BUSINESS PROJECT

Hair Care Category

EMBA – SEC B

Sabica Lari | Roll No. 23

Komal Hussain | Roll No. 49
Qazi M. Yousufuddin Ahmed | Roll No. 20

Submitted To: Dr. Danish Ahmed

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TABLE OF CONTENT:

1. INTRODUCTION

2. INDUSTRY ANALYSIS:

a. VALUE CHAIN ACTIVITIES AND THEIR RELATIVE CONTRIBUTION

b. INDUSTRY BUSINESS MODEL

c. HOW THAT INDUSTRY GENERATES CASH FLOW, AND HOW IT FINANCES

ITS OPERATIONS

d. HISTORY, VOLUMES, AND PLAYERS

e. CHALLENGES

f. ESTABLISHING AND PLANNING THAT BUSINESS

g. DEVELOPMENT OF A SMALL BUSINESS PLAN

h. GLOBAL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT AND ITS EFFECT

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INTRODUCTION
Sunsilk Shampoo
Sunsilk is a haircare brand that sells shampoo and conditioners, primarily made for women. The Unilever
group introduced Sunsilk in 1954 in the UK. After which, the brand has taken over 69 countries and it is one
of the highest selling brands of Unilever, it is considered to be the hero product - a billion-dollar brand.

In Pakistan, Sunsilk has launched its 7 variants that suit different hair types:

1. Sunsilk Black Shine

2. Sunsilk Long & Healthy
3. Sunsilk Thick & Long
4. Sunsilk Hairfall
5. Sunsilk Natural Recharge – Hijab Collection
a. Anti-Hairfall
b. Anti-Dandruff
c. Refresh
Amongst all the variants, the most selling variant is the Sunsilk Black Shine which is the core product of the
Sunsilk fraternity that sells throughout the year. Sunsilk has also produced variants according to each target
market, as for Pakistan it has created a Hijab variant that is suited to the hijabi girls, fulfilling their haircare
needs.

Sunsilk has taken its marketing approach one step higher. They are targeting the market with the right
communication and providing the right solution. Sunsilk is serving a purpose to the girls by enabling them,
empowering them for pursuing new opportunities. The main purpose of Sunsilk is

“Opening Up Possibilities For Girls”

And the functionality that Sunsilk focuses on to provide its customers is the

“Shine And Manageability Of Hair”

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VALUE CHAIN ACTIVITIES AND THEIR RELATIVE
CONTRIBUTION
Raw Materials:
Raw materials such as conditioning agents, special additives, modifiers, preservatives, thickeners, foam
booster, detergents, and water are collected and combined in the cosmetic laboratory to develop the
formula. The characteristics of the shampoo are determined in terms of what should be the consistency of
the shampoo, what color will it have, the fragrance, how will the foam look like, and most importantly, the
performance attributes, how it will nourish and clean the hair.

Once the shampoo is formulated, it is sent for the stability test that detects the physical changes, provides
information like microbial contamination and performances differences on different hair types.

Quality Control Check:

Once the formula is developed, a sample of the formula is taken for the quality check lab for testing.
Physical characteristics of the shampoo are checked to make sure the batch adheres to the specification
outlined in the formula instructions. If the batch is out of specification, adjustments are made accordingly.
Once the quality check is approved the entire batch of formulated shampoo is transferred into a tank where
it can be stored until the filling lines are ready.

Shampoo Filling:
The bottles are kept in a hopper which is a large container, if the shapes of the bottles are out, they are
corrected in the hoppers. Once done, it is moved into a conveyor belt to start the shampoo filling. Through
piston filling heads, the bottles are filled with the correct amount in the shampoo bottles. The bottles then
move to the capping machine, as the bottles move, the caps are put on the bottles and twisted tight.

The bottles are then moved to the labeling machines, it is stuck on with the adhesive stick-on. Labels are
stick to the bottles then these bottles are moved to the boxing area where they are put into carton boxes,
hauled into large trucks to the distributors.

Marketing & Sales:

Sunsilk's marketing strategy essentially focuses on the well-acknowledged seven 7P’s of marketing, also
known as the marketing mix. Sunsilk emphasizes innovating products, by evaluating reasonable prices, the
target market, and most importantly, the promotion. The success of the brand is mainly dependent on the
promotion that is directed in the interest of the customer. By recognizing market needs, Sunsilk discovers
the factors to improve its promotional or marketing strategy performances for the success of Sunsilk as a
brand.

Sunsilk has a dynamic approach towards its marketing strategies. In the initial phase, Sunsilk was focusing
on addressing hair issues with the open market (people out of the TG) and low level of advertisement,
which resulted in low market growth, and its positioning started to decline. Then Sunsilk took a different
approach, limited their target market to young girls, mainly college/university going girls, aging between 18
- 35. Later, these age groups were further divided into sub-groups that are interest-based. The groups are

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called cohorts; hair enthusiasts (girls who are more into beautifying their hair), Trendy Teens (girls who are
trend followers), beauty maven (girls who are more inclined towards maintaining their beauty), Hijabista
(girls who are hijabi) and then comes the broad that focuses 100% of the age bracket.

Sunsilk chooses to focus on customer needs and wants with keen research on their interest. The marketing
approach that Unilever and its brands are focusing on is called funnel marketing. It has divided the interest
of the specific target audience into small groups, later their marketing communication targets them in three
phases; awareness, consideration, and conversion. The awareness phase is self-explanatory, it helps market
the product amongst the audience, create a buzz, and let the audience know about the product or its
message. Then comes the consideration phase, where the audience is being told the reason to believe, why
they should consider buying the product. The third and most essential stage is the conversion stage, where
the brand convinces the audience enough that they become buyers/customers.

Mr. Umar Ausaf – ABM Sunsilk, along with his team is responsible for all the marketing activities of
Sunsilk in Pakistan. With the new marketing approach, Sunsilk is touching the height of the market by
being the second most selling shampoo in Pakistan. There are a lot of changes occurring in the market.
Sunsilk is also focusing on fulfilling the needs of different types of hair types and different products that are
adding value to the brand. In response to the customer requirements, Sunsilk lounged different conditioners.

A basic rule in the marketing world, to be successful, the advertisement must capture its target audience’s
attention. A potential buyer must be able to view a better and more refined version of reality and also be
able to relate to the environments shown in the advertisement. For this reason, advertising agencies use new
and creative methods to promote their products.

Price Strategy of Sunsilk

Sunsilk functions in an industry that has strong competition in the market. The pricing strategy of Sunsilk is
dependent on multiple factors such as demand, competitors’ prices, market supply, etc. because of the high
competition in the market, the price range of the products ranges nearby with its competitors. They also
work on making its products accessible for all by offering products with a profit of as low as Rs 3-4 upon
selling a 1 Litre Shampoo bottle.

Marketing planning and Structure of Organization:

Unilever keeps on enhancing its work structure and hierarchy, the structure of the organization is focusing
on work specialty. Work specialization help in various ways, for example, it helped in the division of labor
that produce a greater result in term of efficient use of employee skills than the traditional ways. Hierarchy
in Unilever Pakistan is as under

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 Chairman

Human
Engineer Production Marketing Finance
Resource

Marketing Objectives:
▪ Establish a strong brand presence and image along with customer loyalty
▪ Strong product positioning and high market penetration
▪ Awareness about the uncommon the product
▪ Affordable price for the customer
▪ High growth on the year-end

INDUSTRY BUSINESS MODEL

Market Insight:
With COVID-19 giving a negative impact on the world and especially on businesses, the shampoo industry
has been hit by it as well. In 2020, the shampoo market size was USD 30.09 billion and in 2021, it has
decreased by 2.7%. However, the business analysis of the industry foresees the market to grow in the
coming future by 3.6% by 2028.

The Process:

▪ Hiring a research team onboard ▪ Conducting group interviews with Key

▪ Focusing on the research Opinion Leaders, stakeholders &
objectives, scope, timelineand consumers to derive research data and
challeges validate market potentials

Project Desk Primary

Analysis
Initiative Research Research

▪ Maintaining contacts, questionnaires ▪ Analysing data collected through

& market models desk & primary research to build
▪ Gathering desk research through reports, conclusion and
credible published resources to recommendations
collect data 6
Secondary Data:
Secondary data is collected to derive research materials like revenues, market shares, strategies, growth rate,
product, pricing, etc. It also focuses on maintaining relations with the parent market, supply chain, and
recent technological developments. It helps in getting information like new trends and opportunities.

Porter’s Five Sources Analysis:

Industry analysis can be perfectly done with the help of Porter’s five sources analysis:

Threat Of New Entrants In The Market:

There are always new brands entering and exiting the market. In Pakistan, new brands like Hello Hair & Set
and Touch shampoo company are entering the market which can easily tap the SEC B & C market with
their pricing strategy and market positioning. Such brands are always a threat to the company. Therefore,
brands like Sunsilk keep a strong check on the market and play with their marketing or pricing strategy as
and when needed.

Rivalry Against The Competitors:

Sunsilk's biggest competitors are Head & Shoulder’s, Loreal, and Pantene. Sunsilk always keeps a strong
check on the market if the competitor introduces something new in the market, Sunsilk has to overcome that
challenge and provide a better and beneficial solution to its customers.

Threat Of Substitute Products:

In the current days, the trend of herbal shampoos is increasing rapidly. Sunsilk came up with a solution. It
has introduced the variants that have herbal ingredients in it; fig & mint, almond & honey, aloe vera, all-
natural ingredients that can help nourishing hair without damaging it with synthetic chemicals.

Bargaining Power Of Suppliers:

It focuses on the point that how suppliers can drive up the cost of inputs and it may affect the intermediate
goods. If the company has fewer suppliers of the raw material, it will have a greater chance to be impacted
by the higher price demand, if the price of intermediate goods gets higher, the price of the final product will
automatically go higher. Hence, keep a low pocket on the raw materials and intermediate goods is
essentially important for brands like Sunsilk.

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Bargaining Power Of Buyers:

The capacity that buyers have to drive prices lower or their level of power is one of the five forces. It is
affected by how many buyers or customers a company has, how significant each customer is, and how
much it would cost a company to find new customers or markets for its output.

SUNSILK HISTORY
Sunsilk is a hair care brand, aiming towards girls. Sunsilk launched in the Great Britian in 1954, and
through 1959 it had been for sale in 18 diverse nations around the world. It truly is that is generated by the
actual Unilever Company. Unilever is considered to be most running organization in the hair care category.
Sunsilk as one of the pioneer brands has benefited Unilever in every way.
Sunsilk is the world’s most popular and used hair care brand. It was introduced in 1989 in Pakistan, having
3 variants of shampoos and conditioners. Resolving hair issues and endorsing hair styles was top most
priority since the beginning.
To improve the brand position, Sunsilk rebranded its products and entered the market with an improvised
brand image, quality, & pricing.

MILESTONES
▪ 1954 – Sunsilk first launched in the UK.
▪ 1955 – First advertisement of Sunsilk appeared on TV.
▪ 1968 – Sunsilk shampoo re-packaged in PVC bottles. At the same time, Sunsilk was launched in
Europe, Brazil and in Asia.
▪ 1971 – Launch of Sunsilk conditioner.
▪ 1975 – Sunsilk became the biggest name in hair care.
▪ 1982 – Sunsilk launches 2 in 1 shampoo with conditioner.
▪ 1986 – Sunsilk's Campaign started with a hair expert/stylist.
▪ 1990 – Launch of Sunsilk's different levels of conditioning.
▪ 1992 – They introduced for Sunsilk Classic and Expert Care.
▪ 2008 – Social networking site Gang of Girls was introduced in Asia.
▪ 2009 – Sunsilk was relaunched as Sunsilk Co-Creations

MAJOR PLAYERS
Head and Shoulders
A well-known anti-dandruff shampoo, owned by Procter & Gamble. It resolves hair issues like dandruff,
dry and itchy scalp. It has a range of shampoos that are used for all hair types and also address hair issues.
Their products are sold in almost 130 countries worldwide. The company has initially positioned itself as a
medicated shampoo in the market. But over the years it has repositioned itself as a daily use shampoo for
dandruff treatment.
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Pantene
Pantene is the top hair care category for P&G and is the biggest revenue contributing brand for P&G. This
brand is popular for its stylish range of shampoos that provides nutrition to hair so that the hair becomes
silky and smooth.
Each of their shampoo serves a different purpose. Due to their excellent products and their brand value,
Pantene is considered one of the top Sunsilk competitors.
L’Oreal
Having one of the most prominent position in the market, L’Oreal is one of the biggest competitors of
Sunsilk as it targets the same group, as well as it has more or less same product benefits as of Sunsilk.
Comparatively, L’Oreal’s market penetration is lower than Sunsilk.

INDUSTRY MANAGES CASH FLOW, FINANCES &

OPERATIONS:
Haircare industry, serves as one of the world’s largest consumer goods businesses. Similarly, Unilever
serves consumers through our purposeful brands. The vision behind this forecasting, the organization aims
to be the global leader in sustainable business. This is how the demonstrating of purpose-led, future-fit
business model drives higher performance, consistently delivering financial results.

Financial Strategic Choices

Unilever choses these following steps to make strategic choices for the growth of the organization and buy
in potential business for future:

▪ Develop the portfolio with high market growth and high market share this will help in building the
credibility in the market hence a promising future can be predicted

▪ Look into the on-going business trends, identify the factors effected past year’s performance, which
business decision helped in excelling the outcome, and which new technology that can be added to
streamline the process. Uniliver’s demand planners identify the needs and plan for the upcoming years

▪ Develop the products that are more relevant to the consumer underpin the focus with purpose and
differentiate science and technology that ensure brands and products have superior quality and efficacy.
This practice leads to high brand recognition and then into high growth sales

▪ Build a purpose-led, future-fit organisation and growth culture. Driving growth through capacity,
capability and culture, while continuing to generate fuel for growth

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Multi-Year Financial Framework
Along term value creation is made by continuing to evolve the portfolio and driving earnings growth, a
strong cash flow and a growing dividend.
▪ Underlying sales growth ahead of the markets
▪ Profit growth ahead of sales growth, on a comparable basis
▪ Sustained strong cash flow over the long term

BCG Matrix

Sunsilk

Market share is 74 percent and growth rate is 70 percent.

CHALLENGES:
Sunsilk's launched in the initial phase was a huge challenge for Unilever, given the market was already
occupied with hair care brands including Procter & Gamble's Pantene, as well as Head & Shoulders.
Overall Unilever's goal was to position Sunsilk as a brand that understands the problems faced by women’s
needs and preferences. Sunsilk faced intense challenges in the hair care segment means limited market share
& high brand switching because of many options available in the market.
But again, they improved their community globally through campaigns. Introducing different strategies
decreased the risk of new entrants and improved customer buying power.
Since the start Sunsilk have been the utilization of fair charge strategy for example neither too extreme nor
too low. The ‘sachet' (small package) market, which accounts for 70% to 75% of the market, was a tough
challenge for Sunsilk. Sunsilk also overlooked the rural market which means no prevalence in the rural

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areas, which accounts for the majority of the shampoo sector in today's world. Well! Sunsilk is a mature
brand now and at the maturity stage of their sales is at its peak, and is far away from the declining stage.

ESTABLISHING & PLANNING THE BUSINESS:

Unilever product Sunsilk had this plan of increase its sales like every company has primary objective.
Sunsilk was made for earning the profit and with the help or maximizing sales high profit. So, when you try
to increase sales actually you try to find your new customers and increase your customer leads. It means
you try to maximize your market share and Sunsilk’s market share is on the higher side.
Unilever always tries to operate in different countries so their product can penetrate globally. That’s is the
reason Sunsilk is now one of the successful shampoo brands running globally. As a part of establishing the
product, Sunsilk use communication tool for advertisement to connect the consumers. sunsilk has attracted
the audience through electronic media, print media, online media, free sampling, advertising &
sponsorships to attract younger generation.

DEVELOPMENT OF A SMALL BUSINESS PLAN:

Sunsilk a product of Unilever went through different phases of a business plan to secure a good position in
the market:

Growth Opportunities:

In the early year, Sunsilk focused much of its market attention on gaining an international presence. While
becoming a success in Europe. They looked for growth in regionals markets such as the middle east and
Asia.

Funding Plan:

As we all know that Unilever is a huge and stable brand & they're already running successful products with
good market share. initially, when they introduced Sunsilk they were already having a strong funding plan
to penetrate it in the market.

Financial Goals:

During the initial years, the product was introduced on a 10-year loss plan. But as the product market share
increased, the recent financial turnover was 20.6 billion euros.

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Operational Needs:

Initially, Sunsilk found it very difficult to gain a market share and attract a younger audience. With time,
they introduced multiple campaigns to introduce new variants with brand new packaging, attractive
advertisement, and with a fresh tagline related to each variant and campaign

Sales And Marketing Activities:

We found that for Sunsilk's new sales strategy, the Co-creation formula was created by experts. They came
with this idea to grab the market and to be superior in the market. From 2009 Sunsilk started working with
several professional hair "experts" to develop new and improved products. Each hair “issue" variant links to
an "expert" with the relevant specialist hair knowledge.

Team needs:

A team comprising of purposeful people contributing their best for the brand growth. Plus, the market
stakeholders and suppliers providing sufficient opportunities to drive the system.

GLOBAL BUSINESS & ITS EFFECT:

Many companies choose to go global first to gain more market share. Enabling conditions make it much
easier to act globally. There has always been an exchange of goods, services, knowledge, and cultures
between people and countries, but in recent years new technologies and the breaking down of barriers have
led to a much faster exchange, and that is what is understood by "globalization ".

Unilever is barely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic since most of its products are considered necessities
and are well known. While other companies are facing a big turnaround due to the outbreak, Unilever has a
variety of products with worldwide usage flexibility in its brand revenues which makes it reasonable to
resolve the crisis. Some sort of products may well benefit, however for food, they need to step up their
strategies to minimize the loss of brand sales.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak, many businesses have taken the initiative to go online. But Sunsilk
has already a strong presence on digital media to get the attention, of the target audience that uses social
media in their daily lives. Unilever's s digital market media include Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and
YouTube for its digital marketing globally.

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SOURCES:

1. www.Sunsilk.pk
2. https://www.therichest.com/lifestyle/the-10-most-sold-shampoo-brands-in-the-
world/#:~:text=1%20Head%20%26%20Shoulders,29%20million%20bottles%20per%20year.
3. https://www.unilever.com/investor-relations
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunsilk

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