Minute Maid Trial ...4 Ps

After being put-off by the Hypermart people today I could try out Minute Maid 'Pulpy Orange' at a local small retailer. It has taken close to six month for the brand to reach the Hindi Heartland after the its launch in three southern states in February. First the plus points of the product, It tastes good, and the tag like 'Puply Orange' stands up to the expectations both while drinking and visibility of the pulp . The tag line and product experince match...The distribution and the POPs for the launch is also good, as should be with a major launch by coke. Thus out of the four Ps one can say that three Ps- product, promotion, and place have been taken care off, but the Price which is at times the most critical of the four Ps in impulse purchase categories like soft drinks is the one which needs to be investigated more.

The pricing is 25/- for 400 ml and Rs 60/- for the one liter bottles, which I feel is a little high for the Indian market. Working backwards from the price for 1 liter bottle, they would have had to charge 18/- rounded off to 20/- for a 300 ml bottle. And consumers would have felt it is almost double the price of a normal soft drink. Though the company would like to dispute the fact that it is a soft drink, it would claim it is a fruit drink, but for a consumer it is competing against the normal soft drinks, whatever the company feels. Looking at these issues I think the company thought 400 ml and 25/- would be better price point. But the problem with the 400 ml volume is that it does not exist in the Indian market we are used to either the 200ml or 300 ml volume so the consumer has to be told that it is a 400 ml bottle and it doesn't help that bottle looks like a normal 300ml one.. and from the consumers point of view most of us would find 400ml too much for an individual to drink and too less to share....