Marketing Fundae
Changing Habits: Finding a New Recipe for Success in India's Food Markets
Published : February 24, 2011 in India Knowledge@Wharton
It may not reach the levels of the Pepsi vs. Coke "Cola Wars" of the 1980s, but the signs of a major skirmish in the making are clearly visible in India's food sector. The instant noodles market in
India, which has long been dominated by Swiss giant Nestle with its brand Maggi, has been seeing a flurry of activity with new entrants stocking the shelves in recent months. Be it
GlaxoSmithKline's Horlicks Foodles, Hindustan Unilever's Knorr
Soupy Noodles, or ITC's Sunfeast Yippee, each is out to grab a share of the consumer's palate and wallet.
Devendra Chawla, business head for private brands at the Future
Group, one of India largest retailers, puts it succinctly: "The instant noodles market [in India] is set to grow from Rs. 1,300 crore
(US$288 million) at present to around at least Rs. 3,000-3,500 crore (US$666 million to US$776 million) by 2015 and therefore all the big FMCG [fast moving consumer goods] players have their eyes set on it." With producers spending far more money on the category than they are earning from it, "marketers can safely assume that the noodle wars have begun,"
Chawla notes. He should know. Tasty Treat, a private label from the Future Group, is one of the contenders in this space.
Instant noodles have been around for over half a century on the global menu card. They are believed to have been invented by Momofuku Ando, the founder of Nissin Food Products in 1958 in Japan. Packaged under the brand name Chikin Ramen, they were priced around six times that of traditional Japanese noodles and were considered a luxury item. In India, they were made popular by Nestle, which introduced its product here under the brand name "Maggi" in 1984.
Maggi Noodles came with a tantalizing promise -- ready to eat in just two minutes. The combination of convenience and taste proved to be potent. Over the
Published : February 24, 2011 in India Knowledge@Wharton
It may not reach the levels of the Pepsi vs. Coke "Cola Wars" of the 1980s, but the signs of a major skirmish in the making are clearly visible in India's food sector. The instant noodles market in
India, which has long been dominated by Swiss giant Nestle with its brand Maggi, has been seeing a flurry of activity with new entrants stocking the shelves in recent months. Be it
GlaxoSmithKline's Horlicks Foodles, Hindustan Unilever's Knorr
Soupy Noodles, or ITC's Sunfeast Yippee, each is out to grab a share of the consumer's palate and wallet.
Devendra Chawla, business head for private brands at the Future
Group, one of India largest retailers, puts it succinctly: "The instant noodles market [in India] is set to grow from Rs. 1,300 crore
(US$288 million) at present to around at least Rs. 3,000-3,500 crore (US$666 million to US$776 million) by 2015 and therefore all the big FMCG [fast moving consumer goods] players have their eyes set on it." With producers spending far more money on the category than they are earning from it, "marketers can safely assume that the noodle wars have begun,"
Chawla notes. He should know. Tasty Treat, a private label from the Future Group, is one of the contenders in this space.
Instant noodles have been around for over half a century on the global menu card. They are believed to have been invented by Momofuku Ando, the founder of Nissin Food Products in 1958 in Japan. Packaged under the brand name Chikin Ramen, they were priced around six times that of traditional Japanese noodles and were considered a luxury item. In India, they were made popular by Nestle, which introduced its product here under the brand name "Maggi" in 1984.
Maggi Noodles came with a tantalizing promise -- ready to eat in just two minutes. The combination of convenience and taste proved to be potent. Over the