The challenges of new product development
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Smaller businesses have an advantage in new product development due to their agility and speed to market compared to large food manufacturers, who rely heavily on consumer research and data analysis. To remain competitive, businesses must strategically plan their product offerings, gathering early feedback to refine their concepts and avoid stagnation. The 8p model provided by FAPIC serves as a comprehensive framework to optimize the development process, allowing quicker, cost-effective product launches while managing associated risks.
The challenges of new product development
- 1. The challenges of new product development Smaller businesses like yours have a compelling advantage over the large-scale food manufacturers. You can move fast and stay agile. When it comes to new product development (NPD), speed to market is key to success, and the big companies don’t let anything out the door that hasn’t already been proven by extensive consumer research, deep data analysis, and concept design & testing. As a small- medium producer, you can test and tweak more quickly. What big businesses often have is a deep understanding of their own brand and category strategy. Not to mention the capital on hand to invest in whatever production line or supply chain changes may need to occur. But, there’s no reason why you can’t be just as well informed ahead of developing your next new product. “If you want to stay competitive, you need to act fast and be agile” - Juraj Durco, Food Advisor and Principal Consultant www.fapicglobal.comFAPIC Pty Ltd
- 2. New products keep your brand relevant in a constantly changing world. Whether it’s the competitor landscape, advances in technology, a chance opportunity, or changing consumer preferences, new product development should be part of your ongoing discussion in the boardroom. They could be completely new products or modified versions of existing ones. The important first step is to be strategic about what products you consider adding to your portfolio rather than jumping straight into design and production. It may seem counterintuitive, but when you put more time into planning, you can put more speed into executing, and that’s how you avoid fizzing out and disappearing from consumers’ minds. What do you stand for? Think first—what do you wnt your brand to be known for in 3-5 years’ time? How do you want your consumers to describe you when they recommend your products to others? Sometimes knowing those things can be difficult, especially when you’re creating a whole new category. You may need to do some consumer education, in that case, but most of the time, it will be your consumers who educate you in the early phase of planning a new product. What does your market need? Why does the market need your specific product? It may be that they don’t need it the way it’s currently formulated or presented, but you won’t know if you don’t seek early feedback. Negative feedback is often mistakenly interpreted as failure. Negative feedback, and encountering failures for that matter, are a normal part of testing and refining. Capture it and analyse that feedback regularly, act on it, and ultimately you arrive exactly where your particular target consumer is waiting for you, while the multinationals are still catching up. What do you need to start testing? After understanding your brand strategy and the needs of your consumers, you need to know that you have the expertise, the equipment, and the capital for any new investments you might need to make to get early versions of your new product underway. You might need to seek external expertise to know where best to spend your money and what the right formulations would be for what you want to achieve. When you don’t have an in-house R&D function, new product testing can be daunting. After all, most small businesses in food production exist for the love of food, not for the process of scientific testing and market analysis that’s required to ensure success. That’s why we like to provide businesses with a process to make this important work easier to do.
- 3. At FAPIC, we refer to the 8P model. It’s a holistic framework to guide business problem solving and/or changes. The model optimises project team capability and interaction so new products can be developed faster at lower costs, and offers a clearly defined, strategic approach to meet productivity needs, through the lenses of People, Portfolio, Problem, Project, Product, Packaging, Process and Profit. To be first means taking risks, and wouldn’t you rather be the one who succeeds? Ask us about how our 8P Model applies to you, today. Juraj is a Principal Consultant of FAPIC who has extensive experience in end to end portfolio and process optimisation specializing in FMCG, product, and packaging development with extensive experience in research and development. He has worked in a wide variety of environments, overseeing large-scale projects and developing talent. For eighteen years, he has travelled the globe, guiding and helping startups and established companies to expand and grow their presence, from pipeline development to product strategy.