I believe that Segway Company did a good job in building a great innovative product technologically, technically and environmentally. However, it did not do the same job in the marketing research before starting to sell. Segway was mainly counting on the innovative idea of the product.
In this perspective number of problems can be highlighted.
Expectations were too high.
Since it was a new product and in order not waste unnecessary resources the first thing that the company should had done was to identify as single market as a niche market to penetrate. The Segway company has not established a clear position for itself in the marketplace. However, instead of focusing to meet the needs of a single market, company had anticipated to target
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It wasn't clear what need the Segway was filling. The initial price put it out of reach of many customers. Segway kept secretly the product until launching, there was no user feedback in the process. Segway did extensive product testing, but missed the most important thing. They did not test how Segway PT would look in the eyes of customers. The company was rushing to produce the product without checking the market feasibility of the …show more content…
The machine was launched, in secrecy, connected to big corporate names such as Steve Jobs and the claim that it would revolutionize people lives made the media to get carried away without any real ground for niche market. What does the customer know about it? Not much. The company should have shared at least some information before it was officially introduced to the public. For example, they could have distributed the first few hundred machines to athletic groups such as college polo teams or golf teams to try it for free. This will provide a good publicity as well as customer feedback. Offer a few hundred more to some bicycle clubs or skate boarders sports stars. This young and adventurous people in society may find new useful and fun roles for the Segway. If bicyclists are the first people to show interest and love to Segway and use it then use the bicyclists distribution channels. After that go to bicyclists shops or clubs and set up retail outlets, and in the same location, create rental shops so people can try out the Segway before they buy. Most important also to create repair shops, in the same location, so people know that the device can be repaired locally and quickly. I think marketing plan such as this one may do better