Study On Marketing Positioning Of Purified Water Appliances For Qin Yuan Co.

Established in 1998, Qin Yuan Co., as one of first group of manufacturers specializing in producing purified water appliances, has maintained an annual growth rate of 45.2% on average in sales volume from 1999 to 2002. In 2002, the company's sales volume reached to 440,000,acquiring market share of 23.2%; it took the second place in the market and made a good profit, which mainly lies in its position advantage for this company entered the purified water appliances market quite early and high profit for there were not many competitors at the early stage of the market. Since there was a big profit in producing purified water appliances and consumers have gradually accepted this product, the market has seen a rapid increase in demand and a more fierce competition. So Qin Yuan Co.'s market share has decreased year by year, from 19% in 2003 to 19% to 8% in 2005; it only took the fourth place in the market and did not make a good profit. Thereupon, this paper attempts to make a research on Qin Yuan Co.'s marketing position and put forwards a proposal that Qin Yuan Co. on the basis of its strong innovation ability in technology and a tendency of various demand in the market, should find it necessary to establish a positioning strategy for its products, string for a better performance in purified appliances market.Positioning is an action of gaining a unique and valuable position in target consumers'minds through product design, which can be represented in the perceptual map. On the basis of summarizing relevant theories of positioning and the present market demand, this papers aims to position two serial products of purified water appliances through the research method of marketing engineering by virtue of data collected from consumers of purified water appliances in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu in early October 2005 (632 samples, 203 in-depth interviews). According to Jagdish N. Sheth's theories on consumer's role and value, market segmentation variables will be identified and market will be segmented through cluster analysis; several product attributes will be found out according to means-end chain in the consuming process put forward by Tom Reynolds, which lend a ground to make perceptual maps; perceptual maps are drawn by making use of marketing engineering software and a detailed analysis is made concerning Qin Yuan Co.'s choice of target market and positioning. Thereupon, suggestions on product improvement are made.