Vicco Turmeric is an ayurvedic face cream manufactured by Vicco Laboratories which is headquartered in Mumbai. Vicco Laboratories which also manufactures other ayurvedic products like Vicco Vajradanti toothpaste and toothpowder and the Narayani cream is an established player in the domain of ayurvedic cosmetics and oral care in India.
The company is a vision of Keshav Vishnu Pendharkar who established this conglomerate in the year 1959 with the vision of making ayurvedic cosmetics a household product and selling them in a format which is easy to use. Vicco Turmeric Cream was also one of the first of its kind to be sold in the Indian market and through a penetration pricing strategy, the brand emerged as a market leader in India. The brand could connect to the local audience through a series of advertisements in the local language which is how it started gaining popularity.
Strengths in the SWOT analysis of Vicco Turmeric
The following are the strengths ofVicco Turmeric Cream are:
- Healing properties of turmeric: Turmeric is a natural antibiotic and has numerous healing and disinfecting properties. For this reason, turmeric is the right ingredient for a face cream since it can not just increase fairness but can also treat pimples, blemishes, and other common skin problems.
- Trust and goodwill of customers: Vicco Turmeric Cream enjoys very high customer goodwill and trust primarily because of its ayurvedic background which makes it steer clear of any side effects. Moreover, Vicco turmeric also had a first mover advantage in its category since there were no similar products in the market during its launch time.
- Natural Ingredients: The Vicco Turmeric Ayurvedic Cream has natural ingredients like turmeric and cream. The cream is also free of any animal-based ingredients or the product has not been tested on animals. The formulation has been developed and certified by FDA.
- Unisex: In addition to providing fair skin Vicco Turmeric also removes blemishes and marks as well as pimples from the skin making it fresh and youthful. The cream is also unisex and can be used by both genders and is not positioned specifically for men. In fact even the advertisements of the product feature men.
- Modern advertisements: The products through a highly traditional one uses a very modern and contemporary style of advertising with the new age woman featuring the problems she usually faces in skin care. The cream is positioned as a solution to these various problems.
Weaknesses in the SWOT analysis of Vicco Turmeric
Weaknesses are used to refer to areas where the business or the brand needs improvement. Some of the key weaknesses of Vicco Turmeric Ayurvedic Cream are :
- Inability to sustain growth: During the early years of its inception, Vicco Turmeric was a highly successful product and people trusted the brand to a large extent. However, in the nineties, India was liberalized and a lot of multinational companies forayed into the country with a lot of new brands in the domain of skin care.This resulted in Vicco being unable to sustain its growth.
- The high cost of operation: Vicco Turmeric uses natural ingredients like turmeric and cream as its ingredients. The company also spends a lot of money on ensuring the sources from where they get the materials are authentic and this has escalated the cost of production.
- Features with issues: The Vicco Turmeric Ayurvedic Cream has had lots of complaints regarding some of its features. One pressing concern that customers voiced was regarding the texture of the cream which was too thick and not as flowy as the multinational competitors. There was also certain complaints regarding the smell of the cream which reminded the customer of a medicine.
- Confused positioning: Vicco Turmeric tried to position its products as both a medicine as well as the fairness cream. Vicco Turmeric Ayurvedic cream is not just a cream to increase fairness but also to cure skin issues like blemishes, skin rashes, and pimples. It is also positioned as an ointment for burns and wounds. This has confused the customer since they are not sure of what the cream is actually meant for.
Opportunities in the SWOT analysis of Vicco Turmeric
Some of the opportunities include :
- Excessive skin problems: Customers are conscious of the way they look and thus more concerned about skin care. This makes them invest more money on treatments which make them look good thereby creating a huge opportunity for skin care service providers.
Threats in the SWOT analysis of Vicco Turmeric
Threats are those factors in the environment which can be detrimental to the growth of the business. Some of the threats include:
- Competition: The primary challenge for Vicco Turmeric are their competitors like Fair & Lovely, forever and Clearasil.
