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HUL pureit case study
Q1. What was so compelling for HUL to develop a product like Pureit? What factors accounted for its success? According to data, in 2010, around two billion people in the world lacked access to safe water. In India, only 60% of drinking water resources (ground and surface water) were usable; the rest were contaminated by excessive levels of salinity, fluoride, arsenic, iron, nitrate, sewage, industry effluents and agrochemicals. On the other hand, the average requirement for a person is 3 liters of drinking water per day. The unawareness and lack of education was the main key factor for the high number of deaths due to drinking unsafe water. All these factors led to the development of Pureit as there was a huge market in front of them. The factors accounted for the success of the product are as follows: 1. There had explore the needs of the public and develop various products for each income class. 2. They had no competitors at the time of launch. 3. They introduced the non-electric water purifier, which gets accessible for those areas where power cut is frequent. 4. They launched the products for customers of all domains with products like Classic and Marvella. 5. HUL was the first to launch the product with advanced technologies like RO and UV that protected water from viruses, bacteria’s and parasites. Q2. Explain the product portfolio of Pureit? How would you explain the rationale for current offerings of the company? Pureit had a total of four variants, which re for every section of the society. These four products are as follows: 1. Classic- The water purifier of only $44 is mainly for lower section and it has capacity of 23 Liters. But the biggest disadvantage is its manual filling of water in the device. 2. Auto Fill- The problem of manual filling is removed in this device and it can be connected to the running water source. The capacity of this device is also 23 liters but it cost around $70. 3. Compact- It is the cheapest water purifier and is available at only $22.It has the capacity of 15 liters only. 4. Marvella- India’s first fully automatic product with sleek and aesthetic design targeting the higher segment audience and priced at 150$. This product was a revolution as it worked without electricity, was fully automatic and many other extraordinary features. It has been a great strategy for Pureit as it has checked almost all the boxes, it has products for the lower segments, middle class and higher-class segment of the society. It has the most basic product as well as the most aesthetic and advanced product. As HUL is already taken care of public of Indian. So, they also they had launched the water purifier for each section of the society. Q3) What was so special about the Water Team that enabled the success of the project? The water team was headed by Mr. Yuri Jain. The water team works like the start-up. There was an innovation team, a partner function team and a business team. They had several cross-functional teams, and retained keen members for long periods of time, without allowing them to move to different verticals, as was the norm in HUL. Also, they directly reported to the CEO, and hence did not have to go through multiple levels for seeking approvals and changes. Apart from cash and career, which most professionals look for, the water team was also very keen on "cause", which helped motivate them. Q4) How would you interpret the consumer behaviour? In India, most of the people preferred the use of boiling technology for water purification, hence it was difficult to attract customers in the starting phases. Consumers do not believe the water is clean, until it is clear, odorless and has a neutral taste. The study of consumer behaviour includes: 1. The direct to home demonstration helps in showing the practical difference between boiled water, tap water and the water of HUL pureit. This helps in increasing awareness among the people. 2. It will help in influencing others also as the society is affected by their near ones. They also came to know about the benefits of pureit. 3. Advertisement, campaigns and roadshows help to understand the behaviour of people and able to get the feedback of the existing customers too. 4. HUL has adopted strategies like go-to- market strategy, direct to home demonstration, doctor’s partnership program, retail channel and partnership channel. Q5. Explain the competitive scenario in the product segment? The segment initially did not have much competition with only a few players like EFL, Ion Exchange, Philips etc. operating with the UV and RO systems. However, when the product Classic was launched by HUL at $44, the Tata Group planned to launched a $22 product for water purification. Thereafter, HUL also launched the Compact product at 22$ and was launched before Tata’s product launch. Key competitors like Philips, Eureka, Whirlpool were focused only on the top segment of the society, however Pureit focused on all the segments, hence giving them an edge. There were strong domestic players like Godrej that entered the market as well. Procter and Gamble had a strong Indian presence and had one of the best technologically advanced product. .
Prateek Gupta