Marketing Of Dabur Honitus Cough Drops

By Tanubhav Tyagi 12HR-032

Introduction

Dr S K Burman started the business in 1884 in Kolkata

Leading personal and healthcare company : Among top four FMCG Companies in India
Revenue of more than Rs. 5 billion and profits of more than Rs. 1.4 billion in FY2011-12 Strong brand equity Dabur is a household brand Vatika and Real are Superbrands Hajmola , Real & Dabur ranked among Indias Most Admired Brands

Wide distribution network covering 2.8 million retailers across the country Strong overseas presence with 18% contribution to consolidated sales Success story is based on dedication to nature 3 major Strategic Business Units- Consumer Care Division (CCD), Consumer Health Division (CHD), International Business Division (IBD)

Daburs Distribution Network

Objective
To understand the factors that influence purchase of Dabur Honitus cough drops and suggest recommendations that will help in increasing its market share by twofold in the next three years.

Aim
To study the Indian cough drops market and suggest strategies for improvement and increase of market share of Dabur Honitus.

Scope
The study was conducted from April 2013 to May 2013. The scope of this research is limited to the geographical region of Delhi NCR.

METHODOLOGY OF THE PROJECT

There are two main types of data collection i.e. Primary Data Secondary data Primary Data A survey was conducted on one-to-one basis with first customer where number of respondents was 60. Data was also collected by visiting 65 chemists and 57 grocers in the Delhi NCR region. Secondary Data Internet Neilson data

Results and Data Analysis

Consumer Survey

2. Who recommends you the Cough Drop?

Who Recommends You the Cough Drop?

Your Choice 38%

Chemist/Grocer

62%

Analysis: The above graph shows that for 38% of the respondents it was their own choice of cough drop they bought, 62% were recommended by the grocers/chemists.

3. Where did people come to know about their Cough drop?

Using since childhood. Say parents! 2% Television 36% Friends 55% Chemist 1% doctor 2% Don't Remember 2%

Newspaper 2%

Analysis: According to the data maximum people (55%) came to know about their brand of cough drop through friends and secondly from television which contributed 36% of the total share. This shows that advertising on television is very important for Dabur Honitus.

Attributes Driving People to Purchase Cough Drops

Importance of Attributes

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The above chart shows the importance of the attributes in driving people to purchase their brand of cough drop.

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4. Factors influencing the purchase decision of Consumers

Faster Relief

Faster Relief
100% 83% 94%

Dabur Honitus

Strepsils

Vicks

Analysis: Dabur Honitus provides a faster relief to consumers than other lozenges. However, a point to note is that Honitus (100%) and Vicks (94.11%) have almost equal share in the market when it comes to this attribute.

Efficacy

Ef icacy
100% 75% 94%

Dabur Honitus

Strepsils

Vicks

Analysis: According to the samples, for all the Dabur Honitus users efficacy plays an important role in driving them to purchase it.

Long Lasting Relief

Long Lasting
92% 73% 94%

Dabur Honitus

Strepsils

Vicks

Analysis: This attribute drives the purchase of the consumers to a great extent. Lozenges like Vicks and Strepsils form 94% of the sample size in driving the purchase of such lozenges but Honitus contributes to only 73%. This shows that Honitus needs to work on this attribute to drive the purchase of the consumers.

Sore Throat

Driving Factor for Purchase

88% 73% 75%

Dabur Honitus

Strepsils

Vicks

Analysis: The consumer samples demonstrate that 73% of Dabur Honitus users take Honitus because of sore throat while 88.23% of Vicks users take Vicks for sore throat. Thus, Dabur Honitus needs to focus on adding those variants in their lozenges to provide a better relief when it comes to sore throat.

Taste

Driving Factor for Purchase

94% 69% 58%

Dabur Honitus

Strepsils

Vicks

Analysis: If we compare for 69.23% of Dabur Honitus users taste is the driving factor for their purchase but for 94.11% Vicks users it is their driving factor. This shows that Dabur Honitus needs to improve where taste is concerned.

Availability

Availability
94% 83%

46%

Dabur Honitus

Strepsils

Vicks

Analysis: This attribute of easy availability is the biggest weakness for Dabur Honitus (46%). Honitus might be ahead of other Lozenges in attributes like better taste and price, but it lacks in being easily available in the market. The highest visibility per the samples has been accounted for Vicks.

Improvements Metrics

Brand Awareness
Analysis: 100% consumers feel that Honitus should advertise its product more to increase its awareness in the market.

Availability
Analysis: The above chart shows that all the respondents believe that Dabur Honitus lacks in
terms of availability so it needs to improve on this part.

Taste

Score out of 5 (5-Best, 1-Worst)

3.7

3.6

Vicks

Dabur Honitus

Analysis: The sample study highlights that Dabur Honitus has almost the same score that of Vicks i.e. 3.6 so it shows that its taste is satisfactory and need not be changed.

Efficacy

Dabur Honitus
47%

Analysis: As evident from attributes distribution table also, Honitus needs to gain the confidence of the consumers in being more effective than other Lozenges.

Packaging

Score out of 5 (5-Best, 1-Worst

3.4

3.5

Vicks

Dabur Honitus

Analysis: It can be seen in the graph that Honitus got a better score for packaging when compared with market leader Vicks that means Honitus need not change its packaging.

Menthol Content
Dabur Honitus

88%

Analysis: 88% of the sample size votes for improvement in the menthol content of Honitus while only 39% of the sample size feel this need for Vicks. This shows that increase in menthol content calls for an area of improvement.

6. Comparison of Effectiveness of Dabur Honitus with its major competitors

Percentage of Total Respondants who said their Brand was Effective

92% 72% 47%

Dabur Honitus

Strepsils

Vicks

Analysis: The above data shows that only 47% of the respondents feel that Dabur Honitus is effective as compared to Stepsils, which is the most preferred brand if effectiveness is to be taken since 92% of the respondents said that Strepsils is very effective.

Type of Sales (Push/Pull)

Vicks
Push led 8%

Honitus

Type of Sales for Chemists

Pull led 18%
Push led 82%

Type of Sales for Chemists

Pull led 92%

Type of Sales for Grocers

Type of Sales for Grocers

Push led 9%

Pull led 16%

Push led 84% Pull led 91%

Best Stock Keeping Units for Dabur Honitus

Best Stock Keeping Unit (Chemists)
500 jar 15% 100 jar 5% 1200 jar 150 jar 2% 2% 200 jar 13%

300 jar 63%

Best Stock Keeping Unit (Grocers)

500 jar 10% 150 jar 12% 200 jar 8%

100 jar 7%

300 jar 63%

Does Point of Sales (Dispensers, Boards, posters etc.) work?

Chemists
no 22%

yes 78%

Grocers
no 15%

yes 85%

Types of Stock Keeping Units for Various Cough Drop Brands (No. Of Cough Drops in Jars)

Variants of Top Cough Drop Brands

Vicks Dabur Honitus Lemon Ginger Menthol Honi Mint Honi Orange Strepsils Orange Menthol Honey and Lemon Regular Vitamin C Strepsils Ayurvedic Halls Ginger-CloveHoney Tulsi-Honey HoneyCinnamon Lime Menthol

Menthol Ginger Honey

Schemes Given by various Cough Drop Brands

Name Vicks Stepsils Sualin Koflet Dabur Honitus Primary Scheme + Margin 20% 20% 20% 30% 20% Wholesale scheme 3% to 5% 6% 9% 8.33% In Jar 10% to 20% 0 to 10% Total 33% to 45% 26% to 36%

28.33%

Conclusions
Consumer Survey
The entire cough drops market is highly dependent on the climate conditions i.e. winters. The promotion and advertising of Dabur Honitus is not adequate and needs to be improved. The overall availability of the product in stores is not adequate. This is a major area of concern specially because Dabur Honitus is an OTC product, and its unavailability in the market shifts the purchase to its competitor. Thus this is a major reason for its overall lower market share. There are no advertisements or any other promotions for Dabur Honitus; there is advertisement for Dabur Honitus cough syrup. Thus people are aware of the Dabur Honitus brand, but because of its syrup, and thus are not aware about the availability of its cough lozenges in the market. It was observed through consumer survey that Dabur Honitus had low menthol content. 62% respondents are advised by the chemists and grocers to take cough drops. Point of sales is important in driving people to buy a product so Dabur Honitus should improve on this. Schemes of Vicks, which is the market leader, were higher than that of Dabur Honitus. It was observed that Dabur Honitus was not found in Groceries as compared to Vicks.

Market Survey

Channel Skew
It was observed that a large part of sales of Vicks comes from groceries and pan walas and Dabur Honitus does not cater to pan walas and groceries

Recommendations
Product Offering
The company should introduce jars with mixed variants i.e. menthol; lemon and ginger so as to increase the sales of the product. Similar to 130 lozenges Vicks refill pack Dabur Honitus can also come up with a refill pack. Dabur Honitus should improve its efficacy in order to drive consumers to purchase it.

Consumer
Create awareness of the product and thus increasing the sales. The company should create a perception of efficacy in the minds of the people like Vicks has created in its advertisements. New television advertisements can be shown to consumers claiming its high efficacy. Dabur Honitus should be advertised on television since 37% of the total respondents came to know about their brand through television. Since the data shows that Point of Sales helps in increase sales so Dabur Honitus can be kept in Dispensers in groceries and chemists and posters can be put to advertise.

Channel and Trade

Dabur should do brand promotion activities for retailers and wholesalers to encourage them to sell more of Dabur Honitus. In this Dabur can give more schemes, incentives and can tie up with other companies so that it can shoot up sales in terms of volume. Focus on Groceries where we have limited presence to increase the overall availability of the product. Local competition should not be under estimated, as these are the players who are taking the majority chunk of the market. Since most of the retailers and wholesalers said that point of sales (dispensers, posters etc.) work in increasing sales so Dabur Honitus should put posters and dispensers.