Commerce Lab - Practical Question Bank
FACULTY OF COMMERCE, OSMANIA UNIVERSITY
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------B.Com (All Streams) III Year W.E.F.2010-11
RETAIL MARKETING AND CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT
Time: 60 Minutes
Record
Skill Test
Total Marks
: 10
: 20
: 30
1. Starbucks, the well known coffee chain in America wants to set up a coffee chain in India. It
has hired you as a consultant. How would you go about designing a retail chain for Starbucks?
2. Big Bazaar wishes to develop customer loyalty programme. They have approached you to
design one such programme. Develop a unique frequent shopper programme for the store.
3. You have been hired by a five star deluxe hotel in Goa. This hotel has been experiencing
uneven demand for its facilities. The management has asked you to develop a marketing plan to
even out this demand.
4. Shaadi.com has been wondering how it can bring back customers to its web site. This is
especially because once the objective of the customer to find a match has been achieved; the
customer has no reason to return. The advertising revenues of shaadi.com are linked to number
of customers the site is able to attract and retain. What strategy should this website adopt?
5. One of the leading telecom companies is thinking of designing a customer loyalty
programme on the lines of the frequent flier programme of the best airlines in the country.
Design the programme for the company.
6. What strategies would you use to fight competition in the passenger car segment?
7. A manufacturer of toiletries is interested in estimating the demand for herbal shampoo in
urban centres of India. What factors will you consider in estimating this demand?
8. A leading consumer company wishes to diversity into food products and has identified
potato, corn and cheese snack foods for urban markets. None of the products are new to these
markets, yet the newness in the proposed products is the state-of-the art technology, which will
ensure consistent quality of the finished product. The major competition to this firm are
unorganised small firms and major l giants like Pepsi Foods. Assume that you are the product
manager of this firm. Evolve a marketing strategy for a successful launch of the snack foods
line.
9. A company in the consumer durable industry has just added an electronic cordless broom to
its product line and has approached you for its positioning. The product is targeted at middle
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income households and is priced at Rs.2,200. The company is a leader in its other product lines.
Work out a positioning strategy and its rationale for this wonder product.
10. Write a report on promotion strategy of Maruti Udyog in respect of its Swift Dezire car.
11. Write a report on promotion strategy of Boost through cricket players.
12. In recent years, discount sales have been on the rise and several discount stores have come up
in the country. Regular discount sales are also organised by firms and retail stores around
festive seasons. Yet, there are many designer brands who do not have such discount sales and
yet record large sales turnover. Why?
13. A company wishes to launch new toothpaste which can effectively prevent cavities and tooth
decay. But the toothpaste market is highly crowded with multiple brands. Assume you were to
evolve a marketing communication strategy. Which appeal will you use and why?
14. What types of consumer response should the marketer aim at in the communication strategies
for the Life insurance?
15. What types of consumer response should the marketer aim at in the communication strategies
for the Cellular phones?
16. What types of consumer response should the marketer aim at in the communication strategies
for the Personal computers?
17. It is said that advertising is a waste of scarce resources in a developing country like India.
Do you agree? Substantiate your arguments with appropriate examples.
18. Internet is a powerful medium. Evolve a plan to set up a grocery and food mall on the net.
19. In the Indian contest, which are the most appropriate media for reaching out to target
markets.
20. Write a report on use of Credit card for marketing of products.
21. Large mail order businesses, like Sears have succeeded by building brands even though Otto
Burlington’s, which opened shop in India, has not been as successful. It offered branded
products like Pepe, Benetton and Philips for credibility, even though there is more margins in
non-branded items. Why do you think Burlington’s has not been so successful? If you were to
take over this company, what would you do to bring a turnaround?
22. A consumer durable company is contemplating to introduce some guarantee for its product.
In this contest, it wonders whether it should introduce product performance guarantee, service
guarantee or money back guarantee. What recommendation would you like to give? What are
the factors the company needs to consider in taking the decision?
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23. One of the leading banks has set up a call centre to respond to the service calls of its
customers. Its hope was that customer satisfaction will increase. However, a recent survey
showed a decline in customer satisfaction. The call centre personnel were found to be rude nonresponsive and ones who did not understand the product and the customer. What advise will
you give to the bank to enhance its customer service?
24. A telecom company was faced with the problem of customer churn which was higher then
the industry average. An analysis showed that the customers were dissatisfied with the service
provided by its various customer service centre. What strategy would you suggest to reduce the
churn in this telecom company?
25. The synergy between telephone, computer and other technologies have provided the
customer with great choice and access; however, organisations need to balance the remoteness
brought about by technology and the need for the customer to feel a valued individual. What
steps would you take a s a manager to bridge this gap.
26. Internet is a powerful medium. Evolve a plan to set up a grocery and food mall on the net.
27. Cellular phones today have become an essential accessory for the urban Indian consumer. It
is going to be the same in rural India a s India adds almost 1.5 million subscribers each year to
its mobile phone users. Cellular phone service today has become a commodity as almost all
service providers offer the same features, benefits and packages on the basis of price. In this
scenario one of the cellular phone companies has hired you to advise them on enhancing
customer experience which in turn can help a firm gain competitive edge. What shall be
your’experience enhancing’ plan?
28. Mother Dairy is a strong and dominant player in packaged milk and milk products in
northern India, particularly Delhi. Recently it decided to expand its operations to other metro
cities like Mumbai and Hyderabad. It faces competition in all these cities, including Delhi.
This competition is largely from a number of unorganised dairies. The only organised sector
firm in this sector is Amul, which is strong in western India. Other major players are
Mahananda (in Maharashtra) and Nestle. The unorganised sector’s milkman delivers fresh milk
at the doorsteps of the customer. His value proposition is freshness and directly from the
source. Mother Dairy’s proposition, on the other hand, is that it offers fresh milk which is
pasteurised, hygienic whose composition is different, depending on the fat content. Mother
Dairy wants to penetrate the new markets and create loyalty amongst its existing and potential
buyers. What strategy should Mother Dairy adopt?
29. A leading American fast food company, which specialised in sandwiches and coffee, wishes
to enter the Indian market. Having engaged you as consultant to scan the competition for them
and identify existing opportunities, what products and firms would you consider as its
competitors? What scanning techniques would you apply to analyse competition and submit
report?
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30. Organisations are making use of customers’ cell phone numbers for maintaining relationship
with customers. Bring out a case of such marketer you have experienced.
31. Samsung recently introduced a range of their home appliances in the Indian market. It
launches its range of refrigerators, washing machines, microwave ovens, televisions and also
cellular phone handsets. These are positioned at the urban professionals in the middle and
higher income groups. Its major competitors are LG, BPL, Philips, Sony, Panasonic, Clectrolux
and Whirlpool. The company has the objective to achieve a market penetration ratio of 25
percent in next year and eventually be a market leader in each of the products. Analyse the
market opportunity for Samsung and evolve a marketing plan for achieving this goal.
32. One of the erstwhile leaders in consumer electronics has hired your services as a marketing
consultant to advice on possible diversification; some of these are manufacturing and marketing
dish antennas, creating a new entertainme3nt company, or entering into feature film production.
Evaluate these new product opportunities and give your recommendations to the company with
proper justification.
33. The Internet gaming industry was worth over Rs.100 crores. There were 36 million mobile
subscribers in India and by the end of 2010.It was expected to be 100 million. According to
some estimates, the mobile market of India was expected to grow at a compound average rate of
40 percent until 2012. One of the major players in this market is India Games which is keen to
develop a marketing strategy which will make it a leader across the competition in this market.
Develop a competitive marketing plan for India Games which will help the firm achieve its
goal.
34. What issues will you consider in designing a questionnaire for assessing distribution equity
of a well known national brand of toilet soap? Design a questionnaire to measure distribution
equity.
35. If you are the purchase manager of an engineering company and you are required to buy
consumables, spare parts, and machine to0ols, how would you use the Internet for buying these
items and how would you evaluate the credibility of a vendor on the website?
36. General Motors has just launched a new model, the Opel Corsa, It is contemplating on basing
its marketing strategies on consumer lifestyles. Evolve a marketing strategy that will help Opel
Corsa succeed in the Indian market.
37. Psychographic analysis of Esteem buyers reveals that they are professionals, outgoing,
caring, high achievers who revel in consuming the best products and services. They have one or
two children. This is different from Maruti 800 buyers who are younger in age, just starting
their careers, newly married, pop music lovers, and ambitious. How would information like this
be useful to Maruti dealer?
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38. Critically evaluate the market segments for Titan, Rado and Rolex brand of watches. What
are the value propositions of each of these brands for different market segments?
39. Prepare a report on distribution channel used by Enadu telugu daily.
40. Prepare a report on Mass marketing of milk by Mother Dairy.
41. If you were the marketing manager of a cellular phone company, what steps would you take
to diffuse a new product in the Indian market?
42. A leading European departmental store is all set to enter the Indian market. You have be
retained as an advertising consultant. Evolve an advertising strategy for this store. You may
spell out your assumptions and clearly mention objectives, copy plat form, and media choices.
43. A new brand of cell phone has to be launched by a leading electronic firm. After an in depth
analysis of the market, the firm decided to position it as an aspiration product for the new age
young professionals. You have been hired to develop a communication strategy which will help
the company achieve the desired penetration of 15 per cent in the first year itself. Work out the
communication plan for the launch.
44. Design a sales promotion plan for a web based news magazine.
45. Prepare a chart showing the steps to be taken to build customer relationship.
46. In a recent annual marketing conference of a leading consumer entertainment electronics
firm, dealers walked out over the issue of margins offered by the company and investments
required by it in its product mix. They complained of low distribution equity. If you were the
manager, how will you handle this situation?
47. The Indian market is in a growth phase, yet the profit margins are declining but costs to serve
a customer are increasing every day. ‘Given this situation many retail stores seem to be closing
their shops in the malls of Gurgaon. If you were to advise Pizza Hut, which is one such retail
outlet, what advice will you give? What advice will you give to mall management?
48. The cable television industry is a relatively new industry in the country. It has been growing
at a high rate but is beset with several environmental problems. A leading news magazine has
decided to diversity into cable and satellite television and has appointed you as its marketing
manager. How will you position your products? Whom would you target ? What marketing
strategy will you like to evolve to gain a foot hold in the market?
49. Quote a practical case of a customer satisfaction you have known through some source.
50. As a responsible marketing head of an upcoming player in the airlines industry, do you think
there is an advantage in competing on personal service rather than price? Also, how can you
personalise your service to improve customer service?
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