A Report Onretail Store Management Hcl

A REPORT

ON RETAIL STORE MANAGEMET Submitted By:

Piyush Asthana [email protected] phone number: 9836899191

07bs2837

Faculty Guide: Mr. Subhasis Ray

Faculty Member, ICFAI Business School Kolkata

Company Guide: Mr. Devnag Busakala

Assistant Sales Manager, HCL Front Line Division

Kolkata

Abstract “Sales personnel no longer specialize solely in increasing sales volume; rather, the prospect's real needs become the basis of the marketing plan. A mark of professionalism in sales is that sellers adopt a proble problemsolving approach to their work. A professional salesperson does not wonder, ‘what can I sell this individual?" but instead asks, "How can I best solve this person's problems? Kurtz, Dodge, and Klompmaker (1976) .The best way to hold the customers is to constantly figure out how to give them more for less as this is exactly what they want. The report is based on “Retail Store Management Management” This project report basically sically focuses on what are the steps and the processes involved and adopted for selling the HCL laptops/desktops in order to expand the market of HCL Front line division. The sales are made based on product’s enhanced quality. The customers need to be personally sonally convinced that HCL is better than the other brands in the same product segment, and for personally convincing, a HCL HCL’s sales representative is required because in the words of Saxe and Weitz (1982), a salesperson’s customer orientation is ‘the degree to which he or she practice(s) the marketing concept by trying to help his or her customers make purchase decisions that will satisfy customer needs’. Thus my work is to personally deal with customers, increase the brand awareness, and convince them to buy the product, ultimately pushing up the sales. The closest competitors of HCL are “Lenovo “ &Acer”. These two brands closely resemble HCL laptops in price and features. So the people who come to buy these two brands in mind are targeted. Even if peopl people come to buy different brand say “HP” or “Sony” “Son were also tried to mould, I show them a HCL model deeply listing out the specific advantages and features available in that product.. product. There is another segment of customers who prefer specific brands as “Sony or Apple”. Conversion of these customers to HCL is very difficult. Brands as “HP pavilion, Sony & Apple” are promoted to target the premium segment of people thus these brands have segmented the society based on pricing therefore we can say that these brands nds have a loyal customer base. base Constantly dealing with the customers helped me in identifying the buying behaviour of the customer, application of various marketing theory. the demand of the competitors are also revealed. By knowing the customer’s requirements ments deeply, the future trend can be analyzed and the new models can be customized accordingly. The project teaches about inventory management customer relationship management, data analysis and drawing inference. The project also helps in building confidence because I have to deal with the customers directly and satisfy them. Being a trainee I have followed the learning orientation in addition to sales orientation and customer orientation. In this project, different activities that were focused are mentioned below:

 Competitor’s analysis  Adopting new ways to attract customer  Enhancing the efficiency of store  Understanding the customers their need and desire  Develop relationship marketing

Introduction Let me begin with a poser, what does Indian IT means to you? Chances are that you’ve already started thinking about our successes in the software exports arena. Amid all the applause for Indian software exporters, achievements in the domestic market tend to get sidelined. Agreed that software and services exports from the country have been growing at an enviable pace, but the domestic IT market can also this. India is one of the fastest growing IT markets in the world, the fastest growing PC market in the Asia-Pacific Pacific region, and also the country with the fastest growth in Internet usage in this region.IDC believes that there is tremendous momentum momentum in the domestic IT market today, which will help the industry tide over the minor slowdown slowdown being predicted for the economy in the current fiscal. Over the next five years, the domestic IT industry is predicted to grow at a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 28 percent, which is among the highest in the world. Personal Computers What drives the Indian IT market? As is the case with most nations in the early stages of the IT maturity curve, the Indian market is prima The hardware sector currently accounts for around 56 percent of total IT spending and is growing faster than other sectors of this industry. Looking at the frenzy in the PCs marketplace, it’s fairly obvious that PCs are fuelling growth hardware market. Perhaps the single largest contributor to this impressive growth is the burgeoning home segment. Today, more than a third of all PCs shipped in a year make their way to the home segment; and the way things are moving, this share wi will improve in future. This obviously means that no vendor can afford to neglect this segment. The winners of the future will be the ones who have in place a focused consumer strategy to address the home segment. IDC’s "Millennium Home" study reveals that the most important reason for purchasing a home PC revolve around enhancing the family’s computer skills. In an era where people have realized the importan importance of being IT literate, this finding springs no major surprises. Another important finding is that while the chief wage earner of a household is the primary decision-maker decision maker insofar as PC purchase is concerned, family and friends play an important role in influencing nfluencing the decision. The survey also reveals that the average home PC user is around 28 years old however; IDC believes that as computer education in schools becomes more

widespread and more children start using PCs at home, the average home PC user of the future might be younger. Servers: Servers both Standard Intel Architecture Servers (SIAS) and and RISC/UNIX are another category that’s showing impressive growth. New areas such as ISPs, Web hosting, and CRM besides the more established applications suchh as ERP contribute to this explosive growth. Data centres and Application Service Providers (ASPs), the latest buzzwords doing the rounds in the industry, will be the future drivers of the Server market.. In other words, servers will transform themselves as engines to hosted application. One expected development is the blurring of the defining line between between SIAS and RISC UNIX servers. While SIAS will continue to cater to the bulk of requirements, especially in the SME segment, the entry entrylevel RISC/CISC servers (non-SIAS) SIAS) space will see the most activity in the server market. All vendors are investing heavily in channel build- up, training, and motivation to reach out to the SME segment and dotcom’s the low-end end models of this class, will see this class increasingly increasingly fighting in the same space as the SIAS. Increasing acceptance of UNIX for web related activities in the SME segment will also contribute to growth in this class. Internet Usage The last two years have seen explosive growth in Internet usage in India. We already lready have more than a million subscribers, and this growth shows no sign of slowing down, thus making India the fastest growing Internet market in the Asia -Pacific Pacific region. The Internet boom has had a positive impact on the IT industry. While Internet access is slowly emerging as an important criterion for the home segment, investments by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and other Internet companies to set up their infrastructure will remain an important accelerator for domestic IT spending. In the wake of the growing prominence of the internet, there has been a lot of debate on the future of PCs, with people spelling out doom for them. The rise of thin clients and information appliances (or alternate Internet access devices) has led to this debate. de IDC believes that while a further away. The PC is not dead and buried; it still has a lot of life. The PC will maintain its dominance in the commercial segment, and will continue to have a place in homes. There has been an increase in activity Applia Appliances arena, but Information Appliances will not eat into PCs. Rather, they would complement PCs in a digital home. There are a number of interrelated issues that will limit the adoption of information appliances in India. For one, we have to consider whether users are ready to choose specialized products over a general general-purpose product. Most information appliance performs only one function, whereas a PC is a powerful multifunctional device that can do a host of other stuff apart from internet access. Price and availability are

other important issues. Till these products become available in the market, users will remain confused about their real benefits and the price associated with them. Another crucial factor that might limit tthe Information appliances are the development and proliferation of supporting technologies such as broadband and wireless. One must also keep in mind that information appliances are merely enabling devices. It’s the content and service that consumers will value. This implies that vendors must ensure availability of services and content in order to promote the adoption of new information appliances. That, we believe, will take some more. This implies that we believe, will take some more time, thus ensuring a prominent place for the PC as an access devise in Indian marketplace. During 3Q 2007, the overall India client PC market grew 25.1 per cent year on year in terms of unit shipments to 1.8 million, says IDC. For the same period (3Q 2007 over 3Q 2006), desktop PC shipme shipments showed a growth of 10.9 percent, cent, while notebook PC shipments showed a growth of 84.8 per cent (3Q 2007 over 3Q 2006). In the overall client PC (notebooks and desktops combined) market the rankings remained unchanged. HP retained the top spot with a market share of 21.6 percent followe followed by HCL with 12.3% and Lenovo at 10.3%,in terms of unit shipment during the third quarter of calendar year 2007 (3Q 2007). In terms of desktop PC shipments, HP retained its top position with a market share of 15.2 percent, followed lowed by HCL and Lenovo in second and third spot respectively during 3Q2007. In terms of notebook PC shipments, HP retained the top spot with a market share of 37.8 per cent in 3Q 2007. Lenovo came in at the second spot and Acer climbed up to take the third spot. According to Kapil Dev Singh, country manager,IDC India”, “Portability, rather than mobility has emerged as the ‘Number 1’ driver for the sustained growth in notebook PC shipments in India. Given the choice of portability, flexibility and ease of use and the narrowing of the price-performance gap that once existed between portables and desktops, consumers are almost overwhelmingly inclined to buy notebook PCs.” During 3Q 2007, notebook PC shipments to the home and SOHO segments grew by 166 per cent ent year year-on-year(3Q 2007 over 3Q2006) and made up for 43 per cent of total notebook shipments. The next largest contributors to this trend were the enterprise and education segments. One of the prime factors that have been fuelling the growth of this product is the pricing criteria. Notebook vendors have realized the importance of this factor and following this line have launched ‘economical’ notebooks. Speaking to it VAR news, GM-sales GM & marketing, consumerr product group, Acer India, S.Rajendran opined, d, “The Indian customer has been very value conscious. In the past years, with the pricing of notebooks coming down successively, successi in tandem with growing economies of scale and reducing duty rates, the demand has seen an upswing. The sweetener to the customer er has been that with progress in

technology, often the products available are with contemporary features.”The brand name is another important factor that holds the key for notebook market. This opinion was supported by Narang when he said, “In India, big manufacturers are doing well in the laptop market. People go for brand names because of their quality, best after sale service and stylish looks”. This project encompasses;; managing retail store, naming G.K. Communication one of the major retailer of HCL laptops and Desktops in Kolkata. Kolkata My major task is to manage the IT section of the store and understand the requirements and expectation of customer. Being the floor manager in the store I was also responsible for determination of adequate equate inventory level. lev One of the greatest challenge one will face while working in G.K. Communication is that its IT section also has the laptops of other brands such as Compaq, Lenovo Sony etc and as a representative of HCL I was responsible to boost the sale of HCL this iis an actual challenge as brand positioning of HCL not so strong in comparison of competitors competitors. Another task was to generate the database of the potential customers customer of HCL Laptops & desktop. HCL- AN OVERVIEWHCL Enterprise is a leading Global Technology and IT enterprise that comprises two companies listed in India - HCL Technologies & HCL Infosystems. The 3-decade-old 3 old enterprise, founded in 1976, is one of India’s original IT garage start-ups. ups. Its range of offerings offerings span Product Engineering, Technology and Application Services, BPO, Infrastructure Services, IT Hardware, Systems Integration, and distribution of ICT products. The HCL team comprises approximately 55,000 professionals of diverse nationalities, who operate from 18 countries including 360 points of presence in India. HCL has global partnerships with several leading Fortune 1000 firms, including leading IT and Technology firms.

It’s HCL Everywhere

NOIDA Chandigarh

Support Location Regional Office

Jaipur

Lucknow

Noida

Patna Guwahati

Ahmedabad

Ranchi

Bhopal

Kolkata

Raipur

Mumbai Pune

Bhubaneswar

Nagpur Hyderabad

Bangalore Coimbatore Cochin

Chennai Trichy

Direct Support from >360 Locations

Awards and Recognitions:



HCL was ranked among the top Fast 500 Asia Pacific 2006 program by Deloitte Technology, Media & Telecommunications.



HCL received three Channels Choice 2007 awards forr Relationship Management, After Sales Support & Commercial Terms from DQ Channels, based on an IDC channel satisfaction survey



HCL Infosystems was presented with the 'Top Organization - 2006' award by Institute of Marketing Management (IMM) in recognition of its innovation in marketing management.

  

HCL won the Amity Corporate Excellence Award in the Computer hardware category. India’s Most Preferred Personal Computer Brand by CNBC AWAAZ Consumer Award 2007. ‘The The Most Responsive Company 2005’-IT IT Hardware Category by the Economic Times TimesAvaya Global Connect.

 HCL Technologies HCL Technologies is one of India’s leading global IT Services companies, providing software led IT solutions, remote infrastructure management services and BPO. The company leverages an extensive global offshore infrastructure and its global network of ofices ofices in 16 countries to deliver solutions across select verticals including Financial Services, Retail & Consumer, Life Sciences Aerospace, Automotive, Semiconductors, Telecom and MPE (Media Publishing & Entertainment). For the of ending 31st March 2008, HCL CL Technologies, along with its subsidiaries had revenue (TTM) of US $ 1.7 billion and employed 49,802 professionals.  HCL Infosystems HCL Infosystems,, with revenue (TTM) of US$ 3.1 billion, is India's premier information enabling and system integration company. HCL Infosystems offers value-added added services in key areas such as system integration, networking consultancy and a wide range of support services. services. HCL Infosystems manufacturing facilities are ISO 9001 - 2000 & ISO 14001 certified and adhere to stringent quality standards and global processes. It is rated among the leading players in all the segments, comprising domestic IT products, solutions aand related services, including PCs, servers, networking products, imaging & communication products. HCL Infosystem owns the brand of indigenously developed and manufactured, most popular PC - 'Ezeebee', 'Busybee' 'Beanstalk' and 'Infiniti' - and its robust manufacturing facilities. HCL Infosystems has long standing relationships with world technology leaders such as SUN for enterprise computing solutions, Intel and AMD for PCs & PC Servers; Microsoft, Novell and SCO for operating systems and software solutions; soluti Toshiba Corp. for business automation equipment; SAP AG for specialist ERP solutions; and Oracle, Sybase and Informix for RDBMS platform, EMC, VERITAS for storage solutions.

Objective Of Project This project comprises of managing a retail store, named G.K.Communication one of the major retailer of HCL laptops and Desktops. My major task is to manage the IT section of the store and understand the requirements and expectation of customer. Being the floor manager in the store I was als also responsible for determination of adequate inventory level. One of the greatest challenge one will face while working in G.K. Communication is that its IT section also has the laptops of other brands such as Compaq, Lenovo Sony etc and my job is to sell the he laptops of HCL, that poses a challenge chal in front of me as the brand positioning of HCL not so strong in comparison of competitors .Secondly, I had to generate the database of the potential customers and to position the HCL Laptops & desktop in the market in such a way that it ultimately lead to business generation vis-a-vis vis vis making adequate profit while maintaining the image of the store. Scope of the project  To position the brand in the mind of customer. customer  Gathering and disseminating relevant information to customers.  Understanding and fulfilling the expressed and latent needs of customers buying behaviour.  Building long-term erm relationship with customers.  To generate the business for the company while maintaining a balance with the store’s image.  Maintenance of adequate inventory level.  Analyzing the current environment and work culture of store and suggesting new ideas in order to enhance the efficiency ficiency of the store in terms of look, sale and way of working working.  Adaptation of different marketing strategies to promote the the product as well as store.

Methodology Market Analysis: India has one of the lowest PC penetration rates in the world at less than 3% as per latest available reports from of Information Technology, GOI. Other developed and emerging economies have much higher PC penetration rate

Country India China USA Norway

PC Penetration 2/1000 11/1000 60/1000 110/1000

Source: Median of various Industry Surveys)

India is expected to sell around 4.7 million PCs as compared to 21 million for China. In order to reach at China’s PC penetration levels India needs to grow its PC manufacturing at CAGR of ~30% for next 5 years. With rising income level, increasing awareness about computers through school level education combined with GOI project the penetration level in India is set to grow many fold ‘s readiness project the penetration level in India is set to grow many folds in coming years PC manufacturing industry ry in India is dominated by three kinds of players: Indian Indian Manufacturers (Zenith, HCL, Wipro etc) MNCs MNCs (HP, Lenovo, Dell, Sony etc) Unorganized assembled India is expected to sell around 4.7 million desktops in FY2005 3.6 million in FY2004 FY2004-05. The desktop assembled brands, which account for ~40% of sales followed by MNC brands and Indian Laptop market is showing very high growth in recent years due to increased usage in higher education segment (MBA colleges institutes) and surge in home usage. Bus Business segment does not contribute much to growth because of data insecurity issues shown a CAGR of ~100% over last 2 years. not have an unorganized assembled market. All the sales are accounted for by MNC and Indian brands. Absence of unorganized market gives gives this segment high pricing power as compared to India is expected to sell around 4.7 million desktops in FY2005FY2005 05 as compared to 3.6 million in FY2004-05. 05. The desktop market is dominated by unorganized assembled brands, which account for ~40% of sales es followed by MNC brands and showing very high growth in recent years due to increased usage in higher education segment (MBA colleges and other such educational institutes) and surge in home usage. Business segment does not contribute much to because of data insecurity issues related to a laptop. The laptop market has shown a CAGR of ~100% over last 2 years. Unlike desktops, laptop market does not have an unorganized assembled market. All the sales are accounted for MNC’s and Indian brands. Absence of unorganized unorganized market gives branded players in this segment high pricing power as compared to desktop segment.

2006

2011

CAGR % 2006 2006-11

Hardware (%)

54.9

50.9

18.5

Software (%)

5.9

5.0

17.8

Services (%)

39.3

44.1

23.2

Total ICT

9,632

24,313

20.4

Market ($M) India: hardware, software and services share of domestic ITmarket, 2006-2011 Source - Gartner

Profitability of the segment

Desktop Cost Structure 21% 35% 6%

Monitor Keyboard Casing

9% 4% 21%

Motherboarxd Memory Harddisk

Manufacturing PC is essentially a business of assembling components from OEMs like Intel, AMD, Seagate etc and branding the manufactured unit for end customers. The cost of components is the major cost element in the price of PC to the tune of around 80%. The margin for a business is dependent on the manufacturer relation with OEMs, whichh determine the cost of component for him. Apart from this margin depends on branding power of the manufacturer. Prices of hard disk, memory, and processor constitute majority majority of the total cost. Thus relationship with OEMs of these components is very important for any player to determine the overall margin for its final product.

Laptop Cost Structure Monitor 24%

32%

Keyboard&Mouse Casing 4%

8%

4%

4%

24%

Processor Motherboard Memory Harddisk

There is substantial difference between costs of same component for a laptop as compared to the same component of Desktop. Majority of difference lies in costs of hard disk and processor. Overall the cost differential between a laptop and desktop based on components only is around 30% for the same configuration. At the same time difference between a laptop and desktop of the same configuration stands at around 60%. This enables players players to have better margins in case of higher proportion of laptop.. Absence of an unorganized assembled market in laptop segment enables players to have more pricing and branding power as compared to a desktop product. This also helps in commanding betterr margins in laptop business.

Competitor Analysis

Acer Rival

Lenovo Arch Rival

New entrant

Fujitsu, Dell

RIVALRY Lower Threat

HP/SONY

Compaq Arch Rival

Lenovo Lenovo is an Innovative, international technology company formed as a result of the acquisition by the Lenovo Group of the IBM Personal Computing division. As a global leader in the PC market, they develop, manufacture and market cutting-edge, reliable, high quality PC products and value value-added professional provide customers around the world with smarter ways to be productive and They can be ascertained as a bitter rival of HCL.

Compaq & HP Compaq India is a subsidiary sidiary of Compaq that was founded in 1982 in Houston, USA. Compaq in India has huge market even after its merger with Hellwet Packard (hp). Compaq's desktop, notebooks and accessories are the main products manufactured by Compaq in India. The Hoston based company works with main focus on computers and servers. It captures about 25% of Indian hardware market. The two IT giants can pose a threat to domestic conglomerates like Infosys, Satyam Computers etc. In Bangalore Compact Computer Corporation has launch launched an online store. This facility will be used by Compaq India to sell its products like the Presario range Notebooks Laptops, iPaq Desktops SB Series, fingerprint ID and smart card reader in the online store. The eestore is of great help to the customer HP is a technology solutions provider to consumers, businesses and institutions globally. The company's offerings span IT infrastructure, personal computing and access devices, global services and imaging and printing for consumers, enterprises and small and and medium businesses. HP itself is not a great threat to HCL but its subsidiary Compaq has emerged as arch rival for HCL, its online store can be a strategy that is very important to check. HCL‘s Digilife is good step but it needs a close watch.

Acer Acer Incorporated founded by Stan Shih ,his wife Carolyn Yeh, and a group of five others in 1976, was renamed Acer in 1987.It is a Taiwanese multinational electronics manufacturer. It owns the largest franchised computer retail chain in Taipei, Taiwan. Acer is the third largest computer manufacturer in the world (by sales) after HP and Dell Inc. and its product oduct line-up includes desktop and mobile PCs (laptops),as ),as well as personal digital assistants (PDAs), servers and storage, displays, peripherals, and e-business business services for business, government, education, and home users. Its product

range has Desktop computers: computers Notebook computers: Travel Mate,Tablet PCs,Aspre series,Extensa series and Ferrari series.

Sony One of the most recognized brand names in the world today, Sony Corporation, Japan, established its India operations in November 1994, focusing on the sales and marketing of Sony products in the country. In a span of 12 years Sony India has exemplified the quest for excellence in the world of digital lifestyle becoming the country’s foremost forem consumer electronics ectronics brand, with relentless commitment to quality, consistent dedication to customer satisfaction and unparalleled standards of service. Sony India is recognized as a benchmark for new age technology, superior quality, digital concepts and personalizedd service With brands names such as BRAVIA, Xplod, Sony hi-fi, hi Handy cam, cyber cyber-shot, WEGA, VAIO, Walkman, Memory stick‚ PlayStation an AIWA, Sony has as a value leader across its various product categories of Audio/Visual Entertainment products, Information and Communications, recording ecording media, business and professional products. Sony cannot be considered as major problem for HCL as its target segment is different than that of HCL but very soon in the future HCL can easily upgrade to cater the needs nee of this segment.

Dell Dell, Inc. is a multinational company based in Round Rock, Texas struggling to settle down in Indian market and it develops, manufactures, sells, and supports personal computers and other computerrelated products. it held thee second spot in computer-sales computer within the industry behind the HewlettPackard Company.. The company currently sells personal computers, servers servers, data storage devices, network switches, software,, computer peripherals and televisions. Inspiron, Studio, XPS, Alienware are some brands from Dell.

Fujitsu Fujitsu is a company, that is a new entrant in Indian Market, specializing in semiconductors, computers (supercomputers, personal computers, computers servers), telecommunications telecommunications, and services, and is headquartered in Tokyo. Internationally, Fujitsu considers IBM to be its main competitor. Some of its major products are Lifebook notebook computers, Mobile Phones. Tablet personal compu computers, pen based computers.

Sources and methods of data collection Data that is collected for the project on the basis of Judgemental sampling method respondents were asked to fill up a questionnaire. Later an analysis of the response is done so that we can understand the basic buying behaviour, their needs, their demand, awareness, and expectation they have with the Brand.

Action Steps Taken:  Determined the inventory level by observing the trend of store from past data. Maintained the record of stock availability and its important attributes in computer.  Started a follow up program for the customers by maintaining their complete database.  Making the store pop’s so attractive that their temptation compel them to inquire about the PC’s so that they can make up their mind for the purchase point of sale with large LCD on it, this step has enhance the look of the counter as well as it creates an image of high value in the mind of customer as it shows al all the specifications  Several times leaflets were arranged and were distributed so that customer can get aware about the product and a good brand image can be created.  After fter sales service is very ver important in this sector because most of the customers are not educated enough to use computers, computers hence they need a continuous support so I had started a free of cost assistance for our customer to solve all the issues related to computer.  To understand the different needs for each customer a survey was conducted. Taking a small survey in a place like GK communication is quit beneficial because we can know why the customers are shifting hifting toward the competitors. A questionnaire was prepared for this purpose. Result of survey could also be used for the further growth of the company as HCL can understand the gaps that is present in between the perception of customer and management. Secondly by using the database generated in the survey can also be used to help the store to determine the prospective customer.

Key Findings After working for nearly 16 weeks I came to the conclusion that marketing not only comprises of 4P’s (Price, Place, Product, t, Promotion) but there is still scope for more. Since working in rretail store, there are huge opportunities to interact directly with customer. Secondly a huge price pressure is there, one can easily watch how 4P’s is applicable in market. Being there as HCL’s representative I not only followed 4P’s but also tried to find something else that is more applicable to the retailer of consumer durables and ultimately I landed on 4A’s (Analysis, Attention, Acceptance, Action)

Analysis Time needs to be earmarked to determine the drivers, emotional and logical needs, and traditional and psycho graphic nuances of the intended audience. This step allows focus and micro microsegmentation and a significant decrease in marketing cost. Attention.. Once you've identified who are the core prospect for your products or services is, creative efforts must be taken to get and maintain their attention. Accept.. You must use the tools of copy, design, social networks psychology and repetition to get the intended audience to accept that your solution is the best one to take. This acceptance must take place despite the fact that your solution is just one of many options available in an increasingly saturated marketplace. Action The prospect has to act on their acceptance of your proposition by doing whatever it is you want them to do Generally, this might be making one or more purchases (be sure your marketing strategy includes opportunities for buyers to evangelize their positive purchasing experiences to others). It may also be picking up a phone or responding to a direct mail offer or fundraising effort or petition drive. The 4As, used correctly and consistently, result in measurable, traceable return on marketing investment

Result of Survey I.

Male Preserve: The fact that over 82% (compared to 18%) of the respondents respondents were male shows that computers are still largely a male preserve.

II.

Computers – The Technology of the Youth: 50% of the respondents were under 24 and 22% between 25 and 30 years. Clearly, then, computer use based knowledge is limited to the young and very young. In terms of marital status, 63% of the respondents are single and 36% are married married—yet another statistics that youth.

III.

Expertise: About 27% of the respondents consider themselves as “expert” users, while another 53% say they are quite “knowledgeable” about computers

IV.

Desktop versus Laptop: 73.9% respondents like to buy laptops than desktop as there is very less price difference in between them.

V.

Hours of Use per Week: According to the self-report self report data, the household uses the computer on an average 27 hours per week. However more than 50% of the computer using households use it for more than 20 hours per week. week

VI.

Internet Use: The Internet is most frequently used for sending and receiving ee-mail. Gender differences in the usage of Internet exist in the areas of online chatting, which is significantly higher for women. Men on the other hand exhibit higher usage for sports information information and also to do job related work, sending faxes etc.

VII.

Computer Non-Owners: About 42% of the households who do not own a computer currently intend to buy computer in the near future. Among those intending to buy, about 55% intend make a purchase within hin the next 6 months.

VIII.

Rating of HCL as a brand:. About 52% of respondents rated HCL as a good brand whereas 30% said it as a very good brand

IX.

Mode of payment: Around 65% of the people said that they will buy laptop if price of the laptop can be paid in instalments.

X.

Effect of configuration: about 44% respondents said the configuration matters highly for them whereas 18% said it doesn’t matters.

XI.

After sales services:65% 65% respondent feel that after sales service plays a very important role in purchase of computer.

XII.

Looks and price: Majority of people said that there choice of laptop doesn’t depend on look but it depends on price

XIII.

Attitude Toward Computers:: The commonly held attitudes / belief’s among all computer owners with regard to the role of computers at home hom are:  Knowledge of computers is essential to keep-up keep with the changes.  Computers are not at all difficult to use and contribute time savings at home.  Computers have become part of the daily routine in the family and are essential as any other as any other appliance at home  It is difficult to imagine life without computers at home.

Discussion: Marketing has got four pillars on which it is standing but no structure can stand only on foundation but it needs several more things that makes a building live and four more thing encompass 4A’s that is analysis, attention, accept, action these four A’s are verb that must be considered by every marketer 4P’s are noun that make mak him to understand the quality, but only thinking had never taken anyone to anywhere. Understanding nderstanding must be accompanied by appropriate action. First three ,analysis, attention, accept are invisible nvisible but before taking any action it must be proceeded by understanding the problem, thinking about all the alternatives attentively and then taking appropriate action. No two problems are exactly alike ke one must see all the available option. Another model to decide about the charm of any industry is given by well known management guru, Michael Porter Porter, and it is famous in the world of management as “Michael “Michael Porter's Five Forces of Competitive Position Model Model” Let us first understand what this model says:

Threat of New Entrant

Rivalry Bargaining Power of supplier

Among Existing Competitor

Threat of Substitute Product

Bargaining Power of Buyers

Michael Porter's Five Forces of Competitive Position Model

The Competitive Forces analysis is made by the identification of 5 fundamental competitive forces: 1.

Entry of competitors: How easy or difficult is it for new entrants to start competing, which barriers do exist. 2. Threat of substitutes: How easy can a product or service be substituted, especially made cheaper. 3. Bargaining power of buyers:: How strong is the position of buyers? Can they work together? in ordering large volumes.

4. Bargaining power of suppliers: suppliers: How strong is the position of sellers? Do many potential suppliers exist or only few potential suppliers, monopoly? 5. Rivalry among the existing players: players Does a strong competition between the existing players exist? Is one player very dominant or are all equal in strength and size. Threat of New Entrants depends on: Economies of scale, Capital / investment requirements, Customer switching costs, Access to industry distribution channels, Access to technology. Brand loyalty. Are customers loyal? The likelihood of retaliation from existing industry players. Government regulations. Can new entrants get subsidies? Threat of Substitutes depends on: Quality.. Is a substitute better? Buyers' willingness to substitute. The relative ive price and performance of substitutes. The costs of switching to substitutes. Is it easy to change to another product? Bargaining Power of Suppliers depends on: Concentration of suppliers. Are there many buyers and few dominant suppliers? Branding, is the brand of the supplier strong? Profitability of suppliers. Are suppliers forced to raise prices? Suppliers threaten to integrate forward into the industry. Buyers do not threaten to integrate backwards into supply. Role of quality and service. The in industry is not a key customer group to the suppliers. Switching costs. Is it easy for suppliers to find new customers? Bargaining Power of Buyers depends on: Concentration of buyers. Are there a few dominant buyers and many sellers in the industry? Differentiation, Dif are products standardized? Profitability of buyers. Are buyers forced to be tough? Role of quality and service. Threat of backward and forward integration into the industry. Switching costs. Is it easy for buyers to switch their supplier? Intensity of Rivalry depends on: The structure of competition. Rivalry will be more intense if there are lots of small or equally sized competitors; rivalry will be less if an industry has a clear market leader. The structure of industry costs. Industries Industries with high fixed costs encourage competitors to manufacture at full capacity by cutting prices if needed. Degree of product differentiation. Industries where products are commodities (e.g. steel, coal) typically have greater rivalry. Switching costs. Ri Rivalry is reduced when buyers have high switching costs. Strategic objectives. If competitors pursue aggressive growth strategies, rivalry will be more intense. If competitors are merely "milking" profits in a mature industry, the degree of rivalry is typically ally low. Exit barriers. When barriers to leaving an

industry are high, competitors tend to exhibit greater rivalry.Now rivalry.Now letus see how porter model works in real life situations. Entry of competitors: A PC maker does not require very high investment because the parts of desktops are procured from other manufactures most of the unorganised assemblers does this thing only. Therefore we can say that the entry barrier for this industry is low. Secondly after liberalisation of Indian economy various MNCs have entered in India they have huge pool of resources resulting a tough competition is laid this has made the Indian economic very turbulent.. Threat of substitutes: Technology changes very rapidly in some of sectors and personal computing is one among them them, the product life cycle in this type of industry are very small therefore no one can guess when the current technology is going to be outdated and a substitute can replace the product. Bargaining power of buyers: Every organisation whether government, public or private are going for computerisation hence they require PCs in bulk so they have high bargaining power. Individual customers are also there but they have ve low bargaining power results a balance in the market Bargaining power of suppliers: Supplier also have high bargaining power as the number of players are less and plc is low low, since manufacturing requires heavy investment, so these companies i.e. OEMs creates extra pressure over the PC makers. Rivalry among the existing players: players Since the margin in this sector especially, laptops and notebooks, is quite good therefore this sectors have many players. And presences of many players create a cut throat competition among players and because of tough rivalry the amount of margin are going lower day by day. Application of Five Forces on Retail Store While working in retail store again we can realize the validity of “Five Forces”. Retail store is once again much lower investment therefore each day there is possibility of neighbourhood jumping in the

same business as yours. Secondly big Malls and Super Stores are also posing great challenge to the retailers and many time the company owned showrooms also opened whose wide recourses can cause fatality to small retailers. Being a small retailer they don’t have much threat for substitute as the exit barrier is low for them. But the company whose retailer was he might come in problem as the loyalty of retailer is changed, this may cause important information too be passed to the competitor of the company. Being a retailer they don’t get the benefit of economy of scale resulting the overall cost is not as low as it is with big retail store chain or with company owned shops. therefore the end user or customer has much more bargaining power. This results lowering the margin and again the chances of switching the loyalty or either to quitting the business becomes more. Since the retailer is small they have very less bargaining power against the company that looks lik like giants in front of them. Most of the companies don’t give price protection to them. Many small accessory are required with a personal computer therefore the retailer has chance to utilise the impulse buying behaviour, that can be seen very commonly in any retail store, therefore he needs some products as mouse, pen drives, drives headphone etc. Types of customer and Non customers: To succeed in any business a firm should understand the psycho of customers, they should understand what is going inside the mind of customer because marketing is a game of brain where heart can also be combined to see the full scale application of various principle. A customer should be offered a product that makes him delighted. Every company should understand derstand why a customer is switching towards the products of another company. Human psychology tells that it resist change that means humans mind resist any type of change, therefore we can conclude that customer turning towards other company is not satisfied ied with the current offering of company, his requirements as not met. Then a question arises how one can find what customer wants? The answer to this question is hidden in market research. It reveals the various attributes of demands by customer and company ny should align itself and its product in that direction similar to thinking of customer. customer For e.g. Sony offers its laptop in different colours whereas all the products of HCL are in one single colour (with with different shades of it) but our survey pointed out that customer is highly conscious about the looks of notebook. When Dell understood this requirement of customer they introduced XPS series of notebook in various colours. When a company takes such

type of steps customers think that company is taking care of them and it create a feeling of association in the customer’s mind. Now let us talk about noncustomers, these are those people who don’t buy product of our company. They can be segmented into three tiers first tier is the group of people who are actually our customer but they are on verge of being lost as they can switch any time to our competitor if this segment is not taken due care the company is going to lose them at any momentand and we all know that retaing old customer is 8 times less costly than getting new customer.Therefore company must consider seriously why they are in first tier.

Third Tier Second Tier

First Tier Our customer

The Three Tiers of Noncustomers First Tier: “Soon-to-be” be” noncustomers who are on the edge of your market, waiting to jump ship. Second Tier: “Refusing” noncustomers who consciously choose against your market. Third Tier: “Unexplored” noncustomers who are in markets distant from yours.

Second Tier are those customer who had never tried our product since they are the refuser refusers who consciously choose against our product, product therefore they are the segment that cannot be convinced as whatever our offering will be they will surly find some of the other fault in it. They are the most difficult to convince hence they will eat up most of the resource of company therefore in the favour of company it is better to leave them. The third Tier is the most promising segment as they are the unexplored customer distant or far from the company and they are required to be explored or developed. This is called the market space generation that is reaching to those segments who have never been offered anything from us. It can be compared with the Blue Ocean strategy by W. ChanKim Renée Mauborgne who suggested that the blue ocean has the lowest rivalry resulting a better opportunity for the growth. As it reduces some of the forces in porter’s model up to substantial degree therefore the growth of company is revitalise. Another benefit is

that we gain a large portion of customer loyalty in favour of us. Chances are there that we can also gain the first mover advantage.

SWOT ANALYSIS OF Hindustan industan Computers Ltd td Capable of developing technology and engineering solutions in both the system and application software areas Experience in working on large projects

Inadequate marketing skills Unsatisfactry After Sales Service

Indian MNC Only vendor that provide driver cd with leaptops

No Motivational factor for sales employee

Largest service network in India Cheapest laptop in India

HCL Microsoft tie-up. up. brand name Indian government’s thrust towards increased computerization of offices, banks PC Penetration is low in India

New Entrant Price War Competitor has substitute product PC Maker Not PC Manufacturer

SWOT ANALYSIS OF G.K.COMMUNICATION

Relationship

Less-efficient efficient Management

Prime Location

Costs

Brand Power

Low Inventry

G.K.Communication

LAN,

Company owned showroom

Internet, Training,

Presence of Local Computer Market(Chandini)

Service

Assembled Computer

Conclusion From the project that I had undergone during my Summer Internship program I can conclude that to succeed in the business we must not only depend on 4p’s that is Product Price Place and Promotion but also develop a way to differentiate we must try to develop a new value curve and if this is achieved the whole exercise to differentiate will give its fruit in term of higher sales. After working for several weeks I concluded that Retail stores are more vulnerable against the competitor. In this era of high rivalry it is quite difficult to sustain in the business without havi having a good and loyal customer base. Whole responsibility lies in the hands of customers and to keep them on our side it is necessary to understand the customer. We should try to make a harmonious and a relationship of trust, when a retailer will be honest towards his customer and try to solve the problem of customer with an honest feeling to help him he can make a better relationship. Since G.K.Communication is in retailing of PCs, mobiles, consumer durables, satellite television it had diversified its risk up to some extent but to survive in PC market that has got a good margin he must try to create personal relationship with the customers. Abetter relationship is maintained only when he is helping out customer by providing him at least basic service to the customer such as installation of OS and various other small issues. This action creates goodwill of retailer in the heart of customer. From the techno giant HCL it can be concluded that other way to succeed succeed in the business is to make the distribution channel very very efficient that each individuals unit can push the product in the market and ultimately results in a higher sale. By following this strategy HCL had managed to get on rank two with HP at number umber one .HCL is also trying to gain the in-depth insight of retailing for the promotion of its DIGILIFE stores this step of HCL will reduce its dependency on individual retailers and will also increase its bargaining power over its distribution channel. But this can create a channel conflict resulting the faith of retailers will go down as they can see HCL itself as threat against them. A better margin will provide a boost to retailers for selling the product of HCL as much as they can. The major drawback ck in HCL’s marketing plan is that do nothing to aware their customer about their products .HCL’s current position is at number 2 but if they don’t take any action soon they will be shifted to lower ranks and history proves this, when BSNL was the largest they didn’t thought to accommodate with the changing business environment and they lost their number one position within a short span of time and they are now not within the top three

Recommendations For HCL  HCL says that it has got a wide network of service centre and they can solve any problem within six hours but they fails on this commitment, this act make the customer to lose his trust  HCL should understand that push strategy is not always good but they should try to win the confidence and heart of customers by providing them value for money.  Promotional activities are very less therefore they should invest a considerable amount in advertisement and as a result their brand awareness will be created or will increases  Brand Image of HCL is very low and it is considered as cheap brand with lower quality.  HCL is an Indian company and they should design their product according to the customer’s requirements of India .i.e. reliability should be considered as major attribute as we Indian like the things that last long  Most of their products of HCL are standard product whereas now the age of customise product is coming, its competitors are a trying to provide customised products  HCL should try hard rd to increase its Brand Equity  HCL should make strategic alliance with several financial organisations that can provide instalment facilities to the customer as it can be seen from the results of survey that customers are generally interested buying PC on instalment.  ISD D (In Store Demonstrator) provided by HCL must be given some type of sales based incentives and also training so that so that he can be motivated for more selling.  HCL should create some factors that the industry never offers such as free training about using the product, as most of customers don’t know how to use the computer this will definitely creates a brand differentiation or customers can be given subsidise ad admission in HCL CDC.  HCL should try to raise at least some attributes of PCs that can be projected as best buy. For e.g. sound or graphic or any other part of the visible system.  HCL can come up some new exiting brand name that should sound technical or jazz. This type of brand name will enable HCL to stand in front of Sony VIAO or DELL’s XPS  HCL should add a good tag line to its name that can make the association of customer to the company

For G.K. Communication:           

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They should continue the follow up program. program They should start relationship marketing Strategic alliance with some local players will improve the network of its customer base. They should put some glow sign, banner etc of HCL so that customer can understand that PCs are also sold here They should provide some selling based incentives to motivate the sales boy They should keep separate records of stocks available with feature; this will create an exact idea about the inventory level. They should use computer to keep all these records this will increase the image of store in the eyes of customers Leaflets must be distributed several times in a month. They should try to reduce the attrition rate of their employee Sales girl should also be employed It should look like they are selling technology product by making maximum use of modern technology products, this will increases the value of store and will be considered as the store up-to-date date information and chances of making error is least. Several time a month they should arrange canopy, and seminars etc

Reference Non Electronic sourcessources  Book References

Philip Kotler, Kevin Lane Keller(2006).Marketing Management.India Management.India- Dorling Kindersley Pvt. Ltd.



ICMR(2005).Business Research Methods.ICFAI Press.

. Electronic sources Websites

www.google.com (For getting the address of sites)



www.pdfcoke.com (Documents on branding)

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www.attitudedesign.co.uk(For the articles/journals related to branding) www.attitudedesign.co.uk(For



www.ezinearticles.com (For the articles/journals related to marketing)

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www.nasscom.in (For the information related to IT industry)

 www.hcl.in (For the information related to t HCL)

 E- Articles/Journals  The importance of brand image in start-up companies.  Brand PositioningPositioning Brand Image.

Annexure ABC OF NOTEBOOK Blue tooth technology: It is used for transmission of data for short distance up to 30 feet in notebooks Docking station A cradle for notebook it provides space for extra drives and connections. PC Card slots A space in a notebook where you can insert credit card cards accessories such as modems, network adapters, wireless network adapters, security cards, and memory cards, as well as connection points for some external disk drives Port replicator A hardware device that connects the cables (modem, printer, power, and mouse) that you would otherwise have to be attached one by one to the noteboo notebook's ports. Travel weight The total weight of a notebook package package for computing on the road including the notebook, transformer, battery, and possibly an adapter module Universal Serial Bus (USB) An all-purpose all input/output connector a digital camera, audio player, memory key, mouse, external drive, or printer.A notebook has one to four USB ports (two are adequate for most users). Pointing Devise:: either a touchpad or pointing devise DVD-Rom/CDRW Rom/CDRW Combo Drives Slowly being phased out but some budget and business notebooks. Reads CDs and writes CDs

FORMAT OF THE QUESTIONAIRE

HCL Info systems Ltd

4 Floor, 4 Floor, Regency Hotel,6 Hungerford street, Kolkata- 700071 th

th

Personal Details: Name Age Sex Address & phone no. Email address if available 1. How much you know about computers? Rate yourself on the given scale If you think you are expert give yourself 5 and if you think you don’t know anything give yourself1 Expert (5) .............................................................................................................. Know nothing ((1) 2. Are you interested in purchasing Computer? Compute If yes, then you will be buy a) Laptop b) Desktop 3. How many hours you uses computer in a week 10 hrs/week b) 20 hrs/week c) greater than 20 but less than 27 hrs/week d) don’t know 4. Internet is used for a) Online Chatting b) sending and receiving mails c) surfing sport, job and informative sites 5. If you don’t on’t have computer or if you are planning to buy a next computer when you are going to buy a) Instantly b) next week c) within a month d) in next 6 months 6. How you can rate HCL in PC vendors as Lenovo, Acer, Compaq in terms of quality of product, reliability of product etc a) very good b)good c) neutral d) bad e) worse 7. How you prefer to pay for your new PC a) Cash b) Personal Loan c) Instalments 8. Major consideration while purchasing computer is a) Configuration b) Looks c) Price d) all e) whatever whatever sales person offer 9. After sales service effect your purchase decision a) Strongly agree b)agree c)neutral d) disagree e) strongly disagree 10. Comment on the role of computer in home ............................................................................................................................. ......................................................................................................................................................... ......................................................................................................................................................... ......................................................................................................................................................... Thank you for your support. This information will be kept confidential and will be used only for research purpose.