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Cigarettes:

A cigarette is a product consumed via smoking and manufactured out of cured and finely cut tobacco leaves and reconstituted tobacco, combined with other additives, then rolled or stuffed into a paper-wrapped cylinder (generally less than 120 mm in length and 10 [...]]]> Introduction

Cigarettes:

A cigarette is a product consumed via smoking and manufactured out of cured and finely cut tobacco leaves and reconstituted tobacco, combined with other additives, then rolled or stuffed into a paper-wrapped cylinder (generally less than 120 mm in length and 10 mm in diameter).

The cigarette is ignited at one end and allowed to smolder for the purpose of inhalation of its smoke from the other (usually filtered) end, which is inserted in the mouth. They are sometimes smoked with a cigarette holder. The term cigarette, as commonly used, refers to a tobacco cigarette but can apply to similar devices containing other herbs, such as cannabis. They are colloquially known as “cigs”, “ciggies”, “cancer sticks”, “coffin nails”, “death sticks”, “smokes”, “lung-rockets”, “grets”, “bogies”, “fags”, and “stogies”.

Approximately 5.5 trillion cigarettes are produced globally each year by the tobacco industry, smoked by over 1.1 billion people, which is more than one-sixth of the world’s total population.

The Global Tobacco Market:

There is a widely held perception that globally tobacco is a declining industry. This is not so. There has been a steady increase in production and consumption over the last decade and this trend is expected to continue. The Food and Agricultural Organization has forecast an annual growth rate in global tobacco production and consumption at around 1.9%. The world market for tobacco products grew by 32% over the last five years – the latest period for which authentic data is available – and was valued at approximately US$ 235 billion in 1994

Global cigarette consumption has grown by 22% since 1980 and was estimated at 5,422 billion sticks in 1995. Cigarettes constitute the principal form of tobacco usage in virtually every market of the world and account for 85% of global tobacco consumption by volume and 93% by value. Tobacco is a major source of revenue to Governments in both the developed and emerging markets and cigarettes contribute the lion’s share of such revenues.

Cigarette Consumption in world

Cigarette Industry in India:

India is the second largest producer of tobacco in the world after China. It produced 572 million kgs of tobacco in 2002-2003. India only holds a meager 0.7% share of the US$30 billion global Import-Export trade in Tobacco, with cigarettes/cigarette tobaccos accounting for 85% of the Country’s total tobacco exports.
The tobacco industry holds tremendous potential for India. For the government, it means excise duties and export revenues, and for the Country in general, it translates into huge employment opportunities.

Despite being the second largest producer, India is only the ninth largest exporter of tobacco and tobacco products in the world. Out of the total tobacco produced in India, only one-third is flue-cured tobacco suitable for cigarette manufacturing. Most of the tobacco produce is suitable for the manufacture of chewing tobacco, bidis and other cheap tobacco products, which have no demand outside the country. There is only an export demand for flue-cured tobacco, which is used for cigarette manufacturing.

If India adopted a rational tax policy for the tobacco industry that encouraged the growing of export tobacco, tobacco farmer income would increase and export revenue would grow. If India adopted China’s tax policy on tobacco, tax revenue could rise from the current Rs 6,031 crore to Rs 54,000 crore. China’s economy-oriented tax policies have given cigarettes 100% share of domestic tobacco consumption. This strong domestic base has proved to be conducive to exports as well as revenue generation.

The Indian tobacco industry makes a very substantial contribution to employment. 35 million people are directly or indirectly engaged in the production and selling of tobacco & tobacco products as shown in the table below.

Economic Impact of Tobacco Industry – Employment.

The production of tobacco is integral to the economies of a number of Indian states and regions, where it is grown. Tobacco is predominantly grown in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh. Andhra Pradesh & Karnataka traditionally produce flue-cured leaf. Growing of tobacco is very lucrative owing to its short growing season and the profitability in relation to other cash crops.

Indian consumption of tobacco does not follow western trends with 38% of tobacco being consumed as bidi’s, 48% as chewing tobacco, and only 14% as cigarettes. That is, bidis, snuff and chewing tobacco such as gutka, khaini and zarda form the bulk (86%) of India’s total tobacco production. This low percentage of consumption in cigarettes of 14% compares to 90% in the rest of the world. In fact the per capita consumption of cigarettes in India is merely 1/10th of the world average.

This unique tobacco consumption pattern is a combination of tradition and more importantly the discriminatory tax imposed on cigarettes over the last 2 decades. Cigarette smokers pay almost 85% (Rs 5,181 crore) of the total tax revenues generated from tobacco. This discriminatory tax is justified on the grounds that it is a “luxury” tax. This is a misnomer because it is the discriminatory tax, which is causing the difference in prices between cigarettes and other tobacco products.

Revenue contribution from each of the forms of tobacco consumption. Cigarettes, with only 14% of the Indian consumption, account for more than 85% of the total revenue from tobacco products. In reading this chart one should realize more than 50% of the revenue from cigarettes is taxation.

Tobacco consumption and revenue split 2002/2003

The Bidi industry is relatively unorganized, rural and labour intensive in nature, with very few large producers. They wrap the product in tendu leaf and much of the industry volume is hand rolled. The market is very regional in character with different brands sporting different shapes and sizes dominating the market. The major centres of production are:
1. Andhra Pradesh (A.P.)
2. Bihar
3. Gujarat
4. Kerala
5. Madhya Pradesh (M.P.)
6. Chattishgarh
7. Tamilnadu
8. Maharashtra
9. Karnataka
10. Orissa
11. Uttar Pradesh (U.P.)
12. West Bengal

The non smoking tobacco including chewing tobacco and gutka market, has grown at a rapid rate from almost zero a decade ago to its current position. The market is divided between chewing tobacco, snuff and hookah. The industry is also very regional in character with only two brands having a national presence, Pan Parag and Manikchand.

Chewing tobacco and hookah occupy about 25% of the total tobacco grown in India and are consumed internally in the form of chewing, hookah, paste, quiwam, candy and gutka purposes. There are some 400-500 products of pan masala available in the market such as sented supari, aromatic powder, khaini, mishri, mawa, snuff, zarda, cheroot, etc.

Gutka is banned in some states of India.

On the cigarette side India is rapidly seeing a growing demand for filter tipped cigarettes on account of the rising middle class who are migrating from non-filter cigarettes to filter tipped cigarettes, owing to the rise in the disposable income of the people.

The tax collection from cigarettes is the highest in the tobacco industry: duty per kg for cigarettes is as high as Rs. 722 per kg, while combined duty per kg for other tobacco products like bidis and chewing tobacco is only Rs. 21 per kg.

In India, three major cigarette players dominate the market, primarily ITC with 66.9% market share, Godfrey Phillips with 12.3% ,VST with 12% share and GTC with 7.8% of the market. However, for Godfrey Phillips there exists huge untapped opportunity for growth on account of geographical expansion possibilities (as it is presently available in only the northern, western and certain southern parts of the Country) and product portfolio expansion.

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Infrastructure for Tobacco Control

Product Life Cycle Of Cigarettes Industry

Product Life Cycle

A concept that helps the marketer to trace the stages of a product from birth to death.

It consists of four stages:-

• Introduction

A period of slow sales growth as the product is introduced in the market. Profits are nonexistent because of the heavy expenses incurred with product introduction.

• Growth

It is the period of rapid market acceptance and substantial profit improvement.

• Maturity

A period of slow down in sales growth because the product has gained acceptance by most potential buyers. Profits stabilize or starts declining because of increase in completion

• Decline

The period where sales show a downward drift and profits erode.

PLC Analysis Of Cigarettes

Analysis of the product life cycle of cigarettes is done in order to determine to which stage cigarettes have reached in India. After analyzing the cigarettes industry in India it was found that cigarettes are in the maturity stage of their PLC

This is because of the reason that most of the attributes shown by the cigarettes in India are similar to the attributes of a product in maturity stage.

Cigarettes are in the maturity stage because of the following reasons which are also the attributes of a product in maturity stage:-

• Decrease in sales and profits

There is a decrease in per capita consumption of cigarettes which is evident from the following table and graph which shows that the sales of cigarettes have slowdown

• The main reasons for this decrease in sales is due to following reasons
  • People have become more health conscious.
  • A growing tax rate on cigarettes which has leaded to increase in price of cigarettes which make people to which over to cheaper substitutes like chewing tobacco and bidis.
  • Customer has started looking for not only performance but also cost

In cigarettes industry because of the intensive competition and standardized products customer has become more powerful and demand not only for quality but also low cost.

• Market is being dominated a market leader

Cigarettes market in India is dominated by ITC because of its quality, low cost production and mass distribution network.

• Increase in promotion activities

Maturity stage shows a significant increase the promotional activities which is clearly evident from the activities which are being followed by the cigarettes company to increase their brand visibility

Cigarettes Brands In Indian Market

Brands for cigarettes in Indian market can be divided two categories:-

• Domestic brands

• International brands

Segmentation

Segmentation refers to the division of market based on similar preferences and taste of the people. Talking about the Cigarette’s industry in India, the demand is based upon homogeneous preferences among the people stating the urge of consuming tobacco by the way of smoking. Keeping these factors in mind, the marketer’s have segmented the market on the DEMOGRAPHIC bases with three main factors i.e. gender, income and age of the consumers.

1)      To target different Income groups in the market, the company’s uses three different segment markets which are:

a)      Super premium: It covers the upper segment of the market that have high income level and more brand conscious while selecting the product from the market and who are not concern about the price of the product. The consumers targeted at this level are entrepreneurs, IT professionals, Doctors, Lawyers, top level executives and other people at high post in government jobs.

b)      Premium: The next level of segmentation done by the marketer is premium levels, where Middle level people are targeted who are concern about both the factors i.e. Brand as well as Price of the cigarette. In early stage of time, this segmentation was given more attention in terms of Promotion and Brand awareness due to high consumption of cigarette’s at this level as compare to other but with changing period of time, the concern for super premium has also drawn equal attention.

c)      Bingo: The lowest level for segmentation defined by the marketer’s in Cigarette industry, where people with low income level are targeted. As people here are more concern about the price of the product rather than the quality or the brand, the companies are rarely concern about their brand awareness and promotional activities.

2)      Second bases of segmentation is done on the Geographical factors mainly targeting three areas i.e.

a)      Urban areas like Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Kolkata etc

b)      Sub-urban areas like Nagpur ,Indore, Allahabad

c)      Rural areas consists of all villages and other backward areas.

3)      Finally the segmentation is done on the basis of age, where the light cigarettes (that contain low level of Nicotine & Tar is less in the cigarette) are targeted to the low age group of people and who are at their initial stages of smoking like school going children, teenagers etc. where as strong cigarettes (with high level of Nicotine & Tar) are targeted to the people of medium & higher age group and people who are at later stages of their smoking like adults, professionals etc.

Distribution channel

Distribution channel refers to the process, through which the company is able to deliver its product to the consumer, by the help of various intermediaries which are generally known as wholesalers, retailers and distributors. Now as we know the selection of channel is based upon various important factors like type of product, type of consumers targeted availability of resources with the organization etc.

Keeping above factors in consideration, the cigarette manufacturing firms are using the following distribution network in the Indian market:

Manufacturing Firms:-

As the name suggests the first module included in distribution network are the firms which are manufacturing cigarettes using raw materials and other available resources. In case of Indian market, there are mainly four manufacturing firms which supply the products all over the country, although there are many local players also available in the different parts of the country, but because they are confined to their local places only in terms of selling of their product, they follow their own distribution channel.

From the main four players, ITC is located in Kolkata, GTC in Vadodra, Gujarat and  VST in Hyderabad.

Regional offices:

The second level of distribution channel is the regional offices which are mainly known as depots in the local markets. Each of the regional office is situated in different regions like North, South, West, East, North-west region etc. that are like the branch of organization opened for the smooth functioning of the supply chain management of the product in the market. Main task performed by these offices are acting as an intermediate between the manufacturing firm and local distributors who are involved in actual distribution of products to the different selling points in the market. These depots are also said as the storage point for the company where large amount of stock is stored depending upon the sales in that particular region.

Like regional offices of Godfrey Phillips which have its depots situated in Chandigarh (north region), Delhi (north), Ahmadabad (west), Mumbai (east), Hyderabad (south) and Kolkata.

Distributors:-

The next level of the channel constitute of distributors. It mainly refers to the agency holders of a particular company who act as the company representative in the market and supplies the product to the different selling points in the market. It is said to be most important module in the distribution channel of Cigarettes as on the one hand they are representing company in the market and on the other hand they are involved in promotional activities of the product due to restriction on advertising and promotion of the Cigarettes using media types.

The distributors are available in almost each city and other important areas of the market to increase the availability of the brand in the market and compete against the competitors.

Retail outlets:

The last intermediate that is available before the Cigarette as a product reaches to the customer are the retail outlets. With reference to the Indian perspective, different retail outlets are present in different forms in the market like:-

a) Pubs/ Bars:

These are not basically the retail outlets of the Cigarette product but are included under this category because few of the super premium brands are available in each Pub for the facility of the customers coming to that particular place.

b) Convenience stores (Kiryana shops):

Small and big shops present in every locality providing the basic & necessary products to the nearby people or the locality in which it is located.

c) Local “panvadi’s”:

Small corner shops that are known with the name of Pan Shops but contributes large share in total sales of Cigarettes in the market.

d) Kiosks:

Small outlets in big Malls like Forum, M2k, and Pacific etc. which only sells Cigarettes of different brands of the same company like ITC. Kiosks are being used by the companies to increase the visibility of the brands.

e) Large format stores (LFS):

It refers to the big retail outlets that are available in the local markets selling the daily need goods and other middle range of products that are required by the customers for the fulfillment of basic needs like vegetables, grocery, kitchen appliances etc.

Ex. Spencer’s, Monday to Sunday, Fabbmall etc.

f)      Multi Branding Outlets (MBO’s):

The outlets opened in the Malls and other shopping areas, which are similar to the “Kiosks” but the only with a difference that products from different companies are also available at one place with addition to different brands

PRICING OF CIGARETTES:

Price is said to the most important factor that is related to a particular product and is directly responsible for the success or failure of the product in the market. In case of cigarettes the importance of pricing becomes more important because in India, advertisements and other promotional activities are banned for the particular product, so to compete in the market with other players for the same market share; the company needs to analyze various factors before setting the final price of a cigarette pack.

In India, the companies set the price mainly dependent upon the following factors:

1. 1. Target market:

It refers to the type of segment market company is targeting with a particular brand of the product like Gold flake Cigarette manufactured by ITC is targeted to the premium segment (explained above) of the market, so the price should also be with respect to that only.

1. 2. Brand value:

The next parameter that is considered in the setting of price is the brand value of the company who is manufacturing the product. Like Insignia wills (Rs 120/pack) produced by ITC and Jaisalmer (Rs 90/pack) produced by Godfrey Phillips, both are part of the same segment market i.e. super premium and with same quality and other features but still there is price difference of Rs 30 per pack (20 pieces), showing the importance of brand value of ITC as a well known company in front of Phillips which is not a famous brand in the Indian market.

1. 3. Competition:

As explained above, there are only few players in the market who are competing against each other for the market share showing low level of competition as compared to other industries in the country but with the entry of more and more foreign players in the market, the level of competition is increasing. So before finalizing the price of the Cigarette pack, the company needs to analyze the competitor’s price within the same segment.

Here is price distribution of Cigarette products based upon the segmented markets made by the researchers of the same industry.

Segment	Price/peice(Rs)	Pieces/pack	Examples
Bingo	>3	10	Scissors, flakes
Premium	3-5	20	Classic, Gold flake
Super premium	<5	20	Insignia, Jaisalmer

Promotional Strategies

Promotional strategies refer to the various activities carried out by the companies to increase the brand awareness in the market and to differentiate from the competetitors product by the way of advertising, promotional activities, organizing shows, free samples etc. so that more of market share can be earned by the firm.

Now talking about the cigarettes in India, advertising and promotional activities are banned by the government but it is said that distribution network is so strong throughout the country that this category itself has become the biggest FMCG in terms of sales. So, marketing efforts really become inconsequential at this stage. But we know that the industry where competition is increasing at high pace, with large number of foreign players entering in to the market, the companies can not merely depend upon the distribution network to compete in the market.

According to the researchers, advertisements are not only the way out for marketing managers in these big firms to sell their products. Marketers will always keep on innovating the new marketing campaign to increase the sales level and market share in the market. Here are few new techniques used by the marketers from the Cigarette industry:

• Convenience Displays:

This type of display is used to increase the visibility of the product to the consumer when he enters in to the shop or small Panvadi’s to purchase the particular brand of cigarette. Now it plays an important especially in case of cigarettes as in India, people have trend of purchasing in loose instead of a packet. Now suppose a person smokes 10 cigarettes per day on an average and purchases only 1 or 2 at once, he will visit the shop for approx.6-7 times. Considering the situation, if a particular brand is not available with the shopkeeper, the consumer may shift to some other brand.

• Promotional Schemes:

The new technique used by the firms in the recent period is by attaching special schemes with the products like latest scheme run by Godfrey Philips for their brand “Four Square”. The promotion was – “Get 1 pack for 10 empty Four Square Packs”. Which resulted in positive response, as people started buying more packs to get the extra pack. That finally resulted in increase in the sales volume of particular brand in market.

• Surrogate Advertising:

This is new concept started by the Cigarette companies in India, where the companies are trying to sell other products with same brand name that is used to sell cigarettes in the market. This way they are able to make their presence in the market by using promotional advertisements without breaking the law made by government. Few examples under this type of marketing are ITC-GTD’s (greeting cards division) Expression Greeting Cards, Red & White Bravery Awards and Wills sportswear

42 Wills Lifestyle retail outlets in India or Wills fashion week, indirectly reinforcing brands like Wills Classic, Wills Mild’s etc.

Events:

As the name suggests, companies are emphasizing on organizing events like Godfrey’s Red and White Bravery Award and Wills Fashion Shows etc. to increase the sales in the market.

• Social Marketing:

This concept was basically launched in the market to get the customer attention by providing knowledge to them regarding the disadvantages of “using Tobacco and smoking cigarettes which are bad for health and human body”. By this way they are positioning themselves as the well wishers of the society but there main aim is to make their presence in the market.

Alcoholic beverages market, especially beer market in India is growing with leaps and bounds. The beer market in India is estimated to be over Rupees 3000 corers. Annual consumption of beer is over hundred 10 million cases. CAGR of beer industry in the year [...]]]>

Alcoholic beverages market, especially beer market in India is growing with leaps and bounds. The beer market in India is estimated to be over Rupees 3000 corers. Annual consumption of beer is over hundred 10 million cases. CAGR of beer industry in the year 2008 is 14.3%, much higher than most of the countries. Rising income the Indian consumer, change in age profile and lifestyle as well as a reduction in beer prices are major factors pushing this growth. Traditional beer markets like Europe and USA are either flat or in a state of decline whereas consumption in the BRIC countries increased by almost 50% during 2002-2007. In India, beer sales grew at nearly 90% compared to, less than 60% growth for other alcoholic drinks and according to industry sources Indian beer market is expected to nearly double itself to 23.3 million hL by 2012 from 12.5 million hL at present. Another interesting fact is among non-Islamic countries India has the lowest per-capita consumption of beer.

For these reasons international beer companies are coming to India almost every quarter. Three big international brands Budweiser, Carlsberg and Heineken entered India in last 12-15 months. In February this year, Anheuser-Busch, makers of the legendary Budweiser, that calls itself the king of beers, announced its India entry through a 50:50 joint venture with the Hyderabad-based Crown Beers. Three months before that, Carlsberg, the beer brand for soccer fans, announced operations in India through its venture, South Asian Breweries. Last year, the Singapore-based Asia Pacific Breweries picked up a 76 per cent stake in Aurangabad Breweries, paving the way for the launch of Heineken into India. There are others like NRI entrepreneur Karan Bilimoria, who created waves in UK’s Indian restaurants by marketing Cobra, a less-gassy beer, also eyeing the market. Even the big three brands have siblings. Apart from Heineken, Asia Pacific Breweries (APB) sells Canon, Baron’s and Tiger; Crown Beers India unveiled Armstrong; while South Asia Breweries has introduced Pallone.But Indian beer market is highly saturated and difficult to break into. More than 80% of the market is controlled by the two players, UB and SAB Miller. While UB with brands like Kingfisher, Zingaro and Kalyani Black has a 48% market share, SAB’s bouquetof acquired brands- Haywards, Royal challenge, Knock Out and Foster’s deliver a combined market share of 37%. According to market analysts international brands excepting Foster’s have made little impression in India till date but according to these new entrants Indian beer market just started to evolve and has a huge growth potential. Till now the new entrants are looking at encashing equity with a premium pricing strategy and they cater to only 30% of the market- the mild beer segment. For remaining 70% market this players launched multiple new brands that are competitively priced. However some of the consultants are not confident about the success of this marketing mix since Indian scenario is widely different from other growing markets because of its immense and diversified geography, huge variety of social and cultural setup, differential tax regime across states, are to name a few. Taxes imposed on alcoholic beverages are very high which make the competition tougher for new entrants. Currently spirit manufacturers trying to push forward a policy change which will exempt beer (especially mild variety) from high alcoholic tax regime and accept it as normal refreshment beverage but in Indian socio-cultural and political scenario this proposal has only a few takers.

Classification of beer: Lager: It is stored for a specified period before being bottled or canned. Pilsner: A type of lager beer, it is light with 3.0 – 3.8% alcohol and has a medium hop flavor. Ale: Top fermented, this kind of beer has distinct hop aroma. The alcohol content is around 4 – 5%. Stout: Dark with burnt flavor and strong malt aroma; it is heavily hopped and contains 5 – 6.5% alcohol. Porter: This is less dark than stout, even less hopped and is somewhat sweet. Alcohol content is around 5%. Creamy Ale: A highly carbonated beer that is produced by a combination of Ale and Lager. Malt: A strong flavored, high alcohol content beer that ranges in flavor and colors.

Classification of Beer : –

1. Lager: It is stored for a specified period before being bottled or canned.
2. Pilsner: A type of lager beer, it is light with 3.0 – 3.8% alcohol and has a medium hop flavor.
3. Ale: Top fermented, this kind of beer has distinct hop aroma. The alcohol content is around 4 – 5%.
4. Stout: Dark with burnt flavor and strong malt aroma; it is heavily hopped and contains 5 – 6.5% alcohol.
5. Porter: This is less dark than stout, even less hopped and is somewhat sweet. Alcohol content is around 5%.
6. Creamy Ale: A highly carbonated beer that is produced by a combination of Ale and Lager.
7. Malt: A strong flavored, high alcohol content beer that ranges in flavor and colors.

Methodology: Due to lack of time and resources collection of primary data has not been done and the entire project depends on the secondary data’s collected from different web pages, online research papers, etc.Analysis and others parts are done on the basis of these secondary data and knowledge collected from the marketing lectures and text books.

Analysis:

Marketing Mix Analysis:

Kingfisher History: Parent company of Kingfisher, United breweries was established in 1857 with the name Castle breweries. It was renamed to United Breweries in 1915 and started manufacturing beer from the year 1944 under the label Exports Beer. UB group started exporting beer to Middle-East from 1974 and in the year 1978 it launched Kingfisher brand.

Market Position: It is the largest selling brand in India and commands more than 30% share in the beer market. In 2005-2006 it recorded 28% growth.

Target markets: Kingfisher has two different products for different market segments.

Product : –

1. No. 1 selling product in its segment.
2. Good quality raw material is used to maintain the quality standards.
3. Consistency of product quality is high.
4. Always tastes fresh due to good quality and well developed distribution network.
5. Hangover due to heavy consumption is very mild.

Place : –

1. It is available throughout India, and is dominant particularly in South and West India.
2. UB has 16 company-owned breweries apart from nine contract breweries in 20 different locations across the country.
3. Kingfisher also has a presence in 60 countries.
4. Kingfisher also has an online marketing system. Any consumer can go to www.Kingfishernetshop.com and get their beer- a mini mum of six bottles home delivered. This move has been a big draw with info tech professionals and district women drinkers.
5. It also has some sixteen hundred shops apart from pubs and bars. Better retailing outlets are also to be opened under the Kingfisher Brand.
6. Kingfisher also has tie-ups with large department stores like ‘Foodworld’ for retailing its Beers.
7. Kingfisher also has association with number of Very Classy, Up-market & Stylish bars & lounges which goes hand in hand with its brand image.

Price : –

In both mild and strong beer segment Kingfisher uses competitive pricing strategy.

Promotion : –

1. Kingfisher tagline ‘King of good times’ is one of the most popular and most successful tagline in India.
2. Since advertising of liquor is banned in India, Kingfisher uses surrogate advertising methods like using mineral water and sodas.
3. Aggressive advertising at Outlets & Pubs.
4. Recently it also started merchandizing sports goods and trendy clothing and accessories under Kingfisher brand name.
5. Each year Kingfisher brings out new calendars featuring top models in swimwear.
6. Kingfisher also promotes itself by sponsoring events like fashion shows, sportspersons like Narain Karthikeyan, East Bengal soccer team. UB promoter also acquired a Formula- One team (Force India).
7. Kingfisher also deals in sports merchandising starting with an ad featuring Sourav Ganguly and Ajay Jadeja in 1997.
8. With the launch of Kingfisher airlines combined promotion is possible which helps the brand promotion a lot. Kingfisher also ventured into other businesses with same brand name making the brand more visible and publicity easier.
9. Kingfisher recently tied up with NDTV for their new lifestyle channel NDTV Good Times for five years
10. And finally the Sultan himself, Dr. Vijay Mallya, the Big Daddy of all brands, the flamboyant Czar of the liquor industry who is the youth icon of a million hearts. His sole presence outweighs all other competitors taken together.

Foster’s

History: Foster’s was established by two brothers W M and R R Foster’s in the year 1986. SAB Miller is the parent company which runs Foster’s group, a premium global multi-beverage company delivering a total portfolio of beer, wine, spirits, and cider non-alcohol beverages. In the 70s Foster’s started exporting to USA and UK and entered the Indian market in a 1998. Foster’s is considered as a consumer driven brand.

Market Position: Foster’s belongs to the SAB Miller stable which is the second largest beer company in India, in terms of market share. Till now it is the only international beer brand which successfully captured a significant share in the Indian market.

Target markets: The main target markets of Foster’s in India youth. But targeting strategy of Foster’s can be presented as

Product : –

1. Premium Lager beer
2. Fresh taste
3. Among the two sizes (330ml and 650ml) pint size (330ml) is more aggressively promoted and
4. 70% of Foster’s sales today come from the pint-sized market
5. The product is a light beer – highly carbonated with low bitterness and no aftertaste. It has fewer calories and lower alcohol content.

Price : –

Foster’s unlike Kingfisher follows a premium pricing strategy for its products. The prices of widely available Foster’s product are

Place : –

1. SAB Miller has 10 breweries in nine states and contract manufacturers in two other states.
2. Foster’s has 24 distributors serving over
   5,000 outlets, including over 2,300
   outlets in Mumbai.

General distribution structure of Foster’s is shown here-

Promotion : -

1. ‘Australianness’ is the essence of Foster’s brand image is promoted in every market in the world. All Foster’s lager theme advertising is consistent with an Australian positioning
2. The overseas advertising of the product often focuses upon the Australian connotations of the beer, e.g. with reference to stereotypical Australian imagery such as kangaroos, exaggerated accents, and hats with corks on strings
3. Since direct promotion is banned in India Foster’s use surrogate advertising method using mineral water of the same brand name
4. Fosters promoted its brand by sponsoring various sports like cricket, to enter the Indian market. Afterwards it withdrew from cricket and started promoting sports like football, rugby, motorsport etc.
5. Foster’s is deeply committed to promoting responsible consumption.
6. While Foster’s does not provide medical advice, nor attempt to advise individuals on important and complex medical issues, the Company is committed to ensuring that consumers access the best available information regarding alcohol and their health.
7. Steeping into Men’s Fashion apparels collections for better brand visibility.

Brand repositioning of Indian brand in presence of international brand:

The term “positioning” is widely used within the marketing and advertising communities today. Positioning is often used nowadays as a broad synonym for marketing strategy. Positioning should be thought of as an element of strategy, a component of strategy, not as the strategy itself. The term “positioning” is, and should be, intimately connected to the concept of “target market.” That is, a brand’s positioning defines the target audience. The correct positioning of a brand is basic and fundamental to its success; an incorrect or suboptimal positioning can doom a brand to underperformance or failure.

Kingfisher, since its origin proved to be the marketing savvy brand. Even though it was the largest selling beer brand, but when Fosters entered the Indian market, Kingfisher sniffed possible competition and invested heavily in brand visibility and positioning. During 2003-04 Kingfisher again repositioned itself by changing the logo.

Instead of the sitting kingfisher bird, the picture of a flying kingfisher was used during creation of new logo because the company wanted to promote itself as an aspirational brand which always wants to go high. This change was made mainly to maintain the distinctive positioning and to create a stronger emotional bond with the aspiring Indian youth.

This repositioning was so successful that even today Kingfisher uses this logo. After the entry of international brand Fosters, Kingfisher repositioned itself into a lifestyle brand adopting jingles like ‘Oola la le lo’ and tagline ‘King of good times’. Kingfisher tried to position itself as a brand for the successful and professional individuals who are always ready to take a break, have a party or just chill out. This positioning was promoted using Indian cricketers such as Ajay Jadeja and Sourav Ganguly, West Indies cricket team (At that time Kingfisher was the official sponsor of WI cricket team) and various other means. The notable thing during this repositioning process is that during this process Kingfisher kept the original message of the brand intact while adopting strategies (including advertising, logo designing, etc.) to communicate better with the consumers and to create a stronger emotional bond with them.The strategies of Kingfisher paid off well and as a result Kingfisher maintained the leadership position and added more dimensions into the brand making it stronger than before.

Brand Extension : –

Kingfisher is one of the most recognized brand in India and SAB Miller’s foster’s has also positioned itself as a unique brand so extension of both brands is possible without much hassle.

Kingfisher : -

Kingfisher is widely known among large number of consumers and its brand presence increased after diversification into airlines business. Kingfisher brand can be extended in following ways-

Line Extension:

Ultra Premium Beer: Though Kingfisher has a huge presence in both light and strong beer segment but from the beginning it followed strategic pricing policy and that made the brand very popular. But with the increasing income level of the Indian youth and the entry of international spirit majors like Carlsberg, Budweiser, etc. Kingfisher should introduce a high-priced premium beer that would compete against these brands effectively. In this way the company could extend its customer base and their strategy would also help the company to tap the high income aspiration group and since company could apply ‘skimming the cream’ policy for this segment, it could be assumed that revenue generation would be high enough to maintain profitability. This move may also help the company if it wants to transform itself into a legendary brand not only in India but also across the globe.

Category extension:

Energy drinks: Kingfisher always maintained itself as a lifestyle brand and associated the brand image with the youth. With the increasing per-capita income and westernisation of the Indian society, people are getting ready to spend more and more. On the other hand they are more conscious about health issues. Energy drinks are very popular in Western countries and some of them also entered into the Indian market but they failed to make an impact. If a company like Kingfisher with huge brand popularity and strong self and distribution network introduce energy drinks it could be a success. It will also go hand in hand with the current image of the brand.

Film production and distribution: Every year Indian film industry release a lot of movies and it is the largest film industry in the world considering the number of release per year. Still in India same production and distribution has not reached professional level. Only a few companies at present do things in a methodical way. But international production majors are entering in the Indian cinema space and Indian multinationals are also taking interest in this field. Kingfisher as a lifestyle brand always maintained a close relationship with the film fraternity and also has a presence in the television space in a joint venture with NDTV. So it would be a natural extension for the brand to start a movie and television production house. With this move Kingfisher would bring in its corporate expertise and financial muscle. This will also help the brand to increase the brand visibility. And just like Adlabs Kingfisher will have the opportunity to create its own multiplex chain and it will also help the current lifestyle apparels and accessories business a lot.

Apparels and accessories retailing: Even though Kingfisher is already present in the apparel and accessories space but its presence is very limited. According to industry estimates organised retailing is the next big thing. In this scenario Kingfisher could easily use its huge brand presence and popularity by investing more into theapparel and accessories retailing. In this way Kingfisher could transform itself into a complete lifestyle brand and that would open new horizons for the brand.

Fosters

Fosters always maintained its Australian identity throughout the ups and downs of the spirit industry. It is the only well-known international spirit brand in India and Foster’s can use this very easily to extend the brand

Line extension:

Low-price beer: From the beginning Foster’s maintained high pricing strategy and that helped the brand to grow. Now since the brand is already popular they could introduce a localised version of the brand in lower price. That would help Fosters (SAB Miller) to strengthen its market presence and to compete against Kingfisher. This new brand will be a unique mixture of Australian characteristics of Foster’s and local characteristics and the target segment will be the Indian youth with low disposable income. Using the current infrastructure and distribution network, SAB Miller would make the process easy and less costly and that would increase the profitability of success.

Category extension:

Sports merchandising: Foster’s always maintained its position as the Australian brand and Australia is a multisport country where most of the sports are very popular and as the country Australia is very successful in these sports. Fosters previously maintained its relationship with cricket and other sports and is now also responsible for different sporting events. So they could use this to enter sports merchandising business in India using cricket as the entry point and then extending into other sports. They could also use the Australian image to relate the sporting fraternity of India and Australia and by this way they could popularise the currently unpopular sports like boxing, shooting, etc. If this strategy could be implemented properly it would make Foster’s unique and give the brand a head-start.

Limitations:

Our study is based on secondary data, mainly from newspapers and websites and we had no access to primary data. As a result the report may not contain the latest data about the present market scenario which could otherwise have made it far better and relevant.

Findings:

Traditional beer markets in Europe and USA are either flat or are in a state of decline, whereas India still has a huge untapped market. For these reasons international beer companies are coming to India almost every quarter. Kingfisher, since its origin proved to be the marketing savvy brand and even though it was the largest selling beer brand but when Fosters entered the Indian market Kingfisher sniffed possible competition and invested heavily in brand visibility and positioning. Kingfisher changed its logo and adopted a new logo and tagline, sponsored the West Indian cricket team and also used the Indian cricketers to sponsor its product. It went into airlines, lifestyle and even started a television channel with NDTV. From our study we have also suggested some brand extension methods under, line extension and process extension.

Conclusions:

India is a growing economy and its market is opening up. The per capita income of the people of the country is rising daily and so is the beer consumption rate. The stigma associated with the consumption of alcoholic drinks has also gone down; as a result the beer companies are trying to get more associated with everyone’s life.

Introduction

The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd launched Mobile Cellular Services in India in the year 2000 under which Pre-paid and post-paid cell phone connections are sold to customers through a network of Customer Service Centers (CSC), distributors and dealers spread over the country.

SIM card distribution to [...]]]>

Introduction

The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd launched Mobile Cellular Services in India in the year 2000 under which Pre-paid and post-paid cell phone connections are sold to customers through a network of Customer Service Centers (CSC), distributors and dealers spread over the country.

SIM card distribution to the various agencies, and Mobile Number allotments are centrally monitored by the Headquarters of BSNL Mobile Services, at the RK Nagar Telephone Exchange, Mumbai. The Accounts Officer at the zonal Headquarters issues SIM cards and recharge cards to the various CSCs as and when required. Other than CSCs, SIM cards are also sold through approved dealers. Pre-paid SIM cards and recharge cards are purchased by distributors who in turn sell them to customers. The Accounts Officer keeps track of cards issued/ sold to CSCs/Dealers/Distributors, and of all related accounts.

At the Customer Support Centre, a customer is allowed to choose a GSM number of his/her liking, for the mobile phone, from an available list of numbers. A GSM number may be blocked, for later purchase, for a period of 48 hours on request by a customer, and released if payment for the connection is not made within the period. Fancy (or vanity) numbers are sold for a special fee. In case of loss of mobile phone, or damage of SIM card, a new SIM card with same mobile number may be obtained after payment of replacement charges.

Prerequisites for SIM card distribution and management process

Operating Environment

The intranet constitutes the various Customer Support Centres of BSNL, connected to the Mobile Services Headquarters, through dedicated lines. An Intranet Web Server, running IIS, is required at the Mobile Services, headquarters, on which the application software is hosted. The backend database is MS SQL Server, which may be hosted on a separate Database Server. An additional standby server is recommended for redundancy in case of any system failures. The only pre-requisite for the Client systems at the Customer Support Centres is for them to be equipped with a web-browser. These will be located at the counters.

Software Architecture

SIM Card Management System is implemented as an Intranet application. The Web Server is located at the Mobile Services, Headquarters, at RK Nagar Mumbai, on which the application software is hosted. The application software is developed in ASP, JavaScript, and HTML. The central database is based on MS SQL Server 2000. The system can be accessed over the Intranet of BSNL connecting all the Customer Support Centres to the Mobile Services Headquarters. Clients equipped with web browsers can access the system from the counters located at the Customer Support Centres.

The SIM Card Management System is user-friendly, designed to be easy to use through a series of screens and pull-down menus. The software can be used by anyone with necessary domain knowledge at the Mobile Services Headquarters, BSNL, and the Customer Support Centres.

The SIM Card Management System is an intranet application designed – to handle sale transactions at Customer Support Centres; to carry out all activities related to SIM card/ GSM number distribution/ allotment by the headquarters; and to maintain accounts; through a centralised database. The SIM Card Management system uses intranet technology to give a cost-effective solution that delivers powerful and robust results. By connecting Customer Support Centres, dealers, and distributors with the Mobile Services headquarters, through a centralised server, information is managed effectively and efficiently. Up-to-date and reliable information on stock of SIM cards and recharge cards and the revenue earned through their sale is available at any given time.

Product Features

• Maintenance of all SIM card details in a centralised environment.
• Handle sale transactions at the twelve Customer Support Centres in Chennai.
• Handle SIM card/ GSM number distribution and allotment by the Headquarters Maintenance modules for incorporation of new schemes, plans etc with ease.
• Automate generation of all accounting and statistical statements. Efficient query system for the enquiry counter.

The CSCs located at twelve telephone exchanges are connected to the headquarters, BSNL Mobile Services, located at RK Nagar, through dedicated lines. A centralized database, located on the server at the headquarters, is used to track the transactions involving stock and sales of SIM cards and recharge cards, and allotments of mobile numbers, through the various Customer Support Centres, dealers and distributors.

Counter operations handled are Sale of connections – post-paid as well as pre-paid, Sale of recharge packs, Blocking of GSM number for a period of 48 hours on request by a customer, Sale of vanity numbers, Conversion of pre-paid to post-paid connection, Replacement of damaged SIM cards, and Receipt generation for all these transactions. The counter facilitates the customer visiting the CSC center to view the list of available mobile numbers, at the time of buying, and choose one of his preference. The software provides an Administrative module for incorporating various plans and schemes offered by BSNL from time to time. The SIM Card Management system handles tallying and accounting of daily sales at the CSCs and generation of consolidated statements of Stock and Amounts collected. Facility is provided for Administrator to disseminate FAQ’s and other essential messages to the counter

staff.

MAPPING OF THE DISTRIBUTION PROCESS

In the above mapped process the accounts officer at the zonal headquarter distribute the SIM card to the CSC’s and approved dealers which in turn sell the SIM to the distributors and consequently both distributors and CSC’s sell the SIM card to the customers. The after sales services to the customers are provided by the CSC’s only.

Functions  of Accounts Officer

1. Issue of post-paid SIM cards to CSCs

2. Issue of pre-paid SIM cards to CSCs

3. Issue of spare pre-paid SIM cards to CSCs

4. Issue of recharge cards to CSCs

5. Issue of pre-paid SIM cards to distributors

6. Issue of post-paid SIM cards to dealers

7. Issue of recharge cards to dealers

8. Issue of recharge cards to distributors

9. Invoice printing – incorporating commission to distributors and TDS

10. Daily statement of sales – per Customer Service Centre

11. Daily statement of sales – overall

12. Various statements for listing category wise sales

Functions of Customer Support Centres (CSC)

1. Sale of post-paid cards

2. Sale of post-paid cards – Vanity levels one, two and three

3. Account number entry for post-paid connection after activation

4. Sale of pre-paid cards

5. Sale of pre-paid cards – Vanity levels one, two and three

6. Blocking of pre-paid GSM number

(of a SIM available at any CSC, from any other CSC)

7. Blocking of post-paid GSM number from any CSC

8. Sale of blocked post-paid cards

9. Sale of blocked pre-paid cards

10. Sale of recharge cards

11. Conversion of pre-paid to post-paid connection

12. Pre-paid SIM card replacement

13. Post-paid SIM card replacement

14. Including additional facilities, such as STD or ISD, to a connection after taking

additional deposit

15. Marking as validated, after verification of documents submitted by a customer

16. Surrendering a connection

17. Waiving of activation fee – available with special access permission

18. Waiving of replacement charges- available with special access permission

19. Daily collection list on account of sales – post-paid

20. Daily collection list on account of sales – pre-paid

21. Query on Friends/Family GSM numbers

22. Query on schemes

23. Query for PIN and PUK number

24. List of cancelled receipts

25. FAQ

The above functions incorporate the following features:

a. Ensuring that a customer does not avail of post-paid card quoting the

same land-line phone more than once.

b. Validation of land-line phone numbers.

c. Barring non-payment defaulters from SIM replacement.

d. Record demand note number in lieu of land-line number where

required.

e. Capture and validate Friends and Family GSM numbers if opted for.

f. Recording history of allotment time, designation of data entry person

and location for all transactions to enable future queries on the same.

g. Option for printing of receipts on plain as well as pre-paid stationery

for all transactions

Administrative/ Maintenance Functions

1. Incorporation of new plans, schemes

2. Updating talk value/ validity period/ etc. for existing plans

3. Updating messages for receipt-footnotes, messages for broadcast to counterstaff

4. Release of a surrendered connection for sale

5. Periodic statistical reports generation

6. Display entire history and status of transactions for a given GSM number or

SIM number

7. Reprinting receipt for an old transaction, if required

8. Canceling receipt for a completed transaction

9. General administrative and maintenance functions

10. Queries

PROBLEMS IN THE PROCESS

The major problem areas are

· Improper Distribution

· Prolonged activation time

· Inefficient customer care services

The process of applying for the service is cumbersome, full or red-tape and inconvenient. One can only apply at the BSNL headoffice in the city, unlike private operators, where customer can get the connection from a number of sales-points across the city. It also takes a long time for getting activated. One had to wait for months to procure the SIM and even more than a week after getting the SIM card for the service to get activated, and functional whereas other private operators activate number within a days. To add to the woes the customer care services provided by BSNL is relatively poor, one has to wait for hours to get connected to the customer care executive for having his grievances redressed and after that also customer had to wait for a long time for their problem being solved.

Recommendations for streamlining the distribution process

All these problems comes under the perview of the customer service centres and therefore poses various questions on the role of CSC’s in the distribution process and hence the problem can be made streamlined by reducing the work load of CSC’s.    selling the SIM cards to the customers by the

Modified mapping of the distribution process

In the modified flow chart the accounts officer at the zonal headquarter distributes the SIM card only to the approved dealers which through the channel of distributors sell the SIM to the customers. Here by the modifications the work pressure as well as bureaucracy and red tapism decreases and the distribution channel works properly. The advantage of selling the SIM through the retailers increases the availability and

The customer care services is also improved in the above process as the customers in the process pays the amount of their bill directly to the retailers which is not only reducing the burden of the CSC’s but also becomes convenient for the customers. The retailer in turn pays these bills to the CSC’s of their respective areas. These CSC’s are accountable to a central CSC of the zone which is ultimately accountable to the account officer of the zone.

BSNL should make the effective use Recharge Card Management System, Customer Care Management System and other advanced technologies to improve their internal process.

To speed up its process like activation, documentation, verification, allotting account number etc. it should outsource some of its work to speed up the whole process.

To further improve their customer service, I propose:

• BSNL to soon introduce touch- screen kiosk at the Enquiry Counter, so that customers are able to make their own  enquiries with respect to availability of numbers, bill amounts, plans / schemes etc.
• BSNL should make a tie up with more & more call centers so that customer complaints can solved much faster.
• Like private operators,BSNL should open their customer centers at various public places like shopping malls for better service to customers.

There is large future market ahead .BSNL should try to forecast this future demand and if BSNL wants to capture this market and increase its market share in future (which is right now very) it has to make such changes in its  customer service and specially in it’s distribution process otherwise it will lost it to its competitors.

BISLERI

HISTORY OF PARLE BISLERI: –

M.R RAMESH CHAUHAN is the vintage boss of the 250 crore PARLE BISLERI LIMITED. The brand has some 18 manufacturing locations spread across the country. The mainstream competition is in the form of coca-cola India’s Kinley, Acquafina from Pepsi foods and nestle India’s pure. Bisleri [...]]]>

BISLERI

HISTORY OF PARLE BISLERI: –

M.R RAMESH CHAUHAN is the vintage boss of the 250 crore PARLE BISLERI LIMITED. The brand has some 18 manufacturing locations spread across the country. The mainstream competition is in the form of coca-cola India’s Kinley, Acquafina from Pepsi foods and nestle India’s pure. Bisleri continues to lead in the Rs 700-1,000 crore organized, packaged water market with an estimated 40 per cent market share, followed by Kinley at 28 per cent and Aquafina with an 11 per cent share. In terms of volumes, the North and West remain Bisleri’s biggest performing markets, despite the brand’s sustained national-level presence.

OPERATION OF BISLERI: –

The Bisleri bottled water range comprises the conventional 500 ml, one litre, 1.2 litre and two litre bottles; five litre and 20 litre jars for the home segment, and smaller packs sizes of 250 ml cups and 330 ml bottles, though in very limited numbers for now. Among all pack sizes the brand straddles, it is the one-litre non-returnable bottles priced at Rs 10 each, and the 20-litre jars for Rs 40 aimed at the home segment that are Bisleri’s bestsellers at present. While the 20-litre jar comprises about 40 per cent of overall Bisleri sales, the one-litre bottles account for approximately 25 per cent brand sales. The main source of water is bore wells from where they get thee water. Then the raw materials required for the bottle is PET i.e. poly ethylene terephatalable. There are 250 workers working in mumbai and 3000 all over India. The production process adopted by bisleri is batch production. The time taken to fill one bottle is approximately 5 minutes. The workers work in 3 shifts which comprises of 60-70 workers per shift. The maintenance of the machines is done every month and every 45 days there is sanitation and cleaning of the machine.

BISLERI

Visit Analysis:

A)

1. Research & Development Dept:

The R & D Dept of this company starts planning 6 months in advance. The R & D Dept conducts market survey for 2-3 months for modification of the shape of the bottle.

2. Market Survey:

The different design is shown to a special group of customers & dealers and according to the demand, the design is chosen by the company.

B)

PRODUCTION CYCLE:

There are mainly three stages in the production cycle:

1. Disinfection: In this stage, water is collected from bore wells which are then disinfected using chemicals.

2. Filterization: In this stage, water is passed through different filters to kill the bacteria present in it. Then, the water is passed on to the next level for filling up.

3. Filling: In this stage, the bottles are ozonated and then the water is filled in the bottles.

C)

PRODUCTION PROCESS:

1. Quality Management of Water:

Raw water which is collected from the wells is stored in a tank which has a capacity to store 1 lakh liters of water. Then the water is chlorinated to kill the bacteria present in the water which is passed through 20 micro arcal filters. Then it is passed through carbon filter which is used for removing activated carbon and odor and also acts as chlorine remover. Then it is passed through 10-micron filter. Then it goes through REVERSE AUSMOSES PLANT, which contains semi-pomitable membrane which removes dissolved solids and bacteria of size 0.001 micron. It is passed through 1 micron and 0.5-micron filters. T hen the water gets ozonated and passed through SS 316 MACHINE. Water is stored in 10000 liter tanks.

2. Blowing of Bottles:

The bottles in this factory are given the desired shape by the use of blowing machines. These machines blow at a temperature of 300 degrees Celsius. The machine used for the blowing purpose is known as the AOKI MACHINE. This machine has a blowing capacity of 10 bottles per minute.

3. Filling of Bottles:

There are three types of filling machines, which are used for the filling purpose. The different sizes of bottles that are filed are of 500ml, 1liter, 1.2liters and 2liters respectively. First the bottle gets ozonized when it is passed through JET MACHINES. In this the bottle gets integrated and disintegrated, it gets rinsed, and then the water is filled into the bottles.

4. Filling of Jars:

The different sizes of jars are 5liters, 10liters and 20liters. The jars are cleaned manually by soap and water. Then it is cleaned with sodium hypo-chloride and virosin, which are disinfectors. When jars are passed through washing machine first it is rinsed with hot water, then disinfected and then it is ozonated. Then jars are passed on to jar fillers where it gets filled and the packing of sealed jars into boxes is done manually.

5. Laboratory Testing:

Every hour samples of water that are filled in to the bottles are taken and various testing is done. First it is checked for odor if any, presence of alkanity, chlorine and calcium. The water is also checked in machines like PH METER, TDS(TOTAL DISSOLVE SOLIDS) METER, NEPHLOMETER, SPECTROPHOTOMETER AND MEASURING OF TUBILITY. They also do aerobic  microbial count and pathogen testing.

FUTURE PLANS: –

Bisleri have been the market leaders in India as far as mineral waters are concerned. Every time their bottle and waters are checked and rechecked for its purity. Their main aim is to stay ahead of the main rivals i.e. Pepsi and Coca Cola. Their raw material comes from reliance industries limited who are their main suppliers of the raw material i.e. PET.