1

Introduction of the Study

A snack is a portion of food, smaller than a regular meal, generally eaten between meals. Snacks come in
a variety of forms including packaged snack foods and other processed foods, as well as items made from
fresh ingredients at home.

Traditionally, snacks are prepared from ingredients commonly available in the home. Often cold cuts,
fruits, leftovers, nuts, sandwiches, and the like are used as snacks. The Dagwood sandwich was originally
the humorous result of a cartoon character's desire for large snacks.
With the spread of convenience stores, packaged snack foods became a significant business. Snack foods
are typically designed to be portable, quick, and satisfying.

Processed snack foods, as one form of convenience food, are designed to be less perishable, more
durable, and more portable than prepared foods. They often contain substantial amounts of sweeteners,
preservatives, and appealing ingredients such as chocolate, peanuts, and specially-designed flavors
(such as flavored potato chips).

Beverages, such as coffee, are not generally considered snacks though they may be consumed along with
or in lieu of snack foods. A snack eaten shortly before going to bed or during the night may be called a
(mid)night snack.

In the United States, the first snack food was the peanut. Peanuts first arrived from South America via
slave ships, and became incorporated into African-inspired cooking on southern plantations. After the
Civil War, the taste for peanuts spread north, where they were incorporated into the culture of baseball
games and vaudeville theaters. Along with popcorn (also of South American origin), snacks bore the
stigma of being sold by unhygienic street vendors. The middle-class etiquette of the Victorian era
(1837–1901) categorized any food that did not require proper usage of utensils as lower-class.

Pretzels were introduced to North America by the Dutch via New Amsterdam in the 17th century. In the
1860s, the snack was still associated with immigrants, unhygienic street vendors, and saloons. Due to loss
of business during the Prohibition era (1920-1933), pretzels underwent rebranding to make them more
appealing to the public.
Packaging revolutionized snack foods, allowing sellers to reduce contamination risk while making it easy
to advertise brands with a logo. Pretzels boomed in popularity, bringing many other types of snack foods
with it. By the 1950s, snacking had become an all-American pastime, becoming an internationally
recognized emblem of middle American life.

2
 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

TOPIC OF THE STUDY

“To understand Competition of Real Namkeen with other brands from the viewpoint of customer
preferences in snacks industry”

Problem Definition
Management Problem “The company wants to know whether the
brand is Competitive among other brands in the
market”.

Research Problem “To understand Competition of Real

Namkeen with other brands from the
viewpoint of customer preferences in
snacks industry”

6.1 OBJECTIVES:

1. To identify the satisfaction level of customer for the Different brand in the market.

2. To get insights into customer preference from the viewpoint of customers of snacks
industry.

3. To know the competitive comparison of attributes of Real Namkeen.

4. The factors that affecting the customers at the time of purchasing Namkeen.

5. To know the effectiveness of promotional activity on customers.

6.2 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

In today’s scenario, the snacks market is the market which has too much potential. Snacks is now a day used
very commonly. But there are many players & huge competitions in snacks industries. So, it is very important
to set competitive strategies to beat the competitors, where Marketing plays a vital role. So, it is essential to
study the effectiveness of promotional activities & to adopt the same to increase the Sales & beat the
competitors.

The study has covered customers of Vadodara city. This topic has helped to know the satisfaction level,
Quality, Awareness level & brand image of the company through the respondents. It will help the company
to know the factors that influence customers to purchase the Namkeen who are the main media for the whole
Industry.

3
6.3 RESEARCH DESIGN:

“Descriptive” research design is used in the study. Result is quantified to know the preference

6.4 DATA SOURCES:

Primary Data: - Survey of customer satisfaction through questionnaire

Secondary Data: - Collected through company web-site, Journals and Literature Reviews.

6.5 FIELD WORK:

Self-administered questionnaire from 150 customers of Vadodara & Ahmedabad city

6.6 SAMPLING: -

A) Universe: - customers

B) Sample unit: - customers of snacks industry in Vadodara & Ahmedabad City.

C) Sample size: - We have taken a sample of 150 customers of Gopal Namkeen food
products.

D) Population: customers of snacks industry in Vadodara & Ahmedabad City.

E) Sampling technique: Convenience sampling

F) Research Approach and Tool: -Questionnaire and Observation.

6.7 DATA ANALYSIS

By using SPSS software, Tables and graphs are prepared with the help of Microsoft Excel to show
frequency distribution

6.8 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The research study is confined only to Vadodara city & Ahmedabad City.

The sample was chosen randomly which might not be the actual representatives of the total
population, due to which there may be an error.

Information is partially based on secondary data & hence authenticity of the study can be visualized & is
measurable.

Time & monetary limitation.

4
 Table :1 Demographics

Particulars Percentage
Male 70.7
Gender
Female 29.3

18-25
68
26-32
19.4
Age
33-39
5.3
40 & more
7.3
Businessmen 18.7

Employee 38.7
Occupation
Student 36.7

Housewife 6.0

Ahmedabad 36.7
City
Vadodara 63.3
Interpretation:

1. As per the above table 70 % are male and 30 are female.

2. Most no of samples are from the age group of 18-25 i.e. 68%. Remaining 32% are from
different age group such as 26-32, 33-39, 40&more.

3. 60% of sample reside in Vadodara and almost 40% resides in Ahmedabad.

4. As shown in the table there are 38% of employees, 36% of student, 18% of Businessmen & 6% of
housewife.

5. This gives a wide range of demographics data and gives an overview of samples.

Table 2: Are you aware about brand name Real Namkeen pvt. Ltd.

Are you aware about the brand Gopal

Namkeen?

Percent
Yes 100.0

5
 Graph 2: Awareness about brand name Real Namkeen pvt. Ltd.

Table 3: In month how many times do you buy the Snacks & Namkeen packets from Market?

In month, how many times do you buy the Snacks & Namkeen packets
from Market?
Frequency Percent
1-3 Times 54 36.0
4-7 times 40 26.7
7-10 Times 15 10.0

More than 10 times 41 27.3

Total 150 100.0

Graph 3: Number of Snacks & Namkeen packets bought from the market in a month

6
 Table 4: In month how many times do you buy the Real Namkeen & Namkeen packets from
Market?
Number of Real Namkeen & Namkeen packets bought from the market in a month
1-3 Times 102 68
4-7 times 34 22.7
7-10 Times 9 6
More than 10 times 5 3.3
Total 150 100

Graph 4: Number of Real Namkeen & Namkeen packets bought from the market in a month

Number of Real Namkeen bought from the

market
More than 10 times
6% 3%

23%

68%

1-3 Times 4-7 times 7-10 Times More than 10 times

 Table 3 shows number of snacks & Namkeen packets which are bought by the consumers from the
market
As per the table the buying behaviour shows us that out of total

1-3 Times bought by consumer 36.0%

4-7 times bought by consumer 26.7%
7-10 times bought by consumer 10.0%
More than 10 times bought by 27.3%
consumer

 Table 4 shows us that out of the total snacks packet bought by the consumer how many of them are
of Real Namkeen.

1-3 Times bought by consumer 68.0%

4-7 times bought by consumer 22.7%
7-10 times bought by consumer 6.0%
More than 10 times bought by 3.3%
consumer

7
  This shows that most of the consumer are just buying Real Namkeen packets for 1-3 Times
which is 68%.
 Only few consumers i.e. 3.3% consumers are buying Gopal packet for more than 10 times
in a month.
 When we see table 3 we can see 41% of the consumers are buying snacks and namkeen
packets for more than 10 times in a month but when it comes to Gopal it goes down to
3.3% in a month.

Table 5: More popular product Snacks Pallets/Namkeen.

Select from the following products as per the amount of sales and consumer like
Frequency Percent
Snack Pallets 84 56.0
Namkeen 66 44.0
Total 150 100.0
Graph 5: More popular product Snacks Pallets/Namkeen.
Products as per the amount of sales and consumer like

Namkeen

Interpretation:
 As show in table and graph there is a little swing towards snacks pallets compared to
Namkeen’s in the market.
 Snacks pallet have 56% and Namkeen Have 44% of the consumer like.

Table 6: Satisfaction level

Are you over all satisfied with GOPAL NAMKEEN?
Frequency Percent
Highly Dis-satisfied 2 1.3
Not Satisfied 1 .7
Neutral 36 24.0
Satisfied 75 50.0
Highly Satisfied 36 24.0
Graph 6: Satisfaction level
8
 Interpretation:

 As shown in the graph and table over 70% are satisfied and rate Gopal above it.
 Only 3 % of the consumer are dis satisfied with the product.

Table 7: Rate following attribute for current Gopal product.

Rate following attribute for current Gopal product. Percent

[Quality for money] Least Important 10.7
Not Important 14.7
Neutral 20.7
Important 31.3
Most Important 22.7
Rate following attribute for current Gopal product. Percent
[Attractive Packaging size] Least Important 10.7
Not Important 15.3
Neutral 22.7
Important 33.3
Most Important 18
Rate following attribute for current Gopal product. Percent
[Brands image- availability & credibility] Least Important 11.3
Not Important 14
Neutral 26.7
Important 31.3
Most Important 16.7

9
Rate following attribute for current Gopal product. Percent
[Pricing-affordability] Least Important 13.3
Not Important 11.3
Neutral 21.3
Important 24.7
Most Important 29.3
Rate following attribute for current Gopal product. Percent
[Retailor patronage] Least Important 10.7
Not Important 12.7
Neutral 23.3
Important 33.3
Most Important 20
Rate following attribute for current Gopal product. Percent
[Product attributes like Fragrance, healthy and safe] Least Important 8
Not Important 11.3
Neutral 22.7
Important 25.3
Most Important 32.7
Rate following attribute for current Gopal product. Percent
[Personal experience from usage] Least Important 9.3
Not Important 11.3
Neutral 22
Important 37.3
Most Important 20
Rate following attribute for current Gopal product. Percent
[Motivation for the buy] Least Important 7.3
Not Important 15.3
Neutral 27.3
Important 31.3
Most Important 18.7
Total 100

Graph 7: Rating of current Gopal product.

Rate following attribute for current Gopal product.
Least Important Not Important Neutral Important Most Important

40.0
35.0
30.0
25.0
20.0
15.0
10.0
5.0
0.0

10
 Table8: Reliability Statistics

Cronbach's Alpha N of Items

.955 80

Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient normally ranges between 0 and 1. The closer the coefficient is to
1.0, the greater is the internal consistency of the items (variables) in the scale. Cronbach's alpha coefficient
increases either as the number of items (variables) increases, or as the average inter-item correlations
increase (i.e., when the number of items is held constant).

Table 9: Factor Analysis of Gopal Brand

Total Variance Explained
Compon Initial Eigenvalues Extraction Sums of Squared Rotation Sums of Squared
ent Loadings Loadings
Total % of Cumulativ Total % of Cumulativ Total % of Cumulativ
Variance e% Variance e % Variance e %
1 7.267 36.336 36.336 7.267 36.336 36.336 3.118 15.591 15.591
2 1.285 6.423 42.760 1.285 6.423 42.760 2.909 14.544 30.135
3 1.178 5.889 48.649 1.178 5.889 48.649 2.849 14.246 44.381
4 1.114 5.568 54.217 1.114 5.568 54.217 1.967 9.836 54.217
5 .966 4.831 59.048
6 .897 4.484 63.531
7 .860 4.298 67.829
8 .812 4.060 71.889
9 .725 3.625 75.514
10 .652 3.258 78.772
11 .606 3.032 81.804
12 .579 2.897 84.701
13 .497 2.486 87.186
14 .474 2.371 89.557
15 .436 2.179 91.736
16 .417 2.084 93.820
17 .378 1.890 95.710
18 .355 1.773 97.483
19 .268 1.342 98.825
20 .235 1.175 100.000
Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

Table 10: - KMO and Bartlett's Test

Approx. Chi-Square 1092.095

Bartlett's Test of Sphericity Df 190
Sig. .000

11
Eigenvalue reflects the number of extracted factors whose sum should be equal to number of items
which are subjected to factor analysis. The next item shows all the factors extractable from the analysis
along with their eigenvalues.
The Eigenvalue table has been divided into three sub-sections, i.e. Initial Eigen Values, Extracted Sums
of Squared Loadings and Rotation of Sums of Squared Loadings. For analysis and interpretation purpose
we are only concerned with Extracted Sums of Squared Loadings. Here one should note that Notice that
the first factor accounts for 36.336% of the variance, the second 6.423%, the third 5.889% & the fourth
5.568%. All the remaining factors are not significant
Table 11: Grouping of the attributes
Component
1
Features 0.506
Adjustability 0.656
Company’s Image
Quantity 0.463
Image 0.424
Advertisement Materials 0.612
Speed of Delivery 0.612
Speed of Innovation 0.671
Speed of Expansion 0.581
Reliability Reliability 0.706
Look and Feel 0.698
Work Without Defects 0.623
Brand Value 0.564
Years of Existence 0.62
Location 0.701
Long term
Quality valuation 0.525
Durability 0.522
Price 0.594
Public Relations 0.424
Reputation Innovativeness 0.674
Innovation Strategy 0.712
Naming of the factor: -
1. Company`s Image: - As the name of the factor suggests attributes are related to company`s image
and its reputation. Features, quantity, image, advertisement materials, speed of delivery and innovation
states the company image and how company performs in the market.

2. Reliability: - Attributes like speed of expansion, Look & feel, work without defects, brand value
& Reliability states how much a customer relies and have trust on the company.

3. Long Term Valuation: - Company aims at long term relationship and value of the brand by
controlling following factors such as quality, year of existence, Quality, Durability, Price and by
maintaining Public Relations.

4. Innovativeness: - Reputation & innovative strategy show innovativeness in the company.

12
Table 12: COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS OF REAL NAMKEEN PVT. LTD. WITH
OTHER BRANDS IN VADODARA
Descriptive Statistics
Gopal Balaji Lays Real
Attribute N Minimum Maximum Score Score Score Score
Mean Mean Mean Mean
Years of Existence 150 1 5 3.06 3.3 3.37 3.06

Location 150 1 5 3.26 3.41 3.2 2.98

Speed of Expansion 150 1 5 3.17 3.35 3.51 3.05

Features 150 1 5 3.42 3.41 3.29 2.99

Quality 150 1 5 3.38 3.38 3.37 3.36

Durability 150 1 5 3.23 3.48 3.32 2.96

Reliability 150 1 5 3.21 3.41 3.31 2.99

Look and Feel 150 1 5 3.19 3.49 3.48 3.2

Adjustability 150 1 5 3.16 3.39 3.4 3.04

Work Without Defects 150 1 5 3.2 3.54 3.39 3.14

Price 150 1 5 3.3 3.29 3.15 3.1

Quantity 150 1 5 3.5 3.33 3.13 3.05

Reputation 150 1 5 3.43 3.59 3.37 3.06

Image 150 1 5 3.36 3.32 3.4 3.05

Advertisement Materials 150 1 5 3.07 3.47 3.55 3.05

Brand Value 150 1 5 3.36 3.48 3.3 3.15

Public Relations 150 1 5 3.28 3.46 3.41 2.96

Speed of Delivery 150 1 5 3.2 3.51 3.49 3.05

Innovation Strategy 150 1 5 3.19 3.47 3.49 3.14

Speed of Innovation 150 1 5 3.41 3.33 3.33 3.17

Grand Mean 150 1 5 3.269 3.4205 3.363 3.0775

Rank as per Grand Mean 150 1 5 3 1 2 4

13
 Interpretation

In this table, we have descriptive mean of different attribute.

From this table, we can have comparison of different variable as per mean.

Almost Balaji is having better mean score in almost 11 variables.

From this table, we can also have variable where Real Namkeen is leading when
compared to other brands.

Real Namkeen leads in following attributes Features, Quality, Price,

Quantity & Image.

There is no advertisement by Gopal & Balaji as compared to Lay`s.

Grand mean shows Balaji is leading and being the main competitor in the market.

14
Chapter 8: - Findings & Results

Following are the results and findings as per the above research and data obtained: -

 As per the above table 70 % are male and 30 are female.

 Most no of samples are from the age group of 18-25 i.e. 68%. Remaining 32% are from
different age group such as 26-32, 33-39, 40&more.

 60% of sample reside in Vadodara and almost 40% resides in Ahmedabad.

 As shown in the table there are 38% of employees, 36% of student, 18% of Businessmen & 6% of
housewife.

 As per the table the buying behaviour shows us that out of total
1-3 Times bought by consumer 36.0%

4-7 times bought by consumer 26.7%

7-10 times bought by consumer 10.0%

More than 10 times bought by 27.3%

consumer

Out of which Gopal is

1-3 Times bought by consumer 68.0%

4-7 times bought by consumer 22.7%

7-10 times bought by consumer 6.0%

More than 10 times bought by 3.3%

consumer

 This shows that most of the consumer are just buying Real Namkeen packets for 1-3 Times
which is 68%.

 Only few consumers i.e. 3.3% consumers are buying Gopal packet for more than 10 times in
a month.

 When we see table 3 we can see 41% of the consumers are buying snacks and namkeen
packets for more than 10 times in a month but when it comes to Gopal it goes down to
3.3% in a month.

 Snacks pallet have 56% and Namkeen Have 44% of the consumer like.
15
 Balaji is ruling the local markets of the gujarat at present time because of the year of
existence and brand image and name.

 Balaji and Gopal both have low rating when compared to other brands like lays in terms of
marketing.

 Lays is always preferred by the upper middle Class.

 Lays is not main concern of the Gopal Products but Balaji and other local products such as
Samrat Gopi & Avadh are the main competitors in this market.

 Many of the brand are copying the packing style of Gopal so they can mislead the
consumer.

 Display of the Gopal products are not as good as Balaji or any other products.

 Consumer are asking for Gopal but there are complains also related to snacks pallet which are
throat irritation and itching after two or three package of Gopal products of snack pallets.

 There are also complain of late delivery in Vadodara and Ahmedabad city by the retailer during
pick time.

 Balaji is having Overall great score which make it as Gopal’s prime competitor.

 Gopal is name second in the race of Vadodara and Ahmedabad city after Balaji.

 Gopal has been given highest score for innovation and its speed of expansion.

 Gopal Key point is quantity and low price which is attracting more customers
whereas lays and Balaji are given more score for quality.

16
Chapter-9: - Conclusion & Suggestion
The Research was a pleasant experience & the conclusion is that the consumers generally associate Ready-
To-Eat Snacks & Namkeen’s with Time Pass. Majority of them prefers wafers to be their first choice with
Fryms being the second preference. Namkeen’s on other hand are usually preferred as hunger quencher and
are eaten whenever the consumers are hungry.
After doing detailed study on the other brand customers opinion regarding Gopal in case of Wafers we got
various findings as per the responses delivered by the respondents and based upon it we may conclude that,
according to the other Brand customers opinion the main factors which hinders regarding Gopal are,

Huge profit on CSR activity.

Raw-Material Cost
Very less spending on advertisement
Competition
Availability
As people are becoming more and more health conscious, in the future consumers might be looking forward
to low calorie namkeen and snacks.

Many other researches can be done on such as

 customer satisfaction,

 customer preference,

 new product launch for various products,

 new area or location search &

 Brand Loyalty or customer loyalty.

Many changes should be done with the packaging

1. Nitrogen packing

2. Colour contrast.

More advertisement should be done as Gopal is not doing any of the advertisement.

To keep their strategies secrets as many other brands such as Gopi are doing same as Gopal in
packaging which may confuse customers.

17
Chapter-10: -Bibliography
WEBSITES

(2013). Retrieved from http://www.gopalnamkeen.com/

(2009,12). Retrieved 7 2012, from http://casestudy.co.in: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/gopal's

(2010, June) http://www.business4indian.com/detail/Rajkot/Gopal-Namkeen/110

(2011,11). Retrieved 7 2012, from http://www.kihtmaine.com:

http://www.kihtmaine.com/2011/11/customer satisfaction level-startegy-in-t.html

(2012). Retrieved 7 2012, from http://www.conversionresults.com:

http://www.conversionresults.com/target-audience.php

(2012). Retrieved 7 2012, from http://blog.ribbun.com: http://blog.ribbun.com/enhance-the-

business-customer-satisfaction-level-and-visibility-through-creative-facebook-page-
promotion/

(2012, 7). Retrieved 7 2012, from http://www.digalign.com:

http://www.digalign.com/content/increase-satisfaction-level

(2012). Retrieved 7 2012, from http://www.namkeen.org: http://indianamkeens.com/

(2012, April 9). Retrieved 7 2012, from http://www.aspdin.net:

http://www.aspdin.net/joseph/index.htm

B, H. (2010, January 01). Retrieved July 19, 2012, from

http://marketingpractice.blogspot.in/2010/01/balaji-namkeen.html

http://www.raosoft.com/samplesize.html

http://www.surveysystem.com/sscalc.htm
Important links

http://www.digalign.com/content/social-media-integration

http://www.digalign.com/content/blogging-platform

http://www.digalign.com/content/internet-opportunity-identification

http://www.digalign.com/content/creative-campaign-development

http://www.digalign.com/content/internet-advertising-marketing (http://www.digalign.com, 2013)

18
Chapter-11: -Annexure

I am the student of C. K. Shah Vijapurwala Institute of Management Vadodara,

Conducting a Research study on “Competitive analysis of Real Namkeen Pvt. Ltd with
otherbrands”.The information provided by you will be kept confidential.
Are you aware about the brand Gopal
Namkeen? Yes No
In month how many times do you buy the Snacks & Namkeen packets from Market?
1-3 Times 4-6 Times 7-10 Times more than 10 Times

In month how many times do you buy the Real Namkeen & Namkeen packets from
Market? 1-3 Times 4-6 Times 7-10 Times more than 10 Times

Select from the following products as per the amount of sales and consumer
like Snacks Pallet Namkeen

Are you over all satisfied with GOPAL NAMKEEN?

Highly dissatisfied Dis-satisfied Natural Satisfied Highly satisfied

Rate following attribute for current Gopal product for purchase and sale of product.
Gopal Products
Rate scale
Least Not Most
Attributes Important Important Neutral Important Important
Quality for money
Attractive Packaging size
Brands image- availability &
credibility
Pricing-affordability
Retailor patronage
Product attributes like Fragrance,
healthy and safe
Personal experience from usage
Motivation for the buy

Rate following brands based on different attributes on scale of 1 to 5, 1 being the lowest and
5 being the highest

Business (General)
BUSINESS CRITERIA Real Namkeen Pvt Ltd Balaji Lays Real
Years of Existence
Location
Speed of Expansion

19
 PRODUCTS/SERVICES (For consumer)
BUSINESS CRITERIA Real Namkeen Balaji Lays Gopal

Quantity
Features
Quality
Durability
Reliability
Look and Feel
Adjustability
Work Without Defects
Price

MARKETING (General)
MARKETING CRITERIA Real Namkeen Balaji Lays Gopall

Reputation
Image
Advertisement Materials
Brand Value
Public Relations
Speed of Delivery

INNOVATION (General)
MARKETING CRITERIA Real Namkeen Balaji Lays Real

Innovation Strategy
Speed of Innovation

Part 2
Name: - _
Mobile Number: -
City: -
What is your age group?
18-25 26-32 33-39 40 & more
Gender
Male Female
Occupation
Businessmen Employee Student Housewife

20