Harpic brand marketing mix study

1. GROUP 25:
Ananth
Divya Goyle
Nachiketas Waychal
Neha Khullar
Reeti Nageshri
INDUSTRY
PRESENTATION

2. HARPIC: READY FOR THE CHALLENGE?
 Harpic, the leading toilet cleaning brand of
Reckitt Benckiser India Ltd, was launched in
India in 1984 and has seen tremendous
growth from 2000 in Lavatory industry
 It has a commanding market share of 80%
 But its growth story attracted other low cost
national and international players slowing
down its growth in last couple of years
 To defend its falling market, Harpic Brand
team chalked out strategy to increase its
penetration, consumption while ensuring its
market mix
 It attempts at allocating investments that
are optimized for maximum returns for its
brand growth

3. Situation Analysis
Company
•RB world’s no.1 in
household cleaning
has its brands divided
into 6 categories
•Surface care, fabric
care, dishwash, home
care, health and food
•Operates in 60
countries and sells in
180 countries with
revenues of 9.56 billion
pounds in 2012
•Harpic is a lavatory
care product with
options such as liquid
toilet bowl cleaners,
toilet bowl blocks,
cistern blocks, wipes
and tablets
Context
•Toilet cleaning industry
traditionally
dominated by
unbranded Phenols
(Rs. 500 crore market)
and braded cleaner
only Rs 50crore
•Liquid cleaners is the
dominant category in
the segment with 93
per cent share. In-
cistern blocks growing
at a faster pace.
•Liquid segment is
dominated by Harpic
with 70% market share
•Top 23 metros
accounts for 52%
share
•Large number of
customers use low-
grade alternatives
such as acids,
bleaches and phenyls
(37%)
•Market penetration
under 10 but is
growing fast
Competitors
•Major players:
•HUL – Domex (APDC)
•Reckitt Benckiser -
Harpic
•Dabur Balsara -
Sanifresh
•Cavinkare - Tex
•Henkel - Bref
•Sara Lee - Kiwi Kleen
•S C Johnson - Mr.
Muscle
•Local low cost acids
and phenyls
Consumer
•In India, cleaning is a
daily routine but toilet
cleaning is less
frequent (3-4 times a
month)
•Traditionally, Indians
associate cleanliness
more with visual cues
rather than hygiene
than the westerns who
focused on Germ –
free.
•Brand initially faced
slow acceptance as
its substitutes like
residual detergent
water, phenyl, acids,
detergents, bleach
overpowered
•Harpic was expensive,
5 times of acid which
was perceived as a
strongest cleaning
agent.
•A premium product
for the working
women
Collaborator
•CharlesdeGiorgio, a
leading distributor
handles the stores and
warehousing for
Reckitt Benckiser
•RB has joined The
Sustainability
Consortium (TSC), an
independent global
organization that
creates sustainability
standards for
consumer products.
•Successful
collaboration
between retailers,
suppliers and
producers will enable
the company deploy
transformational
changes on
sustainability
•It has also partnered
with global charity
Save the Children to
help protect young
children from diarrhea
with its heath and
hygiene products.

4. SWOT
S TRENGTHS W EAKNESSES
O PPORTUNITIES T HREATS
Negative
Internal
factors
External
factors
Positive
•Strong backing of the company
•Market leader in toilet care category
•Good brand promotion by advertising
and other media
•Good distribution channel that ensures
brand presence
•One of the most popular brand in the
cleansing market
•Tough competition means
limited market share growth
•Fake products with similar
names affects brand
presence
•Still major market not
tapped
•Should extend in rural
market
•Bring variety and
innovation in products
•Local players offering at low price
•Substitutes such as detergents
available for cleaning
•Increase in low cost private labels
•New innovative products coming
in the market

5. COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
Domex (HUL): with 18% market share, was launched as all purpose disinfectant cleaner
To tap the small market and compete against phenyls HUL reduced the price of Domex from Rs.42 to Rs.22 per bottle
As a frontal attack on Harpic, it relaunched as Specialist Toilet Cleaner with parity pricing, angle necked bottle and new
communication.
Sanifresh (Dabur):It uses volume gain strategy with heavy discounting but has very low presence in mass media and
hence low market share
Mr Muscle (SC Johnson & Co.): Launched in 2009, it has heavily relied on advertising on TV
Its positioning is based on surface care – science of tough cleaning so promotes for use in toilet bowl as well outside
surface and toilet floor

6. PRIMARY RESEARCH
Number of respondents surveyed: 60 Method of surveying: Store visits, telephone calls, online surveys
34
26
Female Male
Gender of respondents
33%
32%
20%
15%
Age Group
18-24 25-34 35-49 50+
30%
8%
62%
Living with
With family With friends Hostel/PG
23
37
Working Not working
Working/Non-working
13
47
Indian Western
Type of cistern

7. PRIMARY RESEARCH
9%
21%
2%5%
63%
Awareness of toilet cleaning products
Toilet care tablets In-cistern devices Rim blocks Rim liquids Toilet liquids
5%
3%
51%13%
28%
Awareness of different Harpic products
Tablet Rim block Flush matic Other accessories (brush, etc) None
71%
23%
4% 2%
Source of Awareness
TV ad Word of mouth Newspaper ad Other

8. CONSUMER SPEAK

10. IDENTIFYING THE EXISTING SEGMENTS IN THE
MARKET
Nurturers
Married women (working
or homemakers) that take
care of the household
needs
Buy the best for the family
in a budget
Seekers
Young, unmarried
working adults; living
alone away from home;
Adapting to domestic
responsibility
Variety seeking behaviour
and are looking for
discounts
Learners
Rural customers who are
still learning about the
importance and means of
toilet cleaning
Price sensitive customers
who are still using local
substitutes (if at all)
Planners
Institutional buyers who
make purchase decisions
for the company and
factory
Large-scale systematic
buying behaviour, do not
change brand preference
frequently

11.  Harpic, the leading toilet cleaning brand, was launched in India in
1984 and has seen tremendous growth from 2000 in Lavatory industry
 It has a commanding market share of 80%
 But its growth story attracted other international players slowing down
its growth in last couple of years
 To defend its falling market, Harpic Brand team has been chalking
out strategy to increase its penetration, consumption by existing users
while ensuring its market mix
 It attempts at allocating investments that are optimized for maximum
returns for its brand growth

12. 4 P’s
 Product
 Price
 Promotion (Communication strategy)
 Place (Distribution)

13. PRODUCT
Harpic is available in India as Liquid cleaner, Rim block
and flushmatic products:
Liquid Cleaners:
 Harpic power opti thick 200 ml
 Harpic Citrus arrow 500 ml / 1 Ltr
 Harpic Power Plus Original 200/500/750ml / 1 Ltr
 Harpic Power Plus Rose 500 / 750 ml
 Harpic Fresh Pine 500 ml / 1 Ltr
 Harpic Fresh Floral Toilet Cleaner 500ml
 Harpic Ultra Power Toilet Cleaner 500ml
 Harpic Plus Bleach 500 ml
Automatic Cleaners:
 Harpic Flushmatic Blue 100g
 Harpic Flushmatic Aquamarine Blue 50g
 Harpic Flushmatic Pine 50/100g
 Harpic Jasmine Toilet Rim Block 26g
 Harpic Pine Toilet Rim Block 26g

14. PRODUCT CONTD…
1. Harpic has adhered to the core value of providing an effective cleaner. However, it’s also
giving consumers added value attribute of replacing the regular disinfectant odor with a range
of pleasant fragrances.
2. Consumer is free to choose the fragrance of his own choice, while retaining the confidence for
the “Harpic” brand.
3. The launch of Flushmatic products is an innovative jump in the Lav Cleaner product range.
4. This has been developed to target that segment of consumers which looks forward to try and
gradually adapt to new kind of products.

15. Points of Parity / Points of Difference
 All Lav cleaner liquid products in India are
packaged in tilted neck shaped bottles.
This has almost become an identity of Lav
cleaners.
 Harpic “Ultra Power”s packaging has
been strategically designed so to make it
comparable with Domex Zero Stain: the
strong looking lav cleaner.
 Harpic is available in different fragrances:
this move was initiated by Harpic itself.
Other competitors are still seen catching
up.
 Harpic offers a wide range of products:
liquid, tablets and cleaning accessories.
This makes Harpic look like a complete
package for toilet cleaning. This remains a
quality unique to Harpic.

16. PRICE
 Harpic toilet cleaner liquid bottles are available in the price range of Rs. 26 to Rs.
117, depending on the size and variant of cleaner.
 One noticeable characteristic of these products is that the price remains constant
throughout all the fragrances in given variant category.
 The prices for Harpic power cleaner for ALL the fragrances are:
 200 ml Rs. 26
 500 ml Rs. 63
 750 ml Rs. 89
 1 Ltr Rs. 117
 The Toilet Rim Block & Flushmatic products are priced as:
 26 g (Rim Block) Rs. 52
 50g Rs. 43
 100g Rs. 75

17. PROMOTION
Broad observations from Harpic communication through commercials:
 Harpic has been targeting Housewives in its TV commercials since the very beginning
 “Harpic: smart choice” is the message conveyed through these commercials
 Every advertisement of Harpic shows dirty toilets that become clean after Harpic usage.
 Hussain: the Favourite Pati and Favourite devar award winner from Star Plus serials was the
brand ambassador till August 2013
 Now he is replaced by Vishal Malhotra.

18. PLACE (DISTRIBUTION)
Harpic (Reckitt & Benckiser) has maintained top notch quality in supply chain by:
 Leading the execution of NPD / EPD (New/Existing product development supporting supply
chains) and the continuous gross margin improvement programs namely Squeeze and X-trim in
Supply
 Leading activities such as harmonization / standardization, benchmarking, sourcing studies in
order to identify and develop further opportunities in South East Asia for Lav Care Category.
Availability:
 Harpic products are available at all kinds of retail
outlets like:
 Super markets
 Grocery stores
 Online retail websites
 It’s supply is so designed that it meets the demand of
all types of locations, ranging from Tier 1 cities, to semi-
urban and rural towns.