Pvr Cinemas Essay

INTRODUCTION Over the last decade, India has registered the fastest growth among major democracies and is now the fourth largest economy in terms of ‘‘purchasing power parity’’.Over the years, spending power has been steadily increasing in India. On an average, 30-40 million people are joining the middle class every year. The consumption spending is rising due to increasing disposable incomes on account of sustained growth in income levels and reduction in personal income tax over the last decade. The Indian Entertainment Industry is expected to significantly benefit from this fast economic growth, as this cyclically sensitive industry grows faster when the economy is expanding. When incomes rise, proportionately more resources get spent on leisure and entertainment than on necessities. Although over 90 years old, the Indian film industry was only accorded the status of an industry in 2000. Consequently, it is only during the last five years that the Indian film industry has been able to attract financing from banks, financial institutions, private equity investors and corporations. Prior to 2000, the industry was almost solely reliant on private and largely individual financing. Although corporatisation of the film industry has started, the film industry is currently largely unorganized and fragmented. Going to the cinema is one of the most popular entertainment options in India. PVR CINEMAS Priya Exhibitors (p) ltd is a part of the diversified Bijili Group, which has interests in transport, finance and construction sectors all over India. After a downturn in the industry in late 80s when the onslaught of video wars at its peak cinema has now been rejuvenated with the latest international trends in cinema exhibition reaching India’s shores swiftly with the arrival of satellite TV. The capitals cosmopolitan audience is becoming increasingly aware of the advanced cinematic technology that enhances the movie going experience and this has whetted their appetite for watching movies on the â€Å"big screen â€Å".To cater to the increasingly sophisticated tastes of the audience Priya exhibitor Pvt Ltd. totally refurbished the existing cinema in June 1991 including installation of a Dolby stereo sound system. They also gained exclusive rights to screen blockbusters from major distributors mainly Warner brothers, 20th century fox, united international pictures, small wo nder then that the cinema has become the focal point for entertainment in the capital for both the young and old attracting over 30,000 patrons a week. Infact, â€Å"Speed† set a national box office world record of Rs.785000 in its first week of screening at PVR (the highest ever for an English film), which is remarkable considering the relatively low price of a cinema ticket in India.Buoyed by the overwhelming success of the cinema after upgrading, Priya exhibitors ltd have taken he next initial step for setting up the first multiplex in the country in a joint venture with Village Roadshow Ltd, Australia’s entertainment corporation.PVR is a brand name synonymous with state-of-the-art cinema exhibition in India. PVR specializes in developing and operating state-of-the-art Multiplexes.PVR Cinemas are the leading cinemas in the country with an emphasis on design, technology and service. Over the last three years, PVR has established itself as a very strong brand associated with movies, quality exhibition and youth-targeted promotions.The company was conceived as a Joint Venture between the Bijli family,headed by Mr. Ajja y Bijli as Indian Promoters and Village Roadshow Limited of Australia, one of the largest multiplex operators in the world with more than 1500 screens under operation. PVR has been a pioneer in multiplex development by setting up India’s first multiplex PVR Anupam4 at Saket in city of Delhi. The company has since grown to become the largest cinema exhibition player in the country and has 5 theatres with 19 screens in city of Delhi/Gurgaon under its operation.The Cinema can boast of the highest box office collections in India for five consecutive years since its opening. Located around the Cinema in the same complex are a number of up-market restaurants, pubs and fast-food eateries that make it a popular youth hangout place and indeed an entertainment experience for the entire family.PVR Priya, a 25-year-old cinema still considered the best Cineplex in Delhi, was completely renovated and brought into the fold of PVR in January 2000. PVR Priya boasts of the highest box office collections in the city of Delhi after PVR Saket. It also has the distinction of having the widest screen in India. Following the tremendous success in South Delhi, PVR expanded to WestDelhi in 2001 with the launch of two new multiplexes — PVR Naraina, and PVR Vikaspuri. PVR Naraina, with four screens and 830 seats, was launched in August 2001. PVR Vikaspuri (3 screens, 921 seats) was launched in November 2001.PVR Group has re-opened one of Delhi’s oldest and most popular cinema hall, Plaza; now known as PVR Plaza. With a seating capacity 22 of 300 seats, the all new single screen auditorium has been renovated and refurbished to bring back its former glory. The cinema, unique in its nature, combines the look and feel of the 50s with the state-of-the-art cinema viewing technologies of today. The most recent addition to the chain is PVR EDM, this three-screen multiplex, located in the popular East Delhi Mall, is equipped with the stateof- the-art technology and is one of its’ kind in the vicinity.The three-screen multiplex has a total seating capacity of 723 seats. It is equipped with the latest THX-approved three-way surround sound system with real life sound effects and state-of-the-art projection facility with the latest Xenon-based technology. The stadium seating arrangement ensures unobstructed viewing from anywhere in the auditorium. STP OF PVR CINEMAS SEGMENTATION On the basis of customer preferences, we may classify PVR under the Clustered category. This is owing to the fact, that out of the entire masses they have clearly defined their target audience and aim to cater to them. Also, PVR is a Concentrated Market because they only cater to the premium movie-going audience i.e. SEC A and SEC B.PVR Cinemas has approx. 22 million movie goers per month Consumer Demographic Segmentation Age: 61% between 18 and 49 Gender: 47% Males / 53% Female Income: 61% have income over 50K Education: 55% of adult movie-going audience has attended/graduated college*. Of these adults, 37% have college degrees or higher Consumer Psychographic Segmentation PVR Movie Goers are people with high resources and can be classified as â€Å"Experiencers† who seek variety and entertainment. Spend a comparatively high proportion of income on fashion, entertainment, and socializing. â€Å"PVR Movie Buffs† generally have the following major tendencies:- -Go outside the home for entertainment -Participate in sports and other active lifestyles -Hard to reach through other traditional media -lighter television and radio users, but heavy internet users -Receptive to advertising in movie theatres, consider as part of their movie going experience Consumer Behavioral Segmentation Usage rate: 1/3 of the population attends the movies one or more times per month. WHAT? 1. What benefits that the customer seeks? – Complete movie going Experience. 2. Factors influence PVR’s demand? – Price, movie, day, time of the day, day of the week, month etc. 3. What function can the product perform for the customer? –Entertainment. 4. What are the important buying criteria? – Price, ambience, placement, quality service, premium positioning, status symbol. 5. What risks does the customer perceives – risk of being overcharged, risk of being in an emergency like fire at the theater. HOW? 1. How does customer buy the product? – Online /Telebooking / In person 2. How long does the buying process take? – Simple and prompt 3. How do the various marketing mix elements influence the customer at each stage of buying? 4. How does product fit in to their lifestyle? – Entertainment product for the premium. 5. How much would they be willing to spend? – PVR had started with tickets being priced at Rs 125 with special counters available for tickets worth Rs 7. Even when all tickets are now priced at Rs 145, there is no change in the amount of customers that PVR receives, which means that people are willing to pay. 6. How much do they buy in one transaction? – Almost always more than 1 ticket. Depends upon the person, movie playing. TARGETING PVR being the first of its kind has always been a market leader and therefore its offering to the customer is Innovative. PVR has premium pricing and they target mainly SEC A and SEC B. PVR has brought to its customers the experience of Luxury Cinema. PVR uses the concentrated method as they have target a much focused audience out of the entire masses. PVR witnessed tremendous success Europe Lounge in Delhi. PVR Cinemas has also recently introduced the concept of luxury viewing to Bangalore. Gold Class Cinemas have been introduced for the first time in India, are two ultra luxurious exclusive auditoriums, each equipped with plush and fully reclining seats and generous legroom. Patrons can also enjoy star like treatment at the exclusive Gold Class lounge which provides an excellent pre cinema experience with scrumptious food and beverages PVR Priya of PVR’s chain use Differentiation method for pricing. It practices different price slabs for different target audience. For instan ce, they have tickets ranging from Rs 45 (for the youth) to Rs 140 (for the upper-class i.e. SEC A). POSITIONING PVR had, and still has a very well planned market position. Its premium positioning affects the customers perceptual positioning. Therefore, they decided on their marketing strategy and pricing, keeping the target market in mind. In case of PVR, they make use of all their tangible elements to prove to their customers that their movie tickets are worth the price they are paying. Also, since some of the other movie theatres (which are not multiplexes) are still offering movies at rates as low as Rs 35, it is the task of its marketer to ensure that PVR comes across as a superior brand in terms of cinema viewing as well as the experience. It’s positioning is evident in its mission statement also which says† A commitment to deliver the best quality cinema viewing Everywhere, Every time.† MARKETING MIX – 7 Ps 1. SERVICE PRODUCT/ SERVICE PACKAGE A product (in the marketing context) may be tangible, intangible or both. In case of services, on the contrary, the tangible component is nil or minimal. In services, there is no or very little tangible element because of which they are considered as benefits, which are offered to the target market. First, a service is a bundle of features and secondly, there benefits and features have relevance for a specific target market. Therefore while developing a service product, it is important that the package of benefits in the service offer must have a customers perspective. 5 product levels are as follows:Core Benefit is the MOVIES that the customer comes to a cinema hall for,along with the attendant experience of PVR. The expected product in PVR’s case would be ambience, hygiene, good service, parking, candy bar etc.PVR has augmented its product offerings: * Luxury cinema PVR has brought to its customers the experience of luxury cinema.After the tremendous success of Cinema Europa in Delhi, PVR Cinemas has introduced the concept of luxury viewing to Bangalore as well. Gold Class Cinemas have been introduced for the first time in India, are two ultra luxurious exclusive auditoriums, each equipped with 32 plush and fully reclining seats and generous legroom. Patrons can also enjoy star like treatment at the exclusive Gold Class lounge which provides an excellent pre cinema experience with scrumptious food and beverages. * Bulk Bookings There are special arrangements for bulk bookings (of twenty or more tickets) done by corporates. Details can be filled online and PVR executives themselves get in touch with the concerned people. * E-booking and tele-booking PVR also provides the factility of e-booking, which was first started by PVR, it has now been copied by Satyam cineplexes as well. It also offers telebooking * Parties at PVR PVR has also started helping customers in planning birthday/kitty parties at PVR. They have made PVR a wholesome entertainment experience than just a movie watching spree. * Movie newsletter and magazine To keep its customers hooked on to movies and to PVR, it has also come out with an online newsletter called ‘PVRWire’ is directly mailed to the subscribers and can also be downloaded from their website.They have also launched a movie magazine called ‘Movies First’ . * Movie vouchers They have also taken out the unique concept of movie vouchers which people can use as gifts. Many corporates have also started using these as incentives and rewards for their employees.The vouchers are available in denominations of Rs 100 to Rs 350 and a * minimum of 25 coupons needs to be purchased to avail of the offer.The following options are available in Delhi/NCR The Delhi PVR Movie Money Voucher costs Rs 150/- and is valid right through the week across all cinemas (except PVR Gurgaon – Cinema Europa)PVR Gurgaon (Cinema Europa) PVR Movie Money Vouchers cost Rs 160/- The following options are available in BangaloreClassic Mon -Thur : Rs 100/-All Week (including Weekends) : Rs 130/-Europa Mon -Thur : Rs 130/-All Week (including Weekends) : Rs 150/-Gold Class All Week (including Weekends) : Rs 350/- + Rs150/- for food and beverages (optional) THE SERVICE PACKAGE The â€Å"package† concept of services product suggests that what you offer to the market is a bundle of different services, tangible and intangible, but there is a main or substantive or ‘core’ service and around it are built the auxiliary/peripheral/facilitator. It is important to note that facilitating services ate mandatory and if these are left out, the entire service would collapse. Yet another type called supporting services, don’t facilitate the consumption of core services but are used to increase the value and thus differentiate from the competition.Quality Assessment through RATER in case of PVR Focused on developing a procedure for quantifying customer’s service quality can be measured in following dimensions: * Reliability – Ability to perform promised service dependably and accurately. PVR is a very well established brand name, and the audience is given excellent experience of the basic product i.e. the movie as well as the other elements involved. Hence, it is very much capable of good delivery of the service it provides. There is no flaw in the quality of the service and is always delivered on time. * Assurance – Knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to convey truth and confidence.Since PVR is a high contact organization, the employees are well trained in all areas regarding customer interaction and courtesy. PVR movies being a service, heavily relies on its employees, as they are the only mode of direct communication made with the customers. They are well trained and are definitely able to convey the confidence that the brand name represents. * Tangibility – Appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel etc PVR movies have a lot of tangible elements present like the employees (staff), the movie halls, the candy bars, rest rooms etc, all of which are highly maintained and well kept. * Empathy – Caring, individualized attention to the customer.Even though in a service like this customization is not possible, the employees of PVR Cinemas are always very helpful and provide the customers with good assistance whenever needed. From the employees made to sit at the ticket counter to the employee that guides customers to their respective seats in the cinema hall, all employees deliver a very helpful attitude towards the target audience. * Responsiveness – Willingness to help customer with prompt service.The employees of PVR are fast and prompt at delivering their service and are taught to cause as less inconvenience as possible to the customers. If a customer places an order via telebooking / online reservation etc, the delivery of the tickets is made well before the show timing at the customer’s doorstep. The employees are well trained. 2. PRICE To many customers, high price means high quality. Services pricing follows the price and practices of pricing of goods and therefore are either cost based or market based. Within these, categories of price may be profit oriented, government controlled, competition or customer oriented. But the characteristics of services do influence the pricing and therefore different methods of pricing are followed in their case. PVR when started off had a huge advantage of being the only one of its kind in Delhi to begin with. Therefore, they could charge a higher amount to its target audience, as they did not hesitate to pay the sum for the new concept. This high pricing helped them make maximum gains. Also, PVR had, and still has a very well planned market position. Its premium positioning affects the customers perceptual positioning. Therefore, they decided on their marketing strategy and pricing, keeping the target market in mind. Hence,we may say that the pricing as well pays a strategic role in their marketing plans.In case of PVR, they make use of all their tangible elements to prove to their customers that their movie tickets are worth the price they are paying. Also, since some of the other movie theatres (which are not multiplexes) are still offering movies at rates as low as Rs 35, it is the task of its marketer to ensure that PVR comes across as a superior brand in terms of cinema viewing as well as the experience. The movie theatres market is a Free Market, even though the government in the past regulated it. This allows PVR as the market leader to set its own prices. Prices that had originally started from Rs 125 (for evening shows) and Rs 90(for morning shows and weekday plans) have increased to a high of Rs 150 and the lowest is Rs 100. The high pricing however has not led to any change in the footfalls that PVR gets. Even in slighter crowded shows, the occupancy rates as low as 35% reaches PVR’s break-even points.PVR Priya has a slightly different pricing system, which varies from Rs 45 to Rs 150 for different slabs of consumers. This has been done to mainly attract the youth and to keep the concept of movie going still affordable at one of its chains.The pricing at PVR Europa is Rs 160 and a Gold Class ticket is charged at Rs. 750. It offers superior ambience, environment, seating, viewing etc in the sum. 3. PLACE / DISTRIBUTION Services are generally created and delivered to the buyer at the same time,therefore creation of time and place utilities is a vital function in services marketing. Irrespective of middlemen or direct sales channel, the factor of location keeping in view the potential markets is the most significant in channel selection and distribution.The issue of location here plays a very important role, as all PVR Cinema Halls are stationed at good locations in the city, which gathers a large number of footfalls for them every day. PVRs usually open at an eventful yet untapped location, followed by which (as we saw in case of Anupam PVR Saket) other retail chains get opened around it as well. Their places are always well situated and are well linked. PVR does not have any other channel of distribution, as their service is sold solely at their chains. They do follow any franchisee outlets, even though they indulge in ticket sales online and via telebooking. The only intermediary involved for proc uring movies are Indian as well as international movie distributors, by way of whom they acquire the movies. * Distribution of Movies The Company has also recently forayed into the Distribution of Hollywood film titles in the country through its 100% subsidiary, PVR Pictures. By virtue of its strong brand equity and partnerships with major independent Hollywood studios like Miramax, Newline Cinemas etc. that are not represented in India through their own offices, PVR has managed to procure and distribute titles in the country. With the advent of the multiplex revolution across the country, the company sees a great opportunity to fill up these upcoming multiplex screens with Hollywood titles. The has successfully distributed major Hollywood titles like Rush Hour 2 , Wedding Planner Chicago , Choclat ,Spy Kids 2 , Makdee etc. 4. PROMOTION Promotion is a very vital part of the marketing mix especially in the case of services. The customer needs to trust or have belief in the service, as he has to pay for it pre-experience. Therefore, it is very important to sell the service in the best possible way. Usually the objective of promoting a service may be to create a brand image, establish a personal relationship with the client and to create an impression of competence, honesty and sincerity to win the buyers’ confidence in sellers’ abilities to deliver the service efficiently. To promote these, the marketer generally employs indirect selling techniques, as it is usually not possible to use the conventional promotion tools like advertising. Promotion activities like community relations, event management, media blitz, corporate identity programs have relevance. 3rd parties like government, unions and interest groups are important, as they are capable of influencing market access. PVR as a brand indulges into print advertisements on every Friday giving out the latest movie schedules. Any new developments are communicated to the audience via press releases. Hence there is a strong element of PR involved. Apart from that, they usually have contests pertaining to latest festivals like Valentines Day, New Years Eve, Oscar Movies Week etc. PVR also has a host of online promotional contests associated with movies The latest one relates to the film King Kong.They are also in collaboration with cellular services like Airtel have SMSand-win contests and give out free tickets to the winners. Also, PVR attracts a lot of commercial shooting / media coverage via programmes etc which promotes it as a brand in a big way. Organizing Star Events on Premiers of movies like ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ helps PVR relate better with its target audience i.e. the youth. The whole PVR banner and its exterior environment including movie hoardings, banners etc help promote the concept of movie viewing as well as PVR as a strong and successful brand. PVR also hosts premiere shows with leading movie stars visiting the various PVR cinemas. They also host numerous fun events for children while screening animations etc.