Linkedin Interview Request

Jiani Qu
New Product Development
Tuesday 1:30-4:30
Sep. 4, 2018

Case 1: Four Products: Predicting Diffusion

1. As for how rapidly these four innovations will diffuse in the market, I would rank them as Newton’s shoes, wrapped peanut butter slices, new synthetic surface, and Grave QR codes.
2. As for how broadly these for innovations will diffuse in the market, I would rank them as synthetic surface, wrapped peanut butter slices, Grace QR codes, and Newtown’s shoes.
3. Explain:

According to the news report, the peanut butter slices targeted people who love peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but do not want to use knives. Since this product is very cheap, consumers don’t need to think too much when they bought a package. As a result, they would like to try it first. If the peanut butter slice does taste like the original peanut butter, this product will diffuse rapidly in the target market. However, I don’t think this innovations will diffuse broadly in the marketplace. Because people might not only use peanut butter to make sandwich, they might also need it for cooking or baking. It might be more convenient for them to buy a bottle of peanut butter for other uses. If they already have a bottle of peanut butter at their house, there would be less chance for them to purchase peanut butter slice.

As for the new synthetic surface, I think this innovation might diffuse slowly in the market. Firstly, it cost $5 million to convert Turfway to Polytrack. Secondly, according to the article, “horse racing has rarely embraced change, and many did not see the need to alter the type of sand-based tracks that have been around since the game’s earliest days”. It is very hard to sell the first Polytrack surface. However, I think this innovation do have a broad market. As soon as they sold the first Polytrack, the course will realize the track always dried out so quickly that there was never a muddy or sloppy surface. They can even have horse racing in winter or bad weathers. Fewer lost days led to a larger betting handle and more profits.

I think the Grave QR codes will diffuse in the market very slow, because it is a new technology for old fashion people, who are actually laying in the graveyard. It takes time for old people to adopt this new technology. Additionally, most people might want to protect their privacy and they might not want to share their life story with other strangers, so I don’t think this innovation has a broad market.

As for the Newton’s running shoes, I believe it can diffuse in its target market rapidly, because of its precisely market positioning. According to the article, “they have little competition because Newton’s shoe targets forefoot runners, whereas all the giant footwear brands focus on heel strikers”. But I don’t think they have a broad market. First of all, they are a small company, which means they don’t have much money to spend on advertisement. They can barely noticing by a lot of consumers. Secondly, it is easy for big sport’s company to copy their idea and dominate the market.

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