7 P's of Marketing

7 P’s of Marketing:

7 P’s of Marketing:

Introduction:

The term "marketing mix" was first used in 1953 when Neil Borden, in his American Marketing Association presidential address, took the recipe idea one step further and coined the term "marketing-mix". A prominent marketer, E. Jerome McCarthy, proposed a 4 P classification in 1960, which has seen wide use in the marketing.

The marketing mix is generally accepted as the use and specification of the '4 P’s' describing the strategy position of a product in the marketplace.

These 4 P’s was particularly useful in the early days of the marketing concept when physical products represented a larger portion of the economy. Today, with marketing more integrated into organizations and with a wider variety of products and markets, some authors have attempted to extend its usefulness by proposing a three more P’s , such as Phy. Environment, People, Process, etc. Today however, the marketing mix most commonly remains based on the 7 P's.

6.1 Product :

Definition: A product is an tangible object or an intangible service that is mass produced or manufactured on a large scale with a specific volume of units. Intangible products are often service based like the tourism industry & the hotel industry or codes-based products like cell phone load and credits. Typical examples of a mass produced tangible object are the motor car and the disposable razor.

Colgate Product Mix:

A product mix is the set of products offered by a company. The structure of the product mix has both the number of product lines and number of product mix in that line. Colgate-Palmolive is having different product line. Like they are having product line consists of personal care, bathroom care, household care and many more.

Some of the Colgate-Palmolive’s products lines are given below:

Toothpaste Toothbrush Detergent

Deodorant Dish wash Liquid Anti Per-spirant

Prescription Diet Body Wash Shave Preparation

Liquid Hand Wash Toiletries for Men Scourer

Household Cleaners Fabric Softener Kid’s Products Bar Soap

Pet Food Whitening Products Bleach

Liquids Automatic Dish-Wash Oral First Aid

Hair Care

Under each product line there are is a list of products which shows the depth of Colgate-Palmolive’s product line. Colgate-Palmolive is looking for expanding its products lines by producing & introducing more and more products. In the Oral Care line they have further categories the products.

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Colgate Product Mix

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Product Name : Colgate Sensitive Toothpaste and Toothbrush.

Colgate Sensitive Toothpaste and Toothbrush is manufactured and marketed by the Colgate-Palmolive (India) Limite d and is launched in 2007. It has been made by the Colgate to treat the Sensitivity problems of the gums. A Colgate Sensitive toothpaste is well designed and packed in very attractive glossy pink colour tube, which denotes its identity. The packaging of the tube consist of Colgate Sensitive logo along with Brand Punch line which is “Clinically Proven Sensitivity Relief”. A product is available in 50 and 100 grams.

A Colgate Sensitive toothbrush was available in three attractive colours green, pink and purple. A toothbrush is specially designed to treat Sensitivity problems with Ultra soft bristles which is newly introduced in India.

Product Profile:

Colgate Sensitive Toothpaste:

Colgate Sensitive toothpaste soothes the nerve ends and builds a protective shield providing both relief from sudden shocks of pain and long term sensitivity protection with regular use.

Characteristics of Toothpaste:

1. Fights pain due to sweet/sour/hot/cold foods by desensitising nerves.

2. Helps maintain the natural whiteness of your teeth.

3. Significant inhibitory effect on the formation of supra-gingival calculus.

4. Has a pleasant taste.

5. You will notice improvement in 2-4 weeks.

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What is Tooth Sensitivity?

Tooth sensitivity is a common name for dentin hypersensitivity or root sensitivity. If hot, cold, sweet or very acidic foods and drinks, or breathing in cold air, makes your teeth or a tooth sensitive or painful then you have sensitive teeth.

What Causes Sensitivity?

1. Poor oral hygiene. This may allow tartar to build up at the gum line.

2. Receding gums that expose the tooth's roots.

3. Brushing teeth too hard. This wears away the enamel layer.

4. Frequently eating acidic foods or drinking acidic beverages.

5. An old filling with a crack or leak.

6. Untreated cavities.

7. Gum surgery that exposes a tooth's roots.

Sensitive teeth:

Ingredients of toothpaste:

Active Ingredients: Potassium Nitrate 5% (FDA required amount) (Antisensitivity), Sodium Fluoride (0.14% w/f fluoride ion) (Anticavity).

Inactive Ingredients: Sorbitol, Hydrated Silica, Water, Glycerin, PEG 600, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Flavor, Poloxamer 407, Titanium Dioxide, Xanthan Gum, Sodium Hydroxide, Sodium CMC, Sodium Saccharin, FD&C Blue.

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Colgate Sensitive Toothbrush:

Colgate Sensitive toothbrush is specially designed with Ultra Soft Bristles to reduce tooth sensitivity problem. Toothbrush is available in three attractive colours green, pink and purple.

Characteristics of Toothbrush:

1. Compact head with smooth curve trim.

2. Flexible neck joint.

3. Ultra Soft Bristles.

4. Rubber thumb grip.

Sensitive Toothbrush:

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6.2 Price:

“Price is the perceived value of the product agreed to pay by the customer at the time of purchase.” The price is the amount a customer pays for the product. It is determined by a number of factors including market share, competition, material costs, product identity and the customer's perceived value of the product. The business may increase or decrease the price of product if other stores have the same product.

The MRP of the 50gm toothpaste is 36 Rs. and 100gm is 62 Rs. But in these project i have to seed three toothpaste of 100gms and three toothbrush to each chemist shop, in a Cash Discount pack of 237 Rs. An 100gm toothpaste will give him a margin of 20% and toothbrush will give him 40% margin. The price of the toothpaste was almost same to that its competitors.

Comparison of Price of Colgate and its Competitors:

Names of Products Quantity in Grams

50gm 80gm 100gm

Colgate Sensitive TP 35Rs. ……… 62Rs.

Themoseal 35Rs. ……… 60Rs.

Emoform 32Rs. ……… 58Rs.

Pepsodent 15Rs. 25Rs. ……..

6.3 Place:

Place represents the location where a product can be purchased. It is often referred to as the distribution channel. It can include any physical store as well as virtual stores on the Internet.

Colgate toothpastes are available at every convenience place to facilitate its customers. So, customer purchases it with a very little shopping effort.

Colgate use different channel (retailers and wholesalers) to search and delivers the prospective customers. Colgate use the distribution channel which is very efficient, effective and which is not only meets customer needs but also provide them the valuable services. It uses the different method to design a channel of distribution. First of all Colgate specify the role of its channel of distribution. It usually adopts the offensive kind of distribution which is fast enough to sell its products rapidly throughout the country. Here Colgate keeps in mind the marketing objectives and all the marketing mix.

It then specifies the role of product, price and promotion. It decides that what type of middlemen should be used either retain whole seller or an agents. Colgate set the intensity of the distribution, it uses the very intensive kind of distribution, and it means that its sale volume is very large.

But, in chase of Colgate Sensitive toothpaste and toothbrush, the distribution network was not so good, because it was newly introduced in the Amravati market and the Company wants to target only Chemist shops, rather than Grocery and Other Stationary shops. As because it is medicated toothpaste and differs from other toothpastes of Colgate. It is useful only when problem of tooth sensitivity arises. Hence the company wants to target only Chemist shops, because they are only people who can understand the Uses, Merits and Demerits of the Products.

As the Distribution network of the wholesaler of Amravati was not quite enough to distribute the product to each and every chemist shop of the District. Hence our prime motto was to find and study the Distribution network of the Competitors product through market survey, who are there stockist in the Amravati. So, if the same stockist would convinced to sell the Colgate Sensitive to Chemist Shops, it would be very effective for the Colgate to make avail the product on each and every chemist shop of the District.

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What is Marketing Channel:

“A marketing channel is the series of marketing institutions that facilitates transfer of title to a product as it moves from producer to ultimate consumer or industrial user.”

Colgate-Pamolive Marketing Channel:

To make its products available at the right place, at the right time in the market, at the right place, the sales department of the company plays major attention towards controlling the channel of distribution.

The company right from its beginning stage maintains single type of marketing channel. The channel. The nature of channel is as follows:-

Why Marketing Channels are necessary:

• Creating Utility

• Improving Exchange Efficiency

• Exchange without middlemen

• Exchange with middlemen

• Matching Supply and Demand

• Quantity Discrepancy

• Assortment Discrepancy

Producer Producer

Wholesaler Wholesaler

Retailer Retailer

Customer Customer

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ABOUT DISTRIBUTORS:-

At first, toothpaste and toothbrush is supplied to distributors. Retailers cannot take the delivery directly from the company. They have to take it from respective or nearest distributors. The distributors selected on the basis of assurance given by them regarding minimum sales. Which they have to maintain annually. The selection is also done on the financial position and reputation in the market. As for example, first priority is given to those people who are in FMCG business. Depending upon market , each distributors in its initial stage ,deposit stage some security money.

The distributors can be dropped if they fail to achieve the required target of sales. They can be also dropped when they don’t follow the instructions given by the company or when they are engaged in black marketing, loading etc. but the company has not dropped any of its distributors till now.

ABOUT RETAILERS:-

The distributors select the retailers. There is no relation between the company and its retailers. On the other hand there is no definite and fixed criterion for the selection for appointment of retailers from the side of the distributors. Any one like “grocery shop”, “stationary shop” or any shopkeeper can have the stall for the sale of toothpaste and they are called retailers or dealers.

But in chase of Colgate Sensitive Colgate has to target only on the Medical store, because Colgate Sensitive is the medicated toothpaste its selling to proper customer can be done by those person who have some knowledge about medicine, which is chemist.

Generally, there is no compulsion on the part of distributors to provide the transportation facilities to their retailers, but the distributors of the big areas like Mumbai, Pune etc. provide transportation facilities.

Amravati also provides the transportation facilities to their respective retailers. The distributors and retailers are independent to sell as they want but are controlled to some extent by the company also, as they have some assurance regarding minimum sale. It happens so because they are given some incentives also. They are fully independent to gear up the market, as they want.

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Numerical Distribution of Colgate Toothpaste during 2009-10:

2007-08 2008-09 2009-10

Urban 83% 84% 86%

Rural 76% 79% 83%

U + R 80% 81% 84%

Urban Rural Contribution Chart:

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6.4 Promotion:

Promotion represents all of the communications that a marketer may use in the marketplace. Promotion has four distinct elements - advertising, public relations, word of mouth and point of sale.

Colgate-Palmolive has taken variety of tools and techniques of sales promotion. Like for example point of purchase (POP), display, customer service program like free dental checkups, scholarship programmers for children’s and demonstration of free sample.

The main purpose of the promotion is to Create Awareness, Persuasion, Education, Information, Emotion, Brand Loyalty, Understanding, etc. Colgate-Palmolive informs its customers about its new products as well as the product that is being used by the customers.

Colgate-Palmolive persuades and convinces its new as well as old customers to purchase itsNew product. Adopting a good promotional strategy Colgate has succeeded to retain its customers and image. By this Colgate strongly focuses on different promotional strategies i.e. mass selling, Advertising, publicity and sale promotion etc.

Colgate-Palmolive has proved itself as a keen observer of the market and the culture all around itself. Colgate has done in the past and still doing at the moment. It is producing & introducing the products specially for the kids.

Colgate is very popular among young kids just because of its perfect promotion. Colgate-Palmolive is promoting kids products by labelling the cartoon Characters like Looney tunes,Barbie, Barney and many more which are being loved by the children. It also educatingChildren by slogan “Stronger say bhe Strong, Mera Colgate”.

However in chase of Colgate Sensitive, Colgate has made a beautiful advertisement in which they are explaining what is Sensitivity, and how it can be treated with Colgate Sensitive and with Colgate Recommendation. At the same time Dummy Dangler were displayed at each and every Medical store of Amravati city for promotion and Introduction of Colgate Sensitive.

Internet Webpages also plays a major role in Promotion of product, Colgate is providing detail information about there products, through there website: www.colgate.com/www.colgate.in

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Elements of Promotional Mix:

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Sales Promotion Activities for Colgate Sensitive in

Amravati City:

Picture 1:

Holy cross Medical Store: Gadge Nagar, Amravati.

Picture 2:

Rupesh Medical Store: Ambagate, Amravati.

Picture 3:

Venkatesh Medicals: Shrikrushnapeth, Amravati.

Picture4:

Yash Medicals: Near Railway Crossing, Gopal Nagar, Amravati.

Picture 5:

Raja Medicals: Near H.V.P.M, Amravati.

Picture 6:

Master Medicals: Rajkamal Chowk, Amravati.

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Objectives of Sales Promotional Activities for Colgate Sensitive:

1. Creating brand awareness.

2. Providing Information about newly Introduced Brand.

3. Learning about Customers.

4. Increasing Sales.

5. Successful introduction of the Brand in New Market.

6. Explaining Companies Action.

Advertisement:

The word advertising originates from a Latin word advertise, which means to turn to. The dictionary meaning of the term is “to give public notice or to announce publicly”.

“Advertising is the dissemination of information by non-personal means through paid media where the source is the sponsoring organization.”

Types of Advertisement:

Colgate Sensitive Advertisement:

In chase of Colgate Sensitive, Colgate has selected one of the widely used media for Advertisement i:e Television. Colgate has made an Product Related Advertisement in which they are explaining what is Sensitivity, and how it can be treated with Colgate Sensitive and with Colgate Recommendation.

Media Category:

Among all, like Sports Channels, Business Channels, Kids Channels etc… Colgate has selected Entertainment Channels for Advertisement.

Media Vehicle:

Advertisement is featured on almost all high rating channels like Star Plus, Sony, Star Movies, Colors, Set Max, Imagine, Zee Marathi etc…..

Colgate-Palmolive India Ltd. Advertisement Budget:

Interpretation:

From the graph it is found that Advertisement Budget of 2006-07 increased by 15.9% as compare to its previous year 05-06.

At the same time, budget increased by 17.4% in 2007-08, 16% in 2008-09 and 15.3% in 2009-10.

In 2006, 207 crores was spend on advertisement and 257 crores in 2007, 272 crores in 2008, 299 crores in 2009.

Indian Dental Association:

By using the idea of IDA (Indian Dental Association) Colgate’s promotional activity not only became strong but also helps to convincing the customers to adopt the product for using. So, we can say that the Colgate’s proper promotion makes new room in the market for establishment.

Public Relationship and Publicity:

The Company continues its thrust in spreading oral health awareness and good oral hygiene practices through various programs conducted across the country, mainly targeting consumption building in rural areas. The Company observed October as “Oral Health Month” (OHM) in association with the Indian Dental Association. OHM covers a wide spectrum of activities designed to spread oral health awareness and good oral hygiene practices, its mission being “Zero Tooth Decay”. The program involved 10,000 dentists spread across 200 towns. Colgate’s unique “Little Dentist” program covered 1.5 lakhs children from 190 schools across 7 cities.

Oral Health Month Oct 2009:

In 2009 Oral Health month there was 360% in no. of towns visited as compare to previous years and 70% increase in no. of dentists.

Over 17500 dentist participate in Oral Health Month and first time partnership with Dental Colleges, about 85 Dental Colleges Participated in Oral Health Month.

Participation of Dentist and Towns in Oral Health Month:

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6.5 People:

People are the most important element of any service or experience. Recruiting the right kind of staff and training them appropriately in the delivery of their service is essential if the organisation wants to obtain a form of competitive advantage. Consumers make judgements and deliver perception of the service based upon the service that consumers are paying for.

Training:

Colgate-Palmolive India Ltd. being started in 1937, today has some 1130 employees working in it. Today it the most trusted brand in Oral Care segment, due to its loyalty and trust they have created in the people’s mind from past 83 years. Each and Every employee working in Colgate are highly educated and special training programmes are carried out to train new employees before work is given to them.

Colgate places significant emphasis on education and training in order to meet its business needs and advance the personal development of individual employees. In order to bulid the skill for all 36000 employees, Colgate offers a global currriculam of more than 150 courses in more than 25 different languages. Courses are taught in the classroom, on the job and through e-larning.

While the training programs covers a wide range of topics, all courses are based on a philosophy that encompasses four main principles: all classes are Colgate-specific; they share best practice; they have a practical work application and they a practical work application and they are taught by Colgate leaders who are certified as trainers after completing professional training courses. Overall, employees complete an average of 40 hrs of training per year.

Colgate people enroll in courses specific to hteir needs, which are identified for each function on Colgate’s Intranet system. Some, such as “Valuing Colgate People”, are mandatory for all, while others are required based on job function. A wide range of elective courses offer leadership development courses, general business courses and more technical programns in the areas of finance, human resourses, marketing research and development, information technology, sales and health and safety.

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6.6 Process:

Process is one of the important element in customer service, it is also associated with no. Of processes involved in making the marketing effective in an organisation, for eg: process of handling customer complaints, processes for identifying customer needs and requirements, process for handling order etc.

IT support:

CPIL (Colgate Palmolive India Ltd.) has made investments in information technology to enhance the speed and quality of financial systems and increase operational efficiency in supply chain, distribution and human resource management.

CPIL has outsourced its IT related services to a local software company for various services including network provisioning, voice over IP (VoIP) implementation, IT infrastructure lifecycle management services, network audits, security, local area network (LAN) services and desktopManagement, thereby effectively reducing costs.

6.7 Physical Environment/Evidence:

Physical Evidence is the material part of a service. Strictly speaking there are no physical attributes of service, so the customer has to rely on material seus.

Some of the important elements of physical evidence are:

1. Packaging.

2. Internet Webpages.

3. Paperwork.

4. Literature.

5. Business cards. Etc...........

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Packaging of Colgate toothpaste:

The packaging and labels can be used by marketers to encourage potential buyers to purchase the product. Package design has been an important and constantly evolving phenomenon for dozens of years. Colgate uses attractive packaging which visible it from competitor’s brand.

Colgate Sensitive toothpaste is packed in Crystal Pink-Purple colour, this crystal colour helps to seek attention of the customer, because no crystal colours are used before for packing toothpaste.

Colgate also focuses mainly on the following factors at the time of packaging:

Reducing the Environmental Impact of Packaging : Colgate is always looking for ways to minimize the impact of its packaging on the environment, and has been an industry leader in the continuous use of a type of post-consumer recycled plastic known as PET.

Global sustainability packaging strategy focuses on the 4 R’s :

1. Reduce the weight of Packaging where feasible.

2. Remove Secondary and Tertiary packaging where possible.

3. Recycle: Increase the use of Recycle material.

4. Reuse/Refill: design packages to be reusable and focus on refill package development.

Reducing Material in toothpaste tubes :

Colgate continues its effort to reduce the amount of material in its toothpaste tubes while maintaining the required dispensing performance, toothpaste quality and packaging integrity. From 2000 to 2008, the packaging reductions resulted in over 30% reduction in consumption of energy and natural resources.

Colgate's progress in this area was recognized as a "Sustainability Success Story" by a major retail customer. For example, in Latin America: The tube weight reduction resulted in 1,150 metric tons of savings in 2006 and 2007

The cap weights were reduced in 2008, resulting in an annual savings of 400 metric tons of plastic

At Colgate, sustainability is a critical criterion for any new package design and development. Through our core value of continuous improvement, we constantly search for ways to minimize the environmental impact of product packaging.

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6.8 SWOT Analysis:

Strengths:

1. Product composition.2. Colgate trust.3. Dentist recommendation (Out of every 5 dentists, 3 recommend Colgate Sensitive).4. Ultra soft bristles, which are first time introduced in India by Colgate for Tooth

Sensitivity problem.

Weaknesses:

1. Distribution: As the product was newly introduced in Amravati market, the Distribution was not intense as compared to its competitors.

2. Product price is also High as Compared to its competitors and around 20% of the Customer refuse product due to its high price.

Opportunity:

1. Colgate is leveraging India’s vast population and the increasing purchasing capacity of the Indian middle class. Colgate is tapping the large Indian consumer base to establish a strong presence in the country. The branded oral care penetration in India is only about 42 per cent. Clearly, the oral care market’s growth potential and opportunity are huge.

2. Amravati Market is entire new for product, there is large scope to occupy big market share.

Threats:

1. It can Sodium Fluoride, excessive intake may cause Dental Hypersensitivity.

2. Its competitors like Thermoseal and Emoform has already developed its Trust and Loyalty in the Customers and Dentist Minds.

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