The Marketing Mix
Products
Haldiram's offered a wide range of products to its customers. The product range included namkeens, sweets, sharbats5, bakery items, dairy products, papad6 and ice-creams (See Exhibit I for details of product range). However, namkeens remained the main focus area for the group contributing close to 60% of its total revenues. By specializing in the manufacturing of namkeens, the company seemed to have created a niche market. Haldiram's sought to customize its products to suit the tastes and preferences of customers from different parts of India. It launched products, which catered to the tastes of people belonging to specific regions. For example, it launched 'Murukkus,' a South Indian snack, and 'Chennai Mixture' for south Indian customers.

Similarly, Haldiram's launched 'Bhelpuri,' keeping in mind customers residing in western India. The company offered certain products such as 'Nazarana,' 'Panchratan,' and 'Premium' only during the festival season in gift packs. These measures helped Haldiram's compete effectively in a market that was flooded with a variety of snack items in different shapes, sizes and flavors.PricingHaldiram's offered its products at competitive prices in order to penetrate the huge unorganized market of namkeens and sweets. The company's pricing strategy took into consideration the price conscious nature of consumers in India. | |
Haldiram's launched namkeens in small packets of 30 grams, priced as low as Rs.5. The company also launched namkeens in five different packs with prices varying according to their weights (Refer Table I). The prices also varied on the basis of the type of namkeens and the raw materials used to manufacture it. The cost of metallized packing7 also had an impact on the price, especially in the case of snack foods. The company revised the prices of its products upwards only when there was a steep increase in the raw material costs or additional taxes were imposed.
Place
Haldiram's developed a strong distribution network to ensure the widest possible reach for its products in India as well as overseas. From the manufacturing unit, the company's finished goods were passed on to carrying and forwarding (C&F) agents. C&F agents passed on the products to distributors, who shipped them to retail outlets. While the Delhi unit of Haldiram's had 25 C&F agents and 700 distributors in India, the Nagpur unit had 25 C&F agents and 375 distributors.
Haldiram's also had 35 sole distributors in the international market. The Delhi and Nagpur units together catered to 0.6 million retail outlets in India. C&F agents received a commission of around 5%, while distributors earned margins ranging from 8% to 10%. The retail outlets earned margins ranging from 14% to 30%. At the retail outlet level, margins varied according to the weight of packs sold.

Retailers earned more margins ranging from 25% to 30% by selling 30 gms pouches (priced at Rs.5) compared to the packs of higher weights. Apart from the exclusive showrooms owned by Haldiram's, the company offered its products through retail outlets such as supermarkets, sweet shops, provision stores, bakeries and ice cream parlors. The products were also available in public places such as railway stations and bus stations that accounted for a sizeable amount of its sales. Haldiram's products enjoyed phenomenal goodwill and stockists competed with each other to stock its products. Moreover, sweet shops and bakeries stocked Haldiram's products despite the fact that the company's products were competing with their own products. Haldiram's also offered its products through the Internet. The company tied up with indiatimes.com, a website owned by the Times of India group8 to sell its products over the Internet. Haldiram's products could be ordered through a host of other websites in India and abroad. Giftstoindia.com, giftssmashhits.com, tohfatoindia.com and channelindia.com enabled people residing abroad to send Haldiram's gift packs to specified locations in India. Region-specific websites enabled people to send gifts to specified regions. These include indiamart.com (Delhi and surrounding areas), mumbaiflowersgifts.com (Mumbai), and chennaiflowersgifts.com (Chennai and other parts of Tamilnadu). These websites competed on issues such as delivery time, which varied between 48 hrs to one week, delivery charges (some websites offered free delivery of products) and value added services (like sending personal messages along with the gift packs).PromotionHaldiram's product promotion had been low key until competition intensified in the snack foods market. The company tied with 'Profile Advertising'9 for promoting its products. Consequently, attractive posters, brochures and mailers were designed to enhance the visibility of the Haldiram's brand. | |
Different varieties of posters were designed to appeal to the masses. The punch line for Haldiram's products was, 'Always in good taste.' Advertisements depicting the entire range of Haldiram's sweets and namkeens were published in the print media (magazines and newspapers). These advertisements had captions such as 'millions of tongues can't go wrong,' 'What are you waiting for, Diwali?' and 'Keeping your taste buds on their toes.'

To increase the visibility of the Haldiram's brand, the company placed its hoardings in high traffic areas such as train stations and bus stations. Posters were designed for display on public transport vehicles such as buses, and hoardings, focused on individual products were developed. Captions such as 'yeh corn hain' (this is corn), 'chota samosa - big mazaa' (small samosa10 - big entertainment), 'yeh Kashmiri mix khoob jamega' (this namkeen item will gel well) and 'oozing with taste' (for Rasgoolas) promoted individual products.
For those customers who wanted to know more about Haldiram's products, special brochures were designed which described the products and gave information about the ingredients used to make it. Mailers were also sent to loyal customers and important corporate clients as a token of appreciation for their patronage. Packaging was an important aspect of Haldiram's product promotion.

Since namkeens were impulse purchase items, attractive packaging in different colors influenced purchases. Haldiram's used the latest technology (food items were packed in nitrogen filled pouches) to increase the shelf life of its products. While the normal shelf life of similar products was under a week, the shelf life of Haldiram's products was about six months. The company projected the shelf life of its products as its unique selling proposition. Posters highlighting the shelf life of its products carried the caption 'six months on the shelf and six seconds in your mouth.' During festival season, Haldiram's products were sold in attractive looking special gift packs. The showrooms and retail outlets of Haldiram's gave importance to point of purchase (POP) displays. Haldiram's snacks were displayed on special racks, usually outside retail outlets. The showrooms had sign boards displaying mouth-watering delicacies with captions such as 'Chinese Delight,' Simply South,' 'The King of all Chats11.' Posters containing a brief account of the history of Haldiram's, along with pictures of its products, were also on display at these showrooms. Haldiram's also diversified into the restaurant business to cash in on its brand image. The company established restaurants in Nagpur and Delhi.

The restaurant at Nagpur devised an innovative strategy to increase its business: It facilitated people who were traveling by train through Nagpur station to order food from places where stockists of Haldiram's Nagpur unit were located. The customers could order for lunch/dinner by sending a demand draft (DD) or cheque to the Nagpur unit or giving the same to specified local distributors belonging to the Nagpur unit.

Along with the DD/cheque, customers had to provide information such as the name of the train, its likely time of arrival at Nagpur, their names and coach and seat numbers. Haldiram's restaurants in Delhi also used innovative ways to attract customers. The restaurant located at Mathura road had special play area for children. | |
To cater to NRI's and foreign tourists, who hesitated to consume snack foods sold by the roadside vendors since it was not prepared in a hygienic manner, the Haldiram's restaurant located in South Delhi used specially purified water to make snack foods including pani puri and chat papri12. These promotional strategies helped Haldiram's to compete effectively with local restaurant chains such as Nathus, Bikanerwala and Agarwals and with western fast food chains such as McDonald's and Pizza Hut.
Positioning
The above initiatives helped Haldiram's to uniquely position its brand. Haldiram's also gained an edge over its competitors by minimizing promotion costs. Appreciating the company's efforts at building brand, an analyst said, "Haldiram once was just another sweet maker but it has moved into trained brands first by improving the product quality and packaging. Through its clever products and brilliant distribution it had moved into the star category of brands."13
Haldiram's earned recognition both in India and abroad. The Nagpur unit of Haldiram's was conferred the International Food Award by the Trofeo International Alimentacion of Barcelona14, Spain for having maintained high standards in quality and hygiene, at its manufacturing unit. The Delhi unit was awarded the Keshalkar Memorial Award by the All India Food Preservers Association in the mid 1980s in recognition of its efforts for popularizing ethnic Indian foods in India and abroad.

In 1994, the unit was awarded the International Award for Food & Beverages by the Trade Leaders Club in Barcelona, Spain. The unit also received the Brand Equity Award15 in 1998. Manoharlal Agarwal, who played a key role in the success of the Delhi unit, was included in the eighth edition of Distinguished Leadership by the Board of Registrars of The American Biographical Institute16. Haldiram's was also admitted as the member of Snack Food Association, US17.