Are you floundering to come up with a new product idea? Whether you are a new entrepreneur or a seasoned stager, finding the right product idea can be a grueling process. Still, there are several ways you can induce product ideas that will resonate with your target audience.
Then here are some tips to get you started!
Identify a problem to break
- One of the most effective ways to come up with a product idea is to identify a problem that needs to be answered. Think about the pain points your target audience faces and communicate ways you can produce a product that addresses those issues. For instance, if you notice that people struggle to keep their mobile devices charged while on the go, you could produce a movable charging device that can be carried in a wallet or bag.
Conduct Market Research
- Requesting exploration is an essential step in changing your product idea. It can help you identify trends, consumer preferences, and gaps in the request that you can fill. Use online tools like Google Trends, social media, and consumer forums to gather information about your target audience’s interests and requirements.
Look at Your Challengers
- Your competitors can be a great source of inspiration for new product ideas. Look at what products they offer, the gaps in their product line, and how they bend their products. You can also use this information to come up with a product idea that sets you apart from the competition.
Use Crowdsourcing
- Crowdsourcing is the process of gathering ideas and feedback from a large group of people. You can use platforms like Reddit, Quora, and social media to ask your target followers for suggestions on what they want to see in a new product. You can also use crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter to test the demand for a new product idea.
Tap into Your Creativity
- Occasionally, effective product ideas come from your imagination. Set aside some time to communicate and let your creativity flow. Write down every idea that comes to mind, even if it seems crazy at first. You now know what might spark the next big thing!
- Once you’ve named a product and niche to explore further, it’s time to put it under the microscope. Without duly assessing the viability of your product and niche idea, your choices will be arbitrary, and so will your chances of success.
- You will have a much better understanding of your product and its niche, as well as its strengths and the knowledge to identify its sins, if you use the evaluation criteria provided below.
- You’ll probably never find a product or niche request that fits all the criteria below. But assessing your idea against this list will help you better understand your chosen product/ niche, helping you avoid risks and increasing your overall chances of success.
So, here are a few questions to ask yourself when thinking about a product idea.
- What’s your implicit request size?
- What’s the competitive geography?
- What’s your product order outlook?
- Is your product available locally?
- Who are your target guests?
And once you’ve found answers to these, consider asking the microscopic question like these below,
- What’s your implicit selling price and luxury?
- What’s the product’s weight and size?
- Is your product durable?
- Is your product seasonal?
- Does your product serve a passion, relieve pain, or solve a problem?
- What will your product development be like?
- Is your product consumable or disposable?
- Is perishability a factor?
- Are there any restrictions or regulations?
- Is your product scalable?
So once you’ve asked yourself these questions, you’ll find the idea on how to start, but if you’re still unsure, here are some of the questions we’ve answered for you.
1. What is your potential market size? Market size can be loosely defined as the number of potential customers to whom you can sell your product. It can be challenging to estimate the size of the market during the product research phase. But with some educated guesswork and research, you can probably get a good idea. A product for pregnant women between the ages of 25 and 40, for instance, probably has a large market. However, in comparison, a product that targets pregnant women between the ages of 25 and 40 who enjoy punk rock music will probably be too narrow.
2. What does your chosen product’s or niche’s competitive landscape look like? Are you the market leader? Are there already a few rivals, or is the market overpopulated with businesses that supply the same item or target the same market?
If you are the first to enter the market, you will need to conduct extensive market research to ascertain whether there is actual demand for your product. A sign that the market has been validated is when there are numerous competitors in it. However, you will have to determine how you can differentiate your brand and products from the sea of competitors to carve out your spot.
Google searches and SimilarWeb will help you uncover current market players, and SEO tools like Serpstat, or Ahrefs can tell you approximate search volumes for your chosen keywords.
3. What is your product category outlook? Riding a fad can be dangerous. A trend can be lucrative. Stable business sectors are protected, and they are ideal for developing markets. The location of your product and niche can have a significant impact on your success or failure.
4. Is your product available locally? You may develop a blind spot for insights from offline consumer behavior because the majority of your product research is conducted online. Therefore, if you intend to sell your products primarily or exclusively online, it becomes necessary to specifically focus on assessing the competitive landscape for your product outside of the internet. If your product is readily available locally, customers won’t have to look for it online as often. However, if a product is one-of-a-kind or difficult to come by and isn’t available locally, there’s a greater chance that someone will look for it online and, as a result, buy it online.
5. Who are your target customers? At this point, you do not need to go into great detail when defining your exact customer persona. However, you should be aware of the kind of customer you are likely to sell to as well as their online purchasing habits and capabilities.
For example, if you have an item outfitted for Gen-Z, it’s critical to remember that most teenagers don’t have a credit card or Visa to make purchases on the web. In a similar vein, if your product is aimed at people over the age of 70, you might find that your target audience is less tech savvy and doesn’t like to buy things online.
6. What is your potential selling price and markup? Before getting too far into a product idea, it is critical to take into account the markup for that particular product. At the point when you start selling on the web, you’ll rapidly figure out that there are loads of little charges that eat into your margins, so having areas of strength for a markup will furnish you with the important pad to ingest these expenses.
7. What will your product turnover be? Having products that constantly need to be updated or changed can be risky. Products of this kind might not sell before the time is up for turnover. It is essential to know your turnover schedule and plan accordingly before diving headfirst into selling a product with a regular turnover.
Cases for smartphones and tablets, for instance, are in high demand. However, designing, prototyping, and producing minimum order quantities typically necessitate a significant initial investment when developing new designs. Gaining sufficient traction and exposure before the next model smartphone or tablet is released is one of the more challenging aspects of building an online business in a niche like smartphone cases. Not selling through your stock quickly enough could leave you with a storehouse of obsolete cases.
Find out how many products you need to sell in a certain amount of time (usually a year to take into account the seasonality of demand) to break even and reach your profit goal. Then, think about whether you can make, buy, store, or drop ship those many products. Finally, figure out how likely it is that you will be able to sell enough products to make a profit that is worth your time. Your product idea may be a risky investment if these concerns do not appear to coincide.
8. What is the product’s weight and size? The size and weight of your products can have a big effect on sales and profits. Many customers now expect free shipping, so simply including the cost of shipping in your prices doesn’t always work. As a result, these expenses frequently reduce your profit margins. Assuming you choose to pass the delivery costs onto your client, you might find that the shock of the great transportation expense will probably hurt your change rate.
If you don’t intend to use the dropshipping model, you should also take into account the costs of your manufacturer’s shipping and warehousing, as well as storage fees. You might be surprised by the costs if you order your inventory from overseas.
Frequently, the weight computations for delivery and operations think about the volumetric weight, for example, length x broadness x level (in centimeters) isolated by 5000. Depending on your shipping partner, the divisor may differ. The higher of the two numbers – real weight and volumetric weight – go into the computations of your delivery and strategy costs.
For huge and weighty items, for example, furniture, you might need to accuse the client of a transportation charge, since the fluctuation of delivery expenses for you might be difficult to anticipate and cost in.
Seeing every one of the contemplations impacted by your item’s size and weight will assist you with getting a more genuine gauge of your edge and, hence, deciding your item’s suitability.
9. Is your product durable? Fragile products can be an invitation for trouble. Products that are easy to break will cost you more in the following ways:
- Packaging costs
- Shipping insurance
- Order returns and exchanges
Additionally, these will reduce your margins, necessitating a higher selling price to cover potential losses. Subsequently, you’ll have to consider this element while attempting to decide whether your item is suitable.
10. Is your product seasonal? Inconsistent cash flow can be a problem for businesses that deal with seasonal demand. Some irregularities can be consumed, notwithstanding, an ideal item will have reliable income practically all year round.
In conclusion, finding your next product idea requires a combination of research, creativity, and problem-solving skills. By using these tips, you can generate ideas that will resonate with your target audience and set you apart from the competition. Good luck!
