MARKET RESEARCH

NAMKEEN MARKET IN INDIA

Table of contents 1. | | Title | | 2. | | Introduction | | 3. | | Namkeen market | | | 3.1. | Key players/ Brands | | | 3.2. | Market share | | | 3.3. | Sub category/ variety | | 4. | | Price, SKU & Packaging | | 5. | | Concept of Namkeen market | | | 5.1. | Market size | | | 5.2. | Market type | | | 5.3. | Market segment | | 6. | | Positioning | | 7. | | Trends | | 8. | | Campaign | | 9. | | References | |

TITLE To study Namkeen market in India

INTRODUCTION

The country of India is the 2nd largest food producer in the world. With a continuous and rapid growth, this industry is most likely to double itself in the coming 10 years. From time to time, the country involves different kinds of new technologies related to food processing, which are updated on regular intervals as well so as to meet the modern requirement of the citizens of India. Starting from vegetarian to non-vegetarian food, milk to milk products, junk to health food,Namkeen, soft drinks to alcoholic beverages, the country manufactures all kinds of food products. Some of the most prominent sub-divisions of Indian food industry are soft drink bottling, fishing, confectionery manufacturing, aqua-culture, poultry and meat processing, grain-milling, alcoholic beverages, fast-food manufacturing, ready-to-eat cereals processing etc.

Initially Namkeen in India was usually made at home but with the increasing number of companies coming up with cheap and good quality salted snacks the home made namkeens were replaced by packaged ones available in markets and shops. Since Namkeens form an integral part of the evening snacks of Indians they are constitute an important part of the Indian packaged food market. India is home to numerous top namkeen brands like Kurkure, cheese balls and Bhujia. |
Namkeen or salted snacks are a part of the snacks consumed by Indians. Since Indians are known worldwide for their tasty tangy and spicy food habits the snacks industry in India is huge is no surprise. The Namkeen market in India is magnanimous which consists of both the organized and the unorganized sectors. The unorganized Namkeen market consists of homemade and loose salty snacks generally sold in small Kiranas. The branded or the organized Namkeen segment in India is increasing virtually by the day.

NAMKEEN Market

Key Players
Namkeen is an evening snack item consumed in almost every Indian household. It is a mass product and is available in almost every retail outlet or corner shop. The Namkeen market in India used to be a much unorganized and mostly home-made. However, with the advent of packaged snack foods, it became a huge organized market. The unorganized market consists of home-made namkeen, local kirana stores, halwais etc. With the increased penetration of packaged food industry and availability of cheap and good quality namkeen snacks, the organized sector came into existence. The key players in the market include Haldiram’s, Bikano, PepsiCo Lehar, SM Foods etc. Market Share
The Namkeen market can be categorized into two broad segments – Home-made or local retailers (kirana stores, halwais etc), which is largely unorganized, and the packaged branded namkeen snacks, including some key players and regional players, which is organized. The unorganized market holds around 60% market share. The market share of branded Namkeen is about 40%, of which around 40% market is captured by Haldiram’s. Thus,the organized market is mostly dominated by Haldiram’s Namkeen. It is followed by PepsiCo Lehar with a share of 10% in the market. The rest 50% is followed by other players including regional and small scale industries. The success of these key players lies in the fact that they have a wide distribution network which reaches every corner shop.

Product Sub Categories
The Namkeen comes in a wide range of product flavours and mix of around a thousand varieties. Some of the common Namkeen snacks include Bikaner Bhujia, Potato Bhujia, Kashmiri Mixture, Cornflake Mixture, Navratan Mixture, Papri Mixture, Badam Lachha, Aloo Lachha, Moong Dal, Khatta Meetha, Natkhat Nimbu, Bhel Puri, Boondi, Dal Moth etc.

New Launches
The organized sector is flooded with new launches every other month. Namkeen snack is an experimental mixture of range of salty ingredients, which might please one’s taste buds or displease other’s. Thus, only potential products are launched in the market. However, the penetration is so huge that new launches are frequent.

PRICE & PACKAGING Flavor | Haldiram | Lehar | Bikano | Aloo bhujia180-200 gm | 38 | 32 | 37 | Bikaneri bhujia180-200 gm | 38 | 32 | 37 | Sahi mix180-200 gm | 36 | 32 | 37 | Navratan mix180-200 gm | 77 | 32 | - | Moong dal180-200 gm | 42 | 32 | 45 | Channa dal180-200 gm | 36 | 27 | 37 | Khatta meetha180-200 gm | 37 | 32 | 37 | Cracker peanuts180-200 gm | 36 | 27 | 37 | Roasted peanuts180-200 gm | 36 | 27 | 37 | Panchratan200 gm | 63 | - | - | Punjabi tadka180-200 gm | 40 | - | - | Bhel puri200 gm | 40 | - | - |

* Rates are dynamic * Most of the packing available in 200, 400 gram pack. * More popular and common tastes are also available in family pack of 1 Kg. * In festival session different brands launch their attractive gift pack and provide offers. *
STOCK KEEPING UNIT (SKU)

SKU | Distributor | Stockist | Retailer | 35 gm | 5% | 10% | 28% | 80 gm | 5% | 10% | 22% | 200 gm | 4% | 8% | 20% | 400gm | 4% | 8% | 17% |

* The Margins would be different for different SKU’s. * The margins are different for different brands.

Concept of Namkeen market
Market size
Some 300 types of salty snacks are sold here and the overall snack product market is estimated at Rs.25000 crore. The branded Namkeen market (size: 1200 Crores) is 40% of the total market (size: 3000 Crores). The branded segment is increasing at the rate of 25% per annum whereas the entire market is increasing at the rate of 7%. In the past 2-3years the unbranded sector has witnessed a decline of 5% per annum. This is good news for the corporate sector, given that the past few years have seen a perceptible shift towards the branded sector. Major players are PepsiCo's PepsiCo Lehar-India and Haldiram. Haldiram is the only national player supplying in each of the28 states in India and had a turnover of Rs.492 crore(41.1% Market Share) followed by PepsiCo Lehar.

Market type Namkeen market in India has few players who are established all over the country whereas there are a large number of regional players in all cities and areas. It is a competitive market because there is very less price difference in the prices of the various brands and they do not reduce or increase their prices very frequently. The advertisements are mainly in the form of print media and not much is spent on ads because of lesser number of branded players. There has been a gradual shift among the consumers towards the branded Namkeens from the local ones.

Market segment The branded Namkeen producers target mainly the middle class and upper class. The lower class mostly depends on the local producers such as ‘halwais’ and other sweet shops where namkeen is available in open packets. The branded producers have however standardized their packages in terms of various sizes like 35gm, 80gm,200gm, 400gm or 1kg packets.

The 35gm pack is basically for the first time buyers and also the ones who will have it while traveling. Also use this size for promotion measures.
The 80gm pack is for the travelers and for people who can buy it as a substitute tochips and other eatables.
The 200gm pack is also for usage at home for smaller families and for those who consume less.
The 400gm pack is for the family, which serves for a long period of time.
The 1 Kg pack use for party or comes as a family pack.

POSITIONING:

As a food category it is growing day by day which captures the salty snake’s market .There Namkeen industry contains many brands. Main three to four brands which are Haldiram’s, Lehar, BiKano. Namkeen product needs three things which are taste, variation and quality. Urbanites consume namkeen 10 times more than that rural consumer. The branded salty snacks market (size: 1200 Crores ) is 40% of the total market (size:3000 Crores ). The branded segment is increasing at the rate of 25% per annum whereas the entire market is increasing at the rate of 7%. In the past 2-3years the unbranded sector has witnessed a decline of 5% . This is good news for the corporate sector, given that the past few years have seen a perceptible shift towards the branded sector at the cost of the unbranded segment. These brands are positioned at good level. Because Namkeen is a product which consumed in India in a huge amount. Initially there was no brand for namkeen but to maintain a standard. Market of Namkeen is dominated by a number of branded and unbranded . Because Namkeen market captures all types of customers and Customers are extremely loyal to the namkeen they consume. If we take brand Haldiram’s which contains various flavours like Aloo Bhujia , Plain Bhujia, Nimboo masala and so on .It is a very famous brand and it also capture middle class and upper middle class. And many customers which belong to lower class family are used to make purchase unbranded Namkeen. So, we thought about what would make these customers come to us? Initially housewives in India used to make Namkeen at home, but with changing times this is gradually fading away and people have started thinking that it is easier to buy Namkeen than make it at home. Thus, we came to the conclusion that “Ma ke haathon ka swaad, sehat ke saath”“The Goodness of home-made food, along with Health” This is our Unique Selling Proposition - Telling the Mothers themselves, that our Product can take care of your entire family, without a worry of degrading taste or health.

PREMIUM SEGMENT
Major players are PepsiCo's Lehar and Haldiram. Haldiram is the only national player supplying in each of the28 states in India and had a turnover of Rs.492 crore(41.1% Market Share) followed by Frito Lay, which had a turnover of Rs.300 crore(10% Market Share). This clearly shows the market dominance of Haldiram. There is no premium segment as per specifications. They set the reasonable price so that every kind of customer can purchase it. Middle class and upper middle class family are usually purchases the branded Namkeen. Only lower class family purchases the unbranded Namkeen.

FAILURES BRANDS
In Namkeen Market , there are some brands and regional brands . Some of them are positioned well. But some regional brands are get failed now because people are more brand oriented now and they like to purchase known brands namkeen. But some regional are still in market which are purchased by lower class family. Namkeen is a product which is based upon taste , quality and variation so existing branded and non-branded Namkeen contain all of it so they are still existing in today’s market and difficult for new entrants to make a position in that particular product.

MARKET TRENDS Retail sales grew faster in 2010, in current value terms, compared to 2009. Snacks enjoyed faster value growth as consumers slowly increased their spending on non-essential items, which had been cut back on during the previous year. So there has been an increase in the consumption of namkeen as snacks because it is the most favorite snack in Indian families taken with tea. Also there have been changes in the packaging of the namkeens such as making it more colorful, introduction of zip packs etc. which shows producers are trying to position their snacks as being tastier, good quality, healthier etc.
In the future, more products which are positioned as healthier snacks will emerge in the category. Some of these products like new namkeen mixtures will prove to be challenging to the existing types and brands as they claim to be healthier alternatives to standard salty snacks. With Indian consumers becoming more health conscious and more inquisitive about the ingredients in their food, salty snacks will witness an increase in products which are positioned as better for you and healthier snacks.

CAMPAIGN

The advertising for Namkeen is mostly done through outdoor advertising and print media. It is a mass product and hence most advertising is extensively based on outdoor locations such as Bus stops, Metro rail, Railway stations etc. Print advertisements are published in newspapers and magazines. Sales promotion is done at distributor and retailer’s end through various promotional schemes and offers. The shelf space occupied by a particular brand in a retail outlet also significantly affects the sales. So, positioning it with other segments on the shelf is well-thought-out during the campaign.