L&T Electrical and Automation conducted research to determine the feasibility of adding plugs and sockets to its product portfolio. The research found that the Chennai market has high annual demand for industrial plugs and sockets, especially in industries, malls, hospitals and metro projects. It was determined that L&T should target these industries and price its products competitively to gain market share from companies like Siemens, ABB and Legrand. The optimal distribution channels identified were through stockists and retailers.

1. L & T Electrical and Automation
Feasibility of Plug & Socket
Submitted by:
Rahul Raman
General Management
Christ University

2. TASKS ASSIGNED
 To provide the company with an information of
annual demand (approx) of the product.
 Help the company in making the decision of
whether they should add this product in their
portfolio or not.
 If ‘No’ then providing the company with reason of
doing so.
 If ‘Yes’ then helping the company to determine the
channel of distribution, Target Segment and
pricing of the product.
Work done for completion of above task are follwing:
*The places visited are in the next slide

3. Metro
&Railwa
ys
• Visited CMRL which is in the completion stage and also visited southern railway
headquater.
Malls &
Tech
parks
• Visited HI-STYLE,MAXX,PHONEIX
• Visited S P INFOCITY,RMZ MILLENIA,KG 360,IITM RESEARCH,TIDEL
PARK,ASENDAS,PRINCE IFO CITY,RAMANUJAN IT CITY,COGNIZANT
OFFICE,HCL
Local
Market
• Visited Many shops in the govindappa Naichen street in perrys corner which is well
known for switchgear market.Met the dealersand stokiest of ABB,Legrand and got
through many local brands.
Industrie
s
• Andrew Yule & Co Ltd, Kumari Engineering Works, Sriram Industries, Engineering
Electronics & Generation, J K Engineering Works, Samco Engineering Co P LTD, R
S Engineering Works, Uma Engineering
Hotels/R
estauran
ts
• visited HILTON,GRT Grand,ITC Grand Chola etc.
• Visited restaurants like KFC,MURUGAN,SWIRL etc.
Hospital
s/Banks
• Apollo hospital,City hospital,central bank of india &state bank of india and some of
their ATMs.

4. Annual demand of the plug & socket

5.  From the graph based on the survey of effective
sample size of 50 we can say that most of the
requirement of industrial plugs and sockets lies
between the range of 0-50 per year because of
the high quality and less usage of the product in
various fields and markets mostly in city hospitals
and restaurants ATM’s.
 50-100 is the range for malls and hotels ,similarly,
the high end requirement i.e from 100-200+ is
basically more in industries where there are
heavy equipments and big projects which goes
on a regular basis .

6. Which IP number is preferred:
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative
Percent
Valid
IP 44 17 32.7 40.5 40.5
IP 56 2 3.8 4.8 45.2
IP 65 9 17.3 21.4 66.7
IP 66 12 23.1 28.6 95.2
IP 67 2 3.8 4.8 100.0
Total
42 80.8 100.0
Missing System
10 19.2
Total
52 100.0

7. Hence it can be seen that IP-44 has the highest demand among all the other
variants, due to its reasonable pricing and usage, next comes IP-66 whose
demand is fairly high even though the price is high because of the fact that it
is waterproof, next is IP-65 which is also being waterproof has descent
demand.
The table shows the demand of IP numbers in terms of percentage, as
discussed above IP-44 has highest usage percentage of 40.5% with IP-66
being the follower with 28.6%.

8. Significance
values.
Annual
demand
Brand name quality feature discount price design
Annual
demand
1 0.666 0.890 0.074 0.003 0.079 0.000
Brand name 0.666 1 0.549 0.039 0.321 0.001 0.382
Quality 0.89 0.549 1 0.231 0.023 0.000 0.398
Feature 0.074 0.039 0.231 1 0.041 0.033 0.301
discount 0.003 0.321 0.023 0.041 1 0.235 0.010
Price 0.079 0.001 0.000 0.033 0.235 1 0.163
Design 0.000 0.382 0.398 0.301 0.010 0.163 1
Correlation table

9. Correlation table help us to understand the relation between the two
variables and their significance with respect to the sale and demand.
It also helps in taking prolific decisions for the company.
A change in one variable in significance with the other variable may help to
decide what action to be taken on other related variable.
Rules
The significance value i.e “P”value should be less than 0.05 for the relation
between two variables to be significant.
Values such as 0.000,0.001 which are way smaller than 0.05 are highly
significant values where are values such as 0.03,0.04 are less significant.

10. Analysis-
•For the company to increase the annual demand of their industrial plug and socket
they have to focus on the design of the plugs and sockets as both these variables are
highly significant(0.000), a good design can increase the demand for the products.
•The annual demand is also subjected to the discount offered by the retailer to the
customer, as both these variables are highly significant(0.003),a reasonable discount by
the retailer on products can influence the buyer for buying more but it should be
noticed that the discount offered may not put the production cost high as compared to
selling price.
•Brand name and price are highly significant(0.000) which means that pricing of the
product has to be efficient ,if the price is high it should match the features offered then
and should not be higher than the competitor given the fact that company should look
into its production cost as well.
•Quality and price are highly significant (0.000) hence a reduction in quality may bring
the price of the product down and similarly on increasing the price company should
look at increasing the quality, there should not be any compromise in the quality aspect

11. Current market composition

12.  From the pie chart we can clearly see that the
Siemens is the market leader as many companies
are using different products of which one of their
plug & socket are from Siemens.
 In the chart the others means the local product
like mennekes and the Chinese products.
 Legrand and Neptune bals are with same
percentage.
 Schneider market share is very less here in
Chennai market.
 ABB is kind of present in quite good percentage.

13. what is the price that you are paying for current plug& socket
Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid 200-250 2 3.9 4.0 4.0
350-450 9 17.6 18.0 22.0
450-550 7 13.7 14.0 36.0
550-650 10 19.6 20.0 56.0
650 above 22 43.1 44.0 100.0
Total 50 98.0 100.0
Missing System 1 2.0
Total 51 100.0
Feasible Price

14. Continued…..
 Now from this table it is evident that 43% of the customers are paying
above 650 rupees which includes the heavy users like the High end
industries,Chennai Metro,Railways and the brand conscious customers
who doesn’t care much about the pricing and all other stuffs.
 After that the 550-650 range it also constitutes of medium
industries.This includes the hospitals and the plastic making industries
and the mid range industries.
 The third highest is the 350-450 range as it is the shopping malls and
the tech parks.They use very less number of industrial plug & socket as
mostly they are using the general ones.
 And after that the 450-550 range this generally given by those who are
using the 32A-3pins as it is the cheaper as compared to other
products.
 Last one the lowest range is given by the low grade industries and the
households who doesn’t use give high loads and thinks it as any
ordinary product.
 So, generally the feasible price range is 650 above but I would suggest
the company should come up with segment wise product like low,mid
and high ranges.And they should offer discount as in the visiting time I
have seen people going for discount very easily and if L&T kind of big
name come with discount and segment wise product people will
definetly go for it.

15. Suggested price
 Volume based prices. Competitors are also willing to give higher
discounts to their dealers and customers when faced with bigger
volumes. Hence case to case volume based pricing to be followed..
 Bundling up strategy is required to be taken up. As far as the panel
builders and system houses are concerned they buy products for
specific projects where a lot of line items will be used and hence
 the price offered should be bundled to remain competitive.
 Loyalty schemes and turn over discount to motivate and retain
customers
 Company can go for Premium pricing as done by the players like
Siemens, Legrand & ABB. Where as companies like Teknic and
Neptune have opted to go for Cost Based pricing.
 The best way to price the Product for L &T can be to go for Value
Based Pricing. The company needs to calculate the value that the
consumer will be getting by consuming this product and based on
that they can price their product. it is important that the company
should be able to measure the value in the quantitative terms.

16. The target market
Industries
Metro&railways
Shopping malls/Tech
parks
Hospitals/ATMs
Hotels & restaurants

17. what is the channel of purchasing plug & socket?
Frequenc
y Percent
Valid
Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Valid direct from
company
2 3.9 4.0 4.0
stockiest/distribut
or 23 45.1 46.0 50.0
wholesaler
17 33.3 34.0 84.0
retailer
8 15.7 16.0 100.0
Total
50 98.0 100.0
Missing System
1 2.0
Total
51 100.0
Channel for distribution

18.  From the above figure we can say that the best
channel to sell the product through
stockiest/distributor and the big names are buying
through this channel.
 Then comes the wholesaler with 33.3% which is
also a good channel to sell and then comes the
retailer and in the last direct from companies.So I
would suggest that L&T should go with stockiest
 And then the retailer. L&T should ensure that the
network should be present in most places.

19. Current position of companies in Plug & socket market
High price
Wide product Range Narrow product range
Low price
Siemens
Mennkes
Local &chinese
Scheinder
Neptune bals
ABB
Legrand

20. Positioning
Positioning of a product plays a crucial role while launching a product. Positioning strategy is vital to
provide focus while launching a product in the market. There are various approaches to position the
product but when we talk about Industrial Plugs & Sockets following positioning approach is best
suitable for the company.
•Product Characteristics or Consumer Benefits
L &T can go for this approach of positioning where they can make a product that can be somewhat
different from the product of the competitors. The differentiation can be in terms of characteristic
of the product i.e. Shape, Size and Universal Applicability.
Positioning should also be done keeping in mind the benefits that consumers are getting from the
product. benefits that can be given to the customers can be like Ease of use, Better protection from
getting Shocks, Durability etc.
•Positioning by Price & Quality
Companies like Schneider Electric, ABB & Legrand are very well using this particular approach of
positioning. Having a direct competition with these companies in the switchgear market, L&T should
follow the same vary approach while launching Industrial Plugs & Sockets.

21. 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Market cap customer base Industry
apprehension
Price
Siemens
ABB
Neptue bals
Scheinder
Local&chinese
The market share of different companies on various aspects

22. Summary
 Whether L&T should add plug & socket to its portfolio?
 Yes it should add this product as it is more profitable Plug and Socket is
one of the major electrical equipment that is used in many Government
projects, Industries, Hotels, Hospitals and Restraunts. With large
number of Industries, Hotels, Hospitals and most important the
upcoming metro makes this as the best time to launch this product.
 From the research done in this field and by the results I got it is feasible
to launch this product.
 At what price the product should be launched?
 The company should focus upon the premium price range that is above
INR650 as it is the heavy users but to become the market leader
company should use the volume based pricing and the value based
pricing.
 What would be the target market?
 The target market should be industries,hotels,hospitals,tech parks,metro
&rail,restaurants,shopping malls.

23.  Where should the plug & socket should be positioned?
 Product should be positioned according to price and quality of
the product.L&T should focus upon the different product for
different market segment.The price should be based upon the
chracteristics of the product.
 What should be the required channel of distribution?
 The channel feasible will be the stockiest and through retailer as
they are selling the product using their own sources.