Marketing mix are actions and tactics that a company uses for the purpose of promoting its brand or its product in the selected target market. The application of marketing mix adopted by various companies depends on the size of their business, the location, the advertising strategies chosen by them and a range of other factors It is called a ‘mix’ because each and every component of marketing mix affects the other. Therefore, the total mix should be appropriate for the target customer.
The elements/ components of marketing mix are comprised of 4P’s namely product, price, promotion and place. Nowadays businessmen do consider additional 3P’s namely pace, packaging and positioning.
Product. Anything that is offered in the market by a brand is called a product. It can be anything as long as it can generate customer satisfaction.
Price. The price is the value that which the brand intends to sell the product. Pricing of the product depends on various factors and proper value of the product is important to generate high sales and profits.
Promotion. Promotion is like advertisement where the company undertakes operations to promote its products to target customers in target markets.
Place. Place means the activities that the company undertakes to make the product available to the consumers/ customers
Pace. Pace means speed. It is the speed at which marketing tactics are determined and necessary actions are taken.
Packaging. Packaging is how the product is packed before it is sold to the audience.
Positioning. This element of marketing mix aims at creating a distinct image of the product/brand in the mind of the customer.
For the purpose of this assignment, a comparative analysis of marketing mix of Maggi and Sunfeast Yippie noodles is written below.
Marketing Mix of Nestle’s Maggi Noodles
As kids and as adults we have always heard Maggi noodles advertising themselves as ‘2-minute noodles’. This yellow packet of noodles has always been a savior to all the teenagers at home and the ones who stay far away from home. Maggi is manufactured by Nestle. Nestle also has other innumerable products like soups, sauces and various other flavors of Maggi noodles.
Product in Marketing Mix of Maggi
Maggi has innumerable products of its own in the market. These products are curated keeping in mind the needs and tastes of all the customers. The various products that are loved by almost every person are Maggi 2 Minute Noodles, Maggi Vegetable Multigrain Noodles, Maggi Vegetable Atta Noodles, Maggi Cuppa Mania, Maggi Oats Noodles.
Place in the Marketing Mix of Maggi
Maggi follows a distribution channel that starts from Nestle that goes to the distributer then the retailer and finally the consumer. Maggi has always had an excellent system of distribution. It has always made sure that the product reaches each and every corner of the world. For example, if you go to the Himalayas, you will find people making and selling Maggi that those places. Therefore, it is evident that the distribution of this product plays a very important part in the success of this product.
Price in the Marketing Mix of Maggi
Maggi uses the penetration pricing strategy because it clearly knows how to penetrate markets everywhere. It has kept a low price all these years because the consumers are mainly the middle-class group people. Therefore, by making the product affordable, volumes of the product are purchased in turn giving huge profits.
Promotions in the Marketing Mix of Maggi
When Nestle launched Maggi in India, its promotional activities aimed at creating awareness amongst kids and women. Toys and utensils were offered as gifts along with the packet of these noodles. This step made it a household name instantly. As we know the famous tagline is also the smartest timeline in the advertising industry. Ironically, no one could coo Maggi in 2 minutes, but people love the fact that it is a quick and an excellent snack.
Tools Used for Sales Promotion of Maggi: 1) Scratch and Win Offers (to introduce new products in the market); 2) Coupons (to attract new customers and retain existing customers); 3) Price Off Offers (to meet and overcome the challenges set by the competitors).
Pace in the Marketing Mix of Maggi
There are clear indications that India is a growth market for Nestle. Nestle India will keep the pace of spending on advertising and marketing activities up in 2020 as was the case in 2019. Therefore, the brand is in a position of aggressive growth strategy.
Packaging in the Marketing Mix of Maggi
Over all these years Maggi has always been packed in a yellow plastic packet with noodles and a packet of its masala in it. The packet of each Maggi has instructions as to how to prepare the noodles, the nutrition value, the ingredients and the manufacturing and expiry date.
Positioning in the Marketing Mix of Maggi
The Indians do not consider noodles as a proper meal. So, Maggi has positioned itself in the ‘snacks’ category. Therefore, over all these years, the brand has developed its identity as a instant food packet with taglines such as ‘2 minutes noodles’ and ‘Easy to cook, good to eat’.
Marketing Mix of SunFeast Yippie Noodles
The advertisements done for Yippie stated that these noodles were made from the need for better noodles. They were made with a different scientific process that did not allow lumping of the noodles. With such a thought, these noodles were introduced in 2010. It is a complete Indian brand and faces cut to cut competition with Nestle’s Maggi noodles.
Product in the Marketing Mix of Sunfeast Yippee Noodles
Sunfeast Yippee Noodles is made up of Aashirvaad Atta with a blend of different spices. Yippee Classic Masala and Yippee Magic Masala were the first products to be launched in 2010.The brand launched its first pasta in tricolor in the year 2013 and its Power up Atta Noodles in the year 2016.
Place in the Marketing Mix of Sunfeast Yippee Noodles
Sunfeast Yippee Noodles also has its spread to parts of India. For the first time, it was introduced in consumer markets in the city of Bengaluru which is the headquarter of its parent company. It uses the distribution channel of its parent company to reach consumer market easily and conveniently.
Unlike Nestle’s Maggi, Sunfeast Yippee Noodles uses the oldest distribution method of manufacturing plants to distributor to stockholders to the retailer and from there to consumers. The company depends quite heavily on its carrying and forwarding that manage to transport the products from one point to another efficiently.
Price in the Marketing Mix of Sunfeast Yippee Noodles
Sunfeast Yippee Noodles belong to a cut-throat industry with very strong competitors. It has to handle its pricing strategy very delicately so as to beat its competitors at their own game. The company has adopted a competitive pricing policy and kept its prices at par with the prices set up by its rival.
Promotions in the Marketing Mix of Sunfeast Yippee Noodles
With target customers who look-out for a healthy in-between-meals snack when hungry, Sunfeast Yippee Noodles believes in the heavy advertisement to market its products in the consumer market. It has launched several ad campaigns via print, digital and visual media to attract and maintain its customer base.
Pace in the Marketing Mix of Sunfeast Yippee Noodles
It looks like Yippee Noodles is relying more on word of mouth. Therefore, the marketing spend is not high as it should be.
Packaging in the Marketing Mix of Sunfeast Yippee Noodles
Yippie Noodles always keeps on changing the packaging os its noodles with respect to the flavor of the noodle. The packet contains noodles and the packet of masala. Similar to other products, this packet also contains has instructions as to how to prepare the noodles, the nutrition value, the ingredients and the manufacturing and expiry date.
Positioning in the Marketing Mix of Sunfeast Yippee Noodles
Like Nestle’s Maggi Noodles, Sunfeast Yippie Noodles has also positioned itself as instant noodles with different taste and with no lumping even after thirty minutes of cooking. Yippee magic masala came in a market with a slogan of ‘Long Non-Sticky Noodles’ to ensure that the customers know that the noodles are true to its word.
Conclusion of the Assignment
Maggi went through all the stages of product life cycle starting from the introductory stage in the year 1982 with no competition at al and high costs. The increasing demand for instant noodles placed Maggi on the growth stage in the year 1985, when it reached heights of sales. With low production costs and generation of high profits it went into the maturity stage. The controversies and ban on the product sent Maggi to the decline stage which later went up again after the relaunch in India as customers demanded it even more. So even with lots of competition and ban put on it, Maggi is still a convenience product and manages to stay in the customers minds of its customers as ‘2-minute instant noodles’. While in the case of Yippie, these Noodles comes from the house of ITC, a brand known for its wide distribution and many products. As a result, Yippee Noodles has deep pockets and it just has to be present in the market so that it wins the market share slowly yet surely. A major problem facing Yippee Noodles is that the market acceptance for the brand is very low. The noodles market is quite populated with Maggi being present in this market. As a result, Yippee Noodles which is a late entrant to this market has not found much acceptance in the Indian Market.
Learnings from the Assignment
What I have learnt while writing this assignment is that, a major strength of Yippee Noodles is that the market is itself growing. The consumption of instant noodles is on the rise because of more and more people liking Noodles for breakfast or for evening snacks. Moreover, because these noodles can be made within minutes, people love the instant availability of a tasty snack. However, the rural distribution/penetration is poor which is a strong point of Maggi is its rural distribution which is missing in the case of Yippee Noodles. Although urban presence is high, rural distribution is quite low. A major threat to the establishment of Yippee Noodles is the dominance of Maggi in the Instant noodles segment. One of the main action plans for Yippee Noodles should be to create a better brand image. Because Yippee Noodles is an Indian brand, it can understand the Indian mindset much better than other companies. Hence, more variety which is localized is expected from Yippee Noodles. By doing this, it can capture the market which is not covered by competitors. Lately, Maggi has utilized this strategy to excellent advantage. Maggi however was recently banned because of excessive lead content in its noodles as a preservative. Such a ban has created health awareness against all noodle brands in the minds of consumers. Health awareness has also resulted in people picking wheat-based noodles much faster than normal noodles. And instant noodles like Yippie should take advantage of this situation.