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Global with a local tadka to make it exciting
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Monday, 16 July, 2018, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Kshipra Rustogi and Ritika Goswami
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With easy and convenient options for eating growing manifold, the question we are asking today is ‘Can ready-to-eat take over when mummy is far away and life in a busy metro takes over?’ Can the ready-to-eat poha, upma, dal makhani, roti, pizzas and so much more that is seen on the shelf, become more acceptable?
The case for RTE is a strong one. According to Kantar World Panel, India’s ready-to-eat (RTE) food market has seen a volume growth of 50% in MAT April 2018 vs. MAT April 2017 (the number is for all India urban). Undoubtedly, eating habits in India have changed rapidly and there are a number of reasons behind this.
Economically a single-income household is hard to negotiate; double-income household is the new reality. While there is still a sense of pride, identity and hard-wiring of the Indian woman being the one responsible for the food for the family. As more and more women are stepping out of their traditional roles to take up work along with their working partners, her capacity to cook a fresh hot meal is severely diminished.
Dhabas, restaurants
Families are getting smaller and children are finding themselves at home with no parent or grandparent, thus, a need to fend for themselves. Beyond the issue of changing women’s roles, there are people who have moved out of their parents’ homes in search of better opportunities. They need options that can go beyond local dhabas and restaurants, as they may not be pocket-friendly on an everyday basis. They need something quick, microwavable and tasty in the comfort of their home.
It is with these contexts that RTE can be the right option, however, for RTE to be the caped hero of the story there are some challenges that it will have to take head on and convert them into opportunities. ‘Desi’ swag to be mainstream. RTE must offer Indians what they are familiar with. By going ‘desi,’ it can make them feel ‘at home’ in comparison to everyday eating out that may be alienating and impersonal. The swag can come from offering many varieties, by leveraging the great variety of regional food dishes.
This, however, comes with its own challenges to the category. How do we keep it interesting? How do we arrive at a standardised taste in a country where every dish has nuances as we cross state lines? And, how do we deal with the obvious comparison to ‘mummy ke haath ka khana’?
Global with a local tadka to make it exciting. To mitigate the obvious comparison with ghar ka khana, the category has to go beyond traditional Indian dishes – to experiment with Chinese, Italian, Lebanese, Mexican, Burmese, Thai and so on. Today there is high willingness to try new world cuisines. However, these would have to be Indianised, to make them more palatable. Be thereby, balance between variety and familiarity.
Create a fresh proposition. Indian food has traditionally always been freshly made, served hot, straight from the stove to the plate. It’s also perceived as tastier and healthier. Within the RTE category, freshness is a big barrier.
The category needs to introduce perceptual cues that connote freshness. Take a cue from entrants like cold-pressed juices, who with their limited shelf life have changed the game by overcoming concerns over freshness and perceptually mitigated the threat of preservatives. Can RTE talk about and promote shorter shelf life.
Mitigate the guilt with a health proposition. Consuming packaged food comes with certain guilt of a perceived health tradeoff. For RTE to enter the kitchen on a regular basis, it requires one to believe they are doing the best for their family. This is why the category needs to build for itself a strong health proposition. There are obvious and subtle cues that work as promise of health such as strengthening the ingredients story, nutritional information and zero calories.
Value-conscious Indians
Have a strong value proposition. Indians are value-conscious; they are quick with mental Maths. They need to believe that it fits their budget; anything exponentially more than what it costs them at home, will be something that they will reject or limit to occasional use.
Go for the right occasions and create an emotional connect. Traditionally, there were three big meals – breakfast, lunch and dinner plus an evening tea was accompanied with snacks. Today, there is greater fragmented eating towards the evening. Consumers are actively seeking smaller meals that are tasty but light and convenient and non-messy. Here, breaking monotony and mood upliftment are key emotional drivers. RTE can position itself as everyday-indulgence that one deserves in life such to cheer up, to celebrate, to spend time together, to just unwind and so on.
Get the target audience right. It’s not just the women or the younger population, but men too can enter the fray. Women are no longer the gatekeepers or custodians of cooking, males in urban India enjoy their hands at cooking and a format that allows playful experimentation but in a time-saving manner could attract men, who in most cases tend to be the shoppers for packaged food categories while women are busy shopping for the usual groceries at the store.
Grocery shopping
It is important that they are not ignored and brands start speaking to them for more personalised positioning, for example an RTE that is convenient to prepare and allows a husband to feel he has done his bit in helping his working wife after a long day at work is more emotionally rewarding and romantic than an occasional candle light dinner. Many go grocery shopping and an offering like RTE can attract them from the shelf - as a way to save time and allow for experimentation.
Finally, ready-to-eat bridges a gap between ‘guilty eating out’ and ‘cumbersome cooking at home from scratch.’ RTE is the middle path. To achieve this, it needs to be not just providing convenience, speed and experimentation, but also be seen as offering a healthy and fresh proposition, by introducing wholesome, natural and tasty food to consumers. This much-needed perceptual change will help create a deeper impact and more meaningful relationships with Indian consumers.
(Rustogi is senior account manager and Goswami is group account director, qualitative research, Kantar IMRB. They can be contacted at Kshipra.Rustogi@kantarimrb.com, Ritika.Goswami@kantarimrb.com)
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