, the respondents have adequate money to buy and send greeting cards. Table 6 Locality (this plays a prominent part in culture and tradition of sending greeting cards.) BTM layout Cunningham Road Indranagar Jayanagar Kormangala Malleshwaram M.G Road Vijaynagar From the above it may be construed that the people living in all these localities do buy and send greeting cards.

II.

Research data
1. Do you send greetings to your friends and relatives? (this is to know whether the respondents have cultivated a system of sending greeting cards)

Number Percentage Yes 48 96% No 4 8% It is found from the data that 96% of the respondents have agreed and only 4% have not. Therefore, it is evident that in todays generation people send greeting cards to their friends and relatives.

36

2. If yes, on what occasions have you sent them? (since each respondent will have a special occasion to send greeting cards) a. Number Percentage Birthdays 45 90%

The data reveals that 90% of the respondents send greeting cards for birthdays and 5% do not send. b. Number Percentage Anniversaries 24 48% Here it is seen that 48% of the respondents send greeting cards for anniversaries and the others do not send, thus sending greeting cards for anniversaries is limited.

c. Others Friendships day, new years day, Valentine s Day, Womens day, and so on. Here the percentage is not worked out, among the respondents a few have agreed that they send greeting cards on the above mentioned occasions also. Considering all the above factors it is confirmed that greeting cards are mostly given during birthdays followed by anniversaries, and various other occasions.

3. Have you received greeting cards from your friends and relatives? (Normally the greeting cards is an exchange process of good wishes) Number Percentage Yes 50 100% No 0 0 The data shows that 100% of respondents have received their greeting cards from their friends and relatives. Therefore, it is confirmed that greeting cards is an exchange process of good wishes.

4. If yes, on which occasions have you received them? (this is to know the occasions for which they receive greeting cards) 37

Birthdays Anniversaries

Number 46 4

Percentage 96 8

Others- Friendships day, new years day, Valentine s Day, Womens day, Rakhi & so on. Here also it is seen that 96% of the respondents have received birthday cards, only 8% have received cards during anniversaries, and a few have received cards on Friendships day, new years day, Valentine s Day, Womens day, Rakhi & so on.

5a. Do you generally give only greetings without any gift? (during several occasions greeting cards are followed by gifts) Number 6 44 Percentage 12% 88%

Yes No

It is found that 88% of the respondents have stated that they do not generally give gifts while they give greeting cards and only 12% have agreed. Greeting cards can be sent by post where as gifts have to be given in person, therefore people prefer giving and sending greeting cards rather than gifts unless they are attending the occasion at hand.

5b. If yes, on which occasions? (This is to know the occasions which attract only greetings, and which attract both greeting cards and gifts) Occasions Womens Day, New Years Day, Friendships day and so on. While greeting cards are given for almost all happy occasions, gifts are given specially during birthdays, marriages.

6a. Have you given a gift without giving greeting cards? (there may be people who prefer giving gift rather than greeting cards) Number Percentage Yes 36 72% No 14 28% It is found from the response that 72% of the respondents have agreed that they have given gifts without greeting cards and only 28% have given both gifts and greeting cards. 38

Therefore, it is felt that there are a large number of respondents who have given gifts only and a few have given both.

6b. If yes, on which occasions? (To know the occasion wherein only gifts are given) Occasions Birthdays, marriages, occasions which pertain to a few close people. From the above it is construed that gifts are mostly given during occasions such as marriages and birthdays.

7. Do you prefer any particular brand/store while purchasing greeting cards? (even in greeting cards there is brand equity, showing the quality of cards and design) Yes No Number 44 6 Percentage 88% 12%

It is learnt from the above table that 88% of the respondents have agreed that they prefer a particular brand, whereas 12% have not agreed. Therefore, it is confirmed that there is brand equity in greeting cards.

8. If no, on what parameters do you select greeting cards? (There are certain parameters to like greeting cards such as content, design, layout, quotation and so on)

Design content

Number 4 2

Percentage 66% 34%

Among those who have not preferred any particular brand, 66% said that they select a card based on its design, while 34% said that content, mattered more.

9. If yes, please mention the name of the some of the brands. (This is to the various popular brands of greeting cards the respondents are aware of)

Archies

Number 44

Percentage 100% 39

Hallmark Others

22 16

50% 32%

From the above it is clear that 100% of the respondents are aware of Archies, whereas 50% know of Hallmark and 30% have mentioned other brands such as C.R.Y, paper rose and so on. It may be construed that archies and Hallmark are famous brand of greeting cards.

10. Which of these do you prefer?

Archies

Number 44

Percentage 100%

All the respondents who prefer particular brand prefer Archies, thus 100% prefer Archies. Therefore, once again it is confirmed that Archies is the most famous in the greeting card market.

11. Have you ever heard the name of Archies gifts and greetings ltd? Since all the respondents have clearly stated that they are aware of Archies, the analysis and evaluation for the above question is not done. 12. Is there an Archies gallery in your locality? ( so as to know the geographic dispersion of Archies galleries, as distribution of any product is very important) Yes No Number 44 6 Percentage 88% 12%

It is seen that 88% of the respondents have agreed and 12& have not. Therefore, from the above analysis it is very clear that archies Galleries are present in most of the localities where the respondents are residing. Localities - BTM layout Cunningham Road Indranagar Jayanagar Kormangala M.G Road 40

Vijaynagar

It can be thus construed that archies galleries are present in almost all the localities, helping people to buy greeting cards conveniently.

13. How did you come to know of archies? (Publicity of any particular brand is an important media for its advertisement and promotion.)

Number Media Peer groups Store presence 2 12 36

Percentage 4% 24% 72%

It is clearly shown that 72% of the respondents have come to know of Archies through its strong store presence, 24% through peer groups (friends & family) and 4% through various media (print & internet). Therefore, it is very clear that the presence to Archies gallery plays a vital role in its sale og greeting cards.

14. Have you purchased greeting cards from other brands or stores also? ( this to know about the customer preference regarding greeting cards)

Yes No

Number 44 6

Percentage 88% 12%

It is revealed that 88% of the respondents have agreed that they have purchased greeting cards from other stores other than archies and only 12% have not agreed. Therefore, it is confirmed that people are ready to purchase both Archies as well as other brand cards.

41

15. if yes, do you prefer archies greetings? (this is to know that even if people but from other brands, would they opt for Archies if its available) Yes No Number 40 4 Percentage 90% 10%

There are 90% respondents who have agreed and the remaining 10% have not. Therefore, it may be construed that the first preference to buy greeting cards is Archies.

16. If so, why do you prefer archies greetings? (This is to know t he reasons as to why Archies is the most preferred brand)

Number Quality Good Design Content 10 18 12

Percentage 25% 45% 30%

From the above it is seen that the first preference to a Archies greeting card is because of its good design (45%), followed by Content in the greeting cards (30%) and finally the quality(25%). Therefore, it is confirmed that the respondents prefer Archies greeting cards because of its good design, Content and quality.

17. Do you feel Archies products are overpriced? (In any product, the substitute products may have different pricing based on quality, availability, demand and so on)

Yes No

Number 48 2

Percentage 96% 4%

The data shows that 96% of the respondents have agreed that Archies greeting cards are overpriced and only 4% disagree.

42

Therefore, Archies may be costlier than other brands because of it quality, good design and so on.

18. Do you feel Archies greeting cards suit all occasions? (Some of the greeting cards may not suit all the occasions) Yes No Number 48 2 Percentage 96% 4%

Here is it revealed that 96% of the respondents have confirmed that Archies greeting cards suit almost all occasions, and only 4% have not agreed. Therefore, it is confirmed that archies has become famous because of its suitability.

19. Have you observed that new occasions have been added in the society to give greeting cards?(This is to know the new occasions added by the younger generation to send greeting cards)

Number Percentage Yes 42 84% May be 8 16% Here 84% have agreed and 16% are neutral to it, stating may be. Therefore, it is very clear that new occasions have been added in the society to give greeting cards as it has been seen in the earlier data.

20. if yes, please mention the new occasions that have come up in the society. Valentine s Day, Womens day, forgiveness day, grandparents day, thank you day and so on Therefore, it is clear from the above data that greeting cards have now become daily useable products.

43

21. if so, do you feel that it is important to give greeting cards? Yes No Number 42 8 Percentage 84% 16%

Here 84% of the respondents have agreed that cards are to be given and are important, the remaining 16% of the respondents have not agreed.

22. Please mention, giving greeting cards has now become ___________ Number Helpful in expressing 46 emotions Helps earn goodwill 4 Percentage 92% 8%

The data reveals that 92% of the respondents have agreed that exchange of greeting cards has become helpful is expressing emotions and only 8% have agreed that it helps in earning goodwill. Therefore, greeting cards may not be a necessity; they yet are tools for social expression.

23. If you are a company representative, do you issue greetings to earn customer goodwill? (greeting cards issued by corporates have also earned a new place) Yes No Number 2 6 Percentage 25% 75%

There are only 8 company representatives out of which 75% have said no and 25% have agreed that yes they would send greeting cards to customers. Therefore, it is clear that company representatives may not give greeting cards but they might give gifts to customers.

24. If yes, on what occasion do you issue greetings? Occasions customer birthdays, festivals, New Years and so on Therefore, it can be said that companies give greeting cards to customers in various occasions such as birthdays, festive, New Year and so on

44

25. Have you ever purchased greeting cards from physically challenged children, staying in protection centers like orphanages, C.R.Y organizations, KSS and other social organization? ( This is to know the awareness levels of respondents regarding such organizations, and if they do purchase products sold by the same) Yes No Number 22 28 Percentage 44% 56%

Here is it seen the 56% of the respondents have not agreed, while, 44% have agreed. This clearly shows unawareness among the respondents regarding greeting cards processed by the above mentioned organizations.

26. If so, do you prefer Archies/other brand greetings or those from above mentioned organizations?

Yes No

Number 14 8

Percentage 64% 36%

Here it is seen that from the 44% respondents who have purchased greeting cards from the various NGOs, 64% prefer Archies Archies/other brand greetings or those from above mentioned organizations and 36% prefer the NGOs. Therefore, it may be construed that people buy greeting cards from other brands than these NGOs because of availability, convenience and wide range and variety of greeting cards. 27. If you buy greetings from various NGOs, why do you prefer them? Support the good cause Fulfill social responsibility

Therefore from the above it is clear that people buy greeting cards from the following NGOs so as to support their good cause and also as a social responsibility.

28. Do you think Archies has changed the way India greets? comment Archies has been a very important medium to convert the feelings into materialist - visual aids to help ppl express their emotions. It is with Archies cards, ppl started the culture of Occasion gifting - so it plays a very interesting role in our life by making mother's day , father's day , 45

friendship day -things that dint exist for us special & memorable with their funny, senti cards/gifts. Manasa Jain, Founder, Center Stage. Yes Archies has definitely helped usher in the gifting trend. They have successfully managed to create a hype, be it 'Mother's Day, valentines, or just about any other day. These occasions have now grown in importance and not gifting a loved one on their 'Day' is almost a crime! Nimmy Sunny, Associate analyst, Deloit

29. Mention your satisfaction levels post Archies.

Number Very Satisfied Satisfied Indifferent 2 46 4

Percentage 4% 92% 4%

The data reveals that 92% of the respondents are satisfied post their Archies visit, 4% are very satisfied and another 4% are indifferent. Therefore, in the view of the above is it confirmed that Archies is satisfying the expectations of its customers.

46

CHAPTER 5

Findings and conclusions

Based on the analysis and evaluation of the data the following findings are made:
1. All the respondents have co-operated and provided the data required for the study. 2. There are a more number of women rather than men who make use of greeting cards. 3. Most of the respondents are from the younger age group who will have enthusiasm to send greeting cards. 4. Though there are working people, yet more number of respondents are from the student section. 5. The average monthly income of the respondents is about Rs.25, 000. 6. Most of the respondents selected for this project study are from Vijaynagar, though there are respondents from other areas like - BTM layout, Cunningham Road, Indranagar, Jayanagar, Kormangala, Malleshwaram, and M.G Road. 7. Archies galleries have a wide geographical spread and are located in most of the areas. 8. All the respondents have agreed that they send greeting cards to their friends and relatives. 9. The greeting cards are usually issued to greet loved ones on their birthdays, anniversaries and other special occasions. 10. Now a day there is a fancy among the younger generation to send greeting cards during womens day, fathers day, Valentines Day, friendships day, sorry cards, thank you cards and so on... 11. All the respondents have received greeting cards from their friends and relatives. 47

12. They have received cards mostly on their birthdays, and occasionally on days such as friendships day, New Years Day and so on. 13. There are a few people who give gifts along with greeting cards. 14. Giving the gifts along with greeting cards are during marriages, birthdays and so on. 15. There are occasions like marriages where only gifts are given and not greeting cards. 16. Even in the greeting cards market there is branding and brand equity. 17. People like greeting cards which have a good design and content 18. Among the various brands Archies and Hallmark are the most known and famous. 19. Most of the respondents prefer greeting cards processed by Archies. 20. Most of the respondents have come to know of Archies through its store presence and their peer groups and not through any particular media as such. 21. The respondents have selected and bought greeting cards from other stores than Archies depending on convenience and availability. 22. However, most of them again prefer Archies. 23. The respondents stated that they like greeting cards from Archies because of its good design, large variety and good content. 24. The respondents are of the opinion that the Archies greeting cards are little over priced. 25. Archies cards suit all occasions. 26. Today several more occasions have been added to send greeting cards like womens day, daughters day, sorry day, parents day and so on 27. The respondents feel that it is important to send greeting cards. 28. Sending greeting cards has now become helpful in expressing emotions. 29. There are a few company representatives who send greeting cards, the reason may be that they prefer sending a gift rather than a greeting card. 30. There are a few NGOs like Karnataka Spastic Society, Child Rights You (C.R.Y), Vatsalya, etc, where the physically and mentally challenged children prepare greeting cards, a few of the respondents buy greeting cards from these organizations as well. 31. The respondents buy greeting cards from the above mentioned organizations so as to support the good cause and fulfill their social responsibility. 32. However a more number of respondents buy greeting cards from stores like Archies and Hallmark, because of their easy availability and wider choice of cards. 33. Almost all the respondents have stated that their satisfaction level is good with regard to the greeting cards processed by Archies.

48

CONCLUSION
This project study titled A project study on the Indian greeting card industry with special reference to Archies ltd. Was carried out with the following objectives: The main objective of this study is to find out whether the common public, who use gift and greeting card know about popular manufacturing company of gifts and greeting cards, do they know that there is competition in this business also. The secondary objective is to know the popularity of the presentation of gifts and greeting cards during special occasion.

The following hypothesis was made:

Since the presentation of gifts and greeting cards is important, the general public is aware of the most popular brand dealing with gifts and greetings.

The study has revealed that greeting cards whether sending or receiving during birthdays, new years, marriage anniversaries are very common not only among the students but also among the elders. The religion or the caste has no bearing on sending greeting cards. People send greeting cards to maintain goodwill and relationships. Today there are various occasions which have been added to send greeting cards like Valentines Day, Womens day, fathers day, Friendships day, grandparents day and so on Therefore the sale and use of greeting cards has increased, like any other product greeting cards have also acquired brand equity like Archies and Hallmark. Among them Archies has become a very famous brand. The media has not played an important role in the branding of Archies, however use of various social networking society like facebook has added to its promotional strategies. Today the increase in sale of greeting cards with special reference to Archies can be attributed to its store presence and the role of peers (family, friends, colleagues). Hence the project study comes to a conclusion to state that today greeting cards have become one the consumer products with brand equity, the Archies brand is the market leader in the greeting cards industry followed by brands like Hallmark and various other NGOs. The only exception is that there is no advertisement in any kind of media, but there is a place for designing the attractive cards, art and production as well as for content writing. Hence, objective of the study is fulfilled and the hypothesis is found to be positive.

49

SUGGESTONS
1. There must be some advertisements through T.V media by good advertising agencies so as to increase the number of customers who purchase greeting cards. 2. The advertisements should be a constant reminder of the various occasions in which greeting cards can be exchanged. 3. The cost of the greeting cards should be made economical such that people from all levels in a society can purchase and send greeting cards t otheir friends and relatives.

50

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
1) MARKETTING MANAGEMENT BY PHILIP KOTLER 2) ADVERTISING PRINCIPLES WELLE/MORIARTY/BURNETT. 3) INTERNET. ( Google) 4) COMPANY WEB SITE ( www.Archiesonline.com) AND PRACTISE BY

51

ANNEXURE

Questionnaire Project title: A project study on the Indian greeting card industry with special reference to Archies ltd.

I.

Name (optional): Gender: Age: Occupation: Avg monthly income: Locality:

II.

1. Do you issue greetings to your friends and relatives? O Yes O No 2. If yes, on what occasions have you issued them? O Birthdays O Anniversaries O Others _____________________________________________________ 3. Have you received greeting cards from your friends and relatives? O Yes O No 4. If yes, on which occasions have you received them? O Birthdays 52

O Anniversaries OOthers ____________________________________________________ 5. Do you generally give only greetings without any gift? O Yes O No 5. b. if yes, on which occasions?

6a. have you given a gift without giving greeting cards? O Yes O No 6b. If yes, on which occasions?

7. Do you prefer any particular brand/store while purchasing greeting cards? O Yes O No 8. If no, on what parameters do you select greeting cards?

9. If yes, please mention the name of the some of the brands.

10. Which of these do you prefer?

11. Have you ever heard the name of Archies gifts and greetings ltd? O Yes O No

12. Is there an Archies gallery in your locality? (mention the locality) O Yes O No If yes, ___________________ 13. How did you come to know of archies? o Media, ___________ o Peer Groups 53

o Store Presence o Others, _________

14. have you purchased greeting cards from other brands or stores also? O Yes O No

15. if yes, do you prefer archies greetings? O Yes O No

16. If so, why do you prefer archies greetings? o Quality o Popular brand o Economic rate/cost o Good design o Can be stored for longer period

17. Do you feel Archies products are overpriced? O Yes O No

18. Do you feel Archies greeting cards suit all occasions? O Yes O No 19. Have greeting cards? o o o you observed that new occasions have been added in the society to give Yes No May be

20. if yes, please mention the new occasions that have come up in the society.

54

21. if so, do you feel that it is important to give greeting cards?

22. please mention, giving greeting cards has now become ___________ a. necessity b. helpful is expressing emotions c. helps earn goodwill

23. If you are a company representative, do you issue greetings to earn customer goodwill? O Yes O No

24. If yes, on what occasion do you issue greetings?

25. Have you ever purchased greeting cards from physically challenged children, staying in protection centres like orphanages, C.R.Y organizations, KSS and other social organization? O Yes O No

26. If so, do you prefer Archies/other brand greetings or those from above mentioned organizations? O Yes O No 27. If you buy greetings from various NGOs , why do you prefer them?

28. Do you think Archies has changed the way India greets? If yes, comment

29. Mention your satisfaction levels post Archies. o Very satisfied o Satisfied o Indifferent o Dissatisfied 55