Stage 7- Test Marketing

The New Product Development Process

Stage 7- Test Marketing

The New-Product Development Process (NDP) is outlined above by Kotler & Keller (2012).

After the product development process it is necessary to find out whether the new product is going to be accepted into the market or not (Beri, 2013). Test marketing is a controlled experiment, done in a limited but carefully selected part of the marketplace (Beri, 2013).

Test marketing involves placing a product for sale in one or more selected areas and observing its actual performance under the proposed marketing plan (Evans & Berman, 1982). The purpose is to evaluate the product and pre-test marketing efforts in a real setting prior to full-scale introduction (Hiltz, 2001). The aim is to assess how large the market is and determine the reactions of consumers and resellers in an authentic setting. Most companies use test marketing to lessen the risk of product failure (Kazmi, 2007).

Test marketing is essentially an exercise in experimentation, where the market place is a laboratory. It also brings out that the predictability of sales or profit is the objective of test marketing (Beri, 2013).

Example of Test Marketing

The National Basketball Association (NBA) is the most watched men’s professional basketball league in the world. In 2015, the first NBA Global Games took place in London, where the New York Knicks played the Milwaukee Bucks in a regular season game. The NBA used this event to test the market in the UK as they eventually want to break into the UK market. An average of 151,500 people play basketball at least once a week, compared with more than 2.1million who play football (Sport England, 2013). Through this test marketing process, the NBA are able to estimate the profitability of future events in the UK and hopefully increase the number of people that play Basketball in the UK.

Test Marketing Quick Baseball

To test market Quick Baseball I am using a GANTT chart. A GANTT chart shows the key stages of a project and the duration of each as a bar chart (Martin, 2002). I have used a GANTT chart to enable me to identify the different marketing components and when I am going to implement these components (See Appendix A for Quick Baseball GANTT chart).

The main components I am focusing on are the 4p’s of the marketing mix;

·         Product (Research, Name, Logo, Profitability): Between January and May I researched Baseball and found a gap in the market for Quick Baseball. I then came up with the name ‘Quick Baseball’, logo (see Figure 1) and worked out how much profit it could potentially make (See Appendix B for Potential Profit).

·         Price (Distribution Channels): My distribution channel is direct to end users.

·         Place (Cost, Price): From May to June I worked out how much the format would cost and then set the product price.

·         Promotion (Publicity, Advertising, Tickets): To promote Quick Baseball I would advertise the format and tickets on social media and in relevant magazines such as ‘Baseball America’.

Words- 496

References

Beri, G. (2013) Marketing Research. 5th edn. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill.

Calcaterra, C. (2014). Comment of the Day: How many people really watch MLB games?. (online) Hardballtalk.nbcsports.com. Available at: http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/09/15/comment-of-the-day-how-many-people-really-watch-mlb-games/ (Accessed 22 Jan. 2015).

Evans, J. & Berman, B. (1982) Marketing. New York: Macmillan.

Hiltz, M. (2001) The Marketers Handbook: A Checklist Approach. Markcheck Publishing.

Kazmi, S. (2007) Marketing Management; Text and Cases. India: Excel Books.

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

Martin, V. (2002) Managing Projects in Health and Social Care. London: Routledge.

Sportengland.org, (2013). Sport England - Active People Survey 7. [online] Available at: http://archive.sportengland.org/research/active_people_survey/active_people_survey_7.aspx [Accessed 27 Jan. 2015].

Appendix

Appendix A- Quick Baseball GANTT Chart

Key

	Indicates the 4 p’s of marketing.
	When the implementation of the components is going to occur.

Appendix B- Potential Profit

Target Market	Viewers of Major League Baseball (MLB)
Size of Target Market	Approx. 1.01billion people (Calcaterra, 2014)
Planned Price	Ticket price 40% cheaper that current prices for MLB. So to watch a MLB game at Boston it would cost $50. To watch a Quick Baseball game at Boston it would cost $20
Profit Goals	Aim to sell an average of 20,000 tickets a game (60 games will take place during the season) at average price of $15. Total profit at end of the season= $18,000,000