Question

Find 5 products (consumer products) or items that made it to market and tell me why they failed (you don't see or hear about it anymore. . Tell me they were...New to the world products, new-product line, repositioned product or lower price product.

Answer 1

Following are examples of some products that failed in the market:

• Harley Davidson Perfume. Harley Davidson is famous for providing awesome bikes and mainly cater to the needs of male segment. Few years back it attempted brand extension by launching perfume for those who want to smell like bikers. The product failed in market as the company failed to understand that women never wanted that their man should smell like motor oil or leather jacket.
• Smokeless Cigarettes.As consumers realized the cigarettes were a health risk, the RJ Reynolds tobacco company hoped to keep them from quitting altogether by making cigarettes that delivered nicotine without the smoke. Unfortunately, "Premiums" were difficult to light and had an aftertaste that even smokers didn't like. The reason for failure was not high price but shitty taste.
• Windows Vista Introduced in 2007 as a follow-up to Windows XP, the Windows Vista operating system was everything its popular predecessor was not -- in all the wrong ways. Panned by customers and IT professionals alike, Vista reduced PC performance and caused a number of internet problems for users. Finally the product was withdrawn from market.This proved to be a technology failure as instead of improving the performance it instead reduce the performance of computers.
• Kitchen Entrees by Colgate. This is an example of new product line failure. Colgate is a well known brand in terms of toothpaste. In 1982 it entered into new product line of frozen meals and failed miserably. People associate Colgate to cleaning teeth and for frozen meals, they have many other options to choose from.
• Cosmopolitan Yogurt. Cosmopolitan is famous for women's magazine. In 1999 it entered into new product line of yogurt which was beyond it's area of expertise. This new product was yogurt. The company failed in this new product line and has to withdraw the product from the market in a short span of 18 months.