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Discussion on: Recent product failure and how could it have been prevented

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ujjwal_poudel

GoPro Inc. introduced their most anticipated product GoPro Karma Drone in 2016. For the first time GoPro introduced a product with the camera attached or placed in portable drones. The company was excited and confident about their new product and launched it enthusiastically to compete with other rivals. In reference to their past market per, they are pretty sure to the product that they gone conquer the market again. They marketed and advertised their product extensively with the theme "More than a drone”. In the same way, people were excited about the GoPro’s product diversification meaning for the first time they were launching drones. But just a few days after Karma launch event, DJI released MavicPro. MavicPro realized the integration of innovation in all aspects of fly control, special flight function, product design, battery life, etc… Mavic outgunned Karma by nearly all aspects (Hongjia, 2017).

Figure1: GoPro Karma Drone

As soon as, GoPro Karma Drone hit the market it failed miserably. The marketing and advertising aspect of the company was compelling but the product itself failed to impress the consumers due its lagging performance and functionality. The major reasons for failure are mentioned below:

Lack of experience

They lacked the experience to drone where drone market leader, DJI, has been making drones for years, 2011.

Lack of innovation

Low battery life, much shorter range than its competitors and potential physical threats to people. The Karma and Mavic were both announced at the end of September. But there are so many features that the Mavic has and Karma doesn’t.

Safety Issues

Due to poor engineering and designing process the Karma camera drone fell from the sky while flying. There were numerous consumer complaints and grievance that drones got lost in the sky (Levln, 2016).

Kotler & Keller (2016), in their book Marketing Management, the processes of new product development are idea generation, research, idea screening, concept development, market strategy, feasibility analysis, product design, test marketing and finally market entry. GoPro Karma Drone could have been done differently in the new product development process to prevent the failure.

Innovative invention

GoPro is known for its innovative invention, this time they failed to capture their essence in Karma drone. Such kind of product previously existed in the market with lot better performance, functionality and specification.

Research

The most important aspect of the new product development is research; here, GoPro could have focused more on research to check the demand and viability of the product.

Idea screening

The company could have simply thrower the idea around and see what people think about it. This would have lead to further inspection and redesign of the product with better input.

Product design

The camera and other parts of this flying object were not balanced precisely as per the rule of gravity. So, if they had engineered the drone well then such issue would not have occurred.

References

Hongjia, X. (2017). Techno-entrepreneur from Emerging Economies: A case of DJI in Global Competition and Innovation. In United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship. Conference Proceedings (p. 1178). United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship.

Kotler, P., & Keller, K. L. (2016). Marketing Management . Boston: Pearson.

Levln, T. (2016). Why did GoPro Karma fail? -Drone market analysis. In wetalkuav . Retrieved from wetalkuav.com/gopro-karma-fail/