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 PROBLEMTo find out behaviour and purchase habits of
Indian ladies for ready-to-eat snacks
RESEARCH PROBLEMTo 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 VARIABLESIndependent variable: Ready-to-Eat
marketDependent variable: Buying Behaviour of Indian ladies.
DATA COLLECTION METHODResearch tool: QuestionnaireSurvey 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 ofThe 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
fromThe 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 consumers preference varies with varying
parameters.
In brief, Management problemResearch problemInvestigation
questionMeasurement 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?
QUESTIONNAIRERespected 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 NoQ2. Which of these do
you mostly prefer? Branded snacks Unbranded snacks Any of theseQ3.
When do you buy ready to eat snacks? While shopping for monthly
grocery items Separately during emergencyQ4. 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 basisQ5. 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)PRODUCTSRANK
Chips
Namkeens
Fun foods (Fraiams, cheese-balls, etc)
Q7. Which brands amongst given below you heard
of?PRODUCTSBRANDS
Chips Fritos-Lays ITCs-Bingo Garden Janta Balaji Other, specify
_____
Namkeens Haldiram Garden S M Foods-Peppy Namkin Aritos-Lehar
Other, specify _____
Fun foods Fritos-Kurkure S M foods-Peppy Bonker ITCs-Bingo
Other, specify _____
Q8. Do you store ready to eat snacks? Yes NoQ9. 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
parametersSTRONGLY AGREEAGREENEITHER AGREE OR
DISAGREEDISAGREESTRONGLY DISAGREE
RTE snacks are easily available whenever I need
I dont see any sort of health problem due to consumption of RTE
snacks
I think a ready to eat snacks is value of money
I think RTE snacks is not tasty as freshly cooked home food
I 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 beQ12. How do you respond if
the desired brand is not available? Take another Visit next shop
Postpone your purchaseQ13. Do you consider your children
preference? Yes NoQ14. Do you think brand ambassador play an
important role in endorsing RTE snacks? Yes NoQ15. What is the
source from where you get information regarding ready to eat
snacks? Print Ads TV Hoardings Magazines Newspaper RetailersQ16.
Are you satisfied with the range of RTE snacks available? Yes
No
PERSONAL DETAILS
NAME:
______________________________________________________________________AGE:
18-25 20-40 41-55 55 aboveMARITAL STATUS: SINGLE MARRIEDOCCUPATION:
Service Self employed Housewife Retire/othersThank you.ANALYSIS OF
DATA & INTERPRETATIONQ1. Do you buy ready to eat snacks? Yes
NoOBJECTIVE: 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.Percent
Yes100%
No-
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 theseOBJECTIVE: 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.Percent
Branded snacks72.5%
Unbranded snacks5%
Both22.5%
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 emergencyOBJECTIVE: 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 items55%
Separately during emergency45%
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 basisOBJECTIVE: 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 weeks45%
Once in 3-4 weeks42.5%
Once in 5-6 weeks2.5%
On regular basis10%
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
dayOBJECTIVE: 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 hungry50%
During movies or while watching TV17.5%
Any time of the day32.5%
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)PRODUCTSRANK
Chips
Namkeens
Fun foods (fraiams, cheese-balls, etc)
OBJECTIVE: This question is designed to know about the most
preferred snackANALYSIS: This can be analyzed using weighted
average rank method.Product/preferenceChipsNamkeensFun foods
Most preference22108
General preference17914
Least preference12118
Total404040
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?PRODUCTSBRANDS
Chips Fritos lays ITCs Bingo Garden Janta Balaji Other, specify
_____
Namkeens Haldiram Garden S M Foods Peppy Namkeens Aritos - Lehar
Other, specify _____
Fun foods Fritos Kurkure S M Foods Peppy Bonker ITCs - 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
choiceANALYSIS: This can be analyzed using statistical tool
MEANProduct: ChipsCHIPSPERCENT
Fritos lays50%
ITCs- Bingo28%
Garden30%
Janta7.5%
Balaji67.5%
Others-
It is clear from the above chart that maximum respondent know
about Balaji, Lays and Bingo and these brands have maximum market
share.Product: NamkeensNAMKEENSPERCENT
Haldiram77.5%
Garden42.5%
S M Foods-Peppy Namkeens25%
Aritos -Lehar25%
others-
It is clear from the above chart that maximum respondent know
about Haldiram and Garden and these brands have maximum market
share.
Product: Fun foodsFUN FOODSPERCENT
Fritos - Kurkure62.5%
S m foods peppy30%
Bonker12.5%
ITCs - bingo52.5%
others-
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 NoOBJECTIVE: This
question is to know whether the respondent stores ready to eat
snacks or not ANALYSIS: This can be analyzed using Percentage
method.Percent
Yes92.5%
No7.5%
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 kgOBJECTIVE: This question is asked to determine the preference
of the respondent regarding quantity of purchase.ANALYSIS: This can
be analyzed using statistical tool MODEPACKPERCENT
16 gm/ 32 gm10%
100 gm52.5%
500 gm35%
1 kg2.5%
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 parametersSTRONGLY AGREEAGREENEITHER AGREE
OR DISAGREEDISAGREESTRONGLY DISAGREE
RTE snacks are easily available whenever I need
I dont see any sort of health problem due to consumption of RTE
snacks
I think a ready to eat snacks is value of money
I think RTE snacks is not tasty as freshly cooked home food
I 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 agree50%
Agree42.5%
Neither agree or disagree7.5%
Disagree-
Strongly disagree-
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 dont 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 agree10%
Agree32.5%
Neither agree or disagree40%
Disagree15%
Strongly disagree2.5%
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 agree7.5%
Agree47.5%
Neither agree or disagree20%
Disagree25%
Strongly disagree-
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 agree10%
Agree32.5%
Neither agree or disagree22.5%
Disagree32.5%
Strongly disagree2.5%
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 agree17.5%
Agree42.5%
Neither agree or disagree25%
Disagree7.5%
Strongly disagree7.5%
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 beOBJECTIVE: This question
identifies the role of retailer display in consumer
purchase.ANALYSIS: This can be analyzed using Percentage
method.Percent
Yes30%
No35%
May be35%
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 purchaseOBJECTIVE: This
question is designed to check brand loyalty of the
respondents.ANALYSIS: This can be analyzed using Percentage
method.Percent
Take another brand35%
Visit next shop55%
Postpone your purchase10%
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 NoOBJECTIVE:
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
Consider75%
Do not consider25%
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 NoOBJECTIVE: 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
Yes55%
No45%
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
RetailersOBJECTIVE: 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 Ads20%
TV85%
Hoardings10%
Magazines12.5%
Newspaper22.5%
Retailers22.5%
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
NoOBJECTIVE: 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.Percent
Yes85%
No15%
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