Increasingly, brand aggregators are becoming a pivotal part of the e-commerce industry. Market-aware, technology-powered aggregators like Ergode help e-commerce sellers notch up their game on several levels. They do this by leveraging and creating new opportunities to enter new markets, streamline supply chains, and boost revenues and profits.
Another thing that brand aggregators do very well is launching new products or product lines. For SMBs, bringing in new products can be a daunting task. Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen once noted that of the 30,000 new consumer products launched each year, 95% of them fail. This statistic can overwhelm humble e-commerce establishments at first but they can find peace once they figure out how brand aggregators successfully launch new products.
This blog post explores four strategies e-commerce aggregators use to successfully launch new products and product lines. Let’s get started!
Start with Market and Customer Research
When launching a new product, brand aggregators believe research pays off. Before getting into the nitty-gritty of product design, development, and launch, aggregators first double-check whether the new product or product line will target the same demographic as previous products or whether the goal has changed to breaking into a new market.
To arrive at this conclusion, they do a lot of market research. They ask current customers for feedback on the branded products they already use. Such inputs from user groups and customer advisory boards among others can be a good starting point for designing and then launching a new product.
Existing customers – especially those who are loyal to the brand – also provide a great way to gauge how a new product might be perceived in the market. This perception can help find answers to the question, “When should we launch the product?”
When a new product is aimed at a new market or brand-new customer base, aggregators profile the target audience. They build customer personas, map customer journeys, and understand how the demographics of these customers differ from the demographics of existing customers. The aggregator then uses this information to inform the new product launch plan and marketing strategy.
Clarify the Product’s Real Worth
If customers have a particular problem that a new product can solve, the product is likely to enjoy a successful run in the market. Brand aggregators understand this, so they clarify the product’s real-world value and write a positioning statement that reflects this value.
Aggregators identify the new product’s unique features and elaborate on how a product differs from similar other products. The positioning statement clearly defines the product, its customers, and its benefits.
Clarifying all these aspects is crucial to ensure that the new product meets the needs of the market it is intended to and fills an existing demand gap. It’s no wonder that such a product converts into high sales and profitable revenues.
Understand the Competition
In e-commerce, it’s not easy for a seller to differentiate a new product, particularly if similar products already exist in the market. Brand aggregators understand this. They also understand that to differentiate the product and its positioning, it’s important to look into the competition.
Aggregators always have an eye on the competitive landscape. Instead of suffering from parochial syndrome, they proactively look for answers to questions like:
How are competitors positioning their products that are similar to ours?
Who are their customers?
How do they promote their offering to this audience?
Aggregators also try to understand competitors’ product design, marketing, sales, and customer support strategies. They use this information to guide their product development and launch processes. Further, instead of trying to sell to everyone, they tailor their marketing and outreach tactics to appeal to their niche audience.
Create a Go-to-Market Plan
Brand aggregators never launch a new product or a new product line without a plan. They establish a multi-quarter or multi-year product roadmap and plan product development in multiple phases. The roadmap includes details about milestones, quality checkpoints, budget versus spending, and the like. The aggregator also pre-plans capacity, marketing, promotional spending, and other variables to stay on track toward a successful launch.
Wise aggregators also create a go-to-market (GTM) strategy to guide product development and launch. The strategy helps clarify how the brand will engage with prospective buyers at multiple touchpoints during their buying journey – all the way from awareness to purchase. It also identifies the top marketing channels to best reach this target audience.
The GTM plan also includes tactics to develop the brand’s digital presence (e.g., on social media), build email lists, partner with influencers, and set up metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure the success of the new product’s launch.
Conclusion
For many e-commerce retailers, bringing a new product to the right audience at the right time and in the right way is a huge challenge. Brand aggregators overcome this challenge with the help of technology and by leveraging the four strategies discussed in this blog.
Successful brand aggregators understand the right marketing tactics required for a new product so that they can draft a sales-focused powerful message. They also make an effort to understand the market, identify their specific target audience, and ensure that this audience perfectly understands the new product’s features and benefits. Smaller retailers looking to launch new products or product lines can benefit by learning from aggregators and their best practices.
Ergode empowers e-commerce sellers to successfully launch new products that meet customers’ needs and boost sales. Our brand aggregator portfolio features brands catering to groceries, furniture, electronics, and personal care. By leveraging our AI tools and experienced team of e-commerce experts, many brands have optimized their operations and supply chains, reduced costs, and increased sales and profits. Contact us to know more.
