Analysis of SHWAPNO Lifestyle Promotional Mix at ACI Limited

This internship report examines the promotional mix of SHWAPNO, a business unit of ACI Limited and the largest retail company in Bangladesh. The report begins with an introduction to ACI Limited and SHWAPNO, including its history, vision, mission, core values, and organizational structure. It then delves into SHWAPNO's market position, competitor analysis (Meena Bazaar and Agora), and marketing strategies, including non-food divergence strategies, advertising, sales promotion, internet marketing, public relations, direct marketing, and personal selling. The report also analyzes the company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The objective is to understand the advantages of promotional mix tools and the report concludes with an assessment of the effectiveness of SHWAPNO's promotional activities, identifying areas for improvement and drawing conclusions on the execution and impact of the promotional mix strategies.

SHWAPNO LIFE
STYLE
PROMOTIONAL MIX

ACI LIMITED
SHWAPNO LIFESTYLE & PROMOTIONAL MIX
Submitted to:
G. M. Shafayet Ullah
Lecturer
BRAC Business School
Submitted by:
Shahed Ul Islam
10104101
Submitted on:
20th September, 2014

Letter of Transmittal
20th September, 2014
G.M. Shafayet Ullah
Lecturer
BRAC Business School
Subject: Submission of completed Internship Report.
Dear Sir,
I have completed the assigned internship report on „ACI LIMITED- SHWAPNO Lifestyle
Promotional Mix‟.
In completion of the report I tried to make it more informative so that the actual market scenario
can be drawn from the report. As well as tried to keep it much simple so that it becomes easily
understandable to you and to others.
Moreover, I will be glad to answer any questions that arise to its readers regarding any
discrepancies or inconsistencies.
Sincerely,
Shahed Ul Islam
10104101
BRAC Business School

Table of Contents PAGE
Introduction 01
Origin of the Report 02
Objective of the Report 02
Methodology 03
Sources of Data 03
Chapter 1
THE ORGANIZATION
Overview of the Company 05
Vision of ACI 06
Mission of ACI 06
Core Values of ACI 06
Strategic Business Unit 07
Joint Ventures 07
Management Committee 08
Board of Directors 08
Financial Status of ACI as per 2012 fiscal year 09
Brief History of SHWAPNO 09
About SHWAPNO 12
Category Hierarchy 13
ACI Logistics Business Model 14

Chapter 2
THE JOB
Assignment & Contribution to the Organization 16-19
Chapter 3
THE PROJECT
Competitor Analysis 21
Meena Bazaar 21
Meena Bazar Strengthes and Weakness 22
Agora 22
Niche Market Competitors 23
Strategy Analysis 24
Non Food Divergence Strategies Used At SHWAPNO 24
Business from NFD 2013 25
Year wise GP% at SHWAPNO 26
Strategy to Introduce New Designs in the Lifestyle Category 27
Adevertising 29
Sales Promotion 30
Internet Marketing 31
Public Relation 32
Direct Marketing 33
Personal Selling 33
Conclusion 34
References 35

Acknowledgement
Above all, I express my gratitude and thanks to the Almighty, who aided me with strength, and
gave me the wisdom and patience needed to complete this report.
I would also like to thank the generous contributions of my supervisors at ACI Limited, Md
Iqbal Hossain (Assistant Manager) and team of Category Development, for continuously
supporting me with all the necessities.
Additionally, I would like to thank my advisor, G.M. Shafayet Ullah, Lecturer, BRAC
University who believed that I could complete this task, upholding the standard and
professionalism she expects. His moral guidelines and joyful encouragement helped me to
persevere.
At last, I thank my parents and other family members for their help, support and faith during the
exasperating period of collecting resources and analyzing data for the paper.

Executive Summary
ACI group is one of the largest conglomerates in the country with businesses in pharmaceuticals,
agriculture, consumer products etc. However, SHWAPNO is a business unit of ACI logistics.
SHWAPNO is the largest retail company in Bangladesh currently holding a share of 35% of the
retail industry. Inaugurated in 2008, SHWAPNO now has over 46 outlets and 1600 employees
spread across the country.
SHWAPNO enjoys a higher amount of market share than its competitors such as Agora and
Meena bazaar. Agora and Meena Bazar entered this industry earlier mostly because of visionary
leadership and innovative strategies employed by the company. Even though Meena Bazaar,
Agora hold several advantages over SHWAPNO. None of these companies have been able to
emulate the success of SHWAPNO‟s business model and market positioning. SHWAPNO‟s
brief history is fraught with challenges, successes, ups and down.
The organization structure of SHWAPNO is conventional. One of the advantages SHWAPNO
has over its competitors is the procurement department which is responsible for directly sourcing
vegetables, meat, fruits and grains directly from wholesale markets. Other participants in the
market rely on vendors for fresh produce requirements, which make quality control extremely
difficult.
The report discovers SHWAPNO‟s strategic marketing to capture market share, its growth of
customer base. Moreover, it focuses on the six promotional mixes to judge its marketing
strategies. At the end of the report results could be drawn on how the promotional mixes were
executed and was it worthy of implementation. Along with this the report discloses the area of
improvement in promotional activity of SHWAPNO.

Introduction
ACI group is one of the largest conglomerates in Bangladesh with interests and stakes in varied
fields. Previously, ACI was called Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI). ACI was founded after
Bangladeshi investors in ICI managed to obtain majority stakes in ICI‟s Bangladeshi operations.
SHWAPNO, a concern of ACI group established in 2008 is an integral part of the overall ACI
group. It represents and exemplifies ACI‟s commitment to bring about a better Bangladesh and
be a catalyst to change the lives of millions of individuals for the better. SHWAPNO, with its 46
retails stores, situated in strategic positions around Bangladesh is the largest retail chain in the
country with over 35% markets share of the growing 1500 crore taka retail industry. Retail
industry in Bangladesh has huge scope since only 2% of the entire population is served by the
retail industry. ACI‟s retail arm has carved an enviable name for itself in the market place.
Through its meticulous and analytical top management and innovative marketing strategies,
SHWAPNO has been able to achieve a dominant position in the market place. Even though the
other retail chain, Agora and Meena Bazaar have had long established presence in the
Bangladeshi market, neither has been able to achieve the broad reach and brand equity that
SHWAPNO has been able to.
This study will look into the varied strategies developed and implemented by SHWAPNO to
achieve its dominant position in the marketplace. Some of the strategies were developed as a
result of market dynamics, while others were developed as a result of desperation. An in depth
study of strategies used by retail chains have not been done in Bangladesh previously. The
increasing importance of the retail industry to the Bangladeshi economy and its growing
penetration into many aspects of people‟s lives demands a thorough study on this subject matter.

Origin of the Report
This report is a requirement of the partial completion of the internship program of the students of
the BRAC Business School (BBS). Upon the completion of four years Bachelor of Business
Administration (BBA) program, in order to equip the students with a more practical experience
of the corporate world for their development before entering it as graduates this internship has to
be completed to earn the final four credits.
In accordance with the terms and conditions of the internship program, the author has completed
the three month period of the internship at ACI Limited in Business Strategy dept. as per
guidelines given by the academic supervisor of the author, G.M. SHAFAYET ULLAH , BRAC
Business School, BRAC University.
Objective of the Report
The purpose of this project was to get a better understanding about the Promotional mix of
SHWAPNO lifestyle and finding out the advantages of using of those promotional mix tools.
The more specific objectives of this report are as follows:
• To know about ACI Limited strategic business unit.
• To know what promotional mix is.
• To know what are the promotional tools.
• To learn which are the promotional tools are used.
• To learn the features of promotional mix.
• To learn strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the company.
• To learn the factors influencing customer satisfaction.
• To learn advantage and disadvantages of those promotional mix tools.

Methodology
There are pros and cons of every approach to a report. However, as the report covered two broad
topics according to the needs and appropriate justifications the author decided to use qualitative
research approach.
To find out the promotional mix of the company the author did qualitative research to find out
the external and internal factors. This is mostly done by the reports available online and also
published by the company and its competitors. This helped interpretations and findings of the
data to be accurate to represent the current conditions and factors of SHWAPNO lifestyle current
condition.
Sources of Data
In order to prepare a comprehensive and authentic report the author used both primary and
secondary sources of data.
• Primary Sources of Data
Although the project is primarily based on primary sources of information, the only such
source of information for this report are gathered from the Art manager of SHWAPNO
lifestyle.
• Secondary Sources of Data
The secondary sources of information include the materials like different publication,
report, and articles given to the author to understand promotional tools of Swapno.
During the internship program materials needed for the service also includes in here. Also
the author used some internal information collected from the company with a promise to
keep it confidential.

Chapter 1
THE ORGANIZATION

Overview of the Company
ACI logistics is a Strategic business unit of the larger ACI Company. It has over 46 outlets
spread over Dhaka city. Outside of the capital, SHWAPNO has strong presence in the form of
franchises and dealer operations. Before going into detail about operations and the history of
SHWAPNO, a brief overview of ACI is necessary.
ACI was previously known as ICI Bangladesh Manufacturers Limited. It was a subsidiary of
world renowned multinational company, ICI Plc, and was also a listed public limited company
under Dhaka Stock Exchange. In 1992 ICI Plc divested its shareholding through a management
buyout and the company name was changed from ICI Bangladesh Manufacturers Limited to
Advanced Chemical Industries (ACI) Limited. ACI Formulations Limited, a subsidiary of ACI,
became a public listed company through direct listing.
Since then, ACI has diversified into four major strategic business divisions which include Health
Care, Consumer Brands, Agribusinesses and Retail (Unknown, 2014).
ACI is one of the most renowned and largest conglomerates in Bangladesh. Its emphasis on
improving the lives and standard of living of the people of Bangladesh has been widely
documented. ACI strives to be a beacon of integrity and honesty in the society. As a result,
SHWAPNO was able to leverage the strong brand recognition and trust the populace had on ACI
to their advantage.
ACI consists of many strategic business units and subsidiaries (given below). Moreover, in
recent years, ACI has joined hands with foreign companies and formed strong partnerships with
them.