Department of business studies

A

Project report

On CONSUMER BEHAVIOR TOWARD LUX SOAP

UNDER THE GUIDENCE OF MS. KANGAN JAIN

SUBMITTED BY- ROHIT KUMARBBS 2ND YEAR

ROLL NO.-2063

DeclarationI hereby declare that this Project Report titled “Business Research Project on Consumer Behaviour towards LUX SOAPS” submitted to the Department of Business Studies, Keshav Mahavidyalaya (Delhi University) is a record of original work done by me under the guidance of Ms. Kangan Jain.

The information and data given in the report is authentic to the best of my knowledge.

This Project Report is not submitted to any other university or institution for the award of any degree, diploma or fellowship or published any time before.

-ROHIT KUMAR

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This project is a result of dedicated effort. It gives us immense pleasure to prepare this report on

“CONSUMER BEHAVIOR TOWARD LUX SOAP”

I would like to thank my project guide, Ms. Kangan Jain for consultative help and constructive suggestion on matter in this project. I would like to thank my parent and my colleagues who helped me in making in this project a successful one

S.NO. TOPIC PAGE NO.

1 INTRODUCTION 1-2

2 INDUSTRY PROFILE 2-4

3 COMPANY PROFILE 5-6

4 OBJECTIVE 7

5 LIMITATION 7

6 PRODUCT PROFILE 8-9

7 SUMMARY OF RESPONSES 10-20

8 ANNEXURE 21-25

INTRODUCTION

Consumer is the king of any business activity. It is very important for any marketing person to know how the consumer perceives different things and how he behaves accordingly. So consumer research is imperative for the success of any marketing effort. Hence an attempt is made in the present Chapter to study the behavior and perception of consumer. First of all perception is defined as the process of receiving, selecting organizing, interpreting, checking and reacting to sensory stimuli or data.Consumer behavior is defined as “behavior that consumer display in searching for purchasing, using evaluating and disposing of product and services that they expect will satisfy their needs”. The study of consumer behavior is the study of how the individuals make decision to spend their available resources like time, money, effort, etc, on consumption related items. It includes the study of what they buy, when they buy it, why they buy it, where they buy it, how often they buy it and often use it. As marketer, it is important to recognize why and how individuals make their consumption decision, so that we make better strategic marketing decision. If marketer understand consumer behavior they are able to predict how consumer are likely to react to various information and environmental cues and are able to shape their marketing strategies accordingly. With out doubt, marketers who understand consumer behavior will have great competitive edge in the market. Consumer behavior is relatively new field of study in the mid-to-late 1960’s with no body of research of its own, the discipline borrowed heavily from concepts developed in other scientific disciplines, such as Psychology (study of individuals), Sociology (Study of groups), Social psychology ( study of how an individual operates in groups), Anthropology ( the influence of society on individuals) and Economies.

The initial thrust of consumer behavior was from a managerial prospective, marketing manager wanted to know the specific causes of consumer behavior. They also wanted to know how people receive store and use consumption related information so that they could design marketing strategies to influence consumption decision. They regard consumer behavior disciplines as an applied marketing science.There are number of reasons why the study of consumer behavior was developed as a separate marketing discipline. Marketers had long noted that consumer did not act or react as marketing theory would suggest. The size of the consumer market in every country is vast and constantly expanding. Large amount were being spent on goods and services by millions of peoples. Consumer preference were changing and becoming highly diversified. Even in

industrial markets, where needs for goods and services were always more homogeneous than in consumer markets, buyers were exhibiting diversified preference and less predictable purchase behavior.As marketing people began to study the buying behavior of consumer, they soon realized that despite a sometimes “mo too” approach to fact and fashions, many consumer rebelled at using the identical product everyone else used. Instead they preferred differentiated product that they felt reflected their own special new personalities and life styles. So by studying consumer behavior marketing people will be able to needs of different groups of customers more efficiently.

INDUSTRY PROFILE

ABOUT THE SOAP INDUSTRY:

ORIGIN OF SOAP INDUSTRY:

History of soap dates way back from 2350 years. Soap manufacturing was started in North America. Early in the history of Europe colonies and of the republic. Some American companies with currently well-known names were started 50 to 200 years ago. During middle ages, soap was made at various places in Italy, France, Spain, England and possible other countries.Mankind knew about soap nearly 200 years back 70 A.D. when Mr.Pllny and Mr. elder evidentially discovered the soap when roasted meat over flowed on the flow in ashes. This lump like product was soap and had foaming and cleansing character. Since then 1192 A.D. that in the first time detergent was taken in London. It is in 1931 A.D. that in the first time detergent was discovered by Mr.Grency with the sulphated olive oil and almond oil. The wood consumption of soap in 1884 A.D. was said to be lakhs/ton per annum and it was in this year Mr.W.H.L. ever entered the field of the soap making in a big way.

SOAP INDUSTRY IN INDIA:

Soap industry in India began with M/S Godrej setting up their manufacturing unit in 1918 at Mumbai and M/S government soap factory in Bangalore. The industry stagnated due to the in informed price control. The industry soon recovered and experienced sharp ups wing during 1974.

PROBLEMS OF SOAP INDUSTRY:

Soap industry faces some problems in the case of raw materials. The major ingredients like soap ash, linear alkyl, benzene and sodium Tripoli phosphate poses number of series in terms of availability.The demand supply gap to vegetable oil is 1.5-2 lakhs tons and is met through imports. In recent months, price of caustic soda has shown a rising trend. The contents of soda ash in the cheaper varieties of soap are quite high.

FUTURE OF SOAP INDUSTRY:

The growth prospects seems to be enormous considering the fact that the per capita income consumption in India is as low at 0.30kg over the year we have M/S HUL, M/S TAMCO,LUX etc., leading the industry in the field of soap manufacture, growth of population, incomeConsumption, expenditure increased in urban cities spread of education, growing degree of personal hygiene etc., has increased by the spread of audio-visual media, rising incomes and general consciousness about the health.

ABOUT THE BUSINESS:

Major players & market shares:

Hindustan Unilever ltd., (HUL) is the leader for the toilet soap industry in India with a 60% share in the market. Other major players from LUX is facing competition are Godrej soaps, Wipro, Procter & Gamble, Colgate Palmolive, Johnson & Johnson etc.,

Their market shares is as follows

COMPANIES MARKET SHARES

HUL 60

TATA OIL MILLS 13

DOVE 07

GODREJ SOAPS 05

NIRMA 08

OTHERS 07

MARKET SCENARIO

Of the nearly 7 lakhs tons toilet soap, market for 500 tons comes from the premium segment, 3 lakhs tons won carbolic segment and the rest are from the batting or popular segment. There are 40 brands in the total toilet soap market. In the popular segment Liril, Cinthol, Palmolive, Lux international have been well established in the market. In the popular segment lux, rexona, hamam, santore have a strong presence while among the carbolic soap lifebuoy, Ok, nirma have proved their worth.

The important point is that the price of the soap between the various brands generally varies between 50 paise and rupee. The soap industry does not face serious problems to the raw materials front.

In recent times, the price of caustic soda have shows a using trend. This contents of soda ash is the cheaper varieties of soap in quite higher linear alkyls benzene, being an important input in manufacture of soaps the future of this soap industry is very much dependent on this input. It is capital incentives during the around in 700-800 cores.

SEGMENTATION OF SOAPS

The Following table lists the key brands of the main companies.

COMPANY BRAND SEGMENTATION

Godrej soaps Cinthol Premium

Godrej no 1 Popular

Marvel Popular

Lifebuoy(plus,gold,family,liquid) Carbolic

HUL Lux(international, Premium

Dove Premium

Face washes,Premium

Shower gel)

Liril,pears, Premium

Jai,breeze Popular

P&G Camay Premium

WIPRO Santoor,baby soft Premium

Wipro shikakai Popular

KS&DL My sore sandal soap Premium

My sore sandal gold Premium

HENKET-SPIC Margo Popular

COLGATE-PALMOLIVE

Palmolive natural Premium

COMPANY PROFILE Hindustan unilever limited is the Indian established of the world’s most famous multinational company namely unilever limited. This is a very pros porous company is the FMCG segment i.e., the fast moving consumer goods. The company has very much well established R&D supports and a good marketing practices and network.

The main purpose of Hindustan unilever limited is to meet the everyday needs of people everywhere-to anticipate the aspirations of our consumer and customer and to responds creatively and competitively with branded products and services which raise the quality of life. H.U.L’s deep roots in local culture and markets around the worlds are its unparallel inheritance and the foundation for our future growth. H.U.L will brings its wealth’s of knowledge and international expertise to the service of local customer – a truly multi-local multinational. H.U.L’s long term success requires a total commitment to exceptional standards of performs and productivity, to working together effectively and to a willingness to embrace new ideas and learn continuously.

H.U.L believes that to succeed requires the highest standards of corporate behavior towards its employees, the consumers, the societies and world in which we live.

This is Hindustan unilever Limited’s road sustainable, profitable growth for our business and long term value creation for our shareholders and employees.

To realize this commitment which H.U.L has from the consumers, employees, the society and the environment, it has set for itself certain sacrosanct policies and principles. These policies and practices, has earned H.U.L the goodwill and trust of people across the country.

It is certainly H.U.L’s brands and its people, but also its support systems. H.U.L’s research centre is the largest private sector industrial research laboratory of its kind in India. H.U.L’s enviable reach in the remote heartland make its kind in India.

H.U.L understands the importance of savings for the future generation, the simple pleasures that our planet has continuously offered. Necessary measures that H.U.L has enforced in its factories for environment protection and pollution control, H.U.L has also taken up projects on energy conservation, watershed management, tree plantation and soil conservation.

MARKETING

HUL is present in home and personal care and Foods & Beverages categories. HUL and group companies have about 40,000 employees, including 1425 managers.

For marketing HUL divides the country into four regions, with regional branches in Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai. Headed by a regional manager, they comprise regional sales manager and area sales manager, assisted by dedicated field forces, comprising sales officers and territory sales in charges.

In marketing, each category has a marketing manager who heads a team of brand managers dedicated to each or a group of brands. The brand managers, wherever appropriate, focus exclusively on brand strategy or implementation.

MANUFACTURING

Each division has a nationwide manufacturing base, with each factory peopled by teams of production, engineering, quality assurance, commercial and personal managers.

OBJECTIVES Objectives:

To find out factor that influence a person to buy a particular brand of soap,

To find out the opinion about the LUX. To evaluate the effectiveness of advertisement of LUX. To know the awareness of the people towards different brands

of toilet

LIMITATIONS: The study is limited to ELECTRONIC MAIL only.

The data is collected from questionnaire nature i.e., views, opinions, perception etc., may be changed time. So it is not convenient for longer period.

The time period given for the study is one month. So the study is undertaken only at ELECTRONIC MAIL, by keeping in view of time period allotted.

On few occasion’s consumer may be biased in giving information.

Samples size is restricted to 58 only due to paucity of time.

PRODUCT PROFILE

Lux is a global brand developed by Unilever. The range of products includes beauty soaps, shower gels, bath additives, hair shampoos and conditioners. Lux started as “Sunlight Flakes” laundry soap in 1899.

In 1924, it became the first mass market toilet soap in the world. It is noted as a brand that pioneered female celebrity endorsements.

As of 2005, Lux revenue is at 1.0 billion euros, with market shares spread out to more than 100 countries across the globe.

Today, Lux is the market leader in several countries including Brazil, India, Thailand and South Africa.

One of the most popular beauty products India in terms of soaps and body washes is LUX soap. For years, LUX has been one of the India top soaps that offer a way to gain smooth and fair looking skin without worrying too much on how old the user is. LUX soap came from one of the biggest corporation in the India today, Unilever. LUX is a personal care brand owned by Unilever. LUX is primarily made from synthetic surfactants, as well as some vegetable oil based soap ingredients, such as sodium palm kernelate. LUX is formulated to be pH neutral, with a pH that is usually between 6.5 and 7.5.

LUX products are manufactured in the Netherlands, Untied States, Germany, Ireland and Brazil. The LUX trademark and brand name is currently owned by Unilever. LUX’s logo is a silhouette profile of a dove, the color of which often varies.

LUX’s products include: antiperspirants/deodorants, body washes, beauty bars, lotions/moisturizers, hair care and facial care products.

In the US, LUX bar soap is currently produced in the cool moisture, exfoliating, sensitive skin unscented, nutrium nourishing, white, pink, calming night, pro-age, and energy glow versions.

LUX soap was launched in the United States in 1957. , years after Unilever acquired soap factory De Duif (Dutch: The Dove) in The Netherlands, from which the English brand name LUX is derived.

LUX has been positioned throughout its history without referring to it as “soap”, but as a “’beauty bar” with one-fourth cleansing cream; they stress its moisturizing of skin while washing in contrast to the drying effects of regular soaps(which their advertising calls simply “soap”).

Advertisements reinforced the message by showing the cream being poured into the beauty bar. In 1979, the phrase “cleansing cream” was replaced with “moisturizer cream”. In 1979, a Pennsylvania dermatologist showed that LUX dried and irritated skin significantly less than ordinary soaps. As a result of the study, Unilever started aggressive marketing and won more than 24% of the market by 2003.

LUX has grown from a US-only soap bar into one of Unilever’s biggest gl brand, and #3 in the Anglo-Dutch company’s portfolio behind Knorr and Lir extend the brand across the complete personal care spectrum, and LUX now soap to shower gel, and from deodorants to shampoo-conditioners. LUX has for its marketing. In 2003 Ogilvy & Mather launched a series of ads for Dc women. The brand competes fiercely with Procter & Gamble’s Olay, Beiersd Neutrogena, all of which have a similarly broad product range

SUMMARY OF RESPONSES OF MY QUESTIONNAIRE

58 responses

Summary

1. Name

Rahul saket anand Sarthak madan mavi Ravi kumar MOHIT KUMAR pradip Hitesh chirag jain kakuli khanra yamini Piyush Sharma Pawan Kumar manish kumar riya chaturvedi Anand Verma shubham rana Gaurav Sukhija chetna riyasat vineet singh pankaj vinay ROHIT KUMAR divya keshav krishan omid geetanjali thakur gaurav ANKIT SHARMA Navneet Meghna Ashish bharat Dimple arya deepanshu chaudhary Bhavya Garg Puneet Kaur Maria Elena Akshay salmeit kaur Gulshan Divya rahul raj akanksha setia chasminda Aabid sarthak Shilpa gaurav kawaljeet Baljeet Kaur priyanka rawat Arpit

THIS ARE ALL THE PEOPLE WHO FILLED MY QUESTIONNAIRE

2. Age

39 37 22 23 20+ 19 18 16 21 20 20 20 21 22 19 18 19 20 20 22 22 21 21 21 21 21 18 19 19 19 20 20 20 20 20 20 22 21 20 19 19 23 20 23 22 20 19 21 22 21 20 23 25 26 21 20 21 years 19yrs

Average age rage lies b/w 19-22

3. Gender

64% out of 100% are male and rest 20 % are female

4. Occupation:

B.sc Student Teacher study student housewife STUDENT Medical student Student

male 35 64%

Female

20 36%

5. Family monthly income

<25,000 12 23%

25,000-50,000 14 27%

50,000-75,000 10 19%

75,000-1,00,000 9 17%

>1,00,000 7 13%

6. Family type

Joint 19 34%

Nuclear 37 66%

7. Do you use soaps for every bath/ shower:

Yes 54 96%

No 2 4%

96% people like use soap while taking bath out of 100% rest 4% avoid using it because of skin sensitiveness or they they like to use liquid soaps while taking bath.

8. How many bath soaps do you personally require every month?

1 8 14%

2 26 46%

3 11 20%

4 and above 11 20%

The above figure shows the no. of soaps use by person for their personal use in a month. The result shows that out of 100%, 46 % people use 2 soaps for their personal use in a month, 20% people use 3 soaps, 20% people use 4 or more and rest 14% use only 1 soaps for their personal use monthly.

9. How many bath soaps do you buy for your household every month?

3 5 9%

4 7 13%

5 9 16%

6 And Above

35 63%

The figure above shows the total no. of soaps used by the whole family of a person

10. Which kind of bath soaps do you like?

Foamy 17 13%

Thick lather 6 5%

Transparent 6 5%

Milky 33 25%

Colored 3 2%

Glycerin 14 11%

Medicinal 22 17%

Neem 19 15%

Sandal 11 8%

In this question, we asked people about types of soaps people use. So, maximum (25%) people like to use milky soaps because people like it for gentleness to skin. 17 % like foamy, 5 %like thick lather, 5 % like transparent, 2% like colored, 11% like glycerin, 17 % like medicinal, 15 % like neem, 11% like sandal

11. What is the maximum price you spend for standard sized bath soap?

35 40 100 - 200 50-60 22 25 30 15 1 dollar 20 100 90 80 15-30/pics 70 Rs.40 approx 40-50 45 46 50

12. What is the average price you have paid in recent months for bath soap?

35 150 2p 42 40 50(4 mnths average) 200 25 around 300 to 400 30 14 Rs.100 approx 20 100 90 10 88 125 300 1,5o dollar 70 75 40-50 not remembercan't recall 47 140 50

13. Which brand do you prefer the most?

Lux 7 13%

Dove 21 40%

Lifebuoy 12 23%

Hammam 0 0%

Other 12 23%

This is the total brand preference of soaps by different persons. So, maximum people like to use dove because dove is very well known brand for its gentleness to skin, 23% of people prefer to use lifebuoy, 23 % use other soaps, only 13% people use lux which states that this particular brand is not very popular among the peoples. This is because of very intense competition in soap industry.

14. Do you change from one brand of soap to another?

Yes 29 53%

No 26 47%

53% people used to switch their soaps brand to another because either they were not satisfied from their current brand they are using or they are influenced by the other brand.

15. If yes, How often did you change brands in the last 6 months?

Once 11 33%

Twice 9 27%

Many times 13 39%

The data is given here about how many times a person switch their soap brand in past 6 month. 33% people changed only once, 27% people change twice and 39 % changed many times

16. Have you ever used Lux soap, If yes which things you like most in it?

Perfume 21 30%

Color 8 12%

lather 7 10%

Hygienic 9 13%

protect skin and suits your skin 12 17%

value for money 12 17%

Other 0 0%

Features which are liked by lux users are perfume(30%), color (12%), lather (10%), hygienic (13%), protect and suits skin (17%), value for money (17%)

17. If no, it is because:

Lack of awareness 3 12%

Lack of availability 1 4%

You find it expensive 3 12%

You don’t like the product

17 68%

Other 1 4%

Reason behind why people not able to use lux soaps is that maximum people(68%) don’t like the product, lack of awareness (12%), find it expensive(12%) and other reason (1%)

18. You came to know about Lux soap from:

Newspaper advertisements 13 17%

Radio 2 3%

TV advertisements 46 61%

Word of mouth 10 13%

Point of sale 3 4%

Other 1 1%

The outcome shows that TV. advertisement plays a very important role to educate people about the product. 61% out of 100% influenced by only TV ads. Rest influenced by the newspaper ads (17%), radio (3%), word of mouth (13%), point of sale (4%) and others (1%)

19. Do you remember any of the TV advertisements of Lux soap?

yes 47 89%

no 6 11%

20. Does celebrity endorsement prompt you to purchase Lux soap?

yes 18 34%

no 35 66%

21. Have you tried new variants of Lux soap after viewing the advertisements?

yes 20 36%

no 35 64%

64% people like have not tried the new variants of lux, the reason for not trying might be that the variant is not available into the market, or they have no trust on the new variants

22. Which of the offers available influence you the most to purchase Lux Soap?

Discounts offer 5 11%

Buy one get one 15 32%

Combo pack 25 53%

Other 2 4%

In this we can see that maximum people(53%) influenced by the combo offers provided by the company because on that scheme tey can get more discount while purchasing. Rest mat be influenced by discount offer (11%), buy one get one free (32%), and other(4%)

23. Is Lux Soap easily available to you?

yes 53 98%

no 1 2%

98% people said that lux soap is easily available to their locality because lux is a very well-known international brand in many countries

24. From where do you usually purchase Lux Soap?

Nearby Store 34 71%

Retail Store 12 25%

Whole Seller 2 4%

Maximum people (71%) like to purchase soaps from their nearby store because these stores are located near to their house and people find it very convenient to purchase from there. Another reason may be that the nearby seller may influence the buyer decision because they have very contact with customer to their locality & may have complete knowledge about the product. Rest of that purchase from retail outlets (25%) and whole seller (4%) the reason might be that they get handsome discount while purchasing from them, or they like to purchase in bulk.

25. Which type of Lux Soap you like the most?

Peach Milk 7 15%

Cream Milk 21 46%

Pink Cream 9 20%

Badam Milk 9 20%

Here the preference is given for the lux soaps by the respondents who use it. So maximum 46% people like lux’s cream milk soap because Refresh and replenish skin after a long day’s work with lux creamy white. This soap is enriched with ultra-caring Swiss moisturizers which makes the bar so creamy that it feels like dollop of cream in your hand. The soap produces a luxurious lather and glides smoothly on the skin to make it smooth and moisturized. Rest 54% like the other varieties available in the market, i.e. peach cream (7%), pink cream (20%), badam milk (20%)

26. What is the size of the Lux Soap you usually purchase?

100g 17 37%

200g 25 54%

300g 4 9%

So the maximum people (54%) like to purchase bar of 200g, because this size is easily available into the market because and fit into their budget

27. How frequently you purchase Lux Soap?

Every Week 6 13%

Every fortnight 2 4%

Every month 6 13%

Occasionally 32 70%

So, as we can see here lux soaps is not very popular into the indian market because of very intense competition in soap industry. 70% people purchase it occasionally, rest of them purchase it every week(13%), every fortnightly(4%), every month(13%)

AnnexureANALYSIS OF CONSUMER

BEHAVIOR TOWARD LUX SOAP1. Name

2. Age

3. Gender

 male 

 female

4. Occupation:

5. Family monthly income

 <25,000

 25,000-50,000

 50,000-75,000

 75,000-1,00,000

 >1,00,000

6. Family type

 Joint

 Nuclear

7. Do you use soaps for every bath/ shower:

 Yes

 No

8. How many bath soaps do you personally require every month?

 1

 2

 3

 4 and above

9. How many bath soaps do you buy for your household every month?

 3

 4

 5

 6 And Above

10. Which kind of bath soaps do you like?

 Foamy

 Thick lather 

 Transparent

 Milky

 Colored

 Glycerin

 Medicinal

  Neem

 Sandal

11. What is the maximum price you spend for standard sized bath soap?

12. What is the average price you have paid in recent months for bath soap?

13. Which brand do you prefer the most?

 Lux

 Dove

 Lifebuoy

 Hammam

 Other: 

14. Do you change from one brand of soap to another?

 Yes

 No

15. If yes, How often did you change brands in the last 6 months?

 Once

 Twice

 Many times

16. Have you ever used Lux soap, If yes which things you like most in it?

 perfume

 color

 lather 

 hygienic

 protect skin and suits your skin

 value for money

 Other: 

17. If no, it is because:

 Lack of awareness

 Lack of availability

 You find it expensive

 You don’t like the product

 Other: 

18. You came to know about Lux soap from:

 Newspaper advertisements

 Radio

 TV advertisements

 Word of mouth

 Point of sale

 Other: 

19. Do you remember any of the TV advertisements of Lux soap?

 yes

 no

20. Does celebrity endorsement prompt you to purchase Lux soap?

 yes

 no

21. Have you tried new variants of Lux soap after viewing the advertisements?

 yes

 no

22. Which of the offers available influence you the most to purchase LuxSoap?

 Discounts offer

 Buy one get one

 Combo pack 

 Other: 

23. Is Lux Soap easily available to you?

 yes

 no

24. From where do you usually purchase Lux Soap?

 Nearby Store

 Retail Store

 Whole Seller

25. Which type of Lux Soap you like the most?

 Peach Milk 

 Cream Milk

 Pink Cream

 Badam Milk

26. What is the size of the Lux Soap you usually purchase?

 100g

 200g

 300g

27. How frequently you purchase Lux Soap?

 Every Week

 Every fortnight

 Every month

 Occasionally