Marketing New Product Development - Case Study Example

Marketing New Product DevelopmentMany research firms have proved that many consumer goods flop significantly in the first year of sales in the market. Likewise, several products that do well in the beginning many times fail to sustain the same sales in the market. Many reasons attribute to this. A common reason for failure is a wrong assessment of the marketing environment. A firm may have a good product but fail to meet the wants of the consumer. An example is when Coca-Cola introduced C2, which most men rejected at its launch because of unfavourable benefits.

In most instances, the marketing firms fail to do their job adequately to come up with the true picture of the market. The market target may be too small to reflect adequate profits. For a significant success of a product, the market should be large enough to make huge sales.Another major reason for product failure is the quality. A product that does not meet customer satisfaction is prone to fail. Every good released into the market must be effective enough to meet the customers’ needs. In addition, the product may not offer any significant improvement of the product already available in the market.

Most customers would go for a new product if it offers better features or solves the problems witnessed in the current ones in the market. Some products may meet customer needs but have little access to the market. A good example is the case of small companies that may have a difficult time penetrating a market that is dominated by big competitive companies. This can be seen with the failure of Microsoft Zune. Such issues arise from lack of proper competitive analysis.Small companies face difficulty in budgeting and meeting the demands of the marketing plan.

It is especially because of over optimisation about the marketing plan at hand. Poor budgeting may lead the company to have a problem of pricing too. Since the budgeting consumed a lot of funds, the firm may try to recover it by offering unreasonable pricing for the commodity. In addition, the firms may run out of money before testing the product completely. The firms decide to test the products on the customers directly and end up flopping.Marketers have learnt that there is no available remedy that can act as a quick fix for all market flops.

However, there are steps that firms can take to increase their odds of new product success. Companies should have a clear understanding of the market, competitors and consumers of the products. The company should ensure that the product is unique and quite superior from the consumers’ perspective. The unique aspect is in terms of the features, specifications, design, and the attributes. The idea is to put the consumers’ interests first.Companies must carry out full pre-development activities.

Firms must do their homework fully. That is, they must conduct proper market research and do business analysis before developing a product. A company could use the benefits of innovation to come up with an appealing product. It could introduce an advantage from an existing product and build on it to create a better one. The secret is to ensure that the new product is appealing and meets the current need of the consumers.ReferenceHill, C. W. L., & Jones, G. R. (2012). Essentials of strategic management.

Australia, South-Western/Cengage Learning.