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Why do products and services fail? Hundred of thousands of products and services are introduced every year. The vast majority fail within 2 - 5 years. Even seemingly successful ones fail within ten years. Yet all of these are backed by a huge effort in terms of time and money. Highly intelligent people have spent careers trying to make a success of their products with little to show for it.There are literally hundred of thousands who have learnt the basics of marketing over the years. Many of them have gone on to major in the subject and become marketers. So what is the problem?
What do people need? What do they want? What is the difference between the two? There is a great deal of confusion between a need and a want. The two words are used interchangeably in normal everyday language. From a marketing perspective, this is a problem. There is actually a clear difference between a need and a want and if we do not distinguish between the two, then we will fail in our marketing efforts.
Students of management science are taught the difference between needs and wants in introductory marketing courses. These lessons unfortunately do not seem to stick. This matters because Marketing is supposed to have an unrelenting focus on the consumer. Ignoring the distinction between needs and wants is akin to trying to drive a car without adequate supplies of gas. We may go some distance but will come to a juddering halt at some point. Of course, there are other factors that go into the success or failure of a product (or service). My contention is that knowing the distinction between needs and wants is fundamental to the ultimate success of a product. This knowledge may not guarantee success but lack of it will definitely guarantee failure.
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