A

Project report
on
A Study on Customer Perception and

Market Potential for Indiacom Yellow Pages

for
Indiacom Ltd

Submitted by
Umesh Dnyaneshwar Khadtare
Under the guidance of
Prof. Mahesh Gadekar
Submitted To
University of Pune
In Partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of the degree of
Master of Business Administration (MBA)
(2009-11)
Through
Vishwakarma Institute of Management
Pune-48

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Before we get into the thick of the things I would like to add a few heartfelt
words for the people who were the part of this project in numerous ways people who
gave unending support right from the stage the basic idea was conceived.
This dissertation from a part of my two year M.B.A program and is in partial
fulfillment of the requirement of their in reference.
I acknowledge with sense of reverence my gratitude towards the management
of Indiacom Ltd. for providing me an opportunity to work as a summer trainee in their
esteem organization.
I want to give special thanks to Mr. Palas Chatterjee (Marketing Manager)
and other staff of the company who helped me to complete the project. I also thank
my Director
Dr. Shailesh Kasande and my internal guide Prof. Mahesh Gadekar for guiding me
from time to time.

Umesh D. Khadtare
MBA (MARKETING)
VIM, PUNE

INDEX
Chapter. No. Chapter Name

Page No.
1

Executive Summary

Company Profile

Objectives of the study

27

Research Methodology

31

Data Analysis

39

Findings

54

Suggestions & Conclusions

56

Limitations

60

Bibliography

62

List of Tables

Table No
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

Table Name
Respondents Business
Awareness about Indiacom Yellow Pages
Penetration Of the Company
Competitors Penetration
Perception about Indiacom Yellow Pages
Customer Suggestion
Media used while seeking information
Categories/ Information looked
Respondents view on advertising
Advertising Pattern
Share in Print Media
Preferred media for advertisement by customers
Reason for not advertising in Yellow Pages

Page No.
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52

14

Parameters considered while giving an advertisement

53

Chapter I
Executive Summary

Executive summary

As a part of my curriculum of MBA (Master in Business

Administration) third semester ,I had to do project in my specilization. It was for
two months. I got opportunity to work with Indiacom Ltd. Its been very great
experience to be part of many years old premier and one of the biggest
information sourcing company in the India. Indiacom ltd is one of the old and
premier organisation in information industry. They have very wide market
coverage in the Western India promiently. The organisation is very innovative
and comes up with new products as per technological advancements and
customer expetations. As a part of their Reasearch and

development they

appoint project trainee for their projects.

My project was market research to assess market potential for Yellow
Pages. My project area was limited for Pune city . In the first week itself we all
marketing trainee people were got familirized with the companys products,
services, nature of working, culture, industry, policies and othe related factors
through training sessions. From the next week onwards we had been told to go
to the market randomly. I used to go the market, then meet the concerned
person, give him a brief introduction about the company, ask the questions, get
filled the forms, then submit the forms in the office. This was my general daily
routine. Every week we were having meeting with Senior Marketing Manager
Mr. Palash Chattarjee. We were fortunate enough to have meeting with Director
of the organisation. We were also got opportuinity with interact with different
senior employee of the organisation.

During the project, I had to visit different types of the organisations. I

was not restricted to any specific type of organisation. This was very great
experience as I got a chance to interact with different kinds of the people, having
different business, having different social class, having different educational
qualifications, having different customer base. I met with the concerned person,
in case of their absence I had to meet his/her assistant. During the project I came
to know that every business has its own structure and requirement. Sometime
it was used to happen that concerned person was not at all having time to meet
me. In that case I used to leave that customer and went on to meet next.Finally
collected data had to be given in the office to the concerned person for database
updation.
I undertook descriptive type of research in order to know
understand market characteristics and behaviour characteristics. The sample
size taken by me was 100. They were chosen as a prospective customers. They
were from diverse organisations. Feedback from customers is taken through
questions from questionnairs. The objective of the research was to assess market
potential for yellow pages as the product is in maturity stage. I chalked out the
research design to carry out the research process. Then I analysed and
interpreted the collected data with the help of various statistical and analytical
tools.
From the analysis of the collected data, I came to know very
interesting facts. The trend in the advertising industry is going to be online
media based. More and more people are using the internet for seeking any type
of information and they require it oftenly. The company is having an average

penetration in the market. The major competitor of the company is Tata

Infomedia Yellow Pages followed by Just Dial.
As technology is having its impact on each and every type of business.So
it does have on advertising industry. So the organisantions in advertising
industry basically in print media needs to do an introspection and try to
concentrate on online media as early as possible.

Chapter II

Company Profile

Company History

M/S Indiacom Limited formerly known as Sesa Seat Information

system Limited was incorporated in technial and financial collaboration between
Sesa Goa Ltd and Seat Spa of Italy on 21 st January 1988. During the year 1988,
Seat Italy had decided to step out of this joint venture as their global policy and
they had disinvested their shareholdingwhich was 40% in favour of core
Managers of the

company at a nominal price. Subsequently company had

reconstituted the board and the eminant personalities of International repute and
broad vision were appointed as directors who gave new direction to the
company.
In the Information Business - Indiacom's main objective is to compile
authentic business information, categories and disseminate it in the form of
Directories including Telephone Directory with Yellow Pages, Stand-alone
Yellow

Pages,

Yellow

Pages

Online,

SMS

and

Voice.

Company started baning with Canara Bank in1991-92. The dealings of

the company over the last decade are satisfactory. The company has been giving
large quantum of Non-fund business for issue of Bank Guarantee and Letter of
credits. In order to cater the growing need of additional finance company has
formed consortium with induction of Citi Bank as a member bank with sharing
pattern of 60:40 in 2000-01.

10

Company profile
Indiacom Limited (formerly known as Sesa Seat Information Systems
Limited) was formed in technical & financial collaboration between Sesa Goa
Limited and STETS S.p.a. of Italy (a Division of IRI) on 21st of January 1988 to
add

wider

dimension

to

the

Information

Industry

in

India.

In the Information Business - Indiacom's main objective is to compile

authentic business information, categories and disseminate it in the form of
Directories including Telephone Directory with Yellow Pages, Stand-alone
Yellow

Pages,

Yellow

Pages

Online,

SMS

and

Voice.

A professionally managed company, Indiacom has a strong network of 18 branches

with a dominant presence in Western India. The Company has a strong presence,
particularly in the most industrialized states of India - Maharashtra, Gujarat & Punjab.
It has now expanded its branches to all important business locations across the
country.

Indiacom is involved in printing and publishing of Telephone Directory and

Yellow Pages for Pune, Ahmedabad & Hyderabad amongst the mini-metros, for
Bhubneshwar, Faridabad-Gurgaon, Rajkot & Vadodara amongst the faster developing
cities & for Aurangabad, Bhavnagar, Dhenkanal, Jamnagar, Jind, Junagadh,
Khargone, Rewari, Rourkela, Sambalpur & Warangal amongst the emerging cities.
Indiacom also publishes stand-alone publications like the Regional Business
Directories, Homemaker's Guide, Neighborhood Guides, and Mall Guides across
multiple

regions

and

cities.

Many

more

projects

are

in

the

pipeline.

11

Indiacom believe in providing complete and comprehensive information in the most

easy-to-refer formats and this has been the endeavor all along. This is manifested
through its product line.
Most members of the core team have been with the company almost since its
inception and have served the company for more than five years & another about
hundred employees have been serving the organisation between two to five years.
Indiacom has an ideal mix of experienced and young blood to take on the
challenges of the millennium.

Average age of the Board Members

Average age of the Managers
Average age of the Support Staff
Average age of the Field Force
Average age of the Total Employees

56 yrs.
34 yrs.
25 yrs.
27 yrs.
31 yrs.

Statistics
Cities with BSNL's Telephone Contracts handled till date
No. of Editions Published till date
No. of Personnel Employed
No. of BSNL's Contracts in Hand
No. of Stand Alone Yellow Pages Directory

35
350
274
14
22

Infrastructure

Indiacom Limited has a strong network of 28 branches with a

dominant presence in Western India. The manpower strength is 274, of which 98 work

12

out

of

the

Corporate

Head

Quarters

in

Pune.

Organization Chart

Managing Director

13

General Manager

Deputy General Manager

Regional Manager

Divisional Sales Manager

Head of Location

Area Sales Manager

Sales Executive

Profile of the Board of Directors

Sir Natalino Duo Chairman

14

Chairman of the company. He is an Italian national and was earlier the Director of
the company in 1994-95 as a representative from SEAT S.p.a He has a vast experience
in Corporate Management and was the Chief of Intrernational Activity Division at
SEAT, Italy till 1995. He was the CEO of PERFETTI in India from 1996-99.

Ashok Mandore- Managing Director

A Postgraduate in Business Management from Bajaj Institute, Mumbai, he has
held various management positions with business houses before joining the company
in 1990 as General Manager. He has over 32 years of experience in the industry.

Abhey Yograj - Director

He is the Chairman & Managing Dierctor of tecnova India Pvt. Ltd.
New Delhi and on the Board of Loreal India Ltd., zaffiro Fashions Ltd., Cortec
Hygiene Products Ltd. and many other companies. He specializes in setting up
operations of foreign companies in India. He has vast experience in business
management covering board spectrum of Industries.

Dr. MadanMohan Rao Director

As a member of Indiacom Board, Dr. Rao contributes in the formulation of
strategies of Growth in the electronic media particularly, Internet and E-Commerce. A

15

graduate from IIT-Bombay and a Computer Science Doctorate from the University of
Massachusetts, He is a well known Information Technology Consultant with special
interest

in

Web related areas. He is a regular contributor to the press and one on the sought after
speakers on the subject of Internet in India and Abroad.

Ashok Dhingra Director

Ashok Dhingra is a management graduate with vast experience of 35 years in
diverse businesses in well known multinational companies. Started his career in 1970
with Hindustan Lever (now Hindustan Unilever). He worked for over 23 years in
different businesses and diverse functions of Hindustan Lever Limited across the
country before moving on to join Perfetti Ven Melle at its inception in 1994, where he
worked for the next 10 years to become the international Marketing Director and
established the company as a front runner in confectionary space in India

V.Srinivasa Rao- Whole- time Director

A Fellow Member of the Institute of company secretaries of India, he had
earlier held the position of Vice president (Corporate Affairs) and company Secretary
before being co-opted as a member on the Board of Directors of the company. With
the company since 1989, he has with him a rich experience of more than 29 years in
the field of Accounts, Finance, Law and Corporate Affairs.
Vision, Mission & Objective

Our Vision:-

16

To be the Most Admired Global Player in the Information Industries.

Our Mission:-

To make available reliable, uninterrupted and quality information to our

customers.
Our goal:-

Our immediate goal is to become the most preferred directory &

yellow pages publisher.
Objective:-

Indiacoms main objective is to compile authentic business

information, categories and disseminate.

Company Product Line

1.Regional Business Directory

17

With almost all cities and towns across the country being interlinked
commercially, there exists a tremendous need to have access to business
information of cities with a high level of business transactions. In response to
this information need, Indiacom has introduced a range of print directories under
the name of Business Users' Guide and the Regional Business Directory, which
compiles

and

disseminates

information

across

the

region.

Indiacom has published the Business Users' Guide for Hyderabad, soon to be
followed by one for Vadodara. The South Gujarat Business Directory was the
first of the block, followed by RBDs for Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and
Gujarat

2. Online yellow pages

In this information age, every Organization and Individual has to keep a
breast of technical innovations and newer channels of reaching out to their
business partners. Indiacom has launched www.Indiacom.com - the country's
most comprehensive yellow page online with information of over 11, 50,000
businesses in India spread 2000+ categories and 32 locations including metros,
mini-metros . The Indiacom Yellow Pages on CD covers business information
across 28 cities, 4, 50,000+ Listings and 2000+ Categories.

3. Homemakers Guide

18

The Homemaker's Guide is Yellow Pages primarily targeted at Home

Makers. One of the first of its kind, the Homemaker's Guide disseminates
business information on home usage needs. Changing family patterns, lifestyles
and high level of mobility among professionals, the Homemakers Guide
provides in-depth information on all B2C products and services.

Research

shows that the average homemaker is reluctant to use mainline Yellow Pages as
most of the content is business related. Indiacom, therefore, has taken utmost
care to cover all home-related categories while minimizing the business related
content

to

negligible

levels.

The Homemaker's Guide has a lot of interesting features like Shopping Offers,
City Information Pages, Discount Coupons & much more... The typical
Homemaker's Guide would have 18,000 business listings across more than 650
categories catering to home needs

4. Mall Guide
The Indiacom Mall Guide is an attractive Shopping Guide aimed at
providing guidance to Shoppers in identifying outlets, which offer the best of
brands, products and services. A colorful, attractive and handy compilation, the
Mall Guide provides prospective shoppers multiple choices of outlets / locations
for shopping, browsing and also information on avenues of entertainment.

5. Neighbourhood Guide

19

Neighborhood Guide provides in-depth information on your immediate

locality, which includes topical articles related to the area. It also provides
information on all outlets situated in the neighborhood making it extremely
convenient to shop around. Indiacom recently launched the neighborhood Guide
in Pune for "Kalyani Nagar" and "Kondhwa". The response has been so
overwhelmingly positive that Indiacom will soon be presenting Neighborhood
Guides for various important localities across Pune City.

6. Specility Directories

At last count, there were more than 2000 events across the country in 2004.
Indiacom, with over 18 years of expertise in the dissemination of business
information, has the infrastructure to provide back-end support to Organizers of
events, Expos and Exhibitions to bring out well, put together Directories on the event
in

print

and/or

on

CD

ROM

and

Online.

"Your Handy Guide on the Move" - the Pocket Pages is specially conceptualized and
designed taking into consideration the needs of any person traveling within the city or
a visitor to the city. This book contains all Emergency and Utility Service numbers
presented in a format ideal to be kept in your pocket or the purse, hence a source of
information when you are neither at your home nor at the office.

7. Tourist Guide

20

Tourism is one of the most dynamic sectors today. Given the need for
updated and authentic information on tourist cities, Indiacom launched "Hello!
GAO", which provides all the information a tourist requires in GAO. This is the
first of the 'Hello!' series of products.

8. Business Users Guide

Indiacom Yellow Pages Plus, our line of Stand Alone Yellow Pages products
reach out to businesses in commercially important cities across the country like
Goa, Nashik, Ludhiana, Chandigarh, etc.

9. Phone Book with Yellow Pages

The Company publishes the Official BSNL Phone Book with Indiacom
Yellow Pages in mini-metros like Pune, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, FaridabadGurgaon, Rajkot, Jamnagar, Bhubaneswar, Rourkela, etc. With a total print run
of over 2.75 million copies this year, the Phone Book reaches all Telephone
Subscribers in these cities.

10. Meri Website

Meri website is ideal for businesses who are looking for a full-featured
professional website small & growing businesses who wants to establish a strong,
professional presence on Internet It Offers a comprehensive and content rich website

21

reflecting a Prominent image of your Company on Internet. It Offers Quick Start

Online Presence exclusively quickly & affordably on www.indiacom.com

11. Tell me

Indiacom has just taken the lead in launching a Unique Voice Based Service with a
difference. Unlike other services that provide callers information on products,
services

and

businesses,

TellMe

goes

step

further.

Callers can get information on Special Offers, Discounts, Train Info & lots more on in
the city for the product/service category that they want. This would help potential
buyers get the biggest bang from every rupee they spend. Initially launched in Pune,
Ask Indiacom will soon be launched in other cities across the country too.

Departments

22

The company is having following departments.

o Marketing
o Human Resource
o Accounts
o Data Collection and Processing
o Research and Development

Note on Competitor

Infomedia India Limited

A professionally managed information media cum commercially printing company
from ICICI group. Initially started publishing Telephone Directory with Yellow Pages

23

(TDYP) with contracts of Ahmadabad and Rajkot. It entered in Mumbai in 1992 with
Stand Alone publication by taking advantage of absence of TDYP in the Metros.
Presently pubishing SYP for four metros- Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras and four
mini metros- Ahmadabad, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune. Also ventured into
publications activities at Vadodara, Ludhiana, Coimbatore and Indore. It have
business plan, vision similar to Indiacom ltd and has made a soft launch of Talking
Y.P. at Mumbai. The aim of the company is to acquire a decent market share in these
locations. They follow aggressive market techniques to solicit customers.
Infomedia is into different line of business. They are only publishing only private
Yellow Pages. They are competing with Indiacom in few locations. Infomedia is very
active in Mumbai and Delhi and majority of their revenue comes from these locations.
We are not present in these two locations. Two years back it was acquired by ICICI
ventures and brand name Tata is no longer used. Plan of owners are not clear as yet.

Just Dial
Corporate office located at Mumbai. Presently concentrating on voice located at Pune,
Delhi, Banglaore, Hydrabad, Chennai and Culcutta. They are active now and have
raised private equity funds at good valuation. It is one of the major competitors of the
Indiacom Ltd.

24

Indiacoms working nature in short.

Collection of Information:

Indiacom.com compiles information through various

sources/channels like:

25

1. You provide us information through' phone directly, via marketing or through'

order forms filled by you at the time of booking an advertisement with us.
2. Your data is collected when you login to our website for any information you
seek.
3. Your feedback, suggestions & queries via emails or letters.
4. From publicly available sources of information like newspapers, magazines.
5. From other Telecommunication & information service providers.
6. Your business associates, etc.

Usage of Information
1. To verify your identity
2. To inform you how to use our services better

26

3. To conduct appropriate checks for credit-worthiness & other related financial

matters.
4. To keep you updated with changes in our products & services.
5. To assist you to understand your audience and confirm the value of
advertising on our website.
6. To promote & market your services to our other users.
7. To contact you from time to time about the improvised & updated versions of
your content which would provide the users such features that would benefit
you.
8. To provide response to your inquiry or to process your requests.
9. To research, develop, improvise & monitor the performance of the structure
of our website.
10. To deliver user-friendly website to the interest of our users.

Disclosure of Information:

27

In order to deliver the services you require and for the purposes set out above,
Indiacom may disclose your personal information to entities outside Indiacom.
The disclosure may be done:

For the purpose of marketing, customer enquiry.

For Billing & Debt recovery functions.

To credit providers, bankers.

To our professional consultants, advisors, auditors & lawyers.

To other telecommunication & information service providers.

To promote your business.

For market research

Indiacom takes reasonable steps to ensure confidentiality and privacy
obligations towards protection of your personal information.
Indiacom uses two types of form for agreement purpose A form & B form

Terms and conditions of agreement.

A form

1.Definition & validity : By virtue of signature the customer authorise Indiacom

limited (hereafter referred to as Indiacom) to proceed with the offer for

28

inclusion of the advertisement in Indiacom print publication / voice service/

online pages as applicable and stated in the offer on the following terms and
conditions.

2.

Indiacom is responsible only for those omission and errors in the

advertisement which annual or seriously damages the effectiveness of the same

and are noticed by registered post within 90 days from the date of publication of
the yellow pages and or directories /inclusion in the voice service/Hosting on the
websites. Moreover the condition customer absolves Indiacom (and those acting
on Indiacom behalf) from any responsibility arising out of the provision of the
contracted service and also from non-implementation of part implementation
thereof, to early or delayed implementation and the modification and
completeness of the same.

3. Customer hereby agrees that general terms and conditions mentioned herein
and commercial terms & advertisement size /specification mentioned in the
invoice sent by Indiacom, consequent to the acceptance of this offer shall be
binding upon both Indiacom and the customer. Customer shall intimate
Indiacom of discrepancy, if any in the invoice by registered post
acknowledgement due within 7days of its receipt
.
4. The customer expressly permits Indiacom full liberty in the matter of
positioning of the artwork /text for printing under the appropriate
category/classification, in case of advertisement in print. For voice and online
advertisement Indiacom provides no guarantee of listing out the advertisers

29

name at top or in any preference, unless specifically informed. The listing of the
advertisement shall be in the order of results provided by computer programme
developed by Indiacom taking in to account various factors like optimum
utilization of space, viewers convenience etc. No special position is assured and
any commitment made otherwise from the authorised representative shall not be
binding on Indiacom.

5. Indiacom reserves the right to continue the service under the same brand
name club the service with some other service of the company, to discontinue
the service ,change the telephone number /online pages/in which service will be
provided at any time without an obligation to informed the customer in advance.

6. No cancellation of advertisement can be accepted after the advertisement on

voice has commenced /advertisement or listing hosted on websites /processing
of directory has begun. No refund shall be made on such cancellation.

7. Indiacom shall be entitled to reject text /advertisement contents of which

do not conform to the norms of decency/are obscene/which violate any law.

30

Chapter III

Objective of the Study

31

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

Objectives are the statements that researcher wants to achieve. They

should be meaningful, specific, attainable, and measurable. Objectives are of two
types, primary and secondary.
Indiacom Ltd. is one of the old and premier institutions for
collection, maintenance, and dissemination of authentic business information. It has
different directories, publications under its name and they are successful. The study
undertaken by me was market research about Pune Directory plus Yellow Pages. It is
telephone directory containing name, address, and even advertisement of the small
and large business organization of registered customers. It is concentrated at both
B2B as well as B2C customers. The product is in maturity stage in life cycle of the
product.
In the new era of Digital World, there is considerable
impact of technology on day-to-day living. One of the most important technological
advancement is evolution of Internet. It is forcing every business organization
whether small or big, regional or multi-national to change their nature of working.
The nature of business organization is changing every day. They are trying to adapt
the technological advancement. So it was also important for organization to do
introspection about its products as most of them were in print format. Internet has
changed the pattern in advertising industry to the considerable extent. Todays market
is competition driven. There is a cut throat competition in the industry like never
before. New entrants also posing considerable amount of threat.

32

Due to growth in Information industry there is great demand for authentic

information. Various big houses are also fascinated by this industry. Thus threat from
new entrants is also looming. Thus in order to retain organizations customer base, it
was very important to re-assess the existing market situations. There was need to
know what customers think about the product, what are their expectations from the
product, what changes they would like to see in the product and so on. The threat
from established organizations is also increasing. They are also trying to explore new
ways to retain their position in the market. So in response to that organization was
required to do introspection on various fronts.
Advertising industry is also in boom. With technological advancements
it has also shaded its old form. Statistics shows that there is considerable scope in an
advertising industry. Internet has also changed the way organizations used to
advertise. So it was also important to predict the advertising trend that is going to
prevail. More and more people and organization are concentrating large part of their
advertisement expenditure on internet. Thus it is hampering the print industry.
Finally every organization aims at large profit margin, so it was necessary to
identify the prospective customers in order to increase profits.

33

Objectives

Primary Objective

To assess market potential for Yellow Pages

Secondary Objectives

To know market penetration of the company.

To know customers perception about the product.

To know the preferred media for advertising by the prospective customers.

To identify the prospective customers.

Chapter IV

34

Research Methodology

Research Design

The main objective of Research Design is to study and conduct market research
on feedback; perception of the customers and also to analyze satisfaction level of the

35

customer in a economical way and simultaneously it has to linked with business

strategy and should respond to emerging scenarios in the market place.

The effective market research process involves following steps.

1. Problem Definition
2. Research Objectives
3. Research Design
4. Sources of Data
5. Data Collection
6. Data Analysis
7. Report and Presentation

Each aspect is described in brief as follow.

1. Problem Definition
First of all we have to define the problem. In problem definition, it is important to be
specific, avoid ambiguities and generalities.

2. Research Objective
The objectives of research process should be specific, attainable, and measurable.
3. Research Design
There are three types of research designs namely Exploratory, Descriptive and
Causative. After considering our problem and objective, Descriptive Research was
preferred.

36

Descriptive Research
It is undertaken when researcher wants to understand the behavioural characteristics.

4. Sources of Data
Data is of two types, primary and secondary data.

Primary Data is collected through primary sources. The method adopted here is the
personal interview with the help of questionnaire. The questions asked were of close
ended type.

Secondary Data was collected from the Internet, Newspapers, various Govt , Private
Publications and Magazines. The major advantage of secondary data was economical
and time saving.

5. Data Analysis

37

The collected data is analyzed with the help of various analytical tools to interpret the
data. Most commonly used tools were arithmetic analysis. On the basis of analysis
logical conclusion, suggestion had been drawn out.

6. Report and Presentation

Finally report on market research had been prepared and submitted to the decision
maker.

Scope Of The Study

38

Indiacom Ltd. is one of the old and premier institutions for collection,
maintenance, and dissemination of authentic business information. It has different
directories, publications under its name and they are successful. The study undertaken
by me was market research about Pune Directory plus Yellow Pages. It is telephone
directory containing name, address, and even advertisement of the small and large
business organization of registered customers. It is concentrated at both B2B as well
as B2C customers. The product is in maturity stage in life cycle of the product.

The study conducted by me explores around benefits, limitations, areas to be

improved and other aspects of the product.

In the new era of Digital World, there is considerable impact of technology

on day-to-day living. One of the most important technological advancement is
evolution of Internet. It is forcing every business organization whether small or big,
regional or multi-national to change their nature of working. The nature of business
organization is changing every day. They are trying to adapt the technological
advancement. So it was also important for organization to do an introspection about
its products as most of them were in print format. Internet has changed the pattern in
advertising industry to the considerable extent.

Due to growth in Information industry there is great demand for

authentic information. Various big houses are also fascinated by this industry. Thus

39

threat from new entrants is also looming. Thus in order to retain organizations
customer base, it was very important to re-assess the existing market situations. There
was need to know what customers think about the product, what are their
expectations from the product, what changes they would like to see in the product and
so on. The threat from established organizations is also increasing.
They are also trying to explore new ways to retain their position in the
market. So in response to that organization was required to do introspection on
various fronts.
Advertising industry is also in boom. With technological advancements
it has also shaded its old form. Statistics shows that there is considerable scope in an
advertising industry. Internet has also changed the way organizations used to
advertise. So it was also important to predict the advertising trend that is going to
prevail. More and more people and organisation are concentrating large part of their
advertisement expenditure on internet. Thus it is hampering the print industry.
Finally every organization aims at large profit margin, so it was necessary to
identify the prospective customers in order to increase profits.

So it was very essential to re-evaulate, reassess the market potential for the
product. Internet has also affected the way people seek the information. So it had
affected the market potential for yellow pages. It was essential to know what
customers think about the product, what were their expectations, trend in advertising
sector, to know about the competitors, in order to survive.

Methodology

40

* Sample Size and Description:-

After deciding on the research approach and instruments, I decided to design a

sampling plan. Sampling method was suitable as it was not possible to cover each and
every prospective customer. The key to reliable conclusion is the sampling procedure
or the manner in which sample is drawn. Samples were selected by random method of
sampling.

The sample size was taken to be 100 customers of which 5-7 customers were visited
individually every day.

PROCEDURE OF DATA COLLECTION

For collecting the data, procedure adopted was survey method. In surveying ,
personal contact method was preferred because of its higher response rates and more
meaningful responses.

TOOLS FOR DATA COLLECTION

Tool used for collection of data was questionnaire. A questionnaire consists of set of
questions to be presented to the respondents .Questionnaire needs to be carefully
developed, tested and debugged before they are administered on large scale.
Questions designed were of close ended type. The chief person or purchase manager
was contacted for the feedback.

41

Project area was Pune city .There was no specific area that was assigned to me. I was
asked to go on my own to any area. During the project I visited many small and
medium scale industries, public limited organizations, multi-national corporations,
corporate offices, institutions, Govt undertakings, M.I.D.C. areas of Pimri,
Chinchwad. I had visited manufacturing and service industries, institution, and
corporate office, small and big organization whatever I found in my way. My project
was not confined that I have to visit selected companies. The product given to me
could be requirement of any company.

I had to visit the owner of the organization or purchase manager of the

organization. Then I had to ask them questions from the questionnaire and some
unwritten questions about their general business working nature. I had to collect their
visiting cards and signature, designation of the person to be interviewed. Sometimes it
happened that the concerned person or the decision maker or purchase manager were
not present. So I required again going to that organization and trying to meet the
concerned person. In case of big and multi-national organizations, there were
circumstances that senior purchase manager was not present at the time or they had to
be very busy that they didnt entertained me, then I had to contact junior purchase
manager or assistant purchase manager. Thus so collected information was to given to
the concerned person in my organization, then they were required to update their
database. The database of the organization had to be segregated sector-wise.

Chapter V

42

Data Analysis and Interpretation

Q.1 What kind of business do you deal in?

43

Table No.1
Respondents Business
Sr. No

Name

No of Respondents

Percentage

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Real Estate
Automobile
Dealers
Hospital
Hotels
Travel agency
Home Appliances
Others
Total

14
13
11
7
15
13
11
16
100

14
13
11
7
15
13
11
16
100

14

16

Real Estate
Automobile
13

11

Dealers
Hospital
Hotels

11

13

Travel agency
Home Appliances
Others

15

Graph No.1

Above graph shows the information about business type of the respondents.
According to graph the respondents are from diverse area of business.

Q.2 Do you know about Indiacom Yellow Pages?

Table No.2

44

Awareness about Indiacom Yellow Pages

Sr No
1
2

Particulars
Yes
No
Total

No of Respondents
67
33
100

Percentage
67%
33%
100

Awarness about Indiacom Yellow Pages

33

67

Yes

No

Graph No.2
From above graph it is clear those 67% respondents are aware of Indiacom Yellow
Pages and 33% are unaware about the product.

Q.3 Have you received copy of Indiacom Directory plus Yellow Pages?
Table No.3
Penetration of the Company

45

Sr No
1
2

Particulars
Yes
No
Total

No of Respondents
49
51
100

Percentage
49%
51%
100

51.5
51

51

50.5
50
49.5
49
48.5

49

48
Yes

No

Graph No.3
From above graph it is clear that out of 100 respondents 49% respondents have
received copy of Indiacom Yellow Pages and that of 51% havent received the
directory.

Q.4 If not which directory you refer?

Table No.4
Competitors Penetration
Sr No
1
2

Particular
Tata Infomedia
Maharashtra Industrial Directory

No of Respondents
26
11

Percentage
51%
22%

46

3
4

Citizen
Other
Total

9
5
51

18%
9%
100

Tata Infomedia
26

Maharashtra Industrial
Directory
Citizen
Other

11

Graph No.4
It is clear from above graph that out of the remaining respondents 51% refers Tata
Infomedia Directory followed by Maharashtra Industrial Directory i.e.22% then
Citizen 18% and 9% refers local directory.

Q.5 How would you rate Indiacom Yellow Pages?

Table No.5
Perception about Indiacom Yellow Pages
Sr No
1
2
3
4

Particular
Useful
Very Useful
Satisfactory
Not Satisfactory

No of Respondents
19
27
3
-

Percentage
39%
55%
6%
-

47

Total

49

100

Satisfaction Level
27

30
25

19

20
15
10
3

55%

6%

Very Useful

Satisfactory

39%

0
Useful

Not satisfactory

Graph No.5
It is clear from above graph that out of the total respondents who refer Indiacom
Yellow Pages 39% feel that it is useful, 55% think that it is very useful, 6% think that
it is satisfactory. There was no single respondent that think that product is not
satisfactory.
Q.6 Do you think that product needs an improvement?
Table No.6
Customer Suggestion
Sr No
1
2

Particular
Yes
No
Total

No of Respondents
2
47
49

Percentage
4%
96%
100

48

4%

Yes
No

96%

Graph No.6
From above graph it is clear that out of the total respondents who refers Indiacom
Yellow Pages, 4% think that product need any improvement while
96% feel that product doesnt need any improvement.

Q.7 Which media you use while seeking information?

Table No.7
Media used while seeking information
Sr No
1
2
3

Particular
Print
Online
Voice
Total

No of Respondents
34
52
14
100

Percentage
34%
52%
14%
100

49

Media Usage For Information Seeking

60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Print

Online

Voice

Graph No.7
Above graph shows that while seeking any information, 34% people refer to print
media, 52% people refer to online media, and 14% people refer to voice media.
It can be interpreted from above graph that more people are using internet for seeking
information followed by print media and then voice media.
Q.8 What type of information you look for?
Table No.8
Categories/ Information looked
Sr. No
1
2

Categories/information looked
Product related
Service related
Total

No of Respondents
71
29
100

Percentage
71%
29%
100

50

Categories/Information looked
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Product Related

Service Related

Graph No.8
Above graph shows that 71 times information required by the user is of product
related and 29 times it is service related.
First three graphs shows the trend prevailing in information industry i.e. media used
by the people.
It can be interpreted from above three graphs that people require information quite
often about product related and they prefer online media for that purpose.
Q.9 Do you think your business needs an advertisement?
Table No.9
Respondents view on advertising
Sr No
1
2
3

Particular
Yes
No
Total

No of Customer
72
28
100

Percentage
72%
28%
100

51

80
70
60
50
40

72

30
20
28

10
0
Yes

No

Graph No.9
It is clear from above graph that 72% people think that their business needs an
advertisement while 28% dont think their business need an advertisement.

Q.10 Do you have an advertisement on any of the following media?

Table No.10
Advertising Pattern
Sr No
1
2
3
4
5

Particular
Print
Online
Voice
No
Total

No of Respondents
13
51
8
28
100

Percentage
13%
51%
8%
28%
100

52

Advertising Pattern
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Print

Online

Voice

No

Graph No.10
Above graph shows that out of 100 people, 13% people have advertised in Print
Media, 51% in Online Media while 8% in Voice media and 28% people havent made
any advertisement.
From above graph it is clear that people are more interested in online advertising then
followed by print media advertising and voice media advertising.
Q.11 Where you have given your advertisement?
Table No.11
Share in Print Media
Sr No
1
2
3

Particular
Indiacom Yellow Pages
Tata Infomedia
Maharashtra Industrial Directory
Total

No of Respondents
4
7
2
13

Percentage
31%
54%
15%
100

53

Customer Division
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

Graph No.11
From above graph it is clear that 31% people are having an advertisement in Yellow
pages, 54% in Tata Infomedia Yellow pages and 15% in Maharashtra Industrial
directory.
It can be interpreted from above figure that Tata Infomedia Yellow Pages is
dominant player followed by Indiacoms Yellow Pages.

Q.12 On which media do you feel your presence is necessary?

Table No.12
Preferred media for advertisement by customers
Sr No
1
2
3

Particular
Print
Online
Voice
Total

No of Respondents
19
68
13
100

Percentage
19%
68%
13%
100

54

Preferred Media for Advertisement by the customers

80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Print

Online

Voice

Graph No.12
Above graph shows that 68% people have preference for online media followed by
print media i. e. 19% and then followed by voice media i.e. 13%.
It can be interpreted from above graph that trend in advertising industry is going to be
online media based.

Q. 13 Why you dont give an advertisement in Yellow Pages?

Table No.13
Reason for not advertising in Yellow Pages
Sr No
1
2
3
4

Particular
Outdated
High Cost
Already given in other media
Other Reasons
Total

No of Respondents
29
7
18
5
59

Percentage
49%
12%
31%
8%
100

55

35
30
25
20
15

29
18

10
5
0

7
12%
3

31%
2

49%
1

5
8%
4

Graph No.13
It is clear from above graph that out of the total respondents 49% think that Yellow
Pages are outdated, 12% think its cost is high, 31% respondents have already gave
their advertisement in other media while 8% respondents dont advertise in Yellow
Pages for other reasons.

Q.14 What factors you will consider while giving an advertisement?

Table No.14
Parameters considered while giving an advertisement
Sr No
1
2
3
4

Particulars
Cost
Brand Name
Discounts/Schemes
Additional free facilities
Total

No of Respondents
42
23
31
3
100

Percentage
42%
23%
31%
3%
100

56

Parameters considered
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0

Graph No.14
Above graph shows that 43% people think of the cost while giving the advertisement,
23% people think of brand of the organization, 31% think of discounts and schemes
given and 3% thinks of additional free facilities.
It can be interpreted from above graph that most of the organization thinks of the
cost when giving the advertisement.

Chapter VI

Findings

57

FINDINGS

The market penetration of the company is quite satisfactory.

The company is having average awareness in the market.

The customers perception about the product is good.

The major competitor of the company is Tata Infomedia.

In case of the advertising people are more interested in online media.

Most of the customers are highly satisfied from the services & products provided
by Indiacom Limited.

58

Most of customer is negative towards print media, because of improper services.

Chapter VII
Suggestions and Conclusions

59

Suggestions

The distribution pattern of the product needs to be revised.

The company needs a strong advertising campaign in an order to remind the

customer about the product and the company.

The salesperson needs to increase their daily calls, more appointments with
clients.

The company should concentrate on online media.

The company should reconsider their pricing strategy for print media.

Conclusions

60

 Most of the advertising agencies are basically interested in catering to just the
needs of the customer irrespective of the nature of the product or service proposed
to be advertised.

In Pune most of the companies are well aware about the Indiacom yellow pages
and its special features.

Respondents give first preference to the product performance followed by

reliability of product and then to the price.

From analysis we can find that most lucrative market for yellow pages is service
and manufacturing sector.

Most of the customers are influenced by advertisement and according to their

opinion most effective media of advertisement is print media.

Most of the firms have planned to give there advertisement in yellow pages in
future so that Indiacom has a good chance to capture the market.

During my research I also found that most of the people want to stick with online
advertising because of lack of knowledge of yellow pages.

Yellow pages are the best kind of advertisement media available over a long period of
time. And its more beneficial for the company. The other services provided by Indiacom
like tell me and online are helpful to the company.

61

Chapter VIII
Limitations

62

Limitations

63

The research is totally based on opinion of respondents which may vary

depending upon their personal view.

AREA LIMITATION: The study was limited to particular area only. Hence

findings may differ from other parts of Pune city where I have not visited
NON-RESPONSE ERROR: It is almost impossible to obtain data from each
& every respondent covered in sample. There are always some respondents

who refuse to give information.

Most of the times the concerned person was not present so I had to contact

his/her assistant. Due to which it was not possible to get expected response.
TIME CONSTRAINT: There was time constraint to this project. The project

has to be completed within 2 months.

Some big organizations do not allow marketing executives to entertain into the

company.
The research project was for all organizations. Hence it was not possible to do
sector-wise analysis.

Chapter IX
Bibliography

64

BIBLOGRAPHY
Books
Marketing Management-Rajan Saxena

Internet sites
www.indiacom.com
www.infomedia.com
www.justdial.com

65

Annexure

QUESTIONNAIRE
1. Name of the Organization

66

2. Nature of Business:
___________________________________________________________________
3. Address:
_____________________________________________________________________
________________
Pin code: ____________ Tel No: ___________________ Fax: ______________ Web:
________________________

5. Name of the Owner

________________________________________________________

6. Mobile

: _________________________

E-Mail: ______________________________________________

7. Do you know about Yellow Pages?

A. Yes
B. No
8. Do you know about Indiacom Yellow Pages?
A. Yes
B. No
9. Have you received Directory plus yellow pages of this year?
A. Yes
B. No
10. How would you rate Indiacom Yellow Pages?
A.
Useful

67

B.
C.
D.

Very Useful
Satisfactory
Not Satisfactory

13. Do you think that product needs to be improved?

A. Yes
B. No
14. Suggestions

15. If not which directory you refer?

16 .Which directive media you generally use to seek information?

A. Print
B. Online
C. Voice

17 .What type of categories/information you look for?

A. Product Related
B. Service Related
18. Do you think your business needs an advertisement?
A. Yes
B. No

19. Do you have advertisement on any of the following media?

A. Print
B. Online
C. Voice
D. No

68

20. Where you have given your advertisement?

21. On which media do you feel your presence is necessary?

A. Print
B. Online
C. Voice
21. What parameters you will consider while giving an advertisement?
A. Price
B. Brand Name
C. Discounts/ Schemes
D. Additional Free Facilities

69