MARKETING RESEARCH TOPICS

BY: Sheetal Chandra-15 Shipra Gir-19 Sarwat Pawar-20

1. Bop marketing and the new strategies of PepsiCo India

Background of the Information:
In economics, the bottom of the pyramid is the largest, but poorest socio-economic group. In global terms, this is the 2.5 billion people who live on less than $2.50 per day. The phrase bottom of the pyramid is used in particular by people developing new models of doing business that deliberately target that demographic, often using new technology. This field is also often referred to as the "Base of the Pyramid" or just the "BoP" To build up the BoP, its not enough to provide cheap, necessary, innovative products, but to help develop their future which will provide sustainability. Vittana, for example enables more students to attend secondary school and obtain a degree that will help increase their income. Slowly but surely with more and more educated individuals coming out of developing nations, the potential for growth and prosperity from within increases dramatically. The premise of the fortune at the base of the pyramid (BoP) is based on the notion of how to profitably do business with the poor. But few such endeavours have become sustainable businesses, falling prey to bad assumptions, misguided marketing, or poor research. Example, the innovative Oorja stove designed by BP as a sustainable, healthy alternative to smoky wood-burning cooking fires so prevalent in the BoP, integrates the local community into its business model. The product is sold by local women trained by BP as part of their rural sales network, and provides a sustainable income source both from the sales of new stoves as well from the supply of the healthier smokeless fuel pellets. By incorporating both environmental as well as economic sustainability into the design of their solution, they offer a holistically beneficial solution to the community as well as a profit making strategy for their saleswomen and themselves. (Nonetheless, contextually appropriate design is a must; even the humble stove has faced criticism for the lack of user testing in the field.) The 5Ds of Bop: 1) Development 2) Design

3) Distribution 4) Demand 5) Dignity

Using the 5Dsdevelopment, design, distribution, demand and dignitycan provide a roadmap for a cohesive, human-centered strategy for well-designed products that sell, services that are successful, and programs with low drop-out rates. Observation and user research conducted to understand your new target audience is critical in establishing the relevant value propositions. Simplistic approaches have equated BOP with the sachet revolution, the marketing approach to package shampoo and other items in sachets to make them affordable to poor people. Pralahads approach has also been criticised as being neo-liberal and driving poor people into buying useless products and into overspending: the controversy was turning mainly around Fair and Lovely a cosmetic product by Hindustan Lever that supposedly makes dark skins brighter. This is indeed a product that is sold in the remotest villages in South Asia but whether it eradicates poverty remains to be seen. The market creation approach aims to go beyond just exploiting BOP markets. It is acknowledged that markets do not initially exist for safe water, sanitation, reforestation and mosquito nets. These markets must be created by public investments: the private sector can not invest in public health or other development domains such as hygiene awareness, malaria prevention or organising small farmers into viable production units. As the purchasing power of poor people is indeed very limited, smart subsidies may be needed to reach the poorest and most vulnerable groups. Lehars arrival inside the bylanes of large urban slums like Santosh Nagar represents just one part of the $60 billion (global net revenue) PepsiCos larger push to build a significant business catering to the consumers at the bottom-of-the-pyramid (BoP) in India. About three years ago, PepsiCo drew up a new blueprint for long-term growth in India. It spoke of the need for significantly widening reach, aiming for the new consuming class across urban and rural India and more importantly, creating a whole new set of locally developed products for the masses. Till then, PepsiCos attempts to push deeper into the Indian heartland had entailed introducing smaller pack sizes of its wafers and smaller glass bottles of Pepsi cola priced at Rs. 5. But somehow, that didnt help widen the consumer base for wafers and beverages. It realised it needed a completely different approach to serve BoP consumers. It discovered two routes: Its joint venture with Tata Global Beverages to launch affordable health drinks and also completely reworking the Lehar business model to connect with a wider consumer base.

2. T scope Test in Packaging

Background of the Information:
The tachistoscopic techniques analyze the individual elements that make up packages. This is made possible by the T-Scope's brief, precision-timed exposures, which isolate these elements. The packaging technique, which we call "the elemental series," breaks a package into three components: The first "elemental" viewing shows the packaging graphics/colors, but no product or brand information

The second "elemental" viewing adds the product information The third "elemental" viewing adds brand information, to complete the package Each of these elements is probed on perception and imagery. There are also mass display measurements where the test package appears with competitive brands in an in-shelf display. These measurements indicate how well a package performs under real conditions.

Example of a research already been conducted: Infant's toiletry package that led to the
development of the elemental series. In the early days of tachistoscopic testing, a complete package was shown at a high speed and respondents were asked to draw pictures of what they saw. The product was a cotton-tipped stick used to clean infants' ears and eyes. The new package design had these cotton sticks arranged in a cross-bow fashion. It was found when women drew this design and was unaware of the brand (a leader in infantcare products), they would interpret it as something "poisonous," "dangerous," "to be kept away from children." Women who drew this design but knew the brand did not have these associations. The findings said that brand perception could be a serious impediment to analyzing a new package's performance. If respondents knew a new package was for a well-known and respected manufacturer, problems were unlikely to emerge. Each element in a package was projecting something on its own and we should maximize conditions for each element's associations. This led to the development of the elemental series, where gradually building a package shows us how each component contributes to perception, product/brand associations and attitudinal imagery. A T-scope-test is a number of very short presentations of the product. The packed product is presented together with other products in the same product group because a T-scope-test has the aim to analyse the attention value of the packaging.

A picture of the packaging is made together with other products, as was it a supermarket shelf.

The picture is on the screen a split of a second. The test person is asked if he/she observed something. If the test person have observed the new product the T-scope test is stopped If the test person did not see the new product the same picture is shown a little longer. Typical presentation times are 1/8 sec > sec. > sec. > 1 sec. > 2 sec.

3. Influence of CROSS SELLING on sales of a retail store: w.r.t. PLANET SPORTS, Mani Square KOLKATA
Background of the Information: Cross-selling is a strategy of providing existing customers the opportunity to purchase additional items offered by the seller. Often, cross-selling involves offering the customer items that complement the original purchase in some manner. The idea behind cross-selling is to capture a larger share of the consumer market by meeting more of the needs and wants of each individual customer. It is the action or practice of selling among or between established clients, markets, traders, etc. or the action or practice of selling an additional product or service to an existing customer. This article deals exclusively with the latter meaning. In practice, businesses define cross-selling in many different ways. Elements that might influence the definition might include the size of the business, the industry sector it operates within and the financial motivations of those required to define the term. The objectives of cross-selling can be either to increase the income derived from the client or clients or to protect the relationship with the client or clients. The approach to the process of cross-selling can be varied. This is widely used in banks The idea of cross-selling translates well into just about any business situation. In the fast food industry, customers are often invited to try new products or established complementary items. For example, when an individual orders a hamburger at a local fast food restaurant, the server will often ask the customer if he or she would like a side item to go with the hamburger. If the restaurant is offering a new dessert, the server may also suggest to the customer that the new item may be a desirable complement to the hamburger. By employing this simple approach, the server may entice the customer into making another purchase above and beyond the one originally intended. Cross-selling is also commonly employed in retail sales. When purchasing a washing machine, the salesperson may extend some type of special offer to the customer in order to entice the buyer into also purchasing a dryer. If the customer is in the market for a new computer, the savvy salesperson may provide information on several other ancillary devices that will make the computer more valuable to the consumer, such as a printer, exterior drive, or a wireless mouse. As long as the additional items complement the original purchase in some manner, the approach can be referred to as cross-selling. It is also possible to engage in cross-selling with services as well as products. The telecommunications industry is a prime example of this type of sales activity. When establishing local telephone service, the new subscriber is often invited to enjoy other telecommunications

options offered by the service provider. These may include long distance packages, cell phone services, or high-speed Internet services. While different from local phone services, the ability to provide this broader range of telecommunication options makes it possible for the customer to address several related wants or needs through a single vendor. While cross-selling is often a highly desirable activity for both the seller and the buyer, it is not without some degree of risk. In the event that one of the additional goods or services does not live up to the consumers expectations, the negative experience could color the perception of the customer in regard to the other purchased products. As a result, the customer may choose to sever relations with the vendor, taking all of his or her business to a new provider.

Keys to Effective Cross-Selling and Up-Selling

The key to effective cross-selling and up-selling is putting your customers needs first by adding value to the customer experience with your related-item suggestions. Crossselling helps to educate your customers on the depth and variety of what your business has to offer but, above all, dont use cross-selling carelessly as a forum to simply push more products or services. A well-defined strategy is an important but relatively easy part of the question. An analysis of the problem shows that execution is what separates success from also-rans. Effective cross-sell execution requires four key elements: Customer interest. A customers interest in having a deep relationship with her bank is primary. Our research shows that 41% of US adults are interested or very interested in putting or keeping all of your financial products and accounts with a single firm. Age is one factor affecting this desire, with younger consumers more open the concept, but another is the level to which the customer is an advocate of his primary provider a concept we call Customer Advocacy. Customers who agree more with the statement My financial provider does whats best for me, versus its bottom line are far more likely to consider their provider for additional product purchases. Relationship pricing. Consumers are smart. They know there is a value to a financial firm in their having multiple accounts with that firm. They expect to share in that value; they expect to receive a financial benefit for their patronage. In fact, 60% of US online adults think that getting better rates from their provider is the kind of encouragement they need to have a deep relationship. This shared financial benefit is at the heart of a pricing strategy called relationship pricing. 360-degree customer view. Metrics are a vital component of effective execution. Nextbest cross-sell analyses are valuable, but so, too, are elements like an understanding of what products and services are typically purchased together and a 360-degree view of the customer to know what products she current owns, both with and outside a particular firm. Thirty-eight percent of consumers who purchased a checking or savings

account purchased both products at the same time, making packaged selling of those products a logical cross-sell element. Effective execution. This is the missing link of effective cross-selling. Financial firms have to know where their customers are and where they would most likely consider additional product purchases. Today that occurs in two places: when products are being opened and when products are being serviced. Most product opening is done in the branch, and many firms do an adequate job of cross-selling in the branch. The greater opportunity is when the customer is servicing, and today that

4. To study the impact of store layout on consumers buying behavior