Product Development: A 5-Step Guide for Online Entrepreneurs
Every product begins with an idea that is developed and then released to the market. This process is known as product development and it is at the heart of every business. Whether your business is offline or online, product development serves as the foundation of your brand and the basis of all consequent actions. After all, the end product is what is offered to the customer and its value sold in exchange for profit. By mastering product development, you can take advantage of the market and ensure that your product succeeds.
Developing products in context
As different ideas come together, new products are developed and introduced to the market, allowing markets to grow in both size and variety. From once only having a small collection of shops in each town selling local goods, today we have multi-level shopping malls as big as baseball fields offering products from hundreds of local and international sellers. In the digital age, online marketplaces have taken commerce to a whole new level, allowing users to buy and sell to and from almost any location in the world through the internet. The potential revenue created through online spaces is limitless, as long as one is able to maximize the available resources online. As a result, more people than ever before are launching their products online and starting their own online businesses. Even well-established businesses and entrepreneurs are transitioning online after realizing the potential advantages of having an online store counterpart to boost their profits and visibility.
“… more people than ever before are launching their products online and starting their own online businesses.”
Today, there are millions of products with multiple iterations out there on the internet. With so many choices out there already, the dilemma now lies in creating a unique product that can make waves and generate profit.
Product development in 5 steps
Fortunately for you, we’re here to share some tips on how to develop a winning product that will get your ecommerce business up and running in just five steps.
Whether you’re just starting out and need some guidance, or you’re a veteran who’s looking for some additional advice on online product development, we’ve got you covered.
STEP 1. Find the market gap
If you follow our blog, then you’ll already know that the key to choosing a great product is identifying the market gap — in other words, a consumer want or need that is not being fulfilled by the market. The same goes for developing new products. By identifying and addressing the market gap, you’ll avoid the mistake of creating a product that no one needs, or worse, a product that is an exact copy of one that is already out there. And that’s a legal “oopsie” you’ll definitely want to avoid, not only to protect your finances but also your brand’s reputation. Thankfully, the internet is a rich resource of information that will churn out almost any information you need so you can avoid all the traps and find that coveted market gap.
Online tip: Use search engines like Google or Yahoo! to search for current issues that consumers are facing in sectors and industries you’re interested in. Visit online forums like Quora and Reddit where you can find discussions on almost any topic and see what people are talking about. Read relevant blogs and articles for product reviews and insights. You can also find out what people are typing into their search bars through readily available online tools like Google Trends, Moz, and SEMrush.
STEP 2. Conceptualize, visualize, and do your market research
Once you’ve identified your market gap, it’s time to brainstorm. Throw your ideas around, let your mind go wild, and don’t keep anything off the table (just in case you accidentally dismiss a brilliant idea). If you’re working solo, write down everything that comes to your mind. But remember, you don’t always have to come up with a completely new product. You can always take an existing product and add new features or modify them to create more value for consumers.
Once you’ve exhausted all possible ideas, it’s time to start screening them based on the following considerations:
✅ Feasibility: Can you create the product given your current skills, resources, capital, and access to logistics providers, including manufacturers, warehouses, and couriers? And most importantly, is your product legal? Keep in mind that the ultimate goal is to produce enough quantity of the product that you can sell in large enough quantities to gain profit.
✅ Marketability: Will consumers want to buy your product? Is the design aesthetically pleasing? Is it user-friendly? And if so, how much interest is there, and at what price will customers be willing to pay for it? Set your expectations on product numbers, sales, and profits, as well as your target market. Doing these will help determine the marketability of your product and allow you to come up with improvements that could increase profit.
✅ Competition: Who are the threats to your business? Before you go spending all your time and money on producing and launching new products, make sure to check out your competition. Find out what’s already out there and determine how your product will fit in the market. You’ll have to differentiate yourself from the competition or else customers will be buying your product by chance rather than choice. While choice is something you can encourage with time, chance is uncontrollable and may be unsustainable for your business.
Online tip: We’ll be perfectly honest and say that competition online is a lot more fierce than in the traditional offline setup. A simple tip to help you start out is to visit various online marketplaces and platforms and search for products that are similar to yours. Find out how they’re doing in the market, analyze and compare their features, and make sure your product’s features are better than the competition or are able to address a completely different problem. This will help ensure that you can come up with a product that is unique, in-demand, and profitable. The product idea that comes out on top after this step will be your game-changer.
STEP 3. Create a prototype and bring your vision to life
Creators at heart will find this step the most exciting. After all, it’s the step that allows your idea to finally take shape and turn what was once a fantasy into reality. When prototyping, it’s important to be as accurate as possible. Your prototype will be the basis of the actual product and will be subjected to scrutiny and tests that will determine whether your product is indeed viable. It’s also typically presented to possible investors and representatives of your target market in order to gauge and encourage interest.
Prototypes can be made and presented through a number of different mediums. You can make a scaled-down version for larger products, 3D renderings, or even a digital simulation. If it’s within your budget, capacity, and schedule, you can even make a working model, which is the best choice if you want to produce results that are closest to your final product during the initial testing and presentation stage.
Online tip: There are many affordable (and sometimes even free) prototyping tools online such as Figma, Vectr, Justinmind, and Moqups. Choose what works best for you and your budget. During this stage, you can start on some early marketing tactics and release a product teaser or two. Share details of your prototype on your website and social media accounts to create hype and get some initial feedback from your audience.
STEP 4. Test and improve your product
Once you’ve created your prototype and are confident with it, you can begin testing your product. You can do this by producing a minimum viable product (MVP) which is the most basic form of your product, and distribute it to a control group (that you can trust) for testing. We say “the most basic” because you’ll most likely have to add or improve on features based on the feedback. Be very attentive. This will be the best time to check on the performance of your product before it is launched. It’ll also allow you to measure actual interest based on user reviews and reactions. It’s best to prepare a survey for this step so you can receive critical feedback and focus on aspects you’re most concerned with. Surveys are a perfect avenue for you to ask specific questions you want answered, so don’t miss the opportunity.
And remember, this is not a one-stop process. After every improvement, the product should be tested again. It’s fine (and completely normal) to end up with multiple versions of your product. Repeat this stage until you’ve come up with a product that you and your potential customers are satisfied with. And if your product is eligible, don’t forget to register it for trademark and copyright so that you can protect your assets in the long run.
Online tip: You can use Google Forms and other free survey software online to collect and analyze feedback from multiple users.
STEP 5. Produce a product roadmap
By this stage, you should have your final product. However, you can’t just haphazardly add it to your online store. You’ll need to have a product roadmap to ensure flawless production, great customer service, and a continuous stream of revenue. A product roadmap is just as important as it keeps process owners and stakeholders aligned when it comes to business choices and practices.
Below is a checklist of important aspects you should include in your product roadmap.
✅ Source and materials: Materials are an important aspect of production as they are the literal foundation of your product. When looking for possible sources for your materials, make sure to consider both quality and location. The quality of your materials will affect the overall quality of your final product. Whereas the location of your source will determine the price of shipment and storage. Both quality and location will have a huge impact on your costs, so choose wisely. Make sure that your source and materials are within budget so that you don’t have to compromise on your product’s quality. When including both your materials and their sources in your roadmap, identify specifics including price, quality, location, the effects of each material on the final product (and its production), and the reasons behind your choices.
✅ Production and timeline: Identify the different stages as well as their sequence in the manufacturing of your product, together with any necessary personnel. Remember to disclose the amount of time needed for each step as well — doing so will help keep the production process consistent and reliable. It will also give you an idea of how much time you’ll need to reproduce the product and restock inventory. Note that different products will have different timelines depending on various factors like the complexity of the product, available skilled personnel, and access to production materials.
✅ Shipping and logistics: Include how you plan to store products, how you’re going to package them, and how you plan to send them to your customers’ doorsteps. When you’re launching and selling a product online, the process is not as straightforward as it may seem. In most instances, the physical item will not be on hand, and warehouses will be rented to store the inventory until an order is made. Then there is shipping. You’ll have to choose a courier or provide in-house delivery services that can ship your products to target locations given the weight, size, and storage requirements of your product. You’ll also have to pick packaging that will keep your products safe during delivery, especially when dealing with food and beverage. Make sure to include labels that show warnings, expiration dates, and other precautions that may be legally required. All of these factors will need careful comparison and analysis so you can choose the right warehouse, packaging, and shipping services for your business. Add graphs so that you can compare features and costs between each service and help stakeholders understand the justification for each choice.
✅ Cost accounting and pricing: Once you’ve identified all the details required to produce and launch your product, it’s important to lay out all the costs involved. Present it side-by-side with your budget and use all the information to come up with a reasonable price for your product. Include projections for return on investment (ROI) and profit within a set time period. Doing this will keep your financial goals clear and achievable.
Keep in mind that when you’re building your product roadmap, you’re making it not only for yourself but also for your stakeholders. Lay out your vision, strategy, processes, and goals as clearly and simply as possible to help improve understanding, inspire trust, and ensure that you get the support you need. If you’re using technical terms, provide a list of definitions. If there is a lot of data involved, incorporate visual aids using graphics and charts. And if you’re presenting live to an audience, you may even want to consider using animations and video.
Online tip: There are various product roadmap templates that can be found online. Use them as guides to help ease the process. Moreover, you can access various service providers online, whether it be for sourcing, manufacturing, warehousing, or shipping through their service platform. A quick search on Google should help you find the best service providers for your product. You can also use various free online tools like Google Sheet for costs and Canva for creating graphs, charts, and other visual aids.
Flexibility is key
After going through all five steps, it’s time to execute your plan and introduce your product to the market, thus ending the initial product development process. We say “initial” as first-time impressions and feedback can open the floor again for further improvements and development down the line.
And while product development is presented as a set of steps, there may be times when you’ll have to deviate from it. Each product and business is unique and will come with its own set of varying factors that may affect production. Steps may be skipped, repeated, or rearranged as necessary, and therefore it is important to remain flexible. Analyze your specific situation and follow through with the necessary work to launch your product successfully.
Make the best introduction for your product
The product development process helps businesses come up with products that sell, with the final goal of getting them to the market (and hopefully one that will not pull all your hard work down the drain!). A product launch should ideally be held on a platform that will make your products most visible to your target market and then some. It should also allow customers to buy your product easily with the least amount of hassle.
That’s why we recommend Cafe24. With Cafe24, you can get your products seen and sold where it matters, allowing you to introduce your products to a highly responsive global market in no time. Create an online store for free, and add localized stores in up to 8 languages. You’ll be assisted by advanced user-friendly tech with which you can customize features without inputting a single line of code. You can also sell on multiple platforms like Facebook and Google with the help of Cafe24’s apps. Worried about widescale marketing? Install the Social Share Buttons app so customers themselves can share your content on social networking sites. And with Event Banner V2, you’ll be able to highlight product releases and other important events on your online store. Inventory and customer management, payments, and shipping can also be made simpler through various ecommerce tools found on the Cafe24 App Store.
Get the upper hand with Cafe24’s smart and global platform and launch your products with a bang.
