CASE STUDY ON LAKME REINVENT MARKETING STRATEGY

Submitted To Submitted ByDr. Rupa Rathee Vardha Mago 12001432058 MBI (10 sem)

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INTRODUCTION

The cosmetic industry is a very lucrative, innovative fast paced industry. Innovation is the key to success, as product life cycles tend to be short for the makeup category. A number of cosmetic companies around the world are competing against one another to capture a share of the multi-billion dollar cosmetic market. Cosmetics have been around for thousands of years. When people hear the word “cosmetics”, they tend to think of makeup and perfume designed for women. Cosmetics actually come in many forms, ranging from powders, body makeup, soap, shampoo, and toothpaste. We can trace the use of cosmetics back thousands of years ago, when people painted their body for religious ceremonies, war, and mating rituals. Cosmetics are used for beautifying purposes and cover a wide range of products including: cleaning body parts, enhancing features, and changing skin tones and colours such as, makeup, perfume, toothpaste, shampoo, and deodorant.

In general, cosmetic companies have targeted the female audience based on the product itself. Prior to the 1990s many people used to think that cosmetic products were only for adult women; the reality of today is slightly different. New markets for cosmetic companies are young females and men.

Unilever is a Dutch-British transactional consumer goods company co – headquarter in Rotterdam Netherlands and London, United Kingdom. With A history of colonial exploitation, on which it has built its capital. Today its own most of the world’s consumer products brands in food, beverages, cleaning agents & personal care products. Unsilver employs more than 247,000 people. Unilever has 2 parent companies: uniliver NV in Rotterdam, Netherlands and Unilever PLC in London .B both Unilever has the same directors and effectively operate as a single business. The current non-executive Chairman of Unilever N.V. and PLC is A Antony Burman’s while Patrick cescau is group chief executive. Unilever’s major competitors include Nestle & Procter and gamble

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INTRODUCTION TO COMPANYS PROFILE

Half a century ago, as India took her steps into freedom, Lakme, India's first beauty brand was born. At a time when the beauty industry in India was at a nascent stage, Lakme tapped into what would grow to be amongst the leading, high consumer interest segments in the Indian Industry - that of skincare and cosmetic products. Armed with a potent combination of foresight, research and constant innovation, Lakme has grown to be the market leader in the cosmetics industry. Lakme today has grown to have a wide variety of products and services that cover all facets of beauty care, and arm the consumer with products to pamper herself from head to toe. These include products for the lips, nails, eyes, face and skin, and services like the Lakme Beauty Salons.

Industry: Personal care

Founded: 1952

Founder: J. R. D. Tata

Headquarters: India

Key people: Pushkaraj Shenai(CEO Lakmé), Purnima Lamba (Head Innovations), Shraddha Kapoor (ambassador)

Products: Cosmetics, beauty products, and Salon services

A little bit of Lakmé history:

In 1995, Lakmé Ltd (a Tata Group company) and HLL formed a 50:50 venture Lakmé Lever that would market and distribute Lakmé's products. In 1998, Lakmé sold its brands (and the 50 per cent it owned in the JV) to HLL, renamed itself Trent and entered a different business (retail). Only, the years between 1995 and 2000 saw HLL wrestling with several issues with a bearing on Lakmé's future. A brand that has over 5 decades talked of beauty is none other than Lakmé. Launched in 1952, it offered a range of cosmetics with nail polishes & lipsticks from the early 80’s. Lakmé also understands the importance of maintaining and accentuating a women’s natural beauty, for this it has introduced a range of skincare products from 1987. These ranges have been constantly innovated to bring specialized beauty care and complete the range for the definitive women.

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A brand that has over 5 decades talked of beauty is none other than Lakmé. Launched in 1952, it offered a range of cosmetics with nail polishes & lipsticks from the early 80’s. Lakmé also understands the importance of maintaining and accentuating a women’s natural beauty, for this it has introduced a range of skincare products from 1987. These ranges have been constantly innovated to bring specialized beauty care and complete the range for the definitive women.

Chopra accepts that distribution has been the company's Achilles heel for some time: ''The supply-chain hasn't been as robust as it should have been, but that has been the result of our efforts to reposition and reintroduce the brand.'' The positioning bit, although complex, is clear: Ponds is Lever's primary skincare brand; Lakmé, its aspirational colour cosmetics brand, which also has a presence in skincare.The 'aspirational' qualification would mean Lakmé would compete at what the company terms the 'upper-mass' (premium) end of the colour cosmetics spectrum (products priced between Rs 85 and Rs 250) where a slew of competitors, ranging from Revlon (through Modi Revlon) to Chamber, are already slugging it out. Says Meghna Modi, 26, Executive Director, Modi Revlon: ''The numbers say it all. According to ORG-MARG's retail audit, we have an 84 per cent share of the premium end of the colour cosmetics market.'' Chopra is quick to rubbish this claim; he says ORG-MARG does not have a representative sample of the 60,000 outlets through which colour cosmetics are sold in India.Still, it is conceivable that Lakmé's new-found aspirational strategy could have been brought about by competitors like Revlon and Maybelline, which targeted this segment. Indeed, the company's non-transfer lip-colour range follows in the wake of Maybelline's launch of a similar range, and its new nail-enamel colours come soon after Maybelline and Revlon launched their nail-enamel range. The company's defence is that it takes at least 15 months from the conceptualization to the actual launch of products.And fashion consultants like Maher Castelino believe the brand commands an edge at the high-end: ''By appropriating the fashion platform for itself, Lakmé has entrenched itself at the glamour-end.'

Lakmé, the Indian Cosmetic Brand, Was Named After a French Opera’

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Doing market research to find out the needs of Indian women and hiring experts & chemical engineers from the beauty industry was not really a challenge for JRD but coming up with a brand identity certainly was. Finally, after giving it a lot of thought, he named it “Lakmé” after the French Opera.The reason he chose this particular French opera name was because “Lakmé” derives its name from Sanskrit for “Lakshmi”, the goddess of wealth and epitome of beauty. It was the perfect name for the company as it was actually bringing wealth to the nation (by saving precious forex), could correlate itself very well with the beautiful Goddess and it appealed well to upper middle class women due to its videshi sounding name (“Lakshmi lipstick” or “Lakshmi eyeliner” would have sounded very desi).That was the kind of thought process which went into any job which JRD Tata took up and the results were always exemplary. Lakme was started in 1952 as a 100% subsidiary of Tata oil mill. It was a hugely successful brand and the rest is history. In 1996, Tata sold its stake in Lakme to HLL since it felt that HLL being an FMCG company will do better justice to the company and HLL have continued to efficiently nurture the brainchild of JRD. A recent survey ranked Lakme to be one of the top 50 most trusted brands in India.

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Lakmé is an Indian brand of cosmetics, owned by Unilever. Lakme started as a 100% subsidiary of Tata Oil Mills (Tomco), part of the Tata Group; it was named after the French opera Lakmé, which itself is the French form of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, also renowned for her beauty. Indian cosmetic Lakme was started in 1952, famously because the then Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, was concerned that Indian women were spending precious foreign exchange on beauty products, and personally requested JRD Tata to manufacture them in India. Simone Tata joined the company as director, and went on to become its chairman. In 1996 Tata sold off their stakes in Lakmé Lever to HLL, for Rs 200 Crore (45 million US$), and went on to create Trent and Westside. Even today, when most multinational beauty products are available in India, Lake still occupies a special place in the hearts of Indian women.Lake also started its new business in the beauty industry by setting up Lakme Beauty Salons all over India. Now HUL (Hindustan Unilever Limited) has about 110 salons all over India providing beauty services.

Lakmé is an ally to the Indian Woman and inspires her to express her unique beauty and sensuality.Thus, it enables her to realize the potency of her beau Contemporary Indian beauty expert Lakmé continuously innovates to offer a wide range of high performance and world class colour cosmetics, skincare products, and beauty salons. Combining international cosmetic technology with an in-depth understanding of the Indian woman’s needs, Lakmé also offers its consumers a comprehensive beauty experience through its products and services at the Lakmé Salons and Studios

Corporate overview:Lakmé is an Indian brand of cosmetics, owned by Hindustan Unilever and run by CEO Pushkaraj Shenai. Lakmé started as a 100% subsidiary of Tata Oil Mills (Tomco), part of the Tata Group. It was named after the French opera Lakmé, which itself is the French form of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, also renowned for her beauty. Indian cosmet Lakmé was started in 1952, famously because the then Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, was concerned that Indian women were spending precious foreign exchange on beauty products, and personally requested JRD Tata to manufacture them in India. Simone Tata joined the company as director, and went on to become its chairman. In 1996 Tata sold off their stakes in Lakmé Lever to HLL, for Rs 200 Crore (45 million

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US$), and went on to create Trent and Westside. Even today, when most multinational beauty products are available in India, Lakmé still occupies a special place in the hearts of Indian women. Lakmé is the current market leader in the Indiancosmeticsmarketwitha17.7percent market share.Lakmé also started its new business in the beauty industry by setting up Lakmé Beauty Salons all over India. Now HUL (Hindustan Unilever Limited) has about 110 salons all over India providing beauty services. In the Brand Trust Report 2012, Lakmé was ranked 104th among India's most trusted brands and subsequently, according to the Brand Trust Report 2013, Lakmé was ranked 71st among India's most trusted brands. In 2014 however, Lakmé was ranked 36th among India's most trusted brands according to the Brand Trust Report 2014, a study conducted by Trust Research Advisory, a brand analytics company. The company is the title sponsor for Lakmé Fashion Week (LFW) a bi-annual fashion event which takes place in Mumbai

Way back in the early 1950s, an economic survey of spending in India revealed that Indian women were splurging on imported cosmetics. Nehru was not very happy because it was affecting the forex reserves. Maintaining the forex reserves was of utmost importance considering the fact that Indian economy was still in its nascent stage. Nehru hit upon the idea of a home grown beauty brand which would cater to cosmetic needs of Indian women.

Lakmé’s BusinessLakmé remains the dominant player in the Rs. 1,100-crore organized make-up market in India. With cosmetics use growing in India and more women moving into the urban workforce, experts say the pressure to come up with chic products is growing. Women are increasingly getting aspirational and also have the means to ensure they can buy what they want in their drive to enhance their beauty. Lakmé has also played on pricing for its revamped range for the working woman. It is priced between Rs 200/- and Rs 600, bringing it within the reach of most. International brands such as Revlon, Chambor and even L'Oreal Paris are all priced over Rs 500, and Maybelline is the only mass-market brand among the global players.

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About the Industry The cosmetic industry is a profitable business for most of the manufactures of cosmetic products. The cosmetic industry worldwide seems to be continuously developing many famous companies sell their cosmetic products online also in countries in which they don’t have representatives.

Mission

Unilever's mission is to add vitality of life. They meet every day needs for nutrition, hygiene,and personal care with brands that help people feel good, look good and get more out of life. Our mission Enthused with Vitality Vitality is at the heart of everything we do. It's in our brands, our people and our values. Vitality means different things to different people. Some see it as energy; others view it more broadly as a healthy state of body and mind of feeling alive. Whatever their personal definition, millions of people around the world use our products daily to add Vitality to their lives - whether that's through feeling great because they’ve got shiny hair and a brilliant smile, keeping their homes fresh and clean, or by enjoying great cup of tea, satisfying meal or healthy snack. Ever since the 19th Century when William Husked Lever stated that the company’s mission was "to make cleanliness common place; to lessen work for women ;to foster health and contribute to personal attractiveness, that life may be more enjoyable and rewarding for the people who use our products," Vitality has been at the heart of our business. Vitality defines what we stand for: our values, what makes us different, and how we contribute to society. It's the common thread that links our brands and it’s central to the unique way we operate around the world. Health & nutrition Our Vitality mission commits us to growing our business by addressing health and nutrition issues. We focus on priorities including children and family nutrition, cardiovascular health and weight management. Inside & out our culture also embodies Vitality. Adding Vitality of life requires the highest standards of behavior towards everyone we work with, the communities we touch and the environments on which we have an impact. The growing demand for more Vitality in life provides us with a huge opportunity for growth. The way we work and the products we develop are shaped by consumer trends, along with the need to help raise health and hygiene standards in both the developing and industrialized regions of the world. Vision:

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The vision of Hindustan Unilever is to integrate social, economic, and environmental considerations in to its business and brands. The company also aims to focus on climate change, water, packaging and sustainable agricultural resources as our key sustainability themes. The company also focuses on making global partnerships on nutrition and hygiene issues. Product and Services Brand products Contemporary Indian beauty expert Lakmé continuously innovates to offer a wide range of high performance and world class color cosmetics, skincare products, and beauty salons. Combining international cosmetic technology with an in-depth understanding of the Indian woman’s needs, Lakmé also offers its consumers a comprehensive beauty experience through its products and services at the Lakmé Salons and Studios.

Market Overview: The current size of the Indian cosmetic market is approximately US$ 600 million. Of this, the fastest growing segment is color cosmetic, accounting for around US$ 60 million of the market. Industry sources estimate a rapid growth of 20% percent per annum across difference segments Lakmé vis-à-vis its competitors: Chart showing the reason which motivates respondents to buy Lakmé PRODUCTS: What sets the brand apart Respondents will use Lakmé even if the price rises by 15%s: This how’s that the product is a price leader and has captured the market.

How Lakmé reinvent Marketing Strategies influences its customers

Concept of EGO: Lakmé triesto position itself on the basis of its appeal to the customers which have an ego. This means that the consumers of Lakmé have an impulsive drive for which they seek immediate satisfaction without concern for means of satisfactionThe concept of personality groups: Lakmé tries to woo the compliant consumers on the basis of personality groups i.e., people who move towards others. Those who desired to be loved and loved to be appreciated.

Presence & Outreach of Lakmé Lakmé,Which got its name from a late 19th century French Opera Lakmé by Léo Delibes, which is the French word for Goddess Lakshmi, has been in the business of sharing secrets of the mythical beauty of goddesses to Indian women. And in its attempt to diffuse the message to the mass, the cosmetic

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brand has used all kinds of marketing channels, including the now-popular digital media, led by social media platforms. Audience Analysis of Lakmé: Owing to the brand building exercise by Lakmé, the sentiments expressed by people (see second image), both male and female, is either positive or neutral. There is almost no negative emotion flowing for the brand, but what is surprising is the number of male followers of the brand. As is evident in the image, slightly over 40% of social media fans of the cosmetic brand comprises of male

Age Distribution:The gender distribution of Lakmé’s fans could be a bit surprising, but not so its age distribution. The closer a person is to his/her prime the likelier is his/her chance of following the brand on social media- as you can see people between 21-30 make the largest chunk of its social media followers.

Overall Strategy Lakméwhich got its name from a late 19th century French Opera Lakmé by Léo Delibes, which is the French word for Goddess Lakshmi, has been in the business of sharing secrets of the mythical beauty of goddesses to Indian women. And in its attempt to diffuse the message to the mass, the cosmetic brand has used all kinds of marketing channels, including the now-popular digital media, led by social media platforms. To keep the focus sharp, in this article, we shall see how the brand has performed on social media leaving discussions on the rest of the channels for elsewhere. After that various marketing strategy and makeup of company was done for profit making and to bring smile on women customers. Famous products from last 5 years that increase maximization are Lakmé absolute Lakmé pro app Lakmé fashion week which is the best action of the Lakmé with current standing all over the world.

Lakmé Reinvent

Change (something) so much that it appears to be entirely new. This what Lakmé do by reinventing everything bringing everything with new shapes, new shades, and new generation attraction is highlighted in the reinventing. Lakmé reinvent maximum selling product is the Lakmé 9 to 5 Reinvent. Here Reinvent is targeted because of the daily office work it never be smudged. Reinvent is not only done on lipstick but also on the Lakmé salon that were reinvent with everything of new that not only attract you but push you towards it .

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Major step forward toward the Lakmé reinvent is by Lakmé Lever, a subsidiary of FMCG major Hindustan Unilever (HUL), is consolidating the beauty salon business as part of its growth strategy. The company is integrating Lakmé Salon and Lakmé Studio and Weighing reinventing its operations. Going forward, it plans to have Lakmé Salon and Lakmé Absolute Salon (a premium brand that was launched last year) and now named as the Lakmé reinvent. In collaboration with international beauty experts, the company is readying new launches over the next few months. Purnima Lamba, head, innovation at Lakmé, talks about her Strategies in an an interview with Lalitha Srinivasan. Excerpts .As market leader she asked about what’s your strategy to take on domestic and international rivals of Lakmé reinvent

She told about that the Lakmé focus is on making sure that Lakmé remains an aspirational brand. Our consumers must see Lakmé as a modern, stylish brand. With properties like Lakmé Fashion Week, which will be Lakmé reinvent fashion week we are aspiring to be the brand of our consumer’s choice so that are main focus toward the Lakmé reinvent will be successful. This fashion property is going to be a key growth driver for us. She also says she can able to s see growth opportunities from regime expansion. We can expand the beauty regime of the Indian consumer, who just uses 1-2 beauty products unlike her western counterpart. How are you reinventing the beauty salon business?

We are reinventing the salon business an exercise is under way to integrate Lakmé Salon with Lakmé Studio. In fact, we are consolidating our business with new menus. Last year, we launched Lakmé Absolute salon, a premium brand. We plan to have just two brands, Lakmé Absolute and Lakmé Saloon. We are reinventing menus in this business too. To start with, we are remodeling our Goregaon salon in Mumbai with some new initiatives. You are betting big on innovation. Tell us about your collaborative business model.

 Lakmé, India’s leading beauty brand, now introduces India’s first ever makeover application that allows consumers to experiment with their looks and get an instant makeover with the vast Lakmé pallet.

Available under the ‘Lakmé Reinvent Studio’ section on the Lakmé website, this first of its kind application is designed to precision giving the users a chance to create a look for themselves using options across all categories including Face, Eyes, Lips, etc. The application also suggests products and

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shades that will suit a one’s face along with tips for application tips and tricks along with an    option of emailing herself, the list of products used to create the look.

We have a collaborative business model for innovation. We collaborate with international partners, be it an Italian lipstick manufacturer or German eye pencil maker. This is in addition to our local R&D center projects.

We have, at our disposal, major international collaborations so we have a pool of innovation to be rolled out.

What’s your export strategy? Unilever International exports Lakmé to Singapore and Malaysia in Southeast Asia and countries in the Middle East.

What has been the impact of Lakmé Fashion Week on your brand equity?

Lakmé’s brand equity is going up with the event every year. We took a new step with Lakmé Absolute. Now, it has become a professional brand on the back of backstage styling during the event.

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In essence, LFW is at the heart of our brand and Lakmé Absolute innovates on the basis of backstage styling at the event.

What are your advertising plans? We have both below-the-line advertising and traditional ads to promote the Lakmé brand. In addition, digital media has become a big focus area for Lakmé. We have some work going on in this space we have set up a command center

To track what social networks are talking about?

Kareena Kapoor will continue to endorse Lakmé Absolute and Shraddha Kapoor for Lakmé reinvent with summer’s popups.

Audience Analysis of Lakmé

Owing to the brand building exercise by Lakmé, the sentiments expressed by people (see second image), both male and female, is either positive or neutral. There is almost no negative emotion flowing for the brand, but what is surprising is the number of male followers of the brand. As is evident in the following image, slightly over 40% of social media fans of the cosmetic brand comprises of male.

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The gender distribution of Lakmé’s fans could be a bit surprising, but not so its age distribution. The closer a person is to his/her prime the likelier is his/her chance of following the brand on social media- as you can see people between 21-30 make the largest chunk of its social media followers.

Overall Strategy Lakmé

Looking gorgeous and feeling beautiful seem to be the mantra that Lakmé follows on social media. The content it shares and the design of it talks not only about its products, fashion shows, and contests, but also about the little steps a woman (or a girl) can take to look gorgeous and be the object of much-coveted desire, as the brand sees it to be the driving agenda of all women, or at least its fans. We need to see in the following sections, what form this strategy takes when it comes to individual channels like Facebook, Twitter, and the like.

Lakmé on Facebook

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With almost 19.25 lakhs Facebook fans, of which a little over 39,000 actively engage in discussion, Lakmé has a pretty strong Facebook presence. The brand has used a nice mix of image and video updates from its events, make up tips, and contest, which has helped it maximize its reach among Facebook Users (See image 1).

When sharing tips the brand does add a call to action asking its followers to take a particular action. For example, in the following image, the brand has asked its fans and followers to “like” the post only if they are going to use the shared tips. 233 likes, 17 shares, and 8 comments are the testimony to how seriously fans take the tips shared by the brand (see the second image).Talking of the post updates, it is worth noting that Lakmé has made an apt use of hashtags, mentions, and links to important pages (see the image below), and the copy used in the posts may not be impressive, but it has secured some rather emotionally-charged comments.

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Lakmé on Twitter

Like Facebook, Lakmé is also significantly active on Twitter, in recent times, even though the number of its total fans is barely 10 thousand. But that could be because of some wrong decision taken in the past. At the moment, the brand is going strong and causing some real conversation on the micro-blogging website. One example of which can be seen in the following tweet.

On Twitter as well, the brand influences females more than males, which is quite understandable, considering the nature of the products it has to sell and the content it shares on the platform.

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Lakmé Elsewhere on social media

The brand is also active on YouTube and Pinterest. It has more than 14,000 followers, with total video views of more than 82 lakhs, which is a respectable number in its own right. While many of its videos have not crossed a 1 lakh view count, some of them have recorded way beyond that. For example, the following DIY nail art video has been watched more than 2 lakh times, and the Kareena video posted below has been seen more than 9.5 lakhs times

On Pinterest, it has more than 744 followers. Here the cosmetic brand has created 49 boards to entice followers with attractive pins. Although 744 are not

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a number to be proud of but seeing the strength of the platform in India, it is not a number to complain about.

Business Plans

1. Matchless products: Every year Lakmé launches captivating products. These products are designed so that they cause least harm even if used regularly. Some of its famous products are Lakmé Absolute Youth Infinity, Absolute Gloss Range, Skin Care Reflection Serum, Skin Gloss Gel Cream, Overnight Mask and Lakmé Absolute Gloss Addict Effective Marketing policies

2. Affordable: The prices of these cosmetics are kept in the range of a common man. Lakmé provides quality at affordable prices. This is one of the main reasons behind its popularity.

3. Promotions by Brand Ambassadors: Choosing the most popular Style Diva as their brand promoter’s increase their trust in the customers. Till Dec 19, 2014 it was kareena kapoor and the very gorgeous Shraddha Kapoor has now acceded the throne.

4. Social Media: Apart from the use of Facebook and Twitter, the brand trust on YouTube for its increase in product sales. This has been made possible by the incorporation of the learning tutorial –Lakmé Studio of Style

5. Lakmé Studio of Style: A Unique bunch of tutorial hosted by Sarah Janes Dias. Sarah is an Indian actress, host, VJ and former Beauty Queen. The hostess thus has good beauty sense and communication skills and is therefore able to drive large customers to the company on versational and publish updates that are share-able.

Various initiatives by Lakmé are as follows:

1) Project Shakti :

Project Shakti is an initiative to financially empower rural women and create livelihood opportunities for them. Through this project, the Company endeavors to enhance livelihoods of rural women. Around 70% of Shakti Ammas are working in low Human Development Index (HDI < 0.51) districts. We contact and appoint rural women as Shakti Entrepreneurs (SE), commonly referred as 'Shakti Ammas'. SE is educated and trained by the

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rural promoter about the Company products and their utility in day to day life in maintaining health and hygiene. After being trained about the products she receives stocks from our rural distributor at a discount below the price at which the products are sold in the normal course. The Shakti Entrepreneur then sells these goods both directly to consumers (through home to home selling) and to retailers in the village. The Company has trained thousands of Shakti Ammas across the villages in abide to development entrepreneurial mindset and make them financially independent and more empowered. A typical Shakti Amma earns around Rs.1000/- per month through selling our products. A Shakti Amma in her village gains a social stature as she is associated with the reputed company in addition to being financially empowered.

2) Safe Drinking Water

The lack of safe drinking water Isa major public health issue, particularly in developing countries where majority of diseases are waterborne. Pureit in-home water purifier provides water 'as safe as boiled water', without the need for electricity or running water. Pure it partners with NGOs across the country to make safe drinking water accessible to people.

3) FAL Foundation: The Foundation identifies academically exceptional girls from financially challenged backgrounds and offers scholarships to the candidates. To maintain integrity and fairness the selection is done by a panel of eminent personalities from diverse fields.

4) Sustainable Sourcing: An important part of our raw materials come from farms and decisions relating to such procurement can have profound implications on climate change and farmers’ livelihoods. In 2012, we entered into a public-private partnership with the Maharashtra Government for sustainable sourcing of tomatoes locally. Forthis project, the Government of Maharashtra in2013 registered over 1600 farmers who grow tomatoes on over 2000 acres.

5) Prabhat: ‘Prabhat’ (Dawn) is a program which focuses on communities around our factories. The areas of intervention are Health& Hygiene, raising livelihoods and conserving water. The Water Conservation initiative is led by Hindustan Unilever Foundation, a wholly owned subsidiary of HUL which looks at improving the water security in selected regions. The Livelihood programmer aims to empower today’s youth by providing them

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with employable skills thereby enhancing their livelihoods. HUL is collaborating with NGOs to implement the project.

6) Sanjivani: HUL runs a free mobile medical service camp -- Sanjivani -- near its Doom Factory in Assam. The aim is to provide free mobile medical facility in the interior villages of Assam. There are two mobile vans dedicated to the project, each vehicle has one male and one female doctor, two nurses, a medical attendant (helper) and a driver. The vans are equipped with basic kits such as diagnostic kit, blood pressure measuring unit, medicines and a mobile stretcher. The Sanjivani team has provided medical assistance tonearly2.5lakh patients since its inception in 2003 and covered more than four thousand camps till July 2013.

Branding & Strategy Lakmé remains the dominant player in the Rs 1,100-crore organized make-up market in India. With cosmetics use growing in India and more women moving into the urban workforce, experts say the pressure to come up with chic products is growing. Women are increasingly getting aspirational and also have the means to ensure they can buy what they want in their drive to enhance their beauty.

Swot Analysis

Since market liberalization, several multinational companies, such as Revlon, Coty, Oriflame, Chambor, Avon, Yardley, NinaRicci, Garnier Laboratories, and L'oreal, have entered the Indian market. These companies initially cashed in on their international brand image; however, repeat purchases were not forthcoming because the products were not priced competitively. Consequently, these companies became price-sensitive and most of the international brands are now priced competitively in the Indian market. The colour cosmetic segment which has Indian players such as Lakmé Lever, Tips& Toes and Shenaz Hussain and multinational company players such as J. L. Morrison, Ponds, Unilever and Colgate Palmolive, offers the highest competition. Domestic players like Lakmé, Tips & Toes and My Fair Lady, mainly dominate this market. Revlon has a market share of 80% in the premium market. Lakmé is the overall market leader in the colour cosmetic segment (lip care and nail enamel) with a wide range of products and prices, both.

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Strengths   in the SWOT analysis of Lakmé

1. High Brand awareness: Lakmé is a well-known brand in the cosmetic & beauty industry. High visibility through targeting high end beauty parlors/salons & also through sponsoring fashion events and strong promotions has helped the company in making top of mind awareness.

2. Fantastic product line: Lakmé contributes to the beauty of women through a fantastic product line, which has amazing depth of products. Lakmé is also known to launch a variety of cosmetics which are innovative and are known to solve the problem of cosmetics for women.

3. Extensive distribution system of the parent company: HLL is the parent company who purchased it from TATA group. Since HLL is already an established FMCG brand so it uses extensive distribution channel to make the Lakmé products available in the market. Also in addition to traditional channel, it also uses unconventional distribution system to make the products available at pharmacist, beauty parlors & salons.

4. Celebrity endorsement: Lakmé positioned perfectly in the mind of prospective consumers by targeting apt celebrities to represent their brand.

5. Strong parent company: HLL the parent company is the well-known company in the FMCG industry has stable financial position which is good for its group brands

Weaknesses in the SWOT analysis of Lakmé

1. Limited presence in the premium market: Lakmé have presence in the VFM (Value for money) segment in which it is leader. Lakmé is the overall market leader in the color cosmetic segment (lip care and nail enamel) with a wide range of products and prices but when it comes to premium market which is growing at the rate of 30% Revlon is the market leader.

2. Problem of differentiation: Its broad portfolio sometimes creates confusion in the mind of the consumers. Such that, some products are known to be very good but others are ignored because no differentiation is present for them.

3. Quality of Lakmé salons: Falling quality of Lakmé salons will result in the negative word of mouth which can affect sales & growth of the company in future.

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Opportunities in the SWOT analysis of Lakmé

1. Changing lifestyle: Migrating population & with the saturation of developed economies, changing taste & preferences, Education & changing lifestyle of the developing economies had resulted into growth in the grooming segment. People now want to look sharp, smart & confident.

2. Growing premium segment: There is a growth in the demand of premium segment goods of which grooming industry is not an exception. So with growing demand if Lakmé extend its presence in this segment then it will help it in becoming a leader in grooming industry.

3. Co-creating the growth strategies: Creating more Collaborative & participative community focused activities will help the company in building brand image & co-creating growth opportunities.

Threats in the SWOT analysis of Lakmé

1. Intense rivalry: Intensive competition from the local, national & International players on price & availability factors is the major threat for the players in the segment which is affecting the industry as a whole.

2. Counterfeit products: Fake products are directly affecting the brand image of the company in the rural market & small towns.

3. International brands extending into other markets: International brands like Revlon which have centuries of expertise in the Personal care industry can affect the business of Lakmé in the selected markets or can limit their growth rate.

4. Increasing allergies cases: Due to change in the lifestyle skin is becoming more sensitive due to which companies in the personal care industry face risk of losing sales on allergic grounds.

PEST analysis. PEST analysis fits into an overall environmental scan.

1. Political Factors: Some of the political factors to take into consideration are legal issues, rules and regulations of the government and various others informal as well as formal rules under which a firm must act. Some of these political factors are:

Tax Policy: the company has to bear a tax rate of 30%, which is the highest amongst all the tax rates, as the corporate tax rate. This reduces the profits of the company.

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Environmental Regulations: as per the norms of the government the company has to convert 30%of the land area into green land to make the environment eco-friendly, incurring extra cost for the company.

Trade Restrictions& Tariffs: the company has to bear charges for crossing the state borders for the purchase of raw materials and the delivery of finished product.

2. Economic Factors the purchasing power of a prospective customer as well as the firm's cost of capital is affected by various economic factors. Some economic factors include:

Inflation Rate: the inflationary period is adversely affecting the company as the raw materials, machineries, etc. have to be purchased at a higher price. Interest Rates: the rate of interest on corporate loan is 12% and the company has to pay a tax of 60 lakhs per year as tax.

3. Social Factors Demographic and cultural aspects form a part of the social factors. These factors affect the customer needs and size of the potential market. Some social factors include:

Health Consciousness: keeping the safety of the end users and social responsibility in mind the company has used the chemicals that are not harmful for the skin and are a bit costly than the other chemicals.

Environment Norms: keeping the environment norms in mind, the company has converted 30% of its land into the green area and also used eco- friendly paper for the purpose of packaging. Emphasis on Safety: the company has emphasized on employee safety and has taken a employees' insurance policy of Rs.1 crore with an annual premium of Rs. 50000/

Technological Factors: Technological factors include ecological and environmental aspects. Some technological factors are as follows:

Research and Development: the company will have to spend a lot on the research and development of the product in the upcoming years as the company has the advantage of being a pioneer in launching such a product in the Indian market and the product will be easily copied by the competitors. Thus, the company will have to continue investing in the research and development activities to keep a firm hold in the market. Technology's Effect on Firm's Offering: The increase in the R&D cost will affect the firm's offering as the cost of the product will increase with increase in R&D cost. Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning Market Segmentation

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Market segmentation is a marketing concept which divides the complete market set up into smaller subsets comprising of consumers with a similar taste, demand and preference.

4. Organizations need to have different marketing strategies for men which would obviously not work in case of females. A woman would not purchase a product meant for males and vice a versa. The segmentation of the market as per the gender is important in many industries like cosmetics, footwear, jewelry and apparel industries.

Conclusion

Lakmé has done a nice job on social media with their Lakmé reinvent strategies It has registered a powerful presence on the platforms on which it is available.

Lakmé has thus left no stones unturned in creating flawless products and promoting them. This is the reason why the brand holds 110 Lakmé saloons all over the nation. It has recently grabbed 36 positions in the Brand Trust Report, 2015. No doubt with effective marketing strategies and social media it will rule the fashion world.

Lakmé Reinvent has managed to engage its primary target audience: girls and women, through various activities that seem to catch their fancy. It is surprising and pleasant to see that the brand has as many male fans and followers as their female counterparts, but they don’t seem to be interacting much with them. While the content shared by the brand is catchy, the tonality can be improved. A lively communication will definitely improve their engagement and help them connect better with their audience. Also, it can be observed that most of the engagement is in the form of mere likes. Lakmé Reinvent should think of a content plan which leads to an engagement beyond mere likes.

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documents/13624/marketing-study-on-lakme-cosmetics/11. http://www.lakmeindia.com/about-us/12. http://slideplayer.com/slide/10766337/13. http://lakmefashionweek.co.in/14. http://www.digitalvidya.com/blog/hul-uses-command-

centre-for-social-media-marketing/15. http://profit.ndtv.com/stock/hindustan-unilever-

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19. https://www.roposo.com/story/lakme-makeup-lakme-reinvent--9ea39c21-cab6-488b-a01c-078fb08be6d4

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