CHAPTER-1

OBJECTIVE OF
THE STUDY

1.1 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

To analyze the attitude and the perception of people towards the DTDC services.

To know the satisfaction level regarding the price and service ability of the company
To know the perception level of company image.
To know the degree of satisfaction regarding the courier services offered.
To understand customer preferences.

CHAPTER-2
INTRODUCTION

2.1 INTRODUCTION TO CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

Customer satisfaction, a business term, is a measure of how products and services supplied by a
company meet or surpass customer expectation. Customer satisfaction is defined as "the number
of customers, or percentage of total customers, whose reported experience with a firm, its
products, or its services (ratings) exceeds specified satisfaction goals." It is seen as a key
performance indicator within business and is part of the four of a Balanced Scorecard.
In a competitive marketplace where businesses compete for customers, customer satisfaction is
seen as a key differentiator and increasingly has become a key element of business strategy.
Within organizations, customer satisfaction ratings can have powerful effects. They focus
employees on the importance of fulfilling customers expectations. Furthermore, when these
ratings dip, they warn of problems that can affect sales and profitability. These metrics quantify
an important dynamic.
When a brand has loyal customers, it gains positive word-of-mouth marketing, which is both free
and highly effective. In researching satisfaction, firms generally ask customers whether their
product or service has met or exceeded expectations. Thus, expectations are a key factor behind
satisfaction.

When customers have high expectations and the reality falls short, they will be disappointed and
will likely rate their experience as less than satisfying. For this reason, a luxury resort, for
example, might receive a lower satisfaction rating than a budget moteleven though its facilities
and service would be deemed superior in absolute terms.
Customer satisfaction is a self-reported measure of how much customers likes' a company and
how happy they are with goods purchased or services obtained from the company. Customer
loyalty, on the other hand, is a company-calculated metric of likelihood to purchase again or not
defect to a competitor.

Many of the differences are evident from the definitions. Customer loyalty is measured from the
transaction data a company already owns. It's a testable number, different for every customer,
and it can be updated frequently.
Customer satisfaction depends on responses to surveys. Because not all customers respond to a
survey (in fact, most don't), the results are presented as a single number, which represents the
satisfaction of the population as a whole. Customers don't like to be pestered with surveys, so the
results are usually updated annually.

Beyond these obvious differences are more important distinctions. The first is temporal.
Customer satisfaction is a backwards-looking metric, very tightly aligned with how a customer
feels about his or her last transaction. It's quick to grow, and it can disappear even faster after an
ugly service transaction or defective product. Customer loyalty is forward-looking, an indicator
of future behavior. It's slow to grow and slow to decline, making it much more suitable to predict
future behavior than customer satisfaction.

2.2 PURPOSE OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

"Customer satisfaction provides a leading indicator of consumer purchase intentions and

loyalty." "Customer satisfaction data are among the most frequently collected indicators of
market perceptions. Their principal use is twofold:"
1. "Within organizations, the collection, analysis and dissemination of these data send a
message about the importance of tending to customers and ensuring that they have a
positive experience with the company's goods and services."
2. "Although sales or market share can indicate how well a firm is performing currently,
satisfaction is perhaps the best indicator of how likely it is that the firms customers will
make further purchases in the future. Much research has focused on the relationship
between customer satisfaction and retention. Studies indicate that the ramifications of
satisfaction are most strongly realized at the extremes."
Research also shows that a majority of the firms invest in measuring, monitoring, and
disseminating customer satisfaction information; in fact, these authors found that customer
satisfaction research is one of the most widely conducted marketing research activities in the
firms.
On a five-point scale, "individuals who rate their satisfaction level as '5' are likely to become
return customers and might even evangelize for the firm. (A second important metric related to
satisfaction is willingness to recommend. This metric is defined as "The percentage of surveyed
customers who indicate that they would recommend a brand to friends." When a customer is
satisfied with a product, he or she might recommend it to friends, relatives and colleagues. This
can be a powerful marketing advantage.) "Individuals who rate their satisfaction level as '1,' by
contrast, are unlikely to return. Further, they can hurt the firm by making negative comments
about it to prospective customers. Willingness to recommend is a key metric relating to customer
satisfaction."

2.3 STEPS IN CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

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1. Encourage Face-to-Face Dealings
This is the most daunting and downright scary part of interacting with a customer. If you're not
used to this sort of thing it can be a pretty nerve-wracking experience. Rest assured, though, it
does get easier over time. It's important to meet your customers face to face at least once or even
twice during the course of a project.
2. Respond to Messages Promptly & Keep Your Clients Informed
This goes without saying really. We all know how annoying it is to wait days for a response to an
email or phone call. It might not always be practical to deal with all customers' queries within the
space of a few hours, but at least email or call them back and let them know you've received their

message and you'll contact them about it as soon as possible. Even if you're not able to solve a
problem right away, let the customer know you're working on it
.
3. Be Friendly and Approachable
A fellow Site Pointer once told me that you can hear a smile through the phone. This is very true.
It's very important to be friendly, courteous and to make your clients feel like you're their friend
and you're there to help them out. There will be times when you want to beat your clients over
the head repeatedly with a blunt object - it happens to all of us. It's vital that you keep a clear
head, respond to your clients' wishes as best you can, and at all times remain polite and
courteous.
4. Have a Clearly-Defined Customer Service Policy
This may not be too important when you're just starting out, but a clearly defined customer
service policy is going to save you a lot of time and effort in the long run. If a customer has a
problem, what should they do?
If the first option doesn't work then what? Should they contact different people for billing and
technical enquiries? If they're not satisfied with any aspect of your customer service, who should
they tell? There's nothing more annoying for a client than being passed from person to person, or
not knowing who to turn to. So make sure your customer service policy is present on your site -and anywhere else it may be useful.
5. Attention to Detail
Have you ever received a Happy Birthday email or card from a company you were a client of?
Have you ever had a personalized sign-up confirmation email for a service that you could tell
was typed from scratch? These little niceties can be time consuming and aren't always cost
effective, but remember to do them.
Even if it's as small as sending a Happy Holidays email to all your customers, it's something. It
shows you care; it shows there are real people on the other end of that screen or telephone; and
most importantly, it makes the customer feel welcomed, wanted and valued.
6. Anticipate Your Client's Needs & Go Out Of Your Way to Help Them Out

Sometimes this is easier said than done! However, achieving this supreme level of understanding
with your clients will do wonders for your working relationship.
7. Honor Your Promises
It's possible this is the most important point in this article. The simple message: when you
promise something, deliver. Clients don't like to be disappointed. Sometimes, something may not
get done, or you might miss a deadline through no fault of your own. Projects can be late,
technology can fail and sub-contractors don't always deliver on time. In this case a quick apology
and assurance it'll be ready ASAP wouldn't go a miss.

2.4 IMPORTANCE OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

IMP ORT
A NCE

Its cheaper to retain custom ers than acquire new ones

It reduces negative w ord of m outh

It increases custom er lifetime value

Its a point of differentiation

Its a leading indica tor of consum er repurchase intentions and loyalty

It reduces customer churn

1. Its a leading indicator of consumer repurchase intentions and loyalty

Customer satisfaction is the best indicator of how likely a customer will make a purchase in the
future. Asking customers to rate their satisfaction on a scale of 1-10 is a good way to see if they
will become repeat customers or even advocates.
Any customers that give you a rating of 7 and above, can be considered satisfied, and you can
safely expect them to come back and make repeat purchases. Customers who give you a rating of
9 or 10 are your potential customer advocates who you can leverage to become evangelists for
your company.
Scores of 6 and below are warning signs that a customer is unhappy and at risk of leaving. These
customers need to be put on a customer watch list and followed up so you can determine why
their satisfaction is low

2. Its a point of differentiation

In a competitive marketplace where businesses compete for customers; customer satisfaction is
seen as a key differentiator. Businesses who succeed in these cut-throat environments are the
ones that make customer satisfaction a key element of their business strategy.

3. It reduces customer churn

An Accenture global customer satisfaction report (2008) found that price is not the main reason
for customer churn; it is actually due to the overall poor quality of customer service.
Customer satisfaction is the metric you can use to reduce customer churn. By measuring and
tracking customer satisfaction you can put new processes in place to increase the overall quality
of your customer service.

4. It increases customer lifetime value

A study by InfoQuest found that a totally satisfied customer contributes 2.6 times more revenue
than a somewhat satisfied customer. Furthermore, a totally satisfied customer contributes 14
times more revenue than a somewhat dissatisfied customer.
Satisfaction plays a significant role in how much revenue a customer generates for your business.

5. It reduces negative word of mouth

Customer satisfaction is tightly linked to revenue and repeat purchases. What often gets forgotten
is how customer satisfaction negatively impacts your business. Its one thing to lose a customer
because they were unhappy. Its another thing completely to lose 20 customers because of some
bad word of mouth.
To eliminate bad word of mouth you need to measure customer satisfaction on an ongoing
basis. Tracking changes in satisfaction will help you identify if customers are actually happy
with your product or service.

6. Its cheaper to retain customers than acquire new ones

This is probably the most publicized customer satisfaction statistic out there. It costs six to seven
times more to acquire new customers than it does to retain existing customers. Customers cost a
lot of money to acquire.

2.5 CUSTOMER LOYALTY

Obtaining a thorough understanding of customer loyalty is a prerequisite for the execution of the
research at hand. For that, the development of customer loyalty research within the framework of
relationship marketing will be presented first, before different customer loyalty concepts will be
introduced. From these concepts, a definition of customer loyalty for use in this study will be
derived, before both consequences and antecedents of customer loyalty will be portrayed.
Since the beginning of the 1990s, customer loyalty has gained importance both in relationship
marketing research and in business. In business, this can be attributed to changing market- and
competition-environments. Due to a shift from a sellers to a buyers market and because of an
increasing degree of globalization, most industries find themselves confronted with new
challenges. In a first phase, firms tried to face these challenges by focusing on their internal
processes and organizational structures, trying to achieve cost reductions by concentrating on
internal improvements. A second phase of external focus followed, where firms directed attention
to their customers, trying to retain existing ones and to win over new ones (churning). Since
acquiring new customers is much more expensive than keeping them. And loyal customers
are the bedrock of any business. A loyal customer base represents a barrier to entry, a basis for a
price premium, time to respond to competitor innovations, and a bulwark against deleterious
price competition. Loyalty is critical to brand volume, is highly correlated to market share, and

can be used as the basis of predicting future market share; consequently, understanding loyalty
appears critical to any meaningful analysis of marketing strategy.
In marketing research, two trends mark the development of customer loyalty. While individual
transactions initially were in the center of marketing research, the focus shifted towards
analyzing relationships states that the traditional marketing concept of the marketing mix with
its 4 Ps, developed in the middle of the last century, had been the established approach until the
1990s.
This approach, how-ever, focuses solely on transactions, a deficit tackled by the relationship
marketing approach. At the core of it is the study of relationships between buyers and sellers of
goods or services, in contrast to merely examining transactions. An often cited and
comprehensive definition of relationship marketing is provided Relationship marketing refers to
all marketing activities directed toward establishing, developing, and maintaining successful
relational exchanges. Therefore, the relationship marketing approach pro-vides a suitable
environment in which customer loyalty research can be nested.
While the development of relationship marketing began in the early 1970s, it was not until the
late 1980s that works from the Nordic School of Services. Initiated a paradigm shift that geared
marketing towards the creation, conservation, and extension of buyer-seller relationships.
Although relationship marketing today is widely accepted among marketing researchers, its
promoters do not postulate the replacement of the transactional approach, but rather juxtapose
the two approaches. For example, delineates a strategy continuum, in which different goods
require different degrees of transaction- and relationship-based marketing strategies. As a result
of the focus on relationships in marketing research, customer loyalty gained importance within
research.

Before determining which stream the present study can be associated with, however, it is
important to create a clear understanding of different customer loyalty concepts prevalent in
research. This will be accomplished in the following section.
Reviewing research, it becomes obvious that the notion of customer loyalty is blurred. At its
core, customer loyalty deals with relationships between suppliers and their customers and can be
distinguished from other loyalty aspects, such as brand loyalty, which refer to a more abstract
attachment, such as that towards a brand. Within German customer loyalty literature, the notion
of customer loyalty is even more faceted, encompasses both customer loyalty and customer
retention distinguishes an active, supplier-focused component and a passive, customer focused
component of customer loyalty.
In the supplier-focused perspective, customer loyalty is seen as a bundle of measures that aim at
improving relationships with customers. The supplier is in the center of attention and the
customer is only regarded as the factor at which success of customer loyalty becomes manifest.
Here it becomes clear that this approach contains a conceptual deficit. It is the customer who
eventually decides on whether customer loyalty management is successful or not, because all
activities undertaken by a supplier can only be geared at influencing customers to be loyal. A
customer-focused perspective therefore has to be added to evaluate the success of customer
loyalty management.
Within the customer-focused perspective, customer loyalty is conceptualized taking into account
customers complex characteristics. These can either be approached as customers directly
observable actions and/or take into account their attitudes and intentions. Since customers
actions are directly influenced by their attitudes and intentions, it is obvious that these have to be
scrutinized to understand and manage loyalty. A third perspective is a synthesis of the former two

approaches. The relationship-focused perspective directly examines the relationship between

suppliers and customers. Accordingly, the objects of study in this perspective usually are buying
behavior in retail contexts and long-term relationships marked by frequent interaction between
suppliers and buyers in industrial contexts.

Behaviorist customer loyalty concepts

Behaviorist concepts of customer loyalty have been at the core of early marketing research and
focus on customers observable behavior, as e.g. in purchasing behavior. Accordingly, customer
loyalty is established, when customers demonstrate consistency in their choice of supplier or
brand. Hard-core loyalty, when one product alternative is exclusively repurchased and of
reinforcing loyalty, when customers switch among brands but repeat-purchase one or more
alternatives to a significant extent. Similarly, customer loyalty as the proportion of times a
purchaser chooses the same product or service in a specific category compared to the total
number of purchases made by the purchaser in that category. Pegging customer loyalty to
purchasing behavior, however, is very critical; there can be a multitude of factors affecting
purchasing behavior, such as product availability or special deals, which are not grasped by
looking at purchases alone. A main deficit of the behaviorist approach thus is that it does not look
at the drivers behind purchasing behavior. Another disadvantage of behaviorist customer loyalty
concepts is their ex-post approach. When loyalty is only expressed through purchases,
information on customers actual loyalty status in between purchases is not available.
Consequently, decreasing loyalty is only recognized after it manifests itself through changed
purchasing behavior. Only in relationships with frequent interaction can a supplier integrate
further aspects, such as complaints, into customer loyalty management. The reason, why
behaviorist concepts may still be valuable, is because the measurement of customer loyalty in

this approach does not necessitate involvement by the customer. The assessment of attitudes and
intentions would always imply customers cooperation through participation in surveys. By
simply recording purchases, e.g. through delivery records in the industrial context or customer
cards in a consumer context; the assessment of customer loyalty poses little difficulty.
Particularly in areas, where most purchases can be easily ascribed to individual customers, as is
the case with mail-ordering or book-stores on the internet, the behaviorist approach is useful for
identifying different customer groups and their characteristics. Such firms, however, can only
assess purchases of their own products, while purchases of competing products go unnoticed.
Firms can therefore neither draw conclusions about relative changes of purchasing behaviors, nor
evaluate their comparative market position.

Neo-behaviorist customer loyalty concepts

These narrow technical definitions do not adequately capture the richness and depth of the
loyalty construct implicit in a relational framework. Consequently, neo-behaviorist customer
loyalty concepts start at the shortcomings of the behaviorist approach by examining the causes of
loyalty. As early as 1969, Day concluded that loyalty should be evaluated with both attitudinal
and behavioral criteria otherwise accidental repeat-purchases, merely resulting from situational
exigencies, would be regarded as indicators of loyalty. There is no agreement, however, on the
question, whether attitudes are part of customer loyalty or merely an antecedent of it. Some
authors propose that only positive attitude can lead to true customer loyalty. If attitude then is a
necessary prerequisite of customer loyalty, some drivers of loyalty cannot be explained.
Transaction cost theory, for instance, provides the concept of asset specificity. Relationshipspecific investments create economic switching barriers and therefore increase customer loyalty.
However, the mere repeat purchase of goods or services for reasons of economic constraints

would not qualify as loyalty, as positive attitudes are not involved. In order to avoid the outlined
problem, it is useful to abstain from defining positive attitude to be a necessary antecedent of
loyalty. Instead, researchers usually consider intentions and observable behavior to be the
constituting elements of customer loyalty.

2.6 DETERMINANTS OF CUSTOMER LOYALTY

In order to be able to gear marketing activities towards the creation of customer loyalty, its
determinants and their precise effects have to be known. Accordingly, many researchers have
investigated this topic. In order to gain an overview of the determinants identified in these works,
they can be structured in three dimensions:
(1) Company-related determinants refer to the supplier itself or to the goods or services offered.
It is a prerequisite for the existence of customer loyalty that the offered goods or services create
utility for the customer and that they are

available. In this respect, an assessment is usually

performed by examining quality. In order to evaluate the price-performance ratio, customers will
pay

attention

to

prices.

Customer

loyalty

will

also

be

influenced

by

the

reputation a company has and ultimately by customer loyalty programs offered.

(2) Relationship-related determinants play a significant role in long-term relationships. Factors
regarding the interaction between supplier and customer, such as relationship quality, previous
experiences, and trust are important. Commitment, which provides evidence of emotional
closeness and moral or normative feelings of obligation, takes a central role in relationships.
Specificity and dependence can lead to economic, psychological and social switching barriers.
(3) Customer-related determinants are mainly influenced by customers characteristics. In this
respect, affect and involvement, and consequently also the importance of the good or service to
the customer, are important.

Addition to the above delineated areas, the effects of the market environment and competition
are researched, as is the link between satisfaction and loyalty, which plays an important role in
the research of customer loyalty and is often placed in one of the three dimensions. However, as
most other determinants influence satisfaction, it cannot be clearly separated and should
therefore be

listed as a distinct category.

2.7 OBJECTIVES OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION PROGRAMME

Our Programs are research based, built on the three corner stones of customer satisfaction:
product quality, process and procedural quality, and relationship quality. Our typical program
assesses specific issues under each component, for example:
Product Quality

meets or exceeds expectations

state-of-the-art technology

validated, tested, & simulated to client specifications

competitive pricing

enhance customer value

Procedural Quality

ease of ordering

accurate fulfillment

inventory meets needs

on time delivery

environmentally friendly packing

packaged to prevent damage in shipment

ease of tracking

appropriate adjustment/return policy

order-through-delivery process bests competition

Relationship Quality

product knowledgeable contacts

knowledgeable about client needs

communicates at client knowledge level

one-stop problem resolution

problems solved at the root cause

legendary customer service benchmarks competition

The tailored Programs provide direct, statistically valid, comparison data of you to your
competition on the following actionable areas:

Responsiveness

Competitiveness

Innovativeness

Quality

Customer Service

Long Term Partnering

It accurately quantifies your competitive strengths and weaknesses from your customers'
perspective. Using the data, it will help you focus strategic efforts to retain and increase market
share. The programs also provide direct measure of the effectiveness of initiatives your
organization has implemented during prior year (after first year's participation). That is, you will

have quantifiable internal benchmarks (in addition to the external competitive benchmarks) on
the repeat annual surveys to judge progress based on actions you have taken during the previous
12 months.

TABLE SHOWING KEY FACTORS FOR CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

COMPANY FUNCTION

QUALITY FACTORS
Product

Sales

Knowledge
Brochure detail

Marketing

Mailing frequently
Order Delivery time

Distribution

Order Completeness
Problem Response Time

After Sales

Time to Resolve
Accuracy

Accounts

Problem Response
Courtesy

2.8 CUSTOMER CARE AND SALES PROCESSES

Service organizations are particularly dependent on levels of customer care, as the people
element in the marketing mix reflects. Customer care can play an equally important role,
however, in manufacturing, production and other organizations providing goods and services.

For customer care programs to be successful they need to span the entire organization. Popular
guarantees 100% customer satisfaction and has, over the years, developed a more conscientious
approach to individual customers. There is Customer care training provided. Though this may
initially be a very lengthy process as the ball starts rolling through all sectors of the organization
and costs will grow too, as further investment is required to update and maintain the initiative in
the future. To provide an effective customer care services, every employee is highly motivated.
There are frequent internal newsletters circulated which strengthens the bond throughout the
organization. Frequent performance appraisal throughout the organization is conducted to
evaluate the employees and provide career developmental opportunities to potential employees.
The customer care program at Popular mainly have six main stages, as follows:
1. Objectives setting: For every month, target sales will be fixed by the Sales Manager at the
showroom.
2. Current situation analysis: Present industrial trend is observed closely and various
promotional offers are introduced to boost sales if there is a chance for a slump in sales.
Also, a customer service audit is conducted both internally and externally. Monthly sales
targets fixed by the Sales Manager.
3. Strategy development: Develop a strategy for raising levels of both customer service and
sales from the current to the desired standard based upon any change in trends and the
economic conditions prevailing. Each region is divided into 4 zones. Each zonal level will
be under the charge of a supervisor under whom there are four sales executives. It is the
duty of these sales executives to generate on field enquiries and to follow up the customers
based on the appointment fixed.

4. Functional planning: Define training needs and other requirements such problem-solving
sessions or teambuilding exercise to execute the strategy. Daily, a meeting of all the staffs
at their respective branch is convened. Here they discuss their daily programs and targets to
meet plus they also discuss about their previous days work among the team. They consider
the response of all the individual customers met.
5. Implementation: Implement training and other initiatives through workshops, seminars.
The prospective customers are segregated and the issues raised by certain customers will
also be addressed. Some customers may not be satisfied with the present offers and price.
In such cases efforts will be put up to make maximum adjustments and convert it to sales.
6. Monitoring: Results are tested through customer and employee surveys and evaluation of
the training methods is also conducted. The program is improved and updated on a
continuous basis.

2.9 HANDLING CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS

A complaint is any measure of dissatisfaction with your product or service, even if its unfair,
untrue, or painful to hear! Complaints may be about:
Service Content, Delivery or Quality

Response Time

Documentation

Personnel

Billing

Communication

Follow Up

Requests

This is a customer complaint resolution process that anyone can implement:

Focus on the Customer

If you cant immediately solve the problem, respond to the customer and identify an owner
who will be responsible for final resolution. Complete the communications loop with customer.
If youve referred the complaint to others, make sure theres closure. If youve left the customer
hanging without a response, youve become part of the problem.
Focus on the Complaint
Collect all complaints from all external customers and categorize them in a way that allows you
to analyze data to see trends, patterns, concentrations, tendencies, etc.
Focus on Process Improvement
Use the database of complaints to define processes that are important from the customers
perspective and to improve the most critical ones. Based on analysis of the database, make
appropriate investments to prevent issues that result in customer complaints. If you can think of
complaints as useful data for making process improvements in your organization, you will go a
long way towards making changes that will differentiate you and make your work life easier,
more fun, and more responsive to customer needs.

2.10 SIX STEPS TO DEALING WITH DIS-SATISFIED CUSTOMERS

1. Listen carefully to what the customer has to say, and let them finish-Don't get defensive.
The customer is not attacking you personally; he or she has a problem and is upset. Repeat back
what you are hearing to show that you have listened.
2. Ask questions in a caring and concerned manner-The more information you can get from
the customer, the better you will understand his or her perspective. Ive learned its easier to ask
questions than to jump to conclusions.

3. Put yourself in their shoes-As a business owner, your goal is to solve the problem, not argue.
The customer needs to feel like youre on his or her side and that you empathize with the
situation.
4. Apologize without blaming-When a customer senses that you are sincerely sorry, it usually
diffuses the situation. Don't blame another person or department. Just say, "I'm sorry about that.
5. Ask the customer, "What would be an acceptable solution to you?"-Whether or not the
customer knows what a good solution would be, Ive found its best to propose one or more
solutions to alleviate his or her pain. Become a partner with the customer in solving the problem.
6. Solve the problem, or find someone who can solve it quickly!-Research indicates that
customers prefer the person they are speaking with to instantly solve their problem. When
complaints are moved up the chain of command, they become more expensive to handle and
only add to the customer's frustration.

CHAPTER-3
COMPANY PROFILE

3.1 CORPORATE PROFILE

Established in 1990 and headquartered at Bangalore, DTDC has 7 Zonal offices, 20 strategically
located Regional Offices and over 430 operating facilities spread across India. DTDC has now

embarked upon its journey of transforming its identity from an Express Document Player to an
Integrated Parcels driven business through its strategic partnership with Geo post's DPD group Europe's second largest Parcels Delivery player.
The brand name is now being re-christened to DTDC Express Limited as the company focuses to
enhance their expertise in the logistics sector under their Vision 2020 program.
The strategy behind the repositioning of the brand is to project DTDC as a complete express
logistics player that delivers significant value in the markets that it operates in across the globe.
DTDC Express Limited has its presence in more than 500 district headquarters through its large
network of more than 8000+ franchisees and extends services to over 10,000 Pin codes while
handling more than 12 million shipments every month. DTDC Express Limited is an ISO
9001:2008 company, as certified by DNV.
DTDC Express Limited also has a significant global footprint and services 220 international
locations including USA, UK, Canada, UAE, Hong Kong, Australia, China and all Asian
countries, through its own operations, joint ventures and business associates.
A key part of the success of DTDCs network is the contribution of its people. It comprises of a
family of 35,000 people including employees, franchisees and their associates who are
committed to its spirit of service

3.2 HISTORY OF COMPANY

DTDCs journey through the years has been full of milestones, growth and pushing the
boundaries often. With many firsts to its credit, DTDC has constantly strived to not just grow as
an organization but also set an industry benchmark. A small glimpse of our journey thus far, is as
below:
1990: Inception of DTDC by Mr. Subhasish Chakraborty, Founder and CMD; Incorporate as
Private Limited Company
1994: Converted as Public Limited Company
2000: Opening of DTDC US, UK and Dubai offices
2003: Revenue crossed the 100-cr. mark
2005-06: Private equity investment in DTDC by Reliance ADAG
2007: Revenue crossed the 200-cr. mark
2008-10: Launch of Premium Express Products (PEP), VAS and SCS
2009: Beginning of a countrywide re-branding exercise for all its retail touch-points; ISO:9000
certification
2010: Established subsidiary company DTDC Retail Ltd. and its Convenience Services concept
brand DTDC New World; SAP implemented; Revenue crossed the 300-cr. mark
2011: Strengthening of DTDCs international network in South East Asia and Middle East
2011: Formation of the Shri Subhasish Chakraborty Foundation, DTDCs CSR initiative engine
2012: First ever Indian express company to establish a joint venture in China; First ever
acquisition by an Indian Express Company outside India, with DTDC acquiring a majority stake
in Euro star Express of UAE

3.3 VISION

To focus on Customer Loyalty and make it the goal of our Organization.

To encourage our people for adoption of new technologies, processes and systems for
improved, reliable and speedy service.

To relentlessly monitor to reach a minimum net service level of 98% delivery.

3.4 MISSION

To be the most Admired and Successful Express Distribution Company in India by

meeting and exceeding our Customers' expectation of services

Achieving superior and consistent results.

Creating a conducive environment to hone and retain talent.
Providing customer delight.

3.5 SWOT ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS
Domestic tracking via internet, SMS

DTDCs E commerce solution that

helps with system generated bar-coded

WEAKNESS
Does not own freighter aircraft.
Still developing its overseas expansion.
Repeat deliveries leading to higher cost

way
Bill at the customers destination
facilitating an easy process.
Customers can schedule a courier pickup
Get customized rate quotes
Customer can create customized
shipment reports

OPPORTUNITIES

Growth potential is high

THREATS

Maintain quality services

Profit margin is good

Demand of consumers

is

Increase number of competitor

ever

increasing

3.6 SERVICES OF DTDC

Domestic services
International services
Premium express
Supply chain solution
International freight
New world retail
Priority solution

3.7 COMPETITORS OF DTDC

DHL

ELBEE

GATI

FED EX

3.8 AWARDS AND RECOGNITION

DTDC has been honoured with several awards and recognitions by the industry.
Some of the recent awards and recognitions include:

DTDC was awarded the Best Franchisor Award in the country for the 8th time by Franchi
se India

DTDC was named India's Most Trusted Courier Service Brand by The Brand Trust
report TM - India Study 2013 published by Trust Research Advisory.

DTDC was named Best CIO Company in Asia, 2012

Udyog Rattan Award by Institute of Economic Studies for outstanding performance in in

dustrial development in the country for the year 2009.

Excellent Achievers Award for the year 2009 from The Bengalee Association for
Mr. Subhasish Chakraborty's contribution in the Business Field

Sushil Dhar Memorial Award for the year 2009 presented to CMD, Mr. Subhasish Chakra
bory by Rotary Club of Bangalore in recognition of his business excellency and innovatio
n in the Express industry.

DTDC was represented at the CII Human Resources Management Mission by its Chairm
an and delivered a presentation on Best HR Practices in the year 2005.

CHAPTER-4
RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY

4.1 PROBLEM STATEMENT

To make a comprehensive study on customer satisfaction towards DTDC

4.2 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

To analyze the attitude and the perception of people towards the DTDC services.
To know the satisfaction level regarding the price and service ability of the company
To know the perception level of company image.
To know the degree of satisfaction regarding the courier services offered.
To understand customer preferences.

4.3 TYPE OF RESEARCH

Descriptive type research has used to complete the project. This research is based on fact finding
enquires and the variables are totally independent and uncontrollable.

4.4 DATA COLLECTION

Broadly there are two methods of data collection: Primary data collection method
Secondary data collection method
PRIMARY DATA
Primary source of data implies collection of data from its source of origin. It offers you first-hand
quantitative information relating to your statistical study. Primary data of research are collected
from direct resources through questionnaire.
SECONDARY DATA
Secondary source of data implies collection of data from some agency or institution which
already happens to have collected the data through statistical survey(s). It does not offer you
first-hand information relating to your statistical study. You are to rely on the information which
already exists.
Secondary Data which are used for research to know the history scope of Retail industry are
collected from already available resources like net and other sources

4.5 UNIVERSE
Universe of this research is dtdc customer of North Delhi.

4.6 SAMPLING TECHNIQUE

Random sampling is used for research project. Have given equal weight ages to my all
respondent and chose them randomly without any biased like gender, age, income culture.

4.7 SAMPLE SIZE

120 respondents has selected as sample size for research.

4.8 SAMPLE UNIT

Customer has selected as sample unit for research.

4.9 DATA REPRESENTATION TECHNIQUE AND TOOLS

Columns chart & Pie chart has been used for representation.

4.10 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

To know the market, the sample size of customers should be big enough so that it represents
the POPULATION.
The above was not possible because of shortage of time and less number of customers in the

market who can give authentic information about Accord segment market.
Questionnaire has been filled by those only which could be easily accessed.
It is totally based on personal efforts of individuals.
Some of the consumers are unable to understand the questionnaire.
Language is one of the worst problem, some of the consumers are unable to understand

English.
Some consumers are not interested in filling questionnaire.