Light Well Case Study

Q1. Why is Lightwel finding its market positions slipping? What is the decision issues before Lightwel Executives at this stages? Lightwel is finding its market position slipping because of the following reasons: a) More and more consumers were becoming price sensitive, and since its major rival, “Black Bird” was more competitively priced, the sales of Lightwel have been going down. b) Retailer‟s loyalty towards Lightwel have decreased. From exhibit 5, we find that in case of Black Bird, retailer‟s choice accounts for 76.3% of the sales, where as for the flagship Lightwel brand, “Four Aces”, this account for only 61% of the sales. In an industry, where most brands are „pushed‟ by the retailers, this is a major cause for concern. The major decision issues before Lightwel Executives at this stage are: a) Whether to go for a cheaper brand, which can compete against Black Bird. But this step can be counter productive as it may go against the brand reputation of Lightwel of providing superior quality matches. Whether to provide better terms to the retailers, so that the retailers push their products to the customers. Q2. What are the main features of the matches market as indicated by the market research study? What is the relationship of buyer and retailer behavior in the case of matches? Asked For Brand 22; 5% 6; 1% 81; 18% 32; 7% 319; 69% Picked out brand Took brand given by shopkeeper Asked by price

Fig: Transactions observed at the Retail outlets(exhibit 5) From the above pie chart 69% of the sample population took brand given by the shopkeeper. Also, Consumers are price sensitive - 5% of the sample is sensible towards price. Lightwel Co also started facing a fierce competition from cheaper small scale brands which weakened the consumer‟s as well as Retailers‟ loyalty for Lightwel brands. One competitive advantage of Lightwel match was its quality, which has major advantage during winter and so is the most favoured brand at those times by customers. Also, the