Table of Contents Title Page no 1.0 Executive Summery 6 2.0 Situation analysis 7 2.1 Customer 7 2.2 Competitor 8 2.3 Company 11 3.0 Market opportunity and issues 14 4.0 Objectives 14 5.0 Marketing strategy 14 6.0 Target market 15 7.0 Positioning 17 8.0 Marketing Mix 17 9.0 Review and Control 22 10.0 Appendix 23 11.0 Bibliography 26 Page1 List of Illustration Title Page no Figure: 1 Management hierarchy of Ispahani Chips 13 Figure: 2 Graph of different ages group consumer of chips 16 Figure: 3 Distribution Channel 19 Figure: 4 20 Figure: 5 Graph of different gift items for different age group Production flow chart Table: 1 Price list and promotional strategy 11 Table: 2 Age group of consumer of chips 16 Table: 3 Price of our Chips brands 18 Table: 4 Different gift items for different age group 19 Page2 21 Marketing Plan 1. Executive Summery M.M. Ispahani Ltd. has been operating its business in Bangladesh for a long time with an admirable reputation. The area of business operation of the group is large as well as varied which comprises ten separate companies ranging from tea to poultry. With intent to provide high quality food products in competitive price, Ispahani Food was added to the company line of this conglomerate. Ispahani food launched Marshal Chips in the year of 2000 considering the rapid popularity of fast food items. Chips are popular snacks item in our country now a days. Within a short time this product has ensured its position both in urban and rural area. The market size is fairly large and it is expanding day by day. Ispahani Chips started its journey with four varieties in its product category namely Prawn, Vegetable, Chicken, and Potato. As time being the product was changed and modified significantly to maximize the customer satisfaction. In 2003, there were three varieties in the market (vegetable snacks potato cracker, and prawn). Though the initial response was good, Marshal Chips could not maintain its image over the time and failed to create repeat customer. There might be various reasons which caused the product failure to fulfill the expectation. The reason may be problems in product positioning or it may be frequent changes in name and flavor, or there might be lacking in strategies. But this is for sure that there was some lacking in strategic planning in the initial level. Ispahani aired its TV commercials after three month of product launching. It caused serious damaged in product positioning. Consumer was not aware of this product at the time it was launched. So the product was not sold. Then again when Ispahani went on advertise, it was very insufficient to catch the attention of the viewers. All these things resulted in a failure of a prospective product. In this circumstance, in our marketing plan we are thinking of launching new five brands. We have analyzed the consumers, competitors and the company’s current conditions and compared it with the competitors in this marketing plan. There we have mentioned about our objectives and how we can achieve these objectives. In this marketing plan we have followed a strategy that is a combination of differentiation and mass marketing strategies. We have also mentioned here that Page3 who are our customers and by which we can satisfy their needs and wants of chips. For this, reason we have created price segmentation of different brands. 2. Situation analysis 2.1: Customers Chips is an all age product: Chips are generally taken for granted that chips are a kind of kid’s food. But it is found that people of all age enjoy chips and a large market segment for chips lies on the age group of 10 to 20. To the college and varsity students, this product has huge popularity. Difference in child market and adult market of chips: There is a significant difference in the preference of the child and adult for the same product, chips. Children love most gift item along with the chips packet. In most of the cases they are not bothered about the food value of chips. And though in some of the cases purchase decision is made by the guardian, they are highly influenced by their kid’s preference. On the other side, adult customer is very conscious about the product quality, food value and such things. Therefore, before launching marketing promotional scheme, that commercial, poster, sticker, leaflet, or gift item it must be cleared out to whom it is going to be positioned. To position in the children’s mind maximum focus should be given on attractive gift item and TV commercial. Here we do not need to be bothered that much about the product quality. But to position the product in the adult market, ensuring quality is a must. For example, we can name meridian chips, the second market leader brand in Bangladesh. They have targeted the child market. All of their gift items and commercials have been offered accordingly. But regarding quality they are far behind than that of the Bombay Sweets which has targeted the all age customer. Consumer’s perception: Regarding the previous brand of the snack item consumer in most of the cases was not familiar that much with the brand. So there is no question about brand loyalty because even the brand familiarity was not created as per it is expected for a brand to hold a substantial market share. So the company must launch and continue TV commercials over the period. Page4 2.2: Competitors Ispahani Chips has some hard competitors. After some days of launching Ispahani Chips, it was in the leading stage of this market. But now its position in the market is very bad. Te main competitors of Ispahani Chips are Bombay Sweets, Meridian, Ruchi, Sun, Pringles, and Lays. Among these brands Bombay sweets have 4 different TV commercials for their four separate brands. Meridian has different commercials for its brands of different flavor. Ruchi also has different TV commercials for its different brands. Ruchi and Bombay sweets Potato Crackers have been more visible in the Bangladeshi TV channel in recent days. Besides these, commercials of Lays and Sun are frequently aired in the satellite TV channel. Other than this Meridian was less visible in the electronic media for the recent days. But they have done some exceptional marketing promotion which is posturing. They used colorful poster in all over the country including railway station, bus terminal, and roadside wall to publicize their latest offerings. Ruchi arranged an open air concert recently in Dhanmondi, Dhaka. Observing these activities we can infer that competitors are thinking of going beyond of the electronics media. Because, they have already used some publicizing media like these which are unusual for this kind of product. Ispahani has been continuously conducting studies and research time to time on this product aiming to reveal the competitive position of the product. In 2001, Ispahani conducted a Post Launch Monitor (PLM) survey and product test by a chartered firm (ORG-MARG QUEST LIMITED). The study was carried out over 500 children aged between 6 to 15 years in urban area of Dhaka and Chittagong. The study found that from the point of view of awareness and usage Bombay Sweets Potato Crackers were highest among the respondents. Ispahani Marshal Chips was in fifth position. The other Brands standing from second to fourth position were respectively Meridian, Sun Real potato, Lays. Another research titled “Internship Report on Overall Market Position of Ispahani Marshal Chips” was done to know the comparative market position of Ispahani Marshal Chips. It was found from the research that Bombay and Meridian was the market leader in terms of bestselling brand. These two brands are also ahead of Marshal Chips in terms of consumer’s brand Page5 preference. Another research conducted recently taking sample size of three thousand retail outlet in Dhaka city, surveying the retailer and consumer revealed that Marshal Chips stands fourth position in the market behind the brand of Bombay, Meridian, and Ruchi. Bombay sweets are the undoubted market leader of this product. They got the advantage of being first mover. They pioneered chips in Bangladesh. Though Meridian is comparatively new, they have come up with significant market share within a short time. Same thing happened even in more pace in case of Ruchi. Continuous promotion and strategic implementation led them to this extreme level of successes. Distribution network of the major competitors: Most of the companies distribute chips through distributors except Ispahani, Meridian, and Square. These three brands are distributed through their own distribution channel. Usually small enterprises or wholesalers are selected as distributors considering some criteria like capital, risk bearing capacity, network in the market, previous track record etc. Sometimes individual person can also be chosen a distributor after receiving some advance money as security. Chips are usually delivered to the distributor on advance payment basis and then from him doorto-door delivery is made to the wholesaler and retailer. Commission on sales are given on sales volume, in fact the distributors buy the products directly from the producers at a certain price, and supply it to the retailers and wholesalers at a price that includes their commission. Usually the manufactures with their bigger organization are at the control. (1)Bombay Sweets: Bombay Sweets have five distributors in Dhaka. It is usually door-to-door distributing. These distributors are sole distributors for their locality. The manufacturer delivers the products on specific days of the week to their place and he distributes it to the retailers with the help of his employees. The distributor plays here the main role. The manufacturer provides no other extra support like financial or Human resources. Bombay Sweets is the pioneer in the packet chips industry in Bangladesh. They launched Bombay Sweets Potato Crackers in 1985. At that time there was no other competitors for packet chips. Through their widespread network they have made the products available in all over the country. Gradually the market has been expanded and now there are as long as more than eighth competitors in the market. There are more than twenty brands in the market with some international competitors. Besides packet chips there is a huge market of homemade chips. Though they are market leader of chips industry they are not direct competitors of Ispahani chips. (2)Meridian: There are five distributors of Meridian in Dhaka who reaches the retailer while the Page6 sales office of the manufacturer delivers the products to the wholesalers. The commission is nearly six percent on sales. No other facilities are admissible to them. (3)Ispahani: Marketing of Ispahani Snacks is carried out by the major help from tea internal division. For Ispahani Snacks there are exclusively some ASO with mechanized vehicle. Beside this every depot has at least one rickshaw van for selling Ispahani Snacks and all other ASO’s. The people who sell tea are also carried Snacks to retailers. (4)Lays: Lays is the product of India. Now a day, it is so much popular to the people. The price of Lays is comparatively high but its quality and taste is outstanding. The people who are the wholesalers of other chips are the sellers of Lays in our country. They distribute Lays to the retailers. Price list and promotional strategy of some popular brands: Product’s Name Trade price Retailer price Trade promotion Bombay Sweets potato crackers 8 10(25g) Bombay Sweets Mr. twist 13 15(30g) Bombay Sweets Ring chips 5.20 6(20g) Potato sticks 4.20 5(15g) Meridian prawn 10.25 12(25g) Sometimes 1pack free for 1 dozen Meridian chicken 10.25 12(25g) // Meridian real thai shrimp 10.25 12(18g) // Not available Ispahani vegetable snacks Ispahani potato crackers 8 10(25g) Sometimes 1 pack free per dozen Ispahani real potato snacks 8 10(25g) // 8.4 10(25g) I pack free per 1 dozen Ruchi pizza flavor Page7 Ruchi chicken flavor 8.4 10(25g) Ruchi tomato flavor 6.5 8(13g) Pran Crackers 8.25 10(25g) I pack free per 2 dozen Pran shrimp 8.25 10(25g) I pack free per 1 dozen 10 12(20g) Sun Real potato(Tomato/ mix masalla/garlic) 8 23.25 46.20 10(14g) 25(35g) 50(75g) Pringles chips 46.25 50(40g) 14 30 65 245 16(13g) 35(30g) 175(61) 275(184g) BD Chicken crackers Lays (magic masala/potato/ chicken) Table: 1 Favorite chips brand: It is found from our survey that more than 52% of the consumers refer Bombay Sweets as their favorite chips Brand. The second position was of Meridian and it was 32%. Another important thing here is about Lays. This brand has come up to third position within a very short time. It was possible because their continuous TV commercials aired on the satellite TV channels. But, as the price of Lays is comparatively high, Sun Real potato take a good place among people. To the retailer Bombay is the most profit earning brand. Sun, Lays and Meridian placed respectively second, third and fourth position. And Ispahani is at the fifth place. Since Bombay Sweets sells most, So Bombay is the most profitable brand to them. 2.3: Company Page8 Ispahani in Now a Day: M.M. Ispahani Ltd. is completely professional outfit. The organizational strength comes from a dedicated workforce. The team has some of the best planners, architects, engineers, financial experts and marketing professionals. Each area of work is departmentalized on a purely functional basis and each directed to achieve qualitative superiority. The Ispahani Group is a very large & old company comprising over 10 separate companies engaged in various business activities including – Tea Travels Securities Poultry Foods Media Real Estate Textile Jute Shipping ISPAHANI FOODS LIMITED: Ispahani is the spices brand name that moves to the western Indian city of SURAT in 1820 and moved to Madras where they made their base. They had extensive business interests in India, Iran, Burma, and Egypt. Ispahani established an office in Dhaka around 1875 to trade indigo and hides. An office in Calcutta followed this in 1900. The group has introduced its – venture in the food industry in 2000. It mated with various types of chips. The brand is called Ispahani Marshal Chips. Now this division is operating under the support of tea division Ispahani Food Ltd. is the latest addition to Ispahani group. Under the food division snacks food item are being introduced. Now a day’s chip is the most popular snacks Page9 item. With the increasing demand of fast food, the demand of chips increased, as the part of this fast food. Chips market in Bangladesh is growing day by day and the market is much more potential. For the demand of time Ispahani Chips launched five types of chips on 22nd April in 2000. The plant covered approximately 25000sq. ft with high hygienic standard. The plant is situated in Pahartali, Chittagong. The plant is well equipped with state of the art specialized processing machines and equipment, valued around half million USD. The machine is Originate from USA, Australia, Japan, and Malaysia. Pellets and flavors are imported; the tea division handles the procurement. In the factory it is processed into final products and packed untouched by hand. Marketing of the Marshall Snacks are carried out by tea internal division nationwide strong distribution channel. They also prepare TV advertisement and take other promotional activities to establish this new product in the market. Managerial hierarchy of Ispahani Chips: Manager Jr. Assistant Production Executive (Fry) Dy. Executive (Packing) Asst. Sup. (1) Dy. Executive (Q/C) Office Tech. Asst. (1) Packer (6) Female Operator (1) Operator (2) Page10 Sweeper (2) Tech. Asst. (2) Administrative Officer Tech. Asst (8) Accounts Officer Helper (1) Accounts Asst. Vat-Clerk Figure: 1 3. Market opportunity and issues It can be hoped that if people really like our products and as our product quality is good there is a big change to become the market leader. Though there are many competitors and they compete with almost the same product this is the main issue in terms of market opportunity. Because now we come into the market with five new different brands of different taste and flavor. 4. Objectives We have a defined mission that goes a long way in explaining what we are and how pursue our business. The objectives of Ispahani chips are: Providing better services to the people. Affordable pricing. Maximizing profit through increasing total sales volume. Achieving 30% market share within one year. Becoming the market leader in chips market within 2 years. 5. Marketing Strategy As this time ispahani chips is coming back with a great hope we have to maintain some strategy to grave the market. To make the product acceptable and also to increase its acceptability we have to follow some techniques. These can be- Page11 selling the product with the low price than others. provide better quality. taste or flavor can be changed. give more by the same price. Give free gifts with each packet. can involve in some social welfare. sponsor in different cultural, educational or sports programs. give free chips with other company products. sampling in different places like in schools, colleges and also in other market places. The strategies we follow: We will follow differentiation and mass marketing strategy in a combined way. Because1. Differentiation: We want to launch some different products from existing market. By bringing change in taste and flavor, we will make our product different from our competitors. We will also improve the quality of our products. We will try to provide more quality than our competitors do. Moreover, we will differentiate our product not only in taste but also its packaging because we all are well known that packaging plays a great roll in products selling. People, mostly children get attracted by colorful packet. 2. Mass marketing: We want to apply mass marketing theory. We are creating various flavors chips by concerning not only children but also people of all ages. So that, we pricing our products in different categories based on peoples need and want. Page12 6. Target Market Our target market in Bangladesh: Chips is a kind of mouthwatering food. This food was introduced for the first time in our country in the decade of eighty’s. Initially the market was very small. But in course of time the size of the market has been expanded at a significant rate. Now there is a widespread market of chips in Bangladesh. The demand is so high that despite of the existence of a number of local manufacturers, chips are also coming from other countries. Though the common belief is that chips is a child food but the reality is people of all age have chips frequently. Chips can be easily found in the luxurious shopping mall in the city as well as in the grocery shop in a remote village of the country. So it’s a huge market of chips in Bangladesh. From upper class to lower class, people of all strata of the society have demand for this food. In general, people of middle class to upper class are the major consumer of this product. Though now a day’s lower income group of the society, even a rickshaw puller or day labor also buys chips either for themselves or for their wards. A major portion of Kids under 10years of age want chips because of the inside gift item they receive with the chips pack. Sometimes they take the purchase decision but most of the times decision is taken by their guardians. But their brand preference play role here. We have consulted with 50 people of different ages to identify the presentence of different ages consumers of chips. Age group of consumer of chips: Respondent’s Age Frequency Percent (%) Cumulative Percent Below 10 6 16 16 10 to 20 22 44 60 21 to 30 18 36 96 Above 30 2 4 100.0 Total 50 100.0 Table: 2 Page13 Age group of consumer of chips 4% 16% Below 10 36% 10 to 20 21 to 30 Above 30 44% Figure: 2 7. Positioning In all its activities, we are giving stress on Increased standard of customer service and care. A dedication to aid to all roles that human development plays in the aid process. Respecting each other as individuals and encourage to high performing work. Giving opportunities for personnel development. To prepare good relationship with suppliers and other supplement partners. 8. Marketing Mix 8.1: Product: As the market condition of our existing brands is not good and our relative market share and market growth rate is low, that’s why we want to stop the production of our existing products. Than we want to introduce our five new brands with the market. Our new five brands are Ispahani Pure snax potato chips (Tomato ketchup flavor) Ispahani Pure snax potato chips (Magic Masala) Page14 Ispahani Pure snax potato crackers (Salsa) Ispahani Pure snax potato crackers (Hot and spice) Ispahani Pure snax potato crackers (Tandure chicken) 8.2: Price: Regarding pricing the researchers’ view is that there is flexibility in the market to price the product. Chips could be priced between ranges of tk.7 to tk.10 provided that its packaging and product quality are ensured. Color of packet is very important here. In our marketing plan, we have shown the reasonable and competing price of our new five brands. Price of our Chips brands: Brand name Price(gm) Pure snax potato chips (Tomato ketchup flavor) Pure snax potato chips (Magic Masala) 6(13) 10(25) 20(55) 7(13) 12(25) 20(50) Pure snax potato crackers (Salsa) 6(13) 10(25) 20(55) Pure snax potato crackers (Hot and spice) 6(13) 10(25) 20(55) 12(25) 20(50) Pure snax potato crackers (Tandure chicken) Table: 3 8.3: Place: The present distribution channel of Ispahani Marshal Chips is not suitable for launching a new brand. Because within this channel the major focus is given on only to tea product. In most of the cases it is the same distributor who takes care of both the product. But to minimize risk they emphasize on tea product. Even the sales force is somewhat reluctant to bargain for chips item in comparing to tea. Sometimes, they only visit and offer chips to those retailers who keep tea item. It hinders the chips item to be established as a separate brand. By observing the distribution channel of the competitors we can comment that most effective distribution Page15 channel for chips item is two step distribution channel like one shown in the bellow: Two steps distribution channel: Manufactur er Distributor Retailer Consumer An alternative distribution channel may be used by introducing a nationwide distributor. This distributor will be of Ispahani and he will distribute only snacks items. From him all other distributors across the country will receive products. The main objective of this network is to establish snacks item as a strong brand in the market. This is a concept only. To implement this we will need to work out on its human resources and business plan. According to the proposed distribution channel the network will be as bellow: Manufacturer Nationwide Distributor Distributor Retailer Consumer Figure:3-Distribution Channel 8.4: Promotion: There are many promotional activities those we could take. But we only take the following promotional activities to increase our sales sampling in different places like in schools, colleges and also in other market places. involving in some social welfare .such as-scholarship, charity,donation. sponsoring in different cultural, educational or sports programs. giving free gifts with each packet. advertising in electronic, print media, bill board. Page16 Different gift items for different age group: Gift item Age group of consumer 10 to 20 21 to 30 7% 2.20% 1.60% 2.40% 2.20% 2% 4.50% 7% 14% 14.50% 5% 6% 8.30% 2.20% 0.70% 0.50% 2% 0.30% 43.30% 39.10% Below 10 2.80% 3% 1.80% 5.50% Display card Toy Tattoo Pokemon Sauces Chocolate T shirts Cap Sticker None Pen 1% 0.50% 14.60% Above 30 0.50% 2% 0.50% 3% Total Preference (%) 12% 7% 6% 17% 29% 14% 11% 1.20% 0.50% 2% 0.30% 100% Table: 4 Preferred gift item for different age group 35 30 Age 25 Above 30 20 21 to 30 15 10 to 20 Below 10 10 5 n Pe r on e N ke ap St ic C s ol at e T sh irt s uc e ho c C on Sa ke m Ta to Po To y D isp la y ca rd 0 Gift item Figure: 4 To the consumer of below 10 age group, Pokemon is most preferred gift item. And for the10 to 20 and 20 to 30 age group this is sauces. Among the various gift item sauces was named highest number of times. Page17 Chocolate and Pokemon were respectively second and third highest chosen gift item. T-shirt was chosen by 11% of the consumer and peoples of the age group of 10 to 20 preferred most this item. Consumer of below 10 age group did not prefer sauces. This is because they do not usually bother much about the taste, flavor or food value out of things they have rather they care much about entertaining item like pokemon card, display or tattoo etc. Time slot for TV commercial Most of the chips commercials are aired on TV before popular serial. But the most popular program in private channel is news at night. All the channels broadcast news at least once within the time slot of 9 pm to 10.30 pm. By airing commercial in private channel before news at night it is possible to reach to maximum viewers. 8.5: Process: The production process of Ispahani chips is mentioned here: Production flow chart: Raw Materials ( Pellets) Dryer (10-12) hrs Duration with 45-50 C Temperature Hopper Fryer (frying machine) 178182 C frying temperature Oil observation Page18 Conveyer (Burn chips sorting) Flavor mixing (Mixer machine) Chips packet (Packing machine) Per minute 40 packets Conveyer (Single pack) Dozen & Gross pack Floor Stock Delivery Figure: 5 9. Review and Control Both primary and secondary data have been used in this research. Primary data were collected by conducting survey through questionnaire. The main source of secondary data was company’s previous research materials. The quantitative data was analyzed by using the SPSS software. For graphical data presentation Microsoft Excel has been used. Page19 10. Appendix Appendix 1. Questionnaire for the Consumers Mr. /Miss, Assalamu alaikum…… As a part of our marketing plan, we are doing a survey on Chips Market of Bangladesh. We need some information regarding various aspects of some popular brand of Chips. We request you to co-operate us by answering some questions to make the research successful. We assure you that all your answers will be kept confidential and used only for academic purpose. Page20 Q.1 Which one is your favorite chips brand? a) Meridian b) Bombay Sweets c) Ispahani d) Pringles e) Pran f) BD g) Sun h) Ruchi i) Lays Q.2 Which attributes of the following do you considers most when you purchase a chips? a) quality b) price c) availability d) gift item e) flavor f) others Q.3 What types of gift item do you prefer most with chips? a) Display Card b) Toy c) Tattoo e) Sauces f) Chocolate g) Others d) Pokemon Q.4 Which information source played major role to chose your favorite brand? a) TV commercials b) Friends c) Family members d) Retailers e) Others Q.5 In what age group do you belong? a) Below 10 b) 10 to 20 c) 20 to 30 d) Above 30 Thank you very much for your co-operation. Appendix 2: Questionnaire for the Retailers Mr. /Miss, Page21 Assalamu alaikum…… As a part of our marketing plan, we are doing a survey on Chips Market of Bangladesh. We need some information regarding various aspects of some popular brand of Chips. We request you to co-operate us by answering some questions to make the research successful. We assure you that all your answers will be kept confidential and used only for academic purpose. 1. Which Chips do you receive most from the distributor or sales people? Please mention the name a) Meridian b) Bombay Sweets c) Ispahani e) Pran f) Co-cola g) Sun i) Kurkure j) Lays k) Others d) Ruchi h) Pringles 2. Which brand / brands does the customer want most from you? (Record the name as the order he says) a) Meridian b) Bombay Sweets c) Ispahani d) Ruchi e) Pran f) Co-cola g) Sun h) Pringles i) Kurkure j) Lays k) Others 3. Please mention the age group who buys chips more. _____________________________ 4. What kind of incentive/benefits do you receive from the manufacturer of the brand mentioned in Q.1? (Record separately for incentives of each of the brands) - Page22 5. What kind of incentives do you expect from the manufacturer? …………………………………. 6. How much volume do you sale per week (mentioned in Q.1) a) Meridian b) Bombay Sweets c) Ispahani d) Ruchi e) Pran f) Co-cola g) Jack &Jill h) Pringles i) Kurkure j) Lays Thank you very much for your co-operation. 11. Bibliography a) Internet source: http://www. wikipedia.org http://www.google.com http://www.Ispahani com ltd.com http://www.Ispahani food ltd.com/bd Page23 b) People/Organization: Md. Shahid, Jannat General Store, Adabor, Dhaka. Mahbuba General Store, Adabor, Dhaka. Khan Departmental Store, Ring road, Dhaka. meena bazer, Ring road, Dhaka. Page24