Market Strategy for Bhargava

Hearing Aid Centre (BHC)

By Team Akatsuki
Pradeep R
Mohammed Gassali
Vignesh R

Akatsuki

--IIM UDAIPUR --

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
BHC

What is BHC known for? Quality , Expertise and High-End Equipments

Should BHC go forth?

Brand diluting can avoided by giving exclusivity and Profitability can be cast
aside by focussing on Market share

How do BHC go forth?

To attack a high volume customer in a low cost segment , value has to be

added in terms of service

Marketing Mix- Place

A recommendation six states have given with deciding factors like per capita
consumption ( health and general) , Population and distance from Chandigarh

Marketing Mix-Product

Product has to be improved through continuous innovation, Mixing it with

headphone or earring makes it easier to address the current issues

Price , Promotion and

People

A combination of these three marketing mix will help to achieve the goal of
selling a service rather than a product and hence compete against Price wars

How do BHC increase

Awareness

A initial survey to check the understanding and video to create awareness and
the second survey to know the change in mindset

How to utilize the OmniChannel

Interacting through social media , Increasing the digital presence , Cooperative collaboration with E-retailers

Akatsuki

Bhargava Hearing Aid Centre Who Am I ?

I sell High End Digital

Hearing aids

I am known for my 25 years of

Expertise in Hearing Aid Business

& of course my
product quality

Given this scenario

Should I go for low cost models ?

Health Expenditure in India is

growing at a rate of 14% CAGR
annually
in
2014
(source:
EuroMonitor)
India has an untapped market that
contains almost 3-5% of the total
population
The rural population is very much
unaware of such medical aid that will
help their life

Akatsuki

Will this dilute my brand identity of

high end products?
Will I have to rely on price wars with
low cost competitors?
What will happen to the profit
margins?
Can we mitigate the disadvantages?

Bhargava Hearing Aid Centre How do I Mitigate the disadvantages?

If BHC stands for high end equipments and will continue to cater to
this niche segment
Create a child brand that will cater to these segments
If BHC plans to cater both segment
BHC can create a exclusivity if required , and still continue to serve

+
Price Wars is something that cannot be avoided

PriceWARS

Profitability will also get a hit because of low cost entry

But the most important fact is that this is a HIGH VOLUME segment
and hence MARKET SHARE is more important than profitability

These two mitigating measures gives us

a green signal

Akatsuki

Bhargava Hearing Aid Centre Marketing Strategies

Now that we have realised that market share is very important in
this high volume segment,
The Question arises , how do we go forth?

The answer is by adding value to the basic and most important marketing
mix
BHC is also in high service ( high end equipments) and High Price segment
apart from the low cost entry
If BHC need to capture the market , it has to provide value and elevate itself
to the next position where customers are willing to buy

The first P : Place - Which is the best place to sell?

Major Factors that influence
selling are
Rural Population
MPCE
(Monthly Per-capita
Consumer Expenditure)
Distance from Chandigarh ( since
BHCs operations)
Age group
Population density etc

Population
Rural Population
Urban Population
Population Density
MPCE Rural
MPCE Urban
Age 0-14
Age 15-59
Age 60+
Distance from
Chandigarh

Akatsuki

3
4
1
2
4
1
1
3
2
6

With these factors and given weightage

The following list emerged as the best
place to sell this low cost products from
excel attached below
Best 1
Best 2
Best 3
Himachal Pradesh
Bihar
Rajasthan

This excel is scalable and has the necessary weightage , new factors can also be added

Haryana
Uttar Pradesh
Punjab
Best 4
Best 5
Best 6

Microsoft Office
Excel Worksheet

Bhargava Hearing Aid Centre Marketing Strategies

The Second P: Product- How do I add value to the product?

Discovering a changing need is to

understand a basic problem and
give a solution
The problem in BHC is mainly the
feel of being seen on sympathy
Well a basic solution is to Mask
the hearing aid with mobile
headset or Bluetooth
This step will continue after
delivering because the needs of
customers always changes

The final Phase of value

addition is delivering the
product to the targeted
segment
Adding service to it will be an
important factor

Akatsuki

Innovation is the key

How do I bring a product
that will do both the work of
playing songs and help me in
hearing

How many people really

liked this product
A basic survey that will give
an eagles view of the
products success possibility

Few innovations in
hearing aid are
listed
Hearing Aids in the
type of
1.Earrings
2. Spectacles
3.Bluetooth

The barrier is how to create this as

a low cost equipment . And that is
where INNOVATION comes

Bhargava Hearing Aid Centre Marketing Strategies

The Third P: Price- Should I reduce the price to get competitive advantage?
Reducing
price
because
of
competitive pressure increases the
chance of commoditizing the
product
Take for example P&Gs Olay
When P&G stared Olay, they
Promoted by random check up by
dermatologists to let people know
about skin ageing and providing a
recuperating steps

You are not selling a low cost

product anymore but more like a
service
And Yes people in rural segment
need help as a service
Cut down decision making
process

Akatsuki

How to get the customers by not

reducing the price below a certain limit?

By using the Forth P :

People and Fifth P:
Promotion

How BHC should implement this

People ( Audiologists) to consult and recommend Hearing aid
directly
Educate people on how to use the product
Give additional service through loyalty services
Loyalty points can be used to for upgrading the hearing aid
equipments

You can charge a

premium for this as a
whole
There is no need to
reduce price heavily

Bhargava Hearing Aid Centre How do I increase the Awareness Survey Part 1
To create awareness the first
step is to know what is
current understanding or view
of the people

A survey was taken among 57

participants.
Age Groups comprising of 17 72
Male to female ratio of 44:13

7%

98%

only
sympathizes people
wearing specs
Majority of people believed
that hearing problems are less
in India and it is less
dangerous than eye problems

The major reasons why people don't

visit doctor for hearing issues

Akatsuki

The Results from the survey

provided an insights of the current
society on what people know and
how they see others

But
sympathizes people
wearing a hearing aid
While everyone would visit doctor if
they eye sight problems , only

61% consults doctor for hearing

issues

The major reasons why people don't

want to wear a hearing aid

Bhargava Hearing Aid Centre How do I increase the Awareness Survey Part 2
To understand how we can increase the awareness , we showed all the participants a video
The video in brief describes a feeling of person who is sympathized because he is wearing a hearing aid
Later a questionnaire was floated to understand the behavioural change in the participants

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Cx1SMBxCcs&feature=youtu.be
There are no drastic change in the participants who sympathized people wearing spectacles
BUT the previous

98% people who sympathized people with hearing aid got reduced to 61%
Awareness through mass media
and Use that as a channel to sell

Create Campaigns in Social Media

to let people know about the
What should BHC
severity of hearing problems

do to educate and
Also educate people to change
their
mindset
of
showing
create awareness
sympathy to people wearing
hearing aid

Rural people can be educated

about the ill effects it creates for
their childrens future if not taken
The questionnaire has been attached for your convenience
care in word file to the left

The idea of this experiment

was to prove that educating
customers will help change
their mindset

Microsoft Office
Word Document

Akatsuki

The video has been uploaded in YouTube for your convenience

Bhargava Hearing Aid Centre Omni-Channel Retailing

Customer might be hesitant for direct

purchase of product ,considering inferior
Doctor testing could be done and the product
be bought through online platform

Increasing
Online
Visibility

E-Commerce
supply chain

Digital
Channels
SEO

To find and rank BHCs site higher than the

millions of other sites in response to a search
query

SEM

Promotion of sites by increasing visibility in

search results primarily through paid
advertising

Social Media

Social media marketing almost nil. FB page

created in 2012 but still inactive (Just 2 likes)

Digital
Marketing

Mobile
Marketing

Akatsuki

App creation and online existence in popular

e-commerce sites like flipkart, amazon, etc.,
which gives an image for the brand

Bhargava Hearing Aid Centre Omni-Channel Retailing

Integrated
supply chain

Click and
collect

Pop-up
stores

Anchor
store

Loyalty building to
retailing initiatives
By provision of
loyalty programs,
personalized
experiences,
hospitality, etc.

Issues pertaining to
doctors

Integrates both E-commerce and physical

retail.
Would be preferred instead of paying for
shipment and waiting
Short term shops or stall being opened for
a short span of time
In any empty retail spaces, mall boots,
village points (to enhance awareness to
rural people)
Establish BHC retail outlet at the vicinity or
at neighborhood of well known ENT
hospitals (or specialized clinics)
Tons of traffic in your vicinity. High
probability of gaining customers

Relationship
retailing

Traditional retailing
Supply chain involves BHC, external retailer
and wholesalers and their integrated
collaboration

Akatsuki

Unaware of the
latest technology
due to which much
needed suggestion
of hearing aid
purchase not given
Competitors give
cuts to doctors

Solution

Unified Brand
Experience

Establishing a
single
consistent
brand via
different
marketing
channels
Being close to
customers to
the possible
extend

Hiring the
doctors as
audiologists for
selected retail
outlets Thus
providing expert
advice after
testing
The cuts from
competitors is
eliminated.
Thereby
audiologists
becoming a part
of BHC

Designing
sophisticated and
stylish ads for retail
outlets rather than
portraying as a dull
one and connecting
to ailments

THANK YOU

Akatsuki

Appendix
Table 1 Consumer Expenditure on Health Goods and Medical Services: Value 2009-2014
INR bn

2009

Pharmaceuti
cals, medical
733.3
appliances/e
quipment

2010

800.9

2011

858.8

2012

979.0

2013

1,088.8

2014

1,237.0

Outpatient
517.8
571.4
617.6
707.6
790.0
902.0
services
Hospital
264.9
291.5
314.4
359.7
401.1
457.3
services
1,516.1
1,663.8
1,790.8
2,046.2
2,279.9
2,596.4
Total
Source: Euromonitor International from official statistics, trade associations, trade interviews

Questionnaire attached in word file in slide no 9

Excel for place selection attached in slide no 5
https://www.facebook.com/BhargavaHearingAidCentre?fref=ts

Akatsuki