6 questions while launching new products in CPG industry

In a recent survey * of CEO’s from Retail industry, an important question posed to them was- “Which one of these potential opportunities for business growth do you see as the main opportunity to grow your business in the next 12 months? “. The top 5 responses ranked on the frequency of importance are: (i) better penetration of existing markets (ii) NPD, (iii) geographic expansion (iv) Mergers &Acquisitions and (v) new JV’s or strategic acquisitions.
Clearly organizations are looking at new product development process as a critical component to deliver breakthroughs in the market space. With every launch organizations spend millions in dollars in researching new products; test marketing it and releasing it to the broader market. If the new product launch succeeds, it will result in significant enhancement to their revenue stream. If it fails it could result in millions of dollars going down the drain. It is a high risk, high returns game. Industry figures reveal that there are about 150,000+ new CPG products launched globally every year. Only 4 % of new product launches achieve success. (Source: Information Resources Inc. ). Also given these troubled economic times, organizations may want to be more cautious with their new launch initiatives as if the product 'bombs' in the market it could have disastrous financial consequences. This paper attempts to introduce rigorous analytical techniques and processes along with new sources of data which would help optimize the 6 critical decisions which are undertaken when a new product is launched.

1)Which products from the labs need to be launched and which products to terminate launches?
2)Which product configurations are resonating in the market?
3)What messages regarding product attributes does marketing need to amplify for each of the launched market and for each product launched?
4)What products would find acceptance in launched market?
5)What price to sell?
6)Whom to influence?
Analytics and statistical processes can help answer each of the above 6 questions optimally