SUMMARY

Reckitt & Sons, founded in 1819 in England, merged with Netherlands based company
Benckiser NV in the year 1999 thereby adopting the name Reckitt Benckiser. It has been the
World’s largest producer of Household Products and a major marketer of Consumer
Healthcare and Personal Products. The company has employed more than 37,000
employees worldwide and has made its presence viable in more than 60 countries. Reckitt
Benckiser had started its operations in India in 1910 and in 2012 the Indian arm was
upgraded to become its regional headquarters for Southeast Asia. The company has been
growing since its inception, with net revenue of £ 8874 Million in 2015. The key to success
for Reckitt Benckiser was its continuous “Innovation Strategy” along with the expansion of
its product categories in different product lines. Its flagship product includes Dettol
Antiseptic Liquid which was introduced in 1932 and had built the trust and goodwill of the
Indian Consumers since then. The key to success for Reckitt Benckiser was its continuous
“Innovation Strategy” clubbed with the expansion of its Product Categories in different
Product Line. New launches included products like Dettol Gold Bar Soap, Dettol Fresh
Lather Shaving Cream, Dettol Plasters, Liquid Hand wash, Liquid Body wash and Instant
Hand Sanitizer. Laundry Care Market in India was growing through a rapid pace and the
valuation reached Rs.189 billion in 2015 due to the increase in the Disposable Income of the
Consumers. With no brands offering any “Antibacterial Detergents” as of then, the
consumer concerns regarding hygienically clean laundry could be an opportunity for Reckitt
Benckiser and they can have a “First Mover Advantage” in this segment. The case is related
to this dilemma if the company should launch the Detergent as Brand Extension of Dettol or
launch a specifically new brand for detergents.

Answer – 1
Reckitt Benckiser’s principal brand Dettol started its journey in 1933. Positioned as an anti-
germ antiseptic liquid it was able to capture the feelings of the mass through its unique
odour, sting, colour, hygiene factor and the sensitive display of the mother-child
relationship. So, Dettol as a brand has immense trust and loyalty from the consumers.
Considering the promising growth of the Indian laundry-care market, Reckitt Benckiser
should extend the product under the same brand image by using antibacterial detergent
strengths to consolidate and expand the market position. Reckitt Benckiser should step in
the detergent arena through the expansion of the brand Dettol. The idea of antibacterial
laundry can be leveraged into building a significant competitive advantage in the market.

 Strong brand equity and brand awareness will help them to easily attract a large
number of new customers. It is evident that superior product and services quality
can help Reckitt Benckiser to further increase its market share as the current
customers are extremely loyal to it. Reckitt Benckiser has an advantage because of
the legacy that Dettol has created in the last eight decades in the form “mother-child
 relation”,” trust” and “hygiene”. Dettol is characterised by a feeling of safety that it
created among the customers in the form of cleanliness, safety, hygiene, care and
protection like their tagline, “Be 100% Sure” created an appeal among the
customers. Despite the competition, Dettol Liquid Hand Wash was able to capture
major market share in the 5 billion rupees market value in the year 2015. Dettol
Soap was able to capture about 7.95% of the total soap market share in 2015. Other
Dettol products such as Dettol Shaving Cream also fetched a good reputation in the
market. Hence it is clear that if the new brand is launched as an expansion of Dettol,
it will be more appealing and attractive to the consumers. Moreover, it is also
evident that customers were not ready to accept a new brand even from a reputed
concern as launching the stain remover under the brand name of Vanish wasn’t
successful due to the presence of superior players in the market.

 Growing Market Size and Evolving Preferences of Consumers –The consumers of

India are evolving in urban and rural areas in terms of education, purchasing power
and lifestyle and such factors have affected their ideology. Consumers now want
products that help in maintaining health, hygiene, and cleanliness. Therefore, the
demand for such products is at the peak now. If Dettol takes this opportunity it
would an innovative move for them as there are no antibacterial detergent in India
so far. With the increasing number of consumers using detergents, Reckitt Benckiser
can target the preferences and tastes of the people by adding value based features
based on consumer needs. Moreover, a number of approvals from medical & health
associations have made Dettol a credible brand. Hence, detergent under the
expansion of Dettol would be more suitable.

 Increase in Consumer Disposable Income – Antibacterial Laundry can use the

increasing disposable income to build a new business model where customers start
paying progressively for using its products. According to case study, antibacterial
detergent can use this trend to expand and obtain a substantial market share.

Answer – 2
The advantage of a Brand Positioning Bull’s eye is that it helps to create a position for the
brand. At the core is the brand mantra, aided by the key points of parity (POP) and points
of difference (POD). Consumers take reference from these substantiates to find how the
POP and POD is justified. The last but not the least are the information that are provided
from the point of view of values, personality, character and visual identity that adds enough
insight on brand positioning.
Brand Mantra: In order to launch the new product, it is expected that the brand will have a
unique mantra. So keeping by the promise that the company has made to the consumer,
that is health and hygiene, the brand mantra for the company goes as follows:

“Younger, brighter, cleaner clothes”

Points of Parity: The POPs are the associations that can be shared with other brands but the
particular brand should match the claim that they are the best among the competitors.
POPs should not become the reason to choose a brand, but they should be present to
continue the comparative analysis. So, the POP for the Laundry detergent is:

· The feasibility of taking care of fabrics

· Understands the needs of the modern urban cleaning requisites

· Technologically advanced formulation from natural ingredients

Point of Difference: PODs are the benefits or attributes that a consumer finds a strong
connection with the brand. The other competing brands cannot offer the same features that
make this detergent unique to the consumers. Here the PODs are:

· Removes dirt with germs, making them 99.99% germ free, it is a one stop solution to all
laundry related issues, making sure that it cleans as well as cares.

· Formulation that works on the obstinate dirt marks, repair damaged fibre and
maintenance of the colour of the clothes

· Available on the key e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Bigbasket, Grofers, etc.

Substantiators of the product provide the factual and demonstrable support to the POP and
POD. This is as follows:

After making the European detergent market reach new heights with its germ cleaning and
fabric enhancing with its keratin based detergent formula, the new variants have been
launched in the Indian market for a premium washing experience.

The brand personality of the detergent that acts as the added value to the detergent are the
sincerity with which it has developed the ingredients, the segmentation of the product for
dark colour clothes and light colour clothes that makes washing option available to the
consumers and the sophisticated keratin technology that is designed to repair the damaged
fibre and make clothes look like new.

Visual Identity: Available in 1 litre sized packs, it has two variants to choose from. The dark
pack can be easily understood by the consumers that it is related for the dark clothes and
the light one for the light colour clothes. The pricing is also competitive, keeping in mind the
budget of the Indian household.
 Answer – 3
Laundry-care market in India grew by 9 percent and had reached the value of Rs.189 Billion
in 2015. Growth in laundry-care market was fueled by growing disposable incomes,
increasing penetration of washing machines and demand for better quality premium
products. Indian detergent market can be classified into 2 categories namely hand wash and
machine wash segments, which can be further segmented into powder detergents and bar
detergents. Powder detergents dominated the market with compounded annual growth
rate (CAGR) of 9.5% in machine-wash segment and 8.8% in hand-wash segment. The
obstacles to Reckitt Benckiser’s success in laundry detergent market are as follows:

Competition: Major brands are already present in the laundry detergent market for a long
time and comprise of majority share in market. Surf, Rin, Tide and Ariel are Premium
products whose consumer base is mostly from urban areas while Nirma and Wheel are low-
cost detergent brands positioned towards consumers in rural areas. With such stiff
competition it is hard for Reckitt Benckiser to launch a laundry detergent product and
penetrate the market.

Innovation and Variety: The launch of products with new innovations ensures that
consumers are engaged towards it. Example, Ariel’s advanced enzyme-based technology,
upgraded to Ariel with Microshine. HUL’s Rin detergent powder which was extended to Rin
Bleach and Rin Perfect Shine. The variety of products and new innovations from existing
players in the market provides little scope for new entrants.

New Category: Reckitt Benckiser (RB) had launched Dettol Antibacterial Laundry Cleanser in
Europe in 2013 and P&G was also selling Ariel Professional Antibacterial Washing Powder in
UK, therefore, RB should launch its product first and get the first mover advantage
otherwise it would face difficulties if P&G launches its products first in Indian Laundry
detergent market.

Brand Consciousness: With the increasing disposable incomes, economic growth and
personal aspirations for better things, Indians become more interested in material goods
and were motivated to acquire more, which led to a rise in consumerism and heightened
brand consciousness. Hence, already established were more preferred than new entrants.