INTRODUCTION:

The marketing mix

7 Ps of the marketing mix…
…a framework for complete marketing

Why is a framework for marketing important?

When you are developing your marketing plan, there
are many factors that need to
be considered. So many, that it could be easy to
miss an important element. And
since all these elements are interlinked, overlooking
one factor could mean that the
decisions you make about the others are not fully
informed.

So why 7 Ps?
Traditionally, the marketing mix was developed for
the fast moving consumer goods
sector, and there were 4 Ps: Product, Price,
Promotion, and Place (or distribution).
As service sectors have become more aware of
marketing, this marketing mix has
been developed to also include: People, Process and
Physical Evidence.
Even if you think you only sell a product, so the
original 4 Ps will suffice, it can be
useful to think how much of a service element there
is to your business. Indeed, the
goods-service continuum demonstrates that very
few products are purely goods and
very few purely service.
Most of us sell either products with a surrounding
service element (for example, a
customer care help-line for a software retailer) or
services with a tangible element
(the skill of a hair stylist is a service but tangible
products are required to deliver it).
So it could be wise, even for product manufacturers,
to consider all 7 Ps in their
marketing mix.

The 7 Ps of the marketing mix

Product
As seen in the goods-service continuum, your
product can have both tangible and
intangible aspects, and is the thing you offer to
satisfy your customers’ wants and
needs.
Within this element, you need to consider such
things as your product range; its
quality and design; its features and the benefits it
offers; sizing and packaging; and
any add-on guarantees and customer service
offerings.

Price
Sound pricing decisions are crucial to a successful
business and should be
considered at both long-term strategic and short-
term tactical levels.
Within this element of the mix you should consider
list price and discount price; terms
and conditions of payment; and the price sensitivity
of your market. Worth
remembering is the connection of price to your
position in the marketing – specifically
that only one operator in any market can be the
cheapest. Jostling between
competitors for this position is rarely wise.
Promotion
This is the element of the marketing mix that most
people mean when they talk about
‘marketing’. But jumping straight into decisions
about what promotional tools to use
without considering their relationship to the rest of
the mix can be a sure-fire way to
waste money.
There are many different promotional techniques,
each with their own strengths but
essentially they can be broken down into four broad
categories: Advertising; Public
Relations; Sales Promotions; and Direct Selling.
Theses techniques are used to
communicate the specific benefits of your product to
your customers.

Place
Marketers love models that explain the way they
work; they love it even more when
elements of each model begin with the same letter –
hence the use of the word
‘Place’ to describe distribution channels.
Your choice of such channels is important, as is the
variety of channels you use. For
example, a common issue for businesses beginning
to trade on-line is how that will
affect their off-line business, for example selling
directly through the web could
alienate retail outlets that have been the mainstay
of your business in the past.

People
The impact that your people can have on your
marketing cannot be underestimated.
At its most obvious, this element covers your front
line sales and customer service
staff who will have a direct impact on how your
product is perceived.
You need to consider the knowledge and skills of
your staff; their motivation and
investment in supporting your brand. Any element of
the marketing mix will also
have its impact on other elements of your business,
but the people element is one
where the importance of regarding marketing as an
integral part of the way you do
business is crystal clear.

Process
The process part of the mix is about being ‘easy to
do business with’. If you’ve ever
become frustrated at call centres that can’t answer
your questions, or annoyed when
you can’t buy something in a shop because the
computerised till doesn’t recognise
that it exists, even when you can see it on the
shelves, you’ll know how important this
element can be.
The more ‘high contact’ your product, and the more
intangible, the more important it
is to get your processes right. Remember to look at
this from your customers’ point
of view. The process problems that are most
annoying to a customer are those that
are designed for the provider’s convenience, not the
customer.

Physical Evidence
When you sell tangible goods, you can offer your
customer the chance to ‘try before
they buy’, or at least see, touch or smell. With
services, unless you offer a free trial,
your customer will often be buying on trust. And to
help them do so you need to
provide as much evidence of the quality you will be
providing as possible.
So physical evidence refers to all the tangible,
visible touchpoints that your customer
will encounter before they buy, from your reception
area and signage, to your staff’s
clothing and they images you include in you
corporate brochure.
Think about how all the elements of your marketing
mix hang together. Does your
pricing reflect the quality of your product? Does your
choice of promotional tools
reinforce your choice of distribution channel?

1)TELECOM INDUSTRY:

Marketing Mix adopted by Vodafone:

Vodafone:

Vodafone is the world's largest mobile

telecommunications community, employing over
65,000 staff and with over 130 million customers.
The business operates in 26 countries worldwide.
Vodafone is a public limited company with listings on
the London and New York stock exchanges.

Global recognition of the Vodafone brand is growing

as the company rolls out its identity into new
markets. However, it retains local names and
imagery in markets where this is essential to
maintaining the trust of customers.

To help promote its image worldwide, Vodafone uses

leading sports stars from high profile global sports,
including David Beckham and Michael Schumacher.
This Case Study concentrates on how such
promotion can help to keep a leading brand at the
forefront of public awareness.

Vodafone's marketing mix

A longer term marketing strategy is underpinned by

careful planning and a successful marketing mix.
The marketing mix is a combination of many
features that can be represented by the four Ps.

• product - features and benefits of a good or

service

• place - where the good or service can be bought

• price - the cost of a good or service

• promotion - how customers are made aware of a

good or service.
Product

• A product with many different features provides

customers with opportunities to chat, play
games, send and receive pictures, change ring
tones, receive information about travel and
sporting events, obtain billing information - and
soon view video clips and send video messages.

• Vodafone live! provides on-the-move information

services.

Place

• Vodafone UK operates over 300 of its own

stores.

• It also sells through independent retailers e.g.

Carphone Warehouse.

• Customers are able to see and handle products

they are considering buying.

• People are on hand to ensure customers' needs

are matched with the right product and to
explain the different options available.

Price
 • Vodafone wants to make its services accessible
to as many people as possible: from the young,
through apprentices and high powered business
executives, to the more mature users.

• It offers various pricing structures to suit

different customer groups.

• Monthly price plans are available as well as

prepay options. Phone users can top up their
phone on line.

• Vodafone UK gives NECTAR reward points for

every £1 spent on calls, text messages, picture
messages and ring tones.

Promotion

Vodafone works with icons such as David Beckham

to communicate its brand values.

Above the line

• Advertising on TV, on billboards, in magazines

and in other media outlets reaches large
audiences and spreads the brand image and the
message very effectively. This is known as
above the line promotion.

Below the line

 • Stores have special offers, promotions and point
of sale posters to attract those inside the stores
to buy.

• Vodafone's stores, its products and its staff all

project the brand image.

• Vodafone actively develops good public

relations by sending press releases to national
newspapers and magazines to explain new
products and ideas.

2}Cold-Drinks:

A Study on Marketing mix of Pepsi

Company.

Pepsi Co., one of today's leading soft drink

companies, has not only revolutionized the soft drink
industry with its creative marketing techniques and
unforgettable taste, but for years has dominated the
snack food and juice industry as well. PepsiCo. is
amongst the most successful consumer product
companies in the world. The company consists of
the Pepsi-Cola which is the world's second largest
beverage company, Frito-Lay Company which is the
world's largest manufacturer and distributor of
snack chips, and Tropicana Products, Inc. which is
the world's largest marketer and producer of
branded juices. Pepsi Co. is proud to declare that its
overall mission statement is: "To increase the value
of our shareholder's investment through sales
growth, cost controls, and wise investments of
resources. PepsiCo believes that commercial
success depends upon offering quality and value to
consumers and customers; providing products that
our safe, wholesome, economically efficient, and
environmentally sound while adhering to the highest
standards of integrity." Market positioning is one of
the most important aspects of PepsiCo success. It
has been a leader and gaining market share in each
of its core businesses and strives to continue in
recognizing under-marketed target regions
throughout the world to continually gain market
share from its competitors. The second aspect of
PepsiCo's objectives deals with continuing is strong
well- recognized consumer brand name domestically
and internationally. Third the company strives to
recognize good growth prospects and opportunities
for new and alternative product development within
each of its core businesses. PepsiCo's fourth
objective is to globally diversify its portfolio. Pepsi
Cola brand beverages are now available in over 160
different countries, Frito-Lay operates in over 42
countries, and Tropicana has a presence in over fifty
countries spanning over Europe, Asia, and South
America. Finally, the last objective of PepsiCo is to
be more productive and efficient through the
competitive advantages of its product innovation
capabilities, the company's streamlined patented
manufacturing process, and the vast scale of the
manufacturing and distribution system.

Through its promotions, advertising, and

sponsorships Pepsi has created one of the largest
and most opportunistic and unique companies
around. Through its use of integrated marketing
communications it has created a brand name and
product that is unique to all others. It strives to
globalize is business abroad with its Frito-Lay
product line, Tropicana juices, and Pepsi beverages.
It continues to find different and un-tapped target
markets around the world to gain market share from
its competitors. It also continues its innovation of
products to adapt to a changing global economy
which has been a key to its success in the past and
will be key to its success in the future.

The fact that PepsiCo has many different product

lines and business ventures that incorporate its
name creates many different target markets for each
of its products. In focusing on the Pepsi-Cola
beverage product, PepsiCo. has retained a long
history of concentrating on youth as its main target
market-"Generation Next!" It has spent billions of
dollars in trying to woo the young and nearly young,
implying that Coca-Cola is for the older generation.
The reason Pepsi-Cola has fiercely targeted this
market is because it is the largest amongst its
users. Market segment profiles have shown that the
majority of carbonated beverage drinkers are youth
and middle age people. Also, Pepsi continually
targets the college market in which they spend huge
amounts of money to compete with Coca Cola in
acquiring contracts with universities (ie: CSUF) to
have sole representation of their products
distribution. Pepsi's use this behavioristic
segmentation has been a key to the company's
success.

Pepsi it's frequently the last few inches that count.

It's the emotional link to a product that causes our
consumers to reach to the right instead of the left.
They must feel a tie to the product in some
emotional way, created by advertising. Pricing is
unquestionably a great influencer, but they won't
reach for the product-no matter how low the price-if
she doesn't have a basic feeling for it.

3}Cars.
A Study On Marketing mix of Maruti Suzuki Swift:

4P’s OF MARUTI SUZUKI SWIFT

Ø PRODUCT

Ø PRICE

Ø PROMOTION

Ø PLACE

Ø PRODUCT
Features:
The all-new Maruti Suzuki Swift is fully loaded with a
range of exciting new features. It’s a perfect
complement to your evolved tastes and lifestyle. And
the best way to take your driving pleasure to a brand-
new high.

European Styling. Japanese Engineering.

Dream-Like Handling.

The new Swift is a generation different from Suzuki

design. Styled with a clear sense of muscularity, its
one-and-a-half box, aggressive form makes for a look of
stability, a sense that it is packed with energy and
ready to deliver a dynamic drive.

Its solid look is complemented by an equally rooted

road presence and class-defining ride quality. New
chassis systems allow for the front suspension lower
arms, steering, gearbox and rear engine mounting to
be attached to a suspension frame. You get lower road
noise, and a greater feeling of stability as you sail over
our roads with feather-touch ease.

There are three variants of Maruti Suzuki Swift :

Ø Swift LXi

Ø Swift VXi
 Ø Swift ZXi

3 assist grips, 3 spoke urethane steering wheel,

antenna, cabin light (3 position), console box
(lower), cup holders (front 2, rear1), front door trim
pockets, green tinted glass window, halogen
headlamps, headlamp leveling device, heater and
manual Air conditioning, OVRM (internally adjusted),
rear fog lamps, wind screen wiper 2 speed plus 1
speed intermittent, tailgate opener key type, trip
meter (digital display), sun visors (both sides), brake
assist , child lock (rear door), high mounted stop
lamp, power steering, rear seat belts etc. are the
features available in this model.

Ø Swift VXi

Apart from the features found in other model,

striking features of this model are black colored A &
B pillars, 12v accessory socket in center console,
day and night rear view mirror, door ajar warming
lamp, driver’s seatbelt warning lamp, tachometer,
driver’s seat belt warning lamp, vanity mirrors (sun
visor co-driver side), rear seat head restraints, fabric
accented door trims, central door locking (4 door),
front and rear electronic windows, front fog lamps,
light off/ key reminder, manual air-conditioning, key
not removed warning buzzer, etc.

Ø Swift ZXi
Special features that have made this model more
market friendly are rear window demister, rear
parcel shelf, rear window wiper, room lamp and
luggage room, keyless entry,dual front airbags,
colored outside door mirror cowls, colored outside
door handles, 12v accessory socket in luggage room,
driver seat height adjuster, central door locking (5
doors), seat belts 3-point ELR with shoulder
adjusters, seat belts front 3-point ELR with
pretensioning,tailgate opener electromagnetic type
etc.

Ø PRICE

Maruti is expected to take Hyundai heads on with

the pricing of their upcoming Maruti Suzuki Swift
car. After launching cars for the masses since so
many years, India’s largest automobile manufacturer
is now targeting the premium segment with their
latest model from the Suzuki’s stable. The analysts
predict the pricing of this premium hatchback to
start from Rs. 4 lakh.

This price range would practically rip apart

Hyundai’s offering in Getz, which is priced at a much
higher tag of Rs. 4.5 lakh. Both the companies are
known for their value based offerings and Maruti
with their extensive service network and brand
reputation for making reliable cars should get the
customer’s nod over their competition.

The official pricing however is still not out. However,

the company is said to be studying the prospects of
launching the base model at the 4-lakh price tag.
There is another advantage in doing so considering
in the capital city of Delhi NCR road tax on the sub 4
lakh priced cars is comparatively lower at 2%. Cars
at a price higher than 4 lakh have to pay a 4% road
tax.

Delhi NCR is one of the major targeted markets and

it might get the benefit of this policy. And if they
indeed do take the chance of pricing Suzuki Swift at
a considerable lower price than Hyundai Getz, they
would quite likely force the competition to rethink
their strategy

PRICES OF MARUTI SUZUKI SWIFT

Non
Varia Metall Metallic
nt ic Price
Price
Swift 41648
416485
LXi 5
Swift 44392
443924
VXi 4
Swift 46496 464962
 VXi
2
(ABS)
Swift 52809
528096
ZXi 6

Ø PROMOTION

When Maruti Udyog launched the Swift in May last

year, the automotive industry was agog with
expectation that the car had the makings of a real
winner. Three versions were launched with the base
variant carrying a retail tag of Rs 3.85 lakh, ex-
showroom, New Delhi, and this aggressive pricing
only reinforced this feeling.
A year later, the company says the Swift is now the
most-sold car in the first year of any car in the
history of the Indian automobile industry, having
totted up sales of 61,200 units.
This is higher than what Maruti had initially planned
to sell. The car recorded an estimated 4,000
bookings at the time of its launch, and the initial
output of 200 units a day on a two-shift basis, wasn’t
enough to cope with demand. In October, the
company increased capacity for the Swift which
helped cut down on the waiting time from an
estimated three months. The company currently
makes over 300 units every day.
The Swift has made a real impact in the small
hatchback segment leaving its closet rival, the Getz
far behind. Between April 2005 and April 2006,
Hyundai sold 16,872 units of the Getz. Maruti is now
gearing upfor the diesel version of the Swift which is
expected to debut by October. The diesel version
will benefit from the excise sops in this year’s buget,
and it remains to be seen how the models fares in
the marketplace.

Ø PLACE

The car manufacturing company, called Maruti

Suzuki Automobiles India Limited, is a joint venture
between Maruti Udyog and Suzuki Motor Corporation
holding a 70 per cent and 30 per cent stake
respectively.

The Rs1,524.2 crore plant has a capacity to roll out 1

lakh cars per year with a capacity to scale up to 2.5
lakh units per annum. The car manufacturing plant
will begin commercial production by the end of 2006.

The engine and the transmission plant has owned by

Suzuki Powertrain India Limited in which Suzuki
Motor Corporation would hold 51 per cent stake and
Maruti Udyog holding the balance.
The ultimate total plant capacity is three lakh diesel
engines. However, the initial production is 1 lakh
diesel engines, 20,000 petrol engines and 1.4 lakh
transmission assemblies.

MUMBAI – Showrooms

Ø AUTOMOTIVE MANUFACTURERS LTD

MIDC,TTC INDL.AREA, PLOT

NO.D-234,SHIRVANE VILLAGE

BOMBAY PUNE ROAD

Ø Autovista

257,S.V. ROAD, BANDRA (W)

MUMBAI

MAHARASHTRA

Ø M/S SK WHEELS PVT LTD

SITE NO. D-267

TTC INDUSTRIAL AREA, MIDC

TURBHE, NAVI MUMBAI

Ø NAVNIT MOTORS PVT LTD

GOKUL NAGAR

MUMBAI-AGRA ROAD,

THANE-400 061

Ø RATAN MOTORS

23/24 BEZZOLA COMPLEX

SION-TROMBAY ROAD

CHEMBUR

Ø SAH and SANGHI AUTO AGENCIES (P) LTD

GIRI KUNJ, 11-C N S PATKAR MARG

KEMPS CORNER

4}Game Companies:
A study on Marketing Mix Of EA Sports
Corporation:
Intoduction : –

EA Sports is a brand name used by Electronic Arts

since 1993 to distribute games based on sports.
Formerly a gimmick inside Electronic Arts sports
games, that tried to mimic real-life sports networks,
calling themselves “EA Sports Network” (EASN) with
pictures or endorsements of real commentators such
as John Madden, it soon grew up to become a sub-
label on its own, releasing game series such as FIFA,
NHL, Madden NFL, and NASCAR.

EA Sports’ early motto, If it’s in the game, it’s in

the game, (later abbreviated to just It’s in the
game.) reflects the aim of the early games to
portray reality as best as the technology would
allow. Unlike some other companies, EA Sports has
no special ties to a single platform, which means
that all games are released for the best-selling
active platforms, sometimes long after most other
companies abandon them.

After establishing with some highly regarded titles

from 1987-1992, most notably Earl Weaver Baseball
1987, John Madden Football 1990 and NHL Hockey
1991, EA decided in 1992 to launch a sports-only
label and EASN was born. ESPN took note of the
similarities, and forced EA to come up with a new
label to put their sports label under for the 1994
season.

Product : –

Most EA Sports games are distinguished by year, as

most games are released on a yearly basis.
However, as EA Sports is the leading purchaser of
official licenses, it’s not uncommon that in a short
span several games of the same sport but with
different licenses are released: FIFA 98 was shortly
followed by World Cup 98 (as EA has the license for
the FIFA World Cup and the European Football
Championship, it happens regularly in two-year
intervals) and college football or basketball games
based on both NBA Live and Madden NFL. The earlier
titles released until 1996 are referred by fans as the
classic series.

There are several other series, including F1

Championship (discontinued after Sony acquired the
exclusive license for the Formula 1 championship),
Super bike and others with a limited distribution
such as AFL

Product Line & Product Mix is detailed below:-

Place : –

• Original HQ in San Mateo, California – moved to

Redwood City in 1998
• Origin Systems in Austin, Texas – acquired in
1992, closed in 2004
• Bullfrog Productions in Surrey, England –
acquired in 1995, effectively closed in 2001
 • EA Baltimore in Baltimore, Maryland –
established in 1996 as part of Origin, closed in
2000
• EA Seattle in Seattle, Washington – formerly
Manley & Associates, acquired in 1996, closed
in 2002
• Maxis in Walnut Creek, California – acquired in
1997, closed in 2004 (moved to Redwood City
location)
• Westwood Studios in Las Vegas, Nevada –
acquired in 1998, shut down in 2003
• EA Pacific (known for a time as Westwood
Pacific) in Irvine, California – formerly part of
Virgin Interactive, acquired with Westwood in
1998, closed in 2003
• Kesmai (known also as Game Storm); acquired
in 1999, closed in 2001.
• DICE Canada in London, Ontario (created
Battlefield 2: Special Forces expansion,
Battlefield Vietnam, and all BF2 patches).
Acquired DICE fully October 2, 2006; closed
DICE Canada studio hours later.
• EA Japan in Tokyo, Japan – closed due to
consolidation; moved under EA Partners model
• EA is currently headquartered in Redwood City,
California.

Price : –
Price is the one element of the marketing mix that
produces revenue, the other elements produce cost.
Prices are the easiest marketing mix element to
adjust; product feature, channel and even promotion
take more time price also communicates to the
market the company intended value positioning of
its product or brand.

Hawkins was determined to sell directly to buyers.

Combined with the fact that Hawkins was pioneering
new game brands, this made sales growth more
challenging. Retailers wanted to buy known brands
from existing distribution partners. Despite this,
revenue was $5 million in the first year and $11
million the next. [Former CEO Larry Probst arrived as
VP of Sales in late 1984 and helped the company
sustain growth into $18 million in its third full year.
Teaming with the existing sales staff that included
Nancy Smith, David Klein, and David Gardner, Probst
built the largest sales force of any American game
publisher. This policy of dealing directly with
retailers gave EA higher margins and better market
awareness, key advantages the company would
leverage to leapfrog its early competitors.

Net revenue was $3 billion – up 19 percent. Gross

margin was at an all time high of 62.7 percent.
Operating income was up 70 percent to $776 million
while operating margin reached 26 percent. Their
operating cash flow was $669 million and their
return on invested capital was a record 70 percent
yet as successful as EA is today, the biggest
opportunities are still ahead…

Promotion : –

EA has adopted a strategy of platform-agnostic

development and the creation of strong multi-year
franchises for promotion.

EA was the first publisher to release yearly updates

of its sports franchises- Madden, FIFA, NHL, NBA
Live, Tiger Woods, etc. – with updated player rosters
and small graphical and game play tweaks.
Recognizing the risk of franchise fatigue among
consumers, EA announced in 2006 that it would
concentrate more of its effort on creating new
original Intellectual Property

EA originally decided against allowing their games

on Microsoft’s Xbox Live online service due to
arguments between Microsoft and EA about the
distribution of revenue from online play. EA finally
agreed to release games on Xbox Live on the
condition that Microsoft allows the games to
connect to the EA servers in order to play them
online.
Some of the techniques used by EA in marketing its
products have been adopted from other
entertainment companies such as record producers,
video distributors and magazine publishers. In order
to provide realistic gaming experiences, the
designersof the company work in tandem with
celebrities and sports organizations through
contracts.

Marketing Mix Involved In Various Services:

1}Airline Industry:

Services are Deeds, Processes, and

Performances….
Services are distinguished from products mainly
because they are
generally produced at the same time as they are
consumed, and cannot be stored away or taken. An
enhanced marketing mix needs to be deployed.

Its Not About Simply Reaching Out to Customers

With the Right Service. But, Its Also About Creating
That Right Desire to Possess The Service.

PRODUCT MIX
Giving a Feel For The “Product” Inside a
Service Wrapper .
• Consumers are demanding not products, or
features of products but the
benefits they will be offered.
• The airline product includes of two types of
services:
1. On the Ground Services.
2. In-Flight Services.

PRICE MIX

PLACE MIX
 • Online 24-hour reservation Systems.
• Consolidation.
• Tour Operator/ Travel Agent.
Affiliated with companies

PROMOTION MIX

1} Advertising:

Airlines Advertisement Needs to Keep in

Mind the Image of Country, The Scenic
Beauty, Tourist Attractions, Rich Cultural
Heritages or Which Would Attract Number of
Tourists.

2} Publicity:

The PRO, Receptionist, Travel Agents, Media

People Are Very Important People in
Publicizing The Business.

3}Sales Promotion:

The Travel Agents, Tour Operators, Frontline

Staffs Contribute a Lot to The Promotion of
Airlines Business

4}Word Of Mouth:
 Customer Loyalty Ladder

PEOPLE MIX

• Competence.

• Reliability.

• caring Attitude.

• Responsiveness.

• Initiative.

• Problem Solving Ability.

Goodwill.

PROCESS MIX

• Reservation.

• Flight Information.

• Facilities at The Airport.

• Baggage Handling.

• Meal Service.
 • Flight Entertainment.

Deliver Quality Service

PHYSICAL EVIDENCE

1}On the ground:

• Booking offices or ticket counters.

• Paperwork.

• Brand Logo.

• Tickets.

2}In-flight:

• Aircraft.

• Seating Configuration.

• Good Inner-exteriors.

• Cleanliness.

• Uniforms.

• Ambience.

• Baggage.
 • Labels or Tag.

2}Banking Industry:

Study On Marketing Mix of ICICI Bank:

ICICI Bank is India’s second-largest bank with total

assets of Rs. 3,663.74 billion (US$ 76 billion) at
September 30, 2009 and profit after tax Rs. 19.18
billion (US$ 398.8 million) for the half year ended
September 30, 2009. The Bank has a network of
1,588 branches and about 4,883 ATMs in India and
presence in 18 countries. ICICI Bank offers a wide
range of banking products and financial services to
corporate and retail customers through a variety of
delivery channels and through its specialised
subsidiaries and affiliates in the areas of investment
banking, life and non-life insurance, venture capital
and asset management. The Bank currently has
subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, Russia and
Canada, branches in United States, Singapore,
Bahrain, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Qatar and Dubai
International Finance Centre and representative
offices in United Arab Emirates, China, South Africa,
Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Our
UK subsidiary has established branches in Belgium
and Germany.

ICICI Bank’s equity shares are listed in India on

Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock
Exchange of India Limited and its American
Depositary Receipts (ADRs) are listed on the New
York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

History:

ICICI Bank was originally promoted in 1994 by ICICI

Limited, an Indian financial institution, and was its
wholly-owned subsidiary. ICICI’s shareholding in
ICICI Bank was reduced to 46% through a public
offering of shares in India in fiscal 1998, an equity
offering in the form of ADRs listed on the NYSE in
fiscal 2000, ICICI Bank’s acquisition of Bank of
Madura Limited in an all-stock amalgamation in
fiscal 2001, and secondary market sales by ICICI to
institutional investors in fiscal 2001 and fiscal 2002.
ICICI was formed in 1955 at the initiative of the
World Bank, the Government of India and
representatives of Indian industry. The principal
objective was to create a development financial
institution for providing medium-term and long-term
project financing to Indian businesses. In the 1990s,
ICICI transformed its business from a development
financial institution offering only project finance to a
diversified financial services group offering a wide
variety of products and services, both directly and
through a number of subsidiaries and affiliates like
ICICI Bank. In 1999, ICICI become the first Indian
company and the first bank or financial institution
from non-Japan Asia to be listed on the NYSE.

After consideration of various corporate structuring

alternatives in the context of the emerging
competitive scenario in the Indian banking industry,
and the move towards universal banking, the
managements of ICICI and ICICI Bank formed the
view that the merger of ICICI with ICICI Bank would
be the optimal strategic alternative for both entities,
and would create the optimal legal structure for the
ICICI group’s universal banking strategy. The merger
would enhance value for ICICI shareholders through
the merged entity’s access to low-cost deposits,
greater opportunities for earning fee-based income
and the ability to participate in the payments system
and provide transaction-banking services. The
merger would enhance value for ICICI Bank
shareholders through a large capital base and scale
of operations, seamless access to ICICI’s strong
corporate relationships built up over five decades,
entry into new business segments, higher market
share in various business segments, particularly fee-
based services, and access to the vast talent pool of
ICICI and its subsidiaries. In October 2001, the
Boards of Directors of ICICI and ICICI Bank approved
the merger of ICICI and two of its wholly-owned
retail finance subsidiaries, ICICI Personal Financial
Services Limited and ICICI Capital Services Limited,
with ICICI Bank. The merger was approved by
shareholders of ICICI and ICICI Bank in January
2002, by the High Court of Gujarat at Ahmedabad in
March 2002, and by the High Court of Judicature at
Mumbai and the Reserve Bank of India in April 2002.
Consequent to the merger, the ICICI group’s
financing and banking operations, both wholesale
and retail, have been integrated in a single entity.

7P’s of Marketing of ICICI Bank:

PRODUCT MIX:

1. DEPOSITS:

ICICI Bank offers wide variety of Deposit Products to

suit our requirements. Coupled with convenience of
networked branches/ over 1800 ATMs and facility of
E-channels like Internet and Mobile Banking, ICICI
Bank brings banking at your doorstep.

Savings Account: ICICI Bank offers a power

packed Savings Account with a host of convenient
features and banking channels to transact through.

Senior Citizen Services: The Senior Citizen

Services from ICICI Bank has several advantages
that are tailored to bring more convenience and
enjoyment in your life.

Young Stars: It’s really important to help children

learn the value of finances and money management
at an early age. Banking is a serious business, but
we make banking a pleasure and at the same time
children learn how to manage their personal
finances.

Fixed Deposits: Safety, Flexibility, Liquidity and

Returns!!!! A combination of unbeatable features of
the Fixed Deposit from ICICI Bank.

Recurring Deposits: Through ICICI Bank Recurring

Deposit you can invest small amounts of money
every month that ends up with a large saving on
maturity. So you enjoy twin advantages- affordability
and higher earnings.

Roaming Current Account: Only Roaming Current

Account from ICICI Bank travels the distance with
your business. You can access your accounts at
over 500 networked branches across the country.

Bank @ Campus: Thanks to bank@campus, child

can now surf the Net and access all the details of
his / her account at the click of a mouse! No need to
visit the bank branch at all.
ICICI Bank Salary Account: is a benefit-rich
payroll account for Employers and Employees. As an
organization, you can opt for our Salary Accounts to
enable easy disbursements of salaries and enjoy
numerous other benefits too.

2. INVESTMENTS

Along with Deposit products and Loan offerings,

ICICI Bank assists you to manage your finances by
providing various investment options such as:

• ICICI Bank Tax Saving Bonds

• Government of India Bonds
• Investment in Mutual Funds
• Initial Public Offers by Corporate
• Investment in “Pure Gold”
• Foreign Exchange Services
• Senior Citizens Savings Scheme, 2004

3. ANYWHERE BANKING

ICICI Bank is the second largest bank in the country.

It services a customer base of more than 5 million
customer accounts through a multi-channel access
network. This includes more than 500 branches and
extension counters, over 1800 ATMs, Call Centre and
Internet Banking.
Thus, one can access the various services ICICI
Bank has to offer at anytime, anywhere and from
anyplace.

4. LOAN

a) Home Loans

b) Personal Loans

c) Car Loans

d) Two Wheeler Loans

e) Commercial Vehicle Loans

f) Loans against Securities

g) Farm Equipment Loans

h) Construction Equipment Loans

i) Office Equipment Loans

j) Medical Equipment Loans

5. CARDS

a) Credit Card

b) Debit cum ATM Card

c) Travel Card
6. DEMAT SERVICES

ICICI Bank Demat Services boasts of an ever-

growing customer base of over 7 lacs account
holders. In their continuous endeavor to offer best of
the class services to our customers we offer the
following features:

• Digitally signed transaction statement by e-mail.

• Corporate benefit tracking.
• e-Instruction facility – facility to transfer
securities 24 hours a day, 7 days a week through
Internet Interactive Voice Response (IVR) at a
lower cost.
• Dedicated specially trained customer care
executives at their call centre, to handle all
queries.

7. MOBILE BANKING

With ICICI Bank, banking is no longer what it used to

be. ICICI Bank offers Mobile Banking facility to all its
Bank, Credit Card and Demat customers. ICICI Bank
Mobile Banking enables you to bank while being on
the move.

8. NRI SERVICES

ONLINE MONEY TRANSFER facility available to

NRIs worldwide through www.money2India.com at
the click of a button!
Benefits:

• FREE Money transfers into accounts with over

30 banks in India
• Demand Drafts issued and payable at over 1250
locations in India
• ONLINE Tracking of the status of your funds
• SUPERIOR Exchange rates
• OFFLINE MONEY TRANSFER facility is also
available across geographies through
• Local branches and in association with partner
banks/ exchange houses.

PRICING MIX:

The pricing decisions or the decisions related to

interest and fee or commission charged by banks are
found instrumental in motivating or influencing the
target market.

The RBI and the IBA are concerned with regulations.

The rate of interest is regulated by the RBI and other
charges are controlled by IBA.

The pricing policy of a bank is considered important

for raising the number of customers’ vis-à-vis the
accretion of deposits. Also the quality of service
provided has direct relationship with the fees
charged. Thus while deciding the price mix customer
services rank the top position.
The banking organizations are required to frame two-
fold strategies. First, the strategy is concerned with
interest and fee charged and the second strategy is
related to the interest paid. Since both the
strategies throw a vice- versa impact, it is important
that banks attempt to establish a correlation
between two. It is essential that both the buyers as
well as the sellers have feeling of winning.

Pricing Bank Products Starts With Three

Basic Questions.

1. What rate does the bank need to meet its

financial objectives?

The answer is, “it depends.”

Some considerations for loan and deposit pricing

are:

• Related income taxes

• Earning assets to total assets
• Equity-to-asset ratio
• Pricing for the activities and risks associated
with the product
• Asset and liability mix

Another element to consider in the pricing of earning

assets is the risk of loss. Most notably, this is
relevant in loan pricing. Many banks assign a risk
weighting to individual loans over a certain size or
based on loan type and assign a credit risk charge
based on those ratings.

Customer relationships are difficult to assign a value

to in the pricing process. Customers will generally
press for some price concessions in consideration of
other relationships they have with the bank.

Asset and liability mix also impacts pricing results.

Generally speaking, banks operating with higher
loan-to-asset ratios are able to afford to pay more for
deposits. Likewise, banks can afford to be more
competitive on certain deposit products if they have
fewer maturities in a particular timeframe or less
total outstanding balances in a product line.

2. What is the market rate for the core

product?

Customers have more distribution channels available

to them today than at any other point in history. In
the past 10 years, the number of bank locations has
increased 20%. Of course, there are the mortgage
bankers, the Internet, and a host of other financial
service providers competing for your customer’s
loan and deposit business.

The point is, the competitive marketplace always

ensures that if a financial institution is charging too
much for loans or paying too little for deposits, its
share of the market will likely dwindle as existing
and prospective customers find alternative
providers. You can do all the math you want to
determine required pricing points, but if your pricing
is uncompetitive, your market share will shrink.

3. What would the bank have to do to sales

and operations to make its rates the most
competitive in its market?

Pricing is a key issue for the associates who sell

bank products to your customers. The fact is,
lenders want the lowest rates, and people dealing
with depositors want to pay the highest rates. You
need the right balance of fee income, strategies to
reduce operating costs, and a healthy asset and
liability mix to change your required pricing.

PLACE

This component of marketing mix is related to the

offering of services. The services are sold through
the branches.

The 2 important decision making areas are: making

available the promised services to the ultimate
users and selecting a suitable place for bank
branches.

The number of branches OF ICICI: 1900 in India and

33 in Mumbai.
LOCATION OF BRANCH:

Shivam Shopping Centre, S.V.Road,

Opp. New Era Cinema, Malad (W), Mumbai.

MUMBAI , 400064.

LOCATION OF ATMS:

• Malad subway
• With branch
• Mindspace
• Orlem
• Raheja township

Why they select this place as branch?

• The selection of a suitable place for the

establishment of a branch is significant with the
view point of making place accessible.
• The safety and security provisions
• Convenient to both the parties, such as the
users and the bankers
• Infrastructure facility
• Near to station and located on s. v. road well
crowded area.
• Market coverage

PROMOTION MIX

• Advertising: Television, radio, movies, theatres

 • Print media: hoardings, newspaper, magazines
• Publicity: road shows, campus visits, sandwich
man, Sponsorship
• Sales promotion: gifts, discount and
commission, incentives,etc.
• Personal selling: Cross-sale (selling at
competitors place),personalized service.
• Telemarketing: ICICI one source Call center
(mind space)

PEOPLE:

All people directly or indirectly involved in the

consumption of banking services are an important
part of the extended marketing mix. Knowledge
Workers, Employees, Management and other
Consumers often add significant value to the total
product or service offering. It is the employees of a
bank which represent the organisation to its
customers.

In a bank organization, employees are essentially

the contact personnel with customer. Therefore, an
employee plays an important role in the marketing
operations of a service organisation.

To realize its potential in bank marketing, ICICI

become conscious in its potential in internal
marketing – the attraction, development, motivation
and retention of qualified employee-customers
through need meeting job-products. Internal
marketing paves way for external marketing of
services. In internal marketing a variety of activities
are used internally in an active, marketing like
manner and in a coordinated way.

The starting point in internal marketing is that the

employees are the first internal market for the
organization.

The basic objective of internal marketing is to

develop motivated and customer conscious
employees.

A service company can be only as good as its

people. A service is a performance and it is usually
difficult to separate the performance from the
people.

If the people don’t meet customers’ expectations,

then neither does the service. Therefore, investing in
people quality in service business means investing
in product quality.

PROCESS:

Flow of activities: All the major activities of ICICI

banks follow RBI guidelines. There has to be
adherence to certain rules and principles in the
banking operations. The activities have been
segregated into various departments accordingly.
Standardization: ICICI bank has got standardized
procedures got typical transactions. In fact not only
all the branches of a single-bank, but all the banks
have some standardization in them. This is because
of the rules they are subject to. Besides this, each
of the banks has its standard forms, documentations
etc. Standardization saves a lot of time behind
individual transaction.

Customization: There are specialty counters at

each branch to deal with customers of a particular
scheme. Besides this the customers can select
their deposit period among the available
alternatives.

Number of steps: Numbers of steps are usually

specified and a specific pattern is followed to
minimize time taken.

Simplicity: In ICICI banks various functions are

segregated. Separate counters exist with clear
indication. Thus a customer wanting to deposit
money goes to ‘deposits’ counter and does not
mingle elsewhere. This makes procedures not only
simple but consume less time. Besides instruction
boards in national boards in national and regional
language help the customers further.

Customer involvement: ATM does not involve any

bank employees. Besides, during usual bank
transactions, there is definite customer involvement
at some or the other place because of the money
matters and signature requires.

PHYSICAL EVIDENCE:

Physical evidence is the material part of a service.

Strictly speaking there are no physical attributes to
a service, so a consumer tends to rely on material
cues. There are many examples of physical
evidence, including some of the following:

• Internet/web pages
• Paperwork
• Brochures
• Furnishings
• Business cards
• The building itself (such as prestigious offices or
scenic headquarters)

The physical evidences also include signage,

reports, punch lines, other tangibles, employee’s
dress code etc.

Signage: Each and every bank has its logo by which

a person can identify the company. Thus such
signages are significant for creating visualization
and corporate identity.
Financial reports: The Company’s financial reports
are issued to the customers to emphasis or
credibility.

Tangibles: Bank gives pens, writing pads to the

internal customers. Even the passbooks,
chequebooks, etc reduce the inherent intangibility of
services.

Punch lines: Punch lines or the corporate

statement depict the philosophy and attitude of the
bank. Banks have influential punch lines to attract
the customers.

Employee’s dress code: ICICI bank follows a

dress code for their internal customers. This helps
the customers to feel the ease and comfort.

3}Insurance Industry:

Marketing Mix Adopted by Bajaj Allianz

General Insurance Company:

Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company Limited is

a joint venture between Bajaj Finserv Limited
(recently demerged from Bajaj Auto Limited) and
Allianz SE. Both enjoy a reputation of expertise,
stability and strength.
Bajaj Allianz General Insurance received the
Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority
(IRDA) certificate of Registration on 2nd May, 2001
to conduct General Insurance business (including
Health Insurance business) in India. The Company
has an authorized and paid up capital of Rs 110
crores. Bajaj Finserv Limited holds 74% and the
remaining 26% is held by Allianz, SE.

As on 31st March 2009, Bajaj Allianz General

Insurance maintained its premier position in the
industry by achieving growth as well as profitability.
The company garnered a premium income of Rs.
2866 crore, achieving a growth of 11 % over the last
year. Bajaj Allianz has made a profit before tax of Rs.
149.8 crore and has become the only private insurer
to cross the Rs.100 crore mark in profit before tax in
the last three years. The profit after tax was Rs.95
crores, which is also the highest by any private
insurer.

Bajaj Allianz today has a countrywide network

connected through the latest technology for quick
communication and response in over 200 towns
spread across the length and breadth of the country.
From Surat to Siliguri and Jammu to
Thiruvananthapuram, all the offices are
interconnected with the Head Office at Pune.
Vision:

• To be the first choice insurer for customers

• To be the preferred employer for staff in the
insurance industry.
• To be the number one insurer for creating
shareholder value

Mission:

As a responsible, customer focused market leader,

we will strive to understand the insurance needs
of the consumers and translate it into affordable
products that deliver value for money.
Bajaj Allianz General Insurance offers technical
excellence in all areas of General and Health
Insurance as well as Risk Management. This
partnership successfully combines Bajaj Finserv’s
in-depth understanding of the local market and
extensive distribution network with the global
experience and technical expertise of the Allianz
Group. As a registered Indian Insurance Company
and a capital base of Rs. 110 crores, the company
is fully licensed to underwrite all lines of general
insurance business including health insurance.

Achievements:
Bajaj Allianz has received “iAAA rating, from ICRA
Limited, an associate of Moody’s Investors
Services, for Claims Paying Ability.This rating
indicates highest claims paying ability and a
fundamentally strong position.

Bajaj Allianz General Insurance has received the

prestigious “Business Leader in General
Insurance”, awarded by NDTV Profit Business
Leadership Awards 2008. The company was one of
the top three finalists for the year 2007 and 2008
in the General Insurance Company of the Year
award by Asia Insurance Review.

7 P’s of marketing of Bajaj Allianz :

1. Products and Services:

Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company Ltd.

offers a range of insurance products to its clients.
The following insurances are offered by the
company:

• Motor Insurance
• Asset Insurance
o Home Insurance

o Shop / Showroom: Protection against all

risks

• Health Insurance
o Health Guard

o Personal Guard

o Hospital Cash
 o Critical Illness
o Silver Health
o E-Opinion
o Star Package
o Health Ensure
o Insta Insure
o Sankat Mochan
o Family Floater HG
o Tax Gain

• Travel Insurance
o Travel Companion

o Student Companion

o Pravasi Bharati Bima Yojana

o Travel Asia

o Travel Elite

o Travel Assist

o Swades Yatra

• Corporate Insurance
o Specialty Lines

 Aviation

 Marine Hull Insurance

 Project Insurance

 Sports & Entertainment Insurance

o Your Employees

 Group Personal Accident

 Group Health Guard

 Group Critical Illness

  Workmen’s Compensation
 Group Travel

o Office
 Office Package

 Burglary

 Plate Glass

 Public Liability

 Fire

 Money

 D & O Liability

 Fidelity Guarantee

o Manufacturing Unit
 Fire

 Business Interruption

 Industrial All Risk

 Workmen’s Compensation

 Engineering

 Public Liability

 Product Liability

 Composite Public & Product Liability

 Fidelity Guarantee

 Marine Insurance

o Credit Insurance

2. Price:

The price structure is based on the type of

policies. The price variation has to be kept due to
intense competition among private players. Pricing
element is very important for Bajaj Allianz as they
want to increase market share. The price of Bajaj
Allianz policies are made as per keeping the
customer in mind.

3. Place:

3rd Floor, 349 Business Point,

Western Express Highway Road,

Andheri(E).

The locations of every corporate offices of Bajaj

Allianz is magnificent. They locate themselves in a
very professional manner. This indicates their
corporate approach towards their work. Work
culture is also conducive to such environment.

4. Promotion:

Huge advertisements on Television and radios.

Tele-marketing

Promotion in front of corporate offices

Internet Marketing

Hoardings and brochures

5. People:

People are the main assets of financial organization

because of service factor attached to it. Here in this
case of insurance business, talented and
experienced personnel are required. Bajaj Allianz
recruits highly intellectual persons with good market
knowledge. They also provide training to brief them
up about Bajaj Allianz to its new staff members. This
is the reason they are No.1 position in General
Insurance among private players. They create an
emotional commitment and strong two-way
relationship between the employees and the
Company.

To have clear performance expectations and a clear

return from the Company (working environment,
development, reward, career opportunities etc),
which helps employees to make a connection
between their contribution and the progress made by
the Company.

To inspire and empower people to achieve their best

and reward them competitively for their contribution
and provide attractive career opportunities.To build
a learning culture which fosters personal
development and professional mobility and upholds
values of professionalism,innovation, pragmatism,
team spirit, integrity.To respect and value
individuals, their diversity and support them in their
need to balance professional and personal lives.

6. Process:

The prestigious awards itself speaks the smooth

functioning of the insurance activities. They have the
highest claims paying ability and a fundamentally
strong position. They want to be the first choice for
insurers in the country. So, they understand the
insurance needs of the customers and translate it
into affordable products that deliver value for money.
Below case study is a clear evidence of proof:
7. Physical Evidence:

Physical evidence is the material part of a service.

Strictly speaking there are no physical attributes to
a service, so a consumer tends to rely on material
cues. There are many examples of physical
evidence, including some of the following:

a) Business cards

b) Internet / Websites

c) Furnishings

d) Bajaj Allianz Building in Pune

e) Internal Infrastructure

4}Radio Stations:

Marketing Mix Adopted By Red 93.5 Fm:

RADIO INDUSTRY
Radio has been the most cost effective source of
entertainment in India for a long time. For a long
time, the radio industry was dominated by the state
broadcaster- All India Radio. However, the radio
sector has been gradually liberalized and has been
opened for private and foreign investment. Radio
industry recorded an impressive performance in
2007, having recorded a growth of 24 per cent over
the previous year and is estimated at Rs. 6.2 billion
in 2007, up from Rs. 5 billion in 2006. In the last four
years 2004-07, the radio industry recorded the
second highest cumulative growth of 37 per cent on
an overall basis after online advertising. The radio
industry is projected to grow to Rs. 17 billion by
2011, implying a 28% CAGR over the next five years.
ENIL currently operates radio stations under the
brand name ‘Radio Mirchi’ in 25 cities.
MARKETING PLAN
This Marketing Plan is developed for the brand
RADIO MIRCHI 98.3FM. it is owned by the company
ENTERTAINMENT NETWORK INDIA LTD.(ENIL) ENIL
is promoted by Bennett, Coleman & Co. Limited
(BCCL) which is one of the largest media and
entertainment companies in India, operating in
various media segments such as print media and
television broadcasting.
Before we begin, let’s know a little about Radio
Mirchi. The original avatar of Radio Mirchi was Times
FM, which is probably the most famous radio in India
which began its operation in 1993. Until 1993, AIR, a
government undertaking, was the only radio
broadcaster in India. The government then took the
initiative to privatize the radio broadcasting sector.
It sold airtime blocks on its FM channels to private
operators, who developed their own program
content. The Times Group operated its brand, Times
FM, till June 1998. After that, the government
decided not to renew contracts given to private
operators.
In 2000, the government announced the auction of
108 FM frequencies across India. ENIL won the
largest number of frequencies, thereby acquiring a
national
footprint, and becoming the only commercial FM
broadcaster present in all 4 Metros, with an
exclusive presence in 7 cities. Earlier available in
the seven cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai,
Pune, Indore and Ahmedabad, now it is also available
in key markets of Bangalore, Hyderabad, Jaipur,
Patna & Jalandhar thereby taking the tally to 12
stations across India. It's the largest private FM
Radio operator in the country in terms of number of
operational stations and revenue. 6
Though Radio Mirchi FM radio stations are located
in diverse regions in India it's been successful in
attracting local audiences in each of these markets.
This is largely due to a superior understanding of
audience preferences, which enables it to provide
content customized to the taste, language and
culture of the local audience.

The punch line of Radio Mirchi (Mirchi sunnewale

always khush) focuses on its customer and the
quality of music provided by them. They try to come
up with new innovative ideas thereby making their
radio the most preferred station with largest
listenership. There latest innovation is in the style of
radio jockeys. Generally, radio jockeys speak non-
stop quite fast entertaining the masses. But there is
new RJ named Sudh who talks at a slower pace but
in a weird tone. His way of telling jokes attracts
people to him.
Price & Place are the two factors which has no
impact on the customer’s( .i.e. radio listeners) of
Radio Mirchi since they don’t pay for listening radio
and it is available everywhere(rather in pockets of
every person in the form of mobile)
Promotion: Radio Mirchi promotes its radio station
in different cities in their local language. Following
are few examples:

 98.3 FM Tagline "Radio Mirchi - It's hot"...

 98.3 FM Tagline "Mirchi Sunne Wale Always

Khush" Started On 23 July 2007.

 98.3 FM - It uses the tagline "Sakat hot maga!" in

Bangalore.
18

5}Marketing Mix In Hotel Industry:

The Product Mix

In any organization, we find product the focal point.

The hotel services also require a fair combination of
core arid peripheral services. It is right to mention
that in almost all the hotels of same category by and
large the core services are found identical and
therefore the peripheral services divert a close
attention where the hotel personnel need
professional excellence. More innovative the
peripheral services, more attractions is the product
mix. This makes it essential that hotels and hotel
companies assign due weightage to the formulation
of an optimal product mix in which peripheral
services prove to be a point of attraction.

The emerging trends in the socio-economic parlance

necessitate an analogous change in the product mix.
With the passage of time, it is quite natural that
some of the services become outdated and
therefore, we need to eliminate them. At the same
time, it is essential that we keep our minds open and
come to know the latest developments in the likes
and dislikes of the customers, and while including
new services in the product mix, assign due
weightage to their preferences. While formulating
the product mix it is pertinent that we make the
ways for frequent innovation. It is also right to
mention that frequency in innovation is found
essential and at the same time easier in the context
of peripheral services. The hotel professionals are
required to formulate a package that helps in
attracting the customers.

Modifications in the existing services by adding a

few outstanding properties is found to be a suitable
strategy for the development of product. The
generation of idea, the formulation of concept, the
analysis of product cost and the testing of services
before their final commercial launch become
significant in the very context. This necessitates an
in-depth study of product life cycle. A hotel manager
bears the responsibility of adding attractions to the
product mix and this is possible when they have
world class professional excellence.

While formulating the product mix for the hotel

services, it is essential that catering management,
restaurant and cafeteria management, management
of bedrooms, management of convention halls are
given due weightage. The boarding services are
considered to be an important part of product mix. In
addition, the lodging services also become
significant. Here it is essential that facilities like
light, water, electricity, ventilation, entertainment,
sanitation arrangement of bed etc. are available to
the guests. While formulating the product mix, the
hotel organizations are required to make possible a
fair mix of core and peripheral services.

The Product Mix for a Hotel will typically include:

Reception: – Welcome, Enquiry and sign posts.

Boarding: – Catering, restaurants and cafeterias.

Lodging: – Bed, room, light, water, sanitation,
ventilation and view.

Entertainment: – TV, Dance, music, cultural shows

and radio.

Shopping: – shopping arcade, fairs and exhibitions.

Personal Care: – Beauty parlour, hair cutting,

gymnasium and jogging.

Communication and transport: – Telephone, news,

papers, magazines, reservations asasand car
rentals.

Medicals: – first aid / ambulance.

The product mix of the Regent Mumbai include:

Room:

1. Deluxe room: 400 sq. ft, large, well appointed

rooms, with executive desk and chair and sofa.
Rooms feature luxurious marble bathrooms.
2. Executive room: 450 sq ft, spacious bedroom
with king bed and large marble bathroom with
separate walk-in shower. Roomy living room
area with a sofa, coffee table, desk and chair.
3. The Regent Suite: located on the top floor. Two
bedrooms, each with its own private bathroom,
dining area, office and private living room, and
 lounge opening onto a private pool deck
overlooking Mahim Bay towards the city.
4. The Presidential Suite: located on the top floor.
Two bedrooms each with its own private
bathroom, dining area, and large living and
entertainment area, overlooking the Arabian Sea
towards the north.
5. Executive Suite: 700 sq ft, two room suite.
Separate bedrooms with king bed and suite
bathroom and living room.

Services:

1. 508 luxurious, executive-sized rooms.

2. The spectacular lobby is destined to become
Mumbai’s most popular meeting point.
3. Five enticing restaurants serving Indian, Chinese
and European cuisine.
4. Fully equipped health club, fitness centre and
squash courts.
5. Extensive, indoor and outdoor meeting and
function space.

Promotion mix

For successful marketing, it is only not sufficient to

concentrate on the quality of services but it is also
impact generating that we promote our business in
such a way that the prospects come to know about
the quality to be offered to them as hotel customers.
This focuses the attention on innovative promotional
measures. The components like advertisement,
publicity, sales promotion, personal selling, word-of-
mouth promotion and telemarketing need due
attention of hotel professionals.

Advertisement

Advertisement is a paid form of communication that

helps in informing, sensing and persuading the
prospects or users. While advertising, it is
significant that the hotel professionals make
possible a productive use of print media, broadcast
media and telecast media. In the face of potentials,
requirements and the intensity of competition, there
is a need to select media for promoting our
messages and slogans.

Of late, there is a significant development in the

print media since sophistication in the printing
technologies has made ways for offset printing,
screen- printing and laser printing. These devices
are found efficacious in attracting the prospects.
There are a number of plus points in the print media.
It is possible to be descriptive while advertising. We
are in a position to attract the attention of prospects
by displaying attractive scenes, events, landscape,
comforts, costs etc. To be more specific when we
have advanced print devices we find enough scope
for using print media for advertising. In this context,
it is pertinent that the hotel professionals advertise
sensibly, intelligently and for that seek the co-
operation of advertising professionals who can
simplify and sensitize the process. Another plus
point that we find in the print media is related to
economy. We find it economic and therefore the
promotion budget is not to be non-optimal.

The services of advertising professionals would

make possible creativity in the advertisement
messages and appeals. While selecting the media for
advertisement, it is significant that we keep in our
minds the magazines, newspapers preferred by the
target audience. The magazines, newspapers
preferred by women and teens should be given due
weightage since in a majority of the cases, the
decisions regarding a particular tour hotel are taken
by them.

Of late, the telecast media is considered to be the

most sensitive but expensive media of
advertisement. In the world of marketing
communication, top position is assigned to the
telecast media because scope for audio-visual
exposure makes ways for sensitising the prospects
in a right fashion. It is against this ground that we
find hotels advertising through TV.
In view of the above, it is right to observe that out of
all the media, print media is found to be the most
effective media for hotel advertisements. It is due
mainly to fact that in the print media, the advertisers
get an opportunity to display facts and figures which
may be very much instrumental in convincing and
persuading the prospects. The fact cannot be denied
that while using print media, the materials used for
advertising are found of world class, such as quality
papers, quality print, quality photographs, attractive
scenes or so. The use of quality materials paves
avenues for attractions.

Publicity

Another dimension of promotion known as an unpaid

form of persuasive communication also plays an
incremental role in promoting the hotel business.
While publicizing, the hotel professionals play a
significant role by managing the media personnel for
publishing news items related to the hotel. Public
relations activities thus become instrumental in the
process of publicizing. The British Institute of Public
Relations has defined it as the deliberate, planned
and sustained effort to establish and maintain
mutual understanding between an organization and
the public.
The vast majority of hoteliers welcome publicity not
only because it is free but because they know that
most people buy a magazine or a newspaper to read
the articles, news and editorials, rather than the
advertisements unless they are looking for a product
or are interested in booking a holiday or a restaurant
or a convention hall or a wedding hall.

In the hotel business, there are a number of events

which should be transmitted to the local press, such
as the appointment of a new chef, list of cocktails,
menus for certain functions held at hotel, particulars
of certain important conferences or exhibitions to be
held, menus for special days of the year,
photographs of staff dressed up for special days and
well-known people staying in the hotel. There are a
number of hotels doing a lot of charitable work and
helping in organizing charitable fund-raising events
too.

In the public relations, the activities range from a

press release to newspaper and magazines,
especially to create the interest of prospects in a
holiday age in a good resort of a country. The holiday
package tours and trips on familiarity with a tour
spot, organized by tour operators for the travel
agents to help them in enriching their knowledge
and making the travelling decisions. The “wine and
cheese parties” organized by the British Airways to
launch not required Seychelles as a new resort or
other such functions with the motto of enriching the
knowledge of the prospects. There are a number of
media sources available for publicity.

Illustration, copy and the spoken word are the

primary publicity to media, which are grouped into
the following heads:

• Printed Publicity
• Advertising Publicity
• Projected Publicity
• Structural Publicity
• Personal Publicity

Thus it is right to say that public relations activities

occupy a significant place in the promotion mix of
hotel companies. In the hotel companies, the tour
operators, travel agents explore opportunities for
educating the masses. In this context, it is important
that hotel companies are getting the best co-
operation from media and for which the Public
Relations Officers or the marketers or the contact
personnel bear the responsibility of developing
rapport with them, organizing for them lunch or
dinner, offering to them small gifts and influencing
them to write in favour. You spend nominal amount
but get big coverage, which help you substantially, if
not at present of course in future.
Sales Promotion

In almost all the organizations, we feel the need of

offering incentives for promoting the business. Like
other organizations, the hotels and hotel companies
also offer incentives to the users vis-à-vis to the
personnel and organizations evincing interest in
promoting the business. Sales promotion is
considered as a temporary device to increase the
business with certain objectives. It is a short term
activity seeking to boost sales during peak demand
periods to make it sure that the firm obtains its
market share and helps launch a new product or
support an ailing or modified services. These facts
make it clear that sales promotion is complementary
to advertising. Sales promotion and advertising
objectives do not conflict but reinforce one another.

The tools of sales promotion are directed at the

hotel staff, tour operator and travel agents and
guests or clients. There is a three-tier arrangement
for sales promotion in the hotel business. There are
a number of incentives offered to them. In addition,
some of the hotels also offer concessional travelling
and accommodation facilities, especially to their
staff. Besides, there are also cases of organizing
sales contests.

Tools of sales promotion.

The tour operators and travel agents are also given
the incentives. There are give-away and
concessional accommodation facilities for them.
Besides, the guests or clients are also offered
incentives. They are allowed off-season discount and
a number of small gifts, specially the habitual guests
for the purpose of keeping on the business. The
following tools of sales promotion are used for all
the three heads instrumental in promoting the hotel
business.

1.
1. Brochure: It is a device to stimulate
customers and motivate them to visit a hotel
and avail of the benefits offered by the
management of the hotel. It is a detailed
publication helping hotel companies in
promoting their business. It is also called as
a pamphlet bound in the form of a booklet. It
describes and illustrates the services made
available by hotels. We find brochure
different to folder in size and contents as
well. It requires careful planning of the
layout, colour and paper used for publishing
the contents. The brochures are supposed to
focus on the theme and messages of
promotion areas. The guests, clients get
detailed in information from the brochure.
2. Folder: Folders are the most commonly used
sales promotion tools. In this respect, it is
essential that folders have an impressive
appearance in totality. The particulars are required
to be in brief but clear. It is a single piece of
illustrated paper that is found less voluminous than
the brochure. The folders are usually printed on a
single sheet of paper and then folded. The quality of
paper and printing used for publication are found
significant to make folders more attractive. The
hotels can use folders for promoting the business.

3. Packaging: it is known as an attractive wrapper

of product. When we talk about packaging in the
hotel industry, our emphasis is on the outer cover
and internal layout of brochures and leaflets. It is a
final persuasive move on the part of hotels and hotel
companies. The materials used for packaging are
required to be attractive.

4. Attraction leaflets: This is exclusively meant

for presenting a view of the different theme parks,
museums, amusement parks, outstanding points of
attraction in the hotels or so.

5. Merchandising: It is found helpful in promoting

mass-market. This tool is found significant to
restaurants and bars. The merchandising involves
displaying of foodstuffs and drinks in the right
location. The restaurants and bars are required to
place their important items at such point where the
guest and clients get an opportunity to have a close
view of special drinks or special menu.

6. Direct Mail Materials: The sales letters are

found to be a direct mail material that can either be
used alone or in combination with brochures and
folders.

7. Display Materials: In the materials to be

displayed at sensitive points are posters,
dispensers, exhibits etc. We can use these materials
in the offices of the travel agents, tour operators or
at the places where tourists come, such as tourists’
spots, resorts, airports, and railway and bus
stations.

8. Competition and Exhibition: There are

organization of competition and exhibition for
promoting the business.

9. Special Officer: There is also a provision for

special offer for all, such as users, travel agents,
tour operators, hotel personnel.

The aforesaid tools of sales promotion help hotels

and hotel companies in increasing the business. The
hotel personnel need professional excellence to
make the tools of sales promotion productive.
THE REGENT, Mumbai, has a sales promotion
strategy such as THE REGENT ADVANTAGE CARD
system. Under this scheme, card owner is entitled to
a free meal on the purchase of a meal from any of
the hotel’s restaurant. The card owner also gets
various discounts such as 10% discounts in the THE
REGENT’s Beauty Parlour, 30% discount on the suite
room. This discounts are maximum for 10 persons on
the food and beverage items also.

Word-of-mouth Promotion

Word-of-mouth promotion is very much instrumental

in sensitising the prospects. In the hotel industry, it
is much more significant that the satisfaction of
users is give top priority. Of course, there are a
number of components to promote sale but it is right
to mention that other constituents may be
ineffective but the word-of-mouth can’t. The word-of-
mouth promoters are those who are satisfied with
the services of hotels or are motivated to motivate
the prospects. We can’t deny the fact that one bad
meal would often do more damage by word- of-mouth
than fifty good meals. The hotel guests take a good
meal for granted but don’t forget to narrate to their
friends and relatives about a bad meal or the bitter
experiences of menu-fatigue. This speaks of the fact
that word-of-mouth promotion can show more
negative effects and therefore the hotels and hotel
companies need to assign due weightage to this
component of the promotion mix. Of course, the
dissatisfied group of users is free to complain to the
hotel management but often they don’t act. We find
them close-mouthed and stiff-lipped till they make a
good-bye and after going back they try their best to
think twice before coming to that hotel again.
Moreover they start narrating to their friends and
relatives their bitter experiences of menu fatigue
even without taking a rest. It is against this
background that high-level functions, refined
behaviour and world-class services by the hotel
personnel carry some meaning. These services pave
the ways for oral communication and
recommendation. The persons acting as word-of-
mouth promoters are also called the hidden
salesforce.

Price Mix

Pricing decisions are found critical, challenging and

chaotic. Of course, no marketing mix is found so
much critical as pricing. Pricing is not only the
outcome of the marketing forces. It conveys
something to customers even about the quality of a
product. There are a number of variables influencing
the pricing decisions of an organization.
The pricing decisions are beset with many problems.
No doubt in it that fixing the hotel tariffs is just like
pricing other goods and services. At the same time,
it is also right to mention that the hotel
professionals need more excellence while fixing the
hotel tariffs since the services are found of
perishable nature. In addition, the seasonal
fluctuation in demand and increasing intensity of
competition also complicate the task of
professionals. They need world-class excellence
while making strategical and tactical pricing
decisions.

Pricing decisions are found important in both

strategic and tactical sense. In the tactical sense, it
plays an outstanding role. This is due to the
inseparability and perishability of the hotel products.
This is also due to the inability of the service
engineering organizations to carry over unsold
stocks as a buffer to cope with future demand as
found in the goods manufacturing organizations.
Also known as price deregulation, tactical pricing is
found instrumental in promoting the hotel business.
Experiences show that in the hotel industry, it is
found to be a major selling tool. There are a number
of ways for practicing and benefiting from this tool:
 • Seasonal Discounts Found applicable in the
hotel industry. Customary to charge lower
prices, specially during the off-season.
• Trade Discounts Found applicable in the hotel
industry as tour operators and travel agents are
offered discounts.
• Special Discounts In the hotel industry, we find
special function room rates for overnight
convention.

Pricing for Room Tariffs

Here, we go through the guidelines for fixing

reasonable room tariffs. While fixing room tariffs, it
is essential that we assign due weightage to the
price structure to be adopted. The average room
rate should not be much higher than the competitive
hotels otherwise the market will not welcome it. A
hotel may also adopt a policy to give high pay roll to
provide a higher standard of services that the
customers are ready to pay. There are some
common factors considered by the hotel
management and the public:

• Current charges prior to a review

• the established inflationary effect on cost
• the general economic situation
• the emerging trends in currency exchange and
• the intensity of competition.
Right averages and average room rates are the two
important aspects to be taken into consideration
while fixing hotel tariffs. The following are the
economic criteria on room tariffs:

• The total amount of net operating costs (after

contribution from the food and beverage
departments). Net operating costs, net operating
cost plus rent (if payable) net operating cost
plus interest and net operating cost plus a
target return on capital.
• This helps in calculating the total room sales
and to achieve various levels of profits with the
assumption that room department cost ratios,
staff numbers and staff standards are known
• On the basis of the above, a schedule should be
produced as per the average room rates required
in order to break even and/or to achieve the
profit targets at various occupancy levels.
• Budgets on room sales are to be planned based
on sales mix taking into account the different
sources of business.
• After this, based on the current quoted tariffs, it
is possible to calculate the different sources of
business, must/not be exceeded if the average
rate required is to be achieved.

The most expensive suite of THE REGENT, Mumbai,

i.e. ‘king suite’ is for Rs. 45000 + 20% taxes and the
‘Normal Suite’ is for Rs. 15000 + 20% taxes. In each
room they are providing facilities such as T.V.,
computers, telephones, etc. the major difference
behind this price variation is the different quality of
services provided by the hotel such as better quality
shampoo, bed sheets, and the décor of the room.

Pricing for Food and Beverage

In a majority of the hotels, there are three or four

types of rooms but so far as the menus are
concerned we can have dozen of dishes. There are
some of the important points to be considered in the
process:

• Do you find that your guests are eating in the

hotel restaurant or coffee shop where the
competitive restaurants are very close to the
hotel. Generally a proportion does eat in but a
significant proportion goes out.
• Where a hotel has two or more restaurants, they
compete with each other and help splitting the
market down the middle rather than offering a
true price.
• The business in the function room.

Pricing for Function

Restaurants can get more business because the

food, services or atmosphere is unique or just a little
better than the competitors. But this aspect is found
more complicated for function room services. Most
of the functions are fairly routines that make it
difficult to produce a gastronomic experience. In
addition, this aspect is found more competitive
specially on the price front. Payroll is found to be a
major cost on functions. Unless we move to the self-
service (buffet style) functions, the payroll would
remain an important dimension. A number of hotels
are found fixing a staff standard for functions based
on their style of hotel or one waiter to a table of ten
people or one waiter to two tables. Yet, we find
payroll more expensive.

Place Mix

The problems hotels experience in reaching new

customers lead them to use third parties as
intermediaries. This costs money in the form of
commissions, of course, but then so does
advertising.

Let us consider the various means by which hotels

and their customers can be brought together .

Direct individual sales

This is the simplest method. The would-be guest

chooses a hotel and then contacts it by letter,
telephone or some other medium. The only parties
involved are the hotel and the customer. Of course,
the customer has to find out about the hotel first.
This involves some kind of advertising or promotion.
Typical methods include mentions in guidebooks,
local accommodation brochures or directories such
as the motoring organization handbooks.

One of the main problems with direct contact is that

the customer is usually located a considerable
distance from the hotel. This means that he has to
place a long distance telephone call in order to
make a booking, and might have to repeat this
several times In order to obtain a room at a
particularly busy period. This costs money and (what
is often worse) often takes a good deal of time.

However, not all travellers bother or are able to

arrange accommodation in advance, and a hotel can
always appeal directly to these. Roadside
advertisements are examples of this approach.

Direct group sales

Many direct bookings are actually made on behalf of

groups of one sort or another. Some of these are
relatively small, such as sports clubs outings,
overnight functions and the like, but others can be
very large, such as major conferences. These are
sometimes arranged by specialist agencies, but
quite often the organizer prefers to deal with the
hotel directly.

Groups are so important as a source of business that

they are an exception to the usual rule that it is not
worth the hotel’s while to try to contact the
customer directly for some face-to- face selling.

Travel agents

There are two main types:

1 Retail agents These are the common and

familiar high Street agents who sell direct to the
public. Their main business is to arrange holidays for
their customers, including hotel accommodation.

2 Company agents Some city centre agencies

specialize in business house travel, while
organizations such as major multinational
companies are so big that it is worth their while to
have their own travel agency to handle all their
business. Sometimes they buy one outright,
sometimes they simply invite a small agency to
specialize in their business. Either way, the agency
is likely to handle a lot of valuable bookings. It
receives the usual commission, though some of its
profits are likely to be passed on to its parent
company or major client.

[
Travel agents make their money from commissions
received on the sale of tickets and bookings. Since
tickets are fixed in price, the mechanism is simple.
The agency carries a stock of blank tickets and
simply remits the money less the commission to the
carrier after it sells one.

Group Tour Operators

These include the familiar names whose brochures

you will find in any retail travel agent. Many of the
larger ones have their own retail out lets. In all, they
sell an enormous number of holiday ‘packages’ and
book a comparable amount of space at hotels.

This category also includes a vast number of smaller

operators of various sorts. Some undertake
‘speciality’ work, arranging battlefield or
birdwatching tours, safaris, ski trips and the like.
Others specialize in arranging conferences. One of
the fastest growing sectors is that of incentive
travel, usually arranged by a company for its clients
or its successful sales staff. This is a specialized
field, and it has attracted its own full-time
companies that provide a range of consultancy and
administrative services.

Group tour operators do not receive commission

because they are not introducing clients but rather
booking the space themselves. They make their
money from the difference between the cost of the
separate elements of the ‘package’ (transport, food,
accommodation, entertainment, etc.) and the price
they are able to charge for it as a whole.

Airlines

The major airlines are in a special position, since

they are large and commercially very powerful.

They are important to hotels because:

• The nature of their operations means that they

are constantly having to send their flight crews
to ‘overnight’ in hotels all over the world, and
this in itself means that they create a
considerable amount of business.
• They deal with an enormous number of
travellers. Such travellers often find it
convenient to arrange other services, such as
car hire and hotel accommodation, at their
destinations as part of the booking process. This
puts the airlines in much the same position as
the nineteenth-century railway companies, who
also used to make hotel bookings for their
passengers, and who even found it profitable to
own and operate their own hotels.
• They frequently have to make arrangements for
travellers ‘grounded’ through no fault of their
own. Arranging overnight accommodation for a
 planeload of passengers held up by fog or some
other operational problem is a common task for
airline staff, and can be a useful source of
business for hotels in the vicinity of major
airports.

Hotel representatives

Hotel representatives were originally an American

idea, developed because the USA is a large country
with widely dispersed centres of population, yet a lot
of ‘ business travel. Hotel representatives’ base
themselves in one such area (some now have
worldwide representation) and act as sales and
reservation agents on behalf of a number of non-
competing hotels from other regions. Local travel
agents are able to make bookings for the clients
quickly and cheaply, rather than incurring the
expense involved in long distance telephone calls.
Representatives will also distribute your brochures
and other promotional mater locally. They are
usually paid an annual fee plus commission on the
reservations they generate.

Hotel booking agencies

Some areas are short of hotel space and it is

particularly difficult to find accommodation in them
at busy times of the year. This is fine for the local
hotels, but not much fun for those trying to make
bookings there. This has led to the development of
specialized hotel booking agencies.

Some of these offer this service to individuals. Other

hotel reservation agencies deal mainly with travel
agents or conference organizers and offer a national,
continental or ever worldwide service. Such
agencies earn their living from commissions in the
usual way, though there is usually also a ‘systems’
charge to cover the installation of any specialized
equipment.

Group reservation systems

These are designed to help customers to book

accommodation at any of the hotels within a group,
usually with one local telephone call. They offer a
valuable service to travel agents, who may have to
make a number of bookings at different locations at
the same time. However, the facilities can also be
useful to the individual traveler, who is able to make
a booking at a distant hotel with one local call. An
incidental advantage is that the systems make it
easier for the group to monitor overall booking
trends.

Tourist Information Centres

The idea behind the Tourist Information Centre is

quite different to that of the group reservation
system. The latter aims to help customers to book at
group hotels anywhere in the world. A Tourist
Information Centre aims (among other things) to help
customers’ to book accommodation at any hotel
within its own local area. It resembles the hotel
booking service, except that it is not a commercial
enterprise but a local government service.

The Tourist Information Centre also differs from

most of the other intermediaries in terms of the type
of customer it deals with. Group reservation systems
tend to be set up by the big international hotel
chains and used by agencies specializing in business
travel services. Tourist Information Centre booking
services tend to be used by private individuals
interested in much cheaper accommodation, often of
the bed and breakfast type.

The Internet

Group reservation systems restrict the customer to

Just one company or consortium’s hotels. The
Tourist Information Centre system is not limited in
this way, but it suffers from resource problems that
reduce its usefulness. In any case, it still puts an
intermediary between the customer and the hotel.

The Internet does away with these limitations, as

more and more customers are discovering. Any
would-be guest equipped with a computer and a
modem can now call up a hotel database covering
his proposed destination and select an
establishment on the basis of its location, price and
facilities. He can use the built-in e-mail facility to
check its room availability, make a booking and even
pay a deposit by quoting his credit card number, all
without having to leave the comfort of his home or
office. With a fax connection as well, he can have a
confirmation slip printed off. In short, it allows him
to select a hotel anywhere in the world and offers
him instant connection at minimum cost, with all the
advantages of immediate response and a permanent
record.

The People

In an age of sophisticated information technologies

when we have been making superhighway for
communications, there is a basic change in the
expectations of users. The personnel serving the
hotel companies no doubt depend substantially on
the instrumentality of information technologies but
here it is also important that hotels and hotel
companies assign due weightage to the
development of personnel. Sky is the limit for
perfection. This phrase is meaningful not only for the
technologies but even for the people who manage
them. It is against this background that the
marketing experts the world over has been found
making a strong advocacy in favour of an ongoing
training programme for the personnel servicing the
hotel companies.

The prime focus is on the front-line-personnel

working in hotels in different capacities. The
receptionists, the porters, the housekeepers, the
waiters and waitresses and even the doormen play
an incremental role in promoting the business. The
sales executives, the marketing managers, the
senior executives bear the responsibility of
managing the front-line-personnel in such a way that
the promised services reach to the ultimate users
without making any distortion.

Of course, they are supposed to have proper

education and knowledge regarding the services
they need to offer but here, it is also important that
the hotel organizes for them an ongoing training
programme, refresher courses, capsule courses,
lecture programme, specially related to the
behavioral profile. There are several cases to quote
that even the five star hotels where the users stay
with high expectations, a minor mistake committed
by the receptionists or the housekeepers has
resulted in a big loss. The frontline- staff in
particular needs to identify the changing levels of
expectations of users and in a majority of the cases
they virtually fail in doing such.
A gap is generated between the quality promised
and the quality-offered. If the hotel personnel prove
to be high-performers, personally committed,
professionally sound, value-oriented, aware of the
behavioral management; familiar with the aesthetic
management; they can satisfy the users even if the
sophisticated technologies develop a fault. This
makes it essential that the hotel personnel are made
available an ongoing training facility efficacious in
enriching their professional excellence.

The cases of menu fatigue, power interruption,

mismanaged bedrooms, function rooms and
restaurants, indecent behaviour of doormen, poor
information to the receptionists and enquires can be
minimized considerably if due weightage to
performance-orientation is assigned.

THE REGENT, Mumbai, has recruited only those

employees who have completed their diploma or
PGDBA in Hotel & Catering Management. They have
700 permanent staff and 200 trainees. Their whole
staff is well educated and well mannered because
they are from the Hotel Management field only.
These employees have western formal dress code.
Slang is not allowed by the staff. This is how THE
REGENT is maintaining and improving their quality of
service. Training is also given to these employees.
For this training they are appointing a well-known
personalities from the field of hospitality industry.

6)Marketing Mix of Beer Products:

Mar keting Mix Analysis & Brand Extension for

major National & Inter national Beer Br and :
Kingfisher & Foster s

Written By: Yogin Vora on May 22, 2009 No Comment

Alcoholic beverages market,

especially beer market in India is growing with leaps
and bounds. The beer market in India is estimated to
be over Rupees 3000 corers. Annual consumption of
beer is over hundred 10 million cases. CAGR of beer
industry in the year 2008 is 14.3%, much higher than
most of the countries. Rising income the Indian
consumer, change in age profile and lifestyle as well
as a reduction in beer prices are major factors
pushing this growth. Traditional beer markets like
Europe and USA are either flat or in a state of
decline whereas consumption in the BRIC countries
increased by almost 50% during 2002-2007. In India,
beer sales grew at nearly 90% compared to, less
than 60% growth for other alcoholic drinks and
according to industry sources Indian beer market is
expected to nearly double itself to 23.3 million hL by
2012 from 12.5 million hL at present. Another
interesting fact is among non-Islamic countries India
has the lowest per-capita consumption of beer.

For these
reasons international beer companies are coming to
India almost every quarter. Three big international
brands Budweiser, Carlsberg and Heineken entered
India in last 12-15 months. In February this year,
Anheuser-Busch, makers of the legendary
Budweiser, that calls itself the king of beers,
announced its India entry through a 50:50 joint
venture with the Hyderabad-based Crown Beers.
Three months before that, Carlsberg, the beer brand
for soccer fans, announced operations in India
through its venture, South Asian Breweries. Last
year, the Singapore-based Asia Pacific Breweries
picked up a 76 per cent stake in Aurangabad
Breweries, paving the way for the launch of
Heineken into India. There are others like NRI
entrepreneur Karan Bilimoria, who created waves in
UK’s Indian restaurants by marketing Cobra, a less-
gassy beer, also eyeing the market. Even the big

three brands
have siblings. Apart from Heineken, Asia Pacific
Breweries (APB) sells Canon, Baron’s and Tiger;
Crown Beers India unveiled Armstrong; while South
Asia Breweries has introduced Pallone.But Indian
beer market is highly saturated and difficult to break
into. More than 80% ofthe market is controlled by
the two players, UB and SAB Miller. While UB with
brands like Kingfisher, Zingaro and Kalyani Black
has a 48% market share, SAB’s bouquetof acquired
brands- Haywards, Royal challenge, Knock Out and
Foster’s deliver a combined market share of 37%.
According to market analysts international brands
excepting Foster’s have made little impression in
India till date but according to these new entrants
Indian beer market just started to evolve and has a
huge growth potential. Till now the new entrants are
looking at encashing equity with a premium pricing
strategy and they cater to only 30% ofthe market -
the mild beer segment. For remaining 70% market
this players launched multiple new brands that are
competitively priced. However some of the
consultants are not confident about the success of
this marketing mix since Indian scenario is widely
different from other growing markets because of its
immense and diversified geography, huge variety of
social and cultural setup, differential tax regime
across states, are to name a few. Taxes imposed on
alcoholic beverages are very high which make the
competition tougher for new entrants. Currently
spirit manufacturers trying to push forward a policy
change which will exempt beer (especially mild
variety) from high alcoholic tax regime and accept it
as normal refreshment beverage but in Indian socio-
cultural and political scenario this proposal has only
a few takers.

Classification of beer: Lager: It is stored for a

specified period before being bottled or canned.
Pilsner: A type of lager beer, it is light with 3.0 –
3.8% alcohol and has a medium hop flavor. Ale: Top
fermented, this kind of beer has distinct hop aroma.
The alcohol content is around 4 – 5%. Stout: Dark
with burnt flavor and strong malt aroma; it is heavily
hopped and contains 5 – 6.5% alcohol. Porter: This is
less dark than stout, even less hopped and is
somewhat sweet. Alcohol content is around 5%.
Creamy Ale: A highly carbonated beer that is
produced by a combination of Ale and Lager. Malt: A
strong flavored, high alcohol content beer that
ranges in flavor and colors.

Classification of Beer : –

1. Lager: It is stored for a specified period before

being bottled or canned.
2. Pilsner: A type of lager beer, it is light with 3.0
– 3.8% alcohol and has a medium hop flavor.
3. Ale: Top fermented, this kind of beer has
distinct hop aroma. The alcohol content is
around 4 – 5%.
4. Stout: Dark with burnt flavor and strong malt
aroma; it is heavily hopped and contains 5 –
6.5% alcohol.
5. Porter: This is less dark than stout, even less
hopped and is somewhat sweet. Alcohol content
is around 5%.
6. Creamy Ale: A highly carbonated beer that is
produced by a combination of Ale and Lager.
 7. Malt: A strong flavored, high alcohol content
beer that ranges in flavor and colors.

Methodology: Due to lack of time and resources

collection of primary data has not been done and the
entire project depends on the secondary data’s
collected from different web pages, online research
papers, etc.Analysis and others parts are done on
the basis of these secondary data and knowledge
collected from the marketing lectures and text
books.

Analysis:

Marketing Mix Analysis:

Kingfisher History: Parent company of Kingfisher,

United breweries was established in 1857 with the
name Castle breweries. It was renamed to United
Breweries in 1915 and started manufacturing beer
from the year 1944 under the label Exports Beer. UB
group started exporting beer to Middle-East from
1974 and in the year 1978 it launchedKingfisher
brand.

Market Position: It is the largest selling brand in

India and commands more than 30% share in the
beer market. In 2005-2006 it recorded 28% growth.

Target markets: Kingfisher has two different

products for different market segments.
Product : –

1. No. 1 selling product in its segment.

2. Good quality raw material is used to maintain
the quality standards.
3. Consistency of product quality is high.
4. Always tastes fresh due to good quality and well
developed distribution network.
5. Hangover due to heavy consumption is very
mild.

Place : –

1. It is available throughout India, and is dominant

particularly in South and West India.
2. UB has 16 company-owned breweries apart from
nine contract breweries in 20 different locations
across the country.
3. Kingfisher also has a presence in 60 countries.
4. Kingfisher also has an online marketing system.
Any consumer can go to
www.Kingfishernetshop.com and get their beer-
a mini mum of six bottles home delivered. This
move has been a big draw with info tech
professionals and district women drinkers.
 5. It also has some sixteen hundred shops apart
from pubs and bars. Better retailing outlets are
also to be opened under the Kingfisher Brand.
6. Kingfisher also has tie-ups with large
department stores like ‘Foodworld’ for retailing
its Beers.
7. Kingfisher also has association with number of
Very Classy, Up-market & Stylish bars & lounges
which goes hand in hand with its brand image.

Price : –

In both mild and strong beer segment Kingfisher

uses competitive pricing strategy.

Promotion : –

1. Kingfisher tagline ‘King of good times’ is one of

the most popular and most successful tagline in
India.
2. Since advertising of liquor is banned in India,
Kingfisher uses surrogate advertising methods
like using mineral water and sodas.
3. Aggressive advertising at Outlets & Pubs.
 4. Recently it also started merchandizing sports
goods and trendy clothing and accessories
under Kingfisher brand name.
5. Each year Kingfisher brings out new calendars
featuring top models in swimwear.
6. Kingfisher also promotes itself by sponsoring
events like fashion shows, sportspersons like
Narain Karthikeyan, East Bengal soccer team.
UB promoter also acquired a Formula- One team
(Force India).
7. Kingfisher also deals in sports merchandising
starting with an ad featuring Sourav Ganguly and
Ajay Jadeja in 1997.
8. With the launch of Kingfisher airlines combined
promotion is possible which helps the brand
promotion a lot. Kingfisher also ventured into
other businesses with same brand name making
the brand more visible and publicity easier.
9. Kingfisher recently tied up with NDTV for their
new lifestyle channel NDTV Good Times for five
years
10. And finally the Sultan himself, Dr. Vijay
Mallya, the Big Daddy of all brands, the
flamboyant Czar of the liquor industry who is the
youth icon of a million hearts. His sole presence
outweighs all other competitors taken together.

Foster’s
History: Foster’s was established by two brothers
W M and R R Foster’s in the year 1986. SAB Miller is
the parent company which runs Foster’s group, a
premium global multi-beverage company delivering a
total portfolio of beer, wine, spirits, and cider non-
alcohol beverages. In the 70s Foster’s started
exporting to USA and UK and entered the Indian
market in a 1998. Foster’s is considered as a
consumer driven brand.

Market Position: Foster’s belongs to the SAB

Miller stable which is the second largest beer
company in India, in terms of market share. Till now
it is the only international beer brand which
successfully captured a significant share in the
Indian market.

Target markets: The main target markets of

Foster’s in India youth. But targeting strategy of
Foster’s can be presented as
Product : –

1. Premium Lager beer

2. Fresh taste
3. Among the two sizes (330ml and 650ml) pint size
(330ml) is more aggressively promoted and
4. 70% of Foster’s sales today come from the pint-
sized market
5. The product is a light beer – highly carbonated
with low bitterness and no aftertaste. It has
fewer calories and lower alcohol content.
Price : –

Foster’s unlike Kingfisher follows a premium pricing

strategy for its products. The prices of widely
available Foster’s product are

Place : –
 1. SAB Miller has 10 breweries in nine

states
and contract manufacturers in two other states.
2. Foster’s has 24 distributors serving over
5,000 outlets, including over 2,300
outlets in Mumbai.

General distribution structure of Foster’s is shown

here-
Promotion : -

1. ‘Australianness’ is the essence of Foster’s brand

image is promoted in every market in the world.
All Foster’s lager theme advertising is
consistent with an Australian positioning
2. The overseas advertising of the product often
focuses upon the Australian connotations of the
beer, e.g. with reference to stereotypical
Australian imagery such as kangaroos,
exaggerated accents, and hats with corks on
strings
3. Since direct promotion is banned in India
Foster’s use surrogate advertising method using
mineral water of the same brand name
4. Fosters promoted its brand by sponsoring
various sports like cricket, to enter the Indian
market. Afterwards it withdrew from cricket and
started promoting sports like football, rugby,
motorsport etc.
5. Foster’s is deeply committed to promoting
responsible consumption.
6. While Foster’s does not provide medical advice,
nor attempt to advise individuals on important
and complex medical issues, the Company is
committed to ensuring that consumers access
 the best available information regarding alcohol
and their health.
7. Steeping into Men’s Fashion apparels collections
for better brand visibility.

Brand repositioning of Indian brand in

presence of international brand:

The term “positioning” is widely used within the

marketing and advertising communities today.
Positioning is often used nowadays as a broad
synonym for marketing strategy. Positioning should
be thought of as an element of strategy, a
component of strategy, not as the strategy itself.
The term “positioning” is, and should be, intimately
connected to the concept of “target market.” That
is, a brand’s positioning defines the target audience.
The correct positioning of a brand is basic and
fundamental to its success; an incorrect or
suboptimal positioning can doom a brand to
underperformance or failure.

Kingfisher, since its origin proved to be the

marketing savvy brand. Even though it was the
largest selling beer brand, but when Fosters entered
the Indian market, Kingfisher sniffed possible
competition and invested heavily in brand visibility
and positioning. During 2003-04 Kingfisher again
repositioned itself by changing the logo.
 Instead of
the sitting kingfisher bird, the picture of a flying
kingfisher was used during creation of new logo
because the company wanted to promote itself as an
aspirational brand which always wants to go high.
This change was made mainly to maintain the
distinctive positioning and to create a stronger
emotional bond with the aspiring Indian youth.

This repositioning was so successful that even today

Kingfisher uses this logo. After the entry of
international brand Fosters, Kingfisher repositioned
itself into a lifestyle brand adopting jingles like ‘Oola
la le lo’ and tagline ‘King of good times’. Kingfisher
tried to position itself as a brand for the successful
and professional individuals who are always ready to
take a break, have a party or just chill out. This
positioning was promoted using Indian cricketers
such as Ajay Jadeja and Sourav Ganguly, West
Indies cricket team (At that time Kingfisher was the
official sponsor of WI cricket team) and various
other means. The notable thing during this
repositioning process is that during this process
Kingfisher kept the original message of the brand
intact while adopting strategies (including
advertising, logo designing, etc.) to communicate
better with the consumers and to create a stronger
emotional bond with them.The strategies of
Kingfisher paid off well and as a result Kingfisher
maintained the leadership position and added more
dimensions into the brand making it stronger than
before.

Brand Extension : –

Kingfisher is one of the most recognized brand in

India and SAB Miller’s foster’s has also positioned
itself as a unique brand so extension of both brands
is possible without much hassle.

Kingfisher : -

Kingfisher is widely known among large number of

consumers and its brand presence increased after
diversification into airlines business. Kingfisher
brand can be extended in following ways-

Line Extension:

Ultra Premium Beer: Though Kingfisher has a

huge presence in both light and strong beer segment
but from the beginning it followed strategic pricing
policy and that made the brand very popular. But
with the increasing income level of the Indian youth
and the entry of international spirit majors like
Carlsberg, Budweiser, etc. Kingfisher should
introduce a high-priced premium beer that would
compete against these brands effectively. In this
way the company could extend its customer base
and their strategy would also help the company to
tap the high income aspiration group and since
company could apply ‘skimming the cream’ policy for
this segment, it could be assumed that revenue
generation would be high enough to maintain
profitability. This move may also help the company if
it wants to transform itself into a legendary brand
not only in India but also across the globe.

Category extension:

Energy drinks: Kingfisher always maintained itself

as a lifestyle brand and associated the brand image
with the youth. With the increasing per-capita
income and westernisation of the Indian society,
people are getting ready to spend more and more.
On the other hand they are more conscious about
health issues. Energy drinks are very popular in
Western countries and some of them also entered
into the Indian market but they failed to make an
impact. If a company like Kingfisher with huge brand
popularity and strong self and distribution network
introduce energy drinks it could be a success. It will
also go hand in hand with the current image of the
brand.
Film production and distribution: Every year
Indian film industry release a lot of movies and it is
the largest film industry in the world considering the
number of release per year. Still in India same
production and distribution has not reached
professional level. Only a few companies at present
do things in a methodical way. But international
production majors are entering in the Indian cinema
space and Indian multinationals are also taking
interest in this field. Kingfisher as a lifestyle brand
always maintained a close relationship with the film
fraternity and also has a presence in the television
space in a joint venture with NDTV. So it would be a
natural extension for the brand to start a movie and
television production house. With this move
Kingfisher would bring in its corporate expertise and
financial muscle. This will also help the brand to
increase the brand visibility. And just like Adlabs
Kingfisher will have the opportunity to create its
own multiplex chain and it will also help the current
lifestyle apparels and accessories business a lot.

Apparels and accessories retailing: Even

though Kingfisher is already present in the apparel
and accessories space but its presence is very
limited. According to industry estimates organised
retailing is the next big thing. In this scenario
Kingfisher could easily use its huge brand presence
and popularity by investing more into theapparel and
accessories retailing. In this way Kingfisher could
transform itself into a complete lifestyle brand and
that would open new horizons for the brand.

Fosters

Fosters always maintained its Australian identity

throughout the ups and downs of the spirit industry.
It is the only well-known international spirit brand in
India and Foster’s can use this very easily to extend
the brand

Line extension:

Low-price beer: From the beginning Foster’s

maintained high pricing strategy and that helped the
brand to grow. Now since the brand is already
popular they could introduce a localised version of
the brand in lower price. That would help Fosters
(SAB Miller) to strengthen its market presence and
to compete against Kingfisher. This new brand will
be a unique mixture of Australian characteristics of
Foster’s and local characteristics and the target
segment will be the Indian youth with low disposable
income. Using the current infrastructure and
distribution network, SAB Miller would make the
process easy and less costly and that would
increase the profitability of success.

Category extension:
Sports merchandising: Foster’s always
maintained its position as the Australian brand and
Australia is a multisport country where most of the
sports are very popular and as the country Australia
is very successful in these sports. Fosters previously
maintained its relationship with cricket and other
sports and is now also responsible for different
sporting events. So they could use this to enter
sports merchandising business in India using cricket
as the entry point and then extending into other
sports. They could also use the Australian image to
relate the sporting fraternity of India and Australia
and by this way they could popularise the currently
unpopular sports like boxing, shooting, etc. If this
strategy could be implemented properly it would
make Foster’s unique and give the brand a head-
start.

Limitations:

Our study is based on secondary data, mainly from

newspapers and websites and we had no access to
primary data. As a result the report may not contain
the latest data about the present market scenario
which could otherwise have made it far better and
relevant.

Findings:
Traditional beer markets in Europe and USA are
either flat or are in a state of decline, whereas India
still has a huge untapped market. For these reasons
international beer companies are coming to India
almost every quarter. Kingfisher, since its origin
proved to be the marketing savvy brand and even
though it was the largest selling beer brand but
when Fosters entered the Indian market Kingfisher
sniffed possible competition and invested heavily in
brand visibility and positioning. Kingfisher changed
its logo and adopted a new logo and tagline,
sponsored the West Indian cricket team and also
used the Indian cricketers to sponsor its product. It
went into airlines, lifestyle and even started a
television channel with NDTV. From our study we
have also suggested some brand extension methods
under, line extension and process extension.

Conclusions:

India is a growing economy and its market is

opening up. The per capita income of the people of
the country is rising daily and so is the beer
consumption rate. The stigma associated with the
consumption of alcoholic drinks has also gone down;
as a result the beer companies are trying to get
more associated with everyone’s life.
7}Marketing Mix Of Travel Industry:

The Travel and Tourism industry is still one of the

largest single businesses in world commerce and its
importance is widely recognized.

The tourism industry is now one of the largest

sectors earning foreign exchange. In the face of
many benefits, many countries have started
assigning due weightage to the tourism industry in
their national development agenda.

Tourism statistics:

i. The tourism industry as a whole is presently

estimated to earn over US$ 3.5 trillion
worldwide.

ii. The travel and tourism industry generates about

11% of world GDP and 200 million jobs across
the global economy.

TOURISM INDUSTRY IN INDIA

Indian Tourism industry is one of the most important

export industries of the country. Although the
international tourist inflow is relatively low, India
has found tourism emerging as an important sector
of its economy.
Recent statistics have revealed that during the first
quarter of 2006, the performance of the tourism
industry has been very encouraging which has
registered an 11% increase in foreign tourist
arrivals.

India Tourism office at Tokyo won two International

Awards in Tour Expo held at Daegu in Korea for
excellent tourism promotion. Indian Pavilion won the
Best Booth Design Award as well as Best Folklore
Performance Award competing with major players in
tourism such as China, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia
and Canada.

About the company

The Kuoni Travel Group, India, is the country’s

largest travel and Tourism Company and a 100%
subsidiary Kuoni Travel Holding.

Kuoni India’s vision focuses on providing all travel

and travel-related services to travellers from, within
and to India.

Kuoni Travel Group, India was formed when Kuoni

Travel Holding, Switzerland acquired 100% equity in
SOTC on May 22nd, 1997. The Company was
renamed Kuoni Travel (India) Ltd. SOTC World
Famous Tours became a valued brand.
Kuoni Travel (India) Ltd. became India’s largest
travel company with the acquisition of SITA World
Travel a forerunner in Destination Management,
incentive and business travel market.

Today, Kuoni-India is active across virtually every

travel segment and operates a number of highly
successful brands in India as also controls strategic
markets around the world

Organization Chart

Board of directors:-

1) Armin Meier, CEO, Kuoni Group.

 2) Max E. Katz, Chief Financial Officer, Kuoni
Group.

3) Zubin Karkaria, CEO and Managing Director,

Kuoni India & south Asia.

4) Reto Wilhelm, EVP – Leisure Travel Europe, Asia

and Destination Management Kuoni Group.

About the competitors

Cox & Kings is the longest established travel

company in the world.

At present, the COX & KINGS group has offices in

UK (2 offices), USA, Japan, Germany Italy, Turkey,
Pakistan and Nepal. In India, Cox & Kings has
offices in Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore,
Calcutta, Ahmedabad, Cochin, Hyderabad, Pune, Goa
and Jaipur and one satellite office in Andheri in
Mumbai and Gurgaon in Delhi.

At present, the COX & KINGS group has offices in UK

(2 offices), USA, Japan, Germany Italy, Turkey,
Pakistan and Nepal. In India, Cox & Kings has offices
in Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Calcutta,
Ahmedabad, Cochin, Hyderabad, Pune, Goa and
Jaipur and one satellite office in Andheri in Mumbai
and Gurgaon in Delhi.

homas Cook is one of the world’s leading

international travel and financial services groups and
serves over 20 million customers a year. They
provide services to customers at 4,500 locations in
more than 100 countries and employee over 20,000
people.

The Thomas Cook Holiday comes with a 150-year-old

guarantee of eternally sunlit memories. They
couldn’t expect any less from the people who
invented travel for leisure. They offer the world’s
most enjoyable holidays, to exotic destinations in
India and abroad where everything is taken care of
from beginning to end.

Established in 1984, Kesari Tours is a premium

travel company, which offers world-class holidays in
India and around the world. Kesari have perfected
their tour itineraries to meet the special needs of the
Indian tourist abroad. The motto of organization is
‘No compromise on quality’.

At Kesari Tours, they have made a motto that if they

make a promise to their customers, they honor it.
They believe in honest, transparent deals. No hidden
costs and no compromise on sightseeing. They strive
for 100% satisfaction of tourists. The company
enjoys an immense goodwill. That’s what they
earned out of their beliefs.

A passion for Travel & a vision for creating

innovative travel packages were the two driving
forces saw the beginning of a Travel Company in a
very modest way in Mumbai’s Masjid Bunder.

The tremendous success & satisfaction of their

tours paved way for Raj to hold its banner high & it
continues to do so till date. They are proud to say
that year after year they have improved on the
product, adding new destinations, new attractions,
pro-active marketing, & building customer
confidence

Quality measurement
Kuoni has been granted ISO: 14001, environmental
certification in autumn, becoming the first tour
operator to earn this Destination.

Awards & Accolades

• 2005 – Galileo India Express Award for ‘Best

Outbound Tour Operator’
• 2005 – Business Super brand
• 2004 – Galileo India Express Award for ‘Best
Outbound Tour Operator’
• 2004 – Malaysia Tourism Award for ‘Best Foreign
Tour Operator’
• 2004 – Singapore Tourism Board Award for ‘Best
Travel Experience in India’
• 2004 – Star Cruises The Top Agents Award for
2004

Comparative Service Marketing Mix of SOTC

and Cox and Kings

ü PRODUCT

Tourism service is the combination of tangible and

intangible elements. The tourism product, which is

mainly the destination, can only be experienced.

The views of the location travel to the destination,

the accommodation and facility as well as the

 entertainment at the destination all form the

tourism product

Components of Tours as a Product.

WITH
RESPECT TO
THE TRAVEL
Sr.No. BENEFIT MEANING
AND
TOURISM
INDUSTRY
The fundamental
CORE benefit or service
1 Traveling.
BENEFIT that the customer is
buying.
Ticketing,
BASIC Basic, functional
2 hotel
PRODUCT attributes.
reservation.
Set of
Customer
EXPECTED attributes/condition
3 friendliness,
PRODUCT s the buyer normally
good food.
expects.
4 AUGMENTE That meets the Prompt
D PRODUCT customer’s desires services,
beyond comfortable
expectations. and
 convenient
trip,
spectacular
sights, and
music.
Totally
customized
The possible
tour
POTENTIAL evolution to
5 packages, A
PRODUCT distinguish the
grade
offer.
service at
every stage.

SOTC

SOTC offers a variety of tours which includes tours

for families with kids, tours for senior citizens,
theme vacations like beaches and also special
packages for pure vegetarian and jains.

COX AND KINGS

COX AND KINGS also offers a variety of tours

which include tours for families with kids, tours for
senior citizens, tours for Marathi people, and tours
for Gujarati people.

ü PRICE
Pricing in tourism is a complex process. Pricing
includes the prices of other services like Air travel,
Bus, Railways, Hotels, etc. All are included in
tourism package. Pricing also depends on the
Geographic location of the destination.

Pricing also depends on Seasonality. Seasonality is

the most important factor in pricing. To match
demand and supply tourist managers try to get
either discount

SOTC

SOTC offers price sensitive tours like cost saver

and premium tours which can be afforded by all
classes.

COX AND KINGS

COX AND KINGS does not believe that the customer

should pay a premium for excellent service and
outstanding holidays. It is their policy to keep the
prices as low as possible that is they follow “Low
Price Policy”.

ü PLACE
 Different distribution strategies are selected to

reflect the company’s overall objectives. Tours as

a product is distributed as a travel. Internet is also

used widely. The middleman may be tour

operators, who buy tours in bulk and make them

available to travel agents who are retailers.

SOTC

Different distribution strategies are selected for

Tours marketing by SOTC. There are also small
agents (who have taken franchise of SOTC) spread
all over the town/country who also play a role of
place. SOTC act as wholesalers and also act as a
retailer. The latest mode of reaching the customers
is through Internet that is SOTC has its own website
from where information on the tours can be
procured, direct booking can be done for which the
payment can be made through the credit card. SOTC
also has its own offices from where booking can be
done.

COX AND KINGS

Almost same distribution strategies are used by

COX AND KINGS also. They too have wide spread
offices all over the country and their own website
from where direct booking can be done.

ü PROMOTION

Advertising and sales promotion in Tourism is

very effective when supplemented by publicity and
personal selling. Public or PR (Public Relation) plays
an important role in tourism. It is also through
recommendation of friends and relatives which is
itself a biggest promotion.

Word-of-mouth is a very important tool of promotion

in tourism. Research shows that about 80% of the
tourist visited different places on the persuasion of
their friends and relatives and also their own
judgments.

SOTC

SOTC uses electronic, print and all sorts of

media as tourism is a highly promoted industry.
SOTC gives printed ads in “The Times of India”
mentioning the special tours in it with the special
prices offered by them. Brochures are another form
of communication provided by SOTC to stimulate
customers and motivate them to buy. They are used
to demonstrate in pictures and words the images
and positioning of the product and the organizations.

COX AND KINGS

COX AND KINGS also advertises in newspapers. It
also has a tie up with leading publications for
features on travel, which appear once a week.

ü PEOPLE

It plays a most important part in tourism. In

people, local people are very important, that how
they treat tourist. The travel agents, guides, staff,
sales staff, etc of company they are the people.
Travel Company also like Railways, Air, etc. is
included in people.

SOTC

Kuoni group (India) employs 2900 employees through

its 347 offices and caters to 3 million customers.
SITA alone enjoys loyalty of its 2, 00,000 Indian
customers.

COX AND KINGS

COX AND KINGS employs 2600 employees it has 13

offices in India and a network of over 500 GSAs
across the country (general sales agent).

ü PROCESS
 . The operation process of the SOTC and COX
AND KINGS is given in the form of sequential steps
involved in the delivery of the tours as a product.

Provision of travel information — The information

regarding the travel is provided at a convenient
location where the potential tourist seeks
clarification about their proposed tour.

SOTC

SOTC provides information through its website,

newspaper ads and in SOTC branches in the form of
pamphlets.

COX AND KINGS

COX AND KINGS also provides information through

its website, newspaper ads and in SOTC branches in
the form of pamphlets.
Preparation of itineraries — It is a composition of
series of operations that are required to plan a tour.

SOTC

The itineraries in SOTC are customized that is if the

customer doesn’t wish to visit a particular place that
place can be replaced with a place the customer
wants to visit.

COX AND KINGS

COX AND KINGS has fixed itineraries the customer

can cancel the visit but it will not be replaced by any
other place.

Liaison with providers of services— Before any form

of travel is sold over the counter to a customer;
contracts have to be entered with the providers of
various services including transportation companies,
hotel accommodation, coaches for local sightseeing
etc.

SOTC

SOTC has its contracts with many of the Indian

companies like Hilton, etc.

COX AND KINGS

COX AND KINGS also has tie-ups with various 5-star

hotels across the country.
Planning and costing tours— Once the contracts and
arrangements are entered into, then the task of
planning and costing the tour, this will depend on
the tour selected as well as individual requirements.

SOTC

In SOTC the tours are customized that is if customer

can’t afford the premium holiday he will be given the
same tour but the cost will be reduced by offering
him a deluxe hotel instead of a five star hotel or by
offering him a non ac bus instead of a ac coach.

COX AND KINGS

COX AND KINGS follows a low price policy that is

they fix the tour price as low as possible.

Ticketing— The computerized reservation system

has in recent years revolutionized the reservation
system for both rail and air travel.

SOTC

In SOTC the tours, air and rail tickets are booked

online.

COX AND KINGS

COX AND KINGS also book tours, air and rail tickets
through their online access system.
Provision of foreign currency and insurance—In case
of foreign travel the final task provide foreign
currency as well as insurance.

SOTC

SOTC provides its customers with foreign currency

and visa services.

COX AND KINGS

COX AND KINGS provides its customers with foreign

currency and travel insurance.

ü PHYSICAL EVIDENCE

ü The tourist attraction, which is an expensive for

the customer must be tangibilized with the help of
tangible items like, comfortable seats while
traveling, layout, and design of the resort, natural
service, etc. the sign posts that indicate
directions, route maps, information regarding rules
and regulations of the tourist spot and the sign
regarding the public utilities like toilets, telephone
booth also form a part of the physical evidence.
Printed matters such as brochures also play an
important role in the development of tourism. As
the product, in tourism is intangible.

ü SOTC
ü SOTC provides its customers with a detailed
brochure of the tour they have selected, a list of
things to be done before going for a holiday e.g.
cooking gas switch to be turned off etc and if the
customer is going for foreign tour then a list of
basic words like hello, water etc in the foreign
country’s language which will make it easy for the
customer, this establishes value for money,
product image and status, which must be matched
when the product is delivered.

ü COX AND KINGS

ü COX AND KINGS also provides its customers with

a detailed brochure of the tour.

ü To conclude, the above facts and figures draw a

clear picture that SOTC is the best company in
comparison with COX and KINGS.SOTC is
reasonable in price, offers best customer service
which results into customer satisfaction. SOTC is
the market leader in outbound tourism as COX and
KINGS is the market follower.