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Course Name:                       ___________________Marketing Management________                            

Assignment Title:                  Aqualis Quartz: Simply a better shower_______

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Question 1: What is the Quartz value proposition to plumbers and to consumers?

Answer 1: The Quartz’s value proposition to plumbers was straightforward and efficient (Quartz took
half a day for installation compared to 2 days for other showers) installation.

The value proposition to consumers was efficient and reliable water pressure and temperature. It
also offered convenient design and neat fittings.

Question 2: Why is Quartz shower not selling?

Answer 2: The UK shower market was dominated by plumbers and they were either the sole
decision maker or decision influencers in over 70% of the cases.
In the U.K. market, costs associated with further visits to a consumer’s house after shower
installation was borne by plumbers. Hence, plumbers were always sceptical of innovation, especially
electronics, because of the uncertainty around performance of a new shower brand and type. Thus,
plumbers were extremely brand loyal and preferred to stick to a single shower brand and type.

As per my analysis, the Quartz shower was not selling because plumbers were not trusting the
product, since it was a major technological and design breakthrough, and suggesting their
consumers not to install Quartz.

Question 3: Aqualisa spent 3 years and euro 5.8 million developing the Quartz. Was the product
worth the investment? Is Quartz a niche product or a mainstream product?

Answer 3: Quartz is a niche product because it was serving only a subset of the overall shower
market. Quartz was priced in the premium segment with a retail price of 40% higher than the
average market price (calculated from Exhibit 8). Its price was taking it out from the reach of
standard, value and DIY customers, and property developers.

The question on the product worth of the investment can’t be answered objectively because not
enough information is provided in the case. The metrics used to evaluate an investment require
information on potential market size of the targeted market (premium showers in this case),
marginal sales from the new product, etc and none of the required info is provided. However, if the
company believes that premium shower market is large enough to cover the €5.8 million product
development cost and earn at least 10% return on the investment then it was worth the investment.

Question 4: Aqualisa currently has three brands: Aqualisa. Gainsborough, and ShowerMax. What is
the rationale behind this multiple brand strategy? Does it make sense?

Answer 4: The rationale for multi-brand strategy was to create a new unique brand for each market
segment because each of these segments had different product needs and expectations. Further,
selling primary brand in a new market with different needs hampers brand’s perception in its
primary markets.

ShowerMax brand was created for property developers who wanted economically priced, and
customized and aesthetic showers. However, Aqualisa was perceived to be an expensive product
and with discounted prices to developers would hamper its retail market. Hence, it made sense to
create a separate brand for developers.

Similarly, Gainsborough brand was created for electric showers and DIY segment who wanted
cheaper and easy-to-install products, regardless of product’s aesthetics and design.

Question 5: What should Rawlinson do to generate sales momentum for the quartz product? Should
he change his marketing strategy to target consumers directly, target the DIY market, or target
developers? Should he lower the price of the Quartz? Or should he do something different
altogether?

Answer 5: As per my analysis, the key reason for slow sales momentum of Quartz is the distrust of
plumbers. To tackle the root cause of this problem, Rawlinson can devise ways to cover additional
cost of plumbers arising from post-installation visits due to faulty products.
The company can aggressively target plumbers and inform them about 5-years warranty on the
product and offer a fix amount to plumbers to cover their labour cost whenever a Quartz shower is
exchanged under warranty period.

The other strategies wouldn’t work in this situation because firstly DIY or property developers
demand cheaper products, whereas Quartz is a premium product. Secondly, direct-to-consumer
marketing would require a lot of marketing efforts to change consumer’s mindset because currently
plumbers either make or influence final purchase decision. Further, this strategy would require
similar efforts from the competition to be successful.