ANALYSING CONSUMER BEHAVIOR AND CONDUCTING MARKETING RESEARCH ON NESTLE POLO

Abstract

Nestle POLO, launched in India in 1993 is quite a well-known product in most households in the country. This report analyses the characteristics of the product from two major marketing frameworks: the awareness funnel and the customer-based brand equity model. It also gives a benchmarking of POLO as compared to its competitors i.e. other mint brands. We started by analyzing the key trends and issues that are driving the industry. Thereafter, we conducted Focused Group Discussions and In-depth interviews of the people who Nestle perceived to be the target group for POLO to see a general pattern in their behavior towards the product and the common notions/myths they associate with it, if any. A perceptual map with POLO and its close competitors was prepared on the basis of a survey result to see where it is actually positioned in the minds of the consumers based on convenience, usage and other factors. Based on the exploratory research we framed some research problems/hypothesis, which were to be tested using market research during Delhi University fests with the college students as our sample set. With the data of around 200+ respondents, through questionnaire responses and result was analyzed using advanced tools like SPSS we observed that our Target Group had a fair knowledge of the product and its usage. While a lot of people were aware of the brand, the percentage reduced significantly while going down the awareness funnel. Major reasons which were evident from the survey were that POLO was perceived to be low on taste, packaging and being shared with friends vis-à-vis other mint brands. Polo ranked high on after taste and quickness of cooling against the same competitors.