1

MKTG 125
Situation Analysis Report:
Downy Liquid Fabric Softener

Lecturer: Paul Yeow

Team members :
Nguyen Gia Khanh - S3891990
Vo Doan Thao Nguyen - S3878616
Nguyen Dang Giang Ngoc - S3878514
Dong Thuy Nhu Quynh - S3878649
Nguyen Duc Hiep - S3893533
Tran Huu Minh - S3891768

Word count: 4998

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TABLE OF CONTENT:

I. INTRODUCTION: AN OVERVIEW 3
II. MARKETING ENVIRONMENT
a. Micro factors and impacts 3
b. Macro forces and impacts 5
III. SWOT ANALYSIS 7
IV. CUSTOMER-DRIVEN MARKETING STRATEGY (STDP)
Segmentation 9
Targeting 10
Differentiation 12
Positioning 13
V. CONCLUSION 15

VI.REFERENCE 16

VII. APPENDICES 21
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I. INTRODUCTION: AN OVERVIEW
Procter & Gamble (P&G) was started in 1837 by two U.S. immigrants William Procter and
James Gamble, and later became a multinational corporation (Butler 2020). The company
focuses on five segments which are beauty, grooming, health care, homecare and family
care. P&G’s mission is that the corporation will provide the best quality products which
improve the lives of the world’s consumers (Nathaniel, 2017). In terms of vision statements,
P&G is bringing out its best value to serve customers all over the world by reducing its own
costs to pass on the benefits and lowers prices to consumers now and for generations to
come. Behind P&G successes, there is a diverse leadership team which has its heart set on
improving consumers’ lives today and into the future. David S. Taylor, P&G’s President and
Chief Executive Officer, has 40 years of experience with important positions in P&G
corporation. The consumer goods giant entered Vietnam in 1995 and has become popular
among Vietnamese families since then (Saigon Times, 2010). P&G has two large- scale
manufacturing facilities in Binh Duong province, and Downy products are manufactured in
these two factories. Sai Ramana is currently a general director and manager of P&G
Vietnam. P&G has funded many successful programs with high impact to Vietnamese
society such as Children’s Safe Drinking Water (UNICEF, 2005).

In 1961, Downy was born with the mission of protecting clothing from washing machine
damage and giving your clothes delicate aromas. Downy from P&G is one of the biggest
international players in the laundry care industry in Vietnam with 12% of brand share
(Euromonitor, 2020). This figure is only 1.8% lower than its major competitor - Comfort from
Unilever. Downy fabric softener helps soften clothing, and its two features are protecting
clothes from washing machine damage and maintaining clothes fresh smell (Downy.com).
Downy fabric softener is packed in plastic bottles or plastic packages in many different sizes
and fragrances. Downy puts its brand name on a large size in the foreground of bottles and
plastic packages for optimal brand recognition.

II. MARKETING ENVIRONMENT

1. MICRO FACTORS AND IMPACTS
1.1 GOLDEN POPULATION STRUCTURE SITUATION
a. CUSTOMER
The population of Vietnam has become younger. There is a rapid increase in the working-
age population and it might become a big advantage for the company. Of the 1,000
Vietnamese respondents, 41% said they use social media sites for news several times a day
and 7% said they use it once a day (Saigoneer.com, 2018). The report also discovered that
younger and wealthier demographics tend to go shopping from social media. It's also what
Procter & Gamble focuses on, a group of urban consumers to achieve high efficiency
(Nhung Nguyen, 2016).

b. MARKETING INTERMEDIARIES

Based on today's young people being busy, they think that shopping online will save more
time. Many businesses have partnered with websites such as Shoppee, Tiki, Lazada, etc. to
increase online sales. It is true that they predict more sales than are displayed in
supermarkets or convenience stores. For example, P&G sales increased by 450 times
during Shopee's Super Brand Day Program (Lao dong & Xa hoi, 2018).
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c. PUBLIC

It is clear to conclude that adolescents seem to use products or services which the company
and celebrities co-operate to make advertisements such as famous actress Ninh Duong Lan
Ngoc (Downy Vietnam, 2021). Additionally, golden population structure means that the
public are better-connected than ever before with Internet and technology, due to that,
Downy had better be authentic and careful to deal with potential media influences.

d. COMPETITORS

Most of the clients will be at an early-laboring age so they only gain limited income. They
usually prefer to choose products which have lower prices and want to try new things.
Moreover, in our contemporary life, more new fabric softener brands around the world with
lower prices are targeting the Vietnam market like Scala and Soffy (Toplist, 2020), in addition
with Comfort, which has been a noticeable competitor of Downy, the popular brand of
laundry care in both rural and urban areas in Vietnam (Kim Thuy, 2015) with 13.8% brand
share in Vietnam (Euromonitor, 2020).

1.2 THE PANDEMIC COVID-19

a. COMPANY
Raghuram Rangaswamy who is the CEO of P&G factories in Binh Duong city told that they
are not affected by Covid-19 and every activity is happening normally. As P&G is a
multinational corporation, if an area has a problem that cannot have enough products to
provide their customers, other areas will support it. It is important to maintain a close
relationship between the P&G global leadership team and the P&G board of directors in
Vietnam so that everyone can understand distinctly the mission and overall objectives of the
Downy company as well as P&G corporation. Moreover, the salary of employees is not cut
down and they are also provided policies to assist during the pandemic (Nhip song doanh
nghiep, 2020).
b. MARKETING INTERMEDIARIES

Nowadays, Downy fabric softeners are sold in most retailers such as supermarkets,
groceries and online websites.
According to Q&Me Vietnam Market Research (2017), supermarkets are the most popular
shopping place in Vietnam. Therefore, Downy focuses on distributing its products to many
supermarkets such as Coop mart, Big C with a lot of attractive sales promotion. During the
pandemic, the sales of large retailers such as Coop mart increase steadily because many
customers want to purchase a large number of products to reserve including foods, water,
and laundry detergents.
Additionally, online shopping became popular and grew up dramatically compared to the
past. Therefore, the profit of these e-commerce companies increased significantly with triple
digits (Kanta, 2020). Consequently, many e-commerce companies with attractive events
help Downy reach out to online consumers in Vietnam. For example, Downy cooperates with
Shopee to create a challenge “Thu thach viec nha''. Since the Covid-19 outbreaks, women
have had to do more housework compared to the past. This challenge is a campaign to
encourage Vietnamese men to have responsibility for housework shared with women
(Shopee, 2021). Not only does it help Shopee attract more users, but also it helps the profit
of Downy rise during the pandemic.
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c. SUPPLIERS

Downy stated that safety is the brand's first priority and all of its ingredients come from
nature. Therefore, P&G always attaches special importance to its suppliers. Givaudan is one
of the external suppliers which provides fragrance and flavor for P&G. In Vietnam, Golden
Frog is a Vietnamese flavor company who represents Givaudan being an external supplier
for P&G Vietnam (HPCI, 2019). At its initial stage , the product segments are affected
noticeably by Covid-19, especially in the fragrance department. Thanks to timely innovation
with policies to support its employees and customers, its sales rose strongly again in the first
season of 2021 (Givaudan, 2021).

d. CUSTOMERS

Nowadays, customers tend to care about fragrance and safety for babies which have 14%
and 9% respectively, due to that, resellers will help the company to distribute its products to
final buyers (Nhung Nguyen, 2016). Due to Covid-19, people spend more time at home and
start caring about cleanliness and safety to prevent viruses. Therefore, the sales in laundry
care in Vietnam increased from 10% in 2019 to 11% in 2020 (Euromonitor, 2021). This shift
can help Downy keep its customers during the pandemic.
Because of the popularity of online shopping during the pandemic, more e-commerces buy a
large number of Downy fabric softeners to resell on their websites. Consequently, the profit
of Downy from selling to e-commerces increases significantly (Trong Hien, 2020).

e. PUBLICS

Due to the pandemic, Downy focuses more on developing its page on Facebook to expand
customers’ awareness. As being isolated at home, the number of Vietnamese social network
users increases to 50.0 million by 2021 (Statista, 2021). There are various live streams,
sales promotions, attractive articles on this page to appeal to more customers with 284,032
followers (Downy Vietnam, 2021).

2. MACRO FORCES AND IMPACTS:

2.1. GOLDEN POPULATION STRUCTURE SITUATION
a. DEMOGRAPHIC and ECONOMIC
Firstly, in an DEMOGRAPHIC and ECONOMIC point of view, DOWNY has already been
making a huge move forward to reaching a greater volume of the customer in Vietnam by
presenting modern and updated lines of products such as the anti-bacteria or the one-time
rinse. Because of the fact that, Vietnamese population is on the golden scale, most of the
people at working age are in their 20’s and 30’s so they will be willing to try new products. By
understanding the customer’s insight of a unique region, DOWNY has obviously gained
popularity among the population of Vietnam. Otherwise, particularly from a DEMOGRAPHIC
and ECONOMIC perspective, Millennials tend to not use the same amount of fabric softener
as the older generations (Correll et al, 2016). Moreover, contemporary economic demands
are largely causing the explanation why Millennials reduce the amount of money spent on
buying unnecessary products, especially for fabric softeners which are usually considered as
one of them (Amadeo et al, 2017).
b. NATURAL
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Secondly, more and more people have raised attention to protecting the ENVIRONMENT,
especially the youth. Due to that, The firm has decided to add this noticeable feature to the
producing process in order to maximize the amount of reused fabric which can decrease the
amount of used fabric released into the environment. Additionally, by cutting down the
consumption of chemicals during the production process, DOWNY helps people create
sustainable laundry habits which will be able to achieve public support (Byron, 2017).
However, we have to consider the NATURAL forces in this case because the natural
environment is having strong effects on the day-to-day market especially for large industries.
Plastic empty bottles are unnecessarily taking too much space in landfills, besides, it takes
approximately half of millennials for a single bottle to completely decompose (Yuan et al,
2020). Therefore, the future with better eco-concern customers may not be willing to
purchase goods from companies that consume undecomposed packaging materials and
containers.
c. TECHNOLOGICAL
Lastly, the increase in the number of young people possibly lead to the development of
updated TECHNOLOGY so the potential opportunity is TECHNOLOGICAL advances. It is
demonstrated that recent surveys showed that the daily average time that consumers from
18 to 65 years old spending on the internet has increased by 2 hours (Mehmood et al,
2013). This scenario provides the firm with more chances to bring advertisements,
promotions, and knowledge of products to a broader volume of all ages customers. Despite
the TECHNOLOGICAL potential opportunity, TECHNOLOGY also can become a major
threat to DOWNY. With the updated advances, the creator of detergent can add the fabric
softening feature to their products. For example, although the negative feedbacks from
customers, OMOMATIC still maintains the appearance of the latest line of products called
OMO with fragrances providing clothes with a comfortable smell and feeling for consumers
without the usage of fabric softener and beside the presented saving habits of young
consumers above, consumers will tend to stop spending money on additional fabric softener
products.
d. CULTURAL
According to VietnamBusiness TV, Millennials who were born between 1980 and 2000
accounts for 35 percent of the population of Vietnam. Nowadays, everyone can easily
recognize many changes which have occurred in Vietnamese culture such as lifestyle,
cultural events and social media influence. Millennials are living their life differently from the
previous generation. They tend to choose smart, convenient and energy- saving products
(Thanh Nien, 2017). Downy fabric softener products are satisfying young people's demands
by high quality and 24-hour freshness with various fragrances. Furthermore, Downy shows
that the company is paying attention to environmental problems. For example, according to
Downy.com, the company is creating recycling solutions or sending zero manufacturing
waste to landfill.

2.2. COVID-19 PANDEMIC

a. DEMOGRAPHIC
Due to the Covid-19, customer behaviors have changed significantly from DEMOGRAPHIC
point of view. Firstly, they shift their product choice from “convenient” to “safety”, from
“wants” to “basic needs” and start to buy more products that have purposes related to
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hygiene and safety to protect their families and themselves from Covid-19 (Deloitte, 2020).
This means Downy fabric softeners become one of these products they desire. Secondly,
because people limit their contact with others, they will barely go to public places like
supermarkets. Therefore, they tend to do shopping online (Thanh Van, 2021), moreover,
cooperation with e-commerce firms such as Lazada, Shopee and Tiki becomes successful.
Consequently, although it is difficult for brands to maintain their customer’s loyalty, Downy
can supply customers with its products and make its stable profits.

b. ECONOMIC
In ECONOMIC perspective, the spread of the pandemic - Covid19 significantly affects the
Vietnamese economy in almost all sectors. The global supply chain is interrupted. Many
workers become unemployed and more than 93,000 businesses have to close, rising about
16% compared to last year because of the lack of expenditure (Nguyen, 2020). According to
the Vietnam briefing (2020), the GDP of Vietnam in the first six months of 2020 increased to
1. 81 percent, which is lower than normal situation 6.8 percent. Due to the decrease in
incomes of many customers, they have to save money and purchase necessary products
(Deloitte, 2020). Downy coordinates with retailers to have attractive and suitable sale
promotions in their products. According to Tuoi Tre news (2020), in Coop Mart, fabric
softeners from the Downy brand sold up to 40%.
c. POLITICAL
To minimize the spread of Covid-19, the Vietnamese Government has to apply lockdown in
the whole country which results in the closure of boundaries (Nguyen, 2021). This can lead
to the disruption of the supply chain for not only DOWNY but also the whole P&G
cooperation. Moreover, Lockdown policy caused the rise in the consumption of basic
products meaning the decrease in the number of unnecessary products such concluded
fabric softener.

III. SWOT analysis:

Strengths - Strong brand name and strong global production network

provided by P&G corporation’s reputation after 60-year period

- Diverse distribution platforms in Vietnam market by the

consumption in various purposes

- Stronger brand awareness than other competitors Due to the

preference of US products among Vietnamese citizens

- Attraction from alluring designs and numerous lines of products

for all requires of customers

- Additional features such as anti-wrinkle or 24-hour last

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fragrances

- A huge number of followers on social media platforms ( 284,032

on Facebook or 18,500 on Instagram)

Weaknesses - The price is located in the above-average class

- Using non eco-friendly packaging such as plastic bottles or

plastic packages.

- The increase in portion of fragrant oil could lead to the not only
raise of production cost but also price in the future

Opportunities - Targeting on Internet-devoting customers by issuing promotions

due to the upward trend of using Internet especially during the
Covid-19 pandemic

- Releasing new products that are related to health protection

during the pandemic when people most concern about health
priority

- Providing supportive policies for e-commerce firms retailers

- Focusing on developing both offline and online activities such as

live streaming, creating campaigns and environmental events to
attract customers

Threats - The appearances of competitors with the same quality but lower
price

- The development of producing and using natural substitutes

- The development of modern technology from competitors such

as Omamatic or Comforts

- Tele-work can can lessen the frequency of doing laundry at

private households

- The potential decrease of retailers’ sale caused by using public

laundry habit

- Saving and spending habits of young consumers can choose

cheaper products or reduce the require for unnecessary products
such as fabric softener
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IV. STDP
1. SEGMENTATION

Demographic Psychographic Behavioral Geographic

Characteristic Characteristics Characteristics Characteristic
s s

The Age: 35-50 Personality: meticulous Occasions: Urban and

common care-givers, busy, frequent buyer suburban areas
household Gender: female nurturing, loving and in Vietnam
wives devoted. Benefit-sought:
Income level: fresh scents,
Middle to high Lifestyle: busy with user-friendly,
income (15m to household chores and clothes are kept
20m+) office duties, economical soft and clean
spending style, concern after wash, nice
Marital status: over hygiene, prefer packaging,
married traditional distribution competitive
channel pricing
Family size: 3-5 compares to
Attitudes: choosy, price- products with
Education: sensitive, however once similar features
varies they like a product they
will be most likely be long- Loyalty level:
term loyal customers high

Interests:
Effective standard
products, safe-for-skin
softener with good scents
and nice packaging

Social class: Middle class

The 16-24 Personality: explorative, Occasions: light Urban and

explorative active, self-managed, or regular buyer suburban areas
future Gender: Male optimistic, open to in Vietnam
generations and female changes, prefer easy-to- Benefit-sought:
use, convenient products attractive long-
Income-level: lasting scents,
no income to Lifestyle: less concerned eco-friendly,
low/medium over house chores than simple
income (<15m) their parent, open-minded, packaging,
digitally native affordable price
Marital status:
single Attitudes: passive buyers, Loyalty level:
like to experience new low
Family size: 1 products, price-sensitive, (Nguyen, 2019)
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or living with a most easily influenced by
group of 2-4 trends, have strong social
friends awareness

Education: Interests:
highschool Attractive long-lasting
graduate, scents to keep clothes
bachelor from smelling unpleasant,
degree simple packaging.

Social class: Middle class

The modern 26-34 Personality: empowered, Occasions: Urban and

lady well-informed, self- regular buyer suburban areas
Gender: sufficient, able to make in Vietnam
Female good decisions, speak Benefit-
their minds about what sought:good
Income-level: they like and dislike, quality,
medium to high caring, supportive, image- sophisticated
income (15m to conscious scents, eco-
20m+) friendly, safe for
Lifestyle: relatively skin,
Marital status: balanced between work competitive
single or and personal/family life, pricing
married love to enjoy themselves

Family size: 1-3 Attitudes: active buyers, Loyalty level:

organized, hold high low to medium
Education: standards, adaptable to
varies new changes in the
market, willing to pay high
prices for added values,
prefer eco-friendly, natural
products

Interests:
safe-for-skin softener, with
sophisticated scents,
environmental-friendly
products

Social class: Middle to

High class

2. TARGETING
Downy have been succeeding at diversifying and developing their product lines to maximize
their customers’ satisfaction, using a differentiated marketing strategy.
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As many households in Vietnam live in compact apartments or even cramped conditions due
to rapid urbanization, household wives face certain obstacles regarding laundry chores:
drying clothes in a narrow street, balcony or indoor might result in the fabric picking up
surrounding odors (WARC, 2018). The product “Downy Indoor Dry” showed that Downy fully
recognized this problem of its targeted customers and has addressed it directly.

Households across the country are experiencing relatively low unemployment rates through
to 2040 (Euromonitor, 2020). This guarantees stable income growth and buy power of this
major target segment. Women are the main forces that take care of the family affair in this
Southeast Asian country. They often use fabric conditioners to maintain the softness of the
clothes, enhance skin-health, and prevent odor in order to increase the confidence of their
family’s members. Downy has developed not only the sophisticated perfumed fabric
conditioners collection to attract its female consumers but also products tailored to
everyday’s need of other members in a family, such as “Downy Sport Expert” for active
parents and teens or “Downy Sensitive Skin” for little babies.

Notably, after the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic across the globe, the demand for
laundry care has been increasing since people have been shifting their focus onto keeping
their houses and clothes hygienic (Euromonitor, 2020). Downy therefore has been
emphasizing on promoting its antibacterial fabric conditioners to tackle the health concern
caused by COVID-19 pandemic (Ponugoti, 2021).

In a survey we conducted with a group of approximately 90 Downy’s customers in RMIT

University, Ho Chi Minh City, it is reported that 77% of customers were female and 76% of
them chose Downy because of the scent. Since 89% of all survey takers belong to the
category of the explorative future generation, most of them live with their families and do
not have a stable income. They search for a product that has a suitable price and a long-
lasting scent. These customers also showed the willingness to introduce Downy’s product to
friends and families because they believe Downy has the qualities they look for. While 45.1%
of the customers learn about this brand through its presence at the supermarket, 44% of
those know about it through advertisements.

It is reported that by 2025, this demographic group will be reaching 15 millions, turning
themselves into a powerful emerging consumer market (Mah, 2019). This young generation
grew up in Vietnam's robust developing period with economic upswing as well as the thrive
of technology and the Internet. Due to the exposure to Western and international ideas more
than ever before, they are strongly influenced by the values of freedom, individuality, and the
right to indulge (Pham, 2017). According to a study by Nielsen, GenZ is found to be much
less loyal to legacy and is drawn to novel changes and innovations. Their tendency to adapt
to modernization is extremely high (Nguyen, 2019). These young customers also hold a
deep appreciation for traditional cultural values through integrating those elements into the
modern atmosphere (Nguyen & Nguyen, 2020).

Unlike the case with its major targeted “Vietnamses common household wives” segment,
Downy’s interaction with young consumers in Vietnam is still limited. By effectively targeting
the explorative future generation from early days, Downy will gain an extremely
competitive advantage regarding customer equity for years to come.
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3. DIFFERENTIATION:

Downy liquid fabric conditioner is a convenient, low-involvement product that requires

minimum effort from customers due to its low price and low risk if a purchase turns out to be
a mistake. Its basic benefits are simply to keep fabric soft, new and smelling pleasantly.
However, Downy, as one of the leading brands in this market, has been delivering more than
just the basic benefits the customers need, especially through strengthening its brand
recognition and giving out more choices to buyers.

Michiel Albrecht (2018), global consumer insight manager at the International Flavor &
Fragrance, stated that “the world of laundry is all about emotions” . In 2016, Harvard
Business Review published an article introducing “The elements of values pyramid”
addressing four kind of needs: “functional, emotional, life-changing and social impact”. The
provision of more elements is proportional to the higher revenue and customer equity.
Among that hierarchy of 30 elements, Downy offers not only superior functional values, yet
also emotional and even life-changing values through emphasizing the psychological
experience of putting on fresh, clean clothes. The brand constantly broadcasts the message
of empowering young ladies and married women to feel more confident, romantic, caring
and reassured towards themselves and their families (Downy Facebook, 2021).

Product differentiation:

In the grocery industry, top five important factors for customer loyalty are quality, variety,
sensory appeal, reduced cost, reward me (Senior et al, 2016). During our research, we
found that Downy fabric conditioner products effectively differentiate themselves throughout
massive online and offline shopping shelves.
● Quality: Downy constantly improves its product quality with 24-hour-lasting
antiperspirant technology, enduring fragrance, fresh aroma preservation, etc.
(Ra Khoi Wholesale, 2020). Due to both our primary survey (2021) and
Buzzmetrics survey (2016), Vietnamese consumers in general have very
positive feedback regarding the quality of Downy’s fabric conditioner.
● Variety: Downy has a diverse product portfolio including Downy Indoor Dry,
Downy Expert, Downy Parfum Collection, Downy Baby Gentle, etc.
addressing various demands.
● Sensory appeal: As we visited a Vinmart supermarket in District 7, Ho Chi
Minh City to survey Downy’s products first-hand, it is clear that Downy’s
products take up the largest space compared to other fabric softeners.
Downy’s area is filled with attractive, pleasant scents coming from the
products. Its packaging is well-designed, exciting and eye-catching
(Behance.net, 2020).
● Reduces cost: affordable price with more intangible values than many other
brands.
● Reward me: active Facebook page with multiple online and offline
competitions/events/discount periods to enhance interaction with loyal
customers .
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Image differentiation:

P&G, as well as Downy, put serious effort in constructing particular personalities. P&G set its
heart in protecting the health and wellbeing of its consumers, providing them with simple yet
meaningful supplies to their daily needs and making their products as accessible as
possible. The corporate shows a deep commitment to initiating social impacts, empowering
people and creating safe and sustainable merchandise (P&G, 2021). For Downy, image
differentiation has become one of its strongest competitive advantages.

Downy products seek to tell stories. The well-known international magazine Harper Bazzar’s
Vietnam in 2017 published an article about Downy’s event of the year - Never Fade. This
event is held in order to honor the never-fading beauty of Vietnamese women. Downy’s
brand ambassadors have always been symbolic Vietnamese top stars who are beautiful,
successful, and charming such as Tang Thanh Ha and Ninh Duong Lan Ngoc. This
marketing strategy positions Downy as significantly better than an ordinary fabric conditioner
in the mind of the female consumers. They promised the psychological experience of
beauty, attractiveness, fulfilments and empowerment.

During the COVID-19, Downy asserts its market leadership by constantly marketing to their
existing and potential customers the Downy antibacterial fabric softener through their social
networking sites. This is considered a direct and timely response to the national concern for
hygiene and health issues. Customers’ interactions of those posts related to this type of
product is much higher than usual (Downy Vietnam, 2020). This indicates Downy’s active
attempt to enhance its brand image as a trusted people’s companion that seeks to
constantly improve community living conditions.

4. POSITIONING:
People who choose liquid fabric softeners products mostly depend on price, scent, and
brand awareness. The two positioning maps below, demonstrating 4 factors: price, scent,
reputation, and media coverage of Downy compared to other competitors.
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Positioning map 1 Positioning map 2

Positioning map 1 :
Price: Image 1 demonstrates the comparison between price and scent retention. While
Comfort has the highest price (around 100,000 VND/1.6 litres), Downy are slightly cheaper
with slightly better scent retention. On the other hand, Lix has the cheapest price on the
map. With only 93,000 VND we can purchase a product for 3,8 liters - that is twice cheaper
than the others.
Brand Price

Downy(1,6 liters) 86,000 VND

Comfort(1,6 liters) 96,000 VND

Lix(3,8 liters) 93,000 VND

Hygiene(1,3 liters) 85,000 VND

(Shopee Vietnam)

Scent retention:
Comfort and Downy are the two biggest brands that have a long-lasting scent on their
products. According to buzzmetric 2016, the most concerning issue of the customers is
scent. In accommodating their customers, Downy appiled a method called “fragrance
transfer technology” on Downy Perfume successfully (Downy.com). It has many different
products with various scents from nature (Useful.vn, 2021). This actively satisfied scent
problems to the customers (Amazon.com). On the other hand, Comfort uses perfume
extracts from France to keep our clothes odorous every day but some customers complain
about the scent that cannot be kept for a long time (Amazon.co.uk). With this product line,
Comfort has been directly competing against Downy. Lastly, Lix and Hygiene are not out-
standing enough on this run, which might be because their ingredients are normal to
persuade the customers, thus it might be lower.

Positioning map 2:
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Well-known:
Comfort and Downy are the most well-known liquid fabric softeners in Vietnam. These two
are big international corporations which already set a firm foundation in foreign markets .
They prioritize creating products for babies or families’ members, focusing on safe and
natural materials (Buzzmetrics 2016). This constructs a well-built trust that sets them apart
from other brands. As a result, Comfort and Downy become reputational throughout the
nation. Another brand, Lix has been published in Vietnam in recent years, which means that
market access is still low to numerable customers, adding to their products are too normal
and have seldom special significance, compared with two competitors mentioned above.

Media coverage:
From the early days, Comfort and Down clearly determined their position on the long run.
For more details, Downy concentrates on events and video clips on social platforms (Thanh
Triet, 2016), (Nguyen, 2018), (Fashionbible, 2020). With Comfort, this brand focuses on
KOL post, Livestream, post-interaction on social media (Buzzmetrics 2016). Lix, a product
which uses less advertising and marketing strategy, as you can rarely see this brand on
social media. Lastly, Hygiene also received a positive response from customers. However,
the official market’s Hygiene is in Thailand and it has just come to Vietnam in recent years,
marketing strategy is clearly weaker than others.

Value proposition:
Throughout those analyses brought up above, Downy actively illustrated the “more for the
same” proposition strategy. This brand has a suitable price, with expectations from
customers, this company has created many products, touch the superior quality to their
brand in the market. With a chain of new technology, high-quality perfume, and diverse
ingredients from flora and fauna, Downy absolutely will be more successful in the future.

V. CONCLUSION

In conclusion, with suitable pricing, a variety of choices, well-designed packaging and

spanking interaction on social platforms, Downy is recognised as one of the most dominant
brands in Vietnam’s fabric softener industry. Despite the disruptions caused by COVID-19
pandemic, Downy has adaptively navigated itself through the challenges into opportunity by
publishing products focusing on protecting people’s health. Its products and marketing
strategies are constantly reinvented and innovated with dedication in order to catch up with
changes in the consumer market. It moved from merely supporting family caregivers to
empowering women to fully acknowledge their beauty, values and sense of self-indulgence.
Since there are many vigorous competitors in the liquid fabric softeners’s industry, especially
Comfort and OMO, Downy will need to put more effort and creativity into attracting the next
generations of consumers in line - GenZ. Due to the fast-changing pace of society in the
past few decades, this emerging powerful demographic group is unlike any other before,
with significantly different preferences and behaviours compared to those of their parents.
Finally, in order to increase its market share, Downy can consider expanding its existing
market from only mostly urban and suburban areas to rural areas and raise brand
awareness in these geographic markets. With the remarkable rise of e-commerce, it is
important for Downy to promptly take advantage of this shift in the consumer market to win
over young consumers and buyers in remote areas.
 16

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 18
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 21

VII. Appendices
 22

Figure 1: Brand Shares of Laundry Care in Vietnam (Euromonitor 2021)

Figure 2: The elements of value pyramid (Harvard Business Review 2016)

Figure : Product differentiation (taken in Vinmart D7 on 8/4/2021)

 23

Figure : Marketing strategies used on social media (Buzzmetrics 2016)

Figure : Concerns of customers when they consider buying fabric softeners

(Buzzmetric 2016)
 24

Figure : Responses from customers on social media about Comfort and Downy (Buzzmetric
2016)

THE SURVEY REPORT 91 STUDENTS IN RMIT UNIVERSITY SGS (2021)

Nguyen, T. and Khanh, G., 2021. Survey Report 91 Students in RMIT University SGS.
[online] Googledoc. Available at: <https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1h8mllJ4Wy0k-
XBly0qbf9peNGJCsouoOhVuph4mPDdc/viewanalytics> [Accessed 12 April 2021].
25
26
27
 28

Nguyen Gia Khanh -S3891990 (LEADER): STDP, conclusion, final editor

Vo Doan Thao Nguyen -S3878616: STDP
Nguyen Dang Giang Ngoc -S3878514: Micro, Macro, SWOT (Context: Covid-19), final editor
Dong Thuy Nhu Quynh -S3878649 - Micro, Macro, SWOT (Context: The golden population)
Nguyen Duc Hiep -S3893533 - Micro, Macro, SWOT (Context: The golden population)
Tran Huu Minh -S3891768 - Micro, Macro, SWOT ( Context: Covid-19), Introduction