Hindustan Unilever Ltd.

HUL is India's largest Fast Moving Consumer Goods Company; its journey began 75
years ago, in 1933, when the company was first incorporated. The company stirring
the lives of two out of three Indians with over 20 distinct categories in Home &
Personal Care Products and Foods & Beverages and also
one of the country's largest exporters. HUL's brands
includes Lifebuoy, Lux, Surf Excel, Rin, Wheel, Fair &
Lovely, Pond's, Sun silk, Clinic, Pepsodent, Close-up,
Lakme, Brooke Bond, Kissan, Knorr-Annapurna, Kwality
Wall's - are household names across the country. They are
manufactured in over 40 factories across India. In the
Rs7,000 crore by sales soap market, HUL’s market share
has dropped to 54.3% in March 2008 from 55.9% in
March 2006.

 As of June 2009, Lux is sold in over 100 countries.

 From the 1930s right through to the 1970s, Lux soap colours and packaging were
altered several times to reflect fashion trends. In 1958 five colours made up the range:
pink, white, blue, green and yellow. People enjoyed matching their soap with their
bathroom colours.

 In the early 1990s, Lux responded to the growing trend away from traditional soap
bars by launching its own range of shower gels, liquid soaps and moisturising
bars. Lux beauty facial wash, Lux beauty bath and Lux beauty shower were launched
in 1992.

 In 2004, the entire Lux range was relaunched in the UK & Ireland to include five
shower gels, three bath products and two new soap bars. 2005
saw the launch of three exciting new variants with dreamy
names such as “Wine & Roses” bath cream, “Glowing Touch”
and “Sparkling Morning” shower gels.

Lux Product line

Lux is currently a product of Unilever. The name "Lux" was chosen as the Latin word for
"light" and because it was suggestive of "luxury."

Lux soap was first launched in the UK in 1899 as a flaked version of Sunlight soap.
Subsequently it was launched in the US in 1916, and marketed as a laundry soap targeted
specifically at 'delicates'. Lever Brothers encouraged women to home launder their clothes
without fear of satins and silks being turned yellow by harsh lye’s that were often used in
soaps at the time. The flake-type soap allowed the manufacturer some leeway from lye
because it did not need to be shaped into traditional cake-shaped loaves as other soaps were.

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The result was a gentler soap that dissolved more readily and was advertised as suitable for
home laundry use.

Lux toilet soap was introduced as a bathroom soap in the US in 1925, and in the UK in 1928
as a brand extension of Lux soap flakes. Subsequently Lux soap has been marketed in several
forms, including handwash, shower gel and cream bath soap.

Lux soap was launched in India in 1929. The very first advertisement in 1929
featured Leela Chitins as its brand ambassador. It was branded in India as "the beauty soap of
film stars'.

LUX PRODUCTS COMES UNDER IMPROVEMENTS OR

REVISION CATEGORIES.

Lux stands for the promise of beauty and glamour as one of India's most trusted personal
care brands. Lux recognized the need for a compelling message about beauty that would
resonate with women of today Even sales price has increased year-by-year, huge response
from female beauties of India.

PRODUCT CYCLE
Product Life Cycle
Product Life Cycle

3
2.5
2
1.5
1 Produc
0.5 t Life
0 Cycle
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
Axis Title

A new product progresses through a sequence of stages from introduction to

growth, maturity, and decline. This sequence is known as the product life cycle
and is associated with changes in the marketing situation, thus impacting the
marketing strategy and the marketing mix.

The product revenue and profits can be plotted as a function of the life-cycle
stages as shown in the graph below:

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1.INTRODUCTION STAGE:

In the introduction stage, the firm seeks to build product awareness and develop
a market for the product.

Lux launched the world’s first mass-market beauty soap in the US in 1924 &
had been Launched in India in 1929.

i. At that time there was only one competitor of Lux, which was from its
own brand “LIFEBUOY”.
ii. The initial stages Lux was introduced in the major cities of INDIA like
Calcutta, Mumbai etc.

MARKETING STRATEGIES:

 Price =In the initial stages of the product, they offer the relatively higher
price than their competitor (LIFEBUOY). Because, they want to recover
their initial cost of making the product.
 Product = They offer only on product in the market. They did not come
up with the differentiated product.
 Distribution =was selective and only covers the major cities of INDIA to
get recognition in those cities.
 Advertising =In the initial stages, they allocate more advertising budget
So that more and more customers could be attracted towards the product.
In ads they targeted the early adopters, who were readiest to buy the
product.
The first ambassador, Leela Chitins
 Their distribution channel was through: Manufacturer Wholesaler &
Retailer.
 Promotion is aimed at innovators and early adopters. Marketing
communications seeks to build product awareness and to educate
potential consumers about the product.

. INTRODUCTION STAGE TO THE LUX

SALES LOW SALES

COSTS HIGH COST PER CUSTOMER Page 3 of 8

PROFITS NEGATIVE
 PRODUCT STRATEGY OFFERES A BASIC PRODUCT

PRICE STRATEGY USE A COSTS PLUS

MARKETING
DISTRIBUTION STRATEGYOBJETIVES - was to create the product awareness
BUILD SELECTIVE DISTRIBUTIONand to

attract the customers towards the product.

BUILD PRODUCT AWARNESS AMONG EARLY
ADVERTISING STRATEGY
ADPOTERS & DEALERS

2.GROWTH STAGE.

In the growth stage, their sales rapidly started rising.

i. They have expanded their market to the other cities of INDIA.

ii. Another objective was to maximize more market share.
iii. In the growth stage, company had the following

MARKETING STRATEGIES:

 Product = In the growth stage, the company had offered the same
product in the market.
 Price = In this stage, the company had changed their price to some extent
because of maximizing the market share. (Slightly cut down the prices)
 Advertising = In the growth stage, they had increased their advertising
budget as in the initial stages because of attracting the new customers or
to retain the existing customers.
 Sharmila Tagore, Hema Malini, Zeenat Amaan, Juhi Chawla, Madhuri
Dixit, Sridevi.
 Distribution = In this stage, company had expanded their market to the
other cities of INDIA. Their distribution channel was the same as in the
initial stages of the product.
 Promotion = In the growth stage, the company had also used the
different proportioning strategies to attract the new and the existing
customers

MARKETING OBJECTIVES = The marketing objectives of the Lux were to expand

their market to the other cities of INDIA. .

.
SALES RAPIDLY RISING SALES

COSTS AVERAGE COST PER CUSTOMER

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PROFITS RISING PROFITS

MARKETING OBJECTIVES MAXIMIZE MARKET SALES

 PRICE STRATEGY PRICE TO PENETRATE MARKET

DISTRIBUTION STRATEGY BUILD INTERNSIVE DISTRIBUTION

BUILD AWARNESSS & INTEREST IN THE MASS

ADVERTISING STRATEGY
MARKET

3.MATURITY STAGE
They modified the product by adding some changes in the product.

i. In this stage, few competitors enter into the market like (CINTHOL,
FAIRGLOW, SANTOOR, CHANDRIKA, FIAMA DI WILLS and
VIVEL).
ii. The company has expanded their market to almost all the cities of
INDIA.

MARKETING STRATEGIES:

 Product= The Lux has made the modification in the product by

introducing:
 Lux Almond, Lux Orchid, Lux Fruit, Lux Saffron, Lux Sandalwood, Lux
Rose,
 Lux International, Lux Chocolate, Lux Aromatic Extracts, Lux Oil and
Honey. Etc
 Price = The Lux products are now available at higher prices in the
market, the reason behind is that the company’s marketing objectives is to
maximize more profit.
 Distribution = Now Lux products are available in almost all the cities of
INDIA. Their distribution channel is same as in the initial stage.
 Advertising = In this stage Lux advertising has been reduced to some
extent because of the more brand awareness in the minds of customers.
 Recently, they have shown Aishwarya Rai, Karenna Kapoor & Shah
Rukh khan.
 Promotional Offers: ---- Like buy 3 get 1 free.

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 .
SALES
MAT
PEAK SALES

COSTS LOW COST PER CUSTOMER

PROFITS HIGH PROFIT

MAXIMIZE PROFIT WHILE DEFENDING MARKET

MARKETING OBJECTIVES
SALES

PRODUCT STRATEGY DIVERSIFY BRANDS & MODELS

PRICE STRATEGY PRICE TO MATCH OR BEST COMPETITORS

DISTRIBUTION STRATEGY BUILD MORE INTENSITVE DISTRIBUTION

ADVERTISING STRATEGY STRESS BRAND DIFFERENCES AND BENEFITS

MARKETING OBJECTIVES = The marketing objective of Lux is to

maximize more profit while defending the market share. And to expand the
market to all the cities of INDIA.

4.DECLINE STAGE
Besides of all campaigns for the sales promotion of Lux. The reasons for its
decline are:

 Currency fluctuations: Unilever products are in over 100 countries

worldwide, as a result, it is exposed to adverse currency fluctuations.
- For instance, in 2004, a 5.9% decline in turnover was primarily due to
a 4% appreciation in the average Euro exchange rate.
 Slow down: In year 2008 - 09 due to hard economic conditions in INDIA
and other countries the sales were highly affected as the consumer started
looking for some alternate products with a cheaper price than Lux.
 Competition: Lux has been facing competition from HUL itself
(Lifebuoy) & from other companies like: -

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 Godrej Consumer Products: GCPL, India’s second largest soap maker
with 9.2% market share.
- Fair glow brand, India's first Fairness soap, has created marketing
history as one of the most successful innovations
 Wipro: The presence of Wipro in the toilet soap industry can be seen
through their brands such as SANTO OR and CHANDRIKA. In the
southern market of India, it is a major market player in toilet soap.
 ITC: It entered the segment last year and has made a strong headway in a
short time by growing to 1.75% in just five months. With the brands like:
Superia, Fiama Di Wills and Vivel.

The marketing mix decisions in the decline phase will depend on the
selected strategy. For example, the product may be changed if it is being
rejuvenated, or left unchanged if it is being harvested or liquidated. The price
may be maintained if the product is harvested, or reduced drastically if
liquidated. .

.
DEC SALES DECLINING SALES

COSTS LOW COST PER CUSTOMER

PROFITS DECLING PROFITS

MARKETING OBJECTIVES REDUCE EXPENDITURE & MILK THE BRAND

PRODUCT STRATEGY PHASE OUT WEAK ITEM

PRICE STRATEGY CUT PRICE

GO SELECTIVES: PHASE OUT UNPROFITABLE

DISTRIBUTION STRATEGY
OUTLETS

REDUCE TO LEVEL NEEDED TO RETAIN HARD-CORE

ADVERTISING STRATEGY
LOYAL CUSTOMERS.

Some of the prominent variants

Lux Almond Lux International

Lux Orchid Lux Chocolate
Lux Fruit Lux Aromatic Extracts
Lux Saffron Lux Oil and Honey Glow
Lux Sandalwood Lux Rose
Lux strawberry & Lux peach & Cream
Cream Lux Crystal shine

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