Q1: They face once in a lifetime opportunity means that they are talking about the potential for profit and growth required following Information to Evaluate the Opportunity:
-Determine the product selling point that will put it as a competitive advantage over other products. -make a survey about customers if they are willing to pay a higher price for the innovative product offered by the company.
– make Competitive Frame of Reference (customer awareness-product quality-product availability-technical assistance-selling staff) -Identify the market segments (market segmentation), and select the target segment (market targeting). – Advantages of using the Ease-Trap over other competitors product (User Friendly-Child Friendly-Pet Friendly-No Poison-reuse-no clean up)
I think the group is going to write the following “mission statement”: We produce a trap that you could use safer and easier than the traditional one, with no risk of catching your fingers while loading it
I suggest writing the following “mission statement”: “we are making innovative mousetrap that traps mice easily, friend of the environment, and good value of money with no danger for your child”.
Q2/
She identified the best target market (women) because they don’t like the mess or the risks created by traditional mouse traps. This is a good marketing segment to begin with They could try to focus on
– Environmentalists as trap-ease is reusable so creates less of a strain on the environment which would make it a very attractive thing for them, -Animal lovers would love the Trap-Ease mouse trap because it doesn’t require poison or pose the risk of snapping closed on a paw or tongue of a pet. -Corporate Businesses as Food Company would probably like the Trap-Ease mouse trap because of its high quality more futuristic image and the fact that it would create as much of a mess, -families which have a kids as trap-ease with no danger for kids -hospitals
-people who live in new cities as mice were spread
Q3/ They had positioned the product by mentioning that it is safer and easier to use than the competitors’ products (Traps Mice Easily), and that there is no risk of catching one’s finger while loading it.
I think they can position the trap-ease as no dangerous for small children at home, Never seeing or touching a dead mouse again, fewer waists because it is re-useable, by having an incredibly good customer service team that could deliver services to their customers that were having problems using the product
Q4/ The marketing mix of a company consist of the four P’s: Product: trap-ease.
Price: about five times more expensive than standard trap.
Place: trap-ease distributed directly through national grocery, hardware and drug chains (retailers) such as Safeway, sellers, Canadian tire, and shoppers drug mart avoiding any wholesaler or other intermediaries. Promotion: Trap-Ease had an promotion budget about $60.000 They are spent $10,000 on advertising, the other $50.000 are spent on travel costs to visit trade shows and to make sales calls on retailers
Problems:
– Price is very high; she could offer a wider range of prices on the different models of their trap in order to offer more variety – Place: she was trying to distribute their product through large stores. They can use internet shop (E-shop) as People on the internet are often caring with quality, ease of use, and innovativeness and don’t mind spending a little more money to get what they want. It is also a high profit market because it reduces transportation costs and there are no middle man costs – promotion: she concentrated whole marketing budget on visiting trade shows and advertising on chatelaine and other home magazines ,she should promote over the internet for certain on sites and also think about putting out ads on TV. Q5/ Trap-Ease America’s competitor is any company that creates mouse traps competitors include Victor, JT Eaton, Riddex and D-CON who offers both baits and traps. They actually also offer a version of a no touch mouse trap in which you don’t have to touch the mouse after you have trapped it. They are selling this for $4.29 which is higher than the suggested retail price for the Trap-Ease mouse trap which is $2.99, which will give trap-ease a pricing advantage. Havahart offer traps which humanely catch everything from mice to voles and shrews and are competition for the humane factors of the Trap-Ease. There are also in direct competitor as poisons that are sold which are a danger to pets and animals as well as the mice they are supposed to kill.
Q6/
Swot analysis
Internal
Strengths
Weakness
1/very innovative product and engneered well 2/long life product as it is re-useable 3/with low risk specially for kids 4/highly environmemntal 1/high price 2/low promotion 3/do not detemine good target of market segmentation 4/product oriented strategy
External
Opportunities
Threats
1/unique product,so it is a high potential market 2/less competitors 1/traditional marketers 2/chemicals and pesticides
New marketing strategy:-
1/targeting:
The targeting should have been done within a broader demographic area. Slums, warehouses, go downs, docks, kirana shops, retail stores, restaurant, canteens and cold storages must be targeted for potential customers. The segmenting must avail wholesalers and the intermediaries too apart from the retailers. Marketing channels like Toll-free numbers, newspapers, television, radio and mobile marketing must be used effectively to target MEN. Pest control companies must be primarily targeted and a joint venture can be planned if necessary. We should target to environmentalists, animal lovers and corporate business. 2/ Promotions
When two traps are sold in a single package it might not be appealing to the customers who are ready to experiment. So it should be one at a time. The cost must be cut down as low as possible at least for initial days because the customers are driven to products that are freely available for fewer prices. Here the packaging plays a prominent role. Free samples to the agencies must be initially given so that they get the customers acquainted to the product in order to gain a good name in the market. There should be mass distribution of the product and free demo services must be provided. The marketing network within the organization must be increased, instead of Martha being the single salesperson. There must be door-to-door salesperson to make the sales effective. The administrative costs must be cut down and more money should be spent in promotional activities like advertising in movie theatres. Showing a demo in the retail shops, approaching government to promote in railways and bus-stands as a social cause and environment savior. A brand ambassador must be endorsed to promote the product in order to attract the customers. Money back promise should be made to the customers if the products are found defective. This way they will gain the trust of the customers. 3/ Using Customers Value Triad:
Though there’s value in terms of quality, satisfaction of the customers from the product is less because of its high price. And proper feedbacks must be taken from the customers as well as the retailers in order to assess the true position of the product. Online booking facilities must be provided so that more customers can know the details about the product and buy it easily. The cost and communication of the four 4c’s concept must be kept in mind. The safety and re-usability aspects of the product must be communicated well to the customers. Retaining customers is very important and that can be done only through quality service. Customers are gods and promises made to them should be kept. They lost an order because of time the management and Matha doesn’t seem to learn from the mistake. The goodwill of the organization is necessary for any product to remain for a long time. 4/ Planning:
A proper market research is necessary to understand the wants of customers. Timely adjustments must be done based on the marketing environment. There must be a backup plan always when the target sales and profits are not achieved. When the sales have gone down in April, the marketing strategy must be immediately changed. The administrative costs must be cut down heavily. Also the reasons for why the product is not bought the second time must be found out and necessary changes made to the product as per customer benefits. Repeat buying will happen only when the services provided are beneficial to the customers. When the trade shows haven’t bought enough sales, the costs should be cut down there and allocate more money for advertising.
Target Group
Product Strategy
Distribution Strategy
Promoting Strategy
Control
The first thing I would do to change Trap-Ease’s marketing strategy would be to increase the amount of people in their marketing team. Although Martha was probably trying to keep down costs by not hiring anyone for her marketing team she made one important mistake. One of the most important things when coming out with a new product is the Marketing because until you’ve communicated the benefits of your product to the Consumer there will not be sufficient demand for it. Her entry into the market was too small scale and chances are that with such an innovative
