Assignment 1: Product Assessment
Foday Sesay
MKT 100-Principles of Marketing

Strayer University

Introduction
Milk as a dairy product is one of the most highly consumed product but it consumption in the market is dropping as compared to bottle water and other changing taste products. Barrett (2012 stated blame it on bottled water or changing tastes, but the sales of milk as a beverage have fallen t the lowest level in nearly thirty years and the US adults are no longer consuming the dairy industry iconic product.
This is a fact as most people nowadays prefer water than milk and even many complain of stomach problems or improper indigestion. These are reasons best known to them but it seems that milk consumption, though it is vital in our life has considerable been dropping. Unless marketers could think of a better way to refine the product and add flavors or provide consumers with new and attractive product, the decline in milk consumption will continue.
The target market for milk is adults and children. However, the dairy products do target a significant population of older people who need milk for many reason to strengthen their bones, add more vitamins, and for other healthy reasons. Barret (2012 pointed out that even in the milk-thirsty Great Lakes region, that is the leader in milk consumption are struggling with the downward trend gripping the dairy industry for many years. This trend has to be looked into from the perspective of the industry not redefining itself to manufacture dairy products that meet the needs of the consumers and that could be more competitive with dairy products from other global competitors.
According to information by Barrett (2012), the US beverage milk sales in the year 2011 were six billion gallons which was the lowest since 1984 as cited from the U.S. Department of Agriculture figures. The report went further to state that