INTRODUCTION OF LAKME UNILEVER PRIVATE LTD

Lakme is the Indian womans Beauty Sutra inspiring expression of her unique beauty and sensuality.Lakme brings expert products and services that are borne out of true understanding of the needs of the Indian woman. They help the Indian woman in expression of her best self sensual, original, expressive, alive and intuitive. Lakme inspires her to unleash the potency of her femininity, beauty and sensuality Key facts Lakme was the first major beauty brand in India and takes pride in being the expert on Indian Beauty for over 50 years. It is complete beauty brand spanning colour cosmetics, skin care & hair styling products and extending to beauty services through the network of Lakme Beauty Salons. Its bond with beauty and fashion is manifested through the Lakme Fashion Week, which is now the largest fashion event of its kind in the country. Lakme has a foot print of over 1200 assisted sales outlets, which is the largest span of outlets with Beauty Advisors in the country. Our vision Unilever products touch the lives of over 2 billion people every day 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 a great cup of tea, satisfying meal or healthy snack. A clear direction The four pillars of our vision set out the long term direction for the company where we want to go and how we are going to get there: We work to create a better future every day We help people feel good, look good and get more out of life with brands and services that are good for them and good for others. We will inspire people to take small everyday actions that can add up to a big difference for the world.

Code of business principles Standard of Conduct We conduct our operations with honesty, integrity and openness, and with respect for the human rights and interests of our employees. Obeying the Law Unilever companies and our employees are required to comply with the laws and regulations of the countries in which we operate. Employees Unilever is committed to diversity in a working environment where there is mutual trust and respect and where everyone feels responsible for the performance and reputation of our company. We will recruit, employ and promote employees on the sole basis of the qualifications and abilities needed for the work to be performed. Consumers Products and services will be accurately and properly labelled, advertised and communicated. Shareholders Unilever will conduct its operations in accordance with internationally accepted principles of good corporate governance. We will provide timely, regular and reliable information on our activities, structure, financial situation and performance to all shareholders. Business Partners Unilever is committed to establishing mutually beneficial relations with our suppliers, customers and business partners. Community Involvement Unilever strives to be a trusted corporate citizen and, as an integral part of society, to fulfil our responsibilities to the societies and communities in which we operate. Public Activities Unilever companies are encouraged to promote and defend their legitimate business interests. Unilever will co-operate with governments and other organisations, both directly and through bodies such as trade associations, in the development of proposed legislation and other regulations which may affect legitimate business interests.. The Environment Unilever is committed to making continuous improvements in the management of our environmental impact and to the longer-term goal of developing a sustainable business. Innovation In our scientific innovation to meet consumer needs we will respect the concerns of our consumers and of society.

 Competition Unilever believes in vigorous yet fair competition and supports the development of appropriate competition laws. Business Integrity Unilever does not give or receive whether directly or indirectly bribes or other improper advantages for business or financial gain. No employee may offer give or receive any gift or payment which is, or may be construed as being, a bribe. Conflicts of Interests All Unilever employees are expected to avoid personal activities and financial interests which could conflict with their responsibilities to the company. Any breaches of the Code must be reported in accordance with the procedures specified by the Chief Legal Officer. Business Partner Code We are committed to working with our business partners to achieve high standards and to provide greater transparency on how we work together. Maintaining high standards together To meet the expectations our consumers have of our brands as high quality, reliable products, we form close working relationships many of them long-term with our business partners. In support of this approach, we have developed a Business Partner Code that is compatible with our Code of Business Principles. The Code makes clear the standards to which we expect our business partners to adhere. It contains 10 principles covering business integrity and responsibilities relating to employees, consumers and the environment. Business partner code There shall be compliance with all applicable laws and regulations of the country where operations are undertaken. There shall be respect for human rights, and no employee shall suffer harassment, physical or mental punishment, or other form of abuse. Wages and working hours will, as a minimum, comply with all applicable wage and hour laws, and rules and regulations, including minimum wage, overtime and maximum hours in the country concerned .There shall be no use of forced or compulsory labour, and employees shall be free to leave employment after reasonable notice . There shall be no use of child labour, and specifically there will be compliance with relevant ILO standards .There shall be respect for the right of employees to freedom of association* .Safe and healthy working conditions will be provided for all employees .

 Corporate Governance We have always aspired to high standards of corporate governance. Transparency and accountability are the two basic tenets of Corporate Governance. We, at Hindustan Unilever, feel proud to belong to a Company whose visionary founders had laid the foundation stone for good governance long back and made it an integral principle of the business, demonstrated in the words above. Our approach to Corporate Governance To succeed, we believe, requires the highest standards of corporate behaviour towards everyone we work with, the communities we touch, and the environment on which we have an impact. This is our road to sustainable, profitable growth and creating long-term value for our shareholders, our people, and our business partners. LAKMES POSITIONING IN TERMS OF PERSONALITY AND SELF CONCEPT: Lakme is a product range that caters to the beautification needs of not only women in their adult age but in today's context teenagers also. It has a brand personality of someone who takes care of you and your beauty needs. It tries to position itself amongst its consumers as a product range that will help them look beautiful as is evident from its catchphrases: 1. On top of the world! 2. Source of radiant beauty1! Lakme has a range of beauty products to offer to its consumers. Some of the ways in which it tries to position itself: 1. Lakme Hair Color: magic of colors (collage). 2. Lakme (versatile eye shadow collection): rich, long lasting and healthy make up. 3. Lakme fair perfect: For flawlessly fair skin! 4. Lakme face magic: daily wear souffl. 5. Lakme (skin vitalizer): radiant skin, now and forever.

6. Lakme (moisturizer): radiant skin, now and forever. 7. Lakme nail polish and lipstick: electric brilliance/sensual brilliance 8. Lakme sun expert (sunscreen): sun safe hamesha! (face the sun with a smile) 9. Lakme pure defense: anti-pollution system. 10. Lakme Tropical Island (cosmetics): defining the future of fashion. 11.Lakme hair care (international): natural hair care 12. Lakme hair next: exclusive range of hairstyle products that give you that salon look instantly. On the basis of above mentioned positioning strategies Lakme can have the following characteristics that determine its personality: Someone who takes care of your beauty needs. A long lasting beautification product range. Something that is not harsh on your body or harmful for your beauty. A product that provides you with an option of getting beautiful hair. A product that helps you get a beautiful skin. A cosmetic product that you can wear for the entire day and not a special occasion. Someone who tells you right things about looking good. It's an Indian cosmetic brand. It covers all facets of beauty care for women. The following factors of Lakme's personality help in differentiation of its products from the competition:

 It covers all facets of beauty care. It helps arm the consumer with products to pamper her from head to toe i.e. a complete product range.

e Radient Rose Powder. Lakme Nail Enamel Remover. Lakme Strawberry Silk Cream Lakme Deep Pore Cleansing Milk High priestess of sacred Indian temple meets English army officer who's unwittingly strayed into holy ground. They fall in love. Her orthodox father vows vengeance... That's the story of Lakm, a 19th century opera written by Frenchman Leo Delibes, from which Simone Tata borrowed the name Lakm (French for Lakshmi, the name of the priestess). The current size of the Indian cosmetic market is approximately US$ 600 million. Of this, the fastest growing segment is color cosmetics, accounting for around US$ 60 million of the market. Industry sources estimate a rapid growth rate of 20 percent per annum across different segments of the cosmetics industry reflecting an increasing demand for all kinds of beauty and personal care product. Growth has come mainly from the low and medium-priced categories that account for 90 percent of the cosmetics market in terms of volume.

Even with a 20 percent average growth rate, the per capita consumption of cosmetics is very low in India. Current per capita expenditure on cosmetics is approximately US$ 0.68 cents as compared to US$ 36.65 in other Asian countries. However, with changing lifestyles, higher disposable incomes, increasing advertising, penetration of satellite television, awareness of the western world and growing importance of beauty pageants, there have been significant changes and use of cosmetics is on the rise.

 It covers all facets of beauty care. It helps arm the consumer with products to pamper her from head to toe i.e. a complete product range.

e Radient Rose Powder. Lakme Nail Enamel Remover. Lakme Strawberry Silk Cream Lakme Deep Pore Cleansing Milk High priestess of sacred Indian temple meets English army officer who's unwittingly strayed into holy ground. They fall in love. Her orthodox father vows vengeance... That's the story of Lakm, a 19th century opera written by Frenchman Leo Delibes, from which Simone Tata borrowed the name Lakm (French for Lakshmi, the name of the priestess). The current size of the Indian cosmetic market is approximately US$ 600 million. Of this, the fastest growing segment is color cosmetics, accounting for around US$ 60 million of the market. Industry sources estimate a rapid growth rate of 20 percent per annum across different segments of the cosmetics industry reflecting an increasing demand for all kinds of beauty and personal care product. Growth has come mainly from the low and medium-priced categories that account for 90 percent of the cosmetics market in terms of volume.

Even with a 20 percent average growth rate, the per capita consumption of cosmetics is very low in India. Current per capita expenditure on cosmetics is approximately US$ 0.68 cents as compared to US$ 36.65 in other Asian countries. However, with changing lifestyles, higher disposable incomes, increasing advertising, penetration of satellite television, awareness of the western world and growing importance of beauty pageants, there have been significant changes and use of cosmetics is on the rise.

METHODOLOGY Research methodology is a careful investigation for inquiring in a systematic method and finding solution of a problem. It comprises the defining and redefining of problem formulating hypothesis, collection and evaluating data, making detection and reaching conclusion. This research consists of following element. SOURCES OF DATA RESEARCH DESIGN SAMPLING DESIGN

SOURCES OF DATA
Primary Source of Data Primary data are those collected by the investigator himself for the first time and thus they are original in character, they are collected for a particular purpose. A wellstructured questionnaire was personally administrated to the selected sample to collect the primary data. Secondary Source of Data Secondary data are those, which have already been collected by some other persons for their purpose and published. Secondary data are usually in the shape of finished products. External Data, was generated from magazines, research books and internet (websites). RESEARCH DESIGN The study was conducted as an exploratory sampling survey method to collect primary and secondary data. SAMPLING DESIGN A sample is a representative part of the population. In sampling technique, information is collected only from a representative part of the universe and the conclusions are drawn on that basis for the entire universe. A random sampling technique was used to collect data from the respondents. A random sample is a sample selected from a population in such a way that every member of the population has a equal chance of being selected and the selection of any individual does not influence the selection of any other. The selection is purely depends on chance. So while conducting the survey, 100 respondents were selected at random.

CONCLUSION: The different information or benefits derived from the in-depth study of the above mentioned information sources are as follows: 1. consumer behavior and perception study; it helped to know that what actually is consumer beahviour and what are the factors that affect the buying behavior of consumers. It also helped us to know that how can perception have a positive and a negative impact on the consumer beahviour. 2. cosmetic industry in india- this section helped in knowing tat cosmetic is not a new concept in india. People have been grooming themselves physically. The only difference is the addition of chemicals and technology to our personal grooming. 3. Competition existing in the present insurance market; there are many other companies posing tough competition to lakme ie Revlon , garnier, loreal, lotus etc. 4. All the marketing information sources has given a significant contribution to the detailed theoretical perspective for the research i.e. about consumer behavior an perception. 5. World Wide Web also worked as a highly important information source as it provides updated information for the research relating to various areas.

LIMITATION OF STUDY An underlying assumption for the entire project is that the details and the feedback received from the population is true. It was difficult to find respondents as they were busy in their schedule, and collection of data was very difficult. Therefore, the study had to be carried out based on the availability of respondents. Some of the respondents were not ready to fill the questionnaires and some of them were not ready to come out openly.

Advertising and promotion is crucial for cosmetics and toiletries products, in order to create an awareness of new products and build brand loyalty among consumers. Advertisements in TV and the print media such as newspaper and magazines, especially womens magazines, are very common. Samples of toiletries products are distributed to individual households and products in sachet form are attached to magazines. Free gifts are given during promotion periods and are advertised in the local major newspapers and on the web. According to the industry, the market is saturated with many different types of products, and in the long run, established brands that emphasize quality and service will have the edge.

Increasing Competition

Low Rating of lame Salons (not so good customer services)

No new Strategies to look for improvements.

 May loose its Sheen in a long run.

Recommendations
Promotions beyond fashion week The brand should not lose its focus away from cosmetics. It can proved to very detrimental. For vast reach unlikely, in the short-term. Some sort of an alliance or cobranding with the salons that already exist may, perhaps, have been a better strategy. The general perception is that company-owned salons are expensive. Though Lakme beauty salons are reasonably priced, it has not been communicated well enough.
Affordable cosmetic products must be launched, drawing less than 1000 rupees per month. This will attract mores of youg women towards it and will further increase the market share of the company. Lakme should also concenterate on the cosmetic products for the mails. As today even boys are becoming more concerned of the way they are looking. More and more boys are turning out to be metro sexual. This category will rise in the future and lakme must concentrate on catching them so that the company can generate more sales from them.

 Lakme must not limit itself to serve only the women, as it will be ignoring a large chunk of looks conscious and metro sexual boys. It would be wise for the company to target young people in the above category and grow along with them as they and the nation prospers. Many respondents in their answer as to why they did not take lakme product said that lakme does not provide a makeup or sunscreen lotion which is to be put only once as it is not moisture resistant. So lakme should work more in creating a water resistant sunscreen lotion which could stay all through the hard sweaty days. More of the saloons should be created in order to provide easy accessibility to the consumers of the services and products provided by lakme. Lakme can start contests for free makeover of women , as it was being started by dove, sunsilk and ponds in collaboration- be beautiful. Website Changes: Lakme must advertise more about its website in the mass media so people can gain firsthand knowledge about its products at their convenience in a more detailed manner. The website is good but instead of having a glossary as a separate entity, link words which are difficult to understand for a first timer (even if it is as simple as spf) must be marked up (underlined) in the text, which upon clicking must open out to a window giving details. A page must be devoted on why cosmetic products of lakme must be taken plus real life stories of how people with use of lakme cosmetics improved their looks. Links to other sites extolling the virtues of cosmetics must be given. A page devoted to Lakmes beginning as a cosmetic industry must be included in the website to assure potential customers that this is one company that will stick around for a long time to come. Exciting contests can be launched for those who visit the website. lakme has tied up with HUL hence it must advertise in these websites also. It can also advertise in other beauty related sections of websites like vogue.com and feminaindia.com. Youth sites like mtstylecheckvindia.com, facebook.com, orkut.com, twitter.com etc can also be targeted.

 According to Abraham Maslows hierarchy of needs the 2nd step to self actualization is the fulfillment of the safety needs. Though people feel the need for being presentable and have good looks, a large number live in an ivory tower and they procrastinate to take decisions regarding this aspect. It is this dormant aspect that Lakme should awaken in people and bring about restlessness and unfulfilled feeling regarding their and their familys overall physical grooming. The next choice then would be cosmetics. This could be brought about by an innovative campaign slogan saying, The decision is now. Lakme must not target people only when they start earning but much before that. To gain the early bird advantage they must organize sessions in schools and colleges giving explanations on how the medicure, pedicure, facials, massage etc can in general help in their overall development. . It can also bring about a stronger brand commitment in this manner. Leverage information technology to service large numbers of customers efficiently and bring down overheads. Technology can complement or supplement distribution channels cost-effectively. It can also help improve customer service levels considerably. Use data warehousing, management and mining to gauge the profitability and potential of various customer and product segments and ensure effective cross selling. Understanding the customer better will allow cosmetic companies to design appropriate products, determine pricing correctly and increase profitability. Ensure high levels of training and development not just for staff but for distribution organizations. Existing organizations will have to train staff for better service and flexibility, while all companies will have to train employees to cope with new products and an intensive use of information technology. The importance of alliances and tie-ups means that companies will have to integrate related but separate providers into their systems to ensure seamless delivery. Build strong relationships with intermediaries such as agents. The agency force is an important customer interface and companies must partner with this group to reach customers and serve them effectively.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Kotler Philip , Keller Lane Kevin marketing , prentice hall of India , 2005 S.P Gupta , Business Statistics, 14th edition , 2005 Business Statistics , J. K Sharma , edition 2005 Tata Mc graw-Hill Edtion , Business research methods , Donald R.Cooper , Pamela S. Schindler.

References

www.hindubusinessline.com www.lakmeindia.com www.hll.com www.economictimes.com www.financialexpress.com

LAKME PRODUCTS --catering to customer satisfaction.

by Albert Cain

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Title
Lakme is catering to the Indian cosmetics society through its wide range of products, with continuous up gradations and innovations. Lakme in India is almost half a century old. Then also it has kept itself young and stylish with the help of foresight, research and constant innovation. One line of Lakme (I) Ltd. caters to body care cosmetics and the other line of products is solely devoted to face, eyes and lips. With all the innovations, Lakme has grown to be the market leader in the cosmetics industry. Get yourself pampered in Lakme Beauty Salons, which are using a wide range of Lakme products and enhancing the beauty of its clients. Lakme has introduced a range of Matt Effect which helps in retaining the morning fresh look all day long. This includes a cleanser, an astringent and a mattifier to be used in series twice a day to produce best results. This line of product is especially for the oily skin. This helps in reducing oil production by closing the pores and restoring the skin-balance. Matt Effect toner removes the make-up deep from inside the skin to abolish any harmful effect on the skin. This helps in reducing blemishes and prevents acne. The face cosmetics from Lakme include eye care products like eye-pencil, eye-liner, eyeshadow, mascara, and eye-brow pencil. Eye contours can be well-defined by these products, which have to be used according to the shape of eyes, its color, skin-color, and attire. Face has to be touched according to the face-cut, whether it's long, square, or round. In case of long thin faces, make-up techniques are different than that of square face or round face. Lakme skin care includes strawberry skin care cream, foundations, daily sun-defense lotions and creams. In its series of hair-care, brand hairnext easy nourish hair Souffl nourishes hair before hair wash and makes them smooth and shiny like never before. Instant bounce volume hair spray holds volume from inside and should be sprayed from inside of the hair. All this and a lot more Lakme Products range is available at naaptol.com for your reference and availability at best possible price.

Albert Cain is a well known writer. He has written many articles on Health care, cosmetics, cars, Perfumes, beauty care, Lakme Products and so on.