Customer Perception of Outlook Business Magazine

The intensive exposure to marketing environment has enriched me enough, not only to survive in this competitive environment but to excel and to open my own business in the long run. It gives me immense pleasure to acknowledge the invaluable guidance extended to me by various employees of Outlook India Pvt. Ltd. in successful completion of this project. A sense of gratitude is not enough to express my sincere thanks towards Mr. Himanshu Pandey (National Sales Manager, Outlook India pvt. td), for providing me an opportunity to pursue my summer internship at such an esteemed organization.

With equal gratitude I would like to thank Mr. Sumit Bhardwaj (Deputy Manager, sales) and Mr. Sandeep Kumar Sona (Senior Executive, Marketting), for providing me with the insight to corporate culture and under whose valuable guidance and cooperation I conducted my study. I am thankful to all City Managers, Cafe Manager and Cafe Staff for the valuable discussions and suggestions which helped me a lot in understanding this industry and in completing my project work.

I would like to express my deep gratitude towards Dr. K. L. Chawla FORE School Of Management and my Project Guide for his constant motivation and valuable suggestions throughout the internship program. Amba Prasad Tiwari 93007 PGDM-IBM (2009-11) Fore School of Management EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Marketing is very necessary for every organization. It helps organizations in determining what product and services may interest customers and also strategies for use in product development, sales and promotions.

Business magazines in India are one of the best ways of getting all the information regarding the current events taking place in the business world of India.

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Business magazines in India provide all the information that is required to quench the thirst and curiosity of the general mass. The market for the Business India magazine is vast. The Top Business magazines of India are sold in huge numbers all over India. Some of the top business magazines of India are: Businessworld, Outlook Business, Business Today, BusinessBarons and Business India.

These are the few Business magazines in India that have an excellent market. Ever since India started riding high on the economic boom after liberalization in 1991, countless business magazines have come into existence in the country and have opened up shops as well. The last few years have seen innumerable Business magazines in India hitting the market and it will not be an overstatement to say that their number would easily touch three scores. Outlook has a group of 14 Magazines; they have 3 business magazines, Outlook business, Outlook Money and Outlook Profit.

The Business magazine market has become increasingly competitive and the consumer purchasing patterns are highly volatile and hence effective consumer promotions have a much greater significance in publishers planning. In order to tackle the tough competition from its competitors most of the magazines need to formulate effective promotions so that the consumers are motivated for the subscription purchase. Business Magazine industry has gone a long way in formulating and implementing the promotional strategies. Promotions strategies formulated by different publishers have been diversified to produce good results.

All the promotion types – Advertising, Sales promotion, Personal selling, Online marketing and Direct marketing are being used effectively to increase the sales as well as market share. Sales promotion is the area where most of the magazines are giving more importance because of its contribution towards the total sales. Effective and attractive promotional schemes are to be formulated for successful promotion of subscription sales. Most of the people know about Outlook Business but they are unaware about Outlook Money (personal finance guide) and Outlook Profit (share market guide).

These magazines cater to niche segment of business. Even after having no competitors in magazine industry they are not doing well. Company believes that the reason is that most of the people are unaware about them or if they know about it, they confuse it with general business magazine. This study of consumer perspective aimed at evaluating the customer perspective about Business magazine to find out potential causes, educating people about magazine and suggesting some strategies that company can adopt to do well

From the findings of the market survey and by different analysis performed effective strategies has been formulated and proposed which might be useful in devising the future strategies for outlook. The strategies were formulated on a diversified ground so that it will produce optimal results in future. Since the customer retention efforts from outlook are very less, a number of customer retention strategies also has been formulated and proposed. The strategies are formulated by keeping in mind that it should contribute towards Outlook’s journey to become a future leader in Indian print media.

Chapter 1 : INTRODUCTION 1. 1 MAGAZINE INDUSTRIES: THE INDIAN SCENARIO The magazine industry in India was expecting the sales to grow but the data that have been revealed by the IRS have shown that the sales of magazines have been decreasing. But then also the online subscription part of the magazine industry is seeing a rise of 37% each year, which is a very positive result for the industry. The subscription of magazines online is termed as e-subscription. This method of getting magazines can be a very important market as the technological awareness of people is increasing at a rapid pace.

Also technology is being used to facilitate people to get all the things they require. As the competition in the professional lives of people increases the thirst for information and knowledge increases. This thirst for knowledge can be quenched by the proper positioning of the product which is magazine. The positioning of the magazine can be by providing it efficiently to people. The e-subscription market comes into picture with this requirement. And if this market is capitalized upon it can prove to be one of the biggest market with a lot of potential in it.

The circulation wise top 10 magazines in India are as follows: India Today (H) India Today (E) Kungumum Grihashobha (H) Kumudam Saras Salil (H) Sarita Meri Saheli Outlook Ananda Vikatan The magazine industry is one of the most competitive industry in the country. The market of e-subscription is showing a great promise by showing growth rate which is very encouraging. The promotion of magazines in online industry is a very attractive task as one has to identify the target segment and then promote the e-subscription of magazines in the websites which are the most popular ones.

This will also require e-commerce understanding of a manger. To identify the potential of online subscriptions we have divided our sample space into students and non students. The result obtained from one of the surveys done by IRS demonstrated that IT professionals and bankers are one of the segments which has great potential for taking e-subscriptions as they are always in touch of the net and can access soft copy of a magazine very easily. The potential of e-subscriptions in India is huge as in the country the number of internet users is 60-70 million and 7. million broadband connections. The 3G technology is about to come to the country in some months and 440 million subscribers of mobile are also one of the positives as they are 40% of the total population of the country. The data that 16 million people accessed online articles about 40% more than earlier year is also positive finding for the magazine industry. Outlook Publishing house has no magazine in the top ten magazine list and it can capitalize on the online market and go for flank attack by dominating the market and then industry.

The magazine market in India is expected to grow at a sound 12 per cent in 2010-11. With a number of international magazines expanding operations in India, the market is expected to grow fast, in spite of the growth of online and social media. Business magazines are by far the most common and popular in India, followed by entertainment (Bollywood), current affairs, fashion and travel magazines. Some of the major players are The Times of India Group, Outlook Group, Dainik Jagran, Lok Satta, The Hindustan Times and The Hindu.

The main reasons for the sound growth are that a large part of the population is still not internet- and computer-savvy, the increasing literacy rate and the interest of foreign players in the sector. With the government opening up the sector to foreign investment, whereby international magazines can publish Indian editions in partnership with an Indian company and in compliance with the foreign investment norms, the industry is expected to grow further. Some of the hurdles which this industry might face can be the growth of the electronic-magazine culture and increasing internet usage.

This may indirectly also affect the print advertisement industry which largely thrives on magazines and newspapers for visibility Business magazine are aimed at readers at work or at least in support their professional life’s or business sector, occupation or profession. Content is usually based on industry news and features. The business model can include single copy sales, but is mainly based on subscriptions and advertising. some titles have only advertising revenue, and are sent to “qualified” readers(“controlled circulation” magazine). t the other extreme, some newsletter publishers have a subscription-only model and carry no advertising. Mostly business Magazine are written and edited by Professional journalists but may also include contributions from expert within the industry covered. Before 2005 Opportunities of FDI in print media market were limited by regulatory constraints to licensing arrangements after removal of these constraints there are still commercial issues which have to be considered by any foreign company entering the market. The most significant of these are:

Competition: This is a highly competitive market in which a well established set of domestic competitors already vie for supremacy with a huge range of products. Pricing: By any standards prices are low in India and the market is small in dollar terms. Market conditions in the past three years have seen further downward pressure. For most international publishing companies, it is going to be very challenging to structure a business in a way which can generate sufficiently large returns to look attractive in a global context.

Consolidation opportunity: There has so far been very little consolidation of business media of the type that was seen in the US and Europe and in the 1980s and 1990s. Most media companies are relatively small and poorly capitalized. The ‘giants’ such as Bennett, Coleman of the Times of India and, to a lesser extent, the Living India Group are exceptions. In non-news media in particular, there are clearly opportunities for foreign investors with a long-term perspective to build up a portfolio of titles in a larger company than currently exists.

Language: English is the language of business in India and that makes it more accessible in some respects than the other major markets in Asia, Japan and China. There are no additional translation costs and, in theory at least, communications between partners should be more direct than in markets where language is a constraining factor. Outlook Presence in Business Magazine Market Outlook Group publishes 3 business magazines namely: Outlook Business: Fortnightly magazine from outlook group is new way of business journalism in the magazine space.

Targeted at decision makers, the product focuses on important business issues and developments with a view to providing clear takeaways – impact and implications for decision-making. A holistic approach ensures all influences on business: economic, political, regulatory and market driven is examined. Views from the best in industry supplement strong analytical in-house features to ensure a fine balance of perspectives, insights and information. In keeping with the rapid unification of markets, Outlook Business incorporates a global perspective, which it sees as a vital input, in all its content.

Due recognition is also given to venture capital, hedge funds and private equity. This is only fair, since capital, a key driver of business, is footloose and fancy-free in this brave new global economic order. Outlook Money: In July 1998, the Group launched “Intelligent Investor” re-christened as “OUTLOOK MONEY” as of 30-Nov-2002, India’s first personal finance magazine which offers sound strategies for the lay investor, especially the growing segment of salaried middle and upper middle-class and self-employed professionals. Its message is clear and simple: ‘Invest well, borrow wisely, spend smartly’.

Evidently, that message has gone down well: the magazine sold upwards of 1,00,000 copies a fortnight within a year. One of its distinguishing characteristics is that about 93 per cent of readers retain all past issues of Outlook Money. Outlook Profit: OutLook Magazine is a fortnightly magazine that packs market intelligence & incisive analysis of the stock market, while capturing emerging trends & tracking market experts & their moves. This online magazine promises a unique data section that marks the markets packed with credible analysis. Chapter 2 . LITERATURE REVIEW

Before starting any research it is very necessary to read articles and other research papers that have been written on the subject in the past. These literatures help us in developing a strong base for our study and provide us with information that can be used during the research. It also helps in developing objectives for the study. Literatures used by researcher in this study are, 1. Consumer trend report by “Target cast TCM” This report gives information about change in consumer attitude, perception and usage of mass media (magazines, newspapers, radio and internet).

Its key findings include difference between men and women consumers, TV and internet as most important sources of media, present relevancy of newspapers and magazines. (TargetCast tcm, 2009) 2. “Indian Business magazine” an article on Indianbusinessmagazine. com. It tells us about how business magazines are important and how they are coming up in a big way. It also gives an example of Business India magazine and how this magazine established itself. (Indian Business Magazine) 3. “Are Newspapers and magazines dying”, an article by Don Dodge. This article was written on September 5, 2006.

It talks about the changing reading habits of people. It says that with time the popularity of newspapers and magazines has decreased. People are increasingly reading news online. He has given data to show the reduction in the subscriptions of magazines and newspapers over a period of time. It also states that most of the magazines and newspapers are online today as they do not want to lose their customers and their Ad value. (Dodge, 2006) 4. “Indian Readership Survey, 2009” This survey covers top 25(according to readership) newspapers and magazines in English, Hindi and several other languages.

It tells us about the growth or decline in the overall readership as well as of individual newspapers and magazines. Here all facts are supported by data, which is collected through survey. (IRS, Indian readership survey) 5. “Newspapers Outperforms Magazines” an article Newspaper National Network This article tells us why newspapers have outperformed magazines and what are pros and cons of magazines and newspapers. Every fact is supported by data. It can be very useful in determining where magazines lack and where can they improve to be at par with newspapers. (Network) 6. “Indian Readership survey 2008”

This is same as the survey of the 2009. The only difference is that it covers only top 10 magazines. If taken up along with IRS survey 2009, it gives us an insight into which magazines are consistently performing well. Identification of such magazines will tell us what different they are doing to be ahead all the time. (IRS, Indian readership survey) 7. “Six frequently asked questions about magazines” an article on atompublishing. com. These questions tell us a large number of things about customers reading magazines. It answers questions like how can a customer magazine help sales, how can it promote brand awareness etc.

These are very useful insights which can help us in knowing about customer perspective and attitude towards magazines. (Publishing) In print media industry there are two main sources of obtaining data to determine readership of any publication: 1. National Readership Survey – NRS 2. Indian Readership Survey – IRS National Readership Survey is a survey on all media, but especially the print medium, conducted by the National Readership Studies Council (NRSC) – supported by Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC), Advertising Agencies association of India (AAAI) & Indian Newspapers Society.

It investigates the readership of about 80 major Indian publications-dailies, weeklies, bi-weeklies and monthlies-in over 475 towns of 57 regions across the length and breadth of the country. The towns, selected, however are publication centers of dailies. By process of ‘systematic sampling,’ over 55,000 households in these towns are surveyed, the number of households in each town proportionate to it population. All men and womenfolk above the age 15 are questioned for about half an hour on the basis of a structured questionnaire.

It claimed to be the most thorough readership survey in the country. It provides exhaustive data (available to its clients on computer disks) readership, radio listenership profile’-the socio economic characteristics of the readers of various publications, of cinema and TV viewers, and of listeners to radio, as well as the degree of duplication among publications and between media. Research agencies involved are: IMRB, TNS Sofres Mode and AC Nielsen in collaboration with ORG. Indian Readership Survey is conducted by the Media Research Users Council (MRUC).

IRS 2002 is the largest continuous media survey ever conducted (sample size of 229,000 individuals) providing a single-source database for demographics, media habits and product / brand usage across 986 towns and 2858 villages in India. The survey was conducted over two rounds with the field work between November 2001 and November 2002. * This all-India survey conducted jointly with the Media Research Users’ Council (MRUC) also provides product / brand penetration information for over 50 different products allowing one to link media habits and product usage data for adults and children from the age of 12 years.

Both NRS & IRS *
• Gives media consumption habits, product ownership & consumption, lifestyle indicators information on macro demographic & geographic parameters. Population coverage: 12 years & above Sample size: over 200, 000 Geographic coverage: All India (Urban + Rural) According to NRS 2008,
• Press adds 34 million readers in the last 2 years.
• Press continues to grow, adding 21 million readers between 2002 and 2005.
• Over the last 3 years the number of readers of dailies and magazines put together among those aged 15 years and above has grown from 179 mn to 200 mn – a growth of 4% every year. Note: Recently the scope of NRS has been expanded to include those aged 12 years and above but the 15 years age cut-off has been applied for the sake of comparison with NRS 2002. )
• There is still significant scope for growth, as 314 million people who can read and understand any language do not read any publication. It is not just affordability that is a constraint, since 21 million of these literate non-readers belong to the upscale SEC A and B segments. According to IRS 2009, just when it seemed the print media was booming once again, the Indian Readership Survey 2009 Round 1 has pricked the bubble.

There are few newspapers or magazines that have seen any growth? Most have seen erosion in readership. Dainik Jagran retains its No 1 position among newspapers with 19. 07 million readers, Dainik Bhaskar follows second with 14. 57 million, and Daily Thanthi is third with a readership of 10. 23 million. Amar Ujala is still at four with 9. 89 million readers. Malayala Manorama (9. 35 million) and Hindustan (9. 72 million) have interchanged positions at number five and six. Lokmat, Eenadu, Mathrubhumi and Times of India take the seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth spots with 8. 0 million, 7. 94 million, 7. 65 million, and 7. 08 million readers, respectively. ToI is the only English daily to find a place in the top 10. Except for Amar Ujala and Hindustan, every other publication in the top ten lists has experienced a marginal decline in readership. For the IRS 2009 R1 an annual sample size of 2. 4 lakh was covered spread equally over two rounds. A total of 1,178 towns and 2,894 villages were surveyed. The data represents fieldwork during the full year Jan-Dec 2009. The mid-point of the survey is June 1, 2009.

Being a continuous survey, the reporting takes place every six months based on a Moving Annual Total. According to the survey, the number of households has grown by 1. 4 per cent over 2005 to reach 210 million. Individual growth rate has been slightly lower than household growth rate at 0. 85 taking the total 12 yrs + population to 784 million. With single age-breaks now available from the Census, the age group data has been realigned. The proportion of the total share of 20-29 age group has declined from 25 per cent to 23. 6 per cent.

The data shows that the reach of mass media has stagnated in the last three years. Press reach has been hovering around at 24 per cent, TV at 55 per cent, radio at 21 per cent, and Internet at 1. 5 per cent at the all India level. In urban India, press and TV have declined. The press reach declined from 42. 9 per cent in 2004 to 41. 7 per cent in 2006. Though TV declined from 80. 2 per cent to 78. 9 per cent in the last three years, C&S has shown some growth, from 53. 5 per cent in 2007 to 54. 4 per cent in 2010. The main source of revenue for any publishing group is advertising.

An advertiser would like to know the facts and figures before investing his money in advertising. And before investing the money, the advertiser ought to know how many people buy which publication in which area. The ABC gives all these vital facts every six months. The ABC figures are not the outcome of opinions, claims or guesswork, but they are the result of rigid, in-depth and impartial audits of paid circulations of member publications by independent and leading firms of Chartered Accountants working in accordance with the rules/procedures set by the Bureau.

Chapter 3: OBJECTIVES PRIMARY OBJECTIVES
• To conduct a market study for Outlook Business Magazine in Delhi-NCR.
• To assess the Consumer perspective of Business Magazine with respect to price, content and brand. SECONDARY OBJECTIVES
• Competitive analysis of outlook Busines Magazine and identification of probable destinations where Outlook business magazines can be targeted. (Generation of sales).
• To suggest feasible and viable strategies to increase the sales of outlook business magazines. Chapter 4 : RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The projected was executed in such a way that it is complete to the maximum extent covering all the aspects and thus arriving at a suitable conclusion to meet the objective of the project. Few recommendations were also suggested to the company, which can help the organization to grow further and penetrate faster into the new market while retaining their share in business market space. RESEARCH PLAN The research was started with a well laid research plan and weekly schedule. The research plan included the following important stages. 1) Data Sources 2) Research Approaches 3) Research Instruments ) Sampling Design Data Sources Primary Research: most of the data in this project was through primary research conducted in with existing/ potential customers. It was done completely through personal interviews, using a prepared questionnaire as a guide line and the form was filled later after summarizing the collected information. Secondary Research: Latest information available on internet about media and entertainment industry and Business magazines was also used apart from the data got through primary research, so as to have a good study of the business magazine market in the Delhi-NCR region.

Research Approaches Approaching Customers/Corporate Offices:
• Getting permission to meet concerned person in a corporate office would complete almost 50% of the job as it would give is the platform to know about their operations. Get the details of the persons as many as possible in the industry
• Spending maximum time in the field, so that to get information about the various print media media resources respondent is currently which helps us to find out their need so as to promote magazine according to their needs. t also helped me in finding a very strong probable cause due to which outlook magazines subscription customer retention is low distribution channel inefficiencies Also try to find out how the process of purchase takes place, which might be different for different departments. Closing the sale:
• This is very important for both the parties to build the relation and also for oneself as this give the motivation and adds more value to your work.
• To reach to this stage, one must be clear how much work need to be put in, which operates as a funnel like, if u want to reach or make x sales at least you need to meet 10x customers. The time in which this is to be achieve this should also be planned in the similar way. Research Instruments (Questionnaire Construction) The research instrument was both qualitative and quantitative and hence consisted of personal interviews, which were guided by self prepared Questionnaires. The questionnaire consisted of 21 questions. The questions were both open ended and closed ended. The closed ended questions were a diverse type consisting of single choices, multiple choices and likert scales. Sampling Design

The industries to be visited were based on their type of industry like ship building industry, steel plants and any other major industries. The target population in the research conducted was major industries (both manufacturing and services), auto dealers and hand tool dealers. The sample size in case of hand tools analysis was 52, 38 being industries and 14 being auto dealers and services. The sample for studying the dealers was chosen to be minimum 20, which should have the mixture of both types of dealers like the ones who do counter sales and the ones who don’t deal in counter sales.

The target market for the conducted research included industries, auto dealers and hand tool dealers. COLLECTION OF DATA AND ANALYSIS Various Pie-charts and bar-graphs are made to have an easy and quick understanding of the study conducted. Initially all the questionnaires were analyzed individually, and then finally an overall comparison of the various responses from all the dealers was done and analyzed. FINDINGS & RECOMMENDATIONS Finally, the various findings from the study were listed out along with certain invaluable recommendations for Outlook, to help them retain and tap the new market space.

COLLECTION OF DATA AND ANALYSIS Various Pie-charts and bar-graphs are made to have an easy and quick understanding of the study conducted. Initially all the questionnaires were analyzed individually, and then finally an overall comparison of the various responses from all the dealers was done and analyzed. FINDINGS & RECOMMENDATIONS Finally, the various findings from the study were listed out along with certain invaluable recommendations for OutLook, to help them and tap the new customers and retain the existing one. SCOPE OF STUDY

The study provided an insight into the Business magazine, expectations and attitude towards hand tools like spanners, pliers and screw drivers. And to find out what factors the customers seek in general, with regards hand tools . This study will help to find out the feedback of OutLook Business Magazine with regards to price, brand, quality, reliability, availability. Chapter 5 : DATA ANALYSIS Data analysis model is econometric model and was planned to be done with the statistical tool SPSS. The data was got mainly in the likert scale for this purpose.

The various tools and functions available on Excel were used for necessary calculations. Bar graphs and pie charts were generated to make the interpretation of the results. SPSS software was used for the purpose of factor analysis. PLAN OF DATA ANALYSIS The data analysis done as in the plan given below 1. Filtering of the questionnaire were done 2. The questionnaires were sorted into the respective groups. 3. Coding of the questions were done 4. All the data was entered into different excel sheets 5. This data was copied to the SPSS tool all the variable were explained 6.

The other questions related awareness, departments, ranking and current brand were analyzed using Microsoft Excel. 7. Results were tabulated and conclusion and recommendations were drawn. Chapter 6 : RESULTS AND INTERPRETATION Demographics of respondents |Gender | |[pic] |Male | | | | | 41 | | |79% | | | | | |Female | | | | | |10 | | |19% | | | | | |People may select more than one | | |checkbox, so percentages may add up| | |to more than 100%. | | |Age | | | |[pic] | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Occupation: | | | | | |[pic] | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Annual Income | |[pic] |Less than 3 lacs | | | | | |20 | | |38% | | | | | |3 – 5 lacs | | | | | |15 | | |29% | | | | | |5 -8 lacs | | | | | |9 | | |17% | | | | | |>8 lacs | | | | | 7 | | |13% | | | | | |People may select more than one checkbox, so | | |percentages may add up to more than 100%. | | | A good mix of different demographic segments is surveyed in order to maintain unbiased results for the survey. it is also necessary to achieve desired level of result accuracy with a given set of constraint(Time, small sample size, resource etc. ) | | | | |People awareness towards business magazine: | | | | | | | | | |[pic] | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | People may select more than one option, so percentages may add up to more than 100%.

From the above bar graph it can be interpreted that in survey’s sample space awareness level of Business Today is highest (87%) recognised whereas Outlook Business comes at second place with comparable awareness level. Whereas Outlook Money and Outlook Profit stood at 4th and 5th position. This support companies speculation about the lower sales figure of Outlook Money and Outlook Profit due to lack of awareness among target audience. Brand Rating of various Magazine: [pic] Among the magazines that analysed in the survey, Businees World brand mean rating in case of brand is the highest which