Bimby case

: time to market innovation on premium products

Abstract

Thermomix, or Bimby in Portugal, is the kitchen robot’s market leader that became a generic brand, confounding itself as a product category. With the unstoppable changes on the technology market which constantly demand novelties, Thermomix is studied as an example of a brand that doesn’t want to fall behind. Aware its’ products stand in a particular situation, the German firm’s goal is finding the optimal time to market innovation on their premium product. To answer such quest, primary and secondary research methods contribute to a time interval proposal for product innovation and other complementing findings. Leading to such proposal, concepts such as innovation, premium products, the importance of market research and defined positioning gain special prominence. Major findings indicate consumers give strong importance to innovation and most expect premium brands to launch product updates every year. When it comes specifically to Bimby, expectations are less ambitious and further away from life changing innovation once consumers prefer incremental to radical changes. It was also noticed that recognition of products as premium or non-premium doesn’t affect more impulsive consumers on the speed to purchase. As the major conclusion, the most realistic time interval advises firms to launch premium products from two to five years.

Date of Award	26 Feb 2018
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Pedro Celeste (Supervisor)