Final

The ready to eat industry is a highly competitive one. To be successful, Company must be able to project the right image as well as meet the need of the customers. Marketing strategies must be formulated to attract customers. This report looks at some aspects of the Ready-to-eat market in India. It examines the buying behaviour of Indian ladies and gauges their perception of marketing variables.

Process of conversion of Management problem into Measurement Question

MANAGEMENT PROBLEM

To find out behaviour and purchase habits of Indian ladies for ready-to-eat snacks

RESEARCH PROBLEM

To identify the factors affecting the overall demand of Ready-to-eat snacks despite being the convenience product.

Market penetration of the Ready-to-eat snacks Indian ladies perception about Ready-to-eat snacks Buying pattern of Ready-to-eat snacks Factors affecting repeat purchase of Ready-to-eat snacks

DEFINING THE VARIABLES

Independent variable: Ready-to-Eat market

Dependent variable: Buying Behaviour of Indian ladies.

DATA COLLECTION METHOD

Research tool: Questionnaire

Survey method: To obtain a better insight of the Ready-to-eat market, survey was conducted and data was collected through Personal survey method. A questionnaire was designed to answer the following questions:

Design of questionnaire:

It is composed of four segments in this investigation.

The first part contains information of:

What are the preference of the consumer regarding brands Belief about Ready-to-eat snacks When do they buy Ready-to-eat snacks Which brand of Ready-to-eat snacks they heard of

The second part contains:

Price which the customers are to pay for the Ready-to-eat snacks Role of retailers in promoting Ready-to-eat brand From where customers get information about Ready-to-eat products and brands from

The third part consists:

Comparison of Ready-to-eat snacks with homemade food Importance of Brand ambassador in promoting product Whether customer is satisfied with the range being provided by Ready-to-eat brands.

The fourth part consists of:

Name Age Marital status Occupation

Which is necessary to predict the lifestyle of the respondent and to know the family background, this will help in relating how consumer’s preference varies with varying parameters.

In brief,

Management problem

Research problem Investigation question

Measurement question

To find out behaviour and purchase habits of Indian ladies for ready-to-eat snacks

Understand the factors influencing buying decision making of Ready-to-eat snacks. The factors under consideration are advertising, price, product, etc.

Which products they prefer?

From where they like to purchase?

When do they purchase?

From where they get reference?

Do they consider child preference?

Which brand is the market leader?

What is the frequency of their purchase?

What is the size of pack they like to purchase?

Are they satisfied from the range of product available?

QUESTIONNAIRE

Respected madam,

I, YOGESH TEKWANI, a student of TYBBA from BRCM College of Business Administration, am doing a survey on the topic” Study of Behaviour of Indian Ladies while buying Ready-To-Eat (RTE) Snacks” as per the requirement of the BBA curriculum. Kindly give me your support by providing the needed data. Information given by you will be strictly confidential and will be used for academic purpose only.

Q1. Do you buy ready to eat snacks?

Yes No

Q2. Which of these do you mostly prefer?

Branded snacks Unbranded snacks Any of these

Q3. When do you buy ready to eat snacks?

While shopping for monthly grocery items Separately during emergency

Q4. How often do you buy ready to eat snacks?

Once in 1-2 weeks Once in 3-4 weeks Once in 5-6 weeks On regular basis

Q5. When do you generally have ready to eat snacks?

Whenever feel hungry During movies or while watching TV Anytime of the day

Q6. Rate the product from 1-3 as per your preference (with 1-most preferred and 3-least preferred)

PRODUCTS RANKChipsNamkeensFun foods (Fraiams, cheese-balls, etc)

Q7. Which brands amongst given below you heard of?

PRODUCTS BRANDSChips Frito’s-Lays

ITC’s-Bingo Garden Janta Balaji Other, specify _____

Namkeens Haldiram Garden S M Food’s-Peppy Namkin Arito’s-Lehar Other, specify _____

Fun foods Frito’s-Kurkure S M food’s-Peppy Bonker ITC’s-Bingo Other, specify _____

Q8. Do you store ready to eat snacks?

Yes No

Q9. Which size of pack do you prefer?

16 gm /32 gm 100 gm 500 gm 1 kg

Q10. Kindly rate your opinion on the following parameters

STRONGLY AGREE

AGREE NEITHER AGREE OR DISAGREE

DISAGREE STRONGLY DISAGREE

RTE snacks are easily available whenever I needI don’t see any sort of health problem due to consumption of RTE snacksI think a ready to eat snacks is value of moneyI think RTE snacks is not tasty as freshly cooked home foodI know that RTE packs are manufactured at the best of quality concern

Q11. Are you influenced to buy RTE snacks due to large quantity of RTE placed at retailers?

Yes No May be

Q12. How do you respond if the desired brand is not available?

Take another Visit next shop Postpone your purchase

Q13. Do you consider your children preference?

Yes No

Q14. Do you think brand ambassador play an important role in endorsing RTE snacks?

Yes No

Q15. What is the source from where you get information regarding ready to eat snacks?

Print Ads TV Hoardings Magazines Newspaper Retailers

Q16. Are you satisfied with the range of RTE snacks available?

Yes No

PERSONAL DETAILS

NAME: ______________________________________________________________________

AGE:

18-25 20-40 41-55 55 above

MARITAL STATUS:

SINGLE MARRIED

OCCUPATION:

Service Self employed Housewife Retire/others

Thank you.

ANALYSIS OF DATA & INTERPRETATION

Q1. Do you buy ready to eat snacks?

Yes

No

OBJECTIVE: This question is designed to know whether respondent is aware about ready-to-eat snacks and have purchased it and to check the market penetration of Ready-to-eat snacks.

ANALYSIS: This can be analyzed using percentage method and can be represented using Bar chart.

PercentYes 100%No -

YES

NO

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 120%

DO YOU BUY RTE SNACKS

It is clear from the above chart that 100% of the respondent has purchased and used the ready to eat snacks and have given their rating based on their experience. From this we can conclude that Ready to eat snacks has penetrated sufficiently in the Indian market.

Q2. Which of these do you mostly prefer?

Branded snacks

Unbranded snacks

Any of these

OBJECTIVE: This question is to determine the preference of the respondent (branded vs. unbranded).

ANALYSIS: This can be analyzed using percentage method and can be represented using Pie chart.

PercentBranded snacks 72.5%Unbranded snacks 5%Both 22.5%

73%

5%

23%

BRAND PREFERENCE

BRANDED SNACKS

UNBRANDED SNACKS

BOTH

Out of 40 ladies surveyed, 72.5% of them prefers to have branded snacks, whereas 5% of them prefer to have both branded and unbranded snacks.

Q3. When do you buy ready to eat snacks?

While shopping for monthly grocery items

Separately during emergency

OBJECTIVE: This question is to determine on what occasion the respondent is buying ready to eat snacks.

ANALYSIS: This can be analyzed using percentage method and can be represented using Pie chart.

Percent While shopping for monthly grocery items 55%Separately during emergency 45%

WHEN DO YOU PICK UP READY TO EAT SNACKS

While shopping for monthly grocery items

Separately during emergency

55% of the respondent said that the RTE snacks are the part of their monthly grocery shopping and not emergency purchase.

Q4. How often do you buy ready to eat snacks?

Once in 1-2 weeks

Once in 3-4 weeks

Once in 5-6 weeks

On regular basis

OBJECTIVE: This question helps us to know the frequency by which respondent is buying Ready to eat snacks.

ANALYSIS: This can be analyzed using statistical tool “MODE” as Mode tells the result which is occurring for the most times.

Percent Once in 1-2 weeks 45%Once in 3-4 weeks 42.5%Once in 5-6 weeks 2.5%On regular basis 10%

Once in 1-2 weeks Once in 3-4 weeks Once in 5-6 weeks On regular basis0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

HOW OFTEN PURCHASED

It is clear that most of the respondent prefers to buy ready to eat snacks once in 1-2 weeks.

Q5. When do you generally have ready to eat snacks?

Whenever feel hungry

During movies or while watching TV

Anytime of the day

OBJECTIVE: This question is to determine when respondent prefers to consume ready to eat snacks.

ANALYSIS: This can be analyzed using weighted average mean method.

Percent Whenever feel hungry 50%During movies or while watching TV 17.5%Any time of the day 32.5%

50%

17.50%

32.50%

GENERALLY EAT DURING

Whenever feel hungryDuring movies or while watching TVAny time of the day

Out of 40 surveyed ladies, 20 of them prefer to have RTE snacks whenever they feel hungry, 7 of them prefer to RTE snacks during movies or while watching TV; whereas 13 of them prefer to have RTE at any time of the day. From this we can conclude that ready to eat snacks act as convenience food which can be consumed whenever you feel hungry.

Q6. Rate the product from 1-3 as per your preference (with 1-most preferred and 3-least preferred)

PRODUCTS RANKChips Namkeens Fun foods (fraiams, cheese-balls, etc)

OBJECTIVE: This question is designed to know about the most preferred snack

ANALYSIS: This can be analyzed using weighted average rank method.

Product/preference Chips Namkeens Fun foodsMost preference 22 10 8General preference 17 9 14Least preference 1 21 18Total 40 40 40

CHIPS NAMKEENS FUN FOODS0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

least preference

general preference

most preference

Out of 40 surveyed ladies, 22 prefer chips, 10 prefer Namkeens and only 8 prefer fun foods as their most preferred option. As far as 2nd preference is concerned, 17 prefer chips, 9 prefer Namkeens and 14 prefer fun foods. With the reference to the last option only 1 out of 40 surveyed ladies prefers Chips as the last option; whereas 21 of them has Namkeens as the last option and 18 of them has fun foods as their last option. Fun foods as whole is generally been selected as the substitute to wafers and Namkeens.

Q7. Which brands amongst given below you heard of?

PRODUCTS BRANDSChips Frito’s –lays

ITC’s – Bingo Garden Janta Balaji Other, specify _____

Namkeens Haldiram Garden S M Food’s – Peppy Namkeens Arito’s - Lehar Other, specify _____

Fun foods Frito’s –Kurkure S M Foods – Peppy Bonker ITC’s - Bingo Other, specify _____

OBJECTIVE: This question is asked to know the market leaders of ready to eat snacks as per customers and their first preference of choice

ANALYSIS: This can be analyzed using statistical tool “MEAN”

Product: Chips

CHIPS PERCENTFrito’s –lays 50%ITC’s- Bingo 28%Garden 30%Janta 7.5%Balaji 67.5%Others -

fritos-lays itc's -bingo garden janta balaji others0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

CHIPS

It is clear from the above chart that maximum respondent know about Balaji, Lays and Bingo and these brands have maximum market share.

Product : Namkeens

NAMKEENS PERCENTHaldiram 77.5%Garden 42.5%S M Foods-Peppy Namkeens 25%Arito’s -Lehar 25%others -

haldiram garden s m foods- peppy namkeens

arito's - lehar others0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

NAMKEENS

It is clear from the above chart that maximum respondent know about Haldiram and Garden and these brands have maximum market share.

Product: Fun foods

FUN FOODS PERCENTFrito’s - Kurkure 62.5%S m foods peppy 30%Bonker 12.5%ITC’s - bingo 52.5%others -

Frito’s - Kurkure S m foods peppy bonker Itc’s - bingo others0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

FUN-FOODS

It is clear from the above chart that maximum respondent know about Kurkure, Bingo and Peppy and these brands have maximum market share.

Q8. Do you store ready to eat snacks?

Yes

No

OBJECTIVE: This question is to know whether the respondent stores ready to eat snacks or not

ANALYSIS: This can be analyzed using Percentage method.

Percent Yes 92.5%No 7.5%

YES NO0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

90.00%

100.00%

DO YOU STORE READY TO EAT SNACKS?

Out of 40 ladies surveyed, 92.5% of them store ready to eat snacks.

Q9. Which size of pack do you prefer?

16 gm /32 gm

100 gm

500 gm

1 kg

OBJECTIVE: This question is asked to determine the preference of the respondent regarding quantity of purchase.

ANALYSIS: This can be analyzed using statistical tool “MODE”

PACK PERCENT16 gm/ 32 gm 10%100 gm 52.5%500 gm 35%1 kg 2.5%

16 gm/ 32 gm 100 gm 500 gm 1 kg 0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

PREFERED PACK SIZE

Out of 40 respondents, 4 of them prefer pack of 16/32 gm, 21 of them prefer pack of 100 gm and 14 of them prefer pack of 500 gm. Only 1 of them prefers pack of 1 kg. This clearly depicts rte snacks are considered as time pass food.

Q10. Kindly rate your opinion on the following parameters

STRONGLY AGREE

AGREE NEITHER AGREE OR DISAGREE

DISAGREE STRONGLY DISAGREE

RTE snacks are easily available whenever I needI don’t see any sort of health problem due to consumption of RTE snacksI think a ready to eat snacks is value of moneyI think RTE snacks is not tasty as freshly cooked home foodI know that RTE packs are manufactured at the best of quality concern

OBJECTIVE: This question is to determine the consumer perception (belief) regarding ready to eat snacks.

ANALYSIS: This can be analyzed using Percentage method.

RTE snacks are easily available whenever I need: This question is set up in order to check the consumer feedback regarding easy availability of ready to eat snacks.

Percent Strongly agree 50%Agree 42.5%Neither agree or disagree 7.5%Disagree -Strongly disagree -

strongly disagree

disagree

neither agree or disagree

agree

strongly agree

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

RTE SNACKS ARE EASILY AVAILABLE

Almost 92.5% of the respondents feel that RTE snacks are easily available whenever required. This shows the commendable distribution network established by RTE marketers.

I don’t see any sort of health problem due to consumption of RTE snacks: This question is set up in order to check the consumer feedback regarding health problem related to ready to eat snacks.

Percent Strongly agree 10%Agree 32.5%Neither agree or disagree 40%Disagree 15%Strongly disagree 2.5%

strongly disagree

disagree

neither agree or disagree

agree

strongly agree

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%

RTE SNACKS CREATES NO HEALTH PROBLEM

15% respondents feel that RTE snacks are not good for health while 40% respondents neither agree nor disagree with the above fact which is concerning statistics for the RTE companies. When a product is considered harmful for health its reliability decreases and brand value loses. Same is the case for RTE. This could be one of the reasons why in spite of efforts taken by companies the growth in RTE segment is stagnant. This is very critical factors affecting the behaviour of consumers.

I think a ready to eat snacks is value of money: This question respond to value of money for ready to eat snacks.

Percent Strongly agree 7.5%Agree 47.5%Neither agree or disagree 20%Disagree 25%Strongly disagree -

strongly disagree

disagree

neither agree or disagree

agree

strongly agree

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%

RTE SNACKS ARE VALUE OF MONEY

55% respondents feel that RTE packs are value for money while only 25 % respondent feel they are not while the rest 20% respondents did not agree on either. Thus it is clear that people think RTE snacks are value of money.

I think RTE snack is not tasty as freshly cooked home food: This question is designed in order to check the consumer feedback regarding the taste between ready to eat snacks and homemade food.

Percent Strongly agree 10%Agree 32.5%Neither agree or disagree 22.5%Disagree 32.5%Strongly disagree 2.5%

strongly disagree

disagree

neither agree or disagree

agree

strongly agree

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%

RTE SNACKS ARE NOT AS TASTY AS HOME COOKED FOOD

42.5% respondents feel that RTE snacks are not tasty as homemade food and only 34%respondent feel otherwise. This depicts unique characteristics of Indian household which always believes that homemade foods are more tasty and nutritious.

I know that RTE packs are manufactured at the best of quality concern: This question is set up in order to check the consumer feedback regarding quality of ready to eat snacks.

Percent Strongly agree 17.5%Agree 42.5%Neither agree or disagree 25%Disagree 7.5%Strongly disagree 7.5%

strongly disagree

disagree

neither agree or disagree

agree

strongly agree

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%

RTE SNACKS ARE MANUFACTURED AT BEST OF QUALITY CONCERN

As the result suggest 25% respondent are not sure whether ready to eat meals are manufactured under best quality standards. If the manufacturers can repose confidence by eliminating all doubts in the consumers' minds and assure them that these products are not a health hazard, then the consumption may increase.

Q11. Are you influenced to buy RTE snacks due to large quantity of RTE placed at retailers?

Yes

No

May be

OBJECTIVE: This question identifies the role of retailer display in consumer purchase.

ANALYSIS: This can be analyzed using Percentage method.

Percent Yes 30%No 35%May be 35%

RETAILERS DISPLAY AFFECT PURCHASE

yesnomay be

It is clear that customer is just not influenced by retailer display but also considers other factors before purchase.

Q12. How do you respond if the desired brand is not available?

Take another

Visit next shop

Postpone your purchase

OBJECTIVE: This question is designed to check brand loyalty of the respondents.

ANALYSIS: This can be analyzed using Percentage method.

PercentTake another brand 35%Visit next shop 55%Postpone your purchase 10%

35%

55%

10%

IF THE DESIRED BRAND IS NOT AVAILABLE

take another brandvisit next shop postpone your purchase

55% respondent says that they will next shop and 10% respondent says that they will post pone their purchase if the desired brand is not available which shows the brand loyalty on the part of the consumers.

Q13. Do you consider your children preference?

Yes

No

OBJECTIVE: This question is design to know whether ladies consider their child preference for purchase of Ready to eat snacks or not.

ANALYSIS: This can be analyzed using Percentage method.

Percent Consider 75%Do not consider 25%

CONSIDER

DO NOT CONSIDER

CHILD PREFERENCE

consider

do not consider

It is clear that most of the ladies do consider their child preference for the purchase of RTE snacks.

Q14. Do you think brand ambassador play an important role in endorsing RTE snacks?

Yes

No

OBJECTIVE: we know the role of brand ambassador plays an important role for success of product but Ready to eat snack is something that can be accepted once the customer tries it. So this question is made to check their response.

ANALYSIS: This can be analyzed using Percentage method.

Percent Yes 55%No 45%

55%AFFECT PURCHASE

45% DOES NOT AFFECT

PURCHASE

ROLE OF BRAND AMBASSADOR

yes no

It is clear that respondent still think that quality and taste matters more than brand ambassadors.

Q15. What is the source from where you get information regarding ready to eat snacks?

Print Ads

TV

Hoardings

Magazines

Newspaper

Retailers

OBJECTIVE: This question is designed to check about the promotion schemes that should be used by the companies and what media channel.

ANALYSIS: This can be analyzed using weighted average mean method.

Percent Print Ads 20%TV 85%Hoardings 10%Magazines 12.5%Newspaper 22.5%Retailers 22.5%

retailers

newspaper

magazines

hoardings

TV

print Ads

0.00% 10.00% 20.00% 30.00% 40.00% 50.00% 60.00% 70.00% 80.00% 90.00%

22.50%

22.50%

12.50%

10.00%

85.00%

20.00%

HOW DID YOU COME TO KNOW ABOUT RTE SNACKS?

As seen from the above chart the ready to eat snacks have the highest visibility in TV commercial and then Retailers and Newspaper. The companies should leverage this option to increase the visibility and the penetration of the Ready to eat snacks.

Q16. Are you satisfied with the range of RTE snacks available?

Yes No

OBJECTIVE: it is the open ended question to check whether respondent is comfortable with range of RTE snacks available in the market.

ANALYSIS: This can be analyzed using Percentage method.

PercentYes 85%No 15%

85%YES

15%NO

ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH RANGE OF RTE AVAILABLE?

yesno

Around 85% of the respondent were comfortable with the range of rte available but rest still feel that rte has much more potential and can capture more market.

CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATION

Lays, Haldiram, Kurkure and Balaji has the maximum market share in the market.

Ready to eat snacks are cost effective.

The major concern for consumers is the health aspect. They have a perception that these Ready to eat snacks are not good for health. Hence marketers have to touch upon this point. The advertising, communication and promotion should revolve around this point.

Indian Households are averse to outside food and they feel only home cooked food can provide the taste and quality. This is a big hurdle for the RTE industry and the efforts should be taken to improve the quality of the snacks by using better manufacturing, and packing methods.

As it is seen that the consumers came to know about RTE snacks from Television Ads and display at malls. This proves that two promotion methodologies were very effective. The third and the most important as far is food products is concerned “word of mouth” is where marketers should work on. This can only happen if the consumers are satisfied with their experience and will they give a positive word of mouth feedback to their relatives and friends. This is the most effective form of communication when it comes to something edible as consumers tend to trust people who have already used it rather than advertisement.

BRCM COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY PROJECT

TOPIC:

STUDY OF BEHAVIOUR OF INDIAN LADIES WHILE BUYING READY TO EAT SNACKS

SUBMITTED BY: YOGESH TEKWANI

ROLL NO: 236

TY BBA DIV-3

SUBMITTED TO: MR OJAS DESAI

SUBMITTED ON: 23 AUGUST, 2010