Aqualisa Quartz: Simply a Better Shower

Case study

Aqualisa Quartz: Simply a better shower

Q1. What is the Quartz value proposition to a) consumers b) plumbers?

Ans. Aqualisa, a U.K. based shower manufacturing Company had launched its premium brand 'Quartz' in May 2001. The Company has been very reputed in the U.K. market for its top quality showers, reliability and great service. The basic purpose behind launching this brand was to address the concerns of the consumers and the plumbers which perhaps were not satisfied with the existing products in the market. Stated below are the issues faced by the consumers and the plumbers and the value proposition offered by Quartz:

a) Consumers: Consumers were typically not happy with the kind of showers that were available in the market as revealed by the market research conducted by the Research and Development team of Aqualisa. The consumers wanted a shower that looked elegant, delivered water flow at good pressure, had a stable temperature, was easy to use, do not break down easily, have valves that do not become stiff and hard to turn after a period of time and don't require servicing very often. Also, they did not want the big bulky boxes installed for the mechanical control right over their shower wall.

Inorder to address these concerns, Aqualisa launched its new product Quartz for providing a solution to the problems faced by the consumers apart from having certain added features. The Quartz, being elegantly designed was easy to use. It gave an option to consumers to run at two-third speeds so that water flowed under the desired level of pressure. It provided the user to take shower at the optimal water temperature which is comfortably hot as the temperature control is automatic. The easy-to-use push button was an added advantage. The button had a light which flashed red until the desired temperature is reached. Also, no excavation of the shower wall would be required as the mechanism for mixing the hot and cold water can be installed remotely. The fitting could be done in half a day, hence the consumers won't have to wait for a longer time for the plumbers to come and install it. Thus for the consumer, the Quartz shower provided efficient and reliable water pressure and temperature control, had neat fittings and was safe for use.

b) Plumbers (Installers): The plumbers distrusted innovation and were comfortable with the shower they had been installing all these years. They had a notion that unfamiliar products result into unknown performance problems and would often require a second visit to fix up the problem whose expenses were to be borne by the plumber himself. This made them extremely reluctant to switch brands and they became experts at doing their routine work of fixing one particular brand of shower.

Hence, the R & D team of Aqualisa developed the Quartz brand which is not only end user friendly but pleases the plumbers too. They addressed the issues faced by plumbers by making a shower that could be installed simply by drilling a single hole into the ceiling above the shower. The task required only half a day and could be accomplished by even the novice plumbers. It helped to avoid excavating the walls. Also, the Aqualisa sales force took efforts in demonstrating to the plumbers to make their job easy. Thus, the push-fit-connect kind of shower was acceptable to the plumbe

Q2. Why is the Quartz shower not selling?

Ans. The Quartz brand launched by Aqualisa was proposed to appeal the consumers as well as the plumbers as it had features that could suit both the groups. However, the euphoria surrounding the product's initial launch had quickly faded. In the first four months itself very few units of the product had been sold despite being available in all of Aqualisa's normal distribution channels. The reasons as to why the brand could not carve a niche for itself in its initial stages of being launched could be enumerated as follows:

1) Being a premium product, the Quartz shower was priced between 850 Euros to 1080 Euros which was very high compared to other brands of Aqualisa. Thus it was not affordable to consumers other than those in the premium segment. Also, the developers who thought Aqualisa core products to be expensive were sceptical about buying the new product despite being offered heavy discounts. The developers would have been a better market for the product as they would force the plumbers to install a product of their choice.

2) At the launch of a new product, generally Companies lower their price for better market penetration. However, this aspect was not liked by the Managing Director of Aqualisa as he was of the opinion that Quartz is a premium product. This could have barred the Company from marketing their product through Do-It-Yourselfers who are their discount channel.

3) The plumbers are usually wary of innovations and perhaps did not favour the idea of installing an electronically devised shower. Reluctance on their part to install the Quartz shower even on the insistence of a consumer did not help in pushing the sales of the product.

4) The Quartz