Maggi Maggi has grown as a brandand positioned itself as a Fast to cook! Good to Eat! food product.

When launched it had to face a stiff competition from the ready to eat snack segments likebiscuits, wafers etc. Also it had other competitor the so called home made snacks which aretill today considered healthy and hygienic. Hence to capture the market it was positioned as ahygienic home made snack, a smart move. But still this didnt work, as it was targetedtowards the wrong target group, the working women.After conducting an extensive research, the firm found that the children were the biggestconsumers of Maggi noodles. Quickly a strategy was developed to capture the kids segmentwith various tools of sales promotion like pencils, fun books, Maggi clubs which workedwonders for it. No doubt the ads of Maggi have shown a hungry kid saying Mummy bhookhlagi hai to which his mom replies Bas do minute! and soon he is happily eating Maggienoodles. Further the MAGGI 2-MINUTE Noodles has been renovated to provide 20% of theRDA of Calcium and Protein for the core target group building on the nutrition propositionTaste bhi health bhi. The company could have easily positioned the product as a meal, butdid not, as a study had shown that Indian mentality did not accept anything other than rice orroti as meal. They made it a easy to cook snack that could be prepared in just two minutes.The formula clicked well and Maggi became a brand name. 1 Nestls Maggie noodles is the leading brand in the instant noodles segment in India, enjoyinga market share of 79.3%. The brand has grown to an estimated Rs 200 crore & contributes toaround 10% of Nestle Indias top line. Being the pioneer in the noodles market has given it afirst movers advantage over other brands. Maggi has regularly come up with new flavoursand has recently launched two variants.

COMPETITION 2.3.1 TOP RAMEN 'Don't be a noodle, be a Smoodle,' was the ad that brought the Top Ramen brand intolimelight when it was launched in 1991. Market share FY 2005-2006: 14% Variety : a) Packet Noodles: Macho Masala, Funky Chicken, Oye Tomato, Curry Smoodles.b) Cup Noodles: Spicy Vegetable, Tangy Chicken Packaging and Pricing: Top RamenPack Size(gm)Price(Rs) Packet Noodles 50 5100 10400 34Cup Noodles 80 20 Distributor: Marico Industries Distributor strength :

About 130000 USP: 'Don't be a noodle, be a Smoodle,' innovative flavours and its cup noodles

2.6 PRODUCT DISTRIBUTION Maggi Noodles is being sold through 2,60,000 outlets (FY 2005-2006), which comprise of grocers, convenience stores, supermarkets and miscellaneous channels. The average Indianstill prefers shopping through the traditional grocers or kiranas as can be inferred from thehigher distribution of 62.8%.The rising popularity of the mall-culture in the urban andsemi-urban areas also reflects on the slight increase in distribution through supermarkets / hypermarkets. Traditional grocers 63.0 62.8Convenience stores 20.0 20.0Supermarkets/hypermarkets 16.6 16.8Others 0.4 0.4Overall 100.0 1 : MagGi distribution network y y y y y y y Maggi factory Factory warehouse Agent Distributor Wholesaler Direct retailer End consumer

Marketing stratergies of maggi:

It helps mothers with t idea of fast to cook n good to eat snacks. They focused their ads on childrens taste n health. They used brand extension strategy to attract more customers Nestle maintained the same taste and nutrition of the product It invited housewives to send innovative recipes. They used attractive advertising cam paign.

Role of sales personnel IN MAGGI:

A SALES PERSON SHOULD GET ORDERS FOR THE COMPANY A sales person should have all the knowledge about the product so that he may communicate with the customers.

He should sell the products with persuasion and it is the responsibility of sales person to satisfy the customers while they are looking for the products. Sales person should also handle and maintain the cash. Sales person is also responsible to greet the customers, to help the customers in identifying their requirements, to promote products, to answer the customers' questions regarding the products, to arrange the merchandise properly and to supervise the ordering the supplies.

Challenges faced by SALESPERSONNEL OF maGgi :

Heavily dependant on one product Minor distribution problems Health related issues Strong presence of regional competitors Competitive pricing Problem of Indian psyche

Learnings of magGi:
Strengthen distribution channel in rural areas To introduce Advertisement campaign with brand ambassador They need to keep constant eye on competitors

TOP RAMENFAULTY MARKETING STRATEGIES (MISTAKES OF TOP RAMEN):

Top Ramen Noodles is the second most sold instant noodles in India after the noodle market leader, Maggi. Maggi has been the highest sold noodles in India. One major factor for Maggi's success was its quick localization. Maggi has a simple presentation of itself to people in India. Every common Indian knows the tagline of maggi - 2 minute noodles. And Maggi was famous in the flavor of Masala. Masala happens to mean spice in India. So to a common Indian, Maggi Masala sounds very logical and Indian. Never did Maggi put any fancy English tag lines nor did it endorse its product as a foreign brand though it could have. It's almost like they hid their real identity of being a foreign brand simply by not revealing the fact neither in ads nor in the wrapper or anywhere else. So they kind of Indianized Maggi, established as a brand that every Indian can identify with and buy that product without any hesitation. Coming back to Top Ramen, the first big mistake was that it entered Indian market late, maybe a couple of decades after Maggi came. (This is my assumption, I

remember that Top Ramen was always available since my childhood, but I have a feeling that Top Ramen came later). So, they lost the early customers of the newly found food, instant noodles in India. The Second mistake that Top Ramen did was they never considered localization in the early stages. They were proudly boasting a funky English Tag line "Don't be a noodle, be a smoodle". This does not connect with an average Indian who speaks native Hindi. The Third mistake that Top Ramen did was to name the base flavor as "Macho Masala" instead of just "Masala", which means spice in Hindi. To be honest, I didn't know the exact meaning of macho until I looked up the dictionary. They thought that the young generation would be pretty impressed with a fancy name. What their marketing team could not see was that it was not children who usually buy noodles, but it was home makers who buy noodles and cook for their kids. Such a basic!!! I recently bought Top Ramen noodles and have observed many changes in the wrapper. Top Ramen surely seems to have realized, though late, that they are lagging behind in localization, in connecting with the local public. They have taken few corrective measures such as renaming the flavor from "Macho Masala" to "Masala". Smoodles has been renamed to Smooth Noodles, again, they might have thought smoodles sounds cool, but they have missed a point. House wives may not understand that smoodles means noodles. And they might come to a conclusion that this is not an Indian brand. They have a clear highlight in the wrapper design that reads "PRODUCT OF INDIA". The real problem at top ramen has been lack of understanding of indian consumers and indian tastes. Also their distribution has been very messy with 1st marico handling it and then themselves DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL : y y y y MANUFACTURER WHOLESALER RETAILER CONSUMER AND MANUFACTURER TO CONSUMER ADVANTAGE OF TOP RAMEN

Top Ramen noodles has come up with a competitive price tag of just Rs. 9/- in comparison with the present price of Maggi, Rs. 10/-

LEARNINGS I would suggest Top Ramen Noodles to endorse their product with popular Indian celebrities, such as Preity Zinta or the younger Katrina Kaif, or Deepika Padukone. They should remove the section that boasts of Top Ramen Noodles as a brain child of its founder from Japan. Push really really hard into the market to catchup with Maggi. Their target market is the city and town crowd of India. It may take many years before Top Ramen can become a household name like Maggi, they may never be able to reach Maggi's position too! They need to focus on rural market Enter into new segment Need to use aggressive marketing strategy