Consumer Behaviour in the New Products Management in Serbia

Initiating the process of new product development based on consumer needs and by satisfying their expectations, as required by the concept of marketing, emphasizes indubitable significance and contribution of consumer behaviour in marketing. However, insufficient or inadequate application and understanding of the consumer has been observed in the practice, in the process of innovation. Therefore, managers of the two companies that were involved in the process of new instant coffee development were interviewed. Secondary data, concerning the brand performance are data of the longitudinal studies of market research agencies. The paper shows that insufficient attention paid to consumers in the new product development impacts the success of the product. It has been confirmed that the marketing managers rely on consumer behaviour and that they are aware of its importance, but use it quite superficially. The conclusion is that, in practice, enterprises in Serbia, in addition to the insufficient application of consumer behaviour in the new products development, face the shortcomings related to the process itself, such as the lack of marketing concept acceptance, production of certain formal documents, strategic planning as well as consumer research. The paper proposes a modification of the new products development model that insists on the four observed shortcomings.