Haldiram's Group - Seeking the 'Right' Marketing Mix

Introduction Contd...

Haldiram's had many 'firsts' to its credit. It was the first company in India to brand 'namkeens³'. The group also pioneered new ways of packaging namkeens. Its packaging techniques increased the shelf life of namkeens from less than a week to more than six months.

It was also one of the first companies in India to open a restaurant in New Delhi offering traditional Indian snack food items such as "panipuri," "chatpapri," and so on, which catered to the needs of hygiene conscious non-resident Indians and other foreign customers.

Given the increasing popularity of Haldiram's products, the group planned to expand its operations. However, some analysts felt that Haldiram's still had to overcome some hurdles. The company faced tough competition not only from sweets and snack food vendors in the unorganized market but also from domestic and international competitors like SM Foods, Bakeman's Industries Ltd, Frito Lay India Ltd.(Frito Lay) and Britannia Industries Ltd. Moreover, the group had to overcome internal problems as well. In the early 1990s, because of the conflict within the Agarwals family, Haldiram's witnessed an informal split between its three units as they started operating separately offering similar products and sharing the same brand name...