New Product Marketing Plan

11 Pages 2732 Words

th rate of 2%-4% and a decrease in the saving rate over the last four years (www.bea.gov). Harley-Davidson motorcycles are luxury goods, which are only purchased when disposable income is readily available. Harley-Davidson is currently in a good position with its premium line of motorcycles to benefit from an increase in disposable income.
Much of this growth in disposable income has come from a single demographic group. This age group makes up the baby boom generation, Americans born between 1946-1964. The baby boomers make up 26% of the U.S. population. But the baby boom generation will start retiring in the next five to ten years and that will have a significant effect on Harley-Davidson’s current market. (www.inc.com) Currently, the average age of the purchaser of a new Harley-Davidson motorcycle is 47. (investor.harley-davidson.com) Under the current market conditions, Harley-Davidson is in an excellent position, so now is the time to spend money on establishing a new line of sportier motorcycles to attract the younger customers who will hopefully be convinced to stay with the Harley-Davidson brand as they become older and more affluent.
The customer base for the motorcycle industry as a whole is different than Harley-Davidson’s customer base. The breakdown by gender is the same, with 90% male and 10% female. (investor.harley-davidson.com) Motorcycle buyers of all brands are broken down into three age groups. The first one is the under 30 group. This group accounts for 44% of all sales. Therefore, a great opportunity exists here because of the group's size. Consumers in this group tend to buy mopeds, scooters and entry-level lightweight road bikes. (free2wheel.com) This is the group that Harley’s new model, the War Eagle will target. It is currently not served by any model in the Harley-Davidson product line.
The second group is consumers between 30 and 50. This age group makes up 45% of buyers anothe...