MINOR PROJECT

ON
A STUDY OF MARKETING STRATEGIES OF FASTRACK

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF REQUIREMENT

OF BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (BBA) BATCH
2015-2018

GURU GOBIND SINGH INDRAPRASTHA UNIVERSITY

Under the guidance of: Submitted by:
MS.SADHANA SINGH SUKHMANI
(FACULTY GUIDE) ROLL NO. 41350601715

NEW DELHI INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT

61, Tughlakabad Institutional Area,

New Delhi-110062

1
 DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the project report entitled “MARKETING STRATEGIES OF

FASTRACK ” which is being submitted in partial fulfillment of requirement of the
course and carried out by me under the guidance and supervision of my mentor
MS.SADHANA SINGH
I further declared that I or any other person has not previously submitted this project
report to any other institution for any other degree or diploma.

DATE: SUKHMANI
ROLL NO. 41350601715

2
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

A lot of effort has gone into this training report. My thanks are due to many people
with whom I have been closely associated. I would like all those who have contributed
in completing this project. First of all, I would like to send my sincere thanks to
MS.SADHANA SINGH for her helpful hand in the completion of my project.
I would like to thank my entire beloved family & friends for providing me monetary
as well as non – monetary support, as and when required, without which this project
would not have completed on time. Their trust and patience is now coming out in form
of this project.

SUKHMANI

3
 CONTENT

1. INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................5

2. RESEARCH OBJECTIVE AND METHODOLOGY..........................................9

3. INDUSTRY PROFILE .......................................................................................11

4. COMPANY PROFILE........................................................................................17

5. THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE.......................................................................30

6. FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS............................................................................52

7. CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS......................................................70

8. BIBLIOGRAPHY...............................................................................................74

9. COPY OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE..................................................................75

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 CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

5
Fastrack was established in 1984, becoming the third Indian watch manufacturer
after HMT and Allwyn. Fastrack formed a joint venture with Timex Group, which lasted
until 1998, to set up a distribution network across India.

The company brought about a paradigm shift in the Indian watch market, offering quartz
technology with international styling, manufactured in a state-of-the-art factory at Hosur,
Tamil Nadu. In 1995, the company diversified into jewellery under the brand Tanishq to
capitalise on a fragmented market operating with no brands in urban cities. In 2005, the
company launched its second jewellery brand, Gold Plus, to capitalize on opportunities in
small towns and rural India. The company has also made its foray into eyewear,
launching Fastrack eyewear and sunglasses, as well as prescription eyewear.

Areas of business
Fastrack's main products are:

Watches: The four main watch brands include Fastrack for the mid-premium segment,
Fastrack focused on the youth and trendy fashion space, Sonata for the mass market and
Xylys for the premium market. The Fastrack brand architecture comprises several sub-
brands, each of which is a market leader in own space. Notable among them are Fastrack
Edge, Fastrack Raga, Nebula and  other collections such as Zoop, Orion, Purple, Obaku,
Automatic, Tycoon, Bandhan, Octane and the HTSE series. 

The company manufactures over 15 million watches per annum and has a customer base
of over 100 million. Today, the Fastrack portfolio has over 60 percent of the domestic
market share in the organised watch market. Watches are sold through exclusive ‘World
of Fastrack' showrooms and at 12,000 multi-brand outlets in more than 2,500 cities in
India and internationally in over 32 countries, primarily in the Middle-East, Asia Pacific
and Africa. Its after-sales-service is itself a benchmarked operation with modern service
centres offering some of the fastest turnaround times in the world. The company has a
world-class design studio for designing watches and accessories.

6
Helios, India's multi-brand watch retailer offers an unmatched range of the latest designs
across 30 international brands in addition to Fastrack brands. 

Jewellery: Tanishq offers a premium range of gold jewellery studded with diamonds and
precious, semi-precious stones in various hues in 18KT and a wide range of plain gold
jewellery in 22KT pure gold. Platinum jewellery also forms part of the product range.
Gold Plus retails plain gold jewellery offerings with designs specifically created for the
semi urban and rural Indian market and offers unique designs crafted with diamonds,
American diamonds and other precious stones. Zoya offers premium studded jewellery
catering to the needs of the elite. The jewellery division has its own design studio.

Eye wear: Fastrack Eye+ offers a variety of differentiated products to the end consumer
consisting of frames, lenses, contact lenses and accessories. Frames are available in both
international brands (Levis, Esprit, Hugo Boss, etc) and in-house brands — Fastrack
Eye+ and Dash. Customers are offered a unique browse-select-buy format where all
products are accessible, using world-class equipment for zero-error eye testing by
qualified optometrists trained at Sankara Netralaya and style consultants to help buyers
make the right choice of frames and lenses.

Precision engineering: The division’s products span precision engineering components

and sub-assemblies, machine building and automation solutions, tooling solutions and
electronic sub-assemblies. The division is ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001:2004 certified.
Additionally, the unit catering to the aerospace segment is AS 9100B certified and the
unit catering to automotive segment is TS 16949 certified. The unit has recently been
selected for the National Aerospace and Defence Contractors’ Accreditation Programmed
for its non-destructive testing capabilities.

Fragrances:
In September 2013, Fastrack unveiled the everyday French Luxury Perfume line, Skinn.
They have three masculine and three feminine fragrances.

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Eyewear Division:
In March 2007, Fastrack entered the prescription eyewear segment under the brand name
Fastrack Eye+. Fastrack has set up its own lens manufacturing lab at
Chikkaballapur, Bangalore.

Location
Headquartered in Bengaluru, India, the company has manufacturing and assembly
operations at Hosur, Dehradun, Roorkee, Pantnagar and Chikkaballapur, and an
electronics component manufacturing plant in Goa.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

OBJECTIVE:

 To study the attitude and satisfaction among the consumers for Fastrack watches.

 To study and analyze various factors influence the consumers to purchase the
Fastrack watches.
 To analyze the factors influencing perception and buying decision of consumers.
 To find out the effectiveness of advertisements for Fastrack  watches.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The project aims on understanding customer satisfaction of watches with respect to

Name of your brand…………….. The project helps us to know how much powerful the

8
brand name of FASTRACK that compel the buyer to buy watches of this brand only.
This project may be useful to:-
 
BUYERS

RESEARCHERS

STUDENTS

OTHER INTRESTED PARTIES 

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

1. The geographical scope of the study is limited to South Delhi.

2. The sample size is confined to 100.

3. The consumer’s attitude may change in future due to change in their standard of living.

4. The Respondents were sometimes unable to spend much time for filling up the,

questionnaire. So, the chances for bias in the respondents answer were on the higher side.

5. The responses of the consumers may not be genuine.

6. The questions included in the questionnaire may not be comprehensive.

CHAPTER 2
RESEARCH OBJECTIVE AND METHODOLOGY

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Research Objective:
The above of the project was manifold.

1. To examine the marketing strategy of Fastrack

2. To explore the opportunities for Fastrack in Indian

3. To study the market position of Fastrack in India

4. To assess the brand image of Fastrack

5. To investigate the strategies adopted by Fastrack to win customer

Research Methodology:

This research work will deeply analyze the marketing strategies implemented by the

FASTRACK. For doing this the researcher would collect both primary and secondary

data.

Primary Data:

The researcher will use the questionnaire method for collecting primary data.

Secondary Data:

The secondary data in this research will be collected through news articles, journals,

magazine, peer reviews and published databases. A comprehensive of the collected data

will be presented with the help of tables, charts and graphs.

Sample Size: 60

Sampling methodology:

Sampling Area: Customers of FASTRACK

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 CHAPTER 3

INDUSTRY PROFILE

11
History of the watch market:

The Indian watch industry began in the year 1961 with the commissioning of the watch

division of HMT. The first watch model manufactured by HMT was the Janata model in

the year 1962. HMT was the leader in the watch market till the Tata’s formed Titan

Watches in association with Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation in the year

1987. They took a major strategy decision, which later changed the face of the Indian

watch market- to manufacture only quartz watches. Liberalization in 1992 and the

removal of quantitative restrictions due to WTO has opened the doors for many foreign

brands in the Indian market viz. Tissot, Swatch, Omega, Rado, TAG Heuer, Rolex and

many others. The import duties on watches are falling which makes the Indian market

look attractive for the global majors like Casio,Swatch, Citizen,Titan, Sonata,Timax and

Omega

Indian Watch industry:

Porter’s Five Forces Model

Timex has its own fully integrated operation for production of its watches. Timex has its

own production facilities for which it has invested roughly 120 crore rupees over the

years, the manufacturing capacity of which is 6 million units. Also there has been a rise

of low cost producers in China & Taiwan which has provided an opportunity for watch

makers to outsource watches at low cost, just as Timex has done to outsource the

components for Dash. Due to the large supply of watch movements available, there is

little supplier power in the watch market.

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2. Buyer Power:

The Indian watch buyers are very price sensitive, especially in the lower end of the

market. There is still a huge untapped market in India with market penetration of only 20

units per thousand people while the world average is more than 100. At the same time

there are a segment of people who are willing to pay a premium for watches with good

performance and with a recognized brand name. So understanding the buyers’

preferences is very crucial in this industry in order to gain a substantial market share.

3. Entry Barriers:

The Indian watch market in the recent years has shown a dramatic increase in the number

of brands available in the market due to removal of quantitative restrictions. So the new

entrant has to have an offering, which can be positioned and differentiated from the other

players in the market. This could be either price or functional or emotional appeal. So the

prime barrier for entry, in the current context, for a new entrant is to build a brand image

and price competitively.

4. Threat of Substitutes:

There are no such substitutes to watch as a product. However, in terms of the companies

offering various variations for watches such as pendant watches and jewellery watches,

some sort of substitution has developed. Rich consumers prefer to purchase watches more

as a fashion accessory rather than simply for its typical use.

5. Degree of Rivalry:

13
There are many companies in the Indian watch market; however, the product ranges

offered by them are manifold. This makes the competition very stiff. Also at the lower

end of the market it is basically the Value for Money, which differentiates the players.

The strategic stakes for the producers are very high. Titan Ltd., the largest company in

terms of market share in the organized sector has faced losses in the quarter ended June

2001 despite increase in the market share due to macroeconomic situation. HMT faced a

similar situation when Titan was introduced in the 1980s leading to a sharp fall in its

market share.

Present Situation of the Indian Watch Market

The Indian watch market is today of 40 million units, out of which 60% is in the

unorganized sector in which the maximum number of watches are sold are below Rs.300.

Quartz watches form two third of the organized sector and the rest is split between

mechanical and digital watches. Even in the organized sector, three fourth of the sales by

volume comes from watches that are priced below Rs.1000. Plastic as such is not

acceptable to average Indian consumers, especially those from the small towns and rural

areas who regard it as cheap and flimsy. They want toughness- which translates into a

good quality metal model at a reasonable price. Watch is one of the consumer durables

whose replacement rate is very high. The replacement rate of watch is 33.8 %( Source:

India market demographics report, 2011). This is also due to the fact that the estimated

scrap rate of wrist watches is 7.8%, which is applicable after 6 years (Source: India

market demographics report 2011). So, due to high scrap rate, outdated models, and the

shift from the mechanical watches to the quartz watches it is causing a very high

replacement demand for watches. This along with the low penetration level represents the

untapped market potential for watches in India.

Major brands in the Indian watch market:

14
The major players in the Indian watch market include HMT, Titan and Timex. The other

players include Westar, Shivaki, Maxima, SITCO. Foreign brands such as Cartier, Piaget,

Omega, Tiffany’s and Corrum, Gucci, Longines, Casio, Citizen, Tag Heuer and Espirit

are also making an inroad into the Indian market. Titan has been consolidating its market

share over the past decade. Timex watches, which entered in India with collaboration

with Titan, has now independently gained substantial market share.

Watch Industry Map

Segmentation of Indian Watch industry

Based on price

· Mass (Rs.350-600),

15
· Popular (Rs.600-900),

· Premium (Rs.900-1500),

· Super-premium (Rs.1500-8000)

· Connoisseur segments (above Rs.8000)

Based on user category

· Men’s watches

· Women’s watches

· Youth watches

· Kids watches

· Sports watches

16
 CHAPTER 4

COMPANY PROFILE

17
Fastrack was launched in 1998 as a sub-brand of Titan. It was spun off as an independent

brand of watches targeting the urban youth in 2005. Since then, it has infiltrated the lives

of India's youth with designs that were refreshingly different and affordable. During that

time, Fastrack also jumped headlong into the eye gear business and in the last 4 years has

quickly notched up the title of being the largest sunglasses brand in the country. Fastrack

has now pushed past the horizons into newer areas - bags, belts, wallets & wrist bands -

as part of its mission to offer the youth everything they need to be cool Now serving up

its vision in six different flavors, enough to fully packed store, Fastrack has chosen to

'move on' and throw open the doors of its own stores for its young consumers. The brand

store is all set to cater to every need of today's youth as a complete accessories

destination having all fastrack gear under one roof. The first store landed on the scene in

Pune, early 2009. Fastrack plans to have 50 such stores by 2010. & they are on their way.

Well it has got a very cute, spunky, naughty, bold & sexy brand ambassador as Genelia

D'sousa. & now it has come up with a new style of representing the brand as "Fastrack"

which attracts lots of crazy youngsters. So do you really think the new marketing strategy

of Fastrack attracts you...?

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Titan:

Titan Industries is the world's fifth largest wrist watch manufacturer and India's leading

producer of watches under the Titan, Fastrack, Sonata, Nebula, RAGA, Regalia, Octane

& Xylys brand names. It is a joint venture between the Tata Group, and the Tamil Nadu

Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO). Its product portfolio includes watches,

accessories and jewellery, in both contemporary and traditional designs. It exports

watches to about 32 countries around the world with manufacturing facilities

inHosur, Dehradun, Goa and manufactures precious jewellery under the Tanishq brand

name, making it India's only national jewellery brand. It is a subsidiary of the Tata

Group.

Watch Division:

Titan Watch division was started in 1987. At launch it was the third watch company in

India after HMT and Allwyn. Titan formed a joint venture with Timex, which lasted until

1998, and set up a distribution network across India. As of 2010, Titan watches account

for a 60% share of the total Indian market and are also sold in about 40 countries through

marketing subsidiaries based in London, Aden, Dubai and Singapore. Titan watches are

sold in India through retail chains controlled by Titan Industries.

Titan Industries has claimed to have manufactured the world's slimmest wrist watch

– Titan Edge. Produced indigenously after four years of research and development, the

Titan Edge has a total thickness of 3.5 mm and a movement of 1.15 mm. Apart from the

Titan Edge, Titan also offers Steel, Regalia, Raga, Fastrack, Technology, Nebula,

Bandhan, Sonata, Octane, special RHosur and Tamil Nadu. Fastrack is a popular brand

among youth in India. Fastrack watches come in a variety of styles, shapes and colors. On

4 March 2010, Titan Industries announced the launch of its first Titan flagship store,

located at Opposite Shoppers Stop, Bandra Linking Road, Mumbai, India. The store is

19
spread over 2,500 sq ft (230 m2) and houses more than 1500 watches on display from

Titan like Purple, Automatics, Orion, Raga, Edge, Nebula, and many more.

On November 16, 2011, Titan Industries acquired Swiss watch maker Favre-Leuba for

Euro 2 million.

Face of Titan:

The Company also runs a one of a kind contest in the retail industry called the Face Of

Titan (FOT) contest to identify the most talented Sales person, Manager & Service

personnel Technician & Cashier. The contest recognizes the best based on a set of

parameters that give a measure of the overall development of the individual in each of the

categories mentioned above and is not solely on sales. This program was conceived as an

assessment center for front-line staff - by Aparna Ponnappa, inspired at that time by staff

who expressed their desire to 'perform' and 'be recognized' for what they do. This

program enabled the retail wing of Titan to empower staff to take charge of their own

skill development and provided them with a healthy and fun environment to compete and

showcase their own talent.

The contest leapfrogged into the digital era from the year 2006-07 with the introduction

of IT in the capturing of survey data across all of its 200+ stores, that year also saw the

introduction of the data gathered at the store level being used to profile the staff at

various levels using a custom built web based software developed by I.GEN Labs.

TITAN company has good reputation in Indian stock market (NSE). Sonata reached the

top 100 most trusted brands of India in a study - The Brand Trust Report conducted by

Trust Research Advisory. The same study has also ranked Titan as 10th Most Trusted

Brand.

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 LITERATURE REVIEW

Market Size:

The size of the watch market currently is estimated to be around 40 to 45 million pieces

annually. The organized sector alone contributes up to 30 % & the other 70 % is

contributed by the unorganized grey sector. In dollar terms, the estimated annual market

size is around USD 195 million, despite the fact that the penetration of watches is the

lowest, compared globally. The average growth in the size of the market is slated to be

around 10 -15 percent per year.

Watch Industry Segmentation:

It is segmented on basis of multiple proportions such as price, benefits and types of

watches. The price of the watches is a major motive in the minds of the customer.

Accordingly, three segments can be identified here, namely low priced (Less than 500),

medium priced (Rs 500 – Rs 1500), and high priced watches (Above 1500).

Titan Industries:

Titan Industries is the worlds fifth largest and India's leading manufacturer of watches.

The company has manufactured more than a 100 million watches till date; and has a

customer base of over 80 million. The umbrella brand Titan is one of India's leading

watch brands that brought about a paradigm shift in the Indian watch market, offering

21
quartz technology with international styling. The brand Titan is committed to offering its

consumers watches that represent the compass of their imagination. Titan's customers are

therefore consistently introduced to exciting new collections, which connect, with various

facets of their deep-rooted yearnings for self-expression. The new brand philosophy of

Titan, encapsulated in the words "Be More", touches this as well as all other aspects of

the brand. The Titan brand architecture comprises several collection and sub-brands, each

of which is a leader in its segment. Notable among them are: Titan Edge- The world's

slimmest watch which stands for the philosophy of "less is more"; Titan Raga the

feminine and sensuous accessory for today's woman, Nebula − crafted in solid 18k gold

and precious stones. Several other popular collections like

Heritage, Aviator, Regalia, Octane, WWF & Fastrack also form a part of the Titan

wardrobe. Another most successful collection of Titan is the Titan Sonata, which was

specifically designed for the lower segment. Today, the Titan portfolio has over 60% of

the domestic market share in the organized watch market. The company has 24X7

exclusive showrooms christened World of Titan', making it amongst the largest chains in

its category backed by 700 after sales service centers. The company has a world class

design studio that constantly invents new trends in wrist watches. Titan chose to invest

heavily into showcasing all this innovation to the consumer through advertising. From

Day 1, the 'catalogue" advertising of Titan became its trademark as it was used regularly

and effectively to merchandise new models. The catalogue ads also helped customers to

shop off the page and almost decide which model they wanted to pick. Retailers also

became used to seeing customers walking into shops with newspaper "cuttings", asking

for the models shown there. This approach continues to this day, with mostly the same

effect.

22
Customer Segmentation:

After carrying out an in-depth market study, Titan identified three distinct market

segments for its watches. The segments were arrived at using benefit and income level as

the bases. The first consisted of the high income/ elite consumers who were buying a

watch as a fashion accessory not as a mere instrument showing time. The next segment

consisted of consumers who preferred some fashion in their watches but to them price did

matter. The third segment consisted of the lower income consumers who saw a watch

mainly as a time-keeping device and bought mainly on the basis of price.

In 1998, it was Fastrack, the cool, trendy, funky range for the young and young-at-heart.

A collection of watches with contemporary styles that was specifically designed for the

23
young and distinctive. Designs ranged from the relaxed and informal to the definitely

sporty. The woman’s collection presents the all new international `Frosted’ look, which is

trendy and chic. The Fastrack collection has elements like cool mesh straps and features

that include EL backlight and dual time. Also, it presented a wide range of fashion

digitals in contemporary wrist hugging cases with oversized displays and features that

include countdown timers, chronographs, lap timers, hourly chime, alarm and

Hilight glow.

Advertisement:

Bollywood rock star John Abraham was the brand ambassador for Fastrack. Most of its

advertisements were dominated by youth. Some of the popular Fastrack advertisements

are discussed below:

24
Yes Sir Ad

 A teacher was taking attendance,

 A boy responses his roll by raising his hand

 Girls get obsessed by looking at the watch worn by that boy

Which has the message that this watch on your wrist makes you more stylish?

25
Move On Ad

 It shows that Girls follow boys wearing Fastrack watch everywhere.

 And the move is on

This has the same message as in the above.

There were several other Ads like Neon Disc (Glows in dark), X Y collection (For both

boys & girls), Fastrack fans etc.

The most interesting thing in all these Ads was the last statement “HOW MANY YOU

HAVE” which has a hidden strategy i.e. it is influencing buyers to have more than one

watch. Most of the people use a single watch at a time but Fastrack influenced people by

its Ad to use more than a single watch that may be according to their get up or their

style.

26
Creative Advertising:

From Titan Fastrack where fashionable jeweler was a gift on purchase of any Fastrack

watch. This jewellery set of a pendant and earrings is contemporary and unique in form

and material, with steel and acrylic being used together for stunning effect. This was

launched for Valentine’s Day where the name scheme, The watch being advertised for

(Fast track) as it pertains to the youth, jewellery (for the youth), valentine’s day (more so

for the youth) and adding to the excitement is a limited edition FASTRACK

VALENTINE'S COLLECTION that is being made available in four designs. Only 300

watches of each design will be on sale across cities during this fortnight. These watches

are designed is steel with leather straps in the colors of the season – black, red and silver.

The dials are in matched colors with heart patterns, making the collection a true blend of

fashion and romance. "Young couples are looking for new ways to discover their

relationships and this set of special watches and matching jewellery from Fastrack, gives

them just the reason to do so. The promotion was in Mumbai, Delhi, Pune and Bangalore

from Feb 1–14.

Pricing Strategy:

The price of the models of Fastrack ranged from Rs.550 to Rs 2,430 and was designed

exclusively keeping in mind the Generation X of the subcontinent. Titan’s primary

pricing objective is to kill Competition. Being an Indian manufacture and infusing the

advantages of the Indian market with the dynamics of the western market the company

has carved itself a place difficult to achieve by foreign players.

27
Application of pricing strategy:

The main plank of the watch market is in the less-than-Rs.1, 000 price category.

Effectively, about 70 per cent of the sales in the watch industry in India are in this

category. None of the foreign brands has a presence in this category. Only cheap Chinese

watches are present in this bracket and they compete with the unorganized manufacturers,

who are more expensive than them. So, the unorganized sector is getting hit from the

bottom by Chinese products and at the top by the organized sector brands, such as Sonata

Price Discounts and Allowances

Fastrack once a year comes out with a Price discount sale on the MRP of the watches

which is based on the stock carried by the company at the year end. Warranties and

Service Contracts Fastrack provides warranty or service contract to its watches and this is

backed up by the name TATA which is especially needed to convince and march ahead

in the lower segment market. Product Line Pricing Tata’s have paid Rs.10 crore for the

three-year contract. For the Tatas themselves, it meant more than just sponsorship – it

signaled the beginning of a new era in the Tata regime. One of the main reasons for the

sponsor of this event is “Global event like these provide a great opportunity to corporate

to satisfy their marketing objectives and cross-promote their brands”, the differences in

the prices of the watches are justified by the features, the style, and the differences which

make up each watch. Titan prices all its watches in such a way that it maximizes the total

profit on the total mix. The Tata Open The battle ground for this new strategy of synergy

started with the Tata Open (India’s biggest tennis tournament) held every year in

December – January.

28
Promotions:

Before Titan’s arrival on the scene, Indian watch manufacturers saw advertising as a

rather unnecessary expense. Titan saw it as a vital investment, as it went about fashioning

brand-building criteria that has since been embraced by the entire industry. The brand has

always invested heavily in showcasing its products, through measures such as ‘catalogue’

advertising and by using the print media regularly and effectively to merchandise new

models. Advertising of this kind enabled consumers to shop‘off the page’ and decide

which model they wanted.

Titan has made a mark in television promotions, too, where its advertisements have been

noticed for the music tracks used in them. In 1991, Titan created a set of three

promotional films to develop the ‘gifting’ market. Watches had always been a great gift

29
favourite, but Titan was convinced that much of the segment’s potential lay untapped.

Each of the films explored a particular relationship, wherein the gifting of a Titan

generated a moving personal moment for those involved. Advertising aside, the

conception and ambience of Titan’s own retail outlets have been a powerful promotional

tool for the company’s products. These are strategically located in the newer parts of

cities and towns, always with a highly refined and uniform frontage with window

displays that invite people to walk in. Inside, the Titan experience takes over. Brand

offerings are highlighted in highly refined settings that have the best of lighting, props

and contextual information. Even if a visit does not consummate in a purchase, the Titan

touch is imprinted on consumers. The 160 ‘World of Titan’ showrooms across 90 cities

in the country, refurbished in 2001, are symbolic of the brand’s sophistication.

Continuous innovation of retail design sustains the ‘invitation’ to visit the store. The

dependability quotient in the relationship that Titan has nurtured with consumers has

been improved by the brand’s network of after-sales service centre’s, which is

unparalleled for its reach and responsiveness. Adding to the benefits that consumers can

expect are Titan’s high-end ‘watch-care centre’s, which offer showroom-like ambience

and comfort.

30
 CHAPTER 5

THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE

31
"Marketing" is an instructive business domain that serves to inform and educate target

markets about the value and competitive advantage of a company and its products.

“Value” is worth derived by the customer from owning and using the product.

“Competitive Advantage” is a depiction that the company or its products are each doing

something better than their competition in a way that could benefit the customer.

Marketing is focused on the task of conveying pertinent and product related information

to specific customers, and there are a multitude of decisions (strategies) to be made

within the marketing domain regarding what information to deliver, how much

information to deliver, to whom to deliver, how to deliver, when to deliver, and where to

deliver. Once the decisions are made, there are numerous ways (tactics) and processes

that could be employed in support of the selected strategies. As Marketing is often

misinterpreted as just advertising or sales, Chris Newton, in what is marketing? Defined

marketing as every strategy and decision made in the following twelve areas:

 Identifying and quantifying the need in the marketplace

 Identifying and quantifying the target markets

 Identifying the optimum cost effective media – online and offline - to reach the

target markets

 Reviewing the priorities of the product offering in your overall product mix

‘matrix’

 Identifying and developing the most effective distribution channels, be they

wholesaler networks, partnering alliances, franchising, or any number of conduits

to the market.

 Testing different ways of packaging the concepts or products to find their most

'easy-to-sell' form

 Testing to find the optimum pricing strategies

32
  Developing effective promotional strategies and effective advertising and

supporting collateral, offers, and launch strategies

 Developing and documenting the sales process

 Finding the optimum execution of the sales process – through testing of selling

scripts, people selection, supporting collateral, skills and attitudinal training,

tracking, measuring and refining

 Ensuring that sales projections reflect realistic production capacities

 Developing nurture programs to optimize the lifetime value of the customer

The goal of marketing is to build and maintain a preference for a company and its

products within the target markets. The goal of any business is to build mutually

profitable and sustainable relationships with its customers. While all business domains

are responsible for accomplishing this goal, the marketing domain bears a significant

share of the responsibility. Within the larger scope of its definition, marketing is

performed through the actions of three coordinated disciplines named: “Product

Marketing”, “Corporate Marketing”, and “Marketing Communications

Two levels of marketing:

Strategic marketing: attempts to determine how an organization competes against its

competitors in a market place. In particular, it aims at generating a competitive advantage

relative to its competitors. Operational marketing: executes marketing functions to attract

and keep customers and to maximize the value derived for them, as well as to satisfy the

customer with prompt services and meeting the customer expectations. Operational

Marketing includes the determination of the porter's five forces 

4 Ps:

33
In the early 1960s, Professor Neil Borden at Harvard Business School identified a

number of Birla Cement performance actions that can influence the consumer decision to

purchase goods or services. Borden suggested that all those actions of the Birla

Cement represented a “Marketing Mix”. Professor E. Jerome McCarthy, also at the

Harvard Business School in the early 1960s, suggested that the Marketing Mix contained

4 elements: product, price, place and promotion. In popular usage, "marketing" is the

promotion of products, especially advertising and branding. However, in professional

usage the term has a wider meaning which recognizes that marketing is customer-

centered. Products are often developed to meet the desires of groups of customers or

even, in some cases, for specific customers. E. Jerome McCarthy divided marketing into

four general sets of activities. His typology has become so universally recognized that his

four activity sets, the Four Ps, have passed into the language. 

Product: The product aspects of marketing deal with the specifications of the actual

goods or services, and how it relates to the end-user's needs and wants. The scope of a

product generally includes supporting elements such as warranties, guarantees, and

support.

Pricing: This refers to the process of setting a price for a product, including discounts.

The price need not be monetary - it can simply be what is exchanged for the product or

services, e.g. time, energy, psychology or attention.

Promotion: This includes advertising, sales promotion, publicity, and personal selling,

branding and refers to the various methods of promoting the product, brand.

Placement (or distribution): refers to how the product gets to the customer; for

example, point of sale placement or retailing. This fourth P has also sometimes been

called Place, referring to the channel by which a product or services is sold (e.g. online

34
vs. retail), which geographic region or industry, to which segment (young adults,

families, business people), etc. also referring to how the environment in which the

product is sold in can affect sales. These four elements are often referred to as the

marketing mix, which a marketer can use to craft a marketing plan. The four Ps model is

most useful when marketing low value consumer products. Industrial products, services,

high value consumer products require adjustments to this model. Services marketing must

account for the unique nature of services. Industrial or B2B marketing must account for

the long term contractual agreements that are typical in supply chain transactions.

Relationship marketing attempts to do this by looking at marketing from a long term

relationship perspective rather than individual transactions.

As a counter to this, Morgan, in Riding the Waves of Change (Jossey-Bass, 1988),

suggests that one of the greatest limitations of the 4 Ps approach "is that it unconsciously

emphasizes the inside–out view (looking from the Birla Cement  outwards), whereas the

essence of marketing should be the outside–in approach". Nevertheless, the 4 Ps offer a

memorable and workable guide to the major categories of marketing activity, as well as a

framework within which these can be used. 

7 P’s:

As well as the standard four P's (Product, Pricing, Promotion and Place), services

marketing calls upon an extra three, totaling seven and known together as the extended

marketing mix. These are:

35
People: Any person coming into contact with customers can have an impact on overall

satisfaction. Whether as part of a supporting service to a product or involved in a total

service, people are particularly important because, in the customer's eyes, they are

generally inseparable from the total service. As a result of this, they must be

appropriately trained, well motivated and the right type of person. Fellow customers are

also sometimes referred to under 'people', as they too can affect the customer's service

experience, (e.g., at a sporting event).

Process: This is the process (es) involved in providing a service and the behavior of

people, which can be crucial to customer satisfaction.

Physical evidence: Unlike a product, a service cannot be experienced before it is

delivered, which makes it intangible. This, therefore, means that potential customers

could perceive greater risk when deciding whether to use a service. To reduce the feeling

of risk, thus improving the chance for success, it is often vital to offer potential customers

the chance to see what a service would be like. This is done by providing physical

evidence, such as case studies, testimonials or demonstrations.  

Personalization: It is here referred customization of products and services through the

use of the Internet. Early examples include Dell on-line and Amazon.com, but this

concept is further extended with emerging social media and advanced algorithms.

Emerging technologies will continue to push this idea forward.

Participation: This is to allow the customer to participate in what the brand should stand

for; what should be the product directions and even which ads to run. This concept is

laying the foundation for disruptive change through democratization of information.

36
Peer-to-Peer: This refers to customer networks and communities where advocacy

happens. The historical problem with marketing is that it is “interruptive” in nature,

trying to impose a brand on the customer. This is most apparent in TV advertising. These

“passive customer bases” will ultimately be replaced by the “active customer

communities”. Brand engagement happens within those conversations. P2P is now being

referred as Social Computing and is likely to be the most disruptive force in the future of

marketing.

Predictive modeling: This refers to algorithms that are being successfully applied in

marketing problems (both a regression as well as a classification problem).  

Scope of marketing:

Marketing is a philosophy that leads to the process by which organizations, groups and

individuals obtain what they need and want by identifying value, providing it,

communicating it and delivering it to others. The core concepts of marketing are

customers’ needs, wants and values; products, exchange, communications and

relationships. Marketing is strategically concerned with the direction and scope of the

long-term activities performed by the organization to obtain a competitive advantage. The

organization applies its resources within a changing environment to satisfy customer

needs while meeting stakeholder expectations. Implied in this view of strategic marketing

is the requirement to develop a strategy to cope with competitors, identify market

opportunities, develop and commercialize new products and services, allocate resources

among marketing activities and design an appropriate organizational structure to ensure

the performance desired is achieved. There is no unique strategy that succeeds for all

organizations in all situations. In thinking strategically about marketing many factors

must be considered: the extent of product diversity and geographic coverage in the

organization; the number of market segments served, marketing channels used, the role of

37
branding, the level of marketing effort, and the role of quality. It is also necessary to

consider the organization’s approach to new product development, in particular, its

position as a technology leader or follower, the extent of innovation, the organization’s

cost position and pricing policy, and its relationship to customers, competitors, suppliers

and partners. The challenge of strategic marketing is, therefore, to manage marketing

complexity, customer and stakeholder expectations and to reconcile the influences of a

changing environment in the context of a set of resource capabilities. It is also necessary

to create strategic opportunities and to manage the concomitant changes required within

the organization. In this world of marketing, organizations seek to maximize returns to

shareholders by creating a competitive advantage in identifying, providing,

communicating and delivering value to customers, broadly defined, and in the process

developing long-term mutually satisfying relationships with those customers.

Understanding marketing – antecedents

The fundamental management issue in marketing is to determine a superior value

position from the customer’s perspective and to ensure that, by developing a consensus

throughout the organization, value is provided, communicated and delivered to the

customer group. The core concepts of marketing are needs, wants and demands which

directly affect the identification and selection of relevant customer values reflected in

products, services and ideas that the organization provides, communicates and delivers in

the form of exchanges to build long-term satisfactory relationships with customers. Needs

are the internal influences which prompt behavior, e.g. biological needs refer to a

person’s requirements for food, air and shelter while social needs refer to issues such as

security, personal gratification and prestige. Wants are culture bound and may be

satisfied using a number of technologies, e.g. a teenager may listen to music on one of the

rock radio stations or on DVDs played on a computer. Demand refers to the ability and

willingness of a customer to buy a particular product or service which satisfies the want

38
and the more latent need. A student may want a BMW but can afford only a bicycle. The

organization may set out from the start or be established with those objectives or, more

likely, as a result of trial and error and experience, the organization evolves into a

position over time of being the desired source of value. The core concepts of marketing

may be decomposed into a number of basic components:

39
 Core concepts of marketing

Provide the value:

– product planning

– packaging

– branding

– pricing

Communicate the value:

– Advertising

– Personal selling

– Direct marketing

– Sales promotion

40
Deliver the value:

– Channels of distribution

– Logistics

– Servicing

Successful organizations recognize value positions and ensure that learning occurs

throughout the organization as a result of discovering the value position. Choosing the

value position is one of the most important strategic decisions facing the organization.

Once chosen, it the task of management to ensure that everyone in the organization

directly contributes to delivering the chosen value.

Marketing and Sales Orientations:

A sales emphasis is very different from a marketing emphasis in the organization. Four

important areas where they differ separate the two approaches: organizational objectives,

orientation, attitudes to segmentation and the perceived task facing marketing in the

organization. A sales emphasis results in objectives which are aimed at increasing current

sales to meet quotas and to derive commissions and bonuses. Little discrimination is

made between products or customers in terms of profits unless these differences are

written into the incentives. In contrast, objectives with a marketing emphasis take profits

into account. Marketing objectives include an explicit consideration of product mixes,

customer groups and different communications and ways of reaching the market in

attempting to achieve profitable sales and market shares at acceptable levels of risk. The

selling and marketing orientations produce very different emphases in the organization. A

selling orientation predominantly reflects a production approach whereby something is

produced and the task is to sell it thereby increasing consumption. A focus on sales

means a focus on individual customers rather than market segments or market classes.

41
Such organizations are very knowledgeable about individual accounts and the variables

which influence specific sales transactions but they are less interested in developing an

approach to an entire segment of similar needs and wants in the market. A technology

orientation is similar to a sales orientation except that the organization also engages in

product research and development. A marketing approach attempts to determine ways of

offering superior value to the more profitable segments without damaging individual

customer relationships. A marketing approach reflects an integrated approach based on

research and feedback. Customer needs are first evaluated through market research; an

integrated marketing effort is developed to satisfy customers so that the organization

achieves its goals, especially those affecting shareholders. This is a customer orientation

and contrasts very bluntly with a narrow competitor orientation based on sales in which

the organization by capitalizing on the weaknesses of vulnerable competitors or by

removing its own competitive weaknesses attempts to obtain high sales and long-run

profits. In many situations marketing evaluates itself and presents its case to senior

managers of the organization based on sales, efficiency or, worst of all, internal awards,

not marketplace outcomes or financial success. Senior managers deal with issues that

involve the allocation of resources and how such allocation affects the return on

investment. These hurdle rates are calculated differently from one organization to another

but they need to be understood for a marketing programme to be effective and accepted.

In a business world dominated by financial considerations the ability of the organization

to produce award-winning marketing programmes or attractive but fuzzy images in TV

commercials is not of much value. Traditional marketing thinking assumes that the

organization is in complete control of the marketplace, whereas interaction and market

integration are required.

42
 Alternative business orientation of the firm

Customer and competitor orientation in the organization

43
Responsibility in marketing:

Marketing should distinguish between the individual customers short-term needs and

wants and the longer-term welfare of society. For example, large cars greatly contribute

to the pollution and traffic congestion of cities and cigarettes cause major health

problems, even death, for smokers and for those who inhale the smoke. It is necessary,

therefore, to integrate profitability requirements with health, ecological and

environmental constraints. For many years writers on marketing have been at pains to

point out that the principal function of marketing ‘is not so much to be skilful in making

the customer do what suits the interests of the business as to be skilled in conceiving and

then making the business do what suits the interests of the customers’. In a present-day

context, to be skilful in conceiving the real interests of customers, the organization must

balance environmental considerations against profitability requirements; society’s

welfare against individual needs; and the long-term welfare of customers against their

short-term wants. For these reasons, therefore, we must broaden the marketing concept to

include wider dimensions. The two major assumptions behind marketing are that

consumers know what they want and are informed and highly rational in satisfying their

wants and that customer sovereignty prevails. These authors argue that if the organization

were right in assuming that customers know what they want, then the key issue would be

to create the product, create awareness of it and make it available at an acceptable price.

The fact is that both goals and corresponding wants can be unstable, with wants being

only vaguely articulated as consumers remain open to persuasion as to what might better

serve their interests. This is especially true in high technology markets where new

product development is frequently technology driven. The marketing concept also

assumes that the customer is sovereign, i.e. organizations follow the dictates of the

market in regard to exactly what should be provided. But customers do not always know

44
exactly what they want and they may be unsure of their trade-offs among product or

service attributes. Many organizations see no inconsistency in referring to marketing as

the basis for management while at the same time accepting that customer perceptions are

important and can be influenced.

Social and ethical constraints:

Social responsibility in marketing means accounting for the relationship between

marketing and the environment in which it operates. Social responsibility refers to the

obligation of the organization, beyond the requirements of the law, to take into practical

consideration in its decision making the social consequences of its decisions and actions,

as well as profits. This view of social responsibility implies constraints on the

organization more rigorous than arise if the organization attempted to fulfill its economic

and legal requirements only. The reasons for a greater interest in social responsibility

stem from the greater involvement of business with government and the influence of

myriad stakeholders in the organization: shareholders, institutional investors, employees

and other regulatory and environmental bodies. The more important dimensions of the

environment which relate to an appropriate application of marketing are the social and

moral environment, the business environment and the physical environment. In recent

years ethical issues, social and moral standards which are acceptable in a society, have

become very important in marketing. Trust is a related issue which is an essential

ingredient in building long-term relationships between organizations and their customers.

Trust is well placed where ethical standards are upheld. It is misplaced where ethical

standards are ignored or flaunted. Both trust and ethics are highly dependent on culture

and vary according to the culture and background of customers. Organizations operating

45
in many cultures have greater difficulty in coping with a heterogeneous set of customers,

drawing on disparate cultures for their ethical standards.

Environmental responsibility in marketing:

The view that marketing has a special responsibility when discussing the natural

environment is also well developed. By promoting product manufacture and usage, the

organization may be encouraging resource depletion, pollution or other environmental

deterioration. Most organizations believe that it is not sufficient to make profits and

generate employment while ignoring an obligation to society regarding the preservation

of the natural environment even though their behavior is within the law. Some

organizations, however, continue to ignore this implied obligation claiming that their

behaviour is not illegal when they dump chemicals in watercourses, over-package

products, or damage the atmosphere. Such organizations often cite a concern for the

feasibility rather than the propriety of believing that they should not be expected to take

action to protect the environment if their competitive position were to be jeopardized. In

a general way, social responsibility is an investment in future profits which should be

made even at the expense of short-term profits.

46
Providing customer value in marketing networks:

Superior market positions depend on the organization’s customer base, relations with

suppliers and partners, relations with customers (e.g. brand equity), facilities and systems,

and the organization’s own endowment of technology and complementary property

rights. These are the organization’s assets or resource endowments which it has

accumulated over time. In addition, the organization possesses certain capabilities, the

glue that binds the organization’s assets together and enables them to be used to

advantage. Capabilities are so deeply embedded in the organization’s routines and

practices that they cannot easily be traded or imitated. The organization’s competitive

advantages are derived, therefore, from the nature of the products, markets, technological

orientation, resources and knowledge. Providing customer value means delivering on a

whole range of promises to the customer. Products and services that customers perceive

have a superior value compared to those of competitors are demanded while others are

not, hence, the importance of the concept of ‘value-added’ defined as the component of

customer value provided by an individual organization within the overall business

system. Value is derived from the business system in which the organization operates.

Each organization leverages other participants in the system – customers, suppliers and

particularly others who complement the organization in what it provides – in creating that

value. The value-added chain runs from suppliers through the organization forward to the

customer aided by partners in the context of a competitive environment influenced by

economic, political, legal and cultural factors. At each stage of the value chain there

exists an opportunity to contribute positively to the organization’s competitive strategy,

by performing some activity or process in a way that is better than one’s competitors, and

so providing some uniqueness or advantage. If an organization attains such a competitive

advantage which is sustainable,

47
 Marketing System

defensible, profitable and valued by the market, then it may earn high rates of return even

though the industry structure may be unfavorable and the average profitability of the

industry modest. A long-term marketing orientation draws together suppliers, customers,

competitors and partners in the business system to create value in the marketing system.

It is the business system as a whole that creates value. The marketing system consists of

five major participant groups:

 Customers

 Competitors

 Partners

 Suppliers

 The organization itself.

48
Viewing the value in the business system as the result of a network of important

relationships highlights two important factors. First, decisions made by one organization

affect and are affected by decisions by other organizations. Second, organizations often

make decisions that are normally associated with those of other actors in the system.

Thus, the organization makes important decisions which affect suppliers, just as suppliers

make important decisions which are normally thought of as in the purview of the

organization. Because so many decisions are part of a network in which a decision in one

organization directly or indirectly influences decisions in other organizations, major

decisions must be consistent with the goals of the participants in the network and their

products. Herein lies the importance of the contribution of the leading organization – the

organization making the key contribution to the establishment and growth of the business

system. This key contributor of value or the business system leader emerges in the early

stage of the evolution of the business system to begin the process of continuous

improvement which draws the entire business system towards an improved future. A

fundamental service provided by the business system leader is to encourage and persuade

other organizations in the business system to complete the full value mix for customers

by attracting ‘follower’ or ‘imitator’ organizations and thereby prevent them from

developing other emerging business systems. The multitude of decisions in the business

system must complement each other to maximize their overall positive impact on value.

Within this framework the organization must decide its overall product–market business

system strategy which has two elements – decisions on product–market segments and

decisions on positions to adopt within the business system itself

49
 Generic product–market and business system strategies

Sources of marketing advantage:

Sources of marketing advantage are reputation, brands, tangible assets, knowledge,

customer service and people. To be worthwhile the marketing advantage must be

sustainable. It must, therefore, be tangible, measurable and capable of providing

competitive protection for some time. An illusory marketing advantage is one that is

easily matched by competitors. The organization’s marketing advantage depends on how

well it chooses its strategy:

 Concentrating on selected market segments.

 Offering differentiated products.

 Using alternative distribution channels.

 Using different manufacturing processes to allow higher quality at lower prices.

Superior skills and resources, taken together, represent the ability of the organization to

do more and better than its competitors. Superior skills are the distinctive capabilities of

50
people in the organization that distinguish them from people in competing organizations,

e.g. superior marketing skills that lead to fewer product failures in the marketplace or

superior selling and distribution skills which lead to fewer returns of unwanted products

and improved customer satisfaction.

Organizational resources and marketing capabilities:

Organizations are endowed with different amounts and types of resources and

capabilities, which allow them to compete in different ways. Organizations which are

better endowed have lower average costs than competitors and can provide products and

services at lower cost or provide greater customer value. These resources are difficult to

transfer among organizations because of transaction costs and because the assets may

contain tacit knowledge. Such resources and core capabilities of the organization,

particularly those which involve collective learning and are knowledge based, are

enhanced as they are applied. Resources and capabilities which are distinctive and

superior, relative to those of rivals, may become the basis for competitive advantage if

they are matched appropriately to market opportunities. These resources may, therefore,

provide both the basis and direction for the growth of the organization itself, i.e. there

may be a natural trajectory embedded in a organization’s knowledge base. Hence, the

importance of studying the organization itself when attempting to predict its likely

performance. Resources and capabilities determine the organization’s long-run strategy

and are the primary source of profit. In an environment which is changing rapidly and

where consumer tastes and preferences are volatile and myriad, a definition of the

business in terms of what the organization is capable of doing may offer a more durable

basis for strategy than a traditional definition, based solely on needs and wants of

consumers. Defining markets too broadly is of little help to the organization that cannot

51
easily develop the capabilities to serve such a broad market. The organization’s ability to

earn profits depends on two factors:

 the success of the organization in establishing competitive advantage over rivals;

and

 The attractiveness of the industry in which the organization competes.

 As was seen above, the two sources of competitive advantage are:

 The ability of the organization to reduce costs; and

 Its ability to differentiate itself in ways that are important to customers.

The ability to establish a cost advantage requires the possession of scale efficient plants,

access to low-cost raw materials or labour and superior process technology.

Differentiation advantages derive from brand reputation, proprietary and patented

technology and an extensive marketing network covering distribution, sales and services.

Influence of resources on the profitability of the firm

52
The attractiveness of an industry depends on the power the organization can exert over

customers, rivals and others in the business system, which derives from the existence of

market entry barriers. Market entry barriers are based on brands, patents, price and the

power of competitive retaliation. These are resources which are accumulated slowly over

time and a new entrant can only obtain at disproportionate expense. Other sources of

market power such as price-setting abilities depend on market share which is a

consequence of cost efficiency, organization size and financial resources. Grant (1991)

has integrated these ideas in a way which serves as a very convenient summary of this

discussion.

53
 CHAPTER 6

FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS

54
1.Fastrack sub brand owned

This was a multiple choice question where respondents were asked to choose brands of

Timex which they possess. It was found that around 72% of the consumers in the age

group of 20-30 years possess Fastrack brand, 14% Sonata, 6% Raga, 4% Nebula and only

2% own WWF and Edge.

FASTRACK 72%
SONATA 14%
RAGA 06%
NEBULA 04%
WWF 02%
EDGE 02%
55
2) Period of use

The respondents were asked to mention since how long they have been brand loyal to

Fastrack. This was an open ended question and hence various responses were received.

The minimum period of use was set as one year, as mentioned earlier, while the

maximum period of use was determined. For convenience, the different responses are

categorized into three: 1year – 4years, 4years – 7years and 7years – 10years. 64% of the

respondents fall into first category, i.e., they are using Fastrack watch in the range of one

to four years. 24% respondents are in second category and the rest 12 % are using it for

more than seven years.

56
 AGE RESPONDENTS
1-4 64%
4-7 24%
7-10 12%

3) Reasons for brand loyalty:

The respondents were asked to select the reasons from the options given for their

preference for Fastrack watches. For this question, multi-responses were received from

the respondents.

REASONS NO. OF
RESPONDENTS(OUT OF 50)
Attractive designs 39
Reasonable price 07

57
Brand image 22
Good quality 25

4) Recall of Fastrack’s tagline:

Fastrack’s tagline, before brand repositioning exercise has been undertaken, was “What’s

your style”. This tagline was adopted during first rebranding exercise in 2004. The

respondents were asked to indicate whether they remember the tagline in dichotomous

way, i.e., as “yes” or “no”. It was found that only 22% of the respondents were able to

recall the tagline and the remaining 78% answered in negative.

58
 RESPONDENTS YES/NO
78% YES
22% NO

5) Fastrack’s advertisements:

Fastrack advertises its watches in almost all media vehicles. The advertisements can be

seen in TV, magazines, newspaper, hoardings, billboards, radio and so on. All the 50

respondents have seen the advertisements of Fastrack watches in various media. This was

a multi-response question and the options given to select were restricted to TV,

magazines, newspapers, hoardings and radio. The findings of the survey have been

summarized in a table as follows:

59
Major advertisement media

TYPES OF MEDIA NO. OF RESPONDENTS

T.V 46
Magazines 25
Newspaper 35
Hoardings 15
Radio 04

7) Brand Ambassador of Fastrack:

60
Aamir Khan is the brand ambassador of Fastrack since 2004. When the respondents were

asked to recollect the same, it was found that 46 of 50 sample size were able to correctly

mention the brand ambassador while the remaining 4 did not give any response implying

that they are not aware of it.

AWARENESS OF BRAND NO. OF RESPONDENT

AMBASSADOR
CORRECT RESPONSES 46
DON’T KNOW 4

8) Awareness of new tagline – “Be More”

The survey has revealed that less than half of the total numbers of respondents (36%) are

aware of new tagline.

61
 RESPONDENTS AWARE/ NOT AWARE
64% AWARE
36% NOT AWARE

9) New designs of Fastrack

Fastrack has launched several new designs in 2008 in its existing collections and as per

its plans introduced new product collections also. The respondents were asked to rate the

new designs as “poor”, “average”, “above average”, “good” and “excellent”. 7

62
respondents feel that their designs are “excellent”, 39 have rated them as “good” and 4

have rated as “average”.

EXCELLENT 7
GOOD 39
AVERAGE 4

10) New Campaign of Fastrack

The survey has revealed that the percentage of respondents who have seen the new

campaign focusing on “be more” featuring Aamir Khan is 50%.

63
 AWARENESS OF NEW RESPONDENTS
CAMPAIGN
AWARE 50%
NOT AWARE 50%

11) Rating of New Campaign

The 50% of the respondents who have seen the new campaign were asked to rate it with

respect to how effective the campaign is in inspiring consumers to have a new look

64
everyday and be more in lives. 16 out of 25 respondents consider the new campaign to be

“highly effective” while the remaining 9 rated it as “effective”

CONSUMER RESPONDENTS
PERCEPTION
HIGHLY EFFECTIVE 16
EFFECTIVE 09

12) Fastrack’s exclusive showrooms

65
The respondents were asked to rate Fastrack’s exclusive showrooms on 5 point rating

scale – Poor, Average, Above Average, Good and Excellent. The factors related to

showrooms that were provided to the respondents for rating are – store ambience, sales

personnel, after sales service and display of watches.

CONSUMER PERCEPTION RESPONDENTS

EXCELLENT 07
GOOD 36
ABOVE AVERAGE O7
AVERAGE 00
POOR 00

36 of the 50 respondents have rated store ambience as “Good” and 7 each rated as

“Above Average” and “Excellent”. This proves that store ambience plays an important

role in consumer perception of service quality

66
13) Consumer perception of sales personnel

CONSUMER PERCEPTION RESPONDENTS

EXCELLENT 00
GOOD 35
ABOVE AVERAGE 04
AVERAGE 07
POOR 04

With respect to sales personnel, 35 respondents rated them as “Good”, while 4 each rated

as “Poor” and “Average”, 7 respondents gave rating of “Above Average”.

Consumer Perception about after sales service

67
 CONSUMER PERCEPTION RESPONDENTS
EXCELLENT 04
GOOD 31
ABOVE AVERAGE 04
AVERAGE 04
POOR 07

In the survey, 31 out of 50 respondents rated after sales service as” Good”, 4 each as

“Average”, “Above Average” and “Excellent” while 7 respondents rated as “Poor”.

14) Consumer perception of Display of watches

68
CONSUMER PERCEPTION RESPONDENTS
EXCELLENT 22
GOOD 24
ABOVE AVERAGE 00
AVERAGE 04
POOR 00

Most of the respondents have given high ratings to the display of watches in Fastrack

showroom. 22 respondents rated it as “Excellent”, 24 respondents as “Good” and only 4

respondents gave rating of “Average”.

15) Overall perception about Fastrack showrooms

69
OVERALL PERCEPTION RESPONDENTS
EXCELLENT 20
GOOD 30
ABOVE AVERAGE 00
AVERAGE 00
POOR 00

The respondents were also asked to give overall rating to Fastrack’s exclusive

showrooms. It was found that out of total 50 respondents, 30 rated as “good” while the

remaining considered the showrooms to be “excellent”. Around 50% of the respondents

rated all the variables related to Fastrack’s exclusive showrooms as “good”.

GENERAL FINDINGS:

The findings of the consumer awareness survey are listed below:

70
1. 72% of the respondents in the age group of 20 – 30 years possess fastrack watch.
This shows that the positioning strategy of these watches has been good.
2. Most of the consumers prefer Fastrack watches for their attractive designs
and good quality. However, there is a misconception about pricing of Fastrack
products among the consumers. They perceive them to be high priced.
3. Logos and taglines are rarely noticed by the watch consumers. Hence, any
change in them also goes unnoticed.
4. Advertisement in mass media such as television, newspapers, and magazines are
best means to spread awareness about brand.

5. Celebrity endorsement of watches not only increases the visibility of the product
but also gives an assurance to the consumers that it is of high quality.
6. Fastrack watches’ designs are rated as “good” by 78% of the respondents. This
indicates that they are looking forward for more innovative designs to be
introduced by the company.

7. 50% of the respondents have seen the new campaign launched by Fastrack
watches in July 2008. This implies that the reach of the campaign in six
months has been to more or less half of the consumers. However, those who
have seen the new campaign consider it to be effective in conveying the message
it intended to deliver, i.e., to “be more” in lives.
8. The after sales service and behavior of sales personnel have been given
low ratings compared to other variables mentioned in the questionnaire
with respect to Fastrack exclusive showrooms.

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 CHAPTER 7

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

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RECOMMENDATIONS

 Introduce more trendy and innovative designs.

 Focus on niche markets such as working men and women
 Spread awareness about availability of watches in lower segments
as most of the consumers feel that Fastrack brand is synonymous with
premium watches.
 Take steps to change consumer perception that Fastrack watches are high priced.
 Majority of the population in India live in rural areas. So, showrooms should be
set up at places nearer to them. Introduce cheaper and rough use watches for this
segment.
 To increase its visibility, Fastrack Company can sponsor events similar to fashion
shows in which all latest designs launched are displayed. This would
have multiplier effect as the latest designs launched by the company get
noticed by different segments of the customers in varied ways.
 Tie –up with FM radio channels for reminder advertisements and informing
customers about various sales promotion offers from time-to-time.
 Invest more in R&D as customer expectations are changing rapidly. Though
Fastrack has got more product collections, it should focus on introducing more
varieties in already existing product collections. In other words, having
a limited but more depth in  product collections would be
more advantageous.
 Introduce exclusive collection for working women which is more
contemporary and complements both traditional and western wear.
 After sales service has to be improved. That is, the process of servicing and
repairing of watches should be made faster. This can be done by
ensuring the spare parts availability and training all sales personnel in
Fastrack showrooms to undertake these tasks.

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 TV advertisements can be renewed explaining the product feature and aggressive

marketing will help the company.

 Awareness of the product is less among the people. So, the company may take

several steps to create such awareness regarding its values to the customers.

 The company can adopt new strategies and policies to overcome the competition.

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 CONCLUSION

Fastrack has embarked on a multi- pronged approach to sustain its current growth levels, by
entering the several new product areas while also increasing focus on its global operations.

On the one hand, the company has decided to extend its product portfolio from just watches and
jewellery to other desirable brands within personal accessories, including designer labels in
watches, sunglasses and some leather products. On the other, it plans to make India a global
sourcing base for watch and jewellery.

While the Tommy Hilfiger designer range was currently being imported the license turns allowed
Titan to manufacture them in India and the productions would happen depending on sales volume
but in the case of sunglasses, the company would “partly manufacture” them in India.

Asked, about the competition Ray Ban may offer to Fastrack sunglasses, he said the product the
company offered would be a mix of functionality and fashion but declined to elaborate further.

Meanwhile, Fastrack has also announced an exclusive sub licensing arrangement with GVM
International for the marketing and distribution of Tommy Hilfiger watches in India.

On whether Tommy Hilfiger association may meet the same fate as the partnering with Timex
some years ago, Mr. Kurien said the joint venture with Timex ran into trouble because “some
product segments were overlapping with similar price points. But in the case of Tommy Hilfiger we
have steered clear of any overlap. Infact, we may not look at any more designer watch brand
licensing arrangements in future to avoid any overlap in product portfolio”.

On plans to take Fastrack to more countries he said the 80 crore export turnover last year should be
significantly increased this year due to the thrust on overseas markets, especially for Fastrack and
Tanishq.

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The company has a manufacturing plant in Hosar (Tamil Nadu), to assembling facilities in
Udhagamandalan and Dehradun, respectively and a joint venture with the Goa government for
printed circuit boards which are used in manufacturing watches.

The company, which is a joint venture between the Tata’s and the Tamil Nadu Industrial
Development Corporation, is eying over Rs. 1000 crore sales turnover this fiscal.

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 CHAPTER-8

BIBLIOGRAPHY

77
 Sengupta Subroto (2006), “Brand Positioning: Strategies for Competitive

Advantage”. Second Edition, Tata McGraw Hill Publishing Company Limited,

New Delhi.

 Gopalakrishna PS (ed.) (2007),”Rebranding: An Introduction”. ICFAI University

Press, Hyderabad.

 ICFAI Journal of Marketing Management

 ICFAI Journal of Brand Management

 www.marketingprofs.com

 www.brandingstrategyinsider.com

 www.thehindubusinessline.com

 www.economictimes.com

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QUESTIONNAIRE:-

THIS QUESTINNAIRE IS FOR THE PURPOSE OF BBA DEGREE

AND WILL NOT BE USED FOR ANY UNFAIR MEANS.

1. Which sub-brand of Fastrack watches do you possess?

a) Fastrack  
b) Sonata
c) Ragad
d) Nebulae
e) Others, please specify…………………………….

2. Since how many months / years have you been using Fastrack watch?

3. Why do you prefer Fastrack brand?
a) Attractive designs, 
b) Reasonable price
c) Brand image
d) Good quality

4. Do you remember the original tagline of Fastrack watches?

If yes, please mention.

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5. Have you seen the advertisement of Fastrack watches?
a) Yes b) No

6. In which media have you seen the adve rtisement?

a) TV 
b) Newspaper 
c) Magazines
d) Hoardings
e) Radio

7. Who is the brand amb assador of Fastrack watches?

8. Are you aware of the new tagline of Fastrack?

9. How do you rate the new designs of Fastrack?

a) Poor
b) Average
c) Above Average
d) Good
e) Excellent

10. Have you seen the new campaign of Fastrack?

a) Yes b) No

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11. Do you think the new advertisement is effective in inspiring consumers to have a new
look everyday and be more in lives?
a) Not at all effective 
b) Effective
c) Highly effective

12. How do you rate Fastrack exclusive showrooms with respect to the following?

(1–Poor, 2-Average, 3-Above Average, 4-Good, 5-Excellent)

a) Ambience –

b) Sales personnel –

c) After sale service –

d) Display of watches –

e) Overall showroom –

13. What suggestions would you like to give to improve Fastrack’s brand image
among customers?

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