NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF FASHION TECHNOLOGY, BENGALURU

MASTER OF FASHION MANAGEMENT

BATCH 2023-2025

FASHION MARKETING

Exercise-17

SUBMITTED BY:

Naman Somani
MFM/23/76

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NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

COURSE SELECTED: Credited courses- 6 months to 1-year flexible hybrid courses.

IDEA GENERATION

At this stage, while developing this service, National Institute of Fashion Technology could think of the
various dynamics in the hybrid course that could be offered for example the course could be hybrid in
the sense that people could complete it at their own pace from a time duration of 6 months to 12 months
and appear for a test after completing all the classes online or the institute could offer a mix of online
and offline classes at a suitable time for working professionals (or on weekends) and ask the candidates
to appear for a test within 6 months of the last class. At this stage, it is also important that NIFT looks at
various hybrid courses offered by its competitors like ISB’s 18-month blended programme or IIM
Kozhikode’s product management course.

IDEA SCREENING

Now out of all the possible ways to deliver the hybrid course, NIFT could select one form of the course
that suits its target market; the working professionals and fresh graduates the most and is also feasible
for the institute to conduct in an efficient manner without hampering the on-going courses. The course
should be selected in a way that gives a big career boost to the one who completes it and also in the field
where NIFT could offer its USP and that would typically be fashion.

CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT AND TESTING

Now once the idea is screened and finalised, NIFT could conduct a survey where they can ask about this
concept and people’s willingness to sign up for this course. The survey could be sent to various NIFT
alumni as well as non-niftians working in the field of fashion. They could ask questions related to what
would be the suitable mode; whether will they be willing to take up the course while working to boost
their salary, etc.

MARKETING STRATEGY AND DEVELOPMENT

In this stage, the 4P’s of marketing could be formulated by the company along with a detailed STP
analysis. The product i.e., the course could be refined as much as possible to suit the needs of a larger
population. The price could be kept keeping in mind that the fresh graduates would also be appearing for
the course and the fact that they have not started working yet, they could also offer a competitive pricing

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to penetrate in the field of fashion courses offered by other institutes like Pearl Academy, IIFT, etc. The
place could be made as flexible as possible with the possibility of appearing for the end of course exams
in any of the 18 campuses of NIFT since the course could be completely online for the classes and lastly,
the course could be promoted through various channels of industry connects and alumni networks.

BUSINESS ANALYSIS

Guesstimates could be done based on the data collected during the survey of concept testing and a
detailed cost structure could be prepared taking into account the digital infrastructure required,
compensation of staff for extra work/teaching, and analyse if launching the course would actually be
financially feasible for the organisation (NIFT).

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

Well, in this case, it would be the development of a service which is a hybrid course and the final
curriculum could be decided. Teachers could be allocated under various courses offered (if more than 1);
reference books could be checked and assigned to the mentees or students.

TEST MARKETING

Now comes the real check if the course would function well and would not be draining the energies of
the trainees and trainers unnecessarily. NIFT will have to ensure that these courses will maintain their
nature of being hybrid and are not a big burden on the people trying to make the best use of it.

COMMERCIALIZATION

After all the research that has been talked about above, the final stage of commercialization has to be
done to actually get the course out in the market and gain a market share. For this to profitably initiate
and make its buzz in the market, NIFT could start it from its top 3 campuses known across India and
could slowly and gradually expand to all other centres.

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PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE

PRODUCT SELECTED: Premium Smart Watch

STAGE 1: INTRODUCTION STAGE

This stage will see typically low sales as the product has just been introduced into the market and the
costs per customer would be high. A considerable amount of marketing budget has to be dedicated to the
product to create awareness and for people to try the product. Since the product selected here is cost-
heavy, product samples cannot be distributed for trials instead store trials could be offered to customers
to check out the product when they visit the store. The spend on promotion at this stage would be high
and the pricing has to be carefully determined. Since the product selected here is a ‘premium’ offering
we cannot have a competitive price because the one who owns it should feel as if they own luxury. The
market indeed may be niche but low prices would systematically ruin the positioning that has been sought
for the product. The place where this product is offered could be offline in experiential stores or online
with an offer of customization to make the customers and potential customers feel the luxury when they
pay the price for it.

STAGE 2: GROWTH STAGE

If we are successful in the introduction stage and the money spent on marketing bears fruits, the sales of
the product will rise rapidly in this stage and profits might reach a peak. The niche market that we wanted
to target in the previous stage would now have clearer segmentation and hence a clearer targeting;
however, for this to be possible the product must be well differentiated in the market. The cost of
production might reduce due to economies of scale but we keep the prices constant or maybe raise to add
to the premium experience that has been offered in the introduction stage. Therefore, the profits also tend
to increase and in the segment of premium wrist wearables, the product will maximise its market share.
The promotion expenses at this stage need not be more than the introduction stage rather they could be
reduced to utilise the marketing budget in production and improving channels of distribution. The
channels of distribution could be improved due to effectiveness in logistics because of a larger scale.
Looking at such profits, competitors might enter the market and greater efficiency has to be achieved to
retain the market share.

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STAGE 3: MATURITY STAGE

At this stage the improved sales from the growth stage reach a peak and the marketing objective is to
maximise profits rather than maximising market share which has already been achieved in the previous
stage. The cost of production stays low and profits are high due to economies of scale. The distribution
of the product becomes intensive since exponential growth has now ended and has rather stabilised. At
this stage, since a strong brand and product loyalty plays a major role, the services offered with the
smartwatch should be customer centric and the customer should not feel the need to try different products
because the market is now saturated and any increase in a competitor’s market share would be at the
expense of the company’s market share. The pricing towards the end of this stage could be reduced a
little with respect to direct competitors focusing only on the same target market. Even after being a luxury
product, the prices are lowered a little only because the company at this stage would now try to diversify
its product or its models. The promotions could be improved at this stage since the competitors will try
to use heavy promotions to cut the company’s market share.

STAGE 4: DECLINE STAGE

The onset of the decline stage is equivalent to items being pruned from the company’s offerings. The
product’s sales will see a decline at this period and the competitors might start gaining market share (in
case the decline is not due to other environmental, technical, or social factors). The marketing objective
would be to simply milk the brand and reduce all expenditures. The smart watch being a technological
product would get outdated by this stage and this is where the diversification into newer models is
needed. The model that went through these previous stages would now have a cut price and the cost per
customer would also reduce. The product would simply phase out from the market and the life cycle
would end.

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