Maggi: A Global FMCG Brand with a Vision for Good-Tasting, Nutritious, and Accessible Food

The brand chosen in the category of food in the area of Fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) is Maggi. Maggi is a brand of Nestle Company and operates all over the world. It is famous for its instant noodles and soups. The report consists of the following parts:

SWOT Analysis

Strengths

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• Strong Global Corporate Brand
• Pioneer and Leader
• Symbol of warm, family & shelter
• Research and Development
• Strong brand loyal customers
• Constant innovation
• Advertisements
• Wide range of distribution channel

Weaknesses

• Low rural market presence constraints
• Brand Proliferation
• Products are dependent on each other:
• Health related issue
• Uniform Brand for all food categories

Opportunities

• Growing package and canned food market
• High brand awareness
• Other product category
• Job Provider

Threats

• Current competition
• Future Competition Differential advantage/ Competitive edge (USP):
• Quality: the quality of all Maggi products is high.
• Advertisements: the ads of Maggi are
• New product development: Maggi constantly does innovation in the product and make changes according to the local taste in the country where it operates.

Segmentation Targeting & Positioning (STP)

There are 4 basic market segments in which Maggi operates.

These are:

• Geographic Segment
• Psychographic Segment
• Demographic Segment
• Behavioural Segment Marketing objectives and goals (SMART):
• To sell in the products in the rural areas of the developing countries
• To start a new line of product
• To start brand Proliferation
• To become the market leader
• To create customer brand loyalty. Marketing strategies and programmes (4P’s):
• Product: It is recommended to extend the product line and start with chips biscuits and other snacks.
• Price: It is recommended that the price should be increased.
• Promotion: new promotional strategies are recommended like one to one and sample marketing
• Place: it is recommended that the products of Maggi should be placed at the famous retail stores.

Introduction

Maggi is a brand of the Nestle Company established in 1872 in Switzerland by Julius Maggi when he took over his father’s mills. The vision of Julius Maggi behind the creation of Maggi was to sell something that is good-tasting, nutritious and accessible to all. Maggi is a brand of instant bouillon cubes, soups, stocks, ketchups, seasonings, sauces and instant noodles.

Maggi was the first one to bring protein-rich legume meal to the market and became the pioneer of industrial food product. In the year 1947 Maggi was acquired by Nestle and since then it is producing culinary products high taste and quality all over the world. Today Maggi is famous in Europe, Brunei, Malaysia, Germany, France, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Netherlands, Czech Republic, India and Pakistan as a convenient food product especially by the working women who have to take care of the houses, children and work.

The demand of Maggi is ever growing and people love the new taste and products of Maggi. One major reason for the popularity of Maggi is its adaptability i. e. the changes in the taste and flavour of the Maggi products that are made according to the country and region in which it is being sold. This has become a competitive advantage for Maggi and has created customer loyalty.

SWOT Analysis

SWOT analysis is an important tool for auditing the overall strategic position of the business and its environment and helps to generate strategic alternatives.

It is also helpful in determining the internal and external factors that can influence and have impact on the growth and success of a company. It is an abbreviation for Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and threats. SWOT analysis for Maggi is given below:

Strengths

• Strong Global Corporate Brand: Maggi is a brand of Nestle international limited which is a strong global brand operating all over the world. Nestle also has other product segments in the food category which includes dairy products, chocolates and infant foods which are equally famous in every part of the world.
• Pioneer and Leader: Maggi was the first one to start with the instant Noodles, soups, stocks and chicken cube and so has the mover advantage in the market.
• Symbol of warm, family & shelter: Maggi has promoted itself with the idea of providing warmth shelter and family atmosphere and making people come closer. Research and Development: Maggi has formed Research and development Division all over the country recently it has developed one in India Strong brand loyal customers: Maggi being a brand of Nestle is well-reputed and famous therefore has strong and loyal customers.
• Constant innovation: Maggi constantly make changes in its product according to the taste of the people where it operates. Advertisements: Maggi is famous for its advertisements showing happiness, shelter, warmth, love and family. Also the ads are innovative with new ideas and concepts. Wide range of distribution channel: Maggi has wide range of distribution channels that are efficient and effective.

Weaknesses

• Low rural market presence constraints: in countries like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh Maggi is not present in the rural area. It is just present in the urban side.
• Brand Proliferation: There is no brand proliferation done by Maggi in order to compete with the low priced product while keeping the main brand aside.
• Products are dependent on each other: All the products are inter-related like soups and noodles etc. Health related issue: As Maggi is related to food industry it is a possibility it may sometime cause health problem and diseases if not prepare in hygienic environment.
• Uniform Brand for all food categories: The same brand name (Maggi) is used for the different food items like soups, noodles, chicken cubes and stock.

Opportunities

• Growing package and canned food market: the trend is changing and people now prefer canned and packaged food that are easy to cook and are prepared within a small time.
• High brand awareness: Maggi has positioned itself as a brand that people all around the world know about, people are aware of the brand name Maggi. This is an opportunity as it helps the brand to increase the sales and target new markets.
• Other product category: other product category like Biscuits, Chips and Ready to Eat Market still unexplored Maggi has the opportunity to penetrate in these also.
• Job provider: there is an opportunity to go in the developing nations where there is a need for job and sell the products there.

Threats

• Current Competition: there is a lot of competition for the brand as there are more established and powerful competitors are already there in the market like Heinz Sauce and ketchup, Knorr noodles and soups, Campbell Soups, Wai way noodles, Top Ramen and etc.
• Future Competition: Due to Less Entry Barriers in the Market segment for product category there is a chance for more competition in the future.
• Differential Advantage or Competitive Edge: It is very important for every company or brand to have some differential advantage or a competitive advantage. It is an advantage over the competitors in which the consumers are provided greater value by means of lower prices or high quality at high risk. But today the focus has changed and it does not mean to provide the good s at low prices or high quality. Today it involves anything that is different and makes you stand aside from your competitor it involves new ways and methods, change and innovation or promotion. Following are the competitive advantages of Maggi that makes Maggi different from its competitors in the minds of the consumers.
• Quality: Due to the increased competition it has become essential to always keep in mind that the customers has got many choices and they can switch to other brand if they are not satisfied. Maggi being a well known and reputed brand has maintained its quality and thus quality has become a competitive advantage for it. People all around the world trust the quality and hygiene of the product.
• Advertisements: the ads of Maggi are unique and different they educate and tell the customers and give instructions of how to make the instant soups and noodles. An innovative new campaign of Maggi showing the 1-2-3 of a tasty meal and educating consumers on the importance of balanced servings of carbohydrates, protein, vegetables and fruits at every meal was a hit campaign and received recognition for its innovation. The Maggi 2-minute noodles tribute campaign won the coveted gold Award at the Malaysian Effie Award in the year 2008 for its marketing and effective communication.
• New Product development: Maggi is constantly involved in research and development of new products and bringing in new flavours according to the taste of the people. This has become a competitive advantage for the brand as through this it attracts more customers and provides them with the local flavours with which they are used to.
• Segmentation targeting and positioning: Segmentation: Segmentation helps to find out the different types of customers with different needs. As a company cannot serve all the customers it has become very important to segment the market and specialize in some areas. Market Segmentation is defined as the division of the market into different homogenous groups of consumers.

Goals and objectives are like a roadmap by following them it becomes easy to reach the destination. Setting goals means to create written plan that has measurable and reasonable shot-term and long-term goals and objectives. SMART goals can be described as follows:

• S – Specific: Goals should be specific and to the point they should not be loose and vague. It should address who, what, when, where and why. Goals should define specifically the task with the date.
• M - Measurable: the goal should be simple and concrete and can be measured when reached.
• A - Achievable: The goals should be such which could be achieved and those which are reasonable. In short the goals should be practical. Hence the goal should be feasible.
• R - Relevant: goals should be instrumental and relate the mission of the company.
• T – Timely: goals need to have time frame and the amount of time should be set in the beginning this will provide structure to the goals.

There should be a target date defined for the completion of a specific task. (Anonymous, 2010) Smart Goals and Objectives for Maggi:

• To sell in the products in the rural areas of the developing countries like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
• To start a new line of product which include ready to cook meals like that of Knorr.
• To start brand Proliferation by making a low-cost rage of the expensive product and target a new market like Hienz ketchup.
• To become the market leader and leave all the competitors far behind.
• To create customer brand loyalty.

Marketing Strategies and Programmes (the 4Ps)

It is very important to create good and effective marketing strategies and programmes to make the business successful.

In this regard the marketing Mix also known as the 4Ps are used by the marketers as a tool in making the strategies and marketing programmes. The 4Ps classifies the 4 major controllable elements of the marketing plan and helps to generate the optimal response in the target market. The 4Ps include: Product, Price, Place and promotion. Special attention should be given to these 4Ps.

The 4Ps for Maggi:

• Product: Currently Maggi includes instant bouillon cubes, soups, stocks, ketchups, seasonings, sauces and instant noodles in its brand category. But it is recommended that Maggi extends it product category and start manufacturing and selling ready to cook meals, chips, biscuits and other likely food items.
• Price: the focus on price should be such that the producer and the customer both get profit and benefit. Today the strategy is to sell at lower price than the competitor. As Maggi is a well established brand that has good quality and customer acceptance it is recommended that Maggi can raise the price in the future in a way that the target market can afford it.
• Place: It is very important that your product is present at the right place at the right time and in the right quantity. For this it in very necessary to have good logistic and effective distribution channels. In case of Maggi there should be proper warehouses where the products could be stored and then sold to the retailers.
• Promotion: promotion refers to communication with the customers. This includes sales, advertisements, sales promotion, public relations and etc. Today marketers are using one to one and sample marketing heavily. It is recommended that Maggi should also use this approach in order to penetrate in the market.

Besides this there is a trend to promote the product by sponsoring events and by advertising about the product in a movie or a TV show. Maggi should also use these new approaches and increase customer awareness and its sales. (McCarthy, 2010)

Conclusion

It is a very good strategy to convert the threats in to opportunities and the weaknesses into strengths here in case of Maggi it is the best to convert all the threats into opportunities and weaknesses into strengths only in this way the company can be successful and gain customer loyalty and market-share.

At the current stage the brand is operating well and is quite successful but it is necessary to keep changing and innovating in order to progress and prosper as constant change is required everywhere. It is recommended that the goals and objectives of the company should be well stated, specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time related. Besides this the brand should do extension in the chips and biscuit category and penetrate in the rural areas of countries like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Also the company should do brand proliferation and attract new customer and serve new segments.

Further it is recommended that the company should promote the brand through new means which include one to one marketing and sample marketing, advertisement in between movies and TV shows. These recommendations will help the brand in its struggle to success and market penetration. Also these will be helpful in attracting more customers and creating brand loyalty in the existing customers.

References

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