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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
PROJECT REPORT
ON
“PERMOTIONAL TOOLS USED BY BOOK SELLERS”

IN
MEERUT

SUBMITTED IN THE PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE POST GRADUATE

DIPLOMA IN MANAGEMENT
(25th March to 20th April 2009)

SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY:

RESPECTED MR. SUSANT MITTAL SIR, SATISH TIWARI,
FACULTY, IPM MEERUT RAKESH BHARDWAJ
VIVEK VIKRANT
SHAILENDRA KR. JHA
P.G.D.M, (2008-10)
II ND SEMISTER
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PREFACE
As an integral part of the course curriculum, all the P.G.D.M. students are required to undergo
project on the topic suggested by the concerned faculty. The main objective of the study of this
project is to supplement the student’s theoretical knowledge with a practical exposure.

This program enhances the student’s capability to cope up with the uncertainties and challenges,
which are part and parcel of every organization.

For the same, I had the opportunity to do my project on “PROMOTIONAL TOOLS USED BY
BOOK SELLERS”. During this training I conducted a research on the topic “promotional tools
used by book sellers”. Under the supervision of our faculty guide Mr. SUSANT MITTAL SIR .
During this I visited MEERUT REGION to meet general book sellers
It has been my constant endeavor to present this report in the most systematic and analytical
manner.

SATISH TIWARI.
RAKESH BHARDWAJ
VIVAK VIKRANT
SHAILENDER JHA
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It is difficult to express adequately my gratitude to those who have shared

their expertise and knowledge and without whom the completion of the
project report would have been impossible.
I would like to give special regard to the book sellers and Publishers of
Meerut.

I wish to express my sincere thanks to Mr Susant Mittal sir , for his

inspiration and support both personally and professionally.

This project is written by encouragement and prodding of all the people who
filled up the questionnaire by devoting their valuable time.

Thank
you
Satish Tiwari
Rakesh Bhardwaj
Vivek vikrant
Shailender kr. Jha
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Contents
Particular Page no.

PREFACE……………………………………………………………………………………………… 2`

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT……………………………………………………………………………3

Research Design:..............................................................................................................................7
Analysis of Data:..............................................................................................................................9
Limitations:.....................................................................................................................................28
Bibliography:..................................................................................................................................29
The following books and sites helped me to complete the project successfully............................29
Research Methodology – C.R.Kothari............................................................................................29
Marketing Management – Philip Kotlar.........................................................................................29
www.google.com............................................................................................................................29

Rational of study
Why this study ?

“Learning categorizes you and practicing on that learning specializes you.”

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Practical aspect gives more knowledge and experience than the theory and
no learning can be completed without practical aspect.
This project is one of the most important parts of our curriculum for management
students, its basic idea is to strengthen the students’ concept through project and make
them equipped with recent development.
This project report has been in partial fulfillment of our management programme post
graduate diploma in management (PGDM).
Just to enhance practical knowledge regarding Research Methodology and Use of
Marketing method and Promotional mix it is very necessary to do such type of
research work .
Hence the topic “PROMOTIONAL TOOL USED BY BOOK SELLERS” enhanced
the practical knowledge .

OBJECTIVES

1) To study the level of awareness regarding promotional tools among book

Sellers.
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2) To study the effective promotional tools used by book Sellers.

3) To study the different type of Promotional tools used on different

customer.
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Research Methodology

This study is exploratory as well as descriptive in nature, as it tries to find

out the promotional tools used and practices by book sellers in the region of
Meerut.

Research Design:

° Universe Of the study: Book sellers and publishers situated in Meerut .

° Unit of Investigation: Publishing house and Book stores situated in Meerut

° Duration of the study: One month (25th March to 20th April 2009)

Sampling Design
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Sample Size: “70”.

° Out of the 70 filled we found 10 questionnaire were biased .The areas where research
conducted were Subhas Market, Near R G college, Khuni Pul (Begum Bridge) ,Sadar, Sivaji
road.

° Sampling Technique: As no comprehensive sampling frame of the population was available,

samples for the study were chosen by using random sampling due to its time and cost
feasibility.

° Data collection Instrument: A structured questionnaire comprising of 12 questions

Method of Data Collection:-

Data is unprocessed information, which is collected after the market research. There are lots
of techniques available for the collection of data. The data collection technique used for this
project is divided into two parts:-
They are as follows:-

Primary Data
DATA
Secondary Data
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Analysis of Data:

The data collected through the questionnaires can be analyzed in the

following manner:

1) What types of steps do you use to improve your sales ?

7%
7%
3%
sales promotion
advertising
13%
direct marketintg
public relation
personal selling
70%

Interpretation:- 70% of total respondent said that they use sales promotion
as a promotional tools to promote their selling, 13% said that they advertise
to promote their selling and percentage for direct marketing, public relation
and personal selling are 3%, 7%, 7% respectively
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2) At What level do you think Promotional tools are effective to influence the
The customer?

5%
10% 18%

very good
13% fairly good
neither good nor good
not very good
not good at all

54%

Interpretation:- 54% respondent said that promotional tools are fairly good
in effectiveness to influence customer , 18% respondent said that
promotional tools are very good in effectiveness and 13% respondent said
that promotional tools are neither good nor bad to influence customer.
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3) If you use sales promotional then what type of tools do you use under it
to increase sales ?

8% 7%

coupons
28% rebate
gifts
price off deals

57%

Interpretation:- 57% respondent said that rebate is the most effective tools
under sales promotion they use. 28% respondent said that gifts are the most
effective tools under sales promotional.
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4) If rebate than what percentage

18%

0 - 15%
47% 15 - 30%
15% 30 - 45%
45 - above

20%

Interpretation:- 47% respondent said that they give rebate about 0-15% ,
20% respondent said that they give 15-30% rebate and 18% respondent
said that they give 45% and above for rebate.
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5) What Promotional tools do you think more effective to retain customer?

a. Sales Promotion

sales promotion

5% 5%
10%
0-15%
15-30%
30-45%
45-75%
52% 28%
75-100%

Interpretation :- 52% respondent said that sales promotion is 45-75%

effective.
28% respondent said that sales promotion is 30-45%
effective.
10%, 5%, 5% respondent said that sales promotion is 15-
30% ,
0-15% ,75-100% simultaneous effective .
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b. Advertisement

advertising

7% 5% 8%
0-15%
15-30%
30-45%
45-75%
45% 35%
75-100%

Interpretation:- 45% respondent said that advertising is 45-75% effective,

35% respondent said that advertising is 30-45% effective
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c) Direct Marketing

direct marketing

5% 3%
10%
0-15%
15-30%
10%
30-45%
45-75%
75-100%
72%

Interpretation:- 72% respondent said that Direct Marketing is 0-15%

effective.
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d) Public Relation

PR

5%
7%

12% 0-15%
15-30%
30-45%
56% 45-75%
20% 75-100%
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Interpretation:- 56% respondent said that Public Relation is 0-15% effective

and 20% respondent said that Public relation is 15-30% effective.

e) Personal selling

Personal selling

7% 3%

12%
0-15%
15-30%
48% 30-45%
45-75%
75-100%
30%

Interpretation:- 48% respondent said that personal selling is 0-15%

effective.
30% respondent said that personal selling is 30% effective
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6) Which period of year promotional tools are most effective ?

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17%
25%

8% Januray to March
April toJune
July to September
October to December

50%

Interpretation:- 50% Respondent said that April to June is most effective

Period of year in which promotional tools are most effective, 25% respondent
said that promotional tools are effective in the period to January to March,
17% respondent said that promotional tools are effective in the period of
October to December.

7) How much rebate play role to retain customer?

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5%
7% 18%

Very Strongly
Strongly
Moderately
Weakly
23%
Very weakly
47%

Interpretation:-
47% respondent said that rebate play moderately role to retain customer.
23% respondent said that rebate play strongly role to retain customer.
18% respondent said that rebate very strongly play role to retain customer

8) Do you think building relationship play vital role to retaining customer?

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70
yes, 60
60

50

40
Series1
30

20

10
no, 0
0
yes no

Interpretation:- Out of 60 Seller, all seller said that building relationship

plays vital role in retaining customer.
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9) What seller offer to permanent customer.

Most of the seller told that they offer Better Service, discount as much as it
possible, good quality, exchange offer, festival offer and commission.

10) What seller offer to temporary customer to make them permanent ?

Most of the seller said they offer same service to temporary customer as
Permanent customer.
Like Better Service, Offers, Prove up to their satisfaction .

QUESTIONNAIRE
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We the student of PGDM, from “Institute of Productivity & Management”

Meerut. We are conducting research as a part of our curriculum. We are
interested in knowing the promotional tools using by you. Your cooperation
will be highly appreciated. Individual response will be kept in confidence. I
assure you that information will be used only for academic purpose.

1) What types of steps do you use to improve your sales ?

a. Sales Promotion
b. Advertising
c. Direct Marketing
d. Public Relation
e. Personal selling

2) At What level do you think Promotional tools are effective to influence the
The customer?
a. Very good
b. Fairly good
c. Neither good nor bad
d. Not very good
e. Not good at all

3) If you use sales promotional then what type of tools do you use under it
to increase sales ?
a) Coupons
b) Rebates
c) Gift Cards
d) Price-off deals

4) If rebate than what percentage

a. 0-15%
b. 15-30%
c. 30-45%
d. 45 and above
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5) What Promotional tools do you think more effective to retain customer?

a. Sales Promotion
i) 0-15% ii) 15-30% iii) 30-45% iv) 45-75% v)75-100%

b. Advertisement
i) 0-15% ii) 15-30% iii) 30-45% iv) 45-75% v)75-100%

c. Direct Marketing
i) 0-15% ii) 15-30% iii) 30-45% iv) 45-75% v)75-100%

d. Public Relation
i) 0-15% ii) 15-30% iii) 30-45% iv) 45-75% v)75-100%

f. Personal selling
i) 0-15% ii) 15-30% iii) 30-45% iv) 45-75% v)75-100%

6) In which Period Promotional tools are more effective?

a. January g. July
b. February h. August
c. March i. September
d. April j. October
e. May k. November
f. June l. December

7) How much rebate play role to retain customer?

a. Very Strongly
b. Strongly
c. Moderately
d. Weakly
e. Very weakly
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8) Do you think building relationship play vital role to retaining customer?

a) Yes b) no

9) What do you offer to permanent customer?

10) What do you offer to temporary customer to make them permanent ?

Name ……………………………………………………………….
Age ……………………… Gender Male/Female
Address……………………………………………………………..
………………………………………………………………………
Contact No. (If any)………………………………………………...

Thanking You

Institute of Productivity & Management

Meerut
IInd semester
Satish Tiwari
Rakesh Bhardwaj
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Shailendra kumar jha

Vivek Vikrant

Findings:-
The major findings of our research are:

1) Most of the sellers acknowledges that they do sales promotion to

improve their sales.

2) It is found that Promotional tools are fairly good to influence the

customer.

3) Maximum respondent said rebate is most effective tools under sales

promotion

4) Mass respondent said that they give 0-15% rebate to their customer.

5) a) It is found that sales promotion is 45-75% effective to retain

customer , said by mass respondent.
b) In advertisement there is little bit controversies that is 45%
respondent said that advertising is 45-75% effective and 35%
respondent said that advertising is 30-75% effective to retain
customer.
c) Maximum respondent said that Direct Marketing is 0-15 % effective.
d) Most of the seller believes Public Relation is 0-15% effective.
e) Most of the respondent thinks that personal selling is 0-15%
effective

6) Most of the respondent think that April to June is most effective Period of
year in which promotional tools is most effective.

7) Most of the respondent believes that rebate plays moderately role to

retain customer.

8) Sellers believe that building relationship plays vital role to retain

customer.

.
9) Most of the seller told that they offer Better Service, discount as much as
it possible, good quality, exchange offer, festival offer and commission
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10) Most of the seller said they offer same service to temporary customer
as Permanent customer.
Like Better Service, Offers, Prove up to their satisfaction .

• All seller said that building relationship plays vital role in

retaining customer.

Conclusion and suggestion

Conclusion
All the seller are using promotional tools directly and indirectly but most of
the seller are not aware with the terminology as sellers are either not
properly educated or are not aware with the term. At the same time Book
sellers are still using the oldest method of marketing and Promotional tools .
They believe that it is very easy to describe method of marketing and
Promotional tools but practically it is not possible or rarely possible to
promote their business using all Promotional tools.
Technology has not been properly adopted by the sellers and publishing
house. The is wide gap of difference between the opinion between Retailer,
Wholesaler, and distributor. At the same times Publishing house has also
different type of opinion regarding Marketing method and Promotional tools.

Suggestion

There is need of proper education regarding Promotional tools and

Promotional mix and Marketing Method. If Business graduate properly
employed here then market share of book seller of Meerut region can be
increased. Selling can be increased. As book of international and national
level is published from Meerut region
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Limitations:

Although every effort is made to make the report as accurate and

appropriate but yet it has some limitation because situation and environment
are not in control
While conducting this particular study we encountered the following
problems:

The study is concentrated in Meerut town only so the findings are

generalization for the Meerut only.

The study may be infested by the exaggeration of some respondents.

There was constraint of time for research

Some respondent were not willing to respond and even they were not talked
fairly

Some times some Book sellers and Publishers were busy in personal life as
well as professional life so could not for interview and hence some of the
answer may not be exact

Some respondent even did not mention their name.

As the area is not properly known so some of book stores and Publishers
might have not been visited.

There was language and terminology problem also.

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Bibliography:
The following books and sites helped me to complete the project successfully.

Research Methodology – C.R.Kothari

Marketing Management – Philip Kotlar
www.google.com