07-10-2010, 04:13 PM
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Analyzing The Market Of Lux
Executive Summary
Unilever is a multinational consumer product manufacturing giant operating in over hundred countries all around the globe. Unilever Bangladesh is the Bangladesh chapter of Unilever, where the company holds 60.75% share whereas the Government of Peoples Republic of Bangladesh holds 39.25% share.
Unilever’s one of the most popular brand is LUX. They segments LUX.’s market according to geographical locations. It further differentiates these segments into Socio Economic Cluster (SEC) which takes into account the criteria of education and profession which ultimately measures the financial ability of consumers. The cluster is divided into five parts starting from A to E. Unilever targets the urban and sub urban upper middle class and middle class segment of the population, who falls under A to C of SEC.
Tactical marketing tools, 4P’s, are extensively used by the company to market LUX. Though LUX is produced in Bangladesh, Unilever Bangladesh maintains the same standard all around the globe. The product is available in six different fragrances under three different sizes. Since the demand for beauty soap market is to a great extent oligopolistic, variations in price lead to price war which can eventually break down the company’s market share. Thus Unilever cannot provide a better price than its competitors. But the price is affordable by most of the people. Unilever Bangladesh has outsourced its distribution channels to third party distributors which allow them to distribute LUX in massive bulks amounting to around ten million pieces. It undertakes the largest promotional activities in the beauty soap industry.
The beauty soap industry has a few major producers of which Unilever holds market share of slightly less than 50%. Other competing brands like Tibbet, Aromatic and Keya have started to have a strong consumer base, but LUX.’s product features distribution and promotional activities have created high brand loyalty for which it is still the market leader.
Unilever, with the aid of its heavy promotional activities, has been able to penetrate the market. But the other producers in the industry are posing a threat towards Unilever’s market share as they have moved towards the rural masses of the population. Therefore, Unilever Bangladesh should undertake further steps such as moving towards the rural and/or poorer segment; attract children (by making a special product for kids) and other innovative promotional activities to retain its command in the industry.
Introduction
Unilever at a Glance:
Unilever is one of the world’s largest and leading multinational companies; Unilever commenced their business activities on a larger scale by setting up their first factory in Netherlands, in the year of 1872. Operating in Bangladesh for over the last four decades the company is trying to significantly contribute towards the augmentation of the standard of living by bringing world class high quality products at the door step of their customers. The usage of Unilever products by over 90% of the people in Bangladesh stands a testimony to their successful operation. . Their array of products show that they produce household care, fabric cleaning, skin cleansing, skin care, oral care, hair care, personal grooming, and tea based beverage products under worldwide famous brand names Wheel, LUX, Lifebuoy, Fair & Lovely, Pond's, Close Up, Sunsilk, Lipton, Lipton Taaza, Pepsodent, All Clear, Vim, Surf Excel, and Rexona.
Objective of this report:
This report is an outcome of an analysis of marketing strategies used by Unilever Bangladesh Ltd. The main purpose of the report is to find what strategies the company uses to market its world famous beauty soap, LUX, in Bangladesh; the positive and negative aspects of those strategies. The report further analyzes the position of Unilever Bangladesh Ltd. in the toiletry industry in comparison to its competitors. The report discusses the process of using market segmentation, target marketing, the product, pricing, promotional and distribution strategies and a competitive analysis.
Methodology of this report:
For accessibility and availability of information we have chosen to work on the strategies of Unilever Bangladesh Ltd. As the company operates in the market with a huge number of products in different industries, we have decided to focus on one of their world wide successful brands, LUX. Most of the information used in this report is from primary sources. The main source of information was the focus group discussion. In addition information was also collected from websites.