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Recent History Brief Introduction about the organization General Electric Is an American conglomerate operating through the fields of energy, technology, Infrastructure, capital finance, and Industrial business. 1 Thomas Edison is a widely praised genius, both as an innovator and businessman, and it was his vision that laid the foundation for General Electric. 2 In 1876, he opened his first real workshop in Menlo Park, New Jersey where he would eventually create the electric light bulb. In 1890, Edison started the Edison General Electric Company to old his many businesses under one roof and after merging with the Houston- Thomas Company, his prime competitor, General Electric was born. 2 In the fields of technology and energy, General Electric will be releasing a product targeting solar energy and electric vehicles called The Catch. The Catch Is a solar powered car cover that absorbs the sun’s rays to charge electric cars without the need for an outside electrical source. It protects cars from weather damage and keeps them cool from the sun’s heat as well.
The Catch Is a cover Like the ones available to cover any standard icicle, but will be covered with multiple small solar panels. The Catch will have a chord attached that plugs directly into cars instead of having them plugged into an electrical outlet. 1 . “About Us,” General Electric, accessed October 3, 2013, http://www. GE. Com/about- us/curing 2. ” Thomas Edison At G. E. ,” General Electric, accessed October 3, 2012, http://www. GE. Com/about-us/history/Thomas-Edison Discuss what Is unique about the company and Its offerings General Electric Is known widely for their diversified and Inventive products.
Its products Include gas and steam generators, solar energy devices, water treatment revise, lighting, healthcare services, home and business solutions, loans and leases. 3 G. E. Is a world renown company with the numbers to prove it. In 2012, General Electric was placed at number 8 on Fortune ass’s top earners list in 2012 with $146. 9 billion in revenue. 4 With top competitors such as Valier Energy and Caterpillar Inc. Trailing behind, General Electric continuously maintains a respectable reputation as an innovative company. As well as being a top ranked annual earner, G. E. Was named in Bloomberg Businessman’s list of world’s most innovative companies and Baron’s list of most respected companies. Because General Electric expands their horizons diving into a varied number of profitable industries and dominating the competition with their pioneering qualities and reputable business methods, It Is hard for alternative companies to keep up. With the Earth’s diminishing sources of gas and fuel, G. E. Came up with a product that would accommodate the ever- changing needs of modern day society.
Part 2 Marketing Plan Market-product Focus What are the objectives of your new product? The overall objective for our consumer product, The Catch, is very clear and straight to the point; as a company, we are trying to help all owners of electrical cars utilize a more convenient, cost effective, and environmentally friendly way of charging their vehicles. The Catch will allow the consumer to charge their car in practically any rear inside or outside that natural light can be obtained. With a single lifetime payment, The Catch will save consumers money without the need for continuous electric bills arising from existing charging methods.
Lastly, by using the sun as a natural source of energy, we are thinking green and making a major thrust in conserving the environment. This new generation product will make life much easier for electric vehicle owners because of its substantial benefits. The Catch will be such an efficient product that it might Just convince other car companies to focus more on electric cars. It will also encourage potential car buyers to consider purchasing electric cars, which will encourage the use of our product. What is the specific customer niche that your product addresses?
The niche our product will be initially addressing is a car owners who desire a more cost effective and greener alternative to standard electric car charging methods engine with a 4-kHz battery that gives it only 9 to 15 miles of electric arrange. This is an example of a need related to our customers that is not being satisfied within our market segment. Last year, roughly 17,000 plug-in cars were sold in the United States more than were sold in any previous yearly 1 . Sales this year will most likely double or triple that number based on society’s desire for technological advancement in all fields.
President Obama set a goal for 1 million electric cars to be on the road by 201 512, which probably won’t happen; however, the President’s leadership will definitely encourage people to transition from gas-powered cars to electric-powered ones because of the government’s efforts in educating the country on the benefits of utilizing electric cars. This proves that our consumer product is entering a market hat is expanding rapidly, which increases our product’s chance of success. 10. Blocker, John. “Five Real-World Facts About Electric Cars,” accessed October 24, 2013, www. Log. RMI. Org/blob_Five_Real_World_Facts_Photoelectric_Cars 1 1 . Blocker, John. “Five Real-World Facts About Electric Cars,” accessed October 24, 2013, www. blob. RMI. Org/blob_Five_Real_World_Facts_Photoelectric_Cars 12. Blocker, John. “Five Real-World Facts About Electric Cars,” accessed October 24, 2013, www. blob. RMI. Org/blob_Five_Real_World_Facts_Photoelectric_Cars What sets your product apart from the competition? The Catches main competitor is the V-Tent. The V-Tent is a non-portable solar powered parking device that charges electric cars.
Our product design for The Catch is based around portability. The option to fold up The Catch and move it from point A to point B is going to the main point of difference from the V-Tent. Another drawback of the V-Tent is it can only operate under certain dimensions, limiting it to only small sedans. The Catch will be produced in a variety of sizes to fit the needs of all consumers driving electric cars. Envision LLC, our other competitor, has developed he Solar Tree as a way of saving unused space in parking lots.
These structures are very expensive and not for personal use at all; in fact, they don’t even allow for an electric vehicle to charge while parked near theme 5. The Solar Tree is going to be used in large parking lots limiting them to Just business-to-business market segment. The individual consumer may not benefit from Envisions product. Our strategy will cover all markets including green, cause, business-to-business and individual household marketing. 13. N-Tent Solar Parking System,” accessed October 24, 2013, www. Designator. Mol design/v-tent/ 14. Solar Tree Array,” accessed on October 24, 2013, www. Envisioned. Com/solar- tree-array/ 15. Kerri, Hartley, Rudderless, “Market Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning,” settable=sectional 16. Kerri, Hartley, Rudderless, “Market Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning,” accessed on October 24, 2013, www. Connect. McGraw-hill. Com/connect/homeboy. Do? How are you communicating your points of difference to your customers? Points of difference is expressed as a synonym of product differentiation, meaning the product features that set the product apart from its competition.
The Catch is a product with very limited competition. With the competitive advantage of not having many opponents in its market segment, it will not be hard to express the product features and benefits of The Catch that consumers cannot find anywhere else in the retail market. With the use of informational and transformational TV commercials, print advertisements, as well as the use of our social media networking, getting the word out about The Catches product differentiation will be simple and effective. Because The Catch is emerging in a new market, there is no such thing as bad timing with its release.
With a strong desire from consumers and economic access to buyers, consumers will Jump at the opportunity to save money, live environmentally consciously and advance in the world of technology. Because of these things, new- product failure is no where in The Catches future. Part 3 Marketing Plan Marketing Program 8. What are the product line, unique product quality, and packaging of your product? With the creation of our solar powered car cover, titled The Catch, our company is going to base our product line on how successful The Catch is after its 17.
Kerri, Hartley, Rudderless, “Market Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning,” initial launch. What we at General Electric have in mind for a product line extension is a smaller version of The Catch made to charge laptops, cell phones, and other handheld devices using the same solar powered method. These new products are projected to succeed in the marketplace because they satisfy the same needs, target the same customer base, and are going to be distributed through the same outlet as The Catch. 18 All of our products will hold high standards in terms of quality.
Part of what makes The Catch “cool” and appealing to customers is how it catches the eye with a high tech, sleek design. A higher price is worth it for a higher quality product like ours. For packaging, our product will be presented to the customer inside a box labeled with our company logo, picture of The Catch, as well as product features and basic instructions with pictures. Inside the box The Catch will be concealed in a plastic bag along with support information and a detailed instruction manual.
The Catch will create high customer value by providing functional, perceptual, and communication benefits, as well as addressing environmental concerns. 19 What is As discussed briefly in this marketing plan, our new product The Catch fraternities itself very well when it comes to green marketing for a large demographic of electric car owners because there is no existing product like it. This makes evaluating the price point and price position relative to substitutes of our product fairly difficult.
Although an abundance of in depth research must be done in 18. Kerri, Hartley, Rudderless, “Developing New Products and Services,” accessed on Novo. 19, 2013, www. Connect. McGraw-hill. Com/connect/homeboy. Do? settable ??section Tabs 19. Kerri, Hartley, Rudderless, “Managing Successful Products, Services, and Brands,” accessed on Novo. 19, 2013, www. Connect. McGraw-hill. Com/connect/homeboy. Do? settable=sectional order to reveal a more accurate estimation of the final price we can still create an educated estimation.
The bulk of The Catch will consist of a large protective car cover as well as multiple folding solar panels. The mean value of most conventional car covers ranges from $25 to $35. We will be purchasing our solar panels from the industrial supply company MIRRORS. Their product the Powerful OFF-1800 foldable solar charger is an amazing candidate for our development of The Catch. 0 At $500 each they will cost around $2,000 dollars to produce on The Catch unit. This is before any wholesale negotiations have taken place. We here at G. E. Re looking to flood the emerging market by introducing a new product, in turn creating brand loyalty. This is why we are going to take a cost-oriented pricing approach when developing our product before developing a profit-oriented pricing method. 21 Using these methods we hope to establish a retail value of $2,000 – $2,500 which will satisfy both the needs of our company and customers. What promotional strategies are used for your rotund? The promotional strategies that we will implement for The Catch will include advertising, personal selling, and direct marketing.