Case Study

3D Laundry Capsule

Submitted by

Principles of Marketing (MKT201)

Section: 01

Summer 2020

Submitted to

Rahma Akhter

Lecturer, BRAC Bussiness School

Date of submission: July 27, 2020

1. Analyze the buyer decision process for the laundry pod/capsule.

Answer: In September 2017, Proctor & Gamble (P&G) innovated and re-launched its laundry

pods/capsules in Japan the reason was in 2014 they launched a similar kind of product which was
not a successful one. As it was a new product for the buyers so I think the buyers must have

followed the Adoption process. It is the mental process an individual goes through from first

learning about an innovation to final regular use. Adaption process contains 5 steps. So, if we

talk about the first step awareness in terms of the 3D capsule after releasing, P&G ran a

successful advertisement campaign that emphasized this innovation to Japanese consumers. The

advertisement focused on the high tech nature of this new product as well as its benefits and

Advertisements that ran on Japanese TV showed high tech machinery involved in the process of

producing the new 3D capsules. These effective advertisement masseurs helped the buyers to

know about the product broadly. Moreover, P&G Company targeted the Japanese market and as

we can see from the case study that the Japanese people are more time conscious and they are not

overly concerned with health and safety standards, instead placing higher value on the

performance levels of a product. So, the company claimed their product to be more time efficient

and containing a higher performance rate. By doing so, the Company eventually developed

interest amongst the consumers to search for the information about the product. After knowing

about the features of the product Japanese consumers became interested towards the product.

This whole process is known as interest. Then comes the evaluation process. In this case,

consumers will evaluate the laundry pod with similar products only to find the best option. So, in

the advertisements P&G have shown the significant features of the pod which gave the

consumers a clear knowledge about the product and by accruing this knowledge the consumers

were able to compare the product they used to use. The consumers evaluated the products by

comparing them. After evaluation comes trail. In a trail process the consumers might try the

product at a smaller scale. This laundry pod was a new product to the customers that is why they

must have bought the laundry pod at a smaller scale for trail. As we know that when the
consumers standards and acceptations meets the products performance the consumers eventually

adopt the product. Whereas, the consumers were satisfied with the product, they adopted the

P&G laundry pod. This is why the Company got successful in the long run.

2. Identify the factors (cultural, social, personal, and psychological) that contributed to the

success of the new 3D capsule in Japan.

Answer: First of all, I am talking about the cultural factor which contributed to the success of 3D

capsule in Japan. Laundry pods/capsules have their origins in the Western markets of Europe and

North America which is usually used in hot water. However P&G has managed to adapt these

capsules to local demand (Japanese consumers) including the ability to make them work in

washing machines that utilize cold temperature water. So this measure of P&G Company comes

under the cultural factor. Secondly, to promote their product P&G did a very successful

advertisement campaign by that consumers were influenced to buy the product. After using the

product the consumers got their expected result then they influenced their family members and

the people they know to buy the product. This is how the social factor contributed to the success

of the new 3D capsule in Japan. Thirdly, if I talk about the personal factor age, occupation, life-

style, personality will come into consideration. We can see in the case study that rising labor

shortages are pulling more and more housewives into the Japanese job market. As more and

more housewives enter the job market the frequency with which Japanese households are now

washing their clothes has witnessed a decline. Moreover, as they are conscious about their time

so this laundry pod can save their time. Because, this company claims that you can wash your

cloths within 40 minutes which is very time efficient. Therefore the popularity of time-saving

products and services has been on a strong rise in Japan. Finally, in the physiological factor, we

can see Japanese consumers are not overly concerned with health and safety standards, instead
placing higher value on the performance levels of a product. In fact performance is so important

for the average Japanese consumer that a poll conducted depicts that if they had the option they

would choose “more functionality” over “less chemicals” in their laundry products. That’s why

the P&G Company mainly focuses on the technology and performance of the 3D capsule which

works as a psychological leading the company towards success.