History

Born: 1873, in the US

History: Two Chicago, US-based brothers, James and William Horlick, first patented the

malt-based milk drink as baby food.  the US

While the exact date of its India launch is not known, some of its commercials date back to the early 1900s. Currently owned by GSK Consumer Healthcare Ltd in IndiaStatus: Horlicks holds 58% of the Rs1,900 crore health food drinks market, and is currently a Rs1,000 crore brand in India  

Brand story: From a drink that was supposed to promote a good night’s sleep to one that can help children grow taller, stronger and sharper, Horlicks has come a long way. Simultaneously, its brand image, too, has changed—from a fuddyduddy, boring health drink recommended by doctors to something that is nourishing, and enjoyable.

In 1992, as its market share grew, the brand extended itself to a new product—Horlicks Biscuits. In 1994, it started singing the “micronutrient” story, fol lowed by its “smart nutrients” campaign in 1998.

The brand underwent a massive transforma tion in 2003, when almost everything about it changed—from the taste and flavour to the packaging. It also changed its positioning: it was nourishing, yes, but also tasty.

Another turning point came in 2005, when the brand released a clinical study which claimed that children who consumed Horlicks were “taller, stronger, and sharper” than those who did not. For the first time, the brand tried to communicate with children, not just their mothers.

Beginning a major advertising and marketing campaign along that theme, new variants such as Horlicks Lite were launched, followed by the revamp of Junior Horlicks in 2006. The latest variant is Women’s Horlicks, launched this year.

We are constantly striving to ensure that the brand is relevant to consumers,” says Shubhajit Sen, vice-president, marketing, GSK Consumer Healthcare Ltd.Product innovation, he maintains, is likely to remain a priority.

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In1873JamesHorlick,apharmacistwithhisbrotherWilliamestablishedacompanyJ&WHorlicksinChicago,USAtomanufacturea“maltedmilkdrink”,whichclaimedtopromotesleep.In1883theygotpatentforthisproduct.Horlickswasthusthefirstinventedtosubstitutemilkbabyfood.In1890theproductwasimportedtotheUnitedKingdomandlaterafactorywasestablishedinslough,Berkshire,England.Horlicksbecamepopularduringtheworldwars1and2.Thedrinkbecamepopularathomeandthebattlefront.Inworldwartwo,Horlickstabletsweresoldasacandy,usedasanenergyboosterbyUS,UKandothersoldiers.ComingtoIndia,Horlicksbottleswereimportedandsold.Thiswasduring1930‘s.Inthelatterpartof1958,aplantwassetup,andwasnamedHindustanmilkfoodmanufactures.AfterthisthecompanywasacquiredbyBeechamwhichlaterbecameSmithklineBeechamandfinallybecameGlaxoSmithKlineBeechamConsumerHealthcareltd

4. History In 1873 James Horlick, a pharmacist with his brother William established a company J & W Horlicks in Chicago, USA to manufacture a “malted milk drink” , which claimed to promote sleep. In 1883 they got patent for this product. Horlicks was thus the first invented to substitute milk baby food. In 1890 the product was imported to the United Kingdom and later a factory was established in slough, Berkshire, England. Horlicks became popular during the world wars 1 and 2. The drink became popular at home and the battle front. In world war two, Horlicks tablets were sold as a candy, used as an energy booster by US, UK and other soldiers. Coming to India, Horlicks bottles were imported and sold.This was during 1930 ‘s . In the latter part of 1958, a plant was set up, and was named Hindustan milk food manufactures. After this the company was acquired by Beecham which later became Smithkline Beecham and finally became Glaxo SmithKline Beecham Consumer Health care ltd. 4

1875 : 1865 : William and James Horlicks started the company 5. Timeline 1883 :Business moved to Racine, Wisconsin for its supply of spring water William was given a US patent for Horlicks being the first Malted milk drinks 1909 : Horlicks became 1906 : Factory constructed at slough UK mixing powder 1921 : Deathpopular in north pole and south pole expeditions as a Provision of James led the company to split, William having the Americas And the sons of 1931 : “Night Starvation” was a story developed toJames the rest of the world 1945 : Company acquired by Britishpromote Horlicks as a bed time drink 1952 : Horlicks was said to cure gastric ulcers and someHorlicks business forms of diabetes 5

1960 : Factory established in Punjab to make Horlicks from Buffalo Milk6. 1975 1968 : Factory built in Bangladesh and Pakistan to satisfy local demand 2000 : Glaxo and Smithkline mergerFacts •: factory built in Andhra Pradesh Horlicks was first invented to substitute milk as baby food • The brand has been endorsed by

Amitabh Bachchan on the radio(1960-70), Moon Moon Sen and her daughters Raima and Riya (1980s) and Vishwanathan Anand • In India, over 2 billion cups of Horlicks are drunk every year! • Biggest market is India • 6th most trusted brand in India (AC Nelson) • Most trusted health drink brand (Economic Times 04) • More than 50% market share in health drink marketEvolutionThe company believed in Growth through innovation. Previously Horlicks was imported butas the demands exceeded they set up 2 production units in India to fulfill the demands ofthe Indian population. This came as a solution to Indian market as a health drink. Then Horlicks entered the biscuit market and later in 1995 they came up with JuniorHorlicks as a baby food supplement. Viva and Maltova were acquired by the company in 200and 2001 that increased the product range. Women’s Horlicks came into picture initially nursing mothers and then to cateringspecific needs of women. Horlicks adopted certain strategies to deal with competitors andcame up with attractive packaging and various flavours. Horlicks conducted clinical trials and campaigned “Taller Stronger Sharper”. Horlickssegmented the market to increase its market share. Horlicks focused on children to encash 6

7. their increasing population. Then it launched Horlicks Lite which is specially formulatedkeeping in mind nutritional needs of adults and also for use by people with diabetes. Horlicks also entered the instant noodle market with Foodles and Nutribar came as aenergy bar focused on the young generation, these two products were focused as a healthysolution to the existing fad market (plain maggi and energy bars). Recently Chill Dood islaunched in the instant milk shake focused on children. Horlicks is also involved in several campaigns one being the ASHA project cateringexclusively to the needs to the rural markets.Product analysis 7

Horlicks went for a revamp in 2003. From8. Positioning and repositioning a boring nutritional drink, GSK has positioned Horlicks as `pleasurable The newnourishment, by launching it in vanilla, chocolate and honey variants. positioning strategy adopted via product packaging which now carry a logo saying — `Now Proven - Taller, Stronger, Sharper. Ever since the re-positioning, Horlicks has grown by four per cent in volume and by seven per cent in value. Junior Horlicks – a 150 crore brand has positioned a product exclusively for Horlicks Lite for the elderly whochildren between the ages of two and five For the youth GSK Consumer Healthcare hasoften have a sugar problem. leveraged the brand to venture into an entirely new product category Nutribar - energy cereal bars. Horlicks Nutribar positioned on the twin planks of health and convenience 8

Horlicks introduced Women’s Horlicks and Mother Horlicks with specific9. GSK launched Chill Dood an instant milkshakecomposition for women consumers. The brand today talks to every member ofin the dairy based product market. The idea is to address all agethe family rather than the entire family The Horlicks visual identity has undergone a complete makeover. Thegroups. packaging of its various segments of products was designed according to the The brand strengthens its market position with the power oftarget consumers. advertisement and distribution network. Horlicks is involved in promoting events, organizing shows (Wizkids), Clinical Trials, Advertisements and Horlicks excels in its distribution network.involvement in social activities. It reaches the rural market in depth. Horlicks is flourished in more than 25% of Horlicks introduced Vending Machines viathe rural market and moving on. Nutritional Food Services Division established in July 2003 to extend the availability of nutritional brands such as Horlicks & Boost. Vending Machines was identified as one of the important source to make them conveniently available out of home. Nearly 500 vending machines for Horlicks and

Boost have been placed at institutions such as Corporates, Schools and Hospitals, at cities across the country. These trendy machines offer a frothy great tasting cup of Horlicks (Standard and Vanilla) and Boost in attractive cups on-the-go. Horlicks entered the 1000 crore instant noodle market launching Horlicks Foodles. Foodles - instant noodles with the nutrition and goodness of wheat.Segmentation 9

10. 10 11. 11 12. Distribution The Packaging is done in different in different plants spread across

various states to save transportation costs Here the powdered in transported in bulk Then bottled and packaged and supplied to the distributors It created a second layer of distributors in the smaller towns to supplement the existing chain of around 500 big distributors. Most of these 4,000 sub-distributors were appointed in the eastern and southern parts of the country. 12

13. CompetitionIt is a 135 year old brand constantly reinventing itself. Horlicks has long been the favouritehealth drink of India.The brand commands above 50% market share in Indian Health Drink industry which isvalued at around Rs 1300 crore.It is dominating the Rs 2,200-crore malted food drinks (MFD) market, enjoying steadygrowth and 66.5 per cent of the market share via its brands Horlicks, Boost, Maltova andViva.Competitor Analysis AC Nielsen (2008) 13

14. Horlicks vs. Complan • Heinz Complan is its nearest competitor. • Complan provides its consumers with the necessary nutrients for all round growth, but due to the fact that Horlicks was the first to come out with various flavours, which ensured its current market position. • Horlicks has always been able to price itself lesser than the competition, thus being able to appeal to the price conscious Indian consumer. • Complan has never reinvented its product design while Horlicks attracts the consumers (mainly children) with its attractive design. Each of its products has a consumer centric design, e.g. Junior Horlicks has animalistic design to target infants, Women’s Horlicks it’s shaped as a slim healthy lady and in a feminine red colour.Sales of Horlicks in different flavor AC Nielsen (2008) Horlicks vs. Boost • Both brands belong to the same company. 14

15. • But since boost is segmented as a chocolate energy drinks its only competition to Chocolate Horlicks. • Although boost has been promoted by important sporting personalities like Kapil Dev and Sachin Tendulkar it is still far behind Horlicks in terms of sales. • Since Boost is an energy drink it cannot compete with a wholesome nutritional drink as Horlicks. • Boost has never given variety flavors to its consumers; it comes only in one i.e. chocolate.Horlicks vs. Bournvita • Children always go for the tastiest option, and Cadbury Bournvita offers two options one being Cadbury Bournvita 5 star magic and the other being Cadbury Bournvita ++. • Bournvita 5 star magic offers a mix of rich chocolate and caramel flavor of the famous Cadbury five star. • New Bournvita ++ offers taste and essential nutrients for all round growth. • Horlicks beats Bournvita Five Star Magic by providing new flavors in chocolate vanilla honey etc • Horlicks edges over new Bournvita ++ with their slogan “Exams ka booth bhagao”.Horlicks vs. Viva and Maltova • Viva, though a good product i.e. it has Vita health (a combination of 9 essential vitamins, iron and calcium) but Horlicks beats it with their superior supply network. • Even though Maltova is a yummy chocolate drink with essential vitamins, minerals and carbohydrates, but Horlicks scores through the brand loyalty of their customers by sponsorship of consumer interactive events like school fairs etc.Sales of Horlicks and other products of GSK 15

16. AC Nielsen (2008)Horlicks Foodles vs. Nestle Maggi • Horlicks Foodles launched in 2010 in the battle for the 1000 crore instant noodle market with market leader

Nestle Maggi having 90% market share. • It has gone past the other small players like Nissin Foods Top Ramen, Future Groups Tasty Treat etc. • The above holds true as it gives the taste of instant noodles with the goodness of wheat.Horlicks Nutribar vs. Mars Snickers • Mars Snickers launched in 2004 is currently leader in energy bar market while Horlicks Nutribar is launched recently. • Snickers came up with its 1st advertisement after 4 years while Nutribar came with the brand name of Horlicks which excels in brand promotions. • Snickers are only available in Mega Stores and select cities. Horlicks have a strong distributor network and thus beats Snickers in availability. 16

17. • Snickers are tagged as a 4PM snack while Nutribar is tagged as anytime snack for hungry. • Nutribar is one step ahead of Snickers for its composition. Snickers have 512cals and 27g fat while Nutribar is as low as 312cals and 7.5g fatHorlicks Chill Dood vs. Amul Kool • Horlicks Chill Dood a ready to drink milkshake just launched in the dairy based product market as an instant milkshake. Amul is the most visible in this segment with its product Amul Kool. • Horlicks chill dood comes in a variety of flavors like chocolate targeting kids, while Amul has no segmentation. • The ad campaign for chill dood was animated which attracts children, while Amul Kool targeted the mature audience to compete with the cola majors.Brand EquityBrand loyalty is a reputation of the brand which the customer has towards it. Horlicks is abrand the consumer is satisfied using it but with minute change in price the consumer haschances to switch the brand.Despite strict competition in the market, Horlicks holds a formidable position througheffective marketing. 17

18. Trade leverage:Horlicks definitely hold a shelf space because customers expect the product to be availableas it is an essential product in their monthly grocery list. Since Horlicks has extended intovarious categories as Junior Horlicks, Mother’s Horlicks, Horlicks Lite they require a storespace.Attracting new customers:Via campaigning they constantly explain its features like Junior Horlicks , Mother’s Horlicksand Horlicks Lite providing the nutritious benefits it creates a strong awareness therebypulling in new customers via segmentation startegy.The reassurance of the brand is achieved by the existing customers, since it holds a bettermarket share and strong awareness.Time to respond to competitive threats:GSK Horlicks is one of the brand which comes up with innovative product line they wereable to withstand threats at each stage of their growth.Promotion and Advertising • In 1961 Horlicks started promoting the brand, with the 1st television advertisement, with Billy Raymond with the tagline “Horlicks, the food drink of the night.” • In India to reaches rural masses it started promotions through the radio, by Amitabh Buchan (1960-1970), which is still effective in Bihar and Orissa. 18

19. • Horlicks whiz kids an inter school fiesta was launched in twenty five cities targeting school children.• Horlicks conducted a clinical trial with 869 students in Hyderabad before launching new Taller Stronger Sharper Campaign• In 2005 it came up with an interesting advertisement saying that Horlicks makes you “taller, stronger, and sharper.” This advertisement was huge hit which led to increase in the sales of Horlicks.• “Video on wheel” (showing magic shows) is another sort of promotion adopted by Horlicks in rural areas.• Later Horlicks started the Hut campaigns in rural areas where every village did not have a market place, but two or three of them share a common one. Thus to capture those consumers these market places were lined with glow sign boards and banners.• In urban areas promotion was through Banners and Hoardings.• Moon Moon Sen and her daughters Raima and Riya (1980s) and Vishwanathan Anand were the other brand ambassadors• Horlicks Lite was promoted by Bomang Irani in the year 2005.• Ninja Horlicks is endorsed by Darsheel Safari of

Tare Zameen Par fame.• In 2008 Chocolate Horlicks was promoted by signing up with the blockbuster “Spiderman 3”. 19

20. Strategies Adopted over time to tackle CompetitionThe following strategies were adopted to ensure Horlicks had maximum market share: • Horlicks evolved from a malted dairy drink to an energy drink that was nutritionally fortified with essential vitamins and minerals. • In 1983 Nestle Nestomalt (globally having more market share than Horlicks) was launched in the Indian markets. Horlicks immediately expanded their advertising, trade promotions and medical promotions, and thus blocked Nestomalt, which lead to Nestomalt’s disappearance. • Horlicks acquired Maltova (February 2000) and viva (2001) from Jagjit industries and expanded its market share before HUL and Nestle get hold of it. • While other brands were promoted by athletic sports personalities, Horlicks roped in Grand Master Vishwanathan Anand to promote Horlicks as an all round health drink. • Horlicks formulated DHA (Decosahexaenoic Acid) for brain development in Junior Horlicks which got recommendation from the World Health organization in the year 1995. Thus the product is recommended by doctors. • In 2003 Horlicks introduced a long line of flavours like elichi, vanilla, chocolate and toffee. • In 2003 Horlicks launched the jingle “epang, opang, jhapang”, epang for iron, opang for vitamin c and jhapang for vitamin d. This campaign truly launched Horlicks as a nutritional drink. • In 2003 GSK launched Vending Machines (Horlicks and Boost), the first of its kind in the health drink market, that were installed in corporate houses, schools and hospitals. This product/service is still expanding. • Horlicks conducted clinical trials at the National Institute of Nutrition Hyderabad, involving 869 school going students (age 6 to 16) and then after completion of the successful trial, they repositioned Horlicks giving it the tag line “taller, stronger, shaper”. This was done to respond to Complan’s campaign that claimed to make kids taller. • After the successful campaign of Bournvita via the Bournvita Quiz Contest, but this campaign slowly declined and eventually vanished. Thus ceasing this opportunity Horlicks in 2004 launched one of the largest National School Talent contests named “Horlicks Wizkids”. • The best strategy of Horlicks was its idea to capture the rural market before its competitors. They achieved this through HUT activities (advertisement campaigns in 20

21. rural markets), promotional shows (magic shows) and above all expanding its distribution network. Horlicks expanded its Sub distribution network to Satellite networks who fed the adjacent rural markets, which ensured that 30% to 35% of all Horlicks sold was at the rural markets.ASHA PROJECT • This project is a new innovation by Horlicks and is acknowledge by the company’s key competitor. • This product is priced at 40% less than the main stream brand. • ASHA is being test marketed in pockets of Andhra Pradesh. • Rural markets already contribute 30-35% to GSK Consumer Healthcare’s sales. • Along with low unit packs (90 gm sachets of Boost) are tailored for rural consumers. • Regular Horlicks cost Rs 135 while ASHA is priced at Rs 85 for 500 gm. • SKS Micro Finance (Hyderabad) 75000 ASHA samples via 16 office branches across Andhra Pradesh. • The company believes that if ASHA succeed it will be a game changer. 21

22. Summary regarding future direction of the Brand Horlicks gained a prominent brand name and trusted brand image in the consumermarket by time. Horlicks is now designing the product and planning future strategies tocapture the teen age market. Also Horlicks is looking forward to flood the market withvending machines. Moreover Horlicks is planning to expand its market share by introducingnew products in different segmentations. The major advantage of Horlicks over its competitors is in rural reach. 30-35% ofHorlicks sales come from the rural market. Horlicks is trying to

penetrate deeper into therural market via satellite distribution chain and promotions. The urban market capturestrategy is mainly via promotions, campaigns and segmentation (launching new products). Horlicks is looking forward to its project ASHA which will contribute much in therural market sales. With gradual success of ASHA Horlicks it is looking forward to bring itsother product also under the same category. Besides, Horlicks is sampling its 200g satchesfor test marketing and thereby creating awareness among the consumers. • GSK is contemplating to expand its Rs 12 billion flagship brand Horlicks into 8-10 new product segments over the next 12-18 months. • Leverage on Brand Equity. • Intensive growth – use it twice/day. • To capture the upcoming teenage market segment. 22

23. • To test the marketing strategy of using 200 gm scathe (sampling). • Right now there are 500 Horlicks vending machines and they are planning for more The Hindu Business Standard Website www.gsk-ch.in installations.Reference Mr Economic Times Online AC Nielsen JWT News Wikipedia.com Online Aninda Ghosh (ASM, GSK) 23

24. 24 25. Phase II 25 26. HypothesisIs the product segmentation strategy working for Horlicks ?Horlicks

started with a single product i.e. “malted milk drink”, but gradually expanded itsmarket with consumer specific products. They were the first to convert the malt drink to ahealth drink. They segmented their consumers by introducing Junior Horlicks, Women’sHorlicks and Horlicks Lite to the basket. These products are giving strong competition to therespective market leaders.Why this Hypothesis?Horlicks is the giant in the health drink market. It constantly came up with consumer specificvariants. This shows us that as a market leader it wants to expand the cake not the slice, bytargeting specific consumers like Horlicks Lite targets diabetic patients. We intend to findout whether, this strategy has worked?Information Required?To study the above hypothesis we intend to find out the following from existing Horlicksconsumers • Product Awareness: Are the consumers familiar with the uniqueness of the specific products? • Usage and frequency of purchase : What is the rate of consumption of different variants and also the frequency of purchase? • Consumer Profile : Are the variants used by targeted consumers for the specific purpose assigned? • Consumer Satisfaction and Recall : Are the consumers satisfied with the product quality and do they think it as a good value for money? If so, do they stick to the product or try other option? 26

27. Sample size and Sampling planHorlicks is a FMCG product, and now through segmentation it has reached specificconsumers of all ages. We plan to survey 60 Horlicks consumer families, whose membersare of different ages, both sexes and specific segments. We are mainly planning to coverKolkata. We will use handouts containing questions and related information gatherings thatwill help to judge hypotheses.Instruments for data collection • Personal Interviews: Through questionnaire’s to the purchasing member of the family. • Telephonic Survey: If the above is not possible then we will call consumers and find out the relevant information.Data analysis tools • . • Pie Chart : To represent the above in a pictorial form showing the segmentation. • Bar Diagram : To show the difference between the core product and its variants. • Report : To summarise the above two pictorial tools. 27

28. QuestionnaireName:Gender:1) Does your family consume Horlicks? Yes No2) Kindly let us know how many members are there in your family 2 3 4 5 63) Please mention, how many of your family members falls in the age bracket provided below

1-5 6-18 19-50 50+ (In accordance to the data collected we will analyse Q6)4) What are the different variants of Horlicks you are aware of? Chocolate Horlicks Junior Horlicks Women’s Horlicks Horlicks Lite (This will check the awareness of the variants and how successful GSK have been to advertise the variants) 28

29. 5) Given below are some variants of Horlicks and some of the unique features of these variants. Kindly tick mark the box, which you feel matches the variant with its unique feature: DHA for brain 26 Nutrients Low cholesterol/No development Sugar Feature →Variant ↓ Junior Horlicks 38 25 2 Women’s Horlicks 23 42 12 Horlicks Lite 6 12 49(This will check the awareness of the consumers of the about the specific features of the respectiveproducts. This is to show how the company have successfully delivered the message about productfeatures to the consumers.)6) Kindly tick the variants used by your family members under each age bracket : 1-5 6-18 19-50 50+ Horlicks Horlicks Horlicks Horlicks Junior Junior Horlicks Women’s Women’s Horlicks Horlicks Horlicks Chocolate Chocolate Horlicks Horlicks Lite Horlicks Lite Horlicks Chocolate Horlicks(This will show us whether the variants are used by the target age group or consumers still use themother product heavily.)7) How often you buy the product? (Tick the appropriate) Data will be filled in /kg basis Product Frequency of purchase per monthHorlicks once in 2 months 1 2 3 >3Chocolate Horlicks once in 2 months 1 2 3 >3Junior Horlicks once in 2 months 1 2 3 >3Women’s Horlicks once in 2 months 1 2 3 >3Horlicks Lite once in 2 months 1 2 3 >38) Will you continue to buy the product ? Please tick the appropriate option : 29

30. Yes No Can’t sayIf yes, please tick the characteristics of the respective products that encourage you to buy theproduct frequently : Product→ Horlicks Junior Women’s Horlicks Chocolate Characteristics↓ Horlicks Horlicks Lite Horlicks Price Taste Quality(Benifits) Brand(This will analyse the reason of repeat purchase and weather it tally with the charecters assigned tothe respective variants.)If no, please tick the characteristics of the respective products that discourage you to buy theproduct : Product→ Horlicks Junior Women’s Horlicks Chocolate Not Aware Characteristics↓ Horlicks Horlicks Lite Horlicks Price Taste Quality(Feature) Brand 30

31. Phase III 31 32. HypothesisIs the product segmentation strategy working for Horlicks ?Horlicks

started with a single product i.e. “malted milk drink”, but gradually expanded itsmarket with consumer specific products. They were the first to convert the malt drink to ahealth drink. They segmented their consumers by introducing Junior Horlicks, Women’sHorlicks and Horlicks Lite to the basket. These products are giving strong competition to therespective market leaders. Data AnalysisSample size : 100 Horlicks consumers. 32

33. We have taken a sample size of 100 Horlicks consumers, along with their family members.We have surveyed them on the following parameters : • Product awareness (general) • Product feature awareness • Use of variant’s • Purchase frequency • Consumer loyalty • Consumer feedbackAfter the survey of these 100 Horlicks consumers, we shall proceed to answer ourhypothesis i.e. prove the hypothesis. Product awareness (variants) 33

34. We questioned the consumers on their awareness of the variants of the motherproduct Horlicks. From the results we infer that the marketing strategy of GSK forthe variants of horlicks has been successful and they have managed to widen theHorlicks umbrella. 34

35. Product awareness (feature) After this we questioned the consumers about the unique features of the specific variants of Horlicks. The results clearly show that GSK

has been successful in conveying the message of the uniqueness of the variants. This is shown as in case of Junior Horlicks maximum no of consumers know of its DHA property. Similarly both Women’s Horlicks and Horlicks Lite have made consumers aware of their unique features. 35

36. Use of variant’s 36 37. Horlicks had positioned its variants with respect to the age groups of the target

audience.From the results we see that Junior Horlicks is popular in the age groups one to five andalso six to eighteen. Also chocolate Horlicks has wide acceptance amongst kids and adultsfor its taste. While Women’s Horlicks and Horlicks lite have found acceptance amongstadults and senior citizens.Purchase frequency 37

38. We now asked the consumer on the frequency of purchase (fig in months). From theresults we clearly see that Horlicks products are purchased regularly once in two months oronce in a month. The flagship product Horlicks is done, with a large no of consumerspurchasing once a month, while the variant’s are not that far behind with healthy numberof consumers purchasing once a month. So it can be said that the variants have successfullymade it of the homemakers shopping list. 38

39. Consumer loyalty and feedback 39 40. We finally concluded our survey by asking two important questions, will you

continue tobuy the product? And what factors of the product influenced you for its purchase?The data for the first question is represented in the pie chart, which shows that 91% of thesurveyed consumers will continue to buy the product. For the second question the data isshown in the bar graph, here we can infer that of the four attributes benefits and brand arethe key ones that encourage consumers for the purchase of the product. The onlyexception being Chocolate Horlicks whose attribute is taste. Conclusion From the results it can be inferred that the segmentation of Horlicks has been successful. In accordance to the mother product the different variants are gradually making their way to become the expertise it their respective segments. GSK have been successful to generate the awareness of the individual variants to the consumers mind. From the purchase frequency, it is clear that the sales have been boosted up by the fair contribution of the different variants. GSK has been successful to read the consumers and design the variants for each group. The results show the acceptance of the consumers towards the success of the segmentation venture. 40

Horlicks is a health drink brand existing in India since decades. Horlicks holds 50% market share of milk beverage market of India that is around 2300 crore (source: The Nielsen Company). GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare is a proud owner of such a strong brand. The brand has created such a great entry barrier that other big players like Nestle and Dabur have got a hit.. Nestlé has stopped making Milo and new entrant Dabur India has decided to stay clear of Horlicks and pitch its Chyawan Junior against GSK Consumer Healthcare’s other beverage brand, Boost.

One of the important reasons of Horlicks domination since years is because of constant innovation not intems of product only but also marketing. GSK Consumer Healthcare has decided to use the brand to get into new categories. In the last few months, it has launched biscuits for children, a nutrition drink for women, an energy bar and chilled milk.

The crazy thing is that Nestle and Dabur fell into the trap of Horlicks. It is GSK who dictates terms, all these new categories always existed in the market and GSK identified the market gap and filled it with its new product line. GSK is fully utilizing the strong brand equity of Horlicks to promote its new products and now Horlicks is India’s 6th trusted brand.

When marketers see saturation in the market, they have either two choices one expand the market second increase the usage of its existing products. As of now Horlicks is banking on the first strategy and that is very obvious Young kids would like to continue with Horlicks when they grow older.. As increasing the usage is very difficult. Again, five years ago, GSK Consumer Healthcare had reached out to pregnant and lactating mothers with Mother’s Horlicks; last year it came up with Women’s Horlicks catering for women across age groups.There’s Horlicks Lite for the elderly who often have a sugar problem and for the youth there is Horlicks Nutribar

With Horlicks Nutribar, positioned on the twin planks of health and convenience, GSK Consumer Healthcare has leveraged the brand to venture into an entirely new product category — energy cereal bars. A strong brand, opens up doors to new variants and even new categories.

In 2003, the brand was revamped: It was made tastier and launched in two new flavours — vanilla and honey. The company had earlier launched a chocolate version to try and win over consumers in the North and West who typically prefer chocolate-flavoured drinks. Not just higher tonnage, the company does succeed in extracting a price from consumers. In January this year, for instance, prices were upped by about 5 per cent. But it has been seen that parents in India can spend to maximum limit on two things Child’s nutrition and education. Horlicks cover the first part.

Horlicks has used media mix to its full capacity to reach out to every customer be it TV, radio, Print, Point of sales etc. Now it seems the next big task and if it succeeds, Horlicks would become the biggest brand in India is to sell Horlicks in rural India and make every villager drink Horlicks Milk.

REVITALISING WOMEN'S HORLICKS IN INDIA Faculty Contributor: Moutusi Maity, Ex-Faculty

Student Contributors: Arunava Saha Dalal, Giridhar Rao B.G., Navneet Chahal, Rohini Ramachandran, Suraj Holla Byndoor

Women's Horlicks is India's first health drink designed specifically for women's nutritional needs. It targets a hitherto untapped segment as identified by GSKCH (GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare), namely, health conscious urban working women, in metros and mini-metros, leading hectic lives balancing career and family. Women's Horlicks seemed to have all the elements necessary for success. And yet, at present, sales appear to be flagging, a seeming contradiction that presents an intriguing case for analysis.

To many of us, the name 'Horlicks' is entwined with memories of childhood - of getting up in the mornings and gulping down a glass before running to school, or coming back exhausted from a hard evening's play only to be rejuvenated by it. Since its creation by the Horlicks brothers in 1873 (originally intended as an artificial infant food), it has undergone numerous transformations. Though the first factory in India was built only in 1960, it soon became the biggest market for Horlicks1. Despite its popularity however, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Health Care (GSKCH), which manufactures Horlicks, has taken care to ensure that the product does not stagnate.

It underwent a revamp in 2003 with the introduction of flavours like Vanilla, Toffee, Elaichi and Chocolate to satisfy the discerning palate. What is perhaps more interesting, however, is GSKCH's strategy to segment the Indian market and to produce variants to satisfy each segment's unique needs. This is exemplified by products like Junior Horlicks, for pre-schoolers, Horlicks Lite, for health conscious adults and diabetics, and Mother's Horlicks, for pregnant and breast feeding women. In each case, GSKCH has striven to create a distinct and appealing image.

Women's Horlicks - What is New About It? The latest case in point is the recently introduced Women's Horlicks. The basic marketing mix of Women's Horlicks is shown in Exhibit 1. GSKCH's latest offering is targeted specifically at the modern urban Indian woman who is historically known for putting everyone else ahead of herself. Women's Horlicks is designed to specifically address the health needs of women providing 100% of the daily requirement of iron, calcium, folate and vitamins B2, B6, B12, and C2. The target segment therefore consists of health conscious urban working women, in metros and mini-metros, between the ages 19-50, leading hectic lives focusing on career and family and hence not able to take care of themselves in the bargain.

 

Exhibit 1. Marketing Mix of Women's Horlicks In order to highlight its nutritional aspect, GSKCH is promoting the product both through traditional print and TV media, and also by enlisting the support of professionals in the medical field. In a brilliant casting choice, eschewing the current glamour dolls of Bollywood, Konkana Sen Sharma was selected as the face of the urban Indian woman of today, balancing career and home, a choice sure to resonate with most women. This, combined with the baseline, "Because your

body needs you too!", starkly elegant in its very simplicity, captures the essence of the brand image GSK is trying to build.

GSKCH also introduced a Doctor Engagement Program wherein the company reaches out to physicians, dieticians and nutritionists to educate them about the product. This in turn, would hopefully lead to an official or at the very least, unofficial, product endorsement by these professionals. Their core strategy lies in grabbing the mind space of the consumers, rather than following the more traditional hard-sell route.

Reasons Behind the Failure of Women's Horlicks Women's Horlicks appeared to have a hit combination - a winning brand, a double-edged promotional campaign, an excellent distribution system already in place, courtesy the other Horlicks variants and a well-established brand name. In spite of these advantages, it has not been able to make an inroad into the Indian health drinks market. This failure could be attributed to a number of strategic causes. To get a better understanding, we conducted a survey. The results, from 50 respondents, are shown in Exhibit 2.

 

Exhibit 2. Is the price of Women's Horlicks justified? Price The product is perceived to be expensive by the customers surveyed. Women's Horlicks is available in a 200 gm jar, which costs Rs.100 while traditional Horlicks is priced at Rs.124 for 500 gm3. This disparity in cost might be due to the special formula that is used to prepare Women's Horlicks but primary research showed that the consumers perceive the price difference negatively. The fact that the retailer's margins for this product is higher compared to that of similar products seems to further validate this perception. It can also be interpolated that at all stages of the value chain the margins might be in a similar range. This translates to an expensive product and results in lower sales.

Packaging

Moreover, one of the most important facts discovered through the primary research was that when customers opened the container for the first time after purchase, they were disappointed with the amount (volume) of Women's Horlicks in the container. They felt cheated and swindled. In other words, the container for the product was disproportionately large for its actual content. This only served to add to the existing perception that the product is over-priced and deterred future purchases of the product.

Taste Finally, the primary research also brought to light another revealing fact4. Women place an enormous amount of emphasis on taste even for health product as can be seen in Exhibit 3. Now, Women's Horlicks and regular Horlicks are fairly similar in taste; therefore, women inadvertently do not perceive a difference between the two products and hence do not find any justification to buy the more expensive product.

 

Exhibit 3 Most Important Feature of Health Drinks Place The combined effect of all these factors has led to sales figures significantly lower than predicted and with no signs of improvement in the near future. Possibly due to this lack of demand, Women's Horlicks is not easily available in all supermarkets and retail stores, further exacerbating the situation. Even where available, it is usually relegated to the bottom shelf, resulting in minimal visibility.

Sales are low, especially in comparison with other Horlicks products. Thus, despite its high retailer margins, retailers are not enthusiastic to carry the product at their stores, implying that lost sales aren't significant enough i.e. they don't expect sales to increase significantly.

What Can Women's Horlicks do to Revive Itself? Based on our analysis we believe that GSKCH could consider adopting the following strategies to turn around the fate of Women's Horlicks.

Price Rationalization

The sales of Women's Horlicks are lower compared to that of regular Horlicks and Junior Horlicks and consequently retailers hardly have an incentive to push the product. This is despite the fact that retailer margins on Women's Horlicks are higher than the industry average. Since our study indicates that there is a general perception about the product being pricey, GSKCH should consider reducing retailer margin in order to bring down the MRP slightly and thus boost sales.

Alternate Packaging One of the striking revelations of our study is that people perceive a mismatch between the size of the container and the volume of Women's Horlicks actually contained. This adds to the existing perception that the product is expensive and deters future purchases of the product. A change in packaging is therefore recommended, more specifically, reducing the container size to make it better aligned with the actual quantity inside it. Alternatively, GSK could consider increasing the volume contained in each jar. This would improve people's perceptions of the product's value-for-money, though at a cost of reduced profits per container.

Push Marketing Strategy GSK did a fantastic job of TV advertisements to promote the Women's Horlicks brand. As a result brand awareness and brand recognition among the sample target population is fairly high. However, a very small percentage of this has translated into actual sales. This calls for an aggressive push strategy, because although awareness is already very high due to extensive TV communications, potential consumers have not experienced the product.

Aggressive Trade Promotions GSK being the market leader in the health drinks industry could pursue an aggressive promotional strategy to give a free small trial pack of Women's Horlicks (approx. 50 Gms) with two large jars of any other GSK product line health drink. Such a lucrative offer will stimulate purchases on the part of the consumers and would increase the probability of it entering their consideration set the next time they make a purchase.

Revamp Taste Consumers, especially women consider the taste of health drinks as a primary determining factor while choosing one. In this aspect Women's Horlicks has failed to create any differentiation, as consumers perceive no significant taste difference between Regular Horlicks and Women's Horlicks. This factor also results in cannibalization of Women's Horlicks sales, as the regular Horlicks is relatively cheaper. Therefore, a strategy to reconsider the taste so as to introduce it as a differentiating factor is recommended. A completely new flavour, associated only with Women's Horlicks, should be developed which consumers should perceive positively.

Conclusion: Is Women's Horlicks Ahead of Its Time? There seems to be a disconnect between the intended core message of Women's Horlicks and the interpretations made by the target consumers. While the key emphasis appears to be the health aspect, from a consumer perspective, substantial differentiation from other Horlicks products appears to be absent. In addition, women in India generally consume health drinks when they are ill or during pregnancy. Since Horlicks already has a product for pregnant women, it is possible that it could cannibalize into Women's Horlicks' market. It is therefore open to debate whether Women's Horlicks is ahead of its time in the Indian market. There is possibly a latent need for the product but at present Women's Horlicks hasn't been able to expose that perceived need and satisfy it.

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