Marketing Study Guide

1. To test the product concept, both qualitative and quantitative methods should be used. Data from large retailers of children’s toys can be obtained to calculate what percentage of total sales was from educational toys. Similarly other data sources like industry reports and market analysis reports would help in getting target sales which could be expected by the company. Qualitative data such as customer feedback (children and their parents), desires and motivation to buy educational toy would help in gauging market needs. Using a combination of these techniques would provide the company with valuable information which can be used for improving product features.

Research would be rolled out in two segments to gather all possible insights:

Secondary research: This enables research group to gain understanding of the psychology of children and consists of review of existing toys available in the market.

Primary Research: This would involve going to schools to question children and teachers.

2. One of the common reasons for product’s failure is incapability of management in understanding consumer needs and wants. Often marketing managers responsible for new product launches have such high expectation from products that they fail to considerate minute details which might be important to customers. Research has shown that ego, selective perception, wishful thinking and optimism can lead to biases in one direction. Marketing managers think in terms of product success not product failure and in the process overestimate the demand.

Marketers should be sensitive to the overall value customers can derive from the product and the price they would be willing to pay for the value derived. They should use tools to identify customer attitudes and preferences. These tools can range from market surveys to sophisticated conjoint studies. Marketers can analyze the result from these studies before making a decision to continue with product development, test market a product...