Case Name :      S. Ramesh Kumar, S. Venkatesh

Authors :           June Cotte, Ramasastry Chandrasekhar

Source :             Ivey Publishing

Case ID :            W13349

Discipline :        Marketing

Case Length :    07 pages

Solution Sample availability : YES

Plagiarism : NO (100% Original work)

In recent years, the Indian shampoo market had been growing at an exponential rate, with several categories and brands of personal care products showing significant growth. Like consumers in several emerging markets, Indians had begun to place a heightened degree of importance on physical appearance, perhaps as an outcome of Westernization and exposure to media. Traditionally, Indians were known to use herbs to nurture and enhance their hair. Now, however, Indian consumers were caught between the propositions of “synthetic” hair-care brands versus the “natural benefits of the herbal” brands, despite the fact that some degree of processing was required for both types. Amid this dichotomous culture of hair-care products, how could the Himalaya brand establish itself as a differentiated herbal offering?