Report on Mechanical Pencil

The purpose of the project is to:

Primary Objective: Assist in understanding the Mechanical pencil industry, Identify opportunities and to suggest a way forward for ITC Classmate to gain Market share in this Industry.

Secondary Objective:

* Determine the Current market standing of the Key players in the Industry

* Analyze the portfolio of the Major players by

* Study Customers Preferences

* Capture the current Industry trends.

* Identify need gaps in portfolio and suggest methods to plug the same (SWOT analysis)

3.1 Scope of the Study:

The study will help ITC ESPB to benchmark the product in line with the other Players in the Current Market scenario and to find the opportunities in the industry by studying the successful Market segments in terms of price, product and the Portfolio of the Key players. The information on the Margins offered, Packaging configurations, and schemes offered to the retailers by the competitors would help in understanding the Industry trend and to implement in the potential endeavors. The Product issues and other threats observed in the market can be brought in to attention.

Also it will help in gaining insight on the Consumer preference trend according to the Consumer profile that could be used in deciding Classmate's STP for new product launches in the future. The need gaps pictured from the consumers will help in bringing potential developments in the product.

4. RESEARCH PLAN

DATA SOURCES:

Secondary Data:

* Information from the internet on the Key players regarding their product portfolio.

* Data from ITC on the number of retail outlets in India for estimating the market value of the Mechanical pencil industry in the sales side.

Primary Data:

Primary data was collected from:

* Retailers: To study the Industry trends and the Key players.

* Consumers: To study the consumer preference trend on product, Price and various other attributes.

* Distributors: To get information on the Packaging configurations and Distributor margin offered by the competitors.

4.1 Research Methodology:

A Survey was conducted to attain the objective of the study. A Questionnaire was designed for both the retailers and the consumers to study the industry trend and the consumer preference trend respectively.

The Questionnaire for the retailers was designed to extract maximum information on the Mechanical pencil industry. Information on sales, Competitors and the consumer preferences in this industry was collected and further insights from the retailers was also duly noted down. The interview was conducted in an unstructured format for a friendly approach to picture the industry trends.

The Questionnaire designed for the consumers consisted of only Objective type questions taking in to consideration the limited interview time. An unguided survey was conducted for a genuine picture on their preferences. It was structured to get the consumer pulse with their profile for the analysis. Both the Questionnaires consist of maximum 10-12 questions and the interview time per retailer and consumer was around 10-15 minutes and 5 minutes respectively.

Survey:

The retailers were visited for the survey along with the Classmate salesmen and contact was established to garner information.

The consumer survey was done with a convenience sample of consumers visiting the stationary shops and the summer camps were visited to find the preference trend among the consumers with reference to the Mechanical pencils. Personal interview was conducted individually among the retailers and consumers sample. The survey was conducted over a period of one month.

4.2 Sampling Plan:

Type Sample size Location

Retailers 90 Chennai and Bangalore

Consumers 100 Chennai

The Chennai and Bangalore region was divided in to sub regions Major sub regions in Chennai and Bangalore with stationary retail hubs were selected and visited with the help of the distribution channel. Small, Medium and Large retail outlets were visited for a holistic view.

Location Sub regions No of samples

Chennai Adyar 4

Anna nagar 3

Kodambakkam 4

MMDA colony 3

Mylapore 4

Parry's 5

Royapettah 8

Saidapet 5

T.nagar 10

Vadapalani 6

West Mambalam 8

Bangalore Indra Nagar 12

Majestic 13

Sarjapur 5

4.3 Challenges Faced:

* Hesitance and impatience by some of the respondents due to a preconceived notion.

* Accuracy in the sales data quoted by some of the retailers

* Children being the major consumers, it was difficult to get the survey results by making them understand in the short interview time.

Note: To overcome the limitation the sales data quoted by the retailers the stock level and shelf space was observed and the Purchase bills were also checked from time to time.

5. INDUSTRY OUTLINE

5.1 INDUSTRY VALUE:

The market value of the mechanical pencil industry from the sales side has been estimated approximately with: