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

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Haldiram's products enjoyed phenomenal goodwill and stockists competed with each other to stock its products. Moreover, sweet shops and bakeries stocked Haldiram's products despite the fact that the company's products were competing with their own products. Haldiram's also offered its products through the Internet. The company tied up with indiatimes.com, a website owned by the Times of India group⁸ to sell its products over the Internet. Haldiram's products could be ordered through a host of other websites in India and abroad.

Giftstoindia.com, giftssmashhits.com, tohfatoindia.com and channelindia.com enabled people residing abroad to send Haldiram's gift packs to specified locations in India. Region-specific websites enabled people to send gifts to specified regions. These include indiamart.com (Delhi and surrounding areas), mumbaiflowersgifts.com (Mumbai), and chennaiflowersgifts.com (Chennai and other parts of Tamilnadu). These websites competed on issues such as delivery time, which varied between 48 hrs to one week, delivery charges (some websites offered free delivery of products) and value added services (like sending personal messages along with the gift packs). Promotion Haldiram's product promotion had been low key until competition intensified in the snack foods market. The company tied with 'Profile Advertising'9 for promoting its products. Consequently, attractive posters, brochures and mailers were designed to enhance the visibility of the Haldiram's brand.

Different varieties of posters were designed to appeal to the masses. The punch line for Haldiram's products was, 'Always in good taste.' Advertisements depicting the entire range of Haldiram's sweets and namkeens were published in the print media (magazines and newspapers). These advertisements had captions such as 'millions of tongues can't go wrong,' 'What are you waiting for, Diwali?' and 'Keeping your taste buds on their toes.'

To increase the visibility of the Haldiram's brand, the company placed its hoardings in high traffic areas such as train stations and bus stations. Posters were designed for display on public transport vehicles such as buses, and hoardings, focused on individual products were developed. Captions such as 'yeh corn hain' (this is corn), 'chota samosa - big mazaa' (small samosa¹⁰ - big entertainment), 'yeh Kashmiri mix khoob jamega' (this namkeen item will gel well) and 'oozing with taste' (for Rasgoolas) promoted individual products.

For those customers who wanted to know more about Haldiram's products, special brochures were designed which described the products and gave information about the ingredients used to make it. Mailers were also sent to loyal customers and important corporate clients as a token of appreciation for their patronage. Packaging was an important aspect of Haldiram's product promotion.

Since namkeens were impulse purchase items, attractive packaging in different colors influenced purchases. Haldiram's used the latest technology (food items were packed in nitrogen filled pouches) to increase the shelf life of its products. While the normal shelf life of similar products was under a week, the shelf life of Haldiram's products was about six months. The company projected the shelf life of its products as its unique selling proposition.

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8] The Times of India group is owned by Bennett, Coleman & Company Ltd. It is India’s leading publishers of newspapers and magazines catering to a wide cross section of customers. The newspapers published by the group include Times of India, Economic Times, Nav Bharat Times and Sandhya Times (Hindi). The magazines published include Femina and Filmfare. Times FM, a music channel owned by the group, broadcasts programs in five cities in India.
9] An advertising agency based in India.
10] Triangle shaped pastry dough stuffed with spicy potatoes and deep-fried.

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