Arvind Kumar Choubey, Final Project On Idea 2

PROJECT on IMPROVING THE EFFICIENCY OF RETAIL CHANNEL FOR POSTPAID AT IDEA CELLULAR At Idea Cellular Ltd.
Mohan Cooperative, Mathura Road.
Submitted To Pune University Submitted By Prashant Jain PGDM 2008-10 SIOM Pune
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I take immense pleasure in completing this project and submitting the final project report. This project has been a platform in my learning about the adhesive market and gave the platform to acquire knowledge in this area. I am deeply indebted to my institution SIMCA, Pune to provide me an opportunity to undergo such a project, which gave me thorough insights and experience of the corporate culture that will always milestone in the path of my successful career. The last 2 month with IDEA Cellular Limited has been full of learning and sense of contribution toward the organization. I would like to thank IDEA Cellular Limited (postpaid) for giving me an opportunity of learning and contributing through this project. I also take this opportunity to thank all those people that made this experience a memorable one.
I also wish to express my thanks to Ms. Anshul Srivastava and Ms. Ruchika Khurana to help me in collecting the responses from the market and give me the practical knowledge about postpaid market.
A successful project can never be prepared by the single effort of the person to whom project is assigned, but it also demand the help and guardianship of some conversant person who helped the undersigned actively or passively in the completion of successful project.
In this context as a student of SIOM, Pune I would first of all like to express my gratitude to. Ms. Anshul Srivastava and Ms. Ruchika Khurana (Project Guide) for assigning me
Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd.
such a worthwhile topic IMPROVING THE EFFICIENCY OF RETAIL CHANNEL FOR POSTPAID AT IDEA CELLULAR to work upon in IDEA Cellular Limited The project couldnt have been completed without timely and vital help of other office staff. Special thanks to Dr. Denil Penkar and Ravi Kowadkr for there invaluable guidance, keen interest cooperation inspiration, and of course moral support through my project session.
Prashant Jain
CONTENTS
1. EXECUTIVE .4
SUMMARY.
2. INTRODUCTION... 7 3. METHODOLOGY .9 4. LITERATURE REVIEWED..11 5. EXPLORATORY STUDY-RETAIL CHANNEL POSTPAID18 6. QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS AND VALIDATION OF DATA... ... 23 a. INTENSITY 23 b. ROLE OF DEALER..34 c. WHAT DOES THE DEALER RECOMMEND37 d. WHY THE DEALER RECOMMENDS A CATEGORY.39 e. ANALYSING SALES FIGURES-POSTPAID.47 f. NETWORK PERFORMANCE.51 g. CUSTOMER CARE A FUNDAMENTAL OF SERVICE DELIVERY..54 h. EFFECT OF BRAND PULL.58 i. SALES VISIBILITY..60 j. DEALER SERVICE..63 k. BRAND RECOMMENDATION..70 l. REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATION.72 7. CONCLUSION 77 8. RECOMMENDATIONS..79 COUNTER OF DISTRIBUTION.
9. REFRENCES 82 10. APPENDIX. .83
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Retail seems to be the buzzword for the Telecom Companies, the reasons are many right from the legal threat to the alternative channels like Direct Sales to the zeal to make the product available to the potential user who is expected to be of comparatively lower SEC and largely includes first time users, all in all there exists a well defined logic for the newly found Retail Focus amongst the Telecom Companies. IDEA cellular wishes to strengthen the presence of its Postpaid Connections in the Retail Channel which currently contributes only 12% to 14% of the total sales of Postpaid, for this a comprehensive market research was conducted with the following objectives 1. To find out reasons and solution to address to lesser contribution to Postpaid Sales from the Retail Channel across the industry. 2. To compare IDEA with Airtel and Hutch with an objective of finding solution to match and exceed the performance of its retail channel over a period of time. Since the research project was allotted to a Management Summer Trainee there was a need for an exploratory study to understand the working of the Retail Channel and to identify the factors which need to be validated though a quantitative study to be carried out across nine regions in which postpaid market of Delhi Circle is divided with sample sizes adequate to fulfill minimum requirement for data of a particular region to be called Normal. Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd. 5
At the end of the study it was found out that retail was fundamentally different from the Direct Sales Channel as Customers visit the shop with an intent to buy there is considerably more information search at customers end which means most of them have some preferences even if they are not very clear, this highlights the relevance of Brand Pull which is an Area of weakness for IDEA, however the company has started working on the aspects of Service Delivery and Quality which is a fundamental of Brand Quality in Telecom, however this is a long term investment plan and the effects would be seen only in due course of time. It was found that for Postpaid intensity of the channel is selective as only around 60% of the retailers dealing in Mobile connections dealt in the Postpaid Variety, however only 29% of the Non-Telecom shops dealt in Postpaid which clearly implies that Telecom Shops present a larger potential for the Postpaid connections and hence defines the focus area, the logic to this lies in the fact that Postpaid is a much more complex product than Prepaid, and is a product that needs to be pushed as the demand for it is constantly decreasing. The product is very dynamic in nature the number of plans for individuals has gone up from 20 in 2004-05 to 150 in 2006-07, for Retail itself plans keep on changing tin order to meet the need of customization from the users, in such situation Dealer has to be supported by providing him solutions to explain the product to the customer, small cards indicating the key benefits and the customer segment addressed would provide logistical ease to the distributor and a solution to dealers problem of keeping plan update another alternative is to initiate a service called Dealer Helpline wherein dealer can immediately enquire Plan Details as and when a customer walks in . In such circumstances it becomes essential to maintain close knit relation with the dealer as he usually recommends a brand for which he remembers the Tariff Plans.
More number of dealers recommends Prepaid than do Postpaid despite of a greater commission in Postpaid. There are a few major reasons for this, which are as follows 1. Difficulty of updating product knowledge 2. Lack of Trust on Bill 3. Prepaid Customer keeps revisiting the shops. And acts as a potential for cross selling. There was an immense need to make the bill clear which can be very easily done by mentioning the plan details on the bill this will make it easy for the user to cross check the bill and will go on to improve trust levels on bill over a period of time, also it was found that customers face a problem locating payment center so it was found to be a good idea to indicate five nearest bill payment options in the users vicinity on the bill itself. Dealers were not motivated to sell Postpaid as their role ends as they close the sale while in Prepaid there is a long term relationship with customer as he keeps visiting the shop for recharge coupons and top-ups, and provides retailer long term earning and a potential for cross selling, therefore to solve this problem company is trying to implement a model where in dealers can be provided an option to activate and deactivate Add On packages, this is expected to work in two ways i.e. apart from solving the above mentioned problems this will highlight Flexibility as a USP of Postpaid and remove the tag of Product for High Usage group only. All in all it is a market that has only two major pillars Dealer Service and Fundamental Brand quality.
INTRODUCTION
IDEA cellular is the fourth operator amongst the GSM operators in the Delhi Market, and intends to focus on the retail market for the sales of Postpaid Connections, currently the major chunk of the sales comes from the corporate sales channel and the Direct Sales Channel which contribute around 30% and 55% of the sales respectively, while retail has been contributing a meager 12% to 14% of the total sales of Post paid connections. Retail is the upcoming trend in distribution of Telecom as researches show that new customers will come from the lower SECs and the potential customers are those who have not used mobiles or even telephones earlier Retail will be the best channel to penetrate to this user group and apart from this reason to create value of availability for potential user the legal threat hovering around the future of the Direct Sales Channel is also a cause of concern for the telecom companies which has facilitated the retail focus. Looking at it carefully there exist two key issues, primarily the retail channels contribution to the sales of Postpaid is 15% to 20% across the industry and specific to IDEA, its performance in retail is worse than the other two major players which constitute a strong competition in the market, Doing a comparative analysis Hutch the leader in retail reaps around 22% to 25% of the total Postpaid sales from this channel, whereas Airtel is at a comparatively lesser 18% to 20% of the total Postpaid Sales from retail.
The major reason for the poor results achieved from this channel is the complicated nature of the product which is highly dynamic and requires intense information flow across the channel, consumers expectation from the dealer is that of Full Service1 wherein they expect the dealer to assist in both Comparison and Selection, in such a situation dealer needs expertise on the product which is tough to achieve considering its highly dynamic nature, in such a situation it is very important to maintain strongly knit relationship to continuously assess the need of the retailer and give him support as and when required. Another important issue is that Ideas performance is significantly lesser compared to Airtel and Hutch, which is a major cause of concern. Fundamentally, the retail channel is different from the direct sales channel as one it is a channel shared by all the brands which gives the retailer options and makes him powerful which increase the retailers expectations for service from the operator on the other hand because a customer buying from retail is expected to have done more information search as compared to a customer targeted through Direct Sales who may or may not have planned to purchase a connection and hence there exist more chances that the customer coming to retail shop would have developed a preference based on the information collected through various sources, this we call as Brand Pull which in Delhi Market and specially for Postpaid is the least for IDEA when compared to Airtel and Hutch. This can be due to various reasons but Service Delivery and Quality seems to be the most dominant as according to a research by TNS Mode for Ideas Womens Card 73% of the potential buyers source there information from Family and friends who are currently using a particular service.
COMPANY PROFILE
Idea Cellular MISSION:
Innovate. Stimulate. Liberate. Through Continuous innovation, Idea Cellular seeks to liberate customers from the shackles of time and space. IDENTITY: Idea Cellular antecedents dates back to 1995, when the Aditya Birla Group and AT&T (through Birla AT&T Communications Maharashtra & Gujarat circle) and the Tata Group (through Tata Cellular - Andhra Pradesh circle) set up cellular networks. Both the above companies were amongst the first in India to commercially start operation in circles other than metros and achieve financial closure in Indian Telecom industry. In the year 2000, the historic path-breaking merger of Tata Cellular with Birla AT&T Communications and the subsequent acquisition of RPG Cellular - (Madhya Pradesh circle) in the year 2001 helped the company to aim even further and led to the formation of Birla Tata AT&T Limited. In year 2001, company won fourth cellular license for Delhi circle and in year 2002 company introduced common brand !DEA and changed the name to IDEA Cellular Limited. Since then, there has been no looking back for IDEA Cellular. The company launched Delhi operations in year 2002 and added a record 100,000 subscriber within one month of launch. In 2003, the company achieved the largest financial closure in Indian Telecom for its entire circle. In 2004, the company entered into definitive agreement to acquire Escotel Mobile Communications (existing operator in Haryana, Kerala and UP (W)) and Escorts Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd. 10
Telecommunications (cellular licensee holder for UP (e), Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan) In 2005, the share of AT&T was bought by Aditya Birla Group which raised the groups total stake to 53%. This lead to some corporate issues between the two stakeholders Tata Group and Birla Group which has recently been culminated in Birlas buying out the stake of Tatas and hence, have become sole owners of Idea. Idea is one of the leading cellular operators in the country, with a subscriber base of over 8 million. This makes it the fourth largest GSM operators after Airtel, Hutch and BSNL. Idea controls a portfolio of India's most attractive and mainly contiguous properties including the 11 states of Maharashtra (excluding Mumbai), Goa, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh (West), Uttaranchal, Haryana, Kerala and Delhi (inclusive of NCR). Having operations in four of the five largest cellular circles in India, Idea is the market leader in the Maharashtra and Goa; Uttar Pradesh (West) and Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh circles in terms of number of subscribers. Idea's Delhi circle is also the fastest-growing fourth operator in the country, which is an achievement in itself and showcases customer confidence of a high degree. Idea covers over 3,660 small and major towns and villages along with a total highway connectivity of over 6,000 km. There are over 380 'Idea n' U' outlets and Idea shops and a network of over 44,000 retailers and dealers across the country. Thanks to the frontline technology from Nokia, Ericsson, Alcatel and SchlumbergerSema among others at its command, the company can offer its customers extensive coverage, quality service and minimal congestion levels. The company is the fastest growing GSM operator in its area of operation. The growth rate in the last six months has been 85 per cent as against 84 per cent of all operators in the same area of operation. Idea offers roaming across 560 operators in India and across the world. With a clear focus on providing unique, distinct innovative and tremendously valuable services to the subscribers, Idea embarked upon an initiative to set up a VAS (value-added services) factory within the company, which conceptualizes and provides tailor-made value-added services. Idea was the first and only company to bring the concept of Cellular Jockey to all its subscribers. Idea also launched Global SMS for the first time in the country, which
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allows the users to send and receive SMS from over 540 networks and 170 countries across technology platforms like GSM, CDMA, TDMA and satellite phones.
CORE BELIEFS: The company continuously harnesses the power of wireless revolution to provide worldclass products and services. It aims at responding to customer needs proactively by anticipating requirements and providing ready solutions. Idea Cellular draws inspiration from the loyalty of its subscribers to keep raising the bar, to shape the future, and to change and enrich the life of each and every member of its ever-growing family of subscribers. AWARDS: Idea, owing to its innovation, excellent customer focus and superior quality of service has been endorsed by various awards and recognitions. Some of them are as follows: Golden Peacock Innovative Product / Service award in the communication sector from the government of India for implementation of the M-coupon product in the Delhi circle in 2003. Madhya Pradesh circle was rated number one operator twice in two consecutive surveys of Quality of Service (QoS) conducted by TRAI in August 2002 and March 2003. Idea Cellular Limited was chosen as winner of the 'Indira Award for Marketing Excellence' for being the highest recalled brand in 2003. Idea was ranked Second in overall user satisfaction by the Voice & Data - IDC Mobile User's Satisfaction Survey, consistently for two years, 2003 and 2004, which was based on parameters like network availability and performance, customer care, value added services, pre-sales and sales effort and billing.
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IDEA, was rated as BEST in call quality and connectivity in Delh among all mobile operators as per TRAI Report (July '04 - September 04). IDEA Cellular was rated No. 1 in all metros in mobile user satisfaction survey by Voice & Data Magazine (Issue - December '04).
SERVICES: Idea offers a wide range of cellular services and products. Its post-paid and pre-paid services are supported by a variety of package plans to suit the needs of different customers: M-coupon these are electronic discount coupons that customers can get on their mobiles which they can use is places such as restaurants and pubs. Voice courier Idea subscribers can send messages in their own voice to select GSM subscribers all across the country and to any land line or cellular subscriber in the US and Canada at a fraction of STD and ISD rates. M-Chat an instant-messaging service that enables subscribers to chat with their friends in MSN, Yahoo and ICQ from Idea mobile (using the SMS feature). Idea's Mchat enables subscribers to chat with all the three chat rooms, MSN, Yahoo and ISQ, without having to tag along a laptop or computer with net connection. SMS in 9 Indian languages Apart from English Idea subscribers can send and receive SMS in 9 Indian languages - Hindi, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Punjabi. GPRS / MMS Idea Delhi was the first mobile phone operator to launch GPRS services in Delhi. It's 3G-compatible network supports General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), which allows subscribers to access Internet websites and information portals on Idea mobile. Idea was the first company in the country to launch GPRS in November 2002. It showcased EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution) in Delhi, in July 2004. With EDGE, subscribers can enjoy live television with a data download rate of over 160 kbps. Idea subscribers also have a richer experience while watching movie previews, multimedia messages with video attachments, web-infotainment, high-speed video
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downloads, java game downloads and other Internet-based multi-media experiences on their EDGE-enabled mobile phones. Customer Service and Innovation are the drivers of this Cellular Brand. With GPRS currently available on all its networks, for both pre and post paid customers, IDEA Cellular is the first company to commercially launch next generation EDGE technology (a 3G technology) for its Delhi circle. Ring-Tone With this facility subscribers can download ring tones on their handsets. They just have to select the Ring-Tone out of the available ones and it will be sent to them. Idea also offers the facility of sending the Ring-Tone as a gift to a friend of yours. Cricket commentary Idea also provides the facility of cricket commentary to its customers. Now you dont require a TV set or a radio to listen to the commentary, you just need a handset and an idea card and you listen to the cricket commentary. Caller-Tunes- Idea provides its customers the access of this facility and let the caller listen to the exciting songs instead of the boring tring-tring. Railway Reservation- The subscribers of Idea can make ticket reservation and other enquiries related to railways by just dialing 456. Star interview- By dialing 456 one can listen to the interviews of various movie stars on his/her mobile phone. News- Idea subscribers can keep themselves updated with the recent developments going around the world using this service. Jokes- Subscribers listen to funny jokes by just dialing 456. This service can also be used to send jokes to friends and relatives. Astrology- IDEA also recently launched Ganesha Speaks by Bejan Daruwalla, a LIVE astrology service that can be accessed by dialing 181. Commodity market- Idea subscribers can keep themselves updated with the prices prevailing in the commodity market by just dialing 456. As a leader in Value Added Services, Innovation is central to Ideas VAS Factory. It is the first cellular company to launch music messaging with Cellular Jockey, Global SMS in over 540 networks across all technology platforms, a voice portal with Say
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IDEA. A frontrunner in introducing revolutionary tariff plans, offering maximum savings to its customers, IDEA Cellular has the distinction of offering the most customer friendly and competitive Pre Paid offerings, for the first time in India, with Eco Talk, Flexi-charge and other segmented offerings. The most recent offering - Lifetime Idea is the first and only loyalty program, for pre paid customers, introduced by a Cellular brand and Pay Easy which is bill payment through the effective use of the pre-paid channel. IDEA is the only operator in the world to launch this service. Idea has many milestones to its credit, mainly scoring the highest percentage in Metros and Circle B & C in Customer Satisfaction and the highest percentage in Value Added Service and Overall Sales satisfaction as per the Voice and Data - Customer Satisfaction Survey in December 04. The largest M&A deal in India INC, through its acquisition of Escotel in 2004 and its Rs. 5000 crore financial closure, both being largest ever in the history of Indian Telecom. In the last TRAI report on Quality of Service for Jan-March 05 quarter, Idea has the lowest network faults per 100 subscribers and lowest Call Drops among all GSM operators in Delhi. Idea is busy expanding its network capacities rapidly. With the recent commissioning of its 3rd switch facility, Idea can now support 18 lakh subscribers. To provide uninterrupted connectivity to its 7-lakh subscribers, Idea is expanding its base stations and plans to set up additional 80 base stations in the next 3 months. To facilitate uninterrupted access to its call center, Idea plans to set up a state of the art call center with a capacity of 300 seats, which would equip Idea to effectively handle the increasing number of calls from existing and prospective subscribers
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OBJECTIVE
1. To find out reasons and solution to the lesser contribution from the Retail Channel across the industry.
2. To compare IDEA with Airtel and Hutch with an objective of finding solution to match and exceed the contribution of retail to the sales of Postpaid for the competition over time.
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METHODOLOGY
Methodology followed in this research was two phased research design.
Phase 1: Exploratory study to find out various factors that determine efficient
functioning of Retail Channel. Key Members of the Retail Channel were met. Tool of Research: In-Depth Interviews Members of the Channel interviewed: 1. Area Sales Managers There are five ASMs for dealer sales handling different zones, all of them were meat to know different markets of Delhi and NCR. 2. Distributors - One distributor from each region was meat to understand the scenario in region controlled by him and generalized factors of Dealer Sales. 3. Dealers Four Dealers under each of the Distributor was visited to identify issues of Relationship and Conflict management in the channel and identify why and why not a dealer sells a particular category and a Brand within the category.
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Phase 2: Descriptive Quantitative study to validate the relevance of the factors

identified in qualitative study to the performance of the Retail Channel. Tool of Research: A detailed Questionnaire developed considering the findings of the Qualitative study. Sampling Design: Area Clustering as fundamentals of the Telecom Market change along with Geographical Region and even Dealer Service levels may change from one Market Area to another.
Sampling Plan: One Distributor was Randomly Selected in each of the nine regions across Delhi and NCR. Various Markets were identified in the area controlled by the Distributor. Dealers were selected as per their visible prominence from each of the markets and number of dealers selected was decided as per the Dealer Population of the Market. Total 30 Dealers were got to fill the Questionnaire in a Particular region
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EXPLORATORY STUDY RETAIL CHANNEL OF POSTPAID The objective of exploratory study was to understand the model of operation of retail channel and there by identify key factors which can be further validated through a quantitative study, this qualitative study will therefore form the base while formulation of questionnaire for the extensive quantitative study.
1. The Factors that could be identified through the interviews with the Area Sales Managers. Players in the market are trying to increase the penetration of sales and customer service through exclusive outlets, while IDEA has been slow in adopting the concept. Hutch has 28 exclusives in East Delhi, while IDEA has 2 Hutch has 43 exclusives while IDEA has 3.
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IDEA has just recently come up with the concept of IDEA ZONE that is an IDEA Exclusive for Sales, Collection and Customer Care.
Commission and regular contact are hygiene factors, which are just the bare minimum that the dealer deserves.
Dealer Helpline can help us differentiate in terms of Dealer Service Dealer Helpline becomes all the more important considering, IDEA is following Push Strategy. Weaker Postpaid infrastructure In North Delhi Hutch has 800 Drop Boxes while IDEA has 32 Lack of Commitment and ownership of Dealer sales on the end of the SEFO (Senior Executive Franchise Officer) leading to delayed activations and there by dissatisfied dealers. Customer Care availability and product knowledge of the customer care executives. Timelines for activation of services like VAS.
2. Factors Identified after Interviewing the Distributors Customer Care is a major issue. Ill-Effects the walk in Sales by affecting the Showroom Ambience.
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Creates Post- Purchase Dissonance. POP support to the dealers Timely supply (to efficiently utilize the strength of a plan) Quantity, considering the market scenario reduces the shelf life of posters to less than a day. 3. Factors Identified after Interviewing the Dealers Lack of Brand Pull (most dealers said customer nai mangta to hum kya kar sakte hain) Fundamental Problems- Network (partly a perception) and Customer Care (Quantitatively improving quality still an issue) Customer Care can go a long way in creating a pull as there will be positive word of mouth through the existing customer. Dealer Perception is a much more critical factor. Dealer perceives risk in selling IDEA (N/W and CC) He anyways is not too keen to sell postpaid (less difference in terms of commission) POP for dealer is a solution, helps him explain the schemes to customer Dealer is largely not concerned with posters He mainly wants material which can help him to explain schemes to the customer, this is one of the factors which gives Airtel and Hutch an edge)
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Dealer service is the most critical issue for the dealer In most markets visited it was good and the dealers were happy, however said that Either Customer Care is not available or the commitment made by the Customer Care Executives is imprudent
Brand Shops: It is very good, as a concept however requires neighborhood marketing. Dealers were largely found to be comfortable with the plans and offerings, however did seek POP support. Location is very critical as viewing from a perspective of Postpaid sales, location of Brand Shop is critical (as some markets do not support Postpaid sales) Our Customer Care and all public sources like the website should highlight the Brand Shops
Most Critical Factors Identified can be listed as: 1. Weaker Brand Pull 2. Network Problems and Customer Perception related to this. 3. Exclusive Outlets - Penetration 4. Dealer Service-An opportunity to differentiate through facilities like Dealer Helpline 5. POP - Timely Delivery that is delivery at a time at which plan can be effectively utilized
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6. POP - Quantity - Considering the fact that life cycle of posters is less than a day). 7. POP as a source of providing solution to the Dealer 8. Customer Care - an opportunity to improve fundamental Brand Quality 9. Retailer Perception - relating to network and Customer Care.
QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS AND VALIDATION OF DATA INTENSITY OF DISTRIBUTION We now look at various existing scenarios in the Retail Channel with an objective of finding out a solution to improve the efficiency of the channel and thereby, increase its contribution to the total pie of sales of postpaid connections The first question that comes to the mind is who are the dealers and is every shop dealing in mobile connections will also be dealing in the post paid variety; the following analysis will give an answer
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Overall scenario in Delhi
40%
60%
Dont deal in P ostpaid
Deal in P ostpaid
Figure 1 Postpaid as a product is thinly spread as compared to prepaid as visible from the fact that only 60% of the dealers who deal in telecom connections deal in the Postpaid variety, this generates a need for identifying the potential dealers for a focused retail expansion plan. The following analysis is an indicative of the scenario in both telecom and non telecom shops for postpaid connections.
Scenario in Non telecom shops
29%
71%
Dont deal in Postpaid
Deal in Postpaid
Figure 2
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S ena in telec m shops c rio o
3% 4
6% 6
D n d a in P stp id o t e l o a
D a in P stp id el o a
Figure 3 We get a clear indication that the Telecom Shops present a much better potential for Postpaid Connection as a product, we will understand the reasons for this as we go through this analysis as there are many more comparisons of performance of Telecom and Non-Telecom shops.
Another important aspect we need to know is about the reasons, why postpaid is comparatively thinner in its presence in the market compared to prepaid; we get a few answers when we look at the reasons for which the dealers were not dealing in postpaid.
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Unaided recalls, reasons for not dealing in postpaid

60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Lack of demand Prepaid sells from exclusives Distributor contact Lack of trust on billing 15% 8% 15% 13% 24% 35% 56% 37%
Figure 4 The top three reasons which the dealers recalled without prompting were: 1. Lack of Demand - 56% of the dealers mentioned this as a reason for not dealing in postpaid. 2. Lack of Trust on Billing 35% of the dealers mentioned this as a reason for not dealing in postpaid. 3. To keep update of plan is tough 37% of the dealers for not dealing in postpaid. Lack of Demand means that the particular dealer does not have the clientele for postpaid or if we link it up with the other two reasons it may also be the case where because of poor product knowledge he does not want to create customers for postpaid or because of threat of imprudent bill he does not want to sell the postpaid connections. Telecom market is a sort of market where the role of the distribution channel is extremely significant not only for availability but also for spread of information and various
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messages which may lead to variations across the different regions of Delhi and NCR as different distributors handle Dealer Sales in different zones.
Table 1 (CPV is the process of verification which is to check if the details furnished by the customer at the time of applying for a postpaid connection are genuine done with the intention of ascertaining the customer identity and payment security) This regional analysis will help in understanding the performance of the existing Distribution channel in terms of expanding the market, by convincing more dealers to deal in postpaid the dominant factors may vary across the nine regions, this is of critical importance for determining the focus of effort in a particular region Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd. 27
NORTH DELHI: CPV problem and the difficulty of updating the product knowledge were the reasons recalled by maximum number of dealers in North Delhi. Lack of Demand is not very significant in this region which is a deviation from the overall trend. CPV problem is a much bigger concern for the Dealers in this region, as a significantly larger percentage of the dealers recalled this as a reason for not dealing in postpaid. WEST DELHI: In this region the problem of Updating Plan Knowledge is Very Significant. Lack of demand is not the top reason for not dealing in postpaid but it is still a significant concern as 50% of the dealers said this while the average percentage across Delhi and NCR is 56% Schemes like Lifetime are also much more significant in this region as a much higher 29% of the dealers mentioned this as a reason to avoid postpaid while average percentage across Delhi and NCR is only 8%. CENTRAL DELHI: Lack of Demand was mentioned by 66% Dealers in this region which is inline with the overall scenario. Belief that Postpaid sells through Exclusives is quite significant in this region. Lack of Trust n Bill and Updation of Product Knowledge are not as significant in this region which is a deviation from overall averages. EAST DELHI Lack of Trust on Bill the reason mentioned by the maximum 75% Dealers while overall average stands at 35%.
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Lack of Demand is not the reason recalled by maximum percentage of the dealers as is the case as reflected in the overall averages; however it is still very strong for consideration as 62% of the dealers mentioned it. 37% of the dealers said they do not deal in Postpaid as they are better sold through Exclusive Outlets which is significantly higher than the overall recall of 15% for the factor. SOUTH DELHI: Lack of Demand is the reason recalled by a maximum of 50% dealers in line with the overall trend. Schemes like lifetime was recalled by 29% of Dealers in this region compared to 8% across Delhi and NCR. GURGAON: A maximum of 60% dealers said that they do not deal in postpaid because of lack of demand which is inline with the overall averages. No serious deviations were found in the region. FARIDABAD: Lack of Demand was the reason identified by a maximum of 50% of the dealers as identified as a reason for there decision of not dealing in postpaid , however CPV Problem and the believe that postpaid takes ore time for activation in comparison to prepaid were equally dominant in this region GHAZIABAD: Lack of Demand is the reason that 75% of the dealers recalled for not dealing on postpaid which is the maximum. The concern of Lack of Trust on Bill is significantly higher in this region compared to the overall scenario as a huge 63% of the dealers said that they do not deal in postpaid because of the reason. Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd. 29
NOIDA: Lack of demand is the reason stated by maximum number of dealers 29% of dealers did not deal in postpaid as they said that it sells from exclusive counters which are significantly higher than overall 15%. To dig further into the dealers mind the dealer was asked to rate the significance of a particular factor to his decision of not dealing in postpaid on a scale of 1 to 5 1 Not at all important 2 Very little significance 3 Neutral 4 Important 5 Very Important
F a c t o r s a s r a t e d in t h e ir im p o r t a n c e b y t h
4 3 2 1 0 3 .7 3 .5 9 3 .3 1 3 .13 2 .9 6 2 .2 9
1.7 1
1.5 1
L a c k o f d e C oa nn tdi n o u s r o f c o t m kp el as i tn i tms e F t eo a sre ol lf C P M o r e M o n e t a r y l G c k n o nf oc t o n t a m Fea a V aai P roduc t P o s t p a i de x t r a e f f oD r i ts t r i b u t o r
f o r p o s t p a ipd d a t i o lni ko ef w r o n g bp iol lsi tn pg a i d n e g a t i vd eo c u m e n P ar to i p o ri tn i o wn iat lh t p o s t p a i d u t on o
R a t e d Im p o r t a n c e
Figure 5 Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd. 30
It was found through aided testing that the four major reasons for which the dealers were not dealing in postpaid in the descending order of there significance were, as follows 1. Lack of demand for postpaid 2. Problem of updating with continuously changing plans. 3. Fear of complaints like wrong billing 4. Takes time to sell postpaid The revelation made through the aided testing was that although none of the dealers mentioned that it takes time to sell postpaid is a reason why he does not deal in the product however it was found significant when dealer was prompted.
Table 2
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Highlights of the regional analysis for the ratings given to the factors (for not dealing in postpaid) across the nine regions. 1. The Results of factor rating are largely in line with the Results for Unaided Questions 2. Fear of CPV negative is a concern in North and Faridabad 3. Lack of proper documents amongst customers is significantly more important in North Delhi as the belt covered is a one dominated by students (Area near Delhi University) 4. Problem of updating with continuously changing plans is very important in West Delhi as indicated by a healthy rating of 4.5 on a 5 point scale.
Fa c t o r R a t in g s T e le c o m V s N o n T e le c o m 5 4 3 2 1 0 3 .73 .7 9 3 .9 3 .4 5 2 3 .3 3 .3 1 3 3 .43 .0 2
2 .9 2 .9 7 6
2 .2 8 .3 2
1 .6 1 .7 2 8
1 .6 1 .4 5 4
takes time to sell postpaid
updating to everchangi ng plans
complaints like wrong billing
N o n - te le c o m le c o m te
Figure 6 Comparison of Telecom and Non-Telecom shops on the rated importance of the above indicated factors highlighted the following key points
more documentat ion in postpaid
Gain not proportiona l to effort
Lack of demand for postpaid
lack of contact with distributor

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fear of CPV negative
Problem of Continuous Updation of Product was rated significantly higher in Non- Telecom Shops; this is because Telecom is not their main business. The Non-Telecom shops are significantly more concerned about time it takes to Sell Postpaid, again that is because it takes time out of their main business
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ROLE OF THE DEALERS IN POSTPAID MARKET
Do custom ers know if they w ant prepaid or postpaid
33%
67%
% do not know w hat they w ant% know w hat they w ant

Figure 7
33% of the customers can be easily oriented to purchase postpaid connections.
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Category recommended by the dealers
22%
53% 25%
Based on usage
Postpaid
prepaid
Figure 8
25% of dealers recommend postpaid (figure 6) 12% of customers demand postpaid. Still Postpaid Constitutes 20% of sales through Dealer Counters. This implies that postpaid as a product requires consultation, which the dealers provide Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd. 35
Another statistic that proves this is that a good 22% of the dealers across Delhi and NCR say that they analyze the usage of the customer before recommending a plan. This Implies that dealers are playing the role of Advisors, it will not be wrong to say that dealers are becoming consultants This further enhances the role of providing better information support to the dealers and it will be beneficial to provide visual presentation material (like planners and plan detailers).
36
WHAT DOES THE DEALER RECOMMEND PREPAID OR POSTPAID Considering the fact postpaid is a product which requires push and customers generally do not come with a determined intention to buy postpaid, dealers recommendation becomes very significant in figure 6 we observed that only 25% of the dealers across Delhi and NCR recommend postpaid lets analyze the dealers recommendations in detail
w ha t do the de a le rs re c om m e nd
100.00% 80.00% 60.00% 36.36% 26.67%
66.67% 63.64%66.67% 71.43% 54.55% 42.11% 40.00% 54.55% 54.55%53.33% 20.00% 18.18%13.33% 9.09% 25% 14.29%21.05% 18.18% 0.00% North W es t Central Eas t South Gurgon Fbad Gbad Noida Pos tpaid Prepaid
Figure 9 Highlights An exceptionally high percentage of Dealers recommend Postpaid in Ghaziabad and Faridabad (greater than 50% at both the places which is a huge deviation from overall 25% overall) An exceptionally low 9% and 13% of the dealers in Central Delhi and West Delhi respectively recommend postpaid this is way below the overall mean percentage of dealers recommending postpaid.
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In Delhi East Delhi was the most open to the idea of postpaid as visible from figure 7. A good 25% dealers recommend postpaid. Doing further analysis on this there exist a comparison between Delhi and NCR market which is visible from figure 8.
Com parison betw een Delhi & NCR, Category Recomm ended by the dealers
100 39.29 50 35.71 0 NCR Delhi Postpaid Prepaid 64.86 16.22
Figure 10 It is clear from figure 8 that NCR market is more favorable to postpaid than the Delhi Market as we go further we will be able to relate it to the sales of postpaid in the respective markets, and also the reasons for this wide gap will flow in from various analyses.
WHY IS THE DEALER RECOMMENDING A PARTICULAR CATEGORY? Now having understood what the dealers are recommending in this market lets try to understand why the dealers are generally recommending prepaid over postpaid, figure 6
38
clearly indicates that a huge 53% of the dealers across Delhi and NCR compared to 23% who recommended postpaid
recalled reasons for recommending postpaid

70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 65% 41% 30% 27% 24% 23% 21%
Lack of Trust Keeping customer w ill bill update w ith have control plans is on Usage tough
Quick activation
Problem of CPV
Postpaid Local usage takes time to sell
Top of mind recall
Figure 11 The top three reasons for recommending prepaid over postpaid as recalled by the dealers across Delhi and NCR are 1. Lack of trust in bill 2. Keeping update of ever changing plans is tough 3. Control on usage in prepaid. The strange thing that comes out of this is that the top two of the top three reasons for recommending prepaid indicate problems of promoting postpaid more than intent to push prepaid the main reason for this is the fact that postpaid is a more lucrative product to sell in terms of monetary benefits and also the fact that prepaid will anyways sell and does not need much of a push from the dealers side.
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Region wise Analysis reasons for recommending prepaid
Table 3 Largely the trends are in line with the overall averages but there are a few deviations which give an opportunity to make a targeted action plan to resolve the core issue in a particular region.
Highlights:
40
Lack of trust on bill is a reason across the regions. Keeping update of plan knowledge is a major reason in west In East Delhi and Faridabad prepaid is having a differential advantage as postpaid takes time for activation. This is a result to a question where the dealer was aided with the ten factors identified through an exploratory study of the industry, the results were as follows
Factor rating for recommending prepaid 5 4 3 2 1 0 3.89
3.63
3.3
3.24
3.17
2.81
2.69
2.41
2.1
1.59
CPV problem
Involves Lesser Documentation
Return on time Invested
Control on usage
long term customer
Better schemes
Factor rating for recommending prepaid
The dealers never mentioned that the prepaid customers keep visiting the shop for recharge as a reason for which they recommended prepaid but when prompted they rated the factor that selling prepaid gives them a long term customer who is a potential candidate for cross selling it was found to be the second most important after the need of control on usage.
lesser time for activation
Lesser time and effort to sel
Figure 12
risk of billing complaints
41
No link with Postpaid
The point is that most of the dealers also deal in mobile phones and a general psychology is that customers tend to revisit the same shop for recharge where they bought connection from1 and thereby dealer has an opportunity to cross sell mobile phones or accessories to these very customers
Reasons recalled for recommending postpaid 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% High usage customer Better commission Easy to use 50% 33% 23% 11% 34%
69%
Flexible (packages)
Better call rates
STD usage
Reasons recalled for recommending postpaid
Figure 13 Highlights Better Commissions is a Reason for most who recommend Postpaid. Despite various low rental plans still postpaid is a product for higher usage customers for Dealer. Only 11% Customers preferred postpaid for Flexibility, which actually is a major benefit of the Product. Dealers believe that postpaid may help cutting down cost for customers having excessive STD usage.
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factor rating, recommending postpaid 4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 4.14 4.05 3.21
High usage Customer
Better Comission
Better Call rates
more flexibility
factor rating, recommending postpaid
Figure 14 The rating of the factors identified as relevant indicated that there is a belief that the call rates of postpaid are not matched by prepaid, however the key reason for recommending postpaid is to earn better commission however dealer does ascertain that a customer is a high usage one which restricts the user group.
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ANALYZING THE SALES FIGURES DETAILED CROSS SECTION
Average sales of postpaid from a particular counter across Delhi & NCR
20 15 10 5 0 1 Sales across Delhi & NCR

Figure 15 Hutch is the leader with mean sales of 7.35 connections a month from a dealer dealing in postpaid across Delhi and NCR. The configuration of sales in a particular region is greatly influenced by the performance of the distributor in that region so there is a need to analyze the situation in each of the region to gauge the relative strength of a particular brand in a particular region
5.64 7.35 4.57 Airtel Hutch Idea
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configuration of sales figures across the nine regions

35 30 25 20 4.67 15 10 5 0 1.91 3.26 1.36 North 5.8 West 8.73 8.57 2.1 5 2.9 Central 4.08 East AIRTEL 9.92 5.36 7.64 7.26 3.82 Fbad Gbad 13.4 7.79 4.09 8.55 4.75 4.93 10.2 4.18
8.87
5.58
4 Noida
South HUTCH
Gurgon IDEA
Figure 16 Highlights Hutch is the Leader in dealer sales across the regions except for Ghaziabad In North, East, Faridabad, Noida IDEA leads Airtel in Dealer Sales. The margin of lead is very insignificant and indicates only a scope to get 2nd position amongst GSM Players (excluding MTNL) Airtel is Stronger in South Delhi, Faridabad and Ghaziabad. Airtel is much stronger in NCR which will become clear in the following construct
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Monthly Sales of Postpaid Connections Delhi vs. NCR
Table 4 We find here that both Airtel and IDEA are performing much better in NCR than in Delhi, however Hutch has maintained the position of leader through consistency, another problem specially with IDEA is that it seems to be thinly spread across Delhi which is indicated by a dismal median sales value of zero connections across Delhi while the mean number of connections sold per month is 3.55.
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NETWORK PERFORMANCE Network Performance is an essential pillar of service delivery and quality it is one of the main elements of Brand Quality and this research shows that criticality of Network Performance to sales is still at a handsome 7.77 on a scale of ten where 1 means not at all important and 10 means absolutely critical. This implies even when the telecom industry has grown in leaps and bounds and focus is continuously shifting towards Value Added Services basic Network Quality is still a point of differentiation amongst the players. We will now analyze the feedback of dealers across Delhi and NCR on the Network Quality of the GSM Brands (Excluding MTNL)
Network Perfomance across delhi and NCR

5 4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 4.48 4.29 3.48
1 Network quality of airtl in the area network quality of hutch network quality of idea
Figure 17
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The network quality was formulated on a Likert Scale and feedback was taken from the dealers, Airtels network was rated as the strongest and close to Ubiquitous Network category (4.48), Hutch is a strong and widely available network (4.28) while IDEA was considered to be the weakest network due to the problem of weak signal in basements and congested areas (3.48). Airtel has a differential edge in terms of the confidence expressed on its Network Quality by the dealers across Delhi and NCR.
Region wise network performance

6 5 4 3 2 1 0 North West Central East AIRTEL South HUTCH Gurgon IDEA Fbad Gbad Noida
Figure 18 It is clear that Airtel is the clear and consistent leader in terms of Network Quality and maintains its superior Network Tag across the nine regions; Hutch is a close second in most areas and is a marginal leader in East Delhi, however, in terms of Network Quality Ideas performance is rated as the poorest amongst the three. Telecom is a major element of a countrys infrastructure and as the economy is not only growing and widening, so are the business, the impact of this on the industry is that more and more people demand better services in Roaming. Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd.
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The support of the point can be made through a statistic which states that on an average 56% of the customers are inquisitive about the quality of service outside Delhi and NCR. This in a ways implies a huge advantage to Airtel for its Pan India Presence and at the same time it acts as a disadvantage for IDEA which operates in only 8 circles performance of network in roaming
5 4 3 2 1 0
4.1
3.8 3
1 Performance of AIRTEL Performance of Hutch Performance of IDEA
Figure 19 The above mentioned point is substantiated by figure 18 which proves that there is a positive response towards better service delivery of Airtel across the country which may be backed by the Pan India presence of the company. Of the dealers who rated Ideas network at a value of less than 3 which means that it is available at only a few places 86% of them said that they think so because of the fact that IDEA has presence across lesser circles.
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Is lesser No of circles the reason for IDEA'S poor performance
13%
87%
yes
no
Figure 20
Figure 18 gives an indication that it is a very wide spread perception that if the service provider is present across lesser number of circles its performance in roaming while the customer is in a circle where his service provider does not operate is not satisfactory. The very same perception is a boon for a company like Airtel it is a bane for a company like IDEA.
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CUSTOMER CARE AN ESSENTIAL FUNDAMENTAL OF SERVICE DELIVERY After Network Reliability and Performance customer care is another important fundamental of Service Delivery, today mobile has become such a critical element of lifestyle as well as economic activities that service continuity is a extremely critical, adding on to this increasing use of Value Added Services all together contribute to an increased importance of the Customer Care service. Specially, talking about the retail market the dealer himself is largely involved in Customer Care, the reason for this is that this market is about maintaining relationship with the customer for cross selling, also the competition between the dealers has increased so much that dealer has to attend the customers query otherwise he is liable to lose the customer and for this the dealer should have some kind of support from the operators side. With this increased focus on customer care we are looking at a few major aspects 1. Current capacity and scalability of the customer care given directly by the service provider to the customer. 2. Adding value through the channel a. The showrooms, they are extensive customer care points, but the issue is that of penetration as telecom is a wide spread market. b. The Exclusives, they are unibrand retailers who can provide customer care to an extent.(a few specified services can be provided by these dealers like SIM Replacement, Checking Billed Unbilled etc) c. Dealer Helpline this is a prioritized service that is given to the dealers for the Prepaid and we studied f it can be a successful proposition for the Postpaid
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Rating Of Customer care Availability 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 Rating CC Availability IDEA Rating CC Of availability of AIRTEL Rating CC Availability Of HUTCH 3.07 3.46 3.76
Rating Of Customer care Availability
Figure 21 The availability of the Customer Care is a serious issue that was faced by all the telecom operators as customer is just not ready to wait, almost all the telecom operators have gone in for a scale building exercise on this front and in the procedure have increased there own capacity and even outsourced the Customer Care operation. IDEA has also followed suit and has gone for a major ramp up in the capacity of the Customer Care operations controlled by the company by setting up a new Call Canter at Mathura Road and has even outsourced some part of the customer care operations, but perhaps it has been a little slow in implementing these steps at least that is what the feedback of the dealers across Delhi and NCR Suggests as they have ranked IDEA the third on this parameter after Hutch and Airtel in that order and the score of 3.07 is barely past Satisfactory Levels.
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Rating of Customer Care Executives product Knowledge

4.1 4.05 4 3.95 3.9 3.85 3.8 3.75 3.7 4.04 3.88
3.84
Product know ledge CCE of Hutch
Product know ledge of CCE of airtel
Product Know ledge of CCE Of Idea
Rating of customer care executives product know ledge
Figure 22 In terms of product knowledge of the customer care executives the dealers were not able to distinguish the three brands and as visible from figure 21 it does not give any clear answer probably a response of the customer himself is needed on this issue. If we consider the aspect of showrooms providing customer service IDEA needs to develop a customer service standard across various showrooms in Delhi and NCR2 a project for implementation of this is underway however in terms of penetration of showrooms there is not much difference amongst the three brands Coming to the aspect of Exclusive Outlets which apart from increasing penetration for sales also increase availability of Customer Service IDEA is way behind both Airtel and Hutch as an example in West Delhi Hutch has 55 Teleshops Airtel has around 15 FSOs there is only one IDEA ZONE which is an IDEA exclusive outlet, however as the concept of exclusive is a new one in IDEA it has just started.
Will a dealer helpline for postpaid work? Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd. 53
Is dealer Helpline an essential requirement
14%
86%
yes
no
Figure 23
86% of the dealers said that dealer helpline is essential requirements, out of these 91% people say they will use Dealer Helpline for Updating Plan Knowledge 58% said they will use it for Making Queries regarding Customer Complaints. This means that a Dealer helpline will have a two pronged advantage 1. It will lead to better Customer Care. 2. It may yield a solution to the dealers problem of updating with the ever changing plans.
EFFECT OF BRAND PULL
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The basic effect of pull is estimated by what percentage of the customers coming to the shop to buy a postpaid connection demand a particular brand of connection. As per the research done across Delhi and NCR on an average 50% of the customers coming to a particular shop come with a Brand Preference. The effect of Brand will be more pronounced in prepaid as postpaid is a product which the dealer has to push and so he can influence the purchase decision and also the level of information about the products is low amongst the customers so dealer has to help in choice and selection of both the brand and the SKU.
50 50 40 30 20 10 0 1 B ra n d p u l o f a irte B ra n d p u ll o f h u tch ra n d p u ll o f Id e a l B 30 20
Figure 24 All figures are in percentage
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The Brand Pull of Airtel is the strongest across Delhi and NCR, as around 50% of the customers who walk into the shop with a Brand Preference prefer Airtel, what makes this brand Airtel even stronger is the fact that it is a representation of quality of service delivered to the customer as the Brand Pull is highly correlated to the Network Performance with a Pearsons R value of .382, which signifies that 38.2% of the deviation in brand pull can be explained by the network performance in a particular area. In this Market the communications and promotions done by the company should be supported by strong service quality to create a strong Brand Pull, as is visible from the example of IDEA Cellular as despite of promotional and advertisement efforts its brand pull is the weakest and explained to an extent of 42.1% by the poor Network Performance.
Brand pulls Reflecting Regional favourtisms

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 North West Central East Airtel South Hutch Gurgon Idea Fbad Gbad Noida
Figure 25
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Highlights In NCR Airtel is the favorite brand in Postpaid Hutch and IDEA are neck and neck in terms of Brand Pull in NCR In North and Central Delhi Hutch is the favorite while Airtel is the leading Brand in West, South and East Delhi. Hutch is much stronger in Delhi than in NCR
SALES COUNTER VISIBILITY The visibility on the dealers counter is an area where all the three operators under study concentrate a lot the market has a slang for the importance of this factor which is JO DIKHEGA VO BIKEGA The dealers rated the criticality of on counter visibility at a healthy 6.96 on a scale of 10; the general opinion was that visibility shifts the level of sales on the whole from the counter as it is easily recognized by the customer to buy a connection. The Dealers also believed that POP does influence customers purchase decision however the dealer has to put in his effort to close the sales for Postpaid.
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Does visibility influence the customers purchase decision
21%
79%
yes
no
Figure 26
A good 79% of the dealers believe that good visibility does influence customers purchase decision. Now lets analyze the comparative efforts of the three companies in the direction of increasing their visibility at the Dealers Counter.
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Providing Signage Across Delhi

4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 4.01 3.32 3.48
1 Across Delhi & NCR AIRTEL HUTCH IDEA
Figure 27
Analysis Hutch is the clear leader in Providing Signage to the Dealers. IDEA comes second, while Airtel is a close third. This is almost a consistent trend across the nine regions of Delhi and NCR. SIGNAGE
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Providing POP support to dealers

4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 4.19 3.2 3.34
1 Across Delhi & NCR AIRTEL HUTCH IDEA
Figure 28 Analysis Hutch is the leader across the nine regions of Delhi and NCR IDEA comes second, Airtel a close third Dealers unanimously agreed that POP was an essential dealer support as it helps in explaining the plans.
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DEALER SERVICE Dealer service is a major aspect that is influencing the market strength of a particular brand it was found that around 91% (figure 38) of the dealers are recommending a particular brand for better dealer service and considering the role that dealers play in the sales of postpaid connections it becomes all the more important We identified five major factors of under dealer service they are as follows Regular Visits the regular visit of the sales person to dealers counter Number Availability Number Choice is a fundamental advantage in a postpaid customer this factor studies how well the distribution is able to provide good numbers to the dealers. Timely Claim Settlement the commission in postpaid is paid upfront so this factor evaluates the extent to which commitment of schemes is fulfilled. Quality and Complaint Handling The dealers form the point of interaction with the customer so they handle various complaints, this factor identifies the quality of service given to the dealers. Sales Person Quality The sales persons are the actual channel through which the information flows to the dealer so the quality of understanding of the product, his enthusiasm and the quality of time he spends with the dealer constitute Sales Persons Quality
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The Dealers wee asked to rate these factors as per there level of importance or significance to there business and the results were as follows
Ranked Importance of factors of dealer service 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 QCH Reg Visits Number availability Timely Claim Settlement Sales Person Quality 3.73 3.27 2.71 2.72 2.75
Ranked Importance of factors of dealer service
Figure 1 Three factors which were ranked the most important were as follows 1. Quality and Complaint Handling 2. Regular Visits 3. Number Availability
First we will understand the scale on which the dealers were asked to rate the performance of a particular brand on a particular factor Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd. 62
Likert Scale 1- Very Poor 2- Poor 3 Satisfactory 4- Good 5-Excellent
3.5 3.4 3.3 3.2 3.1 3 1 3.16 3.32
3.44
Regular Visits To Dealers Across Delhi & NCR Airtel Hutch Idea
Figure 2 Analysis: The long term relationship with the dealer is an advantage that Airtel benefits from. The fact that Airtel has a single distribution channel for prepaid and postpaid influences this parameter Considering the volume gap between Hutch and IDEA it is doing reasonably well. Regular visits and quality time spent at the counter address to the problem of updating with continuously changing plans.
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4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 1 3.76 3
4.07
Number availability Across Delhi & NCR HUTCH AIRTEL IDEA
Figure 3 Analysis IDEA is the Clear leader in providing good numbers across Delhi and NCR, this also shows the level of integration in the distribution channel to deliver numbers of choice in time Hutch is second and Airtel is worst and just upto the satisfactory level.
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4.1 4 3.9 3.8 3.7 3.6 3.5 3.4 3.3 3.2 3.1
4.03 3.84
3.41
1 Timely claim settlement across Delhi & NCR HUTCH AIRTEL IDEA
Figure 4 Analysis Hutch is clearly the leader, although IDEA is only marginally behind In Postpaid the Deviation in this factor is only because of delivery of promises on schemes as commission is paid upfront.
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Quality & complaint handling-across Delhi & NCR

3.5 3.4 3.3 3.2 3.1 3 2.9 2.8 2.7 2.6 2.5 3.41 3.42
2.85
1 Across Delhi & NCR HUTCH(QCH) AIRTEL(QCH) IDEA(QCH)
Figure 5 Analysis IDEA and Hutch both are doing fine on this parameter but scores are below good level so there is a need for improvement here. Airtel is doing poorly and is below satisfaction level This factor has been rated the highest in the level of importance and less than satisfactory level of performance exemplifies the poor show by the company in the field of dealer service.
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SALES PERSON QUALITY 3.7 3.6 3.5 3.4 3.3 3.2 3.1 3 HUTCH(SPQ) AIRTEL(SPQ) SALES PERSON QUALITY IDEA(SPQ) 3.23 3.48 3.63
Figure 6 Analysis Hutch is the leader on this parameter, however this factor has not scored very highly probably dealers were not clear of the importance under test. IDEA is doing well and Airtel despite being the third is above satisfactory level.
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BRAND RECOMMENDATION Which Brand does the Dealer Recommend in Postpaid? The importance of dealers recommendation is now known to us in such a situation it becomes very important to know which brand he recommends and why
w hich brands are the dealer recom ending" m
15%
52% 33%
Hutch
Idea
Airtel
Figure 7 Hutch is recommended by the highest %age of dealers which is inline with there Performance in Retail Sales. IDEA enjoys good support by the Dealers but scores less on Fundamentals of Service Delivery. Airtel Sells largely on Fundamentals of Service and dealers sell Airtel on the pressure of losing a customer Dealers recommendation is a function of various factors like Dealer Service, Dealers Trust on brands fundamental quality and Economy, however Dealer Service is the most
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prominent factor (figure 29) and dealer service is dependant on the performance of the distributor we need to analyze this factor on a regional basis Region wise distribution of the brand recommended
100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% North Central REC Airtel South REC Idea Fbad REC hutch 73 50 45 0 36 0 27 40 10 10 31 37 36 31 33 z 38 53 56 27 Noida 55 64 32
19
12 40
18 27
Figure 8 Analysis Airtel was not recommended by even a single dealer in North Delhi. Airtel has exceptionally high recommendation in South Delhi and Ghaziababad. IDEA is consistent across the nine zones across Delhi and NCR. Airtels recommendation is significantly higher in NCR at 22% as compared to a dismal 9 % in Delhi. Hutch is the brand recommended by maximum number of dealers across all regions but for Ghaziabad. REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS Why does the dealer recommend a particular brand?
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There can be various reasons because of which a dealer may recommend a particular brand lets see the most prominent ones
Reasons for recommending a particular brand 100.00% 80.00% 60.00% 40.00% 20.00% 0.00% 91.55% 35% 8.45% Dealer service Customer service Better Commission 11.27% Economic Plans
Reasons for recommending a particular brand

Figure 9 Dealer Service is the most prominent reason for a dealer to recommend a particular brand, Customer Service actually represents dealers trust of the fundamental quality of the brand But it is still a distant second; economy hardly seems to be a criterion which proves that it is very difficult to differentiate on economy same is the case with commission as the competition hardly takes time to match the deal.
Now further we can analyze which brands were recommended for what reasons
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DEALER SERVICE 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 100 57.14
92.5
91.55
HUTCH
IDEA
AIRTEL
OVERALL
DEALER SERVICE
Figure 10 Analysis 92% of all the dealers selling postpaid recommended a particular brand for Dealer Service. Only 57% of dealers who recommended Airtel said they did so for better dealer service.
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C USTOM R SE E RVICE 80.00% 70.00% 60.00% 50.00% 40.00% 30.00% 20.00% 10.00% 0.00% HU H TC IDE A AIR L TE OVE RALL 12.50% 42.50% 35.20% CUSTOM R SE VICE E R 72%
Figure 11 Analysis Out of the total number of dealers recommending postpaid only 35% did so for better customer service Only 12% of the dealers recommending IDEA said they did so for better customer service suggests lack of confidence on customer service Confidence on Airtels Customer Service is Exceptionally High as 72% of the dealers recommending Airtel said they did so for good customer service.
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Figure 12 Analysis Plan Economy again is not a very prominent reason for recommending a Brand as only 12% Dealers recommended a brand for Economic Plans Compared to this 30% of Dealers recommending IDEA Postpaid did so for more economic plan.
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CONCLUSION Retail Vs Direct Sales: The Retail Channel is different from the Direct Sales Channel in more than one ways the most important of them are that the Retail Channel in Telecom is a channel shared between all the players in the industry therefore the Retailer becomes all the more powerful and the companies need to provide him the best possible support to motivate him to sell their brand over the others, another major differentiating factor between Retail and Direct Sales is that the customer who intends to buy goes to the dealer whereas in Direct Sales customer is approached, therefore he may or may not be planning to buy a connection in such a situation the amount of information search done by the customer is significantly more when he decides to buy from Retail Channel. Business Decision Areas: 1. Focus on Bill Clarity: The ROI for the retailer is a major attraction in postpaid, but either he is not able to push Postpaid to the customer as customer is not sure of the prudence level of the bill or the dealer himself does not want to push Postpaid as he perceives a risk of complaints stating imprudent bill. a. 36% dealers do not deal in Postpaid because of lack of confidence on Bill. b. 65% of Dealers recommending Prepaid do so for Lack of Confidence on Bill. Under such circumstances it becomes absolutely essential to take steps to improve the clarity of the bill. 2. Communication of Payment Locations: The bill is a very critical and a
fundamental element of a Postpaid connection, customers sometimes are wary of a particular mode of payment system knowingly available in there vicinity in such a situation we need to communicate various options of bill payment to the customer in his vicinity.
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a. Most dealers reported that postpaid users come to the asking about bill payment center.
3. Plan Updation: in last two years the number of operational individual plans have gone up from about 20 to about 150, in such a situation it becomes very difficult for the dealer to maintain updated knowledge of Tariff Plans which substitute of the product, this can be lethal for the potential of a push based product. a. 36% Dealers say they do not deal in Postpaid as they find it too difficult to keep track of ever changing Plans b. 33% of the customers do not know if they want prepaid or postpaid. c. Only 25% of the Dealers across Delhi and NCR Recommend Postpaid. d. 41% of the Dealers recommend prepaid because they are not able to stay updated with changing plans. Given the above stated findings the company will have to work in direction of providing a solution to the dealer to keep updated with the changes in the plans or the new plans, this will help in two ways, it will expand the pie of Retail in Postpaid and differentiate IDEA 4. Dealer does not have a role after closing the sales: This is where Prepaid scores over Postpaid as customers keeps visiting the dealers shop regularly for recharge while in postpaid dealer is involved only till the sale is closed. a. The Factor that Prepaid Customers keeps revisiting the shop for Recharge was rated 3.68 on a scale of 5 and was second most dominant factor. b. The Prepaid Customer is a Potential for Cross Selling as most dealers stock mobiles and average time in which customers change Handset is declining. So we have to devise a way through which we can involve the dealer in the product life cycle for a longer duration of time.
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5. Communication Decision relating to target segment of Postpaid: Postpaid as a product went a sea change with the launch of products like Advanced Rental Plan and Lifetime Plans or even the low rental plans like Perfect 99, however the effect of broadening of customer base does not reflect from the dealers feedback a. 50% of the dealers recalled High Usage Customer as a target for selling Postpaid. b. When they were prompted they said that they identified customer as a high usage one before recommending postpaid and rated this factor at 4 on 5 which is quite high. The perception that postpaid is for high usage customer is very widely spread in dealers across Delhi and NCR, which needs to be rectified. 1. 6 Fundamentals of Service Delivery and Quality IDEA has been rated inferior on almost all the factors of Service Quality and therefore enjoys lesser Brand Pull than the competition this is the reason which leads up to lag behind despite of a good performance on Dealer Service criterion
RECOMMENDATIONS Focus Fundamentals: Fundamentals like Customer Care and Network Performance have huge relevance company is already into a phased expansion in both the service delivery aspects, however that constitutes a long term investment and change will be noticed over a period of time.
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Focus Bill: Plan Details should be clearly indicated on the bill as that will add clarity to the bill and thereby build trust on the prudence of bill over a period of time. This will supplement the Bill Guarantee Program as customer can easily cross check with the plan details indicated on bill. Focus Plan Updation: Small Cards explaining just the key benefits and the customer segment (Usage Based) to whom the plan will suit can work in providing dealer a solution to recommend a plan to the customer. Dealer Helpline can also be beneficial as 91% of the dealers said that they will use Dealer Helpline for asking plan related queries. This will work in two ways, it will expand the market for postpaid by providing dealer an easy solution to explain plans and also give IDEA an Advantage as it will become easier to explain Ideas plans with the help of these cards.
Focus Add-On Packages: If dealer is involved in getting the Add-On packages activated and deactivated through the dealers dealer can be involved in the postpaid product for a longer duration of time and motivate the dealer to sell Postpaid. Add-On packages can easily be the USP of Postpaid that will help the product to gain strength against Prepaid, as these packages make postpaid a more flexible Product.
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Expanding the Customer Base: Aggressive communication with a message Postpaid is for every one A Postpaid Product to help you maintain budget A Postpaid product in which customer can set his credit limit with a set validity. Value Proposition: Ease of use of postpaid combined with usage control of Prepaid Risk: The product will be predatory for the prepaid and will eat into customers of Prepaid. If the minimum credit limit is set at 500 the incremental revenue will be positive. In terms of contribution exact figures are will be calculated considering a higher customer acquisition cost and a higher customer service cost
REFRENCES 1. www.ideacellular.com Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd. 78
2. Kotler & Keller: Managing Retailing, Wholesaling and Logistics, Marketing Management. 3. Karen A. Blot Nicky: Channels of Distribution: Conflict, Cooperation, and Management, Fundamentals of Marketing. 4. TNS Mode: Research on womens card 5. D K Agrawal: Distribution channel and role of IT .
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APPENDIX
QUESTIONNAIRE
Dealer Name Address: Shop Type Telecom (Check one of the two) Q1a. Do you Deal in Postpaid Mobile Connection? Non Telecom
Yes
No
(If yes move to question Q2a) Q1b. Have you ever dealt in Post paid Mobile Connections? Yes No
(Check one of the two) Q1c. What are the reasons that prevent you from dealing in Postpaid Mobile Connections?
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1. ________________________________________________________ 2. ________________________________________________________ Lack of Demand for Postpaid It takes time to sell Post Paid. It is complicated and requires very good Product Knowledge to sell. Monetary gain is not proportionate to the extra effort required I do not want to encounter a situation wherein a customer complaints of wrong billing, OCB etc Documentation required is more for postpaid Postpaid Distributor never contacted Contact with distributor vanished due to a period of slack sales (Rate on a five point scale from 5-completely agree 1-Completely disagree) Q2a.What is the number of connections that you sell? Prepaid o Airtel ______ o Hutch______ o Idea _______ Total Prepaid Post Paid o Airtel ______ o Hutch______ o Idea _______ Total Postpaid Grand Total Q3a.Out of every 10 Customers that walk in Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd. 81
1____ Demand Prepaid 2____ Demand Postpaid 3____ Are not clear Q3b.Which Category do you recommend to these customers who are not clear of the category to buy? Prepaid Postpaid
Q3c.Why do you recommend Prepaid? 1. ____________________________________________________ 2. ____________________________________________________ It takes lesser time and effort to sell Has Better Schemes. No formalities like verification Involves lesser documentation. Take Takes lesser time for activation Monetary benefit is not good enough to spend extra time and effort. Prepaid customer will revisit the shop for Recharge. Lesser responsibility towards future complaints. Poor relationship with Postpaid Distributor.
Q3d.Why do you recommend Post Paid? 1____________________________________________________ 2____________________________________________________ I know the Customers Usage is High
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Mobile is very critical to the customer and doesnt want to land up in a situation where he has to make an urgent call but has no balance. Customer is genuine and verification and documentation are not a problem. I want the Customer to avail better call rates I have excellent relationships with postpaid dealers Customer will not take pain of going to a counter to buy recharge. (Rate on a 5 point scale as in 3c.)
Q4a. Out of every 20 Post Paid Customers walking in to the shop 1____ Ask for Hutch 2____ Ask for IDEA 3 ____ Ask for Airtel 4____ did not have any clear Brand Preference. Q4b. Which Brand do you recommend? _______________ Q4c. Why do you recommend the Brand (Recommended as per Q4b.)? _______________________________________________________
Q4d. Do you push a Customer to change the Brand Preference? Yes No
Q4e. Why do you push for a particular Brand? Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd. 83
(Which Brand ________) More Economic Plan Quicker Activation Better Number Available More Commission Paid Lesser Risk of ve verification. Lesser risk of N/w Related Complaints (Rate on a five pointer scale) Q4e. Under what conditions will a customer walking in with a choice switch? Better Plans (economic) Better Plans (Suitable to Usage) Better Numbers On Assurance of Quality by Dealers. Under no Condition Q5a.How important is Network Quality of a Service Provider to Sales of connections of the Brand (Rate on a Scale of 1 to 10, 1-Not at all important 10-Very Critical) Q5b. 1- Unavailable at most places 2- Unavailable at many Places 3- Generally available but problem in Basements and Congested areas. 4- Widely available and strong network but problem in basement only in few areas 5- Almost ubiquitous and very strong network.
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Rate the Network Quality of following service providers on a scale of 1 to 5 referring to the above described scale. Hutch 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Idea 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Airtel 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Q5c.How many Customers out of 10 are especially worried about N/W in Roaming? ____________ Q5d.Rate the following Service Providers on a five point scale? 1. Very Poor (If Idea> 3 Skip to Q6a.) Q5e. Is presence in lesser number of circles the reason for this lower score? Yes No 5 Excellent
Q6 a. Rate the importance of Customer Care on a 10 point scale? (1. Not at all important 10. Very Critical)
Q6b.Do customers refer to Customer care while purchasing? Yes No
Q6c. Rate the Service Providers on a 5 Point Scale with respect to the listed parameters. Hutch Airtel Idea Availability(1Seldom Available 5 Always Available) Product Knowledge (1Poor Knowledge 5 Excellent Knowledge) Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd. 85
Prudent Commitment(1Mostly commitments turn out wrong 5Commitments are always true) Customer Friendly (1Rude 2Very Friendly) Q7a. How critical is visibility to Sales of Postpaid? (10 pointer scale 1not at all important 10 Very Critical) Q7b. Do you feel that visibility can influence purchase decision? Yes No Cant Say
Q7c. Do you feel that visibility can influence purchase decision? Yes No Cant Say
Q7d. Rate the following Brands in terms of providing general POP. (Danglers, Glow sign, Dealer Name Board) (1. Very Rarely Provides 5. Floods the Shop)
Brand Hutch Airtel Idea Score Q7e. Rate the following Brands in terms of providing plan based POP. (Posters, Planners, Plan Literature) (1. Very Rarely Provides 5. Floods the Shop)
Brand Hutch Airtel Idea Score Q7f.Do you feel that Plan Based POP helps in explaining plan to the Customer? Yes No Plans?
Q7g.Do you feel plan based POP lends validity to your commitment as per Yes No
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Q8a.Dealer Service is very critical in market today, rank the importance of the following factors which comprise dealer service? Factor Regular Visits Number Availability Timely Settlement of Claims Quality and complaint Handling Sales Person Quality Q8b. Do you think that Dealer Helpline is a Necessary Requirement? Yes No Q8c. Is this facility given by any of the competitors, Name? ___________________________________ Q8d. What do you expect out of a Dealer Helpline? 1. ______________________________________________________ 2. ______________________________________________________ 3. ______________________________________________________ Rank Hutch Airtel Idea
a. Do you feel that Ideas Network has improved? Yes No Neutral No b. Have you heard of Womens Card? Yes c. Name the feature you can recall of a. _______________________________________________ b. _______________________________________________
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Arvind Kumar Choubey, Final Project On Idea 2

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PROJECT on IMPROVING THE EFFICIENCY OF RETAIL CHANNEL FOR POSTPAID AT IDEA CELLULAR At Idea Cellular Ltd.

Mohan Cooperative, Mathura Road.

Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd.

Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd.

Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd.

9. REFRENCES 82 10. APPENDIX. .83

Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd.

Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd.

Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd.

Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd.

Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd.

Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd.

Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd.

Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd.

Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd.

Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd.

Methodology followed in this research was two phased research design.

Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd.

Phase 2: Descriptive Quantitative study to validate the relevance of the factors

Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd.

Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd.

Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd.

Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd.

Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd.

Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd.

Overall scenario in Delhi

Dont deal in P ostpaid

Dont deal in Postpaid

Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd.

S ena in telec m shops c rio o

Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd.

Unaided recalls, reasons for not dealing in postpaid

Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd.

Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd.

L a c k o f d e C oa nn tdi n o u s r o f c o t m kp el as i tn i tms e F t eo a sre ol lf C P M o r e M o n e t a r y l G c k n o nf oc t o n t a m Fea a V aai P roduc t P o s t p a i de x t r a e f f oD r i ts t r i b u t o r

f o r p o s t p a ipd d a t i o lni ko ef w r o n g bp iol lsi tn pg a i d n e g a t i vd eo c u m e n P ar to i p o ri tn i o wn iat lh t p o s t p a i d u t on o

Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd.

takes time to sell postpaid

updating to everchangi ng plans

complaints like wrong billing

Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd.

more documentat ion in postpaid

Gain not proportiona l to effort

Lack of demand for postpaid

lack of contact with distributor

fear of CPV negative

Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd.

ROLE OF THE DEALERS IN POSTPAID MARKET

Do custom ers know if they w ant prepaid or postpaid

% do not know w hat they w ant% know w hat they w ant

33% of the customers can be easily oriented to purchase postpaid connections.

Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd.

Category recommended by the dealers

Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd.

Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd.

100 39.29 50 35.71 0 NCR Delhi Postpaid Prepaid 64.86 16.22

Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd.

recalled reasons for recommending postpaid

Postpaid Local usage takes time to sell

Top of mind recall

Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd.

Region wise Analysis reasons for recommending prepaid

Summer Internship - Idea Cellular Ltd.