Marketing to the bottom assignment

Since many of the BOP consumers live in undeveloped countries and do not have access to electricity like we do in America, Motorola developed a low-cost cell phone with battery life of 500 hours and a standby time of two weeks. Despite Motorola phone priced at $40 dollars with all the features that would be important to a BOP consumer. With expectations to sell over 6 million phones in six months, Motorola is set to bring in over $480 million dollars in the first year. As with any business setting, controlling and understanding your costs is critical to your strategy and ability to make money.

Without effective research to properly identify the BOP markets needs and wants, one misstep or miss-calculation can lead to a failed product launch and potentially millions of dollars lost depending on the size of the venture. Since most BOP consumers are so poor and do not have access to standard finance options making an inexpensive product is not enough. Because BOP consumers live on less than $2 a day, the companies that pursue BOP marketing must consider alternate or creative forms of financing to pay for their products or services. A great example of a company that instituted an unorthodox but successful enhance program is Chem..