Submitted to: submitted by:

Dr. prerna kumar ankit chaurasia

Ap-2k9-05
 A

Synopsis

On

Integrated marketing communication

strategy of dell Inc.

IMC (Integrated marketing communication):

Integrated marketing communication (IMC) is the co-ordination and
integration of all marketing communication tools, avenues and sources within
a company into a seamless programme that maximizes the impact on
consumers and other end users at a minimal cost. This integration affects all of
a firm’s business to business (B2B), marketing channel, customer focused and
internally directed communications.

Definitions:-

1. “IMC is the concept under which a company carefully integrates and

coordinates its many communications channels to deliver a clear
consistent and compelling message about the organisation and its
product.” – Philip Kotler
2. “An organisation’s unified, coordinated effort to promote a brand
concept through the use of multiple communication tools that “speak
with a single voice”. – Terence A. Shimp
3. “IMC is the strategic choice of elements of marketing communications
which will effectively and economically influence transactions between
an organisation and its existing and potential customers, clients and
consumers.” – Betts
4. “IMC is a process for managing the customer relationships that drive
brand value more specially, it is cross functional process for creating and
 nourishing profitable relationships with customers and stakeholders by
strategically controlling or influencing all messages sent to those groups
and encouraging data driven, purposeful dialogue with them.”- Duncan

Pc/Laptop industry in India

Laptops were originally considered to be "a small niche market" and were
thought suitable mostly for "specialized field applications" such as "the
military, the Internal Revenue Service, accountants and sales representatives".
But today, there are already more laptops than desktops in businesses, and
laptops are becoming obligatory for student use and more popular for general
use.

Major Players:

The major players in the laptop category are:

o Hewlett Packard (HP)

o IBM

o Toshiba

o Compaq

o Dell Computers

o Sony

The overall India PC market sales touched 24.9 lakh units during the October-
December 2010 quarter recording a 26% year-on-year (October-December
2010 over October-December 2009) increase, but dropped 11% quarter-on-
quarter (October-December 2010 over July-September 2010). Desktop PC
sales accounted for 14.5 lakh units, representing a 14% increase year-on-year
(October-December 2010 over October-December 2009). The sales of
Notebook computers grew at 49% year-on-year (October-December 2010 over
October-December 2009), to reach 10.4 lakh units for the quarter.
Table 1: India PC Sales (lakhs of units) by Form Factor* and Growth Trends:
October-December 2010 vs. July-September 2010 and October-December
2010 vs. October-December 2009
Form Factor 4Q 3Q 2010 4Q 2010 Growth Growth
2009 (Jul-Sep
(Oct- 2010) (Oct-Dec (4Q 2010 over (4Q 2010
Dec 2010) 3Q 2010) over 4Q
2009) 2009)
Desktop PCs 12.7 16.8 14.5 -13% 14%
Notebook 7.0 11.1 10.4
PCs -7% 49%
Total PC 19.7 27.9 24.9 -11% 26%
*Source: IDC's India Quarterly PC Tracker, 4Q 2010, February 2011

In the overall PC (Notebooks and Desktops combined) market, HP regained

the market leadership after two quarters with an increased market share* of
17.3% in terms of sales, while Dell (14.2%) and Acer (11.5%) grabbed the
second and third spot respectively In terms of desktop PC sales HP and HCL
were statistically tied for first position with shares* of 10.86% and 10.78%,
respectively; Acer came at the third spot during 4Q 2010. For notebook PC
sales, HP reclaimed its position at the top with a market share* of 26.2% in 4Q
2010; Dell and Acer notched the second and third places, respectively.
Figure 1: India Overall PC Sales and Growth (%): Year-on-Year Comparison, CY2007 to CY2010

Source: IDC's India

Quarterly PC Tracker, 4Q 2010, February 2011
 Dell Marketing Strategies:
Dell is all set to reach buyers at every nook and corner of India with its multi-
channel marketing strategy. The company is still clinging to its original
marketing methodology of catering to customers directly from the company.
However, it has adopted a strategy of creating as many channels as possible to
reach purchasers - not only in metros but also in all remote places. The
company has uniform pricing of products all over the country, with full
opportunity for product customisation, on-site service even at remotest
regions, warranty programmes spanning several time frames, and toward
passing on the (central) tax benefits to the customers.

Through customers' feedbacks over a period of time, Dell realises the need for
providing buyers the opportunity for touching and feeling their products -
before making purchase decisions. The PC manufacturer also notes that - in
this country, organised retail is still at a very nascent stage. The consumer PCs
are being sold in an unorganised way. The company finds that buying PCs from
local Resellers or System Integrators (SIs) has some advantages for customers,
like - getting the products within geographical reach, immediate (post-sale)
problem fixing at doorstep, better service and price because of the existing
customers influence etc. From its survey of the existing Indian IT channel, Dell
observes that most vendors operate here with a volume-based incentive
scheme, i.e. buy more quantity and take more benefit'. The result is - the
partners who garner a large volume of stock, are invariably able to offer a
better price to customers, and outcast the small resellers. It is leading to a kind
of disparity in the channel - everybody is not able to offer the best possible
price at one point of time. The other drawback in the existing channel system
that Dell finds is - to be a successful player, a reseller needs a large amount of
capital. If the reseller does not buy a lot of products he/she cannot be
competitive in the market. So, there is a huge entry barrier for the new
venturers too. Thus, the PC vendor is now adopting a new strategy. The
evolved marketing plan is referred to as the Direct-plus strategy.

o Direct-plus strategy:

Dell planned - the model that they frame for India should combine the strength
of the channel, the strength of the Dell's direct model and still stays away from
the challenges to the healthy business, like volume-based business, huge
investment in inventory etc. They believe they have found the game-changer,
which can address all of these issues. The Direct-plus plan is being
implemented in multiple ways. Dell set up its shop-in-shop in Tata Croma,
Malad, Mumbai. The company intends to shortly establish more such outlets in
other Croma branches nationally. Any buyer can walk in to the Tata Croma
outlet, he/she can see the whole brand of products displayed there, compare
and select a Dell model with preferred colour, weight, memory size etc., based
on his/her budget. The Dell-trained sales representatives are there to
understand the customer's need, and guide him/her to the right purchase
decision. However, the customer has to order his customised PC. Then the
product will be manufactured (at Dell's factory in
Sriperumbudur, Tamilnadu) and directly home-delivered. In the case of Tata
Croma, what they have done is - the shop-in-shop is manned by Dell. If you go
to that outlet you do not get a Croma Bill. You get a Dell invoice. It is purely a
display and a sales point.

o Sales-affiliate programme:

Dell has planned to appoint its affiliates out of large cities, especially, in the
towns where the population is only 50,000 to 1 lakh. The Sales-affiliate
programme empowers SIs, resellers and shop owners across the country to
offer Dell products to their customers - without having to make huge
investment, to take risk of price drop, to bother about the volume-based
incentive, to worry that there is a next-door shopkeeper who will give a better
discount. They have 20 Master Sales-affiliates across the country. They help
customers buying Dell's products by placing orders online. They may have a
couple of products on display; however, the ultimate dealing is being managed
directly by the company.

o The win-win situation:

All the Dell's programmes are based on flat incentive or margin structure. The
sales-affiliates need not even directly handle the products. Dell is letting them
focus on what they do the best - sales. They just need to advise customers on
the right products, and simply place the order online. This system also brings
huge benefit to the customers. They get the freshest technology, pay less for
lower supply chain cost, get tax benefit and deal directly with the
manufacturer.
 Research Methodology:

o Objective of the research :

The primary objective of the study is to understand, analyse and interpret the
different types of IMC tools used by DELL Inc. for their promotional activities.

o Research design :

For this purpose we use secondary data from various websites as mentioned in
bibliography at the end of the report & also case study will be used which is
based on IMC tools used by DELL Inc. It’s also include newspaper (English &
Hindi) (like Times of India, Dainik Bhaskar, Naidunia), magazines (Business
Today, 4 P’s, India Today).This involves various IMC tools used by dell for their
promotional activities which affects an individual’s purchasing decision as well
as how they relate with them to their promotional activities.

Conclusion:
On the basis of research conducted and observation would lead to result on
the basis of which can conclusion can be made.

Bibliography:
1. Integrated advertising promotion and marketing communication by
Kenneth E. Clow and Donald Baack(Book)
2. Advertising and Promotion (An IMC approach) by Terence A. Shimp
3. Scribd (website)
4. IDC India (the premium global marketing agency firm)