Degree
Master of Business Administration
Faculty / School
Faculty of Business Administration (FBA)
Advisor
Mr. Najeeb Agrawalla
Committee Member 1
Mr. Najeeb Agrawalla, Visiting Faculty, Business Administration –Academic Affairs, Institute of Business Administration (IBA) Karachi
Project Type
MBA Research Project
Keywords
https://ir.iba.edu.pk/do/search/?q=ANA%20international&start=0&context=8598587&facet=">ANA international, Nana diaper brand, Social influence, Brand awareness, Perceived quality, Perceived price, Purchase intention
Abstract / Summary
ANA international (Company) is operating in Pakistan for the past 30 years and is owned and controlled by Batla Group. The company enjoys a dominant position in the local diaper industry and is catering to all the segments of the society.
ANA international’s lower-tier brand, Bona Papa has had good penetration in the Pakistani market as it is an affordable disposable diaper alternative for the low-income segment. However, with the launch of the Company’s most recent mid-tier brand Nana, the company failed to achieve its initial launch objectives and the brand failed to pick up sales even after a decent marketing spend.
The Company intended to analyze the customer need, distribution and marketing strategy to identify the problems behind stagnancy in sales and seek recommendation in term of an action plan to address the issue of stagnancy in sales.
To address the Company’s need and requirements, we conducted a multi-dimensional study to find out (1) factors which affect consumer’s purchase intention of diapers; (2) impact of these factors on sales of any diaper brand in general and Nana Diaper Brand in specific; (3) factors affecting distributor performance in Karachi and Lahore and consequently to identify gaps in the value chain.
Through secondary research, the conceptual model as used by (OmkarDastane, 2016) was adopted to find out how factors like Brand Awareness, Perceived Quality, Perceived Price and Social Influence affect the Purchase Intention of any diaper brand in Pakistani market. Based on this, regression models were then developed for the top three brands along with Nana Diaper brand to study the impact of the factors identified, on the purchase intention of these individual brands. Through Primary research, the most important characteristic which needs to be present in any diaper brand was also inquired from survey respondents to understand the need and requirement of the customers. Interviews of retailers and distributors in Lahore and Karachi regions were also conducted to understand the reasons behind stagnancy of sales in Karachi region compared to Lahore.
Based on our findings we have concluded that Perceived Quality is the most important factor which impacts the Purchase Intention of all the diaper brands. Perceived Quality was further found to be strongly co-related with Brand Awareness. Therefore it is imperative for the company to work on ways to improve the perceived quality of Nana Diapers along with its brand awareness.
Some ways to achieving this could be by generating trials by introducing smaller Stock Keeping Units, BTL activities and entering into contracts with Hospitals and Maternity homes for using Nana diapers for new born kids. Furthermore distribution network and Logistics at Karachi needs to be improved and invested on in order to increase availability of Nana diaper stock in Karachi.
This study was conducted on a limited sample of 250 respondents in Karachi and Lahore who were identified through convenience sampling due to lockdown situation in the country. Hence, it could not be extrapolated for the whole of Pakistan or even Karachi or Lahore. The survey was conducted from higher number of Users of Nana diapers intentionally in order to have sizeable data for comparative study with the other top brands therefore the percentage of Nana diaper users in the study should not be extrapolated as percentage of Nana Users in Lahore or Karachi.
The articles and Literature used for secondary research was aged over a large period of time and were not specific to diapers, hence its accuracy to the existing phenomenon could not be gauged. Also, very limited research was available on our topic of research which helped us develop the foundation but not the complete research assumptions.
Recommended Citation
Kumar, A., Tahsin, J., Ali, M., Nasir, M., Zaidi, S. D., & Tarique, U. (2020). Reason behind stagnant sales of Nana Diaper brand in Karachi (Unpublished graduate research project). Institute of Business Administration, Pakistan. Retrieved from https://ir.iba.edu.pk/research-projects-mba/20
