INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING

We use a large variety of goods and services in our daily life. These include items
like toothpaste, toothbrush, soap, oil, clothes, food items, telephone, electricity and many
more. How do all these goods and services reach our home? Obviously, the business houses
who produce the goods and services have to ensure that these are to be sold, and so they have
to make the consumers/users aware of their products and place them at points convenient to
the consumers. This involves a number of activities such as product planning, pricing,
promotion, use of middlemen (wholesalers, retailer etc.) for sale, warehousing, transportation
etc. All these activities taken together are termed as Marketing.

Marketing refers to the process of ascertaining consumers’ needs and supplying various
goods and services to the final consumers or users to satisfy those needs. Basically, marketing
is the performance of business activities that direct the flow of goods and services from
producers to consumers or users. The American Marketing Association defines marketing as
an organisational function and set of processes for creating, communicating and
delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that
benefit the organisation and its stakeholders. Marketing is made up of four
elements: Product, Place, Promotion and Price. The elements must be used in a cohesive
plan to effectively target the consumer. A product can be either a physical product or service.
Place is where the product is purchased. Price is the amount a consumer pays for the product
and promotion consists of the communication tools used to effectively get the company's
message out.

According to the traditional concept, marketing means selling goods and services that have
been produced. Thus, all those activities which are concerned with persuasion and sale of
goods and services, are called marketing. This concept of marketing emphasises on
promotion and sale of goods and services and little attention is paid to consumer satisfaction.
The modern concept of marketing considers the consumers’ wants and needs as the guiding
spirit and focuses on the delivery of such goods and services that can satisfy those needs most
effectively. Thus, marketing starts with identifying consumer needs, then plan the production
of goods and services accordingly to provide him the maximum satisfaction. In other words,
the products and services are planned according to the needs of the customers rather than
according to the availability of materials and machinery.
Significance of marketing:

 Marketing helps business to keep pace with the changing tastes, fashions, preferences
of the customers and contributes to providing better products and services to the
consumers and improve their standard of living.
 It helps in making products available at all places and throughout the year.
 It plays an important role in the development of the economy.
 It helps the business in increasing its sales volume, generating revenue and ensuring
the success in the long run.
 It also helps the business in meeting competition most effectively.

Thus, marketing is important to the business, consumer as well as the society.

Types of Marketing
Traditional marketing involves offline channels such as face-to-face selling, print
advertisements, direct mails, billboards, television and radio to grab the target market’s
attention.
Digital marketing uses the internet to reach its markets via websites, social media, video
sites, emails, mobile phones and apps and forums.
Social media marketing is a popular medium for businesses to connect with and engage
their audiences and is an effective brand builder and market research tool. This works best
when used in conjunction with other marketing strategies.
Mobile marketing. Considered the third screen, mobile is one of the main marketing
channels today, what with consumers getting their information on the go.
INTRODUCTION TO CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

Business always starts and closes with customers and hence the customers must be
treated as the King of the market. All the business enhancements, profit, status, image etc., of
the organization depends on customers. Hence it is important for all the organizations to meet
all the customers’ expectations and identify that they are satisfied.

Customer satisfaction is the overall essence of the impression about the supplier by the
customers. This impression which a customer makes regarding supplier is the sum total of all
the process he goes through, right from communicating supplier before doing any marketing
to post delivery options and services and managing queries or complaints post-delivery.
During this process the customer comes across working environment of various departments
and the type of strategies involved in the organization. This helps the customer to make
strong opinion about the supplier which finally results in satisfaction or dissatisfaction.

Customer satisfaction is the measure of how the needs and responses are collaborated
and delivered to excel customer expectation. It can only be attained if the customer has an
overall good relationship with the supplier. It is a part of customer’s experience that
exposes a supplier’s behavior on customer’s expectation. It also depends on how
efficiently it is managed and how promptly services are provided. This satisfaction could be
related to various business aspects like marketing, product manufacturing, engineering,
quality of products and services, responses customer’s problems and queries, completion of
project, post delivery services, complaint management etc.

Customer’s perception on supplier helps the customer choose among the supplier on basis of
money value and how well the delivered products suit all the requirements. The supplier’s
services never diminish after the delivery as customer seeks high values post marketing
services which could help them use and customize the delivered product more efficiently. If
he is satisfied with the post marketing services then there are good chances for supplier to
retain the customers to enhance repeated purchases and make good business profits.

It is necessarily required for an organization to interact and communicate with

customers on a regular basis to increase customer satisfaction. In these interactions and
communications, it is required to learn and determine all individual customer needs and
respond accordingly. Even if the products are identical in competing markets, satisfaction
provides high retention rates. For example, shoppers and retailers are engaged with frequent
shopping and credit cards to gain customer satisfaction, many high-end retailers also provide
membership cards and discount benefits on those cards so that the customer remain loyal to
them.

Higher the satisfaction level, higher is the sentimental attachment of customers with the
specific brand of product and also with the supplier. This helps in making a strong and
healthy customer-supplier bonding. This bonding forces the customer to be tied up with that
particular supplier and chances of defection very less. Hence customer satisfaction is very
important panorama that every supplier should focus on to establish a renounced position in
the global market and enhance business and profit.

In today’s competitive business marketplace, customer satisfaction is an important

performance exponent and basic differentiator of business strategies. Hence, the more is
customer satisfaction; more is the business and the bonding with customer.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES
 To know about the Customer Satisfaction level of M/s. Deekay Electricals
customers.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES
 To find out customers’ preference of brand
 To know about customers’ perception and attitude towards service of the
company.
 To know about potential problems of the customers
 To know about complaint management
SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This study is dealing with the customer satisfaction of Deekay electricals
products. On the basis of the study we can identify the customer requirements
and the level of satisfaction with related activities. It will help for better
decision making and modifications if required.
The scope itself limits to analyse the present level iof satisfaction of the
customers and also aims at study about how dealers are motivated through sales
promotion amd marketing facilities provided by the manufactiurer it also
cobvers the opinion of dealers regarding their problems in masketing and
satisfaction in the industry.
IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY
ADVANTAGES OF THE STUDY
LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
The information might not be accurate due to the closed ended
questionnaire. Other than the option may have its control over the customer’s
perception and response
Due to time constraint, the researchers couldn’t able to cover all the areas and
all the customers
Personal bias is possible because of direct questions.
Due to the fixed number of samples, researchers can’t take the result for whole
Since the study was restricted to Chennai city, the customers in Chennai city
were only considered
Since the method was questionnaire, some customers hesitated to give
information