Category design refers to a strategy that is built around creating a new business category. It helps companies develop new categories of products and services that extend beyond business models and company culture. Also, this new discipline is focused on monetizing new markets based on the idea that a company that belongs to a new category or designs a new business space is in the best position to dominate it.
Category design is a way of conditioning the market in perceiving a problem with the right solution through a new model. It’s not about disrupting the existing market, but creating or changing the rules and influencing the existing conditions that consumers are used to.
In this post, you’ll learn effective ways to enhance your business product category design strategy.
Kickstart: Management and Employee Brainstorming
When it comes to category design, one of the best examples is Netflix, which seemingly killed watching the industry of blockbuster movies in cable and movie theaters. Netflix is a great platform to watch movies, series, independent films, documentaries, and other videos. However, it’s not a way of disrupting the movie market but introducing a new category design that addresses people’s fast-changing needs.
If you want to enhance your product category design strategy, the first step you have to take is brainstorming your employees, along with the rest of the management. Most companies nowadays are launching products and services that already belong in existing categories. If you want to be a dominant player, you and your team should realize the real opportunities of creating new markets.
Here are the important things you have to discuss with your employees:
- Explain the meaning and importance of product category design.
- Get suggestions from each of your employees or the management about possible new product categories you can think of based on your existing products and services.
- Set goals, think of possible actionable steps, and discuss rough timelines in launching your new product category design.
Business Audit: Set and Monitor Your KPI
Your key business metrics performance indicators (KP, measure the growth and success, not just of your website, but also your overall business. In short, these metrics are important so you can create a new product category design.
You can enhance your product category design strategy by setting and monitoring your business metrics, which will serve as a basis in developing key decisions. In this way, you’re able to identify your strengths and weaknesses, which will unleash new ideas and opportunities for growth and success.
There are many types of possible key metrics that suit different businesses. For example, for a retail business to remain competitive, the most common metrics for retail store operations should be monitored, including:
- Inventory to sales ratio or ISR
- Stock rotations
- Same-store sales growth
- Cost of goods sold or COGS
- Sales by department
- Sales per unit area
- Product shelf-space profitability
- Frequency of store visits
- Stock value
- Sales by product category
Business Research: Get the Pulse of Consumers
It’s crucial to know what people are constantly saying about your products and services. You’ll need tools and strategies to delve into the minds of consumers, know their complaints, and how to best satisfy their needs.
Rethinking your business through research and conducting surveys is one of the best possible ways to figure out consumers’ ever-changing mindsets and why your sales have decreased or increased. With research, you’ll understand the external factors that affect your products and services and your overall business. In this way, you can enhance your business product category design strategy with an objective basis.
Here are some effective ways to get the pulse of consumers to enhance your category design strategy:
- Email Marketing: Send personalized emails that request your customers or subscribers to answer a question or a short survey for the improvement of your products and services. You can also ask their ideas and suggestions on a new market that they might want to see your brand dominating on.
- Social Media Marketing: Connect with your followers on social media, like Facebook and Instagram, and get the pulse of consumers by posting an interesting question related to category design. You can also hold a contest and give a reward to the person who has the best answer. By doing so, you’ll entice more people to participate in your social media survey or contest, getting tons of insights and suggestions.
- Traditional Ways: Conducting face to face interviews, written surveys, and other traditional ways of research work can also help determine the pulse of your target audience. You might get instant, meaningful answers with these traditional methods that can enhance your strategy in your product category design.
Know the Emerging Trends
If you seem to run out of ideas, you can start studying the current trends when it comes to your business niche and related niches. Artificial intelligence, voice-based searches, virtual reality, and augmented reality are just some of the latest trends incorporated in sales and marketing. And you might just find them also valuable in creating a new category design for your products.
Here’s how knowing the latest trends can enhance your product category design strategy:
- Perceive new areas to apply the latest technology or methodology using your products and services.
- Become one of the first businesses to apply a new technique or concept that is not yet saturated.
- Be one of the first businesses to perform a thorough study or research on possible solutions to an ongoing problem using the latest technology, marketing idea, or business concept.
- Use your knowledge and use the latest trends to your advantage for better brand positioning so that you can discover new market areas.
Conclusion
Category product design can be a new business knowledge for you, but it’s not so complicated to understand. By following the tips and ideas above, you can create a unique new market for your business and dominate it, become successful, and gain long-term benefits.
Of course, to make all of these things possible, you have to meet and discuss with our team how you can kickstart developing a category design for your products and services. Also, determining the pulse of consumers, monitoring your business metrics, and knowing the latest trends, can help you make a sound decision as to what new market your want your brand to penetrate and dominate.
