ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The successful completion of any task would be incomplete without the mention of people
who made it possible, whose constant guidance and encouragement crown all efforts with
success.
First of all I would like to thank the GROHE India Pvt Ltd. Company for giving me the
approval to do this project in the organization. I grateful thankful to Mr. Renu Misra (Managing
Director) who has given this opportunity to study the organization in totality, which provided me
with the immense managerial, and production knowledge, which is used by their organization for
the moral support, encouragement and generous assistance.

I am thankful to Mr. Ravi Mamdapur (Regional Sales Manager) who has guided me to
take up this project and for all the hospitality that he has given me which has enabled to
complete my project on time.

I also thank the staff and workers who have co-operated with me in successfully
completing my project by providing valuable information and knowledge about the functioning
of the organization.

I am very much thankful to Mr. Sunil Desai

Principal of people tree College of

Business Administration Belgaum, for the support and encouragement to finish this report. I
thank my faculty guide Ms. Seneca Kalghatkar for coordinating the project work and giving me
the guidance. I am thankful to many individuals in the company for the encouragement and
professional assistance.

KUBER RAIBAGI
5TH SEMISTER, BBA.

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this project work is the result of my original work. The findings and
conclusion is based on the information collected by me during the study. I am solely responsible
for any errors in the work.

Date:

Mrs. KUBER RAIBAGI

Place: Belgaum

Registration No:

Abstract
This project is based on problem solving. As a part of course requirement the
students Bachelor of business administration has to take up a project for a month.
The basic purpose of the project is to enable the students to expose the working of
any organization and manager, to relate the concept learned by the students to the working of the
organization, to understand the practical aspect of working of organization.
It aimed to diagnose the cause of companys problems and to formulate programs for
improvement.
This project is on the study of GROHE INDIA PVT LTD The project is done based
on the information, manuals etc, given by the Grohe India Pvt Ltd
The report initiates with brief introduction of company it covers many aspects of
Grohe India Pvt Ltdlike Company profiles, scope, limitations etc. Finally this project report is
on Consumer behavior of luxury sanitary ware of Grohe India Pvt Ltd ends suggestions
and conclusion.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This project deals with the behavior of end consumer of luxury sanitary ware. Today faucets &
showers are no more just the requirements for consumer, but a luxury commodity. India is a
growing market touching world standards in sanitary market. With advent of local guerilla in
sanitary market, competition for new entrants is tough in lower segment. Since upper middle
class income group in south asian countries like India is growing very rapidly, the consumption
of luxury items will also increase at a faster pace. Indian sanitary ware industry is worth
$700million.

We have focused on the brand awareness among builders, contractors, architects and end
consumers and tried to sneak into those factors which they look for a while buying any sanitary
products. We also found out what are those cues and parameters which are prompting a
consumer from awareness to consideration. During this we also made some viral advertisement
to create awareness among Indian buyers. Since internet today, is the most cost effective &
extensive reach for consideration set. And we also studied distribution channel for the GROHE
India Pvt Ltd. Our area is Hubli, Karnataka. Hubli is the growing city in India with more than
150 running projects.

Contents
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.

Introduction
Grohe A brief history
4 Ps of Grohe
Internship objective and task
Research proposal
Observation
PCWS analysis of Indian sanitary ware market
Suggestions
Appendicies
Questionaire
Research Calculations
Refrence
Glossary
Index

COMPANY PROFILE

Name of the unit:Location of the unit

GROHE INDIA PVT LTD.

14th Floor, Building no5, Tower A
DLF Cyber City, Phase III
Gurgaon 122001
India Phone: ++91 124 493 3000
Call us toll free at 1 800 102 4475
Fax: ++91 124 493 3001
Website: http://www.grohe.co.in

Constitution:-

Subsidiary company.

Name of the managing

Director:-

Mr. Renu Misra

Activities: -

Manufacturing of faucets & shower(bathroom appliance)

Industry sector:-

construction/infrastructure

INTRODUCTION OF THE COMPANY

GROHE India Pvt Ltd is a fully subsidiary of Friedrich Grohe AG of Germany. Grohe has
generated into the Indian market in 2005. It has mulled a joint venture with Indian sanitary giant
Hindustan Sanitary India Ltd. (HSIL). HSIL better known as Hindware has helped German
incumbents to use its experience. Grohe in india is targeting niche market of luxury highly
sophisticated and technologically advanced sanitary ware market which if experts are believed,
is increasing at a faster pace. Marketing mix of Grohe was interesting to study because it has
product ranging from 2000 to 20000 INR. Also it distribution channel is very effective and
considered best in industry.

Grohe India Pvt. Ltd. (GIPL) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Grohe, Germany

Has completed three years of direct operations in India

Grohe recently launched its first Indian GroheTechnology Centre in Bangalore in

November 2009.

VISION MISSION & GOAL

Global vision is to become the market leader in every country they are present in by the
year 2015.

As experts in water technology, it has mission to develop superior showers with

outstanding features.

GROHEs Goal is to see its place at the forefront of the industry in the coming year and
the coming decades.

It is companies objective to strike a perfect balance between perfect experience and

environment.

HISTORY OF THE COMPANY

Grohe AG is Europe's largest manufacturer of sanitary fittings, including kitchen and
bathroom faucets/taps, and shower systems. Grohe has a worldwide market share of roughly
eight percent in this product segment. The Grohe corporate centre is located in
Dusseldorf, Germany, and it has offices in many parts of the world, including a US headquarters
in Bloomingdale, IL. Grohe has six production sites, with locations in Portugal, Thailand, and
Canada, along with three in Germany. The company has 9,000 employees, 3,400 of them
working at its Chinese subsidiary Joyou.

1911 UNTIL 1990: FAMILY-OWNED

The company started as a ferric hardware factory in 1911 under the name Berkenhoff &
Paschedag, located in Hemer, Germany; it was taken over by Friedrich Grohe in 1936, who
focused on sanitary faucets only. Before that, Friedrich used to work for his father's
company Hansgrohe, founded in 1901. The first order from outside of Germany came in 1938. In
1948, the company was renamed to Friedrich Grohe Armaturenfabrik. In 1961, by which time
the company had purchased a factory in Lahr/Schwarzwald, the company set up its first
subsidiary abroad in France. A year later in 1962, Grohe acquired exclusive rights to produce
the Moen Mixing Faucet, which mixes hot and cold water with a single lever.
In 1968, Friedrich Grohe sold a 51% stake in the company to International Telephone &
Telegraph (ITT). During the '70s, Grohe openedsubsidiaries in the US, UK, Holland and
Belgium and introduced the ergonomic hand shower series Relexa.1982 saw the beginning of
production at the new factory in Hemer-Edelburg. Friedrich Grohe died in 1983; in the following
year, his heirs bought back the part of the company which had been sold to ITT. In 1989, there
were some additions to the Lahr production site and a new logistics dept was opened at HemerEdelburg.

1990S AND 2000S: INVOLVEMENT OF INVESTORS

In 1991, the company bought two other producers of faucets: Herzberger Armaturen GmbH from
the Brandenburg region andArmaturenfabrik H. D. Eichelberg & Co.
GmbH at Iserlohn in Westphalia. Grohe was also restructured as a public limited company. By
taking over the DAL group in 1994, the company acquired a production site in Porta Westfalica,
Westphalia; at the same time, the company also acquired Tempress Ltd. of Mississauga in
Ontario (Canada). At the Hemer site, new technology and factory control facilities were opened;
in 1996 saw the company expand to Portugal and Thailand. A new design centre followed at the
Hemer site in 1997.
In 1998, a group of investors working with BC Partners bought all available Grohe shares and
delisted the company in the following year, making the Grohe Holding GmbH company, owned

by BC partners, into the majority owner of Grohe AG in 1999. BC partners sold the company to
a consortium of investors from the Texas Pacific Group and CSFB Private Equity (a subsidiary
of the Swiss Credit Suissebanking group) five years later in 2004.
In 2005, Franz Mntefering, chairman of the then ruling German Social Democratic party (SPD),
sparked a debate on capitalism by designating foreign private equity firms as "locusts".He made
TPG-owned Grohe his main example. The "locust" metaphor remained popular in German
politics and media for years while the German government cited Grohe as an example for a
successful turnaround only three years later.
The companys sales and profit figures had been stagnating for years, leading to a programme of
savings as of 2005. Around 500 production jobs were cut at sites in Germany and the Herzberg
factory was closed; the sites in Thailand and Portugal were expanded considerably. Through
2008, investments totalling 130 million euros were made in Germany in the area of production
technology and logistics.

PRESENT HISTORY
In 2012, Grohe AGs revenues increased by 21 percent to 1,405 million euros; operating
profits improved by 18 percent to reach 273 million euros, representing a return on revenue of
19.4 percent. Grohe is currently Europes biggest manufacturer of sanitary fittings and has eight
percent of the worldwide market.The German market makes up roughly 15 percent of overall
sales. Currently, Grohe AG is owned almost 100% by Grohe Holding GmbH (there are still some
minority shareholders from the period in which Grohe AG was listed on the stock market).
Grohe Holding GmbH is owned by investors.
June 2010 saw a ruling against the European sanitary fittings industry by the European
Commission. The Commission found that European manufacturers had operated a cartel between
1992 and 2002 and imposed a collective fine of 622 million euros. Grohes share of the fine
amounted to 54.8 million euros.The current Grohe board of directors, which took up business
after the period under investigation, introduced awareness programmes about competition law
and operates a zero-tolerance policy towards price-fixing.
In early 2011, Grohe acquired a majority stake in the leading Chinese sanitary fittings
producer Joyou, making a successful public takeover bid. The aim of this takeover is above all to
strengthen Grohes sales infrastructure on the fast-growing Asian market. Grohe currently holds
a 72 percent stake in Joyou.
In May 2013, David Haines, chairman of Grohe, confirmed that, although the company is
examining all options for ending investor involvement, no concrete plans had yet been made.

Capital market experts estimate that Grohe would currently be valued at up to four billion euros
if it were to return to the stock market.
In September 2013, it was announced that Grohe had received the largest ever investment from a
Japanese company in the country. The firm is now almost entirely owned by the Japanese
building materials company Lixil and Development Bank of Japan, after a 3 billion deal for
87.5 percent of the firm.

GROHE IN U.S
In 1975, Grohe opened a small office just outside Chicago and its representative, Urell, Inc. in
Massachusetts, began supplying European-style kitchen and bathroom fixtures to American
tradesman and retailers. The new venture was incorporated a year later as Grohe America,
Inc. and moved into a small warehouse-office complex. In order to keep pace with its rapid
growth, the company regularly upsized its premises: a section of a larger warehouse facility in
1978; a whole warehouse in Wood Dale in 1986, finally settling into todays custom-built 90,000
square foot facility in Bloomingdale, Illinois, in 1993.[5]
Sales figures doubled year after year as Grohe introduced a series of products such as
the Ladylux of 1983 the first pull-out spray kitchen faucet, including detachable hand-sprayand
snap-on accessories (also the first hand-spray with a filter for drinking water), on the US market
or the Europlus of 1989, another pull-out spray faucet. In the early 1990s, Grohe introduced a
new designer finish "white" which increased sales dramatically for the next 7 years. Introduction
of clear powder-coating in the 1980s resulted in the advent of polished brass and other finishes
with superior adhesion, solving a major problem in the industry. In the late 1990s, Grohe
replaced the powder-coated first generation of these products with stainless steel versions.
1979 saw the launch of the Grohmix thermostat line, able to regulate water temperature to within
one degree Fahrenheit of accuracy. As of 1980, Grohe also implemented water-temperature
regulation technology in its successful range of custom showers which is still a strong seller in
the marketplace due to its unique design.
These shower systems saw Grohe America take the step of advertising directly to consumers. For
commercial customers, Grohe introduced a new product line in 1989, following it up with a
showroom marketing program for wholesalers. In 1996, Grohe America launched its first
television advertisement campaign and started offering a limited lifetime warranty as of 1997. By
the mid-1990s, Grohe America was selling fixtures with a value of $38 million annually, with a
market share of 1.7 percent.

Grohe opened a 15,000 square-feet showroom for professional partners and visitors on Fifth
Avenue, New York in September 2011.[13] In February 2012, Grohe announced its US
headquarters will move from Bloomingdale, Illinois to New York City.

Grohe Group S.A R.L. is the ultimate parent company of the group. The following shows a
structure chart oh the group showing the company, its subsidiaries and the two parent companies
of the main operating entities Grohe AG and the publicly traded Joyou AG.

ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE

General Manager

Office Manager

Factory Manager

Finance Department

Production Department

Marketing Department

H.R. Department

R & D Department
Maintenance Department

Designing Department

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

1. To understand the consumers buying behavior of luxury sanitary products.

2. To prepare the database of future customers of grohe products.
3. To do a competitors analysis of grohe India.
4. To study supply chain flow of grohe India.
5. To develop an advertisement for grohe India.

THEORETICAL BACLGROUND
Any research process helps decision maker to make a decision with high probability. Even
degree of uncertainty decides what kind of research to be undertaken. To identify all the
dimensions of a business problem is next to impossible for any researcher or objective rest alone
management student. The formal quantitative research will not begin if the management problem
is not apparent. So it is important to define a problem first in a comprehensive manner. But here
the principle is worth mentioning, which states that dangerous part of the business problem is
neither visible nor easy to understand by the managers.
The management problem can be avowed as
Since, Belgaum is growing city these days its a big break for Grohe India to establish brand, the
major apprehension of the company is to understand buying behavior of consumers & to
communicate the message in most effective manner.

ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETAION OF THE CASE

The study is highly dependents upon the ratio analyses where the relationship between various
assets and liabilities are analyzed and plans and policies are executed.

The methodology adopted for this study is as follows:

Data source
Primary data: I had visited the project workplace and studied the various aspect in
management systems by personal observation, discussion with the contractors, architects,
plumbers and engineers of the various projects.

Secondary data: the relevant information for secondary data was collected from various
sources like various records maintained, through the companys different manuals and
procedures & through the survey.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Sample size: As the company problem is consumer buying behavior the sample size will be 25.
The questionnaire were submitted to 5o consumers out of which the sample size 25. The 25
samples are been picked/selected randomly.

Statistical tools and techniques:

Pie chart

Doughnut graph

Bar graph

INTERPRETATION

1. Your income group (per annum) for end consumers only.

a)
b)
c)
d)

5-10lakhs
10-15lakhs
15-20lakhs
Above 20lakhs

24%

28%
5-10lakhs
10-15lakhs
15-20lakhs
above 20lakhs

24%
24%

In the above graph the income group of the consumers which is highest rated is between 510lakhs and rest all are constant and the entire graphs also states that there is a constant income
group in Belgaum city the graph also states that the income of consumer also plays a important
role in the buying behavior.

2. What appliance do you use/prefer to fit in your bathroom/kitchen?

a)
b)
c)
d)

Jaguar
Parry ware
Kohler
Others

12%

12%

a
b
c

52%

d
24%

In the above graph the brand which consumers prefer much can be understood here 52% of
consumers go for local brand and as usual 12% jaguar and 12% for parry ware and 24% of the
consumers for kohler brand.

3. Does product brand of appliance affect your choice?

a) Yes
b) May be
c) Not at all

28%
yes
may be
56%

not at all
16%

The analysis in this graph was done on does brand choice affect their buying behavior and 56%
of consumers stated that no brand doesnt affect their choice while buying. Whereas only 28%
consumers are affected by brand go on brand while making a choice.

4. What importance does bathroom have in your home?

a)
b)
c)
d)

Very important
Important
Not much important
Doesnt matter

8%

4%

48%

very important
important

40%

not much important

doesnt matter

In above graph 48% consumers stated that the bathroom plays very important role their house as
and 40% stated that its important 8% not much important & 4% doesnt matter.

5. Are you satisfied with bathroom/ kitchen appliance? (Grohe brand).

a) Satisfied
b) Neutral
c) Dissatisfied

20%

47%

satified
neutral
dissatisfied

33%

The above question was asked to only 15 consumers which were existing customer who were
using grohe brand appliance. Out which 47% are satisfied with grohe and 33% rated it as neutral
and 20% consumers were dissatisfied.

6. How do you rate advertisements from the following sources?(1 for low 5 for high)

S.no

Sources

1
2

Print media (Newspapers, Magazines

etc)
TV Advertisement

Mall Media

FM/Radio Advertisement

Billboards

8
7

7
6

6
5

1
4

4
3

2
3
4
5

2
1
0
Print media

Tv advertisement

Mall media

Fm/radio
advertisement

Billboards

7. How much are you affected by the advertisement for your choice?

a)
b)
c)
d)
e)

Very much
Often
Sometimes
Not much
Not at all

4%
28%

24%

very much
often
sometimes
not much
not at all
16%
28%

The above chart states that 28% of consumers feel that they are affected by advertisement while
making a choice and 28% of consumers also stated that they are not affected by advertisement
and others were constant.

8. How often do you use Internet?

a)
b)
c)
d)

Daily
Twice a week
Weekly
Fortnightly

5%
15%
daily
twice a week
53%

weekly
fortnightly

27%

As internet is playing important role in todays world and is one of the powerful media for
advertisement this question was asked how much consumers are been using internet in their day
to day life. In the above graph 53% of consumers use internet daily where as 27% consumers use
twice a week and so on.

9. Do you think of changing your the appliances during renovation?

a) Yes
b) No

28%

yes
no

72%

In the following chart 72% of consumers stated that they think of changing their appliance while
renovating their bathroom/kitchen and 28% think that its not necessary to change.

10. How much are you willing to spend on bathroom/kitchen appliances?

a)
b)
c)
d)

50000-1lakh
1-1.5lakhs
1.5- 2lakhs
2- 2.5lakhs

5%

23%

50000-1lakh
45%

1-1.5lakhs
27%

1.5-2lakhs
2-2.5lakhs

In the above chart the 45% consumers think of spending 1.5to 2 lakhs on bathroom and kitchen
appliances & 27% are willing to pay 1-1.5lakhs.