Bisleri The Source for Pure Drinking Water

A PROJECT REPORT ON MARKET STRATEGY OF BISLERI

Submitted in partial fulfillment of BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION ACADEMIC SESSION: 2008-11

Submitted By: Amandeep Singh BBA 5th Roll No.:81010320005

Under the Guidance of External Supervisor Mr. Sanjeev Bakshi (Marketing Head) Bisleri Int. Pvt. Ltd., Ghaizabad Coordinator Ms. Monika Sharma

SAS INSTITUTE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY & RESEARCH MOHALI

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am honored to be attached with organization. I extend my sincere gratitude to the management of BISLERI International Pvt. Ltd., Ghaziabad especially to Mr. Deepak Changa (Area Sales Manager), for availing me and giving me an opportunity to do my training in his organization. I am deeply thankful to his valuable guidance and co-operation helped me in the accomplishment of this project report. I am also thankful to the entire team of marketing of the company who helped me a lot whenever I faced difficulty in my project.

Amandeep Singh BBA 5th Roll No.:81010320005

Bisleri The Source for Pure Drinking Water

PREFACE
Modern organization are highly complex and dynamic systems. They operate under very turbulent social economic and political environment. They are required to reconcile several incompatible goals. Conflicting roads and divergent interests. They are also fraught with use risk and uncertainties hence tactful management of such organization to plan execute, guide, coordinate and control the performance people to achieve predetermine goal. Management has to keep the organization vibrant moving and in equilibrium it has to achieve goals which themselves are changing. It is therefore the problems is highly complex and ticklish. To tackle these problems, information plays an important role. Marketing Research is the appropriate tool to get most useful information about the market. This information will asset to marketing manager in making effective decision. The research are used to acquire and analysis information and to make suggestions to management as to how marketing problems should be solved. The marketing research is a process which links to manufacturers, dealers and individuals through information an important part of curriculum of BBA proramme is the project taken by student in any business organization. After completion of II year of the programme . The objective of this project is to enable the student to understand the application of academies in real life business. I am fully confident that this project will be extremely useful for the management .

Bisleri The Source for Pure Drinking Water

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Executive Summary 2. Introduction - Inception of Bisleri - Product Profile - Mineral Water Industry Current Market Scenario - Manufacturing 3. Objective of the study 4. Research Methodology
Sample Size Data Collection

5 6-18 9-11 12-13 14-15 16-18 19 20-21

5. Advertising Campaign of Bisleri 6. Marketing Mix 7. Competition in the market 8. SWOT Analysis 9. Findings 10.
59 Conclusion Limitations

22-24 25-32 33-40 41-45 46-56 5760 61 6264-65

11. 13.
63

12. Recommandations Bibliography

14. Annexure

Bisleri The Source for Pure Drinking Water

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The project is an extensive report on how the Bisleri company markets its strategy and how the company has been able in tackling the present tough competition and how it is cooping up by the allegations of the quality of its products. The report begins with the history of the product and the introduction of the Bisleri Company. This report also contains the basic marketing strategies that are used by the Bisleri Company of manufacturing process, Water Technology (Ultra Heat Treatment), production policy, advertising, export scenario, future prospect, and government policies. The report includes some of the key salient features of market trend issues. In todays world of cutthroat fierce competition, it is very essential to not only exist but also to excel in the market. Todays market is enormously more complex. Hence forth, to survive in the market, the company not only needs to maximize its profit but also needs to satisfy its customers and should try to build upon from there.

Bisleri The Source for Pure Drinking Water

Bisleri The Source for Pure Drinking Water

Water is the most important liquid in the world. Without water, there would be no life, at least not the way we know it. In today's living condition, the need for Pure Drinking Water is becoming the issue for the common Man. Eighty percent of the human metabolism consists of water. This is the reason why 90% of human diseases are water borne. There are 3 types of water impurities, which are root cause of water borne diseases. 1. Microbiological-Bacteria / virus. 2. Dissolved impurities - chemical. 3. Imbalance of Mineral Content. There are rapid changes that are taking place in our environment since long and the air and the water pollution is on an increase. The main source of drinking water is river and downstream which also have not been able to escape the pollution. When a consumer became aware of the problems caused by water pollution the market saw an advent of ceramic water filters, which filters the dust and suspended particles but dissolved impurities and microbiological impurities are not cleared out. The mineral balance is also not maintained. 1980's witnessed more changes by a tap attachment wherein Iodine resin is used to filter the water. It deactivates microbiological impurities to an extent but has side effects due to iodine and it does not take care of dissolved impurities mineral balance. Late 1980's witnessed Ultra Violent based purifier, which filters dust and deactivates bacteria to a great extent. It maintains the odor and color of water

Bisleri The Source for Pure Drinking Water

but does not clear out the dissolved impurities and mineral particles. Thus came advent of mineral water. Historically, the need for purified water within Indian homes had been kept down to a minimum. Essentially, there were three types of water that was used for different purposes. The first type was used for rinsing. The second type, which was used for cooking, was cleaner and kept covered. The third type was the cleanest drinking water and was very often boiled before use. Since an average family needed a small quantity, not more than five or six liters a day, boiled and filtered water had been a convenient solution for some time .The fallouts were obvious. It was very difficult to convince the people that purification system was worth the price. There was no visible way to demonstrate the benefit. The otherwise somnolent market began to change once companies like Eureka Forbes targeted the office segment, while the mineral water players went after travelers. Ion Exchange was the only company, which had any measure of success in entering homes with Zero-B. But clean drinking water returned on the national agenda a little later. Around 1989, drinking water became an issue again. Around early 1990s,Time did a story on India as a key emerging market and that was the trigger for all the players eyeing this market.

Bisleri The Source for Pure Drinking Water

Bisleri The Source for Pure Drinking Water

The origins of Bisleri lie in Italy, and the brand owes its name to founder Felice Bisleri, an Italian entrepreneur. In 1967, Bisleri set up a plant in Mumbai for bottling and marketing mineral water, which was first of its kind in India. However, it didnt work well. Among other reasons, the fact that the Indian consumer was unprepared to accept bottled mineral water was responsible for its failure. Consumer mindsets were more geared towards boiling water at home. In 1969, Parle bought over the Bisleri brand. In those days Bisleri water was available in glass bottles. Parle's taking charge of Bisleri did not make a dramatic difference to the brand's fortunes immediately. While it did gain in terms of visibility and reach (piggybacking on Parle's existing distribution network), efforts to expand the bottled water market were not exactly painstaking. Parle at that particular time was interested in making soda water and not mineral water. There were just minor initiatives on part of the company for making mineral water, as it was not considered to be a very profitable business at that time as people still considered boiling water to be a safer and better than mineral water. Moreover they were not ready to pay for a commodity like water, which was so abundantly available. In 1972-73 Parle changed the packaging of its bottled water to plastic bottles and that significantly made a difference in the sales. The buyers, then, were mainly the upper class - the trendy people. In 1993, Coca-Cola bought Parles soft drink brands- Thumps-up, limca etc. While Coca-Cola actually bought over Parle's beverages, it agreed to a

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settlement that allowed the multinational to bottle and distribute Bisleri soda for a time frame of five years. The charge of Bisleri water, however, remained with Parle. The upsurge in the sales of Bisleri started from this point as Parle sold off its stable of brands to Coca-Cola. This was the time when it started concentrating on making Bisleri a success in the domestic mineral water market. The reason why Parle chose to retain the Bisleri name was that Parle saw a fairly lucrative business of mineral water in Bisleri's equity. The real shift in companys policy towards mineral water industry came in 1998,although the conscious efforts had already been started in 1994. This change was primarily because of the fact that the people, at this time, had started becoming more health conscious.

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Its a compliment being generic to the category, but its not very good when consumers think any mineral water brand is Bisleri

Bisleri, a product established in India by Ramesh Chauhan, Chairman of Parle Aqua Minerals has become a generic brand. Bisleri was the first marketed bottled water in a totally virgin market. The brand has become synonymous with mineral water; consumers accept any brand offered by the retailer when they ask for Bisleri. So far Ramesh Chauhans Bisleri enjoys the largest market share of 56% in the Rs1100 crores mineral water markets and is growing at the rate of 180% per annum. Annual sales of Bisleri have touched Rs400 crores. In seventies, 'Bisleri' was the only mineral water, which had national presence, and the sale was to the tune of approximately one hundred thousand cases valued at about Rs.60 lacs.

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A few years back, the mineral water market had been crawling at the rate of 3-4%, or even a lower figure. Indians carried drinking water in earthen pitchers, plastic or PUF bottles. But increasing cases of typhoid and other waterborne diseases began to be reported. In addition to this, liberalization happened and the mineral water industry began to be stirred and shaken. The market started growing an astounding rate of over 100% per annum. The fact that there were very few players in the market meant that their business grew by leaps and bounds. The market today has grown to Rs11bn. The organized sector -- branded mineral water -- has only Rs5bn of market share. The rest is accounted for by the unorganized sector, which is dominated by small regional players. The market is still growing at a rate greater than 80% per annum. In the branded segment, Parles Bisleri is the market leader with a share of more than 45%. Parle Agros Bailley comes a close second with market share of 15%. Other major players in the market are Yes of Kotharis, Ganga of TSeries, Himalayan, Hello, Nestls Pure Life, Pepsis Aquafina, Coca-Colas -Kinley Prime, and Florida etc. Sensing the opportunity that this segment holds, MNCs began to draw up plans to enter the market. Today the market is proving to be yet another battlefield for an ongoing battle between the Desis and MNCs. Last year the industry had around 170 brands. This figure is over 300 presently. The major foreign players are Coca-Cola promoted Kinley, Pepsis Aquafina, Britannias Evian, Nestls Perrier, Herbert sons and Danone International.

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A quick look at Bisleri's manufacturing reach indicates that it is represented across the country North accounts for 35% of sales for the industry, West accounts for 30%, South 20% and the East 15%. In order to be available in untapped areas Bisleri has setup 16 plants located all over the country - three-fourths of which are company owned. The balance is run by franchisees. Bisleri has 5 plants in the North, 5 in the West- two of which were setup in the last year at Ahmedabad and Surat, 4 in the South and 2 in the East. The company has bottling units located in Chennai, Bangalore, Goa, Calcutta, Mumbai, Delhi, Jaipur, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Indore and Nepal. The new plants are being set up in states like Kerala, Orissa, Bihar and North Eastern States, which hitherto have been unexplored by the company. It is also changing its production strategy and shifting to a 10-hr production schedule with sudden increase in demand planned to be met by additional production. Bisleri has planned to expand its operations by investing Rs.60 crores in the upgradation of facilities. The 120-bottles per minute (BPM) capacity of the 16 units across the country will be increased to 240 BPM. Conscious of the environmental implications of its PET bottles, the company is to set up recycling plants at Delhi and Chennai, each with an outlay of Rs.50m. These will process 500 kg of PET per hour. The processed material will be an input for polyester yarn manufacturers. In centers other than Delhi and Chennai, the company will set up crushing units to crush the used PET bottles.

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The company's expansion plans will see its water bottling capacity go up from the present 400 million liters to 500 million liters. Parle Bisleri Limited (PBL) is planning to invest Rs 200 crores to increase its bottling capacity and double its turnover. The expansion will also increase the number of company's bottling plants from 16 at present, to 25. The company will set up all the new plants as green field plants. It doesnt have any intentions to acquire any existing plants.

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OBJECTIVE
To determine the market share of Bisleri Brand of Bottle Water. To find out the preference level of respondents regarding Bisleri Brand of Bottle in comparison with other brands.

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

1. RESEARCH DESIGN: The research design which has been used in the project report is descriptive in nature. 2. SAMPLE DESIGN: The sample design which has been use in this project report is simple random sampling. A decision has to be taken concerning a sample unit before selecting the number of samples. It may be geographical as well as individual. Here Noida city has been taken as a geographical unit and retailers as an individual unit. 3. SIZE OF SAMPLE: This refers the number of items (Outlets) to be selected from the finite universe to constitute a sample size. The survey was conducted of 50 outlets.

4. NATURE OF DATA: In this project report the data is collected through primary data source as well as secondary data. Type of Data collection Method adopted Mode of communication

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Primary

Questionnaire

Personal Interviews

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Every brand needs a good ad campaign to establish itself in the market. So it becomes very imperative to look at various ad campaigns that Bisleri undertook to build itself as a brand. Bisleri started its game plan with the punch line of Pure and Safe and used the same catch-line for advertising. But with the advent of many new players, all claiming the purity, it became very imperative for Bisleri to differentiate its product so as to stand out in the market. Bisleri found the answer in sealed cap bottles. It claimed 100% purity. While the bottles of the other brands, it claimed, could be refilled with ordinary, or even germinated water, Bisleris seal capped bottles ensured the consumer of purity of water and single-used ness of the bottles. The ad showed a milk-man and a child showering their buffaloes and filling the so-called mineral water bottles with the same water and packing them with the simple polythene seal and the consumer not knowing about the purity of the water he is drinking. Next clip shows the Bisleri bottles being sealed with plastic caps and ensuring the purity of water. The ad did work for Bisleri and it got its much needed product differentiation. In 2000, some giant brands like Pepsi and coca-cola entered the mineral water industry with a big bang. Bisleri now had a big threat of maintaining its market cap. While Coca-cola introducing its brand Kinley as a health care product, Pepsi projected Aquafina as something as pure as Your own body. Pepsi targeted the young generation and introduced Aquafina as a fancy product to carry.

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The ad campaign of Aquafina emphasized as 70% of your body is water and thus give your body the purest water. The ad showed young vibrant models and created the atmosphere of youthfulness. Water, Pepsi claimed, was no longer a simple beverage, but was something highly fashionable. They complimented it by giving their bottles an attractive look. This soon caught the eye of the consumer. All these factors made Pepsi the biggest upcoming competitor of Bisleri (whereas Kinley lagged behind the race, showing a doctor advising a family to take Kinley for pure water not a very attractive ad campaign). Bisleri, to counter-attack the new Feel-Young fever had to even bolder steps. They first changed their base line from Pure and Safe to Play Safe. They tried a brand new ad campaign to catch the fancy of consumer. The new ad showed a young romantic couple on a marooned island, when the girl seductively attracts the guy and he follows her in trance. The moment he gets hold of her, she whispers something in his ears. The next few shots show the guy looking for something in frenzycan not find it.rushes towards the chemists shop.buys something (keeping the audience in suspenseor rather implicitly pointing for ). The girl opens it and.POOF.takes out a bottle of Bisleri and quenches her thirst. Caption: Play Safe. This campaign was to catch the attention of youth and a new Indian society which is supposed to be not-so-prudish. Thus Bisleri has taken a very bold step. The T.V. ads have been complimented by print ads also. The company has to focus on the marketing management of the product. In light of the challenge in front of the company and its current strengths and position, we have incorporated the marketing mix to counter the marketing strategies of the competitors by developing its own marketing.

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MARKETING MIX The set of controllable tactical tools- product, price, promotion, and place (4 Ps), that the firm blends to produce the response it wants, in the target markets. The 4Ps

Product The main product of the company is the mineral water by the name of Bisleri Mineral water. Other than mineral water the company has also the soda water, mountain water under its brand name called the Bisleri Soda Water and Bisleri Mountain Water. The concept of bottled mineral water was introduced in India, first by Bisleri, and that is the reason, it has become a generic name for the mineral water. Bisleri has become a perfect synonym of the mineral water for the Indian consumers. The main challenge facing the company or any other player in this mineral water industry is that there is no scope of invention and innovation in the product, which can be added as the additional benefits of the product.

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It is just water after all. This is what the Indian customers think of the bottled water. If we are talking about a product like television we can think that the innovations could provide extra benefits derived from the product. For example other than its core usage the product can provide for Internet facilities using conversion.

Place Place stands for the company activities that make the product available to the target customers. To make the product available to the target consumers a good distribution network has to be there to support the good quality of the product. Here in the case of the mineral water industry the distribution network is the important factor in being competitive and the catch lies in making water available to maximum number of places in the country.

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DISTRIBUTION NETWORK:

The small-scale players built their sales by piggybacking on the generic category built up by Bisleri. Its a battle that Bisleri can win by sheer distribution muscle. One of the reasons why Bisleri is running strong in this industry is its strong distribution network built over the years since its inception. Further, Bisleri plans to increase its distribution network over the southern and eastern region, where it is behind popular brands like Team in Tamil Nadu and in Andhra Pradesh. Prices for following packaging variants (AN ECONOMIC FACTOR AFFECTING THE BUYERS BEHAVIOR) Price is the sum of values that consumer exchange for the benefits of having or using the product or service. Price is the only element in the marketing mix that produces revenue. All other elements represent costs. In India, where the majority of the population comprise of the middle-income group and lower income groups it is not hard to understand that pricing is one of the most important factor in the buying decisions. Bisleri has met the expectations of the consumers in terms of pricing the product and also making the product available in variations of litres, making Bisleri both convenient and affordable. The company is following a very aggressive pricing. Its product is available at a very reasonable price.

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250ml 500ml 1.Ltrs 2 Ltrs 5 Ltrs 20 Ltrs

Rs. 5 Rs. 8 Rs. 13/Rs. 22/Rs. 40/Rs. 70/-+ Rs. 150\- jar security

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Promotion
Modern marketing calls for more than just developing a good product, pricing it attractively, and making it available to the target customers, companies must also communicate with their customers, and what they communicate should not be left to chance. A Companys total marketing communications program- called its Promotion Mix consists of specific blend of advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, and public relations tools that the company uses to pursue its advertising and marketing objectives.

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ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN: While designing the advertisement campaign, it is necessary to keep in mind the opinion leaders. Youth are the opinion leaders of the present time. And thus it becomes necessary to design the campaign keeping the youth in mind. The opinion leaders would further trickle down the message to the less active members of the society. This is exactly what Bisleri is doing. Bisleri has started an advertisement campaign stressing the point of purity and flaunting the patent right the company has over the breakaway seal. The company has tried to put the message across louder, by using the ad campaign that catches the eye of everyone, specially the youth. Bisleri that was looking for a differentiator decided to make the breakaway seal the symbol of purity. The tamper-proof seal was developed, around which the communication was woven. The campaign stresses the safety provided by the breakaway seal by illustrating the ease with which conventionally sealed bottles can be refilled and recycled. The objective with the campaign would have been to highlight the tamperproof seal and create doubt in the consumers mind of the purity of the other brands. That is, Bisleri is the only one that guarantees purity and keeps you Safe.

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To conclude: We find that new advertisement campaign of Bisleri is eye catching. This is what the company should do. And also the company should make the message clearer to the customers that it has the patent right over the breakaway seal. In the survey we found that the consumers are aware of the breakaway seal but are not aware that the company has the patent right.

Apart from a high dose of investments on expanding bottling capacities and an ad budget thats risen six-fold over last year, if Bisleri wants to penetrate every possible segment of the market, it can do that by introducing more pack sizes and establishing the brand strongly with trendy new packaging. Apart from creating consumer pull with campaign, the company, to increase its sales would have to do the sales push as well. For that it would have to give the retailers and other stockiest high trade margins and incentives for keeping the product. This is very important in case of this product because consumers would take up what is available to them at ease and whatever retailer is giving.

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COMPETITION The mineral water market is set to explode and hit the Rs.2,000-crore mark in the next couple of years. This is drawing the big guns attention. First Britannia launched Evian. And recently, soft drinks giant Pepsi entered the fray with Aquafina. Now, Nestle too is reportedly planning a foray. Meanwhile, Parle Agros Bailey has been growing steadily. Small local players too are breathing down Bisleris neck riding on better trade margins and intensive distribution (in their respective areas of operation). The competition facing Bisleri can be categorized into a few brand names like

Parle Bailey Pepsi Aquafina Coca Cola Kinley

With Parles Bailey being the main competitor and second in market share in the organized market, Bisleri faces tremendous competition from the unorganized sector.

Aquafina The advantage for Aquafina is that though there are over 300 labels of bottled water in the Indian market, few can be called brands. It is necessary to

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remember that every product with a name is not a brand; even Bisleri has become generic to this category. It does not have any emotional values attached to it. So there was no difficulty for Pepsi in creating space in such a market, which is completely different from the soft drinks market, where it will be very difficult for any new player to find a slot. So the creative team at HTA virtually had an empty canvas to work on. And it came up with a campaign that did have people talking. First, a series of teasers, followed by a film that showed healthy bodies and youthful people and, of course, lots of water. Although Aquafina is only available in a 750 ml pet bottle, the pricing, at Rs.10, is competitive. And it is safe. In addition to the tamper proof seal, there is a reliable method of checking whether the bottle has been refilled. The date of manufacturing has been written on the cap as well as on the bottle. Thus a person who is refilling it would have to find a matching cap and bottle, the probability of which is very low. Coca Cola- Kinley Coca-Cola joined the race by announcing the imminent launch of its own brand of water and, in the process, putting to rest rumors of its so-called takeover of Bisleri. Kinley is targeting institutions. Parle Agros- Bailley Bailley the brand that is owned by Ramesh Chauhans brother Prakash Chauhan is very popular in the southern part of India. Southern part of India

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accounts for 20% of the sale of the whole water market industry. Bisleri would have a tough competition from Bailley since the company plans to spread its presence in that part of the country. Another thing that makes the competition difficult for the company is the price at which its competitor is offering the product. Like Bisleri it also gives the 1 lt. For Rs.10. The only strength point of the company, which it can capitalize, is its generic name. And also the company would have to enter that market with a strong distribution base. We know the fact that Bailley has grown at a rapid pace using the route of franchising, which Bisleri has not adopted as yet. This is another point, which the company would have to take care of to face the competition.

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PURE BOTTLED DRINKING-WATER Is Dangerous

The Safety of Bottled Drinking-water Because of the large number of possible hazards in drinking-water, the development of standards for drinking-water requires significant resources and expertise, which many countries are unable to afford. Fortunately, guidance is available at the international level. The World Health Organization (WHO) publishes Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality which many countries use as the basis to establish their own national standards. International Standards for Bottled Drinkingwater The intergovernmental body for the development of internationally recognized standards for food is the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC). WHO, one of the co-sponsors of the CAC, has advocated the use of the Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality as the basis for derivation of standards for all bottled waters. CSE Report on pesticide residues in bottled water The Centre for Science and Environment, a non-governmental organization based in New Delhi, has set up the Pollution Monitoring Laboratory to monitor environmental pollution. Its main aim is to undertake scientific studies to generate public awareness about food, water and air contamination. The bottled water market share of major brands is Bisleri (51%), Bailley (17%), Yes (11%) followed by Kinley (10%), Aquafina (4%).

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Drinking water filled in hermetically sealed containers of various compositions, form, and capacities that is suitable for direct consumption without further treatment

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FACTS Bottled drinking water samples of some top brands Bisleri (Parle Bisleri Pvt. Ltd.), Bailley (Parle Agro Pvt. Ltd.), Aquafina (Pepsico India Holding Pvt. Ltd.), Kinley (Hindustan Coca Cola Beverage Pvt. Ltd.) and of other less popular brands like Best, Royal Aqua, Seagull etc., which were being sold and manufactured in Mumbai and nearby areas like Pune and Daman, were purchased randomly. All the samples were purchased from retail outlets in the market and from railway station and were checked for proper seal, date of manufacture and batch number. Even the top brands, which claim to use treatment methods like purification filtration, activated carbon filtration, demineralization and reverse osmosis were found to contain residues of pesticides. It might be due to the reason that the manufacturers may be by-passing the raw water after partial treatment and remixing it with the fully treated stream so as to cut down the cost of treatment. On the basis of the results different brands can be rated in terms of total organochlorine and organophosphorus pesticides from least to most contaminated asAquafina Macblue Bailley Kinley Seagull Sheetal Bisleri Brilliant Bally Apurva Royal

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Aqua Best OXYRICH When absorbed into the body, these pesticides are not metabolized rapidly hence get stored in the fat. The organ phosphorus pesticides affect and damage the nervous system and can cause cancer. They can cause reproductive and endocrinal damage also.

CONCLUSION

"Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink" from the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner is perhaps a fitting description of the attitude of many consumers living in urban areas today who are increasingly looking toward bottled water as a means of meeting some or all of their daily requirements.

It holds that discomfort or dissonance occurs when a consumer holds conflicting thoughts about a belief or an attitude object. Consumers may have various reasons for purchasing bottled drinking water, such as taste, convenience or fashion, but for many consumers, safety and potential health benefits are important considerations. Thus, the pesticide used in the water makes it dangerous to use regularly.

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STRENGTH
Old and famous brand name Better packaging Effective distribution network Famous as pure & safe among consumer Good product mix Frequent quality checking Much used by corporate world Better management Give regular follow up to distributor Indian image Better sales force Sponsoring various cultural program Better visibility Good intensives to dealer

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WEAKNESS one liter packs which accounted for 50 per cent of the companys turnover has come down to 30 per cent. The two-liter packs, which have practically disappeared from the shelves, have come down from 20 per cent to five per cent. The growth has come from the 500 ml and the five-liter category, which account for 15 per cent and 36 per cent of turnover respectively. Earlier, Bisleri was selling at a premium of Rs.12 for the same size. But beginning last year, it has been selling its one- liter bottles at Rs.15 each. Aqua Minerals attributes the Price slashing to retailer margins being on the higher side earlier. The competitive Rs.15 price tag has been working well for the brand. In what could be a masterstroke, Aqua Minerals is testing out the possibility of mass marketing 20-litre Bisleri bottles for an MRP of Rs.40. That works out to Rs.2 a liter. If the logistics, manufacturing and distribution do fall in place, it could change the face of the purified water market for keeps.

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OPPURTUNITIES So far, Chauhan has not used the franchising route very aggressively unlike Parle Argos Bailley which has grown very fast Using this route. He has around six franchisees in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Goa and Rajasthan. We shunned this route so far because in most areas where we had no presence, it was imperative that we did it ourselves. Now for further expansion we can afford to use the franchisee route.

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THREATS
Bisleri will be taking the packs back and refilling them. But the packs cannot be sterilized since the material used is PET and cannot withstand high temperature. So how can he ensure purity? Strategy to counter threats and others? We subject the bottles to chlorine washes, hot water washes and ozone washes before we refill the bottles. The company is betting on the home segment. The reason being that filters and water purifiers also need to be cleaned periodically and still do not guarantee absolutely clean water. In order to service this segment, the five liter packs are being pushed through the route of fat dealers (wholesale dealers) who are retailers as well as stockiest and serve as supply points from where customers can pick up the required quota. In future, consumers will be able to call the fat dealer and place orders for home delivery of the five-liter pack. The company has so far appointed 180 such dealers. This is a high turnover, low-margin retailer who does not keep a store but serves a similar purpose with other items such as rice or Atta.

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FINDINGS
After the tabulation and analysis of 50 respondents from ghaizabad city:He following findings are obtained:

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Q.1 Which brand of bottle water do you sale more? a. Kingfisher b. Kinlery c. Aquafina d. Bisleri e. Others .

6.30%

3.97% 23.33% Kingfisher Kinlery Aquafina Bisleri

54.45%

13.95%

others

INTERPRETATION: According to market share figure, Bisleri is the leading brand which 55.45% market share. While Kinley 23.33%, Kingfisher 3.97%, Aquafina 13.95% and others 6.30%.

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Q.2 Which brand of bottle water do you prefer to sell more?

4.50% 25%

10.50%

Aquafina Bisleri Kingfisher Kinley others

10%

50%

INTERPRETATION: 50% retailers prefer to sell Bisleri brand because of demand, brand and profit margin. And then on second number they prefer to sale kinley.

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Q.3 How much is your monthly sale?

20%

2.00% Bisleri Aquafina Kingfisher

8% 10%

60%

Kinley Others

INTERPRETATION: 60% sellers said that they have their maximum sales from Bisleri, 20% sellers said that they have their maximum sales from Kinley, 10% said that they are getting revenues from Aquafina, 8% said that they are getting revenues from Kingfisher, 2% from others.

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Q.4 Why do you prefer to sell more this particular brand? Easily available

More demand
Quality Factor

26%

34% Easily available More demand Quality Factor 40%

INTERPRETATION: 40% saler prefer to sale Bisleri because of it high demand, 34% sale it because of its easily availablety and 26% sale it because of its good quality.

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Q.5 When you talk of mineral water, what brands come to your mind?

15%

5% 35%

25% 20%

Bisleri Aquafina Kingfisher Kinley Others

INTERPRETATION: 35% seller said that when they think of mineral water Bisleri name comes in their mind,25% of the seller said that Kingfisher comes to their mind, 20% said Aquafina comes to their mind, 15% said Kinley and 5% said others.

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Q. 6 whether the customers are already aware about this product?

100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0%

85%

15% YES S1 NO

Series1

INTERPRETATION: 85% are aware about the product and 15% people are unaware.

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Q.7 Which brands of mineral water are more available in your shop ?

45% 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% Bisleri Aquafina Kingfisher Kinley Others 5% 15% 15% 25% Series1 40%

INTERPRETATION: 40% of the seller said that they kept Bisleri more in their shop ,25% said that they stock more Aquafina, 15% Kingfisher as well as 15%Kinley and only 5% Others.

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Q.8 Number of buyers who buys this brand per day? a) 0-5 b) 5-10 c) 10-15

d) Above 15

Bisleri

10%

15% 0-5 5--10 10--15 25% Above15

40%

INTERPRETATION: As per the above analysis 40% sellers sell 1015 bottles of Bisleri in a day, 25% sellers sell 5-10 bottles in a day, 15% sell 0-5 bottles, 10% sell Above 15 bottles.

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Q.9 Are you satisfied with the current margins on this brand? Yes NO

Bisleri

12%

Yes No

88%

INTERPRETATION: As per the above analysis 88% sellers are satisfied with the current margins of this brand, but 12% sellers are not satisfied.

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Q.10 Whether you are getting any complaints from customers, specify?

Bisleri

100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Yes

91%

Series1 9%

No

INTERPRETATION: As per the above analysis 91% sellers said hat they never get any complaint from any customer, but 9% sellers get the complaint from the customers.

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CONCLUSION
The players who will endure will be those who have a strong regional presence. Take the case of Team, which enjoys immense popularity in TamilNadu. Similar brands with a regional presence are Siruvani, and Koday. Thus, new players will be looking for a distinct positioning. One such brand is Pepsis Aquafina, the largest selling bottled water brand in the US. After its successful test launch in Mumbai and Bangalore, Aquafina was released in Chennai, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, and Pune. Pepsi has invested over Rs.5 crore in the new Aquafina water project in Maharashtra, which is the only Aquafina plant outside the US. According to Deepak Jolly, executive vice president, corporate communications, Pepsi Foods Ltd. Aquafina will be helped by Pepsis network. Moreover, Aquafina will be served absolutely chilled. That makes sense too, since surveys have indicated that an overwhelming majority of the bottled water that is consumed in India is by people who are traveling.

With the big players, who have the support of the financial muscle and a large consumer base in other categories with them, like Pepsi, Britannia, Nestle and Coke the battle is the tougher arena of brand building. All the multinationals are looking at high-octane advertising targeting specific consumer segments. Sensing troubled waters ahead, Bisleri is busy working on a strategy to soak up the competition and protect his water kingdom.

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Strategy which the company could adopt, are as follows: 1.The soft target Selling bottled water requires constantly expanding the market. The company should also target the market for soft drinks. All the soft drinks addresses three issues: fun, thirst and refreshment followed by status to some degree. The thirst and the status value of the mineral water are well accepted. There is very little the mineral water brands can do to add the fun element around the product. Again here, it becomes important for the company to have a good distribution network. It should be understood that if the mineral water is easily available everywhere then it can be said with confidence that it would be able to replace the soft drinks as thirst quencher. If we try and look at the reasons that why consumers buy soft drinks as thirst quenchers: we would find the answer as that either water is not available or if it is available then safety is not assured. Therefore, backed by a good distribution network mineral water industry can grow at a rapid rate.

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LIMITATIONS
A small segment of the market has been covered only, so the conclusion cannot be generalized. The data collected cannot be free from errors, since some of the respondents failed to give correct information. Study accuracy totally based upon the respondents response. Stipulated short span of time for survey.

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RECOMMENDATIONS Advertisement to build the brand image that will provide the required ground to establish the authenticity to the product. POP (Point of Purchase) displaying the cost of water at Rs. 2 per liter, as the perception of the people is that mineral water cost Rs. 10 per half Lt. Awareness programs at health club, schools & Nursing homes. To win over the consumer belief and faith over the genuity of the product. Display of hot and cold dispensers and bottles at places like hotels, clubs and airports where upper class group visits, as they are the potential customers. Place like departmental stores, petrol pumps and super bazaars can also be considered. The company should organize camps at various part of the city also road show to bring about the difference between mineral water and filter/purified water and to tell the people how mineral water is more hygienic than filtered water/purified water. To aware people the cost benefit analysis to the customer of how the mineral water would cot less and benefit more, because people using purifier system cost too much.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Marketing Management, Philip Kotlar Annual Report, Bisleri

Business Magazines

Websites

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Annexure
QUESTIONNAIRE Retailers details (please fill up ) : ________________________________ Retailers shop Name : ________________________________ Address : Contact Person : ________________________________ Q.1 Which brand of bottle water do you sale more? b. Kingfisher c. Kinlery d. Aquafina e. Bisleri f. Others Q.2 Which brand of bottle water do you prefer to sell more ________________________________________________ Q.3 How much is your monthly sale? _______________________________________________ Q.4 Why do you prefer to sell more this particular brand? g. Easily available h. More demand i. Quality Factor Q.When you talk of mineral water, what brands come to your mind? _______________________________________________

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Q. 7 Whether the customers are already aware about this product?

____________________________________________________ Q. 6 ___ Which brands of mineral water are more available in your shop ? _________________________________________________ Q. 7 Which are the brands available in your shop? ____________________________________________________ Q.8 Number of buyers who buys this brand per day? a) 0-5 b) 5-10 c) 10-15 d) Above 15

Q.9 Are you satisfied with the current margins on this brand? Yes / NO ____________________________________________________ Q.10 Whether you are getting any complaints from customers, specify? ____________________________________________________ Q. 11 To which brand and reason? Brand:Reason:_____________________________________ _____________________________________

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