市场营销案例分析Case 2

Principles of Marketing Trap-Ease America:

The Big Cheese of Mousetraps

#1.Martha and the Trap-Ease America investors believe they face a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. What information do they need to evaluate this opportunity? How do you think the group would write its mission statement? How would you write it?

Trap-Ease Company is quite confident of this mousetrap but they focus too much on the advantages of the product. They still need information of: Does the product have disadvantages and how to conquer?

What is the desire and require of the customers? Can this product now meet all demands of the customers? Will they expect other functions on this mousetrap? What new ideas can be brought forth to the product?

How to determine the price? Can the customers accept the recent price? What after service can they serve? Etc.

Only when the company has a all-around view of the information can they grasp this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and make the mousetrap a successful product. Mission statement:

[Trap-Ease] The trap has many advantages for the consumer when compared with traditional spring-loaded traps or poisons. It is clean and easy to use, there is no risk of catching fingers while loading it. It posed no injury or poisoning threat to children or pets. It create no ‘clean up’ problem, the user could reuse the trap or simply throw it away.

* They may pay more attention to the specific products they offers than the benefits and experiences produced by the product. → Marketing myopia

[My thought] This product is suit for housewife, pet keepers, animal lovers and all who want to keep the annoying mice away from their homes. We can provide safer, more convenient and more environment-friendly mousetraps for the customers.

#2. Has Martha identified the best target market for Trap-Ease? What other market segments might the firm target?

The company targeted women, especially housewives but the company had only sold several hundred thousand units through April.

In my view, the target market is too narrow. It is correct to target the market to housewives because they want to keep the mice away through a clean, safe (because they have children) and convenient way. But there are still customers have same require such as single person (especially girls), pet keepers (they won’t like to poison or hurt their pets), restaurant keepers (dead mice will certainly influence their operating), factories (especially food manufactures) and so on.

#3. How has the company positioned the Trap-Ease for the chosen target market? Could

it position the product in other ways?

The company defined the mousetrap as ‘clean, safe and easy to use’. At the same time, the mousetrap won the contest this year, beating out over 300 new products. So the product is also an innovative product and its price is five to ten times more than traditional ones.

In my view, the position is not differential enough to the other products. The product is better than traditional ones only in ‘clean, safe and easy to use’, the function is the same as the traditional mousetraps. I think they can position the mousetrap as a delicate-designed and worthy product, which can be used repeatedly.

#4. Describe the current marketing mix for Trap-Ease. Do you see any problems with this mix?

[Product] This product is the only mousetrap of the Trap-Ease company. They can design more types of mousetraps which are suitable for family, restaurant factory and office.

[Price] The price is five to ten times more than traditional mousetraps. Although the company claimed that their product can be used repeatedly, once the customers choose to dispose the mousetrap, they face a higher cost.

[Place] Now the product is on sale in national grocery, hardware, and drug chains. I think they can sell their products on the Internet. Those who always stay at home and surf the Internet tend to have mice problems.

[Promotion] The company has already publicized the product on print media and shopping programs. But they have ignored a much wider information carrier: Internet.

#5. Who is Trap-Ease America’s competition?

Those companies who provide products aiming to solve mice problems are all competitions to Trap-Ease America.

#6. How would you change Trap-Ease’s marketing strategy? What kinds of control procedures would you establish for this strategy?

Martha is the only salesperson. Although she intended to hire more salespeople soon, we can still learn from the case that the company is lack of human resources. It is a fatal disadvantage. Marketing needs people to cooperate together.

They must enlarge their target market as I said in question 2.

They should know what are the customers really need and what requirement do they have for the mousetrap.

All in all, the company has to hire more employees to apply the marketing strategy, target correct market and learn more from their customers.