Moving into new markets can offer untapped opportunities for your products.
It could be targeting a slightly different segment, or it might mean switching your focus from business customers to consumers – or vice versa. You might also be looking to tap into European or global markets. Design plays a vital part when it comes to taking on new markets and tailoring your product to meet different customer needs.
Taking an existing technology and applying the right design methodology can improve a product’s appeal and open up opportunities in new markets. For emergency location beacon manufacturer McMurdo it was a change in legislation that led the company to explore new opportunities in the leisure and consumer markets.
McMurdo has a long history of supplying the commercial shipping industry with its emergency position-indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) systems. A change in the law, however, means fishing and passenger boats are now obliged to carry an EPIRB as well.
McMurdo recognised that this change in Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) legislation, combined with ever-smaller electronic components, represented new market opportunities. The company enlisted industrial design agency London Associates to help repackage the technology into a compact device for the marine leisure market.
London Associates undertook a research project designed to help McMurdo establish the most important user requirements, and combined the results with input from leisure craft manufacturers and owners.
'A product that had traditionally been task oriented and aimed at professionals now needed to appeal to untrained users – whose lives may depend upon an intuitive interface and rugged reliability,' explains London Associates partner Will Bentall. The result was the compact and robust Smartfind range of EPIRBs, which quickly passed the stringent technical and physical certification requirements, and went on to win Marine Product of the Year and a Design Business Association Design Effectiveness Award.
The outstanding success of this product has enabled McMurdo to invest further in technical development and enter the consumer market with the Fastfind personal location Beacon (PLB), which enables individuals to ensure their own safety rather than relying on the boat owner to provide it.
Staying informed on developments in other markets than your own can help flag up opportunities for reaching new customers. If you identify a potential new market, consider getting expert advice from agencies or consultants who have proven expertise in that area. Arming yourself with relevant market insight and expertise beforehand will mean your new direction is more likely to prove a shrewd business move.