Marketing positioning
Marketing-positioningGulfways currently has a solid position in their market. Of course, as in any aspect of business, there is always room to improve the image of their product in the minds of the consumers relative to their competitors. Gulfways positioning can be improved in order to achieve a larger competitive advantage. In order to determine the optimal image position for Gulfways in their market, one needs to consider their current positioning relative to the retailers who promote their products, and the consumer who eventually purchases their products.
Gulfways current position in the market in terms of its retail counterparts is that of a moderately low priced scuba equipment provider that offers excellent financial incentives such as a low credit line and the absence of an inventory (see appendix #1). This creates a competitive advantage with its competitors through the use of price and purchasing benefits. This is a good beginning to develop a dominating image on the perpetual map of the scuba equipment market. As Gulfways moves thru the introduction stage of the product life cycle and on to the growth stage, the company needs to begin to think about how to reposition their product in the minds of the consumer in order to increase sales level and grow as a company.
Gulfways also has a position on the perpetual map with respect to the final customers opinion. The company's current position with their non-retailer customers is that of a competitively priced firm that also offers quality benefits such as availability and possession utility (see appendix #1). Offering their product at a competitive rate gives every consumer the opportunity to buy their product regardless of the amount of money that the purchaser is looking to spend. This in turn gives every consumer a chance to rate Gulfways product and to place them in a favorable position on their perpetual map. With the opportunity for the consumer to purchase the product at the time or a few days from purchase, this gives the customer a favorable impression of the company, therefore, creating a favorable image and position in the market place. Coupled with this feature is the possession utility that Gulfways offers to the customer. By delivering the product directly to the consumers doorstep, the consumer is given a benefit that is not offered by any other company in the market. This kind of customer service and dedication to the consumer definitely helps Gulfways to favorably position their company in their marketplace. But if Gulfways prefers to shift from a push to a pull marketing strategy, then the company should be prepared to shift their positioning of their product to a more preferred place in the consumers' mind.
In order to reposition Gulfways in the retail-purchaser market, they have to create a differential advantage between themselves and their competitors. In other words, they have to use their core product to develop the appearance that their product possess better qualities and attributes than that of their competitors. In order to do this, Gulfways has to improve the quality of their product, or at least improve the image of quality that retailers possess. Since Gulfways has competitively lower price in the market, this is usually construed as having lower quality products. In order to improve the image of quality that the retailers have Gulfways needs to offer additional benefits that stress the quality aspect of their products. An incentive such as buybacks on defective products with no questions asked or money back guarantees for all retailers who receive legitimate complaints about their product. Even sending informative packets to retailers providing information on the quality that goes in to manufacturing and testing of Gulfways products can be a helpful tool in changing their image a lower quality manufacturer.
In order to effectively reposition Gulfways product towards the consumer, the company must assess their weaknesses as perceived by the consumers. Quality is a perceived weakness from the retail-purchaser perspective, therefore, it is a perceived weakness by the end consumer. In order to improve the image of quality for Gulfways products, they can offer a guarantee or warranty to the consumer for a number of years on their products. This type of offer proves to the consumer that Gulfways is not substituting quality for price. Quality may not be the only thing that the customer perceives as a weakness. In order to find out, Gulfways can simply send out surveys to their customers asking them to rate their product in comparison to their competitors. Asking retailers if they have had any complaints or suggestions for improvement on their products is another way of finding out what needs to be improved. Once this information is obtained, Gulfways can reposition their product by benchmarking the top companies in their industry in order to find the best strategy for favorably changing the image of their products to the level of their top competitors.
It is important for Gulfways to reposition their product to stress quality without de-emphasizing price or other benefits. This can be accomplished by creating a differential advantage from its competitors and using strategies such as benchmarking to increase qualitative factors. Positioning can be a determining factor of which product a retailer or consumer buys when extended problem solving activities are used in purchasing shopping products such as scuba equipment.