MARKETING PLAN: Coco Treat (Coconut Milk Powder)

i
 Table of Contents
LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................................................................... iii
LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................................................................. iii
LIST OF ANNEXURES ........................................................................................................................................................ iii
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY..................................................................................................................................................... 1
SITUATION ANALYSIS....................................................................................................................................................... 2
Market need identification .................................................................................................................................................. 2
Market Demographics ......................................................................................................................................................... 2
Market Survey Result ......................................................................................................................................................... 3
Market Growth and Trends: ................................................................................................................................................ 4
Major players ...................................................................................................................................................................... 4
PRODUCT CHARACTERISITICS ....................................................................................................................................... 5
Value proposition ................................................................................................................................................................ 5
Characteristics ..................................................................................................................................................................... 5
ANALYSING ENVIRONMENT ........................................................................................................................................... 8
Macro environment ............................................................................................................................................................. 8
Swot Analysis ..................................................................................................................................................................... 8
ANANLYSING COMPETITION .......................................................................................................................................... 9
Analyzing Competition in Porter’s Five Force Framework ................................................................................................ 9
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR ................................................................................................................................................ 10
Identifying the consumer needs ........................................................................................................................................ 10
Consumer buying behaviour ............................................................................................................................................. 11
Factors affecting consumer behaviour .............................................................................................................................. 11
MARKET SEGMENTS........................................................................................................................................................ 12
Type of Segmentation and its Variables ........................................................................................................................... 13
DEMAND FORECATING ................................................................................................................................................... 14
TARGETING AND POSITIONING .................................................................................................................................... 16
Targeting ........................................................................................................................................................................... 16
Positioning ........................................................................................................................................................................ 16
BRANDING ......................................................................................................................................................................... 16
Brand elements.................................................................................................................................................................. 16
Kapferer’s Brand Identity Hexagon .................................................................................................................................. 17
 Point of parity ................................................................................................................................................................... 18
Point of differentiation ...................................................................................................................................................... 18
MARKETING MIX .............................................................................................................................................................. 19
Packaging .......................................................................................................................................................................... 19
Function ............................................................................................................................................................................ 19
Attraction .......................................................................................................................................................................... 19
Pricing ............................................................................................................................................................................... 20
Communication Mix ......................................................................................................................................................... 20
Distribution Channel ......................................................................................................................................................... 21
FINANCIAL ANALYSIS .................................................................................................................................................... 22
Sales Forecast.................................................................................................................................................................... 22
Cash flows and Breakeven analysis .................................................................................................................................. 22
Implementation ................................................................................................................................................................. 23
Evaluation and Control ..................................................................................................................................................... 24
.LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Survey result of People’s interest in the product

Figure 2: Health benefits of Coco Treat

Figure 3: The 5 product levels

Figure 4: SWOT Analysis of Coco Treat

Figure 5: Percentage of People Spending Above Urban Average on Processed Foods

Figure 6: Logo for Coco Treat

Figure 7: Brand Positioning Bullseye

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: The nutritional features of Coco Treat

Table 2: Competitors in the market

Table 3: Porters’s Five Force Model

Table 4: Consumer buying behaviour

Table 5: Demand Forecast for Gujarati households

Table 6: Demand Forecast for Keralite households

Table 7: Competitor pricing

Table 8: Coco Treat pricing

Table 9: Sales forecast

Table 10: BEP analysis

LIST OF ANNEXURES
Annexure 1: Market Survey Questionnaire for Coco Treat

Annexure 2: Front side of Coco Treat packet

Annexure 3: Backside of Coco Treat packet

iii
Annexure 4: Pamphlet for promotion of Coco Treat

Annexure 5: Perpetual Map for Coco Treat

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

With an increasing pace of life, particularly in urban centres of India people have become very
particular about the time they consume in cooking and hence they are not being able to enjoy the
traditional delicacies. As collected from the survey, it is being observed that to make a south Indian
dish at home it takes around 20-30 minutes only for preparing or extracting the coconut powder from
the dried coconut. This also becomes a soul reason why many of the families avoid preparing
traditional south Indian dishes as it consumes time. So here comes the Coco Treat which is rich in
taste and will also provide health when added to the food item prepared.

The coconut milk powder market is expected to grow steadily at a CAGR of 15.4%. One of the
primary drivers for this market is the rise in the awareness levels about the health benefits of coconut
milk powder among the consumers. Also, consumers are more inclined towards quality and taste of
the product. The product “Coco Treat”, thus developed is a healthy addition which is designed to
satisfy the needs of the quality and taste of the consumers.

Selected market segment in Anand, Vadodara and Ahmedabad consists of people of who belongs to
the top three categories of the MPCE and who can afford to spend for the processed foods. The
product will be launched in Anand, Ahmedabad and Vadodara. Major threat posed by external
environment is the current taste and preferences of people but opportunity lies in the fact that the
income and awareness level in Gujarat is high and hence more likelihood of change among people
according to the requirements. Main competitors in the market are Nestle, Cocomi, KPL Shudhi and
the fresh coconuts. Brand name: ‘Coco Treat’ communicates our objective of providing complete
quality, taste and health benefits to our consumers. Promotion using print media, television
advertisements and tickers would help to generate awareness and demand among people. Competitive
premium prices are kept because of the extra benefits sought by product. Social media would be used
for customer feedback which aims at improving our services for consumers. The product will achieve
its breakeven point right from the first year if the demand and sales forecast prove to be accurate.
Control mechanisms like monitoring of sales will be done to ensure that sales and profit targets are
met on time.

1
 SITUATION ANALYSIS

Market need identification

Many households of Gujarat have inclination towards the flavour of south Indian food. On surveying
we found that 72 % of people used coconut in their dishes. Women would hand grate the coconut and
extract its milk which is a time-consuming process, requiring about 20-30 minutes of their time. This
also hindered in their cooking and made them reluctant to cook south Indian dishes at home,
prompting them to buy it from outside. We identified that there is the need of a readymade coconut
milk powder that these women could use in their dishes and they would not have to go out and buy
unhealthy south Indian food from local vendors and instead they can cook healthy meal at home. It
was found that there is a need for coconut powder that has the texture and taste of original coconut
which gives the same natural flavour, but without putting in a lot of effort from these women.

In modern times the state of Gujarat has been urbanizing at a fast rate with GDP growing at 12.21%1
(as per 2011 census) with increasing purchasing power of people. This also compliments and
encourages them to opt for a product that gives them the benefit of taste and health and also saves
their time and effort, which is valued by most of the women.

Market Demographics
The market for Coco Treat consists of customers belonging to the following factors:

Geographies:

The target customers belong to urban areas of Anand, Vadodara and Ahmedabad in Gujarat.

Demographics:

Mostly the target users comprise of urban household females who belong to Upper middle class. With
their age ranging from late twenties to early forties.

Behaviour factors:

1
https://townplanning.gujarat.gov.in/urban-profile/gujarat-at-glance.aspx
 The buyers prefer a healthy affordable coconut milk powder that can be used to enrich the taste of the
meals prepared at home (sweet/ savoury) that is easy to use and saves them a lot of time from the old
conventional method of extracting milk powder from raw coconuts.

Market Survey Result

The market survey2 of 50 respondents (40 women) reflected that around 54% respondents were aware
about coconut milk powder. Of these around 73% women are extracting coconut milk powder from
raw coconut at home, spending huge amount of time on the process. On further probing it was found
that 73% of these would want to go for a readymade substitute that gives the same texture and flavor
as natural coconut milk, which shows a good potential for our product in the market.

Around 42% of the respondents were found to be interested in enriching their food with the flavor of
coconut to make it tastier for consumption, 46% were found to be aware about the health benefits of
coconut. Moreover, 68% of the respondents showed positive response on the usage of COCOTreat
on making them aware of the dietary benefits of the product.

Figure 1: Survey result of People’s interest in the product

The survey reflects the reality that these women want to make the everyday meals much tastier by
including a wide range of healthy mix like coconut flavour in their everyday cooking so that even the
kids enjoy their meals.

2
Refer to Survey Excel Sheet
 A study undertaken by Department of Commerce and Management Studies3, University of Calicut,
2005 reflects that around 38% of total coconut production in India is used as processed copra, of
which 40% is used in culinary activities and rest in toiletry and industrial activities.

Market Growth and Trends:

The market tends is in favour of Coco Treat.

The food processing sector is seen to be growing at the rate 4 of 20%, accounting for around 32% of
country’s total food market. This emerging high growth and high profit sector can be tapped to
generate good profit margins. As per data of the Coconut Development Board5 (CDB) the
productivity of coconuts in Gujarat is 9,328 nuts per ha as compared to 7,535 nuts per ha in Kerala.
Gujarat ranks6 7th in the country in terms of total coconut production (312.68 million nuts). With the
growing cultivation of coconuts in Gujarat the expectation is to see a much more involvement of
coconuts in Gujarati cuisines and people would are developing a taste for coconut flavour at a faster
rate.

Despite of high production and demand for coconut milk powder, India imports7 coconut milk powder
from Sri Lanka, Malaysia and United States (total worth $8388009). This can be helped up to certain
extent by introducing CocoTreat in the market, availing Indians the goodness coconut’s country-made
coconut milk powder which has been in the coastal areas of Gujarat.

Major players
KPL Shudhi coconut milk powder: It is one of the manufacturers from Kerala whose product is
available in Anand, this availability can be accounted to the fact that there are around 400 Keralite
families in Anand who prefer natural tasting coconut milk powder. Survey revealed that in a span of
one month around 20-25 packets of 100grams of it is sold in Anand through Kerala Store.

3
http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/33169/11/11_chapter%203.pdf

4
https://www.ibef.org/industry/indian-food-industry.aspx

5
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/rajkot/guj-pips-gods-own-country-in-coconut-
yield/articleshow/57397456.cms
6
http://coconutboard.nic.in/stat.htm

7
http://www.exportgenius.in/india-imports-data/coconut-milk-powder-import-data.php
 Homemade Coconut Milk: This is coconut milk available in market that acts as the closest substitute
for coconut milk powder. It’s liquid and has milky texture, this cannot be used in making many dishes
like chutney and sweets. It is available in 200ml tetra packs. On visiting the retail stores in Anand
(Big Bazaar, D mart), it was found that on weekdays the sale was around 5-6 while on weekends the
sale rose to around 10-15.

Premia Coconut Powder: This product has a powder texture and is sold mostly in variants of
200grams and 100 grams packets. It is available in D Mart in Anand.

Cocomi coconut milk powder: This organic product is available through online vendors as it is not
available in stores in Anand. It is imported8 in India from Sri Lanka.

Nestle Maggie Coconut milk powder: It is imported from Sri Lanka and is available in packets of
25grams, 100grams and 1Kg through online vendors. Also, it is occasionally sold by retailers like
Big Bazaar.

PRODUCT CHARACTERISITICS

Value proposition
Currently the market has very few brands that caters the need of readymade coconut milk powder.
Our product is not only a taste enhancer but also adds up to the nutritional value of the food with the
goodness of coconut. This product can be used for curries, soups, desserts, mock tails (popular Pina
Colada, just without the rum) etc.

Characteristics
The various characteristics of the product are:

Quality

Our product is made up by drying coconut milk cream. It is an active ingredient that is used in
different cuisines. Coconut milk powder offers multiple health benefits9 and is certainly the next big
thing in the food industry. It would be made from coconuts grown in the coastal regions of Gujarat

8
https://www.zauba.com/import-cocomi/hs-code-20081930-hs-code.html
9
https://food.ndtv.com/beauty/10-amazing-coconut-milk-benefits-for-hair-face-and-skin-1421580
 to preserve the maximum nutritional content of coconuts. The shelf life of this product would be at
least 12 months and has higher micro-biological stability than milk.

Product Benefits:

Figure 2: Health benefits of Coco Treat

Regulates
Heart
Increased Functioning
Body
Anti Bacterial, Fittness
Anti-viral
Benefit

Product Nutritional Features:

Table 1: The nutritional features of Coco Treat10

Calories 360 Sodium 520

mg
Total Fat 18 Potassium 0
g mg
Saturated 8g Total 27 g
Carbs
Polyunsaturated 0g Dietary 0g
Fiber

10
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/calories/nestl-maggi-coconut-milk-powder-508619871
 Monounsaturated 0g Sugars 6g
Trans 0g Protein 22 g
Cholesterol 70
mg
Vitamin A 1% Calcium 13%
Vitamin C 4% Iron 15%

Product Levels

Figure 3: The 5 product levels

Viands
Powder
Taste High Shelf Life

Texture

Health and nutrition

ANALYSING ENVIRONMENT

Macro environment
Political: Government has started prioritizing the food processing sector under the Gujarat Industrial
Policy 2015 which has opened up the scope for setting up food processing sector in Gujarat. Also, it
has launched a scheme named Mega Food Park which is a mechanism of connecting the agricultural
produce to the market with the help of farmers, retailers and processors.

Economic: The productivity of Gujarat stands out to b 9328 nuts per hectare which is a positive
direction for Coco Treat, as the procurement process can be done from the nearby areas of Gujarat.
Also, from the study it is found out that the disposable income of the urban population in Gujarat is
rising by 8.2%. As per our demand estimation, we have a positive picture for Coco Treat. Also, the
cities (Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Anand) targeted belong to SEC A, B-1 and C respectively which
implies they have high purchasing power for buying Coco Treat.

Socio-cultural: From our survey, it is been observed that 72% of the people surveyed are aware of
the Coconut Milk and other coconut products but they are unaware of the presence of the coconut
milk powder. So, if we cater their needs by providing them the right quality and taste they can turn
out to be our potential buyers.

Technology: The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises has launched the National
Manufacturing Competitiveness Programme (NMCP) to improve the competitiveness of the MSME
sector. The initiatives under the NMCP aim at increasing productivity, upgrading technology and
conserving energy in the manufacturing process, as well as expanding domestic and global market
share of the Indian MSME products.

Environment: From our survey, we have also been able to calculate the consumption of coconut milk
powder for a Gujarati household and Keralite households; it came to be around 600 grams and 1
kilograms of coconut milk powder annually for the respective households.

Legal: This implies that our consumers must be well informed what our product that is Coco Treat is
offering. So our packaging must follow all the labeling procedures so that correct information reaches
our consumers.

SWOT Analysis
After having analyzed the market characteristics, competition, product characteristics, and the environment,
we arrive at the following SWOT Analysis:
Figure 4: SWOT Analysis of Coco Treat
ANANLYSING COMPETITION
In the past years, the coconut powder segment is growing at a CAGR rate of 15.4% and this has led to entry
of many brands in this segment.

Table 2: Competitors in the market

Name of the competitors

Nestle Maggi Coconut
Milk Powder
Cocomi Coconut Milk
Powder
KPL Shudhi Coconut Milk
Powder
Dabur Homemade
Coconut Milk
Chaokoh Coconut Milk

Besides the brands available in the market, Coco Treat will also face competition from the natural
coconuts sold in the market.

Analyzing Competition in Porter’s Five Force Framework

Table 3: Porters’s Five Force Model
 Forces Implications
Threat of New Entrants With growing and lucrative health
product industry, new players may be
attracted to this market and launch
similar products. Some consumers may
also copy our product after reverse
engineering.
Bargaining power of suppliers The suppliers of raw material may hike
price or stop supply, which is a
constant source of threat. The suppliers
may also take idea of our product and
start producing themselves.
Bargaining Power of Buyers The price sensitivity amongst buyers
may not allow us to raise the price or
may switch to other products whose
prices are low irrespective of health
benefits provided by our product.
Threat of Substitutes Innovation has to happen, and new
products such products will also pose a
constant threat.
Industry Competition We will face direct competition from
Nestle, Cocomi, Dabur and the other
local players. Also, the farmers
growing coconuts are our competition.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

Identifying the consumer needs

With the product offering the consumer wants to fulfil some or the other needs which he might speak
about upfront or not. By identifying these needs, the product can be offered in the manner where the
needs are fulfilled. For our product these are the various needs that are identified:

Stated need: Coconut milk powder

Real need: It should be good in taste

Unstated need: It should be able to save my time

Delight need: Willing to pay a premium price for great product which will provide health benefits too

Secret need: It should exhibit higher economic status of the buyer.

Consumer buying behaviour

The product offers great taste of the fresh coconut milk to the consumer. This does not require the
high involvement from the side of customer. The product does not offer high significant differences
between the various brands that are available in the market. Thus, the consumer buying behaviour is
habitual buying behaviour for our product.

Table 4: Consumer buying behaviour

High Low involvement

involvement
Significant Complex buying Variety seeking
differences between behaviour behaviour
brands
Few differences Dissonance Habitual buying
between brands reducing behaviour
behaviour.

Factors affecting consumer behaviour

Cultural aspects
 Coconut consumption: Our target market is in the regular habit of consuming coconut in some form
or the other. People in our target market are fond of coconut taste as revealed in the primary survey.

Uses for beautification: From the response collected, people were aware about the coconut milk and
its beauty uses. By providing similar to natural coconut milk, the time of the consumers would be
saved in the extraction of coconut milk.

Health Awareness: Around 65% of the respondents mentioned that they are concerned about health
benefits of the food while purchasing any product. Our product will offer both the taste and the health
benefits to the consumer.

Social aspects

From the primary survey results, 90% ladies in the house do engage in meeting other homemakers
and discussing the various new recipes and products they have tried in their kitchens. Also, they
engage in watching recipes online using various new products.

Personal aspects

Price Range: The consumers are willing to pay the price similar to the leading players in the market,
but expect a better quality thabn the existing products.

Taste preference: According to the data collected from the survey the customers currently are not
satisfied with the current products available in the market as it does not provide the required taste and
texture.

MARKET SEGMENTS
As seen from figure 5, the top three divisions of MPCE11 category have the capability to spend a
significant amount of money on consumption of processed foods and beverages.

Figure 5: Percentage of People Spending Above Urban Average on Processed Foods

11
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/monthly-per-capita-expenditure-(MPCE)
 Source: ‘Nutraceuticals: Critical Supplement for Building a Healthy India’, Ernst & Young and
FICCI, 2009

Analysing figure 2, we find that 23% of the total Indian population resides in urban areas. Further,
7% of the total population (which resides in urban areas) incurs MPCE above INR 92 on processed
foods. This implies that nearly 22.5%12 of the urban population from the urban areas of Ahmedabad,
Anand and Vadodara is a potential market for processed foods.

Type of Segmentation and its Variables

Segmentation is done on the basis of Multi attributes of Segmentation which includes geographical
and demographical segmentation. Variables used for segmenting are:

Region

As per census 201113, the total urban population of India is 28%. A survey conducted by coconut
development board has revealed coconut milk powder is acceptable in both coconut and non-coconut
producing states in India.

Income

The process and technology used in making coconut milk powder is costly and hence our product is
a premium product. To sell a premium product in the market, income level becomes an important
factor to consider.

Household

12
Calculation in the excel sheet
13
http://censusindia.gov.in/Census_Data_2001/India_at_glance/rural.aspx
 Our product is catering the household needs. Family as a whole would be eating dishes made with
the help of our product. The female of the household is the driving factor while considering the
grocery basket on a household. SHE-factor plays an important in deciding the household budget. To
make Coco Treat an important product for the basket, we have chosen household as a variable to in
evaluating market segment.

DEMAND FORECASTING
The total population of India is 1.324 billion and out of that the urban population stands out to be
31.16% that counts to be around 0.418 billion (418 million). As given in Figure 2, it is being observed
that the top three percentages1 of urban population have sufficient disposable income who can afford
to spend for processed foods. Now, the total population comes out to be 92.6 million who have the
ability to spend above average for the processed food. Thus we have the estimate of 92.6 million of
the Indian population who can afford to spend their income for the processed foods.

Now coming to the target demand for Coco Treat, we have calculated the percentage1 about how we
will be approaching for choosing the target demand. From our calculations2, it has arrived at around
22.5%. So, 22.5% of the urban population residing in Anand, Ahmedabad and Vadodara respectively
has the ability to spend for the processed food items. The same has been shown in the table below.

Table 5: Demand Forecast for Gujarati households

City Anand Baroda Ahmedabad Total Population

Urban Population 734016 2390388 7226899 10351303
 %Population who 22.50% 165153.6 537837.3 1626052.275 2329043.175
can spend on
processed foods
Total Number of 4.7( 35139.0638 114433.5 345968.5691 495541.1011
Households Average
household
size1)
% Who gave 81%
positive reply for
our product
% Who will be loyal 40% 14055.6255 45773.39 138387.4277 198216.4404
to buy our product

We have calculated the target demand for Keralite households in Anand, Ahmedabad and Vadodara.

Table 6: Demand Forecast for Keralite households

Total
City Ahmedabad Vadodara Anand
population
Urban Population 7226899 2390388 734016 10351303

Average
Houshold size of 4.7
Keralite family

Factor 0.00288 20833 6887 2115 29835 29835

Number of 6345
4430 1465 450
housholds
Total demand 6345
TARGETING AND POSITIONING

Targeting
From the five patterns of target market selection, we are focusing on product specialisation. As we
are doing Multi Attribute segmentation strategy, our product can be sold multiple segments because
of various characteristics of our product.

Based on the variables selected for segmentation, target region considered are Vadodara, Anand and
Ahmedabad in Gujarat. According to the secondary data, we found that the purchasing power of
Vadodara, Anand and Ahmedabad reflects that they have the capabilities of spending on premium
products. Hence are the region selected for our product Coco Treat. Female are the ones who decides
the grocery bought in the house. As our aim is to bring Coco Treat in the kitchen shelf of the
household, “SHE” becomes an important factor to be considered while segmenting on the basis of
household. As the cost of production is high due to technology used we are targeting SEC class A,
B1 and C. As their purchasing power is high, they are more willing to try premium products.

Positioning
The image of the product would be designed to occupy a distinct place in the minds of our target
customers. There are some small and big competitors in the market, but what is lacking in the market
is awareness about the coconut milk powder and it is benefits. We will start the positioning of the
market by creating awareness amongst the consumers. Our target would be to create awareness about
coconut milk powder and imprint in the minds of people that coconut milk powder is equivalent to
CocoTreat. Thus we'll play with product differentiation strategy. Single product with various benefits
and usages will our unique selling point.

BRANDING
Branding has been done keeping in mind the benefits the product provides to its consumers.

Brand elements
Name: Coco Treat is combination of 2 words, Coconut and Treat. The name signifies the coconut
experience which the product is going to provide. The name is short and easy to recognize and
remember

Logo: The logo contains typical coconut tree which is acting as T of Treat and is inside a circle which
is O of the word Coco. Overall the logo surrounds around basic ingredient of product that is coconut.
 Figure 6: Logo for Coco Treat

Colour: The green-blue colour portrays that the consumer would feel refreshed. The vibrant colour
scheme will help the customers retain and recall the product easily. Also, the black written name with
blue-green colour-scheme lends a premium image to the product.

Tagline: Tagline Minuscules of Wonder reflects the wonder and taste that the product’s fine and
coarse particle which create a sense of happiness when added to the dishes.

Kapferer’s Brand Identity Hexagon

Physique- The external feature or physique of the product will be reflected by the logo, color and
packet design.

Personality- The personality of the product will be represented by look of the packet which
symbolises refreshing and lively personality

Relationship- The relationship will be of mother and children; it depicts the nature of the mother who
wants to ensure that her children get the right taste and health from the food they are consuming.

Culture- The product will emphasize on Indian culture as most of the dishes where our product will
be used will be traditional Indian dishes.

Reflection- As the consumers of the product would be a taste seeking person who wants authentic
taste of coconut in his dishes.

Self-image- Coco treat has image of being solution of getting both health and taste at the same time.
It is nurturing and caring.
 Figure 7: Brand Positioning Bullseye

The Brand Positioning Bullseye aids in positioning of a brand. Following diagram shows the Brand
mantra, POD, POP, substantiates, value, personality, character and visual identity of the product. Also
the customer target, their stated needs and take away is mentioned.

Point of parity
The main point of parity is coconut as a main ingredient. Our product also provides the same health
benefits as our competitors. It is mainly used to enhance the taste and texture of the gravy in dishes
(both vegetarian and non-vegetarian), in sweets and chutneys.

Point of differentiation
The main point of differentiation is the addition of natural preservatives in the coconut milk powder.
Also, at present the coconut milk powder available in the market is either coarse that is in the form
 of dried coconut powder14 or fine coconut milk powder15. Our product offers the mixture of both
coarse and fine particles which enhance taste and also adds texture to the gravy of the dishes.

MARKETING MIX

Packaging

Function
The material that will be used will be Polyethylene terephthalate. PETE provides a good barrier to
gases (oxygen and carbon dioxgide) and moisture. It also has good resistance to heat, mineral oils,
solvents, and acids. It is adequate gas barrier for retention of carbonation, light weight, and shatter
resistance. The packaging plastic will have good strength, ductility, stiffness, and hardness. 16

Attraction
The material will help us access easy printability which will be catchy to the customer. The package17
will contain the following:

 Logo
 Vegetarian mark
 Weight of the pack
 Expiry date
 Price
 FSSAI certification
 Nutritional composition which will help in facilitating the purchase decision.
 Bar code
 Ingredients
 Name of the dishes that can be prepared using coconut milk
 A link to the site where there will be description of those recipes plus additional recopies.
 Best before 12 months from manufacturing.

14
D Mart dried coconut powder

15
KPL Shudhi Coconut Milk powder in Kerala store, Anand

16
URL: http://www.ift.org/knowledge-center/read-ift-publications/science-reports/scientific-status-summaries/food-packaging.aspx
17
Annexure
 Nutritional information

Pricing
Our product substitutes are already available in the market. These substitutes are close substitutes
with not much difference between our product and their product. The strategy we will follow to decide
our price will be going rate pricing strategy. Our main competitors in the market are Maggie and
KPL. The price offerings of these two products are:

Table 7: Competitor pricing

KPL does not meet the required expectations of the product. Maggie is an established brand in the
market. For these reasons we choose to set our price at Rs. 95 for 100g, Rs. 49 for 50g, Rs. 25 for
25g.

Table 8: Coco Treat pricing

Communication Mix
Communication is a very important tool to reach out to our customers. It is required to create
awareness, to build brand of our product. Since our product is new the market, we will use mass
communication techniques like advertisements, Sales promotion and Online and Social Media.

Pamphlets in Newspapers: The chosen newspapers are Times of India and Gujarat Samachar.
According to Indian Readership Survey (2011), Gujarat Samachar is the No. 1 daily newspaper in
Gujarat while Times of India ranks 4th in Gujarat. We have assumed the same trend in our target
market. The rationale behind choosing Times of India is the English Newspaper preference of
working professional in the city. Thus targeting the middle and upper middle class people. We aim at
reaching as many as potential customer. We will distribute pamphlets along these two newspaper
Promotion: We are planning to offer small 10gms packets for free trial purpose. Every packet would
have one small recipe print on it and there would be a link which provides more recipes. Also a contest
would be organised for initial months asking customers to provide the recipes of the dishes where
they use CocoTreat. The best of three recipes would win goodie bags and these recipes would be
included in our recipes links which is printed on our products.

Online and Social Media marketing: This method is one of the best way to reach the most people in
least effort and money. Various online platform like Facebook, Instagram and twitter will be used for
social media promotions. We will create our Facebook page and Instagram page and use Facebook
advertisement facilities. This would be very useful for pre-launch promotional strategies. This
platform is also easier and beneficial to get customer feedbacks hence helping us to evaluate our
product after the launch.

Distribution Channel
Channel Strategy: Our channel strategy is to use selective distribution strategy and marketing our
product through selective departmental stores and organized retailers. Since, our target population
belongs to relatively higher income group, selling through organized retailers and superstores is
chosen.

Distribution: We will use a two level channel distribution strategy to ensure product availability.
Since we are new to this business we have a lack of experience in distribution of product. In the initial
years, we will depend on distributors to make our product available at retail outlets. The distributors
will be given a 5% margin of the selling price whereas the retailer will be given 10%.

Distributer
Manufacturer Retailer (10%) Consumer
(5%)

Organized retailers: Our survey shows that maximum purchase of consumer products by families
above a particular income level is through organized retailers and big departmental stores as these
provide a ‘one stop shop solution’ to the people. There are about 4 organized retailers like Big Bazar
and D-mart and 30 Departmental stores in Anand which are frequently visited for consumer goods
purchase. During subsequent years of our business, the focus is on Ahmedabad and Vadodara also.
There are about 19 organized retailers in Vadodara and 32 in Ahmedabad while number of
departmental stores is approx. 44 and 65 respectively.
 FINANCIAL ANALYSIS

Sales Forecast
We have selected 10% and 20% respectively for Gujarati and Keralite households from our total
demand estimation. The table below also shows the difference in number of Gujarati and Keralite
families targeted for our product.

Table 9: Sales forecast

Gujarati Families (10% of the total 19821.64503 households

demand estimation)
Price
25gms * 4 times annually 79286.58 Rs. 25 Rs. 1982165

50gms * 6 times annually 118929.9 Rs. 49 Rs. 5827564

100gms * 2 times annually 39643.29 Rs. 95 Rs. 3766113

Revenue Rs. 11575841

Keralite Families (20% of the total
demand estimation from the Keralite
families in Anand, Ahmedabad and
Vadodara)
1269.212766 households

1269.21*10 times annually 12692 Rs. 95 Rs. 1205752

Total Revenue (from Gujarati and Rs. 12781593
Keralite families)

We have taken 10% for Gujarati families because they consume or use coconut in their dishes
occasionally and we have taken 20% for the Keralite families because they are the regular consumer
of coconut as they prefer to use coconut flavor for every dish they prepare and consume.

Cash flows and Breakeven analysis

Table 10: BEP analysis

Particulars Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5

Sales Revenue 11576048 12733653 14007018 15407720 16948492
Total Variable Cost 5087673 5596440 6156084 6771693 7448862
Contribution 6488375 7137212 7850934 8636027 9499630
Total FC 1899200 1951120 2008232 2071055 2140161
Profit 4589175 5186092 5842702 6564972 7359469
Profit Volume Ratio 56.05% 56.05% 56.05% 56.05% 56.05%
BEP (in Rs) 3388403 3481035 3582930 3695014 3818306
25 gm 564846.8 580288.5 597274.4 615958.8 636511.7
50 gm 1694202 1740517 1791465 1847507 1909153
100 gm 1118173 1148741 1182367 1219355 1260041
BEP in QTY
25 gm 22593.87 23211.54 23890.97 24638.35 25460.47
50 gm 34575.54 35520.76 36560.51 37704.22 38962.31
100 gm 11770.24 12092.02 12445.97 12835.31 13263.59

Implementation
Pre-Launch Phase: This phase requires reaching out to our customers as far as possible and creating
awareness about our product. Thus, this phase would be promotion driven. We’ll utilize the
communication mix to the fullest. Pamphlets would be distributed along with newspaper once in a
week for three months. This would also include recipes where the customers can use Coco Treat.

Product Launch Phase: The main focus of this phase would be easy availability in the market. For
this our product will be available in all the retailer stores especially Kerala store. The reason of focus
more on Kerala store is that they are already aware of coconut milk powder and are using some of
our competitors, but they are not satisfied using them. Also we are offering free 10 grams sample in
retailer store under sales promotion for people to try our product. We would like to focus on our point
of differentiation and USP to enter the market.

Post Launch Phase: This phase would be aimed on reinforcing the choice of the product by floating
the success of the brand through occasional social media promotion. Word-of-mouth would be the
major source of information for the new buyers. The recipes competition would play a major role in
binding the customers.
Evaluation and Control
Even if we adopt full proof techniques while establishing a new product, its success is never assured.
There would be some gap between the expected and actual benefits of our product. Feedback from
various stakeholders should be used to reduce this gap. Also the customer satisfaction needs can be
identified using this feedback. We will be use social networking sites for it. Based on the feedback,
the R&D department can check the feasibility of the suggestions and can make changes if possible.

Control would be enforced through monitoring the revenue on a regular basis – monthly, quarterly,
and annually. The trends in buying behaviour can be gauged by partnering with the retailer stores,
which would not only help in understanding the type of customers consuming the product but also
their level of satisfaction. The views and recommendations of the retailers and the office canteen
operators would be a major source of knowing customer needs. The level of satisfaction could also
be measured by running online polls on the website and social networking sites. The comments on
such platforms could also be taken into account for better understanding of the consumer needs.
Annexure 1: Market Survey Questionnaire for Coco Treat

Name (Ms.,Mr.,Mrs.)
Sex (M/F)
Age (years)
Education
Occupation (Working, Housewife, Self
Employed)
If self made, how many employees they
employ
Designation (in organization)
Annual Income (approx.)
Place of residence
Diet (meals)
Consumer durables owned by the
family (Washing machine, Color TV,
Refrigerator, Car/Jeep/Van, AC,
PC/Laptop, two wheeler)

1. Have you heard about coconut powder?

2. In which do you prefer to use this savory or sweet?
3. Which dishes (savory)?
4. Which dishes (sweet)?
5. Do you prepare the grated coconut or extract milk from the coconut?
6. How much time does it take to do all the activities?
7. Do you prefer to buy it from market (Y/N)?
8. What is the age group in your house who prefers to use coconut flavor in food?
9. Are you aware of the health benefits of the coconut powder?
10. If yes, what are those?
11. Which is the brand you use to prefer for buying coconut powder?
12. If there is no brand in market, then from where would you like to have it or purchase from
where?

vi
13. What are the flavors that you like in your dishes?
14. If given an option, would you like to prefer using the coconut flavor in food?
15. If given an option, how many days in a week would you want to use it?
16. What do you use for thickening your curry (corn flour, flour or other stuff)?
17. If given an option to thicken the curry with coconut powder, would you use it (Y/N)?
18. Do you know about coconut milk?
19. Do you know about coconut milk powder?
20. If given an option, for using it as health drink, would you (Y/N)?
General questions (for general view):
1. From where do you purchase your grocery items (kirana shops, departmental store, and
online store)?
2. Do you purchase it on monthly basis?
3. How much quantity of such items do you use? (Masala powder and similar items)
4. Do you prefer to use it occasionally?
5. How much budget do you estimate for purchasing grocery items?
6. How do you go to buy those items (mode of travel)?
7. Do you prefer to have packed items?
8. Do you prefer to have processed food items?
9. Do you prefer to cook traditional foods?

Additional questions:

1. How many members are there in your family?

2. How much quantity do you cook per day?
3. How many times do you cook a day?
4. If given an option to use Coco Treat, will you prefer to use it?
5. Are you aware of any other product similar to it?
6. If yes, what are the brands that exist in the market?
7. Where have you seen it? (Departmental store, malls, kirana shops, online store)
8. Do you watch channels which telecast cookery shows?
9. Do you try out new recipes that are being aired there?
10. Do you share your recipes with your neighbors or friends?
11. Why will you buy this product?
12. What are the benefits are you seeking from this product?
Annexure 2: Front side of Coco Treat packet
Annexure 3: Backside of Coco Treat packet
Annexure 4: Pamphlet for promotion of Coco Treat
Annexure 5: Perpetual Map for Coco Treat