Procter & Gamble was founded in the United States in 1837. The company prospered during the 19th century and is now the world's biggest manufacturer of packaged consumer goods and a global leader in six main categories: laundry and cleaning (detergents), paper goods (toilet paper), beauty care (cosmetics, shampoos), food and beverages (coffee, snacks), feminine care (sanitary towels) and health care (toothpaste, medicine). On an average, P&G brands touch the lives, skins or hairs of people around the world about two billion times a day. In fact, the company has one of the largest and strongest portfolios of trusted, quality brands, including Pampers®, Tide®, Ariel®, Always®, Whisper®, Pantene®, Bounty®, Pringles®, Folgers®, Charmin®, Downy®, Lenor®, Iams®, Crest®, Actonel®, Olay® and Clairol Nice 'n Easy®. The P&G community consists of nearly 98,000 employees working in almost 80 countries worldwide. There is great potential in this market due to economic growth and increased living standards. This paper will mostly focus on the scope for P&G to launch the 2-in-1 shampoo "Pert Plus" on the Pan-European market. The Pan-European market is the European market. Thus this relates to all the nations of Europe.
[...] In France, Elseve (L'Oréal) is the leader, in value-speaking, with shares, but the real leader is Palmolive (Colgate) with in value and in volume. In Scandinavia, main competitors are Timotei (Unilever) with in value and 7.5 in volume and Elseve (L'Oreal) with in value and in volume. Concerning Benelux, the main competitor is Palmolive (Colgate) with in value and in volume. We notice that the main competitors of P&G in the Pan-European shampoo market are Unilever with Timotei, Colgate with Palmolive and L'Oreal with Elseve. [...]
[...] If the company launches the product as Pert Plus or BC 18, consumers will have to accept a new brand and change their ways of consumption. P&G also has to consider the fact of introducing this product in Europe and even in the US. The size of the bottle is another important parameter to consider, because it is relative to the price Place Procter&Gamble uses these levels of distribution for Pert Plus in the US, and it will be the same in Europe. [...]
[...] It is positioned in the upper market segment and has the established image of a high quality product; it would give quality to the new Pert Plus product. P&G is able to start selling its product right away if it uses the U.S. bottle size of 200ml. This is a good opportunity for the company as it will be able to see how the market is reacting to the new product and whether or not sales are reaching expectations. Design of a new 250ml bottle should nevertheless start right away and it should be introduced as soon as possible to be able to reap in the benefits of economies of scale. [...]
[...] But end users would prefer to buy a 2-in-1 product instead of a specific conditioner because it's cheaper and easier to use. The bargaining power of customers is medium. Actually they can affect the product and the price by choosing another one. “They choose with their pockets”. The brand is extremely important. So brand management must be very efficient. Moreover, customers are very sensitive to price and substitutes are readily available (single conditioner product). There is another threat to consider. [...]
[...] And if people are already educated, it means less advertising costs for Procter&Gamble. We know that the principal target include people who had not used a conditioner before, but it's better to launch a product in a country where the mode of consumption is in accordance with the product, so that the roll- out to the other countries can be made if the market fit well. Moreover, in Great Britain, the close relationship between this country and the United States of America will make facilities easier than with other countries, for exportation, specific license, etc. [...]
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