Marketing Myopia and Consumer Needs

Introduction

• 30,000 new consumer products launched annually
  • 90% of these products fail
• Main reason: Marketing myopia
  • Coined by Harvard Business School professor Theodore Levitt

Marketing Myopia Explained

• Definition: Nearsighted focus on selling products/services rather than understanding what consumers really want
• Theodore Levitt's Example:
  • People don't want to buy a quarter inch drill; they want a quarter inch hole.
• Classic Case Study: Railroad Lines
  • Thought they were in the rail business
  • Missed broader opportunity as providers of transportation
  • Failed to branch out into cars, trucks, airplanes
  • Lost passenger and freight traffic to other companies

Other Examples

• Oil and Gas Companies
  • Initially identified as energy providers
  • Majority of resources still devoted to petroleum
  • Risk of becoming obsolete without development of alternative fuels
• General Mistake
  • Organizations overly invest in current operations
  • Blind to future opportunities
  • Misbelief of being in a growth industry rather than seizing new growth opportunities

Avoiding Marketing Myopia

• Leaders need to ask: What business are we really in?
• Goal: Satisfy customers
• Acceptance of product/service replacement by competition
• Focus on identifying and meeting consumer needs sooner than competitors

Conclusion

• Marketing myopia leads to failure in recognizing broader consumer needs
• Success lies in understanding and keeping up with customer aspirations and potential market changes