Micromax Mobile : How to Increase Market Share

Consumer bargain foring behaviour report Micromax liquid remembers By Mansi Choksey Roll no. 19 PGDM Marketing Product chosen Micromax unstable phones Issue to be addressed How to increase Market get by primer on the play along Micromax Mobile studys no introduction at present. retributive two years back commonwealth were non awargon ofthe markat both but today its Indias leash elephantinest bustling selling family by volume subsequently Nokia and Samsung (IDC Report). leaf blades success keister be attributed to its ability to s layabout the need of the market , rapacious marketing with a budget of Rs. 00 crore and smart distribution channelmanagement. Its one of the leading Indian Telecom Companies with 23 domestic completeices across the country and international offices in Hong Kong, USA, Dubai and in a flash in Nepal. With a futuristic vision and an exhaustive R& ampereD at its helm, Micromax has successfully generated innovative technologies that have revolutionised the telecom consumerspace. As per IDC report Micromax displaced LG to pass third largest sellingmobile hand focalise companyin india with a market share of 6%.Nokia is market leader with 62% share and Samsung is on second place with 8% market share. The company today sells more than than a million handsets a month and is now a Rs. 1600 cr worth nock. The company has presence in more than ergocalciferol districts and 90,000retail bring outlets. The company started its Mobile handset business in 2008 and the take exception was to establish an identity in a market dominated by heavy(p) MNCs Like Nokia,Samsung,LG and Motorola. Today Micromax has sustain a cross out which populate relate and look up to for realizing their individual device preferences and some other out-of-the-box solutions.Micromax, is now churning out 1 million phones a month. Micromax is on a mission to successfully overcome the technological barriers and constantly engender heart enhancing solutions. The companys vision is to develop path-breaking technologies and efficient processes that incubate newer markets, enliven customer aspirations and await to make Micromax a trusted market leader amongst people. Micromax founders Rajesh Agarwal handles company finance Sumeet Arora chief technology officer Vikas jain handles each(prenominal)iances with other companiesRahul Sharma risk taker with the big ideas 4 Ps of marketing for Micromax mobiles 1. Product Micromax has been quite good in the marking a difference with almost every proceeds that it launched. The range that they have covered varies quite a large variety. sort out from the handsets with 30 days battery backup, dual SIM, handsets switching networks (GSM -CDMA) lend oneself soberness sensors, aspirational QWERTY keypad handsets to operator branded 3G handsets to the most exciting OMH CDMA Handsets, and so forth each mathematical product of Micromax had the potential to grab the attention of media as e ll as the consumers in a market which is already flooded with mobile phone handsets and a launch is in that wish in every day or two. 2. expenditure Micromax specialized in entry-level and mid-segment handsets scathed between Rs1,800 and Rs2,400 when it started selling the devices in 2008, confining itself to weakened t sustains and hoidenish areas in the first 12-18 months. Encouraged by its success, the firm grow to larger cities and now has a distribution network of 55,000 retailers, which it contrives to scale up to 70,000 by the end of March as part of its dodging to push sales to 1. million handsets a month. 3. Place Micromax is one of the leading Indian Telecom Companies with 23 domestic offices across the country and international offices in Hong Kong, USA, Dubai and now in Nepal. Micromax has invested Rs100 crore to set up a plant in Baddi in Himachal Pradesh as it feels outsourcing manufacturing completely leaves the door open for fork over-side un acceptedties. Production lead be scaled up from an initial 50,000 per month. If everything goes right, by the third bod in March 2011, the Baddi plant go out be making to the highest degree 500,000 handsets, Jain said.If the plant isnt able to cope with the numbers, the f all(prenominal)back plan is to acquire a facility in South Korea, Taiwan or China, he added. 4. Promotion Having gained traction, Micromax is also working on a strategy to create sensation in the metros, which includes tying up with MTV for co-branded phones. Micromax has also fasten up with a Bollywood celebrity AKSHAY KUMAR as brand ambassador. Micromax has also bind up some pretty big brands like Yamaha for enhancing their audio experiences and the X360 comes with an MTV stigmatization and exclusive content.It is utilizing the integrated market communication tools like sponsoring razets ( play match and assume awards), advertise through and through hoardings, TV, radio etc very effectively. With a 360 degree adver tising and marketing strategy sketched out, the company has an optimistic outlook for the telecom consumer space. shortly present in more than 40,000 stores across the country, the company plans to have an aggressive market incursion to reach out to its customers through 70,000 operational stores in the coming year The following tools of IMC are being used by Micromax tear downts and experiences For marketing of its products the company is riding on two enduring Indian obsessionssports and filmsto build its brand. Following up on its association with the popular Twenty20 cricket Indian Premier League (IPL), Micromax, a brand that is less than triad years old, has become the title sponsor of almost all tournaments and serial publication of which India is a part, including the recently concluded Asia Cup, the forthcoming India-Sri Lanka Test series and the India-New Zealand-Sri Lanka tri-series in August.The objective behind the cricket roadblock, as such expression is termed in a dvertising, is to drive brand awareness and recall. The company believes that while cricket may boost a brand instantly, viewers may salvage non remember the brand after the match or the tournament. Even if consumers remember a series, they may not remember the advertisers. Thats when they thought of a roadblock and decided to sponsor all cricketing properties post IPL. Bollywood is also a major platform for the brand, which is targeting consumers between 18 and 27 years.Bollywoods most bankable star Akshay Kumar was signed on as the brand ambassador sestet months ago. More recently, his wife Twinkle Khanna was engaged to promote Micromaxs bling phone that comes with Swarovski crystals and a vanity mirror. To push its association with films, the firm also sponsored the IIFA (International Indian pip Academy) Awards held in Sri Lanka, where Micromax recently launched its phones. The brand is now ready to enter Bangladesh and west Asia. Advertising Broadcast media micromax use t elevision to broadcast their advertisements. Apart from using cricket, films, celebrity micromax also advertise through news papers.They also utilize hoarding and bill boards to advertise their products. Prime tantalizee recently kicked off a month-long campaign for Micromax mobile phones in Delhi, executed mostly through hoardings. Going further, this promotion will be extended to the other regions of northern India as well. All the Medias used by micromax are very cautiously selected as to reach its target audience and through each long suit the innovative aspect of the product is portrayed. The three advertising objectives of micromax mobile are * To create awareness * To increase recall of their brand * To create brand equity.Companys current marketing strategy 1. Tapping the Indian consumers by conditioned what they need specifically a. Indian context When Nokia or Samsung roll out a new model they do so from its global portfolio kind of than launching something specifical ly for India. Micromax realized the fact that there are certain unmet needs still there in the market which is not being addressed by big brands. Micromaxs strategy ,since their inception has been to tell the unmet latent needs of people and come up with a product which no one else has and thus fits well with the consumer need. b. Rural contextMicromax initially targeted arcadian market and once it naturalized its presence went on to claw urban youth. Micromaxs first innovation a handset with 30 days of standby battery life crucial in a country like India where power failures are common. Also in countrified areas its not easy to charge ones mobile phones because not only are there power failures but also they wear downt have money to pay for electricity every month and hence such a phone was get intod. Also One of the major aspects that contribute towards the substantial monthly growth of Micromax is its 80% sales in the rural areas. aft(prenominal) building a strong presen ce in the rural market, where the prominence of both subscribers and operators is rapidly increasing, Micromax is now progressively moving towards establishing its beachhead in the competitive urban towns as well. 2. Value for money & Cost effective The company didnt bank on price competition only rather it catered to the needs of people unaddressed by MNC brands. Big brand like Nokia, Samsung had not introduced Dual sim phones earlier. But with the onset of such phones launched by Micromax, Nokia , Samsung etc. ave tough competition and their phones are resultd a case of me-too products. Also Micromax has make sure that all their mobile phones are value for money and serve the purpose and the need of the customer. 3. R&D and Innovation Versatile Product Portfolio It was the first to introduce a) Handsets with 30 days battery backup b) Handsets with Dual SIM / Dual understudy c) Handsets Switching Networks (GSM CDMA) using gravity sensors d) Aspirational Qwerty Keypad Ha ndsets e) Operator Branded 3G Handsets f) OMH CDMA Handsets, etc. . First mover advantage They have introduced phones specially targeting the Indian people which were never even thought of remotely by the top players in the mobile phone industry like Nokia & Samsung. So they clearly have a first mover advantage. 5. Outsourcing the manufacturing Instead of manufacturing itself, Micromax sourced its handsets from 12 factories in China, South Korea and Taiwan. It was model-based sourcing Micromax would come up with an idea and give-up the ghost it to the factory outgo placed to deliver it.This is different from, say, Nokia, which would be compelled to stay in-house or go to a vendor-partner, even if another vendor had better capabilities to execute a particular model. 6. Smart distribution channel management Micromax also looked at distribution in a new way, standing by its cash-only model. magic spell rivals beared a 60-day credit line, Micromax refused to give credit. If the distributor does not buy your handsets, there is no pressure on him to sell them, explains Mr Agarwal. At the same time, Micromax offered to supply distributors regularly to keep inventories down.So, distributors didnt have to shell out large amounts upfront or have a lot of money locked in. If we give a distributor 1,000 handsets and ask him to sell them over a month, he will worry about his daily sales, says Mr Agarwal. But if we supply less, fill will be close to equal or more than supply. Micromax has 34 super-distributors across India. Unlike a Nokia or a Samsung, it doesnt act with the 500-plus sub-distributors. Neither does it intervene in how the super-distributors sell or place the products. We offer our super-distributors a 15% margin, which is higher than the ndustry average of 6-10%, claims Mr Jain. 7. Unmet needs of consumer 30-DAY BATTERY PHONES April 2008 Rs 2,249 nowadays Rs 1,999 The X1i, Micromaxs first phone, had a battery that could give 17 hours of let out t ime and go 30 days on a single charge. DUAL-SIM PHONES July 2008 Rs 1,999-12,999 For those who want two numbers but one handset PHONE-CUM-REMOTE whitethorn 2010 Rs 2,999 A mobile that can switch TV channels and even change the AC Temperature PHONE-CUM-STEREO Feb 2010 Rs 4,999 With 3D surround sound, fed by Yamaha and Wolfson BLING Feb 2010 Rs 5,500 A big hit with women, comes with Swarovski embellishmentsIN THE WORKS A mosquito-repellent phone. A phone that can be used as a computer mouse Micromax focuses on being different 8. Production related moves Micromax is investing Rs 100 crore to set up a manufacturing plant in Baddi, Himachal Pradesh, to ensure its outsourcing model does not cause supply-side uncertainties. Production is being scaled up from 50,000 units per month to 500,000 units a month by March 2011. How to increase the market share with respect to the consumer buying behaviour Steps of consumer buying behaviour 1) Need awarenessThe beginning floor of most purchasing is your potential buyer acquaintance of a need in their life. This need can be established by encountering a problem or prompted by a companys marketing. already Micromax is into a lot of marketing through promotions, Ads, sponsorships of events, etc. But a couple of(prenominal) suggestions on that front to make sure that their potential consumer hears them rightly is * direct they are at the 3rd position in the mobile handset industry and they have achieved a good market share in a very short span of time, so their advertisements should focus on brand building. They dont develop very creative advertisements, sometimes their advertisements are mere noises like the advertisement featuring Akshay kumar. They must add creativeness to their advertisements. (Micromax Bling Ad featuring Twinkle Khanna is an exception to this repoint). * Break the resistance of no need by aligning their marketing with the current needs and wants of your market. * Its a general norm that whatever is expensive is good to use, of high quality, has more life and is definitely something which will increase ones status.So it would be a good strategy to increase the prices which will work for the part of Micromax because there is a risk of the brand being perceived not as an aspirational brand but a ordinary price warrior if it does not focus on the quality of the communication. * The needs of not even two consumers are the same. Therefore, they buy only those products and usefulnesss, which satisfy their wants and desires.To survive in the market, a firm has to be constantly innovating and understand the latest consumer needs and tastes it will be passing useful in exploiting marketing opportunities and in coming upon the challenges that the Indian market offers. This reality can be turned into an prospect by introducing Customization of mobile phones. a) People can goto Micromax mobile stores, and fill a form listing their options of the type of phone they want, color of the p hone, screen surface of the phone, features like audio player, radio, one touch applications, etc. amp all other specifications of the phone. ) erst that form is filled the Micromax staff can depict a picture of the newly designed phone to the consumer on a computer and if necessary can make any changes and then at last place the order for such a phone. c) Payment terms and conditions can be advance payment half the price of the phone at the time of placing and half at the time of delivery. This makes the consumer feel that the mobile phone company is not only generally consumer centric but it believes in the fact that every person is different and unique in his/ her own way and would have different needs and wants.Also this gives a chance to the consumers to become innovative and its definite that a consumer will definitely want to buy such a phone again from Micromax. 2) Information search Its of the essence(predicate) to make sure consumers know about all the new variants a nd products that the company introduces. With the rise of the Internet, it has never been easier for buyers to research their purchase. It needs to make sure that all information is readily available on the website.They can break the resistance of lack of education by adding an educational seminar to their marketing mix to provide maximum information about their company, phones, promotions, variants, prices, etc. to not just the tech-savvy urban population but also the rural people. Their goal at this point in the buying process is to get their product or service in front of the consumer. They need to make them aware of their solution. 3) Check options Once the consumer understands his or her situation and has gathered research on possible solutions, the mobile handset buying process enters an evaluation period.The consumer now starts to take a close look at specifics, such as the company providing the solution, the brand name of the product, and the features and benefits of each so lution. Brandingand product differentiation are extremely important tools of persuasion during the evaluation stage. This is where the strategies listed above would help Micromax gain an move on over its competitors and increase the market share when a potential consumer would sit and evaluate his options while buying a cell phone. 4) Purchase After a comprehensive review of solutions and specific products and services, the consumer makes a purchase decision.At this point in the buying process, supporting information needs to be provided to honor the decision to buy. Help the buyer by telling them what and why the company/ staff in the store would recommend a certain handset as they are the experts in that. Also Depending on urban / rural population, the company can provide different payment options or accusation terms. 5) Evaluation of the purchase The buyer will look for reinforcement from media, friends, and other sources confirming they made the right decision. Cognitive diss onance or buyers self-condemnation happens when the buyer begins to feel the purchase wasnt right for them.To make sure such dissonance doesnt occur they should offer warranties, there must be after purchase follow-up calls to make sure that the consumer is happy with the handset he/she has purchased, excellent after sales service by coal scuttle as many service centers as possible in all parts of India. It is crucial to building strong relationships with customers and encouraging repeat purchases that you not only provide a positive purchase experience and after sale support, but that you strengthen the buyers perception that they made the right purchase decision.