PROJECT REPORT

ON

ANALYSIS OF SUPPLIERS PERCEPTION TOWARDS

THE ONLINE PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITIES OF
INDIAMART INTERMESH
Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Award of
Post Graduate Diploma in Management
(Recognized by AICTE, Ministry of HRD, Govt. of India)

By

SUSHOVAN BANERJEE

PG10-092
Batch 2010-12

Under the guidance of

Professor. KAMAL GUPTA

Professor.(Marketing)
INMANTEC, Ghaziabad

Integrated Academy of Management and Technology

Ghaziabad
20.07.2011

ANALYSIS OF SUPPLIERS PERCEPTION TOWARDS

THE ONLINE PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITIES OF
INDIAMART INTERMESH
at

INDIAMART INTERMESH LTD

By

SUSHOVAN BANERJEE
Batch 2010-12

Under the guidance of

Prof. Kamal Gupta
INMANTEC, Ghaziabad

Integrated Academy of Management and Technology

Ghaziabad
JULY, 2011

CERTIFICATE FROM THE ORGANISATION

Acknowledgement

It gives me immense pleasure to present this project report on ANALYSIS OF

SUPPLIERS PERCEPTION TOWARDS THE ONLINE PROMOTIONAL
ACTIVITIES OF INDIAMART INTERMESH LTD" carried out by online
research in partial fulfillment of post graduate diploma course. This project is the
result of time, efforts and knowledge contributed by various members of the
organization INMANTEC. The Dissertation programme was the great experience
for me as in this I got the opportunity to learn and experience the research work
No work can be carried out without the help and guidance of various persons. I am
happy to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to those who have been
helpful to me in completing this project report. They have been the source of guide
and motivation for the completion of the project.
I would take the opportunity to thank Mr. Kamal Gupta (Prof, INMANTEC) for
providing me a chance to work being a mentor for the project.
Finally I would like to thank my parents, friends and all well-wishers who
encouraged me to do this research work.

Table of Contents
1. Executive Summary
2. Introduction
2.1.

Industry Overview
2.2.1

Service overview

2.2.2

Business Enhancements

2.2.3

Awards & Achievements

2.2.4

Corporate Websites

3. Research Objectives
4. Literature Review
4.1. IndiaMart- Value Proposition
4.2. Value Propositions
4.3. Benefit to Buyers
4.4. Benefit to Sellers
4.5. Online directory
4.6. Trade Leads
5. Conceptual Framework
5.1 E Commerce Solution
5.2 Dynamic Product Catalogue
5.3 Enterprise Mailing Solution
5.4 Lead Management Service
6. Research Methodology
6.1. Research Design
6.2. Data Requirements
6.3. Data Collection Method and Instrument

6.4. Sampling and Sample Size

6.5. Data Analysis Techniques
7. Data Analysis and Interpretation
8. Findings of the Study
9. Recommendations
10.Conclusions
References................................................................ ...........
Annexures ................................................................ ...........
Annexure A
Annexure B

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Working with INDIAMART INTERMESH LTD was a great opportunity and a great pleasure to
me. During the whole research I was considered as the part of the IndiaMART family and this
proves the co operation among the various departments and the employees of IndiaMART.
The main objective of the research was to study the efficiency of the marketing strategy of
IndiaMART and to judge its marketing position,its strength over the competitors and the way to
utilize it to have the benefit .Since Indiamart is a prominent B2B industry , it actually acts as a
platform where the buyers and the sellers meet to perform their business. The research was
conducted keeping the objective as the main and the conclusions drawn were that the
IndiaMART holds a very good position in B2B industry.
The marketing strategy of the company was also fulfilling its aims and was up to the mark. The
main strength of the company was its customized solutions and the weakness was that it holds a
good service range but is costly as compared with the competitors. The company performance
graph is rising day by day showing its progress which could also be justified on the basis of the
valuation provided by Alexa.com. In this project the suppliers perception over the online
products promotion is highlighted. What the suppliers think and what are their adequate
strategies through which their product is exposed online through IndiaMART is being
researched. During the course of this project I was also fortunate enough to be able to study the
promotional activities like coupon distribution ,participation in trade fair ,etc.The report contains
the findings arrived after detailed analysis of the data received through filling the questionnaires
by the different suppliers.I went to several suppliers organization and had a detailed discussion
about their promotion of products by Indiamart.com.

CHAPTER

2
INTRODUCTION

COMPANY PROFILE
IndiaMART.com is the India's largest online B2B marketplace for Small & Medium Size
Businesses, connecting global buyers with suppliers. The company offers a platform & tools to
over 1 million suppliers to generate business leads from over 5 million buyers, who use the
platform to find reliable & competitive suppliers. The company has over 4000 employees located
across 75 offices in the country. Its existing investors include Intel Capital and Bennett, Coleman
& Co. Ltd.

IndiaMART.com offers services that enable small & medium size businesses generate business
leads (online catalogs/store-fronts), establish their credibility (third party verified trust profile)
and use business information (finance, news, trade shows, tenders) for their business promotion.

IndiaMART.com has won numerous awards over the years, which include coveted Red Herring
Award, Emerging India Award, and many others. The company has also been widely covered
by media for its pioneering role in promoting SME business in the country.

SERVICE OVERVIEW
It provides a comprehensive online marketing program that provides enhanced enquiry
generation of different products through their DYNAMIC CATALOGUE of products.

With star suppliers , it helps to give a premium positioning among suppliers in all relevant
categories.

It provides TRUST SEAL which is a business verification service that checks suppliers
records of existence, credibility and trustworthiness for the benefit of the buyers.
It provides leading suppliers which are the right choices for the companies who have a right
mixture of infrastructure ,management capabilities and experience in servicing global buyers.
It also provides banner advertising to build the brand so as to attract the buyers.
In short it is a BUSINESS PROMOTION COMPANY offering services and solutions to small
and medium level business in India for increasing revenues or reducing cost using internet &
internet technology.

CORPORATE INFORMATION
We have built ourselves to be self-sufficient. Our guiding principles are a mlange of
traditional business ethics and contemporary good governance needs. We set higher and
tougher performance & governance benchmarks in our industry as we move ahead.
Our customers have always found an integrated business promotion solution more
valuable than a simple web presence. Driven by this preference of our customers, we
have built ourselves on the key pillars of smart people & smart solutions for business
promotion. We have developed an integrated solution delivery framework which
incorporates B2B marketplaces, Internet technology and industry knowledge.
.
IILs first B2B marketplace - IndiaMART.com, marked the beginning of online presence
of Indian businesses for a global exposure. The diversities of businesses makes it
imperative for us to custom delivers our solutions. This presents a great challenge of
accumulating & using industry knowledge to deliver high quality solutions.

ABOUT INDIAMART INTERMESH LTD

We endeavor to maximize value for our customers by offering those efficient and costeffective solutions for business promotion, process support and transaction
accomplishment.
Our customers have always found an integrated business promotion solution more
valuable than a simple web presence. Driven by this preference of our customers, we
have built ourselves on the key pillars of smart people & smart solutions for business
promotion. We have developed an integrated solution delivery framework which
incorporates B2B marketplaces, Internet technology and industry knowledge.
IIL's first B2B marketplace - IndiaMART.com, marked the beginning of online presence
of Indian businesses for a global exposure. We today serve our customers through a
network of over 50 industry / product marketplaces, making us the largest integrated B2B
marketplace network from India.
We have always seen Internet as a business facilitator rather than a technology
phenomenon. Our usage of Internet technology has therefore been directed towards
business promotion of our customers. Today, we cater to over 8,000 customers and make
Internet technology work for their business. The diversities of businesses makes it
imperative for us to custom delivers our solutions. This presents a great challenge of
accumulating & using industry knowledge to deliver high quality solutions. IIL has
developed and established standards for solution delivery and is India's first organization
of its kind to receive an ISO certification. TEAM IIL is poised to maximize the value
delivered to our customers through continuous innovation and learning.

Vision and Mission

We endeavor to maximize value for our customers by offering those efficient and costeffective solutions for business promotion, process support and transaction
accomplishment.

VISION
We strive to become an integral part of every organisations business promotion plan.
We envision providing complete business enhancement and promotion services to our
clients.
MISSION
With firm belief in our vision and with complete dedication integrity and honesty, we
endeavor to generate profitable returns for our customers through high quality business
promotion services and solutions that enhance revenues and are cost effective at the same
time.

Fact Sheet
IIL started its operations in 1996 and has stood its ground even in the toughest times. We
had a profitable business even when other companies in this domain found it hard to
sustain. Today, we operate from a 18,000 sq. ft. office in Noida (near Delhi), and have 20
branch offices spread all over the country. Our team includes over 550 professionals from
diverse background, bound together to serve over 8000 customers.

Highlights:
1996-97
Launched Indiamart.com as India's first online B2B directory
Successfully introduced the concept of free listing and free-query forwarding to
familiarize Indian SMEs with the benefits of Internet for business promotion
Accomplished India's first e-commerce project for Nirula's (http://nirulas.com)
Broke-even within six months of launch
1997-98
Crossed 100 clients mark
Launched Travel.indiamart.com (India's largest travel portal today)

 Initiated franchisee network building

1998-99
Launched Handicraft, Apparel and Finance channels
Workforce increased to 40
B2B marketplace network crossed 1 million page views/month mark
1999-2000
Accomplished 'Bharat On Line' - MTNL's online portal project
Launched auto industry channel
Opened branch office in Mumbai
2000-01
Touched 5 mn page views/month
Crossed 1000 clients mark
Crossed 100,000 business queries/month
Accomplished Online projects for HHEC, Jindal Organization, ModiCorp,
Won Britannica (BIG) Award for Travel.indiamart.com
New Branch Office in Chennai
Profits increased by 12.8% over last year
2001-02
Declared as "the only profitable Indian Dotcom, with positive cash flows" by
Business World - Cover Story: 14 May 2001 issue
Added to its service portfolio - Electronic Trade Offers, and Request for
Quotation / Request for Proposal
Recognized by CNBC India as one of the only profitable dotcoms in India
based on report by McKinsey

2002-03
Moved operations to state-of-the-art NOIDA development center
Launched Online Hotel Reservation System
Launched Exim.indiamart.com
Crossed 2 lakh business queries mark with 12 million page views
2003-04
Launched Trust SEAL to bridge the trust gap in B2B trade
Crossed 3000-clients mark
Touched 26 million page views per month, generating more than 3 lac
business queries.
2004-05
Became the first ISO 9001:2000 company in its domain
Launched an online payment gateway ABCPayments.com
Crossed 8000 clients
2005-06
IndiaMART.com completed ten successful years (1996-2006)
Crossed 10,000 clients mark
Launched MDC, a four-page online catalog for clients
Implemented corporate-wide WEBERP
Acquired new office at B-6, Sec 8, NOIDA
IIL's Indian Gifts Portal (IGP) team hit the charts with Rs. 1.3 crores

Future Growth Initiatives

IIL has been successfully serving businesses through its web-based business promotion
services. We have been able to make a mark on the global trade map by assisting our
customers reach out to their customers globally.
While we innovate continuously to offer greater value through our business promotion
services, we wish to model ourselves into a global, complete business promotion
solutions organization.
We are actively pursuing our way into the world of B2B publishing and Trade fairs. Our
entire suit of solutions shall be given an international dimension to serve a truly global
customer base. Using our experience of serving Indian businesses, we plan to scale our
solution delivery framework to the international level and serve customers across national
boundaries.

Core Values

For us they are simple and straight; Take responsibility, work with passion and
commitment, move ahead as a team and conserve the integrity.
We firmly believe that core values keep organizations stable and focused to the common
goal. Our core values have helped us achieve our mission to bring measurable benefits to
our customers.

Responsibility

Responsibility, not just of quality work but also of continuous self-development, of our
decisions and of our actions. This helps us think rationally and provides a sense of
accountability to ourselves, our commitment to customers and to our colleague.

 Passion

Work at IIL involves constant innovation and creativity. It involves a continuous thought
process to get tangible benefits to our customers, taking into account the uniqueness of
their purpose. Passionate people with a determination to make the difference are the ones
who make this possible.

Team Work

"Together we can achieve the impossible" is our belief. Our success is a result of our
teamwork. Experts from the field of management, marketing, IT, arts, content & various
other disciplines work as a team on every project, every endeavor. Dedication, passion
and teamwork are the true means to our mission fulfillment.

Integrity
We realize the importance of the job & information we handle. We understand the
responsibility that each member of our team has to shoulder and we do that with highest
levels of trust, honesty and integrity - of purpose and action.

Performance Indicators
IIL started with a team of 4 people in a 100 sq. ft. room in 1996 and launched India's first
truly interactive online business directory. Since then, we have grown to a team of over
800 people operating from 25 offices in India today

Awards & Achievements

Success of our customers is our greatest achievement. Their confidence in us and our
innovation, to give them the best, has got us applauds from various sources
IIL's successful business model featured on CNBC India as analyzed by McKinsey
Declared as India's only profit-making dotcom company by Business World
(Cover story)

 Special footage for IIL's contribution in enabling e-business for exporters from
Moradabad; Mr. Dinesh Agarwal interviewed (India Tomorrow - BBC News)
Www.indiantravelportal.com
bags eighth "BIG" Award from Britannicaindia.com
IndiaMART.com nominated for Britannica Internet Guide (BIG) Awards for
excellence on Internet.
IndiaMART.com listed among Top Indian Websites under Business - to
business category by Ecomready
The best India related yellow pages on the Net - Cosmopolitan
Top Indian Site by www.indiatimes.com
Termed as 'Online Gateway to Indian marketplace'- The Economic Times
Best Travel Site- www.indiantravelportal.com by India Online: DD News
Site of the day - Handicraft.indiamart.com by Zee News
Listed in the Top Indian IT organizations survey by Dataquest.
Intermesh Systems listed in the top 70 Indian IT organizations by
Communications World.
Indiamart.com, handicraft & finance top-rated amongst India's most wanted
Sites - PC World
Intermesh Systems listed amongst Indian IT companies - Dataquest
Nominated amongst the Top 5 Indian Sites by Microsoft
Termed as The Most Interactive Trading Zone on the Net by The Economic Times

SOLUTION

"Smart Solutions for Business Promotion" is the guiding factor for our R&D and

solution innovation. Our approach to customer satisfaction is based firmly on

our belief that we offer complete solutions vis--vis stand-alone services.
We assist our corporate customers in realizing their business enhancement goals through
our experienced, multi-discipline teams and a comprehensive set of services, all under
one roof. We understand the factors influencing businesses, their markets and diverse
needs. This helps us assist our customers by identifying the right solution and implement
it in the best possible way.
Unlike most cases where different components required for corporate websites are
sourced from different companies, our customers find it convenient in dealing with a
single entity for everything.
Our main objective is to bring tangible and intangible benefits to our customers through
professionally developed and well-marketed b2b product catalogs. We take into account
individual needs and offer assistance in planning & implementing online marketing
strategy. Each customer is assigned a project manager, with a team of proficient website
designers, programmers, content writers and web marketing professionals. We also
undertake the task of web promotion and ensure online visibility. An online buying
process, B2B or retail, would never be complete without e-commerce deployment any ecommerce deployment requires three basic things; an online catalogue, a shopping cart
and a payment gateway. We offer all three under one roof. We have our own payment
gateway "ABCpayments.com" to provide single point solution to our customers.

BUSINESS ENHANCEMENT

We offer business enhancement solutions that can be customized to serve the interests of
the SME segment as well as large enterprises, from diverse industries.
We understand the factors influencing businesses, their markets and diverse needs. This
helps us assist our customers by identifying the right solution and implement it in the best

possible way. We assist corporate to interact with their customers, keep the stakeholders
updated and augment their brand identity on the web.
Working with customers from different industries helped us develop a multi-feature
product that makes online product management easy. Designed for the SME segment, it
offers global exposure to manufacturers, suppliers & service providers to enhance their
sales. We understand global buyer's information needs & behavior coupled with expertise
in communicating the right message to them.
We offer technical skills & tools along with good business process
knowledge for online commerce setup, whether B2B or retail.
We are geared to adapt to our customers' unique demands and offer customized solutions
with equal ease.
.

Corporate Websites

Corporate need to interact with their customers, have to keep the stakeholders updated,
create and maintain a brand identity and project various aspects of business. Internet
based communication & marketing is today an integral part of their strategic marketing &
communication plan and therefore it needs a different treatment than a simple website for
a business.
We assist our corporate customers in realizing their business enhancement goals through
our experienced, multi-discipline teams and a comprehensive set of services, all under
one roof. Unlike most cases where different components required for corporate websites
are sourced from different companies, our customers find it convenient in dealing with a
single entity for everything.
We take into account individual needs and offer assistance in planning & implementing
online marketing strategy. Each customer is assigned a project manager, with a team of
proficient website designers, programmers ,content writers and web marketing
professionals. We also undertake the task of web promotion and ensure online visibility.
With our experience in managing complex and multi- discipline corporate website
projects, we ensure better results for our customers with least hassles.

CHAPTER
3
RESEARCH
OBJECTIVES

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

1. To understand the online promotional activities of a product like - Trade fare

,Print media ,Electronic media.
2. To know how international buyers are able to access the largest database of
Indian suppliers through INDIA MART.COM.
3. To gain knowledge about the various major components of online
promotions like Online Directory/Indiamart Yellow Pages, Online Product
Catalogs, Trade Leads , Product portals.
4. To understand how business promotions are done through online to attract
customers through various portals.
5. To survey the market through questionnaire preparation and understand the
customer's perception regarding the online promotional activities of the
MSMEs

CHAPTER

4
LITERATURE
REVIEW

Starting the journey from 1996, with a small member in the functioning process, IndiaMART has
tried to give a smart proposition in the field of online promotional activities.

IndiaMART.com-

Shaping The Value Proposition

India needed to improve its foreign earnings. The liberalized International Trade
decisions in 1996 included :
Incentives on Import and Export,
Focus on small and medium business.

Opportunity for IndiaMART

Internet was widely being used in US for business at a very low cost.
Global buyers saw India as a lucrative supplier in a number of industries,
Hardly any organized supplier information was available from India; Export
Promotion Councils/Trade Agencies did not offer enough informations also.
Based on the above ,the targeted market for us was:

Business in India matches with our geographical presence,

Small & Medium Size willing to take more risk in order to achieve higher
growth,
Interest in International Trade- high value proposition for sellers.

PURPOSE
Thus the main purpose of us that, We are a business promotion company,
offering SERVICES & SOLUTIONS, to small and medium sized level
business in India for increasing the REVENUES and REDUCING COSTS
using internet and Internet technology.

B 2B MATCHMAKER
IndiaMART

SELLERS

BUYERS

ONLINE DIRECTORY WITH LARGE

NUMBER OF REGISTERED
BUSINESSES ATTRACTING LARGE
NUMBER OF BUYERS AND SELLERS
THUS PROVIDING A SOLUTION FOR
BOTH THE BUYERS AND THE
SELLERS.
LARGE NUMBER OF
BUYERS
LOW MARKETING COSTS
TIME ( FAST SELLING)
RELIABLE BUYERS

LARGE NUMBER OF
SUPPLIERS
LOW MARKETING COST
TIME (FAST SELLING)

B2B MARKETPLACE
B2B Marketplace is a platform where manufacturers, suppliers, distributors and exporters
meet through with the help of search engines. Search Engines are basically a web tool designed
to search for information on the world wide web. List of search engines includes Google, Yahoo,
MSN, ask.com etc. B2B marketing meaning information or databases of business to
business marketing. B2B Marketplace is the hub of marketing tools through which search
engine scrolls databases available on the net. B2B marketplace therefore provides immense
knowledge about the products one wishes to buy or sell through or give information regarding
their products, profiles, services etc.
B2B Marketplace offers wide benefits to the manufacturers, suppliers, buyers, exporters as well
as importers.
These benefits are as follows:
* One stop marketplace for sellers and buyers.
* Makes Trading more easy and convenient.
* Provides better opportunity for manufacturers, suppliers and convenient shopping for buyers.
* Time saving and fastest mode of trading through online.
* Cost saving and reduce elevated cost.
* Increase sale volume by providing various online trading tools tools by web portals.
* Increase productivity and hence generate revenue to the company by providing techniques and
more advanced method of online trading.
Therefore, B2B marketplace is a huge market hub for manufacturers, buyers, suppliers,
importers and exporters. These provide an opportunity to trade better and avail new businesses
or services by just browsing sites through online.
Business nowadays involves many more complexities and intricacies include Govt. Rules &
Regulations, Country Trading Laws, EXIM Policy and Other Trade Laws & Associations.
So, business opportunities becomes very essential as it saves time and helps in avoiding business
complexities.

B2b PORTALS

B2B (business-to-business) websites include all internet-based technical solutions which

facilitate services in the establishment of new trading relationships between companies and
supporting the existing relationships. It can be termed as an e-market for e-business transactions.
A B2B portal primarily serves as a platform for wholesalers, retailers, distributors and
manufacturers to carry out their business activities online. It allows electronic transfer of orders,
invoicing and payments. B2B stands for business to business, so in B2B site the communication
and transaction is between one business ventures to another business venture, here the targeted
customers are not approached directly, it does not sell directly to the end user.
B2B site has become one of the most sorts out and techno-savvy mode for business transactions
as well as a platform for sales. It provides the user the opportunity to reach out to companies and
businesses globally. Marketing done through the B2B portals is exclusively online thus there are
no print, distribution or postage costs plus it is measurable through sophisticated tracking
software. B2B online marketing is an essential part from buyers perspective as well as sellers
perspective. For buyers it facilitates in searching new suppliers, post buying requests, and search
for used or new investment goods. For a seller point of view, it makes easy to find out buyers for
their products, they could sell online new as well as used products. They could even access the
information about their competitors.

IndiaMART.com & The Network-

Benefit to the Buyers

International buyers are able to access the largest database of Indian suppliers instantly.

IndiaMART.com is the only Indian marketplace which offers trusted supplier profiles,
which makes it easier for the buyers to take an informed decision.

Largest variety of products, of desired quality from India, it is the fastest mode of
communicating with a large number of sellers simultaneously, thereby reducing the total
cost of purchasing.

Only Indian marketplace which offers single-point source of not just supplier data &
catalogs but also offers industry and product information along with general trade and
exim information.

Due to large number of sellers on the marketplace, buyers get the most competitive
pricing.

This is how it gives most of the benefits to the buyers so as to get an international access
of the suppliers according to the need of their products.

IndiaMART.COM & The Network- Benefits to The Sellers

Indian suppliers get access to a large pool of international buyers instantly,

Reduce the communication cost and International marketing cost which amounts upto
20% of the total turnover,
Opportunity to the buyers and sellers to operate from a virtual office and access business
enquiries without any need for proper official setup.
Buyers and the sellers deal with each other directly, without any intermediary. Business
queries generated are forwarded to the suppliers without any intermediation.

IndiaMART.com MARKETPLACE FACTS

3 SERVICE PORTALS,
13+ Industry portals,
126+ product portals,
100+ Travel portals,
5 Lac+ registered companies,
5 Lac+ business enquiries every month,
50 Million + unique visitors every month,Most visited Indian B2B marketplaces

MAJOR COMPONENTS
ONLINE DIRECTORY,

ONLINE PRODUCT CATALOGS

TRADE LEADS
INDUSTRY VERTICALS

PRODUCT PORTALS

ONLINE DIRECTORY

IndiaMART offers :

Comprehensive business directory of Indian/Foreign manufacturers ,suppliers and service

providers.

Facility of interviewing their company profile, product catalogs, verified business details,

Sending an online request for quote,

All the product/service categories have their own unique URLs which are individually
promoted on internet as manufacturers, exporters/service providers of respective
products/services,

Search engine optimization of company listing pages,

ONLINE PRODUCT CATALOGS
IndiaMART has over 15000 business catalogs of Indian suppliers vahing more than 100000
unique product portals in total. This is the largest collection of products from India.

User friendly advanced search based makes it easy to find out any product,

Information is well laid out and categorized in a way that it makes navigation
through the platform easy and fast,
Special identification for the latest catalogs added which helps the repeat visitors to easily
identify new products,

Direct link to catalogs of related categories and products

Direct visibility of various product pages in search engine.

BENEFITS :

It is the largest aggregation of catalogs from India, thereby making it most

comprehensive source of product information for the buyers,

Catalogs expedite the decisions making process of buyers thereby making it one of the
most preferred sources for product sourcing by the buyers,

Customers can view all the products & its variation , allowing them to make informed
decisions,

Routine tasks & queries such as downloading files & clarifying product specifications
can be automatically handled on the websites,

Suppliers reach many new entities without the need for the typical marketing expenses &
investment,

Enjoys top searches positions on all major search engines , because of which a good
amount of buyer traffic is generated through online catalogs.
You can search the catalogs online through catalogs.indiamart.com

TRADE LEADS

It provides for the buyers/sellers to post/reply to offer for for buying & selling of
products and establishing business association in India.
Buyers and sellers can post their trade offers to either buy or sell a product/ service or to
enter into a business association.
Once an offer is posted, the interested buyer ,seller or potential business associate can
reply to this trade offer online.
The reply generated reaches the person who posted the original trade offer, thereby
initiating a business dialog.
Effective tool for faster business response.

BENEFITS

Buyers can search for vendors who can supply the products & services they need both
for ad hoc as well as regular purchase.
If they do not find the product on their choice on sale ,they can post a buying requirement
and get the quotations right at their desktop, rather having to search for a supplier.
It is the fastest way for the buyers to access direct product information , put on sale by a
seller,
It also provides priority listing to the client offers

INDUSTRY VERTICALS

A complete marketplace in itself

Focus on a specific industry or product only,
o For eg- while IndiaMART.com covers all the industries,handicraft.indiamart.com
focuses on the Indian handicrafts industry,
o Aggregates disparate content and services of interest to a particular industry and
makes it available to buyers and sellers from that industry,

In case of vertical portals the audience or participants may be smaller , but they possess
higher interest as the audience is highly targeted,

Like IndiaMART.com, all its member vertical portals have a directory, catalogs, trade
leads, newsletter, search and industry/product information section of their own.

BENEFITS
It is the source of generating business enquiries,

No other marketplace in India has such a wide and information rich portfolio of industry
verticals,
Offers multiple promotion to suppliers who build a website/catalog with IIL ,
It helps to get focused buyers, resulting in better quality enquiries

CHAPTER

5
CONCEPTUAL
FRAMEWORK

B2B Product Catalogs

Manufacturers, exporters, suppliers and service providers from the SME segment need domestic
& international exposure to enhance their sales. A static b2b product catalog is an ideal first step
for them for global presence. Our b2b products catalogs are fully managed, including designing,
content editing, hosting, strategic web promotion and its annual maintenance.
It is a cost effective tool that reduces time and costs involved in reaching out to a prospective
buyer. An online b2b product catalog is not just a showcase of the company and its products, but
also a great marketing tool to enhance revenue generation as it caters to the scattered domestic
market as well as the international market.
Our main objective is to bring tangible and intangible benefits to our customers through
professionally developed and well-marketed b2b product catalogs

E- Commerce Solution

An online buying process, B2B or retail, would never be complete without e- commerce
deployment. Though the most common form of online shopping is reflected in retailing of goods
and services, our e-commerce solution is suitable for the B2B segment (for negotiated prices,
bulk deals, sample exchange) also.
For an e-commerce setup, businesses usually approach different service providers to consolidate
all components required. We make it easier for our customers by offering fully-managed,
consolidated e-commerce solutions.
Any e-commerce deployment requires three basic things; an online catalogue, a shopping cart
and a payment gateway. We offer all three under one roof. We have our own payment gateway
"ABCpayments.com" to provide single point solution to our customers.

Dynamic Product Catalogs

Working with customers from different industries helped us develop a multi-feature

dynamic product catalog that makes online product management extremely easy.

Some companies change their product catalogs frequently as their product designs change fast or
they have new products to offer. The cost of updating & sending the updated static/printed
catalogs in such cases is very high. A dynamic product catalog, is a cost-effective innovative
solution that allows a company to develop/update its online product catalog with full control over
its product navigation and product information.
Our dynamic product catalog offers following features

Display management system that allows personalized design and presentation of the catalog.
This involves development of a homepage, profile page, enquiry form, static information pages
and product presentation layout, based on which the product catalog is displayed.
Product management system that allows clients to update and display products and details. It
allows adding or editing product and product details, and upload the changes.
Enquiry basket that allows visitors to select multiple products & add to the virtual cart to send a
consolidated order / enquiry and request a quote for the same
. It is a system that replicates the physical catalog and at the same time offers the
flexibility of updating it as per the customer's convenience of time and location

Multimedia CD Presentation

Interactive presentation about an organization or its products is amongst the best ways to garner
attention of prospective buyers and customers. With increasing competition, suppliers recognize
the value of positioning themselves ahead of their competitors. Multimedia CD presentations are
an ideal way to achieve the same.
Our teams expertise in delivering business enhancement solutions gives us an edge while we
develop multimedia CD presentations for our customers. We assist our customers through
planning, designing and content management to
create and impressive and engaging presentation. Our customers would commonly use these CD
presentations for trade shows and exhibitions, buyer presentations,product catalog or as give
away reference material. Multimedia CD presentations are not just convenient means of
presentations, they are handy, have a longer shelf life and can easily relate to the company's
brand image

Customized Solution

We offer business enhancement solutions that can be customized to serve the interests of the
SME segment as well as large enterprises, from diverse industries.
Some of our customers have specific requirements that cannot be served with our standard
solutions. Their requirements are highly specific to their business and are unique in nature. Such
requirements need special inputs and custom solution development. For such instances we
customize our solutions or even create new ones, if need be.We have been able to use our
expertise in business enhancement combined with expertise in areas like IT, content editing,
designing and online marketing to successfully implement customized solutions for our
customers.

MAILING/COMMUNICATION

We offer "fully managed" mailing solutions that encompass management of mailing system,
online virus blocking & Spam protection and streamlining of business communication process.
Emails have become an integral & critical part of every organizations external as well as
internal communication system. Organizations are finding it extremely difficult to fulfill their
need for secure, reliable & multi-discipline mailing from basic facilities offered by ISP and Webbased services.

Our solutions are aimed reducing communication costs apart from offering a secure and
reliable communication solution. We are experienced in serving mail users across small,
medium & large enterprises and have developed the most inexpensive email management
system, with flexible utilities. We offer the best telephonic and online support to our customers
as and when required. "Fully-managed" enterprise mailing solutions are aimed at offering hassle
free mail management for medium and large enterprises. A web-based, easy-to-use tool for
structured business communicationmanagement, it comes with power-packed smart reporting
features.Online Anti-Spam & anti-virus enabled roaming POP a/c's with web mail offers peaceof
mind to business users.

Enterprise Mailing Solution

It is an established fact that almost 80% of the virus attacks are through e-mails and over 60% of
the mails are Spamming. Imagine what havoc a virus attack can cause to an enterprise where
each individual is handling crucial data. Add to it the work hindrance due to heavy Spam and
server downtime. With our experience and technical skills, we have developed an enterprise
mailing solution that skillfully tackles these issues. This system can work with your existing
mailing system as well, with advanced features.
Apart from ensuring 99% uptime for the mail servers, we also power our managed enterprise
mailing solution with online virus scanner & Spam controller that enables users to work more
efficiently. We offer managed mail servers for companies with large setup and heavy mail traffic
that are secure, maintain privacy & confidentiality and are able to handle as many users as an
enterprise may have.
Our managed mail server solution also allows all internal users to communicate over LAN with
other cost-effective features like Auto Dialing, Address Mappings, Auto Reply, Forwarding, and
Mailing lists etc. Our solution also lets our customers retain control over certain functions, e.g.
creating a new user or maintaining mailing lists etc., giving sufficient independence to them.

POP A/c's with Web mail

POP accounts with web mail are a perfect solution for people constantly on move. Our pop a/c's
with web mail service allows the users to check mail from anywhere, using e-mail programs
such as Eudora or Outlook. All you need is a computer and access to the Internet. Apart from the
standard features, our pop accounts are powered with online virus and Spam protection software
that enables the user to work more efficiently. Some of the other features of pop accounts are:
Multi featured web mail interface, accessible worldwide.
Regular technical support
99.9% uptime.

Lead Management System

Since our inception, we have been offering business enhancement solutions for generating high
quality business enquiries. To ensure that suppliers have higher conversion rates, we have
developed an effective lead management system (LMS).
The LMS automatically organizes all incoming mails and maintains a threaded history of the
entire communication. The users have the facility to set the schedule for follow-up. They can
compose mails with pre-defined content and use it for regular responses. The users can also feed
offline leads received from any other source like phone etc. and maintain a complete history of
communication.
LMS also generates useful MIS reports that assist individual users to measure the effectiveness
of their responses and gives the administrator a complete overview of what is happening at the
lead management front in the organization.

B2B MARKETPLACE SERVICES

We have the privilege of launching India's largest B2B marketplace - IndiaMART.com and
more than 50 other industry specific marketplaces. These attract focused business visitors
and generate business enquiries for their members.
We use our network of B2B marketplaces to assist businesses gain global exposure and do
business with global buyers. These marketplaces have a membership of more than 300,000
companies. They together generate more than 40mn page views and over 350,000 trade
enquiries every month. They are therefore best positioned to offer maximum exposure and
visibility to suppliers to reach out to global buyers with their products/services. Highly
targeted, animated banners to get high profile buyers and generate quality business enquiries
assured genuine business enquiries, exclusive access to complete advertising space and a
customized product catalog.
Top position in business listings to drive high-volume, high quality buyers from across the
globe 20,000+ government and corporate tenders from India, with easy access on the web or
through e-mail. Sellers gain instant credibility with Trust Seal and get qualified enquiries
from high volume buyers. The wide range of B2B market place services include the
following services offered by the India mart intermesh limited:

Banner Advertising

A banner is the most conventional and popular mode of reaching out to the target audience
on the Internet. It works both as a brand building and traffic generation tool for the
advertiser.
With our 50-plus industries oriented B2B marketplaces, which garner highly targeted
viewership from global buyers and Indian sellers, we are best positioned to serve the business
generation & brand building needs of large and small businesses.
Our industry experts work with the advertisers to identify strategic locations for banner
placement and ensure highest click-throughs. We firmly believe that a meticulously planned
advertising campaign is the only way to deliver better value for our advertiser's money. We
have well defined positions on almost every page of our network; usually in the first screen
itself. We serve animated and real media banners in the standard sizes of 468 x 60 pixels and
120 x 90 pixels and are equipped to handle custom sizes for specific campaigns.

Premium Listings

The premium listings are an important element that draws high quality traffic to a supplier's
website / product catalog, thereby generating effective business enquiries for the supplier. It
is one of the best ways to reach out to potential global buyers and get them to view products
and services offered by the supplier.
Packed full of features, it offers top positions to a company's listing in business directory,
catalogs and trade leads. Studies have proven that top ranked listings get a higher click rate
than the rest. According to our internal assessment, these top ranked listings receive 3-5
times as many clicks as the normal business listings, thus creating an opportunity to garner
better quality and quantity of business enquiries.
We offer two versions of premium listings - Featured and Normal. The first three listings in a
category are reserved for Featured Premium Listings and the next three for Normal Premium
Listings. Every listing contains the company name, brief profile, contact information, and
direct link to catalog and a link to online enquiry form.

Portal Sponsorships

Portal sponsorship is a specially designed online promotion program that assists buyers in
reaping maximum benefits from a product / industry focused marketplace with least time &
cost.
As global buyers prefer to visit focused and comprehensive portals for their product sourcing
needs, hence these portals garner a niche target audience, most relevant for a supplier. By
offering the complete advertising rights of the portal to the sponsor, we make sure that no
buyer misses out the sponsor.
Along with the sponsorship, we also develop a customized product catalog section for the
sponsor within the portal, which can be referenced by the buyers for sending enquiries. This
leads to high quality enquiries being generated for the sponsor.

Online Tenders

Thousands of tenders are floated in India by different organizations and through different
media. To keep a track of them is a monumental task for any individual. To facilitate access
to all tenders floated by the government and private organizations all over India, we started
online tenders service.
We collect tenders from multiple sources and categorize them to feed it in our classified
database. We provide access to over 20,000 current government, corporate tenders and
procurement notices from India.
The subscribers can view a tender on http://tenders.indiamart.com using a username and
password or can get the notifications e-mailed to their mailbox.

Trust Seal

Success in business is all about making right & informed decisions. Availability of relevant,
verified information is therefore a key requirement. With greater uncertainties associated
with international trade, the importance of this information is further enhanced. In order to
offer end-to-end solutions to global buyers and sellers, buyers need relevant, unbiased
information about the business status of the sellers. And here steps in Trust Seal.

Trust Seal is an indication of trustworthiness of a business based upon its verified record of
certified documents pertaining to proof of existence, legal status, statutory approvals,
affiliations and quality certification. It aims at serving the dual purpose of:

Offering international buyers the desired business information about the

suppliers so that they can make a more informed decision, and
Assisting the sellers market themselves better to the global buyers.

Trust Seal is not an evaluation service but is a symbol of authenticity to the information
provided by the supplier. It denotes that information provided by the client has been
authenticated and verified by a third party with document proof. This information is available
to the buyer on request. A Trust Seal can be offered only to those companies, which qualify
the minimum defined parameters of business evaluation.

ONLINE PAYMENT GATEWAY

We offer end-to-end online payment solutions that are as feasible for B2B
transactions as for retail.
We offer online payment solutions to our customers through ABCpayments.com. It is a fully
managed online payment solution that facilitates member companies transact with their
customers. It has been developed to serve the needs of B2B as well as retail transactions.
Member users can select from multiple payment acceptance options to suit their
requirement. They can integrate it with their shopping cart or can use options such as:
online invoicing, quick pay etc. to receive payments from their buyers.
ABCpayments.com has a solution for almost every online payment requirement,
including
: Small value payment for samples or an advance
Payments for custom made products,
Negotiated price payment.
ABCpayments.com is one of the most secured platforms in the world, which accepts
payments through major credit cards (MasterCard, Visa, Diners) and e-banking from almost
all the major Indian banks.
We adopt stringent security measures to ensure that critically sensitive information, such as
your customers personal information and their credit card/ debit cards/ net banking details
are protected.

Some of the main features of ABCpayments.com are:

Fraud detection tool.

No merchant account required.
Prompt payments, short payment cycles.
Compatible with third-party shopping carts.
Multiple transaction services.
Highly secure 128 bit SSL encryption.
Online and off line technical support.

Online invoice management system.

Online payment acceptance interface.

SECURITY

ABCpayments.com offers the highest level of Security.

Thawte Certified 128bit SSLEncryption Suspect Alert & Risk Minimization System also
facilitates the security systems.

QUALITY

We are the first Indian company in our domain to have received ISO 9001:2000 certification for
overall quality management and the organizations ability to successfully "meet customer,
regulatory and statutory requirements".

ISO CERTIFICATION HAS ENDORSED OUR POLICY OF ENHANCING THE VALUE

DELIVERED TO OUR CLIENTS BY CONTINUALLY INPROVING THE QUALITY OF
SERVICES OFFERED THROUGH STRUCTURED SYSTEMS AND INTERNAL
DESCIPLINE.

Our approach to quality has a customer focus philosophy. Our focused

approach towards quality ensures profitable returns for our customers.

We are accredited with ISO 9001:2000 for our business processes and
management system, the first of its kind in its domain in India
.
We utilize our technical skills and business acumen to bring the best business
solutions to our customers.

OUR APPROACH
We are the first Indian company in our domain to have received ISO 9001:2000 certification for
overall quality management and the organizations ability to successfully "meet customer,
regulatory and statutory requirements".

We have teams that include professionals from the field of management, sales & marketing,
data management, graphic design, content editing, online marketing and IT. We use our
multi-discipline skills to determine customer needs, convert them into requirements and
fulfill them with an aim of achieving customer satisfaction.

CERTIFICATIONS

We are the first Indian company in our domain to have received ISO 9001:2000 certification
for overall quality management and the organizations ability to successfully "meet customer,
regulatory and statutory requirements".

Our quality management system involves a set of procedures to follow:

We have a well-defined system of recruiting people based on the requirement. The basic
criteria for this are adequate education and training or experience as necessary.

We have prescribed training schedules for the newly recruited as well as the
existing depending upon their competency requirements,
Our customer related procedures involve requirement identification, review, and
product implementation and customer communication,
The processes are planned as per the customer requirements.
Set procedures are followed for design and development.
Internal softwares are used to check the correctness of the designed product.
Each stage of work progress is monitored and measured to evaluate performance.

HOW WE ENSURE QUALITY

We are the first Indian company in our domain to have received ISO 9001:2000 certification
for overall quality management and the organizations ability to successfully "meet customer,
regulatory and statutory requirements".
We utilize our technical skills and business acumen to bring the best business solutions to our
customers. Since our services are human resource oriented, we need to work with a proper
plan to get the best. There are prescribed set of procedures that we follow right from
recruiting people to delivering the services and their further evaluation and improvements.
Training and development of the employees is well taken care of to enhance employee skills.
We devote extra man-hours by involving more professionals for each project. The project
team generally includes professionals from varied fields such as sales and marketing, data
management, software development, graphic designing, content editing and online
marketing.
Our clients get a consistent input of work progress through the team manager. We ensure that
each team member follows the set procedures and checks at every stage of project

development and implementation. With all our efforts we deliver solutions that delight our
customers by their quality, presentation and profitable returns.

STRATEGIES UNDERTAKEN DURING THE TRAINING

I have used following strategies to achieve our sales and lead generation target.

COLLECTION OF RELIABLE DATABASE

Indiamart provided us already registered client detail of indiamart.com, tradeindia.com,
allibaba.com and others.
We got client database from website of indiamart.com of free listed, paid up and drop out clients
of tradeindia.com and alibaba.com. The directory of indiamart.com has provided us renewable
client list from dir.indiamart.com website. Also I referred the yellow pages, telephone directory
of notified area of Naihati, kamarpukur, Garia, Baghajatin , to sort out the prospect clients.
I was given proper guidance and details about the clients of small manufacturing industries of
Kolkata, who were either dormant or inactive. The frequency of the purchases was very much
less. Then I was asked to identify my prospects and then sell them promotional services and
generated leads by applying our own methodology and knowing the suppliers perception towards
our methodology.

CLIENT SEGMENTATION
As the given database was huge it was not possible to do cold calling for each and every
customer. For this purpose I identified eligible clients and most interested persons. This category
of customers had a great potential for investments in online marketing of their products and were
much easier to convince. For example I have identified Maktel Control System and Pvt Ltd,
Garia Texway, Shiv Shakti Chemicals and Shimmer Chemicals, who are able to spend money to

get the online promotional services for their product to enhance their sales activities ultimately
which leads to increase business volume and revenue of organization.

As per my market research by questionnaire tool I derived that the clients who have already
participated in exhibitions and further willing to do mass marketing through advertisement and
internet. Industries situated at Haldia like Advance Syntex and Finex Pvt Ltd had participated in
the tradefair which were organized earlier in the Rabindra Sadan ground. And they are willing to
participate once again in mass marketing like tradefair and also we would like to cater online
promotion services after our approach.
For the segmentation of interested clients I used questionnaire to be filled up by clients. I have
adopted door to door policy to make them aware and to get their responses about online
marketing through www.indiamart.com, www.tradeindia.com, www.alibaba.com,
www.indianexporters.com, etc.., mass advertisements through exhibitions, tradefair and print
media of indiamart.com and any more B2B business portals. During this market survey, I
differentiate interested clients who have given the positive response to me and non-interested as
well as not eligible to serve them online promotional services who have given negative responses
towards the online marketing policy. I have sort listed Jay Industries, Hi Tech Engineering,
Ambrodia Remedies Pvt Ltd, Danke Electrical Power Pvt Ltd, Econix Hi Tech Components Pvt
Ltd, Heat Technologies Pvt Ltd and Arihant Industries, which are the non interested and not
eligible to register in the online marketing business portals like www.indiamart.com,
www.tradeindiamart.com ,etc. On account of their budget constraint, demand of product in local
region only, so they are not required to serve this kind of online marketing of their product at
international and national level.
I have differentiated small scale industries on the basis of their sales like global sellers by
imports- exports, local sellers or national sellers. As per these criteria I must approach industry
which plays roles in selling activity at global and at least at national level like Climax Synthetic
Pvt Ltd, Kaps Engineers and Sameer Linkages (export) Pvt Ltd generate sale order on
international level from different country like U.K., European countries and in India too. The
Prime Components Company is supplier to Government only, so I ignore this company on an
account of his local selling activity or due to fixed buyer.

AWARENESS OF THE PROSPECT CLIENTS

After identifying the prospect I do a little analysis of profile of that client. I studied his level of
turnover, production capacity, current status of his business, his needs for generating sales
volume, range of products, product category, competitors of his business, other manufacturing
units of same client, his marketing policy, awareness about online promotional services,
knowledge of indiamart.com and many more organization which provides online marketing of
his product, his products consumption in various field, his expenditure towards the marketing of
his products, his future planning of action, his client database, etc. Because these are the factors
which decide what type of proposals or best offer would be suitable for satisfying his needs.
If the client is having more than 50 products then I offered him to display all kind if products
i.e., unlimited numbers of product on www.myindia.com portal which is another B2B portal of
indiamart.com. So he would be able to attach his 300 no. of product at time and we provide him
zoom up facility to observe each product individually on website of indiamart.com.
Also I offered them to launch their own website followed by www.indiamart.com portal and
others more than 100 B2B portals which are sister concern of indiamart.com portals as well as
their e-mail id to create transparency between seller and purchaser to keep confidentiality due to
their monopoly in the plastic industries.
Similarly for new clients and old manufacturers willing to take little risk, I advise them to
develop websites by IT professionals of indiamart and register for the premium listing to get the
very first presence among all other listed companies and rotatory advertisement banner in their
product category website on www.indiamart.com to ensure maximum traffic and more hits on
their own organizations online platforms.

FRESH CALLING AND COLD CALLING

After identifying prospects I did cold calling to these customers. I kept my target as 8 calls per
day. I approached to them as customer service executives and asked them whether they are
satisfied with the services given by INDIAMART.COM or are, they facing any problems? Then
I also asked them the reason for their less investment in online marketing services, if any .After

listening to their arguments, I gave them information regarding new online promotional proposal
launched by indiamart.com and tried to convince them to give me an appointment.
I was succeeded by applying this strategy of fresh calling and cold calling in case of Shimmer
Chemicals and Maktel Control Systems and Pvt Ltd. to generate the leads.
We called those clients who are not able to give us time from their busy schedule and try to make
them aware about online promotion of their product and how much it would be beneficial for
their business if they once login into www.indiamart.com B2B portals. I informed clients that if
they are free listed on indiamart.com portal, how much benefits they can receive due to relevant
business inquiries generated. We also try to collect the experience of those client who have opted
for free listing registration and try to know their interest for the online marketing services so that
it would be easier for us to convert them into paid clients to show them more benefits and the
benefits of guaranteed 25 no. of buyers free list and 70 to 80 business inquiries after login into
the www.indiamart.com platform. Some clients do not permit us to meet them in their office; at
that time we try to be very flexible with their time convenience approaching and convincing the
project.
After getting appointment, I would visit customers working area or his administration offices and
start solving his queries or giving him the information of various promotional services which is
more beneficial to him. I would always equip myself with all the documents like product
brochure includes product detail, print media like magazine of indiamart.com, Performa
invoices, and my log book. I always inform the customer the best offer available according to his
requirements. I would then give a detailed fundamental and technical analysis of those online
promotional services which is beneficial and interesting to customer. This fundamental analysis
has helped me a lot as it creates an impression in mind of customer about the online marketing
field. But this fundamental analysis has to be more clear and precise. Customer becomes very
much happy if he gets comparison of various fundamental and technical aspects of different
companies like tradeindia.com and alibaba.com from alexa.com and ranking.com to do the
comparative analysis. As it makes the online promotional services self explanatory and easy to
compare. This type of information creates confidence and positive impact in the mind of the
customer which helps in convincing the prospect easily. Moreover I also leave my contact
number to each customer I visit, so that he can contact me in case of any queries at later stage.

CLOSING THE MEETING

At the end of the meeting, the customer would fill up questionnaire form for generating leads and
if they show more interest then I offer new proposal of online promotion services. I asked them if
I can approach them in near future for dealing with indiamart.com

The success ratio for me to generate a prospect into a customer is around 53%. The main aim of
selecting relevant clients is that they have a lump sum business inquires at their online platform.
So if I get a single application, it will help me to accomplish my monthly target.

SALES SUPPORT SERVICE

Once the customer purchases online promotional services I always give him a feedback call if he
has some doubts regarding his product catalogs or whether he is really feeling comfortable or not
with our workouts. Sometimes customer demands inquiry statements during mid of the period
for which I am always ready to serve. If client requires any editing in web pages like adding
more products or adding details of the products, changes in some important information. These
all queries are given first priority and always try to maintain their level of satisfaction.

ACHIEVEMENTS

1. understood the concept of online promotional services

2. Types of schemes available in online marketing
3. Got knowledge of how the organization functions
4. How to interact with clients.
5. Understanding clients perception.
6. Handling client queries and objections.
7. Filling up questionnaire forms, Performa invoices, Know your client (KYC)
Requirements.

8. Understood concept of B2B portals, online marketing and mass advertising.

9. Understood functioning of organizational hierarchy
10. All formal communication channels used in organization

11. How organization measures performance of their employees,

12. How to develop and maintain corporate relationship, etc

CHAPTER
5
RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research refers to a search for knowledge. It can be defined as a scientific and

systematic search for pertinent information on a specific topic.
Research comprises defining and redefining problems, formulating hypothesis or
suggested solutions; collecting, organizing and evaluating data; making deduction and
reaching conclusions; and at last carefully testing the conclusions to determine whether
they fit the formulating hypothesis Clifford Wood.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

It is a way to systematically solve the research problem. It may be understood as science

of studying how research is done scientifically. In it we study the various steps that are
generally adopted by the researcher in studying his research problem along with the logic
behind them. In general methodology is an optional framework within which the facts are
placed so that the meaning may be seen more clearly. The sources of data shown that
designing of a research plan calls for decision on the data sources are research
approaches (primary and secondary data) research instruments (observation survey
experiment) sampling plan and contact methods(personal interviews).

RESEARCH DESIGN

A research design is the determination and statement of the general research approach or
strategy adopted for the particular project. It is the heart of the planning. If the design
adheres to the research objectives, it will ensure that the client need will be served.
Research design is a plan structured and strategies of investigation. It is the arrangement
of condition and analysis of data in a manner to combine relevance to the research
purpose with economy in procedure.
In order to achieve the objective it was necessary to talk to the suppliers and public to
draws the conclusions regarding the objective.
For visiting the suppliers and publics to collect the relevant information; a questionnaire
has to be designed. The questionnaire was designed in such a manner to achieve the
objective of the research. The sample size taken is 50 respondents.

TYPE OF RESEARCH

In this project , Descriptive Research has been used.

Descriptive Research

This is a kind of research structure which is concerned with describing the characteristics
of the problem. In this way the main purpose of such a research design is to present a
descriptive picture about the marketing problem on the basis of actual facts. For this it is
important to obtain the complete and actual information about the subjects.

NATURE OF RESEARCH
Quantitative type of research has been used. As all the data was based on numerical
figures obtained in the survey.

TYPE OF QUESTIONS
The questions were self-administered, with a view to obtain maximum information from
the respondent that is why the questions were straightforward.

TYPE OF QUESTIONNAIRE
The entire questionnaire was standardized and formalized.

TYPE OF ANALYSIS
As all the data found in the survey are totally numericals so the type of analysis was
statistical.

SOURCE OF DATA
PRIMARY DATA
The data which is collected fresh and for the first time and thus happen to be the original
one characteristic is called primary data.
SECONDARY DATA
The data which is already collected by someone else and which have been passed through
the statistical process is known as the secondary data.

METHODS OF COLLECTING PRIMARY DATA

Interview Method

In this project I have taken the questionnaire method for collecting necessary
information. In this method a questionnaire is given to the person concerned with
question to answers the question and return the questionnaire. A questionnaire consists
of number of questions printed in a definite order on a form or a set of forms.

SELECTION OF THE SAMPLE/SAMPLING PLAN

This is one of the most important steps of a research design procedure. Generally in most
of the marketing studies on sample or most of the sub group of the total population
pertaining to the subject is included on place of the universe.
The following things are primarily considered in the sample:-

Sample Size
The sample size of the population was 50 respondents.
Sample Extent

East Kolkata
West Kolkata
Sampling Methods

The sampling method for the survey was random sampling. Random sampling suggest a
way of sample selection where in any item of the population is likely to be selected in a
sample as any other item it means that all items of the population have equal probability
of being selected in the sample.

SECONDARY DATA COLLECTION

The report mainly consists of data from the primary source gathered through the
schedule of questions and from other sources of websites,newspapaers,etc.

TABLE SHOWING PRECISELY THE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Project Research Type:

Descriptive Research

Data Sources:

Primary Data , Secondary Data

Research Approach:

Survey Method

Research Instrument:

Questionnaire

Data Analysis:

Logical analysis

Sampling Procedure:

Random Sampling

Sample Size:

50 Respondents

Geographical Coverage:

East and West kolkata

Duration of the Survey:

6 weeks

CHAPTER
7
ANALYSIS &
INTERPRETATION

FOR HOW LONG YEARS YOU ARE USING INTERNET?

INTERPRETATION:

25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
1 YEAR

2 YEARS

3 YEARS

MORE

I wanted to know the duration of

using internet of the suppliers.After
calculating the options I found that it
was only 5% of the suppliers who are
using internet for a year.Most of them
are familiar with the internet for more
than 3 years which is about 27% out
of the 50 respondents.

HAVE YOU DONE ANY TRANSACTION OVER INTERNET?

INTERPRETATION:

100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
YES

NO

While asking the question of the usage

of internet, 85% of the suppliers have
done several transactions over internet.
It implies the fact that as internet is
very popular among the business,so a
brief knowledge of that is also present
with them.

WHICH TRANSACTION HAVE YOU MADE OVER INTERNET?

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

INTERPRETATION :
Through this question I can clearly
formulate that ,many of the suppliers
use internet in their business
purpose,others use for recharging
mobile,ticket reservation and
enquiries.It is clearly evident that
internet usage is of vast importance in
their business transactions.

WHAT IS THE NATURE OF YOUR BUSINESS?

60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%

INTERPRETATION:
Through this question I wanted to
know the nature of the business of the
suppliers, and found that 55% of the
suppliers are into manufacturing, and
a very little percentage is in other
types.So the nature of the business is a
very essential criterion which is
required to know to carry out my
project.

IS YOUR BUSINESS GLOBALLY RECOGNISED?

80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
YES

NO

INTERPRETATION
25% of the suppliers business are
globally recognized are not
75%.Through this I have come to
know that most of their business are
not having a global exposure. Lack of
promotional strategies may be a factor
as accepted by many and also the
competition in the existing market.

LEGAL STATUS OF YOUR BUSINESS

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

INTERPRETATION
About the organization 30% was
partnership,20% was HUF and private
ltd and LTD CO, and 10% was
proprietorship. The nature of the
business gives a clear idea about their
dealings.

WHERE DO YOU CURRENTLY GET THE MAJORITY OF SALES LEADS?

50%

INTERPRETATION

40%

Through this it is very evident that

most of the suppliers earn their
revenue through sales
networking(45%),some use cold
calling(10%),Trade shows(30%),
and the rest use websites.So there is
a definite urge of the e commerce
for them.

30%
20%
10%
0%
SALES
COLD CALLING
NETWORKING

TRADE
SHOWS

WEBSITES

ADVERTISEMENT MEDIUM OF YOUR COMPANY

40%
30%
20%
10%
0%

INTERPRETATION:
Out of the various
respondents,maximum number of
the suppliers use TV, and the others
use newspapers, magazines and
they also participate in Trade shows
and Exhibitions.

ADVERTISING BUDGET OF YOUR COMPANY

40%

INTERPRETATION:

30%

There are various suppliers whose

advertising budget exceeds
20000(35%), and the others range in
between 10000-20000 margin.A lot
of money is spend on the
promotional of their products.

20%
10%
0%
10000

>15000

>20000

20000 or
more

HAVE YOU EVER USED ANY PORTALS FOR THE PROMOTIONS

INTERPRETATION

60%
50%

45% of the suppliers have used

portals for their promotions of the
products, and 55% have not used yet.
The reasons are inadequate
informations, high costs,etc

40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
YES

NO

RANK IN ORDER OF YOUR PREFERENCE THE VARIOUS PORTALS PROVIDED

BY THE COMPANY(RANK 1 FOR THE BEST)
INTERPRETATION

60%
50%

Around 58% of the suppliers think that

indiamart.com provides the best online
promotional services, 38% thinks it is
Tradeindia.com, and the rest opts for
alibaba.com.

40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
INDIAMART.COM TRADEINDIA.COM ALIBABA.COM

DO YOU THINK THAT PROMOTING A BUSINESS THROUGH

DEFINITE BUSINESS PORTALS WILL ULTIMATELY GIVE YOU THE
GLOBAL EXPOSURE?

80%

INTERPRETATION

60%

In this case around 65% of the

suppliers think that online promotions
do definitely help in getting a vast
global exposure, and 35% think it
does not.

40%
20%
0%
YES

NO

WHICH IS THE BEST MEDIUM OF PROMOTING THE PRODUCTS

FEATURES THROUGH ONLINE?RANK IN ORDER OF YOUR
PREFERENCE(I FOR THE BEST)

INTERPRETATION:

36%
35%
34%
33%
32%
31%
30%
29%
28%
27%

Most of the suppliers are of the opinion that

trade fare and print media can be the best
medium of promoting a products features
through indiamart.com.They think that it is
a very user friendly format provided by
indiamart in order to advertise the suppliers
products.
TRADE FARE

PRINT MEDIA

ELECTRONIC
MEDIA

CHAPTER

7
FINDINGS

After I completed my training in indiaMART, I had a very mixed experience regarding the
online promotions.Indiamart is having a very good standing in the market at the present market
outset. Being an online promotional company , they have taken subtle online promotional
strategies which is fruitful for the company.During this session ,I had managed to interact to
many suppliers ,prepared the questionnaire for their suppliers perception towards the activities
of Indiamart.com and I come up with the companys positive and the negative aspects alongwith
some limitations.
1. Some of the important findings in Indiamart was that most of the suppliers were very
reluctant to spend money on the online promotions of their products.
2. They have a very good knowledge of the online promotional tools which are prevalent in
the market and they are interested also.
3. They are also aware of the other competitors in the market like alibaba.com,
tradeindia.com, etc
4. Most importantly they have enough faith on indiamart.com and they are very much
interested in promoting their product through the indiamart as they know the number of
clients in Indiamart are very high.
5. They are also in the belief that if they want to promote their business globally, online
promotions are necessary.
6. The suppliers are also in the opinion that print media, trade fares are very much beneficial
in the online promotion activities.
7. During the interaction with the suppliers,it was very much clear of the fact that the
service rendered by indiamart is of supreme quality and they want to be the client of the
company.

SWOT ANALYSIS

Organization performs SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threats) analysis to

identify and evaluate their competitive position.

STRENGTHS
The most power full point in hand of the company is that they provide the
customized solution to the customers.
1) The company has excellent distribution system.
2) The company has built a strong image among the customers.
3) The company experiences excellent Brand loyalty for its Products from the
customers.

4) The company has made its Product range attractive, which lures the
customers, and consequently the products are favorite among the customers

.
WEAKNESSES

1) Some products have high prices as compared to the other products.

2) The company branches are not spread through out the region; as a result load
of the work at the head office is tremendous.
3) The company pays less attention towards the matured clients
.
OPPORTUNITIES

1) India has a vast potential market, which the company can get hold up.
2) The company can prove to be major threats for its competitors if it increases
its marketing efforts.
3) IIL should concentrate on the premium segment market.
THREATS

The arrival of the MNC is a major serious threat for the company.

ANALYSIS
Thus it could be said the company is in a good position in the market and
is expected to have a bright future ahead.

LIMITATIONS OBSERVED

Following are some limitations which affect our performance in the organization. Indiamart.com
is providing eminent facilities so as to increase and maintain the performance of each and every
employee in the organization.

1. The basic problem that everyone faces today is of recession. The same case is with small scale
sectors. The most likely argument is not getting enough return on their investment so its difficult
for them to invest at this point of time.
2. Some of the suppliers are satisfied with the present status of their business. They dont want to
expand further due to limited resources or lack of vision and like to avoid risk. For e.g. if
company gets regular order from government, shows no interest to online promotional services.

3. The price factor also plays key role in generating leads because aware customers are likely to
respond to that services which offer maximum advantages at minimum cost. For e.g.
tradeindia.com provides almost same services but at considerably low amount as compared to
indiamart.com.
4. Some of the clients are not able to afford the cost or price that indiamart.com offers. It
necessitates keeping record of their status at regular interval. For e.g. with the help of
appointment at regular intervals, the probability of converting the prospect into regular client can
be found out.
5.Many of the clients had bad experiences as a result they have withdrawn from it. The most
likely reasons are unsatisfactory inquiries and fake inquiries. Some of them had suffered heavy
losses by accepting those fake inquires
.
6. Most of the organizations are controlled from their respective headquarters as a result the
decision remains pending for a long period of time. Regular follow up is required to maintain
their proper status.
7. The absence of respective departmental head because of meetings or on leave requires follow
up on continuous basis.
8. Some of the clients are very satisfied with their business as they are generating enough
business locally and so they donot go for online marketing.

9.Few clients are satisfied with their present service provider in all respect so they dont want to
change it.

10. Some of the organizations are positive about online promotional services but they cant
afford it at present due to low turnover or profit
.
11. Many of the clients are not willing to fill up the questionnaire because they feel that it will
result into leaking out important information which is harmful to their organization at later stage.
Some of them neglected to fill up such questionnaire without the authority of their respective
superiors
12. Some of the organizations have their own web pages and also have contacts of website
developers who help them to develop website for companies in more cost effective way.

CHAPTER

8
RECOMMENDATIONS

RECOMMENDATIONS :

For an effective online promotional marketing strategy for a manufacturer, there are some
recommendations which need to be followed so as to increase the revenue of the company.

REGISTRATIONS AT B2B MARKETPLACES

Leveraging services of an online B2B marketplace opens up numerous doors of
opportunities. It offers both options for registrations free and paid. The latter offers
additional features to enhance business prospects. To gain maximum exposure
manufacturing companies should register at many online B2B marketplaces as possible
and be visible to buyers visiting from across the globe.

BUILD A WEBSITE
A website that covers complete product and company information alongwith client
testimonials has become a prerequisite for manufacturers looking for web presence.
Updating the product catalogue and other latest happenings such as trade fare
participations at regular intervals is also essential to keep the customers and visitors
interest. The company must be prompt in replying to business queries from buyers over
email or phone.

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION

A specialized company needs to be engaged to undertake the SEO activities for your
company. Also the manufacturer firms should register themselves at Google Local ,
Google Maps, and similar services across all search engines, both major and minor.

EMAIL MARKETING
A concrete database of the target customers from a reliable source should be obtained
and send mailers using a service that gives detailed statistics of its rate ,click through ,etc.

BUILD TRUST
Online marketing is mainly based on trust.You can capitalize on mechanism which
bridge the trust gap associated with the online medium and enhance your
credibility.Indiamart.com has a business verification service Trust Seal and that needs
to be used in a very fair way to obtain the customers trust.

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING:

It is a powerful tool to speed the word about your company and increase network
possibilities , social media , holds immense potentials. Sending regular update messages
in your LinkedIn network , updating companys products at various blogs,uploading
product pictures on photo sharing sites like Flickr,putting product videos on all video
sharing siteslike You Tube, placing company presentations and documents on document
sharing sites, such as Slide shares, Scribd,etc can improve the suppliers perceptions over
the online promotional products.

CONCLUSION

The main purpose of Summer Internship Program (SIP) is to gain practical knowledge and apply
our skills in practical and real environment. It is the time when we have to sharpen our skills,
abilities and knowledge which would help me in getting final placement.
In Indiamart.com, I have got an opportunity to explore my potential. By preparing extensive
research reports I have attained fundamental knowledge of online promotional services, its
scope, the suppliers perceptions towards the different online promotional tools provided by the
company and its importance in coming years. I have also come across various technicalities
related to online promotional services. I am very confident that after completing my internship in
Indiamart.com Company I would have mastered in various online promotional services.

REFERENCES &
ANNEXURE

QUESTIONNAIRE
NAME:
COMPANYS NAME:
ADDRESS:
PHONE:
1. For how long years are you using the internet?
a. 1 year ,
b. 2 years,
c. 3 years,
d. More
2. Have you done any transaction over internet?
a.Yes
b. No
3. Which transaction have you made over internet?
a. Recharging mobile
b. Railway ticket reservation
c. Flight reservation,
d. Others
4. What is the nature of your business?
a. Manufacture
b. Direct sales
c. Exportd. Buying agent

5. Legal status of your business.

a. HUF,

b. Partnership,
c. Private LTD.
d. Proprietorship
6. Is your business globally recognized?
a. Yes
b. No
7. Where do you currently get the majority of your sales leads?
a. Sales networking
b. Cold calling c. Trade shows d. Websites,
8. What is the advertisement medium of your product?
a. Newspaper,
b. TV
c. Magazines,
d. Exhibition/ trade shows

9. What has been your advertising budget for your products promotion?
a. 10000,
b. >15000
c. >20000,
d. 20000 or more
10.Have you ever used any portals for your products promotion?
a. Yes
b. No
11.Rank in order of your preference the various portals provided by the
company.(rank 1 for the best one..)
a. Indiamart.com
b.Tradeindia.com
c. Alibaba.com

12.Do you think that promoting your product through a definite business portal
will ultimately help in exposing your product globally?

a. Yes
b. No
.
13. Which is the best medium of promoting the products features through
online?(RANK IN ORDER OF PREFERENCE)1-BEST
a. Trade fare
b. Print media,
c. Electronic media

REFERENCES:

References: Kotler, Philip Marketing Management published by Vikas publishing house Pvt. ltd.
New Delhi.
Kothari, C. R. .Research Methodology. (third. edition 2007) published by. new age
international (P) ltd.
CMA Magazine (Cement Manufacturers Association)
Aaker, D.A. and Shansby, J. (1982) Positioning your Product, Business Horizons, 25,
(May/June), 56-62
Crawford, C. M. (1985) A New Positioning Typology, journal of Product Innovation
Management, 4 , 243-253
Domzal, T. and Unger, L. (1987) Emerging Positioning Strategies in Global Marketing,
journal of Consumer Marketing, 4 , 23-40
Hooley, G., Saunders, J. and Piercy, N. F. (1998) Marketing Strategy and Competitive
positioning (2nd edi), Hemel Hempstead: Prentice-Hall

 Kotler, P. (2000). Marketing Management, (Millennium Ed), Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Prentice-Hall
Park, C. W., Jaworski, B. J. and McLnnes, D. (1986) Strategic Brand Concept-Image
Management, .journal of Marketing, 50 (October), 135-145
Muhlbacher, H., Dreher, A. and Gabriel-Ritter, A. (1991) MIPS-Managing Industrial
Positioning Strategies, Industrial Marketing Management, 23, 287-297
News Papers: Times of India
Hindustan Times
Economic Times
Web Based References:

http://www.birlacorporation.com
http://www.amzon.com
http://www.wikipedia.com
http://www.answer.com
http://www.cma.com
http://www.scribd.com