Method of Selling a Product Free Essay Example

Different Companies have different methods of selling their products, some companies decide to launch an item and wait for the results of the sales. Another method of selling a product is to research the market in which it is to be sold. There are various ways of conducting some market research, much depends on the item you wish to sell, the time you may have to research and the amount of money that is available.

People who are expected to be consumers may be approached in order to recognise their needs, this may be done through questionnaires verbally by post or by phone once their needs are recognised it will be clearer what to provide for them.

Research into the companies’ product may provide information into potential competition and pricing the product. Price is of obvious importance for maximum sales and maximum profit. Researching the market may suggest that a sample should be circulated in order to address and amend any issues for example if it is an edible product the taste and smell must be considered if it is an electrical product the functions may be considered is it user friendly or practical or too complicated the right product with the wrong design will not sell and cold turn a potential profit into a potential loss.

Studying peoples buying patterns will unveil ideas as to where this product should be sold, where people are more likely to buy them the consumer will have to be targeted and the product strategically planned in order to sell e.

g. Haagen Dazs

Good market research and prompt recognition and coherence will allow the producers to adopt relevant selling strategies and the ability to satisfy and deliver to demanding consumers market, therefore creating a good flow of business transaction and generation of profits.

Market research can often prove to be expensive and time consuming and ultimately the results found through the research only suggest past events and past patterns it cannot be a guarantee for business or profit.

Market research will only suggest areas that have been studied it is possible that issues of particular importance may not have been researched and there is always the risk of unexpected circumstances arising for which the research conducted has no account Research all presents predictions and can be untrue this can cause a huge loss in invested money in to the research business.

Desk research involves secondary data, this information already exists and just needs to be broken down for the relevance of the product to be launched. Annual reports and accounts of every business are not always easy to access. This could make the research prolonged and time consuming when it would need to be efficient so that other copycat companies may not produce faster and benefit from your inefficiency. Market research is clearly significant as no market research means a bigger gamble, hence risk of losing capital invested. Without some type of research into the market, a product may be launched at a time which did not coincide with the spending of consumers. This would mean sales and no profit you could not sell woolly hats in the hot summer. The launch of a product needs to generate profits in order to pay for the capital invested. With no research the product may be sold at the wrong price/ time consumers will be put off of the product in the early days, making it difficult to recover from this anti product feeling among consumers. There may be a similar product on the market offering a promotion so it may be wise to delay the launch of a new one.

Colour, name, size, and style, the presentation of the item entice consumers into buying. The wrong presentation may have damaging consequences therefore research into what consumers would like to buy what they are already buying.

Market research is therefore said to be of significance. The conducting of market research must however be concise and the conductors must be aware of what results are relevant and must utilise the budget and time accordingly. There is always danger of spending too much time and money and either going further then the required results, or not finding the information required.

Once the market has been recognised or the market is created the product can be executed into the chain. The producers can create a market, this can be done in various ways.

To be a market led company is of particular significance because the consumers have been studied and their habits have been acknowledged to an extent the market may have been manipulated if you have a monopoly or limited products are available and so all these factors will invite consumers into buying this product and therefore potentially generating sales and profit.

Being market led can often stem from a niche in the market, which has been recognised, if there is a niche there is potentially money to be made by conducting the research the market is exposed and businesses that can provide the product capitalise on the gap.

Being market led adds security to the business plan, as it is not entirely dependant on the product or the quality of the product. If an item was not market led then it would have many other constraints. It would be more of a trial to see if the product was successful. Even if the product was of good quality. It may be against stiff competition, For example if a low budgeted film that was good was released at the same time that was good was released at the same time as James Bond, although the low budget film was good. It may not get the viewers and the recognition it deserves.

When something is market led it means that not only have the consumers been researched but they have also been fed some bait so to say. They would have been told that they are missing something and that they need it or something similar this may be done through various advertising or marketing strategies. Companies can cleverly nurture individuals or groups into believing that they need something, therefore the marketing leads the consumers into purchasing. This is often a slow but effective process. They may have even been given a trial product and the companies would have researched and studied the results of that product, improved it and when the market is ripe and ready and the desire has been stimulated in the consumers, the product will be launched. This product is successful because it is market led.

This success underlines the significance of being market led.

When an item is market led the producers have information with regard to the market sales, competition, and the products promotion and economic or environmental issues. The findings from this research are compiled into a report summary of relevant details. Recommendations may then be applied or suggested for future action and so the producers now present a near perfect item to the consumer. These theoretically meaning vast amounts of sales, which create profits.

Whilst being market led if of particular significance there still remain the risks of market led may create expectations, which cannot be produced, and therefore budget failure. Marketing requires time; time is valuable if a company spends too much time of marketing a production time. The consumer market will be ready due to the marketing but production is low, other copycat companies are sure to launch something similar and reap the rewards from the research that was conducted by another organisation. This would mean that the company who funded and conducted the research would suffer loss and take second place after their copycat rivals.

Money invested in marketing a product must be limited considering the cost of producing and any potential error for ultimately every business has a goal of profit. If a product has a life cycle of consider that. Spending 2m on marketing and then making 2m in 2 years just to pay for the marketing results in no profit and risk of collapse and bankruptcy.

1. Product, Price, Promotion, and Place commonly referred to as the marketing mix and have a significant importance for marketing. These elements coincide with each other and if any one of them is wrong it may have costly effects although the others may be correct, research will have to be conducted, thee results of which have to be studied and then the MM can be developed.

There are many factors which effect the MM for example if the product has a short lifecycle the producers need to make a maximum profit in a short time this may suggest that the price may be high because consumers will be prepared to spend in that time, or it may mean low price to encourage sales Lost Leaders! All this on the product itself price too high/ too low lifecycle would also influence the promotion of the product if it is predicted that the item will have a long lifecycle, Promoting the wrong ideology will have terrible consequences promotions may need to create a friendly image or a family image, healthy image, caring image. This promotion will not have hard selling as an objective but will try to create a secure market for the product, to make it” part of life if you like”. Of course profit is the main objective but it would be attained through different means and channels. Promotions may need to chance and objectives required from the promotion may also change.

When the market has been established in a particular target market the promotion may need to appeal to a different group of people. Careful planning research and development would be required again, there is always the risk of turning away the existing consumers when appealing to others.

The correct promotion holds the key to the organisations goals i.e. profit/ market share. It will substantially add to the delivering of desired satisfaction or the belief that satisfaction is delivered in comparison to other competitors.

It is also possible that the needs of a group are recognised and the type of product promoted but then fail to address the needs of consumers. You can advertise and promote holidays for older people and then market lead holidays into the prepared market, but fail to provide hotels with suitable facilities lifts, chairs, lounges, restaurants, Promotion has been done but delivering to the needs of the consumer has failed.

Product has to meet the needs of the consumer and again this must be integrated with the pricing promotion and the place of where it will be sold.

If the product is aimed at a specialised market the image, quality and presentation must reflect that. Consumers will favour products with quality performance or that have innovations or special features.

The product may need to be sampled the purpose being product development, and see the reaction of the potential consumers. If you produce something that is needed then it will sell hence generating profit. The product may be seasonal and will need to address the requirements of the season.

A seasonal product will need to be sold at a suitable place it will need to be strategically placed in order to sell. A good example of a place is in supermarkets tempting things such as cream cakes are placed at eye level and have bright packaging while boring peas or chips are in deep chest freezers. Ice cream is put near the exit research has shown that after picking up ice cream you want to leave straight away.

A producer of a good quality garment may want to sell it through specified outlets instead of regular Primark or Tesco clothes section. By placing the product in the wrong outlet, it may reduce potential sales.

Research and development into the marketing mix although is very effective can be a disadvantage as highlighted earlier the research into these areas requires time and money.

The marketing mix is made easier if the product is already on the market and an innovation is being launched, this would mean low cost into research and development as the market has already been created. For example, Haagen Dazs conducted and founded the research and development, Ben and Jerry came along and put their product next to Haagen Dazs. Ben and Jerry do not need to research the market or the marketing mix as thoroughly as Haagen Dazs did as the results are already before them.

The interconnection of the marketing mix can be a deciding factor in fate of the product to be launched. If these elements are researched, developed, and then delivered correctly, the product has a high chance of success.

The marketing mix is said to be extremely important in developing a firm marketing strategy.

4.

A marketing strategy is a carefully evaluated plan and future marketing activity that balances company objectives, available resources and market opportunities. It is the process the company tactically sets down, in order to steer their company towards success.

The marketing strategy for Walls Solero was product led in the sense that the product was unique in its exotic fruit coating and ice cream inside. A quality product is what consumers want. It has smoothness because of the new production techniques recognising this, Walls decided to research the market and attempted to market the product. The results from the research proved encouraging and then a name and price was research and developed and the product was launched ahead of schedule. Solero proved successful.

Although Walls had a goal of success in the indulgence sector and they wanted to tackle the adult market, there is no evidence that Primary research may have been carried out. Had there been some primary research into the adult market Walls could have the needs of the consumer in front of them this would minimise the risk involved, as the consumer would effectively be telling you what they wanted.

However, Walls wanted to stimulate new users. The desire had to be created in them so questioning them may have produced negative results because the consumers were not aware themselves of what they would like.

Research showed that 20-35 year olds were not being targeted. It was a good idea to test the product first with the attendees of the meeting between product development, marketing and production staff. This would give instant results of how adults reacted to the product and would broaden ideas for production development, it would also be encouraging for the marketing team and could motivate them.

As Walls had the resources they could have approached usual adults with free samples in shopping centres and studied the results, this would have shed more light on the development of the product therefore reducing risk.

It may also be that Walls did not want to disclose their product to potential copycats as mainstream production was not ready. If this was the case then Walls made a good decision on testing within the company, because this product was essentially aimed at adults maybe walls should have conducted some research into the appearance of the ice-cream. Presentation is very important and as it was a new market section, risk could result in failure. However, Walls did not use QUALATIVE research, which can only be used as an aid and not as a primary resource.

The price was cleverly put between Opal Fruits and Magnum, but its interesting to know what were Walls forecast for Magnum, was Solero to take over Magnum or add to the profits generated by Magnum.

Magnum and Opal Fruits were already on the market and were selling so Walls did not have to completely create a price, what they had to do was strategically place the price of the product in relation to established products.

Walls development of the name was quite effective, as Solero seems to be a name that can be used in Europe.

The resources already existed for Solero to be sold outlets retailers already had Walls products stocked and Walls managed effective distribution of their products.

Walls had seen a potential problem in that they were not able to produce enough in June 1994 and therefore decided not to use any advertising promotions. This may have been avoided if primary research had been done earlier to see what the demands of the consumers were, and the forecast of the weather.

The product proved to be successful and ultimately that is what produces profits. Walls chose to conduct little primary research it may be that it was not required as Solero was a success, but it may also suggest that Walls missed out on profits of one month in an exceptionally hot summer because of lack of primary research

Also arguably, Walls set out to repeat the success of Magnum in the indulgence sector but according to the impulse-positioning map Solero is purchased as refreshment and not indulgence does this mean that there is still room for a product in the indulgence sector?