Hindustan Unilever Limited: Summer Internship Project Report

Hindustan Unilever Limited
Summer Internship Project Report

On
“CORPORATE ACCOUTS’ PURCHASE DECISIO AALYSIS BASED O THE

STUDY OF BEVERAGE VEDIG SOLUTIOS MARKET”
Submitted by:
Abhishek Bhartiya
Under the guidance of
Prof. R.J. Masilamani Mr. Shiv Mohan Bharadwaj

Professor, BIMTECH Territory Sales Officer,
Greater Noida OOH – Foods, Gurgaon,
HUL - Haryana
SUMMER INTERNSHIP PROJECT
ACKOWLEDGEMET
No work is a work of an individual. This project is not an exception to it. I owe a sense of
gratitude to the co-operation and support of all those people who have let me understand what
is needed from time to time for completion of this project. It is very difficult to prepare a
project especially when someone is new for this experience. Without any help or guidance it
is not easy to achieve this given task. So I would sincerely like to thank all the patrons of this
project.
I am thankful to Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) for having given me an opportunity to

work with them and make the best out of my internship.
I thank my company guide Mr. Shiv Mohan Bharadwaj for having constantly guided and
supported me throughout the training period.
I thank my college, Birla Institute of Management Technology for having given me this
opportunity to put to practice, the theoretical knowledge that I imparted from the program. I
express my deep sense of gratitude to my faculty guide Professor R.J. Masilamani,
BIMTECH, for providing me with essential support and guidelines for the completion of this
project.
My heartfelt gratitude also goes out to the staff and employees at HUL for having co-
operated with me throughout the two months of my internship period.
I take this opportunity to thank my parents and friends who have always stood by me and
offered emotional strength and moral support and encouragement.
Last but not the least, I am thankful to all the customers, who gave their precious time and
insights, without which this the completion of this project would not have been envisaged.
Abhishek Bhartiya,
PGDM – 2008-10
Birla Institute of Management Technology,
Greater Noida.
BIMTECH PGDM 2008-10 Page 2

TABLE OF COTETS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY..............................................................................................9
ITRODUCTIO…........................................................................................................10
CHAPTER 1:
1.1: Company Profile..........................................................................................................11
1.2: Company History.........................................................................................................12
1.3: Brief Overview of Indian Beverage Industry..............................................................14
CHAPTER 2:
2.1: Objective.............................................................…………………………………....20
2.1.1: Brief Overview of Tea and Coffee Market.........................………………21
2.1.2: Vending Solutions Market...........................................................................21
2.1.3: HUL OOH Division.....................................................................................24
2.1.4: Nestle OOH Division..................................................................................35
2.1.5: Comparative Study of HUL and Nestle Products.......................................35
2.1.6: Distribution Network of HUL OOH Division............................................38
2.2: Sales Lead Generation and Management...................................................................39
2.2.1: Cost Comparison of Vending machines v/s Pantry..................................................40
2.2.2: Results of Sales Lead Generation.............................................................................43
2.3: Research
2.3.1: Statement of Problem...........................................................................................44
2.3.2: Objectives of Research.........................................................................................45
2.3.3: Approach to the Problem......................................................................................46
2.3.4: Questionnaire Development.................................................................................47

2.3.5: Sample Design Process.........................................................................................48
2.3.6: Scaling Technique.................................................................................................48
2.3.7: Analysis Method....................................................................................................49
2.3.8: Analysis of Primary Objective Using SPSS..........................................................49
2.3.9: Analysis of Secondary Objective of Research......................................................54
2.4: Exploring Opportunities for Vending Solutions in Educational Institutes............................59
CHAPTER 3:
3.1: Conclusion............................................................................................…………......61
3.2: Recommendations......................................…............................................................63

LIST OF TABLES:
Table 1: Indian Spirits Industry.
Table 2: Nestle Product Prices.
Table 3: HUL Product Prices.
Table 4: Cost Comparison of Vending machines v/s Pantry.
Table 5: Components obtained from Factor Analysis.
Table 6: Competitor Analysis on the basis of Component 1.
Table 7: Competitor Analysis on the basis of Component 2.
LIST OF GRAPHS:
Graph 1: Vending Solutions Market.
Graph 2: Market share of Major Players.
Graph 3: Comparative prices of Nestle and HUL.
Graph 4: Scores for major Tea Brands from Questionnaire.
Graph 5: Percentage of Respondents ranking a Tea brand no. 1.
Graph 6: Scores for major Coffee brands from Questionnaire.
Graph 7: Percentage of Respondents ranking a Coffee brand no. 1.
Graph 8: Scores for major Vending machine brands from Questionnaire.
Graph 9: Percentage of Respondents ranking a Vending machine brand no. 1.

APPEDICES:
Appendix 1: Factor Analysis.............................................................................................66
Appendix 2: Estimate of Yearly Revenue from acquired accounts..................................69
Appendix 3: Questionnaire................................................................................................70
Appendix 4: e-brochure as a part of Brand Communication of Nestle.............................73

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Hindustan Unilever Limited has been a major player in Indian beverage market, with its
strong brands of tea like TajMahal, Lipton etc. and in coffee with its brand BRU. With its
brand Lipton, HUL marked its entry into vending solutions market a decade earlier.
Out-of-Home as this market is termed was at that time had Nestle as the only major player.
HUL in past decade has grown immensely and is now second largest player in this market.
Assigned in Gurgaon, the main objective was to understand the “Corporate accounts’
purchase decision process” and find out the factors responsible for that. For the fulfilment of
this objective, I first studied the vending solutions market during the process of sales lead
generation and its management. This gave me a firsthand experience of the market, its trends,
and intricacies. Sales lead generation and management resulted in acquisition of four
accounts for the company and sale of five vending machines.
In order to understand the customer decision process, I designed a questionnaire and did a
survey in Gurgaon. The survey revealed some critical facts about the brand image of the
Lipton and BRU brands of HUL. Further, factor analysis of the collected data was done,
which revealed that, customer purchase behaviour can be largely explained by two
components, which were re-christened as, “Lifecycle cost” and “Brand Value”. This research
study holds its importance in the sense that these results can be further utilized by the
company to design basic packages for different types of industries.
Lastly, I also explored opportunities for the company, in educational institutes of Knowledge
Park, Greater Noida, as a result of which, I was able to acquire two accounts in the region.
The survey of the region revealed a very lucrative opportunity for the company to develop its
business in the region, in educational institutes. Recommendations to achieve leadership
position in this region are given.

ITRODUCTIO
Hindustan Unilever has its presence in India for last many decades, and with its iconic
brands, and dedication towards serving its consumers with quality products had made it not
only the leading FMCG Company, but also a very well respected one.
HUL being the leader in the FMCG industry, has always been a dream company for
marketers, and having got an opportunity to do summer internship in such a reputed
organization for a marketing student like me proved to be an obvious choice.
Designated in OOH – foods division, I worked in Gurgaon and Greater Noida regions, with
the primary objective of “Corporate accounts’ purchase decision analysis based on the
study of beverage vending solutions market”.
Having got an opportunity to utilise my theoretical knowledge of B2B marketing, with

practical application in field, this topic gave me full scope to understand the market and more
importantly understand the behaviour of the large corporate customers.

CHAPTER 1:
1.1 Company Profile:
Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) is India's largest Fast Moving Consumer Goods
Company, touching the lives of two out of three Indians with over 20 distinct categories in
Home & Personal Care Products and Foods & Beverages.
The product range contributed combined volumes of more than 4 million tonnes by quantity
and revenues of nearly Rs. 20,000 crores, in the year ending on March 2009.
HUL is also one of the country's largest exporters; it has been recognised as a Golden Super
Star Trading House by the Government of India. The mission that inspires HUL's 15,000
employees, including 1,300 managers, is to "add vitality to life." HUL meets every day needs
for nutrition, hygiene, and personal care with brands that help people feel good, look good
and get more out of life. It is a mission HUL shares with its parent company, Unilever, which
holds 52.10% of the equity. The rest of the shareholding is distributed among 360,675
individual shareholders and financial institutions.
HUL business is divided into five major segments namely, Soaps & Detergents, Personal care
products, beverages, processed foods, ice creams, and with others which include chemicals
and water. HUL's brands - like Lifebuoy, Lux, Surf Excel, Rin, Wheel, Fair & Lovely,
Pond's, Sunsilk, Clinic, Pepsodent, Close-up, Lakme, Brooke Bond, Kissan, Knorr-
Annapurna, Kwality Wall's – are household names across the country and span many
categories - soaps, detergents, personal products, tea, coffee, branded staples, ice cream and
culinary products. They are manufactured over 37 factories across India. The operations
involve over 2,000 suppliers and associates.
HUL's distribution network, comprising of about 2,500 redistribution stockists, covering 6.3
million retail outlets reaches the entire urban population, and about 250 million rural
consumers.

1.2 Company History:
In the summer of 1888, visitors to the Kolkata harbour noticed crates full of Sunlight soap
bars, embossed with the words "Made in England by Lever Brothers". With this, began an era
of marketing branded Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG). Soon after Sunlight, there was
launch of Lifebuoy soaps in 1895 and other famous brands like Pears, Lux and Vim.
Vanaspati was launched in 1918 and the famous Dalda brand came to market in 1937.
In 1931, Unilever set up its first Indian subsidiary, Hindustan Vanaspati Manufacturing
Company, followed by Lever Brothers India Limited (1933) and United Traders Limited
(1935). These three companies merged to form HLL in November 1956; HLL offered 10% of
its equity to the Indian public, being the first among the foreign subsidiaries to do so.
Unilever now holds 52.10% equity in the company. The rest of the shareholding is distributed
among about 360,675 individual shareholders and financial institutions.
The erstwhile Brooke Bond's presence in India dates back to 1900. By 1903, the company
had launched Red Label tea in the country. In 1912, Brooke Bond & Co. India Limited was
formed. Brooke Bond joined the Unilever fold in 1984 through an international acquisition.
The erstwhile Lipton's links with India were forged in 1898. Unilever acquired Lipton in
1972 and in 1977 Lipton Tea (India) Limited was incorporated.
Pond's (India) Limited had been present in India since 1947. It joined the Unilever fold
through an international acquisition of Chesebrough Pond's USA in 1986.
Since the very early years, HUL has vigorously responded to the stimulus of economic
growth. The growth process has been accompanied by judicious diversification, always in
line with Indian opinions and aspirations. The liberalisation of the Indian economy, started in
1991, clearly marked an inflexion in HUL's and the Group's growth curve. Removal of the
regulatory framework allowed the company to explore every single product and opportunity
segment, without any constraints on production capacity. Simultaneously, deregulation
permitted alliances, acquisitions and mergers. In one of the most visible and talked about
events of India's corporate history, the erstwhile Tata Oil Mills Company (TOMCO) merged
with HUL, effective from April 1, 1993. In 1995, HUL and yet another Tata company,
Lakme Limited, formed a 50:50 joint venture, Lakme Unilever Limited, to market Lakme,

the market-leading cosmetics and other products of both the companies. Subsequently in
1998, Lakme Limited sold its brands to HUL and divested its 50% stake in the joint venture
to the company. HUL formed a 50:50 joint venture with the US-based Kimberly Clark
Corporation in 1994, Kimberly-Clark Lever Ltd, which markets Huggies Diapers and Kotex
Sanitary Pads. HUL has also set up a subsidiary in Nepal, Unilever Nepal Limited (UNL),
and its factory represents the largest manufacturing investment in the Himalayan kingdom.
The UNL factory manufactures HUL's products like Soaps, Detergents and Personal Products
both for the domestic market and exports to India.
The 1990s also witnessed a string of crucial mergers, acquisitions and alliances on the Foods
and Beverages front. In 1992, the erstwhile Brooke Bond acquired Kothari General Foods,
with significant interests in Instant Coffee. In 1993, it acquired the Kissan business from the
UB Group and the Dollops Ice cream business from Cadbury India.
As a measure of backward integration, Tea Estates and Doom Dooma, two plantation
companies of Unilever, were merged with Brooke Bond. Then in July 1993, Brooke Bond
India and Lipton India merged to form Brooke Bond Lipton India Limited (BBLIL), enabling
greater focus and ensuring synergy in the traditional Beverages business. 1994 witnessed
BBLIL launching the Wall's range of Frozen Desserts. By the end of the year, the company
entered into a strategic alliance with the Kwality Ice cream Group families and in 1995 the
Milk food 100% Ice cream marketing and distribution rights too were acquired.
Finally, BBLIL merged with HUL, with effect from January 1, 1996. The internal
restructuring culminated in the merger of Pond's (India) Limited (PIL) with HUL in 1998.
The two companies had significant overlaps in Personal Products, Speciality Chemicals and
Exports businesses, besides a common distribution system since 1993 for Personal Products.
The two also had a common management pool and a technology base. The amalgamation was
done to ensure for the Group, benefits from scale economies both in domestic and export
markets and enable it to fund investments required for aggressively building new categories.
In January 2000, in a historic step, the government decided to award 74 per cent equity in
Modern Foods to HUL, thereby beginning the divestment of government equity in public
sector undertakings (PSU) to private sector partners. HUL's entry into Bread is a strategic
extension of the company's wheat business.

In 2002, HUL acquired the government's remaining stake in Modern Foods. In 2003, HUL
acquired the Cooked Shrimp and Pasteurised Crabmeat business of the Amalgam Group of
Companies, a leader in value added Marine Products exports.
1.3 Brief overview of Indian Beverage Industry:
The beverage sector in the country covers fruit drinks in tetra packs, mineral water, alcoholic
drinks, soft drinks, coffee and tea. Few major factors that drive the beverage market in India
are convenience of a ready-to-drink concept, easy availability, high thirst factor and high
disposable incomes. While it is difficult to estimate the size of the sector because each sector
itself provides a dedicated range of customers, the industry estimates it as Rs. 10,000-crore
segment for fruit drinks and the soft drinks alone. Experts state that the market is growing at
over 30% annually.
Since beverages are indispensable, companies are looking at novel packaging concepts to
woo customers.
In terms of flavour the demand is more for light and nutritional versions with better taste.
Types of beverage: -
• Alcoholic beverages
• Non-Alcoholic beverages
• Soft drinks
• Fruit juice
• Hot beverages
• Others

Alcoholic Beverages: -
• Whiskey
• Rum
• Brandy
• Beer
• Vodka
• Gin
• Wine
In the last few years Indian liquor industry has seen some major Mergers & Acquisitions,
which has consolidated the whole industry. The consolidation wave, spanning both the IMFL
and beer segments, has seen merger of companies, and acquisition of brands, manufacturing
facilities and bottling units. Liquor industry has even shown a robust growth in midst global
slowdown, which seemingly had no effect on it. The Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL)
market in India constitutes 31% of the total liquor market in India. The rest is accounted for
by country liquor. However, there is a discernible shift in consumption from country liquor
towards IMFL.
SPIRITS INDUSTRY 322 MILLION CASES
IMFL 100 MIL. CASES COUTRY LIQUOR 222 MIL. CASES
FY 2004-06 VOL GROWTH 9% FY 2004-06 VOL GROWTH 7%
2009 EXPTD. GROWTH 10%-11% 2009 EXPTD. GROWTH 5%-6%
WHISKEY RUM BRANDY VODKA GIN
IMFL Share: 59.5% IMFL Share: 17.6% IMFL Share: 1.2% IMFLShare:18.2 IMFL Share: 3.5%
Exptd. Growth: 10% Exptd. Growth: 8.9% Exptd. Growth: 30% % Exptd. Growth: 0-1%
Major Brands: Major Brands: Major Brands: Exptd. Major Brands:
McDowell No.1, Bacardi, Old Monk, McDowell No.1, Growth:30% Blue Riband, Carew,
Royal Stag, McDowell, Honey Bee, Major Brands: Haywards’, Aristocrat,
8PM, Bagpiper, Celebration, Old Admiral, Smirnoff, Contessa
Director’s Special, Old Admiral Golconda Romanov,
Royal Challenge White Mischief,
Magic Moments,
Alcazar
Table - 1

The IMFL segment is growing at 9-10% as against 6-7% growth in country liquor, in terms
of volume.
Another booming market in liquor industry is wine market, according to a recent
knowledge paper 'Processed Food and Agribusiness Opportunities for Investment in India'
jointly conducted by FICCI and KPMG, the wine industry in India has shown robust growth
potential. The Euro 46 million (Rs 309.73 crore) market has grown over 25% per annum over
the last three years. The government has introduced special wine policies to encourage grape
cultivation and wineries in the states. For example, Maharashtra has taken initiatives such as
an excise holiday for wine markets till 2011, sales tax concessions, and fixed licence fees for
10 years and creation of a wine institute and grape board for quality control.
The industry is estimated to report a 60% CAGR over financial years 2006-2010 and 24%
CAGR over the financial year 2010-15, to Euro 355 million (Rs 2390.3,2 crore) and Euro1.06
billion (Rs 7,148.8 crore) respectively.
In the recent past, the sector has attracted a lot of interest in investment in India. While
foreign companies are trying to tap the growing Indian wine market, a leading liquor group in
India, the UB Group, is planning to launch its wines in overseas markets like the UK, France,
Australia and New Zealand. Key players in the Indian wine industry are Flamingo Wines,
Grover, Indage, Mandala Valley, ND Wines, Renaissance Wines, Sankalp Wines, Sula,
Vinicola and Vintage Wines.
India is also one of the world's fastest-growing beer markets with per capita consumption
rising from a very low base. Favourable demographics, rapid economic growth, rising
disposable incomes and increasing social acceptance of alcohol consumption are key growth
drivers. The Indian beer market is poised to grow at a 14.3 % CAGR over the next three
years. The supply side is highly consolidated with United Breweries and SABMiller being the
dominant players. In keeping with Indian consumer tastes, about 61% of the beer consumed
in India is 'strong beer', i.e. beer with alcohol content above 5%. Mild beer accounts for the
remaining 39%. The strong beer segment is also the faster growing of the two and this is
likely to continue, in keeping with Indian tastes.
Some major players in Indian beer industry are Mohan Meakin (Golden Eagle brand),
SABMiller (Haywards, Royal Challenge Premium and Knock Out brands) and United
Breweries (Kingfisher Premium, Kingfisher Strong, Zingaro and Sandpiper brands).

Non-Alcoholic Beverages: -
Non-alcoholic beverages are broadly classified into carbonated drinks, non-carbonated drinks
and hot beverages such as health drinks, tea and coffee. The non-carbonated segment is
estimated at $155 million (Rs 785 crore) out of which fruit juices and fruit-based drinks
account for $60 million (Rs 303.8crore). The market size of organised carbonated drinks is
estimated at $119 million (Rs 602.68 crore) whereas the hot beverages market is at US $333
million (Rs1686.49crore), according to a recent report “The Indian Food Industry
Opportunities Abound” conducted by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and
Industry (FICCI) in association with Technopak. According to the report, the Indian market
for functional beverages was valued at $111.45 million (Rs 564.44 crore) as of 2007 and is
expected to reach a value of $345 million (Rs 1747.26 crore) in the year 2014. Functional
beverages are primarily classified into sports drinks, energy drinks, fortified fruit juices, and
soya enhanced beverages.
In this sector enhanced fruit beverages would remain the fastest growing segment and the
prime revenue earner during the Period 2008-2014, the report pointed out.
The soft drinks industry is the third largest packaged food industry after tea and biscuits in
India. The soft drinks industry's total export earnings are estimated to be over Euro 1250
million (Rs 8416.63 crore) per annum, according to Cygnus Agro Processed Food. Beverages
such as colas, lemonade, squash and fruit punch are among the most common types of soft
drinks. There are more than 100 plants across India. These provide direct or indirect
employment to over 1, 25,000 employees and contribute over Euro 215 million annually to
excise duty, sales tax and other related taxes.
In India, consumption of soft drinks is higher in the urban areas than in the rural areas,
however, this is slowly changing, a FICCI-KPMG report says. It is learnt that convenience
and natural taste together with health-consciousness has played an important role in the
growth of packaged fruit juices. The fruit drink market has grown at 20-25%, of this the
exotic fruit juices segment has grown at 40% last year. Cola sales have fallen dramatically
after health concerns and this seem to have benefited the fruit beverage industry. Tetra Packs
have offered a solution to provide fruit juice practically fresh and preservative free. These
factors have resulted in an increased consumption of juices. Industry estimates state a 25%
compounded annual growth in the juices segment in between 2007-10.

Hot beverages include health drinks such as white beverages (Horlicks, Complan etc) and
brown beverages (E.g.: ‘Boost’) in addition to usual tea and coffee.
The total size of this market is estimated at US$ 333 million by value and 85,000
tonnes by volume. White beverages account for 65% of the market and brown beverages
constitute the remaining 35%. India is the largest producer of tea in the world accounting for
28 per cent of the total global production, at 857 million kgs. Tea production in India has
been growing at 1.2% per annum and India is the fourth largest exporter of tea in the world
with estimated exports of US$ 5 million in 2002-03. India is also the sixth largest producer of
coffee accounting for 4.5% of the total production in the world. Nearly 75% of India’s
production is exported and coffee exports stood at US$ 5.2 million in 2005-06. Apart from
the major tea players in the country like Brooke Bond, Lipton, Tata tea to name a few, now
Metro Cash and Carry India, the international leader in self-service wholesale, is also offering
its range of premium teabags under its H-Line and HORECA select brands to cater to the
table and kitchen needs of the hospitality industry.
Popular flavours in tea are - Cardamom, Lemon, Earl Grey, English breakfast,
Masala, Ginger, Darjeeling, Assam Tea and Green Tea. With increasing awareness about the
health benefits of tea in terms of its anti-oxidant qualities, consumption of various varieties of
tea is expected to increase even more.
India is the sixth prime producer of coffee in the world after Brazil, Vietnam,
Columbia, Indonesia and Ethiopia. The country accounts for around 4.5% of the global coffee
production. Much of all production takes place in the southern states of the country in hilly
regions of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and North Eastern region (Assam, Nagaland
and Arunachal Pradesh. India is famed for its Monsoon Malabar variety.
Coffee is a much preferred drink in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Coffee bars like Cafe Coffee
Day and Barista are thronged with enthusiasm along with the traditional filter coffee serving
outlets.
As this project looks into the market of tea/coffee based beverage vending machines,
usually referred to as “Out-Of-Home (OOH)”, further studies have been restricted mainly to
non-alcoholic tea/coffee based beverages.
Companies already in food & beverages industry have taken on this market real fast, which
makes it highly competitive and rapidly growing at the same time. As the major customer
base for the companies include corporate, and various branch offices, institutes, canteens,
cafe’s, hospitals etc. market is perennial, and with extremely good growth rate.

This strategy of installing vending machines in organizations, offices, institutes etc. give
companies huge consumer base, which earlier was scattered and was being served by various
retailers and roadside “chaiwallas” with no guarantee of being served by a particular
company’s products always. By installing vending machines in offices, companies, and
institutes, food & beverage companies are consolidating their consumer base, as on an
average 2 out 4 times a consumer will consume a particular company’s product only. This
step has also helped in brand building for companies as their vending machines will
substantially increase brand visibility and brand recall of their products.
Major Companies in this market are as follows: -
- HUL
- Nestle’
- Cafe’ Coffee Day (ACBCL)
- Georgia
- Godrej
- Fresh n Honest (Barista) etc.

CHAPTER 2:
2.1 OBJECTIVE:
The main objective of this project lies in studying and understanding the market for beverage
vending machines, analysing the latest and emerging trends. This project aims at studying
marketing strategies of major players also. This is relatively a new emerging market with lot
of growth opportunities for food & beverage companies, which is why all major FMCG
players in foods and beverages business are already vying for a sizeable chunk of the market
share, few of these major players are Nestle, HUL, Georgia, CCD, Godrej etc.
This project also probes the purchase decision behaviour of corporate customers, which
forms majority of the customer base. Customer purchase behaviour analysis will provide
valuable insight to the company for deciding its sales and promotional strategy, and hence
will give it a competitive edge. This project also deals in creation of database of potential
customers for the company and in process generate sales leads and closure of deals. With
increased competition, HUL OOH division has also started focussing on institutional
customers, with special stress on schools, colleges and other educational institutes; this
project explores opportunities in this area also.
In order to simplify the project objectives, I have divided it into following sub headings: -
• Study and analysis of beverages vending solutions market.

• Sales lead generation and Management.
• Corporate customers’ purchase decision analysis.
• Exploring opportunities for vending solutions in educational institutes.

2.1.1 BRIEF OVERVIEW OF TEA AD COFFEE MARKET:
Non-alcoholic and non-carbonated beverages market of India comprises mainly of tea and
coffee, with some other beverages like health drinks (Complan, Horlicks etc.). Overall hot
beverages market stands at US $333 million. Most of the market is captured by tea and
coffee. Geographically, tea is widely consumed in the North, East and West of India, and is
popular with a wide variety of social classes and consumer age groups. Black standard tea
constitutes nearly 80% of value sales. In 2007, tea constitutes 70% of retail volume sales,
compared to coffee and other hot drinks with 4% and 26% shares respectively. Unilever
(Brooke Bond and Lipton) is the clear leader, holding over 30% of the market share, while
Tata Tea trails it with almost 20%. The remainder of the market is far more fragmented and
shared between numerous small players. Loose tea comprises of 45% market and is a
formidable challenge to the Indian packaged tea segment, because of its lower prices.
Consumers in different parts of the country have heterogeneous taste. Dust tea is very popular
in the south. In the western states like Gujarat, good quality loose tea is preferred whereas in
Maharashtra, consumers provide a large market to packet as well as unbranded tea. The
eastern states of West Bengal and Orissa consume CTC broken. Among the northern states,
CTC fanning is liked in Rajasthan and CTC broken in others states of the North. The Central
India is predominantly a dust market.
Coffee consumption in India, by and large is an urban phenomenon with an urban and
rural divide of 71% and 29% respectively. Among the type of coffee consumed it was almost
equally divided between instant (soluble) and filter (Roast and ground) coffee, though the
proportion of instant coffee is very high in northern India.
2.1.2 VEDIG SOLUTIOS MARKET:
Beverage vending solutions market in India is roughly 15 years old, which marked the entry
of Nescafe’ in the market. In next some years, other players like HUL, CCD, Barista etc.
entered in this market.
In order to have a better understanding of the vending solutions market we first need to study,
that why a vending machine is preferred by corporate houses and other institutes and
organizations.

Following are some of the reasons which are responsible for growth of this market.
• Cost savings
Each of the vended beverages contain exactly the same amount of ingredients. This
reduces the "heaped-teaspoon-effect" where your tin of ingredients can disappear oh
so quickly! It is found that the biggest saving comes from the reduction in the need for
fresh milk as the machine holds powdered milk. The powered mixes are great and can
add a really good creamy froth on beverages.
• Drink choice
Modern vending machines are not only compact but can offer 8 or more choices that
can include anything from an espresso to a Regular Tea, flavored teas cafe latte,
moccachino, chocachino, cappuccino and yes, a plain white or black coffee too.
Drinks can be selected with or without sugar and milk too, allowing an incredible
choice of beverages. It's great to offer clients and staff real choices.
• Convenience
There is no waiting for the kettle to boil when you have a vending machine. It remains
on and ready for the moment you press the button. So be it late in night or early in the
morning, it can vend a hot cup of beverage anytime and also fast. This also adds value
in the office environment where getting a quick cup of tea/coffee, means exactly that.
• Hygiene
As the vending machine holds all the ingredients inside airtight canisters, there are no
messy containers left out on kitchen or pause area tables to attract ants or
cockroaches. The machines have automatic rinsing cycles and hot water is flushed
through the dispensing pipes and mixing bowls to keep them clean.
• Reliability
Modern machines are robust and will vend cup after cup without interruption. Only
thing is needed to be done is to keep them clean and empty the waste containers and
replace a few rubber seals every now and then, after all they are exposed to heat and
water.

Nestle’ being the first one in this market certainly holds a strong position, with HUL being
the second in market of vending solutions. Experts estimate vending solutions market to be
somewhere around 79000 installations so far, and with a very high growth rate. As more and
more companies are expanding their operations in the country, office spaces are increasing
greatly. Also growth in the number of educational institutes, and overall infrastructure
development (airports, complexes, malls etc.) provide immense opportunities for the vending
solutions business to grow. So far the picture for major players in vending solutions is as
follows:
Vending machine installations

40000
Installations
30000
20000
10000
0
Nestle HUL CCD Georgia Godrej FHCL
No. of installations 30000 23000 12000 5000 4800 2300
Graph – 1
Nestle’ is the market leader, with around 38% market share. On second position it is HUL
OOH division with 30% market share. Then there are other players like CCD, Georgia etc.
Market share of major players

Nestle HUL CCD Georgia Godrej FHCL Others
3% 1%
6%
7%
38%
15%
30%
Graph - 2

2.1.3 HUL OUT-OF-HOME DIVISIO:
OOH is an arm of HUL that caters to the on-premise F&B requirements, using state-of-the-
art vending machines, with branded product mixes enabling people to sip their favourite
beverages when outside the comfort of their homes. So whether one is at work, or at mall /
multiplex, or in a college cafeteria, or simply waiting at the airport / railway station, they can
enjoy their favourite drink at the push of a button.
OOH division also supplies products directly to the caterers, confectionary manufacturers,
ship chandlers and others to meet their bulk requirements.
Product Portfolio:
OOH F&B services are again sub divided as vending solutions and non-vending solutions.
a) Vending Solutions:
Lipton Cardamom Tea: - A classic blend of Sri Lankan and Indian teas with natural
cardamom flavours, which is a rewarding treat with its delicious taste and cardamom aroma.
Lipton Hot Lemon Tea: - Delightfully refreshing lemon flavour- A whole new way to
experience black tea.

Malt Tea: - Lipton malt combines tea with malt to create a delicious drink, which is also full
of energy.
TajMahal Tea Bags: - The selection of the finest teas to create a robust, full bodies brew with
a lingering aroma.
Darjeeling Tea: - Considered as the “champagne of teas”.
Assam Tea: - A full body tea, which us a great combination of strength, taste and aroma.

BRU Hot Coffee: - A complete cup of hot coffee with a rich feel to keep you refreshed and
energized round the clock.
BRU Cappuccino: - Creamy, frothy and irresistible cup of coffee.
Fresh Bean Coffee: - 100% purest form of highly aromatic coffee.
Choco Almond Coffee: - Discover bliss in a tasty blend of delicious chocolate and a finest
coffee with a hint of almond. A taste exotic enough to delight connoisseurs’.
Lipton Ice lemon Tea: - Natural refreshing tea with a dash of a delicious fruit flavour. A
natural source of anti-oxidants.

BRU frapuchino: - Chocolaty and indulging frothy chilled coffee drink. The right cup to beat
the heat.
Knorr Tomato Soup: - Jitna Tasty! Utna Healthy!
b) on-Vending Solutions:
OOH division also deals with large customers for their non-vending requirements & help
them choose from a wide basket of HUL products.
It also offer bulk packs for the factories / Caterers / Ship chandlers to provide greater value.
OOH division is currently supplying BRU instant coffee to almost all the leading
confectionary manufacturers in the country for their confectionery requirements.
Besides this OOH division also provides services to choose products from their Food or
Home & Personal care basket to gift to patrons and customers. It has supplied products like
TajMahal packet Tea, Lifebouy hand wash, Lakme skincare range etc. to pharmaceutical
companies at attractive prices for gifting it to doctors.

Services:
• Wide Coverage: - The service infrastructure of OOH covers over 300 concessionaries
across 100 plus towns with over 600 dedicated skilled technicians to facilitate 24/7
technical support and assistance.
• Strong resourcing: - Our trained and well equipped technical, sales and support teams
are fully geared to meet all your services and maintenance requirements. We also
have a wide footprint to support national deals, keeping pace with the growth
aspirations of our clients as they expand into new regions.
• World Class Research: - We have a global Unilever research centre, at Bangalore
which has world class research facilities which give us an edge in product and
technical innovation.
• Safety: - Hot water auto flush feature in machines for auto cleaning of mixing units at
regular intervals. Also temperature lock feature in machines is provided to ensure that
drinks don’t get dispensed below a minimum specified temperature.
• Hygiene: - Easily detachable machine parts to facilitate cleaning. Also the machine
has an intrusion resistant design so as to have minimum possibility of external
impurities getting inside.
• Quality: - All machines undergo strict internal quality checks and audits. All products
are microbiologically tested, and are safe for consumption.
• Consistency: - The DC motors in the machine are better suited to handle voltage
fluctuations. Patented canister design for smooth and consistent flow of premixes.
• External Audit: - For regular monitoring and better control we have engaged an
independent agency to conduct external audits and MIS reports to generate unbiased
feedback. The agency also provides elaborate demonstrations for the operators to
uplift the safety and hygiene standards at sites.

Vending Machines:
1. Fresh Bean Coffee Machine:
Features: -
• Option of 4 ingredients in the nature of coffee beans, dairy whitener, soup etc.
• Providing 10 drinks option including 6 options of fresh bean coffee.
• Dispensing rate – 2 cup/min of 100 ml.
• Temperature interlocking.
• Water Source – On-line / Bubble top.
Specifications: -
Height – 665 mm
Dimensions Length – 410 mm
Depth – 560 mm
Weight 50 Kg
Power Supply 230 Volts/50 Hz
Absorbed Power 2000 Watts
Pre- mix canister cap. 1 Kg
Coffee Bean canister cap 1 Kg

Products : - This machine is capable of dispensing 10 beverages, with 6 fresh bean coffee
beverages. It has options of dispensing Espresso, Americano, Latte normal sugar, Latte low
sugar, Cappuccino low sugar, Cappuccino normal sugar, Cardamom tea, Tea bag tea, Black
tea, and another option of extra sugar for beverages.
2. High Speed Hot Machine:
Features: -
• Options of 5 ingredients in nature of coffee, dairy whitener, soup etc.

• Option of simultaneous dispensing of any 3 drinks.
• Option of cappuccino.
• Staggered dispensing option for dairy whitener.
• Dispensing rate – 15 cups/min. Of 100 ml each. (approx. 250 cups non-stop)
• Temperature Interlocking.
• Auto cleaning.
• Water Source – Built in tank/Online.

Specifications: -
Height – 890 mm
Depth – 585 mm
Weight 60 Kg
Pre- mix canister cap. 1.2 Kg
Products: - This machine has five options along with cappuccino, it dispenses cardamom tea,
Tea bag tea, soup, and hot water for black tea.
3. ew 4 Lane U cup Machine:
Features: -
• Option of 4 ingredients in nature of coffee, tea, soup etc.

• Staggered dispensing option for tea bag.
• Temperature interlocking.
• Auto cleaning.

• Water Source – Bubble top/Online.
Specifications: -
Height – 650 mm
Depth – 590 mm
Weight 25 Kg
Pre- mix canister cap. 1 Kg
Products: - This machine can be used to dispense four beverages, in terms of coffee, tea bag
tea, black tea, and any other hot beverage of choice e.g. soup, cardamom tea etc. This
machine has also facility of half cup dispensing option, so as to control wastage.
4. Smart Card Machine:
Features: -
• Option of 4 ingredients in nature of coffee, tea, soup etc.

• Post or Pre – paid option through smart card.
• Option of consumption data downloading to PC for MIS processing.

• Temperature Interlocking.
• Staggered dispensing option for tea bag.
• Auto cleaning.
• Water Source – Built-in tank/bubble top.
Specifications: -
Height – 645 mm
Depth – 545mm
Weight 35 Kg
Pre- mix canister cap. 1.2 Kg
Products: - This machine is specifically designed for educational institutes and canteens
where students and employees are provided with smart card facility, post or pre-paid, as per
their requirements. This machine can dispense four beverages, usual tea, coffee, and any
other two hot beverages of choice.
5. Lipton Ice Tea Machine:

Features: -
• Option of 2 ingredients in nature of ice tea and cold coffee.

• Dispensing rate:
- 3 cups/min (200 ml each)
- Approx 200 cups non-stop.
• Auto Cleaning.
• Water Source – Online/Bubble top.
Specifications: -
Height – 790 mm
Depth – 780 mm
Weight 70 Kg
Initial cooling time 4 Hrs.
Products: - This machine dispenses refreshing cool drinks to chill the summer heat.
Consumers can enjoy Lipton hot lemon or take fresh sip of BRU frapuchino.
A Lipton Vending Machine is the most advanced of its kind. Features like Microprocessor
controlled water temperature, inbuilt Digital Counter, Hardware Lock and Auto-Flush system
helps to maintain a low failure rate. It is also hygienic and insect proof, which also
contributes to its durability. Flexibility in cup offerings – full and half; is another attribute
that makes the Lipton Vending Machine stand out as the most convenient vending machine.
The technologically superior equipment has been put through intense stress tests so that it can
withstand the demanding local market.
Lipton Vending Machine is fitted with any of four different types of filters: - single,
double, triple and resin filter. This makes sure that the best and safest quality of water goes
into the vended Lipton cup. The filter thus enhances the quality of water, taste of the
beverage and also increases equipment life.

2.1.4 ESTLÉ OUT-OF-HOME DIVISIO:
Nestle’ is market leader in beverage vending solutions market with 38% market share. It has
following product portfolio in the market: -
TEA
Nestea tea bags, Everyday instant tea premix ( cardamom flavor), Everyday instant tea premix (plain
tea), Nestea lemon tea, Everyday dairy whitener, Everyday sugar free dairy whitener.
COFFEE
Nescafe’ coffee premix, Nescafe’ low sugar, Cappuccino & Mocchacino premixes.
SOUP
Maggi tomato Soup.
2.1.5 COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ESTLE AD HUL PRODUCTS:
• estle’ Product prices:
Product ame Rate Specification
Nescafe Coffee Premix 185.00 1 Kg
Nescafe Low Sugar Premix 200.00 1 Kg
Nescafe Classic coffee 535.00 Per 500 gm
Everyday Whitener Premix 112.00 1 Kg
Everyday Dairy Whitener Poly 180.00 1 Kg
Badam Milk Premix 220.00 1 Kg
Nestea Lemon / Peach Premix 98.00 Per 500 gm

Nestea Cardamom Tea Premix 190.00 1 Kg
Maggie Hot Cup Soup Tomato 375.00 1 Kg
Tea Bags 0.70 Per Bag
Creamer 3Gm 101.83 Per Case
Paper cup 150 ml 0.45 Per cup
Plastic cup 150 ml 0.50 Per cup
Sugar Powder 43.50 1 Kg
Sugar Cube [Economy Pack] 42.00 1 Kg
Table - 2
• Lipton Product prices:
Product name Rate (Rs.) Specification

TajMahal Tea Bags 0.76 Per bag
Lipton Dairy whitener Normal 130 1 Kg
Lipton Dairy Whitener without 230 1 Kg
Sugar
Lipton Dairy Whitener Diet 225 1 Kg
Lipton Premium Cardamom Tea 210 1 Kg
Lipton Hot Lemon Tea 170 1 Kg
190 1 Kg
BRU Coffee Regular
BRU Coffee Flavoured 195 1 Kg
( Chocó Almond )
BRU Coffee Diet 280 1 Kg
Knorr Tomato soup 400 1 Kg
Regular paper Cups 0.50 Per cup
Lipton plastic cups 0.55 Per cup
Table - 3

On analysis of the quoted prices of Nestle and HUL products it was found that, Nestle has
smartly put prices of basic and major products like dairy whitener, regular coffee, tea bags,
cups etc. low as compared to HUL, and that too with more room for negotiations as learned
from market experience. This gives Nestle more space to play on price front during
negotiations with customers. More details are shown below in the bar graph
Comparative prices of HUL and Nestle

3
2.5
2
Price/cup
1.5
1
0.5
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
HUL 1.3 2.63 2.38 2.41 0.76 1.68 1.25 1.7
Nestle 1.12 2.37 2.31 2.2 0.7 2.5 1.8 2.8
Graph – 3
Following are the details of the above shown graph:
S.No. Product HUL Nestle

Price/cup Price/cup
1 Dairy whitener normal 1.3 1.12
2 cardamom tea 2.63 2.37
3 coffee regular 2.38 2.31
4 tomato soup 2.41 2.2
5 tea bags 0.76 0.7
6 coffee diet 1.68 2.5
7 Dairy whitener diet 1.25 1.8
8 lemon tea 1.7 2.8

2.1.6 DISTRIBUTIO ETWORK OF HUL OOH DIVISIO:
FACTORY
DEPOT DEPOT
Distributor Distributor Distributor Distributor
Customer Customer Customer Customer
Fig.1
OOH division has a very basic distribution network, with materials coming directly from
factory to depot and from there to distributors. From distributors it directly goes to customers.
Haryana region has 16 distributors, with service part, taken care by Eureka Forbes for all
customers.
As far as sales lead generation and acquisition of accounts is concerned, that is done
by HUL OOH division’s personnel, and later those accounts are allotted to distributors
depending on their size and capability of handling an account. Then distributor’s technician
team would install the machine.
On an average per month a distributor sells 5-6 tonnes of material, the largest distributor in
the region has a sale of 15-18 tonnes of premix. On an average a distributor has 8% to 12%
margin in products given by the company.

2.2 SALES LEAD GEERATIO AD MAAGEMET:
Sales lead generation through cold calling and generating market information was a major
part of my project. All of the interns were allotted different regions where they have to
generate sales lead. Before this a brief overview of the industry, market scenario,
competitors, prices etc. was given by the industry guide. On an average I had to do around 10
cold callings in a day. These sales lead were initially forwarded to prospective officers, who
then would follow up on the leads, although after a week of initial study of the market, sales
lead generation as well as their follow up, meeting with the customers and subsequent closure
of the deals was handled independently by interns. Overall I visited more than 350
prospective client locations.
Sales lead generation and subsequent closure of deals are done in following three steps: -
1. Cold calling
2. Meeting respective administration/human resource heads & Negotiations

3. Installation of Lipton vending machine
The task of installing a vending machine gets accomplished at times in one
meeting only otherwise it takes on an average four to five rounds of negotiations. The
respective company representative is made acquainted with the benefit; his organization will
get with the installation of Lipton vending machines. For this, a comprehensive cost-benefit
analysis has to be presented to him to convert the prospect into key account of HUL.
Once an order is placed, the Lipton crew along with the distributor installs the Lipton
Vending Machine. Proper and regular technical support is provided for machine
management. The Lipton team also trains respective organization’s staff for a smooth
operation of the Lipton Vending Machine, which will help maximize the overall experience
of the machine. The installation process is divided into 5 stages:
1) Pre-delivery inspection at the establishment by the manufacturer’s technician.

2) Pre-installation Survey at the establishment by the installation crew. The crew shall
check the location for Water Source, Electrical Wiring and Fittings, Earthing, Tank
and machine placement- accordingly an estimation of cost shall be provided.

3) All electrical, plumbing and water requirement are addressed before actual
installation.
4) After all the necessary checks are made, qualified technicians install the Lipton
Vending Machine.
5) Training of the machine handling personnel to ensure smooth functioning and easy
daily maintenance of the Lipton Vending Machine.
Price plays a major role in decision making process for any customer, who is ordering a
vending machine for its organization, and this prompted me to formulate a comprehensive
cost sheet comparison between Pantry and vending machines, this will give a hands on
information to sales personnel in showing the cost benefit of vending machines over pantry
system of an organization.
2.2.1 COST COMPARISO OF VEDIG MACHIES V/S PATRY:
In order to make a valid point in favour of vending machines for customers, a cost-benefit
analysis has to be done for them, which could actually show them that how this offer is more
economical to their organizations. A similar cost – benefit analysis is shown below: -
S.o. o. of Overall daily daily daily Monthly Monthly Rent Total billing
employees consumption consumption consumption Cost in Cost in in vending
Of tea of coffee pantry vending (Rs.) machine
(no. of cups) machine
(no. of cups) (no. of cups) (Rs.) (Rs.)
(Rs.)
1. 20 - 40 60 35 25 800
5750 3246.25 4248.75
2. 50 - 100 170 100 70 800
16250 9192.5 10195
3. 100 - 200 300 170 130 0
29000 16262.5 16465
4. 200 - 400 600 350 250 0
57500 32462.5 32665
5. 500 - 1000 1000 600 400 0
95000 54000 54202.5
6. 1500 - 3000 3500 2000 1500 0
337500 189625 189827.5
Table – 4

As clearly shown in the above table, cost benefit for the organizations is quantified in terms
of the no. of employees in the organization, which gives us approximate daily consumption of
the beverages in the company. As most of the companies and organizations outsource pantry
to a third party, I have taken in the price of per cup beverage usually charged by these pantry
owners.
Following is one example of the calculation for the above results: -
Cost per cup of tea charged by a canteen or pantry = Rs. 3/-
Cost per cup of regular coffee charged by a canteen or pantry = Rs. 5/-
Cost / cup of tea bag tea, from Lipton vending machine = Rs. 2.06/-
Cost / cup of regular BRU coffee from Lipton vending machine = Rs. 2.31/-
Now, for any Lipton vending machine maximum power absorption is 2500 watts, assuming
that an office or an organization usually opens for 9 hours a day. Power cost of a vending
machine can be calculated as follows: -
Commercial rate for 1 unit of electricity = Rs. 9/- per KWH
Power consumption by a Lipton vending machine = 2500 watts * 9 hrs /day = Rs. 22.5/day
As per the company policy, a customer has to pay a monthly rent for the machine, which is
given below:
• 2 and 3 lanes vending machines rent = Rs. 800/- per month

• 4 and 6 lanes vending machines rent = Rs. 1400/- per month
In case monthly consumption of pre-mixes of an organization, equals or exceeds 70 Kgs.

They are exempted from paying any rent.
For convenience above calculations are done for a 3 lanes vending machine.

Taking one example: -
In case of an organization with employee strength of 200 to 400 employees, on an average

daily consumption of tea/coffee is taken as 600 cups, with 2 cups/employee per day.
As in India, tea consumption on average is higher than coffee and that too especially in
northern part, the divide between tea and coffee consumption is around 60:40.
Total working days for any organization are taken on an average as 25 days.
Cost calculations for Pantry: -
Total monthly cost for tea = 350 cups * 3/- * 25 = Rs. 26,250/-
Total monthly cost for coffee = 250 cups * 5/- * 25 = Rs. 31,250/-
Overall monthly cost from pantry = Rs. 57,500/-
Cost calculations for Lipton vending machine: -
On an average, 1 Kg. of Lipton dairy whitener gives 100 cups of tea, while 1 Kg. of BRU
coffee pre-mix gives 80 cups of instant coffee therefore,
Overall monthly consumption of dairy whitener on the basis of current situation is

(350*25)/100 = 87.5 Kg.
Overall monthly consumption of BRU instant coffee pre-mix on the basis of current situation
is, (250*25)/100 = 62.5 Kg.
Since the total consumption is 150 kg. , way above 70 Kg. this organization is not charged
any rent.
Total monthly cost for tea = 350 cups * 2.06/- * 25 = Rs. 18,025/-
Total monthly cost for coffee = 250 cups * 2.31/- * 25 = Rs. 14,437.4/-
Monthly electricity bill from vending machine = 2500 watts * 9hrs * Rs.9/- = Rs. 202.5/-

Overall monthly cost from Lipton vending machine = Rs. 32,665/-
Thus from the above illustration of detailed cost comparison of pantry v/s vending machine,
customers can be easily shown the economic benefits of vending machines.
2.2.2 RESULTS OF SALES LEAD GEERATIO:
As stated earlier, Sales lead generation and subsequent management of clients was done
individually by interns. I intensely covered Udyog Vihar Ph- IV & V, DLF office spaces in
Kendriya Vihar, and commercial complexes in sector 53, in Gurgaon. Apart from that as a
part of my third project objective, I covered Knowledge park institutional areas in Greater
Noida also.

2.3 RESEARCH:
2.3.1 STATEMET OF PROBLEM:
Background to the Problem: -
Hindustan Unilever Limited is the Indian FMCG conglomerate, selling Food, Beverages,
Home and Personal Care brands in about 100 countries worldwide. Out-Of-Home (OOH) is
an arm of HUL that caters to the on-premise food & beverages requirements, using state-of-
the-art vending machines, with branded product mixes. These vending machines can be
installed at offices, commercial complex, mall / multiplex, college cafeteria, airport / railway
station, etc. So far OOH division has done more than 23000 installations spread over more
than 100 towns and catering almost 2 billion cups of beverages annually. HUL offering has
well known brands like Brooke Bond TajMahal & Lipton for tea and relatively new brands
like BRU for coffee and Knorr for soups. Thus with these products OOH provides a full
basket of offerings to its customers.
Despite of competent product offerings and having one of the wide spread distribution
networks, OOH division is a distant second to market leader Nestle’ in this segment. On top
of this, it is facing fierce competition from other big and small players, ranging from Cafe
Coffee Day (CCD) to Amazon and Barista’s Fresh & Honest.
Nestle is ruling the roost with its dominant market leadership position, and not only that,
from the market experience it was clear that they also grab more number of larger accounts
than HUL. CCD also poses a major threat to HUL’s position because of its wide acceptability
as an indigenous coffee brand, with high brand visibility and brand recall due to its nation
wide array of cafes and coffee day express kiosks. With 12000+ installations CCD is at third
position in the market.
Georgia being a Coca cola brand has a partnership agreement with McDonalds
resulting into a nationwide exclusive footprint in McDonalds restaurants, further they have
also entered into an agreement with Nirula’s fast food chain, for providing them with their
beverage vending solutions. FHCL although new in this market and having done only 5000
installations enjoy high brand loyalty, with its customers, ranging from blue chip corporate
clients like Microsoft, Google to Sabarimala Temple & Saibaba ashram.

While Godrej is relatively a smaller player its tendency towards selling of vending machines
rather than renting them makes the situation tougher for other players. With such current
market situation now, company faces following challenges.
Management challenges: -
• How to increase the customer base?

• How to further strengthen its Brand image?
• What steps should be taken to gain a competitive edge?
In order to find out answers to these questions, market research was conducted with the
objective of understanding customers’ purchase decision process and factors that affects her
decision. Also what is the perception of customers, as far as major beverage brands are
concerned.
Market Research: -
This is essentially an institutional or B2B market, where a company’s customers are

HR/Admin. Managers, Purchase officers, Cafe managers, and Canteen /cafeteria owners.
These are the people who have the authority to make decision on behalf of company’s
employees, institute’s students and faculty etc. on the basis of factors such as price, brand
image, product offering etc.
Geographical area of Research: -
The geographical area of research was taken as Udyog Vihar Ph- IV & V, DLF office spaces
in Kendriya Vihar, and commercial complexes in sector 53, in Gurgaon.
2.3.2 OBJECTIVES OF RESEARCH:
Primary Objective of Research: -
• In order to better understand their (customer) purchase behaviour this research was
carried out. It aims to find out the major factors which shapes a customer’s purchase
decision regarding a beverage vending machine, on the basis of market study and
experience of company officials following factors were researched:

Consumer (employee) preference, Overall cost/cup of a beverage, Brand image of the

service provider, ease of operation, After sales-service & Maintanence.
Secondary Objective of Research: -
• To study the brand image perception of competing tea & coffee brands among
customers.
• To study the brand image perception of competing beverage vending solutions.
Outcome: -
• Identification of major factors which affect customers’ purchase decision, and

formulation of customized offerings on the basis of those factors.
• Insight into the mind of customers, as to what extent brand image matters, and how
various brands fared against each other?
• Formulation of steps to strengthen HUL’s brand image in various beverage segments
depending on the above stated outcome.
2.3.3 APPROACH TO THE PROBLEM:
The research problem basically deals with puchase behaviour analysis of customers’ for a
beverages vending solution. Since the problem is well defined we need not perform
exploratory research instead conclusive research would be a better technique as it would
allow us to perform a survey for getting deep insights about their purchase behaviour
analysis. Thus for these problems descriptive research will be used. It will be further utilized
to reduce the number of factors or characteristics which influenced purchase behaviour. The
survey would provide with proper and reliable primary data.
Assumptions: -
Dependent Variable: Purchase decision
Independent variables: Consumer (employee) preference, Overall cost/cup of a beverage,

Brand image of the service provider, ease of operation, After sales-service, & Maintanence.

Research design: -
The field-work was carried out in a planned and systematic way in which the first step was to
determine the information that was needed to carry out the Desciptive Research.
Information eeded: -
Customers : -
As far as purchase decision for a beverage vending machine is concerned, information

regarding the authority responsible for the decision making, no. of employees, wheather any
machine is already installed or not, per day consumption, type of vending machine installed,
etc. all this information was gathered so as to get a better understanding of the market
practices, and extraction of major factors which can be responsible for purchase decision of
customer.
2.3.4 QUESTIOAIRE DEVELOPMET:
On the basis of the above gathered information, factors were decided which might influence a
customers’ purchase decision. Before starting the full scale survey a pilot survey or pre-
testing was also conducted.
Pre Testing: -
A pretest was conducted on a sample of 10 customers to test the suitability of the questions,
and their effectiveness in order to extract required factors. Also this test was done to find out
the comfort and accepance level of customers with the questionnaire. This lead to the
modification in some of the questions and elimination of some irrelevant ones.
Target Population: -
Primarily focus is on Offices spanning over different industries like Banking ,software,
consultancy, Manufacturing, BPO,export houses etc. consuming Tea /coffee during their
office hours.

2.3.5 SAMPLE DESIG PROCESS: -
Sampling Frame: -
As explained earlier, our customer base comprises of HR/admin. managers of coporates,

purchase officers, cafe managers etc. Thus sampling frame was taken so as to cover this
population as much as possible, also this process was done in continuation with sales lead
generation for the company, in order to find out any prospective client for the company. This
research was done in three phases each covering one region.
1. Udyog Vihar Phase – IV & V,

2. Kendriya Vihar, DLF office spaces,
3. Commercial complexes in Sector 53.
Sampling Technique: -
A mix of Cluster and Convenience sampling was used, as in case of some small
manufacturing firms in Udyog Vihar areas are not considered because of less number of
employees. Also major stress was on researching commercial complexes and corporate
offices.
Sample Size: -
A total sample size of 100 respondents was considered. The sample size was determined on
the basis of time and money constraints.
This was followed by the data collection on the field in accordance to the above mentioned
plan.
2.3.6 SCALIG TECHIQUE:
Scaling techniques used in this design are Interval and Ordinal scales. To understand the
most important factors influencing the purchase decision behaviour of customers,
respondents were asked to rate their choices on an interval scale of 1 to 10. Earlier in pilot
survey five point likert scale was adopted, but on pre-testing it was found that respondents
were not comfortable with the scale and also they had less range to rate their choices,
therefore a ten point interval scale was chosen for a broader array of responses.

Further for the realisation of second objective of this research, an ordinal scale is used, where
respondents are asked to rank their preferences from 1 to 5 out of given choices. Once these
responses were taken, weightages are assigned to the ranks, and a total score for each brand is
calculated to get a clear picture, of their respective brand images according to the customer.
2.3.7 AALYSIS METHOD:
Once the data collection was over, analysis of the data is done. As stated earlier also, this
research has two main objectives, identifying critical factors responsible for purchase
decision and finding out current status of brand image of major players in the market, as per
the customer. To evaluate the critical factors, Factor Analysis is employed using which we
get the critical factors which contribute most to purchase decision of a customer. This is done
using SPSS software. Further brand image perceptions were evaluated by assigning
weightages and calculating cummulative scores for individual brands.
2.3.8 AALYSIS FOR PRIMARY OBJECTIVE USIG SPSS: -
To start with, in the beginning of the research, we had six major factors considered usually by
a customer to reach her purchase decision. However by utilizing factor analysis there has been
a reduction in the number of factors, which are most critical and immediate for HUL OOH
division to work upon and utilize them to gain competitive edge in delivering better solutions
to the customers.
Details of factor analysis: -
Results: -
On conducting factor analysis of the collected data following results were obtained: -
• KMO measure of sampling adequacy = 0.712

• Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity = 498.500 (chi-square value)
Both of these results corroborate the reliability of the data and its suitability for factor analysis,
for further details of factor analysis, please refer appendix 1.

The six factors on analysis have been further reduced to two critical components:
S. o. Component 1 Component 2
1. Overall cost of cup/beverage Consumer Preference
2. Ease of operation Brand Image
3. Lower maintenance After Sales-service
Table – 5
As shown above in Table -1, six factors have been reduced to two critical components, each
having some individual factors clubbed under them. Component 1 has under it, overall cost of
cup/beverage, ease of operation, and lesser maintenance. Component 2, covers consumer
preferences, Brand image, and after sales-service. These two components have been renamed
incorporating all the factors under them and further analysis & interpretation is put forth:
• Component 1: This component covers overall cost and convenience factors responsible
for shaping purchase decision of customers. Thus, this component is named as
“Lifecycle Cost”.
• Component 2: This component looks into the brand perceptions, consumer preferences
and choices, and after sales support. If looked deeper into the cluster of these factors,
they are three major parts forming overall brand value of an offering. Thus this factor
can aptly be named as “Brand Value”.
From the above analysis it is very clear that, a customer weighs any offering on these two
basic components, covering all of the major factors namely, Consumer (employee)
preferences, Overall cost/cup of a beverage, Brand image of the service provider, ease of
operation, After sales-service & Maintanence.
These two components can also be classified as pre-sales and post-sales purchase decision
components, “Lifecycle Cost” would be a pre-sales purchase decision factor and
component 2, i.e. “Brand Value” would be post-sales purchase decision factor.

This market is not just about selling vending machines, but it also includes revenue
generation from the customers for a long-term basis, through sales of the pre-mixes used in
the vending machines. This makes componenet 2 even more important as it determines a
company’s capability of retaining its customers. A minimal or almost zero rent is not revenue
generator for the company, but it is the sales of pre-mixes that generates revenue.
Effectiveness of a company in delivering component 2 will decide whether a customer
experiences a post-purchase remorse or post-purchase satisfaction from the product.
Thus it can be concluded that while making a sales pitch of the product to the customer,
component 1, “Lifecycle Cost” should be highlighted, and for permanent retention of
customers continous efforts should be made on strenghtening the factors in component 2 i.e.
“Brand Value”.
Competitor analysis on basis of factor analysis: -
• Component 1:
S. o. Component 1 ESTLE HUL

“Lifecycle
Cost”
1. Overall cost of Competitive pricing is Prices are more as compared

cup/beverage done so as to stand against to Nestle’ and in case of small
smaller and low cost palyers low cost producers, like
like Amazon, FHCL etc. Amazon FHCL etc., it
is difficult to compete.
2. Ease of Not a differentiating factor HUL provides an array
operation of vending machines, for
special needs of customers like
Smart card operated machine,
For educational institutes like
NIIT, Educomp, etc.
These machines can be used
to download data for MIS

purposes also. These machines also
offer convenience of half and full cup.
3. Lower Market survey reveals that Can work as a differntiating factor
maintenance Nestle products, are very for HUL, as features like
low Microprocessor controlled water
on maintanence needs. temperature, inbuilt Digital Counter,
Although not a Hardware Lock, Auto-Flush system
differentiating factor. reduces maintenance.
Although now most companies follow
these standards.
Table – 6
• Component 2:
S. o. Component 2 ESTLE HUL

“Brand Value”
1. Consumer Preference In case of coffee, certainly, a HUL with its strong
differentiating factor for brand of Taj mahal in
Nestle’ as it enjoys market tea enjoys similar
leadership and strong brand position, as that of
loyalty in coffee market. But Nestle in coffee
in case of tea brands, Nestea market. With recent
has a lower brand image as revamping of its
compared to HUL. coffee brand BRU,
company is trying to
create strong
consumer base in
coffee market also.
2. Brand Image Nestle being one of the oldest HUL with its Lipton
companies in beverages and BRU brands in
segment, with its iconic vending solutions
brand Nescafe, and with the market enjoys limited
first mover advantage in brand awareness as

vending solutions market compared to Nestle’
enjoys strong brand and even CCD. Thus
recognition and preference this is one of the
over its competitors. prime area of
It also strenghtens its brand improvement for
by regular brand OOH division.
communication with its
corporate clients, in form of
e-brochures etc.
3. After Sales-service Not a differentiating factor, HUL claim to have a
as all companies promise strong after sales
regular after sales-service support to its
support. It is the promptness customers, with its
and effectiveness of service fortnightly audits, and
that matters. expansive distributor
network it provides
service to its
customers. On market
survey it was found
that there is enough
room of improvement
for OOH division in
this, as this can be a
strong differentiating
factor for company.
Table – 7

2.3.9 AALYSIS OF SECODARY OBJECTIVES OF RESEARCH: -
As stated earlier secondary research objective was to gain insight in customers’ mind, and
understand their perceptions about brand image of major players in the market. For this
purpose respondents were asked to rank brands of their choice from 1 to 5, 1 being highest,
later their responses were given weights accordingly.
This objective can further be divided into three parts: -
1. Brand image of the company/product for its tea.

2. Brand image of the company/product for its coffee.
3. Brand image of the company/product for its vending machines.
The ranks from 1 to 5 were later given weights from 5 to 1 respectively, rank 1 was allotted 5
as weight, rank 2 was allotted 4, and so on. Further cumulative score for each brand for
particular question was calculated and corresponding interpretations are made.
Respondents were asked to rank major brands of tea from 1 to 5. Major players like Nestle’,
HUL’s Brooke bond TajMahal, and other players like Georgia and CCD were included, with
fifth option for any brand other than these according customer. Analysis of the collected data
is as follows:
Brands (Tea)
600
500
Cumu. Score
400
300
200
100
0
Brooke bond
Nestle georgia CCD Others
Tajmahal
Cumulative score 368 483 284 134 83
Graph – 4
As shown above, it is very clear that HUL’s Brooke Bond TajMahal, enjoy distinct brand
leadership, when it comes to branded teas.

TajMahal being an iconic brand adds great value to the OOH division’s offering. Nestle’
holds second position behind HUL, followed by Georgia and CCD. Some respondents named
other tea brands like Goodricke, Red label, Tata tea etc. among the given brand names as
their favourites.
Brand Image (Tea)

0%
17%
Nestle
HUL
others
83%
Graph – 5
The above graph shows the percentage of respondents who ranked particular companies, no.1
in the questionnaire. 83% respondents ranked HUL’ s Brooke Bond TajMahal as their
preferred no. 1 brand of tea, as opposed to just 17% of respondents claiming Nestle’ to be
their preferred choice of brand. No other brand of tea was ranked no.1.
Brands (Coffee)
500
450
400
350
Cumu. Score
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
Nestle Brooke bond BRU georgia CCD
Cumulative score 449 309 266 375
Graph – 6

The above graph shows the relative position of major coffee brands, as far as their brand
image is concerned. With clear demarcation Nestle’ enjoys leadership position when it comes
to instant coffee. Customers out and out ranked Nestle’ as their favourite, which is certainly
because of its strong hold on the Indian coffee market for so long. Nestle’ with its strong
distribution, excellent product quality, and high brand loyalty is extremely difficult
competitor to be replaced from its no. 1 position. On the second position comes CCD,
customers ranked CCD second when it comes to brands of coffee. It may look surprising
initially, but if delve further, it can be easily understood that in brewing coffee culture, CCD
has created a strong position, through its cafe all over the country. People recognize CCD as
an indigenous coffee company. And this has certainly helped CCD in capturing much
customer base in beverage vending machines market also. With its new and technologically
advanced products like fresh bean coffee machine and fresh milk coffee machines, CCD
forced market leaders like Nestle’ and HUL also to launch their own versions of these
advanced machines. In coming times CCD is certainly going to be a major threat for market
leaders. On the third position in overall ranking comes BRU, which certainly is worrying sign
for HUL, although in recent times company has revamped BRU brand in terms of its
communication. BRU has now been positioned as a brand for youth; also this communication
is made tangible by company, by launching new products like BRU cappuccino in three
different flavours. But still much ground is needed to be covered by company.
On distant fourth position is Georgia, although daughter of a strong brand like Coke, Georgia,
it seems has not been able to create enough required brand image in minds of customers.
Although brand visibility of Georgia is very good as it has a partnership agreements with
McDonalds’ and Nirula’s fast food chains. But company is not able to leverage this position.
Brand Image (coffee)

Nestle HUL Georgia CCD
33%
0% 58%
9%
Graph – 7

Above graph shows the percentage of respondents, who ranked particular coffee brand as
having no. 1 brand image. HUL’s position in coffee brands has traditionally always been 2nd
or 3rd; here this thing has come out very clearly. Merely 9% of respondents ranked HUL’s
coffee brand BRU as no.1 brand, while on the other hand Nestle’ clearly steals the show with
58% of respondents ranking it no. 1 over other brands. On the second position it is, CCD with
33% of respondents ranking it no.1.
Brands (vending machines)

500
450
400
350
Cumu. Score
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
Nestle Lipton/BRU georgia CCD Others
Cumulative score 473 360 274 307 67
Graph – 8
It is clear from the above graph, that Nestle the market leader, and the first mover in this
market, is enjoying clear leadership position, when it comes to brand image of vending
machines. Nescafe’ and Nestle’ vending machines were the first ones to cater to the
customers in this market. The red and black colour combination of Nescafe’ machine is easily
recognizable and with high recall. This with regular corporate communication in form of e-
brochures, and letter to the customers, Nestle’ has build a strong brand image.
On the second position comes HUL’s Lipton brand of vending machines. Although a late
entrant in the market, HUL has quickly gained ground, and stands at strong 23000 plus
installations, but still a distant second behind market leader Nestle’.

To gain competitive edge and leadership position, HUL OOH needs to build its brand
especially in coffee beverages against its competitors Nestle’ and CCD. With around 800
cafes’ in 108 cities all across country, 853 cafe day express kiosks and 12000 plus vending
installations, CCD has emerged as a strong competitor to major players like Nestle’ and
HUL. On distant fourth is Georgia, with other brands like fresh n honest, Amazon etc. on
fifth position as far as brand image of vending machines is concerned.
Brand image (vending machines)

Nestle HUL Georgia CCD
0%
8%
9%
83%
Graph – 9
The above graph clearly emphasises the strong leadership position of Nestle’, when it comes
to beverage vending solutions, with a whopping 83% respondents claiming it to be having
best brand image among all other competitors, while HUL’s Lipton and CCD were ranked
no.1 by 9% and 8% respondents respectively.

2.4 EXPLORIG OPPORTUITIES FOR VEDIG SOLUTIOS I

EDUCATIOAL ISTITUTES:
As a part of my project, I also studied the greater Noida region for exploring opportunities
especially in educational institutes. Greater Noida Authority has developed Knowledge Park
–I, II, III, IV & V as part of developing institutional area in Greater Noida. As of now there
are somewhere around 52 operational educational institutes in the region, further Greater
Noida authority has issued another institutional scheme for sale of large educational plots, on
15.01.09, which makes this market even more lucrative.
So far most of the educational institutes are running on the pantry system which most of the
time is outsourced to a contractor.
In terms of beverages an educational institute has the following pattern of consumption:
• For students living in Hostel during breakfast and evening snack time.
• Faculty and staff of institutes are served beverages twice a day from the institute.
• Canteen in the premises of college serves beverages on the choice of consumers, be it
students, faculty or staff.
Canteen owners are mostly using their pantry system to fulfil beverage demands of the
institutes; however a general survey of the region revealed that this trend is changing and
canteen owners understand the cost benefits of vending machines. Although their awareness
level is low as far as vending machines are concerned, since most of the colleges and
institutes are new, so are their canteen contractors.
Institutes in the region are in variety, ranging from engineering institutes to medical
colleges, management institutes, Law as well as B.Ed and M.Ed. institutes.
This brings in vast variety of students from all parts of the country, and thus demand for
various beverages like tea, coffee, and other variants is sufficient.
On an average a typical educational institute has a student strength of 400 to 500, and
accordingly faculty strength of 100 to 150. This makes the whole offering a very lucrative
one for vending machine players.

Nescafe has already started making its imprint in these institutes, with some big clients in the
form of Galgotia institute and others. Smaller players like Amazon etc. are also not behind in
this race of capturing market.

CHAPTER 3:
3.1 COCLUSIOS:
On the basis of this project following conclusions are made: -
• Indian Beverages vending solutions market along with US $ 333 million hot
beverages market is expected to grow at a healthy annual rate of around 20%. As
more offices, educational institutes, and malls, are coming up, the vending solutions
market can expect good times ahead. With total number of 30,000 installations, Nestle
is the market leader in vending solutions market, with a market share of 38%, with
HUL at second position having market share of 30% and CCD at third position with
15% market share.
The Vending solutions market has witnessed tough competition in cities like Gurgaon,
Pune, and Delhi etc. with much of office space, organizational centres, and
institutional areas.
In NCR region itself HUL has somewhere around 5000 installations, and a market
share of around 20%. Here also Nestle is market leader with around 39% market
share. It can be concluded that, Nestle because of its first mover advantage and
continuous brand building initiatives has been able to secure such a strong position.
As far as HUL’s Lipton brand is concerned, it was seen that although Lipton has a
strong brand image when it comes to tea brands, but in case of vending solutions it
does not enjoy that much strong brand image.
• Research revealed some interesting facts about the customer purchase decision
behaviour. On factor analysis of collected data, six major factors were divided into
two major components. Component 1 consisting of overall cost of cup/beverage, ease
of operation, and lesser maintenance. Component 2, covers consumer preferences,
Brand image, and after sales-service. These two components have been renamed as:
Component 1: “Lifecycle Cost”
Component 2: “Brand Value”
These Components show how a customer weighs any offering of vending machines,
Component 1, “Lifecycle Cost” is mainly pre-sales concern where in the very first
meeting a customer evaluates an offer on the basis of, overall cost/cup of beverage

along with the maintenance cost and ease of operation of machine. Once these factors
are above certain criteria of customer, she will evaluate the “Brand value” of the
offering in terms of brand image of the company, consumer preferences in terms of
beverages and company, and finally after sale-service of the service provider.
• Further secondary objectives of the research were, to quantitatively evaluate the brand
image of companies for a customer. For this, specific questions were put in the
questionnaire. These questions were to be ranked and later appropriately weighed.
This analysis of collected data revealed that, in case of tea, HUL’s Brooke Bond
Lipton brand has highest brand value among customers, with Nestle on second
position. In case of Coffee, Nestle is way ahead of HUL, even CCD has a better brand
image than HUL among customers, and this can be attributed to two major factors: -
1. Nestle being the one of the oldest player in coffee market and with iconic brands
like Nescafe’ certainly has a strong brand image. This has also been strengthened over
the years by continuous brand communications also.
2. As for CCD, they are mainly known as indigenous cafe’ company and this has
certainly enhanced their brand image in coffee market.
In case of Vending machines, again Nestle has best brand image with HUL’s Lipton
and CCD being close second and third respectively.
Thus this can be concluded that HUL needs to further increase brand building efforts
for its coffee as well as vending machines brand.
• On survey of Greater Noida, it was found that market for vending machines has
immense opportunities in educational institutes, with already existing institutes as
well as new ones coming up. Company with first mover advantage in this market will
have a strong impact in long-term, as it will provide competitive edge over other
players.

3.2 RECOMMEDATIOS:
On the basis of this project, and experience gained during this period of internship, following
are some recommendations which, if implemented can benefit the OOH division: -
Database Creation of the end customer: -
• As of now, a central database containing information like, the number of vending

machines billed, quantity of ready-mix sold to distributor etc. is regularly maintained
by the company, but a central database for the end-customer, is not maintained by the
company. This data with little details is maintained individually by distributors for the
accounts each of them is handling. It is not that, no such data made or kept by
company executives, but it is done in a very fragmented way, which at the end of the
day is of no use, as no analysis can be done with fragmented data. Thus first and
foremost a relevant database creation for the region has to be done with all basic
details about the customer like organization, concerned authority (HR/Admin.
manager) details with e-mail address and contact numbers, vending machine details if
any, no. of employees, approx. consumption etc. This database will not only provide
some relevant information about the market dynamics in terms of market share of
major players, their specific areas of operation, trends in market etc. but also provide
company sales executives as well as distributors with information of customers which
needed to be serviced and which can be contacted in future for feedbacks on service
and for further lead generation. This information will prove to be very helpful in
making strategies for future as well.
ew working methodology for Sales force: -
• Distribution always emerges out as a key strength for any FMCG company, and more
so in case, when company is in foods and beverages market, catering primarily to
institutional and corporate customers. A far reached distribution leads to customer
convenience and hence increasing the entry barrier for the competitors. In Gurgaon
region, company has 16 distributors with no well defined territories. Account
acquisition is primarily the responsibility of company sales force and not distributor
sales force. And hence the allotment of customers to distributors is done by sales

officers of the company. Company sales force has not clearly divided the regions in
and around Gurgaon which comprises of Faridabad and Manesar as well. Immediate
step to channelize the efforts of sales force and boosting sales would be to divide the
whole market on the basis of geography and sales potential, and then allotment of
these regions among the front sales force, along with attachment of a sales officer
with particular distributors. This step would bring out following changes; firstly, there
would be required ground coverage in terms of potential customers as well as
geographically, which as of now is not being done properly. Secondly, this will bring
about the clarity in terms of targets for each of the company salesmen as well as
distributors. Thirdly, this will make it easier to check the performance of the sales
force and distributors on both sales and service front.
Route Planning: -
• In order to increase the market share in this market, a company has to gain as much
ground as possible and that too with limited workforce, and as quickly as possible. To
achieve this, proper analysis of the market is required, in terms of opportunities
available in the market. That can only be done by making a relevant and up to date
database as stated above, further this database must be used to decide the route plans
for each sales personnel. By fixing the route plans and regular updating of data, it will
be easier and reliable for the company to keep a check on the market as well as
working of its personnel. Route planning will also bring down the redundancy of
efforts by sales personnel and much ground can be covered in lesser time. To gain
positive results, this should be done in advance at the starting of the month, and
regular weekly checks should be made in order to find out any changes in the plan if
required.
Development of basic packages for different customers: -
• As pointed out in the analysis of the research, customer in this market behaves in a
certain way.
Component 1, “Lifecycle Cost” is the first one which a customer is concerned with
and further his decision is also affected by component 2 i.e. “Brand Value”. A plan
should be charted out on the basis of these findings and some other basic information,

like type of industry, size of the firm or organization, types of consumers (students,
employees, their age, preferences) etc. It will provide company with a basic offering
or package for different type of clients, in different sectors, which can be easily
customized to specific needs of a particular client.
Brand Communications: -
• HUL enjoys a strong brand image in the market as far as tea is concerned with its
brand Brooke Bond Lipton. But in case of coffee its brand BRU lacks similar
strength. This must be improved as it plays an important factor in shaping a
customer’s decision and as more and more coffee culture is brewing in the country,
especially in the northern part (South India already has more coffee drinkers than tea)
it becomes very important for the company to strengthen their coffee brand BRU.
Although in order to revamp its brand image company is already spending enough
marketing budget, to position BRU as a brand for youth, but this company effort can
only be realised for OOH division, if they capitalize on this marketing by increasing
their brand communications with their existing as well as potential customers. A good
thing here would be to follow the leader Nestle’ which is very prompt in brand
communications with its clients. They regularly keep their clients updated about new
products and developments of the company which could be beneficial for the
customer in the form of e-brochures, articles on net etc. apart from regular updating of
their website.
For sample of e-brochure please refer to appendix-4.
Enhance focus on educational institutes: -
• As a part of third objective of project, I surveyed the institutional area of Greater

Noida, and found that it provides immense opportunities for the company to grab
major market share. In order to do this OOH division has to take the first mover
advantage with the customers, as the area is relatively new in its development and
much ground is needed to be covered. Also with announcement of sale of new
institutional plots by Greater Noida authority, this region is going to be even more
lucrative for vending solutions in future.
So, without wasting any time OOH division should focus on this region, and cover as
much market as possible.

APPEDIX - 3
Questionnaire
Name of the organisation: -
Contact Person: -
No. Of Employees: -
Tea/coffee vending machine with details: -
To what extent following factors affect/affected your purchase decision for beverage vending
machine (Rate the following on the scale of 1 to 10, 1 being lowest and 10 being highest): -
1. Consumer (employees) preferences and choices.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
2. Which is more important?
a. Cost only.
b. Brand only.
c. Part brand Part cost.
3. Overall Cost per cup of a beverage incurred.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

4. Brand image of the service provider (Company).
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
5. Ease of operation of vending machine.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
6. After-sales service by the vendor.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
7. Lesser maintenance.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
8. The current machine vendor was the only one to approach you.
Yes / No.
(Rank the following questions from Q.9 to Q.11 on scale of 1 to 5, 1 being the highest rank
and 5 being the lowest.)
9. Which company according to you has a better brand image for its Tea?
a. Nestle.
b. Brooke Bond TajMahal.
c. Georgia.
d. CCD.
e. Any other ( )
10. Which company according to you has a better brand image for its Coffee?
a. Nestle.
b. Brooke Bond BRU.
c. Georgia.

d. CCD
e. Any other ( )
11. Which company according to you has a better brand image for its Vending machines?
a. Nestle.
b. Lipton/BRU.
c. Georgia.
d. CCD.
e. Any other ( )
12. Any other factor which influenced your purchase decision.

REFRECES
1. Marketing Research – Naresh Malhotra

2. Statistics – Ken Black
3. http://www.hulfnbservices.com
4. http://www.nestle.in
5. http://www.cafecoffeeday.com
6. http://www.fresh-honest.com
7. http://www.godrejcp.com
8. http://www.ibef.org
9. http://www.answers.com
10. http://www.teaboard.gov.in
11. http://www.indiacoffee.org
12. http://www.scribd.com

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Hindustan Unilever Limited

Summer Internship Project Report

“CORPORATE ACCOUTS’ PURCHASE DECISIO AALYSIS BASED O THE

Under the guidance of

Prof. R.J. Masilamani Mr. Shiv Mohan Bharadwaj

I am thankful to Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) for having given me an opportunity to

Birla Institute of Management Technology,

BIMTECH PGDM 2008-10 Page 2

1.1: Company Profile..........................................................................................................11

1.2: Company History.........................................................................................................12

1.3: Brief Overview of Indian Beverage Industry..............................................................14

2.1.1: Brief Overview of Tea and Coffee Market.........................………………21

2.1.2: Vending Solutions Market...........................................................................21

2.1.3: HUL OOH Division.....................................................................................24

2.1.4: Nestle OOH Division..................................................................................35

2.1.5: Comparative Study of HUL and Nestle Products.......................................35

2.1.6: Distribution Network of HUL OOH Division............................................38

2.2: Sales Lead Generation and Management...................................................................39

2.2.1: Cost Comparison of Vending machines v/s Pantry..................................................40

2.2.2: Results of Sales Lead Generation.............................................................................43

2.3.1: Statement of Problem...........................................................................................44

2.3.2: Objectives of Research.........................................................................................45

2.3.3: Approach to the Problem......................................................................................46

2.3.4: Questionnaire Development.................................................................................47

BIMTECH PGDM 2008-10 Page 3

2.3.5: Sample Design Process.........................................................................................48

2.3.6: Scaling Technique.................................................................................................48

2.3.7: Analysis Method....................................................................................................49

2.3.8: Analysis of Primary Objective Using SPSS..........................................................49

2.3.9: Analysis of Secondary Objective of Research......................................................54

2.4: Exploring Opportunities for Vending Solutions in Educational Institutes............................59

BIMTECH PGDM 2008-10 Page 4

Table 1: Indian Spirits Industry.

Table 2: Nestle Product Prices.

Table 3: HUL Product Prices.

Table 4: Cost Comparison of Vending machines v/s Pantry.

Table 5: Components obtained from Factor Analysis.

Table 6: Competitor Analysis on the basis of Component 1.

Table 7: Competitor Analysis on the basis of Component 2.

Graph 1: Vending Solutions Market.

Graph 2: Market share of Major Players.

Graph 3: Comparative prices of Nestle and HUL.

Graph 4: Scores for major Tea Brands from Questionnaire.

Graph 5: Percentage of Respondents ranking a Tea brand no. 1.

Graph 6: Scores for major Coffee brands from Questionnaire.

Graph 7: Percentage of Respondents ranking a Coffee brand no. 1.

Graph 8: Scores for major Vending machine brands from Questionnaire.

Graph 9: Percentage of Respondents ranking a Vending machine brand no. 1.

BIMTECH PGDM 2008-10 Page 5

Appendix 1: Factor Analysis.............................................................................................66

Appendix 2: Estimate of Yearly Revenue from acquired accounts..................................69

Appendix 4: e-brochure as a part of Brand Communication of Nestle.............................73

BIMTECH PGDM 2008-10 Page 6

BIMTECH PGDM 2008-10 Page 7

Having got an opportunity to utilise my theoretical knowledge of B2B marketing, with

BIMTECH PGDM 2008-10 Page 8

1.1 Company Profile:

BIMTECH PGDM 2008-10 Page 9

1.2 Company History:

BIMTECH PGDM 2008-10 Page 10

BIMTECH PGDM 2008-10 Page 11

1.3 Brief overview of Indian Beverage Industry:

BIMTECH PGDM 2008-10 Page 12

“CORPORATE ACCOUTS’ PURCHASE DECISIO AALYSIS BASED O THE

2.1.1 BRIEF OVERVIEW OF TEA AD COFFEE MARKET:

2.1.2 VEDIG SOLUTIOS MARKET:

2.1.3 HUL OUT-OF-HOME DIVISIO:

3. ew 4 Lane U cup Machine:

2.1.4 ESTLÉ OUT-OF-HOME DIVISIO:

2.1.5 COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ESTLE AD HUL PRODUCTS:

• estle’ Product prices:

Product ame Rate Specification

2.1.6 DISTRIBUTIO ETWORK OF HUL OOH DIVISIO: