Mr. Essay, Research Paper

 Acknowledgements

 Contents

 List of Tables

 List of Figures

 Executive Summary

Introduction

Background

Rupani Brothers, established in 1943, is a watch shop located in Hazratganj, Lucknow. It is into the sale and repair of watches and clocks.

The shop sells watches of many reputed brands, in all price ranges. Some of the famous brands of watches sold at Rupani Brothers are Tissot, Rado, Timex, Titan, HMT, Omega, Swatch, Bentex, D?signer, Citizen, etc. They also sell many brands of clocks such as Citizen, Prestige, Opel, Samay, Siwa and Rewa. They cater to customers of all classes and categories, but its primary target group is the upper middle strata and the higher strata of the society.

Objective of the Study

Our objective is to make suggestions that would increase the sales of Rupani Bros. by 10 percent, through the application of our knowledge of marketing concepts.

METHODOLOGY

Research Design

We planned to do our study from three angles:

A study of the shop: This would involve a detailed study of the shop. We would get detailed information from the shop owner and from our observations of the shop. This is to understand the factors that go into making a successful watch shop like services offered, promotional and advertising strategy adopted by the shop etc.

A study of the competitors: We planned to look at the shop?s competitors in Hazratganj. The main competitors are listed below:

1. The Titan Showroom

2. Universal Watch Shop

3. Kings? Watch Shop

We do this in order to compare what Rupani Bros. has to offer to the customers with that of its competitors. This comparison would give us a clear picture of the areas in which Rupani Bros. have to improve.

Study of the customers: We planned to conduct a detailed study of people in Hazratganj wherein we would ask them specific questions by means of questionnaire designed by us. The purpose of the study is to know their behaviour as far as purchase of watches is concerned and their views on the shop. These expectations would be mapped with what the shop actually offers, and accordingly we would come up with some concrete suggestions as to how the shop can meet these expectations.

Data Collection

We followed the above mentioned research design for data collection

A study of the shop: We collected information about the shop from the shop-owner and by our own observations during our four visits to the shop.

From the shop owner we got detail regarding the brands of watches and clocks sold, sales figures for the various brands in terms of both units sold and revenue generated, division of sales among watches and clocks, busy and lean season, advertising strategy and sales promotions followed, and the after sales services offered.

Through our observation of the shop we found out the general d?cor of the shop, the display of watches, space availability and the services offered by the sales people.

A study of the competitors: We looked at the shop?s three competitors in Hazratganj. All the three shops provide stiff competition to Rupani Bros as they are located in proximity to the shop and target the same market segment comprising the upper middle strata and the higher strata of the society.

The study involved observation of the competitor shops to get information regarding the various brands of watches and clocks sold, the display of watches and clocks, the d?cor of the shop and the quality of services offered.

A study of the customers: We conducted a detailed study of people in Hazratganj by means of a questionnaire. In the questionnaire we asked specific questions like

 Their favorite brands of watches

 The major occasions on which they buy them

 The sources they use to gather information about watches

 The people who influence their purchase decision, and

 What they look for in a watch shop.

We interviewed a total of sixty-three people, all in Hazratganj. The reason for conducting the survey entirely in Hazratganj is that there we would get a sample of people who are either already customers of the shop or are potential customers. Thus the sample would be representative of the target market segment of the shop

DATA AND DATA ANALYSIS

Data collected from Shop:

The shop is very well situated; it occupies a corner plot just across the main road from Nawab?s, the popular restaurant in Lucknow. The shop itself is spread over three floors, with the watches being sold in the basement and clocks on the ground floor. The first floor houses repair and maintenance operations of the shop.

The brands of watches sold include Titan, Timex, Omega, Tissot, Rado, Swatch, Bentex, and Citizen etc. It is the only authorized agent of Swatch, Omega, Rado and Tissot in the city.

It stocks many leading brands of clocks like Citizen, Prestige, Opel, Samay, Siwa and Rewa.

The table below gives the sales of watches in terms of units sold and value for the past one year.

Table I: Brand-wise Sales in terms of units sold and Revenue Generated

BrandsUnits SoldSales value (Rs. lakhs)

Titan600090

Timex350025

Omega1210

Tissot502.5

Rado406

Swatch2505

Bentex300.75

Citizen4008

D?signer50010

 The total sales value of all the watches is approximately Rs 157.25 lakhs.

 HMT?s contribution to sales revenue is marginal

 The clocks contribute to only 1 % of the total sales value, which works out to Rs. 1.6 lakhs.

 Therefore the total turnover of the shop is Rs.158.85 lakhs.

 The shop experiences annual busy and lean seasons. The busy season extends from Diwali till February and about 70% of the total sales are in this period. The slack season is from February to October and contributes only 30% to total sales.

The current advertising strategy of the shop includes hoardings and advertisements in local newspapers.

Presently they have five hoardings in different areas of the city:

 One near the Taj hotel.

 One near YMCA.

 One near Cathedral school, and

 Two near the bridge on River Gomti.

The cost of each hoarding is about Rs. 25000 per year.

The shop also advertises in newspapers like The Times of India, Lucknow edition and Lucknow Times, on an average three times a year during the festive season. The advertisements are small in size.

Last summer they had advertised on the local cable channel. The advertisement was in the form of a small strip running across the bottom of the screen. The cost was Rs. 6000 for a period of two months. The shop-owner feels that this didn?t bring the expected returns and hence has discontinued it

.

They do not offer discounts on their own. They offer discounts a particular brand only when the respective watch company launches a sales campaign.

The shop sometimes gives free gift, mainly in the form of a silver coin. Currently they give a Tanishq silver coin for every purchase more than Rs. 1500.

We can summarise the shop?s offer and strategy in terms of the 4P?s of Marketing as follows

The Four P?s Of Marketing

PRODUCT – The shop offers a large variety of watches and clocks. It stocks all the major national brands as well as many famous foreign brands. Watch is grown into necessity in today?s world; this offers the shop a great potential for growth. One of the drawbacks with the product is that the shop does not offer many of the services and benefits that an exclusive showroom would offer. This point also came up in the survey of the people, many of who prefer to go to the Titan showroom also in Hazratganj.

PRICE – The price that the shop charges is not fixed by it but by the company. The price ranges from Rs. 200 to 1,00,000. Therefore the shop is targeting the entire gamut of the watch market. The shop gets a fixed commission on sale of each watch.

PLACE – The shop is located in the busiest market place of Lucknow, Hazratganj. The shop is visible from the main road and is located near city landmarks like Sahu theatre and Nawab?s. The shop itself is very old, having been established in 1943 and has built a