Idea Report

SUMMER INTERNSHIP PROJECT REPORT2008-2010

Corporate Guide

Mr. Yugal Kishore

Asst. Marketing Head

Submitted ByAbhishek Khare

2008MBA-01

ABV-IIITM, Gwalior!dea, GWALIOR

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This report bears the imprint of many people. Right from the experienced staff of Idea Cellular Ltd, to the staff of Atal Bihari Vajpayee – Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management without whose support and guidance I would have not got the unique opportunity to successfully complete my internship in this esteemed organization.

I would like to thank Mr. Amaljeet Singh, who allow me to do this project in Idea Cellular Ltd successfully.

I take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude to all the employees of, Idea, Gwalior. Also I am indebted for the rich guidance, knowledge and suggestions provided by my guide, Mr. Yugal Kishore who took sincere efforts and illustrated the Marketing Concept and channel development in Idea Cellular Ltd, with their vast knowledge in the field, which helped me in carrying out my internship.

Last but not least, I also thank all those people whom I met in the industry during my internship and helped me to accomplish my assignments in the most efficient and effective manner.

Date: 30/07/09 Abhishek Khare

Place: Gwalior

!dea, GWALIOR

Table of Content

1) Objective of the project………………....................................5-6

2) Overview of telecom industry……………………………………….7-17

Telecom Industry in India

History of Indian Telecommunications

Classification of Telecommunication services

The Key players in the Telecom Market in India

Subscribers

Market Share of the Telecom Company in India

3) Introduction of Idea Cellular…………………………………………18-26

Introduction

Our Service Areas

Established Service Areas

New Service Areas

Holding

Mission

Board of Directors

Corporate Leadership Team

Circle Heads

Brand Information

!dea, GWALIOR

4) Research Methodology………………………………………….27-31

Definition of Research

Types and Techniques

Tools used

Limitation of the study

5) Data Analysis & Interpretation………………………………….32-39

Questionnaires for the customer

6) Telecom Market Share in Gwalior……………………………..40-45

7) Distribution channel of idea……………………………………….46-56

Introduction

Distribution Strategy

Selecting members within a channel

Motivating Channel Members

Sales Organization structure

Distribution channel of idea in Gwalior

Visit with TSM

Customer Interaction when visit with FOS

8) Channel Management……………………………………………..57-61

9) Observation and Finding…………………………………………62-64

!dea, GWALIOR

10) Bibliography………………………………………………………….65-67

Objective Of the

Project

!dea, GWALIOR

OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT

1. To find out the perception of the general people towards the land line & Mobile phone.

2. To find out the telecom market share of different companies in Gwalior.

3. To find out the consumer satisfaction towards the different plans offered by the company.

4. Managing the distribution channel of idea cellular.

!dea, GWALIOR

Overview of telecom

industry

!dea, GWALIOR

Telecom Industry in India

The telecom industry is one of the fastest growing industries in India. India has nearly 200 million

telephone lines making it the third largest network in the world after China and USA. With a growth

rate of 45%, Indian telecom industry has the highest growth rate in the world.

- Much of the growth in Asia Pacific Wireless Telecommunication Market is spurred by the

growth in demand in countries like India and China.

- India‘s mobile phone subscriber base is growing at a rate of 82.2%.

- China is the biggest market in Asia Pacific with a subscriber base of 48% of the total Subscribers in

Asia Pacific. Compared to that India’s share in Asia Pacific Mobile Phone market is 6.4%. Considering

the fact that India and China have almost comparable populations, India’s low mobile

!dea, GWALIOR

penetration offers huge scope for growth.

History of Indian Telecommunications

Started in 1851 when the first operational land lines were laid by the government near Calcutta (seat of

British power). Telephone services were introduced in India in 1881. In 1883 telephone services were

merged with the postal system. Indian Radio Telegraph Company (IRT) was formed in 1923. After

independence in 1947, all the foreign telecommunication companies were nationalized to form the

Posts, Telephone and Telegraph (PTT), a monopoly run by the government's Ministry of

Communications. Telecom sector was considered as a strategic service and the government considered

it best to bring under state's control.

In 1990s, telecommunications sector benefited from the general opening up of the

economy. Also, examples of telecom revolution in many other countries, which resulted in better quality

of service and lower tariffs, led Indian policy makers to initiate a change process finally resulting in

opening up of telecom services sector for the private sector. National Telecom Policy (NTP) 1994 was the

first attempt to give a comprehensive roadmap for the Indian telecommunications sector. In 1997,

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) was created. TRAI was formed to act as a regulator to

facilitate the growth of the telecom sector.

Telecommunication sector in India can be divided into two segments: Fixed Service

Provider (FSPs), and Cellular Services. Fixed line services consist of basic services, national or domestic

long distance and international long distance services. The state operators (BSNL and MTNL), account

for almost 90 per cent of revenues from basic services. Private sector services are presently available in

selective urban areas, and collectively account for less than 5 per cent of subscriptions. However, private

services focus on the business/corporate sector, and offer reliable, high- end services, such as leased

lines, ISDN, closed user group and videoconferencing.

!dea, GWALIOR

Cellular services can be further divided into two categories: Global System for Mobile

Communications (GSM) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA). The GSM sector is dominated by

Airtel, Vodafone-Hutch, and Idea Cellular, while the CDMA sector is dominated by Reliance and Tata

Indicom. Opening up of international and domestic long distance telephony services are the major

growth drivers for cellular industry. Cellular operators get substantial revenue from these services, and

compensate them for reduction in tariffs on airtime, which along with rental was the main source of

revenue. The reduction in tariffs for airtime, national long distance, international long distance, and

handset prices has driven demand.

India added 13.82 million new mobile subscribers in February 09, down from 15.41 million a month

earlier, according to Indian telecom regulator TRAI. India’s total number of mobile subscribers rose to

376.12 million at end-February from 362.30 million at the end of January.

While China added 18.55 million new mobile phone subscribers in the first two months of 2009 and total

wireless subscriber base stood at 659.78 million as of end-February 2009. China Mobile subscribers sent

607.1 billion SMSs last year, up by over 100 billion from the last year, and downloaded more than 76

million full music tracks.

India’s GSM subscribers totaled 277.5 million by end-February, accounting for nearly 75% of total

wireless market share. According to figures released by the Cellular Operators Association of India

(COAI), GSM players added 10.84 million new subscribers in March, taking total GSM subscriptions for

the fiscal year to 288.3 million. The numbers exclude subscriptions for Reliance Communications, the

CDMA service provider that recently launched GSM services, because the company does not reveal GSM

numbers separately. If the estimates of 2.5 million to 2.7 million GSM subscribers for Reliance

Communications are added, the total monthly increase for GSM subscriptions will be 13.54 million.

At this rate, India’s GSM subscriber base is growing at more than double the monthly growth rate of

China, which is adding around 6 million customers every month.

“Though March has more days and companies push sales at the end of the financial year, we expect to

see monthly incremental growth of 14 to 15 million consumers in 2009-10. Our estimate is that mobile

!dea, GWALIOR

penetration will go up from 35% currently to 50% by the end of this financial year,” said TV

Ramachandran, COAI secretary- general.

COAI has predicted that India will have around 500 million GSM subscribers by the end of 2009-10 and

over 800 million by 2012. The country would hit the one billion markets in a few years after that.

COMPANY USERS AT MARCH 2009

AIRTEL 93923248

VODAFONE 68768998

BSNL 46684049

IDEA 43022799

AIRCEL 18478325

RELIANCE TELECOM 11145176

MTNL 04176676

BPL 02164211

This table shows the present status of GSM players in India, where Bhari Airtel is leading then at 2 nd

position Voafone-Essar group is present after that Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited with customer of 4 Cr

is present. Idea Cellular with 43022799 is present then Aircel, Reliance GSM, MTNL and BPL are at 5 th,

6th, 7th and 8th position respectively.

The pie chart below shows that percentage of market capture in terms of customer.

!dea, GWALIOR

The Chart shows that in GSM service 35% of the total market captured by Airtel, 25% market captured

by Vodafone, 17% market captured by BSNL, 16% market captured by Idea and then rest are follows.

Market research firm Gartner Inc. Forecasts India will spend 739 billion rupees ($16.34 billion) on

telecom services and equipment in 2006, up 27.3 percent from this year. Forecasted Growth of Indian

Telecom Spending Through 2009:-

India rupees (millions) 2004 2005 2006 2009 CAGR 2004-2009 AGR 04-05 AGR 05-06

Telecom spending 501,009 581,101 739,910 1,419,062 23.1% 16% 27.3%

Source: Gartner Inc.

!dea, GWALIOR

http://www.lightreading.com/complink_redirect.asp?vl_id=7426

Revenue of Telecom Industry in India:-

Continuing its robust growth, the Indian telecom industry saw its gross revenues growing 2.6 percent to

more than Rs.40, 000 crore in the quarter ending March 31, said the sectoral watchdog here on

Monday.

According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the gross revenue of the telecom sector

for the period under review stood at Rs.40, 444.66 crore, as against Rs.39, 408 crore in the previous

quarter. The state-owned operators -- Bharat Sanchar Nigam and Mahan agar Telephone Nigam --

together earned Rs.10, 599 crore, while private players raked in Rs.29, 846 crore. TRAI said India's total

subscriber base reached 429.72 million by March-end, as against 384.79 million for the quarter ending

December, registering a growth of 11.68 percent.

Tele-density, too, increased 36.98 percent from 33.23 percent in the previous quarter.

The subscriber base of wireless and wire line increased to 391.76 million and 37.96 million respectively.

However, rural wire line decreased from 10.68 million to 10.58 million, a decrease of 0.93 percent.

According to the watchdog, the ARPUs (average revenue per user) continued to fall, decreasing 6.82

percent from Rs.220 in December-end to Rs.205 in March.

The number of Internet wire line subscribers increased 5.3 percent to 13.54 million in the fourth quarter

as against 12.85 million in the same period a year before.

!dea, GWALIOR

Sales of cellular companies in India (Jun 09):-

Gross Profit cellular companies in India (Jun 09):-

!dea, GWALIOR

Classification of Telecommunication services

1. Basic services

2. Cellular services

3. Internet Service Provider (ISP)

The Key players in the Telecom Market in India

Cellular Service provider:

1. BSNL

2. Airtel

3. Vodafone

4. Idea

5. Reliance

6. Tata indicom

!dea, GWALIOR

7. Aircel

8. Spice

9. MTNL

Subscribers

Wireless subscribers crosses 200 million mark

Tele density reaches 21.20%

The total number of telephone subscribers has reached 241.02 million at the end of August 2007 as

compared to 232.87 million in July 2007. The overall teledensity has increased to 21.20% in August 2007

as compared to 20.52% in July 2007.

In the wireless segment, 8.31 million subscribers have been added in August 2007 while 8.06 million

subscribers were added in July 2007. The total wireless subscribers (GSM, CDMA & WLL (F)) base

reaches 201.29 million at the end of August 2007.

The wire line segment subscriber base stood at 39.73 million with a decrease of 0.16 million at the end

of August 2007. Circle wise wire line subscriber base of service providers is given at following chart.

!dea, GWALIOR

Market Share of the Telecom Company in India

!dea, GWALIOR

!dea, GWALIOR

Introduction

Of

Idea

Cellular

!dea, GWALIOR

INTRODUCTION

As India's leading GSM Mobile Services operator, IDEA Cellular has licenses to operate in 11 circles. With

a customer base of over 17 million, IDEA Cellular has operations in Delhi, Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat,

Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Uttaranchal, Haryana, UP-West, Himachal Pradesh and

Kerala. IDEA Cellular's footprint currently covers approximately 45% of India's population and over 50%

of the potential telecom-market.

As a leader in Value Added Services, Innovation is central to IDEA's VAS Factory. It is the first cellular

company to launch music messaging with 'Cellular Jockey', 'Background Tones', 'Group Talk', a voice

portal with 'Say IDEA' and a complete suite of Mobile Email Services.

Idea Cellular is a wireless telephony company operating in various states in India. It initially started in

1995 as a join venture between the Tatas, Aditya Birla Group and AT&T by merging Tata Cellular and

Birla AT&T Communications.

Initially having a very limited footprint in the GSM arena, the acquisition of Escotel in 2004 gave Idea a

truly pan-India presence covering Maharashtra (excluding Mumbai), Goa, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh,

Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh (East and West), Haryana, Kerala, Rajasthan and Delhi

(inclusive of NCR).

The company has its retail outlets under the "Idea n' U" banner. The company has also been the first to

offer flexible tariff plans for prepaid customers. It also offers GPRS services in urban areas.

IDEA Cellular is a publicly listed company, having listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange

(BSE) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE) in March2007.

!dea, GWALIOR

IIDEA Cellular is a leading GSM mobile service operator with pan India licenses. With a

customer base of over 44 million in 17 service areas, operations are soon expected to start in Chennai

Metro; Kolkata & West Bengal, North East & Assam, and J&K.

A frontrunner in introducing revolutionary tariff plans, IDEA Cellular has the distinction of offering the

most customer friendly and competitive Pre Paid offerings, for the first time in India, in an increasingly

segmented market. From basic voice & Short Message Service (SMS) services to high-end value added

services such as Mobile TV, Games etc - IDEA is seen as an innovative, customerfocusedbrand.

IDEA 'Women's Card' caters to the special needs of women on the move, and 'Youth

Card' covers the emerging youth segment. IDEA 'My Gang' - the widely popular community user group

product recently bagged the prestigious 'Golden Peacock Award 2008' under the Most Innovative

Product category at the "19th World Congress on Total Quality".

A brand known for many firsts, IDEA was the first to launch GPRS and EDGE in India.

IDEA has partnered with Research in Motion (RIM) to offer Blackberry services on its network. IDEA

'Net Setter'- Plug & Play, EDGE enabled USB Data Card offers affordable data connectivity with faster

speed and consistency.

IDEA offers seamless coverage to roaming customers traveling to any part of the country, as well as to

international traveling customers across over 200 countries. IDEA Cellular has partnership with over

400 operators worldwide to ensure that customers are always connected while on the move, across the

globe.

IDEA has received several national and international recognitions for its path-breaking innovations in

mobile telephony products & services. It won the GSM Association Award for "Best Billing and Customer

Care Solution" for 2 consecutive years. It was awarded "Mobile Operator of the Year Award - India" for

2007 and 2008 at the Annual Asian Mobile News Awards.

!dea, GWALIOR

Our Service Areas

The Indian telecommunications market for mobile services is divided into 22 "Service Areas" classified

into "Metro", Category "A", Category "B" and Category "C" service areas by the Government of India.

These classifications are based principally on a Service Area's revenue generating potential. Our 17

operational Service Areas are broken up into Established and New Service Areas

Established Service Areas

The established service areas are Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana, Kerala,

Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh (West).

Licenses for the Maharashtra and Gujarat Service Areas were awarded in December 1995, with network

rollout and commercial launch achieved in 1997. In January 2001 the mobile operations in Andhra

Pradesh Service Area were integrated with IDEA through a merger with Tata Cellular Limited.

In June 2001, the mobile operations in Madhya Pradesh Service Area were fully integrated

with IDEA through an acquisition of RPG Cellcom Limited. In October 2001, the license for Delhi Service

Area was acquired during the fourth mobile license auction, with network rollout and commercial

launch in November 2002.

In January 2004, Escotel Mobile Communications Private Limited ("Escotel"), was acquired

with its original licenses in the Service Areas of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh (West) and Kerala. All these

Service Areas were re-branded and integrated with IDEA in June 2004

New Service Areas

The New Service Areas are Uttar Pradesh (East), Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Mumbai,

Karnataka, Punjab, Orissa and Tamil Nadu ,Licenses for Uttar Pradesh (East), Rajasthan and Himachal

Pradesh were acquired through the acquisition of Escotel (Escorts Telecommunications Limited).

Brand Idea was launched in Karnataka and Punjab, through the acquisition of

Spice Communications. Idea launched its services in Mumbai and Bihar in 2008. The Mumbai launch was

!dea, GWALIOR

the largest Metro City launch in India. In Bihar, Idea acquired 500,000 subscribers in just over

100 days.

Holding

Initially the Birlas, the Tatas and AT&T Wireless each held one-third equity in the company. But following

AT&T Wireless' merger with Cingular Wireless in 2004, Cingular decided to sell its 32.9% stake in Idea.

This stake was bought by both the Tatas and Birlas at 16.45% each.

Tata's foray into the cellular market with its own subsidiary, Tata Indicom, a

CDMA-based mobile provider, cropped differences between the Tatas and the Birlas. This dual holding

by the Tatas also became a major reason for the delay in Idea being granted a license to operate in

Mumbai. This was because as per Department of Telecom (DOT) license norms, one promoter could not

have more than 10% stake in two companies operating in the same circle and Tata Indicom was already

operating in Mumbai when Idea filed for its license.

The Birla thus approached the DOT and sought its intervention, and the Tatas

replied by saying that they would exit Idea but only for a good price. On April 10, 2006, the Aditya Birla

Group announced its acquisition of the 48.18% stake held by the Tatas at Rs. 40.51 a share amounting to

Rs. 44.06 billion. While 15% of the 48.14% stake was acquired by Aditya Birla Novo, a company in-charge

of the Birlas' new business initiatives, the remaining stake was acquired by Birla TMT holdings Private

Ltd., an AV Birla family owned company. Currently, Birla Group holds 98.3% of the total shares of the

company.

Idea has successfully launched 3 more new circles (states) in India viz. Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and

UP (East) to make itself a pan-India player. Recently, Idea got licenses to operate in Mumbai & Bihar.

They are awaiting the spectrum from Dot.

Mission

!dea, GWALIOR

Key People

Board of Directors

Mr. Kumar Mangalam Birla (Chairman)

Smt. Rajashree Birla

Mr. Saurabh Mishra

Mr. Sanjeev Aga (Managing Director)

Mr. Arun Thiagarajan

Ms. Tarjani Vakil

Mr. Mohan Gyani

Mr. Gian Prakash Gupta

Mr. R.C. Bhargava

Mr. P. Murari

Mr. Biswajit A. Subramanian

Dr. Hansa Wijayasuriya

!dea, GWALIOR

Management Team

Corporate Leadership Team

Mr. Sanjeev Aga, Managing Director

Mr. Akshaya Moondra, Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Anil K. Tandan, Chief Technology Officer

Mr. Prakash K. Paranjape, Chief Information Officer

Mr. Pradeep Shrivastava, Chief Marketing Officer

Mr. Navanit Narayan, Chief Service Delivery Officer

Mr. Vinay K. Razdan, Chief Human Resource Officer

Mr. Ramjet K. Mukarji, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer

Mr. Rajesh K. Srivastava, Chief Materials & Procurement Officer

Mr. Ambrish Jain, Director - Operations

Mr. Himanshu Kapania, Director – Operations

Brand Information.

The brand Idea

It is almost impossible to disintegrate brand Idea from the corporate Idea. Brand values are the

company values and vise versa.

!dea, GWALIOR

Brand Vision: It goes without saying that the brand vision of idea mirrors the company’s vision.

The brand mission statement is...... To be the most customer-focused mobile service brand,

continuously innovating to help liberate our customers from the shackles of time & space.

IDEA - Brand Values

Innovate. Stimulate. Liberate....

It is these brand values, which have made us a formidable player in the telecom industry. Innovations

that stimulate the customer and liberate him from the shackles of time and space are the core of our

brand. This is what we strive for. Nothing more, nothing less, nothing else.

IDEA - Brand Mission

The India footprint Idea

Anywhere connectivity - bringing India closer.

The Technology Advantage Idea

Tomorrow's technology to enrich today.

The Customer Focus Idea

Make a single interaction a lasting relationship.

The Employee Focus Idea

Nurture the roots that nurture our ideas.

!dea, GWALIOR

Brand Initiatives

Our aim, through media buying and planning, is to create year round impact. With the objective of

strengthening our brand, we work with strategic communication partners on campaigns like sponsorship

of the Idea International Indian Film Academy awards and the television programs “Idea Rocks India”,

“Idea Star Singer” and “Idea Andhra Idol”. We seek engagement with subscribers on a variety of levels,

from major celebrity fashion shows to small local events timed to coincide with new product offerings.

Since August 2003, we have commissioned a Brand Track Index Study to evaluate

the health of our brand. The Brand Track Index Study is a monthly study conducted by TNS, a marketing

consultant engaged by us to evaluate our brand using face-to-face interviews on a random sample of

mobile users a well as those intending to purchase mobiles within the next three months. According to

the study our brand is perceived as “reliable/trustworthy” and one that “offers cheaper and good

promotional offers”. We have improved our rating in the Brand Track Index calculated by the study in

the past year reflecting, we believe, the growing strength of our brand.

The main communication medium for the Idea brand is television, where we seek

strategic Idea brand coverage in various formats. Billboards and hoardings are used as a secondary

medium, customized for specific regional preferences to communicate effectively at the local level. We

also use other mass communication media such as the press and radio to communicate price plans and

other tactical and customer information.

All our key initiatives are subjected to a rigorous testing and launch process to ensure

accountability for all advertising spend and improve the chances of success of a new product. This

process is followed up with extensive briefing of call center agents and sales personnel and real-time

tracking of the impact of the communication and feedback from subscribers.

!dea, GWALIOR

Research

Methodology

!dea, GWALIOR

Definition of Research

The word research is derived from the Latin word meaning to know. It is a systematic and a replicable

process, which identifies and defines problems, within specified boundaries. It employs well-designed

method to collect the data and analyses the results. It disseminates the findings to contribute to

generalize able knowledge. The characteristics of research presented below will be examined in greater

details later are:

Systematic problem solving which identifies variables and tests relationships between them,

Collecting, organizing and evaluating data.

Logical, so procedures can be duplicated or understood by others

Empirical, so decisions are based on data collected

Reductive, so it investigates a small sample which can be generalized to a larger population

Replicable, so others may test the findings by repeating it.

Discovering new facts or verify and test old facts.

Developing new scientific tools, concepts and theories, which would facilitate to take

decision?

For the proper analysis of data simple statistical techniques such as percentage were use. It helps in

making more generalization from the data available. The data which was collected from a sample of

population was assumed to be representing entire population was interest. Demographic factors like

age, income and educational background was used for the classification purpose.

!dea, GWALIOR

Sample size

For carrying out any research or study on any subject it is very difficult to cover even 10% of the total

population. Therefore the sample size has to be decided for a meaningful conclusion. For designing the

sample size, it was thought proper to cover a very small percentage of population in various age groups.

The method used for sample technique was non probability convenience sampling method. This method

is used because it is known previously as to whether a particular person will be asked to fill the

questionnaire. Convenient sampling is used because only those people will be asked to fill the

questionnaires that were easily accessible and available to the researcher.

Considering the constraints, it was decided to conduct the study based on sample size of 100 people in

specific age groups. Scientific method is not adopted in this study because of financial constraints and

also because of lack of time; also the basic aim of doing the research is academic, hence most

convenient way is selected.

TYPES & TECHNIQUES

The study conducted is a conclusive descriptive statistical study; the researcher comes to the decision

which is precise and rational. The study is conclusive because after doing the study the researcher

!dea, GWALIOR

comes to a conclusion regarding the position of the brand in the minds of respondents of

different firms groups. The study is statistical because throughout the study all the similar samples are

selected and group together. All the similar responses are taken together as one and their percentages

are calculated.

Thus, this, conclusive descriptive statistical study is the best study for this purpose as it provides the

necessary information which is utilize to arrive at a concrete decision.

TOOLS USED

To know the response I have used the questionnaire method in sample survey. If one wishes to find

what people think or know, the logical procedure is to ask them. This has lead marketing researchers to

use the questionnaire technique for collecting data more than any other method. In this method

questionnaire were distributed to the respondents and they were asked to answer the questions in the

questionnaire. The questionnaires were structured non-disguised questionnaire because the questions,

which the questionnaire contained, were arranged in a specific order besides every question asked was

logical for the study, no question can be termed as irrelevant.

The questionnaire, were non-disguised because the questionnaire were constructed so that the

objective is clear to the respondent. The respondents were aware of the objective. They knew why they

asked to fill the questionnaire.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

!dea, GWALIOR

The research will be conducted in a limited area.

The internet information can be irrelevant.

Time will be a major constraint.

The respondent will be limited so cannot be treated as a whole population.

The respondent may be biased.

Due to language problem it is possible that the respondents are not be able to understand the

questionnaire and can cause misleading results.

!dea, GWALIOR

Data Analysis &

Interpretation

!dea, GWALIOR

Questionnaires for the customer

DATA ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION

Q1. Which cellular service do you use?

!dea, GWALIOR Tata indicom 5

Options Percentage of respondents

Airtel 34

Idea 28

Q2. Which service you r using?

Options

Percentage of respondents

Prepaid 95

Postpaid 5

!dea, GWALIOR

Q4. Are you using lifetime or general plan?

Option Percentage of respondents

Lifetime 73

General 27

!dea, GWALIOR

Q5 Are you satisfied with the lifetime plan which you are using?


Yes 78

No 22

!dea, GWALIOR

Q6. Which facility attracts you most in the lifetime plan?


Call rates 15

Massage Tariff 1

Night Tariff 1

Validity

83

!dea, GWALIOR

Q7. Rate of the satisfaction level with the services of your present lifetime plan?


Fully satisfied

14

Satisfied 47

Average 27

Dissatisfied 8

Highly dissatisfied 2

!dea, GWALIOR

8. Why you chose lifetime plan?


For incoming purpose only 23

For money saving 48

For the facilities provided in the plan

29

!dea, GWALIOR

Telecom Market share

in Gwalior

!dea, GWALIOR

Here we have prepared some questionnaires from the retailer’s point of view and tried to find out the

market share of the following telecom industry in Gwalior:

1. Idea

2. Smart

3. Airtel

4. Vodafone

Findings:-

In the survey of Gwalior city found this result by approaching different- different retailer who deals in

the communication products and find out result in Gwalior city with the help of questionnaire. This

finding is based on only last month result because we have to find out what is happened in last month

after new launch of Vodafone in Gwalior.

In chart-1 result shows that clearly that over 50% of the retailer pushes idea to the customer whereas

Airtel is also good in Gwalior, 31% of the retailer pushes it.

!dea, GWALIOR

Chart -2 shows about Customer choice. Idea is leading here with 41% while Vodafone (35%) shows a

great fight in this because it is launch recently in Gwalior and providing some great offers to attract new

customer for building it’s reputation and market in Gwalior.

While Airtel seems to be at 3rd position with 22% of customers choose it.

Chart-3 shows about the company which care most customer and retailers, here also Idea has a big lead

over other GSM service providers with 61% of retailer told idea is best and 33% told Airtel is best while

Smart is very poor and Vodafone is new in market so it is difficult to tell about Vodafone.

!dea, GWALIOR

Chart -4 shows about Most Recharge sold in last month, because of a good market and leading in

customer in Gwalior Idea leads with 73%. Means 73% retails told that Idea recharges they sell most in

last month whereas Airtel and Vodafone recharges sold only at 12 and 13 % shops.

Chart-5 shows the total no of activation of Sims in last month. Vodafone has done a great job with 1038

activation at approx 50 shops because of new exciting offers (99 value voucher which gives Unlimited

calling to any Vodafone number in MP&CG for one months and many more).While idea is on 2 nd with

679 and Airtel on third with 496.Smart is at last with only 166 activation because of it’s poor network.

!dea, GWALIOR

Chart - 6 shows the overall rating given by retailer, which shows a close competition between Idea and

Airtel but idea has rated more than Airtel. In this rating 1 is for highest and 5 is for lowest. Idea got 1.38,

Airtel got 1.69, Smart got 3.9 and Vodafone got 2.9.

Chart -7 shows average stock available at retailer. An idea has a good market and no of activations is

also more than any other provider so retailers have more stock of idea than any others. Vodafone has

!dea, GWALIOR

facing some problems in stock so average stock of Vodafone is only 3, idea has average stock

of 19, Airtel has 12 and Smart has 14.

Chart -8 shows average balance in forms of both i.e. electronic recharge and paper recharge available at

retailer. Total number of idea customer is more in Gwalior so retailer has to make a huge balance for

idea so average balance available at retailer of Idea is 6067 Rs, Airtel is also improving very quickly so it

has average balance of 4493 Rs and smart and Vodafone has 3433 and 2798 Rs respectively.

!dea, GWALIOR

!dea, GWALIOR

Distribution Channel

of Idea

Distribution channel of idea

Introduction

Distribution is all about getting your product/service to the right people at the right time with special

consideration for profit and effectiveness. Successful marketing does not end when a business has

developed a product/service and has found its appropriate target audience with a view to selling it at

the 'right price'.

!dea, GWALIOR

http://www.bizhelp24.com/marketing/how-why-to-price-your-products-successfully-7.html

http://www.bizhelp24.com/marketing/how-why-to-price-your-products-successfully-7.html

The next issue that needs to be faced is how they are going to distribute and sell this

product/service to these people- the consumers.

When a product/service is purchased by a consumer, it may have been bought directly from the

business, or it may have been through a number of intermediaries (wholesaler, retailer, etc):

theseareknownasdistributionchannels.

Small businesses need to acknowledge the different types of distribution channels to utilize sales

potential. After reading the article, you may learn that you could increase sales or profit by using a

different distribution channel to the one that you currently use.

Distribution channels are influenced largely by the type and size of the business and so some of the

channels explained may not be feasible for your particular business.

Consequently, you may take note that these channels could be adopted in the future to accommodate

for any changes and to help your business grow.

Distribution Strategy

And trusted to act Distribution strategy is influenced by the market structure, the firm's objectives, and

its resources and of course it’s overall marketing strategy. All these factors are addressed in the section

on selecting Distribution Channels.

The first strategic decision is whether the distribution is to be: Intensive (with mass distribution into all

outlets as in the case of confectionery); Selective (with carefully chosen distributors e.g. specialty goods

!dea, GWALIOR

such as car repair kits); or Exclusive (with distribution restricted to up market outlets, as in the

case of Gucci clothes).

The next strategic decision clarifies the number of levels within a channel such as agents, distributors,

wholesalers, retailers. In some Japanese markets there are many, many intermediaries involved.

Next comes a sensitive strategic decision whether to go single channel or multi-channel. Some

producers, like Manchester United FC, use multi-channels - they use many different routes, direct and

indirect, to bring their products to their customers. Multi-channel Systems like this are common where

intensive distribution is required. So direct marketing is combined with indirect marketing through

intermediaries.

Then comes the next level of strategic decisions concerning strategic relationships and partnerships.

Two common strategies are Vertical Marketing Systems and Horizontal Marketing Systems.

Vertical Marketing Systems involve suppliers and intermediaries working closely together instead of

against each other. They plan production and delivery schedules, quality levels, promotions and

sometimes prices. Resources, like information, equipment and expertise, are shared. The system is

usually managed by a dominant member, or 'channel captain'. VMS is more flexible than vertical

integration where the manufacturer actually owns the distribution channel, for example, Doctor

Martens boot manufacturers own their own retail store.

Horizontal Marketing Systems occur where organizations operating on the same channel level (e.g. two

suppliers or two retailers) co-operate. They then share their distribution expertise and distribution

channels. This can speed up the time taken to penetrate the market. There is room for creative alliances

here. See Southwestern Bell's alliance with Granada TV Shops in the Hall Of Fame.

Resources available affect distribution strategy. Who can handle outbound logistics, marketing and

sales, and servicing? Can the supplier afford to deliver small quantities, can it provide more trucks, can

its sales force 'push' products into national retail chains? Can the organization deal with thousands,

maybe even millions of customers - can it cope? Does it want to devote huge resources here or would it

prefer to utilize someone else's resources in return for a slice of the profits?

!dea, GWALIOR

Difficult marketing dilemmas which make distribution strategy both critical and interesting.

The sections on Distribution Channels explore this in more detail.

Selecting members within a channel

Having decided to go through intermediaries the next question is whether to use agents or distributors

and also how many. Unlike distributors, agents don't hold stocks - they only act as sales agents finding

customers, collecting orders and passing them on to the supplier in return for a percentage commission.

How would you select a distributor or an agent? Here are some criteria:

1. Market Coverage, 2. Sales Forecast, 3. Cost, 4. Other Resources, 5. Profitability, 6. Control, 7.

Motivation, 8. Reputation, 9. Competition, 10. Contracts

1. Market Coverage: - does the profile of existing customers match your target market profile? - is the

number of customers big enough to meet the required distribution penetration? - is the existing sales

force big enough to cover the territory? - are they dependant on a single individual? - are the existing

delivery fleet and warehouse facilities adequate?

2. Sales Forecast: How many can they sell? What are their forecasts based upon? Do they give a 'best,

worst and average' forecast? Will they invest in large stock commitment? Do they have budgets to run

promotions? Some suppliers even ask their distributors for a marketing plan showing how they intend to

market the supplier's products.

3. Cost: What will it cost in terms of discounts, commissions, stock investment and marketing support?

4. Other Resources: Does the target market require anything special such as technical advice,

installation, quick deliveries, and instant availability? If so can the distributor provide it?

5. Profitability: How much profit will the distributor generate for the supplier?

!dea, GWALIOR

6. Control: Do they have a reporting system in place? How do they deal with problems? How

often is review meetings scheduled? Can you influence the way they present your products?

7. Motivation: Does the agent or distributor convey a sense of excitement and enthusiasm about the

product? What about its sales force - what's their reaction?

8. Reputation: Has it got a good track record? This includes the number of years in business, growth and

profit record, solvency, general stability and overall reliability. Is it dependant on one key player?

9. Competition: Do they distribute any competitor's products?

10. Contracts: Some distributors demand exclusivity. Some agreements tie the supplier in for certain

periods of time. Check for flexibility in case things go wrong.

The bottom line is: Can the agent or distributor be motivated, controlled and trusted? Motivated to sell

your product among a range of others. Controlled to back results feed or change strategy if requested.

As a reliable ambassador of your product?

Motivating Channel Members

Imagine these three scenarios:

You are a producer of 'Grand Pens' a brand of fountain pens.

A customer seeks advice from a pen shop on which pen to buy and the retailer strongly recommends

yours.

A customer asks a retailer, who stocks your pen, for another brand called 'Bad Pens'. The retailer

recommends and offers your pen as superior.

!dea, GWALIOR

A retailer actively solicits business for you by asking customers buying other products to come

and have a look at the exquisite 'Grand Pen'.

This retailer is obviously very motivated. 'Mindshare', as it is called in the USA, has to do with how

important your product is in the distributor's mind relative to the other lines they carry. Winning the

battle for the distributor's share of mind can be more important than many other marketing strategies.

It applies in industrial markets and consumer markets where intermediaries play important roles in the

distribution channel.

In reality, maintaining continually high levels of motivation among intermediaries presents a challenge.

It requires a reasonable quality product, creative promotions, product training, joint visits between

producer and distributor, co-operative advertising, merchandising and display.

Most of these apply to agents as much as distributors and retailers.

Keeping the intermediary stimulated is important. Positive motivators, like sales contests are preferred

to negative motivators like sanctions such as reduced discounts and the threat of terminating the

relationship. A positive reward works better than a negative punishment. Ideally there should be a

shared sense of responsibility - a partnership - a strategic partnership. The supplier and intermediary are

there to help each other. Vertical Marketing Systems are a good example.

Clear communications, covering sales goals, review meetings, reporting procedures, marketing strategy,

training, market information required, suggestions for improvements, all help. Regular contact through

visits, review meetings, dinners, competitions, newsletters, thank you letters, congratulatory awards all

help to keep everyone working closely together.

These are all non-financial incentives which provide a form of psychic income as opposed to financial

income. That's not to say that financial incentives aren't useful motivators, it just means that there are

other motivations there too. In fact the money spent on financial incentives is often spent more

effectively when the sales person is rewarded with a plaque, a gold pen or a holiday in the Bahamas

rather than just the cash which tends to get soaked up and lost in a sea of ordinary household daily

expenditure.

!dea, GWALIOR

Non cash rewards appeal to the higher levels of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs - belonging,

esteem and self actualization.

Despite this, conflict can occur when too many distributors are appointed within close proximity of each

other, or the producer engages in a multiple channel strategy of direct marketing as well as marketing

through intermediaries.

Carefully motivating distributors is vital if goods are to flow smoothly through the channel and reach

satisfied customers

Sales Organization structure

!dea, GWALIOR

Sales Head (Circle office)

ZBM (Gwalior Zone)

ASM (Centre)

TSM/TSEs

ASM (North)

TSM/TSEs

ASM (South)

TSM/TSEs

ASM ( West)

TSM/TSEs

Distribution channel of idea in Gwalior

!dea, GWALIOR

Distributor point

of Gwalior

Each Distributor

share

Each target

3.00 cr. per month 2800

1.D.B ENTERPRISES 4,28,571 2800

2KRISHNA SALES 4,28,571 2800

3MAA VAISHNAB

ENTERPRISES

4,28,571 2800

4 JAI SHIV 4,28,571 2800

5R.R ENTERPRISES 4,28,571 2800

6 RAJ SALES 4,28,571 2800

7 MAYA 4,28,571 2800

!dea, GWALIOR

Distributor Operations

Distributor Revenue/ month Activations /month Retailers covered

Maya Agency Rs 75 Lakhs 1600 325

D B Enterprises Rs 1.25 cr

Raj Agency Rs 40 Lakhs

Understanding operation at distributor’s end (Prism, Activation)

Runners – for collection documents

FOS- collection, delivery, relationship building, communicating new schemes on day to day basis.

Billing system for Retailers

Plan 99 175 105 245

Claim per

sim

20 Rs 35Rs Tie-up

!dea, GWALIOR

Slabs Activations Billing 99 175

A 50 55 85 105 145 50 35

B 25 to 49 55 85 105 145 40 25

C 10 to 24 55 105 130 175 30 10

D 1 to 9 55 105 130 175 20 0

!dea, GWALIOR

Channel Management

Channel management

Channel Management. Yet another sales and marketing phrase that is thrown around like everyone

knows what it means. But so few companies really comprehend channel management in a way that

really helps them. It’s really no wonder. Sales channels (being the conduits by which we distribute our

products to the end-user) come in many shapes—from direct, to the web, to the traditional retail

!dea, GWALIOR

environment. And, we’re just doing whatever we can to get any business from any of them!

But is that the most efficient and effective approach?

That’s where Channel Management comes in. Channel management, as a process by which a company

creates formalized programs for selling and servicing customers within a specific channel, can really

impact your business—and in a positive way! To get started, first segment your channels by like

characteristics (their needs, buying patterns, success factors, etc.) and then customize a channel

management program that includes:

1. Goals : - Define the specific goals you have for each channel segment. Consider your goals for

the channel as whole as well as individual accounts. And, remember to consider your goals for

both acquisition and retention.

2. Policies : - Construct well-defined polices for administering the accounts within this channel.

Be sure to keep the unique characteristics of each segment in mind when defining policies for

account set up, order management, product fulfillment, etc.

3. Products : - Identify which products in your offering are most suited for each segment and

create appropriate messaging. Also, determine where your up sell opportunities lie.

4. Sales/Marketing Programs : - Design support programs for your channel that meet THEIR

needs, not what your idea of their needs are. To do this, you should start by asking your

customers within this segment, “how can we best support you in the selling and marketing of

our products?” That being said, the standard considerations are product training, co-op

advertising, seasonal promotions, and merchandising. Again, this is not a one-size fits all, so be

diligent about addressing this segment’s SPECIFIC needs in these areas.

Defining a channel management strategy for each segment allows you to be more effective within each

segment, while gaining efficiency at the same time. Still, maintaining brand consistency across all

channel segments is critical to your long-term success. So find a good balance between customization

and brand consistency and you’ll be on your way to successful channel management.

!dea, GWALIOR

Visit with TSM

We met with distributor & FOS and made understand that how to deal with retailers and how to sale

our product and how to follow our channel perfectly and effectively and how to gave them satisfaction

with company polices.

• Areas Covered: Bada ,Murar,Hazira

• 23 retailers covered

• Tasks Handled: Relationship Building, Issues Handling, Report generation, details about new

schemes, Target achieved status

• Observations:

• Idea Branding poor at some stores ( Visit by Airtel Sales Head)

Process started

We went to distributor point where we saw there were some people (FOS & distributor) who had a

chain by which they worked together. Every FOS had particular market in that market they collected

money and gave them sim card and paper Boucher& e-Boucher and gave that money to the distribute

point.

Customer Interaction when visit with FOS

!dea, GWALIOR

We went to new retailer with FOS and convince them to joint with telecom market, and gave

them some beautiful offer to started their business with low amount

• Tasks: Distribution of Stocks (SIMs, Vtopup), revenue collection, issue handling, collecting

documents

• Areas Covered:fruit mandi, Hazira

Description of the process started

This is the description of the process of distribution of the SIM and recharches and during the whole

process our work was to manage the channel and by managing the channel to increase the revenue of

the outlets.

!dea, GWALIOR

!dea, GWALIOR

Observation and

Findings

!dea, GWALIOR

OBSERVATION & FINDINGS

55% of the people use only mobile, and 40% of respondents use both the services & only 5%

people use the telephone service. It shows the popularity of cellular phone services.

34% of respondents are using the idea services, which is the highest percentage of users of

cellular phone. Airtel takes 2nd place in Gwalior with 28% of users. Then comes reliance and

BSNL, and tata indicom having least customers in the Bhopal.

Prepaid service is most popular in the cellular services with 95% of customers. The remained

uses postpaid services.

In current situation 73% of respondents are using lifetime plans, where the rest are using

general plan of the cellular companies.

64% of respondents are satisfied with the call rates of the lifetime plans; it is because telecom

companies have slashed their call rates few months ago. Still in this situation 36% of

respondents did not satisfy with the call rates which service they are using.

In the lifetime plan of cellular companies most of the respondents are using this service because

of its validity period with 83% of answer. Where 15% of people like this services because of its

call rates.

!dea, GWALIOR

78% of customer satisfied with the lifetime plans of cellular companies, and which are

not satisfy with the service they are mostly BSNL and TATA indicom users.

Most of the people are using lifetime services because of money savings with the percentage of

48. Where 29% of people like this service because of the facilities provided by the operators.

And 23% of people are using this service because of incoming only.

CONCLUSIONS

In Gwalior it is found that idea is the market leader in the lifetime plan segment. People like the lifetime

plans provided by the companies. And airtel having 2nd highest customers in Gwalior.

TATA indicom having least customers in Gwalior, where Reliance and BSNL having almost equal percent

of customer

But they are not aware about the bound of cellular companies with TRAI, that cellular companies can

deliver their services till their license have validity, they have to renew it for providing further service.

SUGGESTIONS

In the lifetime plans, cellular companies should reduce the call rates.

They should provide other facilities like massage and minimum call rates in the same network.

!dea, GWALIOR

They should make aware the customers that they have limited license period.

They should not take other hidden charges.

There should not be any compulsion that customer have to recharge their card in 180 days with

certain amount. This is the main drawback of the lifetime validity plan.

Bibliography

!dea, GWALIOR

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books:

Philip Kotler, ‘marketing management’ prentice Hall of India Pvt. Ltd. New Dehli.

C. R. Kothari ‘Research methodology’, vishwa publication, New Delhi.

Saxena Rajan ‘marketing management’ Tata McGraw-hill publication Co. Ltd. New Delhi.

H. V. Verma ‘marketing of services’ Global business press, New Delhi.

Business today magazine of February issue, 2008.

!dea, GWALIOR

Web Resources:

www.trai.gov.in

http://www.tataindicom.com/t-aboutus-ttsl-organization.aspx

http://www.rcom.co.in/webapp/Communications/rcom/Aboutus/aboutus_home.jsp

http://www.ideacellular.com/IDEA.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=IDEA_Page_AboutIdea

http://www.bsnl.co.in/about.htm

http://www.bsnl.co.in/service/tariff_excel_pre.htm

http://210.212.144.243/utility/tariff.htm

http://www.trai.gov.in/trai/upload/PressReleases/15/pr16jan06.pdf

www. airtel .in

http://www.rcom.co.in/webapp/Communications/rcom/index.jsp

!dea, GWALIOR

http://www.rcom.co.in/webapp/Communications/rcom/index.jsp

http://www.airtel.in/

http://www.trai.gov.in/trai/upload/PressReleases/15/pr16jan06.pdf

http://210.212.144.243/utility/tariff.htm

http://www.bsnl.co.in/service/tariff_excel_pre.htm

http://www.bsnl.co.in/about.htm

http://www.ideacellular.com/IDEA.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=IDEA_Page_AboutIdea

http://www.rcom.co.in/webapp/Communications/rcom/Aboutus/aboutus_home.jsp

http://www.tataindicom.com/t-aboutus-ttsl-organization.aspx

Idea Report

Documents

Transcript of Idea Report