PRINCIPLES OF MARKETING

Assignment no. 01

JUNE 12, 2022

ALEENA ISRAR
20211-29781
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Scenario:
You have joined a company as Marketing Manager, you have been given a business unit (Soap) which is
not generating ample profit. Conduct a market and SWOT analysis based on that suggestion some
specific measures organization should take

Introduction:
The soap industry chosen for this assignment is DOVE. This short report will be covering SWOT and
market analysis and, on this basis, suggestions are given to improve the profitability of the business.

Dove Soap
Dove soap is known to make skin healthy and soft. It effectively works for oily skins. It cleans and
removes dirt from the skin in an efficient way and provides hydration to the skin to make it strong and
healthy. Hence, Dove soap is a natural moisturizer for the skin.

Furthermore, it provides complete and balanced nourishment to the skin of a person. It also works in an
anti-allergic way.

Features:
• Anti-allergic soap
• Makes skin strong and healthy
• Classic moisturizing formula
• Effective skin cleanser
• It provides hydration to the skin

Market Analysis
Micro Environment Analysis
The Company:
Dove was established in 1957 in the US. It started with a new beauty cleansing bar. Today, the company
is a personal care brand owned by Unilever originating in the United States. Its products are sold in more
than 150 countries. The company belongs to the FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) Sector. It
commits to helping all women realize their full potential by creating products that deliver real care.
Dove’s heritage is founded on moisturization – proof, not promises, propelled Dove from a Beauty Bar
to become one of the world’s most popular beauty products. Dove now offers a variety of products,
including body washes, hand and body lotions, facial cleansers, deodorants, shampoos, conditioners,
and hair styling products, all of which are based on the universal premise of genuine care.

• Annual Revenue $ 5.1 Billion (2021)

• Net Income/ Profit $ 0.291 Billion (2021)
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Suppliers:
Dove soap bar made up of Sodium Lauroyl Isethionate, Stearic Acid, Sodium Tallowate, Sodium Palmate,
Sodium Isethionate, Lauric Acid, Water, Sodium Stearate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Cocoate,
Sodium Palm Kernelate, Fragrance, Sodium Chloride, Propylene Glycol, Tetrasodium EDTA, Tetrasodium
Etidronate, Red 4, Red 33, Titanium Dioxide. Unilever acquired raw material from the below mentioned
suppliers:

• Sattar Enterprises
• New Era advanced technology
• Galaxy chemicals
• Vogue International
• SM Nazar & Brothers Chemicals

Marketing Intermediaries:
• Unilever using no. 01 distribution channel to provide dove soap to retailers.
• Dove soap is distributed through a network of 2500 redistribution stockists covering around one
million retail outlets.
• The general trade comprises grocery stores, chemists, wholesale, kiosks and general stores.

Competitors in Market:
• Lux Soap
• Golden Pearl Soap
• Skin White Soap
• Capri Soap
• Palm Olive Soap
• Nivea Soap
• Fair & Lovely Soap
• Lole’s Body Soap
• Olay Soap

Target Market:
• Women of all ages, shapes and sizes.
• Especially targets the working women as they have busy schedule and can not take out time for
themselves so by using one soap, they can get the benefits of a soap as well as moisturizer.
• Targets to the higher income groups and upper middle class because they are the people who
can afford a soap which is priced at a premium rate.

Macro Environment Analysis

Political Factors:
Unilever is the parent brand of Dove. Its headquartered setup in London. Political rift between the
British and Pakistan could affect the brand. Dove soap is a prominent household product from Unilever.
The fate of dove depends on the fate of Unilever as a brand. For any product to maintain its successful
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run in the market, it should have stable political environment. Government policies should be
supportive to the firm.

Political factors also include certain issues like taxes and import duties due to protectionism and issues
on the Pak-Afghan border including smuggling. Government taking little to no charge to counterfeit
fraudulent economic practice is also a problem.

Economic Factors:
The exchange rates of various currency effects the product and the profit-making capacity of the same.
The GDP growth rate of the countries where Dove is sold is shows the potential growth dove can have in
that market. The current economic condition of Pakistan my affect the overall supply and demand of
dove soap in the region.

Social Factors:
Dove soap appeals people to look beautiful from both within and outside. It appeals women to come
out of their routine and take a step forward in caring about their own skin. Makeup and beauty s
preferred more with women than men. Thus, the advertisement is focused mainly on women. The race,
color and caste are not concerned at all. The segregation of population based on financial earning is also
preferred while targeting the market. Dove is slightly on the premium side of personal well-being
product and thus upper middle class are the main target audience. The younger teens and women
between 20-35 are main target audience since they have more desire to stay pretty.

With the advent of social media on every user’s phone, culturally people are more aware to use dove
soap that would help them to nourish their skin.

Technological Factors:
Latest Technology has been used by the Unilever not only in their products but also in managing the
operations. It also helps Unilever in satisfying the demand on time. Even the advertisements which are
produced have advanced technology used to create it.

• Spent 891 million Euros on R & D in Pakistan

• UPL uses internet to train its employees

Legal Factors:
Intellectual property regulations are designed to protect the companies' patents and valuable ideas.
Inability to protect intellectual property rights can result in losing competitive advantage, which may
weaken the positioning of Dove, against other market players. Olay recently imitated Dove’s strategy by
using real-life clients and projecting it onto a screen to demonstrate the impact of its goods. When the
one thing that drives your brand in the market is taken away, your marketing approach becomes
worthless.

Environmental Factors:
Unilever is the parent company of dove. Dove is the body soap mainly created to focus on the female
customers. Dove soap bars replaced with an alternative coating that is entirely plastic-free, as part of its
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wider commitment to the environment. The article stated that Dove currently uses more than 20,500
tons of virgin plastic globally every year. (www.telegraph.co.uk article)

Demographic Factors:
Demographic area is serving in the interest of Unilever as incomes of the A classes and B1 class are
usually increasing along with the young population. People prefer a quality lifestyle in this class which is
the vision statement of Unilever.

SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis is a framework for analyzing the product’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and
threats. A SWOT matrix is a matrix analyzing including internal and external aspects such as Strengths
and Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

1. Strengths of Dove:
Strengths are the product’s favorable characteristics that are responsible for its success. Below are
factors of Dove’s strength.

Product Development

Dove’s soap design is one of its best features. Its cleansing and smoothing properties are due to the mix
of soap and cream and the customers thus adore the brand. The company has employed this winning
product combination throughout its whole product portfolio.

Realistic Commercializing

The organization caters to a wide range of people; thus, it has a method of promoting itself through
ordinary people. Dove does not employ celebrity endorsements in its marketing campaigns. Consumers
believe that the brand speaks for people, therefore the consumers prefer it over others right away.

Cost-Effectiveness

The soap saves a lot of money on celebrity endorsements because it doesn’t utilize celebrities. However,
it cannot be called a complete cost saving because it promotes itself heavily through numerous channels
at the same time, and the marketing costs are quite significant.

Channel of Distribution

The distribution route of dove is a major strength. However, because Dove is attempting to achieve a
“Premium” appearance. The soap can be purchased in a variety of high-end stores. It’s also available at
local supermarkets. However, when you leave the city, its presence will gradually fade.

2. Weaknesses of Dove:
Weaknesses are the obstacles faced by the dove soap that might hinder its progress if not attended to.
There may be areas where the organization has to improve upon to remain competitive.
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Attention Towards Metros

Dove is primarily focused on metros because of its location and targeting, and the majority of its
consumption comes from metros solely. Because the soap is expensive, it is difficult to sell in non-metro
areas.

Reduced Margins Due to Rivalry

Because there is a lot of competition in the skincare category, the company is forced to offer discounts
and offers, which reduces the product’s profit.

Not Catering to the Price-Conscious Market

The price-conscious market prefers lux and capri or other similar options to Dove. The organization is
unable to cater to the price-conscious consumer. As a result, the brand is unable to enter price-sensitive
markets.

3. Opportunities for Dove:

External aspects in the environment that are likely to contribute to its success are known as
opportunities.

Concentrate more on Men products equivalent to women

It is a great opportunity for Dove because the complete Gender market is ripe of picking. Men are also
becoming conscious of their looks and skin and due to the education imparted by advertising over the
years, they know that taking care of skin is important for good looks. So Dove can easily cover this
market with its excellent product.

Expansion of Target Market

The potential target market is expanding as a result of rising income. Where initially people would not
have thought of buying Dove which is a costly soap, slowly, the growing income and knowledge of how
good skin drives overall well-being is pushing more and more people into buying Dove. As a result, the
target market is expanding.

4. Threats to Dove:
External forces over which the company has no control are referred to as threats. If risks do arise, the
brand may want to consider putting in place contingency measures to deal with them.

Saturation of Market

With Neutrogena, Olay and Nivea directly marketing Soap, the market is saturated and the premium
target market has several products to purchase in mind. For example – Instead of buying Dove soap, a
customer can prefer buying the soap of their choice. Even Nivea is marketing like crazy to push their
products, so saturation of the market is evident.
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Competitors

Today, each Personal Care business faces a significant challenge from the competition, which requires
each brand to protect its core strength while addressing the other vulnerabilities. Nivea and Olay and
other national and international brands are putting Dove to the test.

Plagiarism

Olay recently imitated Dove’s strategy by using real-life clients and projecting it onto a screen to
demonstrate the impact of its goods. When the one thing that drives your brand in the market is taken
away, your marketing approach becomes worthless.

Recommendations
The company has definitely positioned and marketed its products well, but the awareness and reach
were limited when compared to competitors like lux. Dove focuses on and targets only women, the
major takeaway here would be for Dove to expand its product portfolio and target audience. All in all,
the brand has definitely managed to create a distinct identity for itself over the years.

Involvement of students from colleges & tie-up with corporates can open a new opportunity for the
dove soap to penetrate in the market more effectively. Dove can also penetrate in male market
purposefully keeping the uniqueness of brand.

Dove can increase its reach by further geographic expansion, and can vary price and design to make the
profile more renowned among the common public outside urban areas.

They may concentrate on E-commerce and leverage their social media presence for marketing and
attracting customers to their website. Many of its items are available for purchase via e-commerce sites.
As a result, consumers may find Dove items online easily.

They should invest in intellectual property rights, taking advantage of their strong financial position. It
would help the company compete in a market that is becoming increasingly competitive.

They can offer discount vouchers, sales and engagement programs to attract customers when the level
of competition in market is saturating.

The waste should comply with the norms set by environment department of the country. The source of
energy used while manufacturing can be switched solar or alternate sources of energy. Carbon footprint
of the product should be minimized and thus wherever possible paperless transaction should be
adopted. The manufacturing of dove should not involve killing of any animal be endangered or normal
species. The waste produced while manufacturing this soap dove should not be harm the environment.

One of the worldwide health crisis impacts has been consumer behavior in the health and beauty
industries. There is a never-ending desire for hygiene-focused beauty. Dove may develop more items
focusing on personal hygiene and market them as a product that promotes excellent daily sanitation.