With the development of consumerism, companies have more opportunities to control the market. Whether it decides to expand its consumer base or enter new markets, it must cater to the products or services of the target market. Consumers’ habits are constantly increasing and changing. In order to maintain loyalty and increase profits, companies must continue to innovate(“new product development”). This is why product development(“new product development”) is required.
In particular, the toy market is an interesting market to study the development of new products and the importance of brands. Toys are essential in children’s lives and help their growth and imagination(“Global Toy Market(2021-2026)”. In recent years, toys have developed from dolls and cars to toys and digital games that are conducive to learning and sports technology. This is conducive to the development of the market, so it emphasizes the trend and importance of new product introduction. The target market of early toys is mainly children. But since parents are toy buyers, the market has learned to cater to their brands and advertisements. Recently, the market for adult/adolescent collectors has continued to grow, indicating that this additional segment of the market must be catered to. In addition, the population of children is expected to increase in the next few years, indicating that the market needs to expand, so new products need to be developed and launched(2021-2026).
In depth study of new product introduction, the process should span multiple internal departments and functions to keep the process smooth and avoid bottlenecks(“New Product Introduction(NPI Understanding) Process”). The advantages of NPI include shorter time to market, lower costs, smooth manufacturing and improved quality(“Understanding the New Product Introduction(NPI) process”). The stages of NPI are plan consolidation, feasibility confirmation, product development, pre production testing, product manufacturing and evaluation results(“Understanding New Product Introduction(NPI) Process”).
According to the example of the toy industry, the first step will include identifying new products to be innovated. In this case, brand is the basic concept to link the product with the appropriate target market. After the creation of toys(for example), market research is needed to determine the target market. Focus groups, surveys, observational studies, etc. should be used. Qualitative research is particularly important for this industry. Because it is necessary to observe the game mode between children and their parents/siblings, and the behavior mode between adults and adolescent collectors, so as to create and meet products more suitable for the needs of each segment of the market.
Secondly, in the first step, a team should be established between departments to identify resources and develop effective plans/objectives(“Understanding the New Product Introduction(NPI) Process”). Often, there is an imbalance between internal departments, leading to budget, innovation, or manufacturing problems. For example, the financial team may want to produce toys with low quality or no innovation to hinder the company’s sales and product positioning, so as to follow the budget. Therefore, this important step will help to solve and avoid these problems.
Secondly, a process roadmap must be developed to determine the feasibility of the product and use the Manufacturing Test Design(NPI) process to determine the design/suitability concept. This helps determine whether the team should move forward. In this case, brand has once again become an important tool to determine the merchantability. It should be evaluated whether the product line should be expanded and whether the product should meet multiple markets. In addition, we should also determine the brand positioning and determine the hot market segments.
We will develop products in the future. At this stage, interdepartmental coordination will facilitate the smooth operation of the manufacturing, forecasting and transportation processes to create efficient and well functioning products(“Understanding the New Product Introduction(NPI) Process”). Therefore, in the case of toy companies, the marketing department must coordinate with the finance, manufacturing and forecasting departments to produce toys with the lowest possible budget while maintaining quality and innovation.
Running pre production testing is very important to the supply chain process because it helps to determine the needs, resources, supplier elements and effectiveness before the product is officially launched.(Learn about the NPI process)
The following are manufactured products(“Understanding the New Product Introduction(NPI) Process”): At this stage, it is necessary to conduct regular quality inspection and correct information flow for each product to avoid bottlenecks. The final part of this phase includes the product launch(understand the NPI process).
Finally, evaluate the market results of the product within 30 to 60 days after its launch(“Understanding the New Product Introduction(NPI) Process”). In the toy company example provided, the company must conduct market research to evaluate the profit, sales and success of the product. In addition, brand positioning and customer loyalty should be evaluated. As a result, they must adopt advertising strategies. For example, if the product is popular in the collector’s market rather than the children’s market, the cost and quality of the product must be improved and the product must be reconfigured as an exclusive product. In this case, in order to hold a trade war and meet the needs of collector groups, you can also request exclusive participation.
In a word, NPI and branding are important factors that the company must implement in order to promote its market positioning to the next level. By complying with NPI stage and brand implementation, the company will obtain higher income, higher quality products, higher sales, more loyal customer base, etc.
