Luban Company, is an Omani company in Salalah that uses
Frankincense and other natural ingredients in making its products.
The company has many hand made products like candles, soaps, shower
gel and shampoos which differentiate it from its Competitors. The
company’s slogan “hand made with love” is written on each of its
products’ packages with bold “all natural”, and customers value the
time and labor spent on making each unique product by hand. The
company’s products ,especially ,the soap with pink Omani rose
petals was a major success , and the demand for it increased among
locals and tourists due to its reasonable price which is OMR 3 per
bar of soap. The company buys the Omani roses from a supplier, a
farmer (Mr. Ahmed) from Jabel Al Akhader who sells a bucket of rose
to the company for OMR 1.500, and he was the one and the only
supplier for the Luban Company. However, recent rains, snow and
unpredictable weather caused the farmer a lot of damage; therefore,
he increased the price of flower bucket to be OMR 2.500. The
company’s marketing team warned that this will increase the price
of the soap to become OMR 5, and customers might not buy it
anymore. Then, the marketing manager suggested to replace roses
with some rose water in the soap as the customers will not see the
difference, the soap will smell the same and it is cheaper, so they
don’t have to increase the price for the customers.
As the demand increased for its products, the company bought
some new machines that helped in increasing the production rate,
and soon its market share increased and the company opened new
outlets at the Muscat Airport, the Wave, and City Centre, and it is
planning to introduce a new product (a perfume ) that mixes smell
of luban and Oud and sell it for OMR 55.
Tourists used to visit and have a tour in the company and see
products being made and packaged. One day, a tourist took a selfie
at the factory with a bar of soap in one hand and the giant
machines behind him, and he wrote “handmade?!” and he posted that
on his instagram account and tagged his friends. Soon everyone was
asking questions and the company’s marketing manager and the public
relation manager had to answer the questions of concerned
customers.
Question
If you were the marketing manager for the company, how would
you handle the Instagram case? ( problem solving)