Kimberly-Clark unveils new, improved Kotex
Our Corporate Bureau
Mumbai, Jan 20: Kimberly-clark Lever Ltd (KCCL) is relaunching its brand of sanitary napkins called Kotex with an entirely new marketing mix. The brand, in its new avataar, has been positioned in the middle-income category with a competitive price of Rs 20 per pack of eights.This pricing is totally different from Kotex's 1996 debut price which was at par with competing brands like Procter & Gamble's Whisper and Johnson & Johnson's Stayfree and Carefree. KCCL has also redefined its target market from the urban higher income group to the middle-class segment which still uses home-made cloth pads. Kotex is therefore not in direct competition with the existing international brands and plans to build a base by breaking through a new market. Kotex, however, would face competition from J&J's recently launched product, Stayfree Secure which is also priced at Rs 20 per pack (for 10 pads). According to the 1997 ORG report, the sanitary napkins market is worth Rs 130 crore with annual volumes of around 350
million pieces. The market is growing at a slow rate of around 7 per cent with product penetration being less than 10 per cent. KCCL with Kotex plans to leapfrog this growth rate by trying to break open a virtually untapped market segment comprising of young girls in middle income households. According to HLL marketing controller (personal products) Dalip Sehgal, the company plans to initiate its marketing strategy in this segment by launching a large sampling exercise (over 22 million households) through non-traditional routes apart from making use of traditional retail outlets like chemists and general stores. He said the company would be looking at the unconventional channels to grow the market. Anticipating the two prime barriers by first-time napkin users to be price and quality, KCCL is ensuring that each napkin costs only Rs 2.50 while it delivers the best value at that price. The product has been indigenously developed and manufactured for the Indian market and even incorporates certain key
features offered by the high-end napkins. While volume targets are not being disclosed, the company hopes to double the market size within three years and have a 10 per cent share of that market. The company said that it would tap the possibility of exporting the product to countries like South Africa where the potential for upgrading non-users is huge.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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