What stage of the new product development process are most new product idea rejected?

Product development starts with idea generation, which is the first stage of the product development life cycle. This is where you develop your initial product concept.

The ideas can be collected from various sources, including marketing research aimed at discovering customer needs and shifts in their preferences, internal brainstorming sessions, competitor analysis, and social media surveys.

A popular brainstorming technique to produce new ideas is SCAMPER, initially developed as a method for boosting students' creativity.

Nowadays, companies use it for enhancing creativity and improving or changing their existing offerings. The acronym SCAMPER stands for Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to another use, Eliminate, Rearrange / Reverse.

Each verb includes a question that you need to answer to help you rethink your product or service.

They can be formulated as follows:

1.Substitute

Which features can be replaced to make your product better?
Can you use this product somewhere else or as a substitute for something else?
Can you use this idea for other projects?

2.Combine

How do you combine your technology with something else to expand its functionality?
What can you combine to maximize its number of uses?
What would happen if you combined this product with another to create something new?

3.Adapt

Can you adapt this product to other customers and markets?
Which ideas could you adapt, copy, or borrow from other people's products?
How could you adapt or readjust this product to serve another purpose or use it in the future?

4.Modify

What can you add to change this product?
What element of this product could you strengthen to create something new?
What can be made higher, bigger, or stronger?

5.Put to another use

Can you use this product in some other way?
How would a child or older person use it?
Would there be other possible uses if the product were modified?

6.Eliminate

Which features can be removed to make the product cheaper, faster, or simpler?
Can I split my product into different parts?
What can I remove without altering its function?

7.Rearrange / Reverse

Can the product evolve into something new?
What if you tried to do the exact opposite of what you're trying to do now?
What can I rearrange in some way?
Can I interchange components, the pattern, or the layout?

Usually, the key to success lies not in a particular method, but in collaborative work attracting different people with different visions.

Stage 1. Idea Generation

After narrowing down your ideas, you must then put them to the test by developing your concept and testing it.

Concept Development: Knowing the difference between screening a new idea and developing it into a concept is vital. Only after creating alternative concepts for the idea can you evaluate its attractiveness to customers. Concepts should be as precise as possible, and properly tested, to provide meaning. If you create vague or general concepts, you will be unable to test the validity of your idea correctly.

Concept Testing: Once you've developed your concepts, test them by presenting them to a select group of consumers. Does your concept have a strong enough appeal? You can change your concept until you find success, but don't be afraid to throw out any concepts which fail to grasp your consumers' attention and provide value.

Once ideas have been generated, a business should decide which of them will work best and which are not worth investing in. This stage is about rejecting poor ideas which aren't aligned with the company's objectives, and thus prevent wasting money on unprofitable projects.

Here are some popular techniques used to select and rate ideas.

1.Evaluation matrix is a simple rating scale which allows experts to evaluate how well the idea meets different criteria. The matrix lets you compare ideas by each criterion as well as by the total score, giving you a clear review of competitive concepts.

After identifying the most promising ideas, you can perform a more detailed financial and value analysis.

2.Preliminary financial analysis is made by experts to estimate the development costs and potential gains of a new product. While at this stage there are too many financial unknowns to make any concrete decisions, you can at least avoid solutions which are too expensive.

3.SWOT analysis is another well-known acronym-based technique for assessing a product's "Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats".

4.CO-STAR is a customer-centered framework implemented in order to get a view of the additional value created by your innovation.

When considering a new product idea your company team should find clear answers to the following questions:

▪️ Who is the Customer?
▪️ What is the Opportunity?
▪️ What is your Solution?
▪️ Who should be on the Team?
▪️ What is your competitive Advantage?
▪️ What are the expected Results?

The more detailed and persuasive the answers, the higher the chance of success.

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