Where to Find New Product Ideas

One way to grow your business and increase your profits is to think of new product ideas for your small business. You can offer something totally new, create derivative products from your existing ones, or branch out into something totally different.
But where do you find new product ideas?

According to the article How to Find Ideas to Improve Your Home Business, there are a number of ways you can get inspiration and ideas for your business. You can reach out and get feedback from customers, seek out like-minded entrepreneurs, check out competitors and keep yourself updated by learning and reading.
Another way to find new ideas for your business is to attend industry events, trade shows, conventions, exhibitions, art shows and the like — both in and out of your industry. These events are fertile grounds for generating fresh ideas and allow you to see new products, new concepts and upcoming trends that you can build into your business. You can even get ideas from seeing what your competitors are doing!
Take for example the wholesaler Wuu Jau Company http://www.wuujau.com/, a family business based in Oklahama founded by Ben and Margaret Lu. Started in 1984, the company offers various collector and cutlery items such as swords, daggers, crossbows, pocketknives and throwing knives. One important strategy that Wuu Jau used to grow their business is by constantly rethinking their product offerings to keep ahead of their competitors and respond to what their clients want. Ideas for their new products come from various sources, from listening to their customers’ feedback to seeing what’s out there through trade shows.
One of the best-selling products of Wuu Jau is gift box knives. Margaret Lu got the idea for the product after going to an art show and seeing little artworks placed in a gift box. She rightly thought that the idea will translate well to her own business, and this led her to adding a product line of gift box knives or collectibles.
The company also introduced samurai swords as a result of a visit to a trade show. In an interview with Wholesale Magazine, Michael Lu (the son and currently Vice President of Wuu Jau) explained how attending a trade show gave their dad the idea of offering samurai swords.

“In the late ‘80s, my dad went to a trade show, and at that time, importing from China was just starting. With cutlery like samurai swords, most of them were handmade and really high quality stuff from Japan, and my dad noticed that people really liked them, but the prices were near $1,000 each. So he thought if we imported something like this from China, and it doesn’t have to be as functional, it could be more affordable for the average person who just wants to collect and put it in a display or case. At the time, there wasn’t anybody importing three-piece samurai sword sets, and a couple of the Japanese sword makers were furious, because we were selling it for maybe ten percent of their prices.”

Wuu Jau also gets their product ideas from what the customers say, and how they perceive the products they offer, and what customers are looking for.
The company updated its Live Action Role Playing line, which are swords and axes used by fantasy fans, after analyzing the products being returned, and what condition these products are in when customers return them. They saw an opportunity to improve their products so it would better serve the needs of their target market.

“We’ve been carrying foam weapons for a while, but because people want to fight with them, we were getting returns with the weapons all busted up … We went to China to see if we could come up with a new material to make merchandise that was more durable and lightweight, and we’ve come up with this new material … so it holds up better.”

Opportunities to improve the performance of your business and increase your bottomline are everywhere — you just have to look for them!

Recommended Books on New Product Ideas: 

Grow Your Service Firm
Teach Yourself Successful Market Research in a Week
The Strategy Book: How to Think and Act Strategically to Deliver Outstanding Results (Financial Times Series)



Tags: getting products to marketCategory: Growing Isabel Isidro is the co-founder of PowerHomeBiz.com. A mom of three boys, avid vintage postcard collector, frustrated scrapbooker, she also manages WomenHomeBusiness.com and LearningfromBigBoys.com. Follow her on Twitter and connect with her on Google +
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Interesting Small Business Ideas for Women Entrepreneurs

Women control a huge percentage of total consumer spending. In many households, the moms hold the purse strings and buy for the family. Given the strong presence of female consumers, both big and small businesses continue to meet the needs of women everywhere.

We have listed some unique, interesting, even innovative businesses catering to the female consumers. Some of these businesses are truly unique and groundbreaking; while others focus on a specific niche. Some of these business ideas turn existing concepts upside down, while others improve everyday products and found success through their innovations and improvements.

Here are some unique businesses targeted to female consumers, created by women entrepreneurs themselves:

Wouldn’t it be fun to have different shoes everyday — but without creating a massive hole your wallet? Lindsay Phillips stumbled on the idea of creating flip flops with interchangeable straps and accessories, allowing women to create different looks with their footwear.

Founder of the company that carries her name and creator of Switch Flops, Phillips was just a teenager when she got the idea of switching the straps of her flip flops from a high school art project. Today, the company Lindsay Phillips has grown into a multi-million business. In addition to interchangeable flip flops, her company now offers ballet shoes, wedges, and sandals that women can accessorize differently to create different looks with just one shoe. Read more of Lindsay Phillips’ simple yet highly successful business idea.

Twins Izzy and Coco Tihanyi founded Surf Diva, the surf camp taught for girls, by girls. Founded in 1996 with only $328 in capital and using Izzy’s surfboard collection, Surf Diva has become the world’s #1 surf school for women.

Stacy Struminger and Rachel Teyssier decided to create their own line of fashionable waterproof garment for women who won’t let rain dampen their fashion cred. Called RAINRAP™, its design combines the popular style of the pashmina and wrap. It is designed as waterproof, reversible, light-weight, fast drying, easy to store (folds up to fit in your handbag and/or suitcase), and comes in four colorful combinations. Read how they started their fashionable rain gear clothing line business.

Dan Yang, after seeing her baby’s fascination with her smart phone, looked for a technology toy that will appeal to her baby like her smart phone yet will satisfy her baby’s curiosity. She wanted that would help her baby learn, enhance her play, and satisfy her curious fingers but she couldn’t find one. She saw this as an opportunity and created her own child-friendly gadget herself. Dan Yang is now CEO of Rullingnet and the inventor of their flagship product, VINCI Genius Tablet. Read more about Dan Yang and her VINCI Genuis Tablet.

With a changing body and growing belly, the question of what to wear especially on special occasions have vexed a lot of pregnant women everywhere. Marcelle Costello started RentMaternityWear.com where pregnant women can rent special occasion clothes and dresses – such as baby showers, cocktail parties, weddings, even date nights – without breaking the bank. Read more about maternity wear rentals.

Families are often looking for quality care providers in a moment’s notice. They want someone they can trust, well-recommended and vetted to care for their love ones. Shiela Lirio Marcelo started Care.com, which has grown to become one of the largest online marketplaces for caregivers — including babysitters, senior care givers, pet sitters, even housekeepers. Read how Shiela Lirio started Care.com.

The cell phone has rapidly become an ubiquitous accessory used by people not only to call. It has become a must-bring-anywhere tool, alongside their wallets, keys, credit cards and other essentials. And therein lies the challenge: carrying all the must-bring items can be cumbersome. To make it easy to carry all these essential everyday items, Jamie James created Cellfolio, a cell phone case that also serves as a wallet designed to make carrying cash, cell phone, and credit cards easier and more convenient. Instead of carrying several items in different ways, a person can have all their essentials in one case. Learn how Jamie created Cellfolio.

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Tags: women business, women entrepreneur

Category: Business Ideas

Isabel Isidro is the co-founder of PowerHomeBiz.com. A mom of three boys, avid vintage postcard collector, frustrated scrapbooker, she also manages WomenHomeBusiness.com and LearningfromBigBoys.com. Follow her on Twitter and connect with her on Google +

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