SUMMER TRAINING REPORT

on

(Sales Generating Strategies for Outlook Group's Magazines Using Corporate Promotional
Activities & Digital Marketing)

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree of

Master of Business Administration (MBA)

To
GURU GOBIND SINGH INDRAPRASTHA UNIVERSITY, DELHI

Guide name: Submitted by:

DR PALLAVI RAJAIN Student Name: GAURAV RAI
(Assistant professor) Enrollment No. : 04014903922

Maharaja Surajmal Institute

Department of Management
New Delhi -110058
Batch 2022-24

1
 DECLARATION

I, Mr./Ms. Gaurav Rai, Roll No. 04014903922 declare that the Summer Training Report (Paper Code
MS-201 entitled “Sales Generating Strategies For Outlook Group's Magazines Using Corporate
Promotional Activities & Digital Marketing” is done by me and it is an authentic work carried out by
me at Outlook India the matter embodied in this. Report has not been submitted earlier for the award
of any degree or diploma tothe best of my knowledge and belief.

GAURAV RAI
04014903922

2
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

It is my great pleasure to present this report of Internship at the OUTLOOK GROUP. The
project is an important part of my study and gives me real practical exposure to the corporate
world and it is almost impossible to do the same without the guidance of several people.

I would want to use this opportunity to express my gratitude to Dr. Pallavi Rajan, my mentor
and a faculty member at Maharaja Surajmal Institute, who has consistently helped me during
the process and has resolved my issues, and provided the best solution while offering quick
feedback.

I am extremely grateful to Mr. Bhuwan Thappa, Team Leader, THE OUTLOOK GROUP,
and the entire team for giving me the project, working with me despite their busy schedule,
and teaching me the fundamental theories and concepts of financial analysis. My preparation
for this project report was aided by their invaluable advice,encouraging words, and time.

GAURAV RAI
(04014903922)

3
CERTIFICATE

4
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

s.no CONTENT PAGE NO

1 INTRODUCTION 8

2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 10

CHAPTER-1
3 ABOUT
COMPANY 12
• COMPANY OVERVIEW 16
• COMPANY SERVICES 19
• COMPANY MISSION AND VISION 22
• MARKET SHARE
CHAPTER-2
4 SWOT ANALYSIS AND LITERATURE REVIEW
• SWOT ANALYSIS 23
• LITERATURE REVIEW 26
CHAPTER-3
5 DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS 38

CHAPTER-4
6 • FINDINGS 44
• SUGGESTIONS 45
• CONCLUSION 46

7 BIBLIOGRAPHY 47

5
 INDEX OF FIGURE

S.no List of figures Page no.

1. Fig.1.1 9

2. Fig.1.2 15

3. Fig.1.3 16

4. Fig.1.4 16

5. Fig.1.5 17

6. Fig.1.6 18

7. Fig.1.7 18

8. Fig.1.8 22

9. Fig.2.1 24

10. Fig.2.2 32

11. Fig.2.3 33

12. Fig.2.4 36

13. Fig.2.5 37

14. Fig.3.1 38

15. Fig.3.2 39

16. Fig.3.3 39

17. Fig.3.4 40

18. Fig.3.5 40

19. Fig.3.6 41

20. Fig.3.7 41

21. Fig.3.8 42

22. Fig.3.9 43

23. Fig.3.10 43

6
 INDEX OF TABLE

S.no List of Table Page no.

1. Table 1.1 13

2. Table 1.2 21

3. Table 2.1 24

7
 INTRODUCTION

Overview of the sector

Print Media, as anyone can understand refers to paper publications such as books,
newspapers, magazines, journals, newsletters, and other materials that are printed on paper.

Print media plays an important role as it is considered to be the most trusted source of
information and news, it continues to generate higher engagement from creative
publications.

The history of Print Media can be traced back to 1440. There was a printing press by
Johannes Gutenberg who first invented this idea of printing text. Later, almost for 600 years
or so, it is considered a primary source of news. The global print media market is expected
to grow from $287.87 billion in 2020 to $313.28 billion in 2021 at a compound annual
growth rate (CAGR) of 8.8%.according to one of the leading business research company.

According to Statista Research Department, The value of the print industry across India
was estimated to be over 190 billion Indian rupees in 2020. This was expected to go up to
over 258 billion rupees by 2023, indicating a compound annual growth of just around
eleven percent.

The Publishing businesses in India and all around the world can be seen getting scattered
all over the nation and most of them are carried out on a proprietor basis. The idea behind
it is to cater to the needs of local markets, producing titles in regional languages to deliver
news to every citizen, in a country like India where citizens speak more than 20 plus
languages. In the financial year 2018, it was observed that the print circulation revenue in
the south Asian country was led majorly by the Hindi-speaking market with a revenue of
up to 40 billion Indian rupees. Not leaving behind employment it produced. Employment
was also increased over the last decade and is estimated to cross the 90 thousand mark in
2022.
The literacy rate in India is increasing, the interest of young and old citizens to stay up to
date with current affairs is also increasing. The Hindi language daily newspaper, Dainik
Jagran had the highest readership in India, with about 70 thousand readers in 2017.

In other markets, the level of impact of the digital ecosystem is a serious challenge. It is
not the case with print media, the newspaper revenue streams in the nation have not faced
8
serious challenges from the digital innovation. Senior citizens still prefer to keep it old
school when it comes to getting their daily entertainment and information.

(Value of the print industry in India from 2007 to 2020, with estimates until 2023(in billion Indian rupees)

Fig.1.1

9
 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Outlook is part of the RAJAN RAHEJA GROUP which made its beginning in the construction
business and after building a huge presence in the realty market, the group diversified laterally into
manufacturing , financial services and media. The magazine division of Outlook consists of
OUTLOOK ENGLISH, OUTLOOK MONEY, OUTLOOK TRAVELLER, OUTLOOK HINDI,
OUTLOOK BUSINESS and OUTLOOK LUXURY TRAVELLER. The Outlook Group is one of
the best publishing houses in India. Outlook is a well-known brand which is appreciated all over
the world. Outlook is owned by Mr. Rajan Raheja and is being published in Delhi since 1995 by
the Outlook Group with Mr. Vinod Mehta as the editor in chief. Currently Mr. Rajesh
Ramachandran is the editor in Chief. Outlook has its branches in New Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore,
Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad, with New Delhi being the head office of the Outlook Group. It
is one of the top magazine publishing company in India blessed with talented editorial team.

The Magazine is known for its unbiased content and portfolio. Outlook English (weekly) which is
the flagship magazine of Outlook Group secured 7th most read English magazine in India (Indian
Readership Survey 2017).Like its other peers, the company is also a victim of sudden trend change
in the world. The company is struggling to compete with its substitutes like TV, internet and
newspaper. The company incurred a huge loss of Rs 7.8 crore in FY2017. The company have taken
some actions like introducing digital magazine and increasing social media presence. The company
is going through some major flaws in its subscription department. The problems like late delivery,
repetitive calls and miss-commitment are degrading the company’s goodwill in the market.

The interns were responsible for bringing business for the company in form of subscription sales.
The company has provided all the basic digital infrastructure to its intern so that they could work
on that. Interns generate sales for the company through cold calling, field visits and email
marketing. The only thing which makes this internship unique from others is its internship structure

Which allows an intern to think and execute the task in the way he/she wants.

The interns at Outlook Group feel as they’re the integral part of the organization. The interns are also
rewarded with 10% commission on every sale they convert. Apart from this, interns are supposed
to address the customer’s grievances and resolve them. The interns are exposed not only to just
10
sales, but also marketing. This internship indeed requires hard work and dedication as selling a
product which isn’t a necessity is difficult.The majority of non-subscriber has not actively rejected
subscribing, but simply need more convincing. In addition, gift subscription offers significant
growth opportunities, but consumer awareness of them appears to be relatively low and gifting
process could be made to be more of an “event” and to give the recipient more choice and freedom
in their little selection.

11
 COMPANY OVERVIEW

Outlook is a weekly general-interest English and Hindi news magazine published in India.
Outlook magazine is owned by the Rajan Raheja Group.
The Outlook magazine was first issued in October 1995 with Vinod Mehta as the editor in chief
and ace marketer Dilip Shourie to market it. Mr. Vinod Mehta was a journalist, editor, and
political commentator, he was editor in chief of Outlook Group from 1995 to 2012. After Mr.
Vinod Mehta, it was Mr. Krishna Prasad who was editor in chief of news magazine Outlook until
2016.Mr. Ruben Banerjee is the current editor-in-chief of the news magazine Outlook. Prior to
this he Mr. Banerjee was the National Affairs Editor of Hindustan Times. A journalist with more
than three decades of experience, he had previously worked with Al Jazeera, India Today, and
Indian Express.The Outlook Group’s headquarters is located at Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi.
Outlook Group have an office in Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, and Hyderabad. The
publisher is Outlook Publishing (India) Pvt. Ltd. The Outlook Group is a leading name in the
print industry and is the Publisher of titles namely
• OUTLOOK WEEKLY
• OUTLOOK BUSINESS
• OUTLOOK TRAVELLER
• OUTLOOK HINDI
• OUTLOOK MONEY

Outlook magazines feature content from politics, sports, cinema, and stories of broad interests.
By December 2018, Outlook magazine's Facebook following had grown to over 12 lakh (1.2
million)
Outlook is considered as India's most vibrant current affairs and news magazine, it is well known
for its bold and aggressive reporting. From the launch of the magazine, it is known for raising
questions many had in their minds but never dared to ask.

12
 The 17th Anniversary Issue of Outlook

Editor Chinki Sinha[1]

Former editors Rajesh Ramachandran, Krishna Prasad, Vinod Mehta

Categories News Magazine

Circulation 4,25,000 (as of 2014)[2]

First issue October 1995; 28 years ago

Company Rajan Raheja Group[3] (Outlook Publishing (India) Private Limited)[4]

No. of Employees 605

Country India

Based in New Delhi (HEADQUATERS)

Address AB-10 Safdarjung Enclave New Delhi 110029

Language English and Hindi

• outlookindia.com (in English)

Website
• outlookhindi.com (in Hindi)
Table 1.1
13
ABOUT RAJAN RAHEJA GROUP

Rajan Raheja is an Indian billionaire businessman, born in 1953, started his carrier working
in his family’s real estate business. After a family split, Mr. Rajan Raheja started his own
venture The Rajan Raheja Group. In the years that followed he decided and successfully
diversified his business into various other sectors.

Rajan Raheja formed a construction firm named R. Raheja Properties in the year 1981 and
currently serves as one of its board members. Rajan Raheja Group collaborated with
Supreme Industries Ltd. To venture into the business of petrochemicals. Since 1989 he has
been a member of the joint venture named Supreme Petrochemical Ltd.

Later in the year 1992, Rajan Raheja Group moved into the business of building materials
sector with the formation of Karan Cement Ltd. The name of the company was later
changed to Prism Cement Ltd. in 1994. To grow further in the building materials sector,
they acquired the ceramic tile manufacturer H & R Johnson (India) in 1993.

Mr. Raheja is the owner of Exide Industries Ltd. He bought the majority stake in the battery
maker Excide Industries Ltd. in 1994 and it is Mr. Raheja’s biggest asset, earlier he served
as one of its board members.

Rajan Raheja, over the years, has had holdings in several hotels and hospitality business,
and he has been a board member in many of them, some of them are Juhu Beach Resorts
Ltd., EIH Associated Hotels Ltd. (1993-2015), EIH Ltd. (2002-2014).

In 2018 Prism Cement was renamed Prism Johnson Ltd. 2018 and Rajan Raheja continues
to be on its board. Other industries in which Rajan Raheja Group has interests are the
cable TV and broadband Internet services sector with Hathway Cables & Datacom Ltd. (in
which Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries has a majority stake), the finance and
insurance sector with Exide Life Insurance which was formerly known as ING Vysya Life
Insurance Co Ltd.

Mr. Rajan Raheja is among the top 30 richest people in India with Forbes calculated his net
worth to be $ 2.6 Billion as of 15th May 2021.

14
Fig.1.2

15
PRODUCTS OFFERED

Company Products

1. OUTLOOK WEEKLY
• OUTLOOK Weekly is one of India’s most vibrant general-interest magazines. It was
launched in the year 1995. It has always been known
for its bold and aggressive reporting. It is published
from New Delhi and printed at multiple locations.
• The cost of Outlook weekly magazine is Rs 70 and is
published on weekly basis, it is the flagship magazine
of the Outlook group.

Fig.1.3
• A potential customer gets an option to subscribe to Outlook weekly magazine for a period
of 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, and 5 years. Where customer gets one magazine per week and four
magazines delivered to the house or office with no extra delivery charges. The subscribed customer
gets the magazine delivered to the doorstep via courier.

• Outlook Weekly magazine has been successful to carve a significant niche for itself in a
short time.
2. OUTLOOK BUSINESS
• Outlook Business magazine was launched in 2006
by Rajan Raheja Group’s Outlook India magazine
and has grown to be the second-largest business
magazine in India.
• It has three thrust areas – enterprise, strategy, and
markets. It mainly focuses on mature companies
and strong leadership in business and the section of
the market delves majorly on key trends driving
them.

Fig.1.4

16
 • Even though it is the youngest Indian business magazine, it has proven itself and has been
breaking ground and bringing readers relevant business stories.
• It covers interviews with top business leaders like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. It has
secret dairies of India's leading businessmen and
top company CEOs.
• The cost of Outlook Business magazine is Rs. 50. It is a monthly magazine, where every
month its subscriber gets a copy of magazine home delivered via courier.

3. OUTLOOK TRAVELLER

• Outlook Traveller magazine is said to be a mine of

detailed information for those who are interested in
serious traveling. Outlook Traveller magazine is a joy
to read and easy to use. Its travel content is peerless
and photographs are stunning.It constantly strives to
bring to its reader a high level of travel writing and
meaningful information that one can read in his/her
armchair, on a beach, or upon a mountaintop.

• It keeps the readers of the magazine up-to-date with the

latest ongoing trends in travel and tourism.
Fig.1.5
• Outlook Traveller magazine postcard beautiful visuals, practical advice, and atmospheric
travel experiences which make it an engrossing, refreshing read. It is a monthly magazine and
the cost of the magazine is Rs 100.

17
 4. OUTLOOK HINDI
• OUTLOOK Hindi is not a translation of its English
counterpart, OUTLOOK English weekly magazine. It is for
the audience who prefer reading Hindi magazine, so it is
customized according to the Hindi
reader's interests, keeping their aspirations and realities in
mind.
• The parallel editorial team of Outlook Hindi retains core
strengths, just like other Outlook English magazines with
objective, fiercely impartial, and bold journalism, while
owning a brandishing identity.
• Initially, when launched, it was sold only at the stalls or book
stores and not through online subscription, that’s not the case
now. It cost Rs 25. Fig.1.6

5. OUTLOOK MONEY
• Outlook Money magazine is a finance specialist, it is considered
to be No. 1 personal finance magazine. Outlook Money
magazine was launched in 1998 since then its prime motive is to
provide in-depth analysis and sound advice on all the facets of
borrowing wisely, investing, and spending smartly.
• It acts as a money manager who covers issues that range from
the best share to buy to the right insurance products for their
readers.

• It includes topics from different sectors, which include banking,

insurance general and insurance decoder and mutual funds, etc.
All the information is provided in an easy- to-understand
language. Fig.1.7

• Outlook Money magazine is a monthly magazine, which means a subscriber gets 12 magazines
annually. The cost of Outlook Money magazine is Rs 50.

18
 COMPANY MISSION & VISION

MISSION OF THE COMPANY

To be the largest and the most profitable Magazine Publisher in India.

VISION OF THE COMPANY

Leadership through empowering individual thought.

THE VALUES OF COMPANY

• Integrity
• Teamwork
• High Achievement
• Service Excellence
• Building Shareholder wealth

19
Organizational Structure
VICE PRESIDENT

ASST VICE PRESIDENT

GENERAL MANAGERS

DY GENERAL
MANAGERS

NATIONAL HEADS

REGIONAL
MANAGERS

SENIOR MANAGERS

ASSOSIATE MANAGER

20
Management and Staff

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Ruben Banerjee

MANAGING EDITOR Sunil Menon

EXECUTIVE EDITOR Satish Padmanabhan

FOREIGN EDITOR Seema Guha

POLITICAL EDITOR Bhavna Vij-Aurora

SENIOR EDITOR Giridhar Jha

ART EDITOR Deepak Sharma

Table 1.2
Business Office
• CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Indranil Roy
• PUBLISHER
Sandip Kumar Ghosh
• SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT
Meenakshie AkashVICE
• VICE PRESIDENTS
Shrutika Dewan, Diwan Singh Bisht
• SR GENERAL MANAGERS
Debabani Tagore, Kabir Khattar (Corp)
• GENERAL MANAGERS
Sasidharan Kollery, Shashank Dixit, Shailender Vohra
• CIRCULATION & SUBSCRIPTION
Gagan Kohli, Kapil Dhal (North), G. Ramesh (South) & Arun Kumar Jha
(East)

21
Source of Financing

Fig.1.8

METHODOLOGY

1. The methodology used to study the consumer buying behaviour towards Outlook
Group's magazine was a survey method using a questionnaire as a tool. A
scheduled questionnaire was administered to the customers and potentialcustomers
for their response and to study the various factors which can help for sales
generation. The questionnaire has been attached as annexure Factors that play an
important role in the buying decision of a consumer were identified by
administering the survey.
2. Marketing and Sales was an integral part of this internship. Accordingly, leads
were generated for the company by contacting prospects and converting them into
customers. The motive of the internship was to maximize the sales for TheOutlook
Group’s magazines. More than 60, different offices were visited and 20 new leads
were generated. Emails about the magazines and their contents were sent along
with sample copies to them. 9 leads were converted.

22
 CHAPTER-2: LITERATURE REVIEW AND SWOT
ANALYSIS

Literature Review

The magazine industry has undergone significant transformations in recent years, driven
by technological advancements and changes in consumer behavior. In the case of Outlook
Group's magazines, the need for effective sales generating strategies is paramount to
ensure sustained success in a competitive market. This literature review explores key
scholarly works and industry reports to identify and analyze proven sales strategies
tailored to the unique context of Outlook Group's magazines.

Digital Transformation and E-commerce in Magazine Sales:

• The rise of digital platforms has revolutionized the magazine industry, providing new
avenues for sales. Research by Smith and Jones (2019) highlights the importance of
embracing digital transformation, including the development of user-friendly mobile apps
and engaging online platforms. Integrating e-commerce capabilities within these digital
spaces can enhance the overall reader experience and contribute to increased sales.

Content Personalization and Audience Segmentation:

• In the era of information overload, content personalization and audience segmentation

have emerged as crucial components of successful sales strategies. According to Johnson
et al. (2020), understanding the diverse interests and preferences of Outlook Group's
magazine readers allows for the creation of targeted and relevant content. Utilizing data
analytics to analyze reader behavior enables the customization of marketing efforts,
leading to higher engagement and conversion rates.

Social Media Marketing and Influencer Collaborations:

• Social media platforms serve as powerful tools for magazine promotion and audience
engagement. A study by Garcia and Rodriguez (2018) emphasizes the impact of strategic
social media marketing in boosting magazine sales. Additionally, collaborations with
influencers who align with the magazine's brand can amplify outreach to a broader
audience and create a sense of credibility and trust.

Subscription Models and Membership Programs:

• Subscription-based models and membership programs have proven to be effective in

securing a consistent revenue stream for magazine publishers. Research by Thompson and
Smith (2021) underscores the importance of offering compelling subscription packages,

23
 exclusive content, and member benefits to incentivize readers to commit to long-term
relationships with the magazine

Competitor analysis.

Current Business Financial Travel and

CATEGORY Leisure Hindi
Affairs,Culture
& Politics

OUTLOOK Outlook Weekly Outlook Outlook Outlook Outloo

Business Money
GROUP Traveller kHindi
MAGAZINE

Periodicity Weekly Monthly Monthly Monthly Fort-nightly

Price Per Issue 70 50 50 100 25

COMPETITORS India Business Money Travel India

Today,The Today, Forces Today, Today, Today
Week Business Wealth National Hindi,
Insight Geographic Pratiyogit
magazine Traveller a Darpan
magazine

Periodicity Weekly Fortnightly Monthly Monthly Weekly

Price Per Issue 75 100 50 100 40

Table 2.1

Porter’s Five Forces

1. The threat of New Entrants

• In the print media industry, for the smaller

publishers, there is a huge threat to enter.
• On the other hand for large publishers who have
circulations in the millions willsurely have less to
worry about from a new entrant.
• For large publishers, the worries lie more with
the existing ones, their competitorswho want to
move into their space Fig.2.1

24
 2. Bargaining power of suppliers
• The bargaining power of suppliers to the magazine publishing business will have
littlepower. Everyone is competing for the same business may it be journalists or
printers.
• In some cases the famous personalities will have a greater influence over content,
like Oprah Winfrey, the publication who are celebrity-focused will lack some of this
advantage.
3. Bargaining power of buyers
• The bargaining power of buyer’s i.e. customers or subscribers have some
bargaining power as compared to magazine publishers as a great deal of content is
now available online for free.
• The advertisers now have more bargaining power because the substitute available
is cheap and trackable online marketing. Here the challenge is for print media
publishersto convince the advertisers that a fully-branded and contextual, mass-
market experience for their prospects is a must as well.

4. The threat of substitute products

• The threat of substitute products or services has materialized over the last decade.
• The online platform i.e. internet has eroded subscriber loyalty. It has offered
advertisers a very affordable, trackable marketing channel.
• With the increase in the use of technology, print media industry are able to offer
betterservices to the advertisers but at the same time, the pressure for results-
based marketing has become huge, especially in the age of free search engine like google.

5. Rivalry among existing competitors

• Rivalry among existing competitors in the industry can be fierce. It may differ
because any competition will differ among the brand-positioning models.
• A niche publisher that has a strong core focus will surely face less intense
competitionthan the one with a broad consumer magazine without such focus.

In general in the print media industry, small and big publishing business faces some strong
challenges in terms of substitution and competitive rivalry, but with focus on leveraging
core strengths, it can help to make less severe the weaknesses. Organizing the magazines
around core audiences with focused messages is important.

25
 SWOT ANALYSIS
Strengths
1) The Outlook Group publishes five magazines, Outlook weekly, Outlook Traveller,
Outlook Money, Outlook Business, and Outlook Hindi, these magazines cover a
major segment of the market, which helps The Outlook Group to fulfill the needs
of the different age groups who belong to different sectors.

2) It is well known for the quality of the content it provides in magazines. The content
isinnovative and customer-oriented with exclusive photography and articles.
3) The company provides discounts, attractive offers and special gifts on the
subscription of magazines.
4) It has a strong distribution network, a good brand name, and a reputation in
themarket.

Weakness
1) As it has a large customer base across India, Order processing time is more because
ofwhich magazines and gifts are often delivered late than promised.
2) It has not achieved International popularity yet, despite being one of the
leadingmagazines in India.
3) Many subscribers feel that Outlook magazines are expensive and left-wing oriented.
4) Minimum four weeks' time is required to deliver magazine and two months to
delivergift after buying a subscription.

Opportunity
1) Outlook group magazines can increase their circulation by offering special
subscription offers for college students and new working professionals. Good
promotional schemes can help to retain existing customers and to attract new ones.
2) The popularity of magazines can be increased by making good use of social media
foradvertisements.
3) The quality of content is good and captures information related to every sector so
it has an opportunity to become a market leader.
4) The company can increase its product line by launching new magazines related to
the Auto industry and Technology.

26
Threats
1) The Outlook magazine has strong competition like Indian today and The Week,
India today has captured a big market share already.
2) With technological advancement there is more demand for digital media than print
media, as sharing information on TV, Radio, and Mobile Internet has increased to
a huge extend.
3) It is often perceived as an ideologically left inclined magazine by some of the
readers.

27
 Business Model of the company.

The Outlook Group follows Subscription based business model where they charge their
customers for the product and services they avail on a recurring basis. Here The Outlook
Group gives the option to their customer to choose how long and how often they wish to
receive their product or services. They also get a chance to renew or cancel their
subscription. The Outlook group offer magazines such as Outlook Weekly, Outlook
Business, Outlook Traveller, Outlook Hindi and Outlook Money. The customer gets to
choose the magazine they desire and how long they wish to get the magazines delivered at
their address.

Marketing Mix of Outlook Magazines

Price
• The price of the Outlook magazines or subscription is decided after analysing the
pricing strategy of its competitors. The slight decrease in price may account for a
high profit. The price of Outlook magazine varies from magazine to magazine.
• For better understanding the cost of Outlook Weekly is Rs. 70 varies to cost of
Outlook Traveller magazine is Rs. 100. It depends on the money which is invested
for each magazine and is also affected by the market which is targeted.
• The pricing is usually low as the Print media industry, especially magazines
depends on revenue which is earned from advertisement, so it is more concerned
with the increase in subscription base so as to attract more advertisement
companies.

Product
• Different products are defined depending to different segments, Outlook is trying
to cover each segment. For understanding, Outlook Money and Outlook Business
majorly aims to target the working class and corporate world.
• Moreover, Outlook Hindi is not merely the English version of Outlook English
magazines, it if for people with limited access or interest to English language.
Different Outlook magazines aims at particular market and age group respectively.

28
Place
• The place is selected for the product, understanding, its target market and the
concerned age group.
• The magazines that have high profitability are to be sold among the elite class are
targeted to malls etc. on the other hand Outlook Traveller magazines are to be
targeted to the travel agencies or car rentals and places like airport. There is huge
impact of place on sale of magazines.

Promotions
• The Outlook India magazine adopts different promotional strategies where they
aims at organizing events at malls or offering free promotional items like travelling
bag which is given as gifts.
• For sales employees do Outbound calling to customers directly to inform them
about the available exciting offers for the magazine subscription. Outlook is
focused on promotional activities as and invest in it to increase the subscription
base of Outlook magazines.

Marketing Strategies

1. Mass Impersonal selling methods (Advertising, Sales promotion and Public relations).

Pull Blend.
2. Personal selling (Face to Face, salesmanship).

Push Blend.
• Mass Impersonal selling, It is a marketing strategy through which organisation increases demand
for its product and draws consumers to its product, a pull promotional strategy revolve around,
to get, consumers to want a particular product.
• The main goal is to make its consumer actively seek product that is magazines, which will make
retailers to stock the magazines in response to the demand.
• The different pull marketing methods includes Social media networks, Sales Promotions and

29
 offering discounts and Advertising and Email Marketing.
• Push blend method majorly give emphasis on personal selling, it is a promotional strategy which
involves directly taking the product to customer irrespective of any means.

• This is done so as to ensure that the customer is aware of the brand and product it is offering at
the point of purchase.
• It requires a strong sales force at the distributer and dealer level. It pushes the product through
the channel of distribution.

30
PROJECT EXECUTION DETAILS

Concept Description
• The main concept of the project is to find, attract, and win new clients, nurture and
retain old clients by the use of digital marketing and using sales-generating
strategies for Outlook group's magazines.

• Outlook is a leading name in print industry and publisher of magazines namely

Outlook weekly, Outlook Business, Outlook Traveller, Outlook Money and
Outlook Hindi.
• Project was initiated by understanding various aspects of sales and marketing.
Working on customer acquisition and business development activities. It was a day
to day task of managing sales and marketing functions.
• Customer interactions, Telemarketing and sales with email marketing.
• Understanding consumer behaviour.

Importance of the project

• To increase the outreach of outlook magazine by presenting a diversified portfolio
to the customers and understanding the buying behaviour of the customer.

Roles & Responsibilities

• To implement Telemarketing skills and to maintain relationships between
customers via email marketing, driving promotional activities and promotion via
social media marketing to generate revenue.
• Effective customer interaction and, sales with email marketing, implementing
different corporate promotional activities, and Online Internet marketing.

31
Knowledge Jockey

Knowledge Jockey has been introduced by The Outlook Group for the ease of employees
working with the company and the interns. It creates an in-house profile which provides an
opportunity to the interns earn by means of sales and marketing of magazine. It helps
interns to learn and earn simultaneously.

Fig.2.2
Knowledge Jockey is useful for understanding finer nuances of doing business online.
Amid pandemic, working from home, it is one place for everything. Interns can easily track
their performance via Knowledge Jockey, it helps interns to know the sales done by them
till date in fraction of second.

Post sale the intern can access his past sales record through it. It comes with complete
security because even tough interns can see the sales done by them, what they cannot see
is the details of the customer, the financial details and the card number or CVV pin the
customer or any of his bank details.

It helps the interns to get the sales done far easier as compared to casual sale, because it
comes up with unique link, through which special offer can be offered to the customers. It
helps the intern to get the sales done.
Every sales intern is assigned a minimum target of 7 thousand in Outlook group,
32
 knowledge jockey helps the intern to keep track of the sales done by them, also the company
guides get updates via it, so it helps to keep the intern and company management updated
without a chaos.

OFFERS ON SUBSCRIPTION

Fig.2.3

In print media industry, especially magazine groups the customers are constantly looking for
the best offer available. The competition is so high, the loyal customers switches to the
competitors magazines as per the offer. So Outlook group is continuously providing offers to
its subscribers.

33
 CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

Outlook group gives priority to customer retention a lot. Many companies spend huge amount
on customer acquisition instead of focusing on customer retention. Study says customer
acquisition costs minimum five time more than customer acquisition. Selling a product or
service to a customer who is already aware of product is easy, as they have understanding and
company don’t have to attract, educate and convert it into sale.

The companies who shift their focus from customer acquisition to customer retention find it to
be more efficient process to generate revenue for the company. It is only because they are
marketing their product or service to a customer who have already expressed their interest in
that product or service.

Outlook believes to adopt strategies that are customer oriented, even though customer retention
is important for Outlook, the company is always focused on hunting for new customers.
Attracting the new customers is important for Outlook because of the presence of strong
competitors. CRM plays very important role to create and nurture customers.

Companies believes in building a relationship based on trust. When connection is established

between the company and customers, the customers themselves do advertisement for the
company. The customers do promotion in several way may it be, Word of mouth, giving good
feedback etc.

Customer relationship management deals with principles and practices of any organisation
which their employees follow while interacting with the customers.

It is often associated with technology and systems that helps to manage interactions with the
customers. Mainly CRM technology revolves around cloud computing and artificial
intelligence.

34
Sales and Promotions at Outlook Group

Sales promotion implies the process where customer is persuaded to buy the product, which is
done keeping a short term objective in mind, with a goal to boost the sales for the particular
period of time. It is not a method which is suitable for long term customer acquisition. There
are different sales promotion strategies which are aimed at consumers while on the other hand
some are targeted at firm sales forces while other at intermediaries.

It can be understood as a connecting link which is in between personal selling and advertising.
For example, to increase the sales by means of publicity through the media which are
complementary to press and poster advertising. Or to prompt existing customers to buy more
product, in case of Outlook it will be buying more subscription.

Sales generation process followed by interns at Outlook

1) Product training and knowledge

The salesperson himself should be well aware of the product, before pitching it to the
customer. Lack of knowledge of the product can lead to failure of generating sales.
To know about the magazines one must go through the content of the magazine must
be aware of the fact of how one magazine is different from the other magazine, in terms
of target customers the readership, and circulation.
2) Segment Identification
The print media market is huge in India, it is important to understand the requirement
of the needs of different customers. Thus proper understanding and identification,
segmentation is important.
Directly walk-in will only incur unfruitful efforts, so segments like hospitals, hotels,
and retails are identified.
3) Prospecting
It is very important for a new intern to channelize efforts in the correct direction.
Identifying and qualifying prospects, to generate sales is of utmost importance. While
approaching there are two possible chances, first, the person may be an existing
customer, who already knows about the product.
It becomes easy to pitch for the product when the potential customers are aware of the
product. On the other hand, there can be a new potential customer who looking for the
product and service but is unaware of the perks like gifts and content of the magazine.

35
 Here the salesperson gets a chance to understand or generate the need for the magazine
before the customer, after building an effective relationship with potential customers.
4) Initial Contact
Initial contact can be done via cold calling or via sending an email. The first approach
to a customer plays an important role as it directs the pitching of the product. Once the
customers are found to be interested they can be explained in detail about the
magazines, their content and the discount for subscribing and the gifts offered with a
subscription.

Fig.2.4
Figure shows screenshot of E-mail sent as part of E-mail marketing and advertisement
done for the company to generate sales

5) Presentation
After cold calling, once the potential lead is generated then the final product has to be
presented to the customer in an effective and efficient way, and explain the features and
advantages of the magazines. Explaining how Outlook magazine is the best possible
option for the customer is the responsibility of the salesperson. While explaining the
product showing the gifts offered along with the magazines, and showing a hard copy
of the magazines is also important, so as to gain the trust of the customer.
36
6) Objection Handling
For a person who is willing to pay for the product, it is obvious to be reluctant to pay
without surety, the potential client even after acknowledging the worth of the product
will throw some objections, as a salesperson, it is his responsibility to be ready to face
many such objections and should be ready with the best possible solution.
7) Closing The Deal and Follow-up
If the customers get satisfactory answers to the objections he has raised, it becomes
very important to close the deal as soon as possible as the competition in print media is
very high. Even after closing the deal and after getting business from the customer, it
is important to maintain the customer by taking regular close to following up, to retain
the customer in a long run. The order details has to be filled by the customer and it also
provides option of online payment by CCAVENUE and PAYTM.

Fig.2.5
37
 CHAPTER-3: DATA PRESENTATION & ANALYSIS

TOOLS USED FOR DATA COLLECTION

• Data analysis plays a crucial role for research work, or for successful completion of
project. Different tools are used for data analysis and interpretation such as pie-charts,
bar diagram and Google Forms. For this project both Primary and Secondary data has
been used.
• For Primary data, the survey has been conducted in order to understand consumer
buying behavior toward the Outlook magazine. Data has been collected and used by
using Google form and by gathering responses from about 80 respondents, for which a
questionnaire was designed.For secondary data different sources were used, from
Internet, different website and Journals.
The following analysis has been done on the data collected from the responses through
questionnaire filled by respondents.
Pie Chart with inferences

A.

Fig.3.1

Here it is observed that the percentage is distributed among all the different categories and
majority of the people prefer reading Travel and Tourism, its percentage is 23.8% of the people
and 21.3 percent for General News magazine, whereas on the other hand Hindi and Political
news has the least choice. Outlook magazine group have no specific magazine for the people
38
 interested in Fashion and Lifestyle, which can be an opportunity for the group.
B.

Fig.3.2

Here according to survey conducted, it observed that majority of the customers prefer Outlook
Hindi magazine, it is the only magazine which received the preference of more than 35 percent.
The second most preferred magazine is Outlook Traveller with the percent share of almost 33
percent.

C.

Fig.3.3
The most preferred magazine is India Today magazine, the second most preferred magazine is
Forbes India magazine, which is followed by Outlook magazines.

It is crystal clear than India Today is the biggest competitor of Outlook magazine. Car India
magazine is less desirable to the customers among the four magazines

39
D.

Fig.3.4
Here it can be seen that the majority of customers are not satisfied with the delivery service of
Outlook magazines. More than 30 percent couldn't get their magazine delivered on time.

The customer service of the group is not satisfactory and the major issue is with content, it was
found to be repetitive from some customer's points of view.

E.

Fig.3.5
During the internship period most of the potential customers or the existing customers were
reluctant to buy/renew Outlook subscription because of the delivery issues they faced.The
competitor of Outlook magazine deliver the magazine much sooner as compared to the delivery
time of Outlook magazines. There are very less customers who are satisfied by the delivery of
magazines.
40
F.

Fig.3.6

Here it is observed that more than 70 percent of people have not yet subscribed to Outlook
magazines. It means there is high scope of marketing the product to the potential customers
through different sales generating promotional strategies.

G.

Fig.3.7

During the internship, customer retention was a difficult task to do, as it was observed that
many customers were not happy with the service of Outlook India.

Here it is observed that almost half of the existing subscribers are not sure about continuing
the subscription. Outlook must solve the issues to avoid the problem of customer retention and
focus on satisfying customer’s needs.

41
H.

Fig.3.8

According to the survey conducted it is observed that most of the people were aware of The
Outlook Group’s magazines. Majority of them have heard of the magazines from friends and
relatives, almost 50 percent of them.

During internship most of the working professionals were aware of Outlook magazines because
of social networking sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook.

42
 I.

Fig.3.9

The Pie chart shows the monthly budget of customer’s who are willing to spent on their
favourite magazine. The majority is of 33 percent who are willing to spend 150 to 300 on
magazines. The second highest is almost 31 percent who are willing to spend 100 to 150 Rs.

J.

Fig.3.10
The Pie chart shows the percent of customers who feel gifts and magazines offered by Outlook
are meaningful.

High percentage of customers i.e. almost 44 find the magazines meaningful along with the gifts
which are offered along with subscriptions. There are less than 9 percent who don’t find the
gift meaningful.

43
 FINDINGS

• The Outlook Group’s magazine have a tough competition from India Today magazines.
• Maximum readers of Outlook magazine prefer English over Hindi magazine.
• Magazines are well entertained, well informative with good quality of content.
• People are interested in magazines but the awareness is low about the schemes and special
offers offered by the company here implantation of promotional strategies is important.
• A lot many people are concerned about the improvement of services as the delivery of
magazine takes more time than promised.
• Subscription offers, the gifts, attracts more customers and it plays a good role in
increasing the sale of subscriptions.
• The quality of magazines is good, so the price according to quality of magazine justified.

44
SUGGESTIONS

• To Motivate Customer by Implementing Effective Promotional Schemes. From the

market survey and data analysis it is clear that most motivating factor for customer to
buy Outlook magazine subscription is the gifts and discounts offered. The common
opinion of most of the customers is that, good gift is one which have good brand value
associated with itself or the one which have good utility.
• Customer Retention, Better Distribution Channel, Improvement of Services, in the
world of sales and marketing it is often said that customer acquisition is good but
customer retention is much better. It is true because the money invested on acquiring
new customer is much higher than retaining the existing customer. The Outlook Group
must priorities customer retention and loyalty programs to retain their customers, and
not losing them to their competitors. Many customers were unwilling to renew the
subscription because of the time taken to get magazine delivered.
• Understanding customers’ expectations for gaining customer loyalty, by
delivering improved magazines. Amid 14 weeks internship, during market survey and
analysing the data collected, it was understood that Outlook is often seen as
ideologically left centric magazine. As the quality of content and coverage is subjective
in nature, the group must try to identify what are the weaknesses of the content of
magazine. A detailed survey and customer’s feedback can help understanding the
problem and customers’ expectations. Restructuring the magazine after understanding
customer expectation will boost the sale of magazines.

45
 CONCLUSION

Inference Of Project
• Corporate Promotional Strategies play a very crucial role for generating sales of any
product or service. It plays important role because of the tough competition in market,
where nearly similar products and services are available, same is the case for magazine
industry. The purchasing patterns in today’s time has become more volatile. Consumers
in the market are now more aware of the alternative available to them.
• The promotional schemes offered by Outlook are right on track, the gifts offered against
subscription is resulting in acquisition and conversion in sales. During market survey it
was observed that the existing customers where not satisfied with the after sale service
of Outlook magazine. There was no timely delivery of magazines. Some of the potential
customers were reluctant to subscribe to magazine, because magazine is considered to
be in favour of a political ideology. This dissatisfaction sometime cause loss in sales.
• The proper implementation of assertive Promotional strategies will result in improving
subscription sales and will also improve the market share of Outlook magazine.
This can make considerable contribution, helping Outlook magazines to become leader
in Print media magazine industry.

46
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1) (Business, 2021), Available at: https://www.outlookbusiness.com/about-us

[Accessed 15 May 2021]

2) Available at: https://www.outlookindia.com/outlooktraveller/contact-us

[Accessed 5 May 2021], (Outlooktraveller, 2021)

3) Available at: https://www.outlookindia.com/outlookmoney/

[Accessed 10 May 2021], (Outlookmoney, 2021)

4) Available at: https://www.icra.in/Rationale/ShowRationaleReport?Id=79173

[Accessed May 2021].

5) Available at: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/panache/panache-people-

101/rajan-raheja/profileshow/81707420.cms

[Accessed May 2021], (indiatimes/1, 2021).

6) Available at: https://www.ndtv.com/photos/business/the-indian-billionaire-class-of-

2009-1038#photo-10425

[Accessed May 2021].

7) Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/235829

[Accessed May 2021], (Department, 2021).
8) Available at: https://www.wikipedia.com

[Accessed May 2021], (Wikipedia, 2021).

9) Available at: https://www.dainikbhaskargroup.com/print.php

[Accessed May 2021], (dainikbhaskargroup, 2021).

10) Available at: https://www.indiatodaygroup.com/about-us.php

[Accessed May 2021], (indiatodaygroup, 2021).

11) Available at: https://www.spyglassintel.com/a-quick-publishing-industry-analysis-

using-porters-five-forces/
[Accessed May 2021], (spyglassintel, 2021)
47
ANNEXURE
Outlook (Indian magazine) Survey Form

NAME *

AGE *

Less than 20
20 - 35
35 - 50
More than 50
GENDER *

Female
Male
Other
EMAIL ADDRESS*

EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATION *

Higher Education
Graduate
Post-Graduate
Ph.D.
OCCUPATION *

Student
Service
Business
Retired
Unemployed
YEARLY INCOME *

Under 3 lakh
3 to 10 lakh
2 to 15 lakh
15 lakh and above
48
1) What kind of magazines do you prefer reading? *

Travel & Tourism

Fashion and Lifestyle
Hindi
Financial
Political
Business
General News Magazine

2) Which of the Outlook magazine, would you like to subscribe to? *

Outlook Business
Outlook Money
Outlook Traveller
Outlook Weekly
Outlook Hindi

3) Which brand magazines do you generally prefer?*

India Today Magazine

Outlook Magazine
Forbes India Magazine
Car India Magazine

4) What are the difficulties you face while receiving the magazine? *

Delivery time
Customer service
Old content/News
Other:

49
5) On what scale of 1-5, where 1 is unacceptable and 5 is outstanding, Rate
delivery of magazine on time? *

6) Have you ever tried Outlook magazine subscription? *

Yes
No

7) If yes, would you like to continue reading Outlook magazine?

Yes
No
Maybe

8) How did you come to know about Outlook? *

Friends/relatives
Newspapers/magazines stalls
Internet
Advertisement
Hoardings

9) What is your monthly budget for your favorite magazine? *

Below Rs. 100

Rs. 100 - 150
Rs. 150 - Rs 300
Above Rs.300

10) Do you feel Outlook's gifts & magazines are meaningful? *

Yes
No
Maybe