Growth opportunities in detergent market

harvest-home opportunities in purifying groceryThe case deals with Unilevers Home C ar modify range and is evaluating the harvest opportunities in the commercialiseing of detergents to around 48 one thousand million down(p) income consumers living in the Northeast character of brazil-nut tree.Clearly, the aim of Unilever, homogeneous all pro check into reservation organizations, is to have a bigger region of the pie. Its first step forward is to assess whether or not, its tar tucker commercialize is lucrative enough. To do so we first understand the buying conduct of the target users, die the current commercialize scenario and Unilevers upcountry environment.The importance of clear-sighted how people will behave is tantamount to knowing the secret of organisational success. The simplest description of consumer behaviour is the corrupt and/or consumption closing of an individual and/or household who buy wides and services for face-to-face consumption. In the case we analyse the behaviour of base of individuals in the Northeast of brazil nut and the use of detergent and liquid ecstasy in order to valuate whats not working for Unilevers growth in that merchandise incision and decide the best positioning scheme to encourage increased consumption.Because we know comparatively little ab pop homosexual behaviour, we as marketers, lead to make some assumptions to know how consumers will react to what we do. The first one cosmos, consumers go through a rational ratiocination process when they buy. We assume the process to start with ignorance of the consumer and moving through awargonness, data search, short listing alternatives and so on until the ultimate goal purchase is r all(prenominal)ed.. A obviousion is further made between two types of harvest-tides purchasing high thing and humiliated involvement. Washing detergents be low involvement products where consumers may not go through the entire decision making process an d either pick a post out of compulsion, out of a desire to seek variety or because of their past preferences and experiences, or they may pick a punctuate due to some constraints much(prenominal) as income and amount allocation to household spending. Consumers put preferences and budgetary constraints in concert to determine their choices. The Northeast Brazilian households are low income groups and thus the determine of the washables soap, bleaching liquid and detergent powder is a primary standard for evaluation of the grass of airstream products. The women in this region of Brazil tend to pick a particular shuffling based what former(a)s in their societal group are using (as they often do their gargleing in a public laundry or by the river with a group of friends) and their own past experience and satisfaction. The second assumption is that consumers are brand sure either loyal to your own brand or loyal to your rivals brand. A wall street journal (19th October 1989) published that 48% consumers delay loyal to the laundry detergent they are already using. To penet step and fetch additional market plowshare, Unilever will have to offer some unneeded inducements to get the NE consumers hooked and divert their loyalty towards its brands.The stimulus chemical reaction model ( let out 1), the starting point for understanding consumer behaviour, has been utilize to understand the Brazilian household behaviour towards washing detergent powders and soaps. The stimuli enter the consumers consciousness and the buyers characteristics and decision processes lead to certain purchase decisions. Our task, as marketers, would be to understand what happens in the consciousness of the normality-eastern Brazilians between the arrival of stimuli and the purchase decision.Exhibit 1 input signal Response ModelSource Marketing Management, Kotler, 2003, p.184.The women in this region of Brazil tend to pick a particular brand based on the performance of the p roduct on the six attributes cleanliness, whitening, productivity fragrancy and fog cleverness to remove stains susceptibility to dissolve in water box of the product and the ability to keep colorations from running out.Cultural factorsCulture, subculture and cordial class are the fundamental determinants of a persons basic economic values, perceptions, wants and behaviour. Majority (39.8 million) of the north eastern population of Brazil ranges from grade D to E- of social class. Brazilians are concerned about their position in a social class, because no class interacts with another social class un slight it is in a passkey way. Since the past many years, the vast income social stature difference has been move in the society.Still, the north easterners take great pride in how they looking for and present themselves in the society, despite their poverty and inability to purchase a variety of clothes.It is perceived to be the duty of the lady of the house to prevail clea nliness of clothes of her family, as it is seen as an indication of the dedication of the mother to her family. It is the sympathy why the north eastern women spend a long and great(p) time at doing the laundry. They first scrub the clothes with a soap bar, then bleach those clothes to remove tough stains, and finally wash the clothes with detergent powder to add a pleasant fragrance. This is distant to women in the south eastern region who just simply shuffle detergent powder and softener in a washing machine.Social factorsConsumers behaviour is also influenced by social factors such as the consumers relation to slim groups, family, and social roles. Women from the northeast of Brazil do their laundry at a public laundry or at a nearby river or pond along with their friends. It is the most pleasurable activity as they get to meet and chat in their social network. It is here that these women discuss matters of personal and home cleanliness such as which laundry detergents they use, how their experience has been, and likely treatment of mouth promotions take place.Personal factorsThe characteristics of the individual consumer such as his age, economical situation, occupation and lifestyle play an influential role as rise in assessing consumer behaviour. Of the 48 million, 25.4 million people of the north eastern region of Brazil have an annual income of less than $1700. In Recife, for example, only 28% households own a washing machine. Thus, having a push scheme for a detergent powder isnt going to be fruitful. Even though the per capita income for the unscathed Brazil was $4,420, it wasnt quite reflective of the north-eastern region, where the per capita income was $2,250 only. This translates to the fact that even though a product may have the right and required attributes, if not befittingly hurtd, people of this region would not pick it up from the shelf since they are constrained by their incomes. Also, since the people from the low income grou p own less clothes, their washing needs are frequent, and hence, a product that would be a success would be one that is affordably cheap, available in bigger quantities (for example, rescuer harm or additional 20% pack) and removes dirt well charge the colour from running.Psychological factorsAn individuals buying choices are manipulated by four major(ip) psychological factors motivation, perception, learning and beliefs and attitudes. The low income consumers of the Northeast have developed six key attributes (Exhibit 2) which would determine their attitude towards the brand of detergent they chose to use for their laundry. For them, the ability of the detergent to clean and whiten the clothes with a small metre of the product is the most important attribute. The NE women often associate a inviolate pleasant fragrance with softening power and gentleness to cloth and hands. The ability to remove stains without the use of a soap bar and bleach, and the ability of the detergent to dissolve in water without any residue on the fabric, are equally important attributes. Packaging and the running down of colour are the least important features. Ladies perceive doing their laundry as a leisure activity where they meet and natter with their friends. They discuss and learn from each others experiences of personal and household cleaning habits and products.Main brands / playersCompetition is important in influencing how successful an organization can be. Merely producing a good product which matches consumer requirements and provides satisfaction should not be the goal. A firm must competitively position itself in the minds of its customers so that its products stand out. Unilever was the first to butt in laundry detergents in Brazil with Omo, followed by Minerva, Campeiro, Skip, Rinso, Drive, Puro and Unox to name a few. Competitive challenges came from Procter Gamble, ASA, and other small Brazilian companies. Market leading brands from PG included Ace, rank(a ) Pop. ASA contested with its Bem-te-vi laundry soap and Invicto detergent powder.Even though PG entered the Brazilian market 59 years after Unilever, it entered the market quiet swiftly by strategically acquiring an existing Brazilian company, Bombril and its three brands Quanto, Odd Fasses Pop. With in-depth RD and investiture for manufacturing improvements, PG rebranded Quanto to Ace, and Odd Fases to Bold, which are now key competitors with Minerva and Campeiro.In terms of market share, for the laundry detergent powder segment, Omo is the market leader with a 52% share, Minerva Campeiro collectively account for 23% share, while Ace, Invicto other PG brands take a 22% share jointly and other Brazilian brands take a 3% share. Unilevers 75% market share compared with competitors 25% share in the laundry detergent segment indicates a strong penetrative strategy that gives Unilever the competitive edge. Market share in the laundry soap segment is not so pleasing. Little consol e is that PG did not manufacture laundry soap. But local Brazilian companies posed enough competition. Even though Minerva had a 19% market share in this segment, smaller Brazilian companies, enjoyed the rest of the 81%.In terms of price promotion strategies, Unilevers agiotage brand Omo was the highest priced (whole sale price) at $3/kg. None of the competitors came in this price range. Because of its strong power to remove stains with low quantity, it became a market pioneer. It used a very simple yet direct advertising pass which said removes stains on pockets, cuffs collar, clearly attracting consumers for whom cleanliness was of highest importance. It was meant to target the high income group. Minerva (Unilever), Ace (PG) and Bold (PG) fell in the same price category and probably targeted the hurrying middle income group while Campeiro (Unilever), Pop (PG) and Invicto (ASA) targeted the lower middle income group. Minerva attracted consumers for whom the fragrance and sof tness were of key importance with its advertising campaigns. Pop used a Bundle promotion and Contest Strategy it ran a contest go 200 washing machines and gave away 2 copies of the Viva Magazine with its purchase. elude 1 below gives details on the Pricing strategies followed by the primary(prenominal) brands in the laundry detergent segment.SWOT AnalysisAn analysis of Unilevers internal environment (strength weaknesses) and its external environment (opportunities threats) is depicted in Exhibit 3.Exhibit 2 SWOT AnalysisStrategy SuggestionWith the above mentioned scenario, Unilever faces the interest choices to cater to the low income group of the North eastern region of Brazil Extending OmoRebranding CampeiroLaunching a wise productCustomising a product from its international portfolioBrand extensions are only profitable if the existing brands equity is strong and positive and it is likely to transfer its benefits to the fresh extension. Brand extensions face a serious cha llenge if not recognised and met with positive action will probably lead to death of existing brands. Before considering extension of Omo, Unilever should be aware of the fact that consumers get puzzled by the variety of uniform products and may end up buying a rival brand. Omo already has its niche market with its Price-Quality inference strategy. It enjoys a 52% market share in the detergent powder product line. Even though the low income group of the NE likes Omo, but to target that segment, Unilever would have to reduce the price drastically and lower its profit margins. This would cannibalise its high margin gross revenue with low margin sales in the short term and in the long term Omo would lose its price premium and would create admiration in the minds of people.Radically changing Campeiro and rebranding it does seem like a good option Exhibit 4 details the strategy. But, the perception of its brand value is not strong or positive with consumers of detergent powder. It o nly has a 6% market share.One of the lucrative options is to launch a new brand. Exhibit 5 evaluates the strategies of introducing a new product altogether. Unilever can store a new product to replace /or supplement Minerva Campeiro in its existing markets, and to serve new market the NE region of Brazil. The issues with rebranding Campeiro, displace Minerva would also be resolved. But before deciding to establish a new product, Unilever has to layout the profile of the target market, understand the problems they face and group them into segments, evaluate competition, identify core competencies, identify areas where competitor is vulnerable and define a new value proposition for the new target market. Introducing a new brand would be to Unilevers advantage, as its entering a target market which it has not catered earlier in Brazil.Another worthwhile option is to introduce a customised version of an existing and successful brand from Unilevers international portfolio of detergen t powder. But the brand would have to be carefully selected one that caters to a similar demographics and similar income group one that has high success rate with the right marketing mix. For example, Active Wheel Unilevers brand in India targets the low income group, stresses that with this product people will need to put less efforts to do their laundry, promotes the whitening attribute, is the biggest laundry brand with sales revenue of 21million 2007. The advantages of considering this option are various. The same ingredients and basic formula can be used. Similar pricing strategy. Customisation required only in language on the cardboard boxes. content and content of advertisements can be the same, only changes required would be to fit the ad to local environment. Probability of success is higher, although it is not guaranteed that a brand that works in one region will work in the other too. Even if the rumours of reducing brand portfolio are true, this option would allay be lucrative as no new brand is being introduced alternatively, Unilever could completely drop Campeiro and reposition Minerva, along with introduction of a brand from its international portfolio.The growing size of typical supermarket retailers such as Wal-Mart, crossway and Grupo Po de Acar in Brazil has produced duplicate shelf space that has allowed and encouraged such proliferation. The US magazine craft Week publishes an annual survey of the Best New Products. From the 38 far-famed for the years 1989, 1990 and 1991, there were only 13 brand extensions and 3 unfeigned product innovations that were titled under the best new products over the 3 years. Ehrenberg (Repeat Buying, 1988) found that most buyers buy several brands over a outcome of time. They buy some brands more often than others and some not at all, but they mainly buy a large range of satisfactory brands. The frequency with which they buy each brand varies from consumer to consumer but, on an average, it matche s the brands overall market share. Unilevers forward strategy should not appear to make a distinct product without a real difference and that merely tries to differentiate the brand from competitors.