Why do 90 of new products fail

These products seem so obviously wrong, right? But at some point, somewhere, a marketing team, backed by probably millions of dollars, decided to give these bizarre ideas the go-ahead. This goes to show just how easy it is for even the most experienced people to flop. While the above examples are notably bad, plenty of good products fail too. This could be for a multitude of reasons: insufficient funding, lack of promotion, and poor timing being just three.

Product launches are notoriously difficult , but there are steps you can take to ensure your venture has the best shot possible. Getting each detail of a product launch right requires weeks of research and planning , but we wanted to make understanding the process as a whole quick and simple.

Ready to make your next product launch a success? Your first step is reading this fun infographic. You will continuously be fixing, revising, and reiterating steps of your process to ensure an even better product. Have you ever noticed how many updates the apps on your phone have every Monday? Consumers became angry, and a product that was saving lives almost went off the market. Mosquito Magnet is making money for Woodstream today, but the shareholders who originally funded the device have little to show for its belated success.

In , when Microsoft launched Windows Vista, the media and the public had high expectations. As social media and user-generated reviews proliferate, the power of negative feedback will only increase—making it even more imperative that products be ready before they hit the market. For its biggest launch since Diet Coke, Coca-Cola identified a new market: to year-old men who liked the taste of Coke but not its calories and carbs and liked the no-calorie aspect of Diet Coke but not its taste or feminine image.

Men rejected the hybrid drink; they wanted full flavor with no calories or carbs, not half the calories and carbs. And the low-carb trend turned out to be short-lived. Positioning a product to leverage a fad is a common mistake. Sometimes market research is skewed by asking the wrong questions or rendered useless by failing to look objectively at the results.

The company hired the singer Shania Twain for its launch commercials. This confused consumers, many of whom thought the device involved both music and scents, and the ambiguity caused Scentstories to fail. When a product is truly revolutionary, celebrity spokespeople may do more harm than good. A strong educational campaign may be a better way to go. Kamen, it was said, was coming up with nothing less than an alternative to the automobile.

When investors and the public learned that the invention was actually a technologically advanced motorized scooter, they were dumbfounded. Instead of selling 10, machines a week, as Kamen had predicted, the Segway sold about 24, in its first five years. Now it sells for far less to police forces, urban tour guides, and warehouse companies, not the general public. Some of these problems are more fixable than others.

Flaws 1 and 2 are largely matters of timing: If the launches of Mosquito Magnet and Microsoft Vista had been postponed, the manufacturing and quality problems might have been resolved. Even though companies may be wedded to long-established or seasonal launch dates, they would do well to delay if waiting might increase the odds of success. Flaws 3, 4, and 5 are trickier, because they relate more directly to the product itself. Managers must learn to engage the brand team and marketing, sales, advertising, public relations, and web professionals early on, thus gaining valuable feedback that can help steer a launch or, if necessary, abort it.

You have 1 free article s left this month. You are reading your last free article for this month. Subscribe for unlimited access. Create an account to read 2 more.

A steady stream of new products was vital to progress in the food and drinks industry, and standing still was not an option. Mr Treacy said the report set out the need for companies to be involved in innovation, understanding the needs of the consumer, the needs of the retailer and how to put a firm new product development system in place. Mr Padraic White, chairman of the Food Agency Co-operation Council, which drew up the report, described it as "revolutionary".

It was telling companies they must focus on the needs of the consumer and work back from there, rather than developing a product without knowing if the consumer wanted it. Please update your payment details to keep enjoying your Irish Times subscription. Most Viewed.