Seminar in Marketing March 09, 2013 Aqualisa Quartz: Simply a Better Shower Problem Statement: Aqualisa has invested

three years and 5.8 Million in extensive R&D, human resources, and patents to create a breakthrough shower called Quartz, which has simply failed to create enough noise in the market upon launch, resulting in weak sales. Aqualisa Quartz is an innovative product that has successfully integrated technology, aesthetics and consumer friendliness all in one to create a breakthrough in the UK shower market, which is plagued with acute problems such as gravity fed plumbing. However, despite being a very successful product, the Quartz has not been able to capture the markets imagination as envisaged by the Aqualisa Management. Recommendation: In order to generate short term sales, and sustain its market position in the long run, Aqualisa needs to re-design its marketing strategy to address problems with plumber buy-in, inadvertent cannibalization of its other products and consumer willingness to embrace the Quartz. To address the issues mentioned above, Aqualisa should design a multi-phased/multi-pronged strategy, which initially concentrates on targeting the Plumbers directly for the first year, and in the following year after re-evaluating the strategy, start targeting the end consumer alongside plumbers to make the product mainstream. According to the figures in Exhibit 6, the highest number of total units sold in the UK shower market is through Trade shops which account for 47% of the total sales. Consequently, the primary consumer (of the trade shop) is the plumber, who works for developers, showrooms, contractors or directly for consumers. Given the high propensity of sales through plumbers, and the niche aspect of Quartz, Aqualisa should strengthen its relationship with the plumbers and create marketing programs that specifically targets this group of intermediate customers. To create a buy-in among the plumbers, Aqualisa should consider Exhibit 3, where the highest reason for Installation is a Replacement Shower (44%). Given the Quartz success rate in performance and longevity, it can be pitched as the replacement shower, and ultimately the first choice of plumbers with almost nonexistent post installation problems, thereby eliminating the required second visit, paid for out of the plumbers pocket. As with any technological innovation, Aqualisa should adapt a Market Skimming strategy in the first year to generate as much profit as possible, and slowly phase into a Market Penetration strategy by lowering the prices and ultimately mainstream the Quartz to rest of the market.