Case Study 1: Mongoose Lager Beer Eyes up India

Abstract

Faced with a declining home beer market, many UK brewers are casting their eyes to growing overseas markets in order to increase sales and satisfy shareholder demands. The attraction of the Indian market is obvious from a population point of view—in 2012 the population was 1.2 billion people according to Euromonitor (2012), however the Indian market is not an obvious one when it comes to alcoholic beverages. In the UK, drinking alcoholic drinks down the pub and in bars is a deeply embedded into the British culture. But will the consumer demand for beer in India be the same as UK, given the official intolerance of alcoholic drinks on religious grounds? Will a relatively small niche brand such as Mongoose, positioned deliberately as an ‘Indian’ brand and consumed in Indian restaurants in UK, work in the ‘real’ Indian market? Can Mongoose overcome the cultural issues? Can the brand position of Mongoose be maintained in the Indian market?