Section C Roll No - 1811169 Name - Milind Gurav

Soren Chemicals
Introduction
The average American likes to take some time off after a hard days work in the comfort of his
swimming pool. He likes his pool to be clean, fresh and free of diseases.

There are nearly 9 million residential swimming pools in the US and they all require regular
maintenance by their owners or a professional pool service. An industry estimate shows that
approximately 80% of the consumers maintain their own swimming pools and they purchase all
their supplies from local or national retailers. There are also over 40000 pool service companies
in the US who can potentially use this product. This presents a market opportunity of over $ 30
million for us to potentially acquire.

Soren Chemical’s product Coracle, offers the best solution for meeting the consumers needs to
keep his pool clean and free of any waterborne diseases. It is designed through extensive
research and development to provide the best and safe solution for residential swimming pools.

Coracle offers margins to the retailers that are unmatched by any other competitor. It also provides
the best value to the consumer by having least cost per year for water treatment. So, it will
increase the trust of the consumer in the retail store while maximizing the profits earned through
the product. Soren Chemical also has several new products in the pipeline which have a similar
pricing strategy that can be distributed through the retail network to increase their profit margins.

The key benefit of using this product is it is advantageous for consumers, retailers and the
company. Consumers would be better off reducing their annual maintenance costs, retailers will
earn more on a unit shelf space than they were earning before and it will increase the revenues
of Soren Chemicals.

Project Description

The clarifiers residential swimming pools market is estimated to be over $ 30 million. But, this
entire market is highly fragmented among a variety of brands which don’t have any differentiating
factor. Most of the private label sell different versions of Kailan MW which is an industrial grade
product and not safe for home use. Some of the established brands do not have any strong
majority in the market. Hence there is a gap in the market for water clarifiers.

To address this gap in the market, Soren Chemicals came up with a Coracle after a lot of research,
analysis and product testing. Coracle was better than all of the competitors in terms of the
following factors,

1. Coracle significantly increased the efficiency of complementary of other solutions like

chlorine by reducing the burden of removing the organic oil from them.
2. It increases the cost savings of the consumer on the pool chemicals significantly by 20-
30%.
Section C Roll No - 1811169 Name - Milind Gurav

3. Coracle was better than all other products in terms of removing organic oils like deodorant,
sprays, and lotions which causes cloudiness.

Despite Coracle being a better product, Consumers were not buying the product as much as it
was expected. The causal analysis from a survey recently conducted by Soren Chemical revealed
the following information,

1. Only 30% of the respondents recalled receiving the Coracle materials that were sent out
during the launch.
2. Coracle was priced at $ 25 but it’s estimated annual costs of $ 39.2 was the lowest among
all the other clarifiers. Most of the residential owners did not realize the value of Coracle
compared to other clarifiers.

Now that Soren Chemical has a great product in place for exploiting the opportunity the next step
is to create awareness. This can be done by providing information about the benefits of Coracle
among the consumers and the professional service companies. This will be done through the
collaborative approach of increasing the product awareness through retailers and secondarily
through an advertising campaign.

Strategic Implementation Plan

The strategic plan for driving sales for the product is given below,

Awareness
•Marketing Distribution Product Enhance
Product Drive Sales Profits
•Retailer Channels Visibility portfolio
influence

Product
The process of bridging the gap in the market with an innovative product is done with the creation
of Coracle by Soren Chemical. The product is priced at $25 in the market which seems like a
costly option from the outset but it has the lowest annual cost per treatment of $39.06 in the
market.
Awareness
Marketing campaigns
Now that the product creation step is completed by Soren Chemical it is necessary that the value
created for the consumer needs to communicate through marketing efforts. This will be done
through a mailing campaign in the market and to run an advertisement in industry publications
which will be purchased by professional pool services companies.
Section C Roll No - 1811169 Name - Milind Gurav

Retailer collaboration
Soren Chemical would collaborate with all the retailers to increase the awareness of the product.
This would also help the retailer since it provides the maximum margin for the retailer for unit shelf
space utilized by the retailer.
Distribution Channels
Soren Chemical would build the distribution network for providing the support required by the
retailers in support of the sales efforts and in the replenishment of stocks.
Product Visibility
The retailer would also be advised in positioning the product prominently in strategic locations by
the company.
Drive sales
Retailers would be in charge of driving sales in return for higher profit margins among all the other
products.
Enhance Portfolio
Soren Chemical will invest in R&D to come up with a new line of chemicals to increase sales
efforts based on the same branding efforts built through mutual collaboration. This will further
increase the market penetration and increase the profits for both the parties.

Project Milestones

Timeline Milestone Outcomes

September 2006 Product Launch Coracle launch
March 2007 The signing of the agreement Agreement
of collaboration with retailers
April 2007 Shipment of Coracle from Product Shipment
distributors to retailers
May 2007 Mailing Campaigns Targetting professional
services companies
July 2007 Project meet with retailers Investigate the sales
outcomes and propose a
further plan of action
October 2007 Advertisements in industrial Increase in awareness
publications
 Section C Roll No - 1811169 Name - Milind Gurav

Mutual Responsibility

Parameter Responsibility
Product Soren Chemical
Awareness – Word of Retailers
Mouth
Advertising Soren Chemical
Channels – Distribution Soren Chemical
network
Drive sales Retailers
New products Soren Chemical

Financial Information
Proposed Margin Structure
Coracle Competitors
Product Cost $25 $15 Max
Margin $3.91 $3.75 Max
Annual Cost for Consumer $39.06 $75

Conclusion
It can be seen from the above business proposition that an opportunity of 30 million dollars can
be captured through the collaboration of retailers and Soren Chemical. It is also beneficial for both
the parties to increase their share of profits through mutual collaboraton and growth.