Smooth and Fine Writing SP-10 Fountain Pen

INDEX
S. NO.
1.
2.
3.
4.

5.
6.

7.
8.
9.
10.
11.

CONTENTS

PAGE NO.

Introduction to Dollar
Vision and Mission Statement
Introduction to SP-10 Fountain Pen
Current Market Situation
Market Segmentation
Market Targeting
Market Positioning
Current Marketing Environment
i. Microenvironment
ii. Macroenvironment
BCG Matrix
Marketing Objective
Objectives and Issues
Current Marketing Strategy
Product
Price
Place
Promotion
Distribution Channel
Trial Purchase
SWOT Analysis
Product Life Cycle
Controls
Recommendations
Survey

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1

1
2
3
4
4-5
6
7
8
8-9
9-10
11
12
12
13
13
14
14
14
14-16
17
18-21
22
23
24
25-28

Smooth and Fine Writing SP-10 Fountain Pen

SP-10 Fountain Pen is the product of Dollar company.SP-10 Fountain pen is one of the
most respected fountain pens in Asia. SP-10 is serving its customers for about 3 years.
This pen offers hybrid ink reservoir system and smooth writing along with no ink leakage
problem. Its a convenience product and its very easy to handle. The price of this pen is
Rs.15 which is affordable by everyone.
For this product, Dollar has targeted all the social class students (middle class, upper
lowers, upper uppers, lower lowers, and lower uppers) for whom using a fountain pen is
necessity. SP-10 is a high quality product and gives complete satisfaction to their
consumers. This pen is also easily available in the market. They use the interpersonal
communication channel for marketing their product. Every pen is wrapped in a poly bag
and a box containing 10 pens.
Both the genders can use this pen. This pen is in a growth stage, as its sales and profits
are increasing day by day. This pen works for the longer period, students can use it more
than a year. Its available in variety of colors as well. SP-10 has a high market share of
about 30-35%. In BCG matrix, this pen falls in the category of cash cows. The major
competitors of Dollar are Eagle and Hero. They weekly regulate the market to know the
current position of the market.
The corporate website also provides a solid medium of brand communication to the
company. It includes company profile, product and brand specification and description
with photos, company contacts and current news. The website also helps to get in contact
with international buyers of Dollar and other products.
We conducted the survey to know the views and opinions of the people regarding the SP10 fountain pen. We are delighted to know that 90% of the people are using this pen in
schools and colleges.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
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Smooth and Fine Writing SP-10 Fountain Pen

Firstly we thank Almighty for blessing us with the courage to write and complete the
report. Secondly, we would like to thank our parents for their constant support and
encouragement. Thirdly, we than our Lecturer Miss Farah Anwar for her constant cooperation and support without whose guidance we would have never been able to
complete this report. Moreover we thank Mr. Ali Raza , the marketing Manager of Dollar,
who guided us and provided the information for making this report. Lastly we the group
members would like to thank each other for our co-operation and efforts in writing the
report.

INTRODUCTION TO DOLLAR
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Smooth and Fine Writing SP-10 Fountain Pen

Dollar is one of the oldest and most respected Writing Instruments and Stationery
company in Asia. It made its debut almost half-a-century ago and has seen three
generations expressing their ideas with a wide range of Dollar Pens, Markers and
Inks. Dollar products are sold in all five continents of this planet.
Persistent innovation coupled with an ever expanding product range have earned
Dollar an enviable brand loyalty among all walks of life and in all age groups. Excellent
product performance, exceptional reliability & continuous improvements have developed
a blind consumer faith on Dollar products.
With new hopes and new aspirations Dollar is here to bring to the consumers practical yet
exciting written communication solutions.
Started in 1954 as an Ink manufacturer Dollar range now boasts a wide array of highly
functional Writing Instruments and Stationery products that suit cross cultural consumer
tastes. Continuous quality evolutions and style innovations have earned Dollar an
inviolable brand loyalty even amongst the most discerning of the stationery users.
Dollar is proud to serve its customers for 50 years and now with new hopes and new
aspirations Dollar is here to bring to the consumers practical yet exciting written
communication solutions.

Smooth and Fine Writing SP-10 Fountain Pen

VISION AND MISSION

STATEMENT

MISSION:
To be able to bring to the consumers practical yet exciting written
communication solutions on a continuing basis.

VISION:
To be amongst top ten stationery related companies on a sustainable basis.

Smooth and Fine Writing SP-10 Fountain Pen

INTRODUCTION TO SP-10
FOUNTAIN PEN

We have observed that most of the people find using ball pens easy and convenient but
the problems which they face is with erasing the writing material, it also affects their
writing ability. The negative point of using ball points is that they cannot overwrite
whereas with the help of fountain pen they can easily use an eraser to make amendments.
It is necessary for the students to use fountain pen in board exams. Most of the pens
available in the market do not meet the requirement of the customers. The customers are
looking for a pen which is easy to handle and gives smoothness in writing along with no
ink leakage problem during papers writing and offers hybrid ink filling system.
So Dollar has introduced a pen called SP-10 Fountain Pen which can satisfy consumers
needs and can meet their requirements. The price of this pen is also reasonably affordable
by common user.

CHARACTERISTICS:
The main characteristic of SP-10 Fountain Pen is:

Saves time and effort because of more ink storage capacity than other pens.
Convenient to handle and easy to use.
No leakage of ink and so no untidiness.
Compact so easy to care.
Safety ventilated
Made of high quality materials that ensure outstanding writing performance
coupled with excellent comfort.

Smooth and Fine Writing SP-10 Fountain Pen

Smooth writing.
Good for everyday use
Cap with built in chip that fits perfectly in the pockets.
The pen will work for a longer period than other locally available fountain pen as it
comes along with convenience promise to provide the customers with the quality they
intend for and assure them the complete satisfaction they are looking for.

CURRENT MARKET
SITUATION
MARKET SEGMENTATION
Today, marketers are trying to identify markets they can serve best, as one company
cannot cope with the needs of the whole market with one product.
For SP-10 fountain pen, Dollar has segmented the market on the basis of:

MAIN SEGMENT:
School, college going students, and for whom using a fountain pen is a necessity.

GEOGRAPHIC:
Region: All over Pakistan
Density: Urban, Sub-Urban, Rural.

DEMOGRAPHIC:
Total population of students of metric and intermediate level and also bachelor level
Age: 11-22, people who are the students of schools, colleges and universities.

Smooth and Fine Writing SP-10 Fountain Pen

Gender: Male and Female (Both)
Occupation: School or college going students, for whom using a fountain pen is a
necessity. Use of fountain pen is a part of every day work for them.

BEHAVIORAL:
Benefits: Quality, service speed, convenience, economy.
User-status: Regular users
Usage rate: Heavy users
Readiness to buy: When informed, interested, intended to buy.
Attribute toward product: Positive
Loyalty Status: Medium as well as strong.

PSCYCOGRAPHIC:
Social Class: All classes (Upper uppers, Upper lowers, Working class, Middle class,
Upper middle, Lower uppers, Lower lowers).

Smooth and Fine Writing SP-10 Fountain Pen

MARKET TARGETING
In Market Targeting, a firm decides which market segments to enter in, while doing that,
it must look at three factors:
1. Segment size and growth
2. Segment structural attractiveness
3. Companys Objectives.
After evaluating the three factors, the firm selects the segments to cater. Dollar has
targeted its segment on the basis of:
Age: 12-22 (Schools, college students who buy pens for their regular usage, which ranges
from class 4 to graduate level).
Social Class: They have targeted all the social classes.

Smooth and Fine Writing SP-10 Fountain Pen

MARKET POSITIONING
A products position is the way the product is defined by consumers on important
attributes. Dollar is positioned as a high quality brand name in the minds of customers.
They perceive Dollar-branded products to be of high-quality and of good value. Dollar is
at same level as are the FMCG (Fast Moving Goods). The slogan of the pen is Smooth
and Fine Writing. This is the pen which promises the customer neatness and clearness
while saving his time and guarantees satisfaction, unlike other pens. This product is a lot
more than a pen. It presents better quality than others.

COMPETITORS:
The main competitors in the market are:
1. Eagle
2. Hero

COMPETIITIVE ADVANTAGE:
The pen is better than the rest; the attributes provided by this pen are unique and
satisfying. No other company in the industry shares the unique and innovative attributes
that they hold. Although Hero and Eagle are not their direct competitors since there is no
close substitute of SP-10 fountain pen but Hero once tried to launch the pen of the same
attributes but failed because it was not meeting the demands of the people.

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Smooth and Fine Writing SP-10 Fountain Pen

CURRENT MARKETING
ENVIRONMENT
The company needs to keep itself up-to-date with its environment. It needs to know the
changing trends prevailing in the market, to do research to find out if there are any
changes in the market and many more aspects need to be considered. A companys
marketers take the major responsibility for identifying and predicting the significant
changes in the environment. Marketers must be the trend trackers and opportunity
seekers. The marketing environment is made up of:
1. Microenvironment
2. Macroenvironment

i.

MICROENVIRONMENT:

The marketing management at Dollar is responsible for attracting and building

relationships with customers by creating customer value and satisfaction. The
microenvironment consists of the company, suppliers, marketing Intermediaries,
competitors and customers.

SUPPLIERS: Dollar has a very well-integrated system. They try to keep good
relations with their suppliers so that they have to face any problem when there is over
demand of the SP-10 fountain pen. The marketing managers watch carefully the
supply availability. They also monitor the price trends of their key inputs. The
suppliers for Dollar include vendors of raw materials, packaging, printing,
distributors etc. Suppliers are pre-sourced and the assignments are spilited on the
basis of competency of supplier in the related field. Performance evaluation of
suppliers is complex, in which their financials, past performance, competency, staff
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Smooth and Fine Writing SP-10 Fountain Pen

do count. The company anticipates long-term contracts with suppliers, but practices
the policy of calling multiple bids to ensure productivity.

THE COMPANY ITSELF: In designing marketing plans, marketing managers

take other company groups into account such as the top management, finance,
research and development, purchasing, manufacturing and accounting. These all
departments work in harmony to provide superior customer value and satisfaction.

MARKETING INTERMEDIARIES: The Dollar has no marketing

intermediaries. They do all the promotion, selling and distribution of the product by
themselves.

CUSTOMERS: The marketers study their consumers closely. The Dollar

consumer market consists of consumer markets, business markets, reseller markets,
government markets and international markets.

COMPETITORS: The Dollar fountain pen provides greater customer value and
satisfaction than its competitors do. The fountain pen provides the people
convenience and large ink reservoir as some of its features. So, the dollar fountain
pen has a competitive advantage over the fountain pens of other companies.

ii.

MACROENVIRONMENT:

The company and all other actors work in a large macroenvironment which affects
their marketing plans. The macroenvironment consists of demographic environment,
natural environment, technological environment and political environment.

DEMOGRAPHIC ENVIRONMENT: Pakistan's people are not evenly

distributed throughout the country. There is an average of 146 persons per square
kilometer, but the density varies dramatically, ranging from scarcely populated arid areas,
especially in Balochistan, to some of the highest urban densities in the world in Karachi
and Lahore. The number of people living in urban areas has risen substantially, resulting
in an urban growth rate of 4.6 percent between 1980 and 1991. Since the Pakistans
population is changing so it means growing human needs to satisfy. The most rapid
growing age groups are children, teenagers and young adults. This means that there
should be an increase in the demand for such products which attract these age segments.
So the Dollar people keep on changing their products according to the demand and since
the demand of SP-10 fountain pen is so high so this product occupies about 30-35%
market share.

NATURAL ENVIRONMENT: Dollar strives for far more than only complying
with product-related standards. This responsible, environment - friendly, corporate

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Smooth and Fine Writing SP-10 Fountain Pen

citizen attaches equal importance to respecting process-related environmental
requirements. To fulfill, what it calls, its Green Objective, Dollar has put - in
extraordinary effort to bring its manufacturing units in line with ISO-14001 stipulations.
Steps already taken toward this end are:

Planned elimination of all kinds waste.

Prompt recycling of all material waste that inevitably gets generated in the
churning of different production processes.

Total air pollution control through imposing progressive ban on use of

hazardous chemicals solvents , rogue dyes , and powdered colorants and
pigments in processing plastics.

Solid waste management - a concept that Dollar has introduced for the first time
in this part of the planet where it operates.

Apart from enforcing strict regime on itself, Dollar has successfully introduced the
concept of environment-friendliness even to its suppliers and in its neighbor
chemical industries by persuading them to adopt effective solid waste management
practices.

TECHNOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT: Dollar recognizes the important role of

technology in our business. They continuously strive to make the appropriate utilization
of cutting edge technology
both in operations as well as processes. Dollar considers
efficiency of operations as the single most important factor critical to the success of its
business. In anticipation of future globalization challenges, Dollar has worked
through a " Technology Enabled Business Process Re-engineering Programme "
(BPR) in association with Deloitte
the world's leading consulting firm.
The forward looking Dollar radically transformed its Information Technology strategy
with the bold introduction of state-of-the-art Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
Oracle Applications, thereby placing itself on the cutting edge of technology. This bold
move has enabled Dollar to measure organizational effectiveness in terms of costs, cycle
times, service and quality standards that serve customer needs and ensure customer
satisfaction. This strategic initiative has not only aligned all spheres of its operations but
also brought Dollar in-line with business practices of the world leading corporations who
deploy strategic information tools as a measure of attaining and maintaining
global competitiveness.

POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT: Dollar has to follow certain government policies.

Dollar has to change its marketing strategies if there is any change in the government
policy. Thats why they need to keep themselves up-to-date with the government policies
that are being followed. If they do something which goes against the policy they have to
pay fine. So they try to manufacture their products keeping in mind the government
policies.

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Smooth and Fine Writing SP-10 Fountain Pen

BCG MATRIX

STARS

QUESTION MARK

High
Market Growth Rate

Ball points
Markers

Glue

Stamp pads

CASH COWS

DOGS

Low

Fountain Pens
Ink

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Staples

Smooth and Fine Writing SP-10 Fountain Pen

High
Low
Relative Market Share
Having a look at the BCG matrix we can conclude that dollar has a good set of SBUs,
which all are positioned very well, Dollar seems to have a good position in the market,
where its growth of majority of its items is still increasing due to many economic and
environmental factors. The market share of SP-10 fountain pen is about 30-35% which is
a pretty large share occupied by this pen alone among all the fountain pens. This fountain
pen is assumed to be soon converted into stars since Dollar is doing many promotion
efforts and also due to the increasing demand of this pen.

MARKETING OBJECTIVE
Our objective is to provide superb customer service, maximum satisfaction
to our valued customers and to achieve optimal profit as well
Mr. Ali Raza, Marketing Manager, Dollar.

OBJECTIVES AND ISSUES:

The main objectives have been mentioned earlier but still company does have on going
aims and they are:

Dollar is committed to deliver Quality at affordable prices.

Dollar Team is dedicated to provide customer better value for their money
through continuous improvement and innovation.

To maintain the Quality is main purpose.

Safe for customers intended use

Priority is guaranteeing the highest possible quality in all its deliverable.

The main issues which they had to face were the World Trade Order issue and the counter
feeding. Since lots of retailers and small organizations are trying to copy their product so
they have to keep on changing their marketing strategies so as to avoid such types of
issues. They send the people from their organization to regulate the market and to see if
someone is trying to do counter feeding. They develop there strategies according to the
issues they are facing.
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Smooth and Fine Writing SP-10 Fountain Pen

CURRENT MARKETING
STRATEGY
To achieve the expected response in the market, they have engaged into different
activities regarding the product, its price, place, and promotion.

PRODUCT:
Quality:
The first major concern is to choose a quality level that can support the SP-10 fountain
pen position in the market. Here the product quality means performance quality-the
ability of a product to perform according to its promising features. Dollar has built a
credible
reputation
for
quality.
Robust
strides
in
this
direction
have made the name Dollar a synonym for quality.
This pen is safe, environmental friendly and free from hazardous materials and, are
designed and produced to be highly functional yet, absolutely safe for their intended
use. Dollar products conform to and are certified for applicable international standards
such as European Standards EN-71, British Standards BS 7272, BS 5665 and several
other product related standards.

QUALITY POLICY
Dollar is committed to deliver Quality at affordable prices.
Dollars Team is dedicated to provide customer better value for their money
through continuous improvement and innovation.
Quality is at their hearts.

Dollar Company attaches higher priority to Quality over costs and delivery. Besides
achieving several country specific quality standards, Dollar also crossed the milestone
of ISO - 9002 certification through Lloyds of UK the world's leading certification body.
However, ISO is just a small part of the cosmic quality vision at Dollar. To truly live the
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Smooth and Fine Writing SP-10 Fountain Pen

image of a real Quality Company, Dollar is chaining itself to advanced quality
management techniques like TQM (Total Quality Management), TQC (Total Quality
Control) and CWQC (Company-Wide Quality Circles). Perennial customer confidencecum-conviction that they are dealing with a company that is focusing all the time
on assuring customer satisfaction through enhancing quality of all of it deliverables.

Product Style:
Style refers to the distinctive value proposition of the product. Up till now, a continuous
effort has been put up to let the customers identify the differentiated style of the product
(brand). Largely, high ink reservoir of the product is a good and effective attribute to
attract customers.

PRICE:
SP-10 fountain pen is reasonably priced which can be a reason to its purchase as it were
to be produced a good quality on comparison to local brands. Pricing has been optimized
in such a way so as to ensure market survival and at the same time keeping SP-10 at
affordable level of price.
COST-BASED PRICING:
Their approach for pricing the product is cost-based, they have though considered
peoples opinion regarding the price they are willing to pay.
VALUE-BASED PRICING:
They also do value-based pricing. They set prices based on buyers perception of value
rather on the sellers cost. The company sets its target price based on the customer
perceptions of the product value. The targeted value and price then drive their decisions
about product design and what costs can be occurred.

PLACE:
This product is available at all super stores, bookstores. Their target market consists of
all classes i.e. upper upper, middle class, working class, upper lowers and the others.
They use the indirect marketing channel to distribute product- retailers to customers
and relationships with retailers. Placement of product on retail stores is quite satisfactory
and the product (in all variants) is readily available for any customer intending to
purchase the product, in almost all parts of the country.

PROMOTION:
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Smooth and Fine Writing SP-10 Fountain Pen

Identifying the promotion is very essential. They first targeted their specific audience,
which include: schools, college students looking for a convenient writing utensil/pen.
Market departments want the people to be aware of the new product and features. They
try to make people realize that, their product is better than competitors and try to
convince them and tell them about the attributes of the product they intend to mention the
strong point of the product.

CHANNEL DISTRIBUTION:
They have an Interpersonal communication channel and they make people know of
their product by distributing brochures and pamphlets outside the school and college area.
They even stick posters outside school, colleges, book stores, super markets and
stationeries. Their strong and loyal retailers support them in promoting their product by
their selling skill, which is usually done on contractual basis. These retailers place this
product on the front shelves of their stores and they paste the posters on the walls of the
shops so as when the customer enters the shop these posters catch their attention and they
are willing to try this pen out.

Terms Of Trade:
The company provides their line of product to retailers, dealers on both cash and credit.

Degree of Brand Awareness:

Dollar is a well-established brand, the consumers are aware of the brand and are loyal to
it.

Awareness of Substitution:
We dont have any close substitution in the market since we are the first company to
launch a fountain pen with high ink reservoir.

High Involvement or Low Involvement:

Its a high involvement product since there are significant differences between the brands.
This pen is different from others on the basis of its attributes but still if the consumer has
any problem with the pen he buys, he can definitely exchange the pen but cannot return
it.

Basis of Buying:
The fountain pen is consumed at regular basis but its consumption will be more during
the exams and at the beginning of the school year. For this purpose, they take certain

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Smooth and Fine Writing SP-10 Fountain Pen

action programs during the exams period for example, they go to schools, colleges for the
promotion and they sometimes they also do conferences etc.

Entry and Exit Barriers:

The entry of other brands would be very easy but it will be very costly for them since no
other company produces ink. In order to compete with Dollar the competitors will have to
produce ink or to contact with other ink producing companies. The exit barriers are low.
The return on investment is quick and investment doesnt stay blocked for a very long
time.

TOOLS FOR PROMOTION:

Posters outside the schools and colleges and at shops

Pamphlets
Good customer care and service
Word of mouth

PROMOTIONAL MIX STRATEGY:

Dollar uses both pull and push strategy depending on the situations. They first analyze the
trends prevailing in the market and then they see their budgets that whether they will be
able to do some promotion mix. They develop their promotional mix strategies based on
the environmental conditions. If they think that there products demand is decreasing so
they start doing pull strategy, it means that they do lots of consumer promotions to build
the demand for the product.

BRANDING:
Dollar is a private brand, and the distribution is all based on contracts, the distribution of
their product is done very intensively; their product is sold with the name SP-10 fountain
pen, which is a product of Dollar. The brand name present on the pen is Dollar SP-10.

BRAND NAME:
The brand name attached to the product is Dollar. The attachment of this brand name
gives product a competitive advantage in the target market that identifies Dollar as a
quality-oriented premium brand and is enjoying strong customer equity.

PACKAGING:
Name of the brand is printed on the packaging. Packaging refers to the sealing, printing
bottling and overall outlook of the product. Every pen is wrapped in a poly bag, packed in
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Smooth and Fine Writing SP-10 Fountain Pen

a standard box of 12. The eye-catching packaging attracts people, and pushes them to at
least give a look at their product. The quality packaging and sealing adds value to the
image of the product and fit with the positioning of SP-10 fountain pen as a qualityoriented product.

LABELING:
Name of the product Dollar appears on the cap of pen. Basic ideas of to market the
product as well as the name had to be done in conjunction with promotion.

TRIAL PURCHASE:
Product trial is done by the prospect buyers on small scale to improve their estimate of
the value of the product. Positive cognition on such test brand experiences increase brand
loyalty among the overall target market. The objective of trial usage of the fountain pen is
to capture existing niches in the market as well as to grasp new grounds. The events that
link the product to customers in target market and test marketing are helpful to induce
trial usage in the customers. The idea here is to nudge the prospect customers into trying
the fountain pen with the expectation that this will lease to greater market acceptance
echelons.

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Smooth and Fine Writing SP-10 Fountain Pen

SWOT ANALYSIS
Strengths

First of a kind
Brand Equity
Easy Availability
Proper Utilization of Resources
Easily Affordable
Positioning Beyond Target Market
Distribution Channel

Opportunities

Weaknesses
Difficult to position
Lack of Trust
Loyalty towards ball pens

Threats

Vast Potential Direct Market

Literacy Level
Technological Factor

21

Uncertainty
Entrance of competitors
Decrease in expected sales

Smooth and Fine Writing SP-10 Fountain Pen

SWOT ANALYSIS
STRENGTHS
1. First of A kind:
The SP-10 fountain pen is beneficial to Dollars customers although there are many ink
pens, but none of those kinds are ever able to solve their problems.

2. Brand Equity:
There is no doubt that Dollar is the most popular pen brand in Pakistan, so, even
introducing a new Dollar product is always favorable because of brand equity, loyalty and
gained trust of customers.

3. Easy availability:
SP-10 fountain pen is easily available in all sorts of markets; therefore customers will
find it very easy to buy their product.

4. Proper Utilization of Resources:

They are utilizing their resources effectively and efficiently.

5. Easily Affordable:
SP-10 fountain pen is reasonably priced so it is affordable for every class.

6. Positioning Beyond the Target Market:

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Smooth and Fine Writing SP-10 Fountain Pen

SP-10 fountain pen not only position the regular users of ink pens or the target market,
but it will also position beyond that, because of the easy handling and convenience nonusers of ink pens will also be attracted.

7. Distribution Channel:
The distribution channel of dollar is very efficient, effective and responding.

WEAKNESSES
1. Difficult to position:
Customers who use ball pens regularly may not be fully satisfied because of their habitual
use of ball pens.

2. Totally new product:

Customers may have uncertainty about Sp-10 fountain pen because it is almost new in the
market and nobody is much aware of this new type of pens.
3. Loyalty towards ball pens:
Customers who are loyal towards regular ball pens may not intend to buy the fountain
pen.

OPPORTUNITIES
1. Vast Potential Direct Market:
The market that they are catering in is a vast potential direct market. It can easily catch
the eyes of the customers.
2. Literacy Level:
Increase in the literacy level can add more customers in the near future.

3. Technological Factor:
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Smooth and Fine Writing SP-10 Fountain Pen

Introduction in the case of new technology can bring a great opportunity to the growth of
SP-10 Fountain Pen sales.

Threats
.

1. Uncertainty:
Customers might have uncertainty while using SP-10 fountain pen because they will
always compare this pen with other fountain pens.

2. Entrants of Competitors:
Entrants of competitors is a major threat that can affect in the future.
3. Decrease in Sales:
If the sales of the fountain pen decrease below their expectations then their cost of
production will increase.

HOW DOES DOLLAR COPE WITH THE THREATS?

The Dollar marketers see that what kind of threats they are facing and they change and
develop their strategies according to the marketing situation. The Dollar people have
made certain strategies that if some kind of threat occurs then they will take those steps.
If they see that customers are diverting away from the product and their sales are
declining then they do certain promotion efforts and they send their people in the market
to see that why are the customers facing problem. They try to improve their quality and
fluctuate prices according to the situations prevailing in the market.

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Smooth and Fine Writing SP-10 Fountain Pen

PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE

SP-10 Fountain Pen

The SP-10 fountain pen is still on its growth stage since there is a lot of demand for this
product in the market and they are trying to attract the potential buyers. Initially its
market share was about 5% and now it has grown to 30-35%. This product has a lot of
growing momentum. Dollar is doing lots of efforts to increase the consumption of the pen
and they are also trying to convince the buyers they this pen provides them the best
quality and good values.

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Smooth and Fine Writing SP-10 Fountain Pen

CONTROLS
The company tries to achieve its basic objectives by following its strategy. The main and
foremost goal of Dollar is to serve people with good quality and affordable price. They
want to fulfill the requirements of their consumers. There are some people allocated in
the Dollar who do research and analysis current market trend, customers taste and
preferences, customers reaction to their product, are they achieving their desired goals,
the products sale matching the set target and many more questions. These people weekly
visit the market and collect information about their product and they ask further about the
quotations and invoices.
They do their researches by surveys, using questionnaires and also through contact
methods such as online, telephone, e-mail and they also do their research through their
website i.e.www.dollar-stationery.com. In small brand-building events, Sales force
supervisors are given the charge to coordinate with the overall team. However, in high
profile and high-stake events, the brand management team comes in front and assumes
the supervisory role.

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Smooth and Fine Writing SP-10 Fountain Pen

RECOMMENDATIONS
Although Dollar is doing everything a company must do to promote its product but they
need to consider some areas.

ADVERTISING
From beginning a policy has been adopted on corporate level not to communicate the
brand messages through electronic media. Although it doesnt fit with the general
branding rules, effective media communication on print media has yielded desired results
on both brand and sales fronts. There have always been good promotional offerings from
the brand of Dollar for its products in various high-profile magazines and outdoor media.
Advertising reach models including CPM (Cost per thousand) and GRP (Gross Rating
Points) should also be employed to monitor the media planning performance of
advertising agency and advertising effectiveness.

DIRECT MARKETING
Direct marketing activities are planned to induce the potential customers in the target
market for trial brand experiences. It includes setting up stalls in door-to-door
selling/marketing, setting stalls in the colleges and schools during the events like Mela
etc. and other activities that revolve around the same idea. These activities are executed
with the help of various direct marketing agencies, staff of which are mostly briefed by
the brand team of the company itself.

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Smooth and Fine Writing SP-10 Fountain Pen

EXHIBITIONS
Though they also include in direct marketing tactics, exhibitions provide a larger array to
contact customers. These exhibitions provide effective ground to the company to interact
directly with the customers and the end-users, listen to them and hence, provide them the
best solutions of their needs. These exhibitions also provide support to related fields
including product development, market research through customer feedback and test
marketing.

SALES PROMOTION
Sales Promotions are the short-term tactics that are executed in order to encourage the
existing and potential customers to purchase specific products or services in a limited
period. Different sales promotion schemes are executed by the company for its brands to
achieve short-term sales results. For the purpose, company offers incentives to both
retailers and customers. However, company doesnt employ any trade push tactics to
entice the retailers. They should give special offers to the customers such as buy 2 get 1
free to attract customers.

SURVEY
We conducted a survey which helped us a lot in collecting information about the SP-10
Fountain Pen.

QUESTIONIARE
(SP-10 fountain pen)
Dear respondents,
Please fill this form since we would like to know your views and opinions about the
fountain pen.
Name(optional):
Gender: Male/female
Age:
12-15
16-18
Grade/class:

19-22

1. Do you use a fountain pen?

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Smooth and Fine Writing SP-10 Fountain Pen

Yes
No

2. When buying a fountain pen what attributes do you keep in mind?

Quality
Price
Brand
Others (please specify)-------------

3. Do you find it difficult to maintain fountain pens?

Yes
No

4. What problems do you face while using a fountain pen?

Time consuming
Leakage of ink
Refilling
Others (please specify)-----------

5. If a new fountain pen with high ink reservoir and smooth writing is launched how
would you respond to it?

Definitely buy
Definitely not buy
Not sure

6. Have you heard of SP-10 fountain pen and used it?

Yes
No
Not sure
Yes heard it but not used it.
7. Which of the following reason you feel will make you buy this pen? (Check all
that apply)

Convenience
Time saving
Easy handling
Others (please specify)------

8. How much are you willing to pay for the fountain pen?

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Smooth and Fine Writing SP-10 Fountain Pen

Rs.8-10
Rs.11-13
Rs.14-17

A brief summary of the analysis made on the survey is as

followed:

People willing to buy this pen:

90% of the people are willing to buy this pen

The most preferred attribute of the pen:

89% of the people have chosen convenience as their priority.

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Smooth and Fine Writing SP-10 Fountain Pen

The price consumers are willing to pay:
87% of the people are willing to pay between RS.10-15

ANALYSIS OF THE SURVEY

15%
YES
NO
85%

We carried out a survey to know the response of the consumers regarding the fountain
pen. And we are delighted to know that most of the people are willing to buy this pen. As
this pie graph suggests, 85% of the target market is willing to buy this product and only
15% are either opposing it or are not sure of whether they will buy it or not.

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Smooth and Fine Writing SP-10 Fountain Pen

11%

Convenience
Time Saving

89%

The problems faced by consumers while using other fountain pens are leakage of
ink and refilling. In order to provide customers with convenience and easy handling, this
product has been launched. In a survey, we have found that most of the consumers prefer
convenience over other attributes. As the pie chart predicts, 89% of the target market has
opted for convenience of using a pen whereas other 11% has opted for other attributes.

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