PRODUCTS & SERVICES
A company of whatever size and whichever industry essentially defines itself through its product and service portfolio and the service commitment it gives to customers. Supported by the expertise and the interaction of its employees and its management team, the company's differentiation against the competition and its relevance to customers and employees alike manifest themselves in the products and services on offer.
Designing a product and service portfolio from the market and the customer perspective is crucial to the successful development and management of that portfolio. Although the approach may sound commonplace, it is not always practiced. In many cases, an in-depth analysis of customer needs and competitors' services might be replaced in the R&D department, for example, by their own "pragmatic" approach. This can result in services being put into the portfolio for which the company then needs to find target groups and sales channels.
Besides having a clear customer focus, the positioning of the company and its brands provides a crucial guide for determining and designing the product and service portfolio and its structure.
KEYLENS has spent many years supporting companies in determining and successfully managing their products & services.
Some of the aspects our consultancy focuses on:
- Competitor and trend analyses, and customer insights
- Evaluating products and services
- Developing new products and services
- Assortment strategies and private label concepts
- Portfolio management
- Customer segmentation and segment-specific services
SELECTED KEYLENS PROJECT EXAMPLES
Energy utility company
ENERGY UTILITY COMPANY
Issue:
Portfolio management
Objective:
Streamlining the product and service offering and increasing the company's market influence
Results:
- We identified all products and services offered in the B2C sphere
- Evaluated and prioritized the existing product and service offering based on market research and expert knowledge
- Identified "white spots" – where demand exists but is not covered – for developing new products
- Created a method for drawing up a product-specific business plan, incl. capital budgeting
- Installed processes, structures, and a reporting system for sustainable portfolio management
KEYLENS success levers:
Customer focus rather than technology/sales focus, and in-depth practical experience of product management on the part of KEYLENS
Bank
BANK
Issue:
New product development
Objective:
Integrating new products and services with high customer relevance in the portfolio
Results:
- We took an audit of all ongoing new product projects and the top and worst sellers of the past ("product status")
- Analyzed existing market research to look for potential customer demand for products and services
- Installed a process for systematically developing new services
- Screened the identified new product ideas; evaluated and selected them (first stage in the process)
- Developed ideas into new services based on the new product process we developed, and subsequently rolled them out
KEYLENS success levers:
Systematic interlinking of market-side and product-specific know-how via a structured process with clearly defined interfaces
Department store company
DEPARTMENT STORE COMPANY
Issue:
Private label strategy and implementation
Objective:
- Realigning the portfolio of private labels due to the large number of brands without a sharp profile, some of which are unprofitable
- Identifying clear growth impulses for each private label, with defined potential and implementation targets
Results:
- We developed a target group logic to suit the company's positioning (lifestyle provider), incl. defining the requirements of the private label strategy for each core target group
- Streamlined the portfolio and consolidated the number of brands, clearly delimiting the individual private labels from each other with respect to target groups, fashion grade, price, categories, and intended use
- Determined the positioning of each private label in conjunction with top management, brand managers, and designers, looking at it from the perspective of both commodity world logic and brand logic
- Developed binding brand guides for each private label, clearly detailing the requirements in terms of merchandise selection, price positioning, stylistic direction, POS communication, and advertising
- Defined the requirements in terms of organizational structures to permanently implement the defined private label strategy
- Developed a brand scorecard for continuous result measurement, incl. programming
KEYLENS success levers:
High level of acceptance in the organization, especially among the brand managers, due to the involvement of all relevant decision makers
Tourism group
TOURISM GROUP
Issue:
Brand strategy and development of new, high-margin products
Objective:
Creating new tourism products with high gross profits, with which to secure future profitable growth in the tour operator business
Results:
- We developed a novel form of customer segmentation, unique in a European context, that links lifestyle data, travel needs, and specific travel behavior
- Identified high-revenue and high-profitability customer segments
- Developed various showcase tourism products for these segments (brand/service proposition, product concept, price point positioning, marketing concept)
- Developed a range of tools to present the results at the travel agency level (consultations) and the hotel level
KEYLENS success levers:
Substantial methodological expertise in segmenting and modeling, combined with brand and positioning expertise in new product development
