Problem- Poor Market Segmentation
Carib Brewery Ltd (CBL) is the major brewery of alcoholic beverages in Trinidad and Tobago. The organization has been in existence for over sixty five years. In 1985, CBL had a product portfolio consisting of ten (10) beverages. However like any organization in today’s environment CBL wanted to increase its revenue and market share to ensure its survival and growth.
There are a number of ways in which this can be done in an organization like Carib Brewery. They can increase customer loyalty, increase the costs of their products, increase the frequency of purchases by customers or understand the “unstated” attitudes of the customers towards their products. Another strategy of increasing market share and sales was to expand its product line; this is what Carib Brewery did in an attempt to gain market share. The Marketing Department at CBL thought this was the best of the available options since the market was in need for a “new” beer.
In the year 2000, CBL introduced to the market, “Carib Strong”, its newest product to its portfolio line. This product was introduced to the market with great fanfare and was marketed as a beer for the strong or real “male” drinker. It was targeted to the male drinker between the age of twenty and forty who marketers believed liked the taste of Carib beer, but required something stronger to signify their manhood since Carib beer was always touted as a female beer.
Introducing a new product into any market can be very challenging and requires extensive market research and analysis. Carib Brewery needed to clearly understand the changing customer needs in this dynamic environment in which they operated, as this can prove to be a key criteria in the success of any new product. However, the Marketing Department at CBL failed to properly segment the market in their analysis. Whilst they understood that there was a need for a new beer in the market, they failed to understand