Wheel vs Nirma
INDIVIDUAL MARKETING ASSIGNMENT -Submitted by Tusheeta Singh(11DM165,Section C) The success story of Wheel is the classic case of a fair-and-square game played well by HUL. It comes across as an intelligent concoction of tactics and strategies and that is the essence of this case. It was a direct war between both the companies specially since HUL did not see Nirma as a competitor till the mid 1980’s. Hence, the efforts were desperate and straightforward- to give the consumer a better product at lower prices. This was a very hard task since Nirma had already gained acceptance in the eyes of the low-income housewives, nonetheless, HUL worked hard and aggressively at what they had projected for themselves.
Wheel’s strategies are simple, hard hitting and go down to the very basics of marketing- the FOUR P’s. Each of them have been described in detail below:
1)Product: HUL created Wheel at a lower price and a low level of soda ash content. This was the need of the hour since customers were complaining of hands burning due to Nirma and was the first reason why customers started shifting from Nirma to Wheel. Same quality detergent at a lower price minus the burning!!!
2)Place: HUL understood that the presence of Nirma was not pan India and hence, it was a good opportunity for them to capture the market. They were able to reach out to very remote areas and this made the product popular. Also, the decision to locate Wheel operations in Chandigarh gave it more focus and concentrated efforts helped fight the competition.
HUL had the clear advantage in this case which was to have a very strong distribution network which reached out to remote areas.
3)Price: Since reducing the price of Surf did not seem like a very good option, the company decided to manufacture a low cost detergent which was what was needed to fight the tough competition from Nirma. HUL became the first ever MNC to
Wheel’s strategies are simple, hard hitting and go down to the very basics of marketing- the FOUR P’s. Each of them have been described in detail below:
1)Product: HUL created Wheel at a lower price and a low level of soda ash content. This was the need of the hour since customers were complaining of hands burning due to Nirma and was the first reason why customers started shifting from Nirma to Wheel. Same quality detergent at a lower price minus the burning!!!
2)Place: HUL understood that the presence of Nirma was not pan India and hence, it was a good opportunity for them to capture the market. They were able to reach out to very remote areas and this made the product popular. Also, the decision to locate Wheel operations in Chandigarh gave it more focus and concentrated efforts helped fight the competition.
HUL had the clear advantage in this case which was to have a very strong distribution network which reached out to remote areas.
3)Price: Since reducing the price of Surf did not seem like a very good option, the company decided to manufacture a low cost detergent which was what was needed to fight the tough competition from Nirma. HUL became the first ever MNC to