“A study on Consumer Behaviour with special reference to

Docomo offered by Tata Teleservices, in Amravati city”

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

For my final project I selected the topic, A Study on Consumer

Behaviour with Special Reference to Docomo Offered by Tata
Teleservices, in Amravati City. I got an opportunity to work on
this project at M/S PAWAN COMMUNICATION, Amravati. The entire
project work is based on a market survey also it is done in a very
professional way fulfilling the requirements of a genuine market
survey. Professionalism is the most important part of Marketing. I
experienced it at every step of my field work. I had been
continuously guided by the M/S Pawan communication personnel
and my college guide at every step, through daily meetings and
follow ups.

It is essential to throw light on certain points:

Reasons for selecting the topic:–

Today the market is very much customer centric, so it is

important to know consumer behaviour to maximise sales and
profit. This project is strongly associated with changing nature of
market conditions. This is an attempt to analyse latest wants,
desires, expectations of the consumers.

As well the market competitions is very intense and high so it is

important for a marketer to know the actual activities on market
field, this kind of market surveys play very important role in this
regards too.

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 Earlier mobile was a thing of prestige and the monopoly of
wealthy people, but later on it becomes the need of life and
became popular among the all people belong to all strata of
society. So the telecom market is rapidly growing. To capture
more market share this study will be proved important.

Study of consumer behaviour is a key of success. Because

behaviour is based on psychology and once psychology of a
person is studied it becomes easier to guess the behaviour. On
the big extent market runs on the psychology of customer.

Tata Docomo is pioneer of Second Billing system, it is also a

motive of this survey to analyse the impact of this Second Billing
system on consumer behaviour.

For me the, one more important reason to select this topic is: I
got an opportunity to interact with the consumer and get a
chance to know the tendencies of them. It is a starting step of
me on the actual field of marketing, so this project teaches me a
lot of practical things which can’t be learnt in classroom of four
walls.

Overview of the Survey:

This Survey is conducted on the interview method. I had

interviewed the consumer across the limited area of Amravati.
Further details are provided in Research Methodology Chapter. It
was fantastic experience to interact with different people. People
from different professions were participant of this survey. Generally
during the survey I used to meet:

Existing Customer

2
Potential Customer

Existing Customer:

Existing customer is one who already using our services, if I

met to an existing customer, for me it was a chance to get feedback
about our services from him / her. As we know Tata group is the
most trusted group in our country, Tata Tele Services Ltd. always
look forward to provide its best services to the customer, such
survey became the splice between customer and company, and
company can work out over the findings extracted from such
surveys. Many respondents respond the survey with keen interest
and as we observed customer get pleased to see their service
provider at their door step.

Potential Customer:

For us, every non Docomo user is a potential customer,

because we find the possibility to become our customer in every
person. Those who are not using a mobile or those who are using
our competitor’s service are our potential customers. Our company
has designed several good tariff plans for customer according to
their requirements. I gave an in depth information about our
products to interested customer, also tried to convert interested
customer into our customer. There are many Mobile Service
Providers have their presence in the market. Through the survey we
also get to know the ground facts of competition. Competition
analysis is our one of the motives of Market Research. Converting a
prospectus into customer is quite practical approach to observe
consumer behaviour.

As mentioned in project title, the main motive behind this

Market Research was to study the Consumer Behaviour with the

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Special reference to find out Potential customer as well as try to
understand the needs of Existing customers of Tata Docomo. For me
the outcome of my field work is to get an opportunity to work as a
marketing professional, to know the marketing techniques
practically, and to understand the buyer behaviour of customer. I
learned by experience, while conducting a survey you must be
polite, assertive and knowledgeable about your product. This
experience of my project will be proved useful in my future
professional life.

Review of earlier studies:-

I think, it is better to analyse past works before starting a new one

so I tried to take a review of earlier studies on similar topic.

I find a study on similar topic had been conducted earlier by Mr

Shailender Kumar Bharadwaj of 2007-2009 MBA batch from U.P
Technical University. His project was done for Bharti Airtel.

That project was an extensive report on how the Airtel Company

markets its strategies and how the company has been able in
tackling the tough competition and how it is cooping up by the
allegations of the quality of its products. The report began with the
history of the products and the introduction of the Airtel Company.
This report also contained the basic marketing strategies that are
used by the Airtel Company of manufacturing process, technology,
production policy, advertising, collaboration, export scenario, future
prospect and government policies. The report included some of the
key salient features of market trend issues. In today’s world of
cutthroat fierce competition, it is very essential to not only exist but
also to excel in the market. Today’s market is enormously more
complex. Hence forth, to survive in the market, the company not
only needs to maximize its profit but also needs to satisfy its
customers and should try to build upon from there.

4
Another study was conducted by Mr. Gurpreet Singh of Graphic Era
Institute of Technology, Dehradun for Aircel.

This project was based on the study of consumer behaviour

trends, behaviour and level of satisfaction of customers’.
The facts collected in the project were based on a survey
conducted by Mr. Gurpreet Singh. The project report is a
reflection of customers’ opinion about Aircel services. It
also contains a chapter on SWOT analysis of Aircel. The
observations made in the project are really useful for
company.

Prospective benefit:-

Every constructive work has several benefits. This project too has
the same.  This project has three fold benefits,

1 Benefits to the customer,

2 Benefits to the Company

3 Benefits to Myself.

Such kinds of projects build a bridge between Customer and

Company. Generally it is found that the customer’s voice can’t be
reached to the Company, it results into customer dissatisfaction and
leads to changing the service providers. Because of this project
customers give- direct feedback, express- expectation, Suggest-
suggestion, in this way both, Customers and Company can have the
benefits. In short, Company can provide best service and Customer
can avail best service.

For me it is one of my baby steps in the glamorous world of

Marketing. This a great experience of field work. It will be beneficial

5
for me in my future professional life as I get a chance to learn
practical things which can’t be learnt within the four walls of a
classroom.

Also this project gets me a chance to become familiar with Tata

Group, Tata Tele Services and M/S Pawan Communication.

I experienced one more thing during my project work that it is

always better to have theoretical knowledge about the field you are
working. Whatever the theory I refer for betterment of my project
has been discussed in the chapter Theoretical Framework.

This project report contains all the related statistic and figures.
Graphical representation of data will make it more convenient and
easy to understand. Attached appendices are very informative about
project, the same make this project report more practical oriented.

COMPANY PROFILE

TATA TELESERVICES LIMITED

Tata Teleservices Limited spearheads the Tata Group’s presence in

the telecom sector. The Tata Group includes over 90 companies,
over 350,000 employees worldwide and more than 3.5 million Share
holders. Incorporated in 1996, Tata Teleservices is the pioneer of
the CDMA 1x technology platform in India. It has embarked on a
growth path since the acquisition of Hughes Tele.com (India) Ltd
renamed Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited] by the Tata
Group in 2002. It launched mobile operations
in January 2005 under the brand name Tata Indicom and today
enjoys a pan-India presence through existing operations in all of
India’s 22 telecom Circles. The company is also the market leader in
the fixed wireless telephony market. The company’s network has

6
been rated as the ‘Least Congested’ in India for six consecutive
quarters by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India through
independent surveys.
Tata Teleservices Limited has also become the first Indian private
telecom operator to launch 3G services in India under the
brand name Tata DOCOMO, with its recent launch in all the nine
telecom Circles where it bagged the 3G license. In association with
its partner NTT DOCOMO, the company finds itself favourably
positioned to leverage this first-mover advantage. With 3G, Tata
DOCOMO stands to redefine the very face of telecoms in India.
Tokyo-based NTT DOCOMO is one of the world’s leading mobile
operators—in Japan, the company is the clear market leader, used
by nearly 55 per cent of the country’s mobile phone users. Tata
Teleservices Limited also has a significant presence in the GSM
space, through its joint venture with NTT DOCOMO of Japan, and
offers differentiated products and services under the Tata
DOCOMO brand name. Tata DOCOMO arises out of the Tata Group’s
strategic alliance with Japanese telecom major NTT DOCOMO in
November 2008. Tata DOCOMO has received a pan-India license to
operate GSM telecom services—and has also been allotted spectrum
in18 telecom Circles. The company has rolled out GSM services in all
of these 18 telecom Circles in the quick span of just over a year.
Tata DOCOMO marks a significant milestone in the Indian telecom
landscape, and has already redefined the very face of telecoms in
India, being the first to pioneer the per-second tariff option—part of
its ‘Pay for What You Use’ pricing paradigm. Tokyo-based NTT
DOCOMO is one of the world’s leading mobile operators—in the
Japanese market, the company is the clear market leader, used by
over 50 per cent of the country’s mobile phone users.

The Tata Teleservices Limited bouquet comprises four other brands

as well—Virgin Mobile, Walky (which is the brand for fixed

7
wireless phones), the Photon family (the company’s brand that
provides a variety of options for wireless mobile broadband access,
and T24. TTSL recently entered into a strategic partnership
agreement with Indian retail giant Future Group to offer mobile
telephony services under a new brand name—T24—on the GSM
platform. The exciting new brand was unveiled in February and the
company announced the commercial launch of GSM operations
under the brand name T24 in June, starting with the city of
Hyderabad. It has now launched T24
GSM services in Kolkata and Bhubaneswar as well. Today, Tata
Teleservices Ltd, along with Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Ltd,
serves over 84 million customers in more than 450,000 towns and
villages across the country, with a bouquet of
Telephony services encompassing Mobile Services, Wireless Desktop
Phones, Public Booth Telephony and Wire line Services. In December
2008, Tata Teleservices announced a unique reverse equity swap
strategic agreement between its telecom tower subsidiary, Wireless
TT Info-Services Limited, and Quippo Telecom Infrastructure Limited
—with the combined entity kicking off operations with 18,000
towers, thereby becoming the largest independent entity in this
space—and with the highest tenancy ratios in the industry. Today,
the combined entity—which has been re-christened as VIOM
Networks—has a portfolio of nearly 45,000 towers. TTSL’s bouquet
of telephony services includes mobile services, wireless desktop
phones, public booth telephony, wire line services and enterprise
solutions

TATA DOCOMO

Tata DOCOMO is Tata Teleservices Limited's telecom service on the

GSM platform-arising out of the Tata Group's strategic alliance with

8
Japanese telecom major NTT DOCOMO in November 2008. Tata
Teleservices has received a license to operate GSM telecom services
in 19 of India's 22 telecom Circles-and has also been allotted
spectrum in 18 telecom circles. Of these, it has already rolled out
services in all the 18 Circles that it received spectrum in from the
Government of India-Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Orissa, Karnataka, Andhra
Pradesh, Maharashtra, Mumbai, Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh,
Haryana-Punjab, Kolkata, Rest of West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, UP
(East), UP (West), Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Tata DOCOMO has also become the first Indian private operator to
launch 3G services in India, with its recent launch in all the nine
telecom Circles where it bagged the 3G license. In association with
its partner NTT DOCOMO, the Company finds itself suitably
positioned to leverage this first-mover advantage. With 3G, Tata
DOCOMO stands to redefine the very face of telecoms in India.
Tokyo-based NTT DOCOMO is one of the world's leading mobile
operators-in Japan, the company is the clear market leader, used by
nearly 55 per cent of the country's mobile phone users.

NTT DOCOMO has played a major role in the evolution of mobile

telecommunications through its development of cutting-edge
technologies and services. Over the years, technologists at DOCOMO
have defined industry benchmarks like 3G technology, as also
products and services like i-Mode, e-wallet and a plethora of
lifestyle-enhancing applications. Last year itself, while most of the
rest of the industry was only beginning to talk of 4G technology and
its possible applications, DOCOMO had already concluded conducting
4G trials in physical geographies, not just inside laboratories!

DOCOMO is a global leader in the VAS space, both in terms of

services and handset designs, particularly integrating services at the
platform stage. The Tata Group-NTT DOCOMO partnership will see

9
offerings such as these being introduced in the Indian market
through the Tata DOCOMO brand.

Tata DOCOMO has also set up a ‘Business and Technology

Coordination Council', comprising of senior personnel from both
companies. The council is responsible for the identification of key
areas where the two companies will work together. DOCOMO, the
world's leading mobile operator, will work closely with the Tata
Teleservices Limited management and provide know-how to help the
company develop its GSM business.

On the CDMA platform, despite being the latest entrant, Tata

Indicom has already established its presence and is the fastest-
growing pan-India operator. Incorporated in 1996, Tata Teleservices
is the pioneer of the CDMA 1x technology platform in India. Today,
Tata Teleservices Ltd, along with Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra)
Ltd, serves over 84 million customers in more than 450,000 towns
and villages across the country, with a bouquet of telephony
services encompassing Mobile Services, Wireless Desktop Phones,
Public Booth Telephony and Wire line Services.

THE TATA GROUP PROFILE

Tata is a rapidly growing business group based in India with

significant international operations. Revenues in 2007-08 are
estimated at $70.8 billion USD, of which 61 per cent is from
business outside India. The Group employs around 350,000 people
worldwide. The Tata name has been respected in India for 140 years
for its adherence to strong values and business ethics.

10
 The business operations of the Tata Group currently encompass
seven business sectors: communications and information
technology, engineering, materials, services, energy, consumer
products and chemicals. The Group's 27 publicly listed enterprises
have a combined market capitalisation of some $60 billion, among
the highest among Indian business houses, and a shareholder base
of 3.2 million. The major companies in the Group include Tata Steel,
Tata Motors, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Tata Power, Tata
Chemicals, Tata Tea, Indian Hotels and Tata Communications.

The Group's major companies are beginning to be counted

globally. Tata Steel became the sixth largest steel maker in the
world after it acquired Corus. Tata Motors is among the top five
commercial vehicle manufacturers in the world and has recently
acquired Jaguar and Land Rover. TCS is a leading global software
company, with delivery centres in the US, UK, Hungary, Brazil,
Uruguay and China, besides India. Tata Tea is the second largest
branded tea company in the world, through its UK-based subsidiary
Tetley. Tata Chemicals is the world's second largest manufacturer of
soda ash. Tata Communications is one of the world's largest
wholesale voice carriers.

In tandem with the increasing international footprint of its

companies, the Group is also gaining international recognition.
Brand Finance, a UK-based consultancy firm, recently valued the
Tata brand at $11.4 billion and ranked it 57th amongst the Top 100
brands in the world. Business week ranked the Group sixth amongst
the "World's Most Innovative Companies" and the Reputation
Institute, USA, recently rated it as the "World's Sixth Most Reputed
Firm."

Founded by Jamsetji Tata in 1868, the Tata Group's early years

were inspired by the spirit of nationalism. The Group pioneered

11
several industries of national importance in India: steel, power,
hospitality and airlines. In more recent times, the Tata Group's
pioneering spirit has been showcased by companies like Tata
Consultancy Services, India's first software company, which
pioneered the international delivery model, and Tata Motors, which
made India's first indigenously developed car, the Indica, in 1998
and recently unveiled the world's lowest-cost car, the Tata Nano, for
commercial launch by end of 2008.

The Tata Group has always believed in returning wealth to the

society it serves. Two-thirds of the equity of Tata Sons, the Tata
Group's promoter company, is held by philanthropic trusts which
have created national institutions in science and technology, medical
research, social studies and the performing arts. The trusts also
provide aid and assistance to NGOs in the areas of education,
healthcare and livelihoods. Tata companies also extend social
welfare activities to communities around their industrial units. The
combined development-related expenditure of the Trusts and the
companies amounts to around 4 per cent of the Group's net profits.

Going forward, the Group is focusing on new technologies and

innovation to drive its business in India and internationally. The
Nano car is one example, as is the Eka supercomputer (developed
by another Tata company), which in 2008 is ranked the world's
fourth fastest. The Group aims to build a series of world class, world
scale businesses in select sectors. Anchored in India and wedded to
its traditional values and strong ethics, the Group is building a
multinational business which will achieve growth through excellence
and innovation, while balancing the interests of its shareholders, its
employees and wider society.

12
Tata Group Commitment

From customer to community, the Tata Group invests in

resources for the various markets and communities it serves. The
Tata Group's philanthropic trusts and global community initiatives
develop and sustain services that promote health and education,
leadership and technical training, and arts and sports programs.

INTRODUCTION TO THE ORGANIZATION

UNDER STUDY:

M/S PAWANCOMMUNICATION

M/S PAWAN COMMUNICATION is one of the channel partners of

TTSL, Situated at – Old Cotton Market, Amravati Bearing Code No-
ROMTSMHF 1109. This outlet of TTSL was incepted in 2005. For that
time they were the only channel partner in and for Amravati District.
Now this outlet is known as the TVS (True Value Shoppe) as they
provide all the services related to TTSL exclusively. Now they have
two outlets and a CSC (Customer Service Centre).

TATA TELESERVICES  is a well known TELECOM INDUSTRY in

INDIA. It is operated in india since 2003 ie since last 7 years. It is
the 2nd CDMA operator across INDIA and it is the 6th TELECOM
operator across INDIA. One of the channel partners of TTSL, M/S
PAWAN COMMUNICATION Situated at – Old Cotton Market, Amravati
Bearing Code No-ROMTSMHF 1109. This outlet of TTSL was incepted

13
in 2005. For that time they were the only channel partner in and for
Amravati District. Now this outlet is known as the TVS (True Value
Shoppe) as they provide all the services related to TTSL
exclusively. Now they have two outlets and a CSC (Customer
Service Centre).

When we mate owner of M/S PAWAN COMMUNICATION that time we

didn’t thought that working under a firm of TTSL having its turn over
not more than 6,00,000/- per month grossly ie 70,00,000/- p.a.
grossly would be that much exciting and tedious. When we mate &
spoke to owner of this firm Mr. Chetan P. Soni that time only said
not to consider it a kidding job , you will come to know how difficult
it is to sell and market rather than buying.

M/S PAWAN COMMUNICATION is a TTSL channel partner bearing

many awards for their

 Target Achievement
 Neatness, Cleanliness, Hygiene
 Long Term Association
 Customer Satisfaction
 Family One Golden Club Member.
It sounds nice to hear all these Achievement but it takes hard ships
to grab. M/S PAWAN COMMUNICATION multi service outlet of TTSL
for Amravati providing all the things required for betterment of
company. Their services will be discussed in next pages.

14
 INDUSTRY PROFILE

With a subscriber base of more than 680 million, the Mobile

telecommunications system in India is the second largest in the
world and it was thrown open to private players in the 1990s. The
country is divided into multiple zones, called circles (roughly along
state boundaries). Government and several private players run local
and long distance telephone services. Competition has caused prices
to drop and calls across India are one of the cheapest in the world.
[34]
The rates are supposed to go down further with new measures to
be taken by the Information Ministry. [35] In September 2004, the
number of mobile phone connections crossed the number of fixed-
line connections and presently dwarfs the wire line segment by a
ratio of around 20:1.[5] The mobile subscriber base has grown by a
factor of over a hundred and thirty, from 5 million subscribers in
[5]
2001 to over 680 million subscribers as of Sep 2010 (a period of
less than 9 years) . India primarily follows the GSM mobile system,
in the 900 MHz band. Recent operators also operate in the
1800 MHz band. The dominant players are Airtel, Reliance
Infocomm, Vodafone, Idea cellular and BSNL/MTNL. There are many
smaller players, with operations in only a few states. International
roaming agreements exist between most operators and many
foreign carriers.

India is divided into 23 telecom circles. They are listed below.

 Assam
 Andhra Pradesh
 Bihar & Jharkhand
 Chennai
 Delhi & NCR
 Gujarat & Daman & Diu

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  Haryana
 Himachal Pradesh
 Jammu and Kashmir
 Karnataka
 Kerala & Lakshadweep
 Kolkata
 Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh
 Maharashtra (excluding Mumbai) & Goa
 Mumbai
 North Eastern States (Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya,
Mizoram, Nagaland, & Tripura)
 Orissa
 Punjab
 Rajasthan
 Tamil Nadu excluding Chennai & Puducherry
 Eastern Uttar Pradesh
 Western Uttar Pradesh & Uttarakhand
 West Bengal (excluding Kolkata), Andaman & Nicobar Islands
& Sikkim

The following table gives details regarding the subscriber base of

each Mobile Service Provider in India as of 31 December 2010

Operator Subscriber base. Market Share

16
Bharti Airtel 152,495,219 20.27%

Reliance Communications 125,652,127 16.7%

Vodafone 124,255,120 16.52%

BSNL 86,709,537 11.53%

Tata Teleservices 84,233,398 11.20%

Idea 81,778,655 10.87%

Aircel 50,168,811 6.67%

Unitech 18,510,049 2.46%

Sistema 8,433,667 1.12%

Videocon 7,319,603 0.97%

MTNL 5,342,039 0.71%

Loop 3,044,579 0.40%

S_Tel 2,315,524 0.31%

HFCL Infotel 1,611,723 0.21%

Etisalat 264,899 0.04%

All India 752,190,678 100%

A list of ten states (including the metros Mumbai, Kolkata and

Chennai in their respective states) with the largest subscriber base
as of Oct 31st 2010 is given below

Mobile phones
Subscriber Population
State per 1000
base (01/08/2010)
population

Uttar Pradesh 92,867,835 199,415,992 427

Maharashtra 84,543,727 110,351,688 707

Tamil Nadu 63,671,528 67,773,611 881

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Andhra
54,000,379 84,241,069 600
Pradesh

West Bengal 51,901,967 90,524,849 520

Bihar 46,311,291 97,560,027 430

Karnataka 43,802,688 58,969,294 709

Gujarat 40,158,662 58,388,625 618

Rajasthan 38,649,784 67,449,102 535

Madhya
38,295,896 72,362,313 489
Pradesh

India 706,691,164 1,188,783,351 580

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

IMPORTANCE OF THEORY IN PRACTICAL

CONTEXT:

Theory plays an important role in practical life; I experienced

it during my Project. Sometime it is said that theory is different from
practical and less useful also, but my experience proved it contrary.
While working on the field you must know the theoretical
background of your work. As far as marketing is concerned, it is
important to have familiarity with Marketing Management Theory.

18
 Theory is like a sharp weapon and without it one cannot go on
the battle field. Marketing Management has several terms and
concepts so sound theoretical knowledge is essential. So in this
chapter theoretical background is being discussed.

Marketing Management

Marketing Management: Importance

Marketing is indeed an ancient art; it has been practiced in
one form or other, since the days of Adam & Eve. Today, it has
become the most vital function in the world of business.
Marketing is a social process by which individuals and groups
obtain what they need and want through creating, offering, and
freely exchanging products & services of value with others.
Marketing has often been described as “the art of selling
products”, but people are surprised to hear that the most
important part of marketing is not selling! Selling is the only tip
of the marketing iceberg.

A) Marketing Management: Definition

American Marketing Association –

Marketing is the process of planning & executing the

conception, pricing, promotion, and distributing of ideas, goods,
and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and
organizational goals.

Peter Drucker –

The aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous. The aim

of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well that
the product or service fits him and sells itself. Ideally, marketing

19
should result in a customer who is ready to buy. All that should
be needed then is to make the product or service available.

Thus, coping with exchange process calls for a considerable

amount of work and skill. Marketing management takes place
when at least one party to a potential exchange thinks about the
means of achieving desired responses from other parties.
Marketing management is seen as the art and science of choosing
target markets and getting, keeping, and growing customers
through creating, delivering, and communicating superior
customer value.

B) Marketing Management: Scope

Marketing is typically seen as the task of creating, promoting,

and delivering goods and services to customers and business.
Marketers are skilled in stimulating demand for a company’s
products, but this is too limited a view of the tasks marketers
performs. Just as production and logistics professionals are
responsible for supply management; marketers are responsible
demand management. Marketing managers seek to influence the
level, timing, and composition of demand to meet the
organization’s objectives.

Marketing people are involved in marketing 10 types of entities:

goods, services, experiences, events, persons, places, properties,
organizations, information and ideas.

Goods

Physical goods constitute the bulk of most countries’

production and marketing effort. Each year US companies alone
market billions of canned and frozen food products, millions of

20
tons of steel, millions of hair dryers, cars, television sets,
machines, and various other mainstays of a modern economy.

Services

Services include the work of airlines, hotels, car rental firms,

barbers, and beauticians, maintenance and repairs people, dog
kennels as well as professionals working within or for companies,
such as accountants, lawyers, engineers, doctors, software
programmers, and management consultants. Many market
offerings consist of a variable mix of goods and services.

Experiences

By orchestrating several services and goods, a firm can create,

stage, and market experiences. Walt Disney World’s Magic
Kingdom represents experimental marketing: customers visit a
fairy kingdom, a pirate ship, or a haunted house. There is also a
market for customized experiences, such as spending a week at a
baseball camp playing with some retired baseball greats, paying
to conduct the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for five minutes.

Events

Marketers promote time-based events, such as the Olympics,

company anniversaries, major trade shows, sports events, and
artistic performances. There is a whole profession of meeting
planners who work out the details of an event and make sure it
comes off perfectly.

Persons

Celebrity marketing is a major business. Today every major

film star has an agent, a personal manager, and ties to a public
relations agency. Artists, CEOs, musicians, physicians, lawyers

21
and other professionals are also getting help from celebrity
marketers.

Places

Places like cities, states, regions, and whole nations compete

actively to attract tourists, factories, company headquarters, and
new residents. Place marketers include economic development
specialists, real estate agents, commercial banks, local business
associations, and advertising and public relations agencies.

Properties

Properties are intangible rights of ownership of either real

property (real estate) or financial property (stocks & bonds).
Properties are bought & sold, and this requires marketing. Real
estate agents work for property owners or sellers or buy
residential or commercial real estate. Investment companies and
banks are involved in marketing securities to both institutional &
individual investors.

Organizations

Organizations actively work to build a strong, favourable

image in the minds of their target publics. Companies spend
money on corporate identity ads. Universities, museums, and
performing arts organizations all use marketing to boost their
public images and to compete for audiences and funds.

Information

Information can be produced and marketed as a product. This

is essentially what schools and universities produce and distribute

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 at a price to parents, students and communities. Encyclopaedia
and most of the notification books market information. We buy
software and CDs and we visit the internet for information. The
production, packaging and distribution of information are one of
our society’s major industries.

Ideas

Every market offering includes a basic idea. “In the Factory,

we make cosmetics; in the stores we sell the hope” Products and
services are the platforms for delivering some ideas or benefits.
Social marketers are busy promoting such ideas as “Say no to
drugs”, “Save the rain forest”, “Avoid Plastics”, etc.

C) Marketing Management: Concepts

Different organizations to business give rise to different concepts

of marketing. Firms vary in their perceptions about business, and
their orientations to the marketplace. This has led to the
emergence of many different concepts of marketing which are
enumerated as given below:

1. The exchange concept

2. The production concept

3. The product concept

4. The sales concept

5. The marketing concept

1. The Exchange Concept:

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 The Exchange concept of marketing holds that the exchange of
a product between the seller and the buyer is the central idea of
marketing. While exchange does form a significant part of the
marketing, to view marketing as mere exchange, will result in
missing out the essence of the marketing. Marketing is much
broader than exchange. Exchange, at the best, covers the
distribution aspect and the price mechanism. The other important
aspects of marketing, such as, concern for customers, generation
of value satisfactions, creative selling, and integrated action for
serving the customer, are completely overshadowed in the
exchange concept.

2. The Production Concept

According to the production concept, marketing is a mere

appendage to production. In the organizations that practice this
concept, production dominates the thinking process. It is believed
that marketing can be managed by managing the production. The
concept holds that consumers would, as a rule, support those
products that are produced in a great volume at a low unit cost.
Naturally, all the efforts are focused on the production only. It is
assumed that lower cost will automatically bring all the customers
at the doors for buying purpose. In actual practice, however, this
does not happen in most of the cases. The organizations do not
get the assumed customer patronage. Customers, after all, are
motivated by a variety of considerations in their purchases,
besides price. As a result, the production concept fails to serve as
the right marketing philosophy for an enterprise.

3. The Product Concept

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 The product concept is different from production concept.
Whereas the production concept seeks to win markets and profits
via high volume of production and low unit cost, the product
concept seeks to achieve the same results by product excellence,
improved products, and new products and ideally designed and
engineered products. Organisations that subscribe to the product
concept assume that consumers would automatically vote for
products of high quality. They concentrate on the product
excellence; they spend their time & money on research and
development, and bring out many new products.

4. The Sales Concept

The sales concept maintains that the company has to

aggressively promote and push its products; it cannot expect its
products to get picked up automatically by the customers. Heavy
advertising, high-power personal selling, large-scale sales
promotion, heavy price discounts, and strong publicity are the
normal tools use by organizations that rely on this concept.
Companies practicing the sales concept assume that selling is
synonymous with the marketing. In reality, there is a great deal
of difference between selling and marketing.

5. The Marketing Concept

The marketing concept was born out of the awareness that a

business should start with the determination of the consumer
wants and end up with the satisfaction of those wants. The
concept puts the consumer at both the beginning and the end of
the business cycle. The customer, not the corporation, has to be
the centre of the business universe. A business cannot be

25
 succeeded by supplying products and services that are not
designed to serve the needs of the customers.

D) Marketing Management: Four Ps

Elements of the marketing mix are often referred to as 'the four Ps':

 Product - A tangible object or an intangible service that is

mass produced or manufactured on a large scale with a
specific volume of units. Intangible products are service based
like the tourism industry & the hotel industry or codes-based
products like cell phone load and credits. Typical examples of
a mass produced tangible object are the motor car and the
disposable razor. A less obvious but ubiquitous mass produced
service is a computer operating system. Packaging also needs
to be taken into consideration.

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 Price – The price is the amount a customer pays for the
product. It is determined by a number of factors including
market share, competition, material costs, product identity
and the customer's perceived value of the product. The
business may increase or decrease the price of product if other
stores have the same product.

 Place – Place represents the location where a product can be

purchased. It is often referred to as the distribution channel. It
can include any physical store as well as virtual stores on the
Internet. Place is not exactly a physical store where it is
available Place is nothing but how the product takes place or
create image in the mind of customers. It depends upon the
perceptions of customers.

 Promotion- represents all of the communications that a

marketer may use in the marketplace. Promotion has four
distinct elements: advertising, public relations, personal selling
and sales promotion. A certain amount of crossover occurs
when promotion uses the four principal elements together,
which is common in film promotion. Advertising covers any
communication that is paid for, from cinema commercials,
radio and Internet adverts through print media and billboards.
Public relations are where the communication is not directly
paid for and includes press releases, sponsorship deals,
exhibitions, conferences, seminars or trade fairs and events.
Word of mouth is any apparently informal communication

27
 about the product by ordinary individuals, satisfied customers
or people specifically engaged to create word of mouth
momentum. Sales staff often plays an important role in word
of mouth and Public Relations.

Consumer Behaviour:

Consumer behaviour involves the psychological processes that

consumers go through in recognizing needs, finding ways to solve
these needs, making purchase decisions (e.g., whether or not to
purchase a product and, if so, which brand and where), interpret
information, make plans, and implement these plans (e.g., by
engaging in comparison shopping or actually purchasing a product).

Sources of influence on the consumer.  The consumer faces

numerous sources of influence. 

Often, we take cultural influences for granted, but they are

significant.  An American will usually not bargain with a store

28
owner.  This, however, is a common practice in much of the World. 
Physical factors also influence our behaviour.  We are more likely to
buy a soft drink when we are thirsty, for example, and food
manufacturers have found that it is more effective to advertise their
products on the radio in the late afternoon when people are getting
hungry.  A person’s self-image will also tend to influence what he or
she will buy—an upwardly mobile manager may buy a flashy car to
project an image of success.  Social factors also influence what the
consumers buy—often, consumers seek to imitate others whom they
admire, and may buy the same brands.   The social environment can
include both the mainstream culture (e.g., Americans are more
likely to have corn flakes or ham and eggs for breakfast than to
have rice, which is preferred in many Asian countries) and a
subculture (e.g., rap music often appeals to a segment within the
population that seeks to distinguish itself from the mainstream
population).   Thus, sneaker manufacturers are eager to have their
products worn by admired athletes.  Finally, consumer behaviour is
influenced by learning—you try a hamburger and learn that it
satisfies your hunger and tastes good, and the next time you are
hungry, you may consider another hamburger.

Consumer Choice and Decision Making: Problem Recognition.  One

model of consumer decision making involves several steps. The first
one is problem recognition—you realize that something is not as it
should be.  Perhaps, for example, your car is getting more difficult
to start and is not accelerating well.    The second step is
information search—what are some alternative ways of solving the
problem?  You might buy a new car, buy a used car, take your car in
for repair, ride the bus, ride a taxi, or ride a skateboard to work. 
The third step involves evaluation of alternatives.  A skateboard is
inexpensive, but may be ill-suited for long distances and for rainy
days.   Finally, we have the purchase stage, and sometimes a post-

29
purchase stage (e.g., you return a product to the store because you
did not find it satisfactory).  In reality, people may go back and forth
between the stages.  For example, a person may resume alternative
identification during while evaluating already known alternatives.

Consumer involvement will tend to vary dramatically depending on

the type of product.  In general, consumer involvement will be
higher for products that are very expensive (e.g., a home, a car) or
are highly significant in the consumer’s life in some other way (e.g.,
a word processing program or acne medication).

It is important to consider the consumer’s motivation for buying

products.  To achieve this goal, we can use the Means-End chain,
wherein we consider a logical progression of consequences of
product use that eventually lead to desired end benefit.  Thus, for
example, a consumer may see that a car has a large engine, leading
to fast acceleration, leading to a feeling of performance, leading to a
feeling of power, which ultimately improves the consumer’s self-
esteem.  A handgun may aim bullets with precision, which enables
the user to kill an intruder, which means that the intruder will not be
able to harm the consumer’s family, which achieves the desired end-
state of security.  In advertising, it is important to portray the
desired end-states.  Focusing on the large motor will do less good
than portraying a successful person driving the car.

30
Information search and decision making.  Consumers engage in both
internal and external information search.  Internal search involves
the consumer identifying alternatives from his or her memory.  For
certain low involvement products, it is very important that
marketing programs achieve “top of mind” awareness.  For example,
few people will search the Yellow Pages for fast food restaurants;
thus, the consumer must be able to retrieve one’s restaurant from
memory before it will be considered.  For high involvement products,
consumers are more likely to use an external search.  Before buying
a car, for example, the consumer may ask friends’ opinions, read
reviews in Consumer Reports, consult several web sites, and visit
several dealerships.  Thus, firms that make products that are
selected predominantly through external search must invest in
having information available to the consumer in need—e.g., through
brochures, web sites, or news coverage.

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A compensatory decision involves the consumer “trading off” good
and bad attributes of a product.  For example, a car may have a low
price and good gas mileage but slow acceleration.  If the price is
sufficiently inexpensive and gas efficient, the consumer may then
select it over a car with better acceleration that costs more and uses
more gas.  Occasionally, a decision will involve a non-compensatory
strategy.  For example, a parent may reject all soft drinks that
contain artificial sweeteners.   Here, other good features such as
taste and low calories cannot overcome this one “non-negotiable”
attribute.

The amount of effort a consumer puts into searching depends on a

number of factors such as the market (how many competitors are
there, and how great are differences between brands expected to
be?), product characteristics (how important is this product?  How
complex is the product?  How obvious are indications of quality?),
consumer characteristics (how interested is a consumer, generally,
in analyzing product characteristics and making the best possible
deal?), and situational characteristics (as previously discussed).

Two interesting issues in decisions are:

32
  Variety seeking (where consumers seek to try new brands not
because these brands are expected to be “better” in any way,
but rather because the consumer wants a “change of pace,”
and
 “Impulse” purchases—unplanned buys. This represents a
somewhat “fuzzy” group.  For example, a shopper may plan to
buy vegetables but only decide in the store to actually buy
broccoli and corn.  Alternatively, a person may buy an item
which is currently on sale, or one that he or she remembers
that is needed only once inside the store.

A number of factors involve consumer choices.  In some cases,

consumers will be more motivated.  For example, one may be more
careful choosing a gift for an in-law than when buying the same
thing for one self.  Some consumers are also more motivated to
comparison shop for the best prices, while others are more
convenience oriented.  Personality impacts decisions.  Some like
variety more than others, and some are more receptive to
stimulation and excitement in trying new stores.  Perception
influences decisions.  Some people, for example, can taste the
difference between generic and name brand foods while many
cannot.  Selective perception occurs when a person is paying
attention only to information of interest.  For example, when looking
for a new car, the consumer may pay more attention to car ads than
when this is not in the horizon.  Some consumers are put off by
perceived risk.  Thus, many marketers offer a money back
guarantee.  Consumers will tend to change their behaviour through
learning—e.g., they will avoid restaurants they have found to be
crowded and will settle on brands that best meet their tastes. 
Consumers differ in the values they hold (e.g., some people are
more committed to recycling than others who will not want to go

33
through the hassle).  We will consider the issue of lifestyle under
segmentation.

The Family Life Cycle: Individuals and families tend to go through

a "life cycle:" The simple life cycle goes from

For purposes of this discussion, a "couple" may either be married or

merely involve living together. The breakup of a non-marital
relationship involving cohabitation is similarly considered equivalent
to a divorce.

In real life, this situation is, of course, a bit more complicated. For
example, many couples undergo divorce. Then we have one of the
scenarios:

Single parenthood can result either from divorce or from the death
of one parent. Divorce usually entails a significant change in the
relative wealth of spouses. In some cases, the non-custodial parent
(usually the father) will not pay the required child support, and even

34
if he or she does, that still may not leave the custodial parent and
children as well off as they were during the marriage. On the other
hand, in some cases, some non-custodial parents will be called on to
pay a large part of their income in child support. This is particularly
a problem when the non-custodial parent remarries and has
additional children in the second (or subsequent marriages). In any
event, divorce often results in a large demand for:

 Low cost furniture and household items

 Time-saving goods and services

Divorced parents frequently remarry, or become involved in other

non-marital relationships; thus, we may see

Another variation involves

Here, the single parent who assumes responsibility for one or more
children may not form a relationship with the other parent of the
child.

Integrating all the possibilities discussed, we get the following

depiction of the Family Life Cycle:

35
Generally, there are two main themes in the Family Life Cycle,
subject to significant exceptions:

 As a person gets older, he or she tends to advance in his or

her career and tends to get greater income (exceptions:
maternity leave, divorce, retirement).
 Unfortunately, obligations also tend to increase with time (at
least until one’s mortgage has been paid off). Children and
paying for one’s house are two of the greatest expenses.

Note that although a single person may have a lower income than a
married couple, the single may be able to buy more discretionary
items.

Note that although a single person may have a lower income than a
married couple, the single may be able to buy more discretionary
items.
Family Decision Making: Individual members of families often serve
different roles in decisions that ultimately draw on shared family
resources. Some individuals are information gatherers/holders, who
seek out information about products of relevance. These individuals
often have a great deal of power because they may selectively pass
on information that favours their chosen alternatives. Influencers do
not ultimately have the power decide between alternatives, but they
may make their wishes known by asking for specific products or

36
causing embarrassing situations if their demands are not met. The
decision maker(s) have the power to determine issues such as:

 Whether to buy;
 Which product to buy (pick-up or passenger car?);
 Which brand to buy;
 Where to buy it; and
 When to buy.

Note, however, that the role of the decision maker is separate from
that of the purchaser. From the point of view of the marketer, this
introduces some problems since the purchaser can be targeted by
point-of-purchase (POP) marketing efforts that cannot be aimed at
the decision maker. Also note that the distinction between the
purchaser and decision maker may be somewhat blurred:

 The decision maker may specify what kind of product to

buy, but not which brand;
 The purchaser may have to make a substitution if the
desired brand is not in stock;
 The purchaser may disregard instructions (by error or
deliberately).

It should be noted that family decisions are often subject to a great

deal of conflict. The reality is that few families are wealthy enough
to avoid a strong tension between demands on the family’s
resources. Conflicting pressures are especially likely in families with
children and/or when only one spouse works outside the home. Note
that many decisions inherently come down to values, and that there
is frequently no "objective" way to arbitrate differences. One spouse
may believe that it is important to save for the children’s future; the
other may value spending now (on private schools and computer
equipment) to help prepare the children for the future. Who is right?

37
There is no clear answer here. The situation becomes even more
complex when more parties—such as children or other relatives—are
involved.
Some family members may resort to various strategies to get their
way. One is bargaining—one member will give up something in
return for someone else. For example, the wife says that her
husband can take an expensive course in gourmet cooking if she can
buy a new pickup truck. Alternatively, a child may promise to walk it
every day if he or she can have a hippopotamus. Another strategy is
reasoning—trying to get the other person(s) to accept one’s view
through logical argumentation. Note that even when this is done
with a sincere intent, its potential is limited by legitimate differences
in values illustrated above. Also note that individuals may simply try
to "wear down" the other party by endless talking in the guise of
reasoning (this is a case of negative reinforcement as we will see
subsequently). Various manipulative strategies may also be used.
One is impression management, where one tries to make one’s side
look good (e.g., argue that a new TV will help the children see
educational TV when it is really mostly wanted to see sports
programming, or argue that all "decent families make a contribution
to the church"). Authority involves asserting one’s "right" to make a
decision (as the "man of the house," the mother of the children, or
the one who makes the most money). Emotion involves making an
emotional display to get one’s way (e.g., a man cries if his wife will
not let him buy a new rap album).

The Means-End Chain: Consumers often buy products not

because of their attributes per se but rather because of the ultimate
benefits that these attributes provide, in turn leading to the
satisfaction of ultimate values. For example, a consumer may not be

38
particularly interested in the chemistry of plastic roses, but might
reason as follows:

The important thing in a means-end chain is to start with an

attribute, a concrete characteristic of the product, and then logically
progress to a series of consequences (which tend to become
progressively more abstract) that end with a value being satisfied.
Thus, each chain must start with an attribute and end with a value.
An important implication of means-end chains is that it is usually
most effective in advertising to focus on higher level items. For
example, in the flower example above, an individual giving the
flowers to the significant other might better be portrayed than the
flowers alone.

Attitudes:  Consumer attitudes are a composite of a consumer’s (1)

beliefs about, (2) feelings about, (3) and behavioural intentions
toward some “object”—within the context of marketing, usually a

39
brand, product category, or retail store.  These components are
viewed together since they are highly interdependent and together
represent forces that influence how the consumer will react to the
object.

Beliefs:  The first component is beliefs.  A consumer may hold both

positive beliefs toward an object (e.g., coffee tastes good) as well as
negative beliefs (e.g., coffee is easily spilled and stains papers).  In
addition, some beliefs may be neutral (coffee is black), and some
may be differ in valance depending on the person or the situation
(e.g., coffee is hot and stimulates--good on a cold morning, but not
well on a hot summer evening when one wants to sleep).  Note also
that the beliefs that consumers hold need not be accurate (e.g., that
pork contains little fat), and some beliefs may, upon closer
examination, be contradictory.

Affect:  Consumers also hold certain feelings toward brands or

other objects.  Sometimes these feelings are based on the beliefs
(e.g., a person feels nauseated when thinking about a hamburger
because of the tremendous amount of fat it contains), but there may
also be feelings which are relatively independent of beliefs.  For
example, an extreme environmentalist may believe that cutting
down trees is morally wrong, but may have positive affect toward
Christmas trees because he or she unconsciously associates these
trees with the experience that he or she had at Christmas as a child.

Behavioural intention:  The behavioural intention is what the

consumer plans to do with respect to the object (e.g., buy or not
buy the brand).  As with affect, this is sometimes a logical
consequence of beliefs (or affect), but may sometimes reflect other
circumstances--e.g., although a consumer does not really like a
restaurant, he or she will go there because it is a hangout for his or
her friends.

40
Changing attitudes is generally very difficult, particularly when
consumers suspect that the marketer has a self-serving “agenda” in
bringing about this change (e.g., to get the consumer to buy more
or to switch brands).  Here are some possible methods:

 Changing affect: One approach is to try to change affect,

which may or may not involve getting consumers to change
their beliefs.  One strategy uses the approach of classical
conditioning try to “pair” the product with a liked stimulus. 
For example, we “pair” a car with a beautiful woman. 
Alternatively, we can try to get people to like the
advertisement and hope that this liking will “spill over” into the
purchase of a product.  For example, the Pillsbury Doughboy
does not really emphasize the conveyance of much
information to the consumer; instead, it attempts to create a
warm, “fuzzy” image.  Although Energizer Bunny ads try to get
people to believe that their batteries last longer, the main
emphasis is on the likeable bunny.  Finally, products which are
better known, through the mere exposure effect, tend to be
better liked—that is, the more a product is advertised and
seen in stores, the more it will generally be liked, even if
consumers to do not develop any specific beliefs about the
product.
 Changing behaviour:  People like to believe that their
behaviour is rational; thus, once they use our products,
chances are that they will continue unless someone is able to
get them to switch.  One way to get people to switch to our
brand is to use temporary price discounts and coupons;
however, when consumers buy a product on deal, they may
justify the purchase based on that deal (i.e., the low price)
and may then switch to other brands on deal later.  A better
way to get people to switch to our brand is to at least

41
 temporarily obtain better shelf space so that the product is
more convenient.  Consumers are less likely to use this
availability as a rationale for their purchase and may continue
to buy the product even when the product is less conveniently
located. 
 Changing beliefs:  Although attempting to change beliefs is
the obvious way to attempt attitude change, particularly when
consumers hold unfavourable or inaccurate ones, this is often
difficult to achieve because consumers tend to resist.  Several
approaches to belief change exist:
 Change currently held beliefs:  It is generally very difficult
to attempt to change beliefs that people hold, particularly
those that are strongly held, even if they are inaccurate.  For
example, the petroleum industry advertised for a long time
that its profits were lower than were commonly believed, and
provided extensive factual evidence in its advertising to
support this reality.  Consumers were suspicious and rejected
this information, however.
 Change the importance of beliefs:  Although the sugar
manufacturers would undoubtedly like to decrease the
importance of healthy teeth, it is usually not feasible to make
beliefs less important--consumers are likely to reason, why,
then, would you bother bringing them up in the first place? 
However, it may be possible to strengthen beliefs that favour
us--e.g., a vitamin supplement manufacturer may advertise
that it is extremely important for women to replace iron lost
through menstruation.  Most consumers already agree with
this, but the belief can be made stronger.
 Add beliefs:  Consumers are less likely to resist the addition
of beliefs so long as they do not conflict with existing beliefs. 
Thus, the beef industry has added beliefs that beef (1) is
convenient and (2) can be used to make a number of creative

42
 dishes.  Vitamin manufacturers attempt to add the belief that
stress causes vitamin depletion, which sounds quite plausible
to most people.
 Change ideal:  It usually difficult, and very risky, to attempt
to change ideals, and only few firms succeed.  For example,
Hard Candy may have attempted to change the ideal away
from traditional beauty toward more unique self expression.

One-sided vs. two-sided appeals:  Attitude research has shown

that consumers often tend to react more favourably to
advertisements which either (1) admit something negative about the
sponsoring brand (e.g., the Volvo is a clumsy car, but very safe) or
(2) admits something positive about a competing brand (e.g., a
competing supermarket has slightly lower prices, but offers less
service and selection).  Two-sided appeals must, contain overriding
arguments why the sponsoring brand is ultimately superior—that is,
in the above examples, the “but” part must be emphasized. 

Perception: Our perception is an approximation of reality.  Our

brain attempts to make sense out of the stimuli to which we are
exposed.  This works well, for example, when we “see” a friend
three hundred feet away at his or her correct height; however, our
perception is sometimes “off”—for example, certain shapes of ice
cream containers look like they contain more than rectangular ones
with the same volume.

Subliminal stimuli:  Back in the 1960s, it was reported that on

selected evenings, movie goers in a theatre had been exposed to
isolated frames with the words “Drink Coca Cola” and “Eat Popcorn”
imbedded into the movie.  These frames went by so fast that people
did not consciously notice them, but it was reported that on nights
with frames present, Coke and popcorn sales were significantly
higher than on days they were left off.  This led Congress to ban the

43
use of subliminal advertising.  First of all, there is a question as to
whether this experiment ever took place or whether this information
was simply made up.  Secondly, no one has been able to replicate
these findings.  There is research to show that people will start to
giggle with embarrassment when they are briefly exposed to “dirty”
words in an experimental machine.  Here, again, the exposure is so
brief that the subjects are not aware of the actual words they saw,
but it is evident that something has been recognized by the
embarrassment displayed.

Organizational Buyer: A large portion of the market for goods

and services is attributable to organizational, as opposed to
individual, buyers.  In general, organizational buyers, who make
buying decisions for their companies for a living, tend to be
somewhat more sophisticated than ordinary consumers.  However,
these organizational buyers are also often more risk averse.  There
is a risk in going with a new, possibly better (lower price or higher
quality) supplier whose product is unproven and may turn out to be
problematic.  Often the fear of running this risk is greater than the
potential rewards for getting a better deal.  In the old days, it used
to be said that “You can’t get fired for buying IBM.” This attitude is
beginning to soften a bit today as firms face increasing pressures to
cut costs.         

Organizational buyers come in several forms.  Resellers involve

either wholesalers or retailers that buy from one organization and
resell to some other entity.  For example, large grocery chains
sometimes buy products directly from the manufacturer and resell
them to end-consumers.  Wholesalers may sell to retailers who in
turn sell to consumers.  Producers also buy products from sub-
manufacturers to create a finished product.  For example, rather
than manufacturing the parts themselves, computer manufacturers

44
often buy hard drives, motherboards, cases, monitors, keyboards,
and other components from manufacturers and put them together to
create a finished product.  Governments buy a great deal of things. 
For example, the military needs an incredible amount of supplies to
feed and equip troops.  Finally, large institutions buy products in
huge quantities.  For example, UCR probably buys thousands of
reams of paper every month.

Organizational buying usually involves more people than individual

buying.  Often, many people are involved in making decisions as to
(a) whether to buy, (b) what to buy, (c) at what quantity, and (d)
from whom.  An engineer may make a specification as to what is
needed, which may be approved by a  manager, with the final
purchase being made by a purchase specialist who spends all his or
her time finding the best deal on the goods that the organization
needs.  Often, such long purchase processes can cause long delays. 
In the government, rules are often especially stringent—e.g.,
vendors of fruit cake have to meet fourteen pages of specifications
put out by the General Services Administration.  In many cases,
government buyers are also heavily bound to go with the lowest
price.  Even if it is obvious that a higher priced vendor will offer a
superior product, it may be difficult to accept that bid.

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 OBJECTIVES & SCOPE OF PROJECT

Project work cannot be done without objectives. For any

organization it is very important to know the ground facts about its
product(s)/service(s). This particular project has specific objectives
of analysis of facts for designing of future marketing strategies. This
project has a wide scope , because it covers many aspects at the
same time for example, Consumer behaviour, Consumer
Satisfaction, Competition Analysis etc. The data collected in this
project is very important for the organization. It is not just a
theoretical submission but it has collection of facts and figures.

As mentioned in Executive Summary the project is a splice

between Company and Customer, so for the both sides the project is
important. For example, through the survey, customer gets a
chance to know the latest plans and products of company, as well in
the survey customer reflects their views regarding to service of Tata
Docomo. The survey reflects the customers attitude towards the
Tata Docomo.

The role and utility of market information is immense for any

firm. Often a marketer/firm will need specific market information for
solving a particular marketing problem.

The Management Thesis study helps me to check whether the theory

and practice actually matches. Organizational exposure helps me to
know how effectively they performed in the market.

As this project has objectives beneficial to Company and Customer,

it is also important for me as a Management Trainee. Because
through this project I get a chance to work on Marketing Field.

46
 OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT

Primary Objective:-

 To Study Consumer Behaviour.

 To Analyse overall market environment .

Secondary Objectives:-

 To understand the marketing strategies used by the

competitors
 To get the feedback from existing customers.
 To get suggestions from the customers.
 To know the customer’s opinion about the competitors of Tata
Docomo
 To find out the attributes that affects the buying behaviour of
the TATA Docomo services.
 To find the customer’s attitude towards TATA Docomo
services.

SCOPE OF THE PROJECT

This project is a kind of research work, several benefits flow to

the firm from such study. In fact, no area/aspect of marketing that
does not benefit from it . As discussed above, collected data is
important for company. Render the services according to customer’s
need is key of success to today’s customer centric market. The

47
consumer behaviour study can solve many issues, and help to retain
customer for long time or forever.

In today’s cutthroat competition negligence for market

competition is not an affordable thing for any organization, as this
project deals with competition analysis it will be proved useful to
company.

Today, for any organization or firm to survive in this

competitive world depends on its ability to be dynamic and be
different from the competition to be unique in the industry.
Customer Satisfaction helps every organization to keep the existing
customer and to build new customer. This research is aimed at
profiling the standard customer with an aim to increase the network
and improve company-customer relations. The information gathered
through this research can be used by the company to improve its
services and became more customers friendly. This can increase the
goodwill of the company and its overall performance.

Thus this study is aimed to provide the management with some

knowledge about its status in market both in terms of sales and
customer awareness. The research also aims to provide some ideas
to improve the company’s present condition. The following can be
the scope for the study:

1. To understand the consumer thinking process for Tata

Docomo services.

2. To gain knowledge about pre and post purchase behaviour of

consumer.

3. To understand the influence of sales promotion of the

company and does this has any association in their buying
pattern incurred through this.

48
 Thus, such study may also be described as the systematic
and objective identification, collection, analysis, and dissemination of
information for the purpose of assisting management in decision
making related to the identification and solution of problems and
opportunities in marketing.

The scope of the project is wide because of its multi aspects

approach.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The success of the analysis mostly depends on the

methodology on which it is carried out. The appropriate
methodology will improve the validity of the findings. It is very
important to have a suitable research methodology. For my
Management thesis entitled “ A Study on Consumer Behaviour
with Special Reference to Docomo Offered by Tata
Teleservices, in Amravati City.”, I collected primary and
secondary data to analyze and identify the impact of the
promotional strategies and sales volume and customer satisfaction
in the Organization.
Area of the study:
The study was mainly concentrated in limited area of Amravati
city.

Research Design:

49
 Descriptive Research: Descriptive research includes survey
and fact-findings enquire of different kinds involving a detailed
survey by a questionnaire issuing to respondents/customers of
Tata Docomo Services.
 Data Collection:
The study is based on the data collected through primary and
secondary sources.

Primary Data:
An interview schedule was designed to collect primary data
from various mobile users i.e. customers by a questionnaire
survey.

Secondary Data:
Secondary data was collected from journals, magazines, web
sites and from other relevant publications.
Sampling Design:
The sampling design mainly consists of the sample taken for
the study along with the sample size, sample frame and
sampling method.

Sample Universe:
All customers using mobile connection in Amravati was taken
as the sample universe.

People residing in Amravati: Salaried, businessmen,

professionals, households, students and others.

Sample Size:
From the universe, sample sizes of 100 customers were selected for
the purpose of the study.

Sample Unit:

50
 The customer in the age group of 18 to 60 years is taken as
the sample unit.

Sample Frame:
The customers were selected on a random basis from which
the respondents were selected based on convenience.

Sampling Method:
Convenience sampling was used, based on the willingness and
availability of the respondents. The study was conducted in
residential areas.

Research period
The time for the project is approximately 1 month in which the
collection of data, interpretation, analysis, conclusion and the
objectives of the study should be justified.

STATISTICAL TOOLS
The aim is to present a clear idea of research procedure that will be
followed in the study. The study is causal in nature as it studies
Consumer Behaviour with Special Reference to Docomo Offered by
Tata Teleservices, in Amravati City.

Hypothetical testing and correlation are the statistical tools helpful

to study Consumer Behaviour with Special Reference to Docomo
Offered by Tata Teleservices, in Amravati City.

Hypothetical testing begins by making assumption about the

population parameter. Then we gather sample data and determine
sample statistic. To test the validity of our hypothesis the difference
the hypothesized population parameters is calculated. If the actual

51
value is large, we reject our hypothesis. If the value is small we
accept it. And Chi-Square test is undertaken to test the hypothesis.

Correlation is a statistical tool that helps to measure and analyze the

degree or extent to which two or more variables fluctuate with
reference to one another.
In other words, if the change in one variable affects a change in the
other variable, the variables are said to be correlated.

52
DATA ANALYSSIS AND INTERPRETATION

1. Do you use Mobile?

PERCENTAGE

YES 97 97 %
NO 3 3%
TOTAL 100 100%

Mobile Users
No
3%

Yes
97%

Analysis:

97% consumer use mobile, where 3% dont use the same.

Interpretation:

Above analysis shows that majority of people use mobile.

2. Which service do you use?

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 Name of Service N0. OF RESPONDENT PERCENTAGE
Provider
Tata Docomo 20 20%
Airtel 23 23%
BSNL 14 14%
Reliance 19 19%
Vodafone 14 14%
Idea 10 10%
TOTAL 100 100%

Available Servies

Idea
10%
Tata Docomo
Vodafone 20%
14%

Reliance Airtel
19% 23%

BSNL
14%

Analysis:

20% customer use Tata Docomo where remaining 80% use other
services.

Interpretation:

Above analysis shows that there is intense competition existed in

market.

If Tata Docomo

54
 3. Which is your age group?

AGE GROUP NO. OF RESPONDENT PERCENTAGE

16-26 9 45%
27-37 6 30%
38-48 3 15%
49 AND ABOVE 2 10%
TOTAL 20 100%

Customers' Age Group

49 AND ABOVE
10%

38-48
15%
16-26
45%

27-37
30%

Analysis: 45 % Tata Docomo user belong to 16-26 years age

group and 27-37 years age group customer are 30% as well
remaining 25% customer belong to 38 years to above age group.

Interpretation: Above analysis shows that Tata Docomo is most

popular among youngsters where it is less preferable among aged
class.

4. What is your profession?

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 PROFESSION NO. OF PERCENTAGE
RESPONDENTS
STUDENT 9 45%
SELF EMLOYED 5 25%
EMPLOYESS 4 20%
OTHERS 2 10%
TOTAL 20 100%

Profession of Customers

Other
10%

Employess
20% Student
45%

Sele Emloyed
25%

Analysis: 45% percent of customers are Student , while remaining

65% are Self employed and employees.

Interpretation: Tata Docomo Services are popular among

students.

5. What make you think to use Tata Docomo?

REASON TO USE NO. OF PERCENTAGE

TATA DOCOMO RESPONDENTS
Second Billing 9 45%

56
 Prompt service 6 30%
Schemes 4 20%
Advertising 1 5%
Total 20 100%

Reason to use Tata Docomo

Advertising
5%

Schemes
20%

Second Billing
45%

Prompt Service
30%

Analysis: 45% consumer prefers Tata Docomo because of Second

Billing system, where 55% use it because of Prompt Service,
Schemes, and Advertising.

Interpretation: Above analysis shows that Second Billing system is

most popular feature to make Tata Docomo popular, as well Tata
Docomo’s prompt service is another most popular reason to use.

6. What do you do if you have a problem?

ACTIVITY NO. OF PERCENTAGE

RESPONDENT
CALL CUSTOMER CARE 12 60%
EMAIL TO HELP DESK 1 5%
CONTACT TATA 6 30%
DOCOMO TRUE VALUE
SHOPPE

57
 OTHER 1 5%
TOTAL 20 100%

Way To Approach Tata Docomo

OTHER
5%

CONTACT TATA DOCOMO TRUE VALUE SHOPPE

30%

CALL CUSTOMER CARE

60%

EMAIL TO HELP DESK

5%

Analysis: 60% customer prefer to call the customer care to solve

the problem, where 30% customer like to contact to Tata Docomo
True Value Shoppe and 5% customer lodge their complaint via Email
and 5% customer solve their problem by other ways.

Interpretation: Above analysis shows that calling to customer care

is a easiest way to make complaints, also contacting to the Tata
Docomo True Value Shoppe is a preferable method of lodging
complaint, making a email is comparatively less popular way to
make complaint.

7. Do you get satisfied after approaching to Docomo?

RESULT NO. OF RESPONDENT PERCENTAGE

YES 18 90%
NO 2 10%
TOTAL 20 100%

58
 Satisfaction after Approaching Tata Docomo

NO
10%

YES
90%

Analysis: 90% customers get satisfied with Tata Docomo customer

support and 10% are not satisfied with it.

Interpretation: Majority of customers are satisfied with Tata

Docomo customer support, still there is a wide scope for
improvement.

8. How do you rank customer service of Docomo?

RANK NO. OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

EXCELLENT 6 30%
GOOD 12 60%
AVERAGE 1 5%
POOR 1 5%
TOTAL 20 100%

59
 Ranking of Tata Docomo Services
POOR
AVERAGE 5%
5%

EXCELLENT
30%

GOOD
60%

Analysis: 30% of customers feel that the services are excellent and
60% of customers feel that the services are good & 5% customer
think that the services average and poor.

Interpretation: On the good extent customer rank Tata docomo

services are excellent; at a big quantity customer feels that services
are good while there are a few customers are less happy with Tata
Docomo services.

9. What recharge method do you use?

RECHARGE METHOD NO. OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

PAPER RECHARGE 10 50%
EASY RECHARGE 8 40%
ONLINE RECHARGE 2 10%
TOTAL 20 100%

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 Recharging Method
ONLINE RECHARGE
10%

PAPER RECHARGE
EASY RECHARGE 50%
40%

Analysis: 50% customer prefers paper recharge method while 40%

&10% customer prefer easy and online recharge method
respectively.

Interpretation:

Paper Recharge is most popular recharging method among all the

methods.

10. What is your overall opinion about Tata Docomo

Services?

OPINION NO. OF RESPONDENT PERCENTAGE

EXCELLENT 6 30%
GOOD 11 55%
AVERAGE 2 10%
POOR 1 5%
TOTAL 20 100%

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 Overall Opinion
POOR
5%
AVERAGE
10%

EXCELLENT
30%

GOOD
55%

Analysis: 30% customer’s over all opinion about Tata Docomo

Services is Excellent, where 55% thing that Good services provided
by Tata Docomo, with 10% and 5% percent customer think that
services are Average and poor.

Interpretation: Most of the people think that services provided by

Tata Docomo are good and excellent.

11. Will you recommend Tata Docomo Services?

RECOMMENDATION NO. OF RESPONDENT PERCENTAGE

YES 13 65%
NO 7 35%
TOTAL 20 100%

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 Recommendation of Tata Docomo

NO
35%

YES
65%

Analysis: 65% customer say Yes to recommend Tata Docomo

Services while 35% said No to recommend.

Interpretation: Majority of existing customer agreed to

recommend Tata Docomo Services, a very few quantity deny to
recommendation.

Questions for customer of other than Docomo:

12. Why don’t you use Tata Docomo?

REASON NO. OF RESPONDENT PERCENTAGE

SATISFIED WITH 8 10%
PRESENT SERVICE
USING OTHER 20 25%

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 SERVICE FROM A
LONG TIME
DONT WANT TO 28 35%
CHANGE NO.
NOT AWARE ABOUT 24 30%
TATADOCOMO’S
TARIFF PLANS
TOTAL 80 100%

Reason for not using Tata Docomo

SATISFIED WITH PRESENT SERVICE
10%

NOT AWARE ABOUT TATADOCOMO’S TARIFF PLANS

30%

USING OTHER SERVICE FROM A LONG TIME

25%

DONT WANT TO CHANGE NO.

35%

Analysis: Only 10% customer are satisfied with current services

where 25% customer are use it because they are using present
service from long time, 35 % customer don’t want to change their
number, while 30% people are unaware about Tata Docomo tariff
plans.

Interpretation: Above analysis shows that there is very less

quantity of customer satisfied with current services, Above
information shows that Tata Docomo Services can Capture above
market with application of a special marketing plan.

13. If Mobile Portability get Started would you like to

be ported into Tata Docomo?

64
 POSSIBILITY OF NO. OF RESPONDENT PERCENTAGE
PORTABILITY
YES 52 65%
NO 28 35%
TOTAL 80 100%

Possibility of Portability

No
35%

Yes
65%

Analysis: 65% of customers want to get ported in Tata Docomo,

while 35% want to stay with current service provider.

Interpretation: If the portability get started there will be a good

quantity of competitors’ customer to be ported into Tata Docomo.

FINDINGS

1. 97 out of 100 respondents are mobile user.

2. On the big extent customers are happy with Tata Docomo
Services.
3. Among youngsters Tata Docomo Services are more popular.

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4. Market is quite competent with presence of many major players.
5. There is a wide scope for improvement in services as market is
quite competent, strong need to understand needs of unhappy
customers.

Hypothesis:

1. Selection of Tata Teleservices is affected by the age of the

customer.

The youth is more attracted towards Tata Docomo as it has

many attractive plans and scheme for this segment.

2. Selection of Tata Teleservices is affected by Gender.

Gender bias is not a big issue in the selection of TTSL.

3. There exists a positive relationship between Docomo Purchase

Intention & Various schemes available.

4. There exists a positive relationship between purchase intention

& Connectivity.

Limitations:-

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 1 Peoples negative attitude towards responding

2 Sometimes no response too.

3 The study will be limited to Amravati City only

4 The sample size is 100 so the sample may not be truly

representative of total population.

5 Possibility of incorrect responses gained from the respondent

exists.

6 The period of study is limited.

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3. Do you use Mobile?

4. Which service do you use?

5. Which is your age group?

6. What is your profession?

7. What make you think to use Tata Docomo?

8. What do you do if you have a problem?

9. Do you get satisfied after approaching to Docomo?

10. How do you rank customer service of Docomo?

11. What recharge method do you use?

12. Will you recommend Tata Docomo Services?

68