Marketing Strategy of a Legacy Brand to Stay Relevant in Instant Food and Ready Meals Industry

Established in 1963, the first brand in the Instant food and ready meals industry in India, which can be considered for MBA project study is Gits Foods Products. c established the convenience packaged foods segment by being the first company to introduce the concept of Instant mixes in India. Since inception, the quality policy of the company remains the same i.e. the company will not sell what they don’t relish themselves. Over the years Gits Foods have developed a large number of products within instant mixes (ready to cook), Ready meals (ready to eat) and Dairy products. Gits Foods is widely spread across India and within 45 countries across the globe. 

The Brand’s journey since inception

The company was started in 1963, and was a pioneer to start the convenience food sector with the launch of instant mixes. The company created this category. Both the founders of the company realised that their wives used to spend a lot of time in the kitchen instead of being with their families. However, they also wanted to ensure that the products that they come up with are as close to home cooked food, in terms of the quality and ingredients used. That’s how Gits Food came into being. Initially, the journey commenced off with soups but it did not work. The idea was too new at the time and when they took the product to shopkeepers, they would ask, ‘Is this tomato flavoured soap?’ and nobody could understand the offering. That was when the founders decided to change the company's strategy and started to focus on Indian food products like gulab jamuns, idli, dosa and khaman dhokla, among other products. Over a period of time, they have worked on building and strengthening the distribution. Until 10 to 15 years ago, Gits Foods was largely an export-driven company because India was not ready for their offerings. 60 % of the revenues would come from exports. However, now 60 % of the revenue of Gits Foods comes from domestic sales and 40 % comes from export. Therefore, a brief history of the company should be studied as part of the MBA project.

The Packaging strategy

Every packaging has its lifespan, and a refresh was overdue for Gits Foods. The company also wanted to build a stronger connection with the audience. When it repackaged about a decade ago, those were ahead of that times then but now market situations have changed, and Gits Foods needed to change with it. Modern trade has grown, ecommerce has come in, and even the consumer demographic has changed. Nowadays the company is targeting the younger generation with the new packaging. Thus there is a continuous changes in packaging over a period of time, which is required to be studied in the MBA Project work.

USP for outside India

It is nostalgia about Indian food that made Gits Foods product work better outside India. Also, it’s not easy to find ingredients to make things from scratch. People who had left the country would then call back home to figure out how to make these dishes. Hence, the uptake of Gits products among the NRI audience was better. For a long time, the company was present in Indian stores in many foreign countries. But now Gits Foods Products are making inroads into mainstream stores too because, with ready meals, there is no cooking involved. Most of the products are just heat and eat, so a lot of the local population is buying Gits Foods offerings like dal makhani and biryani. The company also has come up with organic and vegan versions of some of our ready meals to attract both NRI and local populations outside India. Hence, 40 % of the revenue of Gits Foods comes from export. Therefore, the marketing strategy of the company that made Gits products work better outside India should be studied as part of the MBA project.

Advertising strategy of Gits Foods

For a long time, most advertising of Gits was focused on the export market. It’s much cheaper to advertise there because the audience number is smaller. So the company advertises in those markets almost throughout the year. For India, the company have started consistently advertising over the past decade and are primarily focused on the festive time. Initially its marketing used to be done in house but over a period of time the company has roped in Agencies. Advertisement investments of the company are getting increased every year. The company is still investing the most on TV. While it’s the most expensive medium, it is also the most cost-effective way of reaching more eyeballs. It is also increasing investments on Digital and Social Media because of better returns. So, a detailed advertising strategy of Gits Foods Products should be studied as part of the MBA project study.

Conclusion

There is a constant challenge for Gits as people often believe that every kind of packaged food is unhealthy. To overcome this wrong concept, the company is constantly trying to communicate with the consumers that its products are made from natural ingredients. With the new packaging, it also communicates to the consumers that Gits products contain no preservatives and colors, mentioning this prominently on the front of the pack now. Thus a detailed study on the challenges being faced and marketing strategy to overcome the challenges should be carried out as part of MBA Project work Dedicated faculty of Madembaezy can help a student during the MBA project study and to find a subject, select a topic, find an organization for the MBA project work and plan the MBA project and will act as a liaison between the student and the host organisation.