Placement is where your product is located within demographic sectors. You would not want to sell snowmobiles in a warm weather state, unless you are targeting the demographic that travels from warm weather to colder, snow covered areas. You need to examine your product to determine what provided you with the greatest access to your markets. Product placement is your next step in the marketing mix.
Consider product placement in conjunction to computer games. Computer games are not as easy to place as you might think. Yes, you might want to place your product on youth sites if your game has intense graphics and quick interaction. However, if your game is more geared towards a slower, more tactical demographic you may want to place the product on a web site geared more towards older people.
E-commerce enables product placement in nearly every arena. You need to determine the demographic your product pertains too in order to place the product appropriately. You will also need to concern yourself with Intellectual Property Rights if your placing a software or literature product. E-commerce lends itself to IP theft, so you may want to restrict product placement to certain locations.
Product placement also considers how the product complements or contrasts other products. You would not want to place antiques or ornaments with computer equipment unless you are placing a TSR80. It goes back to the old adage of placing like or complementing items together. The ability to index and separate web pages and categories makes product placement very easy, since you can create an entire theme for each page on a web site.
Product placement is where your product is located in regard to your targeted demographic. Consider who will want to use your product and place the product on the appropriate web site. A nicety with e-commerce is the ability to place products on distinct web pages and place them independent of other products on your web site. Product placement is not difficult once you have determined your target market.
Mike Kniaziewicz, MIS