Companies use test markets to gauge the viability of a product before a major launch. Global test markets help ensure international consumers are aware of the product and comfortable with language translations. They also help companies understand how government agencies may react to the product.
Marketing and advertising are aimed at inducing consumers to buy a company’s products or services, regardless of whether the consumer needs them or not. To test the viability of a product or service, a company may wish to use small test markets before undertaking a major product launch. Global test markets include international locations where a company wants to test a product away from its home location. Using global test markets ensures that international consumers are aware of the product and comfortable with any language translations for advertising campaigns. Not all companies use international test markets for their goods and services if they don’t plan on selling in other countries.
Making a product or selling services to consumers can be a daunting process. Time spent just on development, planning, research and distribution can be very tedious and difficult. Once the concept is in place and the product is ready for sale, the company must decide how to start selling it to consumers. A test market typically utilizes several large cities or regions in which a company will sell products before a full rollout. Companies can sell in these smaller markets first and find out consumer preferences and which items may need changes before the products are sold out in a large market.
Global test markets work in very similar ways to domestic test markets. A company that may have a product for international consumers needs information about how those people will react to it in terms of quality and use. A big goal for these test markets is to ensure proper use of foreign languages to describe the product. Many historical cases are found in marketing where a manufacturer – say, a US company – has tried to sell a product in a foreign country with disastrous results. Inappropriate use of language or other terms can distract potential international consumers from the real product and its value in today’s environment.
Another benefit of global test markets is the ability for a company to find out how or what reaction a government agency might have to the product. For example, national governments may not be very intrusive about a company’s products or the way they are marketed to consumers. Global test markets, however, can produce wildly different results. Here the company may find that some of the methods in which they sell products will not be allowed. This may require an entirely different way in which a company must market and sell goods in the international market.
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