New Products & Services!!
Hello Guys! In our last blog we discussed the purchasing
decision process. Now we are going to discuss the products and services that
companies create to convince us to buy. First, let’s talk about the categories
of things that companies try to sell to consumers. The larger, overarching
topic is a product which is a good, service or idea that can have intangible or
tangible aspects as a means of satisfying the consumer’s needs. Within that, a
good is a tangible item that can appease some or all of the five senses (Kerin,
Hartley, Rudelius, p. 248, 2015). For instance, a smartphone is identified as a
good because it is tangible and the consumer can feel it, see it and hear it. A
service on the other hand is an intangible item that satisfies consumer’s needs
via the exchange of money from the consumer.
Now that we have the basis out of the way we can look more at
the thought process a company goes through before introducing a new product. It’s
easiest for companies to products that are under the category of continuous
innovation. These products do not require much work done but us the consumers,
which is nice as it makes it easier for us to decide to purchase the product.
An example of this would be the release of the new IPhone 6S, although it is
new it is a continuous product as it does not require much change in the consumer’s
behavior when using the product.
The next category of products are dynamically continuous innovative
products. These products, although new to consumers, the company does not have
to provide too much information to use the products. An example of this that we
discussed in class was the new Keurig line collaboration with Campbell’s Soup.
The Keurig machine would still be the same but consumers would have to add a
step to gain a nice mug of soup. The idea is to empty a packet of noodles into
a mug and select a broth to brew. After a few minutes, you would have a mug of
warm,
Campbell’s Soup. Interesting right!
A category of products
that may be more difficult to introduce would be a discontinuous product, this
is because it requires new learning by the consumer. This creates another step
for the consumer before they can have their needs satisfied. An example of a discontinuous
innovative product would be an electric car; although the consumers using it
would have knowledge of how to use a car they would have to learn how to charge
it. They would also have to change their whole driving process, as the charge
only last a certain amount of miles and the consumer will have to make sure
they a prepared if they need to travel further than the allotted time.
With all of this information, there is so much that a company
must go through before deciding if they want to add a new product to their brand.
There is a seven stop process that the image above depicts. Companies go
through this process as a means to prevent products from failing which we all
know is important to increase the bottom line. It involves a lot of work from
gathering ideas from internal/external sources to conducting survey’s or focus
groups to see if consumers would like the product. Alright guys, hopefully you
guys have some idea about the different types of products in the industry. See
you all soon!
