Marketing Mix of Walton Group of Bangladesh free essay sample

Recent production and selling of motorcycle and air-conditioner testifies that position of Walton. Walton has a goal to double overall market share in the next 5 years. It has successfully positioned itself as a customer friendly and eco-friendly company. Its after sales service has contributed tremendously in building this image in customers’ minds. Since its target market is middle-income people, the price of their products is comparatively lower than those of competitors’. This strategy helps the company greatly in a price sensitive consumers market. In recent years Walton has increased promotional activities through organizing various national sports events. Further investigations have revealed that to achieve the role of market leader, it will face challenge from foreign brands. Moreover, rapidly growing demand from customers for electronic products may put pressure on Walton. It has adopted market penetration, product development and market development strategy for future growth. The report has found the prospects of Walton promising in its current position. Favorable government policy will help it expand domestic and international markets in the future. . Introduction 1. 1. Origin of Report: This report was assigned by Professor Syed Munir Khasru, the BusinessCommunication instructor of BBA 19 th batch, Institute of Business Administration,University of Dhaka. 1. 2. Objectives: ? Learning a didactic approach to Business Communication. ? Incorporating theoretical education with practical experience. ? Gaining knowledge about the current market trend of the country. ? Getting acquainted with different policies, rules and regulations of the government on the products concerned. 1. 3. Methodology: The methodologies used in the research process for this report, were: Data Collection: Primary data is the information that we collect first-hand and secondary data is theinformation collected by others and used by us. For data collection, we used threeapproaches: a. First, we conducted some field research. We went to some Walton retail outletsand asked the customers about their valuable suggestion and opinions. b. We searched about Walton on the Internet and found some important informationregarding their company background, product lines and promotional programs. c. We went to Walton head office and collected the annual reports for WaltonBangladesh for the year 2010. Surveys: For surveys, we made a questionnaire for the buyers. The questionnaire for the buyersincluded questions about their economic background, their preferences and their buying budget and frequency. To circulate the questionnaires, we followed two approaches: a. We handed the questionnaires personally to people. We went to the retailoutlets and gave the questionnaire to the people there and collected their answers. Then we chose some random prospective buyers and handed themthe questionnaire prepared for them. The random sampling included peoplefrom our residential areas, our friends and the students from differentdepartments of University of Dhaka. b. For the prospective customers, we used an online survey. We circulated thequestionnaire in different Facebook groups and collected the answers. Record analysis: After collecting the data, we recorded them. Then we analyzed them by doing thefollowing:a. We collected the survey answers and made charts and graphs using that data for supporting the report. b. Then we analyzed Walton’s annual reports and extracted our required figuresfrom them. . 4. Limitations: Though we tried our best to make a hundred percent perfect report, a few limitations held us back. The main limitations that we faced, were – a. As many of the common products were barred, we had to choose one from alimited number of options. a. As many of the common products were barred, we had to choose one from a limited number of options. b. When we went to collect infor mation from the Walton outlets, they were not fully able to cooperate with us, as our required information was confidential. c. There was not enough data in the websites. 2. Company and Market Background: 2. 1. Electronics Market in Bangladesh The Electronics Market in Bangladesh is an ever-rising industry. The appropriate marketsize has never been determined as it is ever changing. The whole market can be separatedinto several segments like: ? Semiconductor Market ? Electronics Appliances Market ? Raw Materials and Spare Parts Market ? IT MarketWalton is one of the major players in the electronic appliances market. They are alsomanufacturing motorcycles alongside home appliances such as television, refrigerators,air-condition etc. The market of these products relies heavily on the average household income. For most people in Bangladesh home appliances had been luxuries they, which they cannot afford, but recently the situation have been changing. Over the last 10 years, there has beenmassive economic growth in the country, which has increased the income of lower-middle and middle class people. So the demand for home appliances has increasedsubstantially. If we look at the annual GDP growth of the country in the last 10 years, we can see thatthere has been a steady increase. Figure 01 : Annual GDP growth of Bangladesh: One of the main reasons of this growth has been because of the increased investment inthe fast growing sectors of the economy, which has reduced the rate of unemploymentdrastically over the years. It is evident that the increase in earning of the population has also had an impact on the buying behavior. Middle and upper middle classes have emerged and reached a certainlevel that is attractive for the importers and manufacturers. Bangladesh Bank has therecords of imports of Home Appliances over the years. Table 01 : Import of Home Appliances (BDT): At first there was a huge growth to the numbers of Home Appliances imported in thecountry, but the numbers have declined in recent years, as tax holidays on imported partsand high import tax on electronic products have made companies focus on assemblingand manufacturing their products in Bangladesh. 2. 2. Walton HIL: Walton Hi-Tech Industries Ltd (Walton HIL) is one of the best companies in the electronic sector of Bangladesh. Walton is one of those few Bangladeshi companies that export electronic products since most of the companies in Bangladesh import products of various famous brands. The company was established in 1977. Since then, it has been setting new benchmarks in production of electronic goods in Bangladesh. The company has a yearly production capacity of 1. 4 million pieces of fridge, 300,000 pieces of air conditioner and 300,000 pieces of motorbike . In its early stage, the company used to produce home appliances. Today their product mix includes Mobile Phone, Generators, and Motorbikes. In 2009 the company signed an agreement with the Malaysian auto manufacturer Ageth to set up an automobile plant in its factory premises. After meeting the local demand the company is exporting its products to Qatar, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Kuwait of Middle East, Ghana of Africa and India, Nepal and Bhutan of South Asia, and U. S. A. It also wants to export its products to France, Italy, Germany,Spain and other European countries. Walton has been successful in capturing this large international market because of its high quality products. To ensure this high quality of products all the members of the Walton family, both factory and administrative members,work very hard round the year. The factory of Walton is situated in Savar and the corporate office is at Dilkusha C/A,Dhaka. There are 120 outlets of Walton throughout the country so that customerseverywhere can buy Walton products. Walton has a dedicated team of skilled engineersand technical personnel from home and abroad who ensure quality products for thecustomer. Because of this highly skilled team Walton can offer the customers a widerange of products. 2. 3. Competitor Analysis: In the field of home appliances such as television, refrigerator, freezer, air-condition etc. some of Walton’s competitors are: TABLE South Asia, and U. S. A. It also wants to export its products to France, Italy, Germany,Spain and other European countries. Walton has been successful in capturing this large international market because of its high quality products. To ensure this high quality of products all the members of the Walton family, both factory and administrative members,work very hard round the year. The factory of Walton is situated in Savar and the corporate office is at Dilkusha C/A,Dhaka. There are 120 outlets of Walton throughout the country so that customerseverywhere can buy Walton products. Walton has a dedicated team of skilled engineersand technical personnel from home and abroad who ensure quality products for thecustomer. Because of this highly skilled team Walton can offer the customers a widerange of products. 2. 3. Competitor Analysis: In the field of home appliances such as television, refrigerator, freezer, air-condition etc. some of Walton’s competitors are:Most of these brands have been in this market for a long time. But none of them wereable to match the market growth of Walton in the last 3 years. Although LG-Butterfly isthe No. home appliances brand in the country, Walton is catching up fast. Walton has started manufacturing major parts for the assembly of motorcycles. Right nowthey hold nearly 8% of the market share. Its competitors are: ? Bajaj ? Hero Honda ? Dayun ? TVS ? Singer ? Butterfly 2. 4. Market Share: By conducting a survey among consumers we were able to determine peoples’ preferenceof brands while buying home appliances and whi ch brand of product they have bought. The market demand of different brands of television, refrigerator and motorcycles has been calculated by survey method. It must be noted that had the survey been centered onmiddle class families in rural areas, Walton would have had a much higher market sharesince these people are the main target market of Walton. Also, Since Walton is the soledomestic producer among these brands; it enjoys some tax reduction that makes it capableof manufacturing and selling its product at reasonable prices. This facility providesWalton with a competitive advantage. Hence, Walton plans to target another 15% of themarket in the next 5 years and they are confident that they will be able to easily achievethat target.