When we talk about managing a product, many things are critical right from day one of its launch. Those things include monitoring its acceptance, performance and also profiling the feedback from the market. Any company that wants to do well must meet those metrics.
Re-pricing, re-branding, re-packaging, quality review, quantity review, etc will come to mind when the product performance is analyzed. The performance will give insights to the next decision to be made on the product. When the necessary decision making tarries, the possibility of losing the market share sets in, and this may become disastrous to the company.
Many had argued in the past on issues regarding Proactive-ness and Reactive-ness. Being proactive is very good but I disagree that it applies to all issues. When it comes to Product Management, I am totally in support of flexibility, especially in a market that has several competitors.
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Reasonable feedback should have quick impacts on the products and services.
Responding or reacting based on the performance of a product or service, and then implementing a change or review is a reactive approach. This, I think, is the best approach to Product Management.
Every business wants to record profits and maintain its share of the market at all times. We can become proactive by planning for the future in a short-term, long-term basis. But do not hesitate to be reactive when your competitors hit the market indices hard, and disrupt your projections.
You can become innovatively reactive to the market demand by giving more than it demands.
For instance, if the market demand is price reduction, you may respond to it with reduction of price, or repackaging to reduce cost, or simply increase the quantity while keeping old price constant. Most FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) players typically reduce quantity while keeping price constant (customers rarely notice that inside the can, the items have dropped from 50 pieces to 45 pieces). Yes, you can repackage with reduced price, covering well your variable cost even when recouping fixed cost is at risk, temporarily. More so, you can increase the quantity and improve the quality without changing the price. The possibilities are many depending on the strategy. The key is making sure that variable cost is covered since that is what drives your capability to have the business going, in the short-term.
We have seen such instances in the past with FMCG companies; yes, companies producing noodles (like Indomie Noodles), cola makers (like Bigi Cola), and more. It is always better to Change the Market’s Demand than to let the Market’s Demand Change you. That is perception demand strategy.
Finally, companies with good strategic team usually produce strong innovations in Product Management. They usually become the pacesetters for others in their sector. Also, they make it a habit to always innovatively react to market demand by introducing new or re-branded products.