RIN DETERGENT: TO POSITION or REPOSITION

Lever Brother Pakistan Limited, a subsidiary of Lever Brothers International, produced and marketed a
variety of consumer products in Pakistan. Its diverse line consisted of items like shampoos, skin and shaving
creams, edible oils, margarine, toilet soaps, scourers and laundry detergents in powder and solid bar forms.
Irfan Mustafa, General Manager, Personal Products and Market Research, wants to act on marketing of the
laundry detergent bar RIN. The product was introduced in Pakistani market in April 1984, specially
formulated and promoted as a fabric washer. Here we look at answering two persistent questions related
to the scenario.
Q1) What are the major problems faced by Mustufa?
Below mentioned are few problems faced by Irfan Mustafa, related to the marketing of RIN Detergent:
a) Since RIN was specially formulated as a fabric washer, Mustufa wanted the consumption oriented
towards the same direction. Seeing the sales trend, RIN had improved significantly in volume and
in 1988 the Actual Sales Volume were 1,550 tons vs 1,300 tons of targeted volume. However, much
to Mustufa’s suspicion, RIN was primarily being used for dish washing instead of Fabric washer.
The results below show the same pattern -
i. Fabric Washing – 15%
ii. Dish Washing – 65%
iii. Both – 20%
b) Customer’s perception of RIN was a big factor in not being able to position itself in the market as
Fabric Washer. Since the first launch the dish washing bar was blue in color, customers could not
relate with this brand as a fabric washer due to the packaging drawback. Secondly, the laundry
soaps in Pakistan were either Yellow or White in packaging, which drove the public perception.
Thirdly, retailers were not careful during the shelfing of this product, which led to confusion in the
minds of buyers.
c) The company offered various price-off promotional activities to increase the sales (mentioned
below). They targeted 50% increase in sales, but the promotional activities contributed only 10%
towards the sales increment.
i. Rs 0.50 price-off consumer promotion – 1984 August
ii. Rs 0.70 price-off consumer promotion – 1985 April
iii. Purchase 2 bars at Rs. 1 off by giving newspaper coupon to retailer - 1985
d) Lever Brothers Pakistan Limited, started with the distributor margin of 2.91% on retail selling price
in 1984. This was increased to 3.30% later. Distributors could also claim reimbursement of
traveling expenses upto 0.20% of the retail value of goods ordered. However, the incentives for
retailers had not increased over the years and remained at 7.4% of the retail price.
e) Confusing advertisement campaign as the customers linked lightning and thunder to rain instead of
brightness.
f) One of the major concerns faced by Mustufa was related to the right utilization of capacity. Even
though the sales crossed 1000-ton mark in 1987, it was still behind the 5000-ton production
capacity of the RIN plant.
g) RIN was also priced higher than the major products present in the same category of laundry
detergent (market of 2,63,050 tons).
h) As seen in Exhibit 4, there was major difference in sales volume for standard and large size bars.
Large size bars comprised only one fourth of the total sales by 1988.

1|Page By: Swati Gaur (Sec B)

Roll No. EPGP-11-233
Q2) What suggestions would you provide in relation to this case?
Looking at the facts given in the case, below are the alternatives that can be adopted by Irfan Mustufa to
boost sales of RIN Detergent, impacting the increase in turnover for the company.
SUGGESTION 1 – Position the product as RIN Dish Washing Bar
By relaunching the product as a dish washer rather than Fabric washing, the product can be reached towards
the wider audience as they already appeal to the packaging and usage of the product. Following implications
can be seen as a result of this decision:
i. Elimination of fabric was ingredient can help decrease the variable cost by 33%. This one third
reduction in cost will directly impact the profit line.
ii. With the reduction in variable cost, it will also benefit in placing competitive pricing on the
bars @20/kg and impact competition with the hard soaps in dish wash market.
iii. Small tweaks in packaging but continuing with blue bar will add a sense of newness in the
product.
iv. Lesser impact on Advertising and Marketing cost since there is already a sense of familiarity
in the market.
v. Ensure the distributors and retailers are educated well with the USP of the product and right
shelfing of the product is ensured.

SUGGESTION 2 – Position the product as RIN Detergent bar

To continue capture of the market as RIN Detergent bar and positioning themselves as stronger player in
the market, below are few suggestions and factors to be considered:
I. Revamp the product by changing the color and packaging of the product
II. RIN being the only product placed as NSD bar in the market, it will be beneficial to tap
this opportunity and penetrate to market this as a unique product.
III. It can continue reaping the benefit from the sales of the product as a dish washer.
IV. With few product modifications, it can be relaunched as a fabric washer.
V. Continue with the new advertising campaign that endorsed RIN as a superior fabric
washing product. It lathered more profusely and gave cleaner, brighter and more
economical wash than soaps.
VI. A well-known female movie star with catchy tagline will attract the right segment people
for purchase.
VII. Present formula that focuses on fragrance and creating its own identity will help in placing
the product at the premium of @30/kg and target sales equal to the current production
capacity.

………………………………………………. THANK YOU ………………………………………………

2|Page By: Swati Gaur (Sec B)

Roll No. EPGP-11-233