Aqualisa

Problem Statement

Aqualisa launched the most significant shower innovation in recent British history: the Quartz shower. The shower provides significant improvements in terms of quality, cost, and ease of installation. In product testing, the Quartz shower received rave reviews from both consumers and plumbers alike. However, early sales of the Quartz have been disappointing. Now, the company is faced with some key issues about whether to change the channel strategy, promotional strategy, and the overall positioning of the product (niche or mainstream product) in the context of his existing product line.

Situation Analysis

Company: Aqualisa, 3rd in the shower market with 18% coverage has had a successful marketing strategy, which allowed it to enjoy 25% net return on sales and a growth of 5% to 10% in a mature market. They have effectively segmented their markets and have products that cater to each segment's needs (product range of 9 models covering the three types of showers used in the UK, ranging between 230 and 670). Their channel relationships are strong and positioning has helped them achieve a good brand name in the market. The company used the shower max (specialized product similar to Aqualvalve at lower priced than the before mentioned) to penetrate the developer's market.

Company's Strengths

* Strong reputation in the shower market

* Highly profitable company

* High quality products

* Excellent service

* Strategic use of Gainsborough brand to penetrate low cost market

Company's Weaknesses

* Only available in 40% of trade shops, 25% of the total showrooms, and 70% of total outlets

* 10% defected products

* Competition is catching up in product quality

* Considered as an expensive brand

Costumers: Broadly speaking the customers in the individual market segment have one common feature; they could identify problems in current showers which were poor pressure, varying temperature and breaking down. Within this individual customer category there are sub-segments based on varying needs.

Following the description of the customer categories is a discussion of the behavior of plumbers, which is essential to understand the true nature of the market. Although they are not the end consumer, their role will be significant for Aqualisa when creating an effective marketing strategy.

Value Customers: Customers in this category are mainly concerned with low price and convenience. While style or looks is not their primary concerns, functionality plays an important role. Price is very important to this category as they do not like to spend money on solutions that require excavations (as they would increase installation costs).