MARKETING Marketing is essentially a creative corporate activity involving the planning and execution of the conception, pricing, promotion,

and distribution of ideas, products, and services in an exchange that not only satisfies customers` current needs but also anticipates and creates their future needs at a profit.
Peter F. drucker, The practice of Management(New York: Harper and Brothers, 1954), pp. 37- 39. MARKETING OF MADHAVARAM SAREES

The marketing of Madhavaram saris is highly influenced by social, cultural, religious, economical, political and technological aspects of Madhavaram and its locality. As majority of the population is involved in production of saris and do manual field work , its impossible for them to wear and maintain the saris of that cluster area. After conducting surveys and questionnaires, our group came to the conclusion that only 12-15 % of Madhavaram saris are consumed by local people around the cluster. I dont even want to sell the saris to the local people, as they bargain too much and give less profit. Said Mr. M. Srinivas (The owner of one of the weavers` cooperative societies). If we focus on his point then find that how desperate the cooperative societies are in making the profit. After this we decided to calculate their profits, There were two options: 1. Ask the Owner directly their Profit on each varieties of saris, and 2. Go through each and individual process of making the saris and inquire about their costing and pricing. Marketing / selling in that particular cluster are done by : a) Individual skilled weavers ( independent/ SHG) b) Master weavers c) Co-operative societies. The costing and pricing of these entities differ owing to the difference in volume of production of the entities. For instance, an individual weaver will calculate cost of production of single set of saris, whereas a masterweaver would consider multiple sets at a time.

Costing in each process

A) Design development Under this Process : a) Master weaver design, develop and execute motifs/pattern/layout/graphs by himself. b) Cooperative societies consist of some experienced weavers and generally owned the master weaver himself. They also take some orders from outside designers and work on there designs. c) Independent local designers who sometime work for master weaver and cooperative societies as well.

B) Punchcard making Under this Process: Few of the known local designers / punch card makers involved in this business and charge Rs. 3 per card after punching the designs. They bring the cards from nearby cities at wholesale rate which costs them Rs. 1-1.5 per card. In madhavaram they used to punch the cards manually .

C)Yarn buying and Dying 1 Bundle = 5 lunga = 20 ladi = Rs.900( buying cost) Cost of dyes a) Napthol dyes cost approx Rs 600-700 per Kg b) Vat dyes cost approx Rs 3000-4000 per kg Dying of 100 ladi = Rs.25 (labour cost) D) Spool/ Drum and pirn winding Winding of warp yarns from Spindle/charkha to spools Rs 120- 180 /charkha/day. Winding of pirn : Rs 2/ pirn for jari weft Rs 1 for cotton weft

E) Aasu( Aasmaan) warp winding For this purpose the weavers(workers) are paid Rs. 240-260 per day

F)Street sizing and starching 1 Warp(Padugu) sizing and starching =Rs 35 1 Padugu contains 8 saris warp without blouse

G) Loom setting and weaving Loom setting is done by women in the families, which takes 1 to 2 days depending on their experiences, skills .

H) Packaging Generally they use rectangular paper boxes of (24* 16) inches which cost them Rs. 15-20

I) Advertisement /Promotional activities Actually , There were 3 big hoardings in that cluster area to advertise about Madhavaram saris, but now all 3 of them are soiled, and of no use. Generally Each cooperative societies have their own single board to locate the place. There are lots of things still to be done in this field by the responsible authorities. Now if we talk about Cooperative societies and Master weavers , then we will understand that why they are the rulers of that cluster. a) They have their own visiting cards b) They are equipped the E- commerce facility c) They have linkage with out state retail shops, Designers and big shopping malls. d) They have their own middle man, who brings orders and act as a bridge between seller and consumer.

J) Demands Actually This Madhavaram cluster saris has very rich, intricate, and traditional pallu and borders But It faces a strong competition with the Venkatgiri saris, which are quite much more demanding among the consumers. Responsible authorities are required to take major steps in this regard .

K) Export and Transportation Different co-operative societies and master weavers have different linkage with the markets. According to one of the cooperative societies ,they send their saris to Big shopping malls like Chandana brothers, SS mall, Chennai Shopping mall,RS brothers,and many more in Hyderabad. They supplied their goods to other states also, like Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Uttar Pradesh. As far as the matter of Transportation is concerned , they have their own family members and Relatives involved. Few of them having their own vehicles for this purpose.

L) Profit outcome / benefits Generally Cooperative societies/ master weaver used to sell 200- 700 saris in a season, depending on festivals and demand. It is very difficult to know the exact profit of cooperative societies and master weaver, on asking one of the cooperative society`s owner we came to the conclusion that, they get a profit of 15- 20 % on cotton/ cotton and cotton/sico 15-25 % on silk/ silk

COSTING OF 5 SARIS (COTTON- SICO), With Blouse Information By: Master weaver ( )

8.5 Ladi cotton yarn ( for body) (1 ladi cost Rs. 70) 2.0 Ladi Cotton yarn ( for border) 2.0 Ladi Sico yarn ( for Pallu) (1 ladi sico yarn cost Rs. 175) 7.5 Ladi Sico yarns ( for weft) ( 1.5* 5 = 7.5) Body Bobbin winding ( cotton) charge Border bobbin winding (cotton) charge Total warp Starching, sizing and strengthening Jari winding charge Border Jari and Pallu Jari For Body and Pallu 6 marks and For Border 2 marks are used 1 mark = ladi = Rs. 375 Weaving Salary

8.5* 70 = 595 2* 70 = 140 2* 175 = 350 7.5* 175 = 1312.50 51 24 450 25 3000 (8* 375)

5250

( 1050* 5) For design development and punch cards they charge (average) 600

TOTAL = 11795 ( 5 Saris) Therefore each cotton sico sari cost Rs. 2359

AVERAGE PRICE RANGE OF SARIS IN The Uparapalli Weavers Co-operative Society Information by: Mr. M Sriniwas (Sales person) COTTON * COTTON sari COTTON * SILK sari SILK * SILK sari Rs. 650 1200 Rs. 1300-2500 Rs. 3000- 9500

About 30 % of saris are sold to APCO From APCO they earn 12% Profit on each sari And APCO sell these saris to other places at 25% extra Marketing Price than cooperative societies.