Two aspects worked brilliantly at the same time: The return of Maggi and the concept of flash sales by Snapdeal. After being banned in the month of June by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), Maggi made a grand comeback yesterday as 7,20,000 units, packed in 60,000 units were sold within the first 5 minutes on Snapdeal.com
Maggi relaunched their flagship product in special ‘Welcome Kit’, which contained 12 packs of Maggi, a 2016 Maggi calendar, a Maggi fridge magnet, Maggi post cards and a ‘Welcome Back’ letter. This special kit was only available on Snapdeal.com, and was opened for registered users yesterday. Registrations had started on November 9th. There were only 60,000 such kits for sale.
Snapdeal Senior Vice President (Partnerships and Strategic initiatives) Tony Navin said, “Snapdeal sold out the first batch of 60,000 Maggi ‘Welcome Kits’ within 5 minutes of Maggi Flash Sale going live. There has been much anticipation for the return of one of the favourite Indian brands and we have witnessed a phenomenal response to this sale from customers across the country,”
FSSAI had banned Maggi because some lab tests had shown that lead content was present in a higher proportion. After 5 months of rigorous testing and re-testing, Bombay High court overturned the nation-wide ban, and then FSSAI finally allowed Nestle to sell their most popular product in India: Maggi. Besides the flash sales, Nestle India has relaunched Maggi across 100 towns, via 300-odd distributors. Starting today, Maggi might be available at your local kirana shop.
However, there are 8 states, where Maggi is still banned. These are: Bihar, Orissa, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
While announcing the relaunch of Maggi in India, Nestle India Chairman and Managing Director Suresh Narayanan said, “We are delighted to announce that your beloved Maggi noodles is back…same taste, same pack and same price. It has been a challenging period for the company, and therefore, there is a feeling of satisfaction at bringing back Maggi noodles to the market…we will take some time to cover all the 4 million stores where Maggi was available earlier,”
Right now, Nestle is manufacturing Maggi at three plants: Nanjangud (Karnataka), Moga (Punjab) and Bicholim (Goa). They do have plants at Tahliwal (Himachal Pradesh) and Pantnagar (Uttarakhand) as well, but the production is right now stopped there. Both Uttranchal and Himanchal Pradesh has banned Maggi as of now.
Due to the Maggi ban, Nestle India suffered a quarterly loss for the first time in 17 years. Approximately Rs 300 crore was the cost of Maggi ban, which Nestle suffered. Indian Govt. had also filed Rs 640 crore law-suit against Nestle for ‘alleged’ unfair trade practices, false labeling and misleading advertisements. The case is still subjudice.
I was successfully able to place the order at the flash sale however after a few days got this mail from Snapdeal – “Delivery of your package could not be completed due to which your order has been cancelled”
What the hell is this? Delivery cancelled for no apparent reason? Funny thing is that they have started the flash sale again without being able to fulfill previous orders. I have lost trust in Snapdeal.
India loves Maggi.