Cottle, initially based in Philadelphia, was started in the year 1815 as a company that originally manufactured hand- soap products (Quelch & Zalosh, 2012). It is a corporation that has been able to grow over an extended period, being able to gain a lot of market power and strength. The company has been able to operate as a multinational corporation with more than two hundred countries serving as its base. The company has been able to make huge profits and even gain a lot of capital revenue, to a tune of $11.5 billion, by the year 2009.
SWOT analysis
The cattle business is faced with a lot of competitions and challenges from the outside world. The company strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats can be analyzed critically based on the given information.
Cottle-Taylor has been able to be presented with various powers. The business is strategically placed in a country whose numerous opportunities for expansion. The business has the potential to grow based on the revenue it has been able to gain over the period. Cottle business can expand, by the use of its strategies that have enabled it to grow by allowing the local communities to be involved in the whole process of marketing its products. The Cottle-Taylor business has been able to have the market power that allows it to change the prices of the products without losing its customers easily.
Cottle-Taylor business has been able to grow in an environment that has the advantages of offering the market support. India has a population of over 1. 16 Billion people. This community gives the business has an excellent opportunity for the growing base that it can produce the products that suit the low-income citizens and the commodities that fit the first class citizens. The firm’s ability to make strategic growth plans that range from the tune of twenty percent, in the year 2010, which gives a higher value than the average eighteen percent tune that was made in the year2009. The increase in the sales and the general revenue would largely depend on the marketing strategies that would be adopted by the company sales persons with the help of the marketing officials.
The business, however, faces a lot of challenges and threats such as competition from the other companies. The company also faces the challenge of convincing the people to use other products, which most of the population cannot be able to afford. Many people live way far below the poverty line, where the majority live below $2 per day. The people also have a lot of challenges that range from personal poverty to the unequal distribution of resources in the regions they live in. There was a lot of competition from the two leading companies that operated in India. These companies included the Hindu- Daltan, which has a market share of 21%, and the SarIndia, which has a market share of11%. The two companies offered a threat to the revenue and the profit maximization to the Cottle Company.
The business can range its activities in the local areas where there are no qualified professionals that administer oral care. The company can relocate some of its best-qualified persons in the local areas where it is supposed to deal with the local population as well as the introduction of the best competitive models as well as the best marketing strategies that would see to the success of the business.
The marketing strategy for the Cottle business was to be based on the available information. The data presented for the various company branches as well as an organization was crucial for the development of a successful business organization.
The brush making business was to be based on the inform, action that was provided. The sales of the toothbrush in the Indian market alone was approximated to be 747.1 million, which was a higher number than the sales did in the three month period that had passed. The information on the sales of the toothbrush was based on an analysis on the brushing habit of the Indian populations as shown below.
The sales of the products were also to be sold more on those people who had the tendency to brush at least daily than those who rarely brushed their teeth. His business was therefore meant to9 t5arget more those individuals with the higher tendencies to brush their teeth than the ones who did it, at least, one time, two or even three times per week.
The marketing strategy was also to be used and based on the sales of the most used product, that is, the toothbrushes and the toothpaste. The selling was to be based on the annual sales of the two commodities, in relation to their annual revenue.
Marketing Strategies
Cottler business was able to introduce a more competitive strategy that would see to the success of the firm. The marketing strategies were meant to increase the value of sales and revenue collection, through the introduction of more advanced products, as well as the introduction of more profitable lines.
The business settles for the education of their consumers on the importance of maintaining oral cleanliness. The training was meant to create awareness, which resulted in a campaign awareness of 38% by the year 2009. The company also settled with the use of locally available materials to manufacture its products. The move was meant to make the manufacturing costs low and even cut down on the expenses of production. The business, due to competition from the Indian and the Chinese traders, it lowered the price of its commodities, so as to earn the loyalty of its customers.
Although the company incurred a lot of expenses in its production process, for the high-quality goods, the business usually has the potential to look into the distribution channels that targeted the local and the international markets. The people with low-income levels had the advantage to enjoy the products just like the ones with high income. The distribution channels started with the small street stores and the little selling units, where people could obtain the products at lower prices, to the large distribution channels such as the supermarkets. The large distribution channels targeted the people with high-income levels, who used to purchase larger quantities of good at a higher price.
The Cottle business came up with the strategy of improving its services and increasing its profits through the distribution of dentists as well as the electric toothbrushes. The company devised the strategy in collaboration with various dentists in the Thailand as well as the Indian markets. The two markets were developed in to enhance the sale of the products. The company settled to the creating of awareness where there was the process of promotions as well as advertising. The businesses had the advantage of increasing its sales to a tune of 25%, which was a 6% increase in the total sales in Thailand over the year 2009.
Pros and Cons Of The Marketing Strategies
Various advantages and disadvantages are attached to the marketing system. The benefits of the marketing strategies such as a cane in the price of commodities, the opening of various branches in different places among other strategies is highly defined.
The product
The product that the company specializes in is the oral products which were there from the beginning, however the growth of the company led to expansion to other health care products like soaps and lotions. The push strategy was the primary source of clients whereby dentists were used to endorsing the toothbrushes, pastes, and powders.
Promotion.
The company utilizes all sorts of media to reach their clients. 50% of their advertising is on television, with 30% being print; newspapers, magazines, and booklet. 15% Was set for billboards around the cities for the sake of drivers and pedestrians. Finally, radio is used with a proportion of 5 %. This kind of strategies reaches most of the customers as they end up knowing about the product in one way or another.
The place
Goods from the company are sold using any means possible. From the big supermarket of India, to the shops in towns. Similarly, the small shops in villages and closet sidewalks. The company employs sales people to market the products to the extent of door to door type of delivery.
The prices.
The company is considerate of the population of India. The strategy they use to set the prices is that they have different rates for different socially able groups. From low end to middle range and finally high end, which comprises mostly of electric or battery operated toothbrushes. The tooth paste, on the other hand, is manufactured either for the basic type then the advanced type. The kind of diverse products offered makes it easy to maintain customers who try them.
The Best Marketing Strategy
For the Cottle business to make the required value of profits, there must be a good strategy that would not only increase its value of the sale but would also enable the company to maintain its clients. The adoption of the best marketing strategy is then essential, to the achievement of the set goals and objectives.
A good marketing strategy enables one to define adequately the business goals, mission, visions, objectives as well as the time frame. For any business to achieve its set goals and purposes, certain guidelines enable a company to achieve its business strategies. The business has to adjust the business objectives right, help in the marketing strategy.
Various steps can be used in the development of a marketing strategy. The first phase in the elaboration of a marketing strategy is the development of the product. Cottle company has been able to develop a quality product that is well branded and with distinct characteristic features. The products that are manufactured by the Company have been able to sell its identity to the entire world due to the uniqueness of its products.
The Company has been able to settle for the application of the various strategies such as the strategic positioning, where the business has been able to locate activities in places with high populations and even elevated levels of income. The business has been able to place itself strategically in places such as North America, with revenue of $2530 million in the year 2009, Europe $2750, Latin America $ 3910, and areas of the Greater Asia and Africa with the income of $2300. The location of the business in such places gives it the best strategy. The best marketing strategy for the Cottle business is the application of market mix between the price cut plan and the strategic placement of the businesses. These two are sound policies that ensure that the firm makes the best profits.
For the Business to implement the two marketing mix strategy, there should be a good planning strategy that provides that the company does not have to rely on the changes in the market situations for it to make profits. Various steps should be followed in that there is an assurance in the profit maximization.
The business should collect data that show the trends in the different market situations. The information gathered should be able to give directions on the income distribution of his people. The information collected should be able to reflect the demand and supply patterns of related commodities.
The next step is the implementation stage where the business is supposed to rally all the information it has to the expertise department in the organization. The experts in the team should be able to give the directions and the best strategies to use that would not only offer the best marketing strategies but also enable the business to have outstanding benefits.The instructions given should be based on the long-term selling strategy; that is the main issue that faces the Cottle company. The business wants a long term trading strategy that will enable it to stay in the market for long.
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References
Quelch, A.J. & Zalosh, A. (2012). Cottle-Taylor: ExpandingThe Oral Care Group In India, Harvard Business School, March 22, 2012. Pdf.
Ferreira, N. (2013). Bottle Taylor: Expanding the Oral Care Group in India. Slide share. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/NunoFerreira18/cottle-taylor-22931720
Indian Institute of Management. (2010). Cottle –Taylor: Expanding the Oral Care Group in India.
Tamrakar, N. 2010. Case Presentation. Prezi. Retrieved from https://prezi.com/pc9ntl0f4zpa/mktg-576-case-presentation/
