IMPACT OF TEST MARKETING AND INNOVATION ON NEW PRODUCT

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Although product development is not usual recognized as a formal stage in the product life cycle, many ideas for long term product planning are derived from the concepts that are generated through the preliminary process. Product development is a strategy for company growth by offering modified or new product to current market segments. Before introduction, a new product in the market place will go through the eight distinct stages of the new product development i.e. idea generation, idea screening, concept development, marketing strongly, business analysis, product development, test marketing and commercialization.

Test marketing and innovation on new product are factors that needs to be weighted so as to avoid failure of such product in the current market segment. Up to this time reaction of potential buyers to the new product has not been tested under normal marketing conditions. Potential customers may have been asked to react to neither one or more product features and to comment on the packaging and advertising appeals.

Test marketing is the stage where the entire product and marketing program is tried out to for the first time in a small number of well chosen and authentic sales environments.
While innovation is the act of developing a new process and introducing it to the market. It is essentially an entrepreneurial act, innovation means change; sometimes radical change, such as development of product and some incremental change such as modification of existing product features or component.

In either case, Unilever Nigeria plc management must develop process to encourage and guide the changes taking place since innovation generally stems from purposeful search for opportunities management guru peter Drucker identified that opportunities for innovation exist both within and outside a company or industry.

Opportunities internal to a company include unexpected events, incongruities in processes or between expectation and result process needs and changes in the market place or industry structure opportunities external to a company include demographic changes in perception and new knowledge.

1.1 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The foregoing research findings suggests the impact of test marketing and innovation on new product growth and the important of gaining large market share. Consumer satisfaction rate and industrial competitive abilities.
Test marketing and innovation of products made segmentation decision in regards to customers satisfaction highly important area of decision in Unilevers Nigeria plc. It aids product differentiation thereby limiting it to the current segment market.
The problem could therefore include:
i. The risk of new product failure or services
ii. Competitors from various and other companies constitute a risk.
iii. Reduction in the profit level of Unilever product constitute another risk.