Classmate Value Chain, Laddering and Managing Brand Online

Classmate: Value Chain

Classmate is the leading provider of all student stationery needs. ITC launched its Classmate brand in 2003 with the notebooks category. Subsequently, Classmate added new products to its portfolio which now consists of pens, pencils, mechanical pencils and geometry boxes, erasers and sharpeners.

Classmate aspires to partner young minds in discovering, nurturing & believing in ideas that reside inside each one of us. Have fun exploring, creating & believing in your ideas, in classrooms & beyond. Ideas that defy & change beliefs; ideas that allow you to lead rather be led; ideas that are inside each one of us but only await self recognition & belief. Your belief makes your ideas work for you & become big; allowing you to be all that you can.

- Classmate over the years has grown to become India’s largest notebook brand and has also increased its portfolio to occupy a greater share of the school bag. 

- The Classmate is noticeable in providing the sales promotion by technocrat means, the classmate allows their consumers to buy its products through the internet the orders of notebooks and stationery can be placed by the internet.

- It had also introduced Classmate Pulse interchangeable notebooks, offering students the option to repeatedly change covers of the notebook and have a different cover whenever desired. The company had also brought the Classmate Pulse Selfie notebooks, allowing personalization of notebooks with a selfie on the cover.

- Classmate notebooks were launched with the initiative of contributing 1 rupee towards the education of poor children, from every four notebooks it sold

- Classmate launched a program called Classmate ideas for Challenge. The program would be a part of the company's centenary initiative. The nation-wide program would invite ideas of the youth, who have the potential to transform India. Classmate Ideas for India challenge plans to reach out to 25 lakh students across 30 cities, 500 schools and 200 colleges across the country.

- In a research through various institutions it came to notice that ,Institute generally provide only text books. Notebooks and other stationery products are on students’ own choice. The ones which have a tuck shop, already ITC Classmate products were there along with other brands like Pioneer, Apsara and Student.

Most of the institute who get their office stationery from local vendor showed their interest and took price list from the company. 

- Classmate has 900 distributors who make the products available in over 70,000 outlets in India. But still there is a scope for improvement

Few Suggestions for creating value: 

ž  Bringing in new covers for the note-book, like cartoons etc., like Ben 10 is done by Navneet which now they are evolving into.

ž  Organizing and sponsoring activities in schools and colleges in which their stationery would be used for events like various Summer Camps, Fests, and Competitions etc.

 

ž  Targeting not only the big institutes but also small ones which has a base of about 500 students or even the institutes which has recently opened.

 

ž  Introducing a dedicated Stationery shop may also help ITC Classmate, similar to what Reynolds have started.

Classmate: Laddering

ITC Classmate has at its core the driving commitment to ensure consumer delight with its high-quality, innovative and visually appealing products.

Focusing on school kids and youth, the ITC Classmate range of spiral notebooks add to the convenience apart from being durable. As against a high double digit market for spiral notebooks in developed markets, it is a low single digit in India. However, ITC sees this segment growing in years to come.

The Company is using product combination techniques as a very strong means of Sales Promotion.

Classmate creates: A new cover for everyday

                               Double sided puzzles

                               Soft touch and safe

                                Augmented reality notebooks

ITC recreates memories of school with Classmate notebooks

• Affordable prices

• Follow you heart

• Whiter brighter and smoother

• `Your uniqueness and you are one of a kind

• `Likho apna kal

• Comic characters

Managing Brand Online: 

The monitoring and guiding the way a brand is viewed online is managing of a brand online. It’s all-encompassing—including any and all avenues facing public perception: websites, social media, third-party articles, online reviews, search engine results, and pretty much anywhere you can find online conversations.

 ITC  created a mini brand  portal of classmate where range of products are  of classmate notebooks , pens , mechanical pencils and geometry boxes , art supplies and other stationery items are present and videos of its advertisements to show its presence online. On various web portals and e-commerce websites the product is made available and advertised.