Personalization strategy of a Laundry and Homecare FMCG
(a) Personalization – LHC industry fit
Personalization has become a very significant trend and many brands are successfully leveraging it for improving their position in the market. Research indicates that personalization increases customers’ satisfaction with the brand, brand loyalty and consequently sales (Bain & Company 2016). Within the Laundry and Home Care department at Henkel, detergents are best suited for personalization. Detergent as a product is taking care of one of people’s most delicate and personal things – our clothes. It can therefore be considered as having an even higher emotional value for the customer than food that we take in. Many people spend a significant amount of time and money on their wardrobe. Their wardrobe even plays a big role in defining and displaying their personality, social standing and sometimes their current mood. A detergent is clothes’ best friend, it is a doctor for treating clothes and making them clean, aromatic and fresh again. This degree of bonding and intimacy with consumers’ personality should be better advocated for. Personalization is a great opportunity to adequately express this connection.
(b) Product choice
Persil is best suited for personalization due to its high brand awareness and broad adoption. At the same time, it is a target to other competitors’ flagship detergents such as Ariel or Tide and therefore needs to constantly innovate to defend its market position. Based on the high profitability of this product, increasing the bonding between customer and Persil would result in the highest financial effect due to higher brand loyalty of current customers and the attraction of new customers.
(c) Personalization strategy
Persil should introduce a personalized measuring cap for its liquid bottled detergent line that can be used for all liquid Persil products. The personalization is made by a clearly designed name on it as well as a color and water hardness. The last one together with the degree of staining is always one of two dimensions that decide on the amount of detergent you need for a single wash. In this way Persil will let the consumer have a personalized item with their name and favorite color on it. At the same time the new cap can facilitate the measuring process by providing them with an already adapted cap for the water hardness in a particular region. The cap should have a distinct premium design so that it can stand prominently and proudly next to the washing machine and signal that Persil is the expert for taking care of the customer’s personal laundry. Additionally, it should be designed with a stable as well as a comfortable grip. This can be realized by offering the customer the opportunity to order this cap online for a symbolic amount of 1€. Due to online ordering the cost of production, storage and distribution of the caps can be minimized. There they can chose the region where they live and Henkel should be able to provide the correct cap size customized to local water hardness. The fact that this cap is not being disposed of, but rather always has its own place next to a washing machine will always remind the customer of who is responsible for clean clothes in their household. In this way, it becomes a powerful and cheap opportunity to conduct efficient product placement.