Marketing Strategy of Asian Paints

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Asian Paints is India's largest paint company and the third largest paint
company in Asia today, with a turnover of Rs 30.2 billion (around USD 680
million). The company has an enviable reputation in the corporate world for
professionalism, fast track growth, and building shareholder equity. Asian
Paints operates in 22 countries and has 30 paint manufacturing facilities in
the world servicing consumers in over 65 countries. Besides Asian Paints,
the group operates around the world through its subsidiaries Berger
International Limited, Apco Coatings, SCIB Paints.
The Company's paint business in India consists of Decorative, Industrial &
Automotive coatings. During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006, paints
accounted for 79.1% of the Company's sales. Decorative paints include
wall finishes for interior and exterior use, enamels, wood finishes and
ancillary products, such as primers and putties. Industrial Coatings
comprise high performance coatings, powder coatings and auto refinish
coatings. The automotive coating segments are catered to by the joint
venture Asian PPG Industries Ltd. The Company also has chemicals
businesses consisting of phthalic anhydride and pentaerythritol
manufactured at Ankleshwar, Gujarat and Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu,
respectively.
The Indian paint market is highly saturated with many paint companies with
varieties of product. Kansai Nerolac paints Ltd. Berger paints India Ltd. ICI
India Ltd. Shalimar Paint Ltd, Snowcem India Ltd are the main competitors
of Asian Paints. Among them Nerolac Paints have a very good market
share in the Industrial Paint segment.
Asian Paints adopted some marketing objectives & strategies. Asian paint
is ready to achieve its corporate objective by taking care of the Customers,
Employees, Brand image, Dealer Vendor relationship & technology.
Companys three divisions are not equally performing well. So it has
different objective & planning to gain the top most position in the Indian

paint market. Asian Paints has different marketing strategy for the urban as
well as the rural market in India.
The company always maintaining some alternate strategy & keeping in
track with the strategy maintaining by its competitor. In decorative sector
company is strong enough, but it need to take care of the Industrial sector
so as to increase the overall sales.
Considering the pricing strategy of Asian paints, company has several
priced products. It starts from very low end to the premium level. Asian
paints Color World concept helped the consumer to choose the color
combination & other appropriates according to their wish from a very wide
range of product. Companys famous logo GATTU helped it overcome while
entering into the rural market, as visualization has its own effect. Other than
this Asian Paints is using its website as a very good medium to reach the
high/upper middle class consumers. With these tools company is expecting
to generate much more revenue than the earlier years.
Asian paints wonderful promotional strategy helped the company to extend
its business in several other countries with success. A very attractive
distribution policies & proper distribution channel with more than 15000
dealers helped Asian paints to spread its business in more than 3500 big &
small cities in India.
The company used to maintain a very strong market research cell, which
helps them to take care of the consumers need & intensify their R&D
accordingly. Asian Paints approaches the environment issue from the
perspective of waste minimization and conservation of resources. Thus, the
continued attempt is to reuse, recycle and eliminate waste, which results in
less and less waste being generated.
Asian Paints, took a huge stride towards promoting the cause of total water
management by giving Mumbai (and neighboring districts like Thane) its
first Total Water Management (TWM) Centre, which is located in the
premises of Asian Paints manufacturing facility at Bhandup.
INTRODUCTION :

Asian Paints Ltd. has a combined turnover of 630 million US dollars. With
its strong presence in the Indian subcontinent, south East Asia, Far East,
South pacific Caribbean, Africa & Europe. Along with Asian paints the group
consists of SCIB chemicals, Berger International & APCO coatings.
Together the group has 30 manufacturing unit globally.
The company was incorporated in the year 1942 in India. Asian paints have
extensively computerized its operations in India using the cutting edge
solution provided by SAP & i2. It helped the company drive benefits of
faster market analysis for better decision making.
The product portfolio of the Asian Paints group covers a large spectrum of
finish coasts & ancillary products in decorative paints, wood finishes,
automobile OEMs & refinishes, marine & Industrial coatings.
SITUATION ANALYSIS-1
Category analysis
The different categories of Asian paints Ltd. are
Paint :
Companys paint business in India consists of decorative, Industrial &
Automotive coating. In 2005-06, these accounted for 79.1% of the group
sales. It is estimated that the local market for all paints including cement
paints & other powder products manufactured by all companies big & small
would have been around Rs.95 billion in 2011-12.
1) Decorative PAINTS:
Decorative paints account covers almost 75% of the overall paint market in
India. In this segment Asian paint has been a leader for almost four
decades. Decorative paints include wall finishes, for interior & exterior
uses, examples, wood finishes & ancillary products such as primers,
putties, etc.
2) Industrial coatings :
Industrial coatings have a moderate growth rate than decorative coating,
led by the growth in automotive original equipment sector, powder coatings

& protective coatings. Industrial coatings are classified into automotive &
non-automotive coatings are classified into automotive & non-automotive
coatings. While Asian paints Industrial coating Ltd. (APICL) services the
powder coating segment, Asian paints Ltd. caters to be remaining non-auto
industrial coatings segments.
3) AUTOMOTIVE COATING:
The actual look and feel of a vehicle undergoes a sea of change over time.
The paint on a vehicle loses gloss, is subjected to a lot of wear and tear
and hence starts deteriorating. Asian Paints is not having a very good
market share in this segment.
chemicals :
Asian paints have chemical business consisting of Pthalic Axhydride &
pentaerythritol manufactured at Ankleswar, Gujrat & Cuddalore, Tamilnadu.
During 2005-06 approximately 42% of companys chemical was sold inhouse & rest at open market.
SITUATION ANALYSIS-2
Asian paints limited with its three business units decorative, Industrial &
International business is one of the largest paint company in India. It had a
sell over 300 million litres of paint in 2005-06. Significantly the group has
crossed the Rs.3000 crore turnover mark-a preset mile stone for the
company.
Here we will be analyzing three situations of the company
i) Competitor analysis
ii) Customer Analysis
iii) Assumption on planning
1) COMPETITOR ANALYSIS :
The Indian paint market is highly saturated with many paint companies with
varieties of product. Asian paints ltd, Kansai Nerolac paints Ltd. Berger

paints India Ltd. ICI India Ltd. Shalimar Paint Ltd, Snowcem India Ltd are
the market leaders.
Here we are only considering the nearby competitors of Asian Paints which
are Nerolac paints Ltd, Berger paints Ltd & Indian chemical Imperial (ICI)
Ltd.
Sales of different companies in the Financial year 2011-12
|Name of the company |Asian paints ltd |Nerolac paints ltd. |Berger paints |
ICI India ltd. |
|Net sales (in Rs. Crore) |2433.37 |1064.22 |948.54 |971.19 |
SWOT analysis of Asian paints & its competitors :
|COMPANY |Asian Paints |Nerolac paints |Berger paints |ICI paints |
|Strengths |1. Market leader in |1. Well ahead leader in |1. In the IInd
position |1. In the refinishing |
| |overall paint market & in |Industrial paint market |in the industrial paint |
business it has one of |
| |decorative paint market in|2. Tie-up with kansai paints |sector. |the best
quality refinish|
| |India share 40% |provides foreign technology. |2. Tie up with |paint for
cars. |
| |2. Available in urban & |3. Main supplier in the |Herbert-Germany valspar |
2. In decorative paints |
| |rural area |Indian Industrial & |of US & Teodor NV of |it performance is
good |
| |3. High Quality MR & MIS |automobile market main client|Holland |3.
recently purchased 49%|
| |4. Pricing policy oriented|maruty udyog | |share of Quest Int. India|
| |to all kinds of customer | | |limited. |

|Weakness |1. Industrial paint sector|1. Market share in decorative|1.

Overall market |1. Industrial paint |
| |only 15% share |paint market is very low. |position is not very |market
existence almost |
| |2. No tie up with foreign |2. Market in rural area is |impressive. |2-3% |
| |manufactures. Through it |poor. |2. Asian paints & Nerolac|2. Overall
market conduct|
| |has units in several |3. Considering overall paint |paints capturing the |
poor. |
| |countries. |market Asian paint is well |market buyer for behind | |
| |3.Innovation in developing|ahead of Nerolac. | | |
| |new product. | | | |
| |1. Acquiring/ Increasing |1. Improve its position in |1. come up with new |
1. Merger with Quest will|
| |market share in Industrial|decorative paint segment. |innovations to
challenge |provide to have an |
| |paint sector. |2. Capturing whole industrial|Asian paints & Berger |
experience in foreign |
| |2. Developing market in |paint market |paints |market, particularly in |
| |automobile industry, which| | |UK. |
|Opportunities |accounts for 50% of | | | |
| |Industrial paint market. | | | |
| |1. Domination of few |1. Asian paints is coming up|1. Asian Paints &
Nerolac|1. Berger paint & there |
| |foreign countries |rapidly into the industrial |paints are well ahead & |are
few new entrants in |

| |2. Nerolac is advancing |paint market with its new |ICI paint is competing |
the market. |
|Threats |rapidly in Industrial |plants & products |nearly | |
| |market | | | |
2) CUSTOMER ANALYSIS :
Asian paint with its natural competitive advantage of size (Number 1 in
India), Strong brand equity & largest distribution Network has acquired the
number one position in Decorative segment in India.
There are few reasons due two which the customers in the decorative
segment has been choosing Asian Paint as their brand
1. As we know brand name has its own value & Asian paint is the number
one in decorative segment, so a purchaser automatically leans in
purchasing it.
For example, we have two different types of paints, namely Apolite glass
Aenamel & Apolite care Emulsion, which are from Asian Paints, Nerolac
paints, Berger paints & ICI paints. Again due to the competitive market the
price is very closed for all the companies. But due to the Branch awareness
of common people they mostly tend to purchase the products from Asian
paints.
2. Company have provided with different varieties of product for different
income groups. For e.g. UTSAV which is a low value paint, is growing at a
faster rates & penetrating with high speed at the lower income group. This
policy is helping the company to move from metros to small towns for
branded products.
3. In India frequency of painting has still not increased, which is once is 5
years only. So consumers are normally changing over to the better quantity
& branded paints.
4. In 2001, Asian Paint launched a new product Tractor Emulson, which
pulled the customer who used distemper to move to emulation paints.
Accessibility of Asian paints to the customers :

Asian paints have started a 24 hours customer help centre at Hyderabad. It

is information to consumers to answer their needs for any query related, to
their products. Through this company is also getting a lot of data related to
the customers need & appreciations of the products.
In order to provide better consumer service, company has connected all
colour world installations with Asian Paints main system through software
& providing computes to dealers. This is speeding up order execution,
electronic banking will speed up recovery & money transfer.
Market Share Analysis :
The market share clearly shows that Asian paint is the leader in Indian
paint industry. The nearest competitors of Asian paints are Nerolac &
Barger paints. Asian paints has the largest sells in Decorative paints.
Nerolac paints being widely used in Industry it has a greater share price
value. Industries like Bajaj auto limited, Maruti Udyog & many other car
manufacturing companies use Nerolac paints.
The Industrial paint are priced with premium in comparison to the
decorative paint which is mainly used in house hold decoration.
Berger paints & ICI paints are also providing a shift competition to Asian
Paints in decorative paint, but still there is no sign of threat from them.
Again in the Industrial sector Nerolac paint far ahead of all its competitor.
Asian paint presently building up a new manufacturing unit solely to
produce Industrial paint.
Asian paints annually spends on an average Rs325 Cr on its selling &
marketing expenses. It givers us an idea about the effort the company put
on expanding its market in all segments.
When customers buy the products of Asian paints As the customers
normally uses the products of Asian paints on certain occasions like.
Marriage ceremony, Dewali or any other special occasions, other than
normal paint in houses, customers are very choosy & brand specific. This
appreciation by the customers helped Asian paints to become the number
one paint company in India.

3. ASSUMPTIONS OF PLANNING :
i. Though Asian paints is the largest paint company in India but in industrial
sector its performance is not satisfactory. A totally new manufacturing unit
is coming up & will start production by 2007. This will definitely through new
challenges to Nerolac paints, which is the present leader in Industrial
coating market. But before that, a proper introduction of positing very
important to sustain in market.
ii. With the advancement of technology the demand & choice of people
changes rapidly. So intensive R & d will need to be continued to
continuously enhance the quality of the product.
iii. Internet purchasing is new becoming one of popular way to purchase.
So adequate measure will be taken to satisfy customers regarding
designing of website & providing a brief demonstration.
iv. In International market also Asian Paints has become a top paint
company. But its strategy regarding the international market must be
reviewed at a certain internal so as to maximize value.
MARKETING OBJECTIVES
Four Marketing Objectives of Asian Paints are discussed bellowi) Corporate objective
ii) Divisional objective
iii) Marketing Objective
iv) Programme Objective
Corporative objective : The corporate objective of Asian Paint is as follows
-Asian Paint has become one of the top decorative company world wide by
leveraging its expertise in the higher growth emerging market.
Simultaneously, the company intends to build long term value in the
Industrial coating business through alliance with established global
partner.

With Economic performance as objective the organization now has to

develop short-term goals to reach the overall objective. These Goals are
usually functional target such as production, Sales, new market develop,
new product development and technology up gradation, once the goal are
determined the strategies can be evolved to meet the goals. The
organization is now on the way to achieve the overall objective of Economic
performance.
Steps followed by Asian paints for achieving its objective :
Asian paint is following certain steps for achieving its corporate objective.
They are as follows :
(i) Customer Asset : The settings up Asian paints colour world, a chain of
state art paint shop, is a major step towards building customer asset. At the
same time company is focusing more in rural areas than urban area and
continuing to provide good and quality service to the customer.
(ii) Technology asset : Asian paint is one of first Indian company to go hitech. Asian paint has always kept its competitor at bay by constantly reinnovating its business process and system.
(iii) Employee Asset : Asian paint always praise its employee for its success
in the market. Company always considers employee as a biggest factor of
its success.
(iv) Dealer vendor relationship : Asian paint always maintain a close
relationship with its dealers because company think that they play a major
role in Asian paint recent success.
(v) Brand Asset : Although it is operating in the commodity market but still
Asian paint is investing heavily in branding. Gattu- Asian paint official
mascot is very popular in India.
Divisional objective : Asian paint has following division that are as follows :
i) Decorative segment
ii) Industrial segment
iii) Automotive segment

Decorative segment : Asian paint is the leader in this segment. It is ahead

that its competitor Nerolac and Berger in Decorative segment company still
have certain objective for this sector that to increase it sales and to acquire
maximum position in the market share in Indian paint market.
Objective for decorative segment :
To expanding its range in the economy segment.
To strengthen its position in the emulsion segment in both exterior and
interior emulsion.
To continue its strategy of pricing aggression and increase it sales and to
gain the market share along with a good operating margin.
To focus on the rural market as company believes as it as been its
objective since the beginning.
To focus more on adcampaign for enhancement of their sales in urban as
well as rural market.
Industrial segment : Asian paint second line of production deals with the
industrial coating. The constraint in these segment is that it is not as
successful as the decorative segment. In these sector it has to face a stiff
competition from its nearest competitor Nerolac and Berger Paints.
Objective for Industrial segment :
To build new infrastructure in the country for Industrial coating to increase
the production capacity.
To develop the quality of the product with a higher technological up
gradation.
To increase the sales of the Industrial coating with the help of proper Ad.
campaign programme.
Automotive segment : Automotive is the third segment of the Asian paint. It
is a product which company target for the automobile market in India as
well as abroad.

Objective of automotive segment :

To put emphasis on continuous improvement in quality and productivity.
To put emphasis on detect prevention
To reduce variation and wastage in the supply chain.
Marketing Objective : Asian paints the leader in Indian paint Industry has a
very strong marketing division. With more than 35% market share Asian
paint is still growing in leaps and bounce to achieve higher targets. It is
changing fundamentally with two objective in mind a huge ramp in the
market share and better growth over the next three years. Previously
company used to function as undifferentiated organization. But now they
have divided it into three section each. And each section has its own
independent support system, targets and performance parameter.
Company marketing objective : As follows
Company is using PC, V-sats based line and internal mesh to become
most networked corporation in India.
Company is trying to cutdown the inventory and improve the working
capital cycle for a continuous production.
Asian paint is highly accepted in the urban sector and now the company is
trying to access the rural market with low price product like Utsav targeting
every customer of all income level.
To enhance their marketing in rural sector a huge amount investment is
made in adcampaign and demonstration cum sales technique is going on.
To increase its sales in the urban sector Asian paints today have 30 colour
world located in different cities of India where any body can have the real
taste of the colour.
Online marketing has become an integrated part of the company and
company is trying install a strong integrated for online marketing.
Asian paints international unit, which have a dedicated marketing team is
also targeting for a rapid growth in overseal market.

 Asian paint is concentrating on the development of technological in their

industrial coating so that to make the product more stronger positon in the
market. And do it they are following the product with huge ad compaign.
Asian paint is now targeting to provide paint solution with insurance.
Asian paint is following unlque strategy of marketing in the rural areas by
using their official mascot. According to the company it feels that picture are
more dominant than name.
Asian paint website Asian paints com provides several information
regarding the product and various other information that is being required
by customer and dealer.
Programme Objective : Programme objective is one of the main objective
of the company. Here the company frames the strategy about the products
related issue and various other thing relating to the business. Most of the
company follows the 4Ps policy namely price, product peace and
promotion.
Product : Asian paint details with product that is (i) Decorative (ii) Industrial
(iii) Automative. In decorative segment company has a wide range of
product from low price to high price low price product like utsav which is
basically targeted to the rural customer and high price product Apex
cefirma for exterior and interior emulsion. Asian paint investing a huge
amount of fun in R & D sector for Quality and the technological
development of product so that it compets globally.
Price : the price range of Asian paint varies according to the product. Asian
paint had always a stragegy in domination in the rural sector. The product
that is supplied to the rural area have low price range. Where as in the
urban sector some of the high price product circulates.
Place : Asian paint is available to all types of customer and the main
advantage of the Asian paint is that it is easily accessible to its customer. At
present there are 20,000 dealer and a large no. of retailer. Asian paints
distribution channel extends to the thirty state of India. Asian paints is also
exporting to contrites like Caribbean, Africa, Middle east Asia and south
pacific.

Promotion : Asian paint follow good promotional strategy regarding their

sales of the product. Their promotional strategy are made looking at the
different category of the product and price associated with it. In urban areas
Asian paint established colour world where the customer can enjoy the
taste real colour while in rural sector it follow sales demonstration
programme along with van displaying the product of Asian paint in the rural
market. It also invest a huge amount of funds in the advertising sector for
the promotion of this product.
MARKETING STRATEGY 1
STRATEGY ALTERNATIVES :
The prospect of a paint company has many dependence like weather,
occasions like puja, id etc. when we consider the decorative segments. So
there is always a possibility of ups & downs in the business. Besides this
there is another very important factor i.e. the position of the competitor.
Through Asian paints is the largest paint company still under circumstances
it will have to go for some strategy alternatives.
Alternatives available :
1. As Asian paints market is mainly the decorative segment so a downfall in
that market will lead the company in trouble them it immediate focus will
turn to the Industrial segment.
2. Importance on water based paints may recover a poor situation created
due to sustain poor weather condition in some region.
3. As there is every possibility that conventional coatings are likely to lose
some share ecofriendly coasting is going to be very good alternatives.
4. With all countries in southeast Asia beginning to adhere to the ASEAN
free trade Area (AFTA) that will reduce trade barriers for paints & coatings.
A reduce in domestic market share of Asian paints then will not be a
constant for growth, became export of paints to the foreign countries will
contribute a lot.
5. Increasing the product package & application oriented service will make
company different from others.

6. A strong post sales service division will be an important factor in building

customer loyalty.
7. Tie up with automobile sector with strong appearance will be effective.
8. Lastly but not the least price of oil is increasing day by day, which results
to increase the price of paints. If this can be controlled by stocking oil or
directly linking up with foreign cheap refineries so as get oil at least
available price.
COMPETITOR STRATEGY :
In the Indian paint industry Asian paints is the leader keeping the other
competitors far behind. In terms of gross sales we can rank the competitors
of Asian paints as :
i) Nerolac paints (ii) Berger Paints (iii) ICI Paints.
In industry they are recognized as trailing firms. But with their high growth
in the industry the competitors can touch or even overtake Asian paitns, for
that the three main competitors have different strategies. Initially one
common strategy must be their mind is to increase the market share.
Now we are considering individual strategies of the three companies.
Nerolac Paints :
Nerolac, despite a strong brand name has grossly underutilized its potential
in decorative paints. But in industrial paint sector it is far ahead of other
competitors. So, its two main targets are : i) to keep hold of the Industrial paint market
ii) increase the market share in Decorative paint sector.
All their business strategies mainly rounded this two issues. The different
strategies they are dealing with :
1) They want to see high growths from decorative segments. In Industrial
sector their supply chasing demand strategy accumulated lot of
inefficiencies, so there is a scoe for cost reduction. So they want to upgrde

the equipments to improve efficiency in manufacturing & secondly they are

taking advantage of IT to improve over all efficiencies.
2) In decorative segment, they are logging behind the demand. So now set
up is needed as well as they are concentrating on enamels. They are
installing colour dispensing machine across the country.
3) Concentration on emulsions & distempers, other words interior paints.
Distinguishing the high low end products.
4) They want to concentrate also on the automobile paint industry. Here
they are already established but Asian paints is also targeting this sector
heavily.
5) Another important strategy they are considering is to involve the vendor
in their organizational process. For this they want to have proper vendor
management processes.
Berger Paints :
Berger paints is considered as the dark horse of paint industry. While
companys main strength is in decorative sector, it has been actively
pushing its presence in the industrial paint segment. To improve its
business the company have some strategy :
i) Company is mainly spreaded in Eastern & Southern part of the company,
now it is looking for a rapid expansion at the western region also.
ii) Recognizing the saturation of the urban market, Berger is targeting the
rural market.
iii) They are looking to export in nearby countries such as Bangladesh,
Bhutan, Nepal to boost its revenue.
iv) Within the paint industry, Industrial paint segment has a higher growth
rate. Keeping this in mind company has targeted a 15% share of Industrial
paints in the companys product mix.
v) Bergers performance in Automotive sector over the lst few years has
been fairly. Here also they are targeting to build up some tie-up with
automobile companies.

vi) Berger had ticups with Nippon paints of Japan & orica of Australia. Here
they would like to go for the branding of products through proper
advertisement compaign & with their new logo.
vii) An establishment of new plant in Russia was done in 2005, which is
expected to start production by the end of 2006. company is likely to utilize
the Russian plant to cater to the markets of CIS countries in the future.
ICI Paints :
Within 3 years of launch of colour future from ICI it proved to define the
International interior designing trend. The company has invested a million
dollars in the R&D of the colour futures concept. Which helps to forecast
the international colour trends in paints. Though ICI is considered as the
4th paint against in India, but its presence & development can be a threat
to the others.
As a part of its strategy ICI is taking the measures : i) It is not looking at the increasing Investments but focusing on
debottenecking the capacity.
ii) Considering the increment of channel partners.
iii) Improving technology & offering better quality at a moderate price will
help to capture the rural market easily.
iv) Improved service & solution to the customers.
The company is slowing penetrating to both of decorative & Industrial paint
segment.
MARKETING STRATEGY 2
POSITIONING STRATEGY OF ASIAN PAINTS LIMITED :
Although operating in commodity market. Asian paints have invested
heavily in branding, GATTU, the Asian paints official Mascot is a familiar
icon across India. The company recently augmented their web pressure.
Their website, Asian paints.com is an exhaustive hub of Painting solutions.
The site use Maximum interactivity to enhance user experience. There are

painting lips, online shades cards, cost calculation (based on floor area and
number of rooms0 dealer locator and a short of other innovative services.
From the perceptual map we can understand that Asian paints, have wider
range of products for all type of customers consisting of different income
levels. It has a product range from Royal Emulsion, Priced 250-400 which
is targeted for up market buyers. Hpcolilen is a product which is targeted
for high income and upper middle class people. For lowers income group it
has UTSAV, TRACTOR EMLSION which priced vary from 40-100 Rupees.
These products are mainly targeted to Rural customers.
In Industrial segment companies position is relatively weak here Werolac
paints captured more than 50% market share. In this segment Asian paints
have products like Apcomin synthetic enamel which is used for industrial
coating, and Apco synthetic power which is used in automobile sector. In
this segment also Asian paints faced stiff competition from Berger and ICI
Paints. Bajaj automobiles in the main customer of Asian paints in
automotive sector.
POSITIONING STRATEGY OF ASIAN PAINTS
[pic]
CUSTOMER SEGMENTATION & TARGETING :
Customer segmentation is the most important part of the marketing
strategy of any company. Asian paints, the market leader in the Indian paint
market segmented their products mainly in three sectors. (i) Decorative (ii)
Industrial (iii) Automotive. Their customers are all also segmented based on
the usage of these products.
CUSTOMER TARGETING :
Asian paints have an unique customer targeting strategy. They used to
follow V tier customer Target strategy.
Tire 2 Tire 4 Tire 3

Tire 1 - In the recipient end there are strategic solution seekers. Company
thinks of cost reductions, performance & productivity improvement for
clients improving customers & share holder profitability.
Tier 2 Here the Customers whom can be considered as the value or
brand sensitive. Asian paints target this customers with value added VDS
integration customer level service.
Tier 3 These part of the consumer are price sensitive. They least
bothered about the service. These are mainly middle or low income group
people Asian paints have several brand like UTSAV to serve them.
Tier-4 Here the company targets the small manufacturing & local
companies, which can generate revenue, company utilizes its & business &
telesales technology to address & satisfy their needs.
Tier-5 This tier is composed of specific targeted companies that although
small in size, deserve special attention because they are highly innovative
in nature. Asian paints have a good prospect over here.
CORE STRATEGY OF ASIAN PAINTS LIMITED : An origination like Asian paints will always restrict itself for its core strategy
on innovation. For an organization like Asian paints to create a strong
future, it has to bred innovation continuously. This strategy of innovative
facts will help any organization to fulfill their commitment and integrity in
dealing, with internal and external customers.
For this core strategy of innovation Asian paints encouraged
entrepreneurship. They also give grater autonomy to managers in their
reasonability. organiation also develop high tolerance for failures and
encouraged risk taking.
Asian Paints another important core strategy is of managing people and
technology which are also the two important assets.
As it is always a people focused company its employees are the main
leaders who bring a difference to the company.

Asian paints has stressed on employee development and creating leaders

of tomorrow. It always have strong belief in individual ability and creating an
environment in which an entrepreneurial spirit in encouraged. This is why
Asian paints have believed to be a best employees for personal and
personal growth.
Along with Mass customization, Asian paints has created a plat form where
Talent is shared across the organization as Manager are given in different
areas of operations. It gives Asian paints on overall good perspectives of
business along with challenges of chandelling new Ares of operations.
The second most important core strategy of Asian paints limited is its
technology. Technology includes both research and development and
information technology. Asian paints has used technology throughout its
year to gain a competitive edge in the market place today, the company
has formulated the entire range of decorative coatings though home grown
technology. It has used IT as a tool to bring efficiencies and stress line
operations. This applications will continue in future and Asian paints will not
hesitate in making investment in these areas to gain advantages of the
organization.
The Third but important core strategy of Asian paints. In Reconfiguration of
value chain activities :
It is a key task for Asian paints to retain competitiveness and achieve
highest value cost leveraging. Here a Question arises that as per this given
requirement who were the Key initiatives taken by Asian paints during the
last 5 years in this regard.
In last 5 year, reconfiguration of value chain activities to increase
competitiveness has been one of the Major core area of Asian paints. An
fact Asian paints has been drain stormed as an organization with highest
sales and profit figures. But most important has been initiatives under taken
in all areas of operations to increase efficiencies some of the key initiatives
undertaken are :
- Initiatives in manufacturing to reduce losses at factory.
- Sourcing efficiencies

- Surat existing assets for better productivity

- Introduction of new technology to drive efficiencies and increase
productivity.
- Implementation of new supply chain solution.
- Implementation of an ERP solution.
Besides the above Asian paints have focused on continuously improving
environmental Management standards at our plants. Today all Asian Paints
manufacturing facilities are accredited with ISO 1400/ certification for
environment management standards. These systems have enable
company to reduce affluent from the manufacturing facilities. The
introduction of new supply chain has transformed management of inventory
and forecasting has brought significant benefit for the company through
reduction of working capital. It has completely changed the manner of
functioning of the supply chain division.
MARKETING PROGRAMME
PRICING
Asian paints limited with its three business units decorative, industrial &
International business is one of the largest paint company in India. It has a
sell over 300 million liters of paints in 2005-06. Significantly the group has
crossed the Rs.3000 crores turnover mark a preset mile stone for the
company.
Products and its price ranges :
The various products and its price ranges are as follows :
|Product |Price range |
|Exterior:- | |
|Asian Paints Apex |Price of 20 lts. Range from |
| |Rs.3142.00 3328.00 |

|Asian Paints Ace |Price of 20 lts. Ranges from Rs.1761.00 Rs. 2059.00 |
|Asian Paints Tractor Emulsion |Price of 20 lts. Ranges from Rs.1435.00
Rs. 2047.00 |
|Asian Paints Super Decoplast Plastic Emulsion Paints |Price of 20 Ltd.
ranges from Rs.2239.00 Rs.2544.00 |
|Asian Paints Interior Wall Finish Matt (White) |Price of 20 lts. Is Rs.
2244.00 |
|Asian Paints Interior Wall Finish Luster (White) |Price of 20 lts. Is
Rs.2311.00 |
|Product |Price range |
|Asian Paints Tractor Synthetic Distemper |Its price ranges from Rs.690 to
757 |
|Wall Finishes |It range from Rs.4638- Rs,4975 |
|Asian Paints Royale |The price for 20 lts. Ranges from Rs.4638- Rs.4975.
|
|Asian Paints Premium Emulsion |Range of 20 lts of this product ranges
from Rs.2648-Rs.3118 |
|Enamels | |
|Asian Paints Apcoute Premium Gloss Enamel |For 20 lts the range varies
from Rs.2068 to Rs.2350. |
|Asian Paints Gattu Synthetic Enamel |For 20 lts the range varies from Rs.
1458 to Rs.1836 |
|Asian Paints Utsav Enamel |For 20 lts the range varies from Rs.1425 to
Rs.1652. |
|Stainer, Aluminium Paints & Others | |
|Stainers | |

|Apcolite Universal Stainers |For per bottle in plastic bottle of 200ml the
price ranges from |
| |Rs.41-Rs.77. |
|Utsav Stainer |For per boltle in plastic bottle of 20 ml its price is Rs.34. |
|Asian Paints Wood Stains |For per bottle in plastic bottle of 5 lts the range
varies from |
| |Rs.1000-Rs.1250. |
|Aluminium Paints (Asian paints 3 mangoes Aluminium) |For 20 lts its price
is Rs.2593 |
Effect of price on future:
In the present economic situation, the GDP growth is expected at 6% for
cude oil price are soaring. Industrial sector has declined at a low rate with
continuous slowdown increment sector. There is depreciation in rupee.
Despite such discouraging macroeconomics it is creditable that Asian
paints has posted very good result.
Asian Paints is trying desperately to keep the same price overcoming the
constraints.
Product
Asian paint produces a wide range of products which have more than 1100
shades. Their product were targeted to the different segment of the society.
The cost of the produce of Asian paint varies according different income
level of the consumer. Company follows the principle providing the
customer different kind of products and different price. In companys
Decorative premium sector company have products like Asian paint Royals
and Asian paint Emulsion. The cost of these product is Rs.275 and the
latter Rs. 201 where the product like GATTU and Utsav-family product are
targeted to lower income segment people the cost varies from Rs.15 Rs.
20.
Products of Asian paints in decorative segment :

As Asian Paint is the leader in the decorative segment in the Indian paint
market it has wide variety of product. The products are :
i) Asian Paints Royale
ii) Asian Paints Premium Emulsion
iii) Asian Paints Apcolite Premium Enamel
iv) Asian Paints Gattu Synthetic
v) Asian Paints Utsav Enamel
vi) Asian Paints Trator Acylic Distemper
vii) Asian Paint Utsav Acrylic Distemper
viii) Asian Paint Apex
ix) Asian Paint Ace
x) Asian Paints Tractor Synthetic Distemper.
Asian Paints Royale : This product of Asian paint is targeted to higher
income group and customer of urban area. The product contains different
shades and price of each shade very. E.g. Regal white
Asian Paints Emulsion : it is another product which is targeted to urban
area. It is high price premium product. The shades are white, palm group
and base.
Asian Paints Gattu synthetic : It is a product which is targeted customer of
reral area. It price varies Rs.15 to Rs.120 and it has different shades like
white, Aquamarine, Azure Blue and etc.
Asain Paints Utsav Paint : it is product which is targeted to lower income
people as well as rural customer. The various shades were Adyrey, back\,
white, super white and etc.
Asian Paints Apex : This product is one of the major product of the saian
paints as this product is targeted to middle class people and avg income
level. These paint have wider range of shades such as classic white, blue

ice, Alliance, Antique white, sweet time and etc. The price varies from
Rs.180-Rs. 115.
Products of Asian Paints in Industrial sector : it is the second category of
the product that Asian paint produces. In this segment Asian Paints targets
to industry where the paint are used for protective coatings of the
machinery. Road mapping and various other industrial uses. In these
segment the product are normally sold at the premium price. Asian paint in
these sector is behind its competitor Nerolac. Now Asian Paints is trying a
lot to improve the product technology and by bringing new product in this
sector to compete with its competitor. The products are
i) Apcomin Synthetic Enamel
ii) Apcomin Synthetic Powder
iii) Stainer
iv) Premium surface & fillers
These products are based on high technological products and are used for
asset (Machinery, tools, equipments) coloring and upcoming synthetic
powder is used as lubricating agent in the machinery. Premium surface and
fillers and strainers are used in for road marking and various other tings in
the Industrial sector.
Product for automotive sector : This is the third category of product which is
produced by Asian paint. These segment is slowly being emerging great
user of paint in the Indian market previously automotive company used to
import the product from other country. But now some companies like Asian
paint, nerolac, Berger have their products in this segment. This sector is
emerging market in India.
Products : The products of Asian paint in this segment are
1) Allumium Paint
2) Fibre Paint
3) Apcolite Hammertone finish

Basically the product in this segment are new but the product are in the
great demand automotive vehicles in India. The product are available in
different colour basically they are used for colouring the vehicles and the
spare parts.
Product life cycle : Product life cycle suggests the different stages that a
product undergoes during its life cycle Introduction stage: In these stage
the product are introduced to the market.
i) Growth state In growth stage the product gens the memeenturn an
grows rapidly in these stage.
ii) Maturity : In these stage the product attains the saturation level it
reaches its maximum point and from that point it starts downfall.
iii) Decline stage : In these stage product slowly goes downward in to the
slope because of low demand and various other things. It end stage of a
product.
BRAND
a brand is a name, term, sign, symbol, design or a combination of all which
is build intended to identify products or services of a company to
differentiate it from its competitor. Asian paints, the largest paint company
in India have established its position as a great brand. Asian paints promise
to deliver consistently a specific set of features, benefits & services to
buyers.
Asian paints as a brand name is very much attached with allits products.
What evr may be the product, like ultima, Emulsion, wall finish lustce,
Apcolite premium in the urban area or the UTSAV at the rural area, the
brand name is directly attached.
The brand name Asian paints brings to the mind of people certain attributes
lie wonderful coloring, royal treatment, 1000s of colour combinations,
pricing not an important factor of concern as the company provides
products for all category of consumers. Post purchase service is also an
important issue related to brand name.

Asian paints Brand extension policies helped them to reduce the effective
cost of launching new colours products in new form, with new name. Line
Extension technique of branding helped them to go with new forms like
Asian paints UTSAV Enamel, Asian Paints Tractor Emulsion, Asian paints
Royal.
Companys universal logo GATTU which is not going to be a logo
anymore, helped Asian paints to promote its products in through out India,
particularly in rural areas it got the most popularity.
Asian paints is using its website as a very strong mode for the promotion of
Brand. The wonderful information related to pre-painting & after sales
services helped the company to build its unique brand. The on-line
services, colour world & Advertisements also helped to build the Brand of
Asian paints.
promotion
Asian paints the market leader of the decorative segment in the paint
market of the India. As it is not for behind in the other tow section that is
industrial coating and automotive coating. In achieve the current position a
lot things are being done by the Asian paints. The promotion strategy of
Asian paints is bringing a lot of positive output to the company. Company is
using different techniques such ad. Compaign, sales promotion, personal
selling, driect marketing and public relation.
Promotion strategy :
Direct response marketing : Asian paints is using V-sts based in the and 24
hours online customer help line service open. In enable the customer to
interact with the company and know the details about the product, pricing
and many things related to the company.
Asian paints is dominating the television advertisemnt by increasing other
ad campaign cost over 50% from next year. A total amount of 85 crores is
spent ont eh ad campaign by asian paint. With huge ad campaign support
behind the product the company is able to making a brand name in the
mind of customer. Their particular ad campaign Mera Walla Blue har ghar
kuch kehta hia are being liked by the customer.

Online marketing for urban customer : Asian paint online marketing system
is helping company in lot of ways many customer all the necessary
information to the customer. It is an unique way of promotion.
Colour world : Asian paint had established 30 colur world thorugh out the
country giving the people real taste of colur. The punchline for the colour
world is Jjahan Milen world ke saare colour
Promoting in different cities : Asian paint have large area of Network of
distribution. It has almost retail outlets through out the country situated in
the different city of India. All the customer could easily access the product
of Asian paint anywhere and any time.
Promotional strategy followed by Asian paints in rural market
On of thing which is contributing to the profit of Asian paint is that its entry
to the rural market. As Asian paint gets an competitive advantage from its
competitor in this sector. As Nerolac and Berger were only targeting the
urban customer.
First of al Asian paint is bring different low cost product like Utsav group in
the rural market.
There packaging very from 200gm to 1 kg \and prices are also relatively
low.
To enhance their sales in the rural market they are spending a huge
amount of money in ad campaigns.
In rural areas they follow sales demonstration programme where they
demonstrate their different product where a large no. of discount is given
on the product, lucky coupons, free gifts are given to the customer.
Moving vans are being employed to sell their product in different village.
Promotion in international arena
Asian paint is taking we from the domestic market and promoting its
product in the international market with establishing colour world in those
place particularly Caribbean, Africa Middle east Asia and south pacific. A

huge amount fund is invested adcapaign for these product in the

international market.
Promotion through Ad campaign : Asian paint has different brands over
1100 shades targeting different segments. The company decide to promote
all the brand under one name of Asian paint This was a advantage for
Asian paint in the Low involvement segment as the people asked the paint
by brand.
Target Audience : The primary target audience for all of the brands
marketing and communication activities has been the adult male who is the
primary decision maker. However female members of the house play an
important role in selecting a shade so a large number of ad are done
keeping in mind that thing..
The non-sue of caps in the headline as in the original ad Asian Paint
logo which is sin similar font, the design is meant for better readability and
structure of colour used.
The company mascot Gattu an impish boy with the paint tin and the
brush, is most popular and easily reconciled and is one of the ideal mascot.
Sates promotion : Asian paint uses it sale promotion as key ingredient in its
marketing campaign. It consist of various incentive designed to stimulate
faster or greater purchase of their products.
Giving discount to the dealer ; Asian paint gives certain amount of discount
to the dealer if he increases the sales of the company product.
Specialty advertising : Giving Asian paint T-shirt, Caps and other small
things to painter for their advertisement.
Trade show : Asian paint always open its stall in the Industry trade so that it
products would be promoted globally.
Consumer preference : The customer of Asian vary from a period to a big
industry in order to enhance it sales it gives price discount on bulk amount
of purchase. The company give coupons inside the paint pack so that could
be taken by the customer as a gift from the company. Asian paint always try
to improve the packaging of the product. If the product would be fancy and

stylish then it would increase the sales of the products. As industrial coating
is one of tis major product the company uses the name of the company it
supply the paint for its promotion.
The promotional strategy adopted by Asian is quite unique apart from
having such good strategy the company is using high profile brand
ambassador like Akshay Khanna, Saif Alikhan to promote their product in
the paint market. Promotional strategy of Asian paint is always aimed
looking at customer and this needs and for this strategy company is
enjoying the No 1 Position in the Indian paint market.
DISTRIBUTION
Asian paints have an extensive distribution channel through out the
country. It used to maintain unique channel from the manufacturer to the
customer. Distribution system at Asian paints : 1. Multiplant Distribution setup.
Neither geographic nor product specific.
Offers flexibility & variable cost advantages
2. Servicing has been key competitive advantage.
3. Around 15000 dealers serviced from around 85 sales location.
4. Role of distribution department is to ensure timely product availability at
these locations at minimum cost.
The company ahs 4 manufacturing facilities & more than 2800 stock
keeping units (SKUs) These are supported by 6 regional distribution
centers, which cater 55 deposits. Each depot is having branch manager for
supervision over more than 15000 dealers in more than 3500 small & big
cities in India.
Asian paint implemented & concisely improving its IT systems over the
years. It has already linked all sites & Depots through V-SAT technology,
which helps them to monitor constantly & has given benefits in streamlining
the distribution channel.

Asian paints also implemented 12 solutions to increase its networkings &

solutions, which is a very good replacement of ERP.
SERVICE
Asian paints is Indias largest paint company & the third largest paint
company of Asia today , has an enviable reputtion in corporate & society
level for its wonderful serving.
Asian paints have three different segments : (i) Decorative paints (ii)
Industrial & (iii) Automotive paints.
Its service strategy is also different according to these segments.
(i) Decorative paints :
Asian paints some solutions which actually offer a hastle free painting
experiences to the consumer is presently available in 11 different cities in
India. It is particularly meant for premium consumers. In this case painting
is done by experienced, trained applicators & according to the wish &
choice of customer in presence of him. Here time bound completions of the
job is assured.
In the website of Asian paints (www.asianpaint.com) all the details related
to the availability of the above facility & the help desk is designed to provide
the customer ample choices.
Asian paints clour world is the unique paint shop of Asian paint available
through out the India, where consumer can directly see the different paint
combinations through software & chose accordingly.
In all t here cases Asian paints also provide warranty for their products &
for home solutions free after paint services to the consumer, if anything
wrong happens with the paint.
For the rural areas, where the most popular product UTSAV, dominate the
market, Asian paint used to organize rallys, car or van advertisement of
their product & make aware the people about their services.
ii) Industrial paint :

here the products are tested under extreme conditions to ensure their
durability & how they can withstand different climatic changes. As corporate
level the main consumer here Asian paint used to provide importance in
servicing this sector too. Its website gives all the product details. It provides
technical details regarding the uses of the paint. Coating specification,
health & safety are also given importance as a part of services.
iii) Automotive coatings :
In this segment Asian paints is improving its market share with high speed.
Here the vehicles ultimately goes to the consumer, so Asian paints used to
provide direct consumer service, private cars, motor bikes & MUV (Multi
usage vehicles) vehicle manufactures are directly provided with the post
paint service.
Asian paint have implemented is solutions. Which helped them to
overcome the homegrown supply chain, which had certain drawbacks, in
terms of customer service. The is solution helped them to continuously
monitor the changing needs of the market place & serve the customers
accordingly.
In future so as to become open of largest paint company in the world Asian
paints is also taking care of the services they provide. They want to have
more feedback from the customers through their website & colour world. It
is now turning its helpline into an integral part of its operations. Roughly 75
lakh rupees is considered as the annual service cost. Quality service is the
future mothe of the company.
RESEARCH
Asian paints, the largest paint company of India have a very strong
research methodology. There are two ways they follow : - (i) Market
Research (ii) Research & Development of the products according to
customers need & choices.
(i) Market Research :
Asian paints used to hold a very strong market research team. The colour
worlds available throughout India is also keeping the consumer databases
& their feed backs. There are three important respect which came out.

(i) Consumer presences

(ii) Increasing global competition
(iii) Rapidly disappearing completive advantages.
The market research suggests company need to improve its presence in
Industrial sector. Products related to surface coatings & Intermediates need
to be modified. UTSAV range of products achieved a great success in rural
market in this area Asian paint need to take the competitive advantage.
(ii) Research & Developments :
Asian paints have invested 140.54 million Rs. In 2005-06 in the R & D
sector, Which gives an idea about the companys paid interest in R & D.
The various sector where company is taking care of are
(i) Development of analytical test methods, characterization technique &
application techniques essential for product development, bench marketing
& customer servicing.
(ii) Up gradation of products & processes to reduce environmental & safety
concerns.
(iii) As the price of crude oil is increasing day by day. Asian paints is looking
for identification of alternate & new raw materials for the products.
(iv) Quality improvement, cost benefits, supply chain flexibility & crisis
management are also the matter of concern.
Future planning :
Asian paints is growing rapidly throughout the world. In international market
company is planning to introduce new & attractive products though its
subsidiaries, like Berger, Apco coating etc. In Jamaica & Fuji companys
market is yet not satisfactory, which is also a matter of concern. In domestic
market company will concentrate on development of new products/ product
systems. With improved supply chain management.

Asian paints is looking to invest approximately Rs.160 million in R & D in

2006-2007 financial years. Quality control system will be upgraded &
implementation of in solution will be helpful to grow.
Recommendations
Asian Paint needs to focus more on industrial paint segment as there is a
great potential for growth.
Disposable income of people in rural areas is increasing. Asian paints
need to increase penetration in rural market.
People are giving more preference to durable and better looking finishes.
Should advertise more of their wood finish and waterproof products.
Should do more R&D on lead free paints
Future Concern
Raw material inflation a cause of concern
Global Crude Oil price
Weak rupee impacting margins adversely
Availability of Ti02 has eased but high prices remain a concern
Inflation prompting price hikes, can impact demand going forward
Global slowdown
References
www.asianpaints.com
www.moneycontrol.com
www.ipaindia.org
----------------------DECORATIVE

PAINTS
[pic] TRACTOR EMULSION
INDUSTRIAL
PAINTS
PREMIUM PRICE
[pic] UTSAV
LOWPRICE
LOW PRICE
ROYALE
[pic] APCOMIN
SYNTHETIC
ENAMEL
[pic] APCO
POWDER
[pic] APEX
[pic] APCOLITE
Tires
Tires 1