1. PROBLEM STATEMENT
In 2011 Aqualisa made an heavy investments of €5.8 million to develop Quartz, the most innovative shower in UK history. The electric shower is stylish, easy to use and install and solve both problems of end customers and plumbers. However, the product is selling at a rate of 15 units per day which is well below the expected rate of 100 to 200 units a day. The company is now looking for a new marketing strategy to generate sales momentum for Quartz.

2. SITUATION ANALYSIS
Aqualisa, the 3rd largest shower manufacturer in UK with 18.1% units sold, has had a successful multi brand strategy focused on high quality innovative products, which allowed it to enjoy 25% net return on sales and a growth from 5% to 10% in a mature market. The two market leaders, Triton and Mira, have 30.3% and 21.7% respectively. The company is present in all segments of the market, and has a broad product range of nine models, which cover the three types of showers used in the UK (power, mixer and electric), ranging between €230-670 per unit. The company is also present in all consumer markets, serving both B2C and B2B clients. Their channel relationships are strong and the company is reputable in the UK market for its top-quality showers, reliability and great services. The UK shower market has a big potential since only 60% of homes have showers therefore the remaining 40% could be converted to installing showers. The population that already has showers have a variety of complaints due to the quality issues associated with the older models, ranging from variations in water pressure to water temperature.

In 2011 when the company launched Quartz shower, the model solved most of the problems that customers had with U.K. showers. With Quartz, Aqualisa now offered a shower to the market that had eradicated or significantly reduced the issues with temperature and water pressure while adding a new design, safety features and neat fittings. The Quartz was also quick and easy to install compared to other models on the market; which could potentially provide an appeal to plumbers. Aqualisa products overall have a 10% defective rate but the Quartz defective rate is much lower. Aqualisa’s competitors are improving their product quality but they didn’t implement any innovation since long time. Aqualisa came up with a superior product, but the shower didn’t reach the expected level of sales.

There are a number of reasons attributing to the drag in sales of Quartz since its launch. Plumbers are averse to innovation and are often unwilling to install an electric shower, after the fail of electrics in the 80s. Plumbers are very loyal to a single shower brand which often results in plumbers with “single-brand expertise”. Another issue attributing to the slowing in sales is the lack of brand awareness, which is extremely low in the shower industry. This gap in knowledge correlates with the first problem involving plumbers because consumers are also not familiar with electric showers and do not have the right amount of knowledge to push for their plumber to install one. The low adoption rate of Quartz is linked to negative experiences related to the failure of other electric showers in the past. There is a lack of trust and reliability of both consumers and plumbers about the quality of existing showers and also the new electric model. Nearly half of the sales of showers in the UK were from replacements due to problems like breakdowns, reinstallations and the low pressure and temperature of the water. The last main issue is that Aqualisa has an extremely ineffective sales force with 90% of time being spent on maintaining existing customers and only 10% focusing on developing new customers.

3. ALTERNATIVES
Target Consumers Directly:
Only one shower manufacturer, Triton, has been able to build a consumer brand in the U.K. shower market. There is a low consumer involvement in this industry but building a consumer brand would be a strategic competitive advantage for Aqualisa considering that their only competitor would be Triton. Unfortunately, building a customer brand is very expensive, a proper consumer campaign would cost €3-4 million over two years, roughly 25% of net income. Also, only 27% of the market is driven by consumers that choose the type and brand of the shower without any advice from the plumber. By targeting the consumer directly, Aqualisa may lose out on the other 73% of the market that is plumber driven.

Target Do-It-Yourselfers:
Since the Quartz product is so easy to install, this seems like a wise alternative. The company will receive additional advertising from DIY stores such as B&Q, which will eventually reduce consumer advertising expenses. The problem with this strategy is that Aqualisa could begin to associate their premium brand, Quartz, with their discount brand, Gainsborough. This can lead to negative quality perceptions by consumers as well as the possibility of not being able to charge a premium price for the Quartz model. In this case Aqualisa would need to lower the price that will probably cannibalise with sales of Gainsborough brand. Also, only approximately 36% of showers were sold at DIY sheds in 2000. Although by targeting these customers Aqualisa will not be able to reach the desired sales growth.

Target Developers:
The developers market is a relative small market compared to the plumber-influenced market, accounting for 20% of the total UK shower market. Moreover Aqualisa is already successful in this market with the Aqualisa's ShowerMax brand. The developers are not interested in the extra features that premium brands offer with a higher price, and are tough to sell premium brands to (even a 50% discount fails to attract them) because that they want the highest margin on a home sale, and the shower is not the prime incentive behind purchasing a house.

4. RECOMMENDATIONS – Target Plumbers
The best strategy that Aqualisa can adopt is to target the plumbers channel directly. Indeed plumbers account for the largest percentage of shower installation methods in the UK at 54%. They are also the opinion because they have some sort of influence on the type of shower selection by consumers 73% of the time. Because the Quartz model is so easy to install, Aqualisa should have an easy sale to plumbers and installers. The problem though, is that plumbers are very wary of new innovation and especially electronic innovation. Plumbers have a slow pace in adopting a new product and Aqualisa could probably face a low adoption rate in case they decide to target the plumbers.
The possibility of plumbers to use apprentice to install the products it will benefit the plumber by increasing their number of installation and at the same time reducing the costs. Also consumers will benefit when the expected install schedules will become shorter than the current duration of a six month wait.
My recommendation is for Aqualisa to target the plumbers to generate sales momentum for their Quartz product. This method will by far reach the most end-consumers and, if implemented correctly, will generate the highest amount of shower sales.

5. IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
In order to implement the suggested strategy, the following approach is envisaged.
• Sales force should pursue plumbers with free Quartz shower samples. This will incentivize plumbers to try the new product. The total cost of free samples would be €2,030,000 . This cost is still less than the projected €3-4 million that was estimated for a consumer campaign and could be recovered with an incremental sale of 6,548 incremental units .
• Considering the wrong perception of innovation in shower market especially regarding electric products, in addition to a free sample of Quartz shower, the plumbers should receive a free training showing them how quick and easy is to install the shower. This will help plumbers to feel comfortable about the product, create brand loyalty and quicken the adoption rate.
• Guarantee their product 4 year warranty allows for both the end-consumer and the plumber to feel better about this innovative product. This will mitigate the risk of the plumber having to pay for a repair or re-installation of the shower which will encourage them to use this product compared to other products that don’t have guarantee.

In order to take advantage of the profitability that is available to them being the first of their kind on the market, Aqualisa needs to be ahead of the competition and act fast. They can generate massive profits and build significant brand loyalty if they can build this sale momentum before the patent of Quartz expires and competition catch up with quality and innovation. If Aqualisa want to have the biggest growth in sales it should target the plumbers.