Marketing Lamy free essay sample

Marketing Case Study Lamy Case Study Analysis of Marketing Strategies Segmentation Lamy is acting very successful in their core business of writing instruments. Their relevant market is separated into 50 % of fountain pens and the other half of ballpoint pens and others. The demographic customer aspects are especially focused on age. The initial writing target group represents children between five and seven years. In addition the advanced writing target group include young and schoolchildren. The last target group of adults is concentrated on personal accessory and design.The aspects of income and profession also seems to play an important part of market segmentation. Lamy sells pens from 4â‚ ¬ to 400â‚ ¬ in public and thus covers all target groups of the society, from manager and office employees to a normal housewife. Above of all, the fountain pain is seen as an status symbol for most of the adult users. Therefore people with a higher income would prefer to buy a very exclusive fountain pen to impress their environment with high quality and exceptional design. Noticeable is, that business people emphasize to sign contracts or other important documents with special fountain pens.For this segment Lamy offers exclusive pens, with high quality and unique design which are oriented on individuals and their imagination of shape and function. For example the Lamy Al-Star, a pen made entirely of aluminium operate such professions like manager. The pen is sturdy and has the imagination of strength and power, features that are very important for successful business people. To be sure Lamy has no explicit segmentation of gender. But if we look on the latest product, the Lamy Accent, a pen with interchangeable grip and various shapes and colours we can possibly say this product respond the female segment.Women have an awareness of colours and various shapes. They can try a lot of grips to find their appropriate one and â€Å"play† with colours. Therefore this product is not only a writing instrument, but also a fashionable accessory for women. Lamy has no geographic segments for example region or country. It? s impossible to try to segment consumers in geographic aspects. There is no region or country which write more or less than the other. As well Lamy has no psychographic segmentation. We can not define people in groups who use Lamy pens because of their lifestyle or the same shared values.Pens are often seen as an routine purchase especially for schoolchildren, so a lifestyle segmentation would be not suitable for Lamy. If we focus on the behavioural aspects of market segmentation, then the benefit oriented strategy represents the important one. Lamy is famous for their quality, brand and design. People who use this pens are normally prefer a higher benefit, not only in writing but also in high quality and distinguishable design otherwise they would buy pens in a lower price segment and with a lower quality.Lamy has created a brand awareness and an brand image, thus consumers with a high brand awareness would prefer Lamy products. According to this, adults buy Lamy pens not only for their own usage but also for their children. Although most of today? s communication is no longer in handwriting, pens usage is frequently and people will always use pens, also in future. Handwriting will always be relevant and important, because each of us write letters in a different way. Sometimes we can see a persons personality from his or her writing style.This unique feature does not exist by writing on a computer. This behavioural aspect will tend people to buy pens. A price oriented strategy mean, that Lamy have to offer their products to the lowest price as their competitors. The quality would play a minor part. But the behavioural aspects of consumers would not allow Lamy to choose another strategy. With the price oriented strategy the brand image would be lost and thus the brand awareness of consumers. As we could see from the segmentation mentioned above, Lamy is successful with their current strategy and should keep it.Market Penetration The main goal of Lamy is continuously to grow and to find new niches. Therefore Lamy has doubled their sales figures to increase sells and find new users for their pens. This penetration strategy is very successful because of a good profitability and an increased turnover since the last few years. The current products and market still grow, although there is a reluctance on consumption in Germany. They should go on with this strategy, which has proved to be successful. Since 1998 they have a market share in Germany of 35% and steel see grow potential in European markets, USA ans Asia.With intensive promotion and advertising especially one month before enrolment and one month afterwards they can generate higher revenues. In this period they can convince parents to by Lamy pens for their children and further find new consumers. In the higher price segment they can find new users while bundling products. Lamy can sell the Lamy Al-Star with high quality suitcases like Rimowa or briefcase. Both the Rimowa suitcase and the Lamy Al-Star are sturdy and communicate the impression of success.The exclusive brand will be emphasized and indeed bought by people like business women or men and by users who appreciate high quality and design. To underline, only special users with high income can afford Lamy pens over 300â‚ ¬ , some of them are collectors, others only by to impress their environment. For such people the purchase will be unique. Therefore Lamy have to sell their pens in special retailer shops. Market Development The family business is famous for their innovation and high expenditures in RD. To remain competitive Lamy create fountain pens with unique shape and function to establish new markets. The Lamy Safari pen targeted the segment of ten and fifteen year old schoolchildren and consequently created a market which did not exist before. With innovations like stainless steel or anti-slipping grip Lamy has achieved a breakthrough in the market of writing instruments. Because of the corporate work with international freelance designers Lamy is steel able to find new markets. The international designers can justify their ideas on markets like Asia or USA and create pens, which correspond with the beliefs of people in this areas.Therefore Lamy did not get stuck with their design, but rather get new ideas and creativity from designers all over the world. This thought of modern world combined with writing instruments make Lamy possible to enter new markets and to grow. For that reason Lamy of course should keep and promote the corporate work with the international designers. The US market is nearly exhausted and there are definitely great producers of writing instruments with a high quality, too. Thus Lamy had to struggle with a fierce competition. According to that, it is not required to concentrate their activity on the US market.Lamy? s greatest potential exist on the European and Asia market. The company should locally corporate with speciality retailers and market their brand image. Furthermore they should not only concentrate their business on schoolchildren, but also actively invest into segments of users over fourteen and fifteen. In this target group they can gain their users over with special design and high quality. Product Development As already mentioned Lamy is very innovative and try to extend their product range. They offer an assortment of pens with different shapes and function, for example the Lamy Accent.The latest product consist of several variation in shapes and colours. Lamy always creates a pen which is not only a normal writing instrument, but also an experience while writing. They try to design something new and make a pen more attractive to people. Therefore the RD expenditure are very high but the investments are paid off. To remain competitive Lamy has to be innovative and dynamic. It is hard to compete with the internet and the latest techniques like the touchscreen, because many people think fountain pens are oldfashioned. But at school they will always be standard to promote Handwriting.Thus Lamy concentrate on design and tries to answer the expectation of their consumers. Analysis of Marketing Mix (4 Ps) Product As most of today? s communication is no longer in handwriting, Lamy should extend their product range to be also competitive with the dynamic computer- and mobile industry. First of all they should produce a professional pen which is suitable for touchscreens of the latest mobile phones or the new Apple iPad. Moreover they should try to corporate with the computer industry like Apple, consequently this corporation could open Lamy new possibilities.The new professional pen for touchscreens could be sold together with the Apple iPhone or iPad. It would definitely increase their publicity and create stronger brand awareness as Apple also stands for unique design, quality and innovation like Lamy. The positive benefit for people who use this pen would be a touchscreen out of fingerprints. Also it is possible to produce a multi-pen for the target group of ten to eighteen years old schoolchildren. On the one side of the multi-pen, there could be a normal fountain pen and on the other side a ink eraser.Thus the user have two instruments in one multi-pen and have to by only one, but get to functions of it. The sturdy and anti-slipping grip from the Lamy Safary pen could be maintained. Furthermore Lamy could extend their product range by pencil cases. Then they would not only have a depth product range but also a width. The Lamy designers also could expend their work on pencil cases and launch a new pencil case design. But in this case the attention should be paid on the manufacture. As Lamy has only one factory for the production teps of pens, they had to buy new plants or had to employed seamstresses which could cause a reorganization of the whole factory. But otherwise the turnover would be increased and Lamy pens and cases would be bundled and sold together. The other possibility would be, to outsource the production of pens cases and sell them under the name of Lamy. But the problem is, that Lamy prefer to remain their production under the complete control. And it would be questionable if the design and the quality would be met the high expectations of Lamy.If not, the brand image and brand awareness of Lamy products would be lost as the consumers always will associate Lamy with a high quality and design, which should be maintained. Price Lamy should keep it? s strategy of offering brands in different price segments, thus the complete target groups are covered. The cost effectiveness of Lamy is very good. The price for professional pens for touchscreens should start by 15â‚ ¬ upwards. Apple touch pens consequently will have a higher price, to show the high quality and to enunciate the unique brand of both.If Lamy also extend their product range by pens cases, they could combine pens and cases and sell them to a single price = â€Å"price bundling†. Thereby consumers will save money. Lamy could afford rebates before enrolment and few days after on writing instruments or sell two pens to a single price. Lamy should avoid rebates on products of the higher price segment, thus the pens will go down in value. Primarily because consumers are willing to pay a higher price for the pens. In my opinion the price of the Lamy Safari pen of 19 DM was very high, considering that it was a pen for schoolchildren.A number of parents were not capable to afford this pens for their children. But in fact Lamy found a new market which did not exist before and in this case the price was probably appropriate. Distribution Lamy? s distribution approach seems to be very successful, they are selling to speciality retailers, the main channel of this industry. Pens are sold to retailers of stationary stores like â€Å"Staples† or stores only for office equipment. Exclusive fountain pens are sold to special retailers and normally are not available in the internet shops, but only in selected stores.Finally the retailers sell Lamy pens to end-users like companies and normal consumers. Lamy has no own stores but distribute their products only to retailers. These days a lot of products are sold in internet shops and thus Lamy pens, too. Especially companies could make their purchase of office equipment conveniently through the internet shop. Lamy pens are always available in each stationary store. As a distribution strategy the company has doubled their sales figures to reach more end-users and to corporate with more retailers.This enables Lamy to sell their products almost anywhere. Lamy could distribute the touch pens in stores like â€Å"Media Markt† or Vodafone shops. In that case the provided equipment and the touch pens will be sold together. I also recommend to sell exclusive fountain pens direct to consumers. Thus the pens could be produced on order and Lamy save costs which occur by working with intermediaries. According to this Lamy could establish their own shop window beside the factory. Communication As Lamy has different target groups, they also have to be advertised in a different way.Brochures from retailers could be directly send to consumers and respond to schoolchildren especially before enrolment. Pens that more respond to business people should be advertised in the print media like â€Å"focus† or other business magazines. Also they should advertise with placards on retailer stores to steer the attention of the consumers on their products. The new touch pen of Lamy should be promoted direct to consumers in stores like Vodafone where sales persons can show them how this pen operates and which benefits occur by using a Lamy touch pen. Also it is possible to make a promotion together with a book store. Lamy could promote the idea of inspiration by using it? s fountain pens. Most of all the attention of creative people would be called. Product placement is not suitable for Lamy as an communication instrument, as the brand will not be recognized by people for example in movies. The products are to small to place them in a movie. Online shops should advertise with banner for the Lamy products to call peoples attention for innovative pens like the Lamy Accent. Special features like the interchangeable grip should have the priority when advertising, to show people the uniqueness of the brand.