What is Product Development?
Product development – also called new product management – is a series of steps that involves conceptualizing, designing, developing and marketing newly created or newly rebranded goods or services. Product development includes the entire journey of a product – from initial idea to its release in the market.
Product development from a business perspective aims to grow, maintain and increase the company’s market share by satisfying consumer demand. From a customer’s point of view, ensuring the value in the product in the form of a good quality or service. Not every product will appeal to every customer or customer base, so defining the target market for the product is an important step that should take place early in the product development process. Organizations must conduct quantitative market research at all stages of the design process, including before the product or service is conceived, when the product is designed, and after the product is launched.
Some organizations have product development centers that create products. For example, Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc. launched a product development center in Nairobi, Kenya – as Alphabet is positioning itself to serve a growing base of Internet users.
product development framework
Although product development is creative, it requires a systematic approach to guide the processes required to bring new products to market. Organizations such as Product Development and Management Associations (PDMAs) and Product Development Institutes (PDIs) help organizations select the best development framework for a new product or service. This framework helps to structure the actual product development.
Some frameworks, such as the fuzzy front end (FFE) approach, define steps that must be followed early in the development process, but leave it to the product development team to decide which sequence of steps is best for a specific Makes more sense is the product that is being developed. The five elements of FFE product development are as follows:
- Identifying Design Criteria Potential new products need brainstorming. Once an idea is identified as a potential product, a more formal product development strategy can be implemented.
- thought analysis The product concept requires close evaluation. Market research and concept studies are conducted to determine whether the idea is viable or within a business context relevant to the company or consumer.
- concept origin Involves turning an identified product opportunity into a tangible concept.
- prototype Involves creating a quick prototype for a product concept that has been determined to have business relevance and value.
- product development There is a need to ensure that the concept is viable and laid out to make business sense and have business value.
Other frameworks, such as design thinking, have iterative steps that are designed to be followed in a specific order to promote creativity and collaboration. The five components of design thinking are as follows:
- Sympathy Learn more about the problem from multiple perspectives.
- define. Identify the scope and true nature of the problem.
- Thoughtful. Brainstorming problem solving.
- Prototype. Find impractical or impractical solutions.
- testing. ask for feedback.
How to Create a Product Development Plan
The product development plan may change depending on the organization creating it. However, a general plan should include the following steps:
- Identify the product requirement and business case. Using practices such as test marketing and surveys, organizations can assess interest in a product. This helps ensure that there is a strong reason to make the product.
- Create a product vision. This includes the scope of the project, the purpose of the product, what it does, what it is for and product design, as well as formulating guiding principles for upcoming work.
- Create a roadmap. To ensure good design work, first assess the project as a concept, then start creating a roadmap. The roadmap helps identify which goals should be developed first. Implementation teams create schedules, break down critical parts of the project into sprints and generate product iterations.
- Start implementing the roadmap. Teams can then start implementing the project following the roadmap. Product iterations can be created, reviewed and improved. It helps to identify the weak areas of the product and enables the development teams to fix and improve the product.
- Continue with development and assessment. Development teams can work on product improvements and changes. In this phase, feedback can be gathered from the customers to change the product based on the needs of the customers.
Stakeholders should also be involved in these steps to ensure that their needs and requirements are being met or addressed.
new product development stages
The new product development process includes the following components:
idea generation New product is the continuous and systematic search for opportunities, which includes updating or replacing an existing product. The goal is to generate ideas for new products or services — or improvements to products or services — that address a gap in the market.
idea screening Less desired product ideas go out of business. Inappropriate ideas should be determined through objective consideration, preliminary testing, and feedback from consumers.
concept development and testing is important. In this phase internal objective analysis is replaced by customer opinion. At this point the idea, or product concept, should be tested on an actual customer basis. The concept can be further developed based on the feedback. An example of concept development is prototypes developed by car manufacturers. These concept vehicles are made of clay and are shown at auto shows for consumer feedback.
Market strategy and business analysis Product strategy identifies how to optimally market and sell a product or service. It includes the four P’s of marketing – product, price, promotion and place.
the product. A service or item that is designed to meet the demand of a target audience.
worth. Pricing decisions affect everything, including profit margins, supply and demand, as well as market strategy.
promotion. The goals of promotion are to present the product to a target audience – increasing demand and describing the value of the product. Promotion includes advertising, public relations and marketing campaigns.
place. Transactions may not happen over the web, but in the digital economy, customers are usually engaged and converted over the Internet. Whether the product is provided in a traditional brick-and-mortar business setting or is available through an omnichannel approach, the optimal channel or channels must be determined. This is especially true if the target potential customers are to be actual customers.
feasibility analysis or study Provides information critical to the success of the product. This involves organizing groups that will test a beta version or prototype of the product, then evaluate the experience in a test panel. This feedback communicates the level of interest in the product by the target users. It also helps determine whether the product of development has the potential to be profitable, attainable and viable.
Questions to be answered during a feasibility analysis include the following:
- Do you have the necessary labor and materials?
- What is the cost of production, distribution and promotion?
- Do you have access to the right distribution channels?
Product technical design and product roadmap Integrates the results of feasibility analysis and feedback into the product. This stage involves turning that prototype or concept into a workable market offering; ironing the technicalities of the product; and alert and organize the departments involved in the product launch. It includes research and development, finance, marketing, production and operations. This phase should also include creating a product roadmap that the teams will follow to develop the new product.
Test Marketing or Market Testing That’s where the goal is to validate the whole concept – from the marketing angle to packaging, advertising and distribution. Trial marketing is often done by offering the product to a random sample of the target market. By testing the entire package before launch, an organization can review the reception of its product before investing in the full market.
Market penetration and commercialization is the stage in which the product is introduced to the target market. The product is now available to all and the product lifecycle begins. Product life is shaped by target market reception, competition, and subsequent promotion of the product.
Product development is an ever-evolving and fluid process. In some organizations, there is a dedicated team that researches and tests new products while smaller organizations may outsource their new product development to a design team. In medium-sized organizations, the product manager is often the person in charge of product development. No matter what framework is used and who is in charge of new product development, it is just one aspect of the entire Product Lifecycle Management (PLM).
product development examples
Taco Bell has a unique approach to new product development, as its innovation team looks to grocery stores, social media, and competitors for its inspiration.
idea generation. The development team reviews 4,500 new product ideas every year.
Concept development and testing. The team generated 80 iterations of waffle tacos before deciding on the final one. Unfortunately, Taco Bell discontinued the waffle taco after only one year, replacing it with the biscuit taco.
product technical design, For Doritos Locos Tacos, the product team explored the process of evenly distributing seasoning on the shells and incorporating cheese dust into the production process.
test marketing. Consumers end up with between 350-500 views in tests.
Market entry. Eight to 10 products end up on the national menu.
Another example is the Roomba, an autonomous robotic vacuum cleaner sold by iRobot. an article in New York Magazine The construction of the Roomba is outlined by its inventor, Joe Jones. This article focuses on the early stages of product development, which eventually led to the product’s launch and success.
idea generation. The idea for the Roomba began with the Lego challenge when Jones worked at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s artificial intelligence lab. The challenge was to make something new out of Legos.
idea screening. Jones showed the companies early concepts – Denning, Bissell and Procter & Gamble – but the companies refused to move on.
Product technical design. After investing $1–2 million in the project, SC Johnson decided to stop supporting the Roomba, due to a change in personnel.
Market entry. iRobot continued to fund the project. In September 2002, less than a year after SC Johnson withdrew financial support, Roomba launched.
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