Sunday, August 31, 2014

Vodafone's Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning

         Vodafone is is continuing to grow a solid, loyal customer base because the company offers excellent product along with excellent customer service.The company continues to offer a variety of services, including data, messaging, voice and broadband. It's continuous advancement in the data services, they offer by developing its 3G networks and the capabilities of various handsets.

SEGMENTATION:-
Segmentation is the process of splitting (segmenting) the entire market into smaller groups. Demographics is the most common variable of market segmentation that includes age, gender, income, geographic, psychograhpic and behavioural.Markets are made up of many distinct groups of people who have common characteristics as consumers. Some of those groups may not be immediately obvious. All of them command tremendous buying power. But they direct it to products and services that address them as a highly individual subdivision or segment of the market.

Vodafone's Segmentation :

1. Demographics - Age > 13 to 65
                            - Income > Small, Middle and High level Markets(Both B2B and B2C)
                            - Urban, Semi-urban and rural areas
2. Psychographics - Preferably Youth and and People in the Urban and Semi-urban areas
                              - People who are willing to pay more for a premium service

Vodafone's Targeting Strategies :-

1. B2C Market : Recharge plans starting from as low as INR 10 and going up to INR 500.
                        - Data plans ranging from INR 44 to INR 250

2. B2B Market : Recently launched plans and packages for SMEs as well as large scale 
                          businesses which can be customized according to their needs

3. Value Added Services and Discounts : To target home-makers, students & professionals

         Due to the extensive price range of its various voice, messaging and data services and it's variety of value added services which can be customized as per individual customers' needs and wants, Vodafone strategically targets customers and consumers of all ages and incomes.

Vodafone's Positioning :-

Product       :   Both Premium and Basic ( Voice, data and messaging services as well as 
                       mobile transfer and IT solutions for businesses) 
Price           :   For small, middle and high level markets ( Depending on the requirements,
                       voice, data and messaging packages are available in different price ranges)
Distribution :   Exclusive Retail Stores as well as sales at small retail shops to reach as 
                       many customers as possible 
  


                              




Sunday, August 24, 2014

Vodafone's IMC Campaigns

'Delight' and 'Everybody's Welcome' Campaigns during the transition from Hutch-Essar to Vodafone.

Rebranding Campaign : 'Change is Good.' and 'Happy to help.'



Zoo-Zoo Campaigns

Integrated Plan :-
1. Television - More than 25 new ads during IPL-2
2. Print and Outdoor - Supplemented with print and outdoor ads
3. Sponsorship - IPL - 2
4. Internet and Social media - Facebook Page, Downloadable Ringtones
5. Smartphones - Apps(What kind of ZooZoo are you?)

Sunday, August 17, 2014

Vodafone's Distribution Channels



















Indirect channel challenges
• 593k villages, 92% have population of less than 10k1
• 66% of population in villages of less than 10k1
• Ratio of Urban to Rural per capita is 2.72
• Tele-density - Urban 163%, Rural 35%3
• Predominantly prepaid market
• Unorganized retail
























































Sunday, August 10, 2014

Vodafone's Pricing Strategy
















             When launched in India back in 2007, after acquiring their Indian partner Essar’s stake in the company, Vodafone group had positioned themselves as a premium voice and messaging service providing company, targeted mostly at customers in the urban and semi-urban areas. Due to their superior service as compared to their competitors, the customers who could afford the service were willing to pay higher charges for Vodafone services.
                In recent years, after realizing the potential of the rural Indian market, they have launched their products and services at comparatively lower prices as compared to their prices in the urban and semi-urban markets to penetrate the rural markets. They have introduced recharge plans starting from as low as INR 10 and extending up to as high as INR 500.
                To encourage data consumption, Vodafone also promotes usage with its Mobile Internet packs competitively priced. The starting price of 3G package is from INR 44 in Mumbai. Education on 3G usage is one of the strategies of Vodafone India. The telecoms will try to offer 3G package and better Internet experience in several malls in Mumbai. Engaging situations related to categories such as Music, GPS Navigation etc. have been developed. Vodafone Be Smart Mobile Internet initiative communicates the need for synergizing 3G technology with HSPA enabled handsets, for a faster, smarter and better mobile internet experience.
                Last year as part of their Diwali bonanza packages  to its customers, Vodafone India on had slashed data rates by up to 80 per cent across the country. In June, the company had reduced the price from 10 paisa per 10 KB to 2 paisa per 10 KB in Karnataka, UP West and Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh circles and it had extended the same rates to all its circles from November 1. The company said same rates will be charged even if the customer is in roaming. Vodafone’s ‘Pay as you Go’ rates, which were the same for both 2G and 3G, were the lowest in market.
                This 80 per cent reduction in mobile Internet charges for customers using 2G was an important step in Vodafone’s strategy to drive mobile Internet and it facilitated in faster adoption and better usage of the same. As part of its strategy to "democratise" data, Vodafone is educating current and potential users about how Internet can add significant value to them. The company is also building content partnerships, simplifying pricing, educating retailers and offering choice to customer on the basis their interests and consumption patterns.

Sunday, August 3, 2014

Vodafone's Product Mix

          After years of focus on voice-based business,  is slowly changing course to include new areas such as IT solutions and mobile payments to drive growth in India.Up until now, Vodafone had primarily focused on expanding its reach from being a metro-centric service provider to one with a pan-India presence. Since its acquisition of in February 2007, it has invested over Rs 50,000 crore on expansion and adding new network. It added 80,000 new network sites and expanded presence in all the 23 circles in the country by acquiring seven new licences in less than five years.
           Vodafone, is overhauling its strategy to focus on enterprise business: voice, data services, leased lines, conferencing, etc, for companies.The world’s largest telecom operator hopes to leverage on its global reach to drive this growth. The Vodafone group operates in 30 countries, and it already has 2,000 global enterprise customers. For example, it is working with soft drink maker to develop a pre-programmed SIM that would track inventory in the refrigerator used by retailers to store cold drinks. The SIMs will be designed to collate the data by sensing the weight of the bottles in the refrigerator. A master server will ping the SIM to receive the data gathered, which will then be provided to the company. The information will help PepsiCo raise its distribution efficiency.In addition to enterprise solutions, mobile money transfer and payment services are another of the company’s focus areas.

Vodafone's Product/Service Mix :-
1. Voice, messaging and Internet(data) services
2. Handsets(66 new models launched)
3. Smartphones(All leading brands presented, including i-phone in 14 countries & also launched two
    tailor made Vodafone-360 handsets)
4. Value added services(Health, Entertainment and Travel)
5. Dongles for surfing the internet
6. MPesa(Mobile Transfer)
7. IT Solutions