Marketing Planning

How Hajmola can

overtake regional
players in Rural
UP Market

Group 7 – Section C

Anand Ramanathan R 18P127

Dushyant Pareshkumar Goradiya 18P137
Keerti Bhandakkar 18P147
Radhika Sinha 18P157
Shashank Gupta 18P167
Vishal Agarwal 18P177
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1|Page
Table of Contents
Group 7 – Section C ............................................................................................................... 1
Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................3
Project Preface ...............................................................................................................................4
Objective .......................................................................................................................................5
About Company .............................................................................................................................6
Product Line ........................................................................................................................... 6
Dabur Market Structure .......................................................................................................... 7
Product: Hajmola .................................................................................................................... 8
SEGEMENTATION, TARGETING AND POSITIONING OF HAJMOLA .....................................................9
Segments and Target Market ................................................................................................. 9
Positioning Statement & Positioning: ...................................................................................... 9
SWOT Analysis ............................................................................................................................. 10
Product Strategy for UP market .................................................................................................... 11
How to expand distribution .......................................................................................................... 12
Communication Strategy for UP market ........................................................................................ 14
Pricing Strategy for UP market ...................................................................................................... 16
Consumer Understanding: Why they use Panchwati and Satmola over Hajmola ............................ 18
Research Methodology................................................................................................................. 19
Limitations ................................................................................................................................... 20
References ................................................................................................................................... 21

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Executive Summary

Dabur is one of the largest FMCG companies in India which was started in 1884 by
the Burman family Kolkata. This CRISIL rated AAA Company has a legacy of 120
years built on values like quality and trust. Dabur has its strongholds in the fields of
healthcare, personal care, Home care and Food. The business based on the vision
of founder Dr S K Burman - "What is life that cannot bring comfort to others". The
company started as a small pharmacy, selling healthcare products. 20 years later
the company entered the in the market of Ayurvedic medicines and branded its
products. Dabur kept growing and gradually shifted its operations to Delhi in 1972. A
few years later, Dabur set up full-fledged research operations in healthcare.

The major objectives of this project were to understand the marketing strategies
adopted by Dabur and how the consumer behaviour is affected by various factors of
the business environment. SWOT analysis of Dabur as a brand is conducted to
understand its strengths like price, rural presence and wide portfolio, and
weaknesses like strong competition, low urban penetration and changing consumer
behaviour. Also, the analysis helped us to understand the opportunities like rural
market potential, brand extensions and new variants and threats like huge
competition in the market which can affect the brand.

Dabur’s marketing strategies like its segmentation, targeting and positioning strategy
over the years have been the key to defining its position in the market. Both primary
and secondary types of research were conducted which helped us understand the
current brand perception among different consumers and how the competition is
trying to eat into the rural market share of Hajmola with brand placement and
differentiation. Hajmola as a segment defining product has managed to leverage the
first movers’ advantage in this segment.

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Project Preface

The objective of the project is to develop analyzing how Hajmola can overtake
regional players in Rural Uttar Pradesh market. Also, the aim is to understand the
relevance of the different marketing tools and frameworks such as 4Ps (price,
promotion, place and position) which are deployed to maximize the profitability of the
product. Hajmola has 65% share in entire Indian market but just 15% share in Uttar
Pradesh - particularly rural which is dominated by local players like Satmola and
Panchawati. The project aims to study the different marketing strategies which a
company designs to accommodate for the change in market scenario and consumer
behaviour. The project is significant in highlighting the change in the prevalent
business model, from product centric to consumer-centric, and the dynamicity of the
market behaviour. The project also highlights the importance of innovation as a key
ingredient of success in today's competitive market.

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Objective

The objective of this project is to provide solutions for:

 Product Strategy for Uttar Pradesh market
 How to expand distribution
 Communication Strategy for UP market
 Pricing Strategy for UP market
 Consumer understanding - why they use Panchawati and Satmola over
Hajmola

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About Company

The company is headquartered in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. It is listed on Indian

stock exchanges and commands a valuation of over USD 1.5 billion. The company
has been ranked amongst the "Best under a Billion" list by Forbes while operating
through various business divisions supported by manufacturing presence spread in
India and overseas.

The company has about 12 manufacturing units in India and abroad. Its international
facilities are found in Dubai, Nepal, Egypt, Bangladesh and Nigeria. Three of the units
in India are strategically located in excise duty-free zones like Rudrapur (Uttaranchal),
Baddi(Himachal Pradesh) and Jammu. Dabur now has additional facilities at Baddi &
Silvassa (Dadar & Nagar Haveli) with the acquisition of Balsara. The company has a
multi-fruit processing plant at Siliguri (West Bengal) for production of pulp and
concentrates.

Product Line

Hajmola
•Tasty
digestives

Dabur Fem
Real •Fairness
•Fruit juices & Master bleaches &
beverages skin care
Brands products

Vatika
•Premium hair
care

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 Dabur Market Structure

Dabur
Consumer Care Division
Pers
Home
Health Care onal Foods
Care
Care

Dishwa
Natural Constip
Health Wome Cough Cookin Institut Natural Air Insect Toilet shing,
Cures/ ation Baby Hair Skin Oral Fruit
Supple Digestives n's Remed g ional Sause Lemon Freshn Repella Cleane Surface
Revitali remedi Care Care Care Care Juices
ments Health ies pastes Sales Juice er nt r Cleane
sers es
r

Hajm
Hajm Hajm
ola
ola ola
Anard
Tablet Candy
ana

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Product: Hajmola

 Born: 1978

 History: Hajmola is a product of home-grown consumer Products Company

Dabur India Ltd.

 Status: It has more than 65% market share in the digestive products markets
worth Rs.150 crore

 Brand story: Hajmola was launched with a core proposition of “fun, taste and
digestion”. Its tagline for years – “Chatpata swad, jhatpat aaram” conveys the
product’s benefits simply and succinctly. Almost nil competition has given the
brand strength over a few regional players that compete with it; like in Uttar
Pradesh market. It has kept pace with the evolution of the consumer. Earlier,
Hajmola was available only in glass bottles and was more of a household
digestive consumption product. But the introduction of Hajmola in sachets gave
consumers an option of buying and consuming it on the go and at a lower cost.
The brand has extended itself to candy and other forms of digestives as well like
Yumsticks. This new format like candy has brought new consumers, mostly kids,
into the brand fold. They used celebrities such as cricketer Kapil Dev in the
1980s and actor Amitabh Bachchan in recent times to promote their products.
This helped in giving the brand a certain status. This Ayurvedic digestive can be
gauged by the fact that almost 2.5 crore Hajmola tablets are consumed every
day in India. Using dhabas (roadside restaurants) as an advertising medium is
nothing new for Indian brands. Dabur also redesigned over 150 dhabas on routes
originating from Delhi using Hajmola banners, umbrellas, tables, chairs and wall
paintings. People could relate to the product immediately because of its more
than 125 yearlong trust in the company. The brand has innovated to keep up with
the evolution of customers. “Hazam sab, Chahe jab”, “Hajmola kare khana
complete”, “Chatpata swad, jhatpat aaram” are some of its famous taglines of
promotion.

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SEGEMENTATION, TARGETING AND POSITIONING OF HAJMOLA

Segments and Target Market

Age between
Candy
4-12 years
Demographics
All Income Digestive
groups Tablets

Digestive
Tablets
Rural
Candy
Geographic

Urban/ Semi-
Candy
urban

Regular/Loyal
Behaviour Kind of Users
users of Dabur

Positioning Statement & Positioning:

“Establish Hajmola as a hygienic, tasty and easy-to-consume post-meal digestive

and post-meal necessity”

It has positioned itself as a healthy product on the basis of its “ingredients” that is an
ayurvedic product with people’s implicit faith.

The brand has been promoted as a low-priced product which is affordable for all
segments of the society.

Earlier it was positioned as a tablet for grown-ups but with time positioned itself as a
more youthful product, with the launch of candies as well as a product for all ages.

Currently, Dabur is trying to position Hajmola as a “Post-meal necessity” by tapping

the various restaurants and eateries.

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SWOT Analysis

Strength

• Strong Dabur brand name

• Excellent branding and advertising
• Excellent distribution network and availability
• Strong media and advertising management
• Distribution reach of around 2 million retail outlets
• Dabur being an Indian company has deeper understanding of the
Indian taste.
• Dabur has its own heritage, it is more than 125 years old ,
established in the year 1884
• Multinational

Weakness

• Fewer flavours as compared to competitors

• Fewer Tablets per pack
• Dabur doesn’t have direct company outlets

Opportunity

• Buy out competition

• Tap rural market more aggressively
• Advertise more
• Improper and unhealthy food habits due to modernization has
forced people to take ayurvedic supplementary like Hajmola

Threats

• Threat from other confectionary products, candies, and local churan

• Local flavor provided by local competitors like Satmola, Panchvati,
etc.

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Product Strategy for UP market

Dabur Hajmola is available in four chatpata variants namely Regular, Imli, Pudina &
Nimbu. These variants are again in different packaging sizes like:

 Sachets

 Bottle (120 tablets)

 Jar (of sachets)

Since the number of tablets per unit price is quite higher in Hajmola, it is not being
sold against Satmola which is leading the rural Uttar Pradesh market. To solve this
problem, while keeping the weight and price constant, a new sachet can be created
with smaller in size yet more quantity of tablets are packed and sold for rural market.

Also, few new locally preferred flavours like “Kaccha Aam” (Raw mango), “Jal Jeera”,
“Adrakk”, “Ajwain”, “Hing”, etc. can be introduced. More the number of options to
choose, more will be the sale amongst target which uses these tablets for taste.

A smaller sized bottle with 30-40 digestive tablets can be introduced in the market that
would target the households who wouldn’t buy the large 120 tablet bottle.

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How to expand distribution

When a company decides to sell its products and services in a rural emerging market,
one of the most important decisions it will make is the design of its distribution
network. An inappropriate network can have significant negative effects on the
profitability of the firm. While a company operating in a developed market needs to
carefully consider its distribution network design in order to achieve profitability,
companies operating in rural emerging market face particular challenges because of
the low density of the population and poorly developed transportation infrastructure.
The majority of populations in emerging markets continue to live in rural areas. In
India for example, according to the 2001 census, 72% of the country’s population
resides in over 600,000 villages. Of those villages, 85% have less than 5,000 people
in them, meaning that 612 Million people in India live in low-density areas. As a
consequence of the low population, density companies may be faced with
continuously escalating inventory holding and transportation costs as they are forced
to stock and manage sales points in thousands of villages to meet customer
expectations for product availability.
Exacerbating the problems associated with product distribution into low population
density areas, rural emerging markets also often have poorly maintained
transportation infrastructure, if indeed the infrastructure exists at all.

1. The road connected several large towns and small cities, and although the
road was officially described as being “paved,” the road was actually in horrible
disrepair. An average speed of 18 kilometers per hour is attained in such
roads.
2. Impassibility of the village “road” to anything but motorcycles and bicycles.
3. Pradeep Kashyap writes in “The Rural Marketing Book” that “68 per cent of the
rural market [in India] still lies untapped primarily due to inaccessibility

The key points companies should focus on when designing their rural distribution
networks in emerging markets are as follows:

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1. The company should choose the distribution network model that is appropriate
for the product or service it is selling.
2. While continuing to meet the customer’s needs, the company should aggregate
consumer demand into central locations as much as possible in order to
decrease inventory and transportation costs.
3. The company should consider taking advantage of rural entrepreneurs (RE‟s)
to facilitate last-mile product delivery and sales.
4. The company had experimented with stocking retailers in very small villages,
but found that its traditional sales force-driven model was not economically
feasible in geographically dispersed villages with low levels of demand. It can
decide to hire local entrepreneurial youth to distribute its products in villages
and at weekly markets called haats

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 Communication Strategy for UP market

 Hajmola can be provided as after meal refreshment in restaurants, dhabas and

canteens. This will increase its perception as a digestive tablet right at the point of
cause (utility)

 Rural UP people go to Dhabas a lot. Advertising Hajmola over there by printing the
umbrellas, putting logs on tables, putting logos on chairs, having counters and using
Hajmola as after meal refreshment can provide a good way to market Hajmola to
targeted audience.

 Hajmola plastic jars can be sold at small Pan shops, small retail shops which can use
the packets as Rs. 1 change to their customer. This will increase the brand
awareness for Hajmola tablets

 Hajmola can form alliance with railways operating in rural Uttar Pradesh so that after
the meal they can provide Hajmola as a digestive tablet.

 Cartoons like “Chhota Bheem” and “Motu Patlu” are enjoyed by kids in rural Uttar
Pradesh so advertising Hajmola Candy on television when these shows are airing
provides a good way to promote to the kids which is a major target segment

 Rural Uttar Pradesh people have a tendency to like products which are ayurvedic ,so
Dabur should highlighting the ayurvedic aspects of Hajmola products through TV
commercials, banners, etc.

 Hajmola candies and Hajmola sachets should be provided to pan shops, footfall in
these paan shops is very high in rural Uttar Pradesh, so whenever someone comes
to eat paan, he/ she can see Hajmola products right in front of them and moreover
Hajmola sachets of Hajmola candies should be provided as a means of small
changes

 It should be communicated that Hajmola completes ones meal y using trendy and
catchy phrase lines

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 In rural Uttar Pradesh, melas (fairs) are prevalent and attract a huge foot fall. The
food over there is usually made of Dalda or Oil. The melas have food counters as
well as games counters. Usually people first go to game counters to play games and
then go to the food counters to have food. What Dabur can do is give Hajmola
sachets to people participating in the games and put up banners over there on the
stalls. So when people have food cooked in Dalda or Oil they can have Hajmola as
digestive.

 Advertise Hajmola over radios which is still a major source of entertainment among
the old people in rural areas of India

 Hajmola products should be advertised on the local newspapers because local

newspapers act as the main source of news for the people living in rural Uttar
Pradesh and have a high number of readers, so it is a good way of communicating
about the product to a high amount of customers

 Hajmola can also frequently organize events which will include Natak mandali (street
drama players) for enlightening indigestion problems happening in village and how
their product like Hajmola tablets can provide solutions. In event, they can provide
free samples to the people residing there.

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Pricing Strategy for UP market

In the FMCG segment the role of an excellent distribution channel becomes even
more crucial because the delivery of FMCG Product is confined to day to day basis.
Hence in order to survive and thrive in a highly competitive market you have to have a
distribution channel which has no problem at any point of the distribution channel.

A Distribution Channel is a set of interdependent organizations (intermediaries)

involved in the process of making a product or service available for use or
consumption by the consumer or business user. A channel of distribution or trade
channel is the path or route along which goods move from producers to ultimate
consumers or industrial users. In other words, it is the distribution network through
which a producer puts his product in the hands of actual users. Normally for Fast
Moving Customer Goods, the flow of distribution of products happens as given below:

Super Sub End

Company Distributor Retailer
stockist stockist Customer

We have to focus on both End customers in the rural market and intermediate players
involved in the Distribution Channel. We can focus on pricing involved in each and
every intermediate stage of a point of sale and can provide them with the incentives
which will help not the players involved but will also help in pushing of products to the
end customers.

Hajmola can increase lifting incentives on target of Distributors for example like Pepsi
give incentive 1-1.5rs per case when a distributor is not billing.

Two schemes will be formed:

1) Areas where the population is large – For this, the demand will be more so
no need of incentives

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 2) Areas where the population is small – Weekly/Monthly/Yearly incentives
like Pepsi

Under super stockiest, 3-4 super stockiest come. So we can provide them with cash
incentives or things which will be of value to them. For instance: T-shirts, Bags, etc.

There are 3-4 villages under sub Stockist. If under each sub stockist comes 10-15
village and each village has 8-10 outlet, then frequently auditing must be done to
ensure that 80% of the outlets must stock Hajmola and each store must have done a
minimum two times billing. Incentivize accordingly.

For Retailer, can install Hajmola banner and can provide cash incentives or things
that value to them like pearl pet boxes for free which can ensure that there must be 3
warm stocks in the display. This will help to push the product by increasing visibility
and also availability which is the issue in Rural Areas

Increase incentives for the ground sales force, this will not only increase the
motivation to push the product but also will increase loyalty towards the brand. And in
turn, help to fulfil orders.

For a customer, we can provide a discount on the bottle or can provide a sachet free
along with bottle which will push both bottle and sachet.

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Consumer Understanding: Why they use Panchwati and Satmola
over Hajmola

We got in touch with the local Uttar Pradesh suppliers, distributors and retailers to
understand the working of the digestive tablet market in rural Uttar Pradesh.

According to them:

 Panchwati comes in a variety of local flavours like Panchwati Aam Bambiya,

Panchwati Ajwain Hajma, Panchwati Anardana Churan, Panchwati Chand
Sitare, Panchwati Chulbule Dil and Panchwati Hajmewala sold with the tagline
of “Khane Par Hai No Control”

 Satmola comes in a variety of local flavours like Satmola Digestive Tablet

Ajwain, Satmola Digestive Tablet Anar, Satmola Digestive Tablet Hingoli,
Satmola Digestive Tablet Kaccha Aam and Satmola Digestive Tablet Mango;
sold with the tagline “Swad Swad Mein Jamkar Khaya, Satmola ne Khoob
Pachaya”

 The Rs. 1 small packets contain more number of tablets than Hajmola packets
at the same price. Hajmola has only 4-5 tablets while Satmola has 7 tablets.

 The Chand Sitare variant of Panchwati targets the kids in the rural market

 Hajmola has an additional node in the channel which decreases the retailer’s
margin and so doesn’t incentivize them for a better sale of Hajmola

 Satmola has set up several warehouses in UP, a recent one being opened
near Ghaziabad. This has increased instant supply as well as a decrease in
transportation cause leading to low cost of the product.

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Research Methodology

To understand the usage of Hajmola, we conducted a survey on overall usage

patterns. The survey was two-fold:

1. Personal interaction with friends and family

2. Questionnaire over a phone call with suppliers, distributors and retailers

The questions revolved around the following parameters:

 Pricing
 Brand perception
 Brand visibility
 Packaging
 Competition
 Incentives
 Utility

The insights of the survey have been included in Pricing, Distribution, Product, and
Communication strategies.

The parameters were chosen based on prior knowledge and the various material
used for reference (please refer the Reference page of this document).

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Limitations

An online survey does not entirely reflect the preferences of the consumer. An on-
field ground-level survey is needed. As a team, we could not go out and such a
survey to understand the needs and wants of the consumer. This was a major
limitation as far as understanding the market penetration and brand perception of
Hajmola.

An anonymous survey need not always give a correct perception about a

product/service, as one cannot rely on the seriousness of the participants involved.
This may not necessarily portray the right picture. Hence, this can be considered as
a limitation of our project.

Hajmola digestive tablets have a good presence in the rural areas owing to its
product placement. We could not visit rural areas of Uttar Pradesh and survey the
needs of the rural target market. Such a research would have added depth to our
project. It would also help us understand the reason some local digestive tablets
have better sales than Hajmola in rural Uttar Pradesh.

A detailed study of other soaps (including sales, revenues, target segments, profit
margins, market penetration, etc.) in the same price bracket would have helped in
developing a comparative analysis of Hajmola with other similar digestive tablets
of companies at par or above. Owing to time constraints, this could not be done,
and hence, our project lacks this aspect.

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References

https://www.tradeindia.com
https://www.indiamart.com
www.satmola.com/
www.panchwati.in/
www.dabur.com/
https://www.marketing91.com/marketing-strategy-dabur/
https://brainmates.com.au/brainrants/what-goes-into-a-product-strategy/
https://dir.indiamart.com/search.mp?ss=dabur+Hajmola&src=as-rcnt&cq=gurgaon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hajmola
https://www.marketing91.com/swot-analysis-dabur/
https://www.marketing91.com/?s=Hajmola
https://www.marketing91.com/marketing-mix-dabur/
https://dir.indiamart.com/impcat/dabur-Hajmola.html
https://www.quora.com/What-is-Hajmola-really
https://www.mouthshut.com/product-reviews/Hajmola-reviews-925738120
https://www.livemint.com/Companies/lBkipVtA3hOI3Nbw5YzBSK/Dabur-stocks-up-
roadside-eateries-to-boost-Hajmola-sales.html
https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/dabur-to-target-rural-up-for-
more-sales-107060801070_1.html
https://www.indiainfoline.com/article/equity-earnings-result-commentary/dabur-india-
ltd-quarterly-results-dabur-india-ltd-s-q1fy19-consolidated-net-profit-rises-24-53-yoy-
to-rs330cr-in-line-with-estimates-118073100538_1.html

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