The main cities competing for the test marketing are Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore. But we consider HYDERABAD must be the test market because it can represent the whole Indian market. Bangalore and Mumbai might not represent the whole country because of their extreme and deviant kind of people living in those cities. Hyderabad has an even distribution of income level groups which most effectively represents the whole country in this category of products. Also, Patna and Cuttack lack major features that are present in other cities which are being explained in the following graphs and tables.
Comparison of populations of the cities:
The following histogram compares the population of the cities of our consideration cities. The top cities are as follows:
-Mumbai
-Bangalore
-Hyderabad
-Patna
-Ahmedabad
But considering the families in the range of 25-35 with young parents the cities like Bangalore and Hyderabad serves a much more likely segment with the concentration of IT and software companies which is a crowded place for young couples.
Comparison of Literacy rates:
The literacy rates of the cities are being compared in the following graph. But the literacy rate may not give a full representation of the people using the baby shampoos. Since the families of low literacy rates living in the cities are capable of spending money in taking care of their children especially during their infant stages. Hence although there is a little variation in the literacy rates in these cities the total population and the total child population should be an important factor. But the literacy rate is an important parameter in understanding the lifestyle of the people. Hence it is being considered here.
Child population less than 5 years in the cities:
The pie chart below shows the top cities with the highest number of children under the age of 5 years.
The top 5 cities are as follows:
-Delhi
-Mumbai
-Bangalore
-Hyderabad
-Ahmedabad
Apart from Delhi all the other cities are in our consideration set.
Estimation of number of children born in each city under interest:
The birth rate of the states is not applicable to the major cities as there would be averaging out effect which might not give the actual picture. So we tried to converge at the number of births by taking into account the number of births at different scales of hospitals namely – Large Hospitals and medium scale hospitals. The Large Hospitals includes the Government hospitals as well as the best private hospitals which have more than 1000 beds. The medium scale hospitals include the nursing homes and hospitals with 200-1000 beds.
The average daily birth rate of these large scale (40-50 births per day) and Medium scale hospitals (2-3 births per day) is considered in calculating the monthly births and the yearly births.
|
Total Hospitals in each city
|
Large hospitals with 40-50 deliveries per day
|
Number of children per month in large Hospitals
|
Yearly births in large hospitals
|
Medium scale Hospitals with 2-3 deliveries per day
|
Number of children born per month in medium scale Hospitals
|
Yearly births in medium scale hospitals
|
Total Children born per year in each city
|
|
|
Hyderabad
|
523
|
5
|
6750
|
81000
|
518
|
38850
|
466200
|
547200
|
|
Mumbai
|
559
|
5
|
6750
|
81000
|
554
|
41550
|
498600
|
579600
|
|
Jaipur
|
226
|
4
|
5400
|
64800
|
222
|
16650
|
199800
|
264600
|
|
Kanpur
|
335
|
5
|
6750
|
81000
|
330
|
24750
|
297000
|
378000
|
|
Cuttack
|
202
|
4
|
5400
|
64800
|
198
|
14850
|
178200
|
243000
|
|
Bangalore
|
456
|
5
|
6750
|
81000
|
451
|
33825
|
405900
|
486900
|
|
Pune
|
360
|
5
|
6750
|
81000
|
355
|
26625
|
319500
|
400500
|
|
510
|
5
|
6750
|
81000
|
505
|
37875
|
454500
|
535500
|
|
|
Bhopal
|
320
|
4
|
5400
|
64800
|
316
|
23700
|
284400
|
349200
|
|
Patna
|
345
|
4
|
5400
|
64800
|
341
|
25575
|
306900
|
371700
|
Hence the highest number of births can be seen in Mumbai, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad respectively in the descending order. Also, if we assume that this birth rate scenario is applicable to the past 2 to 3 years these cities must have the highest number of infants under the age of 3 years. Thus if we consider the child birth rate the shortlisted cities are Mumbai, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad.
Product Name:
We have suggested 3 names to the shampoos:
Based on the herbal and ayurvedic benefit, the ayurvedic effect should be embedded in the title of the shampoo. Hence the name of the ayurvedic centre “AYURG” can be used in the title. This helps in both naming the product in the interest of the health benefits as well as it can use the existing good will of the ayurvedic centre.
–Baby Ayurg care shampoo
–Natural Baby pro Shampoo
–Ayurg care baby pro
We suggest “Ayurg Care baby pro” as a suitable name for the Hyderabad Market based on the interviews of the mothers from Hyderabad.
Selection of Packaging:
Consider the following comparison between the top brands under the baby shampoo category.
|
Brand
|
Quantity
|
Price(Rs.)
|
Brand
|
Quantity
|
Price(Rs.)
|
|
Himalaya
|
100ml
|
77
|
Baby Pro
|
100ml
|
95
|
|
200ml
|
149
|
200ml
|
180
|
||
|
400ml
|
350
|
||||
|
Johnson’s baby shampoo
|
100 ml
|
80
|
|||
|
200 ml
|
150
|
||||
|
475 ml
|
310
|
||||
|
Baby Sebamed
|
150 ml
|
425
|
|||
|
Pigeon
|
100 ml
|
110
|
|||
|
200 ml
|
185
|
||||
We can see that our brand is in the premium segment of the shampoos and will compete with the already established strong brand “Himalaya”, presently the only player in the herbal segment baby shampoo.
As per the discussions and interviews of the Mothers of Hyderabad we concluded that introduction of 100ml and 200 ml packs serve the market well in the introductory stage.
If possible a 50ml pack is also a good strategic move to the test market which also allows the parents to try new brand which is giving benefits of ayurveda.
Communication Strategy:
The product is targeting new and also the existing young parents. Hence the communication should be in focus to provoke the young parents to purchase the product although they are using other products till then. Hence we should follow a PUSH strategy.
Every communication by the company should be in favour of BRAND BUILDING. Every parent should think of Baby Pro when they want a herbal shampoo for their infant kids.
Consider the following strategies:
-For the parents of new born children:
Hospitals play a major role in the products used to the new born. Every hospital has a medical centre attached to it or the medical centre will be very near to the hospital. Hence the medical store keeper recommendations to the parents would be a great PUSH strategy for the new users who are in a new point of purchase in their life.
For this, partnership with the private hospitals and the medical stores provides a great door of opportunity for our new product. And we can do a point-of-sale marketing in here.
-For the parents of infants of age below 2 years:
These parents frequently visit the grocery stores, medical halls, small medical clinics etc., for the daily utility products and care for their kids. Hence marketing our product which provoke the parent to purchase our products by putting banners, posters and colourful hoardings etc., These marketing activities communicates the goodness, the benefits and the no side-effect nature of our natural ayurvedic product to the viewer.
Free Sample Marketing may not be a good idea for this category because the parents might not take a chance in using free samples on their children.
Hence we should make them purchase our product. The other typical advertising strategies like TV advertisements, Hoardings nearby the main roads, schools etc. will also makes the communication easier. Schools can impact the parents when they have an older kid studying and they just had a new born.
Product Positioning:
The product should be positioned on its CORE benefits as there is no established brand name in introducing the product. Since it has several advantages as follows:
|
Removes dirt and Moisturizes
|
|
Remove Irritancy and helps in Gentle
Cleanse/ helps in tears free
|
|
Preventative role against bacteria
|
|
Keep hair healthy
|
|
Viscosity and Fragrance
|
|
Cools scalp
|
Also, it uses natural ingredients in the manufacturing process. Hence these benefits should be highlighted.
The positioning should be in making the parents feel that Baby Pro offers the best results for their infants with natural ingredients and with no side effects. The advertising should be on the following line…
“Baby Pro offers natural benefits to your infant’s hair which removes dirt and provides healthy results with no more irritation and tears”
Sources:
-For population data: CENSUS 2011
-For hospital research data: Bridge Nation Research & Yellow Pages
-For other crucial data: Dr. Navatha Mahesh MD, Pathology; Dr. Nithya Rakesh MBBS,; Dr. Pragyan Panda MBBS
-For parental interviews: Mrs. Harathi Prasad, Mrs. Mani Gopal, Mrs. Laxmi Murali, Mrs.Rajani Rajagopalan and 10 other families of Hyderabad
[The solution was sent by Ambati Avinash & V Nanda Kishore from IIM Indore. They were adjudged runners-up for IMM Case Challenge 1.]
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