Project Report on

“To evaluate consumer perceptions towards various

promotional offers”

IN

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT FOR

THE AWARD OF

MASTER’S DEGREE IN BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

Under the Guidance of: Submitted By:

Ms.Neha Jindal Abhishek Saxena

Manager MBA 10/25

Insights, Marketing

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES

N.C. COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

ISRANA, PANIPAT

SESSION 2010 – 2012

STUDENT DECLARATION

I, Abhishek Saxena, Roll No 10/25, Class MBA 3rd

Semester, N.C. College of Engg., Israna,

Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra hereby declare that the project entitled ―To evaluate

consumer perceptions to various promotional offers‖.is an original work and the same has

been not submitted to any other institute for the award of any other degree.

Signature of the Candidate

PREFACE

Today is the world of competition. In every sphere of life there is severe competition and only those

companies are running successfully who are able to overcome their drawbacks as well as their

weaknesses and they are having a complete and immense knowledge of what their customers,

employees need and want, and how much satisfaction one provides to its customers, employees.

Prevention is better than cure is an old time textured saying.

Project report is an integral part of the curriculum of Masters of Business Administration. Project

report preparation is a valuable experience for management students. This exposes them to functional

areas of management and also provides them an opportunity to be a part of the real corporate world.

The report covers on ―To evaluate consumer perceptions to various promotional offers‖.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The big task of undertaking a work is not singly possible indeed the project report could never have

been accomplished but for the wholesome, inducement, since of accommodation and purposive

guidance and indebtedness to Ms. Neha Jindal (Manager – Insights Marketing) of Make My

Trip.com. I take this opportunity to express sincere thanks to the management of Make My Trip.com

for permitting me to observe the whole setup of the company & do the required Summer Training

under her guidance.

A more general debt of gratitude is to for his valuable suggestions and guidance at various stages of

the summer training. I also thank to Mr.Vamsi, Mr.Sanjib, Ms.Nidhi, and Mr.Gaurav Gaur (DM-

HR) for their help.

I would be failing in my duty if I do not thank my respected Head of the Department Mrs. PRERNA

DAWAR and revered and learned faculty guide Mr. Rupesh Malik who guided me in this project.

I express my sincere thanks to my Parents, teachers & others for supporting throughout my summer

training.

CONTENTS

Declaration

Certificate

Preface

Acknowledgment

Chapter 1 Introduction

1.1 Overview of Industry as a whole 1 – 2

1.2 Profile of the Organization 3 – 5

1.3 Problems of the Organization 6

1.4 Competition Information 7 – 8

1.5 S.W.O.T Analysis of the Organization 9

Chapter 2 Objective & Methodology

2.1 Significance of the study 10

2.2

2.3

2.4

Managerial Usefulness

Objectives of the study

Scope of the study

11

12

13

2.5 Methodology 14 – 15

Chapter 3 Conceptual Discussion 16 – 22

Chapter 4 Data Analysis 23 – 37

Chapter 5 Findings and Recommendations 38 – 40

Appendices 41 – 45

Chapter 1 – Introduction

1.1. Overview of Industry as a whole

India‘s tourism industry is experiencing a strong period of growth, driven by the burgeoning Indian

middle class, growth in high spending foreign tourists, and coordinated government campaigns to

promote ‗Incredible India‘.

The tourism industry in India is substantial and vibrant, and the country is fast becoming a major

global destination. India‘s travel and tourism industry is one of them most profitable industries in the

country, and also credited with contributing a substantial amount of foreign exchange. This is

illustrated by the fact that during 2006, four million tourists visited India and spent US $8.9 billion.

Several reasons are cited for the growth and prosperity of India‘s travel and tourism industry.

Economic growth has added millions annually to the ranks of India‘s middle class, a group that is

driving domestic tourism growth. Disposable income in India has grown by 10.11% annually from

2001-2006, and much of that is being spent on travel.

Thanks in part to its booming IT and outsourcing industry a growing number of business trips are

made by foreigners to India, who will often add a weekend break or longer holiday to their trip.

Foreign tourists spend more in India than almost any other country worldwide. Tourist arrivals are

projected to increase by over 22% per year through till 2010, with a 33% increase in foreign exchange

earnings recorded in 2004.

The Tourism Ministry has also played an important role in the development of the industry, initiating

advertising campaigns such as the 'Incredible India' campaign, which promoted India‘s culture and

tourist attractions in a fresh and memorable way. The campaign helped create a colorful image of India

in the minds of consumers all over the world, and has directly led to an increase in the interest among

tourists.

The tourism industry has helped growth in other sectors as diverse as horticulture, handicrafts,

agriculture, construction and even poultry.

Both directly and indirectly, increased tourism in India has created jobs in a variety of related sectors.

The numbers tell the story: almost 20 million people are now working in the India‘s tourism industry.

India‘s governmental bodies have also made a significant impact in tourism by requiring that each and

every state of India have a corporation to administer support issues related to tourism.

A new growth sector is medical tourism. It is currently growing at around 30% per annum. Medical

tourist arrivals are expected to reach one million soon.

Medical tourism in Asia, plastic surgery in particular, has grown rapidly. Medical tourism is

approaching fever pitch at the tune of $4 Billion US, fueled largely by the cosmetic surgery market.

One of the problems India has, despite having some world-class hospitals, is sanitation.

The tourism industry of India is based on certain core nationalistic ideals and standards which are:

Swaagat or welcome, Sahyog or cooperation, Soochanaa or information, Sanrachanaa or infrastructure,

Suvidha or facilitation, Safaai or cleanliness and Surakshaa or security.

1.2. Profile of the Organization

MakeMyTrip.com: India‘s leading online travel company

Founded in year 2000.

Empowering traveller with instant booking and comprehensive services.

Started with India with the US-India travel market in focus. Expanded to US markets in 2005.

A one-stop-travel-shop that offers the broadest selection of travel products and services in India.

Lead by the vision and the spirit of each one of its employees, for whom no idea was too big and no

problem too difficult.

Undisputed online leader, with more than 50% share of all online sales of travel market.

A dedicated 24x7 customer support through its offices in 20 cities across India and 2 international

offices in New York and San Francisco, in addition to several franchise locations.

MakeMyTrip.com Products:

International and Domestic Air Tickets, Holiday Packages and Hotels

Domestic Bus and Rail Tickets

Private Car and Taxi Rentals

MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences & Exhibitions)

B2B and Affiliate Services

MakeMyTrip

Type Public

Traded as NASDAQ: MMYT

Industry Travel & Tourism

Founded April 1, 2000

Founder(s) Deep Kalra,Keyur Joshi, Rajesh Magow

Headquarters Gurgaon, Haryana, India

Products Airline Tickets, Indian Railway Tickets, Bus Tickets, Holidays, Hotels, MICE,

Car Rentals

Services Visa Services, B2B & Affiliate Services

Website MakeMyTrip

History

Founded in 2000 by Deep Kalra, MakeMyTrip.in had its beginnings in a small office in Okhla, New

Delhi. Deep Kalra, formerly V.P. Business Development for GE Capital had the mandate to develop

and partner new distribution channels for the company‘s consumer financial products. The internet

appeared as an interesting choice with untapped potential and his role at GE Capital provided him the

opportunity to be closely involved with the then nascent internet industry in India. Shortly thereafter,

Deep began considering his entrepreneurial options, interested in a couple of sectors of the Indian

economy, including travel. When he found that the travel industry lent itself seamlessly to the Internet

and had tremendous potential as a sector, MakeMyTrip.com was conceptualized.

Deciding that the Indian market was not yet ready for an online travel agency, MakeMyTrip.com

instead concentrated on the US India travel sector. In a relatively short span, MakeMyTrip.com grew

to emerge as a major travel website in the US to India sector, and today has an approximate 4% share

of the NRI market, which is pegged at Rs. 4500 crore (USD 1 billion). With the revolution in the

Indian travel industry caused by the emergence of the domestic Low Cost Carriers, MakeMyTrip

launched its website for the Indian travel market in September 2005. In its first year of operation, it

was India‘s largest e-commerce company. According to MakeMyTrip‘s Company Profile, ―the

company is on track to achieve sales of INR 2500 crores (approximately US$ 500 million) in the

financial year ending March 2010, making it India‘s largest travel company.‖

Management

A young company that has quickly become the leading travel service provider in India and the most

trusted name in the industry, MakeMyTrip's spectacular success is in no small part due to the

unblinking vision of its senior management team and the dedication of its employees. MakeMyTrip

employs over 700 ―Trippers‖ from the travel, tourism, hospitality and technology industries.

Deep Kalra - Founder & Chief Executive Officer

Mohit Gupta - Chief Marketing Officer

Rajnish Kapur - Chief Innovation Officer

Mohit Kabra - Senior Vice President - Finance

Anand Kandadai - Senior Vice President - Outbound Tours

Keyur JoshiCo - Founder & Chief Operating Officer

Rajesh MagowCo - Founder & Chief Financial Officer

Amit Somani - Chief Products Officer

Amit Saberwal - Senior Vice President – Retail and Business Development

Rohit Hasteer - Vice President - Human Resources

1.3 Problems of the Organization

1. Main problem caused is due to its competitors which lessens the company‘s market

share.

2. Regular updates were not been given to the customers.

3. Few customers were there who didn‘t get any offer.

1.4 Competition Information

OTA (online

travel

agency) Funding Investor Extra plugs

Flight Raja(now

called Via) $5 million

Indo US

ventures

(owned by

Vinod Dham)

Domestic + International flight

ticketing, bus ticketing, hotel

reservations.

MakeMyTrip $10 million

SAIF Capital

Partners

Domestic flight ticketing, hotel

bookings – bundled/packaged

service.

Yatra $5 million

Reliance

Capital,

Norwest VC,

TV18

Domestic flight ticketing, hotel

bookings – bundled/packaged

service.

TravelGuru $10 million

Sequoia Capital

India (Sequoia

Capital and

WestBridge

Capital

Partners)

Domestic ticketing, hotels,

cruises, holiday packages,

corporate travel

Clear trip $3 million

KPCB,

Sherpalo

Domestic booking, hotels,

place information

Arzoo

Sabeer

Bhatiya‘s

factory!

Domestic + International flight

ticketing, Holiday package, car

rentals

Rediff Faresearch

Rediff meta search engine.

Yahoo Farechase

Y!

meta search engine – though

not too sure why Y! is not

promoting this in India.

Zoomtra

* meta search engine.

Ghumo

*

meta search engine (for

flight/train and hotel bookings)

iXiGo

self funded

meta search engine, read

ourreview here.

ezeego1

Cox & Kings

probably the most relevant

meta search engine.

Travelocity India N/A Sabre Holdings Initial focus on hotel bookings.

Travel Chacha

*

Domestic + International

booking, car rentals, hotel

bookings, Packaged deals

TripMela

*

Focuses only on travel related

deals

Meratrip

*

Main focus is on travel related

deals

Airdeccan.net

AirDeccan

has a tie-up with TravelGuru

for hotel bookings.

Indiatimes Indiatimes Travel booking for partner

sites

‗*‘ = lack of information on investors (if you have any info, please let me know).

Few interesting info (via livemint)

Travel portals in India did business of $800 million (of the total $15.5 billion travel market in

the country) in 2006. This is expected to increase to $2 billion by 2008.

In 2006, India attracted 4.43 million foreign tourists; the same year, around 350-400 million

domestic tourists are estimated to have traveled around the country

Air passengers in the country increased from 22.788 million in 2005 to 32.172 million in 2006.

Flight raja is already profitable and does business of Rs1 crore a day.

On an average, commission from air tickets which account for the bulk of the business are the

lowest and range from between 2% and 9%.

For hotel bookings, the commission is much higher and varies between 8% and 25%

1.5 S.W.O.T Analysis of the Organization

1. STRENGTHS

1. Family support

2. Complimentary skills

3. No financial liability

4. IIT degree insurance

5. Ready capital

2. WEAKNESSES

1. Reluctance from clients

2. Traditional/orthodox approach for gathering information

3. No prior experience

4. No regular updates were given.

3. OPPORTUNITIES

1. Untapped market

2. 4-5000 prospective clients

3. Continuous business opportunities

4. Emergence of young educated politicians

4. THREATS

1. Arrogance of seniority

2. Limited potential Market

3. Completely unknown field

4. Uncertain returns

5. Big competitors like Thomas cook,sotc,d‘pauls & yatra.

Chapter 2 - Objective & Methodology

2.1. Significance

In Today‘s world especially in India which is one of the most favoured tourist destinations around the

world, Travel sector is booming up on a very large scale.

It is very significant for the organization to carry out surveys for its products as its success depends

upon the Promotional Offers that it offers.

The study is on to evaluate which promotional offers are working & which are not.

As in any Travel Sector promotional offers play a very vital & essential role.

The significance of this study can be recognized when the result of the related study need suggestions

and recommendations to the similar situation.

2.2. Managerial usefulness of the study

India was always one of the favourite Tourist Destinations & is still also the one. So, in today‘s

competing environment every single Online Travel Agency (OTA) is now trying to make its position

even stronger in the competing world, especially with the agencies whom are India based. So, this

study/survey was very useful on a Manager‘s part especially for a Marketing Manager because he/she

is the person who decides upon where when & how to do the publicity of the product. So, by carrying

out this survey/study whatever the conclusion or suggestions is there it enables the manager to look

more carefully on the sectors which are not performing well.

By this study the Manager comes out with which promotional offers are working & which are not.

2.3. Objectives

Research Objectives

To evaluate consumer perceptions to various promotional offers.

To segregate types of promotions that work/do not work.

To evaluate perceived impact of the customer on the brand image.

2.4. Scope of the study

Its scope is for worldwide because whatever Promotions Make My Trip.com runs on its website is for

most part around the Globe.

This study conducted a survey which enables the company to improve its position even stronger in the

today‘s competing world in respect of its Promotional offers.

2.5. Methodology

RESEARCH DESIGN

―A research design is the arrangement of conditions for collection and analysis data in a

manner that aims to combine relevance to the researcher purpose with economy in procedure‖.

More explicitly, the design decisions happen to be in respect of:

What is the study about?

Why is the study being made?

Where will the study be carried out?

What type of data is required?

Where can the data are found?

What periods of time will the study include?

What will be the sample design?

How will the data be analyzed?

In what style will the report be prepared?

What techniques of data collection will be used?

TYPES OF DATA COLLECTED

Primary Data: - This data was collected by making a questionnaire which was further done by one-

to-one interviews. Statements based questions were there in the questionnaire.

Secondary Data : - Some data regarding the company information was acquired from the company‘s

website & Google.

SAMPLING PLAN

A sampling plan is a definite design for obtaining a sample from the sampling frame.

Convenient Sampling technique was adopted. In this method the researcher select those units of the

population in the sample, which appear convenient to him or the management of the organization

where he is conducting research.

In this study convenient & selective sampling is done by the data collector.

Sample Size & Methodology

• Sample: 7

• Region: Delhi/Gurgaon

• One-on-one interviews

• Offers evaluated

– Holidays

• 2+1 Companion Offer

• 2 Night Stay Free Offer

• Fly Free Offer

• Free Stay Offer

• Scratch Card Offer

• 1 Child Free

• Get Domestic Offer

– Flight

• Buy 1 Get 1 Offer (Only DOM)

• Cash Back Offer

• Reward Points Offer

• Discount Offer By Specific Airlines

Chapter 3 – Conceptual Discussion (Theoretical Backdrop & Literature Review)

Promotional offers are a very much important part for any online travel agency, as most of the

customers get attracted by some kind of promotional offers because it can be said that Offers are

considered as backbone of the Online Travel Agencies.

This Promotional offer not only sells its products but also motivates new customers to come again &

again due to their previous experience.

Nowadays, about each & every OTA is running its agencies through these Promotional Offers or we

can say that Promotional Offers are playing the role of a backbone for the companies.

So, it‘s now day-by-day getting very tough for the companies to maintain its level upto the ever-

growing needs of the people as their needs are not going to end , so , companies are nowadays trying to

make its Promotional offers better day-by-day & also innovating new ideas to bring out new Offers to

encourage the people to buy more & come again.

Some of the terms which are frequently used in the travel sector are as follows:-

1. OTA – Online Travel Agency.

2. LOB – Line of Business.

3. DOM – Travel area within the country or Domestic Tours.

4. OBT – Travel area covered outside the country or Outbound Tours.

5. FPH – Bookings done for both Flights Plus Hotels.

6. FD – Fixed departures.

Some of the related case studies done previously:-

1. MakeMyTrip Improves Its Conversion Rate with F5 Application Delivery

Controllers

Founded in 2000, MakeMyTrip is India‘s leading online travel portal. Created to empower the

traveller with instant booking services and comprehensive options, the company began its journey with

the United States-India travel market. MakeMyTrip offers a range of best value products and services,

cutting edge technology, and round-the-clock customer support.

MakeMyTrip followed its success in the United States by launching its India operations in 2005.

Having an agile IT infrastructure was vital for the company to meet its business objectives and gain an

edge in a highly competitive market. With the F5 BIG-IP devices in place, MakeMyTrip decreased its

system load by up to 30 per cent and reduced its drop-off rate by 4 to 5 per cent.

Business Challenges

As the first and only comprehensive online travel site with real-time booking for flights, hotels, cars,

and holiday packages, MakeMyTrip heralded a significant change in the way consumers purchased

travel services in India. After its successful launch, the company has led the market with innovative

products and services, consolidating its position in the market as a brand recognized for its reliability

and transparency.

The portal sells more than 12,000 flight tickets, 1,000 hotel room nights, and

100 holiday packages every day. MakeMyTrip attracts more than 3.5 million unique visitors every

month.

In financial year 2010, the company achieved approximate sales of Rs 22,000 crore (approximately

U.S. $478 million), reinforcing its position as the market leader with 48 per cent market share.

As business grew, so did the challenge of keeping the portal accessible to ensure a positive user

experience. The legacy infrastructure that MakeMyTrip had in place struggled to cope with the added

traffic.

―It was unable to manage the traffic efficiently, and it was passing a lot of the load, such as session and

connection management, back to the server, resulting in high drop-off rates,‖ says Sanjay Kharb,

Assistant Vice President – Technical Operations, MakeMyTrip (India) Pvt Ltd. ―We were also seeing

heavy loads on the SSL server.‖

Having an agile IT infrastructure is vital for the company to meet its business objectives and gain an

edge in a highly competitive market. To increase sales and revenue, it needed to increase user

conversion rates. MakeMyTrip did so by delivering relevant content to its visitors, based on their

profiles, preferences, and locations.

Because the portal gets incentives from airlines based on the number of hits with bookings,

MakeMyTrip was looking for a way to reduce the number of users who use the portal only to perform

searches, which results in no revenue.

―Some users visit the site in the morning and come back again in the afternoon to search for deals. In

order to convert these visits to transactions, we needed to track these cookies and users to determine if

we should offer better deals or give them something on their return visits,‖ says Kharb.

The overall purpose of tracking users is to generate more business. Just a 1.5 to 2 percent increase in

conversion rate (number of transactions vs. number of sessions) can amount to a great deal of

additional revenue. MakeMyTrip‘s aim was to use technology to achieve the highest amount of

revenue with the lowest amount of resources.

Being a technology savvy and forward-looking company, MakeMyTrip wanted to optimize its

resources and achieve higher return on investment on its IT outlay. To achieve these, it needed a single

solution that effectively served multiple purposes, such as load balancing, SSL VPN, and caching.

Solution

Having benefited from using F5 solutions previously in his career, Kharb decided to consider F5 and a

couple of other vendors to deliver the new solution.

Each of the three shortlisted vendors provided a proof-of-concept based on MakeMyTrip‘s criteria of

solving the traffic bottleneck problem, viability, and meeting the portal‘s long-term vision. ―We also

wanted a solution that could give us technological enhancements such as web security and

customizability,‖ said Kharb.

Following the proof-of-concept, F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) was chosen for its

performance, versatility, and flexibility. The F5 BIG-IP platform is a cost-effective, intelligent

Application Delivery Controller (ADC) that lets customers add on-demand capacity and processing

needs as required by their users, applications, infrastructures, and businesses. F5 ADCs are also

modular, allowing customers to add new functionality―everything from web security to topology-

based load balancing— enabling faster response to changing business challenges.

Four of these Application Delivery Controllers were deployed at the portal‘s two data centers—one

operational and the other as backup—at the end of 2008. The new devices deliver the inventory

application, which was developed in-house based on Open Systems.

Benefits

The F5 solution has enabled MakeMyTrip to handle its increased traffic, provide a better user

experience while increasing revenue, and be poised to use additional F5 technology for future

initiatives.

No more load balancing issue

According to Kharb, the company‘s web traffic problems were solved following the switch to F5.

―We no longer have load balancing or SSL server overload issues. The F5 appliances have a capacity

of 20,000 transactions per second on SSL, which is enough for us,‖ says Kharb. ―With the F5 BIG-IP

LTM devices in place, our system load has decreased by up to 30 percent and there are no more

failures at the back end. Drop-off rate went down by four to five percent.‖

Higher conversion rate

MakeMyTrip has also been able to track users and their search patterns using the F5 easy-to-learn

scripting language, iRules, ® to customize how the BIG-IP devices intercept, inspect, transform, and

direct inbound or outbound application traffic. This move has resulted in a higher conversion rate.

Going forward

As part of its plans to enhance its services, MakeMyTrip is looking to upgrade its existing F5 ADCs to

advanced F5 ADCs. These come with quad-core processors that enable support for multiple BIG-IP

modules, such as BIG-IP® Application Security Manager™ and BIG-IP® Web Accelerator,™ within

a single unified device.

―We are also experimenting with F5 geolocation functionality, which uses the location database to

map IP addresses to geographical locations. That way, we can identify IP addresses and intelligently

deliver customized content based on where the user is located,‖ said Kharb. ―F5 is not just a

technology; it‘s a cost-effective, unified solution.”

* Based on gross bookings for 2009, according to PhocusWright.

2. Case Study: Amar Prem – MakeMyTrip

Synopsis

Responsible Traveler is an initiative by Make My Trip, urging people to be more responsible when

they go on a vacation. The initiative includes creating awareness about ―going green‖ while on a

vacation, prevent littering, guide to environment friendly destinations and hotels etc. In this latest

campaign, we create awareness about the value of historical monuments and urge people to stop

desecrating such places.

When people are in love, especially the younger generation, they want to engrave their undying love

for each other at a historical monument because of the place‘s significance. At ―Amar Prem‖, people

can select three historical monuments when they come to the site – Taj Mahal, Humayun‘s Tomb and

Charminar. After that, an exact replica of the monument appears on the website and couples can

―sketch‖ on the image about how much they love each other.

The underlying message of the campaign was to tell people to be more responsible when they visit

historical monuments and that they could instead sketch their message on the virtual version rather

than desecrating the actual monument. In just a few days, the site had over 1000 new scribbles every

week, successfully delivering the message about vandalizing monuments in a fun and engaging way.

Objective

Encourage people to stop scribbling & defacing Indian monuments & heritage and travel responsibly.

Strategy

When Indian honeymooners go traveling & sightseeing, they often feel the need to ‗immortalize‘ their

love on the walls of India‘s historic-heritage monuments. Now in order to stop them it was clear that

conventional communication techniques such as guilt trips or fear hadn‘t worked. So we gave them

something we were sure they would love – a workaround. A way to proclaim their love without

harming India‘s heritage.

Creative Idea

Amar Prem was born from this insight. On the website, people could ‗doodle‘ on ‗virtual monuments‘

so that the real ones could be spared. People could select three historical monuments when they come

to the site – Taj Mahal, Humayun‘s Tomb and Charminar. After that, an exact replica of the monument

appears on the website and couples can ―sketch‖ on the image & leave love messages for each other.

Result and Recognition

Half a million clicks later, it was clear that people loved the idea. Thousands of doodles covered up the

virtual monuments and the buzz from the activity got the attention of mainstream media with features

appearing in Hindustan Times, Afaqs and more. The campaign was reciognized widely through the

following awards won:

Won a Gold at the Olive Crown Awards 2011 in the Digital Category

Won a Gold in the Digital Media Campaign of the Year category at WAT Awards 2011

Won a Silver in the Best Integrated Online Campaign at BBC Campaign India Digital Media Awards

2011

Won a Bronze ABBY at Goafest 2011 in the Website (services) category

Won a Bronze ABBY at Goafest 2011 in the Integrated Online Campaign category.

Chapter – 4 Data Analysis

Q1.How was the experience?

Very Poor Poor Neutral Good Very Good

0 0 14.28571 57.14286 28.57143

Interpretation:- Most People have said that their last experience was Good but not Lavish.

Q2. How did you do your bookings?

Offline Online

1 6

Interpretation:- Most People have done their bookings Online because they prefer to do their bookings via

online as they consider it more convineint & time saving.

Q3.Did you contact the Travel Agency for anything?

Holiday Packages

Hotels Flights All FPH Hotels & Holidays

14.28571 14.28571 0 28.57143 28.57143 14.28571

Interpretation:- Mostly people have contacted the agencies for overall packages as they think

contacting for overall packages rather then contacting for individuals is more cost saving.

Q4.At the time of booking did you get any offer?

Something Different Tactics of Raising

Business Customers are influenced Good on Co's Behalf

14.2857143 14.28571 28.57142857 42.85714

Interpretation: - Mostly people have said that offers are good on company‘s behalf because they

think company offers these promotional offers just as they want to attract more & more customers

which will ultimately help in raising the company‘s business.

Q6. What kind of offers do you like?

Spouse's Half

Price 1 Night free Guided Tours Disc. On Meals Disc. On Hotels

14.2857 42.8571 14.2857 14.2857 14.2857

Interpretation:- Mostly People like 1 Night free offer because they think it gives an extra night free of cost.

Q7. What kind of offers you find compelling?

Interpretation: - There are mixed responses about which offers People like because there are people

from different aspects who want different things or we can say benefits from their respective

purchases.

Free Night Stay Hotel Up gradation Free Stay Depends on Trips

28.57143 14.285714 28.5714 28.5714

Q8. Can you tell me some offers or promotions in the travel category which you thought were totally useless?

Child Free offer Can't Say None

14.28571 28.571429 57.1429

Interpretation:- Mostly People have said that according to them No offer is useless until & unless it is not

worth , because people think that everyone gets some or the other benefit from some offer.

Q9. Promotional offers should be continued or not?

Yes No

100 0

Interpretaion:- Everyone thinks that offers should be continued as it is good on company‘s behalf as

well as for the customers because through offers they get something free.

Q10. What part of travel is more appropriate for offers?

Holidays & Hotels Flights Holidays & Flights Flights & Hotels

57.14286 14.28571 14.28571 14.28571

Interpretation:- Mostly people have said that Holidays & Hotels should be more focused upon because

whereas Flights are concerned they are now cheaply available whatever the destination is, so, OTAs should

focus more upon Holiday & Hotel Packages.

Q11. Suppose there are 2 companies ABC & XYZ , ABC is offering many offers & XYZ is not offering any

kind of promotional offers on its portal, so what do you think that both of these companies will be? Image

Perception?

1 is new & 1 is branded 1 is well recognised & 1 is not

much Both are well established

57.14286 14.28571 28.5714286

Interpretation:- Mostly people think that 1 might be a new one & 1 might be a Branded because the company

which is offerring much offers is new & is trying to make its stronger in the market as it’s a new one & will take

some time to make itself competitive with other big players.

Q19. IF you had to pick top 3 promotional offers that you think are more relevant and attractive to you... what

would you pick?

Fly free, 2+1, 2night free

Free stay, Fly free, 2+1

2+1, Fly free 2+1,fly free,free stay,buy1get1

Buy1get1, Disc. Offers

Buy1get1

14.28571429 28.571429 14.28571429 14.28571 14.28571 14.28571

Interpretation:- Majority says that Free Stay , Fly free & 2+1 companion offer should be top 3.

Q20. What are the brands that offer lot of promotions?

Flight shop, Clear trip,

Yatra

Yatra, Clear trip

Clear trip, MMYT, Yatra

IBIBO, Yatra, MMYT

Yatra, MMYT

Yatra, Thomas

cook

Yatra, D'Pauls

14.285714 14.28571 14.28571 14.28571 14.28571 14.28571 14.28571

Interpretation:- There is a tie between many brands because still there are much people who are not aware

about all of the offers of a particular company.

Q21. Are you aware of the current Promotional plans that are there in MakeMyTrip.com?

Yes No

0 100

Interpretation:- No one is aware about the current promotional plans because the main problem which the

customers have faced with is that they were not been provided with any updates whether through Email or

SMS , so, that they might have have purchased a new product after getting informed through updates.

Q22. (a) Are you also aware of any other promotional plans offered by other Travel Agencies?

Yes No

28.571429 71.42857

Interpretation: - Only a few People are aware of the current promotional offers which

are there in other Online Travel Agencies portal & here is also the same reason of no

regular updates & there is also an another reason that people are not always interested in

knowing the latest developments in the Promotional Offers Category.

Q22. (b) Which specific feature you liked the most offered to you by other Travel Agency?

Q23. Is there any suggestions that you consider that should have been in our promotional plans & in which plan,

Please specify?

Chapter – 5 Findings & Recommendations

5.1 FINDINGS OF THE STUDY

1. Through this study I came to know what real position does Make My trip holds in the market.

2. I came to know what people have to say about the company after taking services; we can say

something like feedback.

3. I came know what offers really work & what does not work at all.

4. What worth does which offer holds in the customer‘s mind?

5. What type of new offers should be introduced?

6. Which offers should be discarded from the company?

7. What kind of other features should be included in the travel portal of the company?

8. Which sectors are there which are still less reached or sectors with incomplete knowledge.

5.2 SUGGESTION AND RECOMMENDATION

1. Make My Trip should continue giving some of these offers like 2+1 companion offer , 2 nights

free stay offer.

2. Offers are a very important part for Travel based company.

3. People are motivated by many of these offers .

4. Make my trip is reaching people at a very large scale, but still it have to maintain its loyal

customers by giving them proper knowledge timely.

5. Offers also raises company‘s business.

6. Makemytrip should give regular updates to its customers via email or sms or any other way

possible.

7. Makemytrip should contact more to its previous customers for building a strong relationship.

8. Company should think on the suggestions suggested by the customers because customers are

the end users of the services.

5.3 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

1. Many people were there who were not even ready to give the feedback through mails.

2. Many were there who were not even ready to listen about what kind of feedback they have to give.

3. Many were there who was not ready to meet face-to-face as it was the main part of my survey.

4. Some other work was also assigned to me earlier.

APPENDICES

ANNEXURE-1

QUESTIONNAIRE

NAME: - __________________________________

GENDER: - MALE FEMALE

ADDRESS: -

CONTACT NO.:- ___________________________________

AGE: - ___________

Q1. Tell me about your last vacation, where you went... How was the experience?

Q2. From where have you purchased your last vacation package? How did you do your bookings?

Q3.Did you contact the Travel Agency for anything? Yes/No, If Yes then which?

Only Holiday packages. Only Flights. Only Hotels

Only Train bookings. Only Car rentals.

Q4.At the time of booking did you get any offer? Did it have any impact on your purchase?

Promotional offers in the Travel Category

Q5. When you think of promotional offers in the travel category, what all comes to your mind? What else?

Moods, feelings

Kind of offers – tell me all kinds offers you are aware of? What else?

Brands/companies offering the same

Benefits

Anything else?

Q6. What kind of offers do you like?

Q7. What kind of offers you find compelling or impacts your decision to purchase the product? Do you

remember any offer like that? What else?

Q8. Can you tell me some offers or promotions in the travel category which you thought were totally useless?

Q9. (a) Overall, do you think the companies should continue giving these promotional offers/schemes or stop it?

Why/why not?

(b) Suppose, a company stops giving these offers, so what will be the impact?

Q10. What part of travel (flights/hotel/holiday/bus/train/cab hire) is more appropriate for offers?

FOR EACH ELEMENT ASK: what kind offer do you think will be best for this?

Q11. Image Perceptions:

- There are 2 companies – one that gives out lot of promotions & offers on their products like

flights, hotels, holidays; there is another company that doesn‘t believe in offers and promotions at all… what is

the difference between the two?

o What kind of companies are these?

o Kind of people who would buy from each of these companies

o Which one would you prefer to buy from and why?

o Which company will offer better services

o Which company will sell more services

o Which company will people like you trust more

-

Details on Specific Promotional Offer

I have a list of promotional offer.. I will show them to you one by one... let me know what you think about

them.

READ OUT THE OFFERS IN THE LIST ONE BY ONE, FOR EACH ASK:

Q12. What do you think about this promotional offer?

Q13. Do you like it? Do you think it‘s a good offer? Why/why not?

Q14. What is the benefit it will offer you?

Q15.Does it motivates you to buy the product? To what extent? On a scale of 1-7, where 7 means, it completely

convinces me to but the product and 1 means not all... how much marks will you give it? Why?

Q16. What kind of doubts. Apprehension people can have with this offer?

Q17. What kind of people would it appeal to/not appeal to?

Q18. If there is a company that is giving this offer, what does it say about the kind of company? A person say,

Ram who has come from abroad hasn‘t heard of the company but hears about this offer, what impression will

this offer create on Ram about the company? Ram kya sochega ki yeh company kaisi hogi?

REPEAT THE ABOVE SET OF QUESTION FOR ALL KINDS OF PROMOTIONS

Q19. IF you had to pick top 3 promotional offers that you think are more relevant and attractive to you... what

would you pick?

- For flights

- Hotel bookings

- Holiday bookings

Brands offering promotional offers

Q20. What are the brands that offer lot of promotions? Any company that you think doesn‘t offer much? Any

company that you think gives out optimum offers – not too much nor too less.

Q21. Are you aware of the current Promotional plans that are there in MakeMyTrip.com? If yes, than which

promotional plan are you aware of & to what extent?

Q22. (a) Are you also aware of any other promotional plans offered by other Travel Agencies? If yes, then

which are you aware of & of which travel agency?

(b) Which specific feature you liked the most offered to you by other Travel Agency?

Q23. Is there any suggestions that you consider that should have been in our promotional plans & in which plan,

Please specify?

ANNEXURE-2

BIBILIOGRAPHY

WEBSITES & URLS:

1. www.google.com

2. www.makemytrip.com

3. http://www.f5.com/pdf/case-studies/make-my-trip-cs.pdf

4. http://www.webchutney.org/work/case-study-amar-prem-makemytrip/

5.