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Market Strategy for Bhargava Hearing Aid Centre (BHC)

By Team AkatsukiPradeep RMohammed GassaliVignesh R

--IIM UDAIPUR --

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

BHC

Should BHC go forth?

How do BHC go forth?

Marketing Mix- Place

Marketing Mix-Product

Price , Promotion and People

How do BHC increase Awareness

How to utilize the Omni-Channel

What is BHC known for? Quality , Expertise and High-End Equipments

Brand diluting can avoided by giving exclusivity and Profitability can be cast aside by focussing on Market share

To attack a high volume customer in a low cost segment , value has to be added in terms of service

A recommendation six states have given with deciding factors like per capita consumption ( health and general) , Population and distance from Chandigarh

Product has to be improved through continuous innovation, Mixing it with headphone or earring makes it easier to address the current issues

A combination of these three marketing mix will help to achieve the goal of selling a service rather than a product and hence compete against Price wars

A initial survey to check the understanding and video to create awareness and the second survey to know the change in mindset

Interacting through social media , Increasing the digital presence , Co-operative collaboration with E-retailers

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Bhargava Hearing Aid Centre – Who Am I ?

I sell High End Digital Hearing aids

I am known for my 25 years of Expertise in Hearing Aid Business

& of course my product quality+ +

Given this scenario Should I go for low cost models ?

• Health Expenditure in India is growing at a rate of 14% CAGR annually in 2014 (source: EuroMonitor)

• India has an untapped market that contains almost 3-5% of the total population

• The rural population is very much unaware of such medical aid that will help their life

Will this dilute my brand identity of high end products?Will I have to rely on price wars with low cost competitors?What will happen to the profit margins?

Can we mitigate the disadvantages?

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Bhargava Hearing Aid Centre – How do I Mitigate the disadvantages?

If BHC stands for high end equipments and will continue to cater to this niche segment

Create a child brand that will cater to these segments

If BHC plans to cater both segment

BHC can create a exclusivity if required , and still continue to serve

PriceWARS Price Wars is something that cannot be avoided

Profitability will also get a hit because of low cost entry

But the most important fact is that this is a HIGH VOLUME segment and hence MARKET SHARE is more important than profitability

+

These two mitigating measures gives us a green signal

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Bhargava Hearing Aid Centre – Marketing Strategies

• The answer is by adding value to the basic and most important marketing mix

• BHC is also in high service ( high end equipments) and High Price segment apart from the low cost entry

• If BHC need to capture the market , it has to provide value and elevate itself to the next position where customers are willing to buy

Now that we have realised that market share is very important in this high volume segment,The Question arises , how do we go forth?

The first P : Place - Which is the best place to sell? Major Factors that influence selling areRural PopulationMPCE (Monthly Per-capita Consumer Expenditure)Distance from Chandigarh ( since BHC’s operations)Age group Population density etc

With these factors and given weightage The following list emerged as the best place to sell this low cost products from excel attached below

Population 3Rural Population 4Urban Population 1Population Density 2MPCE Rural 4MPCE Urban 1Age 0-14 1Age 15-59 3Age 60+ 2Distance from Chandigarh 6

Best 1 HaryanaBest 2 Uttar PradeshBest 3 Punjab

Himachal Pradesh Best 4Bihar Best 5

Rajasthan Best 6

This excel is scalable and has the necessary weightage , new factors can also be added Microsoft Office Excel Worksheet

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Bhargava Hearing Aid Centre – Marketing Strategies

The Second P: Product- How do I add value to the product?• Discovering a changing need is to

understand a basic problem and give a solution

• The problem in BHC is mainly the feel of being seen on sympathy

• Well a basic solution is to Mask the hearing aid with mobile headset or Bluetooth

• This step will continue after delivering because the needs of customer’s always changes

• Innovation is the key • How do I bring a product

that will do both the work of playing songs and help me in hearing

• How many people really liked this product

• A basic survey that will give an eagle’s view of the product’s success possibility

• The final Phase of value addition is delivering the product to the targeted segment

• Adding service to it will be an important factor

Few innovations in hearing aid are listedHearing Aids in the type of 1.Earrings2. Spectacles3.Bluetooth

The barrier is how to create this as a low cost equipment . And that is where INNOVATION comes

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Bhargava Hearing Aid Centre – Marketing Strategies

The Third P: Price- Should I reduce the price to get competitive advantage?

Reducing price because of competitive pressure increases the chance of commoditizing the product

How to get the customers by not reducing the price below a certain limit?

By using the Forth P : People and Fifth P: Promotion

Take for example P&G’s Olay When P&G stared Olay, they Promoted by random check up by dermatologists to let people know about skin ageing and providing a recuperating steps

• How BHC should implement this• People ( Audiologists) to consult and recommend Hearing aid

directly• Educate people on how to use the product• Give additional service through loyalty services• Loyalty points can be used to for upgrading the hearing aid

equipments

You can charge a premium for this as a wholeThere is no need to reduce price heavily

• You are not selling a low cost product anymore but more like a service

• And Yes people in rural segment need help as a service

• Cut down decision making process

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Bhargava Hearing Aid Centre – How do I increase the Awareness – Survey Part 1

To create awareness the first step is to know what is current understanding or view of the people

• A survey was taken among 57 participants.

• Age Groups comprising of 17 – 72• Male to female ratio of 44:13

+The Results from the survey provided an insights of the current society on what people know and how they see others

Majority of people believed that hearing problems are less in India and it is less dangerous than eye problems

only 7% sympathizes people wearing specs

But 98% sympathizes people wearing a hearing aid

While everyone would visit doctor if they eye sight problems , only

61% consults doctor for hearing issues

The major reasons why people don't visit doctor for hearing issues

The major reasons why people don't want to wear a hearing aid

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Bhargava Hearing Aid Centre – How do I increase the Awareness – Survey Part 2

To understand how we can increase the awareness , we showed all the participants a videoThe video in brief describes a feeling of person who is sympathized because he is wearing a hearing aidLater a questionnaire was floated to understand the behavioural change in the participants

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Cx1SMBxCcs&feature=youtu.be

There are no drastic change in the participants who sympathized people wearing spectacles

BUT the previous 98% people who sympathized people with hearing aid got reduced to 61%

The idea of this experiment was to prove that educating customers will help change their mindset

What should BHC do to educate and create awareness

• Awareness through mass media and Use that as a channel to sell

• Create Campaigns in Social Media to let people know about the severity of hearing problems

• Also educate people to change their mindset of showing sympathy to people wearing hearing aid

• Rural people can be educated about the ill effects it creates for their children’s future if not taken care

The video has been uploaded in YouTube for your convenience

Microsoft Office Word Document

The questionnaire has been attached for your convenience in word file to the left

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E-Commerce supply chain

To find and rank BHC’s site higher than the millions of other sites in response to a search query

Promotion of sites by increasing visibility in search results primarily through paid advertising

Social media marketing almost nil. FB page created in 2012 but still inactive (Just 2 likes)

App creation and online existence in popular e-commerce sites like flipkart, amazon, etc., which gives an image for the brand

Digital Channels

SEO

SEM

Social Media

Mobile Marketing

Increasing Online

Visibility

Digital Marketing

ü Customer might be hesitant for direct purchase of product ,considering inferior

ü Doctor testing could be done and the product be bought through online platform

Bhargava Hearing Aid Centre – Omni-Channel Retailing

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Bhargava Hearing Aid Centre – Omni-Channel Retailing

• Integrates both E-commerce and physical retail.

• Would be preferred instead of paying for shipment and waiting

Click and collect

• Traditional retailing• Supply chain involves BHC, external retailer

and wholesalers and their integrated collaboration

Integrated supply chain

• Short term shops or stall being opened for a short span of time

• In any empty retail spaces, mall boots, village points (to enhance awareness to rural people)

Pop-up stores

• Establish BHC retail outlet at the vicinity or at neighborhood of well known ENT hospitals (or specialized clinics)

• Tons of traffic in your vicinity. High probability of gaining customers

Anchor store

• Unaware of the latest technology due to which much needed suggestion of hearing aid purchase not given

• Competitors give “cuts” to doctors

Issues pertaining to doctors

• Hiring the doctors as “audiologists” for selected retail outlets – Thus providing expert advice after testing

• The “cuts” from competitors is eliminated.

• Thereby audiologists becoming a part of BHC

Solution

• Loyalty building to retailing initiatives

• By provision of loyalty programs, personalized experiences, hospitality, etc. Re

latio

nshi

p re

taili

ng

Designing sophisticated and

stylish ads for retail outlets rather than portraying as a dull one and connecting

to ailments

Unified Brand Experience

• Establishing a single

consistent brand via

different marketing channels

• Being close to customers to the possible

extend

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THANK YOU

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INR bn 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Pharmaceuticals, medical appliances/equipment 

733.3 800.9 858.8 979.0 1,088.8 1,237.0

Outpatient services 

517.8 571.4 617.6 707.6 790.0 902.0

Hospital services 

264.9 291.5 314.4 359.7 401.1 457.3

Total  1,516.1 1,663.8 1,790.8 2,046.2 2,279.9 2,596.4

Table 1 Consumer Expenditure on Health Goods and Medical Services: Value 2009-2014

Source: Euromonitor International from official statistics, trade associations, trade interviews

Questionnaire attached in word file in slide no 9Excel for place selection attached in slide no 5

Appendix

https://www.facebook.com/BhargavaHearingAidCentre?fref=ts