As your product-based business gains traction, growth opportunities will soon follow. Ideas that you had in your business’s early days could be expanded now that you have gained authority and a loyal audience. Expanding your product line is an exciting opportunity, but before jumping head-first into ideas for new products, there are some things you need to consider.
Offer complementary products or services.
It’s not easy creating a successful product that customers respond to. When you find success with a product offering, it’s important to pay attention to new opportunities to diversify your line with related products. Giving your audience a wider selection of products makes your offering more appealing to retailers who may be interested in carrying your product line.
Figure out ways to increase sales to existing customers.
Increasing sales to your existing customer base are far cheaper than marketing to new clients. Focus on selling more of your existing product line to your current customer base to boost sales before expanding your product line. The smart way to increase sales is to offer volume discounts as a reward for customer loyalty. Another best practice is loyalty purchase cards that allow customers to earn free products.
Personalized products are fun surprises that make perfect gifts for any occasion. A great way to increase sales to your existing customer base is to offer a product that makes a personal connection. Custom photo blankets are a unique way to put your favorite photos to use and add warmth to your sofa. Shutterfly makes it easy to design customized blankets, custom pillows, and other home decor items. Whether you want your favorite photos in a collage on a fleece blanket, your initials embroidered on a pillow, or you prefer to use a design template, a personalized blanket makes a cozy, sentimental addition.
Consider how many products to launch at once.
Always be cautious of how many products you are considering launching within a year. Project how launching one product instead of several products at once will affect your potential revenue. Have a scalable infrastructure and foundation for a product launch strategy. The more products that you offer, the more inventory and product management responsibilities you will have. It’s become an industry standard to utilize digital tools that streamline workflows, give real-time insights, and increase the bottom line.
A CPQ tool helps your business grow by making the sales process faster, easier, and more efficient. CPQ stands for Configure, Price, Quote, and businesses use CPQ software to create accurate quotes and process orders for configurable products.
Configure One is the leader in exceptional CPQ software with functions such as visualization, accurate quote creation, built-in approvals for discounts, product support, and seamless integration with other business systems such as CRM integration, ERP, Salesforce, and Oracle Netsuite. Utilizing a CPQ solution makes your sales team more efficient, helps sales reps upsell and upgrade orders, and keeps customer data in a centralized place for easy access.
Understand your product’s added value.
You need to understand how expanding your product line adds value to your customer base. Then you need to consider if your new product will outshine your existing product offering. Stay current on what’s trending in your market and look for opportunities that will succeed. It’s tempting to replicate what your competition is doing, especially if they are successful. However, this doesn’t make you look innovative. Work to solve your customer base’s problems and tailor a product that meets their needs.
The best way to expand your product-based business is to look at your existing customer base. Offer complementary products, focus on increasing sales to existing customers, be thoughtful about how many products to juggle at once, and make sure you understand your product’s added value.
Publisher Business Blog 