Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Chapter No-03................................................................................................................ 2
Chapter No-04.............................................................................................................. 18
Chapter No-05.............................................................................................................. 23
Chapter No-06.............................................................................................................. 58
Chapter No-07.............................................................................................................. 60
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Chapter No-03
Bring forward the impact of pricing strategy on business
Pricing strategy will depend on what type of demand there is for your product or service.
Understanding different pricing strategies will help you to decide which strategy - or
combination of strategies - is most effective for your business.
If the demand is elastic, a change in pricing has a significant effect on the demand (i.e.
after a price rise customers may choose not to buy the product).
If the demand is inelastic, a price change has little effect on demand (i.e. customers will
still buy the item, regardless of the price).
Elasticity is dependent on a number of factors, including:
Are there any substitutes available? (for example, if rice is not available, customers could
buy potatoes instead)
Are there any complementary products? (when the price of one product goes down,
demand for another product goes up, i.e. razors and shaving cream)
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The initial price is set high and attracts 'early-adopters' who want the product or service
now and are willing to pay.
When this group has been satisfied, the price is reduced to appeal to more price-sensitive
customers.
Penetration pricing
Often used for products and services that would not attract an initial elite market.
A large target market and a high volume of sales are needed to meet profit goals.
Image pricing
The perceived image is more important to a customer than the actual price (e.g. a luxury
car that sells for as much as a house).
Marketing should target the high end of the market and communicate the luxury on offer.
Customers are willing to pay top dollar because of the value they place on the product.
Discount pricing
Aimed at the budget end of the market where customers are willing to forgo some quality
or service for a lower price.
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Loss leaders
A product or service sold at a low price where you make little profit - or in some cases, a
loss.
This heavily discounted item should entice customers to visit your business.
While they buy the loss leader, they may also purchase other products or services with a
higher profit margin (e.g. accessories, supplementary items, impulse buys).
Flexible pricing
Your pricing strategy should be flexible. If you sell to multiple markets (e.g. you export to
different countries), you do not need to set a single price across the board. However, remember
that if you sell via the internet, customers will be able to buy at your online price wherever they
are (provided you ship to their area).
Another example of flexible pricing is offering discounts for bulk-buying or returning customers.
This rewards customer loyalty, encourages positive word-of-mouth and increases sales in the
long term.
A business can use a variety of pricing strategies when selling a product or service. The Price
can be set to maximize profitability for each unit sold or from the market overall. It can be used
to defend an existing market from new entrants, to increase market share within a market or to
enter a new market. Businesses may benefit from lowering or raising prices, depending on the
needs and behaviors of customers and clients in the particular market. Finding the right pricing
strategy is an important element in running a successful business. Most business organizations of
any size will probably have some form of business strategy (even if it is not articulated in such
terms). However the term business strategy is sometimes a nebulous term and there are many
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different definitions and aspects of business strategy. Some of these are shown in figure 1 and
subsequently discussed briefly. All of these themes were considered during the course of the
research.
Aims of business strategy In broad terms a business strategy should aim to define:
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There is strong debate about exactly how business strategies are or should be developed and
these are shown in figure 2 overleaf.
Proponents of deliberate strategy take the view that strategy formation is a process based on
acting intentionally. It is important to plan and think before acting. The strategy must be clear,
explicit and must be executed by the company. Proponents of emergent strategy hold that
strategy originates from the interaction of the organization with its environment and that it is an
ongoing process of constant learning, experimentation and risk taking. The probability is that
these two views represent two ends of a continuum. Real-world strategies probably lie
somewhere along this continuum, contingent on a range of factors such as: environment, culture,
location etc. Also a business strategy must be thought of as being more than just the preparation
of a strategic plan but a process which comprises three elements:
plan which is feasible, sustainable and acceptable. However, the means of preparing the plan is
as important as the actual plan itself and should involve consultation with stakeholders in order
to facilitate acceptability of its content.
substantial focus on change management because of the high degree of organizational change
which may be involved.
Evaluation - an evaluation of the extent to which the strategy has been successful in
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The positioning school views the firm as concerned with achieving strategic fit with
its environment; that is with evaluating the competitive forces operating within the environment
to assess where and how best to compete. Hence this approach to business strategy implies a
primary focus on looking outside the business at the external political, social, economic and
technological environment and identifying changes and trends in that environment. The task is
then to shape and fit the organization to respond to market opportunities arising from the
changing environment.
The Resource Based View (RBV) believes that a firms competitive advantage lies mainly in
the bundle of resources at its disposal and how it can stretch these to achieve competitive
advantage. This approach derives from the work of C.K. Prahalad who believed firms should
seek not simply to position themselves well within their existing markets but to capitalize on
their advantages to redefine markets in their favor.
Again, it seems that real world business strategies probably involve a combination of both
approaches with different degrees of mix between different companies. Both perspectives are
important in explaining business behavior, including adaptation under recessionary conditions.
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Economic logic how will we obtain our returns (profits, cash, ROI etc) all these elements are
relevant in considering business strategy in recessionary times? Business strategy and economic
recession In general terms it is possible to identify three broad ways in which businesses might
adapt during difficult economic conditions such as recession:
Retrenchment strategies this appears to be the most common approach adopted by
businesses to deal with recessionary conditions and might involve cutting operating costs and
divestment of non-core assets, especially in the short-term. Examples include: divestment of
businesses, closure of plants, reductions in employment; cuts on a wide range of expenditure
including R&D, marketing and training.
Investment strategies - this might involve expenditure on innovation and market
diversification. Recession is regarded as an opportunity to implement strategic change that would
otherwise not have occurred. Such strategies are risky and many firms are likely to be too
preoccupied with short-term survival to think about innovation and growth, or lack the resources
to implement such strategies effectively.
most firms adapt under recession conditions through judicious cost/asset-cutting behaviour and
through investment in product innovation and market development.
However, business performance is highly variable under recessionary conditions, and no
particular strategy can guarantee survival and success. Much depends on contingent factors such
as, for example, business resources, relations with other stakeholder groups etc. Furthermore,
business performance under recessionary conditions does not map closely on to organizational
characteristics such as business size or sector.
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7 reasons why your price increases fail (and your bottom line suffers)
Pricing is the most important driver of profit, but unfortunately managers and entrepreneurs
seem to neglect the issue. In one of our global pricing studies we asked over 3,900 high-level
decision makers from all major service and manufacturing industries around the world, many of
them from Europe, how they set their prices. The main findings in a nutshell: many of them dont
get the money for the value they deliver. And weak pricing cuts their profits by 25 percent.
But what are the main hurdles in becoming a pricing champion and how do you get there,
nevertheless?
Untapped pricing power = lost profits
Pricing power is the ability of a company to get the prices it deserves for the value it delivers to
its customers. Companies who have pricing power can charge a premium even in a
commoditized or competitive market.
In other words, pricing power is a key capability and essential to protect profits. In turbulent
times like these and given the generally poor price performance, many companies cant afford to
lose even a few percentage points of profit.
But what distinguishes the power prices from low performers when it comes to pricing? Primary
drivers for high pricing power are customer value and brand.
Every company has the ability to achieve high pricing power. If a company can offer its
customers real value and communicate that through a top brand, this will translate into money.
Unfortunately, in many cases managers deceive themselves and excuse the weak performance of
their company by blaming others.
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Asked what or who is responsible for their weak pricing, managers often blame tough
competition. Another favorite is to blame customers, and stating that the customers are very
consolidated and have tremendous negotiation power is very common. Often, the problem is felt
to originate in the companys own product assortment is guilty: We sell a commodity product.
These are all excuses that avoid getting to the bottom of the problem. Poor pricing performance
is not a question of fate; it is largely up to each company to either become a pricing champion or
go the road of devastating price wars.
There are no structural reasons for pricing weakness, but three fundamental causes that make the
difference:
insufficient monitoring
A few simple steps can help tremendously when it comes to pricing. Our studies show that power
prices do their basic pricing homework and have a different mindset. They simply avoid the
biggest mistake, which is to focus strictly on market shares and volume.
You have to ensure you are clearly focused on profit instead of volume or market share. By
redirecting the whole organization towards pricing power and making it one of the top KPIs,
successful companies achieve higher profits and perform better in many aspects. Those who
mainly focus on volume and market share tend to get tied up in price wars.
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Here are 8 pitfalls to avoid when thinking about prices and setting or increasing prices:
1. By focusing on market share, you start price wars
Price wars are generally sparked by an unhealthy obsession with market share and volumes.
Many decision makers describe their industry as volume oriented. As one study respondent once
pointed out:
If you ask your people to strive for volume, you should not be too surprised when you end up in
a price war.
The effect of price wars on profits is disastrous for all sides. There are no winners except the
customer. Thats why companies should avoid price wars if at all possible and its up to their
managers and owners to encourage their employees to strive for profit, not for market share.
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And you must know what your execution success rate is and set your price increase targets
accordingly. Setting price increase targets sounds easy enough: the boss calculates the cost
increases, and thats what the team has to implement. In many cases it is really done that way.
But what is often forgotten is the price implementation or price execution success rate. As
companies achieve on average only half of their planned price increase, managers need to
develop specific price increase targets by product, category, segment etc.
3. You give discounts and goodies in return for price increases
Although price increases are essential for survival in inflation periods, managers and
entrepreneurs are mostly insecure about how to plan and implement price increases. There are a
few steps though that can help them.
First and foremost, you need a consistent and systematic process for pricing. For every single
activity companies have detailed processes with descriptions and explanations, but when it
comes to price increases many dont exactly know what to do. Such a process includes starting
with the price increase targets, selecting the right instruments, preparing the price increase and,
finally, executing it.
The entire process must be supported by systems tools and data; as always, you have to monitor
the result. That may sound like a no-brainer. But many companies have no clue about the real net
effect of a price increase. Why? Because price increases are often accompanied by goodies,
discounts, give-always, customer-friendly payment terms, etc. Many fail to factor in the effect of
these customer-friendly measures.
The pricing process involves several detailed steps and activities. Selected aspects strategy and
leadership, price instruments, and surcharges are described below.
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4. You dont fight hard enough for the necessary price increases
Companies often think they are extremely smart to pursue the following strategy: they make
smaller price increases than needed or than the competition is applying, then combine that with
higher advertising spending, and hope for higher profits through high volume in shares.
This strategy does not work in reality. Companies should not settle for lower prices, but fight for
the necessary increases instead. At the end of the day, volume and market share will not save
you.
5. You dont think creatively enough about prices
Also, it helps to think creatively about prices. Besides a classical list price increase, there are tens
or perhaps even hundreds of price instruments available. The key is to go through the list of
possible instruments, analyze which one fits your specific situation the best and then make a
conscious decision as to which instruments to take be it discounts, shorter payment terms, and
smaller package sizes and so on.
Take this example: the price of a one-liter bottle is known by most consumers. Almost nobody
overestimates the price of a one liter bottle of water. But customers have a much lower price
awareness of the small pack. More importantly, 50 percent overestimate the price.
If you want to increase the price of your water bottles, the solution seems clear: dont touch the
price of the one liter pack, but apply a disproportionally high increase for the small pack. This is
a general message that applies to B2B as well as B2C companies: set different price increases by
product/customer groups based on the level of price elasticity.
Introducing a surcharge is another alternative. Many airlines have already gone too far with that
instrument, but in other industries there is still a lot of potential.
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Why do surcharges make sense? Because the surcharge elasticity was and continues to be
significantly lower than the elasticity of the base price. We dont suggest introducing surcharges
across the board and blindly. The idea is to think broader, to be creative, and find price elements
with high acceptance and low elasticity.
6. You werent the first to set an anchor price
Companies often ask us whether they should be the first ones to make a price move. If a
company is or wants to be the leader of an industry, then it must make the first move and set the
anchor price.
Studies, scientists and Nobel Prize winners have revealed that nothing is more influential in
determining the outcome as setting the initial price or, if you will, the anchor price. As you cant
be sure that your competition is doing the right thing, make sure that you are the first one to set
and communicate the anchor.
Many but still too few companies are doing that. When you knock at your clients door and ask
for higher prices, the clients are already informed, they already know about the price change, and
the bad news has already been communicated.
7. You dont reward your sales team right
Implementing the new price is the job of the sales department, but very often sales is struggling
with this task. Either they only manage to implement a small part of the planned price increase or
they give away goodies and discounts in exchange for the price increase; the bottom line being
that nothing is achieved.
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What can be done to improve the price implementation? Simple on-top incentives are the
solution on top money that is only granted if certain price implementation targets have been
achieved or overachieved. Lets take a concrete example.
A sales rep had a revenue base of one million. He managed to raise the price by five percent,
which was two percent points more than the minimum price increase target, in this case three
percent. Two percent points means 20,000. Out of this 20,000 he got 25%, which is 5,000. The
remaining part went to the company. The pay-out was on a quarterly basis, and only after the
clients had paid their bills with the increased price levels. There was no negative cash effect for
the company, no need for budgeting anything. Thats a real win-win situation.
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After having gone through the different steps of the process, it has become clear that this
systematic approach not only pays off, but also is a must to achieve good results. This fact is also
underlined by the two real case examples below. Both of them are in B2B business, the same
industry, one followed the systematic process; the other announced the price increase and just
scraped by. Both companies were striving for a similar price increase: around seven percent. At
the end of the day one achieved 1.2 percent, the other one 6.3. That is a plus of 425 percent. That
clearly proves the success of a systematic approach.
Conclusions
The formula for success is: The better the pricing know-how, the higher the pricing power, and
the higher the profits. The five key recommendations are:
1.
Redirect your price strategy to achieve higher profits, rather than volume or market
share. Introduce pricing power as a new KPI.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Chapter No-04
Literature Review
Literature review is very important part of any credible research and it provides the research an
opportunity to review similar and related previous research to take knowledgeable insight to
design his or her study. The second chapter of the research will cover the literature review related
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to title of the research. The following sections will be covered by this chapter. Brand can be
defined as name, tern, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the
goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other
sellers (AMA, 2011). Brand Extension and Types of Brand Extension Brand extension is strategy
of launching and selling new product under an established brand name of other existing products
to persuade customers perception with success of existing products (Monga and Deborah,
2007). Extension can be described as strategy to sell new products without establishing a new
brand of the company (Chen and Liu, 2004). There are two types of brand extension mostly used
in branding strategy.
The following graph is explaining such types of brand extension.
Types of Brand Extension Source: (Kim and Lavack, 2001) The Reasons of Brand Extension
There are logics why organization goes with brand extension instead of launching new brand for
every new product. The most influential arguments are reducing risk and cost of launching new
products, increasing sales and profit of the company and being able to ask a premium price
(Alokparna and Zeynep, 2012). The other reason includes increase brand awareness and
perceived brand value of the company (Smith and Park, 1992). 2.4 Brand Extension in Personal
Care products Brand extension in personal care product is more prevalent than other types of
product due to homogeneity in product nature and communication of common perception to the
consumers. From Unilever to P&G everyone does follow brand extension strategy more or less
in their personal product portfolio (Xie, 2008). 2.5 Factors that Determines the success of Brand
Extension strategy various factors brand extension strategy of personal care products. The given
case outlined the following factors that were considered influential in affecting brand extension
strategy to Dove from soap to other personal care products
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approaches, law of generalization to develop and establish knowledge. This research is based on
positivism philosophy where transparency of research will be ensured through usage of true
sense to make reproduction of information (Hussey and Hussey, 2007). This philosophy of
research mainly employs scientific tools and techniques to reason knowledge of imagination
extracted from observed behavior (Saunders et al, 2009). The research philosophy that stands
against this research philosophy is anti-positivism philosophy which prefers people judgment on
research issues. Positivism philosophy uses statistical tools which are not used by anti-positivism
philosophy (Remeniyi et al, 2008). Justification of Positivism Philosophy the justification for
selecting positivism philosophy is that in this philosophy research is carried out on through
objective manner to explore the cause effect relationship between exogenous and indigenous
variables (Irving, 2006). Research Approach There are mainly two broad type of research is used
by the researcher for conducting research. These approaches are induction and deduction
approach. This research will be based on deduction approach, which is a top down research
approach concentrating to relate research outcome with reasoning rather than a subjective
general statement. This approach is very much relevant to bring a concrete conclusion. Deductive
approach depends on earlier conceptual and theoretical structure, which is supported by
quantitative data (Steinar, 2007). 3.3.1 Justification of Deduction Approach The strongest
argument of using deduction approach is that this approach is based on scientific principles,
which leads to highly structured and organized ground for the development of research
hypothesis. This approach is also relevant for collection of research data to elucidate the relation
and dependency among the variables to prove the hypothesis (Kumar, 2008). 3.4 Methods of
Research Quantitative and qualitative two research methods will be used in this research through
application of different qualitative and quantitative research technique. 3.4.1 Quantitative
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Methods This method will be used for collecting primary data collection. Different statistical
parameters will be used under this method. The graphical presentation will be employed as
instrument of quantitative method along with charts to display information more visibly
(Churchill and Iacobucci, 2005). Qualitative Research In case of subjective measurement
qualitative technique will be employed. Brand extension and product categories have many
dimensions that are qualitative in nature which need subjective evaluation. This method will be
used mostly in case of data which are nonnumeric in nature and more concerned with behavioral
aspect of the respondents. This research has applied a mixed approach of research by
incorporating qualitative and quantitative variable. Quantitative one has been applied to find the
Effectiveness of Brand extension in case of Personal care products. On the other hand, to
measure impact of public relation, media planning and brand management qualitative approach
will be used.
Chapter No-05
Discuss about pricing strategies adopted by Dove
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By 1980, it was the leading brand recommended by physicians. Eventually, the company
launched body washes, shampoos and other beauty products. But how did their marketing
change to make this a success as more and more companies released gentle soaps and hygiene
products? Doves unique strategy focused on revealing the natural beauty in every woman
instead of spotlighting famous celebrities or models. By using ads and campaigns to focus on
everyday women and how each one has a different look or body shape, the company was able to
successfully increase consumer awareness and sales. Dove launched ads celebrating curvy
women and older women. While most brands focus on the importance of the product itself,
Doves key message was the importance of every woman feeling good about her.
A strong emotional touch was one of Doves main goals. Dove product displays showed pictures
of women who did not fit the tall, blonde and thin society stereotype showing just as much selfesteem. This is the idea that makes the product appeal to the majority of women. The company
also has evolved to use social media for feedback and sharing innovative ideas. One of the
companys most successful ads was a video that went viral called, Dove Real Beauty Sketches
with over 55 million views on YouTube.
Dove continues evolving to keep up with the changing world. By using advertisements with
women from all age groups, the brand has a broad enough reach that all ages have developed
trust and loyalty to its products. Two of the main ideas that keep Dove going strong are
developing adaptive ways to market the brand while also keeping a smaller product base. By
lowering their original amount of 1,600 brands to just 400, they were able to select master brands
and categorize the remaining products under those to avoid confusion.
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Doves story of marketing changes that eventually led to great success is a good example of how
changing strategies can lead to increased sales and customer loyalty. Some companies make the
mistake of narrowing the appeal of their brands to a small group of people without intending to
do so. Some ideas may work for a while, but technology and your target audience are constantly
changing, so companies must also adapt their marketing strategies to embrace these changes.
Advantages of holistic marketing:
Professional Image
Creates goodwill
motivates support
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recognizes that everything matters with marketing and that a broad, integrated perspective is
necessary to attain the best solution.
Dove provides a flexible and holistic approach to care. Each plan is tailored to the needs and
wishes of the individual client.
Dove holistic approach include:
Preparation of meals
Personal care
Medication assistance
Companionship
In a way Dove also make use of various methods of Holistic Marketing such as Personalization
in which they reach out to the customers in mass and make sure that no two costumers are same,
with the help of internet they have captured the mass and have discovered a new marketing
strategy. Integrating marketing in a way has integrated many marketing activists which has
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resulted a win situation for different customers as well as for the company, because dove has
always believed in The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Through Internalization
marketing they have understood the importance of each and every customer and so it becomes
very important to describe the actual product to customer in the language they understand, to
motivate customer to stick to the same brand by giving good offers and making them understand
how are they important to the company.
SEGMENTATION,TARGETING,PROMOTION
TARGETING The main target market is upper middle class and premium class people (higher social economic
group. It targets the Indian young women and focuses on real beauty of women widening the
stereotype view of beauty. The targeting strategy can be presented as division of three aspects:
Age, Sex and Lifestyle. The age group segment of 17-50 years old women, who are socially
active with or without job and belong to premium section of society.
POSITIONING
Point of Parity:
The POP stand up against the advantage of Pods of competitiveness thus building a strong
consumer base for the product. The Pops of Dove Shampoo are Available in different size
Available for different hair type
Almost at the same price
Focuses on Indian hair problem
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Doves marketing positioning in the 1950s focused on the functional benefit of its beauty bar; the
fact that unlike ordinary soup, the beauty bar does not dry your skin. The adverts communicated
the products unique selling proposition by focusing on the moisturizing cream that is added in
the soap to prevent dry skin. The fact that Dove refused to call its product a soap shows that
they wanted to create a distinct image for their product.
In 2007, Dove launched a new product, the Dove Cream Oil Body Wash. Its positioning was
focused on the target audiences point of view, and the competition was a good and cheap way of
carrying out market research. Thus Dove was providing their target audience with an incentive
when buying the product, and at the same time Dove could also gather valuable information
about consumers attitudes towards the Dove products. The positioning was in fact centred on the
consumers needs, expectations and points of view, rather than the benefits and features of the
product.
Point of Difference:
Three times stronger, smoother and softer hair.
Focuses one emotional selling proposition
Its not just a shampoo its a therapy that repairs your hair & enhances real beauty in you.
It does not use celebrity rather makes regular women to be its super model.
SEGMENTATION -
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Market segmenting is dividing the market into groups of individual markets with similar wants
or needs that a company divides into distinct groups which have distinct needs, wants , behavior
or which might want different products and services.
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New Task
Modified Rebuy
Straight Rebuy
Buying Decision Approaches Casual Approaches- It involves no information search or analysis. Dove did not apply this
approach as it had done research regarding what the people demand and what are their needs. On
basis of that they launched their product Dove shampoo which had one of most distinguishing
factor and that was moisturizing.
Routine Low Priority Decisions are more important and involve a moderate amount of
analysis. Dove had done research regarding its product and had involved a much amount of
analysis.
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There are many forces that influence the organizational buying behavior. Dove shampoo had to
take into consideration many factors because they were going to launch a new product which
was somewhat a brand extension for their company. Thus all such factors which were important
were taken into consideration while launching their new product.
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CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
KEY PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCESSES:
Motivation: Some needs are BIOGENIC, for example hunger, thirst and discomfort whereas
others are PSYCHOGENIC such as need for recognition, esteem or belonging.
Perception: Perceptions affect consumers actual behavior. It is the way by which consumers
select, organize and interpret information inputs to create a meaningful picture of the world.
Learning: It induces changes in our behavior arising from experience.
Memory: All the information and experiences encountered ends up in the consumers long term
or short term memory. The marketing of a product should be such that it creates the right brand
knowledge structures and maintain them in memory.
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SALES MANAGEMENT
Sales management is about leading the people and process your company
uses to sell prospects and service customers.
Responsibilities include:
Resolving conflicts
Managing processes
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Strengths
Product quality and product variety:
Dove offers seven varieties of shampoos that cater to various hair problems which Indian women
face. The new technologies researched by Dove(micro serum and fiber actives) nourish hair and
provide extra care to damaged hair. Dove has now transformed into a Therapy for hair. The
prices of dove shampoos are at par to the other shampoo brands like Pantene, Head &Shoulders
and LOreal. This had lead to higher volume sales for the company.
Weakness:
Some of the product feedback on internet forums claim that dove leaves the hair oily after
wash and the serum in shampoo does not get washed from hair which makes the hair
brittle.
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Opportunity:
Expansion opportunities:
Shampoos for colored hair from LOreal and Garnier Fructis are available in the market.
But, no such shampoo is offered by Dove. Dove can utilize its brand image to launch a
shampoo for colored hair.
Threat:
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DISTRIBUTION DECISIONS
For Dove, HUL has 2.8mn distinct outlet with directly servicing 1 million stores and 7000
stockiest and distributers. It is more popular in Metropolitan cities. Distribution channels HULs
products, are distributed through a network of 2500 redistribution stockiest covering around one
million retail outlets.
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The general trade comprises grocery stores, chemists, wholesale, kiosks and general stores.
HUL provide tailor made services to each of its channel partners. 2,000 suppliers and2000
distributors serve HULs 37 factories reaching 6.3 million outlets.
Based on the factors like the investment capacity, number of retail stores covered, appropriate
Sales force, infrastructure etc., the stockiest are evaluated and are selected by the company.
Companys policy is to work in advance payment mode. This is to ensure that the there is no
delay in fulfilling the demand of the consumers and sufficient stocks are available to cover the
entire range and categories of Dove shampoos.
IF IMC WAS TO BE DIVIDED INTO 2 PARTS THEN ON THE LEFT WILL BE THE
ATL STRATEGIES AND ON THE RIGHT WILL BE BTL STRATEGIES.
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(ATL)Above the line promotion involves use of mass advertising to reach the audience like t.v,
print, OOH etc.
(BTL)Below the line promotion involves direct marketing and interactive marketing strategies
such as emails, tele-marketing, websites etc.
Dove brand has always been very particular about their promotions be it ATL or BTL.
In 2008 mission of DOVE changed from increasing sales among beautiful women to
concentrating overall age women without any categorization on the basis of looks. Its mission
now stated to make women feel more beautiful every day by challenging todays stereotypical
view of beauty and inspiring women to take care of them.
The stage in PLC is augmented product stage where this product has come up with sensitive
augmented benefits like-damage therapy for hair and intense therapy for hair care.
Message is executed by various advertisement strategies that no more included slim models but
the actual users-beautiful and average looking woman. It launched Dove Campaign for Real
Beauty(CFRB) as its advertising campaign.
The Campaign for Real Beauty exceeded company expectations; global sales surpassed the $1
billion mark in 2004. The reason for its success was that it empowered women to believe in
their own beauty. Through research, Dove uncovered that there is a pent-up demand for a
company to understand and acknowledge what women all over the world were feeling. And it
recognized there is no stronger way to build an intimate connection with a woman than to see
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into her real self, know her secret thoughts, show that you understand, and tell her that you love
her anyway. And thats exactly what Dove did with the Campaign for Real Beauty.
Its latest promotional strategy is also on similar lines- Pro-Age advertising to Prime Time
Women. The name itselfPro Ageis a wonderful touch to all of those anti-wrinkle
creams and age-defying potions that trade on the negative stereotypes of aging. Pro-Age
reflects the Primetime Womans confidence and comfort in being just who she is.
Dove is successful largely due to its unique and impressive promotional campaigns. The main
strategy was shifted from concentrating over the product to concentrating over the target
customers- women of all ages and size. The message to be spread among them was each woman
beautiful, irrespective of her age or size.
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Being a premium brand Dove has never been using samples or coupons as its promotional
strategy It position itself as a urban class brand amongst HUL hair care brands. It formerly
targets working class and upper class women. Thus providing a cash refund offers or price pack
or samples can harm its standard and image in minds of customer.
PRICING DECISIONS
What is Pricing Strategy?
Determining how the products of a brand will be priced is critical to ensure customers will
continue to buy from the company. To understand how to price products or services it is
important for the brand to understand the perceived value of those products/services provided to
the end buyer. It also important to understand the market position of the brand and competitive
products to set a price that will attract the attention of potential customers. The selling price
adopted by a company for its products directly affects the profitability and eventually the
viability
of
the
company.
Setting the price for a product is very important. The following things should be kept in
mind by when setting the price:
Step 1: Objective
Step 2: Determine demand
Step 3: Estimating Costs
Step 4: Analyzing competitors costs, prices and offers
Step 5: Selecting a Pricing Method
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BRANDING
A brand is a product with unique character, for instance in design or image. It is consistent and
well recognized.
The advantages of having a strong brand are that it:
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Inspires customer loyalty leading to repeat sales and word-of mouth recommendation
The brand owner can usually charge higher prices, especially if the brand is the market leader
Retailers or service sellers want to stock top selling brands. With limited shelf space it is more
likely the top brands will be on the shelf than less well-known brands
The brand does not spend a lot of time in promoting its corporate brand to general market. The
brands under it have different target markets and this diversification or segmentation is the
strongest point of marketing. Thus Dove is able to clearly focus on its target markets.
The strength of a brand can be exploited by a business to develop new products. This is known
as brand extension a product with some of the brands s characteristics.
Examples include Dove soap and Dove Shampoo (both contain moisturizer)
The logo on a product is an important part of the product. A logo is a symbol or picture that
represents the business. It is important because it is easy to recognize, establishes brand loyalty
and can create a favorable image.
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2. Post purchase services: This includes shipping and delivery, gift vouchers, adjustments and
returns.
3. Ancillary services:- This includes general information of the shampoo, repairing if the
product is faulted, and free samples
They also provide services as follows:
Intangible services:-These are the services which are not physically seen for example mailing
and giving feedback, and complaining about a particular product.
Inseparable:- These are services which are provided by dove employees directly through a door
to door bases or on a telephonic call, where a customer can directly contact to the technical team
and can solve their problem in seconds, which gives a better customer satisfaction.
Variability:- Dove in particular have a training professionals which take care of the customers
complain and revert back in seconds with a solution and also note complains which always helps
in improving the upcoming products.
Permissibility: These are services which cannot be stored. So their perishabilty is a problem
when demand fluctuates. In short, Dove provides a customer satisfied services which has helped
them to cover such a huge market worldwide.
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PRODUCT MIX
In simple language, a product mix is the set of all the products and items a particular seller offer
to sell.
4 Ps
Product
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Promotion
From 1995 to 2007, DOVE used to target young Indian population with the projection
of its brand aiming at perfect female population
The brand earlier portrayed its main theme for perfect women as role models
Main objective was to form a brand image of leading and best brand for beauty
products and other personal care products enriching the skin with glow and maintaining
beauty of beautiful women
Place
The general tradegrocery stores, chemists, wholesales, kiosks and general stores.
Price
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Dove more expensive, but has created a more strong customer base
company
product
mix
has
certain
width,
length,
depth
These concepts for the consumer-product division of Dove shampoo are :[Type text]
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and
consistency.
WIDTH Width of any product conveys how many different categories of products the
company carries. For ex- Dove brand consist of about 5 different categories and is entering into
more and more gradually. Its categories are
Haircare
Soaps/Bars
Facewash
Deodorants
Lotions
LENGTH Length of any product means the different types of products provided by that brand
within a particular category.
Under hair care, Dove has 7 different types of products like Dove Damage Shampoo Therapy,
Dove Daily Moisture Replenish Shampoo, Dove Damage Therapy Shampoo Nourishing oil
repair, and etc.
Overall, Dove has a length of 22. (Hair care=7, Body wash=6, Deodorant=3, Face wash=3,
Lotions=3)
DEPTH Depth of any product means how many variants are offered of each product in line for
ex- Dove has different variants like anti-dandruff, Dry hair, Color hair, and damage control and
the size in which it comes is of 50ml, and 500ml etc.
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CONSISTENCY- It refers to how closely related the various product lines are in end users,
production requirements, or some others way. Dove product lines are consistent insofar as they
are customer goods that go through the same distribution channels. The lines are less consistent
insofar as they perform different functions for the buyers.
Dove was when introduced into the market; the brand decided to follow the same pattern in
terms of pricing as in case of the dove soap. Its price was initially kept at a higher range as
compared to its competitive brands. The sole reason for this was Dove wanted to keep the
premium tag of the brand intact as recognized with the dove soap for the shampoo as well. The
promotions for the shampoo were up to the mark.
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HUL Dove and P&G Pantene have been major players in the shampoo market since last 5 years
The top three most sought after brands Sunsilk, Dove and Clinic are produced by HUL.
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Indian shampoo market is segmented on the basis of price. The top segment consists of premium
brands like LOreal, Garnier and other imported brands, mid segment consists of popular brands
like Clinic, Sunsilk, Lakme, Head & Shoulders etc. It is evident that the premium segment was
created and dominated by LOreal and HUL felt that it should be having a brand in that segment
too. Dove is pitted against Lo-real and is positioned as a premium shampoo with moisturizing
properties. The presence of milk lotion acts as the differentiators. The brand takes the strength
from the equity of its soap and has been trying to leverage on that strength.
The top-end constitutes new entrant Dove, LOreal, P&Gs Pantene and Head & Shoulders,
HLLs Sunsilk, LOreal Garnier Ultra Doux and Daburs Vatika. Average price points in this
segment range from Rs 115-240 for 250-ml bottles. While LOreal and now Dove are at the top
of the heap, Pantene and Head & Shoulders occupy the next rung of pricing, followed closely by
Sunsilk, Vatika and Garnier Ultra Doux constituting the bulk of the market. HLLs Clinic Plus
and P&Gs Rejoice are at the mid level (price points: Rs 55-60 for 200 ml), while low-tier brands
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include Ayur and Chik. Sachets at price points of Rs 1, 2 and 3, meanwhile, continue their
stronghold specially in semi-urban and rural markets.
Consumer behavior is the study of how individuals, groups and organizations select, buy,
use and dispose of goods, services, ideas or experiences to satisfy their needs and wants.
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Behind the visible act of buying a dove shampoo product lays a decision process that needs to be
investigated.
The very first stage is the PROBLEM RECOGNITION. This stage could begin from something
as simple as a need for a hair wash or in more specific terms, a need for soft, beautiful,
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manageable hair as the end product of a hair wash. It can arise from a friend referring to the
dove product as good and effective when used by him/her. It could also be impulsive shopping
decision where the need arose when the consumer saw the product on the shelf and wanted the
product. The need could also be triggered by marketing efforts such as an advertisement on TV
or a simple billboard on the highway.
The second stage is INFORMATION SEARCH i.e. seeking value. This stage clarifies the
options open to the customers and may involve internal and external search. Internal search is
scanning ones memory to recall previous experiences with products or brands. Now in case with
the dove product it could be using dove shampoo prior and having loved the end result. External
search could be from references from friends, family, neighbors or acquaintances. One could also
search about dove shampoo and its benefits etc in the official website or go through
advertisements and other marketing gimmicks on TV. Another way of knowing how the product
is can be through the various portals which have feedbacks given by dove users regarding their
experience of using the product.
The third stage is EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVES i.e. assessing value. Earlier the customer
had various options to choose from in the case of shampoos. In this stage he compares various
shampoo products or brands for the final purchase decision. The consumer would look for which
one of the available shampoos would provide him/her the benefit he/she is looking for be it hair
fall/split ends/dry hair etc. Whichever product will give the highest customer perceived value, the
customer would end up buying that product. However, a few might not take the natural route and
choose a product on the basis of product recall, brand name and other subjective factors such as
prestige, personal experience with the brand or even a random discount offer. A few adventurous
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consumers might also purchase dove because they have been buying some other shampoo for a
long time and they might want a fresh experience with a new product.
The fourth stage is the PURCHASE DECISION i.e. Buying value. There could be three possible
sub stages here.
From whom to buy which depends on considerations such as past experience with a
buyer, reasonable rates, terms of sale and return policy. The consumer will also survey if
any retailer or kirana store is giving any store discount on the product or any sort of
bundling offer happening anywhere.
No purchase a consumer looks at the product, evaluates it with the other products and
decides not to buy dove shampoo instead he could go for cheaper shampoos or shampoos
with other benefits. In this case for dove shampoo, it is considered as a No Purchase.
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The attitudes of others, unanticipated situational factors and perceived risk may all affect
the decision to buy.
The fifth stage is the POST PURCHASE BEHAVIOUR i.e. Value in Consumption or Use. After
buying the dove shampoo products, the consumer compares it with expectations he had and is
either satisfied or dissatisfied. Satisfaction or dissatisfaction affects
consumer communications
repeat-purchase behavior
In reality it is this post purchase behavior of consumers and the post purchase satisfaction
that drives the sales of the dove shampoo.
Behind the visible act of buying a dove shampoo product lays a decision process that needs to be
investigated.
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Hardly any psychological costs involved since dove shampoo has not attracted any sort of
complaint till date. Thus, no risks involved. Dove being one of the most selling soap in India, it
is readily available in all the mom and pop shops as well as the big and mega big retail shops
such as BIGBAZAAR, RELIANCE etc. Hence time and energy spent on acquiring dove soap is
minimum.
PRODUCT VARIETY Five varieties of Dove shampoos are available in the market. These
treat various hair problems like split ends, hair fall, dullness and dryness of hair.Which helps the
customer to choose product according to their own requirements and preferences.
SIZES- Available in sizes of 8 ml; 100 ml; 200 ml and 375 m. As it is available in different sizes
it helps to fit into consumer budget.
8ml
100ml
200ml
375ml
64
117
205
64
117
205
64
117
205
64
117
205
64
117
205
64
117
205
134
215
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69
PRICES Majority of users are satisfied with current market prices. As the product is available
in variety of range the consumer gets a choice to select in how much quantity and in what range
it wants to purchase product, and accordingly purchases best combination available.
PACKAGING The packaging of DOVE shampoo is very attractive and appealing. It is
very handy as it has a plastic bottle.
CONNECTS WITH THE CUSTOMER Dove does not use celebrity rather makes regular
women to be its super model which helps a consumer to connect easily with the product.
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Chapter No-06
Conclusion
Honesty has always been the key aspect of all of the marketing campaigns created by Unilever
beginning with the adamant refusal to refer to their cleansing-bar as soap. The average
consumer will not know the difference, or care about the difference, between the Dove
Cleansing-Bar and conventional soap. However, Unilever tried to ensure that any possible
ambiguity was due to consumer interpretation and not to their advertising campaigns.
The success of their cleansing-bar put Dove into the forefront of the market, sparking the sales of
other products such as deodorants, hair products, etc. However, Dove could no longer afford to
focus on a single product in order to strengthen their position as the market leader.
With their policy of marketing honesty, Dove have never tried to mislead consumers into
thinking that their products will make them beautiful, but rather help them to feel more beautiful
than they already are. The Campaign for Real Beauty was launched to support their statement,
but presented a number of potential risks.
Dove has always preferred to use real women for their adverts, as opposed to the stereotypical
models with already perfect features, in attempt to keep the focus on natural beauty and away
from we can make you beautiful. The campaign used images of every-day women with everyday jobs (e.g. students and baristas) with the sizes ranging from (U.S.) size 4 to size 12. This
creates the possibility of being labeled as the toiletries of fat people
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It could be argued that this label could impact future sales for the company as many consumers
will not want to be associated with this label. However, the intended impact was not to create a
target audience completely separate from the rest of the toiletry market, but rather open a debate
as to the definition of beauty in our society. Doves campaign allows women to either redefine or
reaffirm the concept of natural beauty, as opposed to potentially fake beauty.
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Chapter No-07
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In its first thirty three years, Dove bar was a great success. It had a superior cleansing and
moisturizing formula, and displaced established and wellloved brands on its rise to number one.
In 1996, competition became a severe threat. P&G had launched Oil of Olay and Ivory Moisture
Care bars, and these matched Dove for cleansing and moisturizing. In addition, the new body
washes revolutionized showering with superior moisturizing.
After spectacular growth across 19911995 Dove lost shipments and share in 1996. Then, in
1997, Dove struck back with new advertising in television and print. Shipments increased a
cumulative 20% across 19971998. Dollar share jumped 5 points from 23.9% in 1996 to
29.3% in the first four months of 1999. Meanwhile, Oil of Olay bar only reached 4.2%, and
Ivory Moisture Care languished at 0.5%, despite heavy advertising by both brands. Doves
advertising had turned the tide, with all other marketing elements constant.
When Dove launched in 1964, its formulation and 1/4 moisturizing cream made it superior to all
competition. For the next 25+ years, mainly on TV, we told consumers Dove cant dry your skin
the way soap can.' By the end of 1990, Dove was the #1 bar in Canada, with a 15.3% dollar
share, just ahead of its archrival Ivory. In 1991, to preempt the expected launch of P&Gs Oil
of Olay bar, Dove made a radical change from the tried and true. We shifted strategy from 'non
drying' to mildness, and we shifted execution from testimonials to the 'litmus' campaign. Over
the next five years (with various TV and print executions on mildness) Doves dollar sales grew
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