In this article, let’s talk about New Product Development, specifically, the concept and development of bringing a new product to market, created with an idea based on the needs of the market. 

In order to create such a necessary product, it is necessary to carefully study the needs of the main audience of customers. First, a concept is created based on the needs, an idea is born based on the needs, and then the product is created and brought to market. Now more about the product development process.

The 5 Key Stages of Product Creation

New product development must follow a simple rule, which is “less cost-more profit.” The speed, cost and feasibility of getting a product or commodity to market must be thought through. So, what are the stages of its creation?

Idea generation

The first stage is the generation of the idea and its verification. In order to find the brightest and most necessary idea, it is necessary to know the needs of the main audience and the state of the market for similar products. Here it is important to focus on the problems and tasks of the buyer, which can be solved or optimized with a new product. Therefore, at this stage, surveys of your target audience are conducted directly to identify the needs directly. To check if the idea fits the market, you can use a SWOT analysis. This check will save time and money as the most accurate data is collected here. 

Concept development

The second stage is concept development and testing. At this stage you can get answers to questions such as:

• what is needed to successfully launch the product?
• how to do it correctly and quickly?

Everyone knows that the new product must be useful and necessary, this is its concept at the second stage of the launch. This also includes the formation of the big picture. Then an assessment should be made in the profit / pain ratio, where profits are directly proportional to how effectively the product helps to cope with the “pain” of the buyer, if he does not have such a product. Here is also an analysis of competitors’ products, this gives the opportunity to create a unique product and avoid the mistakes that have already been made by others. Then you need to create the main characteristics of the product and outline its value. These qualities are also directly proportional to the needs of your target audience. 

Business analysis and market strategy

The third stage is the business analysis and strategy in the market. Here is a detailed analysis of the payback, pricing, net cost, production costs, and how much profit the new product will make compared to the costs of production and promotion. 

Product development and testing

Product development and testing is the fourth stage, which could well be divided into two parts, as both development and testing are quite voluminous processes, but from one smoothly flows out the next. So they can be combined into one. At this stage, we create a prototype, that is, a test model of the product, so that we can understand what it will be like for the target audience, thus assessing its feasibility, as well as identifying errors, inaccuracies, inconsistencies that can be corrected already at this stage. The created prototype can now be tested in several stages. First there is alpha-testing, which is carried out either among developers or among experts, then there is beta-testing, in which a wider range of people take part. 

Entering the market

Entering the market is the final stage of creating a new product. Naturally, this stage must be accompanied by a preconceived and launched effective promotion, created with a precise marketing strategy. It should help you understand what position the product will occupy on the market, because these criteria are the basis for the creation of the main messages for the consumer. The more accurate the message, the more effective the promotion works.

Let’s summarize after reading

The market launch of the new product is not an easy and very laborious business. The correctness of each previous step depends on the correctness of the next one.