Cottle taylor

1. What factors determine demand for toothbrushes?How can demand be increased?

Factors affecting demand:

Income, awareness, need for dental care and hygiene, modernization, population, culture

In order to increase demand we can do the following:

- Retail product positioning in such a way that it is closely placed to other toiletries in shops or malls
- Free samples at select malls and retails outlets
- Freebies along with toothbrush or toothbrush is provided free along with some other product in
order to get the customer used to toothbrushes and replacing it within 3 months
- By creating awareness campaigns at schools and high population rural areas
- Also introducing lower initial cost for low end toothbrush can affect the buying of low income group
- Advertise in way that it creates an emotional connect with customers and brushing with toothbrush
becomes a ritual
- Media can also affect the demand by doing positive publicity of the toothbrushes
-

2. How is Cottle doing in India?Has

Cottle's general approach was to enter with basic models and competitive prices, creating brand
awareness. Later it introduced more profitable and advanced products

It partnered with IDA to conduct research studies and dental health outreach campaigns. As a result,
Indians considered Cottle an authority on oral care and held their products in high regard. Cottle's
share of total oral care market volume in 2009 was 38%.

Cottle enjoyed a first mover advantage?

Cottle India focused exclusive on Oral Care.

Product Category: Toothpaste, Toothpowder Tooth brush

Products were sold in more than 4,50,000 retail outlets, from small shops in town to closet sized
urban sidewalk vendors to super markets & specialty retailers. As the market for modern oral care
products developed , Cottle planned to introduce ancillary products, including the mouth wash and
dental floss.There are no other major brand with deep pockets in competition.It gained 46% market
share, enough time to establish a good distribution network. Hence safe to say yes.

3. How should Cottle accelerate the development of the toothbrush market in India?
Awareness campaigns related to oral hygiene creating the need for toothbrushes
Communicate the effectiveness of various types of brushes and their functionality viz.,
simple, flexi or battery brushes
Target Indian dentists who would be potential recommender for high end products to their
patients informing them about its merits
Advertisement campaign including distribution of free toothbrushes and free dental clinics
so that people are not only aware but get used to taking care of their oral health.
Create correct product mix; introduce a few mare variant in mid-range section.
Introducing an oral care program in school so that awareness could begin at an earlier age.
 More efficient distribution network along with retailers understanding the product and able to
communicate to customers
Advertising in an infotaining manner

a. What are Cottle's target market segment?

Classified on basis of income:

Low income

Middle income

High income

Geography: Rural, Rurban & Urban

Gender: ALL

Also there are 500 million unconcerned Indians about dental health, they can be targeted through bringing
about awareness.

b.Which of these segments make most sense for Cottle to reach?

Demographic segmentation :-

1. Low income group:- People who are in low income group are the largest percentage of
population in our country. They are extremely conscious about their expenditures. So, cottle India
should target this segment with their low end products so that they can afford.

Geographic segmentation:- 1. Rural People:- A large no of population living in rural area are not
conscious about their oral health and hygiene and they use improper oral care methods. So, more
dental checkup camps should be organized in rural areas to increase awareness among those
people.

Rurban People:- There are few of villages in India that are quite well-developed and some cities in
India where people have lower incomes. These fall under Rurban category. They can be targeted
with low to mid range products.
9) Should Cottle spend advertising dollars promoting battery operated toothbrushes? Why or why
not?

The focus should be on spending the majority chunk of the advertisement budget on creating
awareness amongst the larger part of the population that uses the low and mid-ranged toothbrush.
Total population of India in 2009 is about 1.16 billion out of which more than 50%, i.e. approximately
0.58 billion people do not use toothbrush and use more traditional methods of oral care like
chewing neem. Hence we have an opportunity to tap the still untouched market of about 580 million
people and we can do that by creating more and more awareness.

Also the list price of the Cottles low end toothbrushes (the complete, sensitooth, freshgum,
surround and kidsie) cost in the range of $0.25-$0.35/unit while that in the mid-range segment, the
zagger & directionflex costs $0.52/unit & $0.98/unit respectively. On the other hand, cost of one
unit of a battery operated toothbrush is $11.64, which is 43 times that of the complete (in the low-
range category) and about 23 times that of the zagger (in the mid-range toothbrushes).

From Exhibit-4,
665 million people earn less than $500/year
23 million people earn in the range of $500-$1000/year
327 million people earn in the range of $1000-$5000/year

India still remains a place where majority of the population doesnt give attention to the oral care.
Most of these people belong to the lower and middle income group. Only 2% of the population, i.e.
23.2 million, goes to dentists on a regular basis. Also according to the case, about 80% of the
population makes less than $2/day which makes India a market of comparatively lesser spending
power. Hence focusing more on creating awareness by advertising for the masses, rather than
spending towards the battery operated toothbrush that largely caters to the high-end market, would
be more profitable and hence more helpful in achieving the targeted 30% growth for Cottle.