Product Development Strategy – Tips to Develop a Successful New Product

As new products flood the market daily, the demand for improved product development continues to escalate. Various factors such as industry, product type, features, and more must be considered. Therefore, an exceptional product development strategy is imperative.

Many companies concentrate on their customers’ needs when developing a product, while others aim to address an existing issue with their product. Regardless, without a sound product development strategy, the chances of encountering failure are high. Even if a company has an exceptional idea and ideation process, it won’t amount to much without an effective product development strategy. If you prefer learning through video, you may watch the clip below, or skip ahead if not.

In this blog, we are about to discuss a lot of interesting stuff regarding new product development and product development strategy, so stay tuned and keep reading. Let’s get started.

So, What’s a Product Development Strategy?

A product development strategy involves a series of steps aimed at introducing a new product to an existing or new market. It entails conducting constant market research, conducting thorough tests, and careful planning of product concepts. Additionally, it may involve introducing an existing product to a new market. In some cases, a product development strategy may be necessary for a current product in the current market space, particularly if a new feature is being introduced, rebranding is taking place, or a new complementary product line is being launched.

As per the product life cycle theory, all products eventually reach a plateau where revenue growth diminishes. This is typically when companies adopt fresh product-led growth strategies, introduce new product lines, or implement a new marketing strategy. Some companies concentrate on new product development strategies to help augment the growth of their current products. Regardless of whether a company’s product is successful or not, a product development strategy can be employed to enhance growth.

A product development strategy typically complements a business strategy, and the product development process can vary depending on factors such as commercializing a new product, iterating on an existing one, or other considerations. Extensive market research through focus groups is typically conducted to determine the functionality of the product and gain insight into the needs of customers in different demographics and target markets. The development team can then use this data to brainstorm and formulate a suitable strategy.

Let’s Understand New Product Development Strategy Process (NPD Process)

The process of new product development (NPD process) can be condensed into eight key steps, which remain consistent for start-ups, SMEs, and enterprises alike. These steps are fundamental to the success of the product life cycle, and all development projects must undergo them.

Ideation Process

The initial step is idea generation, which involves systematically brainstorming new product concepts based on real-world issues, existing market products, and basic target audience research. To generate a few good ideas, it’s essential to come up with hundreds of them. Two methods can be used to generate ideas.

Internal idea sources involve existing company stakeholders and employees, such as research and development, product managers, marketers, and others.

Alternatively, external idea sources can be employed, including outside stakeholders, suppliers, competitors, and secondary sources of inspiration.

Screen the Best Ideas

Idea screening involves filtering all of the generated ideas and selecting a few of the best ones. The goal is to identify a specific type of idea and then pick the most promising one from among them. Once the official product development process commences, it is difficult to revert and incorporate new ideas. Changing methodologies mid-process can result in delays and setbacks.

When selecting ideas, two factors should be considered: profitability and utility. Profitability pertains to the company, whereas utility concerns the end-user.

For those interested in acquiring skills for creating an excellent product strategy, our product management certifications provide guidance on achieving this.

Product Concept Development (and Testing)

After selecting an idea, the subsequent step is to transform it into a product concept. The product concept is a more comprehensive and detailed version of the initial idea. Developing several product concepts for various ideas can be time-consuming, and it requires a significant amount of effort and resources.

To ensure the effectiveness of the product concept, it must be tested in an existing market. The precision of the product concept is vital, and testing enables this precision. Testing the concept with target audience clusters allows for a better understanding of consumer response, appeal, and reliability. During testing, consumers can be asked specific questions to aid in product design, pricing, and prototyping.

Develop Marketing Strategy

Once a complete product concept has been developed and tested, the next step is to create a viable marketing strategy. This strategy should be developed with the current market, market share, and target audience in mind. The marketing strategy typically consists of several key components, which may include:

  • Value proposition
  • Target market description
  • Profit and market share goals (focus on SMART goals)
  • Pricing outline
  • Marketing and distribution budget
  • Long-term profit goals, sales, and marketing mix.

The marketing strategy also allows you to track certain metrics.

Business Potential of Proposed Product

After the marketing strategy, it’s important to evaluate and analyze the effectiveness of the new proposed product. That includes viewing future projections, costs, and more.

To conduct this research, you can either go for market surveys or look at similar products by other companies. Developing a sales forecast will help you estimate costs, profits, and a timeline.

Product Development

Once the business analysis is complete, the product development process begins. Up until this point, your product was just a rough idea, prototype, or a potential product. This step is crucial in turning it into a fully functional product.

This stage often requires a significant investment, as you’ll be spending on research and development. The R&D department typically creates multiple versions of the product during this phase, which is called prototyping, and can take several months to complete.

Once you have a product prototype ready, it’s time to test it. Marketers usually bring in customers for product testing, which helps them get an idea of what the customer wants.

Marketing Testing

When your product is ready to launch, the next step is to conduct test marketing, which involves testing out marketing strategies in realistic market settings. This phase is essential for marketers to understand how the product is perceived, what needs to be improved, and what other investments the company can make to ensure the product’s success. The duration of marketing testing can vary depending on the product, but it’s crucial to be as thorough as possible and follow testing best practices.

Commercialization

The last step in the product development process involves making the decision to launch the product. By this point, you have a fully functional product, a marketing strategy, and all the necessary information to make it work.

Launching the product involves introducing it to the market and promoting it through marketing and sales. It’s crucial to carefully plan the timing and location of the product launch to ensure its success. Failure to do so may result in the product’s failure despite its potential.

We Can Help You Create a Great Product Development Strategy

The success of your new product relies heavily on your product development strategy, as the latter is a prerequisite for the former. It is also essential for product managers, product marketing managers, the product team, and the marketing team to effectively perform their respective roles. At GID Company, we have a team of strategist to help pen down the best product development strategy that ensures the success. The Product Development Strategy defined with the help of experts at GID Company will help you maintain consistency and thoroughness.

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Get The Best Product Development Company in California, USA – Contact Us!

Are you interested in working side by side with the best product development company in California, USA? Do you want our professionals to build a robust, agile, and innovative product from scratch? If so, then please reach out to our team of product engineers and developers today. Unlike other product development companies, GID Company specializes in designing, developing, and prototyping new products for clients without compromising the design, quality, functionality, and performance of the product. Our product development firm will ensure to bring together teams of engineers, designers, and project managers to create innovative products according to your preferred industry.

As you may know, California is a hub of innovation and technology, making it an ideal location for customers to find the best product development company such as GID Company. With our team of experienced product designers and engineers, we have the potential to deliver premium quality product development services for a wide range of industries, such as consumer electronics, medical devices, and more. Having access to a large pool of talented professionals and a thriving ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship, GID Company can offer a variety of product design and development services as below:

Benefits Of Choosing The Best Product Development Company

Choosing a product development company can bring a number of benefits to businesses looking to bring new products to market. Some of the key advantages of working with a product development company include:

  1. Expertise and experience: Product development companies have teams of experts who specialize in product design and development, manufacturing, and market launch. They bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the table, which can help ensure the success of your product.
  2. Cost savings: Working with a product development company can save businesses money compared to hiring an in-house team or outsourcing each aspect of the process to multiple companies. Product development companies typically offer a one-stop solution for product design and development, making the process more efficient and cost-effective.
  3. Faster time to market: Product development companies have the resources and experience to bring products to market quickly and efficiently. They can help streamline the development process and reduce the time it takes to launch a new product, which can be critical in highly competitive markets.
  4. Access to advanced technologies: Product development companies often have access to the latest technologies and tools, which can help bring new and innovative products to market. They can help businesses stay ahead of the competition and bring cutting-edge products to market.
  5. Reduced risk: Product development companies can help businesses mitigate the risks associated with bringing a new product to market. They can help validate product ideas, ensure that products meet regulatory requirements, and minimize the risks associated with product design, development, and launch.
  6. Improved product quality: Product development companies can help ensure that products are of high quality, which is essential for customer satisfaction and long-term success. They can help businesses achieve their product development goals while maintaining strict quality standards.

Overall, choosing a product development company can bring a range of benefits to businesses, including reduced costs, faster time to market, access to advanced technologies, reduced risk, and improved product quality.

Need To Develop A New Product? Contact GID Company As Your Product Development Company Partner

If you want to develop a new product from scratch, do not hesitate to get high-quality assistance from GID Company – A leading product development company in California, USA. Get successful products developed without compromising quality, performance, and functionality. There are indeed so many things that one needs to take care of during the development process of a product. But by choosing us as your product development company, you will not have to worry about anything at all. Feel free to reach out to our courteous staff and professionals at +1714-323-1052 or Click Here. To get the latest updates, kindly follow our social media handles on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

7 Important Steps To Follow In The Product Development Process

A product development process is something that can change the success rate and affect the time to launch your product in the market. When you have a great product idea and want to develop a product from scratch, it will be beneficial for you to understand and learn about the entire product design and development process. Any entrepreneur opting for new product development should ensure to ask the engineers or product developers about the process or phases a product needs to pass through during its development.

However, if you are hiring the best product development company in California like GID Company, then you will not have to worry about anything at all. Our product development experts and professionals will guide you through every minute detail and step we follow in our product development process. Here are the 7 important steps of the product development process.

Product Ideation and Research

Product ideation and research is the first and crucial step when it comes to developing a product from scratch. During this phase, one needs to carry out proper market research to identify the demand, prospect, and scope of the product in terms of current market trends and statistics. The problem as well as solutions are discussed and researched thoroughly while defining and enhancing the product idea.  

Product Design

There are plenty of things included in the product design step. From detailed drawings to clearing the concepts, everything gets penned down on sheets as the base reference. It is really one of the most difficult steps in the entire product development process. That’s why our experts have divided the design phase into two parts. They are:

Preliminary Product Design

As you know, different products have different requirements and therefore, different designs. For products that involve hundreds of parts and components, the preliminary product design steps become much more helpful. This step basically focused on how the product will appear and function in terms of design, look, material, and more.

Final Product Design

Once the preliminary product design is completed, those parameters are taken as the base reference for the final product design. This secondary product design step includes everything from product designing to fabrication and product manufacturability. Our experts will focus on crafting such a product design that is easy and feasible at the time of manufacturing and deployment. The outcome of the final product design will be detailed drawings and figures, 3D images and videos, illustrations, renderings, a list of required materials, and a defined process to assemble the product.

Analysis Of Product Feasibility and Design

A team of design experts and data analysts will ensure that everything including the feasibility as well as design prior to sending the product to the prototype development phase. Before developing a prototype model of the product, our experts will verify the performance, design, strength, dimensions, weight, and other relevant criteria to meet the standards and pre-defined product scope. It reduces the chances of revisions and improvisations before the prototype model development.

Product Prototyping

As soon as the final product design gets ready, the execution of the product gets started with creating quality product prototypes. An actual form or replica of the conceived product will be created by integrating the best possible features and functionalities. Breadboards, Arduino, and electronic kits will be useful while crafting alpha and beta prototypes for electronic products. Prototype models are crafted to get a clear idea, look, and feel of the actual product.

Testing and Improvisation

After the product prototype development, product testing begins to check if the product has any flaws or defects in it. During the testing, the prototype goes through exhaustive testing to ensure the proper functionality and working. The prototype model is used and tested in every possible way to check its performance, strength, durability, and features. Some potential customers are also offered beta prototypes to receive their valuable feedback and review to improvise and enhance the final product accordingly.

Hazard Analysis

The main purpose of going through the hazard analysis step is to detect any safety issues or defects in the conceived product. If safety issues are detected, then those issues will be fixed before the final product development. And, if safety issues cannot be fixed, a safety manual and warning signs will be added to the final product.

Final Product Development

Merging all the components perfectly according to the enhancements in the prototype model and defined design will be carried out in the final product development step. After the final product development, the product will go through mass production and then to the market launch as per the preference of product owners.

Have Any Questions About Our Effective The Product Development Process? Contact Us!

Being a leading product development company in California, USA, GID Company can provide you with the best product design and development services. We hope that the above-simplified steps of the product development process will help all the entrepreneurs out there to understand the flow of how a product is developed. If you have got a creative and innovative idea then you can discuss it with our product developers and engineers to craft a successful product. To discuss your custom product development requirements with our highly experienced professionals, feel free to contact us today. Call Jim Grimes – Our product development expert at +1714-323-1052. Also, you can follow us on social media – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube

5 Things To Focus On When Developing A New Product From Scratch

When developing a product, there are plenty of things to focus on when developing a new product from scratch. Many aspiring entrepreneurs want to develop their own original products crafted from their innovative, unique, and powerful ideas. Also, as you know, every successful product depends on the idea, functionality, demand, need, innovation, and market. But the success of a business enterprise entirely depends upon its products and innovations.

Nowadays, new products hit the market every week, but not many products meet your expected return on investment. Mostly, new businesses or entrepreneurs are likely to miss out on some of the most important factors and things about product development and its process. Hence, they will end up either overspending or will have to wait much longer for their product to get launched in the market. So, we have enlisted here 5 must-know things to focus on when developing a new product.

Brainstorming Your Idea

Brainstorming Your Idea

Most entrepreneurs are confused about which product they want to sell, what makes their product unique, and whether they have chosen the right product or not. Everything becomes clear if you have been following the proper strategy or planning for idea generation and brainstorming. It will always be better to get expert advice when you are brainstorming for the product you want to design and develop.

Research and Analyze The Market

Before you go on the way to new product development, market analysis, and research is indeed important factor to consider. If you are missing this step then it would be the biggest mistake you are going to make while developing a new product. Defining or validating your innovative idea through proper market research will be effective for defining the right audience. Also, you need to make sure to evaluate the demand and need for the product you are thinking to launch in near future. Every entrepreneur needs to figure out what the consumers or their targeted customers actually want.

Research and Analyze The Market
Product Planning

Product Planning

Once your market, audiences’ needs, and demand are clear. It is now time to plan and strategize for your product development and launching in the market. You must know that new product development is all about exploring new innovations, functionalities, and features your product could have and that will make your product different from hundreds of similar products out in the market.

When designing your product, one must ensure to choose such a feasible design that will not only excel in the current market trends but also the future demands. Also, you should plan to add more features and enhancements to your product. We recommend building up a prototype model of your product before actually developing the final market-ready product.

Focusing on Product’s Benefits

Many aspiring entrepreneurs and businesses believe that a product will only become successful if it really helps potential customers and consumers. Always focus on the end-user and not the product itself. One should thoroughly instruct the development team or company you’ve hired to keep the potential consumers in mind while developing the product with defined functions and features. If the final product is the best version of what you have imagined and if no customers are willing to buy the product, then it will totally be a shear waste of resources and fortune.  

Focusing on Product’s Benefits
Developing a New Product From Scratch

Pricing

Pricing is a major factor when we are talking about developing any kind of product. If you want to gain the maximum return on the product you will bring to the market, then it will be crucial for you to focus on developing a new product from Scratch. But for defining the price range, you will indeed have to analyze the market and of course, your competitors. For the price range, if you are keeping it too high then you will not have any potential customers and if you are keeping it too low then you may have to deal with the loss of the product. Choosing the most relevant price is the key to owning a successful product.

Want To Develop A New Product From Scratch? Contact GID Company!

GID Company is a leading and renowned product development company in California with more than 25 years of experience and expertise in new product development. If you are looking for the best product development company to partner with, then GID Company can help you with everything from product ideation to product development. We are DesignRush certified product development company in California. Whether you need any help with brainstorming, product design, product development, prototyping, and market launching, reach out to our highly experienced experts at +1714-323-1052 or contact us. To get the latest updates and information, kindly follow GID Company on social media:

The Most Common & Important Steps Involved in Product Development

Product development is all about materializing a new product from just a mere concept. Whether it is a medical device product, a product with electronics, electromechanical product, sports product, a product with embedded software or any other kind of a unique product, there are a number of steps involved in order to realize it. Here are some of the steps that entail in product development:

Step 1: Research

Performing an extensive market research is where the product development begins. A market research helps identify the prospect of the new products. Is the conceived product unique? How ergonomic the product should be? Will the product be helpful to the potential customers? Are there any alternatives for the conceived product yet? Answers to these and many other questions shape the success of the new product, and in order to get the answers, performing research is necessary.

Step 2: Product Design

A conceived idea is actually elucidated during the product design stage. In fact, all the detailed drawings, from concept to envisioned final product, are drawn during the product design stage. Product design is one very tough step of product development.

A conceived product can be simple or complex in nature. If it is a simple product with few parts or components, the product design process will be a single step. On the other hand, if it is a complex product with numerous parts or components, product design process will be broken down into two sub-steps: Preliminary Product Design and Final Product Design.

  • Preliminary Product Design: When a product consists more parts or components, like an electromechanical power unit, which has over hundreds of parts and components, then the preliminary product design step is useful. Preliminary product design is all about the appearance and function of the conceived product, and less about the product’s manufacturability. Once preliminary product designs are made, they become the frameworks for the final product design.
  • Final Product Design: Final product design is all about product manufacturability. In simpler words, it is about creating product designs in such a way that the said products are easy to fabricate or manufacture. The final product design specifies everything required to dictate production or mass manufacturing. It considers everything on a part level. The result of final product design is detailed drawings, 3D image and rendering files, a complete bill of materials, and details to source and assemble.

Step 3: Product Design Analyses / Feasibility Analyses

After realizing the final product design, detailed analyses are carried out on the design prior to product prototyping and prototype testing. These analyses verify the feasibility of the product, as well as its performance, like strength, weight, dimension, etc., prior to developing a physical prototype. This important step lowers the cost and performance risks related to prototype development and prototype testing.

Step 4: Product Prototype Development

Once a definitive product design is ready, alpha and beta product prototypes are made. This is the step where the actual, physical form of a conceived product takes shape and comes into being. Product prototypes are made using suitable plastic product manufacturing techniques. If it is a product with electronics, then breadboards or generic electronic kits, like Arduino kits, are used to make prototypes. 3D printing and rapid prototyping techniques can also be utilized for product prototype development.

Step 5: Prototype Testing

Before moving the product into production, exhaustive testing of the definitive prototype is carried out to make sure that it functions and performs as expected. The prototype is used in all the possible ways it is intended to be used. The general public and potential customers are also allowed to use the prototype; this way, valuable feedbacks from them are taken and implemented before the product is sent for mass manufacturing.

Step 6: Hazard Analysis

The hazard analysis is performed throughout the product development process. It is, however, finalized before the product is sent for production. The purpose of hazard analysis is to identify any possible safety issues that may surface by the product, in the future. If possible, the safety issues will be addressed by the change in the product design. If not, it will be addressed by the accompanying product manual and safety warning labels.

Step 7: Mass Manufacture & Release

The final step of the product development is placing the product into production. If the capital is not the constraint, then own production facility can be set up. If it is the constraint, then outsourcing the production is the sensible and economical way.

Once the product starts to roll out in larger quantities, it can be taken to the market, into the hands of potential customers.

Product development is indeed a time-consuming, mentally-challenging, and exhausting task. For individual inventors, it is next to impossible to realize their dream products on their own. Fortunately, there are product development companies, like GID Development Corporation, that can help inventors with product development.

GID Development Corporation is a leading product development company in the US. Based in California, it offers swift, agile, economical, and top-quality product design, product prototyping, and product development services to inventors throughout the United States and across the globe.

With their vast experience, professionals at GID Development Corporation can help develop large, complex products, products with embedded software, sports products, products with electronics, electromechanical products, and other unique products. No product development project is too big or too small for them; these professionals at GID Development Corporation will “GET IT DONE!”

Have any product development-related questions or queries? Just call Jim Grimes at 714-323-1052 between 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM PST, for a FREE 15-minute telephonic conference. He will answer various questions regarding new product development.

Product Development Strategy Definition by Custom Product Manufacturer, California

Manufacturing a new product or modifying the existing one as per the market or the end users’ requirements, and returning those products to existing or new markets is the definition of product development strategy. Custom product development strategy is a bit complicated. To frame an excelling new product development strategy, as an entrepreneur, you need to focus on every tiny detail. It requires keen attention to competitors’ products, and customers’ requirements, the ability to design and prototype, full in-house manufacturing capabilities, and a potent marketing plan. To your knowledge, there are several subsets of product development strategy, and they are as follows:

Product Development Diversification Strategy

This product development strategy is employed when a company’s existing market is saturated, and returns and profits are still or falling. There is no or a very diminishing opportunity for business growth. A product development diversification strategy helps a company overcome its prevailing business ecosystem, and a new product is manufactured for a new market. Due to the recession and heavy competition, when an insurance company selling insurance products decides to develop a financial education program targeting college students, it is called a diversification strategy. Because of existing competition and the presence of similar products, the new product developed may not be revolutionary in nature, but it is new to the company manufacturing it.

Product Modification Strategy

A product modification strategy is quite common among entrepreneurs and is normally aimed at existing markets. A hidden advantage of this strategy is it allows entrepreneurs to capture new customers for the new product. Toothpaste is the best example of a modification strategy. Toothpaste that promotes anti-cavity or teeth whitening qualities is built on existing simple toothpaste that only guarantees clean teeth and healthy gums.

Revolutionary Product Development Strategy

Under the hood of a revolutionary product development strategy, revolutionary new products are designed and developed to solve specific problems or meet end users’ requirements. Smartphones and advanced computers are the best examples of a revolutionary product development strategy. Before these revolutionary products made their way to market, consumers did not know they needed them. However, a revolutionary thought of creating a better device for communication ended in products that have modified the rules of communication and have considerably altered the competitive landscape.

Benchmarking the Process

Whatever product development strategy you employ depending upon the nature of your business, the new product manufacturing process must be carefully thought through. It also requires a sequence of benchmarks along the way. These benchmarks evaluate whether the manufacturing process should be continued or not because custom product development is normally high-priced and time-consuming. For instance, a company is manufacturing a new product, but a competitor takes on the market with a similar product with advanced features, then your company must make a “Go/No Go” decision about its new product development options.

Consumers Front and Center

Depending upon your business ecosystem, whatever product development strategy you decide to continue, always keep your targeted customers in the front and center, and involve them in the process from start to finish. Set a limit for your manufacturing overheads. Keep aside an adequate budget for consumer evaluation of the new product at the ideation, prototyping, and bulk manufacturing stages. An important point to remember is that whenever you opt for new product development, don’t include only customers who represent your primary market, but also include secondary customers to whom your product might appeal shortly.

The GID Development Corporation is a custom product manufacturer based in California that caters to start-ups, and small and large businesses’ unique requirements. Valued as one of the leading product manufacturing companies in the United States, GID is known for setting the bar for product design, rapid prototyping, testing, and bulk manufacturing.

To assist entrepreneurs in developing flawless new products, the GID Development Corporation is now offering a free 15-minute conference to answer questions related to new product development. There is no risk, and no obligation; contact them now at 714-323-1052.