Product Proliferation

Many companies produce similar products aimed at the same market segment for customers with similar needs. Apart from aesthetics, price point is what customers usually base their decision on. Even though high end brands are very expensive however, they still sell well. Many consumers are not aware of every product and price on the market. Also the pulling power of the brands means that many of the consumers are prepared to pay a price for what they perceive as a must have.  Even so, manufacturers still try to make their products different from the competition to ensure they have successful market share. Different price levels may then be set which are often based on the value that the customers put on special features or qualities.

Marketing

Aim of all marketing is to satisfy customer needs, generate product sales, increase market share, and ensure that a company remains profitable. Successful marketing can also include promoting a brand image and developing new markets for the product.

Marketing plan

-         Background and situation analysis including SWOT

-         Analysis of PEST

-         Info from target markets, consumers and competitors

-         Action plan and advertising strategies

-         Investigating and planning marketing costs

-         Best time to market the product

-         How to monitor the marketing campaign

Market Research

Identifies info on:

-         Patterns and trends in the population and society such as age gender and income

-         Trends in employment, inflation and interest rates

-         The size, buying behaviour and preferences of the market segment

-         Styling trends, colours, and fabric trends for the season

-         Pricing strategies

-         Competition

Either from primary (shop or trade fair surveys, questionnaires, consumer surveys) or secondary resources – already published information (newspapers, trend forecasting companies, commercial reports, internet)

Primary research is either:

Qualitative

How people think and feel about an issue and why they take certain decisions – written form. This kind of research is usually concentrated among a few individuals to explore in-depth their behaviour. Further research then done to see if this is representative of the whole market group.

Quanative

How many people hold similar views or display similar characteristics, such as how many people watch sport on tv or how many belong to a sports club. This kind of research uses surveys to collect data about the attitudes and opinions about a sample of the TMG. The responses are then used to determine the views of the whole target market.

Questionnaires

Need to make sure they:

-         Avoid jargon and be clear and easy to understand

-         Only include relevant questions

-         Short questions with fewer than 20 words

-         Make sure each question is precise and tackles one subject at a time.

-         Avoid leading questions

-         Not offensive

Product analysis

Enables the analysis of a competitors product. This provides info about the construction, price, materials, components. This also helps in the development specifications of a new product and also provides with marketing information in the form of a SWOT analysis. Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats.