RESEARCH REPORT

ON

“A Comparative Study of different brand of spices in

LUCKNOW”

Submitted for partial fulfillment of award of MASTER`S DEGREE IN

BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION of Uttar Pradesh Technical University,

Lucknow.

BY

PRAGYA SINGH

MANISH MAURYA

ANKIT KESARWANI

BABU BANARASI DAS NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY & MANAGEMENT, FAIZABAD ROAD,

LUCKNOW

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We take this as an opportunity to thank with bottom of our heart, all those without

whom the journey of doing our project would not have been as pleasant as it has

been to us. Working on our project was a constant learning experience with all

sweat and tear which was its due but not without being richly stimulating

experience of life time.

We are very thankful to H.O.D., MBA, Dept. Prof. Jatin sir for giving us their

valuable advice and guidance towards fulfillment of the project.

For any project to be a success, it is very important to get the right guidance and

support which we got from our Faculty Guide Dr. Meetu pandey. We express

our gratitude to our faculty guide for inspiring us throughout the project.

We want to express our deep gratitude to our institution BBDNITM , for giving us

the opportunity to undertake this project and enhance our knowledge.

Finally, we would like to convey our heartiest thanks to all our well wishers for

their blessings and co-operation throughout our study. They boosted us up every

day to work with a new and high spirit.

PRAGYA SINGH

MANISH MAURYA

ANKIT KESARWANI

DECLARATION

We hereby declare that this Research Project entitled, “A Comparative Study of

different brand of spices in lucknow” written and submitted by us, under the

guidance of Dr. Meetu pandey, is our original work and that has not been

submitted to any other University / Institute previously.

PRAGYA SINGH

MANISH MAURYA

ANKIT KESARWANI

(MBA 2nd sem.)

CONTENTS

,,

i) Introduction

ii) Objectives of the study

iii) Scope of the study

iv) Importance of study

v) Research Methodology

vi) Analysis

vii) Findings

viii) Recommendation

ix) Limitations

x) Conclusion

xi) Annexure

xii) Bibliography

INRODUCTION

Indian spices include a variety of spices that are grown across the Indian subcontinent (south

Asia). With different climates in different parts of the country, India produces a variety of spices,

many of which are native to the Subcontinent, while others were imported from similar climates

and have since been cultivated locally for centuries.

Spices are typically heated in a pan with ghee or cooking oil before being added to a dish.

Lighter spices are added last, and spices with strong flavor should be added first. Curry is not a

spice, but a term which refers to any side dish in Indian cuisine. It could be with a gravy base or

a dry item. A curry typically contains several spices blended together.

Our study is based on a survey done on customers of different brand of Spices.

As we already know that spices are main ingredient for any dish. So, in market

there are variety of spices are available of different brands. For ex: EVEREST,

MDH, GOLDI, ASHOK etc.

Our study is on determining the buying behavior of customers and the

satisfaction level of customers for different brands. My study will find out the

current status of various brands of spices and determine where it stands in the

current market.

This market field survey will help in knowing the present customers tastes and

preferences. It will help me in estimating the customer’s future needs , wants &

demands.

SCOPE OF STUDY

The scope of this research is to identify the buying behavior of customers for

different brand of spices in lucknow. This research is based on primary data and

secondary data. Due to time constraint only limited number of persons contacted.

This study only focuses on urban buying behavior of customers because the

research conducted in only LUCKNOW area. The study does not say anything

about rural buying behavior of customer because rural norms/status/attitude &

acceptance of the rural customers differs with urban customers. The scope of

research is limited for LUCKNOW area. It’s aim to understand the skill of the

brands in the area like technological advancement, competition in management.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1. To find out the buying behavior of the customers for different brands of

spices.

2. To determine the current status of different brands.

3. To find out the customers response towards different variety of brands.

4. To study the satisfaction level of customers for particular brand.

5. To identify main competitors of different brands of spices.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

RESEARCH: “Research is a systematic approach towards purposeful

investigation which needs formulating a hypothesis, collection of data on relevant

variables, analyzing and interpreting the result & reaching conclusions either in the

form of solution or certain generalization.”

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: “A system of models, procedures &

techniques used to find out the result or research problem is called research

methodology.”

Technology, customers tastes and preferences play a vital role in today’s

generation. Research Methodology is a set of various methods to be followed to

find out various information’s regarding market strata of different products.

Research Methodology is required in every industry for acquiring knowledge of

their products.

Area of study:

The study is exclusively done in the area of marketing. It is a process

requiring care, sophistication, experience, business judgment, and imagination for

which there can be no mechanical substitutes.

Research Design -

Exploratory Research.

Sampling Design:

Non Probability sampling- Convenience sampling

Data Collection

Data is collected from various customers through personal interaction.

Specific questionnaire is prepared for collecting data. Data is collected with mere

interaction and formal discussion with different respondents. Some other relevant

information collected through secondary data

Data can be classified under two categories depending upon the sources utilized.

These categories are,

i) Primary data ii) Secondary data

DATA COLLECTION:

Data is collected by using various methods. For the purpose of fulfilling the

objective of study and for completing the Research project Report, both primary and

secondary data collected.

PRIMARY SOURCES:

Questionnaire

Keeping in view the objective of study a questionnaire (as given Annexure) was

selected there is Twenty in all. All questions are small in size and arranged logically.

The language is simple to understand.

Interview

Information was also obtained by conversation with Customers .they were

interviewed personally.

SECONDARY DATA: The second information is taken from company document

available on websites

The other related journals information and industry association’s sites have also

been viewed.

SAMPLING DESIGN

In the backdrop of object ive set , a sample s tudy conducted in

LUCKNOW.

SAMPLE SIZE: 30 CONSUMERS contacted during this research work. The

nature of sampling is NON PROBABITITY –CONVENIENCE SAMPLING

helped in keeping the path of research in focus throughout the work.

Collection of the questionnaire:

Sufficient time was given to the respondents to answer the questionnaire.

Problem faced while collecting and filling questionnaire:

Some of the respondents were hesitant to answer the questionnaire.

Some respondents did not want to answer the questionnaire, so they left it

unanswered.

Where the respondents did not find the relevant answer in his choice provided, they added they

added their own choice or left it unanswered.

SAMPLE SIZE

In this research, we had taken the size of the sample 30. We had taken

the responses of 30 customers.

UNIVERSE

The main step of developing any sampling design is to clearly defined the sets of object, technically called the universe to be studied.

Universe can be FINITE or INFINITE.

FINITE: a) Population of a city b) No. of a workers in a factory.

INFNITE: a) Stars in the sky b) Listeners of specific radio programs.

Here, UNIVERSE IS FINITE.

SAMPLING UNIT

Decisions has to be taken, concerning a sampling unit before selecting sample.

Sampling unit may be GEOGRAPHICAL such as state, district, village etc. or it may be a CONSTRUCTION UNIT such as house, flat etc.

Sometime it may be a SOCIAL UNIT like family, club, school etc. & sometime it may be an INDIVIDUAL also.

ANALYSIS

We have done a market field survey on different brand of spices. We have

surveyed around 30 respondents of LUCKNOW who regularly use spices of

different brands or uses home-made spices. A specific questionnaire is prepared for

the customers and data is obtained from them by moving around houses and

personally interacting with them. The customers gave us valuable information

regarding their consumption of spices. We collected all those information and a

proper analysis is done.

All the analysis and its interpretations are discussed below. Each of the analysis is

done as per the information obtained from the customers and a serious

interpretation has been done to best of our effort.

READYMADE SPICES Vs. HOMEMADE SPICES

READYMADE SPICES USERS 78%

HOMEMADE SPICES USERS 22%

78%

22%

Users

Readymade usersHomemade users

ANALYSIS: The above diagram shows distribution of customers using

Homemade spices or Readymade spices available in the

market. Among 30 customers, 78% of customers are using readymade

spices of different brands available in the market and 22% of customers

are using homemade spices.

Interpretation: Readymade spices of different brands which are

available in the market are widely using by people as

compare to homemade spices now-a-days. This is because readymade

spices are easily available in all the market in a very cheap prices and

homemade spices are very difficult to prepare and take lo of time for

preaparation. But 28% people are using homemade spices because of its surety of purity. Generally, people think that readymade spices are not

pure or they contain some impurity, so they prefer homemade spices.

Hence, different brand of spices have to make sure about its purity of

Spices which they are producing in the market.

USERS OF DIFFERENT BRAND OF SPICES

MDH 40%

ASHOK MASALE 25%

GOLDI MASALE 15%

EVEREST 35%

OTHERS 10%

MD

H

AS

HO

K M

AS

AL

E

GO

LD

I MA

SA

LE

EV

ER

ES

T

OT

HE

R

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Series1

ANALYSIS: The above graph shows that 40% of customers generally

prefer to use spices of MDH brand. 25% of customers

prefer to use spices of ASHOK brand. 15% of customers prefer to use spices of

GOLDI brand. 35% of customers prefer to use spices of EVEREST brand. 10%

Customers prefer to use spices of other brand.

Interpretation: From this analysis, we come to know that most of people like

To use the spices of MDH brand because of its availability in

the market from last many years, so people trust this brand very quickly. People

also go for spices of EVEREST brand as it is also a big name in the field of spices.

People go for spices of ASHOK brand and also for spices of GOLDI brand. Every

brand of spices is a of course a threat for other brand of spices.

PREFERENCE OF PACKAGING

SATCHET 55%

TETRA PACK 29%

PLASTIC PACK 19%

55%

19%

26%

SATCHETPLASTIC PACKTETRA PACK

ANALYSIS: As per our study is concerned As per , out of the total respondents

55% of people buy spices in satchet. 19% of them uses plastic pack as their mode

of buy of spices and 26% of the people buy spices in tertra pack.

Interpretation: As per the obtained data we interpret that more number of

people buy spices of different brand in satchet. A fraction of people uses tetra pack

of spices for packaging and a very few people uses plastic pack of spices. We can

interpret that satchet is more convenient for people as it is available in definite

amount which a customer need daily and also available at low cost.

FINDINGS

1. Most of the customers buy readymade spices which are available in the market.

2. At present time, many brands are available in the market like MDH, EVEREST,

GOLDI MASALE, ASHOK MASALE etc. for the customers.

3. These brands are available in large variety like sabji masala, garam masala,

chole masala, sambhar masala etc.

4. Thses brands are providing high quality product at very low prices.

5. Customer give their preference only to those brands which are best in packaging.

6. MDH has a good reputation of itself in the market.

7. Now-a-days these brands of spices are also available in different kind of

packaging like in bottle, in satchet, in tetrapack etc.

8. Advertisement of brands also has a impact on customer mind, good

advertisement have also a good impact on its sale.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Different brands of spices should include more of variety of products its

product category so as to attract the variety choosy people to use their

product.

Different brands of spices should provide different schemes for its customers

attraction.

Brands should always has to take care of its quality of product as customer

give their preference more to quality of the product.

The advertisement also has a big impact on sale of product so brands should

have to improve the quality of the advertisement.

Limitations of study

Certain limitations do creep in a research study due to constraints of the time,

money and human efforts, the present study is also not free from certain

limitation, which were unavoidable.

Although all effort were taken to make the result of the work as accurate as

possible as survey but the survey have following constraints.

I- Some customers were not willing to give appointment due to their busy

schedule.

II- Due to very large size of the population, only a selected sample of customer

could be contacted.

III- Due to time constraint and other imperative work load during the time period

it could not be made possible to explore more area of concern pertaining to study.

IV- Also impossible for company to prove information is confidential.

V-Due to fast pace of life, some customers were not able to do justification to the

questionnaire.

VI-Personal biases might have come while answer the questionnaire.

VII-As per company rule many information was not disclose as the manager are

busy in their daily schedule. It is not possible for us to spend more time in

interaction with them.

Conclusion

Spices are the main ingredient for any dish. Spices not only gives taste to the food

but also give different identity to the food. Hence, Spices are very important for

any dish. In today’s market, there are lots of companies which are manufacturing

spices in large varieties. These brands which are available in the market are MDH,

EVEREST, GOLDI, ASHOK MASALE etc. These brands are producing spices

in large varieties which are GARAM MASALA, CHOLE MASALA, SAMBAR

MASALA, CHILI POWDER etc. These brands are providing their products in

different packaging like in SATCHET, in TETRA PACK, in PLASTIC PACK

etc.

It is seemed from the study that among all these brands, customers are quiet

satisfied from the spices of MDH brand and after that they give preference to

EVEREST masale and it also showed that customer are much more satisfied or

most of the customer are using READYMADE SPICES as compare to the

HOMEMADE SPICES.

This research also helped in giving knowledge about customer satisfaction for the

brand which they are using. It also provided information about current status of

different brand of spices, competition level of different brand in the market,

customer preference level for different brand of spices. As it is surveyed it seems

that the biggest competitors of MDH are EVEREST and ASHOK MASALE. The

major drawback of MDH is its unavailability in satchet. Other brands are easily

available in satchet and hence, their sales are also increasing day by day. MDH

should give attention to this section.

ANNEXURE(S)

Questionnaire

Comparative study of different brand of spices in Lucknow

NAME: AGE:GENDER: ADDRESS:

Q.1. Do you use ready-made spices? a) Yes b) No c) Sometime d) Never

Q.2. Which type of spices you prefer most? a) Branded b) Unbranded c) Home-made d) Anyother

Q.3. Which brand you prefer most? a) MDH b) EVEREST b) GOLDI d) ASHOK

Q.4. Among all of these, how many you have used till now? a) MDH b) EVEREST c) ASHOK d) ALL OF THESE

Q.5. On what basis you prefer to buy spices? a) Taste b) Quality c) Price d) Variety

Q.6. You generally prefer to use- a) Sabji masala b) Garam masala c) Home made d) All of these

Q.7. Which kind of packaging of spices you prefer most? a) Bottle b) Satchet c) Tetrapack d) Plastic pack

Q.8. Packaging of which brand you liked the most? a) MDH b) EVEREST c) GOLDI d) ASHOK

Q.9. Do you think advertisement has a big impact on purchasing behavior? a) Yes b) No

Q.10. Do you think price has any impact on purchasing decision? a) Yes b) No

Q.11. Do you think branded spices have no impurity? a) Yes b) No

Q.12. Why you use home-made spices? a) Quality b) Availability c) Price d) Faith

Q.13. Do you think excessive use of spices are bad for health? a) Yes b) No

Q.14. In the past 2 weeks, how many time did you use spices? a) None b) 1 time c) 2-3 time d) 4-5 time

Q.15. Your opinion about spices you are using?Ans.

Bibliography

BOOKS

► Kotler Philip, marketing management, (Pearson education, 12th edition)

► Malhotra K. Naresh, marketing research (An applied orientation), Research design, (Prentice

hall of India pvt. 5th edition)

► Berman B and Evans J.R, Retail Management (Pearson education, 10th edition)

► Louden D.L. & bitta delia consumer behavior ( tata Mc. Graw hill, 4th edition )

► Newman A.J. and Cullen P,Retailing,Environment and operations(Vikas,1st Ed.)

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