Strategic Marketing

The small electrical household appliances market in the UK is a very lucrative and stable market. Items such as toasters and kettles have become seen as necessities in the kitchen. In particular the toaster subsector has experienced steady growth in value since 2002 (Keynote, 2006) and is ranked as the second most lucrative subsector within the broader small electrical household appliances market. Dualit are a UK based company specializing in this market sector. Dualit was founded in 1945 and gained a reputation for its toaster and kettles ranges. In the ten-year gap between 1965 and 1975 Dualit faced stiff competition and decided to redesign its product to aim to penetrate the catering trade. The stainless steal design was both sleek and durable and quickly became a favourite in café and hotel kitchens. In the 1990’s the elegant yet simplistic design of Dualits toaster became very popular in a small segment of the consumer market. Despite a very high cost in excess of £100 the toasters became a very fashionable statement item. Today Dualit offers a wide toaster range but its most acclaimed products are the NewGen Classic toaster range. This range of toasters includes the 2 and 4 slice NewGen models that range for £145 to £195. These toasters boast the award winning Pro Heat elements, which offer high quality performance. The aim of this essay is to evaluate Dualit’s intended marketing strategy and suggest possible alternatives. To do this I will use the “4 P” framework of Product, Price, Place and Promotion.

It is clear that Dualit have tailored their NewGen toaster ranges to a very specific market segment. Toasters are seen as basic commodities in the kitchen and the general trend in this industry sector is to provide a relatively cheap product, which simply does what it is supposed to do, and no more. Dualit’s NewGen toasters cost considerably more than the market average and far more emphasis is placed on the styling. Dualit is exhibiting signs of niche or even micromarketing (Armstrong et al, 2009) with the NewGen range. Dualit is trying to appeal to a very specific sub segment of the toaster market where there is little competition. Dualit have used psychographic segmentation (Armstrong et al, 2009) appealing to a certain lifestyle and personality where style and innovation hold inmportance. Dualit have implemented a concentrated targeting strategy where they are trying to become the market leader in the “luxury” toaster market. Dualit have tried to position their NewGen ranges as being viewed as the epitome of toaster design and quality.

* The actual product us the most integral part of Dualit’s marketing strategy. Dualit is very product led and this really determines how Dualit price, promote and place the NewGen toaster range. If you were to look at the NewGen toaster range in terms of its life cycle it would be approaching the maturity stage. It is fairly well established and publicity through winning numerous awards has boosted the products status. As the product is nearing the maturity stage Dualit should be looking toward developing new ranges or enhancing the NewGen range to ensure future sales. Another way to analyse the Dualit NewGen toaster range as a product is in the terms of the three levels of product theory (Armstrong et al, 2009); core benefit, actual product and augmented product. On a basic level, the product core, the NewGen range offers superior toasting quality to most competitors through the innovative ProHeat elements. The actual product level looks at the attributes that combine together to give the benefits of the product. The NewGen range offers uncompromised styling and functionality through it simple yet stylish design, which is the main differentiator between it and its rivals. This is one reason why Dualit are to drive such able a high price. A key part of Dualit’s marketing strategy is the augmented product level. The strong brand...