That's a tall order, and not every new product can fulfill such a mandate. New-product development is an expensive process, both in terms of financial outlay and work hours. Thousands of new products are conceived each year, and most fail to make it to market, according to Ron LeBlanc, professor of marketing at Idaho State University. Of those that do get off the ground, only about one in six will be financially successful. In the rest of the market, the success rate for new products is about 55 to 60 percent.
Innovation is essential.
You cannot have 'me-too' products. You need to try something new. Finding a niche, inventing a product to fill it, and seeing that product move from concept to creation is not always an easy process. But the rewards can be well worth the effort. Corning Consumer Products Company, based in Corning, New York, stepped up its efforts to develop new products about a year ago.