B.Com Honours Project: Marketing Strategies of Soap Manufacturers

This project report, submitted for a B.Com Honours degree in Accounting & Finance at the University of Calcutta, examines the marketing and promotional strategies of three major soap manufacturing companies in India: Hindustan Unilever Limited, Reckitt and Benckiser, and ITC Limited. The study focuses on their advertising strategies in electronic media, employing an analytical approach to compare their promotional activities. The project includes an introduction covering the background of marketing and the marketing mix (product, price, place, and promotion), followed by a conceptual framework that defines promotion, promotion mix, and promotional strategy. The methodology involves a questionnaire-based survey of 50 respondents in Dum Dum, Kolkata, with data collected from both primary and secondary sources. Statistical tools like pie charts and bar diagrams are used for analysis. The report presents data analysis and findings for each company, followed by conclusions and recommendations. It also includes a literature review, limitations, and chapter planning. The project aims to provide insights into the promotional strategies adopted by these companies and offers a comparative analysis of their advertising approaches.

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PROJECT REPORT
(Submitted for the Degree of B, Com, Honours in Accounting & Finance under the
University of Calcutta)
TITLE OF THE PROJECT
AN OVERALL VIEW OF MARKETING & PROMOTIONAL STRATEGIES OF THR
MAJOR SOAP MANUFACTURING COMPANIES IN INDIA
Submitted by
Name of the candidate : Pintu Das
Registration No : 145-1112-0068-17
College Roll No : 074
CU Roll Number : 171145-21-0111
Supervised by
Name of the Supervisor : Dr. Sushita Chakrabarty
Name of the College : Goenka College of commerce and business
Administration
Month and Year of Submission
September, 2020

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Annexure - 1 A
SUPERVISOR’S CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that Mr. PINTU DAS, a student of B.Com Honours Accountancy
and Finance in Business of GOENKA COLLEGE OF COMMERCE AND BUSINESS
ADMINISTRATION under the UNIVERSITY OF CALCUTTA has worked under my
supervision and guidance for his project work and prepared a Project Report
with the title AN OVERALL VIEW OF MARKETING & PROMOTIONAL
STRATEGIES OF THREE MAJOR SOAP MANUFACTURING COMPANIES
IN INDIA which he is submitting is his genuine and original work to the best of
my knowledge.
Place: Kolkata Signature:
Date: 27/09/2020 Name: Dr. Sushita Chakrabarty
Designation: Assistant Professor

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Annexure-1 B
Student's Declaration
I hereby declare that the Project Work with the title “AN OVERALL VIEW OF
MARKETING & PROMOTIONAL STRATEGIES OF THREE MAJOR SOAP
MANUFACTURING COMPANIES IN INDIA” Submitted by me for the partial
fulfillment of the Degree of B. Com Honours in Accounting & Finance in
business under the University of Calcutta is my original work and has not been
submitted earlier to any other University/Institution for the fulfillment of the
requirement of any course of study.
I also declare that no chapter of this manuscript in whole or In part has been
incorporated in this report from any earlier work done by others or by me.
However, extracts of any literature which has been used for this report has
been duly acknowledge providing, details of such literature in the references.
Place: Kolkata Signature:
Date: 27/09/2020 Name: Pintu Das
CU Roll No: 171145-21-0111

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The preparation of this project report would not have been possible without
the valuable guidance of my respected teachers.
I would like to thank my respected principal sir and my project supervisor
Dr. Sushita Chakroborty for their co-operation and support.
Equal credit goes to all the people who have willingly answered the
questionnaires prepared by me. Those people include my friends,
teachers, neighbors, and my extended family, based on which I have
framed my project report, without their answers the project would not
have been completed.
I take immense pleasure to acknowledge all the people who were associated
directly or indirectly in preparation of this project.
Pintu Das

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TABLE OF CONTENT
TOPIC
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1. BACKGROUND
1.2. TYPE OF STUDY
1.3. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1.4. METHODOLOGY
1.5. LITRERATURE REVIEW
1.6. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
1.7. CAHAPTER PLANNING
CHAPTER 2: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
2.1. PROMOTION
2.2. PROMOTION MIX
2.3. PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY
2.4. HINDUSTAN UNILEVER LIMITED
2.5. RECKITT AND BENCKISER
2.6. ITC LIMITED
CHAPTER 3: PRESENTATION OF DATA ANALYSIS AND
FINDINGS
3.1. HINDUSTAN UNILEVER LIMITED
3.2. RECKITTAND BENCKISER
3.3. ITC LIMITED
CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
4.1. HINDUSTAN UNILEVER LIMITED
4.2 .RECKITT AND BENCKISER
4.3. ITC LIMITED
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
5.1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
5.2. WEBLIOGRAPHY
ANNEXURE
6. COMAPARATIVE QUESTIONNAIRE

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INTRODUCTION

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BACKGROUND:-
Marketing is considered as the core function of any business activity across the globe.
Marketing has immense importance because it has-a direct link with the customers,
which in turn affects the revenue generating capacity of the business. It is not a single
activity, rather a group of activities that can collectively be called as Marketing,
The American Marketing Association explain marketing as 'the process of planning
and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas, Goods
and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational goals.
From marketing, a more detailed and elaborate concept can be derived and this is
MARKETING MIX. Philip Kotler defines marketing mix as 'the set of marketing tools
that the firm uses to pursue its marketing objectives in the target market.' E. Jerome
McCarthy grouped the activities of marketing mix into 4 P's of marketing, these are:
Product:
Product is benefit which is offered to the customers in exchange for a price. Product may
be tangible or intangible. Tangible products are those which have a particular size, color,
shape and other physical characteristics, while intangible products may also be called as
services. These include insurance, banking, tourism, hospitality etc. in marketing mix
decisions related to product design, features, quality, quantity, branding etc. are carried
out.
Price:
Price is the amount of money charged by the producer in exchange of one unit of the
product/service produced by him. Other word it is the amount money paid by the
customer to own one unit of a particular product.
While setting the price of a product/service some key factors such as cost of production,
maximization of profit should be kept in mind.
Place:
Place refers to the location where the product will be available for sale or purchase. It
includes proper distribution system, so that the potential customers can get hold of
the product is easily.

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Promotion:
Promotion can-be said as the set of all those activities which are undertaken by the
producer, so that the potential customers come to know about the product / service
offered for sale. It includes:
* Advertising
* Sales promotion
* Personal selling
* All these can jointly be called as promotion mix.
TYPE OF STUDY:
This is an analytical study. In this context, we study the different change in the pattern of
those strategies in respect of advertisement in electronic media over a period of time.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:
The objectives of this study are as follows:
To study the promotional strategies adopted by
* HINDUSTAN UNILEVER
* I.T.C
* RECKITT BENCKISER
In respect of advertisement in electronic media
*A comparative analysis of those three companies regarding the advertisement strategies
bins electronic media.
METHODOLOGY:-
Area of study: The area of study selected for the Project is Promotion strategy. To be
more precise, it studies the trends in the electronic media advertising in the recent period
of time. The product selected is consumer goods (bathing bar). For the study, we have
selected three reputed companies in the FMCG market namely: HINDUSTAN UNILEVER
LIMITED, RECKITT AND BENCKISER and I.T.C LIMITED.

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Sample selection: The sample selection for this project is entirely Questionnaire based.
People in Dum Dum Kolkata, India, have been questioned and findings have been made
after the analysis of the answers received thereto. All the Questionnaires have been
attached at the annexure chapter of the project work. The sample Size has been kept
limited to 50 people total, comprising of, middle aged men, college students and young
ladies.
Data collection process The source of data includes primary and secondary
data sources.
i) Primary Sources: Primary data has been collected directly from sample
respondent through questionnaires and with the help of “Google form”. In such
a pandemic situation, we cannot go outside. So, we take a help from our new
normal technology and we securely collect our primary data.
ii) Secondary Sources: Secondary data has been collected from standard text
books, newspaper, magazine and internet.
Tools of analysis: To analyze the information collected, we have taken
the help of Statistical Tools such as Pie Chart and bar diagram.
LITERATURE REVIEW:
There are a few studies on the growth and development and marketing
strategies of soap industry. In what follows is a brief review of the literature on
the topic
Sonal kureshi in report entitled "Exploratory study on sales promotion
activities in soap category: An insight in to consumer and retailer perceptions",
opines that both retailers and consumers perceived that sales promotion
activities carried out by the companies for increasing sales in short term and
clearing stocks. What it implies is that companies need to use sales promotion
synergistically and communicate so that they provide value to the audience and
enhance brand quality/image perceptions.

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Fierce in his article "Competition in Indian soap market" emphasised on the
Indian soap market which has been described as a "perfumed rat race" by a
local industry spokesman, since it is highly price competitive and oversupplied,
and likely to become more so as new capacity comes into production. National
companies with their own or franchised international brands jockey for market
leadership against state or regionally based companies with high local
consumer loyalty. Total annual soap sales by companies marketing their brands
at national or state levels is estimated at 14,000 tones of a total soap market
considered to be about 126,000 tones.
The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in their article "The
Global market for soaps" concluded that the market for soap products is largely
matured in developed market and displays stagnant growth. The growth
potential in developing country is huge, but there are many obstacles to
expansion.
Mr. Hitendra Bargal has given the opinion in his report "Promotion of soap
brand in rural market India", that the language and content must be according
to the suitability of rural environment; background figures are also a
deterministic factor, admissibility of brand ambassadors plays an important
role in this regard and special promotion measures are the strong applicable
factors in this regard.
Mr. Pravin Tripathi, observes in his article “study on opportunities for
GMCG products in rural areas" that Hindustan Unilever Products are the most
known and popular brand of FMCG products in rural market followed by
Dabur, ITC and Procter and Gamble. Because of huge product line, cheaper
cost, brand loyalty, good publicity and advertisement.

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Limitations:-
1) The project relied mainly on the primary data.
2) Consumer gives very unclear picture.
3) The study based on limited sample.
4) It begin my first attempt to undertake such a study, thus the inexperience is also an
obstacle to accomplish the project in a proper way.
5) Lack of availability of accurate data
6) Time consuming
7) Lack of prior research studies on the topic.
CHAPTER PLANNING:-
The study, as we have framed is mentioned here under:
Chapter one: Introduction
Chapter two: Conceptual Framework
Chapter three: Company Profile.
Chapter four: Presentation of Data, Analysis, Findings
Chapter five: Conclusion and Recommendation.
Chapter six: Bibliography and annexure.

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CONCEPTUAL
FRAMEWORK