Nestle sells Maggi on Snapdeal

The brand had made an earlier announcement about Maggi noodles being safe through a front-page print ad campaign in TheTimes of India, Delhi edition, dated October 19.

Nestle India has given the much-awaited Diwali gift to its loyal customers this year. After a seemingly long and unending wait over its infamous ban, the instant noodles brand has made a wonderful comeback with Nestle India having announced the same on their Twitter handle on November 8 with a post stating, "Your favourite MAGGI noodles are back."

What is interesting is the fact that the brand has tied up with e-commerce player Snapdeal to sell the product. In other words,
#SnapdealWelcomesMAGGI
is the surprise element of the package.

Trouble erupted for brand Maggi when a TOI (The Times of India) report published on May 16 this year said that Maggi samples collected in some parts of Uttar Pradesh were found to contain added monosodium glutamate (MSG) and lead in excess of the permissible limit. Authorities swung into action and the Lucknow Food Safety and Drug Administration initiated an inquiry and wrote to the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) in New Delhi, and sought to cancel the license for the noodle brand. The regulator also asked FSSAI to order sampling of the product from across the country to check quality.

As a consequence, legal notices were also served to Amitabh Bachchan, Madhuri Dixit, and Preity Zinta for endorsing Maggi as a healthy snack. Meanwhile, Nestle recalled the product from the markets in June.

As of now, after its quality clearance, Snapdeal has helped bring the noodles brand back on the shelves, which in turn, follows a series of steps taken by the company itself. It is pertinent to note that Nestlé India and Snapdeal have jointly developed a '
MAGGI Welcome Kit
', which is only available on the Snapdeal marketplace. To begin with, one needs to
register
for MAGGI Welcome Kit' which will be available for sale on November 12, starting 12:00 noon, with the registrations closing at 11:00 pm on November 11. Not only this, Snapdeal has also put up information regarding 'Your Questions Answered' and 'Test Results' on its website.

According to a company spokesperson, Nestle constantly looks for opportunities and partnerships to reach out to its consumers and recognises e-commerce as a relevant business channel, having had active engagement with various e-commerce partners. Hence, it believes that the partnership with Snapdeal will give a further boost to Nestle's efforts in taking MAGGI Noodles to its consumers across India.

Your favorite MAGGI Noodles are now back #WelcomeBackMAGGI pic.twitter..com/XQavGQ6a8V

— Nestlé India (@NestleIndia) November 9, 2015

The spokesperson further says that the return of MAGGI Noodles on the auspicious eve of Deepawali and on the day of Dhanteras has been a moment of celebration for the brand as MAGGI Noodles has a very special relationship and a strong emotional bond with its consumers.

Delighted to hand over MAGGI Noodles to consumers to whom it belongs #WelcomeBackMAGGI pic.twitter.com/Tfp1PCFBv2

— Nestlé India (@NestleIndia) November 9, 2015

Significantly, in the first sale on Snapdeal on November 9, the noodles were sold out within minutes even as the manufacturing facility for the Masala variant is underway at three plants- Moga (Punjab), Bicholim (Goa) and Nanjagud (Karnataka). According to news reports, it will not be available yet in eight states that have banned its sale.