RSG’s client, a global agricultural machinery manufacturer, was researching new and innovative products to add to their existing product portfolios. While some of these products may be considered the ‘next generation’ of existing product lines; others represented completely new product categories that could fundamentally alter common industry practices. The client lacked the consumer insights to understand which concepts would resonate most strongly with customers and under what market conditions those customers may be willing to adopt these concepts.
RSG worked closely with several product marketing and engineering teams to define and evaluate possible product concepts to answer vital questions, including:

• What are the critical problems that can be addressed by these new product concepts?
• What are the key benefits that would drive adoption? What are the key barriers?
• What types of equipment would likely be replaced? What is the potential for product cannibalization?
• How large is the potential market for these concepts? What is the likely willingness to pay?
• To what extent do existing customer loyalties or brand preferences impact customers’ likelihood to adopt new products?

RSG’s insights were integrated into the early stage product development cycle to help prioritize where to invest additional research and development efforts. Our work allowed the client to hone their product development efforts on the concepts that have the highest likelihood of being successfully adopted by market and to avoid additional investments in concepts that are less likely to have success.