PROJECT REPORT

Course Tittle- Principles of Marketing.

Course Id- MKT-201.
Section- 04.
Semester- Autumn 2021.
Group- 05.
Submitted To- Sheikh Mohammad Fauzul Azim
Date: 12th December, 2021.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgement..........................................................................................................................3

Executive Summary.......................................................................................................................4

Page 1
Product Description.......................................................................................................................5

Current Marketing Situation........................................................................................................6

Market Segmentation....................................................................................................................7

Target Market................................................................................................................................9

Positioning.....................................................................................................................................10

Competitive Analysis...................................................................................................................10

Competitive Review.....................................................................................................................13

New Version..................................................................................................................................14

Target Market..............................................................................................................................15

Market Segmentation..................................................................................................................15

Positioning.....................................................................................................................................16

Marketing Mix..............................................................................................................................17

Advertisements.............................................................................................................................19

Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................22

Appendix.......................................................................................................................................23

References.....................................................................................................................................25

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 Acknowledgement

In preparing our report, we had to take help and assistance from some respected people who

deserve our gratitude. We especially would like to express our core gratitude to Sheikh

Mohammad Fauzul Azim (Faculty, IUB) for giving us this topic to work on and for guiding us

to numerous consultations without which it would not been possible to write this report. He has

always been very responsive in providing all kinds of information and without his generous

support we would lack information on current developments.

Coming up with this report required quite the effort which would not been possible if it weren’t

perseverance and sheer determination which was shown by our group members. We are hopeful

that our efforts will pay off. It was a great pleasure for us to have worked on this report, for we

learnt a lot while carrying out extensive study on this report.

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 Executive Summary

Everyone wants a healthy life according to their age and economic status. Next to water, salt is
the most essential item in human diet. With a brand image so strong ACI till date has been
serving a well maintained and sophisticated product line. It has positioned itself in a good place
sector of toiletries, food, salt etc. products.

The creation of new product benefits the customers. High percentage of customers are satisfied
with the price range of ACI Salt, like 50%-80% customers are satisfied and some are more than
satisfied. ACI Limited is trying to make their product available from urban areas to remotest
cities, distributing their products to retailers, wholesaler and supermarkets, so that consumers can
buy it easily.

There are a lot of salt manufacturers for a premium price in the market. But We will provide new
flavored salt at a very reasonable price. Which will allow the low-income people to try
something new and healthy. ACI Pure Salt is reasonable and inexpensive. The pricing policy
makes product a best choice for customers in the market. To promote this new flavored salt in
the market we will use the pull strategy along using some elements of the push strategy so that
more customers will come to know about the product and they will buy it more. People from all
gender and age who want a healthy life style are our targeted customers. Specially those who are
more into spice and seek for extra flavor in their appetite.

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 Product Description

For the smart and health-conscious, ACI Pure Salt is the perfect option. It is rich in sodium
chloride, potassium iodine, Na2CO3. It is 100% iodized, pure crystal white, and free flowing
edible salt. It manufactures in vacuum evaporation, digitalized technologies and machineries
which allows to make 100% fresh and pure. Foods taste way better by using ACI Pure Salt for
cooking.

Composition:

Sodium & Chloride

Packaging: 1kg

Price: 35tk

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 Current Marketing Situation

The marketing mix is the 4Ps that a company uses to promote its brand
or product in the market.

Marketing mix of (ACI pure salt) analyses the company which covers
4Ps (product, price, place and promotion)

Product: ACI limited is one of the best brand in Bangladesh and their sales
ratio is very much high. ACI limited always provide the best product to the
customers. ACI pure salt is the most famous salt brand in Bangladesh. ACI
pure salt ensures 100% pure, crystal clear white, properly iodized and free
flowing edible salt processing by using higher technology which is very much
healthy and also gives us a refreshing taste. ACI pure salt satisfies consumers
highly.

Price: High percentages of customers are satisfied with the price range of ACI pure salt. ACI
pure salt is providing 1 kg salt in 35 taka which is quite cheaper than the other company.
Although some customers want to improve the price range of ACI pure salt. But we believe that
for it’s reasonable and inexpensive price policy we are getting a good amount of customers and it
becomes the first choice for customers in the market.

Place: ACI pure salt is already famous in our country. High percentage of people buys ACI pure
salt in our country. We are mainly using indirect channel for distributing their product and they
are successful to supply this product in whole country except some urban areas where the supply
is limited, small amount is delivered. We are trying to make ACI pure salt available from urban
areas to remotest cities, distributing the products to more retailers, wholesaler and supermarkets,
so that consumer can get ACI pure salt easily.

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Promotion: ACI limited using many promotion tools to promote its product (ACI pure salt) in
the market. We are advertising through television, newspaper,
magazine to promote their product. We are using social media to
promote their product. We often use emotional appeals in our
advertisement to promote ACI pure salt. And we’re also doing
many campaigns and becoming sponsors for big functions and
events so that consumers can know about it more. Gradually the place of trust in consumers mind
for ACI pure salt becomes bigger and this will also increase our sales more.

Market Segmentation

Market segmentation mainly refers to the market divided into

relevant and well-defined parts based on the needs and wants of
groups or segments of buyers. Market segmentation needs to be
mandatorily understood by any company or marketers to analyze
the customers’ feelings, choices and needs before targeting their
market. And ACI very particularly focuses on the geographical,
demographical, psychological and behavioral traits of their market. ACI focused on introducing
the segmentations very well having proper knowledge about the market place of its home
processed ACI pure salt and for reaching its target customers.

Geographic

As ACI is maintaining indirect channel for distributing ACI pure salt. They sell their product
through retailers and wholesalers. We try to add more retailers and wholesalers in the city area
because there they can get more customers. We also add more suppliers in the city area.
Although we are also focusing the rural areas, they ensure the exact amount of product to be
distributed. In city area we also divide the market into different parts based on the density of

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people, this helped ACI reach the targeted customer easily and most profitably focusing mainly
on –

1. Urban areas

2. Cities

3. Big metropolitan cities

4 .Density

Demographic

Demographic segmentation refers to dividing its product into even smaller segments like age,
gender, income etc. to reach its target customers and help the brand image. ACI pure salt was
mainly launched and introduce by ACI according to age, taste, income and all the other variance
of demographic segmentation

1. Age: People of all ages

2. Income: People of any income

3. Gender: Male, female

4. Religion: All religion

Psychographic

Psychographic segmentation is mainly based on the interest lifestyle and

attitude of middle class, lower uppers, rich people in ACI. Diving the
market based on this helps the marketers to provide the accurate and
most appropriately segmented products to the potential customers as
each customer has individual way to grave ACI pure salt.
Psychographic segmentation helps ACI to distribute the right product in
right place and by doing this we are getting the target amount of
customers.

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Behavioral

Behavioral segmentation refers to customer’s attitude, buying behavior, pattern, style and
response towards a product. In this way ACI Limited identifies and analyses the sales volume
and target customers accordingly. Whereas ACI Limited is being well known for its fresh, crystal
clear white and healthy salt (ACI pure salt) processing by using higher technology and due to
this it already has a strong loyalty base in customer’s mind.

Target Market

ACI Pure Salt is for everyone who wants to lead diseases free
and healthy life. Not all of us who are health conscious so we
will raise awareness through advertisements, pamphlets etc.
Through this kind of advertisements both literate and illiterate
both types of people will know the benefits of using our ACI
Pure Salt and it will help us to increases the number of both
literate and illiterate type of customers. Because everyone wants to use the kind of product which
will made their life healthy. In a line we can say all the people who live in our society are the
main target for our product.

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 Positioning

ACI Limited is very popular for its good quality product in

the market. In our country people always search for the
good quality product and it is hard to found. But ACI pure
salt is very natural and healthy for all peoples and it attracts
all the people towards our product. In this field many other
companies have produced pure salt and it has become
competition for our company. But one thing apart of our
product from all other salt company, which is ACI maintaining product quality and prices. For
this people get attracted and convinced to buy our ACI pure salt.

Competitive Analysis

Competitive analysis is a scheme by which a company can

pick out its competitors and also research about the products
of its competitors. By doing competitive analysis a company
can spot which companies are affecting their marketing
directly and indirectly.

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Direct Competition: Companies who produce similar product are the direct competitors. It is a
negative interaction for the company. In this case ACI has many direct competitors. In
Bangladesh, there are many salt companies which are producing exactly similar products like
ACI Pure Salt. For example Pran Iodized Salt, Molla Salt, Fresh Salt etc.

ACI Pure Salt is nowadays a really demanding thing in Bangladesh. Recently, people are
becoming very health cautious. In this case, many companies have released their own pure salt.
Pran Iodized Salt, Molla Salt, and Fresh Salt these companies have their own formula of pure salt
which creates a competition for ACI.

Examples of Direct Competition

Indirect Competition: Companies that don’t produce similar products but they do produce
locum products are indirect competitors. People may choose some products that are not exactly
salt products but something else. Such as sugar, red chili powder, masala etc. There are several
companies in Bangladesh that produce these products and so this could be a competition for ACI.

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Moreover, people can choose other products over ACI. Suppose a shop has ACI products and a
customer may choose masala or maybe tasting salt. In this case, ACI doesn’t own any of these
products but other companies do. For example Radhuni Chili Powder, Maggi Masala, Pran
Testing salt etc.

Examples of Indirect Competition

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 Competitive Review

ACI is well-known for its Pure Salt. Although there are many brands like Fresh, Pran, Molla etc.
which provides pure salt. But ACI is the most compatible of them all. ACI has competitive
advantage over its competitors on almost every factors.

Criteria Quality Quantity Supplier Technology Product

Varieties
M M F
HIGH A P A A
F F P

A P M M
MODERATE P F F A
M

P
LOW

A - ACI, P – Pran, F – Fresh, M - Molla

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 New Version

ACI Black Lava Salt is a delicious sea salt blended with activated charcoal used to add depth and
firmness to the best of cooking items. It emits a characteristic earthy flavor and is sprinkled on
food at the end of cooking as a final salt. Since it offers the food a mild, smoky taste, it serves as
an excellent addition to dishes that are expected to have a smoky aroma. Our black lava salt also
adds a special flavor to fried vegetables, soups, scrumptious dishes and barbecue. Also, great
with meat, seafood, fruits and salads. In addition to its amazing taste, the advantage of eating
black lava salt is that it contains charcoal that helps the body to remove harmful toxins, and is
rich in essential minerals to help maintain body function. Because of its antioxidant and
detoxifying advantages, and naturally-occurring trace minerals, it's good for skin, digestion, and
overall health. We are going to introduce our new version of salts in clear glass bottles with a
shaker top that also features a convenient pour.

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 Target Market

Niche Market

Everyone can use ACI Black Lava Salt to make their food more delicious. So, our target is
everyone especially the people who want a unique flavor of salt. Our new
product will offer a different, earthy flavor and its activated charcoal gives our
salt its distinctive flavor and color, perfect for everything from soups to stir-
fries. It has antioxidants properties that can help lower blood pressure. The
activated charcoal acts as a powerful detoxifier that cleanses the body of
impurities, provides essential minerals and improves digestion Thus, everyone living in our
society can use our black lava salt to enhance the taste of their foods and make it a perfect
combination of healthy diets.

Market Segmentation

Market segmentation refers to the market divided into relevant

and well-defined parts based on the needs and wants of groups or
segment of buyers. Market segmentation needs to be mandatorily
understood by any company or marketers to analyze the
customers’ feelings, choices and needs before targeting their
market. We have particularly focused on the demographic and psychographic segmentation for
our new version.

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Demographic
ACI black lava salt would serve the demands of all kinds of people still we are introducing one
of the most attractive flavors that any other ordinary brands didn’t yet introduce in the market.
The all-age group people are majorly targeted.

Psychographic
Customers particularly seeking for a new flavor as it serve almost all the criteria. A new flavor to
the salt compared to the existing ones which no other brand in Bangladesh could yet introduce
would create an attractive scenario in customer’s mind, in this way capturing the target
customers would be easier.

Positioning

ACI Black Lava Salt will amaze people by its flavor. It will be really easy to get a good position
in the market through this product because no other company owns
black lava salt in Bangladesh. As it is going to be an uncommon and
healthy. People will definitely give it a try. By advertising the product
throughout the country, the new ACI Black Lava Salt will get
people’s attention.

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 Marketing Mix

Marketing mix for our new product ACI Black Lava Salt covers the 4ps, (product, price, place,
promotion).

Product:

The new product with different flavor, ACI Black Lava Salt will satisfy our customers with a
new taste. We will make the product with best quality and good packaging which will attract
customers and will also keep the product safe from getting damaged. Our product will appear in
a size small of crystal glass container. The main reason for this packaging is we have seen that if
people store salt in plastic jar the might become unhealthy or the actual taste of the salt might get
ruined. Another reason for not using plastic is our company doesn’t encourage environment
pollution.

Price:

Price range of our new version product would be inexpensive and sustainable for our customers
to buy comfortably. We have highly concentrated on the new product pricing so that it doesn’t
dissatisfy some customers. As we have seen in the survey that most of the people said 40tk and
26.4% people says that 45-50tk can be a decent price so we have decided the price of our new
product will be 40taka per jar.

Place:

Planning to distribute the product widely to increase sales revenue. We will distribute indirectly
the new product to our customer through supermarkets, wholesale, retailer like Shwapno, Agora,
grocery shop, local markets etc. to customers. As we don’t have any ACI outlet for focusing
direct distribution so we will give more importance on indirect distribution.

Indirect: Shawano, Meena Bazar, Agora, departmental stores, local markets.

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Promotion:

To promote the Black Lava Salt in the market we will use the pull strategy along using some
elements of the push strategy so that more customers will come to know about the product and
will buy it more. As many peoples are watching YouTube, Television and using Facebook,
Instagram, so advertising through this would be best and we can promote the product in the
market and can be competitive. We will focus on both push and pull strategies for our promotion.

Push Strategy:

We will push our new version product through our channel members. Our sales team will
introduce the new product to our distributors who will supply the products to local stores all over
the country. We will give special benefits and discounts to our channel members so that they
promote our product to the general mass and create demand for it. If this strategy be effective
consumers will demand the product from channel members. We will give target to our distributor
if they can complete the target then they’ll be rewarded.
Pull Strategy:

Besides push strategy we will use advertising tactics from pull strategy. We will advertise our
new product on Facebook, Instagram, Television and YouTube. In city areas we will also use
billboards and vehicles for our promotion. These advertisements will make people aware of our
product and increase the demand.

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 Advertisements

Facebook Advertisement:

Advertising through Facebook or any other social media platform like Instagram is a new way to
attract new customers to our product. It is effective and very affordable, and going to appear in
newsfeed like a sponsored post.

Bill Billboard:

Advertising is also very effective to build brand awareness and broadcast our product thus
increasing the demand. We can make an effective billboard for busy areas to have the highest
number of views.

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Vehicle Promotion:

YouTube Advertisement:

As we have seen in the survey most of the people spend their time on Facebook and YouTube.
We made a short 5second advertisement which will appear during YouTube and Facebook
videos. We have made the video with some eye catching footages of collecting honey and then

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some footages of powder milk. We added a very interesting music so that no one can skip the
video and watch it until it ends to know about our new version.

TV Advertisement:

Advertisement through television can help us to connect with the larger audience, in an
exceedingly method that customers recognize and trust. It is the most trusted form of advertising
and is twice as effective as any other type of advertising.

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 Conclusion

Customers seeking ACI Pure Salt in particular would definitely prefer this black lava salt flavor.
It meets almost all criteria such as taste, diet, health condition and interest for example.
Compared to the current ones in the market no other Bangladeshi brand could yet launch a new
flavor of salt that would establish an attractive scenario in the mindset of the customer.

Since no other company in Bangladesh owns such flavored salt, it will be very easy to get a good
place in the market through this product. Since it's going to be a unique cooking ingredient,
individuals will certainly give it a try and our promotional strategy will surely attract them to
know more about our product and buy it.

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 Appendix

We’ve conducted an online survey and here are some of the main question and answers of that
survey:

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Page 24
 References

1. https://www.aci-bd.com/our-companies/aci-salt-ltd.html

2. https://www.aci-bd.com/all-news/aci-pure-spices-social-campaign-desh-ek-shad-

onek.html

3. The Daily Star. (2020, November 11) https://www.thedailystar.net/business/news/aci-

returns-profit-higher-sales-hygiene-products-1992909

4. Principles of Marketing: A South Asian Perspective (13 th Edition) by Philip Kotler, Gary
Armstrong, Agnihotri & Haque. Pearson Education International.

5. Survey.

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