The South African Laundry and Fabric Care Industry

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that, identifying the best approach to providing the consumers of South Africa with laundry detergents and fabric care products, which meet their unique needs, is a significantly more critical than for most of their Western counterparts. The reason given is because water supply and safety issues in South Africa remain a major health concern and government programs to address this issue have not yet been successful. The author points out that, although the market for soaps continued to be dominated by Lever, Olivine and Colgate-Palmolive, the growing popularity of other toiletry lines created opportunities for large local firms, such as the Central African Pharmaceutical Suppliers (CAPS), and other smaller firms, such as Robins Remedies and Stobard & Wesley, and multinationals like Ponds and Boots. The paper outlines the methodology for the proposed study including (1) focus groups about South African habits and practices to understand consumer needs, behaviors and attitudes in the detergent markets; (2) AC Nielsen share (volume and value) data of the South African detergent market in the past 5 years to determine market size, splits, trends and overall performance by key players; (3) Porter's 5 Forces model to analyze the industry sector; (4) a company analysis of Unilever using data from their annual reports in order to understand marketing spending, trends and overall investment strategies and (5) an evaluation of successful marketing campaigns and strategies in markets with similar market demographics by other leading detergent companies to understand winning formulas in other markets. Illustration, charts and tables.

Table of Contents
Introduction
Importance and Rationale of Study
Scope of Study
Review of Related Literature
Background and Overview
South Africa Today
Unilever Today
Corporate Strategy at Unilever
Shift from Mono Branding to House Branding
Eliminate Furtive Branding Techniques in Favor of Corporate Branding
Porter's Five Forces Analysis
The Relative Strength of Buyers or Customers
The Relative Strength of Suppliers
Ease of Entry of New Competitors
Availability of Substitutes
Rivalry between Competing Firms
Methodology
Description of the Study Approach

From the Paper:

"In researching the South African detergent industry and its growth potential one cannot discountenance the impact of the huge Unilever conglomerate in the market. The South African detergent industry is one of the most established in the developing world, dating back to 1887 when William Lever, the founder of Lever Brothers, registered the Sunlight trademark. His first visit to South Africa in 1895 was to an under-developed country crippled by drought with poor communications and few skills. However, he believed products would ultimately be manufactured locally. Initially, this was not viable as tariffs on imported vegetable oils were considerably higher than those on imported soaps. As a result, consignments of Sunlight, the first wrapped and branded soap, were shipped to South Africa. From 1912 to the late 80's the detergent industry in South Africa grew driven by massive investments by the Unilever company."

More papers on The South African Laundry and Fabric Care Industry:

• Essay # 59808 : "The Laundry and Fabric Care Industry"
• Essay # 27740 : "The South African Market"
• Essay # 44901 : "The South African Constitution."

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: