SHRI RAMSWAROOP MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY

LUCKNOW-DEVA ROAD, UTTAR PRADESH

SUMMER TRAINING REPORT

ON
“Consumer Buying Behavior of The Times Of India ”

OF
MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
TO
SHRI RAMSWAROOP MEMORIAL UNVERSITY
2022-23

Under Guidance of: Submitted by:

Prof. (Dr). Ajay Prakash Akhilesh Chaurasiya
Director IMCE 202110702010003
SRMU, Lucknow.
i
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude and deep regards to Prof (Dr.) Ajay
Prakash Sir for his exemplary guidance, monitoring and constant encouragement throughout
the course of this project. The blessings, help and guidance given by her time to time shall
carry me a long way in the journey of life on which I am about to embark.

I also take this opportunity to express a deep sense of gratitude to Mr. .Prashant, Sales
Manager, The Times Of India for his cordial support, valuable information and guidance,
which helped me in completing this task through various stages.

I am also obliged to staff members of The Times Of India for the valuable information
provided by them in their respective fields. I am grateful for their cooperation during the
period of my summer training.

Finally, I am thankful to almighty, my parents, brothers, sisters and friends for their
consistent encouragement without which this project would have not been completed.

Akhilesh Chaurasiya

i
 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

(To be filled in by the student in his / her handwriting)

I_____________________________________ Roll No __________________of, a fulltime bonafide

student of first year of Master of Business Administration (MBA) of ShriRamswaroop Memorial
University. I hereby certify that for this project work carried out by me
at_________________________________________________ the report submitted in partial
fulfillment of the requirements of the programme is an original work of mine carried out under the guidance
of the industry mentor
___________________________________________________________________and
facultymentor_______________________________________________________and is not based or
reproduced from any existing work of any other person or on any earlier work undertaken at any other time
or for any other purpose, and has not been submitted anywhere else at any time to the best of my knowledge.

(Student's Signature)

Date:

i
 INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, COMMERCE& ECONOMICS SRMU

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the project entitled “……………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………”

submitted by ………………………….……………… [Univ.Roll No. ….…………..……] and in the

partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of theDEGREE OF MASTER OF BUSINESS
ADMINISTRATIONof SHRI RAMSWAROOP MEMORIAL UNIVERSITYto the best of my knowledge
it is a record of student’s own work carried under our supervision and guidance. The project report embodies
result of original work and the study carried out by the student and the contents do not form the basis for
the award of any other degree to the candidate or to anybody else.

(Project Guide)

i
 INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, COMMERCE& ECONOMICS SRMU

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the project entitled

“……………………………………………………..................................................................................

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………....”

submitted by me in the partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Master of

Business Administration of Shri Ramswaroop Memorial University, is a record of my own work carried

under the supervision and guidance of …………Prof.Dr. Ajay Prakash ……………….........

To the best of my knowledge this project has not been submitted to SHRI RAMSWAROOP MEMORIAL

UNIVERSITY or any other University or Institute for the award of any degree.

Name……………………………….

University Roll. No…………………….

i
TABLE OF CONTENT

CERTIFICATE
DECLARATION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
PREFACE

1 INTRODUCTION
2 COMPANY PROFILE
3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
4 ORGANIZATION
STRUCTURE
5 FUNCTIONAL DEPARTMENT
6 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
7 LIMITATION
8 DATA ANALYSIS
9 FINDING
10 RECOMMENDATION
11 CONCLUSION
12 BIBLIOGRAPHY
13 ANNEXURE

2
Introduction

3
INTRODUCTION

Consumer behavior is the study of

individuals, groups, or organizations and all
the activities associated with
the purchase, use and disposal of goods and
services. Consumer behavior consists of how
the consumer's emotions, attitudes,
and preferences affect buying behavior.

The study of consumer behavior formally

investigates individual qualities such
as demographics, personality lifestyles, and
behavioural variables (such as usage rates, usage
occasion, loyalty, brand advocacy, and willingness
to provide referrals), in an attempt to understand
people's wants and consumption patterns.

Consumer behaviour also investigates on the

influences on the consumer, from social groups such
as family, friends, sports, and reference groups, to
society in general (brand-influencers, opinion
leaders).

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Print Media is one of the most powerful and cost effective
medium to transfer information and knowledge .The print
media industry in India is more than century old. Also it is
a well established industry.

This industry mainly comprises of publishing newspapers

and newspaper. India has the second largest population
and one of the fastest growing economies in the world.
Along with these the increasing level of people and the
robust competition in this industry help print media in its
growth.

Producers are increasing day by day, new entrants from

out side India is also a factor of tough competition. Indian
readers prefer hindi newspaper rather than English

newspaper.

In the case of Times group also the readership of hindi

femina is higher as comperead to English newspaper.

Ernst and Young sad in their survey report “Indain

magazine segment: Navigating new growth avenues”, it
has been sad that out of the 20 most read newspaper in

India, only 3 newspaperare in English, while the

remaining are HINDI and other regional language.

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This survey also sad that more than 300 million literate
donot read any publication. According to ArcGate, the
dramatic effects of the internet and globalization in current
scenario are playing high impact on media industry.

Even people are now consuming news and information

from internet through computers and mobiles, the
popularity of print media is not decreasing.

To avoid declining of market share in front of other media

the producer must able to produce high quality printed
content and newspaper. They also need to make the
contents available on mobile and web platforms to provide
its subscribers to explore the contents any time anywhere.
Dr. Saukt Ali, in his paper “ a study of consumer behavior
and loyalty in print media and challenges and strategic
prescription with special reference to English and hindi
.News Paper readers-Mumbai", says developing customer
loyalty & retaining readership can be a huge challenge for
the publishers. There are huge options available to readers
now.

Therefore publishers are busy to create something very

special and innovative in contents or subscription schemes
to impress upon the readers. They should address the
needs and demand of consumer to strengthen their loyalty
and readership.

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The revenue of Newspaper consists of subscription sales,
trade sales and mainly from advertising. More than 70% of
the total revenue comes from advertising.

The Times of India Group, being the market leader in the

industry is also stepping with the current growth and
development of the demography, World Wide Media, a
subsidiary of TOI Group is producing high quality
newspaper in India and worldwide But still they are
facing some problems. They are losing subscribers. By
having an opportunity to be a part of the group, by acting
as an summer intern, this research has been done with the
objectives, To explore the customer demand in terms of
price, Quality and Services.

To find out the reasons for discontinuing subscriptions

What drives a customer to adopt a product? His demand
and needs.

The product must be able to fulfill the needs and wants of

the customer When a product has less demand in
comparison with other products? Thus what a customer a
wants? This study is mainly to explore the customers'
demand for the newspaper of TOIin terms of price,
quality and services We can say, to explore what customer
wants from the publisher and what publisher gives to the

7
customer. It is also being taken to find out the lacks behind
fulfilling the demand.

"Marketing is a social and managerial process by which

individuals and groups obtain what they need and want,
through creating, offering and exchanging products of
value with others".

Philip Kotler

Marketing includes all those activities having to do with

effecting changes in the ownership and possession of
goods and services. It is that part of economics which
deals with the creation of time, place and possession
utilities and that phase of business activity through which
human wants are satisfied, by the exchange of goods and
services for some valuable consideration.

American Marketing Association

Marketing is the process of discovering and translating

consumer wants into product and service specifications
and then in turn helping to make it possible for more and
more of consumers to enjoy more and more of these
products and services

Marketing consists of analyzing marketing opportunities,

researching and selecting target markets, designing
marketing strategies, planning marketing Programs

8
and organizing. implementing and controlling marketing
effort.

Companies have to identify long and short term marketing

opportunities and research the selected market by
measuring and forecasting attractiveness of the given
market. Having selected the market, the companies need to
develop a differentiating and positioning strategy for the
target market. The marketing strategy must be transformed
into marketingprograms by deciding on marketing
expenditures and the marketing mix. The final step is
organizing the marketing resources and implementing and
controlling the marketing plan

Marketing Mix

Marketing mix is the set of marketing tools that a firm uses

to pursue its marketing objectives in the target market.
McCarthy has popularized a four factor classification of
marketing tools known as the

4P's of the marketing mix. They are:

(1) Product
(2) Price
(3) Place

(4)Promotion

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Product:

Product stands for the firm's tangible offer to the market,

including the product quality, design, features, branding
and packing. It deals with new product development,
product life cycle, product mix, product lines, branding
and associated services to a product. From the customer's
point of view, it helps in satisfying the customer's needs
and wants.

Price:

Price is the monetary value of the product Price deals with

selecting the pricing objectives, setting the price,
discounts, allowances, payment policies and credit terms.
Itis very important to the customers as it decides the cost
the customer has to pay to gain the product value.

Place:

This marketing tool stands for the various activities the

company undertakes to make the product accessible and
available to the customer. It involves market size, channel
selection and management, storage and physical
distribution with the ultimate purpose of efficiently
supplying the company's offer to the target market. To the
customer, this marketing tool refers to convenience

10
Promotion:

Promotion stands for various activities the company

undertakes to communicate and promote its products to the
target market. It involves communication programs ie
direct marketing, advertising, sales promotions, public
relations and motivation of sales force To the customer
this tool provides knowledge and information.

The Promotion Mix of a company includes the

following tools;

Advertising:

It is any paid form of non-personal presentation and

promotion of ideas, goods or services by an identified
sponsor.

Direct Marketing:

It refers to the use of mail, telephone and other non-

personal contact tools to communicate with or solicit a
response from specific customers and prospects.

Personal Selling:

Face to face interaction with one or more prospective

purchasers for the purpose of making a sale refers to
personal selling.

11
Public Relations and Publicity:

It refers to the variety of programs designed to promote

and or protect a company" image or its individual
products.

Sales Promotions:

The short-term incentive to encourage trial or purchase of

a product or service refers to sales promotion. Whereas
advertising offers a reason to buy, sales promotion offers
un incentive to buy. Since sales promotion directly push
up the sales, increasing number of companies are
undertaking sales promotion activities

Sales Promotion:

Sales promotion refers to the short-term incentives to

encourage sales of a product or service. It consists of a
diverse collection of incentive tools, mostly short-term,
designed to stimulate quicker and greater purchase of
products or services by consumers.

Purpose of Sales Promotion:

Sales promotion tools vary in their specific objectives.

They may be used to attract now customers, to reward
loyal customers and to increase the repurchase rates of
occasional users. Sales promotion usually targets brand

12
switchers because non-users and users of other brands do
not always notice a promotion. Sales promotions are thus
also seen as a tool for breaking down loyalty to other
products. Sales promotions also let manufacturers adjust to
short term changes in supply and demand and differences
in customer segments. They also let manufacturers to
experiment by varying prices. Sales promotions also lead
to greater consumer awareness of prices.

To use sales promotion, a company must set objectives,

select the right tools, develop thebest program and
implement it and evaluate the results.

Objectives of Sales Promotion

The specific objectives set for sales promotions will vary
with the type of the target market. For consumer
promotions, objectives include encouraging purchasing of
larger sized units, building trial among non-users and
attracting switchers away from the competitor's brands.

For trade promotions, objectives may include, including

retailers to carry new items and higher level of inventory,
encouraging off-seasonal buying, of setting competitive
promotions, building brand loyalty of retailers and gaining
entry into new retail outlets. The sales force promotions
help in encouraging support a product or model,

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encouraging more prospecting and stimulating off-
seasonal sales. But most importantly, sales promotion
should be focused on consumer relationship building

Sales Promotion Tools

Many tools can be used to accomplish sales promotion

objectives. Descriptions of the main promotional tools are
as follows,

Consumer Promotion Tools

The main consumer promotion tools are as follows

• Samples:

They are offers of a trial amount of a product. It consists of

inviting prospective purchases to try the product without
cost or at a lower cost in the hope that they will buy the
product. Samples may be free or discounted

Coupons:

Coupons are certificates that give buyers a saving when

they purchase a specified product. Coupons can be mailed,
placed in advertisements or included with other product

Rebates:

Rebate is also known as cash refund offers. Rebates are

offers to refund part of the purchase price of a produce to
its customers who send a proof of purchase to the
manufacturer. These are like coupons except that the price
reduction occurs after the purchase and not at the point of
sale.

14
Price Packs:

Cents off deals or prise packs offer consumer savings by

way of reducing prices that are marked by the producer
directly on the package.

Premiums:

These are goods offerd either free or at a low cost as an

incentives to buy a product. Premium may be in pack or on
pack (outsides the pack).

Prizes:

They are offers of chance to win something such as cash,

trips or goods - by luck or through extra efforts contents of
talent and sweepstakes or draws the most popular prizes
offering promotions.

Tie-in Promotions:

Tie-in promotions involve two or more brands or

companies that team up on coupons, refunds or contests to
increase their pulling powers.

Cross Promotions:

Cross promotions involve using one brand to advertise

non-competing brand

15
Advertising Specilaties:

These are useful articles imprinted with an advertiser's

name, given as gifts to consumers.

Partronage Rewards:

They are cash or other awards for the regular use of

company's products or services. They are values (in cash
otherwise) that are proportional to one's patronage of a
certain vendor or a group of vendors. They aim at building
brand loyalty.

POP Promotions:

Point of purchase (POP) includes displays and

demonstrations that take place at the point of purchase or
sale.

Trade Promotion Tools

More money is spent by companies on trade promotion (58%)

than on consumer promotions (42%). The major trade promotion
tools are as follows:

Discounts:
It is also known as price-off or off-invoice or off-list. Discounts
price cut off the list price on a particular quantity purchased
during a stated time.

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Allowances:
They are the amount offered in return for an agreement by the
retailer to feature the manufacturer's products in some way;
displays, advertising or otherwise.

Free Goods:
Free goods are the extra merchandise offered to middle men who
buy a specific amount of a product.

Companies also offer push money and specialty advertising items

to the middle men

Business Promotion Tools

Companies spend huge amount on promotions focused on
industrial consumers. The major business promotion tools
are as follows,

 Trade Shows and Conventions.

 Sales Contests.

Clearly, sales promotions play an important role in

the total promotion mix. To use it well, the marketer
must define the sales promotion objective, select the
best tools, design the sales promotion program,
pretest and implement the program and evaluate its
results.

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The importance of consumer sales promotion in the
marketing mix of the soft drink category throughout the
world has increased. Companies spend considerable time
in planning such activities.

However, in order to enhance the effectiveness of these

activities, manufacturers should understand consumer and
retailer interpretations of their promotional activities.

The study here pertains to consumer's perceptions

regarding sales promotion. Some past researches have
suggested that promotion itself has an effect on the
perceived value of the brand.

This is because promotions provide utilitarian benefits

such as monetary savings, added value, increased quality
and convenience as well as hedonic benefits such as
entertainment, exploration and self-expression.

Broadly speaking most of the companies using Marketing

Mix which includes...

 Place (Channel of Distribution)

 Product

 Promotion

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  Price

These are the four basic pillar of marketing mix. Most of the
marketing strategies arebuilt on the basis of these criteria.

Promotion is one of the important elements of marketing

mix. There are elements of promotion such as…..

Advertising

Direct Marketing

Public Relations

Sales Promotion

Traditionally, sales Promotions have been used by marketer

to increase sales in the short term. However, in the last few
decades this communication tool has evolved and now is
considered from a strategic point of view. For this reason, it
is necessary to realize new

studies in this area and study how consumers evaluate sales

promotions. Sales promotions have grown in both
importance and frequency over the past few decades.
Although an accurate estimate for total sales promotions

19
expenditures does notexist, we can be sure that the trend is
up.

Sales promotion serves three essential roles: It informs.

persuades and reminds prospective customers about a
company and its products. Even the most useful product or
brand will be a failure if no one knows that it is available.
As we know, channels of distribution take more time in
creating awareness because a product has to pass through
many hands between a producer and consumers.

Therefore, a producer has to inform channel members as

well as ultimate consumers about the attributes and
availability of his products. The second purpose of
promotion is persuasion:

The cut throat competition among different products puts

tremendous pressure on their manufacturers and they are
compelled to undertake sales promotion activities. The third
purpose of promotion is reminding consumers about
products availability and its potential to satisfy their needs.

From these elements Sales Promotion is the element which

is in the focus of this project. Further Sales Promotion is
quite broad term it includes....

 Consumer Oriented Sales Promotion

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COMPANY
PROFILE.

21
 Company Profile
Type Daily Newspaper

Owner Bennett, Coleman and co. Ltd

Publisher The Times of Group

Headquarters Mumbai

Circulation 27,16,291

The Times Of India(TOI) is owned and published by The

Times Group also referred as Bennett, Coleman and Co.
Ltd. It is one of the largest circulating and selling
Newspaper in India. Its first edition is published on 3
November 1838 and it almost cross 179 years.

The first edition is published under the name of The

Bombay Times and The Journal of Commerce. At 1861 the
editor Robert knight and he merged the company with

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Bombay Standard and Started India's First News agency.
After that he changed the name Bombay Times and
Standard to The Times Of India.

In 1892 Thomas Jewell Bennett becomes the editor and

enter intopartnership with F.M. Coleman to form a Joint
Stock company and Named it as B.C.C.L - Bennett, Coleman
and Co. Ltd. In 1946 the company comes under the Indian
Ownership. In 1948 the company was brought by Sahu Jain
Group.

It became the most widely read English newspaper in India.

In 1969 TOI falls under the control of Government of India.
Again in 1976 the ownership is transferred from
government to the Jain Family.

The TOI is the largest media service conglomerate in India.

The Times of India Film Awards (also known as TOIFA
Awards) are presented by The Times of India to honor both
artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the
Hindi language film industry of India.

The Times of India offers the very best in color printing.

Seven presses belonging to Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd - Six
of TOI and one of Maharashtra Times -— have won the

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prestigious International Newspaper Color Quality Club
(INCQC) award given by WANIFRA, the World Association
of Newspapers and News Publishers.

All seven BCCL presses that participated in INCQC, the only

global competition that evaluates the print quality of
newspapers, have been ranked among the top 10 in
category four.

While TOI's Chennai, Delhi and Hyderabad presses have

won the first three positions. IFRA is the gold standard in
newspaper printing.

The awards were first introduced in 2013. The Times of

India is the largest selling daily newspaper in the world. It
sells more than 2.5 million newspapers everyday and thus
it was certified by the Audit Bureau of Circulations as the
world's largest selling English broadsheet newspaper. The
times of India comes out with various supplements, which
are mentioned below.

 Chennai times :

This is a city specific daily supplement which tells about the

happening within the city,

 Educational Times:

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  This is a weekly supplement which brings in

educational news, career opportunities, counseling,

etc..
 Times Wellness:

This is a weekly supplement which gives health tips to the

readers.

 Times Ascent: This is a weekly supplement which

tells about the job opportunities in various corporate

 Times Life:
This is also a weekly supplement which deals about
fashion, lifestyle, etc.
 Times Classified:

This is a weekend supplement which carries

advertisements about .various products. The Times of India
is printed from the following places (in alphabetical order):

➢ Ahmadabad

➢ Bhubaneswar

➢ Bangalore

➢ Chandigarh

➢ Chennai

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➢ Delhi

➢ Goa

➢ Hyderabad

➢ Jaipur

➢ Kanpur

➢ Kolkata

➢ Lucknow

➢ Mangalore

➢ Mumbai

➢ Mysore

➢ Nagpur

➢ Patna

➢ Pune

➢ Ranchi

➢ Surat

Its major brands include:

• The Times of India, India’s largest English daily.

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• The Economic Times, India’s largest financial daily, and
the world’s second largest after The Wall Street Journal.

• Maharashtra Times, India’s largest Marathi daily and

Maharashtra’s No.1 Newspaper.

 Navbharat Times, the largest Hindi Daily in Delhi and

Bombay.
 Mumbai Mirror India’s largest circulated compact
newspaper.

• Pune Mirror.

 Bangalore Mirror, Bangalore first morning

compact daily.
 The Times of India - Kannada.

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Type Private

Headquarters Mumbai

Industry Broadcasting, Publishing, Media, internet, & Entertainment

Products Newspaper, magazines, Filims, Televisions &Websites Etc..

Revenues 9,976 crore

Employees 11,000

Key members:

➢ Chairperson- Mr. Dighambar jain

➢ Vice Chairperson- Mr. Samir Jain

➢ Managing Director- Mr. Vineet Jain

Times Group’s subsidiary companies include:

Times Infotainment Media Limited (TIML) & Entertainment

Network India Limited (ENIL) that together control:

• Radio Mirchi - National network of Private FM stations.

• 360 Degrees - Event Management.

• Times Outdoors - Outdoor Advertising & Billboard

Marketing.

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• Mirchi Movies Limited - Movie production,
Entertainment.

Times Internet Limited (TIL), which has:

• India times portal

• Times of Money –

an online payments portal specializing in remitting money

to India and other parts of the world.

Times Global Broadcasting Limited - This was a Joint

Venture with Reuters untilReuters exited. The company
heads:

• Times Now - A News Channel

• Zoom - A Lifestyle Channel

• A new business channel which is the broadcast version

of Economic Times is planned to be launched early in 2009.

Times Business Solutions controls:

• TBSL - corporate website of TBSL.

• Times Jobs - A jobs portal.

• Simply Marry - A matrimonial portal. (earlier known as

Times Matrimony).

• Magic Bricks - A real estate portal.

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• Yolist - Free classifieds portal.

• Ads2Book - Online classifieds booking system for print

publications.

World Wide Media –

• Film fare

• Film fare Awards

• Femina

• Femina Miss India A Beauty Pageant

• Top Gear India

• Hello

• BBC Good Homes

TIML Golden Square Limited

which purchased Virgin Radio (soon to be called Absolute

Radio) in the United Kingdom. This company is a direct
subsidiary of BCCL (not through TIML or ENIL).

OTHER PRODUCTS OFFERD BY THE GROUP:

• THE ECONOMIC TIMES –

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Daily business newspaper, world’s 2nd largest selling
financial daily.

• FILMFARE –

India’s No.1 entertainment magazine, which is issued

fortnightly. This magazine covers news about the film
industry and exclusive interviews with various stars.

• FEMINA –

India’s No.1 women’s magazine, which talks about the

things that matter a lot to a women like lifestyle, fashion,
travel, food, entertainment, etc.

• HELLO –

Worlds most loved celebrity magazine, which brings in

exclusive news about corporate giants closed door parties,
etc..

• TOP GEAR –

Automotive and lifestyle magazine.

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• GRAZIA –

Europe’s No.1 style magazine, deals with latest fashions

and trends.

• THE ECONOMIST –

weekly finance news magazine focusing on international

politics, business news and opinions.

• GOOD HOMES –

BBC Good homes is a unique blend of design, creativity and

substances. It talks about interior designing, shopping
options, etc. The Times Group is the largest media services
in India. It reaches out from:

• 11 publishing centers

• 15 printing centers

• 55 sales offices

• Over 7000 employees

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• 5 dailies including two of the largest in the country with
approx 4.3 million copies circulated daily

• 2 lead magazines

• 29 niche magazines

• Reaching 2468 cities and towns

• 32 Radio Stations

33
STRUCTURE OF THE
ORGANISATION.

34
35
36
37
38
.

FUNCTIONAL
DEPARTMENTS

39
THE BUSINESS & COMMERCIAL DEPARTMENT

This department handles the supply management for the BCCL.

Supply management suggest the expertise in identifying,
monitoring and improving the performance of responsible and
responsive external resources of an organization. It also help to
lower the cost without losing Quality and supply. It is also
responsible for any contract and agreement signed on behalf of the
company.

THE FINANCE DEPARTMENT:

Finance department handles the overall finance of the company.

The services provided by the department include

➢ Processing and disbursing of salary and Reimbursements

➢ Issuing of pay slip

➢ Tax worksheet through email

➢ Travel expense statement processing and settlement

➢ Salary are distributed 2days before the last working day of every
month.

➢ Processing/Distributing of salary in advance

➢ loans

➢ Travel advance and their settlement

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➢ Handling and dispensing of PF

➢ Income tax, ESIC, Professional Tax, LIC, Labor Welfare Board

etc....

THE PRODUCTION

The production department handles the actual creation composition

and production of the newspaper. It has been divided into Two
Major categories

➢ Pre-Press

➢ press

PRE-PRESS:

This part handles the function that are involved in the creation
process of the Newspaper. All Process of designing, writing,
arranging of news, articles right up to the point where the final
template reaches the press. PRESS: As the name states, the actual
process of printing of the newspaper in the press is referred to as
the press part of production.

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THE PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT

THE PRODUCTION PROCESS FLOWCHART

NEWS GATHERING → EDITORIAL SUBBING → COMPOSING

CAMERA-VE → PASTING → PROOF&CORRECT

RETOUCHING → PLATE+VE → PRINTING

DISPATCH → BUNDLING

THE RESULT& MARKET DEVELOPMENT

The RMD Department, usually knows as the Circulation

department. It handles the delivery of newspaper and the
newspaper to the customer via various channels of vendors,
dealers and salesmen.

42
RESULT & MARKET
DEVELOPMENT DEPT.
There are 3 types of sales are

➢ Trade Sales

➢ Bulk Sales

➢ Subscription Sales Trade Sales;

➢ Line sales

➢ cash sales Bulk sales

➢ Here a substantial number of copies delivered to single

location/address it is referred to as a bulk sales Subscription Sales

➢ When a period of at least one year is applied for it. per annum
cost Rs.499

THE RESPONCE DEPARTMENT

It handles the sale of advertisement space on the newspaper

.Brand, companies or individual can apply for purchase of an ADD
space on the newspaper charged on the basis of location on
newspaper, the size of the space and number of prints. Some of
these Adds are sold by the people know as Inbound Telemarketers

43
THE HUMAN RESOURCE DEPARTMENT HRM

Dept handles, maintains, retains, develops, enhances and manages

the resources people have. Management is to extract the maximum
output from the limited supply of Human recourses. The main
objective of HR is To develop a Culture of perpetual learning with
respect to Human Dignity.

THE EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT

It handles the Content of newspaper. This department is

responsible for pretty much everything that appears in your
publication. A collection of reporters, journalist, writers, sub

44
Porters Five
Forces Model.

45
PORTER FIVE FORCES

 Rivalry in the industry

 Power of suppliers

 Power of customers

 Threats of new entrants

 Threat of substitutes goods

1. BARGAINING POWER OF BUYERS

➢ Importance of Buyers and Size of Each Order:

Newspaper Company –

➢ Vendor is a first customer

➢ Readers are second customer. Vendor have fix commission with

company so they do not have bargaining power of buyer in their hand.
Organization has bargaining power in their hand

➢ Switching Cost and Price Sensitivity:

The individual does not have bargaining power in his hands but
organization has. Even vendor also playing major role, If they get more
commission from other newspaper they are going to those newspaper.
➢ Differentiations Of Product:

Every newspaper companies are different from each others, like “The
Times of India” is a premium brand one who started as a firs t E ng lish

46
 new s paper in India, friendly nature with thecus tom ers and takes
opinion from customers.

2. COMPETATIVE RIVALRY AMONG FIRMS

➢ Switching cost:- Switching cost of one English newspaper to

another newspaper is very low so people can easily switch over from
one company to another.

➢ Exit Barrier:- There is a free exit in this industry.

➢ Customer Loyalty:- Every company wants to make loyal customer

to their company and even in TOI is pioneer in gaining customer
loyalty.

3. THREAT OF SUBSTITUTES

➢ Substitutes Performance:-

Substitutes of the newspaper industry are magazines, T.V, Radio,

internet because of improvement in Technology. All new media or E-
Media formats deliver the news faster than Printed Newspaper.

➢ Price Performance Alternatives:-

Getting new from Internet or T.V or Radio at free cost or lower cost
than Newspaper.

➢ Buyers Psyche Towards the Product:-

Buyers may think that there don't have much time to read newspaper or
getting the same news at internet even there think it was just fill their
space by any ordinary news only.

4. BARGAINING POWER OF SUPPLIER

47
➢ Size Of Supplier:-

Main supplier of this industry is paper manufacture companies. Most of

the newspaper companies of India are customers of USA paper companies.
But there are limited companies that make news paper for Newspaper
company, so the rates are not competitive.

➢ Importance of buyer to Supplier:-

Every supplier company wants to make close relationship with buyers who
are regular customer of their product. If newspaper company is giving
large order regularly they will make good relationship with them and will
do less bargaining.

➢ Extension of Substitute of product:-

As there was improvement in Technology in day to day this become a

major threat for Newspaper Industry.

5. THREATS OF NEW ENTRY

➢ Economic Of Scale:-

If any new firm wants to enter in this market then they need high
investment or more capital and maximum support from advertisers. To
achieve economic of scale they need Maximum number of readers.

48
SWOT ANALYSIS.

49
STRENGTHS:-

➢ Oldest newspaper

➢ Big brand and reputation in the minds of customer

➢ Invitational prices

➢ Launches good campaign

➢ Good Support from Times Group

➢ World class Printing Machine

➢ Widely Available

➢ Good coverage for business and Political event

➢ Bombay Times, Delhi Times etc has a glamorous daily that is

useful for news about movies, glamour, fashion

WEAKNESSES:-

➢ Late Circulation in Small Cities

➢ Improper supply

➢ Some people have the perception that TOI publishing more

celebrity/entertainment news

50
➢ Tough competition means limited scope for increasing market
share

➢ Less Information about Stock market OPPORTUNITY

➢ Literacy rate increases day by day

➢ People focus more on career, education etc..,

➢ Can focus on Global event for strengthen brand

➢ Focus more on south India

➢ Huge opportunity in Regional Languages space

THREATS:-

➢ Dealer

➢ Increased competition from other dailies

➢ On line news medium means reduced circulation

➢ People are getting knowledge from Internet or T.V or Radio

AREA OF WORKS :-

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

 CELL METRICS

 SMS INTERACTION

51
 CLICK TO CALL

 SELF CARE

 CALL LOGS

 RECORDINGS FILES

 FAX SENDING

 CALL POPUPS

Is an approach to manage a company's interaction

with current and potential customers. It uses data
analysis about customers' history with a company to
improve business relationships with customers,
specifically focusing on customer retention and
ultimately driving sales growth. When people talk
about CRM, they are usually referring to a CRM
system, a tool that helps with contact management,
sales management, productivity, and more. A CRM
solution helps you focus on your organization’s
relationships with individual people — including
customers, service users, colleagues, or suppliers —
throughout your lifecycle with them, including finding
new customers, winning their business, and providing
support and additional services throughout the
relationship. A CRM system gives everyone — from
sales, customer service, business development,
recruiting, marketing, or any other line of business —

52
 a better way to manage the external interactions and
relationships that drive success. A CRM tool lets you
store customer and prospect contact information,
identify sales opportunities, record service issues, and
manage marketing campaigns, all in one central
location — and make information about every
customer interaction available to anyone at your
company who might need it.

Common features of CRM software include:-

➢ Marketing automation

➢ Sales force automation

➢ Contact center automation

➢ Geo-location technology, or location-based

services

A CLOUD-BASED CRM PLATFORM OFFERS YOU:

➢ Faster deployment

➢ Automatic software updates

➢ Cost-effectiveness and scalability

➢ The ability to work from anywhere, on any device

53
➢ Increased collaboration It started with the introduction of the
company and goes on how the product has been distributed from
producer to the consumer

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
As a part of the Summer Internship Program we have been
assigned to book subscriptions for the Newspaper published by
and sold and distributed by Times Of India and also to collect
renewal from the expired subscribers.

Problem definition: What are the various aspects in which World

Wide Media is lacking behind in fulfilling the customers demand?

Research methodology:

This Exploratory research has been conducted through primary

data. The data will be

qualitative as well as quantitative. The data has been collected

through personal

interview, door to door visit and telephonic interview.

• Geographical location:
The geographical location taken for the purpose of data collection
and the research in Gomti Nagar Lucknow.

Sample size:

The sample size for collecting primary data 150 respondents. The
sampling will be done through Random Technique.

54
 Data collection method: The data has been collected
through personal interview , door to door visit and
telephonic interview.
 Target Group: The respondents consists of existing
subscribers, discontinued subscribers and non-
readers.

55
Limitations

The field work for the purpose of research

was limited to some part of the Lucknow
city only. Therefore, it may not represent
the overall consumers as perceptions of
the consumers may vary place to place due
to demographic factors.

The sample size is 180.

Responses from door to door market

survey does not guaranty a proper
feedback because people usually do not
give their time to stranger they reply in
very bad manner during newspaper
survey.

Data can not be 100 percent perfect. There

are always chances of minor error.

56
Data Analysis
Questions 1: Table showing respondents and non-respondents?

Factor Frequency Percentage Cumulative

Frequency
Respondents 154 86 154
Non 26 14 180
Respondents
Total 180 100

200
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Respondents Non Respondents Total

Frequency Percentage Current Frequency

INTERPRETATION

During this project period of internship, I approached 180 people

for making questionnaire and in during that I also did work for my
project. There were 156 people who responded to my questions and
26 people simply didn't bother to answer any of my question.

57
Questions 2: Table showing how many people read newspaper
at what frequency ?

Factor Frequency Percentage Cumulative

Frequency
Regularly 80 54 80
Never 24 13 104
Sometimes 50 33 154
Total 154 100

160

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
YES No Sometimes Total

Frequency Percentage Cumulative Frequency

INTERPRETATION

This table clearly shows that approximately 54% of the people read
newspaper daily.

So, during this survey I understood that the number of readers is

very less in Gomti Nagar Lucknow.

58
Questions 2: Table showing reader occupation?

Factor Frequency Percentage Cumulative

Frequency
Service 42 54 42
Businessman 38 13 80
Students 50 33 130
Total 150 100

160
140
120
100
80
60 Cumulative Frequency
40 Percentage
20
Frequency
0
Sevice Businessman Students Total

Frequency Percentage Cumulative Frequency

INTERPRETATION

During this project I survey among 180 people, and out of 180, 130
respondent read newspaper and within this 32% people are
Serviceman, 29% are Business people and 39% are professional
students.

59
Questions 3: Table showing result of reader choice between
general and finance newspaper?

Factor Frequency Percentage Cumulative

Frequency
General 80 62 80
Finance 15 11 85
Both 35 27 125
Total 130 100

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
General Newspaper Finance Newspaper Both Total

Frequency Percentage Cumulative Frequency

INTERPRETATION

Here the table clearly shows that the percentage of

financial paper readers are very less than general
newspaper readers. So in gomti nagar , it is quite difficult
to find financial paper readers and convert them into
business line.

60
Questions 4: Table showing mode of reading newspaper?

Factor Frequency Percentage Cumulative

Frequency
Physical 74 57 74
Online 13 10 87
Mobile 18 14 105
More Than one 25 19 130

Total 130 100

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
Physical online mobile more than one Total

Frequency Percentage cumulative Frequency

INTERPRETATION It is evident from the table that physical

mode of reading newspaper is the most preferred mode. While
doing the survey I found out that people who are always on the
move, prefer reading news on their laptop and mobile because of
convenience of the electronic format. Mobile apps for reading
news are quite very popular among the students of B-schools and
professionals, as it is free and very convenient So, it is evident that
with the advent on new technology people are adopting different
modes for reading the news and are a threat to the physical or the
hard copy version.

61
Questions 5: Table showing mode of getting newspaper
subscriptions?

Factor Frequency Percentage Cumulative

Frequency
Monthly 82 63 82
payment
Subscriptions 48 37 130
basis
Total 130 100

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
Monthly payment Subscriptions basis Total

Frequency Percentage Cumulative Frequency

INTERPRETATION

We can understand that out of 130 responders, there are 48

responders who are taking their newspaper on subscription basis
and 82 responders are taking on monthly payment basis. Because
there are so many responders who are saying that they don't trust
the subscription facility, due to unavailability of the paper for those
specific subscription period.

62
Questions 6: Table shows whether people read TOI newspaper?

Factor Frequency Percentage Cumulative

Frequency
Yes 29 22 29
No 43 33 72
Sometimes 58 45 130
Total 130 100

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
Yes No Sometimes Total

Frequency Percentage Cumulative Frequency

INTERPRETATION

This Table clearly shows that approximately 22% of the people

read TOI newspaper. In daily basis and 45% people read
sometimes. This is the actual scenario of readers of newspaper.

63
Questions 7: Table showing mode of readership of different
newspaper?

Factor Frequency Percentage Cumulative

Frequency
HINDU 19 15 19
The Times Of 45 35 64
India
Navbharat 15 11 79
Times
Bussiness 24 18 103
Standard
Dainik Jagran 27 21 130
Total 130 100

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
HINDU TOI ET BS FE Total

Frequency Percentage Cumulative Frequency

INTERPRETATION This TABLE clearly shows that TOI is

the most reader in the LOCALITY of Gomti Nagar. This clearly
convince that the readership of TOI is highest in Lucknow Gomti
Nagar and Economics Times,FE and BS is a very close competitors

64
Questions 8: Table showing since when people start reading
newspaper ?

Factor Frequency Percentage Cumulative

Frequency
Less than 6 31 24 31
months
More than 6 54 42 85
months
1-3 YRS 16 12 101
More than 3 29 22 130
years
Total 130 100

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
Less than 6 months More than 6 months 1-3 YRS More than 3 years Total

Frequency Percentage Cumulative Frequency

INTERPRETATION During this survey I observe that out of 130

responders most of them (54) are read newspaper from 6 month to
1 year. Then 31 people are read less than 6 month. It means

65
majority are new customers. It's the best time to grab new
customers by promotional activity or attractive package.

Questions 9:Table showing rating for TOI newspaper?

Factor Frequency Percentage Cumulative

Frequency
Poor 0 0 80
Moderate 6 5 130
Good 49 38 140
Very Good 60 46 148
Excellent 15 11 150
Total 130 100

160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Poor Moderate Good V Good Excellent Total

Frequency Percentage Cumulative Frequency

INTERPRETATION While doing this survey, people generally

happy or satisfied with their newspaper. Most of them are ranked
good and very good. I noticed generally people don't compare their
newspaper with another, either it gives inadequate or irrelevant
content.

66
Questions 10: Table showing customer decision buying decision
for changing new newspapers?

Factor Frequency Percentage Cumulative

Frequency
Always 6 4 6
Sometimes 27 21 33
Most of time 36 28 69
Not at all 61 47 130
Total 130 100

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
Always Sometimes Most of time Not at all Total

Frequency Percentage Cumulative Frequency

INTERPRETATION

According to my survey, readers somehow not satisfied by their

newspaper, approx. 61% people (36+27) showed their interest to
switch. So if Business Line understand and fill up this area by
Content and Service, then I think TOI easily grab Gomati Nagar.

67
FINDING
 TOI Newspaper are well knowledgeable, updated
and informative.
 The price according to the quality of the newspaper
is great.
 Subscribers have high demand in the improvement of
services.
 There is a tough competition among various
newspaper in LUCKNOW
 Maximum people prefer Hindi rather than English.
 Subscription schemes attract more customers.
 Schemes with gift are playing a good role in
increasing readership, as there are many customers
who have subscribed only for gift.
 There are a big number of boutiques and designers in
Lucknow and most of them deals with Indian
traditions. That’s why the contents should specific
customer centric.
 Peoples are highly interested in newspaper but low
awareness about the schemes

68
RECOMMENDATION.

69
• Improvement of Services: The first and foremost
recommendation that can be suggested is the improvement in
services. As there is high demand of newspapers the customers
now have huge options for selecting a newspaper. Therefore, a
small problem faced by a customer may lead to losing that one
customer.

 Affordable pricing: Newspaper price of Times group

should be lower to capture huge market share.
 Door to door Marketing Promotions: Promotion strategy
should include maximum coverage for that geographical
area.
 News content should include diverse viewpoint from all
fields:

News should represent various strata of society and various

ideologies.

 A better distribution channel: I would also like to

recommend that by implementing a better distribution
channel, TOI can increase its market share.
 Appointment of new staff: TOI can also improve their
services by appointing new staff as "Customer care
Executive' by giving training so that they will be able to
respond to the customers well who have problems.

70
CONCLUSION

71
The summer internship project plays an important role in
management education where students get a golden
opportunity to apply his knowledge and learning gained
from classroom lectures in practical business environment.

The program also helps in gaining knowledge and

developing the confidence level to work. I have also learnt
a lot by my Internship at Times of India, Lucknow.

This research has been done to study consumer behaviour

towards THE TIMES OF INDIA newspapers. The people
in Lucknow still prefer printed content despite of
technology adaption. In posh areas like Gomti Nagar,
people prefer English newspaper rather than Hindi .

But maximum areas still prefer to read a Hindi newspaper.

There is high demand and high awareness about TOI
newspaper in Lucknow but still people prefer Hindi
newspaper.

It was found that consumers were interested in

subscribing when they came to know about the schemes
and they immediately bought subscriptions on offering of
lucrative offers.

72
But still there are some areas where awareness about the
newspaper is very low but those who are aware customer
loyalty towards TOI newspaper is very high.

Survey shows that only 26% of the customers don't renew

their subscription. But this is only happening mainly
because of service problems.

TOI is not able to provide accurate service to all

customers. There are some other reasons also, but if TOI
works on improving services of delivery or customer
relationship or improving the quality of news, response
towards the customers' problems with better solutions,
than no reader will leave TOI.

73
Questionnaire .

74
Questions 1: To know numbers of respondents and non-
respondents?

Respondents
Non
Respondents

Questions 2: To know the reader occupation?

Regularly
Never
Sometimes

Questions 3: To know the reader choice between general and

finance type newspaper.

Service
Businessman
Students

75
Questions 4: To know mode of reading newspaper?

Physical
Online
Mobile
More Than one

Questions 5: To know the mode of getting newspaper

subscriptions?

Monthly
payment
Subscriptions
basis

Questions 6: To know whether people reads TOI newspaper?

Yes
No
Sometimes

76
Questions 7: To know the mode of readership of different
newspaper?

HINDU
The Times Of
India
Navbharat
Times
Bussiness
Standard
Dainik Jagran

Questions 8: To know when people start reading newspaper ?

Less than 6
months
More than 6
months
1-3 YRS
More than 3
years

77
Questions 9:To know the rating for TOI newspaper?

Poor
Moderate
Good
Very Good
Excellent

Questions 10: To know the customer decision buying decision for

changing new newspapers?

Always
Sometimes
Most of time
Not at all

78
BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS AND JOURNALS

PHILIP KOTLER (Marketing Management),

79
KELVIN LANE KELLER (Connecting With Customer)

TAPAN K. PANDA (Sales and Distribution Management)

SUNIL SAHADEV(Sales Organization)

WEBSITES
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sales

http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/publications/data/2005-09-
08precta.pdf

http://www.scribd.com/doc/53026876/1/Consumers

80