Answer 1:Swapnil Nagare (15378)HyderabadIndore

Market Share - High Price Sector (Retail Outlet data)Market Share-Total(Consumer Panel Data)Market Share - High Price Sector (Retail Outlet data)Market Share-Total(Consumer Panel Data)

SehraJaimalaRatioSehraJaimalaRatioSehraJaimalaRatioSehraJaimalaRatio

October7.216.72.311.275.874.625.6142.53.681.390.37

December6.9152.172.85.672.02512.46.10.494.91.60.32

February6.115.32.52.135.132.410.214.71.444.081.90.46

April6.314.52.33.14.871.575.414.32.641.941.50.77

June5.513.82.5513.82.76

The Consumer Panel data in both Hyderabad and Indore show that the market share of Sehra actually increased even when the early discount promotion was discontinued. But, the Retail outlet data shows that the high price sector share of Sehra decreased over the period. This could be because the retail outlets surveyed primarily stocked high-price toilet soaps and in direct competition with the high-price soaps like Jaimala, Sehra could not gain much market share. Thus, what seems to have happened is that Sehra gained high market share through customers of low-price soaps like Beauty Queen, Glow and Sea Green.

The demand for high-price soaps is higher in Hyderabad than in Indore (A high-price sector share of ~15% corresponds to a total market share of ~5% for Jaimala, which means high-price demand is ~33% of total demand. This figure is ~12% in Indore [1.7/14])

In both cities, total market share of Sehra was on par with that of Jaimala. So, the recommendation is that the company should launch the product nationally.

Following marketing strategy could be followed:1) Price: The emphasis should be more on the luxury part (high price) than the purity part as Seher was more successful in a non-vegetarian city indicating that purity in soap is not a deciding factor for buyers.2) Product: The strength of the perfume should be emphasized as it was reported that its perfume is weaker than Jaimala. This could be a psychological effect of the buyers as the blind product testing conducted by Seher actually showed that respondents liked Sehers fragrance more. Thus, a psychological effect needs to be built on the consumer through the marketing campaign.3) Placement: Market the product only in metros initially. As was seen in Hyderabad, even with low market penetration, market captured was high. Repeatability was also high. In lower tier cities, demand for high price soaps is low as was seen in Indore.

Answer2:a) Idea Generation: Marketing Manager decided to launch high-price sector soap.b) Concept Development: Jasmine fragrance based on existing product and vegetable oil to differentiate from competition.c) Concept Testing: Product Manager tested the aboveconcept in three weeks. d) Product Development: Multiple prototypes were developed by the R&D teams.e) Product Testing: Blind testing was done and best product was selected.f) Advertising Campaign: Product was advertised in select cities.g) Market Launch and Market Testing: Product was launched in the selected markets and results were analyzed.

Answer3:i) Product Concept: The decision to copy a competitors core selling point (jasmine fragrance) was taken and slight modification (vegetable oils) was done. A stronger differentiating factor should have been brought.ii) Product Development and Testing: A good process was followed for this step. Based on the given requirements of jasmine fragrance, multiple prototypes were produced and well-tested. Further requirements of wearing out should also have been incorporated.iii) Advertising Development and Testing: Ads were developed by an agency. A proper STP (Segmentation-Targeting-Branding) process was not followed. Ad was not tested before launching.iv) Planning of Test Marketing: Good plan of testing in two cities based on product-specific different characteristics (veg vs non-veg) was made. Also, reducing expenditure to account for national launch was taken into account.