Packaged Snacks Category Assessment: Solo Field Research Across Tier 1 and Tier 2 Cities
Designed and ran a solo primary research study across retail formats, shifting client strategy from broad expansion to channel-specific execution.
Vipul Sahu
Analyst at 6Wresearch
From their time as
Analyst
6Wresearch • 2024
Overview
Vipul owned a category assessment of the packaged snack market across Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities in India from brief to final output. The objective was to understand the competitive landscape at the retail level by analyzing pricing, assortment, distribution, and the growing role of private labels.
The Story
Vipul owned a category assessment of the packaged snack market across Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities in India from brief to final output. The objective was to understand the competitive landscape at the retail level by analyzing pricing, assortment, distribution, and the growing role of private labels.
Secondary data at the SKU level was limited, so he designed a primary research approach built around retailer interviews and shelf audits. He selected three cities representing different consumer and retail dynamics, and within each city covered a mix of modern trade supermarkets, local kirana stores, and convenience outlets.
Running the Field Research
Across the three cities, he completed 60 retail interviews. At each outlet, he captured brand, SKU, stock levels, shelf placement, selling price, promotional offers, package size, and replenishment frequency. He also explored which brands sold fastest, the reasons behind stocking decisions, and distributor service quality.
Analyzing the Data and Shifting the Recommendation
He organized the data into analytical frameworks and mapped pricing across value, mid, and premium segments. He measured private label penetration by shelf share and retailer preference across store formats, evaluated distribution strength by identifying stockout patterns, and benchmarked competitors on assortment breadth, pricing strategy, and visibility.
The field research produced findings that materially changed the recommendation. The initial assumption was that demand was the primary driver, but the retailer interviews and shelf audits showed that demand was relatively consistent while the real constraint was execution at the retail level. Gaps in distributor reach, inconsistent SKU availability in Tier 2 markets, and higher-than-expected private label penetration in modern trade shifted the recommendation from a broad expansion strategy to a channel-specific and city-specific approach. The client was advised to strengthen distribution in underserved markets, rationalize the SKU profile around high-velocity price points, and tailor strategy by retail format.