A Winning Guide on Ecommerce Product Development Strategy to Level Up Your Business

Developing a product without a product strategy is akin to navigating without having a map. While there's a chance you'll succeed, the odds aren't in your favor to a great extent.  

This is why product strategies are crucial for a successful business. Instead of relying exclusively on your instinct when it comes to product development, you can follow a concrete roadmap that helps you reach the right direction. 

The world has been following the digital footprints, making it essential to leverage the current marketplace tactics to thrive in your business.   

What is product strategy? 

It is a process of identifying what you desire to attain and your plan to reach that place. In other words, it defines the "why of the product, and it must come before the "what," "when," and "how." 

9 key tips for successful product strategy 

It's not an easy feat to develop a product strategy because the one-size-fits-all approach doesn't applicable here. As every product is unique and hence its customer base. But doing thorough research of your product or concept and making modifications to your design process at the appropriate stages help define the right product design direction. So, here are nine pointers to guide you and your team get started on developing a successful product strategy development .

1. Determine who you want to reach. 

One of the most common causes of startup failure is a lack of product-market fit. Many businesses expect to figure out their business strategy after releasing a product in the competitive marketplace. As a result, they send out a product and track its effectiveness. It almost rarely works out. Hence, it's always better to understand the demand of your customers even before developing your product. 

2. Recognize the customer problem 

In product strategy development, problem identification is critical. Your product should help your users in resolving their issues. You must identify the problem and determine whether it is one worth fixing. Put another way, to bring a solution for the problem that your target audience needs and they are willing to pay money for it.  

3. Create a vision for your product.  

You must have a vision for where you want to go on any journey. Many product teams mistakenly believe that product vision and product development strategy are the same, yet they are two distinct concepts.  

Vision is something that encourages everyone working on a product to think about the big picture of what they're doing. It's also critical to define your product vision and ensure that everyone on your team is on the same path. 

4. Your users are your priority. 

Once you accomplish the task of capturing your vision effectively, the next step is to fill in the lower areas of the vision board from left to right. Instead of thinking about the incredible, fantastic product features or the innovative business plan that would monetize the product, start with the "target group,". It is the group of people who will use and buy your product. Both factors are vital, but understanding and capturing your customer's needs is the foundation for making the best product and business model decisions. 

5. Explain what makes your product unique. 

After identifying your customer needs, you also have to align the actual product idea. List the three to five essential features of your product that make it appealing to customers and distinguish yourself from your competitors. When you dig deeper to find the features, consider not only product functionality but also nonfunctional attributes such as performance and interoperability, as well as the visual design. Make sure you don't convert this area into a product backlog. 

6. Clearly state your product's goals and objectives. 

When you clearly understand how your product will benefit your customers, the next step is to assess how well you deliver on that value. Setting up clear and measurable product goals can help you identify whether you're on track with your product development strategy or not. Naturally, your objectives may change over time; in the early stages of your product, you may be focused on brand awareness and engagement. But later on, indeed, you need to focus on the essential goals such as driving more leads and sales, generating revenues, and improving customer experience. However, your objectives should not diverge from your product vision. 

7. Define your KPIs. 

After you've established your product goals and objectives, you should create KPIs for each of them. This will keep you on track to achieving all of the objectives of your ecommerce product development strategy.

Performance measurements, adoption metrics, growth goals, and so on are all examples of KPIs. In this phase, it's critical to improve these metrics. KPIs provide a precise measure of how well your product strategy is performing. 

8. Access your product's longevity 

You should be aware of all the factors related to your product's development, growth, expansion, and possible decline. As a result, it's critical to address all of the following questions while developing your approach. 

1.    How long do you expect your product to evolve? 

2.    What are the risks involved? 

3.    What are the challenges involved that might put your current situation in jeopardy? 

4.    What are the possibilities of decline scenarios? 

9. Maintain synergy with other teams. 

It doesn't matter how good your product design is; it only works if the team knows it and follows it. A synergetic collaboration between core teams such as design, development, marketing, and sales should result in an effective product development strategy. 

Source: https://www.zenesys.com/blog/ecommerce-product-development-strategy