undifferentiated marketing strategy

Definition:
One of three basic marketing strategies (the other two being DIFFERENTIATED and CONCENTRATED). An undifferentiated strategy exists when the supplier offers the same or undifferentiated product to all persons or organizations believed to have a demand for a product of that type. Three sets of circumstances suggest themselves as being suited to an undifferentiated strategy: (a) the introduction of an INNOVATION; (b) the mature/ decay stage of the PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE; (c) commodity marketing where the conditions most closely approximate the economist's model of PERFECT COMPETITION. When introducing a new product into the marketplace, especially a radically different product, several factors may predicate an undifferentiated strategy. For example it is widely recognized that much of the risk attendant upon a new product launch is uncertainty as to the scope and nature of demand, which may result in a perceptual mismatch between supplier and potential user. Inertia and commitment to the known and safe product or process make it very difficult to forecast just what interpretation prospective users will make of the benefits offered by the innovation. Under such circumstances, a broad approach may be preferable to an attempt to pre-identify receptive customers as a basis for MARKET SEGMENTATION and the development of either differentiated or concentrated strategies. Similarly, by the time that the product is moving into its decline it is safe to assume that the users/consumers are strongly committed to the product and so there is little need for special marketing effort. In the third case, the essential homogeneity of the commodity militates against either a differentiated or concentrated strategy.

Cross-References:
[concentrated marketing strategy] [perfect competition] [innovation] [market segmentation] [product life cycle (PLC) concept] [differentiated marketing strategy]

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