Entrepreneurship Module 2.1: Market Factors for New Entrepreneurs

Recognizing Potential Market Factors

• To succeed in business, it's essential to know your product or service and its customers, who want to try new products that are better than existing ones.
• Analyzing market potential is crucial, as it determines the success of a business venture; the wider the market potential, the more chances of growth and success.
• An effective marketing strategy is necessary to reach customers and satisfy their needs.
• Knowing your competitors is vital, as it allows you to develop new products and marketing strategies that turn their weaknesses into opportunities for your product.

Developing a Business Plan

• Tangible products have a physical appearance, can be a service or idea, and have precise specifications.
• Augmented products include image and service features, offering intangible benefits to customers.
• Generic products emphasize the impact of the product on the consumer, not the seller.

Types of Products

• Tangible products can be durable goods (used over a long period) or non-durable goods (quickly consumed or worn out).
• Services can be rented-goods services, owned-goods services, or non-goods services.

Consumer Products

• Consumer products are goods and services destined for the final consumer for personal, family, or household use.
• Examples include products routinely used by consumers, such as bread and soft drinks.

Types of Consumer Products

• Convenience products require minimal effort to purchase, such as bread and coffee.
• Shopping products require further knowledge and information to make a purchase decision, such as airline tickets and electronics.
• Specialty products have particular brands and stores that consumers are loyal to, such as luxury cars and professional photographic equipment.
• Unsought products are those that consumers are not aware of or do not usually consider buying, such as funeral services and encyclopedias.

Industrial Products

• Industrial products are goods or services purchased for use in the production of other goods or services, in the operation of a business, or for resale to other customers.

Channel of Distribution

• A channel of distribution consists of people or organizations involved in the distribution process.
• Channel members can be manufacturers, service providers, wholesalers, retailers, or consumers.
• Types of channel distribution include direct channel distribution, indirect channel distribution, exclusive distribution, selective distribution, and intensive distribution.

Physical Distribution

• Physical distribution covers activities related to the efficient delivery of raw materials, parts, semi-finished items, and finished products to designated places and times.
• Physical distribution involves transportation, inventory management, warehousing, and retailing.

Branding

• A brand is a name or mark that identifies a seller's product and differentiates it from competitors.
• Branding strategies include producer's strategy and middleman's strategy (co-branding).
• Advantages of branding include easy identification, assured quality, and reduced price comparison.
• Selecting a good brand name involves suggesting the product or service, being easy to pronounce and remember, being simple and short, and being distinct from others.