SPECILIZATION PROJECT

Name: - V.vamshikrishna
Program: - Triple Specialization
Roll no.: - 27 – 115
Name of the Faculty Guide/ Mentor: - B. Lohith Kumar
(Assistant Professor)
Major Specialization: - Marketing
Title of the project: - Customer Satisfaction Towards ITC Class Mate Note
Books in B – Schools.
INTRODUCTION
Classmate is an Indian brand of student stationery products. ITC Limited (formerly Indian
Tobacco Company) launched its Classmate brand in 2003 with the note books category.
Subsequently, Classmate added pens, pencils, mechanical pencils and geometry boxes to its
portfolio.

Classmate notebooks consist of many variants including notebooks, long books, practical
books, drawing books and reminder pads, with a theme on the cover and related information
inside. ITC Classmate notebooks use ozone-treated, elemental chlorine free paper, leading to
higher paper quality and shelf life.

The Classmate range, which stands for quality and dependability, is available in more than 180
variants and comes in hard as well as soft covers. Besides, it is available in different rule
formats- single, double, square and unrule format. The entire range has cover designs and
graphic visuals that range from birds, flowers, animals, sports, space, transport and monuments.

The last two pages of the notebook are totally devoted to trivia on various subjects adding fun
to learning.

The Classmate range is priced between Rs 10 and Rs 40. The company would be distributing
the Classmate stationery products through stationery outlets as well as greeting cards outlets
that stock stationery products.

Classmate as a brand promises to deliver notebooks of high quality and Eco-friendly paper.
It is the pioneer of organization of the notebook industry.

Classmate with its product features and customer value have ensured that the customers always
prefer classmate over its competitors. Also, the number one status of the classmate notebook
has been the status symbol for the customers.

Classmate has always catered to the requirements of the target group by introducing variants.
This helped classmate to strengthen the loyalty factor and this helped in establishing the
emotional connect with the brand.
Classmate puts in a lot of focus on brand management. It consistently delivers the product that
matches the expectations and also provides additional features. It enhances the emotional
connection within the people by its ad campaigns which focus on uniqueness and specialties in
a kid.
The market mix component are well put in to use to maintain the brand image.

PRODUCTS
Classmate products in cludenotebooks, pens, pencils, mechanical pencils, diaries,
mathematical drawing instruments, scholastics, erasers, sharpeners and scales and art
stationery products.

NOTEBOOKS
Classmate notebooks consist of many variants including notebooks, long books, practical
books, drawing books and reminder pads, with a theme on the cover and related information
inside.

PENCILS
Classmate's range of pencils includes wooden and mechanical pencils. Variants of wooden
pencils include HB Bonded Lead, HB Jet Black, Carbon Black, 2B Trilobe and Rubber Tipped.

These pencils come with different features, clicking mechanisms, and grips.

PENS
Classmate offers fountain pens, gel pens, roller pens and ball pens.

SOCIAL RESPONSIBLE MARKETING:

Corporate Social Responsibility of classmate. For sale of every four notebooks, Re 1 is donated
to the foundation that manages the education of poor and needy.

INTEGRATED MARKETING:
Classmate employs all components of Integrated Marketing Mix to reinforce the brand image
and increase sales.
RELATIONSHIP MARKETING:
Customers are being provided with all the variants that satisfy their requirements. For dealers
and retailers, classmate offers discount on other stationery products like geometry boxes, pens
and pencils to ensure a good relationship. The discount percentage depends the facts and
quantitative report presented by dealers.

INTERNAL MARKETING:
Classmate's marketing manager is entrusted with responsibilities of developing and managing
all the aspects of email programs to successfully drive traffic, building membership loyalty,
increasing member to member and community engagement, generating incremental member
guaranteed content and creating upgrades.

SEGMENTING, TARGETING, and POSITIONING

Segmentation divides market into well-defined slices which consists of a group of customers
who share a similar set of requirements. Segmentation consists of different variables like
Geographic, Demographic, Psycho-graphic and Behavioural.

Targeting is selecting specific segment(s) which company and marketers feel could generate
maximum revenue.

Positioning is the act of designing a company's offering and image to occupy a distinctive place
in the minds of the target group.

Classmate as it is a stationery product hence it targeted the student’s segment. Their main target
is school children and other students (graduation and post-graduation). Their marketing and
promotions and IMC marketing mix were always student targeted. Classmate also made sure
to win over the influences (parents, elders) of school kids.

Need for the study:

For the success of every business, the customer is at the key factor. Customers are the one who
consumes and use the products and services. So, they decide what to buy and what not to buy.

Products or services which meets the requirement, or the needs are preferred. But in any
business or industry, there is no monopoly of one company, there are always competitors.
These competitors never let you standby. If competitors are their then producers and marketers
do

good strategy for survival in the market. External environmental factors, internal factors,
influence the scope of the business. So, in such a competitive environment customer
satisfaction becomes of prime importance. If customers are satisfied, they will become an asset
for the company on whom it can rely. But if the customers are dissatisfied, they will switch
over to the competitor’s brand and will be a loss for the company. Effective marketing focuses
on two activities: retaining existing customers and adding new customers. Customer
satisfaction measures are critical to any product or service company because customer
satisfaction is a strong predictor of customer retention, customer loyalty and product
repurchase. Customer who are satisfied are also loyal. So, there is less possibility that they will
revoke to the company. So, in such scenario customer satisfaction needs to be analysed. It will
give an insight into where the company is falling short of the expectations of the customers. So

that it can improve upon it and gain customer satisfaction.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
A research is the arrangement of conditions for collection and analysis of data in a
manner that aims to combine relevant to the research purpose with economy in procedure”
Research design is needed because it facilitates the smooth sailing of the various research
operations, thereby making research as efficient as possible yielding maximal information with
minimal expenditure of effort, and money Brand positioning is a medium through which an
organization can portray its customers what it wants to achieve for them and what it wants to
mean to them.
The methodology is the systematic, theoretical analysis of the methods applied to a field
of study. It comprises the theatrical analysis of the body of methods and principle associated
with the branch of knowledge.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE

To understand the consumers and customers satisfaction in target mind — the benefits you
want them to think of when they think of your brand. An effective brand strategy will
maximize customer relevancy and competitive distinctiveness, in maximizing brand value in
minds of customers.