20.What stages of product development do you know?

Now a day it is very difficult for any company to carry on with the existing product so they are spending a lot of expenditure on development of new products. For developing a new product, a product passes through eight stages and they are discussed below:

Stage 1. Idea generation:- the first stage of product development process is to generate the idea regarding new product development as the existing product becomes obsolete with the time and technology. Idea generation can be done through research of the market sources like consumer liking, disliking, competitor policy etc.

Stage 2. Idea screening:- at the second stage of product development process, in case the company having number of ideas then there is the need to accept the good idea and reject the bad one. As if the company accepts the wrong idea then it results into lot of loss of money, technology, time and energy. So it is necessary to reject the bad idea as soon as possible.

Stage 3.Concept development:- after idea screening the next stage is of concept development. For eg. In case the company is producing a soup which has high nutritional value then the question arises either to introduce it as a tasty soup or as a rich nutritional soup. Then the most suitable concept is selected.

Stage 4.Market strategy development:- this is the stage where the marketer decide what kind of marketing strategy to be used for the product either to use mass marketing or to launch the product in a particular area.

Stage 5.Business analysis:- at this stage the marketer decide whether they will be able to achieve expected sale or profit? If the answer to the question is yes then the concept of product move to product development stage.

Stage 6.Product development:- if the concept of product move to product development stage then product development starts. Here the research and development department develop a physical product which is put under functional and consumer test. Functional tests are done in the laboratory and consumer tests are done by bringing consumers in the laboratory.

Stage 7.Test marketing:- after the above stage the product is ready to be launched in the market with a proper brand name and packaging. Test marketing is done to find out how big the market is.

Stage 8. Commercialization:- the last stage of product development process is the commercialization of the product. While launching the product the marketer must have answers to the following questions

21.. What does the term product refer to?

One can say a product is a good, service, or idea consisting of a bundle of tangible and intangible attributes that satisfies consumers and is received in exchange for money or some other unit of value.

How an organization views a product depends upon its perspective.

The organizations that are production-oriented look at a product basically as a manifestation of resources used to produce it and the organizations that are marketing oriented view a product from the target consumer’s perspective as a bundle of benefits by benefits I mean to say functional as well as emotional benefits. Accordingly they will have to see how their consumers view their products. Most of the organizations have realized that there is no need to prepare a marketing mix for a product that offers few consumers benefits, because that product will not sell.

You have to consider the product from the target customer’s perspective. Like the cosmetic companies are combining chemicals to make lipsticks, vitamin manufacturers produce little pills, watch makers produce mechanical devices that keep time. -What are marketers doing they are basically enhancing their products for their target markets-as lipstick has becomes beauty and hope, vitamins become hope for a healthier life and watches become status symbols?

So we can say that a product therefore is a bundle of physical, chemical and / or intangible attributes that have the potential to satisfy present and potential customer wants. In addition to the physical Good itself, other elements include the warranty, installation, after sales service accessories and package. A customer buying an air-conditioner and a maintenance contract from Carrier Aircon is buying a different product than another who buys the same model without the maintenance agreement. Now lets discuss the levels, that are present in a product