Project report on

Brand Equity of Havmor Ice Cream

in Indian Market

Marketing Management- I
(GROUP - 6)

Submitted by: Submitted to:

Puneet Kakkar (034) Dr. Arun Kaushik
Parate Abhishek (033)
Rahul Sardar (035)
Gagandeep Sarangal (016)
 Executive Summary

The following study is aimed at finding out the answers to some of the crucial questions about
the brand recognition, brand awareness, promotion strategies and an overall perception of
Havmor in a highly competitive segment of ice cream. Moreover, we have also looked into the
major competitions and challenges that Havmor is facing in the market. After critically
analysing all the problems faced by Havmor in the past and even in present scenario, we
devised a set of relevant questions for an online survey. This survey is the primary source for
our final recommendations.

The results of this study are quite interesting in a sense that they revealed a lot of important
information about Havmor and ice cream segment as a whole. We found out that the majority
of the people wants to try out new ice cream brand, but quality is their foremost preference.
Furthermore, Amul is the most recognized brand (almost three times more than Havmor) in
this segment, but the silver lining for Havmor is that they have decent brand awareness and
very low negative brand perception. In terms of their geographical segmentation, we figured
out that Havmor has strong presence in most of the western states consisting of Gujarat,
Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Goa, followed by Central and North India including Madhya
Pradesh, Delhi and Uttarakhand. In addition, Havmor is rated very high in terms of taste and
quality and has good word of mouth. But they lack significantly in terms of advertisement and
promotion.

After carefully studying all the results, we have come up with some of the potential strategies
that the company should adopt. Firstly, they need to invest more in mass marketing in order to
improve brand recognition and brand recall. Apart from that, they can also start some social
media campaigns to gain the attention of younger generation. Also, they need to highlight their
strengths of taste, quality and variety to the public. Since, their brand perception is highly
neutral, they can turn it into positive by being more receptive to customer expectations,
investing in CSR activities etc. In order to compete with other national players, they need to
constantly focus on quality and variety, even if it means a little price increase because our
survey suggest that even though considerable number of people are price conscious, they still
prefer quality over price. Market development in Southern India can be done by including
region specific flavours and offering some discounts.
 Background of the problem

Havmor Ice-Cream was established by an Indian engineer, Satish Chona in 1944 in Karachi,
Pakistan. After partition, he migrated to India and shifted his Havmor business to Ahmedabad,
Gujarat after carefully considering many potential cities. Despite initial struggles, the founder
didn’t give up and his hard ultimately paid off. Today, Havmor is spread over 14 cities and
provides over 160 varieties of flavours.

Though consumption of ice cream in India is relatively much lower than USA and China, but
as the disposable income of people is increasing with growing economy, potential of the growth
of ice cream market is also increasing and it is being projected to grow at 8.2% annually.
Improvement in various facilities like cold storage and transportation also adds to the growing
factor of Ice-Cream market. High product perishability of Ice-Cream has stopped regional
players to expand further across the country and Havmor is no exception.

There are multiple competitors in the Ice-Cream market like Amul, Vadilal, Mother Dairy,
Creambell and Kwality Walls, who have managed to lure a good customer base across the
country. Some of these brands like Kwality Walls and Creambell have managed to penetrate
market via their products like frozen desserts, made from vegetable oil.

Rising cost of the raw materials and increasing operating cost of Havmor Ice-Cream have also
played a major role in the brand being beaten by its major competitor in the market, Amul. The
brand has so far spread by the word of mouth and almost no advertising has also affected the
brand recognition amongst customers.

Currently, Havmor faces three major challenges:

1. Competition from local as well as national players with equal value proposition, which
explicitly means lower revenues and customer base.

2. Keeping the cost of their products comparable to the bigger brands, even though the cost
of raw material is rapidly increasing.

3. Determining the expansion as well as operational policies of the company after being
acquired by Lotte Confectionary.
 Proposed question of the study

We will focus on how aware people are about Havmor as a brand. An established Brand
Awareness is a crucial part of any product to excel in this competitive world. People should be
attracted to try the products whenever possible; such should be the Brand Awareness of any
quality brand.

We will also try to get the idea how well recognised Havmor is amongst the various layers of
customers from potential ones to loyal ones. Brand Recognition is something which gets
embedded in customer’s mind by mere signs, logos, taglines etc. It is very important for a
quality focused and premium brand to have an increasing recognition amongst people.

Havmor barely has any locus outside of Gujarat and Maharashtra. It is important to derive
certain strategies which can help to expand or establish Havmor in other parts of the country.
So far, it has not capitalized on its brand image and reputation, which can harm its future
prospects with the rising competition and newcomers in the market. It is important for a quality
focused brand like Havmor to move things up and expand its strata across the country.

Any takeover of a big brand is destined to bring changes. A big South Korean confectionary
name, Lotte taking over Havmor at more than 150 percent of its actual turnover is another such
example and we will be focusing exactly on that and the changes this move brings. It is obvious
that Lotte has entered this market with a specific vision of expanding Havmor across Pan-India.
Change of Managing Director suggests the same who held various responsibilities in renowned
Britannia in nearly two decades.

Competition is something one cannot ignore in this well connected world. The Ice-cream
market is no exception. There seems to be huge competition with brands like Amul, Mother
Diary, Vadilal, Kwality Walls etc not only having a strong customer base, but they are also
succeeding in expanding their brand in most parts of the country. With their prices being
relatively lower than Havmor can also be a huge challenge for Havmor to overcome. So, we
will also focus on the ways and strategies by which Havmor can compete with these other big
brands.
 Methods of research applied

About 215 individuals participated in the survey which include both quantitative and
qualitative questions. The questions were published in an online survey. Moreover, the link
was shared in the social media in order to get the response of the individuals. In this project
survey, we included general questions related to ice cream segment as a whole and then posed
some specific questions about our desired brand.

A structured questionnaire was used comprising fourteen questions: eleven questions were
based on quantitative measures which basically consists of demographic data, buying
behaviour, awareness, pricing, purchase behaviour of ice cream and three questions were based
on qualitative measures which consists of taste and quality, brand loyalty. The questionnaire
was administered personally and was filled by respondents in an online survey.

Methodology:

Primary objective: To find out the respondent’s attitude towards Havmor Ice-cream, brand
recall, brand awareness and presence.

Secondary objective: To study the potential growth of the ice cream segment, consumer
expectations from the segment and their priorities.

Research Instrument: Questionnaire is used for the purpose of data collection as the research
required.

Sample Size: The sample size taken for the survey purpose is of 215 people across different
states in India.

Sampling Technique: Non-Probability convenience and volunteer sampling is used in the

project report.

Note: This sampling method can’t be used to generalize the entire population. This is just a
small non- probabilistic sample, we used as a part of our academic understanding.
 Findings of the study

As it can be seen in the (Exhibit 1), the brand presence and awareness is mostly in the western
and northern states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Other
regions are mostly unaware of the Havmor. This shows their limited presence in India despite
being such an old brand. Further, the growing potential of ice cream segment can be easily
understood from (Exhibit 2) and (Exhibit 3), which shows that majority of individuals want to
try new ice cream brands and like to eat ice cream, not just during the summers but throughout
the year.

In the (Exhibit 4), it shows that Havmor is having poor advertisement strategy and lacks in
terms of presence and availability in most of the regions. But the good thing is that they are
rated decently in terms of quality and taste. Also, most of their advertisement is through
television and billboards (Exhibit 5).

In terms of brand perception (Exhibit 7), Havmor has pretty positive outlook in customers’
mind. But they need to turn their neutral perception into positive in order to sustain in the
market. The brand recall of Havmor is comparatively far less than the big national competitions
like Amul, Vadilal and other local players as shown in (Exhibit 6).

Understanding the core areas and core competency of the Havmor business helped us to
determine the SWOT analysis.

Strength: Weakness:
 Extensive Product Range  Less Advertisement
 Quality  Less Market share in rural areas
 Taste  Price Parity
 Positive customer perception

Opportunities: Threats:
 Expansion in Pan India  Rising cost of material
 Brand Awareness in Pan India  Competition
 Increase production due to new
installation of technology
 Enter Frozen Dessert market
 Recommendations for Management

Our study has clearly highlighted all the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for
Havmor Ice cream in India. Based on our above analysis, we would recommend certain
measures that the Havmor’s Management can take to improve their future prospects in the
Indian Market:

 Should start a mobile van facility to increase their brand visibility and awareness in the
potential markets.
 Invest more in mass marketing in order to improve brand recognition and brand recall.
 Start some social media campaigns to gain the attention of younger generation.
 Indulge in CSR activities to improve the perceived perception of the brand.
 Increase brand loyalty by being more receptive to the customer’s expectation (using
some feedback systems).
 Include region specific flavours for market development in potential states.
 Effectively use the well-established brand name of Lotte to improve their own brand
association.
 Diversify their products by offering frozen desserts too
 Should position themselves in mass-premium segment with constant focus on quality,
priced marginally higher than the competitors (can help in market penetration)
 Focus on tie-ups with restaurant and food chains in areas where they don’t have their
own signature eateries.

Conclusions
This study was able to find out the brand awareness, brand recall and brand perception of
Havmor among the customers of various states, through an online survey. After analysing the
data carefully, we identified the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of Havmor.
Based on this analysis, we recommended the steps that the company should take in order to
expand their business all over India, build better brand image, tackle the competitors and also
suggested about product diversification and promotional strategies.
 Appendices

Exhibit 1: State wise responses about brand awareness and Presence

Exhibit 2: Responses of consumers on trying new ice cream brands

Exhibit 3: Responses of consumers on frequency of ice cream consumption

How often do you eat Ice cream?

120
98
100

80

60 54
41
40
22
20

0
Rarely in Summers Frequently in Rarely throughout Frequently
Summers the year throughtout the
year

Exhibit 4: Responses of surveyed individuals on Havmor specific questions

Exhibit 5: Responses of surveyed individuals on Havmor’s Advertisement

 Exhibit 6: Responses of surveyed individuals on Brand Recall

Exhibit 7: Responses of surveyed individuals on Brand perception of Havmor