INDUSTRY

PRESENTATION
GROUP 25:
Ananth
Divya Goyle
Nachiketas Waychal
Neha Khullar
Reeti Nageshri

HARPIC: READY FOR THE CHALLENGE?

Harpic, the leading toilet cleaning brand of Reckitt Benckiser India Ltd, was launched in
India in 1984 and has seen tremendous growth from 2000 in Lavatory industry
It has a commanding market share of 80%
But its growth story attracted other low cost national and international players slowing
down its growth in last couple of years
To defend its falling market, Harpic Brand team chalked out strategy to increase its
penetration, consumption while ensuring its market mix
It attempts at allocating investments that are optimized for maximum returns for its
brand growth

Situation Analysis
Company

Context

Competitors

Consumer

Collaborator

RB worlds no.1 in
household cleaning
has its brands divided
into 6 categories
Surface care, fabric
care, dishwash, home
care, health and food
Operates in 60
countries and sells in
180 countries with
revenues of 9.56
billion pounds in 2012
Harpic is a lavatory
care product with
options such as liquid
toilet bowl cleaners,
toilet bowl blocks,
cistern blocks, wipes
and tablets

Toilet cleaning
industry traditionally
dominated by
unbranded Phenols
(Rs. 500 crore
market) and braded
cleaner only Rs
50crore
Liquid cleaners is the
dominant category in
the segment with 93
per cent share. Incistern blocks
growing at a faster
pace.
Liquid segment is
dominated by Harpic
with 70% market
share
Top 23 metros
accounts for 52%
share
Large number of
customers use lowgrade alternatives
such as acids,
bleaches and phenyls
(37%)
Market penetration
under 10 but is
growing fast

Major players:
HUL Domex
(APDC)
Reckitt Benckiser Harpic
Dabur Balsara Sanifresh
Cavinkare - Tex
Henkel - Bref
Sara Lee - Kiwi
Kleen
S C Johnson - Mr.
Muscle
Local low cost acids
and phenyls

In India, cleaning is a
daily routine but toilet
cleaning is less
frequent (3-4 times a
month)
Traditionally, Indians
associate cleanliness
more with visual cues
rather than hygiene
than the westerns
who focused on Germ
free.
Brand initially faced
slow acceptance as
its substitutes like
residual detergent
water, phenyl, acids,
detergents, bleach
overpowered
Harpic was
expensive, 5 times of
acid which was
perceived as a
strongest cleaning
agent.
A premium product
for the working
women

CharlesdeGiorgio, a
leading distributor
handles the stores
and warehousing for
Reckitt Benckiser
RB has joined The
Sustainability
Consortium (TSC), an
independent global
organization that
creates sustainability
standards for
consumer products.
Successful
collaboration
between retailers,
suppliers and
producers will enable
the company deploy
transformational
changes on
sustainability
It has also partnered
with global charity
Save the Children to
help protect young
children from diarrhea
with its heath and
hygiene products.

SWOT
S

TRENGTHS

EAKNESSES

Strong backing of the company

Market leader in toilet care category
Good brand promotion by advertising
and other media
Good distribution channel that ensures
brand presence
One of the most popular brand in the
cleansing market
O

PPORTUNITIES
Still major market not
tapped
Should extend in rural
market
Bring variety and
innovation in products
Positive

Tough competition means

limited market share
growth
Fake products with similar
names affects brand
presence
T

Internal
factors

HREATS

Local players offering at low

price
Substitutes such as detergents
available for cleaning
Increase in low cost private
labels
New innovative products coming
in the market
Negative

External
factors

COMPETITOR ANALYSIS

Awareness of toilet cleaning products

Domex (HUL):

with 18% market share, was launched as all purpose disinfectant cleaner
To tap the small market and compete against phenyls HUL reduced the price of Domex from Rs.42 to Rs.22 per bottle
As a frontal attack on Harpic, it relaunched as Specialist Toilet Cleaner with parity pricing, angle necked bottle and
new communication.

Sanifresh (Dabur):It uses volume gain strategy with heavy discounting but has very low presence in mass
media and hence low market share

Mr Muscle (SC Johnson & Co.):

Launched in 2009, it has heavily relied on advertising on TV

Its positioning is based on surface care science of tough cleaning so promotes for use in toilet bowl as well outside
surface and toilet floor

PRIMARY RESEARCH
Number of respondents surveyed: 60
surveys
Gender of respondents

Method of surveying: Store visits, telephone calls, online

Age Group

Living with

34
26

15%

30%

33%

20%
62%

8%

32%

Female

Male

18-24

25-34

35-49

50+

With family

With friends

Type of cistern

Working/Non-working

47

37

23

13

Working

Not working

Indian

Western

Hostel/PG

PRIMARY RESEARCH

Awareness of different Harpic products

Awareness of toilet cleaning products

5% 3%

9%
28%
21%
63%

Toilet care tablets

2%
5%

In-cistern devices

13%

Rim blocks

Rim liquids

Tablet

Rim block

Source of Awareness

4% 2%
23%

71%

TV ad

Word of mouth

Newspaper ad

Other

Flush matic

51%

Other accessories (brush, etc)

None

CONSUMER SPEAK
Awareness of toilet cleaning products

aning
Stronger Cle
lty
Action. In sa
waters like
ou
Bangalore, y
ocal
need acids(l
along
or branded)
duct
with the pro
onth
once every m

The
R
Abb oshan
a
Hus s and
s
ads ain TV
h
mad ave
the e Harp
ic
t
clea oilet
n
cho er of
ic
hou e at m
se
y

May be
fragnances
like
lavender
and
eucalyptus

nee
d
incr to
e
awa ase
r
of in eness
bloc cistern
ks

Preven
t
Stocko
ut

Extra
fragra
nc
e, goo
d
bundli
ng

More c
n
a
r
g
a
fr
es.

IDENTIFYING THE EXISTING SEGMENTS IN

THE MARKET

Nurturers
Married women
(working or
homemakers) that take
care of the household
needs
Buy the best for the
family in a budget

Seekers
Young, unmarried
working adults; living
alone away from home;
Adapting to domestic
responsibility
Variety seeking
behaviour and are
looking for discounts

Learners
Rural customers who
are still learning about
the importance and
means of toilet cleaning
Price sensitive
customers who are still
using local substitutes
(if at all)

Planners
Institutional buyers who
make purchase
decisions for the
company and factory
Large-scale systematic
buying behaviour, do
not change brand
preference frequently

Harpic, the leading toilet cleaning brand, was launched in India in

1984 and has seen tremendous growth from 2000 in Lavatory
industry
It has a commanding market share of 80%
But its growth story attracted other international players slowing
down its growth in last couple of years
To defend its falling market, Harpic Brand team has been chalking
out strategy to increase its penetration, consumption by existing
users while ensuring its market mix
It attempts at allocating investments that are optimized for
maximum returns for its brand growth

4 Ps
Product
Price
Promotion

(Communication strategy)
Place (Distribution)

PRODUCT

Harpic is available in India as Liquid cleaner, Rim block

and flushmatic products:
Liquid Cleaners:
Harpic power opti thick 200 ml
Harpic Citrus arrow 500 ml / 1 Ltr
Harpic Power Plus Original 200/500/750ml / 1 Ltr
Harpic Power Plus Rose 500 / 750 ml
Harpic Fresh Pine 500 ml / 1 Ltr
Harpic Fresh Floral Toilet Cleaner 500ml
Harpic Ultra Power Toilet Cleaner 500ml
Harpic Plus Bleach 500 ml
Automatic Cleaners:
Harpic Flushmatic Blue 100g
Harpic Flushmatic Aquamarine Blue 50g
Harpic Flushmatic Pine 50/100g
Harpic Jasmine Toilet Rim Block 26g
Harpic Pine Toilet Rim Block 26g

PRODUCT CONTD
1.

Harpic has adhered to the core value of providing an effective cleaner. However, its also
giving consumers added value attribute of replacing the regular disinfectant odor with a
range of pleasant fragrances.

Consumer is free to choose the fragrance of his own choice, while retaining the confidence
for the Harpic brand.
3. The launch of Flushmatic products is an innovative jump in the Lav Cleaner product range.
2.

4.

This has been developed to target that segment of consumers which looks forward to try
and gradually adapt to new kind of products.

Points of Parity / Points of

Difference

All Lav cleaner liquid products in India

are packaged in tilted neck shaped
bottles. This has almost become an
identity of Lav cleaners.

Harpic Ultra Powers packaging has

been strategically designed so to make
it comparable with Domex Zero Stain:
the strong looking lav cleaner.

Harpic is available in different

fragrances: this move was initiated by
Harpic itself. Other competitors are still
seen catching up.

Harpic offers a wide range of products:

liquid, tablets and cleaning accessories.
This makes Harpic look like a complete
package for toilet cleaning. This remains
a quality unique to Harpic.

PRICE

Harpic toilet cleaner liquid bottles are available in the price range of Rs. 26 to Rs. 117,
depending on the size and variant of cleaner.

One noticeable characteristic of these products is that the price remains constant
throughout all the fragrances in given variant category.

The prices for Harpic power cleaner for ALL the fragrances are:

200 ml
500 ml
750 ml
1 Ltr

Rs.
Rs.
Rs.
Rs.

26
63
89
117

The Toilet Rim Block & Flushmatic products are priced as:

26 g (Rim Block) Rs. 52

50g
100g

Rs. 43
Rs. 75

PROMOTION
Broad observations from Harpic communication through commercials:
Harpic has been targeting Housewives in its TV commercials since the very beginning
Harpic: smart choice is the message conveyed through these commercials
Every advertisement of Harpic shows dirty toilets that become clean after Harpic
usage.
Hussain: the Favourite Pati and Favourite devar award winner from Star Plus serials was
the brand ambassador till August 2013
Now he is replaced by Vishal Malhotra.

PLACE (DISTRIBUTION)
Harpic (Reckitt & Benckiser) has maintained top notch quality in supply chain by:
Leading the execution of NPD / EPD (New/Existing product development supporting supply chains)
and the continuous gross margin improvement programs namely Squeeze and X-trim in Supply
Leading activities such as harmonization / standardization, benchmarking, sourcing studies in
order to identify and develop further opportunities in South East Asia for Lav Care Category.

Availability:
Harpic products are available at all kinds of retail
outlets like:

Super markets
Grocery stores
Online retail websites

Its supply is so designed that it meets the demand

of all types of locations, ranging from Tier 1 cities, to
semi-urban and rural towns.