To Understand the scope of Aroma Oils and other

Soulflower products in Delhi-NCR region and arrive at

increased sales and market share.

Project Report submitted to Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Bengaluru in

partial fulfilment of the course “Summer Internship Program” for the award of the
degree in,

Master of Business Administration

Batch 2018-2020

Submitted by

Ankit Kagra

PRN: 18020841201

Under the guidance of

Dr. Vandita Dar

SYMBIOSIS INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT, BENGALURU

95/1 & 95/2, Electronic City Phase-I, Hosur Road, Bengaluru – 560100

1
INTERNSHIP CETIFICATE

2
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Mr. Ankit Kagra of MBA 2018-20 batch, Symbiosis Institute of
Business Management, Bengaluru has completed the project entitled to Understand the
scope of Aroma Oils and other Soulflower products in New Delhi-NCR and arrive at
increased sales and market share.

Signature of the faculty guide:

Name: Dr. Vandita Dar

Designation: Adjunct faculty

Date:

3
 DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the project work submitted by me, Ankit kagra, and i.e To
Understand the scope of Aroma Oils and other Soulflower Beauty & Haircare products
in Delhi-NCR and arrive at increased sales and market share, completed during my
Summer Internship Program (SIP) is submitted as a partial fulfilment of the requirement
of MBA program at Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Bengaluru

Project Details

Title: To understand the scope of Aroma Oils and other Soulflower beauty and haircare
products in Delhi-NCR region and arrive at increased sales and market share.

Company: Soulflower india pvt. ltd

Company Guide: Mr. Aakash Hongunti

Faculty Guide: Dr. Vandita Dar

Place: New Delhi Name: Ankit Kagra

Date: PRN:18020841201

4
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to convey my hearty thanks to Dr. Vandita Dar, for being the pillar of
strength and guiding me throughout the project. I would like to thank my mentor from
Soulflower Mr. Aakash Honogunti for guiding me and taking out time from his busy
schedule and helping me gain knowledge and contribute to the best of my abilities to the
organization. I would also like to extend my heartfelt thanks to my family who has
supported me at every point of my life, my friends for being there by my side through
thick and thin and specially Symbiosis Institute of Business Management Bengaluru
for providing this wonderful opportunity of working with Soulflower and help me grow
as a person.

5
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter No. Topic Covered Page No.

• Project Title & Cover Page 1

• Internship Certificate 2

• Declaration 4
• Acknowledgement
7-8
• Executive Summary

• Industry Analysis 8-12

1 • Company Analysis 13-16
• Introduction of the Project 16-19
• Objectives of the study 19-20

• Research Methodology 20-21

2 • Limitations and challenges faced 21-22

3 • Analysis of Data 23-27

4 • Findings and Conclusions 27-29

• Suggestions & Recommendations 29-31

5 • Bibliography 31
• Annexure-1.0 32-33
• Annexture-1.1
34-35

6
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Introduction : Soulflower india Pvt. Ltd, a Mumbai-based company, which focuses in the
mid-premium segment, is present in categories like essential oils, carrier oils, soaps, bath salts
and aroma diffusers, among others.

The company largely focuses on modern trade and online channels for sales but it is also now
looking at general trade to penetrate further in the domestic market.

Objective : The summer internship project was under two role of Marketing & Sales i.e
B2B and Modern trade at the location of New Delhi-NCR. The project was entitled as to
understand the scope of Aroma Oils and other Soulflower beauty and haircare products
in New delhi-NCR and arrive at increased sales and market share.

During my 2-month tenure of internship at Soulflower, the primary objective was to

increase the sales in B2B and Retail segment in Delhi-NCR and to increase the brand
awareness. The project was executed by meeting various clients and pitching the product
to them visiting their respective offices and to aware the customers by providing their
skin and hair solutions with respect to problems inorder to market the brand at the same
level . The brand awareness was done by creating a campaign for Soulflower at Shopper
Stop stores, More megastores for Delhi-NCR.

Project-1 : The project can be divided in two parts. Since the company is venturing for
the first time into B2B sector in this region, the first month was devoted to generating
leads, an excel sheet was developed and the leads were defined (phone-ready lead,
phone-accepted lead, email-accepted lead etc.) under the AIDA model. Leads were
also categorized on the qualification of the leads and lead nurturing was done. The mode
of contact with the leads used were telephonic, email, direct and fax. After the
appointment for meeting was fixed with the client on call, F2F meetings were done and
products were pitched to the client. Also, a demo was shown to the client if needed. In
the second month, due to the occasion of Mother’s Day, Soulflower tied up with Shoppers
Stop to have a Mother’s Day campaign by providing the women visiting the store with a
different aromatic experience and getting them to try on samples of different soaps and
personal care products.

7
Project-2 : In the 2nd month, i.e from May 1, 2019, I was there throughout NCR in
different malls and shopper’s stop stores, I appointed, trained and recruited sales staff
all by myself. Taught them the various skills and tactics which can be applied to gain
customer’s attention towards soulflower, dotching all other well- marketed brands.
Moreover, I Learnt various things, from Mr. anil, North ASM, right from how to motivate
the promoters to obtain sales from their efforts.

During the course of 2 months clients like Select city Walk mall, Deutche Bank,
World bank, Big Boy Toys Headquarters, Haldirams were approached and
successfully completed with the demonstration process but couldn’t convert sales because
of the local competitors. On the hospitality service side, quotations were sent to clients
like Shangrila Eros, The lalit, Radisson blu, The Hyatt and many other 5-star
properties. Also, jewellery showrooms were tapped for aromatization and a well-named
175 years old luxury jewellery showroom, Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri, was tapped
and taken onboard.

CHAPTER 1:

1.1-INDUSTRY ANALYSIS

The personal care industry is the one which produces consumer products that are used for
beautification and personal hygiene. The subsectors of personal care comprise cosmetics
and personal hygiene, the segment of personal care products includes skin care, hair care,
personal hygiene, oral hygiene, deodorants, fragrances, shower and bath, and make-up.

The market size of India's beauty, cosmetic and grooming market will reach $ 20 billion
by 2025 from the current $ 6.5 billion on the back of rise in disposable income of middle
class and growing aspirations of people to live good life and look good, according to
Assocham. To suit consumption across difference levels of purchasing power, FMCG
companies are coming out with variety of products in different price range.

The rural population too is joining the mainstream with improvement in linkages with the
cities by roads, telecommunication and the firms reaching out to the people in villages
and small towns. That is how it should be, said D S Rawat, secretary general, Assocham.

The consumption pattern of cosmetics among teenagers went up substantially between

2005 and 2015 because of increasing awareness and desire to look good. In fact, this

8
product category is among the fastest growing segments for the manufacturers of a range
of products including body sprays. Over 68 percent of young adults feel that using
grooming products boost their confidence.

About 62 percent of young consumers in big cities prefer to buy online beauty and
grooming products whereas, 45 percent of consumers tend to buy cosmetic, apparel items
from any shop of their convenience rather than a single shop. Both quality and value for
money is being sought by consumers.

Brands such as L’oreal, Lakme, Maybellene, Nivea and Color Bar are being pushed as
mass market products and focus on younger women and women with lower buying
power, noted the Assocham paper. While these are little expensive products, the price
barriers are also being broken both by the consumers and the manufacturers.

The herbal cosmetics industry is also driving growth in the beauty business in India and is
expected to grow at a rate of 12 percent. The Indian cosmetics industry has a plethora of
herbal cosmetic brands like Forest Essentials, Biotique, Himalaya, Blossom Kochhar,
VLCC, Dabur and Lotus and many more.
There is a rising aspiration among Indian men to look better groomed, which has led to
the Indian men’s grooming market’s rapid growth of more than 42 percent in the last 5
years. The study further showed that this growth is faster than the growth rate of the total
personal care and beauty industry in India. Additionally, as more Indian men are looking
to remain competitive in the workforce, they are seeking products to help them maintain
a youthful look.

“Interestingly, men who fall in the age group of 18 to 25, spend more money on grooming
and personal care products than women in India. The aspirations and requirements of
today’s young Indian men are rapidly evolving. With a surge in disposable income, men
are becoming more discerning and indulgent. In an evolving trend in India, men are
beginning to look at innovative grooming and personal care products created specifically
for them,” highlighted the Assocham study.

Estimated at $1 billion, the soap and bath category are significant. Soap is a prevalent
product found in more than 90% of Indian households.

The organic skin care category grows at over 20 percent annually and is expected to total
$157 million in 2020, according to Azafran Innovacion, an organic skincare group. Large

9
Indian organic skin care companies include Himalaya Herbals and Biotique. Both
specialize in Ayurveda-based products.

Essential Oil Market is expected to reach $11.19 billion by 2022, with a CAGR of 8.7%
from 2016 to 2022. Essential oils, also known as volatile oils/aetherolea/ethereal oils, are
derived from leaves, stems, flowers, bark, roots, or other parts of a plant. Essential oil is
obtained from various herbs and plants, such as orange, eucalyptus, corn mint,
peppermint, citronella, lemon, lime clover leaf, and spearmint, using distillation methods
such as steam and water distillation. An essential oil contains volatile aroma compounds
and real essence of the plant from which it is derived. Essential oils are primarily used in
cosmetics & toiletries, food items and beverages.

The major factor boosting the market growth is the increasing consumer preference for
natural and organic products be it cosmetics, food or similar other product categories.
This in turn, has led the manufacturers operating in such industries to develop products
that contain natural additives. Thus, the growing usage of essential oils among the
aforementioned industries, coupled with factors which include increasing disposable
income and improved standards of living in emerging economies, supplement the market
growth. The factors restricting the market growth are high price of essential oils,
availability of synthetic substitutes, and limited availability of raw materials. Government
support and favorable regulations are likely to offer lucrative opportunities for market
growth. The leading essential oil market players, such as Aromatherapy, Forrest
Essentials and Moksha Lifestyle Products, develop a wide variety of essential oils, such
as ginger oil, basil seeds oil, and others, to cater to the increasing demands of essential
oils in varied industries.

The essential oil market is segmented on the basis of product type, application, and
geography. The product segment is further classified as orange, eucalyptus, corn mint,
peppermint, citronella, lime, lemon, clover leaf, spearmint, and others. Orange oil
segment accounted for the maximum revenue share in 2015 and is likely to consolidate
its position during the forecast period, owing to its anti-inflammatory, antidepressant, and
antispasmodic product characteristics. In addition, the food and flavor industry majorly
uses orange oil due to its fresh smell and juicy flavor. Based on application, the essential
oil market is classified as food & beverages, medical, cleaning & home, spa & relaxation,
and others. Spa & relaxation is estimated be the fastest growing application segment,

10
closely followed by applications in Food & beverages industry. Other applications, such
as health & wellness, cleaning products where essential oil serves as sweet-smelling
mixes, and healthy substitutes for synthetic drugs are anticipated to witness sustainable
development in future. Based on geography, the market is categorized into North
America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA.

The Asia Pacific market led by India, Japan, South Korea and China essential oils market
is poised to surpass USD 4 million by 2024. Growing usage of supportive agriculture
techniques mainly in India and China resulted in increased production of certain plants
like orange, lemon, peppermint, clove which may ensure fair supply of raw material for
oil production which may drive industry growth in this region. Moreover, emerging trend
of spa & relaxation along with increasing consumer spending on wellness may propel
regional essential oil industry growth.

11
Fig. 1 12
1.2-COMPANY ANALYSIS

Soulflower is a Mumbai based company which is into the business of organic Beauty and
hair care product-line since past 19 years in india and is growing at a fast scale.
Soulflower, India’s leading home grown brand of natural aroma products and
hair/skin care products since 2001. Tempting, exciting, natural, handmade, vibrant,
total aroma solution and various essential oil, carrier oil and handmade soaps in its
product range for the Indian consumer. Soulflower has successfully reached from
domestic to international market and. Creating a strong overseas presence, the company
has launched the brand Soulflower in US in 2016 & will soon be reaching the parts of the
world.

Soulflower generates more than 60% of its revenue through the e-commerce platform,
and has listing of its products on various channels Amazon.in, Amazon.com, Flipkart,
Snapdeal, Big Basket, Myntra, Nykaa to name a few. Therefore, its efficiency depends
on a robust Supply Chain and inventory management

Soulflower operates through four channels:

- General Trade Outlets

- Modern Trade Outlets

- E-Commerce

- B2B

Soulflower operates in three categories:

- Skin Care

- Home & Aroma

- Hair Care

All the three categories are sold through all the trade channels. Even though, the
ecommerce channel is the major contributor to sales, B2B segment is the most promising

13
sector for revenue generation and key account management. Soulflower sells its products
through modern trade counters at More Megastore, Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle and
Homestop. For e-commerce the major contributors are through Amazon, Flipkart,
Snapdeal and Soulflower’s own website.

 SWOT Analysis of Soulflower

Strength

• Soulflower is a company who is known for Natural & quality products

• Soulflower produce natural Aroma oil which do not affect health and last for
longer time
• Soulflower make varieties of aroma and aroma as per demand of customers so
customization is possible
• Soulflower use this aroma in their beauty product so product get a natural
fragrance and it last for very long time
• Soulflower makes good profit as it taps premium customers and its ticket range is
higher in personal care products also customer prefer to go for quality so they get
good market in tier 1 cities.
• SOULFLOWER have good customer retention, those who are current customers
of Soulflower are loyal to brand
• Soulflower have some high-end clients for aroma like Mercedes Benz, Ferrari and
Porsche (Navnit Motors), JW Marriot, Hyatt hotels, Holiday Inn, Kotak Mahindra
Bank, RIL, Asian Paints, Marico, etc

Weakness

• Marketing of Soulflower is needed as many customers is still not aware of

Soulflower brand.
• Supply chain management needs improvement.
• Work culture needs drastic improvement.
• Hiring of quality staff is required
• Attrition rate of employee is high

14
Opportunity

• A lot of market in North and East is not yet tapped, Good market research is
required in this area and this market can be a very good opportunity for
Soulflower.

• Some new product range can be introduced as per customers demand

• New customers can be bought in company by making offline promotion
• With Shoppers Stop Soulflower has a good relation since the last 15 years,
company can use this relation to promote brand inside Shoppers stop store.

Threat

• Competitor brands like Forrest Essentials, Aromatherapy, Iris Aroma, are growing
at fast pace and are advertising heavily to capture the market share
• With the entrance of big brands like HUL coming up with Lever Ayush and
Patanjali into the natural care market, it is becoming difficult for the company to
stay afloat without heavy marketing
• Price range of competitors is very less so Soulflower need to compete on price on
a serious note.
• Employee Attrition rate is big threat as the organization is already small with less
employees and people with good experience and talent are leaving organization.

15
 BCG MATRIX OF SOULFLOWER

HIGH LOW

M
A
R STAR QUESTION MARK
K H
E I • HAIR OILS
T
• BATH SALTS
G
• SOAPS • CARRIER OILS
G H
R • AROMA OIL
O
W
T
CASH COW DOG
H

R • ESSENTIAL OIL • MASSAGE OIL

A L
O
TE
W

Fig. 2

1.3- INTRODUCTION OF THE PROJECT

Soulflower is an Indian company who is into personal care industry and is growing fast
in production of organic products and in production of aroma oils. Soulflower have
17year-old retail partnership with SHOPPERS STOP and 18 years old partnership with
Amazon. Soulflower have good presence in online, it is listed on 7 commercial websites
like Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, Snapdeal, Big Basket, NYKAA, Cloudtail etc. more than
60% of Soulflower revenue is generated for this commercial website and in retail sector
company is trying to make presences and fight with other competitors. Retail sector
consist of Modern trade and General trade. In Modern trade company make presence in
market by making the brand visible in various mall for example in most of SHOPPERS
STOP across INDIA Soulflower is present in beauty section, similarly Soulflower is also

16
available in LIFESTYLE, CROSSWORD and HOMESTOP in various mall across
various tier 1 cities. The company makes constant effort to increase sale in modern trade
as it gives good revenue to company from those customers who are not much active on
commercial websites and who make frequent shopping by visiting mall. Also, apart from
that company is now venturing into B2B sector as it has a potential to provide major
chunk of revenue in the long term. With existing clients like, Kotak Mahindra Bank,
Marico, Asian Paints, RIL, Mercedes Benz, Conrad Hotels, Marriott International Group,
to name a few in the B2B sector. I was appointed as an intern in B2B Marketing and Sales
to develop the brand awareness and to increase the sales in Delhi-NCR and later on I also
worked in Modern trade segment as per the company needs, I appointed, trained and
recruited staff and was a bit responsible to increase in generating revenue and inceased
market share in the same region.

• The primary focus was to tap the multinational companies, 5- star Hotels, Prime
property Malls and promote them the idea of aromatization for their office and
interiors.
• I undertook a qualitative study of the consumer behaviour through a
questionnaire by asking specific questions to the clients and recorded the answers
at both segment level.
• Soulflower operates through four channels:

- General Trade Outlets

- Modern Trade Outlets

- E-Commerce

- B2B

• Soulflower operates in three categories:

- Skin Care

- Home & Aroma

- Hair Care

All the three categories are sold through all the trade channels. However, the e-
commerce channel is the major contributor to sales while B2B and Modern Trade

17
 (B2C) is the most promising sector for revenue generation and key account
management. Soulflower sells its products through modern trade counters at More
Megastore, Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle and Homestop. For e-commerce the major
contributors are through Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal and Soulflower’s own website.

 For the B2B sales and marketing, under the assigned region of Delhi-NCR as a
part of the sales funnel, my first step was to do cold calling for lead generation.
An excel sheet was developed and the leads were defined (phone-ready lead,
phone-accepted lead, email accepted lead etc.) under the AIDA model. Leads
were also categorized on the qualification of the leads and lead nurturing was
done. The mode of contact with the leads used were telephonic, email, direct and
fax. Once the personal appointment was fixed with the lead, the meeting was
carried out with the client.

In the meeting the clients are explained about the process of aromatization and usage of
Soulflower Personal Care products as a part of Corporate Giftings. At the end of the meeting a
questionnaire was presented to the client with their permission and the answers were recorded.
The questions included in the questionnaire were :

- Do you know what aroma oils are?

- Did you know about aroma oils and essential oils prior to the meeting?

- How was your feeling on smelling the aroma oil?

- How frequently do you use aroma/essential oils?

- Would you buy more perfume products if they were ‘pure’ and there was less ethanol
solvent in them?

- If a major retailer sold the aroma diffuser would you be interested in it? How
important is the brand name for you?

- If yes, where do you usually buy the aroma products from?

- If you had the choice of having a fragrance wardrobe, how many different aromas
would you want to be diffused over the period of 1 day?

18
 - What are the benefits of aroma diffuser according to you? Tick the ones that apply.

- How important is discount given behind the product for you?

Also, as the company is new to B2B segment, the database was developed of the clients
from the leads generated.

 For the second month ( 1st -may-2019 to 31st-may-2019)

My project was to analyse the scope of aroma, skin and hair care products and buyer
behaviour towards Soulflower products in B2C sector, I initially undertook a qualitative study
of the buyer behaviour through judgement of various customer’s buying pattern and by
providing solutions to the skin and hair problems faced by them.

A short questionnaire was also provided to some of the customers who were interested
(because most of the customers didn’t prefer to fill that due to lack of time in these stores).

The questions included were-

- Do you know the brand soulflower ?

- Are you facing any skin or hair problems ?

- Do you agree on the solution provided by soulflower’s promoter ?

- How do you felt after introducing soulflower products to you ?

- Did you know about this authenticity (coldpressed and SLS free products) prior to this
meeting ?

1.4- OBJECTIVE OF STUDY:

• To increase the sales, meet the existing key account franchise owners in Delhi-
NCR and To visit various collaborated malls, Shopping stores and analyse the

19
 staff requirement, whether is there decline in sales or not and if yes, my role was
to train staff by explaining them better strategy to handle the decline sale.
• Brand awareness with respect to products, features, price points to understand the
market share of Soulflower in New delhi-NCR along with the market share of
Soulflower.
• To identify and analyse the major factors influencing the buying behaviour and
the purchasing process for aroma oils, skin beauty and haircare products.

CHAPTER 2:

METHODOLOGY:

During the course of the internship I was given two projects:

- To analyse and Increase new account sale generations in the given city under B2B
Segment.
- To study the brand awareness quotient by studying the consumer behaviour in
B2C segment and to increase the brand awareness by applying the results.

The methodology for each project is as follows:

Increase the sales and new account generation in the given city of New Delhi-NCR.

•Problem Statement: To increase the sales and new account generation in

New delhi- NCR region.

•Lead generation was done by cold calling, sending out emails, fax to fix
appointment for F2F meetings.
•The client lead list was developed in excel and the leads were classified as
phone-ready lead, phone-accepted lead, email -accepted lead, etc.

•Leads were nurtured by sending out greeting mails to the clients and
promotional mails.
•F2F meetings were carried out with the clients and demo was shown if the
client asked for it.

20
 To study the brand awareness quotient by studying the consumer behaviour in B2C segment
and to increase the brand awareness by applying the results.

•Problem Statement: Understanding brand awareness quotient by studying

the customer behavior in retail and thereby increasing brand awareness

•Data collection: Questionnaire and Observation

•Tool used for data analysis: Excel

•To increase the awareness, campaign was created in association with

Shoppers Stop for their stores and to train promoters.
•Clients were presented with samples of the products along with the demo
of the product to check and feel the product themselves.
•Suggestions and Recommendations.

Fig. 3

2.2- LIMITATIONS AND CHALLENGES:

Lack of data:

Since the company is relatively new in the B2B segment, there is no proper database and
hence much time is wasted in research behind finding the correct details about the
customer needs and wants. There is no specific categorization of the customers and
hence it creates issues during lead conversion as the product mix is generalized instead
of being sub-industry specific.

There is lack of proper advertising and positioning of its products in the northern
parts of india, leading to low sale, There is no sale strategy at the stores I visited which
leads to no-shrinkage of product line in Soulflower’s retail section.

21
Bias:

A large part of the data has been collected through primary qualitative research through
the meetings with the clients. Whenever the data is collected through primary research,
people usually tend to over-estimate the data in their own favour. For example: When I
asked the client whether they’ll go for a natural product without discount versus a non-
natural product with discount, it is considered a status quo related question and the
customers tend to lean towards a natural product. However, this would not result in a
representation of the real scenario. Also, in MNCs and big organizations there are lot of
processes after which the order is converted into a purchase order and during that biases
can create issues.

Internal Restructuring:

Soulflower is undergoing some internal restructuring due to its foray into the B2B
segment and therefore lot of changes have been made which led to issues in the sales
and general functioning.

Restrictions from Client side:

There are a set of rules that a representative from a company needs to follow when they
are in the B2B sales role. At times the clients are already tied up with third party vendors
for their facility requirements , or specifically hotels like Radisson blu and World bank
are taking care of the facilities for the guests and customers , hence it becomes difficult
to convince the client to get onboard. Also, Soulflower being a premium brand some
clients are not ready to cut an extra amount in their budget for aromatization of the work
place.

22
CHAPTER 3:

3.1- ANALYSIS OF DATA:

B2B - Due to the company’s recent foray into the B2B segment, no conclusive data was
available. Hence the study is done by using Qualitative analysis by asking questions to
the clients during the F2F meetings.

The client study is divided into two groups: Corporates, F&B/Hotel Industry, Retail
stores.

B2C (Retail)- A offline questionnaire was provided to 32 applicants over shoppers stop,
Delhi- NCR and more megastore, gurugram. The questionnaire was of multiple choice
answering criteria, All the responses were recorded in offline mode and then converted
into Pie charts after filling responses into google forms for the analyzation purpose.

The different responses of shoppers in the particular store were recorded.

Fig. 4
 About 53.01% people who visited in the store already knew about the brand
soulflower.
 It means that the location assigned, Delhi-NCR which is untapped, needs some
promotional events and proper positioning in that area.

23
 Fig. 5

 Nearly 34.4% people are well affected with the hairfallig problem followed by
dandruff, dry scalp and face and body acne.
 Which can be due to the poor water supply or due to the anti-bodies which has not
developed in people around against the germs transferred through the water bodies

Fig. 5

 Out of the respondants the major users use the brand Lotus, which also provide
natural skin care just as soulflower.
 Biotique and VLCC are the following brands.

24
 Fig. 6

 Most of the people shop the brands by features followed by price, Delhi-NCR’s
customers are highly price sensitive.
 While the least criteria for shopping among customers went by ease of availability.

Fig. 7

25
 Almost 50% of the current brand users are unsatisfied by their product’s claim
and resulting performance.
 Followed by a 21.9% of people who said yes they are satisfied.

Fig. 8

 Around 56.3% of respondants said that they have a prior knowledge about the
unique benefits of vegan products.
 Resultingly. 43.8% clearly listed a no.

Fig. 9

26
  Around 51.6% of respondants said that they know about the parabens being used
in packaging of beauty products that they are harmful to use for skin and can cause
hormonal issues if used for a prolonged period of time.
 While 48.4% responded with a no.

Fig. 10

 Exactly 43.8% of respondants said that they won’t change their brand they
currently use.
 While with a curious and not so effective mindset 56.3% respondants said yes
they can give a second throught for a new brand as the expectation is not reaching
at the level it should be with their current brand.

CHAPTER 4:

4.1- FINDINGS AND CONCLUSION:

Client Behaviour Study:

1) Corporates:
- Majority of the clients do not decide on the brands that they wish to purchase and
are not brand loyal as they are majorly not aware about the concept of
aromatization.

27
- Advertisement and product quality have the most impact in followed by word of
mouth and discount has minimal impact. Having said that discount is important
especially for the MSME clients as they make their purchase decision after
interacting with the factors regarding the extra cost to the organization.
- Majority of the MNCs are tied up and given their operations to third party
operation agencies like JLL or CBRE and hence they do not prefer to move away
from their contract.
- Calm and soothing feeling of the aroma oil is more important for the corporates
rather than active aroma oils.
- Most clients are willing to spend somewhere between 800 and 1500 for aroma oils
in the New Delhi region.
- Per meeting the manager receives 5-10 minutes to communicate the features.
Hence, the communication needs to be short and crisp. The promotors need to
understand and explain it in a very concise manner.
- There is high inter brand comparison.
- Customers usually pay attention to the brands being advertised on media and have
greater brand recall of the same.
- An atrium event of the brand generally leads to increased footfalls in the section
and hence more recognition by the corporates.

2) F&B/ Hotel Industry:

- Majority of the customers are not brand conscious or brand loyal. However, the
percentage of customers who are brand conscious and loyal are relatively higher
in Hotel Industry than F&B Industry.

- Promotors and word of mouth have the most impact, followed by discounts. Like
corporates, impact of advertisement is minimal
- The spending capacity of the customers, varies from hotel to hotel. The clients are
willing to spend between 2000-5000. Having said that a lot of big brands like
Hyatt, Mariott are willing to spend more than 5000 for feature rich exclusive
products.
- Product comparison is more as compared to corporates.

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 - Cross selling can be done in this sector. E.g.: Aroma Oils and Massage oils can be
sold together in the hotel industry as they usually have spa attached with the hotels.

- Customers generally start viewing the products with competition brands as they
have better visibility due to heavy advertising.

3) Retail Stores: - Most of the people don’t know in NCR that this brand exist or
not.
- Natural solution providing strategy is also applicable to some extent only,
being a unmarketed brand, customers doesn’t trust a new product.
- Customers were more attracted towards the eye-catching mist diffusers
and the fragnances, but a simple soap was not that much attractive to customers at
a glance unless its benefits could be revealed by brand promoters.
- Cross- selling was done and could also be done here, like An anti-ageing
essential oil which ensures to treat fine lines withing a week of application could
be sold with an apple mangosteen soap which also serves as a anti-ageing
propertyful of soap,.

4.2- SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS:

Client Behavior Study:

Corporates and F&B/Hotel Industry:

1) Manager’s training
As we have already seen different behavior is exhibited in Corporates and
F&B/Hotel Industry and therefore managers need to be trained in a different
manner for both the categories after taking the following factors into
consideration:
- Types of customers and their requirements
- Brand recall by the customer
- Product quality and competitor product quality to their advantage
- Client specific product treatment

2) Brand Awareness:

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 We’ve seen that as per my research customers are not brand conscious and
therefore steps need to be taken to increase the brand awareness for our products.
This can be done through:
- Investment in advertisements
- FOS and paid spaces for instore marketing
- POP and POS merchandise

3) Product Mix:

Product Mix and assortment should be decided on the customer requirements and
the price point.

- Increase the product assortment in 2000-3500 price range

- Product feature requirement as per the client requirements to be taken into

consideration.

Competition Analysis :

1) Crisp Range :
Competition has a more crisp range in hypermarkets. They have huge SKUs and fast
selling models available in large quantities. In contrast we have lesser SKU’s with
relatively larger quantities. Therefore
- More stock of fastest selling models
- Fewer options in higher price points and more options in lower price points

2) Aroma Oils:
Soulflower has lesser number of the products in the price range of fastest selling
price points. However,
- Our products in fastest selling price points are in the 5000-8000 price range -
Competitors fastest selling price points are in the 2000-3000 price range

3) Product Assortment:
We have sweet price points in aroma oils as compared to our competitors.
However we don’t have a lot of stock there. Therefore,
- Stocks to be increased. There is no regional distributor and hence transit time is
huge.

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 - Aroma oils in small SKU’s to be sold to customers through designated modern
trade outlets.

4) Product Communication & awareness:

Major communication happens through the advertisements. However, product
communication needs to be done even when advertisement is not there. Hence,
- Labels to mention all the features.
- BTL ads can help in targeting the specific audience.
- The communication should highlight how Soulflower products are better than the
competition.

CHAPTER-5-
BIBLIOGRAPHY

 Dr. A. P. Sarode,2017, GROWTH OF PERSONAL CARE PRODUCT

IN INDIA,http://euroasiapub.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/7FMJuly-
5241-1.pdf
 DR. G.S Ranade,2014, indian fragnance and flavor industry, a
perspective,http://www.ffdcindia.org/pdf/indian_21may2014.pdf

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5.1-ANNEXTURE-1 (SAMPLE SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE USED)

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.4- ANNEXTURE-1 (SAMPLE SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE)
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5.2-ANNEXTURE 2 ( RESPONDANT’S COPY OF QUESTIONNAIRE)

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