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Services Marketing
Notes not only got exposed to international brands but also had support marketing mixes like
finance, exchanges (or buy backs), add-ons, etc., to whet their appetite.
The rush to buy is rooted in the new middle classs love of ostentation. Many Indians consider
those Punjabis who are most at home in Delhi to be particularly brash entrepreneurs and deride
the type as the puppy, for prosperous urban Punjabi who is young. But where the consumer
itch is involved, even ordinary Indians are not above one-upmanship.
Beliefs and Values
Service firms in India have been greatly affected by the socio-cultural factors for better or for
worse. There are firms who have ignored them at their peril, like the East India Company, who
were myopic and insensitive enough in continuing to use pig grease in the new bullets of the
Lee Enfield rifle. The result was a revolt in the ranks (The Sepoy Mutiny of 1857), which changed
governance in India.
Example: Today there are firms like HSBC, which made a detailed study of the Indian
consumer and his socio-cultural fabric. HSBC has customized itself according to local culture
and promotes itself keeping in mind the values and beliefs of the Indian customer.
Mass Market Restaurateurs: The Shettys
Caselet
he Shettys - a certain martial race community from Karnataka, like the Coorgis -
are a case in point. They run the ubiquitous restaurants in Mumbai offering all
Tthings to all - South Indian and North Indian fare - yet, the food is rarely authentic.
The sambar, a vegetable-cereal gruel, sour in taste, is not what it tastes back at home, the
newly arrived South Indian in Mumbai discovers to his astonishment. It is actually sweet!
The reason is classic marketing oeuvre: Gujaratis are the moneyed people in Mumbai,
mostly in business and they prefer their dishes sweet; like the Rajasthanis, they perceive
that anything that is sour must be stale! So the Shettys, despite being South Indian themselves,
have tailored their offerings to the preferences of a certain large segment of the market
and successfully established themselves. These customers, the Shettys have analyzed,
have the capacity to pay, are in the majority, and their preferences are governed by their
cultural predispositions. It really didnt matter that for a connoisseur of authentic South
Indian or Punjabi food that these restaurants were frustrating experiences. For the majority
of the customers it was simply fine. Curiously, the Shettys could never replicate their
Mumbai success anywhere else. One reason could be that the discerning diner in North
and the East already had recourse to authentic Punjabi, Bengali, Chinese or South-Indian
cuisines (availability). Another could be that no one communitys preference guided the
cuisine taste and design. So was the story in the South.
Similarly, people in the North and Delhi offers a good representative study prefer their
chicken dishes with bones; diners in Mumbai dont, probably because it is time-saving - a
concept so dear to them.
Source: Service Marketing: Concepts, Planning and Implementation, C K Bhattacharjee, Excel Books
Age Composition
The age composition of the Indian market is veering towards the youth - very unlike the
Japanese market.
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