GrameenPhone Service

BUS 457: Service Marketing

Submitted To

Mohammed Tanvir Imam

Submitted BY Sharif Ashiful Islam ID: 121011131 Section: 2 Spring 2015

23-Mar-15

GrameenPhone Grameenphone in Bangladesh started providing mobile telephony services in 1997 and is partly-

owned by Telenor. In addition to core voice services, Grameenphone offers a number of value-

added services on both a contract and prepaid basis. Grameenphone is the largest of in total six

mobile operators in Bangladesh

Core services

Grameenphone is the largest mobile provider in Bangladesh. Grameenphone offers core voice

services and a number of value-added services on both a contract and prepaid basis.

Grameenphone has been a pioneer in bringing innovative mobile-based solutions to Bangladesh.

Notable among these is the Health line, a 24 hour medical call centre manned by licensed

physicians. Other innovations include Study line, a call centre-based service providing education

related information, Mobicash, for electronic purchase of train tickets, Bill pay, for paying bills

through mobile phones and over 500 community information centers across Bangladesh. These

centers bring affordable Internet access and other information based services to people in rural

areas.

1 Core service Core service Medical advice/consultation

from registered physicians

Call fee: BDT

5/minute,applicable

from first minute

and onwards

2 Supplementary

service

Doctor and Medical facility information Call fee: BDT

5/minute,applicable

from first minute

and onwards Supplementary

service

Pharmacies Help e.g. Drug Information

Supplementary

service

Laboratory test interpretation

Supplementary

service

Medical Emergency numbers

Supplementary

Caller ID: (It allows GP subscriber's to view the caller's ID before answering the call).

Call Divert: It allows you to divert the incoming calls to your voice mail-box.

Call Conference: This feature allows you to connect 10 people within a single conference

call. The participants can be living miles apart, they may have different types of phones, but

call conferencing will bring them together. One person can add a maximum of four people in

a conference call.

Call Waiting: It enables you to receive a second call while you are online with another call.

When your Call Waiting feature is activated (on your handset), you will be usually notified by

a short beep sound. You can then either reject the second call or put the first caller on hold,

talk to the second caller and then return to the first call. You can keep a maximum of three

callers on hold while making another call

Call Forwarding: It allows you to forward the incoming calls to any mobile number if you

are not within the GP coverage area or do not want to receive the call.

Call Barring: This feature gives you the option of restricting different types

of calls. You can choose to bar all incoming calls, all outgoing calls, or allinternational calls.

Using this feature, you can protect your cell phone from unwanted usage

Service Design

1. Information Grameenphone in Bangladesh started providing mobile telephony services in 1997 and is partly-owned by Telenor. In addition to core

voice services, Grameenphone offers a number of value-added services on both a contract and prepaid basis. Grameenphone is the largest of in total six mobile operators in Bangladesh

2. Order-Taking Customers can order through e-mail, phone.

Membership

They can fill-up online form on our official website to confirm their order.

3. Billing Printed bill

E-mail bills

No hidden charge

4. Payment Pay bill through bill copy in enlisted banks.

Deposit slip

GP subscribers having standard chartered ATM, Dutch bangla bank ATM or credit card(auto debit), VANIK(auto debit) can pay

their local bills through ATM machines & the respective cards.

Internet banking

Cash

Flexi load

5. Consultation Immediate advice from a knowledgeable service person.

Healthful behavior.

Health treatment.

For every complaint come with a suggestion to improve the situation.

Printed information given them.

Both adult &child take special care.

Customer care center.

6. Hospitality The interior of the craft is well design and decorated.

Spacious washroom with attractive interior and proper equipments

Good quality of foods

Emergency medical services

Different types of entertainment (Television, DVD player ,

Newspaper, Magazine, Games)

Wide spacious seating place

7. Safekeeping Clients information safety

Clients privacy

Parking for vehicles

Children care

8. Exceptions Customer service center in major points.

Easy to flexi load from every where across the country.

Problem solving.

Complains, complements, suggestions.

Marketing Mix of GrameenPhone

Product

As mobile telecom is mainly a service industry, the main service of the industry is voice transfer

service which is the heart of the industry. The second important service provided by this industry

is the data transfer service i.e. Internet. Internet is provided in the form of EDGE & GPRS by the

operators. Text message (SMS and in some cases Media messages or MMS) is also an important

service. To get the services, customers need to buy SIM card or RIM card. The tangible products

of the industry are mobile sets & Internet modems. Those are not produced by the mobile

operators but various mobile set & modem manufacturers make it for them. Recently various

kinds of utilities bills can be paid by GP & Teletalk. After sales & customer service are also

important services provided by mobile operators.

Price

Initially, connection price was above the reach of average people of the country. Call rates and

network charges were also high. But now scenario has changed significantly. A pre-paid

connection can be purchased within 149 Taka, where a post-paid connection can be purchased

within 200 Taka. Call rates vary from package to package. There are differences in call charges

in various times of a day. But on an average it's now 1 Taka per minute for voice call. SMS

charge less than 1 Taka per SMS for some operators. There are various rates for various

packages of Internet service. It can be on volume basis (dependant on bytes downloaded or

transferred) or at fixed rates. In most cases, the average rate per kilobyte is around Taka. 0.02.

Promotion

In the case of promotion, mobile companies are very aggressive. They place their ads in every

possible media - from TV to radio, from print media to Internet, from the body of the buses to

billboards. Operators spend enormous amounts of money on advertisements, often acquiring the

services of leading media producers and actors to direct and play out TV commercials. One of

the operators is currently sponsoring Bangladesh cricket team, and operators regularly sponsor

various events around the country in a bid to promote their brands.

Place

Most of the operators have established their distribution facilities almost everywhere in

Bangladesh. They have their own customer care centers almost in all the important areas of

almost all the different regions of the country. Some operators have also assigned franchise

distributors. Besides their own customer centers, there are one or more authorized dealers in

every district. Mobile SIMs are available in many mobile accessories & stationary stores also. It

can be said that they have made their SIMs very conveniently obtainable.

GP Communication Mix

Grameenphone Advertising process :

Any paid form of nonperson presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services by an

identified sponsor.Grameenphone advertising can introduce the company andthe products. If the

product embodies new features, advertising can explain them.Advertising can remind customers

of how to use the products and reassures themabout their purchase.

Grameenphone Advertising Objectives:

Grameenphone uses advertising as a promotional tool to make a communication task to be

accomplished with a specific target audience during a specific period of time.

Grameenphone Advertising objectives

Informative advertising

Telling the market about a new product Suggesting new uses for a product Informing the market of a price change

Explain how the product works Describing available services

Building a company image

Persuasive Advertising Building brand preference

Encouraging switching to Grameenphone Changing customer’s perception of product attributes

Persuading customer to purchase now Persuading customer to receive a sales call

Reminder Advertising

Reminding consumer that the product may be needed in the near future Reminding consumer where to buy it

GP Communication Mix

Corporate Design

Instructional Manual

Personal Selling

Inside Sales Force

Publicity & PR

Publications

Events

News

Sponsorship

Public Service Activites

Identity Media

Sales Promotion

Price Packs

Cash Refund Offers

Prize

Patronage Award

Premium

PricesOffs

Advertising

Newsparer

Television

Radio

Magazines

Newsletters

Internet

Grameenphone Advertising tools:

Grameenphone uses different types of media to acquire different types of objectives. To select

media depend on the target audience, product characteristics, message characteristics and cost.

The advertising tools that grameenphone uses as a media to communicate with the existing and

potential customers are:

Newspapers- Newspaper covers all sorts of information about

grameenphone’s product. It mainly covers the informative and reminder

advertising.

Radio-Within a lower cost, grameenphone broadcast their massage through radio. It is

a better way for persuasive advertisement.

Magazines-An effective media that grameenphone uses as a promotional tool to achieve

the customer’s awareness about grameenphone and its product. It is an effective media

for informative and persuasive advertisement.

Newsletters-Grameenphone publishes newsletter regularly to inform existing customer

as well as potential customer about company’s recent activities and offer.

Internet- internet performs effective promotional tools grameenphone advertising. It

gathers all sort of information about grameenphone.

Grameenphone Sales promotions Process :

Grameenphone uses sales promotions that consist of a diverse collection of

incentivetools, mostly short term, designed to simulate quicker or greater purchase of particular

products or service by consumers or the trade.

Grameenphone Sales Promotion Objectives:

Sales promotion tools vary on their specific objectives. Grameenphone uses sales promotion to

acquire broader promotion objectives:

Grameenphone Sales promotion objectives

For consumer

Encouraging purchase of large sized units.

Building trail among nonusers

Attracting switchers away competitors’ brand

For retailers

Persuading retailers to carry new items

Encouraging stocking of related items

Offsetting competitive promotions

Building brand loyalty

Gaining entry into new retailers outlets

For the sales force

Including encouraging support of a new product

Encouraging more prospecting

Sales promotion tools:

Many tools can used to accomplish sales promotion objectives. Describes of the main consumer,

trade and business tools that grameenphone uses as short-term incentives to encourages the

purchase the product follow:

Price-packs: Nokia handset festival @ GPC’s

Grameenphone Ltd. kicked off the first handset bundled promotion at itsGrameenphone

Centers around the country. Under this promotion free GPconnections and bonus talk

time, Tk.660 to Tk.2000 depending on handset, are being offered with select popular

Nokia models.

Cash Refund Offers: thank you

thank you is grameenphone way of expressing their gratitude, because not

only has consumer loyalty touched us but has also made grameenphone the preferred

mobile operator. Grameenphone thank you program provides consumer with

a number of rewards that will make consumer mobile phone experience with

gramophone even more satisfying.

Prizes: grameenphone pothe pothe utchob

Grameenp ho ne ’s mob ile t ranspo r t t rave ls a ll a round the countr y an

d a rrangesdifferent types of amusing game/contest for their loyal customers and offers

attractive prizes who win the game /contest.

Patronage Awards: thank you crown, Be Special, Be crown

Grameenphone offers the prestigious thank you crown membership to especially

cater to you. To enrich your life, grameenphone offers premium services and exclusive

discounts.You will also enjoy exceptional service at all our customer touchpoints. Justintr

oduce yourself with your Grameenphone number and put your feet up! We willtake care

of your problem while you relax.

Premium: Enjoy free stuffs with a new xplore Package2 connection

With every new xplore Package 2 connection, you will get 25 Text SMSs &

25 free Voice SMSs, and 5 GP branded Ring tones. Subscriber has to use the free

content and VAS within 2 months after activation.

Price-Off:450 minutes free!

All Business Solutions postpaid subscribers will enjoy 150 minutes free talk time

per month for 3 months to call their F&F numbers. For new subscribers, the offer is

valid from the date of activat ion and for exist ing subscribers, the offer is valid

from 28 March '07.

Grameenphone Public relations process:

Public relations can have a strong impact on public awareness at a muck lower cost than

advertising can. Grameenphone use public relations to communicate with their publics by

setting some public relation objectives. The objectives are:

.

Grameenphone Public relation objectives

Build marketing excitement before media advertising tools.

Build a one-to-one relationship with consumers.

Build a core customer base.

Turn satisfied customers into advocates.

Grameenphone Public relation tools:

Grameenphone public relation uses several tools. The tools are following:

Publications: Grameenphone published some sorts of materials to reach and influence

their target market. Some publicat ion materia ls are:

Annual report

Articles

Grameenphone Newsletter

Events: Grameenphone arranges some special event to draw attention to new

products or companies activities. Some special events that grameenphone arranges

frequently:

Seminar

Conference

Trade shows

Sponsorship:Grameenphone promote their brands and corporate name by sponsoring

sportandcultural events and highly regarded causes. Some current sponsorship bygrameen

phone are:

Grameenphone sponsors International Conference on ICT

Official sponsor of Bangladesh Cricket

Grameenphone sponsor International Trade Fair in Khulna

News :Grameenphone finds or creates favorable news about the company, its product and

its people and get the media to accept press release and attend press conference.Grameen

phone in its official website media site covers all news about grameenphone,its product

and its people.

Public-Service Activities:Grameenphone has always been more than just a mobile phone

service provider in Bangladesh. It builds good will by contributing money and time to

good causes.

Identify Media:Grameenphone creates a good image by using promotiona l

tools.Grameenphone promotes the public relationship by its attractive logo, signs,

uniform and others.

Grameenphone personal selling process:

Grameenphone personal selling is a good way to communicate the targetcustomers.

It focuses on more creative types of selling and the processes of build ing and managing

an effective sale forces.

Grameenphone personal selling Objectives:

Personal selling serves as the grameenphone’s personal link to customer. The sales

representative is the grameenphone to many of its customers. Personal selling performs for

establish some objectives. Those are:

Grameenphone personal selling objectives

To diagnose customer problem and providing services to the customers.

Information gathering about the market.

Building company’s goodwill.

Increasing the sales forces.

Grameenphone personal selling tool:

Grameenphone mainly focus on inside sales forces that conduct business from

their customer care centre via telephone or visits from prospective buyers.

Products & Services

GrameenPhone offers a number of products and value-added services to itsvalued subscribers.

These attractive products and services are designed to cater to the needs of the individual

subscribers. There are seven products currently being offered by GrameenPhone. The products

are:

GP Regular

GP National

Anytime 300

Anytime 500

The Village Phone

EASY GOLD

EASY Pre-paid

Djuice

Instructional Manual

Instructional Manual is a significant issue that attracts new customer trustworthily. As service is

a sensitive matter so people generally depend on those companies which instructional manual is

good like Unilever, APEX, ACI, GRAMEENPHONE etc. Overall, firms appear to emphasize

gearing much of their marketing to projecting a specific company image compared to dress codes

of the service employees. As might be expected, service firms which emphasize specific

company image through facilities design most are those the consumer visits: firms whose

customer group is individual customers (e. g; travel agency), whose geographic scope is local

(hair cutting saloon), whose benefits are immediate (child care centre) and whose need for

customer’s presence is high (health spas).

Corporate Design

Positioning Map

The following graph shows how Grameenphone product is positioned in terms of competition. In

one axis, price is the variable and on the other one, number of features is the variable. The total

map represents the value provided to the subscriber by each operator. However, the shaded

position in the map shows where Airtel Telecom is trying to position itself but more market

information is needed to find the true position of Airtel .

Conclusion

Grameen Phone is the first leading cell phone companies in Bangladesh. Beforeintroducing

Grameen Phone the mobile phone service was not available. The price and call rate was very

high. In a country, telecommunications play a significant role in economic and social

development. This is why Grameen Phone, in collaboration with Grameen Bank, is aiming to

place one phone in each village to contribute significantly to the economic uplift of those

villages. Grameen Phone’s basic strategy is coverage of both urban and rural areas. Grameen

Phone is the revolution for mobile service in Bangladesh. Now, more people of Bangladesh are

affordable to utilize the mobile.Grameen Phone believes in service, a service that leads to good

business and good development. Telephony helps people work together, raising their

productivity. This gaining productivity is development, which in turn enables them to afford a

telephone service, generating a good business.

Sources:

1. http://www.grameenphone.com/

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grameenphone