Introducing and Managing the Product
When a new product is developed and offered, a company must consider what will develop the product's value to the customer, whether the customer is a consumer or another business. Marketers must always ask where a new product will fit in their current lineup and how the new product will serve as an extension of an existing brand. Take the car manufacturer BMW. They make sporty luxury vehicles aimed at the upper-middle and wealthy classes.
PRODUCT PLANNING AND STRATEGY FORMULATION
The ultimate purpose of this chapter is to introduce the idea that products are planned, and that a whole series of decisions go into this planning process-from the moment the product idea is first conceptualized to the day it is finally deleted. The particular label placed on the company's plan for marketing its product is the product strategy. It is part of the marketing strategy and should harmonize with it. Like the marketing strategy, it contains three important elements. (1) the determination of product objectives, (2) the development of product plans that will help reach product objectives, and (3) the development of strategies appropriate for the introduction and management of products.