BISLERI(MARKETING STRATEGY OF MINERAL WATER INDUSTRIES-

SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON BISLERI)

MARKETING STRATEGY OF MINERAL WATER INDUSTRIES- SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON

BISLERI

INTRODUCTION 

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

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”.

WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE

Water - the Beverage your Body Needs Most

When we were kids in school, we learned that each molecule of water is made up

of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. We also learned that it was great

fun to fill up our squirt guns with water, at least until the principal caught us.

What we really didn't learn, however, was how much water we needed in order

to be healthy human beings.

West Europeans, south Asians and Japanese live in the most densely populated

regions of the globe and worry constantly about the quality of their drinking

water drawn from rivers and lakes. Most is polluted and unfit for human

consumption. In North America, people never worried about water quality and

safety until early 1970’s and restaurants always provided iced water free. Some

still do. Then came Perrier, the French mineral water emphasizing how

restaurateurs could increase their revenues by replacing iced water service with

bottled water. Restaurateurs never miss an opportunity to increase their profits,

and soon studies started to surface claiming that serving iced water was costly

and no one benefited. Many restaurants started serving automatically bottled

water, and charged outrageous amounts i.e $ 3.50 for 300 ml. These days, a 750

ml bottle goes for $ 10.- in some restaurants, plus applicable taxes and tip!

Meanwhile, the word savvy bottled water marketers started circulating the myth

that drinking bottled mineral water is safer, never mentioning what their studies

were comparing. 

It is said that the inhabitants of seven cities between Switzerland and the

Netherlands consume the water of the Rhine River. In these parts people drink

beer, wine, bottled water or fruit juices and shun tap water. North Americans

have recently begun to drink bottled water, but already the distinction between

spring water, mineral water, and filtered tap water is blurred beyond redemption.

Spring water must come from a natural springs with proven purity of

contaminants; mineral water must contain 2000 parts per million in minerals;

and filtered tap water means just that. Europeans always preferred mineral

water or eau de source (spring water) since their rivers were polluted a long time

ago. Now considerable efforts are made to clean all major European Rivers. The

Rhine River, the Thames, the Loire are clean enough to allow several species of

fish to thrive. 

As always, large companies with considerable cash reserves dominate the

market. Groupe Danone, a French conglomerate, markets Evian, Volvic and

Crystal Springs; Nestle, a Swiss food multinational with headquarters in Montreux

markets Perrier, Nestle Pure Life and San Pellegrino. Not to be outdone soft drink

giant Coca-Cola joined the cause with filtered tap water and positioned their

brand as pure, safe, life-style water. Coca Cola markets Dasani and Pepsi Cola

Aquafina. When it comes to mineral water, Voss (Norway); Tynant (Ireland); Vitel,

Cathledon, Volvic, (France); Appolinaris (Germany), Spa (Belgium); Gasteiner

(Austria); San Benedetto, San Pellegrino, Aqua di Nepi, Lete (Italy), Ramlosa

(Sweden);Borsec (Romania) stand out. They display distinct taste profiles that

spring and filtered waters lack, but tend to be more expensive. When it comes to

consumption, Canadians consume approximately 30 litres per capita, Italians

158 litres, French 133, Dutch 119, Germans 101 and Americans 76. The low per

capita consumption can be attributed to the illusion that tap water is safe. In

reality, only large cities control tap water quality regularly and vigorously and

treat it appropriately for safety. In small communities, scarce financial resources

and lacking expertise often make tap water safety questionable. Since the

introduction of PET bottles (polyethylene terephate) bottled water consumption

increased by 16 percent in five years and continuing growth of the market is

forecast by the Canadian Bottled Water Association in Richmond Hill, Ontario.

The question for restaurant patrons remains whether to ask for bottled or

mineral water, or demand ice water. 

It all depends on the situation. You can ask politely for ice water, if that is what

you prefer, or a glass of wine, or beer. The cost is almost the same for all the

three, or you can complain to management that prices charged for bottled water

are ridiculous as is the case with wine. 

BISLERI - COMPANY PROFILE

Mineral Water under the name 'Bisleri' was first introduced in Mumbai in glass

bottles in two varieties - bubbly & still in 1965 by Bisleri Ltd., a company of

Italian origin. This company was started by Signor Felice Bisleri who first brought

the idea of selling bottle water in India.

Parle bought over Bisleri (India) Ltd. In 1969 & started bottling Mineral water in

glass bottles under the brand name 'Bisleri'. Later Parle switched over to PVC

non-returnable bottles & finally advanced to PET containers. . 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 Parle’s soft drink brands- Thumps-up, limca etc. While

Coca-Cola actually bought over Parle's beverages, it agreed to a 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. 

Since 1995 Mr. Ramesh J. Chauhan has started expanding Bisleri operations

substantially and the turn over has multiplied more than 20 times over a period

of 10 years and the average growth rate has been around 40% over this period.

Presently we have 8 plants & 11 franchisees all over India. We have our presence

covering the entire span of India. In our future ventures we look to put up four

more plants in 06-07. We command a 60% market share of the organized

market. Overwhelming popularity of 'Bisleri' & the fact that we pioneered bottled

water in India, has made us synonymous to Mineral water & a household name.

When you think of bottled water, you think Bisleri.

We at Bisleri value our customers & therefore have developed 8 unique pack

sizes to suit the need of every individual. We are present in 250ml cups, 250ml

bottles, 500ml, 1L, 1.5L, 2L which are the non-returnable packs & 5L, 20L which

are the returnable packs. Till date the Indian consumer has been offered Bisleri

water, however in our effort to bring to you something refreshingly new, we have

introduced Bisleri Natural Mountain Water - water brought to you from the

foothills of the mountains situated in Himachal Pradesh. Hence our product range

now comprises of two variants : Bisleri with added minerals & Bisleri Mountain

Water.

It is our commitment to offer every Indian pure & clean drinking water. Bisleri

Water is put through multiple stages of purification, ozonised & finally packed for

consumption. . Rigorous R&D & stringent quality controls has made us a market

leader in the bottled water segment. Strict hygiene conditions are maintained in

all plants.

In our endeavour to maintain strict quality controls each unit purchases performs

& caps only from approved vendors. We produce our own bottles in-house. We

have recently procured the latest world class state of the art machineries that

puts us at par with International standards. This has not only helped us improve

packaging quality but has also reduced raw material wastage & doubled

production capacity. You can be rest assured that you are drinking safe & pure

water when you consume Bisleri. Bisleri is free of impurities & 100% safe. Enjoy

the Sweet taste of Purity.

How Parle Bisleri began….. 

June 10, 2005

According to the Bureau of Indian Standards there are 1,200 bottled water

factories all over India (of which 600 are in one state -- Tamil Nadu). Over 100

brands are vying for the Rs 1,000-crore (Rs 10 billion) bottled water market and

are hard selling their products in every way possible -- better margins to dealers,

aggressive advertising, catchy taglines.... In such a scenario, The Strategist takes

a look at how it all started -- with Bisleri -- and how Ramesh Chauhan, chairman,

Parle Bisleri created a market out of pure water. Excerpts from a conversation

with Prerna Raturi:

Can I be honest? When we bought Bisleri mineral water from the Italian

company, Felice Bisleri, in 1969 -- the company had been unable to market

bottled water and wanted to exit the market -- we too did not see any potential

for the product at that time.

As a soft drinks company, we had Thums Up, Gold Spot and Limca (cola, orange

drink and lemonade) but no soft drink company was complete without a soda. So

we merely used the name and launched Bisleri soda with two variants --

carbonated and non-carbonated mineral water.

But three decades ago, what could we say about a category that had no market?

We didn't know our target group. Then, since bottled water is colourless,

tasteless and odourless, it was not an easy product to advertise.

Thus, the earlier brand building efforts focused on Bisleri being healthy with

adequate minerals. The Italian name added a dash of class to it. The first print ad

campaign captured the international essence and showed a butler with a bow

tie, holding two bottles of Bisleri.

The punchline was, "Bisleri is veri veri extraordinari" (the spelling of the

punchline was designed to capture the consumer's attention). The campaign was

successful and we were being noticed as someone who catered to the need for

safe, healthy drinking water.

However, the real boost to mineral water came in the early-to-mid-1980s when

we switched to PVC packaging and later to PET bottles. The PET packaging did

not just ensure better transparency -- we could now show sparkling clear water

to the consumers. It also meant better life for the water.

Meanwhile, Bisleri soda was doing well but we had to discontinue production as

we sold our soft drink brands to Coca-Cola in 1993. But my interest was in

building brands and not in bottling soft drinks. That's when I started to

concentrate on developing the Bisleri water brand.

There was a clear opportunity of building a market for bottled water. The quality

of water available in the country was bad. It was similar to what Europe faced

before World War II. The quality of water in Europe was extremely poor, which

created the bottled water industry there. In India, too, not only was water scarce,

whatever was available was of bad quality.

Initially, though bottled water was something only foreigners and non-resident

Indians consumed, we still had to increase the distribution, which meant the

dealer margins reduced. And because of limited sales, the dealer margin had to

be kept high to compensate low sales. Now we had to push sales.

But to reach out to the masses, we had to make the category more affordable.

The introduction of a comfortable-to-carry 500-ml bottle for just Rs 5 in 1995 not

only answered that need, but also meant doing away with carrying the excess

water or throwing it away if you were to buy a one-litre bottle.

The idea was a success and gave the company a growth of 400 per cent. We also

introduced the 1.2 litre bottle in 2000, which was aimed at those who share their

water. This also gave us the advantage of higher margins that a crate (12

bottles) generated.

With other brands joining the fray, things were hotting up -- the bottled-water

market was estimated at Rs 300 crore (Rs 3 billion) and was growing at 50 per

cent a year. Bisleri had captured 40 per cent of the market.

We realised it was time to move to the next level -- the bulk segment. Several

commercial establishments had no access to piped water. We tapped into this

segment by introducing the 12-litre container, followed by the 20-litre can. The

bulk segment also helped bring down the price per litre from Rs 10-12 a litre to

about Rs 3 a litre.

At present, the bulk segment constitutes 60 to 70 per cent of our sales and we

intend to increase it to 80 per cent in the next two years. With water scarcity in

several cities, even households are demanding bottled water now.

The home pack was made more user-friendly by introducing pouring spouts and

jars with dispensers. At the same time, we were constantly looking for new ways

to tap the market. We noticed that during wedding receptions, the older guests

(above 50 years of age) generally stayed away from ice cream, soft drinks and

so on.

Hence, we introduced free sampling of Bisleri at the tables where the elderly

guests would sit. Soon customers were ordering bottled water on special

occasions. Currently, the consumption of bottled water is far in excess of soft

drinks on such occasions.

The other major challenge was distribution. I still have the mindset of a soft drink

seller. Soft drink sales are in glass bottles and the distribution model is built

around picking up empty bottles and getting them back to the factory. That's not

the case with the retail bottled water packs (below 2 litre). But a product that's

not available where it's needed, is useless.

The number of outlets where Bisleri is available has increased from 50,000 in

1995 to 2,00,000 at present. But that is not enough -- we need to keep looking

for different avenues. Take stationery shops and chemists, for instance. They

don't keep soft drinks but sell Bisleri. That is the kind of exclusivity we look for to

get ahead of the distribution network that soft drink companies talk of.

The journey till now

1969: Buys Bisleri bottled water from an Italian company, Felice Bisleri. It was

bottled in glass bottles then.

Early-1980s: Shifts to PVC bottles. Sales surge

Mid-1980s: Switches to PET bottles, which meant more transparency and life for

water.

1993: Sells carbonated drink brands like Thums Up, Gold Spot and Limca to

Coca-Cola for Rs 400 crore.

1995: Bisleri launches a 500 ml bottle and sales shoot up by 400 per cent.

2000: Introduces the 20-litre container to bring prices down from Rs 10 a litre to

Rs 2 a litre.

1998: Introduces a tamper-proof and tamper-evident seal.

2000: BIS cancels Bisleri's licence of a water bottling in Delhi since some of the

bottles did not carry ISI label; the licence is restored one-and-a-half months later.

2002: Kinley overtakes Bisleri. The national retail stores audit by ORG-MARG

show sKinley's marketshare at 35.1 per cent compared to Bisleri's 34.4 per cent.

MINERAL WATER INDUSTRY

“CURRENT MARKET SCENARIO”

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, Parle’s Bisleri is the market leader with a share of more

than 45%. Parle Agro’s Bailley comes a close second with market share of 15%.

Other major players in the market are Yes of Kotharis, Ganga of T-Series,

Himalayan, Hello, Nestlé’s Pure Life, Pepsi’s Aquafina, Coca-Cola’s -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 Desi’s and MNC’s. Last year the industry had

around 170 brands. This figure is over 300 presently. The major foreign players

are Coca-Cola promoted Kinley, Pepsi’s Aquafina, Britannia’s Evian, Nestlé’s

Perrier, Herbert sons and Danone International.

India’s largest packaged water company Bisleri International Pvt. Ltd is to enter

value-added water business. The company will launch flavoured packaged

drinking water in the country by March next year.

“We are conducting research and development with at least 12 fruit flavours,

such as nimbu paani, strawberry and orange, for flavoured water. We aim to

launch it by March next year,” said Ramesh Chauhan, chairman, Bisleri. 

According to Datamonitor Plc., a UK-based consumer research firm that tracks

various sectors in India, the flavoured water market was estimated to be around

$50 million (Rs196 crore) in 2006 and is expected to grow to $70 million by

2010.

With the move, Bisleri aims to strengthen its position in a space in which other

leading beverage companies have also evinced interest. Companies such as

Coca-Cola India Inc., PepsiCo India Holdings Pvt. Ltd and Tata Tea Ltd, also plan

to enter the flavoured water business. So far, there is only one prominent player,

DS Foods, in the segment. Its brand, Catch, is priced at Rs30. “The flavoured

water market is still at a nascent stage in India. Higher price, limited products

and alternative home-made products are some of the barriers for the growth of

this segment,” said Puneet Bansal, senior analyst with Datamonitor.

Bisleri’s focus on premium segment, however, is part of its strategy to tap

higher-margin opportunities in the packaged water business. Last year, it had

launched a premium water brand Mountain Water, which currently contributes

25-30% to its total sales. The company plans to launch this brand in Europe

soon.

“We are in talks with several distributors in Europe to launch our premium water

there. The deal is expected to go through by December this year,” said Chauhan.

The company also plans to tweak its packaging and look to give it an

international appeal and compete with biggies such as Nestle and Groupe

Danone. 

The moves, said Chauhan, are aimed at trebling Bisleri’s sales from around

Rs300 crore now, to Rs1,000 crore by 2009. To push its sales, the company is

also planning to double its distribution network from 800 distributors this year to

around 1,500 in the next six months. Also, the company plans to double its

capacity of one million bottles a day through adding more contract packers and

upgrading its bottling capacity. 

Meanwhile, the company continues to rule the conventional bottled water

segment. It said that for October, it registered sale of 2.66 million cases across

the country against 1.79 million cases sold in the same month last year. 

Chauhan also dismissed speculation that he may sell out his water business. 

He said Bisleri was doing well and he had no plans to sell it out. 

“We might have sold our carbonated brands, including Thums-Up, Limca and

Gold Spot, due to a lack of choice. But, now I am in a position to build and

sustain Bisleri and will not sell it at any cost,”he added.

MARKETING STRATEGY

MARKETING STRATEGY

It is complete and an unbeatable plan designed specifically for attaining the

marketing objective of a firm. The marketing objective indicate what the firm

want to achieve. The marketing strategy provides the design for achieving them

the linkage between marketing strategies and over all corporate success is

indeed direct and vital. Realizing the marketing objectives is the purpose of two

generic categories . 

1. Price based

2. Differentiation based

PRICE BASED MARKETING STRATEGY

a business that opts for the price route in its competitive battle will enjoy certain

flexibilities in matter of its product and use prices as main competitive level . it

will price its product to suit the varying competitive demands . it will be enjoying

certain inherent cost advantages , which permits it to resort a price based fight .

the major forms where such cost advantage can occurs are economies of sale ,

absolute cost advantages ,. Benefits of early entry a large market share build

over a time . it provides freedom in the matter of pricing but after producing a

particular product and getting stuck in the face of the competition , one can not

successfully opt for a price led strategy . 

THE DIFFERENTIATION BASED STRATEGY 

marketing strategy based on differentiation works on the principle that any

aspect of the offer and any activity of the firm can be made distinctive compared

with the competiting offers. Right from technology, plant location to post sale

and service a company can perceptibly differentiate and many buyer values.

Companies usually choose those functions , Which give them the greatest

relative advantage.

Different firms adopts different strategy stances as their situational design differ-

Broadly strategy stances can be classified under three heads-

Offensive Strategy-

Offensive Strategy also known as confrontation strategy , is a strategy of

aggression. A firm that is not presently the leader usually employs it, but it

aspires to leadership position in the Industry.

Defensive Strategy-

The leader who has the compulsion to defend his position against the

confrontation of powerful existing competitors or to dislodge the leader from his

topmost position usually employs it.

Niche Strategy-

A firm practicing the niche strategy neither confronts other nor defends itself. It

cultivates a small market segment for itself with unique products / services

supported by a unique marketing mix.

FORMULATING THE MARKETING STRATEGY-

Formulating the marketing strategy consists of two main steps-

1- Selecting the target market-

It does not fully bring out the import of the inseparable linkage between the two.

When the selection of the target market is over an important part of the

marketing strategy of the firm is already determined, defined and expressed.

2-Assembling the marketing mix-

Assembling the marketing mix means assembling the four P’s of marketing in the

right combination.

The firm has to find out how it can generate the best sales and profit. It plans

different marketing mixes with varying levels of expenditure on each element

and tries to figure out the effectiveness of each combination in terms of the

possible sales and profit.

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. 

CONTENT OF THE CAMPAIGN:

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 tamper-proof

seal and create doubt in the consumer’s mind of the purity of the other brands.

That is, Bisleri is the only one that guarantees purity and keeps you Safe.

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 that’s 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. 

ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN OF BISLERI

Every brand needs a good advertising 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, Bisleri’s 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. 

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 frenzy…can not find it….rushes towards the chemist’s shop….buys

‘something’ (keeping the audience in suspense…or 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.

AQUAFINA ADVERTISEMENTS AND BISLERI

A drop-dead gorgeous body flexes its muscles on the screen. This starkly

arresting black and white image is then splashed with water. A voice-over

informs you that 70 per cent of your body is water. Why not give it the purest….

Aquafina Bottled water from Pepsi. 

This kind of advertisement campaign used by the competitors is giving the

company a tough time. The competitor, Pepsi, is utilizing the brand image built

by it and is again targeting the “Generation X” maintaining the company image.

It’s an unusual ad for this category. Till now, most marketers have focused on

educating the consumer on how bottled water is a safer option, with the lead of

course, taken by the popular national brand Bisleri. 

But Pepsi chose to junk this approach and it could well afford to. Bisleri, after all,

had already done most of the hard work needed to build the bottled water

category. What Pepsi needed was to establish its brand in this crowded,

fragmented market. Our task was made easier because was made easier

because Bisleri had concentrated on educating the consumer, instead of building

its own brand values," says Rohit Ohri, vice president and client services

director, Hindustan Thompson Associates Limited (HTA). We wanted the imagery

to posit~on Aquafina as a youthful, premium and fun brand," says Vibha Rishi,

executive director, Pepsi. The idea, she says, was not to objectify bodies so that

one could drool over them. "Instead, we are talking about your body and the

need for each one to take care of his or her body." The ad copy, which spoke of

the water content in our bodies, was actually trying to establish how important

water was to our well- being and how we need to continuously replenish it.

While the thinking was clear that the imagery had to be built in and around

purity, HTA did toy with a couple of other ideas and situations. Initially, the idea

was to focus more strongly on the fun aspect and create a story line complete

with a smart idea and a twist at the end. "But we gave it up because we felt that

the story might take the mind away from the purity aspect that was a must to

highlight," says Ohri.

So HTA adopted a minimalist approach and created a film with little clutter and

no props, which tried to capture the emotion of "feeling good about yourself'.

While the film and the imagery are completely the work of HT A, the strategic

thinking comes from the Mother Company in the US.

Aquafina, in fact, is the largest-selling bottled water brand in the US with a 12

per cent market share, and India is the first country outside of the US where

Aquafina is being bottled. Even in the US, the ad talks of the percentage of water

in our bodies, but the handling is a little more serious. For example, the film will

show an emotional moment where someone starts crying, and then you will hear

the voice-over, 85 Per cent of xour eye are wa4ep. "There is no internal law that

forces us to follow the international positioning. But seeing the quality of thinking

that has gone into this, we decided to stay with this positioning, though the

statements here are quite different," explains Rishi.

Aquafina, like all offeFings that come from the Pepsi stable, also imbibes the core

values of the mother brand. It addresses the Pepsi-user base, largely the youth,

and like Pepsi ,it is also being positioned as a hip brand. But Aquafina is a lot that

Pepsi is not. It is a little bit older, mature and affluent, and not as mass based as

Pepsi.

Pepsi's role in the communication is that it is the source of credibility for the

product and, of course, establishes the youthfulness of the brand. But Aquafina is

a brand in its own right and with each piece of communication, its personality

will emerge," feels Ohri. But while Aquafina is being given a distinct identity, it is

also being targeted at the Pepsi consumer and is addressing their need for safe

and reliable drinking water. Will this not cannibalize Pepsi sales? "Water does eat

into the cola market," agrees Rishi, "but we can't build a business for Pepsi

based on people's lack of access to safe drinking water.

How can any business be built on deprivation?" Both will have to co-exist and

carve a market out for themselves, And~ while Pepsi targets the 18-25 year olds,

Aquafina also includes the 30-somethings together with the college crowd. Like

Pepsi, Aquafina too is looking to command a premium without being

unaffordable.

It is being positioned as a premium product, not via pricing, but in imagery and

packaging. Priced at Rs. 10 in Delhi for a 750ml. bottle, it is priced marginally

higher than the competition that gives you one liter for Rs. 10. The swirl shaped

PET bottle resembles the Pepsi family and is sturdier and more hip than most

others in the category that take their design cues, it seems, from the one liter

refined oil bottles in the market. The decision to break the norm and come up

with a 750 ml pack size was more driven by the fact that water is fundamentally

consumed on the go and the 750 ml size is easy to carry around. "It is ideal for

an half-an-hour in the sun, one liter gets too bulky," says Rishi. Pepsi's future

plans at the moment don't include commg up with size variants. They have also

ruled out the possibility of catering to the bulk market, which actually constitutes

30 per cent of the total bottled water market that stands at 70 million liters

annually, and is growing anywhere between 30 and 50 per cent.

Pepsi, obviously, is looking for a big slice of this burgeoning market, but as

Subroto Chattopadhyay, executive vice president, marketing, Pepsi, says, "We

have a building blocks approach, first we have to build the brand, and then the

volumes.

Bisleri is tackling the situation by building the brand on the purity plank. Akin to

brand building in soft drinks, an aggressive print-and-TV campaign is being

backed by hoarding, point-of-sale material, and every interface with the

consumer is being used as an opportunity to reinforce the message. For

instance, all the vehicles used for supply have been painted in bright blue, bear

the Bisleri logo and sport catchy baselines like . "Play Safe".

Bisleri with added Minerals:

Bisleri Mineral Water contains minerals such as magnesium sulphate and

potassium bicarbonate which are essential minerals for healthy living. They not

only maintain the pH balance of the body but also help in keeping you fit and

energetic at all times.

Bisleri Mountain Water:

Bisleri Natural Mountain emanates from a natural spring, located in Uttaranchal

and Himachal nestled in the vast Shivalik Mountain ranges. Lauded as today's

'fountain of youth', Bisleri Natural Mountain Water resonates with the energy and

vibrancy capable of taking you back to nature. Bisleri Natural Water is bottled in

its two plants in Uttaranchal and Himachal Pradesh and is available in six

different pack sizes of 250ml, 500ml, 1 litre, 1.5 litre, 2 litre and 5 litres. 

PACKAGING 

AND 

DISTRIBUTION

PACKAGING 

Variety is spices of life. Today for any business organization to be successful it

has to provide its customer with the differentiated product that is a value buy for

them. In order to cater to yhe changing needs of the customer the business has

to continuously come out with the variants of the products so that it can target

the maximum segments.

Today Aqua Minerals offers a variety of packaging options: 1 lit, 2 lit, 5 lit, 20 lit.

The 5 liters bottles account for 35 % of sales showing a growing health concern

among the Indian society. 1 liter bottles account for 30% of the share .

The 2 liters bottle introduced to slowly and steadily replace the conventional 1

liter bottle. The 5 liters packs, launched in Dec 1999 in Goa, now available

everywhere.

DISTRIBUTION

It’s obvious that availability holds the key to the market .For any product to be

successful the distribution system has to be really good. Large tracts of the

country have not been explored by the national brands, which explains the

proliferation of smaller brands.

Bisleri’s strategy is to build a direct distribution system at an all India level that

means serious investment In company owned trucks and carts, this would make

it the largest fleet owner in the country. Bisleri has around 80,000 retail outlets

in the country with about 12,000 each in the Delhi and Mumbai. It is intended to

be increased this no. to 10,00,000 in order to expand brands reach. 

The company will invest approximately Rs.200 cr. to procure 2000 trucks and

hire same no. of sales people . the company plans to have its own distribution

network in places where it has its own plant 

DISTRIBUTION NETWORK:

The small-scale players built their sales by piggybacking on the generic category

built up by Bisleri. It’s 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 sTeam in Tamil Nadu and in Andhra Pradesh.

MARKETING MIX

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

under its brand name called the Bisleri Soda 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. 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.

PRICES FOR FOLLOWING PACKAGING VARIANTS

(AN ECONOMIC FACTOR AFFECTING THE BUYER’S 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. 

1.2 Ltrs Rs. 10/-

2 Ltrs Rs. 20/-

5 Ltrs Rs. 40/-

20Ltrs Rs. 120/- 

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 Company’s 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. 

COMPETITION 

IN 

MARKET

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 Agro’s

Bailey has been growing steadily. Small local players too are breathing down

Bisleri’s 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 Parle’s 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

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 Agro’s- Bailley

Bailley the brand that is owned by Ramesh Chauhan’s brother Prakash Chauhan

is very popular in the southern part of India. Southern part of India 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 it’s 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 it’s 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.

PRODUCT PROFILE

“It’s 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 Chauhan’s 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.

MANUFACTURING

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.

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 doesn’t have any intentions to acquire any existing plants. 

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 Drinking–water

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%).

Drinking water filled in hermetically sealed containers of various compositions,

form, and capacities that is suitable for direct consumption without further

treatment

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 organ

chlorine and organ phosphorus pesticides from least to most contaminated as-

Aquafina Macblue

Bailley Kinley

Seagull Sheetal

Bisleri Brilliant

Bally Apurva

OBJECTIVE

OBJECTIVE

• TO Study the marketing Strategies of Bisleri in current Scenario.

• To Study the brand positioning of Bisleri.

• To assess the brand awareness of the Bisleri in the Mineral Water Segment.

• To find out the preference level of respondents regarding Bisleri Brand of

Bottle.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Definition of Research:

The word research is derived from the Latin word meaning to know. It is a

systematic and a replicable process which identifies and defines problems, within

specified boundaries. It employs well designed method to collect the data and

analyses the results. It disseminates the findings to contribute to generalize able

knowledge. 

The five characteristics of research are:

systematic problem solving which identifies variables and tests relationships

between them 

logical, so procedures can be duplicated or understood by others 

empirical, so decisions are based on data collected 

reductive, so it investigates a small sample which can be generalized to a

larger population 

replicable, so others may test the findings by repeating it 

Research Methodology:-

The research conducted by Exploratory Research this type of research is

Qualitative and Quantitative.

Qualitative refers to the characters of the data or process by which the data are

gathered. 

The research process consists of a series of closely related activities. Why a

research study has been undertaken. Why a research study has been

undertaken, how the research problem has been defined, in what way and why

the hypothesis has been formulated, what data has been collected and what

particular method has been adopted and a host of similar other question are

usually answered when we talk of research methodology concerning a research

problem or study.

Sampling:-

The data was to be collected only from the Consumers and Retailers. A

questionnaire was prepared and interviewing with Retailers and Consumers.

A decision has to be taken concerning a sample unit before selecting the number

of samples. It may be geographical as well as individual.

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 in Aligarh.

RESEARCH DESIGN

MEANING OF RESEARCH DESIGN

The formidable problem that follows the task of defining the research problem is

the preparation of the design of the research project, popularly known as the

“research design”. Decisions regarding what, where, when, how much by what

means concerning an inquiry or a research study constitute a research design.

“A research design is the arrangement of conditions for collection and analysis of

data in manner that aims to combine relevance to the research purpose with

economy in procedure.” In fact, the research design is the conceptual structure

within which research is conducted; it constitutes the blueprint for the collection,

measurement and analysis of data. As such the design includes on outline of

what the researcher will do from writing the hypothesis and its operational

implications to the final analysis of data. More explicitly, the design decisions

happen to be in respect of :

What is the study about ?

Why is the study being made ? 

Where will the study be carried out ?

What type of data is required ?

Where can the required data be found ?

What periods of time will the study include ?

What will be the sample design ?

What techniques of data collection will be used ?

How will the data analysed ? 

In what style will the report be prepared ?

TOOLS AND INSTRUMENTS USED FOR THE STUDY

It is necessary for a researcher to define conceptual structure which research

would be conducted. The function of research design is to provide for the

collection of relevant evidence with minimal expenditure of efforts, time and

money. 

The means of obtaining the information is through : 

a) Primary data like questionnaire and mock interview.

b) Secondary data like magzines, news paper and net etc. 

PROCEDURE OF DATA COLLECTION

Data compilation is an intermediate stage between data collection and analysis.

Data compilation involves classification and summarization in order to make data

amenable to analysis.

In dealing with any problem, once the sample has been selected the data must

be collected from the sample population. There are several ways of collecting

appropriate data which differ considerably in context of money cost, time and

other resources. They can be broadly classified in to two categories.

Two sources to collect data are namely:

1. Primary Source

2. Secondary Source

PRIMARY SOURCE OF COLLECTING DATA

The Primary Data that I collected were the first hand information which I received

through personal interviews with the consumers and through questionnaires.

This data gave the most vital information for making my analysis of the

prevailing purchasing behavior of the consumers.

QUESTIONNAIRE TECHNIQUE

The method of collecting data mailing and personally distributing questionnaire

to the respondents is the most extensively employed technique in various

economical surveys. This method is quit popular, particularly in case of big

inquiries. A typical questionnaire consists of a number of questions arranged and

printed in definite order on a form or a set of forms. The questionnaire is given to

the respondents who are expected to read and understand the questions and

write the response in the given space meant for the purpose in the

questionnaire.

Mock interviews

Mock interviews are basically just to save the time of both the respondents and

the researcher and along with this, it is assumed as a best means for collecting

data where respondents are not so literate to answer to question tailored in the

questionnaire. 

SECONDARY SOURCE OF DATA COLLECTION 

Secondary Data involved in my research were the information that I collected

through the various broachers and pamphlets of the company which were

provided to me during the analysis.

RESEARCH DESIGN : 

The research design which has been used in the project report is descriptive in

nature.

SAMPLE DESIGN: 

The sample design which has been use in this project report is simple random

sampling.

SAMPLING UNIT : 

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 Aligarh region has

been taken as a geographical unit and retailers as an individual unit.

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.

RESULT

AND

DISCUSSION

FINDINGS

The following findings are obtained and are based on primary data:- 

1. Which brand of bottle water do you sale more?

2. The brand customer prefer more:

3. Why do you prefer to sell this particular Brand?

3. On what basis customer prefer to purchase?

4. Do you get any customer complaints for Bisleri?

5. Are your suggestions considered by Bisleri?

6. On what basis you motivate a customer to purchase a particular Brand?

1. When a customer talk of mineral water which brand comes into his mind?

SWOT ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS

• Old and famous brand name

• Better packaging

• Effective distribution network

• Famous as pure & safe among consumer 

• Good product mix

• Frequent quality checking 

• Better management 

• Give regular follow up to distributor

• Indian image 

• Better sales force 

• Sponsoring various cultural program

• Good intcentives to dealer 

WEAKNESS

one liter packs which accounted for 50% of the company’s turnover has come

down to 30 %. The two-liter packs, which have practically disappeared from the

shelves, have come down from 20 % to 5 %. 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.

OPPORTUNITIES

So far, bisleri has not used the franchising route very aggressively unlike Parle

Agro’s 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.”

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 wheat. 

CONCLUSION

Bisleri have developed 8 unique pack sizes to suit the need of every individual. It

is also present in 250ml cups, 250ml bottles, 500ml, 1L, 1.5L, 2L which are the

non-returnable packs & 5L, 20L which are the returnable packs. 

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. 

RECOMMENDATIONS

RECOMMENDATIONS

Advertisement to build the brand image that will provide the required ground to

establish the authenticity to 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 cost less and benefit more, because people using purifier system

cost too much.

LIMITATIONS

• A small segment of the market has been covered for the research purpose, 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 doing research. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Marketing Management:-

Philip Kotler 

Annual Report:-

Bisleri 2007 

Business Magazines –

India Today Annual Addition 2008

Business Today,

Business World August 2008

Websites 

www.bisleri.com

www.discovery.com

www.google.com

ANNEXURE

QUESTIONNAIRE

1. Which brand of water bottle you sale?

a. Kingfisher.

b. Kinley.

c. Aquafina.

d. Bisleri.

e. Others.

2. The brand customer prefer more:

a. Kingfisher.

b. Kinley.

c. Aquafina.

d. Bisleri.

e. Others.

3. Why do you prefer to sell this particular brand?

a. Availability.

b. Cust. Demand.

c. Quality.

d. Profit Margin.

4. On what basis customer prefer to purchase mineral water?

a. Brand.

b. Quality.

c. Price.

d. Availabilty.

5. Do you get any customer complaints for Bisleri?

a. yes 

b. no.

6. Are your suggestions considered by the company?

a. Yes

b. No.

7. On what basis you motivate a customer to purchase a particular brand?

a. Quality.

b. Price.

c. Brand 

d. Availabitliy.

8. When a customer talk of mineral water, which brand comes into his mind?

a. Kingfisher.

b. Kinley.

c. Aquafina.

d. Bisleri.

e. Others.