Perception study of switchgear products: A market research report; Larsen and Toubro

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to investigate the perceptions about the switchgear products of various companies. This study was conducted in Hyderabad in April- May 1995 and covered the following segments - stockists, dealers, panel builders, endusers consultants and OEM’s. The research objectives were:- 1) Find out the importance of various attributes like quality, availability etc in selecting the brand of the switchgear. 2) Study the performance of the companies on the above attributes. 3) Study the performance of the companies in the different product categories. 4) Investigate the usefulness of company support measures like training programmes etc. 5) Study the effectiveness of various advertising media like hoardings etc. The sample comprised - 16 stockists, 14 dealers, 46 endusers , 15 panel builders , 6 consultants and 4 OEM’s. It was found out that the importance of the attributes varied across the segments: dealers and stockists lay stress on the quality of products and reputation of the company, availability of product and after sales service, panel builders were influenced by the brand, sales rep visits and availability; endusers looked more at the quality and availability of spares ; consultants and OEM’s put more importance on price and quality. Across the segments Siemens was rated high on overall quality of products while L&T was considered best in availability of the product and after sales service. Siemens was rated as very good in contactors, relays and switches; L&T was considered good in MCCB, timers , starters , ACB; EE was rated high in switches , fuses and circuit breakers and BCH in timers and contactors. Although the various company support measures were rated differently across the segments, training programmes and product literature were uniformly appreciated. Of the various ad media, direct mail and technical journals were considered to be more effective. From the research it is inferred that L&T could be vulnerable to developments which erode its comparative strengths of availability of product, after sales service and customer coverage through sales representatives. These developments may result from strong marketing thrusts by Siemens, EE etc or growth of MNC’s like ABB, Groupe Schneider. Hence it is recommended that L&T make attempts to preserve its edge in availability and after sales service and also upgrade the quality of its products, especially in switches, fuses and contactors.