Lakme free essay sample

Executive Summary About the project Within a short span of the last five six years, the use of cosmetics by Indian consumer has increased significantly with more and more women taking greater interest in personal grooming, increasing disposable incomes, changing life styles, influence of satellite television and greater product choice and availability. Lakme is an Indian brand of cosmetics, owned by Uniliver, it started as 100% subsidiary of Tata oil mills which is a part of Tata group. * This cosmetics and personal care industry has been growing at an average rate of 20% for the last few years. Perfumes and skin care and hair care products are some of the major segments with promising prospects for U. S. companies. * Penetration of most cosmetic and toiletries is very low in India. The urban population with increasing purchasing power is the major force driving demand for cosmetics. India is very price sensitive market. Lakme is facing competitive edge in market with various brands. We will write a custom essay sample on Lakme or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The growing Indian cosmetics market offer promising prospects for international Brands. Introduction To Company Half a century ago, as India took her first step into freedom, Lakme, India’s first beauty brand was born. At a time when beauty industry in India was at a nascent stage, Lakme tapped into what would grow to be amongst the leading, high consumer interest segments in the Indian industry – that of skin care and cosmetic products. Lakme has grown to have a wide variety of products and services that cover all facets of beauty care and arm consumer ith products to pamper herself from head to toe. These include for lips, nails, eyes, face and skin , and services like Lakme Beauty Salon. A little bit of Lakme history: In 1995, Lakme ltd (a Tata group company) and HLL formed 50:50 venture Lakme Lever that would market and distribute Lakme’s products. In 1998, Lakme sold its brand (and 50% it owns in the JV) to HLL, renamed itself trent and entered a different business (retail). Only, the years between 1995 and 2000 saw HLL wrestling with several issues with a bearing on Lakme future. It offered a range of cosmetics with anil polish, lipsticks from early 80’s. Lakme also understand the importance of maintaining and accentuating a women’s natural beauty, for this it has introduced a range of skincare products from 1987. Research Methodology The research is based on:- Primary data * Questionnaire Secondary Data * Internet * Company report amp; broachers * Magazines * Newspaper Data is also gathered by talking to the respondents (target audience, understanding their beauty needs, what aspire them to go for the (Lakme) brand. Also the level of:- * Brand awareness * Price level * Visibility of brand personality * Expectancy of communication All these factors were the prime criterion for selecting (Which brand? ), Short listing and ranking (level of trustworthiness? Or most favored) which had helped us for identifying the winner in cosmetics industry. Research Design The research is based on exploratory study Research is exploratory when you use no earlier model as a basis of your study. The most usual reason for using this approach is that you have no other choice. Normally you would like to take an earlier theory as a support , but there perhaps is none , or all available models come from wrong contexts, Exploratory research means that hardly anything known about the matter at the out set of the project. You then have to begin with a rather vague impression of what you should study and it is also impossible to make a detailed work plan in advance. The data is collected by drafting a questionnaire and thereby interpreted or analyzed or result by using the Microsoft excel. SWOT Analysis of Lakme Strengths: * Local brand of specific relevance to India Strong Ramp;D capability, well linked with business. * Integrated supply chain and well spread manufacturing units * Ability to deliver cost savings Weaknesses * Price positioning in some categories allows for low price competition * Varying quality range in its products Opportunities * Brand growth through increased consumption depth and frequency of usage across all categories. * Upgrading consume rs through innovation to new levels of quality and performance. Threats * Aggressive price competition from local and multinational players. * Non existence of brand image in long run. Table of contents 1. Declaration . Acknowledgement 3. Executive summary 4. Introduction to company 5. Research methodology 6. Research design 7. SWOT analysis 8. Data interpretation 9. Findings and conclusion 10. Recommendation 11. Bibliography 12. Questionnaire Q1:-Do you use Lakme products (brand) for cosmetics? * 65% of women use Lakme products where 35% don’t. Still lot of maket segment of women needed to be targeted. Q2:- Do Lakme provides quality products ? * 60% of women think that Lakme provides quality products. Q3:-Are you Brand Loyal to Lakme? * Only 30% of women are loyal towards Lakme brand. Q4:- For what purpose you use Lakme Products? Maximum women use Lakme brand for lip color and then Face products. Only 10% usage of Nail Enamel. Q5:-What do you think about the price level of Lakme Products? * Women are satisfied with the product prices but 30% of women still think the price of Lakme brand is high. Q6:-If not Lakme then which Other Brand? * L’Oreal is tough competitor of Lakme as 39% women would prefer L’Oreal and then Revlon at 22%. Q7:- Do celebrity endorsements in advertisements att ract you towards Lakme Products? * There is good effect of celebrity endorsement among women as 66% women to get impressed by advertisement of Lakme brand by Celebrity. Q8:- What inspire you to go for any cosmetic product? * 36% women prefer Lakme for its Quality and the range of color is also impressive among women as 30% women choose Lakme product for its variety of shades. Findings and Conclusion * The Lakme Brand is known for Quality among women consumers. * Preferred product of Lakme is range and color of Lip Colors. * Price level of Lakme brand is optimum so easily affordable by maximum women segment market * L’Oreal is tough competition to Lakme . Data collected shows switching on another product is highly spontaneous and can prefer other brands. Lack of Brand Loyality among women using Lakme products. * Advertisements do influence women for buying Lakme product. * Scope of covering market share is wide. More innovations are expected. As user of Lakme product are preferring the Brand for its Quality and range of Color/Shades available in the market. Recommendations * Promotion beyond fashion week * The brand should not lose its focus away from cosmetics. It can prove to be detrimental. * For vast reach unlikely, in the short term, â€Å"some sort of an alliance or co-branding with salons that already exist may, perhaps , have been a better strategy. More promotions required as still market segment of women do not use the products though Lakme beauty products are reasonably priced , it has not been communicated well enough. Bibliography * Kotler Philip, Keller Lane Kevin Marketing, Prentice Hall Of India, 2005 * S. P Gupta , Business Statistics, 14th Edition,2005 * Tata Mc Graw-Hill Edition, Business Research Methods, Donald R. Cooper, Pamela S. Schindler. References * www. lakmeindia. com * www. hll. com * www. economictimes. com * www. financialexpress. com