Project reason: addressing gaps in the market

Name:

Date:

Class:

Quick Questions

Shade in the A or B circle for each question.

1. Which best describes a gap in the market?

A A need that no existing product meets well

B A product that every competitor already sells

2. A student finds that no existing app lets VCE students track SAC dates and study hours together. This is...

A A legal constraint

B A new product opportunity

3. Which group is the target market for a study planner app built for Year 12 students?

A Year 12 students who need to plan their study

B Every person with a smartphone

4. A cafe owner finds that existing ordering apps charge high fees and have no loyalty rewards. What is this?

A Proof that there is no market at all

B Competitor weaknesses that reveal a gap

5. Which is a reason to build software to address a gap in the market?

A Existing products do not meet users' needs well

B A product already meets every user's needs perfectly

Match the Pairs

Draw a line connecting each item on the left to its match on the right.

Left column		Right column
1gap in the market		AtargetMarket = "Year 10 students who want a simple study planner"
2competitor weakness		BThe developer has not researched competitor weaknesses or the target market, so they cannot show a gap exists.
3Identify the target market, the group of users whose need is not being met, before building the software		CA flaw in an existing product, such as poor features, high price or weak support, that a new solution can improve on
4A new product opportunity arises when existing apps do not meet a need, so a developer builds a solution that does		DA need that no existing product meets well, giving a business a reason to build new software
5Reason for project: Many popular apps already do exactly what we plan, so we will copy them.		EIF existingApps do not meet need THEN build new app
6Reason for project: We will build an app, but we have not looked at competitors or who would use it.		FThis describes no gap in the market. Copying products that already meet the need leaves no unmet need or new opportunity.

Definitions

gap in the market

Fill in the Blanks

Complete each line of code by filling in the missing parts.

needMet ← _____ OUTPUT "Competitors do not meet the need"

IF needMet _ FALSE THEN OUTPUT "Gap in the market" END IF

________ rival IN competitors CheckWeaknesses(rival) NEXT rival

IF weaknesses > 0 ___ marketSize > 0 THEN newProduct ← TRUE END IF

IF gapFound = TRUE THEN OUTPUT "Build new software" END __

Spot the Error

Shade in the letter of the line that contains an error.

Question 1

A SET rating ← 2

B SET minGood ← 4

C IF rating > minGood THEN

D DISPLAY 'Weak competitor'

E END IF

Question 2

A SET users ← 0

B FOR EACH person IN survey

C IF NOT person.wantsApp THEN

D SET users ← users + 1

E END IF

F END FOR

Question 3

A SET need ← 80

B SET rivals ← 1

C IF need>50 OR rivals<3 THEN

D SET gapFound ← TRUE

E END IF

Question 4

A FUNCTION gapSize(demand)

B RETURN demand - supply

C END FUNCTION

D DISPLAY gapSize(90, 60)

Question 5

A SET users ← 2000

B SET share ← 0.4

C SET price ← 5

D SET sales ← users*share+price

E DISPLAY sales

Answer Key

Project reason: addressing gaps in the market

Section A: Quick Questions

A — A need that no existing product meets well

B — A new product opportunity

A — Year 12 students who need to plan their study

B — Competitor weaknesses that reveal a gap

A — Existing products do not meet users' needs well

Section B: Match the Pairs

gap in the market → A need that no existing product meets well, giving a business a reason to build new software

competitor weakness → A flaw in an existing product, such as poor features, high price or weak support, that a new solution can improve on

Identify the target market, the group of users whose need is not being met, before building the software → targetMarket = "Year 10 students who want a simple study planner"

A new product opportunity arises when existing apps do not meet a need, so a developer builds a solution that does → IF existingApps do not meet need THEN build new app

Reason for project: Many popular apps already do exactly what we plan, so we will copy them. → This describes no gap in the market. Copying products that already meet the need leaves no unmet need or new opportunity.

Reason for project: We will build an app, but we have not looked at competitors or who would use it. → The developer has not researched competitor weaknesses or the target market, so they cannot show a gap exists.

Section C: Definitions

gap in the market — A need that no existing product meets well, so an individual or business builds new software to serve a target market and take advantage of competitor weaknesses.

Section D: Fill in the Blanks

needMet ← FALSE
OUTPUT "Competitors do not meet the need"

IF needMet = FALSE THEN
    OUTPUT "Gap in the market"
END IF

FOR EACH rival IN competitors
    CheckWeaknesses(rival)
NEXT rival

IF weaknesses > 0 AND marketSize > 0 THEN
    newProduct ← TRUE
END IF

IF gapFound = TRUE THEN
    OUTPUT "Build new software"
END IF

Section E: Spot the Error

C — A competitor weakness is a LOW rating. The test should be rating < minGood, so that a rating below the standard flags a weak competitor and a possible gap in the market.

C — This loop sizes the target market, so it must count people who WANT the app. Using NOT counts the people who do not want it. It should be IF person.wantsApp THEN.

C — A gap needs BOTH high need AND few competitors. OR would report a gap if only one condition were true. It should be AND.

A — The function body uses supply, but it is missing from the parameter list. The header should be FUNCTION gapSize(demand, supply).

D — Estimated income from the target market is users x share x price. Adding the price gives the wrong answer. It should be SET sales ← users*share*price.