Australian Whitegoods Company Kleenmaid Marketing Plans (kleenmaid St George)

Executive Summary

Kleenmaid St George is an Australian company that began on the Sunshine Coast in 1987 and quickly gained advantage in the market through offering better service than its competitors, and providing quality products. Main competitors of Kleenmaid are LG, and Fisher & Paykel, with Miele occupying top position at the high end of the white goods market. The bottom end (the mass market), and the majority share of the market, is occupied by the big Electrolux Group, which owns many brands. Kleenmaid is a manufacturer, importer and distributor of white goods appliances. It imports high quality products which it sells from fully franchised Kleenmaid stores. It provides sales and after-sales service for these products. There is a vacancy for the service positioning peak, and Kleenmaid could achieve this through adjustments to its marketing strategy, including re-branding its personality to compete with luxury European brands. Kleenmaid needs to review its marketing strategy. Its strategies in the past have been successful because of the vision of its leaders and co-founders Andrew Young and Dick England, who are willing to take risks to ensure the success of their company. The company has been successful in identifying a gap in the service market and filling this. The purpose of this report is to suggest a marketing strategy based on internal and external factors, competitors, environment, etc., and also to identify a point of difference that can be used as differentiation. The recommendations are that Kleenmaid should position itself as the only Australian brand as a point of differentiation from its competitors and that this position is probably sustainable in the current environment, and as Kleenmaid expands its franchises.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.0 INTRODUCTION................................................................................................4

2.0 CUSTOMER ANALYSIS....................................................................................5

2.1The major segments.....................................................................................5

2.2 Their motivations and unmet needs……………………………………....6

3.0 COMPETITOR ANALYSIS…………………………………………………....7

3.1 Existing and potential competitors………………………………………..7

3.2 Strategic sales, share and profits &

Competitors' strengths, weaknesses and strategies……………….……….8

3.3 The growth trends…………………………………………………….…...9

4.0 MARKET ANALYSIS………………………………………………………….11

4.1 How attractive is the market or industry and its sub-markets………...….11

4.2 Forces reducing profitability in the market, entry and exit

barriers, growth projections, cost structures and profitability prospects…11

4.3 Alternative distribution channels & their relative strengths……………...12

4.4 What industry trends are significant to strategy……………………….…14

4.5 Current and future key success factors……………………………….…..14

5.0 ENVIRONMENT ALANA LYSIS…………………………………….....……15

5.1 Environmental threats, opportunities and trends………………….……...15

5.2 Major strategic uncertainties and information need areas………….…….17

5.3 What scenarios can be conceived?.............................................................17

6.0 INTERNAL ANALYSIS……………………………………………………….18

6.1 Costs, strategy, performance, points of differentiation,

strengths, weaknesses, strategy problems and culture…………………...18

6.2 Existing business portfolio……………………………………………….18

7.0 STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT…………………………………………….…20

7.1 Offering a differentiated product…………………………………………….20

7.2 Adding customer value by doing something better than or

different from competitors…………………………………………………...20

7.3 How can perceived quality be enhanced?........................................................21

7.4 Can a cost advantage be gained by offering a no-frills product

or by reducing product costs?..........................................................................21

8.0 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION…………………………...…..22

REFERENCES…………………………………………………………………..….23

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The company we have chosen for this report is the Australian whitegoods company Kleenmaid. The company sells goods such as ovens, cooktops, dishwashers and washing machines. The aims of this report are to identify and evaluate the overall marketing strategy of this business and explain why it is distinctive. The purpose of the report is analyse the company's marketing strategy and make recommendations for improvements. The report is structured from factual information from the website Kleenmaid Australia, as well as academic articles and market research that is relevant to marketing the product.

The company wants to consolidate and expand as Australia's largest direct retailer of kitchen and laundry appliances and to build on its reputation for quality, service and performance. This is what makes the company distinctive.The company is currently converting the 26 company owned stores to franchises and is opening new stores in growth areas across Australia. As stated on the web site Kleenmaid ‘offers