Strategy to Market

8/14/2019 Strategy to Market

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Strategy to market:

Objective:

To develop strategies to market white appliances microwave ovens in India

To dos:

a. Select the target marketb. Highlight the necessary featuresc. Decide on pricingd. Decide on promotionse. Decide on distributionf. Short term strategiesg. Long term strategies

Things to consider:

a. Indian food preparation vs. western food preparationb. Values and Customs that might affect opinions about microwave ovensc. The effects of competition.

Before making strategies for white appliances microwave oven, we have got numerous

issues that have to be sorted out so as to ensure a sustained increased in sales and a sustained

profitable growth.

Let s get our objective correct:

Whether we want to have our oven in every household in India or identify and target select

segments.

We all know that if our objective is to have every household have our oven, then there has to

be lot of changes that has be done in every aspect of the business. Be it manufacturing,

design, marketing et cetera.

Lets say our objective is to have our oven in every household in India. What do we

have to do?

Our short term strategiesshould concentrate on the urban and semi-urban segment.

Our long term strategiesshould also target rural consumers.

Let us concentrate on getting people from urban and sub-urban segments!

As per the case study and talking with three mothers, there are certain issues that are very

much visible on the surface.

a. Microwave oven changes the taste of the food.b. It consumer more power.


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c. Some food items really gets hard and loses their softness (e.g. chicken)d. Food out of oven is not good for health.e. Some people do not know how to use.

Clearly there are lot more issues that are not visible but lets concentrate on the visible ones

The change of tasteIs there really a change in taste or is it just a perception?

If there is a change in taste, what actually causes it?

These questions can be answered only by proper formal research.

Indian cuisine preparation concentrates more on vegetarian items against western cuisines

which relies more on meat and steak. Also Indian foods are spicy and Ayurveda is its

strongest influencer. Whereas western foods have more sauces as condiments and lot of

dairy products are used in the process. According to Ayurveda, there were predominantly six

tastes sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter and astringent. Our taste buds are so sensitive we

are quick to respond to even a slight change in our regular foods. Even though these tastes are

universal in nature they have got special emphasis in ayurveda. what is more important to

note is Indians need appropriate combinations of all the six tastes throughout their life and

they will never change their food habits nor a change in taste in their regular foods since their

traditional foods have always catered to this need.

Microwave oven consumes more power- It is a fact and in electricity- conscious country this

is one of the serious issues that has to be tackled quickly. Only innovation will help.

Microwave oven is not good for health in a health conscious country, where home

makers make sure that they give quality food to their children, this will be a serious

impediment and block our way of progress.

Taking in to account the other two issues food becoming hard, some people do not how to

use and also the previous ones discussed, there is one thing which is increasingly becoming

evident.

People still see ovens as an option and not as a necessity.

Also, connect is missing. That is microwave oven is still seen as something that is

foreign and when something is foreign and you know connect is missing, then

something has to be done!

What is that something?

Microwave oven has to be seen as Indian. Once you know that something is not

foreign there is a lot of chance that consumer connect can be increased. Even though

my view is abstract and it needs some research to substantiate my point, I can tell you

that Indian consumers have a strong belief in their foods and food habits and

something associated is foreign then people are going to slightly distance themselves

from it.


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Let us discuss about the values and customs that affect opinions about Microwave

oven:

As expressed earlier, people have a strong belief in their foods and food habitsandat least inside the home, they will stick on to their traditional foods.

They believe that as long as you eat Indian food, health problems will be minimal

(need more research to substantiate).

But more than these, there is a custom or say a practise that actually needs much more

attention than any of these.

Home makers during preparation stick to their traditional methods because of many

reasons. One main reason could be attributed to their senses. Explanation follows.

1. Home makers like to smell their food during cooking. They like to smell thefood which is in process of getting cooked.

2. They find satisfaction in using the utensils, mix the food in the vessel, smellthem and after mentally-calculated time, they take off from their vessels.

3. This clearly show the level of high involvement when it comes to cooking.4. So suddenly if microwave dictates terms, tell them that what you have to do is

to simply keep the food inside the machine, then people are very likely to be

less involved and home makers will never accept this.

5. What we have to note is people want themselves to get involved inside thekitchen and they always would like to dictate terms and be the queen in the

kitchen rather than someone or some object.

With all these points taken and noted let us go to segmentation and targeting.

As a short term strategy,

Our objective is to concentrate on urban and semi-urban segments.

Note our ultimate objective is to make our oven present in every household.

As far as urban and semi-urban is concerned, the market will be segmented into two

1. Home makers (women who take charge of the house)2. Working women (women who take charge of the house as well go outside for

work)

For working women, Time is very scarce and microwave oven comes in handy.

Also it is a gadget which can make meals in minutes, reheats, defrosts, bakes, roasts

and grills, so definitely a multi-purpose solution.

Also working women are equally concerned about their children health, so if our

oven retains the nutrients in the food through innovation, then this can be highlighted

in our communication.

And Taste is equally important. Customers are intolerant of even slight change intaste and this if addressed could boost our prospects


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Common benefits: time saving and multi-purpose solution

Whites unique benefit: retains the nutrients and a utility tool which will keep

intact the original taste of the food. Cookery classes on how to cook without change

in taste. These have got be highlighted in our communication.

Features: multi-purpose gadget which roasts, grills, does convection, etc.

Home-makers: this market is a challenge for us.

First the question, why do the home-makers need ovens first of all? They like cooking

in fact of their main functions is cooking, since they are not employed outside they

have a lot of time to cater to their people needs. So why do they need ovens after all?

We have a solution!

It is not that home-makers have a lot of time every day. In fact management every

weekday morning is so tough that women gets frustrated and sometimes lose out

having their children running away without food and so on. The basic problem here is

mismanagement of time and one of the reasons is time spent in cooking during

morning.

Our communication and promotions should be such a way that we should tell

them cooking can be made easy in the morning with our oven and meanwhile

you can express your love and bid happy goodbye to your children and husband.

Necessary benefit: a multi-purpose solution

Whites unique benefit: lovable mornings facilitated by our microwave ovens.Features: multipurpose gadget which bakes, roasts, grills, defrosts, et cetera.

How can white differentiate from the competitor?

The effects of competition can never be underestimated, already 61% of the market

share is taken by Samsung and LG and if to compete in this market then we need to

slightly think different.

As expressed earlier, Indians can never really change their foods and food habits

because their belief is strong and if something reinforces their belief it is surely going

to get welcomed. What I would like to propose is to make the ovens look very Indian

and traditional. Put up local manufacturing centres that can cater to the local

people instead of importing from US and it should be perceived as an Indian

product, an Indian realisation of micro-oven would go a long wayin

differentiating from the competitor. Innovation has to be done in terms of design

and the functions that micro-wave performs. Women will never allow any one or

any object to be their master in their kitchen.People of white appliance have to

understand this and position it accordingly.

So even though there are two segments, the product is going to be same, the functions

are going to be same. The positioning to home-makers is different from


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positioning to working wives/mothers.But to differentiate, then make a microwave

which is more Indian and traditionaland which just assists them in their cooking

equivalent of a servant maid.

Pricing has to be done taking into account the social economics of the Indian

consumers.1. Rich complete features, a multipurpose solution- Rs 170002. Upper middle classagain a multipurpose but still not extensive as the former-

10,000

3. Lower middle classbasic features-5000

For the future, rural segments have to be targeted but as of now it is important to do

the ground works, should understand the lifestyle of the rural people, their beliefs,

their customs and the onus should be on how to create a need and educate them.

So our objective is to have our oven in every Indian home and for that to happen

start making the product in India. Understand the taste, understand the

philosophy behind Indian cooking and position your product according to the

segments. At the end of the day the food should taste the same, the food should

be made in time and the whites oven should be in the kitchen, a humble servant

to the queen of the house.

- Submitted byLourdes Joe- 1221316

Saharsh Bhushan- 1221431


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Strategy to Market