Successful Going to Market - Case Study Example

Marketing Plan for Swave Introduction Swave is a new product formed by integration of the functions of a laptop computer and a scanner. Its conceptualisation, design and final development follows years of research into new trends in the market, changing tastes and preferences of consumers and effective technologies that are available for development of new products. In this report, a detailed marketing plan for the product is presented. The plan covers issues to do with how the product will be packaged, branded and priced before being launched into the market. Information on how the product will be launched in the international market and a detailed analysis of the target market in the US is also presented. Finally, the plan contains information about the future scope of the product in the market 5 to 10 years after its launch. Building on the product idea Branding, packaging, pricing and placement are important components that make up the marketing mix of a product. In theory, use of the marketing mix entails identifying specific segments of the market and providing the most appropriate products using the right pricing and promotional strategies (Karakaya, Badur & Aytekin 2011, p. 3). This is the approach that will be used in the case of Swave. The details are presented as follows. Product utility Theoretically, economic utility in the form of time, place, possession and form is an important attribute for the success of a product (Ciletti 2010, p. 37). As a new product in the market, Swave will be built to achieve these different types of economic utility. However, the most important one will be form utility. By virtue of its design, Swave will be a new product that integrates a traditional laptop and a scanner. Therefore, by acquiring it, consumers will not only have access to the functions of the present-day laptop computer but also own an effective scanner in a highly portable form. The second type of economic utility that consumers will enjoy after buying Swave will be in terms of place. The primary market for the product will be business executives who travel most of the time. One way in which the product will be distributed in the market will be through wholesalers and retailers. Another way will be in the form of direct sales to customers whereby the clients will be allowed to make orders to the company directly through the company website. These two major forms of distribution will ensure that consumers are able to enjoy economic utility of the product in the form of place. Branding An effective branding strategy covers how all the tangible and intangible attributes of a product are combined to develop an offering that meets the most important needs of clients (Ferrell & Hartline 2010, p. 201). For the case of Swave, the branding of the product takes into consideration different aspects. The brand name (Swave) is chosen since it rhymes with the English word, ‘suave’ that connotes a sense of style and prestige. Therefore, since Swave will be developed primarily for young professionals, the connection with style and prestige is made in the naming of this new product for strategic purposes. Also, the branding of the product will make use of brand marks. The brand name, Swave, will be written in a unique and specially designed font. Specially developed brand marks will be made to make it easy for the brand to be visually identified in the market. Also, for purposes of simplicity, the colours that will be used for the brand will entail a complex combination of different shades of grey, silver, white and black. The logic behind this choice is that such a colour scheme is commonly seen in consumer electronic devices. Therefore, using it for this product will not only be in accordance with tradition but also enhances the attractiveness of the brand to members of its primary market – young professionals. Packaging Packaging is used to achieve three important functions: keep the product in a functional form, make it convenient for consumers to use a product, and as a way of promoting the product in the market (Pride, Hughes & Kapoor 2011, p. 377). The packaging of Swave will be done in such a manner that all these functions are fully addressed. Basically, special materials will be used for the packaging of the product as a way of offering protection against possible damage in the event of shocks. Special nylons will be used to protect the product against moisture, an event that can possibly damage the product. With regard to convenience, the product will be packaged in a box. The aim of using a box to package Swave is that boxes offer a high degree of convenience to consumers and have been popularly used in consumer electronic products. The labelling and colouring of the boxes will be used as a tool for promoting the product in the market. Apart from being elegantly designed, the boxes will be presented in three distinct colours: grey, white and black. The three colours will match with the three colour variations of the product that will be offered to the market. Minimum labelling will be used as a way of making the product further distinctive. Pricing The pricing strategy that will be used for Swave will be heavily influenced by the nature of the product. It has already been pointed out that the product will be an innovative integration of a laptop and a scanner. Although the products may not be seen as being strictly complementary to each other, it is believed that their bundling together in this product will be acceptable to the market. Generally, scanners have been incorporated in printers by leading manufacturers such as Epson, Samsung and HP. However, incorporating a scanner to a printer has not yet been done. Therefore, by doing this, Swave hopes to create an entirely new market. Because of the nature of the product, which is characterised by bundling two devices into a single product, Swave will be marketed using the bundling or tie-in pricing strategy. The advantage of this strategy is that the affordability of the product bundle is usually very attractive to customers (Viardot 2004, p. 258). Therefore, by adopting this strategy, it is expected that a new market will be opened and growth will be achieved within the shortest possible time. This is because the price of Swave will be lower than that of a standard laptop computer and a handheld scanner. Strategies for launch Country analysis Swave will be launched in the US. Thereafter, the decision on how to expand to other international markets will be made, depending on how the product will perform in the US market. The decision to launch the product in this market has been informed by a number of factors. The most important one is that the market for personal computers in the US is highly sensitive to new developments in the industry. The demand for traditional personal computers, mobile personal computers and smartphones in the US has been declining progressively over the last few years (Daniel Research Group 2013, p. 1). The reason for this trend is that consumers tend to wait for the introduction of new hybrid computers into the market (Daniel Research Group 2013, p. 2). Another reason arises from the complex interaction between trends in the personal computer market and those in the print and imaging industry. Since Swave will embody a convergence of personal computing and imaging technologies, for purposes of its marketing it is important to take into consideration trends that are taking place in the separate industries. The print and imaging market is characterised by two trends: convergence of print and photocopy machines and growth in demand for hard copy peripherals averaging at 7.2% (Capgemini 2012, p. 19). Concerning personal computers, it is observed that the demand for the products in the US market is set to decline after hitting US$ 17.2 million back in the second quarter of 2011 (Capgemini 2012, p. 21). When these trends are taken into consideration, it can be predicted that Swave is likely to ride on the need for hybrid computer devices by consumers. The combination of a laptop and scanner is likely to be seen as a novel innovation in the market. Besides, since these trends are common in the US, this makes the country a perfect market for the launch of the product before expansion to other markets is considered. Product launch and after sales service The focus of product launch for Swave will be to ensure that the process is highly successful. For this to happen, special challenges that are oftentimes encountered during the process of launching a new product into the market will be tackled. There are several such challenges. For many product launches, the problems of absence of customer or sales input, delays in release dates, failure to adapt to change, poor management of the launch process and absence of sufficient resources are common (Exact Market 2009, p. 2). These common challenges in product launch processes will be fully addressed in the case of Swave. Special attention will be taken to ensure that enough resources are devoted to the process and that the market launch timetable is flexible enough to allow the team to respond to any unforeseen circumstances and manage after sales services effectively. Furthermore, care will be taken to ensure that no delays in release dates are encountered during the process. The above-mentioned measures will be taken to ensure that the process of launching Swave to the US market is happens smoothly. After the process has been done, a comprehensive evaluation will be done to determine the extent to which the process would have been successful. In theory, indicators of the commercial success of a product launch entail financial ones such as sales figures and non-financial ones such as market share, acceptance of the product by customers and achieving the performance objectives (Kleinknecht & van der Panne 2012, p. 5). Market entry strategies There are several strategies that can be used to access international markets. However, for the case of Swave, the strategy of exporting the product to the international market will be used to access the market in the US and subsequently in other countries in the world. Through connection with specific sales agents in the country, products will be shipped directly to the market in the US after being produced locally. By doing this, not only will the company be in a position to maintain a high level of control over the process but it will also gain a lot of information about emerging trends in the market. Thus, it will be in a position to adjust its strategy in response to emerging changes in the market. Using the strategy of directly exporting products to an international market is not a new one. According to Sadaghiani, Dehghan and Zand (2011, p. 56), the popularity of an export strategy can be attributed to the low level of risks that it entails and the low level of facilities that a company needs to invest in the international market. Therefore, since these advantages make this strategy quite popular for start-up organisations, it will be the most appropriate one for Swave. SWOT analysis SWOT analysis is a highly important tool in the marketing of new products. Iacobucci (2014, p. 137) observes that application of the tool to the marketing of new products helps to determine the success of the product in terms of its relative advantage to the others, level of compatibility and degree of user-friendliness. The following is an analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and weaknesses of Swave. Strengths 1. A highly innovative product that may set new trends in the market. 2. Cost advantages in terms of direct exports to the market as opposed to using other strategies. 3. A high level of design and user experience that is enhanced by portability and other technical features included in the product. Weaknesses 1. The fact that the product is a new one in the market means that sales forecasts may not be met as a result of slow adoption. 2. Limited resources and understanding of the market since this is a new product. Threats 1. Unforeseen changes in the industry as a result of its dynamic nature. 2. The possibility of stiff competition from other well established players in the computer and imaging industries who may decide to enter the new market created by Swave. Opportunities 1. A largely untapped market for a device that integrates the functions of a laptop and a scanner. 2. Growing demand for new and innovative products in the market. 3. Possible expansion to other markets in the world over the course of time. Conclusion Finally, the scope of the product in the market can be understood in terms of its predicted performance in the next five to ten years after its successful launch. An interesting dimension that shapes the decision to launch Swave in the market in the US is that different markets in the world are defined by the average time that it takes for new products launched in them to take off and break even. Tellis and Chandrasekaran (2012, p. 381) note that in general, products that are launched in markets in the developed world take about 6 years for the sales to take off. It is noted that although this is an average, products that are launched in the US take far much less time for the sales to take off as compared to markets in Europe and other developed parts of the world. Therefore, because of the innovative behaviour of individuals in the US market, Swave is expected to ride on this trend and take off within 5 to 10 years after its launch. 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