An Up Am

A PROJECT REPORT ON

Express Yourself

U.P. TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY, LUCKNOW In partial Fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree of

Master of Business Administration (MBA) 2008-10 Guidance By :

Guidance By :

Mr. Gaurav Garg

Mr. Abhishek Bagla

Submitted By :Anupam Shukla Roll. No.- 0827670002

DEEN DAYAL COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT Muzaffarnagar (U.P.)

CONTENTS



EXECUTIVE SUMMARY



COMPANY PROFILE INTRODUCTION OF TOPIC





RESEARCH METHODOLOGY



OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY



DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION



FINDINGS



CONCLUSION

LIMITATIONS RECOMMENDATION AND SUGGESTIONS 

BIBLIOGRAPHY



QUESTIONNAIRE

Acknowledg ment

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I am sincerely thankful to all those people who have been giving me any kind of assistance in the making of this project report. I express my gratitude to Mr. Chetan Kumar (Branch Manager), who guided me through his vast experience and knowledge and made me able for the successful completion of this project. I express my gratitude to DEEN

DAYAL

COLLEGE

OF

MANAGEMENT

(MUZAFFARNAGAR). I would hereby, make most of the opportunity by expressing my sincerest thanks to Mr. Abhishek Bagla and all my faculties whose teachings gave me conceptual understanding and clarity of comprehension, which ultimately made my job more easy. The credit also goes to all my friends whose encouragement kept me in good stead.

Their continuous support has given me the strength and confidence to complete the project without any difficulty. Last of all but not the least I would like to acknowledge my gratitude to the respondents without whom this survey would have been incomplete. I am also thankful to the authority of Airtel for providing me the information.

(ANUPAM SHUKLA)

Prefac e

PREFACE The project title “Consumer Behavior of Airtal” is the analysis of the big scale sector of communication. This project involves the big scale level provided by Aortal to its customers. The survey was conducted so as to analyze the big scale sector prevailing in the current industry and the improvement that can be made upon it. Arket research study has been conducted in order to bring out the picture of big scale sector that exists in this industry. The differences in service quality I, Anupam Shukla, being a student of MBA, of DDCM, MUZAFFARNAGAR that exists in the market. What the customer’s preferences are provided by the Airtel?

Executi ve Summa ry

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

Company Profile

COMPANY PROFILE

Vision "As we spread wings to expand our capabilities and explore new horizons, the fundamental focus remains unchanged: seek out the best technology in the world and put it at the service of our ultimate user: our customer." These are the premise on which Bharti Enterprises has based its entire plan of action. Bharti Enterprises has been at the forefront of technology and has revolutionized telecommunications with its worldclass products and services. Established in 1985, Bharti has been a pioneering force in the telecom sector. With many firsts and innovations to its credit, ranging from being the first mobile service in Delhi, first private basic telephone service provider in the country, first Indian company to provide comprehensive telecom

services outside India in Seychelles and first private sector service provider to launch National Long Distance Services in India. Bharti had approximately 3.21 million total customers – nearly 2.88 million mobile and 334,000 fixed line customers. Its services sector businesses include mobile operations in Andhra Pradesh, Chennai, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Kolkata, Madhya Pradesh circle, Maharashtra circle, Mumbai, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh (West) circle. In addition, it also has fixed-line operations in the states of Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh, Haryana, Delhi, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and nationwide broadband and long distance networks. Bharti has recently launched national long distance services by offering data transmission services and voice transmission services for calls originating and terminating on most of India's mobile networks.

The Company is also implementing a submarine cable project connecting Chennai-Singapore for providing international bandwidth. Bharti Enterprises also manufactures and exports telephone terminals and cordless phones. Apart from being the largest manufacturer of telephone instruments, it is also the first telecom company to export its products to the USA. Bharti Tele-Ventures' strategic objective is “To capitalize on the growth opportunities that the Company believes are available in the Indian telecommunications market and consolidate its position to be the leading integrated telecommunications services provider in key markets in India, with a focus on providing mobile services”. The Company has developed the following strategies to achieve its strategic objective: 

Focus on maximizing revenues and margins;



Capture maximum telecommunications revenue potential with minimum geographical coverage;



Offer multiple telecommunications services to provide customers with a "one-stop shop" solution;



Position itself to tap data transmission opportunities and offer advanced mobile data services;



Focus on satisfying and retaining customers by ensuring high level of customer satisfaction;



Leverage strengths of its strategic and financial partners; and



Emphasize on human resource development to achieve operational efficiencies.

Businesses Bharti Tele-Ventures current businesses include 

Mobile services



Fixed-line



National and international long distance services



VSAT, Internet services and network solutions

Competitive Strengths

Bharti Tele-Ventures believes that the following elements will contribute to the Company's success as an integrated telecommunication services provider in India and will provide the Company with a solid foundation to execute its business strategy: 

Nationwide Footprint - approximately 92% of India's total mobile subscribers resided in the Company's fifteen mobile circles. These 15 circles collectively accounted for approximately 56% of India's land mass;



Focus on telecommunications to enable the Company to better anticipate industry trends and capitalize on new telecommunications-related business opportunities;



The strong brand name recognition and a reputation for offering high quality service to its customers;



Quality management team with vision and proven execution skills; and



The Company's strong relationships with international strategic and financial investors such as SingTel, Warburg Pincus, International Finance Corporation, Asian Infrastructure Fund Group and New York Life Insurance.

Brand Architecture: Bharti is working on a complex three-layered branding architecture — to: 

Create specific brands for each service,



Build sub-brands within each of these services

and 

Use Bharti as the mother brand providing the

group its corporate identity as well as defining its goal to

become

a

national

builder

infrastructure.

Error: Reference source not found

of

telecoms

Airtel - The flagship brand for cellular operations all across the country. Touchtel - The brand earmarked for basic service operations. India One - The brand for national long distance (NLD) telephony Though the costs of creating new brands are heavy but the group wants to create “distinct independent brands to address different customers and profiles”. Brand Strategy: To understand the brand strategy, let’s look at the brand building exercise associated with Airtel — a brand that had to be repositioned recently to address new needs in the market. When the brand was launched seven years ago, cellular telephony wasn’t a mass market by any means. For the

average consumer, owning a cellular phone was expensive as tariff rates (at Rs 8 a minute) as well as instrument prices were steep — sometimes as much as buying a secondhand car. Bharti could have addressed the customer by rationally explaining to him the economic advantage of using a mobile phone. But Sachdev says that such a strategy would not have worked for the simple reason that the value from using the phone at the time was not commensurate with the cost. “Instead of the value-proposition model, we decided to address the sensory benefit it gave to the customer as the main selling tack. The idea was to become a badge value brand,” he explains. So the Airtel “leadership series” campaign was launched showing successful men with their laptops and in their deluxe cars using the mobile phone. In simple terms, it meant Airtel was positioned as an aspirational brand that

was meant for leaders, for customers who stood out in a crowd. Did it work? Repeated surveys following the launch showed that there were three core benefits that were clearly associated with the brand — leadership, dynamism and performance. These were valuable qualities, but they only took Airtel far enough to establish its presence in the market. As tariffs started dropping, it became necessary for Airtel to appeal to a wider audience. And the various brand-tracking exercises showed that despite all these good things, there was no emotional dimension to the brand — it was perceived as cold, distant and efficient. Sachdev and his team realized that in a business in which customer relationships were the core this could be a major weakness. The reason? With tariffs identical to competitor Essar and roughly the same level of service and schemes,

it had now become important for Bharti to “humanize” Airt1el and use that relationship as a major differentiation. The brand had become something like Lufthansa — cold and efficient. What they needed was to become Singapore Airlines, efficient but also human. A change in tack was important because this was a time when the cellular market was changing. The leadership series was okay when you were wooing the crème de la crème of society. Once you reached them you had to expand the market so there was need to address to new customers. By that time, Bharti was already the leading cellular subscriber in Delhi with a base of 3.77 lakh (it now has 1.2 million customers). And with tariffs becoming more affordable — as cell companies started cutting prices — it was time to expand the market. How could Bharti leverage this leadership position down the value chain? Surveys showed that the concept of

leadership in the customer’s minds was also changing. Leadership did not mean directing subordinates to execute orders but to work along with a team to achieve common objectives — it was, again, a relationship game that needed to be reflected in the Airtel brand. Also, a survey showed that 50 per cent of the new customers choose a mobile phone brand mostly through word-of-mouth

endorsements

from

friends,

family

or

colleagues. Thus, existing customers were an important tool for market expansion and Bharti now focused on building closer relationships with them. That is precisely what the brand tried to achieve through its new positioning under the Airtel “Touch Tomorrow” brand campaign. This set of campaigns portrayed mobile users surrounded by caring family members. Says Sachdev: “The new campaign and positioning was designed to highlight the relationship angle and make the brand softer and more sensitive.”

As it looks to expand its cellular services nationwide —to eight new circles apart from the seven in which it already operates — Bharti is now realizing that there are new compulsions to rework the Airtel brand, and a new exercise is being launched to this effect. Right now, the company is unwilling to discuss the new positioning in detail. But broadly, the focus is on positioning Airtel as a power brand with numerous regional sub-brands reflecting customer needs in various parts of the country. If Airtel is becoming more humane and more sensitive as a brand, Bharti has also understood that one common brand for all cellular operations might not always work in urban markets that are now getting increasingly saturated. To bring in new customers, the company decided that it needed to segment the market. One such experiment, launched last year, is Youtopia, a brand aimed at the youth in the 14 to 19 age bracket and for those who are “young at heart”. With its earlier positioning, Airtel was perceived as a

brand for the well-heeled older customer; there was nothing for younger people. With Youtopia, Airtel hoped to reverse that. In order to deliver the concept, Airtel offered rock bottom tariff rates (25 paise for 30 seconds) at night to Youtopia customers — a time when they make the maximum number of calls. It also set up merchandising exercises around the scheme — like a special portal for young people to buy things or bid for goods. The company is now looking at offering other services at affordable prices to this segment which include music downloads on the mobile and bundling SMS rates with normal calls to make it cheaper for young people to use. The other experiment that Bharti has worked on is to go in for product segmentation through the Tango brand name. The brand was created to offer mobile users Internetinterface services or what is known as WAP (Wireless Application Protocol).

The idea was to bring Internet and mobile in perfect harmony. “The name was chosen from the popular movie title It Takes Two To Tango: basically, you need the two services to tango to offer customers a new choice”, says Sachdev. This, however, had less to do with the branding exercise as with inefficiency of service (accusingly slow download speeds) and the limited utility of WAP services. Subsequently, the ads were withdrawn, but the company re-iterated that the branding exercise could be revived because Tango will be the brand to offer GPRS services — or permanent Internet connectivity on the mobile phone — which Airtel is expected to launch soon. The Magic: Perhaps the more ambitious experiment has been with Magic — the pre-paid card. The idea was to make the brand affordable, accessible and, most importantly, feasible as a means of expanding the market even faster.

PHASE I – Magic was aimed at bringing in infrequent users of a mobile phone into the market and assure him that he would have to pay only if he made a call. Such a customer used the phone sparingly — mostly for emergencies — and was not willing to pick up a normal mobile connection with its relatively high rentals (pre-paid cards do not include rental charges). To achieve its objectives Bharti did three things. 

One, the product was made available at prices

ranging from Rs 300 to Rs 3,000 with no strings attached and was simple to operate. 

Two, the product was made accessible and

distributed through small stores, telephone booths and even kirana shops so that the offering was well within arms reach.



Third, to make the product more “approachable” to

the customer, the company came with vernacular ad campaigns like “Magic Daalo Se Hello” which appealed to local sensibilities. This apart, the company roped in Karisma Kapoor and Shah Rukh Khan for a major ad campaign all across Delhi, a ruse that saw the number of subscribers go up from 5.47 lakh to 12 lakh today, overtaking Essar’s branded pre-paid card Speed, which was launched much ahead of Magic. The company is now re-working its Magic strategy even further. Earlier, the branding strategy was aimed at roping in only interested customers — that is, customers who were already inclined to opt for mobile services. But now, with basic service providers having been allowed limited mobility at far cheaper rates, mobile service providers could find themselves under threat again.

That is why the new exercise is aimed at co-opting nonadopters. While the exact strategy is under wraps, insiders say the new branding strategy would be aimed at offering them value which they had not perceived would be available from using a pre-paid card. PHASE II Bharti used Airtel Magic to build a strong value proposition and accelerate market expansion through India’s first national pre-paid card TV brand campaign 

First time ever in India - any pre-paid card brand goes on TV



A combination of the film genre exposed through the TV medium designed to connect with the masses of India



Youth based - romance driven strategy platform makes the value proposition of Airtel Magic - ‘Mumkin Hai’ come alive



All elements - user imagery, context, tone & language created to connect the category to the lives of the SEC B & SEC C segment – the middle class nonmobile user.



Airtel Magic positions itself on the platform of being excellent for emergency situations - increasing productivity as a part of everyday life.



Sharukh Khan makes ‘everything in life possible’ while romancing pretty Kareena Kapoor with Airtel Magic, India’s leading pre-paid mobile card.

Airtel today unveiled its strategy for market expansion with the launch of its new Airtel Magic pre-paid card brand campaign – ‘Magic hai to Mumkin hai’.

The strategy is

targeted at the non-user segment defined as young adults, 15-30 years of age; in the Sec B & C segment is aimed at accelerating market expansion. The value proposition is centered on a person’s desire to make all his / her dreams, ambitions & aspirations instantly possible.

The new

campaign for Airtel Magic is all about empowering millions of Indians to be on top of their lives. The brand is positioned to be relevant to the mass-market who want to make all their dreams, hopes & desires come alive… instantly. (At just Rs.300/- per month Airtel Magic is so easy to buy.) Improving productivity, letting you befriend the world and opening up new horizons. It gives you the freedom to control your life in a way never possible before. Indeed, anything that you think is possible is possible with Airtel Magic. The new brand slogan ‘Magic hai to Mumkin hai’ has been specially created to capture this effectively. This strategy is designed to help us talk to this segment directly in the tone, manner & language of the masses. The “Mumkin hai” value proposition will help us expand the market and gain a higher percentage of market share in the process. The brand ambassadors Sharukh Khan and Kareena Kapoor embody this ‘can do’ or “Mumkin Hai” spirit (infact

that

is

the

reason

they

were

selected

as

brand

ambassadors). Sharukh rose from a TV actor to become India’s top film star and national heartthrob.

Kareena’s

success is due to her ‘attitude’, talent, hard work and the sheer ability to make a mark in such a short time. Both these stars have said ‘Mumkin hai’ and made it happen for themselves. The genre of this new strategy & campaign is Hindi cinema led. This genre connects millions across India. The spirit of romance, dancing… the Indian cinema, well known to most as Bollywood, holds millions of Indians together as one. The new TV campaign of Airtel Magic crafted in the Hindi film idiom, magnifies the empowering optimism of “Mumkin Hai”, in the endearing situation of a boy-girl romance. Where Sharukh Khan, sets his eyes on Kareena Kapoor and wins her love with the help of Airtel Magic. (Poignantly

conveying that special feeling we all get when a dream is made possible and a victory of the heart is won). The strategy & new brand campaign is targeted at the large untapped base of intending mobile customers from Sec A, B & C.

The estimated addressable market of such

customers in the next two years is around 25 million in Airtel’s 16 states. The new strategy aims at correcting the perception that the mobile category is useful mainly for ‘business’ or ‘work’ related scenarios. The new strategy, brand positioning & brand slogan is an outcome of an extensive nationwide research and is an integral part of Airtel Magic’s new multi-media campaign. The campaign has been created by Percept Advertising. PHASE III Bharti used Airtel Magic to build a strong value proposition and accelerate market expansion through India’s first national pre-paid card TV brand campaign



First time ever in India - any pre-paid card brand gives such freedom to recharge any value



A combination of the film genre exposed through the TV medium designed to connect with the masses of India



Youth based - romance driven strategy platform makes the value proposition of Airtel Magic - ‘Aisi azaadi aur kahan?” come alive



Sharukh Khan makes ‘everything in life possible’ Airtel today unveiled its strategy for market expansion with the launch of it’s new Airtel Magic pre-paid card brand campaign – ‘Magic hai to Mumkin hai’. . The value proposition is centered around a person’s desire to make all his / her dreams, ambitions & aspirations instantly possible. The new campaign for Airtel Magic is all about empowering millions of Indians to be on top of their lives.

The brand is positioned to be relevant to the mass-market who want to make all their dreams, hopes & desires come alive… instantly .At a amount of your choice you can recharge

your

account

with

available

validity

time

.Improving productivity, letting you befriend the world and opening up new horizons.

It gives you the freedom to

control your life in a way never possible before. Indeed, anything that you think is possible is possible with Airtel Magic. The new brand slogan ‘Aisi azadi aur kahanhas been specially created to capture this effectively.

Servi Amount ce Tax

Processin g

Servi ce Tax

Time

Validi ty

Fees(Rs.

(Rs.) (8%) ) 54 4 60 4.44 75 5.56 100 7.41 125 9.26 150 11.11 175 12.96 200 14.81 216 16 225 16.67 250 18.52 275 20.37 300 22.22

Amount

Talk

25 25 25 25 50 50 50 50 85 85 85 85 85

Processin g

(Rs.) (8%) ) 324 24 350 25.93 360 26.67 375 27.78 400 29.63 425 31.48 475 35.19 500 37.04 525 38.89 540 40

(Day (Rs.) s) 25 30.56 44.44 67.59 65.74 88.89 112.04 135.19 115 123.33 146.48 169.63 183.78

Talk Time

Validi ty

Fees(Rs. 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 150 150

5 5 5 5 10 10 10 10 20 20 20 20 20

(Day (Rs.) s) 150 174.07 183.33 197.22 220.37 243.52 289.81 312.96 336.11 350

30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30

600 650 700 775 800

44.44 48.15 51.85 57.41 50.36 Tax

150 150 150 150 150

405.56 451.56 498.15 567.59 580.74

Fees(Rs.

(Rs.

30 30 30 30 30 (Day

( Rs.) (8%) ) ) s) 850 62.96 150 637.04 60 900 66.67 150 683.33 60 1000 74.07 150 775.93 60 1080 80 150 850 60 1200 88.89 150 961.11 60 1300 96.3 150 1053.7 60 1400 103.7 150 1146.3 60 1500 111.11 150 1238.89 60 1800 133.33 150 1516.67 60 2000 148.15 150 1701.85 60 2160 160 150 1850 60 3000 222.22 150 2627.78 60 5000 370.37 300 4329.63 366 6000 444.44 300 5255.56 366 7000 518.52 300 6181.48 366 8000 592.59 300 7107.41 366 9000 666.67 300 8033.33 366 9999 740.67 300 8958.33 366 YOUR TALK TIME = MRP - PROCESSING FEE SERVICE TAX Other Brand Building Initiatives:-

The main idea is to stay ahead of competition for at least six months. Working on the above game plan Bharti is constantly coming up with newer product offerings for the customers.

The focus, of course, is to offer better quality of service. 

To make the service simpler for customers using

roaming facilities, Airtel has devised common numbers for subscribers across the country for services like customer care, food services and cinema amongst others. 

It will also launch a unified billing system across

circles so, customers moving from one place to another do not have to close and then again open new accounts at another place. 

To assist customer care personnel to deal with

subscriber queries, a storehouse of 40,000 frequently asked questions and their answers have been stored on the computers. 

Bharti expects that most of its new customers (one

estimate is that it would be 60 to 70 per cent of the total new subscriber base) would come from the prepaid card segment. So, they must be given value-

added products and services which competitors don’t provide. 

Bharti, for the first time for a cellular operator, has

decided to offer roaming services even to its pre-paid customers, but the facility would be limited to the region in which they buy the card. To ensure that customers don’t migrate to other competing services (which is known as churn and ranges from 10 to 15 per cent of the customer base every month), the company is also working on a loyalty program. This will offer subscribers tangible cash benefits depending upon their usage of the phone. 

The loyalty program will not be only for a ‘badge

value’, it will provide real benefits to customers. The idea is to create an Airtel community. 

Another key area which Bharti is concentrating its

attention upon is a new roaming service launched in Delhi under which calls of a roaming subscriber who is

visiting the city will be routed directly to his mobile instead of traveling via his home network. 

The company also offers multi-media messaging

systems under which customers having a specialized phone with a in-built camera can take pictures and email it to friends or store it in the phone. The cost per picture is between Rs 5 to Rs 7. 

Bharti is also aware that it has to make owning a

ready-to-use cellular service much easier than it is today. A key area is to increase the number of activation centers. Earlier Bharti had 250 Airtel Connect stores which were exclusive outlets (for its services) and about 250 Airtel Points which were kiosks in larger shops. Now activation can be done by all of them, and not only by Connect outlets, all within 15 to 20 minutes. In comparison, the competition takes two to four hours.



Pre- paid cards are really catching up with the

mobile phone users and it is actually helping the market to increase. First, they are easier to obtain and convenient to use. Unlike post-paid, one need not pay security deposits for picking up a pre-paid card. It is often available even with paanwalas. As befits a fastmoving consumer service, the game is now moving beyond price to expanding distribution reach and servicing a well-spread-out clientele with technology and strategic alliances. Bharti is focusing on two factors to make pre-paid cards more attractive. Keeping the entry cost low for consumers and making recharging more convenience. 

Bharti is in the process of launching a new system

in alliance with Mumbai-based Company Venture InfoTech which will enable a pre-paid card user to renew his subscription by just swiping a card. The system will not only save users the hassle of going out and buying a card every time it expires but also enable

mobile companies to reduce the cost of printing and distributing cards. 

Bharti Televentures has tied up with 'Waiter on

wheels,' a company delivering food at home, to reach its Magic pre-paid cards to subscribers' doorsteps. The company is also joining hands with local grocery shops which will enable users to recharge their cards by just making a phone call to the shop. Apart from improving the convenience of recharging, mobile operators are beefing up their distribution channels. The company is constantly innovating to enhance the value proposition for its pre-paid service. They are leveraging technology to expand their distribution network and deliver round-the-clock recharge options to its MOTS (Mobile on the Spot) subscribers. 

Bharti Cellular has also launched a special service,

CareTouch, for high-value, corporate customers, providing them with instant, single-point access for

any assistance they require. Customers can dial 777 and enjoy a slew of services, which includes easier payment of bills, service on priority basis, and valueadded services without any additional paper work. Bharti Cellular is offering a range of services without going through an interactive voice recorder ensuring that they save time. Dedicated ‘CareTouch’ executives are expected to assist customers with any service on priority basis. Besides the regular proactive reminder calls for bill payment, customers can also call CareTouch for bill payments at free of cost. 

Airtel presented MTV Inbox; the first ‘on-air’ SMS

based interactive music dedication show exclusively for

Airtel

and

Airtel

Magic

customers.

Highly

interactive VJ based show with real-time feedback mechanism. Both brands joined hands to target the high growth youth segment.

Bharti’s View on its Branding strategy:-

First, brand building efforts in today’s context have to be seen in a more holistic manner. Delivering value on a sustained basis is perhaps the most potent key to build a brand that lasts. Unflinching orientation to customer needs is the second key success factor. Customers (be it for industrial products or consumer goods and services) across the world are more informed

and,

at

the

same

time,

becoming

more

individualistic in their needs and far more demanding with the passage of time. Pro-active

tracking

of

shifts

in

consumer

behavior,

anticipating redefined or emerging customer needs, and then reacting in “real-time” are essential to attract and retain customer loyalty — a key element of creating brand equity in the present situation. Customizing the product (and communication of its benefit) to meet the specific needs of various consumer/customer

sub-segments is the third element in creating brand appreciation. As far as allocation of time and financial resources are concerned, too many companies mistakenly allocate a disproportionate

amount

on

mere

advertising

and

promotion. This is not to say that advertising and promotion are less relevant. On the contrary, with more choices and higher media clutter, businesses need to budget for an increasingly higher spend on their brand promotion but this has to be undertaken in tandem with enterprise-wide “reengineering” of the business philosophy and core design, production, and delivery operations for the product itself. The positive spin to this argument is that by first addressing the fundamentals, the enterprise itself becomes more competitive. This can be the beginning of a virtuous cycle wherein brand equity continues to increase as the enterprise sustains delivery of an appropriate product or service at an ever increasing value.

It is, however, crucial to note that in the years to come, not only will the cost of building a regional or a national (or an international) brand will continue to rise but also the time taken to do so will be longer and will need sustained and focused efforts.

INTRODUCTIO N OF TOPIC

INTRODUCTION OF TOPIC Consumer behavior is a very interesting and well known topic in itself. Which is able

to attract every BBA

student and the relevancy of this topic is much bigger then it seems. Because in the corporate sector every day and second one will have to deal with consumers and for getting success in dealing with customers every student must have the ability to analyze the mind of the customers in fact what is the need of a customer. What he wants and desires, how he perceive the things and products and how he makes the decision of expending his valuable money in purchasing any product or service.

Research Methodol ogy

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Achieving accuracy in any research requires in depth study regarding the subject. As the prime objective of the project is to compare Airtel with the existing competitors in the market and the impact of WLL on Airtel, the research methodology adopted is basically based on primary data via which the most recent and accurate piece of first hand information could be collected. Secondary data has been used to support primary data wherever needed. Primary data was collected using the following techniques Questionnaire Method Direct Interview Method and Observation Method The main tool used was, the questionnaire method. Further direct interview method, where a face-to-face formal interview was taken. Lastly observation method has been

continuous

with

the

questionnaire

method,

as

one

continuously observes the surrounding environment he works in. Procedure of research methodology 

To conduct this research the target population was the mobile users, Who are using GSM technology.



Target geographic area. Sample size of 100 was taken.



To these 100 people a questionnaire was given, the questionnaire was a combination of both open ended and closed ended questions.



The date during which questionnaires were filled.



Some dealers were also interviewed to know their prospective. Interviews with the managers of GSM service providers were also conducted.



Finally the collected data and information was analyzed and compiled to arrive at the conclusion and recommendations given.

Sources of secondary data Used to obtain information on, Bharti’s history, current issues, policies, procedures etc, wherever required. 

Internet



Magazines



Newspapers



Journals



Bharti Circulars



Bharti News Letters

Objecti ve of the Study

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

1. To identify the difference in market performance of Airtel in telecom industry. 2. To study the market of Airtel in this big scale sector. 3.

To compare various parameters of manufacturing process, technology, production policy, advertising, collaboration, export scenario, future prospect and government policies.

Data Analysis and Interpretat ion

Age Group Graph AGE GROUP

28-35 20%

15-21 15%

21-28 65%

As we can see from the above graph, the people who are in the age group of 21-28 years are the ones who are the maximum users of mobile phones. This segment is the one which gives maximum business to the mobile operators. This segment constitutes the young executives and other office going people. They are 65% of the total people who were interviewed. The next age group is the people who are 28-35 years old. They are 20% of the total. They are those who are at home or have small business units etc. And the next age group is the youngest generation who are 15-21 years old. They are school and

college going students and carry mobile phones to flaunt. They are 15% of the total interviewed people. Graph

OCCUPATION 10%

15%

20%

55% STUDENTS

EXECUTIVES

HOUSEHOLDS

OTHERS

As the above graph shows that 55% of the total people interviewed are working. So, these people are the ones who are the maximum users of mobile phones. They are the young executives, managers, Tele - callers etc. who require mobile for their official purposes. The next category is the households, who are either housewives, small units which operate from their homes etc. They are 20% of the whole. The next segment is

the students. They are 15% of the whole. And 10% of the whole is a category who is the professionals.

SERVICE PROVIDER

5% 15% 30%

50%

IDEA

AIRTEL

HUTCH

OTHERS

The above graph shows a slice of 50%. These are the total no. of people who are using Airtel. It seems that people are more aware of Airtel than any other brand. The next popular brand is Hutch. 305 of the people interviewed had Hutch connections. The next popular brand was Idea. 15% people had Idea connections. As it came very late in the market when Airtel had

established itself very well. So, that could be one of the reasons of such a low percentage. The remaining 5% had trump connections.

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION LEVEL 10%

20%

10% 60% FULLY

PARTIALLY

DISSATISFIED

FULLY DISSATISFIED

As the above graph clearly shows that customer services at Airtel seems poor. 60% of the people are dissatisfied with the customer services provided by Airtel. They are the ones who have the maximum share in the market but they are lagging behind in the customer services. 10% of the people were fully dissatisfied with the customer services of Airtel. This could leave an impact on the mind of the consumer. He can even switch over his brand. 20% of the people seemed partially

satisfied with the customer services and only 10% seem to be fully satisfied with Airtel’s customer services, which is a very small amount.

TYPES OF CARDS SIM CARD 15%

CASH CARD 85%

Cash

cards

seemed

quite

popular

among

the

people

interviewed. 85% of the total mobile users were having cash card connections. This means that the cash cards should be easily and readily available in the local markets. Airtel should make sure that Magic is available in each and every nook and

corner of the market. 15% of the people were having sim connections which are the regular bill.

Monthly expense graph

Monthly Expense

24%

12%

Rs 600 Rs 450 Rs 200

64%

People on an average spend RS 500 per month as their mobile phone expense. 64% people spend this amount. 24% people spend RS 300 per month as their monthly mobile expense. And

the remaining 12% had an expense more than RS 1000, they could the ones having sim connections or having cash cards and having a lot of business calls on their mobiles.

AWARENESS ABOUT WLL

NO 45%

YES 55%

WLL seemed to be a new word for many of the people. 45% of the people were not at all aware of such a technology. So, in

order to get the answer for this question they were first explained the concept. Only, 55% people knew what WLL is all about.

AWARENESS OF WLL PLAYERS TATA INDICOM 15%

RELIANCE 85%

Reliance was the brand which was popular amongst the interviewed people. As Reliance had done so much advertising and has it banners and hoarding spread all over Delhi. So, this could be one the reasons of its popularity. Tata was hardly a

known brand in this new field. Possibly, because of less promotions done by them as compared to Reliance. On the basis of analysis of the questionnaire I have found that the maximum no. of people who use mobile phones are in the age group of 20 to 28. who are the young executives and other office executives. They spend a maximum of RS. 500 as their mobile expense. There are more no. of prepared cards than post paid cards. The mobile users want to spend money side by side than to spend money at the end of the month on a big bill. Now when I compared Airtel with its competitor from the point of view of the consumer I found that on the basis of Tariff plan, value added services and billing accuracy Airtel is at par or ahead of its competitor but in the case of customer care and availability they lag behind their competitors. As, Airtel has a hold in the market because it has the maximum no. of connections, so it must improve upon it customer services. As far as WLL is concerned people are aware about it but not many people are aware about Tata. They only know more about

Reliance. People at this point of time are not interested to switch over from GSM to WLL.

FINDINGS

FINDING

1.

The conclusion drawn by the survey are that 65%

people using the service of Airtel are in the age group of 21-28, 20% people from our sample using Airtel in the age group of 28-35 and the rest 15%were in the age group of 15-21. 2.

55% people using Airtel wrer business executive,

20%were households, 15% were student and rest 10% were others. 3.

50% of the whole sample size were using Airtel and it

seemed that people are much aware of Airtel, 30%using Hutch, 15%with Idea and rest 5% other mobile connection

4.

60% of our sample size told us that they are

dissatisfied with the customer service of Airtel, 20% told that they are partially satisfied, 10% told that they are fully dissatisfied and rest 10% dissatisfied.

5.

85% were using cash care and rest 15% were using

sim cards. 6.

64% peorle spend 500 rs. Per month as their mobile

phone charges, 24% 300 rs. p/m and rest 12% spend more then 1000 rs. 7.

45%people were not aware of WLL tech. and 55%

knew what WLL is all about. 8.

Reliance was the brand which was popular amongst

interviewed people cause of much advertisement done by Reliance and TATA was hardly known as WLL brand only 15% people were aware of Tata and 85% people knew about reliance WLL.

CONCLUSI ON

CONCLUSION After analyzing the findings of the research, I can conclude that Airtel lagged behind its competitors as far as customer service and availability is concerned. The maximum no. of people who use the mobile is in the age group of 20 to 28. Cash cards are the most popular type of mobile connections, as they are consumer friendly and recharging the connection is not a problem.

Maximum

no.

of

people

spend

RS

500

on

their

connections. As Airtel is the only company having the maximum no of mobile connections so it must seriously look into the loop holes of the existing customer service department.

As we know that now Airtel has already launched its product with logo “’ Aisi azaadi aur kahan”’ has already

became popular in market. So we can say that in spite of so many competitors in the market Airtel is having a good position just because every time, it tries its best to understand the need of its important customer.

LIMITATIO N

LIMITATIONS

No project is without limitations and it becomes essential to figure out the various constraints that we underwent during the study. The following points in this direction would add to our total deliberations:-

1.

During the study, on many occasions the respondent groups gave us a cold shoulder.

2.

The respondents from whom primary data was gathered any times displayed complete ignorance about the complete brand range, which was being studied.

3.

Lack of time is the basic limitation in the project.

4.

Some retailers/wholesalers refuse to cooperate with the queries.

5.

Some

retailers/wholesalers

gave

biased

or

incomplete information regarding the study. 6.

Money played a vital factor in the whole project duration.

7.

Lack of proper information and experience also because hurdle for me.

8.

Some retailers did not answer all the questions or do not have time to answer.

RECOMMENDATI ON

and

SUGGESTION RECOMMENDATION I would like to recommend the followings to the company:

1. The company should expend there franchise in the rural market also in order to interact its customer directly. 2. Airtel should adopt attracting strategies to compete with his competitors. 3. The company rate policy must be flexible enough to catch new users for the company 4. The company should offer such tariff plans I the market so that it may bable to capture bigger share in the market and should be able to compete with his competitors.

BIBLIOGRAPH Y

BIBLIOGRAPHY In this project report, while finalizing and for analyzing quality problem in details the following Books as Phillip Kotlar Magazines/news papers as The Times Of India and Web Sites as Airtel website have been referred. All the material detailed below provides effective help and a guiding layout while designing this text report.

Websites: www.Airtelworld.com www.google.com www.india.com

Magazines: Airtel (2 JANUARY to 10 JANUARY 2009) Airtel India page of HT paper (Monday 1December 2008) Cowards India (26 December to 4 Jan. 2009)

Question naire

QUESTIONNAIRE Dear Sir/Madam, I am a student of BBA of SHRI RAM COLLEGE OF

MANAGEMENT

(MUZAFFARNAGAR),

doing

my

project on consumer behavior of Airtel. Please give your precious time for filling these details. Q.1 For how long you have been using Airtel Product? 

0-2 Years



2-5 Years



5-10 Years



More than 10 years

Q.2 Are you using other product instead of Airtel? 

Yes



No

Q.3 Among them, which Brand you, prefer most? 

Idea



Hutch



Airtel

Q. 4 How would you rate the experience with Brand?



Idea



Hutch



Airtel

Excellent

Good

Average Below Average

Q.5 Do you collect any information search before making purchase? 

Yes



No.

Q.6 If yes, which sources are used? 

Magazines



Dealers



Sales Executives



Operators reference



Pamphlets and catalogue



Reference from friends and relatives



Any other

Q.7 What are the features you look for in a product before making purchase decision? Give preferences (1Highest, 6- least)



Brand credibility



Price and Discount



After sales services and parts, network



Value for money



Vehicle performance



Add on features or ergonomics of design

Q.8. Which of these marketing / sales schemes attracts you while purchasing any connection?



Good Network



Discount scheme



Service package



Any other

Q.9 If you have to purchase a new connection or product in near future, which Brand will you go for and why? _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________

Q.10 Are you aware of various promotional activities being run by Airtel, if yes then how? Are you satisfied with these promotional activities?

Very 

Customer Care



By Ad Films



By Camp



24 hrs call center services

Satisfied

Satisfied Somewhat Not Satisfied

satisfied

Q.11 How would you rate Airtel performance as your expectation on 5 points scale (5 Highest) 1 

After Sale service



Maintenance



Product as per expectation

Q.12

2

3

4

5

What are your suggestions for improving the product quality, service availability and parts availability?

_______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________