Marketing strategies are used to achieve meaningful and measurable results in the market.

Marketing strategy involves careful and precise scanning of the internal and external environments. Internal environmental factors include the marketing mix and performance analysis. External environmental factors include customer analysis, competitor analysis, target market analysis, as well as evaluation of any elements of the technological, economic, cultural or political/legal environment likely to impact success.

Marketing strategy is the goal of increasing sales and achieving a sustainable competitive advantage. Marketing strategy is the key ingredient to the success of marketing plans and marketing.

About FMCG:

Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) or consumer packaged goods (CPG) are products that are sold quickly and at relatively low cost.

Examples include non-durable goods such as soft drinks, toiletries, and grocery items.

Though the absolute profit made on FMCG products is relatively small, they generally sell in large quantities, so the cumulative profit on such products can be substantial.

Companies may follow the following marketing strategies:

1.Multibrand Strategy:

A company often nurtures a number of brands in the same category. There are variousmotives for doing this.

The main rationale behind this strategy is to capture as much of the market share as possibleby trying to cover as many segments as possible, as it is not possible for one brand to cater tothe entire market.

This also enables the company to lock up more distributer shelf space.

Example : Hindustan Lever . It has Dove in the ultra premium segment, Lifebuoy for theeconomy segment and brands like Rexona, Liril, Lux, Le Sancy for the intervening segment.

2.Product Flanking:

Refers to the introduction of different combinations of products at different prices, to cover as many market segments as possible.

It is basically offering the same product in different sizes and price combinations to tapdiverse market opportunities.

The idea behind this concept is to flank the core product by offering different variations ofsize and price so that the consumer finds some brand to choose from.

Example: Vicks the cough and cold relieving medicine is now

available in small containers and also as inhalers, cough drops and

cough syrups.

3.Brand Extensions:

Companies make brand extensions in the hope that the extensions will be ableto ride on the equity of successful brands, and that the new brand will standin its own right in the course of time.

A well respected brand name gives the new product instant recognition andeasier acceptance.

It enables the company to enter new product categories more easily.

Example: Amul. With the success of its first product, Amul milk powder, thecompany came out with Amul ghee, Amul butter, Amul cheese, Cheese spread,and finally added Amul chocolates to its portfolio.

4.Building Product Lines:

Some companies add related new product lines to give the consumer all theproducts he/she would like to buy under one umbrella.

Example: Britannia has adopted a similar marketing strategy. It has introduceddifferent kinds of biscuits and baked foods in the past few years. By adding anumber of flavours in each product line the company grew in the industry.

5.New Product Development: A company can add new products through the acquisition of other

companies or by devoting one’s own efforts on new productdevelopment.

With the help of new products a company can enter a growing market forthe first time, and supplement its existing product lines.

Example: Dove by HUL is an example of creating an entirely new premiumsegment. For the first time in India, a soap with One-fourth moisturiserwas offered to the consumer.

It has been positioned for the super premium segment as a skin careproduct not as a soap.

6.Innovations in Core Products: In the FMCG market, the life of a product is short. Marketers continually try to introduce new brands to offer something

new and meet the changing requirements of customer. It is prudent for a marketer to innovate from time to time both by

technological expertise as well as from the consumer’s or dealer’sfeedback.

Such innovations are tried out around the core products of a company.

7.Wide distribution network:

A very simple way of increasing FMCG company’s market share is bydeveloping a strong distribution network, preferably in terms of morelocations.

An extensive distribution system can be developed over time, or thecompany many acquire another company which has an extensive distributionnetwork.

Example: Brooke Bond, Asian Paints, Hindustan Lever, Union Carbide havedeveloped a good distribution network.

8.Monitoring the pulse of the consumers:

Companies spend considerable effort to find out the what, where, how and when of their consumers.

Well known companies frequently undertake marketing research to find outmore about their consumers and how to satisfy their needs and wants in abetter manner.

It helps them to monitor the pulse of their buyers.

Example: We may cite here the famous Marketing Research about instantcoffee.

9.Advertising and Media coverage:

Advertising is required to build awareness about an FMCG or brand which isavailable in the market but not many people might know about it.

Informative advertising figures heavily in the pioneering stage of a productcategory, where the objective is to build primary demand.

Persuasive advertising becomes important in the competitive stage wherethe objective is to build a selective demand for a particular brand.

Reminder advertising is quite common with mature products.

Example: Expensive four colour Coca-Cola ads in magazines tries to remind people to purchase it.

10.Sales promotion:

Sales promotions offer a direct incentive to buy more in the short term.

They are designed to stimulate quicker and/or greater purchase of particularproducts by consumers or the trade.

Example : Pepsi has been doing a large amount of promotions since the timeit entered India. Pepsi cassettes and T-shirts have been offered to youngpeople all over the country.

The Bajaj Group is amongst the top 10 business houses in India.

Its footprint stretches over a wide range of industries, spanning automobiles (two-wheelers and three-wheelers), home appliances, lighting, iron and steel, insurance, travel and finance.

The group's flagship company, Bajaj Auto, is ranked as the world's fourth largest two- and three- wheeler manufacturer and the Bajaj brand is well-known across several countries in Latin America, Africa, Middle East, South and South East Asia.

Developed by Bajaj Auto in association with designer Glynn Kerr Tokyo R&D, Pulsar was first launched on November 24, 2001.

At that time, the Indian two-wheeler industry was populated by 80-100cc bikes with less power capacity.

Bajaj had expected Pulsar to attract young power biking lovers of the country. The whole project cost Rs 100 crores (Rs 1 billion).

Born as the Fastest Indian bike, the Pulsar 220F is a performance machine for the true enthusiasts. Its powerful 4 stroke, 220 cc DTS-i engine delivers 21Ps/bhppower and a healthy 19 Nm torque, making it the most powerful bike in its category. Designed for speed and performance, the Pulsar 220 is perfect for dragging in a straight dash or handling corners.

It is a great bike for people looking for power and a comfortable ride on the Indian roads. It provides an easy top gear riding experience with less gear changes and instant pick up in any gear.

For Bajaj Auto, the supply chain encompasses the process from vendors to the final customers via manufacturing. Therefore, the company’s supply chain involves as much the vendors and the procurement – to – payment logistics, as it does the manufacturing to selling processes, or the order to cash system.

Price: The price of Bajaj Pulsar 220F depends on the city. For Karnataka, Ex – Showroom

price is 82k whereas the On Road price is 90,000 (Approx.)

Bajaj Pulsar is one of the premier segment bikes which is reflected by its pricing. In the near future the price of Pulsar is bound to increase because of the pressure on profit margin of the company.

Bajaj’s dealers had been selling scooters; they had little idea how to sell motorcycles. So the entire dealership network was trained to sell motorcycles.

The introduction of Pulsar was executed with a completely different approach and a “Definitely Male” positioning. Bajaj kept coming up with better products like the Pulsar 180cc, then the Pulsar DTSi followed by the 200cc and 220cc Pulsars.

The concept of “Definitely Male” was well accepted by the people and Bajaj came out with some astonishing ads. Though the DTSi technology was new, people accepted it very well. It easily conveyed the message it wanted to. In 2004, Bajaj completely revamped its identity, gave up the “Humara Bajaj” umbrella and came up with a completely new enhanced positioning focusing more on the technology and experience.

With a new, sharp brand logo, Bajaj pressed itself as “Digital Biking” and “Distinctly Ahead”.

The company has been regularly making alterations to it to make the motorbike look fresh at all times.

Pulsar Mania - An advertisement showing some bikers performing various stunts on their Pulsar. An attempt to position itself as India’s true sports bike.

MTV Stunt Mania – After the success of Pulsar amongst stunt bikers, Bajaj decided to take a step forward by creating a new show called “Stunt Mania” on MTV. Stunt bikers from all across India compete to prove heir skills.

GhostRyderz – A group of stunt bikers that emerged as the winners of “MTV Stunt Mania” (Bajaj’s own show) are sponsored by Bajaj for various stunt tournaments.

Excellent brand name.

High product quality .

High performance, speed and pickup.

Focus on customer delight besides customer satisfaction

Latest Hi-Tech core concepts of production and quality

Passion for quality and safety built in to every bike

Hydraulic disk brakes front and rear for maximum safety. Disks are high quality, stress relieved steel

Tyres are designed for optimum performance on wet and dry road traction.

The recent trend of volume driven growth is likely to get pronounced. The growing competitive pressure in the 2 wheeler market can limit the scope for expansion in profitability.

The degree of success enjoyed by model introductions would be critical performance determinant.

Mileage on a lower side due to focus on power.

High cost in various variants.

Bajaj, which uses Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. Technology for some models, faces growing competitions from various brands.

Bajaj, overtaken as India’s top 2 wheeler maker in 2002 by Hero Honda Motors Ltd. (Now Hero Motor Corp.), has benefited from rising incomes in Asia’s third largest economy, besides cheaper loans and a shift in preference to high value motorbikes from scooters.

Expansion in rural and tier-2&3 cities .

Cost management thus reducing the price of the bike.

Developmental changes thus reducing bike's weight.

Untapped market above 200 cc in India.

Growing world demand for entry level motorcycles.

New entrants in the market such as Honda and Yamaha have been eating up the market share of Pulsar by launching new models and variants.

Low mileage is another problem of Pulsar. Fuel prices have increased dramatically over the last few years in India which has customers thinking twice whether to opt for a high performance bike or a 2 wheeler which offers good mileage.

Low-cost bikes still seem to be the crowd favourite in rural markets.

Thank you