Consumer Behavior Report

Lifebuoy Shampoo

MKT-404 Submitted to Miss Durya Authored by: Bilal / Waqas / Owais

Consumer Behavior Report

Lifebuoy Shampoo

Letter of Acknowledgement

15-April-2011

Dear Readers:

We would like to take this opportunity to thanks our instructor, Madam Durya, our respected teacher, who made this report possible by providing us opportunity to work on this project. The making of this report helped us to understand the in-depth importance of studying the subject of Consumer Behavior. We also wish to express our gratitude to all other people, who helped us in compiling this report by sharing their expertise, knowledge and experiences, without which this report would never have been possible.
Consumer Behavior Report | Submitted to Miss Durya

Once again we are thankful and look forward for such support in future.

Sincerely,

Bilal Hamid (BBE-537)

Waqas Ahmed (BBE-556)

Owais-urRehman (BBE-542)

Table of Contents

Introduction Objective of report Method of research Questionnaires Statement of confidentiality

Executive Summary Renowned brands Variants Market players Lifebuoy as Brand Lifebuoy Shampoo as product

Research Objective & Scope Questions & answers Formulation of Product Product Promotion Description of TV advertisement Packaging, physical appearance & fragrance of product Pricing, pricing Comparisons & strategy Analysis SWOT Analysis Competition & performance analysis Graphical Interpretation of research data

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Conclusion & recommendation

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Introduction:
Objective of report: This report aims to assess the reasons for low-sales of the product Lifebuoy Shampoo in its target-market of Karachi. The results of this research explain some of the reasons for products low-performance by keeping in mind that; it falls under the publicly brand & also priced lowest in the shampoo segment. This report also suggests some standard solutions to the problem but with respect that; the original product strategy, created by the manufacturer, would have been far more fundamental for the acknowledgement of their product in the market, in a long run.

Method of research: The market research data is accumulated for this report is gathered through the survey questionnaires.

Consumer Behavior Report | Submitted to Miss Durya

Questionnaires: The survey questionnaire is designed carefully with closed-end questions for the purpose to collect meaningful products insight from consumers mind, to examine potential reasons for products low sales. The questionnaires are filled at different location i.e. shopping store, public places, friends & families, etc.

Statement of confidentiality of report: All of the analyses, findings, data, and recommendations contained within this report are exclusive. No information regarding these findings shall be released without the consent of our group members.

Executive Summary:
The segment of shampoo market is faster-growing segment, as the trend of washing hair with the shampoo, instead of soap, is increasing in the rural areas of country.

There are six sub-segments in the shampoo markets, a.k.a. variants, which are as follows: o Hair fall o Thick Long / General o Conditioning Shampoo o Shine Shampoo o Anti Dandruff Shampoo

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Following are some of the renowned brands which are available in the market segment of shampoos. Pantene Shampoo Head & Shoulders Shampoo Sunsilk Shampoo Lifebuoy Shampoo Clear Shampoo Pears Shampoo Care Shampoo Finesse Shampoo Pert Shampoo Medicam Shampoo Dabur Vatika Shampoo Samsol Shampoo Bio-amla Shampoo

o Herbal

There are two leading market players in this almost captive segment, namely, P&G and Unilever. Both offering their following brands in the market with channel leadership: o Pantene P&G o Head & Shoulders P&G o Sunsilk Unilever o Lifebuoy Unilever o Clear Unilever

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Lifebuoy as Brand: o History: Lifebuoy is one of Unilever's oldest brands. The lifebuoy is famously known for its Red soap, which was very successful up-till mid-nineties, in lowermiddle class families, due to its price efficiency and its characteristics of durability; as its less soluble with water; hence runs longer period of time. o Brand Repositioning: Later the brand is repositioned with the introduction of its line of anti-bacterial soaps, with aggressive promotion, and targeted them in the family segment; especially targeted children, by motivating them against the germs. o Currently brand is serving its product in multi market segments including; soaps, hand wash, bodywash and shampoos.

Lifebuoy Shampoo: Unilever recently launched its line of shampoos; namely Lifebuoy Shampoo, as a Brand extension of Lifebuoy. The product is available in four variants: o Lifebuoy Anti Hair Fall Shampoo o Lifebuoy Clean & Thick Shampoo o Lifebuoy Anti Dandruff Shampoo; and, o Lifebuoy Herbal Shampoo o All variants are available in 200 ML, 400 ML and sachets.

Research Objective & Scope:

The objective of research is to gain insight on consumers behavior over the product of Lifebuoy shampoo and to analyze their reactions over the brand extension of Lifebuoy in the shampoo market. The scope of research, however limited to lifebuoy shampoo, in general.

Questions & answers: Below are some of the main questions asked from the consumers during research process, and later in this section, we concluded the answers theyd yielded. We selected following answers on the bases of higher frequency or similarity in responses by consumers.

Research Question 1:

Research Question 2:

Research Question 3:

Research Question 4:
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Since how long have you been using this product?

How did you find the product on the performance scale?

According to you, what is the current scope of the product in the market? Excellent Very good Good Average Poor

Why you like or dislike the product?

Most frequent reply:

Most frequent reply:

Most frequent reply:

Most frequent reply:

Most consumers, who actually used the product, were the early adopters: the majority, discontinued it after their adoption process, we found very few consumers who are regular users of product.

Strangely enough, none of the user rated the overall products performance higher the average response for this questions was that, they find its performance average / below average.

The average of answers is somewhat tie between average & poor. Only those who are price conscious with larger family size seemed positive about the products current scope in market.

Most consumers answers were based on the fact of Price-quality association, that the product is cheap in quality because it is cheap in price, while others were satisfied with fact that its ok as long it stays cheap priced

Formulation of Product: Following are the detail of ingredients of Lifebuoy shampoo, along with the shampoos that enjoys high market share: -

Lifebuoy Shampoo

Sunsilk Shampoo

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Water, Sodium Laureth, Sulfate, Cocamidoproyl Betaine, Conditioning agent, Perfume, Carbomer, EDTA, DMDM Hydantion, Multivit-Shuttle, Cl 19140, Cl 42090, Cl 51319, Cl 7266, Lysine, Milk protein.

Water, Sodium Loureth , Cocomidoppropyl, Belaine, Conditiong agent, Perfume, Carboner, DDTA, Lysine HCl, Parthenol, Ethyhexyl Metthoxycinnamate, Pearl Extract, Fruit Extract, Cl 19140, Cl 42090, Cl 51319

Head & Shoulders Shampoo Aqua. Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Sotolinll auto, Cocmide MEA Zinc Carbonate Gtycol Dlstearate, Dimethicone, Sodium Chloride, Zinc Pyrithione, Cetyl, Alcohol, Perfume, Guar, Clear Shampoo

Hydroxypropyltrimonium, chloride, Sodium, Xylenesulfonate, Magnesiu, Sulfate, Sodium Benzoate, Ammonium, Lauryh Sulfate, Magnesium Carbonate Hydrooxite, Bulylphemyl, Methlpropinal, Linalool, Hexyl, Cinnamal, Benzyl Alcohol, Hydoyisohexl, 3Cyclohexene Carboxaldehyde, Magnesium, Nitrate, Limonene, Citronello., Parafinum Liquidum, Sodium,, Polyapthalenesulfonate, Methylcholoroisothiazolinone, MDMD, Hycarloin, Disodium EDTA, Tetasodium EDTA, magnesiu Chlooride, CL6030, Methylisothiazoilnone, CI 42090

Sodium lireal, ethersiet, selecuise, carbomer, zinc pyre theon, perfume, menthole.

Product Promotion:

The Lifebuoy Shampoos share of voice effect on the media is very low. But the brand Lifebuoy itself, has well established image and is continuously In at media for its other products i.e. Lifebuoy soap. Therefore for the segment of their shampoo, it only aired one TV commercial.

Description of TV advertisement of Lifebuoy Shampoo: Slogan: "Bahir se Long undar se Strong!" Characters: Working mother & school going daughter. Starring: Sonita Marsal. Duration: 40 seconds Motivation: Strong & long hair for young girls.

Advertisement Script: A daughter is shown curious for her short-length hairs, for which her mother suggests her solution for growing her long and strong hairs in shape of "Lifebuoy Shampoo". Later, after using the product, it shows the ultimate result, in shape of long, shiny & strong hairs. The advertisement ends with the slogan Bahir se Long undar se Strong!

Product's Variants, packaging, physical appearance & fragrance:

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The product is available in four variants, Lifebuoy Anti Hair Fall Shampoo, Lifebuoy Clean & Thick Shampoo, Lifebuoy Anti Dandruff Shampoo and Lifebuoy Herbal Shampoo. All variant are available in 200 ML, 400 ML and sachets. The packaging is cloner to existing average available shampoos, with almost no variations. The straight bottle is used in all variants with simple functionality, while the color schemes are ranging as Red, Green, Black & Purple, bold tones with the similar colored shampoos it them. Basically its the color scheme designed according to the ordinary consumers taste. The fragrance used is fast with high fruity notes, and yet its similar in all the variants. The label is nominal including picture of family, featuring mother and daughter with long length hairs.

Product Pricing Comparison 1:

Following are the price comparison of products, which falls under similar psychographic segment, of low price and promotional characteristics of long, strong & shiny hairs: Lifebuoy Shampoo (200 ML) = Samsol Shampoo (200 ML) = Rs. 97/= to Rs. 99/= Rs. 90/= Rs. 150/=

Bio-amla Shampoo (400 ML) =

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Product Pricing Comparison 2:

Following are the price comparison of Lifebuoy Shampoo with other brands, which offers similar variants range (full circle), but categorized in different psychographic segment of higher price: -

Lifebuoy Shampoo (200 ML) = Sunsilk Shampoo (200 ML) = Pentene Shampoo (200 ML) =

Rs. 97/= to Rs. 99/= Rs. 160/= Rs. 160/=

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Sachets = Rs. 5/= Sachets = Rs. 7/= Sachets = Rs. 7/=

H&S Shampoo (200 ML)

Rs. 170/=

Sachets = Rs. 7/=

Analysis:

SWOT Analysis of Lifebuoy Shampoo Brand:

Strength: 1. Corporate Branding: Lifebuoy, itself is a famous brand, and enjoys loyal consumer base throughout the country. 2. New Ingredient: The product Lifebuoy Shampoo is not a copycat product. It has introduced a new ingredient, known as Milk protein, which is not being yet introduced in other shampoos. 3. Corporate Image: In retail market it is backed by strong corporate image of Unilever, which holds strong position in retail market due to its excellent marketing channels throughout in country. 4. Product Line: Lifebuoy Shampoo offers full range of variants i.e. Lifebuoy Anti Hair Fall Shampoo, Lifebuoy Clean & Thick Shampoo, Lifebuoy Anti Dandruff Shampoo and Lifebuoy Herbal Shampoo, which no other shampoo brand is offering in lower-middle class segment of shampoos.

Weaknesses:

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1. Brand Leveraging: - Using the successful brand name for the introduction of new product range is often productive for companies, but if it is not done correctly, it can negatively impact the brand equity, which, we analyze, could happens in the case of Lifebuoy brand extension for its shampoo products, due to the following reason: a. Weak positioning strategy: - With the introduction of anti-bacterial soaps, the Lifebuoy advanced its brand image and segmented its product for the upper class, where it is successfully competing with the top-notch soap brands! Now with brand extension to its shampoos line, which is introduced to the lower middle class segment, with low-price strategy, could harm the brand image, and can lead to the weakening of brands equity, because, due to the lower price & lower product quality, the consumer may re-associate the positioning of Lifebuoy shampoo brand with that cheap red Lifebuoy soap.

Opportunity: -

1. Market Demand: The demand for branded shampoos in a lower-middle class segment is emerging and can be yielded through conversional marketing, but only with proper demand analysis and good promotional and positioning strategies.

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Threats: 2. Product-Based Competitors: If the Lifebuoy Shampoo doesnt act timely, there is a clear threat to it, from the existing and as well as from the potential competitors, that could come-up with better bargain for consumers & markets, in the shape of new product launch or existing product enhancements. 3. Threat to Brand Equity: There is always a risk with brand extension, that if a brand extension fails, it may extend consumers attitudes negatively towards the other products carrying the same brand name, therefore if the Lifebuoy Shampoo fails to yield the expected results it might threaten the brand equity itself.

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Competition & performance analysis of Lifebuoy Shampoo: The Lifebuoy shampoos low-price strategy is to position itself in that particular psychographic segment, where no other top branded shampoo is currently serving. The idea behind this strategy is to invite the lower-middle class families to try it. Also through its promotional activities, Lifebuoy Shampoo, tried to encourage those consumers (laggards) who are currently using soap for hair washing, to try lifebuoy shampoo instead; since it is low cost and is a right application for hair washing then the soap. o Competitors: Since Lifebuoy is segmented in lower middle class, therefore it is not in the direct competition with prestigious or high priced brands of shampoos i.e. Head & Shoulders, Sunsilk, Clear etc. But, the Lifebuoy shampoo is in direct competition with lower priced brand like Samsol, Bio-amla & Madicam etc., since they are low priced shampoos and segmented in the lower-middle class. Competitive advantage of Lifebuoy Shampoo: - In comparison of Lifebuoy shampoo with lower priced brand like Samsol, Bio-amla and Meidcam shampoos, the Lifebuoy does enjoys the following competitive advantages: It is the only shampoo in lower middle class segment which managed to offer all the variants of shampoos (full circle), which is otherwise only offered by prestigious brands.

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It is backed by strong corporate image of Unilever. The brand Lifebuoy is largely in with its high frequency of advertisements in TV and Print media. o Performance analysis of Lifebuoy shampoo: With the launch of Lifebuoy shampoo, Unilever tried to tap the segment of those "other shampoo segment" which is not previously addressed by their other prestigious branded shampoos. Unilever marketed "Lifebuoy shampoo" aggressively in the market. With atleast two variants are easily available in all markets, while enjoying its competitive advantage against its rival brands by offering more variants in similar price category. According to the Unilever Annual Report for the Year 2010: "Lifebuoy

shampoo successfully delivered double digit growth on the back of a new, animated market development campaign which supported the brand relaunch."

Graphical Interpretation of research data:

The average percentages of shampoo sales in market: -

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The overall sales of all products of Lifebuoy including soaps, handwash, bodywash and shampoos; -

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Conclusion & recommendation :

The Advertisement Effectiveness: Although, according to the Unilever, the Lifebuoy shampoo is showing double digit growth, but still its positioning and promotional strategy, is below awareness threshold. The current advertisement for Lifebuoy shampoo is weak and a wear-out, since the same idea is previously communicated in the advertisements of brands like Bio-amla & Samsols Tv commercials; promoting long & strong hairs for growing girls. Therefore, it is creating mix stimulus in the minds of consumers, and unable to produce successful buying signals in target-consumers. Suggestions:

Better product communication: A strong need for better product communication strategy for Lifebuoy shampoo is required, with creativity that enables the product successfully in its target-market. Communication effect of advertisement:

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The better promotional campaign and TV commercials should be designed for other variants of Lifebuoy shampoo, like Lifebuoy Anti dandruff shampoo. It can bring fruitful results. Such as communicating the Anti-dandruff Lifebuoy can mix well with the brands existing & successful communication strategy of Anti-bacterial. Thus it could bring Subliminal buying signals to the existing consumers of the brand. Later concentric diversification of Lifebuoy Shampoo line can further strengthen the brand in its particular segment.

References: The research presented here is derived exclusively from open sources: published books, newspaper Internet and other secondary sources.
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http://www.brandsynario.com/ http://www.buseco.monash.edu.au/mkt/dictionary/ http://www.unileverpakistan.com.pk/ http://www.pakistangrocery.com http://www.google.com http://www.wikipedia.com

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