Back to Right Light Proceedings startpage
DSM - A Competitive Advantage in Developing Market Relations A Study of A Lamp Campaign
Ingrid WillerströmUppsala Energy AB, Box 125, S-751 04 Uppsala, Sweden Abstract The Swedish electricity market is being transformed from monopoly to competition. This situation calls for a new market strategy from the local distributor. Uppsala Energi AB is an energy company producing and distributing electricity, heat and steam to customers in the city of Uppsala, Sweden. This paper presents a lamp campaign, selling compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) through an advantageous instalment purchase agreement to 60.000 household customers. The intention was to use a concrete example to both stimulate private customers to start thinking and acting in an energy efficient way and also to strengthen the company profile adopted as "being the guide to energy efficiency". The lamp campaign was started in September 1991 and ended in spring 1993. An evaluation was completed during 1993. A follow-up has been made in 1995. The result shows that the goal to teach the residential customers to Uppsala Energi to buy and use energy efficient lamps has been fulfilled. Also the knowledge and interest about the CFL and its opportunities have reached a satisfactory level. About 70,000 lamps have been sold as a result of the campaign. Activities like this lamp campaign are, judged by our results and experience, very effective with respect to market education and training. We also obtained a stronger positive influence in attitudes and opinions about Uppsala Energi than expected, i.e. we have made a market investment for future activities. Developing a capability to communicate with customers is one part of the strategy to survive in a competitive market by meeting the demands of the customers. Based on the knowledge that the annual cost of energy is more interesting than the price per unit, we can use DSM as a method and a competitive advantage to develop the relationship with the customer. Besides new options for customers, making alliances is another part of the strategy to strengthen the market position in a changing market. A strategic co-operation between different parties - from the manufacturer and retailer to the energy distributor - can be one way to take advantage of the potential in the whole chain and for the distributor to improve market relations and to get closer to its customers.
|