Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Title Page no
2.1 Customer 7
2.2 Competitor 8
2.3 Company 11
4.0 Objectives 14
7.0 Positioning 17
10.0 Appendix 23
11.0 Bibliography 26
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List of Illustration
Title Page no
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Marketing Plan
1. Executive Summery
M.M. Ispahani Ltd. has been operating its business in Bangladesh for a long time with an
admirable reputation. The area of business operation of the group is large as well as varied which
comprises ten separate companies ranging from tea to poultry.
With intent to provide high quality food products in competitive price, Ispahani Food was added
to the company line of this conglomerate. Ispahani food launched Marshal Chips in the year of
2000 considering the rapid popularity of fast food items.
Chips are popular snacks item in our country now a days. Within a short time this product has
ensured its position both in urban and rural area. The market size is fairly large and it is
expanding day by day.
Ispahani Chips started its journey with four varieties in its product category namely Prawn,
Vegetable, Chicken, and Potato. As time being the product was changed and modified
significantly to maximize the customer satisfaction. In 2003, there were three varieties in the
market (vegetable snacks potato cracker, and prawn). Though the initial response was good,
Marshal Chips could not maintain its image over the time and failed to create repeat customer.
There might be various reasons which caused the product failure to fulfill the expectation. The
reason may be problems in product positioning or it may be frequent changes in name and flavor,
or there might be lacking in strategies. But this is for sure that there was some lacking in
strategic planning in the initial level. Ispahani aired its TV commercials after three month of
product launching. It caused serious damaged in product positioning. Consumer was not aware
of this product at the time it was launched. So the product was not sold. Then again when
Ispahani went on advertise, it was very insufficient to catch the attention of the viewers. All these
things resulted in a failure of a prospective product.
In this circumstance, in our marketing plan we are thinking of launching new five brands. We
have analyzed the consumers, competitors and the company’s current conditions and compared it
with the competitors in this marketing plan. There we have mentioned about our objectives and
how we can achieve these objectives. In this marketing plan we have followed a strategy that is a
combination of differentiation and mass marketing strategies. We have also mentioned here that
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who are our customers and by which we can satisfy their needs and wants of chips. For this,
reason we have created price segmentation of different brands.
2. Situation analysis
2.1: Customers
Chips is an all age product:
Chips are generally taken for granted that chips are a kind of kid’s food. But it is found that
people of all age enjoy chips and a large market segment for chips lies on the age group of 10 to
20. To the college and varsity students, this product has huge popularity.
Consumer’s perception:
Regarding the previous brand of the snack item consumer in most of the cases was not familiar
that much with the brand. So there is no question about brand loyalty because even the brand
familiarity was not created as per it is expected for a brand to hold a substantial market share. So
the company must launch and continue TV commercials over the period.
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2.2: Competitors
Ispahani Chips has some hard competitors. After some days of launching Ispahani Chips, it was
in the leading stage of this market. But now its position in the market is very bad. Te main
competitors of Ispahani Chips are Bombay Sweets, Meridian, Ruchi, Sun, Pringles, and Lays.
Among these brands Bombay sweets have 4 different TV commercials for their four separate
brands. Meridian has different commercials for its brands of different flavor. Ruchi also has
different TV commercials for its different brands. Ruchi and Bombay sweets Potato Crackers
have been more visible in the Bangladeshi TV channel in recent days. Besides these,
commercials of Lays and Sun are frequently aired in the satellite TV channel.
Other than this Meridian was less visible in the electronic media for the recent days. But they
have done some exceptional marketing promotion which is posturing. They used colorful poster
in all over the country including railway station, bus terminal, and roadside wall to publicize
their latest offerings. Ruchi arranged an open air concert recently in Dhanmondi, Dhaka.
Observing these activities we can infer that competitors are thinking of going beyond of the
electronics media. Because, they have already used some publicizing media like these which are
unusual for this kind of product.
Ispahani has been continuously conducting studies and research time to time on this product
aiming to reveal the competitive position of the product. In 2001, Ispahani conducted a Post
Launch Monitor (PLM) survey and product test by a chartered firm (ORG-MARG QUEST
LIMITED). The study was carried out over 500 children aged between 6 to 15 years in urban
area of Dhaka and Chittagong. The study found that from the point of view of awareness and
usage Bombay Sweets Potato Crackers were highest among the respondents. Ispahani Marshal
Chips was in fifth position.
The other Brands standing from second to fourth position were respectively Meridian, Sun Real
potato, Lays.
Another research titled “Internship Report on Overall Market Position of Ispahani Marshal
Chips” was done to know the comparative market position of Ispahani Marshal Chips. It was
found from the research that Bombay and Meridian was the market leader in terms of bestselling
brand. These two brands are also ahead of Marshal Chips in terms of consumer’s brand
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preference.
Another research conducted recently taking sample size of three thousand retail outlet in Dhaka
city, surveying the retailer and consumer revealed that Marshal Chips stands fourth position in
the market behind the brand of Bombay, Meridian, and Ruchi.
Bombay sweets are the undoubted market leader of this product. They got the advantage of being
first mover. They pioneered chips in Bangladesh. Though Meridian is comparatively new, they
have come up with significant market share within a short time. Same thing happened even in
more pace in case of Ruchi. Continuous promotion and strategic implementation led them to this
extreme level of successes.
Chips are usually delivered to the distributor on advance payment basis and then from him door-
to-door delivery is made to the wholesaler and retailer. Commission on sales are given on sales
volume, in fact the distributors buy the products directly from the producers at a certain price,
and supply it to the retailers and wholesalers at a price that includes their commission. Usually
the manufactures with their bigger organization are at the control.
(1)Bombay Sweets: Bombay Sweets have five distributors in Dhaka. It is usually door-to-door
distributing. These distributors are sole distributors for their locality. The manufacturer delivers
the products on specific days of the week to their place and he distributes it to the retailers with
the help of his employees. The distributor plays here the main role. The manufacturer provides
no other extra support like financial or Human resources. Bombay Sweets is the pioneer in the
packet chips industry in Bangladesh. They launched Bombay Sweets Potato Crackers in 1985. At
that time there was no other competitors for packet chips. Through their widespread network
they have made the products available in all over the country. Gradually the market has been
expanded and now there are as long as more than eighth competitors in the market. There are
more than twenty brands in the market with some international competitors. Besides packet chips
there is a huge market of homemade chips. Though they are market leader of chips industry they
are not direct competitors of Ispahani chips.
(2)Meridian: There are five distributors of Meridian in Dhaka who reaches the retailer while the
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sales office of the manufacturer delivers the products to the wholesalers. The commission is
nearly six percent on sales. No other facilities are admissible to them.
(3)Ispahani: Marketing of Ispahani Snacks is carried out by the major help from tea internal
division. For Ispahani Snacks there are exclusively some ASO with mechanized vehicle. Beside
this every depot has at least one rickshaw van for selling Ispahani Snacks and all other ASO’s.
The people who sell tea are also carried Snacks to retailers.
(4)Lays: Lays is the product of India. Now a day, it is so much popular to the people. The price
of Lays is comparatively high but its quality and taste is outstanding. The people who are the
wholesalers of other chips are the sellers of Lays in our country. They distribute Lays to the
retailers.
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Ruchi chicken flavor 8.4 10(25g)
Table: 1
To the retailer Bombay is the most profit earning brand. Sun, Lays and Meridian placed
respectively second, third and fourth position. And Ispahani is at the fifth place. Since Bombay
Sweets sells most, So Bombay is the most profitable brand to them.
2.3: Company
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Ispahani in Now a Day:
M.M. Ispahani Ltd. is completely professional outfit. The organizational strength comes from a
dedicated workforce. The team has some of the best planners, architects, engineers, financial
experts and marketing professionals. Each area of work is departmentalized on a purely
functional basis and each directed to achieve qualitative superiority.
The Ispahani Group is a very large & old company comprising over 10 separate companies
engaged in various business activities including –
Tea
Travels
Securities
Poultry
Foods
Media
Real Estate
Textile
Jute
Shipping
The group has introduced its – venture in the food industry in 2000. It mated with various types
of chips. The brand is called Ispahani Marshal Chips. Now this division is operating under the
support of tea division Ispahani Food Ltd. is the latest addition to Ispahani group. Under the food
division snacks food item are being introduced. Now a day’s chip is the most popular snacks
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item. With the increasing demand of fast food, the demand of chips increased, as the part of this
fast food. Chips market in Bangladesh is growing day by day and the market is much more
potential. For the demand of time Ispahani Chips launched five types of chips on 22nd April in
2000. The plant covered approximately 25000sq. ft with high hygienic standard. The plant is
situated in Pahartali, Chittagong. The plant is well equipped with state of the art specialized
processing machines and equipment, valued around half million USD. The machine is Originate
from USA, Australia, Japan, and Malaysia. Pellets and flavors are imported; the tea division
handles the procurement. In the factory it is processed into final products and packed untouched
by hand. Marketing of the Marshall Snacks are carried out by tea internal division nationwide
strong distribution channel. They also prepare TV advertisement and take other promotional
activities to establish this new product in the market.
Manager
Jr. Assistant
Production
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Tech. Asst. (2)
Tech. Asst (8) Administrative Accounts Officer
Officer
Helper (1)
Accounts Asst. Vat-Clerk
Figure: 1
4. Objectives
We have a defined mission that goes a long way in explaining what we are and how pursue our
business. The objectives of Ispahani chips are:
5. Marketing Strategy
As this time ispahani chips is coming back with a great hope we have to maintain some strategy
to grave the market. To make the product acceptable and also to increase its acceptability we
have to follow some techniques. These can be-
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selling the product with the low price than others.
sampling in different places like in schools, colleges and also in other market places.
We will follow differentiation and mass marketing strategy in a combined way. Because-
2. Mass marketing: We want to apply mass marketing theory. We are creating various flavors
chips by concerning not only children but also people of all ages. So that, we pricing our
products in different categories based on peoples need and want.
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6. Target Market
Our target market in Bangladesh:
Chips is a kind of mouthwatering food. This food was introduced for the first time in our country
in the decade of eighty’s. Initially the market was very small. But in course of time the size of
the market has been expanded at a significant rate. Now there is a widespread market of chips in
Bangladesh. The demand is so high that despite of the existence of a number of local
manufacturers, chips are also coming from other countries. Though the common belief is that
chips is a child food but the reality is people of all age have chips frequently. Chips can be easily
found in the luxurious shopping mall in the city as well as in the grocery shop in a remote village
of the country. So it’s a huge market of chips in Bangladesh.
From upper class to lower class, people of all strata of the society have demand for this food. In
general, people of middle class to upper class are the major consumer of this product. Though
now a day’s lower income group of the society, even a rickshaw puller or day labor also buys
chips either for themselves or for their wards. A major portion of Kids under 10years of age want
chips because of the inside gift item they receive with the chips pack. Sometimes they take the
purchase decision but most of the times decision is taken by their guardians. But their brand
preference play role here.
We have consulted with 50 people of different ages to identify the presentence of different ages
consumers of chips.
Table: 2
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Age group of consumer of chips
4% 16%
Below 10
36% 10 to 20
21 to 30
Above 30
44%
Figure: 2
7. Positioning
In all its activities, we are giving stress on
8. Marketing Mix
8.1: Product:
As the market condition of our existing brands is not good and our relative market share and
market growth rate is low, that’s why we want to stop the production of our existing products.
Than we want to introduce our five new brands with the market. Our new five brands are-
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Ispahani Pure snax potato crackers (Salsa)
8.2: Price:
Regarding pricing the researchers’ view is that there is flexibility in the market to price the
product. Chips could be priced between ranges of tk.7 to tk.10 provided that its packaging and
product quality are ensured. Color of packet is very important here. In our marketing plan, we
have shown the reasonable and competing price of our new five brands.
Pure snax potato crackers (Hot and spice) 6(13) 10(25) 20(55)
Pure snax potato crackers (Tandure chicken) 12(25) 20(50)
Table: 3
8.3: Place:
The present distribution channel of Ispahani Marshal Chips is not suitable for launching a new brand.
Because within this channel the major focus is given on only to tea product. In most of the cases it is the
same distributor who takes care of both the product. But to minimize risk they emphasize on tea product.
Even the sales force is somewhat reluctant to bargain for chips item in comparing to tea. Sometimes, they
only visit and offer chips to those retailers who keep tea item. It hinders the chips item to be established
as a separate brand.
By observing the distribution channel of the competitors we can comment that most effective distribution
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channel for chips item is two step distribution channel like one shown in the bellow:
Figure:3-Distribution Channel
8.4: Promotion:
There are many promotional activities those we could take. But we only take the following
promotional activities to increase our sales-
sampling in different places like in schools, colleges and also in other market places.
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Different gift items for different age group:
35
30
25
Above 30
20 21 to 30
Age
15 10 to 20
Below 10
10
5
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Gift item
Figure: 4
To the consumer of below 10 age group, Pokemon is most preferred gift item. And for the10 to 20 and 20
to 30 age group this is sauces. Among the various gift item sauces was named highest number of times.
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Chocolate and Pokemon were respectively second and third highest chosen gift item. T-shirt was chosen
by 11% of the consumer and peoples of the age group of 10 to 20 preferred most this item. Consumer of
below 10 age group did not prefer sauces. This is because they do not usually bother much about the taste,
flavor or food value out of things they have rather they care much about entertaining item like pokemon
card, display or tattoo etc.
8.5: Process:
The production process of Ispahani chips is mentioned here:
( Pellets)
Temperature
Hopper
Oil observation
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Conveyer
(Mixer machine)
Chips packet (Packing
machine)
(Single pack)
Dozen & Gross pack
Floor Stock
Delivery
Figure: 5
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10. Appendix
Mr. /Miss,
Assalamu alaikum……
As a part of our marketing plan, we are doing a survey on Chips Market of Bangladesh. We need some
information regarding various aspects of some popular brand of Chips. We request you to co-operate us
by answering some questions to make the research successful. We assure you that all your answers will be
kept confidential and used only for academic purpose.
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Q.1 Which one is your favorite chips brand?
Q.2 Which attributes of the following do you considers most when you purchase a chips?
Q.3 What types of gift item do you prefer most with chips?
Q.4 Which information source played major role to chose your favorite brand?
a) Below 10 b) 10 to 20 c) 20 to 30 d) Above 30
Mr. /Miss,
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Assalamu alaikum……
As a part of our marketing plan, we are doing a survey on Chips Market of Bangladesh. We need some
information regarding various aspects of some popular brand of Chips. We request you to co-operate us
by answering some questions to make the research successful. We assure you that all your answers will be
kept confidential and used only for academic purpose.
1. Which Chips do you receive most from the distributor or sales people? Please mention the name
2. Which brand / brands does the customer want most from you? (Record the name as the order he
says)
_____________________________
4. What kind of incentive/benefits do you receive from the manufacturer of the brand mentioned in
Q.1? (Record separately for incentives of each of the brands)
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-
………………………………….
i) Kurkure j) Lays
11. Bibliography
a) Internet source:
http://www. wikipedia.org
http://www.google.com
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b) People/Organization:
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