Abstract:

Forecasting new Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sales potential prior to test market has been available, and quite successful for twenty -20 years. During the past eight years, much effort has been devoted to duplicating the forecasting success into non-FMCG areas such as financial services, subscription-type products or services, durable goods and other service areas. The authors have been requested by these non-FMCG marketers during this period to investigate the applicability of a modified standard concept and concept/product test procedure to calibrate the forecasting models. In this paper, we share these experiences with the European colleagues some case histories on testing procedure and Year 1 sales forecasting for these types of new services and products. Since each type of service or product is so different from one another, the test procedure needs to be modified to fit each case. However, the general principle, procedure and questionnaire sequence remain virtually the same.