Soren Chemical: Why is the new

swimming pool product sinking?

GROUP-9
Aman Gupta
Ankit Verma
Tushar Sharma
Mithun Chandra
History of Soren Chemicals
• Founded by Timothy Soren in 1942 to sell industrial-strength cleaning
solutions
• Later expanded to industrial chemicals for lubricants & fuels, and
chemical solutions for treating drinking water and wastewater
• In 2006, company had 350 products and $450 mn as revenue
• Historically Company had concentrated on B2B sales but now it is
investing selectively in developing brands for products for consumer
markets.

Water Treatment products (Kailan MW and

Coracle)
• Kailan MW and Coracle (flocculants) cause suspended particles in
liquids to agglomerate into larger particles called flocs
• Kailan MW
• used primarily for cleaning large commercial pools and water
parks (B2B)
• Revenue - $6.1 Million in 2006, 7% growth expected in 2007
• Coracle
• used for cleaning residential pools
• Revenue - $0.111 Million (in 6 months) against annual target of
$1.5 Million (85% short of target)
Commercial-Use Clarifier Market Characteristics
(Kailan MW )

• Market Size: $30 Million (2007), relatively mature

market
• Channel:
• Manufacturer Formulators Water parks &
Commercial Pools

• Formulators carry full range of pool-cleaning

products and provide value-added services tailored
to customer specs
• Formulators sold the product under Private Brand
Name
• Customized maintenance programs with
Formulators, water-safety consultants, Pump
& Filter manufacturers
Residential Pool Clarifier Market

• Market currently untapped and has lot of

potential
• Distribution Channels:
• (a) Manufacturer DistributorsRetailers/Pool
Service professionalsPool Owners
• (b) Manufacturer Mass RetailersPool
Owners
• Pool Builders, Cleaning & Servicing companies,
independent contractors, Retailers and
Wholesale Distributors are the main influencers
• Concern: Aesthetics and perceived cleanliness
• Lack of awareness among Pool-Owners
• Competitors: Clearblu, Hydropill and Purity
Marketing Strategy for Coracle

• Adopted 2-level distributor channel In order to

reach wide and fragmented market
• Focus on building Soren as consumer brand, No
private-labeling
• Press release in three trade journals targeting
professionals and retailers.
• Good enquiry system adopted- receiving queries,
sharing technical data with them and passing on
the interested customers information to
appropriate wholesale distributors.
• Aggressive pricing - $14.88 for a 2 quant bottle
• Distributor Margin – 20%
• Retailers Margin – 15%
 Coracle Purity hydropill Clearblu

retailer selling price 39.1 46.8 35 56.2

retailer gross margin 15% 15% 15% 15%
retailer gross profit 5.865 7.02 5.25 8.43

distributor price 33.235 39.78 29.75 47.77

distributor gross margin 30% 30% 30% 30%

distibutor gross profit 9.9705 11.934 8.925 14.331

soren price 23.2645 27.846 20.825 33.439

soren gross margin 35% 35% 35% 35%

soren gross profit 8.142575 9.7461 7.28875 11.70365

Reasons for failure

Push Issues
•Higher margins for distributors and retailers on selling purity
and clearblu
•Coracle reduced the need of other pool chemicals by 20-30%

Pull Issues
•No pull for the brand as it is a very low involvement product.
Lack of awareness of pool owners
•No exclusive demand of Coracle from Pool Service
Professionals and contractors
Thank You !