Test Marketing

Test marketing is the limited introduction of a product and marketing programme with the aim of measuring potential customer’s reactions in a market situation (McDaniel, Lamb & Hair, 2011).  When devising a test marketing programme, aspects including what length of test to undertake, what information needs to be collected, how many and in which cities will the testing be carried out in and what action to take dependant on the feedback must be considered.  Kotler and Keller (2012) and McDaniel, Lamb and Hair (2011) stress the importance of selecting suitable location which reflect market conditions to test the product. 

Test marketing can be expensive and make competitors aware of the new product, allowing them time to launch a substitute product (Beech & Chadwick, 2007).  However, test marketing can provide feedback on sales potential, level of demand, effectiveness of some facets of the marketing mix and the need for any alterations (Kotler and Armstrong, 2012).  Trott (2008) states that this feedback is useful for the decision making of the future of the product, whether it will be dropped or continue on to the next stage of the NPD process.  

An example of test marketing for a sport product is Nike Free shoes.  Nike carefully devised the advertising and marketing campaigns to highlight the shoe’s unique features of allowing movement, flex and grip to help consumers build strength and train longer.  The test marketing involved initially launching the product with limited distribution through speciality running stores as well as directly to runners through mobile vans staffed by footwear experts at running events.  In addition, Nike aimed to introduce Nike Free as a new training concept by distributing the shoe to running coaches, physiotherapists and podiatrists.  The success of Nike Free test marketing led to a major advertising campaign and the shoes becoming available through general sporting goods stores (Australian Business Case Studies, 2014).  Nike’s Free running range has continued to develop and there are now 7 different types of Nike Free Run shoes (Nike, 2015).

As Gymathlon will start up available in only a select few Gym’s before growing as a franchise, the test marketing will be limited to four locations in the North of England over a period of six months.  Two gyms would conduct sales-wave research where following an initial free session, participants would be re-offered Gymathlon as well as other competitor activities at a reduced price on 5 different occasions, the aim of this would be to identify the level of satisfaction and repurchase (Kotler & Keller, 2012).  In the other two gyms, test markets would be used to gain feedback on consumer trends and demographics, the marketing mix, demand levels and any modifications which could improve the concept.  Following this test marketing, Gymathlon would aim to have positive results to attract more franchisees.  The activity would then be advertised through different channels to target markets through all Gymathlon providers, sales promotion, adverts before Youtube fitness videos, gym nutrition sales websites as well as being showcased at Triathlon events. 

 

References

Australian Business Case Studies Pty Ltd (2014) Nike: Product development from concept to customer – Ensuring correct positioning. Available at: http://www.afrbiz.com.au/case-studies/nike-developing-nike-free/Page-5.html (Accessed: 27 January 2015).

Beech, J.G. & Chadwick, S. (Eds). (2007) The Marketing of Sport. Pearson Education.

Kotler, P. & Armstrong, G. (2012) Principles of Marketing. 14th Edn. London: Pearson Education.

Kotler, P. & Keller, K.L. (2012) Marketing Management. Global Edn. Harlow: Pearson Education.

McDaniel, C.D., Lamb, C.W. & Hair, J.F. (2011) Introduction to Marketing. 11th Edn. Ohio: South-Western Cengage Learning.

Nike (2015) Nike Free Running. Available at: http://www.nike.com/gb/en_gb/c/innovation/free (Accessed: 27 January 2015).

Trott, P. (2008) Innovation Management and New Product Development. 4th Edn. Essex: Pearson Eductation.    

Product Development

Beech and Chadwick (2007) define the product development stage of the NPD process as the development of a product from an idea into a physical form to meet market demands.  The product development stage includes undertaking rigorous product testing to ensure the safety and effectiveness of the product (Kotler & Keller, 2012).  Baker and Hart (1999) note that these prototypes are often tested on potential customers to gain feedback which can be used to make any further alterations before the final product is produced.

For this stage to be effective in the overall NPD process, Kotler and Keller (2012) consider it necessary for it to include:

·         Construction and Packaging Decisions e.g. type/quality of materials, colour/size of product, method/cost/time of production and packaging material, functions, costs etc.

·         Branding Decisions e.g. name, image, exclusivity, trademark.

·         Positioning of the product – which market will the product be targeted towards, positioning against competitors.

·         Attitude and Usage Testing – are the consumer’s satisfied with the product? What are their perceptions?

 

 

An example of product development in the sports industry is Warrior Sports. Despite establishing their manufacturing brand through Ice Hockey and Lacrosse, Warrior Sports entered the football market in 2012 using sponsorship of Liverpool FC to increase their brand awareness (Warrior Sports, 2014). Vincent Kompany, who still endorses the brand, was spotted trialing their first prototype football boot.  The Warrior Sports Skreamer K-Lite boot is made out of kangaroo leather designed to be lightweight at just 192 grams to help the footballer run faster (Perkins, 2012).  

In 2008, Under Armour attempted to move from being a niche to a mainstream brand.  To do this, Under Armour released a range of cross trainer shoes therefore placing them in direct competition with Adidas and Nike.  This has been beneficial for Under Armour and resulted in growth which they built on in 2011 when the entered another new market for high performance running shoes (Kotler & Armstrong, 2012).

 

To convert the idea of Gymathlon into a physical form the activity must be constructed.  Gymathlon will use 6 different sections designed so that by the end of the session all muscle groups will have been utilised and the scores can then be entered onto a leaderboard to find the most complete athlete. Appendix A shows the components of each section.

As the concept is a service activity the only aspects of the packaging are the included benefits which include the opportunity for participants to test themselves and enter a leaderboard, a free t-shirt and the chance to win a prize.  The logo image for Gymathlon is shown in Appendix B, this name and logo will be exclusive to the franchises which offer the activity.  Appendix C is a perceptual map which indicates where Gymathlon will be positioned against competitor services.

To gain consumer perceptions of Gymathlon it will be trialled in a gym with the target market invited to try Gymathlon for free.  Participants will then be asked to complete the feedback form which will indicate consumer satisfaction.

 

Appendix A

 

Appendix B

 

Appendix C

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

Baker, M. & Hart, S. (1999) Product Strategy and Management. Harlow: Prentice Hall.

Beech, J.G. & Chadwick, S. (2007) The Marketing of Sport. Harlow: Prentice Hall.

Football Boots Database (2015) Vincent Kompany. Available at: http://www.footballbootsdb.com/player/Vincent-Kompany/5770 (Accessed: 21 January 2015).

Kotler, P. & Armstrong, G. (2012) Principles of Marketing. 14th edn. London: Pearson Education.

Kotler, P. & Keller, K.L. (2012) Marketing Management. Global Edn. Harlow: Pearson Education.

Perkins, B. (2012) Vincent Kompany Training in Warrior Sports Prototype Boot. Available at: http://soccerreviews.com/news/unreleased-warrior-sports-skreamer-klite/ (Accessed: 21 January 2015).

Warrior Sports (2014) About Warrior. Available at: http://sports.warrior.com/About-Us/about-us,en_GB,pg.html (Accessed: 21 January 2015).