“A study on the customers’ perception about MINT

Newspaper”

Introduction:

Mint, a business paper from Hindustan Times in association with The Wall

Street Journal, was launched in 2007 with the premise of bringing “Clarity in

Business News”, a need strongly articulated by business news readers in the

country.

In this organization, a study on the product’s awareness and customer’s

perception of Mint newspaper will be done.

I found that the Marketing department plays key role in the company.

During the study I will try my best to know the Marketing department of the

Mint HT media.

In this report I will try to know the Product awareness and Consumer

Perception towards Mint Business newspaper, the impact of promotional

activities on creating consumer awareness, the competitor’s effect on Mint

sales, the effect of the quality, price, promotion and distribution of Mint is

analyzed, which may help the Marketing department of the company as well as

to the company. In the findings and suggestion part I will try to find the answers

to the above.

Company Profile

Mint, a business paper from Hindustan Times in association with The Wall

Street Journal, was launched in 2007 with the premise of bringing “Clarity in

Business News”, a need strongly articulated by business news readers in the

country.

Mint aims to demystify complex business issues and provide unmatched clarity

and depth in its coverage. Whether it is the refreshing new Berliner format, the

design by an internationally acclaimed designer, the unique weekend magazine

Lounge or our association with The Wall Street Journal, Mint has features that no

other business paper in the country has.

The numbers bear testimony to the high acceptability and strong bond that Mint

has with its readers. According to the Indian Readership Survey (IRS Q1, 2011),

222,000 readers make Mint a strong No. 2 player. Mint has a 27% readership share

in the key markets of Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata. With editions in

Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh and Pune as well, Mint reaches the

who’s who of corporate India nationally.

Global praise and recognition has been forthcoming for Mint. According to

Fortune magazine, “Mint…has raised India’s standards of business journalism…

and (has a) mix of market news, corporate profiles, and lifestyle features.” Mint

won a Gold in the special coverage category at the IFRA 9th Annual Asia Media

Awards 2010. Mint was also voted India’s No. 1 Media Product in 2009 by

advertisers.

Mint Supplements Lounge - weekend edition of Mint Indulge - monthly

publication on Luxury and Lifestyle

Mint 'Clarity through Debate' Conclave An event series that brings together

industry leaders to debate relevant business issues.

About Hindustan Times:

Hindustan Times with 3.7 million readers, Hindustan Times is one of the leading

newspapers of India.

Product of Hindustan Times;

Hindustan:

Visit: http://epaper.livehindustan.com/

'Hindustan', covers news across the entire spectrum of international, national and

local news relating to politics, business, entertainment, sports and other general

interests. The first edition of 'Hindustan' was published on April 12, 1936 from

Delhi and the reach of our newspaper now extends to six regions, namely, Uttar

Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, Mohali and Delhi NCR. In the recently

declared readership results (IRS Q4 2010), Hindustan has surged ahead to become

the second largest read newspaper in India.

In the past nine months, Hindustan has added 58 lakh readers to its readership

base. A bulk of this growth has come from Uttar Pradesh where Hindustan has

added 41 lakh readers in this nine month period. Hindustan now has a 30% share

of readership in Uttar Pradesh, with a total readership of 1.28 crore in UP.

Hindustan continues to maintain its dominant position in Bihar and Jharkhand with

83% and 73% share of total readers.

The gains across all markets clearly demonstrate the growing strength of Hindustan

daily. With many of the newer editions yet to reflect in IRS, the growth momentum

is likely to be sustained.

Over the past three years, we have made significant investments in Uttar Pradesh

and have opened five new printing locations in Agra, Meerut, Allahabad, Kanpur

and Bareilly to add to our existing printing facilities at Varanasi (on a franchisee

basis) and Lucknow.

Hindustan has made an entry into Uttarakhand with a printing location in

Dehradun, in May 2008. This print location will cover key cities in Uttarakhand.

LiveHindustan.com

Visit: http://www.livehindustan.com/

LiveHindustan.com is the recently launched Hindi News website, which promises

far more than what Language sites are typically credited for. Its

comprehensiveness and exclusive online content by the online editorial team adds

to the huge print repository of stories carried in the parent brand Hindustan, and is

updated round the clock with the latest in breaking news action. The legacy values

of the Hindi print flagship brand - Hindustan - can be seen upheld in the online

avatar bringing to the table its credibility; authenticity and unbiased content, to

provide its dedicated reader base a Best in Class Hindi News & Content site.

On the Content front, apart from News, LiveHindustan.com extends the Brand

Promise of Empowerment - 'Tayyari' and has interactive elements to increase the

interaction with the brand at more direct levels.

Comprehensive Multimedia Content across sections, ball by ball Cricket Coverage,

minute by minute Business updates and analysis, and Special in-depth exclusive

Features on content across sections, are some of the other features which

distinguish this site from other run-of-the-mill Hindi News sites.

HT Next

A youth - oriented complete newspaper for the generation next.

HT supplements:

HT supplements offer a complete spectrum of content ranging from entertainment

and lifestyle to education, careers and property.

Review of Literature:

Perception:

A motivated person is ready to act. How the motivated person actually acts is

influenced by his or her view or perception of the situation.

Perception is the process by which an individual selects, organizes and interprets

information inputs to create a meaningful picture of the world. Perception depends

not only on the physical stimuli, but also on the stimuli’s relation to the

surrounding field and on conditions within the individual. The key point is that

perception can vary widely among individuals exposed to the same reality. One

person might perceive a fast talking salesperson as aggressive and insincere;

another, as intelligent and helpful. Each will respond differently to the salesperson.

In marketing, Perceptions are more important than the reality, as it is perceptions

that will affect consumer’s actual behavior. People can emerge with different

perceptions of the same object because of three perceptual processes: selective

attention, selective distortion and selective retention.

Customer perception in any particular area is met by product or service offerings

that are a bundle of characteristics – the six Cs. Some organization controls

entirely, and some not. The whole concept the (product and service together)

you are offering as a supplier must match what customers need, want and perceive

to the solution to their need, offering greater benefit – ie an advantage – over other

suppliers. The description should consider the six Cs the new marketing mix – see

the list below. You describe your concept in the language of your customers using

their perceptions.

Forgot the four Ps; think of the six Cs. This is the marketing mix for now and the

future; this is what an organization considers when it is thinking of what to offer

the customer – from the customer perspective.

Cost – a customer considers cost (and cost of ownership) within a value

perception. That value perception is personal and includes a quality of life

assessment. A customer also puts in the equation the cost of time and travel to

make a purchase. The future foundation research indicates that consumers will

travel to for most of their activities and purchases within a 14 - mile radius of their

home. Sales promotions are often used to affect cost – two for the price of one, 33

per cent free, etc, or in combinations with other products or redeeming vouchers

against the full cost.

Convenience of buying – a mix of place / location, opening hours, cash / cheque /

credit card acceptability. Customers are lazy - exercising the brain requires effort

and energy – so make it easy for them, convenient fir them to buy. Sales

promotions can be tuned to enhance convenience.

Concept - a mix of product and service. Few products are sold without some sort of

aftercare service. The quality and fitness for purpose of the concept are assumed to

be right. A warranty or return policy is taken for granted. A brand is principally a

consolidation of the concept (though the others Cs come into it) into an easy-to-

remember space in the mind of the customer. A sales promotion adds fun to the

purchase and is remembered as part of the concept, so it too becomes part of the

brand.

Communication - how well the product or service is communicated to the

customer. This is where sales promotion really comes into its own matching

communicating - the feel of the brand – with just the right and the way it is put

across. Customers will not buy if it is too complex, and the way it is put across.

Customers will not buy if it is too complex, too dull or does not put the concept

across in terms they commonly use. This explains why some advertising fails.

Customer relationship – CRM principles apply. Customers expect to be treated

with respect at all times and that all reasonable questions will be answered and

problems resolved. Once they have made a purchase of any size or have signed up

for a service, they expect to be recognized and remembered. For example, once a

customer has had a car serviced at a garage, he or she expects the garage to know

all the car’s idiosyncrasies when he or she calls. People like to built relationships;

you have to accept this. If customers get different answers from different people or

department within the same organization , they tend to trust the people and the

organizations less. Integration means making sure every part of your business

delivers consistent answers. Research shows and integrated approach is worth 30

per cent of sales (or a loss of 30 per cent if you do not practice it). Sales promotion

eases the customer relationship forming process – it facilitates building the

relationship – often providing a talking point that helps start or recommence the

relationship.

Consistency – the reassurance of ongoing quality and reliability of the other five

Cs – brand surety if you like. It is integration and comes from applying internal

marketing within an organization.

Results of a controlled experiment on the role of product awareness in the

consumer choice process showed that product awareness was a dominant choice

heuristic among awareness-group subjects. Subjects with no product awareness

tended to sample more products and selected the high-quality product on the final

choice significantly more often than those with product awareness. Thus, when

quality differences exist among competing products, consumers may "pay a price"

for employing simple choice heuristics such as product awareness in the interest of

economizing time and effort. However, building product awareness is a viable

strategy for advertising aimed at increasing product-choice probabilities.

Product awareness can be measured by showing a consumer the product and

asking whether or not they knew of it beforehand. However, in common market

research practice a variety of recognition and recall measures of product awareness

are employed all of which test the product name's association to a product category

cue, this came about because most market research in the 20th Century was

conducted by post or telephone, actually showing the product to consumers usually

required more expensive face-to-face interviews (until web-based interviews

became possible). Aided awareness occurs when you show or read a list of

products and the person expresses familiarity with your product only after they

hear or see it.

Top-of-mind awareness occurs when you ask a person to name products within a

product category and your product pops up first on the list.

Product awareness and branding are the process of lodging your offer in the

customers mind to remind them you exit just as and when they need you. The

shorthand mind retention device is your logo or brand name. If you have it right,

the shorthand encompasses the six Cs above. It is a powerful thing, a successful

brand and when you achieve brand boning. The world is your oyster; rather, you

will sell more. Remember the reminding bit: this means you will need to regularly

market to customers.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Data source: Primary data (field survey)

Area of Research: Chennai city.

Research instrument: Questionnaire.

Sample Plan: Personal Interview.

Sample Unit: Businessman, Job holders, etc.

Sampling method: Non probability method, Random sampling method.

Sample Size: 100 respondents.

RESEARCH-MEANING

Research is an art of scientific investigation. According to Redmen and Mary defines research as a "systematic effort to gain knowledge".

Research methodology is way to systematically solve the research problem. It is a plan of action for a research project and explains in detail how data are collected and analyzed. This research study is a descriptive research study.

RESEARCH DESIGN

A research design is a plant that specifies the objectives of the study, method to be adopted in the data collection, tools in data analysis and hypothesis to be framed.

"A research design is an arrangement of condition for collection and analysis of data in a manner that aims to combine relevance to research purpose with economy in procedure".

Nature of Data

Primary data

The Primary data will be collected from the existing and new customers of MINT HINDUSTAN TIMES LIMITTED through a direct structured questionnaire.

Secondary data

Company profile, Company registers, Websites and articles were used widely as a support to primary data.

TYPE OF RESEARCH

The type of research used in this study is EXPLORATORY RESEARCH, because I am trying to begin a new research and the data which is needed for this analysis is not sufficient.

SAMPLING SIZE AND TECHNIQUE

Size of the sample

It refers to the number of items to be selected from the universe to constitute as a sample. In this study 100 customers will be selected as size of sample.

Sample design

The sampling technique used in this study is convenience sampling. Each and every item of population has equal chance to be included in the sample.

Questionnaire

The questions are arranged logical sequence. The questionnaire consists of a variety of questions presented to the customers for the response.

STATISTICALS TOOLS USED

Percentage Analysis

Chi-square analysis

Correlation

F-test

Percentage Analysis:

In percentage analysis, charts like bar chart and pie charts are used to

graphically represent the results from percentage analysis of the questionnaire

Chi-Square Analysis

The chi-square is one of the most widely used non-parametric tests in

statistical work. The Chi-Square was first used by Karl Pearson in the year 1900.

It is defined as

Chi-square test is applicable to a very large number of problems in practice.

With the help of this test we can find out whether two or more attributes are

associated or not.

Correlation:

Correlation analysis deals with the association between two or more

variables. Correlation does not necessarily imply causation or functional

relationship though the existence of causation always implies correlation. By itself

it establishes only co variation. In this research rank correlation was used.The

formula used to finn rank correlation is

F-Test

F-test is used to find out whether the two independent estimates of

population differ significantly or whether the two samples may be regarded as

drawn from the normal populations having the same variance.

F is defined as

x2= Σ [O-E] 2/E

R= 1- 6 Σ D2 / N3 -N

F= S12 / S2

2

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

Primary objective:

To study the customer’s perception of MINT Newspaper

Secondary Objectives:

To study the product’s awareness of MINT Newspaper

To study impact of promotional activities on creating consumer’s

awareness.

To study and find the vital communication media.

To determine the quality of Mint.

To determine the quality of Mint.

To find the competitors effect on Mint sales.

To find the factor influencing the buying behavior of newspaper.

To study the customer support provided by the MINT.

To study the effectiveness of distribution of the newspaper by the

vendors.

To study the satisfaction level of reading MINT newspaper.

To provide suggestions for better promotional activates.

FINDINGS OF THE STUDY

Among the respondents 4% are between the age 15-20, 23% are between the age 20-25,

35% are between the age 25-30 and 33% are between the age 30 & above.

64% know the existence of Mint newspaper and 36% of the customers does not know

about the newspaper.

64 % know the Business line, 29% know the Economics Times, 10% knows the financial

Chronicle and 21% know the Mint newspaper.

34 % of the customers know the Mint by dealers, 6% know by campaigns, 2% knows by

banners, 24% knows by TV advertisement, 5% knows by radio advertisement, 15%

knows by magazines and 14% knows by other modes.

Among the respondents 84% of the customers agree that the advertisement modes are

informatory and 16% of the customers does not agree that it’s informatory.

22% of the customers look for quality while purchasing a business newspaper, 9% of the

customer looks for price, 36% of the customer looks for brand, 21% of the customer

looks for information availability and 12% looks for availability of the newspaper.

Among the respondents 22% of the customers are highly satisfactory about the market

analyses and graphs which are published in mint, 29% of the customers are satisfactory,

16% of the customers are Averagely Satisfactory, 11% of the customers are

Dissatisfactory and 8% of the customers are highly Dissatisfactory.

32% of the customer says that the price of the mint newspaper is costly, 41% of the

customer says cheap, 16% of the customer says costly and 11% of the customer says very

cheap.

46% of the customer says that the quality is good, 32% of the customer says that the

quality is average, 16% of the customer says that the quality is poor and 11% of the

customer says that the quality is satisfactory. The quality of the Mint newspaper is good.

Among the respondents 36% of the customer says that the product is good and 27% says

that the product is better, 6% of the customer says that the product is very poor, 14% of

the customer says that the product is bad and 19% of the customer says that the product is

average while comparing with other product.

25% of the customer says that they may choose other product for same price, 55% of the

customer says that they may choose other product for same quality, 18% of the customer

says that they may choose other product for availability and 2% gives other reasons like

news covered are covered are same or less to change for other similar products.

Feedback about the customers support provided by the Mint, 21% of the customers are

highly satisfactory, 30% of the customers are satisfactory, 17% of the customers are

Averagely Satisfactory, 21% of the customers are Dissatisfactory and 11% of the

customers are highly Dissatisfactory.

17% of the customers are highly satisfactory, 23% of the customers are satisfactory, 24%

of the customers are Averagely Satisfactory, 22% of the customers are Dissatisfactory

and 14% of the customers are highly Dissatisfactory about the distribution of the Mint.

About the promotional activities for Mint, 41% of the customers are highly satisfactory,

30% of the customers are satisfactory, 12% of the customers are Averagely Satisfactory,

13% of the customers are Dissatisfactory and 4% of the customers are highly

Dissatisfactory.

21% of the customers likes Monthly postpaid option, 48% likes Yearly payment discount,

29% like Free gift and 2% doesn’t like any of the mentioned promotional activities.

66% of the customers agree that Mint is a good advertisement mode

Among the respondents 81% of the customers agree that they will subscribe Mint

newspaper and they will renew if already subscribed.

Over 86% of the customers agree that they will refer a friend to subscribe Mint and 14%

of the customers said that that they will not refer a friend to subscribe Mint because of

some negative reasons.

SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Business news which can cover the age less than 20 should be published, to make the

readers below 20 to read the business newspaper.

Product promotion and branding should be done in effective advertisement modes to tell

about the product and its availability in the market.

More promotional activities and attractive schemes like discounts should be brought to bring

other business newspaper readers to go for Mint newspaper.

The customer support should be more effective to help the customers.

The distribution of the newspaper to the customer should be made more proper to maintain a

continuous supply.

Questionnaire

Dear Sir/ Madam,

I am A. Arun Elias pursing MBA and as a part of the curriculum I am doing project in marketing and the title is “A study on the product’s awareness and customer’s perception of MINT Newspaper” in MINT. I would be grateful if you kindly spare your time to answer the quires.

Personal Information

1. Name: ____________________________________________

2. Educational Level:

HSC

Diploma

Graduate

Post Graduate

Other

3. Occupation:

Self employed

Business

Retired

Govt. Employee

Housewife

4. Age:a. [15-20] b. [20-25] c. [25-30] d. [30 & above]

______________________________________________________________________________

5. Do you know Mint business newspaper?

a. Yes b. No

6. Are you aware of the uses in reading business newspaper?

a. Yes b. No

7. Which product comes to your mind when you think about business newspaper?

Business Line The Economic Times

Financial Chronicle Mint Any other …..

8. How did you come to know about Mint?

a. Dealers

b. Campaigns

c. Banners

d. Wall paintings

e. T.V advertisements

f. Radio Advertisements

g. Magazines

h. Others

9. What factors you look while purchasing a business newspaper?

a. Quality

b. Price

c. Brand

d. Information available

e. Availability

10. Were they informatory?

a. Yes b. No

11. What is your opinion about MINT’s price

Costly Cheap Very costly Very cheap

12. Quality of Mint

Good Average Poor Satisfactory

13. How do you rate MINT in comparison with other products?

Very poor Bad Average Good Better

14. How much are you satisfied with the MINT News?

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Highly Satisfied Highly

Dissatisfied Satisfied

15. Reasons for the alternative product.

Same price same quality same availability any other ….

16. How do you rate the Customer Support Provided by The Mint HT Media?

a. Highly Satisfactoryb. Satisfactoryc. Averagely Satisfactoryd. Dissatisfactorye. Highly Dissatisfactory

17. How do you rate the distribution of the newspaper by the vendors?

a. Highly Satisfactoryb. Satisfactoryc. Averagely Satisfactoryd. Dissatisfactorye. Highly Dissatisfactory

18. Are you satisfied with the promotional activities for mint?

a. Highly Satisfactoryb. Satisfactoryc. Averagely Satisfactoryd. Dissatisfactorye. Highly Dissatisfactory

19. What type of promotional activities do you think that it will suit for Mint?

a. Monthly Postpaid option (100Rs.)b. Yearly payment Discount (499Rs.)c. Free gift

20. Do you recommend your friend to buy Mint business newspaper?

a. Yes b. No

21. If no please mention why?

………………………………………………………………………

22. Are you satisfied with the market news and market analysis which are published in MINT?

a. Highly Satisfactoryb. Satisfactoryc. Averagely Satisfactoryd. Dissatisfactorye. Highly Dissatisfactory

23. Do you feel that Mint is a good advertisement print mode for business?

a. Yes b. No

24. Are you satisfied with the coverage of the business news in Mint?

a. Highly Satisfactoryb. Satisfactoryc. Averagely Satisfactoryd. Dissatisfactorye. Highly Dissatisfactory