Competitors Analysis

Competitive Forces: Porters Five Forces Model

These are the five forces identified by Michael Porter,which identify the attractiveness of a market.

Industry competition:

 The intensity of rivalry or competition is influenced by many factors like large number of firms, high fixed costs, low switching costs. Whirlpool has intense competition by two major players in the industry namely Electrolux and LG and Samsung.LG has an advantage since LG sells highest volume with steel drums, Samsung has a uniquely priced entry level model. This leads to constant prie wars and aggressive advertisements.

Potential Or New Entrants:

Threat of Substitute Products: New entrants to an industry bring new capacity and desire to gain market share that puts pressure on price, costs and the rate of investments. The threat of new entry in an industry depends on the height of entry barriers that are present and the reaction entrants can expect from incumbents. In case of Whirlpool the market has already been penetrated by big companies. Thus threat of a new buyer for now is very low as the barriers of entry into the washing machine industry are high. This is an extremely difficult market segment since bigwigs like Electrolux and LG have enough competition edge.

Threat of Substitutes:

A substitute performs the same or enhanced function as an industry product but by different means. In case of the washing machine there is no near sighted threat of a potential substitute and thus Whirlpool has very less to worry in this regard.

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Bargaining Power of Buyer and Supplier:

A segment becomes unappealing if the bargaining power of the buyers and sellers are high. In Whirlpools case, there’s fierce competition on both the buyer end as well as the supplier end.

Analyzing Competition:

Awareness of the five forces model can help a company understand the structure of its industry and stake out a position that is more profitable and less vulnerable to attack by competition.

With the analysis of competition Whirlpool offers a wide range of models prices much lower than competition with LG, Samsung and Electrolux. It also offers a range of technological advancements in its segment and features like Higher Load, 1-2-3 Control Panel, 17 min quick wash.

• USP Whirlpool V/S Samsung

       –      Aqua Store

       –      6th Sense

       –      Dirt Plus

       –      In Built Heater

• USP Whirlpool V/S LG

      –      Dirt Plus

      –      Aqua Store

      –      5 Step wash

      –      Water Reuse

        -          In built heater