A STUDY ON CONSUMER PREFERENCES FOR MTR READY TO EAT FOODS

Submitted by, Jagannathan M Vimaladhithan R Kaviin R AbhinashPriyadarshee Hariharaprasath K R Vinupradeep V 11MBA0012 11MBA0037 11MBA0020 11MBA0031 11MBA0010 11MBA0042

CONTENTS
ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

LITERATURE REVIEW
DATA ANALYSIS . . . FACTORS INFLUENCING MTR-RTE FOOD PRODUCTS FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS CONCLUSION

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

ABSTRACT

A Business can be successful for longer periods only if it satisfies exactly what the consumer needs. Thus for any kind of product, it becomes important to study the consumer preferences at regular intervals. This study aims at identifying the consumer preferences and tastes in Tamil Nadu for MTR Ready to Eat Foods. The research work was done through the collection of data through questionnaire and by data analysis & interpretation. Based on research, some conclusions and suggestions are made to make MTR Foods a better player amongst others.

INTRODUCTION
The days where gone when people ate food slowly with joy and satisfaction. The present day people are on a rat race where nobody has time to sit and eat slowly due to highly competitive environment. So, foods like canned foods, convenience foods, fast foods, frozen foods, dried foods, preserved foods, etc. have got a huge market to satisfy the time short human beings. Also, the modern techno generation of India has been greatly influenced by western culture. Further, the liberalisation, globalisation and privatisation have created more jobs with huge pay packages which created a large potential buying consumers category. Those corporate citizens have created a huge market for Ready to Eat foods. Also, India is a country having more youngsters comprising of students and employed. These students who are staying away from home act as a potential consumers for RTE foods.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

To study the consumer preferences for MTR Ready to Eat Foods To create a top mind awareness about MTR Ready to Eat Foods

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

A detailed survey of consumers was carried out in Vellore to find out their preferences for MTR Ready to Eat Foods.Vellore is the 6th largest city in tamilnadu in terms of population and area,after chennai,coimbatore,madurai,trichi and salem whose (city) population was 185,895 according to the 2011 census. The details of the methodology are stated below: TYPE OF RESEARCH Descriptive Research RESEARCH QUESTION What are the consumer preferences for MTR Ready to Eat Foods

SAMPLING TECHNIQUE Non-probabilistic Convenience Sampling

SAMPLE SIZE 125 SCALING TECHNIQUES Questionnaire contains open ended questions, multiple choices along with semantic and likert scales SAMPLING AREAS Vellore PRIMARY DATA Responses through Questionnaires RESEARCH TOOLS Simple Percentage method

LITERATURE REVIEW

1 2 3 4 5

Local food: understanding consumer motivations in innovative retail formats Segmenting by consumer time shortage by Jean C. Darian and Judy Cohen A Study of determinants impacting consumers food choice with reference to the fast food consumption in India Researching tastes: layers of analysis Customer perceptions of factory outlet stores versus traditional department stores.

DATA ANALYSIS
Sample profile The sample profile of 125 respondents is summarised in Table 1. There are more male respondents in the survey. The majority of the respondents are less than 25 years of age. Furthermore, the majority of the respondents had come from students community who are either staying alone or living with their friends. Additionally, more than half of the respondents do not earn income.

Preference for MTR-Ready-to-Eat food products:

45% out of 125 respondents prefer side dishes for time saving in the preparation of side dishes for chappati, roti & dosa etc. Also, they dont like to spend too much time in preparing side dishes during peak hours. 43% out of 125 respondents who preferred main course were from students staying alone or with friends. They had tried most of the main course dishes than home makers and employed. 3/4th of the respondents who preferred side dishes were from home makers & students for their main food items like dosa, chappati, roti etc. Home makers preferred side dishes for serving tasty and variety food items for their children & husband, which usually they get in hotels & restaurants. Students preferred side dishes as it was easy to prepare main food items than side dishes. 84% out of 125 respondents had tried RTE breakfast food items from MTR. Only 16% out of 125 respondents preferred breakfast as they didnt like to have ready to eat breakfast food items.

Preference for Main course dishes among students, employed & home makers:

 Preference for Breakfast dishes among students, employed & home makers:

 Preference for Side dishes (Gravies) among students, employed & home makers:

FACTORS INFLUENCING MTR-RTE FOOD PRODUCTS

Around 60.8% of the consumers prefers that on the trust of MTRs brand image. 67.2% of the consumers says that they prefer MTR- RTE food products take less time consumption for cooking. 75.2% of consumer says that they prefers MTR-RTE food products for taste. 65.6% of consumers says that MTR-RTE food products are easily available. Food products are chosen by the respondents based on certain factors such as nutritional contents, preservatives added, artificial flavours added and physical apperance of packaging. Consumer taste and preference for a particular food product will not remain constant as individuals preference depends on some psychological factors combined with cultural and social influences.

FINDINGS & SUGGESTIONS

MTR should concentrate more on side dishes than main course & breakfast dishes as most of them (from our sample) tried and left them. Possible reasons are, Also, most of them dont like to have breakfast & rice items in the form of RTE (Ready-to-eat) food products during morning and lunch time. Mainly, people prefer side dishes for taste & variety, which they usually get in hotels & restaurants. Many of them, especially home makers & employed give more importance to their health, which prevents them from using main course & breakfast RTE dishes regularly in their daily food habits.

 About 89% of consumers are aware about Ready To Eat food products on this survey. About 49.6% of the consumers find MTR-RTE food products are not healthy as it was manufactured at some days or weeks ago and even in some cases it was month ago. MTR should conduct a detail demand survey in each cities to know about their consumers requirements and should get feedback about their product, service etc. These things will make them to maintain the existing consumers and also make them to buy RTE food products at regular times

CONCLUSION

Giving more promotions on RTE food products especially side dishes to induce consumers to prefer them more in their food consumption. Ensuring the freshness of MTR RTE food products by setting up plants nearer to metropolitan, cosmopolitan and others big cities and delivering RTE food products daily or at least on weekly basis will encourage consumers to go for them regularly in a week.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

Some of the respondents refused to fill the questionnaires. The responses may vary as some people did not want to come up with real answers. The people were busy in their own work so they might not have given actual responses. Small sample size.