SummaryStrohs brewery company was established in 1850 at Detroit, Michigan. The companyproduces various alcoholic andnon-alcoholic beverages. Among them Strohs beer possesses strong market-hold. The product is successful due to its distinct taste. But due to changing lifestyles and health and physical fitness issues alcoholic beverage sales have suffered. Stroh already has presence in the non-alcoholic beverages market. It offers non-alcoholic maltbeverages, coolers and juice-added soft-drinks. There appears to be a major change in U.S taste away from the distilled alcohol such as vodka, bourbon, and scotch to products which have less alcohol and a more pleasant flavour. But it is facing challenge from a new product, non-alcoholic beer. Various other companies like Claus haler, Kalibar, Moussy, Wartecketc have launched their product in this category. They all emphasize the fact that thebuyer gets the same taste as a normal beer (or even better) but without alcohol content. So now their direct competition lies with beer. The stagnant sales of beer over the years have also forced the company to look into other markets. In addition the company is facing increased pressure from various social groups with regards to marketing of alcoholicbeverages Action groups have formed against alcoholic abuse, which focuses on Alcohol Awareness Program and student against drunken driving. There are already a few target markets suggested for non-alcoholic beer which the company can hope to cater. The casepoints towards the question whether there is any need for Stroh to launch its own non-alcoholic beer or not. Also there is issue regarding the ethicality of marketing non-alcoholicbeer to youngsters and other segments.

Q.1) Is there a non-alcoholic market segment in the beer market? If it exists, should Stroh attempt to serve it? Why? Any research your group did that can provide current business scenario in Indian environment?Yes, there is a non-alcoholic beer segment in the beer market. Stroh should attempt to serve it as it offers high potential of growth .as we have analysed the number of non-alcoholic consumption is increasing by almost 5% every year .so herein lies huge potential for the company totap this sector as this caters to hugepopulationbaseThis maybe dueto changing lifestyles and the change in preferences of the consumers towards a health-conscious choice, as youth now are more health conscious. So its even good for people who want to have the taste of beer but do not want to drink alcohol and not get drunk. Non-alcoholic beer will compete with beverage products like soft- drinks, juice added soft drinks etc.

Q2) If Indian market was the market Stroh was looking at - What sales forecasting techniques should Strohs management use to predict sales of non-alcohol beer? A sales forecast is a prediction based on past sales performance and an analysis of expected market conditions. So Strohs management can look at the future objectively by reviewing the past data of consumption of yearly sales by volume and precisely analyses that information to see into the future. The responsibility of forecasting and ordering product at the distributorship basically lies with a Forecast Analyst. There are two main approaches to sales forecasting: quantitative and qualitative.Market segmentation means to identify the consumer market on the basis of common needs and then decide as to whichsegment needs to be served. Bases for agood segmentation effort are: Geographic segmentation- Under this, the market isdivided into various units such as nations, states, regions, counties, cities or neighbourhoods. The organization can then select the areas where it wants to operate. Demographic segmentation- Here, the market is divided into groups on the basis ofvariables such as age, gender, income, occupation, education, religion, family size, lifecycle stage, social class.

Psychographic segmentation- In this, buyers are divided into different groups on thebasis of lifestyle or personality or values

Behavioural segmentation- Here, buyers are divided on the basis of their knowledge, attitude, usage, and the variables are occasions, benefits, user status, buyer readiness, usage rate, attitude toward the product.

Qualities of an effective market segment -i) Measurableii) Substantialiii) Accessibleiv) Differentiablev) Actionable

Q3) Can Stroh cultivate new customers with a non-alcoholic beer and retain its old customers? Describe what kind of opportunity might this be for Stroh? Kind of communication (MARCOM) your group suggests. Discuss.

Stroh can cultivate new customers with non-alcoholic beer due to changing lifestyles and the change in preferences of the consumers towards a health-conscious choice, as youth now are more health conscious. Now trends are changing and even people who want to get a taste ofbeer and not drink alcohol will look for non-alcoholic beer. Further it is also used by people who want to drink but not get drunk. But, the existing customers ofbeer are used to thetaste and hangover of beer. Theremight be a possibility that they do not like non-alcoholic beer if they do not feel high .Any alteration with their regular drink might be disliked by them. As we have seen in recent past, when coke changed the formulae of their concentration, it was disliked by people by USA and the company had to get back to its original formulae as they people were addict to it or ratherthey were emotionally connected with the product. So Stroh can achieve the balance between new and existing customers by offering both the products. But it would be challenging forStroh to convert the customers preferring beer to thenon-alcoholic ones

Q.4) What prospect do you see for marketing of non-alcoholic beer in India? How large or small is the opportunity? State your response within the framework of a situation analysis that takes stock ofrelevant Indian statistics if possible.

The prospect is huge for marketing of non-alcoholic beer in India. Increasing GDP, favourable growth in the demographics with a growing urban middle class, growth of modern retail formats, hopeful rationalization of the taxation rules and ban on local country liquor and rising health consciousness, age preferences will act in favour of the growthof both alcoholic (specially beer) and non-alcoholic (specially fruit juices, energy drinks etc.) beverages in India in the near future. According to recent statistics non-alcoholic beer is the fastest growing beer segment globally, registering double-digit beer sales. The non-alcoholic beer market gives us access to a larger consumer base. Attractive packaging and strong promotion couldmake non-alcoholicbeers as strong a product as light beer. The current market for non-alcoholic beer is growing at a rate of 150 per cent annually. The fruit juices and fruit-based drinks market is close to Rs5,000 crore ($1.13 billion), growing at 35-40 per cent annually. The per capita consumption of non-alcoholic beer in India isestimated far below compared to China,Europe and the US,but with changing trends and with huge population base of India, scope of non-alcoholic beergoes manifold

Q.5) Is it ethical to market non-alcoholic beer to young and other segments of the market? Why? Discuss. Yes,It is ethical to market non-alcoholic beer to the young and the other segments as theproduct isalcohol- free.Also, in conservative countrieslike India, where consuming alcoholic products is culturally not acceptable, this product can serve the purpose of being a good substitute. Further we see that, on-alcohol beer caters to segment of youth which are health conscious as this beer contains minimum quantities of fat and calories. It is more suitable to the changing mind-set of consumers from social, cultural and health aspects. And also we know that the decision to accept an individual product or category is always at the discretion of the owner but at the same time patronage and sustaining is required from the consumers themselves to make the world a better place to lead a quality life

RTC From the above case we can see how marketing concepts such as STP i.e. Segmenting, Targeting and Positioning come into play in the real world. Segmentation is very important for any brand, as we have seen the continuous rise in the non-alcoholic consumption in the given years.Asseen bytheir forecasting strategies oflaunching non-alcoholic beverages in the market sensing the need for the same and capturing the advantages. The company looks for new market to expand in non-alcoholic beverages market and expand its market share while at the same time the competitors attack it at its core competency which is beer, by creating a new variant of non-alcoholic beer. Here a new need is being created by the competitors and a challenge is being thrown to the company to take immediate necessary actions. Branding is very important for a company as it ismore than aproduct, it can have dimensions that differentiate it insome way from other products designed to satisfy the same need. The Stroh Brewery Company shoulddecide to brand its products ina manner sothat its existing customers do not feel the change in their original brand of beer because Any alteration with their regular drink might be disliked by them as they are used to the taste and hangover ofbeer. So Stroh can achieve the balancebetween new and existing customers by offering both the products