Customer Relationship Management

We understand that the innovation no doubt is the key to success but there are some of the other important factors that need to be considered before launching new products.

Firstly the time of launch is very important. At times there are new products that evolve with the speed that would be much higher than the consumer can catch up or expect. Say if the 3G/4G technology or I phones would have been introduced 15 years back when the consumer was adapting to the pager technology and had still to catch with the mobile evolution, then it would have not only been a disaster but would have been a complete failure. It took almost 11 years from the time cellphones made their debut till the time they became established. Companies must give time to the consumers to get used to and adapt to the innovations before providing add on to these innovations.

Secondly the group of user with whom the innovation is first launch is also critical. There is a group of users that keeps an eye on the latest technology and is the first to adopt the change. The social need, economic status, education, personal believes etc play a critical role in adopting a new technology. Once established and effectively promulgated, it takes little to time for the innovation to reach masses and get established.

Thirdly it should be noted that not all innovations click the markets and the marketers should be ready for the same.  Some of the statistics are as below:

• Out of 11000 products launched by 77 companies, only 56% are present five years later - Kuczmaski & Associates
• Only 8% of new product concepts offered by 112 leading companies reached the market. Out of this 83% failed to reach marketing objectives -Group EFO Ltd., Marketing News, Feb 1, 1993
[ Source: http://www1.ximb.ac.in/users/fac/MNT/mnt.nsf/23e5e39594c064ee852564ae004fa010/7be87590e776a881e5256ab500389b77/$FILE/Intoduction%20to%20CB.ppt]

So what goes wrong with the innovations here? The answer to this is that the products either fail to fulfill the basic need of the consumer or are too overpriced that the consumer does not see any value for money in the purchase.

Innovation no doubt is a powerful tool in the hands of the marketers but more important is to understand the consumer behavior and the right usage of the tool. Failures in market not only incur financial losses to the corporates but at times also erodes the first mover advantage that the companies can gain with a successful invention.