Assignment in Marketing Prepared by C M Selvan Topic : Mind behavior of product that you are dealing with.

Introduction: The product that I am dealing for the last fifteen years is Paint. Yes, I am working as a Production Manager in a Norway based multinational company Jotun Paints at their Abudhabi plant. I am with Jotun for the last one year and before Jotun , I was working with a Germany based MNC CAPAROL as Production Manager at their Dubai Plant. I started my career in Paints with Asian paints India limited and after working for three years with them I moved to Dubai for CAPAROL. I was with Caparol for nearly 12 years. Mind Behaviour Mind behavior of customers is very important because what is there in the mind of the customer about a product (Perception) influences the customer to take decision about a product .It is important for every company to formulate a marketing strategy to create a positive perception about its product towards the customers. In this assignment I tried to give a brief introduction about the paint market in UAE, my companys products and the strategy that my company is following to create a positive mind behavior and the success of my company. UAE Paint Industry - a glimpse The global paint industry comprises of decorative, protective, marine and Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) coating. In the UAE, the first two segments represent approximately 85% of total sales. The manufacturing process of paint involves the mixing of pigments, solvents, resins and additives in various proportions. The UAE paint industry witnessed significant growth in the five years ended 2008. The year-on-year growth in the industry had been around 30% to 50% in 2007-2008. The industry has witnessed lower demand and decline since 2008 due to the so called recession and witnessed a 5% growth in 2009 due to a downturn in the construction and real estate sector. The paint industry in the UAE was estimated to be between AED1.5 billion and AED1.7 billion in 2010. There appears to have been no marked improvement in the market in 2010. However, industry experts believe that the market may have witnessed some improvement in 2011 due to the increased oil and gas activity in the region and forecast supply of around 500,000 residential units.

Local manufacturing: There are four key international brands( Jotun , ICI , Berger and Caparol) which are having a local manufacturing presence for decorative and protective coating paints. However, the marine coating market is more competitive with five key players of international repute. Nonetheless there are numerous other local manufacturing companies carving out a niche for them in the market. These companies mainly concentrate on the decorative segment, leaving the specialized protective coating segment to the international companies who have well established global R&D centers. Industry outlook - Competition in the market is certainly high with around 15 or more paint manufacturing companies based in the UAE. Given that the UAE market is already over supplied, the paint market may be increasingly viewed as congested and the manufacturers may well continue to export until local demand and construction activity pick up. On the other hand, specialized segments in protective coatings in the UAE market may post a growth in the next couple of years due to the increased manufacturing and oil and gas activity in the country, and the reduced activity in the real estate sector. Industry demand generators - The main demand drivers for paint products in the UAE are growth in real estate and infrastructure projects, the oil and gas sector, manufacturing industry, hospitality and marine sectors. In conclusion, a focus on innovation, integration and sustainability may be the key to a promising future for the UAE paint industry. Jotun UAE LLC. Jotun is one of the worlds leading producers of paints and powder coatings. With the head office in Norway , the Jotun group has 70 companies and 38 production facilities in all the continents. The groups 2010 turn over was around $2.5 billion and Jotun group employs around 8000 people all over the world. Jotun is having a regional head quarters in Dubai and is responsible for middle east operations. Jotun started its middle east operations in 1975 and soon became the no 1 paint producer in the middle east . Jotuns Product range : There are two major segments that Jotun focuses mainly. One is the Decorative Segment in which the purpose of paint is for aesthetic ( Example painting the houses to look better) in nature and the other is Protective segment where the main purpose is to protect the steel structures .

As the front runner in the middle east Jotun was very much successful in offering products to these two segments. It built the brand image over the years in the market and people are very much aware of the brand names. In many times customers are more familiar with the brand name instead of the company name and there is the success of Jotuns brand building. Customers of Jotun UAE: Since there are two different segments in the market , the customers are different. The customers in the Decorative segments are mostly of Individuals comprising of End users, Architects and consultants . The purchasing decision in decorative segment is based on Customers mind set, customers perception about a particular company and its products, influences , opinion from friends and relatives. The protective customers are mainly industrial customers where the purchasing decision is based on Decision making Unit ( DMU) of every company. In the decorative segment , there are three types of customers and Jotun adapts different ways to suit the mind behavior of the customers. 1 Painters : In some cases , the painters are the influencers and they recommend the type of products to be applied at the houses. In this scenario, the painters are looking for their own benefit like low application cost, easy of application , low odour etc. Jotun frequently conducts application training program with latest trends for these painters, launches different types of royalty programs for painters and studies the difficulties they could face on application and focuses attention to eliminate the difficulties. 2 Construction Project Consultants : For bigger projects, the role of consultants are very much important because they are the deciders about what type of paint to be applied and what is expected from the paint and the properties of paints.

Jotun has a different strategy for this consultants since they are very much educated . The marketing team approaches them and explain them about the silent features of Jotuns products and proves the superiority of the products by showing the international certificates the products are carrying , updating them the latest technology in the current trends, taking them to the laboratory to prove the performance of the products and how Jotuns products are better than the competitors. If the consultants are convinced , then

they will specify our products to their projects and every projects are valued in millions of dirhams. In UAE , almost all the projects are specified with Jotun products and even when the consultants calls for quotations they specify the Jotun products and asks the competitors to quote a price similar products of Jotun and that is the success of our marketing team. 3 Niche market: This the third type of market in decorative segment. For this people, money doesnt matter . They want the better quality , superior product and it should show their individuality and reflect their personality. Mostly local Arab people and highly salaried expatriates fall in this category and females are the big influencer to select the product. They make three to five visits to the retail shops before deciding a particular product. To attract these female customers, Jotun has come up with products like Lady effects , Lady essentials and stucco antica. These products offers paints that are very much smooth and soft with appealing colors and attractive cans. Though these paints are very much costly people doesnt care about the price and it moves well in the market but not in terms of volume. Thus Jotun adapts different approach for different customers and the following are the tactics it follows to approach the customers. 1 TV commercials, radio advertisements, point of sales materials, out door advertisement, unipole etc 2 Short term campaigns like promotions, loyalty programs 3 Brand buliding Mind behavior of customers towards Jotun Products: Like all the standard products, the purchasing of paints also follows the Five stage model. The buying process Involves the following people. 1 Initiators ( the need for the paint is the initiators) 2 Users ( The customer to whom the paint is required)

3 Influencers. ( Painters, sales people, contractors) 4 Deciders ( wife , kids, architects, consultants) 5 Approvers( Wife, clients) 6 Buyers ( Husband, Owners) The buying process starts with the 1 Problem recognition that is the need for paint. The need can be of Internal or External. The internal need may be like replacing the old paint, painting for a important function like marriage like that. The external need may be like a social status to show their house looks better than others like that. Once the need rises to the threshold level it becomes a drive. 2This drive forces the people to search for the informations regarding the type of paints , supplier of paints and their capabilities. The major source to get these information are Personal: Family, Friends, Paint applicators Commercial: Advertising , Websites , Sales persons, dealers , displays and packaging Public: Mass media, Consumer rating organizations Experimental: Doing a sample painting at the site free of cost. Jotun is good in making all these informations available at any point of time when any one looking for the information about its products. 3 Evaluation of Alternative. Once the customer looks for information , he can get many alternative products from different suppliers as there are many multinational companies and local companies operating here. The attributes that a customer is looking in paints are 1 It should be a established brand from a MNC Like Jotun 2 It should last for long life.( Jotuns Jotashield range of products) 3 It should have good odour . ( Jotuns Lady effect range of products) 4 It should have some added benefit apart from the standard features.( Like antibacterial , crack bridging properties) 5 Price.

Purchase decision A consumers decision to purchase is heavily influenced by perceived risk like 1 Functional risk ( Whether the product will perform up to the expectations) 2 Physical risk ( whether the product poses physical threat) 3 Finacial risk ( whether the product is worth for the money paid) 4 Social risk ( Whether the product embarrasses others) 5 Psychological risk ( Whether the product affects the mental well being of the user) 6 Time risk( If the product fails then the cost and time to find alternative) Jotuns product has got several silent features and with the help of technical service and sales team and marketing strategy Jotun nullify all these risks and forces the consumer to make a purchase decision to buy Jotuns products. 5 Post purchase behavior Jotun takes several initiatives to make the customer to feel happy about his purchase decision. The product last for longer period than the expectancy of the customer. Jotun helps the customer in case if he face any problem during application by providing technical expertise through the Technical serve team by providing training. This Jotun is very serious in the concept of post purchase behavior and takes care of this with its technical service team to ensure the customer satisfaction. Jotun makes the customer to be delighted about its products.

Results: Thus with an effective marketing strategy , Jotun succeeded in creating a positive perception of its products by studying the customer mind behavior , created value for its products, Positioned its Products on right People in time with right Price . Jotun Identified the segments very well and Targeted particular Segments and Positioned its products properly. With all these Jotun enjoys the leadership in the market not only in UAE but on the entire middle east region.