Aqualisa Quartz
What is the Quartz value proposition to Plumbers and to the Consumers?
The value proposition to the plumbers is the relative ease of installation that reduces the time by up to 1.5 days over a standard shower installation. The Quartz design allows for less repeat trips to fix problems at their own expense. Further, they can pass along the installation jobs to their apprentices. This frees them up to make more money on larger jobs and also ameliorates the shortage of plumbers in the UK.
For the consumers the Quartz offers a superior product to that of its competitors. The Quartz expedites the shower controls which allows for more exact temperature control and the customers are blown away by the “wow factor” (e.g. push button controls). Furthermore, the Quartz shower is a superior shower experience that vastly improves water pressure and the longevity of the shower unit. Also there are no cumbersome boxes taking up precious space in the shower. These enhancements open up new market segment possibilities. Women don’t have to worry about getting their hair wet when they jump in for a quick shower and the elderly don’t have to fiddle with stiff valves.
Due to the savings on installation, the Quartz so profoundly affects the price that the total cost of the Quartz Standard unit winds up being less expensive than any of the other shower units (see Chart 1). So for example, if one factors in that the average labor would be £240 total (£60/hr.) compared with £960 installation for a standard shower this offsets the higher price of the Quartz units. The price...
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...orkshops for customers and sales people within the DIY stores. This would directly impact sales and improve the negative perceptions of the difficulty in these types of installations.
The showroom segments are the biggest fans of the Quartz and obviously should be highly pursued. It’s not clear on whether new relationships were forged in this area but it would make great sense to target every possible show room to maximize exposure.
Finally, I believe the marketing organizational structure can be altered to include more cross-functional product and brand management teams. These teams can comprised of various team members to take advantage of various skills for developing a strategic directions on further developing target markets, building new relationships with vendors and improving the customer acquisition process.
Sarkar, A. N., & Singh, J. (2005). New paradigm in evolving brand management strategy. Journal of Management Research, 5(2), 80-90. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/237238894?accountid=28644
Target Corporation's strategic structure plans are continuing staffing the organization and assemble a well-talented management team. Also, continue recruiting and retaining employees with the needed experience. Another option is to acquire, develop and strengthen resources and capabilities in performing critical value chain activities to match changing market conditions and customer expectations. Target Corporation needs to explore multidivisional or matrix organization structure to facilitate strategy execution, delegate authority, and managing external relationships (Thompson, Peteraf, Gamble and Strickland, 2016).
...ve less of the luxury features, but still provide the basic functionality of a Quartz product, with steady pressure, consistent temperature, and made of sturdy materials that will not break after short use. Dropping the price of the Quartz system, or introducing a lower cost system, could initially decrease profits for Aqualisa, but with a product at a lower cost, it could compete with the current unreliable systems on the market. However, once the do-it-yourselfer and plumbers start to use the system, they will have users hooked, and potentially raise its market share. Also with the prospect of more satisfied customers and plumbers, brings the benefit of “word of mouth” advertisement, users will start demanding it from plumbers and builders, and the potential of users who may splurge for the better luxury systems, because they now know and trust the Aqualisa brand.
UK Marketshare Data shows us that UK has five players which sell more then 100.000 units per year (data for year 2000) on the showers market. These are: Triton (545.500 units), Mira (390.000 units), Ganiesborough (203.500 units), Aqualisa (122.000 units) and Masco (120.000 units). If we focus on Electric Showers, Gainesborough (Aqualisa brand) is with 180.000 number of units sold on the 2nd place, behind Triton (479.000 units). In Mixer Showers category, Aqualisa is also second with 94.000 units (behind brand Mira with 200.000 units sold in year 2000).
Marketing is a process of determining a consumer’s needs, devising a product or service to satisfy those needs, and trying to focus customers on the goods and services you are offering. Marketing is extremely important, and a fundamental building block for business growth. A marketing team is given the task of creating customer awareness through a variety of different marketing techniques. If a business does not pay close attention to their consumer demographic and needs, they will eventually fail over time. Two important aspects of marketing include acquiring new customers, and the preservation and growth of relationships with current customers. Marketing has always been viewed as a creative outlet, which encompassed advertising, distribution, and the selling of goods and services. Marketing staff will also try to anticipate what customers will want in the future, often being accomplished with market research. In summation, a good marketing plan should be able to create a favorable proposition or series of benefits that a customer can value through goods or services. The marketing mix is normally described as the strategic positioning of a product or service in the marketplace, using the specification of the four Ps. During the early 1960’s, Professor E. Jerome McCarthy of Harvard Business School stated that a marketing mix contains four elements. The four key points are product, pricing, promotion, and placement. It is recognized that all these aspects must be present to ensure a successful business model within a given industry. We will now take a thorough look at the four marketing mix points.
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.
The team/matrix structure within this organic model clearly creates product innovation, job satisfaction, across the board high profits and lower costs. This is a result of the organic model with a team/matrix structure influenced by their innovation strategy.
Nucifora, Alf. “Small businesses utilize point-of-purchase advertising.” Business Journal Serving Fresno & the Central San Joaquin Valley. 19 Jul 1999. p. 2-4
However, this vision generates an overlapping problem between the marketing department and the product development department. The marketing department, among other duties, is responsible for the identification of new opportunities and also to assure the development of new products. Unless these activities are extremely well coordinated with the product development department, there will be misalignment in the strategy of the EPD. Ultimately, this misalignment will affect a third department, i.e. the manufacturing department, since it is directly involved in the product development process.
Business structure is a critical factor to determine a company 's success or failure. Generally, larger organization has a more complex organizational structure. In the case of H&M, they had adopted matrix structure, one of the traditional organizational structure, into their business. As shown in figure 1, range of functional groups is listed horizontally across the table and on the other is product/task with a manager taking control of each. The functional structure is divided
marketing theories into consideration so that they can boost their brand in different aspect. If this can be collective
In addition to urgency, Gustavsson could not create a powerful guiding coalition. He established a cross-functional team to develop a new moisture-resistant product. But the team did not include a sales manager who knows customers' needs and eventually sells the product. Although the team developed a commercially-viable product, their efforts, at least in the short term, were unsatisfactory, because with sales people's own doubts about the new product, they were afraid of jeopardizing the reputation of current product. Moreover, these cross functional teams operated within the established organization maintained the company's dominate culture and past norms. We know that structurally independent teams that are tightly integrated into the existing hierarchy with different cultures and processes are often more successful.
Consequently, should you be searching to have a new standalone shower in your home, it could be an excellent concept to shop at one of the local dwelling improvement stores. In truth, home improvement shops, particularly sizeable ones, are recognized for their displays. So as to discover the best shower for your soon to be remodeled bathroom, you might need to see these displays; having said that, if the displays aren't as essential to you, you may also desire to think about shopping on line. Regardless of whether or not you shop, no matter whether it be on line or locally, you might would like to attempt and obtain shower kits or packages. These kits and packages are not only handy, but they may perhaps also save you
“Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.” (AMA, 2007)
Organizational structure within an organization is a critical component of the day to day operations of a business. An organization benefits from organizational structure as a result of all it encompasses. It is used to define how tasks are divided, grouped and coordinated. Six elements should be addressed during the design of the organization’s structure: work specialization, departmentalization, chain of command, spans of control, centralization and decentralization. These components are a direct reflection of the organization’s culture, power and politics.