In the recent period of time, "innovation" can be said to be the most fashionable word now. Governments, societies, and enterprises at all levels emphasize innovation, and marketers who always feel the first step in new things are taking the lead. Many ideas were put forward such as innovative marketing and marketing innovation, so many useful ideas emerged. As a veteran who has worked in the marketing field for many years, the author just happened to be involved in the development process of new products several times. Based on experience, some ideas are summarized and I hope that I can help and enlighten my colleagues in the business community. This is the purpose of this article.
Although there are many experts who talk about product innovation independent of marketing innovation, I believe that product planning is a very important part of marketing planning. Therefore, product innovation must also be a key component of corporate marketing innovation. Looking at the innovation of corporate products from the perspective of marketing, I think the following areas are very important: technical innovation, product function innovation, product appearance innovation, and product packaging innovation.
First, technological innovation:
Technological innovation in the narrow sense refers to a completely new product form that satisfies some of the consumer's needs under the premise of being completely independent of the existing technology form, and achieves partial or total replacement of the original product. When the effect of technological innovation is a product that is more energy-efficient, more convenient to operate, and lower in cost, we believe that this kind of technological innovation has produced completely innovative products, and completely innovative products are leading the new trend of consumption. The best way to subvert the old market pattern and obtain new profits (and profits) in the market.
When an enterprise masters the front-end technology of an industry and manufactures a product that is completely different from the original product technology, it can use its low cost and high performance to obtain the company's excess profits.
Every technological update in history will bring new development opportunities to the company and even result in changes in the industry's competitive landscape. For example, the appearance of coal-fired boilers relative to firewood stoves and liquefied gas stoves is relative to that of coal-fired stoves and induction cookers. The emergence of liquefied gas stoves has brought about continuous reshuffle of the stove industry; iron rice cookers have brought about the rise and fall of the rice cooker industry relative to the wood steamer and pressure cookers compared to traditional iron rice cookers and rice cookers. CRT TV sets bring new development opportunities to numerous TV manufacturers compared to black-and-white CRT TVs, LCD TVs, and other ordinary CRTs.
For corporate decision makers, it is important to note that technological innovation is a high-input, high-effective, high-risk behavior for companies. It can make enterprises go to heaven, and it can also make enterprises go to hell. Therefore, companies must base themselves on the industry. The development situation and its own strength to make technological development strategy decisions, remember that we can not blindly pursue technological innovation.
Second, functional innovation:
Compared to complete technological innovation, local innovation on the basis of the original technology may be a realistic choice for more companies. It is not only easy to implement but also less risky because it is basically based on the original product form and consumer demand. No change, there is no need to educate the market. Not only does it save money, but it also has a lower risk of failure. The author calls this technical partial innovation as a functional innovation. Generally include the following:
1. Increased convenience of use:
The increase in consumer convenience is a good direction for product innovation, including both software and hardware: in terms of software, it is mainly to simplify the operation process; in terms of hardware, it is mainly based on ergonomic principles to make appropriate improvements. (If this point has a change in appearance, it belongs to the category of product appearance innovation). If the convenience increases to make consumers more like the product, or pay an extra price, it is successful innovation.
2, increased the use of features:
In the case of unchanged original product forms, through the improvement of software, the use of products will increase. If consumers are willing to accept this and pay an extra price, they will be effective product innovations. Increase or decrease the use of the product, can make the product in the functional differences, to ensure that the product line is rich
3, the use of stability increases:
Through the improvement and perfection of the product software, the stability of the product is increased. For example, an electric appliance that could only use 10,000 hours before can be used to improve the use of 100,000 hours. Consumers are willing to pay for the increased stability and are also effective. The scope of innovation.
Third, the appearance of innovation:
In addition to product software innovations, changes in product appearance can also enrich the company's product line and meet the diverse needs of consumers, especially in today's mature industries, before the emergence of replacement technology The success or failure of the design basically determines the success or failure of the product. It is based on this that well-known experts in the home appliance industry once pointed out that “the competition of modern household electrical appliance companies is the competition of designâ€. In the author's opinion, the appearance of design has occupied a large proportion of the success or failure of all durable consumer goods. For appearance innovation, there are mainly the following aspects:
1, the appearance of the shape change:
To change the external shape of the product, in the eyes of some consumers, it is already a completely different product. In the home appliances industry such as TVs, air conditioners, and refrigerators, the difference in the products of various manufacturers is entirely a matter of appearance; During the operation, some changes in health position, changes in the positions of some process tanks, and changes in the angle of rotation will form a very good product appearance diversification effect.
As the cost of mold development in home appliance new product development occupies a considerable proportion, many manufacturers now adopt a method of exchanging mold cores on a mold to realize a variety of mold shapes, thereby reducing the cost of new product development.
2, the appearance of color changes:
Consumers' preferences for color are also diversified, and manufacturers' changes in product colors can not only satisfy consumers' diversified consumer needs, but also save the cost of mold development. Therefore, many manufacturers nowadays adopt overall and local color changes. To enrich the product line
3, the appearance of material innovation:
In order to reduce costs, improve the appearance, and meet the needs of consumers, manufacturers often use raw materials with different materials to replace the original materials. The difference in the use of such materials is also a product innovation. A very effective category.
For example, if the faceplate of a TV is changed from ordinary paint to gloss paint, it is a very common method to improve the product quality. In the past, the fans of the United States brought a big wash of the entire fan industry due to the use of plastic fan blades instead of iron fan pages. The card has become the fan leader in China and even in the world.
Fourth, packaging innovation:
With the changes in the supply and demand relationship of products in the market, the current product concept has extended from the ontology to the packaging and so on. Packaging is becoming a choice for product differentiation, and it has become a more important category of product innovation. Of course, It is also relatively easy to implement. The quality grades and well-designed packaging play a key role in enhancing the brand image. It is the best means for many manufacturers to obtain more profits. Innovations in packaging mainly include the following ways:
1, enhance the image of packaging design:
As the impact of product packaging on the brand is increasingly valued, the emphasis placed by manufacturers on the external packaging of the product has become even more important, even driving the overall development of the social packaging industry. Good manufacturers do combine packaging with brand image design and incorporate it into the entire brand communication project. A series of product packaging design enables consumers to see some brands of standard packaging colors in many shopping malls. . The general corporate packaging requires the design of a dedicated advertising company, and some companies themselves organize the design team to do it. Good packaging design brings more than just image enhancement to entrepreneurs. The author once encountered a boss who is doing the business of chopsticks. By asking a dedicated company to do packaging design innovation, the sales volume and price increase exceeded 30 percent. %the above.
2. Improvement of packaging materials:
In addition to enhancing the image of packaging design, the improvement of packaging materials is also a good move for product innovation. For example, some household appliances use wood pulp kraft paper instead of pulp leather to greatly improve their strength. Some product packaging will change the original paper-based packaging materials into plastics, iron-clad packaging materials, change the original paperback into a hardcover so that the product level is greatly enhanced, so that the company's profitability increased;
3, the change of packaging form:
In addition to the changes in packaging patterns and materials, the change in the volume of product packaging is also a common method used by companies for product innovation, especially in the fast moving consumer goods industry: large packages are converted into small packages to meet changes in consumer demand; small packages are integrated into large packages for convenience. The customer's bulk purchase needs and so on.
Many products establish product lines through the amount of packaging: large populations of households use large laundry detergent; people who travel outside use small laundry detergents; shampoos do.
Reprinted from: China Marketing Communication Network
Author: Zhang Yifei