MANTRA: LOW UNIT COST PRICE POINTS CATEGORY
Base of the Pyramid EXPANDS, marketers REJOICE
China’s core competency — Growth due to manufacturing
India’s core competency — Growth due to Consumption
Corner store, Malls & Shanties also sell Low cost price point products.
Few years ago population growth was considered bad for Nations like India & China. Governments applied various measures to control this (so called) menace; thousands of Rupees were spent on family planning campaign. Sanjay Gandhi campaigned for family planning in doctorial style, & lost mass appeal & lost the 1976 elections as people were against the concept of family planning. Lalu Prasad the ex chief minister of Bihar had 9 children because he opposed the campaign as he was in opposition. Come 1990 the Global consumerisation took a hit as all global markets were well penetrated & growth was stagnant. It was during this period, CHINA & INDIA opened the floodgates of liberalization & multinational moved into these countries and the menace became boom– the ready market of more than 2 billion people. CK Prahlad christened this class with low income but high aspiration as BOTTOM OF The PYRAMID.
Population became plus point for the stagnating FMCG /Beverages/food etc industries to take the market place for proposed growth.
All the focus of manufacturing /Service Companies shifted to develop products for this social economic category. Products to penetrate interior & rural market, seduce the consumer, increase consumption, and satisfy the clientage became the core key result area for the CEOs.
This gave birth to single use, low unit price point category Industry.
Shampoos, a product reserved for upper & middle class consumer was packaged in 3 to 5 ml packs & distributed widely throughout the country & marketing communication with new economy single use/trial use pack created the category & sales exploded.
Small pack single use concept expanded like wild fire; Coca Cola India was the first to take the lead & create history with Rupees Five price point. Overnight new 200ml glass was planned & market flooded with new SKU (stock keeping unit ); Parle introduced small pack glucose biscuit, Maggi with noodles, snacking companies with snacks and even soaps, hair oil etc came in low unit packs. The key differentiator was price point but all these players could play with content volume/weight, which was favorable for the manufacturer & convenient for the consumer. Marketing took the lead, advertisement & communication were loud (remember Amir Khan showing his palm for the cost of the product (___Paanch ka dam), Rupee five Noodles, snacks etc. Though beverages lost the Rupees five game in chase due to high input cost but other categories followed & became successful. Industry got a new category LUPP (low unit price point) & BOTTOM OF the PYRAMID the new consumer class got inspirational aspiration for the products to their budget & Industry the Growth during recession. The beneficent were packaging products /packaging machinery /& trial products /single use products/new concepts & above all the consumer & Pan India presence of the category, from high altitude Leh Ladakh to sea coast Kanyakumari witnessed the phenomenon of small packaging, big consumer base. The growth story continues, new products come in small packaging, including Tata Nano- the new age mode of transportation for the Bottom of the Pyramid– the new mantra LUPPS—– LOW UNIT COST PRICE POINTS CATEGORY.