Marketing
Real Impact, LLC
Fjar Bottled Water
Simply known as Fjar, the Dawn bottled water is manufactured by Real Impact, LLC, a manufacturing company based in the United Arab Emirates with its headquarters in Dubai. Real Impact, LLC specializes in a range of products including surgical equipment, beauty products, cutlery, and veterinary products. Due to its strategic plan to expand its production line, the company introduced Fjar, a bottled mineral water product in its vast market. The company boasts of a wide customer base with a high market share on beauty products and surgical equipment. In 2013, the company posted a $87 million pre-tax profit. Although the performance of veterinary, diagnostics, and cutlery equipment is still low in the market, the company has plans to roll out a strategic plan to tap into the global market to promote the products. Fjar is a special bottled water directly from the springs of the Abu Dhabi desert. The bottled water is specifically made by including preservatives to improve on its taste and appeal. The company looks forward to tapping into the lucrative market of celebrities in addition to high-ranking members of the society. Its official launch in the market is scheduled to coincide with the company’s 10th anniversary in February 2017.
Target Customers
The bottled water industry in the United remains untapped with the majority of consumers depending on only two company’s producing mineral water. Although the two companies produce bottled water, the volume produced has remained insufficient for the consumers within Dubai city and its environs. Many consumers within the United Arab Emirates also rely on water carried from home, which in most cases is untreated. Additionally, the supply of bottled mineral water to high-end hotels such as Shangri Hotel, Hotel Sofitel, Armani Hotel rely on imported bottled water from China, India, and Oman. Due to the high temperatures around the Persian Gulf, and the Arabian Sea, consumption of water is very high by both the locals and visiting tourists and dignitaries. Recorded temperatures indicate that the highest recorded temperatures reaching 52.10 Celsius. Humidity averages approximately 90% with average temperatures recorded reaching 450. The company, therefore, has its target market focused on high-end hotels and restaurants serving and hosting dignitaries, presidents, prime ministers, kings, queens, business executives, and tourists.
According to a preliminary research carried out by the company, bottled water remains the highest consumed commodity by visiting tourists and dignitaries frequenting the United Arab Emirates. Due to the vast difference in temperatures in the region, many visiting persons consume large volumes of water. Real Impact, LLC aims at bridging the gap between the supply of water to high-end hotels, in addition to small retail supplies within the nearby cities and towns. The majority of the dignitaries visiting Dubai and the United Arab Emirates is a mix of both males and females mostly between the age of 30 to 60 years of age. Although the number of tourists is also high with many ranging from the age of 1 to over 50 years. The majority of the dignitaries is mostly on business or state functions. On many occasions, according to the preliminary research and study by the company, tourists and dignitaries travel with their own bottled water due to the common knowledge that the Arabian Peninsula is hot and dry. The company, therefore, aims at meeting this high demand of the product with the special focus on high-end hotels and restaurants in addition to retail supplies to homes.
Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
In order to strategically and tactfully enter the market, the company plans to engage high-end hotels and restaurants within Dubai City and its environs on a long span supply contract, in which the company will remain the sole supply of bottled mineral water to all the hotels. Using the company’s unique brand style of reaching out directly to consumers, the launch of the product will be done to coincide with the regions hottest session. The plan and strategic option would be carried out both at the hotels and in retail regions. The company has its plans focused on bypassing the use of agents or distribution centers and reach out to the consumers directly on a one on one basis. The main aim is to directly influence them to switch from the ordinary bottled mineral water to a more hygienic product boasting of many health benefits such as refreshment supplements. In order to make it stand out from the rest, production of the bottled water will be done with great precision on making it a health benefit by adding health supplements such as energy giving additives. However, this will be done and produced to a small percentage to prevent diluting and changing the natural taste of water. At its launch, the company will offer free samples to potential customers in the restaurants, hotels, and homes.
Advertisement and awareness creation will be carried out from door to door and from one hotel to another. On the other hand, in order to attract and create more awareness amongst tourists, the company will partner with Airlines flying to and from the United Arab Emirates to supply the bottled water for their passengers. It’s catching phrase and attention grabber will be, “Refreshen, drink Fjar Bottled Water”. Compared to other brands, Fjar Bottled water not only refreshes the body but also offers energy supplements that are highly needed due to the high body dehydration. The company will also create TV commercials intended to reach out to homes and retail customers in strategic public places such as markets, entertainment spots, and worshiping centers. In public places, the company will design handouts and stickers of the bottled water. On the other hand, since the company partners with health centers for the provision of surgical and medical equipment, it will enter into strategic supply negotiations and partnerships with the facilities to supply them with bottled water along with other medical equipment such as surgical liquids. However, all bottled water supplied to health facilities will be labeled differently in order to distinguish them differently with supplies to homes and restaurants.
Pricing and Positioning Strategy
Advertising and awareness creation will be done in a way that resonates with the demands and needs of the customers. The company will use the skimming strategy of pricing and position to play above the rest of the bottled water in the market. Through and by the strategy, the pricing will be based on the high quality of the product. With its health benefits and supplements, Fjar Bottled Water will retail at a slightly higher amount of the rest of the bottles. The product will come in a 300ml plastic and renewable bottle, 500ml, 1 liter, 5liters, and 20 liter containers for use in the homes and offices. The product is suitable for persons of all ages, both male, and females. In addition, the company will roll out vending machines at strategic locations within the city area to offer the water to consumers in public places. The vending machine will require coins and voucher slips in order to get a given portion of water, such as a cupful which is 300ml. The quality of the water both in the vending machine and in bottled containers will be maintained.
Due to the innovative methodologies used to produce and offer the product, the price offered will be high on its launch. However, the company focuses on lowering the price upon increased competition in later years. The figures below explains the skimming strategy to be adopted by the company to launch the product in the market.
Figure 1
Source: https://sites.google.com/site/paddlepowertechnologies/marketing-promotions-strategy
Figure 2
Source: https://sites.google.com/site/paddlepowertechnologies/marketing-promotions-strategy
The high price will only apply as the company looks into ways and means to tap into the lucrative market. However, with the entry of other players and increased competitors, the price will be reduced significantly by approximately 25 percent. However, this is based on the performance of the product in the market in addition to customer response. The high price is based on a high-quality product that will give value to consumers as a refreshment and a health product.
Distribution Plan
The Company’s distribution plan entails, how it plans to deliver the product to its customers. It may involve distributors, retailers, and wholesalers. While planning for the product distribution plan, its life expectancy will be put into consideration (Kotler et al, 2015).
The company is going to rely upon and use the same distribution channel it uses for its other products to reach the consumers. For example, the company uses a flash distribution system to deliver surgical equipment to hospitals. Additionally, consumers such as hospitals, hotels, and restaurants will have the option to choose the type of option which can either be the standard version or the courier version.It will take less than 24 hours to have the customers have their deliveries and no charge will be levied on the customer for the delivery. The company also has plans to have a team of salesmen mandated to make deliveries to retail customers in their homes, shops, and business outlets. The main purpose of having retailers and home customers have their deliveries by salesmen is to establish a close contact with the customers and have their response as concerns the product.This will enable the company to keep up with stock and ensure that the product is available to all its consumers on a daily basis. After the launch of the vending machine later in the year, the company plans to widen its distribution options by involving an affiliate company to manage its vending machines and ensure that water is available throughout the year in the vending machines.
The Company’s Offers
The company will ensure that delivered products are safe and in hygienic condition ready for consumption. Although it won’t offer any warranty, it will take the responsibility to maintain a high level of standard on its containers used for deliveries. This will help the product to maintain a presentable outlook in a condition that is appealing to the consumers. Consumers who use the company’s products such as surgical equipment, or any other product by the company will be offered unique benefits and price cuts on all the water supplies. Special offers will be given to retailers to enable them to offer the products at a subsidized cost to household consumers.
Promotions Strategy
One unique feature of Real Impact, LLC is to reach out to consumers directly. As it does with its other products such as veterinary products, the company deals directly with them and tries its level best to avoid the middlemen or the so-called distributors. Promotional and the marketing strategy will be carried out through an aggressive television advertisement in addition to road shows, banners, handouts, and flyers. For the hotels and restaurants, the company will adopt e-mail marketing whereby it will send out an email to its customers about the product. Through online advertisement, the company will be in a position to deliver information about the bottled water to a wider market and outside the Arabian Borders too. News, magazines, and video will also fall under the company’s radar as a form of marketing strategy to be adopted aggressively.
Promotional strategies such as sponsorship may also be considered after observing the performance of the product in the market. Web-based advertising such as ensuring the product remains at a high rank on the search engine and the use of customer retention management in which the company will keep its customer contacts for future reference and to enable the company forward to the customer promotional materials or information such as special offers and discounts.
The use of social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube will be utilized to reach out to potential consumers mostly the Y-generation in the market. This will also come in addition to adding the product details to the company’s website and blogs. The blogs and website will be used to provide information and details about any upcoming product in the market from the company.
Conversion Strategy
Conversion strategy entails the techniques and methods employed by the company to turn prospective consumers into paying customers (Armstrong et al, 2014). Some of the prospective customers involve consumers of the company’s products such as hospitals, veterinary centers, learning institutions, and households that use the company’s products. In order to turn them to buying customers for its water product, the company will use a planned program in which the company’s sales team will go out and meet the prospective buyers and convince to purchase the new product. For the retailers and household customers, the company will offer educational tips on the benefits of the product and why they should use it not only as a refreshment product but also as for health reasons due to its high-quality health supplements.
Retention Strategy
The company’s main focus to retain and have its customers come back for the product is to have a high level of relationship with the customer. Through a closely monitored strategy, the company will ensure that the customer’s demands and expectations are fully met by ensuring that the supplies are maintained all through. As much as the company will be focusing on expanding its market base and more potential customers, it will ensure that its existing customers are retained by maintaining the high quality of its products. Additionally, the company will continue with its advertisement, promotions, and marketing offers to its current customers to make them be aware of any new product or offer the company has in store for them.
Financial Projections
The financial projections for the new product will entail cash flow statements, balance sheets, and income statements for a period of 1 year in which the company projects a positive performance of the product. The balance sheet will show all the assets of the company in relation to the production of the product. The cashflow statement illustrates the differences in the balance sheet and earnings in relation to its effect on available cash (Armstrong et al, 2014). The main purpose of the cash flow is to give a breakdown on operating, financing, and investing activities the company is involved. On the other hand, the income statement will present the company’s financial outcome after a given period. In the case of production of the Fjar Bottled Water, the period is a 5-year financial projection (Armstrong et al, 2014).
References
Armstrong, G., Adam, S., Denize, S. & Kotler, P. (2014). Principles of marketing. Melbourne, VIC: Pearson Australia
Kotler, P., Burton, S., Deans, K., Brown, L. & Armstrong, G. (2015). Marketing. Melbourne, VIC: Pearson Higher Education AU.