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Laura CHAREYRE Alice DUVERT Laura GATTI Maxence LECLERC Guillaume LONCHAMP Guilhem TOIRON ESDES 2011 Zodiac Keymatch Group F

Nos projets - Projets 3A - Challenge Zodiac - Projet 5 – Dossier

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Page 1: Nos projets - Projets 3A - Challenge Zodiac - Projet 5 – Dossier

Laura CHAREYRE

Alice DUVERT

Laura GATTI

Maxence LECLERC

Guillaume LONCHAMP

Guilhem TOIRON

ESDES 2011

Zodiac Keymatch Group F

Page 2: Nos projets - Projets 3A - Challenge Zodiac - Projet 5 – Dossier

Executive summary

Enjoy your swim or treat your pool, no need to choose anymore!

Despite the innovative technique of the water treatment, Nature 2 seems not to be penetrating

its market. We have clearly identified a lack of communication with the final consumer, a

reputation problem as well as a distribution issue which leads to a bad dynamic of sales.

It appears that opportunities exist in order to solve these problems. Surfing on the green wave; taking advantage of the increase in the number of pool constructions… are as many aspects we can work with. As a result, the variety of techniques and strategies helping you to reach your goal is wide. Here is a little glimpse.

When it comes to high engagement purchases, such as this one, the word of mouth is very important. For this reason, it would be interesting to create a mentoring system which would be based on offering discounts to both “sponsors” and new customers.

It is crucial to develop a database to follow the customers. By this way, we would create an

effective communication link with an efficient impact through emails and newsletters. It would allow them to give some feedback about their purchase. Not only will the communication be more suited to the customer, but the whole selling process will be improved.

Another idea would be to change the name of Nature2 fusion. The purpose is to associate the

notoriety of Zodiac with the product. This would lead the pump to benefit from the great notoriety of Zodiac which acquired this reputation in the boating area of expertise. We also need to dissociate the new Fusion version with the previous one, which was a failure. The bad reputation should not interfere with the promotion of this new version.

It is essential to optimize the visibility of the brand within the point of sale. A sticker on the storefront of the dealers, announcing that in this shop an efficient and revolutionary technology is available will catch the attention of the clients.

A partnership with hotels owning a swimming pool which would consist in offering financial compensation in return of the presence of the sticker “This pool is equipped with the revolutionary Nature2 technology”

We were also thinking of reinforcing your contact with pool owners. Sharing the same values as them will ensure you a meaningful relationship with your customers. For instance, we recommend you to implement Corporate Social Responsibility actions: « When you buy a cartridge, 1 euro is given to a charity whose goal is to protect the aquatic world ».

At last, in order to motivate your dealers, it would be interesting and very beneficial to the company to invite resellers to a conference organized by Zodiac to take the time to explain the advantages of the fusion and at the same time create a real link between these resellers and Zodiac.

Our solutions will give you more control over the distribution channel which will ensure you more sales. Moreover, your future achievements will be based on having a pull strategy and our ideas will help you in nurturing the dialogue. As a result, Nature 2 Fusion’s visibility will be enhanced; its legitimacy and the loyalty to the brand will be tremendously higher.

Page 3: Nos projets - Projets 3A - Challenge Zodiac - Projet 5 – Dossier

I) Analysis of the marketing Mix SWOT Analysis

Strengths

- The Nature 2 products are « EPA approved » by an American agency. This label means that these products are friendly for the environment. Zodiac Pool Care is the only manufacturer in the world which offers a water treating product certified with such environmental standards.

Weaknesses

- Badly referenced on the web especially on Google or on pools websites.

Opportunities

- As the product is very “green” (it uses less chlorine) it may surf on the green wave as

people feel more and more concerned about ecological issues.

- We can notice an increase in the number of pool constructions in France over the last

years. In 2010 there are 7% more pools than the year before.

- The types of swimming pools are more and more different, they diversify, prices too. This increases the number of potential clients who have profiles that are more and more diversified.

- The security standards are getting stricter which leads pool owners to ask for pool specialist help when they have technical problems.

Threats

- Apparition of pools which are sold in kits on the web - 80% of the out of ground pools are sold in retail shops and most of the pools are already

equipped with such an installation.

4 Ps

Product

The actual strengths of our product such as the well being of users and its ecological aspect (less chlorine) are opportunities on which we should communicate to highlight the benefits of our product. Indeed, making the advantages of this treatment clearer compared to the other ones seems essential as the first version was a failure. The bad reputation should not interfere with the promotion of the new version.

Place

We can see that Zodiac has a low control on its distribution system and on their sales.

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The distribution system of Nature 2 Fusion is complex and there are not many (if any at all) contacts between Zodiac and the consumer. According to the new principles of today’s marketing, the relationship with the consumers is essential. Consequently, it is necessary to establish a meaningful relationship between the consumers and Zodiac.

Promotion

All the promotional actions regarding Nature 2 Fusion are important -notably the Public Relation actions during shows and exhibits in order to convince resellers - but certainly not enough. In order to benefit of the great opportunity of the Internet and its importance, it could be a good thing to improve the site indexing of the website on web searches such as Google. It can ensure more visibility of the brand and its products.

Price

The price is more expensive than the regular manual chlorine treatment (Nature 2 fusion = 299 Euros and cartridge = 69 to 99 Euros) but the benefits justify that price.

Extra P’s

People

- CSP +, mostly women as they usually influence the final choice. The product is suitable for people concerned by their well being and the environment’s protection.

- Zodiac’s sales people and resellers’ sales people (and any person involved in the sale process)

Process & Public

- Its level of visibility is low: o There is no real physical contact between Zodiac and the customer: one or even

two intermediaries o Their website has a bad web ranking. o The communication is too low (possibilities to find Zodiac’s products only on

specialized magazines and on their website).

Perception & Physical Evidence

- The last product of the brand was a failure, which is why « Fusion » has image problems. The 3 year warranty does not seem to encourage the deed of purchase.

Participation

- Lack of involvement in the final deed of purchase. - You should interact more with the customer to establish a meaningful relationship with

the pool owners.

Page 5: Nos projets - Projets 3A - Challenge Zodiac - Projet 5 – Dossier

Fusion positioning

Current positioning

“Nature 2 : Probably the ideal solution for pure and clear water!”

New positioning

“The eco-friendly solution for a better swim sensation!” We chose to emphasize more the personal well being of the user rather than the “quality” of the water. We made this marketing modification in order to surf on the wellness wave which is an important consumer trend nowadays. Moreover, we chose the keyword “sensation” to put forward the benefits of this product which uses less chlorine, which let less skin dryness, less skin irritation and no more red eyes. We also added “eco friendly” to highlight the strong environmental brand value of the company. Moreover this ecological aspect is essential in today’s Marketing 3.0.

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- Database

- « Mentoring » system

- Partnership with hostels

- Improving the site indexing

-Corporate Social Reponsabilities Actions:

=>NF Environment label

=>Charity protecting the aquatic world

- Goodies/Merchandising

- QR codes

- Linking the name of the technology used with the name of a famous “water place” (eg : Vichy Thermal place)

How to convince the pool owners of the benefits of Nature 2 (B to C)

and create loyalty ?

- Improving the Public Relationship actions:

=> Dealer seminars

=> Try it for real! Go to your pool retailer and take a swim in an swimming pool using Nature 2 (91 % will recommend this product to other pool owners)

- Improving the communication on the benefits of Nature 2

=>Changing the name

=>Stickers

=>Highlight the fact that this technology is not used by public swimming pools and thus do not face the same drawbacks

- Bonuses for the sales persons selling Fusion

- Highlight the fact that Nature 2 do not face the same drawbacks that the methods used in public swimming pool

How to convince the network of dealers of the

benefits of Nature 2 (B to B

to C) ?

Brainstorming After having brainstormed many ideas we have chosen to keep the most interesting and relevant ones and turn down the other ideas which are in italics in the following. To do this selection, we have used the following selection criteria: budget, originality and deepness of the impact.

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II) Marketing objectives

Marketing objectives The main objective of your brand is to increase the visibility in general in order to gain weight on the marketplace. Consequently, your marketing goal is to grow sales and the renewal of their cartridges. This objective relies on convincing existing and future dealers of the benefits by developing a real team spirit between Zodiac and pool owners (pull strategy). The communication goal is to clearly define the positioning of the brand, among the current offers of pool water treatments. This will help you to have a long-lasting relationship with your consumers.

Financial objectives Fusion costs at least 299 Euros and a cartridge costs between 69 to 99 Euros. We hope to increase your sales by 60% and increase the cartridge renewal rates from 55% to 75% for next year and 90% for 2013/2014. This will concern your actual consumers and the new ones. This would generate a significant growth in your turnover.

III) Marketing strategy

Target marketing segment You have two targets, first the resellers then the final consumers. The aim of our marketing strategy is not only to motivate the middle men which are the resellers in order to indirectly impact the consumers but also to act directly on that final customer. As you already know, the company has 2000 Zodiac certified resellers in France with only 400 of them who have sold the Nature 2 product and have it in stock. Consequently, this means that 1600 aren’t really convinced of the quality of this product. On the 1 200 000 people who have pools and the many who plan to build pools, we target the CSP +, mostly women as they usually influence the final choice. The product is suitable for people concerned by their well being and the environment’s protection. You can see that we chose to target customers by their behavior and what's important to them, more than just because of demographics. Nowadays, this is a key point. Concretely, we will establish this plan in two phases. The first one will take place in 2012-2013 and concern people interested in building pools (before next spring), people who use another method and obviously your current customers who will need new cartridges. The second phase will occur over the period 2013-2014. We will be targeting the people gathering the information (because they would like to have a pool built) and the first phase customers (who will need cartridges).

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Differential advantages As far as we are concerned, we can say that our strategy is fully efficient for Zodiac in order to relaunch the sales rate of both the Nature 2 Fusion pump and the cartridges. Thanks to our proposal, Zodiac will be able to develop a close relationship with both resellers and final customers. We are thus trying to enhance a real B to B to C contact using a pull strategy: on a B to B point of view -by inviting our resellers to a seminar-, and in a B to C way -by keeping in touch with the customer with the use of the database, for instance. We will also develop the brand visibility: we have many propositions. We will improve your notoriety towards your clients by doing a Corporate Social action. This will help highlighting the product. By doing such, you will be able to enjoy the profit of the free press coverage. The digital marketing will allow an improvement on Nature2 image which at the moment is not at its optimum. By our sponsorship not only will we be able to reach easily your target audience, but also to persuade them that your product has a real advantage compared to any other pool pumps. To conclude, our proposition should be taken into account since it responds in a very efficient and cheap way to Zodiac sales problem. Indeed, all of our propositions solve a problem. Implementing our ideas will help Nature2 acquire the success it deserves.

Marketing Mix (see annex for budget and timetable) We have clearly identified a communication issue with final customers.

Database This measure will help following the customers and thus managing them.

After having analyzed the Zodiac case, we noticed that the brand doesn’t have a customer database for its product Nature2 Fusion. We consider that building one is quite important as it will allow Zodiac to communicate in a very efficient way with its customer. By this way the company will be able to advertize new products, remind its customers to change the cartridge or simply keep in touch with them. But the database is not only useful for communication. It can also be useful for analyzing data, or in order to create a loyalty program, a relational marketing, and some targeted marketing campaign. Nothing is easier than creating a database. For Nature 2 Fusion, we suggest that every time a customer buys a new pump, he is helped to fill a paper and send it back to the Zodiac headquarter in order to activate the warranty. The paper would provide simple information, such as:

Name & Surname

Address

Email Address and telephone number

Location of the store where the customer had bought the pump This database could be created during the season 2012/2013. Indeed we need to install a database at the beginning of the first season in order to collect as much information as we can about our customers as soon as possible. Building an exhaustive database would cost approximately 500€ due to the cost of the papers and printing. If it’s not the case Zodiac should invest in a computer program for database which costs around 100€.

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Web-referencing To optimize the opportunity represented by the Internet (on 34 millions of internet users in France, 89% use Google to gather information), we suggest that you improve your website indexing on the web search. When it comes to referencing campaign, you spend a certain sum of money according to the amount of traffic you would like to generate on your website. It uses the system of CPC (Cost per Click) which allows you to define a daily budget that you don't want to exceed. Even though it looks easy to realize, we suggest you to ask a professional agency to give you a hand. This will ensure you to have the best Return On Investment. They can help you with Google ad-words. Buying specific key words about your specific field of activity can be expensive if these words are "popular", they will give you some tips to be sure to target the right people. They can also increase your "natural" referencing. This is based on words, semantics, and linking. You could be linked with all the partners’ websites (on the same model than the Fédération des Professionnels de la Piscine website where you already are), business directory, industry portal, and even blogs about the pool business. This will have to be done before the launching of the new season because it is really important to be well referenced in order to get as many clients as we can. We suggest you to allocate 2000€ to this campaign.

QR codes Creating a QR code to lead the customer to Zodiac’s website will allow the brand to be more visible and

have more people connected on their website. This measure is a supplement to the web-referencing.

Quick Response codes are a type a barcode. It consists of black and white squares that can be read by smartphones and redirect the reader to a website. It is important to have as much people as possible to take a look at the website to make them know more about the brand and the products themselves as we noticed a problem of visibility. We thought about putting this barcode on city walls, on the adverts, and on the desks of hotels using Nature2 so it is as visible as possible. Our objective is obviously that people talk about Zodiac and know your products.

It is a cheap way to reach new customers and really easy to create (on the internet). It can be done quickly and be put in all the places mentioned before within a few weeks. However this action is not urgent and can be launched during the 2013/2014 season. Creating a QR code is totally free, so it won’t cost a penny to zodiac.

400 certified resellers out of 2000 have sold the Nature 2 product and have it in stock. This way, a

dynamic of sales ought to be created.

Mentoring system & Partnership with hostels Those actions aim at enjoying the benefit of word of mouth.

Partnership with hostels A partnership with hotels owning a swimming pool would involve in offering the installation of the pump in return of the presence of the sticker “This pool is equipped with the revolutionary Nature2 technology”. The patronage of those hostels will enjoy the benefits of such a technology. This is a way to advertise at a small cost to final customer. This campaign will have to be set up gradually until the end of 2014. High standing hostels will be favored since it is in those places that target market usually stays.

Page 10: Nos projets - Projets 3A - Challenge Zodiac - Projet 5 – Dossier

It could be relevant to allocate around 4900euros to this. As for the cost of labor it will not add much: the extra work for the people who put in the pump will not be that important since this measure is to be spread over two years.

Mentoring system (“member get a member” system) The analysis of the marketing mix has revealed that the relationship between Zodiac and its final consumers is almost non-existent. This certainly doesn’t help the loyalty to the brand. To help you on this point, and on the promotion of your product, we thought that you could use a mentoring system. If one of your pool owner advises another person (let's say...his neighbor for instance) to try Nature 2 (and if the sale actually happens), the two of them will have discounts on their future cartridges. It could go gradually, a member gets one member. This discount will be 25% off for one member, 35% off for two and 50% for three members. These discounts could be vouchers that you send by e-mail. Firstly, sending e-mails directly to your final consumers is a good way to help develop the dialogue and the relationship, which impacts the loyalty. Secondly, the idea is built on this following assessment: the first source of trust is no longer advertisement, but other consumers! Thus, using word of mouth is a carefully thought choice. This solution concerns the customers who need to change their cartridges and the people who have a pool but who are using another method. Thus, we could apply this idea during the phase 1 (2012-2013) of our plan. If this idea is successful, we think that Zodiac should use around 4000€ of its budget.

Dealer seminars This action is meant for Swimming pools resellers.

A reason why the sales of the Fusion are not sufficient enough is related to the motivation of the resellers. Indeed they might not be convinced by the product and might not have the information necessary to be able to create desire in the customer’s mind regarding this product. In order to change this we think it is interesting and will benefit to Zodiac company to organise a seminar over a short period (a day, or even an afternoon), where technical engineers and product managers will be gathered with resellers to present them the advantages and characteristics of the Fusion product, as much on the technical side than on the ecological and well being benefits. Consequently, they will know more about the Fusion and will be more incline and motivated to talk to the customers about it. Moreover it would be the ideal opportunity to communicate the Fusion sales strategy such as the mentoring system or any other relevant marketing strategies we have brought up. Finally, psychologically speaking, it is very interesting as it will create a real team spirit, where everyone works hand in hand to achieve their goals. Nothing is more motivating than such a feeling, which is why a seminar is on many levels extremely beneficial to Zodiac. It is not cheap to make a very interesting and convincing seminar, that is why we have allowed 45 000€ to 50 000€ for that cause, especially as we want to gather as many resellers as possible (200 the first year, another 200 the year after that and so on if this strategy is worth it). As the pool market is quite seasonal, we were thinking of having such an event next spring (April-May) just before the weather gets ideal for swimmers to buy their pools.

Improving the communication on the benefits of Nature 2

Change of name The change of name aims at reflecting the break between Nature 2 Fusion and the previous version.

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The study of the weaknesses of the product has revealed that the bad reputation which the previous version is subject to has a really negative impact on the product. A mean to address that issue would be to change the name of “Nature2” which refers to the previous version. “Mineral +” calls to mind the purity as well as the natural angle of the product. The “+” evokes the efficiency of the technology. That new name will offer a new start to this product and erase its past. This is why we want to change the name before launching the product.

Sticker resellers Through this measure we want to reach the customer just before the action of purchase.

A sticker on the storefront of the dealers, announcing that in this shop an efficient and revolutionary technology is available will catch the attention of the clients. This way, customers will be more likely to ask resellers about Nature2 (Cf annex). This measure is not that expensive. For the 400 points of sales it would cost a bit less than 500€. Convincing resellers may be the only matter of concern. Those stickers will be implanted as your sale force goes along to the resellers. This measure ought to be over by mid 2012. As you can see in the annex, creating stickers for your dealers will cost 3000€.

CSR

This measure aims at enhancing the reputation of the product towards the final customer and at giving more sales argument for the resellers.

Charity Being involved in corporate and social actions is a really good way to give a good brand image to the customers, whether they are final customers or pool resellers. The idea we had for Zodiac would be to give one euro to protect the aquatic world when the customer buys a cartridge. Giving money to save the aquatic world is linked with your business domain and one euro is symbolic and isn’t enough to represent a waste of money. It means Zodiac is a brand with values and people who buy your products care about the protection of the environment. This action in particular is given as an example but it could be any CSR action which would improve Zodiac’s brand image. As Nature2 products are targeting a social group with money, this kind of action can work really well because the customers are willing to pay for that kind of action. Although this action is important some others are more urgent so we suggest you to implement it during the season 2013/2014 and to give a reasonable amount of money, 1500€ should be enough to have a good press coverage.

Label : NF environnement Nature 2 Fusion should adopt the french ecolabel, NF environment mark, in order to have proof of the quality and high performance of this product. It highlights our eco-friendly aspect and it provides a good reputation and reliability of Nature 2 Fusion. Thanks to this label set yourself apart from your competitors, increase your customers' confidence by a famous and well known NF mark in France and in Europe.

The cost of this certification depends on your turnover and the maximum is 9 000 € to have NF brand. So as it is a long lasting process we thought it would be wise to start it as soon as we can.

Page 12: Nos projets - Projets 3A - Challenge Zodiac - Projet 5 – Dossier

Annex

Stickers

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Timetable

Before the launching of Zodiac Mineral+

2012/2013 2013/2014

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Budget

Seminar 50000euros

NF label 9000euros

Hotels Partnership 4900euros

Mentoring system

4000euros

Stickers 3000euros

Web referencing 2000euros

CSR Action 1500euros

Database 600euros

QR codes Free

Changing the name

Free

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Sources

http://www.zodiac-poolcare.com/piscine//185/produit_62_nature-2-fusion.html http://www.piscineprivee.com http://www.marque-nf.com/

http://www.ecolabels.fr/fr/

http://www.googleadwords.fr/

http://www.linkeo.com

http://www.cybercite.fr/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_code

http://www.code-qr.net/creer-un-code-qr.php