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Marketing Practices in 16th auto expo 2023: Marketing is defined as the process of providing customer value and customer satisfaction, thereby making relationship with the customers to achieve their advocacy and improve scaling in business. Marketing mix includes product, price, place and promotion related decisions that would help you improve your market position so that you gain leadership status in comparison to your competitors. Marketing also encompasses basic concepts such as need, want, demand, product, service, customers, market and business environment followed by logistics and supply chain management practices (Kotler & Armstrong, 2008; Kotler & Armstrong, 2001; Kotler & Keller, 2007; Kotler, 2002; Kazmi, 2007; Belch, Belch & Purani, 2010, Kumar & Kumar, 2015). Exhibition is a platform to deliver and exchange business and consumer information in accordance with their needs (Xiaoming, 2012; Kazmi & Batra 2009). (Gaur & Saggere, 2009; Karunakaran, 2009) defines Exhibitions as display of products and services at a location that can provide enough market coverage and accommodate different participants involved in the respective show. Brieter & Milman (2006) describe Exhibitions and trade shows are synonymously used with the basic meaning of displaying and demonstrating of products and services based on the theme of the show. The focus of the researcher through this study is to provide product, price, place and promotion related decisions followed in 16th auto expo 2023 and provide necessary recommendations to the organizer of the show for next edition of auto expo in Indian automobile industry. Therefore, researcher is trying to draw our attention on the marketing strategies being followed in automobile industry. These strategies will not only improve the visitor’s footfall in terms of attending next edition of auto expo for them but also helps the organizer of the show to know what else can be done to ensure value addition for the stakeholder.

Automotive industry in India: Current status

The India passenger car market was valued at US$ 32.70 billion in 2021, and it is expected to reach a value of US$ 54.84 billion by 2027, while registering a CAGR of over 9% from 2022-27. Indian automotive industry contributes almost 6.4 percent of India’s GDP and 35 percent of manufacturing GDP and is a leading employment provider. Market Size: 22.65 million vehicles (Financial year 21), FDI equity inflow: 30.78 billion US$ (April 2000 – September 2021) accounting for 5.49 percent of total equity FDI during that period. Indian automotive industry is targeting to increase export of vehicles by five times during 2016-26. In FY22, total automobile exports from India stood at 5,617,246.

Product Decisions Followed In 16^th Auto Expo 2023:

Product mix means covering length, width and depth of solutions offered by the organization along with branding, product launches and other dimensions of product. Based upon the analysis of the auto expo 2023, the following facts were observed:

Product launches during the show, designing the venue, providing physical environment, infrastructure, and technology for making deals and developing relationships to several participants of the show. The various achievements being observed in 16^th auto expo as per the researcher includes:

Description of item	Quantity
Exhibitors	800 plus
Product launches	200
Products on display	1400
Registered business visitors	20000
Expected footfall	100000
Countries participation	65
Country delegations	15
Square meters of exhibition area	60000

Source: Secondary Data – Newsletter of Auto Expo

 Price Decisions Followed in 16^th Auto Expo 2023:

It is important to plan sales, marketing and branding activities effectively to get the most of your investment at auto expo 2023. The various components and their pricing description being followed in 16^th auto expo are as follows:

Source: Secondary Data: Research based table

Place Decisions Followed in 16^th Auto Expo 2023:

Place decisions means providing venue details and guiding how to reach the venue and participate in different activities of the program with the help of team involved coordination of several activities. The place mix or decisions followed in 16^th auto expo 2023 being observed by the researcher are as follows:

  

S. No	DATE	TIME	ACTIVITY	VENUE
1	Wednesday, January 11, 2023	0900 - 1700 hrs.	ACMA Aftermarket Summit	Hotel Grand, Vasant Kunj
2	Thursday, January 12, 2023	1100 - 1300 hrs.	Inaugural - Auto Expo Motor Show	India Expo Mart, Greater Noida, U.P.
3		1500 - 1600 hrs.	Inaugural - Auto Expo Components Show	Amphitheatre 1, Ground Floor, Pragati Maidan, New Delhi
4	Friday, January 13, 2023	0900 - 1730 hrs.	ACMA Global Summit & Automotive Technology Partnership Summit & Expo (ATPSE)	Hotel Grand, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi
5		1000 - 1330 hrs.	Stakeholders Awareness cum Consultation Workshop for Development of National Strategy for Phase-down of Hydrofluorocarbons (HFC’s)	Theatre Hall, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi
6	Saturday, January 14, 2023	1000 - 1400 hrs.	ACMA-AIWA Conference on Spare Service Support in a Changing Environment	Conferene Room, Hall A3, Mezanine Floor, Pragati Maidan, New Delhi
7	Sunday, January 15, 2023	1030 - 1115 hrs	Delegation from Bangaldesh - 6 Members visit to Auto Expo & Interaction with select ACMA Members	Board Room, Hall A3, Mezanine, Pragati Maidan, New Delhi

Source: Secondary Data – Calendar issued by organizer

Promotion Decisions Followed in 16^th Auto ExpO 2023:

Promotion mix means providing sponsorship opportunities, media partnerships, using media channels, digital channels and other PR decisions to promote the show with the objective of improving footfall so that the exhibitors may gain added value through their participation in the show. The promotion mix or decisions followed in 16^th auto expo as observed by the researcher includes:

Media partners	Sponsorships	General Information	Organizer
Auto asia	Anand	Currency update	ACMA
Auto components India	Apollo Hospitals	Visa requirement	CII
Auto bharti	APTIV	Vaccination	SIAM
Auto car professional	Capgrid	Climate
Auto guide	CK Birla group	Electric supply
Bus coach	DR1V	Clothing
EV Story	Mungi	Emergency numbers
EV India	Neolite
EV update media	Rockman
E Vehicle info	SEC Automotive
Industrial products finder	Tenneco
KARREP	Vinni chemicals pvt ltd
99 Media group	Uno Minda
Motoring Trends
Mobility outlook
Motor
Motor India
Scooter
Scooter Asia
Scooter times
Telematics wire
Truck Suvidha
Trade India

 Source: Secondary Data: Research based table

The objective of researcher here is to explain the marketing mix decisions followed in Indian automotive industry in the form of product, price, place and promotion. This will help the participants of Indian exhibition industry to categorize their activities in different factors of marketing. Also, this will help in academics and corporate world to understand the concepts in a more structured manner.

The present study is subjective and qualitative in nature using questionnaire which was discussed with the industry experts in an open ended enviornment. Secondary data sources have also been used which makes it a hybrid research design . The main source of information is review and analysis of the published data which is collected from various sources such as magazines, newspapers, books, articles, dissertations, websites and research papers from different journals. The interview with industry expert as a method is used; to collect, interpret the related information and providing strategies for further growth. SCOPE AND RELEVANCE OF THE STUDY: Scope of the study The present study entitled “A Study of Marketing Strategies being followed in automobile industry – A case study of 16th Auto Expo 2023” is very important looking at the fast changing scenario of Indian automobile industry. The study has covered the marketing practices including product, price, place and promotion practices involved in auto expo 2023. Relevance of the study: As a researcher, it has been observed that very little work has been done to study the strategies being followed in auto expo 2023 with the objective in making recommendation to ACMA, CII and SIAM. A Study of Marketing Strategies being followed in automobile industry – A case study of 16th Auto Expo 2023 as a title has been comparatively less explored and requires further extension of work in terms of understanding the product, price, place and promotion practiced in auto expo 2023 in Indian automobile industry. This study would prove to be a helping hand for the exhibition organizers, associations, councils, co organizers, and service marketing managers to understand marketing strategies for building relationship with the participants of next edition of auto expo in Indian Automobile Industry.

Suggested Strategies For Organizers of Auto Expo Next Edition:

Based on the above mentioned objectives of marketing mix, this study suggests several practices for show organizers of auto expo in Automobile industry. Therefore, these suggestions need to be dealt properly to ensure the success of the show. These major suggestions as per the researcher to improve visitor’s footfall are mentioned, as below:

Product	Price	Place	Promotion
Brand building	Package pricing	Horizontal collaborations	Website improvement
Augmented marketing	Promotional pricing	Venue modification	App development
Product Design	Line stretching	End to end logistics connectivity	Affiliate marketing
360 degree hall layouts	Segment based pricing	Ample parking opportunities	Google forms
Improving product mix	Early bird offers	Revised Channel of distribution	Viral marketing
CRM softwares	Space based pricing	Excellent operational decisions	Online registration

Source: Primary Data

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