Trap-Ease America: The Big Cheese of Mousetraps - Case Study Example

A large market in both rural and urban regions is awaiting them. The group might have written the mission statement highlighting the safety features of the device and the humane factors that are embedded in functioning of the device. But a very short and mind consuming statement might sound like “Think with innovation for safe and humane rodent control”. 2. I think that she did the right thing by targeting women because as a woman I’d prefer something quick, clean, and easy to dispose to rid of pest or rodent problems.

Such target fixation is also demographically valid, since the most recent demographic profile of America shows that 50.9% of the population comprised of female in the year 2000. (Smith & Spraggins, 2000) Furthermore, in conventional mousetrap there are chances of hurting or poisoning children or pets when using conventional traps and poisonous baits. However, Trap-Ease made a severe mistake in market segmentation. They should have also considered food stores, business houses, grocery shops, retail stores, hospitals, restaurants, etc.

for selling their product. Owing to the price factor and the untouched reseller and business market segment, sales have been severely affected. So, there are some visible mistakes in the strategic marketing of their product. (Kotler & Armstrong, 2010) 3. Trap-Ease positioned their product as a safer, cleaner and humane device to eliminate rodents. As stated earlier the unique selling proposition (USP) of the product is its innovativeness in compare to the traditional mousetraps. Innovation of the product offered safety, hygiene, and a humane way to keep away rodents.

It is the best way to position the product to its users. As discussed above segmentation part is needed to get higher priority. (Kotler & Armstrong, 2010) 4. Considering the tactical marketing part, variation in the product is not much that should have been there. A silver color trap and a limited edition black color trap with same design and features are launched. It is a new product, so no brand name existed before that would has helped it with any advantage or edge in market in compare to its competitors.

Martha resorted to “Distribute Trap-Ease through national grocery, hardware, and drug chains such as Safeway, Kmart, Hechingers, and CB Drug. She sold the trap directly to these large retailers, avoiding any wholesalers or other middlemen.” (Kotler & Armstrong, 2010, p. 63) This made their profit percentage greater but resulted in faulty demand forecasting of the product. The retail price of product is $2.49 with a single package comprising two traps. It is 5-10 times costlier than conventional traps.

To promote Trap-Ease an approximate budget of $60,000 was allocated. While most of the funds were used for shows, it should have actually gone to advertisements. The firm should have used $40,000 to promote the product through commercials and print ads. When consumers see products on the shelves that they recognize, they are more likely to purchase that product versus other brands. More or less the company has tried to give marketing mix a shape for higher profit. Though, their product got success in trade shows; but that success is yet to be translated into profit or higher selling volume.

High cost of the product is also creating inhibition to