CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Given a much broader array of product choices offered in the current market and ubiquitous marketing efforts, consumers often turn to a favorite brand to facilitate their purchase decisions. A brand includes a name, symbol, design, or experience that help consumers identify products, services, or differentiate offerings among competitors (Aaker, 1991; Keller, 2008; Neumeier, 2006). Brand identity, which is a group of associations developed by firms, communicates with consumers what a brand provides (Aaker, 2007; Keller, 2008). Academic literature clearly addressed the importance of building a strong emotional relationship between consumers and brands (Carroll & Ahuvia, 2006; Keller, 2001, 2008; Taylor, Cluch, & Godwin, 2004). According to Keller‘s (2001) more recent conceptual framework, consumers‘ positive brand feelings lead to favorable responses towards a brand, such as attitudinal attachment and behavioral loyalty. Similarly, recent literature on branding has argued that an emotional brand experience is important to foster brand loyalty and purchase intentions (Albert, Merunka, & Valette-Florence, 2008; Carroll & Ahuvia, 2006; Chaudhuri & Holbrook, 2001; Esch et al., 2006; Nowak, Thach, & Olsen, 2006; Pawle & Cooper, 2006; Taylor, Celuch, & Goodwin, 2004; Thomson, MacInnis, & Park, 2005). Moreover, brand consulting and advertising industry literature (Gobé, 2001; Lindstrom, 2005; Neumeier, 2006; Riesenbeck & Perrey, 2007; Roberts, 2004, 2006) has illustrated the importance of building deep emotional connections with consumers to augment brand loyalty. 1.1.
OBJECTIVES
OF
STUDY This Project work has certain objectives behind it. Without any proper objective one cannot plan its implementation. If the objective of the study is not proper then the whole research is of no use. In India there are many sectors where the different companies or @rganization functions within, we have chosen the Patanjali, ayurvedic and herbal sector which directly deals with people issues.
Basically our main objective was to see that the bend of the Indian people towards Patanjali is because of it being a swadeshi brand, herbal and ayurvedic brand or some of the other factors. Along with this there are some objectives of this study: To study Patanjali as a brand and its product mix.
To analyze consumer perception about Patanjali as a brand and its products.
To analyze impact of brand image on loyalty intentions.
To analyze and identify important factors influencing Patanjali as a brand.
1.2.
DEFINITIONS OF TERMS
The following definitions are the major terms investigated in the present study. 1.2.1. BRAND IMAGE:
Akaah, (1988) conclude that consumers are more likely to
purchase well-known brand products with positive brand image as a way to lower purchase risks. This argument is also supported by Rao and Monroe, (1988) that a brand with a more positive image does have the effect of lowering consumers’ product perception risks and increasing positive feedback from consumers. Therefore, consumers generally believe they can make a satisfying purchase by choosing well-known brands and also lower any purchase risks by doing so. How much is a brand worth? How does a brand represent the product? Keller, (1993) defines a brand image as an association or perception consumers make based on their memory toward a product. Thus, brand image does not exist in the technology, features or the actual product itself, but is something brought out by promotions, advertisements, or users. Thakor et al. (1997) said that through brand image, consumers are able to recognize a product, evaluate the quality, lower purchase risks, and obtain certain experience and satisfaction out of product differentiation. When it comes to experiential product evaluation, a positive brand image may make up for an inferior image of the origin country and raise the possibility of the product being selected. According to Grewal et al.
(1998) the better a brand image is, the more recognition consumers give to its product quality. Consumers are usually limited in regards to the amount of time and product knowledge to make an informed purchase decision when facing similar products to choose from. As a result, brand image is often used as an extrinsic cue to make a purchase decision. Kotler, (2000) contends that brand is a name, term, symbol, design or all the above, and is used to distinguish one’s products and services from competitors. For example, Nike adopts a check mark as its brand image, which creates a positive effect indicating approval. According to Kotler, (2000) image is the way that public perceives the company or its product. Image is affected by many factors beyond the company’s control. The consumer develops a set of brand beliefs about where each brand stands on each attribute. The set of or its product. Image is affected by many factors beyond the company’s control. The consumer develops a set of brand beliefs about where each brand stands on each attribute. The set of beliefs about a brand make up brand image. The consumer’s brand image will vary with his or her experiences as filtered by the effects of selective perception, selective distortion and selective retention. Romaniuk, (2003) studied the relationship between association of a brand with different types of image attributes and subsequent purchase of the brand. The image attributes incorporated were based on the product categories, situations and benefits offered. While mention of the brand for an image attribute was positively related to future purchase, this relationship did not vary between attributes once brand and attribute size was taken into account. However, a positive relationship was found between the number of attributes associated with the brand and future purchase. 1.2.2. BRAND LOYALTY: The most elaborate conceptual definition of brand loyalty was presented by Jacoby et al. (1978). We will use and discuss this definition, because it covers the most important aspects of brand loyalty, & since it enjoys widespread support in the marketing literature, either in its original form or in slightly modified versions (Wilkie, 1990). Jacoby et al. (1978) defined brand loyalty, according to this definition, brand loyalty is: “The (a) biased, (b) behavioral response, (c) expressed over time, (d) by
some decision making unit, (e) with respect to one or more alternative brands out of set of such brand, and (f) is a function of psychological process. Rethinking Brands from the Customer “Point of View”: According to Jim, (2003) many of the less successful experience brands are not meeting the challenge of a largely timestarved audience. Our research confirms that in most societies today, time has become more desired than money. Increasingly, people value experiences more than things. Consumers are really looking for ways to make the most of everyday “lived” experiences. So marketers need to constantly ask themselves, is our brand part of the problem or part of the solution? A brand’s role in becoming a solution for its audience can make it stand out for customers. In that sense, the meaning of brand is its use. Profitable customers are born when a powerful brand promise is fulfilled by a brand experience that exceeds expectations. 1.2.3. BRAND PERCEPTION: Perception is a process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions to give meaning to their environment (Robbins & Judge, 2013). In marketing, perceptions are more important than reality because perceptions affect consumers‟ actual behaviour (Kotler, Keller, Koshy, & Jha, 2014). Information processing model have four major steps or stages. It starts with exposure followed by attention, interpretation and lastly retention. The first three of these establish perception (Hawkins, Best, Coney, & Mookerjee, 2007). All this takes place inside the mind or black box of the consumers simultaneously, and it changes from person to person. Perception is highly subjective and therefore easily distorted. Moreover, perception is the meaning that an individual attributes to the incoming stimuli that gathered through the five senses that are taste, smell, touch, hearing and sight. According to Kurtz and Boone, (2006) different people have different perceptions of objects or events based on the interactions of two types of factors that are stimulus factors and individual factors.
INTRODUCTION WHAT IS BRAND? Brand should not be confused with product as it is often done. Brand is identity given to a product (or service) like the name of a person. Brand immediately creates a mental image of set of consumer value and degree of need satisfaction in relation to consumption of a particular product or service. In other words, Brand is always attached with some attributes which the product offers to the consumers. The American Marketing Association defines a brand as “a name, term, sign, symbol, or design , or a combination of them , intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors”.
Brand is a living thing The companies tend to forget the fact that brands are like human beings. They create perceptual filter in the minds of potential users as they hear the brands that would create an enormous impact on their buying decision.
Brand is an acronym
Build: The first character 'B' focuses on the building of trust among the target group on products/services they intend to buy. This is the preliminary step towards accessing to the perceptual filter. For instance, a consumer hears the brand of 'Sony', he/she might think the equivalent of quality and that could well be extended to other products of 'Sony' product bouquet. This could have happened due to the experience gained by the consumer through consuming any of products from 'Sony' product bouquet. Reliability: The letter 'R' stands for the reliability of a product/service to be entrusted on the target group. Consumers ought to rely on the product/service would satisfy their needs/wants for they buy. Reliability is the key factor that modifies consumers' opinion towards any product/service. For instance, a consumer who intends to have 'Airtel' cellular subscription should have relied on the services offered by 'Airtel'. Once, if it faded, he/she would shift to another substitute and definitely ought not develop apprehension of cellular technology. Yet,he/ she would have apprehension about new services offered by 'Airtel'. It vividly shows the flaw of one service would carry forward to the other services offered by the same company, need not necessary the other services also have flaws. Hence, the reliability is the vital factor, which acts a catalyst towards the buying behavior of consumers. Attitude: Attitude is yet another factor, which has a great impact on perceptual filter of consumers, would result the outcomes of their buying decision. Consumers tend to develop attitude towards products/services, rather we call brands, either positive or negative. This attitude is the crucial factor that would definitely facilitate or hamper the buying decision. The attitude development could well happen through hearsay or eavesdropping or hearing experience of others or gather information or also the first hand experience gained through consuming any product/service from the product/service bouquet of the company Name: It is very important that name of a product/service plays an anchor in inducing perception filter of consumers. What is in the name? A million dollar question lingers in everyone's mind. Name is everything. When 'Nirma' launched the toilet soap in the same name, the consumers could not accept for a while and forced the company to change its name to 'Nima' to modify the perception of the consumers as the name embedded the thought of detergent soap in top of the minds of consumers. How would consumers respond
if 'Mortein' launches Pizza under the same name? How would consumers react if Hindustan Lever Limited launches Biscuits under the name of 'Lux'? Only positive example that could quote is the market accepted 'Anchor' well known for switches, when they launched the toothpaste under the same name. Yet, the market reaction towards the brand is not very encouraging in terms of numbers i.e. sales. Hence, it clearly portrays the outcome that products of internal consumption could well be extended to products of external consumption (such as 'Amul' represents the under garments) and definitely, not very positive in case of products of external consumption to internal consumption. So, the name plays a crucial role in dictating the perception filter of potential users, needless to say, their buying behavior. Desire: Desire is the final key aspect that induces consumers to go for a product/service. Brand ought to inferno the desire in the consumers' hearts, not minds (Mind is normally the thing which focuses mainly on rational aspects) to buy the product/service. For instance, everyone wants to become a proud owner of 'Mercedes Benz' or 'BMW' and so on. The power of a brand is to create enormous desire in the hearts of potential target and takes care of the perception filter. If we look at the AIDA model, the desire is the last action that induces the Action i.e. purchase. Albeit, the product/service has every requisite feature/trait that a potential consumer looks for, his/her buying decision would fully be influenced by the desire, desire is the force forces a decision. Hence, brand ought to have the trait to induce the desire of potential users.
What is not a brand? A brand is not an advertising campaign, a slogan, or a logo; nor is it solely created for he customer. A brand must resonate with all stakeholders: employees, shareholders, customers, partners, and end users.
Why do brands matter? In every developed and developing economies, consumers have an astonishing, often bewildering, array of choices in almost every industry and product category. This diversity of choice puts pressure on corporates to find more potent ways of differentiating themselves and securing competitive advantage. Much of the skill of marketing and branding is concerned with building equity for products whose characteristics, pricing distribution, and availability are really quite close to each other. Take cola drinks. Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola are able to dominate the worldwide market. Their worldwide distribution network no doubt plays a part in this, but the main factor is the strength and consumer appeal to consumers. The strong, instantly recognizable names, logos, and colors of these two brands symbolize their makers’ promise that consumers’ expectations will be fulfilled, whatever the subtleties of these might be. Brands allow consumers to shop with confidence, and provide a route map through a staggering array of choices. The real power of successful brands is that they meet the expectations of those that buy them or, to put it another way, they represent a promise kept. As such, they are a contract between a seller and a buyer: if the seller keeps to its side of the bargain, the buyer will be satisfied and more likely a loyal repeat customer.
How has the use of brands evolved? According to Philip Kotler Branding has been around for centuries as a means to distinguish the goods of one producer from those of another. The earliest signs of branding in Europe were the medieval guilds requirement that craftspeople put trademarks on their products to protect themselves and consumers against inferior quality. In the fine arts, branding began with artists signing their works. Quoting from Brands & Branding
The wide scale use of brands is essentially a phenomenon of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Hand in hand with these brands came early trademark legislation, which allowed the owners of these brands to protect them in law. It is in the period since the end of World War II that we’ve seen the real explosion of the use of brands. An activity that, for three quarters of a century, was mainly confined to consumer goods and services, now features in industrial and BtoB sectors, the public and voluntary sectors, utilities, and non-governmental organizations. Football teams, political parties, and pop stars alike all now consider themselves brands.
What are the benefits of brands? Brands are business assets, and the value to businesses of owning strong brands is incontestable. Brands identify the source or maker of a product and allow consumers either individuals or organization to assign responsibility to a particular manufacturer or distributor. Consumer may evaluate the identical product differently depending upon how it is branded. Consumers learn about a brand through past experiences with the product and its marketing programme. As consumers lives become more complicated, rushed and time starved the ability of a brand to simplify decision making and reducing risk is invaluable. Brands also perform valuable functions for firms. First, they simplify product handling or tracing. Brands help to organize inventory and accounting records. A brand also offers the firm the legal protection for unique features or aspects of the product. The brand name can be protected through registered trademarks, manufacturing process can be protected through patents and packaging through copyrights and designs. These intellectual property rights ensure that the firm can safely invest in the brand and reap the benefits of a valuable asset. Brands can signal a certain level of quality so that satisfied buyers can easily choose the product again although competitors may easily duplicate manufacturing processes and product designs, they can not easily match lasting impression in the mind of individuals and organizations from years of marketing activity and product experience. In this sense brand can be seen as a powerful means of competitive advantage. To firms, brands thus represent enormously valuable pieces of legal property that can influence consumer behaviour, be bought and sold , and provide the security of sustained earnings to their owners. Brands that keep their promise attract loyal buyers who will return
at regular intervals. The benefit to the brand owner is that forecasting cash flows becomes easier with repeat customers, and the brand owner can plan and manage with greater confidence the development of the business. Thus brands, with their ability to secure future income, can be classified as productive assets in exactly the same way as any other, more traditional assets of a business (e.g., plants, equipment, cash, investments, and so on). The asset value of brands is now widely recognized by both brand owners and investors. Brands can generate high-quality earnings that directly affect the overall performance of the business and thus influence share price.
SECRETS OF BRAND CREATION * The Brand must reflect at least one USP or an outstanding value that the product carries with it, and also not many. This value better be a distinctive advantage over competing suppliers' product in the market. * The Brands also age like people, and therefore, have to be rejuvenated by fresh dose of advertising, product attributes changes and innovation. In other words the brand should reflect continuous improvement in product proposition and reflect image of being owned by a dynamic organization (Here comes the role of PR executives). * Brand cannot be built overnight, whatever may be the advertising effort going into it. It would be sheer wastage of resources and this often acts as counter productive and kills the brand in its nascent stage. The credibility and acceptance of Brand accrues only over a period of time and often is linked with background of its owners. For example it is difficult to create world class brands by purely trading organizations that do not actually manufacture the goods or service. * The multi products and multi Brand companies have a difficult task in maintaining Brand equity for all of its brands and products. It is always advisable to have only a few core Brands, we may call as Umbrella Brand or Power Brand and which focuses on particular product group not category (like Dental hygiene products or Shaving products). This may even be pricing based differentiation & segmentation of the same product, for example lowend, medium and high end priced product, but in this case it will be suicidal to use Umbrella
brand or Company logo in common as this will invariably lead to confusion and erosion of high end product market. The customer perceives the high end product being made merely with objective to raise profitability of the company; such products are bound to bear discounts and sales promotion schemes. In such cases, the individual Brands should be completely separated for promotion or unless, this can be managed by distinctive product attributes that justify price segmentation (Like Automobiles). * Brand acceptance by the consumer is not achieved by Brand promise alone. But it is achieved by testing of the credibility of a Brand by repetitive purchase by the consumers over a long period of time (At least 3 years) and the satisfaction derived by such consumption over a period of time. In other words brand equity is created by repeated and consistent delivery of brand promise. In this context supply chain management has to be highly efficient in distribution, availability and after sales service of the product, which FMCG companies and many Engineering goods manufactures are now learning after painful experiences, which were solely dependent upon Advertising. While Advertising can pull the product through markets, it cannot push the product which needs sales promotion and efficient distribution of goods and services. * In present situation when technological differences in product attributes and quality are indistinguishable, a Power brand is sure way to improve sales margins and price differentiation. But a company cannot have a range of Power Brands as mentioned earlier. Price differentiation based on Branding only will not work, if the consumer is in a position to comprehend the value of product attributes built into the product. In such case the Brand may not even take off or die earlier death than normal. It will be out rightly rejected by globally aware consumers now-a-days (A consumer would like to have Burger at price of Narula's but in ambience and hygiene of McDonalds). * There is found to be a strong association of Powerful Brands and their life with factors such as Product leadership, Technological leadership, market share and consistent
performance by the companies owning the brand. For example, the brand of a product that is not regularly available in market is likely to go in oblivion. * While it is doubtful that any such thing exists, the Brand Loyalty is not strongly associated with Brand usage and exposure but to the product superiority in its class. In spite of this, there is always brand switching customers and given the near equality of various brands in same product category, the market share is bound to stabilize with time (Markov Chain model). Any effort to drive market share through Brand advertising, without shifting product positioning over this share will entail sheer wastage of resources without any perceptible results. * The brand name should reflect the cultural and ethical background of the product and the target consumer class. For example, it is unlikely that purely Western names will succeed on Indian spices, handicraft items or Indian food items. In other words Desi products should bear Desi Brand names. Similarly Feminine products should bear feminine or at-least Gender neutral names (Lakme and Ponds). It is doubtful if "VIP" Brand can ever sell much of ladies undergarments. * It is surprising but true that in many cases, lesser the consumer knows about the product and Brand Owner's background, more is the chances of developing Brand Charisma (Ralph Lauren, Pierre Cardin). Such Brands which are built on limited product knowledge and Brand owner's background may end up as Charismatic Brands. Such Charismatic Brands play heavily on psychological satisfaction and Status association for the consumer and work well in Hi-fashion products like garments, cosmetics and interior decoration items. Personal health care products thus are well amenable to developing of charismatic Brands. In a brandbuilding context, memes are powerful pieces of communication — either verbal or visual (Or both) — That has such power as to alter people's perceptions of your product or service. Think about these advertising themes and symbols... Just Do It. Think Different. Have it your way.
The Pink Bunny with the drum The little talking Chihuahua If asked, you could probably name dozens of others. These are examples of strong and powerful memes. You know exactly who they stand for, and what the brands that own them stand for too. And every time you see the image or hear the line, it self-replicates and reinforces the perception of the brand that owns it.
Great memes can help build brands that define their categories What all great brand-building memes have in common is the emotional component that answers every consumer's magic question: "What's in it for me?" See, what makes it memorable isn't really the symbol or the words, it's the benefit. A good meme repeats the benefit over and over every time you see it or hear it. Answer your customer's "What's in it for me?" question simply, with a bit of poetry and a benefit that means something, and you'll be on your way to a great meme - and a charismatic brand that can define its category (Lux, Amul, Sony)
Maruti / Sujuki
Passenger cars
-
Better
to
Primitive
technology ones
and Premier) - Reasonable price
like
(Compared Ambassador
- Functionality - Skin friendly (though it is not) Lux
- Aroma
Toiletries
- Market Share - Glamour/Status - Freshness - Purity
Amul
Food products
- Availability - Emotional: National Pride Cooperative pioneer - Fabric quality
VIP
- Durability
Hosiery
- Pioneer in India - Availability
Nirma
Reliance
- Reasonable price
Toiletries
Textile, products
- Charisma (Achiever) IT
- Charisma (Achiever)
Colgate is the number 1 brand in the Indian market followed by Lux, Rin,Dettol and Tata salt (Desh ka namak) in Brand Equity's survey of India's most trusted Brand 1 In which 150 Brands are ranked the 150th are is Harpic. Zandu Bam has entered the list for the first time and stood at no 16th much above Amrtanjan bam at no 55. It is said to be because of a new jingle "Zandu Bam Zandu Bam Dard Mitay Chutki Mein" Coca-Cola is the no. 1 brand in the world the other are Micro- soft, IBM, GE, NOKIA among the first five 2 Does brand name make a product successful in the market? Or, does a successful product make the brand name well-known? This is a perennial question, like egg or chicken, which came first? The second common question regarding brands is, whether the brand name should be named after the proprietor, like Ford, Dabur and Tata, or whether the brand name should be independent of the owner's name, like Lux, Parachute and Coke? BRAND STRATEGIES Philip Kotler, the doyen of marketing writers, whose 'Marketing Management' is standard reading the world over, indicates four strategies suitable for the naming of brands. 1) Individual names, such as Nature Valley, Liril, Lifebuoy, Amrutanjan, Red Label, etc. 2) Blanket Family names , such as Campbell's various soups 3) Separate family names such as Johnson's Nutriment or Johnson's Metrecal. 4) And, finally ,company trade name combined with individual product names like Kellog's Corn Flakes etc. Kotler also advises that a brand should suggest something about the product's benefits , like Craftsman , Beauty-rest, Timex, etc, or it should suggest product qualities such as action or colour, like Sunsilk, Thunderbird, etc. Or, it should be easy to pronounce such as Tide, Crest, Lux etc. Or, it should be distinctive like Kodak, Xerox, Mustang etc. At the same time, multinational companies must ensure that the brand name does not have a poor meaning in other countries. A typical case is the Chevrolet Nova car. Nova may mean new in English but in Spanish it means, 'doesn't go'4 Branbach positioned Volkswagen, the German small car designed by Dr Fernands as a protest against America Detroit made cars big cars thereby making the better shaped car, a cult among non-comfort American youth 5 His greatest slogan was "Think small".
Today brand naming has become a subject for multi-million dollar research with association tests, memory tests, preference tests and learning tests. Name labs such as Landor Associates, which change about $60,000 for a job, is credited with successes like Compaq computers and our own, Samsika consultants, floated by Jag deep Kapoor is credited with naming a new salt brand as ''Dandi''salt. 6 Dandi is a seashore town in Gujarat famous for Gandhiji's 'Salt Satyagraha' in 1931.The brand is gaining market share by leaps and bounds. PRICE AND PRODUCT QUALITY Howsoever we try to make a product successful in the marketplace it has to have good qualities, Low price and advertising momentum to make its brand name famous. Tata-Indica became a successful car because of its good features including a diesel engine, low price, and a patriotic brand name. By the way , Diesel is the name of the engine's inventor Otto Diesel. Nirma became successful all over India and till date is still the largest selling detergent, by volume, because of its low price and acceptable quality. 7 Branding became popular in America, in the closing decades of the Nineteenth Century ,when products proliferated and competition increased. Over a hundred years ago, manufactures stressed the quality and price angle and let the product carry his own or family name. 8 Thus we have Ford car , Tata steel ,and Kirloskar ploughs. Nirma is founder Karsanbhai Patel's favourite niece's name just like Mercedes is the name of a daughter of Otto Daimler, the proprietor of the car company. The craze for foreign names is much more in India. Abroad many products are named after the proprietor or inventor. Even in Japan, Honda , Suzuki, Toyota are family names made famous by successful products. Of course, there can be a mishap sometimes. Sony became the brand name because Akio Morita of 'Made in Japan' fame wanted his small radio- named Sonny which was a popular name for a boy, but since he made a spelling mistake, dropping one 'n', the brand name turned out to be Sony. That's for the importance of English. In a country like India, it is still the price that rules, not the brand name. How many people in India remember Adidas or Nike shoes compared to Lakhani or Action. Obviously, the latter since they are acceptable in quality and much lower in price. For marketing a product nationwide, we need to give the product a trademark and a brand name for legal protection. But let us not be under the misapprehension that branding alone is enough. It must be supplemented with good quality and low price.
FAIR AND LOVELY BRAND NAMES How does Marico's new offering, Hair & Care, should do to you?. Fair & Lovely isn't it. The company that makes the fairness cream would like to extend the fairness brand to No Marks cream for the elderly beauty conscious ladies. That's Hindustan Lever. Raymond's would rather like their exquisite men's suiting be known as, Park Avenue. And, in contrast to Bombay Dyeing, Reliance would like to name its range, Only Vimal. The bottomline, however, is a lift from Thomas Alva Edison's famous quotation, "inventions are one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration." Band names are the most potent distinguishing feature between me-too products. The name makes the product differentiated from any other soap, toothpaste or shampoo. In that classic TV commercial, the housewife who asks for tea will not take any tea, but only Red Label tea. The name that's remembered makes brand loyalty steadfast. Why, even the oldest economic daily in India, The Economic Times, brand named its new advertising & marketing weekly supplement, Brand Equity. Another double-barreled name. Why should two words be there in a brand name rather than an easy to remember single word? Like Lux, Liril, Surf, Horlicks, Bournvita, Complan ,Promise, Limca, Fanta, and so on. Are they not easy to pronounce and quick on the tongue. Sure, they are. But, advertisers believe two words are better than one, to indicate product usage, rather make the brand name into a product performance one too. Hair & Care indicates that this product cares for your hair. That it is a hair care product. In other words, a generic concept has been brought into its brand name. The additional copy features, like its being non greasy, vitamin- E enriched, and the bottle made of PET being unbreakable, fortify the name and make it doubly powerful in a highly competitive market, now captured by ethnic, herbal and ayurvedic hair oils, including Keo-Karpin. That's another two name product for you. Abroad, products with brand names like Cold Spot and Hot point indicate product functioning in its brand name itself. Cold Spot should be a good refrigerator while Hot point an excellent cooking range. PRODUCT IDENTITY A classic success in this genre is Coca-Cola. It not only became a brand name to be remembered but a product identification generic one too. The cola leaves of South- America and the kola nut
of West Africa combined to make this originally medicinal beverage into a famous soft-drink. However, the alliterative names made it rather tongue-twisting. Hence, the company also registered the shorter brand name, Coke. Pepsi-Cola would also like to be known as just Pepsi. In India, however, Parle's have followed a rather ambivalent policy on naming their diverse products, with unmixed success. Their oldest offering was named Gold Spot , to indicate that it was a whale of an organge soft drink. The second successful product in their range, a cola drink hasn't looked back since George Fernandes sent Coca – Cola packing from India in 1977, had also a double- barreled brand name, Thumps Up. However , for their lime-n-lemony fizzy, Limca, and the soda, Bisleri, single names have been found adequate. Since, Limca is claimed to be India's top selling soft drink in that category, they are probably right. However the fizz from their name has been drawn out by Coca-Cola Inc. which purchased all the Parle soft drink for a ,now seen as ,very low price of just $ 50 million. In 1993 (After liberalization was announced and Coca Cola wants to enter back). DELIBERATE POLICY Branding is a deliberate strategy, which refers to the use of a name, term, symbol, design, or a combination of these , to identify goods or services of one seller or a group of sellers to distinguish them from those of its competitors. A trademark is a legal term for a brand name or mark or symbol, which has been registered under law. Advertisers are more interested in creating brand image and brand loyalty, especially for frequently purchased consumer goods, in order to facilitate ripe at purchase. Therefore, they find two words better than one. Like Rolls Royce, Mercedes Benz, Benson & Hedges, Black-n-White, Cherry Blossom, Pall Mall, State Express, Federal Express. Park Lane, Godrage No.1 VIP, etc Even hybrid brand names have been used, especially in India to indicate the origin of the product to a famous foreign one. So, we have Maruti-Suzuki, Hero -Honda, Kawasaki- Bajaj, and BPLSanyo. Actually in the last case both are foreign names, the BPL standing for British Physical Laboratories, a name the company would rather not project since the stance of the organization is focused on consumer durables rather than scientific products and the name Sanyo is a famous Japanese one. There is no doubt double names are more effective and appealing than one, although the single ones may be easy to remember and speak. So we have the ATBs, (all terrain bicycles) named
Street Cat and Hero Ranger. Crowning Glory sounds great, even for hair-care soap, for those who would prefer this low-priced offering to a more expensive shampoo. Flush Kleen immediately shows how it can do its work. Bonny Mix and Gold Mist are two different products but the names indicate what they can achieve better than anything else. Even, the Emamioffering in competition to Fair & Lovely has a double barreled brand name. Naturally Fair. The first sports shoes which set the trend for all others were, Bata's North Star. And the biggest success on the ethnic front is Kothari's Pan Parag. The history of marketing is replete with countless brands which have declined and disappeared. Where is Afgan Snow today ? That famous E.S. Patanwalla product? Today Flex is the name of a scandal associated with the name of a former finance minister. Yesterday, it was the brand name of a famous leather shoe ,which has lost its glory and become an insignificant brand. Let us have brands that we can cherish like Tata and Nirma. Thus Brand name and its popularity can make a strategic marketing weapon in the hands of resourceful marketer it is due to the familiarity of the customer who are ask for the product not by genera tic name (say salt) but by its brand names
BRAND LOYALTY The success of a firm depends largely on its capability to attract consumers towards its brands. In particular, it is critical for the survival of a company to retain its current customers, and to make them loyal to the brand. Former Ford vice president Basil Coughlan estimates that every percentage point of loyalty is worth $100 million in profits to his firm (Serafin and Horton (1994)), and all the major enterprises are spending large sums of money to induce brand loyaity (Monzo (1994); Lefeon (1993)). Firms’ selling brands to loyal consumer’s have a competitive advantage over other firms. Brand loyal consumers reduce the marketing costs of the firm as the costs of attracting a new customer have been found to be about six times higher than the costs of retaining an old one (Rosenberg and Czepiel(1983)). Moreover, brand loyal consumers are willing to pay higher prices and are less price sensitive (see e.g. IO-Krishnamurthi and Raj (1991); Reichheld and Sasser(1990)).
Brand loyalty also provides the firm with trade leverage and valuable time to respond to competitive moves (Aaker (1991)). In sum, loyalty to the firm's brands represents a strategic asset which has been identified as a major source of the brands' equity. Given the importance of brand loyalty, it is not surprising that it has received considerable attention in the marketing literature since Copeland's seminal work which was published over 70 years ago (Copelavid (1923)). Studying and managing brand loyalty, however. Should start with a clear definition of the construct involved, and with the development of valid measures. Unfortunately, while there seems to have emerged considerable agreement on the conceptual definition of brand loyalty since the work of Jacoby and Chestnut (1978), no unified perspective to measure it has yet emerged. Still, a valid measure is essential for a better understanding.
THE CONCEPT OF BRAND LOYALTY Perhaps the most elaborate conceptual definition of brand loyalty was presented by Jacoby and Chestnut (1978). This definition, covers the most important aspects of brand loyalty, and since it enjoys widespread support in the marketing literature, either in its original form or in slightly modified versions (e.g. Assae1 (1992); Mowen (1993); Wilkie (1990)). According to this definition, brand loyalty is: "The (a) biased, (b)Behavior response, (c) expressed over time, (d) by some decision making unit,, (c) with respect to some alternative brands out of a set of such brands and (f) is a function of psychological (decision-making, evaluative)process (Jacoby and Chestnut (1978, p.80))". This definition identifies six requirements for brand loyalty. Below, each of them is discussed in somewhat more detail. Biased behavioral response (a-b)
First, brand loyalty is a biased response. This implies that there has to be a systematic tendency to buy a certain brand or group of brands. Which means that brand choice should not follow a zero-order process? A process is zero-order if each brand is chosen by the consumer with a certain probability which is independent of the consumer's past purchase decisions. Nothing that the consumer did or is exposed to alters the probability to purchase a specific brand (Massy, Montgomery, and Morrison (1970))'. Zero-order behavior is not part of the brand-loyalty construct, because this would imply that brand loyalty is beyond control by any marketing action, and hence a meaningless concept for marketing managers. Brand loyalty also entails actual purchases of a brand. Verbal statements of preference towards a brand are therefore not sufficient to ensure brand loyalty.
Expressed over time (C) An incidental bias towards a brand does not guarantee brand loyalty. As the process is dynamic, some consistency is needed during a certain time span. This suggests that one should not only consider the number of times a specific brand is purchased during that period, but also the purchase pattern over successive purchase occasions. As such, one can distinguish partially loyal behavior from completely (non)loyal behavior. Considering a purchase sequence for brands A and B, Brown (1952) distinguished consistent loyalty towards brand A (indicated by a purchase sequence AAAAAA), divided loyalty (ABABAB), and unstable loyalty (AAABBB). For brand A the situation is much dimmer under unstable loyalty than under divided loyalty. These simple Examples show that the purchase pattern over a given time span contains valuable information about brand loyalty. Decision-making unit (d) Brand loyalty is defined by the purchase pattern of a decision-making unit which may be an individual, a household or a firm. Important to notice is that the decision unit does not have to be the actual purchaser. For example, the purchases of a household are often made by one of the
parents, but other members of the household may also be involved in the decision process (see e.g. Agnew (1987); Davis (1976)). This issue becomes important when the members of a household have different product needs and use goods for different purposes. In that case, we might observe switching behavior on the household level which represents different needs or usage purposes by different family members rather than an absence of brand loyalty. Selection of brands (e) The fifth condition Is that one or more brands are selected out of a set of brands. This condition implies that consumers may actually be loyal to more than one brand, a phenomenon observed by many researchers (e.g. Ehrenberg (1972); Jacoby (1971); 0' Leary (1993)). Especially for low involvement goods, the consumer often does not evaluate brands on a continuous scale, but classifies them discretely as acceptable or unacceptable. If more than one brand is acceptable, an individual might be indifferent between them, and exhibit loyalty to a group of brands rather than to a single brand. A problem with multi brand loyalty is that it is hard to distinguish this kind of behavior from brand switching, especially if there are only a few brands available. An individual who buys brand A and B with the purchase sequence ABBABAAB may be defined as a multi-brand loyal consumer if more than two brands are available. But if only brands A and B can be selected, the behavior can be interpreted as brand switching, since every brand available is used regularly. The fifth condition also implies that in order to have brand loyalty, there must be an opportunity to choose among alternatives. Jacoby and Chestnut (1978, p.82) expressed it as follows: "Before one could speak of brand loyal, one must have the opportunity of being disloyal" As such, brand loyalty cannot exist when a brand has a monopoly position. The determination of the product category therefore becomes of major importance. Function of psychological process V)
Brand loyalty is a function of psychological (decision-making, evaluative) processes. Brands are chosen according to internal criteria resulting in a commitment towards the brand, which. according to Jacoby and Chestnut (19781, is an essential element of brand loyalty. This point of view is in line with the information-processing paradigm, which is the dominant point of view in consumer behavior (Bettman (1979)). Although consumers do not always seek information actively, they do receive some information, e.g. due to advertising campaigns. Which may be used to form certain beliefs about brands? Based on these prior beliefs, brands are evaluated and some are preferred over others. In time, the consumer may develop a commitment towards a brand and become brand loyal. Hence, brand loyalty implies consistent repurchase of a brand, resulting from a positive affection of the consumer towards that brand. We should point out, however. that the importance of commitmentis not supported by some researchers who argue that buying behavior is caused by instrumental conditioning (see Foxall (1987) for a review). They posit that observed behavior alone is capable of explaining brand loyalty. According to this view, the purchase will lead to a "reward" (the brand is adequate) or a "punishment" (the brand is inadequate). The former induces the repurchase of a brand while the latter induces brand switching. In this approach, brand loyalty is regarded as a consequence of behavior, rather than as an explanation. We do not subscribe to the point of view that observed behavior alone is capable of fully explaining "brand loyalty " we support Jacoby and Cestnut
(i978j
argumentation that commitment is an essential element of brand loyalty, as it allows to separate brand loyalty from repeat buying. Repeat buying may be due to inertia. which means that consumers stay with the same brand because they are not prepared to spend effort and time to search for other brands. A study of Hoyer (1984) concluded that inert consumers have different motives, different decision rules and require other marketing actions than brand loyal consumers. In particular, they do not evaluate a large set of alternatives but use simple decision heuristics like "Always buy the cheapest brand" or "Always buy the same brand". Repeat buying may be influenced by variables such as e.g. the amount of shelf space or distribution intensity, which are supervised by the retail manager. In contrast, brand commitment is more likely to be influenced by a brand's distinguishing characteristics.
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION Customer satisfaction, a business term, is a measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation. Customer satisfaction is defined as "the number of customers, or percentage of total customers, whose reported experience with a firm, its products, or its services (ratings) exceeds specified satisfaction goals." It is seen as a key performance indicator within business and is part of the four of a Balanced Scorecard. In a competitive marketplace where businesses compete for customers, customer satisfaction is seen as a key differentiator and increasingly has become a key element of business strategy. Within organizations, customer satisfaction ratings can have powerful effects. They focus employees on the importance of fulfilling customers’ expectations. Furthermore, when these ratings dip, they warn of problems that can affect sales and profitability. These metrics quantify an important dynamic. When a brand has loyal customers, it gains positive word-of-mouth marketing, which is both free and highly effective. In researching satisfaction, firms generally ask customers whether their product or service has met or exceeded expectations. Thus, expectations are a key factor behind satisfaction. When customers have high expectations and the reality falls short, they will be disappointed and will likely rate their experience as less than satisfying. For this reason, a luxury resort, for example, might receive a lower satisfaction rating than a budget motel —even though its facilities and service would be deemed superior in “absolute” terms.
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION IN 7 STEPS 1. Encourage Face-to-Face Dealings This is the most daunting and downright scary part of interacting with a customer. If you're not used to this sort of thing it can be a pretty nerve-wracking experience. Rest assured, though, it does get easier over time. It's important to meet your customers face to face at least once or even twice during the course of a project. 2. Respond to Messages Promptly & Keep Your Clients Informed This goes without saying really. We all know how annoying it is to wait days for a response to an email or phone call. It might not always be practical to deal with all customers' queries within the space of a few hours, but at least email or call them back and let them know you've received their message and you'll contact them about it as soon as possible. Even if you're not able to solve a problem right away, let the customer know you're working on it. 3. Be Friendly and Approachable A fellow Site Pointer once told me that you can hear a smile through the phone. This is very true. It's very important to be friendly, courteous and to make your clients feel like you're their friend and you're there to help them out. There will be times when you want to beat your clients over the head repeatedly with a blunt object - it happens to all of us. It's vital that you keep a clear head, respond to your clients' wishes as best you can, and at all times remain polite and courteous. 4. Have a Clearly-Defined Customer Service Policy This may not be too important when you're just starting out, but a clearly defined customer service policy is going to save you a lot of time and effort in the long run. If a customer has a problem, what should they do? If the first option doesn't work then what? Should they contact different people for billing and technical enquiries? If they're not satisfied with any aspect of your customer service, who should they tell? There's nothing more annoying for a client than being passed from person to person, or not knowing who to turn to. So make sure your customer service policy is present on your site -and anywhere else it may be useful.
5. Attention to Detail Have you ever received a Happy Birthday email or card from a company you were a client of? Have you ever had a personalized sign-up confirmation email for a service that you could tell was typed from scratch? These little niceties can be time consuming and aren't always cost effective, but remember to do them. Even if it's as small as sending a Happy Holidays email to all your customers, it's something. It shows you care; it shows there are real people on the other end of that screen or telephone; and most importantly, it makes the customer feel welcomed, wanted and valued. 6. Anticipate Your Client's Needs & Go Out Of Your Way to Help Them Out Sometimes this is easier said than done! However, achieving this supreme level of understanding with your clients will do wonders for your working relationship. 7. Honor Your Promises It's possible this is the most important point in this article. The simple message: when you promise something, deliver. Clients don't like to be disappointed. Sometimes, something may not get done, or you might miss a deadline through no fault of your own. Projects can be late, technology can fail and sub-contractors don't always deliver on time. In this case a quick apology and assurance it'll be ready ASAP wouldn't go a miss. CUSTOMER LOYALTY Obtaining a thorough understanding of customer loyalty is a prerequisite for the execution of the research at hand. For that, the development of customer loyalty research within the framework of relationship marketing will be presented first, before different customer loyalty concepts will be introduced. From these concepts, a definition of customer loyalty for use in this study will be derived, before both consequences and antecedents of customer loyalty will be portrayed. Since the beginning of the 1990s, customer loyalty has gained importance both in relationship marketing research and in business. In business, this can be attributed to changing market- and competition-environments. Due to a shift from a sellers’ to a buyers’ market and because of an increasing degree of globalization, most industries find themselves confronted with new challenges. In a first phase, firms tried to face these challenges by focusing on their
internal processes and organizational structures, trying to achieve cost reductions by concentrating on internal improvements. A second phase of external focus followed, where firms directed attention to their customers, trying to retain existing ones and to win over new ones (churning). Since “acquiring new customers is much more expensive than keeping them”. And “loyal customers are the bedrock of any business”. A loyal customer base represents a barrier to entry, a basis for a price premium, time to respond to competitor innovations, and a bulwark against deleterious price competition. Loyalty is critical to brand volume, is highly correlated to market share, and can be used as the basis of predicting future market share; consequently, understanding loyalty appears critical to any meaningful analysis of marketing strategy. In marketing research, two trends mark the development of customer loyalty. While individual transactions initially were in the center of marketing research, the focus shifted towards analyzing relationships states that the ‘traditional’ marketing concept of the marketing mix with its ‘4 Ps’, developed in the middle of the last century, had been the established approach until the 1990s. This approach, how-ever, focuses solely on transactions, a deficit tackled by the relationship marketing approach. At the core of it is the study of relationships between buyers and sellers of goods or services, in contrast to merely examining transactions. An often cited and comprehensive definition of relationship marketing is provided “Relationship marketing refers to all marketing activities directed toward establishing, developing, and maintaining successful relational exchanges.” Therefore, the relationship marketing approach pro-vides a suitable environment in which customer loyalty research can be nested. While the development of relationship marketing began in the early 1970s, it was not until the late 1980s that works from the ‘Nordic School of Services’. Initiated a paradigm shift that geared marketing towards the creation, conservation, and extension of buyer-seller relationships. Although relationship marketing today is widely accepted among marketing researchers, its promoters do not postulate the replacement of the transactional approach, but rather juxtapose the two approaches. For example, delineates a strategy continuum, in which different goods require different degrees of transaction- and relationship-based marketing strategies. As a result of the focus on relationships in marketing research, customer loyalty gained importance within research.
Before determining which stream the present study can be associated with, however, it is important to create a clear understanding of different customer loyalty concepts prevalent in research. This will be accomplished in the following section. Customer Loyalty Concepts Reviewing research, it becomes obvious that the notion of customer loyalty is blurred. At its core, customer loyalty deals with relationships between suppliers and their customers and can be distinguished from other loyalty aspects, such as brand loyalty, which refer to a more abstract attachment, such as that towards a brand. Within German customer loyalty literature, the notion of customer loyalty is even more faceted, encompasses both ‘customer loyalty’ and ‘customer retention’ distinguishes an active, supplier-focused component and a passive, customer focused component of customer loyalty. In the supplier-focused perspective, customer loyalty is seen as a bundle of measures that aim at improving relationships with customers. The supplier is in the center of attention and the customer is only regarded as the factor at which success of customer loyalty becomes manifest. Here it becomes clear that this approach contains a conceptual deficit. It is the customer who eventually decides on whether customer loyalty management is successful or not, because all activities undertaken by a supplier can only be geared at influencing customers to be loyal. A customer-focused perspective therefore has to be added to evaluate the success of customer loyalty management. Within the customer-focused perspective, customer loyalty is conceptualized taking into account customers’ complex characteristics. These can either be approached as customers’ directly observable actions and/or take into account their attitudes and intentions. Since customers’ actions are directly influenced by their attitudes and intentions, it is obvious that these have to be scrutinized to understand and manage loyalty. A third perspective is a synthesis of the former two approaches. The relationship-focused perspective directly examines the relationship between suppliers and customers. Accordingly, the objects of study in this perspective usually are buying behavior in retail contexts and long-term relationships marked by frequent interaction between suppliers and buyers in industrial contexts.
Behaviorist customer loyalty concepts Behaviorist concepts of customer loyalty have been at the core of early marketing research and focus on customers’ observable behavior, as e.g. in purchasing behavior. Accordingly, customer loyalty is established, when customers demonstrate consistency in their choice of supplier or brand. “Hard-core” loyalty, when one product alternative is exclusively repurchased and of “reinforcing” loyalty, when customers switch among brands but repeatpurchase one or more alternatives to a significant extent. Similarly, customer loyalty as “the proportion of times a purchaser chooses the same product or service in a specific category compared to the total number of purchases made by the purchaser in that category“. Pegging customer loyalty to purchasing behavior, however, is very critical; there can be a multitude of factors affecting purchasing behavior, such as product availability or special deals, which are not grasped by looking at purchases alone. A main deficit of the behaviorist approach thus is that it does not look at the drivers’ behind purchasing behavior. Another disadvantage of behaviorist customer loyalty concepts is their ex-post approach. When loyalty is only expressed through purchases, information on customers’ actual loyalty status in between purchases is not available. Consequently, decreasing loyalty is only recognized after it manifests itself through changed purchasing behavior. Only in relationships with frequent interaction can a supplier integrate further aspects, such as complaints, into customer loyalty management. The reason, why behaviorist concepts may still be valuable, is because the measurement of customer loyalty in this approach does not necessitate involvement by the customer. The assessment of attitudes and intentions would always imply customers’ cooperation through participation in surveys. By simply recording purchases, e.g. through delivery records in the industrial context or customer cards in a consumer context; the assessment of customer loyalty poses little difficulty. Particularly in areas, where most purchases can be easily ascribed to individual customers, as is the case with mail-ordering or book-stores on the internet, the behaviorist approach is useful for identifying different customer groups and their characteristics. Such firms, however, can only assess purchases of their own products, while purchases of competing products go unnoticed. Firms can therefore neither draw conclusions about relative changes of purchasing behaviors, nor evaluate their comparative market position.
Neo-behaviorist customer loyalty concepts These narrow technical definitions do not adequately capture the richness and depth of the loyalty construct implicit in a relational framework.” Consequently, neo-behaviorist customer loyalty concepts start at the shortcomings of the behaviorist approach by examining the causes of loyalty. As early as 1969, Day concluded that “loyalty should be evaluated with both attitudinal and behavioral criteria” otherwise accidental repeat-purchases, merely resulting from situational exigencies, would be regarded as indicators of loyalty. There is no agreement, however, on the question, whether attitudes are part of customer loyalty or merely an antecedent of it. Some authors propose that only positive attitude can lead to ‘true’ customer loyalty. If attitude then is a necessary prerequisite of customer loyalty, some drivers of loyalty cannot be explained. Transaction cost theory, for instance, provides the concept of asset specificity. Relationshipspecific investments create economic switching barriers and therefore increase customer loyalty. However, the mere repeat purchase of goods or services for reasons of economic constraints would not qualify as loyalty, as positive attitudes are not involved. In order to avoid the outlined problem, it is useful to abstain from defining positive attitude to be a necessary antecedent of loyalty. Instead, researchers usually consider intentions and observable behavior to be the constituting elements of customer loyalty. Determinants of Customer Loyalty In order to be able to gear marketing activities towards the creation of customer loyalty, its determinants and their precise effects have to be known. Accordingly, many researchers have investigated this topic. In order to gain an overview of the determinants identified in these works, they can be structured in three dimensions: (1)
Company-related determinants refer to the supplier itself or to the goods or services
offered. It is a prerequisite for the existence of customer loyalty that services create utility for the customer and that they are assessment is usually performed by examining performance ratio, customers will pay
available.
the offered goods or In
this
respect,
an
quality. In order to evaluate the price-
attention to prices. Customer loyalty will also be
influenced by the reputation a company has and ultimately by customer loyalty programs offered.
(2)
Relationship-related determinants play a significant role in long-term
Factors regarding the interaction between supplier and
customer,
such
relationships. as
relationship
quality, previous experiences, and trust are important. Commitment, which provides evidence of emotional closeness
and moral or normative feelings of obligation, takes a central
role in relationships. Specificity and dependence can lead to economic, psychological and social switching barriers. (3)
Customer-related determinants are mainly influenced by customers’
characteristics.
In this respect, affect and involvement, and consequently also the importance of the good or service to the customer, are important. Addition to the above delineated areas, the effects of the market environment and competition are researched, as is the link between satisfaction and loyalty,
which plays an important role
in the research of customer loyalty and is often placed in one of the three dimensions. However, as most other determinants therefore be
influence satisfaction, it cannot be clearly separated and should
listed as a distinct category.
OBJECTIVES OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION PROGRAMME Our Programs are research based, built on the three corner stone’s of customer satisfaction: product quality, process and procedural quality, and relationship quality. Our typical program assesses specific issues under each component, for example: Product Quality •
meets or exceeds expectations
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state-of-the-art technology
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validated, tested, & simulated to client specifications
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competitive pricing
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enhance customer value
Procedural Quality •
ease of ordering
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accurate fulfillment
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inventory meets needs
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on time delivery
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environmentally friendly packing
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packaged to prevent damage in shipment
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ease of tracking
•
appropriate adjustment/return policy
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order-through-delivery process bests competition
Relationship Quality •
product knowledgeable contacts
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knowledgeable about client needs
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communicates at client knowledge level
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one-stop problem resolution
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problems solved at the root cause
•
legendary customer service benchmarks competition
The tailored Programs provide direct, statistically valid, comparison data of you to your competition on the following actionable areas: •
Responsiveness
•
Competitiveness
•
Innovativeness
•
Quality
•
Customer Service
•
Long Term Partnering
It accurately quantifies your competitive strengths and weaknesses from your customers' perspective. Using the data, it will help you focus strategic efforts to retain and increase market share. The programs also provide direct measure of the effectiveness of initiatives your organization has implemented during prior year (after first year's participation). That is, you will have quantifiable internal benchmarks (in addition to the external competitive benchmarks) on the repeat annual surveys to judge progress based on actions you have taken during the previous 12 months. TABLE SHOWING KEY FACTORS FOR CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
COMPANY FUNCTION Sales
QUALITY FACTORS Product Knowledge Brochure detail
Marketing
Mailing frequently Order Delivery time
Distribution
Order Completeness Problem Response Time
After Sales
Time to Resolve Accuracy
Accounts
Problem Response Courtesy
CUSTOMER CARE AND SALES PROCESSES Service organizations are particularly dependent on levels of customer care, as the ‘people’ element in the marketing mix reflects. Customer care can play an equally important role, however, in manufacturing, production and other organizations providing goods and services. For customer care programs to be successful they need to span the entire organization. Popular guarantees 100% customer satisfaction and has, over the years, developed a more conscientious approach to individual customers. There is Customer care training provided. Though this may initially be a very lengthy process as the ball starts rolling through all sectors of the organization and costs will grow too, as further investment is required to update and maintain the initiative in the future. To provide an effective customer care services, every employee is highly motivated. There are frequent internal newsletters circulated which strengthens the bond throughout the organization. Frequent performance appraisal throughout the organization is conducted to evaluate the employees and provide career developmental opportunities to potential employees. The customer care program at Popular mainly have six main stages, as follows:
1. Objectives setting: For every month, target sales will be fixed by the Sales Manager at the showroom. 2. Current situation analysis: Present industrial trend is observed closely and various promotional offers are introduced to boost sales if there is a chance for a slump in sales. Also, a customer service audit is conducted both internally and externally. Monthly sales targets fixed by the Sales Manager. 3. Strategy development: Develop a strategy for raising levels of both customer service and sales from the current to the desired standard based upon any change in trends and the economic conditions prevailing. Each region is divided into 4 zones. Each zonal level will be under the charge of a supervisor under whom there are four sales executives. It is the duty of these sales executives to generate on field enquiries and to follow up the customers based on the appointment fixed. 4. Functional planning: Define training needs and other requirements such problem-solving sessions or teambuilding exercise to execute the strategy. Daily, a meeting of all the staffs at their respective branch is convened. Here they discuss their daily programs and targets to meet plus they also discuss about their previous day’s work among the team. They consider the response of all the individual customers met. 5. Implementation: Implement training and other initiatives through workshops, seminars. The prospective customers are segregated and the issues raised by certain customers will also be addressed. Some customers may not be satisfied with the present offers and price. In such cases efforts will be put up to make maximum adjustments and convert it to sales. 6. Monitoring: Results are tested through customer and employee surveys and evaluation of the training methods is also conducted. The program is improved and updated on a continuous basis. HANDLING CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS A complaint is any measure of dissatisfaction with your product or service, even if it’s unfair, untrue, or painful to hear! Complaints may be about: • Service Content, Delivery or Quality
• Response Time
• Documentation
• Personnel
• Billing
• Communication
• Follow Up
• Requests
This is a customer complaint resolution process that anyone can implement: Focus on the Customer If you can’t immediately solve the problem, respond to the customer and identify an “owner” who will be responsible for final resolution. Complete the communications loop with customer. If you’ve referred the complaint to others, make sure there’s closure. If you’ve left the customer hanging without a response, you’ve become part of the problem. Focus on the Complaint Collect all complaints from all external customers and categorize them in a way that allows you to analyze data to see trends, patterns, concentrations, tendencies, etc. Focus on Process Improvement Use the database of complaints to define processes that are important from the customer’s perspective and to improve the most critical ones. Based on analysis of the database, make appropriate investments to prevent issues that result in customer complaints. If you can think of complaints as useful data for making process improvements in your organization, you will go a long way towards making changes that will differentiate you and make your work life easier, more fun, and more responsive to customer needs.
SIX STEPS TO DEALING WITH DIS-SATISFIED CUSTOMERS 1. Listen carefully to what the customer has to say, and let them finish-Don't get defensive. The customer is not attacking you personally; he or she has a problem and is upset. Repeat back what you are hearing to show that you have listened. 2. Ask questions in a caring and concerned manner-The more information you can get from the customer, the better you will understand his or her perspective. I’ve learned it’s easier to ask questions than to jump to conclusions. 3. Put yourself in their shoes-As a business owner, your goal is to solve the problem, not argue. The customer needs to feel like you’re on his or her side and that you empathize with the situation. 4. Apologize without blaming-When a customer senses that you are sincerely sorry, it usually diffuses the situation. Don't blame another person or department. Just say, "I'm sorry about that.” 5. Ask the customer, "What would be an acceptable solution to you?"-Whether or not the customer knows what a good solution would be, I’ve found it’s best to propose one or more solutions to alleviate his or her pain. Become a partner with the customer in solving the problem. 6. Solve the problem, or find someone who can solve it— quickly!-Research indicates that customers prefer the person they are speaking with to instantly solve their problem. When complaints are moved up the chain of command, they become more expensive to handle and only add to the customer's frustration.
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION As Customer Satisfaction is the key principle in every organization. Today consumer is looking out for value for money. The challenge before the marketers is to identify what value would appeal and convince the customer. Marketers are trying to enhance the concepts of value through unique delivery methods. Customer satisfaction is a continuous process which does not begin or end with a purchase. It covers the entire ‘ownership experience from selecting a product, to purchase, through aftercare to repeat purchase. Customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction is the feeling derived by the customer when he compares the products actual performance with the performance that he expects of it. Customers form their expectations on the basis of past buying experiences, advice of their reference group and the promises of the marketers and their competitors. When the product performance matches the expected performance, the customer experiences satisfaction; when it falls short of the expectation, he experiences dissatisfaction. And when the performance exceeds expectations, the customer is highly satisfied or delighted. It becomes easier for a company to serve a delighted customer. As a delighted customer may become loyal, bringing more business to the firm, he will be less likely to switch to a competitor’s product; and so, he becomes brand loyal. Customer satisfaction can be measured using different techniques like questionnaires and direct interviews. A customer feedback program should be viewed as an operating tool rather than as market research. Customer satisfaction means giving the customers what they really want, when they want it and the way they want it. It involves understanding customer expectations and meeting them fully.It can be defined as” an outcome of purchase and use resulting from the buyer’s comparison of rewards and the costs of the purchase in relation to the anticipated consequences. Customer is an individual or an organization. Their requirements are very similar. Conformance of services to their requirements and its performance in actual stage Competitive prices Service Whether the buyer is satisfied after purchase depends on the offer’s performance in relation to the buyer’s expectations.
Satisfaction is a person’s fallings of pleasure or disappointment resulting from comparing a product’s perceived performance 9or outcome) in relation to his or her expectations. As this definition makes clear, satisfaction is a function of perceived performance and expectation. If the performance falls short of expectations, the customers, the customer is dissatisfied. If the performance matches the expectations, the customers are satisfied. If the performance exceeds expectations, the customers are highly satisfied or delighted. Many companies are aiming for high satisfaction because customers who are just satisfied still find it easy to switch when a better comes along. Those who are highly satisfied are much less ready to switch. High satisfaction or delight creates an emotional bond with the brand, not just a rational performance. The result is high customer loyalty. Xerox’s senior management believes that a very satisfied or delighted customer is worth 10 times as much to the company as a satisfied customer. A very customer is likely to stay with Xerox many more years and buy more than a satisfied customer will. There are five major factors, which affected satisfaction of the car namely: 1. Problems Experienced: Contributing to 35% of the CSI score, this factor measures the quality of the car in terms of the number of repair problems that cropped up and how often it was returned for reservice.
2. Service Advisor: Which related to ability of the services advisor to ability of the service advisor to understand the problem and his promptness in attending to the customer, contributing to 28% of the CSI Score. 3. Service Performance: Measures the quality of the service performed as well as the dealer’s ability to fix a problem on the first visit. It has a weightage of 26% in the CSI score and also considers how easily spare parts are available when required.
4. Service Timing: Affecting the score by just 6%, this time taken for a service or repair job was responsible and if the vehicle was ready at the time promised. 5. Facility Appearance: Deals with the appearance of the customer lounge at the dealership and the look and cleanliness of the service area. This factors has the least impact CSI score at Just 5% Measuring Customer Satisfaction Organization are increasingly interested in retaining existing customers while targeting non-customers; measuring customer satisfaction provides an indication of how successful the organization is at providing products and/or services to the marketplace. Customer satisfaction is an ambiguous and abstract concept and the actual manifestation of the state of satisfaction will vary from person to person and product/service. The state of satisfaction depends on a number of both psychological and physical variables which correlate with satisfaction behaviors such as return and recommend rate. The level of satisfaction can also vary depending on other options the customer may have and other products against which the customer can compare the organization’s products. Because satisfaction is basically a psychological state, care should be taken in the effort of quantitative measurement, although a large quantity of research in this area has recently been developed. Work done by Berry, Brodeur between 1990 and 1998 [3] defined ten ‘Quality values’ which influence satisfaction behavior, further expanded by Berry in 2002 and known as the ten domains of satisfaction. These ten domains of satisfaction include: Quality, value, Timeliness, Efficiency, Ease of access, Environment, Inter-departmental Teamwork, Front line Service Behaviors, Commitment to the customer and Innovation. These factors are emphasized for continuous improvement and organizational change measurement and most often utilized to develop the architecture for satisfaction measurement as an integrated model. Work done by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry between 1985 and 1988 provides the basis for the measurement of customer satisfaction with a service by using the gap between the customer’s expectation of performance and their perceived experience of performance. This provides the measurer with a satisfaction “gap” which is objective and quantitative in nature . work done by Cronin and Taylor propose the “confirmation/disconfirmation” theory of combining the “gap”
described by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry as two different measures (perception and expectation of performance ) into a single measurement of performance according to expectation. According to Garbrand, customer satisfaction equals perception of performance divided by expectation of performance. The usual measures of customer satisfaction involve a survey with a set of statement using a Likert Technique or sale. The customer is asked to evaluate each statement and in term of their perception and expectation of the performance of the organization being measured.
CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter provides the relevant literature and theoretical framework for the present study. 2.1. HYPOTHESIS FORMATION 2.1.1. BRAND IMAGE AND BRAND LOYALTY Keller‘s (1993, 2001) conceptual research suggested a strong connection between a positive brand image and brand loyalty. Keller (1993) explained that consumers’ repeated buying behavior represents brand loyalty, which reflects a favorable attitude towards a brand. Esch et al.‘s (2006) empirical research supported Keller‘s proposition by showing a statistically significant effect of positive brand image on current/future purchases. Thus, the present research posits: H1. Brand image will not be positively associated with brand loyalty.
Co m mi tte d Buthe Likes ye Brand, r Considers it a Friend Satisfied Buyer with Switching Costs Satisfied/Habitual buyer No Reason to Change Switchers/Price sensitive No Brand Loyalty
Figure 1.1 The Brand Loyalty Pyramid (Aaker, 1991, p. 40)
2.1.2. BRAND IMAGE AND CONSUMER PERCEPTION Past literature revealed that a successful brand image enables consumers to identify their desired need which ultimately helps a company from its competitors Hsieh et al., (2004). On the other hand Tarofder and Haque (2007) had given importance on supplier selection based on their brand image. In fact the findings of Jiang et al. (2011) revealed that apart from brand image price discount and complementary products may have positive impact on customer loyalty. Furthermore, Linder and Seidenstricker (2010) agreed that brand image is one of the company’s core competencies. Mishra and Datta (2011) revealed that brand name has strong influence on customer based brand equity. Kotler (2001) defined brand image as a set of beliefs, ideas and impression that a person holds regarding an object. On the other hand, Keller (1993) considered brand image as a set of perceptions about a brand on consumer’s memory. Na et al. (1999) connected brand image with customer’s perception as they mentioned that image cannot be measured by attribute measurements alone but must include measurements of consumers' perceptions of the value and benefits attainable from using the brand. Thus, it posits: H2. Brand image will not be positively associated with consumer perception.
brand image
consumer towards
perception patanjali
Figure Conceptual framework 2.1.3. CONSUMER PERCEPTION AND BRAND LOYALTY Humans unlike machines can have the ability to Perceive. It is a feeling which is based on the conclusion formed with the given information around and the mindset of the consumer which is responsible of processing the information. Perception gives humans
the right to make important decisions or can reflect their important decisions. It all leads to the most important decision of purchasing. Purchasing means to invest in a brand, for making it a greater brand. Underlying research will focus on concluding the fact that how much is the impact of brand perception on brand awareness and brand loyalty of these brands. Several conclusions can be drawn if consumer perception plays any role and there is a relation among the consumer perception, brand awareness and brand loyalty of these brands. The project is intended to fulfill the needs of marketing research which is quite important for present marketing trend. Total sales turnover of the brand depends on the consumer purchase decision. If the consumers perceive positive about the brand, it means he carriers more loyalty and will remain potential customer, until he keeps on getting the right value for his money. Thus, it posits: H3. Consumer perception will not be positively associated with Brand loyalty. 2.1.4. GENDER AND LOYALTY INTENTIONS Customer loyalty has been the object of intense interest in both the business and academic worlds (Oliver 1999; Reichheld 2001). At the same time, academic research has discovered important differences in cognitive processes and behavior of male and female consumers (Fisher and Dubé 2005; Meyers-Levy 1988, 1989; Meyers-Levy and Maheswaran 1991; Meyers-Levy and Sternthal 1991). These differences are reflected in the widespread use of gender as a segmentation variable in marketing practice. Despite the importance of customer loyalty on the one hand, and gender differences on the other hand, little is known about the existence and nature of gender differences in customer loyalty. This is surprising because if male and female loyalties differ, men and women might require a different selling approach, has different levels of customer value, and may respond differently to loyalty programs and other actions aimed at enhancing customer loyalty. Common stereotypes, perhaps based on widely publicized findings showing that males exhibit lower levels of loyalty than females (e.g., Blumstein and Schwartz 1983; Hansen 1987), suggest that females are more loyal customers than males. Thus, it posits:
H4. Gender will not be positively associated with loyalty intentions. 2.1.5. GENDER AND CONSUMER PERCEPTION Self-congruency theorists suggest that consumers tend to purchase products and brands consistent with their self-images (Rosenburg, 1979; Ross, 1971; Sirgy, 1982/1986). Perhaps the most important and central part of self-image is one’s gender identity (Kates, 2002; Palan, 2001), and this gender-self generates strong congruency effects with regard to one’s brand perceptions and choices (Sirgy, 1982/1986). The gender-self is solicited across a wide variety of marketing practices. Marketers not only use sex as an important segmentation variable but also develop implicit meanings by factoring gender-related cues into a brand. Furthermore, consumers’ gender identity and sexual orientation have been used to target consumers in emerging gender-market segmentations such as “Metrosexual:” males who are heterosexual, hip, concerned with their appearance, and in touch with their feminine side. However, the marketing literature is replete with studies that only report biological sex and treat this as the sole determinant of gender-related behavior. Gender is often used interchangeably with sex because such a dichotomous variable provides a comfort zone for researchers when measuring and interpreting the consumerist implications of gender. This approach overlooks the important differences between sex and gender and leads to biased research and distorted representations of complex gender-related marketing phenomena (Hirchman, 1993; Palan, 2001). Since the 1960s some researchers have begun to investigate how gender identity (which includes a combination of sex, psychological gender, and gender attitudes) would contribute to a consumer’s product- and brand-consumption (Gould and Stern, 1989; Fischer and Arnold, 1990/1994; Palan, 2001). However, research results have been mixed. For example, individuals with a higher masculine-gender identity exhibit stronger information processing (Kempf, Palan, and Laczniak, 1997; Palan, 2001), while individuals with a higher feminine-gender identity develop more positive attitudes toward and get more personally engaged with products and brands (Gainer, 1993; Jaffe and Berger, 1988; Worth, Smith, and Mackie, 1992). As such, a critical question becomes whether or not gender identity can consistently predict any of the many facets of consumer-based brand equity. It has been suggested that consumer involvement may be
an important link between gender and consumer perception (Fischer and Arnold, 1994; McCabe, 2001; Sirgy, 1982), so this study addresses the research gap between gender identity and brand loyalty through the lens of a consumer’s level of product involvement. Thus, it posits: H5. Gender will not be positively associated with consumer perception. 2.1.6. GENDER AND BRAND IMAGE The perception of consumers towards a certain brand can cover a variety of measures, including attitude towards a brand (Monga & John, 2007; Shen & Chen, 2007); attitude towards an advertisement or communication of the brand ( Shen & Chen, 2006; Lee & Labroo, 2004); perceived quality of the brand (Keller & Lehmann,2006; Essoussi & Merunka, 2007); memorability (Volckner & Sattler, 2007); brand value or equity (Buchanan et. al. 1999); brand image (Lee & Labroo, 2004; Essoussi & Merunka, 2007); brand personality (Aaker, 1997); purchase intentions (Lee & Labroo, 2004) and choice (Shiv et. al., 1997). Brand image is the first word or image that comes to mind when a certain brand is mentioned. It is fragile and can be altered by new information or damaged by media commentators (O’Shaughnessy, 2003). Brand image is the representation of the brand in the mind of the consumer. In western cultures, brand image can be like a human being with unique characteristics. In collectivistic culture like Malaysia, it can be quality and the representation of trust in a firm. Consumers will attribute to the brand characteristics that fit their own mental maps and from there develop a brand image (De Mooij, 2005). Thus, it posits: H6. Gender will not be positively associated with brand image. 2.1.7.
BRAND
IMAGE,
CONSUMER
PERCEPTION
AND
LOYALTY
INTENTIONS The ever changing marketing scenario and competition over the globe has amplified the role of brand at unparalleled level. Every person is a consumer of different brands at the same time. The choice and usage of a particular brand by the consumer over the time is affected by the quality benefits offered by the brand especially when it comes to brand of
eatables and cosmetics. Consumer satisfaction is derived when he compares the actual performance of the product with the performance he expected out of the usage. Philip Kotler (2008) observed that satisfaction is a person's feelings of pressure or disappointment resulting from product's perceived performance (outcome) in relation to his or her expectations. If the perceived benefits turned out to be almost same as expected, customer is highly satisfied and that is how the company achieves loyalty of the customer towards the products. Thus, it posits: H7. There will not be positive relationship between brand image, consumer perception and loyalty intentions. 2.2. RESEARCH BACKGROUND This survey research has utilized both primary and secondary data and information from different sources including Patanjali Ayurveda ltd., text books, magazines, journals and websites about different variables of the study. Various studies were consulted for collecting data. A study on Patanjali is also available of consumer perception toward the brand. These studies include: 1.
A study of consumer perception of herbal products in Bhopal: International Journal of Management Studies ISSN (Print) 2249-0302 ISSN (Online)2231-2528
AUTHORS: Md. Irshad Ali, Research Scholar, FPM, Indian Institute of Forest Management, India and Manmohan Yadav, Professor, Indian Institute of Forest Management, India The Indian herbal market is flooded with numerous well-known and recognised herbal brands. Vindhya Herbal is an initiative of Madhya Pradesh government to provide unadulterated ayurvedic products to the people and for generating gainful employment for the vulnerable and downtrodden section of the society. The study is to examine existing state of Vindhya Herbal in Bhopal, its birthplace. Besides, this study talks about other parameters like benefits/attributes consumer acquaintances with herbal products, awareness, preferential, source of knowledge, usage and attitude related to herbal products.
The research design consisted of an exploratory phase followed by a descriptive cross-sectional, close-ended questionnaire-based survey in Bhopal. As the study has been conducted in a Hindi belt, the questionnaire was kept bilingual; Hindi and English. Sampling was done on the basis of two criteria; 1) such regions were selected where almost major herbal brands are available and 2) Respondents have used at-least one of the herbal brands. Only 23 percent consumers responded to have used Vindhya herbal. Those who have used Vindhya herbal have preference it, if available in a nearby store. Most of the respondents mentioned that herbal products are prepared from the natural ingredient, as a result faced no side effect. Purchase of herbal products primarily takes place on a monthly basis and use on a daily basis. Doctors, family members and mass media were reliable sources and the respondents trust on their recommendations for buying fresh herbal products. Desirability for further information was high among consumers related to herbal products. 2. Customer Perception towards Brand: A Study on ‘Patanjali’: Global Journal of Management and Business Research: E-Marketing, Volume 15 Issue 9 Version 1.0 Year 2015, Type: Double Blind Peer Reviewed International Research Journal, Publisher: Global Journals Inc. (USA), Online ISSN: 2249-4588 & Print ISSN: 0975-5853 AUTHOR: Miss Rupali Khanna, Chandigarh University, India This paper carries out a study on what factors PATANJALI. “Patanjali “- a brand set up by PATANJALI AYURVEDA LTD is backed by robust preaching and promotion of World renowned Guru Swami Ramdevji and an international authority on Ayurveda and Traditional Herbs. The company is set up with an objective to provide superior quality of products at fair price and to get their customers rid off the chronic diseases by providing products which are organic and natural. This concept of Herbal and Pure has gained momentum in India and across the world since people now a days are more centered towards keeping themselves near to Nature due to their commercialized routines. PATANJALI AYURVEDA LTD has more than 100 different products in the catalogue for Skin, Hair, Heart, Eyes and Kidney diseases. Patanjali’s recent tie up with Future Group to enter into FMCG segment through Big Bazaar Retail stores is another big advantage towards the availability of Patanjali Products near to their consumers. The
Patanjali Products have rightly been placed at advantage by the very concept of “Marketing through Spirituality”. 3. Effect of Brand Image on Brand Loyalty and Role of Customer Satisfaction in it: World Applied Sciences Journal 26 (10): 1364-1370, 2013, ISSN 1818-4952, © IDOSI Publications, 2013, DOI: 10.5829/idosi.wasj.2013.26.10.1343, Published on Nov 30, 2013 AUTHORS: Rashid Saeed, Rab Nawaz Lodhi, Amna Mehmood, Urooj Ishfaque, Fareha Dustgeer, Amna Sami, Zahid Mahmood and Moeed Ahmad The purpose of this study was to check the effect of brand image on brand loyalty and the moderating role of customer satisfaction in it. Brand attributes and Brand benefits were studied as dimensions of Brand Image. Quantitative study was conducted in wireless Telecommunication sector of Pakistan. Sample of 150 students and teachers, from different colleges and universities of Sahiwal, were selected and surveyed through questionnaires. Pearson Correlation and Regression were run to analyze the data. Finding reveals that positive and significant relation exists between Brand Image and Brand loyalty and Customer Satisfaction also has a positive moderating effect on this relation. The sample size was too short. This study can be replicated with a large sample size in similar sector or context. The impact of marketing communications and consumers’ knowledge on brand loyalty can also is studied to enhance the study. Organizations ought to pay special attention to the building of brand image, achieving customer satisfaction. And through this they would also be successful in achieving brand loyalty. 4. The Impact of Brand Image on Consumer Behavior: A Literature Review: Open Journal of Business and Management, 2015, 3, 58-62. Published Online, January 2015 in SciRes. AUTHOR: Yi Zhang, Department of Marketing, Management School, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China The concept “brand image” has drawn significant attention from academics and practitioners since it was put forward, because it played an important role in marketing activities. Although brand image was recognized as the driving force of brand asset and brand performance, few
studies have elaborated on the relationship between brand image and brand equity. Based on the brand image theories, this study reviewed extant studies about the impact of brand image on consumer from perspective of customer equity. It also presented the shortcomings of current research and pointed out the trends for future study. 2.3. SCOPE OF THE STUDY: This research focused on respondents of Dehradun. The research provided fruitful information about Patanjali’s product line users and brand perception they have about Patanjali. 2.4. LIMITATION OF THE STUDY:
In this research, we examined factors responsible
for brand loyalty of the product to brand image of the Patanjali. The study focuses on only the consumers in Dehradun. The Dehradun region was chosen due to easy accessibility and profound understanding of the market. Another reason is that we had a thorough understanding of the background information necessary to do the survey and could easily use networking to obtain the sample. 2.5. METHODOLOGY: A single cross-sectional research design was used for the survey and quantitative analysis was used for the obtained dataset. The answering scale for the questions related to brand image and brand loyalty is a 7-item Likert scale. Data collection was done through the online website using an online-based questionnaire. MS Excel was used for analyzing the information in the obtained dataset. The types of analysis that were performed are t-test analysis, ANOVA and Pearson Correlation. By doing it, the main factors that influence brand loyalty were examined.
CHAPTER III: COMPANY PROFILE 3.1.
PATANJALI YOGPEETH
Patanjali Yogpeeth in Haridwar, Uttarakhand is one of the largest Yoga institutes in India. Named after the Ancient Yog Guru Patanjali, the Institute is Ramdev's flagship project & has been set up for treatment, research & development in Yoga and Ayurveda, as well as the manufacturing of ayurvedic medicines. It is a center of Yoga and Ayurveda activities in India built on the name of Maharishi Patanjali who invented Yoga 5000 years ago. The ashram is run under the guidance of Swami Ramdev Ji Maharaj who has revived Yoga and spreading it all over the world. Patanjali Yog peeth is open to everybody. Located on the Haridwar-Delhi highway at Kankhal, very near to Roorkee, Patanjali Yogpeeth offers treatment for all and has residential accommodation. At Mahatma Dharamveer's Gurukul in Kisangarh Ghasera where Baba Ramdev met philanthropist Archarya Balkrishan. With the help of Balkrishan, Baba Ramdev has established Divya Yog Mandir in 1995. Archarya Karamveer was also one of the pillars of Divya Yog Mandir. In almost 3 years, Divya Yog Mandir and Baba Ramdev have galvanized the world into turning ardent practitioners of Yoga. Baba Ramdev and trust run spearhead, all his activities which include Yoga camps, manufacturing ayurvedic medicine and treatment of patients with help of Yoga and Pranayama. Baba Ramdev TV programmes and Yoga camps have proved to be immensely popular. Swami Ramdev put lots of emphasis on teaching Pranayam as compared to Yoga. According to Shri Shri Ravi Shankar, a world-renowed spritial leader "If an individual can be credited with reviving Yoga in India, it is solely Baba Ramdev". Millions of people all over the world attend Baba Ramdev's free Yoga camps (shivir). Ramdev Baba has also conducted Yoga camp at Rashtrapati Bhavan - the residence of the President of India. Yoga has ability to cure even fatal diseases and Baba Ramdev has proved it many times. Ramdev Baba has spread Yoga to such an extent that sooner or later, everyone has to embrace it. Patanjali YogPeeth Trust is the dream project of Baba Ramdev. It was inaugurated on August 6, 2006. Baba Ramdev's aim was to build the world's largest center of Ayurveda, Yoga and Pranayama. Patanjali YogPeeth provides facility for treatment for diseases, research and a teaching
University for Yoga and Ayurveda. This trust is located 13kms from Haridwar. The estimated cost of the project was 10 billion. During inauguration, Sudarshan Agarwal, Governor of Uttrakhand, said "Patanjali Yog Peeth will soon be the ambassador of Yoga for entire world”. According to associated news press, The Patanjali YogPeeth project was divided into 3 phases. Phase one was basic construction. The second stage comprises of serviceable guesthouses, herbal gardens, yajnashala, meditation caves and many other facilities. It will be the biggest Yoga and Ayurvedic center in the world. Third stage is opening a University of Yoga and Ayurveda. Baba Ramdev wants to flow river of Yoga in each and every region, whether in a village or city. The confidence which Baba Ramdev exuberates compels people to at least give his Yoga a try. Millions of people practice Baba Ramdev's Yoga and Pranayama. Ramdev Baba's TV programs broadcast in several countries including America, Europe, Australia, Asia and Africa. Viewership is quoted as being 20 millions regular viewers. Followers of Baba Ramdev have claimed relief from a variety of ailments such as Diabetes, Blood Pressure, Hepatitis, Spondylitis and Obesity. He is the real hero who devoted his whole life to help people by giving them unknown knowledge of Yoga and Pranayama. Swami Ramdev medicines are manufactured in branches well equipped with modern equipments, certified by the international standards GMP, GLP & ISO 9001. Swami Ramdev's pharmacy makes the medicines pure and rich in quality. Medicines manufactured go through quality control and quality assessment tests. Patanjali Yogpeeth is operating Patanjali Hospitals in every nook and corner of India, where one can get life saving Swami Ramdev’s medicines which are affordable to all rich and poor. Patanjali Yogpeeth medicines are also available for health care, oral care, hair care and skin care. Many of the critical ailments such as Cancer, Diabetes, arthritis etc. can be cured by Swami Ramdev's Medicines. These medicines are low cost, very effective and available at Ramdev Chikitsalaya. Some of very effective Ramdev medicines are Mukta Vati for high blood pressure, Madhunashini Vati for Diabetes, Medohar Vati for Obesity. Swami Ramdevji Maharaj is a historic personality. He has written new history in the areas of yoga-prananyam and ayurvedic treatment methods. In this regard the work done by the organization established by him namely Patanjali Yogpeeth (Trust), Divya Mandir (trust),
Patanjali Yog Samitis, Divya Yog Pharmacy Trust and branches, will be written in golden letters on the pages of history. The ambition of these establishments are to reach yoga and Ayurveda to the 700 crore global population along with Indian culture and words of the sages. To encourage the use of Ayurvedic medicine, Swamiji manufactures superior quality and proven medicines in Divya Yog Pharmacy. Swami Ramdev's medicines are manufactured in branches well equipped with modern equipments mostly in Haridwar and other places, certified by the international standards GMP, GLP & ISO 9001. Swami Ramdev also has a botanical garden near Patanjali Yog Peeth where the herbs and medicinal plants are grown. Here research is carried out on rare herbs and they are grown here by putting in great efforts. Under Swami Ramdev's guidance an industrial unit is also established called Patanjali Ayurved Limited which produces pure and high quality minerals and plants products through scientific methods. Swami Ramdevji and Acharya Balkrishna ji have tried to combine the ancient knowledge with ultramodern technology. Some people could not digest the increasing fame of Swami Ramdev and they started negative campaigning against Swami Ramdev with the help of media. The qualities of Swami Ramdev’s medicines were doubted. When these medicines were tested in the lab all the allegations proved baseless and Swami Ramdev came out spotless amidst the acid test. This resulted in unexpected increase in the demand of medicine of Swami Ramdev. Baba Ramdev's pharmacy puts in all the efforts to make the medicines pure and rich in quality. All the medicines manufactured go through strict quality control & quality assessment tests, Toxicological study - Animal trials, clinical tests. Swami Ramdev is working towards the goal of establishing the ayurvedic products at par with the international standards and to make it known across the world. To encourage the use of Ayurvedic medicine and amongst Swami Ramdev's revolutionary thoughts, one is that the farmers of India should adopt the cultivation of medicinal herbs and plants along with fruits and vegetables. Patanjali Yogpeeth is a renowned name in the field of medical science, rendering free services to millions of people across the globe through Yoga and Ayurveda.
3.2.
HERBAL PRODUCTS IN PATANJALI YOGPEETH
Divya Yog Mandir (Trust), started “Brahamkalp Chikitsalaya” at Kripalu Bagh Ashram, Kankhal in 1995 where patients suffering from various diseases were cured using Ayurvedic medicines and practices of Yoga. Need was felt to provide quality Ayurvedic medicines to the patients to seek optimum results as results of Ayurvedic treatment are directly proportional to the quality of prepared medicines. Hence a small scale manufacturing unit of Ayurvedic medicines was established in the campus of Kripalu Bagh Ashram, Kankhal. This was the beginning of Divya Aushadhi Nirmanshala (Divya Pharmacy), which was totally based on traditional methods. Divya Pharmacy has had the exalted vision to bring Ayurveda to society in a contemporary form and to unravel the mystery behind this haloed and revered, Indian system of medicine by exploring and selecting indigenous herbs, ancient Ayurvedic literatures and subjecting the formulations to modern pharmacological, toxicological safety tests and clinical trials to create new drugs and therapies. Divya Pharmacy tries that medicines should possibly be available to common man at the minimum cost price. In the year 2002-03, modernization of the pharmacy has been done. A new expanded unit of the pharmacy has been established well equipped with machines based on modern techniques. PLC controlled herbal extraction plant commissioned in the pharmacy is used for extracting from the various parts of the medicinal plant like the leaves, The salient feature of this plant is the production of medicine using latest SCADA technology under controlled environmental conditions of temperature and pressure. The extract concentration is achieved under vacuum drying preserving the maximum valued contents of the herbs. Quality of the medicines so produced is of the highest level. This unit has the capacity of extracting from 10,000 kgs. of raw herbs. The desired fluid component is added to this extract in the process of making the medicines. For the manufacturing processes in Divya Pharmacy automatic high speed spray drier unit, for quick liquification a fluid wed processor, tablet compressing device with the capacity for
preparing one lac tablet per hour, high speed auto-coater for coating the tablets, high speed mixer-grinder, fluid wed driers and cleaning, crossing & pulverizing units have been established. In the modern packing section of Divya Pharmacy PLC controlled packing equipment having the capacity of 300 volts per minute with automatic blister packing equipment has been installed. A utility center has been set up in this production unit which has two 500 KVA generators, softeners & cooling towers including boilers & air compressors having the capacity to produce 300 ton steam. As a result of this Divya Pharmacy has become the first medicine manufacturing unit of Uttarakhand to get ISO-9001 and WHO-GMP certifications. In the Pharmacy the international standards like Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), Good Packaging Practices (GPP), Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and Good Harvesting Practices(GHP) are being strictly followed. Under the learned guidance of H. H. Yogrishi Swami Ramdevji, Vaidyaraj Acharya Balkrishna and Swami Muktanand, Patanjali Herbal Garden & Agro Research Department has been established at following few sites- Patanjali Herbal Garden site Nursery, Patanjali Herbal Garden site Gurukul Gaushala Farm, situated nearby Patanjali Yogpeeth at Maharishi Dayanand Gram, Bahadrabad, Delhi-Haridwar highway. These Herbal Gardens have beautiful collections of more than 200 medicinal herbs, shrubs, trees, climbers and ornamental plants. Since, 1997 it was a great effort with high spirit to collect the valuable medicinal plant and to ensure to grow in Garden, a Divya Vanaushadhi Vatika has been earlier established in the Ashram at Kankhal. Thereafter, to explore more possibilities of a large number of wide collections, exposition and research of medicinal, aromatic and ornamental plants in a organized way in the Patanjali Herbal Garden has been established. A team of Scientists from Botany and Agriculture and a number of swayam sevak are engaged for research and management. It is all about economically processing organic farm produce into daily use consumables ranging from Ayurvedic health supplements to Foods and cosmetics and then supplying them largely to the urban world. The produce will be picked up right from the farms, thereby increasing the effective income of the farmers. The health based products will then be made available to a large population in the urban areas that is reeling under the scourge of polluted food items and
artificial drinks that make them vulnerable to a variety of cronic diseases. And all this at a cost that is unmatched in the market. The consequential benefits are no less crucial to the mankind. Backed by a robust preaching and promotion on the popular Astha channel by the world renouned Yog Guru Swami Ramdevji and an international authority on Ayurved and traditional herbs Acharya Balkrishanji, it is all about reinventing our traditional knowledge of Yog and Ayurved, rejuvenation of rural economy,arrest of the flight of rural job seekers to the more demeaning urban slums, strengthening the health grid of the nation and the world, mending the environmental imbalance…and finally fighting the tirade of western culture on Indian panorama. PATANJALI AYURVED Ltd. is a company that functions like all other companies under the regulations of the company law affairs, yet is constantly striving for nation building more than the profit accumulation. At micro level the challenge is no less herculean. Along with PRANAYAM, the wisdom of our ancient sages, the organic food products and herbal medicines churned out of this unit, undertake to fight out the dreaded and incurable diseases like CANCER and AIDS. Claim for having found a lasting cure for many other relatively more rampant but equally tormenting diseases like Diabetes, Arthritis and Thyroid is already established with thousands of patients cured with satisfaction. Superior quality of our products at a fair price is not the only concern that we have. Getting our patients rid of their diseases is again too limited a goal for us to seek. A holistic approach to improvement in the quality of life of all beings, world over, is the purpose behind our being. Getting rid the food we consume of the pollutants in the form of poisonous pesticides and chemical fertilizers that our farmers use, is a goal that we strive to achieve by providing our people the eatables that are cultivated in organic and natural manures and pest repellents. Amalika- also known as amala or Aavla (Latin –Emblica officinalis) is Indian gooseberry. It is probably the most famous Ayurvedic herbs used in dozens of classical Ayurvedic formulae & in hundreds of patent Ayurvedic formula. The herb of Amalaki is used for many purposes such as delaying the aging cycle, rejuvenating the body, revitalizing body systems & top of all, building
immune levels. The herbal fruit of Indian gooseberry (amalaki) contains active levels of tannins that help in rejuvenating the body cells & concerned organs. Amalaki contains abandon amounts of Vitamin C – ascorbic acid & is likely to possess richest amounts of it as compared to any edible on this planet. Avipattikar Churna is recommended for complete cure of your acidity, burning stomach and indigestion problems. This is natural digestive tonic which helps in regularizing digestion process & cures acidity problem. A regular course of this ayurvedic medicine gives good results & generally no further medication is required. Avipattikar acidity remedy control acid secretion from stomach walls and helps in easy and timely movement of food from stomach to intestines. Avipattikar Churna is traditionally used to remove excess Pitta (Fire) from the stomach and small intestine. This ayurvedic remedy alleviates acidity, Heartburn and Indigestion. High Pitta (Fire) produces the problem of Acidity or Hyper Acidity. To reduce High Pitta (Fire) in the abdomen, Avipattikar Churna is very good. For hyper acidity and abdominal aches being a mild laxative it makes the stool soft, helps to check mild constipation and improve the appetite. These days most of the people are suffering from constipation. The failure to excrete the feces from the intestine is termed as constipation. There are many reasons for this disease, like shortage of fiber in diet, insufficient intake of fluid, stress, wrong food habit, appetite, inadequate exercise, use of too much laxative, enema abuse etc. Constipation can affect digestion, the clearing of toxins from the system is hampered, energy levels and the absorption of nutrients will get altered. 3.3.
PRODUCT LINE AND PORTFOLIO OF PATANJALI YOGPEETH
Products of patanjali ypgpeeth are as follows:
Divya Amla Churna for Eyes, Digestion and General Health
Divya Arogyavardhani Vati
Divya Arshakalp Vati for Piles
Divya Ashmarihar Ras for Kidney Stones
Divya Ashwagandha Churna for Stress, Fatigue and General Health
Divya Chandraprabha Vati for Urinary Disease
Divya Churna for Constipation
Divya Dant Manjan Tooth Powder
Divya Gashar Churna for Removal of Gas
Divya Giloy Sat for Swine flu, Bird flu, Pyrexia of unknown origin (fever)
Divya Hridayamrita Vati for Heart Disease
Divya Kanti Lep for Increasing Skin Splendour
Divya Kayakalp Tail Oil for Skin Problems, Cracks and Burns
Divya Kayakalp Vati for Skin Disease, Acne and Pimples
Divya Kesh Tail Hair Oil for Hair Loss, Dandruff and Headache
Divya Madhu Nashini Vati for Diabetes
Divya Madhukalp Vati for Diabetes
Divya Medha Kwath for Headache and Memory Enhancement
Divya Medha Vati for Memory Loss and Improving Intelligence
Divya Medohar Vati for Weight Loss
Divya Mukta Vati for High Blood Pressure
Divya Peya Herbal Tea
Divya Pidantak Ras for Joint Pain and Arthritis
Divya Pidantak Tail Massage Oil for Joint Pain and Arthritis
Divya Punarnavadi Mandur for Kidney Problems and Anemia
Divya Sanjivani Vati for Cold, Fever and Flu
Divya Shilajeet Rasayan Vati for Impotency
Divya Shilajeet Sat for Gout and Weak Immune System
Divya Singhnaad Guggulu for Rheumatism
Divya Stri Rasayan Vati for Menstruation
Divya Swasari Ras for Lung Problems, Bronchitis and Asthma
Divya Triphala Churna for Rejuvination and Detoxification
Divya Triphala Guggulu for Joint Pain, Piles and Weight Loss
Divya Udaramrita Vati for Digestion and Stomache Problems
Divya Udarkalp Churna for Indigestion and Constipation
Divya Vatari Churna for Arthritis
Divya Yauvanamrita Vati for Weak Bodies and Impotency
3.4.
Divya Yograj Guggulu for Joint Pain PRODUCT MIX OF PATANJALI YOGPEETH
Swami Ramdev's Divya Medicines are 100% natural, made from potent herbs such as the ashtavarga healing plants of the Himalayas. They have proven extremely effective for combating all forms of sickness and disease. Along with these medicines, Swamiji recommends patients to also adopt the practice of Pranayama, which will strengthen the immune system and quicken the healing process.
Abhrak Bhasm - Divya
Ajamodadi Choorna - Divya
Aloevera Gel
Aloe Vera Juice - Patanjali 1 Lt. or Aloe Vera 30 Capsules
Amla Churna - Divya (for Eyes, Digestion and General Health)
Amlki Rasayan - Divya
Amrit Rasayan - Divya(for Brain, Eyes, Strength and over all nourishment)
Anti Wrinkle Cream - Patanjali Tejus
Arjuna Kvath - Divya(for Coronary Artery Disease)
Arshakalp Vati - Divya(for Piles)40 grams
Arshkalp Vati - Divya(for Piles) 20 Grams
Ashmarihar Kvath - Divya / Vrikkdosh Har Kwath - Divya
Ashmarihar Ras - Divya
Ashvagandha Capsule - Patanjali
Ashvagandha Churna - Divya (for Stress, Fatigue and General Health)
Ashvashila Capsule - Patanjali
Avipattikar Choorna - Divya
Awala Choorna - Divya
Amla / Awala Juice 1 Liter - Patanjali (Juice of Emblica Officinalis) / Divya Amalki
Rasayana 100 gm
Awala - Divya (Amla) Murabba - Divya(Dry Spicy)
Awala - Divya (Amla) Murabba - Divya (Dry Sweetened)
Awala / Amla Murabba Wet - Divya
Badam Pak - Divya
Badam Rogan - Divya
Bael Candy - Divya
Bael Murabba - Divya
Balm - Patanjali
Bang Bhasma 5gm - Divya
Bavaci Choorna - Divya(for Leucoderma)
Beauty Cream 50 gm - Patanjali Tejus
Bilwadi Churna - Divya
Body Lotion - Patanjali Tejus
Body Massage Oil 100ml - Patanjali
Chatpata Choorna
Chandraprabha Vati - Divya (for Urinary Disease & diabetes)
Churna - Divya (for Constipation)
Chyawanprash - Divya with Ashtavarga Healing Plants (1 Kilogram)
Crack Heal Cream - Patanjali
Daliya : Patanjali Arogya Daliya
Dant Manjan - Divya (Tooth Powder)
Dant Kanti - Patanjali (Tooth Paste)
Divya Dhara
Drishti Eye Drop - Patanjali
Gangadhar Choorna - Divya (for Diarrhoea , Sprue Syndrome, Ama)
Gashar Churna - Divya (for Removal of Gas)
Giloy Ghan Vati - Patanjali 40gm
Godanti Bhasm - Divya (for Migraine, Chronic Headache, Depression & Hernia)
Gokshuradi Guggulu - Divya (for Chronic Renal Failure)
Gulab Jal - Divya
Honey - Divya (Pure Himalayan Honey)
Hridayamrita Vati - Divya (for Heart Disease) 20 Grams
Hridayamrita Vati - Divya (for Heart Disease) 40 Grams
Kachanar Guggulu - Divya
Kaisara Guggulu - Divya (Psoriasis & Eczema)
Kanti Lep - Divya (for Increasing Skin Splendour)
Kayakalp Kwath - Divya (for Skin Problems)
Kayakalp Tail - Divya (for Skin Problems, Cracks and Burns)
Kayakalp Vati - Divya (for Skin Disease, Acne and Pimples) 20 Grams
Kayakalp Vati - Divya (for Skin Disease, Acne and Pimples) 40 Grams
Kesh Tail - Divya (Hair Oil for Hair Loss, Dandruff and Headache)
Lavan Bhaskar Churna - Divya
Lauki Juice - Patanjali
Lauki - Amla Juice - Patanjali
Madhu Nashini Vati - Divya (for Diabeties)
Madhukalp Vati - Divya (for Diabetes)
MahaYograja Guggulu - Divya (for Osteoporosis)
Medha Kwath - Divya(for Headache and Memory Enhancement)
Medha Vati - Divya (for Memory Loss and Improving Intelligence) 40 grams
Medohar Vati - Divya (for Weight Loss)
Mukta Pishti - Divya
Mukta Vati - Divya (for High Blood Pressure)
Mukta-shukti Bhasm - Divya
Ojas Multani Mitti - Patanjali
Nimb Ghan Vati - Patanjali 60 Gr.
Panchakol Choorna - Divya
Peedantak Cream 50 gm - Patanjali
Peya (Herbal Tea) - Divya 100 Grams
Peya (Herbal Tea) - Divya 300 Grams
Pidantak Kwath - Divya (for Joint Pain and Arthritis)
Pidantak Ras - Divya (for for Joint Pain and Arthritis)
Pidantak Tail - Divya (Massage Oil for Joint Pain and Arthritis)
Praval (branch) Pisthi- Divya
Praval Panchamrit- Divya
Punarnavadi Mandur - Divya (for Kidney Problems and Anemia)
Sanjivani Vati - Divya (for Cold, Fever and Flu)
Saptavimshati Guggulu - Divya
Sarvakalp Kwath - Divya (for Liver Problems and Jaundice)
Shadbindu Tail - Divya
Shatavar Choorna - Patanjali
Shampoo - Patanjali
Shankh Bhasm - Divya
Shilajit Capsule - Patanjali
Shilajeet Rasayan Vati - Divya (for Impotency)
Shilajeet Sat - Divya (for Gout and Weak Immune System)
Shilajeet Sat - Divya (for Gout and Weak Immune System) 50 gm
Singhnad Guggulu - Divya
Sitopaladi Choorna - Divya
Soap Kanti Aloevera Body Cleanser - Patanjali
Soap Gomutra Kanti - Body Cleanser - Patanjali
Soap Somya - Body Cleanser - Patanjali
Soap Ojas Aquafresh - Body Cleanser - Patanjali
Soap Ojas Aquafresh - Mogra Body Cleanser - Patanjali
Soap Patanjali Somya Haldi Chandan Body Cleanser - Patanjali
Stri Rasayan Vati - Divya
Swasari Ras - Divya (for Lung Problems, Bronchitis and Asthma)
Tejus Tailum For Women
(Tooth Powder) Divya Dant Manjan
(Tooth Paste) Dant Kanti Patanjali
Trayodashang Guggulu Divya
Trikuta Choorna Divya
Triphala Churna Divya (for Rejuvination and Detoxification)
Triphala Guggulu Divya (for Joint Pain, Piles and Weight Loss)
Tulsi Ghan Vati Patanjali 40 Gr.
Udaramrita Vati Divya (for Digestion and Stomache Problems)
Udarkalp Churna Divya (for Indigestion and Constipation)
Vatari Churna Divya (for Arthritis)
Yauvanamrita Vati Divya (for Weak Bodies and Impotency)
Yograj Guggulu Divya (for Joint Pain) 20 Grams
Yograj Guggulu Divya (for Joint Pain) 40 grams
Wheat Grass Powder Organic 1 Month Doses
Chatpata Choorna
For Gastric troubles and taste
Divya Jeera Goli
Divya Anardaana Goli
Divya Chatpata Chuara
Divya Nimbu Vati
From nowhere to everywhere, Brand Baba seems to be pervasive. Yoga has been there in India since time immemorial, it has been synonymous with sadhus( saints) who usually after relinquishing their mundane world in search of God or Nirvana used to keep them healthy, fit, let them channelize their energy and control their inner self toward a single goal. In marketing parlance we can think of it as a product which was restricted to a very small segment of society, had some exclusivity attached to it, expertise of saint in performing it and a luxury which could only be afforded by the disciples of saints.
Nobody could have thought of commercializing it, leave aside the thought of popularizing it among the masses. Entrepreneurs are not only risk bearers, organizers and managers of the enterprises but they are also great visionaries who not only anticipate the future needs but also keep a check on the present requirements. We are sure Baba must have worked tirelessly on his mission away from the glare of media, completing all his defined tasks, keeping a check on the preparations and one day he must have decided to appear on the big stage and take the world by storm that seems to be a meticulously planned launch of the “Brand Baba”. The epithet “He came , He saw, He conquered”. is supposed to be rightly described as the arrival of Baba and his infectious popularism among the masses. Suddenly everyone was seen rubbing his/her nails walking by the road side, waiting for a train at the platform, while travelling, while working in an office or for that matter whenever people found themselves free, he was there everywhere in the life of people. Yoga, which used to be considered Generic till now was well known by “Baba Ramdev Brand of Yoga”. People were looking for a solution to their stressful life, an alternative form of medicine. He as a true entrepreneur anticipated this need before anyone could and sold his idea of a complete health to the masses. As a good marketer would do he made himself available for the masses through his “Yoga Shivers”, listened to their problems & tried to solve them, connected with them personally, had a product which was well researched, had variants of products in terms of different Yoga Aasans for different ailments, meant for different age groups of people based on their ability to perform a particular aasan, had all the medium of advertisement to support his Brand. His journey didn’t stop with his Brand of Yoga, when big business houses were struggling to launch and operate Branded Medical Stores, he was once again there bang on launching his own Brand of Ayurvedic Medicine Stores ( Patanjali) all over India…Franchising model also included. His name has become synonymous with Yoga and Ayurveda. There might be other before he appeared on scene, there are many in his era also but no one could make an impact like him. His presence was so infectious that people from different walks of life were cashing on his popularity….Filmstars like Shilpa Shetty and Bipasha Basu came with their own version of Yoga CD’s but could not pose a challenge to his leadership, infact they ended up following his footsteps…even the corporate world found a big market for herbal products..the consumers were looking for products which were close to nature. His USP is that he made himself approachable,
common man identified with him and he positioned his product as a “ Total Health Solution” unlike the craze generated by the Filmstars to develop bulging biceps, curved body, zero figure which could be defined as a fad bound to fade away without notice. His product promise for a lifelong solution ( durability), can be used anywhere anytime( operational convenience), available through different channels based on your convenience( like T.V., Books, Shivers ), his product emphasizes on precaution rather than cure….a feature which make his product standout from the rest of crowd and even if any ailment need to be cured he has the natural therapies and his own brand of ayurvedic medicine to compliment his main product. He has made his brand ambassadors out of his own followers who very religiously vouch for his claims and motivate people who come in contact with them to practice Yoga. He is in his unique way different from other gurus who only give spiritual discourses. He is different in terms of the practicality and objectivity of his product unlike the subjective nature of the discourses delivered by spiritual gurus. He run his trust as a big corporate house generating employment, profit and his initiative has not only pumped a new lease of life to ayurveda but has also indirectly helped people to find out an employment as yoga instructors in schools, colleges and corporate houses. He is ubiquitous, wherever you go you find his hoardings announcing the date of his Shivers, he has not only reached to the interiors of the places but he is also there in the mind of the people enjoying the share of his own, which is a sign of a big brand. People, organizations, institutions involve in any kind of traditional thing in India can take a lesson or two from Baba, that how marketing can help in reviving the traditional form of things that too with a handsome profit and one need not to be an American or someone from a developed world to market a product and lay a claim on it. There has been lot of yoga gurus and they are there today also who can challenge him in the art of yoga but there is only one Baba Ramdev the Yoga Guru turned out to be a Great Marketing Guru. And finally look what he is doing, he has taken the responsibility to bring back the black money to the nation and eradicate the corruption from the country. It seem that after achieving the leadership position in his form of business he want to diversify to the business of politics. There is always a risk of diluting your brand if you think of entering into a totally different field and Baba has taken that risk. His Brand seems to be in crisis these days and there is a need of second thought to be given to the diversification. I feel he should have thought of Co-Branding with Anna, this could have made it easy for him to diversify into the business of
politics. It’s still not too late , he must think strategically on his move and rethink of launching his brand of movement again with new energy and a new look. 3.5.
MARKETING AND NETWORK OF PATANJALI YOGPEETH
Human beings are governed by ideas and beliefs. Consumers of this day no longer buy merchandise and services but experiences. Mass Customization is the new paradigm that replaces old ideology of market segmentation; an idea which is no longer found suitable for today's turbulent markets, changing customer needs and growing product variety. Mass customization proactively manages product variety in the environment of rapidly evolving markets, products and services. This study attempts to study the reasons which have lead to the phenomenal success of Baba Ramdev's marketing strategy of Mass customization and that also in an era of high individual customization. The dictum of Mass Customization is "Aham Brahamasmi"; meaning that I am omnipresent and omnipotent. Catering to the needs of all, irrespective of gender, age, caste, creed, culture, religion, nationality the potion of mass customization is believed to work wonders. Companies choose from mainly three value disciplines to frame their value propositions: product leadership, operational excellence, and customer intimacy. The product leadership discipline leads to the `best product' value proposition-an assertion that the company's products have the greatest performance impact or experiential impact for its customers. The operational excellence discipline leads to the `best total cost' bid- an assertion that the combination of the company's prices, product reliability, and hassle-free service is matchless. The customer familiarity discipline leads to the `best total solution' scheme – an assertion that the company helps its customers identify their exact problem and the best solution, and then takes charge of implementing it. Baba Ramdev addresses all the three value disciplines and he has developed a unique blend of Ayurveda and Vedic philosophy to cater to create value for his customers. 3.6.
PRODUCT: INTRODUCING THE VALUE DISCIPLINE
The society in which we live today is a brand- obsessed society. Name a product or service and the brands relating to them are inestimable so many that cannot be counted on fingers. Thus, creating, developing, implementing and maintaining successful brands are frequently at the heart
of marketing strategy. (McEnally,M . and Chernatony,L. de 1999) Successful branding requires a strategic perspective (de Chernatony 1998) whereby strong brand concepts are presented and communicated to target segments resulting in favorable brand images which reflect the brand's identity (Gardner and Levy 1955, Reynolds and Gutman 1984, Kapferer 1997). This brand of Baba Ramdev has a universal appeal, is sharing and collaborative, and the customers range hail from all age groups and regions. This Brand is a result of consistent hard work and carefully and meticulously followed strategy. The service that Baba Ramdev is selling is the product. To deliver quality service, it is essential to understand customers' expectations. To assess the quality of service, customers compare their expectations with perceptions of the service providers' performance. Hence it becomes vital for the service providers' to understand and meet consumers' needs and wants. Customer expectations of service can be of two types; desired service and adequate service. Desired service is the service that a customer desires and expects to get. Whereas an adequate service is one which is the minimal level of service which a customer is willing to accept based on his perception of service acceptability. The service that is being provided by Baba Ramdev is well orchestrating with the desired service expectations. Patanjali Yogpeeth, a multi-million rupee venture, Ramdev's dream project, set as a rival to World Health Organization only on the basis of sound service that it boasts of providing. Divya Yoga Mandir Trust in Haridwar, Uttaranchal is armed with all the latest and most sophisticated gadgets sees a regular stream of devotees who wait to be called by a doctor in the Out Patient Department (OPD). There are forty doctors in the OPD who deal with 2,000 people every day. Some days the dispensary sells medicines worth Rs. 3,000 a minute. And again this can only be possible if the waiting tie is reduced by quality service. The ambiance of Patanjali Yogpeeth is world class. Constructed in almost 100 acres; it has been designed to have buildings, car parks, and a landscape to rival the best of Delhi's housing projects. The entire value proposition can be said to be a hard work and the result of determination of this one man army. To add to this we know that looking good is everyman's dream. In the era when cosmetic surgery is the order of the day; getting good looks by just adjusting the way one inhales and exhales is
something everyone would prefer doing. With his deep-seated credence that we all are a part of beauty conscious world, Swamiji's unique contribution has been in helping ordinary people solve their problems and lead a healthy life through the practice of simple breathing exercises. The product "pranayama" is well suited for all irrespective of class, creed, culture and hence this success. 3.7.
COMPLETE PACKAGE FOR VARIOUS DISEASES
Swami Ramdev's Divya Medicines are claimed to be one hundred percent natural, made from potent herbs available in the Himalayas and no or very little side effects. They have proven extremely effective for combating all forms of sickness and disease. Along with these medicines, Swamiji recommends patients to also adopt the practice of Pranayama, which will strengthen the immune system and quicken the healing process. Ramdev Baba opines that Pranayama Yoga is the complete Ancient Indian Therapy, which is a Medical Science in itself that cures any Physical or Mental medical condition completely, without any side effects. Swami Ramdev has proved and declared on Indian & International TV Channels, "Pranayama Yoga is the complete natural cure for all Physical and Mental Ailments". But if medicines are required they are also available and these packages of medicines are available at a very low cost. The medicines can cure all the diseases from a simple cold to cancer. In a bid to promote Ayurveda, Ramdev's Trust has tied up with 600 qualified Ayurvedic practitioners who are offering treatment to masses for a variety of diseases, some of them termed incurable by the modern system. 3.8.
PRICING STRATEGY
Developing an effective pricing strategy remains the most important and difficult part of the marketing process. For instance, a nominal 1 per cent increase in price realization will boost net income by 6.40 per cent for Coca-Cola and 28.70 per cent for Philips. The price-positioning and the value-delivery mechanisms should be done with one rule in mind: the performance of the product, or the value associated with it should always be higher than the price. For instance, a company that has either a product or a service whose performance or value is medium would do well to follow a low-cost pricing strategy.
Well in tune with this, Baba Ramdev's potion of Pranayama is cheap. He urges people not to lose hope or suffer and depend on expensive treatments. Indian Pranayama Yoga is there to help treat all the ailments completely without costly medicines, operations or surgery. It is amazing, but it is claimed to be true that this is the cheapest and the only complete cure to most of the so called incurable diseases like Diabetes, Cancer, HIV & AIDS too. 3.9. PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY Edwin L. Artzt quoting the chairman and CEO of P& G has likened advertising to exercising saying that "Think of advertising and promotion as exercise and recreation. Advertising is exercise. It's something you need and it provides long-term benefits, but it's awfully easy to either cut or postpone because there's no immediate penalty for not exercising. When you want your brand to be fit, it's got to exercise regularly." And here's a situation when exercising in itself becomes the object of promotion. It is a well established fact that advertising affects consumers. The literature on advertising has traditionally emphasized the persuasive nature of advertising: its purpose is to alter consumers' tastes for established brand names or company reputations (Bagwell, 2007, Dixit and Norman, 1978). But there is a difference in opinion and Stigler and Becker (1977) and Becker and Murphy (1993) argue that advertising is part of consumers' preferences in the same way as goods and that there are complementarities between advertising and goods. Hence, a more-advertised good is ceteris paribus preferred over a less-advertised good. Whatever be the case, Baba Ramdev has hit both the opinions as he is advertising and at the same time not advertising. Baba Ramdev's live yoga classes became a passion. And it all began in the year 2002 when Sanskar television channel started airing Baba Ramdev's yogic classes; overnight, Baba Ramdev became a sensation he had hundreds of followers who morphed into thousands. Then Sanskar channel's rival Astha channel signed him. In two years time he was a hit and with him also the channel benefited. His TV shows have the largest TRP. Today, he is one of the biggest draws on Indian television. He can be seen not only on religious channels like Aastha, but also news and features channels like India TV and Sahara One.
Millions around the country follow his programmes religiously and use ayurvedic medicines prescribed by him. There was an eight-month waiting period before one could see Ramdev, he was being booked that far ahead by television channels for his live yoga classes each morning. His yoga sessions were beamed live into 170 countries (Bijay Simha, 2007) Also, Baba Ramdev's pack one DVD, two Video CDs written three books on Yoga, Pranayama Herbal Remedies and Magazines are available. This set of four promotional material with a Research Oriented Monthly Magazine of Yog, Spiritualism, Ayurveda, Culture And TraditionYog Sandesh available in 5 languages can do much to lure customers. Even healthy people are following his Yoga Pranayama regimen, as available in his DVDs, VCDs, Books & magazines etc., to keep fit. It is a well established fact that; "brands set the product and the producer of that product apart from the competition". There are special though very obvious facts that this Brand has also mass customized itself to satiate all and thus have made a distinct place for itself. In an era when the marketers are faced with the challenge of getting their message heard by consumers who are hard to find and even harder to influence, this Brand has worked wonders and all because of its all inclusive image.
