Buying Behavior of Dove Shampoo Users in Bangladesh

Buying Behavior of Dove Shampoo Users in Bangladesh

Prepared for:
Mr. Md. Iftekharul Amin
Assistant Professor
Institute of Business Administration
University of Dhaka

Submitted by:
Anika Tashfia | RH-16
Nadia Afroze Disha | RH-22
Koneta Sara | RH-58
Hosney Mobarok Fahad | ZR-82
BBA 22nd

Course Title : Consumer Behavior

Course Code : M402

Date of Submission : May 9, 2017

Institute of Business Administration

University of Dhaka
Letter of Transmittal

May 9, 2017
Iftekharul Amin
Lecturer,
Institute of Business Administration
Dhaka University.

Subject: Submission of Term Paper on Buying Behavior of Dove Shampoo Users in

Bangladesh.

Dear Sir,
We are very delighted to present you our final term paper “Buying Behavior of Dove Shampoo
Users in Bangladesh” that has been assigned to us as a part of our Consumer Behavior Course.
We are grateful for the opportunity that you have given us.

While working on the term paper, we have learnt a lot about how consumers use their
perspectives to purchase a certain brand of shampoo or hair care products and how various
factors affect their decision making process.

We hope we have been able to live up to your expectations from us through this report.

Sincerely yours,
Anika Tashfia (RH-16)
Nadia Afroze Disha (RH-22)
Koneta Sara (RH-58)
Hosney Mobarok Fahad (ZR-82)
Acknowledgment

First of all, we thank Allah for everything and especially for giving us strength and health we
needed to complete our Consumer Behavior project.

We (Anika Tashfia, Nadia Afroze Disha, Koneta Sara and Hosney Mobarok Fahad) have used
our best endeavors in the completion of this term paper. However, it would not have been
possible without the kind support and help of a number of individuals. We would like to extend
our sincere thanks to all of them.

First of all, we would like to offer our deepest gratitude to our honourable teacher Mr. Iftekharul
Amin for giving us such a good topic to work on for our assignment. His highly effective and
interesting teaching method has made it easier for us to have a sound and comprehensive idea of
the respective course materials throughout the whole semester. His constant guidance and
willingness to share his vast knowledge have given us a clearer understanding of what we needed
to do to complete the assigned tasks. Honestly, we could not have imagined a better faculty for
this course.

Our sincere thanks goes to all other friends for helping us with our survey and giving us moral
support and encouragement at the time of working on this project.

Last but not least, we would like to thank our family members, especially our parents for
providing us with everything that we needed to come this far in our life.
Table of Contents
Executive Summary
Introduction

There are 80 million beautiful women in Bangladesh. Women of all ages, shapes, sizes and
skin tones. Yet, as a society, we’re often led to believe in a very limited idea of beauty. And
while youthful looks, fair skin, long black flowing hair and a trim figure are some ways to
express beauty – they are not the only ways. With everyone’s help, Dove promises to
represent the true diversity of beauty in Bangladesh and empower every woman to realise
her personal beauty potential. Together, Dove can break the rules and change the face of
beauty. Dove does not believe that the 80 million women living in Bangladesh can possibly
be represented by just one beauty ideal. Ours is a country rich in diversity and that’s
something we can all be proud of, especially when it comes to beauty.

Company Overview
Unilever Bangladesh

Unilever Bangladesh Limited, a fast moving consumer goods company, engages in the manufacture and
distribution of home care products, personal care products, and foods. It offers household care, fabric
cleaning, skin cleansing, skin care, oral care, hair care, and personal grooming products, as well as tea
based beverages. The company was formerly known as Lever Brothers Bangladesh Ltd. and changed its
name in December 2004. Unilever Bangladesh Limited was founded in 1964 and is based in Dhaka,
Bangladesh. Unilever Bangladesh Limited operates as a subsidiary of Unilever plc. It is a Joint Venture
of the Government of Bangladesh and Unilever.[1] Unilever holds 60.4 per cent and Government of
Bangladesh holds 39.6 of the share. On any day, 2.5 billion people use Unilever products to look
good, feel good and get more out of life – giving us a unique opportunity to build a brighter
future.

The year 1964 marked a new beginning for Kalurghat in Chittagong. It was in this year that
Unilever Pakistan Ltd a subsidiary of Unilever, the Anglo Dutch Consumer goods Company,
decided to establish a manufacturing unit in Kalurghat. Unilever started its quest to contribute to
enhance the quality of human life, not confining its mission to produce quality branded products,
but also providing opportunities of employment, developing ancillary industries, protecting the
environment, and propagating community development through social contributions.
In 1964, Unilever started producing mechanized soaps, thus ushering industrialization in the
area. Productions started off with Sunlight soap and Lifebuoy soap. Back in those days the
average weekly capacity was 50 to 60 tons. After meeting the local demands, surplus was
shipped to Pakistan. However, the political scenario was deteriorating and after a ravaging war in
1971, Bangladesh became an independent country. It was after independence that Unilever
Bangladesh Ltd was constituted with Unilever owning 60.75% shares and the Government of
Bangladesh owning the remaining 39.25% shares.
Post liberation period evidenced accelerated growth for the company. Demand started rising and
the company continued its mission to meet consumer needs by producing quality soaps,
introducing Lux – the beauty soap and Wheel. Launched in 1972 Wheel entered the mechanised
laundry category, traditionally dominated by cottage soaps. It appealed to the consumers with
unique care benefits for hand and fabric, a generic weakness in cottage soaps. It gradually
became the secret ally of Bangladeshi women by extending the caring hand to ease her daily
laundry chores.
The early eighties witnessed expansion of Unilever Bangladesh Ltd through diversification!
Calibrating direction, the mission now included enhancing quality of life through other personal
products aspiring aestheticism like sparkling white teeth, fresh breath, beautiful hair, and glowing
skin. A Personal Product Plant was established to manufacture shampoo, toothpaste, and skin
care creams.
In the early 90’s Unilever entered the tea-based beverage market introducing Lipton Taaza,
Lever’s flagship packet tea brand, with the objective to be the most preferred tea of the
Bangladeshi consumers.
The appetite to innovate and grow was insatiable. New products such as fabric washing powders
were manufactured for the first time with formulations technically suitable for conditions in
Bangladesh at an affordable price. Such washing powders led the country to witnessing a
revolutionary change in washing habits moving from direct application to significantly convenient
solution wash.
Product formulations were of international standard and by tapping into the vast know-how base
of the parent Company – Unilever, Unilever was able to make the products available to the
consumers at an affordable price. The growth of the company provided ample employment
opportunities both direct and secondary with attendant fillip to the economy of the country.
Focused on meeting and responding to the needs of our consumers in Bangladesh, the journey
to grow and the quest for excellence continue unabated!
Our vision
Our vision is to grow our business, while decoupling our environmental footprint from our
growth and increasing our positive social impact.

Unilever Bangladesh Limited Mission

Unilever’s mission all over the world is to add vitality to life. UBL follows this and tries to meet
everyday needs for nutrition, hygiene and personal care with brands that help people look good,
feel good and get more out of life.
  Unilever Bangladesh Limited Goals:
1. To manufacture high-standard products.
2.  Promoting products to the highest extent
3. Producing large volume to achieve production cost economies.
4. Enabling quality products to be sold out at obtainable prices.

Purpose, values & principles

Our Corporate Purpose states that to succeed requires "the highest standards of corporate
behavior towards everyone we work with, the communities we touch, and the environment on
which we have an impact."
 Unilever’s purpose is to meet the everyday needs of people everywhere. To anticipate the
aspirations of their consumers and customers and to respond creatively and competitively with
branded products and services which raise the quality of life.
Their deep roots in local cultures and markets around the world are their unparalleled inheritance
and the foundation of their future growth. They bring their wealth of knowledge and international
expertise to the service of local customers – a truly multi-local multinational.
Their long-term success requires a total commitment to exceptional standards of performance
and productivity, to working together effectively and to a willingness to embrace new ideas and
learn continuously.
They believe that to succeed requires the highest standards of corporate behavior towards their
employees, consumers and the societies and world in which we live.
This is Unilever’s road to sustainable, profitable, growth for their business and long-term value
creation for their shareholders and employees.

Innovation in Unilever
Brands and innovation are at the heart of everything we do. In Unilever, research and
development (R&D) is the home of breakthrough technology for bigger, better, faster
innovations.

Brand Overview

Dove is committed to give hair the superior nourishment it needs and free women to always love
and enjoy their hair. Since 1957, Dove has always cared for women with its products and
celebrated their beauty. Now, 60 years later, they are taking another step forward in their
mission to help women discover the power of their real beauty and to create a world where
beauty is a source of confidence, not anxiety. A lot may have changed since they first
launched their iconic beauty bar, but their commitment to redefining beauty remains the
same. And now, in 2017, they would like to reaffirm this commitment to real beauty with
The Dove Real Beauty Pledge – three ‘unbreakable vows’ they promise to continue to
uphold for women everywhere:

Dove believes beauty should be a source of confidence, and not anxiety. That’s why they are
here to help women everywhere develop a positive relationship with the way they look,
helping them raise their self-esteem and realise their full potential.

Dove’s global research shows:

Only 4% of women around the world consider themselves beautiful, and anxiety about
appearance begins at an early age.

6 out of 10 girls are so concerned with the way they look, that they actually opt out of
participating fully in daily life – from going swimming and playing sports, to visiting the
doctor, going to school or even just offering their opinions.

Dove wants women and girls of all ages to see beauty as a source of confidence, not anxiety.
Because when women and girls choose not to participate fully in life, society as a whole
misses out. So the brand is on a mission to help the next generation of women develop a
positive relationship with the way they look - helping them raise their self-esteem and
realise their full potential.

1) Dove always features real women, never models.

Models reflect a narrow view of beauty. Dove believes that beauty is for everyone and
therefore features real women of different ages, sizes, ethnicities, hair colour, type or style.
   • Zero models in the brand’s campaigns
   • Real women introduced by their names
   • The campaigns reflect the population’s diversity
 
2) Dove portrays women as they are in real life.
Dove never presents the unachievable, manipulated, flawless images of “perfect” beauty
which the use of retouching tools can promote.
   • Zero digital distortion of women
   • Image approved by the women we feature
 
3) Dove helps girls build body confidence and self-esteem.
Dove has a mission to ensure the next generation grows up enjoying a positive relationship
with the way they look – helping young people raise their self-esteem and realise their full
potential. 
   • Educate 20 million more young people around the world on body confidence and self-
esteem by 2020.
 
The way Dove empowers women to celebrate their own unique beauty has long resonated
with me. I have always taken the same approach with my pictures. A photographer has a
choice – they can take a picture and make it about themselves by using avant-garde
techniques, sometimes capturing the weakness in women, or they can choose to give their
picture over to the woman in front of the lens by making her look herself and feel her most
powerful.
Mario Testino on the campaign

This is just the beginning. As Dove heads into the next 60 years, the brand promises to keep
challenging the definition of beauty – celebrating real women and holding ourselves up to
the highest ethical beauty standards in the industry. 

Dove Shampoo
There’s so much more to shampoo than just ‘getting clean’. That’s why with  Dove
shampoos, hair gets the nourishing care it needs, along with gentle cleansing power.
There’s power in beautiful hair. We all know how great hair can make you feel: when it’s
glossy and healthy-looking, you can step out feeling confident and proud. To achieve that
feeling every day, Dove ensures that their shampoos nourish and restore hair from within,
wash after wash, making hair healthier in the long run.
For day to day, Dove Daily Shine Shampoo protects normal hair from the daily wear and
tear of life, and nourishes to leave it softer and 5x smoother.  Looking for an anti-dandruff
shampoo? Dove Dandruff Care Shampoo will help you keep those white flakes away.
And every now and then, we’re all left fighting hair’s natural enemy – hair fall. Start
tackling it right from the foundations with a shampoo for hair fall like our Hair Fall Rescue
Shampoo.

Intense Repair Shampoo and Conditioner:

Contains KERATIN ACTIVES which helps fortify proteins at the cellular level, reduces
breakage and gives you stronger hair with free-flowing, lustrous locks.
Hair Fall Rescue Shampoo and Conditioner:
Enriched with Nutrilock Actives, nourishes from the roots up and reduces hair fall in just 2
weeks, giving you visibly fuller hair.
Nourishing Oil Care Shampoo and Conditioner:
Contains weightless VITA OILS, a unique blend of natural coconut, almond and sunflower oil
known to deeply nourish and replenish essential vitamins.
 Dandruff Care Shampoo
Contains ZPTO which is clinically proven to act on the origin of dandruff from the first wash &
MICRO MOISTURE SERUM helps to restore hair surface leaving hair soft and smooth.
Oxygen Moisture Shampoo and Conditioner
Enriched with lightweight oxygen-fused moisturizing ingredients that instantly disperses on hair,
bringing back smoothness while giving it bounce and up to 95% fullness for a voluminous look.

The value proposition

 Dove is committed to helping women realize their personal potential for beauty by
engaging them with products that deliver real care.
 Dove tries to deliver product that improves the condition of hair and give a pleasurable
experience of care because when you look beautiful and feel beautiful it makes you feel
happier.

Perception about milk

•Nourishes
•No harm or side effect
•Creaminess- smoothness

Perception about ‘Dove’-the bird

 Gentle
 Innocent
 Harmless

Brand personality

•Honest, straightforward and Simple.

•More realistic.
•We know that we cannot change our hair so much! Thus dove shows more realistic image and
becomes trustworthy.
•Feeling beautiful in whatever colour or texture of hair you have.

Literature Review: Consumer Buying Behavior for Shampoo

The collected data from the researches done previously were based on the questionnaires
distributed to the respondents. The age as one of the personal factors influenced the consumers'
shampoo preference. Different ages of people will have a different brand of shampoo preference
as the young generations will prefer a brand that manufactures colour lock shampoo so that the
colour of the dye on their hair will last longer, whereas the older generation only prefers a basic
range of shampoo as they seldom dye their hair.

From the employment status and the monthly income, the data about the lifestyle of the
consumers can be gained. When the person is working full time and earns a high monthly
income, he or she will definitely purchase a more high quality shampoo like the ones sold in the
saloons. This is because he or she will definitely change his or her image by changing the
hairstyle by perm, straighten or dye. When they go for chemical treatment on their hair, damage
such as split ends and dry hair will be resulted, so they are willing to spend more on high end
shampoo to protect their hair from such damages instead of buying a normal range shampoo and
cry over the damage hair at the end of the day. From that, we can conclude that lifestyle does
influence the consumers' buying behaviour.

Asking the reason of choosing the particular brand enables the researcher to identify whether it
was the social factor, psychological factor or promotion that influences the purchasing of the
shampoo. If the respondent chooses friends' recommendation, then the factor influences the
buying behaviour is the social factor. Some consumers trust their friends' recommendation when
they share the same taste and preferences. When they see the effects of the shampoo on their
friends' hair they are willing to purchase that particular brand as it is proven good by his or her
peers. On the other hand, if the respondent chooses gentle to hair and chemical free, then the
consumer is influenced by the psychological factor which is the consumer beliefs that the
shampoo is gentle to the scalp as it is chemical free. This usually occurred in the consumers'
mind as they belief is gentle to the scalp after they had tried the sample given by the promoters in
the supermarket or during a free hair wash during the road show.

The type of shampoo used by the respondents enables the researcher to study whether the
product itself and the brand influences the buying behaviour. When a respondent trusted the
current brand of shampoo he or she is using, then when he or she is looking for a colour lock
shampoo, he or she will definitely choose back the colour lock shampoo manufactured by the
brand they used to buy. Sometimes, the product itself also influences the buying behaviour when
the packaging of the product is nice and the sophisticated features of the product is such as the
shampoo is anti-dandruff, with ginseng extract which will reduce hair fall and so on.

The monthly expenses spent on the shampoo will help the researcher to conclude that the
monthly income does influence the buying power of the consumer. A lifestyle with a high
monthly income will influence the consumer to spend more on shampoo such as high range
shampoo as they tend to be more cautious about their hair when they perm or dye their hair.
Besides that, the price of the shampoo also influences the buying behaviour of the consumer.
Some consumers are not particular about the brands of the shampoo but they choose the
shampoo according to the price. Normally, these types of consumers will buy a basic shampoo
which the price is cheap and when there is a promotion about other higher range shampoo, they
will tend to buy it.

The type promotion made on the shampoo is to ensure that the consumers are aware of the
existence of this particular brand of shampoo. By asking this question to the respondents, the
researcher can conclude that promotion also influence the buying behaviour in the shampoo
market. In addition to that, the researcher also can conclude the types of promotion that are
effective in the shampoo market.

The duration period of the respondent using the particular brand of shampoo will help the
researcher to know whether the consumers have developed brand loyalty in buying the particular
brand shampoo. Brand loyalty is also a psychological factor which the consumers perceive that
the brand offers the right product features, image or level of quality at the right price. [4]

Consumers' satisfaction on the particular brand of shampoo is gained by asking the respondent to
rate the quality of the current shampoo used. This enables the researcher to understand how the
company satisfy their consumers and how high is the level of consumers' satisfaction on the
current shampoo manufactured by the company.

Microsoft Excel was used to tabulate the data and illustrate the data in the form of bar and pie
charts so that it is easy for the readers to understand instead of reading the report from the first
page to the last page in the form of words and figures. As the saying goes, 'a picture paints a
thousand words'.

I had realised that the consumers' buying behaviour is not only influenced by the social factors,
the personal factors and the psychological factors but also marketing mix such as the price,
product and promotion also influences the buying behaviour. The social factors referred to
reference groups and family whereas, the personal factors referred to age, occupation and
lifestyle. Lastly, psychological factors referred to motivation, perception and beliefs and
attitudes.

For social factors, the purchasing decision is made by the family member, friends'
recommendation. Some consumers just follow their family's decision in purchasing a shampoo as
they have no preferences on shampoo. As for friends' recommendation, if the shampoo is proven
good by their friends, some consumers will tend to buy it as they trust the results of the shampoo
told by their friends. Personal factors include gender, age, employment status and monthly
income of the respondent. For age, young generations will prefer a brand that manufactures
colour lock shampoo so that the colour of the dye on their hair will last longer, whereas the older
generation only prefers a basic range of shampoo as they seldom dye their hair.

Psychological factors of purchasing the shampoo include, brand loyalty, gentle to hair as it is
chemically free, good research and development (R&D) and influenced by brand ambassador.
One of the psychological factors is the attitudes and beliefs of the consumers where they believe
that the shampoo must be good when the brand ambassador is their favourite celebrity. This kind
of buying behaviour usually occurs among the teenagers or the youth because they wanted to
follow the footsteps of their favourite celebrity and what kind of product used by the ambassador
must be proven to be very good as they have a perception that their idol is always perfect.
Besides that, some consumers believe that the shampoo is very gentle to the hair as the shampoo
states that it is chemically free, where this is known as attitude. Lastly, the consumers are also
motivated to purchase that particular shampoo when the company has done a good R&D. This is
because it is very convincing when there is a proven research done by the company.

The price of the shampoo influences the buying behaviour as some consumers are not particular
about the brands of the shampoo. They just only want a shampoo which is cheap and good to
wash their hair. For product, when the shampoo features is sophisticated such as anti-dandruff,
hair fall control or colour lock and the packaging of the shampoo is nice, some of the consumers
will be influenced to purchase the particular brand of the shampoo. Promotion is made to remind
the consumers about the existence of the particular shampoo in the market. Indirectly, it also
influences the buying behaviour of the consumer when there is a brand ambassador promoting
the shampoo during the road show or on an advertisement. Besides that, if there is an offer made
for the shampoo such as buy one free one or free vouchers for every two bottles purchase will
tend to increase the purchasing power of the consumers

Data Analysis Graph Charts

The participant’s age ranged between 10 to more than 31 years. As shown in the diagram, the
total targeted sample consisted of 230 people in which respondents are represented by age group
10-16, followed by 17-21, followed by 22-26, followed by 27-31 and finally 31 years above. The
majority, 49.6% belonged to the 22-26 years group. 36.5% respondents belonged to the 17-21
years group and 9.6% to the above 31 years group.
Our findings said that 57% of the participants were female whereas 42.2% were male. Since the
main objective of the thesis was to study the purchasing behavior of women to be more specific,
therefore, this can imply that the results were positive.

We divided participants’ monthly family income level into 5 different range. From the above
diagram, we can see that family having monthly expenditure above BDT 90,000 have the largest
share which is 47.4 percent. After that family having monthly expenditure between BDT 70,001
to 90,000 hold 20.4 percent, family having monthly expenditure between BDT 50001 to 70,001
hold 16.1 percent. And family having monthly expenditure below BDT 30,000 have the lowest
share.
From the above analyzing the participants’ purchasing behavior, we can conclude that family
having more monthly expenditure spend more money on buying Shampoos.
The survey shows that almost all of the participants ( 98.7 % to be exact ) uses shampoo to was
their hair with, whereas very few of them do this with homemade products and the other few half
the time with shampoo, half the time with body wash.

In case of frequency of shampoo usage from several segments, 42.6 percent participants’ use
shampoo once every two or three days, 22.2 percent do this every day, 21.7 percent participants’
use every other day, 11.3 percent once every week. The rest of the few participants do it once
every 2 weeks, twice in a month and some only in eid days.

Among the participants, 43 percent of the shampoo users were quite okay with their brand as
they said “well, it works.” Another 33.9 percent said that the brand was okay but they still were
looking for a better one whereas 21.7 percent were completely content with whatever brand they
had and totally agreed with the question. Very few of them didn’t actually care or think about it
and the rest were not happy at all.
We felt this question was necessary because more often than not, when consumers decide to
change their shampoo, they usually go for a different brand in order to find if the newly chosen
brand is better than the previous one or not. 20.9% respondents said that they keep changing the
brand of shampoo till they find the one that suits them the most. This group of people show lack
of loyalty to brands and therefore, cannot be considered the primary target customers by any
brand. 27.4% respondents said that they really don’t care about what brand of shampoo they are
using and use whatever is within their reach in the bathroom. It can be safely said that mostly
men belong to this certain group of people since they are not very concerned about hair care
products. 21.7% respondents showed ultimate loyalty to the brand of shampoo they use because
they said they are very happy with their brand and so, cannot even think of changing it. 17%
respondents said they change the brand of shampoo once every 6 months whereas only 11.7%
said they change the brand once a year. These two groups of people represent them who are
justifiably concerned about their hair because changing your shampoo is actually good for hair.
This question indirectly derives a lot of information about consumers and their lifestyle; for
example, people who go for large bottles of shampoo are likely to be very busy in life and
therefore, hardly have time to purchase toiletries every few days. People who use both large and
medium containers usually buy a certain amount depending on whether the very containers are
available or not and whether they have enough money to buy the large or the medium containers.
People who buy medium containers actually have time to personally go to a store, scan through
the various products available and then buy their desired item. Not a lot of people buy mini packs
but those who use mini packs believe that they are of better quality than the shampoo available in
containers.
This question was set to find out the distribution channels of the brands of shampoo consumers
use. This was an interesting question because people do not usually buy shampoo from just one
purchase point. Even though 26.5% respondents said that they buy shampoo only from super
shops i.e. Agora, Swapno, Meena Bazaar etc., most customers make short trips to nearby grocery
stores and visit shopping malls to buy their desired product. 15.7% respondents said they usually
purchase shampoo only from the large shopping mall stores. Interestingly, 9.6% respondents said
they buy shampoo from online stores; making a choice based entirely on product reviews online
is a risky task but still, consumers are choosing online stores over physical stores nowadays
mostly for convenience.
This question was intended to find out how exactly consumers learn about different brands of
products in order to make rightful choices. One can easily see that 38.7% respondents said they
learn about a certain brand from their friends and family, which means that word of mouth is still
number one effective communication channel for any brand. Especially when it’s hair, people
can actually see the effects of a good brand of shampoo and thus, they ask people with beautiful
and healthy hair about the products they use. However, other marketing communication channels
also are effective in branding a certain product. 14.3% respondents believe television and/or
radio commercials do inspire them to purchase a certain brand of product. Most respondents
marked several factors that influence them to buy certain brands of shampoo i.e. TVC, RDC,
salesmen, print ADs etc.
This question is highly important to understand how consumers think before purchasing a certain
brand of shampoo. So we asked people about the main factors that influence their purchase of
shampoo. The chart above shows that the quality of a shampoo, according to the consumers, is
the most important factor in helping them decide on a brand. 11.7% respondents said that not
only just quality but also brand name and price of the product are important factors that influence
the purchase of a certain brand of shampoo. This question and the respondents’ answers show
that no matter how low the price is or how far-reaching and attractive the marketing
communication channels of a brand are, if the quality is not as good as has been promised by the
brand, consumers will not go for that very brand, so it all comes down to how a brand performs.

This question was intended to find out whether consumers will spend any amount of money for a
bottle of branded shampoo and how much important a product’s price is in triggering consumers
to purchase it. The diagram above shows that approximately 40% respondents are willing to
spend BDT 351 – BDT 500 for a bottle of branded shampoo, which means this group of
consumers want to obtain good result from a branded product at a reasonable price. 29.1%
respondents said they would like to spend more than BDT 500 for a bottle of branded shampoo;
these are the people who will always go out of their way to make sure their hair care products are
the best in quality and performance. However, 26.5% respondents said that they would spend
BDT 200 – BDT 350 for a bottle of branded shampoo. Now, it is not easy to find a reliable brand
at such a low price, so this certain group of people are likely to choose a brand that is moderately
good and purchase the smallest container of shampoo of that brand. A few respondents answered
that they do not purchase bottled shampoo, rather use mini packs because apparently, you can get
more amount of shampoo if you spend the same amount of money to buy mini packs rather than
a container.

One of the most important questions in our survey was whether a consumer would like to try out
a new local brand of shampoo if it promises to deliver the same performance as any international
brand. From the chart above, you can see that 50.6% - almost half the respondents – marked
‘Yes’ and 41.6% marked ‘No’ as their answer. The other respondents were not very sure about
whether they would like to take some risk to try out a new brand. However, the figure 50.6%
shows that consumers are likely to purchase any new local brand ONLY if it promises the same
level of quality, performance, result as any international brand i.e. Dove does even though a
large number of local consumers do not put a lot of trust in local brands and products.
Since we already know that consumers hardly find local brands reliable enough to use them in
their day-to-day life, we actually wanted to know what the factors that encourage consumers to
choose international brands over local brands are. So, 22.2% respondents believe that
international brands are preferable to local ones because international brands promise much
higher quality in terms of product performance than the local ones. 19.6% respondents believe
that international brands not only just make promises but also keep the promises and this is why,
consumers are more likely to purchase an international brand of shampoo. This particular
question and the respondents’ answers prove that if local brands want to obtain a greater market
share than their international competitors, then they will have to go out of their way to keep the
promises they are willing to make to their potential consumers. As long as the product quality is
of high standard, consumers are motivated enough to spend a fair amount of money on that
product but if the quality is not as good as promised, the same consumers will not buy that very
product however little it costs.

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unilever_Bangladesh_Limited
http://www.dove.com/in/search.html?q=brand+mission
http://www.dove.com/in/stories/about-dove/our-vision.html
 https://www.unilever.com.bd/about/who-we-are/our-history/
http://www.dove.com/in/hair-care/shampoo.html

Appendix

Survey Questionnaire

Have you ever wondered if the brand of shampoo you use to wash your hair is the reason why
you have more good hair days or bad hair days? Does your hair make you happy or not? Will
you compromise with the quality of shampoo just to save a few bucks? Well, guess what!!! We,
four future marketers from BBA 22nd, IBA, are here to understand what inspires you to choose a
certain brand of shampoo over the other ones.
Please help us in our project for the course of Consumer Behavior by giving honest answers to
the following questions. And yes, your answers will be kept private and confidential and will be
used ONLY for academic purpose.

What age group do you currently belong to?

 Below 10
 10 – 16
 17 – 21
 22 – 26
 26 – 31
 Above 31

What is your gender?

 Female
 Male
 Other:

What is your family’s monthly income level?

 Below 30,000
 30,001 – 50,000
 50,001 – 70,000
 70,001 – 90,000
 Above 90,000

What do you use to wash your hair?

 Shampoo
 Homemade products
 Other:

(If your answer to question is A, please proceed. If not, you do not need to answer the rest of
the questions. Thank you for your time. )

How often do you wash your hair with shampoo?

 Once a day
 Every other day
 Once every two or three days
 Once every week

Which of the following brands do you often use?

(You can choose multiple brands if you want)
 Sunsilk
 Dove
 Pantene
 Head & Shoulder
 Clear
 Tresemme
 Clinic Plus
 L’Oreal Paris
 Garnier Fructis
 Other:

Are you happy with the brand of shampoo you are using?
 YES, TOTALLY
 Well, it works
 It is okay but I am still looking for a better one
 ABSOLUTELY NOT
 Other:

How often do you change the brand of shampoo?

 Once every 6 months
 Once a year
 I am really happy with my brand, so I cannot think of changing it
 I keep changing the brand of shampoo till I find the suitable one
 I really don’t care; I use whatever is within my reach in the bathroom
 Other:

What type (s) of shampoo do you often use?

(You can choose multiple types if you want)
 Anti-dandruff
 Hairfall solution
 Repair damaged hair
 Black shine
 Add volume to hair
 Perfect straight
 Manage curls
 Soft and smooth
 Radiant shine
 Dyed hair
 Other:

What volume(s) do you usually prefer?

(You can choose multiple options if you want)
 Large
 Medium
 Small
 Minipack
 Other:

Where do you usually purchase shampoo?

(You can choose multiple options if you want)
 Shopping mall store
 Supershop
 Grocery store
 Bazaar
 Online
 Other:

What inspires you to purchase a certain brand of shampoo?

(You can choose multiple options if you want)
 TV/Radio advertisements
 Print advertisements
 Online advertisements
 Recommendations by family and/or friends
 Facebook group discussion
 Store Salesman
 Other:

What are the primary factors that influence your purchase of shampoo?
(You can choose multiple options if you want)
 Quality
 Price
 Brand
 Packaging
 Availability
 Other:

How much are you willing to pay for a bottle of branded shampoo?
 BDT 200 – BDT 350
 BDT 351 – BDT 500
 Above BDT 500
 I would rather use minipacks
 Other:

If a locally established company brings a new brand of shampoo in the market and claims it is as
good as any international brand of shampoo, if not better, would you like to try it out?
 Yes
 No
 Other:

(Answer the following question only if your answer to question is B)

Why do you think local brands of shampoo cannot be better than international ones?
 (You can choose multiple options if you want)
 International brands are of higher quality
 International brands have greater reputation
 International brands are endorsed by high-profile celebrities
 International brands are more likely to keep promises they make
 International brands are reflective of higher status
 Other:

Thank you very much for your time!

INTERVIEW QUESTIONNAIRE

1. Shampoo brands owned by Unilever Bangladesh

CLEAR DOVE SUNSILK TRESEMME

2. Market share of each shampoo brand owned by Unilever Bangladesh

CLEAR DOVE SUNSILK TRESEMME

3. Which shampoo brand is the market leader RIGHT NOW?

4. Of the four shampoo brands owned by Unilever Bangladesh, which one is doing best in the
market RIGHT NOW? Which one has the poorest performance in the market?
5. Average monthly/annual sales volume of each shampoo brand owned by Unilever
Bangladesh
CLEAR DOVE SUNSILK TRESEMME
6. How would you describe your target consumers?
7. What process(s) does Unilever use to identify the needs/wants of its target consumers?
(DETAILS NEEDED)
8. How do you spend time with your consumers to understand how they use your product and
what could make it more useful? (DETAILS NEEDED)
9. How do you stay updated on the changes in your consumers’ lifestyle? (DETAILS
NEEDED)
10. How do you communicate with your consumers? (DETAILS NEEDED)
11. How do you do cross-cultural consumer analysis?
12. How do you get consumer feedback? (DETAILS NEEDED)
13. How do you measure consumer loyalty?
14. How do you create an emotional attachment with your users to keep them coming back and
to build loyalty?
15. Who are your main competitors?
16. Is your brand providing more value (benefits or performance for the price) than the
competitor brand(s)? How?
17. What is the importance of product innovation in case of shampoo? Tell us how you
innovate to cater to changing consumer needs.
18. What is the most important P (Product, Price, Place and Promotion) when Unilever creates
marketing strategy for its shampoo brands?
19. Tell us about some of your favorite marketing campaigns.
20. What is the most important thing to consider when you are building a brand?
21. In what ways does Unilever promote its shampoo brands?
22. What is the long term strategy for your brand to fill unmet needs while remaining true to
what it stands for?