Aqualisa Quartz Case Solution

Aqualisa Quartz Case Exercise

Question 1

We recommend that Aqualisa targets the master plumber as its primary customer for future Quartz marketing efforts. We have chosen to target this customer for several reasons:

Potential for high unit sales. Typically, a plumber installs 40 - 50 showers a year, and we believe the quick install will allow them to install more. By targeting this market, we ensure we have a customer base that will purchase, or influence the purchase of, a high numbers of showers. If we were to target other markets where the customer might only purchase one shower every few years, like the consumer or do-it-yourselfers. The developer market would also purchase showers in high volume, but they would expect unit discounts. Because master plumbers are either purchasing on behalf of their customers or influencing the purchase of their customers, they have no need to require unit discounts allowing Aqualisa to capture more profit.

Unique benefit for this market. The quick installation process offered by the Quartz shower creates a differential advantage in this market, as the new method reduces their typical shower installation time by 75%. Additionally, the installation is easy enough that apprentices can install it. This would allow master plumbers to take on more jobs in a market where they are already in high demand, therefor making more profit.

Low acquisition & retention costs. We believe that there would be low acquisition costs for this group because Aqualisa is a well-respected brand among this plumbers. There is already a group of evangelist plumbers that they can leverage to increase product awareness, using the newly created value proposition we propose. This would allow Aqualisa to avoid costly advertising campaigns (€3 million to €4 million) associated with other markets.

Plumbers are in in high demand in the U.K. Though there are 10,000 master plumbers in the U.K., customers sometimes wait six months for their services. These master plumbers are often paired with apprentice plumbers for a two- to three- year apprenticeships. Plumbers take end-to-end responsibility for their work, and will go back to a site to make repairs or fix an installation with no additional cost to the customers. Because of this customer commitment, they are brand loyal and trust the products they find to be the most reliable. They also tend to distrust new technologies and shy away from innovations. Their customers value their opinions regarding product choice; a market study showed 73% of product selection for shower products were influenced by a plumber (Exhibit 4).

Question 2

Positioning Statement:

To master plumbers, the Aqualisa Quartz is the