Analysis for the Test City
The success of the new product category of baby ayurvedic shampoo would depend on two primary factors, the birth rate or the child population of 0-6 years of age (since they are the users of our product) and the per capita income or the average household income (since the parents would be the buyers/decision makers for our product) of that particular region/city. In this case, the data of child population and average household income is collated for each of the 8 test cities proposed. The 1st factor is given a weight of W1 = 0.6 and the 2nd factor is given a weight of W2 = 0.4. The weights of both the factors are assumed depending on perception of importance of factors in the sales of baby shampoos.
|
City
|
Child population (0-6 years of age)
|
Average household income ($)
|
Child Population * W1
|
Average household income * W2
|
Weighted value
|
|
Jaipur
|
3,78,788
|
3278
|
227272.8
|
1311.2
|
228584
|
|
Mumbai
|
2,72,886
|
6326
|
163731.6
|
2530.4
|
166262
|
|
5,89,076
|
4192
|
353445.6
|
1676.8
|
355122
|
|
|
Bangalore
|
10,52,837
|
4102
|
631702.2
|
1640.8
|
633343
|
|
Patna
|
1,90,496
|
2540
|
114297.6
|
1016
|
115314
|
|
Hyderabad
|
7,25,816
|
5534
|
435489.6
|
2213.6
|
437703
|
|
Bhopal
|
2,06,967
|
2782
|
124180.2
|
1112.8
|
125293
|
|
Kanpur
|
2,51,127
|
3092
|
150676.2
|
1236.8
|
151913
|
|
Pune
|
3,24,572
|
6277
|
194743.2
|
2510.8
|
197254
|
|
Cuttack
|
48,585
|
No data found
|
29151
|
–
|
29151
|
From the above analysis, it is seen that the weighted value is maximum for Bangalore, followed by Hyderabad and Ahmedabad. Himalaya (our competitor in the product category) baby products already have a strong presence in western India including Gujarat. Although Newvo has a strong presence in Bihar and Orissa, it would not be beneficial to test launch in Patna and Cuttack because it would not be able to test the full potential of the product given the significantly less child population. Hence, we choose our best option according to our analysis as our test city, i.e. Bangalore.
Product Name
The name “Gentle Care” is simple and suggestive of the fulfilment of the needs of our customers. The name would attract people since the parents would prefer a shampoo for their baby which will care (cleanse + healthy + beautiful) for the baby’s hair in a gentle manner.
Pack/Packs to be introduced
Since the target segment would purchase the product only for a trial and do repeat purchase if the usage experience is good, it is expected that the customers would like to go for smaller pack size of lesser price since the purpose would be trial. Therefore it is recommended that packs of 100 ml is introduced having a price of Rs 95. A much lesser amount of pack size of 200 ml could be introduced with special offers on purchase that would induce the customers to purchase a 200 ml pack size instead of 100 ml even for trial.
Communication Strategy
Phases involved in the test launch would be:
The communication strategy for test launch would majorly involve BTL (Below The Line) Activities. The BTL Activities recommended are:
Fashion Parade of Babies: Organize a Fashion Parade for 0-2 years of babies inside the mall. The parents can use special accessories like hats, bows, scarves, sticks, etc to give a special look to their beautiful babies. One lucky baby participating in the fashion parade would get a chance to win the bumper prize of holiday pack at an exotic location in India. All others would get a chance to win gift hampers consisting of our products. This would help create awareness for the brand and also induce trial among parents.
Baby Rapunzel: Organize a BTL Activity in/outside of parks/ playschools/ toy retail stores which would include a competition for beautiful hair of babies. The babies with most beautiful hair would get the title of “Baby Rapunzel” and gift hampers of our product/ discount vouchers.
Training mothers/ parents for perfect babycare: This BTL activity will be appropriate outside the child hospitals/clinics. The mothers are quizzed on their knowledge on babycare and they could be provided with some pamphlet on good babycare practices and knowledge of our product is imparted to them. They could be given offers on purchase of our shampoo product such as discounted price or Gift with Purchase or Buy One and Get the 2nd at Half Price. Offers like Buy 2 Get 1 Free would fail in test launches since the motive behind purchase would be trial. This is a great platform for a positive outlook towards our product and hence a positive word of mouth communication in our target segment. Also, a personal advice from doctors would hold a great value to the parents on using our shampoo product.
Posters, Pamphlets, Wall Hangings, Countertops: Catchy, flashy posters, pamphlets, wall hangings would surely catch the attention of our target segment. Innovative countertops such as a colourful 3-D tilted cube on a stand on kid counters would definitely catch the attention of customers. Distribution of pamphlets and display of posters, wall hangers, countertops could be done at strategic locations such as :
-Playschools/ Montessory schools
-Children Parks
-Child Hospitals
-Kid stores
-Malls
Screens outside the Malls displaying our product and a short advertisement focussing on the benefits of using the product
Product Positioning
The primary features of the product corresponding to the needs of the consumers are given below.
The name of our product “Gentle Care” itself projects that the shampoo is gentle and cares for the baby’s hair. The positioning of the product could be done as an “Ayurvedic Solution to your baby’s hair problems”. The product benefits are made clearly visible on the product packaging itself (front side). The bottle is transparent with a baby picture (picture of a baby shampooing happily) on the front side. The idea is to give a warm feeling to the parent of a baby. The packaging could be done in the following manner:
[The solution was sent by Pooja Gupta from VGSOM, IIT Kharagpur. She was adjudged winner in IMM Case Challenge 1.]
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