If you have an idea for a product for babies, kids or toy and you’re seeking to bring it to market, the task can seem daunting. Questions about manufacturing, distribution, shipping, packaging and marketing and most important pricing are all crucial stages on your way to successful global distribution.
Coming up with a nice start idea, new solution solving a real problem for parents or an innovative toy is a tough thing and some extraordinary people are great at it!
This article point out the “must take under consideration” while in development to save lots of headache and mistakes, bad feelings but especially make sure those products get to market faster and remain there!
When you have a vision, a dream or an idea, you draw it first in your mind, then on paper or computer. As the stages go, you start creating a sample, locally or in China, getting prototype until you reach the exact product you had in mind or planned to bring to market. Many times, it involves lots of details that are important in your eyes, if technically, features or design.
One main matter too often forgotten during that early development stage is what I call “PRICE TARGET” or the right SRP (Suggested retail price for end consumers)
Without this element, what too often happen is a great product comes at a high FOB price (selling price for distributors) that makes the SRP too high to really make it to market and stay there. The main objective is not just to get into shelves once but the real goal is to get there, get bought by parents out of the stores (sell out) and get re-orders for a long term product life. This is the ultimate goal of any company. No one can live on first orders only.
During my professional life in this business I meet lots of companies who reach to me once product is final but pricing is too high for the market. Their “dream product” they had in mind is ready but behind it, there is a cost that can’t get lower at that point.
It is very frustrating for them and for me because at this stage, we can still find ways to sell but much more difficult and it leaves us with fewer options: possibly direct to end consumers, online, direct to retail.
The whole value chain using a distributor selling to his retail customers locally will be tough or impossible to use and this is too bad as this is still the best way to sell long term, especially for new brands, innovative products…
We could have saved this scenario by defining at research/prototype stage, the exact SRP wanted and from there the highest FOB and highest production cost. Once the factory gets the target cost price, they, with the developer, find a way to make it, even if some decisions need to be done at that early stage but at least they give the products all the chances to make it to stores in the regular value chain for a long term sale life.
So the first thing you should do as developers is to involve a sales person or consultant that specialized in sales in the global market at that early stage and make sure to get samples/prototypes and discuss the cost you need to reach as early as you can in the process.
Good luck to all those inventors as we need innovative products!
Karen Klein