Patanjali Products Assignment

1. a. Patanjali is described as a disruptive force in the

FMCG space , and a credible threat for incumbents. Is
Patanjali really disruptive or not ? Why do you say so?
Patanjali which started as a ayurvedic products brand has now
ventured into edible oil, biscuits, toothpaste, noodles and has
many other FMCG products. Its revenue is also expected to
increase till Rs 20,000 Cr by 2020. It has price advantage over
others.
Factors like no middle man, non-profit motive, feeling of
national brand, make in india initiative by government, person
branding by Baba Ramdev , price differentiation and trust has
played a major role in the success of PAT.
Patanjalli is a credible threat to company likes dabur, colgate
because of category overlap and has already eaten a lot of
market share of their. This led to downgrading of the
companies by credit Suisse. Company in a small amount of
time has got 4-5% in oral care and its other star product is
chawanprash. These are direct competition to them.
The growing brand equity of PAT and ayurvedic products is also
a serious threat to other companies like nestle, godrej etc. The
shift of peoples choice to ayurvedic and naural product is
increasing and the person branding of Babs Ramdev has
worked for the company who is associated with Ayurveda and
India.
The companies increase spend on advertising and promotion
will help company increase its visibility and an improved
distribution network will be a threat to the big FMCG
companies. PAT packaging strategy for the products is a head
on competition to big FMCG companies. PAT has not used
cheap packaging but a premier packaging for most of its
products and copied the format from its competitors.
It is expanding into every possible daily use item categories
shocking competitors and impressing investors with rapid
growth in its consumer base across income groups.

2. What, in your view , could established brands which are

threatened do to counter the threat from Patanjali ?
The companies like emami, HUL, dabur, colgate should reboot
their corporate strategies, invest in new products and make
acquisitions to reap into the herbal age.
The companies should focus on their differentiating factors and
leverage that. If the products of PAT are fake, they should
challenge them in the labs and break the fag.
HUL: Relaunches its brand Ayush and adds an channel to sell it
via online. Increases its natural product offerings
Emami: To keep its position in herbal segment, it opens to
acquisition
Colgate: aggressive advertising of its toothpaste and
introduces variants like neem and salt
Dabur: Increases ayurveidc products and media spend
3. Commentators believe that Patanjali brand were
treated by competitors as a Private lable and hence
ignored the brand to grow. What did Patanjali do
initially that might have given this impression to them ?
Patanjali entered into a niche segment targeting herbal needs
of the people. It opened its
exclusive store and grow through
the brand equity of Baba Ramdev.
PAT did not challenge any product directly and positioned it as
natural
solution to health,
hair care. It grew over the years in
its small stores and creating impact on people. Also the
product
were observed effective and
it increased trust among the users.
This was not observed keenly by other market players thinking
it is a medical solution to the problems and will be a competition
to pharmaceuticals than FMCG.