A STUDY ON EFFECTIVENESS OF SALES PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITIES AT KERALA STATE CASHEW DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION LTD.

, KOLLAM
FACULTY GUIDE SOUMYA C NAIR FACULTY IMK, ADOOR AJITHKUMAR.V Reg. No. 1005351 IMK, ADOOR

INTRODUCTION Today sales promotion in the marketing of a typical consumer product companies budgets is continually on the rise. It may be preferred because good promotional exercise activity on a focused target group and unlike mass media advertising it directly address and involves the consumer promotions produce results, the results occur quickly consumer promotion are relatively easy and inexpensive to implement .

Now a day the demand of the cashew is increasing and its production is also increasing. People interested in observing the new varied products and they are demanding that in order to meet the customers demand each company trying to adopt new technology by introducing new products otherwise they cant survive in the competitive world.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Accessing the product promotion strategy of food products (cashew) companies, the study is applied descriptive in nature. It also tends to find impact of different communication channels and advertisements on consumers. At the same time it was intended to find out the fastest moving cashew brand in the market, it also intended to find out the customers satisfaction level of different brands consumers. Sales promotion consists of a diverse collection of incentives tools, mostly short term, designed to stimulate quicker or greater purchase of particular products or services by consumers of the trade.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

Primary objective The main objective of the study is to determine the effectiveness of sales promotional activities of KSCDC in Kollam district. Secondary objectives To understand and analyse various factors influencing sales promotion program. To identify whether it attracts new customers. To determine the awareness of customers about the value added products of KSCDC. To rate the sales promotion techniques offered by KSCDC

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Data Collection Data for the study are collected from various sources. They are mainly two types, they are Primary data, and Secondary data. Primary data Questionnaire Observation Secondary data Books Websites

SAMPLE UNIT In this study the sample fixed is 100. From this I had chosen 80 customers and 20 retailers from the district Kollam. TOOLS FOR ANALYSIS OF DATA Percentage method Percentage bar diagram Correlation method Chi-square test

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY The respondents sometimes do not reveal their own feelings, The time allotted for the study was not sufficient Some respondents were given irrelevant datas Some people left few questions unanswered Some of the respondents might have got biased while filling up the questionnaire.

CHAPTERISATION

First Chapter It deals with the Introduction; it includes statement of the problem, review of literature, objectives of the study, research design methodology, scope of the study and limitation and chapterisation of the study. Second Chapter It deals with the Industry profile Third Chapter It deals with the Company Profile while contains the History, Strategic Intent, services of the company. Fourth Chapter It deals with theoretical frame work. Fifth Chapter It deals with Data Analysis and Interpretation Sixth Chapter It deals with Findings, Suggestions and Conclusion

INDUSTRY PROFILE

The Kerala State Cashew Development Corporation Ltd was incorporated in July 1969 and started Commercial activities in the year 1971 as a company fully owned by the Government of Kerala. From the modest beginning in 1969 Corporation has now grown into a large organization playing a pivotal role in cashew industry in the world. Corporation has now more than a turnover of Rs. 100 cores. Now KSCDC is running 30 cashew factories all over the Kerala State. In these factories more than 20000 workers and 1500 staff members are working. Corporation is a model employer in the field of cashew industry mainly to protect the interest of workers and to provide maximum employment to its workers and to give statutory benefits like minimum wages, bonus, etc prevailing in the Cashew Industry. To increase the production of indigenous raw nuts, cashew Corporation has started cashew plantation in the State. Corporation has also introduced value added cashew products in the market. The traditional cashew industry is centralised in Kollam District. Kollam is approved as a "centre of cashew industry" by the Central Government. Most of the workers in this industry are womens among them a majority comes from the weaker sections of the society. There are several cashew nuts processing units in the District. The Kerala State Cashew Development Corporation Ltd is a government of Kerala undertaking, has its headquarters in Kollam. It serves as a model agency for the cashew processing industry.

INSTITUTIONS PROMOTING INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITY

Kerala Financial Corporation (KFC) Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) Small Industries Development Corporation of India (SIDBI) Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (KINFRA) Infrastructure Kerala Limited (INKL) Directorate of Industries & Commerce (DIC) Kerala Small Industries Development Corporation (SIDCO) MSME Development Unit (formerly SISI) Kerala Industrial and Technical Consultancy Organization (KITCO) Kerala Bureau of Industrial Promotion (K-bip) Centre for Management Development (CM CASHEW PRODUCING COUNTRIES Vietnam (827000 tons), India (460000 tons), Brazil (251268 tons) Nigeria (213000 tons), Indonesia (122000 tons), Tanzania (100000 tons) Cote de Ivories (90000 tons) etc

COMPANY PROFILE

The Kerala State Cashew Development Corporation Ltd was incorporated in July 1969 and started Commercial activities in the year 1971as a company fully owned by the Government of Kerala. From the modest beginning in 1969 Corporation has now grown into a large organization playing a pivotal role in cashew industry in the world. Corporation has now more than a turnover of Rs. 100 cores. Now KSCDC is running 30 cashew factories all over the Kerala State. In these factories more than 20000 workers and 1500 staff members are working. Corporation is a model employer in the field of cashew industry mainly to protect the interest of workers and to provide maximum employment to its workers and to give statutory benefits like minimum wages, bonus etc. prevailing in the cashew industry. To increase the production of indigenous raw nuts cashew corporation has started cashew plantation in the State. Corporation has also introduced four value added cashew products in the market.

PRODUCTS & PROMOTIONAL TOOLS

Value added products in the market: Cashew Soup Cashew Powder Cashew Vita Cashew Bits TOOLS USED FOR SALES PROMOTION Giving samples for customers Promotion through magazines Sponsoring events Putting stalls in mega exhibitions Kiosk

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION The analysis of data requires a number of closely related operations such as establishment of categories, the application of their categories to raw data through coding, tabulating and then drawing statistical inference. TOOLS USED Percentage analysis method Bar diagram Chi- square method Correlation analysis

FORMULAS OF TOOLS CHI SQUARE TEST X2= [(O-E)2/E] 0= Observed frequency E= Expected frequency CORRELATION ANALYSIS nxy (x . y) nx2 (x)2 ny2 (y)2

FINDINGS

It is found that cashews are consumed mostly during festival seasons. Cashew bits are the most popular product among cashew products. The majority of the respondents are satisfied with the quality of CDC products. Cashew products selection is mainly based on the quality of the products. Most of the customers are satisfied with the offers given by the company. Respondents prefer price off is the best promotional tool. It is found that the advertisement impresses the customer strongly. Most of the respondents selected television as the most suitable media for advertisement. There is high degree of correlation between more consumption and increase in profit There is moderate degree of correlation between new customers and increase in profit There is significance relationship between rating of KSCDC and sales promotion activities. There is significance relationship between satisfaction level of customers and sales promotion activities KSCDC.

CONCLUSION
A project work on the effectiveness of sales promotion activities of KSCDC Kollam was undertaken to find out whether the sales promotion techniques employed by the organisation is effective. The review of literature has facilitated the researcher to have a similarity with the research problem undertaken and also indicates the definition as well as informational gap. It has helped the researcher to explore the research problem in an improved way. For the particular study simple survey was conducted and initial stage to determine the actual sample size and for making the questionnaire more effective. The study has also revealed the prestige of the response using cashew nuts, good awareness level of products among the response. The company face main competition from CAPEX and Western India cashew. In order to face the competition additional techniques must be implied. From the study the researcher can conclude that the company has to focus more on wide reach ads and also increase the seasonal promotion activities

SUGGESTIONS

The company has to focus more on the advertisements and its wide reach. As more customers are interested in television ads, The Company should give more focus television ads. Conducting Trade fairs in crowded place will improve customer awareness. Concentrating in festival season and put new schemes will improve sales. Numbers of stalls in exhibitions are to be increased. The company can introduce special gifts for its products to attract more customers.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books PHILLIP KOTLER, Marketing Management, Prentice Hall of India, Millennium Edition. Dr. SHARMA D.D, Marketing Research, Sulthan Chand & Sons, New Delhi. KOTLER, KELLER, JOSHY AND JHA, Marketing Management, 13th Edition. Malhothra Mahesh ( 2002 ), Marketing Research, Prentice Hall of India. Business research method, Tata McGraw Hill 9th Edition. Website

www.cashewindia.org www.google.com www.scribd.com www.wikipedia.com www.oppapers.com