Maharaja Whiteline Final Report

8/11/2019 Maharaja Whiteline Final Report

1/16

Page | 1

INTRODUCTION

Incorporated in: 1976

Products: Juicer Mixer Grinder, Mixer Grinder, Wet

Grinder, Oven toaster griller, Food Processor,

Electric Iron, Emergency Light, Electric Kettle,

Toaster, Rice Cooker, Juice Extractor, Halogen

Heater, Heat Convector, Hand Blender, Air

Coolers, Cooktops, Washing Machines, Water

Heater. Etc

History:

The company commenced its venture as a one product company. Maharaja has a product

range of over 60 products in 18 product categories. The company has already sold off billions

of kitchen appliances in the past three decades. Behind this story is vision of Mr. Harish

Kumar, Managing Director, Maharaja Whiteline Group, a dynamic and a self motivated first

generation entrepreneur.

Evolution:

Today the Maharaja employs over 1000 qualified & professional work force, ready to take

up the challenges of the new millennium and build the company into a global appliance

leader. The company has a huge Manufacturing infrastructure base with a plant in Baddi

(HP). Maharaja has also acquired Gem and Beltek,

Maharaja Whiteline has its roots in northern and western India. It is one of the major players

in a still highly fragmented market, with a portfolio covering several families of small

domestic equipment. In particular, Maharaja Whiteline is an established brand name in mixer

grinders, an indispensable appliance in India in kitchen electrics.


2/16

Page | 2

EXISTING STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY THE BRAND

BRAND STRATEGIES

Since their inception in 1976 the company has maintain a low profile image in the market.They are still working on the same brand strategies as they were doing in the beginning. Even

after France based SEB groupe acquiring 55% stakes in the company, there is no change in

the strategies of the company.

Logo:

When the company started its business their logo was like this:

And still there is no change in the logo of the company.

Significance of the logo:

Red colour:As it is an Indian brand the company has used the colour red in their logo

because Red colour is deeply related to India. It is as follows:

Colour of blood is red which signifies colour of life.

The products offered by the company are targeted for the Indian wives, which

uses Sindoor and whose colour is again Red.

Beside this the product can be gifted in marriage occasions and the company

has beautifully related itself with the occasion by choosing red because in

India the brides use to wear red colour dress.

Beside this red also signifies energy and speed which they are providing by

their products.

White colour:White colour is also used very strategically as its related to the Indian

culture. It very well explains the Indian ethics and values. It is as follows:

o Indian is and always has been a peace loving nation and white colour represents it

very well as it is used to communicate peace.

o Beside this in Indian context white colour represent innovation, safety and fairness.


3/16

Page | 3

o Now as the product is targeting Indian kitchens, white also represent cleanliness

and purity.

Product offering:

The company offers many products in different segment. They have a product line of around

60 products which they offer to their customers. They different segments of their offering are

as follows:

Mixer Grinder Wet

Grinder

Over Toaster Griller Food Processor Electric Iron

Emergency Light Electric Kettle Toaster Rice cooker

Juice extractor Halogen Heater Heat Convector Hand Blender

Induction Plate Cooler Juicer Mixer Grinder

In these different segments they provide different models which contribute to their vast

product line. This large product line offers the company a large competitive advantage but on

the other hand the company loses their customer base because of their bad post sales service.

Issues involved:

Bad post sales service

Quality of the product is not up to the mark, technologically needs to be updated.

The changed part is also not of good quality

According to the survey done by CERA the brand also failed in the safety test.

Value proposition:

Maharaja Whiteline is known for powerful and silent products which can be used by targeting

housewives as target customers for different purposes. The company revolutionised the

market in the beginning by introducing Mixer grinder with three jars. Beside this they

introduced products with unbreakable parts, convenient to use and easy to clean. The brand

actually leveraged on those things which a housewives find difficult to do.


4/16

Page | 4

COMMUNICATION STRATEGY

Maharaja Whiteline until now has not been very aggressive in communicating its presence to

the customer. With the entry of foreign brand its visibility in the market has reduced

tremendously, the brand has faded in the mind of the target customer. The company did not

involve much into event marketing and personal selling of their as well.

Print Media:

Until now Maharaja Whiteline has advertised through print media only in the festive

seasons, they provided discounts during these times.

With so many products on the cluttered shelves of the market, these products has lost their

visibility.

Television Media:

Maharaja Whiteline has initially advertised through television media in the form of 30

seconds adverts which is very old and is no more on air nowadays. Lately it has started

advertising through Star Cj Alive, which is a good step to improve the visibility of the

product. as the end consumers of the product of Maharaja Whiteline watch channels like Star

Cj Alive.

Overall, Maharaja Whiteline has been less Aggressive in promoting the Brand.


5/16

Page | 5

DISTRIBUTION STRATEGY

Maharaja Whiteline has its roots in Northern and Western India. Backed by a network of 330

distributors, Maharaja Whiteline is present in over 26,000 sales outlets. The company

operates a plant in Baddi, Himachal Pradesh in North-western India, and employs around 350

people.

Though Maharaja Whiteline has a wide distribution network across the country, yet the

company is not being able to reach out to the customers on time. The company sends its

products, particularly Grinders and Electric Iron, to the distributors in batches containing

around 250-300 pieces every month. If there is huge demand of the product in the market

then many a times the product do not get available in the outlet and the customer switches

over to other brands. The reason behind is the production of the company which is not as fast

as it should be to cater the market demand. In metropolitan market or tier 1 cities, the

company has more than one distributor in zone wise. In the market of tier 2 or tier 3 cites or

rural market the company has single distributor. The availability of the companys

distributors also depends on the market demand of the products. If in some market the

company notices low demand of their products then the company do not hire any distributor

for that market.

On the branding part, Maharaja Whiteline doesnt do any sort of aggressive campaigning

from time to time to match-up its rivals. The distributors do not get any sort of incentives

from the company for extra sale or prompt sale of the products. The company doesnt give

any allowance or bonus to the distributors during festive season. This hampers the boost and

morale of the distributors and do not encourage them to give extra effort in product sale. The

schemes which the company offers during festive seasons are not so appealing to the

customers in comparison to its rivals like Bajaj, Philips etc. At most they make offers like

buy one grinder and get an electric iron free. In fact the company does not take any

initiative to create the visibility of the brand in the market through its distributors like placing

large hoardings of their brands above the outlets or anywhere in market which would enhance

brand visibility. During our research when asked a distributor about the companys take on

this, he said there is no such effort taken by the company over the years.


6/16

Page | 6

PRODUCT STRATEGY

Back when it was established Mr. Harish Kumar noticed that the mixer-grinder available in

the market consisted of a single jar. This jar was used for practically all kinds of mixing and

grinding, albeit not designed to suit such tasks. He recognized the opportunity for a different

product and they rolled out the three jar mixer and grinder in the market

In the initial phase the company addressed many other concerns of an average

consumer, such as ensuring that their products have unbreakable parts, are convenient

to use, and easy to clean, etc., these small but useful innovations clicked with the

market.

In about two to three years, Maharaja Whiteline Appliances became a fairly visible

brand

The brand enjoyed a good customer base and sales were also improving

They did not give much importance to R&D therefore when new players entered the

market offering superior products their market position slipped and gradually its

brand equity got eroded

Maharaja Whiteline has a good brand image in the juicer mixer grinder segment

The quality of its products is not up to the mark

Since customers are looking for value in the products they prefer other brands even

though Maharaja Whiteline is cheaper than its competitors.

Sales are happening in only few products segments: mixer-grinder, juicer, toaster, iron

and OTG.

They have over 75 plus products over 19 categories.

Maharaja Whiteli ne Offers:

Juicer M ixer Grinder Mixer Grinder Wet Grinder


7/16

Page | 7

Food Processors Emergency L ight Electri c I ron

Electri c Kettle Oven Toaster Gril ler Toaster

Rice Cooker Jui ce Extr actor Halogen Heater

HeatCovector Hand Blendor Ai r Cooler

Cooktops I nduction Cooker Water Heater


8/16

Page | 8

PRICING STRATEGY

BRANDJUICER MIXER

GRINDERELECTRIC IRON

FOOD

PROCESSOR

MAHARAJA

WHITELINERs 1899 Rs 590 Rs 3036

BAJAJ Rs 2199 Rs 610 Rs 3355

PHILIPS Rs 2399 Rs 644 Rs 3325

MORPHY

RICHARDSRs 3795 Rs 1380 Rs 6495

Bajaj, Philips, Morphy Richards are some of the competitors of Maharaja Whiteline in India.

The above table shows Maharaja Whiteline has the lowest price products compared to its

competitors.

The company normally offers product at a lower price as compared to its competitors.

They even offer better margin (40%-45%) to the dealers as compared to its

competitors margin (20%-25%).

In spite of offering this kind of margin the brand is generally not preferred by the

dealer as they consider the product as a weak machine.

They offer discount upto 50 percent during Diwali, Holi etc. (seasonal offers).


9/16

Page | 9

GROUPS STRATEGIC PLAN

Logo:

Since the inception of the brand the logo has not been changed. For the revival of the brand

the company can change the logo without changing the core value of the brand of low priced

products. The company can communicate to their customers that we are changing but the

value is still the same.

.

The colour scheme remains the same depicting the core values but according to the latest

trend and the fonts depicts change over the period. The vines depicts the new and trendy look

of the brand in the recent times.

After Sales Service:

As discussed earlier the major fall of the brand is because of the bad after sales service. The

company can work on this parameter which will eventually increase their sale. It can be done

by the following ways:

Hiring new recruits belonging to the same region for the after sales service and

training them. It will solve two problems. Firstly, it will target the main problem of

bad after sales service and secondly the recruits can communicate with the natives in a

well mannered and can bring awareness about the brand.

The company should adopt new techniques for the performance appraisal of the newly

hired work force. It can be done by taking feedback from the customers about the

service experience and ask them to rate the service.

The company can make personal calls by building a separate section Customer

Support to the customers to get feedback about the product performance level. By

doing this the company can reach out to the customer needs on an individual basis.

In House Training:

The company can appoint trained personnels at their retail shops which can help the new

customers, understanding different functions of various products and of other services.


10/16

Page | 10

It will give the company an emotional connection with the customer. It can be followed in

steps:

Whenever a new purchase happens the trained personnel can make an appointment

with the customers so that he/she will give them a product demonstration for easier

understanding of the product and take feedback on the ease of use.

Brand Ambassador:

Till date the company doesnt have a permanent brand

ambassador. As the company mainly targets the middle class

housewives, keeping an inspirational figure as the face of the

company will help in gaining customer loyalty. Now the

brand ambassador should not be someone who the people cant even relate. Like taking a

Bollywood superstar for the brand ambassador wont work as people will fail to relateto the

product, the brand ambassador and themselves. Besides this the company should take a figure

that is famous among middle class segment people like the actress in the famous TV serial

Na bole tum na meine kuch kaha. The people can easily relate with her as the character of

her in the TV serial belongs to a middle class segment.

Direct Marketing:

The company can also use the technique of direct marketing for the promotion of the product.

Employees can be appointed for the promotion of the products at personal level. They can

visit homes and can demonstrate about the product. Beside this new retail outlets can be

opened in untapped areas.


11/16

Page | 11

COMMUNICATION STRATEGY

As Brand Consultants we would like to suggest changes in the communication strategy on

various fronts:

F irst Six months

Online Marketing:

To revive the brand, the first thing that Maharaja Whiteline should do is update its website. In

the changing market customers prefer to survey the cyber market before physically

purchasing the product. The website has to be updated with all the new products and the

latest offers

Print media:

Since we are targeting house wives, we will:

Print ads on Womensmagazine.

Supply pamphlets in the regional newspapers during the weekends.

Make attractive brochures which will provide details of the product to the customers

when they visit the outlets.

Television Media:

A TVC of 30 sec, the advert should focus more on the product than the situation. The brand

ambassador of the product being a lady whose image is of a housewife in a middle class

family, the end consumers could very well connect with the brand image. The adverts will be

shown on the prime time at about evening 7 to 10 when the best rated TRP daily soaps get

featured on TV channels like Sony, Colors and Star Plus which are watched by most Indian

housewives.

Visibility:

Make a deal with the sellers to display our products on the shelves which are best visible to

the customers. Provide the multi brand outlets with Maharaja Whiteline Posters so as to

increase its visibility.


12/16

Page | 12

Af ter 6 Months

Event Marketing:

A Reality Show which will be aired on weekends, the show will be a cooking competition, as

most of the brandsproducts are kitchen appliances. These shows will be conducted in the

major cities of the country in the localities of middle class and the lower middle class people,

as they are our target consumer. Conducting these shows will create awareness about the

brand and will also make the end consumers familiar to the products.

Personal Selling:

As means of increasing visibility, we as brand consultant would suggest the company to

organise a weekly display of products outside the major home appliance outlets. A salesman

standing outside the outlet with a few products for display will invite the customers to see the

product. The salesman would also explain the benefits and the usage of the products to the

customer. In this way, we will capture the potential customers of the product.

DISTRIBUTION STRATEGY

F irst 6 months

Since the company will go through a drastic change in terms of branding therefore we as

brand consultants will have to form an aggressive distribution system in order to make our

product reach out to the potential customers in the market. Therefore in the initial stage we

have to arrange an All Distributors Meeting by which we will communicate to the

distributors about the proposed changes in the distribution system and various incentive

schemes we will propose for the distributors in the subsequent periods. The company will set

target for the distributors catering to different markets to sell the products. The products will

be sent in batch size which will be in lot consisting of 400-500 pieces of Mixer Grinder,Juicers Mixer Grinder, Wet Grinder, Food Processor and Electric irons. In the initial stage the

company will focus only on these items as the company has a comparative advantage in the

market.

Af ter 6 months

After 6 months when the brand will form its base in the market, the company will propose a

scheme to the distributors:

A Membership Card will be issued to each distributor by which they will be

categorize in terms of Gold, Silver and Platinum membersby the company on


13/16

Page | 13

the basis of the targets they achieved set by the company. Suppose if a distributor will

sell 1000 pieces a month then he will hold the Platinum membership card, if a

distributors sells between 750-1000 pieces then he will get a Gold membership cards

and if a distributors sold more than 500 then he will get Silver memberships card.

Further at the end of every quarter the top 3 distributors in terms of sale will be

rewarded with a visit to a foreign country.

Another scheme which will be launched by the company for the distributors is for

increasing the brand visibility in their respective markets. The company will give

bonusto the distributors for increasing the brand visibility by placing Hoarding above

the home appliance outlets and in some of the prime location in the market. This will

make the customer aware of the presence of the brand in the market. Not only to the

distributors, but also company will reward the owners of respective outlets that will

place the hoarding of Maharaja Whiteline above their shop.

The company again will enhance its distribution by targeting the Supermarket malls

and Hypermarket malls of the cities where it will strike a deal with these malls to sell

the Maharaja Whiteline brand in their Home Appliance section. The idea behind this

is most people in the cities prefer to visit malls to buy the products and these malls

also provide extensive offers which are unavoidable for an ordinary customer.

Af ter 1 Year

Since by now the company will have established itself as a brand in the markets of tier 1, 2

and 3 cities, so its now for the brand to reach out to the remaining gaps in the markets.

The company will enhance its distribution network to the tier 4 cities and rural market

by increasing its distribution network from 330 distributors to 600 distributors. Bydoing this more markets will be captured by the company and increase its customer

base.

The lot size which will be sent to the distributors by the production department will be

increased by sending more pieces of products. The lot for tier 1 and 2 market will be

around 500-750 pieces and for tier 3 markets will be around 500 according to the

market demand of the products.

The company will also by now will go for product line extension in its distribution

channel by introducing new products under the brand like Electric Kettle, Oven

Toaster Griller, Toaster, Juice Extractor etc.

PRODUCT STRATEGY

F irst 6 months

Packaging has to be changed because the packaging is looking aged, the new

packaging would be elite and have a modern look.

Bring in feminine patterns and colors such as pink, red, green, blue, purple and also

make about an entire product range in different colors.ie an entire home appliance

colors in the preferred color of the customer.


14/16

Page | 14

In this phase the company will only offer its strong products mainly juicer mixer

grinder, mixer grinder, wet grinder, food processors and electric irons in which the

company already has a good image.

Parallel the company will work on improving the product technology and quality of

its products

Focus more on R&D and bring in more product innovations to suit the taste of rural

markets and develop products which can run on alternate power sources such as solar

and battery power.

Af ter 6 months

Launch better versions of the existing products with focus on durability and ease of

use

Bring in more variety in the existing product line

Focus on R&D and continue to innovate on products and at the same time tests the

products developed for rural markets

Af ter 1 Year

Launch new products to extend the current product offering such as Electric kettle,

Oven Toaster Griller, Toaster, Hand Blender and Juice Extractor in the current market

While launching in rural market keep the products without the frills and also

developed the products for these markets only.

PRICING STRATEGY

F ir st 6 Months

Initially we would maintain a status quo on the prices because the customers are well aware

of products and the prices of the brand.

Af ter 6 Months

We will come up with different EMI schemes for different products which will

provide more flexibility in buying to our target customers.

Af ter 1 Year

With the launch of new product we will increase the prices of the old product from

5%-10% according to the product demand in the market.

Products focusing rural market will be priced slightly less so as to capture the market

and increase customer base.


15/16

Page | 15

FINANCIAL OUTCOMES

After analysing each and every aspects of expenditure in branding finally we came to the

conclusion that following are the specific expenses:

TV show 40 cr

Adverts 24 cr

Print Ad 06 cr

Distributors 10 cr

Miscellaneous 10 cr

--------------------------

Total 90 cr

--------------------------

So as brand consultants we expect that after incurring the above expenses for the companys

branding we will achieve the break-even of the above expenditure in 2 years. The reason

behind this are

Technology updation by the company.

Deep penetration into the rural market.

Increasing in distribution channel network to almost double in 1 year.

Competitive pricing of the existing as well as new products.

Increase in the products quality as well as post sale service.

Increase in brand visibility and awareness among the customers.

Product demonstration and personal selling.


16/16

Page | 16

REFERENCES

www.maharajawhiteline.com/

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/maharaja-whiteline

Strategic Brand Manangement by Keller, Parmeswaran and Jacob

http://www.groupeseb.com/en-en

http://www.mysmartprice.com/appliance/pricelist/maharaja-whiteline-mixers-price-list-in-

india.html

http://www.snapdeal.com/brand/maharaja-whiteline-/appliances-juicer-mixer-grinders
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/maharaja-whitelinehttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/maharaja-whitelinehttp://www.groupeseb.com/en-enhttp://www.groupeseb.com/en-enhttp://www.mysmartprice.com/appliance/pricelist/maharaja-whiteline-mixers-price-list-in-india.htmlhttp://www.mysmartprice.com/appliance/pricelist/maharaja-whiteline-mixers-price-list-in-india.htmlhttp://www.mysmartprice.com/appliance/pricelist/maharaja-whiteline-mixers-price-list-in-india.htmlhttp://www.mysmartprice.com/appliance/pricelist/maharaja-whiteline-mixers-price-list-in-india.htmlhttp://www.mysmartprice.com/appliance/pricelist/maharaja-whiteline-mixers-price-list-in-india.htmlhttp://www.snapdeal.com/brand/maharaja-whiteline-/appliances-juicer-mixer-grindershttp://www.snapdeal.com/brand/maharaja-whiteline-/appliances-juicer-mixer-grindershttp://www.snapdeal.com/brand/maharaja-whiteline-/appliances-juicer-mixer-grindershttp://www.mysmartprice.com/appliance/pricelist/maharaja-whiteline-mixers-price-list-in-india.htmlhttp://www.mysmartprice.com/appliance/pricelist/maharaja-whiteline-mixers-price-list-in-india.htmlhttp://www.groupeseb.com/en-enhttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/maharaja-whiteline

Date post:	03-Jun-2018
Category:	Documents
Upload:	meet-sabarwal
View:	219 times
Download:	0 times

Maharaja Whiteline Final Report

Documents