The food processing sector like Ready to Cook & Ready to Eat has emerged as one of the fastest

growing sectors in the Indian economy due to several economic reasons like urbanization and
growth of IT Sector in our country.

Popular consumers brands like Nestle Maggi , TopRamen , have been using this technology over the
years and have been a leader in this market segment. Consumers tend to be irrational in their choice
and don’t necessarily make choices based on practical attributes. The power of hedonic features can
be seen in strong brands like Maggi which claims that it can be prepared in 2 minutes whereas it’s a
known fact that it takes around 5-10 minutes to cook. Consumers have accepted it over the years
because Maggi has positioned itself as a food that can immediately cure hunger. Its marketing
strategy has helped it to connect with children and mothers. For mothers, food is significantly
important and therefore quick preparation becomes important. The above is a classic example which
shows the potential scope for influencing consumer behaviour.

With changes in society, there has been a major impact on the food behaviour of Indian consumers.
Growth in urbanization, changes in lifestyle, socio-economic profiles of Indians, the concept of
nuclear family are some of the reasons for the growth in RTE foods in the country. The modern
generation of emerging Indian women do not possess the necessary time to prepare authentic,
traditional meals on a day-to-day basis. This has led to Indians being much more experimental with
their food choices. These changes act as important inputs to influence consumer behaviour.
Different factors such as cultural factors, psychological factors and personal factors play a vital role
in shaping consumer behaviour. For instance, a young professional working in a metropolitan city
will show more inclination towards products that show deliverable results in much lesser time as
compared to a person living in a rural area.

The reason why RTE food was not successful in India.

Competition: RTE food directly competes with home cooked meals which is a more preferred option.
Indian consumers relate home cooked meals with their mother or wife. Due to this emotional
connect, RTE face a stiff challenge.

Food delivery options: Indian consumers prefer to order in or take-out food over RTE food. Also
brands such as Dominos, Subway, Pizza Hut, McDonald’s etc. provide customers with excellent
customer service, e.g. 30 minutes or free due to which they’re able to create value for the customer.
Also with the rise in internet, customers are just a click away from ordering online and that too
across various channels. Over the internet, customers nowadays have the luxury to customise ad
place their orders via Zomato.com, Foodpanda.com, Dominos.com , Swiggy , UberEATS etc.

Lack of Modern Retail Outlets: There are still less number of modern retail outlets like Big Bazaar /
SPAR or More outlets across India due to which RTE food hasn’t been able to reach much into other
cities and towns.

Failure in pricing: The price at which RTE food is sold across India is generally high when compared
to a regular home cooked meal. The serving portion quantity is also insufficient at such a high price.
Indian consumers therefore find it irrational to pay such high prices for low quantity.

Incorrect positioning: RTE food product have been generally positioned as either “Authentic” or
“Original” or “Home-made” or even “No Artificial Additives” but Indian consumers who are now
driven by health awareness would like to have products that are “Fresh” or “Natural”.

Below is the list of recommendations:

Build a strong emotional bond with consumers: Indians since childhood prefer to have meals which
are cooked by their mothers. RTE brands should look to exploit this and advertise products in way
which communicate that the product has been prepared in the same way that a typical Indian
mother prepares her food i.e. with love, care and affection. This emotional connection can be
formed by storytelling but to be truly effective, the advertisement should also be carrying sufficient
health information about the product in order to be a “story seller” This should reduce consumer
dissonance and act as an icebreaker for consumers who are dissociated from the brand. This would
also increase brand awareness and brand recall.

Packaging and Positioning: The colour green relates with nature and freshness. It should be
incorporated in packaging in such a way that when the consumer sees the package, he/she tends to
believe that the product is made from the freshest and natural ingredients. Instead of using terms
such as “Authentic” or “Original” or “Home-made” or even “No Artificial Additives”, brand should
position as RTE products as “Fresh” or “Natural” or “Made using Organic products”. These claims
would gain precedence over claims of authenticity and original claims. ELM and Fishbein Models can
be used to achieve this objective. Also the packaging format should have an option where they
content can be directly eaten from the container in order to make it more convenient for the
customer

Improve customer engagement: In order to improve customer engagement and give consumers a
sense of ownership of what they eat, RTE foods should provide consumers with different tips of
garnishing and pictures of food presentation. Also, having an online forum where different
consumers can discuss and share tips and pictures would heighten consumer engagement and this
would also transform having a RTE packaged food into an enjoyable experience.

Focus on health Aspects: In order to gain consumer trust, nutritional information should be
provided in a detailed and descriptive way. A large segment of Indian consumers across all ages are
highly influenced by claims related to “better-for-you” when they make choices pertaining to food
and beverages.

Variety in offerings: Brands should offer greater variety in their offerings other than the traditional
North and South Indian delicacies. Brands can conduct a marketing research to study the likes and
dislikes of consumers and can they narrow down to cuisines from different parts of the world like
Mexican, Italian, and Chinese etc. Items could be of various types ranging from dried items to frozen
items to canned items etc.