Ezgi Asena Kurt

Aqualisa Quartz Case Analysis

In the U.K. shower market, there are two main problems; these are poor water pressure and varying of temperature. Quartz is a better product both for consumer and producer. Quartz’s value propositions for plumbers are very significant. A shower installation for traditional showers takes two days for traditional showers, but Quartz’s showers’ installation takes only half a day. Also the installation is very straightforward. In a market, which is suffering from the shortage of master plumbers, it is definitely more advantageous to send their young apprentices and by this way consumers are also benefits from this situation, because they are waiting for a plumber for approximately six months in usual conditions. Quartz showers are looking good, easy to use, they can hardly break down and if they break down, there is a great product service for it. In addition, it solves consumers’ problems such as low water pressure and sudden changes in temperature. Also, it is user friendly because of the “one-touch” control.

After the analysis of the case, we think that Aqualisa Quartz is in a niche product market that all the products are nearly the same. Aqualisa Quartz does not sell as the manager wants, but this fact is not related with its price. The fundamental point of marketing niche product is marketing the product through making differentiation. The main reason why they spent 5.8 million euro is to enhance a new product which is different than all of the other products in the market and it is the best thing they have done. Although plumbers have a conservative attitude towards innovation, first they scared Quartz because of the fact that they fear from the product’s electronic part. They thought that installing a Quartz shower lasts for days, but when they try it, they realize that it is much easier than the traditional shower installation and they become a convert. On the other hand, plumbers are choosing the product they know how to install and they want to make sure that there will be no problems after installation, because they have to fix it and it will be a loss of time. When they use Quartz, they do not face with those problems; therefore they become very highly brand loyal.

There are various shower categories in the U.K. shower market and Aqualisa Quartz has three different categories in this market. These are the electrical showers, mixer showers, values and integral power showers. Aqualisa’s core products are segmented as value, standard and premium. There is a significant difference among the retail prices of the segments of Quartz standard and premium. If we consider the consumers who want both Quartz premiums’ quality and standards’’ convention It can become a problem due to it’s overprice.

. Although Aqualisa’s target audience is not directly consumers, Quartz is an impressive product of Aqualisa. When a direct consumer sees Quartz in a showroom, s/he will be under the influence of the product’s design, comfort and technology. Because of this “wow factor” advantage, if Aqualisa Quartz increases its sales in showrooms it can gain more profit in the U.K. market and expand its target audience to direct consumers. As it can be seen in exhibit 2; Triton, the only company who can target consumers with the product and build a consumer brand in the market, is the leader of whole market with 545,500 total units sold. At the same time, our total selling

for both of our companies is 325,500. Therefore; while differentiating our products, if we try to reach our consumers more directly, our market share can increase.

As it is mentioned in the case, showrooms is one of the most significant channels of distribution in the U.K. market. Aqualisa has different kind of brands because of its diverse consumers. It redesigns and re-brands its products for specific needs. For instance, for Premium segment, which is interested on high performance, good service and style, Aqualisa offers them the opportunity to create their own shower as they can see in the showrooms. They can choose between powers, electric or mixed shower. While Aqualisa is available in 40% of trade shops, the percentage of selling in the showrooms does not exceed more than 25% of them. The company can increase its sales and gain profit if it raises the number of trade shops and showrooms In another segment, Gainsborough is primarily focused for people who want do it by themselves “Do It Yourself”, (for that reason Aqualisa is not sold through this way, because of its difficulty of installation) and it is available in 70% of the outlets in U.K.

The price of our goods does not have to decrease; because although we have made nearly 50% discount in some of our products, our consumer’s behavior did not change. The reason behind this attitude is just because our product is a niche product, its quality and price are not dependent on the price elasticity of demand; it is associated more with the specific needs of the consumers. By the help of our brand recognition in the market, we can combine our technologic side of our product. And in a niche market; because of the fact that we have differentiated our products, our products will sell. By this way we will survive from the high competition of the market and increase our market share.