Case Study: The Shampoo Industry

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Price Wars The shampoo industry has seen a tug of war in the pricing department over the years. The change in the prices in turn effect the market share which showcases the elasticity of the market. Some of the major price wars indicate the impact price cuts can have in the overall industry environment. In 2002, Procter & Gamble strategized to reduce the price of Head & Shoulders to boost its volumes. The company slashed the price by Rs.23, finally amounting to Rs.99 for its 200ml bottle. The company experienced an increase of 5 -10% growth in the sales. Head & Shoulders was positioned as a premium brand as a direct competition to HUL’s Clinic All Clear. The price reduction strategy helped P&G eat into HUL’s market share. In 2004, the consumer goods giant HUL slashed the prices of its too leading shampoo …show more content…

This obviously results in high advertising and media expenditure. P&G spent more than 8 crores advertising on only TV advertisement for its flagship product Pantene during the initial 4 months of its launch. Similarly HUL spends between 4 and 6 crores in the initial launch phase for its products. There is science behind it after all. In the shampoo category, ad-to sales ratios have shown a tremendous jump of almost 10% compared to 5% rises in other product categories. Efficiencies and Inefficiencies of Monopolistic Competition In a monopolistically competitive market, a good is always priced higher than its marginal cost, thus it can never achieve productive or allocative

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