Topic: How to wean getaway customers form incentives

Guide Name: Prof Dr Easwar Krishna Iyer

Team Members:

• Abhijit Nidichenametla –FT201003

• Mohit Verma –FT201051
• Ramandeep Singh Bakshi –FT201063

Synopsis
In present day scenario, with the advent of better technology –Internet, Social Media and
multimedia, brands/firms are able to target, reach and capture the attention of their
customers in a much better way. Even the small to medium size firms, or a relatively new
entrant in the market, can challenge the market leader while striving to achieve more market
share for itself. This has ultimately lead to intense competition between firms across all
sectors. This issue of intense competition is further compounded by evolution of better
marketing practices coupled with matured data collection and analysis methodologies. Thus
to increase their market share or maintain it, firms nowadays are indulging in predatory
pricing and aggressive pervasion of incentives to attract more and more customers while
maintaining loyalty among the present ones.

Incentives –discounts, offers, cash-back, bundled free-items etc. – defy economics of a firm,
affect profitability, and are unsustainable in the long run, yet still are the most preferred
options for increasing customer base. These incentives have been boon in some cases while
in other they have been a bane, and have bankrupted multiple firms or adversely impacted
multiple industries. But, it has also been observed that withdrawing incentives also generally
leads to the thinning of customer base. So how can firms intricate themselves out of this
catch-22 situation.

Purpose of this study is to address the issue of weaning the customers away from incentives
by

• Identifying the factors that drive the customers towards incentives –Appeal of
incentives
• Identifying the factors/attributes that can be proposed as an alternative to incentives

At the end of this study, we hope to suggest a way to get out of this quagmire, under the able
guidance of Prof Dr Easwar Krishna Iyer.