Please read the research, itll enlighten you.

Genteel Godrej Ezee Wipro Liquid Detergents Safewash Vanish Reckitt Benckiser Robin Comfort HUL Original Washmatic Wash Original Liquid Cuff and Collar Fabric stain Remover Fabric Conditioner After Wash (morning fresh/ Lily Fresh) Perfect Shine Whitener Rin Surf Excel Fresh Whitener (ALA) Gentle Wash 200gm 500gm 1kg 1kg 200gm 500gm 1kg 500gm 1kg 180ml 500ml 200ml 500ml 200ml 400ml 70ml 200ml 500ml 200ml 800ml 35.00 70.00 125.00 175.00 40.00 80.00 165.00 165.00 265.00 30.00 59.00 44.00 45.00 42.00 80.00 16.00 20.00 45.00 50.00 180.00

The Indian fabric wash market consists of synthetic detergents (comprising bars, powder and liquids). The synthetic detergents market can be classified into premium (Surf, Ariel), mid-price (Rin, Wheel) and popular segments (Nirma). The product category is fairly mature and is dominated by two players, Hindustan Lever (HUL) and Nirma. Nirma created a revolution in the market by pioneering the concept of low-cost detergents. Currently, the market is highly fragmented with many strong regional brands emerging and also with every marketer trying to create a niche market for themselves. The average expenditure on detergent powder has considerably increased from 2007 to 2010 as compared to cakes. However at the same time, the proportion of households that spend on detergent cakes has declined from 79 per cent to 62 per cent i.e., a relative decline of 22 per cent. Similarly the proportion of households that spend on detergent powders has declined from 92 per cent to 86 per cent i.e. a relative decline of per cent. This indicates that the consumer is spending more now than earlier migrating to a better quality product. A product that requires smaller quantity of powder to be used per wash and thereby extending average frequency of purchase once a month to less than once a month.

The increase in spends on detergent powder is also due to the increasing demand of quality washing powders, that offers a host of benefits in a single wash ranging from the removal of stubborn stains to the deodorising of fabrics. Across the SEC levels, the average monthly spends have witnessed growth in the given period. Taking into consideration income brackets, a constant increase in expenditure on detergent powders has been observed both in households with a monthly household income (MHI) above 10000 and those with MHI below 10000. Interestingly, the gap between the average expenditure among the two income brackets is narrowing down. The average monthly expenditure on detergent cakes by the household in the East and West region has been stagnant over the years of observation and South and North markets are contributing to the growth. The first half of 2010 saw intense price competition between various detergent brands. HULs unit prices were slashed from 10-30 percent as Tide Naturals in particular, launched in December 2009, looked to build its share in the mid-priced hand wash detergents segment. The detergent companies began to slash the prices or increase the grammage to deal with the competition and maintain their position in the market. Domestic brands such as Nirma and Fena were adversely affected as multinational companies taking a major share of the traditional economy segment as well. The latter months of 2010 saw small price corrections, but were not enough to offset the cut made by major brands over the calendar year.

Starch/Bleach/Whiteners/Blues
The markets for relatively new branded categories such as starch and bleach have made bigger business in a very short span of time, registering a rapid growth between 2007 to 2010 - indicating the products that adds 'value' to the fabric and not just cleaning are finding more takers now. With growing affluence and aspiration levels, it is safe to assume that these 'value' add categories will continue to grow much more both in terms of the growth within the existing product categories as well as addition of newer such categories in the years to come. The proportion of households consuming starch had doubled between 2007 and 2010 while proportion of households consuming bleach has more than doubled witnessing a 115% growth.

Among the whitener consuming households, spends in the northern region have been increasing since 2007 whereas in other regions, spends had increased in 2007-2008, but marginally declined in 2010. Blues have more or less remained stagnant while bleach and whiteners have witnessed maximum growth. Among these four categories, the growth in the bleach and whitener categories is far higher than others. This could be fuelled by the declining water quality and pollution levels which increasingly causes discoloration to the fabric. A proper segmentation of markets based on the quality of water and an analysis of the usage of bleach and whiteners in those markets will throw much more interesting insights into the consumption patterns.

15000cr laundry industry.

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-05-10/news/39169293_1_detergent-hul-rin Why Liquid detergent, can be answered by the above link. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international-business/PG-to-introduce-lower-priced-Tidedetergent-in-US/articleshow/22295250.cms Why cant we keep the pricing of our brand higher? http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-01-10/news/30611850_1_bimal-kumargyanchandani-ghari-laundry-market Market Share of powdered detergents. Majority of the share is captured by the low priced detergents. http://www.cleanindiajournal.com/detergents/ Benefits of using liquid detergents. http://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/soaps-and-detergents-market-sees-plenty-ofaction-112121100104_1.html Ignore the 1st paragraph, the laundry industry was 14000cr in December 2012, but now it is 15000cr as mentioned above. http://www.superbrandsindia.com/images/brand_pdf/consumer_3rd_edition/Ezee.pdf An interesting case study on how the Brand Ezee has developed itself over the years. Must Read. As we are planning to develop a similar product.

I guess while looking for the potential of liquid detergents, we must also look into the trends of washing machines in India.

http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/lg-india-eyes-rs-1-800-cr-sales-from-washingmachines-112101500155_1.html

Currently, the washing machine market in India is estimated to be about 30% of the total Rs 16,000-crore home appliances market, which is of about Rs 5,000 crore.

http://www.adi-media.com/PDF/TVJ/annual_issue/008-Washing-Machines.pdf

http://www.dcmsme.gov.in/publications/pmryprof/chem/ch17.pdf Financials, if we want any. Other References http://global-industry.blogspot.in/2013/06/detergent-market-shows-growing-trendof.html#.UjxxCNIwppU http://euromonitor.typepad.com/files/ingredients-trends-in-powder-detergents-a-bright-cleanfuture.pdf

Few Swots

Godrej Genteel: http://www.mbaskool.com/brandguide/fmcg/2264-godrej-genteel.html Godrej Ezee: http://www.mbaskool.com/brandguide/fmcg/2262-godrej-ezee.html Vanish POWDER: http://www.mbaskool.com/brandguide/fmcg/2375-vanish.html Robin: http://www.mbaskool.com/brandguide/fmcg/2995-robin.html Comfort: http://www.mbaskool.com/brandguide/fmcg/893-comfort-fabric-conditioner.html Rin POWDER: http://www.mbaskool.com/brandguide/fmcg/863-rin.html
I have put the links of Vanish and Rin powder because they are also in liquid detergent category.

Retailer Magazine - July 2011 Issue - Small is big

The demand for detergents has been growing at an annual growth rate of 10 to 11 per cent during the past five years. Where an urban consumer prefers washing powder and detergents, a rural consumer is more inclined towards washing cakes and bars. But, over the last few years, we have seen that rural consumers are gradually shifting their preferences from detergent bar to detergent powders. The market leader in the popular (low priced) detergent category, Nirma, created a revolution in the market by pioneering the concept of low-cost detergents. The Indian rural market is extremely price sensitive. Keeping this factor in mind, a number of companies followed the strategy of launching a wide range of package sizes and prices to suit the purchasing preferences of Indias varied consumer segments. Targeting on the price factor, P&G introduced Tide Naturals at a lower price unit which further helped the company to gain a bigger share of the detergent pie in the year 2010. Another strong Rural India is rapidly becoming target

market for most of the brands in the country. The contribution of rural markets in the FMCG sector is growing faster than urban markets. Powered with an incremental increase with better employment opportunities, rural consumers are upgrading their lifestyle with shifting preferences from non-branded and local product to the branded ones. At present, the size of the Indian FMCG market is estimated to be Rs 125,000 crore and is growing at the rate of 12 per cent yearly. According to an industry reports, the sector is expected to grow by up to 17 per cent annually to touch Rs 400,000 crore by 2020. Consumption of detergent in rural India The per-capita consumption rate of detergents in India is 2.7 kg per annum and this market is expected to grow at the rate of 7 to 9 per cent per annum in terms of volume. The penetration level of detergent bars and powder in India is higher as compared to the urban market. According to the research conducted by Equitymasters.com, HUL, Nirma and P&G are the major players in the market with 40 per cent, 30 per cent and 12 per cent shares respectively. Further, the detergent market in India can be classified into premium, economic and popular segments. While HUL dominates the premium segment, Nirma is the leader in the popular segment. Low cost to rule rural India regional player in the category, Jyothy Laboratories, launched another detergent, Ujala Techno Bright, under its Ujala brand in the market. The new product was priced 15-30 per cent lower than other brands in the categories. The product is an addition to Jyothys portfolio in the laundry detergents space, which earlier comprised only the hand wash detergent, Ujala Washing Powder. These price-warriors, small in turnover figures but large in numbers, are said to be gnawing at the market shares of leading national detergent brands, forcing companies to rethink pricing strategies. Most brands are luring consumers with propositions like superior wash at affordable prices. Generally detergents in pack sizes of 500 gm to 20 gm are highly available in the stores with price ranging from Rs 50 to as low as Rs 2 and Re 1. Dalip Jolly, Director, Fena India Pvt Lt d, says, We have seen an increase in the purchasing capacity of village people. For example, the demand for 100 gm pack is growing as compared to the previous 20 gm pack. With the help of national rural employment initiatives, village consumers are able to upgrade their lifestyle and shopping behaviour. More than 70 per cent of these low price detergent packs are sold through kirana, or mom-and-pop stores constituting almost 95 percent of the total retail market. Though organised retail is showing double digit growth, it has very little influence in rural India. Unexplored product categories Though detergents have been in India for a long time, many product categories within these categories were still unexplored until 2010. Product categories, such as washing machine detergents, had slow growth in India because of the low penetration of washing machine in India. The reason could be ignorance towards the functional difference between hand wash and automatic detergents, which further limits the product use over the historic period. Another emerging category, Fabric Softeners and Conditioners, is estimated to reach $13.3 billion globally by 2015, says market research firm, Global Industry Analysts Inc. (GIA). As per the report, current demand for fabric softeners in developing markets, such as India, is growing at a higher rate owing to the economic growth as compared to developed markets, which are relatively mature. But both these categories have shown low penetration in rural areas. Thus, in spite of hand wash detergents enjoying appreciable penetration in both rural and urban areas, there have not been much trading up within the category.

Future penetration in rural area According to the research firm, Euromonitor, A laundry detergent as a whole is expe cted to reach a degree of saturation in terms of volume growth rates in the forecast period. Thus, the shift from bar to hand wash detergents and from hand wash to automatic detergents is pivotal to the category. The future value growth of the category ma y also be adversely affected by the consistently high inflation rates since 2010. During the end of 2010, two leading players, HUL and P&G, hiked their detergent prices up to 8 to 12 per cent. Rising product prices may discourage consumers from switching to relatively premium products, or investing in the value-added category of laundry aids. The national firms also get tough competition from regional and small unorganised players who account for a major share of the total volume of the detergent market in rural India due to low pricing. Increasing rural distribution network, value for money positioning and smaller packs are the three success keys for companies to strength their position in rural India, says Jolly. Today, brands are investing heavily on in novation, R&D and distribution so that their offering becomes more localised, accessible and affordable to consumers.