Martha and the Trap-Ease case study

Written by /Ahmed Abdullah

Under supervision of Dr/Ashraf Talaat

Martha and the Trap-Ease case study

1. Martha and the Trap-Ease America investors
believe they face a 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?

A) What information do they need to evaluate this

opportunity?
In the beginning to evaluate this
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity it
can be divided into 2 ways
Internal way & External way

Internal Way
Company Evaluation:-
They must know their
 strength, & weakness
 Goal & Objective
 Experience, Skills & resources
 Technology
External way
They need very important information about the following
1 - Market Customer
2 – Market Segment
3 – Market Target
4 – Market Competitors
5 – Marketing collaborators

1 - Customer:-
They must need to know

Customer need

Customer want

And how they product meet these need & want

What is the problem in other product and how it solved by their product
2 - Market segment:-
They must answer group of question such as
Who, where and why will buy this product
3 - Market target:-
By collecting these previous data they will put the target
4 – Market Competitors:-
It can be known by collecting information about competitor strength,
weakness, opportunity, and threads
5 – Market collaborators:-
What is their suppliers Distributers, and their partner

b) How do you think the group would write its mission

statement? How would you write
it?
Mission Statement: We deliver a save, clean
and effortless mouse solution
but i will write it as following

the mission of Trap-ease company is to be

one of most leading provider of comfort & peace using our new innovation
Mouse trap that can make your life easy and clean
2 -Has Martha identified the best target market for
Trap-Ease? What other market segment might the
firm target?

a) Has Martha identified the best target market for Trap-

Ease?

Of course from my point of view I think Martha identified the best Target
market as
 All of women avoid the unpleasant mess and also it is the big problem
of traditional trap
 All of women can use it by their self without any help from the others
 Also they are keen about their home and their children than men
 They almost the big customer can buy it beside their home demand

b) What other market segment might the firm target?

That the best market segments other than women is

 Restaurant
 Factories
 Stores
Which can be good target beside woman as it can score high sales score as
every customer of them will buy more than one and may be tens of traps?
3. How has the company positioned the Trap-Ease
relative to the chosen target market? Could it position
the product in other ways?
 a) How has the company positioned the Trap-Ease for the
chosen target market?
As Martha decide to put Women as the best target market
So trap-ease positioning is that the clean & safe trap in the houses than
traditional trap

b) Could it position the product other ways?

Yes it can
Through positioning of Trap-ease as clean safe trap house easy using one
make its segment customer only women
But if we make its positioning as the most easy hygienic trap give it the
space for using not only in houses but also in factories , stores and also in
restaurants
Which wide the segments can be buy the trap which lead to high score of
sales than the previous one

4- Describe the current marketing mix for Trap-Ease!

Do you see any problems with this mix?

a) The current marketing mix for Trap-Ease is described

as bellow:
 Product :-
Trap-Ease America
 Price :
$2.49 (Contain of two Trap-Ease packages)
 Distribution place :-
 National grocery, hardware, and drug chains such as Safeway, Kmart,
Hechinger’s, and CB Drug.
 Promotion strategic:-
Trade shows, sales calls on retailers, Good Housekeeping advertising,
Chatelaine and in other home magazines. Martha was the company’s only
salesperson, but she intended to hire more salespeople soon.
 People :-
Into internal people as Employee such as Martha, Investors &
salespeople

And External People as customer (women or factories or restaurant)

 Process:-
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.
The traps sold in packages of two, with a suggested retail price of $2.99.
Martha wondered whether consumers were buying the traps as novelties
rather than as a solution to their mouse problems.
 Physical Evidence:-
Sold in packages of two, with a suggested retail price of $2.99

B) Do you see any problems with this mix

From my point of view
 Product :-
High Expensive price when comparing with traditional traps as it more than
five to ten times more expensive than traditional one
 Physical Evidence :-
Packaging in form of two trap in one package give the customer the
resistance as he may need one not two also the sales person cant sell
one alone
 Distribution place :-
Avoiding any wholesalers or other intermediaries make its distribution
rare than if they deal with them
 Promotion strategic:-
They lose a lot from absence of sales people in the 1st stage
5- Who is Trap-Ease America’s competition? And who
are indirect Competitors?
 A)Who is Trap-Ease America’s competition?
1- Traditional trap ease ( Spring Loaded Traps) considered the main
compotators for the American trap ease
2- Electric Trap
3- Based on the internet sources, there are some of similar product that
might be the Trap-Ease competitor such as d-CON, Victor, and JT Eaton
mouse trap.
c) Who are indirect competitors?
There are also some products that might be become the substitutive
product such as
1- pest repelling aid (Ultra sound repellent) that will repel mouse,
cockroach, spider, and ant through an ultrasonic wave transmitter.
2- Poisons
3- Pets like cats
4- Pesticides
5- Adhesive tape for mice

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

a) How would you change Trap-Ease’s marketing strategy?

1- In the beginning we must collect all information about existing

marketing plan such as:-
 1. Executive Summary
2. Market Analysis
3. Competitor Analysis
4. Sales Analysis
5. SWOT
6. Marketing Strategic Objectives
7. Marketing Team & Budget
8. Digital & Traditional Marketing Levers to reach our Strategic Objectives
9. Products, Prices & Channels of Distribution
10.Marketing Plan
11.Dashboards to Track & Manage Progress

2- Then we can make research about

Customer needs and wants

Market segment

Market target

Positioning

3- develop value proposition

4- set marketing Goals
5- Define marketing strategies that will fit and match with the market
target.
6- Marketing mix
7- Review & reassess
Then we will hire some sales persons that will help selling the product to
the market target such as restaurants, department stores, and food
manufacturers. We also will use the web on the internet to promote the
product and use or partnering with the e-commerce website to enlarge the
promotion scale.

b) What kinds of control procedures would you establish for

this strategy?
Strategic control is a way to manage the execution of your strategic plan, as it
tracks a strategy’s implementation and subsequent results

It is primarily concerned with finding and helping you adapt to internal or external
factors that affect your strategy, whether they were initially included in your
strategic planning or not.

The various components of the strategic control process generate answers to

these two questions:

1. Has the strategy been implemented as planned?

2. Based on the observed results, does the strategy need to be changed or

adjusted?

In many senses, strategic control is an evaluation exercise focused on ensuring

the achievement of your goals. The process bridges gaps and allows you to adapt
your strategy as needed during implementation

That can be through

1- Quality control (QC) system for the

finished good to make sure that every
product delivered to the customer is
always the good one
2- Shipping system to make sure that the
retailers or the customers get their goods in
the right time safely
3- Reporting system for the sales persons to make sure that they have done
everything right as written in their job descriptions. Besides that, report is
an effective way to measure and evaluate the results of marketing strategies
and plans and taking corrective action to ensure that the objectives are
achieved.
4- Customer feedback system so the company can get information from the
customer point of view directly and instantly. Trough customer feedback we
can improve and create a better product that solve and fulfill the customer’s
needs and wants.
Putting strategic control in place is critical to a successful strategy
implementation. Without proper controls, your strategy won’t have the gut
checks required to ensure it remains relevant, on track, and performing at or
above standards.