summer training report

Market Analysis & Market Development

SUMMER TRAINING REPORT ON

MARKET ANALYSIS AND MARKET DEVELOPMENT

For

TOTAL OIL INDIA PVT LTD

By

Sandipan Samaddar

398

In Partial Fulfillment for the award of the degree

Post Graduate Diploma in Management

2013-15

New Delhi Institute of Management50 (B&C), 60, Tughlakabad Institutional Area, New Delhi-110062E-mail : [email protected] Website : www.ndimdelhi.org

1 Total Oil India Pvt Ltd

http://www.ndimdelhi.org/

mailto:[email protected]


SUMMER TRAINING REPORT ON

MARKET ANALYSIS AND MARKET DEVELOPMENT

For

TOTAL OIL INDIA PVT LTD

Under the supervision

of

Mr. Satish Kumar Yadav

Submitted by Submitted to

Sandipan Samaddar Mr. L Raghavan

Roll No. 398



CERTIFICATE



ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

My heartfelt gratitude goes to my company guide Mr. Satish Kumar Yadav, Regional Manager, After Market Sales. Without his support this project would not be completed. I want to express my gratitude to my faculty mentor, Mr. L. Raghavan, Professor ,New Delhi Institute of Management, whose constant guidance helped me to cope with the corporate environment.

I want to thank Mr. Paramjit Singh, Area Sales Manager, Delhi for his constant motivation and keeping faith in our abilities. I would also like to convey my gratitude to Ganganagar Automobiles, the North Delhi Distributer of Total Oil India Pvt Ltd for providing me with the opportunity to work on this project. My heartfelt thank goes to Mr. Mukesh Joshi and the entire team of Ganganagar Automobiles whose support was essential during the entire duration of my internship. A special thanks to Mr. Saurabh Aggarwal, Director, Ganganagar Automobiles for providing me this great opportunity to work for a top ranked organization like this.

Lastly, I would like to convey my heartiest thanks to Mr. Manjeet Singh, who selected me for internship in Total Oil India Pvt Ltd.

Finally, I express my gratitude to every person who has devoted their valuable time in accomplishing my summer internship project.



DECLARATION

I, Sandipan Samaddar, student of New Delhi Institute of Management 2013-15 Batch declare that every part of the Project Report titled ‘Market Analysis and Market Development’ submitted by me is original.

I was in regular contact with my faculty guide and contacted several times for discussing the project.

Date of project submission :

_____________________

(Signature of Student)

Faculty Mentor’s comment :

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________

(Mr. L. Raghavan)



TABLE OF CONTENTS

TOPIC PAGE NO.

Executive Summary

1. Introduction to Automotive Lubricant Industry Overview of the Industry Global Players Indian Automotive Lubricant Industry

2. About TOTAL Oil History Mergers & Acquisitions Company Profile Partnerships Human resource Practices Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives TOTAL in Motorsports About Total Oil India Pvt Ltd (TOIPL) About Ganganagar Automobiles

3. On-the-Job Training Objective of Training Weekly Description of Work Key Observations Conclusion Limitations/Constraints faced Suggestions Major Learning

4. References

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The main objective of the project titled ‘Market Analysis & Market Development’ was to understand the automotive lubricant industry, analyze the lubricant market of North Delhi, activate new counters and carrying out promotional activities to accelerate sales. The project started with undertaking a week-long survey of the automotive lubricant market to interpret the position of TOTAL/ELF in the market. A questionnaire was prepared and feedbacks were taken from various dealers. The survey helped us to analyze the brand awareness, product quality, major competitors & their marketing strategies and positive & negative aspects of the company from the dealers & mechanics. After the completion of market survey and interpreting the data, our next task was to learn how to sell our products to the dealers. I had to observe how the DSRs (Distributor Sales Representative) interacted with the dealers to convince them. I needed to acquire those selling skills so that I could activate new counters.

After observing the DSRs and getting an idea of how to negotiate, my next task was to assist the DSR in getting orders from the dealers. The challenging part of the project was to activate new counters in under-developed markets. I visited new counters in the markets assigned to me and interacted with the dealers to convince them to do business with our company. My task was to make the dealers aware of the schemes offered by the distributor and do the initial placement of our products in the counter. Since promotional activities play a major role in increasing market share, we conducted display camps on every weekend in different markets. My task in the promotional activities was to convince the end users about the superiority of our products and make them buy our engine oil. During these activities we developed relationship with the mechanics and provided them gifts for using our product.

The project gave me a brief idea about the automotive lubricant industry, the market position of TOTAL in the North Delhi market, on what aspects the company is performing well, scope of improving its market share and how the distribution channel of a company works. I also learned the selling skills, practical aspects of marketing and learned how to work in a corporate environment and cope with organizational culture.



1. INTRODUCTION TO AUTOMOTIVE LUBRICANTS INDUSTRY



1.1 OVERVIEW OF THE INDUSTRY :

The importance of oil in the engine is just like blood in the body. Blood flows through all the veins to vital organs to keep them healthy and alive, similar is the function of lubricating oil in the engine. Across the world, lubricant oil is primarily used for cooling automobile engine, marine engine and for industrial purposes. Globally, more than 50% of the total lubricant volume is being used for automobile, around 40% is for industrial purpose and rest is for marine industry.

In the coming future global demand of lubricant will remain stagnated or grow at a very low rate due to following reasons:

Low emission norms for industries and automobile sector Advancement in engine oil technology Use of high performance oil Saturation in automobile sector for developed countries

Currently, USA is the largest consumer of lubricant oil across the world. China and India comes at second and third position respectively. But, in the next 7-8 years china will overtake USA in terms lubricant consumption. Reason behind this is that US automobile sector has reached at its saturation level, while the developing countries like India and China, it is still growing.

In this report we will deal with lubricants used in automobiles, mostly Engine Oils. With the increasing production of automobiles every year, the demand for quality engine oil is increasing. The industry of engine oil is divided into 3 segments :

a. Motor Cycle Oil (MCO) : This segment deals with the lubricants(engine oil, gear oil, coolant, brake oil) used in two-wheelers.

b. Passenger Car Motor Oil (PCMO) : This segment deals with lubricants used in four-wheelers including personal vehicles and commercial light weight automobiles.

c. Diesel Engine Oil (DEO) : This segment deals with lubricants used in heavy commercial vehicles like trucks, buses, tractors etc.



1.2 GLOBAL PLAYERS

Major Oil & Gas Companies producing automotive lubricants are listed as follows :

SAUDI ARAMCO

NATIONAL IRANIAN OIL COMPANY

EXXON MOBIL

SHELL

TOTAL

CHEVRON

PETRONAS

CASTROL

BRITISH PETROLEUM



1.3 INDIAN AUTOMOTIVE LUBRICANT INDUSTRY

The Indian automotive lubricants market is largely price sensitive and volume growth is stagnating due to longer lasting lubricants. The market is fragmented with over 22 big and small manufacturers and with the spate of mergers & acquisitions, only a handful of companies enjoy a major market share. Companies are adopting a more customer-oriented approach where they are likely to focus on creating brand awareness through print and visual media. For example, promotional campaigns and trade shows offering gifts to their customers are methods of driving sales of automotive lubricants.

The original equipment segment and retail trade are the two major marketing channels in the Indian automotive lubricants market. Due to the growing competition, tie-ups with original equipment manufacturers (OEM) are becoming important as they reinforce the value proposition of a particular brand.

Petrol pumps form a major distribution channel in retail trade, however sales of lubricants through retail outlets transformed Indian automotive lubricant market into a first moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector. The other marketing channels are authorized service stations, garages, rural and agricultural dealers, super markets and wholesale distributors.

The consumption pattern In Indian lubricant oil industry is similar to world lube industry. Majority of lubricant is being consumed by automobile sector (55%), rest is being used for Industrial purpose and marine industry. Major players of the Indian lubricant oil industry are IOCL - Servo, BPCL-MAK, HPCL and Castrol. These four players approximately hold 80% of the market share in Indian lubricant industry. IOCL is the market leader in the overall lubricants industry, with its market share at 40%. However, Castrol dominates the automotive lubricant oil market, with 19% share of the bazzar segment, followed by IOCL, which has 14% share of the bazzar segment according to industry estimates. Private players like Castrol, Shell, Gulf Oil, etc. account for 75% of the bazzar segment while the oil PSUs account for 25%.

In 1993 lubricant industry in India got liberalized, which attracted the private players to enter into the Indian lube market. Before liberalization auto lube oil in India was sold mainly through petrol filling stations. Decline in margin due to rising base oil (main raw material for lubricating oil production) prices, increasing competition due to large number of private players, very low consumer awareness about the brands and quality and too much price sensitivity has led Indian lube oil industry to a major marketing challenge for the companies involved with it.



For understanding the marketing issues pertaining to the lubricating oil market in India let us first understand the overall common flow followed by almost all companies to sell their product into the market.

Blending plant is the place where base oil is processed; additives are mixed and converted into final product i.e. lubricating oil. These final products are move towards carrying and forwarding agents i.e. stock points or depots, as the name suggests these C&F agents are third party and they provide the infrastructure support for storing of goods and in turn earn commission.

First let us discuss about the distributors, an important channel partner for sales of any product. They can greatly affect the sales in a market that is driven on credit dealings. The greater the credit period he can offer the more the trust the mechanics/dealers have on him. Robustness of distributor plays a major role. In case of lubricant oils following are some of the important roles of a distributor :

1) Market Information2) Buying & Assortment Building3) Selling & Promotion4) Customer Relations5) Risk Bearing6) Branding7) Financing, Warehousing & Transporting8) Management of DSRs



DSR that is Distributors Sales Representative, these are the people who become the face of the company in terms of sales to dealers and mechanics. Distributor must be smart enough to appoint them wisely and manage them properly. They must be given proper route plans and soft skill training as sweetness and calmness in their nature can earn more sales volume for the company. They must strike the balance between distributors and companies reputation in market, though they are paid by distributor but they are liable towards the brand image of company. Some of the major problems faced overall in the market are Delivery time from distributor to dealer, tracking of the scheme issued to dealers or mechanics, proper use of branding materials. So these are the things to be taken care by DSR.

To conclude, the major parameters are margin, schemes, promotional activities, and branding of product. In India a product can‘t be placed in the market on the basis of brand only, but it should match the spending power of customers. An industry where switching cost is negligible, person relationship plays an important role to capture maximum market share. Regular schemes have become part of the lube market. Not only the product, but also the superior service differentiates one company from another. An effective distribution channel as well as hard working sales team drives a company on front foot.



2. ABOUT TOTAL OIL



2.1 HISTORY

The company was founded after World War I, when the then French Prime Minister Raymond Poincaré rejected the idea of forming a partnership with Royal Dutch Shell in favour of creating an entirely French oil company. At Poincaré's behest, Col. Ernest Mercier with the support of ninety banks and companies founded Total on 28 March 1924, as the Compagnie française des pétroles (CFP), literally the "French Petroleum Company".

The company renamed itself Total CFP in 1985, to build on the popularity of its gasoline brand.

Later in 1991, the name was changed to Total, when it became a public company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The French government, who used to control more than 30 percent of the company’s stock in 1991, reduced its stake in the firm to less than 1 percent by 1996.

2.2 MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

After Total's takeover of Petrofina of Belgium in 1999, it became known as Total Fina. Afterwards it also acquired Elf Aquitaine. First named TotalFinaElf after the merger in 2000, it was later renamed back to Total in 6 May 2003. During that rebranding, the current globe logo was unveiled.

In 2003, Total signed for a 30% stake in the gas exploration venture in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) – South Rub' al-Khali joint venture along with Royal Dutch Shell and Saudi Aramco. The stake was later bought out by its partners.

In May 2006, Saudi Aramco and TOTAL signed a MOU to develop the Jubail Refinery and Petrochemical project in Saudi Arabia which targeted 400,000 barrels per day (bpd). On 21 September 2008, the two companies officially established a joint venture called Saudi Armaco Total Refining and Petrochemical Company (SATORP)- in which a 62.5% stake was held by Saudi Aramco and the balance 37.5% held by TOTAL



2.3 COMPANY PROFILE Industry Oil and gas

Founded 1924

Founder(s) Ernest Mercier

Headquarters Tour Total, Paris, France

Area served Worldwide

CEO & CFOChristophe de Margerie(CEO)Patrick de la Chevardière (CFO)

Products

Oil and gas exploration and production, natural gas and LNG trading and transportation, oil refining, chemicals

Services Fuel stations

Revenue €171.65 billion (2013)

Operating income

€17.81 billion (2013)

Profit €8.44 billion (2013)

Total assets €173.49 billion (2013)

Total equity €72.62 billion (2013)

Employees 97,126 (2013)

Website www.total.co.in

2.4 PARTNERSHIPS

TOTAL Lubricants has built strong partnerships with international manufacturers, including:


http://www.total.co.in/


CITROËN : In 1968, TOTAL began developing a lubricant for the CITROËN DS to address ignition and fouling issues. Over 40 years of teamwork have given rise to the production of high-quality lubricants and an unrivaled track record in motorsports.

PEUGEOT : Partners since 1995, TOTAL and PEUGEOT recently confirmed their confidence in each other by renewing their partnership agreements. TOTAL and PEUGEOT are developing tomorrow's lubricants: oils that are increasingly fuel efficient and environmentally friendly.

MAZDA : TOTAL has been MAZDA Motors' European lubricants partner since 2003. Together, TOTAL and the Japanese automaker have co-developed the MAZDA Original Oil range for MAZDA vehicles.

KIA : In 2011, Korean automaker KIA Motors Corporation and TOTAL Lubricants entered into a five-year international cooperation* agreement. TOTAL Lubricants became KIA's recommended partner for the sale of lubricants across all KIA's after-sales service networks in participating countries.

ELF is passionate about performance. This passion is reflected in the brand's decades-long engagement in motorsports and historic partnerships with international manufacturers and research teams, including:

RENAULT : ELF has been developing bespoke products for RENAULT since 1968, and has two research and development teams dedicated to its partner.

KAWASAKI : ELF and KAWASAKI work together to design lubricants for motorcycles, and KAWASAKI officially recommends the ELF brand.

NISSAN : ELF and NISSAN are industrial and research partners, and their work is at the heart of the latest technological innovations. The Nissan Genuine Oils in Europe are unique formulas designed by ELF and approved by Nissan. In 2012, the European after-sales partnership between Nissan and Elf was been extended

2.5 HUMAN RESOURCE PRACTICES

Dialogue, openness, equal opportunity, diversity, mobility and skills development are the values that shape the human resources policies of TOTAL. It attracts many talented people, both



experienced and just starting their careers, of varied national, cultural and educational backgrounds. It offers them opportunities in a number of specialties, including geology, research & development, marketing, sales, logistics and more.

To promote the professional growth and development of all employees, human resources policies are built on four cornerstones:

Diversity of backgrounds, education and culture, a genuine source of enrichment that helps us compare viewpoints to better predict trends and changes in a globalized world.

Mobility, so that employees can transfer to new jobs, segments or countries and achieve their personal career goals.

Fairness grounded in individually determined compensation, outstanding employee benefits and a progressive policy to promote employee share ownership.

Accountability and responsibility, through our daily actions around the world and an unflagging focus on ethics, safety and sustainable development.

A Transparent, Simplified Recruitment Process :

The recruitment process varies by country and segment, but shares a number of core steps and principles:

Job openings are centralized and accessible to all at a single site, careers.total.com A series of interviews are arranged for each open position, with human resources

professionals, professional discipline managers and the managers to whom the incumbent will report.

A Company That Combats Discrimination :

Total fights all forms of discrimination in hiring. We take concrete steps to promote gender equity in the workplace:

Some 17% of our senior manager workforce consisted of women in 2013, and we want to increase their number by continuing to focus on skills. To that end, we offer training to help our female employees better manage their careers, among other courses.We also routinely strive to promote the hiring and retention of disabled workers.

2.6 CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY INITIATIVES

Total Quartz Safety Month :



TOTAL India is embarking on a new initiative to create greater awareness on safe driving practices by organizing TOTAL Quartz Safety Run event in association with Big 92.7 FM – one of the leading radio stations in India. The activity is being undertaken across 20 cities in across India. Beginning 4thOctober 2013, a TOTAL Quartz Safety Month was also celebrated on Big FM stations.

During this month, various aspects of road safety such as hazards of drinking and driving, speaking on mobile phone while driving, over-speeding, not wearing seat belts etc. were discussed on the FM. Listeners were educated about the importance of road safety and safe driving practices through messages delivered by leading personalities over the FM radio. These safe driving messages were also delivered through campaigns at shopping malls, housing societies as well as through hoardings, internet, mobile SMS and newspaper advertisements.Vehicle owners were requested to take a pledge to follow safe driving practices and participate in TOTAL Quartz Safety Run to support the cause of improving road safety. This initiative was supported by traffic police, NGOs, national celebrities and, government authorities.

Total Tree Plantation Week :

TOTAL Kenya recently organized a tree plantation campaign in Nairobi. The locals were informed about various aspects of tree-plantation and were encouraged to take care of the environment.



Road Safety Initiative of TOTAL

2.7 TOTAL IN MOTORSPORTS



Formula 1 is the most demanding of all motorsports disciplines. This year TOTAL is supplying products to the following teams : Lotus F1 Team, Red Bull, Caterham F1 Team, Williams F1 Team.

Partner of Renault F1 Sport engine manufacturer Partner of Lotus F1 Team driver, Romain Grosjean Lotus F1 Team sponsor Red Bull Racing sponsor

ELF is a legendary brand on global racing circuits. The teams of engineers and technicians develop customized fuels and lubricants designed to meet the specific requirements of high level racing. ELF racing products have become a reference in the motorsport world and a byword for top-level performance. ELF is associated with champion teams like:

Honda LCR for prestigious motorsports event like MotoGP and Team Kawasaki for Superbike

2.8 ABOUT TOTAL OIL INDIA PVT LTD



Total Oil India Pvt Ltd started operations at Mumbai in the year 1993. Today, it is one of the fastest growing lubricant companies in India. With an extensive distribution network spread across the country, the company is balanced to support its ever expanding customer base with the backup of its world class quality products.

The company has its state-of-the-art blending plant at Mahape, Navi Mumbai, with the blending capacity of 60,000 metric tons. In its continuing commitment towards quality, the company has upgraded its quality system to ISO/TS 16949-2009 from QS9000:1998. Also, in keeping up with the group’s objective towards protection of environment and safe workplace, the company has obtained ISO 14001:2004 certification and OHSAS 18001:2007 certification.

The Lubricants division has expanded its distribution network of over 37 depots, 320 distributors and 35000 plus dealers. As a part of its expansion program, the company has also expanded its business in Sri Lanka by exporting a range of engine oils, gear oils and greases.

The Lubricants division offers a wide range of automotive and industrial lubricants under the brands TOTAL & ELF. The automotive range includes engine oils for commercial vehicles, two wheelers, passenger cars, farm equipment and coolants, greases, brake fluids, gear oils etc. Keeping with the times, the company has also introduced a range of fuel economy engine oils for two-wheelers, cars and commercial vehicles. It also deals in industrial lubricants like auto components, steel, power, infrastructure, cement, chemical, textiles, food processing etc.

TOIPL also markets LPG in India. LPG activities commenced in 1998 when TOIPL commissioned a fully integrated LPG import terminal at Mangalore in the South West coast of India. LPG is marketed under the brand name of TOTALGAZ and caters to a wide range of uses in domestic, commercial, industrial and automotive segments

2.9 ABOUT GANGANAGAR AUTOMOBILES



Ganganagar Automobiles is the distributor of TOTAL in North Delhi region. My training was conducted under this distributor. We had to report in their office at Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar, Jahangirpuri.

Company Name : Ganganagar Automobiles

Business Type : Manufacturer, supplier, distributor, car showroom

Manufacturer & Supplier of : automotive spare parts, TATA parts, piston, piston rings, suspension parts, automotive parts components and spares

Distributor of : TOTAL Oil

Showroom of : Chevrolet

Annual Turnover : 500 Crores

Director : Mr. Saurabh Aggarwal

Head Office : 2799, Bara Bazar, Kashmere Gate, Delhi

Ganganagar Automobiles office at Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar, Jahangirpuri



3. ON THE JOB TRAINING

3.1 OBJECTIVE OF THE TRAINING



To understand the Lubricants Industry (mainly TOTAL/ELF engine oil market of North Delhi) from the research.

To analyze the important parameters in selection & buying of engine oil. To undertake exploratory survey of TOTAL/ELF lubricant market of North Delhi with

the help of oil dealers and workshops/service stations (for both passenger cars & motorcycles)

To analyze all the survey data and formulate recommendation based on it to increase market share of TOTAL/ELF lubricants.

To develop new counters in Roshanara Road & Budh Vihar markets To accelerate sales by taking part in promotional activities.

3.2 WEEKLY DESCRIPTION OF WORK



Week 1 : The Induction Week

Met the whole team of Ganganagar Automobiles, the largest distributor of TOTAL in North India.

Got a brief introduction about the working culture & environment from Mr. Satish Yadav, Regional Manager-After Market Sales.

The distributor with whom we were working, i.e. Ganganagar Automobiles, gave us an insight of the lubricant industry and the market position of Total in India.

We learned about the different segments of the industry, namely MCO, PCMO & DEO and different products serving these segments.

We were given detailed knowledge about the products that are needed to be promoted. We studied products like ELF Moto 4 Gold, Total Quartz 3000/5000/7000 and ELF Turbo, their features and market prices.

Also we were given knowledge about the products of the competitors like Castrol, Servo, Shell etc.

We were sent to the market with the Sales Executive to get an insight how sales are carried out in a B2B environment.

We visited many counters dealing in engine oil and observed how the Sales Executives negotiated with the dealers to promote the products.

On the last day of the week, we had a meeting with the Director of Ganganagar Automobiles, Mr.Sourabh Aggarwal and the Area Head of Total, Mr. Paramjit Singh. They notified us what exactly we need to do during our internship.

I was given the task of developing the strategies for the markets of MCO & PCMO segments in Budh Vihar & Roshanara road where the market share of Total is very low.

PRODUCT DETAILS :



ELF MOTO 4 GOLD

ELF MOTO 4 PRO

ELF MOTO 4 MAXI TECH

ELF MOTO 4 TECH

TOTAL QUARTZ 3000



TOTAL QUARTZ 5000

TOTAL QUARTZ 7000

TOTAL QUARTZ 9000

ELF PERFORMANCE 3D



ELF SUPER HDB TURBO

TOTAL RUBIA MINI

Week 2 : Market Survey



A questionnaire was prepared for market survey. The objective of the questionnaire was to find out the market potential of Total products

& getting feedback from the dealers about the products. The questions were designed to determine the demand of the products, ways to improve

sales & getting dealers' feedbacks to implement promotional strategies. The questionnaire mainly consisted of open-ended questions where the dealers were free to suggest their needs & specify where the company is lagging.

Data was collected from dealers, retailers & workshops from different markets. Markets covered in this week were Jahangirpuri, Adarshnagar, Azadpur, Kanjhawala

Road & Roshanara Road. 34 samples were collected from these markets over the week.

Findings from the survey :

Out of 12 counters selling Motor Cycle Oil (MCO) that we visited, 85% does not sell Elf Moto 4 Gold. The main reasons cited by the dealers were : (i) No demand (ii) Lack of product awareness among customers (iii) No approach from the company

Out of 26 counters selling Passenger Car Motor Oil (PCMO), 65% counters sell Total products like Quartz 3000/5000/7000. But we observed that the sale of Total products is comparatively low as compared to competitor's products. The main reasons cited by the dealers were :(i) Lack of branding & advertisement (ii) Mechanics not benefitted (iii) Schemes are not attractive (iv) Late delivery of assured gifts (v) Customers preferring other brands

ANALYSIS OF SURVEY CONDUCTED IN WEEK 2 :



YES65%

NO35%

YESNO

Percentage of counters selling TOTAL QUARTZ

CASTROL41%

SHELL28%

VELVOLINE

5%

TOTAL14%

GS CALTEX3%

SERVO9%

CASTROLSHELLVELVOLINETOTALGS CALTEXSERVO

Sale percentage of different brands from the 65% counters selling TOTAL products



YES 85%

NO15%

YES NO

Percentage of counters selling ELF Moto 4 Gold

0

5

10

15

20

25

3030

21

14

25

8

2Series1

*(figures are in percentage ‘%’)

Ways to improve market-share as suggested by the dealers

Learning from this week’s activity :



From the field-work conducted over the week, we learnt about the market scenario of the lubricant industry.

Data collection from various dealers gave us an idea about the demand of various brands and what the dealers want from the companies.

The interactions with the dealers were very informative as they explained the positives & negatives of the Total brand. We also learned about their expectations from the brand & what promotional strategies the company should implement.

Visiting different markets with the Sales Executive & observing the negotiation between the dealer and the sales executive was a thing to learn.

It was also a learning process how to fill up the questionnaires by listening to the responses of the sampling units

Week 3 : Learning from the DSR

Task Assigned :



Visiting the dealers with the Sales Representative and assisting him in getting orders from the dealers. Also, conducting promotional activity by arranging display camp for accelerating sales.

Work done :

Visited dealers in Jahangirpuri, Azadpur, Roshanara & Kanjhawala Road markets with the sales representative and negotiated with the dealers about new orders and pending payments.

Also visited new counters in an attempt to place our products in those counters. Conducted display camp on weekend at Khurana Autoparts, Ranibagh During this promotional activity schemes were offered to the mechanics who would use

the most number of our products. First prize : Ceiling fan, Second Prize : Mayur Jug, Third Prize : Press


Learning aspect from this week's activity was developing the techniques to convince the dealers for getting more orders.

Explained the dealers about the new schemes, benefits and creating needs among the dealers to order more of our products.

The promotional activity was an important part of the company's strategy and learned about the end customer's mentality about our products.

Learned to convince the customers how our product is superior to others and what benefits their vehicles would get if they use our engine oil.

Week 4 : Counter Activation & Promotional Activity

Task Assigned :



Visiting the dealers with the Sales Representative and assisting him in getting orders from the dealers. The main objective of this week was to activate new counters and place our products. Also, conducting promotional activity by arranging display camp for accelerating sales.

Work Done :

Visited dealers in Jahangirpuri, Azadpur, Roshanara, Kanjhawala Road & Budh Vihar markets with the sales representative and negotiated with the dealers about new orders and pending payments.

This week we activated 4 new counters: a) 3 counters in Kanjhawala/Budh Vihar & b) 1 counter in Roshanara Road. c) 2 counters ordered Quartz 5000 & 2 counters ordered Elf Moto-4-Gold.

Conducted display camp on weekend at Naharpur Car Market, the largest Car Spare Parts market in North Delhi.

We arranged 3 display camps in the market and competed with "Shell" who also arranged display camps on the same day.

During this promotional activity schemes were offered to the mechanics who would use the most number of our products. First prize : Cooler, Second Prize : Ceiling fan, Third Prize : Mayur Jug. Also a number of consolation prizes were distributed to the mechanics.

In addition company caps and t-shirts were also distributed among the mechanics. We sold around 100 cans of engine oils on those 2 days.


The most important learning aspect was how to activate new counters. Convincing the dealer to buy our products who has never done business with us is a thing to learn.

Activating new counters with my own efforts was very satisfying. The promotional activity conducted this week was a challenge as our competitor was also

conducting similar activity in the same market. Converting the customers who previously used competitor's product to use our products

was really an achievement on our part. Also learned how to maintain a good relation with the mechanics so that they can

convince the end users for using our engine oil.



Display Camp at Naharpur Car Market

Week 5 : Counter Activation

Task Assigned :



The main objective of this week was to visit new counters in Roshanara Road & Budh Vihar and place our products. Also, conducting promotional activity by arranging display camp for accelerating sales.

Work Done :

Visited new counters in Jahangirpuri, Roshanara Road, Kanjhawala Road & Budh Vihar markets and discussed our products, schemes and benefits with the dealers.

No new counters were added this week, but got some positive responses. Conducted display camp on weekend at Ambika Motors in Kanhaiya Nagar During this promotional activity schemes were offered to the mechanics who would use

the most number of our products. First prize : Ceiling fan, Second Prize : Mayur Jug , Third Prize : Lunch Box.

In addition company caps and t-shirts were also distributed among the mechanics.


The most important learning aspect was how to activate new counters. Convincing the dealer to buy our products who has never done business with us is a thing to learn.

Although no new counters were added this week, positive responses were received. The promotional activity conducted this week was a challenge as some customers already

had a mindset of using a particular brand's product. Converting such customers to use our products was an achievement.

Also learned how to m-aintain a good relation with the mechanics so that they can convince the end users for using our engine oil.

Week 6 : Counter Activation

Task Assigned :



The main objective of this week was to visit new counters in Roshanara Road & Budh Vihar and place our products.

Work Done :

Visited new counters in Roshanara Road & Budh Vihar markets and discussed our products, schemes and benefits with the dealers.

Tried to convince them about our product's superiority so that they order only few units of our products initially.

Got some positive responses.


The most important learning aspect was how to activate new counters. Convincing the dealer to buy our products who has never done business with us is a thing to learn. Explained the dealers about the new schemes, benefits and creating needs among the dealers to order our products

Week 7 : Counter Activation & Promotional Activity



Task Assigned : The main objective of this week was to visit new counters in Roshanara Road & Budh Vihar and place our products. Also, conducting promotional activity by arranging display camp for accelerating sales.

Work Done :

Visited new counters in Jahangirpuri, Roshanara Road, Kanjhawala Road & Budh Vihar markets and discussed our products, schemes and benefits with the dealers.

No new counters were added this week, but got some positive responses. We arranged 3 display camps in the market and competed with "Shell" who also arranged

display camps on the same day During this promotional activity schemes were offered to the mechanics who would use

the most number of our products. First prize : Washing Machine, Second Prize : Ceiling fan , Third Prize : Mayur Jug.

In addition company caps and t-shirts were also distributed among the mechanics.


Convincing the dealer to buy our products who has never done business with us is a thing to learn.

The promotional activity conducted this week was a challenge as our competitor was also conducting similar activity in the same market.

Also learned to maintain a good relation with the mechanics so that they can convince the end users for using our engine oil.



Display Camp at Naharpur Car Market

Gifts Displayed at the Camp



Gifts being distributed to the Mechanics



Week 8 : Market Development in Narela

Task Assigned :

A new project was assigned for this particular week. We needed to conduct promotional activity in Narela. The objective was to place our products in an untapped market like Narela and take advantage of the promotional activity to sell as much litres of our product.

Work Done :

The entire week was dedicated to visit the mechanics in Narela market, both PCMO & DEO segments.

All the mechanics were made aware of the scheme that we were going to provide them in that week. Pamphlets of the display camp were distributed in different workshops & counters

During this promotional activity schemes were offered to the mechanics who would use the most number of our products. First prize : Cooler, Second Prize : Ceiling fan , Third Prize : Mayur Jug.

Our team met new dealers and made them aware of the TOTAL brand & convinced some major dealers to keep our products in their counters so that the mechanics can take advantage of the scheme.

3 display camps were set in three different spots in the market. Considering the low market share of our product in that particular market, our activity

was really successful and we could able to sell a good volume of our products. Total 41 cans of PCMO product was sold & 30 buckets of DEO product was sold

during the activity.


Being the Team-coordinator of the project, there were lots of learning aspects during this week.

Learned how to plan an entire promotional activity, how to interact with the mechanics, what schemes to offer and how to distribute the works to the team-members.

Conducting promotional activity in an untapped market requires lot of efforts and our objective was full-filled.

How to make the mechanics interested and keep them motivated to use our product was a thing to learn.

Also learned how to maintain coordination with the team members to make the activity successful.



Display Camp at Narela



Gifts being distributed to the Mechanics at NarelaWeek 9 : Attending the Dealer Meet for MCO segment



A dealer meet was conducted for MCO segment to promote the bike engine oil Elf Moto 4 Gold.

Around 30 dealers were invited in Shalimar Bagh Club. Presentation was given on Elf Moto 4 Gold, followed by dinner.

Schemes were offered to the dealers for that night. A discount of Rs 2/Litre, Rs.3/Litre & Rs.5/Litre was offered for an order of 2, 3 and 5 cases respectively.

Lucky draw also took place and the winner was gifted a Mixer Grinder. Original Elf Racing Jacket was gifted to the dealers ordering 5 cases. I was assigned the task of collecting personal details of the invitees, like their name, birth

date, marriage anniversary etc. Later that week, I accompanied my fellow intern to visit the dealers who came to the

meet and thanked them for attending the meet.

Week 10 : Preparation of Project Report

This was the last week of our summer training program. Guidelines were provided to prepare the report. The whole week was dedicated in report preparation and getting it verified by the faculty mentor & the industry mentor.

3.3 KEY OBSERVATIONS



With the increasing demand for automobiles, both private & commercial, the automotive lubricant industry is booming globally.

There is a great deal of competition among the top companies, fighting for market share and for building brand equity.

The main factors driving sales of any lubricant brand are quality, price & extra benefits to the end user.

If dealers are provided with attractive schemes and gifts, products could be placed in the counters and ultimately has a positive impact on sales.

Mechanics play a vital role in automotive lubricant industry. Customers are mostly influenced by the mechanics & use only the brand suggested by the mechanic. So relationship of the company with the mechanics is a driving factor for sales. Attractive schemes offered to mechanics accelerates the sale.

Dealer meet and mechanic meet on regular intervals in terms of sales promotion shows a positive impact.

Promotional activity like display camps in developed markets accelerates sales & in under-developed markets help to place the products in new counters.

Sales of lubricants also get affected by strategy adopted by local distributor

3.4 CONCLUSION



After the training program, we got a brief idea about the automotive lubricant industry. We came to know about the major players in the market and the promotional strategies of the competitors.

We came to know about the major parameters for selecting automotive lubricants and interpreted that apart from quality, schemes & mechanic/dealer benefits also play an important part.

From the survey conducted, we interpreted the views of the dealers, mechanics & end customers about the brand TOTAL and got suggestions to improve the brand equity.

Efforts were made to add new counters and place our products. Four new counters were added.

Promotional activities play an essential role in accelerating sales and these activities were conducted every weekend in different markets. The sales were increased during these activities by providing attractive schemes to the mechanics.

3.5 LIMITATIONS / CONSTRAINTS FACED



TOTAL is a global brand having an impressive brand equity worldwide. But in India, lack of brand awareness is a major limitation. Some the markets surveyed during the project suggested the same.

High price due to superior quality is a factor for low market share in rural belts and interiors. Lower price brands like Servo, HP etc are more popular in rural areas.

Some dealers who used to buy TOTAL/ELF products earlier from a different distributor, did not maintain the same relation with the current distributor of the company in North Delhi. As a result it was challenging to convince them that doing business with the current distributor would be beneficial.

It was also a challenging task placing the products in rural areas like Narela, where other brands enjoy a large market share.

3.6 SUGGESTIONS



Company should go for aggressive promotion of its products through TV advertisements and other means to create a position in customer mind. Undifferentiated product branding is very important.

Exclusive branding of profitable counters should be done in order to give the dealers a sense of involvement with the company.

Mechanics should be kept motivated by regular visit to the market by the promoters appointed by the company.

The company should start loyalty schemes for the dealers. Offers should be provided to the end customers which should be in the form of coupon system under which if the customer buys company’s product regularly, then after some subsequent purchases he gets the product for a discounted price upon returning those coupons.

In case of change in distributorship, all the counters should be communicated about the same. The relationship developed with the dealers by the previous distributor should be maintained.

The company should increase the focus on activities of a DSR for frequent contact with the market.

3.7 MAJOR LEARNING



Relationship with dealers and mechanics plays an important role in profit maximization.

Learned how the distribution channel of a company works

How to interact with the dealers and developing techniques to convince them.

Learned how to respond to different people in different situation.

Learned how to work in a corporate environment and how to adjust in the organizational culture.

Learned that practical practices are way different from theoretical aspects read in books.



4. REFERENCES

Websites :



www.total.co.in www.klinegroup.com www.researchandmarkets.com www.autopartssupplier.co.in http://www.astm.org/sn/in-focus/all-about-automotive-lubricants-jf13.html http://www.mbaskool.com/business-articles/marketing/8221-marketing-challenges-in-

indian-lubricating-oil-industry.html http://arrc.ebscohost.com/ebsco_static/repair-tips/

8852CH05_THE_FUNCTIONS_OF_ENGINE_OIL.htm

Journals :

“Brand Positioning of Automotive Lubricant in Indian Market”-The International Journal of Management, Vol.2 Issue 4

Annex B of Bachelor Thesis “Introduction to CSR activities of French MNCs’ subsidiaries in India” by Simon Valdenaire, Kedge Business School


summer training report

Documents

Transcript of summer training report