Challenges and opportunity faced by

brands?
LAKME

Lakme is one of the leading cosmetics brand across the

world from the house of Hindustan Unilever. Interestingly,
Lakme was named after the French opera, and Lakme is
another form of the Goddess Lakshmi, most commonly
known for blessings of wealth. Lakme is a heritage brand at
least in India, and it was started in 1952.
Opportunities for Lakme
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
Lakme 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.

Challenges for Lakme

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 Lakme 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.
5. Limited presence in the premium market: Lakme
have presence in the VFM (Value for money) segment in
which it is leader. Lakme 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.
6. 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.
7. Quality of Lakme salons: Falling quality of Lakme salons
will result in the negative word of mouth which can affect
sales & growth of the company in future.

BRITANNIA

Britannia is one of the most known Biscuit, bakery and dairy

food FMCG companies in India. The vast variety of products
with known brand names like Good day, Marie, Cheese, butter
etc make up the core product portfolio of Britannia. Naturally,
the distribution of Britannia is far and wide. In the SWOT

analysis of Britannia, the product line and distribution is the

strongest point for the brand. The same is discussed at length
below.

Opportunities for Britannia

1.

Emerging Dairy Industry: With organoleptic (flavor,

taste & color) features shaping the dairy industry, improving
dairy products can help the company to improve their
market share & reposition itself in dairy market.
2. Changing lifestyle & demand for healthier food
products: Improvement in literacy rate, health awareness,
changing lifestyle,& increase in disposable income are
shaping the demand for healthy food products.
3. Overseas Market: Expanding its business to other
overseas market can help the company to emerge as a
global player in the food products.

Challenges for Britannia

1. Competition in the market: With increasing number of
players (local players Anmol, Priya & national- ITC, Parle),
its becoming very hard for the company to differentiate
themselves from others. There is also threat from counterfeit
products destroying its brand image in the market.
2. Price of raw material: Increasing price of commodities
will result in further increase in the price of the end product.
Further increase in price will result in decrease in profitability
or reduced consumption.
3. Buyers power: With highly diversified consumer goods
market where there are lots of brands claiming different
sorts of benefits, its very difficult for consumers to stick to a
particular brand & hence results into brand switching where
consumer get power to select a brand based on several

4.

5.

6.

7.

factors like availability, reference group recommendation,

preference & price.
Over dependency on the biscuit business: Britannias
75% revenue comes from biscuit business. Although they
are market leader in the same but over dependency on the
same may affect their long term existence in the business.
Various brands got commoditized over time: Brands
like Bourbon & glucose biscuits of Britannia got
commoditized over time such as in case of bourbon, Parle
also
introduced
Parle
bourbon
biscuits. Brand
name when used like this by other companies, creates
confusion in the mind of the consumers resulting in loss of
sale.
No overseas presence: Apart from India Britannia have
presence in Dubai & Oman that too through subsidiaries. But
overall export of the products is very less than its actual
potential.
Struggling dairy business: Dairy business contributes
only 5% of the companys overall revenues.