European Project Semester at ISEP - EPS@ISEP

Marketing Plan

Introduction

Under the draft European Project Semester (EPS) at Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto that began in March of 2011 was proposed to develop a humidifier whose Isep is the financier has been developed by students from four different countries, Portugal, Poland, Spain and Hungary. This marketing plan was developed with the purpose of market research, who would be the maincustomers,short-term goals and developing strategies that would help the product succeed in the market. This marketing plan includes a first analysis of the market. This part is the explicit description of the product and the main competitor. Then will state one of the most important parts of this plan marketing strategy and objectives, tactical marketing programs. In the last part of the marketing mix that studies the politics of the four p's. The lack of moisture in certain situations is very harmful to industrial equipment such as data centers but also for health. The thinking in these situations our product will be easily adapted to customer needs.

Situational analysis (Market analysis)

Current Products

Humidifier

A humidifier is a appliance that increases humidity. There are many kinds of humidifiers. In our case the product is a humidifier made ​​exclusively for data centers with areas in a range of 80m2 with 2 days being controlled through a web interface. However, depending on the application we will adapt the product with the desired control with or without a graphic interface(GUI).This product was developed with engineering methods.

Current Target Market

The market of data center humidifiers is very complicated. It is a small market because it don´t have many aplications in daily life. In little applications the client buy the humidifier in any place without difficulty. In others applications, in applications with bigger dimension the buyer can’t check the prices easily. The client have to call to company and make an appointment. We can reach more people if we make some instruction to how can they calculate the price for their need. In our case, there are few brands that sell all stuff for data centers. The main strategy of the sellers of humidifiers is the internet so do our will be. The internet is the firts place if someone wnat to search for something, this is the fastest way to take the contact between the costumers and us. And last but not least this is the cheapest way to offer our products. But a shop has many advantages like there the customers can see what they want or can ask in live. So the further plan can be that to open a shop. Until we don't have shop we need to offer to deliver our product, but in this way we can reach more costumer.

In current target Portugal market there are some kinds of humidifier.

The first kind (humidifier for babies) can be found in shops specific for babies like toy stores, shops for children and sometimes in pharmacies because de humidification can be necessary for healthy. The second kind, maybe more like with our product, the humidification experts. This kind is used in industrial applications requiring humidity control how the data center. In this situation the market is not very concentrate because is not necessary a big fabrication of humidifiers. The third and last kind, humidifiers for household, is very easy to be found. These can be found in electronics store or in simple supermarket. The brands are not portuguese be imported from other countries.

We can find data centers in:

  • Port offices
  • business Centers
  • Shopping Malls
  • Universities
  • Hospitals
  • Banks
  • Medium Companies

These places can be the our clients and potentially interested in our product.

Current Competitors

This moment one the competitor in Porto that we found is “JS HUMIDIFICADORES O ESPECIALISTA DA HUMIDIFICAÇÃO”. However exist many place where we can find humidifiers like:

  • Supermarket
  • Appliances shops
  • Bricolage(DIY) shops
  • Pharmacies

In Portugal we can find immense brands for all kinds of humidifiers:

  • Solac HU 1050 (household)
  • Lanaform LA 79530 VapoLux (household)
  • Bionaire BU 1300-I (household)
  • Chicco Humi Vap (babies)
  • DeLonghi VH 300 (household)
  • Neptronic SKE (industrial humidifier)
  • JetSpray (industrial humidifier)
  • Mistifier Plus (maintaining moisture in small areas of production, farm buildings or greenhouses)
  • HumEvap MC3
  • etc…

Our bigger weakness is the lack of market experience. We don't know how to communicate with customers. We don't know the real advantage of our solution against other companies, so we don't know what should say to the customers (if we found the way to communicate with them) to buy our products and services. However we have in our favor young and new ideas.

Marketing Strategy and Objectives, tactical Marketing Programs

Market growth, Find new markets, Develop new products for existing customers Develop new products for new customers, Market stability, Cost control

Marketing Strategy and Objectives, tactical Marketing Programs

We want to sell product only by the internet because we think that the best way to promotion our product.So, we will create internet shop for only one product. The web page will be in 4 languages: Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, English. We will pay for position in google. We must write instruction how to run and use humidifier. We will give out-door garanty for 1 year. Delivery by the courier. We know that is not actually what you want but for me is no sense different way of selling one product. This is humidifier special for data centers. However we can adapt the humidifier for another aplication that the costumer want. We are developing a humidifier with Web interface and two days autonomy for a ISEP data center with 80 m2. This is an example that we can, not only developing any humidifier, but also to do the control and some software depending on the desired application. This is an important strategy because it can cause more customers are interested in our products for their businesses, offices or even homes. For our product we have the following objectives and strategy:

OBJECTIVES (“GOALS, which determine the focus”)

  1. to bill xxxx with a margin of 10%
  2. increase brand recognition above 80% (client)
  3. maintain customer satisfaction rate above 90%
  4. launch new communications campaign to reach at least 80% of target
  5. achieve operational excellence in the internal processes of marketing, supplier, product development, logistics, social and environmental programs
  6. attract and retain talent

STRATEGY (Strategy is the production of plans to achieve goals)

  1. Grow by 30% in the first quarter the number of new customers
  2. Win at least two new markets
  3. Increase the portfolio of products and services. Launch two new kinds of products in the year
  4. Lower prices to attract buyers to track price sensitive
  5. Being competitive
  6. Young and innovative ideas

TACTICAL MARKETING PROGRAMS

  • Telemarketing promoting special discounts for new customers
  • Participate in events for disclosure of the product (fairs)
  • Increase customers' credit assets

Problems with lack of moisture … EPS project is the solution.

Marketing Mix

Marketing The marketing mix or compound is formed by a set of controllable variables that influence the way consumers respond to the market. The compound is divided into four sections often called the “four Ps”. They are: Product, Price, Place (point of sale / distribution) and Promotion.

Product: Custumer:

The product is a humidifier done for areas between 80 m2. This humidifier is done with a silent compressor and nozzle that spreading humidity very effectively. The production is conducted in Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto by students of the European Semester Project. A young team with innovative ideas.The product was developed for data centers or industrial places that need moisture. How is industrial product, the design is not very relevant but the occupied space(round one square meter), the noise produced (66 dB) and autonomy (controlled as desired). The product contains the control with a Web interface to achieve the moisture that is desired as the autonomy that the client wishes. This is a new product with a new brand called “EPS” but it is innovative and dynamic, that is, easily adapts to all types of situations involving fata humidity.

( picture of humidifier )

Price: Cost:

The process of setting a price for the product, is for most companies a difficult process always thinking about the profit they can enjoy. Our definition of price was tied wondering if and only on the client. Our price offers a good cost benefit ratio. The our product have the following prices:

  • With Web interface - 1199,99 € with 23% VAT included
  • Without Web interface - 999,99 € with 23% VAT included

The price include VAT but not the shipping.

Discounts

However the customers who purchase 5 units of our product we offer a discount of 5%. The customers who purchase more than 10 units of our product we offer a discount of 10%. Deliveries in Portugal are free.

Forms and terms of payment

The forms of payment available are:

  • Prepayment;
  • Transfer;
  • Check;
  • Credit Card and Online Transfer;

For customers living outside of Portugal: (In these situations, the price will be adjusted according to exchange rates)

  • Credit Card and Paypal.

The payment will be facilitated to customer preference.

Place: Convenience:

We want to sale it mainly on the internet and deliver our product freely in portugal and in world. We planning to sale the product only by ourselves on the internet, we don't want to use other tradeing companies. To do this we will create a website on the internet that can be accessed in four languages​​: Portuguese, Polish, Hungarian and Spanish and we can be visited for all people of world. This way the customer will have access easily to all product data, how to buy and the means of payment is fairly easy, effective and convenient.

Promotion: Communication:

For the sale of our product to take place we need to disclose it. The main medium is advertising. Not only do we get to each individual person but also the major industries that are likely to buy our product.

Then, for to promote the product will take into account:

Portugal

  • Advertising mail for industries or institutions that may purchase the product;
  • Participation in fairs and comercial initiatives;
  • Promotion of lectures in various parts of the country for better contact with potential customers by answering questions timely;
  • Preparation of publicity material for distribution.

Rest of the world

  • Advertising mail for industries or institutions that may purchase the product;
  • Internet;
  • Competitive discounts to large customers;
  • Participation in fairs and comercial initiatives.
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