Himalaya Face Wash Case Study: Brand Insights and Market Competition

This analysis report delves into the Himalaya Face Wash case study, focusing on translating lifestyle data into consumer values and assessing the brand's competitive position. A weighted matrix compares Himalaya to Clear and Clear and Ever Youth, highlighting Himalaya's strengths in natural ingredients and value. The report discusses the research methodology's effectiveness, suggesting broader demographic surveys for enhanced insights. Recommendations for Himalaya include rebranding, expanding product lines, and improving advertising to maintain its competitive advantage. The analysis concludes that Himalaya's focus on natural ingredients aligns well with customer values, positioning it as a leading face wash brand in India. Desklib offers a wealth of similar case studies and resources for students.

ANALYSIS REPORT

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The literature in the essay is about the translated analysis of the case study that was done from a
case study which was done for a cosmetic company Himalaya Drug Company which produces
various varieties of face washes. Himalaya face wash brand produced by Himalaya Drug
Company wants to know the insights through some questions to discover effectively they are
competing with their competitors through branding associations and this essay contains the
translation of the set of lifestyle data given in the case into consumer values. This is followed by
the weighted matrix for the 3 brands with an overall score for each with the overall score is
provided for all the brands that are compared considering some important components that add
customer value. Further, a discussion is carried out on some specific values that are reflected
with regard to the Himalaya brand as compared to its competitors. Thereafter, the content is
related to the research methodologies that were used in the case study to obtain the results and in
this, the credibility of the methodologies is also discussed along with the some of the
suggestions. Also, there are some recommendations that are given for the Himalaya face wash
brand considering the analysis that is dome earlier. This report provides proper insights on how
the company has fared among its competitors and there is a positive outcome of the analysis
done.
Question 1. How would you translate the set of lifestyle data given in the case into
consumer values?
The most rapidly growing direct marketing area is the lifestyle data, which is generally used by
suppliers to direct their strategies. Initially the providers of lifestyle data used database of
investors to pre-select or filter their targets but now there are many modern and technologically
developed systems to collect this data. The lifestyle data that is presented in the case describes
about the changes that took place in the Indian lifestyle since the population within India is

young (60 percent people below the 35years age mark). The data is very appropriately in the
sense when it is compared to the consumer values. Values can be defined as the belief within the
people that helps people in making or taking actions or decisions related to specific objectives.
Value can be related to anything such as money or the usage worth or the importance that
product or thing has upon the individual or a group. They gave focus on consumer behavior and
many preferences were given on the need of the people and how their demands were changing
with the time and also considering the different effects people faced as compared to problems
that were faced by the earlier generations (Flint, Blocker, & Boutin 2011). The values were
basically inspirations from the professional success, orientation towards the future, choosing
symbols as a mode of expression and having a fun-filled life. These aspirations and inspirations
were added with the face wash category as well as with several other personal care categories
that had been advertised in India for the five decades or so. This was a very great step taken
considering a country having its citizens very young and people being highly inspired to do well
in their careers and fields thus an advertisement that is concentrated on how a girl or any person
looks. That defines what actually a customer wants. They have very well created a marketing
plan that justifies the customer values in terms of money or the importance. They relating their
products to some personalities within country on whom people or the youth within India look
upon for inspirations or want to become and achieve like them has done wonders as this has very
well integrated with the values of the customer like if someone wants to become a model or an
actor then it is important to look good and thus the product became of some value to the
customer. Like in the advertisement they have targeted youth and particularly a women who
wants to look good and get rid of oil off her face. So the customer value is related to a product
that does not harm the skin and is natural also. So by promoting the brand in such a manner
where it is of full use to the customer and having natural ingredients in it has been a great
strategy by the company and thus very well related to the customer values (Flint, & Woodruff,
2014).
Question 2 Compose a weighted matrix for the 3 brands with an overall score for each?
Selecting Face wash brand

I.
F I.F
I.
F
I.
F
I.
F I.F
Brands
Many
Varian
ts
2
Ph
Neutr
al
2
Natural
Ingredien
ts
5
Germ
Protecti
on
4
Valu
e for
mone
y
5
Unique
compone
nt
1 certificati
on
Himala
ya 3 6 4 8 5 2
5 3 1
2 5 2
5 1 1 4
Clear
and
Clear
2 4 4 8 4 2
0 4 1
6 2 1
0 3 3 3
Ever
Youth 3 6 3 6 3 1
5 5 2
0 4 2
0 2 2 3
A weighted decision matrix which helps in selecting or making a decision has been done for the
three face wash brands ( Himalaya, Clear and Clear, Ever Youth) and various components that a
customer would want in the product have been included for the assessment. Also, the Importance
factor(I.F) is given for each component was also given. The various components taken into
consideration are Many variants, PH neutral, Germ protection, Value for money, Unique
component, Certification. These were given importance factor: 2, 2, 5, 4, 5, 1, 3 respectively.
With the analysis done and after obtaining the final score which was 89 for Himalaya, 70 for
Clear and Clear and 78 for Ever Youth, a clear brand with the maximum benefits keeping all the
important factors in mind it was concluded that the Himalaya Face wash can be the best choice
among the present brands. It is now just dependent on the marketed values of the product which
decided the industrial advantage for the product to be acceptable amongst the masses.
Question 3 What specific values are reflected with regard to the Himalaya brand as
compared to its competitors?

The specific value of every product must be based on the ways people conceive it to be used. In
case of facewash the organizations need it to be face cleaning product that enhance and procures
the skin quality of a person and is affordably priced so that more number of people gets attracted
to buy the specific item. In last decade the demand for facewash amongst girls in India has
increased rapidly as it is this decade when people here have become conscious about their
appearances (Durnev, Morck, & Yeung, 2004). Therefore because of the high demand, the
various companies have launched their products in the segment targeting teenage girls to young
and mid-aged women of India. There are many popular facewash brands in competition to
Himalaya Facewash with their unique values to offer to the customer such as Clean & Clear
facewash a product of Johnson & Johnson is a product that projects perfect skin as girl's best
friend and has an image in the market to be suitable for all skin types. In addition, EverYuth
facewash of Naturals brand advertise the product with the value of providing anytime freshness,
beauty, and purity to the skin. Whereas, Himalaya with its product line reflects the value of
chemical and soap free facewashes, and consists of beneficial natural cleansing ingredients such
as neem leaves. They advertise their product to solve all common skin problems such as pimples,
blackheads and roughening of skin due to the presence of dust and advertise their product to be
one ultimate solution for all the problems (Pandey, Malik. & Banik, 2012).
Question 4 Comment on the research methodology. Was it a good approach? If so why?
Is there any other research that might have generated value with respect to brand insights?
The research methodology adopted was effective study and enabled the organization to adopt
appropriate training methods and planning products that could help organization sustain its
competitive advantage in the industry. The methodology that was used to do conduct the
research was an age group specific study and review of the public and this was done through
surveys in the city of Bangalore via questions that were personally administered. The survey was
done considering the women of age group between 22 years to 30 years. Now the research
methodology that was carried was very much appropriate as it targeted the right age group and
especially women because their target was to get hold the population of the market that uses
these kinds of products on a frequent basis and there could not have been better audience other
than young women (Witesman & Walters, 2015). Secondly, why this approach is appropriate is
because of the use of the methodology to involve the lifestyles statements into values. This

would help the company very much as this would give them a fair amount of idea to on how
people lead lifestyles and what conditions they face and hence this would help them to develop
various components within their product that would bring value to the customers and thus this
would connect the public with the company and the product and thus would help in developing
better customer-company relation. Also, by the in-depth knowledge, they would help them in
making new marketing strategies and new advertisements that would help them target the
particular aspects of people's living. Only negative point in methodology was that the area was
confined and also in present world not only young age groups use these products but also others
also do utilize these products hence they should have conducted surveys of people of age groups
other than 22-30 years. This would help them in targeting the whole population and thus would
make them a prime industry in this sector (Srinivasan, R., 2016).
Question 5 What are your recommendations for the Himalaya brand of face wash based on
your analysis of questions 1, 2 and 3.
Based on the analysis of above three sections multiple recommendations can be made to
Himalaya brand for maintaining and improving its competitive advantage of the company in the
field of facewash (Koli, Mane, Kumbhar & Shaha, 2016)).
1) Himalaya must work on rebranding its facewash products or launch some new variants
targeting different section of the buyers as currently its advertisements and promotional activities
only target girls ranging from 15 to 24 year age and project their product to be effective against
sweat and excess of oil on face.
2) They have launched many variants of face washes, which are effective only on a
particular skin type. They must widen up their target market.
3) They must work on developing more products which could target a wider range of
customers.
4) They must be recommended to improve the standards of their advertisements in order
to expand their zone of target markets.

5) Moreover, they must be suggested to use a number of sustainable and valuable natural
product in their new line of facewashes. And introduce a product suitable for all skin types
(KAPADIA, 2016).
CONCLUSION (150)
It can be concluded from the above literature that in recent year's demand for facewash in India
has increased rapidly because of people becoming cautious about their looks, walk, and
personality. For the reason, Himalaya promotes its brand to use all the herbs and natural
ingredients that can be used to attract customer and having natural ingredients in them, as they
have been working on strategy formed by the company and thus very well informed about
customer values. Moreover, it has been concluded that Himalaya facewash is the leading
facewash in India. In order to help Himalaya maintain the competitive advantage in the market,
the literature analyzed the values represented by other brands and gives recommendations
practicing which the organization can sustain its advantage within the industry for the longer
duration of time.
REFERENCES
Flint, D. J., & Woodruff, R. B. (2014). Marketing’s service-dominant logic and customer value.
In The Service-Dominant Logic of Marketing (pp. 201-213). Routledge.
Flint, D. J., Blocker, C. P., & Boutin Jr, P. J. (2011). Customer value anticipation, customer
satisfaction, and loyalty: An empirical examination. Industrial marketing management, 40(2),
219-230.
Koli, D. S., Mane, A. N., Kumbhar, V. B., & Shaha, K. S. (2016). Formulation & Evaluation of
Herbal Anti-Acne Face Wash. World Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, 5(6),
2001-2007.
Pandey, D. K., Malik, T., & Banik, R. M. (2012). Quantitative estimation of barbaloin in Aloe
vera and its commercial formulations by using HPTLC. Int. J. Med. Aromatic Plants, 2, 420-
427.Srinivasan, R., 2016. Himalaya: head-to-heel herbal healthcare. Emerald Emerging Markets
Case Studies, 6(3), pp.1-29.

KAPADIA, M.P., 2016. FACTORS AFFECTING MEN PERSPECTIVE TOWARDS
PURCHASE OF FACE WASH (Doctoral dissertation, NMIMS University).
Durnev, A., Morck, R., & Yeung, B. (2004). Value‐enhancing capital budgeting and firm‐
specific stock return variation. The Journal of Finance, 59(1), 65-105.
Witesman, E. M., & Walters, L. C. (2015). Modeling public decision preferences using context-
specific value hierarchies. The American Review of Public Administration, 45(1), 86-105.