Huggies is a disposable diaper that is manufactured by the company Kimberly Clark. The company started off with manufacturing diapers and today they also make wipes.
The brand has various types of diapers like snug and fit type, overnight diapers and light diapers and also has training pants which are usually used when kids are toilet trained. The diapers are available for kids of various weights and sizes between the age group of 1 month to 4 years.
The design of the diaper has been done by experts with a complete understanding of the health and hygiene needs of babies of various age groups. The company registered an annual sales turnover of 4.5 billion USD and the sales are expected to grow at an average rate of 3 percent per annum.
Table of Contents
Strengths in the SWOT analysis of Huggies :
Strengths are defined as what each business does best in its gamut of operations which can give it an upper hand over its competitors. The following are the strengths of Huggies:
- Long-standing of the company: The company has been in the business since the year 1968 and it was one of the first of its kind to be developed and the company was also the first to initiate a change from the nappy culture.
- Superior Design: The design of the diaper is in accordance with the name Huggies where the baby gets a feeling that it is being hugged from behind. The diaper also accommodates aspects like the warmth of the mother’s touch in its design.
- Diapers for all the way: Huggies has diapers for babies right from the day of its birth until the day the baby is potty trained. The diapers are made to custom fit the baby’s body and the design gives the feeling of comfort to the baby.
- Importance of health and hygiene: Diapers form an important part of health and hygiene for babies and thus the product is high on health and hygiene standards. This makes them increasingly conscious about the quality and also about adherence to global standards.
- Product Innovation: Huggies has always been focused on product innovation and has been involved in a lot of firsts.Some of their firsts include double grip strips and leak lock protection.
Weaknesses in the SWOT analysis of Huggies :
Weaknesses are used to refer to areas where the business or the brand needs improvement. Some of the key weaknesses of Huggies are:
- Poor Profitability: The profitability ratio and net contribution of Huggies are much below the industry average. The company has much to achieve in terms of sales growth rate.
- Positioning: The USP of the diaper is weak and there are no solid differentiators with the result that smaller players and niche marketers are eating into the market share of the business.
- Poor tracking of feedback: The customer has been regularly giving feedback to the company regarding the diapers. The company does not have a tracking system for feedback with the result that the customer’s voice does not come in the design of the product.
- Low focus on R &D: There is reduced the focus on the research and development aspects of the product in Huggies and the result is that the products largely remains the same without being adaptive to changes in the environment.
Opportunities in the SWOT analysis of Huggies :
Opportunities refer to those avenues in the environment that surrounds the business on which it can capitalize to increase its returns. Some of the opportunities include:
- Change of lifestyle: The number of women in the workplace, have increased the number of kids in daycare and the presence of alternate caregivers. The result is an increase in the demand for baby care products including diapers.
- Growing need for hygiene: There is a growing concern amongst new age moms regarding the need for hygiene and diapers play a critical role in maintaining personal cleanliness. This has created an increase in the need for diapers,
- Increasing market potential: The income of middle and upper class is on a growth from the last two decades. This means that people would be willing to spend more on non-essential items. New generation parents have already developed an increased dependency on diapers and this new shift of income trends will result in a growth in the market potential for diapers.
Threats in the SWOT analysis of Huggies :
Threats are those factors in the environment which can be detrimental to the growth of the business. Some of the threats include:
- The threat of substitution: Though the diaper is considered important in baby care today and convenient in terms of usage, there are growing concerns of whether it is necessary for babies primarily because of the plastic content in them.This is making many parents think of substituting diapers with cloth nappies.
- Competition: In addition to the closest rival Pampers, Huggies also faces competition from a number of local players. They are also facing a rivalry from niche players.
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