A STUDY ON THE RETAILERS PERCEPTION ON PARLE AND ITS BRANDS

WITH RESPECT TO OTHER BRANDS AT TIRUNELVELI CIRLCE.

A Summer internship report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the

award of Degree of Master of Business Administration at Thiagarajar School of

Management, Madurai

By

R. PREM KUMAR

(Reg No – 1011068)

Under the guidance of

DR. P. MOHAN SUYAMBURAJ,

Professor,

Thiagarajar School of Management, Madurai.

Thiagarajar School of Management,

(Autonomous)

Madurai – 625 005.

May – July, 2011

1

TO WHOMSOEVER IT MAY CONCERN

This is to certify that , Mr. R. Prem kumar , pursuing MBA at Thiagarajar School Of

Management, Madurai has done his internship at Parle India Pvt Ltd, tirunelveli circle during

May- July, 2011. As a part of his internship he did “ A STUDY ON THE RETAILERS

PERCEPTION ON PARLE AND ITS BRANDS WITH RESPECT TO OTHER

BRANDS AT TIRUNELVELI CIRCLE”.

During the foresaid period his conduct was good and was instrumental in increasing the

volume sales by finding new outlets and a good number of educational institutions at

tirunelveli and circle. We wish him all the best for his future endeavors.

For Parle, India Pvt Ltd,

(Mr.Jagatheeswaran)

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Pamban Swamy nagar. Thirupparankundram, Madurai – 625 005. Phone : (0452) 2484099 / Fax : 2483099.

E – mail : contact@tsm.ac.in www.tsm.ac.in

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that this internship project title “A STUDY ON RETAILERS PERCEPTION ON PARLE AND ITS BRANDS WITH RESPECT TO OTHER BRANDS AT TIRUNELVELI CIRCLE”, is a bonafide work done by Mr. R. Prem Kumar in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of degree of Master of Business Administration, under my guidance. To the best of my knowledge this is his original effort and has not been submitted for the award of any degree, diplomo, or certificate of this university or any other university.

Principal, Professor Guide,

Dr. M . Nagaraju, Dr. P. MohanSuyamburaj,

Thiagarajar School of Management, Thiagarajar School of Management,Madurai – 625 005. Madurai – 625 005.

Place : Madurai

Date :

3

DECLARATION

R. PREM KUMAR,

REG NO – 1011068,

II MBA,

THIAGARAJAR SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT,

MADURAI – 05.

I hereby declare that the project entitled, “ A STUDY ON THE RETAILERS PERCEPTION ON PARLE AND ITS BRANDS WITH RESPECT TO OTHER BRANDS AT TIRUNELVEI CIRCLE”, was undertaken at Parle India Pvt Ltd at tirunelveli submitted to Thiagarajar School of Management in partial fulfillment of Master of Business Administration degree is a record of original work done by me and no part of this project has been submitted for the award of any degree, diplomo, fellowship or other similar studies.

(R. Prem Kumar)

Date :

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PROFILE OF RESEARCHER

Name: R.Prem Kumar

Dob : 29-10-1985

EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATION

- Pursuing MBA in Thiagarajar School of Management

- A Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from K.S.Rangasamy College of Technology, Anna

University, Chennai

- Completed schooling in Jawahar Higher Seconadary Matriculation School, Neyveli T.S.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

As the say goes “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom”, I put forth all my heart and

soul to thank The Almighty for being with me all through my achievements, success and

failures.

I express my sincere and whole hearted gratitude to the management of PARLE LTD for

giving me a golden opportunity to pursue a valuable project.

I deem it a privilege to thank Mr. Venkiteswaran, Director, Thiagarajar School of

Management for facilitating my value addition at the institution.

I sincerely thank Dr. M. Nagaraju, Principal, Thiagarajar School of Management, for his

encouragement.

I extend my deep sense of gratitude to Dr.P.Mohan Suyamburaj, Professor, Thiagarajar

School of Management for providing support guidance and valuable ideas which helped me

to complete this project successfully.

I deem it a privilege to thank Mr.M.Jegatheesan for giving me the opportunity to undertake

a valuable project.

Finally, I extend my heartfelt thanks to my friends and family members who have been a

source of inspiration and support throughout the project.

R.PREM KUMAR

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Parle is the largest biscuit manufacturer and ranks No-1 in India in terms of sales and volume,

it holds about 50% of biscuit share with a wide marketing channel and a idealistic

management of retailers, wholesalers and other end sellers. In India any small retailers intake

per week on an average is rupee 1500 to 5000 with respect to their shop location and capacity

etc. Parle has a wide variety of biscuit brands, confectionaries and snacks compared to its

competitors.

The company has appointed 4,5 or 6 agencies for a district, The districts such as sivagangai,

tutucorin, tirunelveli, and kanyakumari comes under tirunelveli circle. Even though Parle

stands No-1 the sales in Tamilnadu state is considerably lower than the other brand.

In spite of being largest manufacturer and owning a number of agents, the company cannot

achieve the improvement in sales and volume with respect to its competitors in this state

therefore the tirunelveli cirle is taken as the sample for tamilnadu state.

Taking this as a case, the study has been conducted on various segments of market and also

the perception of the people about the brand. This could be useful for the company to act

upon and make relevant marketing decisions to increase the sales volume. The study was

conducted with 120 samples from tirunelveli with more emphasis on student,

who form the major target for the company and its various products.

The findings from the study indicate several reasons which is clearly stated in this report.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER

NO

CHAPTER TITLE PAGE NO

I

INTRODUCTION

1.1 About the project 11

II

INDUSTRY PROFILE

2.1 About the Industry

2.2 About the Company

2.3 Products

13

III

BRAND MANAGEMENT

AND SALES PROMOTION

3.1 Product and Brand

management

3.2 Promotion- Sales promotion.

3.3 Scope of the project

3.3 Objective of the project

20

IV

RESEARCH

METHODOLOGY

4.1 Research Design

4.2 Method of data collection

4.3 Nature of data

4.4 Analysis tools

4.5 Semantic Differential

Scaling

26

V

DATA ANALYSIS AND

FINDINGS

5.1 Sample description

5.2 Analysis based on Retailers

perception

5.3 Findings

28

8

VI

CONCLUSIONS AND

RECOMMENTATIONS

6.1 Conclusions

6.2 Recommendations

6.3 Limitations

35

VII

BIBLIOGRAPHY 38

9

GRAPH NO TITLE OF GRAPH PAGE NO

1

Percent of retailers satisfied with Parle in general

29

2

Percent of retailers satisfied with Parle in Packing

29

3

Percent of Retailers Satisfaction with Parle’s

Distributors and Salesman 30

4

Percent of Retailers satisfaction with Parle’s Supply Chain Management. 30

5

Percent of Retailers satisfaction with Consumers Enquiry level on Parle’s brands 31

6

Percent of Retailers satisfaction with Parle’s Schemes operated 31

7

Percent of Retailers satisfaction with Parle’s Quality and Taste 32

8

Percent of Retailers satisfaction with respect to Variants avail in Parle 32

9

Percent of Retailers Purchase Order of Parle’s brand with respect to Other brands 33

10

Percent of Retailers Satisfaction with Parle’s Credit Schemes compared to other brands

33

11

Percent of Parle’s Sales with respect to other brands in Retailers view 34

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

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1.3 ABOUT THE PROJECT

“A STUDY ON RETAILERS PERCEPTION ON PARLE AND ITS BRANDS WITH RESPECT TO OTHER BRANDS IN TIRUNELVELI CIRCLE”.

Parle is one of the leading FMCG Company which is known for varieties of biscuit brands and also for its confectionary, wafer brands. It is highly recognised for its high quality, taste, at a valuable price.Taking India as a whole Parle stands No-1 in terms of Sales, Volume and in Profit but when compared to south India especially in state of Tamilnadu, Parle stands No-2 in terms of all aspects.

In the case of Tirunelveli circle it includes the districts of Tirunelveli, Sivagangai, Tutucorin and Kanyakumari.Here the sales are low, The circle has more than 8000 Retail and Wholesale outlet nearly half of the outlets are located outside the city, i.e. rural areas. The availability of the product in this circle was nearing 4000 to 4500 outlets including the rural areas on an average. The sales in city coverage areas are quite good but rural areas and parts of Kanyakumari and Tutucorin districts are not up to the mark.

Parle wasn’t able to achieve its target till July 2011, Sales person and agencies were asked to increase the number of outlets but the sales didn’t reach the expected level and therefore efforts have been taken to explore the Retailers to know why they were reluctant to invest in Parle.

Most of the Retailers complaint was like they receive very feeble enquiries on Parle or not at all and they also move slowly when comparing to other brands. In spite of huge investments in advertisements in ATL and BTL the responses from Retailers were not satisfying. Therefore the company needs to know the reason behind that in Tirunelveli circle.

This report will reveal the reason and how the brand Parle is positioned in the minds of the Retailers in this circle. The questionnaires and analysis which are included for this analysis are taken in the areas where Parle doesn’t find a good sales volume.

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CHAPTER 2

INDUSTRY PROFILE

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2.1 ABOUT THE INDUSTRY

The FMCG industry, alternatively named CPG, abbreviation for Consumer Packaged Goods, deals mainly with the production, distribution as well as marketing of packaged goods for all consumers.

The Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) has to do with those consumables which are regularly being consumed. Among the first activities of the FMCG industry there is selling, marketing, financing, purchasing, and so on. Recently this industry has also launched in operations, supply chain, production, general management, etc.

The wide range of consumable goods provided by the FMCG industry turns over a large amount of money, while competition among FMCG manufacturers is become more and more fierce. The Indian FMCG sector is an important contributor to the country’s GDP. The FMCG sector is the fourth largest sector of Indian economy.

The FMCG market has been exhibiting more than 10 per cent growth since 2005 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10-12 per cent over the next few years. The sector is estimated to treble from its current figure in the coming decade. Penetration levels as well as per capita consumption in most product categories like biscuits, jams, toothpaste, skincare, cosmetics, etc in India is low indicating the untapped market potential.

The growing Indian population, particularly the middle-class and rural segments presents an opportunity to makers of branded products to convert consumers of branded products. The rural Indian market with its vast size and demand base offers a huge opportunity for investment. Rural India has a large consuming class with 41% of India’s middle-class and 58% of total disposable income.

This report of Indian FMCG sectors covers all the important aspects of the Indian FMCG sector with valuable information and data to help the busy managers and investors to arrive at an informed decision. Some common FMCG product include food and dairy products, glassware, plastic goods, pharmaceuticals, electronic goods, printed news materials, household products, drinks, so here coffee, tea, beverages, greeting cards, gifts, soaps, toiletries are all included.

The factors that made the FMCG industry a highly competitive one are low operational cost, solid distribution networks, and emergence of new FMCG companies. In addition, the growth of the world’s population is another responsible factor for the huge success of this particular industry. Some of the leading FMCG companies all over the world are Sara Lee, Nestle, Procter & Gamble, Coco-Cola, Carlsberg, Kleenex, General Mills, and Mars etc.

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2.2 ABOUT THE COMPANY

An OverviewParle Products has been India's largest manufacturer of biscuits and confectionery for almost 80 years. Makers of the world's largest selling biscuit, Parle-G, and a host of other very popular brands, the Parle name symbolizes quality, nutrition and great taste. With a reach spanning even to the remotest villages of India, the company has definitely come a very long since its inception a very long years ago before the day of independence.

Many of the Parle products - biscuits or confectioneries, are market leaders in their category and have won acclaim at the Monde Selection, since 1971. With a 40% share of the total biscuit market and a 15% share of the total confectionary market in India, Parle has grown to become a multi-million dollar company. While to the consumers it's a beacon of faith and trust, competitors look upon Parle as an example of marketing brilliance.

Available AnywhereToday, the great strength of Parle Products is the extremely widespread distribution network. Even at the remotest places, you can buy Parle biscuits and sweets from the local grocer. It has taken years to create this extensive network. Parle’s sales force started with one salesman in Bombay and some agents in few other cities. Gradually, Parle Products expanded. Soon sweets and biscuits were being sent by rail to Calcutta, Delhi, Karachi, Madras and other major cities. As production increased, distribution was amplified. Full time salesmen were appointed in different areas. Currently, Parle Products has over 33, 00,000 distribution outlets.

History and Goal Parle Product’s fame and familiarity is undeniable. Considering its extensive reach, the brand Parle is known and recognized by everyone. Over the years, Parle’s sweets and biscuits have become a household name. From kids to adults, everyone loves and cherishes these treats.

In 1929 a small company by the name of Parle products emerged in British dominated India. The goal of Parle was to spread joy and cheer to children and adults alike, all over the country with its sweets and candies. Although, the company knew that it wouldn’t be an easy task, they decided to take the brave step. A small factory was set up in the suburbs of Mumbai to manufacture confectionery products. A decade later this factory was upgraded to manufacture biscuits as well. Since then, the Parle name has spread in all directions and has won international fame. Parle has been sweetening the lives of people all over India and abroad.

Apart from the factories in Mumbai and Bangalore, Parle also has factories in Bahadurgarh, Haryana and Neemrana, Rajasthan. These are the largest biscuit and confectionery plants in the country. Additionally, Parle Products also has 10 manufacturing units and 75 on contract.

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Milestones - The Decades of Progress 1929: The first year of operation. Our only assets were hard work and hope. 1939: Ten years of determined effort brought results. Things began to take shape. And we

tried even harder 1949: The formative years were over. We had come of age. 1974: Here was the first evidence of Parle as it is today.

QualityHygiene is the precursor to every process at Parle. From husking the wheat and melting the sugar to delivering the final products to supermarkets and store shelves nationwide, care is taken at every step to ensure the best product of long-lasting freshness. Every batch of biscuits, confectioneries & snacks are thoroughly checked by expert staff, using the most modern equipment. This ensures consistent and perfect quality across the nation and abroad.Concentrating on consumer tastes and preferences, the Parle brand has grown from strength to strength ever since its inception. The factories at Bahadurgarh, Haryana and Neemrana,

Rajasthan are the largest biscuit and confectionery plants in the country. The factory in Mumbai was the first to be set up, followed soon by the one in Bangalore, Karnataka. Parle also has 10 manufacturing units for biscuits and 75 manufacturing units for confectioneries on contract.

Core valuesAn in-depth understanding of the Indian consumer psyche has helped Parle develop a marketing philosophy that reflects the needs of the Indian masses. With products created bearing in mind both health and taste, Parle products equally appeal to fun loving kids & youth. Even today, the great tradition of taste and nutrition is consistent in every pack on the store shelves. The value-for-money positioning allows people from all classes and age groups.

AwardsSince the first entry at the Monde Selection in 1971, Parle Products have been shining with golds and silvers consistently. Monde Selection is an international institute for assessing the quality of foods. Currently, it is the oldest and most respected organization in the field of selecting quality foods worldwide.

Corporate Social ResponsibilitySince 1929, Parle Products, with its wide platter of biscuits and sweets is also actively engaged in changing and uplifting the social face of India. As part of its Corporate Social Responsibility Policy, Parle is keenly involved in the overall development of the younger generation, with a focused endeavor to build the New Face of India

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Many of them date back to the last decade of the 19th century. It was in the 1880’s that the late Mohanlal Dayal came to Bombay from his village Pardi, in the district of Surat, to work as a dusting boy at a silk merchant’s. What a long way that bright little boy came! First, the hard apprenticeship and the graduation to Master Cutter, then the elite tailoring establishment

that eventually developed into a wholesale business to finally, the new business in confections and biscuits. Always, the accent was on self-sufficiency. Mohanlal Dayal was not just a progressive and astute businessman. He never gave in to the sense of indifference that often comes with the commercial outlook. All through his life, he was deeply conscious of his duties towards society and the community. He built the Shri Mohanlal Dayal Prasuti Graha and General Hospital in Pardi, which is maintained through charity trusts set up by him. The

Shri Mohanlal Dayal Sanatorium and Hostel at Matunga in Bombay is another such institution. In his memory and after his example, his sons have donated significant sums to set up the Chauhan Institute of Science at Vile Parle.

Parle Centre of Excellence, as an institution, is dedicated to enriching the lives of people by conducting various cultural programs across all regions to facilitate the all round development of children. Every year, Parle organizes Saraswati Vandana in the state of West Bengal during the festival of Saraswati Puja, inviting schools from all across the state to participate. The event is one of much fanfare and celebration, keeping alive the culture and traditions. The involvement in cultural activities has seen the inception of Golu Galata in Tamil Nadu, held during Navratri. It provides all the members of a household a platform to showcase their creativity and be judged by eminent personalities on many occasion on a grand scale.These events giving them a chance to interact with children on a one-to-one basis.

Interesting factsAlmost all products are market leaders and as recognition of their quality. Parle has bagged 111 gold, 26 silver and 4 bronze Monde Selection medals since 1971. Parle Products Pvt. Ltd. is a US $ 1 Billion conglomerate started in India in 1929. Parle has state-of-the-art machinery with automatic printing and packaging facilities and biscuit baking oven is the largest of its type in Asia. Parle products have won world wide recognition and so they export in larger quantity to U.S, Canada, U.S.S.R, New Zealand, U.K, East Africa, Australia.

According to business today 2010 report, Parle is surpassing other biscuit brands in India every year. Nearly 42% of biscuit market is occupied by Parle India. According to marketing research firm Nielsen 2010 report, Parle biscuit sales all over the nation is larger in terms of sales, volume and profit.

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2.3 PRODUCTS Parle has a three products with wide brand names. They can be categorized as follows.1. Biscuits2. Sweets3. Snacks

Brands1.Biscuits o Parle-Go Monacoo Hide and seeko Hide and seek bourbono Parle Marieo Nimkino Golden Arcso Krack Jacko Kreams

o Hide and seek Milanoo Parle Actifit Digestive Marie.

o Milk Shaktio Milk Powero Milk Creamso 20-20o Parle Topo Parle Coconuto Parle Magix

2.Sweetso Poppinso Eclairso 2 in 1 eclairs o Softeeo Orange Candyo Lacto Biteo Melodyo Kaccha Mangoo Mango Biteo Chox

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o Love Minto Kismi Gold

o Kismi Elaichio Kismi Toffee

3.Snackso Monaco Smart chipso Parle Wafers – 6 variantso Parle Fulltoss– 5 variantso Parle jefflingso Parle Cheeslingso Parle Sixer

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CHAPTER 3

BRAND MANAGEMENT AND SALES PROMOTION

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3.1 BRAND MANAGEMENT

Product management is an organizational lifecycle function within a company dealing with the planning or forecasting or marketing of a product or products at all stages of the product lifecycle. Product development (inbound-focused) and product marketing (outbound-focused) are different yet complementary efforts with the objective of maximizing sales revenues, market share, and profit margins. The role of product management spans many activities from strategic to tactical and varies based on the organizational structure of the company. Product management can be a function separate on its own and a member of marketing or engineering.While involved with the entire product lifecycle, product management's main focus is on driving new product development. According to the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA), superior and differentiated new products, ones that deliver unique benefits and superior value to the customer, is the number one driver of success and product profitability. Depending on the company size and history, product management has a variety of functions and roles. Sometimes there is a product manager, and sometimes the role of product manager is shared by other roles. Frequently there is Profit and Loss (P&L) responsibility as a key metric for evaluating product manager performance. In some companies, the product management function is the hub of many other activities around the product. In others, it is one of many things that need to happen to bring a product to market and actively monitor and manage it in-market.Product management often serves an inter-disciplinary role, bridging gaps within the company between teams of different expertise, most notably between engineering-oriented teams and commercial-oriented teams. For example product managers often translate business objectives set for a product by Marketing or Sales into engineering requirements. Conversely they may work to explain the capabilities and limitations of the finished product back to Marketing and Sales. Product Managers may also have one or more direct reports who manage operational tasks and or a Change Manager who can oversee new initiatives.

Product life cycle

Product life cycle is the succession of strategies used by business management as a product goes through its life cycle. The conditions in which a product is sold (advertising, saturation) changes over time and must be managed as it moves through its succession of stages

In Parle the product’s life cycle is well maintained and it is protected from decline stage. In Parle the company provides many schemes and provides extra margin to the Retailers so that it indirectly stops the product from declining stage.

(Information on Parle following Brand Management, PLC strategy, Sales Promotion strategies, was acquired while having informal discussion sessions with our external guide Mr.Jagatheesawaran, ASM, Parle ltd)

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Stages in Product life cycle

1. Market introduction Stage

1. costs are very high2. slow sales volumes to start3. little or no competition4. demand has to be created5. customers have to be prompted to try the product6. makes no money at this stage

2. Growth Stage

1. costs reduced due to economies of scale2. sales volume increases significantly3. profitability begins to rise4. public awareness increases5. competition begins to increase with a few new players

in establishing market6. increased competition leads to price decreases

3.Maturity Stage

1. costs are lowered as a result of production volumes

increasing and experience curve effects2. sales volume peaks and market saturation is reached3. increase in competitors entering the market4. prices tend to drop due to the proliferation of

competing products5. brand differentiation and feature diversification is

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emphasized to maintain or increase market share6. Industrial profits go down

4.Saturation and Decline Stage

1. costs become counter-optimal2. sales volume decline3. prices, profitability diminish4. profit becomes more a challenge of

production/distribution efficiency than increased sales

3.2 PROMOTIONS- SALES PROMOTION

An activity designed to boost the sales of a product or service. It may include an advertising campaign, increased PR activity, a free-sample campaign, offering free gifts or trading stamps, arranging demonstrations or exhibitions, setting up competitions with attractive prizes, temporary price reductions, door-to-door calling, telemarketing, personal letters on other methods.

Parle uses many marketing strategies and promotion techniques such as Push and Pull strategies, Price promotions, Gifts, Coupons, Schemes, etc to increase the sales volume in Tirunelveli circle.

Push and Pull strategyA “push” promotional strategy makes use of a company's sales force and trade promotion activities to create consumer demand for a product. The producer promotes the product to wholesalers, the wholesalers promote it to retailers, and the retailers promote it to consumers.A good example of "push" selling is mobile phones, where the major handset manufacturers such as Nokia promote their products via retailers such as Carphone Warehouse. Personal selling and trade promotions are often the most effective promotional tools for companies such as Nokia - for example offering subsidies on the handsets to encourage retailers to sell higher volumes. With a push-based supply chain, products are pushed through the channel,

from the production side up to the retailer. The manufacturer sets production at a level in accord with historical ordering patterns from retailers. It takes longer for a push-based supply chain to respond to changes in demand, which can result in overstocking or bottlenecks and delays (the bullwhip effect), unacceptable service levels and product obsolescence

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A “pull” selling strategy is one that requires high spending on advertising and consumer promotion to build up consumer demand for a product. If the strategy is successful, consumers will ask their retailers for the product, the retailers will ask the wholesalers, and the wholesalers will ask the producers. In a pull-based supply chain, procurement, production and distribution are demand-driven rather than to forecast. However, a pull strategy does not always require make-to-order production. Toyota Motors Manufacturing is frequently used as an example of pull production, yet do not typically produce to order.

Price promotionsPrice promotions are also commonly known as” price discounting”.These offer either a discount to the normal selling price of a product, or more of the product at the normal price. Increased sales gained from price promotions are at the expense of a loss in profit – so these promotions must be used with care. A producer must also guard against the possible negative effect of discounting on a brand’s reputation.

Frequent user / loyalty incentivesRepeat purchases may be stimulated by frequent user incentives. Perhaps the best examples of this are the many frequent flyer or user schemes used by airlines, train companies, car hire companies etc.

Point-of-sale displaysResearch into customer buying behaviour in retail stores suggests that a significant proportion of purchases results from promotions that customers see in the store. Attractive, informative and well-positioned point-of-sale displays are, therefore, very important part of the sales promotional activity in retail outlets.

Schemes Parle also operates Schemes on brands which find a dull place in terms of sales and for newly launched brands. Parle launched new brands such as Milk Power, 2 in 1 Caramel, Rose milk Chocolates in June’11 for which they provided many Schemes such Free Extra Pieces, A bag of chocolates free for two bags etc.They operated many Schemes on brands such as Milano, Parle Marie, Poppins etc to Increase the Sales volume.

3.3 SCOPE OF THE PROJECT

Parle is No-1 brand in whole India in terms of Sales, Volume, Profit but it stays behind other brands in Tamilnadu and In the case of Tirunelveli circle it includes the districts of

24

Tirunelveli, Sivagangai, Tutucorin and Kanyakumari. Here the sales are low, The circle has more than 8000 Retail and Wholesale outlet nearly half of the outlets are located outside the city, i.e. rural areas. The availability of the product in this circle was nearing 4000 to 4500 outlets including the rural areas on an average. The sales in city coverage areas are quite good but rural areas and parts of Kanyakumari and Tutucorin districts are not up to the mark.Therefore the reasons behind the Drawback which Parle faces in Tamilnadu are taken as the scope of this project and have been study on detail.

3.4 OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT

o To find the Retailers perception on Parleo To find New Markets o To increase the Sales Volume.

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CHAPTER 4

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

4.1 RESEARCH DESIGN

The type of research employed here is explanatory research. Explanatory research provides insights into comprehension of an issue or situation. It should draw definitive conclusions

26

only with extreme caution. Explanatory research is a type of research conducted because a problem has not been clearly defined. It helps to determine the best research design, data collection methods, and selection of subjects. In this project, The real problem is not clear and hence the awareness of the retailer and their perceptions towards Parle are explored.

4.2 NATURE OF DATA

The study is based on Primary data. Primary data are the data observed and collected from the first hand experience. In this study, being unaware of the real problem primary data is used to explore the problem. The sampling frame is Retailer of Tirunelveli circle. Size of the sample is 120. The sampling technique used is purposive sampling.

4.3 METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION

Questionnaire method of data collection is employed here. A questionnaire is a research instrument consisting of a series of questions and other prompts for the purpose of gathering information from the respondents.

4.4 TOOLS FOR ANALYSIS

Statistical tools like Percentage Analysis, Semantic Differential Scaling (Weighted Average), Pie charts, Line charts are employed to analyze the data.

4.5 SEMANTIC DIFFERENTIAL SCALING

Semantic differential is a type of rating scale designed to measure the connotative meaning of objects, events, and concepts. The connotations are used to derive the attitude towards the given object, event or concept. The respondent is asked to choose where his or her position lies, on a scale between two bipolar adjectives (for example: “Adequate- Inadequate”, “Good- Evil”, or “Valuable- Unworthy”.) The Semantic Differential Scaling is most used scale in measurement of attitudes and perception.

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CHAPTER 5

DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS

5.1 SAMPLE DESCRIPTION

Total size of sample (Retailers) 120

Number of Males (Retailers) 105

Number of Females (Retailers) 15

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5.2 PERCEPTION OF RETAILERS BASED ON QUESTIONNAIRE

o Percent of retailers satisfied with Parle in general

Inference: From the above graph, it can be inferred that Retailers opinion on Parle on a general view is fair, when we compare it on a five point scale

o Percent of retailers satisfied with Parle in Packing

Inference: From the above graph, it can be inferred that Retailers opinion on Parle’s Package which is important to get the consumers attraction is poor on a five point scale and it must be improved.

o Percent of retailers satisfaction with Parle’s Distribution/ Salesman relations

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Inference: In Tirunelveli circle Sales man relation with Retailers is not that good enough. Retailers find difficulties in moving them and sales man doesn’t speaks about the offers given by the company unless the Retailers asks.

o Percent of Retailers satisfaction with Parle’s Supply Chain Management

Inference: In Tirunelveli circle Parle’s Supply Chain Management is poor; not only by the above graph but on field it can be traced out when the Retailers are interviewed. It is said that Parle’s agencies are taking a very long duration to supply the ordered products more than a week even.It must be controlled with proper outlook.

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o Percent of Retailers satisfaction with Parle’s Schemes operated

Inference: Retailers find Parle’s Schemes operated are not up to their level of satisfaction and it must be improved to capture the market.

Percent of Retailers satisfaction with Parle’s Quality and Taste

Inference: From the above graph , it can be inferred that large percent of Retailers are highly satisfied with Parle’s Quality and Taste.

o Percent of Retailers satisfaction with Consumers Enquiry level on Parle’s brands

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Inference: Parle’s brands has a good enquiry nationwide and it is ascertained by the above graph. It has got a very good percent on the level of enquiry in Tirunelveli circle also.

o Percent of Retailers satisfaction with respect to Variants avail in Parle

Inference: Retailers showed a very good percentage of satisfaction with respect to variants available in Parle’s branded biscuits.

o Percent of Retailers Purchase Order of Parle’s brand with respect to Other brands

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Inference: Retailers order Britannia’s brand on a larger scale when compared to Parle and Itc, here Parle Ranks No-2 and Itc ranks the last.

Percent of Retailers Satisfaction with Parle’s Credit Schemes compared to other brands

Inference: From the above chart it can be inferred that Parle is operating Poor Credit Schemes when compared to Itc and Britannia in the Retailers point of view. Hence it must ensured to take corrective measures on that to increase the sales volume.

o Percent of Parle’s Sales with respect to other brands in Retailers view

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Inference: From the above graph it can be clearly inferred that Parle’s sales with respect to other Brands is good

5.3 FINDINGS

o Packing which is an important factor is poor in products such as Milk Power, Creams, Parle Top, 2 in 1 caramel, etc.

o Supply Chain Management is not up to the level satisfaction of Retailers, because the orders are not supplied in time

o The Credit Schemes provided by the company is not good when compared ti Britannia and Itc

o The Distributor/Salesman relation with Retailers is not good, thus the companies Schemes aren’t clearly explained to the Retailers.

o Lots of Communication Misinterpretation takes place, which leads to lots of mishandling while supplying products. i.e.Retailers orders are not correctly noted by the Sales man thus the wrong products supplied.

o Agencies/ Distributors must be increased to cover the unexplored areas, because there are lots of unexplored markets in the towns like Nagercoil and rural Tirunelveli which is also a high potential market as they have several educational institutions and tourists spots

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CHAPTER 6

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

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6.1 RECOMMENDATIONS

o Parle is positioned to be a product of high Quality and the advertisements are also more effective that is the reason the enquiry level for the brand in the Retails are higher.

o Miscommunication must be prevented, Supply Chain Management must be improved i.e. the stocks must be produced on time to the Retailers which also increases the Retailers trust .

o As people perceive the product to be of high Quality, this should be capitalized more effectively and the brand has to be communicated to the Retailers in effective manner, for this the Distributors and Retailers must trained at the cost the company.

o In such a way Retailers must be pulled to the brand and there by leading to increased Volume in Sales.

o Sales man must be trained well on Schemes before they are to deal with the retailers so that mis-interpretations can be avoided.

o Supply on stocks can be improved by making the Distributor to buy or providing them extra transportations like mini trucks and wagons

o New agencies must be appointed to expand the distribution and to cover the unexplored markets and educational institutions in and around Tirunelveli circle

6.2 CONCLUSIONS

From the findings and analysis, it can be concluded as follows: Parle has wider reach in the midst of Consumers of Tirunelveli circle which includes Tirunelveli, Sivagangai, Tutucorin, and Kanyakumari districts. Here from the analysis chart we can infer that Retailers have a good opinion on the Parle and its entire brand. Accordingly the Packing, Quality, Taste, Level of Enquiry, Sales, Variants available are up to the satisfaction mark of the Retailers at the same time Distributor/Salesman relation, Supply Chain Management, Schemes provided by Parle are not good and which really breaks the company’s sales volume.

Communication between Salesman and Retailers are not good. This indirectly affects the sales. The Schemes provided by the company and its managers aren’t reaching the Retailers.When the communication is not clear, retailers will have enquires from the consumers and it will lead to confusions this indirectly stops the Retailers to invest in the Parle.Therefore if the negative findings in the analysis part are minimized the Parle and its Brand products can flourish in Tirunelveli circle.

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6.3 LIMITATIONS

1) Due to time constraints sample size is restricted to 120

2) Questionnaires method is employed in this survey which has some advantages and also some disadvantages likeo Because of peer pressure or embarrassment people do not want to answer

questions or they want to impress the researcher and fabricate the truth by filling in untrue answers.

o Questions may be difficult to understand as most of them are having poor educational background.

o There is a chance that questions may be misinterpreted, due to external disturbances.

o Questionnaires were got up filled by Retailers during their business hoursso there might be some time constraints.

o Few Retailers were lacking interests while filling the Questionnaires.o To acquire false pride and in hope of getting false offerings from the company

there are chances for retailers to interpret the results.

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CHAPTER 7

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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7. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books:1. S.L Gupta’s (2003) “Marketing Research”, First edition, Excel books.

2. G C Beri’s “Marketing Research”, Third edition, Tata MC Graw Hill Publications.

3. Philip Kotler’s “Marketing Management”, Thirteenth edition

Websites:1. http://researchandmarkets.com/reportinfo.asp?report_id=403137

2. www.articlebase.com/.../fast-moving-consumer-goods-fmcg-industry-855921.html

3. http://www.naukrihub.com/india/fmcg/consumer-class/socio

4. www.parleproducts.com

5. http://businesstoday.intoday.in/

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