Test marketing

Test marketing is the seventh stage of the new product development process.  This stage highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the product; Kotler and Armstrong, 2010 state how this is specifically useful as evaluations are made from those of who the product is aimed at. Consequently the desired positioning strategies can be put in place.

Test marketing is important as it allows an organisation to observe actual consumer behaviour. An organisation will often select a geographical location to represent the intended market, in doing so the organisation can determine the reception of the product. As well as receiving feedback from the product itself this stage provides a chance to evaluate the effectiveness of the desired market strategy. Post test marketing an organisation can decide whether to modify the product/service to better suit the target audience (Dubiel and Ernst, 2012).

Adidas developed the micoach device in a closed environment through supplying elite players with micoach enabled football boots in training, which allowed them to gather feedback, here they identified that 'sharing' data via social media will increase sales as amateur players can compare their speed with professionals (Adidas group, 2013), this maybe a direction collision sense could take.

Willsey, (1999) states how test marketing can be expensive, time consuming and most importantly open to competitive sabotage Therefore Prior to testing the ‘collision sense’ it’s vital that measures such as patents, trademarks, design rights and non-disclosure agreements  are made in order to prevent copying of the product from competitors. The product will be tested in a number of contact sports to evaluate its reliability, accuracy and ease of wear for the athletes, as an athlete’s main focus is performance and therefore a device that hampers this will be poorly received and essentially the aims and objectives of the organisation will be unachievable.  Usually the price of a product is examined during test marketing, for collision sense an appropriate price will be researched with the target audience of broadcasting companies and regulatory bodies, therefore it’s important to identify the value such organisations believe collision sense can bring.

An aim for the collision sense product is for it to provide heightened spectator enjoyment on sports television channel’s therefore negotiating a ‘trial’ match with a broadcast company could be an effective move for the improvement of the product/service, whilst allowing the broadcast company a chance to evaluate the uses of the product.

Reference list

Adidas group, (2013) http://blog.adidas-group.com/2011/12/interactivity-at-adidas-a-new-level-of-engagement/
Dubiel, A., & Ernst, H. (2012). Success Factors of New Product Development for Emerging Markets. The PDMA Handbook of New Product Development, 100-114.

Kotler, P. J., & Armstrong, G. M. (2010). Principles of marketing. Pearson Education.

Willsey, L. (1999). Taking these 7 steps will help you launch a new product. Marketing News. 33 (7), 17.