Dupont (A) - Case Analysis

Dupont(A) – Case Analysis
By- Group 5
(Dhiraj Agarwal, Akshay Sharma, Harish Vijayan, Soumitra Dubey,
Kapil Khatter, Shreyas Gupta, Hiteswara T.)
Submitted To-
Dr. K. Abdul Waheed
Defining the problem:
The given case study on DuPont(A) talks about the issues looked by their Marketing Manager
for the carpet fibres division. The focal issue, because of which different issues and side effects
multiplied, was that:
Dupont followed the production concept and thus ended up focusing on pushing the product to
the mills, they were least bothered to consider the needs of the end users.
For a considerable span of time, DuPont had only focussed on going for enormous sales volumes
and offering their products at competitive costs to as wide a market as could be expected under
the circumstances, accomplished through large scale manufacturing methodologies.
The company, however, didn't concentrate on what their clients needed. The disappointment of
its clients and their unwillingness towards the purchasing procedure was one of the essential side
effects which features the poor advertising technique.
Formulating the alternatives:

1. Make efforts to figure out what the end users value through quantitative and qualitative
research. For example- customization of carpets.
2. Carpet mills are one of the important consumers of DuPont, hence they should be
retained - inspire loyalty and remove some of the minimum standards required by the
mills thus making their product much more cost efficient.
3. Increase their focus on other different target markets.
4. Maintain their status quo.
Analyzing the alternatives:

Of the 60 available carpet mills in Europe that can level DuPont’s standards only 30 are using
their fibres, rest of the players shifted from one supplier to another to get cheaper prices. DuPont
should shift its focus on retaining the mills it is supplying fibres to. DuPont has to analyse and
set the price in such a way that it instils loyalty, it should keep in mind the following aspects-
 Firstly, they will have to analyse what its customers value and adjust its price accordingly.
The end users try to delay their purchase decision of buying a carpet, and give it the least
preference when they are buying household equipments. This behaviour can largely be
attributed to the fact that the customers are not enjoying the carpet buying experience, and
carpet is only deemed as a blanket to protect the floor. Carpeting purchasing was perceived
as a functional rather than an emotional experience. So, an effective research that is focused
on knowing customers needs would help the company to come up with innovations that can
establish an emotional connect with the customers.
Customers spend around 10-12 weeks in buying the carpets. More than half of the end users
buy carpets only if the previous one is worn out. This is because the retailers and wholesalers
are not providing them with full information on price, colour, fitting rooms and quality. And
to add to this, even DuPont didn’t promote their products for a long time now. This, in a way,
created a gap in between DuPont and the end users of its product.
 Secondly, it is true that DuPont has to make its relationships healthier with the end users of
its product. But the same would not be effective if they go for tapping the end users on the
cost of its immediate customers, i.e., the carpet mills. Coming up with innovative products
like stainmaster to satisfy the needs of the end users was indeed a great move. But to cope up
with their quality standards, DuPont ended up making the production process costlier for the
mills, which wasn’t correct on their part. This made the mills switch from DuPont to its
competitors. Hence, DuPont is required to take corrective measures to instil loyalty towards
its products in the hearts and minds of their immediate customers. And an effective way of
achieving this would have been relaxation of the minimum standards required to be met by
the mills.
 Thirdly, unlike the US market which only has 4 players, Europe’s market has been
fragmented which implies that “place” will play an important role while deciding both the
price of the product and revenue of the company. The case further points out that in Europe
there are 3 target markets of the company, namely, Germany, France, UK. Now apart from
these markets, there are many regions in places like Europe that is still unexplored, hence
DuPont can add to its customer base the European markets it hasn’t tapped till now.
 Lastly, DuPont can resort to keep its sales high and maintain a profitable position in the
market. It can continue to follow the traditional approach of focusing on aggressively selling
the fibre to the carpet mills. The advantage of the same would be the avoidance of a
potentially damaging battle and minimisation of the probabilities of facing adversities in the
near future.
Recommendations:
DuPont has been stuck with its incapability to interface with the dead-end purchasers of its
products. This led to the widening of the gap between the clients and the company itself. As a
result of which issues of lacking adequate knowledge about the carpets and its emotional aspects
could be seen. Thus, it is clearly evident that there is a need to spread the word about the end
products and its superiority when compared to its substitutes. Likewise, an effective on-the-sales
and after sales client service was the need of the hour.
• DuPont should come up with a portal for the customers which is open to customization,
wherein they can choose their own colour and design as per their choices by collaborating
with mills. This would enhance the emotional significance of buying carpets for the
users.
• Provide better customer care services by training the retailers and wholesalers to
capitalize sales opportunities and capture repeat business. This would ensure that
customers are at ease while making carpets purchasing decisions. This would ensure that
customers do come back to avail their services.
• Provide catalogues for better awareness of the product among the customers, be it
retailer, wholesaler or end-user. This again would make taking purchasing decisions
easier for the users.
• Retain the existing customers by giving them attractive offers. This might be a
persuading factor for the customers that makes them choose carpets over its substitutes.
• To instil a sense of loyalty, DuPont should provide sample fibres to remaining 50 percent
carpet mills that are not using DuPont's materials and offer a price that satisfies their
needs. Moreover, they should also consider thinking of being a little lenient in its
standards for other mills to conform to, which will ultimately ease out the process.
Specifying the plan of action:
 Identify the customers who are loyal to the company, give them incentives and promote the
product brand.
 Select the location where sales of the company are not up to the mark and apply the
alternatives to them i.e., setting price and giving offers to the carpet mills.
 Later on, collaborate with the mills in that location and train the wholesalers and retailers
about the product and give them the full information along with the catalogues.
 Provide better services to the customers by setting a portal where they can choose their own
designs and place order to the carpet mills.
 Actualize the above strides for a quarter of a year and discover the business development.
 Spread the arrangement in the event that it worked in the chosen area, by rolling out moment
improvements to it as indicated by the area.
Contingency Plans:
The success of selected course of action will highly depend on cooperation from carpet mills,
carpet distributors and retailers. If the mentioned members of the value chain refuse to cooperate
with the plan of action, DuPont could produce and sell finished products (carpets) directly to the
end-users. This will enable DuPont to directly control the customer experience before and after
the sale of carpets. DuPont already has an established network of companies, production sites,
and sales offices in Europe. This will make it easier to establish a distribution chain of finished
products in the European Market.
The company could invest in establishing carpet mills for production and establish distribution
and retail centers which focuses on customer experience. The company can also outsource the
production and distribution of carpets to avoid heavy fixed costs. The retail outlets should be
equipped with well-trained sales executives who can inform the end customers effectively for
their purchase decisions. The company will also be able to fulfill specific customer needs
directly if they design and manufacture the carpets accordingly.

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Dupont(A) – Case Analysis

(Dhiraj Agarwal, Akshay Sharma, Harish Vijayan, Soumitra Dubey,

Kapil Khatter, Shreyas Gupta, Hiteswara T.)

Formulating the alternatives:

Analyzing the alternatives:

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