Pampers Develops a Rash of Market Share free essay sample

In 1996, P G spent $48 million on diaper promotions. The company spent $8 million to add breathable side panels to its Pampers Premium brand. The panel strips allowed air to flow into the diaper without any leakage, and were supposed to lower the humidity in the diaper, thus reducing diaper rash. In 1997, Huggies continued to lead the market, especially with Huggies ‘Pull-Up Training Pants holding a 10 percent market share. The Huggies brand was largely responsible for much of Kimberly – Clark’s lead over Proctor Gamble. Kimberly-Clark’s strategy was to segment the market with new niche products, and the strategy worked very well. Huggies overnights, diapers for overnight use, and Huggies Pull-Ups Good Nites, diapers for older children who wet the bed, were new introductions that catered to specific segments of the market. The company was testing Huggies Little Swimmers Swim-Pants; diapers designed to withstand swimming, and began nationwide marketing of the product in 1998. We will write a custom essay sample on Pampers Develops a Rash of Market Share or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page In 1997, Proctor Gamble preceded its rival in introducing a product that addressed a new concern among consumers – skin care. P G rolled out another innovation in diapers which was diaper linning that was actually good for the baby’s skin with Pampers Gentle Touch lining, backed by a $25 million promotional campaign. The lining contained a special blend of three skin-soothing chemicals that transfer to the baby’s skin evenly. Pampers continued its focus on skincare with the introduction of Pampers Rash Guard in late 1999. Tests have shown that the formulation of zinc oxide and Petrolatum used in the diaper lining reduces diaper rash without interfering with moving moisture away from the baby’s skin. These innovations have proven very successful for P G. Information Resources, Inc. listed pampers Rash Guard as number nine on its list of the â€Å"top 10 best selling new products in the consumer packaged goods industry for 1999-2000. † During the 52 weeks following the introduction of the product, sales reached $97. 2 million. Likewise, P G made new introductions under the Luvs brand. In 2000 Luvs Splashwear was introduced to provide consumers with a diaper babies could use in the pool. In 2001 Luvs Overnights were introduced for babies that needed improved leakage performance overnight. In 2002 SleepDrys from Luvs were introduced for children 4 and up that wet the bed. In the beginning of 2002, both P G and Kimberly-Clark had some unique product fetures that the competing brand was not offering. For example, Kimberly-Clark was marketing a Pull-Ups brand diaper that was targeting mothers with toddlers who were going through potty training. The disposable training diaper could be pulled on and off like regular underwear, but still had the absorbency features of a diaper. Kimberly – Clark was also offering Good Nites brand disposable underpants for older children who wet the bed. P G had a unique hold on the skin care market with their Pampers Rash Guard Diaper, and had just introduced a Pampers Baby Dry brand with Quick Grip sides that could be fastened and re-fastened to get a perfect fit. Both Kimberly-Clark and Proctor Gamble were offering swimming diapers, overnight diapers with extra absorbency, and diapers with added stretch for a better fit, and premium top of the line diapers. To remain on the cutting edge of customers needs, Proctor Gamble needs to continue to seek out and address exactly what consumers are searching for n a diaper before any rival, as the firm did by introducing the Pampers Gentle Touch lining. Thus, the use of marketing research may be the key to enabling P G to regain leadership in the diaper market. In this increasingly competitive diaper market, P G’s marketing department desired to formulate new approaches to the construction and marketing of Pampers to position them effectively against Huggies without cannibalizin g Luvs. To do so, 300 mothers of infants were surveyed. Each was given a randomly selected brand of diaper (either Pampers, Luvs, or Huggies) and asked to rate that diaper on nine Diaper ratings on the nine attributes were also obtained on seven –point Likert type scales (1 = Very Unfavorable; 7 = Very Favorable). The study was designed so that each of the tree brands appeared 100 times. The goal of the study was to learn which attributes of diapers were most important in influencing purchase preference (Y). The nine attributes used in the study were: VariableAttributeMarketing Options X1Count per boxDesire large counts per box ? X2PricePay a premium price ? X3ValuePromote high value? X4SkincareOffer high degree of skin care? X5StylePrints / colors vs. plain diapers