A Report of Acer

Acer India (Pvt) Ltd. [pic] An Internship Project Report on â€Å"Study of Brand awareness of Acer in Bangalore, Chennai and Coimbatore† JANANI SESHADRI In partial fulfillment of the Master’s Program in Business Administration, Ohio University, Athens, USA OHIO University Christ College Academy for Management Education Christ College Campus Hosur Road, Bangalore-29 May14th, 2007 DECLARATION I Janani Seshadri here by declare that the project entitled â€Å"Study on the awareness of the brand Acer† at Acer India Pvt. Ltd. , is an original and genuine work carried out under the guidance of Mr. Darryl Gray from march 12th to April 25th 2007 in partial fulfillment for the Ohio University Christ college academy for management education. I declare that the report submitted by me is a bonafide work of my own effort and it has not been submitted to other university or published any time before. Place: Bangalore Date: 03-07-2007 Janani Seshadri ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Thanks to God for showering his blessings and for granting me the chance and ability to successfully complete the summer internship program I had taken up. I wish to express my deepest gratitude to ACER INDIA Pvt. Ltd. , head office Bangalore for giving me this valuable opportunity in doing my internship amongst them in their esteemed organization. I would like to extend my special thanks and gratitude to Mr. Rajendran general manager marketing for giving me this opportunity. Also I would like to sincerely thank Mr. S. Raghu marketing projects and Mr. Darryl Gray marketing programmes for their genuine support, valuable advice and sincere comments which helped me a lot to accomplish this project. This internship would not be complete without the support and guidance of our Director Mr. Shivprakash. I also want to express my gratitude to the official referees and the project coordinators Dr. Amalendu Jyotishi and Mr. Girish (Ohio University Christ College) whose valuable comments and valid criticism helped me in refining my project from the draft stage to this final report. I also want to express my thanks to Prof. Venkatesh Bhagwat (Ohio University Christ College) for assisting me in the data compilation and analysis which helped me a lot in fine tuning my report. I cannot forget the assistance and encouragement that made this work possible towards the end. My special thanks to my co-student and dear friend Mr. B. Venkata Ramana who supported me throughout my Internship project with his valuable suggestions and ideas which helped me to approach my project wisely and accomplish it successfully without which I could have not completed my work efficiently and effectively. His consistent help kept me motivated throughout the internship period. Last but not the least, my endless thanks and gratitude goes to my parents Mr. S. N. Seshadri and Mrs. Sasikala Seshadri who has stood by my side, encouraged and given me moral support at all points of time. I would also like to thank my brother Mr. Koushik Ram for all his support and advice. Thank You! EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Marketing is an activity present in all companies where marketing strategies determine the outcome of the products and the company itself. To test to see if marketing is successful, it is necessary to measure where the company was and where it is now. This can be carried out with tracking studies monitoring the market position and changes to the brand image over time or, for particular campaigns, measuring pre- and post- event to see what has changed. This is project report is a market survey study to check the Brand awareness of Acer and thereby figure out the measures that can be implemented to lift the current level of awareness. This study is based on the data collected from the (customers) people regarding their awareness of the PC vendors in the market today then zeroing it into the brand Acer. The means of collecting data were through personal interviews, distributing the questionnaire, and online survey questionnaire. Also observation during the interviews helped a lot in the analysis. To facilitate the analysis of the study I concentrated in two different segments which were based on the demographic segmentation (occupation-Students, working profile and SME) and geographic segmentation (places-Coimbatore, Chennai and Bangalore). Acer stands number four behind Dell. The visibility and awareness for the brand Acer among people is average. About 20% of the people have not heard about Acer. Moreover on an average about 55% of the segmented people perceive Acer to be a national brand in collaboration with Wipro India (Wipro Acer). The perceptions on few product parameters were also measured which resulted in a good quality, fair or average service, and good affordable price, fair performance and good features. Though Acer has the highest network of retail outlets less number of people has actually visited them. Comparatively HP has more number of visits. Lenovo though being a new entrant in the market has already made its place. There is a tuff competition being faced by Acer with Lenovo. All these things finally zero into average awareness of the brand and the awareness which is already there is also through word of mouth, so this may lead to negative or positive propagation of the brand. The data (300 samples) was compiled in SPSS and analyzed with respect to the two categories of segments. Acer is number one in Europe and other countries globally. Considering the primary data available Acer India is one of the youngest players in India. It has performed very well in the recent years (2001 to 2006). In the past five years it faced a tremendous steady growth rate of about 49% in India. Therefore though the awareness amongst people was not all that good Acer still lies in the area where if prompt and good advertising strategies were formulated and implemented the awareness will lift to a great extent. TABLE OF CONTENTS ? PREFACE7 ? ABOUT THE COMPANY 1. Back ground – Acer India8 2. Growing with time – milestones9 3. Product portfolio and key features11 ? PROJECT ? RESEARCH DESIGN METHADOLOGY17 1. Research task17 2. Research tool17 3. Research nature17 4. Research scope17 5. Analysis19 6. Findings53 ? CONCLUSION63 ? SUGGESTIONS / RECOMMENDATIONS64 ? APPENDIX65 PREFACE THE BRAND increasingly is becoming the key source of differentiation that guides customer purchase choice. It is the focal point around which an organization defines how it will uniquely deliver the value to the customer for a profit-effectively embodying the â€Å"heart and soul† of that organization. The brands promise is delivered through its products and services, and consumer communication- the total consumer relationship and experience. The act of creating public awareness of a specific brand in order to maximize its recognition, successful brand awareness strategies should define a company's uniqueness and set it apart from competitors. Quite simply, if potential customers do not know about a company, they will not purchase from it. Therefore, one of the preeminent goals of any business should be to build brand awareness, although in as cost-effective manner as possible. Consumers tend to make purchasing decisions based on peer recommendations and direct experience, as well as traditional advertising methods. This is why it is necessary to build brand awareness strategies out by instilling trust among consumers. This trust must be achieved through credibility, rather than just a catchy advertising campaign. Promotional marketing involving a one-to-one component is proving increasingly effective at building trust and acquiring new customers. Brand building begins with awareness. Consumers first must be aware that there are different brands for the product they want to buy even before making a purchase decision, for which visibility is very important to create awareness. BACKGROUND – ACER INDIA Acer India was incorporated in September 9, 1999 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Acer Inc. , the world’s No. 4 PC brand. Acer’s mission in India is to translate the group’s goal in making computer technology easier to use and more affordable-to everyone in this country. In shot span, Acer has managed to bridge the gap between product launches worldwide and in India and also offer fresh technology without any inventory backlog. Headquartered in Bangalore, today Acer India has offices in twelve cities including Ahemedabed, Chandigarh, Chennai, Guwahati, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Nagpur,New Delhi, Pune, Secunderabed and has its uniload facility in Pondicherry. I has now a customer base of over 180,000 in India. There are over 125 human resource team in India comes with over 700 man-year of IT experience, geared to listen and provide to the IT user in India the very best in sales & marketing support, after-sales support backed up with infrastructure to bring fresh technology to India. GROWING WITH TIME The history of ACER starts from a long way back making its steps of success in every step it takes. 1976-1983 Commercializing microprocessor technology Acer is founded under the name Multitech Designs Taiwan’s first mass-produced compute for export. Becomes the first company to promote 16-bit PC products in Taiwan 1984-1994: Build brand awareness and globalize Acer Peripherals, now known as BenQ corp. , and Multiventure Investments Inc. established Acer beat IBM with 32 bit PCs Acer Inc. launches IPO Acer creates the world’s first 3865x 33 chipset Acer introduces the world’s first dual Intel Pentium PC Acre introduces Chip Up technology, the world’s first 386-to-486 single chip CPU upgrade solution 1994-2004: Transform from manufacturing to services Acer introduces the world’s first dual Intel Pentium PC Aspire Park, acer’s multifunctional high-tech intelligence park inaugurated Acer launches Aspire, the multimedia PC, creating a new bench marks for home computers Acer re-engineers its OEM unit to create Wiston Crop. , an independent design and IT manufacturing company Acer reveals a new generation of e-business: MegaMicro e-Enabling Services Acer notebook ranked first in Western Europe. 2004: Acer wins awards in all product categories AC 713 rated the best performance Monitors Altos G 520 Server gets Digit Best Buy Gold Award Veriton 7600 rated the Editors Choice TravelMate 292 LCi rated Best Performance Notebook KEY SUCCESES IN 2005/2006 2005 †¢ World’s no. 4 total PC and notebook brand, with highest growth rates among the top five. †¢ No. 3 for total PCs in EMEA. †¢ No. 1 notebook in EMEA. †¢ No. 1 notebook across 13 European countries: France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Sweden, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Portugal, Russia, Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. †¢ No. 3 notebook in Asia Pacific, with highest growth rate among top ten. †¢ No. 1 notebook in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. †¢ No. 1 for total PCs in Taiwan. †¢ Enjoyed highest growth rates among the top-10 vendors for total PCs and notebooks in the U. S †¢ No. LCD monitors worldwide. †¢ No. 3 notebook worldwide 2006 †¢ World’s no. 4 total PC and notebook brand, with highest growth rate. †¢ No. 3 for total desktops WW †¢ No. 1 notebook in Europe and ASEAN block PRODUCT SUITE Powered To Perform Few IT companies offer the breadth and depth of products tha t the Acer Group does. Acer is the only PC vendor in India that has a product for each market segment-be it a large corporates, the SME, SOHO or even the corner office enterprises. The product line includes a broad array of personal computing products segmented under the desktop, laptop and server categories. Acer India Pvt. Ltd. has a vast product portfolio. The four main product categories are as follows 1) Desktops 2) Notebooks There are many more sub- divided products under each different product variety. Those are as follows: DESKTOPS In the desktop segment, Acer’s product range spans the SOHO segment, corner office, manageable desktops, SMEs, STPI etc. this makes Acer the only PC Company that offers such a wide range. Most other companies have products that are not distinct, and overlap each of these segments. Acer Aspire Series Desktops built to cater to a growing demand in the home segment. Acer’s continuing commitment to bring technology closer to our customers has resulted in a core technology that is now integrated into our entire product range. Acer’s Empowering Technology presents users with friendly and intuitive interface by presenting a single key and following a simple â€Å"123† process, gives fast and easy access to cutting-edge hardware and software solutions. Veriton Series Ideal for enterprises large or small, Veriton PCs are built for peak performance, with security features, proven system reliability, and convenience offering that amplify productivity and perfect business sense. The current desktops range are as below with a wide variety of product line. ASPIRE V820 The fastest dual core DT from Acer, the Aspire V820 is powered by a latest Intel Pentium D 820 (2. 8 GHz); is configured with 256 MB RAM for powerful performance; features a DVD/CD-R/W combo drive; comes fitted with a 80 GB SATA HDD for ample storage space; connects to a set of functional speakers for the multimedia experience; offers a 56 Kbps fax/modem port and a 10/100 Mbps Ethernet port for flexible connectivity; and, displays vide a 17†³ CRT monitor for comfortable viewing. COMMERCIAL MODELS: Acer Power (945GZ) The Acer Power 945GZ offers users’ high end features like Gigabit LAN and PCI Express X16 technology at value for money prices. Acer Power M8 Acer becomes the first in India to commercially launch the new Socket AM2 based AMD products offering the power of DDR-II SDRAM on AMD platform. Acer Power 335 Acer Power 335 is the Entry level product for customers looking for Value machine with complete specifications Notebooks Acer was among the first to build notebooks with Intel Centrino mobile technology, liberating users to work witj wireless environments, offering wireless mobility for the new age road warrior. Acer’s laptops have revolutionary features that offer an astounding battery life, thermal management- more than nay other laptop offering. Acer TravelMate Series A range of the world’s most award wining notebooks, Acer TravelMate is designed to empower enterprises SMB and SOHO users with the ultimate in mobile computing performance. Available at every possible price point, and offering unmatched value through innovations like Disc Anti-Shock Protection System, Smart Card Security, and high-speed wireless capability to name a few. Acer Ferrari Series This is the result of the victorious partnership with Scuderia Ferrari; the Ferrari series of notebooks sport the patented Ferrari-Black& Red color, and offers sheer performance that’s truly worthy of Ferraris passion and Acer’s technology. The various types of products in the notebook series are showcased below. TravelMate 2420 Series Rich entertainment with long lasting mobility Driven by an Centrino @ 1. 7GHz Processor, 14. 1†³ Wide Screen XGA TFT Screen, 6-cell battery and wireless 802. 1b/g connectivity for long lasting mobility, the TravelMate 2428NWXCi is extremely rich in features. This trendy notebook is packed with Centrino Mobile technology, dual-channel memory, 60 GB huge storage- giving users everything they need for work and play – for unrivalled value! KEYFEATURES †¢ Pure portability- Weighing just 1. 40 kgs and measuring the size of an A4 notepad, the TravelMate 3000 is easy to take from one meeting to another †¢ Centrino with 915 Chipset- The TravelMate 3000 adopts the new generation of Intel ® Centrinoâ„ ¢ mobile technology- Sonoma Platform (915 hipset) †¢ Phenomenal battery power- Another first in the industry, Acer has bundled two batteries with the TravelMate 3000, delivering full-day performance for on-the-go users. †¢ Acer GridVista, an innovative software utility, boosts convenience and efficiency. Especially useful for making the most of 12. 1†³ WXGA wide-aspect LCDs, Acer GridVista automatically resizes open application windows to fit the screen, simultaneously SERVERS In the server category, Acer dominates the entry and mid level space, which actually constitutes 90% of the total server market. Acer offers everything from basic data storage to full fledged enterprise solutions. Acer Altos Series Commercial users and enterprises derive unmatched value from Altos Servers and storage solutions. These ranges of servers accentuate reliability and manageability features, along with unrivalled flexibility in terms of implementation. For business applications that demand high performance, high availability and more flexibility, Acer Altos rack-mounted servers provide the ultimate solution. Under this type of product there are a large number of differentiated products. Some of which are as given below KEY FEATURES Scalability and Performance: Provide excellent performance and scalability beyond 40TB in a highly cost-effective SATA-based package for small companies. †¢ Consolidation: Reduce the number of storage systems, maximize storage utilization, improve storage administrators’ productivity, and lower management costs. †¢ Application QoS: Dedicate cache to specif ic applications and volumes to enhance performance. †¢ Configuration Flexibility: Dedicate to specific mission-critical applications, deploy as part of a first SAN in small enterprises, or integrate into a tiered storage infrastructure for rchive, backup, or tape replacement in larger companies. Peripherals Acer Handheld PDAs These support a variety of mobile platforms and operating systems, giving customers easy access to their critical data. Streamlined and fashionable, Acer handhelds are available in both standard and wireless models for both work-related and personal tasks – any time, any place. Acer Displays Acer offers a rainbow-spectrum of devices that suit all kinds of working environments and user needs, including TFT and LCD monitors, optical drives, projectors and multi-function drives. Acer Projectors Acer's projectors bring you an incredible investment to satisfy all home entertainment and business needs. There are three different peripherals the Acer India Pvt. Ltd. is focusing on. They are the LCD monitors, the CRT monitors and the projectors. Some of them are explained below: LCD monitors: Acer AL900 Series – LCD Monitor Benefits: †¢ 500:1 contrast ratio – For strikingly vivid images †¢ Wide viewing angle – Allows more enjoyment for more people †¢ Quick response time – Offers dynamic graphics and advanced animated games †¢ VESA wall mounting – Allows easy mounting Kensington lock – Secures your monitor from theft †¢ Built-in speakers – For freedom from bulky boxes †¢ Auto-scale – Gives full-screen display †¢ Auto-adjustment – Provides self-adjusting screen settings †¢ True color support – Renders picture-pure viewing PROJECTORS: There is a wide product range in project ors section which comprises of 1) Acer PD115 2) Acer XD 1150 3) Acer XD 1170D 4) Acer XD 1270D 5) Acer PD113 6) Acer PD725 7) Acer PD523 8) Acer PD523 All these have a common display system working with called the DLP system, and also all these products have the capacity of displaying 16. 7 million colors. They mainly vary in their computer compatibility, video compatibility, projection lens, projection screen size (diagonal), projection distance, lamp life etc. RESEARCH DESIGN METHODOLOGY Research task: Study the brand awareness of Acer India in the cities Bangalore, Chennai and Coimbatore focusing on the segments students, SMEs and working profile. Research nature: This project is a complete market research. Market research is the only function that relates or links the organization to its market and in turn to its customers by first studying the consumer behavior which then helps in proper planning accordingly. This is the valid information which allows the organization to identify and define the market related opportunities and problems. This information allows for the generation, refinement and evaluation of marketing activities. Regular market research and thorough study of the consumer behavior towards a company’s products permits the organization to be on par with the changing consumer attitude towards their products. It thus facilitates monitoring the marketing performance and improved understanding of marketing as a business process. Research scope: The scope of this market research can be divided into two major divisions which include Demographic segmentation: In demographic segmentation, the market is divided into groups on the basis of variables such as age, family life cycle, gender, income, occupation, education, religion, race, generation, nationality and social class. Here the survey was taken by dividing the groups on the basis of age and occupation. The three main segment groups were college students, working profile (first and second job people) and the Small and Medium Enterprises (taking 40, 40 and 20 respectively). The age factor was also set to be between18 to 40 and throughout the survey care was taken about the age limit. The data was collected from college students belonging to professional, agricultural, textile and arts background. To name a few the different colleges include PSG tech, Kumara guru college of technology, Alliance business academy, Indian Institute of Planning Management, Ohio University Christ college, Loyola college, Crescent Engineering college, Agricultural university( Coimbatore). This variety was chosen so as to find out if any new market segment or untapped market can be spotted. The working profiled people also includes professionals from companies like Accenture, Oracle, Travel Guru, Roots, Pricol, Numeric power systems and so on Geographic segmentation: Geographic segmentation calls for dividing the market into different geographical units such as nations, states, regions, countries, cities or neighborhoods. The survey was carried on in three different cities namely Bangalore, Chennai and Coimbatore. This was done in the intension of collecting information from two first tier cities where a large population already uses laptops and desktops. This was done to study the variation in the behavior and attitudes of these people and their inclination towards branded PC vendors. The choice of the two tier city Coimbatore was to study the perception of the laptops and desktops and their usage in the people’s mind. Also the perception of the different brands was noted with the main concentration on Acer products. This was done with the intention to explore the potential market there and their requirements. Research tool: The research instrument used was a structured questionnaire covering the areas that lead to the solution of the objective. This includes measures like Acer’s market penetration, its visibility in comparison with other brands, awareness to their advertisements and promotions, the customer media habits, their perception towards Acer etc. Data compilation and analysis methodology: The sample size of three hundred was integrated and compiled in software called Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). This is comprehensive statistical software that includes the capabilities for data analysis, data management and programming which enables the analysts in generating decision making information quickly using powerful statistics. ANALYSIS BASIC ATTITUDES AWARENESS CHECK: 1) Channel through which Acer was first heard Geographically The means through which people came to know about Acer for the first time was noted. This helps in reengineering the channel that can be adopted to penetrate market. [pic] (Sample size 100 per city) TAB 1 Parameters/ |Friends/relatives/ |TV |Newspaper |Magazine |Internet | |Segments |Associates | | | | | |Coimbatore |33% |11% |9% |9 % |10% | |Chennai |27. 3% |11. 1% |18. 2% |7. 1% |9. 1% | |Bangalore |27. % |13. 1% |17. 2% |19. 2% |8. 1% | Demographically [pic] (Sample size 40, 2 0 and 40) TAB 2 |Parameters/ |Friends/relatives/ |TV |Newspaper |Magazine |Internet | |Segments |Associates | | | | | |Students |33. 1% |16. 1% |12. 1% |12. 1% |8. % | |SME |21. 4% |7. 1% |19. 6% |14. 3% |10. 7% | |Working profile |30. 0% |9. 2% |15% |10% |9. 2% | BRAND VISIBILITY CHECK: Geographically Awareness of a brand can be created only when it is made visible to the people and especially to the potential customers. The three segments considered here shows varied visibility of the brand Acer. [pic] (Sample size 100 per city) TAB 3 |NO Visibility |Low visibility |Average visibility |Good visibility |Very good visibility | |Coimbatore |36% (36) |19% (19) |20% (20) |18% 18) |7% (7) | |Chennai |34. 7% (34) |17. 3% (17) |23. 5% |17. 3%(17) |7. 1% (7) | | | | |(23) | | | |Bangalore |12. % (12) |30. 1% (28) |21. 5% (20) |30. 1% (28) |5. 4% (5) | Demographically [pic] (Sample size 40, 2 0 and 40) TAB 4 |Parameters/ |No |Low |Average |Good visibility |Very good visibility | |Places |visibility |Visibility |Visibility | | | |STUDENTS |32. 8% |15. 6% |23. % |20. 5% |7. 4% | |SME |27. 5% |23. 5% |19. 6% |23. 5% |5. 9% | |WORKING PROFILE PEOPLE |24. 2% |27. 5% |20% | 22. 5% |5. 8% | ADVERTISING AWARENESS–Geographically [pic] (Sample size 100 each) Awareness towards Acer’s promotional activities [pic] (Sample size 40, 2 0 and 40) TAB 5 Parameters/ Places |Seen Acer advertisements Seen Acer | | |Promotions | |Coimbatore |51% 9% | |Chennai |53. 5% 16. 2% | |Bangalore |62. 6% 33. % | The advertisements and promotional activities which come under the bottom line projects were checked if it contributed to the awareness. The Acer advertisements were noticed by most of the people in all the three cities. But still on an average almost 50% of the crowd has not seen Acer advertisements which create a lot of gap for the brand in reaching people completely. The promotions which Acer conducts were also not noticed much by the people. On an average more than 70 to 80% of the people do not have any idea of the promotional activities done by ACER. Demographically Awareness towards Acer advertisements and promotional activities [pic] (Sample size 40, 2 0 and 40) Awareness of promotional activities [pic] (Sample size 40, 2 0 and 40) TAB 6 |Parameters/ occupation |Seen Acer advertisements Seen Acer Promotions | |Students |63. 7% 22. 6% | |SME |44. 6% 12. 5% | |Working profile |53. % 20. 0% | THE MEDIA HABITS Geographically [pic] (Sample size 100 each) Demographically TAB 7 |Parameters/ occupation |MEDIA—TV MEDIA– | | |NEWSPAPER | |Students |65. 3% 50. 8% | |SME |46. 3% 42. % | |Working profile |61. 7% 65% | [pic] (Sample size 40, 2 0 and 40) Media habits—newspaper Geographically [pic] (Sample size 100 each) Demographically [pic] (Sample size 40, 2 0 and 40) Media habits—Magazine Demographically [pic] (Sample size 40, 2 0 and 40) [pic] (Sample size 100) TAB 8 |Parameters/ occupation |MEDIA—Magazine MEDIA– | | |Internet | |Students |37. 9% 15. 3% | |SME |21. 4% 16. 1% | |Working profile |45. 8% 33. 3% | Media habits—internet Geographically [pic] Demographically [pic] (Sample size 40, 2 0 and 40) 4) Visibility check through the number of visits to the retail outlets: Geographically This check is mainly done to measure the visibility by the frequency of visit to Acer retail outlets. The brand HP has the highest hit for the customer visit to retail outlets. Very less number of people has visited the Acer malls (the retail outlets) in all the three places. On an average much less than 10% of the sample have visited the Acer malls, which is very less to the 40% visit rate to the HP retail outlets. pic] (Sample size 100 each) [pic] (Sample size 40, 2 0 and 40) Purchasing decision – evaluating the product: Geographically Since the awareness rate differs between different cities the purchasing decision and the evaluation of the products may also vary. Before the purchase decision occurs there is a stage called the evaluation stage where people compare and examine the products of the brand they are aware off which finally leads to the procurement of the product. [pic] (Sample size 100) TAB 9 |Parameters/ |Word of |Comparing |Media Checking |Seeing demo | |Places |Mouth |Specifications | |Offer | | |Coimbatore |32% |71% |28% |22% |32% | |Chennai |25% |62% |27% |22% |32% | |Bangalore |38% |52% |26% |22% |28% | Means That Facilitate the Purchasing Decision – Demographic Segmentation Demographically [pic] (Sample size 40, 2 0 and 40) Purchasing decision can be influenced by a lot of factors which can totally change the buying pattern itself. When analyzed here on the basis of the demographic segments the inferences and major findings were as follows STUDENTS – †¢ 35. 5% through comparing specifications †¢ 12. 1% word of mouth & checking specification. †¢ 5. 6% checking offer & checking specification. 5. 6% checking & media. SME – †¢ 10. 7% Checking specification& comparing specifications †¢ 10. 7% comparing specif ication †¢ 8. 9% word of mouth †¢ 8. 9% word of mouth & checking specification †¢ 8. 9% word of mouth and checking offer WORKING PROFILE – †¢ 20% comparing specification †¢ 12. 5% checking offer & checking specifications. †¢ 11. 7% checking specification & media †¢ 9. 2% word mouth & checking specifications BRAND PERCEPTION Geographically [pic] (Sample size 100) TAB 10 Parameters/ Places |Acer perceived as an MNC brand | |Coimbatore |62% | |Chennai |67% | |Bangalore |71% | Demographically [pic] (Sample size 40, 2 0 and 40) TAB 11 |Parameters/ |Acer perceived as an | |Segments |MNC brand | |Students |42. % | |SME |17% | |Working people |40. 7% | Rating the parameters concerned with the products of Acer Geographically Some parameters linked with the product of Acer were also asked to rank like quality, price, service, features and performance. Rating quality pic] (Sample size 100) TAB 12 |Parameters/ |Poor |Fair |Good |Very good |Excellent | |Place | | | | | | |Coimbatore |3. 1% |19. 4% |35. 7% |15. 3% |10. 2% | |Chennai |1% |11. 2% |43. 9% |18. 4% |12. % | |Bangalore |4. 3% |23. 7% |47. 3% |14% |4. 3% | Demographically Rating quality TAB 13 |Parameters/ |Poor |Fair |Good |Very good |Excellent | |Segments | | | | | | |Students |4. 1% |22% |42. 3% |13% |8. % | |SME |2. 0% |18% |38. 0% |22% |8. 0% | |Working profile |2. 5% |13. 6% |44. 1% |16. 1% |9. 3% | [pic] (Sample size 40, 2 0 and 40) On an average all the three segments feel that the qualities o f Acer products are good. This comes around 41. 5% of the population. Rating service [pic] (Sample size 100) TAB 14 |Parameters/ |Poor |Fair |Good Very good |Excellent | |Places | | | | | | | Coimbatore |7. 1% |25. 5% |36. 7% |13. 3% |1% | |Chennai |3. 1% |26. 5% |39. 8% |16. 3% |1% | |Bangalore |2. 2% |32. 2% |33. 3% |25. 6% |O% | Rating Acer’s service Demographically TAB 15 |Parameters/ |Poor |Fair |Good |Very good |Excellent | |Segments | | | | | | |Students |5. 0% |33. 1% |35. 5% |16. 5% |0% | |SME |4. 0% |46% |30% |20% |0% | |Working profile |4. % |33. 4% |27. 3% |18. 8% |1. 7% | [pic] (Sample size 40, 2 0 and 40) Rating price Geographically TAB 16 |Parameters / |Poor |Fair |Good |Very good |Excellent | |Place | | | | | | |Coimbatore |2% |17. 3% |35. 7% |26. 5% |2. 0% | |Chennai |2. % |12. 4% |32. 0% |33. 0% |8. 2% | |Bangalore |4. 3% |9. 7% |28% |36. 6% |15. 1% | [pic] (Sample size 100) Rating price Demographically Tab 17 |Parameters/ |Poor |Fair |Good |Very good |Excellent | |Segments | | | | | | |Students |1. % |14. 6% |39. 8% |28. 5% |5. 7% | |SME |4. 1% |16. 3% |22. 4% |34. 7% |12. 2% | |Working profile |3. 4% |10. 2% |28% |33. 9% |10. 2% | [pic] (Sample size 40, 2 0 and 40) RATING PERFORMANCE Geographically [pic] (Sample size 100) TAB 18 Parameters / |Poor |Fair |Good |Very good |Excellent | |Place | | | | | | |Coimbatore |2. 0% |10. 2% |33. 7% |29. 6% |8. 2% | |Chennai |2. 0% |7. 1% |37. 8% |34. 7% |5. 1% | |Bangalore |3. 3% |30. 4% |22. 8% |34. 8% |2. % | Rating performance Demographically TAB 19 |Parameters/ |Poor |Fair |Good |Very good |Excellent | |Segments | | | | | | |Students |3. 3% |16. 3% |39% |28. 5% |3. 3% | |SME |4. 0% |12. 0% |26. 0% |38. 0% |8% | |Working profile |0. % |17. 1% |26. 5% |35. 0% |6. 0% | [pic] (Sample size 40, 2 0 and 40) RATING FEATURES Geographically [pic] (Sample size 100) TAB 20 |Parameters / |Poor |Fair |Good |Very good |Excellent | |Place | | | | | | |Coimbatore |2. 0% |10. 2% |38. 8% |21. 4% |11. 2% | |Chennai |1. % |3. 1% |41. 8% |29. 6% |11. 2% | |Bangalore |5. 4% |20. 7% |30. 4% |28. 3% |8. 7% | RATING THE FEATURES Demographically TAB 21 |Parameters/ |Poor |Fair |Good |Very good |Excellent | |Segments | | | | | | |Students |3. 3% |13. % |45. 5% |22. 8% |4. 9% | |SME |2. 0% |10% |22. 0% |36% |18% | |Working profile |2. 6% |10. 3% |34. 2% |25. 6% |12. 8% | [pic] (Sample size 40, 2 0 and 40) DEGREE TO WHICH ACER PRODUCTS ARE RECOMMENDED Geographically [pic] (Sample size 100 each) TAB 22 |Parameters/ |Def. not |Not sure |Probably not |Would probably |Would def. |Places | | | | | | |Coimbatore |1% |38% |10% |42% |9% | |Chennai |2% |38. 4% |8. 1% |42. 4% |9. 1% | |Bangalore |6. 1% |19. 2% |7. 1% |51. 5% |16. 3% | Demographically TAB 23 Parameters/ |Would def. not |Not sure |Probably not |Probably would |Def. would | |Segments | | | | | | |Students |4% |36. 3% |10. 5% |45. 2% |4. 0% | |SME |1. 8% |23. 3% |3. 6% |53. 6% |17. 9% | |Working profile |2. 5% |32. % |8. 3% |40. 8% |15. 8% | [pic] (Sample size 40, 2 0 and 40) On an average 46. 5% of the people would probably recommend Acer products to his/ her friends/ associates or relatives. About 30. 7% of the people on average are not sure if they would recommend and around 12. 55% of the people would definitely recommend. Demographically—consideration set for Acer desktops Frequency of peopl e having Acer in their consideration set †¢ STUDENTS – 31. 5% were sure that while making decisions they would consider the Acer products. SME – Around 50% of the people would consider Acer while making purchase decisions †¢ Working profile – About 41. 7% of the people would consider Acer during purchase decisions. [pic] (Sample size 40, 2 0 and 40) Acer notebooks in the consideration set Geographically [pic] (Sample size 100 each) TAB 24 |Parameters/ Places |Acer desktops |Acer notebooks | |Coimbatore |35% |56% | |Chennai |36. % |55. 6% | |Bangalore |46. 5% |52. 5% | Demographically [pic] (Sample size 40, 2 0 and 40) †¢ STUDENTS – 47. 6% were sure that while making decisions they would consider the Acer notebooks. †¢ SME – Around 58. 9% of the people would consider Acer notebooks while making purchase decisions †¢ Working profile – About 59. 2% of the people would consider Acer notebooks during purchase decisions. P reference set—Acer desktops Geographically Acer’s share in the preference set of the people TAB 25 |Parameter/ |First preference |Second preference |Third preference | |Places | | | | |Coimbatore |10% |30% |60% | |Chennai |9. 4% |28. 1% |62. 5% | |Bangalore |17. % |41. 2% |41. 2% | [pic] (Sample size 100 each) TAB 26 Demographically |Parameter/ |First preference |Second preference |Third preference | |Places | | | | |Students |60. 6% |33. 3% |6. 1% | |SME |46. 2% |38. 55 |15. 4% | |Working profile |48. 8% |34. 1% |17. 1% | [pic] (Sample size 40, 2 0 and 40) Preference for notebooks: Geographically [pic] (Sample size 100 each) TAB 27 |Parameters/ |First preference |Second preference |Third preference | |Places | | | | |Coimbatore |10. % |57. 9% |31. 6% | |Chennai |12% |36. 0% |52% | |Bangalore |27. 3% |29. 5% |43. 2% | Demographically—Acer notebooks in preference set [pic] (Sample size 40, 2 0 and 40) TAB 28 Parameter/ |First preference |Second preference |Third preference | |Places | | | | |students |52. 8% |30. 6% |16. 7% | |SME |45. 5% |36. 4% |18. 2% | |Working profile |39. 4% |44. % |20. 9% | FINDINGS The general attitudes and awareness of the brand Acer is analyzed Channel through which Acer was first heard of: Geographically †¢ People came to know about Acer products and brand to a greater extent from friends/ relatives / associates which contributes to about 30% in each city on an average. †¢ Newspaper awareness contributed to around 14. 8% and magazine contribution was around 12%. Demographically †¢ Students came to know about Acer through friends /relatives / associates which contributed about 33. 1%. About 12. % each through newspaper and magazine. Nearly 17. 8 % of the people have not heard of Acer. †¢ SME came to know about Acer through friends / relatives and associates to about 21. 4%. Newspaper contributed to about 19. 6% and magazine to about 14. 3% to the awareness of Acer for the first time. 25% of the people have not heard about Acer. †¢ Working profile about 30% contribution was due to friends / relatives / associates. 15% contribution by newspaper. About 23. 7% of the people have not heard of Acer. Brand visibility Index: Geographically †¢ The visibility index from the analysis is Coimbatore – 2. 41 Chennai – 2. Bangalore – 2. 65 This indicated that Acer as a brand lies between low and average visibility zone. Demographically †¢ The visibility index is Students – 2. 54 SME – 3. 45 Working profile – 2. 58 This indicates that Acer has low visibility for the student and working profile segment. It has average visibility in the SME segment Awareness towards Acer advertisements and promotional activities: Geographically: †¢ On an average 55. 6% of the people have seen Acer advertisements taking all the three cities in to consideration. †¢ Acer promotional activities were not noticed in a very negligible pattern. Coimbatore – only 9% of the people have noticed an Acer promotion. †¢ Chennai – around 16. 2% have seen Acer promotions †¢ Bangalore – about 34. 3% of the people have noticed Acer promotional activities. Demographically Acer advertisements †¢ Students – 63. 7% has noticed Acer advertisements †¢ SME – 44. 6% has noticed Acer advertisements †¢ Working profile – 53. 3% has noticed Acer advertisements Acer promotions †¢ Students – 22. 6% has noticed Acer promotions †¢ SME – 12. 5% has noticed Acer’s promotional activities †¢ Working profile – 20. 0% has noticed Acer’s promotional activities Number of visits to Acer retail outlets (in the past six months): Geographically Coimbatore †¢ On the whole HP has the highest count of about 44% †¢ Visit to Acer retail outlet is 1% Chennai †¢ Again HP being the highest with about 33. 3% of visit †¢ About 6% of the people visited Acer retail outlets Bangalore †¢ HP with 21. 2% is again the highest hit. †¢ About 19. 2% visit to Acer retail outlets. Demographically Students †¢ On the whole HP has the highest count of about 44% †¢ Visit to Acer retail outlet is 1% SME †¢ Again HP being the highest with about 33. % of visit †¢ About 6% of the people visited Acer retail outlets Working profile †¢ HP with 21. 2% is again the highest hit. †¢ About 19. 2% visit to Acer retail outlets. Measures that people undertake before their purchase decision—evaluating the product Geographically Coimbatore †¢ 71% purchases occur by comparing specifications †¢ 50% purchases also happen by comparing specification and checking offers †¢ 32% word of mouth Chennai †¢ 62% purchases occur by comparing specification. †¢ 45% purchases through comparing specification and checking offers. †¢ 27% through media †¢ 32% seeing demo Bangalore †¢ 52% comparing specification †¢ 38% word of mouth †¢ 30% comparing specification and checking offers †¢ 26% through media Demographically †¢ Students – 35. 5% of the purchases through comparing specifications 12. 1% through word of mouth 5. 6% each through checking offer and comparing specifications †¢ SME – 10. 7% of purchase through comparing specification and checking Offer 10. 7% only comparing specification 9% each through word of mouth & checking offer, word of mouth & Checking specification and checking specification and seeing demo. Working profile – 20% of the purchase through comparing specification 12. 5% through checking offer & comparing specification 11. 7% checking specification & media BRAND PERCEPTION CHECK: Perception linked with the brand name: Acer is still perceived to be in collaboration with Wipro. So it is giving a perception of a national brand amongst most people. Geographically †¢ Coimbator e only 62% of the people are aware that Acer is an MNC †¢ Chennai 67% had the awareness †¢ Bangalore 71% of the people knew that Acer is an MNC. Demographically †¢ Students – only 42. 5% perceive Acer as an MNC SME – only 17% of the SME perceive Acer as an MNC †¢ Working profile – 40. 7% perceive Acer as an MNC. Perception on the product parameters An index is got from the analysis which gives the quality index in the three different cities. This is done on a scale of 1 to 5 indicating where the parameter actually lies. †¢ Quality Geographically Coimbatore – 2. 56 Chennai – 2. 84 Bangalore – 2. 65 From the above data it is clear that Acer quality vice it lies in the fair zone but far towards good. Demographically Students – 1. 9 SME – 2. 8 Working profile 2. 72 Students perceive Acer’s quality to be fair. Both SME and working profile perceive Acer’s quality to be good. †¢ Service Geographically Coimbatore – 2. 22 Chennai – 2. 41 Bangalore – 2. 42 From the above data it is clear that Acer quality vice it lies in the lower fair zone. Demographically Students – 2. 43 SME – 2. 38 Working profile – 2. 05 The weighted average shows that the service of Acer perceived by the three different segments is invariably fair. †¢ Price. Geographically Coimbatore – 2. 55 Chennai – 2. 87 Bangalore – 3. 06 From the above data it is clear that Acer quality vice it lies in the fair zone in Coimbatore and far towards good in Chennai. In Bangalore price vice perception for Acer is good Demographically Students – 2. 9 SME – 2. 69 Working profile – 2. 9 The data above shows that the price of Acer products is perceived to be good invariably in all three segments. †¢ Performance Geographically Coimbatore – 2. 77 Chennai – 2. 88 Bangalore – 2. 60 From the above data it is clear that Acer quality vice it lies in between the fair and good zone. Demographically Students – 2. 82 SME – 2. 98 Working profile – 2. 86 The data shows that the performance of Acer products is perceived to be in between fair and good but more inclined towards good. Features Geographically Coimbatore – 2. 75 Chennai – 3. 01 Bangalore – 2. 71 From the above data it is clear that in Coimbatore and Bangalore Acer quality vice it lies in between the fair and good zone. In Chennai it lies in the good zone. Demographically Students – 2. 829 SME – 3. 22 Working profile – 2. 92 The data shows indicates that students and working profile perceive the features of Acer products to be in between fair and good. The SMEs’ perceive the features of Acer products to be good. Degree to which Acer products are recommended Geographically Taking the weighted average mean into consideration and rating the different parameters on the scale of 1 to 5 people feel that †¢ Coimbatore – 3. 2 †¢ Chennai – 3. 15 †¢ Bangalore – 3. 49 The respondents feel that they would probably not recommend Acer products to their friends / relatives / associates. Demographically †¢ Students – 3. 05 †¢ SME – 3. 625 †¢ Working profile – 3. 35 Students and working profile people feel that they would probably not recommend Acer to their known ones. SMEs response lies in between probably not to probably would and more inclined towards probably would. Checking if Acer desktops falls in the consideration set and in the preference set Geographically †¢ Coimbatore – 35% people considers Acer desktops while they are considering buying one. But when it narrows down to the preference set out of the 100 respondents only 30 respondents’ preferred Acer desktops and their preference level in the scale of 1 to 3 is 1. 5. This represents somewhere between third and second preference. †¢ Chennai – 36. 4% of the people have Acer desktops in their consideration set when they are to buy desktops. But it comes to the preference set the response is 1. 68 in the scale of 1 to 3. That is it somewhere between third and second preference. †¢ Bangalore – 46. 5% of the people consider Acer desktops when they plan for a purchase but their preference level in a scale of 1 to 3 is 0. 629. That is even below third preference. Or could be taken as a few people prefer Acer desktops as their third preference. Demograph ically †¢ Students – 31. 5% of the people feel that they would consider Acer desktops when they go for a purchase. Out of which when it comes to the preference set only 33 responses were there. In the scale of 1 to 3 it lays around 1. 5 which indicates their preference lies between third and second preference. †¢ SME – Around 50% of the respondents would consider Acer desktops while they decide a purchase. In the preference set only 13 responses where there and their preference lies between third and second preference more inclined towards second preference. †¢ Working profile – About 41. 7% would consider Acer desktops when they go for a purchase. Out of the consideration set only 41 responses preferred Acer desktops. Their preference lies between third and second preference (1. 68) in the scale of 1 to 3. Checking if Acer laptops falls in the consideration set and in the preference set †¢ Coimbatore – 56% people considers Acer laptops while they are considering buying one. But when it narrows down to the preference set out of the 100 respondents only 19 respondents’ preferred Acer laptops and their preference level in the scale of 1 to 3 is 1. 789. This represents somewhere between third and second preference. †¢ Chennai – 55. 6% of the people have Acer desktops in their consideration set when they are to buy laptops. But it comes to the preference set the response is 1. 6 in the scale of 1 to 3. That is it somewhere between third and second preference. †¢ Bangalore – 52. 5% of the people consider Acer laptops when they plan for a purchase but their preference level in a scale of 1 to 3 is 1. 8. That is even below third preference. Or could be taken as a few people prefer Acer desktops as their third preference The preference fro an Acer laptop, on the whole is between third and second preference and more towards third preference. That for Acer laptop is also between third and second preference but inclined more towards second preference. Demographically †¢ Students – 47. % of the people have Acer notebooks in their consideration set out of which only 36 people have it in their preference set and their ranking for preference in the scale of 1 to 3 is 1. 638. this indicates that their preference lies between third and second preference inclined towards second preference. †¢ SME – 58. 9% of the respondents say that they would consider Acer pr oducts but their preference level in the scale of 1 to 3 is 1. 7, heading towards second preference. †¢ Working Profile – 59. 2% have Acer in their consideration set and their preference level in the scale of 1 to 3 it lies at 2. 1 indicating that working profile people have Acer notebooks as their second preference. CONCLUSION The awareness of the brand Acer is average which is due to the low visibility of the brand to the customers. There is not enough advertisement and promotional activities that is undertaken to boost the brand. There must be a lot of investment made make the brand more visible. This will help the brand to build itself strong. The channel through Acer became aware to many people is through word of mouth. But to some extent even through internet and newspaper. There must be another research conducted to check if the word of mouth propagation is ctually causing a positive reinforcement or negative reinforcement. There are about 20% of the people who ha ve not heard of Acer. The amount of advertisements and promotions that we undertake is also comparatively low and it is not being noticed much. This is in turn affecting the visibility of the brand compared to the other brands that really pump a great amount of advertisements even being a new entrant in the market. This also is leading to the relatively low number of visits to the Acer retail outlets though having the highest network. Acer is also being perceived still as a national brand which is in collaboration with Wipro. People are not sure if Acer is an Indian or a foreign brand, which actually creates a wrong vibration in the purchase decision chain of the customers. SUGGESTIONS / RECOMMENDATIONS First thing that we need to do is change that perception and project ourselves as an MNC with the Indian emotions filled in it. We need to target our customer segment properly and advertise our product and brand We must focus on the other means of throwing light on the band like TV commercials, internet banners and magazine printed ads because the amount of people with media habits as TV, newspaper, internet is really huge. Acer has to be made awareness first regionally and then nationally. †¢ Tying up with educational institutions will increase the awareness and also the leads. †¢ Acer needs to redefine its target segment as to which is potential. The segment suggested is SMEs and college students. †¢ Acer needs to set its target properly and focus Advertisements to hit them especially the TV commercials. †¢ Designing gift offers and vouchers with the product also will help a lot to draw the attention of the customers. †¢ Online banner Advertisements can be designed and can be displayed on the widely used sites especially in messengers like Yahoo and Google talk. Popup inviting users to participate in online survey can be designed and implemented so that the perception of the people can be known periodically. †¢ Huge hoardings with the endorsed celebrity can be designed and put o places where are forced to see such as in the signals, near direction boards, outside famous malls, on road dividers etc. †¢ Service and support is one factor which has to be worked out properly. †¢ Providing good incentives and schemes to the dealers as Acer in India will help a lot as it is still a push product. †¢ Sponsoring for big events like the filmy events which happen and also sport. APPENDIX Dear Respondent: I am a student of Ohio University, Christ College carrying out a research project titled brand awareness and consumer perception of the branded PC vendors. I request you to kindly fill in this questionnaire. All the information provided by you will be strictly confidential and will be used only for academic purposes. Please put a tick mark or circle the bullets where ever necessary. 1. Do you own a Personal Computer / Notebook? Desktop Yes If yes, which brand? ____________ No Notebook Yes If yes, which brand? ____________ No 2. Which brand would you prefer to buy while buying a desktop or notebook? (HP, Lenovo, Acer, Dell Inc. Toshiba) 2. (a) Desktop ( rate your preference) |Rank | 1 |2 |3 | |Brand | | | | |Reason | | | | | | | | | 2. (b) Notebook ( rate your preference) Rank |1 |2 |3 | |Brand | | | | |Reason | | |