Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Tuesday, Apr 05, 2005
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Tuesday, Apr 05, 2005 |
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Marketing
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Strategy P&G cuts prices of Tide bar Sindhu J. Bhattacharya
New Delhi, April 4 FOUR months after entering the detergent bar market with Tide, Procter & Gamble (P&G) has brought down its prices. A P&G spokesperson told Business Line that the prices of Tide bar have been reduced by Rs 3 for the 200-gm pack and Rs 1.50 for the 125-gm pack. "Tide is a relatively new entrant in the detergent bar market, launched only last November. The price discount we are offering now is a short-term consumer promotion meant to generate trials," the spokesperson said, adding that Tide powder detergent would not be included in this promotion. As per industry estimates, the detergent bar market is worth Rs 1,600 crore. Major players include Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) with Rin Supreme, Rin Advanced and Wheel; Nirma and Ghadi. An HLL spokesperson said the company was not contemplating any change in pricing for its detergent bars. He also denied reports that HLL was toying with the idea of launching Surf Excel detergent bar while asserting that Rin Supreme bar posted double-digit sales growth in 2004. Rin Supreme bar is priced at the premium end of the market at Rs 16.50 for 250 gm and Rs 8.50 for 125 gm. Wheel, Ghadi and Nirma are targeted at the lower end, whereas Rin Advanced also provides tough competition to Tide. SSKI Securities' Mr Nikhil Vora pointed out that any pricing initiative in bars was unlikely to affect the detergent powder segment and it was unlikely that P&G's price discount on Tide bar would lead to any change in powder prices. He said that P&G may have resorted to such a discount since "the bar segment is a weakling for P&G compared to HLL's Rin portfolio. I see the latest pricing initiative by P&G as a short-term measure to take on a rejuvenated Rin." It could not be immediately ascertained whether smaller players such as Ghadi and Nirma were planning to follow suit with price discounts.
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