Consumer Behavior Towards Ariel and Surf Excel Essays

Consumer Behavior Towards Ariel and Surf Excel Essays Consumer Behavior Towards Ariel and Surf Excel Paper Consumer Behavior Towards Ariel and Surf Excel Paper Introduction of FMCG Industry The FMCG sector which has been the foundation of the Indian Economy, started to take its shape only during the last fifty odd years. The sector touches each facet of human life providing consumers non-durable goods required for daily or regular use. So, it easier said than done to describe an industry whose range is so huge. The FMCG sector consists mainly of sub segments like personal care, oral care and household products. HUL, PG, Britannia are the major Indian consumer product companies which have very strong presence through their strong brands. The wide distribution network, diversified portfolios and scale economies of these companies deter new players from entering into the market. Therefore, Brand Equity is an extremely important factor in FMCG Industry where as ability to build, develop, and maintain a wide distribution network is one of the critical factors. . History of Fabric Wash Market In India The size of fabric wash market in India is around Rs. 800 crores whereas the total volume is about 2. 3 millions. Hindustan Lever Limited (HUL), Procter and Gamble (PG) key players in fabric market of India. Surf Excel enjoys 37. 8% market share compared to 7. 7% of Ariel. The per capita consumption of detergents in India is 2. 7 kg per annum. The synthetic detergent market can be classified into three main categories: * Premium (Surf Excel and Ariel) – 15% of total market * Mid Price (Rin an d Wheel) – 40% of total market * Popular (Nirma) – 45% of total market Surf Excel Surf Excel is product of Hindustan Lever Limited (HUL), which was formed in the year 1933 as Lever Brothers India Limited and came into being in 1956 as Hindustan Lever Limited through the merger of Lever Brothers, Hindustan Vanaspathi Manufacturing Company Limited and United Traders Limited. The company believes that dirt is a valuable way to enhance lives, both young and old. To make certain everyone, anywhere in the country, can contribute to in this imitative, Unilever invests heavily in developing a range that suits the pockets of all income groups. This has included launching affordable packs that not only offer the top clean advantage of Surf Excel, but also reduce the time, physical effort and amount of water needed to wash the clothes by hand. Surf Excel products in the market are Surf Excel Blue, Surf Excel Quick Wash, Surf Excel Automatic and Surf Excel Detergent Bar. Ariel Ariel, a product of Procter and Gamble (PG), was introduced in India in the year 1991. Procter and Gamble is a marketing range of consumer goods product. Ariel detergent gives impeccable cleaning in stain removal. It contains unique ingredients that cannot be found in other detergents, thus it is designed to remove a multitude of stains better. Ariel is perfect for everybody washing needs. The unique formula bas been designed to give brilliant cleaning and long lasting freshness. Ariel is available in three variants namely, Ariel Fresh Clean, Ariel Spring Clean and Ariel Front or Mar. Total Customer Benefits Total customer benefit is the difference between total customer cost and total customer values. Total customer cost is the cost that customer expects to incur in evaluating, obtaining, using and disposing of the product or service. Every value deliver to customer involves cost. Total customer value is the perceived benefit that the customer associated with the product. It’s not only about the core benefit of the product but the number of the benefit associated. Mainly in customers look for the function such as: The customer cost in purchasing Surf Excel is low because of availability of the product due to wide spread network of HUL, strong brand recognition and heavy advertisement. The customers save cost in evaluating the brand with competitors and also save the cost in purchasing also. While purchasing the product customer will not only look for the benefit, he will also look for availability of the product, the price of the product and the cluster of benefit they will get if associated with this product very true for the company where there is intensify competition product between Surf Excel and Ariel. The total customer benefit and cost plays very important role in order to create the brand loyalty especially in such low involvement products. So it can be broadly categorized into the following: Economic benefit: Surf Excel was first brand to be introduced in Indian market than Ariel. The price offered by the both competing brand is genuine in nature. A Price of Surf Excel 20 gram sachets costs Rs. 1. 50 where as price of Ariel in 20 gram sachets costs Rs. 2. Psychological benefit: Surf Excel has psychological advantage over Ariel and has become a generic name for detergent category creating association in mind of its customer. Surf Excel advertisement campaign such as â€Å"Daag donthe rah jaoge (1990)†, â€Å"Jaise Bhi Daag ho, Surf Excel hai na (1996)†, Daag Acche Hai Na (2005)† have slogan Daag with continuity which makes consumers remember and recognize it. Functional benefit: Both the detergent concentrates on stain removal and top cleaning which reduces the time and effort taken to wash the clothes. Packaging of Surf Excel and Ariel is very attractive. In surf excel the consumers can use less quantity of detergents when compared to Ariel which consumes more detergents. Comparison of Total Customer Benefit Available to Surf Excel and Ariel Surf Excel * Customers believe that dirt is a valuable way to improve their lives. * It reduces the time, physical effort amount of water needed to wash clothes by hand. * Surf excel completely cleans all the stains in just one wash. * It saves energy and water, while washing for the customer. * It reduces wrinkling so less ironing required. * Surf excels anti bacterial formula doesn’t allow germs to form while sweating. It is a detergent which takes care of customer hands also because it doesn’t dry the skin. * It is available in different variants for different types of customers. * It is perceived as premium brand. * Success of slogan – Dirt are good. Ariel * Ariel is focusing on product innovation to address the changing consumer’s needs and values. * Ariel is associating the brand with customers on the bases to give them superior quality makes the ground for customer to provide a theme which cause to have happiness. * It is a trusted and a premium brand in India. Ariel product has a very good fragrance. * It is available in variants as well. Point of Difference It is basically a characteristic or benefits consumer associated with the brand that can’t cater to them by the competing brand. Basically it is unique feature that is possessed by your product only. Point of Difference in Surf Excel and Ariel * Emotion Appeal on Advertisement: Surf Excel focuses on kids and their learning process on their advertisements where has Ariel focus is on mother and cause of marketing for charity by hiring celebrities. Slogan: Almost all slogans of Surf Excel there is continual use of â€Å"Daag† which has helped Surf Excel to have psychological advantage over Ariel by creating association in mind of its customers. * Content of Bleach: Ariel has larger amount of bleach for better cleaning of white fabric giving more shine and clean look. But in the case of Sur f Excel active ingredients is formulated with high quality phosphate builders and multi-active surfactant system to give superior cleaning and stain removal. * Harm on skin: Due to presence of high bleach content in Ariel it’s harmful for skin. Brand Loyalty: Surf Excel maintains brand loyalty among its consumers where as Ariel is focused on increasing brand loyalty among the consumers. * Product: Surf Excel is launching product extension but Ariel is doing product innovation. Points of Parity Point of Parity is not necessary unique features and attributes to the brand but these features and attributes can be shared with other brand as well. Points of Parity among Surf Excel and Ariel * Both available in Variants: Both the brand Surf Excel and Ariel has varieties in their product that are offered at market for consumers. The different products of Surf Excel are Surf Excel Blue, Surf Excel Quick Wash, Surf Excel Automatic and Surf Excel Detergent Bar. Similarly, the different products of Ariel are Ariel Fresh Clean, Ariel Spring Clean and Ariel Front or Mart. * Penetration on Rural Areas: Both the detergent company focuses to penetrate in rural areas identifying new market segment for growth. * Price: Surf Excel price are slightly lower than compared to price of Ariel in small sachets of 20 gm. The cost price of 20 gm sachets of Surf Excel costs Rs. 1. 50 where as cost price of same quantity of Ariel costs Rs. . 50. * Opportunities: Both the brand of detergent is addressing growing needs of rural areas. The increase in level of income of people will help to open new market share. Customer Value Comparison between Surf Excel and Ariel In present marketplace, a company must integrate its traditional business function to provide a superior value to targeted customers because the value provided serves cus tomer best interest. Customers buy value, not product or features. Moreover, the customers buy it from the company that provides the most value. And the company also succeeds in attracting new customers is able to continually improve the value that are offered to existing customers for customer retention. Surf Excel Unilever has introduced concentrated version of detergent and adopted recycled materials and also using fewer colors on its labels in order to minimize impacts on the environment. Surf Excel introduced Surf Quick wash, the first eco-friendly detergent into the country being aware to the increasing concerns on environmental pollution and water scarcity problems. Surf Quick wash is low lather variant and uses almost half the water other detergents need. In customers point of view surf excel is available in every areas of retail market where the cost incurred by the consumers are minimum due to availability of product, brand recognition, advertisements are more regular by keeping the themes same and changing the perception of ads in nature. The offer of bucket in Surf excel is helping the manufactures from transferring stock from retail shop to their home. Ariel Ariel contains unique fragrance in detergents with new technology based detergent. It is more focused on product innovation to attract new consumers from existing brands in the present market. Though Ariel is expensive, it has good performance and it protects color. Economic Benefit: If we calculate the initial expenses that we have to make in order to purchase the Ariel it seems in the higher side than to purchase of Surf Excel but if calculation is made on per day Surf Excel is far cheaper than Ariel. If the comparison is made with Ariel here also Surf Excel wins the battle. Since the price of the product of Surf Excel are cheaper than Ariel. Psychological Benefit: Both the product are detergent for fabric wash and both are effective in nature, but the basic problem of Ariel is their harsh on skin due to content of bleach used in it for better cleaning. However, in case of Surf Excel does not harm skin because it’s milder than compared to the Ariel. Functional Benefit: Both detergents removes a multitude of stains better but Surf Excel uses little quantity of detergent for washing clothes when compared to over Ariel and it also reduces the time, physical effort and amount of water needed to wash clothes by hands. Ariel protects the color and Surf Excel dose not protects the color. Conclusion and recommendation Surf Excel spends huge amount of money on advertising due to impulsive buying behavior of consumer. There is competitive pricing between the products of Surf Excel and Ariel in order to attract the customers who are very sensitive to the price. HUL keeps price of Surf Excel with regard to price of Ariel. The cost of 1 kg of Surf Excel costs Rs. 110 per kg and cost of 1 kg Ariel costs Rs. 115 per kg. The rising income of the people is opening door for more market share. Both the brand have Brand Breadth, customers will appreciate if the companies will introduce new product like liquid detergent for color clothes to maintain brightness. Bibliography surfexcel. in/ (April 08, 2011) pg-india. com/hp/ariel2. htm(April 11, 2011) icmrindia. org/casestudies/catalogue/Marketing/MKTG246. htm (April 12, 2011) http://ebookee. org/Value-Based-Marketing-for-Bottom-Line-success-5-Steps-to-Creating-Customer-Value_945828. html (April 09, 2011) http://scribd. com/doc/ (April 04, 2011)