A NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT:PRICING STRATEGIES, GLOBAL MARKET PLACE

<< MARKETING:BCG MATRIX, CONSUMER BEHAVIOR, PRODUCT AND SERVICES

Principles of Marketing MGT301

Lesson 45

Learning objectives:

A NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE STRATEGIES

PRICING STRATEGIES

PLACING STRATEGIES

PROMOTION STRATEGIES

CREATING COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

GLOBAL MARKET PLACE

MARKETING AND SOCIETY

A. New Product Development

Organizations must develop new products and services. A company has to be good at developing

new products. It also must manage them in the face of changing tastes, technologies, and

competition. As a reason to change, the company must realize that products face limited life spans

and must be replaced by newer products. In addition, new products can fail. The risks of

innovation can be as great as the rewards.

The key to successful innovation is in a total-company effort, strong planning, and a systematic

new-product development process. The new-product development process consists of eight stages:

idea generation, idea screening, concept development and testing, marketing strategy development,

business analysis, product development, test marketing, and commercialization. At each stage, a

decision must be made as to whether the idea should be further developed or dropped. The

company wants to minimize the chances of poor ideas moving forward or good ideas being

rejected.

Each product has a life cycle marked by a changing set of problems and opportunities. The sales of

a typical product follow an S-shaped curve made up of five stages.

These stages include:

the product-development stage

the introduction stage

the growth stage

the maturity stage

and the decline stage

As the product passes through these stages, the marketing planner must adjust the organization's

strategies and be aware of changing problems, threats, and opportunities. The planner must adjust

the firm's marketing mix to these changes and be able to predict when significant changes will

occur. Managing change is a true marketing management art and is necessary for the organization

to be successful in the long-term.

New Product development Process

1. Idea Generation

The first step in the new-product development process is idea generation, which is the systematic

search for new product ideas. For every one hundred new product ideas, only a very few ever make

it to commercialization. The search for these ideas should be systematic not haphazard. There are

many sources for new product ideas.

Among the most significant are:

a. Internal sources where formal research and development, company scientists and

engineers, company executives, and company salespeople can contribute ideas based on

their formal and informal research and experience.

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b. Customers can also produce good new-product ideas (simply by watching and listening

to them). Customers often create new products and uses on their own.

c. Competitors are another source of new-product ideas. It is a good idea to watch

competitor's ads and other communications to get clues about new products. In

addition, the organization can buy competing products, take them apart, analyze the

business processes used to sell the product, and then decide whether to make a similar

product themselves.

d. Distributors, suppliers, and others in the distribution chain can be sources of

information. Resellers are close to the market and can pass along information about

consumer problems and new-product possibilities. Suppliers can tell about new

concepts, techniques, and materials that can be used to develop new products. Other

sources can be trade magazines, trade shows, seminars, government agencies,

consultants, university and commercial laboratories, etc.

I). The search for new-product ideas should be systematic rather than

haphazard.

ii). Top management can avoid many problems by adopting an idea

management system that directs the flow of new ideas to a central point where they can be

collected, reviewed, and evaluated. The idea manager:

1]. Helps to create an innovation-oriented culture.

2]. Yields a larger number of ideas.

2. Idea Screening

The second step in the new-product development process is idea screening which involves

screening new product ideas in order to spot good ideas and drop poor ones as soon as possible.

Because product-development costs rise dramatically in later stages, companies must proceed only

with product ideas that will turn into profitable products. One way to keep information organized

is to have executives write up new-product ideas on a standard form that can be reviewed by a

new-product committee. A well-designed system for rating and evaluating new-product ideas

prevents problems at latter stages.

3. Concept Development and Testing

The third stage in the process is concept development and testing. Concepts may take on several

forms:

1). A product idea is an idea for a possible product that the company can see itself on the market.

2). A product concept is a detailed version of the new-product idea stated in meaningful consumer

terms.

3). A product image is the way consumers perceive an actual or potential product.

a. Concept development involves developing product ideas into some alternative

product concept, finding out how attractive each concept is to consumers, and

choosing the best one.

b. Concept testing involves testing the concepts with a group of target consumers to

find out if the concepts have strong consumer appeal. Concepts may be presented

to consumers either symbolically or physically. Marketers are always trying to find

new ways to make product concepts more real to concept-test subjects.

1). For some concept tests, a word or picture description might be sufficient.

2). Virtual reality tests are becoming popular.

3). It is routine to test concepts before consumers before attempting to turn them into actual

products.

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Marketing Strategy Development

a. The fourth step is marketing strategy development which involves designing an

initial marketing strategy for a new product based on the product concept.

b. A marketing strategy statement should be produced. This is a statement of the

planned strategy for a new product that outlines the intended target market, the

planned product positioning, the sales, market share, and profit goals for the

first few years.

1). The statement also outlines the product's planned price, distribution, and marketing budget for

the first year.

2). Lastly, the marketing strategy statement describes the planned long-run sales, profit goals, and

marketing mix strategy.

Business Analysis

The next step is business analysis, which is a review of the sales, costs, and profit projections for a

new product to find out whether these factors satisfy the company's objectives. To estimate sales,

the company should look at the sales history of similar products and should survey market

opinion.

Product Development

The sixth step is product development, which involves developing the product concept into a

physical product in order to ensure that the product idea can be turned into a workable product.

This step calls for a large jump in investment.

1). The R&D department will develop one or more physical versions of the product concept and

these prototypes can take varying lengths of time to develop.

2). When ready, these prototypes must be tested.

3). The prototype must have the required functional features and convey the intended

psychological characteristics.

Test Marketing

The seventh step is test marketing, which is the stage at which the product and marketing

programs are introduced into more realistic marketing settings. Test marketing lets the marketer

get experience with marketing the product.

1). The basic purpose is to test the product itself in real markets.

2). The amount of test marketing varies with each new product.

a). Not all products are test marketed.

b). Simple line extensions and copies of competitor products are often

not test marketed.

3). The test marketing costs can be high but they are often small when compared to with the costs

of making a major mistake.

4). Using test marketing doesn't guarantee success, however.

Commercialization

The eighth and final step in the new-product development process is commercialization. This step

is introducing a new product into the market. The company bringing out a new product must

make the following decisions:

1). When? When is the time right (timing) to introduce the new product?

2). Where? The company must decide whether to launch the new product in a single location, a

region, several regions, the national market, or the inter-national market. Sometimes a market

rollout works best where introduction is phased in. Global rollout may also be done.

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B. Product life Cycle Strategies

After launching a new product,

management hopes it will enjoy a

Sales and

Profits ($)

long and

profitable life.

Management, however, is also

Sales

aware of that each product will

have a life cycle. The product life-

cycle (PLC) is the course of a

Profits

product's sales and profits over its

lifetime. It involves five distinct

stages:

Time

a. The

product

Growth

Maturity

Decline

Product

Introduction

development

stage

Development

Stage

begins

when

the

company finds and

Sales and Profits Over

develops

new-

the Product's Life From

Inception to Demise

product idea. During

product development,

sales are zero and the company's investment costs mount.

b. The introduction stage is a period of slow sales growth as the product is being

introduced in the market. Profits are nonexistent in this stage because of heavy

expenses of product introduction.

c. The growth stage is a period of rapid market acceptance and increasing profits.

d. The maturity stage is a period of slowdown in sales growth because the product has

achieved acceptance by most potential buyers. Profits level off or decline because of

increased marketing outlays to defend the product against competition.

e. The decline stage is the period when sales fall off and profits drop.

1. Introduction Stage

Because the product-development stage of the PLC was examined at the beginning of the chapter,

the first stage to explore in more detail at this point is the introduction stage. This stage is when

the product is new and first distributed and made available for purchase.

a. In this stage, profits are negative or low because of the low sales and high

distribution expenses.

b. Prices tend to be on the high side because of low output, production problems,

high promotion, and other expenses.

c. There are usually few competitors.

d. The focus is on buyers who are the most ready to buy.

e. The market pioneer must launch its product with a strategy that is consistent

with a long-term focus on the market rather than a quick profit gain. Retaining

market leadership may be difficult, but is desirable.

Growth Stage

The growth stage is the product life-cycle stage during which a product's sales start climbing

quickly.

a. Early adopters will continue buying and later buyers will start following their lead.

b. New competitors may enter the market and introduce new product features.

c. The market will expand.

d. Prices will remain where they are or fall only slightly.

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e. Companies keep their promotion spending at the same or at a slightly higher

level.

f. Educating the market remains a goal, but the company must also meet the

competition.

g. Profits increase.

h. The firm faces a trade-off between high market share and high current profit.

Maturity Stage

The maturity stage is that stage in the product life cycle where sales growth slows or levels off.

Product managers may have to do more than simply defend their products. Most products are in

their maturity stage, and therefore, management has the most experience with this stage.

a. Market modification is an approach in which the company tries to increase the

consumption of the current product. It looks for new users and market segments.

It tries to increase usage among present customers. It may also reposition the

brand to appeal to a larger or faster-growing segment.

b. Product modification is an approach to change product characteristics. This can

be accomplished by quality improvement, feature improvement, or style

improvement.

c. Marketing mix modification is an approach in which the product manager tries to

improve sales by changing one or more marketing mix elements.

Decline Stage

The decline stage is the stage in the product life cycle in which a product's sales

decline. This

can occur for several reasons:

a. Technological advances.

b. Shifts in consumer tastes.

c. Increased competition.

Firms must be aware that carrying a weak product past its useful life can be very

costly to the

firm in many ways. Companies need to pay more attention to their aging products. Decisions that

need to be made are:

a. The firms may decide to maintain a brand without change in the hope that

competitors will leave the industry.

b. Managers may decide to harvest the product (which means reducing various costs

and hoping that sales hold up).

c. Managers may decide to drop the product from the line (sell it or liquidate it at

salvage value).

C. Price

"The amount of money charged for a product or service, or the sum of the values that

consumers exchange for the benefits of having or using the product or service".

Price goes by many names in our economy. In the narrowest sense, price is the amount of money

charged for a product or service. This meaning, however, has been broadened. Today, despite the

increased role of non-price factors in the modern marketing process, price remains an important

element in the marketing mix.

Many internal and external factors influence the company's pricing decision. Internal factors

include the firm's marketing objectives, marketing mix strategy, costs, and organizational factors.

External factors that influence pricing decisions include the nature of market and demand,

competition, and other environmental factors like the economy, reseller needs, and government

actions. In the end, the consumer decides whether the company has set the right price. The

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consumer weighs the price against the perceived value of using the product. If the price exceeds

the sum of the value, consumers will not buy the product. Consumers differ in the values they

assign to different product features and marketers often vary their pricing strategies for different

price segments.

Because pricing is a dynamic process, companies must design a pricing structure that covers all

their products and a variety of constantly changing conditions (such as changes that occur as the

product progresses through the stages of the product life cycle).

The marketer wishing to explore pricing strategy options will find a wealth of alternatives from

which to choose. The first major option will be pricing with respect to the product mix. Numerous

forms of product-mix pricing strategies are examined within the context of the competitive

environment. Examples include product-line pricing, optional-product pricing, captive-product

pricing, by-product pricing, and product-bundle pricing. The average marketer does not use all of

these methods; however, by studying the options available, the marketer enhances his or her ability

to be creative with respect to pricing within the context of the product mix.

Sometimes, however, the firm must make adjustments in their pricing process and strategy. These

adjustments are made to account for differences in consumer segments and changing situations.

Adjustments can occur through discounts and allowances or by the desire to segment markets by

price. Additionally, price has a psychological aspect that allows for adjustments just as

geographical, promotional, and international relationships can alter pricing methods and strategies.

Break-Even Analysis

Break-even pricing (target profit

pricing) is an approach to

setting price to

break-

Total revenue

even on the cost of making and

Target profit

1200

marketing products or to make

Total cost

1000

the

target (desired)

Break-even point

profit It uses a break-even chart

800

that shows the total cost and

600

total revenue at different levels

400

of sales volume.

Fixed cost

a. Although

200

break-even

analysis

and

target

profit

Sales volume in units (thousands)

pricing

can

help the company to determine minimum prices needed to cover expected costs

and profits, they do not take the price-demand relationship into account.

b. When using this method, the company must also consider the impact of price on

the sales volume needed to realize target profits and the likelihood that the

needed volume will be achieved at each possible price.

D. Place

Distribution channels have been identified as being a set of independent organizations involved in

the process of making a product or service available for use or consumption by the consumer or

business user. Making decisions involving distribution channels are among the most complex and

challenging decisions facing the firm. Each channel system (and there can be several) creates a

different level of sales and costs. Unlike flexible elements of the marketing mix (price decisions for

example), once a distribution channel has been chosen, the firm must usually stick with their

choice for some time. In addition, the chosen channel strongly affects, and is affected by, the other

elements in the marketing mix.

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A strategic planner limits their options if they

consider only one channel choice. Each firm

needs to identify alternative ways to reach its

market. There are many means available. Some

Manufacturer

Customer

of the choices include the range of direct

selling to multiple intermediary levels (which

Manufacturer

Customer

may involve several distribution relationships).

Each of these options has advantages and

Manufacturer

Customer

disadvantages associated with them. Vertical

Manufacturer

and horizontal systems are more sophisticated

Customer

than the basic channel alternatives and each is

Manufacturer

explained in context with contemporary usage.

E-commerce and the use of the Internet have

20 Contacts

also impacted channel choice and strategy in a

profound way.

Channel design begins with assessing customer

channel-service needs and company channel

Manufacturer

Customer

objectives and constraints. The company then

identifies the major channel alternatives in terms

Manufacturer

Customer

of the types of intermediaries, the number of

Wholesaling

Manufacturer

intermediaries, and the channel responsibilities of

Intermediary

Customer

each. No system, no matter how well it has been

Manufacturer

planned, is without conflict. If quality service and

Customer

Manufacturer

low cost is to be delivered, management of

distribution conflict is a necessity. Because

9 Contacts

distribution relationships tend to be long-term in

nature, the choice of channel partners is very

important and should be taken very seriously.

In today's global marketplace, selling a product is sometimes easier than getting it to customers.

Therefore, marketing logistics and supply chain management is receiving increased attention from

strategic planners. The task of marketing logistics systems is to minimize the total cost of providing

a desired level of customer services although bringing those services to the customer with the

maximum amount of speed. Major logistics functions of warehousing; inventory management,

transportation, and logistics information management are discussed and explored.

Retailing and Wholesaling

Retailing and wholesaling consist of many organizations bringing goods and services from the

point of production to the point of use. Retailing by definition includes all the activities involved in

selling goods and services directly to final consumers for their personal, non-business use. Retailers

can be classified as store retailers and non store retailers. Store retailers can be further classified by

the amount of service they provide, the product line sold, relative prices charged, and retail

organization format (control of outlets). Non store retailers are described as being in direct

marketing, catalogs, telephone, home TV shopping shows, home and office parties, door-to-door

contact, automatic vending, online services and the Internet, and other direct retailing approaches.

Retailing decisions involve the constant search for new marketing strategies to attract and hold

customers. Considerations are the target market and positioning decision, the product assortment

and services decision, the price decision, the promotion decision, and the place decision. All of

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these decisions are examined closely in the chapter. Numerous examples provide explanations of

several options that are available in all the aforementioned areas.

Retailers operate in a harsh and fast-changing environment, which offers threats as well as

opportunities. New retail forms continue to emerge to meet new situations and consumer needs,

but the life cycle of new retail forms is getting shorter. In addition to the traditional forms of

retailing, consumers now have an array of nontraditional alternatives to choose from including mail

order, television, phone, and online shopping. The last major trend that seems to be of interest to

business strategists and marketers is the rise of huge mass merchandisers and specialty superstores.

These forms will have a pronounced effect on the way retailing is conducted in the future.

Wholesaling, unlike retailing, deals with the sale of goods and services that will be resold by and/or

used by the business customer itself. One way to study and understand wholesaling is to examine

the functions that are performed by the wholesalers. These functions include selling and

promoting, buying and assortment building, bulk-breaking, warehousing, transportation, financing,

risk bearing, supplying market information, performing management services, and providing advice

for customers. Wholesalers can be divided into numerous groups. Three primary types of

wholesalers are merchant wholesalers, agents and brokers, and manufacturer and retailer sales

branches and offices. Each of these general types (and their numerous subdivisions) are explained

and detailed.

E. Promotion

Modern marketing calls for more than just developing a good product, pricing it attractively, and

making it available to target customers. Companies must also communicate with their customers

and there should be controlled direction to those communications. Promotion provides the

primary communication function. As one of the four major elements of the marketing mix,

promotion uses advertising, sales promotion, public relations, personal selling, and direct

marketing to achieve the company's communication objectives.

During the past several decades, companies around the world have perfected the art of mass

marketing. The companies must recognize that the face of marketing communications is constantly

changing and, to be effective in the future, the marketer must learn to utilize the new emerging

communication techniques. The growth and challenges of the electronic promotional

communication form are great. The use of computer technology, a desire to get close to the

consumer, and an increased use of direct marketing databases has set the stage for increased

integrated marketing communications. Under this concept, the company carefully integrates and

coordinates its many communication channels--mass media advertising, personal selling, sales

promotion, public relations, direct marketing, packaging, and others--to deliver a clear, consistent,

and compelling message about the organization and its products. Integrated marketing

communications produce better communications consistency and greater sales impact.

Integrated marketing communications involves identifying the target audience and shaping a well-

coordinated promotional program to elicit the desired audience response. Too often, marketing

communications focus on overcoming immediate awareness, image, or preference problems rather

than managing the customer relationship over time.

Building on the aforementioned communications model, describes the steps in developing

effective communication. One of the most important decisions to be made by the organization is

how much to spend on promotion. This discusses several approaches to the organization of a

promotional budget and a mix of tools to accomplish the organization's promotional objectives.

There are various strategies that can be considered by the promotional planner. The primary

strategies of push and pull are described. In addition, the buyer-readiness stage and the product

life-cycle stage are also considered.

Three of the promotional mix elements (advertising, sales promotion, and public relations) are

mass communication tools. Advertising is described as being any paid form of non-personal

presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, and services by an identified sponsor. There are four

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important decisions to be accomplished as the marketer attempts to organize and direct the

advertising function. Each of these decisions (setting objectives, budget decisions, advertising

strategy [message decisions and media decisions], and evaluating advertising campaigns) is

discussed in detail and explained within the context of building an advertising campaign. In

addition, several forms of advertising, various advertising strategies, and descriptions of the mass

media are presented to the reader. The marketing firm can undertake the advertising function

themselves or they can contract with an advertising agency to accomplish their advertising

objective, planning, and implementation.

Sales promotion is a process of providing short-term incentives to encourage purchase or sales of a

product or service. Sales promotion offers the buyer reasons to buy now. In addition, sales

promotion is also intended to stimulate reseller effectiveness. Sales promotion has grown rapidly in

the recent past because of pressure to increase sales, increased competition, and the declining

efficiency of the other mass communication methods.

Public relations, the final mass communication tool described in this chapter, is an attempt to build

good relations with the company's various publics by obtaining favorable publicity, building up a

good "corporate image," and handling or heading off unfavorable rumors, stories, or events. The

organization has a variety of tools at their disposal for accomplishing this feat. One of the

overriding tasks of public relations is to control the exposure and relationship with the mass media.

By focusing on consumer attitudes, awareness, and knowledge of the organization, the company is

better prepared to succeed. Public relations has even been extended to the Internet and companies

are beginning explore ways to increase its effect in the newly emerging world of e-commerce.

Advertising

A paid form of non-personal communication about an organization and/or its products to a target

audience through a mass medium.

Personal Selling

A paid form of non-personal communication about an organization and/or its products to a target

audience through a mass medium.

Sales Promotion

Demand-stimulating activity designed to supplement advertising and facilitate personal selling.

Public Relations

A planned communication effort by an organization to contribute to generally favorable attitudes

and opinions toward an organization and its products.

Direct Marketing

Direct connections with carefully targeted individual consumers to obtain an immediate response

and cultivate lasting customer relationship

F. Creating Competitive Advantage

Two key trends in marketing for the twenty-first century are: (a) the trend toward the use of

relationship marketing to improve customer satisfaction; and (b) the trend toward in-depth

competitor analysis as a means of identifying the company's major competitors (using both an

industry and market-based analysis) and closely examining and formulating strategies to deal with

competitors' objectives, strategies, strengths and weaknesses, and reaction patterns.

To be successful, a company must consider its competitors as well as its actual and potential

customers. In the process of performing a competitor analysis, the company carefully analyzes and

gathers information on competitors' strategies and programs. A competitive intelligence system

helps the company acquire and manage competitive information. The company must then choose

a competitive marketing strategy of its own. The strategy chosen depends on the company's

industry position and its objectives, opportunities, and resources. Several basic competitive

strategies are outlined in the chapter. Some of these are time-tested and some are relatively new.

The first is that of the market leader which faces three challenges: expanding the total market,

protecting market share, and expanding market share. The market leader is interested in finding

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ways to expand the total market because it will benefit most from any increased sales. The leader

must also have an eye toward protecting its share. Several strategies for accomplishing this

protection task are presented. Aggressive leaders also try to expand their own market share. The

second position is that of the market challenger. This is a firm that aggressively tries to expand its

market share by attacking the leader, other runner-up firms, or smaller firms in the industry. The

third position is that of the market follower which is designated as a runner-up firm that chooses

not to rock the boat (usually out of fear that it stands to lose more than it might gain). Lastly, the

market niche is a position option open to smaller firms that serve some part of the market that is

not likely to attract the attention of the larger firms. These firms often survive by being specialists

in some function that is attractive to the marketplace. The competitive analysis of the four

competitive position options presented. This information can be used by every mid-level strategic

planner who seeks insight into competitive strategy dynamics.

G. Global Market Place

The world is shrinking rapidly with the advent of faster communication, transportation, and

financial flows. In the twenty-first century, firms can no longer afford to pay attention only to their

domestic market, no matter how large it is. Many industries are global industries, and those firms

that operate globally achieve lower costs and higher brand awareness. At the same time, global

marketing is risky because of variable exchange rates, unstable governments, protectionist tariffs

and trade barriers, and other prohibitive factors.

Given the potential gains and risks of global marketing, companies need a systematic way to make

their international marketing decisions. Decision areas that must be addressed are: (1) How to look

at the global market environment; (2) Deciding whether to go international; (3) Deciding which

markets to enter; (4) Deciding how to enter the market; (5) Deciding on the global marketing

program; and, (6) Deciding on the global marketing organization. Each of these decisions must be

seriously considered and answered if success is to be achieved in the international competitive

arena. All markets and industrial bases around the world are not the same. There are varying

degrees of economic sophistication. The marketer must make plans for operations in subsistence

economies, raw-material-exporting economies, industrializing economies, and established industrial

economies separately if true marketing success is to be achieved. It would be easier on the decision

maker if all the economies were like the United States. They, however, are not. Global marketing

requires an extensive amount of learning and, in some instances, adaptation of the marketing mix

to fit the particular situation and economy.

In addition to global challenges with consideration of the marketing mix, the marketer that wishes

to go global must also consider a variety of options on how to align the organization with

international partners. These considerations are different than those that the marketer faces in its

own domestic environment. The end result of making these new global decisions is not only

improvement in marketing skills, but improvement toward attaining a truly global organization.

H. Marketing and Society

In working to meet the consumer's needs, marketers may take some actions that are not approved

of by all the consumers or publics within the social sector. Marketing managers must understand

the criticism that the marketing function may encounter. By understanding the criticism, the

manager is better prepared to respond to it in a proactive manner. Some of the criticism is justified;

some is not.

The primary criticisms of the marketing function with respect to the impact on individual

consumers have been categorized as being: (1) high prices; (2) deceptive practices; (3) high-

pressure selling; (4) shoddy or unsafe products; (5) planned obsolescence; and (6) poor service to

disadvantaged consumers. These criticisms have come from a failure to meet individual consumer

welfare needs.

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A separate set of criticisms is directed toward the marketing function by society in general.

Criticism from this larger public body includes comments on creating: (1) false wants and too

much materialism; (2) too few social goods; (3) cultural pollution; and (4) too much political

power. In addition, critics have also pointed out that marketing's impact on businesses may not be

good either. Marketing is accused of harming competitors and reducing competition by acquisition

of competitors, creating barriers to entry, and using unfair marketing practices.

Concerns about the marketing function have led action groups to participate in consumer and

environmental movements and to form protest organizations. Marketing's response to action

groups and social criticism has largely been positive and proactive. Many companies that were

originally opposed to social movements and legislation that was created to address consumer

complaints have now recognized a need for positive consumer information, education, and

protection.

THE END

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