Current Target Market

Market targeting refers to evaluating and deciding from amongst the various alternatives,
which segment in the market can be satisfied best by the products of the company.
In the autumn of 2015, Maggi faced a big issue regarding its instant noodles market in India.
The food safety and drug administration of India claimed to have found MSG and lead
content in the Maggi noodles (17.2parts per million) and the rate was approximately over
1000 times from what Nestle India Ltd had claimed. This had a very negative effect on the
brand as the sales went down tremendously and also affected the brand image across the
country as 38,000 tonnes of Maggi packets were recalled which amounted to a direct loss of
450 crores to the company. Maggi brand incurred a loss after more than 3 decades of
successful operations in the country.
In June 2016, almost an year after the incident of Maggi ban, Nestle formulated a 3-year
strategy plan for the market and returned to the shelves on November re-capturing about 60%
of the market share.
The target market for Maggi during its pre and post ban period remains the same. Mostly
Maggi is marketed as a brand that positions itself and occupies a distinctive place in the
minds of the Target market. Maggi has positioned itself in the snacks category mainly
targeting the following segment of audience.
 Kids
 Youth
 Office Goers
 Both working and non-working woman sector
The different ad campaigns that were done by Maggi over the period of time can be a clear
example of the different segments they are trying to capture in the market. Advertising itself
as “2- Minute noodles” mainly aims to target youth and office goers that falls into the
category of “convenience savvy time misers” who would like to get something instant and
get over with it quickly.

Target age structure

0-14 years 15-64 years 65 and above

The above diagram clearly depicts the age structure of consumers in India. The age category
of 0-14 comprising of kids amounts to about 40% of the total population and the age category
15-64 years consisting mainly the youth and the working class amounts to almost 57% of the
total population. This is definitely the area of focus for Maggi in targeting their customers
and the market is huge and has a very high potential for an established brand like Maggi to
penetrate into the kids, youth and the working class also including women that are both
employed and not. For a segment that is expected to grow at a very high rate valued at
1438.04 million1 in 2017 and also expected to register a CAGR of 5.6% during the period of
2018-2023 , Maggi clearly identifies its target market among the customers and formulates
more ad campaigns and marketing strategies to capture the desired market.

1
https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/india-instant-noodles-market