Cottle Taylor Case

5Cs:

Competitor:

Cottle India has two primary competitors in the toothbrush space in India:

1. Hinda – Daltan: A subsidiary of Daltan, a French company, it has a market share of 21%.

2. Sar India: An Indian consumer products company has about 11% market share and focuses on holistic products which are nature based.

3. Remaining 22% of the market share constitutes of the low quality and low priced products with little or no brand recognition.

Company:

Cottle is a Philadelphia based consumer product manufacturer with more than 200 products in categories of oral care, personal care and home care. Cottle has expanded beyond American markets and its products are sold in more than 200 countries. With greater emphasis on global expansion and emerging markets, Cottle believes that hiring local talent was the key to maximize sales and innovation.

In 2009, Cottle headquarters emphasized on expanding global sales of higher-margin products along with geographical expansion. Cottle India, dealt exclusively in oral care, manufacturing toothpaste, tooth powder and toothbrushs.

Cottle accounted for 46% of the total toothbrush market share in India. As Cottle India was losing gross margin on toothpastes and tooth powders, it was decided to leverage its competitive advantage in toothbrushes to improve margins. Cottle wants to secure early market share in low and mid-range products, while long range forecasts suggested a gradual shift to higher-end brushes.

Collaborator:

1. Distributors: Cottle has a wide distribution in India with an outreach to more than 450,000 retail outlets throughout the country. By 2009, Cottle considered the quality and reliability of its distribution network a competitive edge. There are basically three categories of distributors:

a. Large distributors: Mainly focusing on high volume retail outlets in urban areas, they were cultivated by Cottle India in anticipation of urban growth and rising income.

b. Medium-sized...