Surf Excel Marketing Strategy & Marketing Mix (4Ps)
Marketing Strategy of Surf Excel analyzes the brand with the marketing mix framework which covers the 4Ps (Product, Price, Place, Promotion). These business strategies, based on Surf Excel marketing mix, help the brand succeed in the market. Let us start the Surf Excel Marketing Strategy & Mix to understand its product, pricing, advertising & distribution strategies:
Quick Glance:
Surf Excel Product Strategy:
The product strategy and mix in Surf Excel marketing strategy can be explained as follows:
Surf Excel is a leading detergent & soap brand which is synonymous with cleaning clothes & apparel. Surf Excel categorises its product offerings as a part of its marketing mix into Hand wash and Machine wash sub segments. The hand wash category is targeted at mid-rise population who cannot afford to have washing machine or because of preferences. Surf Excel products in the category include Surf Excel liquid detergent, Surf Excel bar and detergent powders such as Surf Excel Quick Wash and Surf Excel Easy Wash.
For machine wash, Surf Excel has launched its product under the sub-brand name of Matic. Matic line of products are specially manufactured for the front load and top load washing machines. Its products include Surf Excel Matic Liquid front load, Surf Excel Matic Liquid top load, Surf Excel Matic front load detergent powder and Surf Excel Matic top load detergent powder.
Image: company website
Surf Excel Price/Pricing Strategy:
Below is the pricing strategy in Surf Excel marketing strategy:
Surf Excel targets premium and mid-tier consumer with maximum market share pricing strategy. All its products are priced lower than the rival P&G brand Ariel.
This is due to price sensitivity of Indian consumers across the market segment. Surf Excel deploys product line pricing by pricing its products line targeting premium segment higher than the price of products targeting mid-rise segment. The company sells its product in different packet sizes based on weight to capture the customers who want to spend less in one time. Surf Excel follows product-bundling price strategy for the selected line of products which it wants to promote. Surf excel offers periodic price discounts and revises its prices quite often in response to market changes. The discounts offered are broadly of two types, one is quantity discount available on bulk purchase as it wants to inculcate the habit of bulk purchase in Indian consumers to achieve efficiency in its operations and second it gives seasonal discounts.
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Surf Excel Place & Distribution Strategy:
Following is the distribution strategy in the Surf Excel marketing mix:
Surf Excel line of products are available in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. Major portion of brand’s revenue comes from India. The product line similar to Surf Excel is marketed by Unilever globally under different brand names like Ala in Brazil & Argentina, Omo in Bolivia, and Persil in United Kingdom. HUL had country wide distribution network as a part of its marketing mix in all these countries. In India, the brand was available mostly through traditional channels of distributors and wholesalers. As on 2014 data the Surf Excel had the direct coverage in over 1 million retail outlets and had a network of 7000 stockists and more than 2000 suppliers and associates. HUL though sales Surf Excel also in rural markets with smaller pack size through rural retailers but its focus is largely on selling Surf Excel in Urban markets.
Surf Excel products are also available through e-commerce websites like Amazon and Flipkart.
Surf Excel Promotion & Advertising Strategy:
The promotional and advertising strategy in the Surf Excel marketing strategy is as follows:
Surf Excel adopts 360-degree promotion for its products. The company has based all its campaign on the baseline of “Dirt is Good”. HUL has adopted both above the line (ATL) and below the line (BTL) promotion strategy for the brand. In ATL, the company focuses heavily on effective TV advertisements. To establish emotional connect with the customers, Surf Excel has featured children in its ad campaign using various themes. The company has used various TV and movie celebrities for its ad campaigns. The company has also used billboards, posters, print media such as newspaper, magazines, and major radio channels. In its BTL campaigns the company has organised various competitions like hand painting competition. It has launched initiatives like “Surf Excel and You” to suggest mothers to inculcate the habit of active learning in their children. On this forum, mothers can share their pride stories and special moments with their children. Surf Excel has also used social media platform like Facebook and Twitter to build the community relationship. Hence this concludes the marketing mix of Surf Excel.
About Surf Excel:
Surf Excel is a laundry detergent line of products. The brand is owned by Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL). Surf Excel was first launched in Pakistan in 1948 under “Surf” brand name. The brand was launched in India in 1959 after HUL’s another brand Rinso failed. It is one of the oldest detergents in India. Surf launched Surf Excel in 1996 and positioned the line of product under premium category due to increasing competition and need for differentiation. Surf Excel touched the annual sales of Rs.3000 crores in a year and is the biggest brand in terms of sales in HUL overall product portfolio. The detergent market in India is subdivided into premium, mid-rise, and popular. Laundry total market size in India in 2016 was Rs. 20000 crores which grew by 9% over 2015.
The organised sector controls 60% of the detergent market share combining the three segments. The market share of organised brands have been reducing in India since 2014.
This article has been researched & authored by the Content & Research Team. It has been reviewed & published by the MBA Skool Team. The content on MBA Skool has been created for educational & academic purpose only.
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