Brand Extension

Opportunities for Shan

Foods
MBR Term Report, Fall 2017
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Sir Sibghatullah Hussaini 12/11/17 MBR Fall17
Acknowledgements
The completion of this report would not have been possible without the grace of Almighty Allah, the All-Knowing
and owner of all wisdom.

We would like to thank our instructor, Sir Sibghatullah Hussaini for his valued advice and guidance through out the
research work. His class lectures and suggestions, backed by tremendous field experience, have tremendously helped
us to prepare this report. Secondly, we would like to thank Mr. Kamran Mumtaz for providing us the opportunity to
work with Shan Foods and for his role as a liaison between the company and us. We would also like to thank Ms.
Yusra Taj, Brand Manager Shan Foods, for explaining us the research objectives.

Lastly, we would like to thank the Institute of Business Administration, Karachi for providing us with this opportunity,
exposure and experienced instructor to build our research skills and to help us in our decision making as future business
managers.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements....................................................................................................................................... 0
Abstract: ........................................................................................................................................................ 2
Introduction: ................................................................................................................................................. 3
Statement of the Problem: ....................................................................................................................... 5
Significance of the problem: ..................................................................................................................... 5
Purpose: .................................................................................................................................................... 6
Statement of hypothesis: .......................................................................................................................... 6
Assumptions:............................................................................................................................................. 6
Limitations: ............................................................................................................................................... 7
Ethical Considerations: ............................................................................................................................. 8
Budget: ...................................................................................................................................................... 8
Timeline: ................................................................................................................................................... 9
Literature Review: Paradigms of Successful Brand Extension. ................................................................... 10
Design of the Study: .................................................................................................................................... 12
Description of Research Design and Procedure...................................................................................... 12
Sources of Data ....................................................................................................................................... 13
Sampling Procedure ................................................................................................................................ 14
Methods and Instruments for Data Gathering ....................................................................................... 16
Statistical Treatment:.............................................................................................................................. 16
Analysis of Data........................................................................................................................................... 17
Summary and Conclusions: ......................................................................................................................... 25
Restatement of Problem ......................................................................................................................... 25
Description of Procedures: ..................................................................................................................... 25
Major Findings: ....................................................................................................................................... 26
Conclusion: .............................................................................................................................................. 26
Recommendations for Further Investigation:......................................................................................... 26

List of Figures:
Figure 1 Divisions of Spice Industry .............................................................................................................. 3
Figure 2 Market Share................................................................................................................................... 4
Figure 3 Brand Strategies Example ............................................................................................................ 11
Figure 4 Sources of Data ............................................................................................................................. 13
Figure 5 Sampling Design Process ............................................................................................................... 14
Figure 6 Sampling Design Process .................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Figure 7 Sampling Procedure (B)................................................................................................................. 15
Figure 8 Sampling Procedure (A) ................................................................................................................ 15
Figure 9 Survey Question 1 ........................................................................................................................ 17
Figure 10 Survey Question 3 ...................................................................................................................... 18
Figure 11 Survey Question 4 ....................................................................................................................... 18
Figure 12 Survey Question 6 ...................................................................................................................... 19
Figure 13 Survey Question 7 ...................................................................................................................... 20
Figure 14 Survey Question 9 ...................................................................................................................... 21
Figure 15 Survey Question 10 ..................................................................................................................... 21
Figure 16 Survey Question 11 .................................................................................................................... 22
Figure 17 Survey Question 12 .................................................................................................................... 22
Figure 18 Survey Question 13 .................................................................................................................... 23
Figure 19 survey Question 14 ..................................................................................................................... 23
Figure 20 Survey Question 16 .................................................................................................................... 24

List of Tables:
Table 1 Shan Foods vs National Foods .......................................................................................................... 4
Table 2 Budget .............................................................................................................................................. 9
Table 3 Timeline ......................................................................................................................................... 10

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Abstract:
This research report focuses on identifying Brand Extension Opportunities for Shan Foods (Pvt.) Ltd. Shan is well
established in the food industry as a spice producer. Where the primary competitor of Shan, National Foods, has
extended its brand portfolio vastly from spice mixes to instant drinks Shan is exploring categories to expand its
brand within the parameters of the food industry. The research work started with exploratory research for which two
focus groups were conducted to find out current brand equity of Shan in consumers mind, categories the consumer
currently associates the brand with, awareness of the multiple categories Shan is currently present in and finally the
categories that consumers would like to see Shan in. The results of focus group identified three major categories for
brand extension: Soup Mix, Cake Mix and Flavored Pasta. The quantitative research is based on a survey containing
both open and closed ended questions which identify the strengths of Shan, buying behavior of customers towards
the identified categories and buying frequencies. The quantitative research survey used Likert Scale as a measure of
comparison among categories. The three categories were judged on two criteria: customer buying behavior and
categorys fit with the brand. Both Soup Mix and Cake Mix got same scores which means that both them are equally
desirable by consumers and have a good fit with the current brand image of Shan Foods.

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Introduction:
According to Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority, the spice industry of Pakistan is worth PKR 24
billion of annual business with tremendous growth opportunities. This industry is sub-divided into branded and loose
spices. Branded spices have 40% percent of market share whereas loose spices market share is 60%, according to
Mr. Faisal Ganatra, the COO of Shan Foods Pvt. Ltd the overall spice category has a volume of 60,000 tones out of
which 25,000 tones are branded spices. (Andrew, 2015)1. In the overall branded and unbranded categories, 75-80%
share is of plain spices and the rest 20-25% is of spice mixes. However, the revenue contribution of spice mixes is
greater than that of plain spices.

Loose Branded
60% 40%

Plain
Spice Mix
Spices
20-25%
75-80%

Figure 1 Divisions of Spice Industry

The growth opportunities of this industry are tremendous with only two major players in market. Plain spices are
growing by 10% annually and recipe mixes by 20 to 25% every year. (Andrew, 2015)2. However, where plain spices
do not have brand loyal customers, it is very difficult for new entrants to snatch a customer from its competitors once
they are hooked to a recipe mix as it takes a lot of time, effort and money.

Shan, the home grown Pakistani multi-national, started business in 1981 from a single room. Shan has successfully
repositioned itself from a spice brand to a food brand. Today, Shan is a powerful global brand that has presence in
over 65 countries across 5 continents.

Shan foods vision statement is:

Establish Shan as the leading culinary brand, offering authentic traditional recipes & home food solutions, with
relentless focus on excellence in all we do, ensuring a wholesome experience for our consumers around the
world.

Andrew, M. (2015, May-June). Spicing it up Exploring Pakistan's spice industry. Aurora.

2

Andrew, M. (2015, May-June). Spicing it up Exploring Pakistan's spice industry. Aurora.

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The company aims to be a globally leading food brand and intends to do so by focusing on authenticity and quality
attained through excellence in operations and customer oriented strategies.

Competitors of Shan Foods include: National Foods, Chefs Pride, Kitchen Secrets, Habib Foods, Mehran Foods,
Zaiqa Foods and Ahmed Foods.

Market Share

10%

41%

49%

Shan Foods National Foods Others

Figure 2 Market Share

The branded spice industry has two major players: Shan Foods and National Foods. Shan foods market share is 41%
and 8% in recipe mixes and plain spices respectively versus National Foods 49% and 10-12% (Andrew, 2015)3

The table below shows a contrast of Shan Foods and National Foods

Shan Foods National Foods

Market Share 41%
Regional Strength Karachi and North
Regional Weakness Punjab and rest up country
Target Market Females/Males, 18-35 years age,
belonging to SEC A-C
Point of Difference Challenger brand, unique taste,
improved & contemporary
packaging, strong in exports.
Table 1 Shan Foods vs National Foods
49%
Nationwide
Not as such
Females/Males, 18-35 years age,
belonging to SEC A-D
First mover advantage, unique
taste, new packaging.

Andrew, M. (2015, May-June). Spicing it up Exploring Pakistan's spice industry. Aurora.

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Statement of the Problem:

To identify brand extension categories for Shan Foods Pvt. Ltd based on consumer preferences

We were briefed about the problem statement in our meeting with Shan Foods Brand Manager, Ms. Yusra Taj. She
told us that:

Today we understand how consumers across the world expect more value out of brands. Examples like Virgin,
Google, Hewlett-Packard strongly merit the brand extension proposition which is delivering more & more to its
consumers. In its quest to do just that, Shan Foods wants to explore brand extension opportunities; ideally food
categories that the company can venture into. This will include assessing the consumers receptiveness to the brand in
categories other than what we are already offering to the consumers

Significance of the problem:

A strong brand name like SHAN Foods is an invaluable asset; we must know when to exploit it, when to
protect it, and how to tell the difference between the two. Because using an established brand name
substantially reduces new-product introduction risks, there is an almost irresistible pull to extend brand
names to new products. Doing so can be enormously profitable, but it can be dangerous, too: In the worst
case, an ill-conceived brand extension may seriously damage the original product and preclude the
establishment of another brand with its unique associations and growth potential.

The brand name is often a firms key asset. It is tempting to evaluate the extension as a business decision
on its own merits. However, a key consideration should be possible damage to the brand franchise.
Having the extension fail is usually not nearly so bad as having it succeed and damage the brand name
by creating undesirable attribute associations, damaging the brands perceived quality, or altering existing
associations. The brand associations created by the extension can fuzz a sharp image. This danger is
particularly acute when a brands key association is a product class like with SHAN Foods. An
extension into a new product area risks damaging this asset.

It is important to make a distinction between adding new associations and diluting existing ones. The
question is whether including new associations to SHANs portfolio dilutes the original spices association
or simply adds to it. The answer depends on the strength of the original associations. Some names and
symbols, like the Pepsi and P&G, are so strong that it is very difficult to damage or change existing

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associations. New associations are simply added Pepsi makes soft drinks as well as chips.

As a brand is extended, its product class association may be weakened, but it may also develop a useful
association with a type of product. One consideration in making extension decisions, then, is whether an
extension set can form a coherent whole. When the brand association is not product related, there is more
latitude.

Purpose:
Shan Foods being the market leader in spices market, it now wants to diversify and extend its product
line in Food category. Therefore, the purpose of our research is to identify the suitable category for Shan
to extend, in which customer preference should correspond to the companys internal feasibility. Our
objective was to have consumer insight in which they wanted Shan Foods to extend and then match
consumer choices with the Shan Foods existing product profile. Our purpose of the research was to
come up with a category of the brand which consumer wants and its feasible for Shan Foods to produce
it and it somehow matches with Shan Foods existing strengths. Our product identification should be
such that the particular product category market should not be saturated. Because if the market should
be saturated then Shan Foods would not be benefiting. We need to identify a product category which
has the least number of firms making that product so that Shan Foods can tap the consumers fully.

Statement of hypothesis:
We formulated the following hypotheses:

Ho: Shan Foods should extend its brand category to soup mixes

Hi: Shan Foods should not extend its brand category to soup mixes

And

Ho: Shan Foods should extend its brand category to cake mixes

Hi: Shan Foods should not extend its brand category to cake mixes

Assumptions:
We are conducting research for the Shan Foods which is already a renowned brand. Our first assumption
that Shan Foods want to extend its product line in Food category and has no intention of diversifying
the company. For example, Shan Foods doesnt want to extend its brand of clotheslines. And Shan
Foods is famous for its spices, so our priority would be to extend in a category in which it is similar to
spices. Most importantly we were aware that we cannot make any safe assumption because to safely

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assume how you will continue to compete, you must depend on what youve known, or feel youve
known, for so long and before conducting brand extension research we cannot safely assume
something. A great brand must be constant, because thats how it retains integrity. It must be consistent
in its application, because thats how it retains familiarity. Yet it must assume, and proceed, on the basis
that everything it counts as a strength now will fade in time, because thats how it will retain vigilance.
Therefore, we assumed that Shan Food should extend its spices line since Shan Foods is known for its
spices and this makes the brand image. These are the assumptions which were considered while
conducting the research.
Once we started our extensive research we conducted Qualitative research and quantitative research. In
both types of research, we had different sets of assumption. In qualitative research, which included
focus group and in-depth interviews, respondents were being honest and were unbiased towards the
research, we made sure this by not letting them know that we were conducting research for Shan
Foods.

Limitations:

We have conducted an extensive research both Qualitative and Quantitative, to dig deep into the brand extension
opportunities for Shan Foods. We have also been successfully able to identify the Food categories that the consumers
expect and demand to be introduced by Shan Foods.

However, there has been some limitations in our research, which have not been a setback in our study, but we did face
a few constraints.

Firstly, we were not able to conduct an international focus group of ladies across various countries. We had planned
to organize a focus group on Skype as a conference video call with 6 to10 of the relatives and friends, whom we know,
living abroad and are involved in cooking and have a well know how of spices and recipe mixes. This would help us
have a better insight of what people around the world feel and think about recipe mixes, and the brands that provide
recipe mixes. Since Shan Food is a Globally recognized brand, people all over the globe consume it. Unfortunately,
we were not able to execute this because of a few issues. There was an issue of different time zones. It was difficult
to have all the ladies on the video conference at the same time because some are housewives, but some are working,
and they are committed with their schedules and time respective of their country. Hence, it was really difficult to

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gather the respondents together at a uniform platform to conduct an extensive focus Group. Due to the same reasons
we could also not carry out in-depth interviews online from ladies living in US, UK, Australia.

Secondly, while doing the Qualitative Research, we needed to get 40 Face to Face surveys filled by users of Shan and
National Foods. The constraint we faced here was that we saw that the people were hesitant to fill the surveys, even
though it was a general survey about cooking and recipe items. However, we got them filled as per our research
requirement by housewives who cook and chefs.

There were not many limitations associated to our research because all necessary information was provided to us or
we extracted it through further research. The only few limitations were that we couldn't carry out an international
online focus Group for Shans Brand Extension Opportunities.

Ethical Considerations:

While conducting this research we as researchers have to take care of some ethical considerations.
We have placed ethical standard to protect the rights and welfare of participants and to ensure the accuracy of scientific
knowledge. The first and foremost ethical consideration is informed consent, which in our research is not much needed
because our respondents were kept anonymous while getting our surveys filled and even in F2F surveys, the
respondents were very hesitant to disclose their identity. Secondly, the purpose of the Research was hidden from them
and all their responses in the focus Group were recorded. Ethically, respondents should be told about the real purpose
of the research and their consent should be taken if their responses are being voice recorded or even if a video is
silently being made for a focus group. Thirdly, falsifying, modifying and omitting data is a huge ethical concern here.
It is very important to record the same responses as they were given. Tampering with the responses to achieve the
required results is unacceptable and should not be done at any cost. These were the few basic ethical considerations
that need to be very careful of while conducting this research design. Hence, we all were very vigilant while recording
the responses and handling with data.

Budget:

Our Research on Shans brand extension Opportunity was majorly done online through literature Review, focus
groups, in-depth interviews, face to face surveys, SWOT analysis, using Statistical techniques and hence the Budget
required in our study was mostly for transportation as we had to visit Shans Head Office once wherein we used
Careem for both and coming back. We the group embers pooled in for the transportation cost. Moreover, the Focus
Group we conducted included the Focus Group itself and some refreshments and snacks for the respondents like tea,
coffee, biscuits and cookies. Furthermore, every group member got the face to face surveys printed out to get them
filled from the relevant respondents. Hence this entails the printing costs. Majorly, our budget constituted around fuel
costs for car to reach the Venue of Focus Group, printing costs of surveys and expenses for refreshments of focus

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Group Respondents. Also, some of the group members had to travel to their relatives and acquaintances to get the
surveys filled, thus several trips like this have been made and this also adds up to the cost

Costs and Expenses Proposed Budgeted amount.

Transportation(Careem) Rs. 750 in total

Printing Rs. 90 per member

Refreshments Rs. 500 in total

Fuel Costs Rs. 200 per visit

Table 2 Budget

Timeline:

While conducting our research and even before starting off with it, we as a group developed a proposed Timeline for
the flow of activities and the important things that needed to be done. The importance of developing a proposed
chronology is that every member in the group has a clear vision and idea of what work needs to be done and completed
and with the help of this every individual start on with their work before time and manage their other tasks and
eventually complete all the work timely. Hence, we also made a plan and a flowchart of how we will be carrying out
our activities for Shans Brand Extension Opportunity.

We started off with our work in the 1st week of October and initially we gathered articles on literature Review and on
our problem which is to identify Brand Extension Opportunities for Shan Foods. We gathered around 6 articles from
different sources and submitted to our professor on Oct 18. Then we started working on our primary and Quantitative
research. For that we developed a questionnaire in the first week of November and got it approved from our professor.
Furthermore, we created a survey for our F2F responses and for online responses. Then Random sampling was done
to pick up the right sampling units for our surveys and research. This took about 5 days and the respondents were
chosen. All this work was done by the Mid of November. All the responses were gathered by the first week of
December and statistical tests were applied on it, the results were compiled and reported by the 10th of December.

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 Time Required to complete the
Tasks to be performed Finish Date
task

1.Literature Review 1 week 18th October

2. Analysis of the articles 1 week 25th October

3. Designing the Questionnaire 3 weeks 15th November

4. Conduct focus Groups 5 days 20th November

5. Creating the survey 3 weeks 15th November

6. Simple random Sampling 1 week 20th November

7. Collecting Responses through F2F 1 week 26th November

8. Applying statistical tests 1 week 3rd December

9. Compiling and Reporting the

1 week 9th December
results
Table 3 Timeline

Literature Review: Paradigms of Successful Brand Extension.

According to our analysis and secondary data research we concluded that introducing a brand into a market can be
quite costly and therefore companies use brand extension which uses the name of an already established brand to make
an entry into the market less risky and less costly. Some of the successful companies which have implemented brand
extension are National foods and Unilever. However, brand extension also has its problems. One of the major problems
of brand extension is the issue of brand cannibalism which means that "instead of success, the failed extension might

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tarnish the image and reduce the market share of the parent product. Brand Equity can be described as the value that
a brand name adds to a product. According
to psychological basis, brand equity is what consumer thinks about when faced with a problem.

Figure 3 Brand Strategies Example

There are different patterns of brand stretching such as some firms extend their brands into markets that far from their
Product line. While some firms enter into markets where there fragmented markets with no strong incumbent brand.
Differentiation leads to Rivalry. Firms produce a full product line/ restrict their products, if the the degree of brand-
specification is small/large. If the degree of brand specification is not too
large then, Brand Proliferation is an entry deterring strategy. The article also talks about Brand Capital and further
says that firms that have large stocks of successful brands have an advantage in producing new products. The
accessibility-diagnosticity Model explains that if any factor increases the accessibility of an input then it will also
increase the chances that input will be used for judgement.

Dilution/enhancement effects emerge in presence of highly accessible extension information. Hence analysis is done
at micro level and then implications are drawn towards Buying Decision on the extended brands. Previous studies on
feedback effects of brand Extension has ignored the role of accessibility and oversimplified the notion of dignosticity.
In conclusion some Quantitative Analysis is done as results of the discussion of information Interactions with
similarity that influence the Diagnosticity of extension Information.

By analyzing brand extension strategies and its effects on consumer buying decision, it
is been concluded that brand extension strategies are very effective tool for companies
to stay in the market and capture market share. Brand extension strategies are also
helpful in developing strong perception in the mind of the customers by offering child

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brand. Brand extension strategies are also a very powerful toll to increase companys
portfolio. Even though brand extension strategies are very influential but there are some
risks associated with them also which are the risk of companys image (if child brand is
not consistent with parent brand features). Companys image would be distorted in case
of unidentifiable point of differentiations and point of parity with parent brand.

To understand how consumers think and react regarding a new product that
possesses a high degree of innovation companies will assess consumer innovativeness
by creating specific customer profiles. This article focused on providing a new
approach as to how to build those profiles. The validity of traditional view of customer
innovativeness id debated upon along with a conceptual analysis to develop a
framework of measuring customer innovativeness and risk aversion profiles.
Technological changes make information easily available which in turn forge new
growth and create new brands. There are two sorts of brand extension: Incremental
Brand Extension and Radical Brand Extension. The major issue of Radical Brand
Extension is the product itself i.e. despite having a high innovation rate, imitation rates
might fall to zero.

Design of the Study:

Description of Research Design and Procedure

The research design used in our study is extensive yet simple and easy to execute. Our research is designed on the
basis of both Qualitative and Quantitative data. We have followed different procedures for obtaining these data.

For Qualitative Research Design, initially we did literature review and then we have conducted extensive and
Insightful Focus Groups, not only one but two. Before carrying out the focus groups, we designed a full-fledged
Questionnaire which helped us to ask questions from the respondents in the Focus Groups. These questions had a
logical flow with no logical jumps and we used Funnel Approach in sequencing the Questions. The focus Group was
conducted very carefully, and the respondents were not given any hint of the brand we were conducting the focus
Group for hence to gain accuracy and bias free answers. In-depth Interviews were also conducted to have a better
know how of what ladies who regularly cook food feel and think about Shan and its competitors (National Foods).
We further made transcripts of the responses we gathered in the focus Group so that we wouldn't miss out on any
important response.

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For Quantitative Research Design, we primarily made a survey on google document so that it is easier for us to float
around the relevant respondents. After doing that we did Simple Random Sampling to select the respondents from
whom we wanted to get the surveys filled from. F2F surveys were carried out to require better results and then once
all the responses were gathered and collected we did statistical analysis on the results of the surveys. We made graphs;
pie charts and bar graphs to have a better and clear mathematical and visual representation of the results. We used the
results to suggest Shan Foods to explore into categories that the consumer demands from them - consumers want Shan
Foods to come into Soup Mix and Cake Mix Category.

Sources of Data
Before conducting any primary research, we first needed to understand the basic premise of what brand extension is
and how do we execute it. This was done so by reviewing the literature on brand extension. In total, five research
articles that comprised of brand extension and its execution were reviewed.

Figure 4 Sources of Data

Research conducted for Shan Foods brand extension needed extensive data to formulate and test a hypothesis. For
this, we first needed to identify the potential brand extension products. This was done by undertaking qualitative
research which basically comprised of focus groups. Our team took two major focus groups which gave us
consumers insight over potential brand extension categories. Each of these focus group consisted of female household
members who are responsible for cooking. For our quantitative research, we used the survey method and formulated
a questionnaire. This questionnaire was filled by the respondents using the google forms online. Moreover, Face to
Face (F2F) interview technique was used to get the responses of over thirty respondents. The questionnaire was
designed using the responses we collected in our focus groups. We identified over three brand extension categories
for Shan Foods which included cake mixes, pasta and soup mixes. The questionnaire was devised to contain both open
ended and close ended responses so that we have both objective and subjective responses from the respondents.

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Sampling Procedure
Talking to or interviewing every respondent of the target population is not feasible while conducting any research.
Therefore, a sample is drawn from the population which reflects the views and opinion of the entire target segment.
This procedure is called sampling and is used in almost all researches. There are many different types of sampling
procedure available which includes probability sampling and non-probability sampling:

Simple Random Sampling

Stratified Random Sampling
Cluster Sampling
Quota Sampling

Among these different types of sampling, the one we used for our quantitative data collection was simple random
sampling. We marked and identified all the households in our respective apartments and/or neighborhood and selected
t Figure 5 Sampling Design Process

Among these different types of sampling, the one we used for our quantitative data collection was simple random
sampling. We marked and identified all the households in our respective apartments and/or neighborhood and selected
them as a finite population.

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We then used Excel for generating random number which lies between the finite target population. The function
RandBetween() was used to generate the random numbers. These numbers indicated the flat or house numbers that
we had to interview. Since everyone in the vicinity knew us personally, the response rate came out as 100%. The
illustration of two of these survey techniques is presented below:

Figure 7 Sampling Procedure (A) Figure 6 Sampling Procedure (B)

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Methods and Instruments for Data Gathering
Data gathered for this research report was based on primary and secondary research. Initially, secondary research was
conducted to review the available literature on brand extension. The method to gather the data used for secondary
research was by exploring and browsing articles on websites such as

Google Scholar
Jstor
EBSCO host

The articles provided the insight as to what exactly brand extension was, and the tools and techniques used to conduct
a brand extension successfully. It provided an initial framework including the advantages and disadvantages of brand
extension.

The methods and techniques used to gather primary data also consisted of two methodologies. This was because
separate tools and techniques were to be used for gathering of qualitative primary data unlike primary data. The
primary tool used to gather qualitative data was by using focus groups. Two focus groups were conducted with target
audience or consumer profile which was selected being housewives who cooked. In the first focus group, a total of
six housewives participated with one moderator from our team. The focus group lasted about 30 to 40 minutes giving
us initial insights as to what areas could Shan Food venture for extending its brand category. The second focus group
consisted of eight housewives from different locality who participated in this focus group. This focus group had similar
findings as the first one.

The instrument or method used for gathering quantitative data was survey where an online questionnaire was posted
using google forms to obtain responses. The same questionnaire was also printed in order to conduct Face to Face
(F2F) interviews were respondents were asked personally to answer the questions face to face. The number of online
questionnaire response for this survey was 52 including 19 Face to Face Interviews.

Statistical Treatment:
Considering the nature of questions and responses. Mode was the only viable measure of central tendency that could
be applied to analyze responses and hence reach a conclusion. We have used to identify customers preference of Shan
or National in both categories. Also, relative scores were assigned to answer options to questions regarding customer
buying frequency of Cake Mixes and Soup Mixes which are found to be equal.

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Analysis of Data
The quantitative data was collected through two ways:

1) Through Google Forms

2) Face to Face Interviews (F2F)

Three brand extension categories were analyzed for Shan Food which included Soup mixes, Cake mixes and Flavored
Pasta.

The questionnaires questions have been separately analyzed including the responses using graphical methods for better
understanding.

1) How Often do you buy soup mixes?

Figure 8 Survey Question 1

Soup mixes were one of the most least favored categories out of three identified for Shans brand extension. 37% of
the respondents claimed that they never bought soup mixes. This was followed by occasionally which had over 34%
selection. 17% of the respondents claimed to buy it somewhat often whereas the total percentage of often and very
often was less than 12%. This indicates that the average trend to buy soup mixes is not that common.

2) Why do you buy/not buy soup mixes?

This was an open-ended question therefore the responses varied. For apple to apple comparison, we coded the similar
responses into same category. These two categories were either for or against buying soup mixes. The most prominent

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answers for buying soup mixes was that soup mixes were convenient to make and therefore was less hassle. The
prominent answers for against category was that Karachi mostly has hot weather.

3) Which soup mix brand do you buy/recall?

Which soup mix brand do you buy/recall?

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
Knorr None I don't like Soup

Figure 9 Survey Question 3

The most bought brand that the respondent identified was Knorr. Surprisingly, out of 52 respondents, not even one
could name any other brand than Knorr which had over 67% selection. Other answers included None or I dont like
soup.

4) How satisfied/Dissatisfied are you with that brand?

Figure 10 Survey Question 4

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Over 55% of the respondents were either satisfied or very satisfied with the brand they choose. Over 32% of the
respondents were neutral towards their brand performance whereas the percentage for dissatisfied or very dissatisfied
was less than 15%.

5) Why do you like/dislike this brand?

This was again an open-ended question therefore responses were heterogenous. The major reasons identified with
liking of the selected brand was due to its taste. Others, who did not like the brand although few in number claimed
that their brand was expensive and did not offer wider variety.

6) Which brand should produce soup mixes?

Figure 11 Survey Question 6

Shan Foods was the most prominent response of the individuals with over 70% opting for it. National Food was second
but still was substantially lower than Shan with 15% selection. Other responses included Unilever or Dont know etc.

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 7) How often do you buy cake mixes?

Figure 12 Survey Question 7

The respondents like soup mixes were not favorable in supporting cake mixes. Over 47% answered that they did not
ever buy any cake mix with very often and often securing less than 15% of the respondents selection.

8) Why do you buy/not buy cake mixes?

As this was also an open-ended question, the answered varied from individual to individual. People who supported
buying cake mixes stated that they bought it because it was easier to bake. Whereas those who did not buy cake mixes
said it was unhygienic.

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 9) Which cake mix brand do you buy/recall?

Which cake mix brand do you buy/recall?

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
Betty Crockers Italiano Delizia I don't Remember

Figure 13 Survey Question 9

Betty Crockers was the leading choice among respondents with over 58% choosing it. Italiano was another brand
which respondents preferred but it had lower percentage share than Betty Crockers. Less than 10% of the respondents
choose Delizia whereas over 12% of the respondents did not remember the brand of cake mixes they bought.

10) How satisfied or Dissatisfied are you from that brand?

Figure 14 Survey Question 10

50% of the respondents were neutral towards their choice of brand. Whereas the percentage of satisfied and very
satisfied was over 42%. Very few respondents were either dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with their choice of brand.

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 11) Which brand should produce cake mixes?

Figure 15 Survey Question 11

Over 51% of the respondent mentioned Shan Foods over other brands whereas 21% mentioned National Food. There
less than 5% mention of Rafhan by the respondents. No other brand was mentioned in this open-ended question.

12) How often do you buy flavored Pasta?

Figure 16 Survey Question 12

Never category again secured the maximum selection by the respondents with over 42% of the respondents claiming
to never buy flavored pasta mix. 32% of the respondents bought pasta either very often or often whereas occasionally
and somewhat often was only selected by 26% of the respondent.

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 13) Which flavored pasta brand do you buy/recall?

Which flavored pasta brand do you buy/recall?

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
Bake Parlour Knorr Kolson None

Figure 17 Survey Question 13

Bake Parlour was the most preferred choice of the respondents with over 50% of the respondents mentioning it. Knorr
secured the second place with 35% respondents selecting it. Kolson was in the third position with less than 13% of
the total share. None had the lowest response in this question category.

14) How satisfied or dissatisfied are you from this brand?

Figure 18 survey Question 14

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The percentage of satisfied or very satisfied was very high in this scenario being more than 50%. 32% of the
respondents had a neutral attitude towards their choice of flavored pasta brand whereas dissatisfied or very dissatisfied
had less than 15% choices of the respondents.

15) Why are you satisfied or dissatisfied from this brand?

This was again an open-ended question with a high standard deviation in responses. However, the positive responses
with respondents being satisfied with the brand of their choice with highest frequency was good taste and easy to
make. The highest frequency of dissatisfied responses for flavored pastas where that they prefer homemade pasta.

16) Which recipe brand mix do you use?

Figure 19 Survey Question 16

Shan Foods secured the highest mention by the respondent with 76% of the respondents preferring Shan Foods instead
of its competitors. National managed to secure only 7.5% of the mentions by the respondent. Other categories included
both Shan Foods and National.

17) Why do you use the current brand?

This open-ended question unlike others had a very homogenous response. Many of the respondents mentioned that
the recipe mix of their brand was tasty or had good flavor. The reason for homogenous response could be the fact that
this question did not ask the dissatisfaction about the brand.

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Summary and Conclusions:

Restatement of Problem

To identify brand extension categories for Shan Foods Pvt. Ltd based on consumer preferences

In todays world, the real success of a brand is when it is liked by the consumers and when it delivers them exactly
what they demand from the brand. This reflects the fact that the brand must take care of the wants, needs and demands
of the consumer and provide them accordingly by fulfilling their expectations. Therefore, most of the brands try their
best to keep their customers intact and to win ore customers by adopting various strategies. One of these is the Brand
extension or Diversification technique. Here, the brand looks out for more ventures and business to indulge in while
keeping its brand name intact.

Shan Foods has also adopted this strategy. Right now, currently it operates in business like Recipe Mixes (These are
for fish, oriental, curry, BBQ, stir fried, vegetarian, Haleem,
meat tenderizer, Arabic.), Plain spices (black pepper, turmeric, garam masala, fenugreek leaves and pomegranate
seeds), Salt, Ready to eat (shami kebab, butter chicken, chicken Nihari), Shoop Noodles, dessert (Kheer mix, gajar ka
halwa, rasmalai mix and Delve Custards and Jelly) and Pastes (garlic and ginger pastes).

Shan Foods now wants to explore in other categories of food items, although it wants to restrict itself to food items
only, but it is looking forward to venturing into business that the consumers wants and demands. According to our
research we have classified 3 categories; soup mix, cake mix and flavored pasta that that the consumers want Shan
Foods to provide them. Hence Shan Foods should now evaluate the best of these categories and venture into one or
two of the most feasible and profitable one.

Description of Procedures:
We have used the Likert Five Point scale for comparison of soup mix and cake mix on two grounds: customer buying
preference and categorys alliance with Shan Foods strengths. The Liker Scale for buying preferences consisted of
five answers options: Very Often, Often, Somewhat Often, Occasionally, Never. The scores were divided according
(Very Often=2, Often=1, Somewhat Often=0, Occasionally=-1 and Never=-2). To create a contrasting picture of Shan
Foods and National Foods the respondents were also asked if they prefer to consume the identified categories produced
by Shan or National. The mode very clearly pointed out that respondents associate Shan Foods with the identified
categories more than National Foods.

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Major Findings:
We accept both null hypothesis since the Likert Scale score for both categories: Soup Mix and Cake Mix is same. The
respondents preferred Shan Foods over National Foods in both categories.

Conclusion:
Our Research design for Shan Foods Brand Extension opportunities has been executed with reliability and validity.
After a considerable amount of Qualitative and Quantitative Research has been done to reach up to accurate results
Qualitative research had already given us the results that we were trying to seek. As many ladies in the focus Groups
were very eager to try out the new products if Shan might introduce shortly. These results were confirmed by our
analysis of Quantitative Data. According to the Statistical Analysis, the major and foremost category that has been
demanded by the consumers is Soup Mix category. Our Hypothesis supports that Shan Foods should venture into this
class of food item as a major portion of the population want Shan to manufacture soup mix. The second category that
population wants Shan to produce is the Cake mix category. Although this is totally different from what Shan Foods
has been producing since years of inception, but it was very surprisingly to see that huge amount of the population is
very eager to consume Shan Foods Cake Mixes. We arrived on this conclusion on the basis of two grounds. Firstly,
we had compared Shan and National Foods to test whether people wanted Shan or National to produce these new line
of food items. The population wanted Shan Foods to move into these categories. Secondly, both the cake mixes and
the soup got almost same rate of likeness and acceptance as the new product category of Shan Foods.
When generally asked about the recipe mixes that the respondents like and have been using, the response was definitely
not a surprise because 75.5% of the population uses Shan Foods. The reason is known to all, which is the wide range
of recipe mixes it provides, the best Quality of taste and Flavor it brings into food. Easy to cook, less time consuming
and the best quality of recipe mixes than another brand.
Therefore, our analysis and conclusions reflect the fact that Shan Foods is doing a great successful business globally
and if it introduces Soup Mixes and Cake Mixes in its Product portfolio then it might earn greater revenue as majority
populations would willingly buy and consume both soup mixes and cake mixes. Brand Name has great effects and
hence, Shan not only because of the premium quality it provides but also of its sincere brand name is winning the
market and if it explores into more opportunities like these categories mentioned above, it can surely be the market
player with the highest market share in the near future.

Recommendations for Further Investigation:

A detailed internal and external investigation can be done based on the findings of our research. The feasibility of the
identified category should be checked as per the current manufacturing capability of Shan Foods. The internal analysis
of Shan Foods would entail matching the required manufacturing procedure of identified brand with current brands
manufacturing procedures, the plant capacity and financial feasibility.

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Blind taste tests can be conducted to identify the flavor of the identified category that consumers like best. It is
suggested to conduct market testing by producing the product in small amount and testing consumer response in a
representative market. Approximate size of production of the identified category can also be estimated this way.

Further investigations can be carried to design a launch plan which would include the initial markets to be covered,
the estimated volume to be produced, the packaging and SKU, and the price point of the identified category.

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