PROJECT ON

RESEARCH

AND METHODOLOGY
OF MAGGI

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT OF

DEGREE OF MASTERS OF COMMERCE (M.COM) FROM THE
UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI

SUMBITTED BY
SHREERAJ HARIHARAN
M.COM PART-II (SEM-III)
ROLL NO 36
2014-2015

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF

PROF. DR C.V. HARI NARAYAN

LORD UNIVERSAL COLLEGE,

TOPIWALA MARG, OFF STATION ROAD, GOREGAON (WEST), MUMBAI, 400062

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DECLARATION

I MR SHREERAJ HARIHARAN student of LORD UNIVERSAL COLLEGE, M.com Part-I

I(SEM III) hereby declare that I have completed project on RESEARCH AND
METHODOLOGY OF MAGGI, in the academic year 2014-2015.This information is true
&original to best of my knowledge

Date:

2|P age

signature of student

Acknowledgement
With deep satisfaction and immense pleasure I am presenting this project report on
RESEARCH AND METHODOLOGY OF MAGGI partial requirements for the M.COM
course.
I would like to extend my sincere gratitude and appreciation to my project guide Prof. DR
C.V. HARI NARAYAN who assisted me into this project. It has indeed been a great
experience working under her guidance during the course of the project. I would like to thank
her for his valuable advice and support throughout this project.
And last but not the least I would like to thank all the Faculty Members, staff of the institute for
their help in making my project an unforgettable and great learning experience.

Date:

3|P age

signature of student

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION --------------------------------------------------------------------- 05
BRAND STORY------------------------------------------------------------------------- 07
VARIOUS PRODUCTS OF MAGGI----------------------------------------------- 08
TASTE AND PREFERENCE OF CONSUMER--------------------------------- 10
DEMOGRAPHY & PSYCHOGRAPHY OF CONSUMERS----------------- 13

MARKET SHARE-------------------------------------------------------------------- 15

SWOT ANALYSIS OF MAGGI BRAND---------------------------------------- 17

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY-------------------------------------------------- 19

QUESTIONNAIRE---------------------------------------------------------------------21

ANALYSIS OF QUESTIONNAIRE------------------------------------------------24
BIBLIOGRAPY-------------------------------------------------------------------------31

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INTRODUCTION TO MAGGI
Maggi
is
a
Nestl
HYPERLINK
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brand" brand of instant soups,
stocks, bouillon cubes, ketchups, sauces, seasonings and
instant noodles. The original company came into existence
in 1872 in Switzerland, when Julius Maggi took over his
father's mill. It quickly became a pioneer of industrial food
production, aiming at improving the nutritional intake of
worker families. It was the first to bring protein-rich legume
meal to the market, which was followed by ready-made soup
based on legume meal in 1886. In 1897, Julius Maggi
founded the company Maggi GmbH in the German town of
Singen where it is still established today.
Maggi Comes to India teething troubles Maggi noodles
was launched in India in the early1980s. Carlo M. Donati, the
present Chairman and Managing Director of Nestle India Ltd,
brought the instant noodle brand to India during his short
stint here in the early eighties. At that time, there was no
direct competition. The first competition came from the
ready-to- eat snack segment which included snacks like
samosas, biscuits or maybe peanuts, that were usually the
bought out type. The second competition came from the
homemade snacks like pakoras or sandwiches. So there
were no specific buy and make snack! Moreover both
competitors had certain drawbacks in comparison. Snacks
like samosas are usually bought out, and outside food is
generally considered unhygienic and unhealthy. The other
competitor, homemade snacks overcame both these
problems but had the disadvantage of extended preparation
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time at home. Maggi was positioned as the only hygienic

home made snack! Despite this, Nestl faced difficulties with
their sales after the initial phase. The reason being, the
positioning of the product with the wrong target group. Nestle
had positioned Maggi as a convenience food product aimed
at the target group of working women who hardly found any
time for cooking. Unfortunately this could not hold the
product for very long. In the course of many market
researches and surveys, the firm found that children were
the biggest consumers of Maggi noodles. Quickly they
repositioned it towards the kids segment with various tools of
sales promotion like colour pencils, sketch pens, fun books,
Maggi clubs which worked wonders for the brand.
Maggi was positioned as 2-minute noodles with a punch
line that said Fast to cook! Good to eat! And this gave the
implied understanding to the consumer that it was a
between meals snack. The company could have easily
positioned the product as a meal, either lunch or dinner. But,
it chose not to do so, because the Indian consumer mindset
did not accept anything other than rice or roti as a meal.
Hence trying to substitute it with noodles would have been
futile. The firm did not position it as a ready-to- eat meal
either, as the housewife prefers to make a meal for her kids
rather than buy it for them. And if she can make it in two
minutes with very little effort, then obviously its a hit with
her! Whats more, if kids also love the taste, the product is as
good as sold! So the 2-minute funda coupled with the
yummy taste worked!

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BRAND STORY
Launched in 5 flavors initially Masala, chicken, Capsicum,
sweet & sour, and Lasagna
Maggi had to fight hard to be accepted by Indian
consumers with their hard-to- change eating habits. The
packaged food market was very small at this time, Nestle
had to promote noodles as a concept, before it could
promote Maggi as a brand. It therefore devised a twopronged strategy to attract mothers on the convenience
plank and lure kids on the fun plank. Gradually, the market
for instant noodles began to grow. The company also
decided to focus on promotions to increase the brand
awareness. In the initial years, Nestle promotional activities
for Maggi included schemes offering gifts( such as toys and
utensils) in return for empty noodles pack.
According to analysits the focus on promotion turned out to
be the single largest factor responisible for Maggis rapid
acceptance. Nestle\s Managers utilized promotions as
measured to meet their sales target. Gradually, sales
promotion became a crutch for Maggi noodles sales. Later
many of the Maggis extensions also made considerable use
of promotional schemes. The focus of all Maggis extensions
was more on below the line activities rather than direct
communication. In addition to promotional activities, Maggi
associated itself with main stream television programme and
advertised heavily on kids programme and channels. After
its advertisements with taglines like mummy bhookh lagi
hai, bas do minute and fast to cook good to eat Maggis
popularity became highly attributed to its extremely high
appeal to children. As a result, Maggis annual growth
reportedly touched 15% during its initial years.
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VARIOUS PRODUCTS
The product mix of Maggi is divided into various categories
defined below. The company has launched various products
under each category as mentioned below
Noodles
Maggi 2-Minute Noodle ( Masala ,
Chicken, Curry and Tomato)

Maggi Dal Atta Noodles ( Sambhar taste)

Vegetable Atta Maggi Noodles
Maggi Rice Noodles (Lemon
Masala, Chilly Chow and Shahi
Pulao)

Maggi Cuppa mania (Masala yo, Chilli chow yo)

Sauces
Teekha masala
Tomoto chatpat
Imli khata mitha
Tomato ketchup
Hot and sweet
Tomato pudina
Ginger, Garlic & Coriander
Maggi Oriental Chilli Garlic
Ginger, Garlic & Coriander

Maggi Pichko
Soups Healthy
Chef Style
Cream Mushroom
Sweet Sour Tomato Noodles
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Tangy Tomato Vegetables

Home Style
Creamy Chicken
Mixed Vegetable
Rich Tomato
Chinese Style
Chinese Hot Sour Chicken
Chinese Sweet Corn Chicken
Chinese Sweet Corn Vegetables
Chinese Hot & Sour Vegetables

.Maggi soup sanjivni

o Amla
o Badam
o Spinach
o Dal
o Tomato

Maggi bhuna masala

o Bhuna masala for gravy dishes

o Bhuna masala for vegetable dal

Maggi magic cubes

Chicken
Vegetarian masala

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TASTE AND PREFERENCES OF

CONSUMERS
Health is the flavour of the season. Food companies in India
are growing aware of the increasingly changing consumption
trends and taste preferences among the Indian junta. No
surprises, but this is the reason more and more companies
are coming up (or are actually re-marketing) with products
that are healthy. Take for example Coke and Pepsi; both
have already started looking into the non-carbonated drinks
category section. Maggi first introduced in the market Maggi
Atta Noodles which it claimed was a healthy food as it was
made of wheat flour followed by soups.
Nestle India, in an effort to carry on with its trend of providing
the Indian consumers healthy food recently introduced a
range of Healthy Soups. The entire range consists of the
following; maggi tomato, mixed vegetable, tomato vegetable,
mushroom, chicken, sweet corn chicken and hot and sour
vegetable. The product is priced at Rs 25 for 70 grams.
Maggi became successful because it understood consumers
. The brand never wanted to change Indian consumer's
habit. It did not had ambitions about changing Indian's
breakfast or dinner preferences. What Maggi did was to
slowly attach itself to Indian consumer's need without
disruption.
Maggi was also closely watching consumer preferences.
When consumers wanted healthy food, Maggi launched Atta
Noodle variants that was healthy . More importantly this
move addressed the concerns of Homemakers. The brand
extended itself to multiple segment but without diluting the
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core brand equity.

Maggi over these years have made lot of mistakes. It made
mistakes because the brand was willing to experiment. More
importantly the brand learned from those mistakes and
corrected itself. Maggi also invested heavily in brand
building. The campaigns for one of Maggi's products were
always there in the media which kept the brand fresh in the
mind of the consumers. Maggi personifies the basic
principles of understanding consumers, innovating and
investing in the brand.
Maggi is one packaged food brand that has only seen its
popularity grow in the past many years and the secret to the
success is that instead of trying to change the food habits of
consumers, it has tried to align itself with local tastes and
preferences with the fast to cook and good to eat promise
To commemorate its successful journey through a quarter of
a century in the worlds largest consumer market, the brand,
last year, launched an innovative campaign inviting its
loyalists to share with it their Maggi stories and promised to
broadcast them to the world at large, thereby, making them
the superstars overnight. Along with television commercials,
which aired individual consumer stories of their lasting
memories of Maggi, the brand displayed pictures of these
loyal customers on the Maggi packs. Nestle also introduced
a website Meandmerimaggi.in for engaging with them.
The company also rewarded its consumers by adding to the
Maggi portfolio that hitherto had sauces and soups in various
flavours, a range of prepared dishes and cooking aids such
as Maggi Bhuna Masala and Maggi Pazzta. So far focussed
on urban consumers, the company also made a pitch for
rural consumers by launching Maggi Rasile Chow noodles at
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an inviting price of Rs4. Again, local tastes and recipes have

been at the core of all these marketing innovations.

Creating delight and happiness in everyday

meals is not just about providing tasty food.
It is about providing taste and health in a
convenient combination, says Shivani
Hegde, general manager, foods

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DEMOGRAPHY AND PSYCHOGRAPHY OF

CONSUMERS
Demography: Age and sex: Maggi products are consumed by
people of different age groups. They are consumed by
children, teenagers, adults as well as old people. They
are consumed by both genders male and female.

Income :- Maggi products are available at

reasonable prices. So they are consumed by the
lower, middle as well as the higher class.

Religion and nationality:- Maggi products are

famous and are consumed by people of all
religions and nationality.

Psychography:-

1)

Attitude:- Consumers of maggi have a positive

attitude towards the product which makes it the

leader in the market. Maggi dominates the market.

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Lifestyle: - Lifestyle determines the way of living of people. It

describes how a consumer leads his life. Maggi products are
consumed by all.

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MARKET SHARE
Maggi's Market Share in Ketchup Category
MARKET SHARE

MAGGI
OTHERS

market share of 45% which is a high percentage. It

dominates the market in the ketchup segment.

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Maggi's Market Share in Noodles Category

MARKET SHARE

MAGGI
OTHERS

Maggi has a market share of as high as 80% in the

noodles segment. It dominates the market. It is the
leader in this segment.

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SWOT ANALYSIS OF MAGGI BRAND

The SWOT analysis of Maggi brand clearly indicates the
strengths of Maggi as a Brand in Indian market. The Brand
was found to be a leader in its category of Noodles, with
strong customer loyalty. Intensive distribution of Maggi as a
Brand was seen in urban areas of the country. The major
threats of the brand as shown in the figure below indicates
that Maggi has made several attempts to revamp itself as a
Healthy Product but till date its perseverance towards the
tag line is low by the consumers. The brand is in the growth
stage of product life cycle with a strong inclination towards
the maturity stage.

STRENGTH
Market leader in their segment Strong brand
loyal consumer base Wide range of distribution
channel Product according to the need of Indian
consumer Innovative Product
WEAKNESS
Product is dependent on each other not so
much presence in rural market

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OPPORTUNITY
Increasing number of working youth Product
has been acceptable in youth
Category
Shift to rural market
Changing preference of consumer towards
Chinese food and fast food.
Can foray into other food markets with its strong
Brand name.
THREAT
Price war with competitors. Strong presence of
regional
Competitors
Consumers dont perceive it as a Healthy
Product

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

OBJECTIVES OF QUESTIONNAIRE
To understand the influence of Maggi as a brand on
consumers mind set.

Sources of Brand equity of Maggi like Brand awareness,

Brand image, Brand association, Brand recall.

To understand the Brand performance of Maggi

products.
To understand Brand Imagery, Brand Quality perceived by
customers, Brand credibility, consideration, superiority and
feelings.
To know the medium of media through which they became
aware of Maggi.

METHOLODOGY
The research will be carried out in the form of a survey. This
will include primary research in addition to secondary
research as stated below. The survey research method will
be descriptive research design. Each respondent will be
interviewed through a Questionnaire. The sample will be
selected by a simple random sampling method.
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The survey will address the following information area

INFORMATION AREAS:
The objective as spelt out can be elaborated into specific
information areas to be studied.
How do customers perceive Maggi as a stable brand,
their perception of noodles and how do they associate
themselves with Maggi?
Are the consumers aware of Maggi Brand or they
associate noodles with some other brand?
Which product from the entire basket of Maggi products
do the consumers consider as the best selling product
for Maggi and to which the consumers frequently buy?
Are the consumers willing to accept Maggi brand
extensions to some other products like chocolate, juices,
chips etc?

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QUESTIONNAIRE

Q 1) Are you a consumer of Maggi?

Yes

No

Q 2) What comes first in your mind when you hear the word Maggi ?
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5

Noodles
Fast food
Snacks
None of these

Q 3) what is the brand that comes to your mind when we say the
word noodles?
Maggi
Top Ramen
Surya Noodles
Anil Noodles
Q 4) Rank the following Maggi products w.r.t. frequency of purchase
with 1 being the
highest rank
RANK
Noodles
Ketchup
Soup
Pickles
Cubes
Q 5) With what products would you associate the
brand Maggi?
Ketchup
Noodles
Soup
Masala
Q 6) On a scale of 1 to 5 rate Maggi on the following
parameters
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_________
_________
_________
_________
_________

Taste
Variety/Flavours
Hygiene/Purity
Availability
Packaging (SKUs)

__________
__
__________
__
__________
__
__________
__
__________
__

Q 7) Rank the categories which Maggi should look in future in order

of your importance:
___________
Chocolates
__
___________
Salted Potato Chips
__
___________
Fruit Juices
__
Processed foods(Ready to use pastes,
__________
masalas)
__
___________
Others ( Please mention)
__

Q 8) How do you perceive Maggi products?

Good for health.
Ready to eat.
Junk food
Tasty / Fun eating

Q 9) Which Maggi products in noodles category do you

regularly buy? (Repositioning awareness)
Maggi masala
Maggi vegetable atta noodles
Maggi dal atta noodles
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 Maggi rice noodles mania

Others

Q 10) You came to know about Maggi from:

Newspapers
Radio
T.V advertisements
Word of mouth
Other source

Q 11) Do you remember any of the T.V. advertisements of Maggi

Tomato
Ketchup?
Yes No
Q 12) Do you perceive Maggi noodles as a healthy product?
Yes
No
Q 13) If No then your suggestions for improvement as a healthy
product?
_____________________________________
___________
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _
___________

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ANALYSIS OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE

Q 1) Are you a consumer of Maggi?
Yes

No

Analysis: The survey suggested that out of 20 consumers all

20 are consumers of maggi products. Maggi is quite famous
with the different types of consumers in the market. Our
survey took the sample of consumers in general.

Q 2) What comes first in your mind when you hear the word
Maggi ?

Noodles
Fast food
Snacks
None of these

Analysis: The survey suggested that 14 out of 20

consumers associated maggi with noodles. 3 for snacks
and masala each. People are familiar with maggi as a
brand for noodles in majority.

Q 3) what is the brand that comes to your mind when we say

the word noodles?
Maggi
Top Ramen
Surya Noodles
Anil Noodles

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Analysis: The survey suggested that Maggi is the most

popular brand with consumers of noodles. It suggests that
18 out of 20 consumers associate noodles with maggi.

Q 4) Rank the following Maggi products w.r.t. frequency of

purchase with 1 being the
highest rank
RANK
Noodles
Ketchup
Soup
Pickles
Cubes

_________
_________
_________
_________
_________

Analysis: Most of the consumers have ranked noodles as 1.

People purchase maggi noodles in majority. The frequency
of the purchase of maggi noodles is high.

Q 5) With what products would you associate the brand

Maggi?
Ketchup
Noodles
Soup
Masala

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Analysis: The survey suggested that 12 out of 20 people

associated the brand maggi with noodles. 6 consumers
associated it with masala. 2 consumers associate the brand
with soup and 1 with ketchup.
Q 6) On a scale of 1 to 5 rate Maggi on the following
parameters
Taste
____________
Variety/Flavours
____________
Hygiene/Purity
____________
Availability
____________
Packaging (SKUs)
____________
Analysis: The products of maggi have been rated well above
3 in the above parameters by most of the consumers.

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Q 7) Rank the categories which Maggi should look in future in order

of your importance :
Chocolates
_____________
Salted Potato Chips

_____________

Fruit Juices
Processed foods(Ready to use
pastes, masalas)

_____________

Others ( Please mention)

_____________

____________

Analysis: According to the survey, maggi should

look for salted potato chips in future as it is highly
demanded by the people in the market.

Q 8) How do you perceive Maggi products?

Good for health.
Ready to eat.
Junk food
Tasty / Fun eating
Analysis: The survey suggests that most of the
consumers perceive maggi products as being
good for health.

Q 9) Which Maggi products in noodles category do

you regularly buy? (Repositioning awareness)
Maggi masala
Maggi vegetable atta noodles
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 Maggi dal atta noodles

Maggi rice noodles mania
Others
Analysis: The survey suggested that most of the
consumers regularly buy maggi vegetable atta noodles
while a few of them preferred maggi masala noodles.

Q 10) You came to know about Maggi from:

Newspapers
Radio
T.V advertisements
Word of mouth
Other source

Analysis: The survey suggested that a majority of the

people came to know about maggi through television
advertisements. Maggi advertisements are quite famous
with the consumers.

Q 11) Do you remember any of the T.V. advertisements of

Maggi Tomato Ketchup?
Yes No
Analysis: The survey suggested that the advertisement of
maggi tomato ketchup is remembered by the consumers.
12 out of 20 consumers remember the advertisement of
tomato ketchup.

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Q 12) Do you perceive Maggi noodles as a healthy product?

Yes
No
Analysis: The survey suggested that majority of the
consumers perceive maggi noodles as a healthy product.
The survey suggests that 20 out of 20 consumers perceive
maggi noodles as a healthy product.

Q 13) If No then your suggestions for improvement as a

healthy product?
________________________________
________________
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __
_______________
Analysis: The survey suggests that 20 out of 20 consumers
perceive maggi noodles as a healthy product and need no
improvement as a healthy product.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
WWW.GOOGLE.COM
WIKIPEDIA
Nestl

www.maggi.in

SHREERAJ HARIHARAN
ROLL NO 36
M.COM PART- II
SEMESTER- III

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