CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1
INTRODUCTION

Today sales promotion in the marketing of a typical consumer product company’s

budget is continually on the rise. It may be preferred because good promotional
exercise activity on a focused target group and unlike mass media advertising it directly
address and involves the consumer promotions produce results , the results quickly
consumer promotion are relatively easy and inexpensive to implement etc.

Now a day the demand is increasing and its production is also increasing. People
interested in observing the new varied products and they are demanding that in order to
meet the customers demand each company trying to adopt new technology by
introducing otherwise they can’t survive in the competitive world.

The peculiarity of sales promotion is that it brings strange in a faster response- The
subject selected for the project is, the effectiveness of sales promotion activities of the
“NIRAPARA Foods ” this was aimed to understand the various activities and the
response of the customers.

Accessing the product promotion strategy of companies, the study is applied descriptive
in nature. It also tends to find impact of different communication channels and
advertisements on consumers. At the same time it was intended to find out the fastest
moving brand in the market, it also intended to find out the customers satisfaction level
of different brands customers.

Sales promotion consists of a diverse collection of incentives tools, mostly short term,
designed to stimulate quicker or greater purchase of particular products or services by
consumers of the trade. Sales promotion tools very in their specific objectives.
Incentive type promotions are used to attract to buyers, to reward loyal customers and
increase the repurchase rates of the occasional users. Sales promotion often attract the
branch switchers, because users of other brand and categories don’t always notice or act
on a promotion. In using the sales promotion a company mustestablish its objectives
select the tools develop the program a pre-test the implement and control it and evaluate
the results.

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1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

The project is undertaken to measure A STUDY ON EFFECTIVENESS OF SALES

PROMOTION AMONG DEALERS ACTIVITIES OF NIRAPA FOODS,

ERNAKULAM The study conducted at ERNAKULAM district NIRAPARA foods.

The study is mainly focuses to analyse various sales promotion activities for
NIRAPARA products and their brand recognition among customers.

As it is a growing industry, there are a large number of manufactures and hence it

competition. Since there is a heavy competition, each company must advertise heavily
and provide many promotional activities for dealers. This study helps to know the
promotional policy adopted by the company to compete in the market. This study also
helps to know about sales achieved by these sales promotional activities.

1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The Primary objective of the study is to assess the effect of sales promotion activities
provided by NIRAPARA Foods.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES

• To understand promotional tools adopted by N1RAPARA Foods.

• To find out the reason which make the customers’ attraction towards the products.

• To find out present promotional policies of NIRAPARA foods.

• To find out the class of customer

• To find-out the strategies for implementing effective sales promotion

• To know the customer’s view on sales promotions.

1.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study covers sales promotion techniques adopted by NIRAPARA Foods.It also
makes an attempt to assess the level of satisfaction towards NIRAPARA foods.It also
attempts to understand the preference of customers and thereby find out various factors
which affect new customers and launch new products. It also helps to improve the
relationship with dealers.

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1.5 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

During the time when this project and study were conducted, it had to face lot of
limitation. The investigation accesses to the dealers had limited time. The following are
the limitations.

• The dealers of NIRAPARA are spread all over India but the study was restricted
only to Emakulam district.

• Lack of experience and knowledge of the researcher.

• Lack of adequate information source.

• Lack of co-operation from the respondents. It limits the quality of the study.

4
 CHAPTER 2
INDUSTRY PROFILE

5
F.M.C.G. INDUSTRY ECONOMY:

The Food Industry is a complex, global collective of diverse businesses that supplies
most of the food consumed by the world population. Only subsistence farmers, those
who survive on what they grow, and hunter-gatherers can be considered outside of the
scope of the modern food industry. The Indian food industry is poised for huge growth,
increasing its contribution to world food trade every year. In India, the food sector has
emerged as a high-growth and high-profit sector due to its immense potential for value
addition, particularly within the food processing industry.

The food industry, which is currently valued at US$ 39.71 billion! is expected to grow
at a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 11 per cent to US$ 65.4 billion by
2018. Food and grocery account for around 31 per cent of India’s consumption basket.

Accounting for about 32 per cent of the country’s total food market, The Government
of India has been instrumental in the growth and development of the food processing
industry. The government through the Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI)
is making all efforts to encourage investments in the business. It has approved
proposals for joint ventures (JV), foreign collaborations, industrial licenses, and 100 per
cent export oriented units.

Market Size

The Indian food and grocery market is the world’s sixth largest, with retail contributing
70 per cent of the sales. The Indian food retail market is expected to reach Rs 61 lakh
crore (US$ 915 billion) by 2020.The Indian food processing industry accounts for 32
per cent of the country’s total food market, one of the largest industries in India and is
ranked fifth in terms of production, consumption, export and expected growth. It
contributes around 14 per cent of manufacturing Gross Domestic Product (GDP), 13 per
cent of India’s exports and six per cent of total industrial investment. Indian food
service industry is expected to reach US$ 78 billion by 2018.The Indian gourmet food
market is currently valued at US$ 1.3 billion and is growing at a Compound Annual
Growth Rate (CAGR) of 20 per cent. India's organic food market is expected to
increase by three times by 2020.

The online food ordering business in India is in its nascent stage, but witnessing
exponential growth. The organized food business in India is worth US$ 48 billion, of
which food delivery is valued at US$ 15 billion. With online food delivery players like

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FoodPanda, Zomato, TinyOwl and Swiggy building scale through partnerships, the
organised food business has a huge potential and a promising future. The online food

delivery industry grew at 150 per cent year-on-year with an estimated Gross
Merchandise Value (GMV) of US$ 300 million in 2016.

According to the data provided by the Department of Industrial Policies and Promotion
(DIPP), the food processing sector in India has received around US$ 7.47 billion worth
of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) during the period April 2000- December 2016. The
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) estimates that the food processing sectors have
the potential to attract as much as US$ 33 billion of investment over the next 10 years
and also to generate employment of nine million person-days. The food industry has a
large influence on consumerism. Organizations, such as The American Academy of
Family Physicians (AAFP), have been criticized for accepting monetary donations from
companies within the food industry, such as Coca-Cola. These donations have been
criticized for creating a conflict of interest and favoring an interest such as financial
gains

Road Ahead

Going forward, the adoption of food safety and quality assurance mechanisms such as
Total Quality Management (TQM) including ISO 9000, ISO 22000, Hazard Analysis
and Critical Control Points (HACCP), Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) and Good
Hygienic Practices (GHP) by the food processing industry offers several benefits. It
would enable adherence to stringent quality and hygiene norms and thereby protect
consumer health, prepare the industry to face global competition, enhance product
acceptance by overseas buyers and keep the industry technologically abreast of
international best practices.

Exchange Rate Used: INR 1 = US$ 0.015 as on February, 2017

7
2.2 COMPANY PROFILE

CHAIRMAN K.K. KARNAN

VICE CHAIRMAN BIJU KARNAN
CEO BINU DAS
GENERAL MANAGER (MARKETING) IRSHAD AHAMED
FINANCE MANAGER MANI CS
PRODUCTION (RICE) VARGHESE P
PRODUCTION (FOOD) DILEEP A K
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGER THOMAS MATHEW
EXPORTS MANAGER NISHA ARUN
PURCHASE MANAGER PRAJEESH K H

COMPANY PROFILE

Mr. K.K Karnan - the Business Legend started rice manufacturing business in small
way. In the beginning, paddy was boiled in large copper vessels and dried on mats
before removing the husk in the milling process. The rice was manufactured in
traditional way in small quantities and sold locally. Later in 1976, a rice mill with a
small huller was installed and rice with better quality was introduced in the market of
Kerala, but in small quantities only. That was the beginning of Mr. K.K. Karnan’s entry
into the different markets of Kerala.

Foreign Technology was introduced into rice manufacturing industries of India. First
this Technology was introduced into the rice mills of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka,
Punjab and many other Indian states. Mr. K.K. Karnan was curious and learned more
about this technology and was determined to pass on Benefit of the new technology
available in India to the people of Kerala. Within this intention he introduced this
foreign technology into his rice mill in the manufacturing process in 1985. He was able
to serve his customers with the rice produced in the natural way without losing its
quality and without stones or any foreign matter in rice. His startedto be sold in the
markets of Kerala under the brand name NIRAPARA. The entry of NIRAPARA rice in
Kerala market became a success

story as the customers looking for quality started to prefer MRAPARA. NIRAPARA
became the Market Leader.

In 1993, with the firm intention of modernizing the manufacturing process, a new plant
with par-boiling system was installed. This system helped in retaining all nutritious

8
values in rice without losing them during the process. Thus he was able to supply
customer’s quality rice, which had all nutritious factors. The quality conscious people
of Kerala encouraged him by purchasing more and more of NIRAPARA. He ensured
that the best quality rice is made available to his customers.

In 1998, he imported a computerized SORTEX MACHINE and was introduced in the

process ‘tine. The Sortex Machine is capable of Optical Detection. It belongs to the
German Company - BUIILER This Sortex machine helped in sorting only the quality
rice and removing all black rice. Black rice is caused by attack of insects in the paddy.
Black rice causes stomach upsets. By using the Sortex Machine NIRAJARA is able to
supply the best rice to customers. This is how NIRAPAR , Silky Sortex Rice came to
the market. Not only good rice but also quality rice all nutritious values are sold to
customers.

NIRAPARA became the synonym or quality rice. Care is taken to maintain the best
quality in all the products produced. Control measures are introduced and with during
the entire process right form sourcing of the paddy to ensure good quality rice to the
consumers. NIRAPARA rice and rice products (rice powders) are now available and
sold not only in Kerala but also in other states of India. NIRAPARA rice and rice
products are exported to other foreign countries also. NIRAPARA rice products are
prepared by retaining the nutritious value of rice in true traditional Kerala style. Only
selected quality sortex rice, which is full of nutritious value that give taste are used in
the preparation of these rice products. These rice products are used in the preparation of
different snacks and dishes all over India and broad in the true Kerala style.

Mr. K.K. Karnan is the award winner of Akshaya Puraskara for traditional industry in
2000, Treasurer of All Kerala Rice Mill Owners Association and member of all India
Rice Exporters Association. His wife Mrs. Ammini Karnan looks after the
manufacturing of rice products and is his strong supporter in his journey towards
success. His son Biju Kaman joined his father in this field after his MBA and it
presently the Vice Chairman of the group.

KKR.GROUP OF COMPANIES

1. K.K.R. Agro Mills P. Ltd

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2. K.K.R Food Products

3. K.K.R. Mills

4. K.K.R Flour Mills

5. S.N. Rice Mills

6. S.N. Tiles

7. K.K.R. Products and Marketing Pvt Ltd

K.K.R Mills, KK.R Agro Mills Pvt. Ltd, ICK.R Products and marketing Pvt Ltd,
S.N. Tiles, and S.N. Mills are located at Okkal. So the corporate office is located at
Okkal itself. K.K.R Food products and K.K.R Rice Mills are located Chelammatt which
is 3 KM away from Okkal. The group accommodates nearly 1000 employees. The areas
of operations included are food, tiles, crusher etc. the group exports its products to
USA, UK, GULF counties, Austria, Canada etc. The expected turnover of the group in
the current financial year is 110 crores.

VISION AND MISSION

The vision of the company is to deliver high quality food products that set themselves
apart from others in taste and value.

The KKR group of companies has great mission of becoming a leader of fast moving
consumer goods and products. Its mission is to provide total customer satisfaction
through continuous improvement in production processes and services.

VALUES OF THE COMPANY

 High quality products

 Customer orientation

 Good relationship between management and workers

CERTIFICATIONS

 ISO 22000-2005 certification

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 ISO 900 I -2000 certification

 HACCP certification

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

In KKR Group of companies research is mainly conducted in the field of production.

this team consists of lab assistants, chemist and micro biologist. It dealswith
development of new product and quality inspection etc. The R&D team of KKR Group
is situated at Chelamattom unit.

SPECIFIC AREAS

 Raw material standardization

 Development of new product

 Safety and efficiency study of new formulation

BENEFITS

 Increase in quality of product

 Development of new product

 Continuation of new product development

 Standardization of equity parameters ofexisting range of product

FUTURE PLANS

A. NEW TECHNOLOGY

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The KKR group is all set to enter the food processing industry on a large scale, bringing
in the world's latest technology and machines in every new area of activity. Attention to
purity and hygiene standards that meet the highest world requirements is the focus of
the group. The company also plans to establish enterprise resource planning (ERP)
systems by the end of this year.

B. NEW PRODUCTS

The KKR group is looking at new venture in food processing with a large scale
investment on a food technology park in over 12 acres of land located in a pollution
free ,eco friendly , green area . Besides spices, pickles, rice and wheat products,
Nirapara plans to bring up different food supplements like health drinks and other
vitamin foods also.The group has plans to manufacture an international product range
like sauces, squashes,fruit based foods, juices, ready to eat items, coconut based food
etc.

C. NEW MARKET

Today Nirapara group has entered into the Middle East markets and has set its sights on
market for 97 countries like America, Europe etc. Now the company has plans to enter
into African Markets and some Latin American countries.

K.K.R GROUP OF COMPANIES (SISTER CONCERNS)

KKR Group Of companies consists of the following different firms which are
mentioned below.

• S.N .Rice Mills

• KKR Mills

• KKR Flour Mills

• KKR Agro Mills Pvt .Ltd.

• KKR Food Products

• S.N. Agro Products

• S.N.Tile Works

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• Five Star Metals hrt Ltd.

• KKR Products & Marketing Pvt. Ltd.

• Bik-Maark Builders & Realtors (P) Ltd.

AWARDS

 Best stall award. General category in all lndia industrial and agricultural
exhibitions, Kottayam organized by SNDP union, Kottayam and SITFO.

 Best commercial stall for food festival 2010, 15th Malabar Mahotsavalm, an
annual tourism festival of Calicut presented by district collector and chairman of
organizing committee food festival Malabar Mahotsavam.

OBJECTIVES OF THE COMPANY

Objectives in General

 To stimulate Consumers to make purchase

 To introduce new product

 To encourage existing customers to buy more

 To be more competitive in the market

 To create more sales in off-season

 To Promote Export business

 To Introduce quality control technique for improving the quality of the product

 To Provide Service to society through 'Janaseva'

Economic Objectives

 Profit Maximization

 Cost Minimization

 Production of goods

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 Creating customers

 Innovations

Social Objectives

 Quality goods and services

 Reasonable price

 Provision of employment

 Utilization of resources properly

 Welfare of employees

Quality Objectives

 To driven the customer by continuous improvement in quality products.

 Encouraging innovation of Production and technology updating.

 K.K.R. group gives training and empowerment to the work force at large.

 Compliance with documented quality system.

 To keep an eye on every time to improve the quality of the products.

Quality Policy

K.K.R group of companies (Pvt) Ltd. Delights the customers with world class products
and prompt service at competitive prices.

Quality Management System

Quality sells, sustains and quality assurance is what customers look forward from their
supply globally. K.K.R group is one of the companies, which recognized this business
technique at the early. Products facilities and service utilizing the expertise of

14
independent assessors of worldwide repute. According K.K.R group has ISO -9000-
2000 quality management system.

Duties and Responsibilities of Officers and employees

In the hierarchical structure of the company, the officers and the employees
responsibilities to the company. All the officers and employees are responsible to the
Chairman.

15
CHAPTER 3
REVIEW OF
LITERATURE

16
3.1 REVIEW OF EXISTING LITERATURE

Literature Review

Saatchi & Saatchi’s acquisition spree has moved the British-based business services
conglomerate into the sales promotion and design/Corporate identity fields in US.
Saatchi revealed that it has acquired Howard Marlboro Group, a leading sales
promotion and merchandising firm, and Siegel & Gale, a consulting firm specializing in
design and corporate identity. Both are New York-based firms. The Marlboro
acquisition provides Saatchi with one of the more prominent sales promotion concerns
here. Marlboro’S clients include General Electric, IBM, 3M, Nabisco, Nestle and
Procter & Gamble. (George Lazarus, Chicago Tribune, April 05, 1985)

JC Penney finally got a little love from Wall Street after it said it would resume
holiday-related promotions beginning with Valentine’s Day. Mr. Johnson, Apple’s —
former retail chief, has eased up on his everyday low pricing model after the company’s
revenue fell at least 20% for the past three quarters. JC Penney will bold sales on
popular items tied to “key events and holidays” such as Valentine’s Day, Easter and
Mother’s Day, said Kate Coultas, a company spokeswoman. There will be fewer than
100 of the events, compared with almost 600 unique promotions in 2011, she said. (JC
Penny, January 29, 2013).

Kicking the sales promotion habit. Addiction to discounts is costly for retailers, but in
moderation, promotions can boost profits and brand value. New technologies enabling
consumers to compare products and prices online have permanently changed the in-
store shopping experience. Meanwhile, a sluggish economy and rising competition are
testing consumers’ brand loyalty. Many retailers are responding with price promotions
in a bid to keep people coming through the doors. But this short- term fix often
exacerbates the very problems retailers aim to remedy. Over time, promotions train
consumers to buy only when there’s a sale, and each new round of discounts must be
deeper than the last to get their attention. As prices fall, margins suffer. My incremental
revenue gains from promotions eventually shrink as the sale sign becomes a fixture in
store windows. Most troubling is the longterm damage to a retailer’s brand when
consumers come to see it as a place that always has sales. (David Ganiear and Karla
Martin)

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3.2 SALES PROMOTION

Definition for sales promotion

Brassington and Pettitt provide a revised definition for sales promotions. That is “A
range of marketing techniques designed within a strategic marketing framework to add
extra value to a product or service over and above the normal offering in order to
achieve specific sales and marketing objectives. This extra value may be a short term
tactical nature or it may be part of a longer term franchise building programme.”

Nature of sales promotion

Promotion is one of the key factors in the marketing mix and has a key role in market
success. Promotion is used to ensure that consumer is aware of the product that the
organization is offering. The promotion mix is the combination of different channels
that can be used to communicate the promotional messages to the customers. The
channels to be used are, advertising; direct marketing public relation and publicity,
personal selling and sales promotion. One of the most important channels is sales
promotion. Sales promotion is action-focused marketing events whose purpose is to
have direct impact on the behaviour of the firm’s consumers. There are 3 type of sales
promotion; they are consumer promotions retailer promotion trade promotion.

Research in marketing has devoted considerable attention to the estimation of

promotion response models to assess the efforts by a brand on its own and competitor’s
sale. A ways literature already exist in areas such as the effects of advertising, personal
selling, sales promotion and price discounts on brand sales at the national and market
level.

Sales promotion has been fastest growing segment of promotional mix and has become
a major factor in success of marketing. It is communicating with an audience through a
variety of non-personal. Non-media vehicle such as free samples, gifts andcoupons etc.
Sales promotion stands for all those activities that supplement. Coordinate and make
more effective the efforts of personal selling, advertising and distributors to increase the
sales and stimulate the customer are buying more.

18
American Marketing Association defines activities other than personal selling,
advertising and dealer effectiveness such as display, shows and exhibitions,
demonstration and various non recurrent selling efforts is the ordinary routine.”

Thus the sales promotion is the function in marketing of providing inducements to buy
offered for a limited period only at the time and place of purchasing decision is made
which as supplementary to the products normal value. Sales promotion is the
achievement of short term marketing objectives by schematic means sales promotion
programs are designed to generate immediate and specific actions, though they
contribute to the building of awareness or favorable attitude.

SALES PROMOTION - OBJECTIVES

The sales promotion objectives formulated should reflect the basic contribution that a
sales promotion programme is to stimulate some customer or dealer action.

1. Stimulating Inquires

Inquiries may be from the consumers or dealers asking for the detailed information
about product or service or even a request for visiting an exhibit a trade association.
Such inquiries can be generated and encouraged by offering such incentives as
demonstration of a product, a free catalogue a premium or a price. This, objective is
generally selected when the manager wants to identify

- and attract new prospects for his products and services.

2. Increasing product trials

The manager who are responsible for the success of a new product or product go to
establish these objectives of increasing trial of a project in the expectation thatnthe trail
would lead would lead to product satisfaction and the conversion of desire into demand
or changing from old brands to the new one.

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3. Encouraging repurchases

Building of buying habit leads to brand loyalty in most of the low perceived risk
products. The aim is tie the buyer to the product or a store through incentives. Hence,
the manager needs those promotional incentives that tie the buyer to a seller.

4. Traffic building

Traffic building implied encouraging more inflows of new buyers and repurchase. This
is usually the case with consumer durable items where consumers hesitate to go in for
those products. Traffic building objectives is attained by offering incentives like special
sales, weekly specials retailer coupons and premium.

5. Encouraging inventory building

One of the aims of even manufacture is to see that consumers do not suffer because of
stock outs in retail outlets. That is why they want their retailers to build up sufficient
inventories to reduce possible stock out to help consumers a ready supply.

6. Getting dealer promotional assistance

This objective of getting dealer promotional assistance is achieved by coordinating with

personal selling. Generally, sales contests and special cash or merchandise allowances
are offered in return for dealer’s agreements to provide special display place or space to
accept more merchandise in anticipation of consumer promotion1 or to provide
additional selling or advertising efforts. Further, this objective is used to build sales
indirectly by building dealers business.

ROLE OF SALES PROMOTION

a) Manufactures and sales promotion

1) It creates new customers

No manufacturer is happy with the sales turnover achieved because it can be excelled
and improved upon. This is possible by new customers who are brought in the orbit of
sales by sales promotion as it has the capacity to convert potential consumers into
customers

2) Retaining the existing customers

Every manufacturer has his own class of customers for his products and services. The
intelligence lays not only getting new and new customers but the retaining the existing

20
class of customers. Tagging the customers to the products or the firm for a long time is
the basic function of sales promotion.

3) Combats competition

Business means existence of rivals. The institution of competition is a must; bring about
all round improvement in performance. It is the competitive spirit that makes one to
excel another through different weapon. One such powerful weapon is seals promotion
that helps in combats competition.

4) Sales down the costs

Sales promotion is one of the promotional tools noted for creating, maintain and
extending demand for the firm’s product. This mass distribution supports the very idea
of mass production are transmitted to all produces get higher and higher margin.
Dealers get increased business and consumers reduced price for their purchases.

b) Middlemen and sales promotion

1) Multiple sales

Middlemen are benefited by the creative act of sales promotion that creates new
customers and retails the existing one. The overall effect is that their sales turn over
goes on increasing.

2) Reduces train

In the absence of sales promotion, the middlemen would have been forced to work till
harder to create, maintain and extend the goods on their shelves.

3) Builds store image

Sale promotion covers a wide range of technique such as demonstration, Exhibition,

games, contests, etc which go much deep in giving beauty — mask for his retail outlets.

4) Hike in earnings

Increased sales for retails stores through sales promotion efforts results in multiplied,
earnings of commissions and profits, as the case may be.

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c) Consumer and sales promotion

1) Supplies information

The information made available by sales promotion gives not the product features but
also the special concessions attached to the sales conditions. This information becomes
base for accurate decision making on the part of buyers.

2) Grants incentives

It is through the sales promotion drives that the consumers get number of incentives
both cash and non-cash.

3) Builds loyalty

The tagging of consumers by sales promotion to a particular brand and a particular store
has its own impact on the consumers. A consumer who is known as regular is
dependable and therefore, gets easily the credits facilities and special concessions.

4) Give better value for money

Sales promotion will mean getting quality goods at reduced price plus variety of gifts
that are useful on which otherwise he would have spent. This is the greatest value he
gets for his money.

SALES PROMOTION TOOLS

1. Price deals

Price deals means that the product available at less than the normal list price during the
deal period only. It is to stimulate consumers to buy new products or to encourage
immediate sale.

2. Quality deals

More quality of the same product is offered at no extra cost or just a normal increase in
the price of large quality packs of the products. It is to encourage consumers to by
larger quality and move larger quality from factory.

22
3. Discounts

Special discounts other than normal cash discounts to trade. It is for getting early
payment or immediate cash from the trade.

4. Refund or rebate offers

It is an offer of money, which is part of price paid by the customer for sending proof of
purchase of the stated product. It is so encourage primary users to buy a product and
obtain displays at retail.

5. Trading stamps

This is used large retailers and companies. Such stamps are attached with the quantity
of purchase. On specified accumulation these are redeemable for various products or
service. This is for building up consumer loyalty and reward consumer, ensure repeat
purchase and to keep away competition.

6. Coupon

Coupon is a certificate that entitles the customer to stated savings or claim some
specified things free or on payments. It is also encourage product trail, encourage
continued usage, solicit enquiries etc.

7. Premium

A premium is a reward gives to the customer for performing a particular act, generally
purchasing a product. Premiums are offered at low cost or premium and promoted
product may not be interrelated in use.

8. Sampling

Sampling is probably the most successful approach to put a product in the customer’s
hand. In the most cases a sample is given free to the prospects. It is mainly to induce

9. Consumer contests

Consumers are invited to compete on the basis of their general knowledge, skills and
creativity. Sweepstakes are bases on chance or luck factors.

23
10. Dealers sales contest

Participating dealers compete among themselves in terms of sales performance. The

winners are awarded by various means. This is meanly to increase sales, motivate
dealer’s salesmen to sell more, build dealers loyalty.

11. Dealer gift

Useful activities and attractive gifts offered to dealers for personal or family use. This is
mainly for improve relation with dealers, make impact on contests and gain dealers
cooperation on consumer schemes.

12. Push money

Money paid to trade sales force for pushing additionally a specific product or product
line. This is mainly to motivate dealers sales force to sell more of a product or product
line.

13. Merchandise deals

Additional quantity of the sales or some other product of the same manufacture is
offered to the trade on purchase of specific quantity of some product. This is mainly to
shift inventory and load dealers, expose other products of the manufacturer encourage
dealers to sell more and earn additional profit.

14. Trade allowance

These are temporary price reductions or reimbursement of expenses incurred by dealers

in full or part.

15. Merchandise or display allowance

An allowance gives to take for arranging desired display and merchandising efforts. It
is mainly to create enthusiasm in trade and gain more shelf space.

16. Corporate advertising and sales promotion allowance

Advertising and promotional costs incurred by the dealer are shared by the
manufacturer at some agreed rate. It is mainly intended to motivate dealers to advertise
manufacturer’s product in the local market.

24
17. Trade fair and exhibition

Consumers came in direct conduct during trade fairs and exhibitions. High cost and
industrial items are demonstrated.

25
 CHAPTER 4
RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY

26
Research means search for knowledge. Research methodology means the process used
to collect of making business decision. The methodology may include public research,
interview, survey, and other technique and could include both present and historical
information.

Research methodology is a way to systematically solve the research problem; it may be

understood as a science of studying how research is done successfully. In simple terms
methodology can be defined as, it is used to give a clear cut idea on what the researcher
is carrying out his or her research. In order to plan in a right point of time and to
advance the research work methodology makes the right platform to the researcher to
mapping out the research work in relevance to make solid plans.

4.1 RESEARCH DESIGN

Research design is the plan, structure to answer whom, when, and how the subject is
under investigation. Here plan is an outline of the research scheme and which the
researcher has to work. The structure of the research is a more specific outline and the
strategy out, specifying the methods to be used in the connection and analysis of the
data.

The type of research design used in this study is the descriptive research. The main
characteristics of this method is that the researcher has no control over the variables and
he can only report what was happened or what is happening. This study which
compares the preference on private and public insurance sector has been undertaken
based on the opinions of the customers. Hence, this research study is categorized as
descriptive research method.

4.2 RESEARCH PROCESS

• Define the research problem

• Existing literature review

• Research design

• Analysis data

• Collect data

• Sample design

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• Generalization and interpretation

• Preparation of report

4.3 POPULATION OF THE STUDY

Population of the study is the 50 dealers in Emakulam district.

4.4 SAMPLING

Sample design is a definite plan of obtaining some items from the whole population.
Sampling allows us to concentrate our attention upon relatively small number of people
and hence devote more energy that the information collected from them is accurate. The
total sample size was 50 dealers.

Sample Design

Sampling technique - Non probability sampling (convenience) Sample unit -

Dealer’s selling food products

Sample size - 50 Dealer’s

Method - Interview scheduled questionnaire Data analysis method - Bar,

Percentage

4.5 SOURCES OF DATA

Secondary Data

Secondary data collected from various magazines, internet and various books. For the
collection of secondary data various articles and researches from journals, company
internal records and personal researches relevant to the research problem have been
included.

4.6 UNIT OF THE STUDY Sample elements

Sample elements of this study are dealers of Emakulam District.

Sample method

Sampling is generally the process of selecting the respondent from the desired
population. In this study the sample method used is the convenient sampling. It is done
as per the convenient of the researcher.

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4.7 RESEARCH INSTRUMENT

The research instrument used in this study is questionnaire, this is the most popular tool
for data collection. Researcher designed questionnaire according to the topic and
objectives of the research project, researcher used two types of questionnaire method
for data collection, i.e.

• Multiple choice questions

• Open end questions

Multiple choice questions

Researcher used multiple choice questions because there are different options in this
type of questions from which the respondents could choose the most accurate answer
and it is easy for getting response from respondents. In this research 19 multiple choice
questions are used.

Questions of this type offer the respondents an alternative to choose the right answer
among others. It is faster, time saving and less biased. It also simplifies the tabulation
process.

Open end questions

Open end questions basically put to know about respondents answer in their form, but
most of the respondents just blank it, and go with another questions. One open end
question is used in this project. In this type respondents are free to answer in their own
words and express the idea they think are relevant.

4.8 TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES

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After the collection of data, the analysis was done with the help of Microsoft Excel
Each question is classified and tabulated in the following ways:

• Frequency table

• Percentage table

• Bar graphs

• Chi Square Test

• Correlation

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