Product Positioning Insights for a Water Treatment Additive

Client Background 

The client is a mid-sized specialty chemicals company manufacturing a niche additive for industrial water treatment. It operates primarily across emerging markets in Asia and Latin America, serving OEMs and distribution partners in the utilities and manufacturing sectors. 

Client’s Challenge 

Despite meeting all technical specifications, the client's product was struggling to gain market traction. Distributors and end users perceived it as comparable to lower-cost alternatives, leading to pushback on pricing and difficulty securing long-term contracts. The client approached Mordor Intelligence to assess whether the product was being positioned effectively. They wanted to understand how to better communicate its value without changing formulation or pricing, ideally through sharper messaging and more strategic engagement with buyers and partners. 

How Mordor Intelligence Helped 

Product Positioning Assessment Aligned to Buyer Priorities 

• Conducted a competitive benchmarking study comparing the client’s product against five local and regional alternatives used in similar water treatment applications.
• Interviewed technical buyers, procurement heads, and channel partners to identify disconnects between what the product promised and what users prioritized. 
• Identified that messaging centered too heavily on technical superiority while buyers actually valued ease of installation, maintenance, and safety assurances more. 

Reframed Messaging Based on Field-Level Insights 

• Shifted the positioning from lab-based performance benchmarks to operational benefits such as reduced system downtime and lower error risk during installation.
• Recommended updates to training and sales enablement content to emphasize these user-relevant attributes.
• Delivered a messaging guide to help unify communication across marketing, sales, and distributor channels. 

Key Findings 

• Buyers did not view the product as sufficiently differentiated from lower-priced substitutes.
• Key decision-makers valued practical features like ease of use and system compatibility over marginal technical advantages.
• Product messaging often overlooked the needs of installation engineers and procurement teams, who played a key role in product selection. 

Our Industry Coverage 

Mordor Intelligence has worked with chemical manufacturers, distributors, and technology providers across segments. Our work spans over 100 custom projects tailored to diverse client needs, from market leaders to challenger brands. 
Our research capabilities in the chemicals and materials space include: 

• Opportunity Assessment: Identify emerging product demand and untapped applications in target geographies.
• Go to Market Strategies: Develop commercialization roadmaps for new products in complex value chains.
• Product to Market Assessment: Understand how to position a technical product in practical, purchase-ready terms.
• Customer Behavior Analysis: Capture what end users, installers, and procurement teams value most during product evaluation.
• Competitor Assessment: Analyze how similar products are positioned and where differentiation opportunities exist.