Sterling Institute of Management Studies

Presented By:
Praveen Naidu Roll No.: C-22 MMS (Marketing) Batch: 2010-2012

Summer Internship Project 2011

Develop A Plan To Increase

Sales Of Business Standard In

Corporate Sector & Implement It

Internal Guide
Prof. Seema Laddha Project Duration

Corporate Guide

Mr. Harshal Phadnis & Mr. Jeetendra Yadav

Presented To

May11 to June11
Location of Work Mumbai & Suburbs

Prof. R.K.Shrivastava Prof. Arjitha Jain

Industry Overview
Indian Newspaper primarily segmented across 2 categories:

English Newspapers
Regional/Vernacular Newspapers English newspaper industry fragmented with players having regional focus Deccan Chronicle in Hyderabad Hindustan Times in Delhi Times of India in Mumbai, Hindu in Chennai, Telegraph and Statesman in Kolkata, Deccan Herald in Bangalore, Gujarat Samachar in Ahmedabad.

Business Newspapers in India

Company Profile

Started in 1975 in Kolkata by Ananda Publishers group Business Standard was hived off as a separate company in 1996.

Then it was bought by Mumbai-based financial investors led by the Kotak Mahindra Bank, after which began a phase of rapid expansion with the launch of new editions. At present time Business Standard has publication in 12 different cities in India.

Vision:
To stand at a respectful position in this marathon and also keep up with the pace of the changing needs of their valued readers.

Mission
To expand the market share of Business Standard by creating a new market and by taking bites from competitors market share. Daily Circulation Copies

53,000
English

144,000
Hindi

Company Profile

Mr. T. N. Ninan was editor from 1993 to 2009. In January 2010, Mr. T.N.Ninan became chairman and Editorial Director of BSL. The current editor of Business Standard is Mr. Sanjaya Baru. Appr. 200 people are employed in the editorial team, including well-known Indian journalists:

AK Bhattacharya, Sunil Jain Shyamal Majumdar

Facts

97% OF Business Standard readers are graduates and higher. Very highly read among policy decision makers in government, and the bureaucracy. High visibility among the CEOs and industry chief tans. Young achievers in the age group of 25-34 are also an emerging set of readers who contribute to 45% of the reader base.

Departments of business Standard

Editorial Department

Admin. Department System Department

Space

Marketing
Department

Production
Department

Scheduling
Department

Product portfolio

Systematic approach covering all sectors.

Nominal Price Separate Money & Market Section with 8 pages Segregation of NEWS in supplements

Overview of whole week is given in Weekend

Provide general awareness in terms of investment

Not creative Monotonous Approach of headlines No own publication house Display of Ads sometimes creates a Fuss NEWS is sometimes very lengthy

Can give an extra page on Mumbai based News Can include Sunday's edition Weekend in subscription Can also reduce price of Sunday's Edition Potential Market availability. Can have tie-ups for renowned brands for ads

Continuous monotonous approach Low pricing Strategy Toughest competition from The Economic Times

Research Topic
Develop A Plan To Increase The Sales Of Business

Standard In Corporate Sectors & Implement The Same

Research Objective

To study the target market of Business standard. To identify the segment of Business Standard. To study the market penetration strategy of Business standard in various areas.

To know which business newspaper consumer reads. To know which is their preferred business newspaper. To analyze different sections of the newspaper like,

Research Methodology
Defines The Problem And Research Objectives

Developing Research Plan

Primary Data
Observation Method Survey Method
Personal Interview Telephonic Interview Mail Questionnaire

Secondary Data

Magazines Internet Websites

Sales Promotion Types

Demos & Samplings Coupons Price Reductions Free Products/Gifts

Sales Promotion Techniques

New Media Buy one get one free Joint promotions Competitions & prize draws

Data Analysis
& Interpretation

Are you aware about the newspapers completely dedicated to business news?
Awareness
No 40% Yes 60%

INTERPRETATION:
AWARENESS ABOUT BUSINESS NEWS PAPERS IS GROWING AS MAJORITY
THE RESPONDENT KNOWS ABOUT ONE OR THE OTHER BUSINESS NEWS PAPER.

Which business newspapers do you read?

Readers
5 15 45
Business Standard Economic Times Business Line

10

48

Financial Express

Mint

INTERPRETATION:

BS

ET ARE MAJOR PLAYERS WITH ET LEADING BY SMALL MARGIN. BUT LOOKING AT THE ET READERSHIP ALL OVER INDIA BS PENETRATION IS INCREASING FAST. OTHER NEWSPAPERS HAVE VERY LESS READERSHIP IN THE REGION.
AND

Which business news interests you?

News of Interest
4% 6% 12%
Whole Newspaper Headlines

78%

Editorial Stocks & Mutual Funds

INTERPRETATION:

MOST OF THE READERS READ BUSINESS NEWSPAPER FOR A SPECIFIC PURPOSE RATHER THAN FOR THE GENERAL BUSINESS AWARENESS. BUSINESS NEWSPAPERS ARE MOSTLY BENEFICIAL TO STOCK BROKERS.

What would you give preference while subscribing business newspaper?

Subscription Preference
4% 5% News Coverage Gifts Discount 89% Price 2%

INTERPRETATION:

NEWS CONTENT

IS THE FIRST CRITERIA FOR DECIDING SUBSCRIPTION FOR MOST OF THE CUSTOMER.

IF DISCOUNTS AND OFFERS ARE GIVEN ALONG WITH GOOD CONTENT IT HELPS IN SELECTION PROCESS.

For how long you have been subscribing business newspaper?

Subscription
5% 35% 16%

1-6 month 6-12 month

45%

More than 1 year More than 5 years

INTERPRETATION:

High percentage of subscription for more than 1 year and more than 5 years. It means the brand is fairly established in the market and lot of new readers increasing fast the potential of BS is fairly high.

Do you think business newspaper helps you in taking investment decision?

Investment Decision
14% 5% 32%

Very Helpful Helpful

49%

Of little help Of no help

INTERPRETATION:

Most of the investors (81%) find business newspapers helps in their investment decision. It shows that analysis of stocks and mutual fund in the newspaper is of high quality.

Do you know about Business Standard?

Awareness
35%
Yes

65%

No

INTERPRETATION:

ONLY 65 % AWARENESS & 35 % NOT AWARE ABOUT BS This shows that promotion program run by BS is not as effective to reach the entire target market.

How did you know about Business Standard?

Awareness Business Standard
16%

24%

Advertisement Hoarding
8% 32%

Other Readers Sales Executive

INTERPRETATION:

32% of the respondent knows about BS through other readers while only 32% of them know it through advertisement and hoarding. Rest 16% knows it through sales executives. It shows that Ad campaign of BS is still to reach masses.

In which language you will prefer it?

Preference of Language
24%
English Hindi

76%

INTERPRETATION:

Most of the people like reading business newspapers in the regional language. Regional language creates more connectivity with the people.

Are you satisfied with the delivery service?

Delivery Satisfaction
6% 4% 34% Highly Satisfied 56%

Satisfied
Not Very Satisfied Not Very Satisfied at all

INTERPRETATION:

More than 60% of the customer are not satisfied with the service and have complained about not on time delivery. It shows that distribution channel of BS is not very effective.

Are you satisfied with the quality of the news?

Content Quality Satisfaction
8%
23% 34%

Highly Satisfied Satisfied Not Very Satisfied

35%

Not Very Satisfied at all

INTERPRETATION:

Readers have a mix reaction over content quality. The content is not equally important for every kind of readers.

Will you continue with the subscription of Business Standard?

Subscription Continuation
5%

10%

Yes No
85%

Not Decided

INTERPRETATION:

85% of readers wish to continue their subscription. It can be said that BS has fairly established in the market and if it works upon its distribution it would be able to retain its customers.

Findings & Conclusions

Business standard has excellent quality and content as compared to any other newspaper

Lack of brand awareness and service in some areas. News channels and Internet media has affected the reading pattern of readers as people do get upto date news by surfing on the net.

In this two months of SIP, I got to learn a lot about my career and also
concepts of hard core selling.

Finally, it was very good experience to understand news paper market and to know about financial dailies of India.

Conclusion

Economic Times most preferred newspaper Stock market news is most preferred followed by company news & advertisement in business newspaper

52% prefer to read newspaper at their office Price factor is not major concern for majority of newspaper buyers

56% believe reading newspaper adds value to their business

BS provided me a wonderful opportunity to learn about wide variety of business techniques & to visit various corporates, institutions & enterprises

During my internship with BS I was responsible for overseeing several activities which were held in different corporate.

Recommendation & Suggestions

Increase the number of centers from where the news paper is

available..

Regarding news content.. Management should design a vendor Relationship Management program..

BS can improve a MIS and keep a track of its readers. Distribution channel to be expanded up to remote places.. Customer Problem Solving department needs to be enhanced.. BS needs to include Sundays edition in its subscription.. Improve the frequency of magazines as monthly..