Household Products (India) Limited

1. Should the company launch the product nationally? If yes, what marketing plan would you suggest for
this product and why?
Ans. The company should not launch the product nationally based on the test marketing results.
Reasons:
(a) Total penetration is high in Indore (18.1%) but the repeat purchase is only approximately 20%. This
suggests that most of the customers did not find enough value in the product as compared to competitors.
(b) Total penetration in low in Hyderabad (9.9%) which shows that marketing communication was ineffective
in getting consumers to try the product.
(c) Sehra failed to achieve the target market share of 10% in high priced sector even with the concentrated
effort in the target cities.
(d) Majority of sales in test market were gained from low price segment and thus, Sehra was unable to
appeal to the target customers, i.e. high priced segment.
(e) Customer value needs to be assessed in more detail as majority of customers do not focus on the main
point of difference of using vegetable oils while being interviewed about the product.
(f) In Indore, market share of Sehra exceeded that of Jaimala in December (probably due to heavy
promotions and coupons) but failed to retain such high market share.
The marketing campaign needs to be modified.
(i) The focus of advertising should be shifted to purity from fragrance. As customers perceive fragrance to
be the important feature of Sehra and subsequently, find the smell weaker than Jaimala, the repeat purchase is
affected.
(ii) Brand positioning could be modified. Purity aspect can be associated with medical benefits rather than
focusing on perfume benefit which does not directly relate to the usage of pure vegetable oils for the soap.
2. Chart out the process followed by the company to introduce the new product.
Ans.

3. Evaluate the decisions taken at critical stages of the new product introduction process. E.g. (i) Product
concept, (ii) product development and testing, (iii) advertising-development and testing, and (iv) Planning
of test marketing.
Ans.
Product Introduction Stage
Evaluation of Decisions (comments on contributing factors)
Product Concept
(i) Consumer preferences for soap made from vegetable oils were not
assessed.
(ii) Combined benefits of perfume and purity should have been assessed
in greater detail. Purity might be better linked with medical benefits or
elegance.
Product development and testing
(i) Testing was not done on the basis of primary point of difference, i.e.
purity.
(ii) Consumer sample and sample size should have been rechecked as
the results of comparison with competing brand were not statistically
significant.
Advertising development and testing (i) The claim of purity was not highlighted enough to ascertain it as the
major differentiating factor.
(ii) No advertising testing was carried out.
Planning of test marketing
(i) Promotional discounts might have obscured the effectiveness of
advertisements and thus, the results might be misleading.
(ii) Maximum gains were from low price segment and thus, exclusion
of Income groups C & D might lead to misleading conclusions.