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[2008] Reliance Communication Summer Project
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Page 1: Capstone Project

[2008]

Reliance Communication Summer Project

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A SUMMER TRAINING REPORTA SUMMER TRAINING REPORTA SUMMER TRAINING REPORTA SUMMER TRAINING REPORT

ON

CONSUMECONSUMECONSUMECONSUMER R R R BUYING BEHAVIOUR WITBUYING BEHAVIOUR WITBUYING BEHAVIOUR WITBUYING BEHAVIOUR WITH A H A H A H A FOCUS ON PERCEPTION FOCUS ON PERCEPTION FOCUS ON PERCEPTION FOCUS ON PERCEPTION TOWARDS TOWARDS TOWARDS TOWARDS

INTERNET DATA CARDINTERNET DATA CARDINTERNET DATA CARDINTERNET DATA CARD

ININININ RELIANCE COMMUNICATIRELIANCE COMMUNICATIRELIANCE COMMUNICATIRELIANCE COMMUNICATION LTDON LTDON LTDON LTD

(7th July,2008-6th November, 2008)

SUBMITTED IN THE PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OSUBMITTED IN THE PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OSUBMITTED IN THE PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OSUBMITTED IN THE PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF F F F REQUIREMENT OFREQUIREMENT OFREQUIREMENT OFREQUIREMENT OF

POST GRADUATE PROGRAM IN RETAIL MANAGEMENT POST GRADUATE PROGRAM IN RETAIL MANAGEMENT POST GRADUATE PROGRAM IN RETAIL MANAGEMENT POST GRADUATE PROGRAM IN RETAIL MANAGEMENT

SUBMITTED BY

Pradipto Dey

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1. CERTIFICATE OF THE GUIDE 10

2. STUDENT’ DECLARATION 11

3. ACKNOWLADGEMENT 12 4. EXECUTIVE SUMMERY 13 5. INTRODUCTION OF PROJECT 15 6. HISTORY OF RELIANCE COMMUNICATION 16

6.1. Foundation of Reliance Communication 17 6.2. The Vision 18 6.3. The Mission 18 7. AN ANALYSIS OF RELIANCE COMMUNICATION 19 7.1. Low-Cost Leadership Strategy 20 7.2. Differentiation Strategy 20 7.3. Organization Structure 21 7.4. External Environment 22 7.5. Global Expansion 23 7.6. Information as a Weapon 24

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7.7. Financial Performance and Analysis 26 7.8. Ethics & Culture 27 8. TELECOM SECTOR-AN OUTLOOK 28 8.1. Industry Analysis 28 8.2. Bharti Airtel 28 8.3. Tata- Indicom 30 8.4. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) 31 8.5. Vodafone -Essar (Erstwhile Hutchison Group) 32 9. RELIANCE NETCONNECT DIVISION 33 9.1. Introduction 33 9.2. RCOM’ products in Reliance Netconnect Department 33 9.2.1. Value Based Plan 34

9.2.2. Advance Rental Plan 35 9.2.3. Time based plan 35 9.2.4. Prepaid Options 36 9.3. Evaluation criteria & parameter of competitors 36 9.4. Reliance Data Card - an insight 37 9.5. Product 38

9.6. Packaging 39

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9.7. Price 40

9.8. Promotion 41

9.9. Bundling 41

10. MARKET RESEARCH 42

10.1. Overview of Research 42

10.2. Introduction 43

10.2.1. Problem or Opportunity 43

10.2.2. Background of the study 43

10.3. An overview of internet and wireless connectivity 44 10.3.1. Definition of internet 44

10.3.2. Common uses of the Internet 45

10.3.3. Driving growth of internet data card 46 10.3.4. The Deterrents 47 11. CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR THEORIES 48 11.1. Consumer perception and consumer behaviour 48 11.2. Consumer decision process 49 11.2.1. Predispositions (Before Purchase) 49 11.2.2. Product Need 50 11.2.3. External Search 50 11.2.4. Evaluation of Alternatives 51

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11.2.5. Purchase Activity 51 11.2.6. Post Purchase Behaviour 52 11.2.7. Predispositions (After Purchase and Use) 52 11.3. CONSUMER PERCEPTION 53

11.3.1. Introduction 53

11.3.2. Factors in perception 53

11.4. Consumer behaviour towards internet data card 55 11.4.1. Problem recognition 56 11.5. Information Search 56 11.6. Product Evaluation 57 11.7. Purchase Activity 58 11.8. Post Purchase Activities 58 11.9. Perceived benefits of internet data card 59 11.9.1. Convenience 60 11.9.2. Time saving 60 11.9.3. Economical 60 11.10. Perceived risk of internet data card 61 11.10.1. Risk of internet connection speed 61 11.11. Research objective 62 11.12. Research question 62

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11.13. Research boundaries 62 11.14. Research design 63 11.14.1. Validity and Reliability test of the questionnaire 64 11.14.2. Validity Test 64 11.14.3. Reliability Test 65 11.14.3.1. Cronbach’s Reliability Test 66 11.15. Research tactics 66 11.15.1. The theoretical population 66 11.15.2. Sampling Frame 67 11.15.3. Sampling procedure 67 11.15.4. Implementation 68 11.15.5. Data Collection - Phase 1 68 11.15.6. Phase 2 Final Survey 69 11.15.7. Data Processing 70 11.15.7.1. Brand Recall 70 11.15.7.2. Fishbein Analysis 72 11.15.7.3. Factor Analysis 72 11.15.7.4. Perceptual Maps 72 11.15.7.5. Brand Loyalty 73 11.15.7.6. Cluster Analysis and Segmentation 74 12. Recommendation and conclusion 76

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12.1. Playing with the PLC 76 12.2. Recommendations 4 P’s 78 12.2.1. Product 78 12.2.2. Price 78 12.2.3. Promotions 78 12.2.4. Place 79 12.3. Continue with up gradation 80 12.4. Future Challenges 81 12.5. Store centric recommendations 81

13. Marketing strategy 83 13.1. Segmentation 83 13.2. Positioning 85 13.3. Real Positioning 87 13.4. Psychological Positioning 87 14. APPENDIX 88 14.1. Reliance communication- Timeline 88 14.2. SWOT Analysis 92 14.3. Product portfolio 95 14.4. Retail Revolution:-Reliance World 96 14.5. Customer survey questionnaire 97

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14.6. Age Profile of Sample Population 106 14.7. Internet Data Card Preference 106

14.8. Recall Pattern 106

14.9. User Preference 107

14.10. Respondents’ preference of Internet Connection 107

14.11. Brand Satisfaction of Reliance 108

14.12. Brand Loyalty 108

14.13. Price Sensitivity in Internet data card Market 109 14.14. Fishbein Analysis 109 14.15. Average attitude perception score of each brand 110 14.16. Factor Analysis 111 14.17. Cluster Analysis 112 14.18. References 115

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Session: 2007 - 09

CERTIFICATE OF THE GUIDE

This is to certify that the Project Work titled “(CONSUMER BUYING

BEHAVIOR WITH A FOCUS ON PERCEPTION OF INTERNET DATA CARD)” is a bonafide work of Mr. /Ms Pradipto Dey. Carried out in partial

fulfillment for the award of diploma under my guidance. This project work is original and not submitted earlier for the award of any degree / diploma or

associate ship of any other University / Institution.

PLACE: - KOLKATA DATE: - 30/10/2008

Signature of the Guide:

Name and Official Address of the Guide:

Designation and Experience:

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Students’ Declaration

I, Mr. /Ms PRADIPTO DEY. hereby declare that the Project Work titled

Consumer Buying Behaviour with a focus on perception of internet data card is the original work done by me and submitted to the NSHM, Kolkata in partial

fulfillment of requirements for the award of Post Graduate in Retail Management (Area of specialisation) is a record of original work done by me under the

supervision of Dr/Mr. Sri. OZAIR QAMAR of RELIANCE COMMUNICATION LTD. (Orgn. of the guide)

Date: 30/10/2008

Signature of the Student

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First of all I would like to thank the Management at Reliance Communication

Ltd. for giving me the opportunity to do my four-month project training in their

esteemed organization. I am highly obliged to Mr. RAHUL NAGARIA (HR,

Reliance Web Stores Limited) for granting me to undertake my training at

Reliance World, Place Kolkata

I would like to express my gratitude to Mr. OZAIR QAMAR (Area Sales

Manager), who has been provided me with guidance, inspiration, perspective

and stimulating discussion, throughout the writing of this report. His constant

review and excellent suggestions throughout the project are highly

commendable.

A study like this can not be completed without help from other persons and therefore I

would like to express my gratitude to Mr. G.M SAHA, (Ex. Dean of INDIAN

STATISTICAL INSTITUTE, KOLKATA ) to provide me crucial guidance in the

analytical part of this Project.

My heartfelt thanks go to all the executives who helped me gain knowledge

about the actual working and the processes involved in various departments.

Finally, we would like to thank our friends and family member for giving us

constant support and encouragement.

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4. EXECUTIVE SUMMERY Growth on the Data Cards. Especially happen when business travelers,

academicians as well as other professionals need to access emails and corporate

applications as well as personal requirements during urgent trips and travels.

Now, what kind of a company enters an industry with competitors already

entrenched? Which ones actually succeed? The answer to both the questions is

Reliance Infocomm now known as Reliance Communication. Reliance Infocomm

is a confident and smart company that was able to enter a saturated and highly

competitive industry, and emerge at the top. The cut-throat competition in the

telecommunication sector of India posed a great threat to the development of

Reliance Infocomm. When Late Dhirubhai Ambani charted out the mission for

Reliance Infocomm in late 1999 he had a clear game plan to position itself on the

platform of affordable as well as world class information and communication

service highlighting unparalleled value to create customer delight and enhance

business productivity.

The project aims to identify the problems faced by Reliance Communication in

the internet data card market. Customers often feel that service providers do not

deliver what they promise. They feel players should present the terms and

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conditions and tariff plans/schemes in clear terms. The research we conducted

also supports this fact. We have suggested a marketing plan for Reliance data

card along with other suggestions for Reliance Communication to face the

competition in the near future and the long run.

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5. Introduction of Project The objective of the study is to understand the consumer’ pre, post, during

perception of data card and consumer buying behaviour and attitude for

Reliance data card. To understand the former part, we created a focused group

questionnaire and conducted a focused Group Discussion (FGD) on data card;

we analyzed the questionnaire and the FGD to create an extensive questionnaire

understanding the buying behavior of consumers of Reliance data card and other

brands. We had a Fishbein analysis done on the 64 respondents from Kolkata to

identify how much of buying intension is due to attributes and how much due to

influence by referrals. We further extended the study to understand the

perceptual mapping of brands. Our analysis has revealed that the consumer is

satisfied with the brand Reliance data card and its attributes. However

Reliance has not performed well with the customers who are considerably

concerned about internet connection speed. This following detailed analysis is

presented in our assignment.

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6. History of Reliance Communication 6.1. Foundation of Reliance Communication Dhirubhai Ambani (1932-2002) started the Reliance Commercial Corporation in a

350 Sq. Ft. room with a telephone, one table and three chairs. The primary

business of Reliance Commercial Corporation was to import polyester yarn and

export spices. He started his first textile mill at Naroda, in Ahmedabad in the

year 1966 (The Origin Of 2007). After success in the textile industry Reliance

slowly ventured into petroleum, petrochemicals, energy, finance, engineering

and telecommunication sectors. Reliance was the first Indian company to be

listed in the Fortune Global 500 list in 2003. RIL emerged featured in the 2007

Fortune Global 500 list of the world's largest corporations at rank 269 (500 2007).

Dhirubhai Ambani charted out the mission for Reliance Infocomm in late 1999.

He saw that information technology had the capacity to accelerate the growth of

Indian economy leaving behind its backwardness and underdevelopment. From

1999 to 2002 Reliance Infocomm built the fiber backbone for India — 60,000

kilometers of fiber optic spreading across the entire country. Reliance Infocomm

was started on December 28, 2002 (Communications, Reliance Communications

2006).

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After the death of Dirubhai Ambani, there was a rift between his sons, Mukesh

and Anil Ambani. Finally the company was split between the two brothers. Anil

Ambani acquired Reliance Infocomm, which is now known as Reliance

Communications. Reliance Communication is now a part of Anil Dhirubhai

Ambani Group (ADAG).

Reliance Communications is the flagship company of the Anil Dhirubhai

Ambani Group of companies. Launched as Reliance India Mobile in December

2002, it started its commercial operations in May 2003 with one million

customers in 92 cities. This organization was the result of the dream of Dhirubhai

Ambani to – “Make the tools of information and communication available to

people at an affordable cost [and] they will overcome the handicaps of illiteracy

and lack of mobility”.

Currently, Reliance Communication spans the entire telecommunication services

covering mobile and fixed telephony. Apart from plain vanilla voice services, it

provides broadband, national and international long distance services and data

services along with an exhaustive range of value-added services and

applications. Further, the company sells communications and digital

entertainment products and services through its chain of Reliance Web World

retail outlets. Today, Reliance is a service provider of both CDMA and GSM

technologies.

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6.2. The Vision The vision of the company is as follows:

We will leverage our strengths to execute complex global-scale projects to

facilitate leading-edge information and communication services affordable to all

individual consumers and businesses in India. We will offer unparalleled value

to create customer delight and enhance business productivity. We will also

generate value for our capabilities beyond Indian borders and enable millions of

India's knowledge workers to deliver their services globally. (Communication,

Reliance Communication 2006)

6.3. The Mission The mission statement of the company was, “Karlo duniya muthi mein.” It is the

mission of the company to become number one in the field of telecommunication

and provide high quality products and services at the cheapest possible price.

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7. An analysis of Reliance Communication Michael E. Porter studied a number of businesses and introduced a structure

enumerating three strategies: low-cost leadership, differentiation and focus (Daft

2007). According to Porter an organization either adopts low-cost or

differentiation strategy to compete and position them in the market. But it can be

seen Reliance have successfully adopted Porter’s both strategies.

7.1. Low-Cost Leadership Strategy Reliance Infocomm launched into the market with a package called the

Dhirubhai Ambani Pioneer Offer which provided with the lowest airtime rates

and value added services for free. Reliance Infocomm reduced the rates of

outgoing calls, while the competitors charged at rates as high as Rs.7 (US$0.15)

per minute. All incoming calls were free.

Three strategies helped in cutting call costs. Firstly, Reliance charged a higher

rental, Rs.600 (US$13.3) per month, compared to the rest of the providers. But

users received about 400 minutes of free talk time, while the competitors offered

none. Since the incoming calls were free the user could utilize the entire 400

hundred minutes to make calls. Secondly, Reliance Infocomm reduced the pulse

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rates to 15 seconds from the earlier one minute. For a user this meant more

control over the costs, while for Reliance, it meant higher volumes of calls. The

lower pulse levels allowed the low income users to pass on information through

short duration calls. Thirdly, Reliance Infocomm ensured that calls to any

Reliance phone in India were charged at Paise 40 (0.8 US cents) a minute, a rate

which people could not even imagine before that time. For Reliance Infocomm

this meant faster adoption of Reliance services across India, because of the very

low long distance rates, made possible by low costs, since the calls would be

carried entirely through the Reliance owned network, thus avoiding profit

sharing with any other carrier.

Value added services like voice mail, call waiting, call holding, call divert, call

identification and call conferencing were charged at a premium by all the other

players in the market. Reliance Infocomm offered all these services free of

charge. In addition all text messaging was offered free of charge.

7.2. Differentiation Strategy Reliance Infocomm used exceptional service and new technology to distinguish

their services from the others. They were the first providers to use WLL, a lower

frequency band, and CDMA technology. Using CDMA helped Reliance

Infocomm to accommodate large number of users, which they would have not

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been able to do otherwise. Since they did not have to pay heavily for the license

for WLL they were able to charge low rates. Thus utilizing the new technology

helped them gain low costs.

When most other mobile operators focused exclusively on the provision of

mobile services, Reliance Infocomm started offering all the services which could

utilize their network and other resources optimally. Apart from the basic mobile

services, Reliance Infocomm currently offers landline, broadband Internet, leased

line, VPN (Virtual Private Network), IPLC (International Private Leased Circuit),

Centrex and IDC (Internet Data Centre) services.

Thus Reliance Infocomm was able to use innovation to reduce the cost of their

services. Differentiation and low-cost strategies went hand in hand for Reliance

Infocomm.

7.3. Organization Structure Reliance in the beginning used the modular structure. Reliance Industries, the

parent company of Reliance Infocomm, is the largest private sector corporation

in India with stakes in petroleum, petrochemicals, engineering, and finance. This

scale of operations provided great leverage as the company ventured into

telecommunications. Reliance Infocomm, in the initial stages, shared all Reliance

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resources to ensure cost effectiveness in every service that it provided. Reliance

Infocomm operated out of existing Reliance Industries offices and utilized the

capital and personnel resources to the extent possible. Reliance Engineering

Associates Ltd, an associate company, made sure that the engineering and

manpower costs were maintained at the bare minimum. In developed countries

human resource costs account for 22 per cent of a companies’ operating cost as

against 5 per cent in India. But Reliance Infocomm utilizes all their internal

resources in large numbers which further reduces the cost.

Later Reliance Infocomm centralized most of its operations. 80 per cent of

Reliance Infocomm’s administration and operation is centralized. Compared to

the best telecom networks in the world they have deployed only half the number

of people per 1,000 lines making their human resources the highest productive

resource. Reliance also exploited the extensive petroleum distribution channels

that it had set up in promoting and distributing Reliance Infocomm services.

7.4. External Environment By December, 2001 the user base of mobile users in India had grown to around 5

million. By the time Reliance Infocomm was launched it had grown to around 12

million. Two other service providers, who had entered the mobile market late,

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could not cope up with the competition, and were taken over by other global

service providers. Thus it can be seen that the mobile market in India before

Reliance Infocomm was growing at a rapid pace, but was highly competitive and

companies who could not keep up had to exit the market. Reliance Infocomm

entered such a market and emerged as India's largest mobile service provider,

within 7 months of commercial launch (Communication, Reliance

Communications 2006).

At present Reliance Communication is in a very unstable and complex

environment. Everyone in the market is seeking to expand and increase their

subscriber base. Service providers are adding at an average of a million

subscribers every month. New mobile technologies such as 3G, EDGE, and

WIMAX are being introduced in India. The providers try their best to incorporate

the new technologies in their services as soon as possible.

7.5. Global Expansion Within the first year of launch Reliance Infocomm entered the world markets. Its

first step into global expansion was the purchase of UK based, Flag Telecom for

$207 million, on October 16, 2003 (Telecom 2003). Flag Telecom is a leading

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provider of international wholesale network transport and communications

services. By taking over Flag Telecom, Reliance Infocomm acquired its

established customer base of more than 180 leading operators, including all of

the top ten international carriers (Telecom 2003).

It entered the US markets by purchasing Yipes Holdings Inc. for 300 million

dollar cash on July 16, 2007. It bought 100% shares of Yipes Holdings Inc. by

cash. Yipes is based in San Fransisco. It is a provider of managed ethernet and

application delivery services, thus it offered Reliance an opportunity to tap a

fast-growing market. Yipes had coverage to 14 metro cities in the United States,

which Reliance plans to expand to 30 and also take it to Asia, Europe, Africa and

the Middle East (ANI 2007) .

7.6. Information as a Weapon To understand the market better than its competitors and provide superior

service, all while growing at a swift pace Reliance Infocomm used information

technology as a strategic weapon. To start with, it laid 60,000 kilometers of

optical fiber network across India. The only way to manage the challenges was to

establish a scalable and adaptable decision-support system (DSS) right away.

They started their DSS even before their sales side was launched.

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The DSS architecture of Reliance Infocomm is given below:

Data from various inputs such as billing, CRM, SAP R/3 was sent to a third party

server, where the data was filtered and organized. It was stored in a data

repository. SAP R/3 is an enterprise resource planning software. Some of the data

went directly to the SAP NetWeaver, business intelligence software. SAP

NetWeaver provides business analytic applications to the management.

Even though Reliance Infocomm has such a reliable system, the users still face

many customer service problems. A person may have to wait up to twenty

minutes before his call is answered by their customer service representative.

There is lot of billing issues with reliance Infocomm. They are trying to overcome

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all these issues gradually by continuously updating their information

technology.

7.7. Financial Performance and Analysis As compared to the industry average Reliance Communications has a very high net profit

margin (NPM). It has an NPM of 70.8% against and industry average of about 19%.

Although the total earnings reported by Reliance form only a miniscule part of total

industry. Reliance Communications has the highest EBITDA margin expands from

39.5% to 43.0% reported for the year ended March 31, 2008. The total income

reported were Rs. 19,068 crores while the industry total was Rs. 123436.52 crores,

with a change of 25%. Therefore Reliance has considerable catching up to do. In

FY08, Reliance’s sales jumped by 49% compared with FY07 and are expected to

grow strongly in the coming years. Same trend can be witnessed in PAT, with a

rise of 30% in FY08 compared with FY07. Sales in AMJ08 are expected to jump by

13% to Rs36, 453.94m from Rs32, 289.30m in AMJ07. In the coming quarters,

Reliance is expected to add subscribers at the rate of more than 4m customers

every quarter. Since Reliance is present in both CDMA and GSM technology, it is

fast catching up with the leading company and is second largest company after

the market leader in terms of subscriber base. Only company to have nationwide

GSM & CDMA service in India

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7.8. Ethics & Culture Reliance defines what is right and what is wrong, and then proposes doing the

right thing. Reliance Infocomm believes that any business conduct can be ethical

only when it rests on the nine core values of honesty, integrity, respect, fairness,

purposefulness, trust, responsibility, citizenship and caring (Communications,

Code Of Conduct 2006).

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8. Telecom Sector-An Outlook 8.1. Industry Analysis Indian Telecom industry is one of the fastest growing telecom markets in the

world. In telecom industry, service providers are the main drivers; whereas

equipment manufacturers are witnessing growth and decline in successive

quarters as sales is dependent on order undertaken by the companies. Airtel,

Reliance, Tata and Vodafone are some of the companies that are expected to spur

the growth in AMJ08, as compared to AMJ07. According to Cygnus estimates,

telecom industry is expected to grow by 25% in AMJ08 as compared to AMJ07, in

terms of sales. EBDITA and PAT are expected to grow by 32% and 34%

respectively in AMJ08 as cost expenses are being control by major companies like

Airtel and Reliance. The major booster is the wireless mobile subscriber base;

crossing over 261m in March 2008. Other services like Internet subscriber base

has also provided significant impetus with its subscriber base reaching over 11m

in March 2008

8.1.1. Bharti Airtel Bharti Airtel is India’s leading provider of telecommunication service. Airtel

Data Card is the superior PC Data Card solution which delivers wireless internet

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capabilities to laptops and notebooks, by providing EDGE and GPRS

technologies in a single PC Card package. On an EDGE network, Airtel Data

Card enables connection to the Internet using EGPRS. In areas where EDGE

services are not available, the Airtel Data Card still enables reliable and secure

data connections over GPRS. The tariff charges of Airtel’s data card are shown

below:

Airtel Data Card Name of Bill

Plan Datacard49 Datacard350 Datacard 599 New

Datacard 999 New

Monthly Fixed Chaeges Monthly Charges 49 350 599 999

Data Charges (Rs/Pulse) (All India) Rate Per Pulse 0.1 5 3 0

Pulse 10 KB 1MB 1MB 1MB Data Usage

Discount Nil 500 Mb 1 GB Unlimitted

Free Default Voice Charge

Local Outgoing (Rs/Min) (Kolkata,West Bengal,Sikkim and A &M Airtel to All 1.99 1.99 1.99 1.99

STD Outgoing (Rs/Min) Airtel to All 2.99 2.99 2.99 2.99

ISD Outgoing # Slab 1 6.4 6.4 6.4 6.4

# # Row 1 9.2 9.2 9.2 9.2 # # # Row 2 40 40 40 40

SMS (Rs/SMS) Local 1 1 1 1

National 2 2 2 2 International 5 5 5 5

Free SMS/Month Nil Nil

100 Local SMS

100 Local SMS

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8.1.2. Tata- Indicom Tata-Indicom currently at leading position in wireless data card market in India.

Tata Teleservices' Tata-Indicom data card sales have exceeded the 100,000

subscribers’ milestone. Using CDMA 1x technology, Tata-Indicom data cards

offer wireless internet access. The recently launched Plug 2 Surf Whiz fits into a

standard USB port available in most desktops and laptops. TTML's Plug 2 Surf

Whiz offer is being promoted with outdoor campaigns across Mumbai and

Maharashtra. The tariff charges of Tata-Indicom’s data card are shown below:

TATA USB Modem

Plan Name Highlight Fixed Charge Free Usage Additional Usage Time Based

Budget 150 Lowest rental Rs.150/month 300min 50p/min

Value 325 Free 1hr/day Rs 325/month 1800 Min (30 Hrs)

8AM - 12AM:50p/min

12AM -8AM :25p/min

Data Based ME

Unlimitted Unlimitted

usage Rs.1099/month Unlimitted N/A ME

Economy Alweys On Rs. 500/month 512MB Rs. 2/MB ME Jumbo For Heavy Rs. 650/month 1GB Rs. 2/MB

ME Max Users Rs. 900/month 2GB Rs. 2/MB

ME 6 Advanced Rs.

3600/6month 1GB Rs. 2/MB

ME 12 Rental Rs.

6700/annum 1GB Rs. 2/MB Voice Tariff

Rs. /min To TATA To Other Local 50 Paise Rs. 1 STD Rs. 1.69 Rs. 2.65

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8.1.3. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL)

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) is a public sector undertaking, wholly owned

by the Government of India. BSNL has decided to launch its Data Services on

CDMA 2000 IX by using BSNL Internet Connect Card (ICC) based on broadband

connection for laptop users in India. The CDMA IX ICC will provide Internet

Service @144kbps to computer users on their laptops as well as on desktops. This

service will be available in all those locations wherever CDMA IX MSC based

coverage is there. However, during roaming the said Internet connectivity will

not work at present. The following two types of data Cards will be available for

BSNL customers:

(A) Network Interface Card (NIC): For internet speed up to 144 Kbps.

(B) EVDO Card: Internet speed up to 2.4 Mbps. The Tariff of this service is around

550Rs/month for speeds upto 2.4Mbps in most cities in India. Though there are reports

that the pricing differs based on cities and starts at 400Rs/month to 550Rs/month.

City Wire tariff plans charges data card are shown below: Pricing in UP Plan 1 - 1650 Down Payment + 400Rs/monthly Rent Plan 2 - 3600 Down Payment + 250Rs/monthly Rent Pricing in Jamshedpur (Jharkhand) Plan 1 - 2460 Down Payment + 750Rs/monthly Rent Plan 2 - 3600 Down Payment + 250Rs/monthly Rent

Pricing in Chennai Plan 1 - 3500 Down Payment + 250Rs/monthly Rent

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8.1.4. Vodafone -Essar (Erstwhile Hutchison Group) The Hutchison Group provided GSM mobile services in 13 circles across the

country. Its main equity partner is the Essar Group. Vodafone recently launched

its its wireless internet device like

Vodafone Mobile Connect Globe Trotter EDGE data card

Vodafone Mobile Connect USB Modem

Vodafone Mobile Connect USB Stick

Globe Trotter EDGE is the superior PC Data Card solution delivering near

broadband wireless capability to laptops and notebooks by providing EDGE and

GPRS technologies in a single PC Card package

The tariff charges of Vodafone’s data card are shown below:

Monthly rental (Rs) 499

699

Free data 500MB 1GB

Usage charges 5P/10KB 5P/10KB

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9. Reliance Netconnect

9.1. Introduction

Reliance Communication erstwhile Reliance Infocomm always remained

technological, market leader in CDMA mobile business. Its high brand

awareness, market acceptance as a technological, economical leader in various

segment of mobile business and high brand equity were compelling reason to

penetrate and develop entire value chain of the both mobile and broadband

based business.

9.2. Reliance Communication’ products in Reliance Netconnect

Department

Reliance has range of products for both office and individual internet usage.

Reliance Data card is the superior Data card solution delivering near Broadband

wireless capability to laptop & desktop .Reliance Data card enables connection to

the internet at data speed up to a maximum of 144 kbps. Reliance is currently the

best wireless connection in India which can be used for both laptops and

desktops. There are two types of Data card are presented by Reliance.

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1) PCMCIA Card (Personal Computer Memory Card International Association) Mainly for Laptop.

Which Laptop is supporting PCMCIA Slot.

Data Card company is ZTE.

2) USB Data Card (Universal Serial Bus)

Supporting USB Slot.

For Laptop & Desktop both.

Direct USB connector – no need for adaptor or cable. (ZTE)

Slim, sleek and stylish

Plug and Play – No need to install drivers – just connect and surf using the

Windows dialer.

Retraceable antenna – better signal strength in low RF areas.

9.2.1. Value Based Plan

Plan Freedom Freedom Plus Platinum

Monthly Rental (Rs) 650 900 1500

Monthly Rental for Voice Service

NIL for NJ 149 Data, for other plans as

applicable

NIL for NJ 149 Data, for other plans as

applicable

NIL for NJ 149 Data, for other plans as

applicable

Total Free Data Usage Hrs N.A N.A N.A

Free Usage Peak Hrs N.A N.A N.A

Free Usage Off Peak Hrs N.A N.A N.A

Free Data Usage in GB 1 GB 1.5 GB Unlitted

Additional Data Usage Rate Rs.2/Mb Rs.2/Mb N.A

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9.2.2. Advance Rental Plan

Plan 12 Months ARP 24 Months ARP Zero Rental Plans Monthly Rental (Rs) 0* 0* 0

Monthly Rental for Voice Service

NIL for NJ 149 Data, for other

plans as applicable

NIL for NJ 149 Data, for other plans as

applicable

Rs. 174 for NJ 149 Data, for other plans as applicable

Total Free Data Usage Hrs N.A 60 Hrs. N.A

Free Usage Peak Hrs N.A 20 Hrs N.A

Free Usage Off Peak Hrs N.A 40 Hrs N.A

Free Data Usage in GB 1 GB N.A N.A

Additional Data Usage Rate Rs.2/Mb Rs.0.5/min

Peak Hrs Rs.0.60/min off Peak

Rs. O.30/min

Free SMS Per Month 100Local &

National 400 Local N.A

9.2.3. Time based plan

Plan Swift 03 Swift 40 Freedom @

Night Monthly Rental (Rs) 300 400 400

Monthly Rental for Voice Service

NIL for NJ 149 Data, for other plans as

applicable

NIL for NJ 149 Data, for other plans

as applicable

NIL for NJ 149 Data, for other plans as

applicable

Total Free Data Usage Hrs 45 Hrs. 60 Hrs N.A Free Usage Peak Hrs 15 Hrs 20 Hrs N.A Free Usage Off Peak Hrs 30 Hrs 40 Hrs Unlimited Free Data Usage in GB N.A N.A N.A

Free SMS Per Month 100Local & National 100Local & National 100Local & National

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Additional Data Usage Rate Rs.0.5/min Rs.0.5/min Rs.0.5/min Free SMS Per Month 300 Local 400 Local N.A

9.2.4. Prepaid Options

Product Name 5 hours Internet

pack 10 hours

Internet pack 25 hours

Internet pack Unlimited

Internet pack

Prepaid Data RCV including Taxes 111 202 404 1501

Core Validity Days 0 0 30 30

Netconnect Validity Days 30 30 30 30

Free Local SMS 50 100 300 300

Netconnect minutes if entire usage is in Peak hours 300 600 1500 Unlimited

Netconnect minutes if entire usage is in off Peak hours 600 1200 3000 Unlimited

9.3. Evaluation Criteria & Parameter of Competitors

Reliance Airtel TATA Indicom Vodafone

Used for Laptop & Desktop Laptop & Desktop Laptop & Desktop Laptop & Desktop

Technologies CDMA EDGE EDGE

Interface USB/PCMCIA USB/PCMCIA USB/PCMCIA USB/PCMCIA

Price 2820 3350 2999 5999

Speed Up to 144KBps 100-115KBps Up to 153.6 KBps Up to 144

KBps

Voice Call Yes yes Yes N/A

SMS Yes yes Yes yes

National Data Roaming Yes yes N/A N/A

Tariff

No of Tariff 9 4 8 2

500 MB Free N/A Rs, 350 N/A Rs. 499

512 MB Free N/A N/A Rs.500 N/A

1 GB Free Rs.650 Rs. 599 Rs.650 Rs. 699

1.5 GB Free Rs. 900 N/A N/A N/A

2 GB N/A N/A Rs. 900 N/A

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Unlimited Rs. 1500 Rs. 999 Rs. 1099 N/A

5 Hrs Free N/A N/A Rs. 150 N/A

30 Hrs Free Rs. 300 N/A Rs. 325 N/A

40 Hrs Free Rs. 400 N/A N/A N/A

Unlimited (night) Rs. 400 N/A N/A N/A

Minimum Rate Rs. 300 Rs. 49 Rs. 150 Rs. 499

Maximum Rate Rs. 1500 Rs. 999 Rs.1099 Rs. 699

Additional Data Usage (size) Rs. 2/MB

For Rs. 49 - .10/10 KB For Rs. 350 - Rs.5/MB For

Rs.599 - 3/MB Rs. 2/MB

Additional Data Usage (Time) Rs. 0.5/min N/A 8AM - 12AM:50p/min 12AM -8AM :25p/min

Free SMS per Month

For Rs. 300 - 300 For Rs. 400 - 400 For Size

- 100 Local & National

For Rs. 599 - 100 Local For 999 - 100 local N/A

Voice Call for company to company (local) Rs. 1.79 Rs. 1.99/min Rs. .50

Voice Call for company to Other (Local) Rs. 1.79 Rs. 1.99/min Rs. 1

Voice Call for company to company (STD) Rs. 2 Rs. 2.99/min Rs.1.69/min

Voice Call for company to Other (STD) Rs. 2 Rs. 2.99/min Rs. 2.65/min

9.4. Reliance Data Card - an insight

Reliance data card has been developed as technologically superior. Reliance's cutting

edge CDMA2000 1X technology offers pan-India coverage.

Internet can be assessed in 2200 towns across in India soon

to be increased to 5700 towns. These can be used to connect

to the Internet from laptops as well as Desk top PCs.

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Features:

Uninterrupted high-speed wireless Internet connectivity

Better surfing speeds, with download speeds up to 144 kbps

High download speed of heavy email attachments

One-time installation of the dial-up software without the need to change

the dial-up configuration

Hassle-free connection

o Connect instantly (No line busy / waiting tone)

o Easy to remember username / password (your phone / card

number).

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Brand Development Index

9.5. Packaging

With data card as a utility product in India, the packaging, Point of purchase plat

a minor role in consumers’ mind while deciding which product to buy.

The Reliance PCMCIA card has been designed

and packaged with a old Reliance Infocomm’s

green and blue theme in mind .The USB modem

comparatively looks much futuristic. It comes in

High Low

High

Low Low

Category Development Index

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black in colour, overall new look of the new USB modem is attractive enough to

grab the attention of customer at Point of Purchase.

9.6. Price

Reliance Netconnect has dropped their prices on new data

cards purchased because their competitor [Tata] has offered

free 2 months internet services. According to the new pricing

Reliance USB Modems would now be available from 2299 Rs.

rather than the old pricing of 2850Rs. This price drop is for a

limited time also comes with a 2 months unlimited internet usage for free. The

best part of Reliance Netconnect is that they don’t charge which on roaming and

also have an excellent network services

Pricing of USB Modems:

USB Modem for Laptops & Desktops: 2299 Rs.

PCMCIA Card for Laptops: 2620 Rs.

9.7. Promotion

Data card is a specialty product .That is why

promotional activities are mainly focused around

in store promotional activity as well as other

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medium like print media, hoarding and posters. Reliance data card doesn’t have

any brand ambassador as of yet. But, for the data card not been much of

advertisements.

9.8. Bundling

Bundling has always been the norm for reliance data

card. This is mostly due to the fact that consumers

have to purchase tariff plan with all data cards. There

is always at least one trade promotion across both data cards throughout the

year. Currently it’s giving free data card for HDFC bank card holder.

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10. Market Research

10.1. OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH

10.1.1. Problem or opportunity?

Study and analyses of pre, during and post sales perception of consumer

towards Internet Data cards especially Reliance Internet Data cards.

To understand the market segmentation in the light of Indian Data card market Gauge brand recall for various data brands, specifically Reliance Internet Data cards. Map the Data card market and competitive positioning within it. To understand the buying intention of and analyze the effect of non-attribute factors. To understand the brand loyalty of customers towards Data cards. Identify the parameters that play the most important role in a consumer’s choice of buying Data cards using Factor and Cluster analysis.

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10.1.2. Background of the study

The Internet has grown tremendously during the past years. It radically changes

the way people live, work and consume. It represents a tremendous opportunity

as well as threats.

Internet usage in India continues to grow at a slow but steady pace, both in

breadth and depth, with the overall internet-using population in urban India

reaching 30.32 million - a growth of 28% from April 2006 to April 2007. The

penetration of the internet among urban Indians stands at 9% now, assuming the

total urban population at 336 million (Juxt Consultant 2006)

Unlike the '70s and '80s when business-related travel was not seen much, the

'90s, particularly the dawn of the twenty-first century, has witnessed intensive

business travels, and this is gaining momentum with time. India too is on the

move and wants to stay connected anytime, anywhere-whether on a train or bus,

in a hotel or conference hall, within India or abroad. Meeting this need of

business travelers are data cards and USB modems that have become the

preferred solution, even before wireless mobile broadband is introduced in the

country. At present, there are 10 mn data cards, USB modems, and Internet-

enabled mobile phones in the Indian market.

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With India on the move, the data card market is flourishing even as low,

inconsistent speed remains an issue. In this already competitive market, it

becomes essential for Internet data card players to understand the different

factors that affect people using the Internet data card as a new wireless device for

internet connection There are many benefits that attract people to choose internet

data card for access to the internet as convenience, time saving, wireless

connectivity and possibly affordable , however, many people are often hold back

as fear of low speed, high usage charges and using issues in relation to internet

data card usage.

10.2. An overview of internet and wireless connectivity

10.2.1. Definition of internet

The Internet is a worldwide, publicly accessible series of interconnected

computer networks that transmit data by packet switching using the standard

Internet Protocol (IP). It is a "network of networks" that consists of millions of

smaller domestic, academic, business, and government networks, which

together carry various information and services, such as electronic mail, online

chat, file transfer, and the interlinked web pages and other resources of the

World Wide Web (WWW).

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Penetration of Internet in India

0

10000000

20000000

30000000

40000000

50000000

60000000

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Years

Users

0.00%

1.00%

2.00%

3.00%

4.00%

5.00%

% Penetration

Year Users % Pen

Source: India Online 2007, Juxt Consultant report

10.2.2. Common uses of the Internet

E-mail

World Wide Web

Remote Access

Collaboration

Streaming Media

File Sharing

Voice Telephony

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10.3. Driving growth of internet data card

Growing businesses in all segments, necessity to access emails and corporate

applications during urgent business trips and the urge for some entertainment

while on the move are some drivers increasing the demand for data card usage.

Apart from these factors, as the name of Tata Indicom's data card, 'Plug 2 Surf',

suggests, ease of use with plug and play factor is also a driver for growth.

SP Shukla, president, Personal Business, Reliance Communications, says that

faster surfing and higher download speeds, convenience of surfing the

Internet while on the move, simple to use, and affordable tariffs are among the

key reasons for the data card growth, in both the laptop and desktop segments.

Wireline broadband connections are yet to penetrate the vast semi-urban and

rural parts of the country where entrepreneurs, officials, students, etc have the

need to surf the Internet for various purposes. Though the laptop penetration in

these areas has not made a significant mark, desktop penetration is

comparatively more.

With data cards offering convenient access to the Internet, a number of

companies have started to tie up with service providers to avail bulk network

connections for their employees on the go and allow them to utilize their time

during business travels. Since data cards can be used with desktop also, it cuts

down the office infrastructure costs as well. With the data card segment

witnessing steady growth, affordability will go up, which, in turn, will drive

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growth. “As the data card growth increases, speed evolves and prices come

down, affordability will go up and more users can begin to think of data card

as an affordable solution,” says an Airtel spokesperson. And growth of mobile

telephony in India has created users with specific needs like m-commerce that

require wireless Internet, driving the wireless data card growth. Once the

concept of mobile wallet and its applications hit the market in India in the near

future, the wireless data card segment is also expected to witness an exponential

growth.

Apart from this, Internet charges in costly hotels are very high. With the

availability of data cards and USB modems, frequent business travelers who stay

in costly star hotels can access the Internet and corporate applications on their

laptops and avoid using the Internet facility at hotels, saving on high Internet

charges.

10.4. The Deterrents

All players are competing with each other to give affordable tariff rates for their

data cards. But still the rates are very high when compared to countries like the

UK. In the UK, wireless broadband connection through 3G technology costs

about £10 per month and that too with a data download speed faster than 256

Kbps. International travelers who have used data cards with faster speed are not

satisfied with data cards and USB modems services offered in India. So, in India,

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data cards mean accessing a bare minimum net connectivity only for a sizable

population. That is why it is said that data cards have not exactly taken off in

India.

11. Consumer behaviour theories

11.1. Consumer perception and consumer behaviour

According to Rice (1993), perception is the initiator of behaviour. It can also be

seen as a process of information extraction. Perception is the process by which an

individual selects, organizes, and interprets information inputs to create a

meaningful picture (Kotler, 2000). Different people tend to perceive quite

differently even when they are exposed to the same reality. A set of factors, e.g.

individual responses, determine an individual’s perception process and lead to

individual differences. The most important is that people’s perceptions are often

more important than the reality in marketing (Kotler, 2000).

The study of customer behaviour provides a sound basis for identifying and

understanding the factors that influence consumers purchase on line. Schiffman

and Kanuk (2000) state that the behaviour that consumers display in searching,

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purchasing, and evaluating products/services is those that they expect to fulfil

their needs.

Although perception and behaviour are typically treated as two completely

separate phenomena, i.e. the input and output respectively, it has been suggested

that perception and behaviour are in fact two sides of the same phenomenon and

are closely related to each other (Rice, 1993). In order to understand what

customer perceive and how they act to affect their perceptions, study of

perception and behaviour should be treated as one integral part.

11.2. Consumer decision process

At present, the consumer decision process model has been well accepted. This

model of purchase as decision process is explained in more detail by Thorelli et

al. (1975). Thorelli’s decision model illustrates the type and shows there are a

series of semi-discrete steps which take place over time for the buyers and

purchasers.

11.2. 1Predispositions (Before Purchase):

According to Thorelli et al (1975), the prospective buyer possesses a certain stock

of cognitive content, including his own personality or self-concept, attitudes and

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opinions both in general and on specific products, and stored information and

past experience. This stock has been formed as a result of his interaction with his

environment over time, and it will help determine the environment in which he

places himself in the future as well as influence his perceptions of that

environment.

11.2.2. Product Need:

As a result of either cognitive activity or some environmental stimulus, the buyer

recognizes a need which is capable of being satisfied by a product or service. In

other words, the need is often triggered by internal or external stimuli. Some

authors also take this need recognition stage as the entry point. Chaston (2001)

argues that the potential consumer will not implement any of the other steps in

the buying process until need recognition has happened.

11.2.3. External Search:

Thorelli et al (1975) describe that this stage represents all search of the external

environment for alternative solutions as well as for information helpful in

evaluating these alternatives. The search for information occurs on an internal

and external basis (Gilbert, 1999). The internal search for information from

previous experience might be relevant to the present purchase situation. The

extent and nature of external search for information likely in any given purchase

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has been the subject of a great deal of research. When searching for information

in the external environment (e.g., friends and family), consumers focus on those

relevant attributes that are available and are diagnostic (Dick et al., 1990).

11.2.4. Evaluation of Alternatives:

This stage consists of the physical and cognitive activities involved in comparing

alternatives on the basis of information gathered from external search above.

According to Kotler (2000), the consumer arrives at attitudes toward the various

brands through an attribute evaluation procedure and most buyers consider

several attributes in their purchase decision. These attributes used by consumers

for evaluation are also called choice criteria. Jobber (2001) has made a good

summary of these choice criteria. In fact, consumers attempt to optimize the

trade-off between product benefits, product costs, the desired personal utilities

and other variables.

11.2.5. Purchase Activity:

Purchase activity involves the actual final decision and physical activities

involved in making (or not making) the purchase. This stage includes the actual

transaction. However, as suggested by Kotler (2000), perceived risks of a

consumer can heavily influence his decision to modify, postpone, or avoid a

purchase decision. Therefore it is necessary for marketers to understand factors

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that might provoke perceived risk in consumers and work out solutions to

reduce that.

11.2.6. Post Purchase Behaviour:

This step is concerned primarily with the buyer’s use of the product purchased.

After purchasing the product, the consumer will experience some level of

satisfaction or dissatisfaction which will influence a consumers’ subsequent

behaviour. Dissatisfied consumers may abandon or return the product, they may

even complain to the other group (Kotler, 2000). It is clear that satisfactions and

dissatisfactions created by product performance will be important determinants

of attitudes and information stored as inputs to future purchase decisions.

11.2.7. Predispositions (After Purchase and Use):

This stage suggests that following the purchase process, the buyer (or non-buyer)

is left with cognitive content which may be quite different from that which was

present at the beginning of the process. Buyers may change their attitudes,

information and experience due to reasons of time and events. All of these may

serve to change substantially the nature of the decision process for future

purchases of the same type.

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11.3. Consumer perception

11.3.1. Introduction

Our perception is an approximation of reality. Our brain attempts to make sense

out of the stimuli to which we are exposed. This works well, for example, when

we “see” a friend three hundred feet away at his or her correct height; however,

our perception is sometimes “off”—for example, certain shapes of ice cream

containers look like they contain more than rectangular ones with the same

volume.

11.3.2. Factors in perception

Several sequential factors influence our perception. Exposure involves the extent

to which we encounter a stimulus. For example, we are exposed to numerous

commercial messages while driving on the freeway: bill boards, radio

advertisements, bumper-stickers on cars, and signs and banners placed at

shopping malls that we pass. Most of this exposure is random—we don’t plan to

seek it out. However, if we are shopping for a car, we may deliberately seek out

advertisements and “tune in” when dealer advertisements come on the TV

Exposure is not enough to significantly impact the individual—at least not based

on a single trial (certain advertisements, or commercial exposures such as the

“Reliance communication” logo, are based on extensive repetition rather than

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much conscious attention). In order for stimuli to be consciously processed,

attention is needed. Attention is actually a matter of degree—our attention may

be quite high when we read directions for getting an income tax refund, but low

when commercials come on during a television program. Note, however, that

even when attention is low, it may be instantly escalated—for example, if an

advertisement for a product in which we are interested comes on.

Weber’s Law suggests that consumers’ ability to detect changes in stimulus

intensity appear to be strongly related to the intensity of that stimulus to begin

with. Several factors influence the extent to which stimuli will be noticed. One

obvious issue is relevance. Consumers, when they have a choice, are also more

likely to attend to pleasant stimuli (but when the consumer can’t escape, very

unpleasant stimuli are also likely to get attention—thus, many very irritating

advertisements are remarkably effective). One of the most important factors,

however, is repetition. Consumers often do not give much attention to a

stimuli—particularly a low priority one such as an advertisement—at any one

time, but if it is seen over and over again, the cumulative impact will be greater.

Surprising stimuli are likely to get more attention—survival instinct requires us

to give more attention to something unknown that may require action. A greater

contrast (difference between the stimulus and its surroundings) as well as

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greater prominence (e.g., greater size, center placement) also tend to increase

likelihood of processing.

Subliminal stimuli back in the 1960s, it was reported that on selected evenings,

movie goers in a theater had been exposed to isolated frames with the words

“Drink Coca Cola” and “Eat Popcorn” imbedded into the movie. These frames

went by so fast that people did not consciously notice them, but it was reported

that on nights with frames present, Coke and popcorn sales were significantly

higher than on days they were left off. This led Congress to ban the use of

subliminal advertising. First of all, there is a question as to whether this

experiment ever took place or whether this information was simply made up.

Secondly, no one has been able to replicate these findings. There is research to

show that people will start to giggle with embarrassment when they are briefly

exposed to “dirty” words in an experimental machine. Here, again, the exposure

is so brief that the subjects are not aware of the actual words they saw, but it is

evident that something has been recognized by the embarrassment displayed.

11.4. Consumer behaviour towards Internet data card When consumer purchase internet data card they still perform a similar sequence

of tasks: searching for information about different products, evaluating these

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alternatives, and transacting the chosen alternative. However, the family and

friends has great impact on these activities.

11.4.1. Problem recognition:

The starting point is feeling the need or recognition of a problem. The need for

accessing internet at anywhere can trigger the recognition of a need or problem

and can have significant impact by encouraging customers to begin the

information search process (Breitenbach and van Doren, 1998).

11.5. Information Search:

Once customers identify the need they may seek information about retailers or

products to help them satisfy. Customer search regarding internet data card

could be limited because it’s a specialty product. Our analysis has shown that in

terms of internet data card customer mostly refer to family and friend as

reference group. These reference groups affect buying decision offering

information like price, tariff plan availability and so forth. Providing rewards for

specific purchasing behaviors for instance friends could appreciate that you

could access internet at anywhere if you are carrying a laptop. By identifying and

affiliating with reference groups, consumers create, enhance, and maintain their

self-image. Customers who want to create an image of mobile, technologically

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updated person as well as want to be seen as members of a higher social class

might buy internet data card from Reliance or other competitor’s products.

11.6. Product Evaluation:

During this stage, consumers process different product information and make a

final value judgment. The multiattribute model provides a useful way for

summarizing how customers use the information they have about alternative

brands of internet data card. From our consumer behaviour analysis we have

found out that on this stage customer evaluate data card on its several

attributes like price, net speed, tariff plan which come along with, looks etc and

they also decide which attributes are most important for them. The

multiattribute model shows that how a consumer gives weights of importance to

the various attributes of a data card. A sample multiattribute model which is

actually has been taken from one of our questionnaire shown that how a

consumer gives importance to different product attributes of data card.

No. Attributes/Benefits Rating

1. Price 4

2. Easy handling 3

3. Net Speed 5

4. Signal Strength 5

5. Availability in store 3

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6. Tariff plan 4

Total evaluation score for each attributes is 5.From the above sample table we

can see that consumer is giving more importance to net speed and signal

strength. So marketer should put more focus of highlighting these two

attributes

11.7. Purchase Activity:

Its not necessary that customer will always purchase a brand or data card with

evaluation. The data card offering benefits (having the highest evaluation) may

not be available in the store, or the customer may feel that the risks outweigh the

potential. During purchasing customer also may feel that their data card might

not be able to meet their expectations. Therefore retailer should ensure that

their sales persons are knowledgeable enough and they are also skilled

presenter of their product, otherwise it could raise confusion in customers’

mind during purchasing of data card. Reducing the actual and perceived time

of purchasing.

11.8. Post Purchase Activities:

As we know buying process doesn’t end when a customer purchase a product.

From focus group interviews we have come to know that after making a

purchase of data card, customer evaluate their experience on the basis of net

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speed, signal strength amount of money they have spent. Customers often feel

that service providers do not deliver what they promise. They feel players

should present the terms and conditions and tariff plans/schemes in clear

terms. Mentioning every small detail regarding the tariff plans must be

included in the bill. For example, if a company intends to collect an advanced

monthly rental from customers, then it has to mention that in its tariff plan, so

that customers are not shocked when they see a bill that includes monthly

advance rentals as well. This kind of practice might keep customers away from

going for a particular brand.

11.9. Perceived benefits of Internet data card

Among the process there are various factors that might influence consumers¡¯

purchase during their purchasing process. Many of these factors also reflect the

advantages and disadvantages of Internet as a shopping medium. The

advantages or benefits currently conceived by people are described as the

followings.

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11.9.1. Convenience:

From our questionnaire survey and focus group discussion we have come to

know that when a customer thinks to purchase a data card for accessing internet

they mostly its convenient to access internet at any where at any time. Especially

those who have to extensively traveling its quite convenient for them to get

connected with World Wide Web!

11.9.2. Time saving:

Some time data card also proves time saving from the customers especially for

business executives who have to travel extensively due to their job purpose. If

they are using a data card for accessing internet they don’t have to find out a

cyber café at an unknown place.

11.9.3. Economical:

From our secondary research we have found that for younger group of

consumers (age group of 18-28) who generally spend a lot of time for

downloading different kind of materials like music, picture, data, due to

availability of some attractive tariff plans offered by the different players

(Reliance’s Freedom plus) along with their respective data cards, its seems a

must have utility device for all young laptop users.

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11.10. Perceived risk of Internet data card

Perceived risk can be defined as the uncertainty that consumers face when they

cannot foresee the consequences of their purchase decision. Customer

perception of risk varies depending on individuals, situation and product. The

degree of risk that consumers perceive and their own tolerance for risk taking,

are factors that influence their purchase strategy (Schiffman and Kanuk, 2000).

Individuals tend to reduce perceived risk to some acceptable level in any given

purchase situation.

11.10.1. Risks of internet connection speed:

Internet connection speed refers to the data transfer rate from the Internet to

your computer. Basically that means the amount of time it takes your computer

to download a given amount of data. Internet connection speeds are usually

measured in Kbps (kilobits per second, or thousands of bits per second) or KBps

(kilobytes per second).

According to our study, consumers already have a predisposition that data card

do not provide good internet connection speed, so during products evaluations

and purchasing activities they mostly think about product attributes e.g. internet

connection speed, signal strength. Therefore here implication for management is

during product evaluation; purchase activities, retailers must take some

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necessary measures to reduce the uncertainty in the customer mind by

aggressive promotional strategies, especially focusing on innovating below the

line (BTL) marketing activities, giving excellent product demonstrations

during purchase and most importantly reducing the cognitive dissonance

during post purchase behaviour by giving enough assurance about product

qualities, warranty as well as excellent after sale service.

11.11. Research Objective

11.12. Research Question

What is the inter-brand recall of Internet data card and their existing image in the

consumer’s mind?

What is the effect of non-attribute factors on the purchasing decision of Internet data

card?

How strong is the brand loyalty of customers towards Internet data card?

What are the factors that play the most important role in a consumer’s choice of buying

Internet data card?

11.13. Research Boundaries

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The research was conducted in Howrah and the respondents were chosen on the

basis of their usage of Internet data card.

11.14. Research Design

Phase One -> Secondary Data In the initial phase of the project we focused on secondary data collection. The data collection primarily focused on

History of Reliance Communication

The financial results of Reliance Communication

Products of Reliance Communication

Descriptive research

Exploratory research

Causes of the problem

Problem

Causes of the problem

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Organizational structure

The competitors in the market

The strategy adopted by Reliance Communication and its competitors in

the market. The secondary data collected in the first phase of the project helped the

group in getting better understanding of the Internet business and the various brands competing in this market.

Phase Two -> FGD After the secondary data collection was complete, two focused group discussions were done. A group of 3 people and a group of 5 people were used for the two FGDs. Through these FGDs, the various attributes that a person looks for in the data card were listed down. FGDs also helped the group in understanding the buying behavior, the consumption pattern, the influencers etc which further helped in preparation of the questionnaire. Phase Three -> Questionnaire From the results of FGDs, a pilot questionnaire was formed. The purpose here was to get an accurate snapshot of particular aspect of the market environment hence the pilot study was a descriptive research that identified all possible problems and factors influencing buyer behavior. An analysis of the pilot questionnaire was done.

11.14.1. Validity and Reliability test of the questionnaire

11.14.2. Validity Test

Validity tests how well an instrument that is developed measures the particular

concept it is supposed to measure. According to Sekaran (1992), validity tests can

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be grouped under three broad headings: content validity, criterion-related

validity, and construct validity. Face validity is a basic, and a very minimum,

index of content validity. After consulting with people that are acquainted with

the topic, it proves that the dimensions and elements of the concept have been

well delineated. This is further confirmed by the results from pilot study.

11.14.3. Reliability Test

It is necessary that scales are reliable when they are included in the study. One of

the most important aspects of reliability concerns the scale’s internal consistency

which actually indicates how the items measuring a concept hang well together

(Pallant, 2002). Cronbach’s alpha coefficient is a commonly used indicator of

internal consistency. It reflects how well the items in a set are positively

correlated to one another. The closer Cronbach’s alpha is to 1, the higher the

internal consistency reliability (Sekaran, 1992). According to Pallant (2002), the

ideal Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of a scale should be above 0.70.

Internal consistency is firstly checked for the questionnaire scale of Section A.

The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for it is 0.8257, which means that scales are

reliable. Questionnaire scales of Section B are also checked for the internal

consistency. The result shows that Cronbach’s alpha coefficient is 0.7871; the

value is also higher than 0.70, which indicates that reliability is good (See Table ).

Table : Cronbach’s Alpha for Each Group of Questions

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Number of questions- 17

11.14.3.1. Cronbach’s Reliability Test

Perception towards Reliance data card 0.8257 Good

Perception towards Other brands 0.7871 Good

From the analysis, the redundant variables, hard to analyze variables etc were removed so that people could easily fill in the questionnaire. After the pilot test, the final questionnaire was formed. The questionnaire was designed to capture both quantitative and qualitative information. The overall design of questionnaire has tried to capture data in the following areas: To answer the question of what are the predominant elements of internet data card consumers in terms of:

Profile and age

Buying Behavior and Decision-making process and to answer how

Reliance data card compares with competition and what should it be targeting to be able to grow

Relative importance of different attributes

Brand awareness and preference

Brand switching behavior/ Brand Loyalty

11.15. Research Tactics

Questionnaire (Refer section )

Sampling Plan 11.15.1. The theoretical population: All people aged 16-80 in Kolkata who

have purchased internet data card.

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11.15.2. Sampling Frame: Company own operated outlets, cyber café,

institutions are places where the respondents where drew our respondents were

interviewed.

11.15.3. SAMPLING PROCEDURE:

Calculation of the sample size by the help of the pilot survey. Sample size of the pilot survey: 30 Formula use Mean (μ): X bar ± 1.96 σ/√n 1.96 For 95% confidence level X bar σ = Standard Deviation of the population μ = Mean of the population Length of the Confidence Interval = 2×1.96×σ ≈ 4σ/ 2 Here √n ≈ 4σ =2σ n = 4σ² (from the scale of five σ ≈4) n= 64 Therefore, the sample size for the final survey is 64

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11.15.4. Implementation

Data Collection - Phase 1:

FGDs

The FGDs were aimed at helping us to

Define the target segments better

Identify the important attributes that add in the target customer’s internet

data card usage experience

The FGD questionnaire is given in section 14.5

A preliminary definition of main two segments is:

Experimenters and Adopters (EA):

This category of consumer comprises of both males and females from the age

group 18-24 years. These are the people who are willing to try new brands. These

people are internet users and willing to pay for anything if net speed is concern.

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These people generally spend a lot of time to access internet. They tend to prefer

surf any time of the day.

Suspicious Traditionalists (ST):

These are men who are more traditional and not very much willing to try new

brands. They are a slightly older age group (33-55 years) whose main concern is

the ease of use, speed, affordability, availability of proffered product. They also

show a preference for broadband connection which they are using.

11.15.6. Final Survey The Final Survey helped us to collect data on

Main influencers towards the purchase data cards,

Benefits that are most important for each segment of customers,

Comparative brand and benefit perceptions,

Trade-offs between price and quality,

Preferred point of purchase,

Consumer’s position within the Needs Hierarchy Model (Awareness,

Knowledge, Liking, Preference, Commitment and Conviction) with

respect to own and competitive brands and consumer satisfaction.

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11.15.7. Data Processing

Age profile, product preference and place of purchase of the surveyed sample

are mentioned in section 11.15.1 and 11.15.3 respectively.

Data Analysis

11.6.7.1. Brand Recall

A sample of customers, which is representative of the Kolkata population, was

surveyed and the first unaided recall of the brands by these customers was

recorded. (Refer section 14.5)

It was observed that Reliance data cards had the highest brand recall amongst all

the competing brand of Internet data card. This can be attributed to various

reasons like brand perception, usage pattern, advertisement expenditure etc.

some of which would be analyzed in the subsequent sections. Buying Intention

The survey administered had questions which measured the importance of

various attributes like price, net speed, signal strength, offers & discounts of

various data cards and specifically for Reliance data card.

11.6.7.2. Fishbein Analysis:

The survey also measured the attribute scores for other competing brands like,

Tata-Indicom, Vodafone, BSNL and Airtel. Along with the data card for Reliance,

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an average attribute score was computed across the 64 samples for each attribute

for each of the data cards brand. Fishbein analysis was performed by converting

the Likert scale from 1 to 3 to -3 to -1. Consumer’s attitude about each brand was

calculated and plotted as shown on below. (Section 14.15)

Average Perception Score of Each Brand

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Series1

Series1 30.348 22.938 25.733 28.235 22.334

Tata-Indicom BSNL Airtel Reliance Vodafone

Chart: Consumer attitude about each brand

Tata-Indicom had the highest consumer perception score of 30.348 followed by

Reliance and Airtel with a score of 28.235 and 25.733 consequently. But taking a

look at individual consumer attitude score, we found that Reliance was

preferred by almost 42% of the people surveyed and Tata-Indicom by 28%.

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11.6.7.3. Factor Analysis

A factor analysis was carried out to obtain the group of attributes which can be

grouped together. Hence 3 factors were obtained as follows –

Factor 1 Product attributes (Net speed, Signal strength and Ease of Use)

Factor 2 Price Sensitivity (Tariff plan And Offers/Discounts)

Factor 3 Point of Purchase (Availability in Stores )

11.6.7.4. Perceptual Maps

Attribute scores were averaged under each factor for each of the internet data

card. Then graphs were plotted (Refer section 14.15) for the perceptual map

along the dimensions as shown

Observations:

In Kolkata surveyed samples perceive that Reliance primarily targets

consumers which are more focused on the product attributes like net

speed, signal strength, ease of use etc whereas the perception of price

sensitive consumer towards was found to be of an over priced brand.

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For price sensitive customer’s products like Airtel, Vodafone’s data card is

less satisfying than Reliance.

The surveyed sample considered Reliance to have the best tariff plans

among all the brands. This feature highlights the fact that offer and

promotion is an important factor for the internet data card market and

Reliance has been outperforming other competitors on this particular

factor.

High satisfaction in the availability in stores further shows the robust

distribution system that has put into place to cater to diversified markets.

Although not much differentiation can be introduced in the product per se

(low satisfaction scores for all brands), still Reliance is found to be seen as

a brand which brings out products with new features like free data card

for HDFC credit card holder, bundling with other products like laptop etc.

11.7.5. Brand Loyalty The questionnaire had specific questions to measure the brand loyalty for the

brand that the consumer was using at that point of time. From the graphs shown,

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it can be concluded that the Brand loyalty in the internet data card segment is

only 75% where customers would stick to it irrespective of the availability other

data card with high speed with reasonable price. This figure says that 75% of the

customers would rather go to some other retailer in search for their preferred

internet data card than to buy some other brand from the other company’s outlet.

Price sensitivity measured along the lines of a hypothetical price and change in

tariff plans increase in their preferred brand was around 25%. This figure

indicates that 75% of the customers do not shift from their preferred brand to

some other brand because of a price hike in their preferred brand, provided it’s a

reasonable price hike whereas 25% would move to some other brand. (Refer

section 14.12)

11.7.6. Cluster Analysis and Segmentation

K-means segmentation was performed based upon the factors thus obtained

from factor analysis. The cluster analysis showed 3 clear segments. Description of

the segments is as below

Cluster 1

46% percent of respondents formed a part of this segment. With age group of 23-

28 years, this cluster formed the young age group segment. The majority of

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people in this segment (66%) use internet data card. In this segment 27.42% were

Reliance customers and the rest 72.58% used competitor brands.

With an average usage time of 240 minutes per day, this segment clearly forms a

part of high usage cluster.

They were passive information seekers yet skimmed through a lot of sources for

seeking information about their purchase decision. Word of mouth formed the

best source of information for this segment.

Cluster 2

29% percent of respondents formed a part of this segment. An average age of 30

years means this segment formed the middle age group cluster. 76% of the

customers in this segment were business customers, i.e. use data card for

business purposes. The business customers surveyed were primarily in Reliance

R World; hence this segment may be interpreted appropriately. With 32%

Reliance customers, among the rest, Tata-Indicom and Airtel were the competitor

brands preferred among users in this segment (52% users).

The level of information search was extremely low and thus can be said to be low

involvement segment of the market. They did not refer to many sources and also

had low importance ratings to the sources being referred to for seeking

information about the product to aid their purchase decision.

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Cluster 3

25% percent of respondents were a part of this segment. The lowest average age

of 38 years means this segment formed the aged Customers. Almost 96% of the

customers in this segment used data card for personal purposes. This segment

had 64% Reliance users and the competitor brands seem least preferred to this

segment and can be said to form a big part of the reliance customer base.

The customers used data card to access information and other personal purposes,

and with a heavy usage rate is the opportunity segment for Reliance.

The level of information search was extremely high among this group and thus

can be said to be Intensive information seekers in the market. Among the sources

they referred to, TV advertisements seem to be the most important source for this

segment besides word of mouth. This was the only segment that gave credibility

to ads on internet as a source of information. Relailer’s recommendation too

formed a part of their purchase decision.

12. Recommendation And Conclusion

12.1. PLAYING WITH THE PLC:

Reliance has the widest internet data cards range and the deepest product line

in internet data card market, its also has broadband business as well as internet

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connection GPRS .This is a double edged sword because of the variety Reliance

offer and the cannibalization that can occur.

The segments thus formed and the components extracted indicate that different

buyer groups have different decision variables, use data card for accessing

internet for different purposes and have varied perceptions about brands. All the

segments require different pricing strategies and hence Reliance should come out

with different plans specifically targeting different groups. Reliance having

several types of tariff plan but it would have improved network connectivity

along with aggressive promotional strategies’ be an unbeatable advantage in

upgrading the consumer throughout his lifetime and also making him brand

loyal in the process.

From the perception maps, we see that Reliance has an image of having high

choice of tariff plans rates and usage costs. Further, it comes out that Reliance is

not a user friendly service provider. Users have taken to Reliance essentially

because of high recommendation from friends and family. According to our

research weak signal strength and slow net connection speed could be a

deterrent for Reliance data cards. Hence, Reliance should aim to providing

higher network coverage, good signal strength, and more efficient response

requests. This could be done by setting up more network towers and having a

more customer friendly focus in store as well out store activities.

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Our analysis indicates clearly reliance is popular among the youth because of

low usage rate. These users use data card mostly for entertainments. This target

segment can be attracted by advertising in Television and internet.

Also, word of mouth publicity clearly scores above all forms of information

search, primarily because of its convenience and source credibility. Everybody

whom we surveyed believed in consulting their “circle” for opinions while

buying connections

12.2. Recommendations 4 P’s

12.2.1. Product:

The products launched should focus on improving service response i.e. better

customer service and greater network connectivity.

12.2.2. Price:

It should keep focus on reducing usage rates and be a price leader for price

sensitive heavy usage segments.

12.2.3. Promotions:

One important finding of our FGDs and Consumer Survey was that not a single

consumer was aware of the fact that Reliance has different tariff plans. This can

be attributed to one or more of the following reasons:

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The brand equity of Reliance data card is very high (42% TOMR in our

study). But the brand development is pretty low.

The consumers have low involvement and do not search for information.

This implies that wireless data card is becoming a commodity.

Reliance has spent on advertisements mostly for the mobile business, not

on internet data cards. Hence the information available to public is

limited.

To discommodities the category, to increase customer loyalty and repeat

purchase, promotions have to be done on a bigger scale than what is currently

been done. The promotions should have more of a pull effect in the

advertisements that communicate not just the price and offers/discounts but also

the values, attributes which the consumer can relate to. In short, more

information has to be communicated to the consumer through ads, To left the

sales of internet data card Reliance can think to adopt of innovative give away

strategy, for instance design laptops with manufactures in such a way that

there will be a built in Reliance internet data card.

It should focus on Television advertising and Internet ads primarily. Print ads

do not seem to have that effective influence in purchase decisions of the

sample. Our analysis has shown that word of mouth (WOM) marketing has a

excellent effect on the consumer purchasing decision of internet data card. So

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promotional strategies could be given focus on viral marketing campaign like

on SMS, e-letters or blogs and so forth.

12.2.4. Place:

Reliance should strengthen its distribution network and also focus on creating

more web worlds with easy accessibility outside cities as they are perceived to be

authentic by consumers.

Note: The recommendations have limitations of a small sample size and a simple sampling.

12.3. CONTINUE WITH UPGRADATION Reliance has been very successful in its strategy of upgrading the consumer in

the mobile business segment. Reliance has made sure that it makes its consumers

move up the product chain by introducing new, technologically superior

products and phasing their PLC very well. But sadly, this approach is missing in

the wireless data card segment. Though there are 3 variants, there has been no

effort made to communicate to the consumer of the superior quality and

attributes.

Hence, we suggest that Reliance adopt its “upgrading the consumer” strategy for

the internet data card segment also. This up gradation has 2 main advantages

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We can fully leverage the Product life cycle and the individual phases of

the products in different markets

We can make the consumer loyal to the brand over his lifetime.

12.4. Future challenges

Introduce a product which would be designed specifically for Indian

consumer and satisfy aspiration of youths.

To match the increased demand patterns in the country.

Launching of innovative products in regular and short intervals

Reliance products are descending the customer value hierarchy from that

of a potential product towards an expected product. Competitors like

Tata-Indicom, Vodafone, are moving up the hierarchy. So, Reliance will

find it tough to charge the moderately high price it has tilled now charge.

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It is also highly likely that Reliance may not fully absorb the consumers

who upgrade from slow speed internet connection device USB modem to

broadband. Hence, Reliance’s market share might not grow as good as

their competitor Tata-Indicom or BSNL.

Reliance’s major challenge lies in entering the premium market through an

upgraded version of wireless data card the way it did in mobile business.

12.5. Store Centric Recommendations

In order to increase the Reliance wireless data card sales in exclusive R worlds

and other franchisees across the country management has to take some

aggressive steps to ensure that customers who are evaluating alternatives are

coming in store for purchasing a Reliance data card. According to our research

outcomes some following measures can be taken

Management has to ensure that C3 executives especially those who are

dealing with internet connections and data cards and also other telecom

products, have exhaustive knowledge about their own products.

C3 executives should be given special behavioral training to recognize

the customers’ expectations and convey the all benefits of the product

accordingly.

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Management has to ensure that their sales persons are updated with new

schemes regarding product.

Product knowledge as well as sales techniques of the sales personnel

should be reviewed frequently by the senior management.

C3 executives should be remained motivated through various incentives

which are only proportionate to their target achievements.

13. Marketing Strategy

13.1. Segmentation

In the wireless data card market there exist different categories of customers who

have different needs and are willing to pay different amount for the product that

meets their demand. Introduction of upgraded version of wireless data card for

instance Vodafone recently launched wireless data card (Globe totter) specially

meant for those who frequently travel abroad would help Reliance identify the

needs of the customers and take advantage of the segment which has not yet

been targeted by the company. Price sensitivity, importance of attributes, point

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of purchase decision makers and customers influenced by additional features are

the factors on which we will segment the upgraded internet data card market.

Segment one-> is most prices sensitive and values additional feature the

least. This segment has one third of our sample size. As Reliance is an

economic brand which focuses on differentiating its products from the

competitors and upgrading the customers in the value chain, targeting

this segment will be a strategically appropriate decision.

Segment two-> is more influenced by attributes of the products and is not

a price sensitive segment. Reliance through its wireless data card is

currently catering to this segment. This segment has more than one fourth

of the survey sample.

Segment three-> is concerned about the attributes, additional features as

well as price. This segment comprised of more than forty percent of the

survey sample.

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13.2. Positioning Market research

Market research results have been analyzed in section 12 of the report. The

following conclusions from the survey help us in identifying the positioning of

the Upgraded version of wireless data card:

Target market: - The target market has been identified as the customers who are

concerned about the attributes of the internet data card but are not willing to

shift from the current price band to a higher price band.

Competitor Brands: - The competitor brands have been discussed in Section 8

The upgraded data card will be competing with brands like Tata-Indicom and

Vodafone.

Choice Criteria: - As per our findings (Section 11.15.7.3.) the 3 factors on

grouping attributes post factor analysis that contribute to the data card

Purchase decisions are:

Factor 1 Product attributes (Net speed, Signal strength, Ease of Use)

Factor 2 Price Sensitivity (Price, Tariff plans And Offers/Discounts)

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Factor 3 Point of Purchase (Availability in Stores and Package Design)

Customer Evaluation: - Perceptual maps in the section show how the customers

evaluate Reliance with respect to competitive brands.

Perceptual map

, Reliance, 3.4, Vodafone,

2.9, BSNL, 2.5

, Tata-Indicom, 3.6

, Airtel, 2.8

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Attributes

Price Sensitivity

Reliance data card needs to position itself above Tata-Indicom in order to

attract the target segment.

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Perceptual Map

Tata-Indicom, 4 Reliance, 3.8

Vodafone, 4.2

Airtel, 3.6

BSNL, 2.9

00.5

11.5

22.5

33.5

44.5

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Attributes

Product attributes

Series2

Series1

13.4. Real Positioning

In the survey conducted, Reliance had the top of the mind recall of 42%. This

shows that Reliance has an excellent real positioning in the wireless data card

market and Reliance data card leverage this positioning in the target market.

13.5. Psychological Positioning Reliance data card will primarily alter the attributes importance in the target

segment by increasing the importance of attributes internet speed, signal

strength etc and decreasing the importance of price. This will be consistent with

its strategy of moving the customers up the value chain.

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14. Appendix

14.1. Reliance communication- Timeline

1999- Reliance Infocomm started its Project Planning. Mr. Dhirubhai Ambani

understood it very well that information technology had the capacity to

accelerate the growth of Indian economy leaving behind its backwardness and

underdevelopment.

2000- Mr. Dhirubhai Ambani’s dream started to take in a shape. Optic fiber

laying process commences in Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh & Maharashtra

2001- First Media Convergence Node made "Ready for Electronics" at Jaipur

2002-It’s a true gala time for Reliance Infocomm. First Base Transceiver Station

(BTS) made "Ready for Electronics". Its obtained Obtains International Long

Distance License from Govt. of India. Commissioned 1st 60,000 route kilometers

Optic Fiber Backbone ring. Its established 1st Point of Interconnect (POI) in New

Delhi. Hon'ble Prime Minister of India, Atal Behari Vajpayee e-inaugurates

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Reliance Infocomm Hon'ble Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs,

Information Technology and Communications, Pramod Mahajan, inaugurates

NNOC

2003- Reliance Infocomm Introduced Dhirubhai Ambani Pioneer Offer for

Reliance India Mobile service. Launched Reliance Web World in top 16 cities as

well as International Long Distance Services. Launched Reliance India Mobile

Service commercially in top 92 cities with one million customers and India's first

wireless Point of Sale (POS). Introduced "Monsoon Hungama" Offer: Instant

multimedia mobile phone and connection for just Rs 501.Sets world record -

acquires one million customers in 10 days. Launched R Connect Internet

connection cable. Reliance became India's largest mobile service provider within

7 months of commercial launches.

2004-International wholesale telecommunications service provider, FLAG

Telecom amalgamates with Reliance Gateway, a wholly owned subsidiary of

Reliance Infocomm. Reliance Infocomm receives the Most Promising Service

Provider of the Year 2003 (Asia Pacific) award at the Asia Pacific Technology

Awards instituted by Frost & Sullivan. Introduced Railway Ticket booking from

R World data applications suite of Reliance India Mobile. Reliance Infocomm

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bagged the CDMA Development Group's 3G CDMA Industry Achievement

Award for International Leadership.

2005- Reliance introduced first e-recharge facility in CDMA in India. Reliance

India Mobile announced mega rural plan to cover 4 lakh villages and 65 crore

Indians by December 2005. XLRI’s Post-Graduate Certificate program in

Logistics Supply Chain Management (PGCLSCM) launched on Reliance Web

World's virtual classroom platform. First of its kind e-learning program in India.

Reliance Communications, UK launched Reliance India Call service in England

and Wales enabling callers to make high-quality calls to India from any landline

or mobile phone at economical rates. Apollo Hospital and Reliance Infocomm

join hands to provide top class healthcare service to millions of Indians in over a

hundred Indian cities. Reliance Infocomm and China Telecom sign agreement for

telecom services to provide direct telecommunication service, including a global

hubbing service, to subscribers in the two countries.

2006-Reliance Infocomm launched "One Nation, One Tariff" to enable Reliance

India Mobile prepaid users to call anywhere in India at Re one per minute.

Reliance Infocomm introduced R World in Hindi to become the world's first

operator to offer mobile data services in more than one language on the same

handset. This will make it possible for millions of Indians to access the popular R

World with hundreds of every-day-use applications in the national language.

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Reliance Communications launched India’s first Talking Message Service (TMS)

enabling its mobile users to send voice messages to not only other mobiles but

also fixed wireless phones (FWP) and landlines. Reliance Communications

launches Free Group Term Life Cover for its CDMA subscribers.

2007-Reliance Communications added a record 1.4 million subscribers in

December ’06. Search Jobs & Classified Ads from Reliance Mobile World -

Reliance Communications ties up with Naukri.com. Reliance Classic' Makes

Music - FM Radio Phones Launched at just Rs.1888. RCOM and QUALCOMM

Collaborated on CDMA2000 Expansion. Reliance Communications adjudged

World’s Top CDMA Operator at the Global CDMA Industry Achievements

Awards Fete.

2008- Reliance Communications received Started-up GSM Spectrum. HDFC Bank

tied up with RCOM, turns every Reliance Mobile into a credit card. One of the

main strategic dimension of RCOM is extensive focus on all type segment of

customers, in order to do that its recently started a religious portfolio by tying up

with Sadhana TV. Keeping eye on Internet data card market scenario its also

drop the data card price.

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14.2. SWOT ANALYSIS

Strengths

Reliance has fully integrated IP-enabled infrastructure platform thus implying

application convergence, service convergence and network convergence.

It has been successful in building right alliances in the form of network alliances

with Ericsson and Cisco Systems, IT alliances with HP Compaq, interconnecting

alliances. Thus it can focus on its main business of marketing its service.

Reliance has been able to maintain a strong distribution capability. It has a selling

capacity of 25 million per annum as compared to Nokia’s 20 million per annum.

It has 90000 handset outlets as compared to Nokia’s 42000. It has presence in

5000 towns serviced by 1500 distributors as compared to Nokia’s presence in

4600 towns serviced by 250 distributors/micro-distributors.

It can leverage its strength in wireless connectivity in the future to offer mobile

telecom services. It has wireless connectivity available in 4500 towns with a

speed of 144kbps.

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Backing by a healthy balance sheet of the parent company helps in investing in

assets for long term growth. Also the Reliance culture focuses on financial

conservatism, thus providing it with good human skills at managing capital.

Weaknesses

The Reliance network does not deliver on the Quality of Service parameters as

decided by Telecom Regulatory authority of India (TRAI). Due to this it suffers

from high call dropping rates and a reduction in brand equity.

Reliance has a major presence only in C’ Circle. It needs to establish itself also in

other circles so that it can compete with player like Bharti on a national scale.

Opportunities

A strong economy and a growing market: The Indian telecommunication

industry is amongst the fastest growing telecom markets in the world and is

poised to deliver solid growth as a result of several economic reforms that have

lead to strong GDP growth pegged at approximately 9.1% for FY 2007-08.

Increasing per capita income supported by increased consumption is resulting in

a greater-than-proportionate impetus for telecom growth. As India still remains

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one of the lowest penetrated markets, it is one of the most attractive telecom

markets in the world today.

New technologies and paradigms: The trend towards adoption of Next

Generation Networks (NGN) is global and the discussions in India are still at a

preliminary stage. Technologies like Triple Play, wherein a single cable can

deliver voice, data, video on demand and IPTV provide us with a unique

opportunity to an integrated player who is well positioned to deliver this service.

Strong strategic partnerships: Strong strategic alliances with network companies

may help Reliance Communication to focus on marketing its services. Alliances

provide the service provider the access to technological know-how as well as

best practices to enhance customer experience. It is important to leverage the

strengths of our partners and benefit from their experience and know-how.

Introduction of number portability: Number portability would allow customers

to retain their telephone numbers even after switching service providers or

networks. Companies with better service delivery and customer care platforms

stand to gain over their competitors. Extensive network coverage, coupled with

aggressive pricing and innovative products and services would help in gaining a

larger share of the market. Given a competitive position and focus on customer

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delight, Reliance may be positioned to attract subscribers presently on other

networks, as and when number portability gets introduced in the market.

Threats

Regulatory decisions and changes: On the regulatory front, reduction in the entry

fee and the annual license fee for National Long Distance and International Long

Distance (ILD), combined with the impending implementation of Carrier Access

Code (CAC) would lead to greater competition in the Long Distance segment.

The implementation of Carrier Access Code would make it easier for customers

to choose their long distance carrier, regardless of the access provider. A focus on

offering value-for-money services to consumers would stand to gain from the

introduction of CAC.

14.3. Product portfolio

Reliance communication has the following consumer product lines

ü Mobile ü Wireless Phone ü Wireless Terminal ü Blackberry ü Broadnet ü Roaming ü Reliance Landline ü Reliance Netconnect ü Reliance Mobile ü Reliance India Call ü Reliance Passport

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Reliance communication has the following enterprise product lines

ü BlackBerry ü Office Centrex ü One Office Due ü Audio conference ü Reliance PCO ü Toll-Free ü ITFS ü Broadband ü Business Broadband Internet ü Leased Line>Virtual private network>IPLC ü Video Conferencing ü Internet Data Centre[IDC]

14.4. Retail Revolution:-Reliance World

What a wonderful world -- Reliance World

Reliance World (formerly Reliance Web World)

first of its kind a retail store with telecom products

and services in India, is a world-class nationwide

chain of retail outlets for products and services of

the Reliance – Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. It is

designed to give the customer a delightful experience of the digital world of information,

communication, entertainment and utility services.

All Reliance World outlets are connected to Reliance’s countrywide optic fibre network.

The Broadband Centre at Reliance World leverages this

broadband network to bring you innovative digital services.

With 242 Reliance World outlets across 105 cities in the

country

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14.5. Customer Survey Questionnaire

Customer Survey: Questionnaire

Name: Date: Name of interviewer: 1. What is your age? Less Than 18 18-23 years � 23-28 years � 28-45 years � Greater Than 45 � 2. What is your occupation? Government Service � Private Service � Business Self-Employed � Student � Homemaker � Others (please specify) __________ 3. How often do you get connected to Internet? At irregular intervals � Once a day � Twice a day �

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4. What type of data card you preferred to buy? USB Modem � PCMCIA Card � 5. From where did you buy your data card? Company own outlets � Other place � 6. Which brands of data card you are aware of? (TOM) Reliance � Tata-Indicom � Vodafone � Airtel � BSNL � 7. Which brands of data card you are aware of (Aided recall) Reliance � Tata-Indicom � Vodafone � Airtel � BSNL �

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8. Which brands of data card you are aware of (Unaided recall) Reliance � Tata-Indicom � Vodafone � Airtel � BSNL � 9. Which of the following brands do you use personally? (Tick only one) Reliance � Tata-Indicom � Vodafone � Airtel � BSNL � 10. Please rate the following sources of information according to the level of importance of each source (1 – Least Important; 5 – Most Important) Friends ___ � Family ___ � Retailer ___ � Advertisements___ � Packaging ___ � Magazines or newspapers ___ � Cyber café ___ � Any Other ___ �

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11. How satisfied are you with Reliance Data card? (If used) Highly Satisfied � Moderately Satisfied � Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied � Moderately Dissatisfied � Highly dissatisfied � 13. If your FIRST preference is not available then what do you do? Purchase some other brand from the same shop/ store. � Purchase the same brand from some other store. � 14. If the price of your most preferred data card as well as tariff charges increases what would you do? Shift to another options or different brands of data card � Will be using the same brand � 15. If you choose to shift then which Brand will you prefer? Tata-Indicom � Vodafone � Reliance � Airtel �

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BSNL � 16. Please rate the factors given below on scale of 1 – 5 based on the s importance they hold for you in purchase decision of Data card. (1 least important to 5 most important) No. Attributes/Benefits Rating

1. Price

2. Easy handling

3. Net Speed

4. Signal Strength

5. Availability in store

6. Tariff plan

7. Offer/Discounts 17.Please rate the following brands on the scale of 1-5 for the attributes mentioned below i.e. write 5 if you feel the attribute is good enough to fully satisfy you and mark 1 if you feel the attribute could not satisfy you. (1 fully dissatisfied to 5 fully satisfied – Show cards with the ratings on them)

No. Attributes Brands

1 2 3 4 5 Tata-Indicom

Airtel Vodafone BSNL Reliance

1. Price

2. Easy handling

3. Net Speed

4. Signal Strength

5. Availability in store

6. Tariff plan

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Focus Group Discussion Format

Introduction

Presentation of the Purpose

Discussion of the procedure

Focus Group Discussion (FGD) We conducted two FGD for our product-Reliance Data card. We also conducted Telephonic interviews with existing customer from company’s data base Focus Group 1: PG students from NSHM, Kolkata (Age: 18-24) Focus Group 2: Faculty members NSHM, Kolkata (Full time) (Age: 38-55) Following are the questions that helped us in moderating the entire discussion and the answers that majority in the group agreed to:

1) Type Net connection have been used FG 1: The PG students now use mostly USB modem and data card for surfing FG 2: The faculty members now use broadband for surfing 2) What product first comes to your mind when I say Internet connection? FG 1: The PG students said Airtel, Reliance data card and BSNL internet connection FG 2: The Faculty members mostly use BSNL broadband 3) Different type of net connections you are aware of? FG 1: Came up with Airtel GPRS connections and also Reliance Netconnect FG 2: Came up with mostly BSNL and Reliance Netconnect,

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5) The reason for using data card? FG 1: Sometimes just for peer pressure and convenient for using anywhere FG 2: Extensive traveling and easy access to internet 6) Does the data card really matter for net surfing? FG 1: no. only it can be taken anywhere. FG 2: not really. 8) Have you switched data card’s brands? FG 1: yes, once FG 2: no. not very recently. 9) If so, why? FG 1: just for bad speed FG 2: only sometimes. Better connectivity and charges of usage 10) Where do you purchase? FG 1: Company’s own outlets. FG 2: Company’s own outlets 11) Currently which type of net connection do you use? Are you satisfied? FG 1: Airtel GPRS, Reliance data card, BSNL broadband connection FG 2: Reliance data card, BSNL broadband connection 12) Information search? FG 1: ads don’t influence. Decision is made at the point of purchase FG 2: ads don’t influence. Many times decision is made before coming to store.

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14) Have you seen an ad for Data card? FG 1: No, not really. Charges are not important like net speed as well as download speed FG 2: Yes, did 15) What do you expect from your net connections? (Speed, free usage etc.) FG 1: Speed. Dialup connection FG 2: Good offers, easy to handle, good coverage 16) The attributes you look for in your data card? FG 1: Good net speed, affordable price, Wire less connectivity

FG 2: Affordable price, Ease of use 17) What do you expect from net connections? FG 1: Speed FG 2: Strong network (if USB modem and data card) quick connectivity, affordability. 19) Do you know the difference in pricing of Reliance data card plans? FG 1: The group wasn’t surprised with the price catalogue we provided FG 2: The group was surprised 20) Would you like to buy Reliance data card even if the price and tariff was further raised? FG 1: Depends on the budget we have FG 2: Yes 21) What do you think of Reliance data card? FG 1: Not sure

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FG 2: Better compared to others 22) Why Reliance data card? FG 1: Good speed, attractive tariff plans, recommended by family and friends FG 2: Worth of money, recommended by family and friends The two groups together came up with 7 attributes of data card after a few minutes. They had 3 attributes that overlapped as shown.

FG 1: Price

Net speed

Availability in stores

Offers/Tariff plans

Wire less connectivity

FG 2: Ease of Use Availability in stores

Quick connectivity

Offers/Tariff plans

Lasting

Net Speed

COMMON ATTRIBUTES: Speed, availability in stores, offers/tariff plans,

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14.6. Age Profile of Sample Population

14.7. Internet Data Card Preference

14.8. Recall Pattern

Unaided Recall of Reliance Brand 67%

Aided Recall of Reliance Brand 89%

Top of the Mind Recall of Reliance Brand 77%

9%

23%

46%

14%8%

<18

18-23

23-28

28-45

45>

28%

42%

14%

11% 5%TATA INDICOM

RELIANCE

AIRTEL

VODAFONE

BSNL

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14.9. User Preference

14.10. Respondents’ preference of Internet Connection

28%

42%

14%

11%5%

TATA INDICOM

RELIANCE

AIRTEL

VODAFONE

BSNL

Preferrence of Internet Connection

53%

13%

23%

11%

Broadband

pcmcia card

usb modam

General net connection

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14.11. Brand Satisfaction of Reliance

Satisfaction Level-Reliance

6%

41%

28%

14%

11%

Highly satisf ied

Moderately Satisf ied

Neither Satisf ied norDissatisf iefd

Moderately Dissatif ied

Highly Disstisf ied

14.12. Brand Loyalty

Brand Loyalty in Internet Data Market If your FIRST preference is not available then what do you do? Option 1 Purchase some other brand from the same shop/ store

Option 2 Purchase the same brand from some other store

Brand Loyalty

25%

75%

Other Brand

Same Brand

Price Sensitivity in Internet data card Market

If the price of your most preferred brand increases what would you do? (Q 14)

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Option 1 Shift to another brand

Option 2 Still buy the same brand

14.13. Fishbein Analysis

Fishbein Attitude Model

Where,

Ab = Attitude toward the object (brand)

Wi = belief about the brand’s possession of the attribute

Xib = evaluation of the attribute as being good or bad

n = there are a limited number (n) of attributes which the person will consider

Price Sensitivity

87%

13%

Stick to current brand

Other brand

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Preferred Brand on basis of individual Attitude Score

23%

18%

20%

22%

17%Tata-Indicom

BSNL

Airtel

Reliance

Vodafone

14.14. Average attitude perception score of each brand

Initial Eigen values Extraction Sums Loadings Total % of

Variance Cumulative% Total % of

Variance Cumulative%

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

2.705

1.881

1.431

1.124

.827

.435

.768

24.201

14.443

13.563

9.688

8.032

6.437

6.407

24.401

31..768

52.338

64.075

70.221

78.334

82.451

2.805

1.798

1.502

1.543

24.542

16.547

13.516

10.872

23.294

41.643

54.543

63.098

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Average Perception Score of Each Brand

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Series1

Series1 30.348 22.938 25.733 28.235 22.334

Tata-Indicom BSNL Airtel Reliance Vodafone

14.15. Factor Analysis

Component

1 2 3

Price

Easy handling

Net speed

Signal strength

Availability in store

Tariff plan

Offers/Discount

-.328

-1.20

.458

.336

.776

.451

.169

.634

.028

.327

.122

-.096

-.078

-.112

-.067

-.076

.326

.398

-.064

-.043

.418

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Score plot

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Component number

Eigenvalue

Series1

14.16. Cluster Analysis

Two Cluster Analysis

Cluster

1 2

Attributes 4.5 3.9

Price Sensitive 3.7 2.9

Point of Purchase

2 1

Additional factors

3.1 1.2

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Number of Cases in each Cluster

Cluster 1 42.000

2 38.000

Valid 89.000

Missing .000

Three Cluster Analysis

Final Cluster Centers

Cluster

1 2 3

Attributes 2.8 3.3 2.9

Price Sensitive 2.5 3.0 2.1

Point of Purchase 3.4 3 2.8

Additional Factors 3.1 3.4 2.9

Number of Cases in each Cluster

Cluster 1 38.000

2 23.000

3 19.000

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Valid 89.000

Missing .000

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Reference

• Berman, B Evans, JR Retail Management, A Strategic Approach, McMillan Publication 2001.

• Levy & Weitz, Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Limited, 2006. • Philip Kotler, K. K. (2006) Marketing Management, New Jersey, Pearson

Education Australia.

• Daft, Richard L. Organization Theory & Design. Thomson/ South-Western, 2007.

• Ambani, Dhirubhai. Reliance Communication. 1999.

http://www.rcom.co.in/Communications/Aboutus/aboutus_home.html.

• Reliance communication- Timeline http://www.rcom.co.in/webapp/Communications/rcom/Aboutus/aboutus_milestones.jsp

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

• ANI. Andhra News. July 16, 2007.

http://www.andhranews.net/Business/2007/July/16-Reliance-Communication-buys-8239.asp.

• Communications, Reliance. "Code Of Conduct." Reliance Communications.

2006. http://www.rcom.co.in/Communications/Aboutus/pdf/Code_of_Conduct.pdf.

• http://www.rcom.co.in/webapp/Communications/rcom/Aboutus/aboutus

_business.jsp

• Miller, Chris. SAP NetWeaver Magazine. 2006. http://www.netweavermagazine.com/archive/Volume_02_(2006)/Issue_02_(Spring)/v2i2a09.cfm.