Wedgwood Pottery Production
Josiah Wedgewood
Josiah Wedgewood’s competitive advantage comes from his innovations of marketing and the way he set his focus on the demand side vs. other industrial manufacturer who mostly focused on the supply side of the production. He took full advantage of being first mover to serve the growing middle class population. Wedgewood understood the importance of differentiation. He developed cream ware product with a single pale color that closely resembled porcelain. Cream ware line was cheap to produce, more durable than porcelain, easy to manufacture, and represented high quality. Wedgewood was first mover in inventing marketing technique and was able to effectively communicate with his customer and knew how to differentiate his product from other competitors. He was first in his industry to use endorsement to promote and launch new product we can see some of the examples in his use of title as “potter to majesty” or naming new set of flowerpots after the Duchess of Devonshire. Usually after a well-known commission from the high-end customer he would use their endorsements to advertise it in a newspaper to target a bigger market of middle class and generate more sales. He created demand by displaying his product in showrooms before sending the pieces to customers. For example the big order from Russian empress Catherine was displayed in London showroom and admired by many aristocrat before it was sent to Russia. Wedgewood had a skill to create sustainable demand for his target market some of the examples are: 1) If one of his product line became saturated in the market he discontinued the line for a period of time to create more demand for it before he bring it back at a later time. 2) He impressed his name on every piece of product not only he discouraged forgery he also set his product as a high quality pottery products and created brand image. 3) Wedgewood also mastered the premium effect of pricing. He noticed his wealthy client are willing to pay
Josiah Wedgewood’s competitive advantage comes from his innovations of marketing and the way he set his focus on the demand side vs. other industrial manufacturer who mostly focused on the supply side of the production. He took full advantage of being first mover to serve the growing middle class population. Wedgewood understood the importance of differentiation. He developed cream ware product with a single pale color that closely resembled porcelain. Cream ware line was cheap to produce, more durable than porcelain, easy to manufacture, and represented high quality. Wedgewood was first mover in inventing marketing technique and was able to effectively communicate with his customer and knew how to differentiate his product from other competitors. He was first in his industry to use endorsement to promote and launch new product we can see some of the examples in his use of title as “potter to majesty” or naming new set of flowerpots after the Duchess of Devonshire. Usually after a well-known commission from the high-end customer he would use their endorsements to advertise it in a newspaper to target a bigger market of middle class and generate more sales. He created demand by displaying his product in showrooms before sending the pieces to customers. For example the big order from Russian empress Catherine was displayed in London showroom and admired by many aristocrat before it was sent to Russia. Wedgewood had a skill to create sustainable demand for his target market some of the examples are: 1) If one of his product line became saturated in the market he discontinued the line for a period of time to create more demand for it before he bring it back at a later time. 2) He impressed his name on every piece of product not only he discouraged forgery he also set his product as a high quality pottery products and created brand image. 3) Wedgewood also mastered the premium effect of pricing. He noticed his wealthy client are willing to pay