Market Penetration, Market Development

The purpose of this Individual Reflection is to provide a summary that will address the following:

a)  What did you learn from developing your two new strategies (market penetration and market development) and from reading the posts of your classmates regarding new strategies to increase sales of a product?

b)  Analyze one new strategy you read, posted by a classmate. Explain why, or why not, you think it would be successful. Provide specific details regarding the strategy, the product, the target market and the product’s competition.

a) Market penetration, market development and strategies to increase sales of a product.

            In developing my market penetration strategy, I learned that there are many ways to increase sales of an existing product in an existing market. This can be done through:

            1. Better and more aggressive advertising. Better advertising can enhance customer influence and motivation to purchase the existing product. More aggressive advertising through various methods can help broaden customer reach and make the product known to more people.

            2. Lower price. Making the price lower than the competition can provide customer savings while helping those with tight budgets.

            3. Increase in the number of retail outlets. This can increase product availability in more geographical areas. It can also provide more opportunity for customers to access the product.

            4. Increase in promotions. Discounts and sales promotions can attract more customers and can motivate them to buy more quantities of the product than they normally would.

            5. Increase in rewards. Increase in rewards through contests, raffles, draws or other similar methods can promote customer participation, engagement and loyalty.

            In my market development strategy, I learned how to identify a new target market for an existing product. This involved some criteria such as age group, income level, geographic location, and common customer motivations or demands. What I learned about pricing strategy is that lower prices have the potential to increase the sales volume while higher prices than the competition have to be justified by some intrinsic value of the product that is superior compared to its competitors. I learned about positioning strategy which is all about placing a brand in the customer’s mind in relation to its competitors. I learned about many methods of advertising, traditional and modern. I also learned some insights about how to make a market development strategy successful. These are:

1) satisfying customer needs by designing and delivering a product with performance and quality;

2) using customer experience feedback as an influence tool;

3) using recommendations  and/or endorsements from professionals;

4) pricing the product reasonably and with clear justifications; and

5) using effective means of advertising for wider customer reach and exposure.

From reading the posts of my classmates regarding their strategies to increase sales of a product, I learned that reducing the product’s price was mentioned by majority of my classmates. They reasoned that lower prices would generate more sales through the increased number of units purchased. Others said that sales can be increased through additional professional endorsements, advertising about the performance and quality of the product, by convincing people what their investment is worth, and by mass marketing which would appeal to a broad range of customers.

            b) Analysis of Tarte’s Tarteist Pro Glow Palette posted by Female Reviewer.

Based on the strategy she stated, I would argue that it would be successful. Her chosen target market was the nonusers. The first strategy, offering a sample of the product, is a good one. Nonusers tend to be attracted to free samples and by virtue of being free and the philosophy that they have “nothing to lose” by trying, they, out of curiosity would try it out and would give the product a chance to prove itself whether it is comparable to the product that they are currently using or would exceed their expectations. Once the free sample had a positive feedback, then the prospective customer would more likely to buy the product. The second strategy was to adjust the price to the competition. Both competitors, the Anastasia Beverly Hills Glow Kit and the Too Faced Sweet Peach Glow Kit are priced at $52. Lowering the price would entice nonusers to purchase the product because they would be getting a good value for their money compared to its competitors. Lower prices also would allow buyers to have savings while getting a reputable quality product. The third strategy was to ask customers to write reviews. Product reviews can have significant impact to the success of the product. If more and more customers are writing about their positive and excellent personal experience on using the product, nonusers can be influenced to buy and try it for themselves. The fourth strategy was to post photos of customers who used the product to nonusers. As the saying goes, “a picture paints a thousand words”, appealing pictures are eye-catchers for would-be buyers.

            The combination of the four strategies she mentioned can potentially lead to success due to the variety of attractive benefits from free samples, lower prices, positive product reviews and appealing photos. In my opinion, adding a better and more aggressive advertising would allow even much stronger chance of success.