BACHELORS OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

MINOR PROJECT REPORT

ONA STUDY OF COMPARISION OF PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY OF

VODAOFONE AND AIRTELBATCH 2011-2014

Submitted to: Submitted by:Name of guide Name of studentDesignation Enrollment no.

Trinity Institute of Professional StudiesAffiliated to Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, New Delhi

STUDENT UNDERTAKING

This is to certify that I have completed the Project titled A STUDY OF COMPARISION

OF PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY OF VODAOFONE AND AIRTEL in

_____________under the guidance of ________ in partial fulfillment of the requirement

for the award of degree of Bachelor of Business Administration at _____________,

Delhi. This is an original piece of work & I have not submitted it earlier elsewhere.

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CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the project titled A STUDY OF COMPARISION OF

PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY OF VODAOFONE AND AIRTEL is an academic

work done by _____________submitted in the partial fulfillment of the requirement for

the award of the degree of Bachelor of Business Administration from Trinity Institute of

Professional Studies, Delhi, under my guidance & direction. To the best of my

knowledge and belief the data & information presented by him in the project has not been

submitted earlier.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Success is an effort bounded activity that involves co-operation of all. I hereby take the

opportunity to express my profound sense of gratitude and reverence to all those who

have helped and encouraged me towards successful completion of the Project Report. It

has been a great experience working on the A STUDY OF COMPARISION OF

PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY OF VODAOFONE AND AIRTEL. It gives me

complete insight of this concept of marketing and its application.

I would like to thank my Project Guide ____________ for her immense guidance,

valuable help and the opportunity provided to me to complete the project under her

guidance.

I would like to thank all faculty members of Trinity Institute of Professional Studies

Studies for guiding and supporting me in the completion of project from time to time.

Last but not the least, my gratitude to great almighty and my parents without whose

concerned and devoted support the project would not have been the way it is today.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

S.NO Particulars Page No.

1 Chapter I Introduction & Literature Review 1

Introduction 12

History 14

2 Chapter II Research Objectives & Methodology 15

Research Objective of the Study 15

Research Methodology 17

Research Design 18

Types of Research Design 19

Data Collection 23

Primary 28

Secondary 30

3 Chapter III Data Processing , Analysis & Interpretation 40

Data Processing 41

Analysis of the Problem Under Study 43

Interpretation of the Study 45

4 Findings 46

5 Limitations 47

6 Suggestions & Recommendations 48

7 Conclusion 49

8 Bibliography 50

9 Annexure 51

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Airtel as well Vodafone both are the best telecom companies of India. They are the

largest service providers in India in term of cellular services. Both are the toughest

competitors of each other. Vodafone with its new services and facilities is becoming a

threat for airtel as well as other cellular companies like Tata indicom, Reliance, Idea,

BSNL, etc. Today what people need is better connectivity and low priced GPRS facility

so that they can connect with their loved ones all the time and throughout the globe.

Airtel provides variety of services like dth, broadband and mobile service in which

Vodafone lacks. Airtel is earning large amount of finance due to its broadband services.

Airtel GPRS service is economical than Vodafone but Vodafone has better range and

network as compared to Airtel. Also, Airtel mobile internet is much more reasonable in

many parts of the country as compared to Vodafone.

Marketing is very vital part of every business. Thus, telecom industries too need better

marketing strategies in order to attract more and more customers. Vodafone with its

innovative marketing strategies has been able to win millions of new customers. The

most common example of this is the use of “legendary zoo zoos “in commercials. On the

other hand airtel relies on its old marketing strategies like endorsing its company services

by the use of superstars like Shah Rukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor and Sachin Tendulkar.

If you travel abroad very frequently than you should switch to Vodafone as it has better

international coverage. But Airtel is far better than Vodafone in terms of number of

customers and variety of services offered like broadband facility, landline phone facility

in which Vodafone lacks. Whenever we buy any connection we always want a

reasonable and economical calling and messaging service provider. Vodafone new plans

and schemes are threat to Airtel in this case as Vodafone try to provide best to its

customer at lowest cost. Vodafone provide value based services to its customers where as

airtel connectivity is better when it comes to calling and messaging.

Customer care as the name suggests it is for the customer satisfaction and convience.The

main aim of it is to provide valuable service to customers as solve their problems. But

airtel lacks in its customer care services. The people sitting in their customer care office

lack in basic ethic sense and mannerism to deal with their customers. Vodafone customer

care is also not so good but Airtel customer care is worst than any other telecom

company.

The study will be based on the both companies advertisement and promotion strategy

where the research will follow the research methodology guideline to oversee the entire

advertisement and promotional offering for the both companies.

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION TO THE TOPIC

The Indian telecommunication sector has registered a phenomenal growth during the past

few years and has emerged as the second largest network in the world. On back of

ongoing investments into infrastructure, the country is projected to witness high

penetration of Internet, broadband, and mobile subscribers in the near future, as per an

RNCOS report.

India's mobile services market will touch Rs 1,200 billion (US$ 20.24 billion) in 2013,

registering a growth of 8 per cent from Rs 1,100 billion (US$ 18.55 billion) in 2012,

according to a report by Gartner Inc. Mobile connections are expected to grow to 770

million in 2013, an 11 percent increase from 712 million connections in 2012.

Internet traffic in India is expected to reach from 393 petabytes per month in 2012 to 2.5

exabytes per month in 2017, highlighted a Cisco study. "Internet traffic growth in India is

the fastest globally," said Mr Robert Pepper, VP (Global Technology Policy), Cisco.

Key Statistics

India is expected to have 130.6 million mobile internet users by March 2014, as per a

joint study by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and Indian Market

Research Bureau (IMRB).

The mobile value-added services (MVAS) market is expected to reach US$ 9.5 billion in

2015, from US$ 4.9 billion in 2012, stated a joint research report by Wipro Technologies

and the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).

The telecommunications industry attracted foreign direct investments (FDI) worth US$

12,856 million between April 2000 to March 2013, an increase of 7 per cent to the total

FDI inflows in terms of US$, according to data published by Department of Industrial

Policy and Promotion (DIPP).

Market Dynamics

The Indian mobile phone market is highly competitive with more than 150 device

manufacturers trying to woo the consumers with their offerings. Most of these producers

focus their efforts on the low-cost feature phone market, which constitutes over 91 per

cent of overall mobile phone sales, offering a huge scope for growth.

"India will add more Internet users than any country in the world over the next three

years, as average penetration rises from 10 per cent to 28 per cent," as per McKinsey and

Co report. Besides, with increased Internet penetration, 22 million jobs would be created

by 2015.

The number of mobile banking transactions in India doubled to 5.6 million worth US$

114.72 million in January 2013 from 2.8 million transactions worth US$ 35.06 million in

January 2012.

Key Developments & Investments

A consortium of global telecom service providers, including Reliance Jio

Infocomm and Vodafone, have signed an agreement to construct and maintain a

submarine telecom and data cable system connecting Southeast and South Asia to

West Asia, as well as other regions. Alcatel-Lucent has signed an agreement with

the consortium to deploy the Bay of Bengal Gateway (BBG) system. The 8,000

km BBG cable, to be operational by end of 2014, would link six countries

Reliance Communication (RCom) and Reliance Jio have signed a Rs 12,000 crore

(US$ 2.02 billion) agreement. The latter will use 45,000 of RCom’s 50,000

ground and rooftop-based towers so that the rollout of 4G services can be

accelerated, the two companies said in a press statement

OnMobile has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire business assets and

liabilities of the US-based firm Livewire Mobile for US$ 17.8 million

Bharti Airtel plans to invest Rs 734.5 crore (US$ 123.86 million) in Gabon,

Africa. The company will support social and commercial programmes including

deployment of 3G and 4G networks, said Mr Manoj Kohli, Managing Director

and CEO (International), Bharti Airtel. In addition, Airtel plans to use

environmentally-friendly energy sources to power its telecom towers in Africa in

order to reduce the operational costs of running the network

ZTE Corporation has entered into an exclusive agreement with Pune-based Calyx

Group to market and distribute its products - smartphones and tablets - across the

country

The trend in mobile data growth in India is in line with other high growth mobile

data markets around the world. "The fact that data consumption by 3G users has

tripled in one year clearly shows the rapid and steady increase in mobile data

consumption in India. This translates into the need for high-quality mobile

broadband services with improved speed and service quality to satisfy mobile

broadband users," said Mr Sandeep Girotra, Head of India region, Nokia Siemens

Networks

The pan-India GSM subscriber base stood at 667.56 million in April 2013, a 0.47

per cent rise for the second successive month in terms of net customer additions in

May 2013, according to latest subscriber growth numbers unveiled by Cellular

Operators Association of India COAI)

Moreover, rural India added 3.8 million subscribers, of which 1.66 million joined

Bharti Airtel, making the Indian bellwether the largest rural player again.

Government Initiatives

The Government intends to make India a teleport hub, enabling it to become an

up-linking/down-linking centre. The initiative is expected to facilitate foreign

investments, better technology and sustainable employment opportunities in the

country. The Government has recently given its nod to 74 per cent of FDI in

DTH, IPTV, and mobile TV

The telecom tower provider industry has been granted the 'infrastructure' status, a

move that will make tower providers eligible for viability gap funding, higher

limit on external commercial borrowings (ECBs), lower import duties and

exemptions on excise duty on telecom infrastructure equipment

The new guidelines have been issued by the Department of Telecommunications

(DoT) according to which foreign entities can participate in the upcoming 2G

auctions directly and obtain a licence. The initiative is expected to make the

upcoming auctions more attractive to certain foreign players such as Telenor,

which wanted to bid directly without an Indian partner in the auctions. There will

be a lock-in period of three years

Road Ahead

The Indian telecom sector, on back of various policy initiatives, has witnessed a complete

transformation in the last decade. It has achieved a phenomenal growth during the last

few years and is poised to take a big leap in the future.

At present, India's information and communication technology (ICT) exports are the most

significant component of the internet's impact on the country’s gross domestic product

(GDP) but private consumption and investment from private and public sector have

greater potential to grow in the future, as per a report by McKinsey and Co.

OBJECTIVE

The objectives of this study/project as follows:

To study different promotional strategy followed by the both Airtel & Vodafone

company.

To study customer awareness about the respective advertisement launched by the

company.

To study the customer satisfaction regarding the customer care services and after

sales service.

To study the benefits that the product was offering that the competitors were not

offering and to study if the customer were satisfied with the benefits

CHAPTER-II

LITRATURE REVIEW

1. Kalavani (2006) in their study analyzed that majority of the respondents have

given favorable opinion towards the services but some problems exist that deserve

the attention of the service providers. They need to bridge the gap between the

services promised and services offered. The overall customers’ attitude towards

cell phone services is that they are satisfied with the existing services but still they

want more services to be provided.

2. Seth et al (2008), in their study titled “Managing the Customer Perceived Service

Quality for Cellular Mobile Telephone: an Empirical Investigation” analyzed that

there is relative importance of service quality attributes and showed that

responsiveness is the most importance dimension followed by reliability,

customer perceived network quality, assurance, convenience, empathy and

tangibles. This would enable the service providers to focus their resources in the

areas of importance. The research resulted in the development of a reliable and

valid instrument for assessing customer perceived service quality for cellular

mobile services.

3. Samuvel, “customer satisfaction for cellular services, a study with a reference to

BPL and Aircel mobile phones and services”, a published M.Phil. dissertation,

submitted to Bharathiar university, Coimbatore, December 2002

4. Kalpana and Chinnadurai (2006) in their study titled “Promotional Strategies of

Cellular Services: A Customer Perspective” analyzed that the increasing

competition and changing taste and preferences of the customer’s all over the

world are forcing companies to change their targeting strategies. The study

revealed the customer attitude and their satisfaction towards the cellular services

in Coimbatore city.

5. Rick (2008): in his study found that companies with sound customer strategies

can use that ultimate loyalty program as a differentiator in an increasingly

muddled market. In an increasingly competitive market, customer loyalty efforts

can play a major part in the attraction of new customers and the retention of

current ones. As consumers' choices expand, the importance of a sound customer

relationship strategy becomes more and more important for the success of the

company.

6. Shikha Ojha (2009) conducted a study on “Consumer Awareness of VAS of

Telecom Sector of India”. She analyzed the contribution of the mobile phone

services not only at the national or state level, but also its involvement in an

individual's life. She found out that the less number of users are aware of all the

VAS provided by the service providers and thus the companies should focus on

the awareness campaign.

7. Shirshendu Ganguli (2008) conducted a study on “Drivers of Customer

Satisfaction in Indian Cellular services Market “in which he discussed the impact

of service quality and features on customer satisfaction from the cellular users

viewpoint.

8. J D Power(2009) conducted a study on “Customers increasingly want telecom

services and products to be bundled” based on responses collected from 11,911

customers nationwide and examined the overall customer satisfaction on six

factors – customer service, reliability, billing, image, cost of service, offers &

promotions.

9. Girish Taneja & Neeraj Kaushik (2007) conducted a study on “Customers

perception towards Mobile service providers: An analytical study” aims to deduce

the factors that customers perceive to be the most important while utilizing the

services of a mobile service provider.

10. Anita Seth (2007) in his study on “Quality of service parameters in cellular

mobile communication” developed a model of service quality and a set of

dimensions for comparative evaluation which could provide useful directions to

regulators and service providers.

1) Brand selection

The research study tiltled “factors affecting the brand decision in the mobile phone

industry” in Asia by Liu 2002.This study found that the choice of a cellular phone is

characterized by two attitudes to brands : attitude towards the mobile phone brand on

one hand and attitude towards the network on the other. While price and regularity of

service were found to dominate choice between network providers, choices between

mobile phone brands were affected by new technology features such as memory capacity

and SMS – options, more than size. The brand will actually be not towards smaller

phones but towards phones with better capability and larger screen.

2) Consumer satisfaction

This study is conducted by TRAI. It assesses the satisfaction level of consumers

encompassing quality of technical service, quality and operational aspects of gadgets and

social /psychological costs due to unsolicited promotional calls /SMS. The analysis in

this report shows that the consumption behavior of the mobile phone users in Delhi and

covers the aspects like usage pattern of the mobile phone services, assessment of the level

of satisfaction, preference for various attributes and functionalities of gadgets .

3) Consumer behavior

The titled named “consumer buying behavior” by Martin Tina; Sam Manaberi

[2005] discussed the industrial purchasing stands for more than half of the whole

economic activity in industrialized countries. Therefore it is important to understand how

industries perform buying activities. The telecommunication industry is a fast growing

industry and therefore interesting to investigate. The purpose of this study was to

investigate the characteristics of industrial buying behaviour in the telecommunication

industry. The purpose has been further developed in forms of research questions dealing

with the buying process, buying center and choice criteria. A case study was made with a

customer, to the telecom supplier Ericsson, from the company HI3G Access, also known

as 3. A highly topical company in the third generation telecom networks with Ericsson as

one of their primary suppliers. The conducted telephone interview indicates a swift

buying process, influenced by word of mouth. Additional findings involve a small buying

center, which is mainly controlled by the technical and procurement staff and the

importance of price as a selection criteria as the product is becoming a commodity.

4) Consumer behavior

The article named “consumer buying behavior in mobile phone market in Finland” by

EMAC conference, Track : New Technologies and E – Marketing. The survey conducted

with 397 consumers and looked at their motives to purchase new mobile phones on one

hand and factors

affecting operator choice on the other. The results indicate that while price and properties

were the most influencial factors affecting the purchase of a new mobile phone, price,

audibility and friends operator were regarded as the most important in the choice of the

mobile phone operator. This paper concludes with a discussion of contributions and

purposes ideas for future studies in this under researched area.

5) Customer buying behavior

The project study titled “customer buying behavior of mobile phone brands” by

Riquelme (2001. She conducted an experiment with 94 consumers to identify the amount

of self – knowledge consumers have when choosing between mobile phone brands. The

study was build upon six key attributes like telephone features, connection fee , access

cost , mobile to mobile phone rates call rates and free calls related to mobile phone

purchasing respondents had to importance rate. The research shows that consumers with

prior experience about a product can predict their choices relatively well but customers

tended to overestimate the importance of features, call rates, and free call and

underestimates the importance of a monthly access fee, mobile to mobile phones rates

and the connection fee.

6) Consumer perception

The article titled “consumer perception and its choice mobile telecom service provider in

Malaysia,Journal of International Business and Economics, May, 2007 by Ahasanul

Haque, Ali Khatibi, Abdur Raquib, Shameem Al Mahmud. The study aims to find out

what are critical

factors those are playing an important role to select the telecommunication service

provider. Result provides a comprehensive analysis of the important factors for playing

an important role for the customer to select the telecommunication service provider. The

analysis confirms the significant positive relationship of price, service quality, product

quality and availability, and promotional offer for consumer perception. These factors are

expected to have a great role during the time to choose telecommunication service

provider. In conclusion, practitioners can be deriving a better understanding of the

activities that are being played a vital role for the consumer perception.

Consumer

An individual who buys products or services for personal use and not for manufacture or

resale. A consumer is someone who can make the decision whether or not to purchase an

item at the store, and someone who can be influenced by marketing and advertisements

Customer

A person, company, or other entity which buys goods and services produced by another

person, company, or other entity.

Customer service

According to Turban et al “customer service is a series of activities designed to enhance

the level of customer satisfaction that is, the feeling that aproduct or service has met the

customer expectation.

The needs, wants and preconceived ideas of a customer about a product or service.

Customer expectation will be influenced by a customer’s perception of the product or

service and can be created by previous experience, advertising , hearsay, awareness of

competitors and brand image. The level of customer service is also a factor and a

customer might expect to encounter efficiency, helpfulness, reliability, confidence in the

staff and a personal interest in his / her patronage.

Learn to identify and analyze customer needs and problems

Recognize the most common reasons for customer complaints

Discover techniques to cultivate and maintain special customer relationships

Assess your communication style and use two – way communication skills to

level with people, to accept feedback from them, and to discuss problems

Identify specific problems in your customer service program and apply treatment.

Customer satisfaction

Customer satisfaction is a measure of how products and services supplied by the

company meet or surpass customer expectation. Satisfaction is a person’s feelings of

pleasure or disappointment resulting from comparing a product’s perceived performance

in relation to his or her expectation.

Encourage face to face dealing

Be friendly and approachable

Respond to messages promptly and keep your client informed

Have a clear defined customer service policy

Attention to detail

Anticipate your client’s needs and go out of your way to help them out

Honour your promises

Kano's model of customer satisfaction distinguishes six categories of quality attributes,

from which the first three actually influence customer satisfaction:

1. Basic Factors. (Dissatisfiers. Must have.) - The minimum requirements which

will cause dissatisfaction if they are not fulfilled, but do not cause customer

satisfaction if they are fulfilled (or are exceeded). The customer regards these as

prerequisites and takes these for granted. Basic factors establish a market entry

'threshold'.

2. Excitement Factors. (Satisfiers. Attractive.) - The factors that increase customer

satisfaction if delivered but do not cause dissatisfaction if they are not delivered.

These factors surprise the customer and generate 'delight'. Using these factors, a

company can really distinguish itself from its competitors in a positive way.

3. Performance Factors. The factors that cause satisfaction if the performance is

high, and they cause dissatisfaction if the performance is low. Here, the attribute

performance-overall satisfaction is linear and symmetric. Typically these factors

are directly connected to customers' explicit needs and desires and a company

should try to be competitive here.

4. Indifferent attributes. The customer does not care about this feature.

5. Questionable attributes. It is unclear whether this attribute is expected by the

customer.

6. Reverse attributes. The reverse of this product feature was expected by the

customer.

Five facts for improving productivity

As senior managers, only know about the tip of the iceberg, a small fraction of all

the problems your customers encounter.

Service can be a major marketing tool

Customer problems can cost not only an immediate lost sale, but also future

purchases by that customer and by other customers as a result of negative word-

of-mouth behavior.

We can and must quantify the expected payback from service and/or quality

improvements.

The market transaction (sale) often is not the key point of customer pain and lost

revenue.

DOING THE JOB RIGHT THE FIRST TIME + EFFECTIVE CUSTOMER SERVICE =

MAXIMUM CUSTOMER SATISFACTION/LOYALTY

Customer oriented organization chart

In this pyramid shows customers will be the top most priority and next in importance are

front line people who meet, serve and satisfy customers ; under them are the middle

managers, whose job is to support the front – line people so they can serve customers

well and at the base is top management, whose job is to hire and support good middle

managers.

Customer behavior

Customer behavior is to know about the customer’s way to obtain, use and dispose

products. It's important for marketing to know the customer behavior by using different

strategies. There are so many different ways to influence customers like new products,

promotions, advertisement, good quality and price etc.

Customer behavior analysis is based on consumer buying behaviour, with the customer

playing the three distinct roles of user, payer and buyer. Relationship marketing is an

influential asset for customer behaviour analysis as it has a keen interest in the re-

discovery of the true meaning of marketing through the re-affirmation of the importance

of the customer or buyer. Customer behaviour analysis aims to ultimately improve

business performance through an understanding of past and present customers so as to

determine and identify future customers and their behaviour.

Customer-Focused Marketing

All marketing is done with the customer in mind. Marketing can in fact be referred to as

an on-going conversation occuring between business and customer. It is therefore

necessary for businesses to gain in-depth knowledge of their relative customers so that

the best marketing strategies can be employed in order to attract these potential buyers.

This can effectively be done by performing activities such as customer behaviors analysis

to ensure customer retention. Listed below are a number of tips to aid businesses striving

towards customer retention through marketing efforts:

1. Marketing as a Conversation:

Direct interaction with customers is necessary to essentially find out what it is that they

are wanting. This marketing conversation involves a process running from action -

reaction - feedback - repeat. Businesses need to be willing to take the time to listen to

their customers as this can ensure a business of putting something up for offer which is of

great worth amongst their targeted consumers, and is relative to their particular needs and

desires. It is required for businesses to constantly perform marketing promotion so that

these customers will come back for more. Giving satisfaction to first-time buyers can

prove effective for a business in the long-run for the reason that by giving customers

what they desire the first time round, customer retention is encouraged through this form

of customer loyalty.

2. Active Customers:

Making customers feel as though they are in control is an effective strategy in customer-

focused marketing. This is done by transforming consumers into active customers who

are given the ability to make choices for themselves by actively engaging in promotions

and, hereby, deciding on the best possible products and services their money can buy.

Customer retention is encouraged through this interaction with customers which aids in

customer loyalty. Businesses need to make each and every one of their customers feel

good about themselves by giving them something to do. Therefore, retaining customers

means keeping them happy by keeping them active.

3. Determining Future Customer Behaviour:

This is most effectively done through an analysis of the actual behaviour of past and

present customers. Actual behaviour needs to be differentiated from demographic

behaviours (which are implied consumer characteristics). Actual behaviour is, as such,

better at predicting the future which is done by keeping a watch over the actions

customers perform with regard to online purchases and the products they purchase over

the Internet.

4. Allocating Resources for Marketing:

Businesses need to take their budget into consideration when allocating resources

for promotions. It is well-known amongst businesses that some marketing

activities will generate higher profits than others and data therefore needs to be

created by interacting with customers in order to consequentially identify the most

profitable promotions, which will be delivered to the right customer at the right

time, without wasting time or money. Hereby, effective marketing means

avoiding unprofitable promotion which will as such mean not reaching the right

customers and wasting money.

Customer buying behaviour

Process by which individual search for select, purchase, use and dispose of goods and

services, in satisfaction of their needs and wants.

Types

Minor new purchase – these purchases represent something new to a consumer

but in the customer’s mind is not a very important purchase in terms of need,

money or other reason.

Minor re- purchase – these are the most routine of all purchase and often the

consumer returns to purchase the same product without giving much thought to

other product options.

Major new purchase – these purchases are the most difficult of all purchase

because the product being purchased is important to the consumer but the

consumer has little or no previous experience making new decisions. The

consumer’s lack of confidence in making this type of decision often requires the

consumer to engage in an extensive decision making process

Major repurchase – the purchase decision are also important to the consumer

feels confident in making these decisions since they have previous experience

purchasing the product

Stages of the Consumer Buying Process

Six Stages to the Consumer Buying Decision Process .

1. Problem Recognition(awareness of need)--difference between the desired state

and the actual condition were deficient? I.E., see a commercial for a new pair of

shoes, stimulates your recognition that you need a new pair of shoes.

2. Information search--

o Internal search, memory.

o External search if you need more information. Friends and relatives (word

of mouth). Marketer dominated sources; comparison shopping; public

sources etc.

3. Evaluation of Alternatives--need to establish criteria for evaluation, features the

buyer wants or does not want.

4. Purchase decision--Choose buying alternative, includes product, package, store,

method of purchase etc.

5. Purchase--May differ from decision, time lapse between 4 & 5, product

availability.

6. Post-Purchase Evaluation--outcome: Satisfaction or Dissatisfaction. Cognitive

Dissonance, have you made the right decision. This can be reduced by warranties,

after sales communication etc.

Problem recognition

Information search

Evaluation of

alternetives

Purchase decision Purchase

Post purchase

evaluation

Buying behavior model

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Gaining a better understanding of customers buying behaviour is based on knowing the

following;

Awareness

Reasons for buying

How often do they buy

Current usage

Reasons for usage

What do they buy?

Where do they like to buy?

Where do they gather their buying information

Are they an exclusive customer?

Customer loyalty

The term customer loyalty is used to describe the behavior of repeat customers, as well as

those that offer good ratings, reviews, or testimonials. Some customers do a particular

company a great service by offering favorable word of mouth publicity regarding a

product, telling friends and family, thus adding them to the number of loyal customers.

Ten ways to build customer loyalty:

Self Actualisatio

n(self development,frui

tion of

one's capabilities

Esteem Needs (recognition, status)

Social Needs (sense of belonging, love)

Safety needs(security, protection)

Physiological Needs(like hunger and thirst)

1. Communicate: - Whether it is an email newsletter, monthly flier, a reminder card

for a tune up, or a holiday greeting card, reach out to the customers.

2. Customer Service: - Go the extra distance and meet customer needs. Train the

staff to do the same. Customers remember being treated well.

3. Employee Loyalty: - Loyalty works from the top down. If managers are loyal to

the employees, they will feel positively about their jobs and pass that loyalty

along to customers.

4. Employee Training: - Train the employees and interact with customers. Empower

employees to make decisions that benefit the customer.

5. Customer Incentives: - Give customers a reason to return to business.

6. Product Awareness: - Know what y steady patrons purchase and keep those items

in stock.

7. Reliability: - If a purchase will arrive on Wednesday, deliver it on Wednesday. Be

reliable. If something goes wrong, let customers know immediately and

compensate them for their inconvenience.

8. Be Flexible: - Try to solve customer problems or complaints to the best of ability.

9. People over Technology: - The harder it is for a customer to speak to a human

being when he or she has a problem, the less likely it is that you will see that

customer again.

10. Know Their Names: - Remember the theme song to the television show Cheers?

Get to know the names of regular customers or at least recognize their faces.

Customer loyalty model

This model is developed by Schelsinger and Heskett (1991). In this model explains that

effort spent in selecting and training employees and creating a corporate culture in which

they are empowered can lead to increased employee satisfaction and employee

competence. This will likely result in superior service delivery and customer satisfaction.

This in turn will create customer loyalty, improved sales levels and higher profit margins.

Essentials of customer care

1) Encourage employees to deliver high-quality customer care.

Make sure employees have good basic communication skills.

Train employees in job-specific skills.

Train all relevant personnel how to answer and deal with telephone calls.

Make sure employees can handle complaints effectively.

They should apologise, be sympathetic, listen, establish the facts, agree what to

do and then do it

2) Think of ways to make life easier for customers.

Try to save the customer inconvenience.

Exceed your customers’ expectations.

Keep customers informed about any problems, and make it easy for them to

contact

Use your website to give customers the services and information they want.

3) Use appropriate technology.

A good database system can help you record, organise and plan your contact

with customers.

Make sure information from your website can be transferred to your main

database.

Contact management software may be a useful tool if you have a lot of high-

value customer accounts.

Company will need to explain the advantages of the system to employees, and

provide training and incentives for use.

4) Give customers a personalised service.

A common way to achieve this is by giving each customer an account manager.

Personalise all communication.

Personalise the email addresses of customer-facing employees

If use computerised telephone systems, give customers the option of talking to an

operator at any time.

Customer retention

Customer Retention is the activity that a selling organization undertakes in order to

reduce customer defections. Successful customer retention starts with the first contact an

organization has with a customer and continues throughout the entire lifetime of a

relationship. A company’s ability to attract and retain new customers, is not only related

to its product or services, but strongly related to the way it services its existing customers

and the reputation it creates within and across the marketplace.

Customer retention rate: -- The customer retention rate refers to the number of customers

lost over a period of time. It is normally calculated by the percentage of lost customers

versus existing customers over a quarterly or annual period, without tallying new

customer acquisitions

Customer life time value

Customer lifetime value enable an organization to calculate the net present value of the

profit an organization will realize on a customer over a given period of time. Retention

Rate is the percentage of the total number of customers retained in context to the

customers that approached for cancellation.

Customer perception

Perception is the process of selecting, organizing and interpreting information inputs to

produce meaning. IE we chose what info we pay attention to, organize it and interpret it.

Information inputs are the sensations received through sight, taste, hearing, smell and

touch.

Selective Exposure-select inputs to be exposed to our awareness. More likely if it

is linked to an event, satisfies current needs, intensity of input changes (sharp

price drop).

Selective Distortion-Changing/twisting current received information, inconsistent

with beliefs.

Selective Retention-Remember inputs that support beliefs, forgets those that don't.

Factors influencing perception

COMPANY PROFILE

Vodafone Group Plc is the world's leading mobile telecommunications company, with a

significant presence in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and the United States

through the Company's subsidiary undertakings, joint ventures, associated undertakings and

investments. The Group's mobile subsidiaries operate under the brand name 'Vodafone'. In

the United States the Group's associated undertaking operates as Verizon Wireless. During

the last two financial years, the Group has also entered into arrangements with network

operators in countries where the Group does not hold an equity stake. Under the terms of

these Partner Network Agreements, the Group and its partner networks co-operate in the

development and marketing of global services under dual brand logos.

At 31 March 2009, based on the registered customers of mobile telecommunications

ventures in which it had ownership interests at that date, the Group had 303 million

customers, excluding paging customers, calculated on a proportionate basis in accordance

with the Company's percentage interest in these ventures.

The Company's ordinary shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange and the

Company's American Depositary Shares ('ADSs') are listed on the New York Stock

Exchange. The Company had a total market capitalisation of approximately £66.9 billion at

18 May 2009.

Vodafone Group Plc is a public limited company incorporated in England under registered

number 1833679. Its registered office is Vodafone House, The Connection, Newbury,

Berkshire, RG14 2FN, England.

2.2 ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE

VODAFONE has been divided into 4 different Strategic Business Units (SBUs) which

comprise and confer major chunk of revenues for the organisation.

These SBUs are as follows:

- EBG - CMBU

- EHNI - ABU

EBG – Enterprise Business Group offers services and solutions to various corporate such as

VoIP, Post Paid (IOIP, COCP) etc.

EHNI and SME – Enterprise High Network Individuals and Small and Medium Enterprises

offers post paid connections to high network individuals and small enterprises. Having a

high demand, Post paid forms a major chunk of revenues for VODAFONE throughout

India.

CMBU – Consumer Market Business Unit offers prepaid connections to the individuals.

CMBU along with EHNI gives huge edge to VODAFONE in its category.

ABU – Access Business Unit is one of the most important Strategic Business Units of

VODAFONE. ABU along with the cities and towns caters rural India. ABU played an

essential in setting an organized PTB industry within India.

2.3. LIST OF KEY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL

2.4 CURRENT SALES, PRODUCT MIXThe Essar Group is a diversified business corporation with a balanced portfolio of assets

in the manufacturing and services sectors of Steel, Energy, Power, Communications,

Shipping Ports & Logistics, and Projects. Essar has a presence in more than 15 countries

worldwide.

With a firm foothold in India, the Essar Group has been focusing on global expansion

with projects and investments in Europe, North America, the Caribbean, Africa, the

Middle East and South East Asia. Privately owned and professionally managed, the

Group is judiciously invested in the commodity, annuity and services businesses.

Forward and backward integration, as well as the use of state-of-the-art technology and

in-house research and innovation have made Essar a leading player in each of its

businesses. Essar’s abiding philosophy is to be a low cost, high quality, technology

driven group with innovative customer offerings. The Essar Group was founded in 1969

by brothers Shri Shashi Ruia and Shri Ravi Ruia. The Ruia family’s origins are in

Rajasthan. Sometime in the 19th century, it moved to Mumbai and set up its own

business. In 1956, Shri Nandkishore Ruia, father to Shri Shashi and Ravi Ruia, moved to

Chennai, capital of the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, to begin independent business

activities. He mentored his two sons in the intricacies of business. When Shri

Nandkishore Ruia passed away in 1969, the brothers laid the foundation of the Group.

The Essar Group began its operations with the construction of an outer breakwater in

Chennai port. It quickly moved to capitalize on every emerging business opportunity,

becoming India’s first private company to buy a tanker in 1976. The Group also invested

in a diverse shipping fleet and oil rigs, when the Government of India opened up the

shipping and drilling businesses to private players in the 1980s. Then, in the 1990s, Essar

began its steelmaking business by setting up India’s first sponge iron plant in Hazira, a

coastal town in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The Group went on to build a pellet

plant in Visakhapatnam and eventually a fully integrated steel plant in Hazira.

Through the 1990s, with the gradual liberalization of the Indian economy, Essar seized

every opportunity that came its way. It diversified its shipping fleet, started oil & gas

exploration and production, laid the foundation of its oil refinery at Vadinar, Gujarat, and

set up a power plant near the steel complex in Hazira. The Construction business helped

the Group build most of its business assets. Essar also entered the GSM telephony

business, establishing India’s first mobile phone service in Delhi (branded Essar

Cellphone) with Swiss PTT as the joint venture partner. The 21st century for the Essar

Group has been all about consolidating and growing the businesses, with M&As, new

revenue streams and strategic geographical expansion.

2.5 MARKET POSITION

Some interesting facts about zoozoos:

On first look, these “zoo zoos” in vodafone tv ads may resemble animated cartoon

characters with an alien look or simply a stupid egg-head character with disproportional

white bodies and black dots for eyes and mouth.

But the interesting part is that zoo zoos are not animated characters but are actually slim

women actors from local mumbai theatres, dressed in white costumes that are stuffed

with foam to portray the characters.

These characters are named zoo zoos, and are created by o&m. These ads were directed

by prakash varma and were launched during the ongoing ipl 2 series.

They are human beings who were made to wear body suits. “the design of the characters

is such that one gets fooled into thinking it is animation,” shrugs rao, which was indeed

the very illusion that had to be created. “in a sense, it is ‘live’ animation!” He quips,

referring to the fact that it was all shot live.

To create large heads they used a material called perspex, which was again stuffed with

foam. Also, they casted only women and children to play the zoo zoos so that the thin

hands and legs made the heads look even bigger.

ADVERTISING PLAN OF THE VODAFONE

Vodafone’s partnership with mclaren mercedes series:

As title sponsor and official mobile partner of the ‘vodafone mclaren mercedes’ team,

vodafone is raising its association with formula 1 to the ultimate level. We

have committed to a long-term agreement, starting in 2010. The sponsorship

demonstrates vodafone’s ongoing commitment to the formula 1 world championship, a

sport which continues to deliver massive global television coverage and which has

significant appeal for vodafone’s consumer and business customers around the world.

The title sponsorship including the team name ‘vodafone mclaren mercedes’ and ‘official

mobile partner’ of the team gives vodafone; dominant title sponsorship branding on the

cars, drivers' and pit crews' overalls and helmets.

As we enter into this exciting new partnership the associative rights acquired provide

unique opportunities that will continue to raise brand awareness through the team name

and branding. The team partnership delivers a powerful integrated marketing platform

through advertising, hospitality, mobile content, handset offers and promotions and

through innovative activation will encourage preference and loyalty amongst vodafone’s

customers.

Vodafone with uefa champions league:

Vodafone is in its second season as official partner and official mobile network of the

uefa champions’ league, the world's largest annual football competition.

Vodafone is delighted to be at the forefront of europe’s premier club competition. After

the successes of last season's uefa champions league sponsorship and the agreements

announced in april to sponsor the uefa cup final and uefa super cup, vodafone is looking

forward to strengthening its position as a brand passionate about the beautiful game. The

uefa champions’ league is the world's greatest club football competition. During nine

months of every year, europe’s top 32 clubs battle it out for the trophy that proves they're

the best of the best. It's a sponsorship that delivers considerable value to vodafone and is

highly relevant to most of the vodafone operating companies. Football is the most

popular sport in the world. Huge numbers of vodafone customers are passionate about

football - and sponsorships help to convert this passion into a business relationship.

The partnership enables vodafone to deliver content including video highlights packages

and goal alerts from all uefa champions league matches to football fans on the vodafone

live! With 3g consumer service.

Vodafone tie-up with radio channel fever 104:

Vodafone tied up with radio channel fever 104 wherein the channel provides with cash

prizes of upto 1 lakh or more which is another promotion strategy adopted by vodafone

which was a success.

Vodafone sponsor of england cricket team:

As our sponsorship of the england cricket team comes to a close, we’ve got an impressive

line up to celebrate the 12th and final year of the partnership. This summer england will

once again embark on the quest for victory in the ultimate test of any england cricketer as

they take on australia in the npower ashes series; and as a vodafone customer, you can be

with us the whole way.

Vodafone soundbites

Vodafone sound bites explore every aspect of the global music scene. Featuring

international artists’ interviews at gigs and festivals, bands’ fantasy group line-ups, pre-

show rituals and performers describing their first time on stage, the programme brings an

authentic behind the scenes insight into the world of music.

Vodafone sound bites is available on tv, via a website (www.mtv-

vodafonesoundbites.com) and on mobile (wap.mtv-vodafonesoundbites.com) as a series

of twenty one, three minute shows. The website and mobile service carry additional

footage, as well as editorial and news elements.

Uniquely the programme is available in seven languages on mtv in germany, hungary, the

netherlands, portugal, romania, spain, turkey, the uk and ireland, australia, new zealand

and on the mtv european feed, covering sixteen countries!

Efforts taken to boost sales by vodafone (the zoo zoo series):

vodafone’s new series of advertisements feature lovable white, large-headed creatures

that have attracted more than 28,500 fans on face book. “they are so cute,” “they remind

me of casper who was my favourite cartoon.”

But for all those who think the zoo zoos are animated, here’s the shocker: they are real

people in costume. Rajiv rao, executive creative director (south asia) of ogilvy & mather,

the agency that handles vodafone advertisements, said: “we wanted to make real people

look as animated as possible.” Bangalore-based nirvana films shot the ads in cape town,

south africa, just in time for ipl.  Said prakash verma, nirvana’s owner and director of the

zoozoo campaign: “our actors were small-bodied, thin women covered in layers of white

fabric. Each facial expression was made of rubber and pasted on the actors.” In about 10

days, o&m completed the campaign shooting two-three films a day, each selling a

product or a service offered by vodafone. A dozen more films are expected as the league

progresses. The characters, which look like distant cousins of the pillsbury dough boy,

were enacted by professional ballet artists in white body suits. “what makes them so

endearing is that they are innocent people living in a simple world unlike ours, who laugh

loud when they laugh. And who seem to be in an in-between world of animation and

reality,” said mr. Rajiv rao, executive creative director, o&m. A film shot at 20 frames

per second  made the zoo zoo’s movements hurried and comical. Of the 29 different zoo

zoo ads created for the ipl, there will be a new one everyday.

2.6 DIRECT COMPETITORS

Airtel TATA

BHARTI AIRTEL

Bharti Airtel is one of India's leading private sector providers of telecommunications

services based on an aggregate of 25,885,709 customers as on July 31, 2009, consisting of

24,337,837 GSM mobile and 1,547,872 broadband & telephone customers. The businesses

at Bharti Airtel have been structured into three individual strategic business units (SBU’s) -

mobile services, broadband & telephone services (B&T) & enterprise services. The mobile

services group provides GSM mobile services across India in 23 telecom circles, while the

B&T business group provides broadband & telephone services in 90 cities. The Enterprise

services group has two sub-units - carriers (long distance services) and services to corporate.

All these services are provided under the Airtel brand. Company shares are listed on The

Stock Exchange, Mumbai (BSE) and The National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE).

Partners

The company has a strategic alliance with SingTel. The investment made by SingTel is one

of the largest investments made in the world outside Singapore, in the company.

The company also has a strategic alliance with Vodafone. The investment made by

Vodafone in Bharti is one of the largest single foreign investments made in the Indian

telecom sector.

The company’s mobile network equipment partners include Ericsson and Nokia. In the case

of the broadband and telephone services and enterprise services (carriers), equipment

suppliers include Siemens, Nortel, Corning, among others. The Company also has an

information technology alliance with IBM for its group-wide information technology

requirements and with Nortel for call center technology requirements. The call center

operations for the mobile services have been outsourced to IBM Daksh, Hinduja TMT,

Teletech & Mphasis.

Bharti Enterprises has successfully focused its strategy on telecom while straddling diverse

fields of business. From the creation of 'Airtel', one of India's finest brands, to becoming the

largest manufacturer and exporter of world class telecom terminals under its 'Beetel' brand,

Bharti has created a significant position for itself in the global telecommunications sector.

Bharti Airtel Limited is today acknowledged as one of India's finest companies, and its

flagship brand 'Airtel', has over 25 million customers across the length and breadth of India.

While a joint venture with Teletech Inc., USA marked Bharti’s successful foray into the

Customer Management Services business, Bharti Enterprises’ dynamic diversification has

continued with the company venturing into telecom software development. Recently, Bharti

has successfully launched an international venture with EL Rothschild Group owned ELRO

Holdings India Ltd., to export fresh Agri products exclusively to markets in Europe and

USA.

MARKET SHARE OF AIRTEL

Group Company Total Subscribers

Airtel(GSM) 52961289

Reliance (CDMA + GSM) 39069417

Vodafone Essar(GSM) 38562804

BSNL(GSM) 31945006

Tata (CDMA) 21035918

IDEA(GSM) 20222263

Aircel(GSM) 9025593

Spice(GSM) 3661423

MTNL(GSM) 2889726

BPL(GSM) 1220611

HFCL (CDMA) 218947

Shyam (CDMA) 101191

 * CDMA figures include WLL services 

Buying behavior

IT research firm In-Stat predicts that the global market for wireless handsets will grow 23

percent to USD 136 billion in 2009, and may exceed USD 250 billion in 2011. In Stat said

the wireless market has reached USD 110 billion in 2005. The firms pointed out that after

2009 the growth rate would be slower. So depending upon the Market behavior for Handsets

the buying behavior for Service Provider will also be bit slow in the year 2010. 3G is the

latest innovation India is goin’ through. Airtel is goin’ to start its operation soon on 3-G

network system where the user will have the facility of online TV shows etc. on the mobile

Phone itself. In Stat said that the prediction is not preordained. According to the study it

depends upon phone manufacturers continuing to add features that consumers’ value and the

rest of the industry can support. The greatest challenge is to just add the features different

customers want without adding unneeded cost or complexity from unneeded or unwanted

features from the service provider. The report includes end-user survey results that explore

current customer attitudes as well as how it corresponds to there past buying behavior. In

Stat said the goal for wireless phone manufacturers and service provider is to make

customers forget they ever tolerated a phone or service without the new innovations. This

has happened as the mobile phone has advanced dramatically in the past several years.

According to the survey, very few U.S. users, less than 5 percent, do not use at least one of

the technological innovations introduced over this period. Consumers seem ready to

embrace other new features, including location-based services and Bluetooth connectivity,

but only a narrow segment have interest in multimedia features and camera phones use will

see a decline, predicts In-Stat.

"Big trends over the next five years include adoption of wireless phones as a mobile wallet

that and more users will carry multiple devices," says Bill Hughes, In-Stat analyst. "The

primary changes in phones over the next five years are that they will become more capable,

incorporate beefier security, and be more targeted as organizations have greater involvement

in the wireless service decisions of their employees. Perhaps more importantly, they will

help us be safer."

The key findings of the research, "The Big Trends for Cell Phones, 2009-2011” are:

Worldwide sales of mobile phones will rise from 935 million units in 2009 to

more than double that 2011 and with this service providers will also have a rise.

Smart Phone sales will surpass 480 million units by 2011and to cash it on all the

service Providers are launching different useful facilities to cash it on the rising

trend of Smart Phone Usage.

Nokia is by far the most popular phone brand among survey respondents who

obtained their phone through work or for private uses and Airtel is the most

trusted network in which companies like to operate.

The research covers the worldwide mobile phone market and their service provider and

predicts future developments for wireless phones over the next five years. The research

takes into consideration the entire wireless phone value chain, which consists of phone

manufacturers, supplier ecosystem, distributors, carriers, and in many cases, the organization

to which many customers belong.

Product promotion strategy and Ad campaign

To understand the product promotion strategy and Ad campaign we have to look into the

vision statement of Airtel

AIRTEL VISION STATEMENT & BRAND POSITIONING

By 2010 Airtel will be the most admired brand in India:

Loved by more customers

Targeted by top talent

Benchmarked by more business

"In a service industry like telecom, people live a brand 24X7. It's all about experience; and

for Airtel 'brand=customer experience," says Rajan Mittal, joint managing director, Bharti

Tele-Ventures Ltd.

That's now, but when mobile telephony began in India a decade ago, the brand was all about

aspiration. That's understandable: a handset cost about Rs 45,000 - the price of a second-

hand Fiat - and call charges hovered around Rs 16 a minute.

Naturally, the target customer was clearly defined: elite, upmarket professionals and

entrepreneurs. "We positioned Airtel as an aspirational and lifestyle brand, in a way that

trivialised the price in the mind of the consumer. It was pitched not merely as a mobile

service, but as something that gave him a badge value," recalls Hemant Sachdev, chief

marketing officer (mobility) and director, Bharti Tele-Ventures. Airtel was on a power trip:

the logo was black, uppercase bold lettering; and the baseline was "the power to keep in

touch". "From day one, it was decided that the brand should always connote leadership - be

it in network, innovations, offerings or services," says Diwan Arun Nanda, CMD,

Rediffusion-DY&R, the agency that has created all Airtel ads over the past decade. The

taglines emphasised that stance: "Airtel celebrates the spirit of leadership" and "The first

choice of the corporate leaders". This was also a time when customers needed to be

educated; interest levels were high, but customers' exposure to the cellular world was

limited. Airtel took out full and half-page ads in newspapers, answering queries like "what is

roaming?", "what is coverage area?" and "how to make international calls". In 1999, the

rules of the game changed. The New Telecom Policy came into effect, replacing license fees

with a revenue-sharing scheme and extending the license period from 10 to 20 years. Now,

cellular service operators could drop their prices and target new customer segments. As SEC

B became part of the catchment area, Airtel's communication changed from "power" to

"touch tomorrow". The focus now was on the endless possibilities of technology to make

life good and advertising became two-pronged: a product-driven communication that

showcased new offerings like the Magic prepaid card, and an emotional communication that

showed younger people.

In 2002, Airtel signed on music composer A R Rahman and changed its tune to "Live every

moment": Rahman's signature tune for Airtel is, perhaps, the most downloaded ringtone in

India. But that was just part of the ongoing communication. The following year Airtel

adopted the "Express yourself" positioning, which is also its current tagline. Now, the

emotional angle was predominant - and stark, black and white imagery to stand out in what

was becoming a highly commoditised, crowded market.

The latest campaign continues that thought. Only, mobile telephony is now extending to

even low-income mass categories. So the first TVCs in Hindi and regional languages are

now on air, as are low-priced products, like the Rs 200-recharge coupon. Communication

was just part of the battle: customer service would prove more critical. "We were very clear

that Airtel will be a service-led brand," says Mittal.

RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

Accordingly, Airtel was the first cellular service provider to start customer centres (called

Airtel connects), where customers could pay their bills, apply for new connections and touch

and feel new handset models. The way to the future, though, seems to be through product

innovations such as easy charge (recharging prepaid connection through SMS), hello tunes,

the Blackberry option, stock tickers and M-cheques (mobile credit cards). The customer care

centres, too, are metamorphosing into "relationship centres", one-stop shops where

subscribers can not only pay their bills and have their queries answered, they can shop for

new phones, surf the net and enjoy a cup of coffee. "What matters is what the customers

want," points out Mittal. Based on there vision statement their product Promotion strategy

and Ad Campaign is based. Airtel is an amazingly successful brand. It has very visible

advertising, with a fairly high share of voice. As mobile services are an extremely

competitive (cutthroat?) category, there are a number of advertising renditions that happen.

One of the most interesting ones for me as a consumer was the one with A. R. Rahman in

Hyde Park, was it, playing with an assortment of musicians even as an adoring recording

artist listens to the music that is carried through Airtel mobile's service. it was a brilliant

track. Airtel had integrated this piece of communication, making it a fairly popular ring tone.

Every second Airtel user had this ring tone and enthusiastic guys even used it in their cars as

they reversed.

AR Rahman’s SIGNATURE TUNE

BRAND AMBASSADOR TWO OF INDIA’s BIGGEST CELEBRITIES

SACHIN TENDULKAR & SHAHRUKH KHAN

AIRTEL –EXPRESS YOURSELF

Brands often lose their way when their communication deviates from a tried and tested

property just to be different. This is not a situation that cannot be salvaged, though. Brands

stray when they try to be different for the sake of being different. The desire to be different is

pretty common in advertising. And this desire to be different usually means a break from the

past.

AIRTEL’s Ads are a trend setting Ads and considered a landmark Product promotion, which

they are doing for their Broad Band and telephone services are also a land mark promotion

campaign. Promotions, whose need is increasingly being felt by the surging services

sector, will click if they realize marketing objectives and reinforce brand values. Other

precautions too need to be taken in the case of promotions. For instance, too many

promotions can be detrimental to the health of a brand. A brand, which is perpetually on

price-off, would not only lose key brand attributes but also consumer interest. The

consumer's reasoning being `if a product is cheaper now, does it mean I was being

overcharged earlier'? Similarly, if a brand is always doling out freebies, sales would be

affected when there are no freebies on offer.

Marketers agree that no matter the market segment, for any promotion to be successful it has

to be a part of an overall marketing strategy and not a one-off sales-driving initiative.

2.7 FUTURE PLANS

4P’S OF MARKETING MIX :

Product

Price

Place

Promotion.

PRODUCT :

Vodafone having good range of services. Vodafone provides both postpaid and prepaid

services. Vodafone having good quality network which provides clarity in voice.

PRICE :

It having attractive tariff plan: Vodafone having 1paisa /sec it is applicable for

both prepaid and postpaid.

PLACE

It having good range of channels of distribution: As Tata already exist in this field of

telecommunications as Tata Indicom. It has wide range of channels of distribution to sell

Vodafone services.

PROMOTION :

Advertising: Vodafone following different style of advertising pattern in TV’s

and newspapers. Due to that reason it was reaching public very fast.

ADVERTISING MEDIA CHANNELS :

India - Vodafone, the youngest among telecom players in India to offer GSM, is

Presently banking on its services to garner visibility and a share in the telecom pie. The

launch of Vodafone also announced the intention of the brand to associate with the

thought 'do'. Vodafone, for the first time in the country, offered pay-per-second billing;

though other telecom providers have followed suit since. The company has carried out a

few adverts that highlight the brand's unique features and some other topical advertising

during Ganesh Chaturthi and Diwali. The latest from the GSM provider is the 'Friendship

Express' TVC. The ad opens inside train, where everyone is doing their own thing. A

couple of the travelers don't like the solemn mood and start humming the Docomo tune.

Slowly and steadily, others pitch in and soon most of the train is singing along. The ad

ends with the super, 'Why walk alone when we can dance together'.

SWOT ANALYSIS

STRENGTH

WEAKNESS

OPPORTUNITIES

THREATS

STRENGTHS:-

First to introduce seconds’ tariff plan (seconds pulse)

Good brand image of Tata services

Having large variety of plans

Plans are affordable by any common person.

TYPE :

Pulse rate 1 sec

Price pack Rs.49

Validity life long

CALL RATES:

Local rates paisa/sec

Vodafone 1

Tata CDMA 1

Other GSM 1

Landline/CDMA 1

STD rates

Vodafone 2

Tata CDMA 2

Other GSM 2

WEAKNESS:-

Signal strength.

Postpaid connections are not available as of now.

Customer services are not satisfactory.

Concentrating only on rural areas.

OPPORTUNITIES:-

Have a great opportunity to expand its services.

To introduce any new plans for internet users.

Introduce 3G compatible services.

To introduce new combined plans like, SMS, Internet, Calling integrated offers.

THREATES:-

If signal strength is not increased it may lead to change in the network service by the

customers.

Tata has to clarify whether this 1ps/sec will continue till its lifecycle.

Heavy competition from all other network providers.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

SAMPLE SIZE

100 customer from the Vodafone and Airtel

PRIMARY DATA

In it we study various steps that are generally adopted by researcher in studying a research problem along with the methodology of research a long and

SECONDARY DATA

A secondary data is that data that is required to conduct the study and can be obtained

from books, journals, magazines, records etc. Secondary data is data taken by the

researcher from secondary sources, internal or external. Secondary data is collected from

following sources: -

1) Magazines and journals

2) Company websites.

3) Internet

4) Books

LIMITATION Many constraints were involved in doing this study. Some of them are as follows.

The most significant limitation has been the individuals involved in this study

were very busy and did not spare much time in discussion.

The sample size selected for the survey was too small as compared to large

population.

The project was carried out only in the Delhi, so findings on data gathered can be

best true for Delhi only and not applicable to other parts of state and country.

Indian stock market is a market where sentiments play a major role in price; hence 100%

accurate predictions cannot be made about its future path

CHAPTER-III

ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

1. Sex ratio of the respondents

S.NO. PARTICULARS NUMBER %AGE

A MALE 39 78%

B FEMALE 11 22%

0.78

0.22

male female

NTERPRETATION: The graphical representation of the table shows that out of 50

respondents 39 were male and 11 were female.

2 AGE GROUP OF RESPONDENTS

S.NO. PARTICULARS NUMBER %AGE

A 15-25 21 42%

B 25-35 18 36%

C 35-45 6 12%

D 45 above 5 10%

15-2542%

25-3536%

35-4512%

45 above10%

INTERPRETATION: The graphical representation of the table shows that out of total

respondents 42% were of age 15-25, 36% 25-35, 12% 35-45, and rest were above 45.

3. LITERACY RATE AMONG THE RESPONDENTS

S.NO. PARTICULARS NUMBER %AGE

A MATRICULATE 8 16

B INTERMEDIATE 17 34

C GRADUATION 19 38

D POST-GRADUATION 6 12

MA-TRICU-LATE16%

INTERMEDIATE34%

GRADUATION38%

POST-GRADUATION12%

INTERPRETATION: The graphical representation of the table shows that out of total

respondents 8 were matriculate,17 were intermediate,19graduateand rest 6 were

postgraduate.

4.Who is your current service provider?

S.NO. PARTICULARS NUMBER %AGE

A AIRTEL 14 28

B VODAFONE 25 50

C OTHERS 11 22

AIRTEL28%

VODAFONE50%

OTHERS22%

INTERPRETATION

The 14 person were used Air Tel and 25 person were used vodaphone and 11 were used

other.

5. For how long you are using this mobile connection?

AIRTEL

S.NO. PARTICULARS NUMBER %AGE

A Less than 6 months 2 14%

B 6 to 12 months 3 21%

C Above 12 months 9 65%

Less than

6 mont

hs14%

6 to 12 months21%

Above 12 months64%

Interpretation

Two person were used since six month and three were used since twelve months and nine

were used since two year.

VODAFONE

S.NO. PARTICULARS NUMBER %AGE

A Less than 6 months 1 4%

B 6 to 12 months 3 12%

C Above 12 months 21 84%

Less than 6 months4% 6 to 12

months12%

Above 12 months84%

INTERPRETATION

The one person were used since six months and three were used since one year and

twenty were used since two year

What were the reason for choosing this mobile connection?

AIRTEL

S.NO. PARTICULARS NUMBER %AGE

A Recommended by friends and relative 5 36%

B Recommended by retailer 2 14%

C Brand image 1 7%

D Advertisement 6 43%

Recommended by friends and relative

36%

Rec-om-

mended by re-tailer14%

Brand image7%

Advertisement43%

INTREPRETATION

Fife were recommended by friends and relative and two were by retailor and one were by

brand image and six were by advertisement.

VODAFONE

S.NO. PARTICULARS NUMBER %AGE

A Recommended by friends and relative 6 24%

B Recommended by retailer 2 8%

C Brand image 7 28%

D Advertisement 10 40%

Recom-mended

by friends and rela-

tive24%

Recom-mended

by retailer8%

Brand image28%

Advertisement40%

INTREPRETATION

Six were recommended by friends and relative and two were by retailor and seven were

by brand image and ten were by advertisement.

OTHERS

S.NO. PARTICULARS NUMBER %AGE

A Recommended by friends and relative 2 18

B Recommended by retailer 2 18

C Brand image 6 55

D Advertisement 1 9

Recom-mended

by friends and rela-

tive18%

Recommended by re-tailer18%

Brand image55%

Advertisement9%

INTREPRETATION

Two were recommended by friends and relative and two were by retailor and six were by

brand image and one were by advertisement.

6. While purchasing a connection does advertisement plays any role?

S.NO. PARTICULARS NUMBER %AGE

A Yes 42 84%

B No 8 16%

Yes84%

No16%

Interpretation

The fourty two preson were say yes and eight were says no.

7. from where you watch the advertisement most?

S.NO. PARTICULARS NUMBER %AGE

A Television 31 62%

B Radio 0 0%

C Newspaper 11 22%

D Magazines 8 16%

Television62%

Newspaper22%

Magazines16%

Interpretation

The mostly people sees advertisement in the television.

8. Which telecommunication have good advertisements?

.NO. PARTICULARS NUMBER %AGE

A Air Tel 21 42

B Vodafone 24 48

C Any other 5 10

Air Tel42%

Vodafone48%

Any other10%

Interpretation

The mostly Vodafone have good advertisement.

9. How well advertisements of the Air Tel catch your attention?

S.NO. PARTICULARS NUMBER %AGE

A Very well 22 44

B Somewhat well 12 24

C Undecided 6 12

D Not at all 10 20

Very well44%

Somewhat well24%

Undecided12%

Not at all20%

Interpretation

The 22 person says very well and 12 person says some what well and 6 were undecided

and 10 were says no.

10. How well did the advertisement of Vodafone catch your attention?

S.NO. PARTICULARS NUMBER %AGE

A Very well 26 52

B Somewhat well 10 20

C Undecided 6 12

D Not at all 8 16

Very well52%

Somewhat well20%

Undecided 12%

Not at all16%

Interpretation

The 26 person says very well and 10 person says some what well and 6 were undecided

and 8 were says no.

FINDINGS AND INFERENCES

It is found that Vodafone is the first company to launch prepaid 1 pec. p/sec.

services in the country.

The call rates are found to be at par with the other competitors.

The availability of the recharge voucher was found good. But some time it is not

available.

Most of the respondents found the customer care service is not satisfactory.

Nearly all the respondents told that Quick Problem Solving is desirable quality in

the customer care Executives.

The queries and problem of the customer were solved but not immediately, there

is a scope for improvement.

More stress was given on customer acquisition then satisfying the Existing

customers.

While conducting a survey it was found that still many people are not aware of

the term GSM and CDMA even they basic difference between them.

The voise clarity of GSM is batter than CDMA. When CDMA phones are near

any digital or magnetic instrument the poor crack due to interference and also

cross connection problems are faced by some of the users.

GSM users are satisfied with good coverage strength anywhere.

Many people who are interested in internet connectivity and data transfer services

get attracted to GSM . As internet connectivity and data transfer is cheaper with

GSM.

It is found that international roaming facility is not so good as is should be.

Supplementary facilities like call wait call forward, call hold, call divert, call

conference is satisfied the users.

It is found that overall performance of GSM technology is good.

LIMITATIONS

Many constraints were involved in doing this study. Some of them are as follows.

The most significant limitation has been the individuals involved in this study

were very busy and did not spare much time in discussion.

The sample size selected for the survey was too small as compared to large

population.

The project was carried out only in the Delhi, so findings on data gathered can be

best true for Delhi only and not applicable to other parts of state and country.

Indian stock market is a market where sentiments play a major role in price; hence 100%

accurate predictions cannot be made about its future path

RECOMMENDATION

The availability of recharge voucher should be made available when required by

the customers. As this give the good impression about the company.

The network coverage is another asset for the company’s image, which needs to

be preserved in future.

THE overall image of the customer care services was found to be good but with

some loopholes related to delays in problem solving.

The company should be more prompt in handling the queries and problem of the

customer, which is vary essential for the prepaid card so as to retain the customers

with the company in future.

The customer care executives should be more efficient in handling the customer

and also more friendly and polite their conversation ,while dealing with the

customer.

After sales service is required to be maintained properly, which is not up to the

mark.

Call rates is affordable so it should be maintained at this level.

Many people are using mobile, but majority of them are not aware of the

technology they are using . many tine it happens that a person doesn’t know

which technology satisfied his need. Hence awareness should be created among

them regarding advantages and differences in the technology.

Supplementary facilities like call wait, call forward, call hold, call divert, call

conference should be made more effective to attract customers.

CONCLUSION

After analyzing and interpretation of the various graphs and findings I have arrived at the

conclusion that the overall satisfaction level of GSM prepaid customer is good. In some

reference and in other they are not satisfied. As Vodafone is a brand name in itself so

customer feel good for that and also expects a lot from that. And when their expectations

don’t match with company service, whatever they provide, they become dissatisfied.

For long run process brand image and price plays a vary important role in success and

elements of brand equity are:

The awareness it enjoy, the advertising viewer ship it has the image or perceived quality

in the mind of customer, advertising association and symbol. Successful development of

brand equity that drives the mark position, persisting over long period of time and is

capable of resisting competitors.

The new competition is not between what companies produce in their factories, but

between what value they add to their products in the form of maximum customer

satisfaction, after sales service etc.

APPENDICES

Questionnaires

Name:-

Address:-

Occupation:-

Gender: - Male ( ) Female ( )

Q1) Are you using mobile?

a) Yes b) No

Q2) Does it really matter whether you go for GSM or CDMA?

a) Yes b) No

Q3) How would you rate the voice quality of your GSM mobile connection?

a) Excellent b) Good

c) Average d) Bad

e) Worst

Q4) How would you rate network coverage strength on GSM mobile connection?

a) Excellent b) Good

c) Average d) Bad

e) Worst

Q5) How would you rate supplementary facilities like call wait, call hold, call forward,

call divert, call conference on GSM mobile connection?

a) Excellent b) Good

c) Average d) Bad

e) Worst

Q6) How would you rate international roaming facility on GSM mobile connection?

a) Excellent b) Good

c) Average d) Bad

e) Worst

Q7) How would you rate internet connectivity and data transfer service on GSM?

a) Excellent b) Good

c) Average d) Bad

e) Worst

Q8) How would you rate security and confidentiality regarding call theft on GSM mobile

connection?

a) Excellent b) Good

c) Average d) Bad

e) Worst

Q9) How would you rate dual personal and business number facility on GSM mobile

connection?

a) Excellent b) Good

c) Average d) Bad

e) Worst

Q10) How would you rate the price of your GSM handsets compared to CDMA?

a) Expensive b) same as CDMA handsets

c) Cheaper

Bibliography

1. Dr Kothari C R (2008) Research Methodology: Methods and Techniques Wishwa

Prakashan Publishers ,Delhi

2. Philip Kotler and Kevin Lane Keller (2005), Marketing Management Twelfth

Edition, Prentice Hall, Delhi.

3. Liu, Vol 4, (2002) Factors affecting the brand decision in the mobile phone

industry in Asia, Journals of Marketing

4. Martin Tina ; Sam Manaberi, Vol 2 [2005] consumer buying behavior, Indian

Journals

5. Jim Blythe (1999) The Essence of Consumer Behaviour , Prentice Hall PTR

6. The ICFAI Journals of Service Marketing (March 2008) Vol. 6,No.1, pp. 40 – 50,

India.

References