1

SUMMER TRAINING PROJECT REPORT

ON

“DATA ENRICHMENT AT INDIA MART”

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MASTER’S

DEGREE IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

SUBMITTED TO:

INTERNAL GUIDE EXTERNAL GUIDE

DR. HARPREET SINGH GREWAL MR. VIVEKANAND

PROFESSOR OPERATION MANAGER

IMS UNISON UNIVERSITY

SUBMITTED BY:

SHANKAR SINGH

(13MBA113)

IMS UNISON UNIVERSITY, DEHRADUN

BATCH 2013-15

2

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

"Gratitude is not a thing of expression; it is more matter of feeling."

There is always a sense of gratitude which one express towards others for their help and

supervision in achieving the goals. This formal piece of acknowledgement is an attempt to

express the feeling of gratitude towards people who helpful me in successfully completing of

my training.

I would like to express my deep gratitude to MR. VIVEK ANAND (Operation manager,

IndiaMart) my training coordinator for their constant co-operation. He was always there with

his competent guidance and valuable suggestion throughout the pursuance of this research

project. Special thanks to Mr. GAURAV TIWARI who guided me to work honestly and to give

valuable suggestion for improving my work, Last but not least I would also like to place of

appreciation to all the respondents whose responses were of utmost importance for the

project.

My sincere thanks to DR. H.S.GREWAL (IMS Unison University Dehradun), who’s continuous

help and enthusiasm has helped me to complete project successfully.

I also wish to thank IMS Unison University Dehradun for making this experience of summer

training in an esteemed organization like IndiaMart.

Above all no words can express my feelings to my parents, friends all those persons who

supported me during my project. I am also thankful to all the respondents whose cooperation &

support has helped me a lot in collecting necessary information.

I would also like to thank almighty God for his blessings showered on me during the completion

of project report.

SHANKAR SINGH

13MBA113

3

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the following project report titled “DATA ENRICHMENT OF

INDIAMART” is an authentic work done by me. This is to declare that all the work indulged in

the completion of this work such as research, data collection, analysis is a profound and honest

work of mine.

SHANKAR SINGH

13MBA113

4

INTERNAL GUIDE CERTIFICATE

I have the pleasure in certifying that Mr. SHANKAR SINGH is a bonafide student of 3rd

Semester of the Master’s Degree in Business Administration (Batch 2013-15), of IMS,

Unison University, Dehradun,13MBA113

He has completed his project work entitled DATA ENRICHMENT OF INDIAMART

under my guidance.

I certify that this is his original effort & has not been copied from any other source. This

project has also not been submitted in any other Institute / University for the purpose of

award of any Degree.

This project fulfils the requirement of the curriculum prescribed by this Institute for the

said course. I recommend this project work for evaluation & consideration for the award

of Degree to the student.

Signature : ……………………………………

Name of the Guide : DR. HARPREET SINGH GREWAL

Designation : PROFESSOR

Date : …………………………………

5

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Working with INDIAMART INTERMESH LTD was a great opportunity and a great pleasure to

me. During the whole research I was considered as the part of the IndiaMart family and this

proves the cooperation among the various departments and the employees of IndiaMart. The

main objective of the research was to study the efficiency of the marketing strategy of IndiaMart

and to judge its marketing position, its strength over the competitors and the way to utilize it to

have the benefit. Business to Business (B2B) online marketing is an integral factor of Marketing

and B2B sales: it directly contributes to the revenue stream. Through lead management, lead

generation and nurturing, demand generation B2B online marketing is increasingly apart of the

sales process, creating more alignment between sales and marketing. By tracking and evaluating

digital body language of leads, B2B online marketing professionals are able to enhance lead

generation by communicating with leads and offering relevant, targeted information to them.

This ultimately increases the return on investment in marketing as marketers focus on lead

scoring, lead quality and understand signals that show when leads are ready to be moved to the

next level.

Since IndiaMart is a prominent B2B industry, it actually acts as a platform where the buyers and

the sellers meet to perform their business. The research was conducted keeping the objective as

the main and the conclusions drawn were that the IndiaMart holds a very good position in B2B

industry. The marketing strategy of the company was also fulfilling its aims and was up to the

mark. The main strength of the company was its customized solutions and the weakness was that

it holds a good service range but is costly as compared with the competitors. The company

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performance graph is rising day by day showing its progress which could also be justified on the

basis of the valuation provided by Alexa.com. In this project the suppliers’ perception over the

online products’ promotion is highlighted. What the suppliers think and what are their adequate

strategies through which their product is exposed online through IndiaMart is being researched.

During the course of this project I was also fortunate enough to be able to study the promotional

activities like coupon distribution, participation in trade fair, etc. The report contains the findings

arrived after detailed analysis of the data received through filling the questionnaires by the

different suppliers. I went to several suppliers’ organization and had a detailed discussion about

their promotion of products by IndiaMarrt.com.

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Table of Content

TITLE NO Content Page

No

I ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 2

II DECLARATION 3

III INTERNAL GUIDE CERTIFICATE 4

IV EXTERNAL GUIDE CERTIFICATE

V EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 5

VI

OBJECTIVES OF STUDY 8

VII INTRODUCTION 10

VIII

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

30

XI

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

33

X

CONCLUSIONS 44

XI

RECOMMENDATIONS

46

XII

BIBLIOGRAPHY

49

8

OBJECTIVES OF THE

STUDY

9

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1. To indentify data enrichment of India mart.

2. To identify the problems faced by India Mart in finding manufacturers and Suppliers of

desired (lack of online business awareness)

3. To identify problems faced by India Mart in identifying and developing new products and

their market (Regarding Fund Allocation) products.

4. To know the impact of whole process involved in identification of product requirement,

supplier search, and search of prospective customers.

10

INTRODUCTION

11

INTRODUCTION

IndiaMart is an Indian internet limited company headquartered in Noida, India. The company

is best known for its B2B marketplace which matches buyers and suppliers. IndiaMart attracts 10

million visitors per month with over 50 million monthly page-views. It was also termed as

India's largest B2B marketplace with a 60 percent market share by IAMAI. It has also been

declared the world's second largest online b2b marketplace by Economic Times.

In 1996, Dinesh Aggarwal, Founder & CEO, IndiaMart, launched India's first business

matchmaking platform when there were only 500 subscribers of the internet in the country.

Growth

IndiaMart introduced the concept of free listing & free-query forwarding to familiarize Indian

SMEs with benefits of Internet for business promotion. Within six months of the launch, it

reached break-even point.

In 2000, IndiaMart became a limited company and IndiaMart Intermesh Systems was changed to

IndiaMart Intermesh Ltd. In the same year, it received various awards including HHEC, Jindal

Organization and ModiCorp and touched 5 million page views per month. In 2004, IndiaMart

became the first ISO 9001:2000 company in its domain. During the DotCom bubble burst,

IndiaMart was one of the few surviving and profitable ventures unlike other players which were

forced to close down. In 2001, Business World magazine declared IndiaMart as "the only

profitable Indian Dotcom, with positive cash flows".

Over the period of time, the company expanded to 40 offices that has pan-India presence. It

today has 10 million buyers visiting its site every month.

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Events

In 2010, IndiaMart joined hands with NOW, India’s leading financial news channel, for Leaders

of Tomorrow Awards dedicated to the Indian SMEs. Since then, the Awards have felicitated

SMEs across the country for their entrepreneurial excellence across various categories. It

includes two special Awards - MSME of the Year and Woman Leader of Tomorrow amongst

others. Emerging Business Forum in association with Zee Business,being one of its most popular

events.

Mobile App & Website

A unique mobile App of IndiaMart was launched in May, 2013, across all Android devices. Soon

after, an App for IOS device was also made available. The website also adapted to a mobile

version, 'm.indiamart.com' which offers access to almost all the product categories on its

platform through mobile handsets. Both the mobile site and App allow the users to send business

enquiries and SMS directly from their mobile handsets. Moreover, the buyers have the option of

calling the suppliers by just clicking on the displayed number. So far, over 1 lakh users have

downloaded the App.Indiamart.com is India's largest online B2B marketplace for Small &

Medium Size Businesses, connecting global buyers with suppliers. The company offers a

platform & tools to over 1.5 million suppliers to generate business leads from over 10 million

buyers, who use the platform to find reliable & competitive suppliers.

The company has over 2600 employees located across 40+ offices in the country. Its existing

investors include Intel Capital and Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.Indiamart.com offers products

that enable small & medium size businesses generate business leads (online catalogs/store-

fronts), establish their credibility (third party verified trust profile) and use business information

(finance, news, trade shows, tenders) for their business promotion.

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Indiamart.com has won numerous awards and significant nominations over the years, which

include coveted Manthan Award, Red Herring Award and Emerging India Award respectively

among others. The company has also been widely covered by media for its pioneering role in

promoting SME business in the country.

Awards & Achievements

Success of our customers is our greatest achievement. Their confidence in us and our innovation,

to give them the best, has got us applauds from various sources.

Indiamart.com nominated for 4th India Digital Awards.

Indiamart.com wins the Manthan Award 2013.

Indiamart.com wins the Red Herring 100 Asia Awards 2008.

Indiamart.com nominated among the top three at Emerging India Awards 2008.

Indiamart.com successful business model featured on CNBC India as analyzed by

McKinsey.

Bestowed with "Amity Corporate Excellence Award" on the occasion of the Tenth

Business International Horizon INBUSH 2008 .

Recognized by Business Money (UK's leading financial magazine) for IndiaMart ten

years of successful contribution to Indian businesses

Declared as India's only profit-making dotcom company by Business World

(Cover story) .

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Special footage for Indiamart.com contribution in enabling e-business for exporters

from Moradabad; Mr. Dinesh Agarwal interviewed (India Tomorrow - BBC News).

www.indiantravelportal.com bags eighth "BIG" Award from

Britannicaindia.com.

IndiaMART.com nominated for Britannica Internet Guide (BIG) Awards for

excellence on Internet.

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DINESH AGARWAL

Founder & CEO, Indiamart.com

Dinesh Agarwal is the founder and CEO of Indiamart.com, India's largest online B2B

marketplace connecting Indian suppliers with domestic and international buyers. Founded in

1996, Dinesh is credited with leading Indiamart.com through a decade and a half with an

unblemished record of being profitable from day one a feat no other online company in India has

been able to emulate. Indiamart is today arguably one among the world's top ten B2B

marketplaces, as has been corroborated by a host of credible market surveys. Under Dinesh

dynamic and visionary leadership, Indiamart today is a 2800 strong talented pool of human

resource with pan-India presence covering over 100 cities. It's stellar credentials, robust business

model and Dinesh commitment towards the MSME sector has invited prestigious investors like

the Times of India Group and Intel Capital into its fold for further expansion plans. A vigorous

advocate of Indian SMEs, he has spearheaded several path breaking ideas to promote Indian

SMEs globally. His contribution to Indian businesses is widely acknowledged by the media.

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BRIJESH AGRAWAL

Co-Founder & Director, Indiamart.com

Brijesh Agrawal is the Co-Founder & Director, Indiamart.com. Being a part of the core

management team, Brijesh has been the brainchild behind the creation of a plethora of innovative

products of Indiamart. Since inception, Brijesh has been providing eclectic strategies

appertaining to Sales, Marketing, Operations and Human Resources. With a paranomic nine

years of experience in the B2B world, he has provided the brainwave to many a professional who

are now playing the leadership roles in their respective fields. A management graduate from the

University of Lucknow and an MBA from National Institute of Integrated Learning and

Management (NIILM), Brijesh started his career as a Supply Chain Consultant at Miebach

Logistics GmbH, Bangalore.

An astute businessman, Brijesh biggest strength is his entrepreneurial style of functioning and

the ability to forge strong relationships with people. Mingling easily across levels and industries,

he is acknowledged as a complete people's person, who likes to leads from the front.

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ORGANIZATIONAL HIERARCHY

Hierarchical Structure of Sales Division:

NATIONAL

HEAD

ZONAL SALES

HEAD

REGIONAL SALES

MANAGER

BRANCH MANAGER

SALES EXECUTIVES

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Vision and Mission

We endeavour to maximize value for our customers by offering those efficient and cost-effective

solutions for business promotion, process support and transaction accomplishment.

VISION

We strive to become an integral part of every organization’s business promotion plan. We

envision providing complete business enhancement and promotion services to our clients.

MISSION

With firm belief in our vision and with complete dedication integrity and honesty, we endeavor

to generate profitable returns for our customers through high quality business promotion services

and solutions that enhance revenues and are cost effective at the same time.

Our Core Values

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What is online Business?

Online business means trading of Products and Services etc through the Internet. It enables the

traders and manufacturers to electronically connect with the other

What is offline business?

In offline trading the customer either goes to the manufacturer’s or trader’s place or sits before

him to place orders. Or rings him, asks for the quotations and other relevant information, and

accordingly places orders over the phone.

BENEFITS OF OFFLINE BUSINESS

1. Safe in comparisons to online share business.

2. Business can be done without internet connectivity at one’s home.

3. In a country like India where internet connectivity is not available everywhere trading

online is not possible for everyone, this is also the reason which enhances the growth of

offline trading.

4. Better for new comers

DISADVANTAGES OF OFFLINE BUSINESS

1. Often times the brokers’ takes time to execute your instruction.

2. Offline trading brokerage is always higher than that of online brokerage.

3. It is a time consuming process as everything is done offline. Trading takes more time in

comparisons to online trading.

4. RM may not provide the correct information as required by his client.

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What is E-Business?

1. E-tailing or virtual storefronts on Web sites.

2. Online business-to-business transactions.

3. Electronic data interchange (EDI), the business-to-business exchange of data using

compatible software.

4. E-mail, instant messaging, and other Web-enabled communication tools and their use as

media for reaching prospective and existing customers.

5. The gathering and use of demographic, product, and other information through Web

contacts.

Capabilities and Benefits of E-Business

1. Global Reach: Goods and services can be sold to customers worldwide.

2. Personalization: Companies can customize products and reduce inventory.

3. Interactivity: Customers and suppliers can negotiate prices online.

4. Right-time and integrated marketing : Online retailers provide products when and

where

5. Customers want them and promotions can be directed to individual customers.

6. Cost savings : E-business can reduce costs

7. Increase a firm’s visibility, promote its offerings, and provide information to interested

parties.

8. Build customer goodwill and assist retailers and other resellers in their marketing efforts.

9. Disseminate financial information to investors.

10. Enable prospective employees to apply online for jobs.

11. Provide e-mail communication.

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Business-to-Business (B2B)

1. Business-to-business e-business (B2B) Electronic business transactions between

businesses using the Internet.

2. B2B transactions total $2.5 trillion.

3. By some estimates, account for 90% of all e-commerce activities.

4. Can reduce cost of B2B transactions by almost 25 percent.

Many of the benefits of e-commerce have come with business-to-business transactions.

Companies like UPS and the Post Office use their websites to save money and time by doing

business online. Companies use a variety of tools to conduct business online with partners,

wholesalers and retailers.

22

DATA ENRICHMENT

Data enrichment can be a useful tool in the effort to add value to and improve the quality of your

organization’s data. But just what is data enrichment in the real world? How does it work and

what does it look like within an organization’s infrastructure? Experts describe the process of

enriching data as the implementation of a set of methods and structures for refining and

enhancing information, which may seem like a vague concept. More specifically, the goal of

enriching data is to make it a more valuable asset – to get more out of it, to do more with it, to

access it more easily and to be more proactive in its use – all without noticeably increasing costs

or risks. If this sounds like a worthwhile idea, which it should, the following information will

help build upon your understanding of the enrichment process and what it could mean for your

organization.

How It Works – A Data Enrichment Overview

Every organization has its own unique goals for adding value to its data, but many of the tools

for enriching data are universal in their refinement of content and documents to weed out errors

and inconsistencies. This is something any enterprise can appreciate. From ensuring the accuracy

of algorithms to adding new data to tables to correcting typographic or spelling errors, these tools

are designed to improve quality across all data fronts. Some processes are more complex than

others, though, and require more complex tools. Your organization may be interested in refining

and simplifying your data, for example. Or you may plan on migrating all of your data to a new

content management system after removing inconsistencies and errors to improve quality and

23

simplify the accessibility of all your raw data. Whatever your goals, it’s all a matter of

developing a strategic plan and implementing the right tools to take you there.

Key Steps to Enriching Data

A few simple steps can help ensure a successful data enrichment implementation within your

organization. First of all, make sure to begin the process with a quality assessment of all the data

within your content management system(s). Make sure that you have a team of experts in charge

of the assessment process, and that your assessment methodologies cover the essential areas of

integrity, accuracy, consistency and completeness. Any data that doesn’t pass this four-part test

must either be repaired or gotten rid of altogether. The right strategies for discovering and

resolving issues within your data structure will make all the difference in this initial assessment

process.

After this important step is complete, then it will be necessary to determine the best process for

enriching the unique data within your organization. This process is going to be different for each

organization, but in general, it’s safe to say that your team will need to bring new data in to

enrich and add value to the current sets of data within your system. Experts recommend

beginning the enrichment process by cultivating an individual outline for your organization’s

data needs, doing the necessary research to ensure an effective strategy, locating the necessary

data from outside sources, extracting the data and checking it for quality before implementation.

Stay One Step Ahead of the Game

Before this data enrichment overview is complete, it’s important to discuss the importance of

anticipation in this process. Careful planning and consideration of potential outcomes is essential

to the successful enrichment of data. There are so many potential benefits to enriching your data

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and migrating it to a newer, better, more functional system, but if your team fails to complete this

final step, you may be caught off guard by unexpected consequences. So make sure to go

through the entire process, and determine what data is being moved, in what order and who will

be involved. Consider any unexpected consequences of each planned action. Determine what the

best solutions would be if those consequences do in fact arise and who will be in charge of

implementing those solutions. Ongoing testing and monitoring will be necessary to maintain the

quality of your data and enable members of your team to continue adding value down the road. A

high level of anticipation and planning will go a long way in the end.

Data Enrichment Services (DES) AT INDIAMART

Publishers, information service companies, manufacturing and government organizations, law

publishers are using our "Data Enrichment Services" to generate "Rich Data Products". The

objective is to structure their own content into granular forms and be in a position to offer a wide

variety of information to key decision makers.

Smart companies are merging these granular pieces of information in a wide variety of ways into

"Rich Data Products" and opening up multiple revenue streams.

25

COMPETITORS

1. The challenging opportunities and new avenues cropping up in the corporate are in

diverse sectors demands the role of a common mediator to act as bridge between buyers

and sellers, importers and exporters, and the like. This service facilitates all in the

business world to come to a common platform, thus turning the geologically colossus

earth into a tiny global village. Trade India is a major entity involved in this task bringing

manufacturers, buyers and sellers under one pedestal. Info com Network Ltd. is an ISO

9001: 2000 certified company, established in the year 1990. Popular as tradeindia.com

2. Conceptualised in the year 1996, it has created a niche as India's largest B2B

marketplace, offering comprehensive business solutions to the global EXIM community

through its wide array of online services, directory services and facilitation of trade

promotional events.

3. Our portal is an ideal forum for buyers and sellers across the globe to interact and

conduct business smoothly and effectively .With an unmatched expertise in data

acquisition and online promotion, Trade India subsumes a huge number of company

profiles and product catalogs under 1,570different product categories and sub-categories.

26

4. It is well promoted on all major search engines and receives an average of 20.5 million

hits per month. Trade India is maintained and promoted by INFOCOM NETWORK

LTD. Today we have reached a database of 17, 72,890 registered users, and the company

is growing on a titanic scale with a considerable amount of new users joining/registering

every day, under the innovative vision and guidance of Mr.Bikky Khosla, CEO.

1. Alibaba has been very successful in the Chinese domestic market. To begin within 2003

Alibaba launched Taobao, now the largest online shopping marketplace for consumers in

China with more than 80 million registered users. After Taobao was established it did not

take long before in 2005 Taobao overtook its U.S. rival eBay, the previous market leader

in the consumer-to-consumer market in China. Furthermore Alibaba has launched

Alimama, China’s largest online advertising exchange platform, and Alipay, China’s

leading online payment service. In 2005 Yahoo! handed over the running of its China

operations to Alibaba in a transaction whereby Yahoo! Inc. paid $1 billion for a 40

percent share of Alibaba.

2. The initial business model of Alibaba was simple; facilitate a 24/7 meeting platform for

suppliers and buyers around the world. From the start Alibaba did not just connect

Chinese suppliers with international buyers, but it had the goal of connecting all

27

importers and exporters around the world to each other. Although other B2B websites

have always said “You cannot have a global company out of China, it makes no sense.”

From the very beginning Alibaba was “the first global Internet Company emerging from

China.” Says Porter. Despite sceptics and fierce competition, the global model where

buyers use the site for free and sellers pay, proved very feasible: currently Alibaba’s

international marketplace has over 4.4 million registered users from over 200 countries.

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SWOT ANALYSIS

Organization performs SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threats) analysis to

identify and evaluate their competitive position.

STRENGTHS

The most power full point in hand of the company is that they provide the customized solution

to the customers.

1. The company has excellent distribution system.

2. The company has built a strong image among the customers.

3. The company experiences excellent Brand loyalty for its Products from the Customers.

4. The company has made its Product range attractive, which lures the

5. Customers, and consequently the products are favorite among the customers

WEAKNESSES

1. Some products have high prices as compared to the other products.

2. The company branches are not spread throughout the region; as a result load of the work

at the head office is tremendous.

3. The company pays less attention towards the matured clients

OPPORTUNITIES

1. India has a vast potential market, which the company can get hold up.

2. The company can prove to be major threats for its competitor’s if it increases

3. Its marketing efforts.

4. IIL should concentrate on the premium segment market.

29

THREATS

1. The arrival of the MNC is a major serious threat for the company.

ANALYSIS: - Thus it could be said the company is in a good position in the market and

is expected to have a bright future ahead.

30

RESEARCH

METHODOLOGY

31

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

TYPE OF RESEARCH

Descriptive Research: - Observation, verbal and written question and answer method was

adopted for this research.

NATURE OF RESEARCH

Quantitative: - As the data is numeric based.

TYPE OF QUESTIONS

The questions were self-administered, with a view to obtain maximum information from the

respondent that is why the questions were straightforward.

TYPE OF QUESTIONNAIRE

The entire questionnaire was standardized and formalized.

TYPE OF ANALYSIS

As all the data found in the survey are totally numerical so the type of analysis was statistical.

SOURCES OF DATA

Primary data: - As the data is collected through questionnaires and interview method.

METHODS OF COLLECTING PRIMARY DATA

Interview Method

SELECTION OF THE SAMPLE/SAMPLING PLAN

Sample Size: - The sample size of the population was 50 respondents.

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Sampling Methods:-

Convenience Sampling: -Convenience sampling is a non-probability sampling technique

where subjects are selected because of their convenient or accessibility and proximity to

the researcher. As the sample size is not determine.

It is most easy and time consuming process of data collection.

TABLE SHOWING PRECISELY THE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Project Research Type: Descriptive Research

Data Sources: Primary Data

Research Approach: Survey Method

Research Instrument: Questionnaire

Data Analysis: Logical analysis

Sampling Procedure: Convenience sampling

Sample Size: 50 Respondents

Geographical Coverage: Dehradun

Duration of the Survey: 6 weeks

33

DATA ANALYSIS &

INTERPRETATION

34

ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION

FOR HOW LONG YEARS YOU ARE USING INTERNET

INTERPRETATION:

I wanted to know the duration of

using internet of the suppliers. After

calculating the options I found that it

was only 5% of the suppliers who are

using internet for a year. Most of

them are familiar with the internet for

more than 3 years which is about

27% out of the 50 respondents.

HAVE YOU DONE ANY TRANSACTION OVER INTERNET

INTERPRETATION:

While asking the question of the usage

of internet, 85% of the suppliers have

done several transactions over internet. It

implies the fact that as internet is very

popular among the business, so a brief

knowledge of that is also present.

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

1 YEAR 2 YEARS 3 YEARS MORE

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

YES NO

35

WHICH TRANSACTION HAVE YOU MADE OVER INTERNET

INTERPRETATION:

Through this question I can

clearly formulate that, many of

the suppliers use internet in their

business purpose, others use for

recharging mobile, ticket

reservation and enquiries. It is

clearly evident that internet usage

is of vast importance in

their business transactions.

WHAT IS THE NATURE OF YOUR BUSINESS?

INTERPRETATION:

Through this question I wanted

to know the nature of the

business of the suppliers, and

found that 55% of the suppliers

are into manufacturing, and a

very little percentage is in other

types. So the nature of the

business is a very essential

criterion which is required to

know to carry out my project.

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

RECHARGING

MOBILETICKET

RESERVATIONBUSINESS

PURPOSEENQUIRIES

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

36

IS YOUR BUSINESS GLOBALLY RECOGNISED

INTERPRETATION

25% of the suppliers’ business is

globally recognized are not

75%.Through this I have come to

know that most of their business is not

having a global exposure. Lack of

promotional strategies may be a factor

as accepted by many and also the

competition in the existing market.

LEGAL STATUS OF YOUR BUSINESS

INTERPRETATION

About the organization 30% was

partnership, 20% was HUF and private

ltd and LTD CO, and 10% was

proprietorship. The nature of the

business gives a clear idea about their

dealings.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

YES NO

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

37

WHERE DO YOU CURRENTLY GET THE MAJORITY OF SALES LEADS?

INTERPRETATION

Through this it is very evident that

most of the suppliers earn their

revenue through sales networking

(45%), some use cold calling

(10%), Trade shows (30%), and the

rest use websites. So there is a

definite urge of the e commerce for

them.

ADVERTISEMENT MEDIUM OF YOUR COMPANY

INTERPRETATION:

Out of the various respondents,

maximum number of the suppliers

use TV, and the others use

newspapers, magazines and they also

participate in Trade shows and

Exhibitions.

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

SALES

NETWORKINGCOLD CALLING TRADE

SHOWSWEBSITES

0%5%

10%15%20%25%30%35%40%

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ADVERTISING BUDGET OF YOUR COMPANY

INTERPRETATION:

There are various suppliers whose

advertising budget exceeds 20000

(35%) and the others range in between

10000-20000 margins. A lot of money

is spend on the promotional of their

products.

HAVE YOU EVER USED ANY PORTALS FOR THE PROMOTIONS

INTERPRETATION

45% of the suppliers have used portals

for their promotions of the products

and 55% have not used yet. The

reasons are inadequate information’s,

high costs, etc

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

10000 >15000 >20000 20000 or

more

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

YES NO

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RANK IN ORDER OF YOUR PREFERENCE THE VARIOUS PORTALS PROVIDED

BY THE COMPANY (RANK 1 FOR THE BEST)

INTERPRETATION

Around 58% of the suppliers think that

indiamart.com provides the best online

promotional services, 38% thinks it is

Tradeindia.com, and the rest opts for

alibaba.com.

DO YOU THINK THAT PROMOTING A BUSINESS THROUGH

DEFINITE BUSINESS PORTALS WILL ULTIMATELY GIVE YOU THE

GLOBAL EXPOSURE?

INTERPRETATION

In this case around 65% of the

suppliers think that online promotions

do definitely help in getting a vast

global exposure, and 35% think it

does not.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

INDIAMART.COM TRADEINDIA.COM ALIBABA.COM

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

YES NO

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WHICH IS THE BEST MEDIUM OF PROMOTING THE PRODUCT’S

FEATURES THROUGH ONLINE? RANK IN ORDER OF YOUR

PREFERENCE (I FOR THE BEST)

INTERPRETATION:

Most of the suppliers are of the opinion that

trade fare and print media can be the best

medium of promoting a product’s features

through indiaMart.com. They think that it is

a very user friendly format provided by

IndiaMart in order to advertise the

suppliers’ products.

27%

28%

29%

30%

31%

32%

33%

34%

35%

36%

TRADE FARE PRINT MEDIA ELECTRONIC

MEDIA

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FINDINGS

1. Some of the important findings in IndiaMart were that most of the suppliers were very

reluctant to spend money on the online promotions of their products.

2. They have a very good knowledge of the online promotional tools which are prevalent in

the market and they are interested also.

3. They are also aware of the other competitors in the market like alibaba.com,

tradeindia.com, etc

4. Most importantly they have enough faith on indiamart.com and they are very much

interested in promoting their product through the IndiaMart as they know the number of

clients in IndiaMart is very high.

5. They are also in the belief that if they want to promote their business globally, online

promotions are necessary.

6. The suppliers are also in the opinion that print media, trade fares are very much beneficial

in the online promotion activities.

7. During the interaction with the suppliers, it was very much clear of the fact that the

service rendered by IndiaMart is of supreme quality and they want to be the client of the

company.

LIMITATIONS OBSERVED

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1. The basic problem that everyone faces today is of recession. The same case is with small

scale sectors. The most likely argument is not getting enough return on their investment

so it’s difficult for them to invest at this point of time.

2. Some of the suppliers are satisfied with the present status of their business. They don’t

want to expand further due to limited resources or lack of vision and like to avoid risk.

For e.g. if company gets regular order from government, shows no interest to online

promotional services.

3. The price factor also plays key role in generating leads because aware customers are

likely to respond to that services which offer maximum advantages at minimum cost. For

e.g. tradeindia.com provides almost same services but at considerably low amount as

compared to indiamart.com.

4. Some of the clients are not able to afford the cost or price that indiamart.com offers. It

necessitates keeping record of their status at regular interval. For e.g. with the help of

appointment at regular intervals, the probability of converting the prospect into regular

client can be found out.

5. Many of the clients had bad experiences as a result they have withdrawn from it. The

most likely reasons are unsatisfactory inquiries and fake inquiries. Some of them had

suffered heavy losses by accepting those fake inquires

6. Most of the organizations are controlled from their respective headquarters as a result the

decision remains pending for a long period of time. Regular follow up is required to

maintain their proper status.

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7. The absence of respective departmental head because of meetings or on leave requires

follow up on continuous basis.

8. Some of the clients are very satisfied with their business as they are generating enough

business locally and so they do not go for online marketing.

9. Few clients are satisfied with their present service provider in all respect so they don’t

want to change it.

10. Some of the organizations are positive about online promotional services but they can’t

afford it at present due to low turnover or profit.

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CONCLUSION

45

CONCLUSION

1. They have a very good knowledge of the online promotional tools which are prevalent in

the market and they are interested also.

2. They are also aware of the other competitors in the market like alibaba.com,

tradeindia.com, etc

4. Most importantly they have enough faith on indiamart.com and they are very much

interested in promoting their product through the IndiaMart as they know the number of

clients in IndiaMart is very high.

5. They are also in the belief that if they want to promote their business globally, online

promotions are necessary.

6. The suppliers are also in the opinion that print media, trade fares are very much

beneficial in the online promotion activities.

7. During the interaction with the suppliers, it was very much clear of the fact that the

service rendered by Indiamart is of supreme quality and they want to be the client of the

company.

46

RECOMMENDATION

47

RECOMMENDATIONS:

For an effective online promotional marketing strategy for a manufacturer, there are some

recommendations which need to be followed so as to increase the revenue of the company.

1. REGISTRATIONS AT B2B MARKETPLACES

Leveraging services of an online B2B marketplace opens up numerous doors of

opportunities. It offers both options for registrations –free and paid. The latter offers

additional features to enhance business prospects. To gain maximum exposure

manufacturing companies should register at many online B2B marketplaces as possible

and be visible to buyers visiting from across the globe.

2. BUILD A WEBSITE

A website that covers complete product and company information along with client

testimonials has become a prerequisite for manufacturers looking for web presence.

Updating the product catalogue and other latest happenings such as trade fare

participations at regular intervals is also essential to keep the customers and visitor’s

interest. The company must be prompt in replying to business queries from buyers over

email or phone.

3. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION

A specialized company needs to be engaged to undertake the SEO activities for your

company. Also the manufacturer firms should register themselves at Google Local,

Google Maps, and similar services across all search engines, both major and minor.

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4. EMAIL MARKETING

A concrete database of the target customers from a reliable source should be obtained and

send mailers using a service that gives detailed statistics of its rate, click through, etc.

5. BUILD TRUST

Online marketing is mainly based on trust. You can capitalize on mechanism which

bridge the trust gap associated with the online medium and enhance your

credibility.Indiamart.com has a business verification service ‘Trust Seal’ and that needs

to be used in a very fair way to obtain the customer’s trust.

6. SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING:

It is a powerful tool to speed the word about your company and increase network

possibilities, social media , holds immense potentials. Sending regular update messages

in your LinkedIn network , updating company’s products at various blogs, uploading

product pictures on photo sharing sites like Flickr, putting product videos on all video

sharing sites like You Tube, placing company presentations and documents on document

sharing sites, such as Slide shares, Scribd,etc can improve the suppliers’ perceptions over

the online promotional products.

49

BIBLIOGRAPHY

50

BOOKS:

1. Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches

by John W. Creswell.

2. Research Methodology: Methods and Techniques by C. R. Kothari.

3. Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for

Developing Grounded Theory

by Juliet Corbin.

WEBSITES

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IndiaMART

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-04-

27/news/31424487_1_indiamart-dinesh-agarwal-

suppliers

http://www.moneycontrol.com/news-topic/indiamart/

http://article.wn.com/view/2012/04/27/How_Dinesh_Ag

arwal_created_the_worlds_secondlargest_B2B_mark/

http://www.indiamart.com/

http://www.freewebsitereport.org/www.indiamart.com

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ANNEXURE

QUESTIONNAIRE

NAME:

COMPANY’S NAME:

ADDRESS:

PHONE:

1. For how long years are you using the internet?

a. 1 year ,

b. 2 years,

c. 3 years,

d. More

2. Have you done any transaction over internet?

a. Yes

b. No

3. Which transaction have you maximum made over internet?

a. Recharging mobile

b. Railway ticket reservation

c. Flight reservation,

d. Others

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4. What is the nature of your business?

a. Manufacture

b. Direct sales

c. Export. Buying agent

5. Legal status of your business.

a. HUF,

b. Partnership,

c. Private LTD.

d. Proprietorship

6. Is your business globally recognized?

a. Yes

b. No

7. Where do you currently get the majority of your sales leads?

a. Sales networking

b. Cold calling c. Trade shows d. Websites,

8. What is the advertisement medium of your product?

a. Newspaper,

b. TV

c. Magazines,

d. Exhibition/ trade shows

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9. What has been your advertising budget for your product’s promotion?

a. 10000,

b. >15000

c. >20000,

d. 20000 or more

10. Have you ever used any portals for your product’s promotion?

a. Yes

b. No

11. Rank in order of your preference the various portals provided by the

company.(rank 1 for the best one……..)

a. Indiamart.com

b.Tradeindia.com

c. Alibaba.com

12. Do you think that promoting your product through a definite business portal

will ultimately help in exposing your product globally?

a. Yes

b. No

.

13. Which is the best medium of promoting the product’s features through

online? (RANK IN ORDER OF PREFERENCE)1-BEST…

a. Trade fair b. Print media, c. Electronic media

54