‘Instructor’s Name’
Surprising ways the hot new thing can affect your product strategy by Elie Ofek and Luc Wathieu
- A Reflection by ‘Name’
In their article, ‘Surprising ways the hot new thing can affect your product strategy’, Ofek and Wathieu convey, the importance of a deeper, rather than a superficial, interpretation of market trends, for successful product management. Trends in the market, including those that may appear nonessential, can alter profoundly a consumer’s buying behavior, and it is important for an organization to be able to unearth, both the peripheral as well as the hidden implications of these trends.
The article attempts to delineate the common pitfalls encountered during market studies, and tries to guide the market researchers and managers, to gauge the most pertinent and profound trends in the market that would affect their product offerings. While many managers and market research teams are fairly successful in discovering the latest trends, most just react on a knee jerk basis to the outward signs of the trends and do not see through to the deeper implications. Ofek and Wathieu elucidate, how even when companies react promptly to current trends, their product sometimes fail because they do not react to the important aspects of the trend, and they suggest some ways in which organizations can react more appropriately.
They further elucidate that, an apt strategy to constructively engage market trends should be devised after a four step process. The process includes identifying the trends, exploring the effects of the identified trends and the resultant modification in the consumer behavior with reference to the firm’s product category, compare the results of the study and finally isolate a suitable strategy.
Thus, through various relevant illustrations, Ofek and Wathieu show how identifying the market trends alone do not ensure a successful strategy. Product managers should be able to, uncover the possible repercussions these trends will have on their product and the best way to integrate the identified trends in the marketing policies, to successfully exploit them.
