Ključne besede: razvoj izdelkov, trženje proizvodov, analitični hierarhični proces, ocena tržnega potenciala, bukovina
Abstract: If a company in the wood industry wants to develop and market its products successfully, it has to explore its target market well, especially for products from a specific type of wood -in our case, from beechwood. We designed three models: a model for the assessment of the product development potential, a model for the assessment of marketing of product opportunities, and a model for the assessment of product market potential. The latter was used in the study within the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and gave interesting results. Experts who participated in the survey conducted by the AHP method have estimated that the most important criterion while deciding to purchase beechwood products is quality, the second most important criterion is the price, and the third one is the idea. According to the survey, promotional mix and additional services have a minor impact on customer decisions about buying beechwood products. All three presented models can be a good tool that companies can usefully apply when deciding on developing and marketing a new product.Keywords: product development, product marketing, analytic hierarchy process, assessment of market potential, beech njem trendov, ki razkrivajo prihodnost, lahko sklepamo o možnih posledicah, kar pa pomeni, da odkrivamo priložnosti in nevarnosti, ki jih trend prinaša. Če tržniki trendov ne proučijo, se lahko zgodi, da nov izdelek podjetja ne bo usklajen s trendom, morda bo celo v nasprotju z njim (Oblak, 2012). Če se v nekem trenutku na določenem trgu dobro prodajajo izdelki iz hrastovega lesa, se lahko že v bližnji prihodnosti okus kupcev spremeni in bodo popularni izdelki iz bukovega lesa.Prav tako mora podjetje vedeti, kdo so lahko morebitni kupci njegovih izdelkov, kakšne izdelke porabniki potrebujejo in želijo ter kateri konkurenčni izdelki so že na trgu. Če tega ne ve, ne more uspešno pripraviti in izvajati svojih trženjskih aktivnosti. Globalizacija je te težave še dodatno poglobila.