A through research on Hindustan Time's Mint business newspaper and competitor analysis for MBA project.

1. “A STUDY ON THE CUSTOMERS’ AWARENESS AND PERCEPTION ABOUT MINT
NEWSPAPER”
BY
ARUN ELIAS. A
Of
SRR ENGINEERING COLLEGE
A Project Report
(BA9230 - Project Work)
Submitted to the
FACULTY OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
For The Award of the Degree
Of
MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
ANNA UNIVERSITY
CHENNAI-600025
JUNE 2013

2. “A study on the customers’ perception about MINT
Newspaper”

3. CONTENT
CHAPTER NO.
TITLE
1.
INTRODUCTION
2.
COMPANY PROFILE
3.
REVIEWOF LITERATURE
4.
RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY
5.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
6.
NEED FOR STUDY
7.
SCOPE FOR FUTHER STUDY
8.
LIMITAITONS OF THE STUDY
9.
SYNOPSIS
10.
FINDING OF THE STUDY
11.
SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
12.
CONCLUSION
13.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
14.
ANNEXURE
PAGE NO.

4. Introduction:
Mint, a business paper from Hindustan Times in association with The Wall
Street Journal, was launched in 2007 with the premise of bringing “Clarity in
Business News”, a need strongly articulated by business news readers in the
country.
In this organization, a study on the product’s awareness and customer’s
perception of Mint newspaper will be done.
I found that the Marketing department plays key role in the company.
During the study I will try my best to know the Marketing department of the
Mint HT media.
In this report I will try to know the Product awareness and Consumer
Perception towards Mint Business newspaper, the impact of promotional
activities on creating consumer awareness, the competitor’s effect on Mint
sales, the effect of the quality, price, promotion and distribution of Mint is
analyzed, which may help the Marketing department of the company as well as
to the company. In the findings and suggestion part I will try to find the answers
to the above.

5. Company Profile
Mint, a business paper from Hindustan Times in association with The Wall
Street Journal, was launched in 2007 with the premise of bringing “Clarity in
Business News”, a need strongly articulated by business news readers in the
country.
Mint aims to demystify complex business issues and provide unmatched clarity
and depth in its coverage. Whether it is the refreshing new Berliner format, the
design by an internationally acclaimed designer, the unique weekend magazine
Lounge or our association with The Wall Street Journal, Mint has features that no
other business paper in the country has.
The numbers bear testimony to the high acceptability and strong bond that Mint
has with its readers. According to the Indian Readership Survey (IRS Q1, 2011),
222,000 readers make Mint a strong No. 2 player. Mint has a 27% readership share
in the key markets of Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata. With editions in
Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh and Pune as well, Mint reaches the
who’s who of corporate India nationally.
Global praise and recognition has been forthcoming for Mint. According to
Fortune magazine, “Mint…has raised India’s standards of business
journalism…and (has a) mix of market news, corporate profiles, and lifestyle
features.” Mint won a Gold in the special coverage category at the IFRA 9th
Annual Asia Media Awards 2010. Mint was also voted India’s No. 1 Media
Product in 2009 by advertisers.

6. Mint Supplements Lounge - weekend edition of Mint Indulge - monthly
publication on Luxury and Lifestyle
Mint 'Clarity through Debate' Conclave An event series that brings together
industry leaders to debate relevant business issues.
About Hindustan Times:
Hindustan Times with 3.7 million readers, Hindustan Times is one of the leading
newspapers of India.
Product of Hindustan Times;
Hindustan:
Visit: http://epaper.livehindustan.com/
'Hindustan', covers news across the entire spectrum of international, national and
local news relating to politics, business, entertainment, sports and other general
interests. The first edition of 'Hindustan' was published on April 12, 1936 from
Delhi and the reach of our newspaper now extends to six regions, namely, Uttar
Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, Mohali and Delhi NCR. In the recently
declared readership results (IRS Q4 2010), Hindustan has surged ahead to become
the second largest read newspaper in India.
In the past nine months, Hindustan has added 58 lakh readers to its readership
base. A bulk of this growth has come from Uttar Pradesh where Hindustan has
added 41 lakh readers in this nine month period. Hindustan now has a 30% share
of readership in Uttar Pradesh, with a total readership of 1.28 crore in UP.
Hindustan continues to maintain its dominant position in Bihar and Jharkhand with
83% and 73% share of total readers.

7. The gains across all markets clearly demonstrate the growing strength of Hindustan
daily. With many of the newer editions yet to reflect in IRS, the growth momentum
is likely to be sustained.
Over the past three years, we have made significant investments in Uttar Pradesh
and have opened five new printing locations in Agra, Meerut, Allahabad, Kanpur
and Bareilly to add to our existing printing facilities at Varanasi (on a franchisee
basis) and Lucknow.
Hindustan has made an entry into Uttarakhand with a printing location in
Dehradun, in May 2008. This print location will cover key cities in Uttarakhand.
LiveHindustan.com
Visit: http://www.livehindustan.com/
LiveHindustan.com is the recently launched Hindi News website, which promises
far more than what Language sites are typically credited for. Its
comprehensiveness and exclusive online content by the online editorial team adds
to the huge print repository of stories carried in the parent brand Hindustan, and is
updated round the clock with the latest in breaking news action. The legacy values
of the Hindi print flagship brand - Hindustan - can be seen upheld in the online
avatar bringing to the table its credibility; authenticity and unbiased content, to
provide its dedicated reader base a Best in Class Hindi News & Content site.
On the Content front, apart from News, LiveHindustan.com extends the Brand
Promise of Empowerment - 'Tayyari' and has interactive elements to increase the
interaction with the brand at more direct levels.
Comprehensive Multimedia Content across sections, ball by ball Cricket Coverage,
minute by minute Business updates and analysis, and Special in-depth exclusive

8. Features on content across sections, are some of the other features which
distinguish this site from other run-of-the-mill Hindi News sites.
HT Next
A youth - oriented complete newspaper for the generation next.
HT supplements:
HT supplements offer a complete spectrum of content ranging from entertainment
and lifestyle to education, careers and property.

9. Review of Literature:
Perception:
A motivated person is ready to act. How the motivated person actually acts is
influenced by his or her view or perception of the situation.
Perception is the process by which an individual selects, organizes and interprets
information inputs to create a meaningful picture of the world. Perception depends
not only on the physical stimuli, but also on the stimuli’s relation to the
surrounding field and on conditions within the individual. The key point is that
perception can vary widely among individuals exposed to the same reality. One
person might perceive a fast talking salesperson as aggressive and insincere;
another, as intelligent and helpful. Each will respond differently to the salesperson.
In marketing, Perceptions are more important than the reality, as it is perceptions
that will affect consumer’s actual behavior. People can emerge with different
perceptions of the same object because of three perceptual processes: selective
attention, selective distortion and selective retention.
Customer perception in any particular area is met by product or service offerings
that are a bundle of characteristics – the six Cs. Some organization controls
entirely, and some not. The whole concept the (product and service together)
you are offering as a supplier must match what customers need, want and perceive
to the solution to their need, offering greater benefit – ie an advantage – over other
suppliers. The description should consider the six Cs the new marketing mix – see
the list below. You describe your concept in the language of your customers using
their perceptions.

10. Forgot the four Ps; think of the six Cs. This is the marketing mix for now and the
future; this is what an organization considers when it is thinking of what to offer
the customer – from the customer perspective.
Cost – a customer considers cost (and cost of ownership) within a value
perception. That value perception is personal and includes a quality of life
assessment. A customer also puts in the equation the cost of time and travel to
make a purchase. The future foundation research indicates that consumers will
travel to for most of their activities and purchases within a 14 - mile radius of their
home. Sales promotions are often used to affect cost – two for the price of one, 33
per cent free, etc, or in combinations with other products or redeeming vouchers
against the full cost.
Convenience of buying – a mix of place / location, opening hours, cash / cheque /
credit card acceptability. Customers are lazy - exercising the brain requires effort
and energy – so make it easy for them, convenient fir them to buy. Sales
promotions can be tuned to enhance convenience.
Concept - a mix of product and service. Few products are sold without some sort of
aftercare service. The quality and fitness for purpose of the concept are assumed to
be right. A warranty or return policy is taken for granted. A brand is principally a
consolidation of the concept (though the others Cs come into it) into an easy-toremember space in the mind of the customer. A sales promotion adds fun to the
purchase and is remembered as part of the concept, so it too becomes part of the
brand.
Communication - how well the product or service is communicated to the
customer. This is where sales promotion really comes into its own matching
communicating - the feel of the brand – with just the right and the way it is put

11. across. Customers will not buy if it is too complex, and the way it is put across.
Customers will not buy if it is too complex, too dull or does not put the concept
across in terms they commonly use. This explains why some advertising fails.
Customer relationship – CRM principles apply. Customers expect to be treated
with respect at all times and that all reasonable questions will be answered and
problems resolved. Once they have made a purchase of any size or have signed up
for a service, they expect to be recognized and remembered. For example, once a
customer has had a car serviced at a garage, he or she expects the garage to know
all the car’s idiosyncrasies when he or she calls. People like to built relationships;
you have to accept this. If customers get different answers from different people or
department within the same organization , they tend to trust the people and the
organizations less. Integration means making sure every part of your business
delivers consistent answers. Research shows and integrated approach is worth 30
per cent of sales (or a loss of 30 per cent if you do not practice it). Sales promotion
eases the customer relationship forming process – it facilitates building the
relationship – often providing a talking point that helps start or recommence the
relationship.
Consistency – the reassurance of ongoing quality and reliability of the other five
Cs – brand surety if you like. It is integration and comes from applying internal
marketing within an organization.
Results of a controlled experiment on the role of product awareness in the
consumer choice process showed that product awareness was a dominant choice
heuristic among awareness-group subjects. Subjects with no product awareness
tended to sample more products and selected the high-quality product on the final
choice significantly more often than those with product awareness. Thus, when

12. quality differences exist among competing products, consumers may "pay a price"
for employing simple choice heuristics such as product awareness in the interest of
economizing time and effort. However, building product awareness is a viable
strategy for advertising aimed at increasing product-choice probabilities.
Product awareness can be measured by showing a consumer the product and
asking whether or not they knew of it beforehand. However, in common market
research practice a variety of recognition and recall measures of product awareness
are employed all of which test the product name's association to a product category
cue, this came about because most market research in the 20th Century was
conducted by post or telephone, actually showing the product to consumers usually
required more expensive face-to-face interviews (until web-based interviews
became possible). Aided awareness occurs when you show or read a list of
products and the person expresses familiarity with your product only after they
hear or see it.
Top-of-mind awareness occurs when you ask a person to name products within a
product category and your product pops up first on the list.
Product awareness and branding are the process of lodging your offer in the
customers mind to remind them you exit just as and when they need you. The
shorthand mind retention device is your logo or brand name. If you have it right,
the shorthand encompasses the six Cs above. It is a powerful thing, a successful
brand and when you achieve brand boning. The world is your oyster; rather, you
will sell more. Remember the reminding bit: this means you will need to regularly
market to customers.

13. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Data source: Primary data (field survey)
Area of Research: Chennai city.
Research instrument: Questionnaire.
Sample Plan: Personal Interview.
Sample Unit: Businessman, Job holders, etc.
Sampling method: Non probability method, Random sampling method.
Sample Size: 100 respondents.
RESEARCH-MEANING
Research is an art of scientific investigation. According to Redmen and
Mary defines research as a "systematic effort to gain knowledge".
Research methodology is way to systematically solve the research problem.
It is a plan of action for a research project and explains in detail how data are
collected and analyzed. This research study is a descriptive research study.
RESEARCH DESIGN
A research design is a plant that specifies the objectives of the study, method
to be adopted in the data collection, tools in data analysis and hypothesis to be
framed.
"A research design is an arrangement of condition for collection and analysis
of data in a manner that aims to combine relevance to research purpose with
economy in procedure".
Nature of Data
Primary data
The Primary data will be collected from the existing and new customers of
MINT HINDUSTAN TIMES LIMITTED through a direct structured
questionnaire.

14. Secondary data
Company profile, Company registers, Websites and articles were used
widely as a support to primary data.
TYPE OF RESEARCH
The type of research used in this study is EXPLORATORY RESEARCH,
because I am trying to begin a new research and the data which is needed for this
analysis is not sufficient.
SAMPLING SIZE AND TECHNIQUE
Size of the sample
It refers to the number of items to be selected from the universe to constitute
as a sample. In this study 100 customers will be selected as size of sample.
Sample design
The sampling technique used in this study is convenience sampling. Each
and every item of population has equal chance to be included in the sample.
Questionnaire
The questions are arranged logical sequence. The questionnaire consists of a
variety of questions presented to the customers for the response.
STATISTICALS TOOLS USED
 Percentage Analysis
 Chi-square analysis
 Correlation
 F-test

15. Percentage Analysis:
In percentage analysis, charts like bar chart and pie charts are used to
graphically represent the results from percentage analysis of the questionnaire
Chi-Square Analysis
The chi-square is one of the most widely used non-parametric tests in
statistical work. The Chi-Square was first used by Karl Pearson in the year 1900.
It is defined as
x2= Σ [O-E] 2/E
Chi-square test is applicable to a very large number of problems in practice.
With the help of this test we can find out whether two or more attributes are
associated or not.
Correlation:
Correlation analysis deals with the association between two or more
variables. Correlation does not necessarily imply causation or functional
relationship though the existence of causation always implies correlation. By itself
it establishes only co variation. In this research rank correlation was used.The
formula used to finn rank correlation is
R= 1- 6 Σ D2 / N3 -N
F-Test
F-test is used to find out whether the two independent estimates of
population differ significantly or whether the two samples may be regarded as
drawn from the normal populations having the same variance.
F is defined as
F= S12 / S22

16. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
Primary objective:
To study the customer’s perception of MINT Newspaper
Secondary Objectives:
 To study the product’s awareness of MINT Newspaper
 To study impact of promotional activities on creating consumer’s
awareness.
 To study and find the vital communication media.
 To determine the quality of Mint.
 To determine the quality of Mint.
 To find the competitors effect on Mint sales.
 To find the factor influencing the buying behavior of newspaper.
 To study the customer support provided by the MINT.
 To study the effectiveness of distribution of the newspaper by the
vendors.
 To study the satisfaction level of reading MINT newspaper.
 To provide suggestions for better promotional activates.

17. FINDINGS OF THE STUDY
 Among the respondents 4% are between the age 15-20, 23% are between the age 20-25,
35% are between the age 25-30 and 33% are between the age 30 & above.
 64% know the existence of Mint newspaper and 36% of the customers does not know
about the newspaper.
 64 % know the Business line, 29% know the Economics Times, 10% knows the financial
Chronicle and 21% know the Mint newspaper.
 34 % of the customers know the Mint by dealers, 6% know by campaigns, 2% knows by
banners, 24% knows by TV advertisement, 5% knows by radio advertisement, 15%
knows by magazines and 14% knows by other modes.
 Among the respondents 84% of the customers agree that the advertisement modes are
informatory and 16% of the customers does not agree that it’s informatory.
 22% of the customers look for quality while purchasing a business newspaper, 9% of the
customer looks for price, 36% of the customer looks for brand, 21% of the customer
looks for information availability and 12% looks for availability of the newspaper.
 Among the respondents 22% of the customers are highly satisfactory about the market
analyses and graphs which are published in mint, 29% of the customers are satisfactory,
16% of the customers are Averagely Satisfactory, 11% of the customers are
Dissatisfactory and 8% of the customers are highly Dissatisfactory.
 32% of the customer says that the price of the mint newspaper is costly, 41% of the
customer says cheap, 16% of the customer says costly and 11% of the customer says very
cheap.

18.  46% of the customer says that the quality is good, 32% of the customer says that the
quality is average, 16% of the customer says that the quality is poor and 11% of the
customer says that the quality is satisfactory. The quality of the Mint newspaper is good.
 Among the respondents 36% of the customer says that the product is good and 27% says
that the product is better, 6% of the customer says that the product is very poor, 14% of
the customer says that the product is bad and 19% of the customer says that the product is
average while comparing with other product.
 25% of the customer says that they may choose other product for same price, 55% of the
customer says that they may choose other product for same quality, 18% of the customer
says that they may choose other product for availability and 2% gives other reasons like
news covered are covered are same or less to change for other similar products.
 Feedback about the customers support provided by the Mint, 21% of the customers are
highly satisfactory, 30% of the customers are satisfactory, 17% of the customers are
Averagely Satisfactory, 21% of the customers are Dissatisfactory and 11% of the
customers are highly Dissatisfactory.
 17% of the customers are highly satisfactory, 23% of the customers are satisfactory, 24%
of the customers are Averagely Satisfactory, 22% of the customers are Dissatisfactory
and 14% of the customers are highly Dissatisfactory about the distribution of the Mint.
 About the promotional activities for Mint, 41% of the customers are highly satisfactory,
30% of the customers are satisfactory, 12% of the customers are Averagely Satisfactory,
13% of the customers are Dissatisfactory and 4% of the customers are highly
Dissatisfactory.

19.  21% of the customers likes Monthly postpaid option, 48% likes Yearly payment discount,
29% like Free gift and 2% doesn’t like any of the mentioned promotional activities.
 66% of the customers agree that Mint is a good advertisement mode
 Among the respondents 81% of the customers agree that they will subscribe Mint
newspaper and they will renew if already subscribed.
 Over 86% of the customers agree that they will refer a friend to subscribe Mint and 14%
of the customers said that that they will not refer a friend to subscribe Mint because of
some negative reasons.

20. SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
 Business news which can cover the age less than 20 should be published, to make the
readers below 20 to read the business newspaper.

Product promotion and branding should be done in effective advertisement modes to tell
about the product and its availability in the market.
 More promotional activities and attractive schemes like discounts should be brought to bring
other business newspaper readers to go for Mint newspaper.
 The customer support should be more effective to help the customers.
 The distribution of the newspaper to the customer should be made more proper to maintain a
continuous supply.

21. Questionnaire
Dear Sir/ Madam,
I am A. Arun Elias pursing MBA and as a part of the curriculum I am doing project in marketing
and the title is “A study on the product’s awareness and customer’s perception of MINT
Newspaper” in MINT. I would be grateful if you kindly spare your time to answer the quires.
Personal Information
1. Name: ____________________________________________
2. Educational Level:
HSC
Diploma
Graduate
Post Graduate
Other
3. Occupation:
 Self employed
 Business
 Retired
 Govt. Employee
 Housewife
4. Age:a. [15-20]
b. [20-25]
c. [25-30] d. [30 & above]
______________________________________________________________________________

22. 5. Do you know Mint business newspaper?
a. Yes
b. No
6. Are you aware of the uses in reading business newspaper?
a. Yes
b. No
7. Which product comes to your mind when you think about business newspaper?
 Business Line
 The Economic Times
 Financial Chronicle
 Mint
8. How did you come to know about Mint?
 a. Dealers
 b. Campaigns
 c. Banners
 d. Wall paintings
 e. T.V advertisements
 f. Radio Advertisements
 g. Magazines
 h. Others
 Any other …..

23. 9. What factors you look while purchasing a business newspaper?
 a. Quality
 b. Price
 c. Brand
 d. Information available
 e. Availability
10. Were they informatory?
 a. Yes
 b. No
11. What is your opinion about MINT’s price
Cheap
Very costly 
Average
Costly
Poor
Very cheap
12. Quality of Mint
Good
Satisfactory
13. How do you rate MINT in comparison with other products?
Very poor
Bad
Average
Good
Better

24. 14. How much are you satisfied with the MINT News?
0%
10% 20% 30%
40%
Highly
50%
60%
70%
80%
Satisfied
Dissatisfied
100%
Highly
Satisfied
15. Reasons for the alternative product.
 Same price
90%
 same quality
 same availability any other ….
16. How do you rate the Customer Support Provided by The Mint HT Media?
a. Highly Satisfactory
b. Satisfactory
c. Averagely Satisfactory
d. Dissatisfactory
e. Highly Dissatisfactory
17. How do you rate the distribution of the newspaper by the vendors?
a. Highly Satisfactory
b. Satisfactory
c. Averagely Satisfactory
d. Dissatisfactory
e. Highly Dissatisfactory
18. Are you satisfied with the promotional activities for mint?
a. Highly Satisfactory
b. Satisfactory
c. Averagely Satisfactory
d. Dissatisfactory
e. Highly Dissatisfactory

25. 19. What type of promotional activities do you think that it will suit for Mint?
a. Monthly Postpaid option (100Rs.)
b. Yearly payment Discount (499Rs.)
c. Free gift
20. Do you recommend your friend to buy Mint business newspaper?
 a. Yes
 b. No
21. If no please mention why?
………………………………………………………………………
22. Are you satisfied with the market news and market analysis which are published in MINT?
a. Highly Satisfactory
b. Satisfactory
c. Averagely Satisfactory
d. Dissatisfactory
e. Highly Dissatisfactory
23. Do you feel that Mint is a good advertisement print mode for business?
 a. Yes
 b. No
24. Are you satisfied with the coverage of the business news in Mint?
a. Highly Satisfactory
b. Satisfactory
c. Averagely Satisfactory
d. Dissatisfactory
e. Highly Dissatisfactory