Generating new product ideas can be a challenging and time-consuming task.. As new product development is vital to keeping your product portfolio fresh and maintaining sales, a lot of effort and focus should be placed on generating new ideas. So, what are the best ways to go about generating these new product ideas? Here, we have compiled 8 of the best ways you can use to get started with product development.

1. How To Generate New
Product Ideas
B2B International

2. 1. Look to the competition.
Visit exhibitions, look on the Internet, walk around distributors
premises. Despite what people say, there can be money to be made out
of being second into the market.

3. 2. Look at market sectors.
Look at the indirect competition - companies making products that
perform a similar function to yours but which are made in a different
way. A manufacturer of cardboard boxes wanted to extend its range and
looked at companies using plastics in packaging where it found targets
which were interested in a more sustainable packaging product.

4. 3. Look at patent applications.
Where patents are registered and what they are for can be highly
illuminating. In addition, there could be mileage in looking at patent
applications which have remained dormant but which could present
good licensing opportunities today.

5. 4. Look inside your own company.
Ask the sales teams, look back through old reports, check the archives.
There could be something that was not appropriate for launch a few
years ago which could make it to the market today.

6. 5. Look to customers.
Customers use your products and sometimes they modify them to make
them more user-friendly without mentioning what they have done to
you. Walk around your customers’ factories and offices and see how
your products (and your competitors’ products) are being used. Ask your
customers what they would wish for if they had a magic wand.

7. 6. Look at the pressures influencing a market.
The traditional forces that shape a market are political, economic,
social and technological. Which of these are having most effect on your
market? A company selling mail-order products could see that its
customer base was ageing rapidly. Instead of trying to diversify and find
younger customers, it extended its products for older people and tapped
into a very wealthy and profitable seam.

8. 7. Look to the academics.
Universities and academics have time on their hands to think about new
products. Sometimes their lack of commercialization means that they
ignore opportunities which are sat on their benches.

9. 8. Look to foreign sources.
It used to be said that products launched in America would find their
way into other countries five years later. America isn’t the only cradle
of new product development today. Asia could be a fertile source of
new ideas.

10. B2B International
Bramhall House, 14 Ack Lane East,
Bramhall, Stockport, Manchester SK7
2BY
Tel: +44 (0)161 440 6000
Fax: +44 (0)161 440 6006
E-mail: info@b2binternational.com
Website: www.b2binternational.com
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new product development, click the link below.
Generating New Product Ideas