Market survey of audio-visual equipment; Godrej and Boyce MFG. Co. Ltd (Prima Division)

Abstract

The purpose of the project was to study the potential for marketing Overhead Projectors (OHP) and Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) panels/projectors in the city of Calcutta. The broad objectives of the study were to identify the market potential and profitable market segments for these products. In addition, the terms of business of the various dealers / distributors of these products were to be studied. The findings from the survey were as follows: The major players in the OHP market (currently about 500 pieces/yr in Eastern India) were Photophone (market share 45%), G E (33%) and 3 M (15%). The other minor players were Vega and Infocus Systems. In the LCD market (currently about 20 pieces/yr in Eastern India), no established market leader could be detected. The brands available were Proxima, nView and Infocus Systems (all from US), Ask (Norway) and Eiki (Japan). ¢ The Overall Product acceptance of OHP was 37.25% while that for LCD panels / projectors waa 44.5%. Private/Public Ltd companies had the highest product acceptance in OHPs while they were a close second to Banks/Insurance companies in the LCD category. © The low end segments of the market indicated the highest potential for these products. While the Rs 10,060 - 25,000 segment comprised about 63% of the total product acceptance for OHPs, the most attractive segments for the LCD was Rs 1 - 2 lac, which constituted about 48% of the overall product acceptance of the LCD. In both the products, picture quality was the most important attribute to the end-users and product features ranked highest as a criterion for a purchase decision. - e In the case of dealers, it was found that they stocked both OHPs and LCDs and their margins averaged around 15 % for OHPs to 20 % for LCDs. The sub-dealer commission varied between 7'/ - 10 %. The average credit period allowed by the dealers to customers was 7 - 10 days on an average and dealers obtained stock on a strict cash payment basis in most cases. The promotion programmes were few and were financed mostly by the dealers themselves. The service requirements for these products were quite low and most of the spares were cheap and readily available in the market, The recommendations are as follows : © It would not be profitable for Godrej to independently launch OHPs under its brandname as very few people would be willing to discard their old OHPs and latch on to the modern ones. Moreover, the market is almost at its maturity stage, hence making inroads would be very expensive.