CHAPTER –I

INTRODUCTION
 CHAPTER – I

1.1 INTRODUCTION

MEANING OF CUSTOMER

A customer is an individual or business that purchases the goods or services

produced by a business. Attracting customer is the primary goal of most public facing

business, because it is the customer who creates demand for goods and services.

Business often completes through advertisements or lowered prices to attract ever-

larger customer base.

CUSTOMERS ARE CONSUMERS

The terms ‘customer’ and ‘consumer’ are almost synonymous. Customers are

defined by their purchase of goods, or their controlling for service, as the consumer, or

end user. As the term is commonly used, a customer is the end consumer of a product.

This distinguishes true customers from resellers and vendors, who usually make

purchases to sell later.

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION DEFINED BY PHILIP KOTLER

Philip Kotler defines customer satisfaction as a ‘person’s feeling of pleasure or

disappointment which resulted from comparing a product’s perceived performance or

outcome against his/her expectations’. Although Kotler uses abstract terms like

pleasure and disappointment, the definition is by no means ambiguous.

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CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

Customer satisfaction is a term frequently used in marketing. It is a measure of

how products and services supplied by a company meet or

surpass customer expectation. Customer satisfaction is defined as "the number of

customers, or percentage of total customers, whose reported experience with a firm, its

products, or its services exceeds specified satisfaction goals.

CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS

From past buying experience, friends and associates advice, and marketers and

competitors information and promises. If marketers raise expectations too high, the

buyer is likely disappointed.

Some of today’s most successful companies are raising expectations and

delivering performances to match. These companies are aiming for TCS-total

customer satisfaction. for example, guarantees “total satisfaction” and will replace at

its, expense any dissatisfied customer’s equipments within a period of three years after

purchase.

ATTRACTING CUSTOMERS

Today’s customers are becoming harder to please. They are smarter, more price

conscious, more demanding, less forgiving and they are approached by many more

competitors with equal or better offers. The challenge, according to Jeffrey Gitomer,

is not to produce satisfied customers; several competitors can do this.

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THE NEED OF CUSTOMER RETENTION

Unfortunately, most marketing theory and practice centers on the art of

attracting new customers rather than on retaining and cultivating existing ones. The

emphasis traditionally has been on making sales rather than building relationships; on

propelling and selling rather than caring for the customer afterward. A company

would be wise to measure customer satisfaction regularly, because the key to

customer retention is customer satisfaction.

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1.2 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1. To study preferences of customer’s towards Epson printer.

2. To study customer’s satisfaction on Epson printer.

3. To study the factors influencing the purchasing decision of consumers.

4. To study socio economic factors of consumers of Epson printer.

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 CHAPTER-II

INDUSTRY PROFILE& COMPANY PROFILE

CHAPTER - II
 2.1 INDUSTRY PROFILE

The first computer printer designed was a mechanically driven apparatus

by Charles Babbage for his difference engine in the 19th century; however, his

mechanical printer design was not built until 2000.

The first electronic printer was the EP-101, invented by Japanese

company Epson and released in 1968.

EP-101 first miniprinter 1968

The first commercial printers generally used mechanisms from electric

typewriters and Teletype machines. The demand for higher speed led to the

development of new systems specifically for computer use.

In the 1980s there were daisy wheel systems similar to typewriters, line

printers that produced similar output but at much higher speed, and dot matrix systems

that could mix text and graphics but produced relatively low-quality output.

The plotter was used for those requiring high quality line art like blueprints.

The introduction of the low-cost laser printer in 1984 with the first HP

LaserJet, and the addition of PostScript in next year's Apple LaserWriter, set off a
revolution in printing known as desktop publishing. Laser printers using PostScript

mixed text and graphics, like dot-matrix printers, but at quality levels formerly available

only from commercial typesetting systems. By 1990, most simple printing tasks like

fliers and brochures were now created on personal computers and then laser printed;

expensive offset printing systems were being dumped as scrap.

laser printer in 1984

The HP Deskjet of 1988 offered the same advantages as a laser printer in terms

of flexibility, but produced somewhat lower quality output (depending on the paper)

from much less expensive mechanisms.

HP Deskjet of 1988

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 Inkjet systems rapidly displaced dot matrix and daisy wheel printers from the

market. By the 2000s high-quality printers of this sort had fallen under the $100 price

point and became commonplace.

TYPES OF PRINTERS

Personal printers are primarily designed to support individual users, and may

be connected to only a single computer. These printers are designed for low-volume,

short- turnaround print jobs, requiring minimal setup time to produce a hard copy of a

given

document. However, they are generally slow devices ranging from 6 to around 25

pages per minute and the cost per page is relatively high. However, this is offset by

the on- demand convenience. Some printers can print documents stored on memory

cards or

from digital cameras and scanners.

Modern print technology

1. Toner-based printers:

A laser printer rapidly produces high quality text and graphics. As with

digital photocopiers and multifunction printers (MFPs), laser printers employ

a xerographic printing process but differ from analog photocopiers in that the image is

produced by the direct scanning of a laser beam across the printer's photoreceptor.

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2. Liquid inkjet printers:

Inkjet printers operate by propelling variably sized droplets of liquid ink onto almost

any sized page. They are the most common type of computer printer used by consumers

3. Solid ink printers

Solid ink printers, also known as phase-change printers, are a type of thermal

transfer printer..

The paper then passes over the print drum, at which time the image is

immediately transferred, or transfixed, to the page. Solid ink printers are most

commonly used as colour office printers, and are excellent at printing on

transparencies and other non-porous media. Solid ink printers can produce excellent

results.

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4. Dye-sublimation printers

A dye-sublimation printer (or dye-sub printer) is a printer which employs a

printing process that uses heat to transfer dye to a medium such as a plastic card, paper

or canvas. The process is usually to lay one colour at a time using a ribbon that has

colour panels.

5. Thermal printer

Thermal printers work by selectively heating regions of special heat-sensitive

paper. Monochrome thermal printers are used in cash registers, ATMs, gasoline

dispensers and some older inexpensive fax machines. Colours can be achieved with

special papers and different temperatures and heating rates for different colours; these

coloured sheets are not required in black-and-white output.

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6. Impact printers

Impact printers rely on a forcible impact to transfer ink to the media. The

impact printer uses a print head that either hits the surface of the ink ribbon, pressing

the ink ribbon against the paper or, less commonly, hits the back of the paper, pressing

the paper against the ink ribbon.

6. Dot-matrix printers

The term dot matrix printer is used for impact printers that use a matrix of

small pins to transfer ink to the page. The advantage of dot matrix over other impact

printers is that they can produce graphical images in addition to text.

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7. Liquid ink electrostatic printers

Liquid ink electrostatic printers use a chemical coated paper, which is charged

by the print head according to the image of the document. The paper is passed near a

pool of liquid ink with the opposite charge. The charged areas of the paper attract the

ink and thus form the image. This process was developed from the process

of electrostatic copying. Worldwide, most survey offices used this printer before

color

inkjet plotters become popular.

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 2.2 COMPANY PROFILE

The roots of Seiko Epson Corporation go back to a company called Daiwa

Kogyo, Ltd. which was founded in May 1942 by Hisao Yamazaki, a local clock shop

owner and former employee of K. Hattori, in Suwa, Nagano, Japan. Daiwa Kogyo was

supported by an investment from the Hattori family (founder of the Seiko Group) and

began as a manufacturer of watch parts for Daini Seikosha (currently Seiko

Instruments). The company started operation in a 230-square-metre (2,500 sq ft)

renovated miso storehouse with 22 employees.

In 1943, Daini Seikosha established a factory in Suwa for manufacturing Seiko

watches with Daiwa Kogyo. In 1959, the Suwa Factory of Daini Seikosha was split up

and merged into Daiwa Kogyo to form Suwa Seikosha Co. Ltd: the forerunner of the

Seiko Epson Corporation. The company has developed many timepiece technologies.

In particular, it developed the world's first portable quartz timer in 1963, the world's

first quartz watch in 1969, the first automatic power generating quartz watch (Seiko

Auto-Quartz) in 1988 and the Spring Drive watch movement in 1999.

Printers

In 1961, Suwa Seikosha established a company called Shinshu Seiki Co. as a

subsidiary to supply precision parts for Seiko watches. When the Seiko Group was

selected to be the official time keeper for the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, a

printing timer was required to time events, and Shinshu Seiki started developing an

electronic printer.

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 In September 1968, Shinshu Seiki launched the world's first mini-printer, the EP-

101 ("EP" for Electronic Printer,) which was soon incorporated into many calculators.

In June 1975, the name Epson was coined for the next generation of printers based on

the EP-101 which was released to the public. (EPSON:E-P-SON: SON of Electronic

Printer).In April of the same year Epson America Inc. was established to sell printers

for Shinshu Seiki Co.

EP-101 mini-printer

In June 1978, the TX-80 (TP-80), eighty-column dot-matrix printer was released

to the market, and was mainly used as a system printer for the Commodore

PET Computer. After two years of further development, an improved model, the MX-

80 (MP-80), was launched in October 1980. It was soon described in the company's

advertising as the best selling printer in the United States.

In July 1982, Shinshu Seiki officially named itself the Epson Corporation and

launched the world's first handheld computer, HX-20, and in May 1983 the world's first

portable color LCD TV was developed and launched by the company.

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 The company developed the Micro Piezo inkjet technology, which used

a piezoelectric crystal in each nozzle and did not heat the ink at the print head while

spraying the ink onto the page, and released Epson MJ-500 inkjet cartridge (Epson

Stylus 800 printer) in March 1993. Shortly after in 1994.

Newer models of the Stylus series employed Epson’s special DURABrite ink.

They also had two hard drives. The HD 850 and the HD 860 MFM interface. The

specifications are reference.

In 1994 Epson started outsourcing sales reps to help sell their products in retail

stores in the United States. The same year, they started the Epson Weekend Warrior

sales program. The purpose of the program was to help improve sales, improve retail

sales reps' knowledge of Epson products and to address Epson customer service in a

retail environment.

Reps were assigned on weekend shift, typically around 12–20 hours a week.

Epson started the Weekend Warrior program with TMG Marketing now Mosaic Sales

Solutions, later with Keystone Marketing Inc, then to Mosaic, and now with

Campaigners INC. The Mosaic contract expired with Epson on June 24, 2007 and

Epson is now represented by Campaigners, Inc. The sales reps of Campaigners, Inc.

are not outsourced as Epson hired "rack jobbers" to ensure their retail customers

displayed

products properly. This frees up their regular sales force to concentrate on profitable

sales solutions to VAR's and system integrators, leaving "retail" to reps who did not

require sales skills.

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Marketing strategies

Epson is a public company of Japanese origin and is associated with the

electronics industry. It was established in the year 1942 and has headquartered base in

Suwa, Japan. The company is the largest global manufacturer of imaging and

information related equipment and computer printers.

Epson started its operations in a storehouse of 2500 square feet with an

employee

count of twenty-two. In the year 1943, it established its first manufacturing factory at

Suwa. Since then it has come a long way and currently its network has spread to

different parts of the world like South Africa, UAE, Hungary, Italy, France, Germany,

United Kingdom and parts of Europe.

Epson is a world recognised brand and has adopted a reasonable pricing policy

because it functions on Business-to-Business formula. It wants to create huge volumes

and hence has kept prices lower and economical so that it seems affordable to its

customers.

It has adopted both competitive and penetration policy so that it can capture

further markets and also deal successfully with its competitors by keeping prices a bit

lower than theirs. Epson has offered several incentives to its customers.

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 PRODUCT PROFILE

June 1956

An originally-designed mechanical
Seiko Marvel
watch that became the basis for Epson's

watch business.

September 1963

The electronic recording system for

Printing Timer
sporting events, measurable to 1/1000

seconds.

Seiko Crystal September 1963

Chronometer The world's first portable, high-

QC-951 accuracy, battery-operated quartz

timer.
September 1968

EP-101 The world's first miniature digital printer,

from which the Epson brand was born.

December 1969
Seiko Quartz
The quartz watch that revolutionized
Astron 35SQ
horological history.

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 1970

SAM-D The rare-earth bonded magnet that paved

the way for Epson's magnet business.

April 1971

CMOS IC The watch chip that launched Epson's

semiconductor business.

October 1973
Seiko Quartz LC
The world's first digital quartz watch with
V.F.A. 06LC
a six-digit LCD

June 1977

Epson EX-1 The first dedicated accounting

computer to carry the Epson name.

July 1978

The world's first melody IC, taking full

Melody IC advantage of technology used in quartz

SVM7910 watches

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October 1980

MX-80 Ahead of its time: A small,

lightweight computer printer.

Camera Auto- August 1981

Dating Module The camera date module that became the

for Photographs de facto standard in its class.

July 1982
HX-20
The world's first hand-held computer.

December 1982

TV Watch The world's first television-watch, with

an active-matrix LCD.

May 1983

A precision assembly robot - Epson's first

SSR-H Series
commercialized factory automation

product.

August 1984

The Televian - the world's first liquid

ET-10
crystal pocket color TV.

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October 1984
SQ-2000
The first commercial Epson inkjet printer.

April 1987
SG-615
The plastic SMD crystal oscillator that
 became a de facto standard.

January 1988
Seiko AGS
The world's first automatic power
Quartz Watch
generating quartz watch.

EVF Liquid August 1988

Crystal Panel The world's first color liquid crystal

Module panel module for video cameras.

January 1989

One of the world's first compact, full-

VPJ-700 color liquid crystal video projectors.

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1990

TM-930 A printer for PC-POS systems that

created a new market.

March 1993

Monsieur The ultraminiature robot that propelled

itself into the Guinness Book of Records.

March 1993
Epson Stylus
The first inkjet printer equipped with
800
Micro Piezo technology.
 July 1993

SED1560 Series An LCD driver with on-chip, energy-

saving power supply logic scores a big hit.

August 1993

The monochrome STN panel module at

the forefront of LCD modules for

ECM-A0662
mobile phones.

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April 1994

HM-3000 A high-speed IC test handler that makes

full use of Epson's robotics technologies.

May 1994
Epson Stylus
The world's first 720 dpi color inkjet
Color
printer

December 1994

ELP-3000 A liquid crystal data projector offering

high brightness and high resolution.

Epson Stylus April 1996

Photo A six-color photo inkjet printer.

 January 1997

The world's first programmable quartz

SG-8000 Series
oscillators with on-chip P-ROM & PLL

circuits.

April 1997

The world's first backside progressive

Seiko Super P-1
addition lens.

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September 1998

TM-H5000 Featuring fast, quiet printing and copy

functionality: Epson's first hybrid printer.

November 1999

The low-power consumption STN

ECM-A1192
transflective color LCD panel module that

conquered the mobile phone market.

December 1999
Seiko/ Credor
A spring-drive watch with quartz
Spring Drive
accuracy.

Epson Stylus May 2000

Pro 9500 A large-format pigment-ink

 printer combining super photo quality with

outstanding lightfastness.

November 2000

MD-TFD active matrix color LCD panel

MD19SBT module with ultra-low power consumption.

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Monna Lisa May 2003

160B An inkjet textile printer

2005
EMP-TWD1
The DVD player-projector that opened up

Photo Fine May 2006

Vistarich An LCD with ultra-wide viewing angles.

July 2006

EMP-6100 A dust-proof projector that keeps

particulate matter at bay

August 2008

GS6000 A Large-Format Printer with Stunning

Image Quality for Signage and Displays

 September 2008

An all-in-one inkjet printer with a slim

Epson Stylus
body packed full of advanced functionss
Photo PX700W

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June 2009
C3 Series
Compact 6-Axis Robots

October 2009

ULTIMICRON A high-temperature polysilicon TFT

Series color LCD panel for electronic

viewfinders

January 2010

EB-450Wi A wall-mounted, ultra-short throw lens

projector with Interactive Functionality

SurePress L- June 2010

4033A An industrial inkjet digital label press

October 2010
L100 & L200
High-capacity ink tank inkjet printers
 June 2011

Precise, Stable Inertial Measurement

M-G350 Unit (IMU)

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September 2011
TM-T88V-i
Web-based intelligent receipt printers for
Series
shops and restaurants.

November 2011
BT-100
Binocular, See-through Smart Glasses

August 2012
SS700S
Runsense Sports Monitor

August 2014

RIPS Office inkjet printers featuring

a replaceable ink pack

system
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Seiko Epson corporate building in Tokyo

Traded as TYO: 6724

ISIN JP3414750004

Industry Electronics

Founded May 1942; 77 years ago (as Daiwa Kogyo,

Ltd.) Suwa, Nagano, Japan

Headquarters Suwa, Nagano, Japan

Area served Worldwide

Key people Seiji Hanaoka

(Chairman) Minoru Usui
(President)

Products Information-related equipment, Electronic devices

Revenue ¥1.092 trillion (2015)

US$9.7 billion

Number of employees 67,605

Parent Seiko Group

Subsidiaries Orient Watch

Website epson.com
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CHAPTER-III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
 CHAPTER - III

3.1 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research methodology is a systematic way to solve research problem. It may

be understood as a science of studying how the research is done scientifically. This

includes geographical area covered, period of study, research design, method of data

and analysis of data.

GEOGRAPHICAL AREA:

The geographical area of the study is with in Salem town.

PERIOD OF STUDY

The period of the study is 3 months.

RESEARCH DESIGN

Descriptive research is used in this study. This research design simply describes

the accurate description of customers who use the products. The descriptive study is

typically concerned with determining the frequency with which something occurs.
 27

SAMPLING DESIGN

Population

Population is the set of all objects that possess some common set of

characteristics with respect to a marketing research problem.

In this research, the population is the general public.

Sampling unit

Sample unit is any type of element making a sample.

The sample unit in this study is Employees, Students and Business men/ women.

Sample Size

The total number of sample units selected for the study makes up the sample

size. In this research the sample size is 100 respondents.

Sampling Technique (Convenience Sampling)

Convenience sampling refers to the collection of information from members of

the population who are conveniently available to provide it.

Data collection method

Data collection is an act of collecting relevant and adequate data required for the

research from the sample size.

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 Generally two methods are used for data collection, they are:

1. Primary data

2. Secondary data

Primary data

The primary data are those which are collected for the first time. For the study,

structured questionnaire through direct personal interview method was used to collect

data from customers of Epson Printers.

Secondary data

The secondary data collected from the industry profile, company profile, etc.

Sources of data

The sources of primary data are the Employees, Students and Business men/

women.

TOOLS OF RESEARCH USED

For the analysis of data and its interpretations, various tools of research were

used. In this study, percentage method is used for proper analysis and was presented

in tables.

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TOOLS USED FOR ANALYSING OF DATA:

1. Simple percentage analysis:

Percentage refers to a special kind of ratio. Here percentage are used describe

relationship.

No. of consumers

Percentage = -x 100

Total. No. of. Consumers

CHARTS USED:

The charts and graphs are given a bird’s-eye view of the entire data and therefore

the information presented is easily understood.

1. Simple bar diagram

A simple bar diagram is used to represent only one variable.

2. Pie diagram

Pie diagram are very popularly used in practice to show percentage

breakdown.

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 3.2 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

Some of the respondents do not have clear idea about the product so their opinion

may be biased

 Due to time and cost factors, the sample has been taken.

The sample size is very small. So the results and findings may not reveal a true

picture with respect to the conclusion drawn.

 The study was done in a particular area of market and so the results of this cannot be

generalized.

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