Soren Chemical: Why is the new

swimming pool product sinking?

GROUP-9
Aman Gupta
Ankit Verma
Tushar Sharma
Mithun Chandra

History of Soren Chemicals

Founded by Timothy Soren in 1942 to sell industrial-strength cleaning
solutions
Later expanded to industrial chemicals for lubricants & fuels, and
chemical solutions for treating drinking water and wastewater
In 2006, company had 350 products and $450 mn as revenue
Historically Company had concentrated on B2B sales but now it is
investing selectively in developing brands for products for consumer
markets.

Water Treatment products (Kailan MW and

Coracle)

Kailan MW and Coracle (flocculants) cause suspended particles in

liquids to agglomerate into larger particles called flocs
Kailan MW
used primarily for cleaning large commercial pools and water
parks (B2B)
Revenue - $6.1 Million in 2006, 7% growth expected in 2007
Coracle
used for cleaning residential pools
Revenue - $0.111 Million (in 6 months) against annual target of
$1.5 Million (85% short of target)

Commercial-Use Clarifier Market Characteristics

(Kailan MW )

Market Size: $30 Million (2007), relatively mature

market
Channel:
Manufacturer
Commercial Pools

Formulators

Water parks &

Formulators carry full range of pool-cleaning

products and provide value-added services tailored
to customer specs
Formulators sold the product under Private Brand
Name
Customized maintenance programs with
Formulators, water-safety consultants, Pump
& Filter manufacturers

Residential Pool Clarifier Market

Market currently untapped and has lot of

potential
Distribution Channels:
(a) Manufacturer DistributorsRetailers/Pool
Service professionalsPool Owners
(b) Manufacturer Mass RetailersPool
Owners
Pool Builders, Cleaning & Servicing companies,
independent contractors, Retailers and
Wholesale Distributors are the main influencers
Concern: Aesthetics and perceived cleanliness
Lack of awareness among Pool-Owners
Competitors: Clearblu, Hydropill and Purity

Marketing Strategy for Coracle

Adopted 2-level distributor channel In order to

reach wide and fragmented market
Focus on building Soren as consumer brand, No
private-labeling
Press release in three trade journals targeting
professionals and retailers.
Good enquiry system adopted- receiving queries,
sharing technical data with them and passing on
the interested customers information to
appropriate wholesale distributors.
Aggressive pricing - $14.88 for a 2 quant bottle
Distributor Margin 20%
Retailers Margin 15%

Coracle

Purity

hydropill

Clearblu

retailer selling price

39.1

46.8

35

56.2

retailer gross margin

15%

15%

15%

15%

5.865

7.02

5.25

8.43

33.235

39.78

29.75

47.77

30%

30%

30%

30%

9.9705

11.934

8.925

14.331

23.2645

27.846

20.825

33.439

35%

35%

35%

35%

8.142575

9.7461

7.28875

11.70365

retailer gross profit

distributor price
distributor gross margin
distibutor gross profit

soren price
soren gross margin
soren gross profit

Reasons for failure

Push Issues
Higher margins for distributors and retailers on selling purity
and clearblu
Coracle reduced the need of other pool chemicals by 20-30%

Pull Issues
No pull for the brand as it is a very low involvement product.
Lack of awareness of pool owners
No exclusive demand of Coracle from Pool Service
Professionals and contractors

Thank You !