201

A Study on the factors

affecting the consumer
buying behavior of
Ready-To-Eat Industry
Submitted to: Prof Gowri Joshi

Submitted by:
Shruthika Kanchan
Roll no 13
MMS First Year
SIES College of Management Studies.

3/17/2010
Acknowledgement
During the perseverance of this project, I was supported by different people, whose names
if not mentioned would be inconsiderate on my part.
I would like to extend my sincere gratitude and appreciation to my project guide Prof.
Gowri Joshi, SIES college of Management Studies, for extending valuable guidance and
encouragement from time to time, without which it would not have been possible to undertake
and complete this project. The Project was an enriching experience and taught me various critical
factors that influence Ready-To-Eat Industry. Additionally, this project helped me understanding
how actual research is conducted and the various challenges that researches face while doing a
research.
I would also like to thank my family for their support and patience through out the
completion of the project.
My heart felt gratitude to the Microsoft Corporation for inventing the “Microsoft word”
software which has helped us MBA students immensely in completion of our projects.
Above all I would like to thank the divine intervention who backed me at all times and provided
me with all the help of the wonderful people mentioned above.

Shruthika
Kanchan

2
Table of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.............................................................................................................................................2
TABLE OF CONTENTS...............................................................................................................................................3
SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................................................4
INTRODUCTION TO READY TO EAT (RTE)...........................................................................................................................4
MOTIVATION FOR THE STUDY............................................................................................................................................6
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY................................................................................................................................................6
RESEARCH PROBLEM........................................................................................................................................................7
SCOPE OF THE STUDY.......................................................................................................................................................7
LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY..............................................................................................................................................7
DEFINING THE VARIABLES.................................................................................................................................................8
SECTION2: LITERATURE REVIEW.......................................................................................................................9
THEORETICAL REVIEW......................................................................................................................................................9
RESEARCH BASED LITERATURE REVIEW............................................................................................................................11
SECTION 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY........................................................................................................15
RESEARCH DESIGN.........................................................................................................................................................15
DATA COLLECTION METHODOLOGY...................................................................................................................................15
SAMPLE DESIGN.............................................................................................................................................................16
SAMPLE SIZE.................................................................................................................................................................16
SECTION 4: RESULTS AND FINDINGS................................................................................................................17
SECTION 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS...............................................................................26
CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................................................................26
RECOMMENDATIONS.......................................................................................................................................................27
SECTION 6: BIBLIOGRAPHY.................................................................................................................................29
BOOKS......................................................................................................................................................................29
WEB-RESOURCES..................................................................................................................................................29
OTHER REFERENCES.......................................................................................................................................................29
SECTION 7: ANNEXURE..........................................................................................................................................30

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Section 1: Introduction

Introduction to Ready to Eat (RTE)

Background for the Study

India has made lot of progress in agriculture & food sectors since independence in terms of
growth in output, yields and processing. It has gone through a green revolution, a white
revolution, a yellow revolution and a blue revolution. Today, India is the largest producer of
milk, fruits, cashew nuts, coconuts and tea in the world, the second largest producer of wheat,
vegetables, sugar and fish and the third largest producer of tobacco and rice. Therefore, Indian
Government is providing more infrastructures for this sector. Excise duty is now ZERO % on
RTE and 100 % tax deduction for the first 10 years for new units. This allows manufactures to
bring down their prices & spreads its flavors to the world.
Now the time is to provide better food processing & its marketing infrastructure for Indian
industries to serve good quality & safest processed food like ready to eat food.

The ready-to-eat (RTE) market in India, currently estimated at Rs. 128 crore (2006) is expected
to expand to reach Rs. 2,900 crore by 2015, according to an analysis done by Tata Strategic
Management Group (TSMG).1 In its analysis, TSMG said that the factors contributing to the
growth would be changes like cold chain development, disintermediation, streamlining of
taxation, economies of scale on the supply side, coupled with increasing disposable incomes,
diminishing culinary skills and the need for convenience on the demand side.

Concept

Ready to Eat Meals like already cooked or prepared lunch & dinner are relatively new products
are now sold through retail general stores in especially made sealed aluminum laminates.
When customer needs to eat, the food item pouch is either put in microwave oven to warm it or
keep in heated water for a few minutes and then serve to eat.
Such ready to eat meals have been especially given to soldiers in army of many countries who
require carrying their rations while on war front or while located far away from their main unit.
1
http://www.thehindu.com/2007/10/24/stories/2007102454651900.htm

4
 The market for food is simply huge and as of January 2010 estimated to be Rs 5000
billion annually. It is growing for two main reasons: population growth and improvement in
consumers’ spending ability. The ready-to-eat segment is small but growing. Corporate are only
now beginning to look at the huge potential this segment can offer. The market is expected to
grow five-fold in next 5 years.2

Players in the Ready to Eat Segment

• MTR
• Kohinoor Foods
• ITC
• Haldiram
• Tasty Bites
Some Features:

• Globalization of Indian food and its culture are the core factors for popularization of
ready to eat foods.
• Main motivation for these ready to eat foods is fast growing foreign market.
• Retail outlet culture is now growing rapidly in India.
• Shelf life of these foods is at least 12-18 months.
• Q
 uality, Taste and Flavor of these foods remains as good as fresh up to the expiry
date.
• Women wanting to spend more time out of the kitchen.
• M
 ore working bachelors staying away from homes.
• Cost effective in comparison to the Indian cuisine served by the restaurants in foreign
countries.

2
www.marketreserach.com

5
Motivation for the Study
According to ITC press release on March 2008, Indian RTE market is worth around Rs 80-100
crore. The market is somewhat in a stagnant state and the growth is minimal.3

According to reports by CNBC-TV18, despite gradual duty cuts on Ready to Eat and instant
mixes the sector is not doing well and growth is minimal. The concept behind RTE is that urban
families are strapped for tine and will definitely buy RTE packs to save on cooking time however
this doesn’t seem to be so because in India people still prefer food cooked and served piping hot
by some one else or themselves so people hire cooks instead of buying RTE packs. A study
conducted by the Tata strategic management group also highlights that the RTE market in India
has remained under-penetrated owing to factors such as consumers’ penchant for freshness, low
affordability and the Indian housewife’s preference for home-cooked food.4
Hence, this study was undertaken to understand the psyche behind consumers and what factors
goes into influencing their buying decision making.
This is a dilemma faced by marketers of Ready to eat Industry. Marketing being veru close to my
heart and strategic marketing is my passion and hence I took up this study to understand the
problems that marketers face and what are the mean by which strategically these hurdles can be
overcome.

Objectives of the Study

• To study the market penetration of Ready-To Eat food.
• To study the consumer perception of Ready-To-Eat foods.
• To identify the buying pattern of Ready-To-Eat (RTE) packs.
• To identify the factors influencing buyer behavior of RTE packs.

3
ITC press Release

4
http://www.thehindu.com/2007/10/24/stories/2007102454651900.htm

6
Research Problem
This Study deals with the Ready to eat Industry in India. The study also aims at understanding the
factors influencing buying decision making of the RTE packs. The factors under consideration
are advertising, price, Product, Value proposition etc.

Scope of the Study

The project is a study of what are the factors that is affecting consumer buying behaviour of
Ready to Eat Meals in India. The study is undertaken to understand all the negative and positive
perceptions about the Ready to Eat packs.

In the study I have highlighted the following points:

• Percentage of people aware about RTE & have purchased it.

• Percent bought an RTE on monthly basis vs. emergency basis.

• How did the respondents come to know about RTE – So that awareness could be
increased through those means?

• Critical areas where communication is required to draw a change in the

perception/attitude of customers towards RTE segment.

• Point’s people gave to prefer RTE as an option when needed.

• Top of Mind brand recall (Unassisted) for Leading Brands.

Limitations of the Study

• For a generic study like this where the consumers are spread across a wide area of
India the sample size taken was very limited i.e. 60.

• Lack of first hand knowledge of conducting research.

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Defining the Variables
Independent Variable: Ready to Eat food Market

Dependent variable: Consumer Buying Behavior

8
Section2: Literature Review

Theoretical Review

Introduction
The ready to eat meal industry consists of two categories, frozen ready meals and canned ready
meals. The market for ready meals in India increased at a compound annual growth rate of 13.7%
between 2003 and 2008.The canned ready meals category led the ready meals market in India,
accounting for a share of 60.3%.

Leading players in Indian ready meals market include ITC Limited, Al Kabeer Group of
Companies and Orkla Foods.

The ready to eat foods have gained momentum in Urban India where even women are working
and there is time crunch to cook. The market for RTE industry is NRIs and bachelors.

The Indian food processing industry has changed considerably in recent years to adapt to the
demands and lifestyles of domestic consumers, particularly the growing middle class. This is also
due to the rapid expansion of the retail distribution system replacing mall stores and wet markets
with modern supermarkets, superstores and convenience stores. Dairy products, deli products,
snack foods, ready-to-eat and ready-to-prepare meals are currently the most rapid growth product
categories in the domestic market.

The current scenario

The ready-to-eat (RTE) market in India, currently estimated at Rs. 128 crore (2006) is expected
to expand to reach Rs. 2,900 crore by 2015, according to an analysis done by Tata Strategic
Management Group (TSMG). The report also highlights that the RTE market in India has
remained under-penetrated owing to factors such as consumers’ penchant for freshness, low
affordability and the Indian housewife’s preference for home-cooked food. According to data in
the reports, packaged foods in India have grown at about seven per cent a year between 2000 and
2005, with RTE foods being the fastest-growing, at a CAGR of 73 per cent. the factors
contributing to the growth would be changes like cold chain development, disintermediation,

9
streamlining of taxation, economies of scale on the supply side, coupled with increasing
disposable incomes, diminishing culinary skills and the need for convenience on the demand side.

Market
There is a huge untapped market opportunity arising due to rapid demographic shifts in income,
urbanization, and proportion of urban working women in India. The industry needs to concentrate
on broadening the market and increasing penetration amongst Indian consumers.

The analysis also pointed out that industry players would have to significantly improve their price
competitiveness with respect to other options such as domestic help, eating out and ordering in,
available to the Indian consumer. Besides price consideration, the product range offered by
industry players will have to be strengthened.

Under-serviced

At the moment, the regional cuisine and non-vegetarian cuisine markets are relatively under-
serviced with concentration on the vegetarian North Indian meals.

Pankaj Gupta, Practice Head-Consumer & Retail, Tata Strategic, said, “According to our
analysis, India provides an attractive opportunity for both Indian and international players with a
mix of demand and supply side changes. If consumer demands of affordability, availability and
enhancing acceptability are met, the RTE foods market has the potential market size of 2,900
crore by 2015 from its existing Rs. 128 crore.

Challenges
Most urban families are strapped for time. So we would conclude that the RTE foods would be a
necessity, however, this is not the case. The Rs 130 crore markets have stayed stagnant over the
past three years. That's because in India people still believe in cooking and serving food.
Additionally, The RTE foods have to compete with restaurants, cooks and consumers penchant
for cooking. Over and above, the pricing is higher range which has made it an occasional
purchase item rather than regular buying.

10
Research Based Literature Review

Research Paper Abstracts

Ready To Eat Food Industry

Source: www.opppapers.com

The project report deals with research done on the Ready to eat industry in India. It was research
done by students. The analysis has been done based on the primary data (which are collected
through survey & personal interview) and secondary data (which are collected from different
sources like internet, magazines, and reports of different Government agencies).
The project covers the current news on ready to eat food

Ready Meals in India to 2013

Source: www.marketresearch.com

The report provides data and information on the ready to eat eat meal market in India. The is a
comprehensive report covering category and segment level data including value, volume,
distribution share and company & brand share.

Highlights

The market for ready meals in India increased at a compound annual growth rate of 13.7%
between 2003 and 2008. The canned ready meals category led the ready meals market in India,
accounting for a share of 60.3%.Leading players in Indian ready meals market include ITC
Limited, Al Kabeer Group of Companies and Orkla Foods.

11
Reasons to Purchase

• Develop business strategies by understanding the quantitative trends within the ready
meals market in India
• Design effective marketing and sales strategies by identifying key market categories and
segments
• Identify key players within the market to plan lucrative M&A, partnerships and
agreements

CS Market Research report

Country: India

The project report gives a detailed analysis of the Indian food processing industry. The factors
influencing the growth pattern is attributed to the rapid expansion of the retail distribution system
replacing mall stores and wet markets with modern supermarkets, superstores and convenience
stores. Domestic processed food consumption will continue to grow as India’s population
increases, and as incomes increase and lifestyles change, a higher proportion of processed food
and beverages are included in the diet. The consumer food industry mainly consists of ready-to-
eat or ready-to-cook products such as noodles, cocoa based products, bakery products, biscuits,
soft drinks,and snack food.

Article Abstracts
Indian Food Industry

12
Source: http://www.indianfoodindustry.net/

The article deals with the Indian food processing industry. There is an opportunity for large
investments in food and food processing technologies, skills and equipment, especially in areas of
Canning, Dairy and Food Processing, Specialty Processing, Packaging, Frozen
Food/Refrigeration and Thermo Processing, Fruits & Vegetables, Fisheries, Milk & Milk
Products, Meat & Poultry, Packaged/Convenience Foods etc

This shows that there is large scope for growth for RTE industry and studying the factors
influencing the industry and industry should consider all these factors to get a share of the
growing RTE market.

Ready-to-eat segment whets NRI appetite

Source: Business Line

The article states that there is a market for RTE industry outside India i.e. the NRI industry.

Cooking made convenient

Source: The Hindu

This article elaborates on the need for Ready to Eat foods. It also discusses how RTE has
penetrated In the retail distribution network. It also discusses the various competitors in this
segment and the pricing strategy on these companies.

Source: Research report on Retort Packaging

Ready to Eat Meals like already cooked or prepared lunch & dinner are relatively new products
which came in market only a few years back and are now sold through retail general stores in
especially made sealed aluminum laminates.

MARKET & ITS GROWTH

� T he popularity of ready to eat packed food now is no longer marks a special occasion.
Peoples want value for time, money in terms of quality and variety.

13
 �The food processing industry is one of the largest industries in India and it is the ranked
fifth in terms of Production, Consumption, Export & Expected growth.

Source: www.marketingpractice.blogspot.com

According to ITC press release on March 2008, Indian RTE market is worth around Rs 80-100
crore. The market is somewhat in a stagnant state and the growth is minimal. This article deals
with the rising prices issue that might have an impact on the RTE industry.

Ready to Eat: Indian processed and packaged foods

Source: www.garamchai.com

This article discusses the take off of ready to eat industry due to demand from NRI’s. It also lists
the various players in this segment along with their product offering. The article states in spite of
the stagnant growth in Indian market the company’s sales are fast gaining momentum due to the
sales driven by NRI market.

14
Section 3: Research Methodology

Research Design
A research design is the arrangement of conditions for collection and analysis of data Ina manner
that aims to combine relevance to research purpose with economy procedure. Research design is
the conceptual structure within which research is conducted.

There are three types of research design. The research design adopted here is descriptive. I have
made use of secondary data collection and also primary data collection. The project started with
sorting all the raw data and arranging them in perfect order. The research problem was defined
understanding the collected data. To fulfill the objectives of the study a narrowed approach to
secondary data collection was used and primary data collection was done by using survey
questionnaire.

Steps in the research:

• Collection of data pertaining to Ready to eat market and identifying the research problem.

• Collection of data from secondary data related to the research problem.

• Primary data collection using Questionnaire targeting a sample size of more that 50.

Data collection Methodology

The sources of data used in this project report are both primary and secondary data.

Primary data
Primary data consists of original information gathered for specific purposes at hand. These
are gathered for a specific purpose or for a specific research project. Primary data was collected
online as well as manually. A survey questionnaire was made on Google Documents and the link
was mailed to the sample. Additionally, to the sample that were not net savvy printouts of the
questionnaire was distributed and the result was compiled.

15
Secondary data

Secondary data consists of information that already exist and that were being collected in the
past for some other purposes. Secondary data used in this study were collected from external
sources like books, blogs, wiki etc. Some websites which were really helpful are
www.slideshare.com, www.scribd.com.

Sample design
The sampling technique used for survey was a non-probabilistic convenience sampling. The
sample size was chosen keeping in mind the target market for RTE segment, Hostel/paying guest,
Individuals working living in nuclear families and bachelors between the age group of 18-40.

Tools & Techniques

Data was collected with the help of questionnaire. The questionnaire is of structured non-
disguised type. The questions are of mixed type. It can be found in the Annexure. For online
survey, questionnaire was prepared using third party tool (www.docs.google.com), email for
filling questionnaire was send to potential respondent and response was collected on the third
party site on which questionnaire was prepared.

The third party tool made data reliable owing to the self-reported demographic attributes of
the respondents. The email invitations provided a direct link to the survey, and contained the
language which is given in Annexure. This was complete method followed for conducting study.

The questionnaire was also distributed personally to respondents in the form of printouts and
this was eventually collected and report generated.

Sample Size
The total no of respondents were 60 of the total 100 approached. The age group in which the
sample lied is 18-40.The occupation of this sample size was a healthy mix of self employed
individuals, working people and students. The respondents included 17 people from
Hostel\Paying guest which form a large chunk of the target market for RTE foods.

16
Section 4: Results and Findings

Given a Normal Week, Are Meals(i.e Lunch & Dinner)

cooked at home.
12% 0%
7%
Days.
15%
All days
66% Week Days
Week Ends
Never

Figure: 1

The pie chart above depicts a typical Indian households mentality of cooking food at home
almost on all days (66% of respondents). It was followed by 15 % of respondents cooking on
week days.

Ondayswhenmealsare not cookedat home, howdo you

manage? (Choose more thanone if applicable.)

12
We pick up a Ready To Eat Packet

34
We order food froma restaurant

29
We visit a Restaurant

0 10 20 30 40

We visit a Restaurant We order food froma restaurant

We pick up a Ready To Eat Packet
Figure: 2

17
When the meals are not cooked at home the most favorable option that consumers feel is ordering
food from the restaurant. The percentages here might add up to more than 100 as respondents
were allowed to chose more than one option.

Have you heard about RTE meals?

Yes
No

Figure: 3

As is seen from the above pie chart the sample was aware of the RTE packs hence the responses
were fair and true to their experience.

HaveYou PurchasedReady To EATMealsAnytime?

Yes No

13%

18

87%
 Figure: 4

87% of the respondents have used the RTE meals and have given their rating based on their usage
and their experience. From this we can conclude that RTE has penetrated sufficiently in the
Indian Urban market.

You Picked up Ready TO eat pack

While shopping for MONTHLY GROCERY items
Seperately during Emergency

32%

68%

Figure: 5

68% of the respondents said that RTE packs are part of their monthly grocery shopping and not
emergency purchase. Even for emergency purchase the 32% is quite a huge number. Kindly take
note that the sample for this question are the one who has purchased RTE packs as seen in the
previous question.

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 How did you come to kno About the Ready To Eat
packs?

Other

Display at 27 Other
Malls
Display at Malls
Word of Mouth
Word of 9
Mouth TV Commercials

TV 31
Commercials

0 10 20 30 40
Figure: 6

As is seen form the above chart the Ready to eat meals have the highest visibility in malls and TV
commercials. The companies should leverage these options to increase the visibility and the
penetration of the RTE packs.

Kindly Rate your opinion on the following parameters:

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A Ready to Eat Pack saves lot of time and effort in cooking

Strongly Agree 14
Agree 42
Neither Agree or
Disagree 4
Disagree 0
Strongly Disagree 0
Figure: 7

A pack of Ready to eat has sufficient

quantity

Strongly Agree 4
Agree 25
Neither Agree or
Disagree 13
Disagree 15
Strongly Disagree 3

Figure: 8

A Ready to Eat pack is easily available whenever I need it.

Strongly Agree 16
Agree 31
Neither Agree or
Disagree 10
Disagree 3
Strongly Disagree 0

Figure: 9

I don’t see any sort of health problem due to the consumption of RTE

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 Strongly Agree 2
Agree 13
Neither Agree or
Disagree 22
Disagree 19
Strongly Disagree 4
Figure: 10

I think a Ready to Eat (RTE) is value for money

Strongly Agree 1
Agree 20
Neither Agree or 25
Disagree
Disagree 9
Strongly Disagree 5
Figure: 11

I think The RTE meal is not tasty as freshly cooked food.

Strongly Agree 14

22
 Agree 27
Neither Agree or
Disagree 11
Disagree 6
Strongly Disagree 2

Figure: 12

I will surely use RTE curry if ready to eat rotis are also made available.

Strongly Agree 2
Agree 17
Neither Agree or
Disagree 15
Disagree 18
Strongly Disagree 8

Figure: 13

I know that RTE packs are manufactured at best quality standards.

23
 Strongly Agree 2
Agree 17
Neither Agree or
Disagree 33
Disagree 6
Strongly Disagree 2

Figure: 14

As seen from the series of Results the following observations can be made:

• 56 respondents i.e. 93 % of respondents believe that RTE meals are a time saving option
for cooking. The marketers should use this as their USP to the advertising and positioning
should be done on these lines.

• Only 29 respondents feel that RTE packs have enough quantity and 18 feel they don’t and
the rest have no opinion on this matter. It’s a mixed reaction and response. The general
conclusion that can be drawn is that people don’t feel the quantity is enough for the
money they are spending. Some verbatim to support “Quantity should be good.”

• 47 respondents i.e. 78 % of the respondents feel that the RTE packs are easily available
when needed. This shows the commendable distribution network established by RTE
marketers.

• 23 respondents feel that RTE packs are not good for health while only 15 respondents feel
otherwise which is concerning statistics for the RTE companies. When a product is
considered harmful for health its reliability decreases and brand value loses. Same is the
case for RTE. This could be one of the reasons why in spite of efforts taken by companies
the growth in RTE segment is stagnant. Well, this is very critical factors as lot of
respondents commented one the health factor of RTE. Some Verbatim to support this,
“Ready-to-eat meals, though a time-saving option, are sometimes viewed with suspicion
by many because of the usual concerns associated with packaged food.”, “ If the
manufacturers can repose confidence by eliminating all doubts in the consumers' minds

24
 and assure them that these products are not a health hazard, then the consumption may
increase”, “ Should have more nutritional values”, “use of less preservatives”, “make it
more Healthy...RTE MEALS contains lots of unsaturated fats.”

• 21 respondents feel that RTE packs are value for money while only 14 people feel they
are not while the rest 25 respondents did not agree on either. Some verbatim to support
the observation, “although they are good enough for eating but they are almost on oar
sometimes costlier than food from restaurants with respect to price. So it doesn’t make
sense to me.”
• 41 respondents feel that RTE meals are not tasty as home made meals and only 8 people
feel otherwise. This depicts unique characteristics of Indian household which always
believes that home made foods are more tasty and nutritious.

• As the results suggest 38 people are not sure whether ready to eat meals are manufactured
under best quality standards. “If the manufacturers can repose confidence by eliminating
all doubts in the consumers' minds and assure them that these products are not a health
hazard, then the consumption may increase.”

Do You Remember any of the Ready to Eat brands?

Maggi was the most mentioned name. It has top of the mind recall. The other mentioned names
were MTR, Ashirwad, Top ramen, Gits, Haldiram, Ching’s ready to eat Chinese dishes, Knor
soup ACT popcorn etc.

25
Section 5: Conclusion and Recommendations

Conclusion
As is seen from the results and findings section I could identify the following factors
influencing RTE consumers:

• Price- Indian consumers are highly price sensitive. For any new product they
judge the product based on their price and more or less the repeat purchases are
impacted by price factor. Same is the case with Ready to Eat foods.

• Value proposition – RTE foods should be perceived as a value proposition by

customers. Value proposition means it should be able to save lot of time and
money with sufficient quantity to act as a full meal.

• Value for money - Consumers should perceive RTE packs as Value for money
i.e. they should feel the money they spent on It is well spent and not wasted. This
is where repeat buying can be induced. If consumers see RTE as a Value for
money option they won’t look for other options like ordering from restaurant or
going to a restaurant.

• Quantity and taste of food - Indians are voracious eaters and the family size is
also large. And Indians are used to eating a 3 full course meal on any day. Hence
the quantity packaged in the RTE packs should be sufficient. And that is were the
buying decision will come into play if the quantity is insufficient to fulfill the
entire family then defiantly they wont consider buying it again. The food should
also tickle the taste buds of consumers.

• Manufacturing conditions - As is evident, the Target market for RTE foods are
the educated individuals who are short of time. These educated individuals have
their own opinion and wont take anything as given and health being their main
concern in this fast paced life.

• Easy availability - The biggest competitor for RTE foods are restaurants which
are easily available geographically and accessible with the option of doorstep

26
 delivery. Hence RTE has to be made available in such way that it can be easily
accessible by the consumers during normal shopping as well as during
emergencies.

Recommendations
As per my study the following recommendations could be utilized by the companies
manufacturing and marketing Ready To Eat Meals:

• As is seen from the survey the major concern for consumers is the health aspect. They
have a perception that these RTE meals are not manufactured under good conditions.
Secondly, they also feel that Ready to eat meals is not good for health. Hence marketers
have to touch upon this point. The advertising, communication and promotion should
revolve around this point. Packaged foods are relatively new to India hence proper
awareness have to be created by companies.

• Indian Households are averse to outside food and they feel only home cooked food can
provide the taste and quality. This is a big hurdle for the RTE industry and the efforts
should be taken to improve the quality of the food by using better manufacturing, and
packing methods. “41 respondents feel that RTE meals are not tasty as home made meals
and only 8 people feel otherwise.” This is states that need to be changed.

• The ready to Eat marketers should bank upon its strengths i.e. time saving, effort saving
and easily available option. The promotion, Packaging should revolve around these
characteristics as we all know in the traditional Indian urban family time is less. People
crave to spend time with their family after hard day at work. However, various limitations
like cooking food etc hamper this. RTE should consider this as their positioning strategy.

• The pricing strategy should be designed in such a way so as to be competent with the
restaurants rate. People do not mind spending more if it saves time. However they will
spend only a reasonable hike in price. If there is a lot of difference between the restaurant
price and RTE price they would go for the former.

27
• In the previous section its is seen that the consumers came to know about RTE packs from
Television Ads and display at malls and the word of mouth was virtually nil. This proves
that two promotion methodologies were very effective. The third and the most important
as far is food products is concerned “word of mouth” is where marketers should work on.
This can only happen if the consumers are satisfied with their experience and will they
give a positive word of mouth feedback to their relatives and friends. This is the most
effective form of communication when it comes to some thing edible as Indian consumers
tend to trust people who have already sued it rather than advertisement.

28
Section 6: Bibliography

BOOKS
Kothari, C.R, Research Methodology, Second Edition, New Delhi, Wishwa Prakashan, 1990

WEB-RESOURCES
http://www.statusa.gov/mrd_a.nsf/vwNoteIDLookup/NT0003CA62/$File/X_413629.PDF?OpenElement

http://www.tsmg.com/media-and-press-releases/219-ready-to-eat-foods-market-in-india.html

http://www.indianfoodindustry.net/

http://www.thehindu.com/2007/10/24/stories/2007102454651900.htm

http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Ready-To-Eat-Food-Industry/198352

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mp/2004/06/10/stories/2004061000130300.htm

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2003/11/24/stories/2003112400740300.htm

http://www.marketresearch.com/product/display.asp?productid=2552630&SID=63229650-463567436-
409318558

www.marketresearch.com

www.hindubusinessline.com

www.marketingpractice.blogspot.com

www.garamchai.com

Other References
• Mr. Sanjeev Banga, NEW ERA OF INDIAN READY TO EAT FOOD.
• CS Market Research Report, Food additives, India, 2005

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Section 7: Annexure
Annexure 1: The printed Questionnaire

PLEASE FILL THE QUESTIONNAIRE AND REPLY HERE

Kindly tick the most appropriate box with a 'X' wherever applicable /
fill the blanks.

1. Given a normal week, are meals (i.e lunch & dinner) cooked at home for

ALL DAYS
WEEK DAYS
WEEK ENDS
NEVER

2. On days when meals are not cooked at home, how do you manage?
(Select more than one If applicable)
We visit a Restaurant
We order food from a restaurant
We pick up a Ready To Eat Packet

3. Have you heard of READY TO EAT YES NO

meals?

4. Have you purchased READY TO EAT

meals anytime? YES NO

5. Do you remember any of the READY TO EAT brands?

1. __________ 2. __________ 3. __________ 4. __________

6. You picked up a
While shopping for MONTHLY Separately DURING
READY TO EAT pack GROCERY items EMERGENCY

7.How did you come to know about the Ready To Eat Packs? (choose more than
one if applicable)

TV COMMERCIALS
DISPLAY AT MALLS
WORD OF MOUTH
OTHER SOURCES (PLEASE SPECIFY) _____________

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8. Kindly rate your opinion on the following parameters:-

NEITHER
STRONGLY STRONGLY
AGREE AGREE AGREE/NOR DISAGREE
DISAGREE DISAGREE
A Ready To Eat Pack
saves a lot of time
(a) and effort in cooking
A pack of Ready to
eat has sufficient
(b) quantity
A Ready To Eat Pack
is easily available
(c) whenever I need it
I don’t see any sort
of
health problem due
to the consumption
(d) of RTE
I think a RTE pack is
(e) value for money
I think the RTE meal
is not
as tasty as freshly
(f) cooked food
I know that the RTE
Packs are
manufactured at
best quality
(g) standards
I will surely use
more RTE Packs if
ready to eat rotis
are also made
(h available

Any suggestions or comments on Ready To Eat Meals:

31
The information below would be needed to build a consumer profile. I hereby assure
you that all the information will only be used for the purpose of the study.

1. Gend
er MALE FEMALE

2. Ag
e
Gr
ou
p 18-25 26-40 41-55 Above 55

3. Marit
al
Statu
s SINGLE MARRIED

4. Occupation SERVICE
SELF EMPLOYED
HOUSEWIFE
RETIRED/OTHER

5. You belong to
JOINT FAMILY a:
NUCLEAR FAMILY
WITH IN-LAWS
HOSTEL / PAYING GUEST / OTHER

6. Could you kindly tick your group as per Total Family Income per month

Less than 20,000

20,000 – 50,000
50,000-1,00,000
Above 1,00,000

32
Annexure 2: The online questionnaire.
This annexure contains email format which is an invitation for taking part in survey.
This email invitation was send for online survey.

Hello,

Please Fill the below given questionnaire. Its for an academic project . The study is on the
Ready to Eat Market in India. I request you to click on the link or copy paste the URL in your
browser tab. I assure you it will not take more than five minutes of your time and it will
greatly help me in preparing a good report. For any queries feel free t o contact me.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?
formkey=dFMtRENkRmJVWGpxRXZvVUptRE1HT2c6MA

Thanks & Regards,

Shruthika Kanchan

33
Below is the screen shot of the online questionnaire:

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