Oral Care Essay

Oral care in India has for a long time meant either toothpastes or toothpowder in the consumer’s mind. This is reflected in the figures pertaining to the industry as well – while the annual toothpastes and toothpowder market is together estimated at Rs 3363 crores, the mouthwash market is still lingering at a meagre Rs 74 crores. Even major international brands like Listerine, Reach and Colgate Total Plax have failed to gain ground in India. This failure has been attributed to a variety of factors including the marketing and positioning tactics employed and the distribution channels used, though research about the exact reasons remains severely limited. Problem Definition Management Decision Problem: Does there exist a feasible market for mouthwash in India and if not, what would be the best way to develop the same? Marketing Research Problem: Understand the reasons for failure of established brands to garner significant revenues, the attributes that customers value in such a product and ways to increase usage of mouthwash in India among consumers. Scope & Limitations The project aims to use relevant marketing research techniques to analyze the market development opportunities of mouth wash industry in India. The primary research will be restricted mostly to survey of consumers and retailers in Bangalore and other urban areas, with comparatively lesser data collected via telephone and email, from tier 2 cities. Methodology 1.Prepare a questionnaire to identify the consumers and to group them based on their demographic and psychographic characteristics. 2.Form a representative sample of the both users as well as non users and identify their attitudes and usage through a structured questionnaire. 3.Exploratory study on Indian mouth wash industry vis-Ã  -vis the global mouth wash industry on reasons of why mouthwash products failed to make an impact on Indian consumers and to deduce the profitability of the industry in India. This will be done through secondary data collection, focus group discussions and depth interviews with the consumers as well as the industry experts. 4.Identify the required attributes in the product and to decide on its positioning through perceptual mapping. Deliverables 1.A concrete analysis of the past and present market/industry scenario using data gathered from both primary and secondary data 2.Consumer attitude, segmentation and buying behavior as interpreted from qualitative and quantitative analysis of the data gathered by market research 3.A comprehensive positioning strategy for a new mouthwash launch in the Indian market