A STUDY ON MARKETING STRATEGY OF FIBO MACRO AND MICRO

SPARES PARTS PRIVATE LIMITED AT TRICHY

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION OF THE STUDY
INTRODUCTION
Marketing strategy is a process that can allow an organization to concentrate its limited
resources on the greatest opportunities to increase sales and achieve a sustainable competitive
advantage. Marketing strategies serve as the fundamental underpinning of marketing
plans designed to fill market needs and reach marketing objectives. Plans and objectives are
generally tested for measurable results.
Commonly, marketing strategies are developed as multi-year plans, with a tactical
plan detailing specific actions to be accomplished in the current year. Time horizons covered by
the marketing plan vary by company, by industry, and by nation, however, time horizons are
becoming shorter as the speed of change in the environment increases. Marketing strategies are
dynamic and interactive. They are partially planned and partially unplanned. See strategy
dynamics. Marketing strategy involves careful scanning of the internal and external
environments which are summarized in a SWOT analysis. Internal environmental factors include
the marketing mix, plus performance analysis and strategic constraints.
External environmental factors include customer analysis, competitor
analysis, target market analysis, as well as evaluation of any elements of the technological,
economic, cultural or political/legal environment likely to impact success. A key component of
marketing strategy is often to keep marketing in line with a company's overarching
mission. Besides SWOT analysis, portfolio analyses such as the GE/McKinsey matrix or COPE
analysis can be performed to determine the strategic focus. Once a thorough environmental scan
is complete, a strategic plan can be constructed to identify business alternatives, establish
challenging goals, determine the optimal marketing mix to attain these goals, and detail
implementation. A final step in developing a marketing strategy is to create a plan to monitor
progress and a set of contingencies if problems arise in the implementation of the plan
A strategy that integrates an organization's marketing goals into a cohesive whole. Ideally
drawn from market research, it focuses on the ideal product mix to achieve
maximum profit potential. The marketing strategy is set out in a marketing plan. It is a process
that can allow an organization to concentrate its limited resources on the greatest opportunities to
increase sales and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of
interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business
development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication,
and business developments. It is an integrated process through which companies build strong
customer relationships and create value for their customers and for themselves.
Marketing is used to identify the customer, satisfy the customer, and keep the customer.
With the customer as the focus of its activities, marketing management is one of the major
components of business management. Marketing evolved to meet the stasis in developing new
markets caused by mature markets and overcapacities in the last 2-3 centuries The adoption of
marketing strategies requires businesses to shift their focus from production to the perceived
needs and wants of their customers as the means of staying profitable.
The term marketing concept holds that achieving organizational goals depends on
knowing the needs and wants of target markets and delivering the desired satisfactions. It
proposes that in order to satisfy its organizational objectives, an organization should anticipate
the needs and wants of consumers and satisfy these more effectively than competitors. The field
of marketing strategy encompasses the strategy involved in the management of a given product.
A given firm may hold numerous products in the marketplace, spanning numerous and
sometimes wholly unrelated industries.
Accordingly, a plan is required in order to effectively manage such products. Evidently, a
company needs to weigh up and ascertain how to utilize its finite resources. For example, a start-
up car manufacturing firm would face little success should it attempt to rival Toyota, Ford,
Nissan, Chevrolet, or any other large global car maker. Moreover, a product may be reaching the
end of its life-cycle. Thus, the issue of divest, or a ceasing of production, may be made. Each
scenario requires a unique marketing strategy. Listed below are some prominent marketing
strategy models.
DEVELOPING A SUCCESFUL IMPLEMENTATION OF MARKETING STRATEGY
Marketing strategies serve as the fundamental underpinning of marketing plans designed to
fill market needs and reach marketing objectives. Plans and objectives are generally tested for
measurable results.
Commonly, marketing strategies are developed as multi-year plans, with a tactical plan
detailing specific actions to be accomplished in the current year. Time horizons covered by the
marketing plan vary by company, by industry, and by nation, however, time horizons are
becoming shorter as the speed of change in the environment increases. Marketing strategies are
dynamic and interactive.
They are partially planned and partially unplanned. See strategy dynamics. Marketing
strategy involves careful scanning of the internal and external environments. Internal
environmental factors include the marketing mix, plus performance analysis and strategic
constraints. External environmental factors include customer analysis, competitor analysis, target
market analysis, as well as evaluation of any elements of the technological, economic, cultural or
political/legal environment likely to impact success.

1. UNDERSTAND YOUR CUSTOMER - Develop a clear picture of your target customer

using market research and analysis. Understand their pain points and the benefits of your
solution.

2. ANALYZE THE MARKET - Some basic market research should allow you to find market
data such as total available market, market growth (historical numbers and projections),
market trends, etc. Having a strong marketing research plan is the first step in building a
winning marketing strategy that will drive sales and grow your business. Market Research is
the process of learning as much about your target market as possible – essential to successful
marketing. Without first researching your potential market, launching a product or service is
like shooting in the dark. Unfortunately, too many small business owners shy away from
taking the time to do the thorough marketing research and strategy that is needed to build a
successful business.
3. ANALYZE THE COMPETITION - Ask yourself what other choices your target customers
have to solve their pain point. Research and assess the strengths and weaknesses of each. A
solid competitive marketing strategy is the key to maximizing your business growth.
Essentially, a good competitive analysis involves understanding three main elements:

 Their key pain points (that your product will solve);

 target customers;
 Competitive solutions (other ways the target customer could solve their problem).
 Develop the competitive marketing strategy easily by following these three functions:

 DEVELOP A TARGET CUSTOMER PROFILE - Your target customer is the

individual or individuals who will purchase your product. Hopefully you already have
some idea of who your ideal target customer is (not specific names, but the type of buyer
they are: eg, retail sales managers, or stay-at-home moms, or whatever). You need to get
inside your target customer’s head, and paint as detailed a picture of them as possible.
There is often value in narrowing your market niche by tightening up your target
customer profile (eg, stay-at-home moms who work out of the home, versus all stay-at-
home moms), especially if you are a small company or just starting out.

 IDENTIFY YOUR TARGET CUSTOMER’S PAIN POINTS - It will be much easier

to market and sell your product if it is solving a key problem facing your target
customers. Especially in a recession, other things are considered “nice to have” and it can
be much harder to drive those purchase decisions. Think about the detailed target
customer profile you just painted, and identify the top 3-5 issues that keep them awake at
night. How can your product solve one or more of those pain points? If your product is
not a solution to one of your customer’s top problems, you may need to re-evaluate either
your product or your target market.

 IDENTIFY AND ANALYZE YOUR COMPETITORS - Once you have completed

steps one and two, it becomes fairly straightforward to identify your main competitors:
just ask yourself what other solutions your target customer has to their problem. Often
 your main competitors will be other companies with products that are very similar to
yours. But be on the lookout for different ways that the customer could solve their pain
point – those are competitors also. Now consider the ways in which your product or
service is better than the competitive options at solving the pain point of your target
customer. Make a list and refine it – it should be short and easy to communicate. This is
your Unique Selling Proposition (USP).

4. RESEARCH DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS - What is the best way to deliver your

product or service to your target customers? This will impact your sales strategy and your
financials, as well as your marketing mix.

5. DEFINE YOUR MARKETING MIX 4 Ps

PRODUCT OR SERVICE:-

 What are the top three needs of your target customer base? What keeps your customers
awake at night?
 What unique value do you have to offer that meets those customer needs?
 Will you offer a single product or service, or will you have multiple options to target
different needs or segments?

PRICE:-

 How do you want customers to perceive your product: the budget choice, the luxury
item, or something in between?
 What is your competitors' pricing, and how does your product or service compare to
theirs?
 Will you have a single product at a single price, or offer multiple levels of pricing to
target different segments?

PLACE:-
  Where do your customers typically look for a solution to their need? That could be a
physical place (eg, a retail chain) or a distribution channel or other medium (eg, online).
 How do your competitors get their product to the end customer?
 What are the optimal / fastest / most cost-effective way to deliver your product or service
to your customer?

PROMOTION:-

 What media do your target customers read or view? (magazines, TV shows, websites,
blogs, forums, stores, etc)
 Where do your customers go to find information to help them solve the problem that your
product or service addresses?
 When will target customers be most receptive to learning about your product or service?
(Eg, at a certain time of year, at a certain place, while doing a certain other activity, etc).

6. ANALYZE THE FINANCIALS - Put together your marketing budget and evaluate
projected marketing ROI, customer acquisition costs, etc.

7. REVIEW AND REVISE - Continuously evaluate the effectiveness of your marketing

strategy, and revise or extend as needed.

ESSENTIALS OF MARKETING STRATEGY

Any marketing strategy to be worth calling as successful or effective must enjoy certain extra
which can be called as essential or requisites of it. The basic guide lines used to call a strategy a
successful one used by experts are:

1. It is consistent: A marketing strategy to be effective is to consistent with the overall and

specific objectives and policies other strategies and tactics of the marketing organisation.
Interval consistency is an essential ingredient of a good strategy as it identifies the areas
where the strategic decisions are to be made imminently or in the long run.

2. It is workable: Any strategy however laudable and theoretically sound is meaningless unless
it is able to meet the ever changing needs of a situation. In this business world contingency is
 quite common and the strategy that strikes at the head to contribute to the progresses and
prosperity of marketing organisation.

3. It is suitable: A strategy is emergent of situations or environment. It is subservient of

changing environment of business world. It is but natural that any strategy not suiting to the
environment can impound organisation in the compound of danger, distress and frustration.

4. It is not risky: Any strategy involves risk as uncertainty is certain; what is important is that
extent of the risk involved or associated with strategy is reasonably low as compared to its
pay-off or returns. It is because a high risk very strategy may threaten the survival of the
marketing organisation, let alone its success, if calculations go fit.

5. It is resource based: A sound strategy is one which is designed in the background of the
available resources at its command. A strategy involves certain amount of risk which can
hardly be segregated. A strategic decision warrants commitment of right amount of resources
to the opportunity and reservation of sufficient resources for an anticipated or “pass through”
errors in such demands of resources.

6. It has a time horizon: The statement “a stitch in time saves nine” that aptly applies to the
concept of strategy. A sound strategy is time bound to be used at the nick of the hour and tick
of the opportunity. It has an appropriate times horizon. This time which is costlier than
money and its horizon banks on the goals to be achieved. The time should be long enough to
permit the organisation to make adjustments and maintain the consistency of the storage.

TYPES OF MARKETING STRATEGIES

1. DYNAMIC: The concept of marketing strategy is relative as it is designed to meet the

changing demands of a situation. Each situation and event needs a different strategy that
is why strategy are revised and recast very frequently to cope up with the changes in a
given situation or event.

2. FUTURISTIC: A marketing strategy is forwarded looking. It orients towards future. A

marketing strategy is designed to bring out the organisation from a ditch of degression to
the path of progress for better change in the coming times.
 3. COMPLEX: A marketing strategy is a very complex plan impounding in its compound
other plans or firms of plans which area must to achieve the organisational goals. It is a
compendium or complex of plans within plan to out beat the strength and vitality of
others in the line are allied activities.

4. PROVIDE DIRECTION: Marketing strategies provide a set direction in which human

and physical resources will be allocated and deployed for achieving organisational goals
in the face of change environmental pressure, stress and constraints and restraints.

5. COVERING ALL ASPECTS: Marketing strategies involve the right combination of

factors governing the best results. In fact strategic planning warrants not only the
isolation of various elements of a given but a judicious and critical evaluation of their
relative importance.

6. LINK BETWEEN THE UNITS AND ENVIRONMENT: The strategic decisions that are
basically related with likely trends in the changing marketing changes in the government
policies, technological developments, ecological change over’s, social and cultural-
overtones. Then, the ever changing environment which is external to the organisation has
impact on it because unit is the sub systems of supra system namely environment.

7. INTERPRETATIVE: Marketing strategies are the interpretative plans formulated to

interpret and give meaning to other plans in the spot-light of a specific situation or
situations. They demand an adjustment of plans in anticipator of the reactions of those
who will be influenced. Strategic decisions are the result of a complex and intricate
process of decision making.

8. TOP MANAGEMENT BLUE-PRINT: Marketing strategies, their formulation is the

basic responsibility of top management. It is because; it is top management that spells out
the missions, objectives, goals and the policies and strategies are the ways to reach them.
Thus top management is not only to say where to go but how best to go the terminal point

MARKETING SPECIALIZATIONS

With the rapidly emerging force of globalization, the distinction between

marketing within a firm's home country and marketing within external markets is disappearing
very quickly. With this in mind, firms need to reorient their marketing strategies to meet the
challenges of the global marketplace, in addition to sustaining their competitiveness within home
markets.

TECHNOLOGIES USING IN MARKETING

Marketing management can also rely on various technologies within the scope of its
marketing efforts. Computer-based information systems can be employed, aiding in better
processing and storage of data. Marketing researchers can use such systems to devise better
methods of converting data into information, and for the creation of enhanced data gathering
methods. Information technology can aid in enhancing an MKIS' software and hardware
components, and improve a company's marketing decision-making process. In recent years, the
notebook personal computer has gained significant market share among laptops, largely due to
its more user-friendly size and portability. Information technology typically progresses at a fast
rate, leading to marketing managers being cognizant of the latest technological developments.
Moreover, the launch of smart phones into the cell phone market is commonly derived from a
demand among consumers for more technologically advanced products. A firm can lose out to
competitors should it ignore technological innovations in its industry. Technological
advancements can lessen barriers between countries and regions. Using the World Wide Web,
firms can quickly dispatch information from one country to another without much restriction.
Prior to the mass usage of the Internet, such transfers of information would have taken longer to
send, especially if done via snail mail, telex, etc. Recently, there has been a large emphasis on
data analytics. Data can be mined from various sources such as online forms, mobile phone
applications and more recently,

SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY

The marketing mix is the organization's overall offer, or value, to the customer.
'The basic marketing mix is often nick named "the 4Ps" (product, place/distribution, pricing,
promotion); these are elements in the marketers armory — aspects that can be manipulated to
keep ahead of the competition'. Marketing strategy is all about how to achieve Marketing
objectives, marketing tactics is how to implement strategies, and administration holds the whole
thing together. The marketing Guru Phillip Kotler, in his book Kotler on Marketing' writes that
the process of planning is useful even if the plans themselves are not. Simply sitting and talking
about strategies is beneficial because of the ideas stimulated. In marketing, planning means
conducting an environmental audit - do a PEST analysis, SWOT analysis, Competitor analysis,
and anything else you could think of to help you understand the environment in which the
organization operates. A Marketing strategy provides consistency throughout the different
elements of an organization's marketing mix. If an organization has decided to use a pricing
strategy that indicates a high quality product when designing marketing plan, first marketing
strategy is taken into consideration. The marketing plan consists of steps to be taken so as to
attain success in the implementation of the marketing strategy chosen.

Big projects involve selection of different strategies at different levels. Usually a

strategy consists of well-sketched tactics. They are meant to meet the needs and finally reach
marketing objectives. Marketing strategy helps organizations to focus their attention to complete
resource utilization to increase sales and win over their competitors. Every company applies
some kind of marketing strategies to maintain existing customers, attract potential customers and
also to maintain and enhance their reputation in the market. Each of the strategies has pre-
calculated results because when a particular strategy is chosen at a particular level, its outcome
becomes the goal of that particular level. If there is an absence of a well thought strategy in a
marketing plan means it is supposedly lacking a good foundation. A reasonable marketing
strategy should not only facilitate marketing goals, but also the action sequence of a campaign.
When making a marketing plan depending on some particular strategies known as
mix strategies are used. 4P’s model is used to calculate whether the plan is sticking to the
strategies or not. The four Ps stand for product, price, place and promotion. Products are goods
produced by the company on a huge scale for the purpose of selling them and earning profit.
Price is the money paid for a product by the customer. The price is based on many factors like
competition, market share, customer perception and product identity. Place where the product is
sold can be either physical store or store on the Internet. It is also known as distribution channel.
To make the customer knowledgeable about a product, the marketer does promotion. It
involves advertising, public relation and point of sale.
 There are different types of marketing strategies based on some criteria.
Challenger, Leader and Follower are types of market dominance strategies. Market dominance
strategies are used to dominate the market. Cost leadership, Market segmentation and Product
differentiation are types of porter generic strategies. Porter generic strategies are built on
strategic strength or competing abilities and strategic scope or market penetration. Close
followers, late follower and Pioneers are types of innovation strategies.

Innovation strategies are meant to trigger the rate of product development and
model innovation. It helps the firm to incorporate latest technologies. Intensification,
Diversification, Vertical integration and Horizontal integration are types of growth strategies.
Growth strategies facilitate the growth of the organization. Marketing warfare strategies are
conjunction of marketing strategies and military strategies. A marketing strategy or a mix of
them is chosen only after thorough market research. A marketer should always be ready to face
any kind of situations like if the strategy is changed in the middle, he should be able to perform
another market research so as to choose the proper strategy, within a short period of time.
NEED OF THE STUDY
The modern world emphasizes on purposeful learning experiences under natural condition to
meet the cutthroat competition existing in the world. So, under such circumstances a project can
be defines is “a purposeful dedicated effort in social environment to earn and nourish in the
present world.” So, the summer training undergone is of immense benefit to us. The training
undergone gives lot of practical exposure and the real working environment.
After knowledge of management theories and practices it becomes very essential to recognize
the practical implementation of everything learned. So in order to meet the challenges, we
marched towards common goal. The training enabled is a real platform of life to implement the
knowledge in the natural and practical working conditions of a corporate house.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The study has been under taken to analyze the customer profile and mapping to understand the
consumer behavior regarding automobile sector.
 The main objective was to study the marketing strategies with FIBO MACRO AND MICRO
SPARES PARTS PRIVATE LIMITED AT TRICHY.
  To know the customer profile.
 To analyze the exact segregation of the industry of India
 To know at which geographical segment the potential customer exists.
 To know the consumer behaviour regarding pipes on following parameter.
 To study the nature of customer satisfaction efforts implemented by rubber for its
customers.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

o The scope of study “The Marketing Strategies of FIBO MACRO AND MICRO SPARES
PARTS PRIVATE LIMITED AT TRICHY has been chosen to study the marketing strategies.
o The study was undertaken to study the marketing strategy of FIBO MACRO AND MICRO
SPARES PARTS PRIVATE LIMITED AT TRICHY.
o This included the study of various factors affecting the market, comparison of the
various brands available in the market, different media used by the company to
advertise the Brand that is the various strategies implemented in the market.
o This study enables the company to look into various factors affecting the purchase from
the consumer point of view.
o This in turn will help the company to deliver their products to maximum satisfaction of
the consumer and it will also enable the company to make the consumers aware about
its products in clear and better way.

LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

 The collected data are placed into an order. Percentages of respondents answered
similarly are calculated and placed in a table. Then this is interpreted. This involved
drawing conclusion from the gathered data. Interpretation changes the new information
immerging from the analysis into information that is pertinent or relevant to the study.
 Due to limited time period and constrained working hours for most of the respondents,
the answers at times were vague enough to be ignored.
 Geographical scope of the study was limited to a small area, which may not represent the
whole sector of India; Size of the sample is 100, which is, of course small in comparison
to entire population.
  Due to limitation of time only few people were selected for the study. So the sample of
consumer was not enough to generalize finding of the study.
 There can be many interpretations & explanations to the data collected. This is empirical
study and the research provides the explanation as understood by the researcher only.
 The source of data for the study was primary data with the help of self-administered
questionnaire. Hence, the chance of biased response cannot be eliminated through all
necessary steps were taken to avoid the same.
 The data taken from the secondary source like internet, newspaper, books may lack some
proper explanation or may be not properly interpreted.
 The responses of customers are presented in a way convenient to the researcher and can
be interpreted in different ways.

CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
 A literature review discusses published information in a particular subject area, and
sometimes information in a particular subject area within a certain time period. A
literature review can be just a simple summary of the sources, but it usually has an
organizational pattern and combines both summary and synthesis. A summary is a recap
of the important information of the source, but a synthesis is a re-organization, or a
reshuffling, of that information. It might give a new interpretation of old material or
combine new with old interpretations. Or it might trace the intellectual progression of the
field, including major debates. And depending on the situation, the literature review may
evaluate the sources and advise the reader on the most pertinent or relevant. The format
of a review of literature may vary from discipline to discipline and from assignment to
assignment. A literature review is an evaluative report of information found in the
literature related to your selected area of study.
 Kannan (2001) studied the rural marketing prospects in selected areas of Tamil Nadu
with a view to examine the potential of selected products in the areas under
consideration. 100 respondents were selected in this survey and multistage random
sampling was used. He concluded that the rural markets are coming up in a big way and
growing twice as fast as the urban, witnessing a rise in sales of typical urban kitchen
 gadgets such as refrigerators, mixergrinders and pressure cookers. For successful
marketing in rural areas, an integration of traditional and modern methods of selling is
required. To communicate effectively with the prospective rural consumers and to ensure
effective distribution and prompt delivery, organizations must understand the specific
requirements and needs of the villagers and then plan their strategy to convert the
prospective consumers into active consumers.
 Aggarwal (2003) found out that an efficient marketing system leads to the optimization
of resource use and output management. A well designed system of marketing can
effectively distribute the available stocks of modern inputs and thereby sustain a faster
rate of growth in agricultural production. An efficient marketing system ensures higher
level of income to the farmers by reducing the number of market middleman, regulating
marketing services, providing better prices for the products by having competitive
conditions for marketing.
 A new situation is emerging in India. Governments have been emphasizing economic
development by ensuring growth rates of seven-eight percent annually, enhancing the
welfare of farmers and workers and unleashing the creativity of entrepreneurs and
marketers {Singh and Bhagat (2004)}. Thisopportunity must be fully utilized to bridge
the rural urban divide, using knowledge as a tool. As such, there is a need to focus on
Empowering Rural India (Kalam 2005) and one of the ways that this can happen is
through a strong and transforming agrimarketing.
 The strengthening of rural communication services is an important ingredient for the
welfare and development of rural India as it gives timely information on business, price,
market and demands within a few minutes and that too at a very low cost {Paatnaik and
Rao (2006)}.
 The open and transparent franchise policy for rural areas must be worked out to enable
the franchisee to provide telecom facility on a revenue sharing basis. The rural literacy
and road length, in particular, and other rural infrastructure in general are considered
essential for the growth of rural non-farm sectors and for enhancing their employment
generation potential, policy measures should be directed towards strengthening these
support systems which in turn would lead to the growth of rural India and the Indian
economy as a whole {Pradhan (2005)}.
 Corporate and rural India has entered into collaborative partnerships through vertical
coordination. A common thread among these is integration and tightening the supply
chain {Hans (2006)}.
 The agri-initiatives taken by Indian corporates will play an important part in the
dissemination of the right information and knowledge. Corporates can act both as buyers
of agri-produce as well as providers of resources for producing the same. Rural marketing
as any marketing activity in which one dominant participant is from a rural area.
 The seasonality of agricultural production influences the seasonality of rural consumer’s
demand. Given the fact that the landless laborers and daily-wage earners get their income
in installments, their purchasing is restricted to small quantities of products at a time,
mostly on a daily basis or once in tow or three days.
 (JhaMithileshwar, 2007) Kaptan (2004) studied the rural marketing for HDPE pipes in
rural areas of Maharashtra with a view to examine the dealer’s awareness and perception
towards their respective HDPE pipes and to identify the major competitors and their
market share in the agricultural segment. The area of the study was taken up in three
districts of three regions in Maharashtra.
 The size of sample was 45 dealers who sold agricultural implements like pumps, pipes,
starters etc. He concluded that rural marketing is changing constantly. Continuous
marketing research should be conducted periodically and a database should be developed
by all the companies. By contributing towards reductions in the cost of distributing goods
from producers to farmers, marketing research makes it possible for the farmers to enjoy
better products at lower prices.
 Lokhande (2004) in his study “Rural marketing- A Study of Consumer Behavior”
observed the consumption pattern, purchase behavior and preferences of rural consumers.
His study was confined to two villages of Aurangabad and 150 respondents were selected
on random sampling basis. He concluded that Rural India, having more than 70%
population living in 6.27 lakh villages, is a huge market.
 Ranga Reddy district in Andhra Pradesh was chosen for the study. Ten villages were
selected for this purpose. Agriculturists, Businessmen, Professionals, Housewife’s were
included in the sample. Altogether sample of 125 respondents had been selected for the
study. He concluded that awareness of the rural consumers about the consumers
 movements are qualitative in character and cannot be measured directly in quantitative
terms.
 There is no fixed value or scale which will help to measure the awareness. But the
awareness has been studied with the help of their responses to various questions. Little
wonder then that success has eluded most corporate in rural markets but with urban
markets getting saturated and fiercely competitive, they have to look at rural markets due
to the emerging potentiality in these markets. Oza (2004) in his study “Where the FMCG
market is sizzling- A Study of Rural Markets,” examined the rural consumer’s psyche for
FMCG products.
 The survey was conducted with a sample size of 200 in villages of Baroda. Convenience
sampling was used. He concluded that using easily available technology, strong local area
knowledge, a short supply chain and quality raw material regional players are giving big
brands a run for their money. The regional brands are making their aggressive presence in
smaller towns by participation in melas and exhibitions. They are giving distributors and
retailers better margins in rural areas.
 Purchase Behavior of Rural Consumers Jamal and Goode (2001) in their study “Effect of
self image on purchase decision of rural consumers,” examined the relation of self image
with product preferences. They covered various rural areas in Maharashtra with the
sample size of 100 respondents and the sampling technique used was random sampling.
They revealed that the self-image/product image congruity (commonly known as self-
image congruence) can effect product preference and purchasing decision of the
consumers. It suggests that purchase behavior can be reversed depending on factors such
as price, quality, quantity, shape, color, and promotional schemes etc..
 Sakthivel (2005) in his study “Effectiveness of Sachets in Modifying Rural Consumer’s
buying behavior and their Consumption Pattern,” examined the effectiveness of small
sachets in modifying consumer’s buying behavior and found out the quantity and
frequency of purchase of products by rural consumers.
 Vanniarajan (2005) in his study “Comparative Analysis of Rural and Urban Consumers
on milk consumption evaluated the consumption pattern of rural and urban consumers.
The purposive sampling method had been adopted to collect data from the consumers of
 milk. Madurai district was chosen for the present study. rural consumers are different that
of urban consumers.
 Rao (1997) observes that the boom in rural areas is caused by such factors as increased
discretionary income, rural development schemes, improved 120 infrastructure, increased
awareness, expanding private TV channel coverage and emphasis on rural market by
companies.
 Rao (2002) the study of product penetration in rural market shows that different products
have different product penetration rates. Some of the products such as soaps, detergents
and hair oil in the non durable category have shown high penetration rates. There is a
need for creating mass awareness towards increasing the quality of life, standard of living
in rural areas. Low penetration rates may not imply unaffordability factor rather it could
also be due to indifference and consumers not perceiving the value of a product.
 Malhotra (2003) conducted the study on cosmetic industry in rural areas of India which
described the main reasons for boom in cosmetic industry in rural areas as increasing
fashion and beauty consciousness coupled with rising incomes and focus on health and
fitness. Gruen (2004) in his study examines the efforts of suppliers and retailers in the
FMCG channels to adopt more efficient consumer base. He examined the relationship
between the channels and the customers. People understand the local dialect and prefer to
be informed in their local language and dialect. Therefore it can be useful for promotion
of brands in rural markets by major players (Patel & Prasad, 2005).
 Sakthivel (2006) has gauged that companies intended to attract the rural consumers
ought to very courteous in their approach and should try to develop the personal rapport
by offering better products and supportive services. Once this is done, they don’t have to
worry about promotion as word of mouth will take care of it.
 Mahapatra (2006) claims that once the marketer creates a positive attitude for the brand/
service then it is very difficult to deviate the rural consumers. They not only seek comfort
in their brand but also from the person who is selling them the brand. Kumar &Madhavi
(2006) brings out that rural consumers are quality conscious but with reasonable price
offers.
 Tulli (2006) revealed that the rural consumers are very satisfied from price and quality
factors and satisfied from the factors like color, packaging, fragrance, discount offers etc.
 The rural consumers are influenced by the electronic media and print media also.
Affordability, local language, simplicity, value pricing are the factors that are influencing
rural markets and have to be taken care by the marketers (Ramakrishan, 2006)
 Chaturvedi (2007) revealed that rural people prefer brand name although price is also
the leading factor that affects the purchase decision of rural consumers. Durability also
attracts the rural customers.
 Balaji (2007) the study explores the differences in the consumer’s evaluation of FMCG
brands. Advertisements are very useful in increasing of sales and majority of respondents
have purchased the brand first time on account of massive TV advertisements.
 (Shamim 2008). India is an agro-based economy and the growth of most of the other
sectors of economy is driven by rural demand. Urban market is reaching towards the
saturation point, thus bringing in and urgent need to focus on rural development.
 ( Viswanathan 2008) Banerjee (2009) though there are number of road-blocks in the
path of proper distribution in rural markets, by designing and adopting effective strategies
and proper use of resources, marketers can overcome these barriers and explore the
opportunities lying untapped in rural market to achieve the 123 organizational goal -
profit maximization. Sharma (2009) has gauged the importance of Daburss India
Products in rural India.
 The rural India is becoming aware about the branded products as the literacy rate is
rising. NRI’s also playing a vital role in rural India. They also affect the decision process
of buying branded products in rural India.
 Rajshekar M (2009), in his study titled, “Quest for rural rest” had searched about the
potential of Indian rural market about different toiletry products. Rural market in India
accounts for more than 70 million consumers or 70 % of Indian population and accounts
for 50% of FMCG market. The working rural population is approximately 400 million
and average citizen in rural India has less than half of purchasing power as compared to
urban counterpart. Still there is an untapped market and most of FMCG companies taking
different steps to capture the different market share.
 GargaPawan (2009), in his study concluded that, instead of smaller packages, medium
packages were reported to be the most preferred with only exception of shampoo. From
testing of hypothesis relationship was observed to be existing: between consumer’s
 purchase decisions on the basis of price and the select FMCG product categories;
consumer opinion about inferior quality of loose products and district of respondents;
consumer’s opinion about the quality of products stocked by rural retailer and district to
which they belong; rural consumer’s trust on the matter of the advertisements and the
different districts.
 Bijoor (2009), in his article titled, “The Fakes Market” has remarked that fakes are
rampant in rural India. There are spurious brands present in the market. For Example
Bond’s (for Ponds), Fare & Lovely (for Fair & lovely), Likeboy (for Lifebuoy), etc. 1
 Balsara (2009), in his article titled, “ Brand Loyalty vs. Stickiness” has concluded that
low level of literacy and awareness make rural People less likely to switch brands as they
do not have the required knowledge or information to exercise a choice. They feel more
comfortable in purchasing tried and tested brands. They are, therefore, ‘brand sticky’
rather than ‘brand loyal’.
 Garga (2009) this research paper based on primary data examines the domain of Rural
Marketing for the select FMCGs for the state of Punjab with an objective to develop an
insight into the buying behaviour of rural consumers. Instead of smaller packages,
medium packages were reported to be the most preferred with only exception of
shampoo.
 Jain (2009), in his article titled, “Issues related to rural marketing” has remarked that
rural marketing must find its own distinct perspective before theory construction can
begin in the field.After reviewing the literature on marketing and economic development,
it is proposed that development of rural people should be the perspective of rural
marketing.
 Rajendhiran (2009), in his report titled, “Rural Marketing – A critical review” has
remarked that the method of promotion needs to be tailored to suit the 125 expectations
of the market. Techniques that have proved to be successful are Van campaigns,
edutainment films, generating word of mouth publicity through opinion leaders, colorful
wall paintings
 R. Piraktheeswar (2010), in his study concluded that, rural market buy small packs as
they are perceive for value of money. There is brand stickiness where consumers buy a
brand out of habit and not really buy choice. Brand rarely fight for market, they just have
 to be visible in right place. Even expensive brand such as close up, marigold biscuit and
clinic shampoo are doing well because of deep distribution many brands are doing well
without much advertising spot Ghadi a big detergent brand in north India is in example.
 Kashyap(2010), in his book titled, “The Rural Marketing” has said that villages with
clear surveyed boundaries not having a municipality, corporation or board, with density
of population not more than 400 sq. km and with at least 75 percent of the whole working
population engaged in agriculture and allied activities would qualify as rural markets.
According to this definition, there are 585, 764 villages in the country.
 Dutta (2011) his study leads to the conclusion that in order to utilize the immense
potential of rural markets in India, companies need to develop specific marketing
strategies and action plans, taking into account the complex set of factors that influence
consumers’ behavior. Rural Marketing cannot succeed if the marketing strategy and
action plans are only an extrapolation of urban marketing strategies. Innovative
companies who adopted an integrated approach have succeeded in utilizing marketing
opportunities that rural areas offer.
 Neelmani (2011) in his findings stated that Consumer’s attitude to the Private Labels has
been a very important research area in the modern consumer behavior study. Private
Label Brands in India is in early phase and is all set to grow by leaps and bounds. The
market size of private label brands will expand and therefore a lot of innovativeness and
competition will creep in this segment. All these developments in the Private Labels
segment would render the consumers with more choices
 Malik Garima (2011), In her book titled, “Introduction to rural marketing” remarked
that, the Indian rural market is witnessing a boom of late, all very thanks to the saturation
being witnessed by the urban counterparts and with the advent of economic slowdown in
the economy, the corporates are now on a hunch to look out for greener pastures where it
can sell their offerings at reasonable profits. There is an intense competition in the market
and none of the corporate wants to lose the golden opportunity offered by the great Indian
rural market.
 Memon (2011) in his study revealed that The Indian rural market is known to all the
International FMCG Brands but sometimes rural consumers are very choosy in selecting
the brands especially in the consumable sector.
  Muthukumaran (2011) concluded that the Indian Restaurant industry has come of age
by diversifying its services and trying to cater to Indian rural taste buds and is staying in
the competitive arena amongst international giants and is able to provide better services
to the customers
 Pallavi (2011), in her research concluded that companies across different sectors are now
approaching rural markets with attractive incentives to ensure targeted sales. The income
of Rural Population in India and their purchasing power has augmented in recent years.

CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
RESEARCH – MEANING

Research is an art of scientific investigation. According to Redmen and Mary defines

research as a “systematic effort to gain knowledge”.

Research methodology is way to systematically solve the research problem. It is a plan of

action for a research project and explains in detail how data are collected and analyzed. This
research study is a descriptive research study.

RESEARCH DESIGN: (THEORY)

Research design is an overall plan or scheme prepared by the researcher for executing the
research study. It is an important stage in the process of conducting research as it facilitates
systematic work on the research project. It is necessary as it facilitates the smooth conduct of
research. Research design may be designed as the sequence of steps taken ahead of time to
ensure that relevant data will be collected in a way that permits objective analysis of different
hypothesis formulated with respect to the research problem.
DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH
The research had been interested in knowing the proportion of people in a given
population who have behaved in a particular manner, making projections of certain thing and
determining the relationship between two or more variables in some areas. As the set up has been
a well structured and rigid which could not be changed by giving sufficient thought in forming
questions, deciding type of data to be collected and procedure that has been used gives the proof
of using descriptive research.
In descriptive also, there has been use of cross sectional studies only because the
researcher has taken only a sample of element from the given population.
In the cross sectional study, the survey research has been selected as a detailed and has to
be obtained from a sample of large population.

ANALYTICAL RESEARCH
The researcher by using the results of the statistical and mathematical analysis came to a
conclusion to show the scope and other needs for expanding the market.
CONCLUSIVE RESEARCH
Based on the descriptive and analytical researches, the company can arrive at a
conclusion regarding their feature course of action. In this project, descriptive research is
followed.

SOURCE OF DATA COLLECTION

 Primary Data
 Secondary Data

PRIMARY DATA:-
The data collected for first time is known as primary data. It is by visiting existing customer and
expected customer of FIBO MACRO AND MICRO SPARES PARTS PRIVATE LIMITED
AT TRICHY And making them fill up the questionnaire
SECONDARY DATA:-
The data which has been already collected by someone is known as secondary data:
 Books
 Websites
 Brochure

RESEARCH INSTRUMENT
 The instrument use for data collection is structured questionnaire. Question is open and
close ended depending upon the information that needed to be elicited. I am also using the
scaling technique to assess the attitude of the customer.

SAMPLING SIZE AND TECHNIQUE

SAMPLING METHODS
Sampling method indicates how the sampling units are selected. There are two methods
namely, probability and non- probability methods
PROBABILITY SAMPLING
Probability sampling method is that in which every item in the universe has got chance or
probability of being chosen for the sample. This implies that the selection of sample items are
independent of the person making the study that is the sampling operation is controlled,
objectively that the items will be chosen strictly at random. In probability sampling, there are so
many methods. % Simple random sampling
 Every member of the population has an equal chance of selection.
 Stratified random sample
 The population is divided into mutual groups and random samples are drawn from each
one cluster sample
 The population is divided into mutually exclusive groups and the researcher draws a
sample of the groups to interview.

NON-PROBABILITY SAMPLING
Non-Probability sampling methods are those which do not provide every item in the
universe with a known chance of being included in the sample. The selection process is at least
particularly subjective. The following are some of the methods of Non-Probability sampling:
SIZE OF THE SAMPLE

It refers to the number of items to be selected from the universe to constitute as a sample.
In these study 100 employees of FIBO MACRO AND MICRO SPARES PARTS PRIVATE
LIMITED AT TRICHY was selected as size of sample.

QUESTIONNAIRE
 The questions are arranged logical sequence. The questionnaire consists of a variety of
questions presented to the employees for the response. Dichotomous questions, multiple choice
questions, rating scale questions were used in constructing questionnaire.
TOOLS OF ANALYSIS
The various tools of analysis used for the study includes graphs, Pie charts, tables,
bar diagrams etc.
STATISTICAL TOOLS USED

To analyze and interpret collected data the following statistical tools were used.
1) Percentage method
2) Weighted average method
3) Chi-square analysis
4) Correlation
5) Regression

PERCENTAGE METHOD

The percentage is used for making comparison between two or more series of
data. It is used to classify the opinion of the respondent for different factors. It is calculated as

No. of respondents favorable

x 100
Percentage of respondent =
Total no of respondents
WEIGHTED AVERAGE METHOD

The weighted average method can be calculated by the following formula. This tool is
used to find the rank given by the respondents to the welfare measures. It can be calculated as

XW = ∑ WX / ∑ X
 Here

XW represents the weighted average

X represents the value of variable
W represents the weight given to the variable.

CHI-SQUARE ANALYSIS

Chi-square analysis in statistics is to test the goodness of fit to verify the distribution of
observed data with assumed theoretical distribution. Therefore it is a measure to study the
divergence of actual and expected frequencies.

The formula for computing chi-square is as follows.

Chi-square = ∑ {(O-E)2 / E}

The calculated value of chi-square is compared with the table of chi-square for the given
degrees of freedom at the specified level of significance. If the calculated value is greater than
the tabulated value then the difference between the observed frequency and the expected
frequency are significant. The degrees of freedom is (n-2) where ‘n’ is number of observed
frequencies and in case of contingency table the degrees of freedom is (C-1) (R-1) where C is
number of columns and R is number of rows.

It is used to find the relation between communication in work place and work
satisfaction. It is used to find the relation between welfare satisfaction and work satisfaction it is
used to find the relation between experience of respondents and work satisfaction.