1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Tupperware brands are famous for its premium storage containers and kitchenware aside
being one of the top direct selling consumer product companies in the world. One of the
most marketable products for Tupperware Brands Corporation comes from Indian market.
Their unique system Party Plan of marketing, give them the competitive edge among the
kitchenware and direct selling companies in India. The products of Tupperware is very
innovative and special because it always designed its products closely according to their
consumers requirement, this includes their preference, taste and trends.

This case analysis aims to explore about the direct selling industry in India, to provide a
thorough analysis of the Tupperware India customers and its competitors, as well as
Tupperwares unique model and to provide a clear overview of Tupperwares competitive
advantages on its marketing strategy.

Lastly, recommendation was made for Tupperware in order to move forward within their
existing marketing concept to remain competitive in the industry.
2 TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.................................................................................................2
3 INDUSTRY AND COMPANY OVERVIEW.......................................................................4
3.1 TUPPERWARE........................................................................................................4
3.1.1 Tupperware India..............................................................................................4
3.2 DIRECT SELLING INDUSTRY.................................................................................4
4 COMPETITOR AND CUSTOMER ANALYSIS.................................................................6
4.1 COMPETITOR ANALYSIS.......................................................................................6
4.1.1 Direct selling companies...................................................................................6
4.1.2 Kitchenware companies....................................................................................6
4.2 CHALLENGES FACED BY THE COMPETITORS...................................................6
5 SWOT ANALYSIS........................................................................................................... 8
6 TUPPERWARE MARKETING STRATEGY.....................................................................9
6.1 TARGET MARKET...................................................................................................9
6.2 POSITIONING..........................................................................................................9
6.3 MARKETING MIX..................................................................................................10
6.3.1 THE 3Ps OF TUPPERWARE.........................................................................10
6.3.2 FACTORS BEHIND SUCCESS OF 3Ps.........................................................11
6.3.3 THE DIFFERENCE FROM MODELS OF OTHER DIRECT SELLING
COMPANIES................................................................................................................. 12
6.3.4 CUSTOMISATION OF PRODUCT..................................................................12
6.3.5 MEDIA CAMPAIGN AND CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY.............13
7 COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE........................................................................................15
8 RECOMMENDATION....................................................................................................16
8.1 MOVING FORWARD.............................................................................................16
9 CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................. 17
10 REFERENCES.......................................................................................................... 18
3 INDUSTRY AND COMPANY OVERVIEW

3.1 TUPPERWARE
Earl Silas Tupper founded Tupperware in 1938. He invents and designed a durable and
airtight with non-spillage type of container made of high quality plastic material. He faced
some challenges in marketing his product and his big breaks arrived when he hired Brownie
Wise. She then removed all Tupperware products from retail outlets and later marketed
Tupperware with its unique kind of marketing method called Party Plan or Tupperware
parties.

3.1.1 Tupperware India

Tupperware set their foot in India in November 1996 and operates in New Delhi. For the first
12 months, they appointed 15 distributors and gave them a special designed training
program to focus more on utility compares to product style since the direct selling concept
considered quite new to Indian market during that time. Both concepts, which is the direct
selling and party plan were used.

3.2 DIRECT SELLING INDUSTRY

According to Peterson & Wotruba (1996) today, many companies are selling their product
without intermediaries and finding new potential through direct marketing. He defined direct
selling as face to face selling away from a fixed retail location. This usually includes door to
door, referrals, meet up session and party plan together with the catalogues distribution as
per mentioned by Frenzen & Davis (1990). It was understood that almost all of the sales
consultant that represent the direct selling companies works as an independent rather than
becoming the employee and were paid by a commission system.

Those key players in the market believes that India do have some potential, with its large
population and the increasing income per capita, this indicates that an attractive opportunity
for companies to proceed with expansion plan.

The first company to begin their network marketing in India is Oriflame International back in
1995. The next to follow suit is Avon and Tupperware in 1996. These companies faced many
challenges since many Indians have a very negative perception on direct selling because
they are not familiar with the concept. The Indians look at direct selling as unwanted
intrusion into ones privacy. Modicare, the local network marketing also started in 1996.

Mainly the fastest product categories for direct selling companies are:
nutrition and wellness
home kitchen
 Beauty products
The benefits that comes from this industry is that it gives a positive impact on socio-
economy. Most benefits is to women since it helps them with financial independence
although Indian women has yet to achieve equal status with men.

No Companys Name Product line

1 Amway Home care, personal care, cosmetics, nutrition

2 Hindustan Unilever Ltd
3 Vestige
4 Dewsoft
5 Unicity
6 Tupperware
7 Avon
8 Herbalife
9 Oriflame
10 Altos
Home and personal care, everyday use products.
Health care, personal care, cosmetics.
Software
Personal care, nutrition, weight management.
Plastic moulded kitchen containers.
Personal care, cosmetics,
Weight management
Beauty products, cosmetic, food supplement.
Health care, personal care, beauty products

Figure 1: Top 10 direct selling companies in India as of early 2017

Source: www.trendingtopmost.com

4 COMPETITOR AND CUSTOMER ANALYSIS

4.1 COMPETITOR ANALYSIS

4.1.1 Direct selling companies

Ran Target Direct selling Compensation
Companys Name
k Market method structure
1 Amway Upper Person to person multi-level
2 Hindustan Unilever Middle Door to door multi-level
3 Ltd Middle Person to person multi-level
4 Vestige Middle Door to door multi-level
5 Dewsoft Middle Person to person multi-level
6 Unicity Middle Party plan & Person Single & multi-
Tupperware to person level
7 Middle Door to door
8 Middle
Avon Person to person Single & multi-level
9 Middle
Herbalife Person to person multi-level
10 Middle
Oriflame Person to person multi-level
Altos multi-level

Source: www.mlmlegal.com
Tupperware is ranked in number 6 in terms of top ten of direct selling companies.

4.1.2 Kitchenware companies

Rank Brand name Price

1 Milton Average
2 Tupperware High
3 Cutting EDGE Average
4 Nayasa Average
5 Cello Average
6 Pearlpet Low
7 Signoraware High
8 Princeware Very low
Source: Quora
As for plastics kitchenware and cookware companies, Tupperware is number 2 due to its
quality product and also effective selling method.

4.2 CHALLENGES FACED BY THE COMPETITORS

The challenges faced by direct selling competitors are:
Lack barriers of entry
Due this entry requirement and also the absence of regulatory mechanism, this made
this industry vulnerable to unreliable operators who main purpose is to maximise
revenue through membership fees within actually generating sales. The government
and association need to identify the genuine direct selling companies.
 Slow procedures
Due to the overlapping procedure in regulating the registration process it slows down
the whole company registrations process
Maintaining the workforce
Companies in direct selling key challenge is to maintain the quality and motivation of
their human resource. More costs will incur due to the repeating of training. The
companies need to focus on retaining their human capital

5 SWOT ANALYSIS
STRENGTH WEAKNESSES
 Established plastic kitchenware and
cookware brand with strong market
presence.
Costly but long lasting. Can lasts up
to minimum of 10 years if well
maintained and no damaged.
Famous for their durability. Lifetime
guarantee on all Tupperware product
except damage due to
carelessness or insect bite.
Light and easy cooking because
product is light and easily cleaned.
Made of high-grade plastic material
and single moulded piece, no joints
anywhere in the product so lessen
the possibility of breakage.
Always had a new innovative product
all the time.
High customer loyalty
Not possible to reduce the cost of
material due to complicated
manufacturing process and hard to
produce.
Some people prefer to use glassware
or metal type for their kitchenware
and cookware, as they are sceptical
to use plastic based type especially
own when cooking using microwave.
The social consciousness that relates
to this is some have the perception
that plastic materials contain
chemicals hence they do not want
these chemicals goes into their food.

OPPORTUNITIES THREATS
Most of the other kitchenware Afraid of low demand due to pricing.
competitors of Tupperware also There are many cheaper alternatives.
having high cost in production. Many competitors copying
The kitchenware competitors have Tupperware products ideas as
weak distribution system since Tupperware are quite innovative in
Tupperware has a systematic their design.
warehousing system.
Bias towards their competitors.
- Tupperware fares better than its
direct selling competitors because of
the party plan.
- They compensation plan better
compares to other direct selling
companies.
6 TUPPERWARE MARKETING STRATEGY

6.1 TARGET MARKET

Tupperware target market is a woman that is why their sales people in India is 100% women
aside from Indian culture that not comfortable to deal with salesman. Their market
segmentation divided as per below:
The demographic segmentation: Households
Behavioral segmentation: Based on loyalty and knowledge on product
Psychographic segmentation: lifestyle

Figure 2: Summary of market segmentation and target market of Tupperware

6.2 POSITIONING

Source: Quora
Figure 3: Perpetual mapping of Tupperware market positioning among its kitchenware
competitor.

Tupperware was positioned as slightly high priced but with high quality among its
kitchenware competitor in India.

6.3 MARKETING MIX

The marketing mix usually consists of 4Ps but for Tupperware it is different. Refer to below
diagram. (This also answers for Question 3 in case analysis)

Figure 4: The difference of conventional marketing strategy and Tupperware

6.3.1 THE 3Ps OF TUPPERWARE

Source: Case study

Figure 5: The Tupperware 3Ps

Product They follows their global standard of quality despite of high cost. They even
localised their product by custom made into local requirement.
Party plan Their unique method of selling party plan is a huge success since it attracts
the attentions Indian homemakers as they will exchange recipes during party plan. Although
the hostess borne the cost of the party but dealer will reward them with Tupperware gift.
From there Tupperware women will demo the benefits and usage of their products to the
invitees.
People Tupperware always believe in their people. Their reward and compensation
system is attractive. In addition, every month they will organise social events for their
employees.

6.3.2 FACTORS BEHIND SUCCESS OF 3Ps

Product
It is their main core of business. They do product modification as local requirement
taste and need while maintain its brand integrity. They tailor their product fit to the
market condition of the country. They also know how to deal with cross country
variation based on buyer preference and market condition. It is a good strategy for
they do combination of global and local product. They do offer the same product
worldwide but a little bit of deviation from one country to another.
Price
They understood the local cost of product thus they opt to produce it locally to reduce
their cost while maintaining quality standard.
Promotion and distribution
Tupperware party is their unique concept. Also they join forces with other marketing
promotions for example P&G
People
They use touch and feel model as they do demo to their potential customers on the
product at Tupperware parties. They leverage on local talent.

Tupperware model as relate to Question 1 case analysis.

Figure 6: Tupperware model

Source: Case study
The Tupperware model works different from other existing direct selling companies because
it uses a three-tier structure for smoothen company operation.

The first would be lowest level, Dealer, and subsequent level towards the top is Manager
and top level is Distributor respectively. The dealer able to earn according based on their
sales.
6.3.3 THE DIFFERENCE FROM MODELS OF OTHER DIRECT SELLING COMPANIES

Figure 7: Amway model

Amway compensation plan resembled a pyramid structure with people on top (top
distributors) earns the most. They earned commissions on the sales of the distributors under
them. Those at the lowest hierarchy earned the least while the distributor on top can earn
without selling the products.

6.3.4 CUSTOMISATION OF PRODUCT

The Indian market size should able to justify the investment in product customisation. This is
a result of consumer need that need to be met without sacrificing profitability.

Tupperware made the right decision to design their product according to local needs.
Product design is based on local consumer feedback for example they coloured its product
to match the needs and taste of customers. One of the examples is dark colours to hide the
turmeric stains. The product localisation via innovative and design has become crucial
catalyst to the growth of Tupperware in India. The most obvious is the reverse innovation of
Eco friendly bottles that is a global blockbuster.

The importance for customisation of products by foreign direct selling companies in India
listed per below:

India being one of the largest consumers in the market after US and China
Customers only start to patronise the brand only if the product suits to their needs.
Companies will face slower growth as their market not able to reach additional
consumer groups. They cannot depend much on existing consumers.
Companies can easily find local supplier and use third party source since their
product is customised.
Some products have to be localised since it is the main requirement of local
consumers due to its lifestyle and cultural upbringing.
Despite of the importance of customisation there is a dark side for Made in India. Most of
Indian consumers is very cost sensitive meaning having a high quality product is not major
requirement for them. Hence quality can be reduce by using lower grade quality that is
available.

What makes Tupperware different from the rest is that they are not adapting this type of
strategy but instead maintaining their quality standard. The product guarantees and quality
they provide is the justification for this.

6.3.4.1 Product shape modification

Example of this is the masala (Spice) box. It is conventionally made of metal round in shape.
Tupperware have it made of plastic and rectangular. Through customer feedback, they
change the shape to round like the conventional shape.

6.3.4.2 Product materials modification

The company previously manufactures their containers product in polypropylene, looks like a
cloudy plastic. After considering their Indian customers preferences, Tupperware changed it
to polycarbonate that appears like glass, as the material is clear plastic.

6.3.5 MEDIA CAMPAIGN AND CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

6.3.5.1 Collaborations
The joint collaborations such as with other FMCG companies doing cross promotional
exercise works well.

6.3.5.2 Campaigns
Tupperware have initiated many campaigns especially related to women empowerment.
Example is She Can You Can in 2012. Every month Tupperware India will showcase
different campaigns to boost up the products. For example in Feb 2017, they promote
Eat.Cook.Love by promoting containers to store up Valentines cake in which they also share
the cake recipe in their website.

6.3.5.3 CSR focus and initiative

Among their most notable corporate social responsibility is on empowering women, Chain of
confidence. Also they did pledge to stop on food wastage by campaigning for Care4food.

The advantages and disadvantages of an effective marketing and advertising and

promotional strategy stated below: Related to Q.2 in case study.

ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES

Reached to individual customers. Disadvantages came on the part

Women accepted it as part time job of employees who wanted a full
This method allows the Tupperware time job.
products demonstrated physically, their Party plan requires the hostess
utility explained, and by this process, bear the costs.
they justify the reason for the higher Advertising and promotions
costs of the products through party plan. created a suspicion that company
Their focus on customisation, product, is taking direct orders and
people earned them a recognition. reducing their commissions
With the involvement with other This type of party plan and direct
companies helped in the promotion of selling did not attract the
Tupperware products in India. competent personnel.

7 COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
Tupperware appears to maintain some competitive advantages; firstly, the companys brand
name has superior recognition, which indirectly serves as a strong factor in customers
preferences. The brand name serves as a strong motivating factor in attracting old and new
customers. Consumer perceptions of the company are positive and their extensive
experiences in direct selling industry are valuable. Tupperware applies party plan concept,
which build customer loyalty. Besides it allows Tupperware to build strong distribution
network by popularising its Tupperware Parties by sharing of recipes, cooking advice and
health tips among Indian housewives.

(This relates to Question 4 in case study)

Figure 8: Tupperware is placed in the highly competitive direct selling industry as

highly above average as their compensation structure and their target market is upper
middle range.
8 RECOMMENDATION

8.1 MOVING FORWARD

Tupperware has made the right marketing strategies and analyses their market well thus not
much recommendation can be made. Their success stories are quite an example to other
competitors. The only proposal that can be made is, fully utilise on social media account for
example, having Tupperware party on Facebook live.
9 CONCLUSION
Tupperware managed have achieve many successes such as changing the consumer
behavior. It is no surprise that within their first four years in India, they became the fastest
growing market for Tupperware Brands in a developing countries.

Their position among their competitors in the plastics kitchenware industry and also direct
selling industry is quite strong. Their unique selling method and also marketing strategies are
the few factors that given them the edge in the market for years to come.

Over the years, their evolved to be in the mind brand for Indian household.
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