Question

Who should you target with new products?
Take a position:
1. Consumer research is critical to new-product development.
or
2. Consumer research may not be all that helpful in new-product development.

Answer 1

Who should you target with new products?

A good and profitable market to target with a new product is the Youth which comprises of people between the age of 15-35 years as they are more willing to accept the change, are more risk takers, experiment a lot, love technology and are willing to pay for the marginal benefit provided to them. Youth population is always available online and can be targeted accordingly. They are always discounts and offers friendly, hence can be made customers and the profits can be availed in due course of time.

Consumer research is critical to new-product development. This is due to the following reasons:

1. Changing consumers preferences: The consumers of today are more demanding and less loyal to a particular organization. The market has become buyer's market and consumers have changed their preferences from low cost to high quality as their purchasing power has also increased. They wish to buy at the ease of sitting in their homes using a smartphone than a brick and mortar store.

2. Changing market scenario: The market dynamics have become more complex as we have entered a new era. The high competition level and more emerging players in the existing domains have created a sense of high competitiveness among the elements of the market. The customers are more dynamic and less loyal to a particular service provider.

3. Changing technology: The increasingly changing technology has helped in growing the market and hence increasing the expectation level of customers towards a product or service. The lead time and effective price of a product or service are significantly reduced (Domino's pizza in 30 min, else free). The elements like blockchain and Artificial intelligence is slowly taking the place of humans and will use technology in order to penetrate and disrupt the market.

4. New startups: A lot of new start-ups have bombarded the consumers' minds with a lot of information and deliverables. They have penetrated in the highly competitive market with their tech-based asset-light business model and have gathered much attention and loyalty of the existing users by providing lesser price and bigger discounts.