We have studied the market of Skin cream in India, segmented it in 4 ways, chose a company of study and a brand under that company, compared it with its major competitor. All the data are from reliable sources. I tried to mention them wherever I could. Moreover, this just my view of the market. It could be different in a million ways. We have used only secondary data here.

1. SKIN CREAM MARKET
STUDY - PHASE II
Ankit Haldar
Singal
Krishnakanth Goenka
Ratnavel Subramanian
Shravi

2. Segmentation

We discovered 4 methods of segmenting the Skincream market as:
 Price-wise



Low priced (Vicco Creams, Dabur, Boroplus etc.)
Medium priced (Nivea, Parachute, Himalaya, Ponds, Lakme etc.)
High priced (Neutrogena, OLAY, L’Oreal etc.)
 Due to
the kind of market, the price of the medium priced
brands were found to be pretty high and the quality of the
product also was comparatively appealing.
 As a result of this, there seems to be a huge gap between
the low priced and the medium priced brands.
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3. Segmentation
 Gender-wise

Male specific (Nivea-Men, Fair & Handsome, OLAY-Men, Gillette, GarnierMen etc.)


Female specific (Ponds, Lakme, Lotus, OLAY, CavinKare etc.)
Both (Vaseline, Nivea, Clean & Clear, Garnier etc.)
 We noted
that the companies did not want to create a
separate brand name for each of these segments. But
instead, to make it different they used a “-Men” in the
brand.
 This retained the brand image and also made it clear that it
was specifically for men.
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4. Segmentation
 Ingredient-wise

Organic (Himalaya, Lotus, Vicco)

Chemically extracted (Ponds, Lakme, Lotus, OLAY, CavinKare, Nivea,
Garnier etc.)
 The organic
skin-cream market contains very few players. It
might probably be because the market for this is not that
attractive or the result of these creams might not be very
effective.
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5. Segmentation
 Phase




of life-wise
Baby creams (Johnson baby creams, Pigeon, The Body Shop)
Teenage (Clean & Clear, Vicco etc.)
Middle-aged ( Ponds, Lakme, OLAY, KRACK etc.)
A Concise diagram showing various types of segmentation
and the prominent brands in each segment is shown in the
following slide.
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6. Segmentation
Price-wise
• Low priced (Vicco Creams, Dabur,
Boroplus etc.)
• Medium priced (Nivea, Parachute,
Himalaya, Ponds, Lakme etc.)
• High priced (Neutrogena, OLAY,
L’Oreal etc.)
Phase of lifewise
Gender-wise
• Male specific
(Nivea-Men, Fair &
Handsome, OLAYMen, Garnier-Men
etc.)
• Female specific
(Ponds, Lakme,
Lotus, OLAY,
CavinKare etc.)
• Both (Vaseline,
Nivea, Clean &
Clear, Garnier etc.)
• Baby creams
(Johnson baby
creams, Pigeon,
The Body Shop)
• Teenage (Clean &
Clear, Vicco etc.)
• Middle-aged (
Ponds, Lakme,
OLAY, KRACK
etc.)
Ingredient-wise
• Organic (Himalaya, Lotus, Vicco)
• Chemically extracted (Ponds, Lakme,
Lotus, OLAY, CavinKare, Nivea, Garnier
etc.)
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7. Procter & Gamble

The only brand under P&G in the skin-cream market is:

OLAY - (Launched in India in Aug,2007)
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8. OLAY – Start young Stay young

OLAY, a $2+ billion brand globally, launched it’s products in
India in August,2007

India’s Anti-aging market was Rs60 Cr in 2007

OLAY’s main competitor is “Ponds” by HUL
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9. Comparison - Positioning

OLAY’s Positioning:



OLAY positioned itself in the beginning as an “Anti-ageing” cream that
has been innovated on the basis of research. Its tagline was “Start
young, Stay young”. (It’s ad explained all the reasons for an aging
appearance in the face and presented OLAY’s cream as a solution)
As OLAY introduced more products, it changed its tagline to “Love the
skin you are in”
Ponds’ Positioning:



Ponds was revamped into the market right before P&Gs launch of
OLAY
Ponds was positioned as a quick anti-ageing solution (launched as a
competition to OLAY)
It launched Ponds Gold Radiance as a premium anti-ageing cream
priced similar to OLAY.
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10. Comparison - Product

OLAY’s Product
OLAY launched its “Total Effects – Anti-aging” cream after a research
on 6000 women aged between 30~60 of different ethnic groups.
 OLAY also studied its initial customers and came to the following
conclusions:
 Users of OLAY are mostly working women who tend to be in a hurry
to the office
 Climate of India is too humid and would create a discomfort
because of applying creams
Following these, they decided to launch OLAY anti-aging soaps too.


Ponds’ Product

Ponds was very similar to OLAY’s product.
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11. Comparison - Price

OLAY’s Pricing:



It is priced high and deemed a premium status right from launch
“OLAY Total Effects” 50gm package costs Rs599 (At the time of launch)
Ponds’ Pricing:

It is also highly priced and enjoys a premium status

It is the most expensive cream of HUL’s skincare portfolio
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12. Comparison - Distribution

OLAY’s Place:



The products of the brand are available mainly in premium retail
outlets and salons
It used P&Gs existing distribution channel and had separate channel
for catering salons
Ponds’ Place:


It was very similar to OLAY’s. But Ponds did not focus on B2B trades like
Salons
HUL’s distribution is very much spread than P&G, but since the product
is a premium type, it does not enjoy its advantages in the rural areas.
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13. Comparison - Promotion

OLAY’s Promotions

Its media advertisements involved celebrities like Kajol, Sushmita Sen,
Madhuri Dixit etc.





All these actresses are mid-aged. This depicts the product clearly to the
middle-aged women in India
As it is in the premium segment, use of a Bollywood celebrity in the middleage group clearly makes it an aspiration for the consumer
In spite of the various products other than just anti-ageing, they stuck to
similar kind of ads that appeal the mid-aged segment
OLAY also used the social media sites like Twitter and Facebook to
promote its product.
Ponds’ Promotions


Its ads also starred similar actresses (Karishma Kapoor)
Though Ponds delayed a little in the social media activity, it did
eventually follow and catch up (mainly YouTube ads)
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14. OLAY – According to our segmentation

Price-wise:


Gender-wise:




It initially targeted only women
With its recent launch of OLAY-Men, it would also target men
Hence, it would be Unisex
Ingredient-wise


High priced premium with its prominent competitor as “Ponds”
of HUL
Chemically extracted
Phase of life – wise:

Middle-aged right from its launch
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15. Ponds – According to our segmentation

Price-wise:


Gender-wise:


Its totally female centric as its brand has been so since its inception
days (more than 2 decades)
Ingredient-wise


High priced premium with its prominent competitor as “OLAY” of P&G
Chemically extracted
Phase of life – wise:

Middle-aged right from its launch
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16. P&G – SWOT in skin-cream market
STRENGTH
WEAKNESS
• First to target the market
of “Anti-ageing” creams.
• Strong distribution
network of P&G to tap
into metro and tier 1&2
cities
• No variety in product
(Product width)
• As it is targeting the
middle-aged, its
Customer Lifetime Value
is lower
OPPORTUNITIES
THREATS
• Development along with
its international brand
products
• It can diversify its range
of products into various
categories
• New entrants like ITC
(probably)
• Natural substitutes
• Brand image of existing
competitor – Ponds
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17. Conclusion

As a result of our study of the market and the subsegment “Anti-ageing” which constitutes to 10% of the
total skin-care market, we also derived in the following
data:



OLAY : 36.7%
Garnier : 18.9%
Ponds : 16.5%
Source : E.T (based on data of September 2010)
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