Nudged by its global CEO, Hindustan Unilever, the country?s biggest consumer products marketer, has embarked on an aggressive marketing strategy to regain its lost market shares across categories like detergents, soaps and skincare.
Called ?Must Win 2010? internally, the initiative, began last month, aims to garner around 10-12% volume growth for the company across segments in the Rs 86,000-crore fast moving consumer goods market. The initiative involves strategic pricing and a huge distribution push across all product categories.
The company has already reduced prices of its laundry brands like Wheel by 15-30% and increased the weight of soap and oral care packs by 5-15%. It would add more retail outlets for distribution to increase its rural reach.
?Under this initiative, the company will increase retail coverage and appoint more distributors, especially in rural areas. After reducing prices in few laundry brands, the company is also looking at slashing retail prices of soaps, shampoos and oral care brands,? an official familiar with the company?s new initiative told FE on condition of anonymity.
HUL did not respond to FE?s emailed query at the time of going to press.
The official added that the ?Go to Market? initiative, which was launched in 2008 in select cities, is also been taken nationally through heavy investments in IT systems.
?India performance is stable but not yet improving,? Paul Polman, CEO, Unilever, had said recently. Last year, in March, Polman was in India and he directed the HUL manage- ment to improve the market share. A year down the line, the company?s market share across categories has fallen further.
