Methodology:
Trade Research: We spoke to retailers, ranging from large sized super markets to small, local kirana shops. We explained the concept and discussed operational issues with the retailers to obtain their views and perceptions of our concept.
Customer Research: We conducted in-depth interviews with housewives to understand the purchase, storage and consumption habits prevalent amongst them. Finally we explained our concept to check for their reactions – adverse otherwise – in order to determine their apprehensions and possible suggestions. 18051980
Findings:
Consumer:
The most important attribute on which
purchase decision is based is ‘freshness’ of the chillie powder. Freshness
is based on
1. colour
2. smell
Buying ‘packaged’ chillie powder
is perceived to be a ‘low involvement’ process. Especially in comparison
to the buying of ‘Gharam masala’ or’ Sambhar podi’. This is could be due
to the fact that ‘Sambhar podi’ involves multiple ingredients and so its
composition and taste varies. Whereas mirchi is a single ingredient and
is expected to taste in a standardized manner.
The types of customers who buy Mirchi
are
1. those who buy ‘branded packaged
mirchi powder’
2. those who buy ‘unbranded mirchi
powder’
3. those who buy fresh red
chillies, dry them, and grind them when required.
Perceptions towards packaged branded
mirchi
1. packaged mirchi is unadulterated
2. quantity is standardized.
3. packaged mirchi is more expensive
4. freshness is suspect
The decision-maker in brand choice
is the woman of the house, and she is usually the one who goes out to purchase
the product. The cases when she herself is not involved in the actual buying,
she instructs the buyer (husband/kid/servant) of the specific brand choice
to be made.
Trade perception:
Retailers are open to the concept in principle, largely because they expect the brand to generate higher margins than unbranded mirchi powder.
Retailers found the concept to be innovative and thought that it would attract attention from consumers vis-à-vis other brands, due to the eye-catching POP display and packaging.
According to the retailers, small
size of the retail outlets means that it is difficult to accommodate large
POP displays in the shops. However, this problem can be solved by providing
smaller sizes of POP material which can be displayed on the shop counter.
This will lead to a fewer number of packets being displayed per POP at
a time and each time a customer plucks one packet from the display, the
retailer will have to replace the sold packet from the stocks.
Retailers are apprehensive about
consumer acceptance of the proposed shape of the mirchi packet. According
to them, customers buy mirchi either in cardboard boxes or in plastic packs.
Most customers empty out the mirchi from the plastic packets into containers
for storage, while many a times the cardboard boxes are stored as they
are. The packaging of the mirchi as proposed by us may not be suitable
for storage like the cardboard boxes, but it may be stored by emptying
it into a container.
Costing:
We have tried to evolve a costing
structure for our concept in addition to the inevitable manufacturing,
marketing and retailing costs. We have detailed the elements of the additional
costs required to be undertaken for the implementation of our project.
The first two elements of costing
are one-time fixed costs, to be incurred as an investment by the manufacturer.
The subsequent costs are recurring costs subject to sales.