MARKETING STRATEGIES OF BOTTLED WATER PRODUCING COMPANIES: THE CASE OF KOSOVO

Abstract

One of the main functions within a company is the marketing area and as it is of the utmost importance and relevance of having an already established and well functioning department of marketing within the company, which would implement proper, just-in-time and a step-ahead of competition marketing strategies. Such an established and wheel functioning marketing department could potentially result in the company getting a better positioning in the market, will increase the company’s market share and satisfy customer needs, wants and meet their demands. Thus, creation and implementation a successful marketing strategy in business is very crucial, especially when we deal with a business such as water production, still or sparkling. The purpose of the research is to analyze the implementation of marketing strategies by Kosovo producers of water and to provide clear recommendations for companies that do not use marketing strategies.
During the research we have found that water producers do not even have an already established marketing department, have not employed any marketing personal, nor they have a qualified sales person representing the company. According to our research of the existing water producing companies in Kosovo, only few of these companies, and in particular two out of ten have invested and established an already functioning marketing department, while others are planning to do so in the near future. One of the reasons we found out that they want to do that is for the purpose of imitating competition but not because they want a marketing department or personnel because it is believed as a core function of their activity. As a result most water producing companies invest and strategize more on production than on sales and/or marketing. The main tool they use to fight competition seems to remain the pricing strategy, which can be very beneficial for consumers in the short run, but might be harmful in the long run if some companies might not be able to survive and as such in the long run the those that are left as water producers can compensate for the losses in the short run, by increasing the prices later on – and effectively becoming an oligopoly market structure. The other method that the water producers use, apart from the price competition, is product proliferation and differentiation, as well as product development.
However, there should be continuous insistence of manufacturing companies to advance marketing department, creating a special unit of market research and consumer care, as this paper argues.
In Kosovo there are 15 companies producing bottled water and our research was focused on 2/3 of companies which are the biggest producers of bottled water. The data for this research was collected through questionnaires in 10 water manufacturing companies. Methods used for research can be classified as descriptive, comparative, analytical, and the method of synthesis. The research instrument was a questionnaire while the technique was direct communication. The research was conducted between September and December 2012.