MARKETING MANAGEMENT - 1

END TERM PROJECT REPORT

Industry Category:
Beauty/Personal Care

Brand Selected:
Dove Shampoos

Submitted to:
Dr. Garima Saxena

Submitted by:
APO Group – 9, Section-B

Name Roll no.

INTRODUCTION

DOVE:

Dove is a personal and body care segment brand of a MNC company called Unilever. It started
as a body cleaning soap way back in 1957 in US. Named after the symbol of peace Dove really
has embraced upon its name as one of the gentle skin care brand which moisturizes the body and
to make it rough. Dove was later occupied by this great England Company Unilever under whose
umbrella Dove diverse into many divisions namely the Home care, Beauty and Personal care and
Food and refreshments.

UNILEVER:

Unilever in itself is such a large brand that it has a portfolio of 400+ products in its pocket and is
currently operating in 190 odd countries across the globe, one of the market leaders in terms of
providing beauty and personal care products Unilever leveraged some of its expertise to Dove
brand as a result of which Dove is leading in this segment in many European and Asia-Pacific
countries.

HUL – DOVE:

In India Dove introduced its hair care products in the year 2007 under the umbrella of Hindustan
Unilever Ltd. and since then it is climbing new market growth every year, the products line
includes the famous daily shine shampoo along with conditioner and nourishing oil for complete
hair care of its customers.
Dove has always been seen as a premium kind of product which offers value for money to its
consumers; upon this the brand has always been humble in its approach towards reaching the
potential customers with a motto of Positive beauty and Beauty that cares.

Recently Dove has introduced new range of products in Indian namely the Oxygen Rich
Shampoo which helps in moisturize the hair of people working in polluted environment and the
Baby Moisturizing shampoo for infants gentle skin which is also helping Dove to enter into the
new segment of baby products.

INDUSTRY ANALYSIS

Beauty and Personal Care industry is one of the dynamic industries among the Indian customers
and thus Dove being a part of this does attract many Macro and Micro Environmental factors
towards it.

Macro-Environment Factors are those which affect the industry from outside like the PESTEL
analysis, so the Dove shampoo faces the PESTEL factors in the following ways:-

POLITICAL:

Dove as a brand leverages on the image of its parent company Unilever’s image which being in
business for more than 90 years enjoys a stable political image across the globe thus helping its
portfolio products to leverage on its image value. Moreover, Dove has an advantage of
manufacturing products in India under the initiative of “Make in India” by the Indian
government.

ECONOMIC:

Unilever and its umbrella brands have always portrayed itself as a premium product which is
intended more for the upper and middle class consumers. Similarly Dove has also presented
itself as a high end product but economical in terms of price as compared to its competitor
brands.

SOCIAL:

Dove being a MNC brand does value the cultures and diversity of every nation in which it
conducts business and thus in India Dove doesn’t consider any race, color or class difference
when selling its product. On the other hand it is true that the Dove shampoo is more of women-
centric product and thus it assumes to be targeting women as their potential customers.

TECHNOLOGICAL:

Dove does make use of technical advancement in research to enhance the uses and effectiveness
of its shampoo on the polluted environment of India and thus brings in new product as per the
environmental conditions; also Dove uses latest technology to reach out to its customers by way
of interactive website and advertisement campaigns.

LEGAL:

Many big personal care brands Dove included face the problem of identical substitutes of their
product in the Indian market along with facing the problem of product iteration which adds to the
problem dampening the brand value of Dove.

ENVIRONMENTAL:

Dove has always been keen about its product being safe to use and consume by the users and
thus most of the shampoo varieties which are manufactured today by the brand are Sulphate free
and safe to use on hair, moreover Dove has been successful in achieving the PETA certificate of
cruelty free products on its hair care products range
 ORGANIZATIONAL ANALYSIS

Talking about the SWOT analysis of the Dove shampoo -

STRENGTHS:

 As known Dove as a brand has a premium product image among its customers moreover
Dove has the advantage of leveraging on to the strong brand image of its parent company
Unilever.
 Dove shampoo also has a great mix of ingredients in it that too are sulphate and cruelty
free which adds on to its strength of being a gentle product, moreover the fragrance and
smell of the Dove shampoo has a unique strength of its own to attract customers towards
it.
 Dove has been successful in implementing its shampoo as a product which enhances the
inner beauty and confidence in women customers by way of introducing wide variety of
shampoos to choose from.

WEAKNESSES:

 Being a market leader in women segment Dove still is focused on to the women segment
thus it is losing a larger market share of the men and baby segment to its rivals.
 Dove has been a high end product in spite of being manufactured in India and thus is
been concentrated to more of upper class and in metropolitan cities of the country with a
high price band of shampoo being offered.

OPPORTUNITIES:
  Dove can easily leverage on to its product image and look for more deep penetration in
the men and Baby product segment.

 Dove shampoo being sulphate free does contain paraben in some quantity which in the
long run does harm the skin of the users so it can look for more natural ingredients to be
replaced in the shampoo mix which will also help Dove in facing competition from
upcoming nature friendly hair care brands.

THREATS:

 Being such a profitable and reputed brand Dove does face the problem of fake product
imitation which hampers the product reputation of the brand and inculcates a negative
image among the people with respect to the product.
 Increased awareness of organic ingredients and effects of chemical shampoos have made
the customers more demanding in terms of chemical free product, so based on these
demands new products are taking away the market share from Dove.

CUSTOMER VALUE OF DOVE SHAMPOO

In India Dove introduced its hair care products in the year 2007 and since then it is climbing new
market growth every year, the products line includes the famous daily shine shampoo along with
conditioner and nourishing oil for complete hair care of its customers.

CHOOSING AND PROVIDING THE VALUE:

Dove shampoo has been mainly used to fight hair fall among its users and it also helps in
providing nourishment to hair due to its milky composition. Moreover the other value offered by
the shampoo is that it repairs the hair scalp from dryness and soothes hair composition so it
shines more and looks sleeker on every occasion.

COMMUNICATING THE VALUE:

Dove has always been keen to encourage beauty in its true form and shape and does not endorse
its product as a stereotype among women. It has launched various campaigns wherein the brand
focuses on confidence and inner beauty of women in using the shampoo of the company and also
made its tag line of “Be Beautiful as you have Been” as a trend among its users.

DOVE SHAMPOO STP STRATEGY

DEMOGRAPHIC SEGMENTATION:

Dove has segmented the market based on gender, although it produces product for both men and
women but still the business model stays mainly focused on women centric personal care
products. Apart from gender Dove has also segmented the market based on the Economic value
as most of its users are from upper and middle class family that too from tier 1 & 2 cities.

PSYCHOGRAPHIC SEGMENTATION:

Dove has always portrayed its shampoo as a product which enhances the already existing beauty
of the hair and has been very particular to set aside any stereotype with respect to color and race
while showcasing the advertisement. It has in the past used the successful tags like “You are
Beautiful the way you Are” for women to generate confidence in them while using the product.

BEHAVIORAL SEGMENTATION:
Dove has been targeting more of daily working women who finds it difficult to care for their hair
regularly and thus wants instant care for their hair, so Dove came up with an intense repair
solution shampoo for the same.

POSITIONING:

Dove instead of signing any renowned model or celebrity face in its advertisement always
showcases mother-daughter or women of all ages having different lifestyle hair composition and
needs at time of promoting their shampoo. They have been keen on depicting the message of
Beauty as a source of Confidence for women. With the introduction of tagline like “Be Beautiful
As You Have Been” and “Real Women Real Beauty” Dove has heavily emphasized on inner
beauty in specially women and built their trust in the product.

CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR

Based on our survey regarding the consumer preference and buying behavior, in the Indian hair
care segment market many brands have been doing a remarkable job in terms of gaining market
share and providing unique proposition but when it comes to Evaluation of Options available
with them most of the respondents in our survey chose Dove Shampoo as their first preference
and is been the most used and experimented product.
Next when it comes to making the Purchase Decision the 3 main factors which our respondents
considered important before making the final decision were the Hair type preference of the

Customer, the Value for Money the product can give, and the Brand of which the shampoo
actually is. These were the factors which came out as the deciding ones for purchase decision.

Being a MNC brand Dove has a great reach both on E-commerce and in stores where its
shampoo bottles are sold but what so surprising about the point of sale of the Dove shampoo is
that it has very well managed the sales volume on both the platforms as is evident from our
survey response where 75% of the respondents preferred buying the shampoo from supermarkets
and local stores and around 18% people preferred buying it from E-commerce websites.
PRICING STRATEGY:

Dove has always been considered as an expensive product which will burn a hole in the pockets
of the costumer but contrary to the fact Dove has a very broad pricing band in Indian markets
where a sachet from 2 rupee to a 1Ltr. Bottle of having a price tag of 650/- are all available with
Dove. Moreover as per the survey response most of the consumers are willing to pay from 100-
300 rupees for a bottle of shampoo which the very band in which Dove has most of its shampoo
products variety.

PROMOTION STRATEGY:

Dove has been very successful in promoting their shampoo as a medium of “Real Beauty” in
women and thus depicting the message of women self-esteem in its advertisement. It has very
keen with Dove to not to follow any stereotype and thus they never have any model or familiar
faces as the endorse of the shampoo in the advertisements rather than what they show is the real
love and affection between a mother and her daughter or for women of every lifestyle and
culture, along with it Dove also goes for sampling promotion in form of tie-ups with many big
hotel chains brands and providing their product as a sampling for the hotel customers to use and
thus making them provoked to buy the product.

COMPETITOR ANALYSIS

Dove shampoo does enjoys a great market share in Indian market in the hair care segment but
still the brand is facing a healthy competition from some of the other great industry leaders like
the P&G’s Head & Shoulders and Pantene or the local leaders like Khadi India, Wow Science
and Sun Silk.

As per our survey of the shampoo brands which the people use Dove has been the market leader
with 78.7 % of users followed by the Head & Shoulders and Pantene.

HEAD & SHOULDERS:

Talking about the Head & Shoulders unique selling proposition is that they carry the tag of
clinically proven shampoo which helps in removing dandruff a simple yet powerful statement to
attract people facing hair issues. Also the cool menthol variant shampoo is famous among the
people for providing instant cooling effect.

PANTENE:

Pantene on the other hand has a unique value of its own wherein it has come up with a two-in-
one functionality bottle containing both shampoo and conditioner, also the brand believes in
exterior beauty and aesthetics while claiming to provide smoothness to the hair.

DOVE:

Dove as evident leverage the brand reputation of Unilever and is a market leader in providing
value in terms of the quality of cleansing the hair and as an addition does provide an amazing
smell and product in every price band. Additionally most of its shampoo is sulphate and paraben
free which makes it the first choice of many customers.

DOVE GROWTH STRATEGY:

Given the increasing competition in this segment of personal body care Dove has come up with
the growth strategy to tackle the stiff competition from its rival brands.
 ANSOFF MATRIX

MARKET DEVELOPMENT:

Dove has done a remarkable job in terms of launching their shampoo in south Asian markets like
Vietnam where with the help of selfie phenomenon it marketed the shampoo as the perfect fit for
every women in every occasion, thereby increasing sale of the Dove shampoo in a new market.

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT:

In order to fight the increasing problem of hair damage due to increased pollution Dove came up
with a new shampoo variety known as Oxygen Rich moisture shampoo to add more volume to
hair and make them feel light at the same time, thus adding a new product to already existing
hair care segment market.
PRODUCT DIVERSIFICATION:

As more of a women centric brand Dove was losing out the larger market to upcoming baby
personal care segment to its rival like MamaEarth, so in order to delve into that market as well
Dove came up with a new product called the Baby moisturizer Shampoo for babies soft and
gentle skin in this segment under its Baby Dove portfolio to capture on in this market as well.

MARKET PENETRATION:

Dove believes in customer insights and feedback as a major factor and thus in order to penetrate
more into the existing market and capture more potential customers Dove has worked upon an
interactive website where it can communicate directly with its customers and understand their
needs and expectations from the product and thus has also been successful in achieving the
cruelty free tag for its shampoo and other personal care products thereby attracting in more
environment conscious customers.

Based upon these Growth strategies Dove is and will be remaining as one of the most trusted
brand in terms of hair care segment.
 RECOMMENDATIONS

 Dove can also look for introducing the 2 in 1 formula of shampoo and conditioner both in
one bottle and market it exclusively for working people who are facing time crunch
problem.
 Just like other Indian shampoo brands like MamaEarth and WOW Science, Dove must
also work more on the sustainability front by introducing recycled botttles and protection
of consumers skin and environment around them.
 Dove must look for increasing its market share of hair shampoo in Men segment by
introducing a dedicated range of products which are made to use exclusively by men.
 Dove must also extinsively market its shampoos as a Suplhate and Paraben free in the
Indian market in order to capture customers from brands like Khadi and MamaEarth.
 In order to deep dive into the Indian market beyond tier1 & 2 cities Dove must look for
bring in more pocket friendly shampoo bottles and supply more of sachets in this region.
 Dove can also look to introduce in family pack of shampoo containig products for all
Men, Women and Baby of the family in one single basket thereby increasing sales and
market share in all segment.
 REFERENCES

 https://www.coursehero.com/file/p6ts4g2/POSITIONING-Dove-Total-Repair-shampoo-
will-positioned-itself-as-hair-therapy/
 http://tahminaapriya.blogspot.com/
 https://krya.in/product-tag/dove-anti-dandruff-shampoo-vs-head-and-shoulders/
 https://www.marketing91.com/swot-analysis-of-dove/
 https://www.mbaskool.com/marketing-mix/products/16875-dove.html
 https://unmanabarkakati15.wordpress.com/2013/08/12/session-2-creating-customer-
value/
 https://www.hrstateofmind.com/home/the-power-of-dove-s-social-media-presence
 https://myassignmenthelp.com/free-samples/dove-shampoo
 https://www.unilever.com/brands/
 https://www.projects4mba.com/swot-analysis-of-dove/4927/