Glacia Problem and Recommendation, Essay Example

What are the problems faced by the Glacia brand of spring water?

H-E-B firm is one of the grocery based supermarkets in the United States especially in Texas. The firm currently operates in more than three hundred and fifty stores in Texas as well as in Northern Mexico. The firm mainly deals with organic and other foodstuff services delivery in the society.  According to a number of research based studies and reports, the firm main competitive advantage include its high revenue generation. The firm is also very clean and do not sell alcohol based products, majority of his employees are friendly and all its food products are fresh and cost-effective.  According to the top management and leadership in the firm, the firm aims at promoting its relationship with its customers in order to promote the firm global brand image.

However, after the firm launched the Glacia water brand in early 2000 the firm experienced a number of challenges and problems towards its water selling services. For example, the Glacia water was position as Evian quality water thus reduce the sales of Evian water brand. The water main source was in Feversham Canada. Due to this, the firm face a number of problems and challenges in importing the water. In addition, it was evident that importing and shipping the water was more expensive than selling the domestic spring water. The Glacia water was also formulated against Ozarka water and packaged in similar sizes as Ozarka water but sold at a relatively low prices. This reduces the sales of Ozarka water leading to low revenue generation in the firm.

The cost of Glacia water per unit was $1.23 while the cost of Evian water brand was $4.23. The profit per unit for Evian water brand was about $1.26 while the profit per unit of Glacia water brand was only $0.56.  From this, it is true that the firm faces the problems of balancing the sales of various water brands to its customers.  Another problem facing the firm Glacia brand of spring water sales was competition from Wal-Mart firm.

The overall water brands price margin and shares after the launch of Glacia water brand is also shown in the table below

The table indicates profit Margin in the firm before and after launch of the Glacia water brand

What is your recommendation for Glacia in terms of brand positioning, pricing, and location on shelves? How would you solve the problem that Glacia was taking away sales from the more profitable Evian brand?

From this paper it is true and evident that one of the problem that the firm faced towards selling of its Glacia brand of spring water was lack of proper brand positioning, poor pricing and poor location on shelves.  Therefore, based on my opinion and perspective, I believe that the firm should adopt proper positioning strategies by avoiding positioning the Glacia water brand against the Evian brand and Ozarka water brand. The firm top management should also balance the pricing of all its water brands in order to prevent taking away sales from the more profitable Evian brand of water. This will improve and increase revenue generation and profitability of the firm.

The firm should also involve in proper promotion, marketing and advertisement of all its water products in order to attract more customers to purchase both the Evian and Glacia water brands. The firm should also reduce the prices of all its water brands in order to attract more customers to buy them. The Glacia water should be located in different stores and shelves in order to promote the sales of more profitable Evian water brands in the firm. This will also provide proper display for the Evian water brands.  Furthermore, the Evian water brands should be sold to customers at discounted prices.

What other recommendations would you make for H-E-B’s water category? For example, do you think H-E-B should introduce another water product under the Hill Country Fare name?  How should H-E-B approach the purified water market?

Based on my opinion and viewpoint, I believe that in order for H-E-B’s firm to promote its water sales the firm should provide high quality water brands at affordable prices. The firm business activities should also be based on high levels of creativity and innovation especially towards the sales of purified water brands. This will increase the brand image and reputation of the firm.

I also believe that the firm should introduce another water product under the Hill Country Fare name especially at lower price.  This will attract more customers towards purchasing of water in the firm thus increasing the firm overall profitability level in the society. This will also increase high levels of competitive advantage to the firm especially from other competitors such as Wal-Mart firm. The firm should also involve radio, television and social media advertisement and marketing procedures in advertising their water brands. Some of the social media platform that the firm should use in order to advertise its water brands include Facebook, twitter as well as YouTube.  It is also imperative for the firm management to include rewards and gifts to his loyal customers in order to retain them.

Proper packaging of the firm water brands especially based on the customers tastes and preferences will improve and increase the levels customers’ satisfaction in the firm.  The firm should also involve in partnership business activities with other private firms towards provision of purified water services. This will increase the market share and global brand image of the firm.  The firm should also involve in environmental friendly practices and include corporate social responsibility activities in its business cultures in order to attract wide customer base.