Qual is of primary
importance in the development of new products. It is widely deployed to assist
marketers in spotting gaps and trends in the market, in the
ideation process, in the conceptualization and filtering of new product concepts, and in the
processes leading to the development and launch of products.
You can use qual to attain an in-depth
understanding of consumers’ attitudes, usage and behaviours, and their
aspirations and motivations. This will provide an understanding of the factors
that drive brand choice, help you spot opportunities, and trigger ideas for new
products.
Workshops engaging target consumers in group
discussions are widely used for concept development
purposes. These concept development workshops serve to
explore, develop and improve concepts via an iterative process where consumers
assess a number of concepts in detail, and prioritize those deserving further
development. They provide for an improved understanding of the strengths and
weaknesses of the concepts and serve to guide further development.
Associates from marketing, market research,
R&D, and sales are encouraged to participate in the process. Marketers
interact with consumers, introduce them to the product ideas and engage with
them to flesh out the new product concepts.
Once the product concept is finalized, quant research methods
such as simulated test markets (STMs) provide for a volumetric estimate of the
potential of a new concept or product. STM methods such as
BASES are discussed in some detail in Chapter
Product Validation.
A key step in the new product’s development is to
optimize the elements of marketing mix, often by means of a marketing
mix workshop. Depending on the nature of the product, the scope of a marketing
mix workshop will include some of the following elements — product naming,
product usage, advertising and brand positioning, and packaging. It is possible
also to broadly gauge how receptive respondents are to the product’s
price, though as far as price setting is concerned quantitative methods
are more appropriate.
Research methods relating to new product development
including ideation, concept development, and development of marketing mix are
discussed in more detail in Chapter New Product Development.
