Customers
Primary target: Young Adults (15-29 years) & Health conscious middle aged adults (30-59 years)
Demographics of customers:
Region: urban, semi-urban, rural (recent)
Occupation: Housewives, working professionals, self-employed, health conscious students
Income: 1, 20,000 p.a. upwards
Social class: Middle and upwards
Family life cycle: Young, single, married with children.
Behavioural characteristics of customers:
Occasions: Regular, Everyday user-urban, rural-depends on the temporal aspects of the consumer’s life (varied usage in terms of time of time of day, week, month, year)
User status: first time user-rural, potential users-semi-urban, heavy users-urban
Usage rate: Heavy user-urban, light-rural, medium-semi-urban
Loyalty status: hard core and shifting loyalists
Attitude toward product: Enthusiastic, positive
Psychographics:
Lifestyle: Hard pressed for time
Context
The growing interest and action in the instant noodles market is in fact reflective of a deeper change in the India social ethos. Powdered soups, cooking pastes and purees (US$33 million), instant pasta (US$22 million) and ready-to-eat meals (US$17 million) are other recent examples.
There are several reasons for this change in Indian food habits: the country’s young demographic profile, increasing family income, accelerating urbanization, the cosmopolitization of major urban centres, unprecedented interstate migrations, increasing number of working couples, time constraints, shortage of household help, global travel, increasing exposure to global cuisine etc... The localization of cuisines to match customer tastes regionally has played a major role in the acceptability of different cuisines in the country.
ACV map
Based on the interview we conducted, the below ACV map was conducted for the noodles consumers.
Segmentation
The taste preferences and eating habits of consumers bear a high correlation with their age. Based on this, we can segment the market into the following age groups:
Children
Children as an age group are a marketer’s delight. With “pester power” children play a significant role in decision making and purchase choices of just about anything ranging from food items to beverages to chocolates. As consumers, children know exactly what they want and do not experiment too much with flavour or colour.
Tweenagers
The tweenagers age group consists of children on the threshold of adolescence and as a segment are a difficult lot. Though they are not sure about their choices on an emotional plane, they are a trendy new group that is extremely savvy and self assured when it comes to taking decisions regarding consumer goods and wants.
Impulse foods rule the preference scale as far as the buying behaviour of tweenagers in India is concerned. In fact, the top six expense items for tweenagers seem to be impulse foods: 17% of the total pocket money spent on ice creams, 12% on chocolates and 10% each on soft drinks and fast food according to a newspaper report in the “The Times of India”.
With increased awareness through television and advertising, tweenagers are an important influence on family decision-making in urban India. They have also mastered the art of nagging their parents into making purchases of gadgets or products that they want. Among the areas where they make their influence felt are the purchase of such items as a newly launched chocolate bar, instant noodles and breakfast cereal.
Teenagers
On the brink of adulthood, teenagers like to emphasize and express themselves in a manner that catches attention. They have experimental with their food with a preference towards innovative offerings but form strong opinions which they carry forward in life. They are also predisposed towards snack items as they tend to feel hungry between traditional meals. They have a lot of say about the food that they want to consume with limited parental control.
Teenagers like buying books, music and expensive branded footwear, as well as watching films and socialising with friends. Older college-going teenagers’ high school pupils tend to frequent coffee bars, which are a relatively new focal point for socialising. Teenagers are also among the regular users cinema multiplexes and entertainment zones.
College-Goers
A rise in the number of colleges and institutions of higher learning both government owned and privately financed has enabled a larger number of youth to graduate from their portals. This population grew since 2000 but is set to stagnate in the forecast period with couples actually postponing the child bearing decision and some even rejecting the idea of having one at all. This age group has taken up to snacking as a way of life as they keep missing regular meals due to erratic schedules. They have longer waking hours and due to this the traditional three meals does not suffice with the need for filling snacks.
Young Adults
Young adults (15-29 years old) represent the largest spending segment in the country. Youngsters are part of a middle-class boom in India.
College graduates and students still studying are landing well-paying jobs in a host of emerging industries that barely existed at the start of the new millennium – retail chains, fast food restaurants, mobile phone companies, call centres and data processing firms. Many have access to disposable incomes of Rs8, 000-10,000 per month thanks to the BPO boom in India. This age group still does not have responsibilities of running a household, marriage or worry about their children’s education. Thus, this income is almost entirely spent on non-essential items. Most purchases made by this age group are on impulse. There are 16 million urban consumers in the 20-25 age groups.
Many single working professionals have to live away from their parents due to the demand of the jobs. This yuppies (young upwardly mobile professionals) class has a hard time preparing food and for them convenience is major issue. They are ready to pay a premium for quality and convenience. Also always being on the move they have a need for food item that can be easily consumed and disposed of.
Middle-Aged Adults
These middle aged men have strict preferences over food and they generally stick to their choices. They experiment less and go for products that will enhance their social status.
The women in this age group are ones who the primarily buy food items for the entire household though their choices are shaped by the preferences of the household members. The women in this segment play an important role as most of the choices of food items have to pass their scrutiny before it is consumed in the household.
Baby Boomers
The concept of baby boomers may not be that relevant to India notwithstanding the impact of and its participation in World War II. However, having been born in an age of constrained resources, this segment is somewhat cautious about its approach to consumerist tendencies although it is adopting some of them. For example, a number use mobile phones for their functional use but frown on the use of credit cards and buying branded clothing.
Health-related products, children’s education, automobiles, retirement planning, insurance products and vacations form the bulk of their expense.
Pensioners
In the 1950s and 1960s, government jobs were among the few acceptable job occupations for people from respectable households. Changing technology and globalisation have changed that with unconventional income opportunities now presenting themselves to Indians.
There food preferences are shaped by their health conditions and they stick to their preferred food items.
From the 1980s onwards, there has been a steady migration of young adults and students to the US, in search of better opportunities. Most have chosen to settle and make their lives in that country. Therefore, their ageing parents have had to learn to continue to live independently.
Retirement homes were previously viewed negatively in India. If the elderly went there, it meant they had no one to care for them, and were in a sense for the destitute elderly. In the new urban India, however, well-appointed retirement communities are mushrooming, and couples in their 60s are going there of their own volition.
Foodles – PoD & PoP
POP
Category POPs for a brand like Foodles will be taste, presence of different flavours, ease of preparation & availability in convenient packs (of different weights).
Competitive POPs for Foodles will be achieved by negating the PODs of brands like Maggi, Top Ramen etc...
Though Maggi is widely used, some people think that Top Ramen’s masala variant tastes better. Foodles too can focus on offering superior taste in its basic masala flavour even while promoting its “healthy” Multi-grain flavour.
Foodles can also offer different ways of preparation (pouch, bowl & cup) to take on the market leader (Maggi) which is present predominantly in pouch segment.
POD
There are three key consumer desirability criteria for PODs,
1. Relevance:
Target consumers must find the POD personally relevant and important. Foodles can therefore focus on offering various recipes that give more freedom & choice for consumers to cook. It can also offer a variant with dried vegetables.
2. Distinctiveness:
Target consumers must find the POD distinctive and superior. When entering a category where there are established brands, the challenge is to find a viable basis for differentiation. Foodles can offer a tastemaker fortified with vitamins & minerals to differentiate it from other players.
3. Believability:
Target consumers must find the POD believable and credible. A brand must offer a compelling reason for choosing it over the other options. Foodles can offer a whole wheat variant for consumption by heart patients, diabetics & older people in general. Since it has the brand credibility of Horlicks, it will be able to push this offering with ease.
Here are three key deliverability criteria for PODs.
1. Feasibility:
The product and marketing must be designed in a way to support the desired association. It is feasible for Foodles to focus on the nutrition aspect of noodles (which is often overlooked).
2. Communicability:
The key issue in communicability is the consumer’s perception of the brand and the resulting brand associations. Foodles’ nutrition platform can be effectively communicated by roping in Nutritionists, Dieticians & Sport stars and promoting it as a healthy evening snack.
3. Sustainability:
Sustainability depends on internal commitment and use of resources as well as external market forces. Foodles must be wary of diluting its mother brand’s (Horlicks) credibility. GSK must be aggressive in promoting Foodles if it doesn’t want Foodles to join the ranks of “also-rans”.
Consumer Decision Making
Purchase Involvement Level and Decision Making Type
The act of purchasing Horlicks Foodles is considered low purchase involvement level because instant noodles are convenient and inexpensive products. Simply, when consumers have concern or desire to buy instant noodles, they go for convenience stores or supermarkets to buy them.
Recently, consumers have been enjoying the benefits from the tense competition among instant noodle brands with different qualities, prices and flavours, which leaves consumers confused about choosing among brands. Therefore, instant noodles including Horlicks Foodles at first are bought through limited decision making. However, the high-quality and delicious taste of a particular brand of instant noodles encourages consumers to make purchase again and again, which contributes to habitual decision making in grabbing their favourite brand from the shelves.
Evaluative criteria
Through means of in-depth interview, we created a list of factors that consumer use in choosing instant noodles. Then we asked a greater set of respondents to rank these factors on the basis of importance they give to each of these factors. The factors and the results of the survey are summarized in the table below.
Quality
Fifty per cent of the respondents regard quality as the most important criterion and are willing to purchase the instant noodle with good quality that offer a healthy proposition. Therefore, this is in line with Foodles’ focus on offering healthy noodles made out of whole-grain.
Flavor and Taste
Flavour and taste is a critical criterion. Horlicks Foodles differentiates itself by making their noodles from four different ingredients. Hence, the flavour of Horlicks Foodles is absolutely distinctive from other brands. This is the just-noticeable difference of Horlicks Foodles. The perception of the taste of their health maker also becomes important.
Price
Consumers also want to choose the brands that offer high quality with lower price, not the lowest price (mid level brands). Comparing with other brands, Horlicks Foodles has the affordable price with high quality.
Package
To most new consumers, packaging could determine which brand to buy. Normally, consumers are captivated by the products with novel design and appealing appearance. Horlicks Foodles’ package is perceived informative, catchy, modern and stylish.
Internal Influences
Perception
Regarding exposure, most of consumers expose to Horlicks Foodles advertisement through TV, magazine or internet randomly, which means it often happens just after they finish watching a movie or while scrolling down the page without their intention searching for it.
What get their focus during the exposure are the full page size and attractive colors of paper-based advertisement, a mother and son sucking on the same noodle and just enough information provided to cause awareness and curiosity in commercials. People pay attention more to Horlicks Foodles' advertisement basically because of their interest in trying or tasting something new, something different rather than the need to know.
The interpretation of Horlicks Foodles’ consumers occurs in a cognitive way. This means the paper-based advertisement and commercials all use captions and speeches in fundamental words such as Horlicks Foodles: The ‘noodles’ without the ‘no’, providing semantic meaning for a vast number of buyers to understand properly, therefore, get familiar to Horlicks Foodles noodles and feel like purchasing the product.
Types of Learning
Classical conditioning is present as the main way customers are aware of the product is through advertisement or commercials, and they would have positive feeling towards about it, which after that, forces them to buy and try out Horlicks Foodles noodles.
Moreover, buyers tend to think of Horlicks Foodles products immediately when they hear about instant noodle that causes least health problems. This means they use iconic rote learning, the process of learning the association between two concepts (health and Horlicks Foodles noodles) or more without the conditioning presented.
Last but not least, another way consumers learn about this brand is through vicarious modeling. Seeing mothers in the advertisement no more saying no to a variant of noodles called foodles, mothers in reality may adjust their purchasing behaviour and start to buy Horlicks Foodles instant noodles.
Motivation
In regard to Maslow Hierarchy of Needs, besides meeting physiological needs with fast and convenient meals, they try to cut across physiological,safety and security and love and belongingness needs by stimulating awareness of “health” from Horlicks Foodles products.
Value Proposition
Inner core: key attributes
Outer core: other meaningful attributes associated with Foodles!
Extension Areas: Possible line extensions or product improvement ideas
No-Go Areas: Areas to avoid working – inconsistent with core attributes
Attitudes
The combined results of quick survey of 20 respondents
Cognitive component
Foodles has succeeded in spreading out and educating the customers of its whole grain made noodles. Most surveyors have a good attitude towards Foodle’s taste, price and package design. Nevertheless, some consumers are still not sure about the nutrition value of the Foodle’s health maker.
Affective component
Research has shown that continued repetition of advertisements for low-involvement products may increase the liking for the product. This is proved for Horlicks Foodles. Figure below is their print media advertisement.
Behavioural component
15 out of 19 surveyors who have purchased Horlicks Foodles will purchase Horlicks Foodles next time. This figure points out the remarkably positive intention to purchase behaviour of Horlicks Foodles. This success is also attributable to Horlicks Foodles effective use of POP and premiums in wide range of supermarkets.
Marketing Strategy
In this section, we try and analyse the marketing strategy being adopted by Horlicks which is a challenger to the Brand Maggi in noodles segment. It has become an adapter to the noodles category that has been created by Maggi and has then launched a very different version of the product being offered by Maggi, i.e. a noodles that are considered healthy because the contents of the noodles contain at the most 4 different grains and even the taste maker or the health maker as it is called in the case of foodles contains vitamins in its overall composition. It has tried to position its product by getting noticed through an unusual advertisement to separate itself from the general noodles category and position it as a healthy noodles proposition for the consumers. They have used the frontal attack strategy where they have attacked Maggi, the market leader, and all the other players in this category by showing them as unwanted by mothers and then positioning themselves as an alternative to this problem, and then trying to strengthen this position with the help of every media possible. They are trying to challenge the status quo that exists in the noodles market and trying to define a niche for itself as a healthy alternative even in the noodles segment, which even Maggi had realized a few years ago and so it launched the Atta and vegetables to their stable, but this further strengthens the fact to a very minute extent that normal Maggi at-least is not that healthy an alternative so it itself also had to launch its atta and vegetable versions of Maggi itself and Horlicks in that terms can be considered to be the first player to which has entered the market itself with a healthy snack positioning which is complementary for it as Horlicks, the endorser brand, itself supports this characteristic.
Maggi Noodles vs. Horlicks Foodles: Kapferer’s Prism
Personality
Playful children, Hurried youth
Culture
Family,
Dual income
Self Image
Kid,
Independence
Relationship
Fast to cook and good to eat,
“Mummy bhookhlagi”,
“Taste bhi health bhi”
Reflection
Familyoriented
Fun-loving
Physique
Yellow packaging,
Tasty
Physique
Nutritious,
Multiple variants,
Tough
Personality
Playful children, Concerned mothers
Relationship
‘Noodles’ without the ‘No’
The nourishing noodle
Culture
Family,
Raising of kids
Reflection
Family oriented,
Health conscious, Variety seeking
Self Image
Kid,
Strong and healthy
Recommendation on Strategy
Product development
Since customers’ novelty motive stimulates their desire for variety and difference, adding new flavours or ingredients continuously will serve as surrogate indicators that influence their buying decisions. Additionally, diversifying product forms involving making Foodle Cup/ Foodle Bowl can benefit different types of consumers such as travellers and so on. Lastly, by doing research on customer demand, the company will be continuously updated about their new expectation and able to satisfy them in a timely manner.
Package Design
Using paper-based packages brings some competitive advantages. Firstly, it enables Horlicks Foodles to produce this type of package from recycled paper and offers a convenient way for customers to dispose after use. With this strategy, the company expresses its concern for environmental issues, building a good image in customer mind. In addition, expenses on package production can reduce considerably due to paper-based strategy implementation.
Reversely, creating a fresh attractive look for a new package can become an obstacle. Marketers need to be aware that package is one of observable cues which buyers base on to choose among a variety of noodle brands.To make this strategy work, marketers could educate customers about the advantages of this strategy, how it can benefit them in a long term and the international trend of environment friendly materials through advertisements on TV or newspaper, which is also a good way to attract customer attention to Horlicks Foodles.
Advertising
Including advertising jingle in the commercials can be a wise strategy to keep the ad stay longer in consumers’ mind. Music has great impact on consumers’ short-term memory as they get familiar with the sound, with or without their awareness, reminding them of the ad whenever they hear the ad jingle. With this tactic, the advertisement can perfectly serve its role.
Promotion Campaign
Nowadays, customers have become more and more concerned about social issues. By using promotion tools like“Buy 5 packs - Give out 1 pack for charity”, marketers can not only try to increase sales by encouraging customers to buy in bulk but also get customers involved in social activities, which consequently engages them in good feelings since they can contribute to community development.
Distribution Strategies
Regarding the importance of high level of product avalability to Horlicks Foodles’ target, who is active and always in hurry, prolonging Intensive distribution strategy is necessary as it allows Horlicks Foodles’ products available anytime and anywhere customers want them.
Besides intensive distribution, Horlicks Foodles marketers can think of exclusive distribution style such as utilizing Noodle mobile van campaign, which can be an innovative way to distribute its product. Horlicks Foodles mobile vans will sell only products including Horlicks Foodles, along with materials necessary for making a highly nutritious meal with instant noodles. These vans move around cities and may stay longer at amusement parks, trade fairs, sport match venues, stadium and even music concerts owing to a high demand of fast and convenient meals in these places.
Also, opening Horlicks Foodles outlets in universities and high schools can be beneficial. Illustrating a huge consumption of this product, students play as one of the most important target of Horlicks Foodles.
Though these tactics may or may not be profitable to GSK Group, the company should avoid possible big losses from operating these vans or outlets. Regardless of profitability, the company should aim at reinforcing Horlicks Foodles reputation together with promoting positive feelings about Horlicks Foodles.
Appendix – Interview Transcripts
Inferences from the survey
- Maggi has overwhelming command on the consumers. All the consumers we surveyed consume Maggi noodles.
- Top Ramen is the second preferred brand. Most of the interviewee had it as their second choice.
- Consumers like value for money. Most of interviewees said they buy family packs more often.
- For taste, people prefer the spice that comes along with noodles, and not many like to eat something else with it.
- While people seem aware of the health hazards of noodles, they generally don’t factor them as much cause the convenience is simply a very big factor.
- Foodles seems to have stoked curiosity in consumers. Most of them said they would take Foodles if given a brand to experiment upon.
- The biggest USP of noodles is the convenience and swiftness with which they can be prepared.
The interview questions and answers from each of the interviewee are listed below. Five answers for each interviewee are listed under the question for relative comparison.
The order of the answers is as same as the order of the interviewee.
- At what age did you have noodles for the first time? Who introduced it to you?
- 5 years, Mom
- 10 yrs, relative
- 5 yrs, Mom
- 19yrs, Relative
- 5 yrs, Mom
- Which brand was it?
- Home made
- Maggi
- Maggi
- Maggi
- Maggi
- When do you prefer to have noodles?
- Sometimes, as a quick hunger buster
- When hungry, can be quickly made
- Evening snack
- Quick food
- Quick Food
- How many times do you have noodles in a month?
- 0-2 times
- 8 to 10 times
- 4 to 5 times
- 2 to 3 times
- 10 to 15 times
- What is that you love most about your noodles?
- Maggi Chicken Masala flavour
- Maggi masala
- flavour (maggi masala)
- Maggi masala
- Their masala and eating them uncooked
- Do you like experimenting with you noodles brand?
- What comes to you mind the moment you think about your Noodles
- The jingle
- packaging
- the tagline (2 minute noodles)
- 2mins
- Maggi maggi maggi
- What other brands of noodles have you tried?
- Top Ramen, Wai Wai
- sunfeast,top ramen
- top ramen (1 or 2 times)
- Yippe, top ramen
- Top ramien, Knorr soupy noodles, Foodles
- Do you have horlicks or boost?
- yes, mainly boost
- no
- yes
- yes
- Yes
- Have you tried the horlicks or boost biscuits
- horlicks yes, boost no
- no
- No
- yes
- Yes
- What other Noodles brands do you know?
- Top Ramen, Wai Wai, Knorr
- top ramen sunfeast
- Top ramen, Cup'o
- top ramen
- Top ramien, Knorr soupy noodles, Foodles
- what packages do you buy ?
- Small pack
- -
- Family pack (4 in one)
- Chota pack
- Family Pack
- What is the food item you have with noodles ?
- Nothing, sometimes scrambled eggs spread over the noodles
- Nothing
- Nothing
- Nothing
- Bread sometimes
- Where do you make your regular purchase of noodles?
- General stores
- General store
- Departmental stores
- General store
- General store
- Which flavour do you like the most ?
- Chicken Masala flavour
- Normal
- Masala flavour
- Normal
- Masala flavor, Tomato flavour
- Do you like experimenting with flavours
- Yes, but I stuck to chicken
- yes
- No
- no
- Yes
- Who prefers noodles most in your family?
- Everyone
- my cousin
- Me
- Me
- Me, brother, cousins
- It is said that Noodles is not good for health? Do you agree? What your take on it?
- Frequent consumption is not good, as it has lots of artificial flavours.
- not completely
- I agree (artificial flavours, healthy content like protein not present)
- Frequent intakes might be not good
- I think aata noodles are comparatively beneficial than the plain one.
- Describe your noodles in 1 sentence
- Yummy
- easy to make and tasty to eat
- Fast Snack
- Quick food
- 2 minute me khana
- Have you tried topramen, foodles, sunfeast brand of noodles?
- Top Ramen yes, it is nice. Sunfeast, not yet
- yes
- No
- yes
- yes
- If I were to give you a noodles packet free for experimentation which one would it be
- Foodles
- foodles
- Foodles
- NA
- Foodles
- Why do you persist in spite of noodles being a non-healthy food product?
- Yummy, quick to cook, and even quicker to eat
- NA
- Taste, fast snack
- NA
- Taste. and easy to cook
Cognitive component (measures beliefs about specific attributes)
Affective component (Measures feelings about specific attributes or the overall brand)
Behavioural Component (Measuring actions or intended actions)
In-depth interview questions
- How has your eating behaviour changed since the time you have become health conscious?
- What do you look for in a snack? Do you also look for health? Will all the attributes together offer you more value?
- What kind of image do instant noodles evoke in your mind? What implication does it have on your consumption behaviour?
- Would you consider instant noodles as a snack or a meal?
- Do you consider instant noodles as healthy? What are the various health concerns do you have regarding noodles?
- In your opinion, can any product augmentation ever change the perception of noodles being unhealthy?
- Would you be willing to adopt healthy recipes based on instant noodles? How much more often
- Would you be willing to consume instant noodles if it were cooked in a healthy way?
by
vinasa8787 (student)
