Case Study on Elixir Air Purifier Marketing

Executive Summary:

After studying the theoretical concepts of marketing, understanding its practical implications and applications is the next step in the learning process. In this process of writing this project, we came to know about different aspects of attitudes and perceptions of the consumers towards air purifiers and the potential of the market that we have tried to explore with the light of our little knowledge.

‘In this process we have tried our best to plan the marketing process and decide the strategy for launching this product in the market. Our general objective was to find out the right segment, target market and positioning this product in the market with rational pricing, branding, and advertising. For doing this we have segmented the market and analyze the whole market with primary and secondary information. In this report we also put some rational explanation about our each finding. We also did Macro/Micro environment analysis to find out the factors and forces which may affect our marketing process. Finally this report ends with the rational conclusion about the possibility and impact of marketing our new unique product ‘Elixir Air Purifier’.

Introduction:                                                                                                                

The use of air purifier is not so familiar in our country. This air purifier concept has mainly come from western country, because of ongoing air pollution happening outside and inside the house. This air purifier business is now a most popular and growing business in western country. So as a marketer we have come up with this idea to manufacture Elixir Air purifier and sell them in local market. According to World Bank, Bangladesh can avoid thousands of death in each year due to air pollution. So our effort is to lessen these problems and take the market opportunity. Although this product is not currently introduced by any other company, so we can sell it with reasonable profit. Moreover we have come up with some marketing strategy that how we will sell and position our product in consumer market. And make consumer feel happy and healthy as well as make them understand that why to compromise with your heath and others when our air purifier exists.

• Strategic planning:

Elixir is a new brand of air purifier. It has to earn the trust and confidence of consumers and become one of the leading manufacturing and marketing companies of consumer durable in the electronic and home appliance sector of our country. It will be possible only for our strategic planning. Strategic planning is the process of developing and maintaining a strategic fit between the organizations goals and capabilities and its changing marketing opportunities.

As a part of the strategic planning process, Elixir has to establish a company wide objectives, mission/vision, goals and marketing strategy, which will give us strength and show the right path to go ahead. In below we stated our objectives, goals and our marketing management strategy.

• Company Mission statement:  To improve the quality of life of the people by providing families of Bangladesh with environment friendly appliances at affordable prices.
• Vision: To be the pioneer and become the most admired and respected brand of air purifier in the country.
• Objectives: To achieve and continue growth in sales. And to continuously develop human resources.
• Management strategy: Focusing on growth and risk minimization through product diversification and increasing the market share of our product by responding to changing customer needs.

New Product Details:

As a part of the diversification and to capture the market share, we the marketers of Elixir have decided to launch a new product in the market. After analyzing the current market opportunity and thinking about the consumers benefits as well as their increasing concern about the affect of pollution, mold and dust miles on their health, to minimize consumer’s health concern we are proudly launching our new product-‘Elixir Air Purifier’. The details about this product are stated below-

• What is Air purifier: An air purifier is a device which aims to free air from contaminants. The popularity of air purifiers spur from the results from environment researches which claim that the air inside homes are dirtier than the air outside of homes. Air purifiers are particularly beneficial for allergy sufferers and asthmatics or those who wish to reduce second-hand smoke.
• Purifying techniques: Various techniques are used in air purifiers in the current market to accomplish indoor air purification. But our product includes mechanical filters, absorbents like charcoal, and electrostatic charges or ionizers. Additional setups include germicidal UV light and the emission of ions into the air to react with contaminants and making them harmless enough to breathe. Although air purifiers strive to make the air as clean as possible, no commercial air purifier is capable of producing a room as clean as needed in situations requiring an especially clean environment, such as hospital surgical rooms or sensitive manufacturing like optics or computer processors.
• Potential uses: Indoor-room, bedroom, hall room, in office, hospital, manufacturing industry, children’s corner etc.

Other details: In below we stated the basic information about the Elixir air purifiers in a table format-

 ** Prize may vary from one model to another.

• Customer benefits:

Whether customers need for air purifiers or air cleaners to address air pollution, we can help customer to find out the right one. Buy air cleaners from us and we will make sure that it delivers to our customer on time and at no cost. We take our customer needs very seriously and work hard to make repeat purchase. So it is clear that we are offering various benefits to our customers.  But on the other hand, our customer can get some attractive benefits after buying this purifier. These benefits are stated below-

• This purifier can be controlled by small remote device.
• It is available in various design and color with different shape.
• It has made by modern electric wire which saves electricity.
• If some problem occurs it immediately shows problem in its inbuilt indicator.
• It has minimum weight around 15kg-20 kg.
• It is tested and certified by ISO.
• It is doctor recommended.

Special humidification features.

• Special filter which can filter air effectively.Customers can feel easy to use.
• Customers who like style, design etc. will never step back to buy it.
• Customers never have to pay more for their electric bills.
• No extra maintenance cost for repairing or changing its filter.
• Can be carried easily. Customers do not have to pay extra transportation cost.
• Customers can feel safe and reliable.
• Customers those who have various allergic problems can get better service.
• Customers can get it easily in affordable price.
• Customers never feel humid in their house or office.
• Customers can have better prevention from dust, pet allergy, smoke etc.

Company benefits:

By selling Air purifier Elixir will get lots of benefits in terms of profit, share, and other things. Our main purpose is to gain good amount of profits by selling our new product. So we have already created our marketing strategy and processes of launching our new Elixir air purifier. So in terms of benefits we anticipate that Elixir will get the following benefits-

• Company will gain 15% profits on each purchase.
• We will gain a substantial amount of market share within a short period of time.
• Elixir can position themselves as a social responsible company.
• Increase customer.
• Company growth will increase.
• Companies experience will increase more.
• Recognition in a new way.
• Market expansion and quick sales increase.

The above benefits are the most basic benefits that Elixir will get in the long run. But the main factor is Elixir will get much better profits by launching this product as well as their market experience will grow. However we have to work hard to build a positive image in the market and also we have to make sure that we will go on the right path as our mission statement says.

• Marketing process:

As a marketer our most important responsibility is to find out the right customer and what they want or expect from our product and also show positive post purchase attitude. Marketing process is the process of finding the right customer through market segmentation, preparing target market profile and positioning the product.

To find out the target market, at first we segmented the whole market as their characteristic. Our main endeavor is to reach the segment of population that will most likely buy our product or service. At first we simply decide at which market we are going to enter. Basically there are three kinds of market-

1. Consumer market,

2. Industrial market,

3. Reseller market.

But among these we have decided to enter consumer market and to some extent in business market. Because we think these two markets would be profitable as well as they will accept our product quickly.

• Segmentation:

The purpose of segmenting a market is to allow marketing program to focus on the subset of prospects that are “most likely” to purchase our offering. If it is done properly, this will help to ensure the highest return for our offering to individual customers or a business. Segmentation can be done on the basis of geographic, demographic, psychographic and behavioral characteristic. So in segmenting consumer market we try to keep in mind that segmentation will be determined by a match between the benefits offered by our offering and the need of the prospect. Therefore we choose geographic and demographic segmentation to target our market.

Geographic segmentation: in geographic segmentation we divided the whole market in different geographical unit in terms of population, density and region. Such variable is described below-

• Region: Bangladesh is a small country. And around 40% people are living in urban area. So it would be easier for us to those people who are living in urban area through electronic retail stores and sales agents all over Bangladesh. As a reason, it will be easy for us to assess all the local market.
• City or metro city: We are mainly focusing on urban people who are living in the main city. We will supply our product in the main division through our stores.
• Location: we concentrated selling our product to customers who are living in Banani, Gulshan, Dhanmondi etc. because statistics show that the people of these areas spend more money for their health concern.

Demographic segmentation: in this segment we identified our customer by criteria such as age, race, religion, gender, income, occupation etc. we choose some of the criteria that relates to the interest, need and ability of the customer to purchase our product. Below we stated the chosen variable of demographic segmentation—

Consumer market:

• Age: for children who are fewer than 12 and the main purchaser are their parents who are around 35-49 and 50-64.
• Gender: In Bangladesh basically the father takes all the decision. But to purchase this product mother can be an influencer. So husband and wife both are our targeted market.
• Occupation: air purifier is not a cheap thing to buy. So occupation of the customer greatly influences our product. Those who are doing business or working in service business, like doctor, will probably buy this product.
• Education: education is very important because those who are less educated are not aware of condition of their health and their family. So, those who are educated and concerned about their health will probably buy this product.
• Income: this air purifier will cost minimum 15,000. So, it is not possible to buy who have less income. Those who get around 28,000-35,000 taka per month will be able to buy this product.

Business market: In the business market especially those who are involved in service business like hospital, nursing home, and day care center will buy this product if they are strongly motivated to buy this product.

Attractiveness of this segmentation: From the above we can easily assume that this segment is perfectly done for targeting right customer. Because in demographic segment we choose right people who have minimum income or purchasing power to buy this product. On the other hand, we can simply access this segment through our retail stores and sales agents all over Bangladesh. The main facility that we have is we don’t have any competitors in this existing market so the market is large enough to serve effectively. But the main point of this segmentation is quite different because we don’t have to have different marketing mix for each variable. And each targeted customer will response same as other. So we don’t have to promote this product with different features. In these segments we don’t have to face competitors because there is no actual competitor in market.

• Target market:

The reason we’re concentrating on identifying a target market is because it makes strategies for designing, pricing, distributing, promoting, positioning, and improving our product, service, or idea easier, more effective, and more cost-effective. A target market is basically a set of buyers sharing common needs or characteristics that a company decides to serve. After evaluating different segments we have decided to enter in multiple segments which are geographic and demographic segments but we mostly emphasize on demographic segments. Before selecting actual buyers the most important thing is to decide target market strategy. Our target market strategy is as follows-

Differentiated marketing: This is multiple segment strategy; also known as a differentiated strategy. In this case different marketing mixes are offered to different segments. The product may not be different but the promotional message or distribution channel may very. We choose this strategy because this matches our capabilities.

Target market profile:  Target market profile is basically customers buying behavior and it answers why a customer buys our product. Before answering those questions we want to mention who are the main or targeted customers of air purifier.

• A family with young children: In Bangladesh every year millions of children die due to air pollution both inside and outside home. So those families who have young children and want to bring up their children in better environment will be our target market.
• Those who are concerned about health: There are many well off family who are very much concerned about their health. Like a family whose members are in service business like doctors.
•  Those people who are living beside road: Basically in urban cities like Dhaka 60% of the houses are just beside the main road, which results in lots of pollution inside the house.
• Those who have asthma or allergies from dust: According to statistics there are 850 million people who are suffering from various air pollution caused disease. So for these people, our product might be helpful for them.
• In service business: In service business like hospital, nursing home, day care center these people can buy this product for their own benefits. Moreover, in offices where the degree of air pollution is higher, can use this product.

Now our main target is to sell our product to our target market. But there are some characteristics that might affect our consumer behavior. So it is important to examine and understand those factors. These factors are cultural, social, personal and psychological. Most of the time these factors can not be controlled by marketers but our effort is to put influence in each factors and motivate them to buy our product. The following factors are described below-

Cultural: Culture is the most basic cause of a person’s wants and behavior. Our product is largely dependent on consumer’s family influence, because our one of the targeted market is the families who have young children. If their child suddenly falls into air borne diseases, then it depends on family members how they take preventive action. If family influence is high they will buy our product to prevent indoor air pollution. On the other hand those people who like to live in fresh air or like fitness and good health will probably buy our product.

Social: Buyers purchase decision also depends on their social status. Our targeted market is upper and upper middle class consumers, who are living in urban cities. To buy our product these people may be influenced by some reference groups. These reference groups may be their family doctor or the health organization like WHO, CARE etc.

Personal Factors:  A buyer’s purchase decision sometimes influenced by their personal factors such as age, life cycle, occupation, gender, location etc. our product is basically for better health purposes. In Bangladesh every year 10 million children fall sick due to air pollution. On the other hand, 4 million elderly people die due to air pollution. So our product is basically for young children and old persons. But in both cases their purchase decision is strictly dependent on their parents and married son/daughter or their family doctor. Moreover income is also an important factor because without good income none can buy this product. So, a person’s occupation is dependent on how they get salary or earn money. If they earn more they will be able to buy this product. However location is also a very important factor. Since, we are mainly focusing on urban areas, where the degree of air pollution is quite higher than the other areas; we are also focusing on those areas where our retail stores are located. Now the question is who will come to buy our product male or female? In our country most of the decisions are taken by male. So we infer that males will come to buy our product. But the fact is the main influencer may be the females or wives.

Psychological factors: A persons buying decision is mostly depend on his/her psychological factors. These factors include a person’s lifestyle, innovativeness etc. in our target market most of the consumers are basically from higher and upper middle class society and their lifestyle is totally different than others. They are in quite modern, because they love to adopt new things. Basically their main lifestyle expression is to live healthy and wealthy. If these people are motivated to buy this product and somehow if we are able to differentiate our product from others, they will probably buy our product. On the other hand those who are very concerned about their health will probably buy our product if we show the benefits of air purifiers and motivate them to buy.

• Positioning:

Simply, positioning is how target market defines in relation to our competitors. In broader sense positioning is the technique by which marketers try to create an image or identity in the minds of their target market for its product, brand, or organization. It is the ‘relative competitive comparison which their product occupies in a given market as perceived by the target market.  Basically a good positioning is-

1. What makes you unique?
2. Is this considered a benefit by your target market?

Both of these conditions are necessary for a good positioning.  It is important to understand product from the customer’s point of view relative to the competition. In order to begin positioning a product, two questions are needed to be answered:

1)      What is our marketing environment?

2)      What is our competitive advantage?

The marketing environment is the external environment. Some things to consider:   

Macro and Micro Analysis:

Macro Environment:-

• Demographic Environment:

The demographic environment is of major interest to marketers because it involves people, and people make up markets. Bangladesh is densely populated which poses both opportunities and threats. As of July 2006, the population of Bangladesh is approximately 147,000,000 with the average life expectancy of 62.46 years. 15,000 people die every year because of air pollution. 400 children die everyday from ARI (Acute Respiratory Infection). Asthma related symptoms affect about 7,000,000 people; 4,000,000 of the affected people are children. Indoor air pollution is also becoming a growing concern in Bangladesh, which affect mostly mothers and children. Mothers and children together make up about three-fifths of the population of the country.

Looking at these figures, the idea of manufacturing and selling air purifiers in Bangladesh seems very favorable. The low literacy rate may mean that the general population might not realize the importance of the air purifier in a country like Bangladesh but overall, the demographic environment seems to be favorable for the Elixir Air Purifier because it simply promises cleaner and healthier air for parents and their children.

• Economic Environment:

The economic environment includes factors that affect consumer buying power and spending patterns. Bangladesh is a poor, overpopulated, and inefficiently-governed nation. Although half of GDP is generated through the service sectors, nearly two-third of Bangladeshis is employed in the agriculture sector.

The economic environment does not look favorable because so much of the population that could have been potential buyers of the Elixir Air Purifier has been cancelled out because they cannot afford it. Although we can still make much profit through the middle and high class, the majority of the population is in the lower class.

• Natural Environment:

The natural environment includes natural resources that are needed as inputs by marketers or that are affected by marketing activities. Our natural environment is very favorable because our product is meant to help the environment. The inputs required to assemble Elixir Air Purifiers are not in anyway harmful to the environment. Our finished product is supposed to provide people with cleaner and healthier air and make the environment a better place to live in.

• Technological Environment:

Technological environment is forces that create new technologies, creating new product and market opportunities.

The technological environment is favorable to us because we are the first people to introduce the air purifier to Bangladesh so we do not have any competitors that sell the same product. We do however have companies who have started to sell air conditioners with ventilators. Although ventilators do reduce a small amount of indoor pollution, it cannot compare with the amount that air purifiers do. The reason these companies might be competitors is because their product offers two services (air conditioning and ventilation) while our product offers only one. But we have to keep in mind that they also cost two to three times higher than the Elixir Air Purifier so the technological environment looks favorable.

As new technology comes to Bangladesh maybe new companies will emerge with air purifiers that cost cheaper so they can sell it for cheaper. But as new technologies come to Bangladesh we will also be replacing our old machines with new ones so no company in Bangladesh will have a technological advantage over us.

• Political Environment

The political environment consists of laws, government agencies, and pressure groups that influence and limit various organizations and individuals in a given society.

The political environment is unfavorable for our product. The increasing number of hartals (strikes) in Bangladesh has made it difficult for many companies to manufacture and sell their products. It may seem that hartals may not do that much harm but in the long run it can ruin a business. Hartals mean that we cannot manufacture that day and it also means we cannot have any sales. In the long run we lose a lot of money because we still have to pay our employees the same wage and we still have to pay other fixed costs. Furthermore it causes us to be behind schedule. If we want to achieve our objectives and goals on time we will have to pay the employees more money to make up for those lost days. In the end the political environment is not favorable to us but it is also not favorable for our potential competitors.

• Cultural Environment:

The cultural environment is made up of institutions and other forces that affect society’s basic values, perceptions, preferences, and behaviors.

The cultural environment is favorable because we are in a period of time where the environment is a major concern and so is our health. We can see examples of this all over the world. The number of policies regarding the environment has increased dramatically over the past decade. Health concerns have also increased. The increasing number of gyms in Bangladesh is just one example. Another example is the recent ban of tobacco and smoking promotions. So the cultural environment is very favorable to us because the Elixir Air Purifier promises a cleaner indoor environment as well as healthier air to breath.

Micro  Environment  Analysis:

• Company:

The marketing managers of Elixir Bangladesh work closely with other departments. We work closely with the finance department, accounting department, top management, and operations. These departments work in harmony to provide superior customer value and satisfaction. Elixir has a strong tradition to consult with other departments before taking any kinds of major decision. Elixir’s managers take decisions and help before any kind of work. Our main purpose is to cooperatively drive the company’s mission and goals.

• Suppliers:

            Supplies form an important link in the company’s overall customer value delivery system. Elixir has wide range of retail store and its own goods delivery network, which are very much efficient and helps sales personnel to deliver value added products at right time and right place. Though we have our suppliers and retail network therefore there is no point of interrupting the delivery process. Elixir also strictly maintains their value statement in this case.

• Marketing Intermediaries:

Elixir has a unique retail network. Our products are sold through our own chain store and exclusive sales agents, strategically located all over Bangladesh. As a retail company, marketing consumer durable products, our efforts have been focused on the store-merchandising concept. We have successfully given a different perspective to all our retail stores keeping in mind what makes a good shopping experience.

• Customers:

             In terms of our product, our market is consumer market and some extent business market. Our valuable customer buys our product for their own personal benefits or their family benefits. Therefore Elixir established a strong consumer relationship management through our own trained sales personnel.

• Competitors:

            The type of competitor Elixr Air Purifier has is the companies that sell air conditioners with the ventilation. Their product is almost two to three times more expensive than our product. But other than that out air purifier has no such competitors in all of Bangladesh. Therefore initially Elixir does not have to worry about its competitors but Bangladesh consumer market is very much competitive so may be after one or two years we have to face lots of competitors in the market.

• Publics:

Elixir’s marketing environment is always going to be influenced by various publics or groups in the society. Basically the following publics have been putting lots of influences in our marketing, financing, producing and managing process.

• Financial: Banks, investment houses and stockholders are the major financial publics.
• Media: Newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations.
• Government’s publics: Bangladesh central bank, Bangladesh camber of commerce, commerce ministry, and Bangladesh research and testing agencies.
•  Citizen’s action publics: Citizens action publics like environmental agencies, various consumers group.
• General public: the most important influencer is general public because they are our actual customer so their preferences in influence us mostly then any others factors.
• Internal publics: Internal publics like our sales people, employees etc. As our management philosophies we best take care of our employees and other staffs. So their influence greatly affects on our management and production processes.

Assumption: 

After evaluating the macro and micro environment factors we can assume that our market potential for this product is highly favorable towards us, because in both case we have benefits rather then demerits. Basically micro environment is more favorable to us than macro. On the other hand we have established an effective planning for our product. And we hope that we will overcome the problem whenever they will arise.

How is the market now satisfying the need of our products satisfies– Right now in the market there are few companies like LG, SAMSUNG are selling air condition with ventilation system but those product cost around taka. 60,000-1, 20,000. And also does not completely fulfill the needs of air purifier. Customers have to buy those products because they have to satisfy their needs.

What are the switching costs for potential users for our market—our competitors are selling AC with some extent ventilation system so their selling price is much higher then the usual air purifier. So may be the switching cost is around  taka. 20,000-30,000

What are the positions of the competition– The position of our competitor is quite high in Bangladesh. The competitive advantage is an internal question. What do we have that gives us advantage over our competitors? Some things to consider:

Is our company small and flexible—Elixir is a relatively new but upcoming company. In Bangladesh it is slowly occupying a huge proportion of the consumer market. It has earned the trust and confidence of consumers and is becoming one of the leading manufacturer and marketing companies of consumers durable in the electronics and home appliance sector of the country.

Do we offer low cost and high quality—our offer is beneficial to consumer relative to the cost. We provide affordable prices with high quality. That means less for more.

Does our product offer unique benefits– Our target market will get unique benefits buy buying this product. It will prevent indoor air pollution.

Are we the first on the market with this product (First mover advantage)—we are launching this product for the first time in Bangladesh. Thus we have much first mover advantages.

What are the benefits that customers are looking for each 4Ps?

Our customer is quiet flexible. That means they will search those product which give them better benefits than others. After analyzing the current market, we have come to know about our target markets buying behavior and what they actually want in terms of price, product, place and promotion.

In terms of product they want quality product which will fulfill their benefits as well as the product should be user friendly, easy to maintain, good design, long time warrentee, free servicing, brand, support and appearance.

As for price, our target market consumer expect to have affordable price, but not so cheap, because it’s carrying our brand. So they expect to have affordable price with good quality. And also list price, financing, discount, leasing option etc.

For placement or availability, they expect to find it in each electronic retail stores, which are located allover the Bangladesh. They also expect to find sales agents, technicians, logistics etc in each place.

On the other hand, in terms of promotion, our target market wants to know about the right information along with instruction manual. And they expect to know the whether it is really helping them or not, is there any demerits of this product? etc. They also expect to see the attractive promotion which offer discount price.

Product Positioning: 

Consumers have various choices, may be its not possible for us to fulfill the all requirements individually. But our endeavor is to fulfill the consumer’s needs at any cost and also respond to their changes.

Among the various benefits that our consumers are looking for in each 4ps, we decided to position our self in terms of Product and Price.

Rational Explanation:

In the perspective of consumers mind, every consumer wants better quality product with low cost. They want more for less. However in terms of product and price every customer seeks some benefits which are mentioned above. But in terms of our target market why they those benefits are helpful to them? In below we have identified some of the factors that answer why those benefits are important to our customers. These are—

• Our target market consumers are educated and concern about their health, so better quality product like our air purifier will help them a lot.
• Those who have problem with various health diseases like dust allergy, pet allergy or other air polluted caused disease, will be benefited by buying our product.
• Though they are quite modern in their lifestyle; they will like to have Air purifier which has designable shape and attractive color.
• Those who have money but do not want to pay all the money at purchase time; they can pay it by monthly installment.
• Consumers buying decisions mostly depend on their purchasing power and their necessity, so price and product are the most important factors and consumer seek benefits within this two factors.

From the above reasons consumers are more willing to buy those products which give them good service as well as fulfill their necessity. On the other hand consumers want affordable price or they can buy it through various installment processes. As a result theses two benefits are very important to our target market.

Our capabilities:

We choose product and price to position ourselves because it relates to our capabilities of driving these benefits. From the beginning Elixir has been focusing on how to improve the quality of life of the people by providing comforts and conveniences at affordable prices. Therefore Elixir has the capabilities of driving those benefits to target markets. In below we sated some of our capabilities and strengths which drive these benefits better then our competitors-

• Elixir has set up two Service Centers in Dhaka and Chittagong to ensure quick and quality after sales service to all its valued customers. The Service Centers are fitted with modern equipment and the latest testing facilities. Skilled mobile technicians work under the guidance of Engineers. Besides the Service Centers, each Elixir store has one technician who is periodically trained and updated on the latest technology to attend to service complaints at the outlets. Mobile technicians from the Service Centre also respond to complaints throughout the country, whatever is the nature of the faults. In case of Electro Mechanical Products, 17 Franchise Technicians are constantly on the move for repair and maintenance of all Elixir Product categories.
• The company established Elixir Electronics Complex on its own land at Savar at the outside of Dhaka. For effective management and manufacturing operations, all its assembly operations were shifted under one roof with provision to diversify into other product categories. It ensures a better quality management.
• Elixir will follow the concept of selling products on an easy installment plan in Bangladesh. Under the scheme, Elixir products are offered to customers who need specific services but do not have enough cash to pay at a time.

As an electronics company, Elixir has above distinctiveness then other electronics company, our company has huge manufacturing and assembling plant in Savar near Dhaka but our other competitors does not have any manufacturing plant in Bangladesh, so we can give better service to our customers and also can ensure the product quality.  On the other hand, Elixir has easy installment facility though our other competitors have same facility but from them we have greater flexibility in giving installment facility. And this totally relates to our mission statement. We are providing low prices with good quality and also provide convenience to our customers, this difference does not belong to other company and they can not copy these kinds of distinctiveness, because we have greater strength in terms of product and price than any other competitors in the market.

Perceptual Positioning Map:

In the process of our positioning strategies we have design a perceptual positioning map, which will show how we are different then our competitors. It also shows consumer perception of our brands versus other competitions. Below we illustrate our perceptual positioning map–

In the above we compare our product with two very best electronics company in Bangladesh. These are LG electronics and Butterfly electronics. We compare with our product with them because they have good reputation in market as well as they have been competing with us for the long time. Here X axis represents the benefits that consumers will get from air purifier. And   Y axis represents the price of the Air purifier. Here we can see Butterfly electronics have high price while LG electronics have much higher price then butterfly. And the benefit that they are giving is not equivalent with their price. Both have high price but in terms of benefits butterfly giving less benefits and LG is giving ‘more for more’. But we are giving ‘more for less’. And this strategy has made us different from our competitors.

Positioning Statement:

Elixir Air Purifiers offers the best Ozone-free air purifier available to address allergy and asthma symptoms, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) and air quality issues such as pollution, cigarette smoke and construction dust. We make it easy for our customer to obtain the right office or home air cleaner by providing with an easy-to-navigate and secure site, the lowest legal prices, free installation, and no sales tax. Whether consumers are in the market for allergy relief or simply looking for a purifier for home or office, they can comfortably buy air purifier from Elixir because we have tested each air purifier that we sell and listen carefully to our customers for feedback and provide solutions.

• 4Ps Strategies with rational explanation:

The marketing mix model (also know as 4 p’s) can be used as a tool to assist in defining the marketing strategy. Marketing managers use this method to attempt to generate the optimal response in the target market by blending 4p’s variable in an optimal way. It is important to understand that the marketing mix can be adjusted on a frequent basis to meet the changing needs of the target market group and the other dynamics of the marketing environment. However our target is to use the best strategy in all the variables in 4p’s so that we can strongly position our product in consumer mind.

Product Strategy:

Product strategies reflect the mission of the business unit and the business it is in. We are going to position our product by using marketing mix variables and by providing different features with the product. The difference will be clearly defined for our product with the other brand through the values what it is providing. On the other hand, to match with the product market we will respond quickly according to our customer’s wants and demands. We will put the batch no, manufacturing date and the general instruction on the product. For better positioning of our product we have created our own brand strategies. In below we stated what brand strategy we have taken and why-

Brand strategy:

A strong brand name represents consumer’s perceptions and feelings about a product and its performance. Thus, the real value of a strong brand is its power to capture consumer performance and loyalty. We are going to position our product by adopting new brand strategy.

Rational explanation for choosing this brand:

Though, Elixir is a new brand in Bangladesh, it will establish strong brand equity in the minds of people in the Bangladesh. So after evaluating our target markets wants and desires, we finally decide to launch our new product Elixir Air Purifier. There are also other reasons for choosing this strategy. These ares-

• Elixir will have strong brand recognition.
• This brand name ‘Elixir Air Purifier’ suggest that our product is some kind of air purification product and basically relates to health.
• Though Elixir will always maintain a good quality so it also suggests that it will not be different from others.
• It will give our product instant recognition and faster acceptance.
• It will save our high advertisement cost and minimize our risk.

This new brand strategy involves the use of an attractive brand name to launch a new or modified product in a new category. So our new product brand name is ‘Elixir Air Purifier’.

Price Strategy:

Basically, marketer needs to review four factors to arrive at a price: pricing objectives, cost, competition and demand. Along with our pricing objectives, cost, and demand we will give emphasis on competitor’s price while setting our one as we are facing competition by the other electronics company in Bangladesh like LG, Butterfly, and National electronics etc.

On the other hand, among the two principal of pricing strategies, skimming and penetration, we are going to adopt penetrating pricing that means our products price will be relatively low during the initial stage to penetrate the market quickly and deeply in order to attract a large number of buyers quickly and win a large market share. Another important reason is, it relates to our mission statement. This strategy will work because-

• Our target market is quiet price sensitive.
• Production and distribution costs fall as sales volume increases.
• Low price will help us to keep out the competition.

           Our Product Price:  Though we are adopting penetrating pricing so we have decided to fix our product price at taka 20,000-26,500. Price will differ for different model we have. We fix this price by analyzing current market demand, product cost analyzing and other factors. Below we are showing differences of our product price to others products price.

       Comparison of our product to others: We have different competitors in market. But none of them are actually selling Air Purifier rather they selling Air conditioner with minimum ventilation or air cleaner system. However people are buying those products only for cooling purpose. Therefore there is a huge price differentiation with our product to them. Below we illustrate the comparisons of pricing with other company—

Placement (distribution) strategy:

Place, or distribution channel, is the method for making product available to the consumer. Distribution strategies are concerned with the flow of goods and services from manufacturers to re-sellers to customers. We have decided to go for direct marketing later when we don’t need any intermediate or re sellers.

Product Availability: This product will be available in each of our retail store which are located allover the country.

Nature of distribution:  From manufacturer we will supply our product to each of our local area manager then he will send this product to his entire retail store which is located in his/her area.

How to avoid channel conflict:

From time to time we will also evaluate our channel-members based on their performance and will modify the process if needed. To resolve any kind of conflict, if arise, we will nominate any of our manager to act as a diplomat among channel members. We will also welcome the frequent formal interaction with the channel members to develop an appreciation of each other’s perspectives. But the matter of fact that there is little possibility to arise channel conflict because we have assigned seven manager in seven different station in allover the country and each of them has different area to control.

Promotional Strategy:

Promotion is the specific mix of advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, and public relations a company uses to pursue its advertising and marketing objectives. The objectives that are met by promoting are to move the target market through the following phases:

Unawarenessà Awareness à Beliefs/Knowledgeà Attitudeà Purchase Intentionà Purchase

It is believed that consumers cannot skip over a phase, but they need to move through them. Promotion is used to move the target market from one phase to another to finally purchase. Our promotional strategy is to reach our target market effectively through personal selling marketing. Personal selling is selling product to the store and it involves personal presentation by firm’s sales force.

Media Selection:

Media is very important to sell product. It helps to educate customers as well as establish a good relationship between sellers and consumers. As for our product we choose Personal communication channels. Through these channels we will communicate with our target market by our marketing sales agent and our sales staff, when consumers come to our retail store they will convince customers to buy our product. On the other hand we will advertise our product by newspaper advertisement and initially with launching ceremony. For these we need only efficient sales person which we already have and good communication skills of our sales people.

However, for the promotion we will first go to various hospital and nursing homes, and tell them about our product capabilities that how effectively it can purify air and its advantages that people will get after buying. We will also arrange seminar on ‘air pollution its effect and how it can be controlled’ on human body, through this seminar we will promote our product. And for advertisement we will give advertise in newspaper in health section part. These will get more attention to our target customer.

Buyer- reading stages:

Buyers will react positively towards our product because our promotional strategy will lead them to purchase our product. Through various seminars they will be aware about the bad affect of air pollution in indoor area. Then through our advertisement they will get some knowledge about our product. Then, when they feel that, this product will really help them a lot. They will begin to like our product. Then they will compare our product with similar product, when they understand that our product is unique then other product they will convict about our product and finally willing to buy our product.

Conclusion:

In the concluding parts, we can say that it is quite evident that the market potential for our air purifier in Bangladesh is very high. But, to exploit this potential Elixir must plan its way very carefully. The above report describes us that how we can create a potential campaign for the brand ‘Elixir Air purifier’ we have taken. It also defines us the IMC effort for this brand. We have formulated all the strategies needed to gain substantial market share in Bangladesh. After the above discussion we can have the idea, how we can send message through different medium to our potential consumers without making them confused so that our target consumers will start using our brand and become loyal to this brand. In our promotion we used serious conversation about the health effect and how our product can minimize all these hazards.

The whole IMC campaign is prepared to demonstrate the feature of our product. We have shown that Air purifier  is not harmful for our health so anyone can use this with out any tension. The mission of our IMC campaign is to maintain and develop potential consumer into actual consumer. However, it is assumed that our IMC campaign will increase the sale of the brand and will help to create a strong brand image for ‘Elixir Air Purifier’