Problem Definition
Your client, Eyes Inc., is a contact lens manufacturer situated in the US. They seek to increase their market share over the next two years and asked our company to for advice.
In what way would you approach the problem?
Comments
This is typical case of a company who intends to expand its product/service offering in order to grow its market share.
The two key points to be analyzed in such cases are the
- attractiveness of the industry and
- the ability of the company to win in a new market.
This case is made to be interviewee-led.
Short Solution (Expand)
Detailed Solution
The following structure gives a short overview of the case:
I. Company
The interviewee should find out information about the client’s company:
- Product mix
- Sales split
- Operated market
Charts that can be shared on the interviewee’s inquiry:
- Diagram 2 to give an overview of the product mix.
- Diagram 3 to show the client sales by region.
Information that can be shared on the interviewee’s inquiry:
- The company is mainly competing in the US market.
- Sales in the south of the US are by far lower than in other regions due to the smaller presence of Eye Inc.
- The “Regular” contact lens market is saturated.
- The “Cosmetic” market is expected to stagnate in the near future.
- The “Traditional” market is expected to have moderate growth.
Main conclusions
- The south region seems to be interesting as there are high chances to increase market share.
- More disposable products for traditional use could also lead to an increased market share as the company is not present there yet and the market could grow in the future.
II. Market/Competitors
The candidate should gather information about the client’s competitors and the situation on the market:
- Amount of competitors
- Possibility to expand to other markets than the US
- Market outlook
Share the following charts to show the market situation:
- Diagram 4 with the share of lens users per age group.
- Diagram 5 with the share users in each gender group.
- Diagram 6 with the share of users in each US area.
- Diagram 7 with the expected growth of users in each US area.
Information that can be shared on the interviewee’s inquiry:
- There are 2 big competitors for our client which have a wide range of products:
- Movarti
- Lausch & Komb
- The products are very similar on the market.
- Western Europe and Japan are other big markets. Markets in other countries are still too small to expand there. We do not have a lot of information about markets outside of the US.
- The competitors are very strong in these two markets and our client is not very present there.
The candidate should calculate the potential customers per age group.
The absolute number of lens users in each age group:
"#Lens users = Total population * % of age group * % of lens users"
Main conclusions
- (Female) customers younger than 30 years should be targeted. (Total target group has 33.6% + 36.4% = 70% of the market)
- International markets do NOT seem to be suitable on the short-term as the client would need to increase its presence. Therefore these markets could be interesting on a long-term basis.
But as the goal is a high increase in the short-run (2 years) the client should concentrate on the market in the US. - Suburbs and cities south of the US seem to be most promising (very quick growing and high amount of users)
III. Customers
The interviewee should gather information about the customers:
- Customer characteristics
- Customer types to be targeted
Information that can be shared on the interviewee’s inquiry:
- Customers are sorted in two categories:
- New adopters
- Existing contact lens users
- New adopters: First time users of contact lenses. They buy them normally in the retail store. They get their recommendation from their doctor.
- Existing users: They buy their refills usually from retail stores or buy online.
How customers pick their brand:
New adopters: Usually strongly influenced by their doctor. Customer plays NO important role by picking brand. Existing users: Keep using a brand and switch not so often.Main conclusions
The client should try to acquire new adopters.
IV. Conclusions
The candidate should include these points in the conclusion:
- The client should target doctors working together with retail stores with its sales and marketing department. There is also urgent need to build brand awareness and a relationship to customers and doctors.
- The client should concentrate on stores in the US which are:
- Located in suburbs and cities in the southern regions
- Having a large customer base of young women
- Stores situated in malls
- Stores situated in strip malls with stores popular for young women
- A good product strategy could be to develop more disposable products for traditional use as the company is not present there yet and the market seems to grow in the future.
In addition their core business of cosmetic lenses is stagnating.
Difficult Questions
What are potential risks concerning the focus of advertising on the southern regions?
Possible answers:
- This approach could risk the brand awareness of the client’s products in other regions than the South and therefore lose customers in these parts.
- There might be competitors that are very entrenched in the South which would result in an increase in SG&A spending.
- Some of the other competitors could have the same plan and focus on the southern area.
More questions to be added by you, interviewer!
At the end of the case, you will have the opportunity to suggest challenging questions about this case (to be asked for instance if the next interviewees solve the case very fast).
