PARLE-G COMPANY

OVERVIEW:Parle Products has been India's largest manufacturer of biscuits and confectionery, for almost 80 years. Makers of the world's largest selling biscuit, Parle-G, and a host of other very popular brands, the Parle name symbolizes quality, nutrition and great taste. With a reach spanning even the remotest villages of India, the company has definitely come a very long way since its inception. Many of the Parle products - biscuits or confectioneries, are market leaders in their category and have won acclaim at the Monde Selection, since 1971. With a 40% share of the total biscuit market and a 15% share of the total confectionary market in India, Parle has grown to become a multi-million dollar company. While to consumers it's a beacon of faith and trust, competitors look upon Parle as an example of marketing brilliance.

HISTORY:In 1929 a small company by the name of Parle products emerged in British dominated India. The intent was to spread joy and cheer to children and adults alike, all over the country with its sweets and candies. The company knew that it wouldnt be an easy task, but they decided to take the brave step. A small factory was set up in the suburbs of Mumbai, to manufacture sweets and toffees. A decade later it was upgraded to manufacture biscuits as well. Since then, the Parle name has grown in all directions, won international fame and has been sweetening people's lives all over India and abroad. Apart from the factories in Mumbai and Bangalore Parle also has factories in Bahadurgarh in Haryana and Neemrana in Rajasthan, which are the largest biscuit and confectionery plants in the country. Additionally, Parle Products also has 7 manufacturing units and 51 manufacturing units on contract.

PARLE QUALITY:Hygiene is the precursor to every process at Parle. From husking the wheat and melting the sugar to delivering the final products to the supermarkets and store shelves nationwide, care is taken at every step to ensure the best product of long- lasting freshness. Every batch of biscuits and confectioneries are thoroughly checked by expert staff, using the most modern equipment hence ensuring the same perfect quality across the nation and abroad. Concentrating on consumer tastes and preferences, the Parle brand has grown from strength to strength ever since its inception. The factories at Bahadurgarh in Haryana and Neemrana in Rajasthan are the largest biscuit and confectionery plants in the country. The factory in Mumbai was the first to be set up, followed soon by the one in Bangalore, Karnataka. Parle Products also has 14 manufacturing units for biscuits and 5 manufacturing units for confectioneries, on contract.

PARLE CORE VALUES:An in-depth understanding of the Indian consumer psyche has helped Parle evolve a marketing philosophy that reflects the needs of the Indian masses. With products designed keeping both health 2

and taste in mind, Parle appeals to both health conscious mothers and fun loving kids. The great tradition of taste and nutrition is consistent in every pack on the store shelves, even today. The value-for-money positioning allows people from all classes and age groups to enjoy Parle products to the fullest. PARLE AWARDS:Parle products have been shining with the gold and silvers consistently at the Monde Selection ever since they were first entered in 1971. Monde Selection is an international institute for assessing the quality of foods and is currently the oldest and most representative organization in the field of selecting quality foods worldwide.

OVERVIEW OF BISCUIT INDUSTRY:-

Rural-urban penetration of Biscuit: Urban Market: 75% to 85% Rural Market: 50% to 65% Per capita consumption of Biscuits: INDIA 1.8 kg South East Asian Countries 2.5 kg to 5.5kg USA 7.5 kg 3

COMPETITORS OF PARLE-G:-

MARKET SEGMENTATION:LEVEL OF MARKET SEGMENTATION: Parle-G is consumed by people of all ages, from the rich to the poor, living in cities & in villages. While some have it for breakfast, for others it is a complete wholesome meal. For some it's the best accompaniment for tea, while for some it's a way of getting charged whenever they are low on energy. Parle Company practices mass marketing for Parle-G which appeals to masses. It is a product liked by everyone and does not cater only to a specific group or part of the whole market. Thus it is mass production, mass distribution and mass promotion of Parle-G for all buyers. GEOGRAPHIC SEGMENTATION: Parle-G is consumed by people staying in urban, semi urban and rural areas. People staying in the semi-urban & rural area are more using Parle G than people from urban area because of its price and people living in those areas prefer more quality in less cost. Parle-G is the largest selling biscuit in the world. It has a 70% market share in India in the glucose biscuit category followed by Britannia, Tiger (17-18%) and ITC's Sunfeast (8-9%). The brand is estimated to be worth over Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion), and contributes more than 50 per cent of the company's turnover DEMOGRAPHIC SEGMENTATION: The factors whose intensity differs from person to person are together termed as demographic segmentation. They are as follows: 1) Age:

Parle-g is consumed maximum by the kids in the age group of 5-10 years i.e. the growing age group. Kids, who have formed the habit of having Parle-G in their early stages of life, continue this practice even after growing up. They continue their consumption of Parle-G even after they grow up.
2) Occupation:

The buying behavior of the consumer is influenced also by the occupation he or she belongs to. In case of Parle-G, the purpose for buying the product varies from a person with a high post in a M.N.C. to a poor laborer. For the executive employee, he may or may not buy the product. He may buy a more expensive or an imported biscuit brand because he can afford it. Also he may buy it only to be one of the many snacks available to him. On the other hand, a poor laborer would buy a packet of Parle-G simply to satisfy his hunger. For him, it is not matter of choice or luxury, but a necessity because its the easiest & the cheapest he can get. 6

3) Income:

Income of a person decides its core expenditure segment. If a laborer earns a fixed amount & if a biscuit like parle-g which for sure ensures high level glucose content & immediate energy regained, he would defiantly opt to buy a parle biscuit packet & not spend even that minimal amount of Rs.4 on anything else. But since Parle-G is a low-priced, value for money product a persons income does not really play a role in influencing the purchase of the product. Consumers of all income groups do buy the product.

Psychological Segmentation
Psychographic is the science of using psychology and demographic to better understand consumers. 1) Motivation: For Parle-G the main & the basic motivation which pulls consumers towards buying it is simply hunger. This is what pulls the consumers towards the purchase of Parle-G. Also, since biscuits are perceived as snacks, when aconsumer is drinking tea he or she is motivated to buy Parle-G at that time.
2) Perception:

consumers believe Parle-G to be a good quality product which is cheap too. They also perceive it to be a great snack with tea.

PATTERN OF MARKET SEGMENTATION:Preference: Clustered If we divide the whole market on basis of their preferences foe sweetness and saltiness in the biscuits then the possible outcome would be that the preferences are clustered near some tastes i.e. the consumers would not like to have something really vague like 50%salty, 25%sweet and 25%creamy.That is why the preferences are clustered and not diffused wherein the preferences have to be very extreme and vague. Parle as a company makes use of this clustered preferences and manufactures biscuits for each and every cluster. For e.g. Monaco for entirely salty biscuits and its latest product Krackjack-cream is for sweet and salty taste. PARLE Company as a whole inculcates SELECTIVE MARKET SPECIALIZATION strategy.

( In the above diagram we can say blue colour represents the extent of Parle-G i.e. itis 1 product for all the 3 markets and the green colour is for Hide & Seek where it isa product only for 1 market and the orange is for Krackjack biscuits where the product is targeted for 2 markets.)

TARGETING:Parle-G is consumed by people of all ages, from the rich to the poor, living in cities & in villages. While some have it for breakfast, For others it is a complete wholesome meal. For some it's the best accompaniment for tea, While for some it's a way of getting charged whenever they are low on energy.

Parle company practices mass marketing for Parle- G which appeals to masses. It is a product liked by everyone and does not cater only to a specific group or part of the whole market. Thus it is mass production, mass distribution and mass promotion of Parle- G for all buyers. POSITIONING STRATGEY:Parle-G is positioned in the minds of people as a value for price product and also as a low-priced product. DIFFERENTIATION STRATGEY:For Parle-G the company has used channel and image differentiation tools. Parle-G by far has the most intensive distribution coverage as compared to any other biscuit company in India. Also the name PARLE has an image that generates respect and a belief of good quality in the minds of the buyers. PACKAGING:As in all other biscuits, packing plays an important role in Parle-G too. The basic small packs are packed mechanically using automated machines and are sealed using the pollybag sealing machine. These small packs are then manually packed into small boxes and are sent through the conveyor belt to be packed in large cartons. 160 packets are packed per minute. And inone big box there are 160 Parle-G packets packed. Before, they used to bring the packaging material from outside the company but now it is produced in the factory premises itself. For export purpose the packets have different languages print on them depending upon the geographical location & demand of the people. Each factory has state-ofthe-art machinery with automatic printing & packaging facilities. CONSUMER BEHAVIOR:For Parle-G: In India it is a habit to have biscuits along with chai or tea - Parle G is referred to as "biskut" in rural areas - thus when asked for biskut to a shopkeeper it simply means Parle-G biscuit in rural areas. Understanding consumer behavior is tough. The study of consumer behavior includes the knowledge about the consumer, his buying motives & buying habits. Keeping all this in mind, the factors influencing the buying behavior of consumers are: Parle-G being a consumable product is not influenced by factors like cultural factors. As shown above, social factors are further sub divided into three parts namely reference groups, family & social role & 9

status. 1) Reference Group People, especially kids are always influenced by the people around them. They are influenced by friends, relatives, family members especially elder siblings, etc. so if they see anyone around them having Parle-G biscuit, they too want to eat it. 2) Family In his case also, if its a usual habit of the family members to have Parle-G with tea or coffee, the kids in the growing stage or any new member joining the family for tea will form a similar habit or the later will be offered the same biscuit. 3) Personal Factors The factors whose intensity differs from person to person are together termed as Personal factors. They are as follows: 1) Age Parle-G It is consumed maximum by the kids in the age group of 5-10 years i.e. the growing age group. Kids, who have formed the habit of having Parle-G in their early stages of life, continue this practice even after growing up. They continue their consumption of Parle-G even after they grow up. 2) Occupation The buying behavior of the consumer is influenced also by the occupation he or she belongs to. In case of Parle-G, the purpose for buying the product varies from a person with a high post in a M.N.C. to a poor laborer. For the executive employee, he may or may not buy the product. He may buy a more expensive or an imported biscuit brand because he can afford it. Also he may buy it only to be one of the many snacks available to him. On the other hand, a poor laborer would buy a packet of Parle-G simply to satisfy his hunger. For him, it is not matter of choice or luxury, but a necessity because its the easiest & the cheapest he can get. 3) Income Income of a person decides its core expenditure segment. If a laborer earns a fixed amount & if a biscuit like parle-g which for sure ensures high level glucose content & immediate energy regained, he would defiantly opt to buy a parle biscuit packet & not spend even that minimal amount of Rs.4 on anything else. But since Parle-G is a low-priced, value for money product a persons income does not really play a role in influencing the purchase of the product. Consumers of all income groups do buy the product. Psychological Factors 1) Motivation For Parle-G the main & the basic motivation which pulls consumers towards buying it is simply hunger. This is what pulls the consumers towards the purchase of Parle-G. Also, since biscuits are perceived as snacks, when a consumer is drinking tea he or she is motivated to buy Parle-G at that time. 2) Perception- consumers believe Parle-G to be a good quality product which is cheap too. They 10

also perceive it to be a great snack with tea

REFERENCES
http://www.scribd.com/doc/12412961/Parle-g-Project http://www.scribd.com/doc/6654508/ParleG http://www.parleproducts.com/brands/biscuits_parleg.asp

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