Q&A - What are the main stages of new product development?

To grow fast, businesses need to develop new products. But before a business can launch a new product, it needs to go through several stages before it appears in the market place.

The main stages are:

• Marketing research – find out what customers want, who they are, and where the gaps are in the marketplace

• Product development and testing – make prototypes; experiment by allowing a sample of potential customers to trial the product before it is launched

• Distribution of product to outlets – the product cannot be sold unless it is in a position for customers to buy it – books will need to be in the bookshops and hammers in the hardware stores

• Promotional launch to inform customers features of new product – this might be done locally, nationally or internationally – the customers need to know that the product is ready, available and that it might be the sort of thing they want to buy

At the first two stages (marketing research and product development/testing) many products are rejected because the findings of research shows that it will not be successful, or they cannot make a satisfactory prototype. Product testing might show that customers react badly to the product.

The new product launch needs all the elements of the mix to be in place to be successful.