A hair oil brand sells a 200 ml bottle at ₹120. In metros its share is stable. In towns below 10 lakh population its share has fallen from 14% to 9% in two years. In those towns: a regional competitor sells a ₹10 sachet and a ₹60 bottle; the brand's distributor covers 55% of the retail outlets the competitor reaches; the brand's TV advertising runs on national channels only; and a consumer survey shows people in these towns rate the brand's product quality as high as the competitor's.
Diagnose which parts of the marketing mix are causing the decline and recommend changes. Say what you would not change, and check that the recommendation makes economic sense.
100 points, 60% to pass.
Product is not the problem — quality perceptions are equal, so do not reformulate. The evidence points to price-pack (no low entry price or sachet where cash-in-hand purchases dominate) and place (reaching only 55% of the competitor's outlets). Promotion on national TV is a smaller issue than being absent from the shelf. Recommend a small-pack or sachet price point and an expansion of rural distribution, perhaps through sub-distributors, with regional-language in-store visibility. Check economics: sachet margins per millilitre and the cost of extending distribution against the share recoverable.