As a design student, it is essential to know and learn how to market a design or a product. And to familiarize with the concepts of marketing in a real scenario, I went to two Home Product Stores – Mother Earth and Lifestyle in Bangalore. This is the comparative study of my observations at the two stores.
INTERNET RESEARCH
Before I visited the stores, I did some research on the internet about the following marketing terms and concepts:
• Product Range – It is the complete portfolio of products that a firm manufactures and/or markets.
• USP (Unique Selling Proposition/Point) – Unique Selling Proposition could be a branding tool that makes a business unique, positioning them as the best choice in the market. It makes a product more unique, more valuable and more visible in the market.
o An example of USP is Federal Express:
Federal Express (FedEx) dominated the package shipping market with the following USP: "Federal Express: When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight."
• Steps to develop a Marketing Strategy:
o Decide on a Unique Selling Proposition.
o Define a target audience for the product.
o Write down the benefits of the products.
o Decide on the positioning of the products.
o Decide on the marketing methods.
• There should be a marketing budget based on the marketing plan.
• Marketing plan should be revisited often to check if the targets have been met with or if it should be revised.
MOTHER EARTH
- Mother Earth is a store that sells various eco-friendly products under the categories of home, food and apparel.
- The Unique Selling Proposition of Mother Earth store is: Sensible shopping | Smart Saving.
- The price range here is slightly higher than it is for the ordinary non eco-friendly products available elsewhere. But they state it as ‘Sensible Shopping’ and ‘Smart Saving’ since it is more sensible to use products that are non-damaging to both the environment and the customer in the long run.
- Mostly people who are aware of the concepts of organic, sustainable and environmental friendly products are the customers at Mother Earth Store.
- Their merchandise, created by traditional artisans and craftsmen, is supplied from different parts of the country including Tripura, Assam, Jaipur etc through various NGOs like Sasha, Sadhna, Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), Action North-East Trust (ANTS), Daram etc.
- The products include various traditional art work like Khurja Pottery, Leather Puppetry, Dhokra, Ajrakh, Ikat, Kalamkari, Natural fibre grass mats etc.
- The suppliers or the artisans/craftsmen are paid in advance for their merchandise and their work is sold here at a price which includes the overhead costs.
- The space design itself is very welcoming and highly organised. The ground floor includes organic food, personal care products, and various gift items like purses, bags, key-chains etc and a small cafe. The first floor is entirely devoted to women’s and men’s apparel and accessories along with trial rooms and restrooms. The second floor has a wide range of home decor products, furniture and furnishings.
- Also, the store is located at an easily accessible spot.
HOME CENTRE, LIFESTYLE STORES
- Home Centre is a part of the Lifestyle Stores at Oasis Mall, unlike Mother Earth which is an independent store and is located at a conveniently accessible spot in the city.
- It occupies one extensive floor of the mall where one can find almost everything they would need to set up a home. It is a one-stop store for all home needs.
- A map guides the customer to the different sections of the store which include gifts, home decor, kitchen wares, furniture, luggage, linens and furnishings.
- The furniture is segregated according to the spaces in a home like dining, drawing, bedroom etc.
- Even though their Unique Selling Proposition is being a one-stop store for all furniture, home ware and home furnishings, there were a few things that were not a part of their product range like Bathroom products and accessories, flooring materials or paints etc.
- Being a part of a Shopping Mall is an advantage for Home Centre in terms of attracting more customers apart from those who come exclusively for shopping for home products.
- Like the Mother Earth store, Home Centre also uses discount sales as a marketing strategy.
After visiting the stores, I feel that both Mother Earth and Home Centre have fairly good USP’s since they have succeeded in conveying it through their stores, sales as well as their popularity in spite of the high level of competition existing in the market. While Mother Earth focuses on procuring and selling products that are eco-friendly and also manufactured in traditional eco-friendly ways, the focus of Home Centre is on bringing all major home needs under one roof.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
- Mother Earth, Bangalore
- Home Centre, Lifestyle, Oasis Mall, Bangalore
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