In this exercise, you are presented with eight product alternatives, as you would find in a supermarket environment. As you will see, price is simply one aspect of the consumer’s perception of value. So review the following list of pasta sauces, which one would you buy?
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Brand |
Positioning/Marketing |
Price |
Firms need to take care when responding to competitor’s action with a pricing change, as this could trigger a potential price war. Therefore, in this activity you need to identify what would be the most appropriate pricing reaction for the following generic situations actions.
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Many consumers are surprised at the (profit) margin that some retailers make on their sales. However, they do need fairly large margins to cover their significant rent and staff costs that they incur. In this activity, your task is to determine what average prices will need to be charged by … Continue reading...
Marginal analysis is based on the assumption that as the product’s price alters, so will its level of demand (sales). Therefore, this approach looks for the maximum profit point, when considering the firm’s cost structure and the likely sales at different price points (which is essentially the product’s demand curve). … Continue reading...
As the term suggests, target profit pricing is designed to determine how many units we will need to sell to both cover costs AND achieve a set profit. In some firms, marketers are allocated a profit contribution goal/target for the year, and they will use this approach to estimate the … Continue reading...
Often a firm will calculate the break-even point for a price. That is, if we set the price at $X, then how many units will we need to sell to cover costs (that is, our break-even point). Work through the following two examples to gain a better understanding of this … Continue reading...
Cost-plus pricing is a very simple form of pricing. This approach was once fairly common, but is less widespread today. Your task for this activity is to work through the following two examples to gain a better understanding of this approach.
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Using cost-plus pricing to:
Pricing decisions will form a key part of the firm’s overall marketing strategy. In this activity, your task is to identify why the firm has adopted their particular pricing approach.
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Firms are usually faced with four broad branding choices. Obviously, having good brand equity presents the opportunity to leverage this strength in the marketplace for greater profitability. In this activity, your task is to simply classify each example to the brand strategy choice (refer list) that the firm has pursued. … Continue reading...
Consumers buy a product solution (the benefits) for their need/problem. In promotional communications, it is important to communicate benefits – not features! Below is an example of how to convert features into benefits (for a potential new product for Burgers Galore, namely fruit salad). Your task is to identify the … Continue reading...
For a related discussion exercise – please see the marketing mix and shopping products
Consumer products can be classified (see list in question area) into different types, in order to better understand their consumer’s behavior and to assist in the design of their supporting marketing mix. Your task in this … Continue reading...
A product exists on different levels. In the simplest approach to this model, a product has three levels – core, actual and augmented. Your task in this activity is to classify the offerings of a computer retailer into actual and augmented product levels.
(Note: Their core product is the … Continue reading...
A product should meet a need or provide a solution for a consumer. In this activity you need to complete the table – sometimes you need to identify the consumer’s need and sometimes you need to identify the product solution. Several examples have been provided to get you started.
ACTIVITY/TASK… Continue reading...
Below are five different examples of how firms can structure their new product development project teams. Can you identify which team structure approach would be the most effective?
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Two products that are part of everyday life today are microwave ovens and DVD players. But they were adopted by the market at quite different speeds. DVD players became popular within a few years, yet microwave ovens faced significant market resistance and took decades to get adopted. Your challenge is … Continue reading...
This task relates to the new product process phase of ‘idea screening’. Review each of the following new product proposals. Which ones do you think have potential and should go ahead? Which ones have very limited potential?
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The ability of firms to generate new product concepts is a key factor in new product success. Some firms appear to be more successful at this task than others. The firm below is not very good at it – see if you can identify why.
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John:
Good morning … Continue reading...
Firms will use a variety of methods to generate new product ideas/concepts. Review the following examples and identify what approach each firm is using. Which approach do you think would be the most successful? Why?
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In the following table you are presented with examples of positioning slogans gone wrong. However, at the essence of each is a good positioning concept, it is just that the words have been poorly constructed.
You need to review the slogans and see if you can rewrite them more appropriately, … Continue reading...
Your task here is to construct a perceptual map, based on your understanding of 10 different university subjects. While it is not strictly a business exercise, this activity is an excellent way of understanding the concept of constructing a perceptual map.
It will help if you select two distinguishing (determinant) … Continue reading...
