International Journal of Academic Research and Development

International Journal of Academic Research and Development

ISSN: 2455-4197
Impact Factor: RJIF 5.22
www.academicsjournal.com
Volume 3; Issue 1; January 2018; Page No. 800-802

A conceptual paper on the marketing mix of ‘Maggi’

Akshay Goyal, Likhitha Chowdary YR, Somya Shruti
Department of Business Studies, Christ University, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

Abstract
Nestle product ‘Maggi’ has positioned as a convenience product in the consumer's mindset. It has been expanding its customer due
to its availability, taste, brand image, affordable pricing and diversified product portfolio. The brand comes under the growth stage
of product life cycle as it is still making modification to revamp the product as a healthy item. Even after a lot of controversies on
Maggi noodles, its market share has been coping up even after the Maggi ban in 2015. As it has a market penetration, it is slowly
going towards the maturity stage as it has become the market leader because of its 1 st mover advantage in this sector. With its
diverse product, it is increasing its share day by day. The product has a huge scope if it enters the rural market as it is unexploited.
It has divided the customer in the heterogeneous market into homogenous set of people on the basis of eating habits, age, lifestyle
and needs. So in this conceptual paper we will discuss about the price, promotion & product strategies including the controversies
which happened in 2015-16.

Keywords: convenience product, market penetration, homogenous and controversies

1. Introduction be first to use such technology in the Nestlé world. These

1.1 Product soups are low fat and cholesterol and have no artificial color
Maggi is one of the most popular and leading food brands and preservatives.
from Nestlé. Maggi has introduced a wide range of products
as per the taste and preference of the consumer and it has 1.4 Sauces
customized the products for each country. Nestlé has Maggi has introduced this product both in bottle and Doy
introduced products such as Maggi instant noodles, Sauces, format. The Maggi sauces re-available in four different variant
bouillons cubes, Seasonings and Maggi soups. These products are The Quintessential Rich Tomato Ketchup, Maggi Masala
are a hit and stood upon the expectation of the consumer. As Sauce, Rich Tomato Sauce (No Onion No Garlic) and The
children being their major customer, Maggi has got an Unique Hot & Sweet Tomato Chili. The Maggi Masala sauce
advantage as they don’t need to change much of its flavor and comes with Maggi Masala taste which gives it a unique flavor
has kept the taste constant from the past years. and proposition. It introduced Doy format of Rich Tomato
ketchup under the name Pichkoo. This variant is for price
1.2 Instant Noodles sensitive consumer.
Maggi has introduced very popular and different range of
products; under this category are Chicken Noodles, Vegetable 1.5 Bouillons and Seasoning
Multigrain Noodles, 2-minute Noodles, Oats Noodles, Cuppa Maggi lunched its bouillons under the name Magic Cube and
Mania, Atta Noodles, and Hot Heads Noodles. The 2-minute it adds a different flavor to food. This aiding agent for cooking
Noodle is the backbone for Maggi for this category. This comes with two exciting flavors is Chicken and Vegetarian
flagship product is available under five different variant which Masala. Seasoning is the mixer of various spices and it work
are Chicken, Masala, Romantic Capsica, Tricky Tomato and as an aiding agent while cooking. Maggi has introduced three
Thrillian Curry. Maggi Vegetable has added vegetables and is different seasonings – Maggi Masala-ae-Magic, Maggi Bhuna
rich with fiber, calcium and protein. Maggi Atta Noodle is a Masala and Maggi Coconut Milk Powder. Maggi has different
healthy variant of Maggi noodles that has added vegetables variants of seasonings and bouillons as per the taste and
with fiber content in it. Maggi Cuppa Mania has two variants preference of different countries where Maggi operates.
Masala i.e. Yo and Chilly Chow Yo.
Controversy
1.3 Soups On June 3, 2015 the Delhi Government decided to ban Maggi
Maggi Healthy Soups are available in six different varieties after the test sample failed in the laboratory. This happened
i.e. Rich Tomato, Sweet Corn Vegetable, Creamy Spinach, after it found that lead and monosodium in the product was
Cream Of Mushroom, Mixed Vegetable, Hot & Sour beyond the permissible limit. The government banned the sale
Vegetable. This new range of Maggie soups are made using of product for 15 days and also asked the company to recall its
Nestlé’s new granulation technology which helps in keeping product from every store. This decision was taken after 10 out
the freshness of key ingredients and this makes Nestlé India to of 13 samples failed in the test.

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Maggi started getting controversial in 2015 when many was banned in six states after it failed in the test. Tamil Nadu
samples of Maggi Noodles failed in the test in Uttar Pradesh was the first state to ban several brands of Nestlé. The ban on
the amount of monosodium glutamate (MSG) and lead was Maggi affected Nestlé badly and it suffered Rs.64 core loss in
found beyond the permissible limit. The Food Safety and second quarter ended June 30, 2015. The sale fell by 20.1
Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) collected samples from percent and Nestle India’s revenue dropped by 20 percentages.
all over India to analyze the quality of the product. The Maggi Maggi lost 80 percentages of its market share after the ban.

2. Promotion

Table 1: Tools used for sales promotion of Maggi

Objectives Tools
To introduce new products into the market Scratch and win offers
To attract new customers and retain the existing ones Coupons
To maintain minimum sales of seasonal products Exchange and money back offer
To meet and overcome the challenges set by the competitor Price-off offers

Initially Maggi faced lot of hurdles when it first launched it was affordable which children and working adults preferred
itself in India. The basic problem faced by Maggi in India was to buy due to its feature and taste. This even prevented the
because of the Indian psyche, nestle tried so hard and tried competitors to enter the market as the penetration pricing
targeting working class women of India. Despite its heavy always kept Maggi in the top shelf. From the introductory
advertising and media promotions, Maggi still was not able to level it has kept low price as it always had a median income
see a raise in its sales. To overcome this problem nestle India scale people as its customer segment. So its policy in pricing
limited conducted a research. After the research, the experts at was always concentrated for the customer’s affordability.
nestle interpreted the results and pitched the product as a Even though the prices were low, the brand was able to
convenience product for mothers and fun product for children. maintain a constant rate of profit as their volume in the
Maggi has very unique taglines that can grab customer’s product didn’t vary too much until the inflation in which they
attention very quickly. The tagline, ‘Fast to cook, Good to reduced the quantity by 5 gram for the same price. Though
Eat’ was also to keep up with this positioning. The product with high quantity and cheap price, this made a huge impact
was further promoted by distributing free samples and by on the customers as other brands low price didn't offer the
giving gifts on return of the empty packets, etc. similar volume. It has never changed its price with a huge
Nestle also launched different ad campaigns that focused on scale and has always kept it normal within the customer reach.
children’s taste and health. Apart from just the promotional If we take Maggi noodles price then there are many flavors
activities, Maggi has also associated itself with television and type of product. Some of the major customer picked
programs and advertised on kid’s channels and programs products and its price is given below in Table no. 2. These are
heavily. In the recent years Maggi started focusing at the the most demanded products and we can see that with the
entire family and not only on kids. They also came up with healthier version like Maggi Atta Noodles, the price increase
featuring people’s stories on its packet. Nestle India limited to almost double. Coping up with this, Maggi noodles offers
received thousands of stories via emails and letters. These its variant in different sizes to cater with the low and middle
stories of people were a great success in promoting Maggi. income class customers. As per their own convenience,
Another ad campaign that saw huge success is the, “MAIN customer pick from the different size which as on January
AUR MERI MAGGI” campaign in commensuration of its 25 2018 has a range of Rs. 5 to Rs. 86 depending on the weight
years journey in India. of the pack for Maggi Masala Noodles.
They also connect to people very easily with their effective
communication. Some of the famous taglines of Maggi are, Table 2: Price of Maggi Noodles product
“Tasty Bhi, Healthy Bhi” and “In the Last 20 Years We Have Net weight (in Price of the
Asked for Just 2 Minutes of Your Time”. Now Maggi enjoys Variety of Maggi
grams) product (rs.)
90% of the share in its sector. Its revival campaign also saw 35 5
huge success. The Taglines, “We are back” connected to the 70 11
Indian audience so tight. 1. Maggi Masala
280 44
Noodles
420 65
3. Price 560 86
Maggi uses penetration pricing which is used to capture the 75 20
2. Maggi Atta Noodles
market area with comparatively low price to compete with its 300 75
competitors so that the customers don't switch to its substitute 3. Maggi Chicken 71 14
products. This strategy helps in attracting people to try the Noodles 284 55
product and be aware about the same. In the beginning this 4. Maggi Cuppa mania 70 40
strategy ended up having more cost and less profit but
gradually this pricing method increased word of mouth from a Nestle always have a high quality and low price strategy to
vast area of market. Word of mouth has helped Maggi to an capture its market. Maggi also keep its price according to the
extremely large level to capture the market in the beginning as location as in some parts of India where the reach is low, the

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price is hiked up according to the distribution and

transportation cost. New range of packs like Cuppa noodles
and hot heads are segmented towards a higher income group
with a higher price as seen in the above table. It even offers
multiple packs such as pack of 12 with a cheaper price so that
customer would buy it in bulk and consumption occurs
frequently. So the low point price strategy has helped this
brand to gain a huge amount of market share in India even
after the ban as it resume its business even at a higher pace.

4. Conclusions
Maggi went through all the stages of product life cycle
starting from introductory stage in the year 1982 with no
competition and high cost. Increasing demand placed it in the
growth stage from 1985 after that when it reached the peak
sales with low production cost and high profit it went into the
maturity stage. The controversies and ban sent Maggi to the
decline stage which afterwards again went up by the Maggi
re-launch in India as customers demanded it more. So, even
with lots of competition and ban it manages to stay in
consumers mind and is now a convenience product.

5. References
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others/the-maggi-effect-nestle-posts-first-loss-in-17-
years/. 25th January, 2018.
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