MERU! WHY MERU?

Submitted To: Prof. Shirshendu Ganguli

Project Group:

Sri NaaguSiddharth KheraJoyeeta MukherjeeMohak SaxenaDeepali

OBJECTIVE:

To find out the features of the Meru cab service which makes the consumers to prefer this brand. Also

to derive the brand awareness and customer satisfaction of Meru Cabs.

INTRODUCTION:

Meru Cabs is one of the first companies to launch metered "Radio cabs" in India under its brand "Meru."

First launched in Mumbai in April 2007, Meru Cabs has grown exponentially in terms of fleet size and

geographical presence. Customers benefit from a relaxed commute in a well equipped, air-conditioned

cab, which is readily available 24/7. The printed receipt at the end of the ride assures the customer of

tamper proof billing.

Headquartered in Mumbai, Meru Cab Company provides a radio taxi service in the four key metros of

India - Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Bengaluru. Meru Cabs delivers a reliable taxi service by

concentrating on each touch point with its customers and devising systems, processes or technologies

that will deliver a reliable interface. Meru Cabs uses GPS/GPRS enabled technology in all of the cabs to

ensure complete passenger safety. Each Meru cab is owned & maintained by Meru Cab Company

Private Limited.

The name "Meru" is derived from the symbolic mountain of the gods, an icon of unshakeable reliability

and character - a core value which lies at the heart of Meru's promise to its customers.

RESEARCH PROCESS:

Stage I

Exploratory research:

Focus group interview was conducted to determine the variables that effect the dependent variable

(customer satisfaction). Details of the FGD (FGD Report) are enclosed as annexure I.

Stage II

Survey:

Questionnaire

A questionnaire of 17 questions (14 independent + 3 dependent) was designed based on the

variables derived from the FGD. One question to calculate the brand awareness of Meru cabs and

its competitors is also included separately. One pilot question to arrive at the questions is also

included. Questionnaire enclosed as annexure 2.

Scale

Unforced Likert scale ranging from 1(Strongly Agree) - 5(Strongly Disagree) is used.

Sample

Simple random sampling technique was used and initially survey was conducted on a sample of

40 respondents for the Pretest of the questionnaire.

Further the actual survey was conducted on 100 respondents.

Stage III

Pretest:

Cronbach's

Alpha

N of

Items

.764 14

Pretest of the questionnaire was conducted on a sample of 40 respondents to determine the

consistency and reliability of the questionnaire.

The cronbachs α was 0.764 for the 14 independent variables suggesting that the items have

relatively high internal consistency and KMO was 0.563 which shows sample adequacy. The

correlation matrix showed good correlation between the items and no negative correlation. This

indicated that the questionnaire is accurate and no changes were required and hence we

continued with the same questionnaire for the actual survey.

STAGE IV

MAIN SURVEY

DATA COLLECTION

Survey was conducted on a sample of 100 respondents chosen through simple random sampling.

CODING

All the responses are coded in an excel sheet using the likert scale codes mentioned in the scale.

STAGE V

DATA ANALYSIS

SPSS 13.0 was used for the interpretation of the data. The following results were derived and

interpreted:

Cronbach’s α :

Cronbach's Alpha

N of Items

.771 14

The alpha coefficient for the 14 items is .771, suggesting that the items have relatively high internal consistency. 

KMO and Bartlett’s Test:

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy. .730

Bartlett's Test of Sphericity

Approx. Chi-Square

344.494

Df 91Sig. .000

The KMO measure for the 100 respondents was 0.730 which indicates the adequacy of the

sample for the survey. The Bartlett’s test of Sphericity is also significant.

Communality Values :

All the communality values are above 0.5.

Rotated Component matrix:

All the items are loaded into five factors. Table enclosed as annexure III.

Factor I

The items included in the Factor I are 3,4,5,6,7. On analysis from the questionnaire the items are

related to the safety and technological aspects of the service.

Item 3 – safe to travel and

Item 4- safe driving by the drivers indicates the safety factor.

Item 5 – GPS/ GPRS technology

Item 6 – Printed bill system

Item 7- Debit/credit card payment system indicates the technology factor.

Since both the factors have been loaded together they are loaded as TECHNOLOGY AND

SAFETY. The cronbach’s α for the five items in the factor is 0.765, which shows high

consistency within the items. Meru cabs uses GPS/ GPRS enabled technology in all the cabs to

ensure complete passenger safety. It is rightly justified that safety and technology are together.

Technology is a crucial factor of the macro environment forces that shape the opportunities to

the company. New technologies create new markets and opportunities. Meru cabs has the most

advanced technology in the cab services and hence been a market leader.

Factor II

The items included in factor II are 8,9 and 12.

Item 8 – timely and professional service

Item 9 – reliable in case of emergency

Item 12 – customer care response

All the above items are related to the efficiency of services and hence labeled as EFFICIENCY.

The cronbach’s α for the three items is 0.597 which show they are consistent.

Factor III

The items included in factor III are 1 and 2.

Item 1 – fares

Item 2 – waiting costs and night time fares.

The above items are labeled as FARES.

The Correlation of both the items is 0.533 which indicates they are highly correlated.

Factor IV

The items loaded in factor IV are 10 and 11.

Item 10 – service at any time.

Item 11 – service at any place.

The above items are labeled as AVAILABILITY as they indicate the availability of services.

The correlation between the items is 0.447.

Factor V

The items loaded in factor V include 13 and 14.

Item 13 – Speed of customer Service

Item 14 – Brand Name

The above items are labeled as BRAND IMAGE.

The correlation between the items is 0.349.

In the services industry especially the services with goods on the service continuum there is less

room for error because of high competition and product similarity. Factors like efficiency, fares

and availability have to be highly competitive and reasonable to influence the target customers

and capture their loyalty.

REGRESSION ANALYSIS

Dependent Variable I (prefer selecting Meru Cabs)

The significant factors in the regression analysis are Safety & technology, Efficiency and

Availability. The highest β coefficient is for the Safety & technology i.e, 0.496, which indicates

that Safety & Technology influences the consumer decision to choose Meru cabs.

Dependent Variable II (Recommend Meru cabs to friends / family)

Safety & Technology is the only factor which is significant and has a β coefficient of 0.613,

indicating that the Safety & Technology is influencing the consumer decision to choose Meru

cabs.

ANALYSIS

Meru cabs is pioneer in the GPS/ GPRS technology. It uses various technologies like GPS/

GPRS, Debit/ Credit card billing, printed bill receipt etc and has an edge over the competitors.

The following table clearly explains this

Cab Service GPS/ GPRS Debit/ credit card

payment

Printed bill

system

Meru Cabs √ √ √

Easy Cabs √

Dot Cabs √

Radio Cabs √

As evident from above, Meru cabs has an edge over its competitors in terms of the technology they use

and the technological benefits they provide. The other factors like fares and availability are although

similar.

Service companies face three major marketing tasks. They want to increase their service differentiation,

service quality, and service productivity.

Service Differentiation: In these days of intense price competition, service marketers often complain

about the difficulty of differentiating their services from those of competitors. The customers view the

services of different providers as similar, they care less about the provider than the price. The solution is

to develop a differentiated offer, delivery and image. In the cab services industry the delivery and image

could not be differentiated and hence Meru cabs differentiated in terms of offer. Meru differentiated in

terms of technology, an area which is less explored in our country in the cab services. Meru provides

round the clock availability backed by a location tracking GPS- based dispatch technology, tamper proof

digital can meters integrated with the GPS system ensuring every fare is tracked, a printed receipt for

every fare, ability to track location of the cab using GPS and security in case of emergency.

Service Quality: Meru cabs has rightly identified what its target customers want in terms of service

quality. Meru always strives to deliver their core promise of “unshakable reliability” by devising

systems, processes and technologies that will set a reliable interface with the customers. Initiatives in

this aspect are their thoroughly trained chauffeurs in smart Meru uniform, fluent in English and Hindi.

BRAND AWARENESS:

A question to measure the brand awareness among the respondents has been included in the

questionnaire separately. Analysis of which gives the brand awareness of Meru and its competitors as

follows:

Service Brand Awareness

Meru Cabs 100%

Radio Cabs 60%

Dot Cabs 51.42%

Easy Cabs 46.67%

OVERALL SATISFACTION

The overall satisfaction is calculated as the average taken from the last item in the questionnaire i.e,

rating the overall satisfaction on a scale of 1-100. The overall satisfaction hence derived is 78.53.

This indicates the high level of consumer satisfaction using Meru Cabs.

CONCLUSION

From this study it is clearly understood that companies which have a strong POD’s are more preferred in

the service industry and POD for meru is its usage of technology. Since meru is in the service industry,

one of the major characteristics in service industry is service Intangibility and Meru was successful in

making its service tangible with an appropriate use of technology in the form of GPS / GPRS. The

transparency in billing by providing the bills is a form of evidence management. The other

characteristic of the service industry given due consideration by Meru was the service Variability which

is standardized by providing well trained chauffeurs who are adept in navigating through the cities, safe

driving and good communication skills. From this exercise and the response of the public proves that

Meru has created a brand image which is synonymous with trust, transparency and safety which is

clearly depicted in its tagline “Rely On Us.”

Annexure:

1. FGD Report.

2. Questionnaire.

3. Rotated Component Matrix Table

Annexure I

FGD REPORT

Objective: To derive the factors that influences the consumer’s decision while choosing a cab service.

Duration: 13.06 min

No. of Male/ Female: Male: 4Female: 3

Moderator: Sri Naagu

Minutes:

The FGD was conducted on 18 Jan at 2100 hrs. The respondents were randomly selected MBA students. The objective was to find out the various factors that influences the consumer’s decision while choosing a cab service. The various factors observed during the FGD are given below. The FGD was driven by various questions such as the occasion when they use cab service, what influences the decision while choosing a cab, what factors they look into while booking a cab service.

Factors Observed:

The respondents gave their views on various factors during the discussion. The cab service is not more frequently preferred by all the respondents. Occasions such as late nights or while travelling with luggage or time constraints makes them prefer the cab service. While choosing the cab service majority of the respondents opined that they prefer timely, efficient and quality of service rather than the price. Fares are also a constraint for some of the respondents. The quality of service provided in terms of technology also influenced their decision. The brand name has no significant importance but the services associated with the brands made them prefer some specific brands like meru, etc. Safety is also a concern for some female respondents especially during the nights and hence they prefer a branded service.

Which of the following cab services are you aware of? Annexure II

Radio cabsEasy cabsMeru CabsDot CabsOthers (Please specify) ________________

Have you ever availed the services of Meru Cabs?Yes No

If yes, please fill in the following questionnaire about your experience on the services of Meru Cabs

Sl No

Description Strongly agree

Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

1 The fares are reasonable2 The waiting costs and night time

fares are reasonable3 It is safe to travel in meru cabs4 Drivers drive safely and carefully5 GPS/GPRS Technology used by

meru cabs gives an edge over other cab service providers.

6 The printed bill system makes the payment system transparent

7 The debit/ credit card payment system is convenient to the passengers

8 The service is timely and professional

9 Meru cabs are reliable in case of any emergency

10 The service is available at any time11 The service is available to any

place in the city.12 The customer care executives

respond immediately to the queries13 The waiting time for the customer

care service is not more than 10 sec.

14 I prefer meru cab because of its brand name

15 I always prefer selecting meru cabs16 I will recommend meru cabs to my

friends and family17 Rate your overall satisfaction on

the services provide on a scale of 1 – 100

Annexure III

Rotated Component Matrix

Component

Safety & Technology Efficiency Fares Availability

Brand Image

I1 .861 I2 .851 I3 .699 I4 .804 I5 .689 I6 .668 I7 .594 I8 .771 I9 .680 I10 .862 I11 .742 I12 .643 I13 .661I14 .843