MARKETING PROJECT

HINDUSTAN UNILEVER LI M

FAIR & LOVELY FAIRNESS CREAM

SUBMITTED BY - NITIN GOEL

9818922272, 9729627852

R.I.M.T

HINDUSTAN UNILEVER LIMITED

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Study of HUL in the FMCG IndustryProduct: Fair and Lovely fairness cream

With the largest market share at 53% in the Indian market for fairness creams and wide spread penetration in the global market, Fair and Lovely has made its brand’s presence felt within few years of its inception.

Fair and Lovely fairness cream is a product from the portfolio of HUL, India’s largest FMCG company with leadership in Home & Personal care products and Foods & Beverages.

The objective of this study was –

To study the SWOT matrix for the chosen product To study and analyze the behavior of consumers with respect to the product To analyze the gap between the SWOT analysis and the consumer behavior analysis To give recommendations on the basis of the study To reveal major insights gained

Methodology –1. Collecting Primary data – This was done by conducting a market survey in the form of a

questionnaire.2. Collecting Secondary data – This was done through various sources such as online customer

review and company’s website and marketing management book by Philip Kotler.

They started there study with the research on various strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and then linking them in a SWOT matrix. From the analysis of SWOT matrix they found that Fair and Lovely had the first mover advantage in the fairness industry. The strong distribution channel helps it in taking advantage of its opportunities such as the social mindset of the people about fairness and the increasing fairness fad. However, at the same time its poor advertising concept poses a great threat to its credibility in the market.

Then they carried forward there study by analysing the consumer behavior by conducting a market survey. From the survey they found that in case of Fair and Lovely, consumers display habitual buying behavior and the purchase decision is influenced mostly by self or by the primary reference group. We also found that the major source of information about the product was TV advertisements though most of the people disliked them. Also, Fair and Lovely enjoys a high share of mind among consumers and is chosen by them primarily because of its quality and as such people were satisfied with the product.

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COMPANY OUTLINE

In the summer of 1888, visitors to the Kolkata harbour noticed crates full of Sunlight soap bars, embossed with the words "Made in England by Lever Brothers". With it began an era of marketing branded Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG).

Today, FMCG major Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL) employs 36,000 people, including over 1,350 managers. It is one of the earliest MNCs to have entered India. It introduced brands like Pears and Vim. Vanaspati was launched in 1918 and Dalda came to the market in 1937. In 1931, Unilever set up its first Indian subsidiary, Hindustan Vanaspati Manufacturing Company, followed by Lever Brothers India Limited (1933) and United Traders Limited (1935). These three companies merged to form HLL in November 1956.

HLL formed a 50 : 50 joint venture with the US-based Kimberly Clark Corporation in 1994, which markets Huggies diapers and Kotex sanitary pads. HLL has also set up a subsidiary in Nepal, Nepal Lever Limited (NLL), and its factory represents the largest manufacturing investment in the Himalayan kingdom. In a historic step, HLL picked up 74 per cent of the equity of Modern Foods from the Indian government. In 2002, HLL acquired the government s remaining stake in Modern Foods.

Hindustan Lever Limited is now Hindustan Unilever Limited

On June 25, 2007 Hindustan Lever Limited obtained approval from the government for the change of the company name to Hindustan Unilever Limited.

With this the company’s new corporate identity represented by a new logo and the new name Hindustan Unilever Limited comes into effect.

The Company believes that the new name provides the optimum balance between maintaining the heritage of the Company and the synergies of global alignment with the corporate name of Unilever. Most importantly the name retains “Hindustan” as the first word in its name to reflect the Company’s continued commitment to local economy, consumers, partners and employees. The new logo is symbolic of the company’s mission of

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‘Adding Vitality to life’. It comprises of 25 different icons representing the organization, its brands and the idea of Vitality.

Business

HUL’s business activities are divided into four broad areas:

Home and personal care (personal wash, fabric wash, home care, oral care, skin care, hair care, deodorants and talc, colour cosmetics)

Foods (tea, coffee, branded staples, culinary products, ice creams, Modern Foods ranges)

New Ventures (Hindustan Lever Network, Ayush ayurvedic products and services, Sangam, Pureit water purifiers)

Exports (HPC, beverages, marine products, rice)

 Brands

HUL s brands are household names across the country. They include Lifebuoy, Lux, Surf Excel, Rin, Wheel, Fair & Lovely, Pond’s, Sunsilk, Clinic, Pepsodent, Close-up, Lakme, Brooke Bond, Kissan, Knorr-Annapurna and Kwality Walls.

Distribution network

HUL products are manufactured in 80 factories. The operations involve over 2,000 suppliers and associates. HUL’s distribution network, comprising about 7,000 redistribution stockists, directly covers the entire urban population, and about 250 million rural consumers.

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FAIR & LOVELY

One of HUL’s super brands Fair & Lovely was launched in 1978, based on a revolutionary breakthrough in skin lightening technology.

The Hindustan Unilever Research Centre (it is among the largest research establishments in India's private sector, including pharmaceutical companies, with facilities in Mumbai and Bangalore) deployed technology, based on pioneering research in the science of skin lightening to develop Fair & Lovely. The formulation is patented. It is a patented and proprietary formulation, which has been in the market for 25 years.

The brand today offers a substantive range of products, including Ayurvedic Fair & Lovely Fairness cream, Fair & Lovely Anti-Marks cream, Fair & Lovely Oil control Fairness Gel, Fair & Lovely for Deep Skin and Fair & Lovely Fairness Soap. The latest has been the Perfect Radiance, a complete range of 12 premium skincare solutions from Fair & Lovely.

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SWOT ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS At the Company level:

Skin lightening technology – Hindustan Unilever Limited is the first company which introduced a fairness cream – Fair and Lovely - with the special skin lightening technology in India. This gave HUL first mover benefit.

Research centre – HUL s research centre is amongst the largest research establishments in India’s private sector industry. This enables it to speed up its research activities and develop technologies based on latest market requirements.

Strong distribution channel- HUL products are manufactured in 80 factories. The operations involve over 2000 suppliers and associates. HUL s distribution network, comprising about 7,000 redistribution stockists, directly covers the entire urban population, and about 250 million rural consumers.

Company image- No one knows India or Indian consumers better that HUL. Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) is India's largest fast moving consumer goods company, with leadership in Home & Personal Care Products and Foods & Beverages. HUL s brands, spread across 20 distinct consumer categories, touch the lives of two out of three Indians.

Wide range of products –HUL has time and again come out with numerous products to cater to large segment of the society such as fair and lovely anti-marks cream, fair and lovely oil control fairness gel, fair and lovely facial face wash, fair and lovely under eye cream, fair and lovely body lotion, fair and lovely fairness soap etc. Recently it has come out with – Perfect Radiance – it has a complete range of 12 premium skincare solutions.

At the Product level:

Large number of Product variants- To cater to the different needs of its customers Fair and Lovely has come out with numerous variants of its fairness cream such as ayurvedic Fair and Lovely fairness cream, Fair and Lovely multi-vitamin fairness cream, Fair and Lovely anti-marks & blemish fairness cream, Fair and Lovely skin clarity anti-marks fairness cream etc

Added advantage of UV protection- Fair & Lovely is formulated with optimum levels of UV sunscreens and Niacin amide that provide wide spectrum protection against UV rays of the sun. Specifically, this patented formulation offers a high UVA protection, which is more relevant to Asian skin than plain SPF protection

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creams sold in the West. Fair & Lovely Fairness Cream contains no harmful ingredients or bleach, making it safe for all skin types.

Market share – Fairness industry accounts or 60% of sales, bringing nearly $140 million every year. Out of which share of fair and lovely is 50-70%. It is the largest selling whiteness cream in the world.

Overseas penetration – Fair and Lovely has great market penetration even abroad. It markets its products to 38 countries worldwide.

Packaging – In order to serve the needs of the lower middle class people in terms of making the product affordable for them, fair and lovely came out with pouches of different sizes. This differential packaging helped it become popular among the new buyers.

Easy availability – Due to HUL s strong distribution network there is easy availability of all its products.

Fair and Lovely Foundation – The Fair and Lovely foundation has been started by HUL with the view to empower women in India to change their destinies through Education, Career guidance and skill training. It has undertaken various projects and initiatives that bring to life its vision for the Indian woman.

WEAKNESSES

Product Lacks Natural Ingredients- In today’s world chemical is out and natural is in. Since consumers are becoming more health conscious, there is an increased demand of products with natural ingredients. Where as Fair and Lovely contains only two natural ingredients- milk and vitamin B3. Rest all the ingredients are chemical based.

Variants’ range is incomplete - There are now variants to suit every “skin type” and every need – fairness creams are now available for dry skin, for normal to oily skin, for winter use, for use during the day, for use at night etc. There is even a fairness cream for elbows. Not denying the fact that Fair and Lovely fairness cream has wide range of variants but still the range is not complete to satisfy all kinds of consumers.

Poor advertising concept – The advertising campaign of fair and lovely time and again invited loud public criticism. The rationale behind its advertising concept was based on the fact that still a major social stigma is attached to darker girls in the Indian society. However it did not fell in the right place as HUL failed to realise that broadcasting such advertisements can hurt the sentiments of the people, which is what actually happened.

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OPPORTUNITIES

Increasing use of cosmetic products – In today’s world women is becoming more passionate for beauty. Young girls want to be beautiful as they get influenced by star casts, beauty contests etc. Gone are the times when beauty was considered a god given thing. It is now of topmost priority.

Fairness fad – In India where the majority of the people have wheatish complexion, there is a constant desire in general to enhance their complexion.This paved the way for Fair and Lovely to dominate the market with its pioneer fairness technology.

Customer psyche - Across our country millions of girls as soon as they are born are judged, not only for a fact that they are girls, but for how fair or dark they are. “Mubarak ho aap KO ladki Hui hai, chaand SA rang paya hai aapki beti ne!!!” It is the general psyche of the people that fairer girls are preferred in all spheres of life as compared to darker girls. This fact is very evident from the various matrimonial advertisements that we come across.

Social mindset – In the Indian society such is the mindset of the people that they are always hunting for fairer brides for their sons. Here in India people are always found advising, the so called ‘SAVLI’ girls to make constant efforts to improve their complexion and what could be an easier way out for them than the application of just a fairness cream to fulfil their dreams.

Women Empowerment – The increasing stress that is being placed on empowering the women in all strata of life makes the women the new decision maker at home and at work She decides the way she wants to spend her life and money.

THREATS

Health conscious customers – Awareness of the fact that whiteness products are harmful for the skin is growing fast among the masses, making it difficult for fair and lovely to promote its products.

Home-made remedies – Promotion of home-made remedies by dermatologists are posing great threat to fairness creams. People have started relying more on these remedies as they are natural and have no side effects.

Dermatologist’s reviews – Most of the dermatologists are very sceptical about the efficacy of fairness creams. They are acting as critics to such products claiming them to be drugs and hence harmful for the skin. They also say that such products are misguiding the society under the name of cosmetics.

Increasing competition – Since the time HUL launched fair and lovely, many companies such as AVON, L’OREAL, LANCOME, YVES SAINT LAURENT, CLINIQUE,

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REVLON, GARNIER, SHEHNAZ, SYNERGY, AVIANCE, ORIFLAME, LAKME, HIMALAYA etc. have come out with similar range of fairness products.

Reaction to advertisements- There was a year-long campaign led by the All India Democratic Women's Association against fair and lovely advertisements as they discriminated on the basis of the colour of the skin which was an affront to a woman’s dignity. This ultimately led to the discontinuance of two of its ads.

One of them showed that some parents were unable to find a groom for their daughter, because she was DARK and in the end they got her married to a middle aged man. The other one showed greater job success for fairer girls. The ad showed a dark girl got rejected for the post of cricket commentator and later after using fair and lovely got selected.

Inferior brand perception – Due to Fair and Lovely’s relatively lower priced products, it is perceived as a lower end brand. People have a perception that lower priced products are inferior in quality and this perception of theirs acts as a disadvantage to the company.

Negative word of mouth publicity – Fair and Lovely has received quite a few negative reviews from the public stating the ineffectiveness and/or harmful effects of using the product.

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SWOT MATRIX- THE LINKAGES

STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES

S1) Skin Lightening TechnologyS2) Largest Research CentreS3) Strong Distribution ChannelS4) Company ImageS5) Wide Range Of ProductsS6) Large Number Of Product VariantsS7) Added Advantage Of UV ProtectionS8) Largest Market ShareS9) Wide Overseas PenetrationS10) Differential PackagingS11) Easy AvailabilityS12) Fair and Lovely Foundation

W1) Product Lacks Natural IngredientsW2) Variants’ Range Is IncompleteW3) Poor Advertising Concept

OPPORTUNITIES THREATS

O1) Increasing Use of Cosmetics (S3,S5,S6,W2)O2) Fairness Fad (S1,S2,W1,W3)O3) Customer Psyche (S3,S11,S10,W1,W3)O4) Social Mindset (S3,S10,S11,W1,W3)O5) Women Empowerment (S12)

T1) Health Conscious Customers (S7,W1)T2) Home-made Remedies (S5,S6,S7,W1)T3) Dermatologist’s Reviews (S8,S7,W1)T4) Intense Competition (S3,S8,S9,W1,W2,W3)T5) Inferior Brand Perception (S4,S8,W3)T6) Negative Reaction To Ads (S4,S8,W3)T7) Negative Word Of Mouth Publicity (S4,S6,S8,W1,W3)

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CONSUMER BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS

INTRODUCTION

Consumer behaviour is the study of individuals, groups, or organizations and the processes they use to select, secure, use, and dispose of products, services, experiences, or ideas to satisfy needs and the impacts that these processes have on the consumer and society

To study and analyse the behaviour of consumers with respect to the product Fair and Lovely fairness creams for women, we adopted the methodology of taking market survey in the form of printed questionnaire.

The key objective of our survey is to study and analyze the behaviour of consumers of fairness creams with respect to:

Mind share

Market share

Buying roles/behaviour.

Factors affecting purchase decisions

Purchase behaviour

We approached women of all ages from varied backgrounds in terms of occupation and marital status. To be specific, out of the sample survey of 40- 76.3% were in the age group of 18-30, 13.2% between 30-40, 7.9% were 18 or below and 2.6% were 40 and above.

The demographics of the sample surveyed is given below in the graphs.

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As we can see from the above diagram 52.6% of the women surveyed were working, 31.6% were students and 15.8% of them were housewives.

As far as marital status of the sample is concerned, 63.2% were single and 36.8% were married.

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ANALYSIS OF THE SURVEY CONDUCTED

The analysis of the survey shows that the demand for fairness creams is quite reasonable. 36% of the people surveyed were already using fairness creams and out of those who were not using any fairness creams 33.3% were willing to try one.

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BUYING ROLES

There are five roles people play in a buying decision i.e. initiator, influencer, decider, buyer and user. In the case of our product the initiator, decider, buyer and user is the consumer itself .

The influencer is another factor which comprises of the reference groups of the individual. In our case the only influencing group is the primary group which comprises of family and friends. The secondary group has negligible relevance in influencing the buying decision of the consumer.

BUYING BEHAVIOR

The highlighted region of the table below shows the buying behaviour of our product consumers.

High Involvement Low Involvement

Significant differences between brands

Complex buying behaviour Variety-seeking buying behaviour

Few differences between brands

Dissonance-reducing buying behaviour

Habitual buying

High involvement products bear a high risk of a wrong decision because of high prices and lack of knowledge about different brands. This leads to extended search and careful evaluation of alternatives.

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Low involvement products bear a low risk of a wrong decision because of low prices and considerable knowledge about different brands.

Fairness creams are classified into 3 categories on the basis of their price:

1. Low end product

2. Middle end product

3. High end product.

According to their willingness to spend people choose one of the above categories and then display habitual buying behaviour within each category as there are very few differences between brands in the same category.

Fair and Lovely belongs to the low-end product category as most of the people find its pricing either cheap or affordable as per the survey. Also, people have considerable awareness about various brands in this category (98% of the people surveyed were able to recall more than 5 brands of fairness creams) so they show low involvement in buying decision and as said earlier that there are few differences between brands in the same category consumers display habitual buying behaviour. Habitual buying decisions are based not only on own experience but also on the experience of reference groups.

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BUYING DECISION PROCESS: THE FIVE-STAGE MODEL

Every consumer passes through three stages of buying process before actually buying the product. The next stage consists of taking the purchase decision based on the evaluation of the previous 3 stages and is followed by the last stage of the buying process which is the post purchase behaviour as depicted in the flowchart below.

This model implies that consumers pass through all five stages in buying a product.This may be the case in high-involving purchases. In low-involvement purchases as in case of Fair and Lovely, consumers may skip or reverse some of these stages.

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PROBLEM RECOGNITION

The buying process starts only after a consumer recognizes a problem or a need which could be solved or satisfied through some available product in the market.

In the case of fair and lovely we analyse that the need for the product develops from the society level as we can see from the figure below that most of the people in our society consider fair complexion to be an important part of one’s personality and one’s acceptance in the society.

Our next question in the survey was what would people prefer to enhance their complexion and we found out that around 18% of the people look for fairness creams to satisfy the need of fair complexion which can be seen from the pie chart below:

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Thus we see there is a need for fairness creams which emerged through the need to get fair complexion.

INFORMATION SEARCH

Since the need has arose, now the consumer goes on looking for information regarding fairness creams that can satisfy her needs. A consumer seeking for information will go in 2 kinds of search namely; milder search state called heightened attention and the other is active information search. Since fairness creams do not come under the category of very expensive products, the consumer goes in for the milder search state.

The survey shows that TV advertisements played the most important part in spreading awareness and providing information about various Fair and Lovely.

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How do you know about Fair and Lovely?

EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVES

In the evaluation stage the consumer forms preferences among the brands/products in the choice set based on various attributes of the product that deliver the most sought after benefits.

In case of evaluation of our product the average consumer attaches maximum weightage to quality followed by the popularity of the brand to evaluate the product. As evident from the graph based on the survey conducted, nearly 48% of the people surveyed rate product quality as the highest while selecting a fairness cream. Nearly 39% of the people consider popularity of the brand as an important factor.

The consumer ascertains equal but low importance to other attributes of the product such as price, packaging and easy availability in case of fairness creams.

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Based on the above product attributes the five most preferred brands in the market according to the survey are- Fair and Lovely, Garnier, Revlon, Lakme and Fairever.

Out of the above mentioned brands Fair and Lovely enjoys the highest market share at 60%.

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PURCHASE DECISION

After evaluating various alternatives consumers usually form an intention to buy the most preferred brand. Even if consumers form brand evaluations 2 general factors can intervene between the purchase intention and the purchase decision-

Attitudes of others – The extent to which another person’s attitude reduces the preference for an alternative depends on the intensity of that person’s negative attitude towards the consumer’s preferred alternative. People’s perception about the ineffectiveness of Fairness creams and it being harmful to the skin played a major role in the decision of not buying the product as analysed from the survey.

Also, in case of Fair and Lovely as T.V. advertisements are the main source of information, the perception of people about the advertisements plays an important role in purchase decision.

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The graph shows a general negative attitude of the masses towards the Fair and Lovely advertisements which adversely affects the purchase decision of the consumers. The advertisements are failing to create an impact on the people as half of them consider them to be just ok and a whopping 39.5% find the advertisements poor.

Unanticipated situational factors – These may erupt to change the purchase intentions. These situations are irrelevant in case of our product as it is a low end product and purchase frequency is low.

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POST PURCHASE BEHAVIOR

From the survey we found that majority of the people using fairness creams are satisfied with the brand which they are presently using. As the brand satisfaction level is very high they also recommended it to others.

Would you recommend your brand to others?

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GAP ANALYSIS

SWOT Analysis and Consumer Behavior Analysis, of the product Fair and Lovely fairness creams, when studied together revealed points of similarities as well as contradictions between the two.

Contradictions

The increasing importance and popularity of home-made and herbal products in the market has been a threat to the success of Fair and Lovely but at the same time we also find that the increasing use of cosmetic products can be an opportunity for the product. Contrary to this, from the consumer behavior analysis done by the survey we found out that the threat by home-made and herbal products has overpowered the opportunity in cosmetic products as more than 50% of the people said that they would prefer to use home made products than cosmetics for a better complexion.

The growing fashion fad among the youngsters is supposedly an opportunity for HUL to market its product Fair and Lovely as majority of the people with a wheatish complexion have a constant desire to enhance their complexion. But negating this, as observed from the consumer behavior, people in general are not willing to put in an effort for the same and claim to be satisfied with their complexion. Two-thirds of the respondents who were not using any fairness cream did not show any interest in trying one and 36% said they were satisfied with their complexion.

The threat posed by the negative word of mouth publicity of Fair and Lovely according to the SWOT analysis has been completely negated by the findings of the survey. A whopping 93% of the people using Fair and Lovely said they were satisfied with the product’s quality and effectiveness and thus would recommend it to others as well.

Similarities

The most visible weakness of Fair and Lovely is its poor concept of advertisements, the rationale behind which is based on the fact that still a major social stigma is attached to darker girls in Indian society. Consumers do identify with this point as almost 40% of them find the advertisements to be poor and 50% find them just OK.

As identified from the SWOT analysis of Fair and Lovely, one of its major opportunities lies in the social mindset of people in India wherein fair complexion for girls is considered to be very important. This has been aptly substantiated by the market survey conducted by us where almost 85 % of the respondents considered fair complexion in Indian society to be quite important.

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One of the threats to Fair and Lovely is its inferior brand image as perceived by the consumers. Due to its relatively lower price, as agreed to by the consumers (36% of the respondents find the pricing cheap while 61% find it affordable), Fair and Lovely has been categorised as a low-end product. This factor is indeed acting as a deterrent to the growth of the product.

The increasing empowerment of women has led to the emergence of women as the new decision maker at home and at work which is an opportunity for Fair and Lovely as its target market is the women from different spheres of life. This has been reflected by the survey as well where 50% of the women said their decision to buy the product was taken by them only and was not influenced by others.

The reviews aired by the dermatologists have been negative for the fairness creams. Most of the dermatologists are sceptical about the efficacy of these creams and find them harmful for the skin. This has been supported by the consumers as 35% of the people from the survey perceive fairness creams to be ineffective and harmful.

SUGGESTIONS

Change the Advertising Concept- TV advertisements have emerged as the only major source of information about Fair and Lovely to the consumers from the survey. However, at the same time, the consumers have clearly indicated their dislike for these advertisements and hence there is an urgent need for Fair and Lovely to change its advertising concept as they are leaving a negative impact on the minds of the consumers.

Include Dermatologist’s And Consumers Reviews in Advertisements - There is an increasing belief in the consumer’s mind that fairness creams are ineffective and harmful to the skin. In order to change this perception and validate the effectiveness of its product, Fair and Lovely should include the views of dermatologists and its existing customers in its advertisements, as it is said that a best advertisement is a satisfied customer and people instantly relate to it.

Improve Existing and Introduce More Variants With Natural Ingredients - Nowadays there is an increased demand of products with natural ingredients since consumers are becoming more health conscious. As per the survey also we found that customers are more inclined towards home made and herbal products. In order to satisfy the consumer needs, the existing products should be improvised with natural ingredients. Also, since the range of product variants is not complete, for example there are no variants to suit different skin types, coming out with such variants made up of natural ingredients will help Fair and Lovely to increase its customer base to a large extent.

Promote Other Existing Product Variants - HUL offers a range of products at Fair and Lovely brand level such as anti marks cream, oil control fairness gel, under eye cream etc. But this strength of Fair and Lovely has not been utilized properly as these products have hardly been promoted and most of the people are not even aware of it. So, to gain popularity

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among the masses and cater to a larger number of customers, Fair and Lovely should give due importance to the promotion of these products.

Display at separate counters/stalls in big shops- Since for Fair and Lovely fairness cream, consumers have habitual buying behavior, it is very important to have good display of the product everywhere so as to have greater share of mind of the people. For this purpose like various other cosmetics brands have separate counters in big shops, Fair and Lovely should also have similar counters where complete range of Fair Lovely products is available.

Keep Beauty Assistants (BA) - Fair and Lovely should appoint BAs on commission basis and keep them in various retail shops and Fair and Lovely separate counters. This will give two advantages, firstly they will have lot of passion to sell the product and secondly they will help remove the perception of people about its ineffectiveness and harmfulness, on a personal basis.

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CONCLUSION

As a consumer’s first step in the buying process is understanding the need, in the same way for a company the first step of launching a product is understanding the consumer needs. HUL rightly judged the social mindset of Indians, understood their needs and accordingly launched in 1978 Fair and Lovely fairness cream and till date enjoys the first mover advantage.

Fair and Lovely has the largest market share in the Indian fairness industry. One of the reasons for the above is its strong distribution channel and the affordable pricing. However, the fact that the consumers are becoming more and more health conscious and thus shifting to home - made remedies and herbal products is posing a great threat to the industry and all the more to Fair and lovely as the product lacks natural ingredients.

Since Fair and Lovely is a low end product, consumers display habitual buying behavior. Also the major source of information about the product is TV advertisements which is perceived to be poor indicating another threat to it. Though there are many competitors, Fair and Lovely enjoys the highest share of mind of people. Also people mainly buy fairness creams on their perception of the quality of the product and those who do not buy them are either satisfied with their complexion or find them ineffective and harmful. The biggest asset for any company would be its satisfied consumers and fair and Lovely is privileged to have them.

The comparative study of the SWOT and the consumer behavior analysis showed that the company rightly realises the threat that the negative reviews of dermatologists are posing a threat to it and at the same time there was a misconception that there is a fairness fad as most of the people are satisfied with their complexion.

While working on this project we gained a lot in terms of learning the market dynamics. We realise the importance of marketing concepts such as SWOT matrix, consumer behavior and their contribution in the success of any product. The major insight gained was the acceptance of the fact that a lot of research work is required to form any strategy for the company. Last but not the least, consumers and their satisfaction always remain at the top of a marketer’s priority list.

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Name: Age: ____ /____ approxMarital Status:Occupation:Skin Complexion:

Questions:1. Do You Use Any Fairness Cream:

YesNo

2. Would You Like to Try any Fairness Cream? :Yes No

3. How important is the Fair Complexion in Our Society:____%

4. What would you prefer for a better complexion? :___________

5. How do you know about fair & lovely? :_____________

6. Which is the most preferred product attribute? :_____________

7. Which brand do you use? :_____________

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8. Reason against the product:____________________________________________________________________________________________

9. Perception about Fair & Lovely advertisement:ExcellentGood OkPoor

10. How frequently do you buy fair & lovely? :_______________

11. Are you satisfied with your brand? YesNo

12. Would you recommend your brand to others? :YesNo

Date: Name with Signature

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