RESEARCH REPORT

ON

A Comparative Study of different brand of spices in LUCKNOW

Submitted for partial fulfillment of award of MASTER`S DEGREE IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION of Uttar Pradesh Technical University, Lucknow.

BY PRAGYA SINGH MANISH MAURYA ANKIT KESARWANI

BABU BANARASI DAS NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY & MANAGEMENT, FAIZABAD ROAD, LUCKNOW

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We take this as an opportunity to thank with bottom of our heart, all those without whom the journey of doing our project would not have been as pleasant as it has been to us. Working on our project was a constant learning experience with all sweat and tear which was its due but not without being richly stimulating experience of life time.

We are very thankful to H.O.D., MBA, Dept. Prof. Jatin sir for giving us their valuable advice and guidance towards fulfillment of the project. For any project to be a success, it is very important to get the right guidance and support which we got from our Faculty Guide Dr. Meetu pandey. We express our gratitude to our faculty guide for inspiring us throughout the project. We want to express our deep gratitude to our institution BBDNITM , for giving us the opportunity to undertake this project and enhance our knowledge.

Finally, we would like to convey our heartiest thanks to all our well wishers for their blessings and co-operation throughout our study. They boosted us up every day to work with a new and high spirit.

PRAGYA SINGH MANISH MAURYA ANKIT KESARWANI

DECLARATION

We hereby declare that this Research Project entitled, A Comparative Study of different brand of spices in lucknow written and submitted by us, under the guidance of Dr. Meetu pandey, is our original work and that has not been submitted to any other University / Institute previously.

PRAGYA SINGH MANISH MAURYA ANKIT KESARWANI (MBA 2nd sem.)

CONTENTS

,,

i) ii) iii) iv) v) vi) vii)

Introduction Objectives of the study Scope of the study Importance of study Research Methodology Analysis Findings

viii) Recommendation ix) x) xi)

xii)

Limitations Conclusion Annexure Bibliography

INRODUCTION

Indian spices include a variety of spices that are grown across the Indian subcontinent (south Asia). With different climates in different parts of the country, India produces a variety of spices, many of which are native to the Subcontinent, while others were imported from similar climates and have since been cultivated locally for centuries. Spices are typically heated in a pan with ghee or cooking oil before being added to a dish. Lighter spices are added last, and spices with strong flavor should be added first. Curry is not a spice, but a term which refers to any side dish in Indian cuisine. It could be with a gravy base or a dry item. A curry typically contains several spices blended together.

Our study is based on a survey done on customers of different brand of Spices. As we already know that spices are main ingredient for any dish. So, in market there are variety of spices are available of different brands. For ex: EVEREST, MDH, GOLDI, ASHOK etc.

Our study is on determining the buying behavior of customers and the satisfaction level of customers for different brands. My study will find out the current status of various brands of spices and determine where it stands in the current market.

This market field survey will help in knowing the present customers tastes and preferences. It will help me in estimating the customers future needs , wants & demands.

SCOPE OF STUDY

The scope of this research is to identify the buying behavior of customers for different brand of spices in lucknow. This research is based on primary data and secondary data. Due to time constraint only limited number of persons contacted. This study only focuses on urban buying behavior of customers because the research conducted in only LUCKNOW area. The study does not say anything about rural buying behavior of customer because rural norms/status/attitude & acceptance of the rural customers differs with urban customers. The scope of research is limited for LUCKNOW area. Its aim to understand the skill of the brands in the area like technological advancement, competition in management.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1. To find out the buying behavior of the customers for different brands of spices.

2. To determine the current status of different brands.

3. To find out the customers response towards different variety of brands.

4. To study the satisfaction level of customers for particular brand. 5. To identify main competitors of different brands of spices.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
RESEARCH: Research is a systematic approach towards purposeful

investigation which needs formulating a hypothesis, collection of data on relevant variables, analyzing and interpreting the result & reaching conclusions either in the form of solution or certain generalization.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

A system of models, procedures &

techniques used to find out the result or research problem is called research methodology.

Technology, customers tastes and preferences play a vital role in todays generation. Research Methodology is a set of various methods to be followed to find out various informations regarding market strata of different products. Research Methodology is required in every industry for acquiring knowledge of their products.

Area of study: The study is exclusively done in the area of marketing. It is a process requiring care, sophistication, experience, business judgment, and imagination for which there can be no mechanical substitutes.

Research Design Exploratory Research.

Sampling Design: Non Probability sampling- Convenience sampling

Data Collection
Data is collected from various customers through personal interaction. Specific questionnaire is prepared for collecting data. Data is collected with mere

interaction and formal discussion with different respondents. Some other relevant information collected through secondary data Data can be classified under two categories depending upon the sources utilized. These categories are, i) Primary data ii) Secondary data

DATA COLLECTION:
Data is collected by using various methods. For the purpose of fulfilling the objective of study and for completing the Research project Report, both primary and secondary data collected. PRIMARY SOURCES: Questionnaire Keeping in view the objective of study a questionnaire (as given Annexure) was selected there is Twenty in all. All questions are small in size and arranged logically. The language is simple to understand.

Interview
Information was also obtained by conversation with Customers .they were interviewed personally.

SECONDARY DATA: The second information is taken from company document available on websites The other related journals information and industry associations sites have also been viewed.

SAMPLING DESIGN
I n th e ba ckdrop of ob ject ive set , a s a mpl e stud y c onduc ted in LUC KNOW. SAMPLE SIZE: 30 CONSUMERS contacted during this research work. The nature of sampling is NON PROBABITITY CONVENIENCE SAMPLING helped in keeping the path of research in focus throughout the work.

Collection of the questionnaire:

Sufficient time was given to the respondents to answer the questionnaire.

Problem faced while collecting and filling questionnaire:

Some of the respondents were hesitant to answer the questionnaire.

 Some respondents did not want to answer the questionnaire, so they left it unanswered. Where the respondents did not find the relevant answer in his choice provided, they added they

added their own choice or left it unanswered.

SAMPLE SIZE
In this research, we had taken the size of the sample 30. We had taken the responses of 30 customers.

UNIVERSE
The main step of developing any sampling design is to clearly defined the sets of object, technically called the universe to be studied. Universe can be FINITE or INFINITE. FINITE: a) Population of a city b) No. of a workers in a factory. INFNITE: a) Stars in the sky b) Listeners of specific radio programs. Here, UNIVERSE IS FINITE.

SAMPLING UNIT

Decisions has to be taken, concerning a sampling unit before selecting sample. Sampling unit may be GEOGRAPHICAL such as state, district, village etc. or it may be a CONSTRUCTION UNIT such as house, flat etc. Sometime it may be a SOCIAL UNIT like family, club, school etc. & sometime it may be an INDIVIDUAL also.

ANALYSIS
We have done a market field survey on different brand of spices. We have surveyed around 30 respondents of LUCKNOW who regularly use spices of different brands or uses home-made spices. A specific questionnaire is prepared for the customers and data is obtained from them by moving around houses and personally interacting with them. The customers gave us valuable information regarding their consumption of spices. We collected all those information and a proper analysis is done. All the analysis and its interpretations are discussed below. Each of the analysis is done as per the information obtained from the customers and a serious interpretation has been done to best of our effort.

READYMADE SPICES Vs. HOMEMADE SPICES

READYMADE SPICES USERS HOMEMADE SPICES USERS

78% 22%

USERS

22%

READYMADE USERS HOMEMADE USERS

78%

ANALYSIS: The above diagram shows distribution of customers using

Homemade spices or Readymade spices available in the market. Among 30 customers, 78% of customers are using readymade spices of different brands available in the market and 22% of customers are using homemade spices.

Interpretation: Readymade spices of different brands which are available in the market are widely using by people as compare to homemade spices now-a-days. This is because readymade spices are easily available in all the market in a very cheap prices and homemade spices are very difficult to prepare and take lo of time for preaparation. But 28% people are using homemade spices because of its surety of purity. Generally, people think that readymade spices are not pure or they contain some impurity, so they prefer homemade spices. Hence, different brand of spices have to make sure about its purity of Spices which they are producing in the market.

USERS OF DIFFERENT BRAND OF SPICES MDH ASHOK MASALE GOLDI MASALE EVEREST OTHERS 40% 25% 15% 35% 10%

45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 GOLDI MASALE ASHOK MASALE EVEREST Series1

OTHER

MDH

ANALYSIS: The above graph shows that 40% of customers generally

prefer to use spices of MDH brand. 25% of customers prefer to use spices of ASHOK brand. 15% of customers prefer to use spices of
GOLDI brand. 35% of customers prefer to use spices of EVEREST brand. 10% Customers prefer to use spices of other brand.

Interpretation: From this analysis, we come to know that most of people like
To use the spices of MDH brand because of its availability in the market from last many years, so people trust this brand very quickly. People also go for spices of EVEREST brand as it is also a big name in the field of spices. People go for spices of ASHOK brand and also for spices of GOLDI brand. Every brand of spices is a of course a threat for other brand of spices.

PREFERENCE OF PACKAGING

SATCHET TETRA PACK PLASTIC PACK

55% 29% 19%

26% SATCHET PLASTIC PACK 55% 19% TETRA PACK

ANALYSIS: As per our study is concerned As per , out of the total respondents 55% of people buy spices in satchet. 19% of them uses plastic pack as their mode of buy of spices and 26% of the people buy spices in tertra pack.

Interpretation: As per the obtained data we interpret that more number of

people buy spices of different brand in satchet. A fraction of people uses tetra pack of spices for packaging and a very few people uses plastic pack of spices. We can interpret that satchet is more convenient for people as it is available in definite amount which a customer need daily and also available at low cost.

FINDINGS
1. Most of the customers buy readymade spices which are available in the market. 2. At present time, many brands are available in the market like MDH, EVEREST, GOLDI MASALE, ASHOK MASALE etc. for the customers. 3. These brands are available in large variety like sabji masala, garam masala, chole masala, sambhar masala etc. 4. Thses brands are providing high quality product at very low prices. 5. Customer give their preference only to those brands which are best in packaging. 6. MDH has a good reputation of itself in the market. 7. Now-a-days these brands of spices are also available in different kind of

packaging like in bottle, in satchet, in tetrapack etc. 8. Advertisement of brands also has a impact on customer mind, good advertisement have also a good impact on its sale.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Different brands of spices should include more of variety of products its product category so as to attract the variety choosy people to use their product.

Different brands of spices should provide different schemes for its customers attraction.

Brands should always has to take care of its quality of product as customer give their preference more to quality of the product.

The advertisement also has a big impact on sale of product so brands should have to improve the quality of the advertisement.

Limitations of study
Certain limitations do creep in a research study due to constraints of the time, money and human efforts, the limitation, which were unavoidable. Although all effort were taken to make the result of the work as accurate as possible as survey but the survey have following constraints. I- Some customers were not willing to give appointment due to their busy schedule. present study is also not free from certain

II- Due to very large size of the population, only a selected sample of customer could be contacted.

III- Due to time constraint and other imperative work load during the time period it could not be made possible to explore more area of concern pertaining to study.

IV- Also impossible for company to prove information is confidential.

V-Due to fast pace of life, some customers were not able to do justification to the questionnaire.

VI-Personal biases might have come while answer the questionnaire.

VII-As per company rule many information was not disclose as the manager are busy in their daily schedule. It is not possible for us to spend more time in interaction with them.

Conclusion

Spices are the main ingredient for any dish. Spices not only gives taste to the food but also give different identity to the food. Hence, Spices are very important for any dish. In todays market, there are lots of companies which are manufacturing spices in large varieties. These brands which are available in the market are MDH, EVEREST, GOLDI, ASHOK MASALE etc. These brands are producing spices in large varieties which are GARAM MASALA, CHOLE MASALA, SAMBAR MASALA, CHILI POWDER etc. These brands are providing their products in different packaging like in SATCHET, in TETRA PACK, in PLASTIC PACK etc.

It is seemed from the study that among all these brands, customers are quiet satisfied from the spices of MDH brand and after that they give preference to EVEREST masale and it also showed that customer are much more satisfied or most of the customer are using READYMADE SPICES as compare to the HOMEMADE SPICES.

This research also helped in giving knowledge about customer satisfaction for the brand which they are using. It also provided information about current status of different brand of spices, competition level of different brand in the market, customer preference level for different brand of spices. As it is surveyed it seems that the biggest competitors of MDH are EVEREST and ASHOK MASALE. The major drawback of MDH is its unavailability in satchet. Other brands are easily available in satchet and hence, their sales are also increasing day by day. MDH should give attention to this section.

ANNEXURE(S)
Questionnaire Comparative study of different brand of spices in Lucknow
NAME: GENDER: Q.1. Do you use ready-made spices? a) Yes b) No c) Sometime d) Never Q.2. Which type of spices you prefer most? a) Branded b) Unbranded c) Home-made d) Anyother Q.3. Which brand you prefer most? a) MDH b) EVEREST b) GOLDI d) ASHOK Q.4. Among all of these, how many you have used till now? a) MDH b) EVEREST c) ASHOK d) ALL OF THESE Q.5. On what basis you prefer to buy spices? a) Taste b) Quality c) Price d) Variety Q.6. You generally prefer to usea) Sabji masala b) Garam masala c) Home made d) All of these AGE: ADDRESS:

Q.7. Which kind of packaging of spices you prefer most? a) Bottle b) Satchet c) Tetrapack d) Plastic pack

Q.8. Packaging of which brand you liked the most? a) MDH b) EVEREST c) GOLDI d) ASHOK Q.9. Do you think advertisement has a big impact on purchasing behavior? a) Yes b) No Q.10. Do you think price has any impact on purchasing decision? a) Yes b) No Q.11. Do you think branded spices have no impurity? a) Yes b) No Q.12. Why you use home-made spices? a) Quality b) Availability c) Price d) Faith Q.13. Do you think excessive use of spices are bad for health? a) Yes b) No Q.14. In the past 2 weeks, how many time did you use spices? a) None b) 1 time c) 2-3 time d) 4-5 time Q.15. Your opinion about spices you are using? Ans.

Bibliography
BOOKS
Kotler Philip, marketing management, (Pearson education, 12th edition)

Malhotra K. Naresh, marketing research (An applied orientation), Research design, (Prentice hall of India pvt. 5th edition) Berman B and Evans J.R, Retail Management (Pearson education, 10th edition)

Louden D.L. & bitta delia consumer behavior ( tata Mc. Graw hill, 4th edition ) Newman A.J. and Cullen P,Retailing,Environment and operations(Vikas,1st Ed.)

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