Client Name

Mezan Tea (Private) Limited

Faculty Advisor

Mr. Atif Murtaza

SBS Thought Leadership Areas

Investment Decision Making

SBS Thought Leadership Area Justification

Aligned with the Thought Leadership area of Investment Decision Making, this project uses consumer and retail insights to support data-driven decisions related to branding, distribution, trade marketing, and resource allocation within Pakistan’s FMCG sector.

Aligned SDGs

GOAL 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth

Aligned SDGs Justification

Aligned with SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth, this project supports sustainable growth within Pakistan’s FMCG sector by helping Mezan Tea make data-driven decisions related to retail efficiency, consumer insights, branding, distribution, and trade marketing to enhance business performance and market competitiveness.

NDA

No

Abstract

The present study explores retail visibility, shoppers' journey and brand equity of a challenger brand in Pakistan's mature and habit forming packaged black-tea category, i.e. Mezan Ultra Rich Tea. The research is a mixed-methods approach carried out in collaboration with IBA Karachi and Mezan Tea (Pvt.) Ltd. and includes 62+ retail audit, structured retailer interviews, five in-depth consumer interviews (SEC A-D), six focus groups, 35+ in-store shopper-intercept, and an online survey with 240+ respondents.

Findings depict an overall self-reinforcing cycle of structural deficits: distribution gaps and almost complete lack of presence in the wholesale channel limits consumer exposure, limited awareness reduces retailer demand, and the absence of trade marketing prevents the brand from being picked by the consumer. The Ultra Rich pack is seen as a knock-off of the category leader and hence compromises its premium stance, taste dissatisfaction and almost no availability means that there is not much repeat purchase among those that do sample the product.

These findings are integrated in the study by means of the shopper journey mapping, Aaker's asset-driven brand equity model and Keller's CBBE framework to diagnose the point of shopper loss and the reasoning behind them. Strategic recommendations include distribution, trade relationship management, visual identity, communication re-alignment and leveraging parent brand equity to support trial and establish long-term category presence.

Keywords:

Brand Equity, Retail Visibility, Shopper Journey Mapping, FMCG, Packaged Tea, Challenger Brand, Habitual Buying Behavior, Point-of-sale Communication, Shelf Execution, Brand Awareness, Consumer Behaviour, Distribution, Purchase Decision-Making, Socio-Economic Class, Mixed-Methods Research, Retail Audit, Brand Loyalty, In-Store Marketing  

Document Type

Restricted Access

Document Name for Citation

Experiential Learning Project

Notes

N/A

Download

Available for download on Sunday, June 10, 2029

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