Inside the Product Devlopment Process: How a Product Concept Makes it to the Market

Did you know around 20 percent of new businesses fail within the first year? Businesses desire to provide useful products for customers. If you want to learn about the product development process, we can help.

In this guide, we’ll go over how a product concept makes its way to the market. You’ll understand how a business will prepare and think of new products or services.

Want to learn more? Keep reading.

You’ll Brainstorm New Ideas

Product development will begin with ideation. You will think about new potential product concepts. Business leaders sit down with their team to screen different ideas and pick a new product.

Companies form a team to think about new potential ideas. The business team will define the product idea and also complete market research.

During this stage, people will learn more about the different markets and technical risks. Idea screening is a critical step of the process.

Define the Product

Concept development focuses on defining the product. The team should also understand the customer’s needs and requirements.

The design team will get together. The team will work on a detailed assessment of the business, market, and technical aspects.

Mockups will get created during this stage. You can get feedback and see if the product market will fit or not. The mockups will help you understand if the product’s needed or desired.

If this is an incremental product, then your team can work on concept design. If it’s a breakthrough product, the team will use simulations and get user feedback.

When the product’s super new to a company, workers will complete more concept testing. You want to make sure that your ideas will help customers and are well-liked.

Business Analysis

After completing the initial stage of product development, work on business analysis. Your team should look for similar products.

Complete a competitive analysis. You should also work on a distribution strategy that includes eCommerce.

This way, you can make sure the margins returned to the firm will meet thresholds. Market strategies should also guide the estimates of PR and advertising.

These factors will weigh into the ROI calculation. You should also include a Profit and Loss plan in your business analysis.

What About Development Costs?

Your team will work on estimates of development costs. During the development cycle, think about the costs and understand the product definition.

The cost will go into your business analysis so that you can calculate ROI.

What About Prototyping?

You should take time to conduct intensive market research. Understand the competitive landscape and if your new product could fit in the market.

Create a financial model for your new product. For a new product, consider the manufacturability of the product. Think about the sourcing of the product as well.

At the end of this phase, management should understand what they’re investing in and how it’ll perform.

This stage of product development is critical. You’ll lower the market risk for your new product. Work on performing test marketing.

Create a Detailed Design

During this phase, focus on the product design. You’ll also want to refine the prototype of the product. You can alpha-test the prototype.

Work with customers and get their feedback. Use customer feedback and incorporate it into the prototype.

At the same time, manufacturing, sales, and marketing should work on the launch. You’ll also want to work on the manufacturing platforms and support the upcoming product.

Get Ready for Validation

Testing and validation will mean your prototype works how you planned. You should validate the product in the eyes of your market and customer. Test the viability of the financial model as well.

You should scrutinize what you learned from your customers during this phase. Test all this information in the real world as much as you can. You should also confirm your marketing strategy.

If you need to revise something with the prototype, do it now. This is the chance your team will have to work on revisions before the product hits the market.

Test marketing will get performed at this stage. This will help you confirm your market plan.

Commercialization

At this stage of the product development process, you will know what you need to do to get your product to market.

Include your sales and marketing plans for the market introduction. The team will operationalize the customer support and manufacturer for your product.

During the commercialization phase, you will continue test marketing.

Look Into Future Market Opportunities

When you launch a new product, you’ll also need to think about future opportunities. You won’t stop at the launch.

Along with marketing, continue to look for new opportunities in your industry. Can you make your product useful for a different audience?

Perhaps you could plan for some future expansions or improvements on the product.

Look at creating some prototypes or visual representations of these potential expansions. Show them off to your investors. You could try 3D scanning. Learn more about the future of 3D Scanning.

Companies will sit down with their team and think about other potential products.

Now You Know How a Product Concept Progresses

We hope this guide on the product development process was helpful. A business team will get together and brainstorm a product concept.

After, the team will conduct market research and learn about potential competitors. Some companies will create a prototype and get customer feedback before launching the new product.

Are you looking for more helpful business tips? Check out the resources on our blog.