STUDY OF VARIOUS MARKETING STRATEGIES IN THE CONFECTIONERY CATEGORY OF THE FMCG SECTOR

Abstract

The idea of the project was to study the confectionery market in India and how effective the marketing strategies in place were. Considering the recent growth of the marketing of confectionaries in India, and how effectively they’ve been able to replace and phase out the traditional sweet sector, it was an interesting proposition to identify the different needs ascribed to the market, how consumers purchase and consume confectionaries, and also, how effective and deep-reaching the different marketing strategies currently used are. Primary research with a questionnaire to understand the psyche of the consumer has been identified with an extrapolatory analysis of what the brands have segmented their marketing mixes across different categories. An online form was created and floated across people. To cater to different age groups, we made sure to get respondents from different age groups e.g., our teachers, students, and people in different societies (to highlight different income groups) was done. Different suggestions and analyses were explored, in the different strategy aspects, and also to understand the psyche of the customer better, as analyzed through our primary research, and how to capture more of the market through need-based marketing that encapsulate the general consumer better. A positioning map highlighting dissimilarity in prices between different brands was highlighted. The cultural and emotional aspects were looked at, also the offline and online channels and how important discounts and brand recall to a particular purchase were explored in depth. Brand loyalty was perceived to be not as important as understanding the emotional needs of the consumer currently. 6 We also tried to segment the marketing mix into 4 major categories, namely the product, price, place, and promotion. While analyzing the different marketing mixes, we also tried looking at the various touch points across the consumer journey that could be identified, and also be optimized further. The different personas and insights driven by the primary research combined with the different aspects identified here were also explored in detail. The different ad campaigns and how permeable they were to society, across genders and channels were also looked at in detail.