The key to achieving a successful product launch lies in the planning. To help you raise your chances of achieving a successful launch, we’ve put together a list of five areas for you to consider applying during the development of your new product.
Let’s take a look at five reasons why new products often fail, along with ways you could reduce them from happening.
There’s more to consider when launching a product than the amount of advertising you are prepared to fund. Planning for a successful product launch in fact begins way back at the time of product development, and here are five points you may wish to think about:
Take the time to understand your target market and customer base. What are they looking for and what is the need that your product is meeting?
What are customers currently purchasing for this need? Will your product address this issue in the same way, a better way, or will it be just another new product in the category?
The questions you’ll need to answer include:
Money and time are finite resources and both require careful use to deliver maximum return on investment. Developing new products takes plenty of both, as well as bucket loads of energy to keep a project moving forward to completion.
The questions you’ll need to answer include:
Your team needs to have the necessary skills to bring your concept through all stages of design, formulation, market testing, production to sale. The best teams are made up of a group of individuals with a common goal or passion that have differing skill bases and strengths to complement each other.
Engagement in a shared set of company values can further enhance the team’s strengths and a great sense of fun can make work far more enjoyable. Outsourcing the work outside of your team’s scope to the right people is also vital.
A competitor review is worth is weight in gold to understand other products in your category that are competing for your customers' share of heart and mind, and ultimately dollars.
If it’s an emerging category with fewer or no competitors, understanding the barriers to entry can help with your competitive strategy and key messaging. Taking the time to analyse your competitors can help shape your new product development if you can identify untapped potential that your product delivers.
If you have completed your competitor review, make sure pricing is part of this, as it will be a critical tool to help you determine your inmarket pricing. A pricing strategy takes into account more than just your cost to produce and sell your product or service at your desired profit levels. At times, small business owners will want to take less profit than they might be able to for reasons related to brand management, sales volume and competitors in the marketplace. Using a step-by-step plan, you can create more than one pricing strategy to maximise your success.
A successful product launch doesn’t just happen overnight. Attention to detail throughout the entire product development process is crucial, as is knowledge. By planning and thinking ahead of your launch during the development process, you can significantly increase your chances of success.
We’d love to help solve any of your skincare or cosmetic product development aspects you are finding challenging. Get in touch and let’s chat about whether we’re a good fit for each other.
