New Product Launch

A product launch is a deliberate effort to bring a new product to market.
The goal is to ensure that everyone inside the company, your partners, and target customers know about your new product.

Product launch plans help you sequence the events that lead up to and even past a product launch date.

• Soft Launch: When your product sneaks into the market without much fanfare. Often products sold from one business to another are launched this way.
  You don’t get much attention, but maybe your product isn’t quite ready for prime time, so it makes more sense for a few customers to have a look.

You also do not spend lots of marketing budget for this launch.

• Minimal Launch: for smaller products or small incremental product changes, the minimal launch gets the word out without a tremendous amount of marketing spend.
• Full-scale Launch: To let the whole world (OK, your target markets) know about your product, aim for a full-scale launch. You’ll spend a lot of time and energy making this happen.
  A full-scale launch has the best chance for success.

A launch strategy will depend on the product category, pricing strategy, selected launch markets, and resources available to the promoters.
These are some of the primary activities/thoughts which are essential for crafting a launch strategy:

• Offer true innovation. Must have sone unique selling proposition (USP)
• Get noticed-get your target customers to know about your product.
• Land your message – use effective media vehicles
• Communicate with focus- position your product better
• Be relevant- is your product suitable to your customer?
• Be better- this is a no brainer
• Be credible- ultimately, people will buy your product if they trust you.
• Limit the battles- don’t spread yourselves too thin. Focus on key markets that will give you the biggest bang for your buck.
• Be in the right places- the product should be seen at the right places
• Win the value equation-provide significantly higher value
• Deliver on product promises- branding is about keeping your promise

Be strong in the long run- winners hang a bit more than losers. Sustain & sustain for long term success

There is no straight answer to this question.
How much you need to spend will depend on the following:
a. Are you launching a product or a service?

1. How much is your competition spending?
   c. Where do you want to launch your product? Offline (retail segment, modern retail, etc.) or Online (Digital, E-Commerce platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, etc.)
   You must understand that Online sales contribute 7 % (which is rapidly growing)in most categories.
   d. Do you plan to launch your product in a specific geographical area or on an all India basis?

There are some general thumb rules for budgeting:

1. It is a myth that you can launch a consumer product without spending any money.
   If you have a great product, you need to tell people that you have a great product. This will require some advertising, and it does cost money.
2. Retail Launch: If you want to launch your consumer product in the Offline segment, i.e., through general trade and modern retail, you will need to develop a strategy to launch in a small geographical area /state/zone depending on the budget.
   You will also have to recruit a sales team, train them, and appoint distribution partners (stockists/distributors) who will distribute your product.
   You would also need to create marketing collaterals (for retail promotions like posters etc.) and spend money on advertising on media (newspapers/magazines/radio-tv etc.)

The general trade margins you should be prepared to spend is 10-25 % for a retailer; 5-10 % for distributor, and 5-10 % for C&f (carrying & forwarding agent)

We suggest that you start in a small area, maybe a city, and expand to other areas.

I do not want to scare you with any total budget to launch a retail market product. It will depend on all the above factors.

c) Modern Retail

 This is also the fastest-growing segment, where there are more than 10,000 modern retail outlets in India. Modern retail contributes even 25-30 % of profitable brands’ sales in larger towns and cities.
You cannot ignore this segment.

This modern retail will include all supermarkets, malls like Big Bazar, Star Bazars, Spencer and Reliance Retails, etc.

It would be best if you were prepared to recruit a separate sales team to service this segment. They charge a commission between 15-50 % on the maximum retail price (MRP) for new brands. They also charge a listing fee for keeping your product. It could be per stock-keeping unit (SKU) per outlet.

This is the most expansive part of entering into this segment.
But long-term rewards are also there, as inspite of being a new brand, you get a level playing field with an established brand.

The budget will also depend on the area, type of modern outlets you choose, and your negotiating skills.

d) E-commerce & digital marketing

E-commerce is the fastest-growing segment. You can place your product on E-commerce platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, snapdeal ,Nykaa, and others.

The pros and cons of this distribution channel are:
1. It is easy to place the product on E-com platforms, and you can address all India markets.
 No sales team is  required. No traditional advertising is  required.
2. This is a big myth. One million people are also thinking on similar lines. Amazon has more than 353 million products on its platform.
Placing the product may look easy, but selling on these platforms is not.
3. But you can slice & dice the market. You can choose to address a small geographical area or a specific demographic segment like all women between 15 and 30, who are graduates in Pune.
And you can distribute your product anywhere in India.

4. Your product should not be a low-value item. Anything below Rs 250-300 will have difficulty making profits as e-com distribution commission could be anywhere between Rs 50-100 per unit.
   5. In a sea of similar products, you need to stand out. Hence, it would be best to promote your brand on digital space and social media platforms (Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Youtube, etc.) to get any attention.
5. Launching your product in the digital space is less expensive than launching it in the Offline segment. However, still, you need strategic decisions like pricing & promotional inputs.

Let me give you an analogy with physical distribution (modern retail) for a better understanding.

Suppose you have taken a shop in a mall to sell your product. The second floor, shop no 43.
-1 st step would be to make your shop attractive with a good display. (you need to do the same on e-com platform by having well-photographed images and description of your product)
– 2 nd step will be to inform people who are already visiting the mall that you have a shop on 2 nd floor; you need to advertise inside the mall by putting signs or posters. (Similarly, you need to advertise on e-com platforms like Amazon to direct people to your product offering, who are already inside the platform)

• It would be best to inform people outside the mall that they should visit the mall to purchase your excellent product. So you will advertise on Newspaper/Tv/radio/outdoor etc.( similarly you need to promote on digital media (social media, google ) to inform your product availability on a specific platform.

I have tried to make it simpler, but if you need to understand it better, please book an appointment with the Neeti Brand Accelerator team, and we shall be more than glad to assist you. (call Hemant at +99200 18430)

There is a myth that selling on digital space is very cheap.

You can place the product on E-com platforms like Amazon or Flipkart easily without building any major infrastructure.

But there are also more than 353 million products fighting in that space.
Besides, the e-com platform charges you a commission. Hence, if your product is inexpensive (less than Rs 300 per unit), you don’t make any margins.

At the same time, you can address the national market in terms of distribution. You can distribute the products to the remotest part of India. Assam or Kerala.

You can also speak to a targeted audience – for example, women who are graduates, between 24-36 years and live in small cities.

In case you want to launch your product in the General retail market- you need to create a distributional channel, i.e., carrying & forwarding agent, stockists/distributors, retails, etc. Also, you would be required to develop a sales team.

Promoting your product in general trade could be expensive (TV, newspaper, radio, outdoor, etc.). Whereas promotion in digital space could be limited and less expansive.

So, this decision depends on your product category, your budget, and your plans.       

Most of the new products fail due to the following reason.

a) Wrong selection of product.
Most of the time, no research is done on competition or category. Many times products are launched on emotions. This leads to a rapid failure.

b) The Wrong strategy
The strategy is still the king.
You need to consider all the elements like name, logo, packaging, pricing and messaging.

c) Pricing
95 % of the products fail due to incorrect pricing. Most of the new brands underprice their products. Pricing is the most strategic decision you will take to make your product successful.

d) Running out of money
Most of the new products fail as promoters run out of cash earlier than budgeted. People take a plunge before they understand the power of sustenance.
They hope that things will turn out well if they hang out there long enough.
It never happens.

Hope is never a strategy. Also, self-help books are no help.

It would be best if you were real. Get experts to take care of your financial planning.

This is the best favor you will be doing to yourself.