AN APPROACH TO THE OPTIMAL POSITIONING OF A NEW PRODUCT

This study examines the problem faced by a firm which wishes to position a new choice object in an existing product class. It is assumed that both the consumer and the firm are involved in a two-stage decision process. The consumer first decides on his budget for the product class. He then evaluates, within the product class, the subset of competing objects which have prices approximately equal to his budget constraint. This evaluation is performed through a weighted multi-attribute utility model. The product classes considered here are ones for which the consumer has a finite ideal level on each attribute. The consumer is hypothesized to choose, without error, that object which is closest to his ideal. Different individuals are assumed to be heterogeneous in both attribute weights and ideal levels.