Abstract
This article explains the market strategy of Persil laundry detergent Company which was developed from close consideration of the current customer needs and the market environment. Market segmentation is strategy that has been used and segments Persil laundry detergent Company differentiates itself from the other competing companies such as Aerial and Omo detergents.
Some of the ways that it uses to differentiate itself is by coming up with new products which are packed in new looking packets that communicate a lot of information and are acceptable by the segmented customer market. The new products provide the customers with extra services at compared to the other detergents hence giving us the advantage over the other companies.
Introduction
Market segmentation is a concept found in both marketing and economics and it involves dividing the market into smaller segments of individual groups which have similar wants and needs. There are two major categories of segmentation i.e. industrial market segmentation and consumer based segmentation.
In this article we will mainly focus on consumer-based segmentation since the sales of the product we are marketing (Persil laundry detergent) can be significantly increased if we applied this approach. The main aim of consumer-based segmentation is to divide the customers according to their specific needs and wants and to make it easier for the marketers to target them, convince and retain them.
Market segmentation
The consumers (markets) can be categorized into three main segments i.e. behavioral segmentation, Psychographic segmentation and lastly geodemographic segmentation.
Geodemographic can be split into two segments (geographic and demographic segmentation) but considering them together as one segment helps marketers get more accurate results in that geodemographic considers the needs of the consumer population together with the geographical areas that they cover.
In a nut shell geodemographic kills two birds with one stone. In the case of marketing Persil laundry detergent geodemographical segmentation would be involve area covered by the customers (i.e. the whole country), class, religion, education and age of the target customers of which the main in our case is the middle aged females and the bachelors since they are the ones who mainly shop for the laundry detergents (Christian, 2008).
Psychographics segmentation applies the principles of psychology and demographics with the aim of understanding consumers. It segmentation therefore divides consumers according to their personality, lifestyles and values.
We can generally say that our target customers usually have a lot of chores to attend to and they would greatly value a detergent that saves them some few minutes by removing the dirt together with the stubborn stains from their laundry immediately it comes into contact with the clothes i.e. in a single wash. Mentioning this to the customers on advertisements and printing it on the detergent packets would help a lot in achieving this (Hawkins and David, 2009).
Behavioral segmentation groups the customer market according to the customers attitude towards certain products, their knowledge about it and lastly their responses towards it. This clearly shows that the marketers must obtain accurate information concerning the above three from their customers and by so doing they are able to retain the customers for as long as possible.
Value proposition, differentiation and positioning
Value proposition is a statement that businesses and marketers use to convince potential customers to buy their products instead of those of their competitors it summarizes the additional benefits that the customers will gain from their product. This is achieved by how a business differentiates itself from its competitors and positions itself at a distinct position with an advantage over its competitors (Robertwinton, 2007).
Differentiation on the other hand is simply the act of developing a set of differences that clearly distinguish what a company offers from what its competitors are offering. Each difference that a company develops comes with a cost of implementing it but also there is an overall benefit from what it communicates to the consumers.
Therefore, the benefits of the differences must be more than the cost for them to be profitable to a business. The decisions that are made during differentiation are what positions a business in the market in other words differentiation leads to the positioning of a business either at an advantaged position or a disadvantaged one. According to Phillip Kotler (2009),
“Positioning is the act of designing the company’s offering and identity (that will create a planned image) so that they occupy a meaningful and distinct competitive position in the target customer’s minds. The end result of positioning is the creation of a market-focused value proposition, a simple clear statement of why the target market should buy the product”.
The relationship between the three concepts (value proposition, differentiation and positioning) is now clear i.e. differentiation leads to positioning and positioning results in creation of a value proposition which convinces customers to by one product and not the other (Littler, 1995, p 34).
The value proposition of Persil laundry detergent is in a simple statement,”Wash out the dirt not the colors”. A lot of customers are usually discouraged y how most of the detergents end up washing away the original color of their clothes leaving them faded. Also on the packet of Persil laundry detergent is some simple instructions on how to use it and it clearly shows that Persil laundry detergent does all the work of removing all the dirt in a single wash.
The two main competitors of Persil laundry detergent are Aerial and Omo detergents. The two companies are still young but they are growing at a very high rate that seems threatening to Persil laundry detergent which has been the major detergent in the market for decades.
Aerial’s value proposition is also in for of a simple statement that states that ‘Aerial is your cheapest laundry solution’. This is one of thing that puts the other two companies at an advantaged position since customers perceive Aerial as only economical but not the best. Omo detergents also have a value proposition which is a bit better than that of Aerial and it states that ‘Omo multi active detergent removes all stubborn stains’.
This kind of assures the customers that Omo detergents will give them the best results by simply removing all the stubborn stains from their laundry. What they miss to quote is that the original color of the clothes will still remain unharmed hence leaving us a t an advantaged position i.e. the customer is assured that Persil laundry detergent will remove all the dirt, including the stubborn stains, on their but leave them as they were before.
As you know, the whole world is trying to develop green technologies that are environmental friendly. This is as a result of the increased environmental degradation which has in the long run affects the health of us humans by causing some diseases that claim a lot of lives in the societies.
This has also drawn the attention of Persil laundry Detergents Company and as result; we have come up with a herbal version of Persil laundry detergent. The new Herbal detergent performs even better than the previous one due to the fact that it contains some natural components extracted from natural herbs and they are environmental friendly since they are biodegradable.
This idea convinces customers to buy our product because they will receive the better service from our product and they will be actively participating in environmental conservation. This put us in an advantages position from our competitors who are still producing the old chemical detergent which in some way is not environmental friendly.
Our new positioning statement will be ‘Go green and wash out the dirt not the colors’. This will also displayed in the new look of our packets which will contain a green color with some of sample drawings of the herbs that are used in manufacturing the detergent.
Conclusion
There are numerous benefits of a well-planned market strategy among them being the development and definition of the goals of a business and the possible ways of achieving them. One thing that allows businesses to continue thriving is the achievement of the goals that were put in place and for this to be attained the business must be able to acquire and retain customers. This can only be done through marketing and sales since they are the only business functions that directly deals with the customers in all forms of businesses.
References
Christian, G. (2008). The Marketing Strategy Continuum: Towards a Marketing Concept for the 1990s. New York: MCB UP Ltd.
Hawkins, D. and David, L. (2009). Consumer Behavior: Building Marketing Strategy. UK: McGraw-Hill College.
Kotler, P. (2009) Marketing Strategy – Differentiating and Positioning the Market Offering. Web.
Littler, D. (1995). Marketing strategy. Oxford: Butterworth.
Robertwinton. (2007). Develop A Product Marketing Strategy. Web.