How you develop your product?
Delivering a product is different than developing a product. The former is to deliver a product to a customer and the latter is the creating of new product prior introducing to the market.
How does your company develop its product and what approach do you think is best for your business?
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Jan 28, 2014
It is very big question and you write me detail about your products then only appropriate solutions might be provided .
My email id - surajkumards@gmail.com
Devloping and delivering both are vast topics and different from each other.
Market research and devlopment agencies can provide your 7 P' s applications for product enhancement with quality,quantity,packaging,promotion,perfection,positioning,priority,price,place.
Write to know more.
Jan 7, 2014
The most modern approach to product development AND product delivery is found in the lean movement. Books such as the "The Lean Startup" by Eric Ries and "Startups Owner's Manual" by (Erics investor) Steve Blank go through an iterative approach of finding product market fit.
Jan 8, 2014
Yap, their approach is very useful for startup. In fact, such approach also claim to be useful for intrapreneur to operate in the established companies. However not all markets can allow such approach to be adopt.
Jan 9, 2014
True, the LEAN approach works best for when you are searching for a product market fit. If you already have this fit you are trying to optimize a working model. However doing so in short increments towards metrics you can evaluate is still a good approach. Also, even larger companies, with established business models, should continuously reinvent themselves (intrapreneurs needed!).
Jan 5, 2014
Do a good SWOT analysis of your product assessing your competitors and their pricing. If you do that well you will see obvious USP's you already have or niche ways to develop going forward.
Jan 5, 2014
We develop our products from the customer backwards. First we define need, then we define a product to fit the need and then we create a business plan to check commercial viability. Its not tough to dream up products customers would want, its not tough to find distribution but it is tough to be commercially viable at the same time.
Jan 4, 2014
Within your industry, product development is part of what I already mentioned in other asnwer regarding developing sustainable competitive advantages. Maintaining competitiveness depends on developing new products that satisfy the everchanging market demand, the faster and most innovative the better.
Jan 4, 2014
Necessity is often the mother of invention, so I look for something that I want but can't easily get. Either because its too expensive, doesn't exist or doesn't work quite how I want it to. Ideally the product will fall into the General Purpose category. When it does then I will develop it as a product for general sale or license its manufacture out.
Jan 4, 2014
It depends upon the type of product. But generally product development should come from a bottom-up and top-down approach. This means understanding what are the market gaps, the opportunities that are not yet addressed for consumers.
Then you must look top down by assessing if your company has the capabilities to develop and produce such a product. Start with concept development and identifying manufacturing and raw material needs. This will allow you to do rough costing and determine if the end product will be economically viable. Then look at how you can incorporate any IP (Intellectual Property), which often helps to insulate the product from competitors and differentiates the product.
Really successful products are highly differentiated and define Market Makers. I would suggest that you read this article: http://www.abundasolutions.com/pdf/innovation_drives_profit.pdf
Jan 4, 2014
Developing products is first and foremost about understanding what your target market wants and/or needs. We carry out regular research with our clients and prospects to understand their buying processes, what they are looking for, where their pain is, what they need, then we try to design products and services that can address them. Any other approach is simply a set of assumptions that what you think is the best thing since sliced bread will be similarly received by your prospects!
Jan 3, 2014
Wow, this is a really great question. For me, in my business, my team has spent a couple of years beta testing ideas to see if they work before a launch. Have I done this always, the answer is no. I've bootstrapped my marketing and branding and labeling of my businesses - and adapted and modified for the years I've been in business. And with the market changes, especially in this market, you have to adapt and change constantly your services and your products for the needs in whatever niche you serve. You are correct when you say delivering a product is different than developing a product. But frankly if you want the product to work, both are required. The level of what you do in each part [the development or the delivery] is determined on what the product is. This is an area that every business owner has to pay attention to. Some do, some do not. What matters is knowing what it takes to do both for your business, which means knowing your business well enough to take the time to do one of them to see if your idea of a product is even feasible. I say this because in my days, I've been all over the map on this, and made a lot of mistakes to gain knowledge and experience. Is any of it right? is any of it wrong? The beauty of your question is that it is important to understand that we creative minds all think differently and once you get experience - then you learn that maybe it's a good idea to beta test a launch first. Sometimes instant gratification can break the bank while waiting during a beta test model can bring forth a lot of results with minimal cost. Yet sometimes it takes a hammer to learn this strategy over time. Yep! That's my experience over my lifetime of development and delivery of a product.
Jan 3, 2014
Thanks for sharing. I love to summarize this into -> product development methodology + experience + team + resources + financing + market condition + bootstrap ... best part is the ability to bring all them together in the most appropriate manner.
In one of experience in product development, we get paid before product develop started - i.e. change the step by sell the concept to customer first before start product development.
Jan 3, 2014
Hi JC. Once you get past the up front challenges covered well with the other answers: Google the 'Stage-Gate process images' for a developmental overview of tangible products that is a basis for many companies over $100M sales. Once that significant unmet need is determined, it starts with many solution ideas (ideation), better prospects are further refined, evaluated and the best continue through the process to market. The smaller the company, the more daunting the raise capital task becomes to pay for design, development, testing, Marketing & Sales, equipment/tools, then production. Delivery is a comparatively straightforward task!
If a company has the capital and a Market verified, your local people with skills like mine can manage the financial analysis, engineering, sourcing & operations tasks. Pre-selling or orders on the books before production start is highly recommended to validate market need, improve both pay back period and cash flow. Hope that helps & good luck.
Jan 2, 2014
Hi Quek
Every person / business have their own estimate of developing a product centering on a specific community intending to deliver a unique value. And that's how even we've been sought to make the complex things easier in a day to day spirit (Could be a personal or professional solve).
To be more user-friendly, getting the picture easier, figure out, process with no complication, low-priced with esteemed value, and the most important is to serve the business and individuals of several interests.
Just by wrapping up all such elements we were able to invoke a better product that has got excelling reviews within a short span of its launch. This has still prompted us in formulating the future piece ;)
Jan 2, 2014
yes, agree your point - pragmatic and right to the point ..."make the complex things easier", I would like to add "easier but simpler" :)
Jan 2, 2014
Product development begins with the question - 'What is your unique value proposition?'. My expertise is in pioneering new ideas. Product development i.e. envisioning new solutions, unique channels to market as well as publicity vehicles. Hockey great Wayne Gretzky was asked why he was so 'great' to which he replied, "I go where others aren't". Sometimes standing alone in your field makes you look silly until the world catches up. Finally, do enough research and you Will start to see the future.
Jan 2, 2014
JC,
That is the age old question in business. What is going to peak the interest of the consumer to purchase what you are selling, whether it is a service or an item. What is your company product line and what do you do? When you desire to bring a new product to market, you need to have a marketing plan to gain interest, develop a buzz and then start the sales cycle with both product launch and continued availability and customer satisfaction.
If you can underpromise and overdeliver, then you are generally on the plus side of customer satisfaction, which drives sales higher.
Jan 2, 2014
Thanks For the input Evan. Yes, this is the old age question, in fact all the questions that I post here are old age questions, what I am interested is addressing the business fundamentals which I think are very critical to business, and remain important as long as the concept of business exist in the world.
With the progress of technology, culture and preferences, we need new way of approach to resolve old problem. E.g. how a startup develop its product is very different 3 years back; the adoption of 3D printer change the way we prototype products;
I would like to seek new solution for old problem as part of on going improvement for myself and the members in the mosaichub.
Thanks Kumar. It will be good if you can share your idea in this platform as my intention is to have an open discussion here, hopefully everybody here can benefits. There are people introduce concepts like 8Ps, and some even go to 10Ps, however I would prefer to focus on product development (R&D) - let's assumed marketing portion already taken care off.