Product commercialization is one of those unfortunate hurdles that can stop a lot of fantastic ideas from really taking off. It’s one thing to have a brilliant idea for a new solution, or innovating on existing ones, but to actually go from a great idea or even a working proof of concept to something commercially viable is a whole other quest.
But, product commercialization doesn’t have to be confusing, impenetrable and impassible. But, a lot of inventors and other types who come up with great ideas may not think commercially, and so, without some semblance of guidance, they are likely to fail unfortunately.
So, let’s look at some tips for commercialization, and how to make this hurdle less of a stone wall to innovation and open thinking!
#1 – Where to Start?
This may be less of an issue for an established company, where R&D has produced a great idea. Venture capital is one of the hurdles that individuals or startups are bound to encounter, but in an established company, this step can be sidestepped.
But, for those not in an established enterprise, let’s touch on this. There are a number of places to get started on funding for refining a product into a commercially viable solution, such as government grants, or in modernity, online solutions like Kickstarter, where a diverse set of investors with minimal individual monetary obligation, can be allocated. It starts with a question – “How can we address this problem? Who wants to see this possible solution I have proven become a reality for everyone?”
#2 – Sizing up Competition
This applies to everyone. You have to look at what existing solutions are out there, if any exist. In the marketing world, this is called the competition, but for commercialization, it’s ore looking at viability in an ecosystem than cutthroat marketing.
So, in order to find out how to make a product commercially viable, one must first look at how competition has established itself, and meet these standards and practices, and along with this, to find ways to make the product stand out as a good choice versus these.
#3 – Working with Production Management
In order for a product to be commercialized, production itself has to be addressed. This means consulting with production managers to find out what sorts of processes are necessary to create, in mass, the product within standards proposed to match and exceed competition. There are difficult balances here, such as making the final consumer price not raise too high by production incurring massive costs for creation and distribution.
So, working closely with production management to highly refine a strategy here is where you will spend most of your time once you have a commercial form of the product laid out and planned.
Of course, product commercialization is a difficult thing, and I’m not saying this advice prevents it from being a challenge. However, with these approaches in mind, it’ll be far less of a pitfall for those who wish to bring innovative ideas to the world. There are a host of eccentricities and issues to strategize over, with any of these points, but from here, you at least have a sense of the steps to handling this, and where to research further, and that alone, will make this all much easier, trust me.
