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Sanjeev Prashar is a Indias fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) market has witnessed tremendous growth
Professor, Harvinder and is expected to reach INR165.62 trillion (US$3.6 trillion) by 2020 (Confederation of
Singh is an Associate Indian Industry, 2012). Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), the largest player in the segment,
Professor, Kumar extended its premium category brand Dove by launching Dove Elixir Hair Oil in November
Saurabh is a Student and
2012. With the price of INR185 (US$3.41) for 90 ml(News and Features, 2013), the
Virinchi Acharlu
company took plunge into the INR66.64 billion (US$1.33 billion) hair oil market (Bajaj Corp
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Madanapalli is a Student
Limited, 2013). The major competitors such as Dabur India Limited and Bajaj Corp Ltd. had
based at Indian Institute
of Management, Raipur, products in this category, but their prices were one-fifth the price of Doves hair oil, and
India. many industry experts speculated as to whether there was a substantial market at the
higher end of the scale for Dove to be able to expect sales at that price.
DOI 10.1108/EEMCS-06-2013-0104 VOL. 4 NO. 3 2014, pp. 1-21, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 2045-0621 EMERALD EMERGING MARKETS CASE STUDIES PAGE 1
Table I HUL product portfolio
Category Product Brand
Personal care Soap Dove, Lifebuoy, Pears, Axe, Hamam, Rexona, Lux, Liril 2000, Breeze
Shampoo Dove, Sunsilk, Clinic Plus, Clear, TRESemm, Aviance
Conditioner Dove, Sunsilk, Clinic Plus, TRESemm, Aviance
Shower gel Pears
Face wash Pears, Dove
Body wash Dove, Axe
Cosmetics Lakme, Elle 18, Aviance
Creams Fair & Lovely, Ponds, Vaseline, Aviance
Deodorants Axe, Sure, Dove
Toothpaste CloseUp, Pepsodent
Food and drink Tea Red Label, 3 Roses, Taj Mahal, Taaza, Lipton
Coffee Bru
Ready to cook Knorr
Soup Knorr
Salt Annapurna
Jam Kissan
Squash Kissan
Ketchup Kissan
Bread & cake Modern
Frozen desserts Kwality Walls
Home care Detergent powder Surf, Rin, Wheel, Sunlight
Detergent bar Surf, Rin, Wheel, Sunlight
Dishwash bar & liquid Vim
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Soaps. With reckoned brands such as Lifebouy and Lux, HUL dominated India that had
an INR1,000 billion (US$17.92 billion) soap market (Pinto, 2012). Breeze, Dove,
Hamam, Lifebuoy, Liril, Lux, Pears and Ponds together garnered 45 per cent of the
Indian soap market. Godrej Soaps, Reckitt Benckiser, Wipro Consumer Care and ITC
were its major competitors (Malviya and Jacob, 2011).
Detergents. The detergent market in India was of INR1,400 billion (US$25.79 billion)
(Bhupta, 2012), of which HUL brands, including Surf, Rin and Wheel, had 36 per cent
of the market share and Wheel and Rin had 16.9 and 6 per cent market shares,
respectively (Malviya, 2012). Prominent competing brands were Ariel and Tide (from
Proctor & Gamble), Nirma and Ghadi.
Personal products. The personal care segment included personal wash products, hair
care products, oral care products, deodorants and colour cosmetics. Major players in
this segment were HUL, Colgate Palmolive, Gillette India, Godrej, Dabur and CavinKare
(Arora, 2012). In skin care, the company had a market share of 49 per cent with strong
brands such as Fair & Lovely, Ponds and Vaseline market share growing at a
double-digit rate (Hindustan Unilever Limited, 2011/2012c). In the body lotions
segment, HUL had 55 per cent share and had even a much higher share in petroleum
jelly category (Balakrishnan and Banerje, 2010). Similarly, in the shampoo segment,
with major brands including Clinic Plus, Sunsilk and Dove, HUL had 45 per cent of the
market share, and Clinic Plus continued to be the biggest selling shampoo in the
category (NSE India, 2010). The toothpaste category had strong brands including
Pepsodent and CloseUp which dominated with 23 per cent of market share of the
INR320 billion (US$7.28 billion) Indian toothpaste market (The Hindu Business Line,
2011).
Home care products. HULs home care products strongly contributed to the overall
growth of the company by recording double-digit volume growth during 2011-2012.
Dove
First launched in the USA in 1957, Dove has been one of the global leading brands of
Unilever. With products including soap bars, deodorants, lotions, body washes and face
creams, Dove was present in 80 countries worldwide and, once it was globally positioned
as a premium category brand, Dove was brought to India in 1993 (Dove, 2012).
Traditionally, Unilever launched products such as Dove in markets that scored 6 or higher
on an internally developed tracker known as the Living Standard Measure (LSM). This
tracker measured a living standard of the market on which a higher score indicated a
higher living standard. India scored a 3, with 70 per cent of its population falling into that
category. Instead of focussing on the whole of India, HUL selectively targeted major
metropolitan areas and the top 30 cities with a strong 100 million-plus population that
qualified on its LSM scale benchmark. HUL believed this targeted market had more
potential than many of its European markets (Iyer, 2009).
The soap was priced at INR30 (US$.64) a bar, which was twice as expensive as any other
popular toilet soap brand available in India at that time. The bar was promoted as superior
and gentle-on-skin and targeted upper middle-class Indian households
(Sangameshwaran, 2009). Dove immediately captured the niche market that looked for
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Priced at (INR120/US$2.71 for 250 ml), this imported premium brand extension was
positioned as ultra-moisturising body wash. Other brands available were Lux at INR70
(US$1.58) and Palmolive at INR90 (US$2.03) (Rai et al., 2006).
Once established as a well-known brand, the company pursued further brand extension
and ventured into the hair care range in 2007 by launching Dove shampoo and developed
numerous variants including Daily Shine, Dryness Care, Dandruff Care, Hair Fall Reserve,
Intense Repair Therapy, Nourishing Oil Care and Colour Reserve (Dove, 2012). Doves
shampoos Dandruff Care and Intense Repair were priced in the range of INR130-140/
US$2.39-2.58 for 180 ml, targeting urban upper middle class. Other brands available in the
market were Clinic Plus (INR97/US$1.78 for 180 ml), Dabur Vatika (INR99/US$1.82 for 200
ml), Garnier (INR120/US$2.2 for 180 ml), Head and Shoulders (INR135/US$2.48 for 170
ml), Loreal Paris Smooth (INR135/US$2.48 for 180 ml), Pantene Anti-Dandruff (INR120/
US$2.21 for 180 ml), Sunsilk (INR110/US$2.02 for 180 ml) and Sunsilk Advanced (INR200/
US$3.68 for 200 ml) (Collected by authors from www.flipkart.com/beauty-and-personal-
care/hair-care/shampoos/pr?p[]facets.brand%255B%255D%3DDabur&sidt06%2Cb7e
%2Cmz1&layoutgrid).
Dove Go-Fresh deodorant was launched in 2010(Hindustan Unilever Limited, 2011/2012f)
in three different fragrances with a price tag of INR160/US$2.94 for 169 ml). The deodorant
Facebook, and collaborated with Yahoo! organising online forums where users could
discuss their hair problems. Various blogging contests, such as the Real Beauty
campaign, were organised, and sampling counters were used, allowing users to
experience the products (Balaganesh, 2011). The photographs of such sessions were
showcased in the Dove gallery, and every promotional effort made by Dove endeavoured
to keep the company ahead of its competitors in all categories.
By 2012, Dove had emerged as a solid brand within the HUL portfolio and a strong player
in each of product categories. It posted sales of INR4 billion (US$85.83 million), with soap
alone accounting for 50 per cent of total revenue (Balaganesh, 2011). Dove hair conditioner
had total sales of around INR400 million (US$8.583 million) and 19 per cent of the market
share in 2012 (Balaganesh, 2011).
Shampoo 31
Perfumed oil 27
Coconut oil 25
Hair conditioners 2
Hair dyes 15
Source: Compiled by Authors: Bajaj Corp Limited (2012), Investor Presentation, www.bseindia.
com/xml-data/corpfiling/AttachHis/Bajaj_Corp_Ltd_251012.pdf (accessed 29 March 2013)
market, followed by heavy amla, light hair and cooling oils (Balaganesh, 2011). The
coconut oil segment was growing, as all major players had thrust on converting non-users
into users. Maricos Parachute had been market leader in the coconut oil category with 80
per cent market share (Balaganesh, 2011). Share of different hair oil categories is available
in Table V.
Recording annual sales of INR10.56 billion (US$191.1 million) in 2011-2012, the light hair
oil category was growing at CAGR of 25.8 per cent by volume, while the urban market
constituted 66 per cent of the total segment. North India alone accounted for 49 per cent
of the light hair oil sales volume, but Western India was the fastest growing region with 23
per cent of the sales volume. Given the dominance of urban markets, larger units
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accounted for the bulk of sales, with 100 ml constituting 35.2 per cent and 200 ml
constituting 22 per cent of total sales. Bajaj Almond Drops was the leader and had
captured 54 per cent of the light hair oil market (Balaganesh, 2011).
Heavy amla and cooling oil categories recorded annual sales of INR8.36 billion (US$1.644
million) and INR7.66 billion (US$139 million), respectively, in 2011-2012. Growth was more
or less flat in the heavy amla oil category, and Dabur Amla was a clear leader with roughly
70 per cent market share. Other players included Maricos Shanti Amla Badam, Dabur
Sarson Amla and Bajaj Brahmi Amla (Balaganesh, 2011). Cooling Hair Oil was growing at
CAGR of 16.5 and 14.5 per cent in terms of value and volume, respectively (Balaganesh,
2011).
Sachets also emerged in the market and captured 2 per cent of the volume (Bajaj, 2010).
Traditionally, Indian companies such as Dabur, Emami, Bajaj Corp and Marico had been
pillars in the market. With HUL acquiring Cococare and Marico acquiring Oil of Malabar,
(Gurtoo, 2012) the competition was growing fierce. All the major players were aggressively
launching a gamut of new products and variants.
Coconut based 48
Heavy amla 15
Light hair oils 15
Cooling oils 12
Others 10
Source: Compiled by authors: Bajaj Corp Limited (2012), Investor Presentation, www.bseindia.
com/xml-data/corpfiling/AttachHis/Bajaj_Corp_Ltd_251012.pdf (accessed 29 March 2013)
With a consumer base of 35 million users, Dabur Amla Hair oil had been the flagship hair
oil for Dabur. It was the market leader in amla hair oil category with 69.5 per cent volume
share in 2010 (Chatterjee, 2010) and was further growing into the double digits (Dabur
Limited, 2011/2012a).
In the light hair oil category, Dabur Almond Hair Oil had been an established player (Dabur
Limited, 2011/2012b). Its premium personal care brand Dabur Vatika was the leader in the
category (Dabur Limited, 2011/2012c). The company also had a premium coconut hair oil,
Dabur Vatika Enriched Coconut Hair Oil, that had been recognised at public forums also
(Dabur India Limited, 2013). Hair care contributed 30 per cent to consumer care sales for
Dabur. Dabur was ranked second in hair oil and fourth in the shampoo market in India
(Dabur India Limited, 2013a).
This INR50 billion (US$1 billion) company had a wide distribution network in both urban and
rural markets, covering 5.8 million retail outlets (Dabur India Limited, 2013b). Having
been voted Indian Power Brand 2011-2012, Dabur aggressively pursued the strategy of
expansion through innovation and acquisition (Dabur Limited, 2011/2012c).
Keywords: Conclusion
Brand extension, For nearly five decades, HUL was a household name in the FMCG category, with two out
Dove, of three Indians using its products, and most of its brands recognised names in their
Dove elixir, respective product categories. With a history of successful product launches, HUL had
HUL, taken a bold step of launching high-priced Dove Elixir in a market traditionally ruled by
Premium hair oil mass market offers. The industry experts were divided on chances of its success.
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Corresponding author
Sanjeev Prashar can be contacted at: dr.sanjeev.prashar@gmail.com
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