A MARKET RESEARCH PROJECT ON TOOTHPASTE

Submitted by: Priyanka Saha

Siddharth Mukul Baruah

Suraj Rajagopalan

Sankhadip Chatterjee

In partial fulfilment for the award of the degree

Of Post Graduate Programme in Business Administration (Phase1)

Indo German Training Centre

Quantitative Methods

Project coordinator- Mohit Jain

October-2011

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Analysis of Buying and Disposing Behaviour of Toothpaste amongst Consumers

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Index Page No.1.Introduction 32.An Overview of The Toothpaste Market in India

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3.Summary 54.Acknowledgement 66.Case studya) formulation of questionnaireb) the survey experiencec) data inferred

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5.Objective of study 127.Research Methodologya) Type of researchb) Source of datac) Data collection methodd) Sampling

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8.Data collection 159.Findings-Data Analysis and Data Interpretationa) buying frequencyb) package sizec) buying locationd) purchase influencee) usage longevityf) areas to improveg) brand loyaltyh) switch simulatori) brand imagej) source of brand awarenessk) Annova testing (age vs brand preference)l) occupation vs brand

16171718192021222226293133

9.Limitations 3410.Suggestions and Recommendations 3612.Conclusion 3713. Bibliography 38

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Introduction‘Consumer is king’ –the statement carries profound truth in it. Today

the success of any firm depends upon the satisfaction of customers. For satisfying the consumers the firm should know about the behaviour of the

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consumers. In these circumstances understanding consumer is a very difficult task because of the changing technology, innovation, and changes in life style. Researchers conducted many research in this area, and they have given only few suggestion, but there is no final conclusion. It is difficult to classify consumers by conventional demographic factors and unless their thought process and buying behaviour are fully understood, decisions on product designs and packaging, branding and distribution channels are likely to be misplaced. With the inevitability of change looming large over the horizon, Indian companies must learn from their western counterparts; not only to identify the sources, timing and direction of the changes likely to affect India, but also the new competencies and perspective understanding the external factors like demographic, social that will enable them to respond to these changes, comprehensively and effectively. This study mainly focuses on price, quality, and product attributes etc. for buying toothpaste. The market share of any product is highly determined by the purchasing behaviour of the consumers. Following study is to find out the behaviour of the consumers, to analyse the preference of consumers, & consumer awareness in the toothpaste market.

An Overview of Toothpaste Market in India

• Toothpaste market in India is worth Rs. 2200 crores (2006).

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• In India, per capita toothpaste consumption stood at 74g in 2005, which is amongst the lowest in the world, compared to 350g and 300g in Malaysia and Vietnam respectively.

• Toothpaste enjoys a country wide penetration level of 50%.• Rural: 39%• Urban: 75%• Oral hygiene continues to be under aggressive competition, with sales

increasing by a modest 3% in current value terms in 2006 to Rs. 2,400 crores. Toothpaste accounted for a whopping 83% of value sales.

• HLL's market share in the dental care market has grown from a mere five per cent in 1979 to an impressive 36 per cent today, whereas Colgate-Palmolive has been seen its market share decline from a dominating 75 per cent to a struggling 56 per cent.

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SummaryWe,a group of four people had been assigned a project on the market survey of a F.M.C.G product i.e toothpaste. We were hired by a reputed market research agency to conduct a survey on the consumer buying behaviour of toothpaste according to the present scenario of the toothpaste industry. The purpose of the survey was to project the condition of the market in the toothpaste industry as a new product will be launched by the Himalayan company .As per previous research made by the company the penetration of toothpaste is very high in eastern regions of the country so, we were supposed to conduct the survey in Kolkata.

In the survey we were told to approach 100 respondents from various parts of the city and make a study on their buying and disposing behaviour. Consumers make many buying decisions every day. Most companies, research consumer buying decisions in great detail to answer questions about what consumers buy, where they buy, how and how much they buy, when they buy, and why they buy. Marketers can study actual consumer purchases to find out what they buy, where, and how much. But learning about the whys of consumer buying behaviour is not so easy—the answers are often locked deep within the consumer's head.

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Acknowledgement

We sincerely want to thank our faculty and project co-ordinator Mr Mohit Jain for giving us the opportunity to work in this project. We thank him for extending his full co-operation for completion of the project.

We also like to thank our programme director Mrs Sabina Pandey for extending her co-operation and encouraging and giving us full moral support for completion of the project.

Lastly we would like to thank and extend our heartiest gratitude to all the 100 respondents without whose time, support and co-operation the project could not have been possible.

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CASE STUDY

We are ‘True Find’ Market Research Agency and we recently conducted an independent market research on the 4th largest FMCG industry in India, the toothpaste industry. The study conducted was focused towards finding out the buying and disposing behaviour of people regarding toothpastes in various parts of Kolkata Mega City. The data collection areas were mainly in and around Bangur in North Kolkata to Ruby, Kasba, Santoshpur, Gariahat, Tollygunj in South Kolkata.

Another aspect of this research is to find out what prospects a new company has in this industry and what should their approach be like while entering this huge market of toothpaste industry that is worth about Rs.2500 crores and is already dominated by age old major players. We have also tried to find out new innovations that could be worthwhile coming up with or even to revamp an existing product in the market.

This study was conducted through a period of about 1 month and the sample size consisted of 100 people of various age groups and different occupations. Data collection method was a questionnaire consisting of 15 strategically designed questions and the respondents were toothpaste buyers from a local shop through super markets.

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Formulation of the questionnaire:

The first few questions were attempted towards finding out the buying behaviour of the people. Later people were questioned not only about their tastes, preferences and their perceptions about a variety of brands but also were tested on their brand loyalty of the current brand they are using. After which we have also tried identifying the various marketing methodologies that can be explored by various companies for better marketing of their products.

The design of the questionnaire can be understood as follows. The first question was about the frequency of the buying and since all questions were supposed to be closed ended ones, we were limited to providing four options such as weekly, monthly, fortnightly and when they feel the need. This was question was basically designed to find out the rate at which the toothpaste sold. Next question was targeted to know the place from where the toothpaste was bought which consisted of the options- local shop, supermarket, medical store and general store. We wanted to know the place from where majority of the people preferred to buy their toothpaste. Then came the strategic question on the most influential parameter which decided the buying pattern of a certain brand of toothpaste and the options were retailer, family tradition, flavour, advertisement and looks or packaging. This question would basically help us understand the parameter which affected a certain purchase decision. Following question was to know the exact brand preference of a particular individual which consisted of four major brands – Colgate, close-up, Sensodyne and Pepsodent. Next, question was about brand loyalty and where we wanted to know the period of time for which a person had used a particular brand of toothpaste. Hence loyalty was based on people who would use toothpaste for more than a year and disloyalty was based on people who would choose the option “for more than a year. Following question was to know the kind of improvisation that people wanted in their current brand despite the brand being their favorite and its options were based upon the following attributes such as color,

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flavor, more fluoride content and better foaming. Next we wanted people to rank all four brands of toothpaste based on perception on the following attributes – Breath freshening, cavity prevention, enamel protection, teeth whitening and taste. The ranking scale was provided from 1 to 5 where 1 stood for most liked and 5 for most disliked. This was followed by a question which went like this “would you try out a new brand brought out by a new company and the options were yes, no and maybe. Using this we could categorize people based on all who chose yes and maybe taken together and people who chose “No”. This way people who had voted for ‘yes’ and ‘maybe’ could answer the following question which focused on the influential factor which would make them buy the a completely new brand. Hence the options for this question were price reduction, offers such as buy one get one free, and oral health benefits of the new toothpaste or any other factor which a respondent may specify by writing it down. Question number 11 was to find out the rating of the consumer’s favourite brand based on the 4 P’s of marketing viz. Price, Place, Promotion, and Product. This question was designed in order to know the sector where the brand excelled and if there was any scope of improvement in any of the 4Ps or not. The scale here provided was from 1 to 4 where 1 stood for ‘poor’ and 4 stood for ‘best’. The next question was intended to know the market share of mouthwashes which have recently stormed the market and which could actually pose a significant threat to the existing toothpaste portfolio as a whole and hence we really wanted to know if they even competed with the toothpaste or not. So the question went this way ‘do you think that mouthwash could ever replace the art of brushing’ and the options were ‘yes’ and ‘no’. Interestingly enough, later we came to know that out of 100 respondents, every single person opted for ‘no’ which means that mouthwash is not perceived as a rival product to toothpastes. Final two questions were about the demography of the people to be death with in terms of their age and occupation.

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The survey experience:

The first few days of the survey were fun when we actually decided to go together to one particular region and target the consumers there. The whole idea was to go to a particular place and select four different corners so as to get the feedback from a wide variety of people ranging in different age groups and occupation. There were different kinds of people with different mentality to start with. As we approached or confronted individuals one by one, some would patiently take the questionnaire form and fill it out, while there were others who would look down upon us with a frowned look on their faces thinking that we were some kind salesmen trying to lure them into buying something. There were other people who would fill out the questionnaire in about a minute which kept us thinking if the options that they chose were unbiased or if they had filled it out just for the silly sake of doing it. After a few days we almost mastered the art of understanding a person by the look in their faces and that if they would entertain us by answering the questionnaire or not. This made our job a bit difficult because as it turned out that most of the people in Kolkata were either impatient and/or in a hurry all the time and they sort of had this frowned look on their faces with ripples on their forehead and every time this happened we were left in ambiguity about whether to approach or not. After about 3 weeks we decided to target restaurants as we thought since people hung around there for a while and as it takes time to process the order, we could get the questionnaire filled up in the meantime. But as bad luck always has it people always turned out in groups or in a family and we were seldom entertained as one of the customer there explained to us that we were invading their personal private space in the restaurants and that is when we decided to drop the idea. Then came the turn of supermarkets such as big Bazaar where we did get a handful of customers. Then we decided to split and go on individually to different parts of city and this went on for about a week. This part of the week was boring and frustrating for us as we

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had nobody to talk to and we had to stand and gaze for hours together before anybody showed the slightest interest in filling up the questionnaire. At the end of the month we had all the 100 questionnaire forms filled up.

DATA INFERRED:

The data feeding was done on one particular computer with all four of us sitting together and feeding the data onto the excel sheet. After data feeding quantitative analysis of the data was done and the following was found. For our study we selected four major players in the industry and made a brand comparison among them so that not only does it help us understand what their current market position is but also how they function and what are the aspects they need to improve in. Through this research we also are in a position to conclude that Colgate emerges the market leader on almost all the judgment parameters which we had chosen. After Colgate came the two arch rivals Pepsodent and Close-Up, in their closely fought battle for supremacy over the other it seems really difficult to judge which one is better than the other. Finally comes Sensodyne, the newest yet the fastest growing brand.

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Objectives of the Study• To study the Consumer Buying habits in Toothpastes.

• To study the various factor and identify important parameters for customer acceptance.

• To plot popular Toothpastes Brands versus their attributes.

• To know the product alternatives which consumers might prefer to brush their teeth other than toothpaste.

• To know about the attributes that a consumer looks in for a toothpaste brand.

• To know about the possible reasons that lead to brand switch over.

• To know brand preference.

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Research Methodology

Our research comprised of the following:

• Defining the problem• Formulating Hypothesis (using Annova, done only for age vs brand

preference)• Collecting, Organizing and Evaluating Data• Making Deductions• Reaching Conclusions &• Testing that conclusion Fits the Hypothesis or not

Keeping in view the specified objectives and nature of project, research methods were adopted. Research in the common parlance refers to the search for the knowledge. In fact, it is an art of scientific knowledge. .A successful completion of any project and getting genuine results from that depends upon the method used by the researcher. The plan or the methodology for this study is laid upon the following basis:-

Types of research:

Descriptive method has been used in this research for the collection of data. As the research is related to the study of consumer behaviour, which could more effectively be studied through direct questions. A questionnaire consisting of 15 strategic questions was adopted.

Sources of data:To overcome the limitations of incompatibility, obsolescence, and bias, primary data was collected. Considering the time and money constraints, sampling method of data collection was suitable for the project.

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Primary data:

Primary data are those data that are collected for the first time, It is better to go for primary da t a s i n c e i t i s f i r s t h a n d i n f o r m a t i o n a n d t h e r e i s l e s s c h a n c e s o f p e r s o n n e l b i a s a n d information can be collected with accuracy at the same t ime. I t could be re- tabulated and survey concerned in various forms this data can be used. For collecting primary data we have chosen the questionnaire method.

Data collection method:

Data has been collected through questionnaire method. The questionnaire was designed in such a way to cover as many aspects of consumer behaviour as possible.

Sample size:

Total 100 persons were contacted and interviewed.

SAMPLING:Here study of the consumer behaviour of the people of Kolkata city. Within the city samples were collected from different areas to reduce the biases this may come through difference in the level of income, attitude lifestyle etc. of the people in different areas

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Data CollectionAdministering a questionnaire on 100 respondents residing in

Kolkata, to know about consumer preference and perception regarding various aspects related to toothpaste such as factor which influences the consumer most when he buys the toothpaste, attributes that he looks for while buying it. This data was then tabulated to make calculations on the analysis of which the finding of the study has been done.

SAMPLE SIZE - 100 Respondents

SAMPLE PROFILE

Age wise:

<15 years 0

15-25 years 57

25-35 years 24

>35 years 19

Status wise:

Salaried 37

Business 12

Students 41

Others 10

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Data Interpretation & Analysis

Buying Frequency

BRANDS WEEKLYFORTNIGHT

LY MONTHLYWHEN

NEEDED

COLGATE 1 1 25 22

CLOSE UP 2 0 10 3

PEPSODENT 0 1 14 6

SENSODYNE 0 0 8 7

Package Size:

BRAND FAMILY MEDIUM SMALLCOLGATE 33 15 1CLOSE-UP 10 5 0

PEPSODENT 16 4 1SENSODYNE 7 7 1

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The frequency of purchase mainly depends on the brushing habits and the number of members in the family. 66% of the people preferred the family pack while 31% preferred the medium pack.

Based on this survey, most of the respondents are unhappy about the price that they pay for their favourite brand. This is evident from the fact that pricewise the rating of the brand is very poor compared to product, availability and promotion. Hence as far as the price is concerned, the company should consider the views of consumer otherwise the consumer switch over to competitor’s product is inevitable. Currently, price range varies from Rs. 05-10 for a small pack in the economy segment, Rs15-25 for a medium pack in the regular segment and Rs 40 and above for a family pack in the value added segment. Thus, analysing economic factor is an important task for the company to fix the price.

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Buying Location:

BRAND LOCAL GENERAL SUPER MART MEDICALCOLGATE 18 11 13 7CLOSE-UP 8 4 3 0

PEPSODENT 7 6 5 3SENSODYNE 3 4 4 4

The above data helps us conclude that respondents of all other brands except Sensodyne mostly buy toothpaste from a local shop. The other buying locations such as a general store or a super mart or a medical store have relatively less buyers. The only exception that we found to this rule is the brand Sensodyne which people prefer to buy from a general store or a super mart or even a medical store more than a local store.

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Purchase Influence:

BRANDS RETAILER FAMILY FLAVOUR ADV LOOKSCOLGATE 6 14 12 16 1CLOSE-UP 7 3 4 2 0

PRPSODENT 6 5 8 1 0SENSODYNE 1 4 4 5 1

Based on the study it is interesting to see that in the sample size of 100 respondents 27 of them prefer their brand of toothpaste only due to the “taste” or “flavour” factor while 25 of them are influenced by their family tradition in buying their preferable brand. Further 23 people are influenced by advertisement and 20 people buy toothpaste which is of their retailer’s choice. It is important for the manufacturer to keeps these attributes in mind for deeper penetration into the market.

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It is also seen that basically there are three kinds of purchase influences for any product. Informational influence, normative influence, and identification influence. Informational influence means that an individual uses the behaviour and options of group member to gather useful information. Normative influence refers to an individual’s achieving group expectations and gaining the respect of and sense of belonging to the group. Identification influence occurs when an individual understands the values and norms of the group.

Usage Longevity:

BRAND > 1 YEAR < 1 YEARCOLGATE 19 30CLOSE-UP 10 6

PEPSODENT 11 9SENSODYNE 6 9

It was seen that the penetration of toothpaste was high in Kolkata as all the 100 respondents who were questioned used toothpaste. It was also seen that 55 out of 100 people have been using their brand of toothpaste for over a

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year while the remaining 45 have been using their brand of toothpaste for less than a year. This implies that a large part of the population have switched brands over the last year which means that the toothpaste market is still lucrative and this factor might encourage some new players to come into the market in the future provided they have the right mix of strategy. This is already true with the brand Sensodyne which was launched only last year and it is already competing fiercely with global leaders like Colgate and Close-up.

Areas in Which Brands Can Improve:

BRAND FLORIDE FOAMING COLOUR FLAVOURCOLGATE 22 11 1 15CLOSE-UP 5 4 2 4

PEPSODENT 10 3 3 5SENSODYNE 4 7 4

For Colgate the biggest improvement should be in its Fluoride content followed by its flavour, foaming and colour.

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For Close-Up the major improvisation should come in fluoride after which comes foaming flavour and colour.

For Pepsodent also, improvisation 1st needs to done in its fluoride content followed by flavour colour and foaming.

In case of Sensodyne the primary improvisation factor to be taken care of is foaming after which comes fluoride and foaming equally but surprisingly enough people don’t want any changes to be done to its colour.

Clearly enough the first criterion for all the companies to improve their product is in their fluoride content after which comes flavour foaming and at last colour

Brand Loyalty:

BRAND YES NO MAY BECOLGATE 6 19 24CLOSE-UP 4 6 5

PEPSODENT 7 5 9SENSODYNE 1 9 5

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Switch Simulator

BRAND PRICE REDUCE OFFER ORAL BENFIT OTHERS

COLGATE 7 6 16 0

CLOSE-UP 3 2 4 0

PEPSODENT 3 0 13 0

SENSODYNE 1 0 5 0

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The reasons for a consumer to switch from a particular brand of toothpaste to a particular one are many. But the majority of people are becoming more aware of the oral health quotient offered by brands such as Sensodyne which is seen as a driving force for brand switching in the recent times. Hence it is seen that the overall mentality of the people is slowly shifting from being “brand loyal” to becoming a “health conscious” one.

But when it comes to comparisons among brands about loyalty Sensodyne surprisingly emerges the winner among other giants. Colgate and Close-up in this regard had a very close fight while the Pepsodent users seemed to be the least loyal towards their brand.

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Brand Loyalty vs. Age:

0-15 YEARS 15-25 YEARS 25-35 YEARS 35+ YEARS

0 17 12 10

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Most brand-loyal are the age group of 15-25 followed by 25-35 and later by people above 35 years of age.

As age increases people tend to be lesser brand-loyal and there is a high possibility that as age gradually increases the concern of the brand factor itself decreases.

The greatest target of the toothpaste should be the young blood.

Brand Image:

BRAND PRODUCT PRICE PROMOTION AVAILABILITYCOLGATE 146 137 136 156CLOSE-UP 47 40 39 43

PEPSODENT 61 50 60 60SENSODYNE 43 45 46 47

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Based on this study the preference for selecting toothpaste is mainly based on brand, quality, and flavour. It was seen that Colgate still enjoys the majority amongst the people closely followed by Close-up, Pepsodent and Sensodyne. Hence well established brands such as Colgate and close-up which have been flourishing in the Indian market for decades control the market share of toothpaste. This is attributed to the following fact. India is a country knows for keeping its traditional values and hence a lot of people still blindly follow their family traditions even while buying a particular brand of toothpaste. The concept of brand image is slowly starting to change with the youth population becoming more and more health conscious and trying out newer products offering oral health benefits and hence it would be advisable for the brands to concentrate more on the oral health care.

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Various Attributes and the Brand Rating One Their Basis:

BRAND/ATTRIBUTE

COLGATE CLOSE UP PEPSODENT SENSODYNE

FRESHNESS 161 196 214 245CAVITY 178 239 190 224ENEMAL 181 223 197 203

WHITENING 166 223 209 222TASTE 176 190 217 248

Based on this study, product attributes play a crucial role in influencing the consumers for decision making while buying a brand. Various attributes such as breath freshening, cavity prevention, enamel protection, teeth whitening and taste were taken into consideration. It was found that Colgate

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was a favourite brand for breath freshening closely followed by close-up and Pepsodent. For cavity prevention Close-up was preferred the most while again Colgate was the preferred brand in enamel protection. Colgate again won the majority in the teeth whitening and taste category. An interesting finding was that the brand Sensodyne which is relatively new was the second most preferable in the cavity prevention and enamel protection category which speaks volumes about the marketing strategy adopted by the brand. Overall, it was seen that the health benefits of particular toothpaste had been the driving force behind the consumer purchase behaviour of a brand and this shift in the trend had been noticed very recently.

Source of Awareness about the Brand:

BRAND FAMILY FRIENDS ADVS AGENTS OTHERSCOLGATE 20 10 13 4 2CLOSE-UP 4 2 6 0 3

PEPSODENT 4 1 9 3 4SENSODYNE 1 6 6 1 0

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Based on the study conducted it was found that people were only aware of the big players like Colgate, Pepsodent and Close-up. It was good to see that Sensodyne which is relatively a very new brand has successfully penetrated the market with its aggressive marketing strategy. People who voted for Sensodyne as their favourite brand were health conscious. This is evident from the advertisement seen on television which depicts Sensodyne as a medically formulated toothpaste relieving people of tooth sensitivity. It was additionally seen that Indian brands which are supposed to be ayurvedic have little or no penetration in the market. This goes to show that there is still scope for further improvement in the marketing and advertising campaign for the two Indian brands to make them competent with the market leaders like Colgate and Close-up.Age vs. Brand:

AGE COLGATE CLOSE UP PEPSODENT SENSODYNE

0-15 0 0 0 0

15-25 100 155 140 175

25-35 40 57 69 74

35+ 32 52 51 58

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For age group 15-25: 1st preference is Colgate, 2nd preference is Pepsodent, 3rd preference is Close-Up and last preference is Sensodyne.

For age group 25-35: 1st preference is Colgate, 2nd preference is Close-Up, 3rd preference is Pepsodent and last preference is Sensodyne.

For age group 35+: 1st preference is Colgate, 2nd preference is Pepsodent, 3rd

preference is Close-Up and last preference is Sensodyne.

Final word: Colgate emerges the clear winner in all age groups. Pepsodent and Close-Up as always had a close fight. Sensodyne in spite of being the last choice seems to be doing quite well if we take the time of existence factor into consideration.

ANNOVA TESTING:

To test whether the two attributes age and preference level of a brand are associated or not.

Ho: The preference level of a brand is different in different age groups

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H1: the preference level of a brand is not different in different age age groups.

CODE =Highest value + Lowest /2

=21+2/2

=23/2

=11.5 (Approximately = 12)

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Age group Colgate Close-up Pepsodent Sensodyne

<15 0 0 0 0

15-25 21 12 15 9

25-35 12 4 3 5

>35 8 5 4 2

COLGATE CLOSE-UP PEPSODENT SENSODYNE

9 81 0 0 -3 9 -3 9

0 0 -8 64 -9 81 -7 49

-4 16 -7 49 -8 64 -10 100

5 97 -15 113 -20 154 -20 158

Total (T) = 5+ (-15)+ (-20)+ (-20)

= -50

Correction Factor (CF) = T*T/N

=2500/12

=208.33

SUMMATION=97+113+154+158

=522

Sum of squares between Samples (SSB) =5/3 +(-15)/3 + (-20)/3 +(-20)/3

=25 +225+ 400+ 400/3

=350

Total Sum of Squares(TSS) = 522-208.33 = 519

Sum of Squares due to Error (SSE) =519-350 = 169

SOV SOS Dof Mean of sum of squares

SOS/DOF

BETWEEN 350 4-1=3 350/3 116.66

WITHIN 169 11-3=8 169/8 21.125

TOTAL 519 12-1=11

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F calculated=Mean Sum of squares between samples (MSB) /MSE

=116.66/21.25

=5.489

F tabulated for 3, 8 degrees of freedom (Dof) = 7.5

F calculated < F tabulated .Hence null hypothesis H0 is accepted.

Hence it is seen that the preference level of a brand is different in different age groups.

Occupation vs. Brand:

OCCUPATION COLGATE CLOSE-UP PEPSODENT SENSODYNE

Salary 62 96 92 120

Business 23 34 29 34

Student 73 108 112 117

Others 14 26 27 33

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Salaried: 1st preference is Colgate, 2nd preference is Pepsodent, 3rd

preference is Close-Up and last preference is Sensodyne.

Business: 1st preference is Colgate, 2nd preference is Pepsodent, 3rd

preference is Close-Up and last preference is Sensodyne.

Student: 1st preference is Colgate, 2nd preference is Close-Up, 3rd preference is Pepsodent and last preference is Sensodyne.

Other: 1st preference is Colgate, 2nd preference is Close-Up, 3rd preference is Pepsodent and last preference is Sensodyne.

To wrap up Colgate is best among all occupations .Close-Up and Pepsodent are close competitors in this segment also. Sensodyne although comes last in all occupations is still doing great especially among business and student class.

Based on this study demographic factor like age and occupation influence people indirectly for decision making. This is supported by following evidence. It was found that out of 100 people questioned 41 were students who preferred the medium pack while 37% were salaried and 12% were businessmen and this chunk of the population preferred the family pack. Since the study was limited to Kolkata city people preferred only known brands which have been existing in the market for many years such as Colgate, Close-up and Pepsodent while lesser known brand such as Sensodyne largely do not have much takers.

LimitationsOur study suffers from some limitation, which could be avenues for further research. This study failed to talk about the psychographics of the consumer. Understanding psychographics of the consumer is an important tool to understand the inner feelings, and attitude of the consumer. The changing demographic profile of the population in terms of education, income, size of family and so on, are important by what will be more substantive in days to come will be the Psychographics of

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customers that is how they feel, think or behave. Marketers will have to constantly monitor and understand the underlying Psychographics to map their respective industries are moving and decide what needs to be done, by way of adding value that motivates customers to buy the company’s products and influence the future industry structure. One more problem in this study was questionnaire. Most of the questions are closed ended and it limits the respondents answer and the study was only limited to 4 brands. A major limitation of the study was that it was limited to only100 respondents. The research was also restricted to Kolkata thus covering a very small area.

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Suggestions and Recommendations• The companies should give more emphasis on advertising and sales promotion and the toothpastes should sport medicinal values which would help in combating oral health issues.•

• The customers are becoming king as they have a whole lot of choices. Hence the companies should try to be cost effective and pass on the saved amount to the customer.• Retailers are still the place to buy toothpaste. So the companies should focus on retailers also who is also a customer for their products.• The companies should try to launch new products after thorough research of the consumers as they are becoming more dynamic day by day.• The companies should target the youth of the country preferably the age group of 15-35 as slowly they are also bringing changes in their purchase decisions as well as in their family purchases.• The brands like close up and Sensodyne which are less popular should plan to launch new flavours, to attract customers who would like to change from their existing brand.• They should bring about some changes in their packaging and labelling.

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Conclusion

The toothpaste industry is going to be more competitive in the near future. The profit margin is going down over the year and this might continue in the future as well. So the main mantra for the companies to be successful is to satisfy the consumers and develop brand image and brand loyalty amongst them. It has become very necessary for the consumers to understand the mentality of the Indian consumers very well. In the future the companies, who come up with new products at competitive prices and with good quality keeping the oral health quotient in mind, are going to the successful. Promotional activities are also going to play an important role that should to be for both retailers and consumers. So we are going to see a market which is going to heat up in the near future where mainly two major players Colgate and HLL will fight the war.

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Bibliography

The major sources of information were:

www.google.com

AC Nielsen Market Information digests India, 2006

MARKETING MANAGEMENT-Philip Kotler

www.colgate.com

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