What is Product Development? Meaning Definition Example

What is Product Development? Meaning

First let’s understand the meaning of word viz., product and development.

1. Product means any marketable thing with some utility in it, produced either by a labour or through series of automated processes.
2. Development is an act of making or achieving a continuous progress in something by someone. Progress transit from an earlier policy (traditional approach) to an advanced policy (modern approach).

Product development is a specialized activity. It is done to improve the existing product or to introduce a new product in the market. It is also done to improve the earlier features or techniques or systems.

Image credits © Prof. Mudit Katyani.

Generally, it means a new-product development.

New-product development means to introduce a brand-new product in the market. It means to add a fresh product to an existing line of products.

Normally, a company starts with one or two products. However, after some time it has few more products in its line (say from 15 to 20). This is possible only because of new-product development.

Refer following diagram to know the basic meaning of product development.

Product development takes place, works or functions as under:

1. Creation of an entirely new product or upgrading an existing product by exploring all possibilities and outcomes.
2. Innovation of a new or an existing product to deliver better and enhanced services to end-users.
3. Continuous improvement of a new product or enhancing an existing product by giving preference to satisfy the demand of end-users.
4. Enhancing the utility of a new product or upgrading features of an existing product, for the personal and/or commercial use, to expand the defined goal (objective).

Product development involves risk of investing precious time, money (capital) and intellectual resources. Therefore, it is necessary that it is well-planned.

A good product development helps to:

1. Create new business opportunities and bring growth.
2. Boost productivity and profitability of the entrepreneurs.
3. Enhance the satisfaction levels of the consumers.

Definition of Product Development

In general, the definition of product development can be stated as follows:

“Product Development is a creation, innovation, utility enhancement or continuous improvement of earlier features (design, service, etc.) of an existing product or developing (manufacturing) an entirely new kind of product to satisfy the requirements of its end-users (consumers).”

Example of Product Development

Following are some common examples of product development.

• Packing wheat flour in retail bags for household consumption.
• Packing cooking oil in retail pouches for household consumption.
• Converting land line phones into wireless handsets for easy portability and full-time access to communication.
• Modify desktop computers into light-weight laptops to ease portability.
• Transform a traditional library into an e-library to facilitate faster searching and accessibility of electronic books and other digital documents.
• Convert a simple airplane into a fighter jet to achieve a greater speed.