PROMOTION OF “CLASSMATE”
EXERCISE COPIES & ‘IDEAS
FOR INDIA’ CAMPAIGN
A Project by Debojyoti Ghosh
INTRODUCTION
As part of our B.Com( Marketing) curriculum
we were required to do a one month
internship in an organization.
I along with four of my classmates joined ITC
Ltd and there we were required to do our
internship under the guidance of Mr
Shubhashish Dutta(Assistant Manager
,Education and stationery products business)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF OUR
WORK
I visited various schools in Kolkata and did a survey
on what brand of exercise notebooks were the
schools using
Whether the schools had dealers to supply them the
required stationery or whether they purchased it
from the open market
Promotion of ‘Classmate’ notebooks .
Promotion of ‘ IDEAS FOR INDIA’ campaign.
I also visited various stationery shops and conducted
a survey of ITC Classmate stationery products .
SCHOOLS COVERED
Hartley’s High School
St. Xavier’s Collegiate School’Seventh Day
Adventist
Dioceasean School for Girls
Carmel High School
A.K.Ghosh Memorial
Kamala Girls High School
Navanalanda High School
St. Sebastian High School
SCHOOLS COVERED
Lycee
Cambridge International
Calcutta International School
Dolna High School
Delhi Public School
Cathedral Mission High School
Ballygunge Shiksha Sadan
Modern Academy
RESEARCH WORK
I visited the schools after fixing an appointment with the
principal or the administration officer.
I visited them with a questionnaire which consisted about
20 questions.
It included questions like
Strength of the school
From where do they purchase stationery items
Whether they have dealers to supply the stationery or not
Which stationery brand do they prefer
Which quality paper do they prefer
Do they give importance to quality or price
What should be the ideal price of notebooks
Whether they are aware of Classmate notebooks or not
I also showed them samples of the notebooks, pens and
pencils and asked for their valuable suggestions on the
products
I also visited around 50 stationery outlets and enquired about
the availability of Classmate products, the demand for the
Classmate products , the timely delivery of the products by
the dealers and it’s sales with respect to competing brands in
the market like Lokenath, Merit, Mikado etc
FEEDBACK FROM SCHOOLS
The schools had an average capacity of 2000 and
above
Most of the schools I had covered already had
appointed dealers to provide them the stationery
every year.
The schools want notebooks which are economical
as well as superior in quality
The average price of notebooks the schools buy are
within the range of rs6-rs10
These notebooks are sold at any price between rs12-
rs 20 depending on their quality and customer base
Seventh Day Adventist has a dealer who supplies
the notebooks at RS 11 and the school sells it at RS
17.
They use papers of the Andhra mill which is of 65
gsm
Their dealer is BOOKLINK,40 Elliot Road
Hartley’s has a dealer in college street and sells
the notebooks for RS 12 to the students.
They do not seem satisfied with their current
dealer
So ITC can focus on this school
Cathedral Mission allows its students to
purchase stationery from the open market
So this is another school where ITC should
focus
A.K.Ghosh Memorial has a dealer called
BINAPANI BOOKSTALL opposite to the school
who provides the school with all the stationery.
He provides local notebooks to the school but
is open to providing the school with classmate
copies if he is duly rewarded in terms of
commission
MY SUGGESTIONS
I feel that since most schools already have
dealers and are satisfied with the quality and
their commission, ITC should promote its
products extensively in the schools to make the
schools more brand conscious and penetrating
brand CLASSMATE into their minds.
Promotions can be done in the form of
organizing various events in schools, sponsoring
gift items on children’s day, participation in the
form of heavy advertisements in fests,
I also feel that the amount of commission
(RS3)provided to the dealers is not enough as
they are earning almost double(RS6) that
amount by selling the local quality.
A major finding of this research study is that
most schools have shops within the premises
or dealers who provide them with all the
necessary stationery items and even the text
books throughout the year. The advantage of
this is that the school authorities do not have
to worry about the stati0nery products and the
customers deal directly with the dealers
Since Classmate only deals in notebooks and
other stationery it should visit these shops
and dealers and try to convince them to sell
their products and lure them with attractive
offers.
It should also be in constant touch with the
school authorities so that they build a long
term relationship with the schools
FEEDBACK FROM RETAILERS
The retailers reported that the demand for
Classmate notebooks were good and
customers were well aware of the product
They also reported that only the upper
middle class and the upper class of
consumers chose to purchase Classmate
notebooks as they were higher in price
compared to other brand like Merit, Mikado,
Lokenath
So the demand for Classmate differed in
different regions.
The areas dominated by the high income group
saw a rise in demand for the products while
other areas reported low and moderate
demand.
I also came to know that there is distribution
problem in Classmate products in certain areas
like Lake Gardens and Kasba.
Retailers were unhappy about the fact that the
dealers keep on changing
Retailers also reported that their were phases
in between when the distribution had
stopped and they had to go to the markets to
purchase the product
Demand for the long copies were more as
compared to the small ones.
SUCCESS
Success represents those schools which have
considered our offer and are eager to go ahead
with the deal after consultation with other staff
members .
They desire a quotation from the company in a
printed format and are willing to discuss the
matter with the concerned person and then take
a final decision regarding their acceptance of the
offer.
FAILURES
Failures include those schools which are not interested in
the offer given by the company.
It includes schools where the authorities showed disinterest
in the offer or were unwilling to meet me and discuss the
issue.
Some of these schools already have dealers supplying them
stationary for years others have tuck shops within the
school.
To name a few these schools include- St.Xavier’s,
Rammohan Mission , St. James, Pratt Memorial, A.K.Ghosh
Memorial.
METHODOLOGY USED
I used a questionnaire when I visited the
schools and stationery shops.
The questionnaires were different for
the schools and the stationery shops.
The questionnaire for the schools
included questions regarding the
number of students, the notebooks
commonly used and preferred by them,
what the students and teachers look for
in buying or suggesting a notebook and
many more .
METHODOLOGY-RETAILERS
I asked retailers questions regarding the sale
of Classmate notebooks and pens and their
demand in the market.
They were also asked to highlight upon the
distribution and supply of ITC’s products on
which I got a negative feedback.
PROMOTION OF
‘IDEAS FOR INDIA’
I visited around twenty schools to promote
this event.
Most schools were willing to participate in
this event.
The schools liked the concept of the contest
Banners and posters were put up in every
school
CONCLUSION
The survey on Classmate notebooks and
promoting ‘Ideas For India’ for a span of time of
two months has been very interesting.
I have personally learnt a lot from this internship
like how to deal with clients, how to convince
customers, how to promote a product
This was only possible because of the contunious
guidance of Mr Shubhashish Dutta my project
guide in this internship and Mr. Shivaji Banerjee,
my professor
