Case Study

Sanskriti Garments Private Limited

Ms. Anshu Kumari, the Managing Director of Sanskriti Garments Pvt. Ltd., was keen that her
marketing executives should become more creative in their approach towards selling the
company’s products. Anshu had recently attended a seminar in Mumbai where she was highly
impressed by the speech of a top executive who underscored the need for strategic market
orientation in order to compete successfully in the changing marketing environment in the
country.

Sanskriti Garments was a well-known manufacturer of ready-made garments in India.

Established in 1970, the company manufactured a wide line of products including shirts,
trousers, jackets, under garments, etc. Specializing exclusively in menswear, the company had
a network of branches and dealers throughout the country.

Anshu was of the opinion that the market potential for ready-made garments in India was
quite substantial. However, the company faced several problems in increasing its market share.
Firstly, because of the GST, the price of the ready-made garments manufactured by the
company had to be altered. Secondly, the company also faced problems on account of fashion
changes. Anshu said, “Unlike in the past, fashions are changing very fast. New styles of shirts
come and go so fast that it becomes difficult for a company like ours to avoid dead stocks in a
particular style when a new style takes over. In spite of our best efforts, by the time the
consumer trend is felt, substantial stock of the earlier style are already in the pipeline. This kind
of rapid changes were not found in the past, it took more time for a particular fashion style to get
out of the market and a new style to take over.”

Added on the above was the intensified competition in the market. Accordingly to Anshu,
“Till recently there were not very many manufacturers of ready-made shirts. But these days
numerous brands have come into the market with equally good quality. The consumers have a
wider choice. They look more for the designs and shades. Price is also important.

“Buyers in the lower income groups were very price conscious and some manufacturers
concentrate on low-price garments. This low pricing is possible by manufacturers who pick up
fabrics in old designs and intentionally make ‘seconds’ shirts or brand it as export surplus.”

Anshu was anxious that her company should become a quality house known for its fair
dealings. She wanted to establish the company’s name for its quality products. But she knew
that it was not an easy task especially in the face of unhealthy competition that was fast growing
in the domestic market. It was in this context, she was keen to discuss her views on strategic
marketing with his sales executives in the company. Before she could call the meeting of the
executives to discuss the matter, she thought it would be better to collect strategy examples on
the basis of the experience of other successful companies both in India and abroad. For this
purpose, she took the help of a young management trainee in the company who went through
several marketing books, journals and papers and presented the following examples:

Rolls Royce

Among automakers Rolls Royce not only has the most distinctive automobiles but also the most
unusual total product offering. Compared to other automobiles manufacturers, Rolls, Royce
makes very few cars-only 84,000 cars in 76 years. Only four models are available from Rolls
Royce: the newest (and cheapest) model selling at approximately $1,00,000. The most
expensive one-Phantom VI limousine for about $2,50,000. Other than the United Kingdom,
California is Rolls Royce’s largest market. Rolls Royce buyers there include young, recording
artists, writers, well-established Hollywood starts, entrepreneurs, doctors, lawyers, farmers and
ranchers.

Rolls Royce automobiles are built by hand and it can take as long as five months to build
one. Although a new Rolls Royce gets only 10 and 13 miles per gallon, a unique product
offering lets Rolls Royce dominate a very special niche in the automobile market1.

Ivory Soap

Cincinnati: One day in 1879, a workman in Procter & Gamble’s soap factory here went to lunch
and forgot to turn off his mixing machine. When he came back, he found a frothy concoction that
he considered throwing out. But he and his supervisor decided that the soap hadn’t really been
spoiled, so the batch was made into bars and sold.
A month later, consumers who purchased this soap began pestering their storekeepers
to reorder. “Give us more floating soap,” the merchants told P&G, which traced those particular
shipments back to the workman’s mistake and determined that air bubbles whipped into the
molten soap caused it to float.

Thus, Ivory soap was born. And so also began a dialogue between P&G and its
customers that not only continues a century later but is growing tremendously. Giant P&G
carefully nurtures this rapport with consumers not to keep the Ralph Naders off its back but to
stay the nation’s biggest maker of everyday consumer products-including, besides Ivory, such
well-known brands as Folger’s Coffee, Crest Toothpaste, Pampers disposable diapers and Tide
detergent. The company promotes these brands with what is believed to be the largest
advertising budget of any U.S. company. P&G declines to disclose any figures, although
Broadcast Advertiser Reports Inc. puts the company’s 1979 outlay on television ads alone at
$463.4 million2.

MacLean

The British firm of Beecham held a brand of toothpaste that had been well accepted over
there and decided to introduce it to the United States. When this brand, MacLean’s, entered this
market, where five leading brands were already strongly entrenched with most of the sales, it
fared poorly. Consumer studies conducted for Beecham found toothpaste users predominantly
wanting these attributes in a toothpaste: (1) decay prevention, (2) sweetening of mouth, and (3)
breath. These were strongly identified with the leading brands, but not with MacLean’s. The
small minority who were using MacLean’s tended to feel that it whitened their teeth, an attribute
that no toothpaste was exploiting. Beecham decided that this small segment was a sufficient
nucleus to build on with this differential advantage and were pleased that their product “had the
properties to back up the claim” of whitening teeth.3

Du-Pont Nylon

Before sales curves for Nylon hosiery had flattened appreciably, Du-pont began to take action to
ward off old age in the product life cycle. Its strategy took the following phases-in steps; first,

1
James Meyers, “Rolls-ing Along,” American Way, October 1980, pp. 73-74
2
Wall Street Journal, April 29, 1980, p. 20.
3
Lee Adler (ed.), Plotting Market Strategy, Simon & Schuster, 1967, P. 101.
though advertising, it reinforced the social necessity of wearing hose. Next, a full range of
colours and textures was introduced for the first time, to encourage more varied usage. Third,
still within the hosiery market, the company added new users by appealing to the teenage
group. And finally, new products were generated-using the same basic material to open up
completely new market, such as rugs, tires, and bearings.4

Reliance Textiles

Reliance created a product mix which made an attack on the textile market possibly on all
fronts. Its aim was to capture the country’s premium saree, suiting, shirting and dress materials
market, while the rest of the industry work affected with recession. The company chose
appropriate market segments to match its strengths and capabilities. Its focus was on high price
and on high quality pure polyester products. It opened over 1000 retail showrooms all over the
country. The company’s advertising campaign (‘only Vimal’) and its effective promotion methods
helped to achieve the top position in the market within a short period of time.

Nirma

Taking advantage of its low cost, Nirma adopted a market penetration strategy according to
which the price of its washing powder was fixed approximately 40 per cent lower than that of the
highest price product in the market. It s distribution efforts were highly concentrated in Western
North zones. The strategy was so successful that it made the industry leader to lose its market
share substantially in those zones where Nirma was promoted aggressively.

Balsara’s ‘Promise’

Balsara Hygiene Product Ltd., another successful company in small scale sector, lauched its
new dental cream ‘Promise’ as part of its diversification plan. The R&D Department was told to
work on a dental cream which had all the qualities of the existing brands in the cosmetic
segment, yet different from all of them. It was marketing people who hit upon the idea of
capitalizing on clove oil, which no doubt is used in varying quantities in all toothpastes. The
company decided to “against position” the new product and aimed at No. 2 position and provide
additional benefits to the consumer. Thus, the advertisements were framed so as to offer all the
benefits being claimed by the No. 1 in a positive sense plus something more: the anti-sceptic
and anaesthetic properties of clove oil.

The product become a success with a growth rate of 30 per cent in a market expanding at the
rate of 7 per cent.

Pond’s Success

Pond’s India Ltd., a small but well-known Madras-based cosmetic manufacturer, challenged the
market leader in soap industry by introducing a line of new brands of soaps. The dreamflower
soap with its emphasis on perfume, Ponds Cold Cream Soaps targeted for dry or winter skin
and an expensive sandalwood soap were introduced as premium soap in the market by the
company in 1984. The company undertook a promotion programme in a big way (it is estimated
approximately 1.25 crores) to launch its new products. The advertising firmly linked the soaps
with its other highly popular products. With its effective distribution and promotion efforts, the

4
Jean McAllister and Robert T. Davis, “Meridien Campany,” Stanford University, USA.
company was able to carve out a niche in the market within a short time after lauching its new
products.5

Maggie Noodles

The Maggie Noodles, for the first time brought the concept of convenient food within the reach
of middle-class households in India. The product was easy to prepare. It was attractively
packed. The company emphasized intensive distribution strategy backed-up by heavy
advertising and promotion. The high pressure advertising campaign launch in print media and
on TV was highly successful. The campaign sold the idea of a snack food and a quick meal with
remarkable success.6

Rasna

It is reported that Rasna manufactured by Pioma Industries commands over 80% of 15 crores
soft drink concentrate market. The success has been attributed to its very effective advertising
campaign and distribution system. Rasna advertising campaign in addition to being exclusively
focused on taste, economy and convenience of preparation which are the most important
attributes of soft drink concentrate.

Amul

Amul products were launched in the market by the Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers’
Union Ltd. The Union chose ‘Amul’ as the brand name, a variant of “Amulya” which means
“priceless” in Sanskrit. The product was initially advertised only on hoardings as the main
medium. The ‘utterly butterly’ and campaign soon became popular. In 1973 an apex
organization was formed-Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd-which integrated
the activities of district unions to oversee the marketing of their dairy products.

GCMMF set up a network of thousand of stockists catering to over four lakhs retail
outlets throughout India. GCMMF has invested nearly Rs. 100 crores in establishing a cold
chain from Gujarat to the rest of the country. Products like butter, chocolates, cheese, etc., were
transported over long distances in its 100 refrigerated vans and through its 39 C&F agents and
1,700 distributors. Few multinationals were able to compete Amul in the Indian dairy market.
Amul was successful in competing with multinationals even in relatively high-end product
categories such as milk powder, infant foods, and chocolates where it managed to price its
products competitively.

Presently the GCMMF is planning to launch products like coffee, jams, tea, pickles and ketchup,
taking advantage of its brand name “Amul”, though some experts doubted whether the
cooperative would be able to successfully replicate the Anand pattern across the country.

Santro

Hyundai sold its 50,000th Santro within 350 days of its sales in the fact of tough competition from
Martui, Daewoo and Tata Indica. Business Standard-indica research pointed out that the

5
Business India, July 29-Aug.11, 1986, p. 122
6
Also see the following other additional references:
S.K. Bhattacharya and N.Venketaraman, Managing Business Enterprises, Vikas, 1983;
David W. Cravens, Strategic Marketing, Richard Irwin, 1982.
outstanding success of Hyundai was because they redefined product strategy in the small-car
segment, in addition to its celebrity and campaign with the famous cine star, Shah Rukh Khan,
who personified a young and dynamic personality.
Bisleri

The aggressive campaign followed by Rames Chauhan, Chiarman Aqua Bisleri enabled his
company to gain 60& share of the mineral water market in India. For this, the company set up
an effective distribution system almost similar to the one followed in the market for soft drinks.

Further, an aggressive print and TV Campaign backed by hoarding, point of sale

material and catchy message on the vehicles used for supply for water and the emphasis on
“Bisleri is the only one that guarantees purity” made the product not only popular but also
greatly helped to expand the total market for mineral water in India.

After going through all the above strategy examples, Ms. Anshu Kumar, the Managing Director
of Sanskriti Garments Pvt. Ltd., was wondering what general lessons she could draw on the
basis of the experience of other successful companies. She wanted to discuss with her
executives what principles of strategy her company should follow in order to aggressively
market its product and improve its position in the market.

Questions
1. How will you classify strategy examples given in the case? What are the common factors
among all the successful strategies?
2. What advise will you give to Anshu Kumari regarding the marketing strategy to be
followed by her company?
3. What are the National level and state/UT level major micro and macro environmental
changes that impact fashion business?