Online Marketing of Steel: A Case Study of Metaljunction.com EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This project entitled “Online marketing of Steel: A Case Study on Metaljunction.com and RSP ” is undertaken as a partial completion for my MBA degree in Center for Management Studies,(OEC) (Bhubaneswar) The main purpose of this project is to find out the process to sale the secondary steel products of Rourkela Steel Plant through online auction and how this process is very helpful as compared to the previous system that is “Order Booking System”. During the production of prime products some scraps and defectives items are generated in course of production. These are generally used by different small- scale industries for different purposes. There fore these secondary products are to be marketed in various ways and to all type of venders, and it is very tough task for Rourkela Steel Plant to satisfy all the venders by giving equal weight age to all. This project makes a deep study on the system followed for marketing in Rourkela Steel Plant so as to make the company as well as the customers (small scale industries) beneficiary. Rourkela Steel Plant, one of the pioneering units of SAIL is a hallmark of excellence in the steel-making scenario of India today. All SAIL products including products of Rourkela Steel Plants are marketed through it’s Central Marketing Department (CMO). To ensure quality and prompt dispatch of the products, CMO keeps I touch with producing units as well as the transport and shipping sectors. 1 Online Marketing of Steel: A Case Study of Metaljunction.com Marketing itself a tough job, which requires proper planning, logic and strategic to be applied at correct time and place. It includes also the way of selling the products. All the things isre applied in RSP also. The marketing department RSP is a combination of Auction and disposal. Secondary Steel Stockyard Iron and Steel Secondary. Coal Chemicals, Waste Products, SPP The secondary products of RSP can be divided into 3 categories. Iron & Steel. Coke Fraction & Coal Chemicals. Other Wastes. Selling of these items is not just selling goods but catering to the demand of the customers by adopting various changing strategies but always taking “ CUSTOMER FIRST”, and the above secondary products are not manufacturing with a predetermined target. Marketing of secondary have accounted for a sale of worth 330.42 crores in the year 2004-05. For selling the secondary items RSP blended with the modernization aspect and follow the following. Online Auction Single Window System. Online auction refer to those auction conducted through Internet, and they can access the auction with a valid password, which they will receive after fulfill the conditions. The bidders of different locations simultaneously bidding for the selected items in the auction. After only one bidder (normally the bidder who bid the highest price) is awarded all the units of the items being auctions. 2 Online Marketing of Steel: A Case Study of Metaljunction.com In single window system, it is possible for the bidder to get all the material and finish all the processes, which are required, at the SSSY itself. Which has reduced time and giving the customer east in dealing INTRODUCTION Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) only the name is sufficient gives a brief idea about the company. As we know Sir Jamshedij Tata sowed the seeds of modern steel industry in 1907 when Tata Iron & Steel Company Ltd (TISCO) was established. I the year 1939 production of steel started in another private steel company called the Indian Iron and Steel company, now a subsidiary of the Steel Authority of India. After the independence (SAIL) Steel Authority of India Limited became a major player of steel and iron and a major supplier to all the fields. After the globalization SAIL having big opportunity to expand their sales globally and became one of the major supplier of Steel and Iron. As we know that what ever is made that must be for some purpose and that must be sold but the process may be different from one another. ONLINE MARKETING Online Marketing is marketing on the Internet. It is a type of e-marketing, which in turn is a type of e-commerce. While at first the confusion of experiments, beta versions of websites, search engines and other online devices cause marketers to consider this world of the Internet unknowable and perhaps too unpredictable, there is now a growing body of work to which marketers are now paying attention in order to develop online marketing programs. The most known tools to marketers in the mid 2000s are currently tools grouped into 2 fields: online advertising and search engine optimization. E-marketing tools used to drive visitors to a web site include. 3 Online Marketing of Steel: A Case Study of Metaljunction.com 4 Online Marketing of Steel: A Case Study of Metaljunction.com Purpose of Online Marketing When marketing online, the general four step process of marketing is still the guiding idea, in the online world the character of marketing becomes more deeply a conversation between a marketer and a market-of-one a concept that is central to The cluetrain manifesto. In such a role as a communicator, the online marketer is in a position to build awareness of her/his company or business in more personal terms than otherwise, and in so doing enables a more human conversation. Such conversations tend to be more warts and all and should establish confidence of the potential purchaser in the potential vendor Smith and Chaffey (2001) claim that Internet technology can be used to focus marketing on the customer, while at the same time linking to other business operations so as to achieve profitability. This can be done by • Identifying - the Internet be used for marketing research to find out customers' needs and wants. • Anticipating - the Internet provides an additional channel by which customers can access information and make purchases - understanding this demand is key to governing resource allocation to e-marketing. • Satisfying - a key success factor in e-marketing is achieving customer satisfaction through the electronic channel, this raises issues such as is the site easy to use, does it perform adequately, what is the standard of associated customer service and how are physical products dispatched? Detractors of this concept of human-to-human contact through online conversations suggest that companies are going to be careful about marketing in this manner and perhaps will never really have honest and open conversations as the interests of companies and businesses are not the interests of potential purchasers. The cluetrain manifesto allows for this type of thinking suggesting that businesses when marketing in this manner need to be thinking about more than just making money; if a business is thinking only about making money, it will become apparent in close online conversations and the market will treat that business in whatever manner it may as markets can now talk to each other through the same means marketers talk to potential customers. 5 Online Marketing of Steel: A Case Study of Metaljunction.com Online Marketing Activities Smith and Chaffey (2001) describe five key online marketing activities (the '5Ss') which can be applied by an organisation to implement various online marketing tactics, the 5Ss are: Sell - Grow sales (acts as both a customer acquisition tool and a retention tool ). Serve -Add value (give customers extra benefits online such as an online exclusive offer or more in-depth information about your products or the industry sector) Speak-Get closer to customers by creating a dialogue, asking questions through online research surveys and learning about customers' preferences through tracking - which content are people most interested in. Save - Save costs (of print and post if you have a traditional offline it canextend to those customers you can't afford to communicate with) Sizzle- Extend the brand online. It keeps the brand 'front-of-mind' and helps reinforce brand values. Added value can also be delivered by informing and entertaining customers. 6 Online Marketing of Steel: A Case Study of Metaljunction.com Market Strategy of RSP Today in this Global market marketing strategy plays a vital role in business activities. With the effective business strategies a business can achieve it’s target, mission and vision. I have observed while undergoing my summer training in Rourkela Steel Plant under marketing department, that they have adopted the most effective method of selling their secondary product since 1st April 2004 that is “Single Window System”. This system allow to sale the secondary product by Online auction through “METALJUNCTION.COM” which is joint collaboration of 50:50 between ‘SAIL’ and ‘TATA’. The most interesting part of this system is that the payment and delivery process is done under one roof, the customer need not to go two different places to do the formalities. The customer can lift the material from the stockyard by paying the quoted price. Better marketing policies are considered as the backbone of the sales. Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) is doing “Business to Business” marketing and here better marketing policies plays the role of life blood for the business, and after globalization it’s became very necessary for every business to give more stress on marketing strategies so as to retain more and more customers. During my training process I have observed that the “Single Window System” is the best method of selling the secondary product of RSP and this method is also helps to reduce the trading formalities and middleman in delay the trade process. This project report clearly explains the selling of secondary product of RSP through “METALJUNCTION.COM”.