Summer Internship Report

ON

“CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR OF MAGAZINES”

By
ASHISH KUMAR MUKHERJEE
A0102109001
MBA(Entrepreneurship) Class of 2011

Under the Supervision of Under the Guidance of

Dr. Vandana Mathur Mr. Sumit Bhardwaj
Programme Leader Deputy Manager
MBA (Entrepreneurship) Outlook (India) Pvt. Ltd.

In Partial Fulfilment of Award of Master of Business Administration

AMITY BUSINESS SCHOOL

AMITY UNIVERSITY UTTAR PRADESH
SECTOR 125, NOIDA - 201303, UTTAR PRADESH, INDIA
2011
 Acknowlegement

I hereby take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude to the persons who made this
project successful and possible.

I would like to thank Amity Business School, for providing me an opportunity to take this
project work and to my guide Dr. Vandana Mathur, under whose supervision and guidance
whole of the project has been completed.

I would like to thank Ms. Shivi Bhasin as she found me credible enough to work for Outlook
(India) Pvt. Ltd. and selected me for a challenging project and guided me throughout the
project at each and every step, thus was able to complete my project successfully.

I am sincerely thankful to Mr. Sumit Bhardwaj, Deputy Manager - Outlook (India) Pvt ltd.
for permitting me to do the project work and submitting the report in department and for
continuous motivation.

My sincere thanks to Mr Mauzam, Team Leader, Outlook (India) Pvt. Ltd for his valuable
guidance that was of great help during the project and helped me in completing this project
successfully.

Lastly I am thankful to my colleagues and friends who have directly or indirectly extended
their cooperation and suggestion in completing the project.

ASHISH KUMAR MUKHERJEE

 DECLARATION

I confirm that the project work that is undertaken by me is an original and authentic work
done by me. This project is being submitted in partial fulfilment for award of degree of Post
Graduate Degree in Management from AMITY BUSINESS SCHOOL.

The content of this report is based on the information collected by me during my tenure at
Outlook (India) Pvt. Ltd in Delhi during two months of training from 1 st of May to 10th July
2010.

Date: Ashish Kumar Mukherjee

Place: Enrolment no. A0102109001
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Mr. Ashish Kumar Mukherjee, a student of Masters of Business
Administration, class of 2011, Amity Business School, Amity University, Uttar Pradesh
(Enrollment No. A0102109001) has undertaken Summer Internship under my guidance for
project title “Consumer Buying Behaviour of Magazines”

This project is prepared in partial fulfillment of Masters of Business Administration to be

awarded by Amity University, Uttar Pradesh.

To the best of my knowledge, this piece of work is original and no part of this report has been
submitted by the student to any other Institute/ University earlier.

(Dr. VANDANA MATHUR)

 INDEX

Sno. TOPIC Page No.

1. Acknowledgement

2. Declaration

3. Certificate from faculty guide

4. Executive summary

5. Industry profile

6. Literature review

7. Research Background & Methodology

8. Techniques of Data collection

9. Data interpretation and analysis

10. Conclusion

11. References

12. Annexure
 LIST OF GRAPHS

SNO. GRAPHS PAGE NO.

1. kind of magazines people read

2. brand magazines do people generally prefer
3. contents do you exactly look for into a magazine
4. cost range people prefer
5. attracts you most towards the magazine
6. Who/what influences you the purchase decision
7. Rating of magazines on the basis of the following attributes
a. Price
b. Contents
c. Offers
 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
History of print media industry
Print Media, as anyone can understand is one of the most important factors coming through in
the way a nation works. Newspapers, magazines, books etc. are ready by a lot of people and
are certainly one of the most trusted mediums of National and International News.
India has a vast array of Print Media with Thousands of Magazines and Newspapers in
circulation. Top Notch Journalism, great reporting, press unity and a very strong network is
what makes Print Media so much of a success even today in the age of Television and the
Internet. It is also said that Print Media also helped literacy and undoubtedly the General
Knowledge of the average person in India.
The good thing about Indian Print media is that any Bias of any sort is quickly subsided,
therefore impartial reporting is a major feature of the Indian Print Media. The news you get
through these outlets cannot be any truer.
The newspaper with the largest Circulation in India is Dainik Jagran, having near about Two
million readers. Next comes Times of India, an English newspaper, followed by Dainik
Bhaskar, another Hindi Newspaper.
India has a lot of regional newspapers and magazines as well in a lot of languages. Therefore
there is something out there for everyone to read! This section is dedicated to the Indian Print
media with articles on Newspapers, Magazines, Controversies and opinions related to them
etc. We hope you have a good time browsing through. Please let us know of any suggestions
you may have through our contact page.
The Media in India enjoys a great amount of freedom and is therefore flourishing. Whole new
segments are opening up for this Rs 10,000 crore industry. Perhaps the most significant
possibility is in India emerging as a back-end destination for digitising television and film
content as well as managing video servers for global companies in the pay-per-view TV
market. The previous year has been a landmark year for television broadcasting. Many new
news channels like the two from NDTV and one each from TV Today and Star were
launched. Television viewers were to enjoy much more freedom in metros with the rollout of
Conditional Access System, which was quietly introduced in Chennai, but trouble was just
round the corner. In Chennai there are very few customers for channels in languages other
than Tamil and all Tamil Channels are free to air. As a result there was no objection, only
people did not go for the top box. Delhi however has been a different story what with CAS
being first put off, then implemented and then the total confusion on its status. The launch of
a choice private FM radio stations has got the metro residents hooked on to the otherwise
almost obsolete radio service. Lots of multiplexes opened across the country and many more
are on the pipeline. Overseas studios were bullish on producing. Piracy however, continued to
bother the Indian film and music industry. The Internet continues to grow.

EARLY YEARS OF THE PRINTING MEDIA:-

Acta Diuna (Journal of the day) was the earliest known journal. It is a handwritten news
bulletin distributed in the Forum Romanum. This was in the 1st century B.C during the time
of Julius Caesar.
The first printed newspaper appeared in Peiking (Beijing) in the 8th century A.D. The
Chinese did the printing using separate wooden block for type, which could be used over and
over again. The Koreans also followed the Chinese. Printing ink and paper were developed in
china and Egypt. But the whole process of printing had a stunted growth in Asia
Europeans, on the other hand, used the new process on large scale. They benefited from the
popularization of printing, which led to the advent of affordable books & popular newspaper.
This also led to the democratization of communication.
Printing led to the third major revolution in communication, the first having been the
development of human speech some 35,000 years ago and second the art of representing
sound in written form using an alphabet. With the spread of printing, libraries and schools
sprang up. Books, libraries and higher education-all these led to major political,
socioeconomic and cultural changes in Europe.
The new modes of agricultural and mechanical production, migration of people from rural
areas to industrial towns, rapid changes in social and cultural life and scientific and
technological led to new methods of communication among people. Democratization of
communication meant strengthening of democratic idea. Political democracy led to economic
democracy and social reorganization.
In all this, the newsletter produced in various sizes and at different frequencies played an
influential role in Germany, Holland, France and England during 16th, 17th and 18th
centuries.
By the early 18th century, political leaders realized how powerful an instrument the
periodicals were for spreading ideas. Many of them began to produce their own papers to
propagate their ideas and influence people such as the Whigs and Tories in England. A new
force was detected in society, namely, the force of public opinion. Consequently, the
journalism of the period was largely political in nature and thus the impression, justifiable to
a great extent, was created that journalism was an adjunct of politics.
Avisa Relation Oder zeitung was the first regular printed newspaper of Europe which
commenced publication in 1615. Weekly News was the first newspaper of England that
lasted from 1622 to 1641. The next paper there was a fortnight, the Daily Courant that started
publication in 1702.
The first printing press in the Americas was established in South America by Juan Pablos, a
Spanish printer, in 1539.
Boston, capital of the Massachusetts colony became an active centre of printing in the 17th
century. The Puritans imported the first printing press to New England in 1638 to supply
printed materials to Harvard College.
The very first newspaper in the US was Public Occurrences-Foreign and Domestic, published
by Benjamin Harris, a bookseller in Boston, in 1690. Harris could not continue publication as
he was imprisoned by the British authorities for printing without prior consent. Then came
another news paper, the Boston Newsletter in 1704. James Franklin, brother of Benjamin
Franklin, published the New England Courant in 1721.
Famous English essayists such as Joseph Addison, Richard Steele, Dr Samuel Johnson and
others either contributed essays to their own publications or to periodicals published by other.
They wrote contemporary issues besides literary topics. Across the Atlantic, Benjamin
Franklin, Thomas Pain, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and other had contributed.
The Glorious Revolution in England (1688), The American Revolution (1775-76) and The
French Revolution (1789) owe much to the radical and rational thoughts of people such as
theme, Locke the Pitts, Robespierre, Hugo, Voltaire, Rousseau, Jefferson, Franklin, Paine and
Hamilton etc.

WHAT WAS HAPPENING IN INDIA DURING THE EARLY CENTURIES?

Emperor Asoka’s pillar inscriptions and rock edicts in different parts of the Mauryan Empire
during 3rd century B.C are considered examples of imperial political communication to the
informed and literate section of the population. Ashoka used the Prakrit language in his
communication on ethics and morals as evidence by his inscriptions.
The learning languages were confined to high casts, the aristocracy, priests, army personnel
and landowners. Another feature of communication in ancient India was the emphasis placed
on oral and aural systems. Writing was done on palm leaves using a style, but the written
documents were considered too scared to be touched or used by the lower classes. The ruling
class used certain methods for coding, transmitting and decoding messages secretly through
the network of spies to information about neighboring enemies.
According to historians of journalism, news was collected in a well-organized manner under
Akbar the Great. In 1574, Akbar established a recording office that helped later medieval
historians to gather materials for chronicles.

FIRST PRINTING PRESS IN INDIA:-

The first printing press arrived in India on 6th September 1556 and was installed at the
college of St.Paul in Goa.

THE FIRST INDIAN NEWSPAPER:-

First printed newspaper of India was in English edited and published by James Augustus
Hicky, an employee of East India Company. It was named Bengal Gazette which came out on
29th January 1780. Soon many other weeklies & monthlies such as Indian Gazette, Calcutta
Journal, Bengal Harakaru, John Bull in the East came out during the 17th & 18th century.

THE MAJOR INDIAN LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER:-

Digdarshan was the first Indian language newspaper. It started in April 1818 by the Serampur
missionaries William Carcy, Joshua Marshman and William Ward. They soon started another
journal in June of the same year & named it Samachar Darpan. The famous Raja Ram Mohan
Roy also brought out periodicals in English, Bengali & Persian. Some of Roy’s papers were
Sambad Kaumadi, Brahmical Magazine, Mirat-ul-Akhbar, and Bangadoota & Bengal Herald
.
Assamese:-
Amnodaya, a distinguished journal in the Assamese language was started in 1846 under the
editorship of the Rev. Oliver.T.Cutter.

Gujarathi:-
The newspaper with the greatest longevity in India, Mumbai Samachar was also the first
Gujarati Newspaper. It was established in 1822 by Farduvji Marzaban as a weekly and then
became a daily in 1832.

Hindi:-
The first Hindi daily was samachar Sudhavarshan (Calcutta, 1854). Later Samayadant
Martand, Banaras Akhbar, Shimila Akbar and Malwa Akhbar came out.
Calcutta was the birth place not only of English, Bengali and Hindi journalism. The first
Urdu newspaper was published by Urdu Akhbar in the second decade of the 19th century.

Kannada:-
Kannada Samachar was the earliest Kannada journal, according to many scholars. But others
think that the first Kannada journal was Mangaloora Samachar. Later Subudhi Prakasha,
Kannada Vaatika, Amnodaya, Mahilaasakhi and Sarvamitra came out during the 18th
century.

Malayalam:-
Mathrubhumi, Malayala Manorama, Kerala Kanmudi are the main newspapers of Kerala. The
other daily newspapers are Desabhimani, Mangalam, Madhyamam, Chandrika, Deepika etc.

Marathi:-
Darpan was the first Marathi newspaper started on 6 January 1832. Kesari and Sudarak were
other papers of the 18th century. Induprakash was an Anglo- Marathi daily established in
1862.

Oriya:-
The first Oriya magazine Junaruna was published by the Orissa Mission Press in 1849 under
the editorship of Charles Lacey. Then came another publication from the same press
Prabhatchandrika, under the editorship of William Lacey. Utkal Sahitya, Bodhadayini,
Balasore Sambad Balika etc. started in the 18th century.

Punjabi:-
Although Maharaja Ranjit Singh encouraged the development of Punjabi journalism. The
earliest Punjabi newspaper was a missionary newspaper. The first printing press in Punjab
was established in Ludhiana in 1809.

Tamil:-
The first periodical Tamil Patrika a monthly was brought out in 1831 by the Religious Tract
Society in Madras; it lasted till 1833.
The next periodical weekly was the Dina Vartamani published in Madras from 1856 by the
Dravidian press and edited by the Reverend P.Percival. Later Swadeshamitran, Deshabaktan
etc. were other papers.

Telugu:-
Kandukuri Veeresaliongam Pantulu, known as the Father of the renaissance movement in
Andhra and the founder of modern Telugu, sparked a social reform movement through his
weekly Vivekavardhini. He also founded separate journals for women; Satihitabodhini.

Urdu:-
Sir Sayyid Ahmed Khan, a great educationist, judge and social reformer did much for the
development of Urdu journalism.

THE INDIAN PRESS AT INDEPENDENCE AND TODAY:-

In 1947, the major English newspaper in India were the Times of India (Bombay), Statesman
(Calcutta), Hindu (Madras), Hindustan Times (New Delhi), Pioneer (Lucknow), Indian
Express (Bombay and Madras) Amrita Bazaar Patrika (Calcutta), National Herald
(Lucknow), Mail (Madras) and Hitavada (Nagpur). Of these, the Times of India, Statesman
and Pioneer were under British ownership till 1964, when it came under a group of Indian
business.
During the long struggle for India‘s Independence, the major English newspaper that served
the national cause were the Hindu (1878), Amrita Bazaar Patrika (1868), Bombay Chronicle
(1913), Free Press Journal (1930, it became Indian Express) and Hindustan Times (1924).
Among the Indian language newspapers, the prominent ones were Aaj (1920), Ananda bazaar
Patrika (1922), Sakal (1931), Swadeshamitran (1882), Mumbai Smachar (1822), Malayala
Manorama (1890) and Mathrubhumi (1930).
Generally speaking, journalism is flourishing in India today. The Indian language newspapers
have overtaken the English newspapers in number and circulation. The highest circulation till
the 1990‘s was enjoyed by the English newspapers despite the fact that less than 5 percent of
the population of India claim English as their mother tongue. English is still the medium of
instruction in colleges and many prominent schools. It is also the language of administration,
although state governments have introduced legislation in favor of local government.
Hindi newspapers have the largest total circulation in India. Hindi is the main language of 10
Indian states- Bihar, Chattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya
Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttranchal and Uttar Pradesh.
Certain trends in communication and journalism throughout the modern world prompted
several sociologists and media experts to discuss the desirability of re-examining the trends in
the light of basic issues. In other words, back to the basics say the experts. This is where
Gandhi becomes relevant. High technology is good, but if it does not enable us to solve basic
problems confronting the succeed in catering to the greed of a few to the exclusion of the
need of the many-as it has done through the recent decades and in all countries that
experienced colonial subjugation in the past.
 INDUSTRY PROFILE
It's an entrepreneurial journey that has spanned both 'old' and 'new' economies -- building
successful brick-and-mortar businesses to exploring the frontier world of convergence
technologies. About a quarter-century before the onset of the ICE age, the Rajan Raheja
Group made its beginning in the construction business. After building a huge presence in the
realty market, the Group diversified laterally into manufacturing, financial services and
media -- each venture initiated, and executed, to fulfil the objective of assuming leadership in
core areas.

The list of the Group's successes is long and eclectic. Today, H&R Johnson ( India ) Limited
is the top name in ceramic tiles in India . Exide is the strongest brand of batteries in the
automotive and industrial field. Co-promoters of Supreme Petrochem Ltd. along with
Supreme Industries Ltd, largest processor of plastic materials in India.

The Group also joined hands with Oberoi Hotels as co-promoters of Trident Hotels and
luxury resort Rajvilas, which Conde Nast Traveller ranked as one of the 25 best villa
hideaways in the world.

Prism Cement Ltd, has a production capacity of 2.5 million tonnes; The Group is a Co-
promoter of Sonata Software Ltd, one of the leading software companies in India . As owners
and operators of a fibre optic cable network in Kerala through Asianet Satellite
Communications, the group is also a significant stakeholder in the growing convergence
business in India . Co-promoters of RMC Readymix (India) Pvt. Ltd. along with RMC Group
plc, U.K, the world’s largest manufacturer of Ready-mixed concrete.
Hathway Cable & Datacom Pvt. Ltd has extensive cable network in 6 major cities and 7 large
towns across India . Globus Stores Pvt Ltd. is India ’s one of the largest apparel brand chain.
A 50% JV with the ING group of Netherlands in ING Life Insurance. The venture is already
the 5th largest insurer in India.

PRINT MEDIA
Outlook: In October 1995, group company Hathway Investments Private Limited entered the
print media. Outlook, a weekly newsmagazine headed by Vinod Mehta, galvanised a sluggish
market reeling under the impact of satellite TV. Outlook quickly carved a significant niche
for itself among discerning readers who value its in-depth, investigative reporting as well as
its stylish visual format. Known to be fiercely independent, Outlook has shaken the
establishment on events ranging from Kargil to Kashmir to cricket, sensitised the reading
public to important issues like big dams, education and gender, and provided an unremitting
focus on South Asian geopolitics. Today, Outlook is the preferred magazine of 1.5 million
readers in India, and sells more than 11.2 million copies over the year.

Outlook Money: In July 1998, the Group launched "Intelligent Investor" re-christened as
"OUTLOOK MONEY" as of 30-Nov-2002, India's first personal finance magazine, which
offers sound strategies for the lay investor, especially the growing segment of salaried middle
and upper middle-class and self-employed professionals. Its message is clear and simple:
'Invest well, borrow wisely, spend smartly'. Evidently, that message has gone down well: the
magazine sold upwards of 1,00,000 copies a fortnight within a year. One of its distinguishing
characteristics is that about 93 per cent of readers retain all past issues of Outlook Money.

Outlook Traveller: Outlook Traveller is a monthly magazine from the stable of Outlook
Publishing India Pvt. Limited and the only significant magazine aimed at the travel reader.
Every month since June 2001 OT has introduced readers to the wonders of unknown
destinations while also encouraging travellers to take a fresh look at familiar places. Whether
people are planning a holiday, or simply dreaming of one, Outlook Traveller continues to
take them closer.

Outlook Saptahik: Outlook Saptahik, a weekly newsmagazine, was launched in October

2002 to establish significant presence amongst the vast Hindi reading audience. The product
targets the evolved Hindi reader keeping their interests, realities & aspirations in mind.
Outlook Saptahik retains the core strengths of Outlook with objective, fiercely impartial and
bold journalism, while brandishing its own identity through a strong parallel editorial. The
magazine is empathetic to its target audience & is not a translation of its English counterpart.

WEB MEDIA
outlookindia.com: In 1998, Outlook went online as outlookindia.com, drawing into its fold
the vast, nascent readership of expatriate Indians. outlookindia.com is both Outlook
magazine's home on the Internet and an online publication. Apart from Outlook's print edition
in its entirety - supplemented with links to related articles on its own site and elsewhere on
the Web - outlookindia.com also offers an array of original Web-only columns and news
updates every day with a very lively interactive section.

outlooktraveller.com: Inaugurated as a web resource in 2000, this travel Website has since
come a long way. Outlooktraveller began by opening up new vistas in web-driven vacation
planning, with its highly focused editorial features on an array of destinations. Still a
highlight of the website, these are supported by tools and resources that make putting
together your holiday a breeze — from selecting your destination, to choosing your mode of
transport, finding your way around the map, selecting a place to stay to catching the local
festivities, plus ferreting out the nearest ATM, fuel stop or cybercafe. Here there is something
for everyone; themed vacation ideas from 'A for adventure' to 'W for wildlife', honeymooners
dream destinations, foodies delights, first-person travelogues, a message room where you can
exchange notes or ask us for more info that you want… And don't forget to book your copies
of our international award-winning bestsellers from Outlook Traveller Getaways, available at
a special price when you order on the website. If you want a sneak preview, there're excerpts
from the guide books by renowned authors, including the likes of Prabhu Ghate, Ruskin Bond
and Jug Suraiya.

outlookmoney.com: outlookmoney.com takes forward the philosophy and beliefs ushered in

by Intelligent Investor (the personal finance magazine that was launched in mid-1998, now
known as Outlook Money). The site has six channels -- Stocks, Mutual Funds, Loans,
Retirement Planning, Taxation and Insurance -- that address broad areas of the personal
finance spectrum. Outlookmoney.com comes with many interactive tools. The Loans channel
alone sports calculators that do all the number crunching a visitor may want on home, car,
personal or equity loans. outlookmoney.com seeks to provide total solutions to personal
finance issues -- from disseminating information to providing avenues for e-commerce
transactions.

GUIDES:-
OUTLOOK Traveller Getaways (travel guides) published from OUTLOOK Group is today a
recognized, established and acknowledged premier travel reference guide book in India . In a
span of 5 years, 14 successful titles have been published -
(covering different travel theme destinations, state travel guides, weekend getaways guides)
- Weekend Breaks (from Delhi / Mumbai / Bangalore / Chennai)
- State Travel Guides (Rajasthan, Goa , Kerala, Uttarakhand, Himachal)
- Trekking Holidays
- Wildlife Holidays
- 101 Pilgrimage Destinations
- Heritage Holidays

OUTLOOK traveller getaways is not only for reliable information about the chosen
destination but also for a real understanding of the culture and workings of that destination.
The guide marries text and pictures to provide the much more elusive qualities: knowledge
and discernment.

OUTLOOK traveller getaways is a visual treat, reaches to the aspirational, hi-income and
exploratory readers (travellers)

Outlook Traveller Getaway Series

52 Weekend breaks from Delhi: June 2002 the first title proved to be a landmark in travel
books publishing. It was the first travel guide in India that highlighted the concept of a
weekend break, addressing the significant changes in urban work styles and in the tourism
industry over the 15 years. By encouraging a new concept in travel - that of a weekend
holiday - this book has made a path-breaking contribution to the growth and expansion of the
Indian tourism industry in general. Weekend Breaks from Delhi went through four additional
reprints before its second edition was launched early in 2004.
 Weekend breaks from Delhi 2nd edition: January 2004
 Weekend breaks from Mumbai: April 2003
 Weekend breaks from Bangalore: September 2003
 Holidays in the Hills: June 2003
 Heritage Holidays in North & Central India: February 2004

The Layman's Guide to Insurance

The Layman's Guide to Insurance lets you in on facts most insurers and agents shy away
from. A handy book to have by your side while buying all kinds of life and non-life
insurance, it explains the covers relevant to you, tells you how much to buy, points out the
fine print and gives useful tips so that you get your money's worth of insurance.

The Layman's Guide to Mutual Funds

The Layman's Guide to Mutual Funds tells you everything you need to know to hitch a
profitable ride on these low-maintenance investment vehicles: the expansive bouquet of
products on offer, the important investment decisions you need to make, the strategies to
adopt to squeeze out extra returns, the players in the market, and much more.

AWARDS AND RECOGNITION

 Department of Tourism, Government of India Award, National Tourism Award 2001-
2002 awarded to OUTLOOK Traveller for Excellence in Publication.
 OUTLOOK Traveller " 75 Holidays in the Hills" won the 2004, PATA Gold Award
 In 2002-2003 the Government of India recognized "Outlook Traveller Getaways" as
the " Best Travel Publication".
 Weekend breaks from Delhi was in the BESTSELLERS top three, non fiction
category for 14 consecutive weeks in North India
 Weekend breaks from Mumbai was in the BESTSELLERS list top three for 8
consecutive weeks in West India

Outlook Money Awards:

The awards started in 2002, and are presented to the best in the following key personal areas:
 Value-Creating Companies
 Wealth Creators(Mutual Funds)
 Banks
 Insurers
 Online Brokers
 Home Financiers
 Hall of Fame

The ceremony for 2003 was held in Mumbai and was presided over by The Hon'ble Finance
Minister; Mr Jaswant Singh.
OUTLOOK STAFFS
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Vinod Mehta

Publisher: Maheshwer Peri

Editor: Krishna Prasad
Executive Editor: Bishwadeep Moitra
Managing Editor: Nandini Mehta
Foreign Editor: Ajaz Ashraf
Business Editor: Sunit Arora
Senior Editors: Ajith Pillai, Sunil Menon, Anjali Puri
Political Editor: Smita Gupta
Bureau Chiefs: Saba Naqvi Bhaumik (Delhi) Smruti Koppikar (Mumbai)
Books Editor: Sheela Reddy
Photo Editor: T. Narayan
Sr Assistant Editor: S.B. Easwaran
Associate Foreign Editor: Pranay Sharma
Assistant Editors: Namrata Joshi, Manisha Saroop, Arindam Mukherjee, Lola Nayar,
Anuradha Raman

www.outlookindia.com
Executive Editor: Sundeep Dougal
IT-Manager: Raman Awasthi
Software Engineers: Anwar Ahmad Khan, Manav Mishra
Web Designer: Praveen Uprety

Senior Special Correspondents:

Saikat Datta, Arti Sharma

Special Correspondents:
Rohit Mahajan, Pragya Singh, Chandrani Banerjee, Amba Batra Bakshi

Correspondent:
Shruti Ravindran, Debarshi Dasgupta, Omair Ahmad
Mumbai: Payal Kapadia
Kolkata: Dola Mitra
Bangalore: Sugata Srinivasaraju (Associate Editor, South)
Chennai: Pushpa Iyengar (Bureau Chief)
Chandigarh: Chander Suta Dogra (Bureau Chief, North)
Bhopal: K.S. Shaini

Copy Desk:
Sasi Nair (Deputy Copy Editor), Paromita Mukhopadhyay, Saikat Niyogi

Photographers:
Narendra Bisht (Deputy Photo Editor)
Jitender Gupta (Chief Photographer)
Tribhuvan Tiwari, Dinesh Parab, Apoorva Guptay, Sandipan Chatterjee, Apoorva Salkade, S.
Rakshit (Senior Coordinator), J.S. Adhikari (Photo-researcher)

Design:
Deepak Sharma (Art Director), Bonita Vaz-Shimray, Ashish Bagchi, Tanmoy Chakraborty
(Graphics Editor), Devi Prasad, Padam Gupta

Promotions: Ashish Rozario

Illustrator: Sandeep Adhwaryu, Sorit

Editorial Manager: Sasidharan Kollery

Library: Alka Gupta

BUSINESS OFFICE:
President: Suresh Selvaraj
Vice President (features): Alok Mathur
Vice President (Circulation): Niraj Rawlley
General Managers: Anand Dutt (Advertising)
Asst General Managers : Kabir Khattar (Corp), Rajeshwari Chowdhury (West), Swaroop Rao
(Bangalore), Moushumi Banerjee Ghosh (East), Uma Srinivasan (Chennai), Rakesh Mishra
(Production)

National Heads:
Himanshu Pandey (Business Development), Alex Joseph (Retail)

Regional Managers:
Arokia Raj

Senior Managers: B.S. Johar, Darryl Arahna, Kartiki Jha, Keshav Sharma, Pankaj Sahni,
Rajendra Kurup

Manager (Brands) : Shrutika Dewan

Managers: Ashish Arora,Anindya Banerjee, Anjeet Trivedi, Chetan Budhiraja, Chetana
Shetty, Deshraj Jaswal, D.R. Wadhwa, Gopal K. Iyer, Indranil Ganguly, Kuldeep Kothari,
Mukesh Lakhanpal, Ramesh, Sanjay Narang, Shashank Dixit, Shekhar Pandey, Vinod Joshi

Head Office
AB-10, S.J. Enclave, New Delhi - 110 029
Tel: 26191421; Fax: 26191420
E-mail: [email protected]
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Editor: Vinod Mehta. Printed at IPP Limited, Phase-II, Noida and published from AB-10, S.J.
Enclave, New Delhi-110 029.
 SWOT analysis
STRENGTHS:
 Well organized and experienced staff.
 Innovative and customer oriented products.
 Direct approach to the customer.
 Customer satisfaction.
 Strong distribution network.
 Efficient and fast delivery system.
 Good subscription gifts.
 Have separate group for Hindi magazines

WEAKNESS:
 Price of some magazines is high.
 They are reluctant in promoting some of their own products .

OPPORTUNITIES:
 It has many products capturing all sectors information so it has an opportunity to
become a market leader.
 Career 360 is a very good career magazine.

THREATS:
 Existing competitors in the market.
 India today has already captured the big market share.
 LITERATURE REVIEW
Consumer behaviour research is the scientific study of the processes consumers use to select,
secure, use and dispose of products and services that satisfy their needs. Firms can satisfy
those needs only to the extent that they understand their customers. It’s very important for a
company to understand the consumer buying behaviour, their emotions, psychological
behaviour.
There is a widespread recognition that consumer behaviour is the key to contemporary
marketing success. In this way, the field of consumer behaviour has been characterized by a
diversity of viewpoints and based on an interdisciplinary science. In this context, the
understanding of consumer behaviour could appeals to a set of different areas of knowledge,
such as psychological, cultural social psychological, physio-pyschological, genetics
anthropology.” The main objective of this paper is to study the gender differences in
consumer buying behaviour of a Portuguese population when they go shopping to buy
apparel products. To attain this objective a survey was developed and administered across
Portugal. The findings confirm the differences between women and men especially in terms
of What, Where, When, and How they buy.
Knowledge of consumer behaviour directly affects marketing strategy (Anderson et al,
2005). This is because of the marketing concept, i. e., the idea that firms exist to satisfy
customer needs (Winer, 2000). Firms can satisfy those needs only to the extent that they
understand their customers. For this reason, marketing strategies must incorporate knowledge
of consumer behaviour into every facet of a strategic marketing plan (Solomon, 2002).
The human behaviour is complex, replete with controversies and contradictions and comes as
no surprise to marketing academicians as well as practioners. There is a widespread
recognition that consumer behaviour is the key to contemporary marketing success (Hawkins
et al., 2003). Consumer behaviour has been legitimized in marketing for it provides the
conceptual framework and strategic thinking for carrying out successful
segmentation of markets (Schiffman and Kanuk 2000).
There have been a number of debates between positivistic and interpretive consumer
researchers (Hudson andOzanne 1988). In this way, the field of consumer behaviour has
been characterized by diversity of viewpoints; as a result, the entire field now is based on an
interdisciplinary science (Kassarjian 1995). The understanding of consumer behaviour
appeals to a set of different areas of knowledge/factors: psychological, cultural social
psychological, physio-pyschological, genetics anthropology. One of them is the
psychology since consumer behaviour deals with emotions, beliefs and attitudes. Research on
emotions within marketing has evolved three approaches: the categories approach, the
dimensions approach and the cognitive appraisals approach (Watson and Spence, 2007). The
categories approach groups emotions around exemplars and considers their different effects
on consumption related behaviour.
The dimensions approach uses the affective dimensions of valence and level of arousal to
distinguish between emotions and the effects they have on consumer behaviour. the cognitive
appraisals approach has used emotions’ underlying motivational and evaluative roots to
explain their influences on consumption related behaviours. This approach supposes that
underlying evaluations of a situation (e.g. its desirability, certainty, etc.) combine to elicit
specific emotions. This approach may be used to explain how an extensive range of emotions,
including those with similar valence and arousal levels, are elicited and how they lead to
different behavioural responses. The cognitive approach has been considered relevant for
understanding the emotional responses of consumers in the marketplace (Johnson and
Stewart, 2005: 3). Bagozzi et al. (1999) propose that the cognitive appraisals approach offers
a more complete explanation of consumers’ behavioural responses to emotions than other
one.
What is apparent from the new learning, however, is that we potentially miss those beliefs
and attitudes held at the unconscious or implicit level that can be crucial to determining
consumer behaviour. Also the memory that people hold on their consumer experiences will
drive both aversion and preference towards products. Aversion behaviour is our avoidance of
certain things (brands or marketing offers) made to us as consumers.
The importance of the implicit memory in terms of its capacity to process and store
information cannot be understated. The implicit memory registers vast amounts of input from
our surrounding environment as we move through life. Millions of experiences that we have
had throughout our entire lives are stored away in a particular part of our memory system and
can be instantly accessed to help us develop an intuitive 'feeling' about what we should, or
should not do. The critical issue, however, is that most of the associations that drive intuition
reside in the unconscious part of our brain. They are brought into play automatically, and are
not the subject of conscious awareness. We can't normally articulate the basis of our
intuitions. So consumers often make brand choices intuitively, and cannot tell why they made
that choice.
Fishbein's (1967) attitudinal model has also been widely used in the marketing context
(Lilien et al., 1992), and this paradigm provides researchers with a useful lens for examining
the factors explaining consumer purchasing intention and adoption. According to this model,
behaviour is predominantly determined by intention. Other factors like attitudes, subjective
norms, and perceived behavioural control also are shown to be related to an appropriate set of
salient behavioural, normative, and control beliefs about the behaviour. However, Fishbein's
model stops at the adoption level and does not capture other important factors that explain
and predict consumer continuance behaviour (repurchase). The expectation-confirmation
model (Oliver, 1980), on the other hand, focuses on the post-purchase behaviour. It is a
widely used model in the consumer behaviour literature, particularly in explaining consumer
satisfaction and repeat purchase. Satisfaction is the central notion of this model, which is
formed by the gap between expectation and perceived performance. The expectation
confirmation theory suggests that if the perceived performance meets one's expectation,
confirmation is formed, and consumers are satisfied. Bhattacherjee (2001) stated that
satisfied users are more likely to continue purchasing the same products.
As regards cultural it is the main external factors that shape human behaviour. It represents
living style, which came into being after adjustments to the environment, people, and things
through generations. The effect of culture on people's life is so great that it will even affect
the motives and choices when consuming or shopping (Chang, 2005). Otts (1989) defined
culture as "All technologies, beliefs, knowledge and fruits that people share and transfer to
next generations." Taylor (1958) believed that culture was everything that an individual
learns in society. It is a combination of knowledge, beliefs, arts, morals, laws, customs, and
any other capabilities and customs. Culture is one of the main factors to determine behaviour.
The two external factors (culture and physical environment) and two internal factors
(physiological and psychological factors) interact and form the basic factors to determine
human behaviour. Culture also includes three parts, namely culture, subculture, and social
class. Culture is the most basic deciding factor of human desire and behaviour. Everyone is
included in many smaller subculture groups, which provide a clearer sense of identification
and social process. Basically, subculture can be divided into four types: nationality groups,
religious groups, racial groups, and geographical regions. Many subcultures can form some
important market segments, and provide the decision reference on product designs and
marketing campaigns for marketing personnel to serve the demands of consumers (Jen,
1990).
Through the interactions of the group, different people's experience and individual
characteristics were combined. During the combination process, individuals would seek
someone highly matched to himself in order to form a subgroup or small group together.
Schein (1985) believed the subgroup could form a common history through a certain time
development, by sharing experiences, attitudes, communication methods, and individual
personalities, and, in doing so, give birth to subculture. The individual life style is affected by
the interaction of internal factors such as value and personality characteristics, and external
factors such as society and culture, and also reflects on daily life activities. According to the
paradox of personality in marketing, we all have a personality, but we do not know how it is
systematically related to our consumer behaviour (Albanese, 1989).
Social psychology is another knowledge field that helps to understand consumer behaviour.
The social psychology focus on the understanding of individuals behaviour in the presence of
other individuals or groups. Concepts such as social perceptions, social influence, social
rewards, peer pressure, social cues, social sanctions, etc. all shed light on the mysteries of
consumer behaviour. Approaches to understanding consumer behaviour have emphasized
external influences on consumption-related acts. The whole idea behind this reasoning is that
consumer behaviour takes place within the context of groups and other individuals' presence
which influences consumer's processing of information and decision making (Engel et al.
1968).
Another area of knowledge that has been used to a better understanding of consumer
behaviour is the physiopyschological one. Physiological psychology is the study of the
interaction of the body with the mind. It is the study of the extent to which behaviour is
caused by physical and chemical phenomena in the body (Morris 1996). (Kroeber-Riel
1980) pointed out that cognitive and psychological processes originate from physiological
ones. This field holds many promises for explaining consumer behaviour. For instance, the
hypothalamus is that center of the brain which mainly controls consumption (Zimbardo and
Gerrig 1996). The chemical changes due to the use/eat of the first product results in a blood
borne input to the brain to activate further consumption. Thus, the individual would order one
more product to use/eat. Such a behaviour is explained based on the research findings on the
functions of the hypothalamus and other related areas of the brain (Valenstein, et al., 1970;
Zhang et al. 1994). Physio-psychology provides fascinating ways to help understand
consumer behaviour without looking into the consumer's "black box" for hypothetically
based variable explanations.
To explain consumer behaviour further, new frontiers in science were introduced such as
genetics and anthropology (Demirdjian, and Senguder, 2004).
According to genetics approach our genes direct our consumption behaviour. Perhaps humans
are all programmed to act in certain ways in their consumptive and consumer-related
behaviour. Is the presence of certain genes that compel us to consume certain kind of
products. Genetic science may very well come up with definite findings to explain consumer
behaviour and thus we may strike a vein of truth in finding explanations and laws of
consumer behaviour (Feder, 1977).
Business anthropology and its implementation in consumer behaviour studies have
demonstrated to the business world that anthropological approach as new perspective will
bring a new era for the consumer science. The applied anthropologists will become the
hottest candidates for business related research jobs given the fact that anthropological
methods are becoming more widely acceptable in the business world in general and in
consumer studies particular (Demirdjian and Senguder, 2004).
CHAPTER 2

Research Background and Methodology

Study Background
To understand the Sales Process carried out in the organization, Outook is keen to be able to
make its process more efficient by reducing the delivery time required between various steps
in the whole process, understand user dynamics across different types of clientel and using all
enquiries to be converted into final orders.

Action Plan of the project

The action plan for the project consisted of step by step procedure. It started with problem
recognition i.e. less efficient sales process- that took more and more time to convert follow
ups into a final order, thus a research was conducted to find out consumer buying behaviour.
Then with the help of questionnaire survey method, a small sample size of 50 was taken and a
survey was done randomly at Delhi NCR region.

Relevance of the study

Being an internee at Outlook, it was very important for me to find out the reason why India
Today captured the major portion of the market, even after Outlook has been segmenting it’s
magazine for every kind of mass. So in order to maintain its market leader position the
organization needs to have a competitive advantage over other which it can achieve by being
efficient enough to delivery in a short span of time. They are spread worldwide and looking
at the growth potential in India, they are also willing to develop manufacturing facilities at
various locations as well in the future.

Project Objective:
To study the consumer buying behaviour of magazines.

Research Methodology adopted:

Survey method using questionnaire.

Exploratory research:
The primary objective of the research is to provide an insight into, and an understanding of,
the problem more precisely.
Descriptive Research:
It describes the market characteristics of functions. Preplanned and structured design of the
project. Secondary data involved.

Quantitative research:
The data taken are all primary data and it is quantitative research. Whenever a new
marketing research problem is being addressed, quantitative research must be preceded by
appropriate qualitative research.

Sample size:
The 50 responses were analyzed as asked by the company. The responses have been taken
from Delhi NCR region.
Chapter 4

TECHNIQUES OF DATA COLLECTION

PRIMARY DATA

In this project I have collected the sample 50 respondents from around Delhi NCR region. I
came to know about the preferences of the customer and the varities of choices of magazines
by different customers.

SAMPLING

Sampling is that part of statistical practice concerned with the selection of individual
observations intended to yield some knowledge about a population of concern, especially for
the purposes of statistical inference. Each observation measures one or more properties
(weight, location, etc.) of an observable entity enumerated to distinguish objects or
individuals. Survey weights often need to be applied to the data to adjust for the sample
design. Results from probability theory and statistical theory are employed to guide practice.

Sampling is useful for a researcher as it saves time, effort and money. The sampling process
comprises several stages:

 Defining the population of concern

 Specifying a sampling frame, a set of items or events possible to measure
 Specifying a sampling method for selecting items or events from the frame
 Determining the sample size
 Implementing the sampling plan
 Sampling and data collecting
 Reviewing the sampling process
Chapter 5.

DATA INTERPRETATION & ANALYSIS

Efficiency assessment of the process is based on the inputs from the responses of all persons
concerned with the sales terms of time taken in ach and every step of the process be it,
finalizing the specifications or negotiation or signing of proposal. The following are the
analysis done on basis of the 50 respondents.

What kind of magazines do you read?

Technology
8%

Sports
10% Business
31%
Politics
2%

General Fashion
33% 13%

health
2%

Interpretation:

It was found that majority of the people i.e. 33% read general magazines and business related
magazines, whereas health and politics being the least choice of people.
 Which brand magazines do you generally prefer?
Any AutoCar Business Outlook
Business today Business Today & Sports Star Business World
Chip Cosmopolitan Digit
entrepreneurship femina Filmfare
Forbes General HBR
India Today IndiaTimes New York Times
Outlook Reader Digest sports illustrated
Sportstar sportszone TAXI
Teen Mags Times Times Now
Times Of India Today's Goup Women Era

4% 4%
2% 2%
2% 2%
2%

4%
11%
2%

4%
2%

2%
4%

4%

4%
2%

2% 2%
2%
6% 2%

4%
2%
2% 2%
2%
9% 2% 2%

Interpretation:
The pie chart shows that India Today magazine is generally preferred mostly.
 What contents do you exactly look for into a magazine
Business Cars and Bikes Case studies Sports Current affairs
Defence Politics Fashion Technology True Stories

8% 6%

8%

16%
10%

6%

14%

20%
6%
6%

Interpretation:

The pie chart shows that 20% of the total respondents look for current affairs in a magazine
and 16% take interests in technology related magazines.
 What cost range do you prefer?

100-200
Rs50-100 2%
11%
Rs10-20
17%

Rs.30-50
36%

Rs 20-30
34%

Interpretation:

The pie diagram shows that 36% of the people between the age group of 20-25 are interested
to purchase magazines between the cost price of Rs 30-50 and hold the major portion.
 What attracts you most towards the magazine?

Cover Page
17%

Content
83%

Interpretation:

From the pie diagram it is confirmed that 83% of the respondent make their purchase
decision according to the contents in the magazine if at all they purchase magazines.
 Who/what influences you the purchase decision?
My self
5%
Colleagues
16%
Peers
16%

Family
9%
Nobody
7%

Mentor
2%
Interest
2%

Friends
42%

Interpretation:

The pie charts shows that 42% of the people agree that they are influenced by their friends
when they go to buy or subscribes magazines.
Rating of magazines on the basis of the following attributes

Price
25

20

15

10

0
Excellent Very good Good Fair Poor

Offer
Excellent very Good Good fair Poor
2%
12%
16%

32%

38%
 [Contents]
Fair
4%

Good
14%

Excellent
38%

Very good
44%

Interpretation:

From the diagram it’s seen that majority respondent out of 50 respondents have rated price
and offer as good and contents as very good.
 CONCLUSIONS
The job of marketer is to meet and satisfy target customers needs and wants but “knowing
customer" is not a simple task. Understanding the buying behaviour of the target market for
its company products is the essential task for the marketing dep’t. The job of the marketers is
to “think customer” and to guide the company into developing offers, which are meaningful
and attractive to target customers and creating solutions that deliver satisfaction to the
customers, profits to customer and benefits to the stakeholders. Marketers must study the
customer taste, preferences, wants, shopping and buying behaviour because such study
provides the clues for developing the new products, price, product changes, messages and
other marketing mix elements. Hence it is very important that a company knows it’s
consumer’s area of interests and develop product accordingly.
 References
Albanese, P.J., (1989), “The Paradox of Personality in Marketing: A New Approach to the
Problem”, in Bloom, P. et al. (Eds), Enhancing Knowledge Development in Marketing,
American Marketing Association, Chicago, IL, pp. 245-9.

Bagozzi, R.P., Gopinath, M. and Nyer, P.U. (1999), “The role of emotions in marketing”,
Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 27 (2): 184-206.

Bhattacherjee, A. (2001), “Understanding information systems continuance: An expectation

confirmation model”. MIS Quarterly, 25 (3): 351-370.

Chang, L-C. (2005), The Study of Subculture and Consumer Behaviour: An Example of
Taiwanese University Students' Consumption Culture, Journal of American Academy of
Business, Cambridge. Hollywood, 7 (2):258-265.

Engel, J.F.; Kollat, D.T. and Blackwell, R.D. (1968), Consumer Behavior, Holt, Rinehart and
Winston.

Ferber, R.. (1977), Selected Aspects of Consumer Behaviour: A Summary from the
Perspective of Different Disciplines. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Fischer, E and Arnold, S, (1994), “Sex, gender identity, gender role attitudes, and consumer
behaviour”, Psychology & Marketing, 11 (2): 163-183.

Fishbein, M. (1967), “Attitude and prediction of behaviour”. In M. Fishbein (Ed.), Readings

in attitude theory and measurement (pp. 477-492). New York: John Wiley.

Foddy, W (2001), Constructing questions for interviews and questionnaires: Theory and
practice in social Research, Cambrifge University Press.

Book:
Naresh Malhotra, Marketing research an Applied orientation