Market research definitely is a key part in New Product Development (NPD). Businesses should investigate market conditions in details before planning to launch a new product or improved products.
The New Product Development (NPD) process
This is a very brief summary of how market research supports New Product Development (NPD):
STEP 1: Identify consumer needs and tastes
Market research required: Conduct primary research into consumer needs and wants. Conduct secondary research about competitors.
👍 | Benefit: The risk of designing, building and launching a new product is reduced as the product is developed based on information from potential customers about the product.
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STEP2: Come up with product idea and packaging design
Market research required: Initiate test marketing of the product prototype. Organize a focus group with potential consumer about packaging.
👍 | Benefit: The firm can find out what consumers like and dislike the most about the product by testing it on a small group of customers. Consumer testing of different versions of packaging for the product will enable a business to focus on design that people rated most highly.
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STEP 3: Decide on brand positioning and advertising testing
Market research required: Pre-testing of the product image and advertising through interviews.
👍 | Benefit: Marketing manager can assess directly customers’ reactions to a new product. This will prevent any disaster had the product been launched to the entire market unsuccessfully.
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STEP 4: Go ahead with product launch and after launch period
Market research required: Monitoring of sales through observations and consumer response using surveys / questionnaires.
👍 | Benefit: This will enable the business to confirm that demand for a new product exists and that it will be able to achieve satisfactory sales levels.
Remember that no amount of market research can guarantee success, however. Not only that. Market research may sometimes give misleading messages about the success of the new product.
