Lakme - Full Paper
Lakme - Full Paper
Lakme - Full Paper
© With Authors.
ABSTRACT
Lakme is one of the leading cosmetic brands with headquarters in Mumbai, India, owned
presently by Unilever. The idea of establishing Lakme in the year 1952 surged into existence
because Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru came to know that Indian women were splurging
on imported cosmetics and spending precious foreign exchange on beauty products. In this
case, he requested JRD Tata to start the beauty sector in India. Lakme then became a100%
affiliate of Tata Oil Mills (TOMCO), a part of the TATA group. Later it became a unique
company as it goes by its tagline ‘Lakme Reinvent’ after it has been acquired by Hindustan
Unilever, ‘On Top of the World’ which now continuously innovates and offers a wide variety
of cosmetics of the world class, skincare product, and beauty salons to the customers around
the world. This article illustrates different elements of the organization, its company sections,
marketing strategies, corporate structure, management, and structure operations while
providing beauty and wellness services. The secondary data were obtained from various
scholarly journals, websites, and books. We have analysed financial performance, corporate
social responsibilities of the company and examined their strategies using the SWOC
framework as a research case study.
Keywords: Lakme reinvent, Marketing strategies, SWOC framework, Corporate social
responsibility.
1. INTRODUCTION :
The beauty industry with its enormous potential is also an essential component of all nation's economy.
In the middle ages, the use of cosmetics became prominent among men and women in the upper class.
Cosmetic products were often applied to all preparations that are used externally to clean, texture,
soften or protect the skin, hair, nails, lips or eyes to condition, and embellish the body[2].The US Food
and Drug Administration (FDA) define cosmetics as "materials designed to be applied to the human
body for cleaning, embellishing, encouraging appeal or changing the appearance without influencing
the structure or functions of the body" [3]. Indian cosmetics sector is one of the most lucrative and
stable industries in the country. Indian brands growth possibilities are enormous. In recent years, the
inclination of males and females towards beauty has driven the development of the Indian cosmetic
industry [4]. The Indian cosmetic market has traditionally withheld a stronghold of few significant
Indian players such as Lakme, which has seen many foreign entrants to the Indian market over the past
decade [5].
In the early 1950s, when India gained liberty, the economy was not in a healthy state. The women in
India spent precious foreign exchange on Western cosmetics and due to non-availability on the Indian
market, they had no access to quality makeup. A brand identity that appealed to both groups of females
was the greatest challenge. Lakshmi lipstick or Lakshmi kajal would never have worked with the Indian
women who used to buy cosmetics from abroad. Former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru suggested
that a cosmetic brand should be established on the Indian platform as more females were discovered
to spend extra money on expensive beauty brands from overseas. So, he approached JRD Tata to find
a solution. Tata, settled on Lakmé, took the title from Leo’ Delibes' French opera, which is said to be
a French version of Goddess Lakshmi, referring 'The Goddess of wealth ' eminent for the elegance of
her. This was the first time an Indian cosmetic firm was established. Extensive market research was
brought out to determine the requirements of Indian skin and colour. Experts from every sector were
recruited. Lakmé began as a 100% subsidiary of Mumbai-based Tata Oil Mills in 1952. Simone Tata,
Naval H. Tata's French wife joined in 1961 as managing director and rose to chair in 1982. As a
Western-born lady who had made India her home, she grasped the brand's key formula and played a
key role in shaping Lakmé into the family crest. In 1989 she was appointed to the Tata Industries board.
In 1996, following the rapid evolution in the retail industry, Tata sold Lakmé for 200 crores to
Hindustan Unilever. They thought it would be possible for a dedicated FMCG products to do better
brand justice [6-7].
Today, Lakme has grown to have a wide range of products and services covering all aspects of beauty
care and delivering products from head to toe for the customer to pamper. These include products for
the hair, teeth, ears, face and body, and facilities like beauty salons in Lakme [8]. The company has
over 400 Lakmé Salons at top places in more than 125 towns and cities. Lakmé Salons are devoted to
the natural selection and exploration of the contemporary Indian female. Lakmé Salons provide a
wealth of beauty and grooming facilities that are proud to meet global norms.Its range of professional
beauty specialists and hair stylists is highly sought after by modern Indian females who seek to discover
beauty's fine art to the fullest and only the best. Known for creativity with amazing hair and make-up
methods and great skin care services, Lakmé Salons introduces Lakmé Fashion Week's backstage
knowledge and experience to the contemporary Indian female.At Lakmé, professionally qualified hair
and make-up experts with endless displays under their belt and extraordinary skin facilities come
together to offer an unforgettable experience of 360 degrees.In the name of Lakmé Absolute Salon, the
epitome of absolute luxury and exclusiveness was launched by it. The salon offers custom-made
services that define the ultimate hair and beauty facets. The 3 cities Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai
currently have this state-of-the-art salon. In Metro towns, Lakmé Lever is also expanding its smaller
format branded as Lakmé FastnFab, targeting high-traffic areas like High Street Malls, etc. A part of
the Lakmé FastnFab service portfolio is composed of handpicked services from the Lakmé Salon menu
[9].
With over 35 years of experience and a footprint of over 400+ Lakmé Salons in 125 towns across the
nation, we have created a deep knowledge of the beauty sector, its experts and the abilities required to
make a mark at Lakmé Salon. Over 280 entrepreneurs have partnered as franchisees with Lakmé Lever
to own and run Lakmé Salons nationwide. In 2012, the company introduced Lakmé Absolute salon,
offering tailor-made products that describe hair and beauty's ultimate facets. In the three towns of
Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai, the state-of-the-art salon is presently existing. In 2015, Lakmé Lever
formalized a strategic partnership with Aptech – a worldwide vocational training leader setting up over
five years of 80 Lakmé Beauty Academies to train 50,000 stylists throughout India.Lakmé Academy,
driven by Aptech, provides both basis and sophisticated skin, hair and make-up training [10]. Lakme
has become india's firstmajorbeautybrandand has been proud to be the expertof Indian
Beauty for over 50 years. It is a beauty brand that covers makeup colour, skin care and hair styling and
expands beauty services through the network of Lakme Beauty Salons. The Lakme Fashion Week is a
two-year fashion event which reflects its bond with beauty and fashion taking place in Mumbai. Its
Summer-Resort show takes place in April, while the Winter-Festive show is now the largest fashion
event of its kind in the country in August. Lakme has a footprint of more than 1200 aided sales stores,
the biggest range of stores in the nation with 3 Beauty Advisors [11]. In this paper, we have analysed
the financial performance, corporate social responsibilities of the company and examined their
strategies using the SWOC framework as a research case study [19], [26-27].
2. RELATED WORK :
Lakme became India's first significant beauty brand in 1952. It has taken over 50 years to be the Indian
Beauty expert. Lakme is moving very quickly to attain its company goals and ambitions. Lakme uses
the knowledge and takes into account the present trend in the cosmetic globe to drive the cosmetic
sector to a better future. The associated works of cosmetics under multiple subjects were conducted by
many researchers while going through the literature from other associated works. Some of the scholarly
papers published in cosmetic industry are listed in the table 1 with area of study, focus of the research
along with the references.
Table 1: Related publications on cosmetics industry by different researchers
S.No Area of study Focus Reference
1 Chemistry Natural Cosmetics Qiushi Chen (2009). [12]
2 Consumer Marketing Impact of Personal Souiden et al. (2009). [13]
Variables, Sociocultural
Variables and Marketing
Variables
3 Marketing and Logistics Impact of Traditional and Koubaa et al. (2011). [14]
Cultural Values. Attitude
toward Skin Beauty. Usage
of Cosmetics for Fairness
4 Environment and Personal values and Neuman, J. (1986). [15]
Behaviour commitment to energy
conservation
5 Resources Green Consumer Behavior Nora Amberg et al.
in the Cosmetics Market (2019). [16]
6 Analytical Chemistry Analysis of Cosmetic Alberto Chisvert et al.
Products (2007). [17]
7 Quality control and Cosmetics and Beauty Heyam Ali (2018). [18]
assurance Products Review
Comprehension
a) Tax Pressure: Lakme Company must bear a 30 percent tax rate, which is the highest among
all the tax rates, as a corporate tax rate. This reduces the company's profits.
b) Environmental Regulations: The green business norms of the government enforce the
company to convert 30% of land in its possession into green land to make the environment eco-
friendly. Even though it is an important contribution to maintain clean environment, the
company incurring extra cost.
c) Tariff and Trade Restrictions: Lakme Company has to bear the expenditure for paying the
state tax for crossing borders (before implementation of GST) for the purchase of raw material
and the delivery of finished product.
6.2 Economic Factors:
a) Inflation Rate: During the inflationary period of year 2013, the company was adversely
affected by the purchase of raw materials, machinery, etc. at a higher price.
b) Interest Rates: The Company pays interest rate of 12% on its corporate loans.
6.3 Social Factors:
a) Health Concern: Keeping the safety of the customers and corporate social responsibility in
mind the company has used the quality and safe chemicals that are not harmful for the skin
even though they are a bit costly than the other chemicals.
b) Environment Norms: Keeping the environment norms in mind, the company has converted
30% of its land into the green area and also used eco-friendly paper for the purpose of
packaging.
c) Emphasis on Safety: The company has emphasized on employee safety and has offered
employees insurance policy of Rs.1 crore with an annual premium of Rs.50,000/-
6.4 Technological Factors:
a) Research and Development: In the coming years, the company has a plan to spend a
considerable amount on consumer research and development of its green product range as the
company has the advantage of being a leader over introducing such products on the Indian
market and to ensure its brand will be easily copied by the competitors. In order to maintain a
tight hold on the market, Lakme has decided to continue investing to research and development
activities.
b) Technology’s Effect on firms offering: The increase in the Research and Development cost
will affect the firms offering as product costs will rise as R&D costs increase.
7. SWOC ANALYSIS :
Lakme's SWOT analysis identifies its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and challenges [19]. The
strengths and weaknesses in Lakme SWOT Analysis are the internal constructs, whereas the external
constructs are the opportunities and challenges. SWOT Analysis is a demonstrated framework that
allows a brand like Lakme to benchmark their company to compete against rivals in its industry. Lakme
is one of the FMCG sector's leading products manufacturer. Table 3 lists Lakme strengths, weakness,
opportunities, and challenges.
Constructs Features
Strengths of cosmetic products Local brand of particular Indian relevance
of Lakme Strong capacity for R&D, well connected to company.
Integrated supply chain and well distributed production
units.
Cost savings potential.
Access to the global technology resources of Unilever
and discuss best practices with others
Weakness of cosmetic products The price of Lakme product is very high for Indian
of Lakme customers.
The range of quality of its products varies.
Dropping lame salon quality.
Opportunities for cosmetic Brand growth by increasing usage depth and frequency
products of Lakme across all categories.
Improving customers to fresh levels of quality and
efficiency through innovation.
Brand image building through collaboration with top
Lakme fashion designers.
Challenges for cosmetic Aggressive local and multi-national cut-throat
products of Lakme competition.
Falsified perception products in rural and small town
limits.
Long-term non-existence of brand image.
Lakme believes in certain values &principles that stimulate the Lakme CSR policy where Lakme is
committed to undertake its activities with regard to integrity in the interests of its stakeholders and in
line with its Business PrincipleCode. Lakme thinks that growth and environmental sustainability need
not have conflict. The business model of Lakme is intended to produce sustainable growth. The model's
inputs are its operations. The model's outputs are sustained development, reduced environmental and
social adverse effect. USLP (Unilever Sustainable Living Plan) is the differentiator in their business
model and the objective of sustainable living. Lakme is working with and engaging with various
stakeholders including NGOs, IGOs, Governments, Farmers, and Distributors to address the various
challenges faced by society.
Pursuant to Section 135(5) of the Companies Act, 2013, HUL (Hindustan Unilever Limited) is
committed to spend at least 2 percent of its average net profits made during the financial year on some
of the identified assets listed in Schedule VII (as amended) to the Act. This will include expenditure
through operations conducted by the Hindustan Unilever Foundation (HUF), the non-profit subsidiary
of Lakme, and also aimed at constructing water conservation capacity and further community
development projects. Lakme's various CSR initiatives are the following:
(1) Project Shakti: This is a programme used to enrich rural females financially and generate
possibilities in order to support their livelihood. In this project, Lakme is striving to improve the
livelihood of rural people especially women. Approximately 70% of Shakti Ammas work in districts
with a small Human Development Index (HDI < 0.51). They appoint and contact rural females as
Shakti Entrepreneurs (SE), frequently known to be called as 'Shakti Ammas’. The rural promoter is
provided training about the Company's products/services and their usefulness in everyday life in the
maintenance of health and hygiene. After training, she receives goods from the rural distributor at a
discounted price at which the products are sold in the normal course. Then she sells these products to
customers directly (through home to home selling) as well as to village distributors. The Company
would provide the training throughout the villages to thousands of Shakti Ammas in an effort to create
an entrepreneurial mindset and make them financially independent and empowered.
(2) Sustainable Sourcing: Major proportion of raw materials come from agriculture and such
procurement choices can have a profound impact on climate change and farmers' livelihoods. In 2012,
Lakme entered into a public-private partnership with the Maharashtra Government for local sustainable
tomato sourcing. In 2013, the Maharashtra Government recorded over 1,600 farmers growing tomatoes
on over 2,000 acres of land for this project.
(3) Safe Consumption of Water: Lack of clean drinking is a major public health problem, especially
in developing countries where the majority of waterborne diseases occur. To make secure drinking
water available to individuals, Lakme partners with NGOs throughout the nation.
(4) Fair and Lovely Foundation (FAL): The initiative recognizes exceptional young women with
financially challenged backgrounds and offers scholarships to applicants. The choice is made by a
panel of eminent personalities from various areas to preserve integrity and fairness.
(5) Sanjivani: The Hindustan Unilever Limited organizes a free mobile medical camp in Sanjivani
near Doom Dooma Factory in Assam. The goal is to provide free mobile medical facilities in Assam's
indoor villages. The goal in Assam's indoor villages is to provide free mobile medical facilities. The
plan consists of two mobile vehicles, each with a male and a female physician, two nurses, a medical
assistant (helper) and an operator. Since its founding in 2003, the Sanjivani team has given medical
help to almost 2.5 lakh patients, covering more than four thousand camps until July 2013.
(6) Prabhat: 'Prabhat Dawn' is a system based that focuses on communities around factories. Health
& Hygiene, building livelihoods, and water conservation are the areas of practice. The Water
Conservation project is led by the Hindustan Unilever Foundation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of HUL,
which aims to improve water safety in selected regions.
12. SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS :
Based on the above assessment, we propose further viable enhancement suggestions:
1. The distribution channel should be efficient to enhance the demand pattern of cosmetics. Lakme
vendors should see that their salesmen are well trained and should be inculcated if special training
is needed to market cosmetics. Customer’s complaints about salesmen's discourteous therapy must
be addressed instantly.
2. Improve online sales in Tier 1 and Tier 2 towns taking the customer’s time limit in the image and
to make consumers aware of all products other than flagship products such as lipsticks, foundations,
napkins and so on.
3. Lakme must introduce natural beauty product lines as individuals are increasingly inclined towards
herbal goods nowadays. As products should also concentrate on health-conscious individuals and
target them.
4. Cosmetic stores should decrease their advertising spending, particularly in urban regions, and focus
on online advertisements to reach new generation customers.
5. The masculine industry is also becoming aware nowadays so that the male beauty section can be a
focus zone.
6. Consumers have powerful brand loyalty to global brand cosmetics. Although customers have the
right to purchase a specific cosmetics brand, they must purchase their own country brand and
promote it because Lakme was the first Indian brand.
7. Developing new, effective, and durable cosmetics using the latest emerging technology like
nanotechnology give product differentiation advantage to create a monopoly at least for some time
to the company [31].
8. Proper study should be carried out based on new research to generate quality cosmetics, to
understand consumer behavior and to evaluate the brand loyalty that will definitely improve
cosmetics demand patterns covering all fields.
13. CONCLUSION :
A cosmetic is implemented primarily to change or enhance skin, hair, nails, lips, and eyes beauty. Each
appearance is subject to the appeal of cosmetics. So, from ancient times to contemporary times
cosmetics were used. It is used not only by women but also by men from cradle to grave it becomes
vital for human beings. A testimony to the significance of cosmetics is the development of beauty
industries in and around the globe. India's ever-increasing population significantly multiplies the use
of cosmetics. Lakme Company has in one manner or another occupied an important position in human
lives for Indians. Thus, the marketing of cosmetics becomes competitive. This paper was conducted to
analyze the company's strategy, rivals and results. If all the suggestions and findings of this study are
listened to and carried out, the analysis pattern of cosmetics will undoubtedly be beneficial not only in
India but also outside. With many players coming up with innovative products in the beauty care sector,
Lakme aimed to penetrate mainly untapped markets, and have a stand in the market and is continuing
to expand globally. The analysis, therefore, offered in-depth data on Lakme's business strategies and
how these strategies affected its general growth.
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