If you’re running a retail business, one of the most crucial times is the launch of a new product. Get this right and it could be a major new stream of revenue, opening you up to new markets and supercharging the development of your business.
If you stumble over it, however, you’ll have wasted the resources you put into developing your new product, and that’s without the potential reputation damage to your brand that launching a product that flops could bring you. Consistent good quality in your products that are carefully tuned to your customers needs builds you a good reputation by itself. Poorly designed products, or even well designed products that aren’t what your customers are looking for undermine that reputation: they make it so customers can’t trust you to provide what they need which makes them start to look elsewhere.
To get your product launches right, you need to start planning early. The launch has its roots in the first moments you decide to develop a new product, so getting the foundations right helps you ensure success when the big day comes.
If the vital thing is ensuring that your new product – whether it’s an online tool, software to be licensed or a physical item – meets the needs of your customers, the most important thing you can do is make sure you know what your customers are. Your new product development needs to be data driven, with market research informing just what people want, and how you can effectively present it to them.
With development shored up with data, and testing and iteration including customer feedback to ensure that the final product will meet your market’s wants, you can be confident that you’ll be launching a product people want to buy. You can now turn your attention to when you want to launch it.
If you have rivals who are also developing and launching new products, it would be disastrous to bring your own one to market at the same time as one of them. Using a market research firm to get some competitive intelligence will help you understand your rivals own likely plans and schedule a timeline that gives your own product a chance to shine.
With a unique launch window mapped out, a product and marketing informed by your customers needs, you’re in the best possible position to make a success of your now product launch.
