Bringing the company to market development plan. Orbit® - chewing gum in sticks and sticks

Prostova Natalya Head of EMC Projects Department
Renard Andrew Vice President EMS
Magazine "Company Management", No. 10, 2005

Before us is an obviously crazy idea.
The only question is, is she crazy enough to be right?
Niels Bohr

Part one. Manuscript found in the mailbox (electronic)

"Dear FRIEND! You have to surprise the world - come up with a new product, successfully bring it to the market, make everyone happy and get terribly rich! It's very difficult, but remember the main thing - do not be scared!
You must memorize and repeat to yourself thirteen commandments every morning, here they are:

To get a really worthwhile new product, you need to consider at least 20 ideas, of which 2-3 already seemed brilliant to you.
Don't believe the marketers who say people buy what they need - people only buy what they want.
People rarely want what they need.
People love new things if they have something to compare them with; but more often than new, people buy what they know from the cradle.
Oddly enough, people buy cleaning powder to clean the bathroom.
If you do not remember what the girl you like is wearing, when you return to the ballroom, you will not find her; the same applies to the packaging and the name of the product.
A little improvement, you can sell hundreds of times more.
If they don't buy it, let them want to buy it.
People will not want to buy until they are interested in the product.
If there are no rumors and legends about your product yet, spread them yourself.
Attract only the first hundred buyers with a low price; the next thousand will pay for them.
Before embarking on an ocean voyage, swim in the bay on a clear day: test your product on customers.
Products exist not because of beautiful names, but because it benefits everyone.

This text was written in Shanghai in the 15th century. and hasn't changed since then. Do not throw away this letter, but rewrite it 20 times and send it to your friends and partners. And then you will be happy!
One president of a former large holding began to laugh and gave the letter to his secretary. And for five years now, the holding has not existed, and the former president himself works as a night watchman.
Another commercial director was not too lazy, retyped the letter and sent it to his colleagues - today his company entered the New York Stock Exchange with ADR.
And there are a thousand of these examples!
One woman, who traded from a box near the subway, spent the night copying this letter, sending it to her friends, and now owns a chain of haberdashery stores in New Orleans and Stary Oskol.
The industrialist Nobel drove away the messenger with this letter, and soon a revolution broke out - he lost all his oil mines and gunpowder factories right in Petrograd itself. And the great-grandson of a loader from Nobel's gunpowder factories, a candidate of mineralogical sciences, scoured the whole of Turkey and half of China, got rich and immediately went bankrupt. And, exactly when he decided to commit suicide, he got this letter; he did everything right, and now he has a chain of supermarkets all over the country. He called her "Thirteen" in honor of the number of commandments. Happiness came to him exactly on the 1028th day after sending the last letter.
And if you do everything right, then happiness will come to you, maybe even faster!.."

Part two. Examples and counterexamples

There is no doubt that by remembering all 13 commandments and having certain qualities (or experience) as a manager and marketer, you will always be able to organize the launch of a new product on the market. Most likely, in this case, you will pursue two opposite goals: save budget funds and get into the top ten with a new product. Can these goals be combined? Let's turn to current practice.
In the press, in books and in life, we will find many examples of "correct" and "wrong" launches of new products that turned out to be successful in the end. It happens that everything is done correctly, but ends in failure, it happens the other way around - faith in the idea of a new product, contrary to all forecasts, leads to a win. Consider a few typical examples from the practice of EMC.

1. A classic example.
The preliminary study served as the basis for refusing to launch our own production of powdered milk, a new product for our customer.

Period: summer - autumn 2000
Scope of work: marketing research of the feasibility of opening your own production of powdered milk (study and analysis of the competitive environment, suppliers' offers, opportunities to work with suppliers of raw materials; assessment of the project's payback).
A comment. As a result of the project, based on the recommendations of EMC, the customer decided that it was not advisable to invest in its own production of powdered milk. According to the customer, "this project helped save more than $300,000."

2. The example is original.
The low-budget study provided most of the parameters for the successful launch of a new product for the market - popsicles.
Customer: Metelitsa is an ice cream manufacturer.
Period: Summer 2000
The content of the work: conducting focus groups to select the most interesting taste of fruit ice, as well as the packaging concept and the name of the new product. Focus groups were held with the involvement of schoolchildren practically free of charge (the payment was several boxes of ice cream, distributed free of charge at the school by "members of the expert council" - high school students).
A comment. According to the results of the study, two of the four flavors proposed by the technologists were left. Based on the proposals of the focus group participants, the packaging was developed and the most successful name was chosen, under which this product is sold today - fruit ice "Ldinka".

3. The example is sad.
An entrepreneurial approach to the launch of a new brand of cabinet furniture did not allow to realize a wonderful idea.
Customer: furniture factory near Moscow (name not disclosed for confidentiality reasons).
Period: Winter 2004-2005
Content of the work: a detailed study of the company's actions to launch a new brand. Evaluation of the effectiveness of the brand in the market.
A comment. As part of the project, all areas of the company's work on the brand were explored; an assessment was given to the actions of the company and its managers to bring the brand out; areas that have not been worked out are indicated; recommendations are given on the necessary work with the brand at the current stage of market development; measured market indicators of recognition, brand perception, etc.
As the project revealed, more detailed planning of the launch of the brand and a careful approach to its concept would help the company avoid losses associated with opening a salon under a new brand. Moreover, a preliminary market analysis would help to correctly position the brand and get a good profit, since the entrepreneurial idea itself was really in demand by the market.

4. An unusual example.
Preliminary marketing research revealed the need to provide a new service in the market - a funeral services inquiry service, as well as to develop an advertising strategy in the unusual conditions of this market.
Customer: Office of Funeral Organizations and Services (UROS).
Period: autumn - winter 1998
Contents of the work: marketing research of the feasibility of creating a reference service for funeral services, the problems of its formation and implementation, the choice of a name for the service, the development of corporate identity and advertising strategy.
A comment. The customer set the task of creating a reference service for funeral services with its subsequent use as a tool for promoting the services offered by the holding companies. At the same time, the task was to bring the specified service to the market - from choosing a name to developing an advertising campaign. Marketing research was conducted with the aim of finding marketing steps that allow you to distinguish yourself from competitors in the eyes of the client, as well as finding and modeling the name of the service.
Unfortunately, the true goal of the customer was different - to obtain public support for the future deputy.
In addition, the desire to follow the competitor's strategy forced the customer to blindly copy his moves - and not use any of the available effective developments.

5. An example to follow.
A successfully found brand name and a well-thought-out research program made it possible to bring a new brand to the shoe market in a short time and increase the customer's turnover tenfold.
Customer: American company (name withheld for confidentiality reasons).
Period: 1993-1995
Content of work 1. "Business owners set us a difficult task: the name should be sonorous, like Monarch, and carry some kind of legend. Immediately the idea arose to choose the place of origin of the goods. In fact, write "France" - they will not believe it, "Italy" - it was already compromised by the Chinese, "Germany" - they sew good men's shoes there, and we have 80% of women's. We settled on Austria: it seems to be German quality and at the same time something elegant, feminine. You know, there, "Tales of the Vienna Woods" , "Bat", "Who can compare with my Matilda?"? The name was chosen by poking a finger into the German-Russian dictionary, and one finger hit the right place - Walzer! In translation "waltz". mother's shoes and waltz, or does a lady flirt with a gentleman and hide a note in her sandal?
Then the problem arose - where to produce? After marketing, we prioritized costs: it turned out that the cheapest place to produce is in the women's colony near Mozhaisk, China is in second place, and Portugal is a little more expensive. Believe me, I really wanted to sew in Russia, just to avoid customs. After all, shoes are like peaches: you’re late for a week and you won’t be able to sell a batch. In addition, there are subtleties. For example, women's shoes can be sewn in Russia, and shoes can be ordered in Italy, while men's shoes, on the contrary, are best made in Slovakia or China, and shoes in Russia. But even with all the overhead in Russia, it turned out to be more expensive: our factories include in the price in advance their inability to work five years in advance. Therefore, the first batch of sandals was sewn in the Chinese province of Shenzhen, in the free economic zone. But the legend won over reality, and soon the owners tore apart the Austrian design, and then the production was transferred to Austria. And here's what's interesting. Even our Austrian counterparty immediately believed in the original Austrian origin of the brand: how, I remember, there were such shoes!
By the way, it was very important to come up with not only the brand of goods, but also the name of the company. Here, everything is the other way around - no foreignness, soviet conservatism is needed so that small wholesalers are not afraid that they will be "thrown". One boy in the team came up with: Soyuzintorg. The choice turned out to be very accurate: I then worked on the trading floor and I remember how clients assured me: they say, we have been working with you for 12 years! As a result, the company's turnover in 1993 increased tenfold! And still, Walzer shoes are in demand in Luzha, the center of the wholesale shoe trade in Russia. Moreover, we have already found a lot of fakes that are produced in eight countries of the world - Taiwan, Italy, Austria, Russia and Eastern Europe. And it is symbolic that one of the strongest designers in the world, Roberto, is working with a trademark that originated as a swindle."
A comment. Following the success of the first Walzer collection and a significant increase in turnover, the company was able to place orders in production. More than 800 models were presented to create a new collection "Spring-1995". Such a volume cannot be explored by classical methods. An attempt to involve experts in this process proved ineffective. The marketing research program for the new collection was built adventuristically, but at the same time adventurism was involved in the methodology. The study was targeted, but the points were chosen in accordance with the specifics of a particular market.
A. Renard (EMC Vice President, project leader at that time) says: “In my memory, this was the cheapest and most effective study of all that we and our competitors conducted. First, they sent two girls (a style expert and an expert on design) to a clothing exhibition in Paris.Experts brought an analysis of trends: what will be fashionable next season, depending on clothing (fashion in Russia at that time was about a year late compared to Europe).
After preliminary selection on the basis of the presented analysis, the prepared collection was placed on the trading floor for demonstration to wholesalers. During this period, wholesalers were interested in the winter collection, and it was very difficult to distract them for research, even for two or three short questions. Nevertheless, the new collection could not help attracting their attention at all: they approached the shelves and carefully examined the models that interested them. And a cheap chip (less than $1) was sewn into each pair, which reacted to the number of detachments of the model from the stand. Thus, the most interesting models for wholesalers were identified. "Leaders" were worked out separately. And from the "middlings" the most promising models were chosen, with which the agents went to other shoe companies as representatives of China, offering to put them into production. All together gave an assortment card. As a result, the collection was a very great success, and minimal funds were subsequently spent on further promotion.
We clearly understood that our customers are wholesalers. By conducting a preliminary research on fashion trends, we helped them sell our products to the final consumer. Having studied the offers of competitors, we determined the optimal ratio of assortment positions so that there was nothing superfluous in the collection and in volumes and everything was enough. Moreover, everything was done in the shortest possible time and with a very modest budget. Yes, and save money on promotion. "

Part three.

Instructions for geniuses
Who needs a methodology when bringing a new product to the market and why? If we talk about entrepreneurs, "sales geniuses" and "intuitive marketers" (not to be confused with "managers" and "marketers"), then the technique is most likely harmful to them. Imagine a centipede that was asked on which foot it starts its journey and in what order then rearranges these legs?
There will always be examples of brilliant finds, guessed by the flair of goods, prompted by technology. It is not known, however, how many such "guessed", "prompted" and "brilliant" failed miserably, causing a complete collapse. But if you consider yourself a genius, then don’t bother reading this tedious article further: the technique will not be useful to you - it will only interfere with listening to your inner voice.
Forward!!!

Part four.

Methodology for mere mortals
This part is intended for us, mere mortals, managers and marketers who ask themselves the age-old question: is it possible to reach the level of talent (we don’t need a genius) with the help of some technology, while maintaining at least the average profitability in the market? Consider the simplest scheme that you can rely on when answering this question.
It is assumed that we have already pre-selected new product ideas and selected a few of the most attractive ones. The very process of selecting ideas, methods of evaluating and comparing completely different ideas is the topic of a separate article. There are certain methods and approaches that allow you to manage the emergence of ideas, the methodology for their phased selection, etc. Here we will not consider this block of work. Let's start with the already chosen idea (see picture).
Let's consider this method step by step.

Block 1. Checking the idea
At this stage, the product idea is usually formalized: a product description is drawn up, its distinguishing features, technology nuances, competitive advantages are indicated - everything that will allow it to find its niche in the market.
Such a description, as a rule, does not contain precise characteristics, such as weight, size, color, etc. Rather, when formalizing the idea, ranges are indicated for the specified characteristics and consumer qualities are formulated, for example, taste, smell, usefulness, convenience, etc.
Here it is very important to describe, as a first approximation, the differences between a new product and its analogues or direct competitors.
Don't skip this step! Otherwise, there is a great danger that different departments of your company will model, research and prepare the production of completely different products! It is known how unsteady and inaccurate oral stories are!
After compiling a description of the product, it is necessary to analyze its place in the current assortment of the company: which products the new product will replace, which ones it will complement. This analysis often leads to a timely abandonment of a new product: because, for example, it crowds out the most profitable or successful product available?
I remember many examples of how a new product itself did not reach the planned indicators, and significantly reduced the amount of revenue from existing products. This was the case in example No. 3, when the new brand “ate off” part of the consumers from the old one, but itself did not reach the volume that would pay for these losses.
It is very important to understand what place in the company's product range it will be assigned to before launching full-scale research of a product. It is at this stage that the first significant screening of ideas occurs: out of 10-20, 2-3 remain.
Don't worry if some ideas are discarded! This happens not only when the new product concept doesn't "fit" into the market, but also when it doesn't "fit" into your product range.
If it seems promising to you, work it out separately!
There are cases when such an idea is easier to implement in the form of a separate business.

formalization (description according to the scheme) - preliminary requirements (wishes) for sales, production; consumer properties of the product; planned differences from competitors, etc.;

comparative sales modeling.

Block 2. Primary study
In this block, a request for marketing research and technological development of a new product is formed. In this case, the study can and should be small, low-budget, but giving answers to precisely asked questions: how will buyers react to a new product, how much are they willing to pay for it, what analogues do competitors offer?
At the same stage, it is necessary to determine the possible options for the technologies used, as well as to explore the limitations and possibilities of the existing production, the need to purchase new equipment, recruit new qualified personnel, etc.
The combined results of these two studies will assess the prospects of working with a new product on the market. It often happens that the existing production cannot ensure the manufacture of a new product at acceptable market prices, and re-equipment is too expensive.
The analysis carried out will make it possible to assess the real possibilities of the company - both internal and external - to launch this particular product and to abandon it in a timely manner, saving a lot of money. In this case, it is better to spend a few thousand dollars on research than to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars on the equipment of a new production, based on intuitive assumptions. It was this case that was considered in example No. 1. According to our estimates, between $600,000 and $1 million were saved.
If you are not going to produce a new product yourself, but are ready to place an order at one of the existing production facilities or work with product manufacturers, this stage still cannot be skipped.
It is necessary to analyze the capabilities of a potential supplier, conduct marketing of possible alternative channels, etc.
And this is the second point of selection of ideas: now only one of the three remains.
Used methods / tools:

diagnostics of production - modeling of opportunities;

analysis of the results - it is possible to use the SWOT analysis in a reduced volume.

Block 3. Refinement studies
The tasks of this block of work are the development of an exact technical task (and technical specifications - TS) for the parameters and external design of the product, indicating the necessary technical characteristics (color, size, weight, etc.), determining the most effective distribution channels and promotion methods, clarifying price range and obtaining other information necessary for drawing up a business program (business plan) for launching and promoting a new product.
As our practice shows, at this stage it is quite possible to get by with low-budget research (see examples No. 2 and No. 4). To do this, it is necessary to conduct regular monitoring of the needs and preferences of the company's customers, as well as the competitive situation in the market. In addition, the study in this block may be less expensive if the previous steps in the methodology have been worked out carefully and successfully.
At this stage, the name of the product, the main positioning parameters, as well as the most significant aspects of the promotion strategy are determined. At the same time, it should be taken into account that the work of this block is closely related to the next stage of bringing the product to the market.
Used methods / tools:

request for marketing research (terms of reference) - parameters, criteria, completeness and depth, resources, terms;

marketing research program - development, implementation;

marketing research - methods are selected depending on the specific request and product: open sources, selective surveys, etc.;

analysis of results.

Block 4. Trial production
A very important stage, after which it becomes clear how much our calculations coincide with reality. In production, this stage is also known as "prototype".
Samples of the product are made, their comprehensive technical and technological expertise is carried out. Checking packaging options.
Here you can also clarify the profitability (profitability) of the future product. At the same time, it must be clearly understood that it is impossible to directly use all the values of similar parameters when preparing a test sample to calculate the planned cost! It is still impossible to calculate labor costs, rejection of materials and raw materials, etc. Nevertheless, many parameters are being "clarified".
Upon completion of this stage, the production technology of the product, its weaknesses, and possible risks are specified.
If you do not have your own production, you still need to get prototypes of the future product, already made in accordance with our specifications, in our packaging, and not the "model samples" of the manufacturer. At this stage, it is advisable to send engineers or technologists to future production (whatever the end of the world it is!), so that they can analyze not only the quality of the product obtained, but also the quality of its production organization.
At this stage, we can and must analyze real (and not hypothetical!) production possibilities, model the cost of a new product and determine its economic feasibility for the company.
Upon completion of this stage, a decision is also made on the advisability of launching a new product into mass production.
Used methods / tools:

terms of reference (TS) for the product - technical and technological characteristics, requirements for raw materials, materials and equipment, restrictions, etc.;

examination of samples - expert assessments, "focus groups", "quality circles", etc.;

cost calculation - in accordance with accepted norms and accounting rules; accounting for overheads, variable costs, etc.

Optional: "trial sale"
Sometimes, for completely new products on the market, it makes sense to prepare and conduct so-called "trial sales".
Trading companies very often use this method - do they have such a term "take a sample"?
When organizing "trial sales" it is necessary to draw up a precise sales program: what exactly do we want to test with this promotion?
In no case should you set yourself the goal of selling a trial batch of a product with a planned profit - it is much more important to check the accuracy of the choice of packaging, price, promotion methods, distribution channels.
Used methods / tools:

"trial sales" program - tasks, conditions, methods, terms;

organization of "trial sales" - logistics, instructing sellers, collecting information;

analysis of results.

Block 5. Output program (promotion)
The results of the third and fourth blocks of work (and sometimes "trial sales") provide a basis for developing a business program (business plan) for launching and promoting a new product. The detail and elaboration of this program depends on the specific situation: the product, the market segment, the degree of its saturation, etc.
For example, a program might consist of the following sections:

description of the product (including its strengths and weaknesses);

product positioning;

sales markets and target audience;

sales policy (including a description of the "ideal" buyer);

distribution channels (existing, new);

sales promotion (tools used);

separate special marketing projects and their implementation (special projects aimed at promoting a new product, for example, participation in an exhibition, "promotions", etc.);

trading conditions (relationships with buyers) and pricing policy;

advertising and PR;

marketing budget.

When developing the program, all available information from the market and production is checked once again, the calculations are refined. Ideally, the program should pass the examination.
It is quite possible that specialists will find significant flaws in it that will either force them to return to previous levels, or even abandon the release of a new product. Example #3, already mentioned, was just such a project. However, our specialists carried out an examination of the program after the fact, when certain losses had already occurred (which, in fact, was the reason for the examination). You can avoid many mistakes by consulting with experts in a timely manner.
The most loyal customers, independent market specialists, partners, specialists and consultants in management and marketing can be involved as experts at this stage.
Used methods / tools:

examination of the program - expert assessments, the results of "trial sales", a survey of buyers, etc.;

SWOT analysis - the presence and content of winning promotion strategies.

Block 6. It finally happened!
And now, when all the difficulties have been overcome, all the checks have been made, it is necessary to proceed with the implementation of the planned.
Based on the program obtained in block 5, a detailed work plan is drawn up with a new product for the marketing and sales departments, and the production plan is adjusted accordingly.
According to experts, for a period of one to two years, a new product should be in the area of close attention of all top managers. Constant monitoring of the situation will allow timely identification and correction of errors and inaccuracies. This minimizes the risk of failure with a new product. And there will always be mistakes and blunders, since even the largest and most expensive research does not give a 100% guarantee of success.
An effective method is considered to be the allocation of a separate "product manager" assigned to a new product. The entire "chain" should be in the zone of his attention and control - from the purchase of raw materials to final sales. The task of the "product manager" is to inform the management in a timely manner of any cases when the actual development of the situation deviates from the planned plans and indicators. It would be logical to tie his salary to the results of serial sales of this product.
Used methods / tools:

the structure of the promotion program - the required volume, the degree of detail;

production plan - dynamic, including an adjustment mechanism;

cost adjustment program - based on the results of actual labor costs;

algorithm and plan for launching the product into production;

distribution of control functions - for the period of launch and output to the "design capacity" of a new product.

Part five. Summing up

What does the proposed method give us?
First of all, it allows you to break the entire project for the launch of a new product into separate stages, after each of which a decision is made to continue the project or exit from it.
Each stage has a certain cost and a specific result, and this is the key to successful planning and organization of work, as well as the ability to control the project.
Depending on the situation in the company and on the market, one or another stage of the project can be significantly reduced or skipped altogether.
The concept of bringing a new product to market as outlined here requires some ingenuity in putting it into practice and making real improvements to the company's work on new products. Answers to the vital questions "how?", "In what way?", "In what ways?" not easy to generalize. A launch program that is successful in one case can often be unusable and often dangerous in another. That is why we focused on the main, fundamental steps - the stages of work on a new product.
The presented scheme is the most general algorithm for working on a new product. It takes into account most of the commandments and allows them to be remembered. For complex situations (an innovative product, a saturated market, etc.), the scheme can be detailed and supplemented with other necessary blocks.

We wish you, dear reader, successful new products! It is not necessary to rewrite this article 20 times, but three or four photocopies for office managers will not hurt!
Good luck!!!

Polina Konstantinova

Dmitry Morison, head of PR-direction of the SALO communication agency, collected comments from business representatives about what was the most difficult for them when launching a new product on the market. They also talked about how they managed to solve the problems that arose.

1. Customers were skeptical about the new service

Elena Nasobina, project manager at Tochka, a bank for entrepreneurs

Not so long ago, we launched a product for calculating taxes for individual entrepreneurs. Some customers enthusiastically accepted the new service. They understood that the probability of an error in the calculation of the "machine" is much lower. But among the customers there were also those who were wary of the new service. Some entrepreneurs have been trusting all calculations only to their accountants for many years and did not want to “trust” a soulless machine. The main snag was that it was very important for them to have their own person, who can be contacted at any time.

In many cases, skepticism was overcome thanks to the fact that we sat down with clients and described in detail all the calculations. Or they calculated together according to the formula from the tax authorities why such an amount of contributions was accrued.

There are also such clients who exactly liked the service - they did not really want to go into the details of the calculations, but they warned: “If something happens, you will be responsible!”.

It is difficult to say why this particular product caused skepticism on the part of customers. It is not necessary to say that people are simply not ready for innovations, because cloud accounting has long been on everyone's lips.

2. We were not ready for high demand

Ekaterina Makarova, co-founder of car sharing BelkaCar

When BelkaBlack premium carsharing was launched, we did not expect such a boom. On the day of the announcement, the number of applications exceeded ten thousand - no one was ready for such a development of events. We sat day and night and solved the problem only a week later, when the number of verifiers doubled.

When you launch a new product on the market, you should work out as many potential situations as possible: what to do if there is an emergency, where to take people, from which departments to attract employees, which relatives to call if the team cannot cope. You should have a ready solution for all these problems so that you do not waste time working through the situation later.

3. Clients did not understand the logic of pricing

Dmitry Zubkov, CEO at Dostavista

Our express delivery service now operates in 10 countries around the world. In 2016, we launched in India - before that there were delivery services, but our service was a new product: crowdsourcing door-to-door delivery in 60-90 minutes.

At first, there was a problem with addresses: in the cities of India, only districts and streets are indicated on the map. Buildings do not have numbers. This created difficulties for couriers and customers.

The first often could not find the right address or Google Maps showed them the wrong point on the map, and they just arrived in the wrong place. And customers did not understand how the tariff is formed. The same delivery could cost differently today and tomorrow.

“Helped” again: if you change at least one letter in the description of the address, they will consider it a different point. For example, today the client could write: "Mumbai, Link Road, the house is opposite the greengrocer", and tomorrow - "Mumbai, Link Road, the house is red, there will be a greengrocery across the road." The service, at the behest of Google Maps, calculated different costs.

We solved the problem by changing the algorithm for calculating tariffs: now the cost is calculated based on the distance between specific small areas, and not points that were previously determined incorrectly. It is still not easy for couriers to find a specific home, the ability to contact the client via chat or phone helps out.

4. We wanted to receive money immediately (but it didn’t work out)

Sergey Shalaev, founder and CEO of Relap.io

In 2014, the Surfingbird team and I started working on a new (then) Relap.io project. We had internal fears - if earlier we were engaged in a b2c project, now we decided to switch to b2b, since even then we felt an increase in demand for native . But no matter how big Surfingbird was, we understood that we were about to hit the ceiling in terms of inventory growth and were afraid that by doing everything at the same time, we would not succeed anywhere, but nevertheless we decided to discover new opportunities for ourselves. And, as it turned out, not in vain.

The main problem was that we wanted to get paid immediately for using recommender technology with the media. But it didn’t work out that way, because those were not the best of times: media managers simply didn’t have extra money, and it was very difficult to convince editors and journalists that our algorithms would be able to suggest more interesting content to the reader than the editor.

As a result, we decided to provide our technology for free, which we do to this day.

And the problem with the installation of the widget and the conservatism of the market was solved by time - the journalists really saw that readers like our recommendations, they natively fit into the content of the site and do not cause rejection. Readers began to spend even more time on the site, which affected the amount of advertising inventory at the sites. Subsequently, we offered partners to mix recommendations with advertising and earn with us.

5. Launching a new product is a lottery

Yuri Galtykhin, product manager of Firm MMS JSC (PROLOGY brand)

Bringing a new product to market is always a lottery. You never know how customers will accept a new product until it's on the store shelf. But before a product is in the store, there is a long way to go - from the development of a product concept to the delivery of a finished batch. And each stage has its own challenges.

In electronics manufacturing, the biggest headache is the development of the electronic part itself. Let's say we decide to release a new model based on the existing one - but we need to reduce the dimensions of the case and add several functions. For car radios, in theory, this is not very difficult: they usually have a lot of free space inside. We breed a new main board, check: the sensitivity of the radio tuner has decreased. We understand, we found a place where the microcircuit is phoning. A metal screen was added, the board was laid out a little differently. We check, the radio is now in order, but the maximum current on the USB ports is not enough to charge the phone. We figure it out, found out the reason, again we parted the fee in a new way. We check if everything is fine with the radio and USB ports, but we found a new problem. And so it can be twenty more times. And that's not counting the problems with the software, there is also a lot of interesting things.

Separately, I want to say that the creation of a new product is always a compromise. Compromise between price and feature set, but not between price and quality.

Even when planning the release of a new product, we immediately assign it a place in the product line, set the maximum price and the desired set of functions or features. And then we try to make sure that the price remains within the limits, and that the quality does not suffer. For example, take the corpus. Plastic parts are molded into special molds, and each has a maximum surface angle above which it will be impossible to pull it out of the mold without damaging the part. If the design of the device involves the use of complex molds, then expensive composite molds are used: the cost of the mold itself will be higher, as well as the price of producing one part. If we are getting close to the budget limit, it will be more correct to redesign the case to use a one-piece mold.

The same goes for the choice of components. Automotive electronics are subject to the highest requirements for reliability and resistance to external influences. If a home TV does not require operation in conditions of very low temperatures or high vibrations, then for a car radio with a display, these are normal operating conditions. Sitting in a car in winter at -20ºC, you will not wait half an hour until the display warms up and starts showing something? Therefore, when we choose, say, the same display, we can sacrifice resolution (put a regular display instead of a high-definition display to reduce the price), but this display will still work in +60 and -20.

In conclusion, I will say that I cannot name any one product with which there were especially many problems during its creation. There are problems with every product when it is launched to the market - it has never happened without it. But any problems can be solved. The main thing is to clearly understand what the product should be, and at all stages of development and production to control the quality and compliance with the requirements, including the budget. After all, a low-quality or too expensive product will not be sold.

6. We are faced with the fact that the product must be "flexible"

Igor Eremin, founder of the Mobile Doctor telemedicine service

When launching the MVP of our telemedicine platform, we were faced with the fact that the product must be super flexible in terms of customization, since insurance companies, banks, mobile operators, and many others can act as partners in telemedicine. And each has its own tasks and "wishlist" in terms of functionality.

The solution was to put a lot of “custom” things into the architecture of the service that were not activated until the first partner appeared from one area or another. For example, the functionality of uploading monthly statistics on consultations, activated policies, records, automatic calculation, and so on. This made development more expensive initially, but saved a lot of time and money in the long run.

7. The main difficulty was in the business model itself

Andrey Myakin, COO and co-founder of TNOMER

The biggest difficulty in entering the market was that there were no analogues of our business model and there are no analogues yet. Let me explain what is special: the classic service retail model is geared towards offering one service as a whole, for example, only the overhaul of an apartment. We have about 50 services that cover all repairs in the apartment, in the house and on the site. That is, we strive to accompany the client at all his life turns: after the repair of the apartment we will build a bathhouse, after the bath - a fence, a gazebo, lighting on the site. Then repairs in a new apartment and so on.

At the same time, we are not a construction company, but a platform for three participants in the process: the client, the manufacturer of materials and the team. These three lines should not intersect with each other, we are the guarantor and representative. The TV channel of the same name completes all this, which is integrated into the business model to create trust and generate customers, but must exist separately and independently in order to grow the audience, and for this to produce interesting content.

We built such a complex model in about six months, and we are still optimizing it.

Another difficulty is television filming at the facilities that we are repairing. To show viewers the repair as it is, we film the repair process, accompanying it with expert comments. And on small sites surrounded by 5 tons of various materials, shooting is quite problematic. Therefore, it was necessary to create an interaction algorithm that would allow them to be carried out in such a way that it would not affect the quality and timing of the repair itself: find out in advance about the readiness of the object, figure out where to put the cameras, how to connect the work of the film crew with the work of the construction team.

8. It was difficult to convince clinics to work with us

Ekaterina Yakubchik, DOC+ mobile clinic product manager

We have a partnership system with clinics: through the application, you can make an appointment with highly specialized specialists. There were a number of problems at launch, which will be discussed below.

Problem: finding good clinics

We care about our patients, so we carefully select doctors for the staff, train them and control the quality of each treatment. When we send clients to third-party clinics, we want to be sure that they will receive highly qualified medical care there.

Solution

First, we researched the medical services market, where we paid attention to the business reputation of clinics, looked at the reviews of clients and doctors. After that, we went to each medical institution as ordinary clients, and at meetings with the management of clinics we found out how they look for doctors and control their quality.

We checked each clinic ourselves. How ordinary clients came to the appointment and looked at how the organizations look from the inside: is it clean, is the receptionist communicating with you adequately, is the doctor good, does he sell unnecessary services, does he conduct a full examination, does he explain his appointments. Then the diagnoses and prescribed treatment were evaluated by our head physician.

After connecting the clinic, everything does not end there. We selectively check the quality of medical care according to medical records and take feedback from each client about the quality of service.

Challenge: Integration of online schedule and medical data

We wanted to make the product as convenient as possible for the user: you enter the application, choose the specialty of the doctor, a convenient time and place, make an appointment, and after the appointment you receive all the data in the application. No calls to the clinic, no paperwork - everything through the application. This simplification of the patient's life "complicates" our life: we need to integrate with the clinic's medical information system in order to have access to their online schedule and receive the results of a patient's appointment. Our IT resources allow us to do this quickly, but on the part of MISs (medical information systems), everything turned out to be more complicated.

MISs are of two types: large players who supply their systems to other clinics, and small clinics with self-written MISs. For large MISs, we are a third-party company that is not even their client, which means that by default we are at the very bottom of the priority list. In the case of self-made MISs, clinics are not IT companies, for them this is a completely non-core story, and resources for any improvements are very limited. Both the first and the second can be understood, but integration has become a very serious obstacle for us.

Solution

As a result, the only strategy that worked was to be patient and constantly get in touch until we achieve a result. For example, it took us about a year to convince one of the largest players in the market, but in the end we got access to a large number of partners. So just patience and no magic.

Each new product at a certain stage of its life cycle goes through the procedure of bringing to the market. As you know, this is preceded by activities to develop the concept of the product itself, which are not affected in this work.

In preparation for the launch of a new product on the market, the marketing group, based on the available marketing tools, must give a sales forecast at certain time intervals when penetrating the target market segment, assess the volume and saturation of this segment, corresponding to the achievement of a given profitability. In addition, it is necessary to take into account the costs of the activities of the marketing communications complex.

The sales forecast for a new product is based on an analysis of the following market factors:

Analysis of the company's own potential,

competitor analysis,

Target market analysis,

Analysis of the macro environment,

Analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the product (competitiveness),

Risk assessment

The purpose of this analysis is to identify the company's own capabilities (both tangible and intangible) to assess the available resources and their compliance with the strategic goals set for the enterprise, in particular, launching a new product and capturing market share. First of all, here it is necessary to consider the worldview, entrepreneurial culture and philosophy of the company and its leaders, since it is they that are decisive both for the structural organization of the enterprise and for the very goal-setting of the business. The following factors influence the formation of the entrepreneurial culture of a particular company:

Internal standards and rules specific to the firm,

informal communication channels,

ideas and values prevailing throughout society,

Personal potential of company leaders,

Examples to follow.

With the help of experts, it is necessary to assess the accumulative capacity, the ability to change and the mobilization power of the company, to check the degree of its compliance with the basic principles of modern business: the principles of competition, intra-company planning, innovation, contractuality and consumer dictate.

In addition to displaying the corporate culture, this analysis should include data on all aspects of the company's ongoing activities, as well as material reserves necessary for the promotion of a new product.

To enter a new market, this analysis is one of the most important. The successful introduction of a new product implies an unambiguous definition of all firms that can be attributed either to real competitors already operating in the chosen market, or to potential competitors that have the opportunity to enter the market with a competing product.

This issue is especially important when considering high-yield growth prospective markets, for example, markets for certain consumer goods, or markets that are fairly easy to access, that is, markets with a low level of competition.

To be able to compare the parameters of your own company with the parameters of competing firms, you need to analyze the same parameters that were considered when analyzing the potential of your own company. Gathering sufficient information on competitive firms is usually not possible, but data such as goals, development strategies, market behavior and employee motivation systems are especially valuable for analysis and decision-making in preparing responses.

Target market analysis refers to the systematic study of all other aspects of the market that are not covered by competition analysis. First of all, it is the analysis of consumers. First you need to identify the target market segment of interest, and then explore its characteristics. For this, special marketing research is used, in particular, segmentation of consumers, determination of market characteristics, as well as reports from the sales service, the press and other possible sources of information. The following quantitative indicators are considered as the necessary information for market analysis:

market potential,

market size,

market saturation level,

market elasticity,

market growth rate,

share of the main competitors,

stability, etc.

The qualitative indicators of the market include the following indicators:

structure of customer needs,

purchase motives,

kind of buying process

ways of obtaining information by the consumer,

prevailing preferences, etc.

In addition to considering the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of consumers, it is necessary to have data on existing suppliers, business partners, trade and intermediaries, also included in the firm's microenvironment. Information about these market entities allows you to adjust the marketing policy and plan activities.

This analysis is aimed at studying the macro environment, which has no direct connection with the market, but equally affects all enterprises in this field of activity in this particular region. It is customary to divide the macro environment into economic, socio-cultural, physical, political, legal and technological components. Each of these components consists of a very large number of factors that affect certain groups of products in different ways.

For a specific type of product, it makes sense to single out several factors that are of maximum importance in a given region, and then consider only them. For example, for imported products in the group of political and legal components, the most significant factors will be such factors as customs duty rates and import quotas, the status of the exporting country, excise duties on goods, sales rules, payments for a license to trade certain goods, etc. This analysis usually requires the assistance of independent experts.

This analysis compares the results of the analysis of the company's own potential (or product) with the analysis of competing firms (or competing products) and is aimed at identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the firm in relation to competing firms. For this, an engineering forecasting method or another estimation method can be used.

Based on the results obtained, those product characteristics are highlighted that give the maximum advantage over competing products. At the same time, the identification of the weakest competitive aspects of the product makes it possible to adjust either the product itself or the methods of its presentation and positioning on the market.

Risk in business arises in a situation of uncertainty and is a probabilistic value. The risk assessment combines the results of all previous analyzes of the market and the firm itself. The purpose of this assessment is to provide the earliest possible warning of changes in market conditions, internal causes within the firm, and the situation in the macro environment that are relevant to the strengths and weaknesses of the product.

Risk analysis begins with the identification of possible sources of risk, its causes and places of occurrence. In all cases, the risk is associated with the sufficiency or insufficiency of information support for the firm's activities. The resulting risk assessment is the basis for choosing an action scenario.

When conducting a risk analysis, points and places of possible occurrence of risk should be identified. At these points, the temporal characteristics, causes and duration of risk actions are determined. The final result of the quantitative risk assessment is the construction of a system of critical values of the main risk indicators. Naturally, different firms have different risk tolerance. The diversification of the company's activities contributes to the reduction of risks, but without dissipation of funds and resources. When conducting a risk assessment, it is necessary to consider the development trends of the situation.

Products put on the market must meet certain consumer needs. When using only economic indicators (such as sales volume, profit, coverage of fixed costs) at the stage of introducing a product to the market, it is impossible to establish how this new product will meet these needs. Therefore, in order to understand the needs that push a person to make a purchase, it is necessary to determine their economic importance. It is these economically significant needs that should ultimately lead the consumer to purchase the product.

The purchase of a certain brand of goods directly depends on how much the desires of consumers are concentrated on this brand. The direction of consumer desire for a certain brand is the result of the influence of all marketing tools, so the object of desire is not a product in the narrow sense, but the result of a complex impact of marketing tools. However, the desire itself does not yet determine the purchase of goods, it must be transformed into demand, which at this stage of planning is limited by purchasing power.

An important element in the process of buying a product is the degree of its availability, that is, its availability at the place of purchase. This is especially important for the first test purchase, which often determines the volume and frequency of subsequent ones. Hence the importance of a wide introduction of a new product in the sales system and the availability of sufficient inventory.

If there are competing products on the market, the buyer will spend energy searching for this particular product only if he has a strong desire to purchase this particular brand (with repeated purchases, it will be possible to talk about brand loyalty). In consumer goods markets, where competing products are very widely represented and can be easily replaced by each other, the issue of the correct distribution of a newly introduced product is particularly acute.

As a result of all of the above, a product can be subjected to consumer attractiveness tests before being put on the market. The most common models for assessing the attractiveness of a product are the following:

Rosenberg model

This model is based on consumers evaluating a product in terms of its suitability to meet specific needs.

Q j = S X k Y jk ,

where Q j - consumers' assessment of brand j;

X k - the importance of the characteristic k (k = 1, n) brands j from the point of view of consumers;

Y jk - characteristic evaluation k stamps j from the point of view of consumers.

Different customer requirements for products provide ideal preconditions for market segmentation, as well as information about the importance of individual product characteristics.

Ideal Point Models

In contrast to the Rosenberg model, an additional component is introduced into the model with an ideal point - the ideal (from the point of view of the consumer) value of the product characteristic.

Q j = S W k |B jk - I k | r ,

where Q j is consumer assessment of the brand j;

W k - the importance of the characteristic k (k = 1, n);

B jk - characteristic evaluation k stamps j from the point of view of consumers;

I k - ideal characteristic value k from the point of view of consumers;

r - parameter showing when r= 1 constant, and at r= 2 decreasing

marginal benefit.

It is logical that the consumer will prefer the product that is closest to the ideal point. Thus, this method gives an idea of the ideal product from the point of view of the consumer.

Another variant of this method is the measurement of the degree of customer satisfaction, in which it turns out what value is expected by buyers, and what was perceived in reality.

One of the latest models for describing and evaluating a product complex is the so-called. " commodity system "- a set of components that uniquely and self-sufficiently describe a certain set of needs that underlie competing products.

In the course of modeling a commodity system, hypotheses are made about the components i th level (starting from the first). The model implies that the needs included in the commodity system are differently important for the consumer; their importance differs for different consumer segments. Naturally, their implementation in competing products is not the same. As a result, the weight of the component (needs) and the assessment of the component for any segment are determined.

In the figure below, the letters indicate the following:

TS - commodity system

A, B, C, D - components (needs) of the first level.

A i , B i , C i , D i - needs of the n-th level.

From the point of view of the economic efficiency of bringing a product to the market, it makes sense to consider the following quantitative goals:

sales volume,

covering fixed and variable costs,

profit and cost savings,

enterprise growth,

market share.

Qualitative goals such as image and fame can be controlled based on consumer judgment.

When evaluating the economic efficiency of product launch, the indicator of the sales volume structure is used.

The volume and structure of sales are one of the most important parameters of the company's activities. Sales planning analysis should show the absolute and relative shares of products in terms of the total sales of the company, on the basis of which the marketing policy of the company can be adjusted. A convenient way to assess the sales structure is ABC-analysis, with the help of which all the company's products are divided into three categories according to certain criteria (sales volume, profit, etc.). ABC analysis provides important information about the balance between products with different profitability and the breadth of the range. ABC analysis is one of the varieties of Paret's law.

Naturally, when launching a new product, not only its economic characteristics are considered. Undoubted importance in both qualitative and quantitative indicators of the economic efficiency of a product is played by its design, color, shape, packaging, etc. The trademark of the product deserves a separate discussion.

Most goods are consumed outside the place of their production. Sales structures are called upon to deal with the problems that arise in this case.

The first thing to be decided is the choice of the type of distribution organization: direct marketing or sales through intermediaries. In the second case, many tasks are transferred to wholesalers, who develop their own marketing concepts, which do not always coincide with the concepts of the manufacturer.

Typically, the manufacturer uses wholesale or retail trade to deliver goods, which entails solving the problem of the number and type of enterprises that need to be involved in cooperation. Decisions about the choice of trading partners are closely related to the organization of the sale.

When choosing distribution channels, the firm decides which customer segments will be reached through certain intermediate sales stages. For most products, there are many alternative distribution channels, but the choice of a particular channel, in addition to its profitability, is influenced by the image of the product and the company.

Channel planning for a new product is a strategic task and cannot be redesigned in a short time.

There are two main types of marketing. At direct marketing The product goes directly to the consumer. Direct marketing makes sense for large transactions, as well as for the sale of large high-tech goods that need guarantees, technical support, etc. Often in international trade, the concept of direct marketing is used - marketing without the participation of intermediary firms of one's country.

But for most goods, especially for consumer goods, it is still the most preferable indirect marketing.

Most manufacturers should use the services of intermediaries and trade, since trade enterprises can carry out marketing functions with greater efficiency and lower costs than the manufacturer himself.

The use of wholesale trade allows you to reduce the number of contacts. The use of centralized trading is more efficient because it reduces the number of steps required to match supply and demand.

The wholesaler has the ability to spread its costs across multiple manufacturers by grouping their offerings together, resulting in a reduction in distribution costs.

With the help of wholesalers, the volume of products produced is matched with the quantity and volume of small orders, which leads to an increase in costs. The introduction of an additional link in the chain allows you to adapt to the orders of individual buyers.

Intermediaries play an important role in providing a variety of goods offered, which allows buyers to save time by purchasing several goods in one transaction. The manufacturer himself can harm the offer of a range of related products.

Despite all the undeniable advantages of introducing intermediaries into the distribution channel, manufacturers want to influence the sale for many reasons. Among the main ones is the manufacturer's image policy, which intermediaries are not always ready to support. In order to influence intermediaries, manufacturers follow the path of concluding licensing agreements and franchising, which are beneficial to the intermediaries themselves, since the manufacturer takes on the organization of nationwide advertising, providing the necessary information and, in some cases, financial assistance.

On the socio-economic situation of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region in January - April 1996. Goskomstat of the Russian Federation, St. Petersburg Committee of the State. Statistics, St. Petersburg, 1996.

J. R. Advance, B. Berman. Marketing., M., "Economics", 1990.

V. Blagoev. Marketing in definitions and examples. St. Petersburg, "TwoTri", 1993.

E. Dichtl, H. Hörschgen. practical marketing. M., "Higher School", 1995.

Jean-Jacques Lambin. Strategic Marketing. St. Petersburg, "Nauka", 1996.

Pesotskaya E.V. Marketing services, St. Petersburg, SPbUEF Publishing House, 1997.

Bagiev G.L. Methods for obtaining and processing marketing information, St. Petersburg, SPbUEF Publishing House, 1996.

Afanasyeva N.V., Bagiev G.L., Leydig G. The concept and tools of effective entrepreneurship, SPbUEF Publishing House, 1996.

Bagiev G.L., Arenkov I.A. Fundamentals of Marketing Research, SPbUEF Publishing House, 1996.

Microsoft Encarta Atlas, Microsoft Corporation, 1996.

Russian Business Monitor, 1995"2. The Russian market of alcoholic beverages.

You will need

- marketing research;
- designer services;
- promotional materials;
- money;
- staff.

Instruction

Conduct market research. Your goal is to determine the competitive environment, the positioning of your own product, the characteristics of demand and the existing price situation. The results of the analysis will be one of the key factors for you when bringing the product to market.

Highlight one or more USPs (Unique Selling Proposition) that accompany your product. It can be unusual properties, lower price, after-sales service, higher quality, free shipping and service. In this case, your potential consumer must understand why he needs to buy exactly your product, and not a similar one.

Design a memorable logo for your product. Based on it, create a full-fledged corporate identity that will make the product recognizable and help the consumer easily distinguish it from analogues. Launch branded merchandise and point-of-sale POS materials.

Create a "deferred" demand for your product, pump up artificial excitement about the launch long before the start. For example, when introducing an electronic novelty to the market, it is advisable to provoke a discussion of this topic on Internet forums, post informational articles in the press, and hire agents who will inquire about the novelty in stores. So you can achieve a situation where your product will already be known even before it appears on the market.

Sources:

new product on the market

How to promote a website on your own? What should be done to make your project known to a wide range of users? In the conversation, we will touch on the most simple and effective ways, thanks to which you can promote your site without any difficulties.

You will need

Website, availability of free time and desire to work.

Instruction

Putting links to the site through popular forums. Here you have a lot of work to do. Initially, you should register on the 10-50 most popular forums that will match the theme of your site. If you start posting links to your resource immediately after registering on the forum, your account may simply be blocked, mistaking you for another spammer. With this in mind, after registering on the forum, you should behave inconspicuously. Leave messages, participate in forum discussions, create new topics. Only after you accumulate 30-50 , you can share on your site. Design a signature that would lead users to your resource, surround the anchor with attractive text. Leaving links in , keep your neutrality to this site. For example, submit a link in the form "I saw interesting information on your question on this site." Thus, you will attract new visitors to your site.

Task complexity

Bringing a new product to market is not an easy and expensive task. In this regard, many entrepreneurs give up their positions at the very beginning of their journey. The difficulties ahead scare off newcomers. However, bringing a new product to a new market is a feasible task. By developing the right marketing strategy in the shortest possible time, you can ensure that the product or service takes a leading position. An entrepreneur only needs to be prepared for the fact that it is unlikely that a new product will start to make a profit at the initial stages.

Choosing the right strategy

Based on existing practice, it can be concluded that the introduction of a new product into a new market is associated with significant risks. This leads to the fact that the implementation of the idea is not always successful.

To minimize risks, you will need to apply the right marketing and use the necessary techniques to help attract consumer attention to a little-known product that has just appeared on the market. Only this will make it buyable and in demand. How to achieve the desired result? To do this, it is important for each manufacturer to use marketing tools that will make it possible to produce the product that the consumer needs, selling it when needed, where needed and at the price that would satisfy the buyer.

Currently, many different methods have been developed that contribute to the introduction of a new product to a new market. In this regard, entrepreneurs and businessmen will need, first of all, to study the existing arsenal of marketing tools and learn how to use them correctly to implement their idea. Of course, in any already tested methods of strategy and methods of promoting a product or service, each manufacturer must introduce its own nuances, which will be dictated by specific conditions. After all, classic techniques work as efficiently as possible only if they are adapted to a specific business.

Be that as it may, the introduction of a new product to the market, before it reaches the buyer, must go through certain stages. They start with concept development and end with commercialization. The strategy for bringing new products to market can be different. That is why we will consider a generalized idea of the steps to promote goods and services.

Idea development

Where does the creation of a new product begin? From generating or searching for ideas. They can come from company employees and academics, customers and competitors, dealers, and senior management.

Considers the most logical starting point of this stage to identify the needs and desires of consumers. After all, buyers who most professionally use the products already manufactured by the company are the first to notice everything that needs to be improved in it. The company can learn about the needs and needs of customers by organizing surveys, group discussions, projective tests, as well as considering complaints and suggestions from consumers. In the history of world business, there are many examples when good ideas are born from engineers and designers after surveys were conducted of consumers talking about their problems while using the product.

To create a new product, many companies use suggestions received from their employees. Moreover, the desire to create new ideas by employees, as a rule, is encouraged. For example, Toyota employees come up with about 2 million new ideas every year. Moreover, the company implements 85% of them. And Kodak rewards employees who submit the best ideas with gifts and cash bonuses. This practice is adopted in many other companies.

Good ideas sometimes come from studying the product of competitors, through contact with dealers and sales representatives of the manufacturer. There are other sources that allow a company to start building a new product. Sometimes they are inventors, commercial and university laboratories, trade publications, etc.

Selection of ideas

Any company collects received proposals. In the future, they are considered by the head of ideas. He divides proposals into three groups - promising, doubtful, and unpromising. Those ideas that belong to the first category are further tested on a large scale. When selecting proposals received, it is important not to make a mistake. After all, sometimes companies reject a good idea, starting work on a hopeless direction. One example of a new product launch is installment trading. At one time, Marshall Field had a premonition of the unique possibilities of such tactics. But Endicott Johnson did not like this proposal. He called installment trading a vile system that can only create trouble.

Product release decision

After selecting the most promising ideas, the company needs to consider the following aspects:

expected profit from the sale;
the ability of the company to take the idea into production;
the probability of investing in a new project;
an approximate estimate of the volume of consumer demand;
formation of the price level;
sales channels;
the likelihood of obtaining a patent;
assessment of available resources and the level of costs for the purchase of equipment (in the case of the production of a technically complex product).

Concept development

What is the future plan for bringing the new product to market? The most compelling ideas should then turn into product concepts that can be tested. What does she represent? The concept of a product is understood as an already developed version of a promising idea, which is expressed in a form that is meaningful to the consumer.

Consider this important of all stages of bringing a new product to the market using the example of a company operating in the food industry.

Let's assume that its management decides to launch a powder that, when added to milk, can increase its taste and nutritional value. This is just an idea for a product. Further, it must be turned into a concept, which may not be one. For example:

Who will be the user of the product? In this case, it can be infants, children, adolescents or adults.
What are the benefits of the product? Energy boost, refreshing effect, nutritional value or taste?
When will consumers consume such a drink? During breakfast, lunch, dinner, dinner or late at night?

Only by giving answers to all these questions, it will be possible to start forming the concept of the product. So, the drink intended for production can be:

Soluble. It will be for adults only. It is planned to be consumed as a quick nutritious breakfast.
Children's. The product will have a pleasant taste, and its use is acceptable throughout the day.
Strengthening health. Such a drink will be necessary for older people to drink in the evening.

At the next stage of bringing a new product to the market in marketing, a categorical one is selected from all these concepts. It will determine the area of product competition. For example, an instant drink will become an alternative to eggs and bacon, cereals, coffee, muffins, as well as other products included in the breakfast menu.

Brand creation

What is the future plan for bringing the new product to market? The product concept at the next stage should turn into a brand concept. A new drink needs to be significantly different from those already on the market. This applies to its average calorie content and price. A company should not position a new product with existing brands, otherwise it will be quite difficult to win its place in the sun.

proof of concept

What should be the future marketing strategy for bringing a new product to the market? At the next stage, the company needs to test the chosen concept. This can be done by testing the product with a specific audience of target consumers. This will allow you to find out their reaction.

A plan to bring a new product to market may involve presenting a product concept in some form. It can be either symbolic or material. At this important stage of launching a new product on the company's market, a graphic or verbal description of the product is sufficient. However, it should be borne in mind that the effectiveness of the test will be most reliable when there is a large similarity that can be seen between the tested concept and the finished product.

An example of bringing a new product to the market at this stage is designing it on a computer with the manufacture of a plastic model of each of the options. In this way, toys or small household appliances can be created. Such dummies will allow buyers to get an idea of the appearance of a new product.

One of the steps to launch a new product on the market is the creation of virtual reality. This is a computer simulation of the surrounding reality when using touch devices such as glasses or gloves. Such a program is often used to familiarize the consumer with the new interior of his kitchen, the furniture from which will be purchased from this company.

Development of a marketing strategy

How will the new product be brought to market in the future? In marketing, the next stage in the implementation of a promising idea involves the development of a preliminary strategy plan. It represents certain steps that a company has to go through to sell its product or service. In the future, some corrections and clarifications may be made to the strategy for bringing a new product to the market, depending on the current situation.

The developed plan should consist of three parts. The first of them contains information about the volume and structure of the target market, as well as the behavior of consumers on it. It also describes the positioning of the product, expected sales volumes, planned profits and market share. All these data are calculated for several years ahead.

The second part in the marketing strategy plan contains data on the pre-formed price of the product, on its further distribution, as well as on the level of sales costs during the first year of sales.

The third part of the marketing plan includes indicators of product implementation and profit in the future.

Possibilities of production and sales

At the next stage of product promotion, it is important to consider the business attractiveness of the offer. This can be done by analyzing the calculation of estimated sales and costs, as well as profits.

All of them must be consistent with the goals of the company. In the case of positive results of such a test, you can begin to develop the product itself.

Process of creation

At the initial stage, it is necessary to prepare production for the release of a new product. To do this, they develop technology, produce the necessary equipment and purchase additional tools and equipment. Next, the production of prototypes or a batch of newly created products is carried out. This completes the creation of a new product.

At this stage, you should prepare and carry out test sales. They represent the implementation of a small number of experimental products. Such a move will allow for an additional check of the market, clarifying the need of the population for the created product. When introducing prototypes of a product to the market, one should not hope to receive the planned profit. At this stage, it is important to check how customers feel about the product and, if necessary, adjust the methods of its further promotion.

Access to the market

At this stage of the launch of a new product, all departments are involved and all functions of the company are affected. These are production and sales, procurement and finance, personnel, etc. At the same time, operational marketing is connected to strategic marketing, which will require the participation of a tactical as well as a project manager.

As a rule, at this stage, the company's work is unprofitable, and if it makes a profit, then it is insignificant. It's all about the costs of promotion and further development of distribution channels, which are quite high. That is why, at the initial stages of a product entering the market, it is necessary to offer consumers only those options that are basic, because customers are not yet ready to consider modifications to a new product.

In addition, when introducing a product to the market, manufacturers should focus on the target audience. In it, product expectations and requests are the most studied and predictable.

At this stage, an important role belongs to the distribution channels and further distribution of products or services. They should be given special attention. With a competent solution of this problem, a place in the market will be won in the shortest possible time and at minimal cost.

What will be the choice of implementation system? It depends on the characteristics and image of the firm and product, as well as the reputation of the company.

During development, two options can be considered:

Direct distribution. In this case, the product from the manufacturer goes directly to the consumer. This scheme is most acceptable for the sale of high-tech goods, as well as for expensive and large transactions.
Distribution with the participation of intermediary firms. Often, trading organizations have a large amount of resources necessary to bring the product to the end consumer. In addition, they provide the buyer with a choice of a wide variety of brands, which allows the client to significantly save time.

When forming a marketing strategy, a marketing plan for promoting the product should be drawn up. At the same time, it should be borne in mind that there is no universal tool that would allow introducing a new product to the market. For example, large firms in this case invest impressive amounts in advertising on radio, television and on the Internet. They place outdoor advertising, and also carry out the promotion of goods in the places of its sale.

Smaller companies are deprived of such an opportunity due to lack of funds. As a rule, they use word of mouth, contextual advertising, social networks, etc. In addition, marketers recommend doing everything possible so that a new product placed on store shelves compares favorably with offers from other companies, is attractive and bright .

If all the efforts invested in the promotion of the product did not bring the expected result, then experts recommend making changes to the promotion strategy. In this case, you will need to use other types of advertising and promotions.

At this stage of introducing a new product to the market, it is of particular importance to determine the size of the advertising budget, draw up a promotion program, and also search for the means of communication through which such work will be carried out.

The presentation of a new product to consumers should be bright and memorable. To do this, advertising should focus on the features of the product and its differences from existing analogues. At the first stages of bringing a new product to the market, it will be more rational to sell it via the Internet through participation in specialized exhibitions, etc.

As you can see, there are many factors that influence the success of a new product on the market. That is why at each stage of the project implementation, the company must approach the matter comprehensively. This will allow new products to gain a foothold in the market, winning the hearts of consumers and bringing a stable profit to the company.