When your products are being outcompeted in the market by rival companies and their products, you can feel despondent. All of the work you’ve done thus far can fall by the wayside, and you can find yourself and your business struggling to stay afloat. Happily, with a can-do attitude, you can turn all of this around – so long as you’re prepared to work hard to improve your product. In this article, we’ll focus on a product that you manufacture yourself, though the tips outlined below can apply to a wide range of products in the physical and digital worlds.
Your Customer
The first tip is to reconsider your customer and to think about why they’re not interested in purchasing your product. Are you marketing your product effectively to the right demographics, and are you able to go to trade shows that other promotional events to show off your wares? If you’re confident that your marketing output is acceptable, then perhaps it’s your product that’s not speaking to your customer in the way you want it to. This might be a time to do some user testing and some research to discover what it is about your product that fails to impress.
Your Materials
Next up are your materials. When you’re selling a product to market, the materials that your product is constructed from will have a significant impact on the reasons why people reject your product. You may, for instance, be using cheap materials – or, conversely, you may be using materials considered too expensive for the average consumer. Remember that being able to claim durability, and to offer a warranty can help you shift products by winning consumer trust. Be sure to reconsider how you make your products in light of this revelation.
Customize
Often, the best products can customize and adapt to market conditions. This is something that you should attempt to build into your own production line to bring better products to your customers throughout the year. You can order customizable parts from your suppliers, too, like custom dowel pins to help you fix your products together, and custom dyes and colorings to bring out products in all shape, sizes and sheens. This is how you pivot in a crowded marketplace – by making your offerings dazzle where they used to look a little dull and boring.
Sales Drive
The final tip in this series is to make an effort to drive sales over a month. If you’re experiencing a steady decline in sales, it may be because you’re simply not investing in this part of your business – and to check this variable, you should try hard to shift as many of your products as possible in a short space of time. Reduce your fees slightly and ensure that you’re able to get your products sent across the country at short notice to get it into the hands of consumers.
Use these tips to reconsider your production practices and the way you’re bringing your product to market in 2020 and beyond into this decade.