Product Mix
The assortment or range of products or services that a company offers to its customers. Known as the ____ mix.
Product Mix
What are the 3 phases of Product Service Management?
1) Develop New Product
2) Monitor Existing Products
3) Eliminate Weak Products
Of the 7 steps of New Product Development, which step is commercialization?
7th (last)
In your own words, explain what Marketing Information Management is.
The process and methods used to gather information, analyze it, and report the findings as it relates to a product or service.
Why is it important for companies to weed out weak products?
What are the 4 elements of the product mix?
Width, Depth, Length, Consistency
The product life cycle stage Introduction most aligns with which stage of product service management?
New Product Development
The first step where you gather and conceptualize potential opportunities or product concepts.
Generate Ideas
List 3 ways a company can collect data through primary research.
Polls
Observations
Social media tracking
Phone Interviews
In-Person Interviews
Focus groups
Surveys (email, online, face-to-face)
Explain the difference between the Width and Depth in the product mix.
Width is the number of product lines (such as apparel, shoes, sporting equipment) and Depth is the number of variations of each product line.
Element of the product mix that refers to the number of different product lines that a company carries. For example: Nike has an apparel product line, a hats product line, shoes product line, etc.
Width
Explain why it's important for companies to carefully plan withdrawing a product from the market in the stage "eliminate weak products."
To prevent upsetting consumers, causing damage to the company's image.
During Step 2 "Idea Screening," there are two types of errors you can make. What are those errors?
Drop Error: a mistake made by a company in deciding to abandon a new product idea that, in hindsight, might have been successful if developed.
Go Error: when a decision is made to proceed with a product which, in hindsight, should have been abandoned.
A large sporting equipment company is in the process of creating a new product. They are currently in Step 3 of New Product Development and gauging initial reactions from a sample of potential customers about the product idea. To do this, they have invited 12 participants that represent their target market to discuss the product concept to gain insight and feedback. What type of marketing information management tool did the company use?
Focus Group
During which stage of New Product Development does a company create prototypes or detailed plans for the product.
Generate Ideas
Screen Ideas
Test Product Concept
Conduct Feasibility Analysis
Develop Product
Test Market Product
Commercialization
Develop Product
Imagine a company that produces toothpaste, bicycles, and mobile apps. There is not a close relationship between these products. What element of the product mix is this most likely referring to?
Consistency
A coffee company has noticed that while its caramel-flavored coffee has always been a best-seller, sales for the vanilla flavor have been consistently declining over the past 6 months. The company is considering remarketing the product in hopes of resparking customer interest. In terms of product service management, what stage is the company most likely in?
Monitor Existing Products
Looking at the steps below, during which stage do you look at critical aspects of a proposed project in order to determine the likelihood of it succeeding.
Generate Ideas
Screen Ideas
Test Product Concept
Conduct Feasibility Analysis
Develop Product
Test Market Product
Commercialization
Conduct Feasibility Analysis
List 3 things that a company can learn during marketing information management research.
Current market trends.
What products to produce.
At what price to sell them.
Who will buy the products.
Where the products should be sold.
How the products will be promoted.
Competitor’s records.
A new movie will cost investors over $100,000,000 This means investors want to know what consumers want to view and their opinion on the celebrity before they invest. To do this, they will conduct a variety of surveys and polls to potential movie-goers. This is an example of:
A. Product Service Management
B. New Product Development
C. Marketing Information Management
D. Product Life Cycle
C. Marketing Information Management
Gatorade has 10 flavors of their drink and 4 types of varieties: Frost, Zero and Fierce and Thirst Quencher. What is the product length?
40
Provide one BENEFIT and one DISADVANTAGE to having a broad product mix.
Benefit: The number of product items in a product line can attract multiple target markets, increasing profitability.
Disadvantage: Can't devote as much time and attention to perfecting one product. Increased risk.
A new brand of shoewear tested its product in a small region before deciding to go national, in order to assess its popularity and receive feedback. Which step of the new product development does this action represent?
Generate Ideas
Screen Ideas
Test Product Concept
Conduct Feasibility Analysis
Develop Product
Test Market Product
Commercialization
Test Market Product
Explain why businesses use Customer Loyalty Programs (like when a store asks for your phone number or email address).
To monitor your spending habits (how often are you shopping, how much do you spend, what types of products do you purchase, etc.)
List 2 factors that can impact product service management.
The changing needs and desires of customers.
The presence of strong competitors.
Stage of the product life cycle.
Costs and resources.
Economic trends.