Panasonic: Product Life Cycle Management - Coursework Example

Panasonic: Product Life Cycle Management Abstract The paper intends to promote a newly launched product by Panasonic. The product to be promoted is a low-profile contemporary design ’massage sofa’ delivering a neck-to-hip massage. The paper evaluates the strategy that will be implemented by Panasonic to reach the target market in a cost effective manner within a short time frame. The marketing communication tools are the most important factor of the paper as it evaluates how the people will be made aware regarding the massage sofa offering relaxation and satisfaction to the people. The price per unit of the product will be £5,000 which will provide the company a competitive edge over the others. Situation About the Product Panasonic is a leading brand which has taken an initiative to launch a new massage sofa in the United Kingdom Market. The newly launched massage sofa will be of low profile. The design of the sofa will be such that it will provide massage to the individuals from the neck to the hip region in order to make them feel relaxed and stress free. Massage sofa is a healthcare product which provides general healthcare by improving blood circulation and generating relaxation. The massage sofa will be of contemporary design to benefit the people from the neck to the hip region. The benefits that the low-profile massage sofa will provide are the improved blood circulation, relaxation for the muscles and will enhance the level of oxygen in the body. Moreover, the massage sofa will be effective for the back pain and provide relief by keeping the shoulder in a proper position. It will be an automated massage sofa effective for relaxing and toning the body. It will also act as exercise equipment for the people who are overweight and make them feel reenergised and fresh. The total relaxation of the upper body will not only benefit the body but will also make the people mentally relaxed. The cost of each unit of massage chair will be £5000 which provides relaxing massage through the use of electricity (Panasonic Massage Chairs, 2014). Panasonic Corporation offers various forms of massage sofa such as thermal, acupressure, electric and thus has various price ranges as per the feature. The turnover of the massage sofa is moderate and has a growing demand. This can be stated as Panasonic initiated the massage sofa business in the year 1969 and till today it provides relaxation to the people with enhanced features. The prices of the products has changed and also their features. With the increasing turnover, the need for the product is increasing. Although the profit margin on the product is less but with the increasing turnover and growing demand, it will be a worthy purchase (Panasonic Massage Chairs, 2014). The massage chair is delivered by Panasonic Corporation using various policies and distribution channels. Shipping is the most common way of delivering the product to the threshold of the customer door with no delivering cost. Furthermore, the online distribution is the widely used channel by the customer to purchase the product. Through the online channels the delivery of the goods will be easier and faster. Product Life Cycle Panasonic provides the best warranty period for the massage sofa i.e. from minimum of 3 years to 5 years as per the cost, technology and features for their products. The life of the products is better and lasts minimum of 3 to 5 years depending on the technology used. It is recommended not to dispose the massage sofa after becomes non-function- but to exchange it with the new. In keeping with the product life cycle concept, it is observed that the product is in the growth stage till the 2nd year. With regular and constant use in the 3rd year, the product reaches the maturity stage wherein the product needs to be changed to be more effective. As at this point, new products get launched with enhanced features. The decline stage is at the maximum of the 5th year of the product life cycle. The life cycle of the massage sofa is moderate and effective (Komninos & et. al., n.d.). Nature of the Competition The massage sofa sector has few industrial competitors. In this context, it is noticeable that Panasonic faces severe competition from Elite due to their enhanced products and distribution channels. The Elite Massage Chair has been rated as the top in the massage sofa market as it is providing massage chair for the world to be a healthier place. The products have competitive price along with a wide range of availability and the chair life lasts for 3 years period (Gigley, 2013; Elite, 2013). On the other hand, the other competitor OSIM is also creating competition for Panasonic. Nonetheless, due to the enhanced features, cost efficiency the competition faced from OSIM is less. The cost effectiveness of the products is less as compared to Panasonic (Amazon, 2014). Positioning (Perceptual Map) The marketers have established an analytical method for measuring and plotting the consumer reaction on the benefits and attributes provided by the launched product. This analytical research tool of marketing is known as the perpetual mapping. A perpetual mapping is a form of multidimensional images of the apparent similarities and differences among the products and the brands. It is a process of designing offerings to gain position in the market (The McGraw Hill Companies, 1998). Mapping is important to determine the most important attribute that influences the decision of the consumer. It helps in revealing the strengths along with weaknesses in order to evaluate the product differences on the basis of attributes and price. Moreover, it will help to determine the perspective of the consumer through the mapping. The consumer of the Panasonic Massage sofa which is newly launched can describe the product to be most practical along with conservative. This implies that the positioning of the product is in the right direction of the map as the product is being liked by the people (Wilkinson, 2013). The position of the product is evaluated through the figure below. Figure 1 Outside Influence (Pestel) In the context of the United Kingdom (UK), it is observed that Panasonic massage sofa already has an existing market. The business in the UK gets support from the government due to the stable environment creating opportunity for the industry. In terms of economic factors, it is reflected that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country is USD 2440 billion which implies that the disposable income of the people is more (Trading Economics, 2013). Having more disposable income increases the opportunity for the industry as it will increase the sale of the business. From the social point of view, it is observed that the people of the UK face high level of stress. With the growing trend of the people and change in the lifestyle, the need for products such as the massage sofa can gain a better market. Geographic or Seasonal Consideration The massage sofa of Panasonic does not face any consideration on the seasonal aspect. This is because the product is used irrespective of seasonal factors. The demand and supply for the product does not depend on any seasonal aspects due to the product category. On the other hand, it is observed that the awareness of the massage sofa is more in the western countries than that of the Eastern economies. The stressful and busy lives of the people have made the western people to use the product than other geographic locations. Target For the business to be successful and to have a better market share, it is important to segment the market on the basis of the demographics, psychographics and geographic. The newly launched product will be useful for every gender and for the people of every age. As the product provides relief and fitness and has no side effects. The target market for the product is from the age group of 20. The product is a luxury item and can be afforded by the people with disposable income. People in the occupational sectors having stress are the prospective clients of the massage sofa. Besides, the target audience of the product are irrespective of the social class. As the product i.e. massage sofa is a luxurious item, it will be marketed for attracting the higher professional and managerial workers with moderate income. The product is useful for every individual and hence the market segmentation is very wide. The product will be initially marketed for the people of the UK due to their lifestyle and awareness regarding the products. The product will then be expanded to other geographical locations with time. Psychographics is another consideration for market segmentation as it includes the attitude, values and behaviour of the people. People being more health conscious, the massage sofa will be effectively marketed keeping in view the various aspects. The target of the business is very wide and mainly comprises the people with high income, enhanced lifestyle and people having greater health consciousness. The Objective The objective of the business is to provide the people with enhanced technology product i.e. massage sofa to make the individual feel healthy and fresh. Specific objective of the new massage sofa is to target the health conscious people in order to provide fitness. It will facilitate to reduce the stress level and help the people to achieve satisfaction through the use of the massage sofa. The objective is to provide the best service to the customer with the correct design. Measurable objective is to provide qualitative aspect to the people by measuring the benefits it provides through the use of the contemporary design massage sofa. Attainable objective is to provide relief to every individual along with creating the need of the product as a necessity to benefit the people. Within the span of six months, the product will be used by various people because of the awareness. The awareness will be more among the people as the company Panasonic is already in the business of massage sofa and the new product is expected to create 60% awareness within the span of four months. The objective is relevant for the people of the modern era due to the hectic lifestyle this will provide the people with satisfaction and improved blood circulation for stress relief. The objective of gaining a wide market will be achieved within the span of a year due to the enhanced feature and available price range through the effective use of the communication tools (Kean University, n.d.). Strategy It is important to strategize the product i.e. the massage sofa to grow rapidly in the market and in order to gain prominent market share. Strategy is a process of planning which is important to achieve the desired objective for the future. Strategy is vital to make effective use of the opportunity prevailing in the market and to reduce the level of risk. The plan is of relevance to create the desire of the product in the minds of the people to get the desired output and have a sustainable market in the long run. It helps in analysing the market for better enhanced performance for the new product (Ferrell & Hartline, 2010; Gillies, 1996). The strategy used for the newly launched massage sofa to get better result and to fulfil the objective will be through the implementation of the Push or Pull strategy. The product faces competition in the market and thus it will be effective to use the aggressive form of marketing strategy to promote personal selling. Panasonic will implement the pull strategy to attract the customer towards them. The pull marketing strategy will also be implemented which will involve high promotional activities and word-of-mouth promotion to attract the customers and to create the demand amid the people. This strategy will also be initiated to attract the customer directly from the Panasonic manufacturer. The business will use the viral communication to attract customer to buy products. This strategy will be effective as it will be able to create huge demand among the people within a short frame of time. The direct feedbacks of the customer will be an added benefit for the product in case of any improvement. The benefit with the use of this strategy will be that the product will be provided to the customer at a reasonable price which will not include the extra cost because of the elimination of the intermediaries. Moreover, the people will be able to provide their feedback which will help to enhance the quality of the product in order to attract a large market share in the UK. The focus of the business will be on the end users (Lamb & et. al., 2008). In case of the push strategy, the middleman, the retailers and wholesaler could be involved which would increase the price of the product and the time taken would be more but will be introduced after a period of 6 months in order to reach wider audience. Furthermore, the profile marketing strategy will not be implemented in the initial years due to the low-profile of the product (Beamish, 2006). Tools Marketing is one of the most important attributes for the business as it is the medium through which awareness regarding a product is created among the people. Marketing communication tool creates the desire for the product in the mind of the people and converts the desire into purchase. The communication tools are of various forms which are used as a promotional tool by the manufacturers to achieve the specific objective i.e. profit. The marketing communication tools will be implemented tactfully keeping in view the budget, the target audience and support from the external environment regarding the product. The communication tool will be the mix of traditional as well as the digital medium to reach a wider consumer base to create awareness. Advertising is the most common form of marketing that will be used to promote the massage sofa. It is kind of mass media vehicle which will reach facilitate to large customer base and provide the information regarding the product within the given span of time. The advertising will be done through the television so that the audience will be able to see the sofa and the features it has. It will be a direct marketing which will create greater response and awareness. The advertising campaign will be done for a period of six months from the first month. The reason is that television is one of the easiest ways to communicate about the product in a short time period. The influence of the advertisement will be more and last for a long period as the product will be visible creating a strong impact on the target audience (Koekemoer, 2004). Television advertisement will create a perpetual impact on the customer as the advertisement will be for 30 seconds and will be displayed at non-prime time slot i.e. after 10 p.m. The reason behind such choice is that at this time frame a large audience will be attracted especially the office going crowd and the students. Direct marketing will be done to promote the massage sofa via mail shot that will be delivered in the post, mail drop i.e. delivered to the door and through telemarketing to attract the target audience. This method will be useful as it will bring the market for the people directly in their home. This will also encourage the people to buy the product as it will be made easily available for the people. This form of communication will be effective as it will help the business to observe the immediate response of the people regarding the massage sofa. This form of marketing will be implemented from the third month so that the people can get the delivery easily at home and give their responses about the product. This form of communication tool will assist in building a strong customer loyalty and better business (Kitchen & Pelsmacker, 2004). The other promotional tool for the massage sofa will be done with the use of leaflets distribution (sales promotion) in the areas with the target audience. The leaflets will be distributed outside the offices and colleges so that the target segment can get the information regarding the low profile massage sofa. It will display the features and benefits it provides to the people. This will also be done in the 1st and 2nd months to make the people aware regarding the products. This communication tool will be implemented in the local areas to grab their attention at the initial stage (Kitchen & Pelsmacker, 2004). SMS marketing incorporates sending text messages to the people with the information about the massage sofa features. The SMS will be effective as it is observed that people read the message more often as compared to that of the newspaper. Moreover, the advantage is that the message reaches the individual person directly. The messages will be sent to the target audience who have the need for the product as it provides relaxation and improves blood circulation. This tool will be implemented from the 2nd month to create awareness and response regarding the product. This communication channel boosts the overall campaign level reaction (Olander & Sehlin, 2000). Social media as a communication tool is very effective in the present era. The use of social media is an element of the marketing communication mix. The promotion of the massage sofa will be done through the use of the social network such as the Facebook, twitter which is used by every individual at their leisure time after office and colleges. This promotional tool will be implemented from the first month till the sixth month. This is an economic way of promoting a product wherein all the features and benefits of the product will be displayed. Panasonic will build a page in the Facebook to keep the people informed about the product, the price and the health benefit it provides to the individual after a long day work. The communication tool i.e. social media will be effective to promote the product and will also be cost effective (Olander & Sehlin, 2000). This is a fast way of communication with low cost and high effectiveness, thus this tool will be implemented from the 1st month till the 6th month. This is the most popular form of communication as the people can not only view the product but also give their views after using the products. Promotion will be cost effective and help in saving the budget. The information shared in the online will be more effective as the people value the reviews of the product advertised through the social media. Moreover, the customer service through the use of the social media will be more effective as people will be able to give their valuable feedbacks regarding the product and will be able to view the reviews. These are the most effective forms of communication tool which will be used by Panasonic for the promotion of their massage sofa with the contemporary design. These communication tools will be effective as they have a wide range of effectiveness and will help to develop the brand awareness and will also aid in creating a strategic vision. Conclusion and Recommendations The new product launch of massage sofa by Panasonic will be of low profile. It will provide massage to the people from the neck to hip region to reduce the level of stress and improve the blood circulation. The product has various benefits and will be sold at £5000 per unit. The design will be comfortable although contemporary design is used. The strategy for the product used is the pull strategy to get quick customer base. Furthermore, the communication tool used will be social media, advertisement as well as direct marketing and leaflet distribution along with SMS marketing which will be effective for the sales and the budget. Therefore, if the business exhibits a growth by selling several units of the product after the use of effective communication marketing tools for a period of six months, then the company can expand the product range by creating more massage sofa with enhanced features and more customised products as per the requirement of the user. It is recommended to use the push strategy by the company after gaining the loyal customer base in order to expand the business globally and not only in the United Kingdom. Table of Contents Situation 1 About the Product 1 Product Life Cycle 2 Nature of the Competition 3 Positioning (Perceptual Map) 3 Outside Influence (Pestel) 4 Geographic or Seasonal Consideration 5 Target 5 The Objective 6 Strategy 7 Tools 8 Conclusion and Recommendations 12 References 13 15 References Amazon, 2014. OSIM uDivine App Massage Chair. OSIM. [Online] Available at: http://www.amazon.com/OSIM-uDivine-App-Massage-Chair/dp/B00AQ4OHTU [Accessed March 25, 2014]. Beamish, K., 2006. Marketing Planning. Routledge. Elite, 2013. Elite Massage Chair. Home. [Online]Available at: http://www.elitemassagechairs.com/ [Accessed March 25, 2014]. Ferrell, O.C. & Hartline, M., 2010. Marketing Strategy. Cengage Learning. Gigley, C., 2013. Positive Vibes. Uploads, pp. 60-63. Gillies, G.L., 1996. Global Business Strategy. Cengage Learning EMEA. Komninos, I. & et. al., No Date. Product Life Cycle Management A Guide to New Product Development. Individual Cooperation Project, pp. 2-196. Koekemoer, L., 2004. Marketing Communications. Juta and Company Ltd. Kean University, No Date. SMART Objectives. Uploads, pp. 1-3. Kitchen, P.J. & Pelsmacker, P.D., 2004. Integrated Marketing Communications: A Primer. Psychology Press Lamb, C. & et. al., 2008. Marketing. Cengage Learning. Olander, C. & Sehlin, C., 2000. The Use and Integration of Marketing Communication Tools. Thesis, pp. 1-80. Panasonic Massage Chairs, 2014. Panasonic Massage Chairs. Technology for better Living. [Online]Available at: http://www.panasonicmassagechairs.com/ [Accessed March 25, 2014]. The McGraw Hill Companies, 1998. Positioning Decision. Chapter 9, pp. 2-13. Trading Economics, 2013. United Kingdom GDP. GDP. [Online]Available at: http://www.tradingeconomics.com/united-kingdom/gdp [Accessed March 25, 2014]. Wilkinson, L., 2013. Perceptual Mapping. Chapter1, pp. 1-17. Read More