A STUDY ON

IMPACT OF CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT ON

CAR BUYERS W.R.T LEADING CAR BRANDS

A Project Submitted to

University of Mumbai for partial completion of

Bachelor of Management Studies

SUBMITTED BY
UNMEKH PRAKASH SANAS

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF

PROF. UZMA KHAN

STERLING COLLEGE OF ARTS, COMMERCDE & SCIENCE

NERUL, NAVI MUMBAI

MARCH 2022

STERLING COLLEGE OF ARTS, COMMERCDE & SCIENCE

PLOT NO. 43, SECTOR 19, NERUL (EAST)
NAVI MUMBAI – 400706
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Mr. Unmekh Prakash Sanas has worked and duly completed his
Project Work for the degree of Bachelor of Management Studies under the Faculty

of Commerce in the subject of Marketing, and his project is “IMPACT OF CUSTOMER

RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT ON CAR BUYERS W.R.T LEADING CAR
BRANDS” under my supervision.

I further certify that the entire work has been done by the learner under my guidance and that
no part of it has been submitted previously for any Degree or Diploma of any University.

It is his own work and facts reported by his personal findings and investigations.

Name and Signature of Guiding Teacher

(Prof. Uzma Khan)

Date of Submission:
 DECLARATION

I the undersigned Mr. Unmekh Prakash Sanas here by, declare that the work embodied in
this project work titled “IMPACT OF CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT
ON CAR BUYERS W.R.T LEADING CAR BRANDS” forms my own contribution to the
research work carried out under the guidance of PROF. UZMA KHAN is a result of my own
research and work and has not been previously submitted to any other University for any
other Degree/ Diploma to this or any other University. Wherever reference has been made to
previous works of others, it has been clearly indicated such and included bibliography.

I, here by as further declare that all in the information of this document has been obtained and
presented in accordance with academic rules end ethical conduct.

Name and Signature of the learner

Certified by

Name and signature of the Guiding Teacher

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

To list who all have helped me is difficult because they are so numerous and the depth is so
enormous.

I would like to acknowledge the following as being idealistic channels and fresh dimensions
in the completion of this project.

I take this opportunity to thank the University of Mumbai for giving me chance to do this
project.

I would like to thank my Principal _____________ for providing the necessary facilities
required for completion of this project.

I take this opportunity to thank our Coordinator___________., for his moral support and
guidance.

I would also like to express my sincere gratitude towards my project guide Prof. Uzma Khan
whose guidance and care made the project successful.

I would like to thank my College Library, for having provided various reference books and
magazines related to my project.

Lastly, I would like to thank each and every person who directly or indirectly helped me in
the completion of the project especially my Parents and Peers who supported me throughout
my project.
 INDEX

SR TITLE PAGE
NO NO
1 INTRODUCTION 06

2 OBJECTIVES 10

3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 28

4 COMPANY PROFILE 63

5 DATA ANALYSIS 68

6 FINDINGS OF THE STUDY 83

7 CONCLUSION 85

8 REFERENCE 87

9 QUESTIONNAIRE 89

10 BIBLIOGRAPHY 93
 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is to create a competitive advantage

by being the best at understanding, communicating, delivering, and developing
existing customer relationships, in addition to creating and keeping new
customers. It has emerged as one of the largest management buzzwords.
Popularised by the business press and marketed by the aggressive CRM vendors
as a panacea for all the ills facing the firms and managers, it means different
things to different people. CRM, for some, means one to one marketing while for
others a call centre. Some call database marketing as CRM. There are many
others who refer to technology solutions as CRM. If so, what is CRM?

Merchants and traders have been practicing customer relationship for centuries.
Their business was built on trust. They could customize the products and all
aspects of delivery and payment to suit the requirements of their customers. They
paid personal attention to their customers, knew details regarding their customers
tastes and preferences, and had a personal rapport with most of them. In many
cases, the interaction transcended the commercial transaction and involved social
interactions. Even today, this kind of a relationship exists between customers and
retailers, craftsmen, artisans – essentially in markets that are traditional, small and
classified as pre-industries markets.

These relationship oriented practices have changed due to industrial revolution.

Businesses adopted mass production, mass communication and mass distribution
to achieve economics of scale. Manufactures started focusing on manufacturing
and efficient operations to cut costs. Intermediaries like distributors, wholesalers
and retailers took on the responsibilities of warehousing, transportation,
distribution and sale to final customers. This resulted in greater efficiencies and
lower costs to manufacturers but brought in many layers between them and the
customers. The resulting gap reduced direct contacts and had a negative impact
on their relationships. The post-industrial era saw the re-emergence of
relationship practices. Marketing academicians.
(a) Rapid advances in technology,

(b) Intensive competition in most markets,

(c) Growing importance of the service sector, and

(d) Adoption of total quality management programs

Technological Advancement More information, communication and production

technologies have helped marketers come closer to their customers. Firms
operating in diverse sectors ranging from packaged goods to services started
using these technologies to know their customers, learn more about them, and
then build stronger bonds with them through frequent interactions. Marketers
could gain knowledge about customers, which helped them respond to their needs
through manufacturing, delivery, and customer service. Technology also enabled
ordering and product-use related services.

Though the emergence of CRM in recent times coincided with the information
age, one must remember that technology is just an enabler. Technology enabled
marketers overcome several long-felt shortcomings of mass marketing. Some of
these included: - Inefficiencies of mass marketing: 1980s and early 1990s
witnessed some of the most radical business transformations that resulted in cost
reductions in almost all functional departments except marketing. Manufacturing
and related operations costs were reduced through business process
reengineering, human resource costs were reduced through outsourcing,
restructuring and layoffs, financial costs were reduced through financial
reengineering but marketing costs kept increasing due to increased competition
and product parity in virtually every industry. - Lack of fast, effective and
interactive models of customer contact, feedback and information. - Lack of
consolidated information about customer interactions, purchase behaviour and
future potential.

Intensive Competition In competitive markets, especially the ones that were maturing
and witnessing slow or no growth, marketers found it more profitable to focus on their
existing customers. Studies have shown that it costs up to 10-12 times more to attract a
new customer than to retain an
existing customer. Marketers have now started focusing on the lifetime value of
customers. They are moving away from just trying to sell their products to
understanding, customers’ needs and wants and then satisfying their needs. This has led
to a relationship orientation which creates opportunities to cross sell products and
services over the lifetime of the customer.

Growing Importance of the Service Sector The service sector contributes to over
two-third of the GDP of most advanced economies. In India, the services sector
contributes to over 50 per cent of the economy. One of the characteristics of the
service industries is the direct interaction between the marketer and the buyer. In
services, the provider is usually involved in the production as well as delivery
directly. For example, professional service providers like a doctor or consultant
are directly involved in production as well as delivery of their services. Similarly,
the customers are directly involved in production in the purchase and
consumption of these services. These direct contacts create opportunities for
better understanding, a better appreciation of needs as well as constraints and
emotional bonding all of which facilitate relationship building. Therefore, it
should come as no surprise when you see the service firms pioneering many of
the customer relationship initiatives. Firms operating in the financial services,
hospitality business, telecom, and airlines are the early adopters and extensive
users of CRM practice.
CHAPTER 2

OBJECTIVE
 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

THE MAIN OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY ARE FOLLOWS

1.To understand the marketing strategies role of CRM over of luxurious car
segments (Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai and Tata)

2.To analyse the effectiveness of customer relationship management on luxurious

car segment.

3. To study the impact of customer relationship management on customer

retention in automobile sector and future explore the various companies.

4.To study the role of customer relationship management over Maruti Suzuki,
Hyundai and Tata.

5.To study various promotional imitative of CRM.

TESTING OF HYPOTHESES

While studying the performance evaluation of automobile industry with reference

to Maruti and Hyundai in Marathwada region, the following hypotheses were
considered by the researcher. The following 03 hypotheses are tested with the
help of statistical tools like ANOVA, Chi square test & Levene’s test.

Those hypotheses have been explained as follows:

H01: There is No Association between Price and Customer Satisfaction of the auto
products of both the auto companies i.e. Maruti, Hyundai, Tata.

H11: There is Positive Association Between Price and Customer Satisfaction of

the auto products of both the auto companies i.e. Maruti & Hyundai

H02: There is No Significant Association between Fuel efficiency and Demand for
the auto products of both the auto companies

H12 : There is Significant Association Between Fuel efficiency and Demand for
the auto products of both the auto companies

H03: Demand of Vehicle not Depend upon Resale Value

H13. Demand of Vehicle Depends upon Resale Value

Adoption of total Quality Management (TQM)

Programmes Total quality management programmes help companies offer

quality products and services to customers at the lowest prices. To enable this
value proposition, organizations needed to work closely with their customers,
intermediaries as well as suppliers thus fostering close working relationships with
members of the marketing system. Companies such as Intel, Xerox, and Toyota
formed partnering relationships with suppliers and customers to practice TQM.
Other developments such as an increase in the number of demanding customers,
increased fragmentation of markets, and generally high level of product quality
forced business to seek sustainable competitive advantages. A competitive
advantage is sustainable only when it is not easily replicated. One such
sustainable competitive advantage is the relationship that a firm develops with its
customers.
DEFINING CRM

The preceding discussions highlight the range of perspectives adopted by

researchers in understanding and explaining relationships. Similarly in marketing
literature, the terms customer relationship management and relationship
marketing have been used interchangeable to reflect a variety of themes and
perspectives. Some of these themes offer a narrow functional marketing
perspectives while others offer a perspective that is broad and somewhat
paradigmatic in approach and orientation. A narrow perspective of customer
relationship management is database marketing emphasizing the promotional
aspects of marketing linked to database efforts, another view point is to consider
CRM only as customer retention in which a variety of after marketing tactics are
used for customer bonding or staying in touch after the sale is done. A more
popular approach with recent application of information technology is to focus on
individual or one to one relationship with customer that integrates database
knowledge with a long-term customer retention and growth strategy. Jackson
applied the individual account concept in industrial market to suggest markets
CRM to mean, marketing oriented toward strong, lasting relationship with
individual accounts McKenna offered a more strategic view by putting the
customer first and shifting the role of marketing from manipulating the customer
(telling & selling) to genuine customer involvement (communicating & sharing
the knowledge). Berry, in a broader term stressed that attracting new customers
should be viewed only as intermediate step in the marketing process. Developing
closer relationships with this customer and turning them into loyal is an equally
important aspect of marketing. Thus, he defined relationship marketing as
attracting, maintaining, and, enhancing customer relationships. By focusing on
the value of interaction in marketing and its consequent impact on a customer
relationship, a broader perspective espouses that customer relationship should be
the dominant paradigm of marketing. As Gronroos stated: Marketing is to
establish, maintain and enhance relationship with customers and other partners, at
a profit, so that the objectives of the parties involved are met. This is achieved by
a mutual exchange and fulfilment of promises.
BENEFITS OF CRM

Customers are Profitable over a period of time Studies by the US-based Bain and
Company have shown that a customer becomes more profitable with time
because the initial acquisition cost exceeds gross margin while the retention costs
are much lower. When an organization retains the customer, it gets a larger share
of the customers wallet at a higher profit-one percent increase in sale to existing
customer increase profits by 17 per cent while the same amount of sale to new
customer increased profit by only 3 per cent. This huge different is explained by
the fact that for most companies the cost of acquiring the customer is very high. It
costs six to eight times more to sell to a new customer than to sell to an existing
one. The same study also highlighted that a company can boost its profit up 85
per cent by increasing its annual customer retention by only 5 per cent. Similarly,
studies have shown that the probability of selling a product to a prospect is 15 per
cent while it is 50 per cent to existing customer. Thus, the time, the effort and the
costs of selling are much lower for an existing customer.

Customer probability is Skewed An analysis of the revenue and profit

contribution of customer base of banks in the US, Europe and Australia showed
the following:

The top 20 per cent of the customers contribute to 150 per cent of the profits while the
bottom 20 per cent drain 50 per cent of the profits and the rest 60 per cent just break
even. Experiences of Indian organizations are on similar lines. In a large public sector
Banks, the top 23 per cent of the customers contribute to 77 per cent of the revenues.
Similarly, the top 27 per cent customers of a leading cellular phone service provider
contributes to 75 per cent of the revenues. The implication of such a skew in customer
profitability and revenue contribution are startling for organizations, which use to
conventionally treat all customers are equal . Competitors have to just lure these top
customers and the organization would face serious problems. It also highlights the fact
that one has to adopt different strategies for different customer groups Programmes
have to be developed to retain and build stronger bonds with the top gold standard
customers so that they do
not get poached Activity-Based Costing analysis has to be done with the middle
group of potentials so that the cost of serving this customer are reduced. In
addition, cross-selling and up selling should be done to increase the profitability
of these customers. An analysis of the bottom growth has to be done to identify
those customers who can be shifted to the potential group. For the remaining, the
cost of service has to reduce by encouraging them to use lower cost channels in
extreme cases, some of these customers will be encouraged to defect to
competitors. Outsourcing of loss-making customers to specialized low overhead
agencies is an emerging trend.
Marketing Benefits of CRM

CRM will gradually reduce organizations dependence on periodic surveys to

gather data. Collection of data related to buying and consumption behaviour will
be an ongoing process. In many cases, the transaction data is automatically
collected some times real time as in the e-commerce transaction. This rich
repository of customer information and knowledge updated through regular
interactions and actual customer transactions and purchase behaviour will help
marketers to develop and market customer centric products successfully.
Customized promotions-based customer preferences and purchase patterns will
substantially reduce the wasteful expenditure of mass communication and even
direct mailing. As a customized promotion are more focused and are based on a
deeper insight of existing customers, they have a greater chance of conversion to
sales.

Service Benefits of CRM Research findings conducted across industries as a part

of a Technical Assistance Research Project (TARP) indicate that: - 95 per cent of
the customers do not bother to complain, the just take their business else where.

- Most loyal customers take time to complain. This enables the product / service
provider to improve and ensure that such mistake do not recur. - A typical
dissatisfied customer will tell an average of 14 others about a bad experience
while she will tell only six about a satisfying experience with an organization. -
70 per cent of customers who complain will do business with a company again if
it quickly takes care of a service problem.
Emergence of Market Economy

In addition to the shift towards service, there is a global emergence of the market
economy. The power is more to the market as compare to the controlled
economy. Market regulation was in place all over the world including the US,
Europe, USSR, China and India. The 1990s witnessed acceleration in the
deregulation of many large industries including banking, telecommunications,
broadcasting and airlines across the world. As a result, market orientation firms
operating intensely competitive market now takes decision that was once
controlled by the government. The focus has shifted from capacity creation under
control to the markets. Market – oriented economy necessitated a customer focus
and boosted the importance of CRM.

Customer as Partner

In to-day’s world true relationship marketing practices require a fundamental shift

in Research Volume IV March 2012 SIBM 15 Volume IV March 2012 SIBM
attitude towards viewing the customer as a partner and a business asset to be
managed for long-term profitability. The sale should not be viewed either as a
conquest or as the end of the marketing process; rather it should be constructed as
the beginning of a relationship. The information technology, which includes the
telecommunications, data storage and retrieval technologies, and the World Wide
Web, have created a revolution that has shifted the business firm’s orientation
from production efficiency back to the customers’ needs. IT could draw the
customer closer to the company, build a relationship, and reduce the probability
of customer defection. With technology touching the way we live our lives,
expectations of individuals is fast changing. Just like television and the PC’s have
revolutionized our lives so is wireless communications, Internet and pervasive
computing going to affect our daily pattern of lives. Some trends that have
bearing on treating customers as partners can be seen as:

• More and more individuals will like to be treated as one single person rather
than as one among the masses.
• People wish products and services round the clock

• With abundance of product and service offerings, consumer’s loyalty can only
be commanded by providing better portfolio of services

. • Speed of response and understanding each individual one of the major key
issues

Technological Tools

The application of technology is the most exciting, fastest growing, and changing
the way customers get information about products and services. Technology
includes all of the equipment, software, and communication links that
organizations use to enable or improve their processes, including everything from
simple overhead transparency projectors to laptop computers, from fax machines
to email, from audiocassette and videocassette players to cellular phones and
voice mail(Stowell,1997).The most widely used tools are : Electronic Point of
Sale (EPOS) : The main benefit of EPOS and retail scanner systems is the amount
of timely and accurate information they deliver. Advances in the technology have
significantly aided the scope for data analysis. IN addition to the original scanner-
related data on sales rate, stock levels, stock turn, price and margin, retailers now
have information about the demographics, socio-economic and lifestyle
characteristics of consumers. They can, in addition, assess the impact of a whole
host of variables-price, promotion, advertising, position in store, shelf position,
number of facings, and so on. This information drives their choice of product
mix, allocation of shelf space and promotional tactics. EPOS has certainly
changed the relationship between buyer and seller (Shipley and Palmer, 1997)
Sales Force Automation : These systems help in automating and optimizing sales
processes to shorten the sales cycle and increase sales productivity. They enable
the company to track and manage all qualified leads, contacts, and opportunities
throughout the sales cycle including customer support. They improve the
effectiveness of marketing communications programs for generating quality leads
as well as greater accuracy in sales forecasting.
Systems Integration

While CRM solutions are front office automation solutions, ERP is back-office
automation solution. An ERP helps in automating business functions of
production, finance, inventory, order fulfilment and human resource giving an
integrated view of business, whereas CRM automates the relationship with a
customer covering contact and opportunity management, marketing and product
knowledge, sales force management, sales forecasting, customer order processing
and fulfilment, delivery, installation, presale and post-sale services and complaint
handling by providing an integrated view of the customer It is necessary that the
two systems integrate with each other and compliment information as well as
business workflow. Therefore, CRM and ERP are complementary. This
integration of CRM with ERP helps companies to provide faster customer service
through an enabled network, which can direct all customer queries, and issues
through appropriate channels to the right place for speedy resolution. This
facilitates the company in tracking and correcting the product problems reported
by customers by feeding this information into the R&D operation via ERP.
CRM Process Framework

Technological advancements in the recent times have enabled business organizations

to automate their processes. This has resulted in greater profits through cost reduction
in costs cycle time and workforce. CRM technologies enable an organization to
present a single point of contact to its customers. CRM is a broad term encompassing
many strategies, processes and technologies all working in tandem to get as close to
the customer as possible. In order to have healthy relationship with its customers the
company needs to monitor its customer’s behaviour in each transaction and provide
them what they want. The Meta Group uses the CRM architectural framework to
analyse where the different solutions fit in from holistic perspective. CRM process
framework has three 18 Volume IV March 2012 SIBM 19 Volume IV March 2012
SIBM primary components operational or process Management technologies,
analytical or performance management technologies required to achieve a balanced
CRM SAS white paper and collaborative. Operational CRM solutions involve
integration of business processes involving customer touch points. These technologies
reside in those parts of a company where moments of truth occur i.e., a customer
makes direct contact with the employees of the company. Typical CRM solutions that
fit into this category are customer sales and service, sales force automation, marketing
automation and field services. The back-office side of the operational CRM solutions
should be able to plug into ERP systems and chain management software. Analytical
CRM analysis the data created on the operational side of the CRM effort for the
purpose of business performance management and improvement. Prediction of
customer behaviour, identifying relevant customer segments, identifying potential
customers etc are some of the activities that could be performed from the knowledge
arising out of analytic CRM efforts. Collaborative CRM involves the facilitation of
collaborative services such as email to facilitate interactions between customers and
employees. All this effort produces rich data that feeds the Analytical CRM
technologies. It analyses the data using data mining and other technologies and in turn
feeds the result knowledge gained back to the operational and collaborative CRM
technologies Exhibit
Interactions with CRM Technologies Customer Relationship Management is a
technology initiative that aims to strengthen the front-end operations and build a
mutually valuable long-term relationship with the customers. A firm might enjoy
competitive advantage of its customers for a long time by building mutually
beneficial relationships that increase switching costs and thus cannot be easily
replicated. Studies have also shown that it costs as much as five times to acquire a
new customer than to retain one. All customers do not contribute equally to a
firm’s profitability some positively while others contribute negatively to the
firm’s bottom line. It is the endeavour of a firm to nurture these profitable
customers. CRM integrates all front-end operations of the firm so that a customer
is presented with a single point of contact that remembers all as the past customer
interactions. A typical CRM cycle consists of front-end operations that interact
with the customer Operational CRM Analytical CRM Collaborative CRM
Customer 18 Volume IV March 2012 SIBM 19 Volume IV March 2012 SIBM
like call center, target marketing initiatives etc. and obtain data about customer.
This is typically consolidated from various contact points and fed into a data
warehouse. The data warehouse consolidates not only transaction data but also
data obtained from outside sources like census data and provides a fertile ground
for analysis. Data analysis is done by data mining methods. The output is
interpreted and new knowledge is transferred to a central customer repository
where all employees of the firm might access it. This helps them to customize
responses. Thus, data mining provides the intelligence behind the CRM initiative

Marketing helps in continuous up gradation and improvement of products for better

customer satisfaction. Today due to increased competition and continuous change in
customer needs, the marketing of products, services and information is becoming
challenging. Due to this change and with an object to fulfil the demand of customer as
well as market, companies are very much conscious about framing and adopting
innovative strategies in all areas like Promotion, Pricing, Sales, Advertising,
Distribution and Brand Building etc. Companies today realized that innovative &
aggressive marketing strategies are vital to grab the major mark 183 different types of
model and was the first car to be fitted with the famed KB series engine. The
brand started its journey with an aspirational note positioning itself as an
aspirational loaded young car for the successful ones. 31 The A Star has been
designed keeping in mind aspirations of the urban economy conscious customers
who seek best in class fuel efficiency, lower emission and high performance
along with style. The A Star has positioned in the premium A2 segment and
targeted towards urban young professionals. It is about the new generation of
Indian’s who are confident. According to Mr. Shashank Srivastava, in 2008,
during first campaign of A-Star they realized that they had focused on the attitude
part of positioning, they also needed to educate the consumer on the functionality
aspect of car. Hence the company changed its brand positioning strategy in its
second campaign i.e. in July 2009. The company informed the customers about
the A-Star’s K series engine. In later campaign the star positioned on the aspect
of self-belief. Maruti Suzuki later refreshed A-Star with some modifications in it.
Explaining the modifications, Mr. Shashank Srivastava, Chief General Manager-
Marketing said, “A Star is one of the most vibrant brands in our portfolio. Some
of its high points such as contemporary styling, dynamic handling and ride
quality, best in class turning radius, power, flat torque and superior performance
made A Star a popular choice especially amidst the youth
Global Orientation of Businesses

National boundaries are giving way to either a borderless world or at least a

regional world resulting in the emergence of trading blocs like North American
Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), European Union and the Association of South
– East Asian Nations (ASEAN). The abolishment of the General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade (GATT). And the emergence of World Trade Organization
(WTO) helped create a global orientation for business establishment. Increasing
international trade became the growth engine for the global economy.
Liberalisation of markets and trade proved to be a far stronger growth engine. It
has eased the entry into foreign markets. Firms need stronger customer
orientation to be able to tab opportunities in new markets while defending
themselves in their home markets.

Aging Population in Economically Developed Countries The economically

advanced nations are witnessing an aging of their population. In 2000, 12.6 per
cent of the US population was 65 years of age or older. The comparative figures
for Sweden and Japan were 17.2 per cent and 17 per cent of their respective
population (Seth and Mittal, 2004) This trend is visible in most part of Europe,
except in Ireland (Leafling and Raj, 1995). Aging of population has been
attributed to the combined effects of a slow down in birth rate and an increased in
life expectancy. While an aging population creates new opportunities for
wellness, financial wellbeing, safety and security and recreation (Seth and Mittal,
2004), it has also slowed the markets for traditional goods and services designed
for a younger population. Therefore, in these markets, growth is being achieved
by increasing the share of wallet and not through growth of markets driven by a
growing population. Marketers are now forced to develop a deep understanding
of their existing customers and meet their ever changing needs through suitable
products and services. Indeed, most large companies, especially the services
sector, wants to become One-Stop-Shop for the customers.
BRAND LOYALTY

Loyalty is at the heart of equity and is one of important brand assets. Brand
loyalty is a conscious or unconscious decision expressed through intention or
behaviour to repurchase a brand continually. When the consumer buys with
respect to product features, price and convenience, with little concern to the brand
there is likely little equity. But, if the consumers prefer the brand even at the face
of competitors with superior features and offers, then brand is said to have high
brand equity. Loyalty reflects the consumers attitude towards the brand,
especially when there is a change, either in price or product features. As the brand
loyalty increases, the vulnerability of the customer base to competitive action gets
reduced

Reduced Marketing Cost Loyal customers minimize the cost of running business
because the amount spent on getting new customers is far more than retaining
present customers. The higher the loyalty, the easier it is to keep customers
happy. Loyal customer becomes an advocate for the brand, without any incentive.
Loyalty base of customers, act as a strong entry barrier for potential entrants by
which an organization can minimize the risk. Trade Leverage A brand having
strong loyalty base force retailers to maintain adequate stock and allot enough
shelf space to accommodate the brand. At the extreme, customer’s shop choice
depends on where their preferred brand is available. So, at the retail brands enjoy
special recognition and treatment. Attracting New Customers Existing loyal
customers help marketers to get more business through prospective customers.
They create awareness of the brand among friends and colleagues, who develop
positive attitude towards the brand by actually seeing the brand in action. Brand
image is projected by these customers especially when the product requires after
sales service or, prospective customers require assurance of product performance.

Time to Respond to the Competitive Threats Loyalty base also supports marketers
against competitor’s innovation by providing sufficient time for them to retaliate.
Retaining the customers, keeping them happy, enhancing
 their satisfaction level is the continuous endeavour of any organization as it
cannot afford to miss any of the loyal customers. Ever changing Indian consumer,
cut throat competition and emerging new technologies are the thrown challenges
to develop loyalty programmes. Some of the strategies that suit the Indian context
are discussed below. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) In simple
words, CRM is the process of acquiring, retaining and growing profitable
customers. It is not a mere technique, but a management culture to build and
sustain an effective customer relationship. Organizations must significantly
revamp their traditional learning and knowledge management programs. The
customer relationship management model, with its customer-centric focus, places
the customers’ needs first. IT involves three fundamental steps: Understanding
customer completely Aligning organizational capability in order to better deliver
what its customers may perceive as high value.

Advertising Strategy Advertising is one of the vital functions of marketing. Advertising

is an important promotion tool to establish and retain brand loyalty. A good advertisement
must have the right message communicated through a right media. It must reach the right
people and prospects and that too at the right time and at the right cost. Customer generally
remembers the products or brand because of innovative and creative advertisements. Hence it
is important that the advertisement must be creative, innovative, distinctive and unique. 34
Advertising is one important aspect of brand building. Maruti’s advertising campaign
includes TVCs, Radio and print ads, Point of sales, Mobile promotions and online marketing
and Outdoor promotions etc. Maruti’s advertising strategy focused both on building up its
corporate image and promoting its cars. Maruti’s campaigns emphasized different aspects of
its cars including fuel efficiency, looks, space etc. 189 With an intention to promote all its
brands effectively, in year 2000 Maruti decided to appoint Capital Advertising agency. In
2003, Maruti Suzuki came up with an innovative toy car advertisement which became very
popular for its simplicity and straightforward message. The advertisement depicted a child
playing with a toy car. When reprimanded by his father the child replies, “Kya karoon papa
petrol khatam hi nahi hota” (what should I do?)
The petrol never finishes) 35 Few years back, Maruti Suzuki has come up with a new ad
campaign based on fuel efficiency aspect of its cars. The three advertisements in the
campaign show a Yacht, tank and a Spacecraft being sold to potential customers. The
people/viewers after listening to all specifications relating to the performance and attributes
of all three vehicles asks only one question to the person who gives the information about
those vehicles, “Kitna Deti Hai?” the voiceover of all three advertisement then says, “for a
country obsessed with mileage, Maruti Suzuki makes India’s most fuel-efficient cars”. Those
innovative advertisements depicted that, Indian are always conscious about fuel efficiency.
And through those advertisements Maruti Suzuki have tried to position their cars as most
fuel-efficient cars. According to Mr. Joy Mohanty-senior creative director of Capital
advertising, who made that ad, explained that the brief for these commercials was to
communicate fuel efficiency. 36 Maruti Suzuki’s TV advertisement “India comes home”
highlighted its models like Wagon R, Zen, Alto, SX4, 800 and Swift. This ad basically
touched the emotions and feelings of Indians. For.g, in this ad a young couple in a red Wagon
R driving along the Kerala backwaters to meet their parents. The parents come out of a
temple procession and receive the couple with their new born. In one scene a daughter after
her marriage becomes emotional & during exit from her own home, lot of tears comes in her
eyes but the budding husband pick up her and the moment they entered in SX4, the daughter
went by laughing with her husband. In another scene, a young boy waits on highway for lift
to go home, when he spots a red Maruti Swift cruising on the highway, he smiles to himself
and pull out a placard that reads, “Need to be home for Diwali”. After seeing that the driver
of the car stops and gives lift to the boy. The TVC ended with the voiceover, ‘India Comes
Home in a Maruti’, highlighting the Maruti’s leadership in the Indian car market. The ad
consists some nice lines like ‘Manjile Najdik Hai, Pairo tale hai Raste Ghar hai aa gaya
Hindustan’. Maruti 190 Suzuki through these lines highlighted that Maruti Suzuki will
definitely reach you at your destination. Maruti Suzuki in its recent corporate brand
campaign, “Rishton Mein hum Jeete hain”, created by Publicis Capital focuses on the joy of
celebrating the many colourful festivals of India with loved ones.
 CHAPTER 3

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

MARKETING STRATEGIES OF MARUTI SUZUKI INDIA LIMITED AND

HYUNDAI MOTOR INDIA LIMITED

This chapter involves the study of marketing strategies of Maruti Suzuki India
Limited and Hyundai Motors India Limited. Marketing strategies of both the
companies has been carried out by considering few parameters like Brand
Positioning, Advertising, Sales Promotion, Pricing, Distribution & After Sales
Service. “It is more important to do what is strategically right than what is
immediately profitable” Philip Kotler. Marketing: Introduction, Importance,
Scope Marketing is everywhere. People and companies, formally and informally
engage in a vast number of activities that could be called marketing. Good
marketing has become an increasingly vital ingredient for the success of business.
Marketing has a very great impact on our day to day life. It is embedded in
everything we do-from the watches we wear, the goggles we wear, the apparels
we wear to the ads we see. Financial success often depends on marketing ability.
Accounting, Finance, operations, and other business functions will not really
matter if there is not sufficient demand for products and services so the company
can make a profit. It has also been observed that marketing is viewed by many as
advertising, sales promotion, selling etc. Today though we are living in the age of
marketing, it has witnessed transition from barter system to money economy.
Marketing as a business function and an economic activity influences economic
development of a country. Marketing plays a dominant role in every economy.
Marketing is considered both an art as well as a science. In today’s era, no
company can think or even go ahead without marketing as it is considered as the
heart of business activity. Marketing practices are continually being refined and
reformed in virtually all industries to increase the chances of success.

1. basic objective of marketing is to attract new customers by promising and offering

superior value and to retain and grow current customers by delivering satisfaction.
Marketing deals with customers more than any other business function, and deals
mainly with customers.
Sound marketing is essential for the success of every company, whether large or
small, national or global. Today marketing is practiced not only by large profit
making organizations but also used by non-profit organizations like colleges,
hospitals, churches and charitable trusts like Help Age, CRY etc.

2. Definitions of Marketing Many authors have defined marketing as follows

according to marketing guru Philip Kotler, Marketing is a societal process by
which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating,
offering, and freely exchanging products and services of value with others.

3. The performance of business activities that direct the flow of goods and
services from the producer to the consumer or user.”-R.S.N Pillai & Bhagwati.

4. Marketing is, “Meeting needs profitable”. ”.Philip Kotler, Kevin Lane Keller,

5. Marketing is a total system of interacting business activities designed to plan,

price, promote and distribute want satisfying products and services to present
potential customers” William Stanton.

6. Marketing is often confused with plain selling but it is much more that. It
includes functions like Market research, advertising, promotions, public relations,
product enhancements, customer care and everything else that goes into building
a brand.

7. Marketing plays diversified roles in businesses as follows- • Marketing helps

in continuous up gradation and improvement of products for better customer
satisfaction. • Marketing concepts give rise to better and more effective
packaging of consumer products. • Marketing gives rise to competition.

• Marketing helps in economic growth and activity. • Marketing helps in creating

employment opportunities. • Marketing efforts result in extended product life
cycle for consumer products as well as industrial products.
Media tools used by Maruti Suzuki

Cyber Media- Commenting on marketing tools, Mr. Mayank Pareek, Executive

officer (Marketing & Sales) Maruti Suzuki India Limited said that Cyber media
plays vital role to promote Maruti brands. Also, the banners have been displayed
on various internet sites. He stated that we have various schemes for people like
Maruti Financial Ltd, Maruti Countrywide and tie-ups with banks like SBI,
HDFC and ICICI.

Outdoor Media- Regarding advertisement of Swift, Mr. Pareek opined that Swift
car is better in terms of technology and has the appeal of a very cool and smooth
brand. According to him, Swift is a successful venture because of its outdoor
media campaign. Maruti Suzuki created 500 innovative displays of Swift spread
all over India. Also, to make Swift very popular, In Delhi, Maruti Suzuki
displayed cardboard models of Swift at the busy Rajiv Chowk and the ITO
crossing. The quality of plastic, steering wheel, fabrics, controls and instruments
are good and feel classy.

Digital Marketing- with an object to reach to target customers Maruti Suzuki have
collaborated with Google for digital marketing. According to Shashank
Srivastava, the digital media is changing fast and hence it is must to focus on this
area. He said that, Maruti and Google have been working closely on, “search
engine optimization and online reputation management” initiatives. This
collaboration will help Maruti Suzuki in identifying and reaching to target
customers. /When the customer posts something about Maruti’s service or
products on Face book or Twitter, the search engine will alert the company to
help to catch relevant words online so Maruti can track and take action and even
positively respond.

Print Advertisement- Maruti Suzuki, whenever launched the car, it supported the
launch of the product with an ad campaign. The campaigns also include print ads.
Currently print ads are also playing vital role in promoting the products as well as
services. Considering the growing number of readers of newspapers and
magazines, Maruti Suzuki currently advertising its brands through leading
newspapers and automobile magazines like Auto India, Auto Car, Overdrive,
Auto Bild India etc.
Also, with an intention to reach to all and to make everyone aware about Maruti brands
and services, the company through local newspapers, advertising its products and
services. For e.g. to reach to Marathi people the advertisements has continuously been
displayed through local newspapers for e.g. In Marathwada region, Maruti Suzuki
advertising its brands through Dainik Lokmat, Dainik Divya Marathi and Dainik Sakal,
Dainik Punya Nagari, Loksatta, as those are the leading Marathi news papers

When Maruti Suzuki decided to launch its new Suzuki Swift, before launching it
the company aggressively promoted the Swift through print ads in leading
newspapers. The company to increase the bookings of Swift started to give half
page ad in newspapers. Maruti Suzuki to create awareness and promote its
Kizashi brand gave advertisement in Business Standard newspaper. The ad was
highlighted as “Presenting Kizashi, India’s first luxury sports sedan” (Source:
Business Standard, 4 Feb 2011,

Social Media- Today social media plays vital role in promoting & creating
awareness about the brands and services along with providing a platform to
discuss and share the views, opinions, ideas of each other. According to NM
incite- a joint venture between Nielsen and McKinsey & Company, Maruti
Suzuki has been ranked the top most Indian brand in the social media space.
According to the report, Maruti Suzuki enjoys strong sentiments and high
volumes of conversations on auto forums that include blogs, boards and social
media sites like Face book, Twitter and You Tube etc. Before buying any
valuable product, the consumers today are focusing on various discussion forums,
social media for getting proper information and to solve their query. Hence
currently social media is considered as a vital advertising tool. The first time car
buyers are generally collect the information of cars through social networking
sites. And as per the auto experts, currently in automobile market the trend of E-
Marketing is growing. According to Mr. Samarth Saxena, Co-founder, Octane
Marketing, currently to attract the customers, the companies are sending email
new alert to customers. The customers are attracting towards social media, as it is
non expensive method to collect the relevant information.
Sales Promotional Strategies of Maruti Suzuki

Every company is it a big or small needs an innovative promotional strategy because

promotional campaigns tend to have a huge effect on the reception of the product. Maruti
Suzuki India Ltd has a formidable line-up of vehicles in its stable and has been quite
aggressive about promoting each of its automobile brands. In 2003, to attract the customers
Maruti Suzuki launched attractive campaign like “Change Your Life”. The company also
offered vehicle insurance for One rupee only. In this campaign the customers were asked to
write down the chassis and engine number of their vehicles on the entry form and had to
answer the question. In this contest the winners were chosen by a draw of lots and were
entitled to gifts worth Rs.50 million. In year 2003, Maruti Suzuki and State Bank of
Travancore enter into an agreement to provide low interest loan to the persons who intend to
buy Maruti cars. Also in same year, the company alliance with Union Bank of India for
providing loans to the customer of Maruti Suzuki at competitive rates. Maruti Suzuki
introduced an offer ‘2599’ in 2004 for Maruti 800. The offer not only conveyed that the car
can be bought at only Rs.2,599 per month but also highlighted the aspirations of scooter
owners who can upgrade to car. In this offer the customer could buy a Maruti 800 with an
Easy Monthly Instalment of Rs.2,599 for seven years period.
With an object to attract more customers & to increase the sales of Maruti 800, the company
further revised its ‘2599’ offer in which Maruti Suzuki made Maruti 800 more affordable by
reducing the EMI to Rs.2499. For this offer the company reduced down payment figure to
Rs.21,000 which was earlier Rs.40,000 also the company extended the loan repayment period
from seven to eight years. In year 2004, Maruti Suzuki introduced the ‘Teacher Plus’s
scheme in a tie up with SBI. Under this scheme, Maruti Suzuki focused on teachers who were
interested to buy a new car. In this scheme the State bank of India offered reduced rates of
interest for teachers which lead to boost the sales of Maruti Suzuki. In July 2009, Maruti
Suzuki India Limited and IndusInd Bank have announced a strategic tie up for financing
Maruti vehicles in all India. This ties up took place to provide the customer quicker and
easier credit facilities. As per the agreement, Maruti Suzuki India Limited had nominated
IndusInd bank as its preferred financier for financing all Maruti vehicles. Under this tie up,
IndusInd bank agreed to offer financing facilities to all eligible customers for purchasing
Maruti vehicles through its network of 180 branches, spread over 147 geographical locations.
According to Mr. R.S. Kalsi, Chief General Manager, Maruti Suzuki India Limited, through
this strategic alliance with IndusInd bank, Maruti Suzuki will win customer confidence as
well as with this alliance Maruti Suzuki will expand its business across the country including
rural and semi urban markets. Considering the potential opportunities in rural India, in 2010,
Maruti Suzuki have decided to tie up with ITC’s e-Choupal and Hariyali Kisan Bazaar of
DCM Shriram Group for better penetration into the rural markets. Senior official of Maruti
Suzuki stated that, through the tie up with Panchayat and Local Co-operative banks, Maruti
Suzuki wants to concentrate more on the domestic market in order to raise its share of rural
sales to 20 % from the current 17 %. For Maruti Suzuki, ITC’s e-Choupal will provide
display demand customer engagement at their Choupal Sagars and facilitate meeting with
prospective clients at village level. In year 2011, Maruti Suzuki, launched ‘Eeco Meal’
promotion offer. Under this promotion campaign, Maruti Suzuki collaborated with
McDonalds. Under this Eeco Meal offer, a family can walk into any McDonald’s outlet and
upon the purchase of a value meal, happy meal and breakfast meal
customers will get an EECO Happy Family contest form. The form contains
questions about the Maruti Suzuki Eeco which customers will have to answer and
submit along with a witty slogan on the Eeco. The winner will be chosen based
on the wittiest slogan submitted about the down payment figure to Rs.21,000 which
was earlier Rs.40,000 also the company extended the loan repayment period from seven
to eight years. In year 2004, Maruti Suzuki introduced the ‘Teacher Plus’ scheme in a tie
up with SBI. Under this scheme, Maruti Suzuki focused on teachers who were interested
to buy a new car. In this scheme the State bank of India offered reduced rates of interest
for teachers which lead to boost the sales of Maruti Suzuki. In July 2009, Maruti Suzuki
India Limited and IndusInd Bank have announced a strategic tie up for financing Maruti
vehicles in all India. This tie up took place to provide the customer quicker and easier
credit facilities. As per the agreement, Maruti Suzuki India Limited had nominated
IndusInd bank as its preferred financier for financing all Maruti vehicles. Under this tie
up, IndusInd bank agreed to offer financing facilities to all eligible customers for
purchasing Maruti vehicles through its network of 180 branches, spread over 147
geographical locations. According to Mr. R.S. Kalsi, Chief General Manager, Maruti
Suzuki India Limited, through this strategic alliance with IndusInd bank, Maruti Suzuki
will win customer confidence as well as with this alliance Maruti Suzuki will expand its
business across the country including rural and semi urban markets. 53 Considering the
potential opportunities in rural India, in 2010, Maruti Suzuki have decided to tie up with
ITC’s e-Choupal and Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar of DCM Shriram Group for better
penetration into the rural markets. Senior official of Maruti Suzuki stated that, through
the tie up with Panchayat and Local Co-operative banks, Maruti Suzuki wants to
concentrate more on the domestic market in order to raise its share of rural sales to 20 %
from the current 17 %. For Maruti Suzuki, ITC’s e-Choupal will provide display demand
customer engagement at their Choupal Sagars and facilitate meeting with prospective
clients at village level. In year 2011, Maruti Suzuki, launched ‘Eeco Meal’ promotion
offer. Under this promotion campaign, Maruti Suzuki collaborated with McDonalds.
Under this Eeco Meal offer, a family can walk into any McDonald’s outlet and upon the
purchase of a value meal, happy meal and breakfast meal customers will get an EECO
Happy Family contest form. The form contains questions about the Maruti Suzuki Eeco
which customers will have to answer and submit along with a witty slogan on the Eeco.
The winner will be chosen based on the wittiest slogan submitted about the Maruti
Suzuki Eco.
Rural Marketing

Today the village’s i.e. rural peoples have not only accepted the modern way of
agriculture as businesses but have also accepted modern living. Farmer is choosy
in his buying. Apart from food and consumable items, he is interested in buying
radios, T.V sets, Refrigerators, bicycles, wrist watches and car. The per capita
income of the farmers is on the increase and the manner in which they spend their
disposable income has also changed. Today the rural market is not passive. It is
vibrant and growing at a faster pace. The expanding rural market is important to
the growth of economic development of India. With the change in scenario, the
marketing focus is also changing towards villages: “Go rural” is the slogan of
marketing professionals, gurus. For the success of Maruti Suzuki there are many
reasons, one of the strongest reason is its rural market dominance. Maruti Suzuki,
as a brand, has far reaching powers in rural areas. The rural market share of
Maruti increased from 3.5 percent of total sales five years ago to 26 percent in
2012. In 2009, Maruti Suzuki started paying more attention to rural markets. As a
part of promotion Maruti Suzuki tried to influence the opinion leaders of the
village (like Sarpanch) by taking them for factory visits. Maruti Suzuki
aggressively marketed its brand at rural sporting events to sales fairs (Grameen
Mahotsav) to SMS campaign for Gram Panchayat Members. Recently Maruti
Suzuki has started innovative concept i.e ‘Video on Wheels’ campaign in which
the villagers get to see the screening of Maruti Suzuki ads while sitting in an air-
conditioned environment created in the back of truck. According to Mr.
Shashank Srivastava, Chief General Manager-Marketing, Maruti Suzuki India
Limited, “we are increasing our efforts to attract more first-time buyers”. He also
stated that Maruti Suzuki has started campaign for targeted customers. Maruti
Suzuki is looking at a specific customer base like orange growers in Nagpur, Jute
mill owners or mango growers in Bengal. Lastly he highlighted that we are
working to increase our rural sales.
Promotional Offers

As a part of promotion strategy and to increase the sales, Maruti Suzuki launched
various offers for its customers through its authorized dealers. In this offer, before
declaring the budgets, Maruti Suzuki dealers launched “Khulja Sim-Sim offer” in
which, dealers highlighted that, the customer who will buy the Maruti car before
declaring the budget will get assured gifts under this offer. The company dealers
offered assured gifts to its customers like Refrigerator, Washing machine, LCD
screen 22”, Micro Wave, Digital Camera, Titan watch (Pair), Suitcase, DVD
player, Mobile, Video Game, Dinner Set, Maruti Genuine Accessories worth
Rs.1500 and Maruti Genuine Accessories worth Rs.1000. Today reality shows
are very much popular in India and peoples are very crazy about those dance
shows, mimicry shows. Dance India Dance (DID) is a very popular reality dance
show that airs on the Indian satellite television channel Zee TV. According to Mr.
Aakash Chawla, Marketing Head, National channels, ZEEL said, “Dance India
Dance is a brand that is a favourite with viewers of all ages, especially the youth.
This reality show was presented by Maruti Suzuki India Limited. With an object
to promote the Maruti brands and to reach to various prospective customers,
Maruti Suzuki associated with Dance India Dance programme. Considering the
growing popularity of reality shows like Just Dance, which was very popular
reality show & which was simultaneously aired on Star Plus, Star One, Star
Pravah, (with Marathi sub titles), Maruti Suzuki associated with Star TV as title
sponsors for this reality show. As a part of promotional approach Maruti Suzuki
promoted Swift and other brands through sponsoring this programme. With an
object to target the youths of India as a potential customer and to discover the
most versatile, talented and skilled student in B School & professional colleges
across India, Maruti Suzuki organized “Maruti Suzuki Colours of Youths 2012” a
mega show that offer students a platform to showcase their colors - Talent &
Knowledge to the country at large. This event covered 150 colleges in 10 cities
across the country. Famous actress Isha Koppikar and Subir Malik were the
judges for those events With an intention to increase the sales, Maruti Suzuki
motivated its dealers. The Maruti Suzuki dealers launched
various schemes like loan and exchange mela in which they offered heavy
discounts on its various models. The dealers announced that the customers who
will book the Maruti vehicles will get heavy discounts. Like Rs.20,000 discounts
on Ritz (Diesel), Rs.45,000 discount on Ritz (Petrol), Rs. 25,000 on Maruti 800,
Rs.48,000 on A-Star, Rs.45,000 on Wagon R Duo, Rs.22,000 on Omni,
Rs.65,000 on Estilo (Petrol), Rs.51,000 on Alto F8, Rs.45,000 on Alto K10 etc.
Also the dealers announced various schemes i.e discounts for Doctors, Zilla
Parishad Schools, Colleges, State bank employees, LIC employees, State and
Central Govt employees, Chartered Accountants, Retired government employees
& their wife etc. (News paper ad, Dainik Divya Marathi, Jalgaon, 11 Sept 2012)
Since last six months, i.e Oct 2012 to Mar 2013, the Indian automobile sector
witnessed downsizing in sales of its vehicles. Hence to increase the sales of
vehicles & to attract the customers, Maruti Suzuki India Limited offered various
schemes like free insurance, exchange bonus on its vehicles. In April 2013, the
company given a rebate of Rs.23,000 on Alto 800, a discount of Rs.25,000 on A-
Star, Zen Estilo and Wagon R models. On Wagon R- LX, Alto K10 model the
company given discount of Rs.20,000 to 25,000. Maruti offered discount of
Rs.15,000 on its Ritz (Petrol) & Rs.25,000 on Diesel whereas on SX4 the
company given discount of Rs.25,000 on petrol model and Rs.30,000 on diesel
model.

Wagon R

- Maruti Suzuki launched Wagon R in the year 2000 and launched an ad

campaign with the tagline, ‘A Car Full of Ideas’. In May 2009, Maruti launched
an innovative and creative outdoor campaign for Wagon R using billboards,
mobile vans, unipoles etc. The outdoor ads of Wagon R were placed on 23
outdoor sites in and around airports of several cities across India. In the ads
different backgrounds were highlighted and each ad displayed a landmark
structure from each city with different messages. For e.g, in Mumbai it was,’
Welcome to the city of film stars and Wagon R’, in Hyderabad, the message was
‘Welcome to the city of Charminar & Wagon R’. Commenting on this innovative
ad campaign, Mr.Mayukh Bhattacharya-Manager Business Development,
Outdoor Media Integrated told the idea
behind this campaign was to welcome visitors coming into the city by these
contrasting creatives in each city. He also stated that the airport act as a good
catchment area. Also being in and around the vicinity of airport, it also reached
out to existing consumers for that feel good factor According to the changing
scenario, Maruti Suzuki changed the positioning of Wagon R brand several times.
At first it was ‘Feel At Home’, then ‘Inspired Engineering’, then to ‘As
Interesting as you are’ then ‘For a Smarter race’ and ‘Big like India, Smart like
you’. Maruti Suzuki has used digital and print media to promote its Wagon R.

SX4

In year 2011, Maruti Suzuki came up with ad campaign for its SX4 diesel. In the
TVC created by Lowe Lintas, it is highlighted that women are left waiting in
various situations by their men, and when asked whether the reason is the SX4
Diesel, they resignedly agree, “Yes, it’s here” as the scene changes to the men
enjoying their new cars, the voiceover says, “Now men will make everything else
wait”. The focus of this ad was on the Indian male and his obsession with the car.
Commenting on this ad Mr. Shashank Srivastava, Chief General Manager (Maruti
Suzuki) said, we have tried to create awareness among customers that Maruti
Suzuki has launched SX4 Diesel version. And according to Mr. Srivastava, the
company is promoting this ad during world cup to reach to maximum customers.
Also he commented that the company has chosen web, radio, outdoor and print
media to promote SX4 Diesel.

A-Star

Maruti has always been advertised A-Star with the tagline of ‘Stop at Nothing’
which shows the attitude that this car has always stood for. According to Mr.
Shashank Srivastava, in third campaign of A Star, the company have emphasized
on Self belief and confidence. Farhan Akhtar was the brand ambassador during
the launch of A Star and the launch TVC also shared elements with the
Bollywood hit film ‘Rock On’ to make it more relatable to the young adult
seeking an expression for his passion. The advertising continued with Farhan
Akhtar as the brand ambassador with a
little more aggressive in the print advertising. The company used a different
advertising strategy to promote A Star and to focus on youths; a three city rock
show was done with Farhan Akhtar for ‘Generation A Star’, which totally related
with the ‘Rock On’ mania.

Pricing Strategy

Price is the exchange value of goods or services in terms of money. The price is a
matter of vital importance to the buyer and the seller. Prices are important
economic regulators. When a firm sets a price for its goods, it has to consider
many factors demands, existing competition, legal restrictions. Maruti caters to
all segments and has a product offering at all price points. Maruti gets 70 %
business from repeat buyers who earlier had owned a Maruti car. Maruti Suzuki’s
pricing strategy is to provide an option to every customer looking for up
gradation in his car. Maruti Suzuki’s pricing strategy helps both its customers
and Maruti. The company offers its different model just at a price difference
around Rs.10,000 /- for cars ranging between Rs. 3.25 lakhs to Rs.4.50 lakhs.
Maruti offers five different cars in this range and different versions of each car.
This pricing strategy helps makes more option available to a customer. Due to lot
of options, most of the time customers have an option within their budget or
around their budget. Also such a large set of options allow customers to save his
money as there are more chances of availability of a model with features only
required by customer and not loaded with unnecessary features which may be
useless to a customer. Such a strategy allows businesses to specialize in a specific
domain and hence to exploit economies of scale. This strategy could help
businesses to expand rapidly and capture those untapped markets. According to
Mr .R.C. Bhargava, Suzuki Motor Corporation brought to Maruti the concept cost
reduction as a continuous process. Despite being the lowest cost manufacturers of
cars in the world, Japanese companies continued to reduce costs every year. He
stated that, minimizing expenditure and reducing cost became a part of the
management philosophy. Maruti adopted policies on the Japanese experience but
modified to suit Indian conditions. Maruti benefited from the decision to keep
profit margins very reasonable, especially when the vehicles were in short supply
and
commanded a high premium. This led to a more rapid growth of demand and also
gave Maruti an image of not being a profiteering company. Maruti Suzuki
initially used penetration pricing strategy for its 800 and Omni models. In 1998,
Hyundai Motor when launched its Santro, it grabbed major market share because
of its innovative features. To compete with Hyundai and other competitors Maruti
Suzuki adopted competitive pricing strategy for its Maruti 800, Omni models.
Maruti also brought about several innovative schemes through joint venture with
finance companies to benefit the potential buyers with car loans to be repaid over
a long period extending up to seven years. Maruti Suzuki later adopted discount
pricing strategy for its 800, Omni & Zen to grab the major market share & to
remain in the competition. To face the competition, on 30 December 1998, before
launching of Tata Indica, Maruti announced sharp cuts in the prices of Maruti 800
making it available at just Rs.1.85 lakhs, as the cheapest car. After the price cuts,
the basic Maruti 800 was to cost Rs.74,000 cheaper than the Indica in Delhi.
Maruti also cut the prices on the Omni eight-seater which was made cheaper by
Rs.17,000 and priced at 1.79 lakhs and its five seater counterpart to cost Rs.7,000
lower at Rs.1.98 lakhs. These were ex-showroom prices. Later Maruti Suzuki
launched a stripped-down version of Zen, the new air-conditioned model
available at Rs. 2.95 lakhs to counter competition from Hyundai Santro and Tata
Indica. Maruti Suzuki adopted Parity pricing strategy for its Zen model. Parity
pricing strategy is basically fixing the price to match the price of competitors. 66
Maruti Suzuki initially adopted competitive pricing strategy for its Alto model,
then to face the competition from Indica & Santro, Maruti adopted discount
pricing strategy for Alto and Alto K10 model. In June 2011, Maruti Suzuki
launched lets go India offer by its dealers for its Alto and Alto K10 model which
was valid till 30 June 2011. This offer was launched through print ads through
various local news papers. Under this offer, Maruti dealers declared that the
customer who will buy Alto before 30 June 2011 will save Rs.21,000 &
Rs.15,000 savings on Alto K10 model. 67 In Feb 2012, Maruti Suzuki, launched
its new Sedan i.e Swift Dzire, with 150 more features, attractive looks and
Rs.30,000 cheaper than previous Swift Dzire. The company launched new Swift
Dzire in New Delhi with showroom costing at Rs.4.79
to Rs.7.09 lakhs. Commenting on the new Dzire, Maruti Suzuki’s Mayank Pareek
told that the new Dzire is cheaper by Rs.30,000 because it is 4,000 mm in overall
length and fitted with the engine less than 1,200 cc, hence the car comes under
small car segment & eligible to get 16 percent excise duty under the
Government’s small car norms. Initially Maruti Suzuki adopted Value pricing
strategy for Swift Dzire and later the company adopted competitive pricing
strategy. In case of Maruti Swift, Ritz the company adopted Value pricing
strategy where as for its SX4 Grand Vitara & Kizashi, Maruti adopted Premium
pricing strategy to grab the attention of high-profile customers. Value pricing is
based on the assumption that the objective of pricing is not to recover costs, but to
realize the value of the product perceived by the customers. The merit of this
method is the belief that the customer is interested not in the cost of the product
but only in the value To compete with Hyundai Santro and Tata Indica, Maruti
Suzuki initially adopted Parity pricing strategy for its Wagon R model. Later to
face the competition, Maruti Suzuki for its Wagon R, Alto K10 and Omni
adopted discount pricing strategy. In Sept 2012, Maruti dealers brought offers for
customers. The dealers reduced the prices of Alto K10, Wagon R and Omni
model under Utsav offer. Under consumer offer, the dealers reduced the price of
Alto K10 by Rs.25,000, Wagon R by Rs.35,000 and Omni by Rs.10,000. Under
this offer, the customers were given heavy discounts. This offer was valid till 30
Sept 2012. Maruti Suzuki adopted innovative & aggressive pricing strategy for
its Ertiga (Petrol) model. To push the sales of petrol engine model of Ertiga,
Maruti Suzuki has priced the base petrol Ertiga at INR 5.89 lakhs whereas the
base diesel model at INR 7.30 lakhs. Ertiga’s pricing strategy was to encourage
sales of petrol engine cars for better capacity utilise.

Distribution Strategy

Distribution of goods and services plays an important role in the sales system.
Distribution system varies from company to company and region to region. The
distribution system gives strength to the company by helping to increase the reach
of the product to various parts of the region, country or even in foreign markets.
An effective distribution system helps in making
available goods in the right quantity at the right time when they are required. In
early day’s consumers used to book for a car and wait for more than a year to
actually buy it. Also, the concept of exclusive showroom for any automobile
company was non-existent. Maruti Suzuki was keen to change the situation and
offer better service to the customers. To develop a unique distribution system,
Maruti Suzuki taken steps and this was modern and innovative. With an objective
to provide the vehicles in time to the customers, Maruti Suzuki developed a
unique distribution network which gave a company a distinctive competitive
advantage. The company established a wide network of Dealers, Maruti service
zones etc across the whole country, even in remote areas. The strategy and idea
behind establishing the vast distribution network was to reach the customers in
remote areas and deliver the products of the company. The company’s major
thrust has been to ensure easy availability of vehicles to all the customers across
the whole country. Before the entry of Maruti Suzuki, other manufacturers used
to send vehicles from the factory to any part of the country by road with a driver.
But Maruti changed the scenario. Maruti Suzuki was the first company in making
sure that the vehicles which leave the factory should reach the show rooms as
early as possible and in ‘factory fresh condition’. As Maruti Suzuki knew that, the
Indian customers are very much crazy about fresh vehicles i.e they can’t accept
the new vehicles with even small scratches or damages on it; hence Maruti
Suzuki always aimed to deliver the vehicles to its customers as early as possible
and without any damage during shipment of vehicles. Maruti Suzuki’s major
innovation in terms of distribution was, it reduced the time gap between the
manufacture of the car and its availability to the customer. As we know the
continuous strike at Manesar plant badly hampered on production of Maruti
vehicles. Maruti Suzuki faced lot of problems during those strikes as it was very
tough for company to balance the demand and supply of vehicles. During those
strikes, to reassure the potential buyers, Maruti Suzuki planned an extensive
public relation campaign. Under this campaign, the company gave some clarity
on the situation at Manesar and gave a new tentative delivery schedule for cars
that have already been booked. To keep balance in demand and supply, Maruti
Suzuki in those strike periods received fresh bookings of Swift and Swift
Dzire and dispatched 26,000 ready cars at the Manesar plant stock yard to its
dealers. Today, Swift and Swift Dzire models are having a great demand due to
which the waiting list for those vehicles is very long. But Maruti Suzuki has
adopted very transparent policy in this regard; the company has informed &
trained its dealers to handle the situation in this regard. Also, the company
informed the dealers to intimate the customers about original waiting period of
vehicles especially Swift and Swift Dzire, so that the customer.

Service Feedback & After Sales Service

With an intention to encourage customers to provide feedback or compliments,

Maruti Suzuki has provided a nice platform to its customers. The customer’s if
noticed any problem or complaints they can register it online on company’s
website & those complaints are reviewed immediately. The company has also
provided a toll free number where customer complaints can be registered. This
service feedback facility helps Maruti Suzuki to identify the customer satisfaction
level Maruti Suzuki has the largest sales and service network in India. At present,
Maruti Suzuki has 802 sales outlets in 555 cities and 1653 authorized service
stations in India. The company with this vast service station network has reached
the customers located even in remotest parts of the country.
Marketing Strategies of Hyundai Motors India Limited

Today, Hyundai Motor India Limited has created a different identity in the Indian
automobile market. To cater the needs of various segments of customers,
Hyundai Motors have a complete range of cars in its basket. Considering the
changing needs of customers, Hyundai have fulfilled the expectations of
customers by giving them technologically advanced vehicles with innovative
features. Hyundai’s growth has been driven by volume-oriented revenues coupled
with technological soundness, superior designs and constant innovations. Since
inception, Hyundai Motor India Limited has dominated the automobile market
with the reputation of being the fastest growing automobile manufacturer in India.
Hyundai Motor India Limited is considered as the largest exporter of automobiles
to European countries. Hyundai Motor India Limited is a wholly owned
subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Company, South Korea. It was set up in 1996 as a
100 percent subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Company of Korea with a total
investment of $ 614 million. The company presently offers 8 models of passenger
cars across segments. The A2 segment includes the Eon, Santro, i10 and i20, the
A3 segment includes the Accent and the Verna, the A5 segment includes the
Sonata Transform and the SUV segment includes the Santa Fe. Presently
Hyundai Motor India Limited is known as a successful automobile giant due to its
innovative and differentiated marketing strategies. After survey, Hyundai noticed
that their primary consumer target is middle to upper income professionals who
need true value for their money and comfortable ride, Hyundai also found that
their secondary consumer target is college students who need style and speed. To
capture the major market share, Hyundai Motor has focused on various marketing
strategies. Hyundai Motor entered in India when the Indian automobile market
was highly dominated by few renowned brands like Maruti Suzuki India Limited,
Tata Motors, Hindustan Motors etc. Before entered in India, Hyundai Motor
closely 204 studied the Indian automobile market along with taste and need of the
customers. With an intention to get acquainted with Indian automobile market &
customer, the company made a customer, vendor and dealer survey. Recognizing
the potential in Indian automobile market, Hyundai
Motor decided a strategy to offer a compact, modern and family car. As a part of
strategy Hyundai decided to launch entirely new car in India rather than
introducing a car that was already running in the global market. In 1998, when
Hyundai entered in Indian market it was little bit tough for the company to create
an image in the market. But Hyundai changed its position & brought its various
models aggressively in the Indian market to cater & fulfil the needs of all
segments. According to Arvind Saxena, when Hyundai Motors entered India, the
Indian automobile market was changing and people were looking for safer and
more efficient vehicles i.e more value for money. Hence Hyundai Motors
developed its product positioning strategy, the company tried to fulfil the
consumers’ expectations by providing them technologically advanced cars with
more features. To tap the rural area, in April 2009, Hyundai Motor introduced
new marketing strategy, i.e Hyundai Utsav. Through this new marketing strategy
Hyundai aims to reach out to farmers, private companies, doctors, business
community, money lenders, government employees, lawyers across all non-
dealership towns to create awareness about the brand. Under this strategy the
local wholesale marketplace or the ‘Mandi’ were targeted as the marketing venue.
Regarding this strategy, Mr. Arvind Saxena (senior vice president Sales &
Marketing) commented that, “Rising rural incomes, healthy agricultural growth,
growth in rural infrastructure and growing consumerism have opened up new
avenues for automobile manufacturers. He said that 50 percent of the 220 million
rural households are potential car buyers. Also in order to facilitate rural
financing Hyundai Motor has tied up with various public sector banks (PSB).
Under this strategy, the rural customers were offered test drives and were
educated about loans and various schemes. To boost the sales of Hyundai
vehicles, in 2010, Hyundai Motors India Limited signed a memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) with Allahabad Bank. As a part of agreement, both
Hyundai Motor India Limited dealers and the Allahabad bank agreed to utilize
their respective customer databases for growing their car loan business tie-up was
extended to cover financing options by all the branches of the bank in India.
Hyundai Motors has always been employing innovative tools to jack up sales. As
a part of marketing strategy, on 21 Feb 2010, Hyundai Motor organized the
‘Miles & Smiles rally 2010’ in New Delhi. Hyundai i20 customers were
participated in it. The basic objective of this rally was to help the customer in
different cities in to acquaint themselves better with their cars, learn the
techniques of fuel-efficient driving, calculate the mileage per litre and also win
exciting prizes in the process. The first and second runner up received prizes
worth Rs.6,000 & Rs.4,000 respectively whereas the winner received prizes
worth Rs.10,000. The event was sponsored by Indian Oil Corporation.
Commenting on this rally, Mr. Arvind Saxena told the Miles & Smiles rally had
been organized for our customers, as we believe that our role as an automobile
manufacturer also includes imparting techniques of fuel-efficient driving to our
customers. Considering the potential market in rural areas and as a part of
marketing strategy, in year 2011, Hyundai Motors India Limited plans to build a
network of 1000 rural outlets. Mr. Arvind Saxena, told in interview that, “as a
part of expansion strategy we are looking strongly at these rural markets and want
to focus on growing our network there”. According to Mr. Arvind Saxena,
Hyundai Motor is very keen to expand its market in rural areas & the company
has announced to generate employment for about 2,000 sales executives at these
rural outlets. According to company the car markets which are present in areas
outside the superior cities are marked under rural areas. According to Arvind
Saxena, these outlets are just the basic models made with small investments and
these are not the typical permanent outlets made with brick and stone. The
strategy behind these rural outlets was to give a feel to rural folks with car
demonstrations, test drives in addition with basic little repair requirements. Mr.
Saxena told that these rural models will definitely help amazingly in increasing
the sales of company. To boost the rural sales and to compete with Maruti Suzuki
India Limited, Hyundai Motor has planned to introduce a car costing less than
Rs.3,00,000 its cheapest model 206 in India. According to Mr. Arvind Saxena,
the new model of Hyundai will compete with Maruti Suzuki’s Alto in the small
car segment. Hyundai Motors India Limited already enjoyed a good position in
Indian automobile market. When Hyundai noticed that many big brands have
entered in Indian automobile market, Hyundai Motor devised a three-step strategy
to maintain a better grip of their position globally.
Brand Positioning Strategy

It is a well-accepted fact within the corporate world that one of the most valuable
corporate assets is the brand. Companies strive very hard to create brands that
resonate with customers. Today, Hyundai Motor is the successful brand in
automobile market due to its extensive brand positioning strategy. The company’s
brand slogan is “new thinking, new possibilities”. It means Hyundai’s new way of
thinking is to share premium value with more people. According to Hyundai new
thinking means challenging convention and pushing boundaries. Hyundai make
new possibilities for people and our planet by constantly generating new ideas.
As per Hyundai new possibilities means coming up with more forward-thinking
ideas and solutions. This slogan illustrates the idea of providing more to its
customers with new innovations, experiences and values beyond their
expectations. Hyundai Motors also created its new ‘Live Brilliant’ campaign,
which strives to connect with people on a deeply emotional level. The ‘Live
Brilliant’ campaign is the Hyundai’s first worldwide brand campaign with one
single communication applied to all major markets to build up a consistent image
as a global brand. The new campaign based on Hyundai’s enhanced status which
helps global customers in identifying a unique image of Hyundai and gets a better
understanding of the company’s Modern premium values. Hyundai’s basic idea
about reinventing innovation is that Hyundai always looks for a bigger change for
the people. They do not take people for granted because they take the time
thinking about cars and even more time thinking about the people who drive
them. The company generates fresh ideas for their cars that people really need.
Santro- It has been a successful brand of Hyundai Motors. Santro is the best
example of managing a product lifecycle. Santro has managed to keep its market
position by regular upgrades, product changes, relaunches and repositioning.
Hyundai launched Santro in September 1998. Before launching Santro the market
was already 208 dominated by Maruti 800 & Zen. Hyundai changed its strategy
and launched Santro in the tough small car market. Santro was initially positioned
on the design aspect. Santro was designed to be a tall boy car and initial product
testing revealed that Indians did not like the tall boy design. But later
Hyundai turned its biggest disadvantage into an advantage. Customers liked
Santro due to its driving comfort. Later Hyundai changed the positioning of
Santro on various attributes. Focusing on spaciousness of Santro and targeting the
Maruti 800 users who wanted to upgrade into the B segment the company later
positioned Santro as a complete family car. Initially Santro’s target market was
35-45 years middleclass Indians. By highlighting on its safety features like child
safety rear door locks, Hyundai positioned Santro as a safety car. Initially Santro
used a celebrity i.e Shah Rukh Khan-an actor, to showcase the brand attributes.
Santro used celebrities to add a lifestyle appeal to it. Later Santro have introduced
various variants after getting brand acceptability among customers. Santro had an
unusual design which appealed to consumers, initiated professional after sales
service with a good distribution network. Hyundai also positioned Santro as fuel
efficient car by highlighting and introducing its various features like MPFI (Multi
Point Fuel Injection System). Later to cope up with competition & to appeal to
the first time car buyers the company in Oct 2002 decided to reposition the Santro
as a “Sunshine Car”. Sunshine has an intuitive association with brightness, joy,
new hope and success. Considering the growing number of youths of India as a
target market, in year 2003, Hyundai changed Santro completely. The company
changed entire design of Santro and new Santro was launched as Santro Xing.
This car repositioned as an improved version of Santro in various aspects like
Safety, Comfort & Convenience. 88 I10-After the huge success of Hyundai
Santro, the company launched i10 in hatchback segment and has gained much
popularity in Indian market since its launch in 2007. Hyundai i10 is a premium
hatchback segment model that takes place between Hyundai Santro & Hyundai
Getz. The company launched i10 by targeting the youths in India. Within just five
months of its launch, the i10 has enticed youth not only in Indian market but also
abroad. Initially Hyundai Motor has positioned i10 as fuel efficient and low
maintenance car with great performance. 89 209 In year 2009, Hyundai Motor
repositioned i10 as, “the most feature rich compact car in India”. According to
George Koshy, Creative Director-Inn ocean, Hyundai Motors repositioned i10 by
considering the first time buyers as target customers and considering those who
want to upgrade from entry level compact car in the
Hyundai positioned Eon as an affordable as well as competitive car. Eon has a
tagline ‘new India’s trendsetter’ which highlighted that the youths of India have a
power to set the new trends for India. 93 Sonata- Hyundai Motors India limited,
in March 2012 launched its sixth-generation luxury sedan: new Sonata. Hyundai
introduced & positioned Sonata as a premium, stylish car. According to Mr.
Vivek Srivastava, Joint Managing Director-Inn Ocean, the basic idea behind
launching Sonata was to target the business leaders and top executives. As the
Sonata has various safety and innovative features like six airbags, rear parking
sensors, anti-lock braking systems, fluidic design and sunroof.
Advertising Strategy

Motors released Advertising plays vital role in introducing the product to the
customer and market. Since inception, Hyundai Motors India Limited has focused
on innovative advertising strategies. A 211 superstar of Indian cinema-Shah Rukh
Khan as a brand ambassador who projected a fun loving, intelligent and youthful
image. For Santro the advertisement campaign was carried out in three phases.
The first phase of campaign focused at building awareness and understanding
about Hyundai. The second phase of campaign introduced Santro to the Indian
customer and the last stage aimed at reinforcing the brand and triggering the
buyer’s purchasing decision in favour of Santro. In one TV advertisement of
Santro, which was launched in 1998, Shah Rukh Khan drives the Santro very
roughly and maintains a nice balance while driving Santro among peoples who
stands in middle of the road as a divider. The advertisement highlights various
attributes of Santro like MPFI engine, more space, nice control, superior engine
etc. This TV ad ended with the voiceover that Santro is a perfect family car. In
one advertisement of Santro Shah Rukh Khan describes the unique features of
Santro like international Tall boy design, computerized multi point fuel injection,
powerful engine, more space, more head and boot space, more luggage space,
advanced epsilon engine etc. Lastly the advertisement gives message that Santro
is a complete family car as it is convenient for office, for shopping, for holiday,
for weekends etc. Hyundai’s one of the popular advertisements i.e ‘Santro
Sunshine’ depicts that a car can change the life of young Indian. The idea behind
this advertisement was, Santro will bring sunshine to your life. In this
advertisement, the sunshine was communicating two intangibles i.e Freshness and
youth full attitude. This advertisement was revolving around Indian stars Shah
Rukh Khan and Priety Zinta. In one of the nice advertisements of Santro Xing
launched in August 2009 i.e “Bar Bar Dekho……Hazar Bar Dekho”, Santro was
positioned with its tagline “First car, First choice”. Hyundai Motors had rolled out
this creative TVC campaign “Bar Bar Dekho” to highlight the interior and
exterior features of Santro. In this film a group of college kids doing a sporty day
march past on the street. Just as the brand new Santro passes by, all the kids doing
the
march past do an instant double take to look at the Santro. At one corner, a group
of Kathakali dancers, dancing, just when the Santro passes by they too do a
double take. Also, a young couple suddenly stops chatting & give a look to Santro
when it passes by. Lastly the advertisement ended with 212 voices over that
Hyundai is most trustable vehicle of 15,00,000 customers with low maintenance,
better looks and great mileage. In 2012, Hyundai Motors released nice television
advertisement for the ‘Next Gen’ version of its i10. The brand ambassador of
Hyundai Motors Shah Rukh Khan along with actor Manajari Phadnis played role
in this advertisement. This was very innovative and creative advertisement of i10
which was created by Inn ocean Worldwide. The film shows how the i10 literally
plays a helping hand in bringing good things to its owners. In this creative ad
Shah Rukh Khan shown driving the car alone and the first good things that
happens to him is that Phadnis joins him for a drive. The weather is next up for
the i10, as the rains give way to the sun during the drive. This advertisement
highlighted on various features of i10 like the Sunroof, back wiper, superior
engine etc. The film ends with Shah Rukh Khan shown parking the i10 on a
beach and getting ready to watch the sun go down with Phadnis by his side. Mr.
Arvind Saxena- Director, Marketing & Sales commented on this ad that the i10
has been one of the most successful cars and with this commercial we want to
reiterate the message that the i10 continues to be a preferred choice with
competition nowhere close to it in styling, mileage. 97Hyundai Motors creative
advertisement can be seen in its Television advertisement of Verna where a man
driving Verna to drop a lady to a yacht port. The girl rushes out of the car toward
the yacht pier. As he is about to drive away, he realizes that the lady has forgotten
her earrings in vehicle. Instead of giving those earrings to the lady, he smirks and
drives away in the car. Shots of the car are then show with a focus on both, its
interiors and exteriors till the car stops on the top of a bridge. Later the man steps
out of his car and chucks the earrings into the yacht that is passing below the
bridge. In this advertisement Hyundai positioned on various features of Verna
like its interiors, exteriors, speed and powerful engine. This advertisement has
supported with print advertisements, outdoor ads, internet banners and e-mailers.
Before launching the Eon, Hyundai Motors focused on the digital
media as a powerful source of promotion. Hyundai Motors used digital media to
create a buzz before the launch of Eon. This digital media was combined with
various above the line communications (ATL) such as Print, electronic and out of
home (OOH) advertising as well as some rigorous below the line (BTL)
activities. This activity was designed 213 and executed by Inn ocean worldwide.
According to Mr. Saurabh Dasgupta, executive creative director, Inn ocean
Worldwide, ‘The creative idea centred upon Eon as a “Life Changer” for the
target audience in a compelling manner. The style quotient of Eon was pumped to
competitive superiority and the aim was to give Indians their new drive. For
advertising Eon, Hyundai Motors focused on idea that this car meets the
aspirations of youthful India and played around with the brand’s creative tagline
‘India On.’ Considering the growing importance of digital media and the use of
digital media by youths, Hyundai Motors promoted Eon through Face book,
Twitter, YouTube and a dedicated micro site. The micro site offered the visitor an
opportunity to have a personal car unveiling. Also to promote Eon on a mass
level, Hyundai print ads of Eon in national and regional dailies, with specific
emphasis on innovative sizes. The campaign of Eon was also run on television
and many channels. In advertisement Eon was positioned on many winning
aspects like mileage, style, space and safety. With an intention to create
awareness of Eon, it was displayed in various malls across the country. With an
intention to target mass audiences & considering the growing popularity of few
Hindi serials Hyundai Eon made advertisements with characters from ‘Saas Bina
Sasural’, which air on Sony TV and SAB TV. Commenting on this advertising
strategy Mr. Arvind Saxena told that to create a buzz among the target audience
an innovative media initiative is imperative. He also told that the character’s mass
appeal would appeal to the audience, and the brand would be seen in a new
perspective. Hyundai Motors knew that, product display is one of the most
effective ways to reach out to the prospective customers; especially in India
where people prefer have a feel of the product before taking any decision. Hence
as a part of innovative advertising campaign, Hyundai Motors spotted Eon at the
Delhi Metro Stations. Under this advertising campaign, the Eon was spotted for a
month at Metro Station where the customers could come across with Eon.
Sales Promotional Strategies

In any business, promotion strategy plays vital role to boost the performance of business. An
accurate & innovative strategy will not only attract the customers but saves lot of company
cost. A well-developed promotional strategy can also assist the business in understanding and
connecting with clients and customers. Currently, Hyundai Motors India Limited is known
as one of the leading companies which occupies prominent place in Indian automobile
industry due to its innovative and clear promotional strategies. 215 As a part of promotional
strategy, in 2010, Hyundai Motors organized its annual ‘Miles & Smiles Rally 2010’ in
Calicut and Jaipur. The owners of Hyundai i10 1.1 L IRDE and 1.2 L Kappa variants were
participated in the events which were organized to prove the car’s fuel consumption figures.
In this rally 80 Hyundai cars participated in each city. The rally was basically organized to
give the customers a chance to get the best fuel mileage from their cars, learn the techniques
of fuel-efficient driving and also win prizes in the process. In this rally, the winner got a prize
of Rs.10,000. In 2011, Hyundai Motors became a global ICC sponsor started off its on-
ground activation for the ICC Cricket world Cup 2011 with Hyundai ICC First Ball Tour
initiative. As a part of promotional strategy, Hyundai gave cricket fans a chance to closely
inspect the same cricket balls that were to be used for play in the very first World Cup match
between Indian and Bangladesh. Under this initiative, fans could also visit select Hyundai
showrooms for a preview of the same. The tour included colourfully painted Hyundai i10
cars carrying the cricket balls in the boot of the car which were displayed to the eager fans.
In year 2011, Hyundai Motor India Limited, the official ‘Car Partner’ of the ICC Cricket
World Cup 2011’ organized its consumer engagement program with the launch of the
Hyundai Fan Park, where fans can watch the matches of the ICC World Cup live on large
screens in a fun-filled environment. The Hyundai Fan Park initiative was set up in high-flying
malls like the Great India Place, Noida, the In-Orbit Mall in Mumbai and the Ampa Mall in
Chennai. The pavilions had giant screens for live screening of all matches, a cricket pitch for
fans to display their cricketing talent. In year 2011, Hyundai Motor India Limited presented
the All New
petrol lock scheme will insulate the customer from the impact of the price hike.
The price hike is severe and we need to soften the blow for our customers”.
Since October 2012 till date, the Indian automobile industry is badly hampered
because of continuous hike in the prices of Petrol and Diesel, increased taxes and
due to financial crises. Since last six months the automobile sector recorded a
huge loss hence to attract the customers & to increase the sales, in April 2013,
Hyundai Motor India Limited has introduced various offers to its customers. To
increase the sales, Hyundai adopted various strategies like; the company has
focused on providing free insurance, exchange bonus on its various vehicles.
Under this offer, Hyundai has given exchange offer of Rs.10,000 along with free
insurance on its Eon model. The company offered free insurance on Santro
model. To boost the sales of i10, the company offered free insurance along with
exchange offer worth Rs.20,000. In addition to this Hyundai offered a gift cheque
worth Rs.9,000 on i20, there is an exchange offer of Rs.15,000 along with free
insurance. And on its premium vehicle Verna, the company offered exchange
offer of Rs.15,000. To boost the sales, in April 2013, Hyundai launched limited
period offer during 24 to 30 April i.e. “Never before never again offer” in which
Hyundai offered a free gold coin on every booking.

Customer Care Strategy

After sales service is an important aspect while buying vehicle. A customer when
decides to buy vehicle, he first thinks about after sales service. Naturally, while buying
vehicle a customer carefully looks that whether he will get proper and prompt after
sales service or not. It is a phenomenon that, a customer may be satisfied with the
vehicle & its performance but may be disappointed because of improper after sales
service. With an object to provide a better after sales service & to delight the customers,
Hyundai Motors India Limited had taken several innovative initiatives. For providing
better & fast service Hyundai Motor has set up a strong dealer network across India. At
present Hyundai Motor is having 900 service centers across India. Hyundai Motor
offers customer support through Internet, Phone and physical customer support centers
located all over India. With an object to provide an instant service & support to its
customers, to increase the
transparency and to make the customer delight, Hyundai Motors launched
Hyundai after sales website where the customer can find the information about
Hyundai cars, and by visiting customer care link may register his complaints or
query either online or by sending email to Hyundai, also an individual may
submit a test drive request or can browse FAQ (Frequently Asked Question)
section to know the information, he may find the nearest dealer/service centre, or
may take driving, maintenance & fuel saving tips. Hyundai Motors has its own
Customer Care Centre where, the Hyundai customers if having any query or
complaints may dial toll free number to register his query. With an object to
provide the quick and prompt service to customers, Hyundai is having the 218
24x7 toll free roadside assistance number. For e.g if the customer is having any
vehicle problem on highways, he by just dialling a toll-free number can take
assistance. In May 2012, Hyundai Motors had launched a promotional
programme called the ‘5 Star Assurance Programme’ for the buyers of Santro and
i10. This programme offered total maintenance assurance, motor assurance,
warranty assurance, exchange assurance and roadside assurance. In total
maintenance programme, the company offered free maintenance for 3 years or
40,000 kilometres whichever is earlier. This programme covered the expenses
like service, repairs including cost of parts and materials as per the standard
periodic maintenance service schedule. In Motor insurance programme, Hyundai
provided comprehensive motor insurance at Rs.1 and the warranty assurance
programme offered extended warranty for the 3rd year or up to 40,000 kilometre.
The 5-star assured programme also offered free 24x7 roadside assistance for two
years and an exchange/loyalty offer of Rs.15,000 for Santro & i10 buyers. Mr.
Arvind Saxena, commented that, ‘The 5 Star assurance programme is designed to
offer 360-degree services to Hyundai customer ranging from maintenance to
roadside assistance and the primary objective of this programme is to enhance
customer satisfaction long after the purchase has been made. In June 2012,
Hyundai Motor launched nationwide service initiative i.e ‘Always Around’ for
the Hyundai customers with a novel idea of ‘Always There, Because We Care’,
started from 24 June 2012, this campaign provided free check-ups for its
customers at organized general camps like Monsoon check-up camp to develop
long term relations with the customers. Hyundai organize Monsoon check-up
camp to provide preventive maintenance during monsoon. To make customers
aware about this camp, Hyundai displayed the banners one week earlier at
prominent locations in the cities. In this camp the Hyundai offers services to
customers like check up of brake fluid lines, tire conditions, wiper arms and its
rubber conditions, power window operations, central locking operations, clutch
and suspension during road test etc. Hyundai Motor has always been conscious
about providing proper knowledge & creating awareness to their customers. To
make customers aware about proper utilization of AC, the company generally
organizes free AC check-up camp for 220 Hyundai customers where the
customers give proper guidance about how to make the AC effective. With an
objective to prepare cars to face the tough winter conditions, Hyundai organizes
winter check-up camp especially in northern part.

Pricing Strategy

Price is the most important determinant of the profitability of any company or

business. Price is also one of the most flexible elements of the marketing mix and
unlike others, can be changed quickly. For all company pricing decisions are very
crucial decision. Pricing is very important because it is a highly risky decision
area. Any mistake in pricing will adversely affect the company, its profits, growth
and future. In initial years, Hyundai’s strategy was not to make profits but to gain
major market share. Since inception till date, Hyundai’s focus is to become a
quality vehicle manufacturer rather than a price conscious manufacturer.
Presently Hyundai Motors because of innovative & unique features of its vehicles
have adopted the Premium pricing, Value pricing & Competitive pricing strategy.
When Santro launched in Indian automobile market it was known as excellent
value for money car. In early days Santro’s competition was mainly with Maruti
800. In case of Santro, Hyundai Motor adopted value pricing strategy. The
advantage of this strategy is the belief that the customer is interested not in the
cost of the product but only in the value. The company made slight changes in the
price of its variants of Santro according to the features. Hyundai highlighted price
of Santro on its advanced features like power steering, power windows and audio
system. In initial years, Hyundai’s strategy was not to make profits but to capture
market. In current scenario, to cope up with the competition with Maruti Suzuki’s
Alto, Estilo, Wagon-R and Tata Indica, Hyundai Motor has adopted competitive
pricing strategy for Santro. Currently, Santro has emerged as the bestseller in
rural markets. According to Mr. Arvind Saxena, in 2009, 31 % of the Hyundai
sales had come from rural India. And the dealers are setting up more sales points
in tier III cities. Considering the 221-growing popularity in rural market, Hyundai
Motors has adopted discount pricing strategy to tap the rural market. 120 Hyundai
Motor launched its premium hatchback car i.e Getz Prime 1.3 and 1.1 in year
2007. This car was basically targeted to the middle to upper-level customers who
wanted to upgrade from entry level car to premium hatch back segment. In 2007,
the Indian automobile market witnessed Paleo Stile 1.1 and 1.6, New Mahindra
Renault Logan along with Getz Prime. While launching, Hyundai Motor
positioned Getz as the car, deliver more mileage, more spacious, and equipped
with new engine. In case with Getz, Hyundai Motor adopted aggressive pricing
strategy. The Getz Prime 1.1, though priced aggressively at Rs.3.9 lakh, reflected
Getz’s premium positioning which has been retained in order to separate it from
the other small cars. Hyundai i10 is the popular hatchback car of Hyundai
Motors. Hyundai positioned its i10 on its attributes. The reason of success and
growth of i10 is its style, superior technology and the competitive pricing strategy
adopted by Hyundai Motors. To compete with Maruti’s Zen Estilo, Wagon R &
Tata’s Indica, Hyundai Motors have adopted competitive pricing strategy for i10.
According to Mr. Arvind Saxena, “Hyundai follow a multi-model strategy and
look at consolidated sales of Santro and i10. He also stated that sales of the Santro
and i10 together contribute a sizeable chunk of the compact car segment and it
adds to a larger customer base”. I20 is one of the premium segment cars of
Hyundai Motor. The company launched its i20 to compete with Maruti Suzuki’s
Swift, Ritz and other premium segment cars of competitors. Because of
innovative features, more space and latest technology, Hyundai Motor initially
adopted Premium pricing strategy for i20. Though Hyundai Motor is one of the
strong players in the compact segment but because of restructuring and redefining
pricing strategies of Volkswagen Polo, General Motors Beat and Ford Figo,
Hyundai Motors launched new version of its i20 compact in year 2010 with a
price cut of Rs.40,000. This was the Parity pricing strategy of Hyundai Motor to
compete with the other brands. To compete with Maruti Suzuki’s 800, Alto & to
attract the first-time buyers especially middle class, Hyundai Motor launched its
compact segment car Eon. Hyundai Motor with an object to reach to all segment
of customer’s adopted affordability-based pricing strategy for Eon. Hyundai
Motor priced Eon in such a way that all segments of the total market can afford to
buy Eon. As a part of strategy Hyundai launched Eon’s base level variant (D-
Lite) in Bangalore at Rs.2.73 lakhs exshowroom price. Hyundai launched another
variant of Eon i.e Era and Magna with power steering and AC whose ex-
showroom price were Rs.3.19 lakh and 3.41 lakh, about Rs.25,000 cheaper than
Santro with almost similar features. Hyundai claimed that Eon scores more over
Alto in terms of higher mileage, power, torque, and superior AC cooling, large
boot space and it is more spacious than Alto. Though the price of Eon is slight
more than Alto but still Eon is considered as the car for first time buyers.
Presently to boost the sales of Eon, Hyundai adopted competitive pricing strategy.
As far as Accent is concerned initially Hyundai adopted parity pricing strategy &
for Sonata, Elantra and Verna is concerned, highlighting its innovative & unique
features, Hyundai adopted skimming pricing strategy to target the upper class
customers.

Distribution Strategy

Distribution channels are an important part of any organization to deliver their

products and services to consumer properly. The necessity for channels of
distribution arises because the product has to move to the customer from the
factory, in the right quantity, at the right time and at the right place. In today’s
stiff competition companies became very proactive as companies now realized
that, if they want to delight & retain their customers for long period of time & if
companies want to create a good image in national as well as at globe then it is
not only vital to offer good quality products but it is most vital to deliver that
product within time to the customer so that the needs and wants of customers will
be fulfilled. The operational success of a company not only depends on how well
it performs in terms of sales and production but also on how well its entire
channels of distribution compete with competitors’ channels. In an era when just
in time is being used as an effective tool to reduce inventory and cut costs. It is
crucial for automobile companies to maintain as low an inventory is possible.
Also, in times when competition is passionate and the customer has more than
one choice, it is important that the automobile manufacturers ensure that the cars
are with the dealers spread across the country to deliver to their customer on the
promised date, for that, it is vital to frame ideal logistics strategies. The business
firms may develop both costs based and differentiation-based strategies to make
their supply chains competitive. Hyundai Motor India Limited is one of the
India’s pioneer automobile companies & wholly owned subsidiary of Hyundai
Motor Company. When Hyundai Motor had decided to enter in India, the market
was highly dominated by mainly Maruti Suzuki India Limited and Tata Motors.
Before entering in India, Hyundai Motor had studied the Indian automobile
market carefully along with the needs and requirements of Indian customers.
Hyundai knew that the Indian automobile market has lot of potential & scope for
expansion. Hyundai started its production plant at Irrungattukotai near Chennai in
1996. Considering the demand of Indian automobile customer especially middle-
class segment, Hyundai Motor decided to launch its first and most successful
vehicle Santro which was a runaway success. Initially, Hyundai Motor’s
production was 1,00,000 units a year. For better production in time, Hyundai tied
up with vendors to ensure timely delivery of components at the factory. Hyundai
knew that providing the vendors with a schedule of supply and keeping in regular
touch with them is very crucial for the supply chain to run smoothly. Hence as a
part of strategy & to cope up with sudden demand & supply, Hyundai shared its
production schedule well in advance with the component suppliers, keeping them
informed of any changes planned to the schedule. Commenting on this strategy,
Mr. A.P. Gandhi, President-Hyundai Motor India Limited pointed out that a lot of
thought has gone into vendor dealers in India through G.D.M.S (Global Dealer
Management Service) where all the dealers were link up the entire network with
the company’s main computer system for onsite support facility. A company may
produce the best products but still not do well if its dealers perform poorly in
sales and service against the competitor’s dealers. Considering this fact, Hyundai
Motors has set up a wide and strong dealer network of 400 dealers & 900 service
centers in each and every corner of India to cater the needs and wants of
customers. Also considering the potential market in rural areas and as a part of
expansion & distribution strategy, in year 2011, Hyundai Motors India Limited
builds a strong network of 1000 rural outlets to reach to rural consumers.

on the basis of above discussions a few observations can be summarized as under

1. It was observed that today, Maruti Suzuki India Limited & Hyundai Motor
India Limited are the renowned automobile giants who have occupied prominent
place in Indian automobile industry especially in passenger vehicle segment
because of their innovative and unique branding & marketing strategies.

2. It was disclosed that Maruti Suzuki has dominated the Indian passenger
vehicle industry and grabbed number one position because of its wide variety of
vehicles to various classes of customers, good mileage, better after sales service
and continuous innovations.

3. It was noticed that considering the potential market in rural areas and as a part
of strategy, Maruti Suzuki has focused on organizing various events in rural areas
like Gramin Mahotsav, Video on Wheels campaign to promote its brands.
Maruti’s few unique promotional strategies include Teacher plus scheme, 2599
scheme etc. Maruti Suzuki, has adopted innovative advertising strategy, for wide
coverage and target the large audiences Maruti has presently promoted its brands
with the help of social networking sites like Face book, Twitter etc.

4. It was revealed that, Hyundai Motor India Limited is the second largest
passenger vehicle manufacturer after Maruti Suzuki. To compete with the
competitors, Hyundai Motor fulfilled the expectations of customers by providing
them technologically advanced vehicles with value added and innovative features.
Presently, Hyundai motor is also considered as the largest exporter of
automobiles to European countries

5. It was noticed that as a part of expansion strategy, Hyundai Motors has opened
1,000 rural outlets across India to tap the rural customers. Hyundai Motors few
unique marketing strategies include Hyundai Utsav, Miles and Smiles rally,
Hyundai Hattrick, Sports marketing i.e association with ICC cricket etc. Hyundai
has adopted aggressive advertising strategy to promote its brands and with an
object to target the youths Hyundai is promoting and advertising its brands
through digital media.
 CHAPTER 04

COMPANY PROFILE
Review of Literature

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has become one of the most dynamic
technology topics of the mill The modern customer relationship management
concept was shaped and influenced by the theories of total quality management
(Gambeson) and by new technological paradigms (Zineldin, 2000). There is
however, a perceived lack of clarity in the definition of customer relationship
management, although all accepted definitions are sharing approximately the
same basic concepts: customer relationships, customer management, marketing
strategy, customer retention, personalization (Zineldin 2000). However, while
academics debate the subtitles of various definitions, the practitioners have
developed a wealth of applicative papers analysing the concrete challenges and
opportunities of implementing the systems (Bacuvier et al. 2001). CRM in some
firms is considered as a technology solution, considering of individual databases
and sales force automation tools and sales and marketing functions so as to
improve targeting effort. Peppers and Rogers (1999) argued that other
organizations view CRM as a tool, which has been particularly designed for one-
to-one customer communications, which is the function of sales, call centres or
the marketing departments. Accordingly, Frow and Payne (2004) added that
CRM stresses two-way communication from the customer to the supplier to build
the customer over time. The two-way communication has been enhanced greatly
by advances in technology particularly the Internet. In term of information
technology (IT), CRM means an enterprise –wide integration of technologies
working together such as data warehouse, web site, and intranet/extranet, phone
support system, accounting, sales, marketing and production. Kotler (2000)
assured that CRM uses IT to gather data, which can then be used to develop
information acquired to create a more personal interaction with the customer. In
the long-term, it produces a method of continuous analysis and reinforcement in
order to enhance customer’s lifetime value with firms. Goldenberg (2000)
believes that CRM is not merely technology applications for marketing, sales and
services but rather when it is successfully implemented; it enables firms to have
cross functional, customer-driven, technology-integrated business process
management strategy that maximize relationships. Chin et al (2003) stated that
that due to many technological solutions available for CRM automation, it is
often misconstrued as a piece of technology. But they maintained that in recent
times many companies have realized the strategic importance of CRM, and as a
result, it is becoming a business value-effort rather than technology- centric
effort. Using information technology as an enabler, CRM strategy leverages key
functional areas to maximize profitability of customer interactions (Chen and
Popovich, 2003). It has been recognized that technological advancements and
innovations keen competitive marketing environment coupled with the internet
are main drivers of present and future customer profitability which makes it
possible to appropriately and proportionately allocate firm’s resources to all
functional areas that affect customer relationship (Chou et al, 2003). For
customers, CRM offers customization, simplicity and convenience for completing
transactions irrespective of the kind of channel of interaction used (Gulati and
Garino, 2000). Many businesses today realize the importance of CRM and its
potential to help them achieve and sustain a competitive edge (Peppard, 2000).
This view was further boosted by Bose (2002) that as a result of changing nature
of the global environment and competition, firms cannot compete favourably with
minor advantages and tricks that can easily be copied by competing firms the
implementation of CRM is an enabled opportunity to rise above minor
advantages with real focus on developing actual relationships with customers.
Firms those are most successful at delivering what customers want are the more
likely to be leaders of the future.

Benefits of CRM According to Chen and Popovich (2003), CRM applications

have the ability to deliver repositories of customer data at a much smaller cost
than old network technologies. Throughout an organization, CRM systems can
accumulate, store, maintain, and distribute customer knowledge. Peppard (2000)
noted that effective management of information has a very important role to play
in CRM because it can be used to for product tailoring, service innovation;
consolidate views of customers, and for calculating customer lifetime value.
CRM systems assists companies evaluate customer loyalty and profitability based
on repeat purchases, the amount spent, and longevity. Bull (2003) added CRM
makes it practicable for companies to find unprofitable customers that other
companies have abandoned. This position is supported by Galbreath and Rogers
(1999) that CRM helps a business organization to fully understand which
customers are worthwhile to acquire which to keep, which have untapped
potential, which are strategic, which are important profitable and which should be
abandoned. Greenberg emphasized that CRM can increase the true economic
worth of business by improving the total lifetime value of the customer adding
that successful CRM strategies encourage customers to buy more products, stay
loyal for longer periods and communicate effectively with a company. CRM can
also ensure customer satisfaction through allocation, scheduling and dispatching
the right people, with the right parts, at the right time (Chou et al., 2002).
According to Swift (2001), companies can gain many benefits from CRM
implementation. He states that the benefits are commonly found in one of these
areas: i) Lower cost of recruiting Customers ii) No need to acquire so many
customers to preserve a steady volume of business iii) Reduced cost of sales iv)
Higher Customer Profitability v) Increased Customer retention & Loyalty vi)
Evaluation of customers Profitability Curry and Kalou (2004) refer to the major
benefits and reasons for adoption of CRM which include: customers from the
competition will come prefer the organization; a simplified, customer – focused
internal organization will simplify the infrastructure, shrinking the work flow and
eliminating non-productive information flow; and profits will increase from
satisfied customers which will lead to more compact & focused company. There
are some companies that adopt CRM systems just because it is the most advanced
technology and they think they should have it since their competitors have it
(Chou et al, 2002), Some statistics that motivate this behaviour are resumed as
follows: By Pareto’s principle, it is assumed that 20% of a company’s customers
generate 80% of its profits. In industrial sales it takes an average of 8 to 10
physical calls in person to sell to a new customer 2 to 3 calls to an existing
customer. It is 5 to 10 times more expensive to acquire a new customer than
obtain repeat business from existing customer. A typical dissatisfied customer
tells 8 to 10 people about prospect to alumni and supporting them all the way.
Thulasi Kumar, director of information management and analysis at the
University of Northern Iowa, says his administration relies on the power of
predictive analytics to more accurately determine enrolment figures for the
coming semester and school year. "By more accurately predicting return
enrolment of students, we have better control on budgets and expenses," Mr.
Kumar said. "Just as important, we use the predictive technology of SPSS to take
proactive measures to ensure the majority of our students return to campus in the
fall. That's what's important to the university and at the top of the list for parents
and students as well. "Mr. Kumar said there are two major obstacles to the
implementation of CRM in higher education. If we discuss about Pune city, the
following points are highlighted, which require management colleges to focus on
CRM.

 More number of institutes vying for a smaller number of students

 Institutions need to establish itself as a Brand to attract a greater number of

students  Not only profitability but service is the goal of education

 Students’ life cycle management is the buzzword

 Predictive technology helps in better control & budgeting.

 Creating a long-term relationship with students is a win - win for both

 There is a need to understand the behaviour of the students

 CHAPTER 05

DATA ANALYSIS
Data analysis and interpretation

is very crucial part of research. The data analysis and interpretation for this
research is based on the primary data collected from the car users of Maruti &
Hyundai in Marathwada region. In this chapter the responses of customers are
collected by the researcher with the help of questionnaire and analysed with the
help of IBM SPSS software. This chapter throws light on vital issues like
opinions of customers, perceptions of customers, satisfaction level of customers
from their vehicles, their preferences and expectations, problem about after sales
service and overall buying experience about their vehicle. The researcher has
collected the data from the respondents of Marathwada region who owned the
Maruti & Hyundai car. Marathwada region consists eight districts i.e
Aurangabad, Jalna, Latur, Beed, Nanded, Osmanabad, Parbhani and Hingoli. The
questionnaire consisted 26 questions & the researchers collected the data i.e.
answers of those questions from 500 respondents, out of which 476 responses are
considered for data analysis as those 476 respondents given accurate & complete
information whereas remaining 24 respondents has given incomplete and vague
information & they shown lack of interest in providing information, hence those
24 respondents are not considered for data analysis. While collecting the
responses from respondents, researcher tried to collect the responses from
authorized dealers & sub dealers of Maruti Suzuki & Hyundai Motors in
Marathwada region. The detail questionnaire which was used for collection of
information from owners of Maruti Suzuki & Hyundai Motor is discussed here.
The questionnaire framed for the respondents contains questions like- opinion of
respondents about price of vehicle, resale value, fuel efficiency, advertisement
and replacement of vehicle. Few multiple-choice questions were related to source
of information, preferences while buying vehicles & post purchase behaviour of
236 respondents. And remaining rating type of questions was related to vehicle
satisfaction, after sales service, dealer service etc. The remaining question was
related to general information of respondent’s i.e. occupation, annual income,
driving experience etc
 Sales

MARUTI HYUNDAI MAHENDRA

6

0
SUZUKI TATA HYUNDAI Category 4

Series 1 Series 2 Series 3

14

12

10

0
MARUTI HYUNDAI TATA Category 4

Series 1 Series 2 Series 3

TURNOVER RATIO

Y CO INVENT RA
E ST ORY TI
A OF O
R GO
OD
S
SO
LD
20 366 1303.35 28.
10 18.4 9
-
20
11
20 267 2472,7 24.
11 71.2 6
-
20
12
20 342 3224.8 31.
12 59.8 7
-
20
13
20 166 2311.9 16,
13 87.5 7
-
20
14
20 288 4339.8 22.
14 64.6 6
-
20
15
 Sales

1%
23%
39%

37%

TATA MAHENDRA MARUTI HYUNDAI

 TABLE NO 1

DETERMINE YOUR RATE PREFERENCE ON THE FOLLOWING

SERVICES BEING HIGHLY PREFERRED AND BEING LESS PREFERRED.

SERVICESFREEBEING HIGHLY PREFERRED

TRAIN-
ING
15%

FREE AFTER SALES SERVICES

43%

TEST DRIVE
43%

FREE AFTER SALES SERVICES TEST DRIVE

FREE TRAINING

The above table shows that 43% of people are highly preferred by people for
test drive and 42% are preffered by people on free after sales services and only
15% are preffered by free training.
 TABLE NO 2

WHAT TYPES OF CRM SRVICES DO YOU AVAIL?

CRM SERVICES

17%

24% 60%

E-CRM SERVICES TELE SERVICES MOBILE SERVICES

The above table shows that 59% of people use e crm services ,24% people use
tele services and 17 % use mobile services.
 TABLE NO 3

What activities does company do to maintain continuous

relation with you.

ACTIVITIES

9%
10%

23% 59%

LOYALTY PROGRAMME BONUS CARD

ANNUAL OFFERS CLUB INVITATIONS

The above table shows that 59% of company people do to attract customers by
loyalty programme and 23% of bonus card ,10% of annual offers and 8% of club
invitations to attract you.
 TABLE NO 4

In thinking about your most recent experience with company what was the quality
of customer service you received.

QUALITY

15% 12%

24%

49%

VERY POOR UNSATISFACTORY

ABOVE AVERAGE VERY SATISAFACTORY

From the above table it shows that 49% of people suggested that the quality of
service was above average ,12 % was very poor, 15% was very satisfactory and
24% was unsatisfactory.
 TABLE NO 5

Would you recommend the products to others?

Recommend

NO
31%

YES
69%

YES NO

The above table shows that 69% people will recommend product to the others and
31% will not recommend.
 TABLE 6

Would you prefer the same company or the products for your second purchase?

SAME PRODUCTS

29%

71%

YES NO

The above table shows that 71 % would prefer this product for second purchase
and 29% would npt prefer this product.
 TABLE 7

How satisfied are you with the service?

 Highly satisfied  Satisfied  Neutral  Least satisfied

SATISFIED

12%
10%
49%

29%

HIGHLY SATISFIED SATISFIED NEUTRAL LEAST SATISFIED

The above table shows that 49 % people are highly satisfied 29% people are
satisfied 12 %least satisfied and 10 % are neutral.
 TABLE 8

Rate the benefits of CRM

1 . saves time 2. reduces cost 3. better decision

BENEFITS OF CRM

15%

43%

43%

SAVES TIME REDUCES COST BETTER DECISION

The above table shows that 43% of people says that CRM reduces cost ,42% says
it saves time and 15% says it helps in better decision.
 TABLE 9

The following questions pertaining the customer service representative with

whom you speak recently - The customer service representative was

1. very courteous 2. handled my call quickly 3. very knowledgeable

2.

SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE

22%
31%

47%

VERY COURTEOUS HANDLED MY CALL QUICKLY

VERY KNOWLEDGEABLE

The above table shows that 47% people handled call quickly, 31% people were
very courteous and 22% were very knowledgeable.
 TABLE 10

DID THE FOLLOWING THINGS OCCURS ON YOUR MOST RECENT

SERVICE VISIT?

SERVICE VISIT

PAPERWORK WAS
COMPLETED EXPLAINED THE
25% WORK BEFORE
35%

INFORMED WHEN
YOUR CAR WAS
READY
15% BREAKDOWN OF THE
CHARGES
25%

EXPLAINED THE WORK BEFORE BREAKDOWN OF THE CHARGES

INFORMED WHEN YOUR CAR WAS READY PAPERWORK WAS COMPLETED

THE ABOVE TABLE SHOWS THE PERCENTAGE OF SERVICE VISITS -

25% PAPERWORK WAS COMPLETED

25% BREAKDOWN OF THE CHARGES

15% INFORMED WHEN CAR WAS READY

35% EXPLAINED THE WORK BEFORE,

 CHAPTER 06

FINDING OF THE STUDY

 FINDINGS

This paper has drawn attention on the impact of different dimensions of

customer relationship management to customer loyalty. From the analysis, it is
concluded that customer works and promises are reliable. Automobile service
provider fulfils its obligation to customer, are offering advice on how to invest
the predominant variable which will increase customer loyalty. So the
automobile sector needs to focus more attention in the above stated variables,
thereby increasing customer loyalty. 94.2% of the customers are in the
satisfaction and above satisfaction level. The customers are satisfied with the
company’s services and hence they will be loyal customers and will be
retained. This indicates that satisfaction leads to customer loyalty and
retention. Crosstab results show that satisfied customers are retained as they
would go for the second purchase of the product Crosstab results show that
satisfied customers recommend the product or service to others that is they
spread a positive word of mouth. According to customers, breakdown of
charges are not explained to them and the paper work is not completed in time
so the companies need to improve on the above mentioned attributes. Most of
the service representatives are courteous and knowledgeable but when it
comes to call handling there is difference of opinion among respondents’ 31
percent are strongly agree that there is quick call handling where as 30 percent
disagree on quick call handling, so call handling should be quick rather than
keeping customers on hold or make them waiting for long.
CHAPTER 07

CONCLUSION
Conclusion

Today, information technology- conscious society has increasing appetite for the
skills of others; as a result, the service industries are growing. Marketers have
now realized that in the global and highly competitive market place and market
space, success rests on the firm’s ability to attract, satisfy and retain its customers.
This demands marketing efforts to be more informative, customer and service
oriented. CRM is an innovative approach undertaken by the marketers in the
process of developing lifetime customers and maximizing lifetime value of the
customers. Companies no longer regard marketing, service and sales as separate
entities. Instead they are more concerned with treating them with a holistic
approach. From the above discussions it is clear that technology has been used
effectively to enhance the utility and application of CRM. The need is to adapt
ever changing technology to meet newer challenges before CRM. It is dynamic
process and right mind-set of managers is key for the success.
CHAPTER 08

REFERENCE
Reference

1. Stowell, Daniel M. (1997), “Sales and Marketing, and Continuous Improvement”,

Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco, p.214.
2. Shipley, D. and Palmer, R. (1997), “Selling to and Managing Key Accounts”,
The CIM Handbook of selling and Sales Strategy, ed. By David Jobber,
Butterworth-Heinemann, p.111.
3. SAS White Paper, ‘The Role of e-Intelligence in Customer Relationship
Management (CRM), www.sas.com
4. Excerpt from presentation by Robert Shaw of Arthur Andersen consulting in
Montreux
5. Chaudhari, S. and Dayal, U (1997), “An overview of data Warehousing and OLP
Technology”, CM SIGMOD RAECORD, March.
6. Laura Hadely (2008), Developing a Data Warehouse Architecture, reviewed
August 2008, www.users.qwest.net/lauramh/resume/thom.htm
7. Gartner Group Advanced Technologies and Applications Research Note, 2/1/95.
8. Mtheus, C.J., Chn,P.K. and Pitetsky-Shpiro, G. (1993) ,”Systems for knowledge
discovery in databases”, IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering,
Vol. 5, no 6,
9. META Group Application Development Strategies: “Data Mining for Data
Warehouses: Uncovering Hidden Patterns.” 7/13/95.
 CHAPTER 09

QUESTIONNAIRE
 SURVEY

1, RATE FROM 1 TO 5 ON THE BASIS OF PREFERENCE THE

FOLLOWING SERVICES 1 BEING HIGHLY PREFERRED AND 5 BEING
LESS PREFERRED.

SERVIC 1 2 3 4 5
ES
FREE
AFTER
SALES
SERVIC
E
TEST
DRIVE
FREE
TRAINI
NG

2. What type of CRM services do you avail?

 E-CRM

 Tele-customer service

3. What activities company does to maintain continuous relation with you?

 Loyalty program

 Bonus card

 Annual offers

 Club invitations

4. In thinking about your most recent experience with [COMPANY], was the
quality of customer service you received:

.  Very poor

 Somewhat unsatisfactory

 About average

 Very satisfactory
 Superior

5. Would you recommend the product to others?

 Yes

 No

6. Would you prefer the same company or the product for your second purchase?

 Yes

 No

7. How satisfied are you /with the service?

 Highly satisfied

 Satisfied

 Neutral

 Least satisfied

8.Rate the benefits of crm

1 . saves time
2. reduces cost
3. better decision
9. the following questions pertaining the customer service representative with
whom you speak recently
The customer service representative was
1. very courteous
2.handled my call quickly
3.very knowledgeable
10. did the following things occur on your most recent service visit?

Statements Yes No
You were
explained the
work to be
performed before
hand
You were
explained the
work performed
and the
breakdown of the
charges
You were
informed when
your car was ready
The paperwork
was completed
and waiting for
you when you
arrived
CHAPTER 10

BIBLIOGRAPHY
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. www.google.com
2. Economictimes.com
3. Times of India, Dated 03/03/19
4. Business Standard, Dated 04/03/19
5. Hindustan Times, Dated 04/03/19
6. Etmoney.com
7. Research Report, Hyundai Motors Ltd
8. Annual Report, Maruti Suzuki Ltd
9. Understanding Modern CRM
10. Live Mint, Dated 03/03/19