The processed food industry is a huge employer round the globe. It employs nearl y 14 million people globally.

The pickle industry in India is a booming market. It has a turnover of nearly 1500 crore. The organized segment contributes a nomi nal 200 crore. This displays high level of fragmentation in the pickle industry and the dominance of local players over established players. The technology used in the industry can be a varied range due to procedures like canning, commercia l freezing and food preservation. The estimated cold storage capacity is around 19.5 metric tonnes and is mainly used for potatoes. About Nilon: Nilons Enterprises was set up five decades ago in 1962. It has a wide range of pr oducts including Pickles, papads, sauces, jams and vermicelli. Nilon is said to be the largest producer and marketer of pickles in the world. It is also the lar gest manufacturer of candied fruits in Asia. It has 6 manufacturing units across Maharashtra and North East. It has developed a network of 27 CSAs, 13 depots an d 3000 distributors. It has managed a brand presence across over 4 lac retail ou tlets. Nilon has tried to position itself as a healthy tasty pickle with zero trans fat . It strives to attract customers based on taste and wellness. 70% of the popula tion lives in the rural geographical region. With increase in the propensity to spend these consumers are also keeping a tab on the brands they consume. The br and has shown that its imperative to have a good creative execution of the marke ting of the brand. They have come out with advertisements to target the youth of urban and semi urban areas since they are the ones that will be migrating and h ence try to create brand loyalty. Nilon hasnt been able to penetrate the rural ma rket to that effect but it has mainly tried to position itself in urban, semi-ur ban areas and also concentrate on export especially the gulf considering the lar ge Diasporas of the Indian population there. The distribution of the rural marke t is still to achieve the number required to generate profitable revenue. The co mpany has decided on plans of achieving this by constructing manufacturing plant s in both north and south India. In India, according to articles, the taste of pickles changes every 30 km. This points out to the fact that India with its geo graphical vastness is a difficult place to segment according to the taste palett e. This makes it difficult to lure customers of a local region. This is because most of these customers have their pickles prepared at homes or by local manufac turers who are in sync with the local taste buds and preferences. They can affo rd to create specific products for the specific consumers they serve, unlike a l arge scale manufacturer who has to develop a product which might satiate everyones needs. The packaging has been designed in such a way that it describes the produ ct using images. This is particularly useful in the rural markets where people b uy the products based on how its perceived. The colourful packaging and reasonab le pricing can be a huge puller in this competitive market. The company should look at various factors for the promotion of products. The di stribution system should be improved as to have an impact on the local market on e needs to have its presence on the kirana stores shelves. For a large country li ke India its imperative that a food processing company manages its inventory wel l. For this it also has to manage the cold storage system to ensure that the raw materials are kept in proper condition. The company can look into providing it to third party distributers in rural markets as they would be a better judge of the local market. They should also look into manufacturing pickles in sachets w ith the appropriate pricing points to target the local rural segment. One of its major competitors Cavin Kare has come up with two variants in pickles. One each for the urban segment and the rural segment. The rural segment is in experimenta tion mode in one district in Tamil Nadu. This reiterates the fact that an FMCG w ith a solid distribution network like Cavinkare finds it difficult to distribute pickle, it becomes even more for the local smaller players. This is because of the change in taste based on geographical area. Thus, Nilons should look at more enterprising ways to advertise and increase their brand communication. They need to focus on advertising in local media and FM radio stations. They should also advertise appropriate food certifications to ensure that the product is shown as a wellness product too. The consistency in quality and standards need to be maint

ained or else can affect the brand equity of the organization. The process of pa cking pickles in sachets is not simple because the transportation of such a prod uct is very difficult. Also the quality of plastic, oil needs to be appropriatel y scrutinized. It should do a market survey of the geographical regions before d eciding to set up manufacturing plants and distribution systems as loyalty with respect to food is very high. People tend to prefer home-made pickles then ready made ones. A recent survey (Exploring Potential consumer markets- Prof Rahul Gos wami & Ms Ekta Juneja) depicts that the people tend to not buy branded pickles b ecause they prefer home-made ones. Nilons should take the rural markets seriously if they want to achieve the sales figures they aspire. The focus on urban and export markets make them miss out on a huge rural market which is difficult to enter but is hugely beneficial. The c ompany should devise strategies to ensure that this market share is attained.

References: 1) Assessment of Market Penetration of Processed and Packaged foods in Rural Ind ia Subendhu Panigrahi & Sushil Kumar 2) Exploring Potential consumer markets- Prof Rahul Goswami & Ms Ekta Juneja 3) Understanding rural market potential- Dr Devraj Badugu, Mr Shanti Swaroop Cha uhan 4) Way2Wealth Sector Coverage- April 15, 2008 5) http://marketingpractice.blogspot.in/2009/03/nilons-pickles-taste-that-linger s.html 6) http://www.rediff.com/money/2005/may/17spec1.htm 7) http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2003-09-25/news/27535854_1_cavin kare-pickles-c-k-ranganathan 8) http://www.nilons.com/about-us.php 9) http://business-standard.com/india/news/nilons-to-start-exporting-to-usa/4684 10/