Final Exam Marketing

Case Study Presented To

MBA

Winter 2016 - Intake 51

Presented by

Mohamed Gamal EL Hennawy

The price costs:

Manufacturing costs= Freight costs +packaging costs= 31 cents per unit.

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 Royalty fees= 8.2 cents.

Net Revenue from retailers= 1.29 $per unit.

Final price =2.99$ per 2 units.

Promotion Budget:

 $60,000 for the first year.

Problem statement:

 The price of product is too high than the standard traps, as consumers may
perceive the value for this price they not achieving sales target and no repeating
buying.
 The cost on advertising is too less to cover the target market and generate income
from trap ease.
 Spending a lot on visiting trade shows as that is not going to help the company to
increase their sales and grow profits.

1) Martha and the Trap-Ease investors believe they face an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. What
information do they need to evaluate this opportunity? How do you think the group would write its mission
statement? How would you write it?

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Martha and her investors faced once in a lifetime opportunity means that they are talking about the potential
for profit and growth. Martha (the president of Trap Ease) had not done enough research about its product
in the market to assess whether the demand for her product would be there or not. Like SWOT analysis .It
seems that Martha and her investors were focused on how amazing their product was and not the actual
needs or wants of the customers that would be buying it. And they should be concentrates on the below
points:

- What is the problem which must solve it?

- Who are you selling to?

- How will you make money?

-What are the barriers to entry?

-How many competitors do you have and of what quality are they?

- How fast is the market growing or shrinking?

- What percentage of the market do you believe you could gain?

- What is the budget required and the expected return on investment (ROI)?

Martha and the investors must to evaluate the opportunity and take actions a better way. By using proper
marketing strategies and continuous quality improvement on product, we believe the sales and profits will
be increase gradually.

In order to write a good mission statement, they should focus on innovation and strengths of products
compared to the other competitors. They would probably include special features of products and services
offered to customers to let consumers know that Trap-Ease is offering something different

We will write the mission statement as “We ensure customers’ highest satisfactions by providing

the hygienic, safe and efficient mousetraps to them”. Or “We will make a lot of money by selling

a better patented mousetrap.”

2) Has Martha identified the best target market for Trap-Ease? What other market segments might the firm
target?

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 Martha was targeting a very shrink segment as she targets the women which they are often stay
at home and take care of their children; they want a means of dealing with the mouse problem
that avoids the unpleasantness and risks that the standard trap creates in the home. And more
women in today’s era have professional jobs and homes are not their only concerns.

Urban and Rural areas or Countryside: Trap-Ease don’t have too much opportunity in Urban they
don’t suffer from mice problems, while in village Trap-Ease will find a very good chance for
marketing and selling its product, as the population in rural areas in Canada around 6,312,000
people ( 20% of Canada population in 2011), if we have an average family members are 4
persons so we have 1,578,000 houses, if each house buy 1 mouse trap, then we have an
opportunity to sell 1,578,000 traps, assume we could reach at first year 25% of our customers,
then we can sell 394,000 units (78%from sales target from one segment ,only we have
opportunity to achieve 100% of the first year forecast from other segments

There are a number of other market segments that the firm could target. Farm owners, animal
lovers, family with kids and corporate businesses. Farms usually have mice appear frequently
which cause headache to farm owners. The complicated cleaning processes of traditional traps
bring extra works to farm owners. Martha should focus on this market as they would probably
purchase mousetraps in large amount depending on the size of their farms. Animal lovers would
probably glad to hear that such innovative mousetraps have been produced and sell in markets.
Trap-Ease can traps mice easily in a safe ways which is much better than using pesticides which
contains poison to kill mice. Trap-Ease has higher potential in families with kids. These traps can
prevent kids to see and touch dead mice and more important is that kids will be safe with the
traps.
And any business that handles or stores food and, therefore, is attractive to rats and mice would
be a potential target. Restaurants should come to mind here, both because of the presence of food
and food products and also because these establishments cannot use chemicals near food. This
also should suggest food wholesalers or warehouses where large quantities of food may be stored
in the channel of distribution. Food manufacturers also need rodent protection. Another potential
market is research laboratories. Here, researchers use large numbers of mice in research projects.
It is not unreasonable to think that some of these mice occasionally get loose. A researcher
would be interested in the ability to recapture a mouse without harming it something that the
researcher would be able to do with the Trap-Ease. Another potential target market is
exterminators. Because they must work in areas where chemicals would not be allowed and
traditional traps would have the same messiness problem, these companies might be a target
market. These exterminator companies might also sell the traps directly to consumers with whom
they deal.

3) How has the company positioned the Trap-Ease relative to the chosen target market? Could it position
the product in other ways?

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The company positions its product as the most innovative, safe and perfect designed mouse trap. Martha
believed that the trap had many advantages for the consumer when compared with traditional spring-loaded
traps or poisons. It appeals to consumers who want a humane alternative to spring traps. Furthermore, with
Trap-Ease, consumers can avoid the unpleasant mess they encounter with the violent spring-loaded trap
there are no clean-up problems. Finally, the consumer can reuse the trap or simply throw it away.

The company should improve by expanding the segments of target customers by making them to believe
that it is useful to them as well. To gain competitive advantage. Advertise their products in various channels
aside from household magazines in order to attract more attention from different segments of markets.
Besides that, Martha should also lower the price of traps so that it is affordable by consumers and also to
compete with the cheaper and traditional mousetraps. The company should also increase the number of
promoters. The company could have their own training center to train the promoters to promote their
mousetraps at each retailer. The promoters can directly represent the company to promote the products by
demonstrating the ways to use the product which can also create closer relationship with customers.

4) Describe the current marketing mix for Trap-Ease. Do you see any problems with this mix?

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Market Mix 4P’s (Product, Price, Place & Promotion):

*Product:

The Trap-Ease, a simple yet clever device, is manufactured by a plastics firm under contract with Trap-
Ease. The trap consists of a square, plastic tube measuring about 15 cm long and 4 cm square. The tube
bends in the middle at a 30-degree angle, so that when the front part of the tube rests on a flat surface, the
other end is elevated. The elevated end holds a removable cap into which the user places bait (cheese, dog
food, or some other tidbit). A hinged door is attached to the front end of the tube. When the trap is “open,”
this door rests on two narrow “stilts” attached to the two bottom corners of the door.

The trap works with simple efficiency. A mouse, smelling the bait, enters the tube through the open end. As
it walks up the angled bottom toward the bait, its weight makes the elevated end of the trap drop downward.
This elevates the open end, allowing the hinged door to swing closed, trapping the mouse. Small teeth on
the ends of the stilts catch in a groove on the bottom of the trap, locking the door closed. The mouse can be
disposed of live, or it can be left alone for a few hours to suffocate in the trap.

*Price:

The traps sold in packages of two, with a suggested retail price of $2.99. Although this price made the Trap-
Ease about five times more expensive than smaller, standard traps, consumers appeared to offer little initial
price resistance. The manufacturing cost for the Trap-Ease, including freight and packaging costs, was
about 31 cents per unit. The company paid an additional 8.2 cents per unit in royalty fees. Martha priced the
traps to retailers at $1.49 per unit and estimated that, after sales and volume discounts, Trap-Ease would
realize net revenues from retailers of $1.29 per unit.

*Place:

Martha decided to distribute Trap-Ease through national grocery, hardware, and drug chains such as
Safeway, Zellers, Canadian Tire, and Shoppers Drug Mart. She sold the trap directly to these large retailers,
avoiding any wholesalers or other intermediaries.

*Promotion:

Martha had budgeted approximately $60,000 for the first year. She planned to use $50,000 of this amount
for travel costs to visit trade shows and to make sales calls on retailers. She would use the remaining

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$10,000 for advertising. Because the mousetrap had generated so much publicity, however, she had not felt
the need to do much advertising. Still, she had placed advertising in Chatelaine and in other home
magazines. Martha was the company’s only salesperson, but she intended to hire more salespeople soon.

The Problems:

 The product itself is well designed and perfect but Martha needs to create more variety, for
example large size for farmers and small size for companies.
 The price is very high relevant to the competitors, they probably could offer a wider range of
prices on different models. It’s five times higher than the standard mouse traps
 Martha depends on herself only in sales, which absolutely effect on direct sales process and
delayed the process; she should hire more sales persons.
 The problems of the places are limitations in places that make the product available to the target
consumers. Other than national grocery, hardware and discount chains, the company can actually
offer the products in other places like supermarket and hypermarket which have larger number of
consumers.
 Martha ignoring the wholesaler which is a big mistake, she should depend on wholesalers to build
a great distribution network.
 The problems of promotion are there is only one salesperson (Martha) in the company and the
company does not do much advertisement in magazines other than the household one. The
company should recruit and train more salesperson to promote the products. Besides, the company
should also do some advertisements in (television, radio, social media, newspaper and magazines)
which may attract customers of other segments.

5) Who is Trap-Ease’s direct competition? Who are indirect competitors?

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Indirect competitors:

 Pesticides regular.
 Cleaning companies and insecticidal.
 Pets like cats
 Ultra-Sound Repellent

Direct competitors:

Trap-ease direct competition is any company that creates mouse traps. Spring-loaded trap as its price is
cheaper than Trap-Ease’s and it is the perfect substitute of the Trap-Ease. Large volume of low quality low
cost mouse traps are sold. There are also other versions of live catch mouse traps out there. An example of
one of Trap-ease’s competition is D-CON who offers both baits and traps .They actually also offer a version
of no touch mouse trap in which you don’t have to touch the mouse after you have trapped it. They are
selling higher than the suggested retail price for the Trap-ease mouse trap is 2.99$.This would suggest that
Trap-ease has priced lower than some of its competitors which will give it a pricing advantage. Companies
such as Havahart offer traps which humanely catch everything from mice to voles. Also another direct
competitors are companies that sell adhesive paste for rates. Other competitors include: Victor, JT Eaton
and Riddex.Tomahawk Original Series Collapsible Trap with Two Trap, Tomcat Secure-Kill Snap Rat Trap

6) How would you change Trap-Ease’s marketing strategy? What kinds of control procedures would you
establish for this strategy?

Marketing objectives:

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 1. Increase profit and cost effectiveness
2. Enhancing strength of trap ease brand
3. Creating loyal customers through offering them a high quality product with suitable price
4. Growing market sales by searching for new markets and segments to be able to meet our sales
target.
5. Increasing market share by 10% by the end of the year

SWOT analysis

Internal

Strengths:

 Very innovative product.

Weakness:

* High price
* Low promotion
* do not determine good target of market segmentation
* Product oriented strategy

External

Opportunities:

 Unique product, so it is a high potential market

Threats:

 Traditional marketers
 Chemicals and pesticides

New marketing strategy ((STP)):

Segmentation Variables Data

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 World region North America
Country Canada
Cities All cities of Canada
Density Rural
Climate Cold winter, Short and hot summer
Demographic
Age 22 – 60
Gender Female, Male
Family Size 4
Family life cycle Married, Unmarried
Income $36,138
Occupation From lower class to middle class
Religion Christians, Muslims, Jews, and others
Race Canadian, English, French, Scottish, others
Nationality Canadian
Psychographic
Social class Lower class, Middle class
Lifestyle Actualizes, Fulfilled, Believers, Achievers, Strivers,
Experiences makers and Strugglers
Behavioral
Benefits Quality, Customer service
User status First time user
Loyalty status Weak
Readiness Stage Lack of awareness
Businesses
Type of business Food & Beverages, Pest controllers companies, Hyper
markets, Super markets, Warehousing service providers,
Hospitals.
Benefits Quality, On time delivery, order in full
User status First time user
Loyalty status Weak
Readiness Stage Lack of awareness

**) Targeting:

The targeting should have been done within a broader demographic area. Slums, warehouses, go downs,
docks, Karana shops, retail stores, restaurant, canteens and cold storages must be targeted for potential

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customers. The segmenting must avail wholesalers and the intermediaries too apart from the retailers.
Marketing channels like Toll-free numbers, newspapers, television, radio and mobile marketing must be
used effectively to target MEN. Pest control companies must be primarily targeted and a joint venture can
be planned if necessary. We should target to environmentalists, animal lovers and corporate business.

**) Position:

Having a problem with mice? Traditional traps create mess and unpleasant smell in your home? Afraid from
poisons? And Product development.

**) Promotions:

When two traps are sold in a single package it might not be appealing to the customers who are ready to
experiment. So it should be one at a time. The cost must be cut down as low as possible at least for initial
days because the customers are driven to products that are freely available for fewer prices. Here the
packaging plays a prominent role. Free samples to the agencies must be initially given so that they get the
customers acquainted to the product in order to gain a good name in the market. There should be mass
distribution of the product and free demo services must be provided. The marketing network within the
organization must be increased, instead of Martha being the single salesperson. There must be door-to-door
salesperson to make the sales effective. The administrative costs must be cut down and more money should
be spent in promotional activities like advertising in movie theatres. Showing a demo in the retail shops,
approaching government to promote in railways and bus-stands as a social cause and environment savior. A
brand ambassador must be endorsed to promote the product in order to attract the customers. Money back
promise should be made to the customers if the products are found defective. This way they will gain the
trust of the customers.

**) Segment:

Though there’s value in terms of quality, satisfaction of the customers from the product is less because of its
high price. And proper feedbacks must be taken from the customers as well as the retailers in order to assess
the true position of the product. Online booking facilities must be provided so that more customers can
know the details about the product and buy it easily. The cost and communication of the four 4c’s concept
must be kept in mind. The safety and re-usability aspects of the product must be communicated well to the
customers. Retaining customers is very important and that can be done only through quality service.
Customers are gods and promises made to them should be kept. They lost an order because of time the
management and Martha doesn’t seem to learn from the mistake. The goodwill of the organization is
necessary for any product to remain for a long time.

**) Planning:

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A proper market research is necessary to understand the wants of customers. Timely adjustments must be
done based on the marketing environment. There must be a backup plan always when the target sales and
profits are not achieved. When the sales have gone down in April, the marketing strategy must be
immediately changed. The administrative costs must be cut down heavily. Also the reasons for why the
product is not bought the second time must be found out and necessary changes made to the product as per
customer benefits. Repeat buying will happen only when the services provided are beneficial to the
customers. When the trade shows haven’t bought enough sales, the costs should be cut down there and
allocate more money for advertising.

Controls are necessary for the evaluation phase. Controls established during the creation of the marketing
plan provide benchmarks to assess how well the plan accomplished its goals. Controls are like goals; they
give the company something to aim for when enacting the plan. Controls may include measures such as the
marketing budgets and market share. As follow:

1. Martha should get periodically report and figures of the sales and revenue.

2. A continuous feedback from the customers.

Source:

http://graduateway.com/trap-ease-the-big-cheese-of-mouse-traps/

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