A MARKET RESEARCH PROJECT

Submitted by: Priyanka Saha Siddharth Mukul Baruah Suraj Rajgopalan Sankhadip Chatterjee

In partial fulfilment for the award of the degree Of Post Graduate Programme in Business Administration (Phase1)

Indo German Training Centre Quantitative Methods Project coordinator- Mohit Jain October-2011

Analysis of Buying and Disposing Behaviour of Consumers

Index 1.Introduction 2.An Overview of The Toothpaste Market in India 3.Summary 4.Acknowledgement 5.Objective 6. 7.Methodology 8.Findings-Data Analysis and Data Interpretation 9.Limitations 10.Suggestions and Recommendations 11.Bibliography 12.Conclusion Page No.

Introduction
Consumer is king the statement carries profound truth in it. Today the success of any firm depends upon the satisfaction of customers. For satisfying the consumers the firm should know about the behaviour of the consumers. In these circumstances understanding consumer is a very difficult task because of the changing technology, innovation, and changes in life style. Researchers conducted many research in this area, and they have given only few suggestion, but there is no final conclusion. It is difficult to classify consumers by conventional demographic factors and unless their thought process and buying behaviour are fully understood, decisions on product designs and packaging, branding and distribution channels are likely to be misplaced. With the inevitability of change looming large over the horizon, Indian companies must learn from their western counterparts; not only to identify the sources, timing and direction of the changes likely to affect India, but also the new competencies and perspective understanding the external factors like demographic, social that will enable them to respond to these changes, comprehensively and effectively. This study mainly focuses on price, quality, and product attributes etc. for buying toothpaste. The market share of any product is highly determined by the purchasing behaviour of the consumers. Following study is to find out the behaviour of the consumers, to analyse the preference of consumers, & consumer awareness in the toothpaste market.

An Overview of Toothpaste Market in India

Toothpaste market in India is worth Rs. 2200 crores (2006). In India, per capita toothpaste consumption stood at 74g in 2005, which is amongst the lowest in the world, compared to 350g and 300g in Malaysia and Vietnam respectively. Toothpaste enjoys a country wide penetration level of 50%. Rural: 39% Urban: 75% Oral hygiene continues to be under aggressive competition, with sales increasing by a modest 3% in current value terms in 2006 to Rs. 2,400 crores. Toothpaste accounted for a whopping 83% of value sales. HLL's market share in the dental care market has grown from a mere five per cent in 1979 to an impressive 36 per cent today, whereas Colgate-Palmolive has been seen its market share decline from a dominating 75 per cent to a struggling 56 per cent.

Acknowledgement
We sincerely want to thank our faculty and project co-ordinator Mr Mohit Jain for giving us the opportunity to work in this project. We thank him for extending his full co-operation for completion of the project. We also like to thank our programme director Mrs Sabina Pandey for extending her cooperation and encouraging and giving us full moral support for completion of the project. Lastly we would like to thank and extend our heartiest gratitude to all the 100 respondents without whose time, support and co-operation the project could not have been possible.

Objectives of the Study

To study the Consumer Buying habits in Toothpastes. To study the various factor and identify important parameters for customer acceptance. To plot popular Toothpastes Brands versus their attributes. To know the product alternatives which consumers might prefer to brush their teeth other than toothpaste. To know about the attributes that a consumer looks in for a toothpaste brand. To know about the possible reasons that lead to brand switch over. To know brand preference.

Data Collection
Administering a questionnaire on 100 respondents residing in Kolkata, to know about consumer preference and perception regarding various aspects related to toothpaste such as factor which influences the consumer most when he buys the toothpaste, attributes that he looks for while buying it. This data was then tabulated to make calculations on the analysis of which the finding of the study has been done. SAMPLE SIZE-100 Respondents SAMPLE PROFILE

Age wise:
<15 years 15-25 years 25-35 years >35 years 0 57 24 19

Status wise:
Salaried Business Students Others 37 12 41 10

Data Interpretation & Analysis

Buying Frequency

BRANDS COLGATE CLOSE UP PEPSODENT SENSODYNE

WEEKLY 1 2 0 0

FORTNIGHT LY 1 0 1 0

MONTHLY 25 10 14 8

WHEN NEEDED 22 3 6 7

25 20 WEEKLY 15 10 5 0 COLGATE CLOSE UP PEPSODENT SENSODYNE FORTNIGHTLY MONTHLY WHEN NEEDED

Package Size:
BRAND COLGATE CLOSE-UP PEPSODENT SENSODYNE FAMILY 33 10 16 7 MEDIUM 15 5 4 7 SMALL 1 0 1 1

35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 COLGATE CLOSE UP PEPSODENT

PACKAGE SIZE FAMILY PACKAGE SIZE MEDIUM PACKAGE SIZE SMALL

SENSODYNE

The frequency of purchase mainly depends on the brushing habits and the number of members in the family. 66% of the people preferred the family pack while 31% preferred the medium pack.

Based on this survey, most of the respondents are unhappy about the price that they pay for their favourite brand. This is evident from the fact that pricewise the rating of the brand is very poor compared to product, availability and promotion. Hence as far as the price is concerned, the company should consider the views of consumer otherwise the consumer switch over to competitors product is inevitable. Currently, price range varies from Rs. 0510 for a small pack in the economy segment, Rs15-25 for a medium pack in the regular segment and Rs 40 and above for a family pack in the value added segment. Thus, analysing economic factor is an important task for the company to fix the price.

Buying Location:

BRAND COLGATE CLOSE-UP PEPSODENT SENSODYNE

LOCAL 18 8 7 3

GENERAL 11 4 6 4

SUPER MART 13 3 5 4

MEDICAL 7 0 3 4

18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 COLGATE CLOSE UP PEPSODENT

BUYING LOCATION LOCAL BUYING LOCATION GENERAL BUYING LOCATION SUPER MART BUYING LOCATION MEDICAL

SENSODYNE

The above data helps us conclude that respondents of all other brands except Sensodyne mostly buy toothpaste from a local shop. The other buying locations such as a general store or a super mart or a medical store have relatively less buyers. The only exception that we found to this rule is the brand Sensodyne which people prefer to buy from a general store or a super mart or even a medical store more than a local store.

Purchase Influence:

BRANDS COLGATE CLOSE-UP PRPSODENT SENSODYNE

RETAILER 6 7 6 1

FAMILY 14 3 5 4

FLAVOUR 12 4 8 4

ADV 16 2 1 5

LOOKS 1 0 0 1

16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 COLGATE CLOSE UP PEPSODENT

PURCHASE INFLUENCE RETAILER PURCHASE INFLUENCE FAMILY PURCHASE INFLUENCE FLAVOUR PURCHASE INFLUENCE ADV PURCHASE INFLUENCE LOOKS

SENSODYNE

Based on the study it is interesting to see that in the sample size of 100 respondents 27 of them prefer their brand of toothpaste only due to the taste or flavour factor while 25 of them are influenced by their family tradition in buying their preferable brand. Further 23 people are influenced by advertisement and 20 people buy toothpaste which is of their retailers choice. It is important for the manufacturer to keeps these attributes in mind for deeper penetration into the market. It is also seen that basically there are three kinds of purchase influences for any product. Informational influence, normative influence, and identification influence. Informational influence means that an individual uses the behaviour and options of group member to gather useful information. Normative influence refers to an individuals achieving group expectations and gaining the respect of and sense of belonging to the group. Identification influence occurs when an individual understands the values and norms of the group.

Usage Longevity:

BRAND COLGATE CLOSE-UP PEPSODENT SENSODYNE

> 1 YEAR 19 10 11 6

< 1 YEAR 30 6 9 9

30 25 20 USAGE > 1 YEAR 15 10 5 0 COLGATE CLOSE UP PEPSODENT SENSODYNE USAGE < 1 YEAR

It was seen that the penetration of toothpaste was high in Kolkata as all the 100 respondents who were questioned used toothpaste. It was also seen that 55 out of 100 people have been using their brand of toothpaste for over a year while the remaining 45 have been using their brand of toothpaste for less than a year. This implies that a large part of the population have switched brands over the last year which means that the toothpaste market is still lucrative and this factor might encourage some new players to come into the market in the future provided they have the right mix of strategy. This is already true with the brand Sensodyne which was launched only last year and it is already competing fiercely with global leaders like Colgate and Close-up.

Areas in Which Brands Can Improve:

BRAND COLGATE CLOSE-UP PEPSODENT SENSODYNE FLORIDE 22 5 10 4 FOAMING 11 4 3 7 COLOUR 1 2 3 FLAVOUR 15 4 5 4

25

BRAND IMPROVEMENT FLORIDE BRAND IMPROVEMENT FOAMING

20

BRAND IMPROVEMENT COLOUR BRAND IMPROVEMENT FLAVOUR

15

10

0 COLGATE CLOSE UP PEPSODENT SENSODYNE

Brand Loyalty:

BRAND COLGATE CLOSE-UP PEPSODENT SENSODYNE

YES 6 4 7 1

NO 19 6 5 9

MAY BE 24 5 9 5

25

BRAND SWITCHING YES BRAND SWITCHING NO

20

BRAND SWITCHING MAY BE

15

10

0 COLGATE CLOSE UP PEPSODENT SENSODYNE

Switch Simulator
BRAND COLGATE CLOSE-UP PEPSODENT SENSODYNE PRICE REDUCE 7 3 3 1 OFFER 6 2 0 0 ORAL BENFIT 16 4 13 5 OTHERS 0 0 0 0

16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 COLGATE CLOSE UP PEPSODENT

SWITCH SIMULATOR PRICE REDUCE SWITCH SIMULATOR OFFER SWITCH SIMULATOR ORAL BENFIT SWITCH SIMULATOR OTHERS

SENSODYNE

The reasons for a consumer to switch from a particular brand of toothpaste to a particular one are many. But the majority of people are becoming more aware of the oral health quotient offered by brands such as Sensodyne which is seen as a driving force for brand switching in the recent times. Hence it is seen that the overall mentality of the people is slowly shifting from being brand loyal to becoming a health conscious one. But when it comes to comparisons among brands about loyalty Sensodyne surprisingly emerges the winner among other giants. Colgate and Close-up in this regard had a very close fight while the Pepsodent users seemed to be the least loyal towards their brand.

Brand Image:
BRAND COLGATE CLOSE-UP PEPSODENT SENSODYNE PRODUCT 146 47 61 43 PRICE 137 40 50 45 PROMOTION 136 39 60 46 AVAILABILITY 156 43 60 47

160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 COLGATE CLOSE UP

CURRENT BRAND RATE PRODUCT CURRENT BRAND RATE PRICE CURRENT BRAND RATE PROMOTION CURRENT BRAND RATE AVAILABILITY

PEPSODENT

SENSODYNE

Based on this study the preference for selecting toothpaste is mainly based on brand, quality, and flavour. It was seen that Colgate still enjoys the majority amongst the people closely followed by Close-up, Pepsodent and Sensodyne. Hence well established brands such as Colgate and close-up which have been flourishing in the Indian market for decades control the market share of toothpaste. This is attributed to the following fact. India is a country knows for keeping its traditional values and hence a lot of people still blindly follow their family traditions even while buying a particular brand of toothpaste. The concept of brand image is slowly starting to change with the youth population becoming more and more health conscious and trying out newer products offering oral health benefits and hence it would be advisable for the brands to concentrate more on the oral health care.

Various Attributes and the Brand Rating One Their Basis:

BRAND/ATTRIBUTE FRESHNESS CAVITY ENEMAL WHITENING TASTE COLGATE 161 178 181 166 176 CLOSE UP 196 239 223 223 190
FRESHNESS 250 200 150 100 TASTE 50 0 CAVITY COLGATE CLOSE UP PEPSODENT SENSODYNE

PEPSODENT 214 190 197 209 217

SENSODYNE 245 224 203 222 248

WHITENING

ENEMAL

Based on this study, product attributes play a crucial role in influencing the consumers for decision making while buying a brand. Various attributes such as breath freshening, cavity prevention, enamel protection, teeth whitening and taste were taken into consideration. It was found that Colgate was a favourite brand for breath freshening closely followed by close-up and Pepsodent. For cavity prevention Closeup was preferred the most while again Colgate was the preferred brand in enamel protection. Colgate again won the majority in the teeth whitening and taste category. An interesting finding was that the brand Sensodyne which is relatively new was the second most preferable in the cavity prevention and enamel protection category which speaks volumes about the marketing strategy adopted by the brand. Overall, it was seen that the health benefits of particular toothpaste had been the driving force behind the consumer purchase behaviour of a brand and this shift in the trend had been noticed very recently.

Source of Awareness about the Brand:

BRAND COLGATE CLOSE-UP PEPSODENT SENSODYNE FAMILY 20 4 4 1 FRIENDS 10 2 1 6 ADVS 13 6 9 6 AGENTS 4 0 3 1 OTHERS 2 3 4 0

20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 COLGATE CLOSE UP PEPSODENT

BRAND AWARENESS SOURCE FAMILY BRAND AWARENESS SOURCE FRIENDS BRAND AWARENESS SOURCE ADVS BRAND AWARENESS SOURCE AGENTS BRAND AWARENESS SOURCE OTHERS

SENSODYNE

Based on the study conducted it was found that people were only aware of the big players like Colgate, Pepsodent and Close-up. It was good to see that Sensodyne which is relatively a very new brand has successfully penetrated the market with its aggressive marketing strategy. People who voted for Sensodyne as their favourite brand were health conscious. This is evident from the advertisement seen on television which depicts Sensodyne as a medically formulated toothpaste relieving people of tooth sensitivity. It was additionally seen that Indian brands which are supposed to be ayurvedic have little or no penetration in the market. This goes to show that there is still scope for further improvement in the marketing and advertising campaign for the two Indian brands to make them competent with the market leaders like Colgate and Close-up.

Age vs. Brand:

AGE 0-15 15-25 25-35 35+ COLGATE 0 100 40 32 CLOSE UP 0 155 57 52 PEPSODENT 0 140 69 51 SENSODYNE 0 175 74 58

180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 0-15 15-25 25-35

COLGATE CLOSE UP PEPSODENT SENSODYNE

35+

For age group 15-25: 1st preference is Colgate, 2nd preference is Pepsodent, 3rd preference is CloseUp and last preference is Sensodyne. For age group 25-35: 1st preference is Colgate, 2nd preference is Close-Up, 3rd preference is Pepsodent and last preference is Sensodyne. For age group 35+: 1st preference is Colgate, 2nd preference is Pepsodent, 3rd preference is Close-Up and last preference is Sensodyne. Final word: Colgate emerges the clear winner in all age groups. Pepsodent and Close-Up as always had a close fight. Sensodyne in spite of being the last choice seems to be doing quite well if we take the time of existence factor into consideration.

Occupation vs. Brand:

OCCUPATION Salary Business Student Others
120 100 80 60 40 20 0 COLGATE CLOSE UP PEPSODENT SENSODYNE SALARY BUSINESS STUDENT OTHERS

COLGATE 62 23 73 14

CLOSE-UP 96 34 108 26

PEPSODENT 92 29 112 27

SENSODYNE 120 34 117 33

Salaried: 1st preference is Colgate, 2nd preference is Pepsodent, 3rd preference is Close-Up and last preference is Sensodyne. Business: 1st preference is Colgate, 2nd preference is Pepsodent, 3rd preference is Close-Up and last preference is Sensodyne. Student: 1st preference is Colgate, 2nd preference is Close-Up, 3rd preference is Pepsodent and last preference is Sensodyne. Other: 1st preference is Colgate, 2nd preference is Close-Up, 3rd preference is Pepsodent and last preference is Sensodyne. To wrap up Colgate is best among all occupations .Close-Up and Pepsodent are close competitors in this segment also. Sensodyne although comes last in all occupations is still doing great especially among business and student class. Based on this study demographic factor like age and occupation influence people indirectly for decision making. This is supported by following evidence. It was found that out of 100 people questioned 41 were students who preferred the medium pack while 37% were salaried and 12% were businessmen and this chunk of the population preferred the family pack. Since the study was limited to Kolkata city people preferred only known brands which have been existing in the market for many years such as Colgate, Close-up and Pepsodent while lesser known brand such as Sensodyne largely do not have much takers.

Brand Loyalty vs. Age:

0-15 YEARS 0

15-25 YEARS 17

25-35 YEARS 12

35+ YEARS 10

BRAND LOYALTY OF AGE GROUPS

18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 0-15 YEARS 15-25 YEARS 25-35 YEARS 35+ YEARS BRAND LOYALTY OF AGE GROUPS

Most brand-loyal are the age group of 15-25 followed by 25-35 and later by people above 35 years of age. As age increases people tend to be lesser brand-loyal and there is a high possibility that as age gradually increases the concern of the brand factor itself decreases. The greatest target of the toothpaste should be the young blood.

Limitations
Our study suffers from some limitation, which could be avenues for further research. This study failed to talk about the psychographics of the consumer. Understanding psychographics of the consumer is an important tool to understand the inner feelings, and attitude of the consumer. The changing demographic profile of the population in terms of education, income, size of family and so on, are important by what will be more substantive in days to come will be the Psychographics of customers that is how they feel, think or behave. Marketers will have to constantly monitor and understand the underlying Psychographics to map their respective industries are moving and decide what needs to be done, by way of adding value that motivates customers to buy the companys products and influence the future industry structure. One more problem in this study was questionnaire. Most of the questions are closed ended and it limits the respondents answer and the study was only limited to 4 brands. A major limitation of the study was that it was limited to only100 respondents. The research was also restricted to Kolkata thus covering a very small area.

Suggestions:

The companies should give more emphasis on advertising and sales promotion and the toothpastes should sport medicinal values which would help in combating oral health issues. The customers are becoming king as they have a whole lot of choices. Hence the companies should try to be cost effective and pass on the saved amount to the customer. Retailers are still the place to buy toothpaste. So the companies should focus on retailers also who is also a customer for their products. The companies should try to launch new products after thorough research of the consumers as they are becoming more dynamic day by day. The companies should target the youth of the country preferably the age group of 15-35 as slowly they are also bringing changes in their purchase decisions as well as in their family purchases. The brands like close up and Sensodyne which are less popular should plan to launch new flavours, to attract customers who would like to change from their existing brand. They should bring about some changes in their packaging and labelling.

CASE STUDY We,a group of four people had been assigned a project on the market survey of a F.M.C.G product.i.e toothpaste .we were hired by a reputed market research agency to conduct a survey on the consumer buying behaviour of toothpaste according to the present scenario of the toothpaste industry.The purpose of the survey was to project the condition of the market in the toothpaste industry as a new product will be launched by the Himalyan company .As per previous research made by the company the penetration of toothpaste is very high in eastern regions of the country so, we were supposed to conduct the survey in Kolkata. In the survey we were told to approach 100 respondents from various parts of the city and make a study on their buying and disposing behaviour. Consumers make many buying decisions every day. Most large companies research consumer buying decisions in great detail to answer questions about what consumers buy, where they buy, how and how much they buy, when they buy, and why they buy. Marketers can study actual consumer purchases to find out what they buy, where, and how much. But learning about the whys of consumer buying behavior is not so easythe answers are often locked deep within the consumer's head. The central question for marketers is: How do consumers respond to various marketing efforts the company might use? The company that really understands how consumers will respond to different product features, prices, and advertising appeals has a great advantage over its competitors.We started the survey on the basis of our interesting questionnaire and firstly we wanted to know about the buying frequency of the consumers and came to a conclusion that most of the people buy toothpaste on monthly basis while few buy weekly and whenever they feel the need.The next question was the location of purchasing the product and it has been inferred that most of them buy a pack of toothpaste from their respective local store.The third question was the quantity of toothpaste they buy and we came to know that most of them preffered to buy the medium pack.Next came a very vital question and it was the influence behind the purchasing decision of the consumer Consumer purchases are influenced strongly by cultural, social, personal, and psychological characteristics, as shown in Figure For the most part, marketers cannot control such factors, but they must take them into account

The product which would be launched by the Himalayan group would penetrate the market in such a way that it would create an adverse effect on the leading market-share holding companies like Colgate-Palmolive,HUL,Glaxo-Smith kline etc.As we all know that Himalaya is partly a ayurvedic company it would emphasize its product on the oral benefits rather than price or packaging due to health consciousness which had arised amongst the people and its target customers will be both middle aged and young people who all consider dental problems as a serious issue occurring these days.The mantra of the product will be its better quality with an affordable price which might be a key factor for the consumers to switch brands and show their disloyalty to their respective brands.Its mainly targeted towards the Young people. The target market being Multi Brand Households where young does not use what their parents. This particular targeting was significant exactly in the case when Close Up was launched because Colgate positioning was a sort of Flip flop between Tooth decay and Bad Breath and Colgate was going for a Broad market constituting of all the age groups. Apart from oral benefits the positioning stance of the new product on Health care through Duality of benefits, talks about Stops bad breath and fights tooth decay. This positioning stance has worked well in Indian probably because Oral. Now also the company is constantly following the fresh breath route which proved successful for the company. Care is not taken in a sensitized manner and hence the custom looks for multi-benefits.

Based on the survey we have come to a conclusion that depending on the attributes and the requisite ingredients colgate is the most preferred brand among the people. The companys parent has a presence in over 200 countries worldwide. In India, Colgateranks No.1 in top of the mind recall in many consumer surveys.Most people like colgate as its brand value Disruptive, differentiated, emotional, energetic, focused are Close-ups signature qualities. While the product upholds the value of balancing pleasure and performance, the brand operates on the values of innovation and authenticity. Operating in the emotional arena of confidence, the brand essentially aims at owning the cause of empowerment. By delivering the desired oral state, the brand endeavors to be the shot in the arm for a persons self-confidence. This is a category characterized by low involvement, large amounts of flirting between brands and family choice which means that theres just one tube for the whole family. Lack of individual choice creates a big challenge for a brand thats positioned on individual need. After analyzing the market for consumption of Close up we find that: Colgate is the largest brand in Kolkata consumed by different groups of people. Colgate has all the following attributes in it,i.e breath freshening,cavity prevention,enamel protection and teeth whitening. Colgate is a diversified product.

From our market and PEPSODENT is holding the second position in market after COLGATE

According to the theories of Consumer Behaviour, consumer behaviour is the manifestation of the individual's - self-imagery. The consumer consumes what he thinks fits for his style of living and rejects other product and services. In this paper the authors attempt to understand the images associated with various brands of toothpastes available in the Kolkata market; and attempt to classify the consumers of Kolkata into behavioural groups. Out of the various brands of toothpaste available in the marketplace - Colgate, Neem, Pepsodent, Close-Up and Baboot (and their various variants) were the toothpastes that generates significant response for analysis, Based on the response the Kolkata consumers were divided into six segments (1) Old Fashioned consumers who had set ideas and were not willing to change (2) Self Assured consumers who were confident and rely on their own taste and preferences and experiences to purchase products (3) Introvert consumers who are willing to change but do not change because of inertia (4) Successful consumers who are able to meet their desired goals and fulfil their mission (5) Businessman consumers who like to try out products and services but has a streak of conservatism in them and (6) Extrovert consumers - the boldest of the lot who are willing to experiment and as such act as change leaders. The study suffersfrom some limitations and therefore the results.need to be extrapolated with care. .

The 1990s have borne witness to dramatic shifts in the marketplace triggered by sharp changes in the lifestyle patterns of the past and present and the radical revolution in the telecommunication technology. Time tested concepts on Brand loyalty and Mass Marketing, are being turned on their heads as they fail to gauge the Behaviour of new generation customers. The behaviour is characterized by the uniqueness of individual expectations, the preference for multiple options, propensity to abandon Brand loyalty and switch to competition Brands that give higher (perceived) value. The new breed is even willing to import to satisfy specific requirement. It is difficult to classify this generation by conventional Demographic factors and unless their thought process and buying behaviour are fully understood, decisions on product designs and packaging, Branding and Distribution channels are likely to be misplaced. With the inevitability of change looming large over the horizon, Indian companies must learn from their western counterparts; not only to identify the sources, timing and direction of the changes likely to affect India, but also the new competencies and perspective that will enable them to respond to these changes, comprehensively and effectively. Companies offering Product or Services will need to understand this new face of the customers. The changing Demographic profile of the population in terms of education, income, size of family and so on, are important by what will be more substantive in days to come will be the Psychographics of customers that is how they feel, think or behave. Markers will have to constantly monitor and understand the underlying Psychographics to map their respective industries are moving and decide what needs to be done, by way of adding value that motivates customers to buy the companys products and influence the future industry structure.

The toothpaste history in India can be tracked back from 1975 with 1200 tonnes of toothpaste produced by the toothpaste industry. Prior to the toothpastes Oral Hygiene was the domain of local home made powders and ayurvedh practitioners. With the entry of Colgate in Indian marketplace the awareness about Oral care and the importance of oral care. In recent years the Industry has shown impressive growth rate of 18.6% (this growth is calculated in terms of value growth in Rs. ).

The growth in the Urban market has been largely by the Gel Segment. Presently, a large chunk of the Market is still held by Colgate. The major players in the toothpaste Industry being Colgate Palmolive and Hindustan Lever Limited and several minor players like Balsara hygiene, Dabur etc. Presently Colgate Dental Cream holds 52% of market share. HLLs Close up lies far behind with 23% of the existing market share. The third player in the marketplace in terms of market share is Colgate Gel with 10.5% of the market share

Brands Improvisation VS Brands

BRAND COLGATE CLOSE UP PEPSODENT SENSODYNE

FLORIDE 22 5 10 4

FOAMING 12 4 2 7

COLOR 1 2 3 0

FLAVOUR 15 4 5 4

25 20 15 10 5 0 FLORIDE FOAMING COLOR FLAVOUR COLGATE CLOSE UP PEPSODENT SENSODYNE

For Colgate the biggest improvement should be in its Fluoride content followed by its flavour, foaming and colour. For Close-Up the major improvisation should come in fluoride after which comes foaming flavour and colour. For Pepsodent also, improvisation 1st needs to done in its fluoride content followed by flavour colour and foaming. In case of Sensodyne the primary improvisation factor to be taken care of is foaming after which comes fluoride and foaming equally but surprisingly enough people dont want any changes to be done to its colour. Clearly enough the first criterion for all the companies to improve their product is in their fluoride content after which comes flavour foaming and at last colour

Bibliography The major sources of information were: www.google.com AC Nielsen Market Information digest India,2006 MARKETING MANAGEMENT-Philip Koetler www.colgate.com

CONCLUSION: The toothpaste industry is going to be more competitive in the near future. The profit margin is going down over the year and this might continue in the future as well. So the main mantra for the companies to be successful is to satisfy the consumers and develop brand image and brand loyalty amongst them. It has become very necessary for the consumers to understand the mentality of the Indian consumers very well. In the future the companies, who come up with new products at competitive prices and with good quality keeping the oral health quotient in mind, are going to the successful. Promotional activities are also going to play an important role that should to be for both retailers and consumers. So we are going to see a market which is going to heat up in the near future where mainly two major players Colgate and HLL will fight the war.