In this case, time to market is very critical. For example, if a company introduces a product into the market at the final stage (termiantation stage) of the product life cycle, no matter what the product is, the company will lose because virtually there is no any demand of the product. Therefore, it is very important to understand the demand of the product as well as the marketplace competition.
In order to assess the situation of the current market, the company should have a preliminary forecast of the market in which the company has to investigate what features and perfomance of the product are desired by customers. It is also important to understand whether the protential market is large or small. In addition, the company should understand what are the long-term and short-term opportunities to thecompany once the company produces the product and penetrate into the market.
From the assessment of the current market the company can know that whether the expected sales are not sufficient, or the estimated market prices is not profitable, or the competition is too keen.
Anyway, even the assessment proves that it is time to enter the market, the company also needs to understand how many units can be sold in the coming consequent years.
Apart from understanding whether it is proper time to enter the market,it is also important to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the company as well as the competitors. Hence, the company should consider the following three points carefully:
Who are competitors;
what will competitors react if the company enter the market;
how can the company compete in the marketplace.
Time required to develop the product.
In this case in order to compete with competitors, it is important to control the product development time as short as possible.
