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Marketing MBA
Marketing MBA
Oral care is a highly practicing health habit in all over the world. In Sri Lanka it may
have once been a narrow market segment but today it represents a flourishing
sector with several sub segments. It has a high degree of penetration with in the
country through tooth paste and tooth powder. There are channel for products that
address gum diseases, cavities, plaque and tartar build up, sensitive teeth and even
a condition known as dry mouth. At the same time there is another segment which
represents fresh breath and white teeth. When oral care was essentially a habit of
keeping teeth white, toothpowder preceded toothpaste for centuries.
• Age
• Gender
• Geographic location
• Income
• Spending patterns
• Cultural background
• Demographics
• Education
• Language
As we mentioned previously Signal plays the major role in toothpaste market with
the share of 53%, Clogard with 33% and Supiriviki with 8%. According to the
theoretical aspects we look in to the toothpaste market segments in Sri Lanka.
Demographic Segmentation
Age - Consumer needs and wants change with age although they may still wish to
consume the same types of product. So Marketers design, package and promote
products differently to meet the wants of different age groups. Good examples
include the marketing of toothpaste contrast the branding of toothpaste for children
and adults. In Sri Lanka there are different types of toothpaste brands varies
according to the age. There are brands for children and adults. For an example;
signal provide toothpaste for both adults and children, Colgate, Kodomo is a very
famous toothpaste brand for children in Sri Lanka. Signal whitening is an adult
brand.
Income - Many companies target affluent consumers with luxury goods and
convenience services. By contrast, many companies focus on marketing products
that appeal directly to consumers with relatively low incomes. Examples include
toothpaste sachet packets for low income people. In Sri Lanka there are toothpaste
pricing from Rs.25 to Rs.1200 a packet. For an example low priced sachet packet to
Highly priced Salvony or Perriot.
Family Size – this also will affect the buying pattern of toothpaste. If you have a
large family and your income is not stable, the buyer will go for cheap product that
he can afford. But if you have a good income with a small family, they will go for
higher priced products.
Religion and Ethnic Groups – this will not highly affect the toothpaste market,
since there are no flavours added from animals or alcohol.
Psychographic Segmentation
This will mainly focus on the lifestyle of the consumer. Marketers are increasingly
interested in the effect of consumer "lifestyles" on demand. There are many
different lifestyle categorisation systems, many of them designed by advertising
and marketing agencies as a way of winning new marketing clients and campaigns.
Self-Image – when people are stable with their income and get a high income they
try to build their image by changing their day to day consumer products. They
change their oral care products from cheap to expensive.
Personality – consumers believe that if they buy high priced quality products it will
improve their personality in the society. Marketers use this thinking to market their
products.
Geographic Segmentation
Country – According to the taste pallets of the different nationalities, the flavours
of toothpaste differs.
Region – North Central province of Sri Lanka is known to have more calcium in the
waters. So the toothpaste brands which market to this province are low calcium
based.
City Size – According to the size of the city the market size varies.
Climate – eventhough you can use more mint flavoured toothpaste in the dry
climate regions, you have to lessen the mint flavor in cool climate regions such as
Nuwara Eliya since it will affect the temperature of the toothpaste and give coldness
in the mouth.
Benefit Segmentation
Signal had been instilling good oral hygiene habits to the people of Sri Lanka giving
them the confidence to smile since 1982. Signal Oral Health Service (SOHS) has
been active in Sri Lanka and has been an integral part of Signal’s mission to
promoting good oral health awareness. For the past 24 years, the SOHS has been
providing free dental check-ups sampling of toothpaste and toothbrushes to pre-
school and primary schools and conducting large scale community based oral health
camps.
In 2005 Signal launched its newest initiative, Signal Sina Bo Wewa campaign. It’s
aim was to spread the warmth and beauty of our Sri Lankan smile to the world and
enhance Sri Lanka’s image as the world’s friendliest nation. This campaign won a
Guiness Book of World Records. It was also won the Brand Icon Award in 2004.
Signal is indeed the oral care expert that can bring a smile to everyone's face.
• Sri Lanka's largest Oral Care brand - the Oral Care expert
Age – Signal has produce different products for different age limits. Children was
served with different sweet flavoured toothpaste while the adults are served with
more calcium based toothpastes. For an example; Signal Strong Teeth. This
toothpaste contain 50% more calcium to fight tooth decay of adults.
Gender- Signal has produced different products according to the gender. Mostly
they have changed the colour of packaging according to the gender even though
the content inside is similar. Pink colours for ladies and blue colours for gents.
Family Size - – this also will affect the buying pattern of toothpaste. If you have a
large family and your income is not stable, the buyer will go for cheap product that
he can afford. But if you have a good income with a small family, they will go for
higher priced products. For an example Signal sachet packets to Signal whitening.
Income - Many companies target affluent consumers with luxury goods and
convenience services. By contrast, many companies focus on marketing products
that appeal directly to consumers with relatively low incomes. Examples include
toothpaste sachet packets for low income people and much more expensive mint
flavoured Signal toothpastes for rich people.
Psychographic Segmentation
Self-Image – High class consumers will never buy Signal sachets where as low
income consumers always go for the same.
Personality - Signal has become the brand of Sri Lanka for toothpaste. If you use
Signal products it enhance your personality. If you use Signal herbal it shows that
you are a health conscious person.
Region – the signal products varies from province to provice in Sri Lanka. As the
author mentioned previously, Signal promote low calcium product such as Signal
Herbal to North Central province. At the same time when they promote to rural
areas , most of the time they go for cheaper products such as Signal sachets.
Climate – As author mentioned ealier they promote less mint flavoured toothpaste
to Nuwara Eliya and Bandarawela region.
Size of the City – Signal promotes more expensive and more quantity to Colombo
city since it is the largest commercial city of Sri Lanka.
Role of HR Department
Recruitment – recruitment plays a big role in the Human Resources department. In
this context, we being the HR department, we have to look into people who have
marketing background. They have to have educational qualification in marketing
from a recognized institute; such as CIM, SLIM, degree in Marketing from a
recognized university. The candidates should have at least two years of experience
in the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) market especially in toothpaste market.
At the same time we look into people who are fluent in English, Tamil and
Singhalese
Training – Training is highly important for marketers since they deal with lots of
retailers and whole sellers in Sri Lanka. Marketers has to deal according to the
attitude of the retailer. They have to handle them accordingly, hence it will damage
the image of the product and company. It is the responsibility of the HR department
to train the marketers and all the personnel in the marketing department since they
represent the company by the eye of the retailer and customer.
As the conclusion to this term paper has included information which introduce the market
segmentation of toothpaste industry in Sri Lanka and the segmentation of Signal Toothpaste. The
author has shown how the signal brand behaves according to the different segment. Finally
author has mentioned the role of HR department with reference to develop the employees of the
marketing department.
References
• Kotler et al (2006)
• Professor Richardson “Segmentation”
• Marketing planning, Implementation and Control by William M Pride