A Light oil that gives a great addition... Review on Saffola

For the past 10 years almost, products have been my life-blood. So, after an interlude of book-reviewing and patriotism, its back to my favorite topic... viz. products! {Not that I will not write book reviews- I will write those too!}

This review, as with my other ones, hails from my own personal experience, as well as my professional experience as a sales guy and an MBA.

*The Edible Oils Market

*The edible oils market is broadly composed of two segments, viz the unorganized sector, and the organised sector. Within the organised sector, there are various players in terms of brands, as well as the raw material: Sunflower, Groundnut, , Mustard, Til, Blends, Coconut etc, all vying for the same share of the customer's pocket. In the extremely cluttered market, there is little difference that stands out among the players in terms of effective product positioning. There are clear platforms for some brands, of course- but that is way outside the purview of this review. Among all of these, one brand that sticks out is saffola...

*More about saffola

*Saffola is a brand from the Marico stable. and started its life based on being the first oil from the Kusum Kardi {Safflower} seed in India. It made the Health platform as its USP. Saffola made this claim on the basis that among all the vegetable oils, it has the least concentration of Poly-unsaturated fatty acids.

Over the years, it has built upon this basic theme and made it into almost a generic brand in this category, ruling it ever since its launch. In a market dominated by "Mithha Tel", it not only has made a dent, but has also blazed a trail which has made it possible for other blends / oils to start up and follow up in its' footsteps.

During the introduction stage and the early years of the brand, the focus was on one single offering: Saffola {in the familiar yellow packaging}. Of late, it has introduced several variants: Saffola Gold, Saffola Tasty Blend, Saffola Nutri Blend}, a strategy which is sure to results, straddling as they do various price-points, thereby covering the one weak point in the saffola stable, namely, the high price of its basic offering.

For, the reduced pricing brought it into straight competition with the groundnut oil market, enabling it to attack its customer set. As far as the results of this move, I have no specific information. But I will not be surprised if they succeed in their endeavor

*My Personal Experiences

*My experience with saffola is on two scales - as a son and as a husband. As a son, my experience was limited to picking up the oil and bringing it home! Those days, we used to have it as dad was hypertensive as well as diabetic - and it was the only oil we consumed.

As a husband, I tried enforcing the saffola rule. My wife complied. Not quite dutifully, but, well, she complied. A couple of months later, she made a telling point: why shell out 20 bucks extra? And the taste is not the same. Result: Back to "Mithha Tel"!

Cut to the present: We have shifted to Saffola Gold, with heartening results. These are practical observations of my wife made this Sunday, which struck me as being pretty powerful {given below}. We switched to Saffola Gold by pure chance, as our favored brand of Mithha Tel was absent on the super bazaar shelf. I noticed Saffola Gold, and we took home a pack. Next time round, I pointed out that the price difference was not that much, and she was convinced {my wife, I mean}

1) The oil does not smoke as much as other oils even on being super heated

2) Spent oil {Oil which has been used for frying once} retains its colour and flavor better than others

3) Fried goods retain essence longer on being fried with Saffola Gold

4) Puris remain softer and fresher longer - we noted this on a 36-hour train journey

5) They do no smell of fried stuff {as most puris do after a few hours- again noticed on the train

6) Food keeps for a longer time

As far as difference in taste in concerned, I have not noticed any

I would love feedback and suggestions on this review, as this is the first among household products...