Significance of Study:

Being a management student it was very essential for me to have a practical know how of the
industry. Only to have a theoretical knowledge will not give us the solution to the problem which
arises in the industry in the real scenario. There is a certain method for every problem that we
face, but the ultimate aim of this study is to be able to develop the ability of making decision.
Ability to take correct decision at the correct time helps in smooth functioning of the
organization.

This study will give us an insight of all the marketing activities. The practical experience cannot
be compensated but an idea can be developed regarding the same.

With increase in players in the market, the customer has the choice of moving from one player to
other without much thought. In such situations, especially with FMCG sector, customer loyalty is
almost negligible. For a company giving more information to the customer may be advantageous
and dangerous at the same time. With customer awareness increasing, providing more
information may lead the customer to believe the product to be of good quality or not and be a
deciding factor of switching to competitors. But providing more information forms a bond of
transparency with the customer, thus increasing emotional factors such as commitment and trust.
With difference in satisfaction levels of the customer, every customer now needs to be treated
differently. Thus companies are now following a pull model of marketing rather than push
model. This provides the customer with exactly what is required and reduces inventory
requirement of companies. But only providing quality product is not enough. Today business
thrives on after sale services. A customer wants to be appreciated after purchase of products.
Thus customer after sales service could be regarded as a very necessary step in building a
cemented relationship.

With the above examples, the need of customer relationship marketing can be clearly seen. Thus
in further discussion, we try and analyse the major factors for Relationship Marketing.

The various no. of sources were used to analyze the working of product and process matrix.
Different sources mention the types of product & various processes suitable for their
working.
For example, [1] mentions, various technical processes are linked with corresponding
products. Keeping this factor in mind, various models were designed so that a link between
the technology and product life can be defined. One such model is the product process
matrix. In this model, the working of processes & projects concerned are evaluated. The
product-process matrix is a well known sophisticated tool for analyzing the closed
relationship between the product development life cycle and the technological development
life cycle. The PDLC includes 4 stages described earlier. The region involving processes
defines 5 various types of projects including Project, Job Shop, Batch, Assembly line (mass
production) & continuous flow type. These types of processes are given as:
Projects
These are probably the most complicated type of processes. Some authors include this in the
top of Product Process Matrix while some don't. Projects are for large but one time, unique
products including aerospace & ships. Mainly projects are most suited for civil manufactured
products. This process requires huge amount of mechanical work and hence are supposed to
be most time consuming method & very difficult to be moved.

CHAPTER II – Elements of Relationship Marketing in Retail

Introduction
As the view of the organization evolved, it was very evidently seen that apart from just the
employees at the organization, customers should be the main focus. It is that the organizations
realised that if growth was a necessity, it was customer relationship which would lead to it. Thus,
the concept of Relationship Marketing as rightly stated by Mattsson (1997) as the major trend in
marketing practices. This topic has been a favourite in various conferences and discussions, inter
and intra organizations, to try and vow the customer and maintain customer loyalty. But even
with the understanding of the utmost importance of RM concept, it is very disheartening to see
how rarely this concept was applied by practitioners.
A more astounding fact reviled how this concept was accepted without much examination for the
basis for genuinely and quality.
Even with a number of limitations, it is very widely accepted that a relationship can be formed
by any customer, at any point of time, in any situation. This can be applied to any field and any
industry (Barnes & Howlett 1996).
Wit industries such as retailing, were direct customer reach is possible; development of
relationship strategies attracted a very wide interest. The most common facility provided by all
major retailing chains, the store loyalty cards, has been identified as evidence of relation
marketing in retailing. Thus the involvement of retailers in exploiting practices of RM seems like
the next progressive step. As the customer has now become the key focus of the business
industry, thus the more the extent to which the retailer can get closer to the customer, the better
he can be served. This is becoming more important as the businesses are now growing further
back into the distribution lines. It is when the customer comes directly in contact with the
retailer, at the point of supply; the major responsibility is on the shoulders of the retailer, who
interacts with the customer. Thus for the service and retail industry, this is ‘the moment of truth’.
There have been various authors who try and emphasis on the benefits of customer loyalty,
especially to the retail and distribution industry. It can be very clearly seen, that industries with
direct interaction with customer; especially those which are B2C, and dealing with individual
customers at a larger volume; trying to increase customer loyalty through various means pays
off. Other practices such as minimizing mark-downs, streamlined inventory and improved
capacity forecasting provide high beneficial outcomes. Then there are counter arguments which
focus on that application of RM strategies is not universal, thus with products such as FMCG
(high street services); the conditions for a successful RM may not be met.
Thus with both the argument placed, we would try to verify what are the conditions required to
deliver the customer oriented services in retail market ad how RM strategies could be
implemented.

Relationship Economics
Every organization runs with the sole aim (at least ultimately) of profitability, but with the
increase of competitors and products in the market, sustainability has come out to be the more
important issue. Thus today, every organization strives of sustainable profitability.
Thus, much of the interest in RM has been derived from ‘relationship economics’. This principle
runs on two profit driven arguments. Firstly, it is less expensive to retain existing customers than
to find new customers and thus, in the long term, it’s these existing customers which provide
superiors profits. And it is well argued that retention can be increases by simply having effective
relationship programs and increasing customer satisfaction.

Research Methodology:

The purpose of the report is to analyze the market strategy for the launch of Maruti Suzuki Dual
engine car. The data was collected both with the help of secondary data source.

Secondary data was also collected mainly through the company which it has furnished for the
general public. The data was also gathered with the help of various newspapers, magazines,
brochures, journals, and also through the internet. For secondary sources no field work was
employed.

In order to amplify the empirical findings from primary and secondary sources, a survey was
conducted both of consumers and retailers Distributor & Wholesalers in order to gaunche the
market opinion.
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PEST Analysis

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SWOT Analysis

Strength-

1. Early mover advantage: Dual engine (MPFI) would be first launched by Maruti so it will
have an advantage over others

2. A Japanese management practice that has led japan to overcome USA to the status of top
automobile manufacturing firm in the world.

3. A strong promotional strategy is taken by Maruti Suzuki tomake people awre of the
benefit of its product

a. Baleno: “Missed the flight catch Baleno” it is the most comfortable Car even in
longest of drives.

b. Esteem: “My Daddy’s Big Car” it is the Affordable mid segment car

c. Alto: “Lets Go” The fuel efficient and affordable car

d. After Sales Service: “Kya yanha Maruti Service Station hai” The service stations
are available even in the remotest place of India.

4. Recently the company has unveiled the Hybrid car engine and launched it in CWG 2010
of India.
5. Recently company has launched its main CNG engine technology, 'intelligent-Gas Port
Injection' or I-GPI on five popular models. These models include SX4, WagonR, Estilo
and Alto and they are being introduced into the market of Delhi NCR, Mumbai and
Gujrat.With this beginning, the CNG step of the firm will spreads across all entry level
cars, compact cars, sedans and MPV segments.

6. Maruti Suzuki is a relative market leader in automobile sector.

7. One of the main strength of Maruti Suzuki is its largest network of dealers and after sales
service centers spread all across the India.

8. Another major strength of Maruti Suzuki is its Loyal Customer Base. According to the
JD Power survey, Maruti Suzuki has been awarded for consequently 5th year for best
customer satisfaction.
 9. Used Cars: Maruti Suzuki has also stepped into 2nd hand car market with a brand name of
“Maruti True Value”.

Acquisition/Retention costs
For successful relationship marketing practices, the maximum cost comes from personal
selling and direct and indirect cost of information gathering. With advent of RM the more
long term the relationship, the less is the cost on the income. Thus profit increases. One of
the advantages with FMCG retailing is that the cost of acquiring new customer is marginal as
intense personal selling or information database may not be required. This happens because
FMCG customer needs only a few factors such as locations, quality, price range, variety etc.,
to simulate sales. Thus it can be argued that these factors play the important role in retaining
customers also. Other cost such as advertising or marketing communications can be added up
in the customer acquisition cost. Thus the cost of acquisition remain similar if parameters for
promoting the sale of goods for potential customers are similar or the same as those for
existing clients. Thus, if the retailer introduces schemes which would be considered as
appreciation of the customer loyalty, and thus repeat buyers are rewarded, it is possible that
the cost of retention may exceed the cost of acquisition in FMCG sector. Thus it’s a trade off
between costly retention techniques to that of the cost of acquisition. This can be evident in
the loyalty schemes where the validity of the product is highly questionable. To maintain
these schemes, cost is involved, which as some stage results into costlier goods and higher
prices. Thus the only differentiator is the lower prices and loyalty intensivisors. This has been
very common with various retail stores which are swinging between ‘price wars’ and
‘differential advantage’ strategies.
In introduction phase, the product is just been introduced in the market. It is the basic stage
for any product and is like the inception phase where the product is an idea and entered the
market segment. For these types of products, firm earns revenue only from early adopters &
selects process accordingly so that it becomes a leading product. Here the cost is very high as
the firm hasn't made any profit yet. Niche market and huge innovations are typical examples
of such products. Therefore the competition does not exists. In other words – introduction is
the phase where there is only 1 product of its kind. Standardization is negligible.
The product achieves popularity slowly in its growth stage. Then its journey to be a leader
and attack a particular customer segment begins. The company needs to take appropriate care
about its production process & if required update its technological background otherwise the
product will start declining. Here, competition also increases side by side and the price of the
product needs to be set accordingly. If production technology not upgraded continuously, the
profits decrease. Therefore this is a stage of caution. In other words, multiple products strike
the market but the volume is low.
The manufactured product remains the leading brand in its maturity stage. This can be
achieved by a number of factors: Detailed proper analysis of customer & demand behavior &
selecting the right way of developing the product. Now, this is potentially the last stage of
development as product starts losing afterwards. In this stage, competition increases leading
to huge variety and very large volume. Standardization is very huge for this stage.
The product is forced to exit during decline stage as a better variant had struck the market
leading to tremendous loss of market shares. For example, use of cell phones reduced the use
of landline connections. This stage is called as saturation phase also. Because of negligible
demand, the firm is forced to discontinue the production of the losing product. Just as its
name implies – in this stage, competition is far more than what current product can bear with
huge volume & extremely high standardization. Mostly happens in commodity based products.