Market Need Assessment
Definition: The process of determining whether the concept demonstrates superior ability over current solutions to meet a market need.
Objective: The objectives of a market needs assessment is to identify a potential market for the concept, estimate the market size and determine a preliminary value of the product.
Product: The product of this step is a short summary of information, from trade journals, data bases, and interviews, which follows the marketing section of a standard business plan format.
Marketing: The marketing activities common to this step are those activities necessary to demonstrate the product is unique and sustainable in a competitive marketplace.
During the conceptual phase the following marketing activities must be completed:
Identify three unique features or benefits of the product
Identify the competition
Establish customer requirements for the product
Identify potential market barriers
Identify market distribution channels
Identify product pricing criteria
Marketing Information: Completion of the conceptual marketing needs assessment usually will result in a rationale of why the product will receive a positive market response, gross estimates of the market and its segmentation, a simple explanation of how the product will be marketed, and an estimated price for the product.
Assessment:
Have you assessed the needs of the market?
Do you know the product uniqueness?
Do you know the product competition?
Do you know the customer requirements?
Have you identified the barriers to market entry?
Have you identified distribution channels?
Do you know the pricing criteria?
