Archive for the ‘New Product Development’ Category
Friday, August 1st, 2008
Carol-Ann Morgan’s latest Thursday Night Insight post looks at how the current state of the economy impacts on our marketing and market research behaviour. Wider economic factors may be beyond our control, but that doesn’t mean to say we have no control over our own destiny..
I met with a friend of mine the other night, whose business is in the manufacture and fitting of products for the construction industry. Our conversation quickly turned to the current economic position and how this might be affecting business. The major impact he has seen was in the volume of work available. No surprises as pressures affecting the construction industry are widely reported in the media. My friend proceeded, enthusiastically, to tell about his efforts to ramp up his marketing; increasing his spend, producing new and interesting literature in a variety of media, maximising his high project successes, maintaining his contact database and using hospitality events productively.
I was struck by his approach, and his investment in what he saw as safeguarding the future of the business in the very competitive and challenging market in which he operates. There can be a tendency to think that marketing actions and ideas stem mainly from the larger companies, with designated marketing personnel beavering away for the company. Quite clearly, the recognition of the need for marketing and market knowledge, particularly in challenging times, extends to the SME.
Market research requirements change during times of high and low growth. In high growth times, companies tend to be feeling more optimistic, looking for new markets and new products. Market assessment and product development tend to be high on the agenda. However, in low growth times, there is an even greater need to understand our customers, meet their needs, keep them satisfied and build loyalty, and this is reflected in the type of research requests received.
My friend reminded me that the worst thing you can do when times are hard is nothing!
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Carol Ann Morgan, Thursday Night Insight, New Product Development, Market Assesment, Customer Satisfaction |
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Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008
Entering any new market is difficult. This is especially so when companies attempt to expand into territories where there are stark cultural and operational differences between the nationality of the company entering the marketplace and the host country.
As we’ve identified countless times at the Market Research Blog, and in several white papers on the subject, entering a market such as China can be fraught with difficulty for the unacquainted, and that being prepared for a different way of doing things is the best possible grounding.
Paul Denlinger, a strategic consultant in China, has identified some reasons why US companies in particular have struggled in the People’s Republic. Key amongst his findings are that US operations cannot simply be “scaled outwards” when starting out and that very different ground-rules apply:
Why most US Entries Fail in China
July 14th, 2008
By Paul Denlinger
The consulting industry in China is flourishing. After all, it is the largest potential single market in the world, and everyone is flocking to it. New companies need information and advice about how to tackle the unique challenges of this market. For any MBA who is fluent in Chinese, or who has grown up in China, and is familiar with the tools of the trade, such as financial modeling, business negotiations and company valuations, China represents an “iron rice bowl” which will make their careers for years to come.
Or is it? My experience is that there are errors which are repeated over and over again. It gets like being condemned to watch a single Broadway show, over and over again, where the only things which change are the sets and the actors; the lines are the same.
I have covered one of the major fallacies in a previous posting, Getting Past the China Market Hype, which covered their initial reasons for entering China. This posting will cover some of the reasons for failing post-entry…
For More, Click Here
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New Product Development, Market Research China, Market Assesment |
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Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008
In a recent Thursday Night Insight post featured on The Market Research Blog, Caroline Harrison talked about how costly it can be to launch a product without first investigating the new market and without fully appreciating local cultural differences in geographies across the world.
A recent USA Today article highlighted how even the most innocuous assumptions can show that you don’t fully understand – or haven’t fully considered – your target market. This most unlikely example was actually a product review for a German car that was launched in the US market in January. Whilst much of this article is a detailed (and not altogether unflattering) technical assessment of the product, two quirky examples are brought to the reader’s attention of how this European vehicle has not quite been adapted enough to totally satisfy the needs of a United States consumer.
- The in-car cup holder is too small for many standard North American cups
- The vehicle clock displays as a 24-hour clock – popular in Western Europe, but not the normal 12-hour clock that Americans are used to.
Whilst these are, of course, very minor ‘problems’ in the scheme of things, the reviewer notes that they are a “reminder that Americans weren’t top-of-mind during development”.
If you’re entering a new market with an existing – or adapted – product, you need to be sure you have thoroughly researched your target market. DO NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS.
If you are launching a new product in an entirely new country or continent, then market research is an absolute must.
When developing a new product, don’t just think about the bigger picture. As this automobile example demonstrates, sometimes it’s the small things that make the difference to your customers.
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Market Research USA, New Product Development, Market Assesment, International Market Research, Market Research |
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Friday, June 27th, 2008
Although the annual intrigue and expectation regarding the BBC’s The Apprentice has now long since died down, in this week’s Thursday Night Insight, B2B Marketing Manager Caroline Harrison nonetheless reflects upon a recent re-run of the show and finds some more valuable business lessons can still be learned.
Recently I watched a re-run of an episode of The Apprentice on TV. It was an episode which I had not seen previously, but was (yet another) one in which you sit in disbelief as an ambitious individual with a huge ego has unshakable faith in their own judgement. As always, it makes for great TV when this person gets the comeuppance that everyone else has seen coming from the start.
The individual concerned was leader of the girls’ team tasked with creating and pitching a prototype product to retail at £10 or less. With two possible ideas for a children’s toy on the table – a toy robot and the team leader’s own idea of "Secret Signals" semaphore cards – both concepts were put to the vote.
The five fellow members of the girls’ team unanimously preferred the robot idea, considering the semaphore game old fashioned and effectively redundant in the age of texting.
Undeterred, focus groups with children – the key target market for the potential product – were arranged. Once again, the decision was unanimous, with the focus groups all showing a clear preference and potential market opportunity for the robot idea.
At this juncture, common sense would tell most people that they should back down or risk being left with egg on their face. Of course, everybody is entitled to have a different opinion, and there are products on the market which meet the various needs of many, many different people. However, market research - and in this particular case, a focus group - is used for a reason. It gives a great insight into what a potential market is really looking for in a product or service, and helps to establish whether there is a measurable need or desire for your concept in the first place. Anyway, the team leader flew in the face of what the whole world was telling her and decided to plough on with her ‘brilliant’ idea regardless. Needless to say, the whole project was a disaster and the team leader in question was the next Apprentice candidate to be given the boot.
That’s not to say that people can’t come up with ‘wacky’ ideas which prove to be hugely successful in spite of the initial reservations of some of their friends or colleagues. It’s just that when research shows time after time after time that your idea will not sell, chances are that your idea will not sell. The only silver lining from this whole fiasco would seem to be that very few people were surprised by the outcome of the task and that as a consequence few other people would disregard such compelling market research evidence at their peril.
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Caroline Harrison, Thursday Night Insight, New Product Development, Focus Groups |
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Friday, April 4th, 2008
In her first Thursday Night Insight contribution, Senior Researcher Julia Cupman discusses meeting customers’ needs, and finds that while this seems like a simple task, achieving this goal is actually fraught with difficulty.
In my spare time I play in a string quartet, and the players and I have come to learn over the years that the public most likes the music that it knows – that is, music that the vast majority of people recognise, as opposed to high-brow classical pieces which are only known to the select few. I believe there is an element of truth to this in marketing too, and I will use an example from a project I conducted recently on seafood to illustrate my point.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation, 70% of the world’s fish stocks are now fully fished, over-fished or depleted. In the North Sea, for example, many once common species such as cod, skate and plaice are now overfished and, in the case of cod, stocks are on the verge of commercial collapse, whilst common skate is believed to be virtually extinct.
“Consumer awareness”, “ethical consumerism” and “The Green Revolution” are terms that are ever more frequently bandied about as consumers are encouraged to play a role in saving fish stocks. Industry is playing its part by communicating messages regarding sustainable seafood to customers and consumers. The tuna fish cakes I found in my fridge earlier, for example, had “sustainably sourced” written clearly on the front of the packaging.
Cod is one of the most popular fish eaten in Europe, but it is under pressure of being overfished. In 2006, Birds Eye caught around 17,000 tonnes of cod – around a quarter of the North Sea cod population. However, the company announced last year that it would launch new fish fingers made of Alaskan Pollock from a sustainable fishery in order to help cut its cod catch by 4,000 tonnes a year. Birds Eye tried to promote its new Pollock fish fingers to consumers from the sustainable fish angle, but failed. It then changed its message, dropping the sustainability aspect to focus on Omega 3 instead – a wise move given that fish is perceived as a healthy option by the vast majority of consumers that buy it.
It became clear to Birds Eye that consumers were not in the know or were not concerned enough about sustainability for this message to influence their purchasing. Birds Eye instead realised that it had to tell consumers what they wanted to know – that fish is good for them.
This may appear simplistic, yet it is surprising just how many companies (not just Birds Eye) are unable to take the customers’ perspective. This points to the fact that identifying customers’ needs may actually be a far more difficult endeavour than first seems.
And it is also why disciplined, in-depth research is so invaluable when launching a new product, since this kind of intelligence is invariably the difference between success and failure.
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Julia Cupman, Thursday Night Insight, New Product Development |
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