Allstar Company Market Positioning
...s the largest of the OTC medication markets, the first motivation was to strengthen the market position of Allround by focusing on Grocery stores, Chain Drugstores, and Mass Merchandisers as the ideal carrier’s due to their large retail sales volume for OTC medications. In grocery stores, the largest of the markets, the strategy was focused on gaining shelf space; through Co-op Ads, Point of Purchase displays, and increasing sales force. In the 3rd year of marketing the product research studies showed consumers favoring a non-alcohol Allround cold formulation. This change in product composition to a non-alcohol formulation can lead into its acceptance by a broader consumer base, which includes younger children and people adverse to the side effects of the alcohol while keeping with the long-term positioning of the product. In addition, it was the goal to introduce a secondary product for the cough market which is the second-largest in both volume and growth of the OTC total market. This line extension (Allround+) is a 4-hour cough liquid which contains alcohol. Due to different product compositions and marketing strategies which will be discussed, Allstar will not suffer from market cannibalization of its two products. Competition Through its product diversification, Allstar competes with other leading brands in the cold and cough markets. For the cold market, Allround competes directly with Besthelp from B&B Health Care (31.5% vs. 27.8% market share). Furthermore, the cold market has three additional products each with market share less than half of Allround. Allround will survive in the cold market, the biggest and most universal market, by capitalizing on consumers who prefer all-in-one cold medicines. The cough market was less saturated and consisted of two competitors; Coughcure and End. After the first year, current market share was 10.6% for Allround+ with Coughcure and End at 43.3% and 46.1%, respectively. Given that this analysis is after Allround+’s first year in the market, the current position can be a good base from which to improve its market share. Furthermore, any negative side effects from dropping the alcohol from Allround, can be hedged with Allround+. After Allround+’s second year it was not as successful only bringing the market share up to 14.4%. Marketing Strategy The original Allstar marketing had worked successfully to bring Allround to a 40% market share, therefore the overall goal was to refine the strategy rather than change it completely. With the secondary product offering in mind, the main decision was to cover the broader market with the well-proven Allround product. Ancillary markets will be penetrated with new targeted products like Allround+. The initial strategy for Allround+ demanded a decrease in marketing for Allround in terms of coupons and trial sizes and was increased for the Allround+ where the product needed to start market penetration in the cough market. Brand awareness and customer satisfaction have also increased exponentially for Allround lessening the need for coupons and trial sizes for this product. For Allround+ it is important to increase customer awareness and promote the benefits of the product in comparison with the other cough medicines on the market. By year 5, Al...