This new product defined is an automated babysitter. Introduced to take care of babies while they are away from parents. The technology is futuristic. The product will take the form of a small baby sitter. It will be connected to the parent’s phones and computer. It would look like a very tiny baby itself and would have inbuilt ability to attract children. The product would be movable and would work on battery that needs to be charged every 7 days.
Before introducing a product in the market, it is imperative to understand the need for the same (Baker, 2016). The need for this product has been identified because the number of working parents are increasing. The average life span of people is also decreasing. The 110 years of steadily improving life expectancy in the UK are officially over and is now falling (The Conversation, 2017). Therefore in the distant future not many children will have the opportunity to be baby sit by their grandparents.
Research dictates a surge in the number of working mothers with dependent children. The Office for National Statistics suggests that there were 4.9 million mothers with dependent children in 2017 (The Guardian, 2017). Over the past two decades alone, the percentage of working mothers has increased by 11.8% (Office of National Statistics, 2017). Therefore this small robotic baby sitter can take care of children.
Human baby sitter cannot even be trusted entirely. The parents will always fear the child getting kidnapped, sexually harassed or physically beaten. The fear of things getting stolen from the house is also persistent with human baby sitters. This baby sitter is a machine and hence can be entirely trusted by parents. The child would be much safer and so will the belongings of the house.
Parents are increasingly paying more for babysitters. The national average baby sitter rate for an hour is almost $14 which is a 26% increase since 2010 (Business Wire, 2017). This suggests an increasing demand for baby sitters and that makes it a perfect opportunity to launch an automated baby sitter.
The robot will be connected to the parent’s mobiles and computers. The robot will be automatically attractive to children. The robot will be able to sense the child’s moods and needs. The robot can play soothing music to make the child sleep when the robot understands that the child needs sleep. The robot can guide the children to food and make interesting sounds to keep children entertained. The robot can also alert parents on their phones if the child is in any kind of danger or is unwell. The robot also has the in-built ability to contact the police, fire brigade and ambulance if the need be.
If the child moves too far away from the robot, then the robot will automatically start making sounds that will attract the child towards the robot. Moreover, the robot will also be equipped with technology to measure the child’s blood pressure, heart rate and temperature at any given point of time.
The ultimate goal of the business is to create value by allowing parents to be tension free while at work. The agenda is to fill the need gap that parents face. The robot will be able to take care of a child better than human baby sitter. The child’s health would be consistently monitored and hence the child would remain safe at all times.
As a business, the agenda is to create a disruptive technology that would bring about a wave in the market and create a robot for parent’s needs (Christensen, Raynor & McDonald, 2016). The business would ensure complete customer satisfaction through effective delivery, customized products and efficient after sale service. The business would focus on creating value as well as generating revenue and enhancing business outside the geographical boundaries by focusing on international expansion.
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Strengths 1. Effective technology 2. Durable product 3. Easily available 4. Unique idea |
Weaknesses 1. High price. Starting price is £1499.99 2. Cannot run without battery or additional electric charge 3. Child may be unable to build or maintain human contact |
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Opportunities 1. Improved technology that can measure how much are children is sleeping or how many calories are they in taking. 2. Expanding to international boundaries |
Threats 1. Imitation of technology in a short time. 2. Need creation of product is important but can be tedious 3. Robot running out of charge while on duty. |
Political: UK is a politically stable economy which is makes it an efficient place for conducting a new business. Politically instable countries are more prone to failed new businesses or lack of government support.
Economic: United Kingdom ranks 7 on the ease of doing business index (World Bank, 2018). It is a developed economy with a falling inflation rate of 2.5% (BBC News, 2018). A lowered inflation suggests a higher disposable income and hence provides a good opportunity for a new business to introduce a new product.
Social: As mentioned above, the number of working parents are surging and the average life span is decreasing. These two factors combined create a great opportunity to introduce an automated baby sitter in the market.
Technological: People in the UK are technologically savvy. Over 89% of adults use the internet and possess a smartphone (Office for National Statistics, 2018).
Legal: There are a number of laws that guide the new businesses starting in the UK. These laws are related to trademarks, insurances and tax liabilities.
Environmental: It is essential that a new business is environmentally responsible. The waste from the Electronic baby sitters must be effectively managed and efforts must be made to reduce the overall carbon footprints of the business.
The main objective of the organization is to reach out to a large number of potential customers and generate revenue for the business. The marketing team’s objective also includes setting the right positioning for the product in the minds of the consumers. Positioning refers to the image of the product in the minds of its target customers.
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Time frame |
Number of customers targeted |
No of automated baby sitters sold |
Revenue Generated |
|
6 Months (Jan 2019 to June 2019) |
8 million (Assuming the product is sold at 50 electronic stores that have a minimum footfall of 500 daily visitors) + (Social media followers) |
5% of Targeted customers 0.04 Million. |
£1499.99*0.04 million customers Approximately £60 million |
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1 years (July 2019 to June 2020) |
12 million |
15% of targeted customers 1.8 million. |
Approximately £2700 million |
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2 years (July 2020 to June 2021) |
18 million |
20% of targeted customers 3.6 million. |
Approximately £5400 million |
The target market of any product refers to the set of customers whose needs and demands the organization aim to fulfill (Armstrong, Kotler, Harker & Brennan, 2015). The target market of the robot baby sitter are new parents of young children, parents who are working as well as parents of children who do not live with the children’s grandparents.
Initially, the product would be offered at a premium price and hence would be made available to higher income segments of the society. The product would perform a psychographic segmentation and target people on the basis of lifestyle. This would include working parents within the high income groups.
There are various barriers to entry of the robot baby sitter that might delay or adversely impact the growth of the product. These barriers of entry ine
In order to survive in the world of increasing competition, it is essential for businesses to identify a set of attributes that help businesses to gain an advantage over other players of the industry (West, Ford & Ibrahim, 2015).
The competitive advantage of the robot baby sitter would be world class technology, compact size and updatable software. International expansion and the wide reach of customers would also provide a competitive advantage to the product.
The target customers of the competitors would be the same as and when the competition arises. The customers would include working parents, single parents, parents who do not live with the children’s grandparents as well as parents who are frequently busy with work.
While introducing a new product, it is recommended that an effective strategy is adopted. Ansoff’s matrix is a strategic marketing tool that helps firms in understanding the best strategy forward to introduce a product into a market (Dawes, 2018).
The baby sitter industry has existed since a long time, the automated baby sitter would be a new introduction to an existing industry. As the matrix suggests, product development strategy must be adopted. This process involves the stages of idea generation, concept development, conducting research, analyzing business, product development, test marketing and finally commercialization (Ward & Sobek, 2014).
The first P in marketing mix is the ‘Product’ which throws light on the basic qualities of the product (Wirtz & Lovelock, 2016). The product is a highly innovative and durable robot baby sitter which is built with the intention to assist parents while they are at work. The product has features that enable the robot to sense the child’s needs and alert parents if the child is in any kind of danger or is sick.
Price skimming strategy would be adopted to sell the automated baby sitters. Wherein the price would initially be kept high in order to recover business costs (Spann, Fischer & Tellis, 2014). The first introduction price would be £1499.99. Once the market has accepted the products and the business is capable of running on economies of scale then the price would be reduced eventually to an approximate £1199.99.
The product would be first launched in the UK. It would be made available at leading electronic stores at centralized locations of the country. The product would also be exported to international markets on demand through the business’s website.
Social media marketing is the art of promoting a particular product through social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter (Tuten & Solomon, 2017). The business would maintain its own Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat accounts.
Facebook account would post updates four times a day, Instagram would have 2 new posts on a daily basis and on the other hand, twitter account would be used to post once every two hours. Social media is an interactive way to build a connection with customers.
Any new social media platform that would be introduced in the future would also be used for the product’s promotion. These platforms would also be used for user generated content and hence enhanced reach.
Billboards and hoardings across the city help the citizens of the city encounter the ad various times a day (Brad & Golan, 2017). Innovative posters would be designed to attract customers and provide basic information about the products. These billboard designs would be changed every two weeks. The billboards would be visually appealing.
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IMC channel |
Target (By the end of first year) |
Approximate Budget allocated ($1000) |
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Billboards |
1. Total 500 billboards 2. Change billboard design every 2 months. |
700 |
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Product sold on electronic stores |
Tie up with the 50 leading electronic stores |
150 |
|
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2 million followers and over 1095 posts (365*3). |
35 |
|
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100k followers and over 400 posts |
50 |
|
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At least 1 million followers and over 1825 (365*5) tweets. |
65 |
The business also requires certain recommendations for its growth. There are certain points that the business needs to ensure for its success which are mentioned as below:
Conclusion
With the decreasing life span and increasing number of working parents, there is an increasing need for an automated baby sitter. This new product would hit the UK market with an aim to assist parents in babysitting their children while they are away. The premium product would be priced at £1499.99. The primary target market for the product would be working parents. In order to promote the product, the business will resort to social media marketing, digital marketing and advertising through billboards. In order to ensure the success of the product, a stern eye must be kept on the upcoming competition and effective promotion strategies must be adopted.
References
Armstrong, G., Kotler, P., Harker, M. and Brennan, R., 2015. Marketing: an introduction. Pearson Education.
Baker, M.J., 2016. What is marketing? In The Marketing Book (pp. 25-42). Routledge.
BBC News, 2018. ‘UK inflation falls to lowest in a year’. Available at https://www.bbc.com/news/business-43808716. Accessed on 30 May, 2018.
Brad, F. and Golan, I., 2017. Outdoor advertising based on intelligent digital billboards. Neural Networks & Machine Learning, 1(1), pp.1-1.
Business Wire, 2017. ‘Parents are paying more for baby sitters’. Available at https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170417005292/en/Care.com-Releases-2017-Babysitter-Survey-Results. Accessed on 30 May, 2018.
Christensen, C.M., Raynor, M.E. and McDonald, R., 2016. What is disruptive Innovation? The Encyclopedia of Human-Computer Interaction, 2.
Dawes, J., 2018. The Ansoff Matrix: A Legendary Tool, But with Two Logical Problems.
Office for National Statistics, 2017. ‘Internet users in the UK’. Available at https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/itandinternetindustry/bulletins/internetusers/2017. Accessed on 30 May, 2018.
Office of National Statistics. 2017. ‘Families and Labor market: England’. Available at https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/familiesandthelabourmarketengland/2017#employment-rate-for-mothers-increased-by-118-percentage-points-over-the-past-2-decades. Accessed on 30 May, 2018.
Shkedi, R., INTENT IQ LLC, 2017. Targeted television advertisements based on online behavior. U.S. Patent 9,813,778.
Spann, M., Fischer, M. and Tellis, G.J., 2014. Skimming or penetration? Strategic dynamic pricing for new products. Marketing Science, 34(2), pp.235-249.
Sujarwoto, S., 2017. Why decentralization works and does not works? A systematic literature review. Journal of Public Administration Studies, 1(3), pp.1-10.
The conversation, 2017. ‘Life expectancy in Britain has fallen’. Available at https://theconversation.com/life-expectancy-in-britain-has-fallen-so-much-that-a-million-years-of-life-could-disappear-by-2058-why-88063. Accessed on 30 May, 2018.
The Guardian, 2017, ‘Surge in the number of working mother’. Available at https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/sep/26/surge-number-uk-working-mothers-dependent-children-employment. Accessed on 30 May, 2018.
Tuten, T.L. and Solomon, M.R., 2017. Social media marketing. Sage.
Ward, A.C. and Sobek II, D.K., 2014. Lean product and process development. Lean Enterprise Institute.
West, D.C., Ford, J. and Ibrahim, E., 2015. Strategic marketing: creating competitive advantage. Oxford University Press, USA.
Wirtz, J. and Lovelock, C., 2016. Services marketing: people, technology, strategy.
World Bank, 2018. ‘Ease of doing business in United Kingdom’. Available at https://www.doingbusiness.org/data/exploreeconomies/united-kingdom. Accessed on 30 May, 2018.
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