New product development is one of the key stages in the success of any start-up business. As a developing business or growing entrepreneurship, the business has to develop its product that they are planning to present to the market.
The process of new product development can be a new product concept that cannot be seen in the market, or it can be an addition of value to an existing product. Whichever way it is, the business organization needs to follow a few important steps to launch a successful and profitable product to the target market.
New product development is a process that the organization has to go through before launching the product to the market. Seven main stages have been identified in the process of new product development.
01. Generation of idea
The start of the entire business process is the step of generating an idea about the business. The business idea can come from innovation, creativity, or from simply seeing a market gap between the customer expectations and the products available in the market. After getting an idea about the product, market research should be conducted to identify the target market of the product.
The most common way of analyzing the market for the product is by conducting a SWOT analysis. SWOT analysis helps to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that may face when introducing the product to the market.
02. Evaluating the idea
When conducting new product development, the most common problem that can be seen is that the developers of the product idea can hardly see any flaws or defects of the product idea. This is a common mistake that can happen from any product developer and screening or evaluating the product idea is mandatory for the success of the product. This can be done by sharing the product idea with a management team, analyzing the financial benefits such as ROI and affordability. That will help to identify the market profitability of the product.
03. Testing the idea
This is the stage of testing the concept of the product before testing the product itself. This is done by gathering several target market demographics and introducing the concept of the product to them. Their feedback about the product concept should be collected and that feedback should be used to develop the product as well as to develop marketing strategies. The business should get a confidentiality agreement signed by the target market participants to avoid revealing sensitive information about the product.
04. Business Analytics
Once the product concept is confirmed, the business organization should work on developing the product to be successful. This stage will include analyzing the development strategies of the product, cost analysis, and developing marketing strategies. Considering the details of the potential competitors to the product also will help analyze the product development.
05. Creation of the product
Once the analysis of the business is completed, the product should be created according to the developed strategies. It should be a prototype of the product that can get actual customer feedback. When developing the product prototype, all the essential parts such as product, packaging, and presentation should be taken into consideration.
06. Testing the product in the market
The created prototype should be presented to the target market and the feedback should be obtained from the actual customers. Positive attributes should be publicized and the negative elements should be rectified. This is a stage of creating a target market interest in the product.
07. Launching the product
Once the market testing is completed, the product should be launched to the target market. The product should be released to the market using the decided marketing strategies by the marketing team of the business. It can be made available in the mass market, direct marketing, or by providing to a niche market.