Nirma Case
NIRMA CASE STUDY
The year: 1969. Karsanbhai Patel, the son of small-time farmer from Ruppur, Gujarat, tries his hand at making phosphate-free detergent powder out of a small shed in Saraspur, an Ahmedabad suburb. A chemist in a government lab, Patel’s entrepreneurial instincts drive him to moonlight for work that would soon become his real professional calling: making a low-cost detergent. When it came to giving a name to his labor of love, Patel decided to call it Nirma (after his daughter Nirupama), a brand which today commands a value of Rs.4,840 crore and nestles under its fold an array of consumer products ranging from cosmetics, soaps, detergents, salt, soda ash and injectibles among others. Along the way, the Nirma brand name has become almost synonymous with low-priced detergents and toilet soaps. “If marketing is all about finding the gaps and filling them, Karsanbhai Patel and his Nirma brand scored a perfect slam dunk,” says an independent market analyst. Once the mixture was ready, Patel packed them in polythene bags and sold it door-to-door. This way he was able to sell about 15 to 20 packets a day on his way to the office on bicycle, some 15 km away. Playing by the wisdom of the popular maxim – ‘the product should be available within an arm’s length of the desire’, Patel recruited local housewives to sell his product. Once the product started garnering name and sales, he started to look to expanding his distribution network. The product’s sales were steadily climbing and soon the Nirma brand was selling everywhere in Gujarat, in little shops round street corners and even in the remotest villages. Soon, the Nirma brand came to be well accepted in Gujarat and neighboring parts of Maharashtra. Patel, meanwhile began diligently cultivating the low-to-medium consumer pockets – a whole new consumer segment for detergent category. It was a massive market segment that was starving for a good-quality detergent at an affordable price. Gradually,
The year: 1969. Karsanbhai Patel, the son of small-time farmer from Ruppur, Gujarat, tries his hand at making phosphate-free detergent powder out of a small shed in Saraspur, an Ahmedabad suburb. A chemist in a government lab, Patel’s entrepreneurial instincts drive him to moonlight for work that would soon become his real professional calling: making a low-cost detergent. When it came to giving a name to his labor of love, Patel decided to call it Nirma (after his daughter Nirupama), a brand which today commands a value of Rs.4,840 crore and nestles under its fold an array of consumer products ranging from cosmetics, soaps, detergents, salt, soda ash and injectibles among others. Along the way, the Nirma brand name has become almost synonymous with low-priced detergents and toilet soaps. “If marketing is all about finding the gaps and filling them, Karsanbhai Patel and his Nirma brand scored a perfect slam dunk,” says an independent market analyst. Once the mixture was ready, Patel packed them in polythene bags and sold it door-to-door. This way he was able to sell about 15 to 20 packets a day on his way to the office on bicycle, some 15 km away. Playing by the wisdom of the popular maxim – ‘the product should be available within an arm’s length of the desire’, Patel recruited local housewives to sell his product. Once the product started garnering name and sales, he started to look to expanding his distribution network. The product’s sales were steadily climbing and soon the Nirma brand was selling everywhere in Gujarat, in little shops round street corners and even in the remotest villages. Soon, the Nirma brand came to be well accepted in Gujarat and neighboring parts of Maharashtra. Patel, meanwhile began diligently cultivating the low-to-medium consumer pockets – a whole new consumer segment for detergent category. It was a massive market segment that was starving for a good-quality detergent at an affordable price. Gradually,