For product management professionals in the B2C market, the challenges are even greater as the competition and speed in their markets is magnitudes greater than their B2B counterparts. Often consumer-oriented products have a high degree of seasonality to them, substitutes abound, and product lifecycles can be very short (Thorpe, Morgan, 2007). Determining the best possible market segments, defining customers as accurately as possible and monitoring the performance of go-to-market strategies is critical for a new business to succeed in consumer-based or B2C-oriented markets (Van Fleet, Van Fleet, Flint, 2010). Considering how competitive the consumer packaged goods (CPG) market is and the level of investment required for any new product to be successful, the need for accurate customer information becomes central to innovation (Kannan, Yim, 2001). The success of Proctor & Gamble in the CPG markets they compete in is evidence of how thoroughly customer insight, intelligence and market segment analysis...
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