Never import or develop any product blindly, or import a product just because you find it interesting or because you are passionate about it. I once made this mistake and got my fingers burnt, ended up with products I couldn’t sell off. Before you embark on this journey make sure to conduct proper market research to know what exactly your target audience wants and expects.

Below is a quick checklist of questions to keep in mind while developing a marketing research strategy for product development. The scope of these questions underscores why marketing research is so important to product developers. Asking the right questions upfront, before engaging with any consumers helps minimize the risk of hitting a pitfall once the research begins.

• Does the product have a clear purpose that can be explained and marketed to consumers?
• Does the product meet consumer needs?
• What existing products will this product compete against?
• Can this product’s use by consumers be measured?
• Does the expected price of the product match its perceived benefits by consumers?
• Does this product satisfy a need that other competitive products do not?
• What ancillary challenges does this product present a solution for outside of its proposed utility?
• Who are this product’s target consumers?
• What is the likelihood of purchase by target consumers?