SHRINIDHI HANDE writes from Madras: We are already used to Australian apples, Californian grapes and other more exotic fruits from foreign shores sporting a small, slick sticker, branding themselves against others. Buying them and being seen to be buying them has become a small matter of status and prestige.
Would we react the same way to fruits grown in our midst?
Roadside sellers on the outskirts of Pondicherry have started slapping a sticker on tender coconuts and toddy palms that they sell on ECR (East Coast Road). The label, in Tamil, advertisers the brand name of the coconut, and has empty slots for date, weight, and price.
That set me thinking: Can we trust such labels? Is this smart marketing to woo a new class of consumers—or just stupid imitation?
I can understand that if we do some kind of processing (cleaning, purification, packaging, preservation, etc) on a food item, to some extent we can justify branding them (for example, buttermilk). But just because you grew it in your own farm, with your preferred choice of fertilizers, plucked it from the tree, and brought it to the market (read roadside), can you justify affixing a sticker on a natural product and calling it “my brand”?
Is branding tender coconuts supposed to evoke “instant recall”? Will it bring a loyal set of consumers who go around looking for the same brand wherever they go?
Does it bring additional value to a consumer?
The Greatest Bottler up above doesn’t specify an expiry date for his products—so what date are they planning to mention there? Date of plucking from the tree? Or “best-before” date? Anyone with any experience in downing tender coconuts will be able to judge them by looking at the visible freshness of the fruit. (If there’re lots of wrinkles and dark spots on the surface, then it is over ripe.)
Ergo: dates don’t make much sense.
Ditto the weight of the coconut.
For most of the other fruits, measuring by weight makes sense but in the case of tender coconut, it is an irrelevant parameter. I don’t think there’s any mathematical relationship between the weight of the unit and quantity of water inside.
A visibly huge and heavy coconut can have an equally thicker shell and very little quantity of liquid inside while a small-sized one can be full of fresh and tasty water. So trying to reach at some conclusion based on weight would again fail.
In fact, it is extremely tough to predict the taste and quantity of tender coconut and coconut gravy. A vendor usually asks if you prefer to have only water or water with kernel (coconut meat). But even seasoned vendors cannot assure you that his pick will be 100% accurate, though by sheer experience he might manage to pick an appropriate one.
You could argue similarly for Toddy Apple.
The only advantage of branding, if any, is that it might convince certain customers (probably techies and international tourists, provided they are not much familiar with the fundamentals of tender coconuts) to believe they are going to have something of a better quality.
Photograph: Shrinidhi Hande
Cross-posted on Kosambari
My first thought was, this is stupid!
Then…think, what about branded rice that you get.
I am NOT talking about the Kohinoor and likes.
Even the rice that you get “loose” from the nearby kirana is branded.
It would be something like 3V, Emkay (on the gunny bag)etc and grocers go buy the brand.They know that this brand is good or this is bad.
For all you know everything is the output of mills adjacent to each other in Andhra Pradesh.
Rice,Sugar etc can have a standard quality, rather can be standardized.
You can’t look into a coconut as ascertain the contents.
Verdict-Stupid imitation
And the dig on techies, spare them..they have more money than others(may be), doesn’t mean that they don’t care.
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It is wrong to think that branding is only to fool a techie or a tourist. Just because the writer assumes he know all about coconuts, he should not accuse this enterprising fellow.
For example, not all mango trees give sweet fruit, now if some one goes around supplying fruits from trees which he know are sweet, he can brand it and demand more value.
This is good idea.
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@Nilesh:
The idea is enterprising indeed…but unlike other fruits (including mangoes) tender coconut is not that predictable…I personally doubt if this initiative would succeed in making more people buying tender coconut.
if that happens and people start drinking tender coconut water instead of pepsi/cola because of this sticker, we will be really happy
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@ Nikhil…
Yes, same with most of the agricultural products, but in this case I felt it is a bit too much…
To be honest, we might be getting duped at other brands as well- we never know- both HP and Dell might be getting PC components from same vendor, delivered to us under the label of HP/Dell, Different jeans brands might have a single supplier, label being the only difference…
what do you say?
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Gurugale,
the taste of tender coconut water depends on the soil, water and the agricultural process. This is a good idea. Isn’t there a difference between Bordeaux and Yarra Valley cabernet sauvignon? Raigad Alphonso vs Chamrajnagara Alphonso?
I am slightly let down that the person has not gone the extra distance to put the date, weight and price.
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Yes, but in a same tree, different bunches (gone or gonchalu) will have different taste… also taste varies on how fresh/over ripe the coconut is…
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Might be a good idea in the long run. For instance in the US, I like to buy Dole Pineapples (Dole is a brand) and prefer it over other brands because I have always found Dole pineapples to be ripe and sweet. Dole pineapples also happen to be more expensive compared to an unknown brand from Mexico. My 2nd choice id DelMonte Pineapples.
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Well, I think it is a good idea to put stickers on the tender coconuts. If you find that the tender coconuts from one brand had good elaneeru consistently, you will not hesitate to buy the same brand again.
Also if some produce is organically grown, I would like to know that it is so and I would be more interested in buying an organically grown produce. Again in this case some information needs to be available on the produce itself (or on the box).
In the US, almost all produce have some sticker, but I am not sure if these stickers are really food grade or not. That is my concern.
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@Shrinidhi
I am sure that it is not only in the Consumer Durables and Electronics industry, but also automobile,garment,food and a host of other industries that the same contract manufacturer makes for different vendors at different quality/price points.
We are not getting duped there.
We pay money for the brand(includes tangibles and intangibles) and not for the supplier who made it.
In the rice market I mentioned earlier, there is standardization to make sure all bags of the same brand are more or less similar.
What do you think of the tea industry? Only a small part of what you get as say a Tata tea is from their estates. Rest of it is bought from auctions and everything is blended and presented to you in different brands.
-Nikhil
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Also wondering how are they going to measure the weight-weigh the whole bunch and divide by number of units? or pluck each one from the bunch and weigh individually?
@Nikhil-
for rice and tea (and many other products) atleast some kind of processing is there (cleaning, processing, packaging). If I know brand A does a better purification vis a vis Brand B, I can consider buying only brand A…
In case of tender coconut, what value this piece of sticker adds? What conclusion are you going to derive out of those information (brand name, date, weight)?
@ptcbus:
A vendor would stamp same sticker on all coconut he sells and taste can differ depending on factors like tree, bunch, age etc… So two coconuts with similar sticker need not taste same, unless they belong to same bunch.
@Gowri:
Thanks for sharing your comment
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btb the Sticker reads “Shahajahan Stores”.. so we can call this Shahajahan Tender coconut…?
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Intriguing. I am a bit skeptical on the stickering as well.
But everything first comes as an idea then needs to be ironed out. Maybe stickering even in US and other countries started out like this. Some of my thoughts:
1. One could argue with any produce stickering there is a question of consistency. Who really can assure different fruits or vegetables from the same tree or vine or other trees or vines in the same orchard or even grown by the same company (as some have many more than one growing area) will have the same taste and consistency. That is all up to wonderful Mother Nature only she and of course, Mr. Sun, can really make any produce taste it’s best over the fertilisers, etc.
2. I do agree with ptcbus about the ‘organic’ labeling. Has this begun in India?
3. And, will stickering drive up the cost? Someone has to pay for all those stickers and the work it takes to write all that info on it! Especially the info most find convienently missing- such as weight. To get that- you need a precise weighing machine which again costs money.
4. If stickering and weight reading comes in – a higher level of quality assurance is needed (possibly what forces Gowri to buy only certian pineapples). And if this is the case- then only the ‘perfect’ picks will be placed on the vendors mat- no need for searching for the most tasty. This again will drive up cost as what to do with all the ‘not so perfect ones’? Now they all go into the same pile and possibly even the not so good ones get sold, albeit for a lower rate possibly.
Personally as a tourist to India or even if I ever get to live there again, I am not sure I’d ever be swayed by the stickering on tender coconuts.
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@Shrinidi
Guess you got me wrong. I continue to say that stickers on tender coconuts is a cheap imitation of branding fruits/rice etc.
PS: India will soon have more branded fruit companies coming in.
Unifrutti is gonna hit Indian markets soon.
http://www.unifrutti.com/ingles/index.asp
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@Jennifer:
Thanks for linking this post in Desipundit.
Yes, you’re right on the cost factor: printing the sticker, weighing the coconut, sticking etc would increase the cost by a rupee or two- as an ordinary customer I am not interested in that (paying extra), as it doesn’t add much value…
But ensuring perfectness in coconut is near impossible… (at least I feel so)
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dear Shrinidhi Hande… It’s not fair on the writer’s part to sneak in so many times when comments are posted. Just wait and see the overall mood. relax
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@ Rama,
Ok boss… See I didn’t sneak in during past 3 months…
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I think it’s a superb idea – provided the brand actually assures you consistent quality. That’s something we need to be sure of. Sugar cane is doing it in Bangalore with sugar cane juice stalls that offer you great juice of consistent quality – it’s hygienic and the process is standardised. Any agricultural product can be branded – what about tea and coffee?!?
Not sure whether the coconut mentioned here really is a brand per se. Seems more like a label just for the sake of it. But let’s say they have developed a special cultivation technique to provide standard quality assurance in coconuts – I’d go for it, even if it is at a premium.
So many times I’m disappointed with the coconut water – it’s tasteless / bitter / doesn’t have soft kernel at the end. Would love it if a brand gave me all of this every time.
If Washington apples can do it, it would be a great idea for coconuts as well. Again, provided it’s genuine.
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@ ppl going on and on about organic farming!!!
ppl wassup with the whole oraganic farming and organic grown produce n stuff? i mean this is stuff that farmers in India/Asia/around the world have been doing for millenia! so wats with the label???
So if albert howard or rudolf steiner can be considered “father of organic farming” et al. ( source:wikipedia; n these guys are from the 1900s,the so called scientific era) despite them having only put down on paper age old knowledge, then i see no harm in putting a random Label on food products such as vegetables or fruits like coconuts or watever else we talk about!
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