Marketing a new product can be a challenge for any company.

Marketing personnel within a company will always wonder will the new product be successful. A marketing strategy should be put together for any company to successfully market a product that will make profits long term. This paper will discuss the many challenges that a company may have to face when marketing a new product. Wal-Mart introduces a new hair color, Fat Foam Introduction Wal-mart is a successful company that provides numerous products and services to customers at the same location. A customer may have to purchase a few groceries items and can also purchase a new TV or use money services such as paying a bill without leaving the store. With Wal-Marts success record, anyone may believe any new product or service that Wal-Mart brings to its stores will be successful. However, regardless of the many years of success that Wal-Mart has, marketing a new product can still be challenging as it all depends on whether or not the customers buy the products or services. Challenges in New Product Launches Wal-Mart recently introduced a new product to consumers called Fat Foam, which is a hair coloring product. There are several other hair coloring products that are sold at Wal-Mart stores, and this product will be added to the list of products. The company that invented Fat Foam has a marketing strategy to get their products on the shelves in Wal-Mart before one of their competitors who will be also launch a new product a few months later. (Neff, 2010). Challenges: Other Competitors The first challenge that I will discuss is the fact that there are so many other hair coloring products that are on the market and are doing very well. Fat Foam already has many competitors

who market their products through Wal-Mart. Also, Fat Foam has taken a head start but stands up to a competitor with a similar product, John Frieda Precision Foam Color. A lot of consumers are skeptical about trying a new product that is considered an off brand compared to trusted brands that have proven track records of being successful and are made with quality. Because of the high risk of failure, hair color is one of the categories with the highest consumer resistance to trying private label or new brands (Neff, 2010). Wal-Mart is one of the worlds largest retailers, but the idea of persuading consumers to try Fat Foam over their usual preferred product will be tough to do. Challenges: Foreign Product vs. American Product Another challenge that will come up about marketing this new product is that it is a foreign product. The product, Fat Foam, is a product from Japan. True enough many products that are developed in foreign countries that are made quality just as good or better than some products from the United States. For instance, my personal experiences with both a foreign car and an American-made truck have stood upon the idea this challenge. My American-made truck that I have owned for only 4 years have had more problems and more parts replaced than my foreign-made car, which I have owned for 10 years and driving over 200,000 miles. Overall, some consumers will remain faithful to purchasing their favorite American-made hair color such as LOreal or the famous Just for Men that many male customers choose. Challenges: Successful Marketing The third challenge that I will discuss is wondering how successful the marketing will be for Fat Foam. Having a successful marketing strategy can be difficult for any company to find ways to get their product or service to be profitable. Before being discovered by Wal-Mart, the makers of Fat Foam did international free marketing via You Tube. Since being connected with

Wal-mart, Fat Foam has developed TV ads as well as videos of customers who use the products and love using the product. Another challenge within this one is that many Wal-mart stores have in store demos or booths set up where merchandisers tell consumers about new products and even hand out coupons. Even though the word is getting out about this new product, will consumers still decide to purchase the product? Technology and New Product Development Fat Foam is a new product that presents a new technology to the hair coloring market. This new hair coloring product is a no-drip hair color product (Neff, 2010) which will grasp the attention of customers who purchase hair coloring products. There have been many cases where women use a lot of towels and even stain their clothes because their hair color runs or drips everywhere. This new idea of hair color is in the form of foam, which will be easier to put in your hair. Technology: No more dripping hair color Fat Foam has introduced a new technology to the hair coloring industry that may catch the attention of other consumers who purchase hair coloring products. The foam technology lets women put the color in and then go about their day, without having to worry about it dripping on the floor and staining clothes and furniture (Neff, 2010). This product can be a great product for hair salons to use, especially those who use a lot of hair coloring products. A beautician can cut the time in half of having a customer in the chair who want their hair dyed. The main advantage of this type of technology is the fact that it saves time. Many busy women can take advantage of this product by being able to change their hair color within minutes. Technology: Using modern technology to market the product

Fat Foam is taking advantage of the latest technology available to market the product. A lot of companies are taking advantage of opportunities to market their products and services via the Internet through many websites, including social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace. Since blogs are a new and popular online tool for people, especially women, the maker of Fat Foam hair color displays testimonial/demonstration videos from the retailer's (Wal-Marts) ElevenMoms network of women bloggers as well as digital ads onvarious websites (Neff, 2010). The use of technology to market a product can reach a vast audience that did not know about the product until they viewed an ad on a website that they visited. Technology: Globalization Globalization is widely viewed as one of, if not the, dominant imperative driving business strategy in the twenty-first century (Douglas & Craig, 2011). Fat Foam product makers have used globalization to market their product by using one of the worlds largest retailers to promote their product. Globalization is not new to Hoyu, the makers of Fat Foam, because they previously partnered with Wal-Mart in Japan in marketing another product. In 2008, in another sign of increasing globalization, Hoyu bought Samy, a "masstige" hair-care brand founded by Hispanic salon stylist Samuel Suarez in Miami more than a decade ago (Neff 2011). The makers of Fat Foam have a successful record of using globalization in order to create growth within the company. Legal and Ethical Implications in New Product Development Several companies deal with various legal issues as well as ethical concerns that may arise. Many ethical concerns cause bias from customers. Just because a certain product is cheaper, a customer may think that the product has less quality than a product that has a higher price. Many

legal issues may arise due to any regulations or FDA approvals that may need to be made for a product to be released to be marketed. Legal and ethical implications: Past experience of a company/ product Many companies have experienced legal and ethical issues but have pulled through and remained successful over the years. In general, it will take money for a new product to be developed as well as marketed once it is ready to be sold to the public. Also, the experience of a company makes a big difference in how consumers view a company. For instance, many consumers may view American General as a company that they cannot trust to provide insurance and financial services to them just because of recent unfair use of funds given by the government. On the other hand, a company that has an experience in improving a product over the years can allow the company to have success in marketing their product over and over. Two firm resourcesexperiential and financialserve as inputs to three marketing capabilities informational, customer relationship, and product development (Kaleka, 2011). Legal and ethical implications: The price of the product

Fat Foam is a product that allows consumers to save time. However, the ethical consequence that may occur is that the price may be slightly higher than regular hair coloring products that normally drip and run. Will consumers purchase this product for higher that allows them to save time? The common downfall may be that consumers will punish producers of unethically made goods more than they would reward them for being ethical; that is, they will demand a price that is lower than the premium obtained from ethical behavior (Winer & Dhar, 2011).Many consumers ask the question, will a higher price of a product prove that it is better quality? I can attest to purchasing a cheaper store branded products that are just as good as a

name brand product in many cases. At the same time, I have tried store branded products that were cheaper and less quality than the name brand products.

Legal and ethical implications: What a weak Marketing strategy can cause

The marketing strategies for products all depends on the individuals who are in the marketing department. A strong marketing strategy can make a difference in how successful a product can be. For instance, Ford Motor Company has had a strong marketing strategy for over 100 years which makes it a company with durability. However, a weak marketing strategy for any company can cause consequences in the long run. Because the marketing department is the organizational subunit in which most marketing experts work, it is important for marketing practitioners to understand how a marketing department can regain its influence in the organization (Nath & Mahajan, 2008).

Conclusion

In conclusion, the many challenges that a company may face when releasing a new product can be overcome with good marketing strategies as well as good experience over time. Regardless of various challenges, Early results for Fat Foam look positive and sales were three times faster than expected in early weeks (Neff, 2010).

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