Marketing Management - II

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the Post Graduate Programme in Management at

TAPMI, Manipal

Section 5 FAS Y2
18F501 Aashish Nayak
18F523 Jose Tenny
18F527 Kushal Mishra
18F542 Satyam
18F557 Vaibhav Sarda

PLUM CAKE BY
DOUBLE HORSE
Marketing Plan
 Table of Contents
1. About Double Horse.............................................................................................................................. 2

2. Geographical Market ............................................................................................................................ 4

3. Organization Mission ............................................................................................................................ 5

4. Environmental Scanning ....................................................................................................................... 5

5. Company Goals ..................................................................................................................................... 9

6. Marketing Goals and Objectives ........................................................................................................... 9

7. Important Strategies ............................................................................................................................. 9

8. Tactical Plan ........................................................................................................................................ 10

9. Launch Decisions ................................................................................................................................. 15

10. Financials ............................................................................................................................................. 15

1. About Double Horse

Manjilas Food Tech. Pvt. Ltd. is the mother brand of Double Horse. The company was started in
1959 by M. O. John, who was the founder and general secretary of Kerala Vyapara Vyavasayi
Ekopana Samithi. It is the largest organization of business owners in Kerala. The company was
started as a rice milling company and they used to sell high quality rice grains. With the opening
of Double Horse in Kerala there was a revolutionized movement in food sector in Kerala. The
company achieved a milestone when it became the first ISO certified Rice mill in the state and
with this it also introduces stone-less rice, sortex rice and color grading.

The company proactively reacted to market demand of traditional food and introduced products
perfectly suitable for today’s modern lifestyle. The products ranged from rice powders- breakfast
mixes, wheat products, curry powders and condiments made using ‘Perfect Blend technology’,
naturally preserved pickles, health foods, ready-to-cook and ready-to-eat products, traditional
preserves, coconut products and more. Currently company provides 150+ food products in 15
different categories namely:

Curry Paste & Mix (8) Pickles (19)

Health Products (3) Puttupodi (5)
Instant Break Fast (6) Rice (13)
Instant Ready to cook (2) Rice products (6)
Instant ready to eat (6) Snacks (23)
Masalas (11) Spices & Condiments (11)
Paysam Mix (Sweet Dishes) (3) Wheat Products (6)
Others (34)

Company is headquartered in Thrissur, Kerala and has an estimated annual revenue of $3.7 Million
USD. There are 70-90 employees in the organization and main competitors are Eastern, Kitchen
Treasures and Nirapara. All the three rivals are bigger than Double Horse in terms of revenue.

Eastern is Double Horse’s biggest rival it is headquartered in Kochi and operates in Food
processing industry. Its revenue is 1.5x that of Double Horse’s.Kitchen Treasures is fairly new
 company but tapped on market very quickly, it was opened in 2014 in Kochi and has 300+ more
employees than Double Horse. The annual revenue of Kitchen Treasures is approximately $6
Million USD.Nirapara is running in Ernakulam since 1976 and has an annual turnover of around
$37 Million USD.

Company sells its products through various online platforms, which includes Bigbasket, Amazon
Grocery store, Flipkart, and it has its own website. Company’s website provides many features
whic1h are mainly there to educate customers. These features include Ask our Nutritionist
(anyone can submit a query and get expert advice on it), Measure your food, Health tips, House
hold tips, Beauty tips, Health nutrition (healthy lifestyle tips) and Kitchen book (It contains
Cooking terms, meaning of different spices in three different languages namely English,
Malyalam and Hindi, and standard abbreviation used in food industry). The company has various
departments which takes care of different tasks. The organization structure is given below:

Chairman

Managing
Director

Production

Purchase HR Production Marketing Quality Finance

CONTR
OL
Double horse does research and development to have wide range of innovative and healthy food
mix. Company now has a plan to introduce Plum cake in Maharashtra. This would be a new
product for company and co-ordination of all the department will play a crucial role in creating a
plan for this launch.

1
https://www.owler.com/company/manjilas#overview
2. Geographical Market

Company has its headquarter in Thrissur, Kerala and its main operation is in South India and more
specifically in Kerala. Company also operates through online medium selling its products on
various websites including its own. Company also operates in foreign market, it exports huge
amount of spices outside.

Double Horse is now trying to expand to Maharashtra through a product ‘Plum Cake’. This plan
of entering in a new market with a product which already has its defined market is market
development strategy. Maharashtra by size is the third largest state of India and has a high literacy
rate of 82.34%. It is the wealthiest state of India and contributes 23.2% in country’s GDP 2. Being
the wealthiest State, it has high per capita income i.e. $2500 USD. Mumbai, which is known as
the financial capital of India, is the capital of Maharashtra. Most of our target population resides
near Mumbai and around cities. As per the Census report 2011 the total population of Maharashtra
is around 12 Crore and the share of different religion is given below:

Hindu: 80% Muslims: 11% Christians:1% Buddhist:5.81%

Maharashtra is one of top 10 states in terms of ease of doing business in country. Government here
is also focused on providing creating businesses friendly environment, through subsidies or tax
exemption. As per the census report 20113, 55% population is rural and 45% Urban. Marathi’s has
the largest proportion here, followed by Hindi, Gujrati, Punjabi, Tamil and others. Out of the total
population Christians would be main target for plum cake. Most sales of Plum cake happen during
Christmas, hence targeting churches would be focus for Double Horse. There are more than 400
famous churches in Maharashtra.

2
http://indiapopulation2018.in/population-of-maharashtra-2018.html
3
https://www.census2011.co.in/data/religion/state/27-maharashtra.html
3. Organization Mission

Mission of the organization is:

“To come out with a wide variety of innovative food products, that combines health, taste
& convenience, so as to make cooking good food fun & easy.”

Through its mission statement company wants to portray the message the health of its customer is
its utmost priority and it also takes care of their fast-changing life styles.

Company’s leadership align with its mission, in Chairman’s note, he mentioned that “Our motto
was to venture into a business that’ll bring a thousand smiles in return” he also mentions that “We
are committed to serve our customers the best of products, carefully collected, scientifically sorted,
meticulously monitored, directly distributed and professionally priced to cater your personal
needs.”

The vision of the organization is:

“To be a leader in the food industry, offering the widest variety of high - quality food
products that become a way of life for all those who love good food, across the globe.”

4. Environmental Scanning

Organizational environment is affected by both external and internal factors. Analysis of these
factors is crucial to organizations’ success as it helps in identifying the opportunities the company
can take advantage of, the strengths to which it can play, weaknesses which they can try to defend
and identify the threats the company must face and try to mitigate. Since the business environment
is becoming increasingly competitive, these factors help in taking decision and in formulating and
selecting suitable strategies. There are two types of environmental scanning technique that we’re
using here:

1. SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threat)

2. PESTLE (Political, Economic, Sociocultural, Technology, Legal and Environmental)
External analysis can be formulated using PESTLE:

Political:

The changing prices of essential raw materials such as flour, sugar, preservatives and taste
enhancers etc., due to rising inflation and tax rate increase can increase per unit cost of our product.
Margins will be less and it may become unfeasible to serve certain regions due to little to no profits
resulting from these regions.

Economic:

At present India is facing a weak exchange rate, there is an opportunity for Double Horse to export
this product to international markets. India’s GDP is also rising at a steady rate of around 7% year
on year. This will result in increasing consumer spending. Therefore, there is a positive outlook of
the target segment purchasing Double Horse’s cakes. Although the introduction of plum cakes is
a product line extension, since Double Horse is an established company, it will not require to take
large sum of debt to acquire the necessities of setting up another product.

Sociocultural:

The Company should clearly communicate about its brand and products for consumers to be able
to associate with it. The marketing campaigns can be aligned with occasions such as Christmas or
New Year to establish an emotional connect with the consumers. Consumers have adopted an
increasingly busy lifestyle in pursuit of better careers. Packaged plum cakes will therefore provide
added convenience and longer shelf life to attract these potential customers in the working
professional segment. As the consumer preferences are changing and moving to a health conscious
and organic food, company can bank upon that too

Technology:

By increasing the use of mechanised systems and automated ovens, Double Horse can reduce their
dependence on manual labour for tasks with constrained labour resources and reach lower marginal
costs and eventually economies of scale. Double Horse alredy has an established website with
ordering facility for its customers, it can make use of analytics by gathering and observing data
and purchase patterns of its customers to forecast future demands more accurately.

Legal:

There are many stringent rules and regulations defined by federal agencies such as Food and Drug
Administration(FDA) and the FSSAI. The company should comply to these, if not they have to
pay penalty or cancellation of license.

Environmental:

Environmental issues are becoming very importance for every business. They need to restructure
their current practices and shift to more sustainable practices keeping in mind not to harm the
environment.

SWOT is used to do internal environment scanning where SW are internal and OT from
external environment perspective.

Strength:

A high traffic metropolitan city location will place their product to get high exposure. Their
strength lies in the fact that they have a wide range of products that can meet the needs and demand
of a wide range of customers. So, extension of Product Line by introducing the plum cakes will
give them the advantage of a previously acquired brand loyal customers. The company has a good
knowledge about the food processing industry, so it will be a piece of cake for them to implement
and introduce a new product. They already have a well setup distribution channel which they can
use for distributing it in the market. An additional benefit is also from their well setup production
facilities. Another factor that comes to their advantage is the academic qualification and robust
experience of their employees in the same industry.

Weakness:

Company operates on a bulk order production; it will not be possible for them to cater to
customized order demand. Company does not have a presence in bakery business, it will create
hindrance for us to emerge as a new player and will lead to low brand awareness. They are entering
in a new market with a product new to them, so they do not have expertise about Maharashtra
market. The company will have limited flexibility in setting up the price.

Opportunities:

The bakery sector is growing exponentially at 5% CAGR. The demand for cake and bakery goods
is increasing in the big cities. The demand is growing mostly for private labelled products. Plum
cake is not just being demanded in Christmas but throughout the year. It has become a trend to gift
cakes on special occasions. Cake combined with flowers and bouquets has become the new idea
of gifting. The consumers are becoming more health conscious and are preferring nutritious
products. Thus, providing them with an option of healthier product by giving them choices to select
among gluten free, low carbohydrate, slow baked cakes will increment our consumer base. One
more aspect which can be implemented is backward integration, most of the companies use
different channels for distribution. If taken advantage of this opportunity by distributing directly
to the consumers can help create a point of differentiation to the company.

Threats:

Competition from unorganized sector will force company to operate on low margins. Acquiring
customers for our product against already established customer base will pose a great challenge
for the company. The bakery sector has small to medium size producers which serve a highly
fragmented market. There is intense competition in bakery business and it is tough for a new
entrant to establish. The well-established companies even use merger and acquisition to compete
against any new entrants. The most crucial threat comes from “Home Baker” as they are preferred
over the bakeries for the varied range of customization options provided by them. The company
must keep in mind the changing prices and availability of raw materials. It also has to invest in
promotion and marketing strategies to compete with the well-established products. The switching
cost of customers is very low, so this keeps the companies on an edge.
5. Company Goals

Company’s goal is to provide healthy and hygienic food items at affordable rates for every
individual. Chairman’s believe is that feeding the hungry is the mother of all the noble acts. The
plan to introduce Plum cake in Maharashtra will align with the goal. The list of the goals for this
new product would be:

 Establish and increase brand awareness in the market

 Increase networking with partners
 Reduce operational costs
 Decrease time to market
 Improve customer satisfaction

6. Marketing Goals and Objectives

Marketing Goals:

 Enhance customer relationships

 Grow market share
 Build brand awareness

Marketing Objectives:

 Serve exquisite divinely rich plum cakes

 Attract new customers by offering give away gifts
 Associate the product with family functions

7. Important Strategies

Needs of the market for a plum cake would be as follows:

 Tasty and healthy: customer demands variety in flavours

 Customer expects a fun experience while eating it
 Customer expects cake that should look good when served
  The market trend is changing from simple to designed cake
 People will notice stimuli that relate to a current trend

Marketing strategy is used as a medium to reach people and turning them into customer. Marketing
strategies must align with these points and the key to marketing strategies is focusing on the taste,
heath, new trend and price. There are many players already in the market in Maharashtra who sells
the same product so, company must focus on positioning the brand as such that customers perceive
it different from other brands.

1. Distributors Network: Double Horse will be a new entrant in Maharashtra market in terms
of plum cake, but it already has its other product in the market. Though it is running on
various online platform it must have a strong distribution network. During Christmas,
Plum cake would be used for immediate consumption and to penetrate the market and reach
the target segment Double Horse will have to build a strong distribution network in
Maharashtra. This will also help when company will use push strategy.

2. Flanking: This strategy is used when a company does not directly want to complete with
competition. Double Horse could use this strategy and introduce SKUs in the market. SKUs
will help in capturing the market because it will help in keeping the growth all year round
and not just limited to an occasion of Christmas.

3. PLC strategy: Plum cake as a product is already available in the market and Double Horse
is going for a market development, so financial and marketing decisions have to be based
on the position of the product on PLC. Deciding on the no. of SKUs company should
produce to keep the product going.

8. Tactical Plan

Product:

Double Horse’s currently developed Plum Cake is rich with ingredients and are a treat for the taste
buds. The cake is made with the finest of ingredients, be it dried fruits, nuts or spices, and soaked
in spirits. Given the rich nature of plum cakes, it can be consumed as such. The cake is mostly
associated with Christmas and typically served during Christian festivals and weddings.

Ingredients:

 Maida
 Baking Powder
 Eggs
 Sugar
 Unsalted Butter
 Almonds
 Cashew
 Raisin
 Walnut
 Tutti Fruity
 Black Dates
 Black Rum
 Red Wine
 Beer

Based on varying combinations of the above mentioned ingredients, different Product Types are
being developed. Focus is on Rich Plum Cake with Product Units of half kilogram and one
kilogram. Unlike fresh cream cake which turns inedible after 24 hours, plum cakes have a shelf
life of one month which eases the transportation and distribution.

Positioning:

The objective is to position the Plum Cake as a cake that can be enjoyed by entire family on
everyday occasion such as a mid-day snack or an accompaniment with tea, or as a course with
wine, which would be healthy and organic food product without compromising the delicious
consuming experience as the product is rich with fruits and nuts. The position will be achieved by
leveraging Double Horse’s expertise in the food processing industry, competitive edge and passion
of brining health to life.
As a family cake, the product could be gifted upon family visits, shared amongst all over tea. Plum
cake is mostly associated with wine amongst Christians where during Christmas and New Year
season, every guests are welcomed with a glass of wine and a piece of plum cake. Positioning as
a family cake will push the off season sales as well thus turning revenues.

Double Horse, since 1959, has been associated with serving the customers best of food products,
carefully collected, meticulously monitored, scientifically sorted, professionally priced and
directly distributed to cater personal needs. With the brand awareness of Double Horse amongst
the valued retailers and customers, the newly developed Rich Plum Cake would be able to cater to
the growing consumer behavior of health oriented diet.

Segment:

Maharashtra by size is the 3rd largest state of India. It is the wealthiest state of India and contributes
23.2% of the country’s GDP. Christians form 1% of the population of Maharashtra, who will be
the targeted segment as Plum Cakes are mostly associated with Christmas which is the grandly
celebrated festival of Christians. The tradition of gifting Plum Cakes to neighbors, family friends
and relatives during Christmas will generate additional awareness creating further consumer
segments in addition to Christians.

 Geographic – Neighborhoods where Christmas is celebrated at large.

 Demographics – Families will be targeted to satisfy the social need.
 Psychographic – People who desires social activities like carrying a gift when visiting
family friends or relatives.
 Behavioral – Occasional/seasonal buyers and consumers with traditional values are
targeted.

Price:

The product is priced with the pricing objective of maximum market share. Aligning with the
company’s motto of a business that will bring thousand smiles in return, the Rich Plum Cake will
be priced low to obtain higher sales volumes which will lead to lower production costs and higher
profit in the long run. Market-penetration pricing will be executed to increase the market share.
The demand for the product is expected to be 24,000 kgs per month off season and 80,000 kgs in
December owing to Christmas and New Year. Considering the elastic nature of demand due to the
presence of competition, the product will be priced low for higher customer satisfaction and
perceived value for money.

Double Horse Rich Plum Cake is priced at Rs. 400 per kg taking a cost leadership strategy.

Competitors Price:

 Elite Rich Plum Cake – Rs. 550 per kg.

 Monginis Plum Cake – Rs. 750 per kg.

Distribution:

A combination of push and pull strategy is to be executed. A single level consumer marketing
channel is to be established as Rich Plum Cake by Double Horse is being introduced in
Maharashtra for the first time. The sales force of Double Horse will be targeting bakeries and
retailers around areas where Christmas is celebrated at large. Retailers will create the push strategy
required to meet the sales targets combined with the pull effect created by promotions and
advertisements. Distribution margin will be 5% as per industry standards for FMCG goods.

Promotion:

Sales Promotions:

As part of promotion, each product unit of cake will be accompanied with Christmas baubles or as
the product is to be launched during Christmas. As plum cake is mostly associated with Christians,
and Christmas being the most celebrated festival amongst the niche market of Christians in
Maharashtra, demand for Plum Cake would be at peak during this period. As the custom of
decorating houses and setting up Christmas trees is common amongst Christians, Christmas
baubles will draw attentions of many customers. Christmas baubles as a sales promotion tool also
adds value to the customer and acts as a distant invitation to the customer to engage in the
transaction.

Budget for Sales Promotions would be additional Rs. 10 each for the cakes sold during the
Christmas period.
Personal Selling:

Christians being 1% of the population of Maharashtra, many Christmas fairs will be organized
during the period. Temporary kiosks are to be set up at the gatherings for sale of Plum Cakes. A
photo booth is to be set up along with the kiosk with a Santa Claus to attract customers. Kids and
parents will be attracted towards the kiosk with this strategy thus acting as an open invitation to
engage in transaction to buy the product. Combined with the Christians custom of gifting Plum
Cakes to neighbors and relatives post-Christmas and before New Year will result in a pull causing
increased sales. As the cake will be gifted to non-Christian family friends during the span of next
few days, the company will benefit word of mouth popularity as well thus extending the brand
awareness causing market development. A Christmas card as well incorporated with the instant
photo from photo booth will be accompanied with the Plum Cake where the customers could write
greetings while gifting to families. Christmas card being something which will be retained by
people for a longer time than compared to the Cake box, customers will be familiar with the brand
from the logo placed on the Christmas card.

The budget for personal selling would be Rs. 20000 per Kiosk and labor. Five such Kiosks are to
be set up around Maharashtra thus leading to Rs. 100000 in total.

Advertising:

The product is to be advertised via TV owing to the usage of TV in most households in Maharashtra
(58.8% households in Maharashtra owns TV as per Census of India 2011). TV advertisements
builds up a long term image for the brand and product. The theme of advertising is to be focused
on social need.

The theme of advertisement is to portray Double Horse Rich Plum Cake as the perfect family gift
for the Christmas and New Year season as the product is planned to be launched during Christmas-
New Year, also showcasing the value add provided via the free Christmas baubles and Christmas-
New Year card accompanied with the product. The advertisement is to show glimpses of a family
get together being enjoyed and wishing each other a happy new year. Focus is provided on the
New Year rather than Christmas so as to connect with non-Christian potential customers as well.
The Double Horse Rich Plum Cake will then be associated with new beginnings, thus calling for
a Plum Cake for the special new beginning occasions in the family.
The budgeted cost for Advertising is Rs. 2,50,000 and would be targeted in areas where Christian
population is at large for maximum returns.

9. Launch Decisions

The data collected from market gives market information that Plum Cakes are largely associated
with Christmas and New Year celebrations. Double horse is planning to launch the product prior
to Christmas. The push and pull effect will assist in accelerated sales thus enhancing brand
awareness. Plum cake market is largely unorganized in Maharashtra, market share is to be captured
via small but relatable give away gifts. Gifting mini table top products or decorative products like
Stars, Santa Claus, Christmas bells, Christmas tree, etc. would associate the Plum Cake and brand
with Christmas thus creating seasonal demand.

Marketing & sales department would work with other department such as Financial and
productions departments to help meet the deadline of launching the product before Christmas.
Marketing manager will help in getting the distribution network established and projecting the
sales, production department will take in account the cost of raw material and forecast the cost of
goods, financial department will do the analysis of required sales to achieve breakeven sales and
how much cross funding must be done till the time product is established in the market. All the
funding required for marketing or operations will be analyzed by financial department to maximize
the effectiveness of money usage. The product will be launched keeping churches across
Maharashtra in focus because that is where our initial sales will happen.

Double Horse will organize an event during Christmas in Mumbai near Mount Bally church and
launch the product. The product will be launched by famous local actor.

10. Financials

The projected sales and budgeting for the month of December, 2018 and the year of 2019 are
structured as below.
Cost:

Total Variable Cost table:

INGREDIENTS Qty Rate/kg Cost

Maida (g) 120 35 4.2
Baking Powder (g) 5 30 0.15
Eggs(nos) 2 5 10
Sugar (g) 100 40 4
Unsalted Butter (g) 120 250 30
Almonds(g) 30 500 15
Cashew (g) 30 630 18.9
Raisin (g) 80 100 8
Walnut (g) 30 230 6.9
Tuty Fruity (g) 120 50 6
Black Dates(g) 40 140 5.6
Black Rum (ml) 100 53.3
Red Wine(ml) 150 50.0
Beer (ml) 100 13.3
Total Ingredients
cost 225
Labour, Fuel, etc. Cost 70
Sales Promotion 10
Distribution Margin (5%) 16
VARIABLE COST 320

Total Fixed Cost table:

FIXED COST RS.

Equipment 8400000
Salary 3000000
Personal Selling Promotion 100000
Advertisement 250000
Lease 12000000
FIXED COST 23750000

Profit & Loss Statement table:

 P&L Sheet
Years Dec-18 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Sales in KG 80000 344000 361200 379260 398223 418134
Selling Price per
KG 400 400 410 410 420 420
Revenue 32000000 137600000 148092000 155496600 167253660 175616343
COGS 25600000 110080000 115584000 121363200 127431360 133802928
Gross Margin 6400000 27520000 32508000 34133400 39822300 41813415
SAG Expenses 3350000 3517500 3693375 3878044 4071946 4275543
EBITDA 3050000 24002500 28814625 30255356 35750354 37537872
D&A 700000 8400000 8400000 8400000 8400000 8400000
EBIT 2350000 15602500 20414625 21855356 27350354 29137872

Forecasted Revenue and EBIT

200
Millions

150

100

50

0
2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

Revenue EBIT

Break Even Analysis:

Selling Price per Unit = Rs. 400

Variable Cost per Unit = Rs. 320

Contribution = Rs. 80

Total Fixed Cost = 23750000

Break Even Units = Fixed Cost / Contribution = 23750000 / 80 = 296875 units