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P. S. VEERAMANI 243 1023854

A STUDY ON CONSUMERS BUYING BEHAVIOUR OF SMS MARKETING WITH REFERENCE TO SMS COUNTRY AT CHENNAI

PROJECT GUIDANCE
 Internal Guide

A. Uma Devi Department of Management Studies J. Jerome Business Development Manager

 External Guide

Introduction to the topic

The project was undergone in SMS COUNTRY PRIVATE Ltd for a period of one month. And my project topic is all about A STUDY ON CUSTOMERS BUYING BEAHVIOUR OF SMS MARKETING WITH REFERENCE TO SMS COUNTRYAT CHENNAI. Mobile advertising has become one of the most popular applications in mobile commerce, particularly in the form of text advertising through SMS (Short Messaging Service). However, in the study of mobile advertising little is known regarding the effectiveness of SMS advertising and its utility by various customers. It is essential for a service proving company to understand the consumers requirement and their needs. So the organization has to take steps to study on understanding the consumers expectation from the service provider. This study done for 30days helps the organization to understand the consumers needs and their buying behaviour of bulk SMS. This study states the various reasons for which the consumers are buying this Bulk SMS and the various purposes they are using. For any service proving organization it is important to concentrate on the marketing methods and strategy. This study helps the organization to concentrate on the marketing strategy of bulk SMS. Overall this topic of study is taken to help the organization understand the various aspects of the customer needs and requirements, also the organizations marketing management.

Statement of the problem

Technological advancements have provided various new mediums for advertising to consumers and have further allowed organisations to better reach consumers with regards to the frequency and impact of advertising. The need to create new mediums for advertising has lead to the creation of new-age media such as short message service (SMS) advertising. Mobile advertising has become one of the most popular applications in mobile commerce, particularly in the form of text advertising through SMS (Short Messaging Service). Thus the need of this study is to find out the buying behaviour of SMS ads by the business customers, and to analyse why, how and how much the business customers are attracted to SMS ads. The study on this buying behaviour shows the overall attitude of the business customers towards the SMS marketing and the effectiveness of the SMS ads in the market. To identify the satisfaction level of customers with bulk SMS service and to suggest wants and means for the improvement of SMS marketing.

Objectives of Study
 Primary Objective:

To Study on customers buying behaviour towards SMS marketing with reference to SMS COUNTRY at Chennai.  Secondary Objective: 1. To find out usage level of various purpose of bulk SMS service. 2. To identify the satisfaction level of Customer with bulk SMS service. 3. To suggest wants and means for the improvement.
1.

Industrial Profile
y Mobile y y y y y

advertising related to online or internet advertising. Advertisers and media industry will increasingly take account of a bigger and fast-growing mobile market. Mobile phones outnumber TV sets by over 3 to 1and PC based internet users by over 4 to 1. SMS advertising estimate over 90% of mobile marketing revenue worldwide. Other forms include MMS advertising, advertising within mobile games and mobile videos. The possibility of fast delivery of the messages and the ubiquity of the technology make it ideal for time- and location-sensitive advertising.

Company profile
 Type  Industry  Founded  Founder(s)  Key people

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 Services  Subsidiaries  Website

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Private Short Message Service April 16, 2003 Satya Kalyan Yerramsetti and Raju Kalluri Subba Rao Yerramsetti (Executive Chairman) Sekhar Rao (Non-Executive Director) Satya Kalyan Yerramsetti (Chief Executive Officer) Raju Kalluri (Director - Technology) Sanyog Jain (Chief Operating Officer) Ravindra Kumar Yerramsetti (Chief Commercial Officer) Ramesh Thimmana (Chief Technology Officer) Telecommunication services and solutions By2Media SISRB Technologies Pvt. Ltd. www.SMSCountry.com

Review of Literature
1. In the study Dimitris Drossos, Geroge M. Giaglis, George Lekakos, Flora Kokkinaki, Maria G. Stavraki, Athens University of Economics and Business have concluded the SMS marketing shows a positive attitude towards advertisements. Muk and Babin's model study says that there is a cultural influences on adoption of sms advertising between American and Taiwanese consumers . The findings by Fatim Bamba, Stuart J. Barnes, Norwich Business School, University of East Anglia, UK in this study show us that consumers perceptions of SMS ads are rather negative and that can be made positive by getting permission and acceptance in every stage of SMS advertising. The research Irene Roozen and Emilie Genin, HUB RESEARCH PAPER 2008/50, OKTOBER 2008 analysed the effectiveness of SMS advertising, in terms of attitude towards the advertisement, attitude towards the brand and purchase intention. On the basis of the research results we could conclude that the variable location and time influences the attitude towards the ads.

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Scope of study
1. This study is mainly to know the customer expectation. 2. It is also focused on the customer retention. 3. It also gives the latest applications to all the products in

the SMS country. 4. To identify the satisfaction level of the customers. 5. To enhance more business opportunities by widening the customer base.

Limitations of the study

1. 2. 3.

Most of the customers were dealing with the company through phone and email thus it is difficult to meet more customers in company. The area of study is limited to Chennai only; hence the results may not be applicable for other geographical areas. Validity & Reliability of the data are obtained depends on the responses from the customer.

Research methodology
 Research design  Sampling design  Survey method  Data collection method  Sampling size  Area surveyed  Time frame of study

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Descriptive Research Convenience Sampling Questionnaire Primary data 40 Chennai 7th July 5th August

Findings
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

40 percent of the customers are agreeing with the cheapest cost of the bulk SMS. Majority of clients using bulk SMS service for more than 21 times in a month. Majority of the customers are reliable with the current operator. 30 percent of the customers choose operators on the basis of price. 50 percent of the customers prefer free SMS package as offer. 50 percent of the customers prefer SMS ads because they found it is the cheapest medium of advertisement. 77.5 percent of the customers believe the current operator and to persuade the operator to others.

Suggestions
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Lot of the clients are loyal to the company so company can improve their value added service and special offer to the loyal customer to retain them. Because to minimize sales consultant and miscellaneous cost. Consumer prefer price as one of the major criteria for selection of product. So company will do strategy in competitive pricing. Basically bulk SMS is a seller based market. So sales consultant should create personal relationship with client. Company should try to improve their service system because it major influence in buying behavior even try to create new service department to improve the service. Respondents are not preferred direct approach from Sales peoples. So need to develop marketing strategy to attract the attention of the customers and to get direct call for their products from client side.

Conclusion
y Concluded that the consumer preference and buying

behavior towards Bulk SMS in Chennai is more towards Web Interface and is mostly used for SMS Advertising. y SMS Country Networks Pvt. Ltd Chennai has to concentrate more on SMS timely delivery, customer coverage, pricing and service to increase its current market share. y SMS Country has huge opportunity to be a market leader, where they have to update themselves through market research periodically.

Bibliography
 

Determinants of Effective SMS Advertising: An Experimental Study, Dimitris Drossos, Geroge M. Giaglis, George Lekakos, Flora Kokkinaki, Maria G. Stavraki, Athens University of Economics and Business. Cultural influences on adoption of SMS advertising: A study of American and Taiwanese consumers. Alexander Muk, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Texas State University-San Marcos Attitudes of young consumers towards SMS advertising, D. L. R Van der Waldt*, T. M. Rebello and W. J. Brown, Department of Marketing and Communication Management, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa. The Perceptions and Attitudes towards SMS Advertising in Hong KongGavin Cheung Sze Chun & Li Lilly Kar Wan, 07013930 & 07013620. Evaluating Consumer Permission in SMS Advertising, Fatim Bamba, University of East Anglia, UK. Stuart Barnes, University of East Anglia, UK

Annexure
Name Mr/Mrs : ______________________ Occupation : ______________________ Location : ______________________ 1. How do you come to know about SMS ads? a) Person reference b) Internet c) Journals & Newspaper d)Others ___ 2. The prices of SMS advertisements are cheaper _____________ a) Strongly agree b) Agree c) Neutral d) Disagree e) Strongly Disagree 3. I prefer SMS advertisements because ___________ a) Wide spread b) Cheapest medium c) Specific targeting d) Timely delivery 4. I get more call backs after SMS ads ____________ a) Strongly agree b) Agree c) Neutral d) Disagree e) Strongly disagree

5. I get more customers from SMS ads _____________ a) Strongly agree b) Agree c) Neutral d) Disagree e) Strongly disagree

6. The SMS ads are more accurate in time _____________

a) Strongly agree b) Agree c) Neutral d) Disagree e) Strongly disagree 7. Will you refer your SMS service operator to anyone after the success of your AD campaign or other services? a) Yes b) No 8. The customer complaint handling of my operator is __________ a) Highly Satisfied b) Satisfied c) Neutral d) Dissatisfied e) Highly dissatisfied 9. The technical support of my operator is ________________ a) Highly Satisfied b) Satisfied c) Neutral d) Dissatisfied e) Highly dissatisfied 10. The price and other offers given to me by my operator is _____________ a) Highly Satisfied b) Satisfied c) Neutral d) Dissatisfied e) Highly dissatisfied 11. I use BULK SMS service __________ per month. a) Less than 5times b) 5 to 10 c) 11 to 20 d) 21 to 30 e) More than 30times 12. The purpose I use SMS service is for ________________ a) Internal communication b) External Communication c) Advertisements d) Others _______________

13) I like to stick with my SMS operator as they satisfied my needs. a) Highly Satisfied b) Satisfied c) Neutral d) Dissatisfied e) Highly dissatisfied 14) I like my operator services to the following extent
Attributes Highly Satisfied Satisfied Neutral Dissatisfied Highly Dissatisfied

Widespread Cheapest Medium Timely delivery

15) I prefer my operator to give offers like _____________ a) Price discount b) Free SMS package c) Quality of service d) Others __________ 16) I chosen my operator because of his ______________ a) Price b) Product mix c) Timely service d) Brand image e) other_______

17) I came to know about my operator through a) Person Reference b) Magazines & Newspapers c) SMS ads d) Internet ads e) Sales force approach 18) Rank the following categories according to your preference (Rank1-6, First to Least) Cheapest medium : Timely delivery : Customer coverage : Product mix : Quality of service : 19) My Satisfaction level with the operators confirmation on SMS delivery a) Highly Satisfied b) Satisfied c) Neutral d) Dissatisfied e) Highly dissatisfied 20) My SMS service operator is a) Highly reliable b) Reliable c) Neutral d) Unreliable e) Highly reliable 21) I think Bulk SMS ___________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________

Thank you