A Study on the factors affecting the consumer buying behavior of Ready-To-Eat Industry

Submitted to: Prof Gowri Joshi

Submitted by:Shruthika KanchanRoll no 13MMS First YearSIES College of Management Studies.

2010

3/17/2010

Acknowledgement

During the perseverance of this project, I was supported by different people, whose

names if not mentioned would be inconsiderate on my part.

I would like to extend my sincere gratitude and appreciation to my project guide Prof.

Gowri Joshi, SIES college of Management Studies, for extending valuable guidance and

encouragement from time to time, without which it would not have been possible to undertake

and complete this project. The Project was an enriching experience and taught me various critical

factors that influence Ready-To-Eat Industry. Additionally, this project helped me understanding

how actual research is conducted and the various challenges that researches face while doing a

research.

I would also like to thank my family for their support and patience through out the

completion of the project.

My heart felt gratitude to the Microsoft Corporation for inventing the “Microsoft word”

software which has helped us MBA students immensely in completion of our projects.

Above all I would like to thank the divine intervention who backed me at all times and provided

me with all the help of the wonderful people mentioned above.

Shruthika Kanchan

2

Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT......................................................................................................................... 2

TABLE OF CONTENTS.......................................................................................................................... 3

SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................. 4

INTRODUCTION TO READY TO EAT (RTE)............................................................................................................4MOTIVATION FOR THE STUDY..................................................................................................................................6OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY...................................................................................................................................... 6RESEARCH PROBLEM................................................................................................................................................. 7SCOPE OF THE STUDY................................................................................................................................................ 7LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY.................................................................................................................................... 7DEFINING THE VARIABLES........................................................................................................................................8

SECTION2: LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................... 9

THEORETICAL REVIEW.............................................................................................................................................. 9RESEARCH BASED LITERATURE REVIEW............................................................................................................11

SECTION 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY..................................................................................... 15

RESEARCH DESIGN.................................................................................................................................................. 15DATA COLLECTION METHODOLOGY..................................................................................................................... 15SAMPLE DESIGN........................................................................................................................................................ 16SAMPLE SIZE............................................................................................................................................................. 16

SECTION 4: RESULTS AND FINDINGS........................................................................................... 17

SECTION 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS............................................................26

CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................................................. 26RECOMMENDATIONS............................................................................................................................................... 27

SECTION 6: BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................................................ 29

BOOKS...................................................................................................................................................................... 29WEB-RESOURCES............................................................................................................................................... 29OTHER REFERENCES............................................................................................................................................... 29

Section 7: Annexure............................................................................................................................................... 30

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Section 1: Introduction

Introduction to Ready to Eat (RTE)

Background for the Study

India has made lot of progress in agriculture & food sectors since independence in terms of

growth in output, yields and processing. It has gone through a green revolution, a white

revolution, a yellow revolution and a blue revolution. Today, India is the largest producer of

milk, fruits, cashew nuts, coconuts and tea in the world, the second largest producer of wheat,

vegetables, sugar and fish and the third largest producer of tobacco and rice. Therefore, Indian

Government is providing more infrastructures for this sector. Excise duty is now ZERO % on

RTE and 100 % tax deduction for the first 10 years for new units. This allows manufactures to

bring down their prices & spreads its flavors to the world.

Now the time is to provide better food processing & its marketing infrastructure for Indian

industries to serve good quality & safest processed food like ready to eat food.

The ready-to-eat (RTE) market in India, currently estimated at Rs. 128 crore (2006) is expected

to expand to reach Rs. 2,900 crore by 2015, according to an analysis done by Tata Strategic

Management Group (TSMG).1 In its analysis, TSMG said that the factors contributing to the

growth would be changes like cold chain development, disintermediation, streamlining of

taxation, economies of scale on the supply side, coupled with increasing disposable incomes,

diminishing culinary skills and the need for convenience on the demand side.

Concept

Ready to Eat Meals like already cooked or prepared lunch & dinner are relatively new products

are now sold through retail general stores in especially made sealed aluminum laminates.

1 http://www.thehindu.com/2007/10/24/stories/2007102454651900.htm

4

When customer needs to eat, the food item pouch is either put in microwave oven to warm it or

keep in heated water for a few minutes and then serve to eat.

Such ready to eat meals have been especially given to soldiers in army of many countries who

require carrying their rations while on war front or while located far away from their main unit.

The market for food is simply huge and as of January 2010 estimated to be Rs 5000

billion annually. It is growing for two main reasons: population growth and improvement in

consumers’ spending ability. The ready-to-eat segment is small but growing. Corporate are only

now beginning to look at the huge potential this segment can offer. The market is expected to

grow five-fold in next 5 years.2

Players in the Ready to Eat Segment

MTR

Kohinoor Foods

ITC

Haldiram

Tasty Bites

Some Features:

Globalization of Indian food and its culture are the core factors for popularization of

ready to eat foods.

Main motivation for these ready to eat foods is fast growing foreign market.

Retail outlet culture is now growing rapidly in India.

Shelf life of these foods is at least 12-18 months.

Quality, Taste and Flavor of these foods remains as good as fresh up to the expiry

date.

Women wanting to spend more time out of the kitchen.

More working bachelors staying away from homes.

Cost effective in comparison to the Indian cuisine served by the restaurants in

foreign countries.

2 www.marketreserach.com

5

Motivation for the Study

According to ITC press release on March 2008, Indian RTE market is worth around Rs 80-100

crore. The market is somewhat in a stagnant state and the growth is minimal.3

According to reports by CNBC-TV18, despite gradual duty cuts on Ready to Eat and instant

mixes the sector is not doing well and growth is minimal. The concept behind RTE is that urban

families are strapped for tine and will definitely buy RTE packs to save on cooking time however

this doesn’t seem to be so because in India people still prefer food cooked and served piping hot

by some one else or themselves so people hire cooks instead of buying RTE packs. A study

conducted by the Tata strategic management group also highlights that the RTE market in India

has remained under-penetrated owing to factors such as consumers’ penchant for freshness, low

affordability and the Indian housewife’s preference for home-cooked food.4

Hence, this study was undertaken to understand the psyche behind consumers and what factors

goes into influencing their buying decision making.

This is a dilemma faced by marketers of Ready to eat Industry. Marketing being veru close to my

heart and strategic marketing is my passion and hence I took up this study to understand the

problems that marketers face and what are the mean by which strategically these hurdles can be

overcome.

Objectives of the Study

To study the market penetration of Ready-To Eat food.

To study the consumer perception of Ready-To-Eat foods.

To identify the buying pattern of Ready-To-Eat (RTE) packs.

To identify the factors influencing buyer behavior of RTE packs.

3 ITC press Release

4 http://www.thehindu.com/2007/10/24/stories/2007102454651900.htm

6

Research Problem

This Study deals with the Ready to eat Industry in India. The study also aims at understanding

the factors influencing buying decision making of the RTE packs. The factors under

consideration are advertising, price, Product, Value proposition etc.

Scope of the Study

The project is a study of what are the factors that is affecting consumer buying behaviour of

Ready to Eat Meals in India. The study is undertaken to understand all the negative and positive

perceptions about the Ready to Eat packs.

In the study I have highlighted the following points:

Percentage of people aware about RTE & have purchased it.

Percent bought an RTE on monthly basis vs. emergency basis.

How did the respondents come to know about RTE – So that awareness could be

increased through those means?

Critical areas where communication is required to draw a change in the

perception/attitude of customers towards RTE segment.

Point’s people gave to prefer RTE as an option when needed.

Top of Mind brand recall (Unassisted) for Leading Brands.

Limitations of the Study

For a generic study like this where the consumers are spread across a wide area of

India the sample size taken was very limited i.e. 60.

Lack of first hand knowledge of conducting research.

7

Defining the Variables

Independent Variable: Ready to Eat food Market

Dependent variable: Consumer Buying Behavior

8

Section2: Literature Review

Theoretical Review

Introduction

The ready to eat meal industry consists of two categories, frozen ready meals and canned ready

meals. The market for ready meals in India increased at a compound annual growth rate of

13.7% between 2003 and 2008.The canned ready meals category led the ready meals market in

India, accounting for a share of 60.3%.

Leading players in Indian ready meals market include ITC Limited, Al Kabeer Group of

Companies and Orkla Foods.

The ready to eat foods have gained momentum in Urban India where even women are working

and there is time crunch to cook. The market for RTE industry is NRIs and bachelors.

The Indian food processing industry has changed considerably in recent years to adapt to the

demands and lifestyles of domestic consumers, particularly the growing middle class. This is

also due to the rapid expansion of the retail distribution system replacing mall stores and wet

markets with modern supermarkets, superstores and convenience stores. Dairy products, deli

products, snack foods, ready-to-eat and ready-to-prepare meals are currently the most rapid

growth product categories in the domestic market.

The current scenario

The ready-to-eat (RTE) market in India, currently estimated at Rs. 128 crore (2006) is expected

to expand to reach Rs. 2,900 crore by 2015, according to an analysis done by Tata Strategic

Management Group (TSMG). The report also highlights that the RTE market in India has

remained under-penetrated owing to factors such as consumers’ penchant for freshness, low

affordability and the Indian housewife’s preference for home-cooked food. According to data in

the reports, packaged foods in India have grown at about seven per cent a year between 2000 and

2005, with RTE foods being the fastest-growing, at a CAGR of 73 per cent. the factors

contributing to the growth would be changes like cold chain development, disintermediation,

9

streamlining of taxation, economies of scale on the supply side, coupled with increasing

disposable incomes, diminishing culinary skills and the need for convenience on the demand

side.

Market

There is a huge untapped market opportunity arising due to rapid demographic shifts in income,

urbanization, and proportion of urban working women in India. The industry needs to

concentrate on broadening the market and increasing penetration amongst Indian consumers.

The analysis also pointed out that industry players would have to significantly improve their

price competitiveness with respect to other options such as domestic help, eating out and

ordering in, available to the Indian consumer. Besides price consideration, the product range

offered by industry players will have to be strengthened.

Under-serviced

At the moment, the regional cuisine and non-vegetarian cuisine markets are relatively under-

serviced with concentration on the vegetarian North Indian meals.

Pankaj Gupta, Practice Head-Consumer & Retail, Tata Strategic, said, “According to our

analysis, India provides an attractive opportunity for both Indian and international players with a

mix of demand and supply side changes. If consumer demands of affordability, availability and

enhancing acceptability are met, the RTE foods market has the potential market size of 2,900

crore by 2015 from its existing Rs. 128 crore.

Challenges

Most urban families are strapped for time. So we would conclude that the RTE foods would be a

necessity, however, this is not the case. The Rs 130 crore markets have stayed stagnant over the

past three years. That's because in India people still believe in cooking and serving food.

Additionally, The RTE foods have to compete with restaurants, cooks and consumers penchant

for cooking. Over and above, the pricing is higher range which has made it an occasional

purchase item rather than regular buying.

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Research Based Literature Review

Research Paper Abstracts

Ready To Eat Food Industry

Source: www.opppapers.com

The project report deals with research done on the Ready to eat industry in India. It was research

done by students. The analysis has been done based on the primary data (which are collected

through survey & personal interview) and secondary data (which are collected from different

sources like internet, magazines, and reports of different Government agencies).

The project covers the current news on ready to eat food

Ready Meals in India to 2013

Source: www.marketresearch.com

The report provides data and information on the ready to eat eat meal market in India. The is a

comprehensive report covering category and segment level data including value, volume,

distribution share and company & brand share.

Highlights

The market for ready meals in India increased at a compound annual growth rate of 13.7%

between 2003 and 2008. The canned ready meals category led the ready meals market in India,

accounting for a share of 60.3%.Leading players in Indian ready meals market include ITC

Limited, Al Kabeer Group of Companies and Orkla Foods.

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Reasons to Purchase

Develop business strategies by understanding the quantitative trends within the ready

meals market in India

Design effective marketing and sales strategies by identifying key market categories and

segments

Identify key players within the market to plan lucrative M&A, partnerships and

agreements

CS Market Research report

Country: India

The project report gives a detailed analysis of the Indian food processing industry. The factors

influencing the growth pattern is attributed to the rapid expansion of the retail distribution system

replacing mall stores and wet markets with modern supermarkets, superstores and convenience

stores. Domestic processed food consumption will continue to grow as India’s population

increases, and as incomes increase and lifestyles change, a higher proportion of processed food

and beverages are included in the diet. The consumer food industry mainly consists of ready-to-

eat or ready-to-cook products such as noodles, cocoa based products, bakery products, biscuits,

soft drinks,and snack food.

Article Abstracts

Indian Food Industry

12

Source: http://www.indianfoodindustry.net/

The article deals with the Indian food processing industry. There is an opportunity for large

investments in food and food processing technologies, skills and equipment, especially in areas

of Canning, Dairy and Food Processing, Specialty Processing, Packaging, Frozen

Food/Refrigeration and Thermo Processing, Fruits & Vegetables, Fisheries, Milk & Milk

Products, Meat & Poultry, Packaged/Convenience Foods etc

This shows that there is large scope for growth for RTE industry and studying the factors

influencing the industry and industry should consider all these factors to get a share of the

growing RTE market.

Ready-to-eat segment whets NRI appetite

Source: Business Line

The article states that there is a market for RTE industry outside India i.e. the NRI industry.

Cooking made convenient

Source: The Hindu

This article elaborates on the need for Ready to Eat foods. It also discusses how RTE has

penetrated In the retail distribution network. It also discusses the various competitors in this

segment and the pricing strategy on these companies.

Source: Research report on Retort Packaging

Ready to Eat Meals like already cooked or prepared lunch & dinner are relatively new products

which came in market only a few years back and are now sold through retail general stores in

especially made sealed aluminum laminates.

MARKET & ITS GROWTH

The popularity of ready to eat packed food now is no longer marks a special occasion.

Peoples want value for time, money in terms of quality and variety.

13

The food processing industry is one of the largest industries in India and it is the ranked

fifth in terms of Production, Consumption, Export & Expected growth.

Source: www.marketingpractice.blogspot.com

According to ITC press release on March 2008, Indian RTE market is worth around Rs 80-100

crore. The market is somewhat in a stagnant state and the growth is minimal. This article deals

with the rising prices issue that might have an impact on the RTE industry.

Ready to Eat: Indian processed and packaged foods

Source: www.garamchai.com

This article discusses the take off of ready to eat industry due to demand from NRI’s. It also lists

the various players in this segment along with their product offering. The article states in spite of

the stagnant growth in Indian market the company’s sales are fast gaining momentum due to the

sales driven by NRI market.

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Section 3: Research Methodology

Research Design

A research design is the arrangement of conditions for collection and analysis of data Ina manner

that aims to combine relevance to research purpose with economy procedure. Research design is

the conceptual structure within which research is conducted.

There are three types of research design. The research design adopted here is descriptive. I have

made use of secondary data collection and also primary data collection. The project started with

sorting all the raw data and arranging them in perfect order. The research problem was defined

understanding the collected data. To fulfill the objectives of the study a narrowed approach to

secondary data collection was used and primary data collection was done by using survey

questionnaire.

Steps in the research:

Collection of data pertaining to Ready to eat market and identifying the research problem.

Collection of data from secondary data related to the research problem.

Primary data collection using Questionnaire targeting a sample size of more that 50.

Data collection Methodology

The sources of data used in this project report are both primary and secondary data.

Primary data

Primary data consists of original information gathered for specific purposes at hand. These

are gathered for a specific purpose or for a specific research project. Primary data was collected

online as well as manually. A survey questionnaire was made on Google Documents and the link

was mailed to the sample. Additionally, to the sample that were not net savvy printouts of the

questionnaire was distributed and the result was compiled.

15

Secondary data

Secondary data consists of information that already exist and that were being collected in the

past for some other purposes. Secondary data used in this study were collected from external

sources like books, blogs, wiki etc. Some websites which were really helpful are

www.slideshare.com, www.scribd.com.

Sample design

The sampling technique used for survey was a non-probabilistic convenience sampling. The

sample size was chosen keeping in mind the target market for RTE segment, Hostel/paying

guest, Individuals working living in nuclear families and bachelors between the age group of 18-

40.

Tools & Techniques

Data was collected with the help of questionnaire. The questionnaire is of structured non-

disguised type. The questions are of mixed type. It can be found in the Annexure. For online

survey, questionnaire was prepared using third party tool (www.docs.google.com), email for

filling questionnaire was send to potential respondent and response was collected on the third

party site on which questionnaire was prepared.

The third party tool made data reliable owing to the self-reported demographic attributes of

the respondents. The email invitations provided a direct link to the survey, and contained the

language which is given in Annexure. This was complete method followed for conducting study.

The questionnaire was also distributed personally to respondents in the form of printouts and

this was eventually collected and report generated.

Sample Size

The total no of respondents were 60 of the total 100 approached. The age group in which the

sample lied is 18-40.The occupation of this sample size was a healthy mix of self employed

individuals, working people and students. The respondents included 17 people from Hostel\

Paying guest which form a large chunk of the target market for RTE foods.

16

Given a Normal Week, Are Meals(i.e Lunch & Dinner) cooked at home.

0%

66%

15%7%

12%

Days.

All days

Week Days

Week Ends

Never

29

34

12

0 10 20 30 40

We visit a Restaurant

We order food from a restaurant

We pick up a Ready To Eat Packet

On days when meals are not cooked at home, how do you manage? (Choose more than one if applicable.)

We visit a Restaurant We order food from a restaurant

We pick up a Ready To Eat Packet

Section 4: Results and Findings

Figure: 1

The pie chart above depicts a typical Indian households mentality of cooking food at home

almost on all days (66% of respondents). It was followed by 15 % of respondents cooking on

week days.

Figure: 2

17

Yes

No

When the meals are not cooked at home the most favorable option that consumers feel is

ordering food from the restaurant. The percentages here might add up to more than 100 as

respondents were allowed to chose more than one option.

Have you heard about RTE meals?

Figure: 3

As is seen from the above pie chart the sample was aware of the RTE packs hence the responses

were fair and true to their experience.

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Have You Purchased Ready To EAT Meals Anytime?

87%

13%

Yes No

Figure: 4

87% of the respondents have used the RTE meals and have given their rating based on their

usage and their experience. From this we can conclude that RTE has penetrated sufficiently in

the Indian Urban market.

You Picked up Ready TO eat pack

68%

32%

While shopping for MONTHLY GROCERY items

Seperately during Emergency

Figure: 5

68% of the respondents said that RTE packs are part of their monthly grocery shopping and not

emergency purchase. Even for emergency purchase the 32% is quite a huge number. Kindly take

note that the sample for this question are the one who has purchased RTE packs as seen in the

previous question.

19

31

9

27

0 10 20 30 40

TVCommercials

Word ofMouth

Display atMalls

Other

How did you come to kno About the Ready To Eat packs?

Other

Display at Malls

Word of Mouth

TV Commercials

Figure: 6

As is seen form the above chart the Ready to eat meals have the highest visibility in malls and

TV commercials. The companies should leverage these options to increase the visibility and the

penetration of the RTE packs.

Kindly Rate your opinion on the following parameters:

20

A Ready to Eat Pack saves lot of time and effort in cooking

Figure: 7

A pack of Ready to eat has sufficient quantity

Figure: 8

A Ready to Eat pack is easily available whenever I need it.

Strongly Agree 14

Agree 42

Neither Agree or

Disagree 4

Disagree 0

Strongly Disagree 0

Strongly Agree 4

Agree 25

Neither Agree or

Disagree 13

Disagree 15

Strongly Disagree 3

Strongly Agree 16

Agree 31

Neither Agree or

Disagree 10

Disagree 3

Strongly Disagree 0

21

I don’t see any sort of health problem due to the consumption of RTE

I think a Ready to Eat (RTE) is value for money

Figure: 11

Strongly Agree 2

Agree 13

Neither Agree or

Disagree 22

Disagree 19

Strongly Disagree 4

Strongly Agree 1

Agree 20

Neither Agree or

Disagree 25

Disagree 9

Strongly Disagree 5

22

I think The RTE meal is not tasty as freshly cooked food.

Strongly Agree 14

Agree 27

Neither Agree or

Disagree 11

Disagree 6

Strongly Disagree 2

Figure: 12

I will surely use RTE curry if ready to eat rotis are also made available.

Figure: 13

Strongly Agree 2

Agree 17

Neither Agree or

Disagree 15

Disagree 18

Strongly Disagree 8

23

I know that RTE packs are manufactured at best quality standards.

Figure: 14

As seen from the series of Results the following observations can be made:

56 respondents i.e. 93 % of respondents believe that RTE meals are a time saving option

for cooking. The marketers should use this as their USP to the advertising and positioning

should be done on these lines.

Only 29 respondents feel that RTE packs have enough quantity and 18 feel they don’t

and the rest have no opinion on this matter. It’s a mixed reaction and response. The

general conclusion that can be drawn is that people don’t feel the quantity is enough for

the money they are spending. Some verbatim to support “Quantity should be good.”

47 respondents i.e. 78 % of the respondents feel that the RTE packs are easily available

when needed. This shows the commendable distribution network established by RTE

marketers.

23 respondents feel that RTE packs are not good for health while only 15 respondents

feel otherwise 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. Well, this is very critical factors as lot of

Strongly Agree 2

Agree 17

Neither Agree or

Disagree 33

Disagree 6

Strongly Disagree 2

24

respondents commented one the health factor of RTE. Some Verbatim to support this,

“Ready-to-eat meals, though a time-saving option, are sometimes viewed with suspicion

by many because of the usual concerns associated with packaged food.”, “ 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”, “ Should have more nutritional values”, “use of less preservatives”, “make it

more Healthy...RTE MEALS contains lots of unsaturated fats.”

21 respondents feel that RTE packs are value for money while only 14 people feel they

are not while the rest 25 respondents did not agree on either. Some verbatim to support

the observation, “although they are good enough for eating but they are almost on oar

sometimes costlier than food from restaurants with respect to price. So it doesn’t make

sense to me.”

41 respondents feel that RTE meals are not tasty as home made meals and only 8 people

feel otherwise. This depicts unique characteristics of Indian household which always

believes that home made foods are more tasty and nutritious.

As the results suggest 38 people 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.”

Do You Remember any of the Ready to Eat brands?

Maggi was the most mentioned name. It has top of the mind recall. The other mentioned names

were MTR, Ashirwad, Top ramen, Gits, Haldiram, Ching’s ready to eat Chinese dishes, Knor

soup ACT popcorn etc.

25

Section 5: Conclusion and Recommendations

Conclusion

As is seen from the results and findings section I could identify the following factors

influencing RTE consumers:

Price- Indian consumers are highly price sensitive. For any new product they

judge the product based on their price and more or less the repeat purchases are

impacted by price factor. Same is the case with Ready to Eat foods.

Value proposition – RTE foods should be perceived as a value proposition by

customers. Value proposition means it should be able to save lot of time and

money with sufficient quantity to act as a full meal.

Value for money - Consumers should perceive RTE packs as Value for money

i.e. they should feel the money they spent on It is well spent and not wasted. This

is where repeat buying can be induced. If consumers see RTE as a Value for

money option they won’t look for other options like ordering from restaurant or

going to a restaurant.

Quantity and taste of food - Indians are voracious eaters and the family size is

also large. And Indians are used to eating a 3 full course meal on any day. Hence

the quantity packaged in the RTE packs should be sufficient. And that is were the

buying decision will come into play if the quantity is insufficient to fulfill the

entire family then defiantly they wont consider buying it again. The food should

also tickle the taste buds of consumers.

Manufacturing conditions - As is evident, the Target market for RTE foods are

the educated individuals who are short of time. These educated individuals have

their own opinion and wont take anything as given and health being their main

concern in this fast paced life.

Easy availability - The biggest competitor for RTE foods are restaurants which

are easily available geographically and accessible with the option of doorstep

26

delivery. Hence RTE has to be made available in such way that it can be easily

accessible by the consumers during normal shopping as well as during

emergencies.

Recommendations

As per my study the following recommendations could be utilized by the companies

manufacturing and marketing Ready To Eat Meals:

As is seen from the survey the major concern for consumers is the health aspect. They

have a perception that these RTE meals are not manufactured under good conditions.

Secondly, they also feel that Ready to eat meals is not good for health. Hence marketers

have to touch upon this point. The advertising, communication and promotion should

revolve around this point. Packaged foods are relatively new to India hence proper

awareness have to be created by companies.

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 food by using better manufacturing, and

packing methods. “41 respondents feel that RTE meals are not tasty as home made meals

and only 8 people feel otherwise.” This is states that need to be changed.

The ready to Eat marketers should bank upon its strengths i.e. time saving, effort saving

and easily available option. The promotion, Packaging should revolve around these

characteristics as we all know in the traditional Indian urban family time is less. People

crave to spend time with their family after hard day at work. However, various limitations

like cooking food etc hamper this. RTE should consider this as their positioning strategy.

The pricing strategy should be designed in such a way so as to be competent with the

restaurants rate. People do not mind spending more if it saves time. However they will

spend only a reasonable hike in price. If there is a lot of difference between the restaurant

price and RTE price they would go for the former.

27

In the previous section its is seen that the consumers came to know about RTE packs

from Television Ads and display at malls and the word of mouth was virtually nil. 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 some thing edible as

Indian consumers tend to trust people who have already sued it rather than advertisement.

28

Section 6: Bibliography

BOOKS

Kothari, C.R, Research Methodology, Second Edition, New Delhi, Wishwa Prakashan, 1990

WEB-RESOURCES

http://www.statusa.gov/mrd_a.nsf/vwNoteIDLookup/NT0003CA62/$File/X_413629.PDF?OpenElement

http://www.tsmg.com/media-and-press-releases/219-ready-to-eat-foods-market-in-india.html

http://www.indianfoodindustry.net/

http://www.thehindu.com/2007/10/24/stories/2007102454651900.htm

http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Ready-To-Eat-Food-Industry/198352

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mp/2004/06/10/stories/2004061000130300.htm

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2003/11/24/stories/2003112400740300.htm

http://www.marketresearch.com/product/display.asp?productid=2552630&SID=63229650-463567436-

409318558

www.marketresearch.com

www.hindubusinessline.com

www.marketingpractice.blogspot.com

www.garamchai.com

Other References

Mr. Sanjeev Banga, NEW ERA OF INDIAN READY TO EAT FOOD.

CS Market Research Report, Food additives, India, 2005

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Section 7: Annexure

Annexure 1: The printed Questionnaire

PLEASE FILL THE QUESTIONNAIRE AND REPLY HERE

Kindly tick the most appropriate box with a 'X' wherever applicable / fill the blanks.

1. Given a normal week, are meals (i.e lunch & dinner) cooked at home for

  ALL DAYS  WEEK DAYS  WEEK ENDS  NEVER

2. On days when meals are not cooked at home, how do you manage?(Select more than one If applicable)  We visit a Restaurant

  We order food from a restaurant

  We pick up a Ready To Eat Packet

3. Have you heard of READY TO EAT meals? 4. Have you purchased READY TO EAT meals anytime?

5. Do you remember any of the READY TO EAT brands?

1. __________ 2. __________ 3. __________ 4. __________

6. You picked up a READY TO EAT pack

7.How did you come to know about the Ready To Eat Packs? (choose more than one if applicable)

  TV COMMERCIALS  DISPLAY AT MALLS  WORD OF MOUTH  OTHER SOURCES (PLEASE SPECIFY) _____________

  YES   NO

  YES   NO

 While shopping for MONTHLY GROCERY items  

Separately DURING EMERGENCY

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8. Kindly rate your opinion on the following parameters:-

    STRONGLY AGREE AGREE

NEITHER AGREE/NOR DISAGREE

DISAGREESTRONGLY DISAGREE

(a)

A Ready To Eat Pack saves a lot of time and effort in cooking

      

 

(b)A pack of Ready to eat has sufficient quantity

(c)

A Ready To Eat Pack is easily available whenever I need it

(d)

I don’t see any sort of health problem due to the consumption of RTE

(e)I think a RTE pack is value for money

(f)

I think the RTE meal is not as tasty as freshly cooked food

(g)

I know that the RTE Packs are manufactured at best quality standards

(h

I will surely use more RTE Packs if ready to eat rotis are also made available

Any suggestions or comments on Ready To Eat Meals:

The information below would be needed to build a consumer profile. I hereby assure you that all the information will only be used for the purpose of the study.

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1. Gender   MALE   FEMALE

2. Age Group   18-25   26-40   41-55   Above 55

3. Marital Status   SINGLE   MARRIED

4. Occupation   SERVICE

  SELF EMPLOYED

  HOUSEWIFE

  RETIRED/OTHER

5. You belong to a :

6. Could you kindly tick your group as per Total Family Income per month

Annexure 2: The online questionnaire.

This annexure contains email format which is an invitation for taking part in survey. This email invitation was send for online survey.

  JOINT FAMILY

  NUCLEAR FAMILY

  WITH IN-LAWS

  HOSTEL / PAYING GUEST / OTHER

  Less than 20,000

  20,000 – 50,000

  50,000-1,00,000

  Above 1,00,000

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Hello,

Please Fill the below given questionnaire. Its for an academic project . The study is on the Ready to Eat Market in India. I request you to click on the link or copy paste the URL in your browser tab. I assure you it will not take more than five minutes of your time and it will greatly help me in preparing a good report. For any queries feel free t o contact me.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dFMtRENkRmJVWGpxRXZvVUptRE1HT2c6MA

Thanks & Regards,

Shruthika Kanchan

Below is the screen shot of the online questionnaire:

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