A Study on the Perception of Iss Retailers Towards Major Brands of Packed Spices Within Kochi

“A STUDY ON THE PERCEPTION OF ISS RETAILERS TOWARDS MAJOR BRANDS OF PACKED SPICES WITHIN KOCHI”

SUMMER PROJECT

Submitted to
RAJAGIRI SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT

In partial fulfilment of the requirement of the award of the

MASTERS DEGREE IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (2010 – 2012)

By Joe Mathai Reg. No b781 RAJAGIRI SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT RAJAGIRI COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
RAJAGIRI VALLEY P.O
KOCHI-682039

DECLARATION

I, hereby declare that this report titled “A STUDY ON THE PERCEPTION OF ISS RETAILERS TOWARDS MAJOR BRANDS OF PACKED SPICES WITHIN KOCHI” for Maitri Advertising Works; Kochi was sincerely done, during the month of May - June 2011. The study has been undertaken in partial fulfilment for the Degree of Master of Business Administration at Rajagiri College of Social Sciences, Cochin affiliated to Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam.
I also declare that this report has not been submitted to any other university, institution for the award of any degree/diploma.

Place: Kochi Joe Mathai
Date:

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter No: Content Page No: Executive Summary 5 Introduction 6
Section-1 Profile Study of the Organization
1 Industry Profile 7
2 Company Profile 16
3 Organizational Structure 18
4 Division Profile 20
5 Achievements 36
6 SWOT Analysis 37
Section -2 Problem Centered Study of the Organization
1 Problem Formulation 39
2 Research Process 41
3 Presentation and Analysis of Data 44
4 Findings and Suggestions 63
5 Conclusion 66
6 Bibliography 68
7 Annexure 69

Executive Summary
The main issue with processed food consumption in a developing country like India is the fragmentation of market by various brands due to the lack of a leading and strong financial player. Also, there is a lot of micro marketing and market segmentation taking place in the Southern states. The blended spice market is heavily fragmented with strong local players in almost all states. For example, amongst the high spice consuming states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, a variety of players are present.
In order to get an in depth understanding about the ISS retailers’ perception with respect to various brands of spices, a study was conducted from Maitri Advertising Pvt Ltd, Kochi unit. A brief organisation study was also done along with the problem centered study.
The study focused on the perception of ISS retailers towards various brands of packed spices in Kochi. It also focused on finding out the most purchased brand of packed spices in Kochi. In order to know the spices market in depth and to get the feel of the market, a market study was done in Kochi city. Then a survey through interview with strucutured questionnaires was conducted among ISS (Independent Self Service) Retailers. The sample size for the survey was 50 out of the large number of ISS retail outlets and non probability convenience sampling technique was adopted.
The analysis and interpretation of the data collected is done by percentage analysis which included the use of pie-charts, bar diagrams etc.
It is found that quality and advertising is the major factor for the purchase of a particular brand of spices. Eastern is the brand of spices that has the maximum sales and goodwill among the retailers.

Introduction

Advertising is the means of informing as well as influencing the general public to buy products or services through visual or oral messages. A product or service is advertised to create awareness in the minds of potential buyers. Some of the commonly used media for advertising are T.V., radio, websites, newspapers, magazines, bill-boards, hoardings etc. As a result of economic liberalization and the changing social trends advertising industry has shown rapid growth in the last decade. Advertising is one of the aspects of mass communication. Advertising is actually brand building through effective communication and is essentially a service industry. It helps to create demand, promote marketing system and boost economic growth. Thus advertising forms the basis of marketing.

Advertising plays a significant role in today 's highly competitive world. A career in advertisement is quite glamorous and at the same time challenging with more and more agencies opening up every day. Whether its brands, companies, personalities or even voluntary or religious organizations, all of them use some form of advertising in order to be able to communicate with the target audience. The salary structure in advertising is quite high and if you have the knack for it one can reach the top. It is an ideal profession for a creative individual who can handle work-pressure. Today, new areas are emerging within advertising like event management, image management, internet marketing etc. Event management wherein events are marketed, Image management wherein a particular profile of an individual or an organisation is projected. Internet marketing has also brought about a lot of changes in advertising as Internet means that one is catering to a select group of audience rather than a mass audience.

SECTION 1
PROFILE STUDY OF THE ORGANIZATION

Advertising Industry
Firms in the advertising and public relations services industry prepare advertisements for other companies and organisations and design campaigns to promote the interests and image of their clients. This industry also includes media representatives-firms that sell advertising space for publications, radio, television, and the Internet display advertisers-businesses engaged in creating and designing public display ads for use in shopping malls, on billboards, or in similar media; and direct mail advertisers. A firm that purchases advertising time (or space) from media outlets, thereafter reselling it to advertising agencies or individual companies directly, is considered a media buying agency. Most advertising firms specialise in a particular market niche. Some companies produce and solicit outdoor advertising, such as billboards and electric displays. Others place ads in buses, subways, taxis, airports, and bus terminals. A small number of firms produce aerial advertising, while others distribute circulars, handbills, and free samples. Groups within agencies have been created to serve their clients’ electronic advertising needs on the Internet. Online advertisements link users to a company or product’s Web site, where information such as new product announcements, contests, and product catalogue appears, and from which purchases may be made.

Overview of Advertising Industry in India
The structure of the advertising industry in Asia Pacific has been affected by globalisation and international alignments creating a smaller number of very large agencies and the growth of independent major media buying houses. Very sophisticated software optimisation and planning systems are now integral to the industry, enabling agencies to offer a unique positioning in the marketplace to attract new business. American companies are discovering the appeal of marketing their products in India. With a population of approximately one billion, and a middle class that 's larger than the total population of the United States, there 's definitely money to be made. Local retailers in apparel, food, watches and jewellery have all increased their average ad spending by almost 50% in the past two years. Coupled with many other local players big retailing brands are spending to the tune of Rs 12,000 crores annually on advertising and promotional activities. This figure, according to industry estimates, was less than Rs 400 crores about 3 years ago which means the growth has been a whopping 40%. The local firms are using all the available advertising tools from electronic to print, outdoor advertising and even models. The advertising and promotional spending by local brands is substantial during the festival season and almost 70% of the spending is done between September to January. The advertising industry in India is growing at an average rate of 10-12% per annum. Over 80% of the business is from Mumbai and Delhi followed by Bangalore and Chennai.

Online Ad Spending in India
Online advertising spending is holding its own and will continue to grow steadily over the next several years. Marketers are responding to the economic challenges with new techniques and strategies, along with research data to prove their effectiveness. According to statistics, online ad spending has reached $23 billion. Nonetheless, nearly three-quarters of web advertising space goes unsold and more than 99.7 per cent of banner ads are not clicked on

Scope of Advertising Industry in India
The advertising industry in India has several competitive advantages:
• India has a rich pool of strategic planning, creative and media services personnel. Indeed, Indian advertising industry has been exporting senior-level talent to many countries, particularly to the Gulf, South-East Asia, China, the UK and the US. Indian talent is recognised and respected in global agency networks.
• No other country has access to so many trained management graduates who can provide strategic inputs for brand and media planning.
• Indians are multicultural: we learn at least two languages and that gives us a head start in understanding cultural diversity.
• Most of the top 20 agencies in India have a global partner or owner, which should provide an immediate link to global markets.
• Our production standards in TV and print have improved: With a vibrant animation software industry, we have access to this area of TV production.
• India 's advanced IT capabilities can be used to develop Web-based communication packages for global clients.
The Indian advertising industry is a very upcoming and promising sector. However there is severe competition and survival is for the fittest and the best. In this sector what matters the most is knowledge and experience of the work and the industry and its functioning. The more the knowledge you can provide the better the productivity you give. Exchange4media is an ad agency that has the knowledge as well as experience that will be a big benefit in making your ad campaigns run successfully.

Advertising Agency
An advertising agency or ad agency is a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising (and sometimes other forms of promotion) for its clients. An ad agency is independent from the client and provides an outside point of view to the effort of selling the client 's products or services. An agency can also handle overall marketing and branding strategies and sales promotions for its clients.Typical ad agency clients include businesses and corporations, non-profit organizations and government agencies. Agencies may be hired to produce single ads or, more commonly, ongoing series of related ads, called an advertising campaign.

Types of Advertising Agencies
Ad agencies come in all sizes. They include everything from one or two-person shops (which rely mostly on freelance talent to perform most functions), small to medium sized agencies, large independents, and multi-national, multi-agency conglomerates such as Omnicom Group, WPP Group, Interpublic Group of Companies and Havas. An agency 's size should not necessarily be considered a barometer of their billing or ability to handle large accounts. Indeed, these days, smaller boutique agencies are just as likely to count very large corporations amongst their accounts. Full-service, or Media-neutral advertising agencies have the talent and ability to produce creative and advise clients for a full range of media, for virtually any type of account, or company. Some agencies specialize in particular fields such as medical, charitable, FMCG, white goods, retail, etc. Other agencies specialize in particular media, such as print ads or television commercials. Other agencies, especially larger ones, produce work for many types of media (creating integrated marketing communications, or through-the-line (TTL) advertising). The "line", in this case, is the traditional marker between media that pay a (traditionally 15%) commission to the agency (mainly broadcast media) and the media that do not. Most Full-Service agencies work on a combination of fee-based (to help offset the cost of non-commission production and planning) and commission based (the traditional 15% for electronic) compensation.
Interactive Agencies may differentiate themselves by offering a mix of Web Design/Development, Search Engine Marketing, Internet Advertising/Marketing, or E-Business/E-Commerce consulting. Interactive agencies rose to prominence before the traditional advertising agencies fully embraced the Internet. Offering a wide range of services, some of the interactive agencies grew very rapidly, although some have downsized just as rapidly due to changing market conditions. Today, the most successful interactive agencies are defined as companies that provide specialized advertising and marketing services for the digital space. The digital space is defined as any multi-media enabled electronic channel that an advertiser 's message can be seen or heard from. The 'digital space ' translates to the; Internet, Kiosks, CD-ROMs, DVDs, and Lifestyle Devices (iPod, PSP, and Mobile). Interactive Agencies function similar to advertising agencies although they focus solely on interactive advertising services. They deliver services such as strategy, creative, design, video, development, programming (Flash and otherwise), deployment, management, and fulfillment reporting. Often times, Interactive Agencies offerings are; Digital Lead Generation, Digital Brand Development, Interactive Marketing and Communications Strategy, Rich Media Campaigns, Interactive Video brand experiences, Web 2.0 website design and development, e-Learning Tools, email marketing, SEO/SEM services, Content Management Services, web application development, and overall Data Mining & ROI Assessment.
Lately, Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) firms have been classified by some as 'agencies ' due to the fact that they are creating media and implementing media purchases of text based (or image based in some instances of search marketing) ads. This relatively young industry has been slow to adopt the term 'agency ' however with the creation of ads (either text or image) and media purchases they do qualify technically as an 'advertising agency ' as well as recent studies suggest that both SEO and SEM are set to outpace magazine spending in the next 3-5 years.Not all advertising is created by agencies. Companies that create and plan their own advertising are said to do their work in house.

As per the Brand Equity Ad Agency Reckoner 2010 survey conducted by The Economic Times Brand Equity, the top ten advertising agencies in India are:

1. Ogilvy and Mather (O&M)
2. J. Walter Thompson (JWT)
3. Lowe Lintas India
4. Mudra
5. McCann-Ericsson
6. Rediffusion DY&R
7. Leo Burnett
8. Contract
9. RK Swamy BBDO
10. DraftFCB Ulka

Ogilvy and Mather (O&M): Headed by Piyush Pandey, Executive Chairman and National Creative Director
In all its years of business, Ogilvy has struggled to build brands and has proved its ability to build brands. The agency does its best to enhance the customer brand relation. For this, it undergoes the process of scrutiny of the tools and techniques which work well to build a long and lasting association with a brand.
O&M has been ranked first by the Brand Equity Ad Agency Reckoner for the sixth time in a row and it has also been ranked first in all the other six individual parameters by Brand Equity.
J. Walter Thompson (JWT):- Headed by Colvyn Harris, Chief Executive Officer
The advertising agency has a special portfolio which includes creativity, innovation, clients, case studies, awards, well-thought out leadership and talent. Clients perceive the agency as a resource of ideas which tell the brands story to the customer, dealing with market research. In this process, the agency includes innovative ideas.
This is the third time JWT has been ranked second by the Brand Equity Ad Agency Reckoner survey in 2003, 2004 and now in 2008. The agency won for India its first Grand Prix at Cannes Lions 2008.
Lowe Lintas India:- Headed by R Balakrishnan, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer
After the merge of Lintas India Ltd. with Lowe Lintas and Partners group of the UK, it is now known as Lowe Lintas. India Pvt. Ltd. The advertising agency inculcates advertising, media buying house, direct marketing, public relations, design consultancy, market research, events, rural communications and interactive communications. Lowe Lintas India is a successful agency which is inclined towards quality creative advertising and works for the benefit of its clients.

Mudra Advertising:- Headed by Madhukar Kamath, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer
The agency practises the art of communication in order to express ideas that can shape the brands. As the name suggests, the agency is influenced by the artistic traditions of Indian 11 dance, drama and painting. These, in turn, inculcate feelings, ideas, thoughts and emotions for the success of a brand. Mudra peeps into the local consumer markets, channels and media, and has its own identity in communication of brands. It looks for the entrepreneurial zeal which causes continuous and speedy growth for each brand. The advertising agency always believed in doing interesting work that pleases its clients.
The Mudra Group today comprises of Mudra Advertising, Mudra Marketing Services and Mudra MAX. 90% shareholding is owned by Reliance ADAG and remaining 10% is held by Omnicons DDB.
McCann-Ericsson: Headed by Prasoon Joshy, Executive Chairman and Creative Officer
This advertising agency is a leading global agency and has the power and passion to achieve its mission. McCann-Ericsson is known as a world class advertising agency and has found outstanding talent in its employees.

MAITRI ADVERTISING WORKS

AGENCY PROFILE
Maitri Advertising Works is a eleven year old agency started by Mr. Sajan Abraham, (Managing Director). Maitri has its offices in Chennai, Kochi, Coimbatore, Bangalore and Maldives. Maitri, Kochi is headed by Mr.Raju Menon. The agency has a capitalized Billing of Rs. 300 million plus.
Maitri Advertising is a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising and sometimes other forms of promotion for its clients. The agency is independent from its clients and provides an outside point of view to the effort of selling the clients’ products or services. It also handles the overall marketing and branding strategies and sales promotions for its clients. The client base of Maitri covers businesses and corporations, non-profit organizations and government agencies.
Maitri is a very flat organization which embraces an informal working culture, providing an open environment for the employees to build on their creativity and thereby come up with out of the box ideas. The layout of the organization is such that no employee is provided a closed cabin which thereby facilitates easy and constant interaction among the employees, something which is favourable for an Ad agency.
The top management follows an open door policy and keeps in constant touch with every employee of the organization. Maitri can rightly be called as a lean, mean and hardworking organization as the clients do not feel any sort of difficulty in getting in touch with the managerial personnel. Clients don 't have to wade through layers to reach the senior management personnel. Also Maitri’s speed of response is a trait their clients swear by.
The senior management of the organization has headed profit centers for some of the larger agencies, Mudra and Rediffusion being cases in point and has worked on pan Indian and multinational brands.

AGENCY SERVICES
All offices of Maitri offer the full complement of services. The total staff strength is close to 60 across offices, covering all disciplines:
1. Account Management
2. Creative: Art & Copy
3. Media: Planning and Buying
4. Digital Studio

CLIENT LIST
• Andhra Paper Mills - Paper
• AVT Tea & Coffee - Beverages
• Dhatri - Hair Care
• Elgi Ultra - Table Top Grinder
• GRT Hotels & Resorts - Business Hotels
• Kalyan Silks & Sarees - Retail
• Mathrubhumi Group - Daily and Periodicals
• MRF - Paints
• Original Choice - Spirits
• Parry - Packaged Water
• PRICOL - Corporate
• Reliance Communications - Telecom Services
• Reynolds Pens - Writing Instruments
• TAFE - Tractors
• TTK Health Care - Food, OTC
• The Paul Suites - Luxury Hotel
• V Guard Group - Stabilizer, Theme Park, Garments

WORKING OF THE AGENCY

Maitri functions like a mediator that helps to connect the marketer/advertiser with the target audience. An advertiser tells his/her requirements to the agency and every department of the agency works in a special way to meet such individual requirements. Internal communication is maintained between every department of the ad agency to come up with the best results. Creative department of the agency focuses at the creativity to attract large audience for the advertiser. Powerful headlines, body copy, slogan etc are made by the creative department to form the back bone an effective advertisement.
Once an ad is ready by the advertising agency according to the client’s requirement, a presentation is given to the client for the approval. An ad produced by an advertising agency is approved by the client before promoting the ad through any media form. In case changes are required then the client informs the agency about the same. Corrections are handled by the advertising agency till the client is satisfied. The agency works to produce an ad for the client and promotes it in the right way through different forms of media.

Client Brief
The brief is the most important piece of information issued by the client to the agency. A clearly communicated brief provides a point of reference that can be agreed at the outset between the client and the agency and to some extend forms part of the contract between both parties. It is from the brief that the agency can understand the client’s market, brand position, marketing objectives and critical issues. From this understanding, an agency can function with more clarity in developing recommendations and creative solutions to the client’s problems. The better the brief the better and more accurate the results- and less wastefulness in both time and money for both client and agency. A good brief will provide clarity of thinking and objectivity leaving the agency with an understanding of what is expected. The business problem must be clearly defined and the brand situation and key issues highlighted. Objectivity should be clearly outlined and wherever possible quantified as it can help form part of the effectiveness criteria and evaluation of campaigning performance. In Maitri, the client brief is taken by the account executives. They meet the clients and take the briefing. What is expected from the executives is to read in between the lines and understand the client’s hidden meaning and also fill in for client’s lack of explanations. Though the account executives are not a part of the creative department but they are expected to have some creativity in the process of client brief because it is the first hand information for the agency and also the important information. Soon after receiving the client brief, the account executive prepares the creative brief which is the first hand information for the creative department. This is done with at most care as the whole process of the agency depends upon it. The clearer and complete the creative brief, the more easier for the creative department. To depict the process flow, there are only two parts to it: Client brief Creative Brief

DEPARTMENTS
CREATIVE DEPARTMENT
This department involves people who create the actual ads and form the core of the advertising agency. The agency usually put in their copywriters and art directors into creative team. The art director and copywriter report to the creative director, a creative employee with several years of experience. Although copywriters have the word "write" in their job title, and art directors have the word "art", one does not necessarily write the words and the other draw the pictures; they both generate creative ideas to represent the proposition (the advertisement or campaign 's key message). The creative department frequently works with outside design or production studios to develop and implement their ideas. The Creative Process forms the most crucial part of the advertising process. Marketers generally turn to advertising agencies to develop, prepare and implement their creative strategies since these agencies are specialists in the creative function of advertising. Similarly Maitri has a creative department which has two sections:

THE CREATIVE DEPARTMENT HIERARCHY

The art is responsible for producing the visual ideas while the copywriter will produce the words. Therefore the creative team is responsible for developing an effective way to communicate the marketers’ message to the customers and for this the role of art section and copywriter is clubbed together. The work of the creative is often a real challenge. They take all the research, the creative briefs, strategy statements, communications objectives and other input and transform they put into an advertising message. Their job is to write copy, design layouts and illustrations or produce commercials that effectively communicate the central theme on which the campaign is based. Rather than simply stating the features and benefits of a product or service, they must put the advertisement message in the form that will engage the audience’s interest, make the advertisements memorable and achieve the client’s communication objectives. Many clients in the world of advertising are afraid to take risks, preferring to follow proven approaches to advertising rather than trying something different. This leads to frustration among the creative team and the client. Creative team wants the clients to take more risks. Therefore the clarity of the message and the degree of trust between the agency and the client is very crucial to avoid time wasting for both the parties. In this regard Maitri has been very successful. It’s been eleven years that Maitri entered the field of advertising and has relationship with clients for more than nine years. The creative department is in constant pressure for results and they form the core of any advertising agency. One of the ways in which Maitri has handled the pressure for creative is by letting the client servicing department be the bridge between the client and the creative. Therefore the client does not come in contact with the creative team until it is urgent. The creative team is given a creative brief by the client servicing department which includes every little detail of the client’s requirements along with the suggestion from the client servicing department. Therefore, the creative brief has to be as detailed as possible for the project to become successful. Some points that must be included in the creative brief are:
1. What is the problem or the task?
2. What is the opportunity?
3. What is the single biggest thing to communicate?
4. Whom are we addressing to?
5. What do we want the advertising to do? Along with the brief and the media that the client wants for the campaign the creative starts it’s process. Creativity in Maitri is a process of several stages. Creative strategies development is guided by the client’s specific objectives and is based on a number of factors, based on target audience, the basic problem the advertising must address, what the message seeks to be accomplished and the major selling idea or key benefits that the advertiser wants to communicate. The account department gathers raw information for the creative team to understand key issues, through background research. Along with the creative brief the background research results are too handed over to the creative team. Taking the information the creative team will spend time evaluating the information, working over it and wrestling with it in the mind. At this stage the creative team is involved in making sense of the data, unraveling the complex strands of information, thoughts and key issues that arise. Issue clarification is the key at this stage with a clear identification of the communication problem and task. The next phase is to arrive at a creative solution. The challenge faced by the team is to come up with fresh, unique and appropriate ideas that can be utilized as a solution to communicate problems. Creative team will interrogate the brand to try and find out new insights that can be used as the foundation upon which the creative idea is developed. Brainstorming session provides a wide ranging and long list of ideas that can be organized into creative themes or issues on which creative strategies can be based. They take constant help from the account department for the various information that may be required during the process. The final stage is the evaluation of ideas generated. Ideas that show potentials are refined and polished. Therefore the whole work flow can be described with the help of a flow chart:

In the above work flow, the thought is created by the copywriters. At Maitri there are three copy writers. The vision is created by the art and there are five art directors out of which three are B. Tech holders. The caption is the idea or the result of the creative team which is send to the client for approval through the client servicing department.

ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT Maitri Kochi is a complete service organization. The point of contact for a client is the account management department. This department has account handlers ranging from Branch director in charge to Account manager, account supervisor to account executives. The department chart looks as follows:

The account management consist a total of eight employees of which 6 are management graduates posted as account executives. Remaining two are senior officials of the agency. It is the job of the account executive to maintain contact with the client, building up a full understanding of the client’s marketing and advertising situation, so that he or she may brief the agency on what needs to be done. The executives then, as part of the agency team, assist in analyzing the advertising problem and devising the appropriate solution. They have the task of presenting the agency solution in a clear and articulate manner to client personnel, who could range from middle management level, right up to the Chairman of the company. Once an approval is received from the clients, the account manager and account director sees to it that the whole program from preparing the art work, proofs, etc., making television films and ensuring that the whole program of printing and production is completed on time. The members of the accounts management department have to be a “jack of all trades”. They need to be good all rounders, who understand all facets of the business, they must be clear thinkers who can get to the nub of the situation and brief the agency accordingly and they need the skills to present the idea to the clients. Finally they have to efficient managers to see that all parts of the process are working effectively including making sure that the agency gets paid properly and punctually for it’s work. The account management is completely dependent on other departments of the agency for it’s success.
MEDIA DEPARTMENT The department in an agency that effectively spends an advertising budget is the media department. This department is responsible for being totally familiar with all available advertising media, with particular reference to the changing patterns of individual readership or viewing trends, the changing media landscape and media costs. The increasing sophistication and fragmentation of the media scene alongside the growth of independent media selling and buying houses has led to this function increasingly being outsourced by agencies. But at Maitri all the work of the media is not outsourced and they have excellent staff for the same.
THE MEDIA DEPARTMENT HEIRARCHY

The senior manager at Maitri is one of the oldest employee with ten years experience in the field. The media planner has been associated with the company for over six years now and the media assistant over five. The department has three members at the respective designations. The media planner is an engineer well trained in media planning. In other agencies the planning part is done by a different department known as the planning department but at Maitri the media department is entrusted with the planning too and there is no department as planning department. An immense amount of thought and planning goes into determining the correct media strategy, which is done by the media planner. Once the media strategy is developed, the media department is responsible for drawing up schedules indicating which media will be used, the cost of such media and the recommended dates, size and length of the advertising space or time. This involves constant discussion and negotiation with the media owners or sellers to get the best position for an advert and the best possible price/discount. The media plays two parts, one before the release of an advertisement and one after the release of the advertisement.
PROCESS BEFORE THE RELEASE OF AN ADVERTISEMENT After consent from release order the client The client gives it’s estimate for a period to the media department and after planning is done the plan is send to the client for approval and with the clients approval space booking is done with constant meetings and negotiation with the various media owners. Once the space booking is completed the release order is send to the publication house. The release order is the advertisement material which is generated by the creative team. Once the release order reaches the publication and the advertisement is released the next part is completed.
PROCESS AFTER THE RELEASE OF AN ADVERTISEMENT Verification After the release of the advertisement, the publication house sends the bill to the media department where the media assistant takes down the details of the bill and makes verification and after approval from the media manager sends it to the finance department for further processing of the bill. The media planner is one of the busiest people in the agency making research and meetings with the media owners and the clients. His role is complex and varied.

The planner makes a report on the following:
1. Where to advertise?
2. When to advertise?
3. Why to advertise?
4. What to advertise?
5. How to advertise? The planner has various tools and software to assist him in performing his role. The planner is expert market analysis. He has the knowledge of what information exists, understand consumer motivation, the creative development process, brand management, media planning and marketing measurement and evaluation techniques. The planner also collects all the information regarding the client’s products, service and it’s market, obtained from the client’s brief, from published information sources and from market research commissioned by the client or the agency. This information is analysed and translated into a campaign strategy, which provides the basis on which the creative team will work on devising advertising. He keeps constant follow up of the clients through client servicing department. The media assistant does the daily requirement like space booking, collecting bills and keeping records. Like the designation heading, the assistant assists the planner and the manager with their work.
The media department is guided and measured by their success in achieving media objectives i.e., coverage, opportunities to see hear etc. media commission is the traditional source of agency income.
STUDIO
The studio at Maitri is to assist the art team in graphics designing. There are five graphic designer specialize in graphics to assist the creative team. They come under the creative department and are termed as studio department. The studio gives the final touch ups as per the instruction of the art team. The studio team is called visualisers or designers.

Production
Without the production department, the ads created by the copywriter and art director would be nothing more than words and pictures on paper. The production department ensures the TV commercial or print ad, etc., gets produced. They are responsible for contracting external vendors (directors and production companies in the case of TV commercials; photographers and design studios in the case of the print advertising or direct mailers). Producers are involved in every aspect of a project, from the initial creative briefing through execution and delivery. Senior producers are known as "executive producers" or "content architects". PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT Being a company which provides 360 degree marketing communication solution, Production is a very important area. There are various marketing communication materials like billboard raw materials, leaflets, corporate gifts, brochures, etc required by the clients. Most of these require a printing unit. Maitri doesn’t have a dedicated printing unit of their own. Rather they get all the production works sourced from various dedicated SBU`s (Strategic business unit), which work independently. Maitri gives the client the cost benefit as it sources all their work from these units for a special rate. The production department consists of 4 people and is headed by an engineer with an experience of more than 20 years in printing and production. All the other 3 are Diploma in ITI.

The production department is responsible for taking agreed advertising designs and turning them into material ready to be used in the selected media. The production department works close with the creative department, to establish the type of artwork, typeface, photography,etc and then commission outside suppliers to carry on the work. The nature of task determines the extend of degree outsourced. For television ads the creative writes the copy but the production of the film is outsourced to a studio with consent from the clients. For other media just the print requirements are outsourced. The production department is responsible for negotiating fees , progress chasing and signing off the work that is produced by outside suppliers. They will also work close with the account department in getting the work signed off by clients. The skill required in this job are the ability to handle multi-tasking, project planning and handling a mass of detail with speed. Coupled with this the individual requires personal characteristic of assertiveness, empathy and team work. Fundamentally, production is the department responsible for getting the job completed on time and to the complete satisfaction of the clients.

FINANCE DEPARTMENT Maitri has a finance department located at it’s head office at Kadvanthara, Kochi and a Market level finance section at it’s sister concern Market Level Advertising and Production.

The finance department at Kadvanthara has a man power of four all from commerce background. The point view department and Maitri print and production department are located at Maitri Kadvanthara. The point view department takes care of the billing of the hoardings.

Like every finance department, the Maitri finance too maintains daily accounts, profit and loss account and balance sheet of the agency. The department also does budgeting for the agency. The main responsibility of the finance department is the billing of various clients. The billing process is different depending upon the type of client relation the agency has. The agency clients can be divided into two categories namely:
1. Project basis: These are clients who pay on the basis of the project which may be a onetime project or a single campaign.
2. Retainer ship: These are clients who pay a fixed amount in return of the creative work done for them.

BILLING FOR PROJECT BASED CLIENTS

The bill is send by the publication house to the media department here after scrutiny it is send to finance department. At finance department the bill is verified and the client is billed for 100%. This 100% bill of the client includes 85% media charges, 15% Maitri agency charges, service tax i.e., 1.3% if press and 10.3% if media and education cess of 3%. Therefore,

The 15% agency charges are made as per the profit margins allowed by the Indian Newspaper Society. This is commission form of remuneration which is a traditional form of agency remuneration. This method provides a simple method of determining payments, as it is transparent and easily understood by the both clients and the agency. Some other advantages are:
1. It takes price competition out of the process and allows the agency and the client to concentrate on the quality of the advertisements.
2. It is also argued that it is the largest client that has the largest spend, therefore, it requires more of agency time and attention.

But this method has it’s limitations. The limitations are as follows:
1. It encourages agencies to recommend high cost media rather than use low cost media which can be utilized efficiently and effectively.
2. At the time of increasing focus on budgets and evaluations, clients find it increasingly difficult to justify such high cost media.
3. The commission system does not take into consideration the amount of work carried on by the agency.
4. When an advertising campaign is carried on over a period of year the agency will still earn it’s commission even though minimal work is carried out.
5. The commission system may not cover the true cost of the agency which is incurred on planning and developing a campaign. The agency receives sixty days credit on the bill from the publication house. As soon as the bill is received it is sent to the client. The client is given thirty days credit. Within seven days from the date of receipt of bill, the government charges are paid which includes service tax and education cess. And within 45 days the publication house are paid by the agency.
BILLING FOR RETAINERSHIP CLIENTS: Here since the client wants only the creative to be done by the agency, the media is selected by the client themselves. In such cases, the client pays a fixed amount for providing the services. Under such cases the agency earns 100%profit. This form of agency remuneration too has it’s advantages and drawbacks. The advantage is that the agency gets a fixed amount even when the work done is small, but on the other hand if the opposite happens i.e., if the agency works more than the payment done the agency gets only the fixed amount
TRANSACTIONS
The daily routine of the agency has a lot of cash flows both bank and cash. A petty cash book is maintained where all the petty expenses which are necessary for the agency to run are maintained. Cash voucher for each payment is a must with attachments. The finance managers sanction the cash vouchers. When the payments are greater than Rs.20,000, it is government rule that the agency must make transactions through bank. When bank transactions are made a percentage is charged as Tax Deducted at Source. For transactions made above Rs.5000 and below Rs.20,000, a revenue stamp of Re.1 is required on the voucher as per government norms.
AUDITING
The agency has both internal and external audit. Every quarterly the company conducts an internal audit. At the year end the agency and Argee and Company, an authorized charter accountant company does the auditing.
WORKING CAPITAL At Maitri the Board of directors insists on a working capital of 2:1 to be maintained by the agency. This is strictly followed and any disturbance in the ratio is rectified at the earliest.
SALARY PAYMENT Since there is no separate Human Resource department at Maitri, the payment of salary is done by the accounts department. The salary is paid last working day before one day through bank. Their salary bank is Federal Bank of India.
INCREMENTS
The agency has yearly increment policy which too is done by the finance department. First April is the annual day for Maitri and it is on this day every year that the increments are given.
BUDGETTING
The finance department also does budgeting along with the Board of Directors. The agency is at present a Rs.50crore agency

HUMAN RESOURCE The agency does not have a separate human resource department. There are no specific HR policies in the agency. The agency has recruitments and motivations that too are not departmentalized.
RECRUITMENT
The recruitment at Maitri is done by the experienced employees of the agencies as the need comes in. There are advertisements given in the newspapers for vacancies available. In advertising it is very difficult to get talents with experience and Maitri has been blessed to have a mixture of the experienced set of employees and new talents in the industry.
WORKING HOURS The agency works 24/7, 365 days a year.
MOTIVATION
As stated by the Flow and intrinsic motivation theory, at Maitri it is the flow of work that gives motivation to it’s employees. the accomplishments made and the whole process of doing the work in itself is a motivation. The agency has an informal set up with no superior-subordinate relationship but a very friendly atmosphere. Every employee have their personal desk and except for the art team rest all employees are seated in a flat position where everyone can see and talk to each other. Apart from this there are motivation programs arranged for the client servicing department and the creative department employees. The motivation programs are such that the employees feel energetic and also to bring out the creativity in them. Employees are also given monetary benefits and fringe benefits. Monetary benefit includes the increment in salary on the annual day. Fringe benefits include vehicles, phone bills, choppers etc. Tours and picnics too are arranged for building team spirit. Other than this the employees are also provided with tea, coffee, juice and snacks at intervals.
COMPETITORS
Stark Communication, Mudra Communication, Aegis Communication, Lowe Lintas.
ACHIEVEMENTS
Maitri known for its out of the box ideas has created its mark in the advertising field .Having chosen twice as the finalist for The New York Festival shows that the company has great potentials. Several Ad Club Awards have come along with the success journey of Maitri and its Ads once featured among the ‘most liked’ in the independent polls conducted by The Week. Most importantly and the real success of Maitri is that the company has always had long innings with most of its clients.

SWOT ANALYSIS:

Strength:
Strong Customer relationship
Goodwill of the organization
Innovative and creative employees in hand
Association with international companies
Providing diversified business solutions
Work culture
Weakness:
Concentration on big clients only
No Studio of its own in the Kochi unit.
Opportunity:
Highly competitive business environment
New means of advertising- especially, the internet
Emergence of new business units
New international clients
Advancement of technology
Threat:
From competitors
Emerging advertising agencies

SECTION 2 PROBLEM CENTERED STUDY OF THE ORGANIZATION

CHAPTER – 1

PROBLEM FORMULATION

Title of the study:
A study on the perception of ISS retailers towards major brands of packed spices within Kochi

Background of the study:
The consumption of spices in India consists of primarily basic spices and secondarily of blended and branded spices. So, the branded spices market consisted of basic and value added spices. If in 2006 the size of the basic spices market was estimated to be around Rs 650 crore and nearly 70 per cent of it was accounted for by chilli, coriander and turmeric spices. In 2010 the domestic spice market is around 2,500 crore with a similar breakup of spices.
In Kerala itself there are a large number of big as well as small brands of spices that are available in the market, each taking a share in the market. Along with all this the shopping habit of the people in Kerala are changing, more number of consumers are getting used with ISS (Independent Self Service) retail outlets as compared to kirana stores. This study is aimed at finding out the perception on these ISS retailers towards various brands of packed spices in Kochi.

CHAPTER – 2 RESEARCH PROCESS

Objectives of the study
• To understand the perception of retailers towards various brands of packed spices
• To find out the most purchased brand of packed spices
• To find out the various schemes provided to the retailers by these brands of spices.
Scope of the Study
The consumption of spices in India consists of primarily basic spices and secondarily of blended and branded spices. So, the branded spices market consisted of basic and value added spices. If in 2006 the size of the basic spices market was estimated to be around Rs 650 crore and nearly 70 per cent of it was accounted for by chilli, coriander and turmeric spices. In 2010 the domestic spice market is expected to be in the 2,500 crore region with a similar breakdown of spices. The study is focused to find out the various schemes that are provided to retailers by various brands of packed spices Kochi city and to find out the most purchased brand of packed spices.
Research design:

Type of research:
Descriptive research – The study adopted descriptive research design since it involves collection of data to answer questions about the opinion of people about some topic or issue and the purpose is to gain information from all the members of the sample.
Population:
The population for the study consisted ISS retailers in Kochi city who sell various brands of packed spices.

Sampling design:
• Sample size: 50 ISS retailers who sell various brands of packed spices in and around Kochi city
• Sampling used: Non probability sampling technique has been used for the survey of which the convenience sampling is selected for collecting data.

Data collection methodology:
Source of data: Primary data
Research instrument: Interview using a structured questionnaire

Statistical tools used for analysis
Collected data has been arranged and analyzed using percentage analysis and is depicted with the help of Microsoft Excel.

Limitations of the study:
• Time was a major constraint for the study. Hence the sample size had to be limited to 50 retailers.
• Many retailers were not willing to fill up the questionnaires.
• Many respondents did not fill up the open ended questions, which resulted in difficulty for the proper analysis of those questions.

CHAPTER – 3
PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA

1. Existing brands of packed spices

Double Horse Eastern Melam Nirapara Taste Buds Brahmins Priyom
Users (Respondents) 42 47 43 41 23 44 18
Non Users 8 3 7 9 27 6 32
Total 50 50 50 50 50 50 50

Interpretation
Out of the 50 retail outlets surveyed Eastern is available in 47 outlets followed by Brahmins (44), Melam (43), Double Horse (42), Nirapara (41), Taste Buds (23) and Priyom (18)

2. Rank the brand on the basis of their sale

(Respondents) Double Horse Eastern Melam Nirapara Taste Buds Brahmins Priyom
Excellent 7 35 7 0 0 1 0
Very Good 19 10 11 3 1 6 0
Good 10 2 16 6 5 8 3
Neutral 3 0 5 17 10 8 7
Bad 3 0 4 9 4 14 4
Very Bad 0 0 0 4 2 4 2
Worst 0 0 0 2 1 3 2 Total 42 47 43 41 23 44 18

Interpretation
Eastern is the brand that has the best sales followed by Double Horse, Melam, Brahmins, Nirapara, Taste Buds and Priyom

3. Factors that lead the consumers to go for a particular brand of spices.

Price Quality Quantity Packaging Advertising Brand Image
Factor (Respondents) 12 27 5 7 21 18
Not a factor 38 23 45 43 29 32
Total 50 50 50 50 50 50

Interpretation
As per the respondents Quality (27) is the major factor that drives the customers to go for a particular brand of spices followed by Advertising (21), Brand Image (18), Price (12), Packaging (7) and Quantity (5)

4. Commonly used advertising techniques by various brands

Danglers Double Horse Eastern Melam Nirapara Taste Buds Priyom
Users (Respondents) 11 19 28 15 7 10
Non Users 31 28 15 26 16 8
Total 42 47 43 41 23 18

Interpretation
Danglers are most commonly used by Melam (65%) as a tool for advertisement in the retail stores followed by Priyom (50%), Eastern (40%), Nirapara (36%), Taste Buds (30%) and Double Horse (26%)

Rack Displays Double Horse Eastern Melam Nirapara Taste Buds Priyom
Users 22 31 26 22 13 7
Non Users 20 16 17 19 10 11
Total 42 47 43 41 23 18

Interpretation
Rack Display are most commonly used by Eastern (66%) as a tool for advertisement in the retail stores followed by Melam (60%), Taste Buds (56%), Nirapara (53%). Double Horse (52%) and Priyom (38%)

Posters Double Horse Eastern Melam Nirapara Taste Buds Priyom
Users 23 18 29 16 10 9
Non Users 19 29 14 25 13 9
Total 42 47 43 41 23 18

Interpretation
Posters are most commonly used by Melam (67%) as a tool for advertisement in the retail stores followed by Double Horse (54%), Priyom (50%), Taste Buds (43%), Nirapara (39%) and Eastern (38%)

5. Different Schemes provided by the manufacturers/distributors of the brands
Discount

Double Horse Eastern Melam Nirapara Taste Buds Priyom
Users 39 40 33 27 16 9
Non Users 3 7 10 14 7 9
Total 42 47 43 41 23 18

Interpretation
Discount is mostly used form of scheme given to the retailers by Double Horse (92%) followed by, Eastern (85%), Melam (76%), Taste Buds (69%), Nirapara (65%) and Priyom (50%)

Shelf Buying Double Horse Eastern Melam Nirapara Taste Buds Priyom
Users 16 28 33 22 13 9
Non Users 26 19 10 19 10 9
Total 42 47 43 41 23 18

Interpretation
Shelf Buying is mostly used form of scheme given to the retailers by Melam (76%) followed by. Eastern (59%), Taste Buds (56%), Nirapara (53%), Priyom (50%) and Double Horse (38%)

Displays Double Horse Eastern Melam Nirapara Taste Buds Priyom
Users 29 21 32 17 9 10
Non Users 13 26 11 24 14 8
Total 42 47 43 41 23 18

Interpretation
Display is mostly used form of scheme given to the retailers by Melam (74%), followed by Double Horse (69%), Priyom (55%), Eastern (44%), Nirapara (41%) and Taste Buds (39%)

Extra Quantity Free Double Horse Eastern Melam Nirapara Taste Buds Priyom
Users 17 32 24 18 11 9
Non Users 25 15 19 23 12 9
Total 42 47 43 41 23 18

Interpretation
Extra Quantity Free is mostly used form of scheme given to the retailers by Eastern (68%) followed by Melam (55%), Priyom (50%), Taste Buds (47%), Nirapara (43%) and Double Horse (40%)

6. Effectiveness of the schemes provided by the manufacturers/ distributors

Discount Double Horse Eastern Melam Nirapara Taste Buds Priyom
Very Effective 12 15 8 7 2 1
Effective 14 16 17 14 12 4
Neutral 10 8 8 5 1 4
Ineffective 3 1 0 1 1 0
Very Ineffective 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 39 40 33 27 16 9

Interpretation
The Discount given to the retailers by Eastern are the most effective followed by Double Horse, Melam, Nirapara, Taste Buds and Priyom
Shelf Buying

Double Horse Eastern Melam Nirapara Taste Buds Priyom
Very Effective 5 8 10 3 2 0
Effective 10 14 17 12 6 7
Neutral 0 5 5 6 5 2
Ineffective 1 1 1 1 0 0
Very Ineffective 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 16 28 33 22 13 9

Interpretation
The Shelf Buying scheme provided to the retailers is the most effective in case of Double Horse, followed by, Melam, Eastern, Taste Buds, Nirapara and Priyom.

Display

Double Horse Eastern Melam Nirapara Taste Buds Priyom
Very Effective 8 6 5 4 3 1
Effective 13 9 19 9 4 7
Neutral 7 4 7 4 2 2
Ineffective 1 2 1 0 0 0
Very Ineffective 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 29 21 32 17 9 10

Interpretation
The Display scheme provided to the retailers by Taste Buds is the most effective followed by Eastern, Double Horse, Nirapara, Melam and Priyom.

Extra Quantity Free Double Horse Eastern Melam Nirapara Taste Buds Priyom
Very Effective 5 9 6 6 4 2
Effective 9 14 15 8 6 7
Neutral 3 6 3 4 1 0
Ineffective 0 3 0 0 0 0
Very Ineffective 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 17 32 24 18 11 9

Interpretation
Extra Quantity Free is another form of scheme provided to the retailers. Taste Buds is the most effective with regard to this scheme followed by Nirapara, Double Horse, Eastern, Melam and Priyom

7. The brand of spices has the most attractive packaging design Brand Respondents Double Horse 3
Eastern 19
Melam 3
Nirapara 4
Taste Buds 7
Brahmins 12
Priyom 2
Total 50

Interpretation
Eastern (19) was said to have the most attractive packaging followed by Brahmins (12), Taste Buds (7), Nirapara (4), Melam (3), Double Horse (3) and Priyom (2)

8. The brand of spices that gives the maximum margin?

Brand Respondents Double Horse 10
Eastern 8
Melam 16
Nirapara 5
Taste Buds 6
Brahmins 3
Priyom 2
Total 50

Interpretation
Most of the respondents choose Melam (16) with regard to the brand that gave them maximum margin, which was followed by Double Horse (10), Eastern (8), Taste Buds (6), Nirapara (5), Brahmins (3) and Priyom (2)

9. Brand of spices conducts programmes for the retailers
Brand Respondents
Eastern 17
Melam 12
Double Horse 8
Nirapara 5
Brahmins 3
Taste Buds 3
Priyom 2
Total 50

Interpretation
When it comes to conducting programmes for the retailers Eastern (17) is the major brand of spices which is followed by Melam (12), Double Horse (8), Nirapara (5), Brahmins (3), Taste Buds (3) and Priyom (2)

10. Frequency of salesman/ distributor visiting the store Double Horse Eastern Melam Nirapara Taste Buds Priyom
Every Week 19 42 19 4 2 2
Once in 15 Days 22 5 23 25 9 5
Once in a Month 1 0 1 11 11 8
Once in 2 months 0 0 0 1 1 3
More than 2 months 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 42 47 43 41 23 18

Interpretation
Eastern is the brand of spices that has the best distribution channel followed by Melam, Double Horse, Nirapara, Taste Buds and Priyom

CHAPTER – 4

FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS

Findings
• Eastern is the most commonly available brand in majority of the retail outlets in Kochi.
• When it comes to sales the maximum is for Eastern and the lowest is Priyom.
• Quality, advertising and brand image are the major factors that drive the consumers to go for a particular brand of spices.
• Most commonly used advertising technique in stores by various brands is posters and rack displays.
• Melam is the main brand that uses “Danglers” and “Posters” as a advertising medium in most of the stores. Eastern on the other hand is the main user of Rack Display.
• The most commonly provided schemes by the manufacturers to the retailers are “Discounts” and “Extra Quantity Free”.
• Eastern is the main provider of Discounts and Extra Quantity Free as a scheme to the retailers. On the other hand Melam is main user of Shelf Buying and Displays in most of the stores.
• Eastern is having the most effective Discount Schemes. Melam on the other hand is the most effective with respect to Shelf Buying. Most effective when it comes to Displays and Extra Quantity Free is Taste Buds.
• Eastern is the brand that has the most attractive package design.
• Melam is the brand that provides the best margin to the retailers.
• Eastern is having the most effective distribution channel.
• Good relation of the company with a retailers helps to spread around the goodwill of any brand.
• There are many other small brands that have a share of the market in Kochi, like Anns, Saras, Devon, Aadhirvaad etc.
• Eastern is the major brand that has a strong goodwill among the retailers. They conduct various programmes for the retailers.
• Irregular demand and no proper distribution are the major reasons why a particular brand of spices is not available in a store.
• Package design of the product plays an important role especially in the case of ISS outlets.
Suggestion
• In this highly competitive spices market with so many other small brands also taking a share in the market, it is very important on the part of the company to position their product correctly in the minds of the customers through various mediums. It can be through more advertising (print, videos), sponsoring programmes etc.
• It is very important for the company to be efficient in their distribution channels as the product they sell is a daily used product.
• It is important on the part of the brands to continue keep up with the goodwill with the retailers, through various mediums.
• The brand should conduct a proper research on the market and their competitors, as this would help them to come out with the most appropriate decision.

CHAPTER – 5 CONCLUSION

Conclusion
The broad conclusion emerging from the study is Eastern is the most preferred brand of packed spices among the retailers in Kochi It is discovered that Eastern is the most purchased brand of spices followed by Double Horse and Melam. The main reason for retailer’s preference for Eastern is the good distribution channel along with its goodwill with the customers as well as with the retailers. It is also found that there are a large number of other local brands which have a share in the market.
Thus, it can be concluded that there is stiff competition prevailing in the packed spices market within Kochi.

Bibliography
• Kothari C.R; Research Methodology- Methods and Techniques, Wishwa Prakashan.
• Kotler Philip, Kevin Keller- Marketing Management, Tata McGraw Hills Publication, 2006

Website http://www.ammas.com/ar/home.cfm?r=va&bid=0&topicid=40&tid=193700 http://www.indianspices.com/html/annualreport.html http://www.maitri.com/index.php http://www.spices-trade/indian-spice-market.html

Annexure

I am Joe Mathai doing my summer internship project on the topic “A Study on the Perception of ISS Retailers towards different brands of packed spices within Kochi” as part of my MBA program. I kindly request you to fill this questionnaire QUESTIONNAIRE

1. Which are the existing brands of packed masala/spices in your store?
Double Horse Eastern Melam Nirapara
Tate Buds Brahmins Priyom
Any other (specify)...................................................................
2. If a particular brand of spices is not available at your store, what could be the reason?
..........................................................................................
3. Please rank the following brand on the basis of sale?
(7 represents max. sale and 1 min. Sales)

Brand Rank
Double Horse
Nirapara
Taste Buds
Brahmins
Melam
Eastern
Priyom

4. According to you what are the factors that lead consumers to go for a particular brand of spices?

Price Quality Quantity Packaging
Advertisements Other (Please Specify)..........................

5. Which are the commonly used advertising techniques used by different brands of spices in your store

Danglers Rack Displays Posters
Double Horse
Eastern
Melam
Nirapara
Taste Buds
Priyom

6. Tick the different schemes provided by the manufacturers/distributors of these products? Discounts Shelf Buying Displays Extra Quantity Free
Double Horse
Eastern
Melam
Nirapara
Taste Buds
Priyom

7. Please rate the effectiveness of different schemes provided by the following brands to the retailers.
(Rate on the following scale
1 Very Ineffective 2 Ineffective 3 Neutral 4 Effective
5 Very Effective) Discounts Shelf Buying Displays Extra Quantity Free
Double Horse
Eastern
Melam
Nirapara
Taste Buds
Priyom

8. Which brand of spices has the most attractive package design?

Double Horse Eastern Melam Nirapara
Tate Buds Brahmins Priyom
Any other (specify)...................................................................
9. In your opinion how effective is packaging design for a product?

........................................................................................................... 10. Which brand of masala/spices gives you the product at a better margin?

Double Horse Eastern Melam Nirapara
Tate Buds Brahmins Priyom
Any other (specify)...................................................................
11. Which brand of spices conducts programmes for the retailers in order to enhance their goodwill and relationship with the retailers?
Double Horse Eastern Melam Nirapara
Tate Buds Brahmins Priyom
12. Frequency of Salesman visiting the store.

( 1 Every Week 2 Once in 15 days 3 Once in a Month 4 Once in 2 months 5 More than 2 months)

Double Horse Melam Nirapara Taste Buds Eastern Priyom
Frequency

Name of the Store:..................................................................................... Thank You

Bibliography: • Kotler Philip, Kevin Keller- Marketing Management, Tata McGraw Hills Publication, 2006 Website