SUMMER PROJECT

ON

“PRODUCT MIX & BRANDING OF

ANTIVIRUS SOLUTIONS”

UNDERTAKEN AT
MAX SECURE SOFTWARE (INDIA) Pvt. Ltd.

SUBMITTED BY,
Mayur Chordia

GUIDED BY,
Professor Mr. Amarjeev Kaul

PGDM
(2009-2011)
Atharva School of Business,
Marve Road, Charkop Naka,
Malad (West), Mumbai - 400 095

1
 DECLARATION

This is to certify that the Report entitled “Product Mix & Branding of
Antivirus Solutions at Max Secure Software (India) Pvt. Ltd.” which is submitted
by me in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of degree PGDM to
Atharva School of Business, Mumbai, comprises of my original work and due
acknowledgement has been made in the text to all other material used.

PLACE: Mumbai

DATE: 31th July, 2010 Mayur H. Chordia

CERTIFICATE

2
 I hereby certify that Mayur Chordia of Atharva School of Business of
PGDM (Batch 2009-2011) has completed project on “Product Mix & Branding of
antivirus solutions at Max Secure Software (India) Pvt. Ltd.” during his summer
training. The information submitted is true and original to the best of my
knowledge.

Signature Signature of project guide

(Prof. N.S. Rajan) (Prof. Amarjeev Kaul)

3
 Date: 31-7-2010

To Whomsoever It May Concern

This is to certify that Mr. Mayur Chordia from Atharva School of Business,
Mumbai has successfully completed his summer internship in Max Secure
Software (India) Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, for the period of two months from 1-6-2010 to
31-7-2010.

The project assigned was on “Product Mix & Branding of Antivirus Solutions”.
During his tenure with us, we found him to be extremely dedicated, hard working,
sincere, conscientious and resourceful.

The report submitted by him was informative and in depth and the analysis found
to be sound and logical.

Sanjay Pradhan
(CEO)

4
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The preparation of this report “Product Mix & Branding of Antivirus

Solutions at Max Secure Software (India) Pvt. Ltd.” would not have been
possible without the sincere efforts of all the senior members of company in
Mumbai, staff members and Professors of Atharva School of Business, for their
valuable contribution.

I find words inadequate to express my gratitude to Mr. Sanjay

Pradhan, Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Sanjiv Kadam, Managing Director,
Mr. Dilip Sankpal & Mr. Shailesh, Zonal Sales Manager, Mumbai, Mr. Rahul
Shinde & Mr. Sopan Bhosale, Sr. Technical Support Executive, Mr. Yogesh
Warulkar, Area Sales Manager, Mumbai, for their valuable assistance in making
our project training effective and worth in all aspects.

Special thanks to Shri. Sunil Rane, Executive President, Atharva

Education Trust, Mr. N. S. Rajan, Dean, Mr. S. K. Bhattacharya, Director,
Mr. Amarjeev Kaul, Project Guide, Atharva School of Business, for their crucial
guidance and helping me through out the project duration.

This study could not have been successful without the valuable input
of my colleagues.

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 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This project includes “Product Mix & Branding of Antivirus Solutions”

undertaken at “Max Secure Software (India) Pvt. Ltd.”, in order to launch the
antivirus product successfully in market.

The project includes the activities like Market Survey and Customer
Feedback, Market Research, Product Promotion, Dealers Visit, Branding
Activities, Product Demonstration, Dealers Meeting, Registration, Dealers Follow
Up, Sales & Distribution.

This report contains all the detailed working and several strategies used
while executing the various activities.

Project report also specifies all the objectives, scope, learning’s, findings
and also the recommendations to the company.

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 CONTENTS

Sr. No TOPICS Page. No.

1. Introduction 8

2. Objectives & Scope 9

Th 1
3. e Company’s Profile 1
1
4. The Product Features 2
1
5. The Product Pricing 5
1
6. The Market Segmentation 6
1
7. The Market Survey 9
2
8. The Marketing Strategy 0
2
9. The Product Promotion 1
2
11. Sales and Distributions Channel 2
Proje 2
12. ct Work 3
Learnin 2
13. g & Findings 8
Recommendation 3
14. s 0
3
15. Conclusion 1
3
16. Bibliography and References 2
3
17. Appendix 3

INTRODUCTION

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 The world sees and admires India as its fastest growing region. Indian
companies have learned and are learning to create goods and services that offer
more value either in the higher quality or lower prices, and often both-value for
money than many of the other competitors.

The challenge now is to sustain the growth rate. This requires understanding
of markets and marketing tactics. Besides this liberalization, privatization and
globalization are bringing sweeping changes and prospects of global competition.
For growth and survival, new marketing practices and methods should be
adopted.

Max Secure Software (India) Pvt. Ltd. company was founded in February 2002
and launched the product in US. After enormous success in US, the company
has decided to launch the product in India in 2010.

Objectives & Scope

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 Max Secure Antivirus is enterprise-wide Anti-Virus software that scans the
local and network drives for viruses, Internet Security and cleans them.

 Max Secure Antivirus defends your Office Network from all virus, worm
malware and spyware attacks and keeps your business lifeline, the
Network and PCs, running smooth and secure.

 This product is a Content Security Software for the corporate Mail

Servers, to scan E-mails, attachment files and Web pages on a real-time
basis.

 As the antivirus is widely used for the free usage and protection of
computer and laptops, the main product conducted is Max Secure
Antivirus for total Security tools.

 This antivirus is mainly used in all the computers to make it protected from
any virus, spywares and malwares.

 It helps every user for the use of internet and to surf and download any
file or document without any fear of viruses.

 There are many products available in the market as per the different
usage of the computer system because of the high number of usage of
computers and to make them prevented from any harmful viruses.

 Also this product is present as per the different user number i.e.
single User and multiuser.

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 As the antivirus is used in every computer system, hence it has a very
high demand as per the increasing number of computer usage.

 This product can be used by the every customer who uses computer
system.

 Computer systems are in high demand at every sector to perform more

important and confidential work hence it becomes necessary to use the
antivirus for the protection of the computer and the work done.

 This product is available in the market with the combination of antivirus

with total internet security in the same price hence having a high demand
by the customer.

 Max Secure antivirus is available as for one year use and three year use
hence the customers can make use of it as per their requirement.

 It is also present in different packages as Single user pack, corporate

pack, multiuser pack etc. Hence this product can be used anywhere.

 This product is present in the market with the affordable cost by the
Customers as compared by the other competitor products.

COMPANY PROFILE

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 Max secure software is a leading Anti Virus Solution Company with
primary domain in security and privacy. Its leadership boasts of a robust
technology experience with unmatched expertise in developing world-class
security and privacy solutions. The Company was founded in February 2002. At
present, it has a large customer base all over the world. It has a strong technical
and dedicated customer support team, which provides 24 hrs customer support
services. Max Secure is known for its user friendly and innovative security and
privacy products.

THE PRODUCT FEATURES

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The Unmatched features and benefits of Max Secure antivirus give the fastest
way to regain control of PC.

1. It has a cutting edge SMART SCAN Anti Virus technology with lightening
quick scanning speed. It Scans, Detects and eliminates every threat
offering unrivalled protection for professionals and home PC users.

2. It consists of Comprehensive, Extensive and Self-

updating threat definitions database which keeps the system constantly
guarded against the toughest of spyware, adware, key loggers, tracking
cookies, browser hijacker, worms and other malware.

3. It gives all time technical support through phone, 24 x 7 live chat and email
based support.

MAX 10 Points Protection

1. Fast Smart Scan protection

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 -Cutting edge smart scan anti virus technology with quick scanning.

2. Enhanced threat detection and complete removal

-Scans, detect and eliminate every threat offering unrivalled protection for
professionals and home PC users.

3. Revolutionary Anti Virus/Spyware Technology

-Removes viruses and spywares without taxing your computer’s memory.
Prevents malicious applications from invading your PC.

4. Continuous automatic updates

-Comprehensive, extensive and self-updating threat definitions database.24x7
protection against spyware, adware key loggers, tracking cookies, browser
hijacker, worms and other malware.

5. Instant Free Personalized Customer Support

-Round the clock technical support through 24x7 live chat and email based
support. Free email and chat support.

6. Active Monitoring
-Complete peace of mind while browsing. Protects your privacy and provides
security against malicious processes and home page hijackers.

7. Advanced Blocking
-Completely automated advanced features. Blocks ActiveX, browser helper
objects and tracking cookies.

8. Automatic Scan Settings

-Automatically schedules scans and updates to start while PC is idle.

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9. User Friendly Interface
-Well laid out and easy to understand user-friendly interface.

10. Active Registry Fix

-Many Virus programs change your registry settings such as the home page or
the default search page. With the help of active registry fix, you can restore the
settings to default Windows settings.

THE PRODUCT’S PRICING

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 All profit organizations and many non-profit organizations set prices on
there products or services.
Setting product’s price is an important decision which depends on many factors
like buyer’s choice, their affordability, target market segment, and taste and
preferences of the consumers.

Price is the only element in the marketing mix that produces revenue; the other
elements produce costs. It is also one of the most flexible elements of the
marketing mix, which can be changed quickly, unlike product features and
channel commitments.

Reasons for ineffective pricing

 Too cost oriented pricing

 Price is not revised often enough to capitalize on market changes
 Pricing is set independent of the rest of the marketing mix rather than as
an intrinsic element of market-positioning strategy and
 Price is not varied enough for different product items, market segments
and purchase occasions.

THE MARKET SEGMENTATION

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 A market consists of all the potential customers sharing a particular
need or want who might be willing and able to engage to satisfy that need or
want. If any party seeks actively seeking an exchange than the other party, we
call as marketer and the second as prospects.

Marketing Management

It is a process of planning, and executing the conception, pricing,

promotion, and consumer distribution of goods, services, and ideas to create
exchanges with target groups that satisfy customer and organizational objectives.

Core concepts of Marketing:

The core concepts of marketing consist of needs of the consumers,

demands, products and services, value, satisfaction and quality. All these terms
are interrelated.

Needs and demands Products and Services Value, Cost and

Satisfaction

Marketing and Markets Exchange,

Marketers Transactions

Market Segmentation

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 Markets consists of buyers differ in one or more respects. They may
differ in their wants, resources, geographic locations, buying attitudes and
practices. Any of these variables can be used to segment the market.

Major Segmentation Variables

1. Psychographic Segmentation

 Life Style
 Personality
 Self Concept
 Attitudes


2. Demographic Segmentation

 Age, Sex, Nationality

 Education, Religion, Race
 Occupation, Income, Social Class,
Marital status
 Family size and family life cycle

3. Benefit Segmentation

 Economy
 Convenience
 Service
 Prestige

4. Geographic Segmentation

 Region

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  Urban, Suburban or rural
 Climate
 State, City or Town

Market Segmentation in Antivirus Market

The Max Secure antivirus is a new antivirus, introduced in the

antivirus market, where there are already the old players like Quick heal, Norton,
Kaspersky and other antivirus exists.

THE MARKET SURVEY

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 Marketing research is the systematic design, collection, analysis,
and reporting of data and findings relevant to a specific marketing situation facing
the company.

Suppliers of Marketing Research

A company can obtain marketing research in a number of ways. Small

companies can engage students or professors at a local college to design and
carry out the project, or they can hire a marketing research firm. The cost of
marketing research in Asia varies greatly from country to country.

Marketing Survey Process

The main idea to do market survey is to know the current market and the
consumer’s interest and demand, which varies from person to person.
For that proper feedback is taken from the consumers, along with the promotion
or it can be done before the promotional activities.

THE MARKETING STRATEGY

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 The company always conducts a market survey for selecting its target
market. If it is the only company giving its services in that particular target then
probably it can fix its cost according to its way, to gain good profit. Without any
competitors the company enjoys its monopoly, but as soon as the competitors
enters in that market segment then there arises the need to change the
marketing strategy in accordance with the current market scenario.

If several firms pursue this target market and their products are
undifferentiated, then most consumers will buy from the firm with the lowest price
and the other firms will be forced to heir price.

Product differentiation

 Product differentiation can charge a price premium.

 It helps to get a price premium based on the extra value perceived by and
delivered to the customers.

Uniqueness of Maxsecure Antivirus

 It is the world’s fastest scanning antivirus.

THE PRODUCT PROMOTION

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 The promotion of a new product is an important activity involved in
marketing. It not only creates awareness among the people, but also gives the
new alternatives to them in the range of related products available in the market.
Every company is inevitably cast into the role of communicator and promoter.

SALES AND DISTRIBUTIONS

Sales:

Sales are important activity involved in the selling of products and services
in return for money or other compensation. It is an act of completion of a
commercial activity.

Distribution:

Distribution is the process which makes the product reach to the end
consumers right from the manufacturer. Mainly the buyers are widely dispersed,
so in order to make the products available to them, there is a need for
distributions channels, which connects suppliers with their consumers.

Distribution Channel Employed by Maxsecure:

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The firm is utilizing both the types of channels of distribution. They are as follows:

 Consumer Distribution Channels

- Where the buyers are end consumers

 Business Distribution Channels

− Where the buyers are business customers

Selecting Distribution Channels:

The main tasks as marketing manager is to select the right distribution

channel for the firm and to take out the effective measures to operate it. The
reasons behind this are:

1. The channel chosen intimately affects every other marketing decision.

2. They involve the firm in relatively long term commitments.

3. To be successful, channel decisions require cooperation and

coordination of other firms who pursue their own objectives.

PROJECT WORK

22
 The training was always scheduled properly, by the project in charge
to make us aware about the respective area work. The project leads took good
initiative to make us well informed regarding the project work.

PROJECT SCHEDULE IN MAXSECURE SOFTWARE:

1) Market Survey and Customer Feedback

2) Market Research

3) Product Promotion

4) Dealers Visit

5) Branding Activities

6) Product Demonstration

7) Dealers Meeting

8) Registration

9) Dealers Follow Up

10) Sales & Distribution

THE WORK PROCESS:

1. Market Survey and Customer Feedback

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- The feedback of various consumers was taken concerning the related
respective product available in the market in the range of antivirus as well as
which antivirus is/are used by them.

- The Survey was basically done in those places where the target market
segments are easily available, such as the Students of colleges and higher
secondary schools.
For Example: Near by colleges and schools, near railway stations, malls,
Classes and other crowded places.

- The peek time fixed for the market survey chosen was the morning time,
when the college times starts and the evening time, when crowd is available
near the respective places.

2. Market Research

- Market research is for discovering what people want, need, or believe. It can
also involve discovering how they act. Once that research is completed, it can be
used to determine how to market your product.

- Questionnaires and focus group discussion surveys are some of the

instruments for market research.

- For starting up a business, there are some important things :-

a) Market Information
b) Market Segmentation
c) Market Trends

3. Product Promotion

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- Promotion is very important activity required to be done, in the current
marketing scenario to create awareness of the product among the consumers.

- The promotional activities done during the project includes the following:

(A). Leaflets, Pamphlets, Posters, Browsers distribution.

(B). Umbrellas distribution to the selected dealers depicting company’s logo.
(C). Distribution of garden umbrellas to the street food stalls and other stalls
where it is easily visible to the people.

4. Dealers Visit

- List of all dealers available in respective areas was prepared by searching on

“Just dial” and also with the help of some survey.

- All the dealers in various areas were targeted and given an initial visit to make
them aware about the product.

5. Branding Activities
- In developing a marketing strategy for individual products, the seller has to
confront the branding decision .It is a major issue in marketing strategy.

- For branding, we have used the media, monthly technical journal IT-Focus, and
mentioned the MICROSOFT GOLD PARTNER certification in the cover of the
product.

- We have also used the voice recording feature of telephones for various
dealers, who had given a good opportunity to our Mumbai team for this purpose.

6. Product Demonstration

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- Product demonstration is given to various interested dealers, so that they can
figure out the various features of the Maxsecure Antivirus.

- Product demonstration helped us to know about the positive and negative

aspects of our product.

- The feedbacks obtained from various dealers visited so far, has helped the
technical team, who are involved in software development and enhancements to
make proper updating required in the product.

7. Dealers Meeting
- Dealers meetings are conducted in all the areas of Mumbai, at the chosen
venues to make good interaction with them.

- Dealer meet invitations were given to the selective dealers, who are interested
in our product.

8. Registration

- All the dealers were registered at the company web-site.

- Demo version registration was also done.

- All the details of the dealers were tracked along with the Birth-date, in order to
give them a gift on their birth dates as a part of CRM.

9. Dealers Follow Up

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- Dealer’s follow-up was taken in order to know their product awareness, and to
pinch them about the product again and again.

- It helped us to know the current status of their views regarding our product.

10. Sales and Distribution

- All the sales and distribution activities like taking orders, product delivery,
collecting cheque etc were done.

LEARNING & FINDINGS

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1) Due to effective marketing & promotional strategies, the products of the
company are very well known in the market with the great number of
customers or end users in a very shorter period of time even though there
are several competitors available in the market.

2) The marketing policies or strategies of the company are extremely

different as compared to the competitors but still the product is used in a
high number by the customers.

3) There are various branded well established competitors present in the

market like Quick heal, K7 Antivirus, Norton Antivirus, McAfee, Kaspersky,
Net Protector, E-Scan etc.

4) As compared with the other products, the company’s sales ratio is slowly
increasing day by day.

5) But in some cases it has been observed that the people are not aware of
the name of the product. They are very much loyal with the other products
available in the market.

6) Due to lack of man power and few good marketing policies, every
customer is not totally aware of the product knowledge or information.

7) Hence it is necessary for the company to improve marketing policies and

try to attract as more as customer as compared to competitors.

8) The product is available as single user, three user, five user, multiuser as
well as admin console. This provides all varieties available in market, thus
increasing the sale opportunities.

28
9) There is more demand for the multiuser products as it is useful for more
than one user in a single antivirus pack.

10) More customers are attracted towards the products which are
available with the more features with the less price or cost. Hence the
company has to consider these things to increase the number of
customers.

11) The price of the products in the market is very higher with the other
competitive products.

12) The price of the single user pack is extremely higher as compared
to the price of multiuser pack of other products.

13) Hence, this may be one of the most affective factors for the
company’s growth.

14) The product is given to the dealer by covering a high profit margin
by the distributor.

15) The dealers are not having a high profit behind a single product as
it becomes hard for them to sell the products with the high cost.

16) Therefore, there are many issues that need to be resolved by the
company but finally there is no issue with the product. The product is
doing much better in the market and the company is in expected position

RECOMMENDATION

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1) To promote the product in the market it is very necessary to appoint the
distributers at various areas as it becomes easy for the dealers and
customers to take the required information about the product and to buy it.

2) In all over the Mumbai region, the company is not having even single
distributer and hence has covered very few dealers till now.

3) The staff present in the Mumbai region is extremely less consisting of

some sales people & technical staff.

4) It is quite impossible to cover all the areas in Mumbai by few people and to
take care of customer’s problems, on time delivery etc. Recruitment of
some more experienced and qualified employees is very necessary.

5) The advertisements or the channels used by the company to promote the

product in the market or to the customers are not up to the expectations as
compared to the competitors.

6) The company gives the advertisement in the magazines only, without

using any other media to create awareness about the products.

7) Antivirus is a product which is used by the customers as it is very

necessary to protect the computer system from highly effective viruses.
Hence the main focus of the company to sell the product should be at the
area where the usage of computer systems is very high.

8) There is huge pricing difference of single user pack as compared to other

companies pack. This needs to be looked upon deeply.

CONCLUSION

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1) The market survey done for finding out the consumer preferences in the
antivirus product ranges, shows that the consumers need such antivirus
software’s which not only keep their system protected from different
malicious codes and viruses and also keep the system functioning as
efficient as possible.

2) It should be affordable at the cost of its functionality and trust worthy to

use it.

3) Proper product promotion and its frequent utilities help in making the
product well known in the market.

4) Although there are various barriers, the company is still doing a good
business in the market by adding more customers and thus increasing the
business.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES

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Marketing Management: Philip Kotler.
Marketing Research: C. R. Kothari Max
Secure study material for Marketing Management

Web Sites Used:

www.maxsecureantivirus.com

www.maxpcsecure.com

www.google.com

www.wikkipedia.com

APPENDIX

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Questionnaire:-
I had prepared this questionnaire for project work meant for educational purpose
only. On “Awareness & usage of several antivirus in market”
No personal information will be disclosed in any form at anywhere.

1. Do you use antivirus?

YES

NO

2. Which Antivirus do you use?

_________________

3. Do you use registered antivirus?

YES

NO

4. If not, reason for not using registered antivirus?

LACK OF KNOWLEDGE LACK OF AWARENESS

USES TRIAL VERSION HUGE AMOUNT OF INVESTMENT

OTHER
5. What are the criteria taken into consideration while selecting antivirus?

33
 BRAND FEATURES & QUALITY

PRICING SERVICE

OTHER

6. Are you satisfied with the current product performance and will continue
with the same product in future?

STRONGLY AGREE A AGREE

NEUTRAL DISAGREE

STRONGLY DISAGREE

7. Would you like to try new antivirus which will satisfy all your needs?

YES

NO

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 DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE

NAME: …………………………………………………………

CONTACT NO: ………………………………………………

EMAIL ID: …………………………………………………….

AGE:

BELOW 20YRS 20 TO 30 YRS

31 TO 40 YRS 41 TO 50 YRS

ABOVE 50

GENDER:

MALE FEMALE

FROM WHICH CATEGORY DO YOU FEET MORE?

STUDENT

EMPLOYEED

BUSINESS OWNER

OTHER

THANK YOU

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