Evaluation of Entry into Ice cream Business - BRAC University ...

Boutique format has seen an upsurge from year 2000 with introduction of premium, franchise and
imported ice creams. This segment is driven by Dhaka and Chittagong based players. Club Gelato,
MövenPick, Andersen’s, Gelateria Igloo, Baskin31Robbins and Sub Zero are the major players in the
segment. Among these, Gelateria Igloo and Sub Zero are run by common format players Igloo and
Kwality respectively.
4.1.2 Unbranded Market:
The unbranded market basically is constituted with around 20,000 local small producers that do not
use any brand leverage and compete in the market based on significant lower price in the range of
BDT 1-5.
Market size of this segment is significantly high with BDT 79 Cr. These producers are mainly rural and
suburb based where concentration of SEC C and lower SECs are high. They mainly produce water
ice cream sticks or in colloquial terms “Baarfi”. These are made with saccharine and colours. They
also produce small amount of milk based kulfi. These ice creams are very unhygienic and of low
quality.
4.2 Historical Progress of the Industry
� Before 1964: Ice cream market dominated by unorganized unbranded approach.
� 1964: Igloo started large scale organized approach under K Rahman & Co. Ltd.
� 1965: Igloo opened up the first ice-cream parlour in Dhaka.
� 1971: Igloo was nationalized by the government of Bangladesh after liberation.
� 1972: In June Igloo was handed over to Bangladesh Sugar & Food Industries Corporation.
� 1983: Abdul Monem Ltd. acquired Igloo under privatization policy.
� 1986: Polar started operation; introduced food grade plastic based packaging. They immediately
became market leader with extensive campaign.
� 1988: Dolce Vita Gelato, one of the dedicated boutique operator brought premium ice cream.
� Early 1990s: Rainbow and Snow White started extensive operation in the boutique segment.
� Late 1990s: American Soft Ice cream started promoting the soft ice cream format.
� 1995: Savoy was introduced but failed due to product quality though in suburban areas they
grabbed share with low price.
� 1996: In September, Igloo organized a massive marketing campaign
� Introduced the first straight line extrusion ice-cream in the market
� They initiated a massive campaign and became market leader after 10 years
� 1997: In February, Igloo took a devastating decision to increase price for the cup line
� Igloo not only incurred substantial financial loss but also lost the hard earned market
share. The question of sustaining became a central issue.
� In summer, Price of 11 items were revised and communicated as special discount.
� This instantly pushed them to the number one position.
Evaluation of Entry into Ice cream Business for Bangladesh Limited 18