This time I'd like to share our experience in how to upgrade a product, to make it more competitive in the market.
Any factory has its own technician, the problem is that normally the technician does not know exactly what the market needs, and the technician can not get enough samples or information from their competitors. So when they do product upgrade, they don't have much desire or much pressure, if the products sell ok.
What do we do to upgrade a product, here is our procedure:
Choose enough potential factories' quotations and test reports of a product, normally 8-10. When asking for a test report, make clear the test condition which includes detailed parameters such as machine brand, power, RPM, cutting material, size, hardness, etc
Best on the price and test report, gather enough samples, to test the samples in our test lab, every sample will be tested under the same condition, to make sure the test is objective. If we send a competitor's sample to a factory and ask them to test, it to show their quality is better than its competitors, the test result is always not objective.
Based on the test made by ourselves, choose 2-3 factories, give them product upgrade guidance which includes target price, and target product performance, and send competitors samples to show different technology if necessary. At this stage, the target price and target performance are very important, otherwise the upgraded products may not be good enough. The target has to be better than most of the products in the market.
Get quotation and test report of the upgraded products, check with clients to see if it's competitive enough or not in the market, and if necessary, ask the clients to send the same samples from the famous brands, and do the test against the upgraded products.
Keep doing stage 3 if the upgraded samples are not good enough
Recommend the final upgraded products to clients, with detailed test reports, and samples if necessary.
Keep doing the whole procedure to make sure the upgraded products are more competitive in the market.
Based on this way, we have successfully upgraded the items such as a diamond blade for cutting metal(we call it Metalplus), carbide grit multi-cut cutting disc(we call it Woodplus), carbide teeth reciprocation saw blade, vacuum brazed core drill bits for granite and tile, long shank core drill bits(this item is especially for Brazilian market), SDS Plus drill bits with cross cut, TCT saw blade for MDF, etc. Our clients love these products. Many more products are under the upgrade procedure and shortly they will be on the market.
If you have any ideas or suggestions, please leave your comments, thanks!