Section 37
How Ujala grew a company on one product
Can a small company win a national category with just one product?
- case
- Success
- years
- 1983-2011
- 6 people, house to house
- First sales team · 1984
- 73.6%
- Ujala market share by value · 2011
- 60.1%
- Ujala market share by volume · 2011
- 01
The situation
In 1983 M. P. Ramachandran started Jyothy Laboratories as a proprietary concern in Kerala and launched Ujala, a liquid fabric whitener. The company had no national distribution.
- 02
The decision
The company focused on one product and sold it directly. Its 2008-09 annual report records that in 1984 Ujala was sold house to house by a team of six salespeople in the Trichur and Malappuram districts of Kerala. The 'char boondon wala' (four drops) message became its slogan. Only after Ujala was strong did the company add brand extensions such as Ujala Stiff & Shine (launched in Kerala in 2005 and nationally in 2008).
- 03
The outcome
By the year ended December 2011, the company reported that Ujala was number one in its category with a 73.6 per cent all-India market share by value and 60.1 per cent by volume.