pROFESSOR dEANNA TEEL pRINCIPLES OF MARKETING - MRKG 1311
SPRING 2013 pROFESSOR dEANNA TEEL pRINCIPLES OF MARKETING - MRKG 1311
SPRING 2013 performance sport booster car seat by

MARKETING PLAN performance sport booster car seat by

MARKETING PLAN

Product and Company Background
Company Background Recaro has over 100 years of history designing seats for the world's most prestigious automobiles, airlines, and race cars. Recaro is German engineered, and an international leader in seating safety, design, comfort and style. Recaro is the pioneer of child seat side impact technology, going beyond any side impact requirements as tested with the ADAC European standard.
Founded in 1906 by Wilhelm Reutter as Reutter Carosserie-Werke, the company became famous for building limousine bodies during the 1920s. Recaro has been setting standards in automotive seating ever since. Recaro Automotive Seating produced the first retrofit sports seat for automobiles, the world’s lightest car seat and the most innovative commercial vehicle seat in addition to new sport seats in a modern composite design. Recaro Automotive Seating’s customers include prominent manufacturers of automobiles and commercial vehicles around the world. Through retail sales, the company also provides end customers with aftermarket seats and motorsports customers with racing shells.
Recaro Automotive Seating is a division of the global Johnson Controls group, with lean structures, short decision paths and fascinating products. It employees 830 employees at Recaro Automotive Seating’s six global locations: Germany (Kaiserslautern and Kirchheim/Teck), Poland (Skarbimierz), North America (Auburn Hills, Michigan), Mexico (Lerma), and Japan (Higashiomi). (recaro.com)
Product Introduction The demand and success of Recaro automobile seats led to a big question; if we can keep parents safe in a car, why can’t we protect their children as well? In 1992, development began on a child seat that has every stylish detail that you have come to love from Recaro, and the safety and technology you trust. The idea was to keep the child seat as sporty, stylish, and as safe as the seats in a sports car. Recaro Child Safety revolutionized the market for child car seats with its very first patent: the first child car seat that grows with the child. Today this concept has become an essential part of the market. It allows families to use the child car seat for longer, therefore allowing even the smallest of passengers to benefit from Recaro's competence in seating safety. Parents have come to trust the Recaro name and now can have a safer, more usable car seat.
Demand for the Performance Sport car seat is high due to its evolving ergonomic style and minimal amounts of seats available at one time.
The Performance Sport car seat is designed to keep the child as immobile as possible during a crash, and this seat offers the best side impact protection of any seat on the market. This seat is compliant with American and European safety standards, the utmost in quality and performance, safety and style. The seat can cater to a broad market serves children from 20 to 120 pounds, and 27 to 59 inches tall. This “growing” seat offers more than a traditional booster, it is designed with a 5-point harness instead of traditional boosters that use the cars seat belt.
Strategic Issues
Current Business Environment
The current business environment favors a seat like the Recaro Performance Sport because of its long usability and life. Over the last three years on the market, profits have increased due to the overall high value of this seat. The economy is primed for a car seat like this that is designed to be used over long periods of time, a child cannot grow out of the seat until 12 years of age. The downfall of this is the cost of the seat. Although somewhat expensive, this car seat is made to last longer than most other seats of comparable price. As a result, Recaro has a fairly inexpensive, long-lasting car seat that delivers safety and performance to the buyer. The market for these seats is normally productive and demand usually stays at a constant, but the price of the seat may affect next year’s sales as far as economic factors are concerned.
Industry Reaction and Opportunities
New features combined with the time-trusted technologies people have come to know from Recaro have made us a major player in the world market. With the addition of the HERO technology, the Performance Sport has even greater projected sales for the next two years. HERO is the name of the new harness that is twist-resistant and keeps the harness straps from digging in the child’s neck, shoulders, and chest. HERO harness technology keeps the child safer and more comfortable than ever before. Recaro needs to keep its brand and philosophy intact as new European manufacturers of car seating are making the market a little crowded. Competitors, though, do not have seats that can grow with the child and last as long, so overall we are at an advantage in value and price. The consumer can rest assured that Recaro is continuously offering value and long product life. Pricing in this market has increased, and in turn we have had to increase our prices by 1% last year to accommodate this. The consumer is buying more technology than our last seat, so the increase in price should not affect sales. StrengthsNewer TechnologyLong product lifeTrusted brand | WeaknessesPriceAvailabilityCompetition | OpportunitiesGlobal MarketAdvanced AdvertisingSocial network sites | ThreatsOther brandsEconomy |
Competition
SWOT Analysis for Recaro and the Performance Sport Booster

Strengths 1. Newer Technology: a. HERO Harness Technology- Keeps the harness from being twisted and has comfortable padding
b. Side Impact Protection- Recaro's Side Impact Protection is designed to distinctly protect 5 vulnerable areas of a child in a side impact collision - their head, neck, face, torso and pelvis.
c. Easy Guide Belt Guide- Whether in harness or booster mode each belt guide is color coded so you can easily identify the proper belt path and positioning of either the latch strap or vehicle seat belt.
d. Easy Adjust 5-Point Harness- Harness and head restraint are adjusted together so no re-threading is necessary to properly position the harness shoulder straps to the child.
e. Ergo Shell Structure- The Performance Sport's shell is designed to offer child occupants the comfort qualities Recaro seats are known throughout the world for.
f. Soft Touch Seat Cushion- Memory foam cushion in the seat of the Performance Sport ensures a comfortable ride.
g. Safety Stripe System- This one-of-a-kind racing-inspired white stripe, clearly visible on the outside edge of the 5-point harness, alerts parents to improper harness alignment.

2. Long Product Life: The Performance Sport seat has a longer duration of use and grows with your child, with a wider range of weight and height restrictions than our competitors. 3. Trusted Brand: Recaro has been a thriving business for over 100 years, and have pioneered automobile seating.
Weaknesses
1. Price: Our seat is a top of the line product, therefore is more expensive than most of our competitors’ seats. Our products depend on the economy to be stable so our customers can afford our seats. 2. Availability: Recaro seats are sold at a limited number of retailers, which can drive demand up, but some new customers might not be able to find and purchase our seats. 3. Competition: The market is saturated with car seat makers, making it more difficult to sell our product.
Opportunities
1. Global Market: Recaro has holdings in Japan, Malaysia, the UK, Germany, and the United States, and The Performance Sport is sold worldwide.
2. Advanced Advertising: We not only advertise in specialty baby stores, we also advertise on our seats and on race cars, something that is unique to our brand.
3. Social Network Sites: Sites such as Twitter, and Facebook have allowed our brand to grow and evolve to fit our customers.
Threats
1. Other Brands: More and more competitors are being introduced to the market making our brand one of many instead of one of few, especially the higher-end European manufacturers of car seats.
2. Economy: These days our retailers and customers are finding it harder to afford the products we sell. We have to be vigilant and always strive to offer value, and high quality seats.
Competitors’ Profiles
Britax is Recaro’s largest competitor; Britax, is a London, UK-based manufacturer of automotive safety equipment such as child car seats, baby strollers, etc. “Britax has been a market leader in mobile safety for more than 70 years, with a legacy of leadership in developing innovations that enhance the safety of child car seats and improve their ease of installation and use.” The company designs and manufactures a complete line of child seats, including infant car seats, convertible child seats, and belt-positioning booster seats. Their products are sold through both independent and mass retailers all over the world. What makes us more successful is our 100 years in the business and racing-inspired style. Our second largest competitor is Chicco (pronounced kee-co). They offer many options for car seating, but lack the value and product life that our seats provide.
Market Share Analysis

Recaro is not the leader as far as the market is concerned. We are an elite brand and consider ourselves specialty seating. We command 24% of the global market share, which is less than we would hope for. We believe we can grow to command 27% of the market by 2015. The way we achieve this is to offer more technology and grow our market by selling to a larger retail base. In a nutshell, Recaro needs more chain retail stores to carry our brand. Recaro can expect the larger manufacturers, like Graco, to stay steady in the market in the upcoming years. We have to keep innovating and creating new technologies to compete in this saturated global market.
Price
The suggested retail price of the Recaro Performance Sport Booster seat is $299.99. This is slightly higher than our older line of seats, but this price will drop once a new line is released. This price is fair once you consider the years of use this seat will offer.
Positioning Statement Recaro strives to deliver aesthetically pleasing, ergonomic car seating that is defined by safety and performance. “Recaro: we are the sporty car seat brand!”
Marketing Objectives 1. Gain more retail stores that carry our brand. 2. Increase profitability by 2% 3. Keep safety our number one advertising point.

Works Cited recaro.com. http://www.recaro.com/automotive-seating-352.html. n.d. 5 April 2013.