MARKETING MANAGEMENT OF RO SYSTEM

CHAPTER-1

1.1. INTRODUCTION:
Half of the world’s hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from a water-
related disease. For children under five, water borne diseases is the leading cause of death.
Every 15 seconds, a child dies from a water-related disease. For children under five years of
age, water borne diseases are the leading cause of death. Every 15 seconds, a child below 5
years of age dies due to diseases caused by unsafe drinking water. 75% of the rural population
in India does not have access to safe drinking water. 80% of diseases and 33% of deaths are
caused by unsafe drinking water.

Water is the most essential element in human life without which existence of life is not
possible. Water is the resource that covers almost 3-quarters of the planet, and upon which all
life depends. In the history of natural world, water sources have been the centers of life,
providing habitat and sustenance for animals and plants alike. Although 78% of earth is
occupied with water, the amount fit for consumption of daily life is very less. In today’s world
of globalization and industrialization, the pollution of water is a very dangerous aspect
affecting the mankind. So, after many years of scientific research, many institutions came with
an innovation called water purifiers. Water purifier’s usage is rapidly increasing in big cities,
towns, educational institutions, hospitals, heavy industries etc. So to conduct a research on the
usage and effect of branded water purifiers is inevitable, as frequent assessment is a much
needed thing for more innovations and invention. The concept involves four categories
including safety, choice, information, and the right to be heard.

After analyzing the market we have found out that there is a huge market opportunity in
India for water purifiers. The water purifier market is estimated to grow at the rate of 25% to
28% annually. There is huge competition from multinational firms who entered in this field to
capture the market share. Eureka Forbes is presently the market leader in India with its brand
Aqua Guard. It is considered as market leader in many countries. Some other firms along with
local producers existing in the Indian market are Philips, Kent, Godrej and Usha Ltd.

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1.2. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY:
 To determine the marketing mix of RO system

 To study the customer’s preference in using RO system

 To find out factors which affect consumer perception regarding water purifier.
 To know the problem faced by the respondents in using the water purifier
 To offer suggestions and recommendation if any

1.3. SCOPE OF THE STUDY:

This study purpose is to identify how competitive marketing management can help
firms to succeed in the market and also to analyze the scope and importance of marketing
management for successful firms. The Strategic marketing is to identifying competitor is based
on the differences in firms strategic for competing in an industry. The study highlights the
Marketing management of RO system.

1.4. METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY:

The data of the study is collected from both primary and secondary sources. Primary
sources consist of structure questionnaire and secondary sources like books, journals,
magazines, company websites, etc.

1.5. LIMITATION OF THE STUDY:

 The time period is very short.
 Information obtain are not sufficient for the research.
 Many facts and data are such that they are not to be disclosed because of
the confidential nature of the same.

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 CHAPTER-2
2.1. WATER PURIFIER INDUSTRY IN INDIA AT A GLANCE:
Water purifier segment in India is growing at a compounded annual growth rate
(CAGR) of about 25 per cent and is likely to touch Rs 7,000 crore by 2015 from the current
level of about Rs 3,200 crore. According to a new study titled, “Water-Purifier Industry in
India: An Overview”, the sales of water purifiers across India are likely to cross 1.5 crore units
by 2015 from the current level of over 78 lakh units. Growing at about eight per cent annually,
the global water purifier industry is currently poised at about Rs 4.96 lakh crore and is likely
to reach Rs 6.25 lakh crore by 2015. According to the report titled ‘India Water Purifier
Market Forecast & Opportunities, 2017’ the water purifier market in India has shown
tremendous growth opportunities in last couple of years. It is forecasted that the water purifier
market in India will witness compounded annual growth rate of 25% till 2017 to make it a
whooping USD 760 Million market by 2015. There are three types of water purifiers marketed
in India - the ultra-violet, reverse osmosis (RO) and resin- based one. RO-based purifiers are
the most expensive - priced at Rs 13,000 and above, while UV-based purifiers are priced
between Rs 5,000 and Rs 9,000. Non Electric water purifiers are more affordable at Rs 1,500
onwards. The offline water purifier segment will account for 38% (2011: 20%) of the total
market space in 2016. The growth of the offline segment will primarily be attributed to low
pricing (i.e. US$19 per unit) enhanced penetration across rural population and households.

2.2. INDIA’S MAJOR PLAYERS IN WATER PURIFIER INDUSTRY:

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2.3. MARKETING MIX STRATEGY:
PRODUCT
Market leader with a vision to make the world a happy, healthy and better place with its
innovative designs and enhanced technology. They are the pioneers in bringing to India a
revolutionary technology like Reverse Osmosis. Over the years company has diversified to
other products and its huge portfolio includes-
Water Purifier
 Kent Tap Guard
 UV Water Purifiers
 UF Purifiers gravity-based
 Integrated RO Purifier with Chiller
 RO Water Purifier- Under the Counter
Water Softener
 Mini Water Softener
 Autosoft 255 Water Softener
Air Purifier
 Ozone Air Purifiers
 HEPA Car Air Purifiers
 HEPA Room Air Purifiers

PLACE
RO has extended its presence to most parts of India that includes nearly 1,800 towns
and cities

PRICE
RO has become one of the top water purifier brands in India with its annual turnover in
the year 2010 at rupees 250 crores. The company earns nearly 80% of its total revenues from
RO Purifiers.
RO offers its customers premium products that are made with help of latest technology
RO and hence its production costs tend to become a bit higher than its competitor’s prices that
have developed products with UV technology that is comparatively cheaper.
Company has adopted a premium pricing strategy for its products and the company has
been able to maintain it successfully because consumers are now more techno-friendly and
comprehend the importance and value of high-quality products even if its base price is a bit

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higher. They realise that in the long run, their decision will prove fruitful as it has a direct
impact on health.
PROMOTIONS
RO is a known and recognised Indian company with strong brand awareness. It has
adopted several promotional plans to market its products successfully. The company has
created and launched several commercials via television channels, radio, newspapers,
magazines, hoardings and social media platforms.
2.4. MARKET AUDIT AND COMPETITIVE MARKET ANALYSIS:
If an organization wants to make its product or service successful in a particular
country’s market, it should do proper market research such as is there any demand or need of
that product, which is target market, which sources of advertising would be more effective to
communicate to customers, local competition, buying behavior and logistics management.
Base on that a company should make effective market plan then only it can sustain in market
for long time.(KOTLER and KELLER,2009)

So we intend to adopt such strategies and prepare a marketing plan that would help us to
sustain in the highly competitive market of water purifier.

MARKETING OBJECTIVE

TARGET MARKET: Firstly, we will target the government where as we will persuade them
to buy our products by telling them the advantages that how can it is helpful to stop water
disease and it is also cheaper than other companies‟ products. Secondly we will target middle
and low income level customers. By the help of marketing plan, we would try to achieve our
targets.

EXPECTED SALE: The main objective of this marketing plan is to increase sales. Our
expected sale in three year from India is Rs. 10 cr. First year we expected work with 75%
capacity of production second year we expected work with 90% capacity of production and
third year we expected work with 100% capacity of production.

EXPECTED PROFIT: Basically service oriented companies set the price according to their
operation structure such as how much they are spending on warranty period, production cost,
distribution cost, factory overheads and selling and advertising expanses. After analyzing all
these cost they add profit according to their strategy such as if they want to become price
oriented where their price will be less than competitor price then organization will set low

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profit because they want to make profit by selling more volume of products. We are using
same strategy where we will set only Rs. 175 profits in after that we are looking towards more
profit margin than first year.

PRODUCT ADAPTATION: We will also customize our product and service according to
need and demand in the market such as if any customer want more than one year warranty then
we will provide him but we will charge him extra money.

COMPETITION: Most of the companies which have strong presence in the Indian water
purifier market are Eureka Forbes’ Aquaguard (Kaushik, 2003), Unilever’s Pure It, Kent,
Philips, Godrej, Usha Brita etc. Our nearest competitor is Aquasure of Eureka Forbes and Pure
It of HUL and their cost is much higher than ours, which is above to Rs. 2000

2.5. SALES PROMOTION:

In the last decade, organizations had been spending huge amount of their promotion
budget on advertising. But now due to increase in the competition and change in technology
many marketers have realized that there are many others effective and cheaper means of
promotion by which company can promote their products more effectively. Many companies
are developing fully integrated marketing programs that include consumer and trade
promotions. Sales promotion is a very effective short term incentive to encourage customers to
purchase the products.

By the help of trade show, special offering such as free home delivery, free service we
will try to increase our sale.

Personal Selling

Personal selling is one of the most important variance for water purifier industry. Most
of the organization is using it to increase the sales and aware the consumer about the product.
In this process, a salesman from company directly will come to meet consumers where he will
educate consumers, aware them about the advantage of the products and persuade them to buy
the products.

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Retailers:

For retailing, we intend to put our products into various small and big retail stores
wherein our wholesalers would be in direct contact with our retailers and all the business
dealings would be done through this channel only.

Method of operation for each type:

The main method of operation will be by providing incentives or commissions on

product sold. Beyond that for the display of the product in conventional stores as minimum one
time payment is made to the Shop keeper. No Credit policy is planned for the initial launch.

Scale of Operation for each type:

The scale of operation planned is large. The main entry into the market is via an
awareness program which highlights the importance of usage of unadulterated water and also
how “pure shield” as a product can bring in the difference. The main USP is the price

Wholesale market:

India has a large number of wholesale and retail distributions. The strategy that “Pure
shield” is going to adopt is that to have one main wholesaler who has got the maximum reach
in the country and then tie up with the wholesaler for the distribution of the product.

2.6. MARKET SEGMENTATION:

We have segmented our market on the basis of income and geographic. We will
position ourselves in the market as new technology, affordable and good quality (value for
money) product.

GEOGRAPHIC SEGMENTATION: Initially the product will be launched on the trial basis
in metros. After this we would move ahead to tier 2 cities. The major targets then onwards
would be cities where municipalities and governments face problem in supplying clean and
safe drinking water.

INCOME: We segment the market according to income level also because Pure Shield is the
world’s cheapest water purifier, does not require electricity consumption and is easy to store.
The target segment on the basis of income is lower middle class and middle income earning
group in India.

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COMPETITOR’S ANALYSIS Importance of understanding competition: When a company
launches its product in the market, it tries to position its brand uniquely among other brands
present in the market. Therefore it is critical to understand the strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats of each of those competitors along with the industry structure itself.
This knowledge is important because it’s the competition that helps us to own the unique
benefit in our customer’s mind that our competitors‟ have not addressed and cannot easily
address in the future. In our case it is pricing.

Rational behind identifying the competitors: Analyzing the competitors is an essential

component of corporate strategy. Knowing about the competitors and their profile will help the
concerned organization in knowing its weaknesses that it may exploit. A detailed profile of the
competitors, helps an organization in getting an in depth description of the competitor’s
background, its unique selling proposition, financial condition, its strategies, the products and
the market share. In our case, our main competitor is Eureka Forbes and Kent.

Competitor’s products: Most of the companies which have strong presence in the Indian
water purifier market are Eureka Forbes‟ Aqua guard, Unilever’s PureIt, Kent, Philips, Godrej,
Usha Brita etc.

Competitor’s prices: In order to the market segmentation, our product is design for the
lower income segment which is 79% of total population of India. In this segment, if we
compare our product with competitor’s product, our product is the cheapest (Rs.799) water
purifier in the market. Our nearest competitor is Aqua Sure of Eureka Forbes and Pure It of
HUL and their cost is much higher than ours, which is above to Rs. 2000 .

Competitor’s promotion and advertising methods: In its promotional and advertising

strategy Eureka Forbes is positioning its brand as an environmental friendly company and
using a combination of varieties such as direct marketing, event marketing and many CSR
activities (Eureka Forbes). Usha Shriram Brita is selling its products through door to door
marketing in India and exporting products from India.

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2.7. PROMOTION AND ADVERTISEMENT

Promotion Mix

Today every organization spends billions of amounts on advertising, sale promotion,

direct marketing, personal selling and sponsorship. They establish a separate department which
consider only on marketing communication channel operation because in present scenario
spending on marketing communication mix is considered as a long term investment not as
expensive which helps organization to improve their turnover and goodwill. Integrated
Marketing Communication are the channels by which a firms inform, convince and sustain
consumers for a long time which help them directly and indirectly to increase their sale and
profit. They create the need and demand of new or existing product by telling the uses and the
advantages of the products through Marketing Communication. (Kotler & Keller, 2009)

Our promotion mix includes personal selling, trade shows, demos to our potential
consumers etc.

Advertising Mix

Advertisement is a paid form of promotion of ideas, goods and services by an identify

sponsor. It is the cost effective way to promote the products and in the same way it is also
highly accessible means it is only the way to reach out majority of the customers. There are
many sources for advertising such as:

Print Advertisement: Newspaper advertisement is one of the easiest ways to convey the
message to majority of the customers. We will give advertisement in newspaper where most of
the consumer can see our advertisement and in the same way we will also tie-up with famous
branded and fashion magazine where we will give pastors and calendars where local celebrities
will use our products.

Broadcasting advertisement: We will also use TV advertisement because by visual ads

we can show how it is used and what the advantages are by using it.

Radio advertisement: Radio has become a very effective mean for advertisement as the
reach offered by radio is unmatchable. Hence we also intend to advertise our product through
radios in local cities as well as through Prasar bharti

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 CHAPTER-3
3.1. DATA ANALYSIS:
Are you aware of different water born diseases?

No. of Resopodent

People aware about water related diseases. 80

eople are not aware about water related 20

diseases

Analysis

 From the 100 sample 80% people aware about water related diseases. But still 20%
people are not aware about water related diseases.

How do you treat your drinking water?

No. of Resopodent

people are doing nothing for their drinking 19

water

people use boiled water for their drinking 25

purpose

people are using non electrical water purifier 40

people are using electrical water purifier. 16

Analysis

 19% people are doing nothing for their drinking water. They are not using any kind of
water purifier for the purification of their drinking water. They are getting water from
various sources like ground water, tanks, ponds, open wells and tube wells. 25% people
use boiled water for their drinking purpose. 40% people are using non electrical water
purifier. Only 16% people are using electrical water purifier. From the above mention
figure we found most of people are not taking their drinking water seriously. They
simply adopt traditional water purification method i.e purify it and then drink it.

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Do you agree that boiled water is not necessarily safe water?

No. of Resopodent

agree with the view that “Boiled water is not 45

necessarily safe water

people disagree with the statement. 55

Analysis

 Out of 100sample only 45% agree with the view that “Boiled water is not necessarily
safe water”. But 55% people disagree with the statement.

What factor will motivate you to purchase water purifier?

No. of Resopodent

people are motivated by brand name 35

Purification 28

technology and finally 26

Price 11

Analysis

 In this present study brand name motivates most customers to purchase water purifier
followed by purification, then technology and finally price. 35% people are motivated
by brand name followed by 28% by purification, then 26% by technology and finally
11% by price.

Are you satisfied with water purifier prices?

No. of Resopodent

people perceive that, their water purifier prices are affordable 50

respondents suggested the prices of water purifier have to be revised. 32

respondents agreed to the prices of water purifier to be high 18

Analysis

 Present study shows that 50% people perceive that, their water purifier prices are
affordable. Some of respondents agreed that somehow they have managed this price.
32% respondents suggested the prices of water purifier have to be revised. 18%
respondents agreed to the prices of water purifier to be high.

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Have you recently come across any kind of marketing activities for purifier?

No. of Resopodent

customer have been attracted through road 16

shows

through direct marketing 23

through direct marketing 61

Analysis

 When customers are asked that whether they have come across any kind of marketing
activities, the response was 16% customer have been attracted through road shows
(kiosk) and 23% through direct marketing and 61% through demonstration.

Does it remove impurities caused due impurities?

No. of Resopodent

believed that their water purifier removes 54

impurities from water

respondents disagreed that their water purifier is 25

able to remove impurities from water.

respondents are not aware whether their water 21

purifier removes impurities from water or not.

Analysis

 From the total sample size, 54% believed that their water purifier removes impurities
from water. But 25% respondents disagreed that their water purifier is able to remove
impurities from water. 21% respondents are not aware whether their water purifier
removes impurities from water or not.

Does your water purifier consume more electricity?

No. of Resopodent

customers stated that their water purifier consumes less than 25 watts. 31

stated that, their water purifier consumes more than 25 watts. 8

customers are unaware about the fact that whether their water purifier 61
consumes electricity or not

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Analysis

 31% customers stated that their water purifier consumes less than 25 watts. 8% stated
that, their water purifier consumes more than 25 watts. 61% customers are unaware
about the fact that whether their water purifier consumes electricity or not.

How frequently do you change candle in your purifier?

No. of Resopodent

customer change their water purifier candle once in a year, 35

customer change water purifier candle twice in a year 38

change their water purifier candle in more than one year 27

Analysis

 35% customer change their water purifier candle once in a year, 38% customer change
water purifier candle twice in a year and 27% change their water purifier candle in
more than one year.

Do you get any type of after sales services from the company?

No. of Resopodent

respondents say yes, 60

respondent say no. 40

Analysis

 Regarding after sales services of water purifier 60% respondents say yes, where as 40%
respondent say no.

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 CHAPTER-4
4.1. FINDINGS:
 Some respondents are well aware about water born diseases whereas some are not.
 The use of non electrical water purifiers is maximum whereas others prefer boiling
water.
 Maximum respondents agree that only boiled water is safe water.
 During purchasing of water purifier maximum consumers prefer health & safety to
price.
 Maximum respondents are motivated by brand name rather than technology or
purification or price.
 Maximum respondents agree that water purifier prices are affordable.
 Demonstration is the major marketing activity for attracting customers.
 Maximum respondents believe that their water purifier removes impurities.
 Maximum respondents have no idea as to the consumption of electricity through water
purifier.
 Maximum respondents are changing purifier candle twice in a year.
 Some respondents agreed that they are not getting after sales services from their water
purifier company.

4.2. SUGGESTIONS:
 Companies should be considered manufacturing of water purifier for lower class
families that is at price which is affordable.
 Companies should be reduced the electricity charges cost as it is the major burden of
the respondents.
 Most of the respondents have pinpointed to reduce wastage of water in the purification
process.

4.3. CONCLUSION:
Clean water is a matter of universal importance. Like all; water is not a choice we need
it to survive. So it is deeply disturbing to learn that drinking is the main health hazard in India.
In India nearly 80% people die due to water related diseases. Both urban and rural areas in
India are suffering from scaring of clean water for domestic use. Water purifier is necessary
now a day especially if underground water is used for drinking. Cooking with and drinking
purified water helps to ensure a family’s peace of mind by knowing there is no foreign matter
intheir water.

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 REFERENCES
 Nilima Das, (2013) A Study on Factors Affecting Consumer Purchase Decision of Water
Purifier, International Journal of Management &Business Studies, 3 (2), 59-62.
 BhuyanMayurakshi, Husain Zahid, (2013), Shortage of Domestic Water in Jorhat Town,
Assam, India, International Research Journal of Social Sciences, 2 (6), 24-29.
 Thilagavathi P, and Ramya S. (2015). A Study on Consumer Attitude Towards Water Purifier
with Special Reference to Erode City,International Research Journal of Social Science, 4 (6), 1-
6.
 Prasaath G.N. (2015)Brand Preference in Water Purifiers, International Journal of Engineering,
Business and Enterprise Applications, 11 (2) 185-188.

WEBSITES:

 www.google.com

 www.wikipedia.com

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