Indian mobile industry was started almost 10 years before, because of Govt. regulation it couldn't grow like

China. As per current estimation India's mobile services market is expected to grow at 28.3% CAGR through

2009. But the market is also very much competitive, all the players are keen to increase the market share, so the

prices are getting slashed. The current players in the market are -

o Reliance Infocomm

o Bharati Telecom (AirTel)

o BSNL

o Tata Teleservice

o Spice Telecom

o Hutchison / Orange

o BPL Telecom

The industry is moving from the Growth stage to the Shakeout stage, although the market is growing fast, but the

Cut-throat Competition is slashing the profit margins, which is very common in Later Growth stage and players

those who don't have strong financial back up are going to be sold to the stronger players. So it's very clear that

players with stronger brand and financial back up will make the future profit.

The bigger players are also operating in other Telecom areas like - Landline, ISP, Broadband, Corporate data &

voice services etc, to become one stop solution provider, hence forth increase the market share, this clearly

indicates the Sorry situation for the smaller players. Entry barrier for any new player is too strong.

Once the Shakeout period is over in next few years the Mobile Industry in India is likely to enter in matured

market.

But there is a other theory too - the economic growth in India, currently the market is growing more on the

Network area growth, providers are moving to smaller cities from big cities, demand is generated from 'B' class &

'C' class cities - middle class population. A major section of middle class population of India in smaller cities

couldn't enjoy the advantages of Telecom service due to the Govt. monopoly, poor capacity, regulations; they are

the immediate customers of the Mobile operators. The Landline is no more the preferable choice for the new

Telco users; people like to use mobile phones because of its added advantages and easy subscription. Also the

middle class size is expected to grow in India in next decades, so the Mobile market in India will be probably in

Growth - Shakeout phase for a longer period.

Also the Roadmap, which was thought by the Govt. earlier has become more like a roadblock for the growth, to

keep the market competitive they introduced lot regulations and zoning concepts, which have become barrier for

market growth and to play at Economies of scale, which are likely to change by the market dynamics and market

forces. So the Growth - Shakeout phase is likely to continue for a while. Few years before the number of players

were many, as TRAI had stringent laws in number of zone operations by single provider, but these are changing

rapidly.

o Service Providers Offerings

India is a vast and complex market. The Indian Department of Telecommunications classifies the country's

telecom markets into "metro" and "A", "B" and "C" circles or zones, based on how many potential subscribers

they have. For example, the C circles refer to rural areas and are the least attractive sectors with very little

wealth. The 1999 National Telecom Act defined a phased telecom deregulation with national operator, VSNL,

privatized in April 2002.

The cellular market is divided into 4 metro areas, 5 circle A areas, 8 circle B areas and 5 circle C areas. When all

the cellular licensees become operational, India will be served by 77 networks. This segmentation of the market

and licensees has certainly not helped the growth of the Indian market. These Network is increasing very fast, as

companies want to tap the middle class population in smaller cities, and technological development, they are

able to increase the Network boundary with lesser investment and also the competition.

Indian mobile operators offerings are segmented in two broad categories - Pre-paid and Post-paid. Although

mobile market is growing positively, the Post-paid market is declining and Pre-paid market is increasing by leaps

and bounds.

TRAI regulations and Indian consumer behavior are causing for the growth in Pre-paid market. As the revenue in

pre-paid offer is increasing in Circle 'A' and Circle 'B' for Economies at scale, the Pre-paid market share is going

to be the more important. When Reliance InfoComm came into the market, they didn't realize this initially, but

very soon they came with Pre-paid offer.

o Brief on Customer Service Gap Model

First analyze the Provider Gap

o Market Information Gap - Not knowing what Customers Expect: The Company's incomplete or inaccurate

knowledge of customers' service expectations.

Key Factors -

o Inadequate marketing research orientation

o Lack of upward communication

o Insufficient relationship focus

o Inadequate service recovery

2. Service Standards Gap - Not having right standard and design: The Company's failure to translate accurately

customers' service expectations into specifications or guidelines for employees.

Key Factors -

o Poor service design

o Absence of customer-defined standards

o Inappropriate physical evidence and Servicescape

3. Service Performance Gap - Delivery lag: Lack of appropriate internal support systems (e.g., recruitment,

training, technology, compensation) that enable employees to deliver to service standards.

Key Factors -

o Deficiencies in HR policies

o Not match Supply & Demand capacity

o Customers failed to meet their roles

o Intermediaries problem

4. Internal Communication Gap - Promises don't match: Inconsistencies between what customers are told the

service will be like and the actual service performance [e.g., due to lack of internal communication between the

service 'promisers' (such as salespeople) and service providers (such as after-sales service representatives)].

Key Factors -

o Lack of Integrated services marketing communication

o Ineffective management of Customer expectation

o Over promising

o Inadequate horizontal communication

Companies wishing to improve their service quality must diagnose the four organizational gaps and take

appropriate corrective action to close them. An important message for managers from this overall implication is

that a mere external focus (e.g., being customer-oriented and conducting periodic customer-satisfaction surveys)

is not sufficient for delivering superior service. Managers must also systematically analyze and correct potential

deficiencies within the organization.

Customer perceptions are subjective assessments of actual service experiences; customer expectations are the

standards of, or reference points for, performance against which service experiences are compared. The sources

of customer expectations consist of market-controlled factors, such as advertising, as well as factors that the

marketer has limited ability to affect, such as innate personal needs. Ideally, expectations and perceptions are

identical: customers perceive that they think they will and should. In practice, a customer gap typically exists.

Good marketing strategies reduces this gap.

o Indian Consumers Behavior & Gap Model

This section is analyzed in following sub-sections -

o Consumer Perceptions -

What do you see?? Perception is the process of selecting, organizing and interpreting information inputs to

produce meaning, i.e. we chose what info we pay attention to, organize it and interpret it. Information inputs are

the sensations received through sight, taste, hearing, smell and touch. This is very important factor for Indian

consumers, as the average literacy level is low in India. People want to judge the quality of service with more on

Physical evidences comparing to western world, where people rely on the specifications.

As Mobile Telecom service is 'Remote Service', people don't see any infrastructure of Network, consumers want

to see the Front offices / people of the provider. This was realized by Reliance very quickly, they offered the

Handset on Mail order basis which didn't work out well, immediately they started opening retail store which

brought lot of success for them, even entering late in the market. AirTel (Bharti), Hutch, Spice offer this presence

through the dealer network and selective retail store. But provider direct presence is more valuable.

BSNL being the poor customer handler, they are still able to keep large market share because of their physical

presence. But this concept is changing gradually amongst young generation.

Usually the Indian consumers see large gaps in Gap4, and they believe that Physical presence can only reduce

this gap, Physical presence also helps provider to get feedback quickly and reduce Gap1.

o Learning & Communications - In India this process is comparatively slower than western world or developed

countries. So the communication to the consumers play much bigger role than here, the need for mobile

communication is much more in Rural India and cities, but the impediments are the cost and learning process. As

the costs of mobile services are coming down, the opportunity in Rural India will grow. But the providers and

operators have to communicate much more in teaching the people.

TSPs also need to encourage some retails network in Rural India, which can offer cheaper service, like HLL or

P&G offers 1 Rs packet for their toiletries products, or ITC offers Internet centers in villages of several states.

Tech. MNCs (AMD is releasing cheaper chips, Dell is coming up with low end PCs) are trying to come with

tailored products for the emerging markets, which can be cheaper, less features, and easy to use.

Bharti planned to open a SMS based public booth Network in cities few years before, but that business plan

became infeasible as SMS prices dropped like a falling rock. But potential for similar mobile public booth in Rural

India is very high.

Learning & Communications are more required to close Gap 3 and Gap 4.

o Perceived risks -

In service risk assessed as it is consumed and experience, also 'Word-of-Mouth'. People perceive more risk in

service than products, because of its' intangibility. In India this is more because of rudimentary legal framework,

the Consumer protection is much less than developed country. This is one 'Major Reason' also for booming Pre-

paid market than Post-paid. TSPs have to offer some kind of financial warranty in case of Post-paid connection.

So far the experience of Indian consumers with Govt. Telecom organization is very poor.

Physical presence and financial back up required more to reduce the risk factors. The risk will be perceived less

as Gap 3 and Gap 4 will be closing.

o Group Dynamics -

This is one of the most important factors in Indian market, here 'Word-of-Mouth' is much powerful than any other

communication, and people follow their families, friends, and social groups. The Market communication from

TSPs should keep this in mind.

The Call Plan should consider this with high importance, some mobile operators are considering this factor, but

there is no still Customer analysis or segmentation done. Group dynamics consideration should be taken care in

closing Gap 3.

Customer Service Quality analysis

Extensive qualitative and empirical research-spanning multiple phases, covering a variety of sectors, and

involving a number of companies-suggests the following general insights about how customers assess service

quality. Firstly, customer-defined service quality stems from a comparison of customers' service expectations

(i.e., their mental standards about what a company ought to provide by way of service) with their perceptions of

the delivered service.

Secondly, customers evaluate the nature and extent of the gap between their perceptions and expectations along

five broad service attributes (listed below in decreasing order of importance):

Reliability: Ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately. This is more dependent on the

Technology and Network Infrastructure is used, Indian TSPs are at per or near per with Global standards in this

regard.

Responsiveness: Willingness to help customers and provide prompt service. - This one major are Indian Mobile

operators are lagging and lot of work needed to be done.

Assurance: Knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to inspire trust and confidence. This is also

another lagging area.

Empathy: Caring, individualized attention the firm provides its customers. This is also another lagging area.

Tangibles: Appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel, and communication materials. Mobile service

is 'Remote Service'; the Tangibility needs to be created other ways.

The Evidence of Service

Because Services are intangible, customers are searching for evidence of service in every interaction they make

with the provider. Here is the general diagram -

People

- Contact Employees

- Customer him / herself

- Other customers

Process

- Operational flow of activities

- Steps in process

- Flexibility vs. Std.

- Technology vs. Human

Physical Evidence

- Tangible communication

- Servicescpe

- Promises

- Technology

- Internet integration

Service Quality Key Drivers -

o Employee (Call Agents) training

o Employee motivation

o Employee empowerment (This is highly lagging, still the managers take the decision, by that time customer

loose patience and run away.)

o Retail outlets to ensure tangibility (has to be done more organized way, tie-up with Super market chains etc.)

o Measure service delivery / customer satisfaction

o Right BSS and CRM Solution

Need for CRM Solution -

With a CRM package sitting on the top of billing software, it can generate various kinds of data for the company

to understand the service preferences, usage pattern and demographic nature of its customers. Previously it was

a few discreet parameters. Now with a separate software package seamlessly integrated with the billing modules,

the service providers can build relationships among different parameters to take important business decisions. A

normal CRM package has around 12 odd modules from contact center management, campaign management,

customer profiling to sales management. All these can help a mobile telecom company create an efficient sale

and marketing and customer care operations. Using CRM as marketing and customer care tools, the telecom

companies can differentiate their services for different strata of customers. For example profiling and

segmentation of customers open up new marketing opportunities. With the help of a good CRM tool, a customer

base can be divided into different segments and subsegments. Take the case of students as a group. Then one

can have school and college students. Then the locality from where these students are coming. So segmentation

can go on and on. It helps a mobile company to understand what a customer wants and the nature of services

the company should deliver to prevent churning.

Segmentation is really important in Indian market as Demographics variation is very high here, so the System

should be flexible enough to work with different process flows, different types of Service delivery, specially the

very less focus made on Pre-paid market for customer satisfaction, where as pre-paid market stands for the

larger share. Most of the operators consider pre-paid users as Anonymous, as they consider the 'Exit Barrier' is

less in Pre-paid connection, where as the 'Exit Barrier" is almost same as Post-paid, typically consumers

consider the hassle of changing Mobile number and new SIM card cost as 'Exit Barrier'.

Recommendations & Conclusion

Till today all the Mobile Operators are focused on Transactional Marketing (Get new customers) than

Relationship Marketing (Retaining old customers). They are more focused on increasing Network area and

circles - which is definitely require. And India has a huge market, which is fragmented in nature and too many

customer segments - geography, income, age, language spoken, culture. Relationship Marketing is not much

emphasized in India but the Industry, which is too competitive and can be operated remotely, this will be more

important.

As the Industry will move towards mature stage (as happening in Developed countries), Relationship Marketing is

more required and it needs to start now. The communication was pathetic till late 90s, but as it improves the

Regional customers information sharing will increase.

Also the operators should come with new Business plans for Rural Areas, there is huge market in Mobile Data &

Voice communication, there is huge potential but proper learning tool and communication required. As the

Wireless Network cost is reducing, the focus in rural area will become important.

Final Recommendation List to Close Customer Gaps -

o Relationship Marketing focus

o Employee management

o Service focus on Pre-paid market

o New Business Ideas for Rural market

o Usage of right CRM tool

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/412798

Arvind Brands, the retail division of Arvind Mills , is sewing up strategies to strengthen its retail presence by positioning itself as a lifestyle brand.

Arrow, one of its leading brands in the men�s fashion, is being promoted as a lifestyle brand for the new- age customer.

The company, which has roped in design consultancy firm JHP to add an edge to the consumers shopping, said it is also looking to foray into the women�s formal wear category by next year.

�We are keen to promote Arrow as a complete lifestyle brand. The range will include casual wear, formals and sportswear, besides accessories. �Currently, there are 60 Arrow stores across the country. Plans are afoot to increase the store tally to 70 by the end of this fiscal,� Mr J. Suresh, CEO, brands and retail, Arvind Brands told Business Line.

The company has roped in Italian designer Renato Grande to help forecast colours and styles in men�s fashion. �Earlier, the thrust of the brand was only on formal shirts. However, with formal occasions on the decline and office wear becoming more casual, we are increasing our product offering,� he added.

Mr Suresh said the company has earmarked Rs 20 crore for its store expansion for the current fiscal. It is also scouting for properties in Tier II and III cities to expand its outlets.