About the Company parle g

About the Company A cream colored yellow stripped wrapper with a cute baby photo containing10 – 12 biscuits with the company’s name printed in Red and you know these areParle G biscuits. Times changed, variety of biscuits did come and go but nothinghas changed with these biscuits. Yes, the size of their packing has definitelychanged but for the consumers good as these are money savers pack. The Parle name conjures up fond memories across the length and breadth of thecountry. After all, since 1929, the people of India have been growing up on Parlebiscuits & sweets.Initially a small factory was set up in the suburbs of Mumbai city, tomanufacture sweets and toffees. The year was 1929 and the market was dominatedby famous international brands that were imported freely. Despite the odds andunequal competition, this company called Parle Products, survived and succeeded,by adhering to high quality and improvising from time to time.A decade later, in 1939, Parle Products began manufacturing biscuits, inaddition to sweets and toffees. Having already established a reputation for quality,the Parle brand name grew in strength with this diversification. Parle Glucose andParle Monaco were the first brands of biscuits to be introduced, which later went onto become leading names for great taste and quality.For around 75 years, Parle have been manufacturing quality biscuits andconfectionery products. Over the years Parle has grown to become a multi million-dollar company with many of the products as market leaders in their category. Therecent introduction of Hide & Seek chocolate chip biscuits is a product of innovation and caters to a new taste, being India’s first ever chocolate-chipbiscuits THE MARKETING STRENGTH The extensive distribution network, built over the years, is a majorstrength for Parle Products. Parle biscuits & sweets are available toconsumers, even in the most remote places and in the smallest of villages with a population of just 500.Parle has nearly 1,500 wholesalers, catering to 4,25,000 retail outletsdirectly or indirectly. A two hundred strong dedicated field force servicesthese wholesalers & retailers. Additionally, there are 31 depots and C&Fagents supplying goods to the wide distribution network. The Parle marketing philosophy emphasizes catering to the masses. Theyconstantly endeavor at designing products that provide nutrition & fun tothe common man. Most Parle offerings are in the low & mid-range pricesegments. This is based on their understanding of the Indian consumerpsyche. The value-for-money positioning helps generate large salesvolumes for the products.However, Parle Products also manufactures a variety of premiumproducts

for the up-market, urban consumers. And in this way, caters arange of products to a variety of consumers. 6

Marketing Mix of Parle Products LimitedProduct strategyProduct Levels 1) Core benefit- the core benefit of biscuits is to satisfy hunger of the consumer2) Basic product- in the second level, the basic product is biscuits.3) Expected product- the consumers expect the product to have a good taste andalso give nutrition.4) Augmented product- parle biscuits increase a person’s energy levels. This is notalways expected by the consumers and hence exceeds customer’s expectations.5) Potential product- in the future parle could come up with different products suchas a snack which could be a combo of chocolate and biscuit. Classification of products 1) Based on tangibility- Parle biscuits are tangible, i.e. one can see and touch them.2) Based on functional life- Parle biscuits are consumables since biscuits form apart of food and have a short life.3) Based on price and quality- most of Parle biscuits such as Parle-G, Monaco,Krackjack are mass products but a few Parle biscuits such as Parle hide and seekand Milano are premium or prestige products.4) Based on utility- Parle biscuits are convenience goods. They are staples sincethey are bought by consumers regularly. Also they are partly impulse products. Product mix • Width- Parle produces biscuits, snacks and confectionaries. So the width is 3. •

Length- the length of Parle products is as below:Biscuits SnacksConfectionariesParle-G Jeffs MelodyMilk Shakti Sixer PoppinsMagixchoco and cashew Musst bytes-tangy tomato Mango byte 7

Krackjack and garden green Kismi toffeebarMonaco Rol-a-colaMarie Choice OrangecandyHide and seek ChoxFun centre- chocolate, butterscotch, strawberry, milk cream NimkinParle cream- mango, orange, elaichi, pineapple, bourbonDigestive MarieKrackjack cream The factors whose intensity differs from person to person are together termed aspersonal factors. They are as follows: -1 ) A g e Parle-g is consumed maximum by the kids in the age group of 5-10 years i.e.the growing age group. Kids, who have formed the habit of having Parle-G intheir early stages of life, continue this practice even after growing up. Theycontinue their consumption of Parle-G even after they grow up.2 ) O c c u p a t i o n The buying behavior of the consumer is influenced also by the occupation heor she belongs to. In case of Parle-G, the purpose for buying the product variesfrom a person with a high post in a M.N.C. to a poor laborer. For the executiveemployee, he may or may not buy the product. He may buy a more expensive oran imported biscuit brand because he can afford it. Also he may buy it only to beone of the many snacks available to him. On the other hand, a poor laborer would buy a packet of Parle-G simply to satisfy his hunger. For him, it is notmatter of choice or luxury, but a necessity because it’s the easiest & thecheapest he can get.3 ) I n c o m e Income of a person decides its core expenditure segment. If a laborer earns afixed amount & if a biscuit like parleg which for sure ensures high level glucosecontent & immediate energy regained, he would defiantly opt to buy a parlebiscuit packet & not spend even that minimal amount of Rs.4 on anything else.But since Parle-G is a low-priced, value for money product a person’s incomedoes not really play a role in influencing the purchase of the product.Consumers of all income groups do buy the product.Psychological Factors1 ) M o t i v a t i o n For Parle-G the main & the basic motivation which pulls consumers towardsbuying it is simply hunger. This is what pulls the consumers towards the 19 purchase of Parle-G. Also, since biscuits are perceived as snacks, when aconsumer is drinking tea he or she is motivated to buy Parle-G at that time.2)Perception-

consumers believe Parle-G to be a good quality product which ischeap too. They also perceive it to be a great snack with tea For Parle hide & seek: Social factors1) Reference groups- parle hide & seek is targeted at the youth. So for this productconsumers are influenced by their friends and siblings.2) StatusParle hide & seek is a high priced product. So consumers in the higherincome groups would prefer to buy the product over other brands since it would bea matter of higher status.Personal factors1) Age- the advertisements of this product are such that people in the age groupfrom 15 to 28 are likely to be influenced to buy this product. But at the same time,since this product has been endorsed by a celebrity (Hrithik Roshan) and since it ismade of chocolate chips, children are also likely to be major consumers.2) Occupation- Major Consumers for Parle hide & seek are students.3) Income- since it is a high-priced product; the potential consumers for thisproduct are high income earners. A person who is earning more is more likely tobuy this product than a person who earns comparatively lower income.Psychological factorPerception-Consumers perceive this brand as ’tasty and crispy’ ...chocolate not very sugary.It is perceived as a brand leader in this segment and some firmly believe that thereis no competitor while mostly people regarded ’Britannia bourbon’ as its maincompetitor ; very few consumers know that ’good day- choco nuts’ is itscompetitor.. 20 Market Segmentation  Level of market segmentation Parle-G is consumed by people of all ages, from the rich to the poor, living in cities& in villages. While some have it for breakfast, for others it is a complete wholesomemeal. For some it's the best accompaniment for tea, while for some it's a way of getting charged whenever they are low on energy.Parle company practices mass marketing for Parle- G which appeals to masses. It isa product liked by everyone and does not cater only to a specific group or part of the whole market. Thus it is mass production, mass distribution and masspromotion of Parle- G for all buyers.However, Parle follows Niche marketing for Hide & Seek. It is a premium productsince it is priced at a high price and also with its chocolate flavor it is accepted bymost chocolate lovers. When hide & seek was first launched, there were no otherbiscuits of its kind in the market.

• Social class-Hide & Seek is meant for middle class and rich class families.However one can also say that Parle-G is consumed only by lower n middle classconsumers because rich class can afford more expensive biscuits. Behavioral segmentation: • Benefit sought-The benefit sought in Parle-G is mainly replenishing energy and forHide & Seek it is good taste.  Pattern of market segmentation Preference: ClusteredIf we divide the whole market on basisof their preferences foe sweetness andsaltiness in the biscuits then thepossible outcome would be that thepreferences are clustered near sometastes i.e. the consumers would not liketo have something really vague like50%salty, 25%sweet and25%creamy.That is why the preferences are clustered and not diffused wherein thepreferences have to be very extreme and vague.Parle as a company makes use of this clustered preferences and manufactures biscuitsfor each and every cluster. For e.g. Monaco for entirely salty biscuits and its latestproduct Krackjack-creamis for sweet and salty taste.  Target market strategies 22 P1P2P3

PARLE Company as a whole inculcates SELECTIVE MARKET SPECIALIZATIONstrategy.In the above diagram we can say blue colour represents the extent of Parle-G i.e. itis 1 product for all the 3 markets and the green colour is for Hide & Seek where it isa product only for 1 market and the orange is for Krackjack biscuits where theproduct is targeted for 2 markets.  Positioning strategy Parle-G is positioned in the minds of people as a value for price productand also as a low-priced product. Whereas hide & seek has tapped a newmarket.  Differentiation strategy For Parle-G the company has used channel and image differentiationtools. Parle-G by far has the most intensive distribution coverage ascompared to any other biscuit company in India. Also the name PARLEhas an image that generates respect and a belief of good quality in theminds of the buyers. Packing

As in all other biscuits, packing plays an important role in Parle-G too. Thebasic small packs are packed mechanically using automated machines andare sealed using the pollybag sealing machine. These small packs are thenmanually packed into small boxes and are sent through the conveyor belt tobe packed in large cartons. 160 packets are packed per minute . And in 23

one big box there are 160 Parle-G packets packed. Before, they used tobring the packaging material from outside the company but now it isproduced in the factory premises itself. For export purpose the packets havedifferent languages print on them depending upon the geographical location& demand of the people. Each factory has state-of-the-art machinery withautomatic printing & packaging facilities. THE STRENGTH OF THE BRAND Over the years, Parle has grown to become a multi-million US Dollarcompany. Many of the Parle products - biscuits or confectionaries, aremarket leaders in their category and have won acclaim at the MondeSelection, since 1971. Today, Parle enjoys a 40% share of the total biscuit market and a 15%share of the total confectionary market, in India. The Parle Biscuit brands,such as, Parle-G, Monaco and Krackjack and confectionery brands, such as,Melody, Poppins, Mangobite and Kismi, enjoy a strong imagery and appealamongst consumers.Be it a big city or a remote village of India, the Parle name symbolizesquality, health and great taste! And yet, we know that this reputation hasbeen built, by constantly innovating and catering to new tastes. This can beseen by the success of new brands, such as, Hide & Seek, or the single twist wrapping of Mango bite.In this way, by concentrating on consumer tastes and preferences andemphasizing Research & Development, the Parle brand grows from strengthto strength.