Seatback Has Your Back: A Start-up With a Wellness Vision

Description:

An Israeli startup Seatback has developed an ergonomic chair able to identify unhealthy sitting behaviors and an app that provides each user with specific recommendations for behavioral change to prevent health problems due to sedentary lifestyles. After a successful clinical trial, the company has finalized the first prototype of a smart chair with sensors and the accompanying health monitoring and recommendation app. Founders Sigal and Or Lustig are devising the go-to-market plan for the company. They are considering several B2C target markets, ranging from young gamers and work-from-home professionals to people suffering from neck and back pains, as well as B2B target markets. The company is undecided whether to position its chair as a sophisticated office chair or a cool gaming chair and whether to focus its positioning on the chair's sensors and monitoring capabilities or on the app, which offers personalized health recommendations. Given their limited resources as a startup, Seatback must also consider the best distribution strategies, including selling directly to consumers or through partnerships with local or global retailers, either online, offline or both. These decisions are crucial to the success of Seatback as they will affect the company's costs, pricing, marketing efforts, and eventually revenues. The case can be used in a marketing management course within a module on strategic decision-making or go-to-market strategies. It includes a dataset that allows for a rich discussion on identifying segments and choosing a target market. The case may also be used in courses on: marketing strategy, market trends, retail and eCommerce, pricing, health care strategy, entrepreneurship, and marketing communication.