Introduction:

Bangladesh is a developing country with rapid urbanization and strong economic growth, with
increasing disposable income amongst the mid-to-high income consumers and rising social
media influence.

The market of beauty and personal care is an ever-growing one. Among all the myriad of
products that fall under this category, toilet soap is an essential commodity to maintain good
hygiene. They are usually obtained by treating vegetable or animal fats with a strong alkaline
solution. Primarily divided into two segments of health and beauty, toilet soap products are used
for cleansing regimes. However, with the increased level of competition, the toilet soap market is
fragmented and requires continuous branding and product innovation for brands to sustain. With
the world moving towards a consumer- centric marketing approach in all sectors, the players in
the toilet soap market must also implement this approach and put their consumers first.

Toilet Soap Market in Bangladesh

There are three major types of toilet soaps—bar soap, liquid soap and shower gel. Over the
period of 2009–2016, the global toilet soap market rose at a compound annual growth rate
(CAGR) of about 5 per cent driven by growing maturity and fierce competition among the major
brands. In 2016, the region of Asia Pacific dominated the global soap market with more than
one-fifth the share of the total global production. It was followed by Western Europe, Central
and Eastern Europe, North America and South America. The fragmented nature of the global
toilet soap market is such that it involves a number of players. Some key players are Proctor &
Gamble, Unilever and Colgate Palmolive (Expert Market Research, 2017). As opposed to the
emerging markets, liquids in general hold a higher share in developed markets. In value terms,
the two largest categories in beauty and personal care are bath and shower and hair care. There
are currently three main segments in the Bangladesh soap market: soap bars (premium and value
brands), liquid soaps and shower gels. In the value segment, the consumers generally lack loyalty
as they are merely seeking a product that suits their need at an affordable price. The brand equity
for value brands is low while premium brands maintain loyalty among its buyers. This is due to

1
years of marketing alongside the functional and emotional benefits which contribute to
increasing the consumers’ conviction and loyalty about the premium brands. Improved sanitation
facilities have resulted in more people bathing or showering on a regular basis, which is
beneficial for the bath and shower products. According to Euro monitor International (2014),
over the period of 2009–2013, beauty and personal care products rose at a CAGR of 15 per cent.
Besides, the growth in disposable income attributable to increased population, urbanization and
employment will further drive the growth in the market for beauty and personal care over the
period of 2016–2021 (Euro monitor International, 2017). Through advertisements, interest in
beauty and personal care will rise which in turn will raise brand awareness and thus sales.
Furthermore, urbanization and the higher number of women in the workforce are expected to
boost sales. However, due to the lack of infrastructure and the presence of counterfeits, the sales
of various beauty and personal care products face constraints.

Company Profile:

Unilever is a multinational consumer product manufacturing giant operating in over hundred

countries all around the globe. Unilever Bangladesh is the Bangladesh chapter of Unilever,
where the company holds 60.75% share whereas the Government of Peoples Republic of
Bangladesh holds 39.25% share.

Unilever’s one of the most popular brand is LUX. They segments LUX.’s market according to
geographical locations. It further differentiates these segments into Socio Economic Cluster
(SEC) which takes into account the criteria of education and profession which ultimately
measures the financial ability of consumers. Unilever targets the urban and sub urban upper
middle class and middle class segment of the population.

Tactical marketing tools, 4P’s, are extensively used by the company to market LUX. Though
LUX is produced in Bangladesh, Unilever Bangladesh maintains the same standard all around
the globe. The product is available in seven different fragrances under four different sizes. Since
the demand for beauty soap market is to a great extent oligopolistic, variations in price lead to
price war which can eventually break down the company’s market share. Thus Unilever cannot

2
provide a better price than its competitors. But the price is affordable by most of the people.
Unilever Bangladesh has outsourced its distribution channels to third party distributors which
allow them to distribute LUX in massive bulks amounting to around ten million pieces. It
undertakes the largest promotional activities in the beauty soap industry.

The beauty soap industry has a few major producers of which Unilever holds market share of
slightly less than 50%. Other competing brands like Tibbet, Aromatic and Keya have started to
have a strong consumer base, but LUX.’s product features distribution and promotional activities
have created high brand loyalty for which it is still the market leader.

Unilever, with the aid of its heavy promotional activities, has been able to penetrate the market.
But the other producers in the industry are posing a threat towards Unilever’s market share as
they have moved towards the rural masses of the population. Therefore, Unilever Bangladesh
should undertake further steps such as moving towards the rural and/or poorer segment; attract
children (by making a special product for kids) and other innovative promotional activities to
retain its command in the industry.

Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis of Lux:

Industry growth in emerging markets: The personal care industry is expected to grow in the emerging
markets like Bangladesh. Lux is set to benefit from the increasing consumer spending on personal care
products, considering its strong distribution across the globe.

Increase penetration of body wash: Liquid body wash market is expected to grow worldwide and
hence Lux should focus on bringing out more variants of body wash and penetrate the product
more.

Look for more Sales and Trade promotional schemes: Lux should introduce more sales and trade
promotional schemes into the market in order to maintain its leading position in the market.

Penetrate more in rural markets: Lux has got the great potential to capture the rural markets of
India, Pakistan and African countries. Lux needs to penetrate the product more into the rural
markets and develop communication strategy in order to capture the rural market.

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 Soap industry is growing by 10% in Bangladesh

 Liquid body wash is currently in growth stage – Lux should come out with more variants
in this segment
 Large market share – Strong hold over the market.
 Baby shampoo is another area Unilever can make huge gains.
 Shampoo plus conditioner and anti-dandruff shampoos are another area where Unilever
can earn heavy profits.
 Rural areas are a large prospective market where they can introduce.

Threats in the SWOT Analysis of Lux:

Cannibalization: Lux, being a product from Unilever also competes with in-house products like
Tibet, Key and Dove. Although all the products are positioned differently still they are
cannibalizing each other’s market.

Increasing competition: There already exists high competition from local and multinational
brands in the personal care industry. The competition is increasing rapidly in the recent years
which is affecting Lux’s market share.

Changing consumer preference: The preference of consumers around the world is changing and
thus brands are also supposed to align with the changing preferences. Lux is too concentrated on
being a beauty soap and hence changing preferences can affect Lux’s market.

 High internal competition (Pears – Beauty segment)

 New entrants in this segment
 Maturity stage – threat of slipping down to decline stage – if constant reinvention is not
carried out
 High rate of competition.
 Local and foreign competition.

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PESTEL Factors of LUX:

Political Factors:

Politically lux is facing a problem on the import of raw materials. Government has banned the
import of tallow which is one of the basic requirements for soap. Also there is not so much
problem for the ALFRESHSOAP so that it does not create any impact that can affect the
product. Also adulteration of Vanaspati was another incidence by unscrupulous manufacture.
Later on there has been more competition between organized and unorganized sector. The
political scenario is changing day by day and new entrants are posing on threat by giving
concession on tax.

Economic Factors:

The cost of soaps in Bangladesh is very high as compared to other countries like Indonesia. This
is mainly accompanied by the rise in cost of import duties. The import duty rates have increased
from 20% to 35% and the excise rates have also increased at a speed of 16% that forms a major
portion of the cost. The average expenditure per user of every household for toilet soap is tk.300
and tk.900 for high income groups.

Social Factors:

The need for hygiene and personal skin care is very important nowadays with the increasing
disposable income levels and rise in education. NGOs towards inefficient PHC- primary health
center and fragmented approach of government alleviate the problem. The rate at which
advertising media like cable TV and satellite are growing to give an emphasis to the market
penetration initiatives of other competitors in the market.

Technological Factors:

The industry should focus on technology intensive opportunities rather being a capital intensive
industry. The company should focus on manufacturing premium soap comparing with other
soaps. The company should also focus in logistics management where distribution and marketing
plays a pivotal role. Also the company emphasizes on Electronic Customer Relationship
Management (E-CRM) and Supply Chain Management. The company is also trying to cope up

5
with small stores and small retailers. This company should cater to high income group as it is
expected to rise by more 100 percent.

Environmental Factors:

Lux was facing a problem of environmental degradation because Unilever had fewer resources
that could be used and they could produce less waste. Also there was a major development of
European emissions which could restrict the amount of polluters that are being emitted in the air
and thus Lux could become an eco-friendly product.

Legal:

Because of their presence in the worldwide they are bound to abide by some rules and
regulations by national law. Therefore Unilever as a company should make any changes abiding
to the changes accordingly.

Opportunities:

 Government policy, political stability or instability in markets, foreign trade policy, tax
policy, labor law, environmental law, trade restrictions have high impact.
 Lux flexible business model allows them to adapt their portfolio and respond quickly to
develop new offerings that suit consumers’ and customers’ changing needs during
economic downturns.
 Maintaining strong relationships with their existing customers and building relationships
with new customers to serve changing shopper habits are necessary to ensure their brands
are well presented to consumers and available for purchase at all times.
 Unilever’s operations are increasingly dependent on IT systems.
 By monitoring climate change they develop operations and products with reduced
environmental impact. Also develop products that require less water during consumer
use. Also monitor trends in raw material availability and act accordingly.
 Their legal and regulatory specialists are heavily involved in monitoring and reviewing
our practices to provide reasonable assurance that they remain aware of and in line with
all relevant laws and legal obligations. By this way they adjust the price as well.

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Threats:

 Government actions such as foreign exchange or price controls can impact on the growth
and profitability of lux operations.
 Exchange rate, Inflation, overall income of consumer can affect lux operation.
 Failure to maintain strong relationship s with consumers could negatively impact their
business.
 Unauthorized access and misuse of sensitive information can be happened any time. Also
technological integration in various industries and markets affect their market.
 Climate changes around the whole country which may impact their business in various
ways.
 Failure to comply with laws and regulations could expose Unilever to civil and/or
criminal actions leading to damages, fines and criminal sanctions against them and/or
their employees with possible consequences for their corporate reputation.

Porter’s Five Forces for LUX:-

Threat of New Entrants-

In every company new competitors is constantly entering the market to gain more market share
and make their presence across more intense and compete globally. This makes threat of new
entrants high in the market. In the last two years there are many companies such as Elf makeup,
celebrity branded makeup which has come up into this industry. Because as per economies of
scale perfumes and makeup are produced in larger quantities. This is relatively lower in cost per
unit. Therefore this is an industry many firms like to open up into. And also very less capital is
required and any company cam play a dominant role and become the market leader. Threat of
new entry is high because palm oil is imported from Malaysia and it is very expensive in
Bangladesh compared to China and Malaysia. So To launch personal care products there will be
more cost involved.

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Bargaining Power of Buyers:

In this type the customers always look forward to reduce the prices and add services to improve
the quality of the product that can affects firms competition. Also in this type the customers have
a preference to switch over to other brands and not always stick to any particular product. This
indicates that buying power is always high. But also customers prefer to stock various brands at
favorable prices. In rural areas people are not interested to buy high priced products.

Bargaining Power of Suppliers:

This means how much power the supplier side has. The cost of switching to the suppliers is not
very high as there are many companies which create their own personal products. They have
lesser suppliers because Unilever has many manufacturing units in Bangladesh.

Threat of Substitute Products:

This is the fourth force which is very high in this type of industry. If any customer is not satisfied
with the quality they can always shift for other brands and go for other substitute products. It
may be high priced or low priced depending upon the quality. In this type of Industry threat of
substitute is very high. Because for soaps biggest substitute will be face wash and body wash.
There is an upward trend to use them as it comes from the western culture.

Rivalry among Existing Competitors:

There are large numbers of firms which is competing against each other. In this type there is very
little product differentiation existing example the scents smell similar.

Unilever is one of the world’s largest and leading multinational companies; Unilever
commenced their business activities on a larger scale by setting up their first factory in
Netherlands, in the year of 1872. Operating in Bangladesh for over the last four decades the
company is trying to significantly contribute towards the augmentation of the standard of living
by bringing world class high quality products at the door step of their customers.
The usage of Unilever products by over 90% of the people in Bangladesh stands a testimony to
their successful operation. Their array of products show that they produce household care,
fabric cleaning, skin cleansing, skin care, oral care, hair care, personal grooming, and tea based
beverage products under worldwide famous brand names Wheel, LUX, Lifebuoy, Fair & Lovely,

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Pond's, Close Up, Sunsilk, Lipton, Lipton Taaza, Pepsodent, All Clear, Vim, Surf Excel, and
Rexona.

The beauty soap industry in Bangladesh consists of only seven major producers. Unilever
Bangladesh Ltd is operating in the industry with its world famous brand LUX. Out of these giant
companies Unilever Bangladesh Ltd is the market leader with a share of around 43%.

Opportunities

 LUX hold a higher percentage of market share

 Offering diversified Product
 Continue improvement of the product
 No pressure from the supplier side. It is easy to get quality supplier for producing higher
quality product

Threats

 Consumer bargaining power is higher. At the same time, consumer switching cost is also
very low
 New companies are investing in the industry
 Industry is very competitive
 Good quality substitute products are available, LUX has a pressure of improving the
quality

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4P’s Analysis for LUX:

Product:
LUX is an internationally renowned beauty soap brand of Unilever. Though manufactured in
Bangladesh for the local market by Unilever Bangladesh Ltd, as an international brand, it
maintains an international quality for the product. Formula given by Research and Development
departments in foreign countries, LUX is produced in Bangladesh from imported raw materials
like sodium soap, glycerol and different extracts according to flavors, coming from Unilever
plan.

LUX is offered in Bangladesh in six different flavors which are:

 LUX Sensuous Sandal

 LUX Hypnotic Rose
 LUX Iconic Iris
 LUX Soft Touch
 LUX Velvet Touch
 LUX Fresh Splash

Taking into account the convenience of its customers, the company manufactures all flavors of
LUX in three different sizes 35g, 40g, 75gm, 100g, 125gm and 150gm.

Price:
Though Unilever Bangladesh gives its LUX customers a lot in terms of the product itself, it
cannot provide a better pricing. This is due to some constraints in the beauty soap industry.
Beauty soap is a product with a vulnerable demand in Bangladesh. Lux’s price with its major
competitor. Company carries out research on competitors’ price and brand loyalty when it feels
extreme necessity of changing price. The brand loyalty test is an exploratory research which is
known as Brand Health Check-Up (BHCU).

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Product Name Image Format Size Price
Charming Soap/Bar 125g 48tk
Magnolia

Fresh Splash Soap/Bar 100g 34tk

Hypnotic Rose Soap/Bar 75g, 125g 32 tk, 48tk

Iconic Iris Soap/Bar 125g 48tk

Purple Lotus Soap/Bar 100g 34tk

Soft Touch Soap/Bar 35g, 40g, 75g, 10tk, 12tk,25tk,

100g, 150g 34tk,48tk

Velvet Touch Soap/Bar 35g, 40g, 75g, 10tk, 12tk,25tk,

100g, 150g 34tk,48tk

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Place:
Unilever Bangladesh Ltd. has a huge distribution channel for LUX all over the country as its
sales reach more than 10 million pieces a year. The company has six huge warehouses, one in
each division of Bangladesh, where the product goes after they are manufactured at Kalurghat
factory. Table shows the location of its six warehouses in Bangladesh.

Division Location of Warehouse

Dhaka Dhaka City

Chittagong Kalurghat Heavy I/A

Sylhet Sylhet City

Rajshahi Rajshahi City

Khulna Khulna City

Barisal Barisal City

Place:

Company does not use its own fleet of transport for distributing its product. However, it has
outsourced its distribution process to various third party distributors, exclusively dedicated to
Unilever Bangladesh Ltd. These distributors then supply the product all over Bangladesh to a
huge number of retailers. Even though LUX targets the urban and sub urban middle and upper
middle class people they are distributing their products all over Bangladesh because of a recent
increase in demand of its product to all segments of the population.

Promotion:
Unilever Bangladesh undertakes huge promotional activities to promote LUX which has topped
the beauty soap industry of Bangladesh. It spends almost 20% to 25% of its Net Proceeds from
sales (NPC) of LUX for promotional activities for LUX. It’s certain annual promotional

12
campaigns like LUX Channel i Superstar and LUX Channel i
Annual Cinema Awards has made the product a part of the glamour world. Since the 1930s, over
400 of the world’s most stunning and sensuous women have been proudly associated with Lux
advertisements.
Unilever Bangladesh Ltd spends a huge amount of money for promoting LUX through TV
commercials, newspaper advertisements and billboards. Moreover it also undertakes small
promotional campaigns at different schools, colleges, universities and recreational parks with
winners of its Zonal Beauty Contests.

Competitor analysis

Internal competitors

Lifebuoy:

Born: 1895

History: Owned by Unilever Plc., the parent company of Unilever Bangladesh Ltd.

Lifebuoy landed on Indian shores in 1895, when the country was in the grip of a plague
epidemic. With its positioning as a powerful germicidal and disinfectant, and with a strong
carbolic smell, it was what the nation was looking for. But the health advantage waned over time
as competitors came out with soaps that promised both health and beauty.

It was around 2002 that the product moved from being a hard soap to a mild soap that delivered a
significantly superior bathing experience. The new soap had a refreshing fragrance and its
overall positioning changed, painting its promise of health in softer, more versatile and
responsible hues—for the entire family. The packaging was also changed: The rugged looking
packs were soon replaced with a softer pinkish cover. This was followed by a series of ads
highlighting the soap’s germ-fighting benefits.

Lifebuoy had become a family soap with hygiene as its core promise. Right from the early days,
the brand has preferred effective communication to celebrities. An exception is its recent, limited
exposure campaign with cricketer Sakib Al Hasan.

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Dove: Dove is a personal care brand owned by Unilever originating in the United Kingdom.
Dove products are manufactured in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt,
Germany, India, Indonesia, Israel, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Pakistan, Philippines,
Poland, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, and United States.

Divided into beauty soap

Dove Pink. Rosa Beauty Bar Soap

Dove Gentle Exfoliating

Dove Pure and Sensitive Bar

Some other varieties are-

Dove Go Fresh Touch

Dove Beauty Bar White

Dove Beauty Cream Bar White

External Competitors

Meril:

Blending the ancient imperial luxury of milk baths with its 6 times more moisturizing power,
Meril Milk Soap will give afresh and soft skin by removing skin roughness and protecting
against it. It is a soap of Square-Toiletries Ltd.

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There are different types-

Natural Milk

Milk and kiwi soap

Milk and pomegranate

Milk And blackberry

Milk and beli

Milk and honey

Fresh turmeric

Tibet:

Tibet is a brand of Kohinoor Chemical Co. it’s a high-

quality bath soap made from 100% vegetable fat. Some
variants of Tibet soaps are-

Tibet deluxe beauty soap

Creamy with fragrance

Extra creamy enriched

White pink green

Fa:

Fa is an international brand for personal care products. It is a

subsidiary of German company Henkel AG. Varieties are-

Fa Honey Crème

Sensual Golden Iris Scent and Honey Extracts

Mystic moments

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Mild cleansing and moisturizing

Intensively caring Shea butter

Fascinating fragrance of the passion flower

Sandalina Sandal Soap:

SANDALINA offers a world class Grade-1 soap enriched with a

unique blend of Sandal Wood Extract. It’s soap of Kohinoor group.

Aci Sandal soap:

ACI Limited is one of the leading conglomerates of the

country. ACI Consumer Brands is stepping into beauty
soap category with its Sandalwood soap “ACI Sandal
Soap”. ACI Sandal soap is formulated as a Grade-1 soap
containing the highest quality of sandalwood oil, cocoa
butter, and an invigorating fragrance. The soap is infused
with sandal oil which acts as a natural moisturizer and helps
to create a glowing effect to skin. It contains cocoa butter
which provides balanced moisture, thereby preventing
dryness and giving a smooth & supple effect. Its fragrance contains lilac extract that captivates
the mind and gives prolonged freshness.

Keya:

Tibet is a brand of Keya Cosmetics Ltd. it’s a high-

quality bath soap made from 100% vegetable fat. Some
variants of Tibet soaps are-

Lifeguard

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Keya Soap

Keya Lemon Soap

Keya Mini Soap

This research analyses the soap industry in the FMCG sector in Dhaka with a special emphasis
on two brands Dove and Lux, which are among the trusted and leading soap brands from the
same parent company “Unilever”. Unilever is a multinational corporation that owns more than
400 brands in the FMCG sector.

For better comprehension of Unilever Bangladesh, its marketing strategy, product quality,
positioning and placement, we present here a comparative analysis of its competitors. This part
of the report illustrates the market share of different companies in the beauty soap industry.

Opportunities:

 Lux is set to benefit from the increasing consumer spending on personal care products,
considering its strong distribution across the globe
 Liquid body wash is currently in growth stage – Lux should come out with more variants
in this segment

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  Lux should introduce more sales and trade promotional schemes into the market in order
to maintain its leading position in the market.
 Lux has got the great potential to capture the rural markets of Bangladesh. Lux needs to
penetrate the product more into the rural markets and develop communication strategy in
order to capture the rural market.

Threats:

 Lux, being a product from Unilever also competes with in-house products like Pears and
Dove. Although all the products are positioned differently still they are cannibalizing
each other’s market.
 The preference of consumers around the world is changing and thus brands are also
supposed to align with the changing preferences. Lux is too concentrated on being a
beauty soap and hence changing preferences can affect Lux’s market.
 There already exists high competition from local and multinational brands in the personal
care industry. The competition is increasing rapidly in the recent years which is affecting
Lux’s market share. For example, entry of Sandalina in Bangladesh and some other
imported soaps are affecting the personal care market heavily.

Market Segmentation

“One cannot be everything to everyone, but can be everything to a selected few”. This is the
basis for segmentation. The definition of segmentation is “market segmentation is a process of
dividing a heterogeneous market into homogeneous sub units. Market segmentation is the
identification of portions of the market that are different from one another. Segmentation allows
the firm to better satisfy the needs of its potential customers.

A good market segmentation will result in segment members that are internally homogenous and
externally heterogeneous; that is, as similar as possible within the segment, and as different as
possible between segments.

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Market segmentation of Lux

As mentioned above, market segmentation is done so as to satisfy the customers more efficiently.
For a brand like Lux, which has a broad customer base, this factor becomes absolutely critical.

The segmentations are done basically on the basis of factors like:

Lux soap concentrates in the beauty soap category. A brief description of the various factors Lux
considers are:

Gender:

Lux has been, since its introduction seen as a soap for women. Lux as a brand symbolises beauty.
The Lux ads has hosted a bevy of film stars such as from Suborna, Sakila, Nipa, Mousumi,
Bipasha, Opi to Mim all endorsing the goodness of Lux over generations. This was done in
order to attract women who wanted to look and feel like the stars they idolized.

Age:

Lux is seen to mainly attract customers that fall within the age group of 16 to 35. In order to
cater them, Lux comes up with new and interesting variants. One of the latest entrants, Lux
Crystal Shine is mainly targeted at the youth. So is the Black Provocateur which symbolizes
boldness. Another example is the chocolate variant lux which was a novel idea. All these are
introduced to catch the attention of the youth.

Income:

One of the essential characteristic of an FMCG product is an affordable price which is very
important for its fast sales. It’s the meeting point of demand for a product and its price that
decide whether the product will sell or not. And the demand for a product is highly dependent on
the income of the customer. Lux is not a very costly toilet soap. Its price varies from tk.15 to
tk.35.Therefore its target market starts from the middle income group.

Positioning

Lux—derived from the word luxury— was launched in 1899 as a laundry soap in the UK. In
1925, the brand was extended to the toilet soap category. It was positioned as a beauty soap in

19
India, and UL has since used successful film actors of the time—such as Bobita, Chompa,
Mousumi and Mim—to endorse the product.

Lux’s secret of longevity has been its consistent evolution—be it the soap colour, packaging or
new variants, the brand has banked on innovation to keep its youthful image intact. Extending
the soap cake to a range of shower gels, liquid soaps and moisturizing bars has helped the brand
keep consumers excited and the competition at bay.

What has not changed is the consistency in its communication and its positioning. Its tag lines—
if it’s good enough for a film star, then it’s good for you too to Play with beauty—have conveyed
the same message over the years. It taps into an emotion very close to humanity’s basic need—
social interaction. The brand has always hired celebrities when they have reached a certain
height rather than using them at the start of their careers. This has helped the customers to relate
to their idols on screen.

From being a soap for the stars, Lux has recently started positioning itself in such a way that the
ordinary woman can relate to the brand. The advertisements show not the star, but the actress in
the character of an ordinary girl or woman, which any woman can identify with. This positioning
has helped the brand in striking a chord with the target consumers.

Competitive Advantage of LUX

Maintaining competitive advantage is the key to sustaining in the business world. Competitive
advantage occurs when an organization acquires or develops an attribute or combination of
attributes that allows it to outperform its competitors. From that point of view, LUX, a renowned
brand of Unilever has acquired some attributes that its competitors find really difficult to
replicate. And these competitive advantages are the keys to outperform their competitors which
we will now be discussing about:

Economies of scale: Unilever has established the brand LUX long ago and since 1924 it has
been doing business and earned a huge amount of revenue. Today LUX is the market leader with
humongous market share than all other soap brands. Since it has been in the market for almost a
century, it has acquired biggest share in the marketplace serving their consumers with their

20
quality product and as a result this brand has gained ‘economies of scale’ which signifies that
this brand has achieved a cost advantage in which fixed costs are spread out over bigger volume
of outputs and their cost per unit is very low. As a result of which they are able to lower their
price in comparison with their competitors. If LUX lower its price drastically below the
production cost of their competitors, LUX will still be able to make profit whereas its
competitors will incur continuous losses if selling at the same price as LUX. So here LUX
always have a unique advantage that is strong enough to outperform its competitors.

Distribution channel: Distribution channel of the brand LUX is very wide. Even in the remote
area of Bangladesh and many other countries, this brand can easily be found. LUX has
succeeded to build strong distribution channel compared to its competitors. As a result of which
LUX can earn more revenue than its competitors do.

Innovation and Design: LUX has always been innovative compared to its competitors which
facilitates the brand to hold its superior position among all other soap brands. Recently LUX has
come up with an innovative idea in which the soap demonstrates a unique design of a flower on
its surface and claiming to have best perfume than ever and it has successfully made a splash in
the minds of consumers. Apart from that, the brand adds new variants that boost the demand of
the product among consumers and help in holding a superior position among other brands.

Resources and Expertise: Since LUX is there in the market for a long period of time, it has
gotten a hold of best resources available and the level of expertise is very high. This aids the
brand in producing quality products and stay unique from its competitors. On top of that, they
made beautiful actors their brand ambassadors to endorse their product and thus they have
succeeded to have even bigger market share.

Customers’ loyalty and Brand Value: LUX consumers seem to be very loyal to the brand
which can be viewed as a major strength of the brand. Since the customers seem to be satisfied
with the product they are using, they are less likely to switch the brand. Apart from that, its
consumers have a strong mindset that they are using the best soap product as LUX succeeded to
build a strong BRAND EQUITY.

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Recommendations

It can be seen that Lux as a part of UBL is facing tough competition from its competitors. It is
trying to retain its market share and achieve high growth and profits in the market. It can be
recommended that they can use more marketing strategies such as BCG matrix, check its
competitive strategies, and go for some SWOT analysis to regain its market share. They must
introduce some new products for example they can launch face wash with a fragrance that other
companies are yet to launch in the market. This will have a greater impact on their sale. However
it should also be noted that the marketing activity should be considered all throughout the year
that will add in gaining competitive edge from its competitors in the market globally.

Conclusion

From the above assignment it is concluded that Lux is one of the iconic products that has entered
the Bangladeshi market. The history of Lux has been related to women of every generation and
this is one of their mission strategies. The brand Lux have been able to uniquely position itself in
the market and launched through the media partners as well. Advertisements includes beautiful
photos in pages of women magazines to billboards TV and newspapers as well to actively
associate with the market. Lux has successfully transcended the hurdles of elite class epitome
and has positioned itself occupying center stage appealing to women of all ages.

Considering the present market share we can say that Lux is a promising brand which is coming
to fulfill the needs of customers. The continuity and popularity stands out to be unique able to
satisfy human needs satisfactorily and it promises to run across centuries.

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References

Wahidullah, M., Wahidullah, M. and profile, V. (2019). Competitive Advantage of LUX (Unilever).
[online] Competitiveadvantagelux3333.blogspot.com. Available at:
https://competitiveadvantagelux3333.blogspot.com/ [Accessed 30 Oct. 2019].

Sk.sagepub.com. (2019). SAGE Books - Marketing. [online] Available at:

https://sk.sagepub.com/books/marketing [Accessed 30 Oct. 2019].

Coursehero.com. (2019). Cadogan JW 2009 SAGE Library in Marketing Marketing Strategy

London Sage | Course Hero. [online] Available at:
https://www.coursehero.com/file/p4s6t1b/Cadogan-JW-2009-SAGE-Library-in-Marketing-
Marketing-Strategy-London-Sage/ [Accessed 30 Oct. 2019].

Pearson.com. (2019). David, Strategic Management | Pearson. [online] Available at:

https://www.pearson.com/us/higher-education/product/David-Strategic-Management-13th-
Edition/9780136120988.html [Accessed 30 Oct. 2019].

Unilever global company website. (2019). Careers. [online] Available at:

https://www.unilever.com/careers/ [Accessed 30 Oct. 2019].

Myassignmenthelp.com. (2019). Here Free Case Study Solution for Strategic Management
Analysis of LUX. [online] Available at: https://myassignmenthelp.com/free-samples/strategic-
management-analysis-of-lux [Accessed 30 Oct. 2019].

SearchCIO. (2019). What is Strategic Management, and Why is it Important?. [online] Available
at: https://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/strategic-management [Accessed 30 Oct. 2019].

Sciedu.ca. (2019). [online] Available at:

http://www.sciedu.ca/journal/index.php/jms/article/download/401/191 [Accessed 30 Oct. 2019].

profile, V. (2019). Porter's Five Forces (LUX: Unilever): Porter's Five Forces model of LUX
(Unilever). [online] Porters5forceslux.blogspot.com. Available at:
https://porters5forceslux.blogspot.com/2014/11/porters-five-forces-model-of-lux.html [Accessed
30 Oct. 2019].

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 Distribution of Work

Md. Shahnur Alam Introduction, Industry Analysis, Opportunities

S M Rafayet Islam
Md. Yeasin Arafat
Md. Maruf Hossain
& Threats analysis
4p’s Analysis, Competitor Analysis
Competitive Advantage, Conclusion,
Reference
Company Analysis, PESTEL & Porter’s five
forces model analysis

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