Aqualisa Quartz

Simply a Better Shower

 The Flow!

• The U.K. Shower Market

• Channels of Distribution
• The Development of the Quartz Shower Valve
• Initial Sales Results
• Aqualisa Quartz and 4Ps of Marketing
• Quartz Shower, Poor Sales: Reason
• A Shift in Marketing Strategy? The Right Approach.
 Introduction to the U.K. Shower Market

• Shower Market in late 1990s was U.K. Shower Sales, by reasons for Installation
plagued with problems:
• While everyone had a bathtub,
only about 60% U.K. homes Second Shower
10%
had Showers
New Build
• Archaic Plumbing 15%
44%
• Plumbing was ‘gravity-fed’ Commercial

6%
New Penetration

• 2 Major Problems: 25% Replacement

• Poor/Low pressure Shower

• Fluctuations in pressure meant

fluctuations in temperature.
 Introduction to the U.K. Shower Market
Electric Showers Mixer Shower Valves
• Sold under the brand • 2 Types: Manual and
name ‘Gainsborough’. Thermostatic
• Does not require hot • ‘Aquavalve 609’ was the
water supply. company’s core product.
• Electrical components • Blended both hot and
mounted in bulky box. cold water to set
• Poor water flow. temperature.
• Additional booster
pump required to
enhance the flow rate.
• Installation requires
excavation of bathroom.
Integral Power
Showers
• ‘Aquastream
Thermostatic’ was the
primary product.
• Single compact unit that
combined thermostatic
mixer valve and booster
pump.
• Results in a bulky box on
the wall.
• Less reliable than Mixer
Shower valves.
 Introduction to the U.K. Shower Market
Channel Electric Showers Mixer Showers Power Showers

Do-it-yourself Sheds 550000 80000 20000

Showrooms 55000 70000 20000

Trade Shops 330000 400000 110000

Others (Electrical 165000

Wholesalers)
Total units sold 1100000 550000 150000

U.K. Shower Market

(By Product Type and Channel)
 Introduction to the U.K. Shower Market

What Consumers disliked about their showers?

• Poor Pressure
• Varying Temperature
• Showers often Broke down
• Stiff Valves & hard to turn Valves
• Leaky Seals & Worn-out Showers
 Channels of Distribution

Trade Shops

• Carried products across all available brands.

• Primary Customer – Plumbers, who worked for developers, showrooms, contractors or directly for customers.
• Aqualisa brand was available in 40% of the trade shops.
• “The staff in these outlets don’t have the time to learn all the features and benefits of the 45,000 items they offer.”

Showrooms

• High-end products.
• Showroom “consultants” helped their customers through the process of ‘selecting’ and ‘designing’ a bathroom “solution”
• A chance for consumer to view the product in a pleasant environment.
• Showrooms preferred to carry high-end product lines and brands. They also offered installation services through subcontracting with contractors
and also through independent plumbers.
• Aqualisa brand was sold in about 500 showrooms out of 2000 showrooms in U.K.

DIY Sheds

• Do-It-Yourself retail outlets like B&Q offered discounted, mass market, do-it-yourself products.
• Electric showers led sales in this channel as they were cheaper and easier to retrofit.
• Aqualisa brand was unavailable through this channel but its Gainsborough brand was available in 70% of the approx. 3000 DIY outlets in U.K.
 Channels of Distribution
Plumbers
• Master Plumbers in U.K. – 10,000
• They had to undergo several years of training and 3 years of
apprenticeship to become master plumbers.
• Consumers often had to wait for six months before a plumber
could take on a new job.
• Installs 40 to 50 showers a year.
• Charged about 40 to 80 euros per hour plus the cost of excavation
and materials.
• Unfamiliar products could present unknown performance
problems and second visit is paid out of plumber’s pocket.
• Loyal to single brand.
• Plumbers distrusted innovation especially if it involves electronics.
 Development of the Quartz Shower Valve

• Shower market ranked Aqualisa number 2 in mixing valves and number 3 in the overall
U.K. shower market.
• It had 25% net returns on sales and was enjoying 5% to 10% in mature market.
• The current point of differences were eroding and they were loosing the market share.
• They set up an R&D centre, which had top industrial designers and a bunch of
Cambridge scientists who applied technology to industrial application.
• They realised that customer wanted a shower that looked great, delivered good
pressure at stable temperatures, was easy to use and didn’t break down.
• Aqualisa designed Quartz shower with a maximum temperature of 45 degree Celsius
so that user can have the option to change the temperature to the desired value i.e. 41
degree and option to run at 2/3rd speed which they liked more than maximum
pressure.
 Initial Sales Results

• Sales team 90% -> maintaining existing accounts and 10% ->
developing new customers.
• Conducted face-to-face interaction with plumbers to explain
new product.
• Very few units had sold in first 4 months.
• Plumbers were wary of innovation, particularly involving
electronics.
• Quartz may eventually replace the core product.
• Showrooms seemed niche market for the new product.
 Aqualisa Quartz and The 4Ps of Marketing
PRODUCT
• Quartz was very superior to the electric showers being offered.
• Provided efficient & reliable water pressure.
• One touch control
• Automatic temperature control.
• Easy installation.
• Flexibility to install processor remotely.

PLACE
• Trade Shops
• Showrooms
• Do-It-Yourself Sheds

PRICE
• Value
• Standard
• Premium

PROMOTION
• They contacted plumbers face to face to introduce the product
• Print-advertisement campaign (Exhibit 9)
 Quartz Shower, Poor Sales: Reason

• The Quartz shower being a premium product was priced between 850
euros to 1080 euros, which was high as compared to other products of
aqualisa.
• The plumbers are usually wary of innovations and perhaps did not favor
the idea of installing an electronically devised showers.
• The sales forces of aqualisa concentrated more on existing customers
rather than developing new ones.
• The product was sold through trade shops which did not have time to learn
and explain the advantages of such a valuable product to end customers.
• The Aqualisa product was sold in 500 showrooms out of 2000 showrooms
in U.K.
 Shift in Marketing Strategy?

Target Consumers Directly

Pros
• Target consumers directly i.e. end-users and create a powerful consumer
brand.
• This would enable them to compete with “Triton” the market leader
Cons
• Costly strategy for Aqualisa
• It must be consistent to be effective.
 Shift in Marketing Strategy?

Targeting Do-It-Yourself (DIY Sheds)

Pros
• Gainsborough has already gained market share in DIY market so Aqualisa
Quartz can follow this.
• Sales volume will be high.
Cons
• Once you show in a DIY sheds, you cant climb back out.
• Potential cannibalization.
 Shift in Marketing Strategy?

Targeting Developers

Pros
• More number of plumbers get familiarized to this product.
• Sales volume will be high.
Cons
• Developers may demand heavy discount which can dent the company’s
margin.
• Significant time lag before the showers would reach consumers.
Thank You 

Group 1