A study on the readers feedback on various Outlook

magazines brand

[An S.I.P project by BBA Pharmaceutical batch 6th

semester]
Abdul Salam Molla
Koyel Ghosh
Sayantan Bhattacharya
Sayantani Dhar
Souvik Karmakar
Sohini Pal

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We would like to thank everybody who has supported us in making this

project. We thank our college for providing us this wonderful opportunity to
learn and grow and be inducted in a corporate environment. We thank our
internal guide Ms.Poulami Sengupta for being with us and guiding us
throughout this project. We thank all the faculties who listened to our
presentation with enthusiasm and encouragement and gave us several
helpful pointers to point us in the right direction. Special thanks to
Mr.Sugata Mukherjee, the head of Kolkata branch of Outlook Publishing
(India) Pvt Ltd and our external guide who was there with us in every step of
the way, who believed in us and encouraged us to do our best always . Last
but not the least we thank everyone who has contributed in the making of
this project. The help means a lot to us.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Customer perception and preference is an integral part of any business

enterprise. It is based on these perceptions that the company decides the
future of its goods or services. Another major factor which goes a long way
in determining whether a company will survive or perish is brand loyalty
which is the tendency of a customer to purchase good repeatedly from the
same brand. The key objectives of this project have been to work with
outlook publishing India Pvt. ltd and identifying readers perceptions about
the various branded magazines available within outlook brand and to
determine their preferences in terms of choosing the magazine brands
available. For this project a survey was conducted on readers of outlook
magazine in Kolkata both through cold calls and visits and the results
reflected in the survey were used to interpret the mindset of the readers. It
was found that a significant number of customers were dissatisfied with the
delivery services that the company offered and decided to stop purchasing
due to this reason. Another shortcoming discovered, was the companys
inability to adequately handle customer complaints leading to dissatisfied
customers deciding to change to a better brand.

INTRODUCTION
Outlook Publishing India Pvt. Ltd is owned by Raheja group. It was started in
India in 1995 with Vinod Mehta as the editor in chief. It has a readership of
about 1.5 million and over 11.3 million copies are sold each year throughout
India.
It has its headquarters in New Delhi and branch offices in Mumbai, Chennai,
Kolkata and Bangalore.
Product details:
There are 6 brands of magazine available within outlook group, namely:
Outlook News, Outlook Money, Outlook Business, Outlook Traveller, Outlook
Hindi and Outlook Traveller Luxe, each catering to a different category of
people with their varied choices and unique mindsets.
Outlook News the weekly news magazine consisting of news related to
political, social, movies, sports and other current affairs of the country
Outlook Money termed as the personal finance magazine, this
magazine consists of topics on how to effectively increase income or invest
safely and ensures that any financial decision made by an individual in their
life, is the correct one.
Outlook Traveller caters to those people, who love to travel a lot and see
exotic places. Its contents range from a list of must see places in the world
to accurate travel planning tips and contacts of all related services.
Outlook Business consist of news related to various business houses and
inside stories on top business owners and their tips and strategies for
success.
Outlook Hindi the vernacular version of the weekly news magazine of
outlook
Outlook Traveller Luxe
This project deals with 4 of the 6 magazines excluding Traveller Luxe and
Outlook Hindi due to its insufficient reader base in Kolkata.
Objectives for this project:

The key objectives for this project were to identify the readers perception
about various branded magazines available within the Outlook group, and
to identify their preferences in terms of choosing magazine brands available
within the group.
A secondary objective was to determine the time period of association of
readers with Outlook group which in turn measured their brand loyalty.
Based on these objectives a detailed analysis was done on the customers
buying behaviors of the magazines available under Outlook Publishing (India)
Pvt Ltd

METHODOLOGY
Some key points:
Sample frame Refers to the category of people within the sample
chosen and the distinct feature which separates them from others. For
this project, it refers to the readers of Outlook magazine available
within Kolkata.
Sample size Refers to the total number of samples used. A sample
size of 120 was used for this project
Convenient sampling was done due to easy availability and quick
access to the samples.
For this project, a sample size of 120 people was chosen from among the
readers of outlook magazines within the regions of Kolkata. The sample
frame consisted of people of varied age groups, income levels, qualification
and profession to ensure homogeneity of the data.
The total size of 120 people was broken down into smaller groups of 20
people per individual surveyor. This ultimately led to the following data
arrangement:
40 samples Outlook news
40 samples Outlook Traveller
20 samples Outlook Business

20 samples Outlook Money

A survey was then conducted on these people with the intention of
identifying their mindsets and perceptions about the company. A
questionnaire was used for this process and the questions were asked either
through telephone or direct visits.
Surveys were also conducted on the leads generated from BELOW THE LINE
activities namely Travel Agents Association of Bengal tourism fair hosted in
Khudiram anushilan, which gave a more in depth insight into the buying
patterns of customers.
Based on the answers received the data was arranged into several
categories ranging from the customer is highly satisfied to the customer is
highly dissatisfied.
These categories are then analyzed thoroughly to find out the major
shortcomings of the company as stated by the customers themselves.
Based on these shortcomings, certain measures are suggested which may
help to improve the state of business and decrease customer dissatisfaction
if present.

Given below is the questionnaire used for the survey:

Customer perception is measured in terms of 3 things:

The content of the magazine
The delivery mode of the magazine
The subscription schemes and gifts offered to the customers by the
company
For all of these factors, a 5 point scale is used measuring satisfaction
ranging from excellent to very poor.

Brand loyalty is measured in terms of the duration of subscription of the

individual and the time period of association with Outlook in total.

A general mindset of the customer about the magazine can also be obtained
from whether they would recommend the magazine to any friends or
relatives of theirs.

1. Age

18-25 y

26-35 y

36-45 y

46 and above

2. Gender :
Male

Female

3. Qualification :
Under graduate

graduate

Post graduate

4. Occupation :
Student

service

business

Self-employed

Retired

5. Income level (yearly)

Rs.1,00,000 3,00,000

Rs.3,00,000 5,00,000

Rs.5,00,000 7,00,000

Above

6. Which magazine of OUTLOOK group are you subscribed to?

Outlook news

Business

Traveller

Money

7. What is the duration of your subscription?

1 year

2 years

3 years

5 years

8. What is your opinion regarding the contents available within the magazine?
Excellent

Good

Average

Bad

very poor

9. What is your opinion regarding the delivery mode of the magazine?

Excellent

Good

Average

Bad

very poor

10. What is your opinion regarding the subscription schemes available within the OUTLOOK brand?
Excellent

Good

Average

Bad

very poor

11. Which brand is of your preference within the OUTLOOK group?

Outlook news

Traveller

Money

Business

12. Since how long are you associated with OUTLOOK group as a reader?
Less than 1 year

1-3 years

3-5 years

Above 5 years

13. Would you recommend this magazine to other contact of yours?

Regularly

Sometimes

Never

14. Any suggestions? ..

CONTACT ..
E.MAIL ....................

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

The data obtained from the survey was firstly analyzed separately for all the
4 magazines and then compared together to find out the common
shortcomings that needs to be addressed.
Given below are some of the key points of analysis obtained from the
common survey of all the magazines:

Very few people are dissatisfied with the contents of the magazine
The delivery services and subscription schemes needs improvement
Very few young readers subscribe to the magazines
General duration of subscription is on the higher end of the margin

A detailed analysis of each of the magazine is given below in order of:

Outlook Money
Outlook News
Outlook Traveller
Outlook Money
The data is analyzed in order of importance. The most important questions
are analyzed first followed by the demographic and less important
questions.

OUTLOOK MONEY

Outlook Money is a personal finance magazine released by Outlook

publishing (India) private ltd. Its a monthly magazine costing Rs 50 per
issue. It is circulated all over India; it has a good readership base. The topics
covered in this magazine is about how to manage savings, how to get
optimal returns from investments, it is aimed towards the new earners
mostly.
From the customer feedback survey conducted we have found out the
following:
1. The

majority of people (41%) purchase subscription of Outlook money for 3

years period and 25% purchase subscription for 2 years period. Less people
(17%) go for full 5 years subscription.

Duration of Subscription
1 year
2 years
3 years
5 years

17% 17%
25%

42%

2. Most

of the subscribers have reported that the content is excellent. Very few
people suggested that content is bad.

Opinion regarding the Content

8%
42%

3. The

50%

Excellent
Good
Average
Bad
Worst

delivery of magazine to the subscriber is done by courier service and it

has been found that the delivery reaches them properly in most cases. But

there were some bad delivery reports too.

inion regarding the Delivery mode

Excellent
Good
Average
Bad
Worst

25% 17%
58%

4.

The opinion regarding the subscription schemes offered by Outlook was found
to be appreciated by the public as fifty eight percent people said that the
scheme is good.

pinion regarding Subscription Scheme

Excellent
Good
Average
Bad
Worst

17% 8%
17%
58%

5. The

subscribers reported that amongst the available Outlook magazine

brands, they preferred Outlook Money the most.

Preferred Brand
8%
outlook

business

75%

17%
money

traveller

6.

Forty three percent subscribers were found to be associated with Outlook gro

Duration Associated with Outlook

Less than 1 year

7%
21%
1 - 3 years 3 - 5 years
29%

Above 5 years

43%

7.

for 3-5 years.

Sixty seven percent people said that they will sometimes suggest this magaz
to others.

Recommendations to others
8% 25%

Regularly
Sometimes
Never

67%
8. Most

people said they have no suggestions for improvement, but some

people reported bad service.

Suggestions
25%

42%

NONE
Bad Service
Better Gifts

33%

9.

It was found that people of age 36-45 years like reading this magazine the
most .The younger generation find it difficult to spend Rs.50 on
magazines every month

AGE
18-25

33%
26-35

8%

8%

36-45

46 & above

50%
.
10. High number of male reader and very less female readers .

GENDER
8%

male
female

92%

11. Qualification

of sixty seven percent subscribers was found to be graduate, no

many u

QUALIFICATION
8%
25%graduate

undergraduate

post graduate

67%

12. Most

subscribers were found to be service men. Twenty five percent subscrib

were businessmen and only eight percent subscribers were students

Occupation
25%

8%

student service business self employed retired

67%

13. People

of income group five to seven lakhs were the majority subscribers

of this magazine, followed by three to five lakhs income group.

Income Level
1lakh - 3lakh

17%

3lakh - 5lakh

58%

5lakh - 7lakh

above

25%

Findings

Not many female subscribers of the magazine.

Not attractive to young generation.
Quite a number of people report bad delivery service.
The quality of schemes are reported to be not up to the mark by some
consumers
Because of the pricing, higher middle class subscribers are
predominant.
Less number of people is associated for above 5 years, it indicates that
there are more subscription terminations than renewals.
Very few people are likely to recommend it to others

Recommendations
The readership base amongst youngsters and females should be built
up. This can be done implementing Below the Line activities.
To make the subscription schemes more attractive, different
combinations of offers should be given and gift items should be
changed time to time.
Customer base has to be increased by creating more awareness about
the product.
The termination of subscription and lack of longer association are
issues which need to be addressed with attention on customer
satisfaction.
Recommendations and better loyalty of customers can gathered by
implementing better customer handling procedures like documenting
the problems.

OUTLOOK NEWS
Outlook News is a weekly English news magazine published in India. It
provides latest news on politics, sports, cinema and stories of broad
interest. It is also available in Hindi.

1. The people can subscribe for 1yr, 2yrs, 3yrs, and 5yr. Here we can see
that maximum duration of the subscription customers prefer is 3yrs

Duration of subscription

11%

31%
43% 14%

1yr
2yrs
3yrs
5yrs

2. Regarding the content of outlook magazine,71% of the peoples say the

content is good

Opinion regarding content

6%

23%

Excellent
Good
Average
Bad
worst

71%

3. The magazine is delivered through the courier; here we can see that 49%
of the people say that delivery is good.

Opinion regarding Delivery Mode

11%
40%

49%

Excellent
Good
Average
Bad
worst

4. Outlook offers many subscriptions schemes with assured gifts and

discount.46% of the people say the scheme is good .

pinion regarding Subscription schemes

Excellent
Good
Average
Bad
worst

14%
46%
40%

5. Through the customer feedback, we came know that the duration of 3yr
subscription of outlook magazine is higher as compare to the other duration
period. Here also we can see the readers associated with outlook for 1-3yrs
are more that is 48%.

ciation with Outlook Publishing Group

6%
20%
26%

49%

less than 1 yr
1-3yr
3-5yr
Above 5yr

6. 80% of the customers say that they will sometimes recommend the
outlook magazines to others.

Recommendation
11%
9%
80%

Sometime
Never
Regular

7. The customers suggestion s is as follows:

29% of the customers suggested improving the delivery mode
10% of them say the magazine is good
7% of them complained for the bad services
6% of them suggested improving the schemes and offers
48% gave no suggestion.

Suggestions
Bad service

Improve the delivery mode

29%
48%
6%
10% 6%

Improve the offers and schemes

No suggestion

Good magazine

8. Maximum subscribers are in the 36-45 years age bracket followed by 46

and above age bracket. No readers in 18-25 years age bracket.

Age
37%

23%

Age
18yrs-25yrs
26yrs-35yrs
36yrs-45yrs
46 and above

40%

9. Maximum subscribers are male (86%) compared to that of females (14%)

Gender
14%

Male
Female

86%

10. Graduates subscribe the most to this magazine, the least being under
graduates

Qualification
20%

Qualification
Under graduate
Graduate
Post graduate

80%

11. Maximum subscribers are servicemen due to the need of updating

themselves on current affairs

Occupation
14%
11% 54%
20%

Student
Service
Business
Self employed
Retired

People in the income bracket of 3 lakhs -5 lakhs (servicemen) subscribe the

most
12.

Income
14%

40%

46%

Rs 100000Rs300000
Rs 300000Rs500000
Rs500000RS700000
Above

Findings
Customers subscribing to Outlook news are quite loyal and prefer an
average subscription of 3 years
Content of this magazine is good and the customers are satisfied with
it
Delivery mode of the magazine is average and needs improvement.
Customers are dis satisfied with the magazines delayed delivery.
Subscription schemes offered to the customers are also average.
Customers are bored as they are being offered the same schemes and
they want something different.
No readers in the age bracket of 18-25 years

Recommendation
Delivery mode of this magazine needs to be improved. More couriers
should be hired to deliver the magazines timely. Backup couriers
should be kept in case of emergencies
Subscription schemes offered to the customers should be changed up
from time to time. New offers and gifts should be included in the
schemes replacing the old ones.
Focus should be given on the young readers as to the content they
require. Digital edition of the magazine can be introduced to make it
more attractive to younger generations

OUTLOOK TRAVELLER
A monthly travel magazine focusing on sharing information about exotic
places to see, planning tours around the world and making it easy and fun
for the people to plan and enjoy their vacations.

1)

Duration of subscription:

The people can subscribe for 1 year, 2 years, 3 years & 5 years. Here we can
see that the people want to subscribe for 5 years more .
Duration of
1 year
3%
subscription
31%
41%
2 years

26%

3 years

5 years

2)

Opinion regarding the contents:

Regarding the content of Outlook Traveller, people are saying that it is good.
Openion regarding the contents
Excellent 14%
Good
Average
Bad
Worst

66%

21%

3) Opinion regarding delivery mode:

The magazines are delivered through
courier service. Though some
customers are not receiving the
magazines at proper time but their
opinion is good about the delivery
mode.

Openion regarding delivery

mode
Excellent
14%

3%

27%
Good

11%
46%

Average
Bad
Worst

4) Opinion regarding subscription schemes:

There are many subscription schemes through which the customers are
more attracted towards it. There are many gifts which are given to the
customers with the subscription. As 56% of the customers are saying that
the schemes are good.
Openion regarding
subscription schemes
3% 8%
Excellent
33%
Good
56%

Average
Bad
Worst

5) Preferred brand:
85% of the customers preferred the Outlook Traveller & 15% of the customers
preferred
Outlook News. So the people preferring the Outlook Traveller brand more
than the others.

Preference

Outlook news

Traveller

Money

15%

85%

Business

6) Duration of association with Outlook:

As we have already seen that the Duration of Traveller magazine readers are
higher for the 5 years subscription, so here we can also say that the
association with Outlook above 5 years is higher. As 41% of the
customers are associated above 5 years .
Duration of association with Outlook

3%

Less than 1 year

41%

1-3 years

36%

21%

3-5 years
Above 5 years

7) Recommendation to others:
63% of the customers will recommend to others for sometimes .

Recommendation to Others
15%

23%

Regularly
63%
Sometimes

Never

8) Suggestions:
32% of them are saying that the delivery need to be improve more, 19% of
them are saying that the gift related problem need to be checked,12% are
saying about the improvement of content, 5% are saying regarding the
better offers.

Suggestions
32%

Improve
12%

Content

32%

5%
Delivery problem

Gift problem

More offer

None

20%

9) Age
The magazine can be subscribed by all the age groups. The most of the
people in the surveyed population group belonged to the age group of 46 and
above.

Age
26%
28%
18-25
years
26-35
years
46%
36-45 years
46 and above
10) Gender
The magazine is not gender biased. Both male and female can subscribe for
the magazines. 78% of the people surveyed were found to be male.

22%
Gender

Male 78% Female

11)
Qualification
Most of the people subscribing for the magazines were found to possess a
qualification degree of graduate. 54% of the people were graduates .

3%

Qualification
44%

Under graduate

Graduate

54%

Post graduate

12) Occupation
64% of the people are into service. Even the students, the business persons
can subscribe the magazines

5%
21%

10%

13) Income level

64%

Student
Service
Business
Self-employed
Retired

The people subscribing for the magazines fall within the income range of Rs. 3,
00,000 to Rs. 5, 00,000.

Income level

10%

1,00,000-3,00,000
26%

23%
3,00,000-5,00,000

5,00,000-7,00,000
41%

Above 7,00,000

Findings:
It was found that there were gift oriented problems faced by the
subscribers. The subscribers do not receive the gifts on time. Even
there are complains the gifts they receive are at times in damaged
condition.
It was also found that the delivery of the magazines is often delayed.
Since the magazines are delayed by courier mode so there occurs a
problem in delivery.

Recommendations:
The gift items should be changed from time to time. As the same gifts
are given the people often refuse to subscribe because they do not
want to get the same gifts.
Since the delivery of the magazines are a major problem so special
emphasis should be given by outlook group on this problem.

OUTLOOK BUSINESS
Business magazine is one of the magazines which are offered by the outlook
publishing group which is based on leadership, grounded views, rare
insights and fresh perspectives, coupled with an approach that is holistic
and global.
This magazine is helpful for businessmen and young entrepreneurs for
guidance and decision making.

1) Duration of subscription
Most of the readers subscribe for 3-5 years with few for 1-2 years.

29%
1 year

12%
18%

2 Years

3 Years

5 Years

41%

2) Opinion regarding content

Most of the readers said that the content is good and helpful for them while few said it to be
average.

12% 6%

Excellent
Good
Average

82%

Bad
Worst

3) Opinion regarding delivery mode

For most of the readers, delivery is a major issue which needs to be improved.

12%

Excellent

47%

Good
41%

Average
Bad
Worst

4) Opinion regarding schemes and offers

Most of the readers found the schemes to be average and few found it to be good enough.

12%

59%

29%

Excellent
Good
Average
Bad
Worst

5) Preferred brand
All the readers preferred business magazine over other magazines

Brand preferance other than 'Business'

Outlook News
Traveller
Money
Business

6) Association with Outlook group

Most of the readers are associated with outlook for 1-5 years (35%) and 24% above 5 yrs. and
6% less than a year.

24%

6%
35%

Less than 1 year

1-3 years
35%

3-5 years

Above 5 years

7) Recommendation
Most of the readers suggested the magazine to others at some point of time.

12%

18%
Regularly

71%

8) Suggestion

Sometimes
Never

Most of the readers said delivery is an issue followed by stereotyped gifts and offers and
content.

35%

Better Delivery of
Magazines & Gifts

35%

12%

Better Offer &

schemes

18%

Better Contents
Nothing as such

9) Qualification
It is found that 59% of the readers hold post graduate degree and 41% of them holds graduate
degree

41%
Graduate

59%

P. Graduate

10)

Occupation

Most of the readers are in service job (53%) followed by 23% self-employed and 12% for
students & 12% retired

12%
24%
12%

Student
53%

Service
Business
Self-employed
Retired

11)

Income level

Most of the readers are in the income bracket of Rs 3-5 lakhs followed by 23% Rs5-7 lakhs and
18% above Rs7 lakhs

18%

24%

Rs 1,00,0003,00,000
Rs 3,00,0005,00,000
Rs 5,00,0007,00,000

59%

Above Rs
7,00,000

12)

Age

It is found that most of the readers are in the age group of 26-45 years and there are no readers
in the age group of 8-25 years.

29%

35%

18-25
26-35
36-45

35%

46 & Above

13)

Gender

Majority of the subscribers are found to be males (82%) and few female subscribers (18%).

18%
Male
82%

Female

Findings
No readers in the age bracket of 18-25 years.

 Most of the readers are in the income bracket of Rs 3-5 Lakhs/annum and no readers found in
the income bracket of above Rs 7 lakhs.
Poor delivery of the magazines and stereotyped gifts are issues for readers.
Most of the readers do not find the subscription schemes to be attractive

Recommendation

Improvement on delivery of the magazine, timely delivery.

Variation on gifts other than stereotyped gifts which are currently offered.
Variations on offers and schemes.
Customer service/Complain register for better customer grievance addressing.

CONCLUSION
This project brought to light the various aspects of consumer buying behaviors in terms of
buying different types of magazines issued by Outlook Publishing India Pvt Ltd.The various
findings reflected both the pros and cons in the way of functioning of the company and its way
of dealing with customers.
The cons if handled well can lead to a huge decrease in the number of customers changing to a
competitor brand and will increase customer loyalty by a huge percentage. Even if the
complaint handling section is focused upon it will lead to a huge number of satisfied customers
who would want to do business again with Outlook.
Customer perception and preference is an integral part of any business. It is based on it that the
future of the business is decided. Hence a company should spend adequate amounts of time
surveying and researching these aspects for better functioning of business.
Last but not the least, this project has taught us many key elements about how a business
functions .Sales presentations, closing sales, time management are only a few of the many
skills that we have learnt through this project. We hope that we get several further opportunities
like these to be inducted in a corporate environment and in turn learn to be professionals.