Kurlon Ltd.

Team Marketing
Ashish (29041)
Sudhir (29044)
Parvati (29055)
Sharat (29065)

Institute of Rural Management, Anand,

Gujarat
 If you limit your choices
only to what seems possible
or reasonable, you
disconnect yourself from
what you truly want, and all
that is left is a compromise
Kurlon Ltd
Kurlon Ltd. – Year end
review
5 Cs
 Company
• KCPL – established in 1962
• To manufacture accessory products
for the purpose of relaxing and
sleeping
• Initial mfgtd – Cushion seats and
bare blocks made of polyurethane for
automobile sector
• Introduced the concept of
rubberized coir
• 1965 – Mattress under the brand
name ‘Kurlon’
 Company
• 1985 – capacity to produce 800
tonnes of rubberized coir (60% was
being sold as bare blocks)
• 1987 – Stopped its line of bare blocks
• By 90s – Product Portfolio:
mattresses, pillows, towels,
doormats, bolsters and cushion seats
(wide range)
• Leader in Indian Comfort mattress
• Export – 10% of total mattress sale
Context
 Context: Current scenario of
mattress market
• Currently, market is facing a decline
• Market in foreign countries also
getting saturated
• Consumers in these markets moving
towards foam or spring-based
mattresses
Competition
 Competition
• Major Players - PU Foam
Mattress ( 5 %)
– Sleepwell
– MM Foam
– Major Player - spring mattress
segment (1 %) Springwel
 Kurlon vs Comp
• Opportunities
– Brand Awareness (TOM)
– Perceived Quality ( Durability)
– Proprietary Assets (Name)
– Strong Brand Name
• Threats
– Brand Loyalty (Commitment)
– Perceived Quality (Fit & Finish)
– Price (6.7)
• Closest Competitor - Duroflex
 Collaborators
• Dealers - After advt. the next most
important source of information and
influencer
• Low Spend of Kurlon on Trade
Promotion – traders ‘push’
competitor’s products
• E.g – Finally I ended up buying
another brand with some help from
the retailer
Profit and loss account for 2001 and 2002
      (Rs. Million)  
  3/31/2002% 3/31/2001%
Income        
Sales 1165.68  1126.38  
Other Income 8.31  6.47 
  1173.99  1132.85 
Expenditure        
Cost of sales including
selling and admn expenses        
Raw materials 549.26 48.7% 533.05 47.3%
Manufacturing expenses 61.99 5.5% 46.17 4.1%
Wages and salaries 39.28 3.5% 37.39 3.3%
Transport 102.05 9.1% 99.03 8.8%
Commision on sales 82.54 7.3% 75.31 6.7%
sales promotion 13.36 1.2% 19.49 1.7%
Advertising 40.97 3.6% 43.2 3.8%
Other expenses 165.96 14.7% 196.17 17.4%
Total 1055.41  1049.81 
Bank and other interests 49.07  55.87 
Depreciation 22.89  22.36 
Total 1127.37  1128.04 
Prior year item -2.58  6.84 
PBT 44.04  11.65 
Less: Provision for tax 10.5  1.3 
PAT 33.54  10.35 
 Target Segment
• Normal buyers – involved in
replacement purchase or purchase
for marriage and addition to family
• Therapeutic buyers – purchase
mattresses on account of back
problems
 Normal Buyers
• Income level of Rs. 15,000 per month
• Purchase a good mattress for the
‘comfort’ factor
• Economy segment considers price to be
an important factor – Apsara sales
volume: price of apsara mattress
should be in tune with competitors’
prices
• Comfort segment – can be divided into:
– Those who seek only comfort, no matter at
what price
 Therapeutic Buyers
• Purchases constitute mostly single
beds to prevent
• Sub brand target is Ortho
• Pricing can be modified so as to
associate better quality with higher
price
• Dealers need to be informed of the
various ailments
 Product Line
• Apsara – Economy model (3 & 4
inches)
• Super Deluxe – Premium model (3 &
4 inches)
• Romantique – Super soft model (4.5
inches)
• Klassic – Super premium model (5
inches)
• Ortho – Designed for back problems
(4 inches)
Category sub-brand-wise performance in 2003

Apsar Super Klassi Romantiq

  a Deluxe c Ortho ue Total
No of
models 25 28 15 10 16 94

Sales (Rs. 342.0 222.4 175.1 1080.

Million) 1 145.01 8 3 196.27 9

PBT (Rs.
Million) 2.9 0.91 1.86 1.22 1.33 8.22
 Brand Equity
Kurlon Restole Starlite Aaram Centua Durofle
Do I know 61.66 x
31.66 50 50.66 ry
50.33 x
54.33
about it?
Does it 69.2 58.8 69 59.8 64.4 70
offer me
somethin
g?
Can it 60 48 67 56 60 65
deliver?
Uniquene 75,85 58,60 68,65 62,59 62,68 65,70
ss
(Reliabilit
y,
Nothing 65 35 43 50 47 52
durability
else
)beats it

*Kurlon has a very low score on Fit n Finish as compared to its

 Trend

Ownership and Preference of Household for

Mattresses*

Cotton Rubberiz Full PU Spring

Status Mattress ed Coir Foam Mattress
Ownership
Preference 80 90 20 10
for next
purchase 30 120 30 20
% change -62.50% 33.33% 50.00% 100.00%

*No of Households Totalling 200

 Major Issues
• High no. of variation under its brand name
– Adds confusion
• Ineffective Sales Promotion Strategy
– Reallocate funds’
• National vs Regional brands
– Strong Comp from regional brands
• Segmentation
– Using all segment variables
• Targeting
• Positioning (Pure Sleep nothing else) – towels,
doormats
• Price
• Place
– Most sales from south
– Foreign sales stagnating
 Probable Solution
• Current Market
– Increase Dealer Promotion
– Launch Spring & PU (70 mil) mattress -
export
– Create its own retail chain
– Create a website for direct user interface
– Special Mattress to cater to the health
segment
• New Market
– Reduce Price of Apsara (Rs 342 mil now out
of Rs 1080 mil) would help go into a new
segment of lower-middle income group
– Introduce PU for rural market
 End

Contact – ashish1684@gmail.com