ASSESSING CONSUMER BEHAVIOR FOR INDIAN CANDIES TAKING THE CASE OF MENTOS

Abstract

Mentos, launched in India in 1999 by the Dutch corporation Perfetti Van Melle is quite a wellknown 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 Mentos 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 Perfetti Van Melle perceived to be the target group for Mentos 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 Mentos 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 MS Excel 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 Mentos was perceived to be high on taste, packaging and being shared with friends’ vis-à-vis other mint brands. Mentos ranked low on after taste and quickness of cooling against the same competitors.