Setting Product Strategy

According to Kotler, a Product is anything that can be offered to a market to satisfy a want or need, including physical goods, services, experiences, events, persons, places, properties, organizations, information and ideas.

Product Levels: The Customer Value Hierarchy

The Company needs to address 5 product levels each of which adds more customer value. These five levels constitute a customer value hierarchy. 

Product Levels and 3 C's in the MTR RTE context

Core benefit and Customer:

The service or benefit the Customer is really looking for in RTE foods is convenience. The main aim of the company is to provide these benefits.

MTR's RTE foods are packaged conviniently and are very convinient in terms of prepapration and consumption.  

Basic product and Company:

At this second level, the Company must turn the core benefit into a basic product. It started off with RTC products, the first being the Rava Idly mix which became a huge hit. It soon ventured into RTE foods. MTR was in a sense a pioneer, offering ready-to-eat food when such products were still a novelty and not entirely a necessity in the Indian market. 

Expected product and Customer:

At the third level, the consumer normally expects a set of attributes and conditions when he buys the product and the Company prepares an expected product. Minimally, the Customer expects good quality and taste from any packaged food product. MTR is known for its recipe expertise, the choicest ingredients and the quality, taste and purity of its products. Also, competetion and brand positioning happens at this stage. Competitors like ITC, Parle etc sprung up.

Augmented product and Competetion:

At this level  the Company develops an augmented product which exceeds the Customer expectations. Competition (ITC, Haldiram's, Parle, Frito Lay) plays an important role here as products with the same or better offerings spring up. The most significant competitor in this context is ITC with its 'Kitchens Of India' range. 

Potential product, Company and Competition:

At the fifth level, the product encompasses all the augmentations and transformations the product may undergo in the future. MTR introduced RTE soups, North Indian dishes and rice meals to deal with competition.