Marketing Strategy of Micro Power

Introduction
The definition of marketing of American Marketing Association is that Marketing is the activity, set
of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that
have value for customers, clients, partners and society at large. Even though this is practiced in
different and unique ways by different organizations, the core concepts followed are almost the
same. So as to our company, Micro Power Engineering.
Micro Power Engineering does not have a large marketing department. Still it has Marketing and
Sales departments combined under the Sales manager.

Offerings
Of all those which can be marketed, Micro Power Engineering
produces goods, services and experience. They offer products in a
vast range mostly in electrical installations. Being a production
based electrical equipment manufacturing company; Micro Power
Engineering produces products in Lightning Protection Systems,
Energy Saving and Surge
Protection Systems mainly.
They are also in to retailing
business of computer
products of premium brands.
Micro Power Engineering also provides consultancy services in
electrical installations especially in surge protection. It has the
capability with its Managing Director being a Chartered
Engineer in consultation.

Segmenting, Targeting and Positioning
Even though they are a small organization with a less number of workforce, Micro Power
Engineering has used the STP process to find their market share.
Initially the Managing Director, Eng. B.W.L. Silva has started the company back in 90s at his own
backyard. He has started with the surge protective devices and electrical installations. So, the
product had been selected at the inception.
He had identified that there are government and non-governmental organizations which import and
outsource the installation of the surge protective devices. There has been no indigenous producer of
such equipment at that time to compete with those expensive foreign branded equipment. So he
had identified the market segment as those large organizations and has started his production to
reach that level to bid for those.
Then he has positioned his products with the quality he produces.

Value and Satisfaction
They always try to make sure that their products are more than satisfactory in comparison with the
customer expectation. They have achieved ISO 9001:2008 award. Also they have gained Consecutive
Awards for the Best Locally Assembled Product, Most Inventive / Innovative Concepts product in the
Inco Industrial Exhibition and Sooryasinga Award from SEMA.
They test their products at Arthur C. Clerk Centre at Katubedda. By means of various tests they make
sure that their products are at maximum possible quality.

Supply Chain & Marketing Channels
Still they use limited channels for marketing since their production is not at a mass scale. The
marketing channels they use can be identified as communication channels and distribution channels.
They usually bid for projects found through television, newspaper and internet. How they advertise
their products is by means of the World Wide Web, newspaper advertisements, brochures and
catalogues.
They have a limited number of distributors through whom the products go to the mass market for
retail sales and wholesale.
In my opinion I think that they can make more profits if they could strengthen their sales through
empowering their channels more.

At the moment what Micro Power Engineering does at most of the times is that they directly bid for
a project at a company. But if they could mass produce and sell their products through retailers and
wholesalers, I believe that they can earn more profits.

They import the necessary raw material which are not easily found in Sri Lanka. Bt they give the
priority to use the indigenous materials as much as possible. For imported raw materials, their
suppliers are Chineese companies. They have a factory with abled work force for production.
Distribution is done accordingly directly to the consumer most of the times completing the supply
chain.

Competition
The Managing Director Mr. De Silva said that they have intense competition with foreign suppliers.
There are no substitutes to their products. But the rivalry is very high.
Of course, one of their advantages is also that there are no rival
domestic producers of such equipment. So, where the priority is given
to the Sri Lankan products, they have the
upper hand. But when it comes to international rivalry, due to economies
of scale factor and due to the availability of cheap labour, Chinese
companies can offer their products at much lower prices. Also the brand
name and reputation of some brands especially European ones can give an intense competition to
Micro Power Engineerings products.

Marketing Mix
They have tried a lot to find the right marketing mix in Product, Price, Place and Promotion. Even
though they have run at a good phase for about twenty years in my opinion I think that they have
not reached to their full potential due to not finding the right marketing mix.
When considering their micro environment, they have found right kind of suppliers and may be
buyers as well. But they could have stretched both these factors further. Since they are in to many
years of production of same kind of equipment they could have given a try to reach suppliers role as
well. What they at the moment do is that bidding for the paper advertisements and so on for surge
protective devices. Rather than reactive, if they can take proactive measures in marketing their
products, I think that they can boost their sales by a few times more. Also they have the capability to
start production in large scale. They have to find more dealers, distributors, retailers, wholesalers,
etc.
If we analyze their macro environment, we can identify that they do just fine. Most of the PESTEL
factors are handled well by the company. Especially in Social, Environmental and Legal aspects, they
have shown their intent. They have training programmes for apprentices who are financially cannot
afford such training. They also do their production and disposals according to the international
standards. It would be best if they could promote these factors as well when they are selling their
products.

Products
They have a range of products mainly specialized in Surge Protection, Lightning Protection and
Energy Saving. It is good that they have achieved a lot in what they produce and even have exported
to countries like Hong-Kong, Bangladesh and Maldives.
What they have done up to now is selective specialization. But in my opinion, they can perform
better in market specialization. They have the capacity
in electrical installations field. If they could diversify
their productions, they could reach more segments of
the market and increase their market share. What I
mean is that since they are highly specialized and
having competencies in electrical engineering, for an
example, they can start producing light bulbs or
switches which can attract a large number of new
customers.
If we pay attention to their branding, there is room for improvement. They do brand their products
under their company name, Micro Power Engineering. They do not pay much attention to market
one attribute which would gain them advantage. Id say if they market their product quality or
green-tag, they could have gained huge advantage. Also they could have branded the products
better.
The quality, features, style and design of the products are
quite acceptable and almost in par with international
products. But as I see they can still improve a lot I their
packaging and labelling. The electrical design is up to
standards and well designed. But the packaging and
stickers are to be improved to get customer attraction
more.
Their after sales support service is said to be fine. The
Finance Director said that they have an able team which can perform their installations even at
abroad; which they have done in Maldives recently.

Pricing
The pricing is done through market penetration pricing strategy by Micro Power Engineering. They
say that since they have intense competition with the foreign brands, it is necessary to price their
products at a lower price to penetrate the market. Of course it is cost based, but for the sake of
acquiring new customers, they try to sell at a cost where there are no very large profits.
Psychological pricing is not considered since they do not sell their main products to mass consumers.

Distribution
As mentioned earlier, the distribution channels of the company is to be improved a lot. If they start
mass production of more common appliance, they can find new wholesalers, retailers and agents to
enhance their sales maximizing their profits through product concept in marketing.

Promotional Mix
Promotional mix is really important for a product to reach new customers. Also this is an area where
Micro Power Engineering needs to improve. At the moment what they do is they advertise in
newspapers, yellopages, rainbowpages and on their website. Just being reactive will not be enough
to survive in the market. Being proactive and reaching more new promotional channels would have
boosted their sales.