Kariman Samir Ouza

NATIONAL BANK OF EGYPT

 Class: H 53
 Marketing
 Subject: trap-ease case study
 Presented to : Dr. Ashraf Talaat
 By: Kariman Samir ouza

 Summary for the Case :
 Martha House, president of Trap-Ease company , had the better mousetrap—
Trap-Ease—but the world didn’t seem all that excited about it.
 Martha had just returned from the National Hardware Show in Toronto. her
mousetrap had won first place. Canadian Business magazine had written an
article about the mousetrap, and the television show Market Place and trade
publications had featured it. Despite all this attention, the expected demand for
the trap had not materialized. .
 Promotion: A group of investors who had obtained worldwide rights to market
the innovative mousetrap had formed Trap-Ease in January. In return for
marketing rights, the group agreed to pay the inventor and patent holder, a
retired rancher, a royalty fee for each trap sold.
 The group then hired Martha to serve as president and to develop and manage
the Trap-Ease organization.
 Product description & process : The Trap-Ease, a simple yet clever device, is
manufactured by a plastics firm under contract with Trap-Ease. The trap
consists of a square, plastic tube measuring about 15 cm long and 4 cm square.
The tube bends in the middle at a 30 degree angle, so that when the front part
of the tube rests on a flat surface, the other end is elevated. The elevated end
holds a removable cap into which the user places bait (cheese, dog food, or
some other tidbit). A hinged door is attached to the front end of the tube.
When the trap is “open,” this door rests on two narrow “stilts” attached to the
two bottom corners of the door. The trap works with simple efficiency. A
mouse, smelling the bait, enters the tube through the open end. As it walks up
the angled bottom toward the bait, its weight makes the elevated end of the
trap drop downward. This elevates the open end, allowing the hinged door to
swing closed, trapping the mouse. Small teeth on the ends of the stilts catch in a
groove on the bottom of the trap, locking the door closed. The mouse can be
disposed of live, or it can be left alone for a few hours to suffocate in the trap.
 Tap advantages: when compared with traditional spring-loaded traps or poisons.
It appeals to consumers who want a humane alternative to spring traps.
Furthermore, with TrapEase, consumers can avoid the unpleasant mess they
encounter with the violent spring-loaded traps—there are no clean-up
problems. Finally, the consumer can reuse the trap or simply throw it away.
 Target market : women are the best for the Trap-Ease as they want a means of
dealing with the mouse problem that avoids the unpleasantness and risks that
 the standard trap creates in the home.. As Men were more willing to buy and
use the traditional spring-loaded trap.
 Distribution : Martha decided to distribute Trap-Ease through national grocery,
hardware, and drug chains such as Safeway, Zellers, Canadian Tire, and Shoppers
Drug Mart. She sold the trap directly to these large retailers, avoiding any
wholesalers or other intermediaries.
 The traps sold in packages of two, with a suggested retail price of $2.99.
Although this price made the Trap-Ease about five times more expensive than
smaller, standard traps, consumers appeared to offer little initial price
resistance.
 The costs for the Trap-Ease:
 Manufacturing Costs including freight and packaging costs was about 31
cents per unit.
 Royalty fees paid an additional 8.2 cents per unit.
 Martha priced the traps to retailers at $1.49 per unit and estimated that,
after sales and volume discounts, Trap-Ease would realize net revenues from
retailers of $1.29 per unit.
 To promote the product, Martha had budgeted approximately $60,000 for
the first year. She planned to use $50,000 of this amount for travel costs to
visit trade shows and to make sales calls on retailers. She would use the
remaining $10,000 for advertising.
 Because the mousetrap had generated so much publicity, however, she had
not felt the need to do much advertising. Still, she had placed advertising in
Chatelaine and in other home magazines. Martha was the company’s only
salesperson, but she intended to hire more salespeople soon.
 Martha had initially forecast Trap-Ease’s first-year sales at 500,000 units. By
the end of April, however, the company had sold only a few thousand units.
Martha wondered whether most new products got off to such a slow start, or
whether she was doing something wrong. She had detected some problems,
although none seemed overly serious. For one, there had not been enough
repeat buying. For another, she had noted that many of the retailers kept
their sample mousetraps on their desks as conversation pieces—she wanted
the traps to be used and demonstrated.
 Martha wondered whether consumers were buying the traps as novelties
rather than as a solution to their mouse problems.
 Martha knew that the investor group believed that Trap-Ease had a once-in-a-lifetime
chance with its innovative mousetrap. She sensed the group’s impatience. She had
 budgeted approximately $150,000 in administrative and fixed costs for the first year
(not including marketing costs). To keep the investors happy, the company needed to
sell enough traps to cover those costs and make a reasonable profit.
 In the first few months, Martha had learned that marketing a new product is not
an easy task. For example, one national retailer had placed a large order with
instructions that he order was to be delivered to the loading dock at one of its
warehouses between 1:00 and 3:00 p.m. on a specified day. When the truck
delivering the order had arrived late, the retailer had refused to accept the
shipment.
CREDIT: Getty Images
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Miriam Christof, principal at JustJump Marketing, and pricing coach Jenny Wholly recently hosted a pricing
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Step 1: Determine your business goals. How you make money determines everything about your marketing and
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founders to use as a determinant for the basis of pricing:

 Increase profitability
 Improve cash flow
 Market penetration
 Larger market share
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 New product introduction
  Reach a new segment
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Step 2: Conduct a thorough market pricing analysis. While the first step is grounded in your business goals, this
step ensures that your pricing strategy considers the context of the market in which your product or service will
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Consider of self-solutions, or no resolution, as well as other indirect vendor
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  Penetration pricing: Price is artificially low to break into the market
 Economy pricing: Everyday low price with the focus on low manufacturing/delivery
cost
 Premium pricing: High price for high value
 Price skimming: Go into the market with a high price, but once your competitors
follow, lower your cost and implement other pricing strategies
 Promotional pricing: Discounts over a period of time, one-time deals
 Psychological pricing: Price products or services which triggers action. For example,
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 Versioning: Offer different tiers for your services or products: good, better, best
 Sandwich pricing: High, medium and low priced item with the intent to drive
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win the service game
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Also understand what alternatives do they have
After you have completed the five steps, take the time to work the steps backwards. This will help you ensure
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segments, gaining revenue and market share.

 Questions :
1. Martha and the Trap-Ease investors believe they face a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity. What information do they need to evaluate this opportunity?
How do you think the group would write its mission statement?
How would you write it?
The case shows a very typical picture of a group of business people who believe
they have an outstanding product that will be readily accepted by the market and this is a
case of myopia , There is little evidence in the case that the investors have done
any real thinking about customer needs or have followed the marketing concept
 as it is introduced. The investors believe they have a mousetrap, which will satisfy
customer needs, and ,therefore, customers will buy it
To evaluate once in a life time opportunity they need to go through defined
steps :
 To find your product's use and how it works on which kind of mice.
 Making marketing plan
 To cheek various distribution channels.
 Apply effective skills to convince customer
 Perform a SWOT analysis
 Make sure whether customers are encouraged to buy this product or not
and what will be your point of difference.
st
1 we should know which kind of mice are there in the area , a famous mouse house that
s called Mus musculus) it's active all year round, which means you could find them
invading your home or business at any time as they have relatively small bodies
Appearance
 Size: 70 – 95mm in length, with a tail around the same length.
 Weight: 12 – 30g.
 Their relatively small feet & head and large eyes & ears distinguish them from a
young brown rat (Rattus norvegicus).
Lifecycle & Habits:
 – 12 weeks from birth to sexual maturity, which means that they give birth quickly .
 Usually ground living and burrowing, but often climbs.
 Preferred food is cereals.
 Will eat around 3g of food a day and can survive without any additional water. They
will drink up to 3ml a day if their diet is particularly dry.
 From the above mouse description, it appears that they invade everywhere and
also give birth so quickly , detering mice will reduce the damage they can cause to
your property and avoid the health risks associated with exposure to this rodent.
 mice live in the environment we create for them. They will eat almost any
foodstuff, which can include bird and pet foods, vegetables stored in
outdoor sheds, peelings that are added to open compost bins and
household garbage that is not adequately secured.
 It only exists in dirty environments, as all they require is a source of food,
water and a safe place to nest. Rodents usually live within 15.25 to 45.75
meters of their food source.
 The most common methods of rodent control are through the use of traps
or anticoagulant baits.
Traps: Rodents are wary of new things in their environment. Place traps
against perimeter walls (perpendicular) so that rodents will have to walk
overtop of the release mechanism. Baits that work well include hot dog
wieners or peanut butter. Make sure the baits are fresh. It can be helpful to
bait the trap without setting it until rodents are used to coming to it for food.
After they are coming to the trap you can set it with more confidence.
Baits: Anticoagulant baits can be toxic to humans and pets as well as rodents.
They should always be contained in a tamper-proof bait station. Poison baits
should not be used indoors as inaccessible decaying rodents can cause odor
problems that are difficult to resolve.
Nuisance Wildlife
The City of Moncton does not offer nuisance wildlife services. Residents
experiencing problems are encouraged to contact a local nuisance wildlife
contractor through the Yellow Pages or on the Brunswick Nuisance Wildlife
Control Operators listing.
Thus the only way to get rid off the mice safely and quickly is the
trapes.
From the most famous by mouse presence in Canada are:
Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland &
Labrador, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Ontario, Prince
Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Yukon.
Opportunity analysis:
SWOT Analysis:
Strength Weakness:
 user , children, pets friendly .  Investors' myopia.
 safe in very Human way .  High cost .
 Free from mess.  Limited distribution channels .
 re-used or simply thrown away  No brand name.
after use.  Its price is five times more expensive
 no clean up. than other common mousetraps.
 Easy to use trap.  Lack of time management on delivery
 Well engineered & Works to retailers.
efficiently.  Poor promos.
 No injury during use as traditional  Customers buy the trap as novelties
trapes. rather than being a solution for mice
problems.
 Reusability of product slow down the
growth of profit return .
 Opportunities Threats
 widely used since it is a  Competitors that creat traps .
new product in existing market .  Pest control companies.
 High demand since its products are  Natural competitors like cats.
innovative .
 No competitors.
 Customer awareness of mice
diseases.
Objective :
To sell 500000 unit by the first year.
Which companies are the competitors of Trap-Ease and what are the
competitive products?
Trap-Ease’s competition is any company that makes mouse traps or any rodent
termination service company. That can range from Victor mouse traps, to Orkin
mice Service. The competition is fierce given that there is only one need; removing
the mice from the house.
What value of consumers will the price meet?
We should conduct to customers the point of difference of our product which will
be getting rid of mice in the most healthy and humane way .
Our distribution channel will be both B to B and B to C customers which are not only
retailers but also we should add wholesalers ,big marts and small ones such as amazon
& Walmart , groceries, hospitals, hotels, factories , all food industries, pharmacies and
housewives (women) , reaching our customers through heavy advertisements, press
ads, magazines , online, e-mails' ads, mobile ads so as to assure that all customers
know about our product.
 Mission statement, should be realistic, specific, fit the market environment,
distinctive competencies and be motivating. The mission statement above is not
a good mission statement. These companies only care short-term profit. In the
future, they cannot compete in the competitive market. Each company has to
build a long term plan in order to make profit. Only if the companies satisfy their
customers, they will automatically make profit. Martha and the investors need
to define a good mission statement. In order to create it, they should
understand their competitors, themselves and the environment before making
decision.
 Trap ease mission statement is “Traps Mice Easily”
and they had given this mission statement according to their product activity
and its benefits
I suggest writing it as: “Get rid of mice and diseases with Trap-Ease mousetraps in a
safe and hygiene way”.
The mission statement of Trap-Ease America should reflect their focus on their
customers' needs and wants.
They obviously know that they have a great mousetrap that almost everybody who
needs one would potentially buy. So their new focus should be set to concentrate on
their customers' needs that is presented in getting rid of mice easily and hygienically
without any mess or problems specially to children. Resulting that :Trap-Ease America
is unconditionally committed to provide our customers with the most effective, safe
and humane rodent control products at fair prices.”
2.Has Martha identified the best target market for Trap-Ease? What other market
segments might the firm target?
Segmentation, Targeting & positioning :
For effective segmentation criteria , 5 keys must be present for useful ratings, which are:
1. Measurable characteristic segment → having large size and great purchasing
power ( as in women and business customers . )
2. Substantial → profitable enough to serve .
3. Accessible→ can be reached and served easily .
4. Differentiable distinguishable segment and differently respond to marketing
mix elements.
5. Actionable →can be effectively attracted through different value added ideas for
the product.
 Demographic( with segment identification)
o For women( housewives) in need to get rid of mouse in a healthy , hygienic way
without doing a mess for the sake of their children.
o
 Psychographic:
o Trap will be more compatible to upper-upper & lower –upper social classes as its
price and value are relatively high .
o Life style: all hygiene seekers and health seekers customers.
 Behavioral :
o Humane individuals that abandon killing animals .
o Customers with ideas of Keeping environment safe and healthy.
 Geographic :
o Mice is Concentrated in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New
Brunswick, Newfoundland & Labrador, Northwest Territories, Nova
Scotia, Nunavut, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan,
 Yukon, Canadians are concerned about animals life .. they hate killing animals
even mice ,.. so they are always try to get rid of them through live trapes.
Martha has identified that the best target for the mousetrap are women, because men
were more willing to buy the traditional traps. She has distributed the traps in national
grocery, hardware, and discount chains directly, however the traps cost around five
times more than the traditional traps.
Every family has trouble with the mouse problem. The housewives is a group of
consumers who often stay at home and want to take care of their family avoiding mice
that are the causes of mess and disease. Moreover, they also want to avoid the
unpleasantness and risk that the standard trap creates in the home. May be, Trap Ease
will be the best product which can satisfy the housewives’ want. Martha’s decision
targets housewives is going to generate the greatest customers’ value.
With the innovative mouse trap as Trap Ease, Martha is able to select a lot of other
market segments to enter. In the consumer market, beside housewives, she could
target humane individual. In fact, many people love mice and raise them in their house
although they sometime put everything in mess when escaping out. Trap Ease can help
catching them alive. Moreover, many other people scare to see animals killed with
blood. The trap can capture mice without blood. This is really a humane product. In the
business and retailer market, retailers – grocery, hardware and drug chains; food
industry , restaurants (as food is attractive to mice and because these establishments
cannot use chemicals near food ) wholesalers, warehouses, hospitals, hotels . These
groups of consumers have to deal with many mouse problems everyday. These force
them using methods to prevent mice such as mousetrap, poison… The method of using
mousetrap becomes more and more favorite than that poison because of being friendly
with environment and safe with other animals. These are the potential market segment
that Trap Ease could target.. The traps need to be marketed through channels where the
current price wouldn’t be of any concern. Marketing to professional pest control
companies can increase exposure through advertising in an indirect way. Customers may
see that a certain pest company only uses Trap-Ease products and that they worked so
well. This will spread the word about the company.

3.How has the company positioned the Trap-Ease relative to the chosen target
market? Could it position the product in other ways?
The company has positioned TrapEase as a brand new, excellent mousetrap.
This is based on the fame it made in National Hardware Show, People magazine
article, and talk showsTrap-Ease has been positioned from the point of view of the customer as
meeting   safety and hygiene needs and also being humane . Because of its pricing and
distribution, Trap-Ease is positioned for use by the individual homeowner who  has
these concerns .The major alternative positioning for the product focuses on its ability to
control  disease. Because the mouse would be trapped in a fully enclosed device and would  be
captured alive, there is little opportunity for disease to spread . It should be noted , however,
that positioning the product this way would  make substantial differences in the entire marketing
strategy The product’s position has an important role to the selected target market. It is
the way the product defined by consumers on important attribute - the place the
product occupies in consumers’ minds relative to competing products. This position
bases on the characteristics of housewives. They are skillful people in choosing
everything and like safe, clean products for them and their family. Trap Ease seems
meeting their characteristics. Martha could position her product in many other ways for
greater exposure. Sell the product through different brick and more stores and e-
businesses. She needs to start advertising everywhere promising high customer value .

4.Describe the current marketing mix for Trap-Ease. Do you see any problems
with this mix?
 Marketing Mix:
is a business tool used in marketing and by marketers. The marketing mix is
often crucial when determining a product or brand's offer, and is often
associated with the four P's to refer to the set of controllable tactical
marketing tools – product, price, place, and promotion – that the firm blends
to produce the response it wants in the target market.
In Trap Ease, the marketing mix is established in clear way;
The product is an innovative mousetrap; priced at $2.49 per twin-pack; Martha selects
to distribute Trap-Ease through large retail store chains such as Safeway, K mart,
Hechinger, and CB Drug; and promoting the mousetrap mainly through trade shows
and personal selling. However, this marketing mix has some problems.

First, the product is structured second,with pricing of  approximately

especially for trapping mice , the $1.49 per trap,  when sold
mouse can be disposed of live, or it in packages of two with $2.99 ,also
can be left alone for a few hours to creates a problem in that it is five times more
suffocate in the trap. The users do not expensive than traditional traps. This
see mice when they died. This could problem is complicated by the fact
become a defective point of product. that if consumers have
If unfortunately, the mouse is still significant mouse problems, they would
alive when they take it out of the trap, need a number of traps to address the
it makes them scare, especially problem. Or, if  they decide to simply
housewives. In addition, the traps are throw away traps that contain mice to
sold in packages of two and no more solve the disposal   problem, the cost
choice for purchasing less. Many could again become prohibitive .
people who demand only one can not
buy it. This leads to reduce the
number of sales .
On the other hand, the mousetrap
can only trap one mouse. This
disadvantage makes consumers not
satisfied , It forces them to buy many
mousetraps at the same time.

Next, it has the problem with place.

Finally, in promotion, At the beginning
The trap is distributed through of launching a new product, it has not
hardware chains, national grocery build a brand name. It is hard to
,drug chains like safeway, sellers,convince consumers buying it for a
canadian tire, shoppers drug mart. As
try , so selling a package of two pieces
we know, before goods are deliveredwill appeal hard for users.
to consumer, they are distributed to
Canadian Business, magazine had
written an article about the
the retailers. This process has worked
mousetrap, and the television show
inefficient. For example, one national
MarketPlace and trade publications
retailer had placed a large order with
had featured it.
instructions that the order was to be
Because the mousetrap had generated
delivered to the loading dock at one of
so much publicity, Martha had not felt
its warehouses between 1:00 and 3:00
that she needed to do much
PM on a specified day. When the truck
advertising which is a problem ..
delivering the order had arrived late,
Martha should advertise on T.V , radio
the retailer had refused to accept the
& on online media as well , she should
shipment. Certainly, the company promote on internet over the sites
faces bad situation,as the company that targets the customers we seek .
does not have its own truck and
distribution facilities , It must
depend  on outside firms to deliver
 its product. As a result, the turnover
goes down

5. Who is Trap-Ease’s direct competition? Who are indirect competitors?

First, Direct competitors are the other mousetrap companies. In this case, I want to
mention VICTOR ®_ the leading manufacturer of rodent control products_ trust of over
100 years! It has built brand name and stable position in the competitive market. One
of its product lines is rodent-free living. In this product line, there are various products
which are divided into there segments: product family, target rodent, area to product
with numerous level of price. Victor has used the combination of traditional and
modern method. In order to destroy mice, this product line brings hundreds of choices
for consumers. It could serve which the customers’ demand in the best way. All of the
advantages of Trap Ease as safety, easy to use, cleanliness… are focused on Victor’s
products. Moreover, the efficient of them is absolutely higher than Trap Ease. For
example, in the product family segment, live traps group, Victor® TIN CAT® Mouse Trap
is a safe, effective method of catching and able to capture up to 30 mice. In snap traps
group, almost products use for clean, quick, easily and also captures many mice…
Secondly, another Trap Ease’s competition is exterminator companies. These
companies supply service at home. Many people tend to be interested in this service.
Mice are destroyed quickly and you only pay a small amount of fee for suppliers. Trap
Ease really faces with many challenges from its competition. Martha needs
immediately to develop a perfect marketing strategy to be able to exist.
Indirect competitors : pets like cats.

6.How would you change Trap-Ease’s marketing strategy? What kinds of control
procedures would you establish for this strategy ?
first : trap ease marketing strategy would be hiring people in marketing department .
one of the most important things when coming out with a new product, is the
marketing because until you have communicated the benefits of our product to the
consumer ,there will not be sufficient demand for it
second : look into the possibility of packaging the bait with the main product as one
package. Customer may only need only one trap , so offering packages of different
numbers of traps will be better & the more the number of trapes in the package, the
lower is the price , for initial marketing penetration , this will help to increase sales by
attracting new customers that would try to make a try or attract them from the
traditional product .
In addition , we will going to hire salesperson who will be visiting different outlets
informing customers about the product and how it works, they can also do direct sales
on house to house visit .
We would put in operating and strategic controls in order to monitor the marketing
teams progress and make sure that what they are doing is consistent with the
companies goals and strategy.
This controls would be very important for gathering the information that would form
the strategies in the coming years to motivate retailers to sell the products .
You could offer certain guarantee such as if we don't deliver product in time , we will
give certain discount .
You would also sell the product to wholesalers thus reducing the cost of promoting the
product for trap ease as the wholesalers would now have to put measures in place to
ensure that he sells the product.

With the problems that Trap Ease meets, I would change its marketing strategy. First at
all, when choosing housewives as target market, I would firstly make changes in the
marketing mix. The traps are packed of two. It is better if the product is packed of both
one and two. It can satisfy many people’s demand. Price is an important factor
affecting buyer choice but difficult decision. However, it can still be changed quickly. I
suggest using value-based pricing method aimed at convincing buyers that the traps
are worth a higher price. For a long term strategy, it is necessary to boost buyers’ trust
on the right price product. The consumer will be automatically beat a path of my door
when I build their trust. There are some problems with distribution. I have to find the
way how the product can come to buyers fastest. Replacing large retail store chains, I
will supply the traps at small retail store chains. Those are the stores that housewives
usually come to buy family use items. My last change is in promoting. When
understanding in housewives’ characteristic, I prefer personal selling combining with
TV commercial or magazines. At the beginning, I will spend large amount of advertising
cost to educate sellers. They are the best marketers for housewives in helping them on
their consumption. The customers will be introduced how to use product. I am sure
that this way easily satisfies all housewives. In addition, advertising on TV commercial
and magazine also bring positive effect. The company will early get economic benefits
when building good relationship with customers. In contrast, basing on the hallmarks
of Trap Ease, the target market could be extension. The company needs to have a long
term strategy. This product really corresponds to all families, food store and
restaurants. These can become potential market segments which the company targets
for next time. However, I recognize that the human resources have not allocated
suitable. At the same time, Martha manages the company that includes assuming
responsibility for sales and marketing. Although Trap Ease America is a small company,
if the company wants to build a long term strategy, it is necessary to have another
manager who can corporate with Martha is responsibility for sale or marketing. Being
marketers, I get to know that succeed does not come as soon as performance. The
time and patient are the key of succeed. In order to ensure all the plans are performed
well, besides the developing in marketing strategy, I would establish some kinds of
control procedures. I would begin with controlling selling system and until control end
users. All the products which are sold in stores must be guaranteed the best quality.
The customers purchase the right price and are served the best. The feedbacks of
customers are validity in evaluating how much the company satisfies them. With the
right changes and on time in marketing strategy, I sure that we will be succeed.
6. How would you change Trap-Ease’s marketing strategy?
The Trap-Ease provides a much needed customer solution but the marketing mix
could use some changes. Start by offering customers the option of purchasing a single
trap. The price is very high when compared to its competitors and should be lowered. A
customer survey system should be in place for feedback to see if customers are satisfied
with the product. Promotion of the trap needs to be broader than what it is because the
company isn’t anywhere close to being Apple; that doesn’t need ads or promotions to
sell their wares. And Martha and the investors need better communication between
themselves, management, customers, and potential customers. Their products should be
set up on displays in all retail location. Possibly offer a coupon or rebate.
What kinds of control procedures would you establish for this strategy?
As the new marketing plan moves along, controls will be constantly analyzed to
determine how the plan's performance compares to the projections. There needs to be
customer feedback through online surveys. This will reach customers directly to ask
specific questions about the new latest marketing plan. Target market sales need to be
measured in units sold, revenue generated or profit amount. The actual sales in the
target market are compared to the marketing plan projections to see if any changes need
to be made. If sales are down, then further market research needs to be done to see why
the target audience is not responding. Also the budget for marketing has to be controlled
to balance the cost of developing advertising and the return on its investment. Costs
need to be monitored to minimize spending and maximize profitability. Market share
should be increased during the new marketing plan's timeline, there will be milestone
percentages that will be monitored to always gain market share increase at the halfway
point of the marketing plan. Trap-Ease America won’t ever fall short of expectations
again.
 Reference:

1.Kotler, P. and Armstrong, G. (2002) Principles of Marketing, 10 th edn, Prentice Hall,

pp 35-36, 45,48, 204, 291.

2. Company case 2, Trap Ease America: The big cheese of mousetraps, Available at
http://homepages.stmartin.edu/fac_staff/ppatterson/BA%20330%20cases%2005/case
%202.rtf

3. Trap-Ease case: question,

Available at: http://web.business.queensu.ca/faculty/lashworth/lectures/trapease.ppt

4. Rodent Control, Available at: http://www.victorpest.com/store/rodent-control.

5. The 2009 Best New Product Awards, Available at:

http://www.bestnewproductawards.com/.

Case 1. Trap-Ease America: The big cheese mousetrap. Prepared by Akmaral

Shotbayeva, Finance

1. In order to evaluate their once-in-a-lifetime opportunity the investors need the

information if there’s another more sophisticated tool of fighting against mice. If there
are - their opportunities are not so high. But if another tool haven’t been invented yet
and the Trap-Ease is the only innovative mousetrap on the market, Martha and
investors are able to use this opportunity. Group would write mission strategy like “we
are making innovative mousetrap that traps mice easily”. I suggest writing it as: “to get
rid of mice in the easiest, cleanest and safest way – you can achieve it with the Trap-
Ease mousetraps”.

2. I also think that the best target is women, as mostly women are doing
housekeeping. The other consumer target can be vessel-owners or docks because in
ships there are usually problems with mice and rats. Moreover, docks will buy traps in
large amounts improving the sales of the company.

3. The company’s positioning is that the Trape-Ease “traps mice easily”. I think that this
positioning is too broad and not catchy. I would rather position it as “the Trap-Ease
traps mice creating no clean-up problems”, or “traps mice leaving your hands clean”.

4. Product: - Innovative mousetrap – the Trap-Ease. Price: - $2.49 per 2 units Place: -
National grocery, hardware, and drug chains such as Safeway, Kmart, Hechingers and
CB Drug. Promotion: - $10,000 on advertising in Good Housekeeping and other “home
and shelter” magazines. - $50,000 for travel costs to visit trade shows and to make
sales calls on retailers

Considering the Place, I think, Trap-Ease can be also distributed through supermarkets
(like Wal-Mart and others), because housewives often visit these kinds of
supermarkets. Other items of marketing mix, in my opinion, can be remained the
same.

5. The Trap-Ease America’s competition is the producer of traditional, spring-loaded

trap as its price is cheaper than Trap-Ease’s and it is the perfect substitute of the Trap-
Ease.

6. The company is facing marketing myopia and its marketing strategy is too product-
oriented but not customer-oriented. Martha cares about how to sell expected units of
traps rather than caring about how to meet customer needs and create value for
them. I would change the marketing strategy in the following way:

https://www.coursehero.com/file/11081011/24497418-Company-Case-Trap-Ease-
America-The-big-cheese-mousetrap/ This study resource was shared via
CourseHero.com

Case 1. Trap-Ease America: The big cheese mousetrap. Prepared by Akmaral

Shotbayeva, Finance

The Trap-Ease America’s marketing strategy is based on product differentiation and

widening the target. Primary consumer target is women, esp. housewives. Secondary
Consumer target is docks and ship-owners. Product Strategy. The Trap-Ease America
will introduce new tool fighting against mice (for example, the spray which smell
frightens mice off so that they wouldn’t like to “enter” the house) or improve the Trap-
Ease. (For example, the plastic tube can be blacked out (toned) so that a mouse inside
the trap is not seen as women are afraid of mice and would prefer not to see them at
all). Distribution Strategy. The Trap-Ease will be distributed in national grocery,
hardware, drug chains, and supermarkets as well. Orders will be delivered strictly on
time. Control. The Trap-Ease America will strictly monitor customer service satisfaction
and control the time of delivering the orders to retailers, especially to docks. The
company will also control that sample mousetraps are used by retailers to
demonstrate them to consumers.

Referances:

http://www.rentokil-steritech.ca/mice/species/