“A STUDY ON ROLE OF SALES PROMOTIONS ON SOAPS”

PROJECT REPORT

CONTENTS

CHAPTER TITLES OF CONTENTS PAGE

NO
I INTRODUTION 1

II HISTORY OF COMPANY 19

III ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 24

IV FINDINGS, SUGGESTION & CONCLUTION 54

V BIBLOGRAPHY 57

APPENDIX 58
 LIST OF TABLES
TABL TITLE PAGE
E NO NO
1. CLASSIFICATION OF GENDER 24

2. THE AGE OF THE RESPONDENTS 26

3. THE EDUCATION QUALIFICATION OF THE 28

RESPONDENTS
4. THE OCCUPATIONAL OF THE RESPONDENTS 30
5. INCOME LEVEL OF RESPONDENTS 32
6. RESPONDENTS PREFERENCE TO BRAND OF 34
SOAPS
7. RESPONDENTS OPINION TO BRAND LOYALITY 36
8. FACTORS AFFECTING PURCHASE BEHAVIOUR 38
9. PERFOMANCE OF PROMOTIONAL SCHEMES FOR 40
THE REPONDENTS
10. FAMILIARITY OF PROMOTIONAL SCHEMES 42
11. RESPONDENTS INFLUENCED THROUGH WHICH 44
MEDIA
12. USING OF EXISTING SCHEME BY THE 46
REPONDENTS
13. AVAILABILITY OF EEXISTING SCHEMES 48
14. RESPONDENTS SWITCHING BEHAVIOUR TO 50
OTHER SOAP
15. REASON FOR SWITCHING OVER TO OTHER SOAP 52
 LIST OF CHARTS
CHART TITLE PAGE
NO NO
1. CLASSIFICATION OF GENDER 25

2. THE AGE OF THE RESPONDENTS 27

3. THE EDUCATION QUALIFICATION OF THE 29

RESPONDENTS
4. THE OCCUPATIONAL OF THE 31
RESPONDENTS
5. INCOME LEVEL OF RESPONDENTS 33
6. RESPONDENTS PREFERENCE TO BRAND OF 35
SOAPS
7. RESPONDENTS OPINION TO BRAND 37
LOYALITY
8. FACTORS AFFECTING PURCHASE 39
BEHAVIOUR
9. PERFOMANCE OF PROMOTIONAL 41
SCHEMES FOR THE REPONDENTS
10. FAMILIARITY OF PROMOTIONAL SCHEMES 43
11. RESPONDENTS INFLUENCED THROUGH 45
WHICH MEDIA
12. USING OF EXISTING SCHEME BY THE 47
REPONDENTS
13. AVAILABILITY OF EEXISTING SCHEMES 49
14. RESPONDENTS SWITCHING BEHAVIOUR 51
TO OTHER SOAP
15. REASON FOR SWITCHING OVER TO OTHER 53
SOAP
 CHAPTER - 1

INTRODUCTION & DESIGN OF THE STUDY

INTRODUCTION:

The importance of consumer sales promotion in the marketing mix of the soaps
category throughout the world has increased. Companies spend considerable time in planning
such activities. However, in order to enhance the effectiveness of these activities,
manufacturers should understand consumer and retailer interpretations of their promotional
activities. The study here pertains to consumer’s perceptions regarding sales promotion. This
is because promotions provide utilitarian benefits such as monetary savings, added value,
increased quality and convenience as well as hedonic benefits such as entertainment,
exploration and self-expression. Broadly speaking most of the companies using Marketing
Mix which includes…

Price
Place (Channel of Distribution)
Product
Promotion
These are the four basic pillar of marketing mix. Most of the marketing

Strategies are built on the basis of these criteria.

Promotion is one of the important elements of marketing mix. There are so

many elements of promotion such as

Advertising
Direct Marketing
Public Relations
Sales Promotion
SALES PROMOTION:
Traditionally, sales Promotions have been used by marketer to increase sales in the
short term. However, in the last few decades this communication tool has evolved and now is
considered from a strategic point of view. For this reason, it is necessary to realize new
studies in this area and study how consumers evaluate sales promotions.

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 Sales promotion serves three essential roles: It informs, persuades and reminds
prospective customers about a company and its products. Even the most useful product or
brand will be a failure if no one knows that it is available. As we know, channels of
distribution take more time in creating awareness because a product has to pass through many
hands between a producer and consumers.

Therefore, a producer has to inform channel members as well as ultimate consumers

about the attributes and availability of his products. The second purpose of promotion is
persuasion. The cut throat competition among different products puts tremendous pressure on
their manufacturers and they are compelled to undertake sales promotion activities. The third
purpose of promotion is reminding consumers about products availability and its potential to
satisfy their needs.

From these elements Sales Promotion is the element which is in the focus of this
project. Further Sales Promotion is quite broad term it includes …

1. Consumer Oriented Sales Promotion

2. Trade Oriented Sales Promotion
1. CONSUMER ORIENTED SALES PROMOTION:
Consumer Oriented Sales Promotion is the main topic of this project. Here
emphasize is given to motivate consumer to increase sales. Consumer Oriented Sales
Promotion includes Sampling, Couponing, Premiums, Contest, Refunds, Rebates, Bonus
Pack’s, Price-off, Event marketing etc.

Definition:

For the purpose of this study, following definitions of sales promotion were kept
in mind. Kotler defines sales promotion as: “Sales promotion consists of a diverse collection
of incentive tools, mostly short-term designed to stimulate quicker and/or greater purchase of
particular products/services by consumers or the trade.”Roger Strang has given a more
simplistic definition i.e. “sales promotions are short-term incentives to encourage purchase or
sales of a product or service.”

Hence, any forms of incentives (price cut or value added nature) offered for short
period either to trade or consumers are considered as sales promotion activities.

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Marketer’s uses consumer oriented sales promotion tools for the following reasons:

 To increase short term sales

 To establish a brand name
 To make cross selling
 To cope up with competition
 To avoid advertising clutter
Tools of Consumer Oriented Sales Promotion:

There are so many tools or technique available to the marketers for achieving
objective of sales promotion. These tools should be used considering all other factors
affecting such as cost, time, competitors, availability of goods etc. These tools are as under…

 Coupons
 Price-Off
 Freebies
 Scratch Cards
 Bundling Offer
1. Coupons:
Coupon is the oldest and most widely used way of sales promotion.
Coupons have been used since 1895. It is mostly used by packaged goods. It is worthwhile to
use coupon as a promotion tool because data shows that market for packaged goods increased
from 16 billion in 1968 to 310 billion in 1994. To boost up the sales not only manufacturer
but retailers personally can also used. A coupon leads to price reductions so as to encourage
price sensitive customers. Non users can try a product which may leads to regular sales.

2. Price-off:

A price-off is simply a reduction in the price of the product to increase

sales and is very often used when introduction a new product. A reduction in price always
increases sales but the use of this technique should be carefully considered in the current
market situation. Not only that but it also cause large increase in sales volume.

3. Freebies:
Freebies are a popular form of modern marketing and are some of the best
things about the internet. The definition of freebies is products or services given away for free

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at no cost to the consumer. Well that’s the definition we came up with. At different times, big
and small companies often give away prizes and money which is too good to be true. Often
it’s in the pursuit of more customers or a larger fan base and it often works.

4. Scratch Cards:

A scratch card (also called a scratch off, scratch ticket, scratcher, scratch,
scratch-it, scratch game, scratch-and-win or instant game) is a small token, usually made of
cardboard, where one or more areas contain concealed information: they are covered by a
substance that cannot be seen through, but can be scratched off.

5. Bundling Offers:

Product bundling is a marketing strategy that involves offering several products

for sale as one combined product. This strategy is very common in the software business (for
example: bundle a word processor, a spreadsheet, and a database into a single office suite), in
the cable television industry (for example, basic cable in the United States generally offers
many channels at one price), and in the fast food industry in which multiple items are
combined into a complete meal. A bundle of products is sometimes referred to as a package
deal or a compilation or an anthology.

FACTORS INFLUENCING CONSUMER ORIENTED SALES PROMOTION:

Mainly four factors should be taken into account while determining the sales
promotion program.

> Target market

> Nature of product

> Stage of product life cycle

> Budget available for promotion

1. Target Market:

While doing sales promotion, marketer must know who their target market is;
otherwise there is no use of all effort because it leads to no where. A target market can be in
any of the stages of buying hierarchy i.e. awareness, knowledge, liking, preferences,
conviction and purchase. Each stage defines a possible goal of promotion.

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 2. Nature of the product:

There are various product attributes which influence sales promotional strategy.
When the unit price is low the manufacturer as well as the customer has low risk but he can
get the benefit of mass marketing. Therefore, mass marketing requires mass sales promotion
schemes. Sales promotion scheme differ for products like its durability, perishable goods etc.

3. Stage of product Life Cycle:

Sales promotion strategies are influenced by the life cycle of a product. When
a new product introduced, prospective buyers must be informed about its existence and its
benefits and middlemen must be convinced to stock it. Later, if a product becomes
successful, competition intensifies and more emphasis is placed on sales promotion to
increase its sales.

4. Budget Available for Promotion:

The funds available for promotion are the ultimate determinant of the
promotional programmed. A business with ample funds can make more effective use of sales
promotion programmed than a firm with limited financial resources. The budget for sales
promotion can be prepared by the following methods…

o Percentage of Sales
o Fixed funds available for sales promotion
o Following the competition, and
o Budgeting by objective.

SALES PROMOTION FROM THE CONSUMERS POINT OF VIEW:

 Willingness to buy on sales promotion offer:

Sixty per cent of the sample did not show willingness to buy a brand due to promotion
while 30% showed willingness and 10% were not sure. This indicates that when 30% showed
willingness and 10% consumers who were not sure, these groups might be lured through
innovative and lucrative sales promotion offer.

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  Ability to induce trial:
Forty per cent of the respondents had said that sales promotion had the ability to
induce trial which reinforces the above inference.

 Long-term impact:
In order to understand ability of the promotions to increase long-term sales,
respondents were asked about continuity of purchase of a brand after the withdrawal of
promotion. Eighty per cent of the respondents indicated that they would not continue. But
20% said they would. Thus, it could be inferred that promotions in this category (low
involvement products) might encourage trial and brand switching but not long term
loyalty.
 Perceived Quality:
Majority of respondents had a perception that the quality of the promoted brands
remained the same during promotion, while some of them felt that it was inferior to
before. It can be inferred that promotions were not leading to negative brand quality
perceptions. It is found that some customer strongly preferred to buy their regular brand
and said that sales promotion would not weaken their loyalty towards the brand.
 Perceptions regarding underlying company motivations:
On tapping perceptions’ regarding underlying company motivations for sales
promotion, “to increase sales” was ranked highest followed by “to attract switchers” and “to
sell excess stocks”. While providing value to customers” and

“To reinforce company image” were ranked lowest. This indicates that consumers
believed that companies were undertaking such activities only for their own benefit and not
for the benefit of consumers.

Findings from retailer and consumer perception studies, it is evident that

there was a matching of perceptions regarding nature of scheme (price offs as most preferred
type of scheme mentioned by consumers and retailers’ perceptions about consumer
preferences). Since retailers observe consumers in store behavior were frequently and
directly, their perceptions regarding providing consumer behavior are likely to be accurate.
Such inputs from the retailers would be useful to companies.

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 The retailers had the perception that those schemes which were announced through
mass media had better response. This was reinforced by the consumer survey which showed
that recall in case of heavily promoted schemes on TV was found to be very high.

Retailers’ prediction of companies’ motivation for offering sales promotion were

matching with the consumer perception regarding the same. Thus both viewed that
companies were using sales promotion activities mainly to increase short term sales or
encourage switching or selling excess stock and not really to give value benefit or
enhance/reinforce brand/company image.

Trade Oriented Sales Promotion:

Trade Oriented Sales Promotion aimed to motivate channel member of the

company and to encourage them to push company’s product. Trade Oriented Sales Promotion
includes dealer contest and incentives, trade allowances. Point-of-purchase displays, sales
training programs, trade shows, cooperative advertising, and other programs designed to
motivate distributors and retailers to carry a product and make an extra effort to push it to
their customers.

Sales promotion from the retailer’s point of view:

Perceptions on Scheme Preference:

It was found that retailer perceived price offs as a better form of sales promotion
activity. Price offs in their opinion had relatively a greater impact compared to any other form
of sales promotion activity like Bonus packs, Premium, Contests etc. Retailers preferred price
offs the most, then bonus pack, premium, contests, in order of importance.

Perceptions about their role in decision-making:

Retailer had relatively very low influence in affecting choice. It could be inferred that
visibility and awareness about the scheme were the critical success factors so that pull could
be created.

Perceptions about Response to Sales Promotion Offers:

They believed that younger age-groups were more experimental in nature,

amenable to trying new brands, and sought/looked for or asked whether there were any) sales
promotion schemes running on any toilet soap at the time of purchase.

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Perceptions about Buying Roles:

Retailers viewed that the person who came to the shop (who may be a maid, son,
daughter, daughter-in-law and child) was the decider of a toilet soap brand and not the
Income provider (e.g. head of the family). It could be inferred that visibility of information
about the sales promotion activity at the point of purchase could result into the purchase of a
promoted brand.

Perceptions about Communications of Sales Promotion Schemes:

Retailers perceived that role of word of mouth and television advertising played an
important part in providing information inputs to consumers regarding sales promotion
activities.

Dealer-Retailer Dynamics:

At the time of sales promotion activities, dealers had tendency to push unwanted
stocks onto the smaller retailers. In fact these retailers preferred to stock variety of brands and
wanted payment for shelf and window display to increase traffic into their store. However,
supermarkets and big retailers were pampered and given special services and given better
margins and better allowances.

Margins:

It was found that in sales promotion schemes margins varied from 6 to15% depending
of the size of the retail outlet, bargaining power of a retailer, quantity ordered by him etc.
Mostly margins were linked to size of the volumes that were ordered.

Servicing during duration of Scheme:

In stock-out situation during the running of the sales promotion schemes, smaller
retailers had to wait for replenishment of stocks till the next scheduled weekly visit by the
dealer salesman but big retailers were serviced on telephonic request for replenishment of
stocks. This clearly indicated the disparity in treatment.

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Gifts for Retailer motivation:

Companies at times were rewarding retailers by giving free gifts like thermos flasks
or clocks if they sold more than certain quantity in a given period. Companies were making a
half-hearted effort to motivate retailers.

Perceptions about mass media announcements:

Retailers viewed that whenever sales promotion scheme was announced on TV, it
created pull and they were more than willing to stock such brands. For example Medimix and
Dettol contest was not advertised on TV, hence there was very little awareness leading to
unsold stock till 6 months. While Lux Gold Star which was heavily promoted on T.V. is
recalled even today.

Handling Problems:

Many a time’s retailers had to handle various sales promotion offers simultaneously in a
category and also across categories and there was no formal communication planning either
from the dealer or the company. Remembering each offer and handling was a problem
especially for a small retailer which was often an as one-man show.

SALES PROMOTION STRATEGY:

Sales are the lifeblood of a business, without sales there would be no business in the
first place; therefore it is very important that if a business wants to succeed, it should have a
sales promotion strategy in mind. The primary objective of a sales promotion is to improve a
company’s sales by predicting and modifying your target customer’s purchasing behavior and
patterns.

Sales promotion is very important as it not only helps to boost sales but it also helps a
business to draw new customers while at the same time retaining older ones. There are a
variety of sales promotional strategies that a business can use to increase their sales, however
it is important that we first understand what a sales promotion strategy actually is and why it
is so important.

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 A sales promotion strategy is an activity that is designed to help boost the sales of a
product or service. This can be done through an advertising campaign, public relation
activities, a free sampling campaign, a free gift campaign, a trading stamps campaign,
through demonstrations and exhibitions, through prize giving competitions, through
temporary price cuts, and through door-to-door sales, telemarketing, personal sales letters,
and emails.

The importance of a sales promotion strategy cannot be underestimated. This is

because a sales promotion strategy is important to a business boosting its sales.
When developing a sales promotion strategy for your business, it is important that you
keep the following points in mind.

 Consumer attitudes and buying patterns

 Your brand strategy
 Your competitive strategy
 Your advertising strategy
 Other external factors that can influence products availability and pricing.

There are three types of sales promotion strategies:

 A push strategy
 A pull strategy or
 A combination of the two

A Push Strategy:

A ‘push’ sales promotion strategy involves ‘pushing’ distributors and retailers to sell
your products and services to the consumer by offering various kinds of promotions and
personal selling efforts. What happens here is that a company promotes their product/services
to a reseller who in turn promotes it to another reseller or to the consumer. The basic
objective of this strategy is to persuade retailers, wholesalers and distributors to carry your
brand, give it shelf space, promote it by advertising, and ultimately ‘push’ it forward to the
consumer. Typical push sales promotion strategies include; buy-back guarantees, free trials,
contests,discounts,andspecialtyadvertisingitems.

A Pull Strategy:

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 A ‘pull’ sales promotion strategy focuses more on the consumer instead of the reseller
or distributor. This strategy involves getting the consumer to ‘pull’ or purchase the
product/services directly from the company itself. This strategy targets its marketing efforts
directly on the consumers with the hope that it will stimulate interest and demand for the
product. This pull strategy is often used when distributors are reluctant to carry or distribute a
product. Typical pull sales promotion strategies include; samples, coupons, cash refunds or
rebates, loyalty programs and rewards, contests, sweepstakes, games, and point-of-purchase
displays.

A Combination of Two Strategies:

A ‘combination’ sales promotion strategy is just that; it is a combination of a push and

a pull strategy. It focuses both on the distributor as well as the consumers, targeting both
parties directly. It offers consumer incentives side by side with dealer discounts.

IMPACT OF PROMOTION ON SALES

The Short term Impact of Promotions:

Let’s have look at the impact of promotions on purchase behavior during the
promotional period i.e. the week or the month when the promotion was being run. The
majority of the empirical studies have focused on the impact of promotions in the short term.
The key findings across the studies are discussed below.

Temporary price reductions (price off) substantially increase sales:

There is ample evidence to show that promotions lead to dramatic increases in

sales of promoted brand in the short term. Studies have consistently reported high sales
effects and high price elasticity of brands which are on promotion. The economic rationale
for the promotional response is clear – temporary price cuts increase the value of the product
to the consumer and it leads to immediate action. Sales boost can be quantified on the basis of
brand switching, primary demand expansion and consumer stockpiling during a promotion.

Sales Promotion leads to brand substitution with the product category:

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 The sales ‘bump’ during the promotional period into sales due to brand switching,
purchase time acceleration and stockpiling. Studies on brand switching have shown that
brand switching effects within a category are asymmetric such that promotions on higher
quality brands impacts weaker brands disproportionately. During a promotion, higher quality
brands induce a large number of consumers to switch to them as compared to lower quality
brands. One explanation advanced for this finding by researchers is that large share brands
have higher brand equity and attract switchers more than low share brands.

Sales Promotion leads to purchase acceleration/stockpiling effects:

In response to a promotion, consumers may buy more quantity of the product

category or buy at an earlier time than usual (purchase acceleration effect). If consumers buy
extra quantity during a promotion or earlier than normal, then they are not in the market to
buy products once the promotion is over. Thus purchase acceleration is demonstrated through

A lengthening of inter purchase times after a promotion. Purchase acceleration

was more likely to be exhibited in increased purchase quantity than in shortened inter
purchase times. Results showed that consumers mostly made up for the large quantity
purchased by waiting longer until purchasing again. Results indicated that heavy users tended
to accelerate purchases more than light users. There was negligible difference in the
acceleration propensities of high versus low income groups.

Sales Promotion leads to primary demand expansion for a category:

While it was traditionally assumed that consumption rates remain fixed during and
after a promotion, but from this project I came to know that promotions also have a primary
demand expansion effect. When a primary demand expansion occurs, promotion induced
increase in purchase quantities does not significantly extend the time till the next purchase in
the category occurs, thus indicating that there has been an increase in consumption
promotions induced consumers to buy more and consume faster. It is found that promotion
induced inventory temporarily increased consumption rates within the category e.g. in
categories such as bacon, salted snacks, soft drinks and yogurt exhibited primary demand
expansions as a result of promotion while bathroom tissue, coffee, detergent and paper towels
exhibited stockpiling only.

Sales Promotions affect sales in complementary and competitive categories:

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 From this project it is found that promotion not only increases sales of main product
but it also lead to increase in sales of complementary categories. Found strong cross
relationships between products of the promoted product category indicating brand
substitution behavior. They stated that retail price promotions work as a form of implicit
price bundling whereby the consumer surplus is transferred from the promoted item to non
promoted items. Also found that retail price promotions create significant complementary and
substitution effects within the store.

The Long term Impact of Promotions:

Strategies are builds to reap the benefits for longer period of time; same is true in
sales promotion strategies. Let us see impact of promotions effort and study the impact over a
longer time period e.g. 4-6 months or even a few years after a sales promotion campaign.

The result showed that consumer promotions for leading brands of established
packaged products had no after-effects on the brand’s sales or repeat buying loyalty. The
extra sales of a brand while promoted came virtually all from the brand’s existing long-term
customer base for which the experience of buying the promoted brand was nothing new.

It is observed that each sales component generally lacked a permanent effect and
the effect of promotion was short lived and increase in promotions affected consumers’
stockpiling decisions in the long run. The stockpiling induced by a promotion was essentially
offset by reduced demand in the long term. Thus increased sales were more a result of sales
borrowed from the future than increased consumption.

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 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research Methodology is a way to systematically solve the research problem. It

may be understood as a science of studying how search systematically solves the research

problem. It may be understood as a source of studying how researcher is done scientifically.

In this study of the researcher studies various steps that are generally adopted in studying his

research problems along with logic behind them. It is necessary for the researcher to know

not only the research methods or technique but also the methodology, the researcher

discusses the objective selection of the area, sample design data tabulation and analysis, tools

used to analyze data, period of the study and the limitation of the study.

RESEARCH DESIGN:

The research design used for the study is descriptive research design

DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH DESIGN:

Descriptive research design is used to describe the state of affairs during the time of

survey. The descriptive research is a right design and it gives the complete and accurate

information about the study.

SAMPLE TECHNIQUE:

A sample design is a definite plan for obtaining a sample from a given population. It

refers to the technique or the procedure, the researcher could adopt in selection items for the

sample. In this research, convenience sampling is used.

CONVENIENCE SAMPLING:

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 The convenience sampling, the population elements are selected for inclusion in

the sample based on the cases of access.

SAMPLE SIZE:

It is the substantial portion of the target population that is sampled to achieve

reliable results.

50 ------- RESPONDENT (CUSTOMER)

DATA COLLECTION METHOD:

The data were collected with the help of primary and secondary sources.

PRIMARY DATA:

The primary data were collected through structured questionnaire method.

SECONDARY DATA:

The Secondary data were collected from official records, trade journals, Books,

magazines and newspapers.

TOOLS USED FOR DATA COLLECTION:

The collected data were tabulated and interpreted by using simple

percentage method, Charts like bar and column charts were used.

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 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE:

To know the consumers preferences with respect to sales promotion of soap.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVE:

1. To examine tradeoffs, relative importance of different attributes while responding

to a sales promotion offer.
2. To study the effect of sales promotions in soaps.

3. To study consumer behavior in purchase of soaps

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 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

Scope of the study is about the sales promotion of soaps in the area of Pollachi. The
growing competition in the global market is showing that it is becoming increasingly
important for companies to grow with the expectation of their customers and gain new
customers. Gaining knowledge about customers' behavior is substantively important which
can only be examined by analyzing the role of various factors affecting purchasing behavior
of soap among customers and processes.

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 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

 We considered valparai region only because of limited time duration.

 Due to this, our sample size is only 50, which is not very large.

 All the respondents could not fill their questionnaire on their own due to language
problem and also problem of time and lack of positive behavior.

 Respondent may give biased answer due to some lack of information about other
brands.

 Findings of the study are based on the assumption that the respondents have given
correct information.

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 CHAPTER II
HISTORY OF THE COMPANY

INTRODUCTION

Soap is one of the oldest chemical produced over two thousand years ago by
saponification animal fats with the ashes from plants. Although soap are mainly used as
surfactant for washing, bathing cleaning, but they are also being used in textile spinning and
as important constituent of lubricating grease. Now soap and detergent have become integral
part of our society. There has been continuous development Soap making technology starting
with batch kettle making process in cottage industry and to present continuous modern soap
making process using either fat saponification or by fatty acid neutralization utilizing a wide
variety of natural and synthetic feed stock.. Soaps are also key components of most
lubricating grease which are usually emulsion of, calcium, sodium, lithium soaps and mineral
oil.

Synthetic detergent is an effective substitute of washing soap have become now very popular
replacing the soap. All soaps and detergents contain a surfactant as their active ingredient.
However detergent has better cleaning properties than soap because good detergency and has
increasingly popular. Environmental issues during initial stages because of non biodegradable
nature of the detergent caused major concern. With the production of linear alkyl benzene
there has been continuous increase in detergent production because of the biodegradable
nature of the detergent.

During 40’s and 50’s the detergent market was primarily captured by the dodecyl benzene
(DDB), a product formed by alkylation of benzene with propylene tetramer in a hard
detergent alkylation unit. However, that the branched structure of the alkyl group was
responsible for the poor biodegradability of the detergent, and the linear alkyl Benzene
(LAB) was introduced in the early 60’s have substantially replaced its counter parts.

India is one of the largest producer of soap in the world. However, per capita consumption of

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toilet bathing soap in India is 0.8 kg against 6.5 kg in USA, 4.0 kg in china, 1.1 kg in Brazil
and 2.5 kg in Indonesia. Soaps are the largest portion of the fast moving consumer Goods
(FMG) 136markets with bathing soap and toilet soaps contributing about 30% of the soap
market.

In India soaps are available in five million retail stores out of which 3.75 million are in the
rural area. The major player in the personal wash soap market is HUL, Nirma and P & G. In
soap industry, the popular sector has witnessed growth with toilet soaps Soap and Detergent
differ in their action with hard water. Soap form insoluble compounds with hard water
containing calcium and magnesium ions which precipitates and reduce foming and cleaning
while detergent may react with the ions responsible for hardeness but the resulting product is
either soluble or colloidally dispersed in water.

Soap is the alkali salt of fatty acid. Some of the important fatty acids used in soap
manufacture are lauric acid, myristic acid, palmitic acid, stear ic acid, oleic acid, linoleic acid,
linolenic acid, reicinolenic acid. Fatty acids have varying chain length and may be saturated
or unsaturated. Fatty acid content of the oils vary. Unsaturated fatty acids give softer soap
with lower melting point and are less stable while soap from saturated fatty acids are firm,
slowly soluble, milder and have good detergency . Total fatty acid is considered beneficial
ingredient of toilet soap. Property of soap depends on the chain length of fatty acids in blend,
amount of saturation and unsaturation, formulation and soap structure. A judicious blend of
oils and fats are necessary to obtain soaps of ideal properties. Catogrisation of Soap Soaps
has been graded in terms of total fatty matter. Soap may be catogor ised astoilet soaps or
bathing soap or specialty soap like baby( compare atively of high purity), transparent( soap
with high glycerine content), herbal and antibacterial soap. Bureau of Indian standards (BIS)
has catogrised on the basis of total fatty matter(TFM): Grade I ( Minimum 76%), Grade
II(minimum 70%), Grade III (minimum 60%), bathing bar (minimum TFM 40%). Soft soap
are made by using potassium hydroxide instead of sodium hydroxide. Bathing bars may be
made from partial soap and partial detergent or wholly synthetic detergent 137 Raw Material
Soaps are commonly made from fats and oil and sodium hydroxide. Oils and fats can be
classified either lauric or nonlauric oils /fats.

In soap making palm oil, coconut oil, caster oil,neem oil, kernel oil, ground nut oil, ricebran
oil and animal fat especially tallow are used. Fatty acid present in tallow are mysteric acid,

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palmitic acid, stearic acid, oleic acid, linoleic acid whereas the coconut oil contains lauric
acid, mysteric acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid. Different oils produce soaps of varying
hardness, odour and lathering properties. Normally 75-85% tallow and 15-25 % coconut oil is
used in soap making. C12 and C14 soaps lather quickly but they produce an unstable, coar se
bubble foam while C16 and C18 lather slowly but lead to stable, fine bubble foamed. For
saponification caustic lye (50% caustic soda) is used. Some of the other ingredient in soap are
talc as filler which also act as carrier for perfume, fragrance. sodium silicate to give firmness
to the soap, sodium carbonate, dyes to impart colour Soap Making Process

The soap making process consists of reaction of animal fats along with coconut oil with
sodium or potassium hydroxide. The traditiona l process consists of direct saponification of
oil and fats in batch process. The commercial process consist saponification in a kettle pan
boiling batch process or a continuous process The production of soap comprises
saponification(soap making), removal of glycerol, soap purification, finishing which consist
of mixing and homogenisation of the soap base with additive such as perfumes , coloring
matter, skin grooming substances and final extrusion, cutting shaping and packaging.

Chemically, soap is a salt of a fatty acid. Soaps are mainly used as surfactants for washing,
bathing, and cleaning, but they are also used in textile spinning and are important components
of lubricants. Soaps for cleansing are obtained by treating vegetable or animal oils and fats
with a strongly alkaline solution.

Fats and oils are composed of triglycerides; three molecules of fatty acids are attached to a
single molecule of glycerol. The alkaline solution, which is often called lye (although the
term "lye soap" refers almost exclusively to soaps made with sodium hydroxide) brings about
a chemical reaction known as saponification. In this reaction, the triglyceride fats are first
hydrolyzed into free fatty acids, and then these combine with the alkali to form crude soap, an
amalgam of various soap salts, excess fat or alkali, water, and liberated glycerol (glycerin).
The glycerin is a useful by product, which can be left in the soap product as a softening agent,
or isolated for other uses.

Soap is undoubtedly the oldest product to be produced specifically as a surfactant and

in its many forms continues to play a major role today. Within this highly competitive
marketplace soap is presented in a multitude of forms both solid and liquid.

21
.

PRODUCT & ITS USES

The product categories can be classified into three segments; premium (Lux,
Dove), popular (Cinthol, Nirma), and economy (Nirma Bath, Lifebuoy). The price
differential between the premium and economy segments is about 2X. The popular
and economy segments account for about 4/5th of the entire market for soaps. Soaps
are generally opaque type to translucent.

MARKET POTENTIAL
The market of soap is growing at 7% a year. This means that the incremental demand
generation is 5% over and above the population growth. With increasing awareness of
hygienic standards, the market for the soaps could grow at a rate higher than 8% annually.
Interestingly, 60% of the market is now sourced from the rural sector. This means that the
variance between the two segments is not very large. Since upper - end market focus is the
urban areas, margins come from the urban sector.
India with a huge population has a household penetration of soaps at 98%. People
belonging to different income levels use different brands, which fall under different
segments, but all income levels use soaps, making it the second largest category in India.
Rural consumers in India constitute 70% of the population. Rural demand is growing, with
more and more soap brands being launched in the discount segment targeting the lower socio
- economic strata of consumers. Soap manufacturers originally targeted their products to the
lowest income strata in urban as well as rural areas, positioning their brands as a way to
remove dirt and clean the body. For some brands, that positioning persists even today with a
focus on removal of body odor and keeping the user healthy. However, soap positioning is
moving towards skin care as a value - added benefit.
.
MARKETING STRATEGY
There are many established national as well as international brands but they have captured
mainly the urban and elite markets and for a quality product, there is a vast market which can
be penetrated by offering competitive prices. Apart from a growing household market, other
lucrative segments are spa, hotels, restaurants, etc. Marketing would play a crucial role and
placement, publicity, commission to retailers etc. are important aspects.

22
"Sales promotion can be defined as short term incentives to encourage purchase of a good or
service (Kitchen 1999)." A few decades ago, sales promotion was seen as everything that was
left over after accounts for advertising, personal selling, and public relations (Burnett, 1993)
but since then sales promotion has been growing dramatically and today the amount of
money spent on sales promotion is higher than any other element of the communication or
promotion mix.

Several factors influence the development of sales promotion with “the first being increased
similarities between brands and price sensitivity, coupled with reduced consumer brand
loyalties. Without real or significant product differentiation, consumers have become more
reliant on price or price-related incentives (coupons, penny-off deals, refunds, giveaways and

23
 CHAPTER III

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRITATION

SIMPLE PERSENTAGE METHOD

TABLE NO: 1

CLASSIFICATION OF GENDER

NUMBER OF
GENDER PERCENTAGE
S.NO RESPONDENTS

1. Male 28 56

2. Female 22 44

TOTAL 50 100

INTERPRETATION:

Out of the total respondents, 56% of the respondents are male, and 44% of the
respondents are female.

24
 CHART NO: 1

THE CLASSIFICATION OF GENDER

60 56

50
44
40

30 28 Male
22 Female
20

10

0
NUMBER OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

25
 TABLE NO: 2

AGE OF THE RESPONDENTS

NUMBER OF
S.NO AGE PERCENTAGE
RESPONDENTS

1 15-25 15 30

2 26-35 11 22

3 36-45 12 24

4 Above 45 12 24

TOTAL 50 100

INTERPRETATION:

The above table shows that 30% of respondents are below 15-25 years of age, 22%
of respondents are between 26-35years, 24% of respondents are between the 36-45 years, and
24% of respondents are above 45 years of age group.

26
 CHART NO: 2

AGE OF RESPONDENTS

30

25

20

NUMBER OF RE-
15 SPONDENTS
PERCENTAGE
10

0
15-25 26-35 36-45 Above 45

27
 TABLE NO: 3

EDUATIONAL QUALIFICATION OF THE RESPONDENTS

NUMBER OF
S.NO QUALIFICATION PERCENTAGE
RESPONDENTS

1. SSLC 04 08

2. HSC 06 12

3. UG 13 26

4. PG 16 32

5. Others 11 22

TOTAL 50 100

INTERPRETATION:
Out of the total respondents, 8% are SSLC, 12% of the respondents belong to the
HSC, 26% of the respondents are UG, 32% of the respondents have completed PG, and 22%
of the respondents are others.

28
 CHART NO: 3

EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATION OF THE RESPODENTS

35

30

25

20
NUMBER OF RE-
SPONDENTS
15 PERCENTAGE

10

0
SSLC HSC UG PG Others

29
 TABLE NO: 4

NUMBER OF
S.NO OCCUPATION PERCENTAGE
RESPONDENTS

1 Students 09 18

2 Govt Employee 18 36

3 Private Employee 11 22

4 Others 12 24

TOTAL 50 100

OCCUPATION OF THE RESPODENTS

INTERPRETATION:

Out of the total respondents, 18% of them are Students, 36% of the respondents
belong to the Govt.Employee, 22% of the respondents are Private Employee, and 24% of
respondents are others.

30
 CHART NO: 4

OCCUPATION OF THE RESPONDETS

18%
24%

Students
Govt Employee
Private Employee
Others

22% 36%

31
 TABLE NO: 5

INCOME LEVEL OF THE RESPODENTS

NUMBER OF
SNO INCOME LEVEL PERCENTAGE
RESPONDENDS

1 5000-10000 21 42

2 10001-25000 15 30

3 25001-50000 09 18

4 Above 50000 05 10

TOTAL 50 100

INTERPRETAION:

Out of the total respondents, 42% earns 5000-10000, 30% of the respondents earn
between the range of 10001-25000, and 18% of the respondents earn in the range of 25001-
50000, 10% of the respondents earn in the Above 50000.

32
 CHART NO: 5

INCOME LEVEL OF RESPODENTS

70

42
60

50

30
40
PERCENTAGE
NUMBER OF RE-
SPONDENDS
INCOME LEVEL
30

18

20

10
10 21
15
9
5
0

33
 TABLE NO: 6

RESPONDENTS PREFERANCE TO BRAND OF SOAPS

NUMBER OF
SNO BRAND NAME PERCENTAGE
RESPONDENTS

1 Lux 12 24

2 Hammam 14 28

3 Dove 06 12

4 Pears 10 20

5 Others 08 16

TOTAL 50 100

INTERPRETAION:

Out of the total respondents, 24% like Lux, 28% of the respondents like Hammam,
12% of the respondents likes Dove, 20% of the respondents like Pears, and 16%of
respondents like Others.

34
 CHART NO: 6

BRAND OF SOAPS

30

25

20

NUMBER OF RE-
15 SPONDENTS
PERCENTAGE
10

0
Lux Hammam Dove Pears Others

35
 TABLE NO: 7

RESPODENTES OPINION TO BRAND LOYALTY

NUMBER OF
S.NO FACTORS PERCENTAGE
RESPONDENTS

1 Yes 38 76

2 No 12 24

TOTAL 50 100

INTERPRETATION:

Out of the total respondents, 76% accepted that the same brand the consumption
capacity. 12% of the respondents not buying same brand.

36
 CHART NO: 7

RESPODENTES OPINION TO BRAND LOYALTY

24
PERCENTAGE
76

No
Yes
12
NUMBER OF RESPONDENTS
38

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

37
 TABLE NO: 8

FACTORS AFFECTING PURCHASE BEHAVIOUR

NUMBER OF
S.NO FACTORS PERCENTAGE
RESPONDENTS

1 Quality 17 34

2 company Image 17 34

3 Price 11 22

4 Packaging 4 08

5 Others 1 02

TOTAL 50 100

INTERPRETATION:

Out of the total respondents, 34% consider the quality, 17% of the respondents
consider the company image, 22% of the respondents consider the price, 8% of the
respondents consider the packaging, and 2%of respondents consider Others.

38
 CHART NO: 8

FACTORS AFFECTING PURCHASE BEHAVIOUR

40

35

30

25

20 NUMBER OF RE-
SPONDENTS
15 PERCENTAGE

10

0
3 Buy 1 Discount Free No Idea
Get Samples

39
 TABLE NO: 9

PREFERENCE OF PROMOTIONAL SCHEMES BY THE RESPONDENTS

NUMBER OF
S.NO FACTORS PERCENTAGE
RESPONDENTS

1. Yes 28 56

2. No 22 44

TOTAL 50 100

INTERPRETATION:

Out of the total respondents, 56% consider promotional schemes (Yes). 44% of the
respondents not consider promotional schemes (No).

40
 CHART NO: 9

PREFERENCE OF PROMOTIONAL SCHEMES BY THE RESPONDENTS

44
PERCENTAGE
56

No
Yes
22
NUMBER OF RESPONDENTS
28

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

41
 TABLE NO: 10

FAMILIARITY OF PROMOTIONAL SCHEMES

NUMBER OF
S.NO FACTORS PERCENTAGE
RESPONDENTS

1. Coupons 08 16

2. Price-off 10 20

3. Scratch cards 11 22

4. Exchange schemes 18 36

5. Others 03 06

TOTAL 50 100

INTERPRETATION:

Out of the total respondents, 16% consider to coupons, 20% of the respondents
consider price-off, 22% of the respondents consider scratching cards, 36% of the respondents
consider Exchanging schemes, and 6%of respondents consider to others.

42
 CHART NO: 10

FAMILIARITY OF PROMOTIONAL SCHEMES

40

35

30

25

20 NUMBER OF RE-
SPONDENTS
15
PERCENTAGE
10

0
Coupons Price-off Scratch Exchange Others
cards schemes
1 2 3 4 5

43
 TABLE NO: 11

RESPODENTS INFLUENCED THROUGH MEDIA

NUMBER OF
S.NO MEDIA FACTORS PERCENTAGE
RESPONDENTS

1. Radio 04 8

2. Television 19 38

3. News Paper 12 24

4. Poster 08 16

5. Others 07 14

TOTAL 50 100

INTERPRETATION:

Out of the total respondents, 8% are influence by Radio, 38% of the respondents
are influenced by Television, 24% of the respondents were influenced by news paper, 16% of
the respondents influences by Poster, and 14%of respondents influenced through others.

44
 CHART NO: 11

RESPODENTS INFLUENCED THROUGH MEDIA

Others

Poster

News Paper PERCENTAGE

NUMBER OF RE-
SPONDENTS
Television

Radio

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

45
 TABLE NO: 12

USE OF EXISTING SCHEME BY THE RESPODENTS

NUMBER OF
S.NO FACTORS PERCENTAGE
RESPONDENTS

1. Yes 26 52

2. No 24 48

TOTAL 50 100

INTERPRETATION:

Out of the total respondents, 52% consider existing schemes (Yes). 48% of the
respondents does not consider it (No).

46
 CHART NO: 12

USE OF EXISTING SCHEME BY THE RESPODENTS

60
52
50

40

30 Yes
26
No
20

10

0
NUMBER OF RESPONDENTS PERCENTAGE

47
 TABLE NO: 13

EXISTING SCHEME ON THE SOAP

NUMBER OF
S.NO SCHEMES PERCENTAGE
RESPONDENTS

1. 3 Buy 1 Get 19 38

2. Discount 15 30

3. Free Samples 09 18

4. No Idea 07 14

TOTAL 50 100

INTERPRETATION:

Out of the total respondents, 38% consider to 3 Buy 1 Get, 30% of the respondents
consider to Discount, 18% of the respondents consider to Free Samples, and 14%of
respondents consider to No Idea.

48
 CHART NO: 13

EXISTING SCHEME ON THE SOAP

40 38

35
30
30

25

19 NUMBER OF RE-
20 18 SPONDENTS
15 14 PERCENTAGE
15

10 9
7
5

0
3 Buy 1 Get Discount Free Samples No Idea

49
 TABLE NO: 14

SWITCHING BEHAVIOR

NUMBER OF
S.NO FACTORS PERCENTAGE
RESPONDENTS

1. Yes 16 32

2. No 34 68

TOTAL 50 100

INTERPRETATION:

Out of the total respondents, 32% consider attractive promotional schemes (Yes).
and 68% of the respondents not considering (No).

50
 CHART NO: 14

SWITCHING BEHAVIOR

Chart Title
70 68
60
50
34 Yes
40
32 No
30 16
20
10
0
NUMBER OF RESPONDENTS
PERCENTAGE

51
 TABLE NO: 15

REASON FOR SWITCH OVER TO OTHER BRAND

NUMBER OF
S.NO FACTORS PERCENTAGE
RESPONDENTS

1. Cost of Qty 15 30

2. Quality 14 28

3. Satisfaction 13 26

4. No Answer 08 16

TOTAL 50 100

INTERPRETATION:

Out of the total respondents, 30% consider to Cost of Qty, 28% of the respondents
consider to Quality, 26% of the respondents consider to Satisfaction, and 16%of respondents
consider to No Answer.

52
 CHART NO: 15

REASON FOR SWITCH OVER TO OTHER BRAND

35
30
30 28
26
25

20
NUMBER OF RE-
16 SPONDENTS
15
15 14
13 PERCENTAGE

10 8

0
Cost of Qty Quality Satisfaction No Answer

53
 CHAPTER - IV

FINDINGS

 It is found that the majority (56%) of respondents are male.

 More (30%) of respondents from the age group of 15-25 years

 Majority (32%) of respondents are PG holders.

 Most (36%) of respondents are belongs to government employees.

 It is found that more (50%) of respondent’s annual income is Rs 5,000 -10,000.

 It is found that the majority (28%) of respondents prefer Hammam soaps.

 Most (76%) of respondents have opinion on brand loyality.

 Some (34%) of the respondents states “Quality & Company image” as a factor which

affects in customers purchase behavior.

 Half (56%) of the respondents are preferred for promotional schemes.

 It is found that the Some (36%) of the respondents are familiar with exchange

promotional schemes.

 It is found that the majority (38%) of the respondents product awareness through

Television

 Half (52%) of respondents using the existing schemes for the product.

 Certain (38%) of the respondents prefer the existing scheme of buy3 and get1.

 Majority (68%) of the respondents said ‘NO’ for switching to another brand.

 It is found that the majority (30%) of the respondents are given the reason for
switching to other brand because of its cost of quality.
.

54
 SUGGESTION

On the basis of my studies I want to suggest that P&G has to make out the more

products varieties according with different product segmentations same as the HUL did to

grasp the market shares.

The P&G has to concentrate on promotional schemes because it is much lesser than

other companies.

The sales and promotional activities of HUL is very effective than other

competitive companies. The HUL invest more money on advertisement and it also

emphasize on the dealer network distribution with the help of their talented marketing

executives.

55
 CONCLUSION

The study reflects that the use of sales promotion undeniably has increased over the
years in India. Future holds lot of promise for such schemes across wider range of product-
markets.

Sales Promotion has ceased to be major differentiator at least in the metros, with
almost all companies offering similar freebies and gifts. As a result now marketers have to
find out some innovative ways of sales promotion to differentiate from competitors.
Currently Price off and Bye one get one free offers are very effective to attract the consumers
towards the products.

We have noted that these kind of promotional tools are useful for short term increase
in sales and to induce first trial. These types of promotional schemes should be consistent and
changed from time to time depending upon season and competitor’s schemes.

With the Increasing number of supermarket, the branded packaged goods work as
silent sales person. So in such stores, sales promotion plays a more effective role in
stimulating consumers’ demands.

One of the very important facts we came to know from this project is that sale of
goods which contain large quantity and having big packaging e.g. detergent are stagnating
because consumer prefer to buy small pack goods, the reasons are: small pack goods reduce
risk of bad quality, It had low cost or say price, and last but important factor i.e. mentality to
purchase just to try first. Sales of small pack goods are quite high, but from the company’s
point of view small pack goods is less profitable compare to large pack goods.

So here marketer tries to increase sales of large pack goods by using sales promotion
tactics like price off and percentage extra.

56
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

BOOKS

Ø Philip Kotler, “Marketing Management”, 11th edition, Pearson education Asia

Publication.

Ø C.R.Kothari, “Research Methodology methods & techniques”,New Age

International(p)ltd.publishers,2nd edition.

WEBSITES

 http://www.hul.co.in_files
 http://www.pg-india_files
 http://www.godrej_files
 http://www.managementstudyguide.com/tools-of-promotion
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sales_promotion
 http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/sales-promotion

57
 QUESTIONNAIRE

“A STUDY ON ROLE OF SALES PROMOTIONS ON SOAPS”

Personal Details:

1) Name:

2) Age:

A) 15-25 B) 25-35 C) 35-45 D) above 45

3) Gender:

A) Male B) Female

4) Educational Qualification:

A) SSLC B) HSC C) UG D) PG E) Others

5) Occupation:

A) Student B) Govt. Employee C) Private Employee D) Others

6) Income Level:

A) 5000-10000 B) 10000-25000 C) 25000-50000 D) above 50000 E) None

7) Which brand of Soap do you use?

A) Lux B) Hammam C) Dove D) Pears E) Others

8) Do you always buy the same brand of Soap?

Yes/No

9) Which factors do you normally consider while purchasing a particular brand of Soap?

A) Quality B) Company Image C) Price D) Packaging E) Others

58
 10) Do you consider promotional schemes while purchasing a particular brand of Soap?

Yes/No

11) Which one of the following promotional schemes you have come across so far?

A) Coupons B) Price-Off C) Scratch Cards D) Exchange Schemes E) Others

12) Which media do you feel is suitable to promote the various promotional schemes?

A) Radio B) TV C) Newspaper D) Poster E) Others

13) Is there any existing scheme on the Soap you are currently using?

Yes/No

14) If yes, please specify?

A) 3Buy 1 Get B) Discount C) Free Samples D) No idea

15) If you get an attractive promotional offer in the product other than of your choice will
you switch over?

Yes/No

16) Give reason for the same?

A) Cost of Qty B) Quality C) Satisfaction D) No answer

59