Neral Water Industries

8/3/2019 Neral Water Industries

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NERAL WATER INDUSTRIES- SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON BISLERI)

MARKETING STRATEGY OF MINERAL WATER INDUSTRIES- SPECIAL EMPHASISON BISLERI

INTRODUCTION

Water is the most important liquid in the world. Without water, there would be no life, at leastnot the way we know it. In today's living condition, the need for Pure Drinking Water isbecoming the issue for the common Man.Eighty percent of the human metabolism consists of water. This is the reason why 90% of humandiseases are water borne. There are 3 types of water impurities, which are root cause of waterborne diseases.1. Microbiological-Bacteria / virus.2. Dissolved impurities - chemical.3. Imbalance of Mineral Content.

There are rapid changes that are taking place in our environment since long and the air and thewater pollution is on an increase. The main source of drinking water is river and downstreamwhich also have not been able to escape the pollution. When a consumer became aware of theproblems caused by water pollution the market saw an advent of ceramic water filters, whichfilters the dust and suspended particles but dissolved impurities and microbiological impuritiesare not cleared out. The mineral balance is also not maintained.1980's witnessed more changes by a tap attachment wherein Iodine resin is used to filter thewater. It deactivates microbiological impurities to an extent but has side effects due to iodine andit does not take care of dissolved impurities mineral balance.Late 1980's witnessed Ultra Violent based purifier, which filters dust and deactivates bacteria toa great extent. It maintains the odor and color of water but does not clear out the dissolved

impurities and mineral particles. Thus came advent of mineral water.Historically, the need for purified water within Indian homes had been kept down to a minimum.Essentially, there were three types of water that was used for different purposes. The first typewas used for rinsing. The second type, which was used for cooking, was cleaner and keptcovered. The third type was the cleanest drinking water and was very often boiled before use.Since an average family needed a small quantity, not more than five or six liters a day, boiledand filtered water had been a convenient solution for some time .The fallouts were obvious. Itwas very difficult to convince the people that purification system was worth the price. There wasno visible way to demonstrate the benefit. The otherwise somnolent market began to changeonce companies like Eureka Forbes targeted the office segment, while the mineral water playerswent after travelers. Ion Exchange was the only company, which had any measure of success in

entering homes with Zero-B. But clean drinking water returned on the national agenda a littlelater.Around 1989, drinking water became an issue again.Around early 1990s,Time did a story on India as a key emerging market and that was the triggerfor all the players eyeing this market.

WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE


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Water - the Beverage your Body Needs Most

When we were kids in school, we learned that each molecule of water is made up of two

hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. We also learned that it was great fun to fill up our squirtguns with water, at least until the principal caught us. What we really didn't learn, however, washow much water we needed in order to be healthy human beings.

West Europeans, south Asians and Japanese live in the most densely populated regions of theglobe and worry constantly about the quality of their drinking water drawn from rivers and lakes.Most is polluted and unfit for human consumption. In North America, people never worriedabout water quality and safety until early 1970s and restaurants always provided iced water free.Some still do. Then came Perrier, the French mineral water emphasizing how restaurateurs couldincrease their revenues by replacing iced water service with bottled water. Restaurateurs nevermiss an opportunity to increase their profits, and soon studies started to surface claiming that

serving iced water was costly and no one benefited. Many restaurants started servingautomatically bottled water, and charged outrageous amounts i.e $ 3.50 for 300 ml. These days, a750 ml bottle goes for $ 10.- in some restaurants, plus applicable taxes and tip!

Meanwhile, the word savvy bottled water marketers started circulating the myth that drinkingbottled mineral water is safer, never mentioning what their studies were comparing.

It is said that the inhabitants of seven cities between Switzerland and the Netherlands consumethe water of the Rhine River. In these parts people drink beer, wine, bottled water or fruit juicesand shun tap water. North Americans have recently begun to drink bottled water, but already thedistinction between spring water, mineral water, and filtered tap water is blurred beyondredemption. Spring water must come from a natural springs with proven purity of contaminants;mineral water must contain 2000 parts per million in minerals; and filtered tap water means justthat. Europeans always preferred mineral water or eau de source (spring water) since their riverswere polluted a long time ago. Now considerable efforts are made to clean all major EuropeanRivers. The Rhine River, the Thames, the Loire are clean enough to allow several species of fishto thrive.

As always, large companies with considerable cash reserves dominate the market. GroupeDanone, a French conglomerate, markets Evian, Volvic and Crystal Springs; Nestle, a Swissfood multinational with headquarters in Montreux markets Perrier, Nestle Pure Life and SanPellegrino. Not to be outdone soft drink giant Coca-Cola joined the cause with filtered tap waterand positioned their brand as pure, safe, life-style water. Coca Cola markets Dasani and PepsiCola Aquafina. When it comes to mineral water, Voss (Norway); Tynant (Ireland); Vitel,Cathledon, Volvic, (France); Appolinaris (Germany), Spa (Belgium); Gasteiner (Austria); SanBenedetto, San Pellegrino, Aqua di Nepi, Lete (Italy), Ramlosa (Sweden);Borsec (Romania)stand out. They display distinct taste profiles that spring and filtered waters lack, but tend to bemore expensive. When it comes to consumption, Canadians consume approximately 30 litres percapita, Italians 158 litres, French 133, Dutch 119, Germans 101 and Americans 76. The low percapita consumption can be attributed to the illusion that tap water is safe. In reality, only large


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cities control tap water quality regularly and vigorously and treat it appropriately for safety. Insmall communities, scarce financial resources and lacking expertise often make tap water safetyquestionable. Since the introduction of PET bottles (polyethylene terephate) bottled waterconsumption increased by 16 percent in five years and continuing growth of the market isforecast by the Canadian Bottled Water Association in Richmond Hill, Ontario. The question for

restaurant patrons remains whether to ask for bottled or mineral water, or demand ice water.

It all depends on the situation. You can ask politely for ice water, if that is what you prefer, or aglass of wine, or beer. The cost is almost the same for all the three, or you can complain tomanagement that prices charged for bottled water are ridiculous as is the case with wine.

BISLERI - COMPANY PROFILE

Mineral Water under the name 'Bisleri' was first introduced in Mumbai in glass bottles in twovarieties - bubbly & still in 1965 by Bisleri Ltd., a company of Italian origin. This company wasstarted by Signor Felice Bisleri who first brought the idea of selling bottle water in India.

Parle bought over Bisleri (India) Ltd. In 1969 & started bottling Mineral water in glass bottlesunder the brand name 'Bisleri'. Later Parle switched over to PVC non-returnable bottles & finallyadvanced to PET containers. . Parle's taking charge of Bisleri did not make a dramatic differenceto the brand's fortunes immediately. While it did gain in terms of visibility and reach(piggybacking on Parle's existing distribution network), efforts to expand the bottled watermarket were not exactly painstaking. Parle at that particular time was interested in making sodawater and not mineral water. There were just minor initiatives on part of the company for makingmineral water, as it was not considered to be a very profitable business at that time as people stillconsidered boiling water to be a safer and better than mineral water. Moreover they were notready to pay for a commodity like water, which was so abundantly available.In 1972-73 Parle changed the packaging of its bottled water to plastic bottles and thatsignificantly made a difference in the sales. The buyers, then, were mainly the upper class - thetrendy people.In 1993, Coca-Cola bought Parles soft drink brands- Thumps-up, limca etc. While Coca-Colaactually bought over Parle's beverages, it agreed to a settlement that allowed the multinational tobottle and distribute Bisleri soda for a time frame of five years. The charge of Bisleri water,however, remained with Parle. The upsurge in the sales of Bisleri started from this point as Parlesold off its stable of brands to Coca-Cola. This was the time when it started concentrating onmaking Bisleri a success in the domestic mineral water market. The reason why Parle chose toretain the Bisleri name was that Parle saw a fairly lucrative business of mineral water in Bisleri'sequity.Since 1995 Mr. Ramesh J. Chauhan has started expanding Bisleri operations substantially andthe turn over has multiplied more than 20 times over a period of 10 years and the average growthrate has been around 40% over this period. Presently we have 8 plants & 11 franchisees all overIndia. We have our presence covering the entire span of India. In our future ventures we look toput up four more plants in 06-07. We command a 60% market share of the organized market.


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Overwhelming popularity of 'Bisleri' & the fact that we pioneered bottled water in India, hasmade us synonymous to Mineral water & a household name. When you think of bottled water,you think Bisleri.

We at Bisleri value our customers & therefore have developed 8 unique pack sizes to suit the

need of every individual. We are present in 250ml cups, 250ml bottles, 500ml, 1L, 1.5L, 2Lwhich are the non-returnable packs & 5L, 20L which are the returnable packs. Till date theIndian consumer has been offered Bisleri water, however in our effort to bring to you somethingrefreshingly new, we have introduced Bisleri Natural Mountain Water - water brought to youfrom the foothills of the mountains situated in Himachal Pradesh. Hence our product range nowcomprises of two variants : Bisleri with added minerals & Bisleri Mountain Water.

It is our commitment to offer every Indian pure & clean drinking water. Bisleri Water is putthrough multiple stages of purification, ozonised & finally packed for consumption. . RigorousR&D & stringent quality controls has made us a market leader in the bottled water segment.Strict hygiene conditions are maintained in all plants.

In our endeavour to maintain strict quality controls each unit purchases performs & caps onlyfrom approved vendors. We produce our own bottles in-house. We have recently procured thelatest world class state of the art machineries that puts us at par with International standards. Thishas not only helped us improve packaging quality but has also reduced raw material wastage &doubled production capacity. You can be rest assured that you are drinking safe & pure waterwhen you consume Bisleri. Bisleri is free of impurities & 100% safe. Enjoy the Sweet taste ofPurity.

How Parle Bisleri began..

June 10, 2005According to the Bureau of Indian Standards there are 1,200 bottled water factories all over India(of which 600 are in one state -- Tamil Nadu). Over 100 brands are vying for the Rs 1,000-crore(Rs 10 billion) bottled water market and are hard selling their products in every way possible --better margins to dealers, aggressive advertising, catchy taglines.... In such a scenario, TheStrategist takes a look at how it all started -- with Bisleri -- and how Ramesh Chauhan, chairman,Parle Bisleri created a market out of pure water. Excerpts from a conversation with PrernaRaturi:Can I be honest? When we bought Bisleri mineral water from the Italian company, Felice Bisleri,in 1969 -- the company had been unable to market bottled water and wanted to exit the market --we too did not see any potential for the product at that time.As a soft drinks company, we had Thums Up, Gold Spot and Limca (cola, orange drink andlemonade) but no soft drink company was complete without a soda. So we merely used the nameand launched Bisleri soda with two variants -- carbonated and non-carbonated mineral water.


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But three decades ago, what could we say about a category that had no market? We didn't knowour target group. Then, since bottled water is colourless, tasteless and odourless, it was not aneasy product to advertise.Thus, the earlier brand building efforts focused on Bisleri being healthy with adequate minerals.The Italian name added a dash of class to it. The first print ad campaign captured the

international essence and showed a butler with a bow tie, holding two bottles of Bisleri.The punchline was, "Bisleri is veri veri extraordinari" (the spelling of the punchline wasdesigned to capture the consumer's attention). The campaign was successful and we were beingnoticed as someone who catered to the need for safe, healthy drinking water.However, the real boost to mineral water came in the early-to-mid-1980s when we switched toPVC packaging and later to PET bottles. The PET packaging did not just ensure bettertransparency -- we could now show sparkling clear water to the consumers. It also meant betterlife for the water.Meanwhile, Bisleri soda was doing well but we had to discontinue production as we sold our softdrink brands to Coca-Cola in 1993. But my interest was in building brands and not in bottlingsoft drinks. That's when I started to concentrate on developing the Bisleri water brand.

There was a clear opportunity of building a market for bottled water. The quality of wateravailable in the country was bad. It was similar to what Europe faced before World War II. Thequality of water in Europe was extremely poor, which created the bottled water industry there. InIndia, too, not only was water scarce, whatever was available was of bad quality.Initially, though bottled water was something only foreigners and non-resident Indiansconsumed, we still had to increase the distribution, which meant the dealer margins reduced. Andbecause of limited sales, the dealer margin had to be kept high to compensate low sales. Now wehad to push sales.But to reach out to the masses, we had to make the category more affordable. The introduction ofa comfortable-to-carry 500-ml bottle for just Rs 5 in 1995 not only answered that need, but alsomeant doing away with carrying the excess water or throwing it away if you were to buy a one-litre bottle.The idea was a success and gave the company a growth of 400 per cent. We also introduced the1.2 litre bottle in 2000, which was aimed at those who share their water. This also gave us theadvantage of higher margins that a crate (12 bottles) generated.With other brands joining the fray, things were hotting up -- the bottled-water market wasestimated at Rs 300 crore (Rs 3 billion) and was growing at 50 per cent a year. Bisleri hadcaptured 40 per cent of the market.We realised it was time to move to the next level -- the bulk segment. Several commercialestablishments had no access to piped water. We tapped into this segment by introducing the 12-litre container, followed by the 20-litre can. The bulk segment also helped bring down the priceper litre from Rs 10-12 a litre to about Rs 3 a litre.At present, the bulk segment constitutes 60 to 70 per cent of our sales and we intend to increaseit to 80 per cent in the next two years. With water scarcity in several cities, even households aredemanding bottled water now.The home pack was made more user-friendly by introducing pouring spouts and jars withdispensers. At the same time, we were constantly looking for new ways to tap the market. Wenoticed that during wedding receptions, the older guests (above 50 years of age) generally stayedaway from ice cream, soft drinks and so on.Hence, we introduced free sampling of Bisleri at the tables where the elderly guests would sit.


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Soon customers were ordering bottled water on special occasions. Currently, the consumption ofbottled water is far in excess of soft drinks on such occasions.The other major challenge was distribution. I still have the mindset of a soft drink seller. Softdrink sales are in glass bottles and the distribution model is built around picking up empty bottlesand getting them back to the factory. That's not the case with the retail bottled water packs

(below 2 litre). But a product that's not available where it's needed, is useless.The number of outlets where Bisleri is available has increased from 50,000 in 1995 to 2,00,000at present. But that is not enough -- we need to keep looking for different avenues. Takestationery shops and chemists, for instance. They don't keep soft drinks but sell Bisleri. That isthe kind of exclusivity we look for to get ahead of the distribution network that soft drinkcompanies talk of.The journey till now1969: Buys Bisleri bottled water from an Italian company, Felice Bisleri. It was bottled in glassbottles then.Early-1980s: Shifts to PVC bottles. Sales surgeMid-1980s: Switches to PET bottles, which meant more transparency and life for water.

1993: Sells carbonated drink brands like Thums Up, Gold Spot and Limca to Coca-Cola for Rs400 crore.1995: Bisleri launches a 500 ml bottle and sales shoot up by 400 per cent.2000: Introduces the 20-litre container to bring prices down from Rs 10 a litre to Rs 2 a litre.1998: Introduces a tamper-proof and tamper-evident seal.2000: BIS cancels Bisleri's licence of a water bottling in Delhi since some of the bottles did notcarry ISI label; the licence is restored one-and-a-half months later.2002: Kinley overtakes Bisleri. The national retail stores audit by ORG-MARG show sKinley'smarketshare at 35.1 per cent compared to Bisleri's 34.4 per cent.

MINERAL WATER INDUSTRY

CURRENT MARKET SCENARIOA few years back, the mineral water market had been crawling at the rate of 3-4%, or even alower figure. Indians carried drinking water in earthen pitchers, plastic or PUF bottles. Butincreasing cases of typhoid and other waterborne diseases began to be reported. In addition tothis, liberalization happened and the mineral water industry began to be stirred and shaken. Themarket started growing an astounding rate of over 100% per annum. The fact that there werevery few players in the market meant that their business grew by leaps and bounds.The market today has grown to Rs11bn. The organized sector -- branded mineral water -- hasonly Rs5bn of market share. The rest is accounted for by the unorganized sector, which isdominated by small regional players. The market is still growing at a rate greater than 80% perannum.In the branded segment, Parles Bisleri is the market leader with a share of more than 45%. ParleAgros Bailley comes a close second with market share of 15%. Other major players in themarket are Yes of Kotharis, Ganga of T-Series, Himalayan, Hello, Nestls Pure Life, PepsisAquafina, Coca-Colas -Kinley Prime, and Florida etc.Sensing the opportunity that this segment holds, MNCs began to draw up plans to enter themarket. Today the market is proving to be yet another battlefield for an ongoing battle betweenthe Desis and MNCs. Last year the industry had around 170 brands. This figure is over 300


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presently. The major foreign players are Coca-Cola promoted Kinley, Pepsis Aquafina,Britannias Evian, Nestls Perrier, Herbert sons and Danone International.

Indias largest packaged water company Bisleri International Pvt. Ltd is to enter value-addedwater business. The company will launch flavoured packaged drinking water in the country by

March next year.We are conducting research and development with at least 12 fruit flavours, such as nimbupaani, strawberry and orange, for flavoured water. We aim to launch it by March next year, saidRamesh Chauhan, chairman, Bisleri.According to Datamonitor Plc., a UK-based consumer research firm that tracks various sectors inIndia, the flavoured water market was estimated to be around $50 million (Rs196 crore) in 2006and is expected to grow to $70 million by 2010.With the move, Bisleri aims to strengthen its position in a space in which other leading beveragecompanies have also evinced interest. Companies such as Coca-Cola India Inc., PepsiCo IndiaHoldings Pvt. Ltd and Tata Tea Ltd, also plan to enter the flavoured water business. So far, thereis only one prominent player, DS Foods, in the segment. Its brand, Catch, is priced at Rs30. The

flavoured water market is still at a nascent stage in India. Higher price, limited products andalternative home-made products are some of the barriers for the growth of this segment, saidPuneet Bansal, senior analyst with Datamonitor.Bisleris focus on premium segment, however, is part of its strategy to tap higher-marginopportunities in the packaged water business. Last year, it had launched a premium water brandMountain Water, which currently contributes 25-30% to its total sales. The company plans tolaunch this brand in Europe soon.We are in talks with several distributors in Europe to launch our premium water there. The dealis expected to go through by December this year, said Chauhan. The company also plans totweak its packaging and look to give it an international appeal and compete with biggies such asNestle and Groupe Danone.The moves, said Chauhan, are aimed at trebling Bisleris sales from around Rs300 crore now, toRs1,000 crore by 2009. To push its sales, the company is also planning to double its distributionnetwork from 800 distributors this year to around 1,500 in the next six months. Also, thecompany plans to double its capacity of one million bottles a day through adding more contractpackers and upgrading its bottling capacity.Meanwhile, the company continues to rule the conventional bottled water segment. It said thatfor October, it registered sale of 2.66 million cases across the country against 1.79 million casessold in the same month last year.Chauhan also dismissed speculation that he may sell out his water business.He said Bisleri was doing well and he had no plans to sell it out.We might have sold our carbonated brands, including Thums-Up, Limca and Gold Spot, due toa lack of choice. But, now I am in a position to build and sustain Bisleri and will not sell it at anycost,he added.


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MARKETING STRATEGY

MARKETING STRATEGYIt is complete and an unbeatable plan designed specifically for attaining the marketing objectiveof a firm. The marketing objective indicate what the firm want to achieve. The marketingstrategy provides the design for achieving them the linkage between marketing strategies andover all corporate success is indeed direct and vital. Realizing the marketing objectives is thepurpose of two generic categories .1. Price based2. Differentiation based

PRICE BASED MARKETING STRATEGYa business that opts for the price route in its competitive battle will enjoy certain flexibilities inmatter of its product and use prices as main competitive level . it will price its product to suit thevarying competitive demands . it will be enjoying certain inherent cost advantages , whichpermits it to resort a price based fight . the major forms where such cost advantage can occursare economies of sale , absolute cost advantages ,. Benefits of early entry a large market sharebuild over a time . it provides freedom in the matter of pricing but after producing a particularproduct and getting stuck in the face of the competition , one can not successfully opt for a priceled strategy .

THE DIFFERENTIATION BASED STRATEGYmarketing strategy based on differentiation works on the principle that any aspect of the offerand any activity of the firm can be made distinctive compared with the competiting offers. Rightfrom technology, plant location to post sale and service a company can perceptibly differentiateand many buyer values. Companies usually choose those functions , Which give them thegreatest relative advantage.

Different firms adopts different strategy stances as their situational design differ-Broadly strategy stances can be classified under three heads-

Offensive Strategy-Offensive Strategy also known as confrontation strategy , is a strategy of aggression. A firm thatis not presently the leader usually employs it, but it aspires to leadership position in the Industry.

Defensive Strategy-The leader who has the compulsion to defend his position against the confrontation of powerfulexisting competitors or to dislodge the leader from his topmost position usually employs it.

Niche Strategy-A firm practicing the niche strategy neither confronts other nor defends itself. It cultivates asmall market segment for itself with unique products / services supported by a unique marketingmix.


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FORMULATING THE MARKETING STRATEGY-Formulating the marketing strategy consists of two main steps-1- Selecting the target market-It does not fully bring out the import of the inseparable linkage between the two. When the

selection of the target market is over an important part of the marketing strategy of the firm isalready determined, defined and expressed.2-Assembling the marketing mix-Assembling the marketing mix means assembling the four Ps of marketing in the rightcombination.The firm has to find out how it can generate the best sales and profit. It plans different marketingmixes with varying levels of expenditure on each element and tries to figure out the effectivenessof each combination in terms of the possible sales and profit.ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN:While designing the advertisement campaign, it is necessary to keep in mind the opinion leaders.Youth are the opinion leaders of the present time. And thus it becomes necessary to design the

campaign keeping the youth in mind. The opinion leaders would further trickle down themessage to the less active members of the society.This is exactly what Bisleri is doing. Bisleri has started an advertisement campaign stressing thepoint of purity and flaunting the patent right the company has over the breakaway seal. Thecompany has tried to put the message across louder, by using the ad campaign that catches theeye of everyone, specially the youth.CONTENT OF THE CAMPAIGN:Bisleri that was looking for a differentiator decided to make the breakaway seal the symbol ofpurity. The tamper-proof seal was developed, around which the communication was woven. Thecampaign stresses the safety provided by the breakaway seal by illustrating the ease with whichconventionally sealed bottles can be refilled and recycled.The objective with the campaign would have been to highlight the tamper-proof seal and createdoubt in the consumers mind of the purity of the other brands. That is, Bisleri is the only onethat guarantees purity and keeps you Safe.To conclude: We find that new advertisement campaign of Bisleri is eye catching. This is whatthe company should do. And also the company should make the message clearer to the customersthat it has the patent right over the breakaway seal. In the survey we found that the consumersare aware of the breakaway seal but are not aware that the company has the patent right.

Apart from a high dose of investments on expanding bottling capacities and an ad budget thatsrisen six-fold over last year, if Bisleri wants to penetrate every possible segment of the market, itcan do that by introducing more pack sizes and establishing the brand strongly with trendy newpackaging.Apart from creating consumer pull with campaign, the company, to increase its sales would haveto do the sales push as well. For that it would have to give the retailers and other stockiest hightrade margins and incentives for keeping the product. This is very important in case of thisproduct because consumers would take up what is available to them at ease and whatever retaileris giving.

ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN OF BISLERI


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Every brand needs a good advertising campaign to establish itself in the market. So it becomesvery imperative to look at various ad campaigns that Bisleri undertook to build itself as a brand.Bisleri started its game plan with the punch line of Pure and Safe and used the same catch-linefor advertising. But with the advent of many new players, all claiming the purity, it became very

imperative for Bisleri to differentiate its product so as to stand out in the market. Bisleri foundthe answer in sealed cap bottles. It claimed 100% purity. While the bottles of the other brands,it claimed, could be refilled with ordinary, or even germinated water, Bisleris seal cappedbottles ensured the consumer of purity of water and single-used ness of the bottles. The adshowed a milk-man and a child showering their buffaloes and filling the so-called mineralwater bottles with the same water and packing them with the simple polythene seal and theconsumer not knowing about the purity of the water he is drinking. Next clip shows the Bisleribottles being sealed with plastic caps and ensuring the purity of water. The ad did work forBisleri and it got its much needed product differentiation.In 2000, some giant brands like Pepsi and coca-cola entered the mineral water industry with abig bang. Bisleri now had a big threat of maintaining its market cap. While Coca-cola

introducing its brand Kinley as a health care product, Pepsi projected Aquafina as somethingas pure as Your own body. Pepsi targeted the young generation and introduced Aquafina as afancy product to carry.The ad campaign of Aquafina emphasized as 70% of your body is water and thus give yourbody the purest water. The ad showed young vibrant models and created the atmosphere ofyouthfulness. Water, Pepsi claimed, was no longer a simple beverage, but was something highlyfashionable. They complimented it by giving their bottles an attractive look. This soon caught theeye of the consumer. All these factors made Pepsi the biggest upcoming competitor of Bisleri(whereas Kinley lagged behind the race, showing a doctor advising a family to take Kinley forpure water not a very attractive ad campaign).Bisleri, to counter-attack the new Feel-Young fever had to even bolder steps. They firstchanged their base line from Pure and Safe to Play Safe. They tried a brand new ad campaignto catch the fancy of consumer. The new ad showed a young romantic couple on a maroonedisland, when the girl seductively attracts the guy and he follows her in trance. The moment hegets hold of her, she whispers something in his ears. The next few shots show the guy looking forsomething in frenzycan not find it.rushes towards the chemists shop.buys something(keeping the audience in suspenseor rather implicitly pointing for ). The girl opens itand.POOF.takes out a bottle of Bisleri and quenches her thirst. Caption: Play Safe. Thiscampaign was to catch the attention of youth and a new Indian society which is supposed to benot-so-prudish. Thus Bisleri has taken a very bold step. The T.V. ads have been complimentedby print ads also. The company has to focus on the marketing management of the product. Inlight of the challenge in front of the company and its current strengths and position, we haveincorporated the marketing mix to counter the marketing strategies of the competitors bydeveloping its own marketing.

AQUAFINA ADVERTISEMENTS AND BISLERI

A drop-dead gorgeous body flexes its muscles on the screen. This starkly arresting black andwhite image is then splashed with water. A voice-over informs you that 70 per cent of your body


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is water. Why not give it the purest. Aquafina Bottled water from Pepsi.

This kind of advertisement campaign used by the competitors is giving the company a toughtime. The competitor, Pepsi, is utilizing the brand image built by it and is again targeting theGeneration X maintaining the company image. Its an unusual ad for this category. Till now,

most marketers have focused on educating the consumer on how bottled water is a safer option,with the lead of course, taken by the popular national brand Bisleri.

But Pepsi chose to junk this approach and it could well afford to. Bisleri, after all, had alreadydone most of the hard work needed to build the bottled water category. What Pepsi needed wasto establish its brand in this crowded, fragmented market. Our task was made easier because wasmade easier because Bisleri had concentrated on educating the consumer, instead of building itsown brand values," says Rohit Ohri, vice president and client services director, HindustanThompson Associates Limited (HTA). We wanted the imagery to posit~on Aquafina as ayouthful, premium and fun brand," says Vibha Rishi, executive director, Pepsi. The idea, shesays, was not to objectify bodies so that one could drool over them. "Instead, we are talking

about your body and the need for each one to take care of his or her body." The ad copy, whichspoke of the water content in our bodies, was actually trying to establish how important waterwas to our well- being and how we need to continuously replenish it.

While the thinking was clear that the imagery had to be built in and around purity, HTA did toywith a couple of other ideas and situations. Initially, the idea was to focus more strongly on thefun aspect and create a story line complete with a smart idea and a twist at the end. "But we gaveit up because we felt that the story might take the mind away from the purity aspect that was amust to highlight," says Ohri.

So HTA adopted a minimalist approach and created a film with little clutter and no props, whichtried to capture the emotion of "feeling good about yourself'. While the film and the imagery arecompletely the work of HT A, the strategic thinking comes from the Mother Company in the US.

Aquafina, in fact, is the largest-selling bottled water brand in the US with a 12 per cent marketshare, and India is the first country outside of the US where Aquafina is being bottled. Even inthe US, the ad talks of the percentage of water in our bodies, but the handling is a little moreserious. For example, the film will show an emotional moment where someone starts crying, andthen you will hear the voice-over, 85 Per cent of xour eye are wa4ep. "There is no internal lawthat forces us to follow the international positioning. But seeing the quality of thinking that hasgone into this, we decided to stay with this positioning, though the statements here are quitedifferent," explains Rishi.

Aquafina, like all offeFings that come from the Pepsi stable, also imbibes the core values of themother brand. It addresses the Pepsi-user base, largely the youth, and like Pepsi ,it is also beingpositioned as a hip brand. But Aquafina is a lot that Pepsi is not. It is a little bit older, mature andaffluent, and not as mass based as Pepsi.

Pepsi's role in the communication is that it is the source of credibility for the product and, ofcourse, establishes the youthfulness of the brand. But Aquafina is a brand in its own right and


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with each piece of communication, its personality will emerge," feels Ohri. But while Aquafinais being given a distinct identity, it is also being targeted at the Pepsi consumer and is addressingtheir need for safe and reliable drinking water. Will this not cannibalize Pepsi sales? "Water doeseat into the cola market," agrees Rishi, "but we can't build a business for Pepsi based on people'slack of access to safe drinking water.

How can any business be built on deprivation?" Both will have to co-exist and carve a marketout for themselves, And~ while Pepsi targets the 18-25 year olds, Aquafina also includes the 30-somethings together with the college crowd. Like Pepsi, Aquafina too is looking to command apremium without being unaffordable.

It is being positioned as a premium product, not via pricing, but in imagery and packaging.Priced at Rs. 10 in Delhi for a 750ml. bottle, it is priced marginally higher than the competitionthat gives you one liter for Rs. 10. The swirl shaped PET bottle resembles the Pepsi family and issturdier and more hip than most others in the category that take their design cues, it seems, fromthe one liter refined oil bottles in the market. The decision to break the norm and come up with a

750 ml pack size was more driven by the fact that water is fundamentally consumed on the goand the 750 ml size is easy to carry around. "It is ideal for an half-an-hour in the sun, one litergets too bulky," says Rishi. Pepsi's future plans at the moment don't include commg up with sizevariants. They have also ruled out the possibility of catering to the bulk market, which actuallyconstitutes 30 per cent of the total bottled water market that stands at 70 million liters annually,and is growing anywhere between 30 and 50 per cent.

Pepsi, obviously, is looking for a big slice of this burgeoning market, but as SubrotoChattopadhyay, executive vice president, marketing, Pepsi, says, "We have a building blocksapproach, first we have to build the brand, and then the volumes.

Bisleri is tackling the situation by building the brand on the purity plank. Akin to brand buildingin soft drinks, an aggressive print-and-TV campaign is being backed by hoarding, point-of-salematerial, and every interface with the consumer is being used as an opportunity to reinforce themessage. For instance, all the vehicles used for supply have been painted in bright blue, bear theBisleri logo and sport catchy baselines like . "Play Safe".

Bisleri with added Minerals:

Bisleri Mineral Water contains minerals such as magnesium sulphate and potassium bicarbonatewhich are essential minerals for healthy living. They not only maintain the pH balance of thebody but also help in keeping you fit and energetic at all times.

Bisleri Mountain Water:

Bisleri Natural Mountain emanates from a natural spring, located in Uttaranchal and Himachalnestled in the vast Shivalik Mountain ranges. Lauded as today's 'fountain of youth', BisleriNatural Mountain Water resonates with the energy and vibrancy capable of taking you back tonature. Bisleri Natural Water is bottled in its two plants in Uttaranchal and Himachal Pradeshand is available in six different pack sizes of 250ml, 500ml, 1 litre, 1.5 litre, 2 litre and 5 litres.


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PACKAGINGANDDISTRIBUTION

PACKAGINGVariety is spices of life. Today for any business organization to be successful it has to provide itscustomer with the differentiated product that is a value buy for them. In order to cater to yhe

changing needs of the customer the business has to continuously come out with the variants ofthe products so that it can target the maximum segments.Today Aqua Minerals offers a variety of packaging options: 1 lit, 2 lit, 5 lit, 20 lit. The 5 litersbottles account for 35 % of sales showing a growing health concern among the Indian society. 1liter bottles account for 30% of the share .The 2 liters bottle introduced to slowly and steadily replace the conventional 1 liter bottle. The 5liters packs, launched in Dec 1999 in Goa, now available everywhere.

DISTRIBUTIONIts obvious that availability holds the key to the market .For any product to be successful thedistribution system has to be really good. Large tracts of the country have not been explored bythe national brands, which explains the proliferation of smaller brands.Bisleris strategy is to build a direct distribution system at an all India level that means seriousinvestment In company owned trucks and carts, this would make it the largest fleet owner in thecountry. Bisleri has around 80,000 retail outlets in the country with about 12,000 each in theDelhi and Mumbai. It is intended to be increased this no. to 10,00,000 in order to expand brandsreach.The company will invest approximately Rs.200 cr. to procure 2000 trucks and hire same no. ofsales people . the company plans to have its own distribution network in places where it has itsown plantDISTRIBUTION NETWORK:The small-scale players built their sales by piggybacking on the generic category built up byBisleri. Its a battle that Bisleri can win by sheer distribution muscle. One of the reasons whyBisleri is running strong in this industry is its strong distribution network built over the yearssince its inception. Further, Bisleri plans to increase its distribution network over the southernand eastern region, where it is behind popular brands like sTeam in Tamil Nadu and in AndhraPradesh.


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MARKETING MIX

MARKETING MIXThe set of controllable tactical tools- product, price, promotion, and place (4 Ps), that the firmblends to produce the response it wants, in the target markets.The 4PsPRODUCTThe main product of the company is the mineral water by the name of Bisleri Mineral water.Other than mineral water the company has also the soda water under its brand name called theBisleri Soda Water. The concept of bottled mineral water was introduced in India, first byBisleri, and that is the reason, it has become a generic name for the mineral water. Bisleri has

become a perfect synonym of the mineral water for the Indian consumers.The main challenge facing the company or any other player in this mineral water industry is thatthere is no scope of invention and innovation in the product, which can be added as theadditional benefits of the product. It is just water after all. This is what the Indian customersthink of the bottled water. If we are talking about a product like television we can think that theinnovations could provide extra benefits derived from the product. For example other than itscore usage the product can provide for Internet facilities using conversion.

PLACEPlace stands for the company activities that make the product available to the target customers.To make the product available to the target consumers a good distribution network has to bethere to support the good quality of the product. Here in the case of the mineral water industrythe distribution network is the important factor in being competitive and the catch lies in makingwater available to maximum number of places in the country.

PRICES FOR FOLLOWING PACKAGING VARIANTS

(AN ECONOMIC FACTOR AFFECTING THE BUYERS BEHAVIOR)

Price is the sum of values that consumer exchange for the benefits of having or using the productor service. Price is the only element in the marketing mix that produces revenue. All otherelements represent costs.In India, where the majority of the population comprise of the middle-income group and lowerincome groups it is not hard to understand that pricing is one of the most important factor in thebuying decisions.Bisleri has met the expectations of the consumers in terms of pricing the product and alsomaking the product available in variations of litres, making Bisleri both convenient andaffordable. The company is following a very aggressive pricing. Its product is available at a veryreasonable price.


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1.2 Ltrs Rs. 10/-2 Ltrs Rs. 20/-5 Ltrs Rs. 40/-20Ltrs Rs. 120/-

PROMOTIONModern marketing calls for more than just developing a good product, pricing it attractively, andmaking it available to the target customers, companies must also communicate with theircustomers, and what they communicate should not be left to chance.A Companys total marketing communications program- called its Promotion Mix consists ofspecific blend of advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, and public relations tools that thecompany uses to pursue its advertising and marketing objectives.


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COMPETITIONINMARKET

COMPETITIONThe mineral water market is set to explode and hit the Rs.2,000-crore mark in the next couple ofyears. This is drawing the big guns attention. First Britannia launched Evian. And recently, softdrinks giant Pepsi entered the fray with Aquafina. Now, Nestle too is reportedly planning aforay. Meanwhile, Parle Agros Bailey has been growing steadily. Small local players too arebreathing down Bisleris neck riding on better trade margins and intensive distribution (in theirrespective areas of operation).The competition facing Bisleri can be categorized into a few brand names like

Parle BaileyE

Pepsi AquafinaE

Coca Cola KinleyE

With Parles Bailey being the main competitor and second in market share in the organizedmarket, Bisleri faces tremendous competition from the unorganized sector.

AQUAFINAThe advantage for Aquafina is that though there are over 300 labels of bottled water in the Indian


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market, few can be called brands. It is necessary to remember that every product with a name isnot a brand; even Bisleri has become generic to this category.It does not have any emotional values attached to it. So there was no difficulty for Pepsi increating space in such a market, which is completely different from the soft drinks market, whereit will be very difficult for any new player to find a slot. So the creative team at HTA virtually

had an empty canvas to work on. And it came up with a campaign that did have people talking.First, a series of teasers, followed by a film that showed healthy bodies and youthful people and,of course, lots of water.Although Aquafina is only available in a 750 ml pet bottle, the pricing, at Rs.10, is competitive.And it is safe. In addition to the tamper proof seal, there is a reliable method of checking whetherthe bottle has been refilled. The date of manufacturing has been written on the cap as well as onthe bottle. Thus a person who is refilling it would have to find a matching cap and bottle, theprobability of which is very low.

COCA COLA- KINLEYCoca-Cola joined the race by announcing the imminent launch of its own brand of water and, inthe process, putting to rest rumors of its so-called takeover of Bisleri. Kinley is targetinginstitutions.Parle Agros- BailleyBailley the brand that is owned by Ramesh Chauhans brother Prakash Chauhan is very popularin the southern part of India. Southern part of India accounts for 20% of the sale of the wholewater market industry. Bisleri would have a tough competition from Bailley since the companyplans to spread its presence in that part of the country. Another thing that makes the competitiondifficult for the company is the price at which its competitor is offering the product. Like Bisleriit also gives the 1 lt. For Rs.10. The only strength point of the company, which it can capitalize,is its generic name. And also the company would have to enter that market with a strongdistribution base. We know the fact that Bailley has grown at a rapid pace using the route offranchising, which Bisleri has not adopted as yet. This is another point, which the companywould have to take care of to face the competition.

PRODUCT PROFILEIts a compliment being generic to the category, but its not very good when consumers thinkany mineral water brand is Bisleri.Bisleri, a product established in India by Ramesh Chauhan,Chairman of Parle Aqua Minerals has become a generic brand. Bisleri was the first marketedbottled water in a totally virgin market. The brand has become synonymous with mineral water;consumers accept any brand offered by the retailer when they ask for Bisleri.So far Ramesh Chauhans Bisleri enjoys the largest market share of 56% in the Rs1100 croresmineral water markets and is growing at the rate of 180% per annum. Annual sales of Bislerihave touched Rs400 crores. In seventies, 'Bisleri' was the only mineral water, which had national


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presence, and the sale was to the tune of approximately one hundred thousand cases valued atabout Rs.60 lacs.

MANUFACTURINGA quick look at Bisleri's manufacturing reach indicates that it is represented across the country

North accounts for 35% of sales for the industry, West accounts for 30%, South 20% and theEast 15%.In order to be available in untapped areas Bisleri has setup 16 plants located all over the country- three-fourths of which are company owned. The balance is run by franchisees. Bisleri has 5plants in the North, 5 in the West- two of which were setup in the last year at Ahmedabad andSurat, 4 in the South and 2 in the East. The company has bottling units located in Chennai,Bangalore, Goa, Calcutta, Mumbai, Delhi, Jaipur, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Indore and Nepal. Thenew plants are being set up in states like Kerala, Orissa, Bihar and North Eastern States, whichhitherto have been unexplored by the company.It is also changing its production strategy and shifting to a 10-hr production schedule withsudden increase in demand planned to be met by additional production.

Bisleri has planned to expand its operations by investing Rs.60 crores in the upgradation offacilities. The 120-bottles per minute (BPM) capacity of the 16 units across the country will beincreased to 240 BPM.Conscious of the environmental implications of its PET bottles, the company is to set uprecycling plants at Delhi and Chennai, each with an outlay of Rs.50m. These will process 500 kgof PET per hour. The processed material will be an input for polyester yarn manufacturers. Incenters other than Delhi and Chennai, the company will set up crushing units to crush the usedPET bottles.The company's expansion plans will see its water bottling capacity go up from the present 400million liters to 500 million liters. Parle Bisleri Limited (PBL) is planning to invest Rs 200crores to increase its bottling capacity and double its turnover. The expansion will also increasethe number of company's bottling plants from 16 at present, to 25. The company will set up allthe new plants as green field plants. It doesnt have any intentions to acquire any existing plants.

PURE BOTTLED DRINKING-WATERIs Dangerous

The Safety of Bottled Drinking-water

Because of the large number of possible hazards in drinking-water, the development of standardsfor drinking-water requires significant resources and expertise, which many countries are unableto afford. Fortunately, guidance is available at the international level.

The World Health Organization (WHO) publishes Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality whichmany countries use as the basis to establish their own national standards.International Standards for Bottled DrinkingwaterThe intergovernmental body for the development of internationally recognized standards for


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food is the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC). WHO, one of the co-sponsors of the CAC,has advocated the use of the Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality as the basis for derivation ofstandards for all bottled waters.CSE Report on pesticide residues in bottled water

The Centre for Science and Environment, a non-governmental organization based in New Delhi,has set up the Pollution Monitoring Laboratory to monitor environmental pollution. Its main aimis to undertake scientific studies to generate public awareness about food, water and aircontamination.

The bottled water market share of major brands is Bisleri (51%), Bailley (17%), Yes (11%)followed by Kinley (10%), Aquafina (4%).

Drinking water filled in hermetically sealed containers of various compositions, form, andcapacities that is suitable for direct consumption without further treatment

FACTS

Bottled drinking water samples of some top brands Bisleri (Parle Bisleri Pvt. Ltd.), Bailley(Parle Agro Pvt. Ltd.), Aquafina (Pepsico India Holding Pvt. Ltd.), Kinley (Hindustan Coca ColaBeverage Pvt.Ltd.) and of other less popular brands like Best, Royal Aqua, Seagull etc., which were being soldand manufactured in Mumbai and nearby areas like Pune and Daman, were purchased randomly.All the samples were purchased from retail outlets in the market and from railway station andwere checked for proper seal, date of manufacture and batch number.

Even the top brands, which claim to use treatment methods like purification filtration, activatedcarbon filtration, demineralization and reverse osmosis were found to contain residues ofpesticides. It might be due to the reason that the manufacturers may be by-passing the raw waterafter partial treatment and remixing it with the fully treated stream so as to cut down the cost oftreatment. On the basis of the results different brands can be rated in terms of total organ chlorineand organ phosphorus pesticides from least to most contaminated as-

Aquafina MacblueBailley KinleySeagull SheetalBisleri BrilliantBally Apurva


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OBJECTIVE

OBJECTIVE

TO Study the marketing Strategies of Bisleri in current Scenario.

To Study the brand positioning of Bisleri.

To assess the brand awareness of the Bisleri in the Mineral Water Segment.

To find out the preference level of respondents regarding Bisleri Brand of Bottle.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Definition of Research:


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The word research is derived from the Latin word meaning to know. It is a systematic and areplicable process which identifies and defines problems, within specified boundaries. It employswell designed method to collect the data and analyses the results. It disseminates the findings tocontribute to generalize able knowledge.The five characteristics of research are:

systematic problem solving which identifies variables and tests relationships between themlogical, so procedures can be duplicated or understood by others

empirical, so decisions are based on data collected

reductive, so it investigates a small sample which can be generalized to a larger population

replicable, so others may test the findings by repeating it

Research Methodology:-

The research conducted by Exploratory Research this type of research is Qualitative and

Quantitative.Qualitative refers to the characters of the data or process by which the data are gathered.The research process consists of a series of closely related activities. Why a research study hasbeen undertaken. Why a research study has been undertaken, how the research problem has beendefined, in what way and why the hypothesis has been formulated, what data has been collectedand what particular method has been adopted and a host of similar other question are usuallyanswered when we talk of research methodology concerning a research problem or study.

Sampling:-

The data was to be collected only from the Consumers and Retailers. A questionnaire was

prepared and interviewing with Retailers and Consumers.A decision has to be taken concerning a sample unit before selecting the number of samples. Itmay be geographical as well as individual.

Size of Sample:-This refers the number of items (Outlets) to be selected from the finite universe to constitute asample size. The survey was conducted of 50 outlets in Aligarh.


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RESEARCH DESIGN

MEANING OF RESEARCH DESIGNThe formidable problem that follows the task of defining the research problem is the preparationof the design of the research project, popularly known as the research design. Decisionsregarding what, where, when, how much by what means concerning an inquiry or a researchstudy constitute a research design. A research design is the arrangement of conditions forcollection and analysis of data in manner that aims to combine relevance to the research purposewith economy in procedure. In fact, the research design is the conceptual structure within whichresearch is conducted; it constitutes the blueprint for the collection, measurement and analysis ofdata. As such the design includes on outline of what the researcher will do from writing thehypothesis and its operational implications to the final analysis of data. More explicitly, thedesign decisions happen to be in respect of :

What is the study about ?Z

Why is the study being made ?Z

Where will the studyZ be carried out ?

What type of data is required ?Z

Where can the required data be found ?Z

What periods of time will the study include ?Z

What will be the sample design ?Z

What techniques of data collection will be used ?Z

How will the data analysed ?Z

In what style will the report be prepared ?Z

TOOLS AND INSTRUMENTS USED FOR THE STUDY

It is necessary for a researcher to define conceptual structure which research would beconducted. The function of research design is to provide for the collection of relevant evidencewith minimal expenditure of efforts, time and money.

The means of obtaining the information is through :


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a) Primary data like questionnaire and mock interview.b) Secondary data like magzines, news paper and net etc.

PROCEDURE OF DATA COLLECTION

Data compilation is an intermediate stage between data collection and analysis. Data compilationinvolves classification and summarization in order to make data amenable to analysis.

In dealing with any problem, once the sample has been selected the data must be collected fromthe sample population. There are several ways of collecting appropriate data which differconsiderably in context of money cost, time and other resources. They can be broadly classified

in to two categories.

Two sources to collect data are namely:1. Primary Source2. Secondary Source

PRIMARY SOURCE OF COLLECTING DATA

The Primary Data that I collected were the first hand information which I received throughpersonal interviews with the consumers and through questionnaires. This data gave the most vitalinformation for making my analysis of the prevailing purchasing behavior of the consumers.

QUESTIONNAIRE TECHNIQUE

The method of collecting data mailing and personally distributing questionnaire to therespondents is the most extensively employed technique in various economical surveys. Thismethod is quit popular, particularly in case of big inquiries. A typical questionnaire consists of anumber of questions arranged and printed in definite order on a form or a set of forms. Thequestionnaire is given to the respondents who are expected to read and understand the questionsand write the response in the given space meant for the purpose in the questionnaire.Mock interviewsMock interviews are basically just to save the time of both the respondents and the researcherand along with this, it is assumed as a best means for collecting data where respondents are notso literate to answer to question tailored in the questionnaire.

SECONDARY SOURCE OF DATA COLLECTION

Secondary Data involved in my research were the information that I collected through thevarious broachers and pamphlets of the company which were provided to me during the analysis.


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RESEARCH DESIGN :The research design which has been used in the project report is descriptive in nature.SAMPLE DESIGN:The sample design which has been use in this project report is simple random sampling.

SAMPLING UNIT :A decision has to be taken concerning a sample unit before selecting the number of samples. Itmay be geographical as well as individual. Here Aligarh region has been taken as a geographicalunit and retailers as an individual unit.SIZE OF SAMPLE:This refers the number of items (Outlets) to be selected from the finite universe to constitute asample size. The survey was conducted of 50.outlets.

RESULTANDDISCUSSION

FINDINGS

The following findings are obtained and are based on primary data:-


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1. Which brand of bottle water do you sale more?

2. The brand customer prefer more:

3. Why do you prefer to sell this particular Brand?

3. On what basis customer prefer to purchase?

4. Do you get any customer complaints for Bisleri?

5. Are your suggestions considered by Bisleri?


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6. On what basis you motivate a customer to purchase a particular Brand?

1. When a customer talk of mineral water which brand comes into his mind?

SWOT ANALYSISSTRENGTHS Old and famous brand name

Better packaging

Effective distribution network

Famous as pure & safe among consumer

Good product mix


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Frequent quality checking

Better management

Give regular follow up to distributor

Indian image

Better sales force

Sponsoring various cultural program

Good intcentives to dealer

WEAKNESSone liter packs which accounted for 50% of the companys turnover has come down to 30 %.The two-liter packs, which have practically disappeared from the shelves, have come down from20 % to 5 %. The growth has come from the 500 ml and the five-liter category, which accountfor 15 per cent and 36 per cent of turnover respectively.Earlier, Bisleri was selling at a premium of Rs.12 for the same size. But beginning last year, ithas been selling its one- liter bottles at Rs.15 each. Aqua Minerals attributes the Price slashing toretailer margins being on the higher side earlier.The competitive Rs.15 price tag has been working well for the brand.In what could be a masterstroke, Aqua Minerals is testing out the possibility of mass marketing20-litre Bisleri bottles for an MRP of Rs.40. That works out to Rs.2 a liter. If the logistics,manufacturing and distribution do fall in place, it could change the face of the purified watermarket for keeps.

OPPORTUNITIESSo far, bisleri has not used the franchising route very aggressively unlike Parle Agros Bailleywhich has grown very fast using this route. He has around six franchisees in Mumbai, Delhi,Chennai, Bangalore, Goa and Rajasthan. We shunned this route so far because in most areaswhere we had no presence, it was imperative that we did it ourselves. Now for further expansionwe can afford to use the franchisee route.

THREATSBisleri will be taking the packs back and refilling them. But the packs cannot be sterilized sincethe material used is PET and cannot withstand high temperature. So how can he ensure purity?

Strategy to counter threats and others?We subject the bottles to chlorine washes, hot water washes and ozone washes before we refill


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the bottles.The company is betting on the home segment. The reason being that filters and water purifiersalso need to be cleaned periodically and still do not guarantee absolutely clean water. In order toservice this segment, the five liter packs are being pushed through the route of fat dealers(wholesale dealers) who are retailers as well as stockiest and serve as supply points from where

customers can pick up the required quota. In future, consumers will be able to call the fat dealerand place orders for home delivery of the five-liter pack. The company has so far appointed 180such dealers. This is a high turnover, low-margin retailer who does not keep a store but serves asimilar purpose with other items such as rice or wheat.

CONCLUSIONBisleri have developed 8 unique pack sizes to suit the need of every individual. It is also presentin 250ml cups, 250ml bottles, 500ml, 1L, 1.5L, 2L which are the non-returnable packs & 5L,20L which are the returnable packs.

The soft targetSelling bottled water requires constantly expanding the market. The company should also targetthe market for soft drinks. All the soft drinks addresses three issues: fun, thirst and refreshmentfollowed by status to some degree. The thirst and the status value of the mineral water are wellaccepted. There is very little the mineral water brands can do to add the fun element around theproduct. Again here, it becomes important for the company to have a good distribution network.It should be understood that if the mineral water is easily available everywhere then it can besaid with confidence that it would be able to replace the soft drinks as thirst quencher. If we tryand look at the reasons that why consumers buy soft drinks as thirst quenchers: we would findthe answer as that either water is not available or if it is available then safety is not assured.Therefore, backed by a good distribution network mineral water industry can grow at a rapidrate.


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RECOMMENDATIONS

RECOMMENDATIONS

Advertisement to build the brand image that will provide the required ground to establish the

authenticity to the product.

Display of hot and cold dispensers and bottles at places like hotels, clubs and airports whereupper class group visits, as they are the potential customers. Place like departmental stores,petrol pumps and super bazaars can also be considered.

The company should organizecamps at various part of the city also road show to bring aboutthe difference between mineral water and filter/purified water and to tell the people how mineralwater is more hygienic than filtered water/purified water.

To aware people the cost benefit analysis to the customer of how the mineral water would costless and benefit more, because people using purifier system cost too much.

LIMITATIONS

A small segment of the market has been covered for the research purpose, so the conclusioncannot be generalized.

The data collected cannot be free from errors, since some of the respondents failed to give


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correct information.

Study accuracy totally based upon the respondents response.

Stipulated short span of time for doing research.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Documents

Neral Water Industries