Colgate has done that what even monopoly brands like Maruti and Nokia couldn’t do so far. First time in the history, a brand has achieved 50% plus market share in a highly competitive market like India. Colgate Palmolive India’s market share in toothpaste market is now 54.5%, which is a rare achievement for any brand.
Colgate has made the note worthy achievement in a highly competitive cluttered market when monopoly brands like Maruti and Nokia is losing pie of their market share. While the automaker Maruti’s share is well below 50%, Nokia, the connector of the world is encountering a cutting edge competition from its rival Samsung.
What helped the Colgate to achieve its highest since 1988 is its aggressive marketing, a steep increase in advertisement spending almost by 32 % and introduction of new variants across various consumer segments coupled with a strong leadership team lead by three women.
According to the opinion of Prabha Parmeswaran, Managing Director of Colgate Palmolive, the company is confident about its future growth and strategies and the achievement in a cluttered market like oral care where product differentiation is almost impossible adds to that extra feather to their hat!! (Courtesy: economictimes.com)
Colgate with its innovative products in oral care segment where product differentiation is almost difficult has managed to make its oral care segment to account for 80% of the total sales.
Well, the success of the brand can also be attributed to its capability in creating a sub-category in the oral segment, mouthwash and sensitive oral care. The mouthwash brand Plax has played a major role in increasing Colgate’s market share.
Another success of the brand is its strong distribution network. Colgate can boast of owning one of the widest networks in the country touching about 4.5 miilion retail outlets.
However there is a big threat for Colgate from HUL’s Pepsodent and Close-Up. HUL’s is also into aggressive marketing of their oral care brand Pepsodent with the help of Bollywood King Khan, Sharukh Khan….. also, GSK’s Aquafresh and Sensodyne toothpaste too can make the biggies stand on the toes.
