Marketing Research Project: Cosco Soap Brand Value and Sales Decline

This marketing research report, prepared by students from Jahangirnagar University for their "Marketing Research" course, investigates the decline in brand value and sales of Cosco Glycerin Soap. The report begins with an introduction to marketing research and details the research process, including problem definition, background study, and the development of research objectives. It explores the market position of Cosco Soap, its brand performance, and the competitive landscape, including a consumer perceptual map to identify weaknesses. The research involved both primary and secondary data collection methods, including surveys of 30 individuals, analysis of existing data, and consultation with local business people. The report identifies key reasons for the brand's decline, such as less new customers, less frequency of purchasing and interest in new brands by existing customers, and concludes with recommendations for improving market position. The report also includes a letter of transmittal and an executive summary, providing a comprehensive overview of the research process and findings. The brand was sold by Kohinoor Chemical to Commander Soap Company.

Brand Value and Sales Declination
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Acknowledgment
Practical Knowledge is fundamental for the application of theoretical intelligence. Having this in
mind our course teacher assigned to prepare this assignment to the students of the course
“Marketing Research”. We cordially thank the honorable teacher for providing us the
opportunity to apply class room learning practice. This assignment creates a bridge between our
class room lessons and the application of our gathered knowledge.
We would also like to convey our deep gratitude to those people who have helped us to collect
the information and supported us.
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Letter of Transmittal
Date: 02, December, 2016
Jahangirnagar University.
Subject: Submission of Assignment.
Dear Madam, It is our absolute pleasure to present the term paper on “identifying the causes of
brand value & sales declination of Cosco Soap through Marketing Research Process”. While
preparing the report we have tried our level best to focus closely on the topic and try to collect
the most complete and updated information available. We believe that it will provide a clear idea
about the current Situation of Cosco soap on the market and what was the reason of its downfall.
To prepare this term paper, we have given best effort to accumulate needed information. We will
be available to answer any question for clarification. Thank you for your sincere support.
Sincerely yours,
Member of Rose Group
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Executive Summary
We were given the task to research about “Cosco Glycerin Soap” and find out the
causes of brand value and sales declination of this brand. In this project, we have
shown the market position of this product, their brand performance, competitive
scenario of previous and current situation and a consumer perceptual map so that
we can identify the flaws of this product, why they are unsuccessful though they are
so experienced brand. However, Kohinoor chemical sold their Cosco soap brand
to Commander Soap Company to about why Cosco glycerin soap is unsuccessful
we conducted a research on male and female both so there would be no
discrimination. Then we tried to make some points and questionnaires for them. A
survey was conducted to know how much Bangladeshi citizen knows about Cosco
soap and how it is faring with other Soap brands. They gave feedback about Cosco
soap if they had used it before. Through this process we were able to identify those
reasons behind Cosco soap’s unsuccessful condition. After conducting a survey of
30 people we did a ratio analysis. We also gathered significant information from
internet and contacting local businessman.
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Table of Contents
Content Name Page
Introduction 5
1.0. Marketing Research process 5
1.1. Problem Definition
 Background Study
 Brand profile & problem statement
6-8
1.2. Development of the approach and specifying
research objective
 Objective of the research
 Data analysis
8-9
1.3. Research Design Formulation 10-11
1.4. Fieldwork or Data Collection
 Survey method
 Observation method
11-12
1.5. Data Preparation and Analysis
 Cosco Brand performance
 Competitive scenario
12-14
1.6. Report reparation and presentation
 Findings
14-20
Conclusion 21
Appendix 22-24
Introduction
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Marketing research is the process of designing, gathering analyzing and reporting information
that possibly will be used to solve a specific issue which can help us to explore different ideas of
consumers and sectors of marketing to develop new product or service. Our research based on
the consumer products Cosco Glycerin Soap. Cosco Soap is the product of Commander Soap
Co. Ltd that already have declined the market share this product. Cosco Soap Bar was selected
by discussing our all group members as our product to research and we eight have conducted this
research on Cosco’s market situation. We identify the causes of brand value & sales declination
of Cosco Soap by the following marketing research process step by step.
1.0. Marketing Research Process
A set of six steps that defines the marketing tasks to be accomplished in conducting a marketing
research study. These include-
1.1 Problem definition
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In defining the problem, we take into account the purpose of the study, the relevant background
information, what information is needed, and how it will be used in decision making. Problem
definition involves discussion with the decision makers, interviews with industry experts,
analysis of secondary data, and, perhaps, some qualitative research, such as focus groups. Once
the problem has been precisely defined, the research can be designed and conducted properly.
Background study
Soap is an ionic combination of fatty acid and base. It is mainly used as an assistant in washing,
bathing and cleaning. Soaps for cleansing are obtained by treating vegetable or animal oils and
fats with a strongly alkaline solution. This primary bonding is basically the solution of sodium
soaps where beauty soaps represent potassium soaps, derived from potassium hydroxide, are
softer or often liquid. The initial soap making was started like materials dates back to around
2800 BC in ancient Babylon and that was a simple formula for soap consisting of water , alkali,
and cassia oil was written on a Babylonian clay tablet around 2200 BC.
In some regions in 556-539 BC, a method for soap consisted of ashes, cypress [oil ] and sesame [
seed oil] for their servant girls. The soap industry has started to run but until the industrial
revolution, it was conducted in asmall scale and the product was irregular. At first, Andrew Pears
started making a high-quality, transparent soap which is familiar with the name "Pears" in 1789
in London. Later, his son-inlaw, Thomas J. Barratt, who is a pioneer of brand marketing, opened
a factory in Isleworth in 1862. William Gossage produced low-priced, good-quality soap from
the 1850s. Robert Spear Hudson began manufacturing a soap powder in 1837, initially by
grinding the soap with a mortar and pestle which was famous as "Hudson's Dry Soap". On this
flow of industry on soap American manufacturer Benjamin T. Babbitt added another benchmark
that he introduced marketing innovations that included sale of bar soap and distribution of
product samples. Then, in1886, William Hesketh Lever and his brother, James, bought a small
soap works in Warrington, England and founded what is still one of the largest soap businesses,
formerly called Lever Brothers and now called Unilever.
Later in 1898, B.J. Johnson came up with a new soap formula which became very popular that
the B.J Johnson Company changed their name according to their soap and this is still one of the
most popular soap bars in world and the brand is "Palmolive". These organizations created a
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fancy and the competition began with advertisement and also product. These soap businesses
were among the first to employ large scale advertising campaigns and formally produced soap's
business. So, in 19`h century the industry of soap bar has flourished in industrial manner with
large scale of competition in Europe and US where the Asian part was not involved. Asians
remained the suppliers of the ingredients of producing soaps in western parts and after a very
long period from the beginning of manufacture soaps have become familiar in Asia.
Now, in case of Bangladesh, it was a colony of British Empire for a long 200 years (1857-1947)
and then was ruled by Pakistan for 24 years (1947- 1971) and become independent after a
massive bloodshed war in 1971. The industry has grown up in the independent Bangladesh while
it has become competitive in late 90's. From a survey (2004) it has been seen that there were four
soap industries in Bangladesh. However, many other have been added later period which is
approximately twelve and have brought the competition along with numbers. Whereas marketing
here is playing an immense important role to sustain as competition is relatively high and
product categories are different. So with the aim of grabbing market share companies have come
up with different soap brands for different target customers. So, by the time consumers of
Bangladesh have got soaps like Tibet, Cosco, Lux, Sandalina, Lifebuoy, Aeromatic, Keya,
Dettol, Meril, Dove and so on. A study says that among the all companies around 43% market
share in the beauty soap industry is covered by Unilever BD and later are gradually covered by
Kohinoor and Keya cosmetics ltd which generally cover the mass market means outside the city
area.
Brand Profile & Problem Statement
Cosco glycerin soap was a product of Kohinoor chemical co (Bd) Limited but Kohinoor
Chemical Co Limited sold it to Commander Soap Co limited. It is a soap which contains
glycerin and using by Bangladeshi people from 1970’s. Decades back, it was used for household
purposes such as for bath but now the scenario of this product has been changed. Actually,
Kohinoor chemical has some other successful brands like Sandellina but the consumption of this
Cosco glycerin soap is decreasing day by day as a result they sold it to Commander Soap Co
limited. Since then, it was a very preferable soap for everyone but now it is only used for hygiene
purpose. The consumer market of this soap has also changed because the consumers are the
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lower class people. They used to consume this Cosco soap as their household purposes as the
price is actually very cheap than other soap brands. In this year, Cosco glycerin soap is used for
the hygiene purposes of local restaurants, universities, schools, colleges, government
organizations and so on. So, Cosco glycerin soap is one of the unsuccessful brands in
Bangladeshi market. We have figured out some symptoms to define this problem and we have
got that
a) Less new customers,
b) Less frequency of purchasing and
c) Interested to new brands of existing customers has made Cosco's sales growth stumpy.
1.2. Development of an approach and specifying research objectives
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Development of an approach to the problem includes formulating an objective or theoretical
framework, analytical models, research questions, hypotheses, and identifying characteristics or
factors that can influence the research design.
Objectives of this Research
 To understand and evaluate the previous market and the current market scenario of
assigned brand (Cosco Glycerin soap).
 To identify the causes of brand declination that why this brand is unsuccessful.
 To suggest areas to improve to regain market position.
Data analysis
In this group project of Cosco glycerin soap, we had conducted a research. To conduct this
research we followed two methods of research. They are:
.
 Primary research data: At first, we started collecting our survey from the department
store, consumers & students of Jahangirnagar University and surroundings. Lastly we
focused interviewing/data collecting from the day-laborers who are uneducated for the
purpose of them being not able to read the survey for themselves
 Secondary research data: In secondary research, we got findings from the website of
Cosco glycerin soap. We have not found any core information from Kohinoor Chemical
Co. because they sold this brand to Commander Soap Co limited.
1.3. Research Design Formulation
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A research design is a framework or blueprint for conducting the marketing research project.
Conducting exploratory research, precisely defining the variables, and designing appropriate
scales to measure them are also a part of the research design. The issue of how the data should be
obtained from the respondents (for example, by conducting a survey or an experiment) must be
addressed. It is also necessary to design a questionnaire and a sampling plan to select
respondents for the study.
More formally, formulating the research design involves the following steps:
1. Secondary data analysis
2. Qualitative research
3. Methods of collecting quantitative data (survey, observation, and experimentation)
4. Definition of the information needed
5. Measurement and scaling procedures
6. Questionnaire design
7. Sampling process and sample size
8. Plan of data analysis
After formulating research design we select some method to our research procedures, these are given
below:
 Quantitative (Survey method );
 Qualitative.
Quantitative research is interested in quantifying and statistically analyzing the responses of a
representative sample of respondents. Alternatively, qualitative research questions a small
number of respondents and provides insight and in-depth observations.
A researcher has a vast array of methods to choose from. Generally, marketing researchers use
survey methods, focus groups and depth interviews as their primary means of collecting data.
Surveys use questionnaires to interview a large number of people. Alternatively focus groups are
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small group discussions organized and moderated by a trained individual. Depth-interviews are
one-to-one sessions between one respondent and an interviewer.
Basically this is a quantitative research as it’s analysis is mainly done from the responses of the
respondents.
As number of secondary sources is very few to analyze the research and mostly this project is
related with the problems of the Brand Cosco and its customers/users are the ultimate influencers
for increasing or decreasing this brand sales so we have designed our research mostly with
primary data.
This is an exploratory research as it aims to explore the insight of declining a brand Cosco sales
growth. This project aimed to gather the relevant information regarding the declination of Cosco
from both male& female respondents so that this will help to come up with appropriate results.
Most of the information is to be gathered from primary sources and there will be questionnaires
to get the feedback from respondents.
1.4. Fieldwork or Data Collection
Data collection involves a field force or staff that operates either in the field, as in the case of
personal interviewing (in-home, mall intercept, or computer-assisted personal interviewing),
from an office by telephone (telephone or computer-assisted telephone interviewing), or through
mail (traditional mail and mail panel surveys with prerecruited households). Proper selection,
training, supervision, and evaluation of the field force helps minimize data-collection errors.
Survey Method
At first we conducted a survey on Cosco glycerin soap. We took total 30 participants who
answered our questionnaires. There were 15 male and 15 female participants. In the beginning if
this survey we wanted to know that how many people are aware of Cosco glycerin soap.
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