SYNOPSIS FOR FINAL YEAR PROJECTPGDM 2011 – 2013

(1) Name of the Student : Sudhir Kumar

(2) Registration No. : 1101029

(3) Title of the Project: Rural Marketing of HUL

Signature of Student Signature of Supervisor

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Table of Contents

S.No. Topics1. Executive Summary

2. Company Description

3. History of HUL

4. Goals and Objectives

5. Mission statement

6. Rural Marketing

7. HUL’s Strategic Marketing Mix

8. Customer Perception and Customer Expectation

9. HUL’s SWOT Analysis

10. Competitors Analysis

11. Research Methodology

12. Data Analysis and Interpretation

13. Recommendations and Conclusion

14. Appendices

15. Bibliography

16. Questionnaire

17.

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Executive Summary

While the prospects of the rural sector are promising, the real challenge lies in cost-

effective and efficient distributing and delivering systems. Wi th the ru ra l marke t s

expanding in bo th s i ze and vo lume, any marke t ing manager wi l l be

missing a great potential opportunity if he does not go rural. The buying behavior of

the rural Indian differs tremendously when compared to the typical urban

Indian. , the values, and needs of the rural people vastly differ from that of

the urban population. So a marketer need to cater rural consumer demand at

their level and should devise plans which can help them to grab the potential.

Hindustan Unilever Limited is India's largest Fast Moving Consumer Goods

Company, touching the lives of two out of three Indians. HUL’s mission is to “add

vitality to life” through its presence in over 20 distinct categories in Home & Personal

Care Products and Foods & Beverages. The company meets every day needs for

nutrition, hygiene, and personal care, with brands that help people feel good, look good

and get more out of life.

My project is to study rural marketing HUL, to understand rural buying, aspects of 4P’s

in context of rural marketing, challenges and opportunities which is lying for HUL. To

understand how rural buying is different from urban consumers and why?

HUL is the leading fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) company in India with deep

rural penetration of its home and personal care brands. The company has put in place a

direct distribution model to enhance its presence in the hinterland. Over the last decade,

the maker of Lux soap, Wheel detergent and Sunsilk shampoo has launched special

initiatives to push its rural sales through project shakti and shaktimans.

However, HUL is not the only company which is keen on growing its rural pie.

Powered with an incremental increase in earnings through schemes such as NREGA

(National Rural Employment Guarantee Act), rural consumers are upgrading to

aspirational products like face wash, deodorants, cream biscuits and noodles. HUL

launched Project Shakti in 2001. Project Shakti benefits business by significantly

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enhancing HUL’s direct rural reach, and by enabling its brands to communicate

effectively in these media-dark regions.

HUL promotes Surf Excel, Wheel detergents, Lifebuoy, Lux, Breeze soaps, Clinic Plus

shampoo, Fair & Lovely skin creams and Pepsodent toothpastes in rural India and aims

to “reach 600 million consumers in 500,000 villages through 100,000 entrepreneurs by

2010”.

Hindustan Unilever’s unique multi-brand rural marketing initiative Khushiyon Ki Doli,

which was launched in 2010 in three states – Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and

Maharashtra – was an outstanding success. Through this initiative more than one crore

(10 million) consumers were contacted directly in more than 28,000 villages across

these three states in 2010. Through this initiative about 170,000 retailers were also

contacted in these villages in 2010. In 2011, HUL extended this initiative to five states –

West Bengal, Bihar, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, thereby covering

around 70K  villages, 25 million consumers and 4 lakh retailers. 

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Summary of the Project

Introduction:

The real India lives in the village. Rural marketing is the new buzzword as the new

marketing mantra for the survival and the growth of and the success forcing companies

to go rural. These statements tell the importance of rural marketing for the survival and

the growth of any marketers and are supported by the facts given below-

The total FMCG market is in excess of US$16.4 billion and is set to treble from

US$11.6 billion in 2003 to US$33.4 billion in 2015. It is currently growing at 14%.

With 12.2% of the world population living in the villages of India, the Indian rural

FMCG market is something no one can overlook.

Need and Importance of Rural Marketing Mix Policy :

As we know the differences between the rural and urban customers on the parameters of

the environment they are living, the marketers must try to formulate a different policy

of marketing mix for marketing to the rural customers, containing the guidelines for

providing coherence in decision making with respect to any course of action under well

defined and determined situation.

If a simple question is asked -

· Who does not want to get more out of their life?

· Who does not want to add vitality in their life and?

· Who does not want to look good, feel good?

Rural Marketing Mix:

Marketing mix refers to the set of tools used by a company to promote and sell its

brands or product in market. “The most important decisions, and indeed the essence of

the marketing manager’s task within a company, are decision about the controllable

marketing variables: decision about what E. Jerome Mc Carthy termed the 4Ps: product,

price, place and promotion.”

On contrary to the traditional 4P’smodel, some of the marketers are adopting the

4A’smodel, which is considered to be more customers oriented. As per figure 2,

“The4A’s of rural marketing mix i.e. Affordability, Availability, Acceptability and the

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Awareness have been now universally accepted both by practiconers and the

academicians, as touch stone for the success of any product/ business strategy in the

rural market. What 4P’s are to main stream marketing, the 4A’s are for the rural

marketing.”

Research Methodology

Scope of study:

This study cover rural consumer spending pattern on HUL product, what kind

customers are there in rural areas and how much of their earning spend on these product

and its competitors. What type of product is demanding, it is in small or medium or big

size of product. What is the ratio of spending on different categories like personal care,

body care, detergent etc

Strategies which are adopted in urban areas those cannot implement on rural marketing,

this study also focus on the strategies and initiative which are being taken by HUL to

communicate, educate, guide and increase brand awareness, having access of the

product.

Objective of Study

To Know about Company

To know about its Rural Strategies

To Have an understanding of Rural Customer

To Have an understanding of Rural Consumption

To Have an understanding of Rural Spending

To Know about Product loyalty

To Know facts which influence customers

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METHODOLOGY

Type of research-Descriptive & Exploratory research

Descriptive study is a fact finding investigation with an adequate interpretation. It is the

simplest type of research and is more specific. Mainly designed to gather descriptive

information and provides information for formulating more sophisticated studies. Descriptive

research, also known as statistical research, describes data and characteristics about the

population or phenomenon being studies.

Scaling technique

For the measurement of variables, Nominal Scale is used which is the most widely used scale

in market research, where respondents specify their response to a statement.

DATA COLLECTION

Research Tool:

Structure close and open-ended question along with frequently asked questions

(FAQ’s), observation and interviews.

Primary Data:

(A).Questionnaire: - A set of questions related to the research topic is formulated.

Response for each questions included in the questionnaire has been collected from the

customers.

(B). Interview: - Apart from collecting different responses from the customers some

extra information has been obtained through face to face interviewing activity.

(C) Observation: - Customers as well as retails will be observed for finding real

picture of their spending.

For secondary Data:

Data obtain from internet, research institute, magazines, books, newspapers.

Sampling design

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The sampling methodology uses Non Probability sampling technique. Convenience

sampling (A non probability sampling technique that attempts to obtain a sample of

convenient elements. The selection of sampling unit is left primarily to the interviewer)

Sample size

I choose 50 samples for the analysis.

Questionnaire:

The questionnaire is formed in such a way that the information required for the study is

acquired from each item i.e. questions. Here I use Nominal scale of measurement to

measure the respondent’s responses with each of the series of the items in the form of

statements. The respondents’ category range from housewives & working women to

working men.

6. Sampling area:

Selection of study area: Near about SRMSIBS UNNAO

Data analysis:

After tabulation, we analyze the data with the help of pie chart and other because it is

easy to understand everything in the percentage as well as given picture. I will also use

hypothesis which will give me clear analysis about my study.

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