Core Concepts of Marketing

PRODUCTPLANNINGANDSTRATEGYFORMULATION 175

3. Customers:frequentlycustomersgeneratenewproductideas,orat leastrelayinfor-
   mationregardingtheirproblemsthatnewandimprovedproductswouldhelpto
   solve.


4. Resellers:a numberoffirmsuse"councils"orcor.mitteesmadeupofrepresenta-
   tiveresellerstoassistinsolvingvariousproblems,includingproductdevelopment.


5. Foreignmarkets:manycompanieslooktowardforeignmarkets,especiallyWest-
   ernEurope,becausetheyhavebeensoactiveinproductdevelopment.

Thereareprobablyasmanyapproachestocollectingnewproductideasastherearesources.
Formostcompanies,takinga numberofapproachesis preferabletoa singleapproach.Still,
comingupwithviablenewproductideasisrare(seethenextNewslinebox).

Step2:ScreeningProductDevelopmentIdeas

Thesecondstepintheproductdevelopmentprocessisscreening.It is a criticalpartofthe
developmentactivity.Productideas thatdonot meettheorganization'sobjectivesshould
berejected.:fa poorproductideais allowedtopassthescreeningstate,itwasteseffort
andmoneyinsubsequentstagesuntil it:slaterabandoned.Evenmoreseriousisthepos-
sibilityofscreeningouta wortnwhileidea.

NEWSLINE:NEWIDEASARERARE

Newproductideascancomefromanywhereandeverywhere.It's

excitingwhenanewproductideacomesfromoutoftheblue,proto-

typestestwellamongconsumersandpurchaseinterestscoresareoff

thecharts.Butrelyingonthe"anywhereandeverywhere"approach

won'tdointhelongrun.Whatisrequiredforproductdevelopment

aremethodologiesthatenableustosystematicallydiscovernewprod-

uctopportunities.

OnesuchmethodisthecategoryappraisaL,whichpointstonew

productopportunitieswithinanexistingcategoryandsometimesto

opportunitiesinanew,adjacentcategory.Theobjectiveofthecate-

goryappraisalstudyistodis::;overwhatmakesthecategory"tick."

Questionstoaskinclude:

• Whatdrivesconsumeracceptability?


• Whatarethestrengthsandweaknessesofeachproductinthe
  category'?


• Whataretheopportunitiestooutperformexistingproducts'?


• Towhatextentdoesbrandequityplayaroleinproductaccept-
  ability?


• Doescollecteddatapointtounexploredregionsofthecategory
  "space"thatnewproductscansuccessfullyfill?
  Anexamplefromtheconfectionaryindustryillustratesthistech-
  nique.Themissionwastoidentifythepropertiesofanewcandy
  itemforconsumerswhobuycandyinsupermarkets,convenience
  stores,andmovietheaters.Adatabaseofin-depthsensoryprofJ.leof
  a widerangeofcandyproductsand"likingscores"ofeachofthose
  productswascreated.Theresearchersshopped'tilltheydropped.