Case study -Surf Excel-Unilever (Shubham Mhasane, PGDPM 1405018)

Case study on 

Marketing Strategy of Surf Excel-Unilever

Introduction to Unilever

Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) is India's largest Fast Moving Consumer Goods Company with a heritage of over 80 years in India and touches the lives of two out of three Indians. HUL works to create a better future every day and helps people feel good, look good and get more out of life with brands and services that are good for them and good for others.With over 35 brands spanning 20 distinct categories such as soaps, detergents, shampoos, skin care, toothpastes, deodorants, cosmetics, tea, coffee, packaged foods, ice cream, and water purifiers, the Company is a part of the everyday life of millions of consumers across India. Its portfolio includes leading household brands such as Lux, Lifebuoy, Surf Excel, Rin, Wheel, Fair & Lovely, Pond’s, Vaseline, Lakmé, Dove, Clinic Plus, Sunsilk, Pepsodent, Closeup, Axe, Brooke Bond, Bru, Knorr, Kissan, Kwality Wall’s and Pureit.

The Company has over 16,000 employees and has an annual turnover of INR 27408 crores (financial year 2013 - 2014). HUL is a subsidiary of Unilever, one of the world’s leading suppliers of fast moving consumer goods with strong local roots in more than 100 countries across the globe with annual sales of €49.8 billion in 2013. Unilever has 67.25% shareholding in HUL.

Brands in action 

From long-established names like Lifebuoy, Sunlight and Pond’s to new innovations such as the Pureit affordable water purifier, the range of brands is as diverse as our worldwide consumer base.

Unilever has more than 400 brands, 14 of which generate sales in excess of €1 billion a year.

Many of these brands have long-standing, strong social missions, including Lifebuoy’s drive to promote hygiene through handwashing with soap, and Dove’s campaign for real beauty.

About Surf Excel

Surf Excel, launched in 1959,is one of the oldest detergent powders in India and Pakistan. Initially the brand was positioned on the clean proposition of “washes whitest”. However, with the emergence of numerous local detergent manufacturers and the entry of other global brands, Surf Excel underwent various changes in its brand communication. This is in line with the global communication platform of ‘Dirt Is Good’ , which is a communication strategy of Unilever for its premium detergent products, sold under various brand names; such as Omo in Brazil and Persil in UK and France. Now the mothers have the freedom to let their kids experience life without worrying about stains

Success strategies

Surf Excel, as a brand, defines its own winning strategies, as:-

·         Winning with brands & innovation.

·         Winning in the marketplace.

·         Winning through continuous improvement.

·         Winning with people.

Surf Excel Market Share in India

The synthetic detergent in India is carectorized into:-

• Premium (Surf, Aerial)
• Medium (Rin, Tide)
• Economical (Nirma)

Among this premium category HUL leads market by 60%.

Marketing strategies 

4 Stages of costumer lifecycle

Uniliver believes in customer attraction, retention, growth & survival. They identify the ideal costumers, and group them as a separate costumer segment. In order to maintain & retain these customers they usually adopt the following measures:

• Customer segmentation;

• Customer profitability objectives;

• Customer lifetime value;

• Generating profitable leads;

• Low-cost acquisition of customers;

• Effective onboarding to reduce churn.

With this information an they develop both a targeted customer acquisition and

retention strategy and up-selling programs; furthermore, it also leverage the desired

communications channels in order to improve lifetime customer value.

In order to emphasize it they have generated their own 5 lever program; lets have a look at it.

   4 P’s (of Services)

 Product

Surf Excel came up with the idea of "Surfing along, par Excellence"!! It has a wide product range which includes-

• Surf Excel Top Matic
• Surf Excel Front Matic
• Surf Excel Blue
• Surf Excel Quick wash
• Surf Excel Bar
• Surf Excel Gentle wash
• Surf Excel Quick Wash Detergent Powder
• Surf excel blue
• Surf excel gentle wash
• surf excel bar
• Surf Excel Matic Top Load

Price

The pricing Strategy for Surf Excel have always been in accordance with its competitors.

A change in pricing strategy for HUL’s Surf Excel brand, which dominates the 5000 crore detergent powder market,seems to be on the cards.

The FMCG major conceded that its price reduction strategy has not yielded any value gains for the brand and had,in fact, led to its ‘commoditisation’.

HUL has announced a drastic reduction in price by Rs. 20 per kilo on surf excel,its premium detergent brand, making it equal to competing brand Ariel from P&G. Price cut from Rs 155 to Rs 135 per kg.

HUL is now reworking its Surf Excel Strategy by moving away from positioning the brand on functional benefits to building an emotional connect.

COMBO OFFERS

• Surf Excel quickwash 1 kg Rs. 146 + Comfort fabric conditioner 200ml Rs. 29 = Rs. 175
• Pay Rs. 163*/- for the combi pack and save Rs. 12/- *(inclusive of all taxes)
• 16 litre bucket pack free with 3.3 kg surf excel blue, & so on.

Promotion

They started promoting via various means like Print media, Electronic media, Live Demonstrations, Social Events etc.

Apart from these they made various catchy lines in order to gain customer attention & get promoted like:-

•  Dirt is  good: “Daag achhe hain.”
• “Phir waqt hai khelney ka”
• “Kharay ko meetha banaye”
• “The machine is not guilty,use the right detergent”
• “Surf Excel hainna”.
• “ Surf Excel easy wash, now has power of 10 hands.” Etc.

Lets have a look at a commercial used for promotion 

Place and Distribution

HUL distribution network – key strength (Which helps reach out its product across the length and width of the vast country). Direct coverage in over 1 million retail outlets 7000 Stockist 2000+ Suppliers & Associates.

DistriBution Network

Factory Company warehouses Distributor Market.

Factory Wholesaler & Big retailers (Bulk orders) 30% Sales.

They follow HUL’s Distribution strategy. HUL‟s distribution strategy has changed over time. Earlier wholesalers andlarge retailers used to place orders directly to the company. The company salesmen used to collect these orders and then deliver the goods to the concerned customers. This simple system was good enough in the beginning. But then they changed things in order to provide quality service to its customers. They appointed one wholesaler in each market as a Registered Wholesaler. This wholesaler was then theguy to whom all the salesmen went with the orders that they have taken. He handed over the products to the salesmen who then distributed them to the customers. This strategy helped they to reach more customers. As time went by and the competition got tougher, HUL had to make its distribution network leaner and meaner than ever before. Also, Surf Excel being a detergent powder is a FMCG. So they had to make sure that the retailers‟ shelveswere replenished in time. To do that, they had depots all over the country. These depots or warehouses stocked finished products and acted as buffers in case of anincrease in demand. Earlier the registered wholesalers used to get the goods direct from the company. Now the company sent the goods to the depots from where the redistribution stockiest.

STP of Marketing

Marketing Segmentation

Surf Excel divided the market into 5 major segments

• Quick wash
• Easy stain removal and whitening
• Travelling
• Water conservation
• Car washing.

Targeting

SKU’s (Stock Keeping Units) Sachet packs (Rs.2) of Surf Excel are targeting mass market consumer,convenience and affordability.

Targeting upwardly mobile group with increase in disposal incomes. They have basically divided consumers into three groups- Rich, Aspirers and Strivers and have compared target sequences from 2003 to 2013 and it was seen that in 2003 Strivers were maximum in number then next came aspirers and finally rich ones.

Positioning

Positioning of surf excel is due to:

• Brand name

• High quality

• Attractive packing

• Removes stains 10/10

• Dirt is good (every child has the right to play and discover his own world)