PGDM 2010-12

Atreya Chakroborty(10)
Gaurav Kumar Singh(15)
Nathan R.K.(32)
Suhan Sarkar(52)
[CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT
Varun Ahooja(59)

IN INDIAN MARKETING
SYSTEM]

CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT IN INDIAN MARKETING SYSTEM Page 1

 CULTURE :
 Culture is ‘the totality of behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all
other products of human work and thought’. It has also been defined as
shared behavior, which is important because it systemizes the way people do
things, thus allowing cooperation so that groups of people can accomplish
what no single individual could do alone. It is usually imposed by sanctions,
rewards and punishments for those who are part of the group.

 Culture is mainly constituted by language, aesthetics, education, religion,

attitudes and values.

 Culture operates by setting somewhat loose boundaries for individual

behavior in a society and by influencing the functioning of different
institutions such as family and mass media etc.

 Culture not only influences consumer behavior but also reflects it. It is a
mirror of both the values and possessions of its members.

 Culture is not static but it is evolving and changing slowly over time.

 In India, this dimension of culture goes further, with its abundant subcultures
due to multiplicity of languages and custom, differing geographical features
and different festivals and traditions. The 100 year colonial rule of the British
empire left its imprints on a variety of areas, such as dress codes, leisure
activities, and job preferences. In addition, exposure to western culture and
living practices through media such as TV, cinema, books and magazines has
had an influence on the cultural values and outlook among young people in
the subcontinent.

CULTURAL VALUES :
 Some cultures emphasize and reward individual initiative while some others
encourage and value cooperation and conformity to a group. American
culture falls in the first category whereas Indian culture comes under the
second category. This difference in culture has an influence on many
components of marketing such as reactions to advertising, luxury goods, fast
food joints and preferred sources of information. Families are very important
in India and marketers must understand this because adolescents are more
likely to seek parental advice or to respond favourably to their advice in
making purchases.

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  In India, we observe a changing and expanding role of women. This change is
more visible in urban areas. Increasing number of women taking up
employment has led to increased demand for time saving gadgets and other
related products targeted at working women. This is offering several new
opportunities to marketers.

 Indian culture values diversity and accepts all sorts of religions and political
beliefs. Such a culture is most likely to welcome diversity in terms of food,
dress, and a vast variety of products and services.

 India is a very tradition bound country and people in general are

uncomfortable with change. Advertising themes are affected by this value
and many advertisements in India use traditional settings to communicate
with consumers. Such cultures are more likely to show higher incidence of
brand loyalty.

 Some societies are more fatalistic in their outlook than others and believe
that whatever is destined will happen. This discourages people from taking
initiative and expressing formal complaints with an unsatisfactory purchase.
Marketers must keep this in mind while deciding their strategies.

 Many cultures value nature, admire it and believe in living in harmony with
nature. In India, many things from nature are worshipped and a high value is
placed on environment. Differences in attitudes towards environment are
evident in consumers purchase and consumption decisions and recycling
methods.

 Religion plays a very major role in Indian culture. It is important for marketers
to understand the extent and type of religious influences in a given culture to
effectively develop marketing programmes.

CROSS CULTURAL INFLUENCE :

The theme of cross cultural influences has two variations. Cross-cultural
influences are norms and values of consumers in foreign markets that influence
strategies of MNC’s marketing their products and services abroad. The second
variation refers to sub cultural influences that concern differences in values among
different groups within a country that distinguish them from society as a whole.
Cross cultural analysis helps marketers to determine to what extent the consumers
of two or more nations are similar or different. The greater the similarity between
consumers, the more feasible it is to use relatively similar strategies in each country.
But if there are wide cultural differences, then a highly individualized marketing
strategy may be indicated for each country.

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 The change in Indian culture over the last few decades has been due to a
variety of reasons.Urbanization, liberalization and globalization of the economy, the
IT revolution, the success of the global Indian diaspora, the affirmation of religious
identities and reaffirmation of ancient world views, reinterpretations of history, new
medias and transnational megagurus, and new political landscapes denote some of
these processes.The urbanisation of small and mid-sized towns,the advent of
MNC’s ,the emergence of double income no kids families,the change in lifestyle
owing to higher purchasing power and “the pace of life”,as theorists put it across has
resulted in a cultural paradigm shift.

From a marketer’s point of view ,while consumers across the world are
seeing a growing number of "Made in India" labels on the goods they buy, Indian
shoppers are witnessing a more subtle change. Increasingly, multinational
companies are selling products that are not just made in -- but that are made for –
India which after the U.S. and China, is the largest consumer market in the world.

MARKET FOR PIZZA :

With the arrival of branded pizza such as Domino's and Pizza Hut in early
to mid 1990s it has reached almost all major cities in India by 2010.Pizza has
embraced food-on-the-run ,corporate enterprise and an Indian ingenuity .Pizzas
currently form about 2% i.e a market of almost 1000 crore out of the 58000
crore Indian food market.

Considering that the pizza is a food foreign to the Indian palate, this is no
small feat. Pizza Hut tried to develop a bond with the Indian consumer.” We
learnt that if we are to make an impression on the complex Indian palate, we had
to become relevant to the Indian consumer”. This kick-started the Indianisation
campaign at Pizza Hut.

They created Indian toppings and vegetarian pizzas. The success of

flavours like Chicken Tikka, Spicy Korma and the Tandoori range has been
beyond expectations. The world’s only 100 per cent vegetarian Pizza Hut
restaurants located in Ahmedabad, Surat and Mumbai’s Chowpatty, and a special
Jain menu sans root-based ingredients are again a reflection of their adaptation
to local preferences. Root-based pizzas do not contain onion and garlic. Instead
of garlic bread, special Jain bread is served. Moreover, dressings on our salads
are completely egg-less. What has worked for Pizza Hut is the strategy to ‘think
global and act local’. It is an international brand with an Indian heart, in terms
product, quality of service as well as pricing.

EVOLUTION OF ADVERTISEMENTS:
Over the years, Pizza Hut has invested time and resources in
understanding the market and customer preferences. The advertising strategy

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 for Pizza Hut is two-fold. Firstly, laying emphasis on it being an international
brand with an Indian heart, Pizza Hut’s communication is reflective of family
values, family bonding, etc. Take for instance, Pizza Hut’s arranged marriage
commercial in Indian settings, and the Palat pizza commercial in Hinglish.
Secondly, highlighting the premise that the pizza is a catalyst that brings people
together ensures that this is a brand that connects with the Indian consumer.
Today, Pizza Hut spends approximately Rs 10-12 crore on advertising annually
using a media mix of print, television and radio.

Pizza Hut understands that the Indian consumer is value conscious, and
not just price conscious. So they have been continuously reinforcing their
product quality and standards to remain in sync with the Indian consumer. So
while they have maintained the highest quality standards, they also believe in
delivering affordability. For example, Pan Pizzas start at just Rs 65, which is
probably among the lowest in the world. The recent `Pan 4 All’ initiative is also
an example of good value for money, where you can actually get four pizzas
beginning Rs 200!

Since its entry into India, Domino's introduced nine new toppings for
Pizzas to cater to the local tastes. Different flavors were introduced in different
parts of India. Advani said, “The Indian palate is very definitive – people are
extremely finicky and choosy, not too willing to experiment. Food tastes vary
from region to region. To capture the market, we had to localize flavors.”

Thus, Deluxe Chicken with Mustard Sauce'and Sardines were confined to

the East, Mutton Ghongura and Chicken Chettinad to the South and Chicken
Pudina to Mumbai. Butter chicken, Makhani Paneer and the Chatpata Chana
Masala were confined to the North. Very soon, Pizza Hut followed Domino's and
offered customized Spicy Paneer and Chicken Tikka toppings.

Apart from this, it also opened a 100% vegetarian restaurant at

Ahmedabad, a one-of-its-kind worldwide. The restaurant also offered a special
Jain menu, which did not have a single root-based ingredient to fit in with the
food habits of Jains. Salads dressings in pizza outlets in india do not have any egg
contains in it. Another city-specific adaptation of its menu by Pizza Hut was the
restaurant in Hyderabad, (Andhra Pradesh) which offered Halal meat and
chicken only with no beef and pork products in the menu.

Domino's and Pizza Hut initially restricted their ad strategy to banners,

hoardings and specific promotions. In August 2000, Domino's launched the
‘Hungry Kya? (Are You Hungry)'sequence of advertisements on television. A

For the same reason as stated above it is still very tough to make a part of
rural Indian food habit.

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 EFFECT OF VARIOUS MARKETIING ENVIRONMENTS ON THE
MARKETIING OF PIZZA
Factors Effects
Economic With increasing purchasing power of the Indian middle
class, the market for pizza is all set to boom.
Demographic Due to rapid urbanization of tier 2 and tier 3 cities, the
market for pizza is expanding with more and more outlets
being opened.
Social Dining out has become much more popular in India of late,
than what it used to be earlier.
Some fast food joints have obtained licenses for serving
alcohol according to customer preferences.
Legal Recently, the government has allowed unrestricted FDI in
fast food business. As a result, more investment would flow
in.
Marketing Print (Pamphlets etc) and broadcasting(TV) and
Communication electronic(Internet) media is used extensively to market
Pizza in India.
Internal Marketing Preferences of the Indian consumer has coerced the firms
to modify their orientation. For example, Pizza Hut was
primarily a dine-in food joint but it has introduced home
delivery service to meet consumer preferences.
Dominoes promises its customers delivery within 30 mins
or free.
Technological With the advent of ultra modern machinery and
equipments, processing time can be reduced considerably.

References:

1.Consumer Behaviour Insight ,ICFAI Hyderabad

2.Text and Cases by Satish K Batra and SHH Kazmi

3.Consumer Behaviour ,Mazumdar

4. www.knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/india

5. www.marketerskaleidoscope.com

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