1

A PROJECT REPORT
ON
E-COMMERCE AND ITS BENEFITS IN
PRINT MEDIA
towards Partial Fulfillment Of

Post Graduate Diploma in Management

(Approved by AICTE, Govt. of India)

Academic Session 2014-2016

Faculty Guide:
PROF. Vijendra Dhyani

Submitted By:
Anish D Pillai
Roll No-: BM014031

DECLARATION
I hereby declare that the following project report titled E-COMMERCE
ANT ITS BENEFITS TO PRINT MEDIA at green park , New Delhi. The
survey is an authentic work done by me. It is to the best of my knowledge
and belief. This is to declare that all my work indulged in the completion of
this Project Report such as survey and sales promotion is a profound and
honest work of mine.

Date : 10 July 2015

Place : Ghaziabad

Anish D Pillai

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
With immense pleasure, I would like to present this project report for OUTLOOK
INDIA. It has been an enriching experience for me to undergo my summer training at
OUTLOOK INDIA, which would not have possible without the goodwill and support of
the people around. As a student of INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES,
Ghaziabad I would like to express my sincere thanks to all those who helped me during
my practical training program.
Words are insufficient to express my gratitude toward Mr. under his guidance. I would
like to give my heartily

gratitude to the organization for

having given me the

opportunity to do my project work in the organization and lighted my way of progress

with his guidance .

My sincere and deepest thanks to:

INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, STUDIES, Ghaziabad for having spared his

valuable time with me and for all the guidance given in executing the project as per
requirements.
Last but not least, I would like to record my deepest sense of gratitude to my friends for
their support and constant encouragement
However, I accept the sole responsibility for any possible error of omission and would be
extremely grateful to the readers of this project report if they bring such mistakes to my
notice.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapters
1. Introduction
2. Company Profile
3. Industry Profile
3. Research Methodology
4. Limitations of the Study
5. Literature Review
6. Analysis and Findings
7. Conclusion
8. Recommendation
9. References

Page No.
6-8
9-19
20-27
28-35
36
37-38
39-44
45
46-48
49

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In todays competitive world Management Interns have to put rigorous hard work to
survive in the business world. They should be well groomed and well acquainted with
functioning of the corporate world. The 1.5 months Industrial Training is an integral part
of Management Program, aims to provide the management students with an adequate
exposure of the various operation that are taking place in an Industry. I, as a Management
intern was engaged with OUTLOOK Group, New Delhi. I worked in a Subscription
Division for 2 months. It was a very educative and professional experience and thereby
gaining a practical overview of the corporate work culture.

INTRODUCTION
E-COMMERCE AND PRINT MEDIA
E-commerce, short for electronic commerce, is trading in products or services using
computer networks, such as the Internet. Electronic commerce draws on
technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply
chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction
processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management
systems, and automated data collection systems. Modern electronic
commerce typically uses the World Wide Web for at least one part of the
transaction's life cycle, although it may also use other technologies such
as e-mail.

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e-Commerce businesses may employ some or all of the following:

Online shopping web sites for retail sales direct to consumers

Providing or participating in online marketplaces, which process third-party

business-to-consumer or consumer-to-consumer sales

Business-to-business buying and selling

Gathering and using demographic data through web contacts and social media

Business-to-business electronic data interchange

Marketing to prospective and established customers by e-mail or fax (for

example, with newsletters)

Engaging in pretail for launching new products and services

PRINT MEDIA INDUSTRY IN INDIA

From specialist magazines on whisky, golf and parenting, to regional-language

newspapers and financial dailies, new titles are coming thick and fast in one of the
few markets in the world where advertising and readership for print media are
expanding. It's a fast growing economy and with consumption so robust and with
incomes rising, it's a fertile ground for the print media. There is also buoyancy in
print advertising that is encouraging new launches and niche publications in
particular.

Print publication advertising revenues in India generated 128 billion rupees ($2.4
billion) in 2009-10, or 48 percent of all of the country's media advertising
revenues, PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC), while TV ads generated 41 percent.
With the economy having grown at an average rate of 8.75 percent in the last four
years, middle class incomes have risen, boosting demand for niche magazines on
health, leisure and finances.

Growing prosperity in rural areas is also encouraging demand for publications in

India's more than 20 official regional languages. Revenue for newspapers and
magazines in India, where reading at least one newspaper in the morning is
sacrosanct, grew at an average rate of 15 percent in the last four years, higher than
anywhere in the world, PWC said. The growth is helped by a young demographic,
more working women, rapid urbanization and smaller households. The print
publication boom in India contrasts sharply with more mature markets in the West
where circulation figures and advertising revenues are down as readers move to
the Internet.

India in 2011 allowed 100 percent foreign investment in non-news publications,

keeping the cap for news at 26 percent. Early investments included Independent
News and Media's 26 percent stake in newspaper publisher Dainik Jagran,
Pearson Plc's 14 percent in Business Standard newspaper, Henderson Ventures'
investment in HT Media and BBC Worldwide's magazine venture with Bennett,
Co

COMPANY PROFILE
Outlook is one of India's four top-selling English weekly newsmagazines. Like many
other Indian magazines, it is reluctant to reveal its circulation, but the 2007 National
Readership Survey suggested 1.5 million copies. Outlook's competitors are India
Today, The Week, and Tehelka. Outlook has been published in New Delhi continuously
since October 1995 by the Outlook Group, whose founding editor-in-chief is Vinod
Mehta. In October 2008, Mehta appointed Krishna Prasad as Outlook's editor, and in
February 2012, upon retirement, as Outlook's editor-in-chief. Mehta would continue to
serve as an advisor to the magazine. Krishna Prasad also publishes the popular
blog Churumuri. Sandipan Deb and TarunTejpal were past editors of the magazine.
Outlook made news for its investigative reports of the "Kargil bungle" and

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the cricket "match-fixing controversy." Outlook has time and again carried many pro left
stories exposing it to the allegations of being a "left-leaning" publication.
Writers for Outlook included Bhaichand Patel, Uri Avnery, George Monbiot, Daniel Lak,
Ashok

K.

Mehta, B.

Raman, Anil

Dharker, SaeedNaqvi,

RamachandraGuha,

PrabhuGhate and Andrew Whitehead. Currently, the Outlook Group publishes several
magazines like Outlook Business, Outlook Profit, Outlook Money, GEO, Marie Claire,
People, Outlook Traveller, Career 360 and News Weekly. The Outlook Group also
publishes the Hindi Outlook Saptahik. Launched by Hathway Investments Private
Limited, the Outlook Group is owned by the Rajan Raheja Group. It's an entrepreneurial
journey that has spanned both 'old' and 'new' economies -- building successful brick-andmortar businesses to exploring the frontier world of convergence technologies. About a
quarter-century before the onset of the ICE age, the Rajan Raheja Group made its
beginning in the construction business. After building a huge presence in the realty
market, the Group diversified laterally into manufacturing, financial services and media
-- each venture initiated, and executed, to fulfil the objective of assuming leadership in
core areas.
The list of the Group's successes is long and eclectic. Today, H&R Johnson (India)
Limited is the top name in ceramic tiles in India. Exide is the strongest brand of batteries
in the automotive and industrial field. Supreme Petrochemicals is the largest processor of
plastic materials in India.
The Group also joined hands with Oberoi Hotels as co-promoters of Trident Hotels and
luxury resort Raj Vilas, which Conde Nast Traveller ranked as one of the 25 best villa
hideaways in the world.
Other triumphs include Templeton Asset Management (India) Ltd, a venture with the
Templeton Group which manages funds worth $220 billion; Prism Cement Ltd, with a
production capacity of 2.1 million tonnes; and Sonata Software, a leading name in this
cutting-edge field. As owners and operators of a fibre optic cable network in Kerala
through Asia net Satellite Communications, the group is also a significant stakeholder in
the growing convergence business in India.

Functional Departments of the Organization:

10

Administrative Department

Marketing Department

Accounts Department
ADMINISTRATIVE DEPARTMENT

H.R Department
ADMINISTRATIVE DEPARTMENT

Product Designing Department

ADMINISTRATIVE DEPARTMENT

OUTLOOK STAFF:
Publisher:MaheshwerPeri
Editor: Krishna Prasad
Executive Editor:BishwadeepMoitra
Managing Editor:Nandini Mehta
Foreign Editor:Ajaz Ashraf

11
Business Editor:SunitArora
Senior Editors:AjithPillai, Sunil Menon, Anjali Puri
Political Editor:Smita Gupta
Bureau Chiefs:SabaNaqviBhaumik (Delhi) SmrutiKoppikar (Mumbai)
Books Editor:Sheela Reddy
Photo Editor: T. Narayan
Sr Assistant Editor: S.B. Easwaran
Associate Foreign Editor:Pranay Sharma
Assistant Editors:Namrata Joshi, ManishaSaroop, Arindam Mukherjee, Lola
Nayar, Anuradha Raman

www.outlookindia.com
Editor: SundeepDougal
IT-Manager: Raman Awasthi
Software Engineers: Anwar Ahmad Khan, Manav Mishra
Web Designer: Praveen Uprety

Senior Special Correspondents:

SaikatDatta, Arti Sharma
Special Correspondents:
RohitMahajan, Pragya Singh, Chandrani Banerjee, AmbaBatraBakshi
Correspondent:
ShrutiRavindran, DebarshiDasgupta, Omair Ahmad
Mumbai: PayalKapadia
Kolkata:DolaMitra
Bangalore:SugataSrinivasaraju (Associate Editor, South)
Chennai:PushpaIyengar (Bureau Chief)
Chandigarh:ChanderSutaDogra (Bureau Chief, North)
Bhopal: K.S. Shaini

Copy Desk:
Sasi Nair (Deputy Copy Editor), ParomitaMukhopadhyay, SaikatNiyogi

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Photographers:
NarendraBisht (Deputy Photo Editor)
Jitender Gupta (Chief Photographer)
TribhuvanTiwari, Dinesh Parab, ApoorvaGuptay, SandipanChatterjee,
ApoorvaSalkade, S. Rakshit (Senior Coordinator), J.S. Adhikari (Photoresearcher)
Design:
Deepak Sharma (Art Director), Bonita Vaz-Shimray, AshishBagchi,
TanmoyChakraborty (Graphics Editor), Devi Prasad, Padam Gupta
Promotions:AshishRozario
Illustrator:SandeepAdhwaryu, Sorit
Editorial Manager:SasidharanKollery
Library:Alka Gupta
BUSINESS OFFICE:
President: Suresh Selvaraj
Vice President (features):AlokMathur
Vice President (Circulation):NirajRawlley
General Managers: AnandDutt (Advertising)
Asst General Managers : KabirKhattar (Corp), RajeshwariChowdhury (West),
SwaroopRao (Bangalore), Moushumi Banerjee Ghosh (East), Uma Srinivasan
(Chennai), Rakesh Mishra (Production)
National Heads:
HimanshuPandey (Business Development), Alex Joseph (Retail)
Regional Managers:
Arokia Raj
Senior Managers: B.S. Johar, Darryl Arahna, KartikiJha, Keshav Sharma,
PankajSahni, RajendraKurup
Manager (Brands) :ShrutikaDewan

13

Managers: AshishArora,Anindya Banerjee, AnjeetTrivedi, ChetanBudhiraja,

ChetanaShetty, DeshrajJaswal, D.R. Wadhwa, Gopal K. Iyer, IndranilGanguly,
Kuldeep Kothari, MukeshLakhanpal, Ramesh, Sanjay Narang, Shashank Dixit,
ShekharPandey, Vinod Joshi

HEAD OFFICE
AB-10, S.J. Enclave, New Delhi - 110 029
Tel: 26191421; Fax: 26191420
E-mail: outlook@outlookindia.com
BANGALORE OFFICE
407, Regency Enclave, 4,
Magrath Road, Bangalore 560025
Tel: 2558 2806/07; Fax: 25582810
OTHER OFFICES
Mumbai
Kolkata
Chennai
Hyderabad

Organization Structure and Organization chart:

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CHAIRMAN
PRESIDENT
(PERSONAL BUSINESS)

PRESIDENT
(HOME BUSINESS)

SENIOR VP
VP
GM
DGM
AGM
SENIOR
MANAGER
MANAGER

ASST. MANAGER

MGMT. TRAINEE

PRESIDENT
(ENTERPRISE BUSINESS)

15

Magazine
Magazine
division
division
Outlook
Outlook
English
English
Outlook
OutlookHindi
Hindi
Outlook
OutlookMoney
Money
Outlook
Outlook
Traveler
Traveler

Internet
Internet
division
division
outlookindia.com
outlookindia.com
outlookmoney.com
outlookmoney.com
outlooktraveller.co
outlooktraveller.co
mm

Events
Events
division
division
Outlook
OutlookMoney
Money
Personal
Personal
fin.show
fin.show
OLM
OLMawards
awards

Figure: The Outlook Umbrella

MAGAZINES GIVEN BY OUTLOOK.

1. Outlook Weekly
2. Outlook Traveller
3. Outlook Money
4. Outlook Business
5. Outlook Hindi
6. Outlook traveler luxe

Books
Books
division
division
OLT
OLT
Getaways
Getaways
OLM
OLMGuides
Guides
Outlook
Outlook
Classis
Classis

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WEB MEDIA
www.outlookindia.com: In 1998, Outlook went online as outlookindia.com, drawing
into its fold the vast, nascent readership of expatriate Indians. outlookindia.com is both
Outlook magazine's home on the Internet and an online publication. Apart from Outlook's
print edition in its entirety - supplemented with links to related articles on its own site and
elsewhere on the Web - outlookindia.com also offers an array of original Web-only
columns and and news updates every day with a very lively interactive section.
www.outlooktraveller.com: Inaugurated as a web resource in 2000, this travel Website
has since come a long way. Outlook Traveller began by opening up new vistas in webdriven vacation planning, with its highly focused editorial features on an array of
destinations. Still a highlight of the website, these are supported by tools and resources
that make putting together your holiday a breeze ? from selecting your destination, to
choosing your mode of transport, finding your way around the map, selecting a place to
stay to catching the local festivities, plus ferreting out the nearest ATM, fuel stop or
cybercafe. Here there is something for everyone; themed vacation ideas from 'A for
adventure' to 'W for wildlife', honeymooners dream destinations, foodies delights, firstperson travelogues, a message room where you can exchange notes or ask us for more
info that you want? And don't forget to book your copies of our international awardwinning bestsellers from Outlook Traveller Getaways, available at a special price when
you order on the website. If you want a sneak preview, there're excerpts from the guide
books by renowned authors, including the likes of PrabhuGhate, Ruskin Bond and Jug
Suraiya.
www.outlookmoney.com: outlookmoney.com takes forward the philosophy and beliefs
ushered in by Intelligent Investor (the personal finance magazine that was launched in
mid-1998, now known as Outlook Money). The site has six channels -- Stocks, Mutual
Funds, Loans, Retirement Planning, Taxation and Insurance -- that address broad areas of
the personal finance spectrum. Outlookmoney.com comes with many interactive tools.
The Loans channel alone sports calculators that do all the number crunching a visitor may
want on home, car, personal or equity loans. outlookmoney.com seeks to provide total

17
solutions to personal finance issues -- from disseminating information to providing
avenues for e-commerce transactions.

2.2:ABOUT THE PRODUCTS

Outlook Business
Outlook Business, the new fortnightly business magazine that packs in credible, detailed
information and analysis for decision makers to enable them take profitable business
decisions. A composite package covering all factors that influence business movements
with an Indian and a global perspective. With expert views which not only gives you an
insight of the current business dynamics but also analyses the impact & implications that
it would have on your business.
Outlook Money: In July 1998, the Group launched "Intelligent Investor" re-christened as
"OUTLOOK MONEY" as of 30-Nov-2002, India's first personal finance magazine,
which offers sound strategies for the lay investor, especially the growing segment of
salaried middle and upper middle-class and self-employed professionals. Its message is
clear and simple: 'Invest well, borrow wisely, spend smartly'. Evidently, that message has
gone down well: the magazine sold upwards of 1,00,000 copies a fortnight within a year.
One of its distinguishing characteristics is that about 93 per cent of readers retain all past
issues of Outlook Money.
Outlook Traveller: Outlook Traveller is a monthly magazine from the stable of Outlook
Publishing India Pvt. Limited and the only significant magazine aimed at the travel
reader. Every month since June 2001 OT has introduced readers to the wonders of
unknown destinations while also encouraging travellers to take a fresh look at familiar
places. Whether people are planning a holiday, or simply dreaming of one, Outlook
Traveller continues to take them closer.
Outlook: Outlook is a weekly Newsmagazine, was launched in October 2002 to establish
significant presence amongst the vast Hindi reading audience. The product targets the
evolved Hindi reader keeping their interests, realities & aspirations in mind. Outlook
Saptahik retains the core strengths of Outlook with objective, fiercely impartial and bold

18
journalism, while brandishing its own identity through a strong parallel editorial. The
magazine is empathetic to its target audience & is not a translation of its English
counterpart.
People:This Magazine gives knowledge about the celebrities and new products which are
generally used by the celebrities and also tells about their dressing sense, because now a
days many people want to adopt the daily routine of the celebrities.

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INDUSTRY PROFILE

20
The Indian entertainment and media (E&M) industry has out-performed the Indian
economy and is one of the fastest growing sectors in India.
The Indian economy has been growing at a fast clip over the last few years, and the
income levels too have been experiencing a high growth rate. Above that, consumer
spending is also on the rise, due to a sustained increase in disposable incomes, brought
about by reduction in personal income tax over the last decade. All these factors have
given an impetus to the E&M industry and are likely to contribute to the growth of this
industry in the future.

The television industry continues to dominate the E&M industry by garnering a share of
over 42 percent, which is expected to increase by a further 9 percent to reach about 51
percent. Print media, on the second spot, stands at over 31 percent, is projected to 23
percent in 2010.

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PRINT MEDIA
The structure of the Indian print media industry is highly fragmented with importance to
regional dominance. The Indian print media segment primarily comprises newspaper and
magazine publishing. Book Publishing also forms part of the print media though
currently the share is not substantial.
The print media industry has potential to grow still larger as 369 million literate people in
India are still not tapped by any publication.
Currents estimates reveal that the reach of print media in India has increased to 222
million people. Print media is also the favourite segment for global investors with
maximum foreign investment in this segment.

3.2: KEYDRIVERS

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Higher literacy levels: In 2006, the literacy levels increased to 71.1% as

compared to 69.9% in 2005. While rural literacy is at 64.8%, urban literacy
touched 85.3%. Currently Indian print media is estimated to reach over 220 m
people, and has immense growth potential since close to 370 m literate
Indians are believed to not be served by any publication. Also, the reach of

newspapers is only 27%, as compared to the global average of 50%.

Lower cover prices:Earlier, due to strong hold over a region, the newspaper
had higher cover charges. However, with increasing competition and venture
into newer regions the companies have reduced the cover prices to augment
more sales. Many English dailies are sold for as low as ` 1 or ` 2. The initial
subscription offers of DNA and Hindustan Times (HT) in Mumbai, during
their launch period, further reduced the cost of the newspaper to around 50

paisa for an average issue

Higher ad spends: Print media accounts for 48% of the total ` 137.5 bn
advertising spend in the country. However, the ad spend in India is just 0.4%
of GDP as against 0.5% in China, 1.3% in the US and a world average of
nearly 1.0%. With rising consumerism and growing interest from domestic
and global brands in Indian market, the growth in ad segment is expected to
be strong.

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OUTLOOK & Its Competitors 21

OUTLOOK vs. INDIA TODAY:

OUTLOOK vs. INDIA TODAY INDIA TODAY is considered as major competitor of
OUTLOOK, thirty five years old brand, which has touched all the segments of the market
and shown a ray of light to Print Media.

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AWARDS & ACCOLADES :

AWARDS & ACCOLADES Department of Tourism, Government of India Award,
National Tourism Award 2001-2002 awarded to OUTLOOK Traveller for Excellence in
Publication. OUTLOOK Traveller " 100 Holidays in the Hills" won the 2004, PATA Gold
Award In 2002-2003 the Government of India recognized "OUTLOOK Traveller
Getaways" as the Best Travel Publication ". Weekend breaks from Delhi was in the
BESTSELLERS top three, non-fiction category for 14 consecutive weeks in North India.
Weekend breaks from Mumbai was in the BESTSELLERS list top three for 8 consecutive
weeks in West India OUTLOOK WEBSITES outlookindia.com outlookmoney.com
outlooktraveller.com.

Achievements

The company is a proud recipient of National Tourism Award in 2001-2002, given

by the Department of Tourism, Government of India.

The Government of India has also recognized Outlook Traveler Getaways as the
Best Travel Publication in the year 2002-2003.

Department of Tourism, Government of India Award, National Tourism Award

2009-2010 awarded to Outlook Traveller for Excellence in Publication.

Outlook " 75 Holidays in the Hills" won the 2010, PATA Gold Award

In 2010-2011 the Government of India recognized "Outlook" as the Best

Publication".

Weekend breaks from Delhi was in the Bestsellers top three, nonfiction category
for 14 consecutive weeks in North India

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Weekend breaks from Mumbai was in the Bestsellers list top three for 8
consecutive weeks in West India.

OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT :

1. To sale the Magazines of Outlook.
2. To Promote the Magazines of Outlook through email ,social networking sites and
cold calling.
3. To convince the people.
4. To aware the people about the subscription prices, discounts and gifts offered with
every magazine.
5. To find the frequency of magazines purchased or subscribed - weekly, fortnightly,
monthly .
6. To know the reading perception of customers like what the people thinks about
the content, articles and advertisements of the magazine .
7. To know Customer preference towards the Outlook magazine over other
magazines like India Today and so on.
8. To generate sales for Outlook magazine group by increasing circulation in these
segments.
9. To know the preference of magazine over the internet, newspaper and other
informative sources

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:
METHODOLGY Used:Research methodology is a way to systematically solve the research problem. it is also
known as a science of studying how research is done systematically. The methodology of
the study is usually related to the subject or the issue that is being investigated.
In this, we study the various steps that are generally adopted by a researcher in studying
research problems. Define the problem.
Specify what information is needed.
Identify the sources of information.
Decide the techniques for acquiring the information.
Gather and process the information.
Analysis and interpret the information.
Present the findings.

RESEARCH DESIGN
Research design is a controlling plan for a marketing researchstudy in which the
methods and procedures for collecting and analysing the information to be collected is

27
specified. The research undertaken was exploratory in nature as it was a first step in a
research process. It focused on the discovery of ideas and was generally based on
secondary data. This research was an attempt to create demand of the product and to
know the factors which highly influence the customers regarding outlook group.

Methods of Data Collection

1. PRIMARY DATA:
Primary data is defined as the first time data collected. It is new in nature. This type of
data is collected directly from the source of information. The techniques, which are
involved in collecting the primary data, are personal interview, surveys, questionnaire etc.
in my report I have collected data by personal interview and questionnaire.

2. SECONDARY DATA:
Secondary data is that type data which somebody else had collected and which had
already been passed through the statically process. This indirect information of the data
from sources containing past and present information is collected from newspapers,
journals, business manuals, pamphlets magazines etc. in my report I have also collected
information from pamphlets and news papers.

Research Instruments:
To collect the required information a questionnaire was used as a research vehicle
Structured non-disguised questionnaire was prepared as research instrument. Care was

28
taken to put questions related to the subject. The questionnaire contain close ended
questions and multiple choice questions

Nature of Data
The data is primary in nature as it is collected with direct interface with the respondents.

Sources
The data was collected through a medium of questionnaire from subscribers of the
magazines.

Type of the research

The research is descriptive in nature and aims at finding the last alternative amongst the
given set of options.

Sample size
Some limited number of customer denotes the overall customer point of view.

The respondents were from the database provided by the Outlook, they are the
existing customers.
Sampling method
Judgemental sampling is done on the population by making a survey regarding their point
of view on Outlook services and subscription.
Statistical Technique/Tools

29
The data has been analysed and depicted in pie charts

MARKETING STRATEGIES ADOPTED:

1. Mass impersonal selling methods (Advertising). Pull Blend.
2. Face to face personal selling (Salesman ship). Push Blend. Both of these are closely
related to the Channel of Distribution .
I have targeted only those people who are above 20 years of age and got maximum
response from respondents who fall under age group 30 40 and minimum who fall
under age group 20 30. This shows people belong to age group 30 - 40 are regular
readers of magazines.

Knowledge Jockey:-

30

No of
Sales
Made

Total Revenue
Generated

The Online application of Outlook by which sales executive generates the revenue. This
application holds the total sales of an individual i.e. Successful and unsuccessful sales.
The application tracks all the records of customers online and also the top seller of the
month. It has the records of each and every sales made by the executive. Each executive
has their own personal KJ account which has a unique Login and Password.
The KJ also includes the personal information like PAN Card Number, Contact No,
Address, Bank Account etc.
The sales executive receives 10% of the total sales as incentive.

31

S.W.O.T ANALYSIS OF OUTLOOK GROUP

STRENGTHS:
Published on Fridays so it covers all special news and events which take place
especially on Friday. News of stock market as it closes on Friday, courts close on
Fridays and also new movies are released on Friday. Hence it is the biggest strength
for Outlook.
Outlook magazines also cover international financial market.
It has been famous for sensational stories like the Kargil Bungle and the match
fixing controversy.

32
It also covered and published important meetings held like of Agra summit.
It offers very good subscription schemes with highly attractive gifts with them.
It has distinguished and specialized magazines like Outlook Traveller, Outlook
Money.
Outlook traveller has been awarded international awards for best selling magazine.
The survey has shown that 93% of readers retain all past issues of Outlook Money
and this is its distinguishing characteristic.

33
WEAKNESSES:
Outlook has just been for thirteen years in publication.
It is on a back hand from India today Hindi in Market share of Hindi magazines.
From the survey it has come out that the Quality of content is not good.
Even magazines paper quality, print quality and coverage have not been considered
up to the mark.
Its sales are mainly based on advertising.

OPPORTUNITIES:
As Outlook has distinguished products like Outlook Traveller and Outlook Money, so
the company should focus more on it.
As its near competitor India today has major market share in Hindi magazine segment
so Outlook should focus on English magazine segment.
Should focus on quality of the content and this will eventually turn up the sales and
popularity of the magazine.
Keep offering good Promotional schemes to retain their customers and also to attract
new ones.

34
THREATS:
India today is its near competitor which has a well known name and it has been in this
publication business for more than thirty years.
India today Hindi covers major market share leaving little future prospect for Outlook
Hindi.
Outlook does not pays much attention on customer retention.
Insecurity regarding the online transaction makes the customer unwilling towards the
subscription.

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LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

The main three limitations of this research are time, finance and access. The research is
time crucial due to the deadline placed on the submission of the final research findings.
Therefore starting from sampling till data collection everything needs to be done as
quickly as possible thus leaves researcher with limited amount of time. Access to
Companies data may be an issue because the researcher will not be able to reach
customers due to limited time. Every person tries to do the work in the best possible way,
but yet he/she faces certain difficulties.
But still proper care was taken to present the report in he best possible way, but still the
difficulties which were faced are as under:
As there was opinion based survey, so subjectivity would be there.
Time and other factors, which are beyond the human limitations, have also bearings
on the study.
Sample size taken for the survey is very small therefore; it does not represent the
whole population.

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LITERATURE REVIEW
E-Commerce Turning to Print Marketing to Boost Sales
By Perfect Image Team
While newspapers and magazines transition from print to digital, e-commerce is
expanding print marketing by sending customers catalogs with a multi-touch approach
towards reaching customers. Josic Media shares more details on the upswing in print
marketing through e-commerce.
Magazines and newspapers all over the country are turning away from print and moving
towards digital because they are realizing a huge loss in revenue. Major media companies
all over the country have been announcing layoffs and transitions towards more digital
content.
Ironically, e-commerce companies have started turning towards print media to boost their
revenue. While this may seem contrary to the major trends, it is actually growing. Online
retailers like Rent the Runway, JackThreads, and Birtchbox have started sending their
customers actual catalogs. Printed catalogs sent in the mail.
According to Ethan Trask, from One Kings Lane, Putting money behind print doesnt
necessarily seem like the first thing youd think of doing, but we all love products here,
we love magazines and books, so I think that bringing our brand into the physical space is
really important. He went on to say, It helps people become more active with our
brand.
Another way in which e-commerce stores are turning to print media is through the
production of ad-supported magazines. These are magazines that feature mostly items
available through the website. Net-a-Porter, a luxury e-commerce website, recently
launched Porter. Porter is their new bimonthly fashion magazine. Priced at $10 an issue,
it is filled with items that can be purchased through Net-a-Porter.

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According to Kate Davidson Hudson, co-founder of Editorialist, We were making an
effort to find out how we can be at all of our users touch points throughout their day
the big missing piece of that puzzle, ironically, was having a tangible medium to connect
with them on.
Despite these recent moves, many are wondering what the ROI is for these ventures. An
analyst from Forrester Research, stated, There is a case to be made that print marketing
still has a placeas a lot of other marketers cut back on print marketing, theres an
opportunity to stand out more. Its not perceived as clutter p nobody has a bad impression
of magazines and it can be a very useful way to drive traffic to your core property.

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DATA ANALYSIS
QUESTION.1 WHAT MODE OF SUBSCRIPTION DO YOU PREFER?

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Have you ever faced problem in online subscription?

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Which outlook magazines do you read?

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What types of subscription do you prefer?

Have you faced any problem with regarding the delivery of magazines?

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Does your problem get sorted out?

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FINDINGS:
People are adaptable to this new process of subscription and respectfully follows it as
86% of customer prefer Online Process of subscription
People are more preferably like to buy the subscription for 2 years than any other
duration of the time.
It depends on offer that influence customer to buy online
Contingency in Online Subscription is comparatively less than offline subscription
Extra preveledge discounts available on Online subscription
Outlook is most famous and sold magazine of Outlook Group

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People prefer to read physical format over digitalize format.
Highly satisfied with the content of the magazine
Many of the customer do suffer delivery problem of the magazine
Problem related to the subscription has been resolved at a higher rate
Customer are highly satisfied with the customer care of Outlook
Customer feels bad when the subscription cost raises

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CONCLUSION
Online subscription has made a milestone achievement in the history of Outlook
magazine. As the launch of KJ made a revolution and competition between the sale
executive that made an aggressive sales over PAN India, headed by the head office New
Delhi, Sufdurjung Enclave. This online application determines the sale of individual
through which they makes their monthly target and makes strategies to complete their
target within the given time. As this process is fast, easy and can be access at any time of
the moment. It reduces man power as a single executive make multiple calls. The process
is based on tele-calling. But as exception are every where many customer feels insecure
due to cyber threating or being cheated by the hacker. They feel insecure over the online
transaction.
CRM in Outlook is doing their level best to complete the customer satisfaction. They do
perform when the query generates and try to solve it as soon as possible.but the CRM do
has some problem as they did not get to know whether the subscription is reaching to
customer or not until and unless the customer himself complain regarding that. And some
time when the customer do so, he still not got its desired edition or gift.

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Recommendations
Based on the findings from different analysis, market survey and some amount of
subjective analysis new promotional strategies can be identified which can improve the
subscription sales of outlook magazines and thus increase greater awareness for Outlook.
1. Effective promotional scheme a strategy for consumer motivation
It is important to motivate the consumer to subscribe for the magazine for boosting the
sales and its obvious that most of the consumers will not get motivated unless and until
they get what they want. From the market survey it was able to identify that the
motivating factors are the gifts provided along with the subscriptions and according to
most of the consumers a good gifts are one which have good brand value associated with
it and those which offer better utility.
2. Offline referral marketing a strategy for customer or subscriber motivation
Referral marketing can be effectively used to improve the subscription sales. The existing
customer can be motivated to refer to their friends, relatives etc. to subscribe for the
magazine by means of exciting and attractive gifts as incentives. The magazine should
provide Business reply cards exclusive for existing subscriber along with subscribers
copies during the magazine delivery so that they can refer their friends and relatives for
magazine subscription. The business reply card should offer the facility to be filled with
at least ten references. Subscribers should be able to send them free of cost. Now these
subscribers can be provided with attractive gifts.
3. Customer retention

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It is a normal saying that customer acquisition is good, retention is better. This is because
a customer retained is equal to five new customers as the money spent for acquiring a
customer is calculated to be five times the money spent to retain a customer. From the
information obtained from Outlook, if was identified that Outlook does nothing for
customer retention. Outlook needs to formulate and implement customer retention and
loyalty programs to retain the customers.

Greet the customers with exciting gifts during special occasions

Sell the subscription renewal at discount

Auto renewal of subscription

Allow grace period for subscription expiry

Send loyalty gifts

Organize entertainment events for subscribers

Organize get together

4. Improved magazine for customer satisfaction

From the market survey it was revealed that the strengths of Outlook Magazine are
Promotional Schemes and unbiased reporting. Its weaknesses are its Content quality,
Paper quality and Print quality so it should work on it to increase the customers

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satisfaction. If the product is able to satisfy customers in its core product attributes, then
the customer will be tend to be loyal as their expectations are fulfilled.
So to improve customer loyalty and thereby increase voluntary sales outlook magazine
has to work on its weaknesses as expected by the customers of the magazine.
Since the quality of content and coverage are subjective in nature, Outlook needs to
identify what are weaknesses of the current contents and coverage of the magazine as
well as the customers expectations about them. For this Outlook should go for detailed
survey and customers feedback so that it can understand the customers expectations as
far as content and coverage of the magazine are concerned. Once the customer
expectation is identified Outlook need to restructure the magazine by implementing the
customer requirements and demands in order to improve their satisfaction level which
will in turn boost the magazine as well as subscription sales

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REFERENCES:-

WEBSITES

www.mapofindia.com

www.outlookindia.com

www.wikipedia.com

Kj.outlookindia.com

subscription.outlookindia.com

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APPENDICES
Questionnaire:
Questionnaire For Online Subscription:Name:
Age:Salary:1. What mode of subscription process you prefer?
a) Online
b) Offline
Why?
Ans:2. For how many years are you the subscriber of magazine?
a)1
b) 2 c) 3 d) more than 4
3. If you dont subscribe online from where did you get the edition.
a)News stalls b) Book Shop c) Buy second hand edition
4. Are you satisfied with your current offer and subscription?
a)yes b) no
5. Did you find online subscription an easy way to subscribe.
a) Yes b) No
6. Where do you access internet.
A)Home
b)office c) home/office d) other
8.) How many magazine of Outlook group you read.
A) 1-2 b) 3-4 c) 5 d) more than 5
9) Have ever faced problem during the transaction for subscritption?
a) yes
b) No
If yes then,

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10) Has your problem related to online transaction shorted out?
a) yes
b) No
Questionnaire for CRM:Name:
Age:
Salary:
1. How often do you read Outlook Group Magazines?
a) Yes b) No
Why?
Ans:2. What convince you to buy a Outlook Group Magazine?
a) Knowledge b)Content c)Time-Pass
3. How often you prefer an Outlook Group Magazine to buy?
a) Weekly b) fortnight c) Monthly

4. Which format of Outlook Group Magazine you prefer?

a) Digital Form b) Physical Form
5. For last how many years you are the subscriber of current Outlook Group
Magazine?
a) 1 year b)2-3 year c)3-4 year d) more than 5 year
6. Have you ever faced any problem regarding the availability of Outlook Group
Magazine?
a) Yes
b) No
7. What type of subscription you prefer?
a) Monthly b) semi-annually c) annually
8. Are you satisfy with the current Outlook Group Magazine you read?
a) Yes
b) No
9. If No, Why?
Ans:10. Have you ever complained in the customer care of Outlook?
A) yes
b) no

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