Assignment on Horlicks

INTRODUCTION

Horlicks is a name of the company and of a malted milk hot drink. It is manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline in the United Kingdom, South Africa, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Pakisthan, India and Jamaica. Horlicks came to India with British army. British army gave them as a Diet Supplement in the time of World War 1 and then took this as a family drink. It became a sort of status symbol of upper class Indians and middle classes.

In recent years, there has been an increase in the scope of the brand in India. Horlicks has become an umbrella brand for a wide variety of products. Now Horlicks is a leading health drink of India for all aged groups.

SEGMENTATION & TARGETING

Horlicks introduced a wide varieties of product to india. Horlicks meant everything to everybody. It was a health drink that every one consumed. Right from small children to very elderly people Horlicks realized this and came out with its new versions of different horlicks to different customers.

Horlicks differentiated the product as follows; Horlicks Junior It is for Pre-school children. Keeping the targeted customers in mind the packaging is cute and package has a picture of a small elephant which is very exciting for small children’s Horlicks Regular It is for General use. Regular Horlicks is a health drink of people of all ages. The packaging is contemporary and has great visuals to attract children and the young adults. Horlicks Mothers It is special nutritional drink with 26 vital nutrients designed keeping the specific needs of the pregnant and breast feeding women.

The packaging is very interesting. It is shaped like an hour’s glass Horlicks Lite and Lite bite A nutritional drink and snack specially designed for all health conscious adults and is also suitable for use by people with diabetes. The packaging again is interesting. The horlicks lite is thin and tall. The Horlicks proves that segmentation could very efficient way of holding on and even increasing one’s market share. What is needed is clear focus and clever innovations in adapting product and changing the needs of customers.

POSITIONING & RE-POSITIONING

It was initially introduced both a substitute & an additive to milk and it was initially positioned itself as “as food for convalescing”& a nutrient supplement for kids only. Re-Positioning From a boring nutritional drink, GSK positioned Horlicks as “Pleasurable Nourishment” by launching it in vanilla, chocolate and honey variants. It introduced other variants like-Jr. Horlicks, Women’s Horlicks, Mother Horlicks& Horlicks Lite to reposition itself from the children segment to other segment for consumption. Marketing Mix (4 p’s) for Horlicks Product:

Horlicks is a widely regarded and highly respected 130-year-old brand. GSK has four brands in the health food drinks segment. Apart from Horlicks, which contributes Rs 600 crores in revenue to the consumer healthcare division, it has Boost, Maltova and Viva – the last three are much smaller brands than Horlicks. Faced with stagnating sales in the health food drinks segment, the company has chalked out an aggressive brand push strategy and a revamp for its flagship brand, Horlicks. The relaunch aims to focus on children as Horlicks was previously considered as a nourishment drink for old people.

The company expects Horlicks contribution to the total turnover to be around Rs 800 crore which amounts to a major chunk of the company’s turnover. Horlicks is a nourishing malted food drink which combines the wholesome goodness of malted barley, wheat and dairy ingredients. A For more nourishment, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare India Ltd (GSKCH) has relaunched its flagship brand Horlicks. A to enable consumers choose different flavours, Horlicks is now available in Regular, Chocolate, Creamy Vanilla and Honey Buzz varieties in a new package.

This is probably because whites–whose growth rate is faster than the browns–have the added advantage of being perceived as food which enhances the healthy image of those who are recovering. But gradually they realized that they have to focus on one segment of market that is children. Horlicks is now positioned as a pleasurable nourishment drink aimed at children between the age group of 8 -14. Nowadays children have tremendous influence on the things purchased for the family and therefore we want children to prefer Horlicks as a pleasurable nourishment drink.

While all the action will be in the general Horlicks segment, the focus of Junior Horlicks (target segment: kids between one and three) will continue to remain the same. Promotion: The company has earmarked around Rs 10 crores for brand promotion throughout 2003, and 70% of this will be spent in next six months. Sixty-five per cent of the ad-spend (around Rs 10 crores) will be for the visual medium and the balance for the print and others. Apart from the high-decibel media campaign, the company also plans to conduct an inter-school competition called Activity 2003 in which around 1. million students are expected to take part.

Unlike its other drink (the Rs 170-crore Boost, promoted by Sachin Tendulkar); the new Horlicks does not have a brand ambassador. While all the action will be in the general Horlicks segment, the focus of Junior Horlicks (target segment: kids between one and three) will continue to remain the same. The brand will continue to talk to the mother since the purchase decision rests with her. Place: It has a strong marketing network in India comprising over 1800 wholesalers and direct coverage of over 4,00,000 retail outlets.

Horlicks sales have been strong in the south and eastern markets which contributes about 46 per cent and 47 per cent of the total sales. Milk-deficient South and East preferred white liquid powders (Horlicks, Viva, and Complan) as the drink could be prepared with hot water.

SWOT ANALYSIS STRENGTH

• It is current No: 1 position in the market
• Variety of product targeting different segments
• Trusted brand
• ‘Health’ is the central idea for all the products of horlicks
• All the products of Horlicks belong to different categories which will not kill the market of its own product.

WEAKNESS

• Customer perceived value of Women’s Horlicks
• Price of Women’s Horlicks
• Packaging of Women Horlicks Opportunities
• Making Nutribar individual brand without the endorsement of Horlicks
• Creating functional food category with the help of Nutribar (functional foods are those Health foods like energy drinks, cereals and cereal bars which contain health promote ingredients. )
• The market for functional foods in India is estimated to be around Rs 1700 crores and is growing very fast.

THREAT

• Cheaper version of Horlicks that is ASHA may damage the brand.