Understanding the marketplace is the first step to developing and implementing a company's effective marketing strategy. Consider today's marketplace, which is crowded with a variety of products and services in all industries.

Companies sell their products and services in-store and online as well as offering a hybrid of options to order online and pick up in store.

These options are often designed to move the company and its brands to the top place in the industry.

For this discussion, explore the electric and hybrid car industry. Because more emphasis is being placed on sustainable and green technologies for cleaner air and lower gas emissions, customers are becoming more interested in alternative-fuel cars such as hybrids, solar, and electric choices.

In addition, as gasoline prices continue to rise for all-fuel automobiles, customers are often looking for more fuel-efficient options to lower their personal expenditure and more.

A few sites that show these growing markets include the following:

Electric Vehicles Market

Hybrid Cars Market

For this discussion, after researching the electric or hybrid market, select a car model that offers the customer a more fuel-efficient choice. Then, discuss the following:

Identify the product's competition. What is 1 new trend on the horizon that the company needs to consider when offering these models to customers in the future?

Discuss how your selected model is poised to compete in today's marketplace.

What type of customer would be interested in your product? Note the demographics such as the age of the customer, lifestyle, or psychographics. For example, a customer who is a salesperson and travels 200 miles per day might be very interested in this type of car.