Product and Service Development: Guess Company Case Study Report

This report offers a comprehensive analysis of the new product development process, using Guess as a case study. It begins with an introduction to product and service development, highlighting the importance of innovation for companies. The report then explains the various stages of the new product development process, including idea generation, screening, concept development, marketing strategy analysis, product development, test marketing, commercialization, and market performance review. The core of the report focuses on the application of these processes to the development of fitness band watches at Guess, detailing each stage from idea generation to commercialization, and analyzes how Guess adapts to changing consumer demands and environmental concerns. Finally, the report includes a reflective statement on the creative process, group dynamics, and presentation, offering insights into teamwork and communication challenges. References are provided to support the information presented.

Product & Service
Development

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
ACTIVITY 1 – PART A.................................................................................................................1
Covered in PPT............................................................................................................................1
ACTIVITY 1 – PART B..................................................................................................................1
An explanation of each of the processes involved in the new product or service development. 1
Application of processes to develop particular product or service of company..........................3
Independent reflective statement - demonstrating your ability to critically reflect on the
creative process, the group dynamics and the presentation.........................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
The development of products and services is acknowledged to be a comprehensive
procedure which consists of a number of phases that provides assistance to an organisation in
developing and commercialising a product. The present project is based upon Guess Company
which is a well renowned clothing brand and is also known to be marketing other kinds of
fashion accessories such as bag, watch, perfume and so on. The project consists of new product
development procedure along with its application in new product development process of a
company. Lastly, it encompasses reflection done over individual and team working.
ACTIVITY 1 – PART A
Covered in PPT
ACTIVITY 1 – PART B
An explanation of each of the processes involved in the new product or service development
New Product Development (NPD) can be said to be a comprehensive chain of procedures
which are aimed at conversion of a market opportunity to a marketable new offering in order to
satisfy the needs and wants of public at large. In other words, new product development is
defined as a procedure involving stages which result into the creation of a whole new
merchandise or facility. This process acts as a driver for companies as it is crucial for their
growth and development. In this regard, extensive rivalry, constantly altering consumer
behavioural patterns, insatiable consumer appetites are some of the elements of market which
affects the will of company in a positive manner and force it to make investment within new
product and services in order to gain success and ensure its long term sustainability in market
place.
The development of new services and / or products is considered as the life blood of
corporations as well as society. By developing new products and services, organisations aim to
appeal to a large base of audience. This provides assistance to the corporations in attaining a high
market share so as to inflate its overall positioning across the global retail market. Thus, the
importance of new product development process is further discussed as underneath:-
 New value for consumers: The primary reason why companies across the globe intend
to execute the new product development process is to render value to customers. It is due
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to this that organisations intend to invest a large amount upon development of new
offerings. In case the new offerings of the company tend to provide tremendous value,
customers would flock to it. It is the constantly inflating and new value that makes the
entity, attain an edge over the rival firms, thereby sustaining in market place for a longer
period of time.
 Existence for long run: The needs and wants of customers keep on changing. This urges
the organisation to come up with new products and services at rapid intervals of time so
that the market gap can be closed. When entity takes efforts to meet the demands of
customers, the customers become loyal to the brand. This ensures that the entity stays in
market for a long period of time.
New Product Development Process
The stages belonging to the new product development process adopted by any company
are explained as follows:-
Idea Generation: The idea is generated in the first level of New Product Development.
There are different sources which can be used to gather information related to launching a new
product at marketplace. In addition to this the company offer rewards and incentive to its
employees in order to bring innovative idea that is useful for the company. Also, the manager of
company makes effective strategy, policies and procedures for analysing the competitor’s
strategy that helps them in introducing the new product at workplace.
Idea Screening: Herein, the company focuses on considering only those ideas which is
feasible for the success of the business organisation. They launch product according to the need
and wants of consumer.
Concept Development and testing: It is the stage where idea is converted into concepts
and blueprint for testing purpose. It is necessary to test the product before introducing the
product at marketplace. Therefore, the company target the group of customer in order to test the
product.
Marketing strategy analysis and development: After testing of products, the company
make a decision to launch a product or not at marketplace. The marketer makes effective strategy
in order to analyse the cost involved in launching product. And also, they analyse the product
which is offered by the competitor before launching the product in the market.
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Product development: It refers to implementing the idea into reality. In this stage,
product which has been chosen is developed in and taken further in the NPD process.
Test marketing: Further comes the test marketing in which product which has been
taken throughout the process is tested by applying tools and technologies of marketing and with
assist of R&D department. This stage is most crucial part of NPD because it gives a clear picture
about the product strength, weakness, positive as well as negative impact on growth and
development of business. It includes several aspects of marketing such as distributions,
advertising, packaging etc. Resources and efficient manpower is involved when this aspect
occurs in the process.
Commercialization: In this, certain activities take place such as production, sales,
customer support etc. Commercialisation refers to process in which innovation or new products
are introduced in the market. This leads to flexibility and adaption of change in by everyone in
the society and market. Herein, after completing all process in an effective manner, then the new
product is introduced in the market.
Review of market performance: In this, review is being tracked and analysed in the
firm so that all the loose point is examined in proper manner. This results in proper evaluation of
all the weak points and improves them so that conflicts and errors do not arise in near future
events. This leads to use of resources at optimum level and it also make ensures that root cause
of problem is identified in proper manner with new ideas as well as thoughts.
Application of processes to develop particular product or service of company
In this relation, Guess is a renowned brand dealing in variety of glasses, clothes, watches,
perfumes and bags. The sole aim of the entity since its foundation has been to research about the
needs and wants of people so as to undertake effective measures through which such demands
can be met. This provides aid to the corporation in filling the market gap. It also instils a sense of
loyalty and trust within the customers towards the brand. The management of Guess has made
analysis of product life cycle stages with an aim of ascertaining the phase at which the product
lies. This helps in devising the future course of decisions with respect to such product. Through
the analysis of these stages, the management of Guess has determined that its leather watches are
at a decline stage. This is because a large proportion of today’s population has become concerned
about the environment as well as the protection of wildlife. Owing to this, such individuals
prohibit the usage of all such products which are made from the skin of animals. Thus, to address
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this issue and build its sales, the management has come up with a decision to launch a new
category of watches. The new category would be fitness band watches which would hold the
capability of monitoring the blood pressure as well as heart rate of users along with telling the
time.
To develop the fitness band watches, Guess is executing all the stages of new product
development process in an effective manner. Thus, all the stages belonging to this procedure in
context of fitness band watches are explained as under:-
Idea generation: In this stage, the manager of Guess conduct brainstorming sessions in
order to identify potential ideas for new product development. A number of ideas came from the
side of employees in this phase. In this regard, the idea to develop fitness band watches also
came up which was selected by the company.
Idea screening: This stage witnesses the screening of ideas against the problem. The
issue that has been faced by customers as well as the company is growing opposition of
population against the leather watches. As against this, the idea to come up with fitness band
watches is found to be suitable as they do not pose harm to environment or wildlife in any sense.
Also, these watches help users to track their health state in the form of their blood pressure and
heart rate tracking. Also, it will display time to the users.
Concept development along with testing: Herein, the manager of the respective
corporation develops the idea of Fitness band watches. Further, this product will be launched
within a small group to anticipate their reaction towards the new organisational offering.
Marketing strategy development: This is the stage whereby the manager of Guess
devises the marketing strategy for effectively promoting the new watches within the wide
audience. In this regard, Guess has opted to make use of email marketing for marketing about the
new fitness band watches.
Product development: Hereby, all the essential set of activities associated with the
actual development of fitness band watches of Guess are executed hereby in its premises so as to
make them marketable.
Test marketing: Hereby, Guess introduces the fitness band watches on a small scale.
Thus, if favourable outcomes are received, the entity will introduce the new offering on a
commercial basis.
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Commercialisation: After the success of test marketing, manager of Guess will
introduce fitness band watches on a large scale and advertise it by making use of a number of
marketing tools and techniques such as email marketing, broadcast media, print media and social
media marketing.
Independent reflective statement - demonstrating your ability to critically reflect on the creative
process, the group dynamics and the presentation
The group presentation to convey the idea of new product launch of Guess was quite
appealing. With respect to this, my contribution was to research about the market opportunity for
the idea proposed. Further, I conveyed this part of the presentation as the pitch to appeal to the
investors. The performance of the team was quite effective and the delivery of the pitch to the
investors was effective enough in gaining their attention. The coordination in the group was
excellent and the members synced well with each other to prepare and deliver the pitch in an
effective manner. I was the leader of the group for the task. I divided the work within the
members as per their interests and expertise. The planning and organization of the group was
quite effective and the work was completed in a total of 4 meetings. Most of the team members
interacted well with each other. However, it was noted that there was a communication gap
between 2 members owing to their personal grudges. I personally ensured that each member
within the group came up with ideas and thoughts through which the pitch related to
development of Fitness Band Watches of Guess could be made more appealing. This enabled the
group to exhibit creativity and uniqueness. The team work acted in the favour of the group and
helped in developing a lucrative pitch which could appeal to the group of investors. The quality
of the overall final presentation was effective enough. The only issue faced by the group while
working in collaborative manner was the lack of communication between the 2 members which
somehow hindered the smooth functioning of tasks. Thus, it is recommended that the group will
work upon collaborative communication so as to ensure that the tasks undertaken in future will
be executed in an effective manner.
CONCLUSION
On the basis of above discussion, it can be clearly stated that new product and service
development process is central to any company functioning within the confines of an economy.
Apart from this, it is acknowledged that new product development process is a set of stages
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which intend to transform a lucrative opportunity of market into a marketable service or product.
In addition to this, the significance of this procedure for corporations cannot be ignored at any
point of time as it leads to the generation of new value for customers and the long term
sustainability of entity in market place.
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