Dissertation Report On Bingo!!.docx

A DISSERTATION REPORT ON MARKETING STRATEGY OF BINGO BY ITC

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF REQUIREMENT FOR THE DEGREE OF

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

PREPARED BY: MD JAFAR SHARIF EXAM ROLL – PG 24/MBA IVS NO – 229 VU Registration NO –01127 of 2017-19 Major specialization: MARKETING

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF

PROF. SREEMOYEE MUKHERJEE FACULTY, EIILM

SUBMITTED TO: EIILM, Kolkata Affiliated under Vidyasagar University

(March, 2019)

Page | 1

DECLARATION I, MD JAFAR SHARIF, do hereby declare that this dissertation titled- “MARKETING STRATEGY OF BINGO BY ITC” has been done by me and all the information provided is correct and true to my knowledge.

The dissertation is submitted by me for the partial fulfillment of the award of degree in Master of Business Administration.

The dissertation is exclusively prepared by me and has not been submitted to any other Institutions or published anywhere before.

DATE:

PLACE: KOLKATA

(MD JAFAR SHARIF) Roll- PG/24/MBA-IVS, No. 229 Registration No: 01127 of 2017-18 MBA, 4th SEMESTER EIILM, KOLKATA

Page | 2

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I express my sincere gratitude to PROF. SREEMOYEE MUKHERJEE, Faculty, and EIILM who has sincerely provided me with critical suggestions and valuable insights which enabled me to complete this project and bring out this report in the best way possible. I would take this opportunity to thank Dr. R. P Banerjee (Director, EIILM) and other faculty members for their cooperation and support. I am also thankful to my colleagues for their motivation and to all those persons who directly or indirectly helped me during developing this dissertation.

Signature: Name: MD JAFAR SHARIF Date:

Page | 3

CONTENTS CHAPTER

PARTICULARS

PAGE NO.

1

INTRODUCTION

5-6

2

INDIAN SNACKS INDUSTRY

7-8

3

MARKET & COMPETITION

9

4

ABOUT BINGO

10-12

5

BINGO PRODUCT PORTFOLIO

13-15

6

COMPETITORS

16

7

VALUE PROPOSITION

17

8

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

18

9

MARKETING STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY ITC FOR BINGO

19-22

10

MARKET WELFARE

23-24

11

VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS FOR BINGO

25-27

12

SWOT ANALYSIS

28-29

13

PEST ANALYSIS

30-31

14

FINDINGS

32

15

RECOMMENDATIONS

33

16

CONCLUSION

34

17

BIBLIOGRAPHY

35

Page | 4

Introduction to ITC Establishment: Incorporated on 24 August 1910 as the Imperial Tobacco Company of India Limited, the company's name was changed to ITC Limited in 1974. Rated among the 'World's Best Big Companies' by Forbes magazine, ITC ranks third on all major profit parameters among India's private sector corporations. ITC employs over 20,000 people at more than 60 locations across India. It has a turnover of $3 billion.

Growth and Diversification: ITC is one of India's foremost private sector companies with a market capitalization of nearly US $ 18 billion and a turnover of over US $ 4.75 billion. ITC is rated among the World's Best Big Companies, Asia's 'Fab 50' and the World's Most Reputable Companies by Forbes magazine, among India's Most Respected Companies by Business World and among India's Most Valuable Companies by Business Today. ITC also ranks among India's top 10 `Most Valuable (Company) Brands', in a study conducted by Brand Finance and published by the Economic Times. ITC has a diversified presence in Cigarettes, Hotels, Paperboards & Specialty Papers, Packaging, Agri-Business, Packaged Foods & Confectionery, Information Technology, Branded Apparel, Personal Care, Stationery, and Safety Matches and other FMCG products. While ITC is an outstanding market leader in its traditional businesses of Cigarettes, Hotels, Paperboards, Packaging and Agri-Exports, it is rapidly gaining market share even in its nascent businesses of Packaged Foods & Confectionery, Branded Apparel and Stationery. As one of India's most valuable and respected corporations, ITC is widely perceived to be dedicatedly nation-oriented. Chairman Y C Deveshwar calls this source of inspiration "a commitment beyond the market". In his own words: "ITC believes that its aspiration to create enduring value for the nation provides the motive force to sustain growing shareholder value. ITC practices this philosophy by not only driving each of its businesses towards international competitiveness but by also consciously contributing to enhancing the competitiveness of the larger value chain of which it is a part."

Page | 5

ITC's diversified status originates from its corporate strategy aimed at creating multiple drivers of growth anchored on its time-tested core competencies: unmatched distribution reach, superior brand-building capabilities, effective supply chain management and acknowledged service skills in hoteliering. Over time, the strategic forays into new businesses are expected to garner a significant share of these emerging high-growth markets in India. ITC's Agri-Business is one of India's largest exporters of agricultural products. ITC is one of the country's biggest foreign exchange earners (US $ 2.8 billion in the last decade). The Company's 'eChoupal' initiative is enabling Indian agriculture significantly enhance its competitiveness by empowering Indian farmers through the power of the Internet. This transformational strategy, which has already become the subject matter of a case study at Harvard Business School, is expected to progressively create for ITC a huge rural distribution infrastructure, significantly enhancing

the

Company's

marketing

reach.

ITC's production facilities and hotels have won numerous national and international awards for quality, productivity, safety and environment management systems. ITC was the first company in India to voluntarily seek a corporate governance rating. ITC employs over 21,000 people at more than 60 locations across India. The Company continuously endeavors to enhance its wealth generating capabilities in a globalizing environment to consistently reward more than 3, 88,000 shareholders, fulfill the aspirations of its stakeholders and meet societal expectations. This over-arching vision of the company is expressively captured in its corporate positioning statement: "Enduring Value. For the nation. For the Shareholder."

Page | 6

INDIAN SNACKS INDUSTRY: An Overview

Snacks are a part of Consumer Convenience/ Packaged Foods segment. Snack is described as a small quantity of food eaten between meals or in place of a meal. Snack food generally comprises bakery products, ready-to-eat mixes, chips, namkeen and other light processed foods According to the ministry of food processing, the snack food industry is worth Rs 100 billion in value and over 4,00,000 tones in terms of volume.

Though very large and diverse, the snacks industry is dominated by the unorganized sector. According to an Apeda survey almost 1,000 snack items and 300 types of savories are sold across India. The branded snacks are sold at least 25% higher than the unbranded products. Savory snacks have been a part of Indian food habit, since almost ages. Though there is no particular time for snacks, normally they are consumed at teatime. The variety is almost mind-boggling with specialties from all regions, which have gained national acceptance.

The industry has been growing around 10% for the last three years, while the branded segment is growing around 25% per annum to stand at Rs 5,000-Rs 5,500 crore, due to various reasons like Multiplex culture, snacking at home while watching TV, pubs and bars (where they are served free). AC Nielsen's retail audit shows that the large sales volumes are due to a marked preference for ethnic foods, regional bias towards indigenous snacks and good value-for-money perception. Of course the branded segment is much smaller at Rs 2,200 crore, which is what makes it so attractive to food Companies that are looking at bigger shares. In the branded snacks market, to get down to basics, Frito Lay commands a share of 45%, followed by Haldiram’s at 27% and ITC at 16%. The rest is divided between a handful of new entrants, wannabes and many regional players.

Of the wide range of snacks available, potato chips constitute a sizeable segment of the Indian snack food industry, according to India Info line. The potato chip market is generally an unorganized industry. Nearly all potato chip snack products are manufactured and sold locally. There is also no uniform standard for packaging, as there is in Europe, the United States and other more developed regions. Many snack foods are sold loose or packaged in poly-pouches, which may only be folded, or in some cases, stapled closed. As the Indian economy continues to grow, and production standards improve, many snack food companies are making significant investments into plant equipment and packaging machinery. Page | 7

Pepsi Foods Ltd., now known as Frito-Lay India Ltd., produces India's largest snack food manufacturer’s brands, including Ruffles, Hostess, Cheetos and Uncle Chips. Frito Lay's story is an example of how American recipes were adjusted to satisfy local tastes. Procter & Gamble's Pringles brand of potato crisp was launched in Delhi in 1999. Pringles is also a baked potato crisp, unlike many other potato based Indian snack foods that are fried. P&G currently imports the Pringles product and therefore the product has been priced at a premium and is marketed to a micro-niche.

Page | 8

Market and Competition

Indian Foods market is not a monopolistic market. There are many competitors in all the categories and although they all have similar products available at similar prices, they are trying to prove themselves different through their marketing strategies. However, entry to this business is easy and ITC has utilized this fact very efficiently to their benefit as they entered into the several categories among this Foods business.

READY TO EAT ITC entered into the branded and packaged foods business in with the launch of Kitchens of India brand. In 2004, the company launched KoI brand fruits and spice conserves and cooking pastes. The fruits and spice conserves, were developed jointly with Karen Anand, a food expert. Priced at Rs. 70, these were targeted at the premium segment. The KoI cooking pastes, which were priced at Rs.30 for a 100g pack, also targeted the high-end market. Multi-purpose cooking pastes were also launched under the Aashirvaad brand and these were priced at Rs. 10 for 80g pack. The manufacturing of these products was outsourced to contract manufacturers for saving the operating cost.

ITC entered the branded spices market in 2005 and the Instant Mix segment in 2006, both under the Aashirvaad Brand. As on April 2006, the total turnover in the Indian ready-to-eat and ready-to-cook segments was only around Rs. 700 million, but it continued to post an annual growth of 20%. By early 2006, though ITC had captured a 35% market share in the ready-to-eat segment, MTR was the clear market leader with close to 60% in market share. ITC exported 40-50% of KoI brand products (in terms of volumes) to the US, Canada, the UK, Switzerland, and Australia.

In May 2006, ITC planned to introduce ten more varieties under the KoI brand within a price range of Rs. 35 to Rs. 98. In 2007, some new products have been launched under Ready toeat category like chutneys, curries, conserves, biryanis (Noor Mahal, Bhori Biryani and some new range of products under Gharana (PaneerMalai, Keema Mutter). After launching all these products ITC FOODS is looking to share 50 to 60% of market by 2008-2009.Following arethe major competitors ITC is competing with in Ready to eat category:

Page | 9

BINGO! No Confusion Great Combination

Page | 10

About Bingo

The Bingo brand of chips was launched by ITC on 14th March 2007 with an aim to capture at least 25 percent market share of the Rs 2000 crore branded snack market within five yrs. The launch is symbolic of ITC Foods' distinct approach of introducing innovative and differentiated products in a largely undifferentiated market place. Bingo’s launch was strategically timed around the World Cup. The idea was to get the consumer to take that first bite.

This was an extremely ambitious target according to observers as the market was dominated by the Frito Lay group (owned by Pepsi Co) with a slew of brands like Lays, Kurkure and Uncle Chipps holding 50 per cent of the market share. The other was the Haldiram group with 25 percent of the market share. Bingo’s portfolio includes an array of products in both Potato Chips&Finger Snacks segment.Bingo! Is positioned as a youthful and innovative snack, offering the consumers a choice of flavors that are fast becoming popular.

Bingo used combination of leveraging synergies, building on consumer insights and high decibel advertising can win the game. The company leveraged its existing distribution network and relationship established with farmers. Its earlier foray into categories like atta and biscuits had already given it access to the supply chain.

Before the Launch Research: After making the decision to launch Bingo it started by sending a cross-functional team of eight individuals were sent across the country to research the snacking habits of the Indian consumer. After travelling to 14 cities and speaking to more than 1,000 people, the team came back with an insight that Indian consumers were looking for novelty and excitement in existing snacks.

The team found that while vadapavs and samosas still sell vadapav with cheese and paneer-filled samosas, or for that matter, tomato-flavored khakra were the ones that excited the Indian consumer. Based on this information, the company decided to look at chips with innovative flavors.

Page | 11

Taste: For the recipes, the company went to the chefs in its hotels. The chefs came up with 16 flavors with innovative twists like bindaasmastichaas, chatkilanimbuachar and tandoori paneer tikka-flavored potato chips, chilly and tomato-flavored mad angles — inspired by khakras — and other snacks.

The organized snacks category is subdivided into the Traditional segment (Bhujia, Chanaetc.) dominated by Haldiram. The second category is the Western segment (potato chips, cheeseballs, puffsetc.) and the Finger snacks segment which is an adaptation of traditional snacks to the western format. The latter two categories are dominated by the Frito Lay group. ITC has launched an aggressive marketing campaign to gain entry into and capture a sizeable market share in the extremely competitive world of snack foods. Bingo’s success in the market is backed by ITC’s strong distribution network, which allows it to stock its products in shops that previously did not sell snack food. Additionally, ITC Foods provides shopkeepers with plastic molded shelves that allow local vendors a convenient way to stock their product, and the company benefits by increased visibility for its brand.

The packaging is very attractive with dominant variant color, crimp border colors and a pictorial view of the flavor. This property of flavor depiction is very informative for consumers and a layman can also associate with it. Bingo has a unique musical sound that is loved by everyone. It is one of the properties that are remembered by everyone and it is used to recall the brand by every age group.

Page | 12

Bingo Product Portfolio: Bingo! Was launched in March 2007 with a wide range of exciting packaged salted snacks. The range includes multiple flavor variants of Potato Chips & Finger Snacks. The brand is associated with youth, fun and excitement. It fulfills the consumers need for variety and novelty in snacks. At present Bingo! Has 4 sub-brands in its portfolio, each of which have unique values based on consumer need differentiation. Bingo! Potato chips Authentic flavors gently sprinkled on chips made from golden quality potatoes. Available in 4 exciting flavors. 1. 2. 3. 4.

Yumitos Salted Yumitos Cream and Onion Yumitos Masala Yumitos Tomato

Page | 13

Bingo! Mad Angles - "Har Angle se Mmmm..." One of the biggest successes from the Bingo! Portfolio, Bingo! Mad Angles has carved a niche for itself in the consumers mind and is synonymous with the perfect triangular snack. A combination of innovative flavors on a traditional khakra base, Mad Angles is a snack that is true to taste with perfect flavor delivery as well as shape, making it a snack that's truly "Har Angle se Mmmm ..." 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Mad Angles Tomato Madness Mad Angles Chat Masala Mad Angles Achari Masti Mad Angles Kasundi Mad Angle Very Peri

Newly Launched product:

Page | 14

Bingo! Tedhe Medhe - "Eat. Phir Repeat." Bingo! Tedhe Medhe is the popular spindle shaped format from Bingo! That is a delicious blend of handpicked spices with an aroma that makes one crave for more. The taste of fiery sparks which masalas leave on ones tongue is an experience with savoring! 1. 2. 3. 4.

Tedhe Medhe Achari Masti Tedhe Medhe Mast Masala Tadka Tedhe Medhe Lime Chatpata Tedhe Medhe Tomato Masti

Bingo! No Rulz - Banao masti ke apne rules The latest entrant into the Bingo! Portfolio, No Rulz is a snack targeted towards kids. It is available in 3 exciting flavors of Masala, Tomato and cheese. With 4 shapes - stick, moon, ring & star - in a single pack there is guaranteed to be fun times always with No Rulz. To add to the fun every pack comes with a free toy. 1. No Rulz Tomato 2. No Rulz Cheese 3. No Rulz Masala

Page | 15

Main Competitors:

1. Frito-Lay 

Lays



Kurkure



Uncle Chipps



Cheetos

2. Haldiram

3. Regional Players like Pran

Comparison of Prices:

Product Price (ITC Ltd)

Product Price (Frito Lay)

Product Price (Haldiram)

Bingo Rs. 5 Rs. 10 Rs. 20

Lays Rs. 5 Rs. 10 Rs. 20

Namkeen Rs. 5 Rs. 10 Rs. 20

Uncle Chipps Rs. 10 Rs. 20 Kurkure Rs. 5 Rs. 10 Rs. 20

Page | 16

Value Proposition 

Variety & innovation in a largely undifferentiated Variety & innovation in a largely undifferentiated market.



ITC launched BINGO in 16 flavors to cater to tastes of the country.



Foray into the “Health Snacks”segment by introducing Bingo as baked-chips.

Page | 17

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1. To understand the marketing strategy adopted by ITC for Bingo 2. To understand the SWOT and PEST analysis of Bingo

Page | 18

Marketing Strategies Adopted by ITC for Bingo 1. Product - Assortment of flavors and eye catchy packaging. 2. Price - Pricing Strategy 3. Place - Widespread availability at big and small retailers across the country. 4. Promotions - T.V. Advertisements

1. Product Bingo Positioned itself with its Indian flavors such as Tandoori Paneer, Tikka, and SpicePaneer etc. For the South Indian market, Bingo! had flavors such as ChatkilaNimbuAchaar, AchariMasti etc. The segmentation was mainly done on basis of the age of the people. The primary target for Bingo is 18-30 year old people, who are willing to try out new flavors more easily than the small kids.

The initial offerings from Bingo include an array of products in both Potato Chips & Finger Snacks segment. The Potato Chips offerings comprise of four innovative variants inspired by the snacking habits of different parts of the country as well as Masala, Salted and Tomato flavors. Additionally a dairy option has also been introduced under the potato chips offering. The offerings under the Finger Snacks segment are equally unique presentations with innovative finger foods like the pakoda inspired Live Wires, Khakra inspired Mad Angles and the specially developed time pass snack in the form of TedheMedhe. Each offering under this segment is available in two variants making it a total of 6 products in the Finger Snacks portfolio. Packaging- ITC has done the packaging such that the product attracts the buyer. Apart from it has also launched packs with different quantity keeping in mind the specific consumer demand.

Page | 19

2.Price When ITC launched Bingo, its main challenge was to compete with the players who were already there. To overcome this challenge, ITC realized that they have to offer products at a price which is either equal or less than what the competitors are offering. To do this, they planned to capitalize by leveraging the strength of the group’s other businesses. ITC’s printing and packaging business provided high-quality, cost-effective, and innovative packaging. ITC also enjoyed cost advantages over its competitors owing to its electronic procurement system called e-Choupal. This helped ITC to compete with the best.

Initial pricing of ITC bingo is a direct frontal attack on Frito Lays with pricing of Rs 5, 10 and 20. Now Frito Lays has launched small packs of Rs 3 each. It needs to be seen whether ITC can leverage upon its huge distribution network to counter this.

3. Place ITC has adopted a Market Challenger strategy with the launch of Bingo! And has chosen a combination of flank and frontal attack against the market leader Frito Lay’s. The Company has distributed more than 4 lakh large racks, to display the brand at all points of sale. The racks created so much impact that even competitors like market leader Frito-Lays introduced its own version of wafer racks. Within six months of the launch, Bingo was available in more than 2, 50,000 retailers across the country. ITC has made a strategic alliance with Future group according to which all retail stores of Future group like Food Bazaar, Big Bazaar, and Kishore Biryani’s Fair Price etc. will stock only ITC’s Bingo. HORECA (hotels, restaurants and cafes), entire cigarette distribution network including betel shops are being used to distribute the product to a wide range of consumers. Initially Bingo sponsored many Bingo Remix nights in various clubs as well.

Page | 20

4. Promotion T.V. AD Campaign: Bingo’s launch was strategically timed around the World Cup to cash in on the tremendous popularity that such leisure and cocktail snacks would find among cricket lovers in the country. The idea was to get the consumer to take that first bite. Not only the flavors but also the advertising was supposed to have an Indian touch. Within a month of the launch of the initial advertisements, 70% of the viewers could recall the brand thus capturing a share of the mind of the consumers. Brand recall along with 16 flavors in three SKUs helped ITC to capture 16% of market share in just 18 months. The advertising strategy used humor to sell Bingo. Bingo’s advertising follows the AIDA model (Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action). The clutter-breaking ads with their slapstick humor and irrelevant themes garnered enough eyeballs to create awareness of the product and generate an interest towards the product in the minds of consumers. The ads are simply insane & nonsensical to the point of being bizarre & utter crap. And that is why they are so funny. This resulted in high product trials. What’s interesting is the fact that Lays uses a brand ambassador approach with the celebrities having mass appeal such as Saif Ali Khan, Juhi Chawla & M S Dhoni whereas Bingo has managed to do well without one. It still doesn't have an ambassador. Bingo! Mad Angles Twisteris a crazy application with which can turn the status messages upside down on Facebook which can make the users and viewers go crazy trying to figure out your secret of that twisted message. So this was another kind of strategy being used for promotional purposes apart

from

advertisements,

ringtones

and

videos

promoting

the

same.

On television, the company booked 10 to 15 spots per channel per day on youth channels such as MTV and Star World, mass Hindi channels like Zee and Star TV, and news channels. It also had around 20 spots on a variety of radio channels and advertised in most leading national dailies. In the top-30 cities, over 1,000 outdoor hoardings advertised the product. According to industry estimates, ITC spent close to Rs 100 crore on marketing. Bingo has managed to do a dent in Lays market share. Is the fact that ITC spend close to 3 years researching, finding and analyzing the Finger snack segment to come up with its own indigenous variety

responsible

for

Bingo's

success

Page | 21

The 'insanity' in Bingo's promotion is a carefully knitted strategy that was instrumental in Bingo's instant success. Marketing Guru's call it "Disruptive Advertisement" This is one those cases where advertisement/promotion has been the biggest factor in the success of a brand. The fact that ITC has a well-established distribution network has also helped it increase consumer interaction points.

The adverts which were full of humor, cheesy & non-sense jokes, and relevancy with the brand helped in establishing the brand Bingo. While I agree the theme of the adverts were irrelevant from the product point of view, they were relevant and totally associated with the brand image (which was also present in its tagline - No confusion, only great combinations).

With the help of all the above strategies, ITC finally tasted success in Bingo in 2008 when it became a profitable business for the first time since its launch in 2007.

Major Hurdles faced by Bingo 

Brand Loyalty of Lays customer is posing threat to Bingo



Stagnant Market Share



Unawareness of the variety of flavors introduced by Bingo



Threats of local players



Dependent on Cigarettes outlet

Page | 22

MARKET WARFARE

Page | 23

FIRTOLAY (PEPSICO) AND BINGO (ITC) 

Currently, the size of the snack food market is estimated to be Rs 4,500-5,000 crore of which branded players account for Rs 2,000 crore. The snack food market is growing at 30 per cent annually and foods and beverage giant PepsiCo’s Frito Lays is the dominant market leader with a market share in excess of 80 per cent.



Lays has revamped its branding strategy with new promotions featuring actress like Juhi Chawla, Kareena Kapoor etc. About 35 AC BEST buses in Mumbai and metro in Kolkata are now branded by Kurkure.



In order to add further zing to its product portfolio, in January 2008, the company launched Kurkure Extreme, a limited edition variant in two flavors—Risky Chilli and Electric Nimbu (lime). This was perhaps a move to outdo competition from ITC’s snack brand Bingo, which was launched in March 2007, in Indianized flavors like Tandoori Paneer Tikka (spiced cottage cheese) and Chatkila Nimbu Achaar (tangy lime pickle).



Since Bingo was a youth brand, digital media was used heavily for promotions. The Bingo National Gaming Championship was one such example. The event was held in four cities and saw participation from 25,000 contenders. Bingo Remix Nights were held in clubs across the country.

Page | 24

Value Chain Analysis Of Bingo The value chain is a systematic approach to examining the development of competitive advantage. It was created by M. E. Porter in his book, Competitive Advantage (1980). The chain consists of a series of activities that create and build value. They culminate in the total value delivered by an organization. The 'margin' depicted in the diagram is the same as added value. The organization is split into 'primary activities' and 'support activities.'

Page | 25

Primary Activities Inbound Logistics. Here goods are received from a company's suppliers. They are stored until they are needed on the production/assembly line. Goods are moved around the organization. Bingo receives its raw materials from potato vendors from the plantation area. Bingo has its own vehicles for carrying the goods which reduces its cost of transportation. Operations This is where goods are manufactured or assembled. Bingo chips has a big factory unit at Gurgaon where Frito-Lay’s also has a factory. Since the factory is located in National Capital Region which itself is a big market for snack lovers. Outbound Logistics The goods are now finished, and they need to be sent along the supply chain to wholesalers, retailers or the final consumer. Marketing and Sales Bingo promoted its products through many promotional events, it has tie ups with many retailers , opened many outlets and mass media campaign through actors ,heavy advertisements done during the cricket world cup 2007.Bingo also went online and opened their own website. Bingo also launched many online games to spread their product to people who were below 25 years. ITC spent around 50 lakhs for advertising Bingo chips through web. Service Bingo has varied flavors which caters to the needs to all the types of customers in the country. ITC has started the campaign for providing education to the school children.

Page | 26

Support Activities

Procurement. This function is responsible for all purchasing of goods, services and materials. The aim is to secure the lowest possible price for purchases of the highest possible quality. They will be responsible for outsourcing (components or operations that would normally be done in-house are done by other organizations), and purchasing (using IT and web-based technologies to achieve procurement aims).Bingo uses poly bags which contain the chips. ITC’s procurement and manufacturing synergies across divisions have helped it to reduce costs for Bingo as well. Its e-choupal model for direct procurement is also well known, under which ITC partners with over 100,000 farmers for spices and wheat procurement. This kind of rural pedigree is hard to beat. Technology Development Technology is an important source of competitive advantage. Companies need to innovate to reduce costs and to protect and sustain competitive advantage. This could include production technology, Internet marketing activities, lean manufacturing, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and many other technological developments.

Page | 27

SWOT ANALYSIS ITC, the brand owner of Bingo, and various other brands, primarily the Tobacco industry, is strong enough to compete with global players. This as an added advantage can prove ITC to be an Indian Multinational company though. The diversified presence in various industries viz., Tobacco, Stationaries, food processing etc. makes the base of the company stronger, and this invariably adds as a biggest strength to the BINGO brand. Moreover the distribution centers of this age old company is available with experience that can easily absorb the current trend in the market and the taste of the customer can be annotated without much negotiation. The strengths of the Brand is readily overshadowing the weaknesses, so does the opportunities to threats. But, the company should not conclude on this cold base to enjoy the benefits in the hand, rather a focus on the minor weaknesses and threats should lead to a path that paves way for the possibilities of being a brand leader, overcoming stiff competitions from Multinationals like Frito-Lay’s and Pringles, National competitors and the local products.

STRENGTHS: 

Availability of Raw materials



Availability of Manufacturing facilities



Domestic markets



Urbanization



Catering the market distribution

WEAKNESSES: 

Insufficient infrastructure



In-prominence in quality control, unable to meet the international standards



High working capital



Lack in innovation on variants



Large number of intermediaries thus causing a slog in distribution



Dependent on Cigarette outlets

Page | 28

OPPORTUNITIES: 

Change in consumer patterns



Rise in income level of customers



Change in lifestyle and demographics



Opening of new international markets



Integration of new technologies

THREATS 

Prevalence of cultural taste brands



High taxation



Inventory cost



Stiff competition with regional players



Close competing Multinational brands

Page | 29

PEST ANALYSIS PEST analysis is one that is merely a framework that categorizes environmental influences as political, economic, social and technological forces. Sometimes two additional factors, environmental and legal, will be added to make a PESTEL analysis, but these themes can easily be subsumed in the others. The analysis examines the impact of each of these factors (and their interplay with each other) on the business. The results can then be used to take advantage of opportunities and to make contingency plans for threats when preparing business and strategic plans.

PEST analysis is a useful strategic tool for understanding market growth or decline, business position, potential and direction for operations. The headings of PEST are a framework for reviewing a situation, and can in addition to SWOT and Porter’s Five Forces models, be applied by companies to review a strategic directions, including marketing proposition. The use of PEST analysis can be seen effective for business and strategic planning, marketing planning, business and product development and research reports. PEST also ensures that company’s performance is aligned positively with the powerful forces of change that are affecting business environment. PEST is useful when a company decides to enter its business operations into new markets and new countries. The use of PEST, in this case, helps to break free of unconscious assumptions, and help to effectively adapt to the realities of the new environment.

POLITICAL The ITC brand is a house hold brand in India. The political scenario in India is such that the open invitation to the MNCs to be a part of Indian Snack Industry and on the other hand the government is conservative in Indian brands too.

ECONOMICAL ITC rightly introduced Bingo in the market when there was less or no supply for Lay's in the market for a prolonged time. With this way, they developed this product, the advertisements were give a keen focus. The same worked when the Mom-and-Pop stores across the country agreed for the trendy display of Bingo.

Page | 30

SOCIAL To cater the Indian demography is a herculean task with taste spread all over the country. Thus to satisfy the customers in their taste and demography, Bingo offers sixteen variants, each specially made for the respective demography. The product profile, in longer run may be truncated by keeping those products that doesn't market well.

TECHNOLOGICAL The close competitor of Lay's which banks on the sentiment of being trendy and cool, though with a larger market share of 45%, is running behind Bingo in Innovation they incorporate with the product. Bingo has special variant which is baked and non-fried variety of chips that can prove to be against trans-fat in its covers. This in turn will not fail to attract those people who consider themselves to be strict against the usage of oily snacks.

Page | 31

FINDINGS 

Brand promotions is not so much compared to competitors.



No regular advertising on TV.



Limited Variants/Flavors of the product.



Dependent on limited outlets.



Packaging is not as attractive as compare to the competitor.



No Brand Promotions at the Outlets.



Very less advertisement as compared to the competitor.



Poor coverage in rural area.

Page | 32

RECOMMENDATIONS  Brand Packaging: Bingo can come up with different shapes of packaging. Different packaging always attracts consumers. Usage of different colors for packaging will be helpful as the customers will be able to differentiate among various products. 

Brand promotions: Company can opt for seasonal promotions. Gift packs or combos with 4-5 flavors can be introduced. Can tie up with beverages like Coca Cola during festive season or can sponsor events like cricket tournaments etc.

 Paid Display: Company should pay for the brand rack to the retailers because ‘Frito Lays’ pay for the display.

 Advertising: The existing advertisements have been successful in creating brand awareness. Now it’s time to focus more on taste and variety of flavors, tempting the consumers to purchase the product. An animated character can be used to describe the flavor. 

Flavors: Having too many flavors is causing some problem because the customers are not able to differentiate between different variants. Even though it’s a good strategy as people are forced to try each flavor, the ones which are not going good in the market should be removed from the company’s portfolio. This would reduce the problem of confusion amongst the consumers.

 Contests: The company should launch a contest like “Send in your Bingo recipe” which can help the company to increase its market share.

 Target Grocery Outlets: Bingo should cover all the grocery outlet as they are much dependent in “Cigarette Outlets”.

 Rural Market Penetration: Bingo should penetrate the rural market also.

Page | 33

CONCLUSION

Although Frito Lays is the most popular brand Bingo has carved a niche for itself. Bingo is in the growth stage of its life cycle. Given more time it is capable of capturing a larger market share and giving tough competition to other brands. Its focus is more on product innovation and distribution and invests heavily in promotion. In the coming years it will become a dominant player in the domestic market.

Page | 34

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1.

www.itcportal.com

2.

www.allbusiness.com

3.

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Just-munch-it/271873/0

4.

www.moneycontrol.com

5.

www.economictimes.indiatimes.com

6.

www.bingeonbingo.com

Page | 35