The Baron group entered the Indian consumer durables market in December 1994, and the markets were never the same again

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 Marketing Managementinfo_at_casestudyhelp.in91
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•  Marketing Management
•  
• CASE STUDY (20 Marks)
• The Baron group entered the Indian consumer
  durables market in December 1994, and the markets
  were never the same again. Over the next few
  years, at the corporate offices of competitors
  like Videocon, Philips and Mirc Electronics, it
  was the same story they were all making
  frenzied attempts to hold on to declining market
  shares. Baron's initial product offering, an Akai
  color television (CTV), was priced at Rs 13,000 -
  while the market price was Rs 16,500. This was
  clubbed with an exchange1 offer on old music
  systems and TVs and free-gift schemes whereby
  14-inch CTVs, mobile-phones, refrigerators and
  Bajaj Sunny mopeds were offered free on the
  purchase of a 21-inch CTV.

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• These moves, combined with Baron's
  full-page advertisements that appeared regularly
  in the national media, lured buyers all over the
  country. The move changed the CTV market share
  pattern very soon, with Akai's sales increasing
  from 2500 CTVs in 1993-94 to 4.29 lakh CTVs in
  1997-98. In December 1998, Baron repeated the
  success story with the Aiwa brand in the hi-fi
  audio systems segment. Within 5 months of the
  launch, Aiwa replaced Philips as the segment
  leader, garnering a 45 market share, as compared
  to Philips' 17.2 share. The launch of the TCL
  range of consumer electronics in 1999 also took
  the market by storm as the China based TCL was
  known for its dirt-cheap products.

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• With almost every new scheme and every new
  tie-up, Baron unleashed a new war in the Indian
  consumer electronics market. A majority of the
  players began indulging in 'one-upmanship' on the
  pricing and promotion fronts. However, they soon
  realized that it was not very easy to match
  Baron's schemes and prices. The question on
  everyone's mind was the same. How did Baron do
  it? The Mulchandani family (Baron group)had
  started its consumer electronics business in the
  1970s. The group began with marketing and
  distributing products under the Bush brand name.
  Under the leadership of J.R.Mulchandani, Bush
  emerged as one of the top brands in the audio
  cassette player market. However, in the next two
  decades, Bush failed to withstand the onslaught
  of companies that were financially superior and
  had greater marketing savvy.

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• Answer the following question.
•  
• Q1. Give detailed reasons for the boost in sales
  of Akai color televisions marketed by The Baron
  group.
•  
• Q2. What was the marketing strategy adopted by
  the Baron group to boost sales.

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