Gul Ahmed

Marketing ManagementTerm Project Report

Submitted to: Mr. Javaid Ahmed

By:

M. Moiz Bin Sajjad - 3801

Sehrish Khan Rafat - 4666

Arooba Qamar - 4592

Imtiaz Ahmed Shaheedi - 2985

Yasir Awan - 4620

Muffadal Moiz - 3527

Marketing Management Term Report

Letter of Authorization

Dear Reader,

As students of Institute of Business Management, we have been authorized by Mr. Javaid

Ahmed to make this marketing management report on “GUL AHMED TEXTILE MILLS

LIMITED”.

This has been a great learning experience for us. This report was given by our teacher as

a way to help us understand the marketing practices in the real business environment.

Sincerely,

M. Moiz Bin Sajjad

Imtiaz Ahmed Shaheedi

Arooba Qamar

Sehrish Khan Rafat

Yasir Awan

Muffadal Moiz

2


Letter of Acknowledgement

Dear Reader,

This report on Marketing Management is about the marketing practices of the real

business organizations as was assigned to us by our teacher Mr. Javaid Ahmed. Working

on this report has given us exposure to the industry, which will really help us in our work

experience. Mr. Shahab, Marketing Manager, has helped us in giving us all the relevant

and required information that we needed about GATML.

We are grateful to Mr. Javaid Ahmed for his unprecedented support in guiding us

throughout the report and also our institute for its support and patronage.

This comprehensive study is really a learned experience for us.

Regards,

M.Moiz Bin Sajjad

Imtiaz Ahmed Shaheedi

Arooba Qamar

Sehrish Khan Rafat

Yasir Awan

Muffadal Moiz

3


Table of Contents

Company Introduction 5

Module 1: Value Delivery Chain 8

Module 2: Consumer Behavior Model 17

Module 3: Competitive Strategies 26

Module 4: Value Definition 33

Module 5: Value Creation 38

Module 6: Value Communication 44

4


MARKETING MANAGEMNT REPORT ON GUL AHMEDTEXTILE CO.

Company History

The story of textiles in the subcontinent is the story of Gul Ahmed. The group began

trading in textiles in the early 1900’s. With all it’s know-how and experience, the group

decided to enter the field of manufacturing and Gul Ahmed Textile Mills Ltd. was

incorporated as a private limited company, in the year 1953. In 1972 it was subsequently

listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange. Since then the company has been making rapid

progress and is one of the best composite textile houses in the world. The mill is

presently a composite unit with an installed capacity of 103,000 spindles, 220 wide width

air jet looms, 90 Sulzer’s, 297 conventional looms and a state of the art processing and

finishing unit.

Corporate Profile - Major Companies

The following is a list of the major companies which comprise the group:

5


Gul Ahmed Textile Mills Limited

Gul Ahmed Energy Limited

Corporate Profile - Business Activities

Textiles

In the textile field, activities start from the spinning of cotton as well as man made fibers

and extend to weaving, processing and finishing of all types of cotton and blended

fabrics, bed linen, home furnishings, garment manufacturing, etc.

Power

The group has been a pioneer in the field of power generation. The textile mill runs on

self-generation with an installed capacity of more than 20 MW. Gul Ahmed Energy

operates a power plant of 136 MW capacity with a project cost of US$140 million

located at Korangi, Karachi. The sponsors of this project include the IFC and Tomen

Corporation. The project has been in commercial operation since November 1997.

Management

Management of the group is professionally qualified and broadly experienced. The

directors have held top positions in various textile bodies, export committees and have

also assisted the Government of Pakistan in some of the major trade talks with EC and

USA authorities.

Quality Policy

Maintenance of Quality Systems on the guidelines of ISO 9000 series of

standards.

Customer satisfaction through employee participation & innovative technology

application.

Training of employees on quality awareness, ISO 9000 concepts & system

documentation including: procedures, work instructions, specification etc.

6


Training should be an on-going process and refreshers and reviews are a part of

training.

Social Policy

Gul Ahmed Textile Mills Limited has striven to become one of the leading companies to

actively participate in the social and economical growth of the country. The company will

endeavor to address following issues:

1. Enforcement of minimum age of employee of eighteen (18) years without any

discrimination.

2. Relaxed environment for employees.

3. Practical measures related to health and safety.

4. Equal opportunity.

7


Environmental Policy

Gul Ahmed Textile Mills Limited pursue long term corporate objectives towards

conservation in the use of electricity, gas and water for setting up an environmental

management system. We plan to meet global environmental challenges in all areas.

Health and Safety Policy

Gul Ahmed has a H&S manual and a permanent committee to ensure safety of staff and

workers. The members of the committee are:

Technical Directors.

General Manager Maintenance.

Processing Manager.

Management Representative (Health & Safety).

Stitching Managers.

Admin, Security & Fire chief.

8


MODULE 1

GUL AHMED’S VALUE DELIVERY CHAIN

9


Customer Value

Customer derived value is the difference between total customer value and total customer

cost. Gul Ahmed offers value to their customers through quality and exclusive designs.

Value Chain

Value Chain is a tool for identifying ways to create more customer value. Gul Ahmed’s

Value chain comprises of 4 primary activities and 4 supporting activities.

Primary activities

Inbound Logistics

Operations

Outbound Logistics

Marketing and Sales

Support activities

Procurement

Technology development

Human resource management

Firm’s infrastructure

The primary value chain activities are:

Inbound logistics: the receiving and warehousing of raw materials for fabric and

cloth manufacturing

Operations: includes the processes of spinning and weaving

Outbound logistics: the warehousing and distribution of finished goods.

Marketing and sales: the identification of customer needs and generation of sales.

10


These primary activities are supported by:

The infrastructure of the firm: organizational structure, control systems, company

culture, etc.

Human resource management: employee recruiting, hiring, training, development

and compensation

Technology development: technologies to support value-creating activities.

Procurement: purchasing inputs such as materials, supplies and equipment.

The company’s value chain starts from purchasing raw cotton from both local as well as

foreign markets. Dyes are purchased from both local and foreign markets where as

chemicals are imported from abroad.

From wherever company makes purchases, the objective remains to buy the best quality

supplies in order to deliver superior value.

11


GUL AHMED’S SUPPLY CHAIN:

Planning

Raw Material logistics

Production

Warehousing

Distribution

Retail Stores

Raw Material Inventory – 20 days

WIP- 10 days

Finished Goods inventory-30 to 100 days

12


THE VALUE DELIVERY PROCESS

In the first step raw cotton is converted into fibers using sophisticated machinery.

Fibers are then sent for creation of fabric which involves the process of spinning.

After the fabric creation the process of weaving takes place which converts the

fabric into a cloth form.

After this process the product which takes the form of end product goes through

the process of printing for finishing and subsequently through cutting and

tailoring.

The end products then shift to the Gul Ahmed’s where house / Go gown from

where it is distributed to the other private retailers (both national and foreign)

directly and to the Company’s indigenously owned retail store by the name of Gul

Ahmed “IDEAS”.

From the retailers the products are bought by the end users.

The products are manufactured. The average raw material holding time is 20 days Work

in process time is 10 days, and holding of finished goods inventory time is between 30 to

100 days.

There are some retailers, which the company regards as very important to their business

as they buy stocks from Gul Ahmed in large numbers and their inventory turn over time

is very quick, for these permanent and loyal customers Gul Ahmed delivers the

consignments using their logistics. Each week sales representatives are send to the

retailers’ outlets to analyze the situation of demand and supply. Representatives are also

sent so that they address retailers’ problems immediately and can also bring back some

useful feedback.

VALUE DELIVERY NETWORK:

13


FibersRaw Cotton

FABRIC CREATION

Spinning

CLOTH MANUFACTURING

Weaving

FININSHED PRODUCT

Coating, Printing, Dying

WAREHOUSINGLocated in Landhi

IDEASRetail Outlet

of Gul Ahmed

RETAILERS

Other private retailers

THE CUSTOMER

14


RECOMMENDATIONS:

Currently Gul Ahmed is operating more on a “Push based strategy” rather than a

pulled based one. What they can do is instead of pushing their products to the

retailers, they can set up an online ordering systems in all the retail outlets in

collaboration with the retail stores, showing all their existing varieties and

offerings of the finished goods to the end consumers and by taking orders from

the end consumers through these systems which are installed in the retailers

outlets. Retailers too can place their orders through these systems which are

installed in their outlets.

All the customer has to do in that case is to approach any of the retail outlets that

carry Gul Ahmed products and from there after selecting the product he or she

may place their orders with the help of a retailer. The orders will then be delivered

to the retail stores from where they were ordered. Following is how the proposed

system should work.

1. The online system should be a separate booth in the retail store, staffed by

specially trained sales clerks and equipped with touch screen PCs.

2. After the customers make their selections from the available products, the

sales clerk places the order after taking all the measurements of the

ordered products as required by the customer by recording them on touch

screens and then transmitting them to the warehouse for further

processing.

3. All the relevant transaction details should then be handed over to the

customer such as item code number, measurements and sizes, quantity,

retail outlet code along with the name, the time and date of order and the

amount of order and any other relevant details. Each order is transmitted

directly to the warehouse which holds the products that the customer

bought.

4. Once the customer approves everything then they are required to pay for

their purchases.

15


5. The orders must be delivered to the retail outlets from where they were

ordered in 3 to 4 days time with all the details attached to them. For export

orders the delivery time could be extended to 8 or 10 days.

This method of doing business will reduce their holding time of finished goods inventory

considerably which will reduce the holding costs along with all the other risks that are

associated with it.

Another advantage of this process is that the company will get direct customers feedback

which will help them to know which items are selling like hot cakes and which ones are

not doing well.

The current ordering practice is based on demand forecast. This is not recommended as it

increases the handling and storage costs of raw materials. Again the proposed system will

help them to develop a just in time inventory for all their operations based upon actual

facts and sales, which will result in managers taking timely and accurate decisions.

Reduction of reprocesses and wastages will also get minimized.

Other thing which Gul Ahmed can do to enhance its value delivery network is

backward integration. They can buy off their local suppliers which will remove

the supply chain conflicts and would result in well coordinated operational

activities.

They have only one company operated retail store by the name of Gul Ahmed

Ideas which is a success story for them in this city. Based upon this success it is

recommended that they open at least one such retail store in every major city in

Pakistan. The concept of manufacturer-retailer outlets, though popular abroad, is

slowly evolving in Pakistan too just as the supermarket concept kicked off around

twenty-five years ago. The idea of a retail outlet devoted exclusively to

manufacturer's products cuts it as manufacturer's label gets a showroom to put its

products across while the products gain on the credibility of the label's name. Gul

Ahmed can gain more as a result of the direct access to the consumers.

16


PROPOSED VALUE DELIVERY NETWORK

FibersRaw Cotton

FABRIC CREATION

Spinning

CLOTH MANUFACTURING

Weaving

FINISHED PRODUCT

Coating,Printing,Dying

WAREHOUSINGLocated in Landhi

IDEASRetail Outlet

of Gul Ahmed

( On Line)

RETAILERSOther private

retailers(On Line)

THE CUSTOMER

17


MODULE 2

GUL AHMED’S CONSUMER BEHAVIOR MODEL

18


Factors Influencing Buyer Behavior

The buyer’s characteristics and decision process leads to the purchase decision.

Consumer’s buyer behavior is influenced by cultural, social, personal and psychological

factors.

Cultural Factors

o Culture is the fundamental determinant of a person’s wants and behavior.

o Gul Ahmed is affected by the geographical region and nationality.

o Gul Ahmed’s motifs are different from country to country. In the European

market Gul Ahmed provides big floral motifs according to consumers demand

whereas in the Asian market it provides small geometric designs.

o Gul Ahmed manufactures fabric for personal use, which is, derived from the sub

continent culture, that is, shalwar kameez.

o Gul Ahmed caters to its consumers through advertising in magazines and other

print media.

Social Factors

Consumer behavior for Gul Ahmed is also influenced by social factors such as reference

groups, family and social roles.

1) Reference Groups

The kind of reference group that influences buyer behavior for Gul Ahmed is primary

membership groups where consumers get input about the company through their family,

friends and neighbors and purchase goods under their influence.

2) Family

The family for procreation influences the buyer behavior for Gul Ahmed. Their retail

outlet (IDEAS) promotes family environment and influences families to make a purchase.

The image of their outlet encourages families to come and do bulks of shopping.

19


3) Role

The role of a person greatly influences buyer behavior. If we take mother daughter

relationship in consideration mothers’ would prefer simple designs and light colors where

as daughters’ would prefer to go for stylish designs and bright and vibrant colors.

Personal Factors

The personal factors that influence Gul Ahmed’s buyer decisions are age and stage in the

life cycle, lifestyle and personality.

Age and Stage in the Life Cycle

The age group differences influences buyer behavior for Gul Ahmed. Taking the mother

daughter relationship again into consideration mothers’ would purchase less stylish

clothes than compared to the daughters’.

Consumption is shaped by the family life cycle. Consumers who are in the bachelor,

newly married, full nest I, II and III stages would purchase Gul Ahmed products.

Lifestyle

Consumers’ lifestyle influences buyer behavior for Gul Ahmed items. Their activities,

interests, opinions influence their approach towards buying the products.

Personality

Brand personality greatly influences consumers and they choose those brands whose

personality matches their own. Gul Ahmed’s brand personality is based on the trait of

competence. Consumers who view themselves to be on the same personality traits will

be willing to buy Gul Ahmed.

Psychological Factors

The psychological factors that influence consumers to buy Gul Ahmed are motivation, perception and beliefs and attitudes.

20


Motivation

Keeping Freud’s theory as a model, Gul Ahmed like any other product has both stated

and underlying motives for a regular consumer. The stated motive may be excellent

quality and the underlying motive could be status and the desire to impress others.

According to Maslow’s theory of the hierarchy of needs Gul Ahmed fulfils consumers

esteem needs (need 4) which fulfils their need of recognition and status as Gul Ahmed is

a status symbol.

Perception

The perception consumers generally have of Gul Ahmed is that of good quality fabric and

exclusive designs. Consumers who have a favorable perception of Gul Ahmed would be

influenced to buy its products.

Learning

When a consumer purchases curtains and is satisfied with the purchase the response

towards Gul Ahmed would be positively reinforced. Later on when the consumer decides

to buy bed linen they may assume that since their first purchase was rewarding their

second purchase would be the same. They would generalize their response.

21


CONSUMER BUYING PROCESS

22

PROBLEM RECOGNITION

NEED TO BUY BED LINEN

INFORMATION SEARCH

LOOK AT ALL THE SOURCES AVAILABLE

(CHENONE, NISHAT LINEN, GUL AHMED)

EVALUTAION OF ALTERNATIVES

SELECT THE BRANDS THAT WILL CATER TO

THEIR NEED(GUL AHMED, CHENONE)

POSTPURCHASE BEHAVIOUR

HIGHLY SATISFIED, SATISFIED,

DISSATISFIED.

PURCHASE DECISION

GUL AHMED


PROBLEM RECOGNITION

The consumer first identifies the need for particular product, for example bed linen. This

need is triggered through external stimuli, which can be through advertisements.

INFORMATION SEARCH

The consumer searches for more information. Consumer would search for information

through personal sources which includes asking family and friends, commercial sources

which includes visiting different stores or contacting with different sales person or

through advertisements and experiential sources which includes handling Gul Ahmed

products before. The consumer will learn about different brands that are Gul Ahmed,

Chenone or Nina and will select some which will meet buying criteria.

EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVES

Consumers will form their judgment based on conscious and rational basis. Consumers

will choose those products that will give them maximum benefits. Consumers can base

their judgments for buying bed linen on quality of fabric, design, colors and the durability

of the product. Suppose if consumers are paying more importance to quality of fabric

then according to that attribute they will choose those brands that cater to that need like

Chenone and Gul Ahmed.

PURCHASE DECISION

The purchase decision can be based on two factors that are attitude of others and

unanticipated situational factors. The intensity of another person’s negative attitude

towards consumers preferred alternative can greatly influence buyer’s purchase decision

and the consumers’ motivation to comply with other person’s wishes. If a consumer

prefers to buy Chenone and another person has a negative view about it then buyer is

likely to change their decision to Gul Ahmed.

POST PURCHASE BEHAVIOR

After consumer has purchased the bed linen that was decided, the consumer will

experience some level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction.

23


POST PURCHASE SATISFACTION

If the bed linen purchased from Gul Ahmed meets consumers expectations of quality then

the customer is satisfied but if it fails the customer will be dissatisfied. If the quality

exceeds expectations then the consumer will be delighted.

POST PURCHASE ACTION

A satisfied customer will have a higher probability of purchasing bed linen again from

Gul Ahmed. If the customer is highly satisfied it will not only increase the probability of

purchasing bed linen from Gul Ahmed but they will also say good things about the brand

to others. If the customer is dissatisfied then they will completely abandon the product or

even bad mouth it.

POST PURCHASE USE AND ACTION

If consumers dispose off the bed linen by giving it to someone then it would not be very

satisfying and the word of mouth would not be very strong and against Gul Ahmed. If

consumers use the bed linen then they would be very satisfied with their purchase and

would speak in favor of the brand.

THE BUYING DECISION PROCESS

Consumer decision making varies with the type of buying decision. The four types of

consumer buying behavior are complex buying behavior, variety seeking buying

behavior, dissonance reducing buying behavior and habitual buying behavior.

24

COMPLEXBUYING

BEHAVIOUR

DISSONANCEREDUCING

BUYINGBEHAVIOUR

VARIETY SEEKINGBUYING

BEHAVIOUR

HABITUAL BUYING

BEHAVIOUR

Significant differences between brands

Few differences between brands

High involvement Low involvement


Gul Ahmed has a dissonance reducing buyer behavior, which is characterized by high

involvement and few differences between brands. The purchase has high involvement

because stakes involved are high. When consumers purchase goods from Gul Ahmed the

goods are expensive, infrequent and risky. Consumers do not often engage in buying

home textiles like curtains and bed linens and personal wear very frequently as it is

expensive and involves considerable amount of risk. It would not be easy to dispose off

such items. Consumer would look at other competitors like AlKaram, Chenone, Nina or

Nishat Linen to learn what is available in the market before they make their purchase.

Consumers would then base their purchase on quality and convenience and go for Gul

Ahmed. After consumer has bought the product they might experience dissonance by

hearing others talking in favor of other brands or designs.

In such a case consumers should be supplied with sufficient beliefs and evaluations that

they feel good about making a purchase at Gul Ahmed. Gul Ahmed at present does not

supply consumers with considerable amounts of beliefs and evaluations. They engage in

print media advertising but sufficient amounts of information are not provided that would

make consumers feel contented about their purchase. They usually pay more emphasis

only on designs and not other aspects of the product. It does not adopt any such measures

that would make the buyer content of what they have purchased. The brand Gul Ahmed

itself means quality but consumers often tend to ignore it since its not highlighted or

stressed upon.

Recommendations:

Gul Ahmed should advertise home textiles in magazines because the class that they cater these products to prefer magazines or as an alternate strategy they can advertise on television in between news intervals. They can use television to advertise their personal wear which is aimed at all the classes they cater to.

Gul Ahmed can pay more emphasis on advertising as this is the way they can make consumers feel contented of what they have purchased.

Since excellent quality and unique designs are its USP they should try to highlight

both these aspects very strongly in their advertisements, for example Gul Ahmed fabric is longer lasting than its competitors. They can focus on the quality certifications they have received like ISO 9001 ISO 9002, etc to make consumers feel good about their purchase decision.

25


If a market challenger such as Chenone which is also in the business of selling home

textile and personal fabrics, starts advertising heavily and giving something that the consumers would value, consumers would not feel contented so Gul Ahmed will need to dominate through reminder advertisements and making consumers believe that they have made the right choice.

They can educate consumers about the harmful effects poor quality fabric can cause to their skin so consumers feel secure and confident about their purchase.

26


MODULE 3

GUL AHMED’S COMPETITIVE STRATEGIES

27


28


INDUSTRY ANALYSIS:

Porter’s 5 forces Model that determines segments structural attractiveness is given below:

Threat of Rivalry:

Gul Ahmed Textile Mills (GATML) is Pakistan’s leading exporter of Home Textiles

including bed linen, curtains & fabric and also manufactures ‘lawn’ fabric for the

domestic market. It is the market leader and its market share is about 42% in terms of

sales as compared to other competitors.

Its competitors include:

1. Ninas

2. Nishat

3. Al-Karam

4. Chen-One

All the competitors are very well recognized and are strong market players. Amongst all

the competitors Gul Ahmed holds the edge as far as the technology, expertise and

facilities are concerned.

The industry is growing rapidly though. Many small to medium size

textiles are coming up as a result of deregulation. So competition is

increasing.

There are product differences as well along the lines of design patterns

and quality.

Threat of new Entrants:

Entry barriers are high where as exit barriers are also high in the textile industry.

There fore profit potential is high as well but at the same time there are risks

associated with the industry as well .The current market players are very well

entrenched and they all have established brand identities as a result they enjoy profits,

it is for these reasons new entrants must make sure that they start performing well

right from the start otherwise they may have to stay and fight it out which may

ultimately result into winding up of their businesses.

29


Threat of Substitute Products:

There are no real substitutes of cotton yarn, linen and curtains.

Bargaining Power of Suppliers:

There is differentiation along the lines of exclusive designs and colors and style, therefore

the bargaining power of buyers are low because market offers them the products of all

sorts of quality and designs and if they are quality conscious then they will think hard

before switching which means that cost of switching is high which in turn makes their

bargaining power low.

Threat Of Suppliers:

The suppliers of raw materials are large in numbers and they are scattered and not

organized either which makes their buying power low. There are many small cottage

industries operating both Nationally and Internationally.

Analysis of Industry based upon Porter’s model:

It seems as if the industry’s structural attractiveness is High with risks associated for the

new players which means that the industry is lucrative provided if planning and

implementation is done successfully & effectively.

Exit barriers

LOW HIGH

Low stable returns Low, risky return

High, stable returns High, risky return

30

LOW

HIGH

Entry barriers


When both entry and exit barriers are high, profit potential is high but firms face more

risk because poorer performing firms stay in and fight it out and incase of failure, they

ultimately have to wind up as a result of losses.

DEGREE OF DIFFERENTIATION AMONGST COMPETITORS:

The industry structure type is Differentiated Oligopoly because the competitors

producing textile related products differentiate their products only partially along lines of

quality, styling and colors. For instance Gul Ahmed enjoys superior quality and exclusive

design. Their differentiation is also personnel based as they have employed 4 French

designers so that they are able to conceive different and exclusive designs in order to get

a competitive edge over their competitors.

CUSTOMER VALUE ANALYSIS:

Customer Value = Customer Benefits – Customer Costs

The above equation tells us that keeping customer benefits higher or keeping customer

costs lower will result in value for the customers.

Gul Ahmed provide the customers with benefits such as:

1) Exclusive designs.

2) Superior quality

3) Variety

For such benefits they charge higher prices but at the same time they make sure that the

total customer costs (which include all the costs associated with the product) incurred in

order to get those benefits would not exceed the costs that the competitors offer to the

customers.

COMPETITIVE STRATEGIES:

Gul Ahmed textile Mills is Pakistan’s first textile manufacturing company. It has always

been the dominant force in the market. Gul Ahmed has the largest market share in the

relevant product market and usually leads the firms in new product introductions.

31


This is the only textile mill which has its own power generation unit courtesy of Gul

Ahmed Energy Limited. The company has always opted for market “leader strategy”

because of many “firsts” to their credit.

Very recent example would be that of their new curtains that have a lining that is

coated to block the rays of the Sun. They believe in research and development and

have a team that is constantly looking for ways to improve the product and be

innovative.

Another competitive move by Gul Ahmed was the opening of the retail store

“Ideas” in Karachi that sells the complete range of Gul Ahmed manufactured

products and other products that enhance the feature of the complete household

store.

Despite of these innovations Gul Ahmed has always experienced competition

from the likes of Al-Karam group and Chen One.

ATTACK STRATEGY: Gul Ahmed attack their competitors through by pass

attack. They by pass their enemy by not taking part in the competition instead

either they improve the product quality of their existing products or they opt for

related or unrelated market diversification which again both in the short and

long run consolidates their position as a market leader and which also supports

their main competitive strategy that is the “market leader strategy”. A practical

example for the practice of this strategy was when they began to loose their

market share for their lawn clothing back in 2002 to Al-Karam they launched

women’s matching purses which was a new idea as a result they were able to

regain their market share. They believe in constant expanding of the total market

by launching innovative and new products in their existing product lines and by

expanding their product width as well. By doing that they manage to keep their

market share intact.

DEFENSE STRATEGY: Gul Ahmed follows position defense strategy incase of

attacks which works for Gul Ahmed because they already have a well recognized

brand so that is the reason they play around more with their brand image incase of

competitor attacks in order to sustain and prosper.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

32


Currently they have only one retail out let which is in Karachi. They should open

one such outlet in every other major city. This would be a strategic move and

would give them an edge over competitors and would help them in order to

establish their position as a market leader. The advantage of a manufacturer’s

retailer out let is that it keeps customers closer to the manufacturing firm and

customer’s value added feedback gets to the think tank directly, quickly and

cheaply. Another advantage of this move will be the enhancement of brand

position and brand recall in the eyes of the consumers.

They can diversify in to another unrelated business of wool knitting which

involves the manufacturing of sweaters and cardigans from wool. Since they have

the capacity to establish knitting units as their current capacity of 8 composite

units are under utilized. They import lot of dyes and chemicals which are also the

raw materials required for knitting so may be they can diversify in to business of

ladies sweaters by manufacturing stylish sweaters and cardigans of exclusive

colors, design and patterns and quality.

They should concentrate more on cutting the costs of doing business. The Chinese

textile sector has only 3% wastage as compared to Pakistan which has about 10%

wastage which is a significant difference and due to which costs of doing business

goes up considerably which means less profits for the textile firms so an

opportunity lies in this area for all the textile firms to improve upon their wastages

by utilizing the raw materials for maximum usage. Any firm which would be able

to reduce their wastage cost would become a market leader in Pakistan textile

industry.

Another strategic marketing move could be a Full Line Strategy. They can offer

their customers to do one stop buying. For instance along with the quilt covers or

bed sheets they can offer matching curtains and matching cushion covers and

mats as well. In that case suppose if a person wants to buy only a bed sheet he or

she would be compelled to buy other matching products as well.

The Preemptive Defense strategy should be used in conjunction with the by pass

attack strategy so that on one end they can diversify and on the other hand they

33


can attack the weaknesses of other competitors and their products by keeping all

their competitors on the back foot and off balance.

In order to bring new designs and to create competitive differentiation they have

hired 4 French designers so that they are able to provide new ideas which itself is

a strategic move. May be they should higher more of such designers preferably

one each from other parts of the world in order to conceive new designs and to

bring new perspectives in the textile competition.

34


MODULE 4

Value Definition

35


36


arket segmentation is an effort to increase a company’s precision

marketing. Gul Ahmed believes that they are here to serve the quality

conscious customers. . Gul Ahmed presumably understands their

customer’s needs so well that their customers willingly pay a

premium. The reasons why Gul Ahmed is doing so well in the market is because of these

following reasons:

M The customers’ that they are serving have a distinct set of needs. They will pay a

premium that best satisfies their needs.

Their selected market segment has all the qualities to be useful. They are, measurable,

substantial, accessible, differentiable and actionable.

37

Criteria for Effective Segmentation

Slide 72

MeasurabilityMeasurability

AccessibilityAccessibilityDifferentialResponsiveness

DifferentialResponsiveness

SubstantialnessSubstantialnessDurabilityDurability


SEGMENTATION

Variables Major Segmentation for GUL AHMED TEXTILE MILLS

Geographic

Region

Density

Climate

Demographic

Age

Gender

Income

Social class

Psychographics

Lifestyle

Personality

Behavioral

Benefits

Loyalty status

Pakistan & Foreign

Urban

Summers

18 -45

Male, Female

25000 Rs. , 75000 Rs.

Middle Class, Upper Middle and Lower Uppers

Culture Oriented

Self expressive

Quality, Exclusive designs

Medium

38


Value definition:

VALUE PROPOSITION:

Target customers: quality conscious customers

Benefits: Quality, Exclusive designs

Price : 10 % premiuim

Vaule proposition: elegant designs and quality at a moderate premiuim price

MARKETING TARGETING:

n evaluating different market segments, Gul Ahmed looked at two factors: the segment’s overall attractiveness and its objectives and resources. I

Selecting the market segments:

SELECTIVE SPECIALIZATION:

Gul Ahmed does targeting by selective specialization in which it has selected a number of

segments, each objectively and appropriate. This multi segment strategy gives Gul

Ahmed the advantage of diversification of risks. For the middle class segment which is

their major segment they offer unstitched cloth pieces for clothes, curtains, quilts and bed

sheets through their retailers. Where as for upper middle and lower upper segment they

offer completely finished products such as ready made suits, curtains, quilts etc.

Differentiation

Customer perception does not always occur at the conscious level. If you ask a customer

why he or she bought a product, they usually give a rational answer. But, feelings about

products are not easily articulated. They are emotional, and based on a relationship.

Marketing research is a device we use to probe into the sub-consciousness to uncover

what is driving buying decisions.

39


To have the strength to deliver superior perceived quality, a brand has to address many

elements of consumer perception and demand. Gul Ahmed has arranged a member of

products that can be differentiated in quality, design and functionality as well. (For

instance their new curtains which has this lining to block sun rays)

POSITIONING STATEMENT: INDULGE YOURSELF IN THE VIBRANT COLORS, ELEGANT EMBROIDERY AND ULTIMATE EXPERIENCE

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Gul Ahmed currently has a confused positioning. This is because people have a

concept in their minds that Gul Ahmed manufactures fabrics for ladies where as

they are into Men’s clothing as well. They also manufacture curtain upholstery

and bed linen. For these products, the awareness is not there. According to

concepts of marketing, there’s a constant need to spread awareness to potential

customers, develop a liking towards it and finally trigger the purchase.

Their positioning statement reflects only about their clothing related products.

What we recommend is that they should make one position statement each for all

of their product categories and in devising such statements they must make sure

that the statement links the product to the Brand name of Gul Ahmed.

They can target women segment by associating certain designs or certain colors

for different occasions. For example of Birthday parties: they can offer colorful

clothes. For newly wedded women they can offer bright color clothes. For Office

going : simpler but stylish clothes.

They can take advantage of the winters by setting up a knitting plant which

involves the manufacturing of sweaters and cardigans from wool. Since they have

the capacity to establish knitting units as their current capacity of 8 composite

units are under utilized. They import lot of dyes and chemicals which are also the

raw materials required for knitting so may be they can diversify in to business of

ladies sweaters by manufacturing stylish sweaters and cardigans of exclusive

colors, design and patterns and quality which would be a whole new segment for

them.

40


MODULE 5

VALUE CREATION

41


Product Line Management

Gul Ahmed manufactures curtains, fabric materials for personal wear, beddings, kitchen

items, bath accessories and home furniture items. They offer bridal packages which

consist of luxurious beddings and accessories.

Gul Ahmed Textile Mills Ltd. has its own retail outlet at Clifton in Karachi called IDEAS

which provides the complete line of products for three categories namely home, gifts and

personal wear. Below is a figure that shows what the Ideas store offers to its customers in

the home products segment.

Home Products Mix

Branding

The dynamic nature of the highly competitive marketplace requires a marketing strategy

to the ever changing environment for textile and apparel companies. Global branding

appears as a crucial strategy for companies in the textiles supply chain. Brands provide

not only a sole identification to the product, but provide a symbolic meaning to the

consumers who play a critical role in the success of the product. As competition becomes

more intense, brand identity with a deep impact on the mind of customer means

everything for textile companies. The impact should be such that the brand becomes a

noun. This is similar to the case where people speak of Xeroxing a document or Fedexing

a package.

42

BeddingAdultsKids & TeensInfantsBed BasicsCushion Covers

KitchenTable coverTable matNapkinsApronBreadbasketPotholderGlovesTea cozy

BathTowelsBath robesBath matsShower curtains

FurnitureAdult seatsChildren seats

HomeProducts Depth


“Customer is the mirror of your marketing efforts.”

How strongly a company builds it’s brand image is dependant on the value that the

consumers receive. More the value received, higher is the brand equity going to be. The

behavior of customers towards a certain brand then reflects how well or bad a company’s

marketing efforts have been. Following are six points that are linked to a brand.

Attributes

ValueBenefits

UserPersonality

Culture

43


44

POTENTIAL

AUGMENTED

EXPECTED

BASIC

CORE

Textile and Fabric.

Basic product provides bedding, personal wear, kitchen bath accessories, etc.

Provides depth in its products, which is variety. Customers get what they desire.

Providing the IDEAS shopping experience, a retail outlet of the company. Augmentation with bridal packages.

Gul Ahmed is constantly working with its French designers to bring in the latest designs for their customers.


Pricing

At Gul Ahmed, perceived value pricing is being practiced. They do not compromise on

quality and provide superior products to the market. The image created by the company is

very good as customers recognize that the fabric they purchase from Gul Ahmed is not

paralleled by any other company. So they perceive this a value. Gul Ahmed sees to it that

they provide relevance. Therefore this enables them to charge a higher price for their

product. After all, companies are for the purpose of making profits.

Gul Ahmed operates in the international market. They earn revenues in currencies other

than the Pakistani rupee. Although they target the same income levels on a scale, being in

different countries when they convert it into rupee accounts, their profits are higher

compared to operations in Pakistan. We should keep in mind that even though majority of

the people in an international market may have higher levels per capita income but there

are people in Pakistan who have still higher per capita incomes. Levels of income are

classified on basis of a scale and it is this scale that Gul Ahmed targets wherever it

operates for its products.

45


Distribution

Gul Ahmed uses the vertical marketing system (VMS). It plays the

roles of the producer, wholesaler and retailer. This concept can be

seen in the starting of the company-owned retail outlet IDEAS.

They produce the goods themselves and have an arrangement to get it to the customers

without much involvement of others in between. Another practice that is going on for

distribution is that products of Gul Ahmed are bought by individual retailers in the textile

market who then sell them to the local customers.

As Gul Ahmed also operates in the international market, it has its agents abroad who

carry out these responsibilities. They even change the name of their product in different

regions like the ‘Indus Valley Cotton’ in Europe.

Recommendation

Currently Gul Ahmed has a promotion going on the ‘Bridal Collection’ under which

customers can win discounts and other gifts. If Gul Ahmed reduces prices on all its

products, one consequence is that profit margin would fall. Personal wear fabrics have

little higher sales compared to curtains and home furniture items that are not bought so

often. There is no point in reducing the price because the consumers will not buy in large

volumes because as time goes by, designs, fashion and trends change and consumers will

not prefer to wear old fashioned clothes. Incase of competition with others in the market,

Gul Ahmed should not reduce prices even though cheaper imitations are available in the

market.

Using the Vertical Marketing System, Gul Ahmed reduces the unnecessary involvement

that would lead to “Channel Conflicts”, extra cost and as every person in between would

try to maximize his own profit before the product reaches the final consumer.

46


MODULE 6

VALUE COMMUNICATION

47


MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS:

Advertising is any paid form of non personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods,

and services by an identified sponsor. The advertising department is usually apart of each

firms infrastructure. Their job is to propose a budget; develop advertising strategy:

approve ads and campaigns, and handle direct mail advertisements and other form of

advertising. Gul Ahmed uses an outside agency to help create an advertising campaign

and to select and purchase a media which varies from country to country.

The advertising program involves making five major decisions known as “the five Ms”

1. Mission: What are the advertising objectives

2. Money: How much can be spent?

3. Message: What message should be sent?

4. Media: What media should be used?

5. Measurement: How should the results be evaluated.

Setting the objectives

This is based on the target audience, marketing positioning and the marketing mix.

The company can choose from the following objectives

MISSION

1. Informative: aim is to create awareness and knowledge of new products

2. Persuasive: Aims to create liking , preference, conviction and purchase

3. Reminder: To stimulate repeat purchase

4. Reinforcement: To convince current purchasers they have made the right choice

Setting the budget:

Advertising is really an investment that builds up an intangible asset called ‘brand equity’

This is based on the following factors

MONEY

48


1. Stages in the product lifecycle: New products need heavy advertisement budget to

gain awareness

2. Market. share and consumer base: This is done to increase market share which

requires a large budget

3. Competition and clutter: If the brand faces heavy competition then it must

advertise on the same level in order to stand out.

4. Advertising frequency: the number of repitions needed to put across the brands

message to consumers requires a higher advertising budget.

5. Product substitutability: Brands in a commodity based class require heavy ads in

order to establish a differential image.

Gleamed has set its advertising budget according to the sales of the product which means

that product which has a high demand will be allocated the largest budget.

Messages must be effective in order to capture the audiences attention this involves four

major steps;

Message generation: must be creative and relevant to the target customers.

The more ads that are independently created the higher the profitability of

finding an excellent one. Yet, the more time spent on creation the higher the

costs.

Evaluation and selection: a good ad generally focuses on one core selling

proposition. Here market research must be conducted in order to determine

which ad works best with the target audience. Once this is done a creative

brief must be prepared which is usually an elaboration of the positioning

statement. This includes key message, target audience, communication

objective. Benefits to promise support to benefits.

Message execution: The message impact depends on how the message is

executed .this can either be done by rational positioning or emotional

positioning.

Any message can be presented in a number of execution styles: slice of life,

lifestyle, fantasy, mood or image, technical expertise, scientific evidence and

testimonial.

49


Gul Ahmed usually advertises on the basis of emotional positioning with the

slogan

“IDEAS THAT MAKE A HOME”

This emotional communication strategy is further elaborated by assuring the

customers of classy, exclusive and special designs made by Gul Ahmed.

Social responsibility review: the company must make sure it does not violate any

social and legal norms. Some companies build ad campaigns on a platform of

responsibility. Gul Ahmed does not violate any social norms; in fact it takes

careful consideration to cater to the needs of the different culture segments it

targets. It also looks makes sure it operations are environmental friendly and that

it takes care of employees as well as customer safety.

Deciding on media and measuring effectiveness:

This involves finding the most cost effective media to deliver the desired message

to the target audience. The steps include;

1. Choosing the media based on desired reach, frequency and impact.

2. Choosing among major types :

50


PROFILES OF MAJOR MEDIA TYPES

Medium Advantages Limitations

NewspapersFlexibility; timeliness; good local market coverage; broad acceptability; high believability

Short life; poor reproduction quality; small pass-along audience

Television

Good mass market coverage; low cost per exposure; combines sight, sound, and motion; appealing to the senses

High absolute costs; high clutter; fleeting exposure; less audience selectivity

Direct mail

High audience selectivity; flexibility; no ad competition within the same medium; allows personalization

Relatively high cost per exposure; “junk mail” image

RadioGood local acceptance; high geographic and demographic selectivity; low cost

Audio only, fleeting exposure; low attention (the half-heard” medium); fragmented audiences

Magazines

High and demographic selectivity; credibility and prestige; high-quality reproduction; long life and good pass-along readership

Long ad purchase lead time; high cost; no guarantee of position

Outdoor

Flexibility; high repeat exposure; low cost; low message competition; good positional selectivity

Little audience selectivity, creative limitations

OnlineHigh selectivity; low cost; immediacy; interactive capabilities

Small, demographically skewed audience; relatively low impact; audience controls exposure

51


3. selecting specific media vehicles

4. deciding on media timings

5. deciding on geographical media allocation

Advertisements: Gul Ahmed uses a combination of print media and electronic media. It

focuses more on print media egg. Women’s magazines because it can be viewed more

clearly compared to television ads. Billboards are also a very important media for

advertising. They are installed at the airports. Apart form this nowadays Gul Ahmed is

using radio to promote the Bridal campaign.

Then the results of these decisions must be evaluated. Evaluation can be done by:

1. Communication effect research: this is done before the ad is put into print media

done to check if the communication is done effectively.

2. Consumer feedback: Involves asking the consumers for their reaction to an ad.

3. Portfolio tests: consumers are told to view ads and recall the details. Recall level

indicates the ads ability to stand out.

4. Laboratory tests: Use equipment to measure physiological reactions. This

measures attention getting power.

SALES PROMOTION:

Sales promotion consists of a diverse collection of incentive tools, mostly short term

designed to stimulate quicker or greater purchases of a particular product or service by

consumers. This is an incentive provided to the customers to purchase the product. Gul

Ahmed does sales promotion by using one major tool

1. Home card

Ideas introduce Home Card an exclusive service to reward special customers. By being

Ideas Home member, customers can avail discounts besides earning points on every

purchase. It introduces them to the world of innovative Ideas® where they may enjoy

exclusive benefits and a variety of services. :

52


By visiting Ideas® store for an exclusive range of fresh deals they can avail 10% discount

on purchases of Rs.5000 or above with your Home card.

Free Forever

enjoys the benefits of the Home Card free of charge, as there is no joining or annual fee.

Earn points

Gul.Ahmed offers an amazing Reward Program that lets customers earn points while

shopping through the Home Card. Every time they spend Rs.5000/- they get one point.

These points are accumulated in a balance. This can be redeemed for fabulous products

of choice as per following schedule.

Points Rewards

10 Shopping of Rs.500/=

25 Shopping of Rs.1,250/=





This card also has the feature of free delivery of Ideas Gift Voucher with a

complimentary flower bouquet to a loved one as a gift.

PUBLIC REALTIONS

– Building good relations with the Company’s various publics by obtaining Favorable

publicity, building up a good ‘Corporate image’ and handling or Heading off favorable

rumors, stories and events.

The different types of tools used for PR

Are as follows

Publications

Events

53


Sponsorship

News

Speeches

Public – service

Identity media

Most companies have a public relations department that monitors the attitudes of the

organization’s publics and distributes information and communication to build goodwill.

The best Pr departments spend counseling top management to adopt positive programs

and to eliminate questionable practices to so that negative publicity does not arise in the

first place. They perform the following functions:

o Press relations

o Product Publicity

o Corporate communication

o Lobbying

o Counseling

SALES FORCE MANAGEMENT: Gul Ahmed is a firm that believes in sales force

management with courteous, informed and well groomed sales force. As they place

importance on a sales force that not only knows about the tactics of selling but also is

presentable and can communicate to the customers. The following procedure should be

followed to ensure effective selling of the product.

54

Major Steps in Effective Communication


Prospecting and qualifying

Pre approach

Approach

Presentation and demonstration

Overcoming Objectives

Closing

Follow-up and maintenance

55


RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE MARKETING COMMUNICATION

1. Gul Ahmed is a global Co. that uses a large number of advertising agencies

located in different countries due to which they may never become a complete

internationalized brand as they may be suffering from uncoordinated advertising

and image diffusion.

2. They have launched a successful product in France under the name ‘Indus Cotton’

and could have added to the brand equity of ‘Gul Ahmed’ .However, no link was

made with the corporate brand name hence its success had no such impact on the

name ‘Gul Ahmed’ .A good recommendation here would be to integrate the

promotional campaign by selling Indus Cotton under the corporate brand name

Gul Ahmed.

3. Also Gul Ahmed tries to match designs and patterns with the culture of its target

customers .Thus, they can launch their campaign in such a way that makes the

customer realize they care for their individual needs and preferences. However,

This can only be done I they internationalize the brand with a standard advertising

program worldwide. The result would be a more integrated and effective marketing

communications and a much lower total communication costs.

4. Another integrated strategy that could be adopted by Gul Ahmed is of hiring a

chief of communicator officer (CCO) in addition to a chief information officer

(CIO).The CCO would supervise advertising, sales promotion, public relations

and direct marketing. The aim being to establish the right mix, allocate the right

budget and to make sure the advertising agency communicates the objective. This

however, involves constant communication with the CIO to fulfill the overall aim

of integration.

Gul Ahmed must follow the proper procedure of advertising

For instance: (follow the 5 m’S)

56


1. Mission : the firm must have an objective, at the launch of a new

clothing line for each season they could opt for informative advertising or

reminder adverting. The same could be applied with their other product range as

most of their products are classified as dissonance reducing buying behavior,

Gul Ahmed can use reinforcement advertising as an objective, to reassure the

consumers they have made the right and reduce the post purchase dissonance.

2. Money : This includes the budget; Gul Ahmed allocates this

expense in proportion to the popularity of the product in terms of highest sales

per unit. However, these products already have a high demand and do not

require heavy advertisements .Therefore; it may gain more by advertising

according to the competition intensity so that all their products can be heard

from the rest.

3. Message : Generation: Conduct market research to determine

which appeal works best with target audience. A creative brief must be

established that elaborates on the positioning statement which is quality and

exclusiveness and must be approved by the whole team. Gul Ahmed is a

socially responsible company and can use this fact of being one of the main

textile companies in Pakistan not engaged in child labor as they have a policy of

no employment under 18. Also it can base it advertisements on the fact that they

are environmental friendly and take care of their customers’ safety. All these

messages have not been used by Gul Ahmed and may prove to be strong

strategies. Execution: since Gul Ahmed is using the emotional appeal in most

of its communication it can even advertise some of its products based on the

rational appeal regarding the fact that they aim for excellence in terms of quality

and have been awarded Maintenance of Quality Systems on the guidelines of

ISO 9000 series of standards.

4. Message Execution: The ad must say something positive about the

product. Gul Ahmed must have a theme and a creative copy.

57


THEME CRAETIVE COPY

Our clothing line is made of cloth ‘cloth that lasts forever’Of the best quality being long-lasting

Unique designs ‘because your special’

Must have an impact with a proper slogan

5. Media : Gul Ahmed prefers the magazine or radio and even billboard as they

would like to minimize costs in terms of wastage of recourses .Hence, in order to

stay competitive they must update this approach . Keeping their objective in mind

a cost effective way to add to this approach would be e-marketing. This has very

littlie costs and can be personalized to build customer relationship (creating strong

brand loyalty) e.g. has an up-to-date customer data base with the names and

details of regular customers and remembering their birthdays or anniversary etc.

Also they must offer a strong incentive for customers to read the email for instance

instant sweep stakes. Also a major flaw in their advertising campaign is that they

have used the radio for the bridal campaign this is a medium used to target low

income group segment and cover large areas. Hence, here their advertisement is not

consistent with the image that they are trying to create with this camping that is of

specialty and exclusiveness. They should just use magazines and brochures to

maintain the exclusivity communicated.

Sales promotion: Gul Ahmed does this by the home card that gives customers a 10%

discount on purchases of Rs.5000. here the recommendation would be that Gul

Ahmed keeps sales promotion to a minimum as it is a short term incentive and is

mostly used for new products and has the effect of diminishing the image of the firm,

represent decline in the product quality. Which is something Gul Ahmed should not

risk as their main aim is to gain customers through the good quality feature.

58


Other ways to improve the advertising campaign can be done through

public relations for instance

They can opt for catalog marketing by having special catalogs for their different product

lines. They can further enhance this feature by telesales: taking orders from catalogs this

can also be used to answer quires and build customer relationship. Gul Ahmed should

turn to marketing public relations (MPR) to directly support corporate or product

promotion and image making. MPR serves the marketing department. The old name was

publicity done to create hype about the product However MPR goes beyond simple

publicity and plays an important role in the following tasks:

1. Assisting in launching of new products

2. Assisting in re- positioning a mature product

3. Building interest in a product category

4. Influencing specific target groups

5. Defending products that have encountered public problems

6. Building the corporate image in a way that reflects favorably on its products

By using this method the company can build awareness and brand knowledge for both

new and old products, it can also be used to communicate to locals and reach specific

target groups and is done at a fraction of the cost of advertising.

Gul Ahmed is takes its social responsibility toward the environment and

unprivileged seriously these actions can be used to build a strong brand

image .Hence it should be communicated to the customers.

Finally, the can also opt for arranging for small scale fashion shows in

popular malls like Park Towers, the Forum to encourage instant sales or

even have exhibitions at hotels like Marriot and PC.

6. Measurement : The campaign executed must be evaluated so that mistakes are not

repeated. This can be done by either of the two methods communication effect

research or sales effect research.

SALES FORCE MANAGEMNT

59


Gul Ahmed has training sessions for all sales representatives at the retail shop

‘Ideas’. However, if the basic principles of personal selling are followed by each

employee then it may add more value than its competitors and result in increased

sales.

Improving sales force effectiveness involves the following steps:

1. training in selling techniques and sales professionalism:

Sales training approach is done to covert a sale person from a passive order taker into

an active order getter. Gul Ahmed can use the customer-orientated approach in which

training is done to solve the customer problem. The sales representative learns to

listen and question the customer in order to identify customer needs and come up with

product solutions.

2. Prospecting and qualifying:

Identify opportunities which must be done on a large scale by the company rather

than the salesmen, so that they can concentrate on what they do the best: selling

3. Approach:

The sales rep. must start the relationship on a positive level with the customer. The

opening line is important and for Gul Ahmed it could be “Aslam –u-u alakum I am.If

you need any help or are looking for anything in particular then don’t hesitate to ask.”

4. Presentation and demonstration:

Too often salesmen waste time by emphasizing on the importance of the product

features rather than the product benefits e.g. he can stress on the quality of Gul

Ahmed rather then the product. Here the need satisfaction approach can be used in

which the customer’s real need is identified e.g. save money, good quality he can then

help the customer to find the right product.

5. Overcoming objectives:

Psychological resistance can be reduced by the following steps

60


Maintain a positive approach

Identifying the objective

Deny the validity or turn the objection into a reason for buying the product

6. Closing: Must be able to recognize the closing signs including physical actions,

statements, comments and questions.

7. Follow- up: Is important if the sales person wants to ensure customer. satisfaction

and repeat business e.g. sending a post purchase thank you card

Gul Ahmed must follow all these steps in order to ensure effective training.

Also it has only one retail outlet in Ideas with these trained representatives.

However the other retail stores that have Gul Ahmed’s product lines could

also be provided with trained sales rep or Gul .Ahmed could offer free training

for their products only. This way they will become more competitive and will

upgrade the buying experience for the customer.

61

Gul Ahmed

Documents

mother daughter

vertical marketing

home furniture

purchasing

cloth manufacturing

sales force

ideas retail

gul ahmed