Research services: New Product Development

Product innovation and New Product Development (NPD)

Most product innovations fail, but if it’s too costly to fail then let us help you give your innovation pipeline the best chance of success.

Whether it is through workshops and co-creation or finessing through conjoint analysis, we have the tools available to refine and test your innovations.

Additionally, we have the experience needed to help build a product roadmap and strategy which can secure you 3 or 5 years of clear development planning through a deep understanding of category consumers, particularly when paired with segmentation and growth mapping.

What areas can we look at through NPD research?

• Understanding the role of a product within a sector
• Identifying the key drivers of a product e.g. taste, convenience, healthy
• Brand perceptions
• Understanding key needs and wants for a product
• Exploring the appeal of new products, concepts and packaging ideas (including blind taste testing)

What methodologies can we use?

Focus groups with a defined market may look at:

• Background/purchase history regarding a product
• Use of a certain product type – how do they use the product at home?
• Blue sky thinking – how would they want to see the product in the future; needs, desires, what don’t they want?
• Concepts/designs – likes, dislikes, improvements, opportunities
• Designing the perfect product and why

An online survey may then be conducted with target customer types and taking the most appealing concepts may look at:

• Proving/disproving hypotheses developed at the first stage
• Quantifying levels of appeal, likes, dislikes for each concept
• Testing additional add-ons/concepts developed at the first stage

Case Study:

Find out more about the NPD research we conducted for Traidcraft. The company were planning to launch a new range of household cleaning products and needed to check that the proposed brand names, straplines and designs appealed to a cross-section of consumers.