Colgate holds around 54% market share in the Rs 6000 Crore Indian toothpaste market. Of late, the brand is facing tough competition from Patanjali Ayurveda. Patanjali which is a brand which is closely associated with Yoga guru Baba Ramdev is touted to be a disruptive force in the consumer products market.
Patanjali which recently got aggressive in the market has garnered around Rs 5000 crore within a short span of time. It has overtaken firms like Jyothi Lab, Emami etc in the turnover.
According to business news reports, Colgate is expected to face the toughest challenge with Patanjali's Dant Kanti cornering a Rs 450 crore turnover in 15-16.
Colgate is a very aggressive marketer and is not expected to take competition lightly. Even with a market share of 54%, the brand is not known to be complacent in the addressing of competition. This case also Colgate took pro-active steps in countering the onslaught of Patanjali Ayurveda.
Colgate chose to fight Dant Kanti using the variant Colgate Active Salt Neem. It is interesting to see that Colgate Herbal was not aggressively promoted rather it chose the Active Salt variant. Secondly, Colgate chose to rope in Priyanka Chopra to endorse the variant.
Watch the ad here : Colgate Active Salt Neem
While the neem + salt combination brings the brand parity with Dant Kanti, the celebrity endorser enhances the strength of the counter attack.
Since Dant Kanti's main positioning is the Natural Platform, Colgate now has three variants - Herbal,Active Salt , Active Salt Neem in its portfolio.
With the aggressive counter attack, Colgate expects to arrest the growth of Dant Kanti. Some damage will be done since Patanjali uses price as the major strategy for market growth. But with the natural attribute neutralised, Colgate expects to retain its current customer base with the Colgate brand portfolio.
Dantkanti is a great case-study for a good word-of-mouth marketing strategy backed up finest product quality. Barring some print advertisements Patanjali doesnt have a huge and aggressive media spends. In my opinion Colgate ideally should have had a brand extension by Colgate Neem than a line extension. In this scenario the brand name or product name does matter a lot.. May be a total localish name would be apt like the famous Dantmanjan, or Vicco Vajradanti etc. Since it falls into the category of Ayurveda and truly of Indian flavour, name with word Salt will not hold relevance. If this is to entice the existing colgate users to refrain them from using Dantkanti, i believe this is a wrong strategy. Look forward to see how Colgate strategise against Patanjali.
ReplyDeleteIt is not only the pricing which is taking Patanjali in the forefornt, the product range, quality, ingredients & so on are contributing to its success. Competitors need to think on each n every attribute.
ReplyDeleteMNC''s have looted the Indian consumers from last 50-60 years. This happened due to no competition in the Indian Market. Manufacturing cost of 200gms Tooth Paste is Rs. 16 to 18, for the consumer it is available at Rs. 85/-. Today Indian Herbal manufacturer markets their product below Rs. 55/. This is called Price war. Only the Efficient and Low cost product manufacturer will survive.
ReplyDeleteIt also have baba ramdeov which Colgate does not
ReplyDeleteNice article, now "Patanji" launched many products in the Indian market. As compare to other brands they are offering their product as much cheaper than others. I think that's an marketing strategy of the Patanjali Ayurved Group. Anyways I liked your blog very much.
ReplyDeleteThanks
Mohd. Atif - Blogger
I almost had to go to a dentist because of severe toothache when my dad told to use Pathanjali toothpaste. There was 50 percent reduction in pain when I used it for first time and subsequently no pain thereafter. However, somedays later I turned to my favorite toothpaste and the pain reaccured. Now I continue using Pathanjali paste without worry of toothache. I sometimes feel that regular toothpastes does harm our teeth. A product cannot become famous just like that.
ReplyDeleteI think Patanjali has not just promoted its own product but also disrupted the entire FMCG sector with some negative points by Baba Ramdev on MNCs. Anyways Colgate should have launched a new product with more ingredients and a complete new brand name minus the Colgate co branding. Dabur is in a much better position to counter attack but lack of distribution is hitting them.
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