Godrej is the market leader in the hair colour industry with 35% market share. L'Oreal is the market challenger with 30% share. Godrej has adopted strategies like continuous innovation, launching liquid and powder dyes first, and making dyes available in affordable sachets. L'Oreal positions itself as a premium brand through differentiation and endorsement deals. It also launched similar products to Godrej at lower prices. Niche players like Wella target the professional segment. Indica adapts by providing faster colouring products.
3. Strategies adopted by Godrej
Proactive Marketing
• Continuous innovation in products, services, process efficiency, cost saving
Launches Liquid Hair Dye as the
First Hair Colour Brand in 1975.
Soon thereafter, launches the first
Powder Hair Dye in 1981
In 1995, Godrej made hair dye available in
sachets, thus making colour widely available and
affordable
Godrej Powder Hair Dyes re-launched as
Godrej Expert range of dyes in 2008
In 2005, The revolutionary
Godrej Expert Rich crème was
introduced to India. Doesn't
smell of or contain Ammonia,
nor is it heavy on the pocket.
4. Strategies adopted by Godrej
Market Leader Strategy-Being the dominant firm in hair
dye industry Godrej tends to control the prices and the
product features. Imitating it L'Oréal has recently
launched the Glossy Black collection
Counteroffensive Defence- Godrej decision to expand its
product range by coming up with hair colour in the
powder, liquid and cream form is a clear indication of it
trying to attack L’Oreal
5. Differentiation Focus Strategy-Godrej was the first company to
introduce the concept of sachets where by hair dyes were made
available in sachets.
Cost Leadership Strategy-Godrej provided the hair dye sachets at
just 10 rupees.
6. Strategies adopted by L’Oreal
Position Defence- L’Oreal subsequent to its introduction has been endorsed
by big guns. Aishwarya Rai has been the brand ambassador of its hair colour
products. This technique symbolises the manoeuvred approach of L’Oreal to
lure more customers and to create a brand image that is impregnable by
others.
Differentiation Strategy- L’Oreal charges premium prices for the cream
based hair colours making itself unique in terms of quality over the others.
Encirclement Attack-Has built a strong and segmented brand portfolio by
developing a diverse range of products. It targets the medium as well as
the premium segment with this wide catalogue.
7. Bypass Attack-L’Oreal was the first brand to come up with the
Professional Series basically to cater to the needs of hair experts and this
professional series is only available in saloons.
Frontal Attack- To cater the Indian market L’Oreal launched Garnier Black
Naturals similar to Godrej Expert at 2/3 price of Godrej’s and promoted
in Indian market by endorsement from Aishwarya Rai.
8. Strategy adopted by Niche Player
Niche Players:
1. Wella-P & G introduced its biggest global hair colour brand WELLA in India in the
end of 2010. The German brand is targeted towards the Indian women with an
exclusive range of professional class products in the hair colour segment. Though
it does not have much of market as of now but it can pose to be a threat to the
various professional segment brands like L’Oreal and Schwarzkopf.
Shahnaz Hussain- Shahnaz Husain entered market with herbal products. The targeted
group was high end customers. It captured significant market share in Indian as well
as European market.
9. Strategy adopted by Adapter
Indica as an adapter- It has been targeting the market leader by providing a hair
colourant to the masses that only requires 10 minutes to do the colouring work
whereas the conventional brands take around 30-45 minutes to do the same.