NEW DELHI INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT

60 & 50(B&C), Tughlakabad Institutional Area, New Delhi

A STUDY ON

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the 3rd Semester of the Degree of PGDM In Consumer Behavior

By

SOUVIK BANERJEE (85) SRIKANT GUPTA (86) ZAKI AZFAR (107)

Under the Guidance of Prof. VIJAY NAGRANI

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It gives us great privilege to show our deepest sense of gratitude to those people without whom this project would have never been complete. First of all, we bow with reverence & gratitude to thank the ALMIGHTY who has enriched us with such a golden opportunity & infused the power in our mind to fulfill the task assigned to us. To start off, its a privilege for us to express our deepest sense of gratitude to Professor Vijay Nagrani who has been the mainstay behind this project. It has been an out and out honor to work under him. His versatile viewpoint and understanding of the subject matter, his guidances, his constructive criticisms and above all the level of motivation and faith he showed really made us to stay focused and work logically during the course of the study. Secondly, this entire marketing research project owes to our fellow mates. Thank you all, Souvik Banerjee(85) Srikant Gupta(86) Zaki Azfar(107)

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Details Page Nos.

ABSTRACT
Consumer Behavior: It is the processes a consumer uses to make purchase decisions, as
well as to use and dispose of purchased goods or services; also includes factors that influence purchase decisions and the product use.

Buying Behavior:

Importance of Consumer Behavior for Marketers:

1. Consumer behavior is helpful in understanding the purchase behavior and preferences of different consumers. As consumers we differ in terms of our sex, age, education, income, occupation, family set-up, religion, nationality, social status. 2. To successfully market to different market segments, the market needs appropriate marketing strategies which we can design only when he understands the factors which account for these differences in consumer behavior and tastes. 3. In todays world of rapidly changing technology, consumer tastes are also characterized by fast changes. Consumer behavior provides invaluable clues and guidelines for marketers on new technological frontiers which they should explore. For example- CTV in lieu of B/W TV 4. Consumer behavior is a process and purchase forms one part of this process. There are various psychological and environmental factors which influence this process, to the extent that the marketer can understand and manipulate the influencing factors, he can predict the behavior of consumers.

Types of Consumer:
Individual buyer Business buyer All individuals fall into the category of personal consumer. All business organizations, government agencies and bodies, non-business organizations such as hospitals, temples, and trusts are organizational consumers of goods and services purchased for running the organizations.

Model of Consumer Behavior:

Due to the growth in the size of firms and markets, marketing decision makers have been removed from direct contact with their customers. Managers have had to turn to consumer research. They spend more money in trying to learn: Who buys? How do they buy? When do they buy? Where do they buy? Why do they buy? How do consumers respond to various marketing stimuli, arranged by the company, is main Question. Therefore, business & academic researchers have invested much energy in researching the relationship between marketing stimuli and consumer response. Outside Stimuli Marketing Product Price Place Promotion Buyers Black box Other Economic Technological Political Cultural Buyer Characteristics Buyer Decision Process Buyer responses Product choice Brand choice Dealer choice Purchase choice Purchase amount

Their starting point is the stimuli-response model. Above figure shows marketing and other stimuli entering the buyers black box and producing certain responses. The stimuli are of two types. Marketing stimuli consists of the 4 Ps: Product, Price, Place and Promotions. Other stimuli consist of major forces and events in the buyers environment economic, technological, political and cultural. All these stimuli pass through the buyers black box and produce the set of buyer responses: Product choice, brand choice, dealer choice, purchase timing and purchase amount.

Detailed Factors Influencing Consumer Behavior:

A. Cultural:
1. Culture: The study of culture encompasses all aspects of a society such as its religion, knowledge, language, laws, customs, traditions, music, art, technology, work patterns, products etc. All these factors makeup the unique distinctive personality of each society. 2. Sub-Culture: Each culture contains smaller groups of subcultures that provide more specific identification & socialization for its members. Sub-Culture can be classified into Nationality, Religion, Race, Age, Sex, Occupation, Social Class, and Geographic Location. 3. Social Class: Virtually all human societies exhibit social stratification. More frequently, stratification takes the form of social classes. Social classes are relatively homogenously and enduring divisions in a society, which are hierarchy ordered and whose members share similar values, interests, and behavior.

B. Social:
1) Reference Group: A persons reference groups are those groups that have a direct or indirect influence on the person attitudes or behaviors. Groups influence will be stronger for products that will be visible to others whom the buyer respects. 2) Family: Members of the buyers family can exercise a strong influence on the buyers behavior. The family of orientation consists ones parents. From parents a person acquires an orientation toward religion politics, & economics and a sense of personal ambition self-worth & love. The following products and services fall under such. Husband-dominant : Life insurance, automobiles Wife-dominant : Mixer, Washing Machine, and Kitchenware Equal : Housing, Entertainment, and Housing Furniture 3) Roles & Status: Participating of buyer in the different groups as clubs, organization influences his/her buying behavior. His/her position in the different groups can be termed as roles & status. A role consists of the activities that a person is expected to perform according to the persons around him/her. Each role carries a status reflecting the general esteem: accorded to it by society.

C. Personal:
I. Age & Life Cycle Stage: People change the goods and services; they buy over their life time. They eat baby food in childhood, most foods in the young age and special diets in the later year. Occupation: A persons consumption pattern is also influenced by his or her occupation. A blue-chip worker will purchase good clothes, care etc. Economic Circumstances: A persons economic circumstances will greatly affect product choice. His economics circumstances consists of their spendable income, saving & assets, borrowing power. Life-Style: A persons life style is that persons pattern of living in the world as expressed in the persons activities, interests & opinions.

II. III.

IV.

D. Psychological:
i. Motivation: A motive is an internal energizing force that orients a person's activities toward satisfying a need or achieving a goal. Actions are effected by a set of motives, not just one. If marketers can identify motives then they can better develop a marketing mix. MASLOW hierarchy of needs!!

Need to determine what level of the hierarchy the consumers are apt to determine what motivates their purchases. ii. Perception: What do you see?? Perception is the process of selecting, organizing and interpreting information inputs to produce meaning. We chose what info we pay attention to, organize it and interpret it. Information inputs are the sensations received through sight, taste, hearing, smell and touch. Selective Exposure- Select inputs to be exposed to our awareness. More likely if it is linked to an event, satisfies current needs, intensity of input changes (sharp price drop). Selective Distortion-Changing/twisting current received information, inconsistent with beliefs. Advertisers that use comparative advertisements (pitching one product against another), have to be very careful that consumers do not distort the facts and perceive that the advertisement was for the competitor. Selective Retention-Remember inputs that support beliefs, forgets those that don't. Learning: Learning is the process through which a relatively permanent change in behavior results from the consequences of past behavior. Beliefs and Attitudes: A belief is a descriptive thought that a person has about something. The belief that the customer has about a brand is important. Therefore it determine his behavior towards buying and using the belief constitute the brand image and if the customer has the wrong belief he is likely to generate negative image about the brand. Attitude is Knowledge and positive and negative feelings about an object or activity-maybe tangible or intangible, living or non- living.....Drive perceptions Individual learns attitudes through experience and interaction with other people. Consumer attitudes toward a firm and its products greatly influence the success or failure of the firm's marketing strategy.

iii.

iv.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Our project gives brief study, on what is Consumer Behavior and the techniques of achieving Customer Satisfaction by increasing customer satisfaction by the way they perceive and providing them their essential needs. It also provides significance of the conducting the consumer buying research and how and when to conduct it. Based on the topic, this project analyzes the CONSUMER BEHAVIOR IN CONTEXT OF ASIAN PAINTS LTD & BERGER PAINTS. It shows what strategies the Asian Paints and Berger Paints have used for satisfying the customers. To undertake the research the questionnaire is prepared so as to know how much the customers are satisfied after using Asian Paints and Berger Paints, are they willing to be loyal customers or do they prefer other brands. The survey reflects the areas where the company needs to improve and the areas where it from where it has gained its popularity.

ABOUT THE INDUSTRY

The Indian Paints & consumer behavior to purchase with a variety of new players & product flooding the market. The Indian market, which is under transition, is also getting more and more competitive both in terms of consumption and quality consciousness. A booming paints and varnish industry has resulted innovate marketing techniques come into play. All major players like Asian Paints, Berger Paints, Nerolac Paints, and few other players are trying to strengthen their retailing operations with different marketing strategies/techniques because the paints and varnish industries come under the impulse category where factor like supply chain management, the width of distribution, advertisement, packing & communication make all the differences. The paint industry is expected to grow at 12-13% annually over the next five years. FY12 was a challenging year for the industry as a whole due to subdued demand across key sectors and rising inflation. The unorganized sector controls around 35% of the paint market, with the organized sector accounting for the balance. In the unorganized segment, there are about 2,000 units having small and medium sized paint manufacturing plants. Top organized players include Asian Paints, Kansai Nerolac, Berger Paints and ICI. Demand for paints comes from two broad categories: Decorative: Major segments in decorative include exterior wall paints, interior wall paints, wood finishes and enamel and ancillary products such as primers, putties etc. Decorative paints account for over 77.3% of the overall paint market in India. Asian Paints is the market leader in this segment. Demand for decorative paints arises from household painting, architectural and other display purposes. Demand in the festive season (SeptemberDecember) is significant, as compared to other periods. This segment is price sensitive and is a higher margin business as compared to industrial segment. Industrial: Three main segments of the industrial sector include automotive coatings, powder coatings and protective coatings. Kansai Nerolac is the market leader in this segment. User industries for industrial paints include automobiles engineering and consumer durables. The industrial paints segment is far more technology intensive than the decorative segment. The paints sector is raw material intensive, with over 300 raw materials (50% petro-based derivatives) involved in the manufacturing process. Since most of the raw materials are petroleum based, the industry benefits from softening crude prices. Key Points: Supply: Supply exceeds demand in both the decorative as well as the industrial paints segments. Industry is fragmented. Demand: Demand for decorative paints depends on the housing sector and good monsoons. Industrial paint demand is linked to user industries like auto, engineering and consumer durables. Barriers to entry: Brand, distribution network, working capital efficiency and technology play a crucial role. Bargaining power of suppliers: Price increase constrained with the presence of the unorganized sector for the decorative segment. Sophisticated buyers of industrial paints also limit the bargaining power of suppliers. It is therefore that margins are better in the decorative segment. Bargaining power of customers: High due to availability of wide choice. Competition In both categories, companies in the organized sector focus on brand building.

The organized sector was divided as follows: COMPANY DECORATIVE INDUSTRIAL OVERALL ESTIMATED PAINT REVENUES Rs. 6,980 MM Rs. 3,007 MM

Asian Paints Berger Paints Total (Rs.)

38% *14% 15,033 MM

14%-16% *14% 6,442 MM

32.5% 14.0% 21,476 MM

Prospects: The market for paints in India is expected to grow at 1.5 times to 2 times GDP in the next five years. With GDP growth expected to be between 5-6% levels, the top three players are likely to clock above industry growth rates in the future, considering they have a strong brand and good reach. Decorative paints segment is expected to witness higher growth going forward. The fiscal incentives given by the government to the housing sector have benefited the housing sector immensely. This will benefit key players in the long term.

COMPANY PROFILEs
Since its foundation in 1942, Asian Paints has come a long way to become Indias largest and Asias third largest paint company, with a turnover of Rs. 109.70 billion. Asian Paints operates in 17 countries and has 25 paint manufacturing facilities in the world servicing consumers in over 65 countries. Asian Paints is Indias largest paint company and Asias third largest paint company. The group has an enviable reputation in the corporate world for professionalism, fast track growth, and building shareholder equity. Besides Asian Paints, the group operates around the world through its subsidiaries Berger International Limited, Apco Coatings, SCIB Paints and Taubmans.Asian Paints was included in Forbes Asias Fab 50 list of Companies in Asia Pacific in 2011, 2012 and 2013. Forbes Global magazine USA ranked Asian Paints among the 200 Best Small Companies in the World for 2002 and 2003 and presented the 'Best under a Billion' award, to the company. Asian Paints is the only paint company in the world to receive this recognition. Forbes has also ranked Asian Paints among the Best under a Billion companies in Asia in 2005, 2006 and 2007. The company has come a long way since its small beginnings in 1942. Four friends who were willing to take on the worlds biggest, most famous paint companies operating in India at that time set it up as a partnership firm. Over the course of 25 years Asian Paints became a corporate force and India's leading paints company. Driven by its strong consumer-focus and innovative spirit, the company has been the market leader in paints since 1967. Today it is double the size of any other paint company in India. Asian Paints manufactures a wide range of paints for Decorative and Industrial use. In Decorative paints, Asian Paints is present in all the four segments v.i.z Interior Wall Finishes, Exterior Wall Finishes, Enamels and Wood Finishes. It also introduced many innovative concepts in the Indian paint industry like Colour Worlds (Dealer Tinting Systems), Home Solutions (painting solutions Service), Kids World (painting solutions for kids room), Colour Next (Prediction of Colour Trends through in-depth research) and Royale Play Special Effect Paints, just to name a few. Asian Paints has always been ahead when it comes to providing consumer experience. It has set up a Signature Store in Mumbai & Delhi in India, where consumers are educated on colours and how it can change their homes. Vertical integration has seen it diversify into products such as Phthalic Anhydride and Pentaerythritol, which are used in the paint manufacturing process. Asian Paints also operates through PPG Asian Paints Pvt Ltd (50:50 JV between Asian Paints and PPG Inc, USA, one of the largest automotive coatings manufacturer in the world) to service the increasing requirements of the Indian automotive coatings market. Asian Paints has formed another 50:50 JV with PPG named Asian Paints PPG Pvt Ltd to service the protective, industrial powder, industrial containers and light industrial coatings markets. INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE Today the Asian Paints group operates in 17 countries across the world and is the largest paint company in eleven countries. The company has a dedicated Group R&D Centre in India and has been one of the pioneering companies in India for effectively harnessing Information Technology solutions to maximize efficiency in operations.

"Innovation, customer-focus, contemporary and responsible products" the driving forces of Berger Paints reflect the very spirit of its founder Lewis Berger who laid the foundations of brand Berger way back in 1760 in the UK. With modest beginnings in India in 1923, currently, Berger Paints India Limited is the second largest paint company in the country with a consistent track record of being the fastest growing, quarter on quarter, for the past two years. Undergoing a number of changes in ownership and nomenclature in its 88 year old history in India, the company has come a long way. Starting out as Hadfields (India) Limited, it had just one factory in Howrah, West Bengal. By the close of 1947, Hadfields was acquired by British Paints (Holdings) Limited, UK and came to be known as British Paints (India) Limited. In 1983, it became part of the worldwide Berger group and thereby acquired its present name Berger Paints India Limited. Presently, the majority stake is with the Delhi based Dhingra brothers. From an annual sales turnover of Rs.25 lakhs, business revenues today are in excess of Rs.2,400 crores. Headquartered in Kolkata, with 7 strategically located manufacturing units, and over 85 sales offices, the company also has an international presence in 4 countries. With an employee strength of over 2,500 and a countrywide distribution network of 15,000+ dealers, Berger is acclaimed as a game changer in the sector with a vibrant portfolio of paints and tailor-made customer services in every paint segment. Committed to being a responsible corporate citizen, Berger proactively pursues strategies both within and without that bring multiple societal and environmental benefits to all stakeholders.

OBJECTIVE OF STUDY
The primary objectives of the research are: To critically analyze the detailed model of consumer behavior with respect to advertisement shown by Asian Paints & Berger Paints. To know about the loyalty of customers towards the paint manufacturing companies. To know about the quality standards and requirement of consumers in respect of paints. To analyze the perception of customers towards their satisfaction among different paint products and companies. To give suggestion for the betterment in strategies to attract customers by different paint companies. To study the awareness of paints. To study the purchasing behavior of urban people. To study the pre purchase behavior of paints, To study the post purchase behavior of paints. To know the significance of customer satisfaction and to search an optimum design for an effective customer satisfaction survey. To track and measure the customer satisfaction in relation to Asian Paints & Berger Paints as a product. To know the requirements of the customer satisfaction. To know the level of awareness of the Asian Paints & Berger Paints as product. The secondary objectives of the research are to:

To find what the customers want from Asian paints & Berger Paints Company. Whether there preferences for one product is above the other. Reasons for brand shifting in case of negative feedback. Are the customers satisfied by the services provided by Asian Paints & Berger Paints?

CRITICAL ANALYSIS
This comparison is done on the basis of the good features of an advertisement:

Interior Paint
Berger Paints Product Name Description Berger Silk Bollywood Actress Katrina Kaif showing her sexy style with the wall is so smooth live body skin nobody can live without touch of the wall once you see wall your eye will not go anywhere. One of famous star actress Katrina Kaif is an attraction for the people which ad bring companies product more memorable to the general mass. Berger Rangoli Easy Clean Father and son made up a mess of the wall, then mom comes up and looks at their scared faces and says that its easy clean paint where walls can be washed to remove dirt without affecting the colour. The display is quite capable of getting the attention of the common mass as we can see that the lady in the house who is generally most concerned about the cleanliness and longevity of the house takes everything casually as she knows what has been done can be undone easily. This usually attracts the attention of the wives and even the husbands. The punch line in this display i.e daag jaye par rang na jaye, is quite appealing and people will remember this add for this punch line. The casual approach of the lady shown in this act works as sentimental appeal for all women who usually are the most concerned within the family. Just a wash can free the wall of all dust, dirt and stains.

Attention Factors

Product Name Description

Attention Factor

Memorizing Factor

Sentimental Appeal

Education Factor

Asian Paints Product Name Description Asian Paints Royale (Luxury Emulsion) Saif Ali Khan who was playing video game and and was unaware of the fact that there was a clash between his dog and his house butler, who was carrying some food and drinks for Saif and eventually all the food and drinks gets spilt on the walls making a mess of it, later it could be easily wiped out because of the Teflon surface protector. Attention Factor 1) Saif Ali Khan a Bollywood superstar 2) Less cautious nature while at home Memorizing Factor This advertisement is repeated a lot in most of the commercial and news channels which serves the memorizing factor. Sentimental Appeal Saif Ali Khan a Bollywood superstar and a member of the royal family advertising for Asian Paints Royale. Its a good strategy of Asian Paints to bring both the Royals together. Education Factor Because of the Teflon surface protector in the paint, the walls will not get easily damaged.

Exterior Paints
Berger Paints Product Name Description Weather Coat All Guard Exterior Paints A girl child standing in the window and experiencing the reverse effect of rain i.e. water moving up back to the sky, resembling the same in case of the exterior walls where water will not percolate and damage the construction after the rains. Attention Factor Slogans like Reverse the effect of rain and 7 years of warranty are good for gaining the attention of the viewers. Memorizing Factor Reverse the effect of rain is said a numerous times within the add which will stay in mind easily. Sentimental Appeal Education Factor Keeping the walls fungus free and spotless Presence of silicon pushes water away leaving the walls spotless, fungus free, and rain proof

Asian Paints Product Name Description Asian Paints Ultima Features or key advantages are not shown directly to the customers but through expressions and acts it is made understandable that year after year the exterior paint of the house stays without losing its color and glamour, starting from the birth of the child till marriage. Attention Factor 7 years warranty with colour stay this slogan which means that year after year the conditions of the exterior walls remain unchanged is good in attracting the attention of the viewers. Memorizing Factor 4 to 5 times when the owner of the house tries to tell about the qualities of his son to the different visitors, the visitors without giving attention to his son starts praising or complementing the paint which he has used for his exterior walls. Sentimental Appeal Education Factor No such sentimental stuffs are related to this advertisement No such educating stuffs are related to this advertisement

SWOT ANALYSIS
SWOT analysis of Asian paints & its competitors : COMPANY Strengths Asian Paints Berger paints

1. Market leader in overall 1. In the IInd position in the paint market & in decorative industrial paint sector. paint market in India share 40% 2. Tie up with Herbert-

2. Available in urban & rural Germany valspar of US & area 3. High Quality MR & MIS 4. Pricing policy oriented to all kinds of customer Weakness 1. Industrial paint sector only 1. Overall market position is 15% share not very impressive. Teodor NV of Holland

2. No tie up with foreign 2. Asian paints & Nerolac manufactures. Through it has paints capturing the market units in several countries. 3.Innovation in developing new
product.

buyer for behind

Opportunities

1. Acquiring/ Increasing market 1. share in Industrial paint sector. 2. Developing market in

Come

up

with

new

innovations

automobile

industry,

which

accounts for 50% of Industrial paint market. Threats 1. Domination of few foreign 1. Asian Paints & Nerolac countries paints are well ahead & ICI

2. Nerolac is advancing rapidly paint is competing nearly in Industrial market

Asian paints the market leader of the decorative segment in the paint market of the India. As it is not for behind in the other tow section that is industrial coating and automotive coating. In achieve the current position a lot things are being done by the Asian paints. The promotion strategy of Asian paints is bringing a lot of positive output to the company. Company is using different techniques such ad. Compaign, sales promotion, personal selling, driect marketing and public relation. Promotion strategy : Direct response marketing : Asian paints is using V-sts based in the and 24 hours online customer help line service open. In enable the customer to interact with the company and

know the details about the product, pricing and many things related to the company. Asian paints are dominating the television advertisement by increasing other ad campaign cost over 50% from next year. A total amount of 85 crores is spent on ad campaign by asian paint. With huge ad campaign support behind the product the company is able to making a brand name in the mind of customer. Their particular ad campaign Mera Walla Blue har ghar kuch kehta hay are being liked by the customer. Online marketing for urban customer: Asian paint online marketing system is helping company in lot of ways many customer all the necessary information to the customer. It is an unique way of promotion. Colour world : Asian paint had established 30 colur world thorugh out the country giving the people real taste of colur. The punch line for the colour world is Jjahan Milen world ke saare colour Promoting in different cities : Asian paint have large area of Network of distribution. It has almost retail outlets through out the country situated in the different city of India. All the customer could easily access the product of Asian paint anywhere and any time.

Promotional strategy followed by Asian paints in rural market On of thing which is contributing to the profit of Asian paint is that its entry to the rural market. As Asian paint gets an competitive advantage from its competitor in this sector. As Nerolac and Berger were only targeting the urban customer. First of all Asian paint is bring different low cost product like Utsav group in the rural

market. There packaging very from 200gm to 1 kg \and prices are also relatively low. To enhance their sales in the rural market they are spending a huge amount of money

in ad campaigns. In rural areas they follow sales demonstration programme where they demonstrate

their different product where a large no. of discount is given on the product, lucky coupons, free gifts are given to the customer. Moving vans are being employed to sell their product in different village.

Promotion in international arena Asian paint is taking we from the domestic market and promoting its product in the international market with establishing colour world in those place particularly Caribbean, Africa Middle east Asia and south pacific. A huge amount fund is invested ad campaign for this product in the international market. Promotion through Ad campaign: Asian paint has different brands over 1100 shades targeting different segments. The company decide to promote all the brand under one name of Asian paint This was an advantage for Asian paint in the Low involvement segment as the people asked the paint by brand. Target Audience: The primary target audience for all of the brands marketing and communication activities has been the adult male who is the primary decision maker. However female members of the house play an important role in selecting a shade so a large number of ad are done keeping in mind that thing.. The non-sue of caps in the headline as in the original ad Asian Paint logo which is

sin similar font, the design is meant for better readability and structure of colour used.

The company mascot Gattu an impish boy with the paint tin and the brush, is most

popular and easily reconciled and is one of the ideal mascot. Sales promotion: Asian paint uses it sale promotion as key ingredient in its marketing campaign. It consists of various incentive designed to stimulate faster or greater purchase of their products. Giving discount to the dealer; Asian paint gives certain amount of discount to the dealer if he increases the sales of the company product. Specialty advertising: Giving Asian paint T-shirt, Caps and other small things to painter for their advertisement. Trade show: Asian paint always open its stall in the Industry trade so that it products would be promoted globally. Consumer preference: The customer of Asian vary from a period to a big industry in order to enhance it sales it gives price discount on bulk amount of purchase. The company give coupons inside the paint pack so that could be taken by the customer as a gift from the company. Asian paint always try to improve the packaging of the product. If the product would be fancy and stylish then it would increase the sales of the products. As industrial coating is one of tis major product the company uses the name of the company it supply the paint for its promotion. The promotional strategy adopted by Asian is quite unique apart from having such good strategy the company is using high profile brand ambassador like Akshay Khanna, Saif Alikhan to promote their product in the paint market. Promotional strategy of Asian paint is always aimed looking at customer and this needs and for this strategy company is enjoying the No 1 Position in the Indian paint market.

SERVICE Asian paints are Indias largest paint company & the third largest paint company of Asia today, has an enviable reputation in corporate & society level for its wonderful serving. Asian paints have three different segments: (i) Decorative paints (ii) Industrial & (iii) Automotive paints. Its service strategy is also different according to these segments. (i) Decorative paints: Asian paints some solutions which actually offer a hassle free painting experiences to the consumer is presently available in 11 different cities in India. It is particularly meant for premium consumers. In this case painting is done by experienced, trained applicators & according to the wish & choice of customer in presence of him. Here time bound completions of the job is assured. In the website of Asian paints (www.asianpaint.com) all the details related to the availability of the above facility & the help desk is designed to provide the customer ample choices. Asian paints colour world is the unique paint shop of Asian paint available throughout the India, where consumer can directly see the different paint combinations through software & chose accordingly. In all there cases Asian paints also provide warranty for their products & for home solutions free after paint services to the consumer, if anything wrong happens with the paint. For the rural areas, where the most popular product UTSAV, dominate the market, Asian paint used to organize rallies, car or van advertisement of their product & make aware the people about their services. ii) Industrial paint: Here the products are tested under extreme conditions to ensure their durability & how they can withstand different climatic changes. As corporate level the main consumer here Asian paint used to provide importance in servicing this sector too. Its website gives all

the product details. It provides technical details regarding the uses of the paint. Coating specification, health & safety are also given importance as a part of services. iii) Automotive coatings: In these segment Asian paints is improving its market share with high speed. Here the vehicles ultimately goes to the consumer, so Asian paints used to provide direct consumer service, private cars, motor bikes & MUV (Multi usage vehicles) vehicle manufactures are directly provided with the post paint service. Asian paint have implemented is solutions. Which helped them to overcome the home-grown supply chain, which had certain drawbacks, in terms of customer service? The solution helped them to continuously monitor the changing needs of the market place & serve the customers accordingly. In future so as to become open of largest paint company in the world Asian paints is also taking care of the services they provide. They want to have more feedback from the customers through their website & colour world. It is now turning its helpline into an integral part of its operations. Roughly 75 lakh rupees is considered as the annual service cost. Quality service is the future months of the company.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Sources of Data Collection: Primary source: The primary source of my data collection is carried through questionnaire method. Secondary source: Secondary data about business opportunity and customer base is obtained from internet, various books, magazines and journals. Sample description Method of Sample selection: The method of sample selection is carried through, the Survey Method.(Link of questionnaire through mail, social networking sites). In this method the sample of the respondents are prepared the questionnaire are then sent by post together with a covering letter explaining the purpose of the study and requesting the respondents to extend his cooperation. Size of the Sample: The sampling units are the elements of research; hence the sampling units in my research are the individuals. The sample size is the total number of units in the sample. Hence the total sample size is 30. Sample Analysis: Multiple choice questions are used. Itemised rating scale is used with four categories for more reliable ratings of satisfaction on various elements. Ratio scale is used for those elements, where the answers are more of specific in nature. Example: Yes or No. Open ended questions are also used. The data is summarized and compressed into tabulation form.The simple statistical tools such as percentages, mean values and charts have been used to analyse the data.

LIMITATIONS
No personal interview could be conducted as most of the respondents of the questionnaire were able to answer it only online. A limited sample size of 30 respondents was considered because of time constraint and certain limited boundaries (not specifically mentioned). Research might not reflect the real target market as the total sample size is comparatively less to represent the entire population. The income of the customers was not considered. As information of income is not provided by customers. Hence the level of satisfaction and purchase utility may vary due to this factor. This research is carried on random basis, and through email as mentioned above, therefore the customers are from different areas. Hence the results of this research should not be taken for one particular market place. This data is conducted at primary level therefore it might be subjected to bias. This research is carried by taking internet facility; hence there is not direct contact with the customers.

FINDINGS & ANALYSIS

RECOMMENDATIONS
Asian Paints must improve its service sector. If there are any complaints regarding the product of the Asian paints, the line officers must follow up with calls or emails, if required they must send their workers to repair the damaged caused due to the company's product. There are complaints by the customers regarding the care- free behaviour of the team leaders, resulting in poor customer satisfaction. To avoid this management must try to change the behaviour of the officers as well as team leaders. This can be done by bringing Change Management. Asian Paints Co. must re-treat its primers, in its research laboratories to avoid the inhalation of the harmful fumes and make the products eco-friendly. Asian Paints is one of the best paints, but certain weaknesses still persist, regarding its colour fadedness, adhesion & smoothness. Therefore to avoid this company must have a regular check on its production department and quality department and every activity related to the development of the product. They can do this on regular intervals by adopting techniques like Kaizen technique and Total Quality Management. The customers feel that the advertisements are misleading and fraud. Therefore to remove this negative attitude of the customers the company can demonstrate how to use a particular product and how to utilize and maintain it at its maximum level. At last how to obtain an advertisement look.