KURLON LTD.

By: Simon George

Team Members

• Mansi Agarwal• Neelam Choudhary

• Anjal Tyagi• Abhshek Pundir

• K.S.S.Suraj• Parth Sarthi Gairola

Team Members

Index

• Brand Equity• Product Modification• Brand Portfolio• Decisions• Product Costing• Brand Positioning

Index

 Karnataka Consumer Products Ltd(KPCL)

1962 – company established -Started as manufacturer of cushion seats and bare blocks. - Concept of rubberized coir.

1965 - introduced first time, under the brand name

“Kurlon“..Supply material to industrial buyers. .

Background

1983 – decided to start manufacturing for end user.1985- capacity to produce 800 tones of rubberized coir(60% being sold as bare blocks)

1987- stopped its line of bare blocks

By 90’s – Product portfolio : mattresses, pillows, towels, doormats, and cushion seats

Leader in Indian comfort mattresses.

Export 10%of total mattress sale

Year End review

Drop in

sales

Costing and

pricing

Product Design

Poorly motivate

d Dealers

Positioning

Strategy

•Rubberized coir mattress was an evolution from the traditional cotton mattress•Kurlon mattress was made of million of fibers bonded with latex and compressed to form coir block.•The design structure of Kurlon mattress allowed free circulation of air and prevented heat from building up between the mattress and cot.

Product Details

Product varieties• The most popular varieties of mattresses

in India are that of cotton, rubberized coir and foam which differ in density, freshness, comfort, strength and shapeMattress type advantages disadvantages

PU foam Soft, very light Hot, expensive, sag

Latex rubber Not as soft as foam, comfortable

expensive

Spring mattress No sagging, long life Very expensive, gets noisy

Rubberized coir Firm, reasonably priced Tendency to sag

Cotton mattress Cheap, foldable, of any size available

Forms lumps

Product Varieties

• Apsara – Economy model (3 & 4inches)

• Super Deluxe – Premium model (3 &4 inches)

• Romantique – Super soft model (4.5inches)

• Klassic – Super premium model (5inches)

• Ortho – Designed for back problems(4 inches)

Product Line of Kurlon

Apsara Super delux

Ortho Romantique

total

No. of model (variety)

25 28 15 10 16

Sales(rs million)

324.01 145.01 222.48 175.13 196.27

Pbt(rs million)

2.90 0.91 1.86 1.22 1.33

Catoregry sub- branding –wise performance 2003

Cotton Mattress(70%)

Rubberised Coir Mattress , PU Form Mattress , Spring Mattress and other (30% )

Market

• Economy seekers – price is more important

• Comfort seekers – comfort is more important

• Value seekers – value is more important• Additional attributes – orthopedic buyers

Segmentation and targeting

• Normal buyers - involved in purchase for marriage and additional to family.

• Therapeutic buyers- purchase mattresses on account of back problems.

Target segment

• INCOME LEVEL of rs 15000 per month.• Purchase good mattress for the comfort

factor• Economic factor – Apsara sales• Volume price of apsara mattress • Should be in true with competitors prices .• Comfort segment – can be divided into

those who seek only comfort , no matter at what price it may be .

Normal Buyers

Purchase constitution mostly single beds to prevent sub-brand target is ortho.

Price can be modified so as to associated better quality with higher price . Dealer need to be informed of the various ailment.

Therapeutic Buyers

Consumer Buying Behaviour

• Who buys our product or services?• Who makes the decision to buy the product?• How is the purchase decision made?• What does customer buy? What needs must be satisfied?• Why do customer buy a particular brand?• When do they buy? Any seasonality factor?• Where do they go or look to buy the product or service?• How is our product perceived by customers ?• What social factors might influence the purchase decision?• DO customer lifestyle influence their decision?• How do personal and demographic factor influence the

purchase decision?

Buying Decision Process

Problem recognitio

n

Information search

Evaluation of

alternatives

Purchase decision

Post purchase behavior

Buying Decision Process:Five Stage Model

Buying Decision Process: Five Stage

Model

Marriage of son/daughterNeed for replacing the old, damaged mattressAddition to the family in the form of child birth orParents coming to stay Increased health concernsOthers

Problem recognition/reasons for

buying

• The buyers gathered information on the mattress• Through:advertisements : mass media, websites, ratings, etcconsultation with • mattress dealers, friends, and relatives

Advertisements were considered a very important source of information.

Information Search

Factor Preferred Sub-level

Price (Rs.) 1,500, 2,500, 4,500 Thickness 3”,4”,5” Density (Kg/M3) 20, 30, 60 Colour of tapestry Blue, Green, Yellow Design on mattress Plain, flowers, line designs Measurement 72*30,72*42,75*60 Foam (%) 10, 20, 30

Evaluation process:• Trying to satisfy need• Looking for certain benefits• Sees product as bundle of attributes with varying abilities

for delivering benefits to satisfy this need

Evaluate 2-3 brands on following factors :

Evaluation of Alternatives

• Kurlon is the leading player in the country in the rubberized coir mattress followed by Duroflex,Starlite,Centuary and Aaram.

• In addition to these brands there are also regional and local players both in branded and unbranded category.

• For example Rilaxon in East, Bedsy in Karnataka, Coiron and Sulfex in Kerala and Tamilnadu.

• In addition to rubberized coir mattress there are also Full PU foam and Spring mattress with market share of 5% and 1% respecively.

Competition

• Sleepwell and Springwel are the major players in the PU foam and Spring mattress segments respectively.

Conti….

• Brand Equity implies combination of assets and liabilities associated with a brand that enhances or depreciates the value of brand.

• Brand Equity can be determined by the following components:

1)Brand Awareness

2)Quality Perception

3)Brand Loyalty

4)Brand Association

5)Trademarks/Proprietary assets

Brand equity

STRENGTHS• Brand name• Quality• Promotion

WEAKNESSES• Poorly motivated dealers• Many sub brands

OPPORTUNITIES• New brands• New markets

THREATS• Closest competitor-Duroflex• Brand loyalty• Regional players

Swot Analysis

Kurlon advertise through various channels. They had their own theme. They have various sales promotion

schemes- For customers

For traders

PROBLEMS- Had too many brands which created

confusion. Competitors with more attractive schemes.

Promotions

In marketing, positioning is the process by which marketers try to create an image or identity in the minds of their target market for its product, brand, or organization.

Positioning

Had a unique tag line which focuses on product itself.

Conti…

• High no. of variations under its brand. - adds confusion• Ineffective sales promotion strategy. - re allocate funds• National v/s Regional brands - strong competition• Segmentation. -using all segment variables• Positioning. - pure sleep nothing else• Price• Place. -most of the sales are from south -foreign sales stagnanting

Major Issues

• Divide the product portfolio into 3 SBU’s

-premium products

-economic products

-orthopaedic products

• Product should be of standard size• Promote only two or three sub brands• Slogan writing• Pricing should include cost leadership strategy

Feasible solution

Cont…

• CURRENT MARKET

1. Increase dealers margin.2. Launch spring and PU mattress for

export3. Create a website for delivering

more customer value4. Creating own retail chain5. Special mattress to cater health

segment

• NEW MARKET

1. Go to the segment of lower – middle income group

2. Can go for horizontal diversification strategy

Thank You