Executive Summary

The newly introduced deoderent for men-the mariener has got a negetive feed back from the market.The Expected sales were not reached and the product has failed in the market due to reasons which were critical . The market survey for introduction of the new product was flawed which resulted in the introduction of the new product. Which had serious impacts on ABC Ltd. which is known for its range of quality products. The marketing team again had to initiate a survey to find out what had gone wrong in this aspect. A sample of 240 loyal customers from the company data base has been selected for the survey who responded to the questions and the conclusions were based on the same.

Introduction:

Abc pvt ltd is indias largest consumer goods company The company is the market leade r in indian consumer products with presence in over 25 consumer catagories such as soaps, detergents , deoderants,and shampoos amongst other with over 700 million consumers using its products . The aquatic range of deoderants for men was launched in the year 1994 by the company which captured major portion of indian market. With 21 different products in the aquatic range of deoderents, it has been the market leader with a whooping 78% as per reports during the fy 2011. The company with its strong marketing team has been doing execptionaly well in understanding the customers and launching a wide variety of products which are doing well in the market. The latest product in the tabarome deoderent range for men the mariner was launched in mumbai in nov 2012. Targeted at the urban youth , it is positioned as the most refreshing and most lasting deoderent. The product was expected to break even in 2 years ie, by the end of fy 2014 which requires an average monthly sales of 5000 units accross the country. The sales report for the month of June recorded a figure of 2118 units across the country which is far below the forecasted sales figure. Purpose of the report To analyse the reasons behind the failure in achieving the sales target of The Mariner during the first few months from its launch. To present the findings of the latest customer survey done by our marketing team based on the lastes sales figures. To present an overall brand standing in the market. Recommendations for improvement.

Problems

The company looked into the possible reasons for the failure in attaining the expected sale s results and priliminary inquiries found the following reasons. 1) The new fragrance is not very appealing to the customers. 2) The promotion campaign has not been effective. A market survey has been done by the marketing department for identifying the real causes behind the failure of the product. From the market survey done on 240 people , 134 opined that the fragrance was not appealing to them. This critical finding has been assed by the marketing department which found out that previous sample taken by the department was the wrong one which opined positively to the survey done earlier by the department. It has been then found out that The marketing survey done in order to release the new product was flawed. This has been a critical failure from the marketing department . It has also been found out that the new product has tampered the image of the company wahich has come up with quality products . Out of the 240 people surveyed 97 opined that they did not expect such a product from ABC. This is a serious issue to be looked in to because the product has affected the image of the company known for its quality products.

CAUSES:
A survey among the loyal customers of ABC ltd had conducted to know the reasons for the problems occured and the major cause for the problems is the selection of wrong sample population for the survey. Survey conducted by the company to know about most prefered fragnance amongst the customers and major findings of the survey are given below: Graph showing the percentage of people prefering to various frangnance and their age group

percentage of people
45% 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% x 78% 50-60 y 8% 30-40 z 6% 20-30 a 9% 40-50

percentage of people

Silver

(while writing in place of x,y,z & a mention aquatic,musk,tabarome & love in black) In the conduted survey 42% of the population prefered fragnance tabarome Of the population prefering fragnance tabarome, 78% belong to the age group between 45-50 Also the proportion of sample population surveyed was very less in order to presume outcome for the nation as a whole. The above mentioned are the findings from the survey out of which we can very well see the flaw that is before conducting the survey the target customers have not been specified, People belonging to age group between 45-50 are not so concerened about products like deodrants. Because of which we are not reaching to our target customers. Also very less time was stipulated to the marketing team to efficiently conduct test marketing which also contributed as a cause of going further with vague results and ultimately leading to low sales volume. Moreover while analysing various causes for the problem one more reason, we came across is the lack of promotion as compared to competitors. Our company did not promoted the new product as per the requirement to gain desired market share inspite of being aware with the the scenario of extensive competition in the deodrant market due to the presence of major palyers like Axe, Park avenue etc.

Proposed strategies for ABC Ltd.

If necessary actions are not taken further there is a huge chance of our sales dropping to lower figures. How can we say this jus by studying sales for few months.. if we are mentioning this we need some data to back it up. Proposed Strategies: Not feasible!!Cut the price of the existing product and sell it at an offer price. We cannot say directly to reduce price!! Use pull strategy: Provide incentives to dealers, retailers to extensively sell existing product. u use aggressive sales promotion. We need to elaborate on this. Formulate steps to make our distribution channel strong to penetrate the uncovered markets like Why rural! When we were targeting urban youth initially!!! Deos cant be targeted to rural india considering the present senario! Not pragmatic!! In the while go for another market survey by employing specialised team of sales representatives to get the preferences of customers on fragrances. Target the youth for the survey. Select right sample for the survey by using pilot method. Based on the survey results, with the help of R&D come up the deodorant in accordance with customer preferences. Production, Marketing and Sales departments should work hand in hand to meet the customer requirements. HOW?? Re-launch the newly developed deodorant with a catchy tag line. Suggest new tag line! Use push strategy by extensively advertising the newly launched deodorant on TV, newspapers, Magazines etc. As a part of sales promotion offer the products at a discount price. Conduct the market research to know the feedback of customers on newly launched product.

Competitors analysis:
Competitiors Analysis Worksheet AKH deodrant old spice axe Addidas Expensiveness 2 1 3 4 Quality 3 1 3 4 distribution channel 4 5 3 3 Durability 4 3 4 5 Packaging 4 2 4 4 Industry reputation 3 2 5 4 Sub Total 20 14 22 24

Factor analysis of AKH Pvt Ltd with respect to its competitors: 1. Expensiveness: AKH deodrant is