Business Expansion Opportunities From a

Marketing Perspective

Submitted to: Ms. Nadia Sayeed

Submitted by: Tazmeen Fatima Khan (14727)
Menahil Ali (14492)
Usama Gulzar (14469)

Date of Submission: 9th May, 2019

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Letter of Transmittal

9th May 2019

Ms. Nadia Sayeed

Visiting Faculty
Institute of Business Administration, Karachi

Dear Ms. Sayeed,

The purpose of our report was to identify the possible problems and limitations regarding a
market study for the placement of baby care products of Shield Pakistan (PVT) Ltd. We
primarily focused on various aspects the company has to consider while determining an ideal
location.

We would also like to thank Shield Pakistan (PVT) Ltd. for cooperating with us and aiding in the
completion of our Business Communication Report. We would also like to thank Mr. Faaiz
Gulzar for giving us the opportunity to take an in-depth interview. He has willingly helped us by
providing us with information and guiding us on problematic areas of the research.

This report is a consolidation of everything we learned in this course and the value-addition by
our research findings. Looking forward for a positive response from you.

Best Regards,
Tazmeen Fatima Khan.
Menahil Ali.
Usama Gulzar.

Institute of Business Administration, Karachi.

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 Table of Contents:
Executive Summary: 4

Objective: 5

Problem Statement: 5
Statement of Purpose: 5
Background: 5

Essential Data for Market Study: Error! Bookmark not defined.

Understanding target audience:
Analysing direct and indirect competition:
Demographics and psychographics:
Benchmarking:
Primary Research Findings:
Interview with USAMA WRITE CONTACT NAME:
Market Study Findings:
Error! Bookmark not defined.
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Location 1: 10
Location 2: result Error! Bookmark not defined.
Location 3: result 10
Location 4: result Error! Bookmark not defined.
Limitations: 10
Conclusion: 10

Appendix: 11

References: 1

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Executive Summary:
Shield Pakistan is planning to expand its business of baby care products in Karachi, Pakistan by
short-listing ideal locations for these specialised shops. Due to this reason, the company has
asked us as a group to conduct a market study and present our recommendations. Additionally,
the report analyses the variables that are important to market studies such as demographic
information.

The limitations of conducting this market study have also been discussed in this report. As we
are a group of students, the sample size obtained for this study was limited, and in-depth analysis
on aspects such as psychographics and household statistics was not upto the advanced levels.
Finally, the report provides our recommendations on the ideal locations and how the limitations
can be tackled. The recommendations majorly revolve around busy locations such as Naheed
Supermarket as the ideal targeted audience can be found there.

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Objective:

Problem Statement:
Despite its market leader position, Shield has observed that its direct competitors are rapidly
increasing their share in the market and to combat this, Shield has boosted its spending on
marketing by 12%. Alongside this, the company has entrusted us to recommend ideal locations
for its business so that Shield can achieve its projected 10% boost in sales for the following
year, which it wasn’t able to do despite a boost in their spending.

Statement of Purpose:
This report aims to outline the findings of a market study conducted by our group to determine
the ideal locations for Shield (PVT) ltd Baby Care Products in Karachi. We aim to consider all
factors that aid in the correct “placement” of the company’s product, to ensure it captures the
targeted market segment and boost its sales.

Background:
Shield Pakistan (PVT) ltd is a leading brand in Baby Care products, operating in Pakistan for
the last 40 years. Shield Pakistan is a well-known FMCG manufacturing company, which
majorly deals with babycare and toothcare products and has successfully established itself as a
market leader in its baby care line, specifically.

Due to its comfortable market position, Shield can afford to incur large-scale marketing
expenses and survey costs, but feels the need to work on its market segments, which is why the
company’s marketing department has outsourced its market study.

Location analysis is the process of using data to figure out where to locate your business. If the
analysis is ill-advised, it could potentially lead to a commercial lease which is a considerable
financial burden on any company as the investment does not lead to an increase in consumer
base. Shield, like all other companies, strives to strategically place itself in an ideal location,
which is one of the 4 important ‘P’s’ of Marketing.

When conducting the location analysis through a market study, two marketing challenges are
highlighted. If the site is selected, what are the reasons behind the selection and how to make it
a more profitable selection. The challenges presented are anticipating the traffic patterns of the
desired location, the exposure and how to accurately gauge the demographic status of the area.

Methodology of Research:

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For our research methodology, we started off with defining the parameters for the intended
market segment the company wanted to engage with. For this purpose we first made a detailed
questionnaire which helped us divide the market of Karachi into different categories, on the basis
of population, income level, age and retail outlets that were available in specific localities. In
light of these parameters we interviewed the Group Brand Manager of Shield in order to better
understand the marketing approach of the department.

After getting an insight of the company on their intended audience, we started our secondary
research. In secondary research we analyzed the available online data which provided us with
four localities in Karachi based on the parameters we had defined earlier.

For further locating down the best location we did a short survey to analyze the psychological
aspect of the audience. After combining all of the research together we finally arrived at a
location which we deemed best, based on our research, for Shield Pakistan to locate its product.

Findings from Primary Research (company

interview)
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As for a starting point, we conducted an interview with the Group Brand Manager of
Shield Pakistan, Mr. Faaiz Gulzar. Following were the parameters we defined from this
interview
TARGET AUDIENCE:
The target audience of the company are conscious mothers who are motivated to
purchase quality baby care products,in order to ensure better hygiene for their babies
and more durability. In the company’s perspective, these mothers require a substitute to
the available expensive imported products in the market.
AGE SEGMENT:
Although Sheild does not aim to target any particular age segment, however they want
to reach out to a specific psychologically motivated audience. This may include any age
bracket.
INCOME LEVEL:
Since Shield Baby Products are considered as substitutes to expensive imported
products, the targeted audience income level of the company, are families belonging to
the middle – middle class and upper – middle class, who earn between PKR. 70,000 to
PKR. 120,000.
RETAIL OUTLETS:
Being a baby care product the company wants a complete placement of its product on a
maximum reach to the LMTs and IMTs. So the company intends to focus on a locality
with the maximum number of LMTs and IMTs.

Findings from Secondary Research (Online data)

In light of the parameters elaborated by the company, we started our online research and
analyzed the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, World Bank figures and data along with other
online articles (links provided in the reference section). On the basis of our analysis, the
following three localities were marked down.
North Nazimabad:

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With a population of one million and income of around PKR. 30,000 to PKR 70,000, the
North Nazimabad town of District Central was the first town we marked in our secondary
research. North Nazimabad has three main market hubs comprising of around 20,000
shops. Three big LMTs namely, Hyderi Super Mart, Imtiaz super Store and Chase up are
also located in the vicinity of this town.

GULSHAN E IQBAL:
With a population of about 900,000 people, and an income range of PKR. 30,000 to PKR.
150,000, Gulshan e Iqbal is one of the largest towns of Karachi. With six main market
hubs comprising of more than 50,000 shops, Gulshan e Iqbal town seems to be one of the

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 possible locality of our choice. All major LMTs are located in this town and there are
more than two branches of all the major LMT operating in Karachi. There are two IMTs
operating here.
NEW KARACHI:

With a population of about 800,000 people, and an income range of PKR. 20,000 to PKR.
90,000, New Karachi is also one of the largest towns of Karachi. With two main market
hubs comprising of more than 10,000 shops, New Karachi town seems to be one of the
possible locality of our choice. Most of the shops here are General stores or Kiryana
stores, only one LMT Imtiaz is operating in this town.

PRIMARY RESEARCH (MARKET RESEARCH) Findings:

As the last part of our research, we conducted a short survey of the three localities. The
questionnaire is attached in the appendix. The detail of the survey is as follows

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North Nazimabad:

Our research findings show that the target audience for Sheild’s Baby products was not
motivated enough to purchase the product since other cheaper locally produced
alternatives existed in the market. Hence they spent less on Sheilds Baby products.

GULSHAN E IQBAL:
Our research findings show that the target audience was motivated enough to purchase the
product because most of the mothers preferred to spend on the product because of better
quality as well as a cheaper price when compared to the imported baby products.

new karachi:
The reason for not choosing this particular area was because of the fact that most of the trade
available were traditional trades and this would have been a problem for distribution systems and
would not have been suitable for the company.

Limitations:

Conclusion:

Recommendations:

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Appendix:
Questionnaire Answers by Group Brand Manager:

Q1) What market segment does you want to reach out to?
Ans) For this particular brand (Baby Care), we want to reach out to conscious mothers who
cannot afford expensive imported brands, but at the same time are quality conscious.
Q2) What age segment are you looking out to?
Ans) As for our baby care products we are looking at no particular age segment but want reach
out to a particular psychologically motivated segment.
Q3) What income level are you planning to target?
Ans) As per our pricing policy we want to reach out to people in the PKRs. 70000 to PKRs.
120000 income level, i.e., middle – middle class or a part of upper middle class.
Q4) Which type of trade are you planning to target?
Ans) We want to target IMTs and LMTs both.

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References:
https://www.dawn.com/news/219652
http://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files/PAKISTAN%20TEHSIL%20WISE%20FOR%20WEB
%20CENSUS_2017.pdf
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/210660-Our-middle-class
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Karachi_Town
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/retail-pakistan-overview-sohail-ahmed/
https://data.worldbank.org/country/pakistan
http://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/karachi-population/
http://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files/pslm/publications/hies15-16/write%20up%2015-16-
HIES-final.pdf
http://www.kmc.gos.pk/Contents.aspx?id=84