A REPORT

ON

RETAIL STORE MANAGEMENT

MANAGEME

Submitted By-

Piyush Asthana
07bs2837

Faculty Guide:
Mr.Subhasis Ray

Faculty Member, IBS-Kolkata

Kolkata

Company Guide:
Mr.Devnag Busakala

Assistant Sales Manager, HCL-Laptop

Laptop Division,
Division Kolkata

1
 A REPORT

ON

RETAIL STORE MANAGEMENT

By
Piyush Asthana
07bs2837

A report submitted in partial fulfillment of the

requirements of MBA Program of ICFAI Business
School
Distribution List:
Faculty Guide: Company Guide:
Dr.Subghasis
asis Ray Mr. Devnag Busakala
Faculty Member, IBS-Kolkata
IBS Asst. Sales Manager
M HCL

2
 Acknowledgement
A successful project is fruitful culmination of efforts of many people, some
directly involved, and others who have quietly encouraged and extended their
support, while being in the background. I take this opportunity to extend my deep
sense of gratitude and heartfelt thanks to all those who have helped us directly or
indirectly during the course of my project.

My colleagues and associates at ICFAI business school continue to have important

impact on my thinking. I am in debt to Mr. Niraj Pacholi of Hindustan Computers
limited(HCL) who have taught me a great deal as we worked together to adopt
marketing management thinking to the problems of different situations.

My overriding debt continues to Mr. Anupam Guha who provided me a chance to

prove myself in his firm. It’s truly our project.

This dissertation could not have been written without Prof. Subhasis Ray who not
only served as my supervisor but also encouraged and challenged me throughout
my academic program who patiently guided me through the dissertation process,
never accepting less than my best efforts.

Hee and the other faculty membe

members,
rs, Prof. Subhasis Chakraborty who trusted on me
and kept his full confidence in me. I thank them all.

I also gratefully acknowledge the invaluable suggestions and support from Mr.
Devnag Busakala.. I am also appreciative of all
all that I have learned from working
with industry executives who have generously shared their insight and experiences

3
 Abstract
“Sales personnel no longer specialize solely in increasing sales volume; rather, the
prospect's real needs become the basis of the marketing plan. A mark of
professionalism in sales is that sellers adopt a problem-solving
problem solving approach to their
work, A professional salesperson
salesperson does not wonder, ‘What can I sell this
individual?" but instead asks, "How can I best solve this person's problems?’”(
problems?’”
Kurtz, Dodge, and Klompmaker (1976) .The he best way to hold the customers is to
constantly figure out how to give them more for less as this is exactly what they
want. The report is based on “Retail Store Management”. This project report
basically focuses on what are the steps and the processes involved and adopted for
selling the HCL laptops/desktops
/desktops in order to expand the market of HCL Front line
division.. The sales are made based on product’s enhanced quality. The customers
need to be personally convinced that HCL is better than the other brands in the
same product segment,, and for personally convincing, a HCL’s
HCL sales representative
is required because in the words of Saxe and Weitz (1982), a salesperson’s
customer orientation is ‘the degree to which he or she practice(s) the marketing
concept by trying to help his or her customers make purchase decisions that willwi
satisfy customer needs’.. Thus my work is to personally deal with customers,
increase the brand awareness, and convince them to buy the product, ultimately
pushing up the sales.

The closest competitors of HCL are ““Lenovo” and “Acer”. ”. These two brands
closely
osely resemble HCL laptops in price and features. So the people who come to
buy these two brands in mind are targeted. Even if people come to buy different
brand say “HP” or “Sony
Sony”, were also tried to mould, I show them a HCL model
deeply listing out the specific advantages and features available in that product.

There is another segment of customers who prefer specific brands as “Sony”

“ or
“Apple”.
pple”. Conversion of these customers to HCL is very difficult. Brands as “HP
4
pavilion, Sony & Apple”
pple” are promoted to target the premium segment of people.
Thus these brands have segmented the society based on pricing therefore we can
say that these brands have a loyal customer base
base.

Constantly dealing
ealing with the customers helped me in identifying the buying
behaviour of the customer, application of various marketing theory. The sale and
the demand of the competitors are also revealed. By knowing the customer’s
requirements deeply, the future trend can be analyzed and the new models can be
customized accordingly. The project teaches about inventory management,
customer relationship management, data analysis and drawing inferences. The
project also helps in building confidence because I have to deal with the customers
directly and satisfy them.. Being a trainee I have followed the learning orientation
in addition to sales orientation and customer orientation.

In this project, different activities that were focused are mentioned below:
below:-

 Competitor’s analysis
 Adopting new ways to attract customer
 Enhancing the efficiency of store
 Understanding the customers their need and desire
 Develop relationship marketing.

5
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgements 3

Abstract 5

3. Introduction 7

3.1 Purpose of the report 22

3.2 Scope & Limitations of study 26
3.3 Source & Methods 27
3.4 Report Organization 30
4. Main Text 31

4.1 Competitors’ Analysis 31

4.2 Open Survey 37
4.3 Seminars and Canopies 42
4.4 Cyber Cafes 43
4.5Visiting B.C.A colleges 44
4.6FLC – HIFI Program 45
4.7 Participation in Career Fairs 48
4.8 SWOT Analysis 51
5. Conclusion 52
6. Recommendation 53
7. References 63
8. Glossary 64
6
 Introduction
Let me begin with a poser w what does Indian IT means to you.
Chances are that you’ve already started thinking about our successes in the
software exports arena. Amid all the applause for Indian software exporters,
achievements in the domestic market tend to get sidelined. Agreed that software
and services exports from the country have been growing at an enviable pace, but
the domestic IT market can also boastboast of impressive facts and figures. Consider
this. India is one of the fastest growing IT markets in the world, the fastest growing
PC market in the Asia-Pacific
Pacific region, and also the country with the fastest growth
in Internet usage in this region.
IDC believes
ieves that there is tremendous momentum in the domestic IT market today,
which will help the industry tide over the minor slowdown being predicted for the
economy in the current fiscal. Over the next five years, the domestic IT industry is
predicted to grow w at a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 28 percent,
which is among the highest in the world.
Personal Computers
What drives the Indian IT market? As is the case with most nations in the early
stages of the IT maturity curve, the Indian market is primarily
primarily hardware driven.
The hardware sector currently accounts for around 56 percent of total IT spending
and is growing faster than other sectors of this industry. Looking at the frenzy in
the PCs marketplace, it’s fairly obvious that PCs are fueling growth in the
hardware market.
Perhaps the single largest contributor to this impressive growth is the burgeoning
home segment. Today, more than a third of all PCs shipped in a year make their
way to the home segment; and the way things are moving, this share will wi only
improve in future. This obviously means that no vendor can afford to neglect this

7
segment. The winners of the future will be the ones who have in place a focused
consumer strategy to address the home segment.
IDC’s "Millennium Home" study reveals that that the most important reasons for
purchasing a home PC revolve around enhancing the family’s computer skills. In
an era where people have realized the importance of being IT literate, this finding
springs no major surprises. Another important finding is tthat
hat while the chief wage
earner of a household is the primary decision-maker
decision maker insofar as PC purchase is
concerned, family and friends play an important role in influencing the decision.
The survey also reveals that the average home PC user is around 28 years year old
however, IDC believes that as computer education in schools becomes more
widespread and more children start using PCs at home, the average home PC user
of the future might be younger.

Servers
Servers both Standard Intel Architecture Servers (SIAS) and
and RISC/Unix is another
category that’s showing impressive growth. New areas such as ISPs, Web hosting,
and CRM besides the more established applications such as ERP contribute to this
explosive growth. Data centers and Application Service Providers (ASPs),(ASPs) the
latest buzzwords doing the rounds in the industry, will be the future drivers of the
server market. In other words, servers will transform themselves as engines to
hosted applications.
One expected development is the blurring of the defining line between
bet SIAS and
RISC UNIX servers. While SIAS will continue to cater to the bulk of
requirements, especially in the SME segment, the entry-level
entry level RISC/CISC Server
(non-SIAS)
SIAS) space will see the most activity in the server market. All vendors are
investing heavily
ily in channel build-up,
build up, training, and motivation to reach out to the
SME segment and dot-com’s
com’s.. These factors, coupled with further drop in prices of
the low-end
end models of this class, will see this class increasingly fighting in the
same space as the SIAS.. Increasing acceptance of UNIX for Web-related
Web activity
in the SME segment will also contribute to growth in this class.

8
Internet Usage
The last two years have seen explosive growth in Internet usage in India. We
already have more than a million subscribers.
subscribers. And this growth shows no signs of
slowing down, thus making India the fastest growing Internet market in the Asia-Asia
Pacific region. The Internet boom has had a positive impact on the IT industry.
While Internet access is slowly emerging as an important purchase decision
criterion for the home segment, investments by Internet Service Providers (ISPs)
and other Internet companies to set up their infrastructure will remain an important
accelerator for domestic IT spending.
In the wake of the growing prominence
prominence of the Internet, there has been a lot of
debate on the future of PCs, with people spelling out doom for them. The rise of
thin clients and information appliances (or alternate Internet access devices) have
led to this debate. IDC believes that while allall this makes good copy, the truth is
further away. The PC is not dead and buried; it still has a lot of life. The PC will
maintain its dominance in the commercial segment, and will continue to have a
place in homes. There has been an increase in activity in the Information
Appliances arena, but Information Appliances will not eat into PCs. Rather, they
would complement PCs in a digital home.
There are a number of interrelated issues that will limit the adoption of information
appliances in India. For one, we have to consider whether users are ready to choose
specialized products over a general-purpose
general purpose product. Most information appliances
will perform only one function, whereas a PC is a powerful multifunctional device
that can do a host of other stuff apart from Internet access.
Price and availability are other important issues. Till these products become
available in the market, users will remain confused about their real benefits and the
price associated with them. Another crucial factor that might limit tthe adoption of
information appliances is the development and proliferation of supporting
technologies such as broadband and wireless.
One must also keep in mind that information appliances are merely enabling
devices. It’s the content and service that cons
consumers
umers will value. This implies that
vendors must ensure availability of services and content in order to promote the
adoption of new information appliances. That, we believe, will take some more
9
time, thus ensuring a prominent place for the PC as an access device in the Indian
marketplace.
During 3Q 2007, the overall India client PC market grew 25.1 per cent year year-on-
year in terms of unit shipments to 1.8 million, says IDC. For the same period (3Q
2007 over 3Q 2006), desktop PC shipments showed a growth of 10.9 per cent,
while notebook PC shipments
ipments showed a growth of 84.8 per cent (3Q 2007 over 3Q
2006). In the overall client PC (notebooks and desktops combined) market the
rankings remained unchanged. HP retained the top spot with a market share of 21.6
per cent, followed by HCL at 12.3 per cent
cent and Lenovo at 10.3 per cent, in terms of
unit shipments during the third quarter of calendar year 2007 (3Q 2007). In terms
of desktop PC shipments, HP retained its top position with a market share of 15.2
per cent, followed by HCL and Lenovo in second and third spots, respectively
during 3Q 2007. In terms of notebook PC shipments, HP retained the top spot with
a market share of 37.8 per cent in 3Q 2007. Lenovo came in at the second spot and
Acer climbed up to take the third spot.
According to Kapil Dev Singh, country manager, IDC India, “Portability, rather
than mobility has emerged as the ‘Number 1’ driver for the sustained growth in
notebook PC shipments in India. Given the choice of portability, flexibility and
ease of use and the narrowing of the price-performance
pr performance gap that once existed
between portables and desktops, consumers are almost overwhelmingly inclined to
buy notebook PCs.” During 3Q 2007, notebook PC shipments to the home and
SOHO segments grew by 166 per cent year-on-year
year year (3Q 2007 over 3Q 2006) and
made up for 43 per cent of total notebook shipments. The next largest contributors
to this trend were the enterprise and education segments.
One of the prime factors that have been fueling the growth of this product is the
pricing criteria. Notebook
ook vendors have realized the importance of this factor and
following this line have launched ‘economical’ notebooks. Speaking to it VAR
news, GM-sales
sales & marketing, consumer product group, Acer India, S. Rajendran
opined, “The Indian customer has been very value conscious. In the past years,
with the pricing of notebooks coming down successively, in tandem with growing
economies of scale and reducing duty rates, the demand has seen an upswing. The

10
sweetener to the customer has been that with progress in tec technology, often the
products available are with contemporary features.”
The brand name is another important factor that holds the key for notebook market.
This opinion was supported by Narang when he said, “In India, big manufacturers
are doing well in the laptop market. People go for brand names because of their
quality, best after sale service and stylish looks”.
This project encompasses; managing retail stores, named G.K. Communication,
Communication
one of the major retailer of HCL laptops and Desktops. My major task is to
manage the IT section of the store and understand the requirements and
expectation of customer. Being the floor manager in the store I was also
responsible for determination of adequate
adequate inventory level. One of the greatest
challenge one will face while working in G.K. Communication is that its IT section
also has the laptops of other brands such as Compaq, Lenovo Sony etc but my job
is to boost the sale of HCL laptops, that poses a challenge in front of me as the
brand positioning of HCL not so strong in comparison of competitors, in short I
have to convince the customers for HCL rather than other brands. Purpose of this
project is to generate the database of the potential customer
customerss and to position the
HCL Laptops & desktop in the market in such a way that it ultimately lead to
business generation.

11
 Main text
PC Penetration
India has one of the lowest PC penetration rates in the world at less than 3% as per
latest available reports from Department of Information Technology, GOI.GO Other
developed and emerging economies have much higher PC penetration rates: rates

India 2/1000

China 11/1000

USA 60/1000

Norway 110/1000
(Source:
Source: Median of various Industry Surveys)

India is expected to sell around 4.7 million PCs as compared to 21 million for
China. In order to reach at China’s PC penetration levels India needs to grow its
PC manufacturing at CAGR of ~30% for next 5 years. With With rising income levels,
increasing awareness about computers through school level education combined
with GOI’s readiness project the penetration level in Indiaa is set to grow many fold
in coming years.

Industry Players
PC manufacturing industry in India is dominated by three kinds of players:

 Indian Manufacturers (Zenith, HCL, Wipro etc)

 MNCs (HP, Lenovo, Dell, Sony etc)

 Unorganized assembled market

12
India is expected to sell around 4.7 million desktops in FY2005-
FY2005-06 as compared to
3.6 million in FY2004-05.05. The desktop market is dominated by unorganized
assembled brands, which account for ~40% of sales followed by MNC brands and
Indian Laptop market is showing very high growth in recent years due to increased
usage in higher education segment (MBA colleges and other such educational
institutes) and surge in home usage. Business segment does not contribute much to
growth because of data insecurity issues related to a laptop. The laptop market has
shown a CAGR of ~100% over last 2 years. Unlike desktops, laptop market does
not have an unorganized assembled market. All the sales are accounted for by
MNC and Indian brands. Absence of unorganized market gives branded players in
this segment high pricing power as compared to desktop segment.

350000

300000

250000 03-Apr
200000 04-May
150000 05-Jun

100000

50000

0
laptop sale

Source: MAIT (Manufacturers’ Association of Information Technology)

13
Desktop Vs Laptop
Manufacturing PC is essentially a business of assembling components from OEMs
like Intel, AMD, Seagate etc and branding the manufactured unit for end
customers. The cost of components is the major cost element in the price of PC to
the tune of around 80%. The margin for
for the business is dependent on
manufacturer’s relationship with OEM, which will determine cost of components
for him. Apart from this margin depends on branding power of the manufacturer.
Prices of hard disk, memory, processor and motherboard constitute majority of the
total cost of components. Thus relationship with OEMs of these

Desktop Cost Structure

21%
Monitor
35% Keyboard,Mouse
Casing
6%
Motherboard
Memory
9%
Harddisk
4%
21%

Source: Industry

components is very important for any player to determine overall margin for its
final product.

14
 LaptopCost Structure

Monitor
27%
35% Keyboard,Mouse
Casing
Processor
4% Motherboard
4% Memory
4% Harddisk
8% 18%

Source: Industry

There is substantial difference between costs of same component for a laptop

as compared to the same component
comp for a desktop. Majority of the difference
lies in costs of hard disk and processor. Overall the cost differential between
a laptop and desktop based on components only is around 30% for the same
configuration. At the same time difference between average selling price of
a laptop and desktop of the same configuration stands at around 60%. This
enables players to have better margins in case of higher proportion of laptop
sales in total sales of company. Absence of an unorganized assembled
market in laptop segment enables players to have more pricing and branding
power as compared to a desktop product. This also helps in commanding
better margins in laptop business.

15
Competitor’s analysis:-
analysis

 Several competitors like Compaq, Lenovo, Sony, HP were studied and also
their weakness and strength was determined in comparison of HCL

The Details of some of the major competitors are given below-

below

Lenovo
Lenovo is an innovative,
ative, international technology company formed as a result of
the acquisition by the Lenovo Group of the IBM Personal Computing Division. As a
global leader in the PC market, they develop, manufacture and market cutting-
cutting
edge, reliable, high-quality
quality PC products and value-added
value added professional
professiona services that
provide customers around the world with smarter ways to be productive and
competitive. They can be ascertained as a bitter rival of HCL.

Compaq & HP
Compaq India is a subsidiary of Compaq that was founded in 1982 in Houston,
USA. Compaq in India has huge market even after its merger with Hell wet and
Packard (hp). Compaq's desktop, notebooks and accessories are the main
products manufactured by Compaq in India. The Houston based company works
with main focus on computers and servers. It captures about 25% of Indian
hardware market. The two IT giants can pose a threat to domestic conglomerates
like Infosys, Satyam Computers etc. In Bangalore Compact Computer Corporation
Corporat
has launched an online store. This facility will be used by Compaq India to sell its
products like the Presario range, Notebooks, Laptops, iPaq Desktops SB Series,
fingerprint ID and smart card readers in the online store. The e-
e-store is of great

16
help to the customers that will help to solve the queries in no time both pre and
post purchase ones.

HP is a technology solutions provider to consumers, businesses and institutions

globally. The company's offerings span IT infrastructure,
infrastructure, personal computing and
access devices, global services and imaging and printing for consumers,
enterprises and small and medium businesses. HP itself s not a great threat to HCL
but its subsidiary Compaq has emerged as arch rival for HCL its online
onli store can
be a strategy that is very important to check. HCL‘s Digilife is good step but it
need a close watch.

Sony
One of the most recognized brand names in the world today, Sony Corporation,
Japan, established its India operations in November 1994, focusing on the sales
and marketing of Sony products in the country. In a span of 12 years Sony India
has exemplified the quest for excellence in the world of digital lifestyle becoming
the country’s foremost consumer electronics brand. With relentless commitment to
quality, consistent dedication to customer satisfaction and unparalleled standards
of service, Sony India is recognized
recognized as a benchmark for new age technology,
superior quality, digital concepts and personalized service

With brands names such as BRAVIA, Xplod, Sony hi-fi, hi Handy cam,cam Cyber-shot‚
WEGA, VAIO, Walkman, Memory stick‚ PlayStation an AIWA, Sony has
established itself as a value leader across its various product categories of
Audio/Visual Entertainment products, Information and Communications‚
Recording Media, Business and Pr Professional products. Sony cannot be considered
as major problem for HCL CL as its target segment is different than that of HCL but
very soon in the future we can easily upgrade to cater the needs of that segment of
customers.

17
 The ultimate goal of the project was to develop the insight to understand
underst various
dimensions of sales and to understand
unde different orientation.

 1. Gathering and disseminating relevant information to customers.

 2. Understanding the expressed and latent needs of customers.

 3. Fulfilling the customer needs continuously.

 4. Creating value for customers by delivering superior quality of offerings

 5. Building long-term
term relationship with customers.

 6. Keeping company’s profitability objectives in mind.

 7. Keeping customers satisfied

 In order to understand the relevant information about the customer , I had taken
references from the survey done by “Centre “ For Information Technology and
Organisation” titled “Computers
Computers and New Media Technologies in Indian
Households”(Details about the survey is given in the illustration) this survey laid the basic
foundation for understanding the consumers their demand their requirement and
their desire. Some of the major findings of the survey are discussed in
Illustrations. Most of the consumer behaviour was according to the results result of the
survey except one that is the inclination of Indian consumer has tilted towards
laptops. Results of this survey also helped to understand the latent desires
 Determination of inventory level mainly by observing the trend that the store is
following. Made separate spreadsheet
heet for IT section so that all the details of the
available stock is at fingertip this also helped me to find all the details of current
cu
stocks its specification
 I had started a follow up program for the customers by maintaining their complete
database.
18
 Making the store pop’s so attractive that customers’ gets attracted toward it and
their temptation compel them to inquire about the PC’s so that they can make up
their mind for the purchase.
purchase One of the good model of desktop was installed at the
point of sale with large LCD screen and a presentation is displayed
disp continuously
on it, this step has enhance the look of the counter as well as it creates an image of
high value in the mind of customer as it shows all al the features of the product and
all the specifications
 Several times leaflets were arranged and werewere distributed so that customer can get
aware about the product and a good brand image can be made.made
 Since after sales service is very important and most of the customers are not
enough educated for the use of software, hence they need a continuous assistance,
so I had started a free of cost software assistance for our customer.
 After working for nearly one and half month I found that there are different needs
for each customer so I am planning to conduct a survey so as to identify what the
majority of customers want and what are the major point of consideration while
purchasing taking
aking a small survey in a place like GK communication is quit
beneficial because we can know why the customers are shifting toward the
competitors. For this purpose I had prepared a questionnaire so as to understand
the actual need of customer. This survey will also be beneficial for the further
growth of the company as HCL can understand the gaps that is present in between
the perception of customer and management. Secondly by using the database
generated in the survey can also be used to help the store to determine the
prospective customers.

Purpose of the Project

This project comprises of managing retail stores, named G.K. Communication,
Communication
one of the major retailer of HCL laptops and Desktops. My major task is to
manage the IT section of the store and understand the requirements and
expectation of customer. Being the floor manager in the store I was also
responsible for determination of adequate
adequate inventory level. One of the greatest
challenge one will face while working in G.K. Communication is that its IT section
also has the laptops of other brands such as Compaq, Lenovo Sony etc and my job
is to sell the laptops of HCL, that poses a challenge
challenge in front of me as the brand

19
positioning of HCL not so strong in comparison of competitors, in short I have to
convince the customers for HCL rather than other brands. Purpose of this project
is to generate the database of the potential customers and to position the HCL
Laptops & desktop in the market in such a way that it ultimately lead to business
generation vis-a-vis
vis making adequate profit while maintaining the image of the
store.
Scope of the project-
project
 To position the brand.
 To generate the busine
business
ss for the company while maintaining a balance
with the store’s image .

 After the analysis of consumer behavior ordering the products that have
most demand in the market.

 Analyzing the current working of store and suggesting new ideas and
enhancing the ef
efficiency of the store.

 Adoption of different marketing strategies to promote the products as

well as store.

Limitation of the project:-

project

 Inadequate supply of funds

 Unavailability of demo products.

 Poor confidence about the brand in the minds of customer.

 Reluctance of store owner to adopt some new ideas.

20
Key Findings:
Findings
After working for nearly 16 weeks I came to the conclusion that
marketing not only comprises of 4P’s (Price, Place, Product,
Product Promotion)
but there is still scope for more. Since working in a retail store there is
huge opportunities as direct interaction with the customer is there
secondly a huge price pressure is therein retail store one can easily see
the applicability of 4P’s of marketing. Being the representative of HCL I
not only followed ed the 4P but also tried to think something beyond and
this approach resulted in 4A’s (Analysis, Attention, Acceptance,
Action)( The Creative Sales & Marketing Manual by Brian Br Norris)
Analysis Time needs to be earmarked to determine the drivers, emotional
and logical needs, and traditional and psycho graphic nuances of the
intended audience. This step allows focus and micro-segmentation
micro segmentation and a
significant decrease in marketing cost.

Attention.. Once you've identified who the core prospect for your
products or services is, creative efforts must be taken to get and maintain
their attention

Accept.. You must use the tools of copy, design,design social networks,
psychology and repetition to get the intended audience to accept that your
solution is the best one
o to take. This acceptance must take place despite
the fact that your solution is just one of many options available in an
increasingly saturated marketplace.

Action The prospect has to act on their acceptance of your proposition by

doing whatever it is you want them to do. Generally, this might be
making one or more purchases (be sure your marketing strategy includes
opportunities for buyers to evangelize their positive purchasing
experiences to others). It may also be picking up a phone or responding
to a direct mail offer or fundraising effort or petition drive. The 4As, used
correctly and consistently, results in i measurable, traceable return on
marketing investment.

21
Sources and methods of data collection:-
collection:

Data that is collected for the project basically

basically comprises of the customer
who came to the store and have some intention to buy the computer. The
data was collected by using simple random sampling method asking every
second customers to fill up a questionnaire. Later an analysis of the response
is done so that we can understand the basic buying behavior, their needs,
their demand, awareness, and expectation they have with the Brand.

22
 FORMAT OF THE QUESTIONAIRE

HCL Info systems Ltd

4th Floor, Regency Hotel,6

Hotel Hungerford street, Kolkata- 700071

Do you know about HCL Laptops? Yes No

Do you know HCL is an Indian multinational company providing

cheapest laptop? Yes No

Are you interested in purchasing Computer

Compute ? Yes No

If yes, then you will be interested in

1. Laptop
2. Desktop

Rank different brands of Computer

Sony

Lenovo

HP

Compaq

HCL

23
Rate the parameters in the scale of one to six that you consider while purchasing computer

Looks

Configuration

After sales service

Quality

Brand

Price

If there is any offer on HCL Laptops/Desktop would you like o avail it?

Yes No

Where would you prefer to go for purchase of computer?

Retail store company’s outlet

Personal Details

Name:

Address:

Contact No:

24
 Glossary

ABC OF NOTEBOOK

Bluetooth Technology for wirelessly transferring data short distances (up

to 30 feet) among notebooks, cell phones, Palm or Pocket PC handhelds, and
printers. Bluetooth is not a competitor to wireless Ethernet and has been
briefly explained in our inaugural issue. Most
M often you’ll find notebooks with
Bluetooth built-in.

DVD-Rom/CDRW
Rom/CDRW Combo Drives Slowly being phased out but still found in
some budget and business notebooks. It reads DVDs and CDs and writes CDs.
Dual Layer, Dual Format DVD RW Drives AddingAdding writeable DVD is extremely
cost effective these days.
days Dual format writes both minus (DVDDVD RW) and plus
(DVD+RW)
DVD+RW) discs at a maximum capacity of 4.7GB. Dual Layer adds another
layer on top of the disc to give it a total capacity of 8.5GB.

Docking station A cradle for notebook that provides space for extra drives and
attachment ports for all cables.
cables. Docking stations are popular in business
business, but are
losing favour to port replicators among individuals.

EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution)

Evolut A 3G wireless standard that
offers broadband Internet speeds using the GSM network. It competes with EVDO,
another 3G service provider. Connection speeds are not as fast as EVDO, ranging
from 100-160Kbps.

EVDO (Evolution-DataData Optimized) A 3G wireless standard that offers

broadband internet speeds via a cellular modem in your laptop, PC Card
and Express Card standards. Wherever there’s a cell phone signal, one can access
the Internet at speeds ranging from 200-800
200 Kbps. A new EVDO standard
promises faster download and up-load
up speeds (1.1Mbps-3.1Mbps).
3.1Mbps).
25
PC Card slots A space in a notebook where you can insert credit card card-size
accessories such as modems, network adapters, wireless network adapters,
security
rity cards, and memory cards, as well as connection points for some external
disk drives. PC lock, named after the company that invented the feature.
Regardless
egardless of the brand, virtually
virtual every notebook security lock you can buy fits the
Kensington-style slot

Key pitch Distance from the centre of one key to the next. Desktop
keyboards have a 19mm (0.75 inches) pitch.
pitch Full size notebook keyboards have a
97 percent (18.5mm) pitch.

Modular Bay A cavity in a notebook used primarily for removable drives, but also
for accessories. A two-bay
bay notebook has an internal bay for the hard drive and
a second bay for a CD--ROM, DVD-ROM, ROM, floppy disk drive, or a spare battery.

Pointing device A built-in

built substitute for the mouse—either
either a touch pad or a
pointing stick that looks like a pencil eraser stuck below the G and H keys. Some
notebooks have both types. Many users still prefer plugging in a traditional mouse.

Port replicator A hardware device that attaches to a notebook and connects all
the cables (modem, printer, power, and mouse) that you would otherwise
have to be attached one by one to the notebook's ports. It is simpler than a
docking station and cheaper.
cheaper. Most replicators include a security locking slot.

Travel weight The total weight of a notebook package for computing on the road,
including the notebook, transformer, battery, and possibly an adapter module for
connecting accessories.. Marketing literature
literature usual y quotes system weight
(computer, battery, and usual y the internal optical drive). Add 0.75 pounds for
the transformer and 0.5 pounds for the optical drive if it wasn't quoted by the
manufacturer.

Universal Serial Bus (USB) An all-purpose

urpose input/output connector that attaches
a digital camera, audio player, memory key, mouse, external drive, or printer.
A notebook has one to four USB ports (two are adequate for most users). All
notebooks sold today use USB 2.0, capable of 480 Mbps.
26
WWAN (Wireless Wide Area Network)
Network uses a cellular network instead of a
local-area network (WLAN).
WLAN).

Widescreen An LCD display with a width-to-height

width height ratio of 16 to 10 (sometimes
16:9) instead of the more common 4:3. They're better for working on ex
excel sheets
as well as for watching movies, but total size is about the same.

Wi-Fi Short for wireless fidelity,

fidelity 802.11b, capable of 11 Mbps theoretical
speed (about 5 Mbps actual), is most common. 802.11g,
802.11g, capable of 54 Mbps,
is succeeding (and in-corporate)
corporate) 802.11b.
802.11b It is possible for a wireless card to
integrate both g (with b) and a.

XGA (Extended Graphics Array) One of the two most common screen
resolutions for notebooks and desktops: 1,024 pixels horizontal y by 768
vertically. Equal common is SXGA+ (1,400 by 1,050). Other resolutions are
SXGA (1,280 by 1,024, used more on desktops than notebooks), and UXGA
(1,600 by 1,200). The higher resolutions make for crisp graphics and small text.
Widescreen displays typical use WXGA (1280 by 768),, WSXGA+ (1680 by
1050), and WUXGA (1920 by 1200).

Express Card Slot Already replacing PC Card slots as a feature for

expandability. Express Card supports two form factors: Express Card/34
Card (34 mm
wide)

and Express Card/54

/54 (54 mm wide, in an L L-shape).
shape). Currently, there are very
few Express Card devices out there that can take advantage of the faster bus
speeds.

FireWire A high-speed
speed connector (capable of 400 Mbps) for transfers from
digital video (DV) cameras. USB is used for high-speed
high speed data transfers on PC
notebooks.

Kensington slot A universal connector for a physical security

27
 Result of the survey Project NOAH
Male Preserve

The fact that over 82% (compared to 18%) of the respondents were male shows
that computers are still largely
rgely a male preserve in

.
Computers – The Technology of the Youth
India50% of the respondents were under 24 and 22% between 25 and 30 years.
Clearly,
early, then, computer use-based
use knowledge is limited to the young and very
young. In terms of marital status, 63% of the respondents are single and 36% are
married—yetyet another statistics that clearly show that this is the technology of the
youth.

Expertise

About 27% of the respondents consider themselves

themselves as “expert” users, while
another 53% say they are quite “knowledgeable”” about computers.

Computer Ownership
When Acquired…

Close to 75% of all computer

uter- owning households have bought the computer
within the last 2 years. Adoption of computers in the larger cities has been faster

28
than in smaller cities as indicated by the increasing percentage of computers
purchased within the last one year.

Desktop versus Laptop

Given the large price differential between desktop and laptop computers, the
Indian households still exhibit a higher preference for desktop computers.

Clustering of Computer Households

Three clusters emerged in regard to computer households based on the level of

usage and their attitudes towards computers. Enthusiasts
usiasts are those who feel
strongly that the computer and Internet are well integrated with other activities
performed in the home. Pragmatists are those who have discovered different uses
for the computer and could in the future evolve into enthusiasts. Utilitarian are
those who feel that the computer serves some basic functions but has not really
affected their’ lifestyle’’ in any significant manner.

Location of Computers in the Home

Computers in Indian homes are placed either in the adult bedroom or “hall”/living
room. The tendency to place the computers in the hall/living room decreases as
income levels rise. This can be explained by the fact that the number of rooms in
the lower income category households is also likely to be smaller. The location
locatio of
the computers in the home varies by ownership of an Internet connection. A large
proportion of households without an Internet connection (44%) place the computer
in the hall / living room
29
Location of Other Appliances in the Home

In over 75% of computer

mputer non-owning
non SEC-AA households, the television is placed
in the “hall” / living room. Only about 17% of these
hese households place the TV in
adult or children’s bedroom. The location of the telephone(s) within the home is
similar to the TV and is confined mainly to the hall/ living room or the adult
bedroom. About 43% of households place the refrigerator in the kitchen, while
about 20% place it in the dining area. In Indian homes the washing machine is
usually placed in the bathrooms (29%) or the kitchen (11%).
(

Computer Uses

Prior to purchase of the computer, over 60% of the current owners anticipated
using the computer for job related work and family entertainment/games. However
during the actual use, family entertainment/ games comes out as the most
frequently cited use (86%) compared to 70% households who state also using it for
job related work and word processing. Other uses are children’s education (53%),
writing letters/correspondence
correspondence (73%.
(73%. Other major uses are limited to computer
families with Internet
nternet connection: e-mail
e (43% of the overall sample but 99% of
Internet owners), internet/web surfing (43% of overall sample and 99% of internet
owners).

30
Hours of Use Per Week

According to the self-report

report data, the household uses the computer on an average
27 hours per week. However more than 50% of the computer households use it for
more than 20 hours per week.

Time Spent on Watching Television

There is no significant difference in the TV viewing habits of computer owning

households and computer ter non owning households in terms of the amount of time
spent watching TV. Even though there is no actual difference in the amount of
time spent watching between computer owners and non-owners,owners, 44% of the
computer owners feel that they watch less TV after
after the purchase of the computer.

Internet Use

The Internet is most frequently used for sending and receiving ee-mail. Gender
differences in the usage of Internet exist in the areas of online chatting, which is
significantly higher for women (Note: This information provided by the most
knowledgeable member, who is in most cases male). Men on the other hand
exhibit higher usage for sports information and also to do job related work, sending
faxes etc.

31
Internet Access Outside of Home

Fifty percent of the computers owning households who have no Internet access at
home access the Internet outside the home through Cyber café, educational
institutions, and work places. Even among the computer non-
non owning households
more than one fourth of the households aaccess
ccess the net outside the home.

Levels of Satisfaction With Computers

Nearly 80% of the respondents are satisfied with most aspects of computers except
the speed of access on the Internet where the satisfaction level drops to about 65%.

Computer Effects
ects on Children

Computers are believed to have a positive affect on the development of skills such
as logical thinking, creativity, reading, general knowledge and mathematical
abilities.

Experience With Computers Relative to Other Household Appliances

The computer owners were asked to rank various household appliances in regard to
how essential they are for the home. The computer was ranked fourth behind the
telephone, refrigerator/ gas stove and TV. In regard to the level of frustration with
appliances,
s, very few respondents expressed any frustration in using different types
of appliances including the computers.

32
Futuristic Technologies

Among five futuristic scenarios presented, computer owners expressed the highest
interest in communication system, which combines telephone, computer, Internet,
and TV This is followed by a computer-based
computer home control system.

Family Socialization

In most computer owning homes, family members socialize in the living room/ hall
or in the hall cum dining room. Besides watching
watching the television, which is usually
placed in the living room, the other activities over which family members meet and
interact are meals. Even though computer usage is generally perceived to be a
personal experience, in Indian homes the computer playss a central role for group
activities like watching VCD movies, browsing the Internet, playing games in
about 15% of computer owning homes.

Attitude Toward Computers

The commonly held attitudes / belief’s among all computer owners with regard to
the role
le of computers at home are:

 Knowledge of computers is essential to keep-up

keep up with the changes.

 Computers are not at all difficult to use and contribute time savings at home.

 Computers have become part of the daily routine in the family and are
essential
al as any other appliance at home.

 It is difficult to imagine life without computers at home.

 Although computers are integrated into the home life, they are more useful
in the office or the work place than at home. Along the same lines,
computers have increased the time spent on job related work at home.

33
 Computers have increased contact with family and friends but the telephone
is still the main communication tool. improving
improving children’s educational
experience and are essential to ensure their future success in the work place.

 Computers are synonymous with a high quality of education.

 All computer owners believe that the Internet keeps them better informed
about the world.

Computer Non-Owners
Owners

About 42% of the households who do not own a computer currently intend to buy a
computer in the near future. Among those intending to buy, about 55% intend
make a purchase within the next 6 months.

The main motivation for the households who are planning to to buy computers in the
near future is job related work (69%), followed by Internet surfing (63%) and ee-
mail (58%). One of the main differences in likely uses for a computer between
current owners and future buyers of computers is in the increasing importance
importan of
Internet browsing and e-mail
mail as the main drivers for purchase.

Some of the other important drivers for purchase are children’s education and
family entertainment. The main barrier to the purchase of computers for the home
is a perceived lack of utility
ility for the computer at home. Close to 50% of the
respondents who are not interested in buying a co computer
mputer say they cannot think of
any use for it at home. Besides the perceived lack of utility, the other barriers to
purchase are the cost of acquiring a computer.

 The income level in computer owning households is much higher than

computer non-owning
owning households indicating a strong correlation between
income and ownership of computers

34
Type of Computers: Desktop Vs. Laptop

Given the large price differential between desktop and laptop computers, the
Indian households still exhibit a higher preference for desktop computers

Anticipated Vs Current Uses for the Computers

We make a distinction between “Computer Use” and “Internet Use.” Because the
Internet is an important feature of the technology and only less than half have an
Internet connection, the patterns of computer use among these two sub-samples
sub are
likely to vary. Prior to purchase of the computer, over 60% of the current owners
anticipated using the computer fofor job related work and family
entertainment/games. However when it comes to actual use, family entertainment/
entertainment
games come out as the most frequently cited use (86%) compared to 70% for job
related use or word processing.

Computer Non-owner
owner Households

Likelihood of Buying a Computer for the Home

About 42% of the households who do not own a computer currently intend to buy a
computer in the near future. Among those intending to buy, about 55% intend
make a purchase within the next 6 months.

This result is extracted from the report of “CENTRE FOR RESEARCH ON

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND ORGANISATION” Who conducted
survey in eight Indian cities of India under “Project NOAH”in the year 2000 by
Prof. Alladi Venktesh and his team.

35
 REFERENCES

 Marketing Management by Philip Kotler.

 Marketing Research by Naresh Malhotra.
 www.hcl.in (for the overview of HCL Infosystem)

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