Z

STUDY OF POSITIONING AND PROMOTION OF TYRES WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO APOLLO TYRES LTD.

Submitted to:-

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF BUSNESS MANAGEMENT PATNA

Impartial fulfillment of the degree of
POST GRADUTE DIPLOMA IN BUSNESS MANAGEMENT (PGDM)

Under the guidance of Mr. SHALENDAR KUMAR SINGH Dept. of Mgt IIBM PATNA

By KALIM AHMAD AZMI PGDM ROLL-70

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this survey report entitled Study of positioning and Promotion of Tyres with special reference to Apollo Tyres Ltd. has been prepared by me for partial fulfillment of POST GRADUTE DIPLOMA IN BUSINESS MANAGEMENT (PGDM) program under the guidance of Mr. Rohit Singh Regional Manager APOLLO TYRES LTD I hereby declare that this survey report has not been submitted to any other organization or institute

Kalim Ahmad Azmi

PREFACE

A professional course like Post Graduate Diploma In Business Management demands in depth theoretical knowledge and practical exposure for its application. The course aims to groom the students professionally and offer them a chance to work in the real environment of the corporate world, to have an opportunity to gain experience on practical aspects and supplement their theoretical knowledge. A sincere effort has been made to bring about the beached fact and it is hoped that this reports meet the given expectations and various requirements. The PGDM participants make a humble presentation of this report to all those persons who may have professional and academic interest in this topic.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like this opportunity to give our heartfelt thanks to the individuals without whom this endeavor of ours would not have been possible. I appreciate their help in each and every step of our long and arduous yet fruitful and learning experience. First and foremost, I would like to express our gratitude to our guide and facilitator of the Project, I extend my thanks to Mr. Rohit Singh (Regional Manager) for giving me an opportunity to do this project in this company. I am indeed indebted to Mr. Dinesh Singh (State Manager) and Mr. Santanu Dutta (district Manager) for his valuable and generous guidance in the preparation of this project. I also thankful to Mr. Amit Chatterji, Mr. MD. Arif Ali (Territory Incharge), & Mr. Ranu Prakash (Business Consultant TBR) for helping me and guided me for the Project. I also acknowledge my deep sense of gratitude to staff of APOLLO TYRES LTD. Patna who made violable their valuable time and their constant encouragement to me. Special thanks to all the respondents who helped us in the collection of data required for the study. I would like to thanks all the dealers of APOLLO TYRES and who has helped in my research. I would thank to all the respondent and customer of APOLLO TYRES. for giving me their precious time and relevant information. Last but not the least I acknowledge the blessing and support provide by friends, family and almighty GOD.

CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the project entitled Study of Positioning and Promotion of Tyre With Special Reference To Apollo Tyres Ltd. is done by Kalim Ahmad Azmi , student of IIBM PATNA Under my guidance and supervision for partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of degree PGDM of INDIAN INSTIUTE OF BUSINESS MANEGEMENT from 23th May 2011 to 04th July 2011 The assistance and help receive during the evaluation of the project has been fully acknowledged.

(Rohit Singh) Regional Manager

CERTIFICATE OF GUIDE
This is to certify that the project report entitled STUDY OF POSITIONING & PROMOTION OF TYRES WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE OF APOLLO TYRES LTD. submitted by KALIM AHMAD AZMI is a bonafide piece of work conducted under my supervision & guidance. It may be considered for evaluation in partial fulfillment of requirement for the award of Degree of PGDM this survey report has not been submitted to any other organization or institute

Date:

Signature Mr. SHAILENDAR KUMAR SINGH DEPT.OF MGT. IIBM PATNA

INDEX

PARTICULARS
INTRODUCTION COMPANY PROFILE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY PROMOTION DATA INTERPRETATION & ANALYSIS LIMITATION CONCLUTION SUGGESTION QUESTIONNAIRE REFERENCE

PAGE NO
11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

Transportation forms an integral part of the infrastructure in any economy. Adequate transport infrastructure spurs economic activities. In developing countries like India, transportation is the backbone of the economic development and prosperity. Since the geographical coverage in India is vast and versatile, road transport is a very important mode of transportation, second only to railways. The latter of course joins major cities and towns across the country, but road transport is equally important as it links up almost all the nooks and corners of the land. This also connects major ports and city to remotest areas .the tyre industry fulfills the needs of the road transport sector and plays a very important role in the automobile industry.

WHAT IS TYRE ?

A COMPOSITE PRODUCT : A tyre is a composite, in other words an inseparable assembly of materials with very different properties, whose manufacture demands great precision.

IT IS MADE UP OF THE FOLLOWING SEMI-FINISHED PRODUCTS :

THE INNER LINER. A LAYER OF AIRTIGHT SYNTHETIC RUBBER. This is found inside the tyre and functions as the modern equivalent of the inner tube.

THE CASING PLY. This casing is composed of fine textile fiber cords, laid down in straight lines and sandwiched in rubber. These cords are a key element in the structure of a tyre and enable it to resist pressure. In each ply of a car tyre, there are about 1400 cords, each of which can resist a force of 15 kg.

THE LOWER BEAD AREA. Its role is to transmit engine and braking torque from the rim of the tyre through to the contact patch.

THE BEAD WIRES.

Help to hold the tyre onto the rim. They can bear a load of up to 1800 kg without the risk of breakage.

SUPPLE RUBBER SIDEWALLS. Help to protect the tyre from shocks that could damage the casing, e.g. minor shocks against pavements, potholes etc. There is hard, protection rubber where the tyre joins the rim.

BRACING PLIES. Reinforced with very fine, very resistant steel cords in a rubber sandwich. These 2, (occasionally more), plies are stuck together and cross the tread area at angles of around 60 to each other. Their steel cords cross the casing cords to form braced triangles. This is known as triangulation, and it makes the crown rigid. The plies encircle the entire crown of the tyre, and perform a very complex role: they must be sufficiently rigid around the Tyres circumference that they aren't stretched by

centrifugal force, thus controlling the diameter of the tyre in all conditions. they must also be rigid transversally, to resist the stresses and strains of cornering. At the same time, they must be supple enough in a vertical sense, to "absorb" deformations caused by surface variations and other obstacles. To obtain these plies, steel has to be stuck to rubber. It is very difficult to do, but Michelin has mastered the art of perfect cohesion between these dissimilar materials, which is absolutely essential.

THE TREAD. Is laid over the bracing plies. It is the patterned part of the tyre that will be in contact with the road. The tread in the contact patch must be able to resist very significant stresses. The tread rubber compound must grip on all types of surfaces, resist wear and abrasion, and heat up as little as possible. All that then remains is to mould in the tread pattern and vulcanize all these semi-finished products together to form what we know as a whole tyre.

PRODUCT PROFILE:Tyre is a circular cushion of rubber that fits around the rim of a wheel of a vehicle. It cushions the vehicle from the shocks caused by the movement over hard surfaces. The most common tyre is pneumatic rubber tyre. Tyres are basically of two types:(a) (b) Bias tyres or Cross Ply Radial tyres In cross ply or bias tyres, nylon or rayon tyre cords are arranged diagonally across. In radials tyres, polyesters, nylon, fiberglass or steel cords are arranged perpendicular to the circumference. Radial technology is an improvement over cross ply and radial tyres are priced at 25-30% premium. They are having long lasting and having lower incidence of flats.

TYRE PATTERNS 1. 2. RIB PATTERNS: - Used mainly on front driven axle because of steering responses. LUG PATTERNS: - Used mostly on rear driven axle for heavy haulage and long distance operations. 3. 4. SEMI-LUG PATTERNS: - Can be used on both rear as well as front axle. M & S: - Known as mud & snow pattern and mostly used on rough roads.

GROWTH AND EXPANSION OF INDIAN TYRE INDUSTRIES :Indian Tyre Industry to Register a Growth of 9-10% in the Next 5 Years The Indian Tyre Industry produced 736 lakh units of Tyres (11 lakh tonnes) garnering Rs. 19000 crores in FY07. MRF Ltd. was the market leader (22% market share) followed closely by Apollo Tyres Ltd. (21%). The other major players were JK Tyre & Industries (18%) and Ceat Ltd.(13%).

The Indian tyre industry is characterized by its raw material intensity (raw material costs account for approximately 70% of operating income), capital intensity, cyclicality, fierce competition among the top players, low bargaining power and resulting low margins. The top players are now focusing on branding their products and strengthening their distribution network so as to increase their market share.

The industry derives its demand from the automobile Industry. While OEM market off take is dependent on the new vehicle sales, replacement market demand depends on the total population of vehicles on road, road conditions, vehicle scrapping rules, overloading norms for trucks, average life of Tyres and prevalence of tyre retreading. The main category of tyres produced in the country is that of Truck & Bus tyres. These tyres accounted for 57% of the total tyre tonnage production in FY07 followed by LCV tyres which accounted for 9% of the total tyre tonnage production. Approximately 53% of the total tyre tonnage off take was by the replacement market, 31% by OEM and 15% by the export market in FY07.

COMPANY PROFILE

Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much Our corporate identity enhancing shareholder value

VISION

A leader in the Indian tyre industry and a Significant global player, providing customer delight and enhancing shareholder value MISSION A journey called Passion in Motion to be a US$ 2 billion company by the year 2010on the three pillars of People, Quality and Technology using the rigour of the Six Sigma process.

CORE VALUES C R E A T E Care for Customers Respect for Associates Excellence through Teamwork Always Learning Trust Mutually Ethical Values

The create logo represents the Apollo One family. It takes each one of us to complete a circle, it is only when each individual Apolloite successfully completes what he or she is responsible for is success possible.

Corporate Objectives Employee Satisfaction Customer Delight Revenue Growth

Operating Margin Improvements

BRANDS OF APOLLO TYRES :-

SALES AND MARKETING : 120 Sales, Services and Sock Points. 5 Zonal offices. 19 State offices. 4000+ Business Partners. 2100+ Apollo Tyres Worlds. 190+ Apollo Radial Worlds. 160+ Tubeless Service Points. 60+ Apollo Pragati Kendra. 7 Redistribution centres.

INTERNATIONAL

Presence across 6 Continents.

Export to 60+ Countries across the World.

A RESPONSIBLE CORPORATE CITIZEN :-

Running 7 AIDS Prevention Health Care Clinics Partnering with ILO and IFC Washington Eye Check-up Camps for truck drivers Tyre Pressure Check Days for commercial vehicles Safe Drive tyrecheck camps for passenger vehicles Collaboration with the War Wounded Foundation 50 former handicapped soldiers our dealers Monsoon Disaster Management campaign for Mumbai Emergency Medical Service in Baroda Adoption of villages around the Limda plant

EXPANSION PLAN OF APOLLO TYRES:

Rs.2000 crore for investment in the next three years to increase its production capacity both in India and abroad.

ATL also launched Greenfield facility in Hungary. Invest Rs. 200 million Euro for upcoming plant in Hungary. Hungary plant would be company service hub for its passenger car radial tyre buyers in Europe, North America as well as other countries.

Augmenting the Passenger Car Tyre production capacity at the Vadodra unit from the existing 10,000 Tyres to 15,000 Tyres a day by mid 2009.

TBR Tyre manufacturing capacity would be raised four fold from the present 300 Tyres to about 1100 Tyres a day.

Vadodra plant would also manufacture off the road Tyres with a triplicate pact with construction equipment maker BEML & Coal India.

Setting up a production unit in Chennai with a capacity of 20000 Tyres by mid 2009. Providing after sales support to its Bus and Truck Tyres. Due to Radialisation in Commercial Vehicle Tyres, Company is setting up a chain of wheel balancing allingment centre called TRUST , and opening its first such centre in Salem in Tamilnadu and would later extended the chain to other cities.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research methodology is a way to systematically solve the research problem. It is also known as a science of studying how research is done systematically. Research is, thus an original contribution to the existing stock of knowledge making for its advancement. The purpose of research is to discover answer to the question through the application of scientific procedures. Our project has specified framework for collecting data in an effective manner. Such framework is called RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Sample size:-his refers to the number of items to be selected from the universe to constitute a sample. The size of sample should neither be excessively large, nor too small, it should be optimum. The sample size for my study is 500.

Sampling procedure: It is a way through which sampling is done. There are various procedures like random, systematic etc. The sampling procedure for my study is convenience sampling.

Research design: A research is simply a framework of plan for a study that guides the collection and analysis of data. Broadly, there are two types of research design:(i) (ii) Exploratory Research Design, and Conclusive Research Design

An exploratory research design is used to find out various possible alternative solutions to the given problems.

While conclusive research design provides information that helps in making rational decisions from available alternatives. For the study purpose, a proper mix of these two research designs are used since it demands various types of information.

DATA COLLECTION:
Data Collection: Information can be collected from both primary and secondary data .the main emphasis was on secondary data in this research. The primary data has been used to make thing clearer. I. Primary data: Primary data are those, which are collected a fresh and for the first time, and thus happens to be original in chapter have which includes both open ended and closed ended questions and also personal interviewing. II. Secondary data: secondary data are collected for this research from ATL News letter, annual publications, newspapers, Magazines, book, web sites etc.

SAMPLE A sample of owners and drivers in the city and the surrounding areas were selected on the basis of convenience and judgment in almost all the important areas of Patna. The sample size on an average in each of the place is about 60-70. The selected samples were representatives of various types of owners owning single vehicle, multi-vehicle users of farm, Bus, Truck, Car, Jeep & LCV segment.

PROMOTION

FOR PROMOTION OF TYRES WE ARE ORGANIZING FOLLOWING PLAN EVERY MONTH :

Direct Interaction with Customer SMS Alert Campaign Exciting Offers Questionnaire form 360* solution After sales service

DIRECT INTERACTION WITH CUSTOMER :

Every day Before meet with Customer & Dealers sales team use Rapid Force for sales call

Precall : R :- Recap/Review of last Call A :- Appointment P :- Prepare & Plan for the Call

During The Call : I :- Inspect & Intelligence D :- Develop F :- Fresh O :- Order R :- Recapitulate C :- Courtesy

Post Call :

E :- End Call

SMS ALERT :-

Through SMS we are sending message for our latest Updates and Scheme to dealer and also we are giving updates of Tyre claims that end user Tyre is Accepted or Rejected or in how much money end user will get new Tyres

CAMPAIGN : Every month Team Apollo organize Campaign for each tyre category like TBR (Truck Bus Radial) TBB (Truck Bus Bias) PCR (Passenger Commercial Radial) LCV (Light Commercial Vehicle) Farm Each Campaign will be done on different Location CAMPAIGN PLANNER 1st stage Campaign date decided Venue decided Identify correct Customer 2nd stage Inviting customer through visiting cards Make a call of each Customer

3rd stage

Give benefits about their tyres and also through Power Point Presentation & oral discussion they sort out the problem of customer and also makes people to convince for their product. 4th stage With this they take data of each and every customer who attend the campaign, we take data like: Name: Address: Contact No: No of vehicle: Types of Vehicle: Tyres brand used: Dealer Name: 5th stage Lastly they organize lucky draw and also quiz competition. Related With their presentation where winner gets prize. EXISTING OFFER: For the promotional activity the organization offers marketing scheme. For example 1) Apollo Seven Wonders Of the World In PCR the organization has given reward of foreign trips in a dealer in see the 7 under of the world Such schemes are very motivational. This include the dealers growth with apollo as well as enjoy life & vacation since every year one wonder to be qualified so in a way this particular scheme also works to retain the dealer for a long term association

2) Surprise scheme

Since the market is very competitive & price mechanism is always under threat witch makes the dealer pass on all the incentive to the customers witch resulted in almost no profit for the dealers. The organization has come out with this unique scheme of giving a surprise incentive to those who gives particular growth in their off take. 3) Speedo Sunglass Offer: On purchase of 4 Tyres of Accelere, Hawkz, Aspire 215/75 R 15 Tyres you will get a Speedo Sunglass. 4) Value Edge Club: the organization has also created value edge club as per their business where as per their business they created club and among it is a very prestigious matter higher the club they are higher the status & respect in the market. This also to motivates dealers. 360 DEGREE SOLUTION : The organization has diversified to expected in a way so that a 360* degree can be given to customer the basic purpose of this is if a customer get all facilities at one place then he does not move out and also the customer is retain for a long time Apollo offers 360 degree solution to its Customer by providing 1) Exchange Offer 2) Own Today Pay Later 3) Dura Tread 4) Dura Tyre

1) EXCHANGE OFFER :Apollo Tyres Exchange Offer is a hassle free way for customers to exchange their Old Commercial Vehicle Tyre Casing with new Tyres at their doorstep. The exciting offer will be regulated and processed through an issuance of an exchange voucher against a casing which can be subsequently redeemed on any new tyre purchase with heavy commercial vehicle category. The exchange voucher is available in five denomination to cover the three grades of casing available in the size of 10.00-20 and 9.00-20 used tyres.

2) OWN TODAY PAY LATER Another initiative Own Today Pay Later sees it that customer dont have to think twice to be able to own a set of new tyres. With this new option customers can pay the cost of tyre in six monthly installment while effectively reducing the total cost of purchase. Brand covered in this scheme are 10.0020 Regal Transport RS/RD/MD, Entire Gold Series, XT-9, XT-7, XT-7 Haulug, Amar and Amar Deluxe. This system also allows the sales force to target a new set of untapped customer.

3) DURA TREAD Another initiative Dura Tread came into market with those Customer who want to use retreaded Tyres, so due to this company is focusing on Dura Treads which is a retreaded material used for old tyre retread.

4) DURA TYRE It is another milestone announces by Apollo Tyres to launch Dura Tyre. Which is generally for those customer who are price sensitive? It is also used to trap untapped customer. And also through this company will promote tyres. It is used in lower income profile customer as well as in good & bad road condition.

AFTER SALES SERVICE: It has always been seen & proven that after sale service is very effective to satisfy the customer witch again result in long term satisfaction

DATA INTERPRETATION & ANALYSIS

CONSUMPTION SURVEY FOR TRUCK IN MAY-JUNE 2011

BRAND NAME APOLLO BIRLA CEAT GOODYEAR JK & VIKRANT MRF OTHERS TOTAL FRONT FITMENT SURVEY 40% 8% 16% 1% 19% 13% 3% 100% REAR FITMENT SURVEY 48% 10% 12% 1.00% 19% 9% 2% 100% TOTAL FITMENT SURVEY 44% 9% 14% 1% 19% 10% 2.5% 100%

FT E TS R E C A T I MN UV Y HR
5% 0 4% 5 % OF FITMENT 4% 0 3% 5 3% 0 2% 5 2% 0 1% 5
JK & VIKRANT
F O TF M N S R E R N IT E T U V Y R A F MN S R E E R IT E T U V Y T T LF M N S R E O A IT E T U V Y

1% 0
APOLLO

0 %

B AD AE RN NM

OTHERS

5 %

GOODYEAR

BIRLA

CEAT

MRF

CONSUMPTION SURVEY FOR BUS IN MAY-JUNE 2011

BRAND NAME APOLLO BIRLA CEAT GOODYEAR JK & VIKRANT MRF TOTAL FRONT SURVEY 33% 13% 16% 1% 22% 15% 100% FIMENT REAR SURVEY 43% 7% 17% 1% 22% 10% 100% FITMENT TOTAL SURVEY 40% 9% 17% 1% 22% 11% 100% FITMENT

CONSUMPTON SURVEY FOR PCR IN MAY-JUNE 2011

BRAND NAME APOLLO BRIDGESTON E CEAT JK TYRE GOODYEAR MRF TOTAL FRONT SURVEY 25% 32% 18% 8% 5% 12% 100% FITMENT REAR SURVEY 26% 34% 15% 8% 5% 12% 100% FITMENT TOTAL FITMENT SURVEY 26% 33% 16% 8% 5% 12% 100%

40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0%

TO N E LL O T R E TY R C E YE PO M R F A A

% OF FITMENT

FRONT FITMENT SURVEY REAR FITMENT SURVEY TOTAL FITMENT SURVEY

R ID G

BRAND NAME

G O

O D

JK

CONSUMPTION SURVEY FOR LCV (PASSENGER) IN MAY-JUNE 2011

BRAND NAME APOLLO BIRLA CEAT GOODYEAR JK TYRE MRF TOTAL FRONT SURVEY 20% 3% 7% 48% 7% 15% 100% FITMENT REAR SURVEY 29% 2% 25% 19% 4% 21% 100% FITMENT TOTAL SURVEY 25% 3% 17% 31% 5% 19% 100% FITMENT

% OF FITMENT

60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10%

G C O E O AT D Y E A JK R T Y R E M R F

FR N FIT EN O T M T SU VEY R R EAR FIT EN M T SU VEY R T T FIT EN O AL M T SU VEY R

LA IR

0%
P O A B LL O

B A DN M R N A E

CONSUMPTION SURVEY FOR ALL CATEGORIES IN MAY-JUNE 2011

BRAND NAME APOLLO BIRLA BRIDGESTONE CEAT GOODYEAR JK & VIKRANT MRF OTHERS TOTAL TRUCK 44% 9% 0% 14% 1% 19% 10% 3% 100% BUS 40% 9% 0% 17% 1% 22% 11% 0% 100% LCV(PASSENGE R) 25% 3% 0% 17% 31% 5% 19% 0% 100% LCV (GOODS) 43% 10% 0% 11% 3% 11% 22% 0% 100% PCR 26% 0% 33% 16% 5% 8% 12% 0% 100% FARM 23% 1% 0% 16% 33% 17% 10% 0% 100%

50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

B R IR ID LA G E S TO N E C E G A O T O D YE JK A & R V IK R AN T R F O TH E R S LL O PO M

TRUCK LCV(PASSENGER) PCR

BUS LCV (GOODS) FARM

CONSUMPTION BASED ON LOADING PATTERN OF VEHICLES

No of tyres/year 10-Above 6-10 Tyres 3-6 Tyres 0-3 Tyres Total Heavy Load Vehicle 10% 33% 52% 5% 100% Normal Load Vehicle 3% 12% 57% 28% 100% Under Load Vehicle 1% 9% 42% 48% 100%

Consumption %

Heavy Load

Normal Load 57% 52%

Under Load

60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10%

48%

42% 33% 28%

10% 3% 1% 10 Above

12%

9%

5% 3-6 Tyres 0-3 Tyres

0% 6-10 Tyres Number Of Tyres/yr

LIMITATIONS OF STUDY

LIMITATIONS: Although the study has been done with proper care, certain shortcomings could not be ruled out which are beyond the reach of researchers control. The various types of limitations are as follows: (a) Limitation of Time : In a short span of 8 weeks, the whole universe cant be taken into consideration for the study, which of course would have given more accurate results. (b) Limitation of Sample Size : Since a limited number of customers/ respondents were selected from cities and outskirt areas, but not the whole, so the result was likely to be affected. (c) Biased Information : In some cases, biased information was received from respondents. Also at times, misleading response were given. In any case, market study is not an exact science. It relates to responses given by the consumers/respondents as against the questions pertaining to their behavior and preferences. Most of these responses are subjective in nature. Mathematical deduction is possible but the accuracy of data is bound to suffer from biases and prejudices of the respondents, no matter what be the degree of sophistication. Hence, this being the universal deficiency of market research, may have affected this particular research as well.

CONCLUSIONS

CONCLUSIONS :1. Most of the respondents use Apollo tyres in the truck and buses, LCVs and Good year tyres and Apollo tyres in the tractors & Apollo, MRF, JK and Bridgestone in there cars and Jeeps. 2. Most of the respondents buy tyres on the basis of quality durability while very few give priority to price and some rely on word of mouth publicity. 3. The average life of each tyre was found not more than 1 year. 4. Awareness level was found to be good about Apollo tyres. 5. Of the aware respondents, many were using Apollo tyres in their rear and front of there vehicles due to the fact that Apollo is manufacturing tyres for the different segments. They were not so much aware about the product ranges and the offers available. 6. More than 90% of the respondents using Apollo tyres are very much satisfied with its performance. 7. Very less number of respondents use resole tyres. 8. Dealers do not provide adequate information in support of Apollo brands. They see their margin of profit. 9. Apollo Sales team did Good Job by providing every time Tyre checkup camp as well as checkup camp for driver as well as their family.

SUGGESTIONS

SUGGESTIONS:-

I have the following suggestions for the company, which they believe will definitely improve the performance of the company in the demographical area of Bihar. 1. In the geographical area of Bihar, many of the consumers are using their vehicle for roaming, haulage, farming and haulage & farming both purposes. Apollo should target the tractors owners not only at the time of farming but

company should target the loading stations such as brick kilns, sand post, chip factory etc. it should give some schemes to the customers. And can promote through regular sales campaign. Apollo is the market leader in the truck and bus segment it can increase its market share through regular sales campaign and can give better offers to the customers. Apollo invisible schemes are given to the dealers similar type of offers should be given to the customers also. In LCV segment it can increase its market share through regular sales campaign and can give better offers to the customers. In the car segment there is very tough competition among the different companies so Apollo has to work really hard in this segment it can increase its market share through regular sales campaign and can give better offers to the customers and dealers. By participating in different car rallys it can promote its Apollo brand.

2. Company should improve the distribution network and should minimize the delivery time. The late delivery creates dissatisfaction to customers in urgent need and ultimately they switch over to other brands. 3. The promotional schemes like road shows, posters, hoardings, banners, leaflets, gifts, etc., should be carried out in the villages as well as brick kilns, sand ports, chip stands, etc. 4. Besides the above promotional schemes, the company should make extensive use of media like Radio, T.V, Newspapers, etc. used by the customers as a source of promotional campaign. 5. The company should try to associate with different automobile companies at the regional level. This is so because they organize free service camps in different areas on different days, and the company may erect stalls or use direct selling to those customers. 6. The company should also try to improve their after sales service like quick settlement of warranty claims, if any, and other related services. 7. The company should make their commercial policy flexible because its competitors are having very flexible commercial policy.

QUESTIONNAIRE
1) Name 2) Address :- :- .

3) Contact Number :- 4) No. of Vehicle PCR : TRUCK BUS TRACTOR

LCV

5) Which brand of tyre you prefer for your vehicle : 7) What is your monthly consumption of Tyres :

.. 8) What is your loading pattern (for HCV,LCV & farm) : i) Normal Load ii) Under Load iii) Over Load : Y/N

9) Do you decide earlier which brand you will buy? 10) If yes how do you take decision :

11) If required who helps you with the decision to choose a particular brand : Reference group Dealer Local garages Com - ads Driver Self

12) What is your first brand choice while buying a tyre? (for LCV / HCV) I) MRF VI) Others 13) What is your first brand choice while buying a tyre? (for PCR) I) MRF VI) Bridgestone II) Apollo VII) Michelin : III) JK Tyre IV) Ceat : II) Apollo III) JK Tyre IV) Ceat

V) Goodyear

V) Goodyear

14) If you use Apollo then what is your past experience

... .

REFERENCES

Marketing management Marketing Research

: Philip Kotler : Rajan Saxena : G. C. Beri : Sunanda Eshwaran : Sharmilla J Singh : Potter : www.apollotyres.com www.google.com www.icicimoney.com : Newsletter, ATL,Apr-June 2011 : Annual report : Trade communication Apr-Jun 2011 : Business world : The Economic Times

Marketing strategy Websites

Journals & Magazines