Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
ABSTRACT
The market of synthetic detergents was valued at about Rs 112 billion as of 2012-13 with a
compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3%. Out of this, the machine wash or automatic sales has
been dominated by powder detergents, with a 98% share in the market, which has a size of Rs. 18700
Million. However, a much bigger segment of the market is the non-automatic or the hand-wash
category, which has a size of Rs. 85466.8 Million and is also dominated by the powder detergents but
by a smaller percentage compared to the machine-wash category, about 68%. The remaining
contribution comes from the bar detergents. Within the machine-wash category, the highest growth has
been contributed by the powder detergents, a CAGR of 9.5% since 2005, with the other sub-category
within the machine-wash category being liquid detergents. Also, the hand-wash detergents have shown
an impressive growth rate of 8.8% CAGR since 2005, which has contributed to the growth in the overall
detergent market.
Based on the literature review and scope of the research problem, two decision problems and four
research problems were identified. The former pertained to factors affecting consumers’ preference for
detergents, while the latter focused on the competitors positioning and possible gaps where the new
variant of Tide could be placed. Information was acquired from exploratory research in the form of
personal interviews and surveys and supplemented by secondary data.
Based on interviews comprised of traditional questions conducted across interviewees among
housewives, buying decision factors were identified. A list of features that customers look for in a
detergent powder was developed, grouped into sets of factors and the top features were identified.
Forming an LP diagram from these, the key requisites were identified to be superior whiteness, washing
machine usability, affordability, goodness for colored clothes and a few others. From these factors
combinations were made and 4 product concepts were designed.
Keywords: Detergent Industry, Liquid Detergent, Potential Product, New Product Development, etc.
Introduction
Over the last decade, India has grown tremendously and so have the incomes of its people, with a
larger chunk of the Indian demography moving into urban areas in search of better and more lucrative career
options. With this advent, there has been a significant rise in consumer durables as well, with some of the
earliest signs of this rise being shown by those which fulfilled the most basic of needs, like washing clothes.
As a result of this, there has been an influx of buyers in the detergent market, with more and more people
buying washing machine powders. However, this constitutes only 20% of the population. There is the
remaining 80% of them, around 200 million households, who wash their laundry by hand.
Market Overview
The detergent market in India consists of two major categories- the hand-wash and the machine-wash
categories. Powder detergents and bar-detergent form a major portion of the hand-wash segment. However, in
the machine-wash segment, the powder detergents and liquid detergents are the main types.
Total market of synthetic detergents was valued at about Rs 112 billion as of 2012-13 with a
compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3%. Out of this, the machine wash or automatic sales has been
dominated by powder detergents, with a 98% share in the market, which has a size of Rs. 18700 Million.
However, a much bigger segment of the market is the non-automatic or the hand-wash category, which has a
size of Rs. 85466.8 Million and is also dominated by the powder detergents but by a smaller percentage
compared to the machine-wash category, about 68%. The remaining contribution comes from the bar
detergents. Within the machine-wash category, the highest growth has been contributed by the powder
detergents, a CAGR of 9.5% since 2005, with the other sub-category within the machine-wash category being
liquid detergents. Also, the hand-wash detergents have shown an impressive growth rate of 8.8% CAGR since
2005, which has contributed to the growth in the overall detergent market.
Detergent
market
Machine-
Hand-Wash
Wash
Dominance by MNCs
The multinational firms have taken the bigger pie in the market share, with about 56% of the category
belonging to them. This has primarily been due to frequent product innovations and the higher advertising
budgets of these firms. This higher budget translates into a better distribution and also much higher visibility
in the retail stores. However, the relative success of the Indian firms like Rohit Surfactants and Nirma could be
attributed to a long standing customer relationship and more importantly, the fact that these products have
always been present in the economy tiers, thus positioning them as affordable brands and therefore catering to
bigger chunk of the customers, which has helped them gain the relatively larger market shares they currently
hold.
Figure 3: Market share by manufacturers Figure 4: Market share by Brand
Based on literature review and information obtained from secondary sources, four research problems were
identified:
1. What is the buying decision process for detergent powders?
2. What are the features buyers consider when purchasing detergent powder?
3. What are the characteristics a new variant to be introduced into the market should have?
4. What is the desired positioning of Tide's new variant in washing machine detergent powder?
The former two research problems would help us in assessing the consumer mind set and buying process.
The latter two research problems would help us to identify the ideal product features, target market and
positioning of the product.
P1
• Mildness on hands
Washing machine compatible powder needed in small
• Superior whiteness amount even in hard water. Remove tough stains and keeps
clothes extra white!
• Good for colored clothes
• Has fragrance P2
• Affordable (Price) Dual benefit washing machine powder and mild on hands
for bucket wash, protects colours and has a pleasant smell ,
• Usability in washing machine all at an affordable price!
• Tough stains removal
• Value for money P3
• Performance with hard water Keeps clothes sparkling white and protect the colors with
just a small amount. Work well in hard water and is mild
• Long lasting foam on hands as well.
From these results, we infer 94 % respondents are mostly comfortable with using detergent powder as
washing medium. Liquid medium is not very popular among the respondents. Also, 62% respondents use two
or more types of medium. From the aforesaid, it can be concluded that a new variant introduction might not
face a high level of difficulty in adoption among the detergent consumers can be introduced in the form of
powder as this form of medium has high acceptability among the consumers.
These results clearly show that 99% of the respondents use or have used two or more brands and
would probably try the new variant. In fact, 72% users would welcome the new variant as they use three or
more brands. Given this scenario, we can conclude that if the variant is launched with good promotion, there
is high probability of significant trials from the consumers. Therefore, a new brand should definitely not face
difficulties from large population of detergent powder users.
On the basis of inferences on each of the above three aspects, we can conclude that there is ample
opportunity for a new variant in the detergent powder market.
In order to verify whether these attributes are considered important by sampled consumers, following
information was taken during the questionnaire survey:
a) Rank of the ten attributes / benefits in buying the detergent powder
b) Rating of each brand used and each product concept tested on- (i) Overall basis, and (ii) Each of the ten
attributes / benefits
Two methods were used each based on the ranks and ratings respectively to assess the importance of
attributes.
Considering only the attributes / benefits with median rank less than or equal to 5, it can be inferred
that the most important attributes are superior whiteness, good for colored clothes (both having median rank
3), mildness on hands (median rank 4), having fragrance, affordabilit, tough stains removal and usability in
washing machine (each having median rank 5).
Regression Analysis
Overall Rating = -1.57 + 0.62 Mildness on Hands + 0.293 Good for colored clothes + 0.282 Has
Fragrance + 0.425 Affordable (Price) + 0.228 Usability in washing machine
The Durbin- Watson statistic value of close to 2 (1.79358, VIF values of significantly less than 2.5 in
addition to the above standardized residual charts ruled out any possibility of presence of auto-correlation,
non-normality and multi-collinearly in the regression analysis conducted.
The above regression analyses resulted in the following attributes / benefits being significant in
overall assessment of the detergent powder:
Mildness on hands
Good for coloured clothes
Has fragrance
Affordability (price)
Usability in washing machine
The descriptive statistics for these measures have been tabulated as under:
The following analysis was planned to select the particular product concept(s) for further consideration:
1. Understand the relationship between the three overall measures.
2. Rank the four product concepts on the basis of central tendency on each of the three variables.
3. Re-rank the product concepts on each of the three variables on the basis of significance of differences
in the measure of central tendency.
Correlation Matrix
Table 12 Correlation Matrix for Uniqueness, Buying intention and Overall Rating
Uniqueness Buying Intention Overall Rating
Uniqueness 1.000
Buying Intention 0.192 1.000
Overall Rating 0.569 0.769 1.000
The high positive correlation of 0.769 between ‘Buying intention’ and ‘overall rating’ is quite understandable
as well as the positive correlations among other pairs.
Table 13 Rank of Product Concepts on the Variables (All figures are mean values in brackets)
Rank Overall Rating Buying Intention Uniqueness
1 P2(3.86) P2(3.53) P2(2.48)
2 P1(3.51) P1(3.44) P4(2.29)
3 P3(3.39) P4(3.22) P3(2.25)
4 P4(3.30) P3(3.01) P1(2.05)
While comparing concept P1 and P2, a statistical test (Z-test) was used for differences in means as described
below:
Null Hypothesis:
Ho: Mean rating of concept P2 (MRP2) = Mean rating of concept P1 (MRP1)
Alternative Hypothesis:
Ha: MRP2 is not equal to MRP1
Appropriate test statistic:
Z - Statistic = (MRP2 – MRP1) / Sqrt ((var1/n1)+ (var2/n2))
Here, MRP2 = 3.868, MRP1 = 3.515, var2 = 0.409, var1 = 0.397, n1 = 68, n2 = 68
Z Computed = 3.24
Zcritical (CI= 95%, 5% alpha) = 1.96
Since critical value of test statistic is lower than computed value, null hypothesis (Ho) can be rejected and it
can be concluded that there is significant difference between mean ratings of concepts P2 and P1.
PC1
Variable PC1 PC2 PC3 PC4 PC5 PC6 PC7 PC8 PC9
0
- - - -
Mildness 0.09 0.44 0.00 0.18 0.33 0.08
0.47 0.22 0.59 0.07
on hands 3 9 8 7 5 9
7 4 2 4
- - - -
Superior 0.18 0.50 0.24 0.16 0.30 0.48
0.19 0.21 0.29 0.34
whiteness 5 4 8 7 4 6
7 9 9 4
Good for - - -
0.44 0.16 0.47 0.01 0.33 0.62 0.01
colored 0.18 0.12 0.02
7 3 5 8 1 2 7
clothes 3 9 7
- - - - - -
Has 0.14 0.15 - 0.22
0.48 0.02 0.10 0.46 0.10 0.46
fragrance 7 5 0475 1
3 6 0 3 2 0
- - - -
Affordable 0.15 0.34 0.09 0.17 0.09 0.23
0.01 0.73 0.02 0.45
(Price) 3 7 4 4 7 0
9 7 1 9
Usability in - - - - - - - -
0.45 0.21
Washing 0.26 0.04 0.29 0.21 0.13 0.01 0.13 0.71
5 5
Machine 1 7 4 3 8 0 3 2
Tough - - - - -
0.06 0.45 0.35 0.55 0.29
stains 0.30 0.39 0.11 0.09 0.00
6 2 7 6 0
removal 4 3 8 9 6
Cleans with - - - - -
0.33 0.43 0.01 0.26 0.25
only small 0.09 0.08 0.56 0.18 0.44
8 0 9 6 5
amount 2 7 4 0 4
Performanc - - - - - -
0.38 0.13 0.05 0.19
e with hard 0.25 0.36 0.08 0.64 0.42 0.00
0 1 4 1
water 7 9 6 1 2 6
Long - - - - -
0.23 0.18 0.48 0.33
Lasting 0.53 0.11 0.14 0.06 486 0.01
2 7 9 5
Foam 3 5 9 1 7
From the above result summary, it can be inferred that if we consider critical Eigenvalue of 1, 78.5%
of the variability in 10 attributes/benefits can be explained by 4 factors. However, considering the limitation of
the analytical tool, we considered 2 factors which would explain slightly more than half of the variation in all
of the 10 attributes / benefits.
Superior whiteness
0.8
Cleans with only small
amount
0.6
S
e 0.4 Long Lasting Foam
c Good for colored clothes
Has fragrance Affordable (Price)
o
0.2
n
d
0
F-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1
a -0.2
c Performance with hard
water
t -0.4 Usability in Washing
o Tough stains removal Machine
r
-0.6
Mildness on hands
-0.8
F i r s t F a c t o r
Figure 5 Positioning of Detergent Features
Clearly, the first factor identified has a focus on the usability in washing machine and good performance with
colored clothes. On the other hand, second factor mostly centers on superior whiteness and affordability.
Based on their factor score, a perceptual map with Factor – 1 and Factor- 2 as defined above can be plotted for
different brands / product concepts as follows:
1.2
0.2 PC1
0
-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1
-0.2 Surf
-0.4
-0.6
Ariel
-0.8
PC 4’s characteristics are the same as the current Tide Plus offering. From the perceptual map above,
it can be seen that it is perceived as a good whitening detergent at low costs but not as a washing machine
powder. Rin and Wheel are seen as good and affordable whitening detergents whereas Surf and Ariel are seen
as expensive washing machine powders, which are good for colours.
We, therefore, can see that there is a significant gap which exists in the detergent market (As shown
by the shaded area). All our new product concepts P1, P2 and P3 are positioned to exploit this gap. But, P2 is
positioned much more distinctly with respect to both these axes (factors).
Conclusions
Form the consumer perspective, mildness on hands, goodness for colored clothes, fragrance, affordability,
usability in washing machine are the most important factors.
There is ample opportunity for a new variant in the detergent powder market and launch of new variant the
detergent should not face much difficulty in customer trials.
There is a positioning gap in the detergent powder market and there is untapped need for a detergent which
has usability in washing machine, has good performance with both white and colored clothes and is
affordable at the same time.
The current Tide Plus detergent is perceived as merely an affordable whitening detergent powder and not a
detergent that can be used in washing machine.
A new variant from Tide, therefore, has a good potential which can be perceived as a washing machine
powder and is good for colored clothes as well in addition to the attributes / benefits of current Tide Plus.
Limitations
Due to the limited resources, the reach to contact the respondents has been constrained due to which
the results of this report cannot be generalized for the entire customer base of detergent powder. In addition to
this, the overall number of responses is very less, both for the qualitative and quantitative portions to actually
represent the whole consumer population. The results of current study cannot be generalized without prior
testing in to other cultural settings. Future researcher can boost the results of current test by studying the other
regions of India using similar type of study.
References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghari_Detergent
http://strategicmoves.wordpress.com/tag/detergent-market-in-india/
http://www.indiastat.com/industries/18/industrialsectors/107700/soapsdetergentsanddyes/11391/stats.as
px
http://www.mxmindia.com/2012/01/ghari-ousts-wheel-to-be-detergent-no-1-in-oct-nov-2011/
http://www.mxmindia.com/2012/01/ghari-ousts-wheel-to-be-detergent-no-1-in-oct-nov-2011/
http://www.indiacatalog.com/web_directory/chemicals/408.html
http://business.mapsofindia.com/top-brands-india/top-detergent-brands-in-india.html
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-04-22/news/29463111_1_ghari-detergents-indian-
detergent-market-detergent-brands
http://ankitmarketing.blogspot.in/2012/01/detergent-wars-nirma-wheel-and-ghari.html
http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/1089907/soaps_and_detergents_global_outlook.pdf
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2011-05-06/news/29517095_1_ghari-detergent-brand-
nirma
http://www.infodriveindia.com/india-export-data/detergent-export-data.aspx
http://www.indiatogether.org/environment/articles/tlink-1002.htm
http://www.planetexim.net/Product-Data/Export-India/detergent-cake.aspx
http://www.reportlinker.com/report/search/theme/liquid_detergent
http://catalogs.indiamart.com/products/liquid-detergents.html
http://suranjanmktg.blogspot.in/2011/10/check-out-retailer-magazine-july-2011.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tide_%28brand%29
http://www.euromonitor.com/laundry-care-in-india/report
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/laundry-detergents/buying-guide.htm
http://adage.com/article/news/p-g-reinvents-laundry-150-million-tide-pods-launch/227208/
http://www.ihs.com/products/chemical/planning/ceh/surfactants-household-detergents.aspx
http://www.equitymaster.com/research-it/sector-info/consprds/consprds-products.html
Annexure:
Quantitative Survey:
Q1. Which medium or mediums do you use presently at home for cleaning clothes? In case of more than one
medium, please list all the mediums that apply.
1 Detergent – Powder
2 Detergent – Liquid
3 Detergent – Bar
4 If others, please specify -
Q2a. Which brands of detergent powder due you use presently at home? In case of more than one brand,
please list all the brands that apply.
1 Ariel
2 Surf
3 Tide
4 Rin
5 Wheel
6 If others, please specify -
Q2b. Which brands of detergent powder have you used in the past?
1 Ariel
2 Surf
3 Tide
4 Rin
5 Wheel
6 If others, please specify -
Q4. When you buy a detergent powder which of the following features do you consider? Please indicate their
importance on a scale of 1 to 5.
If you think a feature is very important then give it a rating of 5 and if you think it’s not an important feature
then give it a rating of 1.
Least Imp <-------------------> Most Imp
Feature 1 2 3 4 5
1. Mildness on hands
2. Superior whiteness
3. Good for colored clothes
4. Has fragrance
5. Affordable (Price)
6. Usability in washing machine
7. Tough stains removal
8. Cleans with only small amount
9. Performance with hard water
10. Long lasting foam
Q5. Why do you use the current brand? Please indicate most appropriate statement from the below:
4 This is exactly the product I have always wanted to use
3 This is the best available brand in the market
2 It is a force of habit
1 There is really no other choice
Q6. A leading detergent company is planning to introduce some new types of detergents. Can you please share
your views regarding these different types of detergents? (Present P1, P2, P3 and P4 for alternate concepts.
Please fill up the table below using information received)
If you think the brand does very well on a feature then give it a rating of 5 and if you think it’s not doing well
then give it a rating of 1.
Arial Surf Rin Whee P P P P
l 1 2 3 4
Overall Rating
1. Mildness to hands
2. Overall Superior cleaning
3. Superior Whitening
4. Price
5. Fragrance
6. Cleans with only small amount
7. Good for Coloured Clothes
8. Tough Stain Removal
9. Performance with Hard Water
10. Usability in Washing Machine
Q7. Which of the following statements is closest to your opinion of this product compared to other brands of
detergents you have used or heard about and also new products we have just talked about?
Statement P1 P2 P3 P4
1. There are other detergents which are exactly the same as this product
2. There are other detergents which are almost similar to this one
3. There are other detergents which are somewhat similar but not really the same
as this one
4. This detergent is quite different from current detergents
Q8. Please tell us which of the following statement comes closest to how you feel about buying the product if
it were available to your nearest store.
Statement P1 P2 P3 P4
1. I definitely would not buy it
2. I most probably would not buy it
3. I might or might not buy it
4. I would most probably buy it
5. I definitely would buy it