1

Retail Marketing
Project
Indian Snack Food Category : Popped
Corn
SathishKumar K
14020848018

Retail Marketing
Dr.Biranchi Swar

Indian Snack Food Sector

The Indian food sector has one of the strongest growth fundamentals of any industry. For
packaged snack foods these fundamentals are complemented by two further growth drivers;
convenience and the nations eating habits.
With smaller families leading busier urban lives, the time and resources for regular home
cooking are rapidly declining. At the same time longer working hours and lengthy commutes
leave less time for regular sit-down meals. Snack foods have been a long-time favourite in the
Indian diet and now packaged and branded variants of namkeen, sweets and wafers have become
the natural solution to the culinary cravings induced by the modern Indian lifestyle. The
combination of these factors is propelling the snack food sector toward a projected compound
annual growth rate of 14% from 2011 to 2015.

Snack Food as a category

Snack Food Category is one of the predominant Market which has the following sub-categories:
Biscuits
Brand name Snack foods
Cookies
Crackers
Cereal Bars
Crisps & Nachos
Candies
PopCorn
Healthy Snacks

New Brand in the Category

FarmHarvest , a small enterprise producing Ready-To-Eat Sweetcorn under Healthy Snack
category is working on bringing a new Product range under the brand FarmHarvest Popped
Corn and trying to bring a new market space for Popcorn products in India.

Brand
FarmHarvest Popped Corn

Retail Marketing
Dr.Biranchi Swar

PopCorn Snack
Most popcorn has the raw corn kernels added with shortening / butter to the packaging in
specific quantities. Sometimes flavorants are added to promote specific flavors like, cheese,
caramel, salt or other novelty flavor. This product is packaged, sealed, boxed and readied for
shipping and distribution through multiple channels.

Popcorn Categories
Ready to pop - popcorn snacks for retail
Ready to pop Popcorn snacks for Institutions
Ready to Eat Premium popcorn for Retail

Current Trends of the Product Category

Sales in the snacking category have grown more than six-fold from 8,000 crores in 2004 to
47,000 crores in 2013.

Indias tier 1 towns, the rest of urban, and rural areas offer the mostpotential in terms of
growth and opportunity when it comes to snacking.

Products that talk about strong taste and texture cues and woven with appropriate
emotional insight do better than those that dont.

The global recession clearly hasnt had an impact on the average Indians taste buds.
Snacking is on the rise. Increasing disposable incomes, a need for convenience from fastpaced lifestyles and a cultural tradition of snacking between meals have fuelled explosive
growth in this sector. From a modest 8,000 crores in 2004, the market today stands at
47,000 croresmore than six times the amount a decade ago!

Retail Marketing
Dr.Biranchi Swar

An attractive sector for new entrants

Established snack food players like Haldirams and Pepsi Lehar have been
joined by a new wave of market entrants in recent years, attracted to the
sector thanks to its high growth rate and the relatively low level of capital
required to establish production.

Amongst the new arrivals are many regional entrepreneurs who have backed
themselves to succeed based on a better understanding of Indias distinctive
local tastes and delicacies. Meanwhile large FMCG players have bet that their
brand name and marketing expertise can extend their clout to a new product
category.

Although the market is large and diverse enough to accommodate a broad

range of both existing players and new entrants, those moving in to the
sector need to be aware of a number of challenges to long-term success and
develop their strategies accordingly.

Retail Marketing
Dr.Biranchi Swar

THE FASTEST ROUTE TO A CONSUMERS WALLET :

In the past, marketers have tried a purely emotional to completely function

insight and everything in-between to relate with their consumers. So what
seems to work? Concepts that performed well seem to have a good mix of
both emotional and functional insights with a
slight skew towards
emotional.

TASTE
Keep it simple. Dont focus on more than two benefits. In our study, we
discovered that consumers are focused on taste and texture.

To keep up with the younger generations focus on health, a few marketers

have recently explored healthier options with their snacks. Our studies show
that while health could give your proposition an edge, you need to ensure it
never comes at the expense of good taste. We observed initiatives
emphasizing health at the cost of taste performed poorly. In fact, when it
comes to salty snacks, taste is a non-negotiable measure. We also found that
Indian consumers particularly look for snacks that are fresh, crisp and
flavourful. 73% of the respondents chose freshness as the top criteria when
choosing a snacking product.

Retail Marketing
Dr.Biranchi Swar

PRICING IT RIGHT

Coinage is an important phenomenon in the snacking space with the Rs 5

and Rs 10 SKU growing exponentially. Our study indicates that maintaining
an SKU at these price points do drive success for your initiative. In 2004,
while the below INR 5 price point accounted for a bulk of sales, nearly a
decade later, the situation has changed. When you look at data from 2012,
we see that the INR 5 and 10 price points have grown significantly.

LEVERAGE EXISTING GOODWILL

Indian consumers are willing to try new productsup to a point. Nielsen data
shows that consumers prefer, and indeed actively look for, brand equity as
an assurance of quality. If you can leverage a strong parent brand, do so.
When one of the worlds biggest brand of biscuits was launched in India, the
company made sure to leverage a known parent brand name. The strategy
seems to have worked as the brand went on to become one of the most
successful launches in recent times.

DISTRIBUTION CAN MAKE OR BREAK YOUR PRODUCT

Finally, never underestimate the importance of distributing your product

well. Even in distribution, quality trumps quantitysome of the top
snacking companies are focusing on the quality of stores they place their
products in as opposed to merely increasing their presence in a growing
number of stores. As you can see from the chart below, companies that were
successful, focused not only on growing their distribution but also on growing
outlets with higher dealer offtake.

Retail Marketing
Dr.Biranchi Swar

FACTORS INFLUENCING PURCHASE OF THE PRODUCT

S.N
o

Variables

Title of the Paper

Author/Year

Brand
Awareness

Determinants
influencing Richa
consumer purchase towards Lite Choudary/2012
Products

Product
Awareness

Determinants
influencing Richa
consumer purchase towards Lite Choudary/2012
Products

Self Esteem

Determinants
influencing Richa
consumer purchase towards Lite Choudary/2012
Products

Reliability

Determinants
influencing Richa
consumer purchase towards Lite Choudary/2012
Products

Motivation
Creation

Determinants
influencing Richa
consumer purchase towards Lite Choudary/2012
Products

Nutritional
Value

Snack Peanuts Purchase Pattern: Arbindra P.Rimal

Effects
of
Nutritional &
Stanley
Considerations
&
Household F.Fletcher/2002
Characteristics

Household
Meal

Snack Peanuts Purchase Pattern: Arbindra P.Rimal

Effects
of
Nutritional &
Stanley
Considerations
&
Household F.Fletcher/2002
Characteristics

Exercise

Snack Peanuts Purchase Pattern: Arbindra P.Rimal

Effects
of
Nutritional &
Stanley
Considerations
&
Household F.Fletcher/2002
Characteristics

Retail Marketing
Dr.Biranchi Swar

Taste

Biting into the Indian Snacking Dolly Jha/2014

Market - Nielsons

Price

Biting into the Indian Snacking Dolly Jha/2014

Market - Nielsons

10

Innovation

Strategies for success in Indias Gehan

snack food market
Wanduragala
/2012

11

Packaging

Packaging & Purchase Decisions An Pinya

Exploratory study on the impact of Silayoi/Mark
involvement
level
and
time Speece/2004
pressure

12

Color

Packaging & Purchase Decisions An Pinya

Exploratory study on the impact of Silayoi/Mark
involvement
level
and
time Speece/2004
pressure

13

Size

Packaging & Purchase Decisions An Pinya

Exploratory study on the impact of Silayoi/Mark
involvement
level
and
time Speece/2004
pressure

14

Appeal

Packaging & Purchase Decisions An Pinya

Exploratory study on the impact of Silayoi/Mark
involvement
level
and
time Speece/2004
pressure

15

Feel
packaging

16

Natural
Ingredients

Snatching Share in Snack Market Monica

Nielsen
Watrous/2014

17

Non GMO

Snatching Share in Snack Market Monica

Nielsen
Watrous/2014

18

No
artificial Snatching Share in Snack Market Monica
Colors
Nielsen
Watrous/2014

of Packaging & Purchase Decisions An Pinya

Exploratory study on the impact of Silayoi/Mark
involvement
level
and
time Speece/2004
pressure

Retail Marketing
Dr.Biranchi Swar

19

Low in fat

20

Low
Calories

Snatching Share in Snack Market Monica

Nielsen
Watrous/2014
in Snatching Share in Snack Market Monica
Nielsen
Watrous/2014

Future Trends
Indias booming Rs. 40,900 Crore snack food market is attracting the hungry
eyes of many profit seekers; from the budding local start-up to multinational
giants. Yet potential entrants salivating at this markets potential should first
consider the possible risks and develop their strategies accordingly.

Snacking is inherent to Indian food culture although it lacks overt social

endorsement unlike meals which are ritually sanctified. Snacking has
traditionally implied a variety of sensorial experience in terms of flavour,
taste, shape, texture, ingredients, appearance & accompaniments.
Category growth could be attributed to the fast paced, out-of-home lifestyle,
increased frequency of socialising and a gradual erosion of the family sit- down
meal culture.
Though there is increasing health consciousness among consumers, with snacks, the
communication has to first relay a tantalising taste experience. Interestingly,
cookery shows today are helping consumers bridge taste and health with innovation
in the method of preparation and inclusion of healthy ingredients.
Besides flavour, marketers could also experiment with product format, presentation
and packaging to appeal to the consumer. For example peri peri masala sachets with
the product, quick recipe ideas on the packaging and so on.
A price tag in the Rs. 5-20 range leads to impulsiveness and experimentation in the
category.

Conclusion

Retail Marketing
Dr.Biranchi Swar

Taking stock of the challenges in the Indian snack food sector and preparing
a coherent set of strategic responses will stand companies in good stead as
they seek to exploit the growing market opportunity and withstand the
intensifying competition.

References:
http://kanvic.com/strategies-for-success-in-india-s-snack-food-market.html
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/marketing/consumer-buying-decision-towardssnack-product-marketing-essay.php
http://www.nielsen.com/in/en/insights/reports/2014/biting-into-the-indian-snackingmarket.html
http://www.indiaretailing.com/2014/12/30/progressive-grocer/the-six-guidelines-ofsuccessful-snacks-marketing-in-india-nielsen/