Prior to the beginning of new product development, a feasibility study is almost always carried out in order to determine the proposed new product's chances of success in the market. A feasibility study might ask and research the answers to the following questions:
- What need will the new product fulfill?
- What products already exist that fulfill that need?
- How is the new product an improvement on the existing products? (Can be anything from price, to increased efficiency, to ease of manufacture, to something else)
- Is the new product so much better than the existing products that it's worth the time, expense, investment, and all-around effort needed to bring the product to market?
Once you've answered the above, then the research begins in earnest.
