PERCEPTION OF CONSUMERS
TOWARDS
MINUTE MAID PULPY ORANGE
The main objective of this study lies in studying and understanding the consumers’ perception and opinion about the latest product, Minute Maid Pulpy Orange, introduced into India, by the Coca-Cola Company. Perception can be defined as intuitive recognition of a truth, aesthetic quality and the way a person sees or understands. In the case of Minute Maid Pulpy Orange, one could define perception as the levels of awareness and acceptance among people towards the product.
5.2: ABOUT THE PRODUCT
Minute Maid is a 62-year-old brand and entered the Coca-Cola fold in 1960. The history of the ‘Minute Maid’ brand goes as far back as 1945 when the Florida Foods Corporation developed an orange juice powder. The company developed a process that eliminated 80% of the water content in orange juice to form a frozen concentrates which, when reconstituted created orange juice. The product was thereby branded ‘Minute Maid’, a name signifying the convenience and the ease of preparation i.e. the drink could be prepared in just about a minute. Minute Maid thus moved from a powdered concentrate to the first ever orange juice from concentrate. Over the years, through innovation and unmatched consumer experience provided in over 60 countries, Minute Maid brand has clearly become one of the world's largest juice and juice drink brands. Minute Maid Pulpy Orange in India was launched in Hyderabad on the 19th Of February. The product is aimed to further extend the leadership of Coca-Cola in India in the juice drink category.
There are over a 100 products in the Minute Maid banner that include fruit drinks in various flavors and fortified varieties. Coca-Cola is exploring its options to introduce some of these in India in future after tweaking them to suit local tastes and conditions. The product is made available in two packs; one being a 400 ML bottle priced at Rs. 25 and the other being a 1 LT bottle priced at Rs. 60. The exclusivity of the product lies in the presence of real orange pulp in the drink contributing to its unique and refreshing taste.
Currently, the pulp is imported from Florida and the juice from Brazil, the largest producers of Orange in the world. The product is bottled at the bottling unit of Coca-Cola in Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh. In the long run, the company would be sourcing these components locally by teaming up with farmers.
The product is made available in groceries, large format stores, eating and drinking outlets, convenience stores etc. Mr. John Ustas, CEO of HCCBPL, said that Minute Maid Pulpy Orange would be retailed across 25,000 outlets in the three Southern States of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in the months of March and April.
5.3: METHODOLOGY
As mentioned earlier in the report, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, were a part of the phased launch of the product in the market. A consumer sampling involving 5.5 lakh people was conducted in a span of 30 days across major cities in order to give the product the required marketing push and to recognize the prospective consumers and their opinion in order to develop and market the product in a better way in the near future. The methodology used in studying and understanding the perceived views of consumers towards the product was ‘SAMPLING’.
Sampling, by definition, is that part of statistical practice concerned with the selection of individual observations intended to yield some knowledge about a population of concern, especially for the purposes of statistical inference. Each observation measures one or more properties of an observable entity enumerated to distinguish objects or individuals. In the case of Minute Maid Pulpy Orange, the properties taken into concern are, the opinion of people regarding the product, taking into consideration their age and gender.
The process of Sampling in the city of Bangalore was conducted in the chain of Food World outlets all over the city. A modern trade outlet like Food World
was chosen because of facts like; the number of Food World outlets is high and the number of walk ins at each outlet was comparatively high as compared to any other stores or any other modern trade outlets. In recent years, consumers have preferred shopping for grocery and other necessaries at super markets due to reasons like, location of the store, shopping at leisure and convenience, spacious stores, availability of a wide array of products, prices offered and the quality of the products. Food World has been existent in the city for a very long time now and it is an outlet which satisfies all the above conditions and keeping that in mind, it was chosen.
5.4: PROCEDURE
The students appointed as summer trainees by the organization were assigned to carry out the process of sampling. Each trainee was allotted different outlets on different days and a specific number of cases containing 24 bottles of 400 ml each were given to them for the purpose. A standardized procedure was to be followed by the trainees to carry out the work, in order to achieve uniformity in the process, i.e. as follows:
• Talk to the store Manager in the respective store and attain chiller space in order to chill the bottles as it was necessitated that the drinks be served chill to the consumers and chill the bottles for about two hours.
• When the consumer entered or exited the store, the trainee had to stop the consumer and tell the consumers few facts about the product i.e. that it was the latest product introduced by Coca-Cola, that it was an orange drink with real orange pulp in it and that it was to be had chilled and shaken well before use.
• Then the bottles were to be shaken well, opened and given to the consumer to taste and once they sipped the drink, the consumer would be requested to give an oral opinion about the product.
• After this, in order to make a report, the approximate age of the consumer, gender and their opinion was to be made note of.
5.5: FINDINGS
5.5.1: GRAPH 1
This graph depicts the total number of consumers divided on the basis of the age group they belong to. The age of consumers included in the sampling activity ranged from 5 years to 75 years. Accordingly the age groups 5 to 15, 15 to 25, 25 to 35, 35 to 45, 45 to 55, 55 to 65 and 65 to 75 have been formulated. There is not set limit for the age of the consumers mainly because ‘Minute Maid Pulpy Orange’ is a fruit drink and it can be consumed by people across different age groups with no restrictions being laid and consumers of all ages enter food world on a given day, either individually and in the case of children, with their parents. The consumers who were sampled with were between 5 years and 75 years of age. The approximate age of the consumers was to be guessed and noted down. Around 50% of consumers fall in the 25 years to 35 years and 35 years to 45 years age groups and the other 50% is distributed among the other age groups.
Total No. of Consumers based on Age Group 27% 13% 8% 7% 6% 10% 29% 5 to 15 15 to 25 25 to 35 35 to 45 45 to 55 55 to 65 65 to 75
GRAPH 1: TOTAL NUMBER OF CONSUMERS BASED ON AGE GROUP
5.5.2: GRAPH 2
No. of Consumers based on Gender
48% 52%
Male Female
This graph makes a distinction between the number of males and
number of females with whom sampling was conducted. The
percentage is almost the same in both categories, but the number of
females i.e. 365 is a little more than the number of males i.e. 331,
due to the fact that, most of the household shopping is done by
women rather than by men.
GRAPH 2: TOTAL NUMBER OF CONSUMERS BASED ON GENDER
Opinion of people on Minute Maid Pulpy Orange
15%
11%
8% 66%
Liked Average Mix Reaction Disliked
The following graph denotes the feedback of consumers irrespective
of the age group they belong to or their gender. This is an overall
perception of the consumers towards ‘Minute Maid Pulpy Orange’.
GRAPH 3: GENERAL REACTION OF CONSUMERS ABOUT MMPO
From the above graph, it can be seen that, more than half the people who tasted the product liked the product, i.e. they gave positive feedback about the product and 15% of the consumers did not like the product. Out of the remaining 19% of consumers, 11% people came up with mixed reactions i.e. they had reasons both to like and dislike the product and a small chunk of 8% of the total consumers sampled with, said they did not like the drink too much, neither did they love the drink.
87 9 0 4 76 7 17 0 69 78 16 72 8 8 12 58 1010 22 40 5 31 24 40 12 18 30 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 % o f C on su m er s 5 to 15 15 to 25 25 to 35 35 to 45 45 to 55 55 to 65 65 to 75 Age Group
Feedback of Consumers about MMPO
Liked Average Mix Reaction Disliked
The following graph denotes the perception of consumers on the basis of the age group they belong to. This kind of a classification becomes necessary, because consumers of different age groups have different tastes and moreover, the ages of consumers in the sample range from 5 years all the way to 75 years.
GRAPH 4: REACTION ANALYSED ON BASIS OF AGE GROUP
From the above graph, it is evident that, across all age groups, a major portion of consumers liked the product. Further opinions received from different age groups could be compared and analysed as follows:
• Ranging from ages 5 to 55, it can be noticed that, in every age group, more than 50% of the consumers have liked the product.
• In the age group of 5 years to 15 years, 87% of the consumers have liked the products. The main reason behind this is children are fond of juices and sweet substances. They crave to have anything that is cold and the product when sampled, was made sure was cold and the remaining 13% is divided between average and disliked. There were no consumers who gave mixed reactions. This could be due to the reason that children cannot come up with good enough reasons as to why they like or dislike a product. They just give their opinion.
• In age groups 15 years to 25 years, 25 years to 35 years and 35 years to 45 years and 45 years to 55 years, the reactions were almost the same. This age group mostly consisted of college going students, working people and house wives. The percentage of consumers who liked the product ranged from 60 to 70%, so it could be said that, around 3 quarters of consumers belonging to those age groups liked the products. The main reasons for this could be that the most consumers belonging to these age groups are health conscious and Orange juice is considered to be one of the most nutritious and healthy juices. Almost 96% of the house wives who were spoken to liked the product. House wives are home managers and they make decisions when it comes to daily consumables and they wanted to buy the products especially because they wanted their children and the rest of their family to have it as it was safe and healthy.
• Consumers belonging to age groups 55 years to 65 years and 65 years to 75 years, almost have the same perception about the product. More than 50% of the consumers jointly fell in Disliked, Average and Mixed reaction categories mainly because consumers belonging to the age group of 55 to 75 years are diabetics and they do not intake or they are not allowed to intake excessive quantities of sugar; Minute Maid Pulpy Orange being a fruit juice and have added sugar in it was a big no to them. Some of them were even apprehensive about the Coca-Cola brand name attached to the
67 65 9 7 10 13 14 15 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 % o f C o n su m e rs
Liked Average Mix Reaction Disliked
Opinion Feedback on basis of Gender
Male Female
product; according to them Coca-Cola makes only carbonated soft drinks.
5.5.5: GRAPH 5
The following graph is a representation of the comparison and analysis of the feedback given by the consumers based on the gender they belong to. This kind of an analysis is important due to the fact that males and females have different tastes, likes and dislikes especially when it comes to choice of foods and beverages.
GRAPH 5: REACTION ANALYSED ON BASIS OF GENDER
On analysis of the above graph, it can be noted that, the gender of the consumer has not made an impact on the reaction obtained from the consumers. Males and females have shown the same kind of reaction towards the product. About 70% of the both males and females liked the product. This may be due to the fact that Orange juice is a universal favorite and people across the world, across both genders love having orange juice.
Around 20% of both males and females gave an average rating to the products and the rest were confused.
5.6: ADDITIONAL DETAILS
The reasons given by consumers for having liked the product were: • It tastes like fresh orange juice.
• It is a good thirst quencher, especially in the summer season.
• It is not bitter like other readymade juice products that are available in the market.
• It has got real pulp in it and when one can feel the pulp and this makes the drink tastier.
• It is a non-carbonated drink.
• It is as sweet as natural oranges that one buys in the market. • Due to the natural orange pulp, the juice is healthier.
• It is a ready-to-drink fruit juice.
The reasons given by consumers for having disliked the product were: • It is too sweet.
• It is too watery i.e. the consistency is not good. • Fresh fruit juice is preferable.
• Tropicana is preferred because that is not as sweet as Minute Maid Pulpy Orange.
• It is too bitter.
• It is not as sweet as natural orange juice.
• It was a product of the Coca-Cola Company and ever since the controversy, consumers are a little apprehensive about the products of that company.
• Preferred water to drinking juice.
• It is not exactly a drink for adults; the taste is more to suit children rather than adults.
• It tastes more like Rasna/Tang.
The above points under categories liked and disliked are contradictory to each other. Both categories have few same points like the bitterness and the sweetness of the juice. This contradiction arises due to the following reasons:
• Consumers belonged to different age groups ranging from as young as 5 years all the way to 75 years of age.
• Consumers have different likes and dislikes. • Consumers have different tastes.
5.7: SUGGESTIONS
Taking the above analysis into consideration, the following points can be regarded for further marketing of the product:
• Advertisements should target the entire family, mainly because it has been observed that irrespective of age and gender, more than 75% of the people have liked the product and look forward to buy it again. Advertisements should highlight the main features of the product that is the existence of pulp (which is already made prominent in Advertisements); it should lay emphasis on the health and nutrition value of the product and also on the fact that it is as good as fresh fruit juice.
• Due to the current prices, an eyebrow raiser for some, the product could be sold in packs of 2 or more and there could be a price reduction.
• At Modern Trade Outlets, where shoppers buy in bulk, Minute Maid Pulpy Orange could be given away free, if the customer buys goods worth more than a certain price line. This strategy is already being carried out at the Food World outlets. It could be introduced even at Fab Mall, Subhiksha, Spencer’s Daily, Big Bazaar etc.
• New flavors can be introduced into the market as early as possible because around 30% of the consumers were eager to know if the drink would come in more flavors and another 10% of the consumers
did not like Orange juice so they were anticipating the probable launch of other flavors.
• Smaller packs of Minute Maid Pulpy Orange like tetra packs of 200- 300 ml can be introduced as, when a customer wants a small amount of the drink just to quench his thirst for that moment, he would not want to buy a bottle containing 400 ml or 1litre of the juice. Therefore, smaller packs of the product do come in handy.
CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION
_______________________________________________
The Sampling activity was a good first step into the area of Marketing and Sales. It gave good amount of exposure mainly because after being trained, trainees were given an opportunity to carry out the process ourselves. It helped in developing a considerable amount of convincing skills, because, it took a lot of it to convince the store managers to give us cooler space to cool the product for 2 hours and even more to convince the customers into tasting the product and to get reviews from them. A good understanding of the market was accomplished as around 700 people were spoken to and that group consisted of a variety of customers. This even helped in the polishing of communication skills, a must-have to survive and make it big in the present world. It even gave a good understanding of behavior of customers when placed in different situations. It was a good opportunity to work on the skill of patience, as a large number of customers were to be dealt with. It helped in developing the kind of relations one needs to uphold in the corporate world and it helped in building up the right attitude.
As all the points in the above mentioned paragraph, are the must-have skills for anyone in the field of Marketing and Sales, the training period was a good experience and a good stepping stone into the real business world. As a future line of research, the Marketing and Sales Department at HCCBPL could offer projects like:
• Analysis Impact of advertisements on the Sales of a particular product • Analysis of major trends in the Indian Non-Alcoholic Beverage market • Analysis of changing trends in the market for Coca-Cola products • Formulation of Market penetration strategies
APPENDIX
Key M Male F Female T Total L Liked A Average M R Mixed Reaction D DislikedTotal number of Consumers sampled and their opinion Age
Groups Gender Opinion
M F T Liked Average ReactionMix Disliked
M F T M F T M F T M F T 5 to 15 26 19 45 23 16 39 2 2 4 0 0 0 1 1 2 15 to 25 42 28 70 35 18 53 3 2 5 4 8 12 0 0 0 25 to 35 86 108 194 56 78 134 6 8 14 6 10 16 18 12 30 35 to 45 93 96 189 65 70 135 10 6 16 6 10 16 12 10 22 45 to 55 36 54 90 21 31 52 5 4 9 5 4 9 5 15 20 55 to 65 18 40 58 8 15 23 0 3 3 6 12 18 4 10 14 65 to 75 30 20 50 12 8 20 4 2 6 5 4 9 9 6 15 33 1 365 696 220 236 456 30 72 57 32 48 80 49 54 103
Table for Graph 1 Age
Group Total No. of Consumers
5 to 15 45 15 to 25 70 25 to 35 194 35 to 45 189 45 to 55 90 55 to 65 58 65 to 75 50
Table for Graph 2
Male 331
Female 365
Table for Graph 3
Liked 456
Average 57
Mix Reaction 80
Disliked 103
Table for Graph 4 (In Numbers)
Age Group Liked Average Mix Reaction Disliked
5 to 15 39 4 0 2 15 to 25 53 5 12 0 25 to 35 134 14 16 30 35 to 45 135 16 16 22 45 to 55 52 9 9 20 55 to 65 23 3 18 14 65 to 75 20 6 9 15
Table for Graph 4 (Rounded Up % ages used in Graph)
Age Group Liked Average Mix Reaction Disliked
5 to 15 87 9 0 4 15 to 25 76 7 17 0 25 to 35 69 7 8 16 35 to 45 72 8 8 12 45 to 55 58 10 10 22 55 to 65 40 5 31 24 65 to 75 40 12 18 30
Table for Graph 5 (In Numbers) Gende
r Liked Average ReactionMix Disliked
Male 220 30 32 49
Femal
e 236 27 48 54
Table for Graph 5 (Rounded Up %ages) Gende
r Liked Average ReactionMix Disliked