Smart Marketing Project

8/3/2019 Smart Marketing Project

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Introduction

Personal Grooming IndustryDue to increased awareness and rising income levels, the industry is expected to

undergo a major shift from traditional double-edged razors segment to twin and triple

blades razors segment. Razor blade market has tripled from Rs 2 billion in 1986 to Rs 6

billion in 2006. In value terms, in 2003, double-edged blades comprised 78%, systems

15% and disposables 7%. As per AC Nielsen/ORG's estimates, the domestic shaving

preparations market in 2003 was pegged at Rs 1.5 billion.

Within the industry, cosmetics and personal care industry has been growing at an

average rate of 20 per cent for the last few years. However, current consumption is still

below many countries in Asia which shows that there are further growth opportunities. In2004, market size of men's personal care segment is estimated at approximately Rs

750 crores, with smart having the largest market share.

Thus, the industry is growing at a decent rate but still is at an infant stage and this offers

great opportunities to players like Smart and Colgate Palmolive to expand their

customer base to include higher number of lower middle class people and thereby

increase their revenues and profitability.

External Forces

The external environmental factors in terms of increasing purchasing power of the

Pakistan consumers and a high level of interest in personal grooming amongst Pakistan

men and a strong focus of the company to create awareness for technologically

advanced products have resulted in signs of growth in the triple blade and twin blade

systems. In 2004, Smart came up with new and improved products like Fast3 Turbo

and New Vector Plus to cater to the increasing needs of this section of the market.

Further, penetration of cable television into the smallest of Pakistan towns has led to

an increased awareness of latest lifestyle trends and brands, which have become

an aspiration for many consumers. This increased awareness coupled with the increase

in disposable incomes has led to a desire to upgrade lifestyles through owning andusing better quality brands. This increased demand has led to higher sales growth

especially in personal grooming division.

The Government's continued focus on liberalization; trade friendly policies and

improvement in infrastructure have resulted in a steady inflow of global investments into

the Pakistan market which has again resulted in higher income levels due to

increased employment opportunities and sustained economic boom.


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Thus, it can be said that due to higher income elasticity of demand, demand for

personal grooming products are expected to grow at a rate higher than the rise in

income levels of people. However, since the market is still driven largely by price and

not quality (typically in rural markets and smaller towns), consumers might not value the

potential benefit of paying higher prices for better and safer products.

Product

Smart has always remained the technological, market leader in the razor division of the

mens grooming segment. Its high brand awareness, market acceptance as a

technological leader for hi-performance razors and high brand equity were compelling

reasons to penetrate and develop the entire value chain of the mens grooming industry

(razors, after shave and shaving gel/foam).

Smart products in the shaving cream/gel/foam department

Smart has a range of shaving products for different types of skins and user

requirements. However, Smart has consciously not chosen to have shaving cream in its

product line.

Smart Pakistan has cited the following reasons for not launching a shaving cream and

restricting itself to only shaving gel and foam:

Technically speaking, gels offer more lubrication than that of creams. This

means that gels have more anti-friction properties than creams. Thisenhances the effectiveness of the razors glide on the skin.

Weight-to-weight, gels are cheaper than creams.

Gel, being a solid in a liquid, can include any additional ingredients like

moisturizer, aloe vera, vitamin E etc.

Foams have been pre-perfected with the optimum lather required for shaving

and Smart was already a market leader in the foam segment. The demandfor foams was on the rise due to minimal effort required on the part of the

consumer.


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Smarts range of shaving gels and foams

All of Smarts shaving gel/foam products come under the brand name Smart

Series. All the 10 variants are in the premium segment. Smart has virtually no

presence in the basic and core product categories. Our analysis has shown us that

shaving gel/foam is more commoditized in Pakistan and that 81% of the Pakistanconsumers use cream and not gels or foam

Smart in the customer value hierarchy:

SMART SERIES

S. NO. FOAM GEL

1 Foam Conditioning Gel Moisturizing

2 Foam Deep cleansing Gel Sensitive Skin

3 Foam Pure and Sensitive Gel Ultra Comfort

4 Foam Moisturizer

5 Foam Sensitive skin

6 Foam Lemon

Smart Shaving Gel - an insight

The Smart shaving gel/foam series has been developed as a technologically superior

product. Smart is the only company to have 10 product variants in this category. No

other competitor has even more than 5 variants. So, Smart has the deepest product

line and the widest product width. Smart Series has many firsts to its credit in the

Pakistan market:

First to introduce Shaving gel in the Pakistan market.

First to include ingredients like Aloe vera and Vitamin E in its gels and foams.

First to introduce foams with no fragrance in Pure and Sensitive.

Smart has the highest brand equity in the mens grooming industry. The brand Smart is

more of a life style product than just a grooming product.


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Competitor analysis Colgate-Palmolive

Colgate-Palmolive is one of the largest companies in the FMCG sector. The Company

has launch of its International Palmolive Shave Gel and Palmolive Shave Foam in the

year 2000, in response to growing consumer interest in skin conditioning benefits. TheChairman of Pakistan Operations mentioned that the companys strategy for

Personal Care is to remain in top niches. Every year, they intended to take 3-4 initiatives.

Colpal has shaving products under the brand name Palmolive shaving cream. It has

three variants in the shaving cream/gel/foam category. They are shown below:

Colgate-Palmolives Shaving Cream/Gel/Foam:

The Price of each of these products is mentioned with size of the pack in the table

Below;

Product Weight (Gms) Price (Rs.)

Palmolive Lime 70 37

Palmolive Moisturizer 70 39

Palmolive Delux 70 39


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Proctor & Gamble

Proctor & Gamble, USA operates in Pakistan through three entities.65%

subsidiary - Procter & Gamble Hygiene & Healthcare (PGHH), which is focused on

Antic old (Vicks), and Feminine Hygiene (Whisper). In the shaving cream/gel/foam

category it has a very strong brand in the market, Old Spice.

Old Spice has products in each of the cream, gel and foam category. These three

categories are shown in the form of a tree below.

Proctor & Gambles Shaving Cream/Gel/Foam:

The prices of Old Spice shaving cream, gel and foam products are mentioned in the

table below:

Product Quantity Price (Rs.)

Old Spice Foam 200 ml 110

Old Spice Gel 60 ml 50

Old Spice Cream 70 ml 45It can be observed from the table that even the Old Spice Cream is priced higher than

the premium products of other competitive brands.


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PLL

Pakistan Lever Limited, which is now called as Pakistan Unilever Limited, is a

subsidiary of Unilever (USA). It is the largest FMCG Company in Pakistan. It is alsoreputed to be the largest exporter of Pakistan. Its distribution network is very strong. It

has over 2000 suppliers and associates and about 7000 redistribution stockiest. With

this massive distribution network in place, PLL enjoys commanding position in many

FMCG products in Pakistan market. In the Shaving Cream/Gel/Foam category also PLL

has two brands. Both of them are

very strong brands in the Pakistan market. With the help of the distribution system

these brands have a deeper reach to the Pakistan consumers. These brands are shown

in the tree below:

PLLs Shaving Cream/Gel/Foam:

The pricing of shaving products by PLL for both Axe and Denim is almost

same. It is also very similar to that of Old Spice shaving cream. But HLL does

not have any product in the gel or foam category to compete brands like Old

Spice and Smart.

Product Weight (Gms) Price (Rs.)

Axe Shaving Cream 70 45

Denim Xclusive 70 43


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Other Brands

Other competitive brands like Dettol and Park Avenue are also there in the market

scene. The price for their shaving cream product is mentioned below. These are not

premium segment brands and were priced accordingly. Dettol cream which comes in 70

Gms pack is currently offering 40% extra in its regular product for Rs. 37. Whereas ParkAvenues shaving cream is sold in 70gms pack for the price of Rs 36.

Smart

Smart has 10 product variants of shaving gel/foam for the Pakistan market. All the

10 products are in the premium category ranging from Rs 53 to Rs 210 for the

minimum and maximum SKUs.

Smart has priced its shaving gel and foams well above the industry average. For

instance, Smart foam priced at Rs. 210 costs 60% more than OLD SPICE foam though

Old Spice has the one of the best brand perceptions (and was the best in our survey).

The pricing strategy suggests that Smart is leveraging its customer loyalty (i.e. the

consumers who are brand loyal to Smart razors).

The following table shows the Smart Series price for all the 10 product variants. We

shall see the competitors prices in detail in the competitor analysis

FOAM VARIANTS QUANTITY (ml) PRICE (Rs)

Conditioning 250 210

Deep cleansing 250 210

Pure 250 210

Sensitive

Moisturizer 200 120

Sensitive skin 200 120

Lemon 200 120


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Gel VARIANTS QUANTITY (Gms) PRICE (Rs)

Moisturizing 60+20 53

Sensitive Skin 60+20 53

Ultra Comfort 60+20 53


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Factor Analysis

A factor analysis was carried out to obtain the group of attributes which can be grouped

together. Hence 4 factors were obtained as follows -

Factor 1 Product attributes (Fragrance, Brand Name, Foam Formation,

Antiseptic Attributes, and Ease of Use)Factor Price Sensitivity (Price, It keeps my Skin Soft And

Offers/Discounts)

Factor 3 Point of Purchase (Availability in Stores and Stylish Package

Design)

Factor 4 Additional Features (Color of Shaving cream/gel/foam and

Ingredients)

Observations: In Lahore, the surveyed samples perceive that Smart primarily targets

consumers which are more focused on the product attributes like brand, foam

formation, ease of use etc whereas the perception of price sensitive

consumer towards Smart was found to be of an over priced brand.

For price sensitive customers products like V-John, Godrej and Dettol were

more satisfying than Smart.

The surveyed sample considered Smart to have the best packaging among

all the brands. This feature highlights the fact that point of purchase is an important

selling point for the shaving cream/gel/foam market and Smart has been outperforming

the competitors.

High satisfaction in the availability in stores further shows the robust

distribution system that Smart has put into place to cater to diversified

markets.

Although not much differentiation can be introduced in the product per se (low

satisfaction scores for all brands), still Smart is found to be seen as a brand which

brings out products with new features like lemon, conditioner etc.


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Cluster Analysis

On the basis of the four factors identified through factor analysis, the group performed

Cluster analysis for two, three, and four clusters separately. This was done to identify a

market segment which Smart should focus on in the near future especially if it decides to

launch a product in shaving cream category.55% of the sample used shaving cream. Considering this to be a reasonable estimation

of the real usage, the decision to enter the shaving cream market seems to be a

lucrative option to explore.

The output of cluster analysis is shown

Out of the three analysis performed the one with three clusters was giving the best

representation of the segments in which the market can be divided.

The population can be segmented into three segments on the basis of factors.

Cluster 1 is most price sensitive and values additional features the least. Thiscluster comprised of one third of our sample size. As smart is a premium

brand which focuses on differentiating its products from the competitors and

upgrading the customers in the value chain. So targeting this cluster will not

be a strategically appropriate decision.

Cluster 2 is more influenced by attributes of the products and is not a price

sensitive segment. Smart through its shaving gel and foam series is currently

catering to this segment. This segment comprised of more than one fourth of

the survey sample.

Cluster 3 is concerned about the attributes, additional features, as well as

price. This segment comprised of more than forty percent of the survey

sample. Smart can target this segment with the introduction of shaving

cream which will be dealt with in the marketing plan of the report.


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LAUNCH SMART SHAVING CREAM

This has been the main finding of our project. Our analysis, cluster, and factor

analyses support the idea. The potential is huge and the

shaving cream can also be launched in other similar market demographics like

Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Srilanka. By launching Smart shaving Cream,

Smart would have a brand leader or a fighter brand in every stage of the customer

value hierarchy.

The shaving cream would have slightly stripped down attributes of the gel and foam

variants. This is because we should attract only the existing cream consumers and not

the gel/foam users.


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Marketing Plan for Shaving Cream

After conducting industry and competitor analysis of personal grooming industry and

understanding the product portfolio of Smart, the group came to the conclusion that

Smart should enter the shaving cream market more aggressively with a new brandimmediately. Suggested below is the marketing plan for the introduction of the new

product.

Industry Outlook

Shaving preparations and after-shaves market stood at Rs 125 crores in 2007.

Considering a YOY growth of around 7%, the current market size is Rs 163 crores. In

2007, shaving creams constituted 81% of the market i.e. Rs 101 crores. Since, the

market share of gel and foam products is increasing at a very rapid pace (from 10% in

2003 to 19% in 2007), we can say that the share of shaving cream in the entire market

has fallen down to approximately 70%. Thus, the current market size of shaving cream

in 2011 is around Rs 114 crores.

Future Outlook with shaving cream

The introduction of a shaving cream with improved attributes will directly compete with

current products like Axe, Denim etc. This will enable the company to establish its hold

over the Rs 114 crores shaving preparations market.

Target Customers and their needs

The primary customers of the company will be those belonging to cluster 3 (Refer

Cluster Analysis for details). This cluster accounts for almost 40% of the entire market.

These customers are concerned about the attribute and additional features besides

price. The brands like Axe and Denim can be said to be catering to the needs of this

cluster.


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Marketing Objectives

Smart should target to capture around 6-8% of the entire shavings cream market which

means revenue of approximately Rs 7-9 crores in the first year. There will not be any

product cannibalization (with 9O clock) as both cater to different segments within the

shaving preparations market.

Marketing Strategy

Segmentation

In the shaving cream/foam/gel market there exist different categories of customers who

have different needs and are willing to pay different amount for the product that meetstheir demand. Introduction of shaving cream would help Smart identify the needs of

the customers and take advantage of the segment which has not yet been targeted by

the company.

Price sensitivity, importance of attributes, point of purchase decision makers and

customers influenced by additional features are the factors on which we will segment

the shaving cream market.

Segment one-> is most price sensitive and values additional features the

least. This segment has one third of our sample size. As Smart is a premium

brand which focuses on differentiating its products from the competitors and

upgrading the customers in the value chain, targeting this segment will not be

a strategically appropriate decision.

Segment two-> is more influenced by attributes of the products and is not a

price sensitive segment. Smart through its shaving gel and currently catering to this

segment. This segment has more than one fourth of the survey sample.

Segment three-> is concerned about the attributes, additional features as

well as price. This segment comprised of more than forty percent of the

survey sample. Smart through its shaving cream can enter this segment.


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Positioning

Following conclusions from the survey helps us in identifying the positioning of the Smart

shaving cream:

Target market: - The target market has been identified as the customers who areconcerned about the attributes of the shaving cream but are not willing to shift from thecurrent price band to a higher price band.

Customer Evaluation: - Perceptual maps show how the customers evaluate Smartwith respect to competitive brands.

The customers surveyed in Lahore found Smart to be significant along both

factor 1 and factor 3 giving it an image of high quality brand with attractive

packaging and best availability.

Old Spice and Denim are its closest competitors in factor one and two

respectively.

Smart lags behind all its competitors in factor 2 which includes price and offers.


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Positioning Strategy

The present perception of the brands between factors one and two is shown below.

Smart shaving cream needs to position itself above Old Spice and Denim in order to

attract the target segment.


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Real Positioning

In the survey conducted, Smart had the top of the mind recall of 57%. This shows that

Smart has an excellent real positioning in the mens grooming market and Smart

shaving cream can leverage this positioning in the target market.

Psychological Positioning

Smart shaving cream will primarily alter the attributes importance in the target segment by

increasing the importance of attributes like brand name, foam formation etc and

decreasing the importance of price. This will be consistent with its strategy of moving

the customers up the value chain.


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Marketing Mix

Product and Service

Customer value hierarchy chart in the 4 Ps analysis shows that Smart products (9 O

clock) is currently fulfilling only the core and basic needs to some extent. Further, it also

shows that Smart does not have any product fulfilling the basic needs and expected

needs of the consumers. Thus, our new product will cater to these needs.

Further, since, our new product will target the third cluster; it has to be very strong on

attributes. Again, additional features need to be there to satisfy the basic and expected

needs of the people. Our new product will have superior fragrance and higher antiseptic

attributes. Further, initially, the product shall be launched with variants like lemon and

musk.

The new Smart Cream would target the basic and core product consumers where

Smart has no presence so far. So, the customer values promised and delivered would

also be different from that of the premium segment. The focus would be to Pakistanis the

product. This is important because we have to reach a larger, price sensitive, not so

loyal segment of the market. So far, Smart has only followed a dumping strategy in

Pakistan with very little customization. For our new product, this strategy would not

work well.

The customer values to be promised and delivered by the new SMART Shaving

Cream are:

Functional value:

The utilitarian/functional promise would be The best possible shave from the best

Shaving cream. .

Social Value:

The espoused social value would be from the angle that everyone in the family and

society has an instant respect and admiration for the clean shaven Smart man.

Emotional value:The emotional value promised is of great importance for a commoditized product like ashaving cream. The espoused value would be the charming yet masculine Smart manwho is attractive to all the people including women.


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Conditional Value:

The best possible start for the day would be the conditional value. The value

communicated should be of a confident, satisfied, and charged up young Pakistan for the

days grind.

Pricing

The customers in the target cluster are not very price sensitive. The customers in the

cluster prefer brands like Axe and Denim which lie in the price range of Rs 43-45 for a

70ml pack. However, since Smart is perceived as an expensive brand as compared to its

competitors, we plan to price our new product slightly cheaper than these brands. As per

our analysis, Smart should charge a price of Rs 42 for 70ml pack.

Promotion

Since we see a great opportunity for Smart in the Shaving cream category, we

recommend an aggressive promotional campaign for the new product. Our promotion

would adopt a push cum pull strategy.

Push Approach:

The product would be pilot tested in Lahore itself where we have performed our market

research. We would offer a 20g tube of the Smart Shaving Cream free with every

Smart Presto (Priced at Rs 17) and 30g with Smart Vector (Priced slightly at above Rs

50). The selling price of the tube being Rs 40 and the margin at 25%, we would incur

around Rs 8 for the 20g tube and Rs 12 for the 30g tube.

The increase in sales of the razors would be a good indication of the interest shown by

the consumers in the new shaving cream. This promotional strategy might also give

Smart consumers who want to upgrade themselves to the premium shaving cream

category from the regular category.

Pull Approach:

So far, Smart has always shown ads which are futuristic in nature (Shaving with Fast

3 on a space shuttle is an example). But the advertisements for the shaving cream have

to be Pakistanis.


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Our advertisement has to entice the target consumer - the aspiring consumer who

comes from the middle and lower middle class and gives importance to attributes but is

also price sensitive. Our target consumer is widespread throughout the country- rural,

urban and rurban. The ads have to appeal to the customer values mentioned above.

Place

The distribution network of Smart is very robust. The distribution network is a

combination of own network and that of a franchisee. As of now, Smart Pakistan has the

same distributors in the 20 cities. The distribution network follows a hub and spoke

model. The hubs are the 20 cities. The spokes are the various Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities

and towns around the major hub. These cities are managed by the exclusive

distributors in those cities. Every city has only one franchisee distributor. These tier 2

and 3 cities (spokes) thus serve as a feeder market to the hubs.

Each franchisee distributor has his own set of employees working for him. The

distributor also manages his own fleet costs to supply to the retailers. There are no

wholesalers.


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Distributor

Area Sales Manager

Sales Representatives

Fleet Drivers (4)

The sales representatives go with the drivers to the various Retailers under their

geographic span and take orders every week. The credit period offered is one

week. So, for every week the order is taken and supplied, the amounts due for the

previous week would be collected. The two sales managers have split the city into

two parts for their span of control. They are in charge of the big retailers, super markets

etc.

SWOT ANALYSIS

Strengths

Strong brand equity

Smarts portfolio contains well established brands such as Smart. It eases the

introduction of new products, as consumers are already well acquainted with the

names and more receptive to promises of improved user experiences. The strength

and quality image of these brands allows the company to charge higher prices and

achieve high margins.

Market Leadership

The companys product are well known with a reputation of quality are also market

leader in their respective segment.


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Well Diversified portfolio

Smart has a well-diversified portfolio in terms of product diversification and market

diversification. Diversification of this nature helps the company avoid the risk of

overdependence on any one source for its revenue stream.

Weakness

Profitability highly dependent on core business Smarts profitability is highly reliant on

the performance of its razors and blades business. A substantial portion of its

revenues come from this sector. Any downturn in the sector or in Smarts competitive

position within it could have a serious negative effect on the company.

Opportunities

New product launches

Smart is known for constantly introducing new products in the market with better

technology and performance. This new product launches will help the company to gain

competitive advantage over its competitors.

Price increases in premium shaving segmentsSmart has been increasing the price of its razors and blades at an average rate of

around 4% per year over the last ten years. This price increase will help the company to

accumulate more profits from the present level of sales.

Threats

Imitations / disposables are a threat to the Fast3 offering

Smarts ability to sustain a price premium and earn an attractive return on its extensive

investment three-blade platform is threatened by the numerous imitators of the

Fast3/Fast3 Turbo franchise, including disposables and private label systems, and

even including Smarts own three-blade disposable. This numerous imitations are

threat to the company in the long term as they going to reduce the sales of the original

products.


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Pressure on pricing power

Smarts pricing power is being further eroded by channel migration and increasing

consumer resistance to paying significantly higher prices for innovation. Pricing power is

key to revenue growth in a mature category especially when Smarts strategy has

historically been to drive revenue growth per consumer and not volume growth.

Competitive environment

Smart faces intense competition in most markets. Its products compete with widely

advertised, well-known, branded products, as well as private label products, which

typically are sold at lower prices. The companys survival depends upon its ability to

adopt itself in this kind of competitive environment.


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Customer Survey Questionnaire

Customer Survey: Questionnaire

Name:

Date:

Name of interviewer:

1. What is your age?

Less Than 18

18-23 years

23-28 years

28-45 years

Greater Than 45

2. What is your occupation?

Government Service

Private Service Business

Self-Employed Student

Homemaker

Others (please specify) __________

3. How often do you shave?

Daily

Alternate Days

Twice a week

Once a week

At irregular intervals


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4. What type of shaving product do you prefer to buy?

Shaving Cream

Shaving Gel

Shaving Foam

5. Where do you generally buy the shaving cream/gel/foam?

Grocery shop

Super market/ Departmental stores Specialty Stores

Chemist shop

Any shop near by

Group 7 Section A&B

6. Which brands of shaving cream/foam/gel are you aware of? (Unaided recall)

a) Fa b) Old Spice c) Palmolive d) Godrej e) Axe

f) Denim g) Smart h) Park Avenue i) Dettol j)Blue Stratos

k) V-John l) 7 OClock m) Nivea n) Others (Please

specify)

7. Which brands of shaving cream/foam/gel are you aware of? (TOM - tick onlyOne)

a) Fa b) Old Spice c) Palmolive d) Godrej e)Axe


k) V-John l) 7 OClock m) Nivea n) others (Please

specify)

8. Which brands of shaving cream/foam/gel are you aware of? (Aided recall)

a) Fa b) Old Spice c) Palmolive d) Godrej e)Axe



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k) V-John l) 7 OClock m) Nivea n) others (Pleasespecify)

9. Which of the following brands do you use personally? (Tick only one)

a) Fa b) Old Spice c) Palmolive d) Godrej e)

Axe


k) V-John l) 7 OClock m) Nivea n) Others (Pleasespecify)

10. Which of the following brands have you bought since the last six months?

a) Fa b) Old Spice c) Palmolive d) Godrej e)

Axe



11. Please rate the following sources of information according to the level ofimportance of each source (1 - Least Important; 5 - Most Important)

Friends ___

Family ___

Retailer ___

Advertisements ___

Packaging ___

Magazines or newspapers ___

Saloons ___

Any Other ___


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12. How satisfied are you with Smart shaving foam/gel? (if used) Highly Satisfied

Moderately Satisfied

Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied Moderately Dissatisfied

Highly dissatisfied

13. If your FIRST preference is not available then what do you do?

Purchase some other brand from the same shop/ store.

Purchase the same brand from some other store.

14. If the price of your most preferred brand increases what would you do?

Shift to another brand

Still buy the same brand

15. If you choose to shift then which Brand will you prefer?

a) Fa b) Old Spice c) Palmolive d) Godrej e) Axe

f) Denim g) Smart h) Park Avenue i) Dettol j) BlueStratos



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Age Profile of Sample Population

Shaving Product Preference

Place of Buying


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User Preference

Brand Satisfaction of Smart


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Option 1 Purchase the other brand from some other store

Option 2 Purchase the same brand from some other store

Price Sensitivity in Shaving Cream/Gel/Foam Market

If the price of your most preferred brand increases what would you do? (Q 14)

Option 1 Shift to another brand

Option 2 still buy the same


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Documents

Smart Marketing Project