ATIN VATS - Marketing Report on USL

FINAL REPORT
ON
How marketing tools of brand availability and sales promotion aid in
consumer decision making process – a case of USL in Indian lifestyle
alco-beverage industry
By
Atin Vats
09BSHYD0196
Icfai Business School, Hyderabad
United Spirits Ltd. (USL)
1 | A T I N V A T S

A REPORT
ON
How marketing tools of brand availability and sales promotion aid in
consumer decision making process – a case of USL in Indian lifestyle
alco-beverage industry
By
Atin Vats
09BSHYD0196
United Spirits Ltd. (USL), Delhi.
Date of Submission: 14th
MAY, 2010
2 | A T I N V A T S

AUTHORIZATION
The making of this report has been authorized by Mr Gaurav Bhargawa, Senior
Manager (Sales).
The report is submitted as a fulfillment of the requirements of Summer Internship
program 2010 at ICFAI Business School Hyderabad.
All items mentioned in the report are part of the projects undertaken by Atin Vats at
United Spirits Ltd, Delhi. These are only proposed guidelines for recommendations
and benefit of the organization.
3 | A T I N V A T S

AKNOWLEDGEMENT
I take this opportunity to express my sincere heartfelt thanks to Mr Gaurav
Bhargawa, Senior Manager (Sales). He has been a guiding light in the
organization, right since the first day when he introduced me to the team and
provided me to achieve every endeavor. He has always had trust in my work and has
appreciated the same. This project wouldn’t have been possible without his immense
guidance and support.
I would also like to thank Mr. Paritosh Berry, Management trainee for his
continuous guidance and support in helping me complete my project.
I would like to thank Dr. Nikhil Rastogi, IBS Hyderabad, who has been available
at all time and has been resourceful in helping me understand the project better. Also
his visit to my organization was very enlightening as I could clear my doubts and
since then have continued to trouble shoot the problems as they appear.
I am also thankful to all the staff of United Spirits Ltd,Delhi who has gone out of
their way to help and support me on various assignments during my internship. It
was a great learning experience working at USL Ltd.
4 | A T I N V A T S

ABSTRACT
The host company is a liquor major. The liquor industry functions in a highly
regulated environment. Therefore, the importance of study on marketing activities
becomes vital in the light of prohibition of advertisements, such as TV commercials,
billboards, point of purchase posters, etc by the government. Delhi Market is
particularly sensitive as there are various legal issues here as well as the Excise
Department controls the prices here. Companies here are not even allowed to
publicly display information on the various free gifts that they are providing with
their products, which keeps the customers in the dark. The study seeks to understand
and study the impact of various other marketing activities such as Sales promotion
(freebies), Shelf display, Stealth Marketing Strategy, etc on the buying behavior of
the consumer.
In a bid to increase market share, the company has employed Stealth
Marketing strategy. Stealth Marketing pays people (Called ‘Promoters’ here) to
anonymously promote their products in shops without disclosing their financial
relationship with their sponsoring firm. The company spends close to Rs. 5 crores
annually in the Delhi market on promoters. The study will help clarify whether the
strategy of employing promoters has been effective or not. Questionnaires will be
framed to gather data from the shop-in-charges on whether they feel that the
promoter is effective in making induced sales. The promoters’ skills as a
communicator and the ability to push their brands will be understood. Also the Sales
data of the shops where the Promoters have been placed will be gathered to compare
the Sales data before the Promoter was placed and after the Promoter has been
placed to give us a clear understanding on the value addition of these Promoters.
Data on the availability and visibility of liquor from 200 shops in Delhi will
be collected and then compared with the sales figures of the same shops (collected
from the USL office records) over a two month period to help understand the impact
of products availability and visibility on sales. The study will be based of four major
brands of USL in the premium segment i.e., Signature, Royal Challenge, Antiquity
Blue, Antiquity Rare and a major competitor Seagram’s Blenders Pride.
Point of purchase is another discipline that has been carefully studied under the project. It
signifies those activities that help catch the attention of the consumer when he is at the
doorstep of the outlet. Activities such as danglers, signage’s, communication tower, rate
lists, shop/sale timing boards act as point of purchase. They in evidently play the most
vital tool for marketing groups as they are the only source of advertisement at the hands of
the company. . Liquor bottle itself acts as a point of purchase tool, as a consumer
when he approaches to buy liquor, notices a certain bottle on the shelf which catches
his attention and therefore comes into his choice set/consideration set. Thus it helps
in promoting information about the existence of a product.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
5 | A T I N V A T S

Abstract…………………………………………………………………
…….III
1. INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………7
1.1 Objective……………………………………………………
……….8
1.2 Methodology………………………………………………
……….8
1.3 Limitations
…………………………………………………………9
2. Brief about the
company……………………………………………..10
2.1 SWOT
ANALYSIS…………………………………………………..15
3. Research Methodology and Design adopted………………17
3.1 Analysis of the Methodology……………………………
18
3.1.1 Research 1………………………………..18
3.1.2 Research 2………………………………..19
3.1.2.1 Limitations…………………33
3.1.3 Research 3………………………………..34
3.1.4 Research 4………………………………..34
4. References…………………………………………………………
……..41
6 | A T I N V A T S

INTRODUCTION
1. Purpose of The Project Proposed:
The proposed project will help us study the impact of marketing activities on
the consumer buying behavior.
2. Description:
The host company, United Spirits Limited, is under the UB Group headed by
Dr. Vijay Mallya and is India’s largest and the world’s third largest spirit
company. USL has a portfolio of more than 140 brands and enjoys a strong
59% market share for its first line brands in India.
The liquor industry functions in a highly regulated environment. Therefore,
the importance of study on marketing activities becomes vital in the light of
prohibition of advertisements, such as TV commercials, billboards, point of
purchase posters, etc by the government. Delhi Market is particularly
sensitive as there are various legal issues here as well as the Excise
Department controls the prices here. Companies here are not even allowed to
publicly display information on the various free gifts that they are providing
with their products, which keeps the customers in the dark. The study seeks
to understand and study the impact of various other marketing activities such
as Sales promotion (freebies), Shelf display, Stealth Marketing Strategy, etc
on the buying behavior of the consumer.
In a bid to increase market share, the company has employed Stealth
Marketing strategy. Stealth Marketing pays people (Called ‘Promoters’ here)
to anonymously promote their products in shops without disclosing their
financial relationship with their sponsoring firm. The company spends close
to Rs. 5 crores annually in the Delhi market on promoters. The study will
help clarify whether the strategy of employing promoters has been effective
or not. Questionnaires will be framed to gather data from the shop-in-charges
on whether they feel that the promoter is effective in making induced sales.
The promoters’ skills as a communicator and the ability to push their brands
will be understood. Also the Sales data of the shops where the Promoters
7 | A T I N V A T S

have been placed will be gathered to compare the Sales data before the
Promoter was placed and after the Promoter has been placed to give us a
clear understanding on the value addition of these Promoters.
Data on the availability and visibility of liquor from all the 426 shops in
Delhi will be collected and then compared with the sales figures of the same
shops (collected from the USL office records) to help understand the impact
of products availability and visibility on sales. The study will be based of
four major brands of USL in the premium segment i.e., Signature, Royal
Challenge, Antiquity Blue, Antiquity Rare and a major competitor Seagram’s
Blenders Pride.
3. Objective:
The objective of the project is to study the impact of marketing activities on
the consumer buying behavior. The implementation of these key factors in
the marketing plan of the company would prove beneficial to the company in
the long run.
The project also helps us get a key understanding of and insight on the
functioning of the liquor industry.
The project will involve constant interaction with Mr. Gaurav Bhargava, the
company guide & Senior Sales Manager, Mr. Paritosh Berry, Management
Trainee, as well as Mr. Shubojit, Head of Promoter Strategy at USL so as to
check the progress at each stage and also for constant guidance.
4. Methodology:
The main source of information will be collected through the primary sources
such as, Questionnaires filled by the shop in charges, Data collected from the
liquor shops,
Information will also be collected from secondary sources such as sales data
of the liquor shops from the host company.
8 | A T I N V A T S

Besides these, other information on the liquor industry would be searched
from the internet. Following this, conclusions would be put forth along with
recommendations for the host company.
A detailed guideline of the Research Plan is as follows:-
A research plan is developed to gather the required information for analysis.
This includes the following:
Data source: Primary data collection is going to be done through
questionnaires and surveys.
Research approaches: Observational and survey research
Research instruments: Questionnaires
Sampling plan:
Sampling unit- The shop in-charges are the most ideal person to be
surveyed to get a feedback on the effectiveness of the Promoters as these
Promoters function under them.
Sample size- 40 shop in-charges.
Sampling procedure- We choose the 40 respondents out of a total of 69 to
cover maximum areas.
Contact methods: Personal Interview
5. Limitations:
There are certain limitations attached to the project which are as follows:-
• The collection of data on availability and visibility of the 5 leading
brands in the premium sector of the whisky industry has limitations
attached to it as the collection of data from various shops will be done
at different times during the day, therefore, the data of the same will
vary at different time intervals during the day in the same shop. For
9 | A T I N V A T S

example, there are 10 bottles of Royal Challenge (750 ml) stacked on
the racks at 12 noon, but by 4 p.m. it comes down to 2 bottles.
Therefore, data will be starkly different during different time of the
day.
• In this industry specially, shop attendants store certain brands below
the delivery counter. This is done to facilitate them in pushing brands
which provide them better margins and/or also enables them to
service quickly those brands which are popular. The problem with
this is that when we conduct our research on availability and
visibility, we give ZERO visibility to these as a consideration that
affects consumer buying behaviour, but the fact of the matter is that
these things greatly affect the consumer buying behaviour.
• The questionnaires, to be filled up by the shop in-charges, are
intended to evaluate the effectiveness of the promoters, but in reality
this is not totally conclusive.
• Certain liquor shops are so small that the shelf may not have enough
impact on the consumer buying behaviour.
• The judgment on the value addition of Promoters takes into
consideration the sales figures before and after the Promoter had been
placed. This change in sales figures may not have resulted only
because of the promoter. There may be various other factors which
might have led to the increase/decrease in sales figures like sales
promotion, genuine increase in demand by itself.
Brief About the company
United Spirits Limited (USL) is the largest Spirits Company in India and among the
top three spirits companies in the world.
10 | A T I N V A T S

Besides Whyte & Mackay and Bouvet Ladubay being 100% subsidiaries of USL, the
company has 19 millionaire brands (selling more than a million cases a year) in its
portfolio and enjoys a strong 59% market share for its first line brands in India.
United Breweries Group
Type Conglomerate
Industry Brewery
Alcoholic Beverage
Airline
Chemicals & Fertilizers
Engineering
Information Technology
Pharmaceuticals
Founded 1857
Founder(s) Thomas Leishman
Headquarters Bangalore, India
Area served India
Key people Dr. Vijay Mallya, Chairman
Owner(s) Dr. Vijay Mallya
Divisions United Breweries Ltd (BSE:532478)
United Spirits Ltd (BSE:532432)

Kingfisher Airlines[1]
Mangalore Chemicals & Fertilizers Ltd[2]
UB Global (trading company)
UBICS, Inc.
Website www.theubgroup.com
Excise Department
The prime job of Excise Department is to regulate import and supply of liquor,
intoxicants and narcotics (for medicinal purposes), the statutory powers for which
are discharged under the Punjab Excise Act, 1914 and Medicinal and Toilet
Preparation Act 1955. The Department grants L-1 Licences to Distilleries/Bottling
Plants for the wholesale supply of liquor in Delhi, while retail liquor trade in Delhi
is mainly in the hands of the Government Undertakings for which a separate
licence in form L-2 is granted. Apart from this some private entrepreneurs have
also been granted licenses in Form L-52 for retail trade of IMFL & Beer. Besides,

Licences for the consumption of liquor 'on-site' premises like hotels, restaurants
and clubs are also granted by this Department. The Department invites tender on
yearly basis for wholesale supply of country liquor from the distilleries/bottling
plants and licence in Form L-9 are issued to successful tenderer. The Department
also fixes the price of Country Liquor and regulates it's supply for retail sale
through DTTDC, DCCWS, DSCSC, DSIIDC for which L-10 license are granted.
Licences are also given for holding/hosting private parties as well as for storage
for personal consumption beyond the permissible limits for which L-52 licenses
are provided.
At present four corporations namely DTTDC, DSCSC, DSIIDC and DCCWS are
engaged in the retail trade of liquor. The private entrepreneurs are also holding 89
shops for retail sale of IMFL & Beer all over Delhi.The Department has also
granted 2 L-53 licence for retail sale of Beer & Mixed Alcoholic Beverages
through Departmental Stores for "off-site" consumption in the Excise Year
The department also regulates consumption/distribution/issue of rectified spirit
Denatured spirit, Life Saving Drugs like morphine, pathedine, Mediclinical Opium
and hemp to various government hospitals, Private Nursing homes, Doctors,etc.
Sale of denatured spirit and rectified spirit in wholesale or retail without a valid
license is an offence in delhi. Possession of spirit and narcotic drugs without a
license is also a cognizable offence.
IMFL Branch/Licences of Liquor
The IMFL branch issues L-1 licences to Distilleries/ Bottling plants for supply of
liquor to the retail outlets, licensed hotels, restaurants and clubs. The applications
for the grant/renewal of L-1 licences are invited through a public notice. After the
receipt of the applications, these are scrutinized. The applications which are
complete in all respects and fulfil all the requirements are taken into consideration
for the grant of L-1 licence by the Competent Authority. Cases are processed
according to the Terms and Conditions for the grant of licences. Once the L-1
licence is granted, licence fee is to be deposited. The L-1 licence is further
processed for the approval of the brands as well as the price. Fixation of price is
done by Excise Commissioner. Price structures are issued after the payment of
brand fee and brand registration fee. Payment of brand fee is on pro-rata basis.
All the L-1 licencees are required to maintain Bonded Warehouses which are
supervised by the Excise Inspectors.
Import Permits: The Import Permits are issued to the L-1 licencees after payment of import fee.
The concerned Excise authority of the state where the distillery is located issues export permits on
the basis of the Import Permits to take the liquor out of the state without payment of Excise duty.
The Excise Inspector posted at the Bonded Warehouse after scrutinizing all the documents allows
the stock for in-bonding.
Transport Permits: Transport permit is a document which authorises L-1 licencees for taking out
the specific quantity of liquor mentioned in Transport Permit for supply to a specified destination.
Transport Permits are issued only after the deposition of requisite Excise Duty/Revenue by the
Licencee. On receipt of the Transport Permits, the Bonded warehouse Excise Inspector allows the
stock for transporting it to various retail outlets, clubs, hotels/restaurants.

United Spirits Limited (USL) - the INR 5700 crore spirits arm of the UB Group –
is India’s largest and the world’s third largest spirits company. USL was earlier
McDowell and Company Limited. USL has a portfolio of more than 140 brands, of
which 19 are millionaire brands* (selling more than a million cases a year) and
enjoys a strong 59% market share for its first line brands in India. United Spirits
recorded global sales of 90 million cases for the fiscal year that ended on March 31,
2009.
United Spirits’ brands have won the most prestigious of awards across flavors,
ranging from the Mondial to International Wine and Spirit Competition (IWSC) to
International Taste and Quality Institute (ITQI); a total of 108 awards and
certificates (as of June 2009). The company is known to be an innovator in the
industry and has several firsts to its credit such as the first pre-mixed gin, the first
Tetrapack in the spirits industry in India, the first single malt manufactured in Asia
and the first diet whisky in the world.
United Spirits has a global footprint with exports to over 37 countries. It has 79
manufacturing and bottling units across the country and in Nepal and is supported by
a robust distribution network to deliver its products to customers located across
India. USL has a committed 7500-strong workforce spread across its offices and
distilleries in the country.
United Spirits represents the merged entities of the erstwhile McDowell & Co.
Limited, Phipson Distillery Limited, United Spirits Limited, Herbertsons Limited,
Triumph Distillers and Vintners Private Limited, Baramati Grape Industries Limited,
United Distillers India Limited, McDowell International Brands Limited and Shaw
Wallace Distilleries Limited. The erstwhile McDowell & Co. Limited was first
established as a proprietary business in 1826.
USL acquired Balaji Distilleries Limited in 2008. This acquisition gave the company
the strategic advantage to consolidate the Group’s leadership position in a critical,
large and growing State like Tamil Nadu. Currently, the procedural formalities are
underway for the acquisition which will take retrospective effect from April 1, 2009.
United Spirits acquired Andhra Pradesh (AP)–based, Tern Distilleries, in 2009, in a
bid to augment its primary distillation capacity. This is the third manufacturing unit
in the region given that one fifth of USL’s sales volumes come from AP. The current
capacity of Tern is 40 Kilo Litres which will be enhanced to 120 Kilo Litres in 24-36
months, subject to Government approvals.

*USL Millionaire Brands (Those that sell more than a million cases per annum)
Whisky Scotch Brandy Rum Vodka & Gin
• Bagpiper
•
McDowell’s
No.1
• Director’s
Special
• Old Tavern
• Haywards
•
McDowell’s
Green Label
• Gold
Riband
• Royal
Challenge
• DSP Black
• Signature
• Black Dog
• Whyte &
Mackay
• Jura
• Dalmore
•
McDowell’s
No.1
• Honey Bee
• John Ex-
Shaw
• Celebration
Rum
• Old Cask
Rum
• Old
Adventurer
Rum
• Pinky
• White
Mischief
• Romanov
Particulars
Total
Number
Comments
Brands 140
19 of these are millionaire brands
and there are about 151 brand
variants
SKUs 2992
Distillery-State-Brand-Pack
combinations
Distilleries /
Bottling Units
79
30 Owned Manufacturing
facilities;49 contract
manufacturing units
Depots 48
Break-bulk points for finished
goods distribution
Retail Outlets 64000
Inclusive of both on and off
premise outlets

SWOT ANALYSIS
An important and most basic tool to identify the potential of an organization or a
product of a company is SWOT Analysis. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities and Threats of an organization/product. Specifically, SWOT is a
basic, straightforward model that assesses what an organization can and cannot do as
well as its potential opportunities and threats.
Analysis was done on the basis of observations made and was separated into
internal (strengths and weaknesses) and external issues (opportunities and threats).
The main objective of SWOT analysis was to determine what may assist the growth
of the brand USL and what are the obstacles that it is facing which once overcome
would help achieve the desired results.
Internal attributes External attributes

Strengths:
• Market Leader
• Strong Product line
• Strong Brand Image
• Global Presence
• Aggressive Advertising
• Quality and Innovation
Weakness:
• Long Development cycles
• Expensive Brand Maintenance
• Expensive capital spending in acquiring Successful Liquor firms like
White
and Mackey, Shaw Wallace, etc.
Opportunities
• Demographic Changes
• Changing Societal Attitudes
• Consumer Brand Preference
• Optimum utilization of the strong distribution network
• Demand for High Quality
Weaknesses Opportunities ThreatsStrength

Threats:
• Highly regulated market (government regulated).
• Cloning of Successful brands
• Fluctuation due to Seasonal Demand of the products
• High level of competition due to the aggressive strategies deployed by the
domestic players.
• Uncertain customer reactions to new product introductions.
• Quick Customer switch to other brands (Low customer loyalty)
• Change in governments policies.
• Entry of Foreign Competitors.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND DESIGN
Research work undertaken till now:-
Research objective:
• To understand the impact of ‘display of liquor on shelves of the liquor
shops’ on the sales.
• Study on Point of Purchase activities at the outlets.
Research methodology and design:
Type of research
Observational and survey research.
Data collection:

Primary Data
Primary data of research are collected from direct resources i.e. (the liquor outlets).
Secondary Data
Secondary Data is collected in the form of sales data of individual liquor outlets for
the month of February and March, 2010. This data has been generated by the orders
procured by the host company from the Excise Department.
Universe
Universe of this research is 426 liquor shops in Delhi which includes outlets of all
the four government departments i.e. DSIIDC, DCCWS, DTTDC, DSCSC and
private outlet L-52.
NOTE: All genre of the market were covered to make the research appropriate. Also
shops from all the various localities were considered to move out biases if any in the
research.
Sampling technique
Random sampling is used for research project. 200 shops have been chosen to
represent all the areas in Delhi. After closing down on these 200 shops, I have visited
them twice, once in the month of February and once in the month of March, 2010.
Sample size
200 outlets have been selected for the research.
ANALYSIS of the research undertaken:-
Research 1: Data on availability and visibility from 200 shops across Delhi has been
collected. Emphasis has been put to cover all the various departments set by the
government. Interaction with the shop in charges of the outlets was one of the major
factors which influenced our collection of data. Data from this sample size of 200

shops will help us understand the impact that visibility has on sales since visibility
plays a very important role in the highly government regulated market as it is the
only tool in the hands of the company to catch the attention of the consumer. One of
the major hindrances in the collection of this data was permission to access the
shelves of the shops.
During our visits to the outlets, we have come to see the various strategies
employed by the players in this industry to promote their products. Point of
purchase, hence plays a significant role here. Point of purchase tools like the use of
danglers, signage’s, communication tower, rate lists, shop/sale timing boards help in
attracting the attention of the consumer to the companies products. Liquor bottle
itself acts as a point of purchase tool, as a consumer when he approaches to buy
liquor, notices a certain bottle on the shelf which catches his attention and therefore
comes into his choice set/consideration set. Thus it helps in promoting information
about the existence of a product.
Now we have the data in different pack sizes which makes the study difficult.
Hence, we have assigned weights to the various packs to bring in uniformity in the
study. Liquor comes in various packs based on volume such as 2 ltrs, 1 ltr, 750 ml,
375 ml, 180 ml and 90 ml. Therefore weights have been assigned in the ratio of 8, 4,
3, 1.5, 0.8 and 0.4 respectively to sort out unevenness.
Once the data has been brought to a common platform, we have totaled the
availability and visibility columns for all the brands under study and for all the 200
outlets. This has been done for the data of both the months. Now we have data
representing total of all the outlets and of all the 5 brands individually.
Next, we have computed the visibility/availability ratio for all the five
brands. This ratio signifies the percentage of availability that is visible. The ratio
desired is 30%, i.e., 30% of the available liquor is visible to the consumer and thus
catches maximum consumer attention.
After this we have showcased where all the company needs to put in an effort
to look to increase the visibility of their products and where it has a strong visibility
level.
Research 2: Regression Analysis using SPSS
Overview
Regression is similar to correlation in that it is trying to fit data values along a best-fit
straight line, but regression can be used to predict the value of one variable given the value
of another variable. In other words, regression lets you predict what your dependent
variable value will be from one or more independent variables.

Hypotheses of the study
H0: The proportion of variance Visibility (independent variable) accounts for in Sales
(dependent variable) is 0. (no relationship)
H1: The proportion of variance Visibility (independent variable) accounts for in Sales
(dependent variable) is not 0. (there is a relationship)
Here in our study we have undertaken regression analysis using SPSS. We
have conducted Linear Regression using the variables Visibility and Sales on a
monthly basis, taking Visibility as an independent variable and Sales as a dependant
variable. We have sales and visibility data for the months of February and March, 10
for the brands Royal Challenge, Signature, Antiquity Blue, Antiquity Rare and
Blenders Pride. Thus we have come out with 10 different studies for our analysis of
determination of the percentage variance in the dependant variable explained by the
independent variable.
Out of the sample of 200 shops, 28 shops were excluded from the study as
permission to conduct the study was not provided in them.
Assumptions of the study:-

1. The variance reflected by the regression analysis solely reflects the
impact of visibility on sales.
2. The visibility data obtained is the same throughout the month.
3. The order data obtained from the company is the sales data for the
respective months.
4. Since there are different pack sizes on offer, therefore to bring about
uniformity weights have been assigned to them. The weights assigned for
calculation of visibility are:-
i. 2ltrs: 8
ii. 1ltr: 4
iii. 750 ml: 3
iv. 375ml: 1.5
v. 180ml: 0.8
vi. 90ml: 0.4
5. We have given more importance to visibility than availability as visibility
is what ultimately is in the line of sight of the consumer.
6. All the shops have been given same weightage inspite of the fact that sale
of individual shops differ greatly.
7. Stock which has been stored below the delivery counter has been given
zero visibility because they do not fall in the line of sight of the
consumer.
Limitations of Study:-
• The secondary data collected from the company “Sales Data” is actually
excise orders received for the months of February and March, 2010.
• Data collected from outlets varies from time to time each day, since the
shopkeepers sell from the shelves, hence depleting the quantity on the
shelves.
• Many shop-in-charges have not given me permission to undertake the study
in their shops. Thus hampering the study.

• Many shop keepers store their products in counters. This has zero visibility
but the reason behind stocking them below the counters is that the stock only
those products which move fast and which offer them higher margins.
• Certain liquor shops are so small that the shelf may not have enough impact
on the consumer buying behaviour.
• As understood from studying the sales data, there is high variability in sales
during the two months. This is due to special events like Holi, the sale of
liquor rises substantially. Thus hampering our study.
• Due to push selling, orders given by the excise department are high.
Therefore, during special events, anticipating high sales, shops give higher
orders. This also leads to piling up of stock, hence in the next month the
orders given fall.
• Finding a direct correlation between change in availability and visibility over
change in sales is difficult as there are other factors as well that impact sales
like special events, seasonal changes, marketing activities.
Note: A copy of the research data on this study has been attached along with this as a
link. Click here to see them.
Research 3: Point of Purchase:
We have visited 72 outlets and tried to study the status of the point of purchase
activities undertaken by the company. Since advertising is banned in Delhi,
therefore, the company uses tools such as NEXT DRY DAY BOARD in company
printed cardboard, Communication Tower, L-49 license board, and IPL Calendar.
We made a note of the things which were in place and things which needed to be put
into place. The findings greatly helped the company in indentifying areas where it
needed to pay attention.
Note: A copy of the research data on this study is attached separately. Filename:
SHOP OBSERVATION.xls.
Research 4: Study to judge the effectiveness of promoters.
70 shops at which promoters are used by the company were visited and data have
been collected through observation. Promoters are judged on many aspects such as
knowledge about the product, price knowledge, tone of communication, time spent
on a customer. The data regarding this was taken through the interaction with the
shop incharges, promoters and on the basis of observation at these shops.
Analysis of the efficiency of the promoters by judging them on various attributes

• Number of customers attended by the promoter on a daily basis.
Analysis and interpretation:
Here the data suggests that the ideal scenario of more than 20 customers is
being fulfilled by 40% of the surveyed sample. Another 45% are near the target
objective. The remaining 15% are attending less than 10 customers on a daily basis.
But basing the judgment solely on number of customers attended would be
incorrect as other factors such as footfall, type of customers the individual shops
cater to, etc matter as the product under study is of premium category whisky.

• Time spent on a customer by the promoter

A majority of the interactions, i.e. 60%, between the customers and the promoters
take less than a minute. This means that 60% of the times the promoter has to tell the
customers about the benefits of the products they are promoting inside a minute and
convince them to alter their choice.
In order to achieve this, a promoter should be well versed with the benefits of the
products.
• Affect of customer loyalty on the working of the promoter

According to the survey 60% of the sample believes that consumer loyalty for brands
makes it really difficult for the promoters to convince the customers to try companies
brand instead of their regular brand. As stated earlier also that consumers are
generally loyal to their regular brands thus making them reluctant to try new brands.
This is the area where aspects like knowledge of price , product and tone of
communication etc are very important as promoters interact with the end consumer
to make them switch from competitors brand to our brand.

• Free gifts and incentives help boost sales
The above chart shows that majority of the sample believes that the free gifts
distributed by the company through their promoters effect the sale of their brands
positively. On the other hand 30% believes that it does not help boost sale.
• Tone of communication
The above chart shows that 45% i.e. the majority of the promoters are found
to have average communication tone and 20% of the sample is coming under

under bad tone, so we can say that these need improvement. Around 35% of
the sample have good communication skills which is very important in
converting the customer and convincing them.
.
• Understanding the product
The above chart shows that around 65% of the sample are lying in the
category of average i.e. they are not having very good understanding of the
product so they need to improve on this aspect around 15% are having poor
understanding of the product.and the rest 20% of the sample have good
understanding of the product.

• Knowledge about the competitors product
Majority of the sample i.e. 55% of the promoters are having average knowledge
about the competitor’s product. So we can infer that the organization needs to work
on this aspect as the knowledge about the competitors product is basis of the
conversion.
20% of them are having poor knowledge and rest 25% of them lie under the category
of good knowledge about the competitor’s product.
Conclusion
On the basis of data collected and observations made at the the shops while taking to
shop incharges and promoters we can conclude that promoters are effective. These
promoters are basically to improve the Sale of company’s brands and in order to do
it they interact with customers so their communication skill, price knowledge,
understanding of the product are very important aspects. Most of the promoters are
found to lie under average category while judging them on basis of the above stated
aspects thus we can conclude that this stealth marketing strategy of USL to employ
their own employee at the shops to convert competitors customers is effective to an
extent. The idea of this strategy is not giving 100% results but continues
improvement and better management can improvise the very idea.

Suggestion
The organization should organize workshops or training sessions for the promoters
which will help them to increase their own efficiency. These workshops should be
organized by company at regular intervals, the idea behind this to keep a check on
the areas to improve. These training sessions will help the promoters to improve
their communication skills, product knowledge, industry knowledge and other
important aspects which will help them to increase the sale of organizations brands.
.
Please find copies of data, to be used as references, attached along with this file.
1. SPSS data
2. Brand Visibility and Availability SUMMARY
3. Shop Observation
4. USL presentatio

References
The following is a list of some of the references that have been used so far.
1. http://www.theubgroup.com
2. http://www.unitedspirits.in
3. http://www.prenhall.com/kotler
4. http://pernod-ricard-india.com/otherblendedwhisky.html
5. http://www.delhitourism.nic.in/publicpage/liquor.aspx]
6. http://www.excise.delhigovt.nic.in
7. http://www.theubgroup.com/business_beverage_spirits.asp
x
8. http://www.sebi.gov.in/gp/ubfinal.pdf
9. http://excise.delhigovt.nic.in/ex3.asp
10. http://pernod-ricard-india.com
11. www.Wikipedia.org/wiki/united_breweries_group
12. www.Wikipedia.org/wiki/shaw_wallace
13. www.shawwallace.com/brands.html
14. www.theubgroup.com/profile_genesis.aspx
15. www.theubgroup.com/buisness_beverages_spirits.aspx
16. www.whyteandmackay.co.uk
17. www.wikipedia/wiki/whyte_and_mackaycom
18. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/united-spirits-clocks-
sales-volume-of-100-million-cases-to-become-the-worlds-
2nd-largest-spirits-company-2010-04-08

19. www.thehindubusinessline.com/.../2007051706070100.htm
l
20. www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-130650186.html
21. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/biz/india-business/Vijay-
Mallya-led-UB-Group-says-its-worlds-second-largest-
liquor-maker-now/articleshow/5770991.cms
22.
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/United_Breweri
e s_Limited

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