An amazing number—85%—of all new products fail in the marketplace. How
can you maximize your chances beating the odds? A good place to start is by
developing an understanding of the 10 key factors that contribute to product
success.
Bringing a new product to market requires a significant investment of
both time and financial resources, and shortcuts almost always compromise
the likelihood of doing so successfully. Spending the time and resources “up
front” to develop the answers to the following questions is best thought of
as cheap insurance that will minimize the chances of being included in the
statistic noted above.
Before bringing your product to market, can you answer the following questions with confidence?
From selecting or developing a unique new product concept to designing, refining, manufacturing, distributing and marketing it, it is a real challenge to maintain objectivity and consistently listen to what the market tells you.
Common mistakes along the product development timeline include falling in love with a product and not investing the time and effort to evaluate the item carefully, taking shortcuts in determining its appeal to the target buyer and user, and being unrealistic about how well it measures up to the competition.
The challenges of successfully launching a new product are such that the investment of time and resources should be taken to assure that the product is unique in the marketplace, has consumer interest-value, can be developed and manufactured at a cost that will meet a competitive price point and has a marketing roadmap that leads to awareness, preference and purchase. As should be clear by now, having an “idea” is just the first step in creating
a product that will lead to success in the marketplace.
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Deb de Sherbinin is the founder and president of Kidsmart. Founded in 1993, KidSmart is a product and marketing consultancy that provides services that help companies successfully identify, develop and market products that entertain kids of all ages.