Omega Paw Case Study

MGMT 1006

Omega Paw INC.

Carter Hanson 0323285

Tannys Laughren

Executive Summary

Omega Paw INC.  Is a pet supplies company based out of St. Mary’s, Ontario that produces “Self-Cleaning Litter Box”. Micheal Ebert is the inventor of the product and also runs the company.  Over the last year Ebert’s product has reached sales of $1 million.  Ebert knows that with the current resources they have they could expand to a greater market and even compete with the big named products.

First the consumer groups were identified in order to pick what group to pursue.  The three groups were new cat owners, existing cat owners, and the grey zone, they decided to go with the existing cat owners as this was the greatest percentage of the market.

Then the competitors of the company were analyzed to figure out how to differentiate their product from other brands.  By doing this they figured out that 90% of the current litter box market is held by the traditional style litter box.  Which means that with the proper price point this new self-cleaning litter box could penetrate the market very effectively.

After that process the potential of Omega was analyzed to see if there were boundaries to over come.  There were some boundaries however they were small.  After more analysis it was shown that if omega lowered its MSP and sold their product in grocery stores they would maximize exposure and sales.

Another step after this was to reflect on the goals Ebert set for sales and see if they are achievable with the current plan.  As it turned out the goals he had set were considerably low compared to the profits that were projected with the revised plan.

Lastly the recommendation was made that Omega should look for ways to get into the grocery store market.  This statement is backed up by all the evidence in the analysis and what was discussed in the case.  Also to help boost sales they should invest in magazine advertising to help even more in the grocery stores.  Future price drops after profit stabilizes is another recommendation as this will allow Ebert to continue being competitive with the traditional style and possibly even become the norm in the cat litter box industry.

Problem Statement

Michael Ebert is the inventor of the “Self- Cleaning Litter Box” and President of Omega Paw.  This product has been increasingly popular and gained sales of $1 million since the launch about a year ago.  Ebert wants to grow the business quick as he knows that the current resources of Omega have potential to expand to a larger target market.  Ebert needs to decide on how to expand marketing initiatives and also figure out what channel of distribution to choose. Ebert wants to reach the goals of sales of $1.7 million by December 2012, $3 million by December 2013, and $5.7 million by December 2014.  Omega Paw has the ability to produce 3,500 units per week and has a marketing budget of $100,000 to reach this goal that is set.