Aqualisa Case
REASONS FOR QUARTZ SHOWER NOT SELLING:
Poor Market Demand for new product: As stated in Pg2 and Exhibit 2 of Aqualisa HBS case, “Almost half the UK market consisted of sales of replacement showers. Therefore, though Quartz had attractive features, the market demand for a new break-through product was not existent.
Over-Priced: As shown in Exhibit 8 - Aqualisa HBS case, Quartz was considered as a premium brand targeted at a broad consumer base but because the demand for new product in the shower segment was low, Consumers were reluctant to pay high prices on new product.
Marketing Channels:
Plumbers: As shown in exhibit 4- Aqualisa HBS case, consumers generally lack brand awareness about shower products. Plumbers were most influential in deciding which brand the consumer would use. Also, based on exhibit 1- Aqualisa HBS case, Aqualisa brand and its subsidiaries had only 18% (325500) of the market sale for the year. Plumbers were extremely reluctant to change brands owing to the fear of out of pocket expenses incurred by installing new products. Quartz as a product failed to reach and promote itself among a large majority of plumbers about its features. Since plumbers directly contributed to more than 60 %( exhibit 4-Aqualisa HBS case) of the shower sales, Quartz lost a major portion of the market through which higher sales could have been achieved.
Failure to concentrate sales on new consumer base: Since only 10% of sales time was used in promoting the new customers, Aqualisa failed to concentrate on and to create a new consumer base, and the reluctance of its sales people to create a competition between existing brands and Quartz to the existing customers also led to a lower rate of sales.
Brand Perception: Quartz was perceived by the consumers as a high end product and hence, found its market only in the niche segment, which led to a lower sales.
Poor Market Demand for new product: As stated in Pg2 and Exhibit 2 of Aqualisa HBS case, “Almost half the UK market consisted of sales of replacement showers. Therefore, though Quartz had attractive features, the market demand for a new break-through product was not existent.
Over-Priced: As shown in Exhibit 8 - Aqualisa HBS case, Quartz was considered as a premium brand targeted at a broad consumer base but because the demand for new product in the shower segment was low, Consumers were reluctant to pay high prices on new product.
Marketing Channels:
Plumbers: As shown in exhibit 4- Aqualisa HBS case, consumers generally lack brand awareness about shower products. Plumbers were most influential in deciding which brand the consumer would use. Also, based on exhibit 1- Aqualisa HBS case, Aqualisa brand and its subsidiaries had only 18% (325500) of the market sale for the year. Plumbers were extremely reluctant to change brands owing to the fear of out of pocket expenses incurred by installing new products. Quartz as a product failed to reach and promote itself among a large majority of plumbers about its features. Since plumbers directly contributed to more than 60 %( exhibit 4-Aqualisa HBS case) of the shower sales, Quartz lost a major portion of the market through which higher sales could have been achieved.
Failure to concentrate sales on new consumer base: Since only 10% of sales time was used in promoting the new customers, Aqualisa failed to concentrate on and to create a new consumer base, and the reluctance of its sales people to create a competition between existing brands and Quartz to the existing customers also led to a lower rate of sales.
Brand Perception: Quartz was perceived by the consumers as a high end product and hence, found its market only in the niche segment, which led to a lower sales.