Introduction
In the course of their lives, bachelors, the handicapped, the elderly, and the working class find themselves amidst the crisis brought by having a lot of dirty laundries. Most of the time, this audience ends up piling a lot of dirty laundries and getting tired of doing it because of the tiresome and uninteresting processes associated with washing clothes. As much as there are washing machines that could help, there are still after-washing processes such as drying and folding clothes which most of the audience do not like to do. The product being introduced to the market is a smart washing machine that detects when the machine is full and then starts washing the clothes after which it dries them and folds them.
Market Entry Strategy
The target market consists of individuals from all over the world. Being a startup, systematically entering into the market would be the best way to go. The end goal is to set up manufacturing plants for the product in certain areas. However, the first step is to set up one manufacturing plant at a suitable location and then begin direct exporting. The first exports would go to highly populated countries that have high GDPs because it is these countries that have a high number of people in the working class and also a huge number of elderly people due to their high mortality rates. The process of direct exporting involves first establishing a sales program which involves the use of distributors and agents who will represent the brand in different markets. The distributors will work with the company closely as they serve as the face of the new product. The distributors and agent swill be handled with much seriousness as if they belong to the key staff of the company.
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The next step will be to license the product. Licensing involves the transfer of rights to the use of a brand or product to another party. This strategy is important as it helps when the purchaser of the license possesses a large market share in the target market. Licenses are available for both product production and its marketing.
To diversify the product’s brand, the idea of franchising will also be included a few months after the product is thrown into the market. However, the franchising plan for this product will be a bit different from the franchising we all know. The product will have two or three different brand names in every country it is sold in. The brand names will then be available for franchising. This franchising strategy will create self-competition and increase the chances of the brand growing.
Some of the foreign markets may be difficult to penetrate due to market monopoly by brands that already exist there. To get into such markets, the best strategy to implement is partnering with the brands that are there. The forms of partnerships may vary from simple co-marketing to other sophisticated strategic alliances. This strategy also best works for markets that have a unique culture that is substantively different from the culture that the company has.
Potential Barriers
Just like any other new product that is trying to enter the market, there are potential problems that the brand may face in the process of introducing it to our target market. These barriers may include:
Economies of scale: This refers to the decrease in per-unit production cost as the volume of produced units increases. Creating a huge amount of capital to begin bulk production in order to lower the average cost of production may be a difficult task.
Product differentiation: Given that there are other almost similar products that are doing relatively well in the market, one of the biggest tasks will be to show customers how different our product is from the rest. To do this, the firm will be required to invest heavily so as to overcome the loyalties that customers have to incumbent brands (Barriers to entry: Factors preventing startups from entering a market, n.d.) .
Access to distribution channels: The incumbent competitive brands own the distribution channels that are being used to supply their products to the target markets. These are the same distribution channels that we hope to use. Taking over these channels will certainly be a difficult task considering our brand is just a startup.
The marketing strategy that has been put in place is diverse as it incorporates a lot of different strategies within it. The setup of the strategy is such that in the case that one strategy fails, there is another one to back it up. With such a strategy, the chances product entry failing are heavily reduces.
References
Barriers to entry: Factors preventing startups from entering a market . (n.d.). Retrieved August 3, 2019, from MARS: https://learn.marsdd.com/article/barriers-to-entry-factors-preventing-startups-from-entering-a-market/
