Concept Development and Testing

Moore (2002) suggests “The primary purpose of concept testing is to estimate consumer reactions to a product Idea before committing substantial funds to it additionally, concept tests are used to determine the potential target market and how the concept might be improved”. By highlighting the demand and need for the service, through the use of a feasibility analysis that evaluates an idea (Barringer and Ireland, 2012, pp. 105), to understand whether the concept is desirable or not, can a specific target group be selected for testing. Once relevant feedback is received about the service, development of the concept can start through, “a process of successively refining, amplifying and enhancing the basic idea of the product” (Doyle, 2011), only then can the largest possible audience be captivated and for the potential service to be successful.

For example, Adidas’s running footwear goes through numerous safety procedures, to manage the risk associated with manufacturing products such as, preventing the physical and chemical breakdown of products for the prevention of injury to athletes from faulty merchandise, which could potentially damage the image of the brand, leading to a reduction in sales and revenue. Therefore, each product of Adidas goes through vigorous testing from the materials used, to the production process and the supply line. Collecting any relevant feedback, from randomised testing of each product model, to improve and ensure the integrity of the product is consistently maintained, throughout the process upon delivery to the consumer, which upholds Adidas’s standards and ideologies (Adidas, 2014).

Therefore, it is important for the idea of tri extreme to develop further, by making the final selection of which sports should be included within the triathlon. By understanding the majority of extreme sports are a niche market, as identified in figure 1 regarding the participation of the top 10 sports played within the United Kingdom.

 Figure 1, Top Ten Sports

Taking the statistics into consideration, it is vital for the tri extreme idea, to target the largest audience possible, otherwise the concept will not be a success due to low demand. However, Jones (2008) suggests that more traditional sports within the USA such as, volleyball and baseball are experiencing a plunge within participation figures, which can be linked to the increases within participation of mountain biking and snow sports. Therefore, by producing a questionnaire intended at a target sample of schools for students to complete, regarding desired extreme sports. Feedback can be retrieved and correlated, in order to choose the ideal extreme sports with the most appeal to attract consumers within the United Kingdom. Ensuring a younger audience is targeted, due to the increase within participation of extreme sports like mountaineering (Sport England, 2012), because of changes in trends within sports and the increased accessibility. This model can be applied to each country to ensure mass appeal is generated, as the popularity of sports change due to different cultures and lifestyles, which can be used effectively to maximise market penetration.     

Referencies    

Adidas. (2014) Adidas website. Available at: http://www.adidas-group.com/en/sustainability/products/product-and-consumer-safety/ (Accessed: 26^th November 2014)

Barringer, B. Ireland, R. (2012) Entrepreneurship: successfully launching new ventures. 4th edn. London: Pearson.

Doyle, C. (2011) A Dictionary of Marketing. 3^rd edn. Oxford University Press 

Figure 1- DCMS. (2011) Adult participation in sport. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/137986/tp-adult-participation-sport-analysis.pdf (Accessed: 26^th November 2014).

Jones, L. (2008) Xtremesport website. Available at: http://xtremesport4u.com/extreme-land-sports/extreme-sport-growing-in-popularity/ (Accessed: 26^th November 2014).

Moore, W. (2002) Concept testing. Journal of Business Research. 10(3), pp. 279-294

Sport England. (2012) Active people survey. Available at: http://www.sportengland.org/media/162207/03_1x30_sport_factsheet_aps7q2.pdf (accessed: 26^th November 2014).