Transcript
PROJECT REPORT ON:-
MARKETING STRATEGIES OF LAKME PRODUCTS
Bachelor of Business Administration
SESSION : 2009-2012
INVERTIS INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES
BAREILLY
Submitted to : Submitted by:Mr.Suneel kumar Devika khandelwal Associate Professor BBA- VI Sem. (Sec-A)
CONTENT
TOPICS: PAGE NO.
PREFACE 04
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 06
OBJECTIVE 08
INTRODUCTION 10
COMPANY PROFILE 12
LITERATURE REVIEW 56
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 58
FINDINGS 60
LIMITATIONS 62
RECOMMENDATIONS 64
CONCLUSION 66
BIBLIOGRAPHY 68
PREFACE
Excellence is the attitude that the whole of human race is born with. It is the environment thatMake sure that whether the result of this attitude is visible or otherwise. The planned properly
executed project report help a lot in including the good work culture.
During this period, the student gets their real fast experience on working in the actual
environment. Most of the theoretical knowledge that they have gained during the course of their
studies is put to test here. A part from this the student gets the opportunity to learn latest
technology, which immensely help them in carrier.
I had the opportunity to have the real practical experience, which has increased my sphere of
knowledge to great extent. Now I am better equipped to handle the real thing than anyone else
that has not undergone any such project. During the project, I learned how an actual project
progresses, what sort of problems actually occurs during the development of such projects.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude to those who, directly or
indirectly made this project possible.
I have got considerable help and support in making this project report a reality from them.
I would like to thank Mr. SUNEEL KUMAR, Asstt.Proffesor, IIMS, and Bareilly whose
endeavor for perfection, under fatigable zeal, innovation and dynamism contributed in a big way
in completing this project. This work is the reflection of his thought, ideas, concept and above all
his modest effort.
DEVIKA KHANDELWAL
OBJECTIVE
To study the complete history of Hindustan Unilever.
To Study about LAKME products of Hindustan Unilever.
To study the marketing strategies of Hindustan Unilever for Lakme.
INTRODUCTION
India’s largest FMCG Company, HUL has unveiled a new corporate identity represented by a
new logo and also a new name Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL). The new name reflects the
company’s heritage as well as the synergies it has with its global parent Unilever Plc. To reflect
its India-specific focus, the company has chosen to retain ‘Hindustan’ as the first word in the
name. The new identity positions the company as working on a local as well as a global
platform. HUL also unveiled a new logo consisting of 25 different icons which symbolizes the
company’s brands, organization, values and its core idea of Vitality.
MUMBAI: FMCG major Hindustan Lever on Monday announced that it has received
government approval to change its name to Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL). Thus the company
will have a new corporate identity and a new logo will come into effect.
“The identity symbolizes the benefits we bring to our consumers and the communities we work
in. Our new identity will help us open up exciting opportunities where we have competitive
advantage for developing our business,” said Doug Baillie, CEO, and HUL.
The new logo is symbolic of the company’s mission of ‘adding vitality to life.’ It comprises 25
different icons representing the organization, its brands and the idea of vitality, Hindustan
Unilever said in a statement.
COMPANY
PROFILE
The shareholders of the company, which has interests in 20 distinct categories like nutrition,
hygiene, personal care, food and drinks, had approved the proposal for change in name on May
18. The stock closed 1.5% higher on the Bombay Stock Exchange at Rs 191
The company believes the new name provides the optimum balance between maintaining its
heritage and synergies of global alignment with the corporate name of Unilever. Most
importantly, the name retains ‘Hindustan’ as the first word to reflect the company’s commitment
to the economy, consumers, partners and employees, the statement added.
“For us this is really an opportunity, collectively as an organization, to renew and strengthen our
commitment to continue our Endeavour to earn the love and respect of India, by making a real
difference to every Indian,” Mr. Baillie added. Anglo-Dutch FMCG giant Unilever owns a
majority stake in Hindustan Lever.
Unilever set up its first Indian subsidiary, Hindustan Vanaspati Manufacturing Company, in
1931, followed by Lever Brothers India Ltd in 1933 and United Traders Ltd in 1935. These three
companies were merged to form HUL in November 1956
Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), a 51%-owned subsidiary of Anglo-Dutch giant Unilever,
has been working its way into India since 1888. India's largest consumer goods company, HUL
markets products such as beverages, food, and home and personal care goods. Its brands include
Quality Wall's ice cream, Lifebuoy soap, Lipton tea, Pepsodent toothpaste, and Surf laundry
detergent. HUL markets Atta (a type of meal), maize, rice, and salt, and its export division ships
castor oil and fish. The company also sells bottled water and over-the-counter healthcare
products. Douglas Baillie, former president of Unilever's Africa Business Group, became the
firm's first expatriate leader in March 2006.
Management Committee
The day-to-day management of affairs of the Company is vested with the Management
Committee which is subjected to the overall superintendence and control of the Board. The
Management Committee is headed by Mr. Douglas Baillie and has functional heads as its
members representing various functions of the Company
Mr. Douglas Baillie - Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director
Mr. D Sundaram – Director Finance and IT
Mr. Nitin Paranjpe – Executive Director Home & Personal Care
Mr. Shreejit Mishra – Executive Director Foods
Mr. Sanjiv Kakkar – Executive Director Sales and Customer Development
Mr. Dhaval Buch – Executive Director Supply Chain
Mr. Ashok Gupta –Executive Director Legal
Ms Leena Nair –Executive Director HR.
MISSION
Unilever's mission is to add Vitality to life. We meet everyday needs for nutrition, hygiene, and
personal care with brands that help people feel good, look good and get more out of life.
PRESENT STATUS
Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) is India's largest Fast Moving Consumer Goods Company,
touching the lives of two out of three Indians with over 20 distinct categories in Home &
Personal Care Products and Foods & Beverages. They endow the company with a scale of
combined volumes of about 4 million tones and sales of Rs.10, 000 crores.
HUL is also one of the country's largest exporters; it has been recognized as a Golden Super Star
Trading House by the Government of India.
The mission that inspires HUL's over 15,000 employees, including over 1,300 managers, is to
"add vitality to life." HUL meets everyday needs for nutrition, hygiene, and personal care with
brands that help people feel good, look good and get more out of life. It is a mission HUL shares
with its parent company, Unilever, which holds 51.55% of the equity. The rest of the
shareholding is distributed among 380,000 individual shareholders and financial institutions.
HUL's brands - like Lifebuoy, Lux, Surf Excel, Rin, Wheel, Fair & Lovely, Pond's, Sunsilk,
Clinic, Pepsodent, Close-up, Lakme, Brooke Bond, Kissan, Knorr-Annapurna, quality Wall's –
are household names across the country and span many categories - soaps, detergents, personal
products, tea, coffee, branded staples, ice cream and culinary products. They are manufactured
over 40 factories across India. The operations involve over 2,000 suppliers and associates. HUL's
distribution network, comprising about 4,000 redistribution stockiest, covering 6.3 million retail
outlets reaching the entire urban population, and about 250 million rural consumers.
HUL has traditionally been a company, which incorporates latest technology in all its operations.
The Hindustan Unilever Research Centre (HLRC) was set up in 1958, and now has facilities in
Mumbai and Bangalore. HLRC and the Global Technology Centers in India have over 200
highly qualified scientists and technologists, many with post-doctoral experience acquired in the
US and Europe.
HUL believes that an organization’s worth is also in the service it renders to the community.
HUL is focusing on health & hygiene education, women empowerment, and water management.
It is also involved in education and rehabilitation of special or underprivileged children, care for
the destitute and HIV-positive, and rural development. HUL has also responded in case of
national calamities / adversities and contributes through various welfare measures, most recent
being the village built by HUL in earthquake affected Gujarat, and relief & rehabilitation after
the Tsunami caused devastation in South India
QUALITY POLICY
.
Hindustan Lever is now Hindustan Unilever
Hindustan Lever said on Monday it has received government's approval to change its name to
Hindustan Unilever Ltd following which, its new corporate identity represented by a new logo
will come into effect.
"The identity symbolizes the benefits we bring to our consumers and the communities we work
in. Our new identity will help us confidently position ourselves in every aspect of our business,"
Hindustan Unilever CEO Doug Baillie said.
The new logo is symbolic of the company's mission of Adding Vitality to life. It comprises 25
different icons representing the organization, its brands and the idea of vitality, Hindustan
Unilever said in a communiqué to the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Hindustan Unilever Limited considers quality as one of the principal strategic objectives to
guarantee its growth and leadership in the markets in which it operates.
The company is committed to respond creatively and competitively to the changing needs and
aspirations of our consumers through relentless pursuit of technological excellence, innovation
and quality management across our businesses, and offer superior quality products and services
that are appropriate to the various price points in the market as well as to our commitment to
building shareholder value.
The company recognizes that its employees are the primary source of success in its operations
and is committed to training and providing them the necessary tools and techniques as well as
empowering them to ensure broad base compliance of this policy in the organization at all levels.
The company is committed to fulfill its legal and statutory obligations and international
standards of product safety and hygiene and will not knowingly sell product that is harmful to
consumers or their belongings. It will institute systems and measures to monitor compliance.
The company will maintain an open communication channel with its consumers and customers
and will carefully monitor the feedback to continuously improve its products and services and set
quality standards to fulfill them.
The company is committed to extend its quality standards to its contract manufacturers, key
suppliers and service providers and by entering into alliances with them, to jointly improve the
quality of its products and services. This policy is applicable to production from its own facilities
as well as to production that is outsourced.
The company will periodically review this quality policy for its effectiveness and consistency
with business objectives.
The company delegates authority and responsibility for dissemination and implementation of this
policy to each Business and Unit Head.
ABOUT LAKME
Lakmé is an Indian brand of cosmetics, owned by Unilever. Lakme started as a 100% subsidiary
of Tata Oil Mills (Tomco), part of the Tata, it was named after the French opera Lakmé, which
itself is the French form of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, also renowned for her beauty. Indian
cosmetic Lakme was started in 1952, famously because the then Prime Minister, Jawaharlal
Nehru was concerned that Indian women were spending precious foreign exchange on beauty
products, and personally requested JRD Tata to manufacture them in India. Simone Tata joined
the company as director, and went on to become its chairman. In 1998 Tata sold off their stakes
in Lakmé Lever to HU, for Rs 200 Crore (45 million US$), and went on to create Trent and
Westside. Even today, when most multinational beauty products are available in India, Lakme
still occupies a special place in the hearts of Indian women.
Lakme also started its new business in the beauty industry by setting up Lakme Beauty Salons all
over India. Now HUL (Hindustan Unilever Limited) has about 110 salons all over India
providing beauty services
Product of Lakme Cosmetics
Face
• Flawless Makeup
• Crème Compact
• Matte Compact
• Radiant Compact
• Liquid Foundation
• Face Magic
• Rose Powder
• Face Highlighter
Lips
• Enrich Lip Colour
• Lip-gloss
• Lip liner
• Aqua Shine Lip Color
• Enrich 9 to 5 Lip Color
• Enrich 9 to 5 Lip Duo
• Enrich Metallic Lip Color
Nails
• Tarun Tahiliani
• True Wear Nail Enamel
• Free Spirit Nail Color
• Glamour True Wear Nail Color Winter 2009
9 to 5 Intense Volume Mascara
• Quick Dry Eye Liner
• Defining Eye Liner
• Perfect Definition Eye Pencil
• Lakme Thick lash M
Eyes
• Intense Shine
• Eyeliner
• Kajal
• Shimmer Eye Cube
• High Definition Eyeliner
• Eye Color Quartet
Cleansers
• Fruit Energy Home Facial
• Fruit Facial Scrub
• Deep Hydrating Mask
• Crème Face Wash
• Matt effect Morning Fresh Set
• Strawberry Silk Splash Face Wash
• Deep Pore Cleanser
• Matt effect Purifying Face Wash
• Matt effect Refreshing Astringent
Moisturizers
• Matt effect Icy Fresh Gel
• Peach Milk Moisturizers
• Winter Care Moisturizers
Lakme Pure Defense Anti-Pollution System
• Pure Defense Detoxifying Facial Wash
• Pure Defense Protective Day Lotion
• Pure Defense Detoxifying Serum
• Pure Defense Restorative Night Crème
Skin Care Lakme Sun Expert - Sun Care
• Lakme Sun Expert Ultra matte SPF 20 & 30
• Lakme Sun Expert Cream SPF 30
• Lakme Sun Expert Sunscreen Lotion SPF 15
Lakme Discover Glow
• Lakme Deep Pore Cleanser
• Lakme Peach Milk Moisturizer
• Lakme Winter Care Moisturiser
• Lakme Strawberry Crème
Lakme Matte Effect
• Lakme Matt effect Purifying Face Wash
• Lakme Matt effect Refreshing Astringent
• Lakme Matt effect Morning Fresh Set
• Lakme Matt effect Icy Fresh Gel
Lakme Bridal Sutra Collection by Sabyasachi & Anamika Khanna
• Bridal Jewel Eyeliner
• Bridal True Wear Nail Color
• Lip Chrome
• Glide on Eye Color
• Jewel Sindoor
• Enrich Metallic’s Lip color
• Silk Naturelle Daily Foundation
• Pure Rouge Blusher
• Just Kissed Cheek and Lip Tint
• Enrich Matte Lip Color
• Glide On Lip Color
• Eye Artist
Lakme Spa Line
• Shea Nut Hand Butter
• Nail Beauty Oil
• Honey Cuticle Cleaner
• Protective Base Coat
• Nail Color Remover Oil
• Hard Wear Top Coat
EYE MAGIC
The lightweight, translucent gel comes with a quick dry formula that fixes the sparkle in place.
Paint crystalline lines for a soft look or sweep the entire eyelid for the jewel encrusted look. Can
be used as an eye shadow or as a highlighter for cheeks or any other part of the body. In classic
shades of gold & silver for a subtle, pearly shine
BLACK IMPACT LINEAR
Enhance your eyes with the blackest of black eyeliner that doesn't fade. The rich, intense color in a silky
Formula glides on - lining, defining with the greatest of ease. Water resistant and fast drying. It won’t
Budge for Hours. The brush handle offers a comfortable grip so you can create dark, dramatic eyes that are
A night time glam staple.
Black
CREATING THROUGH HAIRCARE
Lakmé is a company inspired by beauty. Hair is a fundamental element of our personality. Health, wellbeing
and the search for our own personal look are the essential values that guide us towards the hair’s natural
Beauty. With the development of our products, we aim to bring these values to fruition in hairdressing, through
Professional creativity and the infinite possibilities that hair provides.
LIPS
A high performance, color-fix formula developed in Italy; this creamy lipstick
combines amazing comfort with staying power that keeps you looking fresh for
hours.
After lining your lips with a matching lip liner, fill the outlined area of your
lips with these rich lip colors. Wait for two minutes for the color fix action to
take effect. Now your lip color is set to last for hours
21
Jewel Pink
22
Moon Berry
23
Poppy
26
Lotus
27
Berrylicious
28
Mauve Latte
29
Pink Latte
41
Garnet Spray
42
Satin Ruby
43
Red Hot
44
Bridal Dream
45
Merlot
46
Apple Crush
51
Brick
52
Crème Brule
53
Bitter Chocolate
54
Cocoa Crème
55
Espresso
56
Mocha
58
Earth
30
Cocoa Pink
59
Toasted Brown
61
Terracotta
62
Nougat
63
Taupe
65
Cappuccino
A high performance, color-fix formula developed in Italy; this creamy lipstick
combines amazing comfort with staying power that keeps you looking fresh for
hours.
After lining your lips with a matching lip liner, fill the outlined area of your
lips with these rich lip colors. Wait for two minutes for the color fix action to
take effect. Now your lip color is set to last for hours
21
Jewel Pink
22
Moon Berry
23
Poppy
26
Lotus
27
Berrylicious
28
Mauve Latte
29
Pink Latte
41
Garnet Spray
42
Satin Ruby
43
Red Hot
44
Bridal Dream
45
Merlot
46 Apple Crush
51
Brick
52
Crème Brule
53
Bitter Chocolate
54
Cocoa Crème
55
Espresso
56
Mocha
58
Earth
30
Cocoa Pink
59
Toasted Brown
61
Terracotta
62
Nougat
63
Taupe
65
Cappuccino
FACE
INVISIBLE FINISH FOUNDATION
Foundations are great make-up products, they help
1. your skin look flawless without any blemishes,
2. Make a great base for makeup to be applied on.
The difficulty is:
1. Finding the right shade to match your skin tone
2. Finding a foundation that suits Indian weather
3. Finding a foundation that blends flawlessly with your
skin
Lakmé best understands the needs of the Indian woman and
therefore has been designed for Indian skin tones, suited for
tropical Indian weather.
Price : Rs.185
Fill level- 25ml.
Foundations are great make-up products, they help
1. your skin look flawless without any blemishes,
Skin Family Base Skin Tone Shade No.
Light Pink 01
Light Yellow 02
Medium Yellow 04
Medium Pink 05
Deep Yellow 07
Deep Pink 08
2. Make a great base for makeup to be applied on.
The difficulty is:
1. Finding the right shade to match your skin tone
2. Finding a foundation that suits Indian weather
3. Finding a foundation that blends flawlessly with your
skin
Lakmé understands this, and therefore has introduced the
‘Lakmé Invisible Finish Foundation’.
Cory Wail, Lakme Make-up expert
“I love IFF because it has a super fine effect that gives a
matte yet glowing finish. This is because the formulation
spreads evenly all over the skin including dry & uneven,
patchy skin. It is very easy to blend it with fingertips or a
make up sponge or even a brush, giving the same finish each
time.”
The Invisible Finish Foundation
1. Blends perfectly with your skin
2. Offers full coverage for a flawless invisible
finish
3. Is water based, ultra light when applied
blends perfectly to give you full coverage
It has SPF 8* which protects you from the sun and
darkening
Available in 6 shades, keeping in mind Indian skin tones
and Indian weather
It is convenient to use; it has a spatula applicator which
makes easy and effective removal of the product, no need
of putting extra foundation back into the bottle, hence
preventing wastage
Lakmé best understands the needs of the Indian woman and
therefore it has been designed for Indian skin tones, suited for
tropical Indian weather.
Skin Family Base Skin Tone Shade No.
Light Pink 01
Light Yellow 02
Medium Yellow 04
Medium Pink 05
Deep Yellow 07
Deep Pink 08
Price : Rs.185
Fill level- 25ml.
EYES
http://w.com/shades/prod_rose.asp
NAILS
LAKME’S POSITIONING IN TERMS OF PERSONALITY AND
SELF CONCEPT:
Lakme is a product range that caters to the beautification needs of not only women in their adult
age but in today's context teenagers also. It has a brand personality of someone who takes care of
you and your beauty needs. It tries to position itself amongst its consumers as a product range
that will help them look beautiful as is evident from its catchphrases:
1. On top of the world!
2. Source of radiant beauty1!
Lakme has a range of beauty products to offer to its consumers. Some of the ways in which it
tries to position itself:
1. Lakme Hair Color: magic of colors (collage).
2. Lakme (versatile eye shadow collection): rich, long lasting and healthy make up.
3. Lakme fair perfect: For flawlessly fair skin!
4. Lakme face magic: daily wear soufflé.
5. Lakme (skin vitalizes): radiant skin, now and forever.
6. Lakme (moisturizer): radiant skin, now and forever.
7. Lakme nail polish and lipstick: electric brilliance/sensual brilliance/free
spirit/peppermint/9 to 52.
8. Lakme sun expert (sunscreen): sun safe hamesha! (face the sun with a smile)
1
2
9. Lakme pure defense: anti-pollution system.
10. Lakme Tropical Island (cosmetics): defining the future of fashion.
11. Lakme hair care (international): natural hair care, a source of pleasure and well being.
12. Lakme hair next: exclusive range of hairstyle products that give you that salon look
instantly.
On the basis of above mentioned positioning strategies Lakme can have the following
characteristics that determine its personality:
Someone who takes care of your beauty needs.
A long lasting beautification product range.
Something that is not harsh on your body or harmful for your beauty.
A product that provides you with an option of getting beautiful hair.
A product that helps you gets a beautiful skin.
A cosmetic product that you can wear for the entire day and not a special occasion.
Someone who tells you right things about looking good.
It's an Indian cosmetic brand.
It covers all facets of beauty care for women.
The following factors of Lakme's personality help in differentiation of its products from the
competition:
It covers all facets of beauty care.
It helps arm the consumer with products to pamper her from head to toe i.e. a complete
product range.
The quality of its products which can be only gauged by the consumer perception of the
brand.
India's first beauty brand and is there for a long time in the market (since independence).
However, most of the other foreign brands have come only lately.
CONCEPT
According to Freudian Psychoanalytic theory Lakme tries to position itself on the basis of
its appeal to the consumers which have an ego. This means that the consumers of Lakme
have an impulsive drive for which they seek immediate satisfaction without concern for
means of satisfaction.
Women all over the world are always expected to look good and Indian women are no
exception; More so because of the fact that Indian women in general do not have a fair
skin like that of their western counterparts. Thus it becomes but natural for Indian women
to try and look good and use beauty products that help enhance their looks and style.
With globalization and liberalization of Indian economy and the changing demographics
and income levels there is more and more concern to look good as today's Indian woman
is no longer confined to her home but is a big contributor to the growth of Indian
economy.
Lakme tries according to Karen Horney's classification3 of personality groups i.e. people
who move towards others. Those who have desire to be loved, wanted and appreciated.
As is earlier stated women are supposed to look good not only in western countries but
also in India.
Women always appreciate if someone calls them beautiful and it has become the custom
of the society to see women in such a context. So it would be prudent to say that
according to the societal norms a women has to look good at all times and which has a
bearing on the psychology of female consumers towards cosmetic products which help
them achieve that desired look. Needless to say that Lakme plays on the concept of
women wanting themselves to be appreciated for their beauty and being loved for that.
3
Lakme has tried to gain the attention of it’s by line extension and having more and more
product depth, packaging and attractive print advertisements. If we look at the line
extensions of Lakme than we would observe that it is in almost all the segments of
cosmetic care ranging from hair care to skin care to beauty salons! Looking at the product
depth it is pretty evident that Lakme has actually tried to fill in all areas that it can,
particularly the nail paint and the lip color segment is a big hit among Indian women as it
offers them a wide variety of products in terms of colors as well as various styles that
they can choose from.
. The major reason they attributed to this was that it was the first cosmetic brand in India
which was particularly catering to the need of Indian women and thus set a trend for the
foreign players to tap the Indian market. Today also they said that it is a trendsetter in
cosmetics as it keeps on coming out with novel colors, shades and products from time to
time.
This again matches with what the company wants Indian by
the shown advertisement. Lakme’s strategy has been to come with new and vibrant colors
and shades of cosmetics each and every season. Currently it is aggressively advertising its
‘Tropical Island Collection’4 which has been designed by none other than famous fashion
designer Wendell Rod ricks.
Lakme’s lip color is longer lasting as compared to other brands such as Maybelline and
Revlon. They felt that it is because of good quality of lip color that was provided by the
company.
:
This is what Lakme is trying to do with the advertisements of its
lip color. In fact it has launched a special range of lip color that is called 9 to 5 range and
is meant for women who are working in offices. This product is primarily harping on the
premise that the lip color stays longer than any other and is meant for working women
who stay in offices from 9 to 5 and can’t give that much time for their looks in between
working hours.
:
. According to product it is a brand which communicates to them the various ways in
which they can protect as well as enhance their beauty.
:
This advertisement of Lakme is
exactly trying to communicate this message to that the brand is an expert in beauty care
as it helps the not only to look beautiful but also helps her to protect her beauty.
4,
Although is not a very well known and trusted brand for its hair care products but still
the new range of hair styling products that it has brought out in the market have to some
extent provided them with an easy way of making their hair look beautiful.
This advertisement of
Lakme although is trying to say the same thing built according to what the company is
primarily looking for i.e. it is trying to position itself as a instant hairstyling product.
Lakme’s skin care lotion is one of the best products in its category and provides them
with optimum care in winters. However they said that the role of a cosmetic product is
different for different environments. They disagreed about the fact that the cosmetic
products actually help you maintain a good and healthy skin for a long time unless it is
of good quality. They were of the opinion that a good and healthy skin can only be
obtained by proper diet and hydration with the help of liquids taken orally.
In this context Lakme has tried to means of
informative advertisement that of what the company wants to achieve.
DATA PRESENTATION
DISTRIBUTION
With respect to distribution related activities like sales and marketing, HLL is second to none in
pushing the boundaries of what is possible financially, structurally, and logistically. Beyond its
pioneering work FMCG distribution, the company has sought to instill in its customers an
elevate sense of brand experience while simultaneously providing greater and more varied access
to its products as well as improved clarity to its communications. New initiatives include raising
brand visibility through in-store promotions, store-based product facilitators, and self-service.
HLL has enabled an even further level of personalization and brand experience in the direct sales
arena with its ground-breaking Hindustan UniLever Network, having amassed an army of
consultants 250,000 strong with access to 80 % of city dwelling Indians.
Hindustan Unilever – Present Scenario
15,000 employees
1,200 managers
2,000 suppliers & associates
75 Manufacturing Locations
Total Coverage 6.3 Mln Outlets
Direct Coverage 1 Mln outlet
Competition
The Indian cosmetic market, which has been traditionally a stronghold of a few major Indian
players like Lakme, and Ponds has seen a lot of foreign entrants to the market within the last
decade. India is a very price sensitive market and the cosmetics and personal care product
companies, especially the new entrants have had to work out new innovative strategies to suit
Indian preferences and budgets to establish a hold on the market and establish a niche market for
them.
Given the price-sensitivity of the Indian consumer who do not normally prefer to fork out a large
sum at one time, many cosmetic and toiletries companies launched their products in smaller pack
sizes to make them more affordable. HLL and Revlon were the first to introduce small pack
sizes. Revlon introduced its small-range of 8 ml nail polishes and lipsticks, and was soon
followed it its strategy by major Indian companies as well.
Stiff competition in the cosmetics and toiletries market also saw an increase in the range of new
products being introduced for newer application concepts in the last few years. In the skin-care
segment, from just creams and moisturizers, there has been a upgrade to value-added products
such as under-eye wrinkle removing creams, dark circle removing creams toners, sunscreen
lotions, fairness creams, and many more.
.
Beauty counselors or advisors at retails outlets have been very successful in gaining attention,
creating product awareness and overcoming consumer’s lack of familiarity with, and fears about
many cosmetics and personal care products such as home hair permanents and color cosmetics.
Some companies such as Lakme have even set up exclusive Lakme beauty parlors at major cities
in India through the franchisee route.
A strong brand promotional campaign, good distribution network, constant product innovation
and quality improvement, and the ability to provide a variety of quality products are some of the
major reasons for the success of most companies.
HUL is currently India's largest cosmetics and personal care products producer and its brands has
the dominant share (more than 50 percent) in segments such as personal wash, skin care,
shampoos, lipsticks and nail polish.
Sales Prospects
The growing Indian cosmetics market offers promising opportunities for international brands.
The growth rate in the cosmetics market reflects an increasing demand for beauty care products
in India. The most promising segments for international companies to pursue are perfumes and
fragrances, and specialized/professional skin care and hair care products. The fastest growing
market is however color cosmetics, which account for US$ 60 million of the total market.
The rural market in India for cosmetics and toiletries remains is largely untapped. Major
domestic players have also not been able to penetrate this market. The urban market itself for
specialized cosmetic products remains to be fully exploited. The Indian skin-care market is not
yet fully tapped and offers promising prospects as a growth area. Penetration of color cosmetics
is lower than the penetration prospects of the skin-care segment.
To promote the growth of their products, a dominant player like Lakme has embarked upon a
business plan to establish their exclusive franchised beauty salons across major metros in the
country.
Imported cosmetics have had a major impact on the Indian market. Foreign products have
enhanced growth of the Indian market by attracting aspirational consumers and increasing
acceptance of color cosmetics, previously perceived by many as harmful to skin. Indians
generally perceive foreign brands as being of superior quality.
Other key issues regarding sales prospects are product variety and retailing strategies as
well. There is a marked shift among consumers from functional common-fits-all products
to more specialized formulations. This is one of the reasons why an increasing number of
cosmetic companies are dealing with consumers directly through special exclusive counters
in major departmental stores and malls featuring their own beauty consultants. L'Oreal
India has established a consumer advisory unit and Ponds, as mentioned earlier offers skin care
advice through touch-screen kiosks, and telephone help-lines.
MARKETING STRATEGIES OF HUL FOR
LAKME
The company has constantly improved return on capital employed as well as returns to
shareholders. In fact, the Indian subsidiary has been Unilever's largest success story in any Asian
country.
HUL's key strength in a vast country such as ours has been its unmatched distribution reach
through a stockiest network of 7000 and a retail reach of over 1mn outlets. It is the only
company which distributes its products to more than 50000 villages. Innovative programmers’
like Project Bharat have been undertaken which aim to make available to every consumer in the
remotest corner of the country, products that meet his day to day requirements.
Also the management is well known for its marketing savvy. It has over the years studied and
understood the Indian markets as no other MNC player has. It has adapted its products to suit the
Indian tastes. A lot of wars have been played and won on the price front, acknowledging that the
Indian consumer is extremely price sensitive. The financial strength to cross subsidize new
initiatives with existing profitable businesses has enabled the company to achieve its zeal of
being the dominating player in all markets that it enters into.
While the personal products business has been the revenue driver during the last few years,
growth rates in the category (especially like detergents and toilet soaps) are likely to taper off
once certain penetration levels are reached. The company has been therefore consciously
building up extended product ranges which are at various stages of the growth cycle. As Mr.
Dadi Seth emphasizes, "The building of the personal products business was started 10 years ago,
and the benefits are being reaped now. Similarly we are investing in the foods business today - as
that will be the revenue driver in the future." Although profitability in the foods business may
still be a few years away, once the branded foods market really matures, the potential for volume
growth in the business are enormous.
Nor has the company ever given loyal shareholders a reason to be unhappy about its performance
in the bourses. The stock market performance has year after year been more than satisfactory.
Just look at the comparison of annualized returns earned by major food and personal products
companies via, Sensex returns in the last ten years.
THE CHANGING FACE FOR LAKME
Lakme marketing is no more going to be the same again! The changing consumer mindset
thanks to more knowledgeable and discerning customers coupled with changing competition and
saturated market is giving a tough time to the cosmetic marketers. The changed scenario not only
demands a new game plan with a sharp and decisive strategy but also a lot of creativity and
insight. Some of the players in Indian Cosmetic industry have already taken a lead and are
smartly moving to chart a success story for their brands. Some brands that reaped magnificent
dividend from adopting a new strategy. . If we analyze the success story of these brands, it will
be self evident that their marketing strategy is not a jargon filled new model of marketing. It is
more of common sense marketing. But then, common sense is not so common!
A common thread that binds the strategy adopted by these brands is razor sharp focus. They
clearly see their target market. They know their customers well. They are not targeting
consumers who already have built-in perceptions. They are reaching out to untapped market
within a well known product category. Their primary focus is on millions of lower middle class
families in small towns and rural segment. They are doing what legendry management guru C K
Prahlad advocates when he says in his published paper, "Raising the Bottom of the Pyramid:
Strategies for Sustainable Growth" that the greatest challenge for managers is to visualize an
active market when what exists is abject poverty. These successful brands are just doing that-
focusing on untapped markets. Take the example of Dandi namak. Who would have advised
them to enter the branded salt market when Tata and HUL virtually share the whole market
among them? But they entered this category when conventional wisdom said no. And they
became a success story overnight. How? The answer is focus. They entered the market not to
compete with Tata and HUL, but with the focus to take branded salt to rural and semi-urban
areas. With this narrow focus, they not only captured a large rural and semi-urban market but
also got some share of the urban market due to rub off effect.
Moreover, these small players fully realize that in today’s world, marketing needs money. So
they don’t shy away from investing in marketing. Again take the example of Dandi namak. They
splashed out money on their lengthy TV commercials to ensure that the message gets ingrained
in the mind of the prospect. Fairever and Ujala adopted the same strategy. Of course they don’t
spend as much as the MNCs do but they do spend enough to get attraction. The best part is when
they get attention and a little success, MNC Goliaths retaliate back with huge spending and these
little David’s piggyback on that!
The stratagem of this new breed of marketing is deciding the opponent to fight! In case of most
of these brands, it is seen that they fight their marketing battle by selecting a particular company
and in many cases a particular brand, which often is the market leader! Then they deploy their
entire marketing arsenal on this selected competitor. Ujala applied this tactic to full advantage
against Robin Blue and now it commands nearly three-fourth of the Rs2bn ultra marine blue
market, Fairever did the same to Fair & Lovely; Even the advertising strategy is designed with
an eye on its opponent. This hurts the big companies badly. They wake up from their complacent
sleep to realize that they are being brutally attacked. And by the time they retaliate, it’s too late
and they only succeed in helping these brands get more attention. HUL realized that its brand
Fair & Lovely was in danger only after Fairever had garnered a healthy market share within
months of its launch. Retaliatory advertising by Fair & Lovely only helped Fairever gain more
attention!
The way these home grown marketers are inducing insomnia to Kotler fed B-school grads is
really amazing. By their ability to be flexible, innovative, and being close to their customers,
they are conquering Indian market, which many MNCs find a tough nut to crack. The secret of
their success is not hard to guess. It is connecting with the heart and soul of India- the lower
middle class and the rural consumers. Are the FMCG giants listening?
LITERATURE
REVIEW
The impact of media context on advertising effectiveness has received considerable attention in
their search literature. Context effects have been approached in terms of differences in media
content. Furnham, Gunter, and Walsh (1998), for instance, compare advertising in entertainment
television shows versus news television shows. More generally, media context has been
identified with the concept of "involvement." For instance, Norris and Colman (1992) inserted
ads in different types of magazine sections and varied the involvement of the sections. Felltham
and Arnold (1994) compared participants who were highly involved in a program with those who
were not involved. These and other studies (e.g., assumes 1978; Ellsworth and Mackenzie 1998;
Danaher and Malarkey 2003; DePelsmacker, Geuens, and Anckaert 2002; Goldberg and Gorn
1987; Krugman 1983; Lloyd and Clancy1991; Lord and Burnkrant 1993; Lynch and Strips 1999;
Winick 1962) point to the existence of media context effects and the need to understand these
effects in terms of psychological reaction to the medium. Involvement, however, is a very loose
construct when used to describe media contexts. Andrews, Durvasula, and Akhter point out that
"involvement is ... controversial due to the many different proposals and ideas for
conceptualizing ... and measuring the involvement construct" (1990, p. 27). They give an
extensive literature review of different ways that the construct has been operational zed. Marc
(1966) defines magazine involvement as how disappointed a person would be "should the
magazine stop publication." Adapting television involvement scales for magazines and
newspapers, Tips, Berger, and Weinberg (2006) measure three factors labeled informational
value, emotional connection, and concentration/diversion. Other streams of research, including
work on the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), also offer a variety of different
operationalizations. In the most extensive review of such work, Johnson and Eagly (1989) can
only conclude that the underlying construct is defined generally as a motivational state that
implicates the self-concept in a desired outcome, in other words, personal relevance.
RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research methodology is a careful investigation for inquiring in a systematic method and finding
solution of a problem. It comprises the defining and redefining of problem formulating ,
collection and evaluating data, making detection and reaching conclusion. This research consists
of following element.
SOURCES OF DATA
Collection of data is secondary based.
Secondary data is collected from company’s website, magzines, wikipedia, newspaper etc.
FINDINGS
Promotions beyond fashion week
The brand should not lose its focus away from cosmetics. It can prove to very detrimental.
For vast reach unlikely, in the short-term. “Some sort of an alliance or co-branding with the
salons that already exist may, perhaps, have been a better strategy.
The general perception is that company-owned salons are expensive. Though Lakme beauty
salons are reasonably priced, it has not been communicated well enough.
LIMITATIONS
According to the industry, the market is saturated with many different types of products, and in the long run, established brands that emphasize quality and service will have the edge.
Increasing Competition
Low Rating of Lakme Saloons (not so good customer services)
No new Strategies to look for improvements.
May loose its Sheen in a long run.
RECOMMENDATION
HUL should give more attention on Lakme product. The MRP of lakme products are too
high so company should decrease the rate of lakme brand.
Company should increase their budget for Lakme should increase.
Company should provide home delivery service of their products.
The price policy of the company is quite high as compare to other brands
CONCLUSION
At last I would like to conclude that Lakme tries to position itself on the basis of its
appeal to the consumers which have an ego. This means that the consumers of Lakme
have an impulsive drive for which they seek immediate satisfaction without concern for
means of satisfaction.
Women all over the world are always expected to look good and Indian women are no
exception; More so because of the fact that Indian women in general do not have a fair
skin like that of their western counterparts. Thus it becomes but natural for Indian women
to try and look good and use beauty products that help enhance their looks and style.
With globalization and liberalization of Indian economy and the changing demographics
and income levels there is more and more concern to look good as today's Indian woman
is no longer confined to her home but is a big contributor to the growth of Indian
economy.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
I have used the following source for finding the data:
www.lakmeindia.comwww.encyclopedia.comwww.ask.comwww.scibd.comwww.google.comwww.goodlife.com/lakmewww.lakme_cosmetic.comwww.lakmefasionweek.co.in/www.lakmebeautysalon.in/FASION WEEK MAGAZINES
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