Reference no: EM133246631 , Length: Word Count: 3 Pages
Assignment - A simple Case Study question
Description - Identify the various types of consumer promotions mentioned below:
The Indian Market Place: Let us see what is happening. Lakme Moisturisers (60 ml Bottle) free with Lipton Green Label Tea, Rs. 35 off on buying Gillette series Deo Body Spray, Kaun Banega Crorepati Britannia offer, Pears soap free with every 200-ml Lakme Moisturisers, 150 gm Palmolive extra care worth Rs. 27 on buying 250 gm Colgate Dental Cream, 200 gm Kissan Tom-Tom free with every % Kg pack of Kissan Fortified Atta, 500 grams of Kissan Annapurna Iodised Salt free with One kg of Kissan Annapurna fortified Atta, 15% off on Bombay Dying clothing. Oh a very long-unending list.
Are we really talking about one of the most successful brands in the Indian marketplace? Aren't a brand is the sum of expectations that a stakeholder or customer has when purchasing a product or dealing with an organization, or is the mental image generated when exposed to a product or company name. Why brands are important for customers, whether they work for customers, or they simplify everyday choices or they reduce the risk of complicated buying decisions or they provide emotional benefits or they offer a sense of community.
Why company's are increasingly relying on a variety of sales promotion offers? and because of that customer is getting trained to buy on price, in effect the world is turning back to hundred years to the time when commodities, not brands, filled the shopping basket. Commodities are undifferentiated and are sold on price competition. Many brand managers seem to aim for a "me-to" position reflecting their desire to be all things to all people. Lack of uniqueness is commoditization, and it makes a brand vulnerable. But why is that happening, all these tactics given above used by the companies to increase their market share results in lack of uniqueness of a brand, which is commoditization.
So what do we need to do? The industry needs a "common change language" regardless of channel or segment. We must address and resolve the burning issues for long-term survival. The real issues that retailers and manufacturers must confront and resolve is that most branded companies are working to maintain and build consumption demand not brand/shareholder equity. The "commoditization" of categories and products is forcing suppliers to shift financial resources to support cost reductions in manufacturing and existing product formulations (therefore impacting quality) in an effort to lower prices and maintain desired margins and market share. Less support for brands and new product development is a dangerous sign of commoditization, where costs and price, not "value-added" products or services, drive decision-making.