Dettol,
the iconic brand from Reckitt Benckiser launched a dishwash under the name “Dettol
Kitchen Gel”. Reckitt Benckiser, owns brands
like Lizol, Harpic, Cherry Blossom and Disprin. The Rs.400 crore Dettol is the
market leader in liquid hand wash market with more than 50% market share and faces
stiff competition from HUL lifebuoy liquid hand wash. Dettol’s core positioning
continues to be the same i.e germ protection. Even HUL was also positioned its
lifebuoy liquid hand wash on the same germ protection platform.
Coming to
this, Dettol Kitchen gel was positioned as a multipurpose germ cleaner & germ
killer. Hence, Reckitt Benckiser, named
it as a kitchen gel than a dish wash. So it can be used for cleaning utensil,
kitchen surface, sinks and cooking tops. With the launch of this product,
Reckitt Benckiser gives stringent competition to HUL’s Vim. Dettol, an 80 year
old brand dominating in hand wash segment is going to take on 100 year old
brand dominated dish wash space.
Well,
innovations are essential to survive & succedd in the market. According to
the company sources, the current brand extension is a part of company’s
strategy to enhance its product folio, market share & business. It would be
quite interesting to see, how Dettol is going to battle the competition from
Vim of HUL. Nonetheless, we have to see,
wether Dettol’s core positioning works in the dish wash space as well. Until
then, watch your kitchens wether Dettol replaces brand like Pril, Vim, &
Exo or not.