Buy Product Development and Innovation

Buy Product Development and Innovation

Question Description
I’m trying to learn for my Marketing class and I’m stuck. Can you help?

Instructions

We are learning that for a product to have the best chance of success, we must position it in the marketplace where it is likely to have the most appeal to consumers. These markets would have a suitable demographic, e.g. we don’t position hi-tech electronic devices and software to sell to an elderly population. Although it is true that some seniors are very tech savvy, they are not in the majority, and this population would not be the first target for our marketing dollars, when introducing the latest smart phone or gaming software. Companies spend a lot of money on consumer research, to try and define the best target market for their products.

However, there sometimes arises a need to look at an alternative or additional market for products. Perhaps a product has been selling well for a long time in one specific market, but now sales are leveling off and we need to look for other target markets where we might sell additional product.

Buy Product Development and Innovation

As you can appreciate, changing a target market is not an easy accomplishment and could create many different problems, not just with marketing and promotions, but with production, packaging, logistics—a whole host of changes might be set in motion. Consider too, that the old target market would have to be pacified. Imagine that you are selling a brand of deodorant that is very effective (contains a special chemical that makes the product more effective) and yet has a feminine perfume and is sold to the female market.

Along comes some market research that suggests that men would really benefit from this strong deodorant if the perfume was changed. Because of production constraints, they cannot make both products and so decide to drop the female product because they think the male product will attract a wider age range of men because of sports enthusiasts. This means that women who need a strong deodorant, no longer have a product that serves their needs.

Answer the following questions:

One main focus for marketing is the target market. Can target markets be changed easily?

Is that permissible with a new product, or does changing a target throw the product into jeopardy with the concept testing, the protocol, product use testing?

What safeguards might a company take to protect its existing business, if it does make a change in its target market?
Could this change have an effect on other products produced by the company?
Discuss the above and provide examples to illustrate your reasoning.