Identifying the marketing challenges faced by Unilever Pak in Wall’s ice cream

INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY

Identifying the marketing challenges faced by Unilever Pak in Wall’s ice cream

Prepared By

Gulzaib Ali Khan(BM / 25082)

Taha Yaseen(BM / 25093)

Course Code : MKT-606

A project in partial fulfillment of the award of

MBA (Marketing)

FACULTY OFMANAGEMENT AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

SPRING - 2011

Identifying the marketing challenges faced by Unilever in Walls ice cream

CONTENTS

Page No

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT............................................................ 01

ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………….. 03

CHAPTER NO. 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………………. 04

1.2 Purpose of Study……………………………………………………………… 08

1.3 Research objectives………………………………………………………….. 08

1.4 Research Methodology………………………………………………………. 08

CHAPTER NO.2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Literature Review……………………………………………………………… 11

CHAPTER NO.3 UNILEVER IN PAKISTAN

3.1 Walls Ice Cream in Pakistan…………………………………………………. 15

3.2 Mission…………………………………………………………………………. 17

3.3 Vision ………….………………………………………………………………. 18

3.4 Objective and Goals………………………………………………………….. 18

CHAPTER NO.4 MARKET SEGMENTATION

4.1 Introduction…………………………………………………………………… 21

4.2 Target Market………………………………………………………………… 25

Institute of Business and Technology


4.3 Value proposition……………………………………………………………. 28

4.4 Positioning…………………………………………………………………… 29

4.5 Slogans………………………………………………………………………. 31

4.6 Unique Selling Proposition…………………………………………………. 32

4.7 Buying Behavior of Customers……………………………………………. 36

CHAPTER NO. 5 COMPETITORS

5.1 Omore………………………………………………………………………… 37

5.2 Hico…………………………………………………………………………… 44

CHAPTER NO. 6 RESEARCH FINDINGS

6.1 Questionnaires & Analysis…………………………………………………. 50

CHAPTER NO. 7 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

7.1 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………… 66

7.2 Recommendations…………………………………………………………… 68

REFERENCES 69



“ACKNOWLEDGEMENT”

First of all we would thank Almighty ALLAH who has guided us the way for a

bright future. We would like to acknowledgement the help provided by our

teacher to make this project a success.

Our teacher Dr. Noor Ahmed Memon provided guidance and learning at every

step of the project which helped us, a lot in the questioning, data collection and

preparation of this report. He always gave full energy and showed willingness in

our project.

We are also thankful to our parents who accommodated us during those long

hours of work in writing Synopsis for Dissertation and all the friends and

colleagues who equally encouraged us.

We would also like to appreciate the co-operation we got from our classmates at

the institute, which boosted our morale and encouraged us to strive for better

results.

Mohammad Gulzaib Ali Khan Taha Yaseen(BM- 25082) (BM-25093)



INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS AND

TECHNOLOGY

ABSTRACT SUBMITTED BY: Muhammad Gulzaib Ali Khan

Taha Yaseen

DISCIPLINE: MBA (Marketing)

TITLE OF PROJECT REPORT: Identifying the marketing challenges

faced by Unilever Pak in Wall’s Ice

Cream

MONTH OF SUBMISSION: April, 2011

NAME OF PROJECT SUPERVISOR: Dr. Noor Ahmed Memon

Abstract:

The Study is about “Identifying the marketing challenges faced by Unilever

Pakistan in Wall’s Ice-Cream.” There has been a lot of changes in the minds and

eyes of the consumer about Wall’s Ice-cream that it is not an ice-cream rather a

dessert, on the mere fact that it is not made up of dairy milk. The local players in

the market are taking out the best out of this negative perception of the

consumer.

Another underlying fact is that the prices charged by Wall’s have gone up in the

previous year and some new local players have entered due to which Wall’s is

facing fierce market challenges. The main focus of this study will be the in-home

category since this category not only competes with other ice-cream brands but

also local players and other confectioneries that are most common on occasions.

Wall’s in-home category is positioned as the family tradition of Pakistan.

1. INTRODUCTION



1.1 Introduction

Wall’s is the United Kingdom (UK) oriented food brand, covering the both meat

products and ice cream products, owned by Unilever. Founded in London in

1786 by “Butcher Richard Wall”, it was obtained by Unilever in year 1922. To

avoid the summer lay offs due to the down turn in its core meat product market.

In 1920 the wall’s launched the range of ice creams. Unilever sold the meat

products business and license to use wall’s brand on such with in the United

Kingdom in 1996 to Kerry group. Wall’s it self now core to Unilever’s heart brand

global ice cream business, used currently in the China, Hong Kong, India,

Indonesia, Jordan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius and Pakistan, Qatar,

Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam.

History: In 1786, Richard wall opened a butcher’s stall at St James’s market

“London”. Selling the meat and other meat products, he soon gained a well

reputation for being fine pork butcher in the market. In 1892, Richard received his

first royal appointment to George, Prince of Wales as the “purveyor of pork”

continuing to serve him through his later reign as “King George III”. In the year

1817, Thomas had born followed by daughter Eleanor. In 1824 Richard’s

business has boomed and in 1834 he moved to the new premises as at “113

Jermyn Street, however shortly afterwards Richard wall has died and leaving his

widow “Ann” and 19 years old son “Thomas wall” to run the business, trading as

“Ann wall and son”. Ann also died shortly after the death of her husband.

At the age of 19, the Thomas wall took sole charge of the business, plus the care

of his 14 years old sister. After the birth of Thomas’s son Thomas wall II in 1846,

the Thomas wall incorporated the business as “Thomas wall and son Ltd”.

Thomas wall II served his apprenticeship and the joined the company in 1870,

and after second son Fredrick had followed the same path, the company name

was changed in the year of 1878 to “Thomas wall and sons Ltd”. Throughout in 1this period the business maintained its high level standard and resultant 1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall's_(company) http://wn.com/Wall's_sausages http://home.planet.nl/~artrako/Historie/Emigranten-EN.html



recognition, obtaining a series of royal appointments from Queen Victoria, King

Edward VII, King George IV and King George V.

The business had always faced a problem in summer when sales of meat and

meat pies and the sausages fell and the company was forced to lay-off its staff.

Now led by Thomas wall II he wished-for developing a line of ice cream in 1913

to void the lay offs but the on set of World War I put the plan on hold due to

shortages. Thomas wall II has decided to retire and so sold the business in 1920

to Mac Fisheries which itself was acquired 1922 jointly by lever brothers and

Margarine Unie the creator company of Unilever. At present beneath the

direction of Maxwell Holt ice cream production initiated in 1922 at a industrial unit

in Aton London. As ice cream grew in worth. Unilever split the company into 2 “T

wall and son ice cream Ltd” and the “T wall and son meat Ltd. In 1959 wall’s

doubled the capacity by opening a reason built ice cream factory in Gloucester

England. In 1981 Unilever and T wall merged and son ice cream Ltd with “Birds

eye foods Ltd” to convert in “Birds eye wall’s Ltd”. Subsequent a review of

production services, the Gloucester factory was exhausted and update and the

Acton factory was closed “Project Phoenix” 1983.

Ice cream History: The commencement of ice cream can be traced back to at

least 4th century B.C; early references incorporated the roman emperor Nero A.D

37-67, who ordered ice to be brought from the mountains nd joint with fruit

toppings, and “King Tang A.D 618-97” of Shang china, who had a technique of

creating ice and milk mixtures. Ice cream was likely bought from China back to

Europe over time recipes for ices, sherbets and milk ices changed and served in

the fashionable Italians and French royal courts. After the dessert was bringing in

to the United States, It was served by numerous famous Americans. George

Washington and Thomas Jefferson served it to their guests, in 1774, a London

caterer who’s name was Philip Lenzi announce in a new York newspaper that he

would offering for sale various confections including ice cream and dolly Madison

served it in the 1812.



Unilever pak intro: Unilever Pakistan limited, a subsidiary of the Lever brothers

group is operating in Pakistan since 1948, the company’s main business lines

are soaps, detergents, personal proucts, cooking oils and fats, tea product and

ice cream. Unilever has a long list of world fame brands like “surf, vim, rin, life

boy soap and shampoo, sunlight, lux soap, rexona soap, sun silk shampoo,

close-up tooth paste, blue band, dalda, planta, taaza and richbru, Lipton’s yellow

label, brook bond’s supreme and Kenya mixture etc. while continuously exploring

expansions opportunities in various fields, focus remains on the company’s core

business of detergents and food & beverages. Alongside these are the results of

the company’s dynamic approach to meet the needs of the continuously

changing market environment.

The Unilever’s factory at Rahim yar khan was one of the first industrial units to be

constructed after the creation of Pakistan. As the customer base expanded over

the years and the company entered into new manufactured goods lines like as

personal products and margarine. It invested supplementary in the installation of

modern manufacturing facilities including a factory at Karachi. Today the

company is using latest state-of-the-art technology for the producing high quality

products. In 1989, Lipton “Pakistan” Ltd was the formally merged with lever

brothers, which took under its fold Lipton’s tea business. In 1997, brook bond

Pakistan Ltd was also merged with the company. A major importer of tea in

Pakistan unilever is actively looking into possibility of growing tea within the

country. An experimental tea cultivation station has been set up in Mansehra

where clonal was not only grown successfully but is no being planted by farmers

in the area with extension services from Levers. It is expected that 600 hectares

of farmland will be under tea cultivation in the next 5 years. However, it is worth

nothing that the large smuggling of tea poses a threat to such initiatives.

In 1995, the company established a new factory near Lahore to manufacture the

wall’s range of ice cream which has become popular within a short time of period.

In 1996, the present group – Unilever UK acquired the polka group that produced



ice cream, in 1999, Pakistan industrial promoters (Private) Ltd owners of “Polka”

brand of ice cream were merged with Unilever.

Unilever name in Pakistan identical with excellence. To remain this position,

company remains vigorously involved in enlargement aimed at fulfilling consumer

needs with an optimal blend of quality and value, never forgetting the most

important elements of business (The customer is king). In line with worldwide

placement approach and in order to influence the synergies of Unilever’s

international brand power, marketplace edge and corporate image. Lever

brothers Pakistan Ltd altered its name headed for Unilever Pakistan Ltd in

August 2k2.

Therefore the present company has come about through the original lever

brothers merging with Lipton “1988”, brook bond “1997”, polka ice cream “1998”

and presently they are operationally merged with the best foods since 2k1. 1982

saw the inro of personal products and 1994 setting up of the wall’s ice cream

business which was a green field exercise.

About topic: The topic of our project is “Identifying the marketing challenges

faced by Unilever in wall’s ice cream”. There has been a lot of changes in

minds and eyes of the consumer about wall’s ice cream that it is not an ice cream

rather a dessert, on the mere fact that it is not made up of dairy milk. The local

players in the market are talking out the best of this negative perception of the

consumer. Another underlying fact is that the price charged by wall’s have gone

up in the previous year and some new local players have entered due to which

wall’s is facing fierce market challenges. The main focus of this study will be the

in-home category since this category not only competes with other ice cream

brands but also “Kulfi, Gola ganda” and other confectioneries that are most

common on occasions. Wall’s in-home category is positioned as the family

tradition of Pakistan and wall’s has recently launched the pure punjabi traditional

ice cream flavor which is “Badami”. It’s a good sign that wall’s is changing the



perception of consumers by advertise this flavor vastly to acquire the local

villagers and as well as literate citizens of Pakistan.

1.2 Purpose of study

The purpose of this study is to identifying the marketing challenges which

Unilever is facing now a day in wall’s ice cream and how was it handled gently to

make the wall’s a successful and favorite ice cream brand for the consumers.

1.3 Research objectives

Identification and pointing out those challenges which Unilever is facing and after

a careful analysis making recommendations and suggesting the ways to tackle

the situation with improvement and sustainable growth for the organization.

1.4 Research methodology

This research thesis will be a combination of descriptive & exploratory study. The

reason behind this is different variables will be identified that are affecting the

wall’s in-home range. This research will also be given a better understanding of

the market for ice cream.

Variable will not be controlled nor manipulated; no artificial environment will be

created for this study.


Key Findings


Following are the respondents of the research:

Consumers of in-home ice-cream (in the three months)

o Sample of 100 respondents from Karachi

o Sample 40 respondents from Lahore

Both Quantitative & Qualitative data will be gathered using different instruments.

The data for this investigates is collected through the following instruments:

Questionnaires for the consumer.

Quantitative but semi-structured open-ended interviews.

Unstructured interviews from organization to understand the market &

current scenario.

These are the sources of data collection for our study:


Research Design

Branded Ice Cream

Background &


Primary Sources – Questionnaires for consumers and Interviews from

Organization

Secondary Sources - Internet, Magazines & Articles.

Data that will be gathered throughout the primary data collection is analyzed in

qualitative methods. Simple calculations will be carried out to put the facts &

figures into logical sense and then representing it into graphs or charts according

to the type of data extracted.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1Literature review



Wall's is the ice cream auxiliary of Unilever, the consumer products giant whose

brands includes Persil detergent and Dove soap. The organization’s UK market

share in ice cream is so much larger than the anyone else's that all its rivals are

struggling. Data gathered for the last Competition Commission investigation into

the ice cream sector previous year showed that as of May 1999 Walls held a

71% share of the so called impulse marketplace for an ice cream that is product

bought on impulse in news agents and expediency stores rather than tubs and

multi-packs in supermarkets.

Unilever is the marketplace leader in ice cream in the most of the major

European markets such as France, Germany and Italy. The finances of the ice

cream industry are such that delivery costs are a primary part of the overheads.

These permanent costs denote a company with only small sales will struggle. In

the UK, merely Unilever has managed to attain those economies of level. This is

not to say that the new competitors cannot make a mark.

Birds Eye Wall's has since launched its own "whippy" style ice cream from

machines in newsagents and corner shops.

Unilever provides this opportunity to ice cream consumers in Britain, but not

indefinitely. They have released the limited edition ice cream collection Magnum

Seven Deadly Sins, comprising - you guessed it - seven variations of their classic

Magnum ice cream: greed, gluttony, lust, vanity, jealousy, revenge, and sloth.

Currently the two available flavors are Greed and Gluttony.

The Magnum, launched in 1988 (1989 in the UK), is today the best-selling ice

cream in Europe, selling in excess of one billion pieces annually. Therefore it is 2hardly surprising that Unilever should attempt to expand on its success.

2http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/walls-ice-cream-monopoly-proves-hard-to-melt-away-666507.htmhttp://www.marketingmaniacs.net/2011_02_01_archive.htmhttp://www.marketingmaniacs.net/2011/02/hilarious-competitive-advertising-by.html

Via: Express Tribune

http://officialpakinfo.wordpress.com/2010/07/07/competition-in-ice-cream-world-of-pakistan-walls-igloo-or-omore/



Commercially they have achieved their goals, but in terms of gastronomic

experience the design of these novelties is disappointing.

The latest marketing campaign by wall’s features some of the top acts in the

Pakistani pop music scene, including, Noori, Junoon, Jal the band and Strings.

Moreover, the wall’s logo can be seen featured in a number of programs on

Indus music. With this latest campaign, Wall’s has gone where none of its

competitors have ever gone-associating ice cream with Pakistani pop music.

Overall, the campaign gives a fresh new face to Walls and gets in with their

existing philosophy to be an essential ingredient in the enjoyment of everyday life

for everyone. This philosophy or vision has been the primary driver of its earlier

marketing campaigns and applies just as much to the current one.

It was an instant success due to their exceptional marketing communications and

the product’s hygienic, high quality ad innovative nature. Feeding on the initial

success, five new flavors were launched in the start of 1997, the same year in

which Wall’s merged with Polka. This tradition of product innovation has

continued throughout the years with Wall’s consolidating its market position with

new additions and variants in its addition of new concessionaires and satellite

towns.

Traditionally, the target market of Wall’s has been, more or less, similar to the

target market of Pepsi. Wall’s target market can be defined as the middle upper

middle and upper class; fun loving energetic and vibrant with ages six and above;

and single married and married with children. All the previous marketing activities

of Wall’s have distinctly displayed an orientation towards this target market.

The previous campaigns of Wall’s have displayed a focus on children, teenagers,

young, adults and adults-all with their trademark fun loving and vibrant twist. This

current campaign appears to be mainly geared towards teenagers and young

adults, with secondary focus on children.



There has been a positive reception towards the campaign; it is well liked by the

public. The hoardings displayed at key points throughout the city, are very well

executed and eyes catching, with a vibrant feel to it.

Perhaps the strongest aspect of this campaign is that it fits with the overall brand

essence of the product. Though there is a slight shift in their market focus, Wall’s

core values of being energetic, being fun loving and happy, being vibrant, and

having a good time are strongly reflected and reinforced in this latest campaign.

This latest campaign by Wall’s was much needed to refresh and energize the

brand which faces increasing competition from Igloo, Yummy and Hico.

These days’ public gives the impression to be in an Omore selling bender, after

the permanent advertising of Omore at last in Karachi gets to eyewitness the

coming of this ice-cream. Despite the fact that the complete product depth isn’t

accessible, some alternatives do taste good than the rivals’.

Now that a new rival has inwards in Karachi subsequent to much of a delayed

situation and advertisements which did not make logic in the city that did not

have this product yet, it now seems to be becoming a warfare situation,

something we experiential between Sun silk and Pantene. Who started it? We all

know … Was nearby a need of it? We all are familiar with about that too …

Omore is far and wide with its magnificent billboards and the Sea View occasion

being on the way, the much anticipated brand seems to be doing a marvelously

great deal in terms of customary advertising to recapture the trust of those clients

who by no means got to taste their ice cream after being bombarded with TVC’s.

connection building, The brand got to be tainted a bit as a result of the issues

with it’s allocation channel but it’s fairly a good product, a must have.

Beneath is an image of their luminous copyrighting and it actually does catch the

‘mostly potential customers’ sight’ and attention. It’s extraordinary why Walls has

launched and is promotion its Mango ice Cream in this season but it appears to



be a rival strategy to remind the consumers that ‘Hey look! Your old friends are

still here!”

3 UNILEVER IN PAKISTAN

3.1Wall’s ice cream in Pakistan

Unilever is the world’s largest and biggest ice cream business and the home of

one of the best known symbols in ice cream “The Heart”. The heart was



launched in 1997 to unite Unilever’s ice cream businesses and brands and has

grown to become the most recognized logo in the world of ice cream.

Their global ice cream business is having worth of €5 billion with a 17% market

share. Unilever is selling ice cream in over 40 countries worldwide. The heart

represents €3.5 billion of Unilever’s sales, Unillever is taking the next step in

building the world’s most powerful ice cream brand by putting 20% more

investment in the next three years behind marketing and development activities

to make the heart a true power brand.

The heart is a famous symbol in over the 40 worldwide countries. The ice cream

companies united by the heat logo are known by different names in different

countries, for example wall’s in the UK and south East Asia, streets in Australia,

kibon in Brazil, algida in Italy, langnese n Germany and ola in the nether land,

together they produce brands including “Magnum, cornetto, solero and carte

d’Or. The business mission of wall’s is two simple words “Market Leadership”.

Wall’s is the no.1 brand in ice cream market of Pakistan. Polka was once the

market leader on the mere basis of its nationally available products and 25 years

of experience. But now, after the Wall’s and Polka merger they together

constitute market leadership.

The organization’s objectives are cleared and well defined. The organization

wants wall’s to be uniquely positioned as a top quality ice cream that comes to

the customer’s doorstep. Initially, it was only the ‘Gola ganda’ and the ‘kulfi stall’

that came to the doorstep and made their presence known with familiar bell 3sounds of jingles. But a top quality hygienically prepared imported ice cream

was a completely new idea that delighted the consumers and made wall’s a

household item.

3http://unilever.com/innovation/innovationinunilever/Overviewofresearchanddevelopmentinunilever/http://www.unilever.com.my/brands/foodbrands/walls.aspx



The mobile vendor (600 in Pakistan and nearly 200 in Karachi) with the paddle

pop music was an effective marketing strategy that was new to the ice cream

market of Pakistan. After the wall’s and polka merger, the marketing for polka is

being done along the same lines as wall’s “Billboards, post signs, signs outside

retailers”. However, the pricing strategy implemented is economic pricing

strategy. The strategic objective behind this is to be broadening the entire price

range covered by Unilever’s ice cream products with a combination of economy

and premium pricing.

The range of wall’s ice cream are distributed in three categories; impulse, in-

home and out home. Impulse range constitutes of choc-bars, cornetto, magnum,

sundaes, cup ice cream i.e. those for individuals and don’t require any planning

to get these. In-home category is family oriented ice cream packs and is targeted

towards special occasions or those which have been positioned as a substitute to

cultural confections, wall’s selection, tub ice cream and wall’s dessert. The out-

home range are wall’s kiosks placed at different localities in the city or wall’s ice

cream parlors which are in direct completion with other foreign ice cream brand

parlors such as gellato affairs, movempick, mini-melts etc.

The technical element reflects the current state of knowledge regarding the

production of product services. To overcome this element wall’s use modern

technology for the production of ice cream. They always keep on introducing new

technology in ice cream making so that the reason is why their quality of ice

cream always exceeds from the quality of their competitors.

Socio-cultural elements are very important in a company’s strategies. As we

know that the climate of Pakistan is very hot almost half of the year so people

love to eat ice cream especially the teenage. Wall’s has introduced ice cream

ranging from the Rs. 10 to Rs. 20, so that even lower class people can also

afford to buy good quality ice cream and enjoy it. Therefore it is very evident that



this has become an emerging market with intense competition. In which he

cultural confectionaries are threats as well as other ice cream companies.

3.2Mission

Lever brothers will be the leading consumer product company in Pakistan with

skin care, ice cream and spread. Already positioned in tea, hair, dental and

household care, significantly profitable position in cooking oils and fats our

strengths come from Unilever people and from combining the best of its

international as well as Pakistan origin. Unilever commitment is to continuously

care for the need of its customers, consumers, employees, suppliers, share

holders, stake holders and the community in which we live. Unilever is committed

to provide its customers the quality products and company has never

compromised on quality no matter what is the cost. This maintenance of

consistent quality has given lever brothers a competitive edge.

As one of the Unilever’s leading brands, it has always been wall’s mission to add

vitality to customers/peoples life – while being responsible about good nutrition.

The very prominent slogan of Unilever is

“Adding vitality to your life”

That is why Unilever is constantly adjusting its range to keep up with shifting

needs. Calcium augmented products are available to add nutrition and health

benefits for the kids and adults, smaller sizes for the smaller appetites and old

favorites for those nostalgia lovers – there is something for everyone. Wall’s 4guaranteed Halal – statement “we are committed to adding vitality to consumer

and the community in a responsible and locally appropriate manner.

4http://wiki.answers.com/Q/The_vision_and_mission_statement_of_unilever_pakistanhttp://www.unilever.pk/Images/Unilever%20Pakistan%20Foods%20Limited%20annual%20report-2010_tcm96-260895.pdf



3.3Vision

Unilever’s mission is to add vitality to life, we meets everyday needs for the

nutrition, hygiene and personal care with brands that helps people good, look

good and get more out of life. Art portrays values on a canvas, piecing together

elements to from a complete picture. Unilever’s mission statement “to add vitality

to life” lends itself to an artist’s vision of making a better worlds and scalping

today for a sustainable tomorrow. Art and vitality are the key elements that

represent the coming together of skill, talent and values to produce great ideas.

3.4Objective and goals

Winning with the brand and innovations: brands and innovations are the heart

of everything Unilever do. Success means mounting products that keep pace

with changes in consumer lifestyle and that appeal to people at all income levels.

Unilever is using breakthrough technology as being a multinational company to

get bigger and better innovations into the market faster, supported by the best

marketing.

Superior products: Unilever’s aim is to give consumers and unbeatable

products experience. They are investing in formulation and constantly evaluating

product performance in order to drive consumers preference in branded and

unbranded product tests, they are doing this both for our innovation and for

existing mixes.

Bigger, better and faster innovation: useful and successful innovation is the

life blood of any FMCG company. For a business like as Unilever, success

means innovation that work globally rather than just one or two countries. This

kind of achievement states with what Unilever call “disruptive technology”,

namely technology that makes a big crash on the market by meeting the



consumer needs better than all available alternatives. Sharp consumer insight

and R&D is core to delivering on that aim, for example

“Solid gold from Magnum”

It is on everyone’s lips! Magnum gold?!, the first ever golden ice cream on a stick

launched in 29 countries all over the world in 2010 with a Hollywood blockbuster

of a campaign featuring “Academy award winner Ben del Toro”.

Winning through the continuous improvement: continuous enhancement

means doing everything a little better every day. That is a key to sustainable

growth. In 2010, Unilever concentrated on improving speed and dexterity in the

supply chain, while keeping cost competitive.

Providing superior service: on-shelf availability “OSA” measures Unilever’s

ability to put right product on the correct shelf at the right time, in order to

enhance on time product availability and giving superior services – as take on

other words, they ensuring shoppers can always find their products in a store.

However efficient their supply chain, Unilever products can not sell if they are not

on the shelf’s properly. So Unilever work with retailers to ensure that their

products are readily available when customers come to shopping. Unilever has

developed a unique capability for this collaboration with retailers. The top five

approaches, which helps to identify inefficiencies with and designs specific

solutions. Unilever work alongside customer to improve its system and their

system.

Quality: Unilever determined that the consumer perceived quality is at the core

of all that they do. Unilever intensifying their focus on the quality at every level of

the organization and at every step in the processes from the raw material to

presentation on shelf’s of retailers.

Winning with the peoples: Double the size of the organization presents major

HR challenges. Unilever need to have in placed the people and structures



necessary to thrive on double the scale. Present year Unilever made a great

progress in developing a team capable of delivering growth and in offering the

career development possibilities and an environment that makes Unilever an

attractive place to work.

Closer to the consumer and closer to the customer: performance culture

demands excellence from team as well as from individuals. In august, 400

Unilever Germany’s employees worked together in outlets of the REWE

supermarket network, getting closer to key customer, selling margarines to

consumers and raising €100,000 for the world food programmes school meals

project in Kenya.

4 MARKET SEGMENTATION

4.1Introduction

Market segmentation is a subgroup of people or organizations sharing one or

more characteristics that causing them to have similar product and service



needs. During the market research that we have conducted, we learned that their

target market is basically all the people who go to shops for purchasing of any

age all the kids all the young youth and household as well majorly targeted as

portrayed their commercials.

In order to formulate an effective marketing and promotional strategy, the target

market for the wall’s ice cream has divided into 4 different segments based on

“Geographic variables, Demographic variables, Psychographic variables and

Behavioral variables.

GEOGRAPHIC



Segmentation is done in 4 segments of wall’s ice cream in Pakistan “south,

central and north”, Karachi to Sadiqabad, Sadiqabad to Gujranwala and from

Gujranwala to upside country respectively

.

Geographic segmentation

World region Asia

Country region Pakistan

City Karachi, Hyderabad, Multan, Lahore,

Gujarat.

Density Urban areas

Climate All but less in winter.

DEMOGRAPHIC

Wall’s caters male and females of all income levels that is “Upper, Middle and

Lower Middle in come levels their target market mostly age and income based

and they have different age group like as Paddle Pop is mostly famous in kids,

Cornetto Feast is famous in teenagers and up to the age of 28 years and the

commercial packs are popular/famous in families as a whole.

Demographic segmentation

Age Above 5 and below 65

Gender Focus on both

Family size Not specific

Occupation Not specific

Income Rs. 5000 and above

Education Not specific

Religion Not specific

Nationality Not specific



PSYCHOGRAPHIC

Psychographic segmentation is done on basis of taste and health conscious

consumers. Wall’s targeted its market by developing an image of the high quality

and hygienic ice cream product. Wall’s was for “anyone, anywhere and at

anytime”, so this is very explains psychographic characteristics of wall’s

consumers, also relating fun with the ice cream helps depicting the life style of its

potential customers.5

Psychographic segmentation

Social class Available for upper (elite) class, lower

uppers and upper middles.

Life style Not specific

Personality Not specific

BEHAVIORAL

The behavioral segmentation is done on the 3 different variables that tend to

define particular behavior or attitude of a consumer, which are as under

Occasions – regular occasions, special occasions

Usage rate – thand hai to kya hua!!

Benefits – quality, presentation, taste

Behavioral segmentation

Occasion Regular as well as special occasions

Benefits Quality

User status Potential users, ex-users, first time user

and non user

5http://www.icmrindia.org/courseware/International Business & International Marketing/Segment-Target-Position.htmhttp://www.unilever.com.my/brands/foodbrands/walls.asp



Loyalty status Medium

Readiness status aware, informed, interested, desirous,

intending to buy

Attitude towards product Positive and enthusiastic

Wall’s has embarked on the several engagements to spread the message of fun,

excitement and love and friendship. Who can forget the love sparked from the

popular reality show – cornetto, love perhaps?

Segmentation based on the lower sugar content and the extra nutrition: Ice

cream can be a part of a healthy balance diet. Heart brand is developing

products that are low fat; sugar free, lactose free, and as well as low

carbohydrate options and those with more nutritional “goodies” like as calcium

and fruit. Diabetics can be consumed TD without worrying about their sugar level.

Based on this choice of consumers, the consumer market firstly was divided into

2 sections “Diabetics and non-Diabetics”.

4.2Target market

Targeting is how the marketer is capturing the different segments of market. And

wall’s is targeting the 2 kinds of market.

o Consumer market



o Business market

How wall’s is targeting different segments of consumer’s market

Wall’s has targeted a wide range of consumers with its wide collection of ice

cream products.

Target children: wall’s Paddle pop series of target the children. This product

targets children by usage of cartoons and such animated cartoons ads used for

its promotion. The packing is in rich and bright colors to attract the children.

Wall’s introduced its “Paddle pop Galactica” campaign, wherein consumers buy

ice cream and collect and redeem the stick would get free toys for the kids.

Target teenagers: wall’s ice cream’s one of the most popular products is

cornetto cones series. Cornetto cones targets teenagers and university students.

Advertisement and the promotion material for this particular product capture

young people and show cornetto’s link with enjoyment. Wall’s has used famous

personalities for their endorsement among the youth to promote the brand.

Target adults: Wall’s Magnum ice cream is an expensive product. This may be

not appeal to all age of groups people and consumers, Magnum targets adult

and the people who have a taste for strong chocolate and rich ice cream. The

advertisement of this product portrays luxury and class people, therefore the high

price thus targeting adults.

Target families: Wall’s has offered liter ice cream packs and tubs for the families

and for the different in-door occasions. The advertising materials for this

particular product shows family and highlights the importance of families and

quality time with love ones.



“Target market for the wall’s is not very limited. Its consumer belongs to every

age group and any class”.

Target business market: except for the targeting different types of consumer

wall’s also targeting the business market, which includes different general stores,

shopping malls, tuck shops, petrol pumps, super marts and similarly from food

and restaurants to five star hotels. It is placing wall’s freezers at every above

described place to make wall’s ice cream available where ever the customers

require it.

Wall’s has introduces new “ultra freezer cabinet” for the retail shops to ensure

that the wall’s products are stay in perfect condition right up to the time of buying

in spite of power break downs. One of wall’s ice cream channels i.e. out of home

made a contract with PSL. Similarly it has made contracts with food chains likes

as “Pizza Hut, McDonalds and KFC, these food places are using wall’s ice cream

in all kind of wall’s ice cream desserts.

Targeted products:

For kids

For youngsters or Teenagers For Adults



4.3 Value proposition

Wall’s ice cream decides that how they will serve to their customers, how they

will differentiate and position themselves in the marketplace? Thus, wall’s

promise to deliver the different set of benefits and value to the customers to

satisfy their needs. Wall’s serve customers by delivering its products at doorstep

of the consumers and customers. Wall’s ice cream also has to meet up the

inspirational value proposition for its ice cream in smaller towns, which is again

very tricky.

Wall’s has also brought the attracting slogan for its ice cream

“Ice cream makes you happy”

This is famous slogan also gives the healthy sign to its consumers.



4.4 Positioning

In marketing positioning has come to mean the process by which marketers try to

create an image or an identity in the mind of their target market for its product

brand or organization. It is the relative competitive comparison of their product

occupies in a given market as perceive by the target market.

Positioning strategies: wall’s is positioning its products as an international

brand which has very best quality. It has maintained the taste worldwide; it has

the same formula of its products worldwide. Wall’s has successfully positioned its

products at the top of their customer’s mind due to which loyalty status of their

customers is very high and they never wants to switch to any other brand.

Below are the strategies adopted by wall’s ice cream to position its product to the

best,

It is totally germ proof.



It has less air ratio contents that is why it takes more time to melt.

It is positioning in relation to a product or class attribute.

It is positioning by price and quality

It is positioning in relation to target market

How wall’s is positioning itself in the mind of customers?

Wall’s has come up with few features which is providing to its customers thus

positioning its brand at the top level of brain. The features which wall’s are

providing to the customers:

Quality: The Heart-brand logo is common worldwide and has come to

be identical with quality treats. Wall’s is providing its customer the best

quality product and it is maintaining its quality since 1965.

Loyalty: This Heart Brand shows its urge of making its customers loyal

by providing them high quality product in order to meet their quality

demands etc. Wall’s has never cheated its customer by providing them

the product which is low in quality, poor n taste and which its customer

deny to taste or buy thus maintaining high level of loyalty.

Taste: This brand has promised its customers to provide them a wide

range of flavors in order to boost their taste and favorites.

Fun & Pleasure: The big red heart logo puts a smile on your face by

providing healthier products with a growing range of innovative tastes.

Where wall’s position itself in the world and in the Pakistan?



Worldwide ranking of wall’s: Wall’s products are sold in the more than 40

countries all around the world.

“Wall’s is ranked as on the number of 24 in Newsweek’s list of Asia’s top brand”.

Wall’s ranking in the Pakistan: As wall’s one of those ice cream companies

which is the best capturing and targeting the market as well as the consumers. It

has segmented the market in the most appropriate approach. It has the highest

spending and highest earnings in Pakistan.

Where does the brand lie?

In order to see in which stage wall’s lying, so please have a look at the product

life cycle diagram.

Wall’s product life cycle diagram

Brand ambassadors: The brand ambassadors are those personalities who work

in the ads of specific brands. There are lots of brand ambassadors of wall’s.

wall’s spends a lot on their brand ambassadors for capturing them in the

advertisements.



Famous brand ambassadors of wall’s ice cream

Ali Azmat

Amrita rao

Jal band

Dafi ( Malaysian singer )

Gita Gutawa.

4.5 Slogans

Wall’s ice cream makes their slogans by findings the unique features of its

products to position themselves. Slogan creates positive image in the customer’s

mind and awareness of product. Wall’s slogans are matched with their product

quality & services. Some wall’s ice cream slogans are as under.

Just one Cornetto,

give it to me,

delicious ice-cream, of Italy,

vanilla and choco dream,

Give me a Cornetto, from Wall's ice cream

Stop me and buy one

All Hearts All Wall’s.

All Family All Wall’s

4.6 Unique selling proposition

Competitive advantage of wall’s is brand name of wall’s ice cream. Wall’s has

built a brand name that means quality products, happiness and services. They


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall's_ice_cream


make and sell their product according to the place, regional values and norms.

They always follow the customer’s need, want and demand, to make their

product more effective and reliable in the customer’s mind. Wall’s ice cream

through quality and their doorstep services always maximize its market share

that is why wall’s product is unique in all around the world in ice cream area.

Wall’s has succeeded in projecting a quality image and with hand held ice cream

that do not melts and drip soon as you tear off the cup rapper. Wall’s ice cream

claims that they are also providing convenience to the consumers. This eating

convenience is what ice cream manufacturers are so keen to providing. Wall’s

commonly held view point is that their ice cream should be accessible to

consumers everywhere, so to ensure this wall’s is using 3 channels.

Push carts

Deep freezers

Ice cream parlors



Wall’s has psychological advantage on its competitors of innovating new

products which are not only very carefully through out but also very effectively

developed. All the other competitors explicitly accept that edge of wall’s and have

no hesitation to confess that their most of products are based on me too

approach, instead of venturing the new prospect they like to follow wall’s

innovations. This makes wall’s an unchallenged market leadership whose

products are of the international quality and are backed by wall’s experience in

ice cream marketing which needs no intro.



Wall's branded ice cream freezer - Maxi vision III LED. Sell ice cream on impulse

with an eye catching freezer.



4.7 Buying behavior of customers

There are certain buying habits of customers, so according to the buying

behavior of customers, there are 4 types of buying decision behavior are as

under.



Complex buying behavior

Dissonance – reducing buying behavior

Habitual buying behavior

Variety seeking buying behavior

Consumers of wall’s are different in buying the ice cream. Customers follow the

variety seeking buying behavior in buying the ice creams, when buying ice

creams they may hold some beliefs, choose a brand without much evaluation

then evaluate type of ice cream during consumption but next time she/he may

pick another type of ice cream of boredom or simply try something different. Ice

cream switching occurs for the sake of taste rather than cause of dissatisfaction.

This is the situation characterized by low involvement but perceived ice cream

differences.

Wall’s has made a good reputation of its products and services towards their

customers. However, as customers attitude of buying is variety seeking behavior.

There are many competitors who are also differentiating their ice creams and

services to attract customers. Therefore, by this, customers need some changes

according to their tastes and those brands, which are giving more offers with ice

creams.

Those customers who have beliefs on the wall’s are loyal with them. They are not

switching their brand and only trying different ice creams some time. However,

who are not loyal with the wall’s, they will change according to their tastes.

5 COMPETITORS

5.1 Omore ice cream



Omore ice cream has recently launched in Karachi and it is a famous ice cream

brand of Pakistan, hometown from Lahore by Engro foods Ltd. Engro food is

manufacturing this ice cream brand in the Lahore and as well as in Karachi.

Engro food is multipurpose national manufacturing company. It was established

in 2004 and is mainly involved in the FMCGs manufacturing and marketing of

various industrial products and consumer products such as dairy products, fruit

juices, rice/agriculture and ice cream produce.

Omore is a brand of Engro foods which is the subsidiary of Engro Corporation

limited. Engro Corporation’s portfolio consists of 7 businesses, which includes

chemical fertilizers and PVC resin a bulk liquid chemical terminal – industrial

automation, Foods, power generations and commodity trades.

Omore has been very well established since 2009. Omore has fully automatic ice

cream manufacturing plant and has a production capacity of producing more than

4.5 million liters of ice cream per year. Omore is marketed in the major cities of

province Punjab. Omore ice cream has initially launched to limited cities across

the pakistan like Islamabad, Multan, Lahore, Sahiwal and now in Karachi. Now a

days Omore ice cream is considered to be the favorite in hometown Lahore.

Omore produces a variety of flavors including Chocolate, vanilla, mango,

strawberry, orange, kulfi, caramel and many more. Omore is one of the brand in

Pakistan that is manufacturing in pure dairy ice cream. After approx 2 years of its

launch, Karachi has finally tasted Omore.

Engro corp history: Engro Corporation is the leading Pakistani business

corporation with stakes in the fertilizers, food, power generation, petrochemicals,

and automation and terminal storage industries. Containing had undergone an 6employee led buy out in 1992 it has expended phenomenal in past 2 decades.

As a holding company its subsidiaries include as under.

Engro fertilizers Ltd6http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engro_Corporationhttp://www.engro.com/our-company/our-history/from-esso-to-engro/



Engro foods Ltd

Avanceon Ltd

Engro power generation Ltd

Engro polymers & chemicals Ltd

Engro vopak Ltd

That was 1957 when in the search for Oil by pak Stanvac, an Esso/Mobil joint

venture guide to discovery of the Mari Gas field near the place Daharki Pakistan.

Esso proposed the establishment of urea plant in such area which led to fertilizer

plant agreementigned in 1964. In subsequent year, Esso Pakistan Fertilizer

Company Ltd was incorporated with the 75% of shares owned by Esso and 25%

shares by general public.

The construction of a urea plant initiated at Daharki place in 1966 and production

began in 1968. At us $43 million with an annual production capacity of 17, 3,000

tones, it was the single largest foreign investment by a multinational corporation

in Pakistan at the time of Esso to Exxon Ltd. In 1978, it was decided that to

change the name of organization from “Esso Pakistan Fertilizer company Ltd

to Exxon Chemical Pakistan Ltd”.

In 1991, Exxon decided that to divest its fertilizer business on the global basis.

The employees of Exxon chemical Pakistan Ltd, in partnership with leading

international and local financial institutions brought out the Exxon’s 75% equity.

That was the time and perhaps still is the most thriving employee buy out in the

corporate history of Pakistan. Renamed as Engro chemical Pakistan Ltd, the

company has gone from might to might, reflected in its consistent financial

performance, growth of the core fertilizers business and diversification into other

businesses.

21st century for engro corporation has thus far proved that to be the most thriving

era in the total life of engro, from then onwards engro has only faced

accomplishment and never looked back , year 2003 was the year of the



establishment of engro EXIMP, after in 2005 engro has decided to diversify their

business more by venturing in to the food business by establishing Engro Foods

Ltd, which is now experiencing a great success and competing now with the

international brands such as Nestle and wall’s.

In the year 2007 engro Asahi polymer divested its share in joint venture with the

Mitsubishi and the company renamed as engro polymer and chemicals Ltd. In

the year of 2010, keeping in view the immense diversification of engro chemical

Pakistan Ltd, it was decided to change the name of company as engro

corporation as the holding company.

Omore ice cream introduces 2 new flavors iin 1.5 liter family pack. These are

strawberry and mango flavors, but these are typical ice cream flavors which we

always use to have, so what is the new in such flavors? Well Omore ice cream

has put some fruit chunks in it to give a better taste and fruit experience to its

consumer in ice cream. So this try seems to be a nice and innovative step in the

field of sweet stuff.

Flavors of Omore ice cream

Chocolate

Chocolate Chip

Coffee

Cookies and Cream

Mango

Strawberry

Tutti Fruiti

Vanilla

Banana


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanilla

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strawberry

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mango

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cookies_and_Cream

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate_Chip

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate


Ice Lollies

Orange

4Ps of Omore ice cream

Product: Product variety a wide range of dairy ice cream and frozen desserts.

Quality – premium ice cream rich in the calcium which is fresh every time

Design – includes ice pop, choc bars, dairy ice cream and pop sickle.

Features – made from fresh milk and cream and high in the nutrations.

Product name – froze ice pops, nutty/caramel cones,

strawberry/mango/vanilla affair, kulfi, lick a flavor, froze cups.

Packaging – high quality and eye catching packaging. Packaging color

ranges from Red, blue, yellow, orange and green. Packaging is colorful in

order to attract kids and adults.

Sizes – sizes include 1liter, 2liter and half liter for the diary ice cream.

Chock bars and soft serve ice creams are of different sizes.

Service – satisfying the dessert needs of population in best possible

approach and delivering quality every time to the consumer.

Returns – only in condition when ice cream is expired and melted.

Price: list of prices varies from the different ice creams. Depending upon

Cups = 20 Rs

Cones = 30 Rs

Ice pop = 10 Rs

Soft serve = 10 – 50 Rs

1 Liter tub = 150 Rs

2 liter tub = 275 Rs


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_(fruit)


Price of its competitor “Wall’s” is more or less same and price of liter pack is less

than the “Wall’s” which is the advantage of Omore. Omore offers a 16% margin

to retailers and shop keepers which is slightly below than the Wall’s, who offers a

margin of 20% to its retailers and shop keepers. Omore is new in the market and

doesn’t have the same relationship with the retailers as wall’s has.

Place:

Channels - sells directly to the end users through rretailers and shop

keepers. That is the trend in Pakistan followed by most FMCGs firms.

Coverage - Omore for the time being is only available in limited areas in

Punjab and not available throughout the Pakistan. Company started off its

operation in Punjab because it has the largest population in province.

Transport – ice cream are transported to retailers and shop keepers

through private logistic firms e.g. Abu dawood logistics and also through a

few trucks owned by the company. This is done because to remove the

transportation and vehicle costs.

Locations – available at large/medium sized and small bakers, grocery

stores and pharmacies in Punjab. Sell Omore products directly to doorstep

of consumers using pushing cart/cycles. This strategy has been in

practiced for many years and is being used by wall’s and Hico ice cream.

Promotion:

Advertising – vehicle advertising, outdoor billboards, point of sale display

and television ads. Advertisements are usually colorful evocative to their

ice cream packaging. When Omore ice cream was initially launched they

adopted a rather unique way of advertising. Flyers were thrown in

different housing communities using airplanes.

Message – linked ice cream with joy and happiness so their tagline is “Art

of happiness”. Linked with the consumers and got review of different ice

creams using various medium social communities’ e.g., face book and



twitter. Linked their ice cream with other engro food brands like Olpers

and Olwell. That strategy promoted their other brands as well, which are

also relatively new in the market.

SWOT Analysis – Engro Foods (Omore Ice cream)

Strengths: Omore is a brand of engro foods which is a well renowned FMCG

organization in Pakistan.

Engro is also a world renowned organization working iin the fertilizers, It

and chemical business.

Omore is made froom fresh milk and cream as compared to wall’s which

contained fat.

Total sales of 14,9,00 million Rs, which shows positive response and

customer satisfaction.

Engro food does a lot of research before and after launching their

products in the market and they did so with Omore ice cream as well. This

resulted in their ice cream being a huge success.

Omore has the only plant in Pakistan that is using bactofuge technology

to eliminate bacteria’s and make sure proper hygiene.

Providing better ice cream and that too at a lower price than their

competitors.

7Weaknesses: Omore is a new brand in ice cream market and people in rural

areas and other ad joint areas of Pakistan does not have much idea that this

brand is exists.

Mostly Omore advertisements have stirred controversy e.g. omore recent

advertisement of nutty choc bar does not go along with our cultural and

religious values.

7http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hico_Ice_Creamhttp://wn.com/Hico_Ice_Cream



Engro foods only have few products in their range as we compared to

Nestle and Unilever.

Although Omore have a good range of ice cream flavors, they are no

match for wall’s who have a huge range of falvors.

No rigorous publicity of their products as compared to wall’s e.g. wall’s has

a huge campaigns when they launched new products.

Opportunities: there are so many opportunities in the ice cream market as there

are only a few major players like wall’s and Igloo.

Omore ice cream can always come with the new flavors and new

packaging and attract new consumers.

Omore ice cream should not limited themselves to departmental stores

and groceries. They can open specific Omore ice cream parlors where

people could enjoy only brand.

Omore introduce diet ice cream in Pakistan for the people who are

diabetes patients especially above 50 of age.

Threats: Wall’s, Igloo and hico have been in the ice cream market for a long

time. It may take some time before get to know the brand.

New brands have been entered in the ice cream market such as gourmet

plus private ice cream parlors, “melees, hot spot, gelato affairs and

yummy ice cream” as well.

Ice cream is perishable item plus the load shedding and electricity

problems now a days cause problems and damage the products.

Milk price has increased drastically in the country now a day so it can

affects on their products prices.

Marketing research: Omore ice cream received an over whelming response

when they have introduced their ice cream in Pakistan’s market. In a few years



omore cemented themselves as one of the leaders in the ice cream industry in

Pakistan, thus making Omore a household name. omore ice cream are intending

to launch diet ice cream first time in Pakistan history but before they go further

they wanted to know a market research of whether peoples are willing to accept

diet ice cream or not, how successful will it be in the market and who peoples will

it consumed i.e. patients, peoples on diet etc.

5.2 Hico ice cream Pakistan

Hico was the first ice cream company in Pakistan which was established in early

50s. It is contrived by Pakistan Fruit Juice Co. (Pvt.) Ltd. As a brief introduction,

Pakistan Fruit Juice Co. (Pvt.) Ltd. is family-owned concern. It was documented

in 1952 and is mainly involved in the manufacturing and marketing of various

business and consumer products including beverages, fruit juices, ice cream,

industrial gases and Rice/agriculture produce.

The brand Hico has been well established since 1958. Hico has a fully automatic

ice cream manufacturing facility, and has a production capacity capable of

producing more than 4.5 million liters of dairy ice cream a year. It is marketed in

major cities of Punjab. Hico Ice Cream has expanded to several cities across

Pakistan such as Karachi, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Multan, Faisalabad, as well as

many more. Today, the Hico brand is considered to be the most favorite in its

hometown Lahore as well as in Capital Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

Hico Ice Cream is one of the few brands in Pakistan which manufacture 100%

pure dairy ice cream. This makes for a healthier alternative. Hico Ice Cream

produces a variety of flavors including chocolate, vanilla, mango, strawberry,

pineapple, apple, and orange. It is also responsible for the production of several

other more premium flavors, such as tutti fruity. Perhaps its most respected

flavors is praline, a flavor the company is known throughout its hometown Lahore


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punjab_(Pakistan)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_cream


for. The company's strong but small distribution and marketing network

guarantees consumer satisfaction and brand loyalty. Though Hico Ice Cream has

a small sales network, Hico's ice cream flawless quality challenges big names

like Walls or Omore which have a stronger sales network and more publicity.

Once someone tastes the quality of Hico ice cream, he/she becomes a loyal fan.

Hico Ice Cream Profile: Hico which stands for Happy Ice-cream Company has

its base of operations in Lahore. Hico was established in 1965. It is a division of

Pakistan fruit juice Company private limited. RC and Flora juice are other

divisions of the same company. Hico has its only ice-cream plant in Lahore and

from here they distribute ice-cream to others cites of Pakistan. Initially Hico did

not make sales through retail stores and bakeries. People use to come at factory

and buy ice-cream. In 1990 Hico introduced the push cart system to target the

different areas of Lahore including school, colleges and colonies to increase its

reach. In 1995 Hico started home delivery on orders but did not continue it for

long as it was not a feasible option if they wanted to target the mass market.

They subsequently changed there distribution channel and started to sell ice-

cream through retail stores and bakeries. In 1997 they established proper

marketing and sales department to improve its business. They also expanded

there business with the entry in to markets of Karachi, Peshawar and Rawalpindi.

Hico is a medium sized business, with limited resources as compared to its major

competitor Walls. Hico did not expand its business as large as its competitor

because they have a philosophy of internal growth with there own profits.

Consumer Positioning Hico Ice Cream: Hico ice-cream is an established

brand but its positioning in the minds of consumers is very weak. According to

the survey results consumers take Hico ice-creams as a second choice and, in

many cases, will not like to make repeat purchase. Moreover, Hico is not readily

available in all major retail stores. Hence Hico also has distribution problems.

Other than the consumer sector Hico has a strong institutional buyer base. They

include; Avari Hotels, Gym Khana and Heera 36. Marketing is critical to its



success in consumer sector and future profitability. Hico is also strong in family

take away packs. Hico buckets and other family packs are a prime choice among

families.

The basic market needs are high quality, innovative tastes and easy availability.

Hico will only meet these demands with an appropriate marketing plan, execution

and control.

Target Market: The question of target market is pivotal for any organization’s

success. Organizations take special care while identifying and defining their

target markets. On one end the target markets can provide new horizons and on

the other hand a wrong selection can play havoc with company’s resources and

image.

Earlier the management of Hico Company did not define their target market

properly and there was no segmentation of customers. Customers use to come

to factory and buy the ice-cream. Hico has some what established its marketing

department now and they segment there target market.

GEOGRAPHIC

At the start the only market Hico served was Lahore. After the year 1997 they

expanded there business and entered in other cities as well including Karachi,

Rawalpindi, Faisalabad and Peshawar. Hico covers Punjab Cities more strongly

because they are closer to its Lahore factory. Hico has near 20% share of Lahore

ice-cream market.

DEMOGRAPHIC



Hico has ice-cream for nearly all demographic segments. They have Ice Lollies

and Creamy Pops for kids. For teenagers they are offering Mega New Bar, Mega

Cone and Cups. For the families they have all there flavors in family take away

packs.

Behavioral segment: Hico is the only company which is offering the Diet ice-

cream for those people who have diabetes problem or are diet conscious. It is a

large untapped market segment which Hico is serving.

Swot Analysis

Strengths: The key strength of Hico ice-creams is its heritage. According to

companies management institutional buyers and general consumers use to

queue outside the factory and get there ice-cream. Even today Hico has very

good reputation among the bulk quantity buyers and supplier to the business

buyers like Gym khana, Avari Hotel, Heera 36, Freddie’s café and Pearl

Continental. Hico enjoys high customer loyalty among these buyers.

Just like Hico has a strong presence at business buyers sector, it is also strong in

family take away pack segment. 2, 5 and 10 litter packs are a first choice when

ever families want to buy ice-cream for parties or other occasions.

There are people who suffer from obesity, have diabetic problem or are health

conscious. Hico offers there diet line for these people. It is strength of Hico ice-

cream that it serves a market segment which is not yet served by its competitors.

Another of key strengths is Hico’s product with unique flavors like paraline and

Oreo cookies. Not only that they are unique flavors, Hico also takes advantage of

using co-branding strategy with a very well know brand Oreo. Last but not least,

unlike its major competitor Walls, it has dairy ice-creams. All Hico Ice-creams are

made of milk and butter.



Weaknesses: The primary weakness of Hico ice-creams is its not so strong

marketing. This in turn leads to no proper positioning in the minds of consumers.

Because of no proper positioning brand equity of Hico is very low. Hico has

another disadvantage that its major rival, Walls ice-cream, is a multinational

company and uses its international experience and R&D to come with very high

quality products and popular tastes. Using there resources they can conduct all

the techniques necessary for conducting proper marketing. Techniques like

Market research and test marketing requires large resources. As Hico do not

match Walls resources, it can not conduct R&D up to the extent of walls ice-

cream and has not yet used the techniques of market research and test

marketing.

Hico has a very week distribution network. Our consumer survey suggests that

Hico ice-creams are at times out of stock even at major retail stores. There

trolleys are also not as much present as walls trolleys are. Hico does not raise

finances throw public offering of stock hence have to rely on growth internally

through there own profits. This is a weakness as its competitor, Walls, have a

large availability of finances through public offering of its stock.

Hico products are slightly expensive then the competition and our informal

consumer interview revealed that Hico has unattractive packaging as well.

Furthermore, Hico is primarily serving Lahore market and has very limited

availability in Karachi, Islamabad and other major cities of Pakistan.

Opportunities: There are opportunities in the market which can work in Hico ice-

cream’s favor. Ice-cream eating culture has already been developed. It has

become a favorite dessert for many people. For Hico ice-creams there is large

untapped market to grow its business

There is a reputation about ice-cream in the minds of consumers that it can

cause severe throat aches if taken in winter. A recent campaign from Walls ice-

cream has addressed this concern. Now ice-cream is taken regardless of

season. This campaign from walls has presented opportunity to the ice-cream

industry. It can now achieve high sales figures even in the winter.



Threats: The major threats that Hico is facing is the introduction of new products

and flavors from Walls. Walls have introduced the new Cornetto with sauces and

new limited edition Magnum bar. These new flavors have received wide

appreciation and Hico is not yet offering these flavors. There is also a threat of

new entrant in the market, Nestle Moven pick. Like Walls, Nestle is also a

multinational company and its resources easily match or beat Walls. If Nestle

enters in Pakistani market, it will further side line Hico ice-creams.

6 RESEARCH FINDINGS

6.1 Questionnaires & Analysis

The samples of the answerers have chosen for the study consisted of those

customers who had eaten ice cream in the past 3 months. The respondents were

mainly of the age of 18 and above residing in the city areas of Karachi and

Lahore belong to sec A – E.



Karachi

Consumers 100

1. Do you eat ice-cream?

This test question for the sample of the study. Since this survey pertains to the

ice-cream customers only, hence those who do not consume ice-cream will be

inappropriate to the research.

Yes No

Consumers 75 25

2. Do you buy ice-cream in bulk packs?

The subsequent question was to drill downward additional to the core answerers

i.e. customer of in-home packs.

Yes No

Consumers 68 32


Consumers

32%

68%

Yes

No


The graphical image on top of shows that two third of the sample bought ice-

cream in bulk packs. This proves that the sample chosen for the investigate

study was right and which then leads to the rest of the opinion poll.

3. How frequently do you consume ice-cream?

This thought at the back ask this problem is to conclude the use pattern of ice-

cream by sample irrespective of the brand.

Weekly Monthly Quarterly Others

Consumers 50 34 12 4

Consumers

50%

34%

12%4%

Weekly

Monthly

Quarterly

Others



The diagram on top of display show that main portion of our sample eat ice-

cream weekly and monthly. Some even eat at a usual basis. This shows that

there is a high liking towards ice-cream than it is towards local confections.

The next three questions were to recognize the flavor preferences amongst

customers. Obtainable to the purpose of the study, it is significant to understand

not just the brand first choice, but also the taste for the reason that there is also a

huge chunk of unbranded ice-cream customers.

4. Name your 3 much loved ice-cream flavors?



Mango, Vanilla and Pista are the usual flavors; though occurrence for a broad

variety of flavors exists. Kulfi is a habitual format that still holds significant value.

5. What other brands can you believe of that make happy your need for an

ice-cream?



While Walls’ and Cornetto are most important but there is gap in usage and

responsiveness.

6. Who decides what flavor to obtain?

Yourself Siblings Spouse Children


Consumers

70%

9%

13%

8%Yourself

Siblings

Spouse

Children

The diagram shows that the majority of the answerers in our sample are the sole

choice makers in buying ice-cream flavors. They create purchases according to

their likings. 70% answerers create purchase decision themselves and they are

the major customers. Kids are the powerful force for elders in purchasing ice-



cream where in addition kids themselves are very loving of buying ice-cream for

their siblings.

7. In what pack-size do you generally buy ice-cream?

Answerers answer will decide the size of the packs they generally buy when

consuming ice-cream. This may be different in those seasons when there is high

demand for ice-cream.

More than half of our answerers typically purchase 1 Liter packs or 1½ Liter

packs. This shows that they acquisition ice-cream regularly, also satisfying the

result obtained in preceding consumptions related to their purchase pattern. Only


1/2

Liter 1 Liter

1 1/2

Liter 2 Liter


Consumers

13%

57%

26%

4%1/2 Liter

1 Liter

1 1/2 Liter

2 Liter


a couple of answerers buy 2 Liter packs of ice-cream and that too for the whole

month with their journal grocery.

8. If you’re looking for a 1 liter pack, what price range do you believe?

The thought at the back of this question is to conclude what price range the

customer is looking for when deciding to buy 1 Liter pack because Walls focuses

more on the liter packs and accumulates the most sales for them. This will find

out if the price set by Walls satisfies the customer or not.

Rs. 100 –

150

Rs. 150 -

200

Rs. 200 -

250

Rs. 250 -

Above

Consumers 36 50 8 6

Consumers

36%

50%

8%6% Rs. 100 - 150

Rs. 150 - 200

Rs. 200 - 250

Rs. 250 - Above

The answerers shows that half of the customers are pleased with the price range

set by Walls but the further half is still demanding quality ice-cream at lesser

price.



9. Do you have a preference choosing your ice cream from a:

Point of Sale

Display

Make up your mind

from before

Consumers 57 43

Consumers

57%

43%

Point of Sale Display Make up your mind from before

This shows that a lesser percentage of answerers knew what they want from

before and are brand loyal. The impact of Point of sale promotions attracts more

customers so it’s not just about the brand and the offering but also appropriate

marketing & visibility.

10.What factors do you take into thought when purchasing ice-cream? (Please rank accordingly as 1 being last preferred, 4 being neutral and 7 being most preferred.)

Least ------------------Preference----------------- Most 1 2 3 4 5 6 7Price 8 6 8 32 18 12 16Quality of Ice-cream

0 2 0 0 8 10 80

Offering 12 4 14 40 10 14 6Packaging 10 4 12 34 14 18 8Brand Name 2 6 8 24 18 18 24



0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Price Quality of Ice-cream

Offering Packaging Brand Name

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

This shows that the ice-cream excellence is the most significant factor that the

customers consider before purchasing ice-cream. You can also see that brand

name is relative important followed by pricing, offering and packaging at the

same reflection set.

On the other hand it is imperative to realize that quality is irrespective to the rest

of the factors i.e. an inferior priced brand with a comparatively poor quality may

be apparent as a good quality. So Wall’s have to describe its price according to

the excellence they are offering.

11.What do you look for in an ice-cream?

Milk-based Hard

Soft

scoopingIntrusions Multi-flavors

Consumers 21 10 42 12 15


Consumers

21%

10%

42%

12%

15%

Milk-based

Hard

Soft scooping

Intrusions

Multi-f lavours


In terms of what qualities are mainly important in an ice cream, the two key

characters are that it supposed to be milk based, and customers usually prefer

soft ice cream. Looking at the Wall’s current in-home range, Wall’s medley lacks

both these qualities i.e. most of their brands are not milk based, or for soft

scooping.

12.What kind of promotions appeal to you as a consumer?

Buy 1 get 1

free

Discount

offers

Extra

Offerings

Tie- in promotions

with other

products


Consumers

36%

22%

37%

5%

Buy 1 get 1 freeDiscount offersExtra OfferingsTie- in promotions w ith other products



The above chart obviously shows that customers have a preference more

amount for what they’re paying. They are requiring more value for money.

13.Which type of promotional advertisements catch your eye?

Billboards TVCPosters in

outlet storesRadio Newspaper/Magazine

Consumers 35 55 15 2 8

Consumers

30%

48%

13%

2%

7%

Billboards TVC Posters in outlet stores Radio New spaper/Magazine



A well shaped message aired on TV would be a right choice. To cool down the

consumer’s recall start of summer is the right time to go on air. Customers are

paying attention towards TV commercials and Wall’s is all ears more towards it

and rightly in line with its products.

14.Please rank the characteristics of Walls ice-cream according to your

preference:(1 being least preferred and 5 being most preferred)

Least --------------------Preference-----------------Most

1 2 3 4 5

Taste 2 8 4 26 60

Flavors 0 2 26 30 42

Product Range 6 16 26 30 22

Packaging 10 26 24 24 16

Price 6 12 26 38 18

Purchasing

Convenience6 10 14 20 50



Characteristics of Walls

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Taste Flavours Product Range Packaging Price PurchasingConvenience

1 2 3 4 5

As we know that ice-cream excellence is very significant to customers, Wall’s is

addressing well to this which is obvious in the chart above as the scores show.

More than half of the IC customers regard taste as the prime feature for its

purchase.

15.Are you fond of trying new varieties in Walls product range?

Yes No

Consumers 78 22



Consumers

78%

22%

Yes

No

16.How happy are you with the product range of Walls?

High-----------------------------Extent---------------------Low

1 2 3 4 5

Consumers 16 54 20 10 0

Consumers

16%

54%

20%

10% 0%

1 2 3 4 5

Customers are not pleased with the current Wall’s offerings and hope to see

more innovation. though Wall’s is constantly imminent up with innovations, but



what we they need to look into is that are they addressing to the consumers’

needs or is there an issue with their promotion.

17.What improvements would you like to formulate in Walls ice-cream?

More new

flavours

Healthier

Ice-cream

Lower

pricing

Improvements in

the quality of ice –

cream

Others

Consumers 35 30 40 18 10

Consumers

26%

23%29%

14%

8%

More newflavours

Healthier Ice-cream

Low er pricing

Improvementsin the qualityof ice -cream

Others

Wall's has maintained their manufactured goods quality over the years, as a

greater part of the answerers claimed that they had no issue by means of Wall's

quality. though, from the subsequent questions, what Wall's lacks is coming up

with innovations in line with consumers' preferences and needs, and a cheaper

variety to fight against the many comparatively smaller players that are mostly

only popular for the reason that of their pricing which is reasonably priced to the

masses.



7. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMEDATIONS

7.1 Conclusion

Ice cream brings enjoyment and delight to millions of people all around the world.

However, consumers are many and varied and some demand low priced

products while others are ready to pay a premium for quality and innovation

which has lead to sporadic growth of ice cream manufacturers.

The industry is extensive, though highly fragmented, as large number of players

in this industry are small sized companies or individuals and are largely

concentrated in the unorganized segment.

Over and above Ice Cream is functionally defined as

A product that has a very good combination of all its ingredients (mainly

milk, sugar, cream). The key attribute is that it is cold hence refreshes a

lot.

A product that will definitely uplift one’s image since the product is unique

and special.

The housewives however are more keen in describing its nutritional value

coming from the main ingredient “Milk”



The emotional definition of ice- cream is

A product that highly responds on the values of excitement, engagement,

entertainment, happiness and pleasure

Ice cream is treated very differently from other conventional desserts mainly

because of the product nature (light, good taste, convenient, cold) and certain

image values (uplifted social image/profile, excitement)

Wall’s has been the market leader in Pakistan ever since it was launched, with

acquiring ‘Polka’ which was, then, the market leader. Throughout the years, no

major players have entered the market, until last year when a bakery in Lahore,

by the name Gourmet, launched their own ice cream range focusing mainly on

the in-home market. Coming in with very low priced offerings, and cashing in on

the nutritional aspect since it’s dairy based, Gourmet grew drastically and took a

lot of share from Wall’s in Lahore.

Since Lahore is the major contributor in Ice Cream consumption (being almost

twice of Karachi) Wall’s started losing share on a National level.

With Engro in the pipeline, and expected to launch this year, Wall’s faces a lot of

challenges for even maintaining their market share. This study helps us

understand the consumption habits of Ice Cream consumers, aligned with

consumer expectations and preferences with respect to ice cream, in order to

identify the issues and opportunities that Wall’s should consider.

From this study, along with an understanding from my initial interview with the

Consumer & Market insights manager at Unilever, it is quite evident that the

major share loss for Wall’s is coming from the in-home range. Wall’s is not

growing at par with market, hence lost 6% points market share from 80% to 74%

(in 2008). Tubs and Carton contributed 3% points each to its loss, mainly in

Lahore. Igloo and Hico were able to grow almost at par with market, hence

maintained their market shares.



7.2 Recommendations

From the above data it has been analyzed that sales are not a concern for Wall’s

rather its market share which is being eroded due to local competitors. This is

because consumers are requiring more value for money & innovations in the ice-

cream products. Following are a number of recommendations that may help

Wall’s to keep hold of their market share.

They should launch a special low priced range, just for Lahore, to compete

against gourmet.

They should come up with special promotions like offering more quantity for

the same prices e.g. buy 2 get 1 free offer.

Better innovations, more aligned with the consumer's expectations.

They should re-look at their innovation pipeline, and carry out extensive

consumer understanding studies to first understand their consumer better.

Once they know what their consumers want, then plan out innovations to

meet their consumer's requirements.



REFERENCES

1 – Product Information Sources:

Mr. Imran-Ur-Rehman (Assistant Manager) Wall’s ice cream

Mr. Kamran (Territory Manager) Wall’s ice cream

Mr. Mujtaba (Territory Manager) Wall’s ice cream

Mr. Syed Hasan Maqsood (Assistant Manager) Supply chain management

Unilever Pakistan

2 – Internet Sources:

Hilarious Competitive Advertising by Omore and how Walls can react By; Hiba Moeen - February 24, 2011

http://officialpakinfo.wordpress.com/2010/07/07/competition-in-ice-cream-world-of-pakistan-walls-igloo-or-omore/

Omore & wall”s and the start of the ice cream wars by Umair Kazi – February 28,011 http://officialpakinfo.wordpress.com/2010/07/07/competition-in-ice-cream-world-of-pakistan-walls-igloo-or-omore/


http://www.marketingmaniacs.net/2011/02/hilarious-competitive-advertising-by.html


Wall's ice cream monopoly proves hard to melt away By Nigel Cope, City Editor - 22 August 2001 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/walls-ice-cream-monopoly-proves-hard-to-melt-away-666507.html

http://www.corgi.co.uk/shop/135/morris-ld-van--walls-sausages-

dg201013/?from_categories=sale

http://www.cgvhs.org/history/archive/14-optimists-in-a-desert-

paradise.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall's_(company)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engro_Corporation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hico_Ice_Cream

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/walls-

ice-cream-monopoly-proves-hard-to-melt-away-666507.htm

http://www.icmrindia.org/courseware/International Business &

International Marketing/Segment-Target-Position.htm

http://www.marketingmaniacs.net/2011/02/hilarious-competitive-

advertising-by.html

http://www.unilever.com.my/brands/foodbrands/walls.aspx

http://unilever.com/innovation/innovationinunilever/

Overviewofresearchanddevelopmentinunilever/

http://www.unilever.com.my/brands/foodbrands/walls.asp

http://wn.com/Wall's_sausages



http://wiki.answers.com/Q/

The_vision_and_mission_statement_of_unilever_pakistan

http://wn.com/Hico_Ice_Cream


Identifying the marketing challenges faced by Unilever Pak in Wall’s ice cream

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