Dr. Mukerji was domiciled in U.S.A. for the last 18 years, after getting his masters in Food Technology from the University of California.
Dr. Mukerji was thinking of returning to India and settling down in his hometown Bangalore, to set up a plant to produce high protein products in India. Dr. Mukerji noticed the availability of Soyabean in abundance in his hometown and carried out several experiments in his laboratory and developed, what he called “Soyabean Milk”. He felt that for India, with a majority of children being undernourished, this would be an ideal product.
Soyabean Milk would have percentage of normal milk, water and different raw materials added to give it a high protein value. Since it will be pasteurized, refrigeration will not be needed and will have almost same or better life than average milk. It would cost about 15% more than regular milk, which he felt was justified due to its high protein values. To obtain the same proteins, medicines and other substitutes would be much more costlier.
As he was miles away from the potential market, he wanted to ascertain the feasibility of the project.
He had several questions. Some of these were:
a) Whether the tradition-bound Indian population accept a new concept like Soyabean Milk?
b) In which town should be set up his plant and of what capacity?
c) What are the distribution channels he should use?
d) In which form should be introduce Soyabean Milk? By adding flavours, can it be introduced a competitive product to the existing soft drinks market?
Technically, he was confident of his product, but wanted to ascertain the market-wise commercial feasibility of the product. Two companies do have similar products, however they are very costly. However, Dr. Mukerji is confident about the superior quality of his concept and product.
Questions:
a) What type of information should Dr. Mukerji collect preliminarily for setting up this project? (7 marks)
b) What type of strategies would you recommend for marketing of “Soyabean Milk” in India for him? (8 marks)
Answers:
a) For setting up the project, Dr. Mukerji should collect the following preliminary project:
– Location of the source of supply of new materials of good quality and regular supply of soyabean
– Establishing milk processing plant near the source of supply
– Bank loans to purchase best quality with processing machines, which are available nowadays.
– Negotiate with wholesaler having good reputation and wide distribution network in the country.
– Employ sales personnel for direct selling who is ready to travel to long distances.
– Differentiate his product by adding fruit based flavours and liked by children.
– Take services of market research agency to gather children preference about opting for Soyabean milk mainly from schools, where children from different backgrounds are available.
– Indulge in heavy advertising for new product launching to get rid of sales resistance and giving the required product information to children and parents.
– There must be a shelf life of minimum 3 months for soyabean milk. It does not need refrigeration because it will be pasteurised. Consumer can buy soyabean milk before they use.
b)
– Effective marketing strategy to defeat 2 competitors and product quality should be – good and price should be – competitive.
– Adopt product differentiation for quality, packaging, weight, durability etc to tell consumers that his product is better than that of competitors.
– Market segmentation to fulfill the demands of many segments with different customers having similar wants and target the profitable segments.
– Product positioning to create a distinct and unique image of the product in the mind of consumers to get consumer support. Consumers must think of soyabean milk as health drink.
– Test marketing in selected market segment to decide about commercial production based on the results.
– Concept testing to find out possible acceptance of the product by consumers.
– Promotion mix i.e. advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, sponsorship to inform and motivate consumers to buy product to increase sales and profits.
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