Marketing at the bottom of the Pyramid- Chik Shampoo

Executive Summary:

The Term Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP) is emerging as one of the most dominating
ideas in business cognizant after the overwhelming attention on billions of poor and
strategic practices adopted by organizations in developing and under developed
countries.
This paper tries to draw attention to the strategy adopted by Chik Shampoo (now
under the umbrella of Cavin Kare). The journey even before the term Bottom
defined by CK Prahlad in 2004
as

the billions of people

living on less than $2 per day and the rationale of serving The Forgotten
Man as referred to Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932.

Chik in a perspective of the Rural Indian Market. Critically evaluating the present
position, strategy
adopted by Chik. This paper Involves History, Positioning and Strategic options
adopted in purview
of then market scenario.
Chick Shampoo: To the rural and semi urban population of India, it is the most
preferred shampoo, to
the market it is the second largest selling shampoo in its category, a case study for
competitive
strategy. In a highly competitive environment of the of the FMCG category, which
seemed to be
impenetrable, Chik identified a wide opportunity in rural and semi Urban India. It
created heat with its
entry into these markets.

Chiks innovative packaging, pricing strategy (in 1 Re. and 50p) a strong
distribution network, Chick
was able to transform the industrys very nature of packaging and its usage.

Chik Shampoo is a brain child of C K Ranganathan, The CEO of Cavin Kare, who is
considered to
have changed the rules of the FMCG market by virtue of introduction of Shampoos
in small
affordable sachets.
Today Cavin Kare Pvt Ltd. has Shampoos, Ethnic care products, Skin care products
and Home care
products. The Shampoos include Chik, Chik Satin, Nyle Herbal, Meera Shampoo,
Indica Hair
Colorant, Indica 10 minutes. In Ethnic care products include Meera hair wash
powder and Karthika
hair wash powder. Skin care products include Fairever, Fairever fruit, Spinz Talc,
Spinz deodorants,
Hi5 Deo, Nyle cold cream and lotion. Home care products include Tex and Topp
Mopp.
This paper however limits to the study of Chik shampoo as it was the breakthrough
product in the
FMCG industry.
Chik Shampoo:

Chik Shampoo launched by CavinKare in 1983 is an example of a brand being built

in the rural
market targeting the BoP segment, It became the second largest selling brand after
HULs Clinic Plus
shampoo. As per AC Nielsons ORG MARG retail audit, it the chick brand grabbed
22.47 market

share in 35,000 tone shampoo market, It was 2 percentage points behind the
market leader clinic plus .
CavinKare was truly a market leader with a market share of 28.22 percent.
The Indian Economy:

India contains a diversified array of products, brands, lifestyles and

cultures. For successful marketing and launching of a new product India portrays an
array of
challengers for the organization entering the Indian subcontinent. One of these
challenges portrayed to
the marketers is that of understanding the changing psyche of the Indian consumer.
One another
challenge was reaching out to the aspiration-based appeal of the Indian rural
consumer. The aspiration
based consumers were the non users of the shampoo segment in the rural markets,
and reaching out to
them was a marketing challenge, and their financial conditions prevented them
from trying and
exploring the consumerism phenomenon which was being experienced by the urban
consumer. The
products were unaffordable and the rural population also demanded educating the
consumer on
product usage.