A PROJECT REPORT

ON

“PROMOTION & DISTRIBUTION

OF

AMUL ICE CREAM ”

Submitted by:

Ashutosh Kumar

PGDM (2013-15)

Roll - 43

Declaration

I Ashutosh Kumar , do hereby certify that the Project Report entitled “ Promotion &

Distribution of Amul Ice cream ” , Submitted in requirement of fulfilment of Summer Internship.

It is an authentic record of my own work under the guidance of Mr. Anand Rai faculty of JRE

School of Management, Greater Noida.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude and deep regards to my mentor Mr.

Anand Rai Sir for his exemplary guidance, monitoring and constant encouragement throughout

the Summer Internship.

I would also like to express a deep sense of gratitude to Mr. Abhishek Sharma for allowing me

as Management Trainee in AMUL ( Gujarat Co-Operative Milk Marketing Federation

LTD.). & Awesh sir for his cordial support, valuable information and guidance, which helped

me in completing this internship through various stages.

I would like to specially thank all the various distributors and retailers who spared some time

from their busy schedule so that i can learn the working of AMUL Ice-Cream sector.

I would like to thank all my faculty members especially my dean sir Mr. Vishal Talwar and our

marketing faculty Mr. Sushil pasricha who let me face the real market scenario which is

completely practical and unpredictable.

I am grateful for their cooperation during the period of my Internships.

Lastly, I thank almighty, my parents, brother, sister and friends for their constant encouragement

without which this assignment would not be possible.

Ashutosh Kumar

Roll no - 43

PGDM (2013-2015)

INDEX

Sr.

No.

TOPICS

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

2. INTRODUCTION

3. OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH

4. LITERATURE REVIEW

5. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

6. DATA ANALYSIS

7. FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION

8. RECOMMENDATIONS

9. BIBLIOGRAPHY

10. ANNEXURE: QUESTIONNAIRE

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Amul proposes to set up 7000 'Amul Parlours' across the country during the year. The parlours

will be selling the entire product range of the GCMMF, in addition to the existing retail network

for ice-cream, milk and other products. GCMMF had rolled out a few self-managed Amul

parlours a couple of years ago.

"The project is extremely successful and today, we have reached 1200 new geographical markets

with addition of 306 new distributors, 65 new super-stockists and 900 new sub-stockists"

Amul is now planning a nationwide rollout of such outlets through franchise operators. At an

average expenditure of Rs.75,000 a parlour, the projects will cost approximately Rs.52.50

Crores.

Admitting that the parlours may mark Amul's foray into retailing of non-milk farm and

processed food products in the future, "Marketing of fresh and frozen vegetables, fruits and fruit

products goes perfectly well with Amul's strength in distribution and packaging. However, they

are yet to decide on that."

Meanwhile the federation has firmed up its plans for expansion of its milk product business

across the globe. The federation aims to sell milk in U.S. in 2014 and also to other European

countries. Amul has also set up a plant in New Jersey to manufacture Ghee and Paneer in

February 2014.

OBJECTIVES

To understand the supply chain network

Promotion of ice-cream at Reliance store

To find the problem at distributor point

To maximise the sales growth at retail store

To check any problem of retailers

About the company

GCMMF

Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (GCMMF), is India's largest food product

marketing organization with annual turnover (2013-14) US$ 3.0 billion. Its daily milk

procurement is approx 13.18 million lit per day from 17,025 village milk cooperative societies,

17 member unions covering 31 districts, and 3.23 million milk producer members.

It is the Apex organization of the Dairy Cooperatives of Gujarat, popularly known as 'AMUL',

which aims to provide remunerative returns to the farmers and also serve the interest of

consumers by providing quality products which are good value for money. Its success has not

only been emulated in India but serves as a model for rest of the World. It is exclusive

marketing organization of 'Amul' and 'Sagar' branded products. It operates through 53 Sales

Offices and has a dealer network of 10000 dealers and 10 lakh retailers, one of the largest such

networks in India. Its product range comprises milk, milk powder, health beverages, ghee,

butter, cheese, Pizza cheese, Ice-cream, Paneer, chocolates, and traditional Indian sweets, etc.

GCMMF is India's largest exporter of Dairy Products. It has been accorded a "Trading House"

status. Many of our products are available in USA, Gulf Countries, Singapore, The Philippines,

Japan, China and Australia. GCMMF has received the APEDA Award from Government of India

for Excellence in Dairy Product Exports for the last 13 years. For the year 2009-10, GCMMF has

been awarded "Golden Trophy" for its outstanding export performance and contribution in

dairy products sector by APEDA. In 2013-14, GCMMF took giant strides in expanding its

presence in International markets. Amul’s presence on Global Dairy Trade (GDT) platform in

which only the top six dairy players of the world sell their products, has earned respect and

recognition across the world. By selling milk powders on GDT, GCMMF could not only realize

better prices as per market demand but it also firmly established Amul in the league of top

dairy players in world trade.

For its consistent adherence to quality, customer focus and dependability, GCMMF has received

numerous awards and accolades over the years. It received the Rajiv Gandhi National Quality

Award in1999 in Best of All Category. In 2002 GCMMF bagged India's Most Respected Company

Award instituted by Business World. In 2003, it was awarded the The IMC Ramkrishna Bajaj

National Quality Award - 2003 for adopting noteworthy quality management practices for

logistics and procurement. GCMMF is the first and only Indian organisation to win topmost

International Dairy Federation Marketing Award for probiotic ice cream launch in 2007. For the

innovations, GCMMF has received AIMA-RK Swamy High Performance brand award 2013 and

CNN-IBN Innovating for better tomorrow award in 2014. For the tree plantation activity

GCMMF has received seven consecutive Good Green Governance award from Srishti during

2007 to 2013.

The Amul brand is not only a product, but also a movement. It is in one way, the representation

of the economic freedom of farmers. It has given farmers the courage to dream. To hope. To

live.

The Birth of Amul

It all began when milk became a symbol of protest

Founded in 1946 to stop the exploitation by middlemen

Inspired by the freedom movement

The seeds of this unusual saga were sown more than 65 years back in Anand, a small town in

the state of Gujarat in western India. The exploitative trade practices followed by the local

trade cartel triggered off the cooperative movement. Angered by unfair and manipulative

practices followed by the trade, the farmers of the district approached the great Indian patriot

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel for a solution. He advised them to get rid of middlemen and form their

own co-operative, which would have procurement, processing and marketing under their

control.

In 1946, the farmers of this area went on a milk strike refusing to be cowed down by the cartel.

Under the inspiration of Sardar Patel, and the guidance of leaders like Morarji Desai and

Tribhuvandas Patel, they formed their own cooperative in 1946.

This co-operative, the Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers Union Ltd. began with just two

village dairy co-operative societies and 247 litres of milk and is today better known as Amul

Dairy. Amul grew from strength to strength thanks to the inspired leadership of Tribhuvandas

Patel, the founder Chairman and the committed professionalism of Dr Verghese Kurien,who

was entrusted the task of running the dairy from 1950.

The then Prime Minister of India, Lal Bahadur Shastri decided that the same approach should

become the basis of a National Dairy Development policy. He understood that the success of

Amul could be attributed to four important factors. The farmers owned the dairy, their elected

representatives managed the village societies and the district union, they employed

professionals to operate the dairy and manage its business. Most importantly, the co-

operatives were sensitive to the needs of farmers and responsive to their demands.

At his instance in 1965 the National Dairy Development Board was set up with the basic

objective of replicating the Amul model. Dr. Kurien was chosen to head the institution as its

Chairman and asked to replicate this model throughout the country.

The Amul Model The Amul Model of dairy development is a three-tiered structure with the dairy cooperative societies at the village level federated under a milk union at the district level and a federation of

member unions at the state level.

The Amul model has helped India to emerge as the largest milk producer in the world. More than 15 million milk producers pour their milk in 1,44,500 dairy cooperative societies across the country. Their milk is processed in 184 District Co-operative Unions and marketed by 22 State Marketing Federations, ensuring a better life for millions.

Business of the Company:

Amul has justified its undisputed leadership in foods business by creating 6000 Amul preferred outlets in a record time which exclusively sell wide range of Amul products. This has been

possible due to strong brand equity and immense consumer support. We are now having ambitious plans of creating 10,000 Amul parlours by 2012.

Amul Parlours are successfully operating in more than 1400 towns at high streets, residential

areas, Railway Stations, Bus Stations, Educational Institutions and a whole lot of Centres of Excellence

The company is into the making of the products like, Breadspreads, Cheese Range, Fresh Milk,

Milk Powders, Milk Drink, Health Drink, Brown Beverage, Nutramul Malted Milk Food, Curd

Products, Pure Ghee, Mithaee Range, Ice-cream, Chocolate & Confectionery

Customers of the company:

It focuses on every stratum of people.

Organizational Structure:

The Amul Model is a three-tier cooperative structure. This structure consists of a dairy

cooperative society at the village level affiliated to a milk union at the district level which in

turn is federated into a milk federation at the state level. Milk collection is done at the village

dairy society, milk procurement and processing at the District Milk Union and milk and milk

products marketing at the state milk federation. The structure was evolved at Amul in Gujarat

and thereafter replicated all over the country under the Operation Flood programme. It is

known as the 'Amul Model' or 'Anand Pattern' of dairy cooperatives.

The main functions of the VDCS are:

Collection of surplus milk from the producers of the village and payment based on

quality and quantity

Providing support services to the members like veterinary first aid, artificial

insemination services, cattle-feed sales, mineral mixture sales, fodder and fodder seed

sales, conducting training on animal husbandry and dairying

Selling liquid milk for local consumers of the village

Supplying milk to the District Milk Union.

Mission Statement

GCMMF, endeavor to satisfy the taste and and nutritional requirements of the world,

through excellence in marketing through our committed team.

Through co-operative network, we are committed to offering quality products that

provide best value for money.

VALUES

Customer Orientation

Commitment to producers

Belongingness

Co-operation

Pride in Organization

Employee Satisfaction

Integrity

Excellence

Leadership

Quality

Innovation

Growth Orientation

Companies Profile

Year of Establishment 1973

Members 17 District Cooperative Milk Producers' Unions

No. of Producer Members 3.23 Million

No. of Village Societies 17,025

Total Milk handling capacity per day 23.2 Million litres per day

Milk Collection (Total - 2013-14) 4.79 billion litres

Milk collection (Daily Average 2013-14) 13.18 million litres

Cattlefeed manufacturing Capacity 6190 Mts. per day

Sales Turnover -(2013-14) Rs. 18143 Crores (US $ 3.0 Billion)

The History of AMUL Ice-creams

Amul Ice Cream was launched on 10th March, 1996 in Gujarat. The portfolio consisted

of impulse products like sticks, cones, cups as well as take home packs and

institutional/catering packs. Amul ice cream was launched on the platform of ‘Real Milk. Real

Ice Cream’ given that it is a milk company and the wholesomeness of its products gives it a

competitive advantage.

In 1997, Amul ice creams entered Mumbai followed by Chennai in 1998 and Kolkata and Delhi

in 2002. Nationally it was rolled out across the country in 1999.

It has combated competition like Walls, Mother Dairy and achieved the No 1 position in the

country. This position was achieved in 2001 and it has continued to remain at the top.

Today the market share of Amul ice cream is 38% share against the 9% market share of

MOTHER DIARY, thus making it 4 times larger than its closest competitor.

Not only has it grown at a phenomenal rate but has added a vast variety of flavours to its ever

growing range. Currently it offers a selection of 220 products. Amul has always brought

newness in its products and the same applies for ice creams.

In January 2007, Amul introduced SUGAR FREE & Prolife Probiotic Wellness Ice Cream, which

was a first in India. This range of SUGAR FREE, LOW FAT Diabetic Delight & ProLife Probiotic

Wellness Ice Cream is created for the health conscious.

Amul’s entry into ice creams is regarded as successful due to the large market share it was able

to capture within a short period of time – due to price differential, quality of products and of

course the brand name.

PRESENT STATUS

In a short span of 6 years Amul Ice Cream has become the No.1 ice cream brand in the country.

It is now the only national brand and all other ice cream brands are regional. Amul Ice Cream

has achieved 38% share against 9% market share of MOTHER DIARY making it 4

times larger than its closest competitor.

SWOT Analysis of AMUL Ice-cream

Strength

1. Good product range include various flavors, party packs, sticks, cones etc

2. Good quality and packaging, and good advertising

3. Amul is one of the most respected top-of-the-mind brands

4. Also launched probiotic and sugarfree icecreams

5. Offers over 200 products across India

6. Biggest sourcing base for milk & milk products in india

7. 39% market share in the national ice cream market

8. Penetration pricing strategy- Amul is price warrior in the ice cream market and currently

has a very wide range to offer for all the price points

9. Reputation of high quality

10. E-commerce, new products and process technology

Weakness

1. Growing competition form international and other brands means limited market share

2. Limited international presence as compared to leading global brand

3. Advertise is low profile, as the results of the survey show. Majority of the respondents

have hardly seen any Ad of Amul ice cream. However kwality walls on the other hands

into heavy advertising and consequently, is popular

4. Shortage of stock during season

5. As per the survey, retailer list a credible replacement policy as a factor very high on

their wish list. They would be willing to make future investment only for that brand

which offers replacement facilities, Amul has no replacement policy

6. Less attractive packaging

7. Distribution problems

Opportunity

1. High End ice-cream to tap the higher income group also

2. Tie-up with food chains, restaurants

3. Mobile vans for better visibility

4. Internet promotions are a good means of awareness which should be tapped

5. Amul can use the umbrella strategy for its new SKU’s

6. It is high growth segment as the population is very increasing with never – ending

demands

7. Distribution coverage

Threat

1. Kulfi in rural markets

2. Local ice creams and sweet dishes

3. Health conscious people refraining from sweets

4. Amul is currently facing stiff competition from Kwality walls and may face more threat

from the local manufacturers in the low priced segment ice creams.

5. The customers have very well received the Kwality walls product differentiation strategy

and mother dairy is also pushing up its advertising strategy.

6. Also the low per capita income low per capita consumption of the people is a threat to

Amul

7. Free entry to the markets

8. Even Vadilal is coming up with new strategy and promotions of various variants of ice

cream

AWARDS

AIMA High Performance Brand Award

QIMPRO GOLD STANDARD Quality Award 2013

SAP Award for Customer Excellence (SAPACE) 2013

ET-Corporate Citizen Award of the Year 2010-11 to GCMMF

Green Globe Foundation Award

Srishti's G-Cube Award – 2010

International Dairy Federation Award

Pro-Biotic Ice-cream Gets No. 1 Award At World Dairy Summit

Ramkrishna Bajaj National Quality Award - 2003

Qimpro Gold Standard Award - 2003

International CIO 100 Award For Resourcefulness

GCMMF Partner Companies

Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd., Anand

Mehsana District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd, Mehsana

Sabarkantha District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd., Himatnagar

Banaskantha District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd., Palanpur

Surat District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd., Surat

Baroda District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd., Vadodara

Panchmahal District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd., Godhra

Valsad District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd., Valsad

Bharuch District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd., Bharuch

Ahmedabad District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd.,Ahmedabad

Rajkot District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd., Rajkot

Gandhinagar District Cooperative Milk Producers'Union Ltd., Gandhinagar

Surendranagar District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd., Surendranagar

Amreli District Cooperative Milk Producers Union Ltd., Amreli

Bhavnagar District Cooperative Milk Producers Union Ltd., Bhavnagar

Kutch District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Ltd., Anjar

Junagadh District Cooperative Milk Producers' Union Limited,Junagadh

SALES TURN OVER

Sales Turnover Rs (million) US$ (in million)

1994-95 11140 355

1995-96 13790 400

1996-97 15540 450

1997-98 18840 455

1998-99 22192 493

1999-00 22185 493

2000-01 22588 500

2001-02 23365 500

2002-03 27457 575

2003-04 28941 616

2004-05 29225 672

2005-06 37736 850

2006-07 42778 1050

2007-08 52554 1325

2008-09 67113 1504

Sales Turnover Rs (million) US$ (in million)

2009-10 80053 1700

2010-11 97742 2172

2011-12 116680 2500

2012-13 137350 2540

2013-14 181434 3024

Research Methodology

Analysis Of Marketing Mix Strategy of Amul Ice-cream

I took up Amul Ice Cream as a product for our study and analysis. The project basic objective

was to acquire a deeper understanding of the product and apply the concepts related to marketing

mix, 4P's of marketing and the consumer behavior as learnt in the course.

The project was studied in three parts:

Marketing mix of Amul Ice cream

Study of the consumer behavior with the help of a structured questionnaire

Marketing mix of two main competitors; Kwality Wall's and Mother Dairy, suggestions and

foresight about Amul Ice Creams

In the first part, we studied the marketing mix of Amul ice cream which was further divided into

four parts: Product, Price, Place and Promotion.

Marketing Mix of Amul Ice cream

Amul Ice Cream was launched on 10th March, 1996 in Gujarat. It was launched on the platform

of 'Real Milk. Real Ice Cream' given that it is a milk company and the wholesomeness of its

products gives it a competitive advantage.

In 1997, Amul ice creams entered Mumbai followed by Chennai in 1998 and Kolkata and Delhi

in 2002. Nationally it was rolled out across the country in 1999.

It has combated competition from the established players like Walls, Mother Dairy and achieved

the No 1 position in the country. This position was achieved in 2001 and it has continued to

remain at the top.

Today the market share of Amul ice cream is 38% as against the 9% market share of Mother

Diary, thus making it 4 times larger than its closest competitor.

Product

Amul has added a vast variety of flavours to its ever growing range. Currently it offers a

selection of 220 products. Amul has always brought newness in its products and the same applies

for ice creams.

The broad heads under which Amul markets it's ice creams are as follows:

Royal treat range (rajbhog, cappuccino, chocochips, butterscotch, tutti frutti)

Nut-o-mania range (kaju draksh, kesar pista, roasted almond, kesar carnival, badshahi badam

kulfi, shista pista kulfi)

Utsav range (anjir, roasted almond)

Simply delicious range (vanilla, strawberry, pineapple, rose, chocolate)

Nature's treat (alphonso mango, fresh litchi, anjir, fresh strawberry, black current)

Sundae range (mango, black current, chocolate, strawberry)

Millennium ice cream (cheese with almonds, dates with honey)

Milk bars (chocobar, mango dolly, raspberry dolly, shahi badam kulfi, shahi pista kulfi, mawa

malai kulfi cream, green pista kulfi)

Cool candies (orange, mango), Cassatta, Tricone cones (butterscotch, chocolate), megabite-

almond cone), Frostik - 3 layer chocolate bar, Fundoo range - exclusively for kids, Slimscoop fat

free frozen dessert (vanilla, banana, mango, pineapple), Health Isabcool

In January 2007, Amul introduced SUGAR FREE & ProLife Probiotic Wellness Ice Cream,

which was a first in India. This range of SUGAR FREE, LOW FAT Diabetic Delight & ProLife

Probiotic Wellness Ice Cream is created for the health conscious.

Price

Amul has managed to stay ahead of its competitors by providing quality products at competitive

prices, maximizing customer value. Amul followed the penetration pricing strategy and entered

the market with prices much less than the leader in the market "Kwality Walls". This helped

Amul in achieving great success at the start. Amul also captured a lot of the lower end untapped

market due to its pricing strategy and gradually acquired a market share of 12-15% in the first

few years. The pricing has been a major advantage of the brand. Following Amul, other players

lowered their prices consequent to which Amul now follows a competitive pricing as its major

strategy.

Range of price - minimum and maximum?

Amul frostiks start from Rs 10 and go upto Rs. 20. The prolife pro-biotic icecream is priced at

Rs. 15 for 125 ml. the super saver take away packs start from as low as Rs.110 for 2 litre

whereas catering the higher end, exotica range starts from Rs. 120 per litre brick and extends

upto Rs. 160 for different flavours.

Place

Ice cream, being a perishable item, it is very important to have a good distribution channel.

Amul's head office is at Anand. The entire market is divided into 5 zones. The zonal offices are

located at Ahmadabad, Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai. Moreover there are 49

Depots located across the country and Amul caters to 13 Export markets also.

Amul follows four marketing channels to distribute its ice creams.

Level Zero also called direct marketing channel consists of a manufacturer selling directly to the

final customers.

Amul has entered into direct retailing through "Amul Utterly Delicious" parlours created in

major cities Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Baroda, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Surat. These

parlours surpass the regular softy and ice-cream scoop offering joints in terms of popularity and

look set to give the more established ice cream brands in the cities a run for their money. In these

parlours, icecream is stored and transported in a frozen condition (- 180 centigrade or below).

They also keep frozen pizzas and frozen paneer.

Level One contains one selling intermediary such as retailer to the final customers

Level Two has two intermediaries typically distributor and the retailer

Level Three comprises the distributor, retailer with the jobber in between

Promotion

Amul doesn't follow an aggressive marketing strategy for its ice creams. In the beginning, TV

commercials for products such as amul tricone, real milk ice cream, frostik and premium ice

cream were seen frequently. However these commercials cannot be spotted now. Instead the

company prefers a more direct approach to sales promotion strategy. Offers such as super saver

packs, one plus one and the likes are often given to lure the consumers into buying. Apart from

these, Amul Company as a whole with its advertising partner FCB-ULKA puts up its hoardings

which are famous for their satirical take on current happenings, for its complete basket of

products including ice cream.

The main reason for Amul retaining its dominant position in the market despite a conservative

marketing strategy is because all the market players in this product category follow the same

kind of strategy, i.e. minimal exposure to electronic media and high on sales promotion

technique. In such a scenario Amul has been successful in creating a niche for itself.

Amul's entry into ice creams is regarded as successful due to the large market share it was able to

capture within a short period of time. The differential pricing, quality of products and of course,

the brand name made this possible.

Consumer Buying Behavior

We studied the marketing mix of Amul ice creams. Now we'll study and analyze the behavior in

terms of consumer's decision making process and factors affecting their buying behavior.

Consumer behavior is how individuals, groups, and organizations select, buy, use and dispose of

goods, services and ideas to satisfy their needs and wants. Consumer passes through five stages

in buying a product:

1. Need Identification

2. Information Search

3. Evaluation of Alternatives

4. Purchase of Product

5. After Sales Service

Consumers don't always pass through all the above stages while making a purchase. For many of

products (mostly perishable), the kind of involvement in the buying process is low. Consumers

tend to do a lot of brand switching for the sake of variety and novelty. While buying a regular

brand of ice cream, one goes directly from the need for ice-cream to the purchase decision

skipping information search and evaluation. Even if they are present, the time given to each of

these is negligible as compared to other stages. This is very important part of consumer buying

behavior which in turn affects the factors affecting the consumer behavior. If one is loyal to one

brand he will repeatedly purchase that brand and flavor. However if one doesn't find that

product, he is very likely to switch to other available brands without much effort and may start

liking it.

Factors affecting the consumer behavior:

Various types of factors which affect the consumer behavior and lead them towards a particular

ice-cream brand are as follows:

Product specifications, variety, price range, promotion strategies, and availability of product

(which forms an integral part in case of variety seeking products)

Reference groups (family, friends , media etc) and their effect on choices

Knowledge of other brands existing in the market and their positioning in the minds of the

consumers

Demographics - age, gender, income group

Situational - occasions where a consumer buys a product

Involvement in buying the product in terms of frequency of purchase

Studying the consumer behavior:

In the survey conducted, (sample size=50) we'll first do a general analysis studying the market

and Amul ice-cream's position in it. In second part of the analysis, we'll see how different age

groups may behave differently in consuming ice cream.

Research Methodology

Data : Primary data

Population size: consumers

Sample Size : 50

Area : Shakarpur , School Block , Mayur vihar Phase 1 , Mayur vihar phase 2 , Mayur vihar

phase 3 , New Ashok nagar , Vasundhra (Delhi East)

Samples for the study consisted of people from the age group of 19 - 57. Samples were taken

randomly where a structured questionnaire was mailed to the people and their responses

recorded. The questionnaire had the following dimensions:

Demographics of the respondents such as age, income group, occupation, gender

Knowledge/awareness about the various brands available in the market

Frequency of purchase of ice cream,

place of purchase,

price preferences,

reference groups,

Favorite brands vis-a-vis Amul in terms of ratings on the features of the product.

Sample size:

50 respondents from the target population were approached to fill in the questionnaire.

Result and discussion:

The decision in buying ice cream is influenced by many factors such as taste, availability,

pricing, packaging, variety of the product, occasions and mood and so on.

Results of the data analysis will be studied in two parts:

1. An overall analysis of all the factors.

2. A comparative analysis of the age groups to analyze the difference in their behavior due to

different age.

Overall analysis:

Demographics of the respondents:

Data was collected with respect to four demographics of the sample; age, gender, income groups

and occupation. Based on the analysis, it was observed that 74 % of respondents were in the age

group 19-24 and 26% in the age group 25-55 One third of the respondents were females. More

than 50% of the samples were students owing to which the income range of less than 50000 Rs.

bears the highest percentage in the income distribution.

Consumer behavior with respect to frequency of purchase and the occasions/moods leading the

buying towards buying ice creams:

The frequency of purchasing of ice creams is moderate.

46% buy in weekends

38 % in a month,

12% alternative day &

4% every day .

.This implies that buying frequency for ice creams is moderate. This influences the level of

involvement in looking for the alternatives each time the buyer consumes an ice-cream. The

consumer is more or less habitual own interpretation, in purchasing the ice cream due to which

the 2 steps in buying behavior become redundant as already mentioned earlier.

By habitual, we mean routine to be more precise. In terms of mood in buying, people generally

buy ice-cream without any reason when buying very frequently.

The samples are equally distributed over the occasions such as birthday, marriage, family outing,

hanging out with friends, or part with the % of people consuming it with friends dominating the

others.

As far as choosing the flavor/brand of ice-cream is concerned, over 93% choose the flavor/brand

themselves. It can be inferred that the influence of family and friends in choosing the ice-cream

is very low and people go by their own choices while buying it. 5% of the people eat ice-cream

flavors as decided by the family which may be the case when one is buying bricks of ice-cream.

Rest 2% constitutes people who go by the friends' choice in choosing the flavor/brand.

Place of purchase and importance attached to packaging:

More than 50% of the consumers buy ice cream from the corner shop of their colony. It signifies

the importance of distribution channels and the kind of availability they need to have to maintain

to create a position in the market. If they go out of stock they are at the risk of losing their

customers to other competitors. The data infers that availability of Ice-creams are high in round

the corner shop and Super markets whereas Malls may afford to go loose on all time availability.

Regarding the packaging, 93% place importance on the packaging of the ice-cream which again

makes it important for the brands to have a very attractive packaging in order to attract the

consumers.

Factors forming an important consideration for trying a new product/flavor:

There are various factors which lead to trying out a new product launched in the market and

make repeated purchases. It was seen that taste forms the most important factor leading to buying

of ice cream which is placed higher than the brand name also. It reemphasizes the fact that brand

name of the ice-cream is not the most important. If the consumer likes the taste of other product,

one may shift to the other brand. The 2nd most important factor is advertising. Ice-cream brands

are generally low on their promotional strategies. However the importance of advertising with

consumers is easily visible in the survey. For one fourth of the people, advertising is the force

which leads them towards an ice-cream product. Most of the advertising for Ice-creams comes

through billboards and hoardings and here Amul as a brand scores over others as the brand

awareness of Amul is one the best. 2. Comparison of consumer's favorite ice-cream and Amul

ice-cream on various attributes: We asked our sample to rate their favorite ice-cream vis a vis

Amul ice-cream on various attributes such as taste, packaging, price, variety and availability on a

scale of 10 where 1 was the worst and 10 was the best ..

Awareness about other brands existing in the market:

People are well aware about the brands in the market. Among the top 3 brands mentioned by the

consumers, Amul and Mother Dairy feature the most among the two. For the 1st preference,

Mother dairy overtake the awareness whereas for the 2nd choice Amul .This is important from

the point of view of Amul as the people who are variety seeking will switch over easily to the

other brands if they are not happy with Amul.

Among the brands that are well known to the customers, Amul, Kwality-walls and mother dairy

are the most sought after brands. Other than these regulars brands, there are other brands such as

Vadilal, Baskin Robbins, creambell, and others which constitute a small share in the market in

terms of awareness level.

Analysis with taking age, income (demographics) as the distinguishing factors:

For analyzing the difference in factors leading to buying behavior due to difference in age, we

have already divided the samples into 2 age groups 19-24 and 24-55 years.

Frequency of purchase:

It was clearly visible that 19-24 years consume ice-cream more frequently than the people in the

age group of 25-40 years. 57% of people in the age group of 25-40 consume ice-cream

occasionally which is only 31% in the case of the lower age group. On the other hand, the

combined % of people consuming ice-cream on a weekly or daily basis for 24-40 year age group

is only 25% as against 48% in case of 18-24 year olds with weekly consumption leading for the

same.

Factors consuming new ice cream product, brand or flavor:

It was observed that number of people preferring taste is much higher in case of 18-24 year olds.

Also people in the age group of 24-40 years don't consider packaging or cheaper price as a

leading factor while considering a new product. This is an important observation as Amul mainly

sells on the lower price strategy. If it is offering a lower priced product, it needs to work on

packaging as large numbers of people give importance to packaging in this group (also shown in

the following chat). However it may or may not work so much on packaging if it is introducing a

new product/flavor in the higher end markets.

Willingness to buy sugar free ice cream at a higher price:

To determine the level of health consciousness of the people and their willingness to buy the ice

cream at a higher price if available, the data was collected.

70% of the people were not willing to buy the sugar free ice-cream at a higher price. This can be

due to 2 factors: always better to ask from the respondents

1. people are less health conscious

2. people are price sensitive

The options given to determine the same would not have been exhaustive. Possible the open-

ended question wouldn't have been of much use. But yes, it is certainly better to ask from the

respondents and due care would be taken next time.

To further judge this, we distributed this data age wise to which how many people in which age

group are willing to buy the ice-cream at a higher price.

In case of people in the age 25-40 years, over 42% of the people are willing to buy the sugar free

ice cream if available at a higher price. However this falls to 32% in case of the age group 18-24

years. This can be again attributed to 2 factors:

1. People in the lower age group are less health conscious or they are earning less so they

are price sensitive or both.

2. People in the higher age group are more health conscious or they are earning more so

they can afford higher prices.

Miscellaneous remarks about Amul ice creams: (optional in the survey)

Amul is my favorite brand but more chocolate varieties are possible using different caramels and

nuts.

It's like since childhood I have an image that Kwality Walls is the best ice cream. Amul and

Mother Dairy are my second best.

They should come out with some good advertising campaigns for their ice creams and should

really try out the social media to market their brand.

It is good, but sometimes some flavors are out of market, especially mango flavor.

The Amul ice cream should be readily available and the variety should be more. Also the

marketing is very poor we do not see much.

Amul seems to be a brand for common men - the middle class, very well placed to cater to

middle class people - the biggest chunk of Indian population...although not very popular among

the higher class

These remarks about Amul ice cream highlight the fact that we have been saying all throughout

out analysis. The variety in some products of Amul is not at par with the other brands or the

needs of the consumers. The availability is on a lower side due to which some of the samples

complained of the brand getting out of stock. Also the level of awareness of the ice creams of

Amul among the consumers is very less due to which it suffers a lot. Amul needs to go

aggressive on its promotion strategies so that it can expand its market share and perform well.

Conclusion:

From the above survey, we can conclude that major factors affecting Consumer behavior are

Taste, Price, Packaging, Brand Perception and occasion. As Ice-cream is a variety seeking

product, therefore the availability of Amul Ice-cream has a major impact on the actual

consumption by the consumers and since Amul is very close to the market leader Kwality-walls.

It has to take care of availability especially at round the corner stores and super markets where

the sales of Ice-cream are maximum.

Taste is considered the most important factor in determining the consumer behavior as per the

survey. Amul Ice-cream is lagging behind in "Taste" as per the consumer perception when

compared to Market leader.

Attitude of the consumer is favorable towards Amul Ice cream and this can be seen through the

comparative analysis of different brands in the market. Part of it can be attributed to Amul's

brand perception across all the product categories countrywide.

There is no significant difference in behavior towards purchasing Ice cream based on

gender but the younger age group prefers to eat ice cream more than their older counterparts.

Since most of the younger age group also falls in relatively lower income group, this shows the

higher consumption trends by low income group .

Job Description

This project included promotion and strengthening of the distribution network of the

company's product "AMUL ICE-CREAMS". The project was a great learning experience. At the

starting of the project we were first told to do the survey of the push-carts running in the different

areas of Delhi. In that we were told to survey about their working conditions, their timings of

movement, their standing places, the customers who are attracted by them, the problems faced by

the vendors. We were told to survey them at different places of the city. I had to survey a total of

50 pushcarts present at all the 3 locations under 1 distributors and under whom were 5 Vending

Redistribution Stockiest (VRS) points. Their I surveyed all the push-carts along with the vendors

running them. Also there I heard all the problems faced by the vendors and the distributors with

the company. Also I took the suggestions from the vendors with respect to the customers as what

the customers want as they are the only ones who get to have a word with the customers in an

easy way.

Next was the promotion of the scheme bought up by Amul with 1ltr. ice-cream tubs.

The scheme was that with the purchase of 1ltr. tub the customer gets a Amul Butter 100gm.s

free. I had to visit 2 Reliance Fresh stores for 6 days in Ganesh Nagar & Fateh nagar on

alternative day basis , where I had to promote this scheme and increase of Ice-cream tubs. There

we promoted the scheme upto a very large extent. Target which was given was to sell 50 ice-

cream tubs, which was easily completed in the given time period.

Then I was made to visit the various retail outlets so as do understand the market demand

and the distribution channel of Amul ice-creams. There I used to take ice-cream orders from

various outlets. Also I opened many new outlets which now sell Amul Ice-creams.

Next was the promotion of all the different Amul ice-creams at different retail outlets,

also I conducted a survey with the different customers coming to the various retail outlets. There

I got to know about the standing of the company in the retail market and also the various

problems faced by the retailers with the distributors.

Difficulties Faced

• Coupon problems

• Delivery problem

• Ordered items not same

• Replacement problem

• Stock availability problem

Findings

(Consumer Survey)

Q. How often do you visit Ice-cream Outlets?

a) Everyday

b) Alternative Days

c) Weekend

d) Once in a month

Q. Which of the following Ice-cream Brands do you like the most?

a) Amul

b) Motherdairy

c) Kwalitywalls

d) Creambell

e) Vadilal

5%15%

78%

2%

Chart Title

EVERY DAY

ALTERNATE

WEEKEND

ONCE IN MONTH

Q. Why do you buy the brand you choose?

a) Price

b) Quality

c) Flavour

d) Purchasing Convenience

14

8

23

32

AMUL KWALITY WALLS MOTHER DAIRY CREAM BELL VADILALSeries1

Q. How often does you have Amul Ice-cream?

a) Everyday

b) Alternative Day

c) Weekend

d) once in a month

Price16%

Flavour24%

Purchasing

convinience6%

quality54%

Price Flavour Purchasing convinience quality

Q. Which among of following is your Favourite ice-cream in Amul?

a) Sticks

b) Cups

c) Cones

d) Bricks/Tubs

e) Any Other

Weekend46%

4%12%

38%

Weekend Every Day Alternative Day Once in a month

Q. Is the product line of Amul Ice-cream is adequate?

a) Yes

b) No

c) Haven’t thought about that

8%

12%

8%

72%

Chart Title

Sticks

Cups

Cones

Bricks/Tubs

Q. Which flavour you like the most?(most liked)

66%0%

34%

Chart Title

yes

no

havn't thought

Q. How would you rate the quality of AMUL Ice-cream from 1-10?

360 out of 500points

Q. How would you rate the packaging and appearance of AMUL Ice-cream from 1-10?

430 out of 500

Q. Do you know the difference between Ice-cream and Frozen Dessert?

8 8

7

6

5

3

5

4 4

BUTTERSCOTCH

CHOCBROWNIE

M DRYFRUIT

VANILLA CHOCOCHIPS

ALPHANSOMANGO

KAJUDRAKSH

RAJ BHOG ROASTEDALMOND

Chart Title

a) Yes [ 6 % ]

b) No [ 94 % ]

Q. Is AMUL Ice-cream easily available?

a) Yes [ 100 % ]

b) No [ 0 % ]

Q. Suggestion / Feedback received from Customer

TASTE / QUALITY SHOULD IMPROVE

FINDINGS

• Sale of amul ice cream is more in weekends

• Mother Dairy is the top ice cream selling company then Amul % Kwality walls

• People prefer quality/ TASTE in comparison to price & flavour

• Most selling iccream of Amul are Bricks & Tubs

• People like Butter scotch , chocolate & Morrocan dry fruit most

• Product line of Amul icecream is adequate

• Most of people don’t know the difference between icecream & frozen dessert

• Age group between 19 to 35 buy icecream most

• Amul icecream is easily available at the stores

• Quality of Amul icecream not on that level on which it should be.

Conclusion

AMUL at present requires to review its marketing and distribution strategies specially

concentrating on retailers queries. It already is one of the most renowned household brand name

in the country, hence all it needs to do is to take full advantage of this fact. If the company works

out its marketing strategies for its products thoughtfully and calculative it will not be long before

Amul becomes the market leader which it presently is in all the sectors.

From the findings it has been shown that it needs to increase the margin since its push

strategy mainly focuses on the retailer, who don't want to sell ice-cream if they do not have any

extra benefits. Increase more advetisement about the product could prove to be more fruitful.

Delhi NCR has an annual demand of about 35 lakh litres of Ice-cream.

The entire market needs to be covered along with the nearby areas of Delhi like Darayapur,

Ghoga, Auchandi, Harewali, Karala and nearby areas as this market has remained untouched

which can help Amul increase its ice-cream consumption upto a very high extent.

Recommendations

Company needs to improve the supply part as well as reimbursement part

Company should provide de freezer at lower price for market penetration

Percentage of margin should increase for retailers

Company should improve the quality of ice-cream

Staff number should increase so that order is delivered on time

All flavor's should be available

Coupon problem should be solved

Company should improve their services

Finally, company requires overall improvement in new way

Customers should be made aware of all the products by undertaking aggressive

promotional campaign.

Proper advertisement should be made in electronic and print media so that there is

widespread awareness among the customers.

Exclusive outlets should be present so as to counter the competitors.

Fruitful dealer margins- Instead of providing different dealer schemes the company

should increase the margin considerably sa as to match the competitors.

More innovative schemes should be introduced to lure the retailers

Proper receipts should be given against the amount paid by the retailers

Distributors should cover the entire market

Major Limitations

No proper advertisement for Amul Ice-creams

Aggressive campaigning by competitors like margin to retailers and new schemes

No exclusive outlet as compared to Mother Diary and Kwality Walls

Very rigid policies

Lack of consumer awareness of Frozen Yogurt

Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd.

Feedback Form

Name:_____________ Age/Gender:___________

Phone No:___________ Occupation:____________

1) How often do you visit Ice-cream Outlets?

a) Everyday b) Alternative Days c) Weekend

d) Once in a month

2) Which of the following Ice-cream Brands do you like the most?

a) Amul b) Motherdairy c) Kwalitywalls

d) Creambell e) Vadilal e) Any Other

3) Why do you buy the brand you choose?

a) Price b) Quality c) Flavour

d) Presentation e) Purchasing Convenience

4) How often does you have Amul Ice-cream?

a) Everyday b) Alternative Days c) Weekend d)

Never

5) Which among of following is your Favourite ice-cream in Amul?

a) Sticks b) Cups

c) Cones d) Bricks/Tubs

e) Any Other

6) Is the product line of Amul Ice-cream is adequate?

a) Yes b) No c) Haven’t thought about that

7) Which flavour you like the most?

____________________________________________________

8) How would you rate the quality of AMUL Ice-cream from 1-10?

___________

9) How would rate the packaging and appearance of AMUL Ice-cream from 1-10?

___________

10) Do you the difference between Ice-cream and Frozen Dessert?

a) Yes b) No

11) Is AMUL Ice-cream easily available?

a) Yes b) No

12) Any suggestions:

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

Outlet Name:_____________ Customer here for buy____________

Bibliography

Websites

www.amul.com

www.amul.coop

www.google.com

News Papers

Times of India

Economic Times

The Hindu

Magazines/Journals

Business Today

Business World

India Today