My 2nd choice of target segment was university students for the same reason. I wanted to position my backpack to target both the urban commuters and the university students so that can have market share of these two segments.

Market Research Based on the information provided, I analyzed the following attribute preferences, price sensitivity and special features wants of these two segments. I decided that would be able to design a backpack that would be best able to fit in these two segments without overall compromising on the features that each segment wants.My strategy was using an undifferentiated augmentation strategy – providing the same product to these two segments Turn 1 Product: Rounded Top , Wide padded , Advanced Material, Laptop sleeve Price : $52 Place : university Store , Direct Promotion : None Marketing Online news , Social Having specifically targeted the two market segments, I went on to design a product with both the features that these two segments want and also set a price that was pretty reasonable.My aim was to enter the market doing marketing expense to first raise awareness and sell cheaper so that I can get more units sold first . I spent $5,400 on marketing on the very first turn itself. My selling cost was $52, mid range beјen the expensive side of both university students and urban commuters.

Hoped that university students would be k to pay a bit more for quality and the urban commuters would find the backpack a real value. As the selling cost was low , decided to only sell in the university store and also direct . I decided to also position it as classic.End of turn 1 At the end of the turn , I found to my dismay that I has only sold 96 units , the lowest in the group . Obviously something had gone wrong . Competition had two direct competitors in the urban commuters segment. Andrew and Brad , both with rounded top models and price at $11 9 and $70 respectively . There was also two more rounded tops in the market , with Attacks targeting the university students and Rachel targeting the school children -Only Wee Ye was different with the large rectangular model and targeting the outdoor enthusiasts .

Attacks and Rachel backpack $35 and $29 respectively . Furthermore , my competition was also using the various distribution channels and spending on market development fund to raise awareness . My positioning seemed to be lost and undifferentiated as both Brand and Andrew also used classic as their positioning message .

Turns 2 and 3 Having seen the results from Turn 1 , I decided that I wanted to maintain myself as value and further reduced the price to $50 and thus also added a distribution deal with an online retailer . Weaken my product a bit by adding a water bottle so that I can target the school children as well and changed the material and straps to a lower cost . My marketing costs as well I lowered and concentrated on Social Media and financial journal. Ended up selling more units in turn 2 but however in turn 3 when removed the striation deals and water bottle and added a solar device , I only sold 31 units . Clearly my strategy to offer cheap while having features and without marketing or adding any distribution deals was failing.

Everyone else in their own segments, were making use of distribution deals with the different stores as well as marketing funds to further get more awareness . With promotions as well as its constant positioning, they were selling high number of units. There were five players with rounded top model. Two with lower price $32 to $35 and two with higher price $65-$119. Selling at 50 with the necessary features and yet without any distribution or marketing was asking for trouble. Further, I felt my product was not differentiated enough in the market. Intended to want to target the urban commuter market despite the competition. Turn 4 to Turn 10 Product: Changed to Teardrop Rucksack model, laptop sleeve Price: $60 Place :University store, Online discount retailer, Department store, direct , university store Promotion: University store, Online discount retailer, Department store, direct , university store Message : Funky Fashionable Having learnt from the earlier rounds from my competitors as well as my own giggling ending balance, decided to change my product itself and decided to revamp my backpack.

As a result of the changes as stated above , my revenue and the number of units I sold also increased as per the graph below have to conclude that even though I spent on marketing costs to raise awareness, having distribution deals is very necessary to be able to ultimately sell more units. Have found a direct correlation with distribution costs marketing costs and units sold . The graph below further highlights this. Whilst in turns 4-5 have spent on these 2 expenses, my revenue sold and nits sold have also shot up.

This is the same for the competitors Turn 10 and Conclusion have the lowest balance .A result of the culmination of earlier losses as well as increased marketing costs towards the end . What I should have done Target Segment : Urban commuters Product : Teardrop Rack Sack , Laptop sleeve , Advanced Material Price :$90 , as its different product in the market Promotions : As per decisions made in turn 4- 6 Place : As per decisions made in turn 4 ? 6 Positioning Message : Classic ,Professional, Maintain consistency for all the rounds Marketing: As per decision in turn 4-6 Having said that, and looking at what the other players in the market were doing.I should have strategists properly and been consistent from turn 4 itself. I already had a different product in the market and I should have thus increased the price and gone to spend money on both distribution costs, marketing as promotions . Selling more units at a higher price with promotion combined with the other fixed costs would have enabled me to make a profit and that could have culminated in a positive balance at the end .

Should have also picked on earlier on what my competitors were doing and also argue the other segments as well.I chose to position myself as value, and thought by going direct I could earn. In today’s world, integrated holistic marketing is very important . All the business functions are needed to us port one another in decision making to ultimately get market share and profit . In a business, market intelligence is important to know and to see what the market wants and what competition is doing and also promotions for awareness. Without doing all these together and without a consistent positioning message, one is destined to fail as have.