Running Head: PANTENE SWOT ANALYSIS 1

Pantene SWOT analysis

Student Name

Zayed University College of Business

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Introduction:
Pantene is a brand which is owned by Procter and Gamble (P & G) and is one of

the most recognized brands in the hair care sector besides Garnier. Pantene is well

known for its unique shampoo products that enhance hair nutrition. In 2003, Pantene’s

market share fell to a staggering 20% from her initially stable 22.5%. To find out the

reason for the decline, P & G asked Nielsen, a research entity, to do market research at

their behest. Their findings led to a discovery of Pantene’s strength and weaknesses as

well as an understanding of their best brand equity and consumer characteristics

(Gupta, 2013). This research entails Pantene’s SWOT analysis, a determination of the

specific brand equity which they rely on and the characteristics of the consumers who

buy their products. Finally, recommendations will be made on how they can improve

their marketing mix.

SWOT ANALYSIS
Strengths
According to Gupta (2013), the firm experienced a 2.8% market growth and a

market penetration of 98%. This shows that Pantene has robust brand equity also

demonstrated in the 2016 ranking, where they took the 296th position best brand

globally (Bhasin, 2018). The research firm associated their high performance in the

market with brand equity growth. Nielsen discovered that associations improved the

firm's brand equity. Their robust brand is owed to the top rating of their shampoo

products, which are considered to be of high quality, are soft as well as silky (Gupta,

2013).
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Weaknesses
Their main weakness is a saturated market with similar items meant for the same

function. There are also increased complaints from the users in a voice of

dissatisfaction aimed at the use of strong shampoos against their preferences. Other

competitors like Sunsilk have come up with better strategies such as the use of hair

experts to endorse their items while Pantene uses an outdated approach of brand

ambassadors (Bhasin, 2018). Competitors use better strategies to create their market

niche, which poses significant competition against Pantene. Such intense competition is

said to be a point of weakness because it shows how much a company is not doing that

its peers do better. The focus of the market then shifts towards competitors. The market

then threatens to abandon Pantene and replace the company with a similar yet stronger

player in the market (Bhasin, 2018).

Opportunities
An opportunity for Pantene is in expanding their product line as customers

always want fresh and rejuvenated products. They should, therefore, expand their

product lines as well as continue strengthening their current portfolio. Furthermore,

Pantene can find other opportunities when they change their strategy of marketing, such

as those used by Sunsilk, their main rival. The new approach should be one, which

makes them stand out like the use of marketing tactic, which is innovative instead of

their old method of using brand ambassadors (Bekefi, Epstein and Yuthas, 2008).

Threats
Pantene Company is faced with a stiff competition, which is eroding their bottom

line (Khan and Saini, 2014). The market is too saturated with similar items as well as

there is untamed price competition, which is always seen in the market, thus affecting
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the company’s bottom line. This is a considerable threat to both Pantene and her owner,

P&G. Another danger is new entrants into the market, especially those producing

organic products. Some of these new entrants are like Ayurvedic and Patanjali. These

newcomers are taking a significant market share very fast, pausing a threat to Pantene,

the market leader (Khan and Saini, 2014).

Brand Equity
Brand equity refers to how Pantene’s brand name influences customer response

towards their product. This influence comes mostly from the brand association and

brand awareness, which puts them ahead of the competition (Competitive advantage)

(Ramaseshan and Tsao, 2007).

Brand Association
The first thing that comes in the mind of customers is shiny and healthy hair.

Pantene has a reputation that is built on P&G’s brand that is popular in the global

market. They banked on a Television Program in which models reiterated “Don’t hate

me because I am beautiful.” They introduced their best product “Pantene Pro-V, 2-in-1”

in Taiwan and USA because consumers had a strong association with this product and

because of the commercial (Nguyen, Barrett and Miller, 2011).

Brand awareness:
Their channels of marketing can also convey knowledge and information about

their brand to different target markets, making consumers aware of the characteristics of

their brand. They have used various models like Priyanka Chopra as their brand

ambassadors and digital marketing like YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram

flash advertisements to grow their awareness (Nguyen, Barrett and Miller, 2011).
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Competitive advantage:
They have a competitive strategy of pricing, which is similar to that used by other

big firms in the sector. However, they do not focus on their product’s price as customers

still buy even at high prices because of the established brand loyalty. In performance

and quality, the firm has beat some of its huge rivals like Garnier and Samsol (Nguyen,

Barrett and Miller, 2011)

Consumers buying Pantene Products

Consumers purchasing Pantene belong to the upper middle class who desire

healthy and shiny hair. They have used this knowledge to target the market segment

with these individuals. In fact, in the 1980’s it came up with a campaign which stated

“don’t hate me because I am beautiful” that was loved immediately by consumers in this

segment (Bhasin, 2018).

Changes Recommendations on their Marketing Mix:

To overcome the decline, they should bank on their robust brand to increase their

brand recall through adopting marketing strategies which are aggressive. For instance,

they can use all the advertising tools they can get such as marketing campaigns on TV

commercials, on digital and print media, on radio, movie channels and magazines

(Ragavendran, Devakumar, and Upadhyay, 2009). The firm can also improve its market

share when they listen to the problems of their consumers, especially on its social

media platforms and website and attend to these problems allowing them to generate

new better ideas for unique products which customers will love (Bekefi, Epstein and

Yuthas, 2008).
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References
Bhasin, H. (2018). SWOT analysis of Pantene - Pantene SWOT analysis. Retrieved

from

https://www.marketing91.com/swot-analysis-of-pantene/

Bekefi, B. T., Epstein, M. J., & Yuthas, K. (2008). Creating growth from effective

Opportunity risk Management. CMA Management, 205, 72-79.

Choosakchinakun, K. (2003). A comparative study of consumers' perception about

brand

Equity Of two shampoo brands: Pantene and Dove.

Gupta, S. (2013). Nielsen: market research for Pantene.

Khan, M. A., & Saini, P (2014). Analysis of hair care products with reference to

Antidandruff Shampoo market in Moradabad region.

Nguyen, T. D., Barrett, N. J., & Miller, K. E. (2011). Brand loyalty in emerging

Markets. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 29(3), 222-232.

Ragavendran, P. G., Devakumar, G., & Upadhyay, S. (2009). A study on brand

Awareness of shampoo products for CavinKare Pvt. Ltd. SASTECH

Journal, 8(2), 33-40.

Ramaseshan, B., & Tsao, H. Y. (2007). Moderating effects of the brand concept on the

Relationship between brand personality and perceived quality. Journal of Brand

Management, 14(6), 458-466.