Impact of Brand and Product Visibility and Influencers Analysis in Multi-Brand Stores: The Case of Air-Conditioners

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Impact of Brand and Product Visibility and Influencers Analysis                          in Multi-Brand Stores: the case of Air-conditioners

                                  Summer Internship Project Report

                                              BLUE STAR Ltd

                                           Under the guidance of

                                        Mr. Amit Kumar Mukherjee        

                               Manager-Sales at Blue star Ltd, Kolkata.

Submitted By,

Manoj Kumar Sahu,

Regn. No: M102-14.

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                               ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am extremely grateful to Blue Star Ltd for providing me the opportunity to work with them as a summer intern wherein I got a chance to understand the Consumer behaviour and also to find out how their purchase decision is shaped by the various elements of promotions. This project has indeed helped me to apply my theoretical knowledge into practice and helped me in enriching my sales and marketing expertise. I would like to thank my guide Mr. Amit Kumar Mukherjee, Manager-Sales at Blue star Ltd for his consistent valuable feedback and guidance.

I am also grateful to Mr Subhadeep Roy who took time out of his schedule to further guide me throughout the project work.

Manoj Kumar Sahu.

TABLE OF CONTENTS                                                                                                    Page No

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY_ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _   4

1. INTRODUCTION_ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 5

1.1 An Overview of AC industry in India_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 5

1.2 Low Penetration of Air-Conditioners in India_ _ _ _ _ __ _ __ __ _ _ _ _ 6

1.3 Growth of Air conditioner market in India_ _ __ _ __ __ __ _ __ __ _ _   7

2.  CONSUMER NEEDS & EFFECTIVE SEGMENTATION_ _ __ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ ___8

3.  RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Secondary Data_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ __ _ _ _ __ _ _ __ 9

3.2 Primary Data_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 9

3.3 Bottlenecks_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _10

3.4 QUESTIONNAIRE FOR CUSTOMERS_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 11

            3.5 QUESTIONNAIRE FOR ISD_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 13

4. SURVEY FINDINGS

4.1 Analysis of Customer questionnaire_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 15

4.2 Analysis of ISD Questionnaire_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _21

4.3 Major Influential Factors While Purchasing Air Conditioners_ _ _ _ _ _ _ 25

4.4 Best Practices in the Industry_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _25

5. RECOMMENDATION_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _27

6. REFERENCES_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 27

                                  Executive Summary

This project has been undertaken to understand the customer’s behaviour and purchase decisions when they consider buying an air-conditioner in a multi-brand stores. A customer comes across a plethora of options as there are various brands available in the market all of them assuring best quality and service. Hence a customer has to evaluate these options carefully basing on his/her requirement and take an informed decision eventually before making a purchase. Therefore, this project has been carried out to understand the impact of the brands on the mind of the customer and also to find out the critical factors that influence the consumer’s behaviour and buying decisions. Retail outlets and the AC companies themselves employ large no of promotional elements to position their products and woo the customer. In this project I have also tried to ascertain which medium of information about ACs mostly shapes consumer’s decision when he/she makes a purchase.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES:

(a) To quantify impact of various elements of promotions ‘In Store’.

(b) To analyse the purchase decisions and establish correlation.

(c) To bench mark the best practices in the Industry.

                               1. INTRODUCTION

The room air-conditioning market in India has witnessed rapid growth in recent times thanks to the country’s strong economic performance, rising household incomes and a favourable shift in consumer perceptions towards air-conditioners. This rapid growth air-conditioners have still only reached a mere 3.8% of Indian households according to the most recent data. This low penetration rate illustrates the huge opportunity the AC industry in India is yet to seize.

         1.1 An Overview of AC industry in India

As per Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), around 38 brands of air conditioners are registered with BEE for star rating. The ones that are best known to us include LG, Samsung, Whirlpool, Voltas Godrej, Carrier, Hitachi, Daikin, Panasonic, Blue Star, Onida, Videocon, Haier, Sharp, Electrolux etc. The below graph represents the market share of major companies in air conditioning industry in India for 2013.[pic 3]

SOURCE:http://www.currentweek.com/top-air-conditioner-brands-in-india-growth-market-of-top-companies/

        1.2 Low Penetration of Air-Conditioners in India

In spite of the growing importance of the residential market, the overwhelming majority of Indian homes are still untouched by air-conditioning with the overall penetration rate standing at a mere 3.8% in 2010-11. This situation compares very unfavourably with the scenario in other developing Asian economies. The penetration of room air-conditioners is 8% in Indonesia, 50% in Korea, 53% in China, 72% in Singapore and 89% in Taiwan. The penetration of air-conditioning will still be significantly lower than the level of penetration other white goods have already achieved today. Presently more than 77% of households in urban India have a TV, 33% have refrigerators, 17% have an air cooler and 13% own a washing machine.