Essay About Business Strategies Of Oral-B Company And Innovative Products

Business Strategies of Oral-B Company
Essay title: Business Strategies of Oral-B Company
Marketing Mix
Product Strategy:
Oral-B has produced hundreds of innovative products over the past fifty years. Oral-B
adds imaginative and therapeutic products for use in the professional practice and at home.
Along with Oral-B products the buyer gets not only excellent value, but also quality, innovation,
efficiency, and outstanding customer service. Their product offerings have established them as
the market leader since the 1960s!
To the industrial dental market Oral-B offers 21 products in their current 2002 catalog.
Their is outstanding product depth in their lines as well as many innovative products. The
company offers many childrens lines of toothbrushes, as well as oral care products tailored to
the individuals needs. Consultative selling of their products is a valuable practice with Oral-B.
Orders of products, sizes, variations, dentists name and address on the products, whatever the
dentist requests, Oral-B strives to meet the individual and unique needs of all their customers.
Oral-Bs product catalog is unique. Oral-B offer dentists a wide array of product
purchasing tactics. Dentists can order in any quantity they wish, realizing cost savings in larger
orders. If a dentist is unsure of a newer or untried Oral-B product, the company has no problem
sending the dentist samples to try out at no charge. This type of strategy strengthens the buyer-
supplier relationship for future dealings.
Oral-B also includes demonstrations of its products to dentists upon request, before the
purchase process takes place. Oral-B will send a sales rep to a dentists office to perform
demonstrations and answer any questions the dentist may have about the product offering. This
form of customer responsiveness and one on one communication only strengthens the position of
Oral-B making the sale.
To manage the impact of currency changes on foreign-denominated profits, the company
primarily uses product sourcing. This strategy was necessary for Oral-B in their global product
distribution approach. Oral-B profits dipped in 1999 due primarily to higher marketing expenses
to support new product launches.
Oral-B takes advantage of its powerful brand image to market its product in the industrial
market. Its toothbrushes are simply known as “the dentists toothbrush,” and from interviews
conducted with local dentists, they hold a high level of brand loyalty to all Oral-B products, over
its competitors.
The Product Life Cycle (PLC) is very important to Oral-B. Oral-Bs competitive
advantage is that it excels in the development and introduction stages of the cycle, beating their
opponents to the opportunities, thus creating primary demand and a first movers advantage.
Their product designing and ability to bring them to the market with rapid results is second to
none. When Oral-B introduces their product, they waste no time educating their target market
on the usefulness of their products. The growth stage is where most of Oral-Bs current products
sit. Sales and profits are growing with these innovations at a fast rate. The maturity stage is
very evident for Oral-B as well.