TATA DOCOMO is Tata Teleservices Limited's telecom service on the GSM program - arising from the Tata Group's proper alliance with Japanese telecom major NTT DOCOMO in November 2008. NTT DOCOMO has 26% of stake in the company. TATA DOCOMO has license to use its GSM services in 19 telecom circles. It started out its procedure in India from Tamilnadu. NTT DOCOMO is one of the leading mobile providers in world and in Japan Market it's having more than 50% of market share in telecom market. NTT DOCOMO is supposed to help TATA Telecom Services in growing its business as well as supply the know-how to help the company develop its GSM business. Tata DOCOMO was the second company in India who launched second pulse tariff. It signifies a substantial milestone in Indian Telecom surroundings.
Vision Statement
We will refine our brand and improve ties with this customers.
We will solicit and incorporate feedback from customers so that we continue to surpass their goals.
We will continue to innovate so that people can earn the value of men and women worldwide.
We will become a business whose energetic staffs can handle overcoming all obstacles in pursuit of our corporate perspective.
Objectives
Corporate Objectives
Following will be the corporate objectives of TATA DOCOMO Services -
As a relationship of two pioneering brands, TATA DOCOMO offers to deliver relevant new applications and services that will make life simpler and more fun for the client.
To offer straightforwardness to customers in its services amidst cluttered telecom providers and confusing options.
To offer their service by being country's most transparent, progressive and liberating telecom brand.
To create a fresh communication culture and fully utilize the individual potential.
Marketing Objectives
Volumes and Revenue - THE BUSINESS has earmarked an investment of $2 billion on its pan-India GSM network rollout. The company has placed the tariff because of its services under the "Pay-for-what-you-use" model which includes per second pulse tariff framework. It offers its GSM based mobile services in 16 circles out of 22 circles described in India. Tata DOCOMO actually comes under the superset band of Tata Teleservices. Tata Teleservices works its CDMA based services under Tata Indicom and its GSM based services under Tata DOCOMO. Tata Teleservices added 34. 4 million new mobile clients in August 2009, beating bigger rivals like India's biggest mobile operator Bharti Airtel (2. 8 million), Reliance Communications (2. 3 million) and Vodafone (2. 2 million). Presently Tata Teleservices is India's sixth largest mobile operator with 42. 8 million users.
Technology Upgradation - NTT DOCOMO has played a major role in the evolution of mobile telecommunications through its development of cutting-edge technologies and services. TATA DOCOMO has already made the bet for 3-G technology auction in India. The advantage that TATA DOCOMO has in terms of advanced technology is the collaboration with NTT DOCOMO as today, while almost all of the global players are just beginning to discuss of 4G technology and its own possible applications, NTT DOCOMO has recently saved a downlink transmission rate of 250 Mbps more than a high-speed wireless network within an outdoor test of your experimental system for Super 3G, also called LTE. This kind of advance technological border can help Tata DOCOMO a great deal in long haul against its rivals.
Customer Retention and Customer Delight - By launching various new strategies like per-second getting in touch with plan, per character SMS demand plan, full chat time recharges, nighttime packages for various towns, etc, TATA DOCOMO is trying its best to boost its customer retention plan and talk about customer delight via different progressive models. Company thinks in figuring out its customer bottom part which is devoted to its services and by offering them cheapest of services, it can sustain its customer bottom part and capitalise on that in future.
Situation Analysis
Product Definition
Tata Docomo is a mobile/cellular service provider which is collaboration between your Japanese company Docomo and the Indian giant Tata because of its release in India. The announcement of the kick off was made as recently as June 10, 2009. Hence the product is a new one on the market with a lot of existing players such as giants like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance etc. Hence it's important to analyse the competition in the market and see if there is enough scope on the market.
Competitor Research - The wireless telecom industry is an enormous and still growing market and has tremendous range for new entrants as well as existing players.
The following graph shows the division of the marketplace share in terms of volume of subscribers as per the TRAI article for the year 2009.
The biggest players in the industry will be the ones that will be the oldest and well established ones with major market stocks.
The major players are Bharti Airtel, Reliance and Vodafone. Reliance is relatively new and yet has grabbed a significant share on the market set alongside the other two which are older.
Tata has also gained good amount of market show though it has only just entered the industry in the next half of the entire year 2009, which ultimately shows that the market has enough place for many players as long as they can draw in customers with their brand.
Tata being truly a more developed and trusted name in India could prove to be a major raise for Tata Docomo to determine itself in India in a big way.
The rate of growth of these sites from Sept 2009 to December 2009 as per the TRAI survey for 2009 is given below:
As is apparent from the above data that the new players specifically Tata and Aircel have the best growth percentage as they are in the original period of building themselves in the market.
The growth movements are a positive indicator to the fact that there is opportunity of expanding on the market even though there are a huge number of existing players in the market.
Bharti Airtel, the major market share-holder has the least expansion rate which ultimately shows that new players are the ones that are growing faster possibly because of more attractive schemes and other bonuses while the existing subscribers tend to stick to their service provider for reasons like inertia and brand devotion.
Tata Docomo can increase its share of the pie by giving more attractive tariffs and good network coverage over areas that are in any other case not well-covered.
Analysis of the Category
Market SIZE
At 110. 01 million links ' Indian Telecom Industry' is the fifth largest and speediest growing in the planet. The subscriber basic is continuing to grow by 40% in 2005 which is expected to reach 250 million in 2007.
Indian Telecom Industry ' is currently expected to add almost 1% to India's GDP which is heartening and approximated to develop further and brighten the ' Scenario of Indian Telecom Industry.
Tata Teleservices Ltd, the telecom arm of the $66 billion Tata Group and it packages to stay forward in the contest by rolling out GSM-based network services in more places across India.
The company, with 42. 8 million clients, is India's 6th most significant mobile operator after Bharti Airtel (108 million), Reliance Marketing communications (84. 1 million), Vodafone Essar (80. 9 million), state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) (57. 3 million) and Idea Cellular (50 million).
The company offers built-in telecom answers to its customers under the Tata Indicom, Tata DOCOMO, Photon and Walky brands, and uses both the CDMA and GSM technology platform(s) because of its wireless sites.
Tata Teleservices, which provides both CDMA-based and GSM-based mobile service network under the name of Tata Indicom and Tata DoCoMo respectively, added 34. 4 million new mobile subscribers in August 2009, defeating bigger rivals like India's biggest mobile operator Bharti Airtel (2. 8 million), Reliance Communications (2. 3 million) and Vodafone (2. 2 million).
Market Share
SWOT Analysis
swot-analysis-image. png
Strengths:
Tata Docomo was the first available to bring in the much acclaimed pulse plan in which users are required to pay on seconds' basis. This captivated a major part of the mobile users especially the rural sector as it resulted in much cheaper costs.
Tata is a renowned name in India. Established around 150 years back again Tata services are known to supply the best-in-quality services at minimal rates. The ardent supporters of the Tata brand will definitely use its services. Also the goodwill Tata has produced via its philanthropic activities offers it a clean image and attracts a lot of folks towards it.
Tata Docomo gives its users a chance to try out a huge volume of services which can be to begin their kind. For instance, the introductions of Buddynet which allows the ones who have joined it to stay connected at a cost of 1p/6 sec and also enjoy interpersonal networking sites. The GPRS on demand service allows users to utilize internet for a convenient quantity of days and nights. For the post-paid customers Tata Docomo came up with the doorstep service which allows users to get the staff at their particular homes to resolve their questions. These and a huge variety of other services have given Tata Docomo an edge above the other Telecom services.
Tata Docomo services are for the normal people. Like always the prospective audience comprises of Aspirers and Seekers which represents the majority ratio of the mobile users in the country and has resulted in Tata Docomo reaping wealthy dividends.
Weaknesses:
The most popular issue of Tata Docomo users has been the vulnerable signal strength they are getting in a few of the regions it has been launched in. This has resulted in repeated disconnections and has agitated the users.
The emphasis has mainly been on the pre-paid cable connections. The post-paid interconnection was launched quite later and wasn't in a position to generate all the buzz as the prepaid connection.
There is a big variance in the efficiency of the customer services over the regions Tata Docomo has been launched in.
The Tata's have been focusing on the rural market much that the urban target has been left neglected. There can be an urgent need to keep up a balance between these two regions to boost further growth.
Opportunities:
It has a chance to expand its services over the whole country as there are still unexplored regions. It can also draw out some schemes specifically for metropolitan users to increase its metropolitan market penetration.
It can also try focussing on developing some innovative ideas as far as its internet services are concerned since at the moment there in not much in the 'internet services' area which provides it with a competitive edge. It must make an effort to exploit this factor.
Since the benefits of 3G services in India, Tata Docomo has an opportunity to result in services which can be appropriate for 3G to ensure that folks using it don't face incompatibility issues.
Right now Tata Docomo has focussed on exclusive strategies for internet, Text message, incoming and outgoing dialling etc. Now it is time for offering combined and included services.
Threats :
If the error of disconnections arising out of poor signal strengths persists to occur it may result in people going out of it for other networks.
There is uneasiness among users regarding the idea that the 1p/sec services will continue till the life span cycle is maintained. This uneasiness should be removed by proper clarification.
The evident and the biggest dangers are from the already existing mobile services providers like Airtel, Idea etc who have consolidated their positions. It might be an arduous task to topple them using their positions.
Category Factors
Porter's 5 causes analysis model deals with those external factors which impact the nature of competition within in industry one of the firms and the inner factors inside the industry that affect your competition among firms. A firm needs to comprehend the dynamics of its industry basic and the marketplace involved so as to compete effectively. Following will be the five forces explained for Tata DOCOMO -
The Amount of Rivalry:
In Telecom space in India, there are a number of big companies like Reliance, Idea, Airtel, BSNL, Vodafone, etc which can be giving leading edge competition to one another. Rivalry among the rivals can be discussed in conditions of introduction of varied schemes and will be offering frequently that compels each other to create innovative strategies more than often. This rivalry can be manipulated by Tata Docomo services by concentrating on hiring doing sales persons having customer gaining skills and it will also try to break apart good sales person from its rivals.
The Threat of New Entrant:
Telecom industry is an attractive avenue for just about any new firm due to its advantages and success involved. Hence, the threat of new entrants is pretty high and the nice recent example can be Aircel, Virgin Mobile, etc. The GSM version of Tata Indicom i. e. Tata DOCOMO also inserted as a hazard in market for other existing competition. The rule is to capture the market show of existing competitors where they lose some of them.
The Threat of Substitutes:
The major replacement likelihood in Telecom space can be - Online Chat, Emails, Tone over IP, Satellite Phones, etc. These potential substitutes have high capacity for replacing Telecom space, however in current scenario it's not highly possible.
But remember the futuristic possibilities of such substitutes' capacity, the company should keep a close watch with them and strategize consequently.
Buyer Electric power:
Since your competition is very rigorous in Telecom space, the bargaining ability of customer is very high. In the course of barely 5-6 years, the prices have come down in a distinct manner and still the procedure is on. The only real reason is 'Buyer Ability' in this space. So in order to beat this vitality, DOCOMO should come up with strategies of differentiating its product from its opponents in order to stand out one of the masses and gain the maximum from its customer foundation.
Supplier Power
More is your competition; more is the buyer and supplier ability in any industry. So holds true for Telecom sector too. Provider puts pressure on organizations, when they have significantly more options on the market.
These five causes help the company to take on the competition
Environmental Factors
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Technological:
The major appeal of Tata Docomo has been the 1p/sec plan. This advancement has greatly reduced customers costs and also have made them shift base from opponents.
docomo-1-paise-per-second. png
It offers users a chance to try out blackberry services at little cost for one week.
blackberry-bold-curve. JPG
Its buddynet plan allows users access to interpersonal networking sites without data charges or GPRS packages. Also, the buddynet plan also connects a person to his closest friends by this plan as charges are less than normal costs.
buddynet. jpg
The "do the new" insurance policy of the brand lays more stress on research so that we now have more technologies which can further the delight the clients and enlarge its market show.
do. jpg
Tata Docomo's "Diet postpay plan" allows individual to make their own plans according to their convenience. As a result users can now break up to 18% of their bill's flab across Local, STD and Roaming.
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Political:
No political amount of resistance due to the philanthropic image of TATA.
Tata Docomo has to adhere to TRAI regulations similar to the other telecom service providers.
No tax incentives or such provision is there for Tata Docomo because there is already a very stiff competition in this field with every service provider endeavoring to revitalise itself.
In areas where tata has been positively present before, the utilization is a lot more and the services have been much better.
Economic:
Tata Docomo is still in its move from introductory level to growth stage as still there are lots of questions regarding sustainability of its strategies.
Tata Docomo is growing by leaps and bounds in a sizable number of state governments like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka etc. It offers manages to carve out a distinct segment for itself in that competitive market gives us a concept of the form of what to come. Hence from the present market world Tata Docomo will continue to grow in the foreseeable future.
Since Tata is known because of its acquisitions and mergers in foreign countries, if it can have the ability to hit out such kind of your deal in near future it can lead to a huge boost to its customer bottom and reinforce its market position.
Social:
The strategies like buddynet allows Tata Docomo users to remain more linked at really cheap prices which includes resulted in more conversation in its users.
The services have had a huge effect on the Indian middle class society as the reduced prices have been the major factor which have made the aspirers and strikers leave the likes of airtel, Vodafone etc and move to Tata Docomo.
The public opinion regarding Tata Docomo is very positive in the majority of the regions at present. The major reasons have been the trust people have in Tata and its own products. Also today's schemes are considered to be too good to be true and also have managed to joy the clients.
Though professionals in this field are apprehensive about the sustainability of Tata Docomo's strategies, they still have been very impressed by the promotion and marketing that is directed at its services.
Legal:
The different strategies and regulations that Tata docomo has carried out or implemented are in compliance with the Indian laws and regulations and legal composition. Everything has been carried out properly and in a organised fashion. There have been no legalities till now.
COMPETITOR Research FOR TATA DOCOMO
Competitors for Tata Docomo can be categorised into 2 broad categories in the wireless telephony domain. They are -
GSM PROVIDERS - Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, BSNL, Uninor, Reliance GSM, Aircel
CDMA PROVIDERS - Reliance, Tata Indicom, Virgin Mobile
The existing market talk about of GSM and CDMA as given by the TRAI Report, March 2010 is GSM vs CDMA. PNG
In this framework, we have to analyse the existing marketing aims of Tata Docomo as well as specify the aims of the Task.
Marketing Objectives
Market Penetration
Market penetration is a growth strategy adopted by way of a company for increasing the sales of its current product to current market segment without any change in the product. Here TATA DoCoMo has launched its GSM product on the market and is rivalling with the prevailing competition like Airtel, Vodafone, etc for capturing the marketplace.
New Product Development
It is a strategy adopted with a company for progress by offering revised products to current marketplaces portion. For eg. TATA DoCoMo bringing in new plans in the market, daily basis plan, pay per second, etc.
Objectives (as a job):
To know the understanding about the brand.
To check quality of brand (i. e. , connectivity etc).
To study the initial product feature of brand.
To know the impact of promotional activities on the purchasing habit of the customer.
Various features offered by TATA DocoMo are the following:
1p/sec - ANY PLACE IN India
Savings Alert After each Outgoing call
ISD telephone calls on 1 second charging
Best Text message rates from Tata DOCOMO
Pre turned on STD, ISD and National Roaming without rental
Anywhere in India Recharge with Tata DOCOMO
Total Information control
Buddy Net
Daily Plans
Note: That is an indicative and non-exhaustive list of schemes.
MARKETING MIX
What is Marketing Mix?
The 'marketing mix' is a set of controllable tactical marketing tools that work together to accomplish company's target.
The 4P evaluation is what is known as Marketing Blend. The 4 Ps include :
Product
Price
Place
Promotion
PRODUCT:
Tata Docomo offers a good selection of products as a mobile company. It provides both pre-paid and post-paid services.
It also offers a good network coverage and the tone of voice quality and other essential basic features are all well set up.
PRICE:
The prices of the assistance was of utmost importance in case there is Tata Docomo as it was to compete with already proven giants like Vodafone, Airtel, Reliance etc.
Tata Docomo was the first to expose a per second pulse and the rates of just one 1 paisa/second for both pre-paid and post-paid services.
PLACE:
Tata Docomo will make its presence experienced on the market relatively easily because the Tata conglomerate was already into the communications field with Tata Indicom.
Because of the above reason, the circulation programs were already set up.
PROMOTION:
Advertising was a major contributor to the promotion of the brand. A musical youngsters oriented ad-campaign provided it a head-start in the marketing and promotion of the merchandise. The thought of bringing together people and the junior is central to its ad-campaign.
Sales advertising were also helped by the unique offers and services provided by Tata Docomo. They used many ground breaking plans and strategies to attract clients.
PROFITS
Profits for Providers are mainly reflected in 3 variables - ARPU( average Income Per Consumer), MoU(Minutes of Use) and World wide web improvements to the subscriber base.
ARPU and MoU statistics for cellular providers(GSM vs CDMA)
Service Providers' show in net additions through the month of June-2010
The above bar graph signifies the percentage show of each of the major cordless companies in the web addition to the subscriber base during the month of June-2010.
The above statistics are indicative of the expansion of each supplier on the market and their changing market stocks due to it.
It implies that Tata has a good show in the web additions directly behind the three major proven brands which is above the other players.
Now let us try to compare the various brands on some indicative variables -
All the aforementioned ratings are based on comparative performance indications relating to consumer devotion and belief of the brand and are on a scale of 5 with excellent being the best and incredibly poor being the lowest
Expected Future Strategies of Tata Docomo
The following movements have been noticed, as per the TRAI Survey of March 2010:F:\Acads\Mktg\Project_DoCoMo\Rural vs metropolitan. JPGF:\Acads\Mktg\Project_DoCoMo\Rural vs urban 2. JPG
This clearly implies that there is a huge potential in the rural market where more than 60% of India's society lives. This should be the ideal way where Tata Docomo should focus its strategies on.
Customer Analysis
Segmentation
The market section chosen by Tata DOCOMO can be categorised predicated on different kinds of segments as pursuing -
Geographic: - It began its services from southern zone of India i. e. Tamilnadu. Slowly they started distributing their services towards other expresses of countries via Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, etc accompanied by movement towards northern area of country.
Demographic: - On the basis of demographics, the people in their young ones i. e. an get older centered targeting has been done by Tata Docomo. Since the very release of the merchandise, the prospective has been the youth clearly obvious in their advertising campaigns and primary offers like the "buddynet" etc which were unique features unveiled by Tata Docomo for the very first time in Indian wireless communication industry.
Psychographic -This segmentation was done predicated on lifestyle of customers and was focused on midsection and top end segments. In addition, with price optimizations strategies like 1p/sec and lower billing plans, it emphasized its give attention to reaching out customers through mass marketing.
Behavioural -The benefit-seeker sections predicated on quality, service and convenience was targeted. Quality of network and service was emphasized more predicated on customer needs.
Consumer Behaviour
Consumer behavior is the sum total of the buying behavior of last customers - individuals and homeowners that buy goods and services for personal ingestion. It's the response of customers to environmental factors
Factors impacting on buyer behaviour for the customers of Tata Docomo:
Social position : This affects the average period of calls created by the customer. Customers of tata Docomo are assorted across all interpersonal statuses
Location: Urban users and rural users - Penetration is higher in cities. Mobile phone consumption is very less in rural areas and hence, users of Docomo are also very less
Age: youth are comparatively more inclined to experiment with the new brand and new plans.
Perception: Conception of the brand as the one that focuses on innovation to satisfy customer needs and that provides value for money. This image has been built by various promotional promotions and schemes released by the business.
Personality: The highest value producing customers are people who build strong human relationships and folks who stay away from their families
TARGETTING:
Tata DoCoMo has centered its marketing campaign on concentrating on certain sections of the market, some openly and some in a simple manner. The major approach in the market targeting has been mass marketing or undifferentiated marketing.
The major focus although seems to be on youth but there's a general focus on trying to reach away to the people by reducing prices and venturing into both GSM and CDMA markets. Corresponding to Mr. Anil Sardana, Taking care of Director, Tata Teleservices: "We've chosen Tata DoCoMo as our GSM brand. We like the selling point of the DoCoMo brand. It quite simply means "Do Communication More", and it extends to out to a big audience. With our CDMA offering, we already are providing to the mass market consumers. With GSM services, we have been eyeing the mid and higher end of the spectrum".
POSITIONING
Tata Docomo has highly emphasised on the value proposition it offers offered to its customer. It really is positioned on current economic climate, which can be seen by the revolutionary "per second billing" it wanted to its customers when it came into the market. It caught its rivals off safeguard which led to a whole lot of vulnerability on the market with their stocks dropping by a significant margin. However due to the high respect for the brand Tata which already prevails in the Indian population because of its philanthropic initiations and the fact that the majority of Tata's products focus on giving the best of products to its customers at the cheapest possible price, there was not much difficulty in making certain the customers identified Tata docomo services the way they wanted those to. The recent "per second billing on roaming" design has further strengthened its placement as the least expensive possible substitute in the thoughts of the customers. The positioning map of tata docomo regarding its strongest rivals has been shown below,
X AXIS Orientation (luxury-performance)
Y AXIS Prices
Bharti Airtel (24%) Vodafone (17. 5%)
Reliance (18%) Tata Docomo (9%)
Bsnl (13%)
Tata has also tried to position its services as being youth oriented. Its buddynet design gives users an opportunity to stay linked with friends at a meagre price of 1p/6 sec and the low prices (which were a major way to obtain interest for the teenage and college heading crows) are a good example of it.
Hence to put it in all these ways, the variations which were advertised can be categorised in the next way:
Importance: The cheap rates symbolize the most respected profit to the users. In India, significant amounts of emphasis is laid on the price of a product. The growing proportion of seekers in the populace has resulted in price being considered the most crucial element in any product.
Distinctive: The buddynet design is probably the most progressive feature that can be offered by a telecom services service provider to its users. It is highly good for its users who wish to stay linked at low prices and also benefit from the sociable networking sites services.
Superior: The actual fact that Tata Docomo was the first one in the telecom field to demand at pulse rate ensured that the clients perceived it as a superior service agency in this framework than its opponents.
Communicable: All these dissimilarities have been communicated to the clients by strong advertising.
Pre-emptive: Though the competitors can copy all these features however the undeniable fact that Tata DOCOMO was the first one to create these features ensures that they will will have an advantage.
Profitability: The buddynet plan requires only DOCOMO users to avail of the 1p/6sec price. Hence not only is this course of action beneficial to users but also heightens its customer base which would ensure profitability over time.
Tata docomo's value proposition position:
Price
MORE
THE SAME
LESS
MORE
TATA DOCOMO
THE SAME
LESS
Benefits
The simple fact that aside from the pulse rate, the cost has also been reduced has put Tata DOCOMO in the greater for fewer categories.
Assumptions
Customers will buy our product as we are providing whole lot flexibility in conditions of plans.
Customers will buy our product as we are offering higher value programs.
We can leverage on the brand of "TATA", thus the belief of product is likely to be "great" and reliable.
Competitors will act in a logical way.
Gaining revenue and growth for the time being will not lead to increasing price unless inescapable.
Customers will not be facing any risk in terms of buying and eating our offerings and services.
Strategy - Product
Customer Goals -
Remote places is one area that need to be explored extensively by Tata Docomo as the quantity of people residing in rural India is high and the way wireless Teleservice are achieving these places, these customers will be a stylish avenue. For such planning, Docomo should strategise the tariff ideas and services with cheapest cost that will fulfil all the essential requirements of rural customers.
Existing Customer Set in place -Retaining the existing customer is one of the most crucial things for a company. This should be done by consistently bettering the grade of services plus more ground breaking product offerings predicated on different customer portion needs.
Competitor Targets
BSNL - To become the most significant telecom service agency in South Asia.
Aircel - Aircel has announced that it aspires to increase its customer bottom part to 100 mn by season 2012. It includes ambitious strategies of pan-India occurrence with its GSM network covering complete nation, by the finish of 2010.
Reliance - Reliance beliefs as an international head in the circulation of cellular devices and communication in providing custom-made logistic. To aspire to the highest global expectations of quality, efficiency, operational performance and customer care.
Airtel - By 2010 Airtel will be the most popular brand in India and the reason being -
- Adored by more customers
- Targeted by top talent
- Benchmarked by more businesses
Vodafone - Its eye-sight is to lead the industry in responding to general public concerns regarding cell phones, masts and health by demonstrating leading edge practices and motivating others to check out.
Product/Service Features
Tata docomo is second in CDMA services with a customer base of 35. 12 million.
It was the first one to charge on secs' basis with a price of 1p/sec.
Recently launched Blackberry curve smartphone 8520 at a cost of just under Rs. 15000.
It gets the feature of personal savings alert after each outgoing call or an SMS.
It has the provision of pre-activated ISD at a minimal price of 11p/sec.
It provides its customers who use post-paid services to customise programs according with their needs.
STD charges are only 1p/sec.
Option to pay via various sources.
The progressive buddynet feature allows users to connect with other buddynet users at local rates of 1p/6sec and STD at 1p/2sec. It also allows customers to undergo public networking sites like Orkut, Facebook etc.
It has top features of daily as well as weekly rental plans. The night talk plan offers 60 minutes of free have a discussion time.
Core Strategy
Value Proposition
The most important value that was added by Tata Docomo was benefits of 1p/sec billing programs. This put an enormous pressure on the prices and all its competitors had to come up with ideas of slashing their prices. Tata Docomo using its prices strategy and marketing has definitely surfaced as a natural competitor.
In addition, the advertising campaign of company is very progressive especially with the 'Docomo' melody that has been appreciated by a huge consumer base. The launch of Docomo was very much known by its theme - 'O e aa oo. . . '. City huge banners in different expresses and freshness in conditions of market player are few advantages which Docomo capitalises in conditions of its value propositions. Quality of Service and different offerings are providing some unique proposition to customers, and attempting to accommodate various needs of these and create a bright and stunning image of the product in minds of the consumers.
Product Positioning
Following is the prospective of Docomo to set-up the understanding in consumer's head about the merchandise -
High quality of service
Cheapest rates availability especially in Rural segment
3 G compatibility services
Best Roaming bargains offerings
Strategy - Marketing Communication Programmes
INTEGRATED MARKETING AND SALES COMMUNICATIONS PROGRAMME
Sales Promotion
Continue with the youngsters oriented plans and value provides because youth is the greatest market.
Promote it more as a post-paid interconnection as well in addition to the regular pre-paid which is a lot more favoured type for the young ones.
Differentiate packages like BuddyNet from other similar deals by adding new enhancements.
Advertisement Campaigning
Target typically young ones focused telecasts like commonwealth game titles telecast, sports channels, information press etc.
Shift emphasis to feature-oriented campaigning from a general target audience oriented marketing.
Use youth symbols of India as brand ambassadors to represent the brand as a trendy and more youthful network as well as reliable service provider.
PRICING STRATEGY
Continue with the low price products and add moderate modifications and enhancements like 1 paise/sec for the first 10 mins and lower call rates for 10-15 mins etc.
Differentiate the costing from other competitors as most sites follow the costs to stay competitive.
Use the "Lead" strategy in costs decisions taking care of decent profit margins to preserve consumer's self-assurance as an financial brand.
CHANNEL STRATEGY
Continue to make use of the distribution programs founded by Tata Indicom, Tata Sky and other Tata telecommunication products
Provide incentives to retailers to market their brand more than other networks that they sell.
Promote the brand in the small-store market where in fact the store-keepers sell links and SIM credit cards of various sites by incentivising them with offers and stocks of profit.
CUSTOMER MANAGEMENT STRATEGY
Maintain good levels of grievance control system in the form of effective call centre professionals.
Identify profitable customers and offer special schemes and offers to match their specific needs.
Provide customised savings to readers that are a major profitability possibility to the business for specific needs.
Try and find more customers in both rural and urban areas by tapping prospects who have the need by making them realize the benefits and overall economy of the brand.
Framework
The framework that we will be using to categorize Tata Docomo and other competitors has been produced by us and it is not really a standard framework. Although it follows similar guidelines found in standard matrices like BCG etc.
The business pattern can be split into 4 extensive categories:
INFANCY
This is the stage when the business exists and it has been started or introduced into a market. This period is actually characterized by pursuing features:
Dependence on mother or father company or conglomerate for acceptance and identification on the market.
Trying to determine itself on the market with existing players, finding its feet in the market.
Adolescence
This level can be seen as a the following features:
In this stage a small business typically endeavors into new areas and are extreme in their strategies in both marketing and product development.
Learning from flaws and take-back of potential faulty decisions and avoiding of pitfalls.
Adulthood/Maturing Stage
This level can be seen as a the next features:
The progress of the merchandise is gradual and it has generated itself in the market as one of the major players in the market.
Considered as a income generating stable business with relatively less levels of changes and new inventions but continuous monitoring of existing earnings.
Planning for cover against other risks or new entrants.
Ageing
This stage recognizes the decline of the product in the market not in overall terms however in relative share credited to new extreme entrants.
Gradual loss of market share scheduled to insufficient innovation and overall flexibility in adaptation to newer market opportunities.
Decline anticipated to neglect of brand/product due to favouring of newer products and campaigns of the parent company.
According to this platform, Tata Docomo can be an adolescence stage while other major players like Airtel, Vodafone and Reliance lie somewhere within adulthood and ageing level. Because of this Tata Docomo has a distinct strategic edge over the competitors to accomplish rapid expansion and soon end up being the largest player in the market.
The following representation of the platform shows the stages and their implications.
Adulthood/ Maturing stage
(Stableness and gradual growth)
Infancy
(High Expansion/
Aggressive)
AGEING. . . . . . . .
(Product fading away
To pave method for new ones) (Decrease)
(Creating roots)
Market Survey
On conducting the market study, we found some information relevant to our market evaluation on Tata Docomo. These studies are tabulated in following diagrams -
Which Service Do you want to Prefer
Who influences your final decision most in selection of your network
Most Important Parameter while choosing a network
Which product will u favor among CDMA/GSM
What network will u prefer
Contingency Plans
The strategy devised by us has considered certain things for granted in conditions of the goals that the business can perform and the demand of the merchandise.
There might be some problems in the implementation of the strategies advised. The possible problems and their backup strategies are the following:
Obstacle 1
Network coverage is probably not an easy extension as it may need permissions and grants or loans and lots of investment.
Solution: An alternative solution to network augmentation may be the use of the network width of the tata Indicom services and integrating it with the Tata Docomo network by sharing a certain amount of bandwidth that may be maintained as buffer.
This way there can be a short term solution in the event the enlargement of the network will take too much time or is to capital intense to be studied up in the immediate programs of the business.
Obstacle 2
Pricing might not be easy to regulate as the competitors can also slash their prices to complement the reduced prices of Tata Docomo.
Solution: Not only costing its services low but also another advice has been made of being truly a Lead mover instead of playing the get up by adopting wait to see way. Being the first mover in almost any competition adds to the competitive border of the company. Choosing ground breaking and little prices not only gives the company adequate market talk about but also provides them goodwill of the customers.
