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Name : Aziz Fauzi

Student ID : 29115688
MBA YP 54A
School of Business and
Management
Institute Technology Bandung
2016

BUSINESS CASE SUMMARY

AQUALISA QUATRZ : SIMPLY A BETTER SHOWER
1. Background of the Case
Aqualisa was one of the top of shower manufacturer in UK. Its brand
which was familiar as premium brand, great service and high quality
shower caused its market share ranked on the number two. However,
Aqualisa New Managing Director Harry Rawlinson felt that the current
condition of company was vulnerable as the competitor would
immadiately come to market and consumer began to perceive that
aqualisa was overpriced. Consequently, He intitiated to establish the RD
department to produce new innovative shower product.
In May 2001, Aqualisa had launched the Quartz Shower. It was
claimed as the first significant product innovation in the UK shower
market. The Quartz was technologically leaps and bounds above other UK
shower in terms of water pressure, ease of installation, use and design. In
constrast to the stand out features in Quartz, its initial sales result was
under the expected number. The management set target as many as 100
or 200 unit sales per day. In fact, it just reached at 30 or 40 units a day.
As the top of the company, Rawlinson began to rethink his overall
marketing strategy for the Quartz without neglecting the marketing for
the Aquavalve as the company core business. Some marketing
alternatives were introduced and debated. Rawlinson should decide which
market would be targetted most wether directly to consumer, Do-ItYourselfers, or Developers or other market segment.
2. Product Information
There are three types of showers in UK, They are electric showers,
mixer shower valves and integral power showers. The Aqualisa Quartz
belongs to the last type. The quartz came in two verions which are The
Quartz Standard Shower and The Quartz Pumped Shower. The first version
was desgined for installations that already had or did not need a pump.
Unlike the first version, in the second one, the pump had been built in.
The feature of the product can satisfy the consumers needs for a
shower. The first consumers problem solved by The Quartz was the need
for aesthetic in the bathroom. The quartz shower is easy to install and
eventually does not need the excavation. It is because the processor
which contain the thermostatic moxing valve can be put anywhere as long

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as it is near enough to the shower. The device can be mounted
horizontally, vertically, on its side depending on space availability. The
only requirement is a single hole into ceiling above the shower to
accomadate the pipe feeding the mixed water to the showerhead, along
with a data cable. In additon, the plumber takes only a half day to install
Quartz twice as fast as the traditional shower. It implies that, it is not
neccesary to see a white pumper box in the shower stall besides they also
must not pay higher cost for plumber.
The other benefit of Quartz shower are reliable water pressure as
well as termperature adjustment. It featured with a one-touch control
attached on the hower wall. The easy to-use-push-botton control light on
the valve flashed red until the desired temperature is reached. The newest
Quartz product was equipped with a body het that will create several jets
of water sprayed ones body horizontally from the wall.
3. Business/ Industry Situation
The opportunity for shower market in UK was still opened widely.
There only 60 % of UK homes had shower while they used a bathtub. They
also still consumed archaic plumbing which was gravity-fed with a cold
and hot water stored in the roof. The gravity-fed product caused poor-tolow water pressure and the temperature was too various and fluctuated.
The consumer also complained about hard-to-turn valves, leaky seals and
worn-out shower. The consumers were uninformed about showers, and
little understanding of option. Brand awareness was low as there was only
one company (Triton) had managed brand awareness at the consumer
level.
There are three segments of UK shower buyer : premium, standard,
and value. Consumers in the premium segment typically shopped in
showroom aand were granted high performance and service and style
selection. Consumer in standard price tended to emphasize performance
and servie and plumber dependent, whike the value consumer concerned
with price and convenience.
The other market segement of shower were Do-It-Yourself (DIY) and
Property Developers. DIYs generally shopped at large retail outlets. They
were so price sensitive that made the inexpensive model to be more
attractive. Developers preferr to reliable, nice looking and compatible in
multiple setting. Developers had realtionships with independent plumber
who installed whatever product they selected.
4. Competition Situation
The competition of shower market in UK can be traced by the
number of brand entered to market. The total unit sold of Aqualisa product
was 122.000 which shared only 6,77 percent. Below are the more details
the competition situation for each types of shower.
For the type of electric shower, there were at least 7 brands in the
market. The brand of Triton enjoyed the highest portion of the total market
share in 2000. It occupied 43 percent of total sales. While The aqualisa
only sold 6000 units out of 1.100.00 units on the same year. In addition, if
the brand Gainsborogh which was the rebranding product of aqualisa
added to calculation, the number will significantly went up to 186.000
units, even its percentage was 16,90 which was lower than that of Triton.

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It took the second place of total sales. It showed that for this type of
shower, the aqualisa was competitive enough.
The highest share for the mixer showers type was acquired by the
brand Mira which shared 36,63 percent of all. Although the Aqualisa
market share for this product was only 17,90 percent, it ranked on the
second place. It was a good because the number of competitors for this
market is more than 10 brands. Shortly, it can be concluded that mixer
shower type posessed the high competitiveness in market.
The number of brand designed for the power shower is the least.
There are roughly 6 brand options. From total sales 150.00 units, the
supplier which successfully sold above 20.000 units were Mira, Masco,
Triton, and Aqualisa.
5. Marketing Mix
- Product
The Aqualisa Quartz had met almost all consumers need for a
shower. The consumer wanted a shower that looked great, delivered
good pressure at stable temperatures, was easy to use and didnt
break down. Plumbers wanted a shower that was easy to install, with a
gurantee to not break down or require servicing. These needs could be
satisfied as explained in second part of this writing.
- Promotion
To communicate the product, the Aqualisa sales force had contacted
its networks of plumbers calling face to face to introduce and exlplain
the new product. Advertising on print media had been conducted to
touch the consumer directly. The Aqualisa also had tried to promote
Quartz in the outlet of Do-It-Yourselfers.
- Place
The Quartz was showed in some outlets, such as showroom, B&Q
retail outlet and trade shop. Displaying in those places will make the
product to be physically reachable for consumers.
- Price
The Aqualisa Quartz was created for premium segment, therefore
the price was set higher than that for standard and value market. The
type of pumped quartz was higher than that of quartz standar. It was
850 and 1.080 for the price of standar and pumped quartz
respectively.
From those given price, the retailer could gain more margin than
other aqualisa products. For quartz standar, the retailers profit was
275 while for the quartz pumped accounted for 275.
- People
As discussed in the previous chapter, the brand awaress of shower
product for UK market was still low. Consequently, the consumer got
less involved in process of product buying. The important group who
influenced consumers decision was the independent plumbers. Data
revealed that only 27 % of consumer who selected their own type and
brand shower alone without advice from plumber. The rest of them
were affected by plumbers decision.
The problem was many of plumbers were reluctant to adopt electric
shower. Nevertheless, once they trusted in product, They will prefer it
to other product. For new house shower intallation, the plumber did not

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make any decision regarding the type and brand of shower, but They
were followed the order of property developer.
6. Problem Definition
The aqualisa quartz both standard and pumped featured with all
consumers needs for shower, but the number of sale were far from the
expected target. Rawlinson began to reformulate marketing strategy to
boost the sale. He tried to revise the target market and considered three
alternatives target which consist of directly consumer, Do-It-Yourselfer or
developer. Therefore the problem of the case was to decide which target
that would pay off the effort of company in producing Quartz ?
7. Alternatives Formulation
There are three marketing target of shifting marketing strategy :
direct consumer, do-it-yourselfers and property developer. These targeting
market will be evaluated through three criterions, they are market
characteristics, potency as well as constraints based on data provided.
The relevant marketing management concepts and theories are also
applied to identify the prevailing events. The analysis will be ended by
compiling strategies to tackle the constraints so that the reccomendation
can be drawn.
8. Alternatives Analysis
a. Direct Consumers
As mentioned prevously, consumers of innovative shower
product were still abudant. Everyone in UK had bathtub, but only
about 60 % of them had showers. Most of who posess in their own
used the old type wich was inconvenent and inefficent. It occured
because many of them were not informed and unaware of brand.
Most of UK resident shower was intalled by plumber who about 25
percent of them decided the type and brand alone ( without
consultation with consumer).
Therefore, increasing brand
awareness must be the first thing to do if the management decided
to catch this market.
There are many ways to increse the brand awareness. One of
them is advertising on printed media or television. It is very critical
to do because if we reffer to buyers decision process as developed
by Kotler, the buyers behaviour is firmly affected by knowledge and
perception. Consumer will just buy the product of the brand they
know. Since then, it is also very crucial to create a good perception
of a brand. Perception will influence ones act including the decision
to buy product.
Theoritically, the type of buying decision behavior of UK
shower market was habitual buying behavior. In this type, buyers
were not highly committed to any brand. They also did not search
extensively for informaton about the brands. Because they were not
highly involved with the product, consumer might not evaluate the
choice, even after purchase.
The segment of the Quartz was the premium buyer. They
neglect the price but seek high permormance and service as well as

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style. The management should create the perception that the
Quartz was exclusive, well-equipped and only certain people can
afford. It can be created through promotion and advertisement.
After being aware of the brand, the consumer will ask the
independent plumber to use that brand and they will follow what
their client ask for. The aqualisa also can raise the brand
involvement by sponsoring certain activites so that people will get
more aware.
Nonetheless, the cost for advertising will also go up. That is
why the management should find the most effective advertising
channel to cover the overall cost spent. It can be an online
advertising, stores display and so on. Also it was important to make
more advertising in show room since the premium buyer prefer
transcacting in that shop to other outlets.
b. Do-It-Yourselfers
The less advertising cost can be acquired, if the management
decided to target Do-It-Yourselfers. There is a sizeble DIYs market in
UK. The Aqualisa will fit the DIYs characteristics wich demand for
easy intallation. The price, nevertheless, will not cater to them since
they are interested not only in an easy to install but also the
inexpensive models. The management also should consider the
Aqualisa Quartz that will compete with
existing product
Gainsborough in term of feature and price. The price of premium
Gainsbourough is 230 which was much cheaper than Quartz, but it
is comparable to its features. Consequently, the price of Aqualisa
must be discounted to the affordable price.
The mareketers can still make sale with current price, if They
can communicate the superiority of Quartz to market. The market
should be informed about the easiness, comfortability and
exclusivity that the Quartz has. Marketer should lead the consumer
to take decision based on the relative adventage of using Quartz. It
take times because the process of adoption new product consists of
some stages, they are awareness, interest, evaluation, trial and
adoption.
I personally think that the decision to discount the price is not
right. Because The Quartz is an exclusive product that did not any
competitor in market. The management should consider other
marketing strategy instead of discounting the price.
c. Developer
Developer was still a promising market. The benefit that the
company will gain it to make a lot of sale since it has large-volume
channel, besides it also will force plumbers to get familiar with the
product. Plumber plays a critical role in determining the sales of
shower product because they act as refference group of shower
consumer.
Marketing to developers will find a difficulty because They
percieve the aqualisa product a premium brand in which the price is
too high to reach even after 50 % discount. To solve the problem,
the marketer should use the concept of modified rebuy. In a

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modified rebuy, the buyers want to modify product spesifications,
prices, terms or suppliers. The Aqualisa should offer a special price
for developer. This offer also will create a new perception of Quartz
on developer points of view.
9. Reccomendation and Contigency Plan
a. From the three market targetted, the company should consider
between direct consumer and developer. Both of them promised a
higher profit. Marketing directly to cosumer will spend a vast amount of
fund but the company should not discount the price. While, for
developer market, the company should offer a special price which is
probably lower than it has to be, but, the potency of sales is higher and
certain.
b. If the above strategy does not work, the company should consider to
discount the price for Do-It-Yorselfer because the number of sale for
electronic shower is the highest for this market.