Five steps in the New Product Development Process, 
1. Idea Generation - thinking about it 
2. Screening - getting opinions 
3. Idea Evaluation - estimate costs, revnue, profit, do market research 
4. Development of Product - physically design and manufacture the product 
5. Commercialization - mfg. large number of product, distribute in the stores
 

First - it refers to the rapid change and evolution of

• internet tools, 
• markeplace (the customers) 
• business practices

• new product development, 
• competitve activity 
• and business tactics that are made possible by the internet

Standards are specific limitations or physical features within which developers have to fit

Conventions are general practices based on past history and common assumptions and expectations

Customization
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Customization

In Turban's book, which we used in IEC 702, there is reference to New Product Development in Chpt 1, page 28

"Electronic Commerce allows for new products to be created and/or existing products to be customized in innovative ways. Such changes may redefine organizations' missions and the manner in which they operate."

Building customer profiles, with advanced techniques, allows for mass customization which will help increase cross-selling, up-selling and CLV
 

Consultant Bruce Judson  wrote a book in 1999 titled "Hyper Wars: 11 Strategies for Survival and Profit in the Era of Online Business"

In Judson's book (Page 126-127) he discusses Customization

Judson explains that Product Customization is possible because of a convergence of two elements:

• the Web as a one2one communications technology
• manufacturing processes that allow for the development and delivery of custom products

• Services  which are delivered online, allowing people to scroll, or click a menu of features in a downloadable product
• Services which are described online through a menu, but delivered offline (travel, insurance, financial, entertainment)
• Products which are described online through a menu, but delivered offline (certain toys and games, computer hardware components and desktops, some clothing, specialized sports equipment

Call Bay - let's women design and buy their own swim suits online
Chip Shot Golf - sales doubled when the company started custom-club ordering
Standard & Poor's - the huge financial company diversified into other financial products and offered financial planning advice based on answers to an online questionnaire
Acumin Corp. - estabished a web sit to allow visitors to create personally tailored vitamins

Continuing to develop this capability will be, says Judson, a combination of

• manufacturers creating products that permit ever increasing customization
• further advances in computing power at decreasing costs
• since computing power needed when you are featuring graphic rich content
• new software that is continuously enhacning the options available to businesses to personalize

Customization

Customization

"Many retailers are trying to stand apart from the competition by selling customized products and offering personalized services on the Web, and there’s no end to the quirky ideas that companies are using to give customers that personalized touch.  Even though the cost of making customized goods often surpasses mass-producing items, companies say the customer loyalty they earn is worth it."

Some products lend themselves well to customization online.
Cosmetics is a good example.

"One example of e-tailers moving to customization is  Reflect.com, a customized beauty site formed last September by Procter & Gamble and Institutional Venture  Partners. The firm makes everything from lipstick to moisturizer based on a person’s profile. Clients fill out an online questionnaire that asks them everything from skin type to hair color. Then they get to peruse a variety of products specially formulated for them."
 

beginning on p. 92,  List of things you should look for on a competitor's web site

• look and feel of the graphics
• attempts to collect user information
• offering of free product or services for supplying profil information
• use of cookies
• password protected areas for "special customers" goes towards upselling
• process of buying (if e-commerce)
• use of shopping baskets
• credit cards accepted
• level of credit card security processes
• navigation, can you find what you want
• search engine within the site
• does the layout reflect banner ads they us on other sites
• what reciprocity do they have with other advertisers in banners and pop-ups
• who are they associated with
• who links to them
• who do they link to
• how well do they market the site
• can you find the page by using the URL in major search engines
• do they use special words in their META tags that might be helpful for you to copy
• how sophisticated is the source code HTML, flash, XML etc.

• a determining factor in beating competiton in getting new products to the commercialization stage
• also important in determining what your competition has future plans for, so you can scoop them
• not just for big companies, but also medium and small sized companies

the basic principles of competitor monitoring - very very good reading
 http://dialspace.dial.pipex.com/aware/competitor-analysis.shtml

who is a competitor
 http://dialspace.dial.pipex.com/aware/competitor-analysis.shtml#Who

Business competitors are:

• Other organisations offering the same product or service now. 
• Other organisations offering similar products or services now. 
• Organisations that could offer the same or similar products or services in the future. 
• Organisations that could remove the need for a product or service. 

"... the relevance and importance of each piece of information needs to be interpreted
and analysed - on its own and in conjunction with other information, the other pieces in the jigsaw. This is where information starts to become intelligence."

some web sites devoted to CI
 http://www.lookoutpoint.com/look/

Historical
Perspective

Strategy
Planning

Historical
Perspective