SUMMER TRAINING REPORT

On

MARKET RESEARCH OF WET WIPES

ADITYA BIRLA-GRASIM INDUSTRIES LIMITED

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for

Post Graduate Diploma in Management

At

IILM Graduate School of Management

Greater Noida

By

RASHMI JHA

PGDM 2013-15

ROLL NO: PGDM20150034

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 DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the Project work entitled POSITIONING OF KARA IN MINDS OF
UPPER CLASS CONSUMER OF ADITYA BIRLA GRASIM INDUSTRIES LIMITED submitted
by me for the Summer Internship during the Post Graduate Program to IILM Graduate
School of Management, Greater Noida is my original work and has not been submitted earlier
either to IILM or to any other Institution for the fulfillment of the requirements for any other
course of study. I also declare that no chapter of this manuscript, either in whole or in part, is
copied from any other document.

Signature of Student: Signature of Company Mentor:

Name of Student: Name of Company Mentor:

Designation:

Date: Date:

Place: Noida, UP Place: Noida, UP

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

I have taken efforts in this project. However, it would not have been possible without the kind
support and help of many individuals and organizations. I would like to extend my sincere thanks
to all of them.

I am highly indebted to MR TAJOOR YAZDANI, my industry mentor for his guidance and
constant supervision as well as for providing necessary information regarding the project & also
for his support in completing the project.

I would like to express my gratitude towards my parents & my college mentor PROF. AMIT
KUMAR AND DR. TARUNA GAUTAM for their kind co-operation and encouragement which
help me in completion of this project.

I would like to express my special gratitude and thanks to managers of STORE99 at V3S mall,
Nirman vihar and The Great India Palace, Noida for making the environment comfortable to work.

My thanks and appreciations also go to my colleague in developing the project and people who
have willingly helped me out with their abilities.

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 CONTENTS

1. Declaration 01

2. Acknowledgement 02

3. Contents 03

4. Executive Summary 04 - 05

5. Objective 06

6. Company’s Profile 07 - 20

7. Working methodology 21

8. Data collection and Analysis 22 - 36

9. Findings and Interpretations 37 - 39

10. Recommendations 40 - 44

11. Limitations 45

12. Learning 46 – 47

13. Achievements 48

14. Bibliography 49

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Aditya Birla group is an Indian multinational conglomerate named after Aditya Vikram Birla
headquartered in Mumbai. The group has diversified business interests and is dominant player in
all sectors in which it operates such as viscose staple fibre, metals, cement, viscose filament yarn,
Branded apparel, carbon black, chemicals, fertilizers, insulators, telecom, BPO&IT services.

The company has entered the FMCG business with the launch of personal and home care brands
through Birla Cellulose, its umbrella brand of viscose fibre. The concept of wet wipes have been
very successful in foreign countries and now emerging trends shows that in India also its demand
is growing in fast pace, Grasim industries limited has launched wet wipes named “KARA” in 2007
made up of Birla cellulose which is 100% natural.

In the past 6 years Kara as a brand has grown and become market leader in this category but with
competitors growing and still an untapped market present, this study will help in positioning and
checking awareness among consumers for Kara. Through this market research we can take
measures to keep our product ahead of competitors like Johnson& Johnson, Uni make up removal
wipes, Himalayas, Zuci, Freshia, and last but not the least cheap Chinese wipes product.

For positioning of Kara in minds of upper class consumer and to know their interest towards the
product, I have prepared a questionnaire and have been sent to different channels of STORE99 to
directly interact with the customers and promote the product.

In the later stage I have been assigned a different work i.e. placing of a new product in market.
These are also wet wipes named “KLENOX” which is manufactured by Grasim industries but
marketed by Nayanam Marketing private limited. They came with new fragrance of Neem & Tulsi
but their price is less than that of Kara. During this period I directly interact with the retailers who
are already retailers of Kara, took orders and report it to my industry mentor. By doing this
company want to know that if they will come up with new fragrance of Neem& Tulsi in Kara, will

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it make sense or not. I have came to learn the importance of distribution channel during this work
as due to weak distributing network, orders are not placed properly and again I have been assigned
to do market research for Kara wipes in hypermarket i.e. STORE99 at GIP mall, Noida.

Without statistical data collection and its analysis any project is incomplete, thus I surveyed 100
people through questionnaire to analyze the position of Kara wipes in minds of consumer, their
awareness and how they want it to improve. Analysis part has been done through interviews and
survey with the people visiting STORE99.

Result showed that the concept of using facial wet wipes is not as new as it was a couple of years
ago in the Indian market and now people are partially aware of it. Middle class people can also be
targeted and educated about this new concept through extensive promotional activities. One of the
finding was that still people consider wet wipes as extravagant article rather than an essential
product.

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OBJECTIVE

The objective of this project is to analyze and interpret

Primary objective

o Positioning of Kara in minds of upper class consumer.

o Promotional measures to make the consumers aware of Kara wipes.
o Based on finding will give recommendations to increase sales of Kara wipes
o Placing of a new product in market.

Secondary objective

o To understand what factors people look for while purchasing Kara wipes.
o To analyze people preference of hand sanitizing wipes over traditional hand washes,
sanitizers and handkerchiefs.

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INTRODUCTION

COMPANY’S PROFILE:

A US $40 billion corporation, the Aditya Birla Group is in the league of fortune 500. It
is anchored by an extraordinary force of over 136,000 employees belonging to 42
different nationalities .The Group has been ranked number 4 in the global “Top
Companies For Leaders” survey and ranked number 1 in Asia Pacific for 2011.

Aditya Birla Grasim:

A flagship company of Aditya Birla Group, ranks among India’s largest private sector
companies, with consolidated net revenue of Rs.279 billion and a consolidated net
profit of Rs.27 billion (FY2013). Starting as a textiles manufacturer in 1948, today
Grasim’s businesses comprise viscose staple fibre, cement, chemicals and textiles. Its
core businesses are VSF and cement, which contribute to over 90 percent of its
revenue and operating profits. The Aditya Birla Group is the world’s largest producer
of VSF, commanding a 21 percent global market share. Grasim’s viscose staple fibre is
a man-made, biodegradable fibre with characteristics similar to cotton. As an
extremely versatile and easily blend able fibre, VSF is widely used in apparels, home
textiles and dress material.

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Birla cellulose is the Aditya Birla Group’s umbrella brand for its range of cellulosic
fibres. It comprises versatile sub-brands; Birla Viscose, Birla Viscose plus, Birla
Modal and Birla Excel. These brands offer a wide range of functional benefits such as
soft feel, high moisture absorbency, biodegradability and comfort to the wearer. These
fibres have multiple applications including apparel, home textile, dress material, knit
wear, non-woven etc. fibre is one of the oldest business of Aditya Birla Group that
commenced in 1954. Birla Cellulose is a world leader in Viscose stale fibre. Its
production is spread across six countries, viz. Canada, Thailand, India, China and
Laos. The Group independently fulfils India’s entire VSF requirements.

Vision

To become Global leader in the Man-made cellulosic fibre.

Mission

We aim to create superior & sustainable value for all our stakeholders, maintaining the
largest market share in the Man-made cellulosic fibre industry globally through:

o Innovation in products & processes.

o Excellence in Quality & Service.
o Focus on environment friendly activities.

Values

o Integrity
o Commitment
o Passion
o Seamlessness
o Speed

Corporate Social Responsibilities initiatives by the Company:

Before CSR was placed in corporate lexicon, it was already textured in Aditya Birla
Group. They are investing part of their profits beyond business for the larger good of
society.

Strategy of company:

“ Give a hungry man fish for a day, he will eat it and the next day, he would be hungry
again. Instead, if you taught him how to fish, he would be able to feed himself and his
family for a lifetime.

Rural development is the main focus area of the company and project called Model
Villages for complete transformation of a number of villages in proximity to their

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plants. All their Group companies – Grasim, Hindalco, Aditya Birla Nuvo and ultra-
tech have rural development cells which are the implementation bodies. They
networked with government bodies, district authorities, village panchayat and the end
beneficiaries- the villagers.

Rural development activities span five key areas and single-minded goal is to help
build model villages that can stand on their own feet.

Focus areas are:

o Education
o Healthcare
o Sustainable livelihood
o Infrastructure
o Espousing social causes

Education:

In education, their Endeavour is to spark learning through formal schools, Balwadis

for elementary education, quality primary education, Aditya Bal Vidya Mandirs, Girl
Child education, Adult education programmes.

Healthcare:

Pulse polio programme, Mobile Clinics- Doctors visits, General and Multispeciality
medical camps, cleft lips, Reproductive and child Health care, supplementary
nutrition, Mid-day meal projects, Safe drinking water, sanitation-household toilets,
community hospitals, HIV/AIDS, cancer, TB awareness and prevention camps, Blood
donation, Responsible parenting.

Sustainable Livelihood:

o Promote self-help groups(microfinance for women and farmers.)

o Integrated agriculture development
o Integrated livestock development
o Watershed-management
o Microenterprise development
o Skill development/ vocational training through Aditya Birla Technology park
for integrated training programme and VT centers at most of our plants in
collaboration with ITIs.

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Infrastructure Development:

o Opening community centers

o Schools in villages
o Health care centers and hospitals
o Roads
o Homes for homeless
o Rural electrification
o Irrigation and water storage structures.

Social causes:

o Widow re-marriage/ dowry less marriage

o Social security (insurance)
o Culture and sports
o Women empowerment

They use viscose staple fibre that is 100% percent natural and bio degradable. All the products of
Birla cellulose are pollution free and environment friendly.

WIPES INDUSTRY IN INDIA:

Wipes industry in India is in an emerging phase. The Indian Fast Moving Consumer Goods also
known as Consumer Packaged Goods is a product that has a quick turnover and relatively low cost.
The FMCG sector is the fourth largest sector in the Indian economy and has a market share of
$13.1 billion. This industry primarily includes the production, distribution and marketing of
consumer packaged goods. The sector is growing at a rapid pace with well-established distribution
networks and intense competition between the organized and unorganized segments. FMCG has
mainly three key segments: personal care, household care and food & beverages. Further personal
care has five segments: Hair care, skin care, color & cosmetics, fragrances and bath & shower
products. The skin care market belongs to Personal care segment of FMCG sector in India.

In light of the intense competition facing the Skincare industry, manufacturers are constantly
engaged in creation of new products and introducing new varieties that will hopefully win
consumers’ acceptance. One such product is wet wipes. Grasim industries have started its
Consumer Product Division with various FMCG products which include home care and personal
care dry and wet wipe products. The main product for our concern for research is Kara Skincare
wipes.

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With sufficient research supporting the growth of skincare segment in India along with
a growth pattern of hand and facial wet wipes made of different material hitting the
Indian market, it has become important for marketers to penetrate this growing
segment with their variants the companies with multinational brands have already
entered the Indian market and are spending huge money on marketing communications
to tap the growing wet wipes market which is sensitive to important attributes like
price, quality, freshness, fragrance softness, and availability of wipes in different pack
sizes for multiple product application. Big brands like Mac, Johnson’s and Johnson’s
Wipro baby care, Pampers, dove, Nivea, L’Oreal, Mystique, ginni , chicco etc. already
exist in India. However the swift emergence of national players such as Grasim
industries ltd, the Himalaya drug co. and private level players has caused disruption to
its lead in both general purpose wipes and baby care wipes.

KARA
Kara wet wipes are made from “Birla Cellulose”, a fiber that is 100% natural and
biodegradable. It is soft and has high moisture absorber capacity. All wipes are
hygienic, skin friendly and do not leave lint on the skin. Kara skin care wipes is a new
product to hit the Indian market it can be called as India’s first branded skin wipe
product. Although Indian consumers are familiar with the products which are
imported, it’s the first that an Indian company enters this segment.

Kara has a good potential to create an own a new category. The brand already has the
first mover advantage. But the category doesn’t have much entry barriers. It can face
stiff competition from cheap imports but Kara has the financial backing of Birla group
and the investment in building this brand will pave the way for another successful
marketing story. Kara is readily available pan India at superstores, cosmetics and
chemist outlets and modern retail.

Kara has four different categories:

1. Hand care wipes

2. Face refreshing wipes
3. Skin care wipes
4. Baby care wipes

Skin care wipes comprises of make-up removal, sunscreen, toning and deep
pore cleansing wipes.

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 Face refreshing wipes comprises of wipes having different fragrance of Aloe
Vera, cucumber, mint and mint oil.

1. Hand care wipes

Hand care wipes consists of Hand sanitizing wipes also known as handys with aloe
Vera& Triclosan.

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2) Variants of Kara Refreshing wipes
Refreshing facial wipes has different categories:

a) Aloe Vera & cucumber

Ingredients- Aqua ,Silicon emulsion, Methyl lactate ,cucumber extract, Aloe Vera gel,
chelating agent ,preservatives and fragrance.

Price category-

10 pieces – Rs 40/-

20 pieces- Rs 65/

30 pieces –Rs 90/-

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b) Aloe Vera& mint

Ingredients- Aqua, Silicon emulsion, Methyl lactate, mint, Aloe Vera gel, chelating
agent, preservatives and fragrance.

Price category-

10 pieces – Rs 40/-

20 pieces- Rs 65/

30 pieces –Rs 90/-

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c) Aloe Vera& mint oil

Ingredients-Aqua ,Silicon emulsion, Methyl lactate ,cucumber extract , mint oil ,Aloe
Vera gel, chelating agent ,preservatives and fragrance.

Price category

30 pieces- Rs 90/-

These wipes are used for refreshing the face with the cooling and soothing properties
of its ingredients.

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3) Skin care facial wipes

a) Make-up removal wipes with seaweed and lavender.

Ingredients- Aqua, Laurylglucoside, glyceryloleate. PEG -20, Methyl glucose

sesquistearate, glycerine, Aloe Vera gel, lavender extract, seaweed extract, chelating
agent, preservatives and fragrance.

Price category-
10 pieces – Rs 70/-
25 pieces- Rs 130/-

These wipes are an effective way to remove all make up from the face. It is enriched
with lavender extract which cleanses relaxes the skin while the seaweed extract
revitalize nourish the skin.

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b) Toning wipes with rose and thyme.

Ingredients- Aqua, PEG-40 hydrogenated castor oil, sodium lactate, vitamin A, Aloe
Vera gel, rose water, thyme extract, chelating agent and preservatives.

Price category-
10 pieces- Rs 70/-
25 pieces- Rs 130/-

These wipes clean the skin an tighten it and maintain the normal PH balance.
Rose leaves a certain glow on skin and keeps it refreshingly fragrant.

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c) Sunscreen wipes with plum and aloe

Ingredients – Aqua, octylmethoxycinnamate, avobenzone, vitamin A, plum extract,

Aloe Vera gel, chelating agent, preservatives and fragrance.

Price category-

10 pieces – Rs 80/-

The wipe enriched with rich Aloe Vera and plum extract nourishes the skin with
vitamin E and antioxidants make our skin soft and supple.

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d) Deep pore cleansing with jojoba and Avocado.

Ingredients- Aqua, peg-12 dimethiconecopolyol, cocoamidopropylbetaine, peg-7

glycerylcocoate, AloeVera gel, avocado extract, jojoba extract, sodium lactate,
chelating agent, preservatives and fragrance.

Price category-

10 pieces- Rs 70/-

These wipe perform a gentle, effective and convenient way of cleansing skin off dirt,
grime and excess oil.

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4) Baby care wipes

Baby care wipes has five cleansing action of cleaning, nourishing, hydrating,
disinfecting and deodorizing. It consists of chamomile which has antiseptic and anti-
inflammatory capabilities.

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

A research methodology defines the purpose of the research, how it proceed, how to
measure progress and what constitute success with respect to the objective determine
for carrying of research study.

OBJECTIVE
Positioning of Kara in the minds of upper class consumer.

RESEARCH DESIGN
The research design adopted in this market research project is a mix of both
exploratory and descriptive research design. The exploratory research was conducted
by use of exploratory techniques like brain storming to generate a number of possible
issues and factors that affect consumer attitude and buying behavior for skin care
products. Since it was impractical to test all of these factors, descriptive research was
adopted to describe the characteristics like attitude, perception, awareness level and
buying behavior of relevant group in the sample. Other issues that were studied under
descriptive research design include determining the perception of Kara wipes in the
minds of people in this modern trend. It consists of 10 questions, having multiple
choice and open ended questions pertaining to the study. The questionnaire was made
in discussions with industry guide and is full support and consent about the construct
content, formal appearance and writing model.

RESEARCH INSTRUMENT

The research instrument used in this project is a structured questionnaire. The

questionnaire is specifically design keeping in mind the objective of the study, the
target audience and their valuable time.

SAMPLE
In this research project I have basically interacted with consumer coming to Store99 at
GIP Noida to be part of mine questionnaire survey. In my project sample size is of 80
respondents.

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DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

Data is interpreted by analyzing the given set of questionnaire made under guidance of
my industry mentor with his full concern given below. It literally implies the
description of data that how many respondents have answered a particular question.

ADITYA BIRLA GRASIM

Name_______________ Place_____________

Which Age group do you belong to?

 Below 16 years  16-25 years

 25-40 years  Above 40 years
What is your gender?

 Male
 Female
1. Are you aware of wet wipes? If yes, are you aware of Kara wet wipes?
 Yes
 No
2. How often do you use Kara wet wipes?
 Once a day
 Twice a day
 When required

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  Never
3. Where do you purchase Kara wipes from?
 General store
 Medical store
 Hypermarket
 None
4. How do you come to know about Kara?
 Retailer
 Advertisement/ Television
 Word of mouth
 Newspaper
 Social networking site
5. Which category of Kara wipes you use often?
 Skin care wipes
 Hand care wipes
 Face refreshing wipes
 Baby care wipes

6. Are you aware of fact that Kara wipes are alcohol-free and biodegradable?
 Yes
 No
7. Do Kara wipes fulfill promises made to customer?
 Yes
 No
8. What are the other brands of wet wipes you prefer?
 Johnson & Johnson
 Himalaya
 L’oreal
 Nivea
 Others if any please specify _______________
9. Do you prefer using traditional hand sanitizers and face wash over wet wipes?
 Yes
 Sometimes
 No

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 10. On what factors you want Kara wipes to improve?
 Hygiene
 Price
 Promotions
 Fragrance
 Others if any specify _______________

1) Are you aware of wet wipes? If yes, are you aware of Kara wet wipes?

Count of Awareness of Kara

Respondents wipes
No 1
Yes 79
Grand Total 80

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 Total
1%

No
Yes

99%

Analysis:

From the above table and pie chart, we can analyze that wet wipes are not in nascent
phase in India as it was before. About 99% of the sample size is aware of Kara wipes,
so awareness level for Kara is very high. During interaction with the customers, they
said that when wet wipes came into our mind, Kara is the first product that strikes our
mind.

2) How often do you use Kara wipes?

Respondents Count of Frequency

never 1
once a day 14
twice a day 17
when required 48
Grand Total 80

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 Total
1%

18%
never
once a day
twice a day
21%
60%
when required

Analysis:

From the above table and pie-chart we can analyze that people use wet wipes more
often when they require it, as said by 60% of respondents. While 18% used it once a
day and 21% used twice a day and 1% is unaware about Kara wipes. Consumers who
have fixed frequency of using Kara are people who are employed. While large
population of sample has no fixed frequency of using it.

3) Where do you purchase Kara wipes from?

Respondents Count of Purchase from

general store 14
hypermarket 54
medical store 11
none 1

Grand Total 80

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 Total
1%

14% 17%

general store
hypermarket
medical store
none

68%

Analysis:

From the above table and pie-chart, we can analyze that Kara are mainly sold by
hypermarket as 68% of sample said they purchase Kara most often from super or
Hypermarkets. The reason behind this is the display of the product in these type of
market that inspires consumer to purchase it. While people purchasing from medicos
and general store are almost same, as 14% purchase from medical store and 17%
purchase from general store.

4) How do you come to know about Kara?

Respondents Count of How did you hear

advertisement 13
retailer 35
social networking site 6
word of mouth 26
Grand Total 80

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 Total

16%

33% advertisement
retailer
social networking site
word of mouth
7% 44%

Analysis:

From the above table and pie-chart we can analyze that retailers are the main
promoters of Kara followed by word of mouth as 44% of respondent said they hear
about Kara from retailers and 33% said they hear by word of mouth. The reason
behind this may be good performance of Kara that has satisfied both the retailers and
the consumers. While on the part of advertising and social networking they have to
work on.

5) Which category of Kara wipes you use often?

Respondents Count of Usage category

baby care wipes 1
face refreshing wipes 40
hand care wipes 5
skin care wipes 33
Grand Total 79

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 Total
1%

baby care wipes

42%
face refreshing wipes

51% hand care wipes

skin care wipes

6%

Analysis:

From the above data and pie-chart we can analyze that face refreshing wipes and skin
care wipes are profit making wipes for Kara. 51% of respondent uses face refreshing
wipes and 42% use hand care wipes. While 6% use Hand care wipes and 1% use Baby
care wipe. These are non-profit making wipes of Kara, because there are lots of
competitions in this area from hand sanitizers and traditional hand wash.

6) Are you aware of the fact that Kara wipes are alcohol-free and biodegradable?

Count of Alcohol free &

Respondents biodegradable
no 27
yes 53
Grand Total 80

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 Total

34%
no
yes
66%

Analysis:

From the above table and pie-chart we can analyze that consumers are aware of the
fact that Kara is alcohol-free and biodegradable, but company has to work to make
more people aware of this fact. 66% respondents know this fact while 34% of Kara
users are unaware of this fact.

7) Do Kara wipes fulfill promises made to customer?

Respondents Count of Fulfill promises

no 3

yes 77

Grand Total 80

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 Total

4%

no
yes

96%

Analysis:

From the above table and pie-chart we can analyze that customer satisfaction level of
Kara is very high as 96% of respondents are satisfied with product and only 4% are
not satisfied.

8) What are the other brands of wet wipes you prefer?

Count of Other
Row Labels brands
Himalaya
38
Johnson &
Johnson 18
Nivea
5

L’oreal 9
Any other 8
Grand Total 78

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 Total

6% 10%
12%

any other
himalaya
23%
johnson &johnson
49%
loreal
nivea

Analysis:

From the above table and pie-chart we try to analyze the competitors of Kara wipes.
There are so many international players in this market like Johnson& Johnson,
L’Oreal, Nivea and cheap Chinese wipes but the threat of rivalry is mainly from an
Indian brand Himalayas that always promote natural things and made an image in
minds of customer that their product are natural. 49% of respondents prefer to use
Himalayas while 23% are in favour of Johnson&Johnson as this brand is an old name
in wipe industry. 12% respondents prefer L’Oreal, 6% use Nivea while 10%
respondents use any wipe without any preference. But there are 2 respondents who are
the loyal customers of Kara as they don’t prefer using any other wipes.

9) Do you prefer using traditional sanitizers and face wash over wet wipes?

Row Labels Count of Prefer traditional?

no 5
sometimes 39
yes 36
Grand Total 80

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 Total

6%

no
45%
sometimes

49% yes

Analysis:

From the above table and pie-chart we can analyze that wet wipes are still not
preferred over face wash and sanitizers. Even though wet wipes are not in nascent
phase but mindset of people will take time to adapt the new change. 49% respondents
said that they sometimes prefer traditional ones while 45% said they prefer using hand
wash and face wash over wet wipes and 6% don’t think so.

10) On what factors you want Kara wipes to improve?

Count of Improvement
Row Labels Factors
fragrance 9
hygiene 3
price 42

promotions 25
Grand Total 79

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 Total

11% 4%

32% fragrance
hygiene
price
promotions
53%

Analysis:

From the above table and pie-chart we can analyze that even though Kara become famous as a
brand but customers want the product to improve on many factors like price and promotions.
53% of respondents said price of product is very high as compared to other competitors. On the
promotion part, 32% of respondents said Kara has to improve a lot on promotion to make people
aware of their product & its quality. 11% of respondents said that Kara can come up with some
new fragrances. While 4% of respondents said Kara can be more hygienic.

To actually know the consumer perception about the product or to understand which
age group are the potential buyers and which gender is really accepting the wet wipes
concept, we have two more questions.

11) What is your gender?

Row Labels Count of Gender

Female 56
Male 24

Grand Total 80

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Analysis:

From the table and pie-chart we can easily analyze which gender are the potential
buyers of wet wipes. Only 30% of sample is male and 70% are female. During
interaction with the customers, most of the male thought that it is a product only used
by female. This is the main pitfall for any wet wipe and to wipe out this very thought
from people’s mind is a tough task.

12) Which age group you belongs to?

Row Labels Count of Age

16-25 54
25-40 21
Above 40 2
Below 16 3
Grand Total 80

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 Total
4%
3%

26% 16-25
25-40
Above 40
67% Below 16

Analysis:

From the above table and pie-chart we can analyze that people belonging to age group
of 16-25 are the profit making customers of Kara. 67% of respondents belongs to age
group of 16-25, 26% of respondents belongs to age group of 25-40, 4% of respondents
are below 16 and 3% are above 40.

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FINDINGS AND INTERPRETATION
After going through the data analysis part, there are lot of findings and interpretations
that can help in designing parameters for positioning of Kara wipes.

o Wet wipes concept is not in nascent phase in India now as 79 out of 80

respondents are aware of wipes and good news is that they were aware of Kara
wipes.

o Wet wipes are still considered as a feminine product as 56 out of 80

respondents were female and only 24 were male who actually thought that
Kara can be used by male also.

o Kara is frequently used by the age group of 16-25, followed by age group of
25-40 while people above the age of 40 are rare customers of Kara. The reason
is people still considered traditional hand wash and face wash as main product
and wipes as a substitute.

o Even though Kara became a brand in market still it is not considered as an

essential product. During survey we found that frequency of using a Kara wipe
in a day is not fixed. 48 respondents out of 80 uses Kara only when they
require it, while 17 uses it twice a day and 14 uses it once a day. People who
are using Kara twice in a day are working men and women who have to travel
a lot.

o Kara got it maximum product sold from Hypermarket as 54 out of 80

respondents purchased Kara from this type of market. General store and
medicos are the other places from where customers purchase Kara wipes.

o Kara is promoted mainly through retailers and word of mouth. 35 respondents

out of 80 heard about this product from retailers and 26 by word of mouth as
Kara has a strong image in public’s view. The product is very inactive in terms
of advertising on television and social networking site.

o Face refreshing wipes and Skin care wipes are the two categories which are
often in demand while people are even unaware of its Hand care wipes and
Baby wipes. 40 respondents out of 80 uses Face refreshing wipes, 33 uses Skin
care wipes, 5 uses Hand care wipes and only 1 use Baby care wipe.

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 o Even though people are aware of Kara wipes, but most of them are unaware of
the fact that it is alcohol free and biodegradable in nature. 53 out of 80
respondents were only aware of the fact and rest 27 was unaware, but they are
also customers of Kara wipes.
o Customer satisfaction level is very high for Kara wipes as 77out of 80
respondents thought they fulfill promises made to customer.
o Kara as a product is profitable to Grasim industries but people still prefer hand
sanitizers and face wash over it. The need is to change the vision and mindset
of customer for wipes. 39 prefer traditional washes sometimes, 36 always
prefer using traditional washes while 5 have no preference over Kara.
o Kara is facing a tough competition from its domestic competitor Himalayas
and also from international players like Johnson&Johnson, L’oreal, Nivea.
Cheap Chinese wipes and local made wipes are also affecting the profit margin
of Kara.
o Many of the respondents think that promotional activities will help inculcate
habits of using wet wipes in India and increase in sale of Kara wipes.25 out of
80 respondents will love to see advertisement of Kara on television.
o According to survey Kara has to work on its price also because 42out of 80
respondents said wipes of Kara are very highly priced as compared to their
customers.

o Some consumers think that Kara can come up with new fragrance to increase
range of products.

o Among the variants of Kara wipes, refreshing wipes with AloeVera & Mint has
most popularity followed by make-up removal and toning wipes of Skin care
category.

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 Apart from doing this project, I was assigned another work of placing of new
product in the market.

Date: 13th may to 24th may

Product name: Klenox
Company name: Aditya Birla Grasim
Marketed by Nayanam marketing private limited
Distributor: SKA Enterprises.

Klenox is a new product of Grasim industries which is also made in Birla

cellulose division from viscose fibre. It is marketed by a company known as
Nayanam marketing private limited located at Laxmi nagar, New Delhi.

Two packets of wipes, one with fragrance of aloe vera & cucumber and another
with fragrance of Neem & Tulsi were given to us in group of two. We have to
sell it to the retailers who are already the retailers of Kara. The strategy behind
this is company want to know that if they will come with new fragrance like
Neem& Tulsi will it make sense or not. We are asked to collect orders from
different retail shop, note down the order and mail it to our mentor in excel
sheet. We have collected orders from different areas of Delhi like Laxmi nagar,
Pandav nagar, Mandawali, Mayur vihar phase-1 extension, Mayur vihar phase-
1, Patparganj village. Distributor of Klenox is also SKA enterprises, and they
are losing their reputation in the market because they are not taking order on
time and delivery is also not proper. So we have faced many problems when
retailers use to know that distributor of Klenox is same as that of Kara. They
refuse to get us order saying our distribution is not ok. One more strategy
formed by company is that on Kara products retailers got 20% margin on MRP
while this wipe is offering 25% margin on MRP. They have another scheme of
(12+1) i.e. if the retailer ordered for 12 packets of wipes he will get an extra
packet of his own choice. Due to non-delivery of stock on time for the order
that we collect from different market, company has decided to stop us from
collecting orders. Generally if the stock is not delivered within 15 days from
the date on which order is generated either it get cancelled. As there is problem
within their marketing strategy they have again given us survey work. But the
good thing about this project is that we are able to interact directly with
retailers and to make someone ready to try a new product is really a tough task.
But the result of our hard work is in front of us, Klenox has came into retail
outlets, medicos and hypermarket. I have attached excel worksheet of order
taken by us with the report.

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RECOMMENDATIONS
Grasim Industries has been working hard to establish leading brand position of Kara in
market. Kara has been able to prove its mettle and highly accepted by customers. I
would like to recommend following activities those hopefully will help in growth of
Kara are as follows:

o Kara can present itself in a way that it is combination of both handkerchiefs

and hand sanitizers, easy to carry and save extra expenditure of people.

o Kara can be introduced in hotels and restaurants replacing hand washes and
Luke warm water bowl with slices of lemon because Handys has features like
ease of availability, ease of accessibility and refreshing in nature.

o Start campaign like “ SAVE WATER” and “SAVE ENVIRONMENT” to

promote the use of Handys .This will help to build social media and also
increase awareness as well as sale of Handys, highlight the facts about Kara
like An Aditya Birla Product, 100% natural and biodegradable.

o The alcohol-free advantage of Kara will help then capture religious

sentiments of Muslims and promotion activities during the season of Ramzan
may give boost to sales in area largely populated with Muslims.

o To create “ BRAND AWARENESS” the following points should be taken in

consideration:

a. There is a huge competition from cheap Chinese wipes so it requires

doing aggressive advertising, campaigns and sampling at the
beginning of summer season. So that product should create
awareness during right time and push the sale.

b. Advertisement should be done in television, metro, schools and

colleges.
c. Activities and promotion campaign at hyper markets and malls to
attract more and more customers, mostly during Saturdays and
Sundays.

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 d. At low budget company can place Kara dangles in concerned retail
shops. Dangles are very effective marketing communication as it
makes customer’s eyes to see on hanging dangles.

e. Company can organize events on women’s day i.e. on 8th of March to

increase the sales as women are the potential customers of Kara. The
sale of Kara increases as summer starts in May- June. Even mother’s
day which lies in May is the best month for sale of Kara. So
company can organize events in popular stores like Big Bazaar,
Spencer, Vishal mega mart etc. company can provide customer title
like “customer of the week”, distribute gift items or special offers to
make customer feel special.

o Customers regularly complain about unavailability of stock, so company should

focus on making its marketing strategy more punctual to strengthen its image in
minds of customer.

o Kara is only famous among females and awareness level in male is very poor, they
consider it as a product that can be used only by females, I would like to
recommend company to change the hoarding of Kara that displayed women on it
and come with some concept that describes Kara as a natural product.

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 o Modification in the marketing mix of the product and schemes:

a. Putting the logo of Aditya Birla Group on the product packaging

for consumer to trust the brand and have quality assurance.

b. Company should have proper distribution channel as we are getting

a lot of complaints of non-delivery of stock on time.

c. Generally in hyper markets a mother comes with their baby child

and asked for baby wipes of Kara but this category of Kara wipes
is most of the time out of stock and its competitor Johnson &
Johnson has an advantage over it. A huge class of consumers is
unaware about baby care wipes.

d. The product needs rigorous advertising be it in print media and

television, hoardings, van operations to promote the brand Kara.

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 e. Kara is a product that can be easily understood & adapted by the
youth so at the start of summer which is also a prime time of
admissions, company can appoint group of people to visit the
college campuses and distribute few samples to spread awareness
of product among youngsters.

f. Company should acknowledge the customers that company is

charging high prices because of its high quality material unlike of
other brands and also educate that compromise on quality of fibre
can harm the skin through different media sources.

g. There is a huge demand for the product among the “new-generation

working women” as they prefer handy products for convenient and
easy accessibility, so focusing on right consumer group is
necessary.

h. Display schemes to the retailers should be provided which should

include posters & halogen board with the name of shop written on
it.

i. Retailers are getting very high margin from Chinese wipes and
other brands so the company should take care of its retailer’s
expectations.

j. Regular contact should be maintained with the retailer directly so

that they can give their feedback to the company regarding to the
consumer reaction rather than through agents.

k. Company should appoint some people who visit the retail outlets in
hyper market at fixed interval to see the display of their product.
Because during my journey of internship I have felt that proper
display is very much necessary to attract the consumers. In
STORE99 at Nirman vihar Kara are placed in shelf along with zuci
wipes that has some special offers with it. This distracts the minds
of customers because every customer wants to gain something for
which they are not required to pay.

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 o Extension of promotional channels:
a. Apart from traditional promotional channels, I would recommend
to use social media channel to promote Kara wipes in youth for
those who are internet centric and spend their maximum time on
accessing internet.

b. Company can tie up with some internet solution consultant and

source the responsibility of promoting Kara on different social
media such as maintaining Facebook fan pages in solving queries
of customers towards the product.

c. A blog can be created on internet which can educate people about

skincare and benefits of using Kara wipes. It can also ask for
feedback from users and inform them about new variants and offers
etc. the blog can be made interactive by putting surveys on it. The
link of the blog can be bulk mailed to various people falling within
the target market.

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LIMITATIONS
o Market research is a very difficult task because customers don’t want to
interact with surveyors as they think it is a waste of time.
o During placing of new product we have faced a lot of difficulty to make
retailers at least listen to what we are offering.
o As Kara is already established in market retailers don’t believe that Klenox is
product of Grasim industries by Birla cellulose division.
o Weather conditions outside is not suitable because of peak summer days.
o Company is not offering any transportation facility so it is very difficult to find
the retail shops.
o It is not easy to come to a conclusion in 2 months of surveys for a product,
because wipes industry is not a small scale industry in India now.
o Some customers don’t read feedback properly and answers randomly so there
is no guarantee of all data being 100% logical.

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LEARNING
The Summer internship at Aditya Birla Grasim is really full of experiences and
learning.

o It was an eye-opener for me as it provided me an opportunity to have practical

knowledge of market.

o It was very interesting to interact with the customers and know from them what
they actually expect from Kara.

o Distribution channel of the company should be strong because any problem in

distribution channel make product and company suffer.

o Display of the product is very much necessary, normally in the retail store we
see some products are very well placed on the front shelves with posters and
display lights .company is paying a fixed amount to retail outlets and buy a
shelf for its product.

o Retailers only kept focusing on margin they get on MRP, rather than on quality
of product company is offering.

o Advertisement is an important aspect of promoting a product because lot of

customers wants Kara to come with an advertisement on television.

o The company has given us a chance to learn about placing a new product in
market. During placing direct interaction with the retailers and introducing a
new product, its characteristics and convincing them to order was an awesome
experience.

o Due to market research project I have got an opportunity to see the trends of
retail outlets like Store99. Apart from company’s work of positioning Kara, I
have learnt about how stock comes in retail outlets, how to manage inventory,
how to sell products who are near to expiry by giving some offer on it. Change
is very important because managers of Store99 kept on changing display of
every section within a week and it really promotes sales.

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Though Sip duration was too short a duration to learn so many things from an organization like
Aditya Birla Grasim Industries, where each and every thing which I learned theoretically in my
class has been applied practically. Marketing is really a field where lots of opportunities are there
for every individual if we are ready to grasp it. I tried to grasp every learning which came across
my way by working for this organization.

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ACHIEVEMENT

One of the project which was assigned to us “placing of new product Klenox” in
market has been successful. The Klenox wipes has came into retail outlets, medicos
and hyper markets.

Klenox wipes at STORE99.

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BIBILOGRAPHY
WEBSITES

http://www.adityabirla.com

http://www.adityabirla.com/products/index.htm

http://www.adityabirla.com/our_companies/indian_companies/grasim_overview.htm

http://www.birlacellulose.com/

http://www.birlacellulose.com/applications/applications_non-wovens.htm

http://www.grasim.com/

www.wikipedia.com.

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