Pune 

Institute of Business
Management

Pune, Maharashtra

SESSION: 2022-24

Mini
project
of 2022
Name: Spandan Nayak
Section: PGDM-5
Roll No.2022-2005-0001-0029

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Unilever is a multinational consumer product manufacturing giant operating in over a
hundred countries all around the globe. Unilever is the chapter of Unilever, where the
company holds 60.75% share whereas the Government of Peoples Republic of holds 39.25%
share.
Unilever's one of the most popular brand is LUX. They segment 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
segments.

Company Introduction
UBL is the market leader in 7 of the 8 categories it operates in, with 20 brands spanning
Home and Personal Care and Foods.
Its operations provide employment to over 10,000 people directly and indirectly through its
dedicated suppliers, distributors and service providers. 99.8% of UBL employees are locals
with a large number of local UBL employees now working abroad in other Unilever
companies as expatriates.
Tactical marketing tools, 4P's, are extensively used by the company to market LUX. Though
LUX is produced in, Unilever maintains the same standard all around the globe. The product
is available in six different fragrances under three different sizes. Since the demand for the
beauty soap market is to a grin tent oligopolistic, variations in price lead to price wars 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
for most people. Unilever has outsourced its distribution channels to third-party debtors
which allows 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 a market share of
slightly less than 50%. Other competing brands like Tibet, Aromatic and Kaya 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 to Unilever's market
share as they have moved toward the rural masses of the population.

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Situation Analysis

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 the
Netherlands, in the year 1872. Operating 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 to the doorstep of their customers.
The usage of Unilever products by over 90% of people stands testimony to their successful
operation. Their array of products shows 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.
The beauty soap industry in consists of only seven major producers. Unilever Ltd is
operating in the industry with its world-famous brand LUX. Out of these giant Companies,
Unilever Ltd is the market leader with a share of around 43%.

Sales graph of LUX.

Last 5 years sales (In crors)

400
341.39

350
273.37

300

250

200
126.01

150
101.31
79.32

100

50

0
Mar /1 8 Mar /1 9 Mar /2 0 Mar /2 1 Mar /2 2

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2.2. SWOT Analysis:
Strengths:
 Strong market research (Door to door sampling — once in a year — Rural and Urban
areas)
 Many variants (Almond oil, Orchid extracts, Milk cream, Fruit extracts, Saffron
sandalwood oil, and Honey)
 Dynamically continuous innovations — New variants and innovative promotions (22
carat
 gold coin promotion — "Chance Hai")
 Strong brand promotion but relatively lower prices — Winning combination
 Lux soap brand is sold in over 100 countries.
 The company is totally owned, systematic distribution network, a transparent
communication system.
 Participative management style.
Weaknesses:
 Mainly positioned as beauty soap targeted towards women who lack unisex appeal
 Some variations like the sunscreen, and international variant did not do well in the
market
 Not much popular in rural areas.
 Poor Promotion of free samples.
 No Unique identification of product.
Opportunities:
 The soap industry is growing by 10% in India
 Liquid body wash is currently in the growth stage — Lux should come out with more
variants in this segment
 Large market share — Strong hold over the market.
 Baby shampoo is another area Unilever can make huge gains.
 Shampoo plus conditioner and anti-dandruff shampoos are other areas where
Unilever can earn huge profits.
 Rural areas are a large prospective market where they can introduce.
Threats:
 High internal competition (Pears — Beauty segment)
 New entrants in this segment
 Maturity stage — threat of slipping down to the decline stage — if constant
reinvention is not carried out
 High rate of competition.
 Local and foreign competition.

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2.3 Competition:
The company claims that LUX is the highest-selling beauty soap. Moreover, some survey
reports also reveal the same result.
Though LUX is the highest-selling beauty soap in, it does not go for traditional mass
marketing. Moreover, as a beauty soap LUX do not even segment its market according to
gender.
The SEC divides the population in five segments starting from A to E, where A categorizes
the highly educated and high-income earners holders, and sequentially in descending order
E categorizes the opposite.
Moreover, a recent takeover of Aromatic by multinational consumer product giant MARICO
which operates with famous brands in other industries like Parachute Coconut Oil is posing
to be a threat to Unilever's market share.
2.4 Product Offerings:
Unilever makes and sells products under more than 400 brand names worldwide. Two
billion people use them on any given day. Unilever Ltd obtained a good position in the
buyers' minds through better product attributes, price, and quality, offering the product in a
different way than the competitors do.
Taking into account the convenience of its customers, the company manufactures all
flavours of LUX in three different sizes, 40gm, 80gm, and 120gm. Unilever Ltd. is a very
popular organization. They are trying to social work for people.
The company offers improved quality products in the industry at an affordable price with
high branding, which ultimately helps to position the product in the buyers ' minds as the
best quality beauty soap.
The market share of the company in the beauty soap industry is somewhere around 43%.
Since in the beauty soap industry, all products are of the same price Unilever cannot provide
its consumers with better prices but it is in a great position in reference to its packaging,
fragrances, and product designing
2.5 Distribution:
Though Lux International, a premium variant of the toilet soap, launched in 1989, is
differentiated on the basis of its ingredients, the popular version, Lux Beauty Bar was always
projected as a "pure and mild" solution to soft and smooth skin.
Cutting-edge Distribution Network:
The distribution network of LUX is no different. The need for a strong distribution network is
imperative since Lux has to gain visibility and has captured the minds of Indians everywhere
It has 2000+ suppliers and associates 7,000 stockiest, and direct coverage in around a
million retail outlets across India.

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The Distribution in Rural Market:
The strategy of distribution should take into account the purchasing habit of the rural
people. While consumables are purchased in the village shop or Shandies or in bigger
villages, the consumer durables are purchased only in Mandy centres, large towns, or
nearby cities.
Distribution Strategies in Rural Market:
Coverage of Villages:
With improved communication facilities, It is possible to reach distribution van to the
villages. The frequency of visits may be fixed, depending upon the off-takes or sales
realization.
Use of Cooperative:
Over three lakh cooperative societies operate in rural areas for or different purposes like
marketing cooperatives, dairy corporative, farmer service corporative societies, consumer
corporative, and other multi-purpose corporative.
Utilization of Public Distribution System:
The Public Distribution System (PDS) in the country is fairly well organized. The revamped
PDS places more emphasis on reaching remote rural areas like hills and tribal areas.
Distribution to Feeder Markets / Mandy Towns:
Lux has established a good distribution network in the identified feeder market and Mandy
towns. From the feeder market and midtown, the stockiest or wholesaler arranges for
distribution to the village shop in the interior places.
Marketing Strategy
3.1 Objectives:
In this chapter, the team would suggest some recommendations to Unilever Ltd. To adopt
more successful operation in. Since a huge portion of the rural poor people had been
demanding LUX in recent days, Unilever Ltd should expand its target market also towards
the rural people. They should also conduct different promotional activities in rural fairs and
socially responsible promotional activities to attract rural consumers and social awareness.
Because Lux has different skin type soaps now if they provide different types of beauty
soaps for males and females soap under the same brand name i.e., LUX it might increase
their sales. Lastly, as culture children have a huge say in shopping so they should also
promote the product to children like their other brand "Dove ". These are the
recommendations suggested by team members to Unilever Ltd. to adopt for a more
successful operation in with a large market share.

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3.2 Target Market:
The Table shows that urban and suburban middle-class, and rural poor people part of the
population. Research carried out by Unilever urban rich people are more likely to buy
imported and expensive products.
Moreover, rural poor people tend to buy cheap products even without evaluating their
quality. However urban and suburban upper-middle and middle-class people tend to buy
affordable quality products.
LUX is not a highly expensive but an affordable product. That is why the company targets
urban and suburban upper-middle and middle-class people who are the second highest
population of a segment of the country. From the segmentation of customers according to
SEC, they target categories A, B, and C, because they are assumed to be financially well-off
and can afford to buy lux.

Socio-Economic Cluster Segmentation

3.3 Product Positioning:
Unilever Ltd obtained a good position in the buyers ' minds through better product
attributes, price, and quality, offering the product in a different way than the competitors
do. A positioning map of the company is shown in Figure (Positioning Map) to describe LUX's
position in the consumer’s mind on two dimensions, price, and quality.
Figure (Positioning Map) has been drawn with information gathered by conducting a
consumer survey. It states that though in comparison to its competitors the pricing of LUX is
the same consumers rate it as the product which gives them the highest quality.
3.4 Strategies:
The company claims that LUX is the highlight-selling soap. Moreover, some survey reports
also reveal the same result.
LUX falls under the category of toiletry products as a beauty soap. Though LUX is the
highest-selling beauty soap in, it does not go for traditional mass marketing. Moreover, as a
beauty soap, LUX does not even segment its market according to gender.

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3.5 Marketing Mix:
Unilever Ltd. Uses tactical marketing tools for marketing LUX.
Product:
LUX is an internationally renowned beauty soap brand of Unilever. Though manufactured in
for the local market by Unilever Ltd, as an international brand, it maintains an international
quality for the product. The formula is given by Research and Development departments in
foreign countries, LUX is produced from imported raw materials like sodium soap, glycerol,
and different extracts according to flavours, coming from Unilever plants situated abroad.
LUX is offered in six different flavours which are: LUX Energizing Honey, LUX Golden Glow,
LUX Nature Pure, LUX Orchid Touch, LUX Almond Delight, and LUX Aqua Sparkle. Taking into
account the convenience of its customers, the company manufactures all flavours of LUX in
three different sizes, 40gm, 80gm, and,120gm.
Price:
Though Unilever gives its LUX customers a lot in terms of the product itself, it cannot
provide better pricing. This is due to some constraints in the beauty soap industry. Beauty
soap is a product with a vulnerable demand in . Lux's price with its major competitor.
compare a company out research on competitors ' prices and brand loyalty when it feels the
extreme necessity of changing price prices brand loyalty test is exploratory research which is
known as Brand Health Check-Up (BHCU).
Place:
Unilever Ltd. has a huge distribution channel for LUX all over the country as its sales reach
more than 10 million pieces a year. The company has six huge warehouses, one in each
division and the product goes after they are manufactured at the Kalighat factory.
Location of Unilever Ltd.’s Divisional:
The company does not use its own fleet of transport for distributing its product. However, it
has outsourced its distribution process to various third third-party distributors, exclusively
dedicated to Unilever Ltd. These distributors then supply the product all over to a huge
number of retailers. Even though LUX targets the urban and sub-urban middle and upper -
middle class. they are distributing their products all over because of a recent increase in
demand for their product to all segments of the population.

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Promotion:
Unilever undertakes huge promotional activities to promote LUX which has topped the
beauty soap industry of. It spends almost 20% to 25% of its Net Proceeds from Sales (NPC)
of LUX for promotional activities for LUX.
Its certain annual promotional campaigns like LUX Channel Superstar and LUX Channel I
Annual Cinema Awards have made the product a part of the glamour world. Since the
1930s, over 400 of the world's most stunning and sensuous women have been proudly
associated with Lux advertisements.
Unilever Ltd spends a huge amount of money on promoting LUX through TV commercials,
newspaper advertisements, and billboards. Moreover, it also undertakes small promotional
campaigns at different schools, colleges, universities, and recreational parks with winners of
its Zonal Beauty Contests.
Market Research:
Underlying volume growth accelerated in 2010 to 5.8%, the best that Unilever has achieved
for more than 30 years. Unilever set out two years ago to reignite its volume growth and to
grow ahead of its markets. That is what Unilever are starting to do; its volume shares are up
in all regions and in most categories.
For better comprehension of Unilever, its marketing strategy, product quality, positioning
and placement, we present here a comparative analysis of its competitors. This part of the
report illustrates the market share of different companies in the beauty soap industry.
Implementation:
For better comprehension of Unilever, its marketing strategy, product quality, positioning
and placement, we present here a comparative analysis of its competitors.
This part of the report illustrates the market share of different companies in the beauty
soap industry.
Demand for the Company’s products, particularly the higher-end designer lines, is largely
dependent on the discretionary spending power of the consumers in the markets in which
the Company operates.

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5.2 Market Organization:
Organization - Luxottica Group S.P.A. and its subsidiaries (collectively "Luxottica Group " or
the "Company operate in two industry segments: (l) manufacturing and wholesale
distribution and (2) retail distribution.
Through its manufacturing and wholesale distribution operations, Luxottica Group is
engaged in the design, manufacturing, wholesale distribution and marketing of house brand
and designer lines of mid top premium-priced prescription frames and sunglasses, and, with
the acquisition of Oakley Inc. ("Oakley") in November 2007, the Company, through various
Oakley subsidiaries, is a designer, manufacturer, and worldwide distributor of performance
optics products.

Marketing Plan
The company signed a road map for the marketing strategy for this product. The company
has some channels for advertising this face wash. Those are:

 TV Advertise: As we know Lux contracted with some famous actress in Bollywood

industry. The company use them for influence the customers.
 Social Media Campaigns: HUL will collaborate some with ocial media influencer to
run heavy campaigns on social media like Instagram, FB

Budget:

For this marketing strategy the company will burn a lots of cash. Approximately the company
will expense as follows:

o TV Advertise: 15cr
o Social Media: 2.5cr
o Online Adds: 1.5cr
o Physical Campaigns: 3cr

Total expenses is going to 22 crores.

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Monitoring, Evaluation and Review of the plan:
Weekly checks will be made to ensure proper implementation, and quarterly reviews will include
course-correction plans. The indicators to be used included: analysis of the brand's sales and market
share, performance of the industry and competitors, analysis of marketing costs, and customer
reaction to new Horlicks campaigns.

Conclusion
The beauty soap industry of consists of a few producers in the industry. The demand for this
product is very much vulnerable in terms of pricing. Unilever is providing LUX. at a price that
is affordable to most of the people in the country. Beauty soap is an uprising product is a
greater portion of the population, both male and female, is now getting more beauty
conscious. As a multinational company Unilever with heavy promotional activities, has been
able to penetrate the market.
With six different fragrances, three different sizes, the international standard, and high-
quality design, as a product, LUX has been highly successful over the years. Its distribution
process is highly efficient. Its promotional activities, like the beauty contest, have been a
milestone in
attracting a huge number of customers. Overall, with its marketing activities LUX has been a
successful brand. The only place where rival companies are progressing is in giving
customers redemption offers. Research revealed that customers are highly attracted to this
sort of offers. These offers are not sustainable in the long run but still it takes away a
considerable part of LUX's sale in the short run.

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