Asian Paints’ entry into Sanitaryware

DRILL DOWN/LINEAR
1. Why does Asian Paints need to deviate from their core business and enter the sanitaryware
segment?
a. Will this segment allow horizontal and vertical expansion?
b. Will this reduce the risk of the company in the long run?
c. Will this increase the market share for Asian Paints?
d. Would this help in the growth of International Operations of the company?
e. Will this increase the competitive strength of Asian Paints?
f. Could this be used to increase the market power of Asian Paints to set prices in home
décor segment?
2. What are the visions of Asian Paints for the strategy?
a. Will this help Asian Paints to be a one-stop solution in home décor?
b. Will this segment help Asian Paints to unpeg itself from the paint industry to grow
independently from the market?
c. Will this help them to be a service-oriented company for future customers?
3. Why does Asian Paints need to enter this specific segment?
a. Does this segment have a large growth potential?
b. Will this segment attract new audience to Asian Paints?
c. Could this segment create value for the current customers and keep them engaged for
longer period?
d. Could this protect the distribution channel of mom-and-pop stores from disruptive
evolution?
4. What should Asian Paints do to increase their market penetration and market share?
a. What products should Asian Paints primarily focus on in the sanitaryware segment?
b. Should Asian Paints focus more on B2B or B2C model?
c. Should they integrate technology in their showroom to increase customer experience?
5. What are the present strengths of Asian Paints that could be leveraged?
a. Could the large distribution channel and retail relationship be considered as a competitive
advantage?
b. Could they leverage the distributors who are already engaged in the sanitaryware business?
c. Do they have the financial edge to enter this market successfully?
d. Could they utilise their current technology in data analytics to find the best strategy?
6. Does this provide any competitive edge to Asian Paints?
a. Are there any local or foreign competition in this market?
b. Will it create a higher barrier of entry for the future competition to the paints industry?
c. Will the entry into this segment help in absorbing potential competitors in the future?
7. Is the size of target customers large enough to increase the profitability of the company?
a. What is the market share of branded sanitaryware in the Indian and global market?
b. What is the price range expectation of the target segment?
BROADENING/NON-LINEAR
1) How will it affect the people associated with the company?
a) Will the current relationship with distributors be affected with this decision?
b) Will this increase the goodwill and brand value of Asian Paints in the consumer segment?
c) Will this create confusion in the investors’ mind and affect the share prices?
2) What marketing strategy should be devised for this segment?
a) Should Asian Paints start any customer experience stores for increased engagement?
b) Will digital fronts help this market segment?
c) Should the target audience be premium customers or middle-class consumers?
d) Could Asian Paints learn from other brands who had diversified into this segment from other
business?
e) Could we learn from the mistakes of competitors who diversified and lost market share in Paint
Industry?
3) How does it affect the current customers of Asian Paints?
a) Will it lead to more engagement?
b) Would it increase the convenience for the customers?
c) Will the customers be loyal to the Asian Paints brand for their future purchases?
4) What should be their branding strategy?
a) Should we create a new brand or acquire an already established brand?
b) Should Asian Paints release sanitaryware as an independent brand or as a co-brand?
c) Should the Ess Ess brand be used for marketing to avoid any confusion in consumers’ mind?
5) Does the government and Indian Economy provide any support for this decision?
a) Does the government provide any incentive?
b) Does the current and future Indian Economy support this decision?
c) Is the Indian real estate market booming?
6) Is this in line with the qualities of Asian Paints which made it market leaders in the first place?
a) Is this backed by the idea of analysing customer needs and devising strategies around them?
b) Is this a daring experiment, like the mascot, which could pay off immensely?
c) Is this in alignment with the process of testing strategies and finding the winning approach to
consistently improve each part of the company?
7) What are the activities Asian Paints should focus on to successfully enter this segment?
a) Does Asian Paints need to allocate funds for future research on product development?
b) Should capacity expansion be an area of focus?
c) Do they need to develop new technology to focus on manufacturing, customer experience and
automation?
8) Will Asian Paints need to work on their workforce?
a) Is training required for the current workforce?
b) Are their enough trained technicians for installation and maintenance?
c) Should experience personnel be hired from outside the firm or should the current employees be
trained to enter this segment?
9) How could they use their data analytics to enter this market?
a) Could the current collected data be used to forecast the demand in this segment?
b) Will customer preference be available from this data to create new personalised products in the
future?
10) Will this diversification create a synergy between the segments to which Asian Paints has already
entered?
REFERENCES
1. https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/asian-paints-to-focus-on-kitchen-and-
bathroom-dor-space-for-future-growth-115021300865_1.html
2. https://www.vccircle.com/asian-paints-buy-ess-ess-bathrooms-front-end-sales-business
3. https://blog.ipleaders.in/deal-analysis-asian-paints-ess-ess-bathroom-products/
4. https://www.indiainfoline.com/company/asian-paints-limited-share-price-share-price-share-
price/management-discussions/34
5. https://medium.com/@sgrmehta17/research-analysis-asian-paints-limited-e07b6a359fa2
6. https://equitybulls.com/category.php?id=177155
7. https://thefinancialpandora.com/asian-paints-transforming-spaces-homes-and-lives/