Nirma: Warrior at Crossroads

GROUP 6
Tanvi Kumar 221
Tannu Kartikeyan 509
Amisha Soni 409
Darshita Surana 427
Nupur Nishant 461
Basant Dudi 121
 OVERVIEW
● He initially paddled Nirma from door to
door on his bicycle, thus it's clear that the
reach was constrained by his capacity to
travel only a small distance.
● The majority of Indian marketplaces were
characterised by latent demand & supply
constraints.
● A margin to recoup an acceptable surplus
was applied to the cost of production.
● No-frills product opened the market to
what would later come to be known as the
economy segment.
● The organization built a salt mill in 1995 to
provide all of its salt requirements. Nirma
shampoo was introduced in 1996 and
showed remarkable potential throughout
testing.
● By 2004, Nirma washing powder has
earned the title of biggest volume brand
globally.
● As it continued to expand, Nirma
recognised a market opportunity in the
utensil cleaning sector and introduced
Nima Bartan Bar in 2000.
● Later it also moved on to enter the toilet
soaps category to which the market
responded favorably as it became the 3rd
largest selling soap in the country.
● With company branching into several
businesses overtime, the company's
detergent business started declining.
● Nirma is now a diversified company with
presence in different businesses while also
having plans to enter cement business.
● Nirma moved from commanding close to half
of the total detergent market to owning a
share of 10%.
● Brand recognition and recall played a
significant role in making Nirma one of the
top sellers in the country but consumers’
preference has been evolving with time, which
showed a lack of evolution.
● Nirma failed to factor in dynamism of the
market, and brand differentiation based
fundamentally on color could hardly be of any
significance and customers discovered that. 
● Nirma is a profitable business for the
company but it must grow if the market is
promising.
Challenges encountered
Inappropriate Priorities
The company’s priorities
underwent a transformation
as it branched into several
businesses overtime.
Nirma’s detergent business
started showing signs of
decline. It has lost market
share in a growing market.
It is a paradox.
Fabric Washing transformed
The Indian fabric wash
products industry has been
through a subtle
transformation. Consumers’
preference has been evolving
with time. Back in time in
seventies the focus was on
‘washing’ or get the dirt off
clothes. But with the passage
of time new consideration of
fabric care emerged.
Competition Multiplied
The detergent category evolved
no different from the category
law. There are hundreds of
brands similar to that of Nirma
in look, feel, performance,
names and even
communication. There was a
time when Nirma set itself apart
from others on dimensions
important to its target market.
But this is not true any longer.
 Success Story: How did Nirma capture the market?

Focussed on Bottom up Simplistic

Low Overheads
customer needs approach Marketing

● Minimalistic
● In house ● Provided unique ● Employed
packaging-
production value of money bottom-up
signaled
minimized proposition- High strategy, altering
affordability
CapEx Quality, Low Price- the business
● Simple
● Provided Aspirational brand landscape
communication-
unique value of for middle income
Catchy ad
money households
campaign slogan-
proposition
‘Washing Powder
Nirma’
 Causes of Nirma’s failure (1/2)

Lack of Focus Advertising Innovation Market Shift

Nirma was unable to Nirma continued to use Since purchasing power

recognise their areas of the same campaign and of the country increased,
strength. Nirma's did not innovate, while people were seeking
success was based on rival detergent aspirational brands more
its detergent goods and manufacturers went viral than economy brands
when it sought to expand and all-out with their and Nirma did not move
into other product distinctive advertising with the market and
categories but failed, it efforts and expanded capitalise on the shift.
saw a decline. product offerings.
 Causes of Nirma’s failure(2/2)

Lack of Innovation Diversification Consumer Perception

Nirma failed to They diversified by Nirma is inexpensive,

innovate the product expanding its product consumers believe it
since they believed line, but they didn't to be inferior. This
they were the market take the customer's may also be a result
leaders and did not wants and needs into of other FMCG
pay attention to their account, which led to behemoths like HUL,
surroundings. its decline. P&G premiumizing
the detergent market.
 New approaches to
solve the problem
● A yet small, but continously rising percentage
of FMCGs are sold on hyperlocal apps - Nirma
can partner with a few of them and increase
distribution. Can be especially useful for the
Nirma Advanced.
● The company was named after the founder’s
late daughter, so totally new rebranding is not
possible - but they can cost cut their
competitors if the price difference is clearly
visible - on any electronic medium.
● Social media campaigns - like movies are
promoted by starting dance trends of their
songs - an edited version of “Washing
powder nirma”(by Yashraj Mukhate)- can
create a new trend and boost customer
awareness and consideration of the
detergent.
● The ads of nirma from 1-2 decades ago
always used to feature women and
target them as well. Plus, they all had
the iconic song “Washing powder
Nirma….” and the soaps had “Tum
husnapari tum jaane jahan….” - we can
leverage such songs again, the new ads
have no such songs.
● The ads used to target only women,
earlier. Now they seem to have to
specific target audience and are
therefore all over the place. New ads
need to focus on women.
Implementation
The team
CEO

Wendy Writer

Dir. of Sales Dir. of Engineering

Ronny Reader Abby Author

North America Lead Asia Lead Europe Lead Front End Lead Back End Lead

Perry Presenter Vinny Viewer Molly Maker Casey Creator Berry Books
THANKYOU