Product Assessment

Product Assessment

Michael Wagner

Marketing 100

Professor Humphries

May 5, 2013

Abstract

This document will highlight the paper industry and its decline over the years. It will also look at a company (New York Times) within the paper industry, and how the industry has affected the company. The document will also attempt to show current target market demographics using U.S. Census Data and how that may be contributing to the industry's decline. It will also look at why the industry declining in popularity.

The document will attempt to make recommendations to address the product's declining appeal to consumers and potentially determine the best foreign country in which to market this product or service. The document will also discuss your product segmentation and positioning ideas for this product or service in its debut in the new country

Discuss this product or service in terms of its current target market demographics using U.S. Census Data.

The paper industry target market, specifically the New York Times, is older well off professionals or business owners. These target audiences are typically to the left (conservative) in terms of their polictical viws. The typical newspaper reader in the United States is older (65+), white and has obtained a college degree or higher. Currently, The New York Times targets a reader who falls into this demographic snapshot as well, with the added geographic variable of residing within the greater New York City area. While The New York Times is circulated both nationwide and worldwide, 46% of its circulation is within the thirty-onecounties that make up the greater New York City area (One Source Report - The New York Times Company).

Determine why you believe the product or service is declining in popularity

The newspaper has experienced a significant decline in revenue and circulation distributions, and this can be attributed to the rise of the internet. The internet has allowed a person to be able to consume information, normally contained in a print format, in a more dynamic and interactive way. It is because of this interaction that has allowed the end user to consume periodical content on their own terms, as opposed to the more traditional way of morning and nightly papers.

In an article from Mashable Business, it is quoted that consumers read more news online than paper.

In surveys conducted by the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism, 34% of respondents said they read news online within the past 24 hours (as opposed to 31% who favored newspapers); and a full 41% said they get most of their news online, 10% more than those who said they got most of their news from a newspaper. .

According to the U.S. Census morning dailies have increased by only 1% between the years 2000-2005 and the nightly dailies have decreased by about 20% for the same period. (Editor & Publisher CO., 2007)

The paper industry has also been affected due to world view of how paper and trees should be treated. As the world becomes more conscious of how the enviroment should be treated, the paper industry becomes a major target. This is despite the fact that trees are replenshed for whatever is cut down. The issue becomes the waste that paper produces, hence the need for paper recyling.

The fact that the internet has given rise to consume periodical content on demand and the overall conscious elevation of world societies, has contributed to the delcine of the paper. In a report just released by the New York Times, the New York Times lost 88 million in the last quarter. This decline was attributed to electronic media continous decline in print