Grameenphone Product Mix A product is anything that can be offered to a market and that is potentially va lued by a target market

for the benefit or satisfactions it provides, including objects, s ervices, organization, places, people and ideas. As in a service providing business Grameenphone provides different types of serv ice in its market as its products. In telecommunication business coverage and quality i s more important than the number of product or service offered. With its best coverage and good quality Grameenphone has become the number one mobile operator in Bangladesh. Grameenphone has categorized its products in two types. These are 1. Standardized and 2. Customized Products. Standardized Product Standardized Product also has been divided into two types: Pre-Paid and Post-Pai d. ? Pre-Paid The brand name of prepaid products is Smile Prepaid Standard and Smile (Mobile t o Mobile). Smile (Prepaid Standard) Shohoj Package Aapon Package Bondhu Package Smile Standard prepaid allows consumers to make and receive ISD and NWD call in all telecom operators. Smile (Mobile to Mobile) Smile Mobile to Mobile allows its consumers to make and receive call from any mo bile ? Postpaid Xplore Xplore is the brand name of post paid product of Grameenphone. It is categorized in two types: Xplore Package 1 and Xplore Package 2. Both of these Post-paid produc ts has BTTB (Local, NWD, ISD and Economy ISD) connectivity, Flexible Credit Policy, Wide collection of value added service (SMS, EDGE, Welcome Tune, Voice Mail, Voice SMS) and International Roaming facility. Customized Product Business Solution is provided as a customized service to different medium and larg e organization and Professionals. This customization allows interesting call and s ms charge among the member of the organization, fax and internet service within the organi zation branch. The customized service of one organization is never told to other or dis closed. Separate Strategic Business Unit (SBU) is responsible for the success of each of this product. As the way, this organization has proved that SBU is important for the success of a product in its market. Interestingly d-juice , which is claimed as a life style brand of Grameenphone, is not mentioned with this product line. Different types of value added services are provided with these products as prod uct

feature. Value Added Services With Grameenphone s VAS, consumer can use mobile phone for many other purposes than making voice calls. With Grameenphone s VAS, consumer can use mobile phone to : Send and receive text messages, picture messages, voice messages Download ring tones, logos, wallpapers Obtain news updates, cricket score updates Browse the Internet and also send and receive e-mails Transfer data and send fax Participate in competitions and vote for opinions Health line services. Grameenphone s Strategic Analysis of Existing Products Grameenphone regularly evaluates the performance of its product. This evaluation of the performance of the product portfolio provides its management with diagnostic information to guide its strategies for new products, product modification, and product elimination. But the strategic analysis of existing products requires tracking t he performance of the products in the portfolio, as shown below: For tracking product performance Grameenphone s management first establish the criteria and levels of performance for gauging product performance. These includ e both financial and non financial factors. Because of the various demand and cost interrelationships among products, an information system is established to measu re how well a particular product is doing. The purpose of this tracking system is to ma intain a product review process that will help to spot problem products or products featu res. Grameenphone s management uses the diagnosis to help select a strategy for elimina ting the problem. Action includes adding new products, cost reduction, product improv ement, marketing strategy alteration or product elimination. Product life cycle analysis The length of product life cycle is shorter in telecommunication business. So in a few years Grameenphone s products moved from its introduction in to the growth stage and it is now in maturity stage. This first movement through the product life cy cle also creates the need to alter the cycle by introducing new products or products feature. Product portfolio analysis Grameenphone s strategic analysis of the products portfolio determines if each product is measuring up to management s minimum performance criteria, and assesses the strength and weaknesses of the product relative to other products i n the portfolio. Portfolio grids highlight differences among products. After identifying the rela tive attractiveness and business strength of the products in the portfolio, a more comprehensive analysis of specific performance factors may be appropriate, including: Profit contribution. Barriers to entry. Sales fluctuations. Extent of capacity utilization

 Responsiveness of sales to prices, promotional activities, service levels, and other influences. The nature of technology (maturity, volatility, and complexity). Alternative production and process opportunities. Several of these factors are included in the grid analysis when composite grid d imensions are used. Grameenphone s Strategy for existing products Cost reduction, product alteration, product elimination works as a strategy for existing products within this organization. Cost reduction Grameenphone s lower cost comparatively its higher class products quality give thi s company major advantage over the competition. Grameenphone s technological innovation, marketing productivity and high volume consumer helps to maintain th is lower cost. Product alteration Products are often improved by changing their features and quality. A number of features are included with Grameenphone s products. And these features provide a way of differentiating a brand against competition. In November, 2006 Grameenphone renamed its products as Easy to Smile; Regular to Explore. A number of new features also have been added with these products in that time. But consumer s preferences suggest that quality is more important than features in the choice of taking connection. So quality improvements are also considered as an important strategy for increasing competitive advantage. Product elimination In deciding to drop a product from product line, Grameenphone s management considers variety of performance criteria in addition to the product s sales and product priorities. In November, 2006 Grameenphone eliminates some of its produc ts from product line such as Any Time-300, Any Time-450 and Any Time-500. But product elimination is a very important decision that is thoroughly evaluated by Grameenphone s management. Because Grameenphone s core value is Make it easy . Those similar type of products confused customer. There fore these have bee n eliminated so that consumers feel easy to use Grameenphone s products. Grameenphone s corporate culture committed to provide good quality services .It believes that quality improvement is an organizational responsibility. So this w ill continuingly introduce good quality services or product comparatively minimum pr ice. Analyzing the Pricing Situation of GP: Price Elasticity: It is the percentage change in the quantity demanded when price changes, divided by the percentage change in the price. GP has gained high price elasticity in the marke t. Non-price factors: The Gold holders pay a high amount of money in buying to get the high facility. Cost Analysis: Product cost provides essential information for pricing decisions. To analyze co st, GP uses the following steps: Competitor Analysis: Aktel is the major competitor of GP as it is consistent in its rates and facilit ies and gain a most part of the market shares although Banglalink has more promotional activiti es and

call charge, they have not been able to hold the market yet. GP fixes its compet itor on the basis of market share. They fix price in keeping pace with the competitors price and their probable responses to an alternative price strategies. Legal And Ethical Considerations Of GP: Price fixing in channels of distribution: GP provides its distributors at low cost. In pricing the channels of distributio n, it has discrimination. Price information: GP publishes articles and advertisements in all national dailies and television about the form and the availability of price information for the customers. Grameenphone Distribution Mix ? Importance Of Distribution In GP: To perform the above task effectively GP uses its own distribution channels, whi ch are distinguishable from others. When initially selecting a channel of distribution for a new product, the pricing strategy and desired positioning of the product may influen ce the choice of the channel. Once the channel of distribution design is complete and responsibilities for performing the various marketing functions are assigned, th ese decisions establish guidelines for pricing, advertising and personal selling str ategies. GP is very much efficient in establishing these types of strategies. It helps them to maintain an exclusive distribution channel to serve the end-users. ? Mission Of GP s Distribution Strategy: The motto of GP in establishing distribution channels is: to be the nearest of t he customers. And exactly their motto is realistic. GP is the nearest company of th e customers. It has opened all the doors to serve their customers most convenientl y. ? Overview Of GP s Distribution System: The number of GP owned distribution centers all over the country is around 18. T he centers serve customers directly and deal them with guidelines and advices to ma ke the communication through network system easier and quicker. Besides there are aroun d 60 franchises spreading all over the country right now. These franchises deal with the customer problems and requirements; they gets com plains from customers, they collect creative suggestions from the valuable customers. A nd other channels- such as dealers, retailers- are making the products and services of GP more diversified to the customers. GP has not come to its present situation instantly. Various types of changes inc urred during the years of its business. We will see the different channels at differen t time period one by one. Initial Distribution Channels From the beginning of the business of GP, it supplied its SIM to the distributio n centers.

Dealers got the product from the centers and sold those to retailers. The retail ers, at last, sold the product to end users. This was a traditional channel. Sometimes, end-us ers purchased products from dealers as a whole to minimize the purchasing cost. Comp any did not sell directly to the customers at that time. Only three years ago GP introduced a new and convenient channels of distribution to overcome the traditional system. The two tails of the channel is the most attrac tion part to the customers. Through around 30 distribution centers, GP distributes all key parts of the coun try. Dealers, as an intermediary, purchase the products from the centers and disburse those to two types of retailers. One is exclusive retail outlet and another one is non-ex clusive retail outlets are permitted to sell the products of only GP. They are the guara nteed or authorized retailers. Non-exclusive retail outlets can sell other companies produ ct as well as they have no relation the customers or end-users buy products from eithe r of two types of retail outlets. They get the product or service of company in the most convenient way at the student time period. Grameenphone Promotional Mix Grameenphone uses promotional activities that communicate the merits of the prod uct and persuade target customers to buy it. Grameenphone can succeed to acquire mor e than 10 million customers as of December 2006 not only providing good service but als o using high frequency promotional activities. Grameenphone uses most of the promo tional Grameenphone Promotional tools Advertising Sales Promotion Public Relation Personal Selling Price packs Cash Refund Offers Prizes Patronage Award Premium Price Offs Publications Events News Sponsorships Public service activities Identity Media Newspaper Television Radio Magazines Newslette r Internet Inside Sales

Force tools to give message for its customers on the new product & existing product an d product features. Grameenphone must do more than make good product- they have to inform customers about product benefits and carefully position products in consu mers mind. To do this Grameenphone promotes the promotion tools are: ? Grameenphone Advertising process : Any paid form of nonperson presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or service s by an identified sponsor. Grameenphone advertising can introduce the company and the products. If the product embodies new features, advertising can explain them . Advertising can remind customers of how to use the products and reassures them about their purchase. Grameenphone Advertising Objectives: Grameenphone uses advertising as a promotional tool to make a communication task to be accomplished with a specific target audience during a specific period of t ime. Grameenphone Advertising objectives Informative advertising Telling the market about a new product Suggesting new uses for a product Informing the market of a price change Explain how the product works Describing available services Building a company image Persuasive Advertising Building brand preference Encouraging switching to Grameenphone Changing customer s perception of product attributes Persuading customer to purchase now Persuading customer to receive a sales call Reminder Advertising Reminding consumer that the product may be needed in the near future Reminding consumer where to buy it Grameenphone Advertising tools: Grameenphone uses different types of media to acquire different types of objecti ves. To select media depend on the target audience, product characteristics, message characteristics and cost. The advertising tools that grameenphone uses as a medi a to communicate with the existing and potential customers are: o Newspapers Newspaper covers all sorts of information about grameenphone s product. It mainly covers the informative and reminder advertising. Target audience Message characteristics Duration Cost Literate people. Flexibility, high believability Short life Lower o Television Television is an effective media for good mass-market coverage. Television telec asts messages about new product and it is mostly used for persuasive advertisement. Target audience Message characteristics Duration Cost All types of people but teenagers influences more High attention, high reach, high clutter Long life High

o Radio Within a lower cost, grameenphone broadcast their massage through radio. It is a better way for persuasive advertisement. Target audience Message characteristics Duration Cost All types of people but teenagers influences more. Audio presentation only but usage mass and cover high geographical area. Relatively short life Lower o Magazines An effective media that grameenphone uses as a promotional tool to achieve the customer s awareness about grameenphone and its product. It is an effective media for informative and persuasive advertisement. Target audience Message characteristics Duration Cost Middle and Upperincome audience. High-quality reproduction, credibility and prestige. long life Medium o Newsletters Grameenphone publishes newsletter regularly to inform existing customer as well as potential customer about company s recent activities and offer. Target audience Message characteristics Duration Cost Loyal consumers and interest persons Very high selectivity, full control. Short life Relatively low cost o Internet Internet performs effective promotional tools grameenphone advertising. It gathe rs all sort of information about grameenphone. Target audience Message characteristics Duration Cost Internet browser High selectivity, interactive possibilities. Long time still update Relatively low cost ? Grameenphone Sales promotions Process : Grameenphone uses sales promotions that consist of a diverse collection of incen tive tools, mostly short term, designed to simulate quicker or greater purchase of particular products or service by consumers or the trade. Grameenphone Sales Promotion Objectives: Sales promotion tools vary on their specific objectives. Grameenphone uses sales promotion to acquire broader promotion objectives: Grameenphone Sales promotion objectives For consumer Encouraging purchase of large sized units. Building trail among nonusers Attracting switchers away competitors brand For retailers Persuading retailers to carry new items Encouraging stocking of related items Offsetting competitive promotions

Building brand loyalty Gaining entry into new retailers outlets For the sales force Including encouraging support of a new product Encouraging more prospecting Sales promotion tools: Many tools can used to accomplish sales promotion objectives. Describes of the m ain consumer, trade and business tools that grameenphone uses as short-term incentiv es to encourages the purchase the product follow: o Price-packs: Nokia handset festival @ GPC s Grameenphone Ltd. kicked off the first handset bundled promotion at its Grameenphone Centers around the country. Under this promotion free GP connections and bonus talk time, Tk.660 to Tk.2000 depending on handset, are bei ng offered with select popular Nokia models. o Cash Refund Offers: thankyou thankyou is grameenphone way of expressing their gratitude, because not only has consumer loyalty touched us but has also made grameenphone the preferred mobile operator. Grameenphone thankyou program provides consumer with a number of rewards that will make consumer mobile phone experience with gramophone even more satisfying. o Prizes: grameenphone pothe pothe utchob Grameenphone s mobile transport travels all around the country and arranges different types of amusing game/contest for their loyal customers and offers att ractive prizes who win the game /contest. o Patronage Awards: thankyou crown, Be Special, Be crown Grameenphone offers the prestigious thankyou crown membership to especially cate r to you. To enrich your life, grameenphone offers premium services and exclusive discounts. Membership Average Monthly Usage Over Last Six Months Discount on SIM Replacement Platinum BDT 6500 and above 100% Gold BDT 4500 to below BDT 6500 75% Silver BDT 2500 to below BDT 4500 50% You will also enjoy exceptional service at all our customer touch-points. Just introduce yourself with your Grameenphone number and put your feet up! We will take care of your problem while you relax. o Premium: Enjoy free stuffs with a new xplore Package2 connection With every new xplore Package 2 connection, you will get 25 Text SMSs & 25 free Voice SMSs, and 5 GP branded Ring tones. Subscriber has to use the free content and VAS within 2 months after activation. o Price-Off: 450 minutes free! All Business Solutions postpaid subscribers will enjoy 150 minutes free talktime per month for 3 months to call their F&F numbers. For new subscribers, the offer is valid from the date of activation and for exis ting

subscribers, the offer is valid from 28 March '07. ? Grameenphone Public relations process: Public relation is one of the grameenphone strategic promotion tools building go od relations with the company s various publics by obtaining favorable publicity, building up a good corporate image . Grameenphone Public relation Objectives: Public relations can have a strong impact on public awareness at a muck lower co st than advertising can. Grameenphone use public relations to communicate with thei r publics by setting some public relation objectives. The objectives are: Grameenphone Public relation objectives Build marketing excitement before media advertising tools. Build a one-to-one relationship with consumers. Build a core customer base. Turn satisfied customers into advocates. Grameenphone Public relation tools: Grameenphone public relation uses several tools. The tools are following: o Publications: Grameenphone published some sorts of materials to reach and influence their targ et market. Some publication materials are: Annual report Articles Grameenphone Newsletter o Events: Grameenphone arranges some special event to draw attention to new products or companies activities. Some special events that grameenphone arranges frequently: Seminar Conference Trade shows o Sponsorship: Grameenphone promote their brands and corporate name by sponsoring sport and cultural events and highly regarded causes. Some current sponsorship by grameenphone are: Grameenphone sponsors International Conference on ICT Official sponsor of Bangladesh Cricket Grameenphone sponsor International Trade Fair in Khulna o News: Grameenphone finds or creates favorable news about the company, its product and its people and get the media to accept press release and attend press conference. Grameenphone in its official website media site covers all news about grameenpho ne, its product and its people. o Public-Service Activities: Grameenphone has always been more than just a mobile phone service provider in Bangladesh. It builds goodwill by contributing money and time to good causes. Public service activities that performed by grameenphone are: Mother's Day thankyou vaccination discount. On the occasion of World Mothers Day , subscribers may also receive the following benefits: ? Samorita Hospital offers 25% off on screening test. ? Japan Bangladesh Friendship Hospital offers 50% off on screening test and free EPI vaccination. Honoring unsung heroes. Grameenphone in collaboration with Prothom Alo, a leading daily newspaper in Bangladesh, organized a program titled Prothom Alo-Grameenphone Shommanona 2006 . The aim of this program was to bring the little-known development practitioners to the limelight creating inspiration and confidence for others.

o Identify Media: Grameenphone creates a good image by using promotional tools. Grameenphone promotes the public relationship by its attractive logo, signs, uniform and othe rs. ? Grameenphone personal selling process: Grameenphone personal selling is a good way to communicate the target customers. It focuses on more creative types of selling and the processes of building and managing an effective sale forces. Grameenphone personal selling Objectives: Personal selling serves as the grameenphone s personal link to customer. The sales representative is the grameenphone to many of its customers. Personal selling performs for establish some objectives. Those are: Grameenphone personal selling objectives To diagnose customer problem and providing services to the customers. Information gathering about the market. Building company s goodwill. Increasing the sales forces. Grameenphone personal selling tool: Grameenphone mainly focus on inside sales forces that conduct business from thei r customer care centre via telephone or visits from prospective buyers.