The document discusses Procter & Gamble (P&G) India's position in the Indian detergents market and its goals under Project 2-3-4. While P&G has achieved leadership in some small categories, it lags behind HUL in major categories like detergents and hair care. To meet its Project 2-3-4 targets, key challenges for P&G include increasing consumption among lower income rural consumers, appealing to price sensitive mass markets, and restructuring its brand portfolio. The document recommends that P&G compete more aggressively with HUL across all levels and rural areas, and develop an effective long-term pricing strategy to avoid short-term price wars.

1. 1. Has
P&G
India
managed
to
carve
out
a
distinctive
position
in
the
Indian
Detergents
market?
2. Commnent
on
the
company’s
journey
towards
achieving
milestones
as
per
‘Project
2-­‐3-­‐4’
3. What
challenges
does
P&G
India
face
in
2011?
4. Assess
P&G
India’s
product
line
strategy.
5. What
recommendations
will
you
make
to
the
P&G
India
team
to
help
them
achieve
the
target
set
forth
in
Project
2-­‐3-­‐4?
Overview
It
is
clear
that
P&G
was
left
behind
in
captureing
India’s
growth
story
in
the
Detergents
market.
Currently
P&G
has
a
reach
of
1.3m
outlets
(which
is
not
far
behind
HUL
with
1.6m
outlets).
In
terms
of
sales,
India
is
one
of
the
smallest
markets
of
P&G.
To
carve
out
a
distinctive
position
in
the
Indian
detergents
market,
P&G
initiated
project
2-­‐3-­‐4
to
double
the
number
of
indians
using
P&G
products
and
trebling
the
per
capita
spending
by
indians
and
quadrupling
sales
in
its
india
operations
by
2015.
I
feel
P&G
even
though
it
has
captured
market
leadership
in
6
segments
and
a
reach
of
1.3m
outlets
still
lags
behind
HUL
interms
of
overall
product
usage.
According
to
the
data
given,
P&G
will
not
be
able
to
achive
its
goals
by
2015.
Current
Progress
Although
this
was
successful,
most
of
the
categories
that
P&G
dominated
were
still
small.
In
the
segments
that
mattered
such
as
detergents
and
hair
care
–
which
accounted
a
little
over
half
of
the
home
and
personal
care
segment,
HUL
was
the
leader.
Challenges
The
real
challenges
faced
by
P&G
for
achieving
the
goals
set
by
Project
2-­‐3-­‐4
are.
• Increase
BOP
consumption
(aka.
Rural
consumption)
• Target
mass
market
(high
price
sensitive
consumers)
• Restructuring
of
brand
portfolio

2.
The
challenges
faced
by
P&G
going
forward
includes
playing
catchup
to
HUL
even
though
they
play
in
far
lesses
categories
than
HUL.
P&G
needs
to
decide
whether
it
should
confront
head
on
to
HUL
in
categories
such
as
detergents.
Also,
P&G
needs
to
figure
out
if
it
should
make
efforts
to
increase
consumption
and
develop
fledgling
markets
such
as
skin
care.
Moreover,
P&G
needs
to
assess
why
the
average
percapita
spending
on
P&G
products
is
much
lower
than
the
average
of
P&G’s
top-­‐
11
asian
markets.
Other
decisions
that
P&G
needs
to
assess
are
whether
it
should
launch
another
brand
to
compete
with
wheel
and
fill
the
void
at
the
bottom
of
the
pyramid.
Or
whether
it
should
launch
more
variants
for
its
existing
brands.
Another
area
that
needs
to
be
taken
care
of
is
advertising.
How
will
advertising
budget
changes
impact
the
brands
awareness.
Recommendations
If
P&G
has
to
achieve
the
targets
set
forth
by
Project
2-­‐3-­‐4,
it
needs
to
compete
with
HUL
at
all
levels
and
all
products,
including
deep
in
the
rural
areas.
P&G’s
goal
should
be
to
win
in
all
the
three
market
classificiations
(India
1,
2
and
3).
Further
growth
can
be
driven
by
outreaching
by
running
community-­‐led
programmes
in
rural
india
to
ensure
awareness
of
their
brands.
P&G
should
refrain
from
getting
into
price
wars.
They
are
poor
pricing
strategies.
It
needs
to
come
up
with
an
effective
long
term
pricing
strategy
and
avoid
short
term
predatory
strategies
as
HUL
will
always
undercut
them
and
make
them
ineffective.
Project
2-­‐3-­‐4
Increase
BOP
Consumption
Target
Mass
Market
Resturcturing
brand
portfolio