Godrej Ganga Soap Marketing Management Project

The sample essay on Godrej Ganga Soap deals with a framework of research-based facts, approaches and arguments concerning this theme. To see the essay’s introduction, body paragraphs and conclusion, read on.

Marketing Management Project On Ganga Soap

INDEX

Executive Summary Industry Analysis 4 Ps of Marketing * Product * Price * Place * Promotion

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This report brings out the launching of Ganga Soap, failure to make a mark in toilet soap industry, being re-launched again, failing yet leading to absolute end of the product in the market.

Launched by Godrej Industries in 1993, Ganga soap was produced from the holy water of the Ganges. It was considered to be an innovation on the part of the company. With the focus on the lower to middle consumer segment, it was priced affordably.

The promotion techniques used for selling the product ended as the company claimed it to be created from the holy water of Ganga. With the achievement of fairly enough sales, the company looked forward to derive more.

By involving its brand endorsement through famous Bollywood personality like Govinda and thereby, the promotions took off very well. By giving the tagline as “now bath in Ganga”, the message being conveyed to the customers was very clear. The company targeted both urban and rural areas for its marketing and specially with promoting it as soap from The Ganga, it centred around the people with religious beliefs.

However, there were many reasons that in spite of the strong initiatives for marketing the brand, it failed to sustain itself.

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With the company Godrej’ s fallout with P&G being considered as one of the main reasons, the fact that the product was not being able to sustain itself due to its differentiation of being made from the water from the Ganges. After it was re-launched by Godrej again in 1997 it was named as “Doodh Ganga”. The company’s desperate attempts to gain momentum through the product all went down.

By promoting in the similar way, it was well understood that it failed to make any mark as the people became more aware of relating the product on realistic. The amount of pollution affecting the Ganges and purity of water declining making even more difficult to the company to gain sales. By introducing the product merely on the religious basis, it was understood that the company needs a broader scale to make the product strike the customer. Therefore, a strong strategy is needed for bringing the soap to a level where it can match up to the standards of its own counterparts. Introduction

Godrej Consumer Products (GCPL) is a leader among India’s Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) companies, with leading Household and Personal Care Products. Our brands, which include Good Knight, Cinthol, Godrej No. 1, Expert, Hit, Jet, Fairglow, Ezee, Protekt and Snuggy, among others, are household names across the country. We are one of the largest marketers of toilet soaps in the country and are also leaders in hair colours and household insecticides. Our ‘Good Knight’ brand has been placed at an overall rank 12 and continues to be the most trusted household care brand in the country in Brand Equity’s Most Trusted Brands Survey 2010.

Branch Offices in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai ensure pan-India coverage, while factories located at Malanpur (Madhya Pradesh), Thana (Himachal Pradesh), Katha (Himachal Pradesh), Guwahati (Assam) and Sikkim cater to the diverse requirements of our product portfolio. We also have a strong emerging presence in markets outside India. With the acquisition of Keyline Brands in the United Kingdom, Rapidol and Kinky Group, South Africa and Godrej Global Mideast FZE, we own international brands and trademarks in Europe, Australia, Canada, Africa and the Middle East.

As part of increasing our global footprint, we have also recently acquired Tura, a leading medicated brand in West Africa, Megasari Group, a leading household care company in Indonesia and Issue Group and Argencos, two leading hair colorant companies in Argentina. We are driven by our mission to continuously enhance the quality of life of consumers in high-growth markets with superior-quality and affordable home care, personal care and hygiene products. The brand “Ganga” by its name says that it is derived from the holy water of the Ganges.

It is evident that it is not only targeting the customer base having sentiments with the holy water i. e on religious norms but also the typical customer base in urban areas. Thus, to create a giant base of customer, it has to be well understood that the customer needs a proper requirement of the product. Thus, it is the constant process of the company to understand the requirements of the customers and bring out the best in it. The strategies involving the Ganga soap in improving its marketing will include the four P’s of marketing which are places, product, promotion and price.

Using these methods, the whole product process of launching this soap will be processed. Industry Analysis The toilet soaps market is estimated at 530,000 tap including small imports. The market islittered over with several, leading national and global brands and a large number of small brands, which have limited markets. The popular and premium brands include Lifebuoy, Lux,Cinthol, Liril, Rexona, and Nirma. Toilet soaps, despite their divergent brands, are not well differentiated by the consumers. Itis, therefore, not clear if it is the brand loyalty or experimentation lured by high volumemedia campaign, which sustain them.

A consequence is that the market is fragmented. It isobvious that this must lead to a highly competitive market. Toilet soap, once only an urban phenomenon, has now penetrated practically all areas including remote rural areas. Theincremental demand flows from population increase and rise in usage norm impacted as it is by a greater concern for hygiene. Increased sales revenues would also expand from upgradation of quality or per unit value. As the market is constituted now, it can be divided into four price segments: premium, popular, discount and economy soaps.

Premium soaps are estimated to have a market volumeof about 80,000 tones. This translates into a share of about 14 to 15%. Soaps form the largest pie of the FMCG Market with bathing & toilet soaps accounting for around 30% of the soap market, by value. Currently, the soap industry is divided into threesegments namely Premium, Popular economy/Subpopular. To fight competition, major players Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), Godrej and Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting are now drawing up fresh game plans. And the accent is clearly on innovation to gain mind share as well as market share inthis overcrowded category.

P’S OF MARKETING {MARKETING MIX}

4p’s of marketing is the base of marketing. The decisions in marketing namely depends on mix marketing . This concept give sense to the owner that in what way product can be produced in market. A manufacturer can capture the market by applying 4p’s systemically. 4p’s of marketing is as under: 1. Product 2. Price 3. Place (distribution) 4. Promotion There are two types of promotion- 1. advertising 2. sales promotion 1 . Product:- Product is anything that is offered to satisfy needs and wants of the customer. So that they can easily survive. . Price:- When ever company launches a product in the market they have to fix certain price according to the product so that customer buys the product economically. 3. Place (distribution) Place is also called distribution. If a company launches a product in market it should be made available conveniently so that the consumer can easily buy it. If distribution is not proper in the market the product may fail. 4. Promotion Promotion is the mode of communicating with the customer. This is the area where people get to know about the product.

PRODUCT

Godrej products have been aptly considered as a marketing miracle and this is reflected in the strength of the brand. Godrej has successfully challenged and changed the conventions of soap marketing and today leading business schools are analysing it’s strategies to demystify this miracle. Godrej’s core marketing thrust revolves around prompting consumer trials by offering a good quality product at most competitive price and retaining these new consumers by continuously offering the same ‘Value For Money’ equation. This is borne by the fact that today Godrej can boast of a strong brand loyalty from its 400 million consumer base.

Godrej has been increasingly successful in extending its brand equity to other product categories like deodorants, Premium Toilet Soaps, hair colour, thus opening new vistas to the field of Brand Building. By launching its old product in a new way to target the lower middle customer base segment, it is reaching out to a wider scope by improving Ganga soap in terms of added ingredients, soothing fragrance and keeping the skin fresh. Not only it contains the new added functionalities but also the trust of keeping up with the relationships with the new and existing customers.

PRICE

For harried housewives, struggling to balance their monthly budgets, or people who cannot afford premium soaps, for its natural properties, it is indeed affordable. It is much cheaper than its counterparts like dettol, which had already gone well out of their reach. Its cleansing power is far superior. It is estimated that by the mid 2011, the burgeoning sales of Ganga soap will reach a rate of growth that is twice or thrice that of the industry in general. Moreover, Ganga operates in the small-scale sector and, therefore saves an enormous amount of excise duty that multinationals have to pay on every unit produced.

The latter simply could not hope to bring the price down to a level that was attractive enough for the middle and lower-middle classes, which will be the bulks segments for Ganga sales. The pricing policy adopted by Godrej for Ganga soap i. e. adequate Quality at an Affordable price has challenged the mighty HLL’s Dettol. Ganga soap 50gm| 15. 00| Ganga soap 100 gm| 25. 00| The Ganga soap name itself is a guarantee of quality for the consumer. It will find ready acceptance. Today, Ganga toilet soap is priced in the range of Rs. 15.

In comparison to Ganga’s price range, HLL’s toilet soap brands are priced at a slight premium. LifeBuoy is priced at Rs 24, and LifeBuoy Gold at Rs29. The price of Rexona is Rs29. 50. Primarily the area where Ganga will save millions will be in labor costs. Being a cottage industry Ganga was not compelled to abide by minimum wage rules. that started to mechanize their production process. Ganga’s labor costs for 8000 workers is estimated to be between Rs 15-20 per person day in comparison to HLL who paid their semi-skilled workers approximatelyRs 30-40 per person day.

DISTRIBUTION {PLACE}

Ganga is estimated to sell over 800,000 units of soap in the starting year and expects a 35% share of the Indian soap market, thus striving to become one of the world’s biggest soap brands. The brand promotion efforts are complemented by distribution reach and market penetration, through a country wide network of 400 distributors and over 2 million retail outlets, making the product available from the smallest rural village to the largest metro. The product set up for Ganga a parallel distribution and sales channel consisting of independent sales force.

A two-tier network, the distribution channel is ‘flat’ enabling swift market response. The company takes great care that the new brand did not cannibalize on the existing brands. The company portfolio today complements the product range, furthering the company’s strategy of Value for Money.

PROMOTION

Gangais looking for advertising only after product is launched in place. It is believed that nothing can be more irritating for a customer than to see a product advertised, and then find it has not reached his grocer.

Advertising just tells people that a product is available. After that, the product has to stand on its own feet on quality and price. The appearance on the cover has been designed to bring out the freshness of the Ganges, and senses filling with the fragrance of rose water keeping the skin fresh and good smelling. The advertisement that has been made ready for on television has been devised keeping in mind the psyche and choice of the middle class housewives. With the increase the popularity of the T. V.

Soaps and there amplified impact on their thinking and daily life, these serials have become an inseparable part of their lives. The new commercial has thus tried to encash on this very aspect. The commercial is a reflection of these soaps and in a way a mockery of these T. V. serials. Thus the commercial has been made to attract a substantial amount of the audience. Furthermore Ganga is shown a “new and improved look” in its promotional activities which will also be achieved through this new commercial.