How did Nirma achieve this market share?
Marketing
Distribution
Nirma, a marketing miracle!
Initially, no ads, word of mouth
1972, First advertised, on AIR
Doodh si safedi (White as milk)
How about Distribution Channels of Nirma?
Page 15, Establishing an efficient & resourceful network of distribution
Single layer
In low cost game, play volume game to make respectable profits
Market share has to increase in volume game
What are the frequently used strategies to improve the market share?
Being industries low cost provider
Differentiation such as higher quality, technological superiority
Focus on Market Niche
Developing expertise that rivals can not easily copy
Positioning
Quality Product for an affordable Price
Detergents formed only 10% of fabric wash (1970)
If large percentage of fabric wash today is detergent, Nirma certainly has contributed to this
change
Did Nirma, unknowingly, adopt a Blue Ocean Strategy?
The success of Nirma can be attributed to the four pronged strategy (p 20):
Aggressive pricing without compromising on quality
Presence in almost sub-segment of market
Visibility of the Umbrella brand Nirma helping to cut the advertisement cost
Strong marketing network enabling products to be available across two million retail outlets
What are the Strategies for SMEs like Nirma?
See Do SMEs need to strategize? by Govinda Sharma,
Niching strategy
Free Riding Strategy
Forming Strategic Alliance
To gain competitive advantage or deter them from adopting aggressive strategies
See Circumventing entry barriers into soft drink Industry, P 45 of text
See Private Label Strategy by Nirmalya Kumar and Jean Benedict, HBS
publication
Niching strategy
Filling market gaps by offering products differentiated from, but substitutable to, that of
bigger rivals
Quality at an affordable price
Free Riding Strategy
Exploiting the market development of the bigger rivals by offering products similar that
offered by the rivals
Page 14 of HO, Indian middle class wife had been .How much ever she tried, it was a
product quite out of reach.
1960s: Surf Rs 15 per kg, Nirma: Rs 3.5 per kg
Nirma was 4.29 times cheaper!
Forming Strategic Alliance
To gain competitive advantage
See the case of Circumventing entry barriers in soft drink industry, p 45 of text
wherein Cott Corporation formed a strategic alliance with WalMart to beat Coca Cola
and Pepsi
Deter rivals from adopting aggressive strategies
Deer around elephant
Why did the market share drop?
Reaction from the bigger players
HULs operation STING
Page 14: Strategy to inhibit Nirma Growth
Page 15: Counter offensive
Wheel at Rs 14 against Nirmas Rs 13 per kg!
How is Nirma re-branding itself?
The brief given to the agency by Nirma was to create an advertisement that matches up to the
increasing aspiration levels of its customers and give it a modern look
The new commercial has retained the girl in the frock who appears toward the end of 60-second
television commercial
