ASSIGNMENT ON HULS WHEEL

SUBMITTED BY: NIDA MAJEED ROLL NO: 103 SECTION: B PGDM 1ST YR SUBMITTED TO: PROF. DHRUV CHAK

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Wheel was introduced in 1987 to specifically counter Nirma. The brand was targeted at the striving segment. Prior to this, it had existed in a bar form for a decade, but was then launched as a powder. It was the first low-priced product from Hindustan Lever. Wheel is No. 1 brand in the HULs portfolio and also the worlds largest selling detergent in terms of volumes. When Wheel was introduced, HUL decided to have a different management system for it. Even the rest of HUL was headquartered in Mumbai, Wheel operations were controlled from Chandigarh. For the first time HUL used third party manufacturers as a primary source of production. Today Wheel has a 11% share nationally followed closely by Nirma with 10% and Ghari at 9%. In value terms however, the gap is large with Wheel having a 17.6% share followed by Ghari at 12.3% and Nirma at 11.7%. Following Marketing Strategies have been adopted by HUL for Wheel since its inception. First of all HUL opted dynamic pricing strategy for Wheel i.e. the pricing of wheel depended on local taxes, depending on the extent of competition in every state price of Wheel differed. Another strategy that HUL adopted was that they broke their template of showing housewives in white saris and came up with the classic Dekho Dekho Dekho jingle against the Nirmas catchy jingle Dudh si safedi Nirma se aayi rangeen kapda bhi khil khil jaye. The jingle was a big hit but HUL still had a long way to go in order to survive against Nirma. Through market research, HUL found that Nirma was not kind on hands because of its high soda ash content. HUL took the advantage of this situation and came up with a great commercial Maine maangi thi safaai, aur tu ne di haathon ki jalan which took battle straight to Nirmas truf. Another strategy used by HUL to promote Wheel was that it engaged Wheel with the audience through its programme Smart Shrimati.

 HUL constantly innovated the brand with various variants like Blue Wheel, Active Wheel, Wheel Active Gold (which looks like P&Gs Tide Detergent) in order to compete with its competitors.

REASONS FOR THE SUCCESS OF WHEEL

The main reasons for the success of wheel were that it was able to connect itself with the Consumers and was able to meets the requirements of the consumers. Relevant consumer insight and optimum supply chain also have delivered a winning proposition for Wheel. Another reason for its success was its ability to take advantage of HULs distribution strength to reach consumers even in the most remote parts of the country. HUL investing heavily in creating entrepreneurial door-to-door programs aimed at driving sales at the village level by tapping into the networks of local rural women, just as Nirma had done. REASONS WHY CURRENT STRATEGIES WILL HOLD GOOD FOR WHEEL Yes the current Positioning and Marketing Strategies and Value for proposition will be able to hold good for Wheel for the next five years as repositioning of Wheel in 2001 as the brand that cleans best with less efforts the tagline of the brand was Mehnat Se Azadi or Freedom from Hard work is working effectively in grabbing the attention of the middle class people. A recent TV ad which plays the famous song Pal pal dil ke pass has the tagline: Mehengi wali dhulai budget mein samai helped Wheel in conveying the message that it is providing consumers value for their money. Wheel is focusing on the bottom of the pyramid as it has a great potential to increase the profits of the wheel. They are investing heavily in creating entrepreneurial door-to-door programs aimed at driving sales at the village level by tapping into the networks of local rural women. The rural market is very large in compare to the urban market as well as it is more challenging market. Wheel is able to promote itself in rural areas and consumers are opting it over its competitors as consumers in rural areas are no longer looking for low price but for quality.

As Wheel is losing its market share to smaller regional players like Ghadi, Sasa, it has already started adopting aggressive marketing strategies like Go-to-market strategy by focusing on individual states and even districts. The strategy is 'glocal' -- think global, act local. Wheel also identified 'right pricing' as a primary tool to increase its competitiveness in a market i.e. they are going for flexible supply chain at the backend, consolidation of distributors, reduction of inventories at distributor points, more frequent despatches and therefore greater speed at the front end. HUL established sales channel through thousands of small storefronts. Another strategy that Wheel is adopting is that they are increasing the quality and speed of innovations and launches that it brings to the market. For the same reason they introduced Blue Wheel, Wheel for coloured clothes and Wheel Active Gold (which looks like P&Gs Tide Detergent), Active Wheel. SUGGESTIONS: Wheel can reduce its price by cutting the costs on the packaging for rural markets because the rural consumers dont need attractive packaging. Application of 4As is also a major task for the Wheel. Wheel should think expansively about how to define their market. Rather than categorizing it along traditional dimensions, consider definitions using a jobs-based segmentation. Wheel should try to target non-consumers of existing laundry detergents in order to refine their business model and then grow rapidly. Wheel should try to beat or match the price policy of the competitors in order to defend their market share. HUL should focus on differentiating their brands from one another on the basis of their benefits.