Cadbury

This product and the brand as an extension can be said to be in the cusp between introductory and growth stage in India. This is because:

• The soup market in India is small which means that soup as a daily item still hasn’t caught on.

• The sales of Knorr are growing at a high rate (25% between 2006-07) and there is potential for huge growth.

• The contribution to HUL from this brand though small, have been growing at a rapid rate

• Though Knorr is very well known around the world and commands a high brand recall, in India it isn’t so, as evinced by the sample survey among MBA students who can be considered to be the most up to date people.

• The marketing for Knorr still concentrates on the usability of the product and also has been aimed at increasing the soup market as a whole.

• No variants have been released in this brand (though it was done earlier and discontinued) and it still markets only soups.

• The soup market in India has is a two horse race with only Knorr and Maggi as competitors.

The soup segment history in India:

Soups in some form have always been a part of traditional Indian food habits, especially in the northern and southern parts of India which British military establishments were most associated with. However, soup in the Indian context mainly meant lentils based liquids like ‘sambar’,’dal’ and ‘rasam’ used in everyday food, unlike the starchy, vegetable based products popular internationally. As a result, these soups are still considered a western legacy and so, ‘western soups’ remain confined to experiences at restaurants and other formal outings for most people and as an appetizer.

The first attempts to bring soups (of international variety) into popular usage were made in 1988 by Nestle under the Maggi brand, which introduced soup cubes in several flavours after studying that the up market SEC A and B households were avid soup-drinkers (40%had tried homemade soups). The tomato flavour was by far the highest selling soup among the limited choices available. By 1992, the market had reached 100 tonnes, totally monopolised by Nestle. Subsequently, Nestle lost market shares to Knorr, the world leader, which pursued the market aggressively with a wider suite of products, more choices of flavours and offered choice to the customer for the first time. In 1998, the market had grown to 425 tonnes, with market leader Knorr having a 57% share. In 1999, with the global sale of Bestfoods to Unilever, the Knorr brand came into the hands of Unilever’s subsidiary in India(HUL),thus reducing the soup segment in India to a race between nestle and HUL .

The branded soup market in 1999-2000 was close to 500 tonnes and valued at US$6.52 million. It grew at a rate of 20%YoY. Powdered soup made up 93% of the total market, and the market was divided between Maggi from Nestle at 30%, Knorr stands at 57% and Kissan, the other brand from Levers, at 8% (Kissan soups were discontinued soon and Knorr was the only soup brand of HUL).

The rise of the institutional market was a major boon to this segment is the initial stages. As mentioned earlier, soups in India were usually consumed in hotels and other formal occasions (usually held in hotels) and so, these hotels presented an obvious and huge growth opportunity to grow the soup market. As a result, Nestle as well as Lever commenced bulk supplies