Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of

Master of Business Administration Programme INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF

BUSINESS STUDIES

Under supervision Submitted by:-

SHOBHA DEVI PRIYANKA SINGH(MGT.LECTURER) BHU-S-

11 SEC-C

Certificate

This is to certify that Miss.PRIYANKA SINGH student of

MBA-2nd Semester has completed her Research Project

Report titled “’A study on the customer satisfaction towards

(MAGGI NOODLES) in Bangalore city’’.assigned by Me and under my Supervision.

It is further certified that he has personally prepared this report that is the result of his personal survey/observation. It is of the standard expected of MBA student and hence recommended for evaluation.

Supervisor

(Mrs. Shobha devi )Above statement is endorsed.

Acknowledgement

Behind every study there stands a myriad of people whose help and

contribution make it successful. Since such a list will be a prohibitively

long. I may be excused for important omissions.

I hereby regard our sincere thanks to Prof. Shobha devi of IIBS

Bangalore,under whose guidance this project was undertaken.I

would like to thank our friends for their generous support and the

respondents who gave her valuable piece of time for participating in

the survey to complete the study.

. This research was a good exposure that will definitely help me in my professional career.

Table of content

Acknowledgement Introduction Product profile Product mix Organisation structure Definition of market Meaning of market Consumer decision making model Market share Research methodology Analysis and interpretation Swot analysis Questionnaire Conclusion and suggestion Bibliography

INTRODUCTIONABOUT COMPANY

NIL introduced the Maggi brand to Indian consumers when it launched Maggi 2 Minute Noodles, an instant food product, in 1982 (Refer to Exhibit III for the history of the Maggi brand). At that time, Indian consumers were rather conservative in their food habits, preferring to eat traditional Indian dishes rather than canned or packaged food. In fact, NIL was trying to create an entirely new food category, instant noodles, in India. Initially, the company targeted working women on the premise that Maggi noodles were fast to cook and hence offered convenience.

However, this approach failed as was evident from the fact that the sales of Maggi noodles were not picking up despite heavy media advertising. To get to the root of the problem, NIL conducted a research, which revealed that it was children who liked the taste of Maggi noodles and who were the largest consumers of the product. After this, NIL shifted its focus from working women and targeted children and their mothers through its marketing. NIL's promotions positioned the noodles as a 'convenience product', for mothers and as a 'fun' product for children. The noodles' tagline, 'Fast to Cook Good to Eat' was also in keeping with this positioning.

NIL aggressively promoted Maggi noodles through several schemes like distributing free samples, giving gifts on the return of empty packs, etc. NIL's advertising too played a great role in communicating the benefits of the product to target consumers. 

Through its ads, NIL positioned Maggi as a 'fun' food for kids which mothers could prepare easily. Taglines like 'Mummy, bhookh lagi hai' (Mom, I'm hungry), 'Bas 2-Minute,' (Only 2 minutes) and 'Fast to Cook Good to Eat' effectively communicated the product's benefits to target consumers. 

These ads had become so popular that the tagline 'Bas 2-Minute' immediately reminded Indian consumers of Maggi noodles even several years after the ads were taken off the TV. Maggi's first product extension was Maggi instant soups launched in 1988. With the launch of Maggi soups, NIL had become a pioneer in the organized packaged soup market in India.

Product profile

Type -- Aktiengesellschaft; subsidiary of NESTLE

Industry--- Food

Founded ----1890

Founder(s) --Julius Maggi

Headquarters --Cham, Switzerland

Key people -- Alain Pedersen

Maggi noodles is a brand of instant noodles manufactured by Nestlé. The brand is popular in Australia, India, South Africa, Brazil, New Zealand, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh,Pakistan, Fiji and

the Philippines. In several countries, it is also known as "maggi mee" (mee is Indonesian/Malay/Hokkien for noodles). Maggi noodles are part of the Maggi family, a Nestlé brand of instant soups, stocks, and noodles. In Malaysia, there are fried noodles made from maggi noodles known as Maggi goreng. Maggi noodles recently introduced a new variety of its noodles, to cater for the health conscious like 'No MSG', 'Less Salt', and 'No Trans fat'. A wholewheat flour based noodle variation marketed by the name "Vegetable Atta Noodles" has been introduced in India (Atta flouris used in preparing most forms of wheat based breads in India) and caters to health conscious buyers wary of the refined flour used in the regular Maggi noodles. This move helps the brand in India as suburban mothers, who feed the noodles to children as an afterschool snack, are the primary customers of the brand. Recently, a line of rice noodles and whole wheat with pulses, carrots, beans, and onions has also been introduced in India. In fact, "Maggi" has become a well-known brand for instant noodles in India and Malaysia.

Product mix of maggi

Organizational structure

Key people----Peter Brabeck-Letmathe(Chairman), 

Paul Bulcke (CEO)

Definition of Marketing

The following definitions were approved by the American Marketing Association Board of Directors:

Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. (Approved October 2007)

Marketing Research:

Marketing research is the function that links the consumer, customer, and public to the marketer through information--information used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems; generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; and improve understanding of marketing as a process. Marketing research specifies the information required to address these issues, designs the method for collecting information, manages and implements the data collection process, analyzes the results, and communicates the findings and their implications. (Approved October 2004)

MEANING OF MARKETING

Marketing is defined by the AMA as "the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large."--Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. - 

It  is  a  process  by  which  

-one  identifies  the  needs and wants  of  the  people.- One determines and creates a product/service to meet  the needsand  wants. [PRODUCT]- one determines  a way  of  taking the  product/service to the marketplace. [PLACE]

-one determines the  way of  communicating the product  to the market  place. [PROMOTIONS]-one determines the value for the product.[PRICE].

-one determines  the  people, who have  needs/ wants. [PEOPLE]

and then  creating a  transaction for exchanging the product for  a  value.and  thus  creating a  satisfaction to the buyer's needs/wants.

Consumer Decision making Process Internal and External Influences of Maggi Noddles

Consumer Decision Making Process, this basic psychological process plays an important role in understanding how consumers actually make their buying decision. Marketers must understand every facet of consumer behaviour in terms of “who, what, when, where, how and why”. Smart companies like MAGGI try to fully understand the consumer’s buying decision process – all their experiences in learning, choosing and using of the product.

Maggi has always considered the following steps:

1 Problem Recognition

This is the first stage of the Buying Decision where the buyer recognizes a problem or need. The need can be triggered by internal or external stimuli which a marketer must identify by gathering information from number of consumers. They can then develop marketing strategies that trigger consumer interest.

Nestle after carefully analyzing the market, identified the need for a quick snack in India. They adopted the first mover strategy and launched Maggi in India in the year 1982 as an instant fast food.

Thereafter, Nestle recognized the consumer’s need for Maggi in different sizes and introduced the 50gms, Double Pack and Super Saver Pack (s).Later on in the years 2005 and then 2006, consumer’s need for a healthy instant food was catered by launching Maggi Atta Noodles and Maggi Dal Noodles. These again emerged as successful products and were widely accepted by masses.Further to suffice the need for different taste, Maggi Rice Mania was brought in the market in Shahi Pulao, Chilli Chao and Lemon Masala flavors.2 Information SearchAn aroused customer will be inclined to search for more information. At this level, a person simply becomes more receptive to information about a product. There are four major information sources which are of key interest to the marketer. These are the personal sources (family, friends, and acquaintances), commercial sources (advertising, websites, packaging and displays), public sources (mass media, consumer rating organizations) and experiential sources (handling, examining and using the product).MAGGI has over the years well established itself in the market and has now become a household name. This has helped the brand gain popularity through word of mouth.

Maggi’s Mass Advertising Campaigns targeted consumers of all ages. Their advertisements have highlighted that Maggi is a good alternative available with the consumers when it comes to having a quick snack.

3 Evaluation of Alternative

Once all the consumers gather all the information he then evaluates the various option available to him. When evaluating the potential alternatives, consumer uses two types of information the first is the “list” of brands from which they plan to make their selection and the second is the criteria from which they plan to make their decision.

Beliefs and Attitude: Evaluations often reflects beliefs and attitudes. And these are acquired by experiences and learnings.MAGGI has always provided its consumers with something new from time to time which has developed a good belief in the brand and thus has helped them to choose them from their other alternatives. Their competitors like top ramen always find it difficult on the evaluation front with magi because of strong association of consumers with it.Awareness set is                    Maggi

Tom Ramen

Wai Wai

Cup of Noodles Chings

So out of the above awareness set the consumers decides to choose Maggi because after analyzing the different parameters of the brand Maggi was chosen as the best alternative among the rest leading to its maximum market share.

4 Purchase Decision

In the evaluation stage the consumer forms preferences among the brands in the choice set, the consumer may also form an intention to buy the most preferred brand .In executing a preferred intention the consumer takes up five sub decisions

Brand Dealer Quantity Timing Payment Method

In some cases consumer may decide not to formerly evaluate each and every brand; in other cases intervening factors may affect the final decision.

Because of the strong consumer awareness about the brand MAGGI, consumer generally prefer Maggi out of all the available brands , due to the mass distribution strategy adopted by Maggi, any consumer can easily purchase it from their local grocery store without wasting much of his/her time in searching for the  product , Maggi comes in various sizes like single , double and the supersaver packs so depending upon each individuals need Maggi is catering each and every segment of the society not to mention that as the size increase the saving on each pack increases.

5 Post Purchase

After the purchase the consumer might experience dissonance that stems from noticing certain disquieting features or hearing favorable things about other brands and will be alert to information that supports his/her decision. Marketer must monitor

Post Purchase Satisfaction Post Purchase Action Post Purchase Product Uses

6 Post Purchase Satisfaction

Satisfaction is a function of the closeness between expectations and the product’s perceived performance, if performance falls short of expectations the consumer is disappointed and if it meets the expectation the consumer is satisfied and if it exceeds the expectations then the consumer is delighted.

7 Post Purchase ActionsSatisfaction or dissatisfaction with the product will influence subsequent behavior if the consumer is satisfied he will exhibit a higher probability of purchasing the product again. The satisfied customer will also tends to say good things about the brand to others, marketers says “our best advertisement is the satisfied customer”.Post Purchase Use

Marketer should also monitor how buyers use and dispose of the product. A key driver of sales frequency is product consumption rate – the more quickly buyers consume a product the sooner they may be back in the market to repurchase it.

Call a small fraction of it the next day.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

OBJECTIVES of study

To understand the influence of Maggi as a brand on consumers mind set.

Sources  of  Brand equity  of  Maggi   l ike  Brand awareness ,  Brand  image,  Brandassociation, Brand recall

To understand the Brand performance of Maggi products. To understand  Brand Imagery,  Brand Qual i ty  

perceived  by customers , brand credibi l i ty , considerat ion, superior i ty and feel ings.

Brand Extension of Maggi in terms of product diversity.

Analyse the repositioning of Maggi brand as a “Healthy product” and the consumer perseverance towards the same.

.

Market share

Maggi noodles:

80%

20%

MAGGI NODLESmaggi others

RESEARCH PLAN

Research Design:

A research design is the arrangement of condition s for collection and analysis of data in manner that aims to combined relevance to the research to the research purpose with economy in procedure.

A research design is the specification of methods and procedures for acquiring

the needed information. It is overall operational pattern or framework of the

project that stipulates what information is to be collected from which source

by what procedure.

There are three types of objectives in a marketing research project:-

Exploratory Research.

Descriptive Research.

Casual Research.

1. Exploratory Research:-

The objective of exploratory research is to gather preliminary information

that will help define problems and suggest hypothesis.

2. Descriptive Research:-

The objective of descriptive research is to describe things, such as the

market potential for a product or the demographics and attitudes of

consumers who buy the product.

3. Casual Research:-

The objective of casual research is to test hypothesis about casual and

effect relationships.

Based on the above definitions it can be established that this study is a

Descriptive Research as the attitudes of the customers who buy the products

have been stated. Through this study we are trying to analyze the various

factors that may be responsible for the preference of Coca-Cola products.

SOURCES OF DATA

The data has been collected from both primary as well as secondary sources.

SECONDARY DATA:-

It is defined as the data collected earlier for a purpose other than one currently

being pursued.

As a researcher I have scanned lot of sources to get an access to secondary

data which have formed a reference base to compare the research findings.

Secondary data in this study has provided an insight and forms an outline for

the core objectives established.

The various sources of secondary data used for this study are:-

News papers.

Magazines.

Text books.

Marketing reports of the company.

Internet.

PRIMARY DATA:-

The primary data has been collected simultaneously along with secondary

data for meeting the established objectives to provide the solution for the

problem identified in this study.

The methods that have been used to collect the primary data are:-

Questionnaire.

Personal Interview.

RESEARCH MEASURING TOOLS & TECHNIQUES

The primary tool for the data collection used in this study is the respondent’s

response to the questionnaire given to them. The various research measuring

tools used are:-

Questionnaire.

Personal interview.

Tables.

Percentages.

Pie-charts.

Bar-chart

Sample Design:

The target population for our study is households. The sample will be selected by a simple random sampling

method 

Sample Size:

The sampling unit is 150 which are divided as follows:

Number of respondent 150

Age group 10-40

Monthly household income 25000-75000 k

Survey location BANGALORE ,KARNATAKA.

Salary group No income

25k

40k

40k

60k

60k

75k

Number of respondents

30 50 70

Age group 10-25 25-35 35-45

Number of respondents 50 50 50

DATA COLLECTION PLAN

Data Gathering:

This study involves data collection (primary research) from different households in Bangalore.

Literature Review

The research conducted as a part of our study would include Primary as well as Secondary research. Primary research would include a survey that would be conducted in selected localities of Delhi and nearby areas where the responses of consumers would be recorded through a designed questionnaire . Secondary research would include various aspects of Brand management through Internet , Journals, company reports , expert views etc.

METHOLODOGY

The research will be carried out in the form of a survey. This will include primary research inaddition to secondary research as stated below. The survey research method will bedescriptive research design. Each respondent will be interviewed through a Questionnaire.The sample will be selected by a simple random sampling method.The survey will address the following information area:

Information Areas:

The objective as spelt out can be elaborated into specific information areas to be studied.

How do customers perceive Maggi as a stable brand, their perception of noodles andhow do they associate

themselves with Maggi?

Are the consumers aware of Maggi Brand or they associate noodles with some other brand?

Do they consider noodle as a healthy product or they are aware of the company’sstrategy of repositioning it to a healthy product by the launch of some of the newproducts?

Which product from the entire basket of Maggi products do the consumers consider asthe best selling product

for Maggi and to which the consumers frequently buy?

Are the consumers willing to accept Maggi brand extensions to some other productslike chocolate, juices, chips etc?

Analysis and interpretation

Brand Associations:

Sources of Brand equity like brand association of Maggi as a Brand was found highest with the age group of 10-25 and the product category associated with it was the noodles category( see exhibit 1). Consumers in the age segment of 10-25 could easily relate Maggi to noodles. In the income wise category the brand association was highest with the income group of 25k-40k. The implications from the

findings discussed above seem that Maggi has good brand association in terms of noodles. Consumers presume Maggi as Noodles and the company’s philosophy of projecting the brand as noodles brand seem to be viable in this regard.

Brand association (age wise)

Noodles Fast Food Snaks None of these0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

10yrs-25yrs25yrs-35yrs35yrs-45yrs

Brand Recall:

From the graph given below it seems a clear trend that Maggi has a good brand recall as compared to its competitors like Top Ramen, Surya noodles, Reliance noodles etc. Consumers could easily associate Maggi with noodles. In the Age wise category, the respondents of the age group of 25-45 were highly cautious of Maggi brand and seemed to be consuming Maggi more as compared to other age segments.

Brand Recall (age wise)

Maggi Top Ramen Reliance Yipee0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

10yrs-25yrs25yrs-35yrs35yrs-45yrs

Repositioning Maggi as a healthy product:

The company’s strategy to reposition Maggi as a “Healthy product” was not found conducive as per the survey results. The survey showed that consumers did not perceived Maggi as a healthy product with 53% of them consumed Maggi’s traditional products as compared to the rest who consumed other variants of Maggi’s brand that were positioned as “Healthy products”. From the pie chart given below it can be clearly seen that Maggi is still perceived as a non healthy products by the consumers and in spite of the efforts to position Maggi as a healthy product by the company the brand is still perceived as a “ready to eat” food brand that has a high market share in the noodle category in India.

Maggi Masala (Regular)

53%

Other3%

Maggi Mania7%

Maggi dal atta noodles

14%

Maggi veg-itable atta noodles

23%

Repositioning Awareness

SWOT ANALYSIS OF MAGGI BRAND

The SWOT analysis of Maggi brand clearly indicates the strengths of Maggi as a Brand inIndian market. The Brand was found to be a leader in its category of Noodles, with strongcustomer loyalty. Intensive distribution of Maggi as a

Brand was seen in urban areas of thecountry. The major threats of the brand as shown in the figure below indicates

that Maggi hasmade several attempts to revamp itself as a ‘Healthy Product” but till date its perseverancetowards

the tag line is low by the consumers. The brand is in the growth stage of product lifecycle with a strong

inclination towards the maturity stage.

swot analysis

strengthmarket leaders in their segment strong

brand loyal oonsumer base wide range of distribution channel product according to the need of indian consumer innovative

product.

weaknessproduct are

dependent on each other not so much presence in rural

market.

opportunityincreasing number of

working youth product has been acceptable in youth

category.

threatsprice war with

competitors strong presence of regional competitors.consumer don't perceive it

as a healthy product.

QuestionnaireQ-1 what product would you associate with the tag line mentioned below?•Its different. …………………………………………………………………..•Don’t be a noodle, be a snoodle……………………………………………….•2 minute noodles/ Bas 2 minute……………………………………………….•Jitna tasty, utna healthy………………………………………………………..•Mummy bhook lagi ……………………………………………………………•Try it with a twist ……………………………………………………………..•Hearty soups warm you from inside …………………………………………..•Fast to cook, Good to eat ………………………………………………………

Q-2 What comes first in your mind when you hear the word Maggi ?•Noodles•Fast food•Snacks•None of these

Q-3 what is the brand that comes to your mind when we say the word noodles?•Maggi•Top Ramen•Surya Noodles•Anil Noodles

Q-4 Rank the following Maggi products w.r.t. frequency of purchase with 1 being the highestrank RANK•N o o d l es _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _  •K e t cK e t c h up _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _  •S o u p __ _ _ _ __ _ _  •P i c k l e

s _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _  •C u b e s_ _ _ _ __ _ _ _  

Q-4 With what products would you associate the brand Maggi?•Ketchup•Noodles•Soup•Masala

Q-5 On a scale of 1 to 5 rate Maggi on the following parameters

•T a s t e _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

•V a r i e t y /F l a v o u r s _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

•H y g i e n e /P u r i t y _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _

•A v a i l a b i l it y _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _

P a c k a g i n g ( S K U s ) _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _

Q6 Rank the categories which Maggi should look in future in order of your importance :•Chocolates _____________ •Salted Potato Chips _____________ •Fruit Juices _____________ •Processed foods(Ready to use pastes, masalas) ____________ 

•Others ( Please mention) _____________ Q-7 how do you rate Maggi brand in terms of following parameters:•Expertise (Competent, Innovative, Market leader)•Trustworthiness (Dependable and keep customers interest in mind)•Liability ( Fun ,interesting)•None of these

 Q-8 How do you perceive Maggi products? Good for health Ready to eat. Junk foodTasty / Fun eating

Q9 Which Maggi products in noodles category do you regularly buy? (Repositioningawareness)•Maggi masala•Maggi vegetable atta noodles•Maggi dal atta noodles•Maggi rice noodles mania

Q-10 Do you perceive Maggi noodles as a healthy product?•Yes•NO

Q-11 If No then your suggestions for improvement as a healthy product? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _  _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Conclusion:

The food processing business in India is at a nascent stage. Currently, only about 10% of the output is processed and

consumed in packaged form thus highlighting huge potential for expansion and growth. Traditionally, Indians believe in

consuming fresh stuff rather then packaged or frozen, but the trend is changing and the new fast food generation is slowly

changing. Riding on the success of noodles, Nestle India, tried to make extensions of the Maggi brand to a number of

products like, sauces, ketchups, pickles, soups, tastemakers and macaroni in the mid-1990s. Unfortunately, the

macaroni and pickles didn’t pick up as expected. The soups and sauces did somewhat fine, gathering

considerable sales volumes and have a satisfactory presence even today. ‘Maggi Noodles’ itself faced a bit of

difficulty with respect to‘taste’, and nearly lost its position in the minds of Indian consumers in the late 1990s. When Nestle changed the formulation of its tastemaker, the ominous packet

that came along with Maggi Noodles, a major chunk of consumers were put-off and sales started dropping.

Also,Maggi’s competitor ‘TopRamen’ took advantage of the situation and started a parallelaggressive campaign

to eat into Maggi’s market share. But the company quickly realised this and went back into making the original formula coupled with a free sampling campaign. This helped Maggi to win back its lost consumers and pushed up its sales volumes

again.

SUGGESTIONAfter the conducted study following recommendations could be sited for Maggi Brand.

-To gain maximum leverage in terms of profit the company

should pay emphasison segments with age groups 25-35 and above .Advertising is the key tosuccess.

Targeting these segments will not only enhance the company’s profitmargins but also it will leverage the brand image of

Maggi.-

The company should advertise its products by depicting attributes related toHealth l ike Nutrit ion values, % of

Vitamins, Proteins etc.This would help incustomers perceiving the product as Healthy.

-Foray into other food products like chips, chocolates etc under its sole brandname would not only help in Brand extension but will also enhance Maggi’s market share.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS:

Marketing Management – Kotler Philip.

Research Methodology – Kothari.

WWW.GOOGLE.COM

www.nestle.com

Journals Magazines