A Study on Brand Positioning towards Hero Motors

With reference to SVS Hero

INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY

Brand Positioning probably the most common is identifying a market niche for a brand,
product or service utilizing traditional marketing placement strategies. Positioning is defined
as the way by which the marketers create impression in the customers mind.Effective Brand
Positioning is contingent upon identifying and communicating a brand's uniqueness,
differentiation and verifiable value. It is important to note that "me too" brand positioning
contradicts the notion of differentiation and should be avoided at all costs.

Brand positioning is important in deciding where you want to position your brand within its
category and relative to the competition. Brand Positioning permeates virtually everything
we do. It is the foundation to all communications and brand strategy. It is the disciplined
thinking that guides the basis for building relationships between brands and customers. Once
you determine the way in which you can reach your market, the next thing to look at is how
you are going to lure your customer to try your brand.

Generally, the brand positioning process involves:

1. Identifying the business's direct competition (could include players that offer your
product/service amongst a larger portfolio of solutions)
2. Understanding how each competitor is positioning their business today (e.g. claiming to
be the fastest, cheapest, largest, etc.)
3. Documenting the provider's own positioning as it exists today (may not exist if start up
business)
4. Comparing the company's positioning to its competitors' to identify viable areas for
differentiation
5. Developing a distinctive, differentiating and value-based brand positioning statement, key
messages and customer value propositions.
 INDUSTRY PROFILE

India is the second largest manufacturer and producer of two-wheelers in the world. It
stands next only to Japan and China in terms of the number of two-wheelers produced
and the domestic sales respectively. This distinction was achieved due to variety of
reasons like restrictive policy followed by the Government of India towards the passenger
car industry, rising demand for personal transport, inefficiency in the public
transportation system etc.
The Indian two-wheeler industry made a small beginning in the early 50s when
Automobile Products of India (API) started manufacturing scooters in the country. Until
1958, API and Enfield were the sole producers.
In 1948, Bajaj Auto began trading in imported Vespa scooters and three-wheelers.
Finally, in 1960, it set up a shop to manufacture them in technical collaboration with
Piaggio of Italy. The agreement expired in 1971.
In the initial stages, the scooter segment was dominated by API; it was later overtaken by
Bajaj Auto. Although various government and private enterprises entered the fray for
scooters, the only new player that has lasted till today is LML.
Under the regulated regime, foreign companies were not allowed to operate in India. It
was a complete seller market with the waiting period for getting a scooter from Bajaj
Auto being as high as 12 years.
The motorcycles segment was no different, with only three manufacturers viz Enfield,
Ideal Jawa and Escorts. While Enfield bullet was a four-stroke bike, Jawa and the
Rajdoot were two-stroke bikes. The motorcycle segment was initially dominated by
Enfield 350cc bikes and Escorts 175cc bike.
The two-wheeler market was opened to foreign competition in the mid-80s. And the then
market leaders - Escorts and Enfield - were caught unaware by the onslaught of the 100cc
bikes of the four Indo-Japanese joint ventures. With the availability of fuel efficient low
power bikes, demand swelled, resulting in Hero Honda - then the only producer of four
stroke bikes (100cc category), gaining a top slot.
The first Japanese motorcycles were introduced in the early eighties. TVS Suzuki and
Hero Honda brought in the first two-stroke and four-stroke engine motorcycles
respectively. These two players initially started with assembly of CKD kits, and later on
progressed to indigenous manufacturing. In the 90s the major growth for motorcycle
segment was brought in by Japanese motorcycles, which grew at a rate of nearly 25%
CAGR in the last five years.
The industry had a smooth ride in the 50s, 60s and 70s when the Government prohibited
new entries and strictly controlled capacity expansion. The industry saw a sudden growth
in the 80s.
The industry witnessed a steady growth of 14% leading to a peak volume of 1.9mn
vehicles in 1990.
The entry of Kinetic Honda in mid-eighties with a variometric scooter helped in
providing ease of use to the scooter owners. This helped in inducing youngsters and
working women, towards buying scooters, who were earlier, inclined towards moped
purchases. In the 90s, this trend was reversed with the introduction of scooterettes. In line
with this, the scooter segment has consistently lost its part of the market share in the twowheeler
market.
In 1990, the entire automobile industry saw a drastic fall in demand. This resulted in a
decline of 15% in 1991 and 8% in 1992, resulting in a production loss of 0.4mn vehicles.
Barring Hero, all the major producers suffered from recession in FY93 and FY94.
Hero showed a marginal decline in 1992.
The reasons for recession in the sector were the incessant rise in fuel prices, high input
costs and reduced purchasing power due to significant rise in general price level and
credit crunch in consumer financing. Factors like increased production in 1992, due to
new entrants coupled with the recession in the industry resulted in company either
reporting losses or a fall in profits.
India is one of the very few countries manufacturing three-wheelers in the world. It is the
world's largest manufacturer and seller of three-wheelers. Bajaj Auto commands a
monopoly in the domestic market with a market share of above 80%, the rest is shared by
Bajaj Tempo, Greaves Ltd and Scooters India.
The total number of registered two-wheelers and three-wheelers on road in India, as on
March 31, 1998 was 27.9mn and 1.7mn respectively. The two wheeler population has
almost doubled in 1996 from a base of 12.6mn in 1990.
 Methodology

Statement of the Problem

Brands succeed by consistently delivering what their customers need: benefits, experiences
and emotions. Over time, the best brands become strongly associated with those benefits,
experiences and emotions so that we all know what to expect from them. Hero became
India’s most valuable brand by ‘owning’ a unique combination of benefits, experiences and
emotions. When we see the Hero logo, it is a very powerful reminder of that bundle of
associations.

What is a brand?

Why are brands valuable to customers?

 Review Of Literature

American Marketing Association (AMA) definition of a brand is ―a name, term, sign,

symbol, or design, or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods and services of
one seller or group of seller sand to differentiate them from those of competitors‖ (p. 404).

Aaker and Joachmisthaler (2000) discuss the traditional branding model where a brand
management team was responsible for creating and coordinating the brand’s management
program.

In this situation, the brand manager was not high in the company’s hierarchy; his focus was
the short-term financial results of single brands and single products in single markets.

Upshaw (2003)Positioning are not verifiable scientific hypotheses. There is a great deal of
subjective interpretation and high degree of risk involved in choosing to seek one
positioning strategy over another

Cowking (1997) states that a brands positioning defines the brands point of reference with
respect to the competition..
 Need and Significance of Study

1. This will help them to know the level of customer aware about the brand of hero Honda
2. Through this hero Honda can know their brand positioning in market
3. This will helps them to create their brand image much better than present condition
4. Through this they come to know how much the consumer feel satisfy and all their
opinion about the brand.
 Objectives Of the Study

Primary objective

To study on brand positioning about the product of Hero in Kurnool .

Secondary objective

1. To identify the awareness level towards the product of Hero.

2. To find out the customer attitude level towards the product of Hero.
3. To know the customer satisfaction level towards the Hero.
4. To give suitable suggestions to improve the brand image in customers mind.
 Research Design

Primary data:-

Primary data consists of original information for the specific purpose at hand. It is
first hand information for the direct users of respondents. The tools used to collect the
data may vary and can be collected through various methods like questionnaire, personal
interview
Secondary data:-

Secondary data is the data which is already been collected and assembled. This
data is available with the companies or firms and it can be collected from newspapers,
periodicals, magazines, websites etc.

Sample Design

Sample:

The sample size taken for this research is 70 customers having Hero motorbikes.

Sampling Technique:

Convenient Sampling technique are to be used for this project.

Data Collection Tool:

Questionnaires as the primary form of collecting data.

Statistical techniques:

1. Bar Diagrams
2. Pie-Chart
Statistical tools:

1. Statistical software like Microsoft Excel

 Scope of the study

This will help them to know the level of customer aware about the brand of hero Honda
2. Through this hero Honda can know their brand positioning in market
3. This will helps them to create their brand image much better than present condition
4. Through this they come to know how much the consumer feel satisfy and all their opinion
about the brand.

Limitation Of the Study

 Primary data analysis only depended on the respondents.

 Process of study/survey is limited only to some customers.
 Survey will be conducted for the period of 45 days only.
 Due to constraint of time only city is selected and so it cannot claim to be a
comprehensive study of the population.