Before you bring your new invention or product to the public, you should determine online product marketability for the specific item. If you find out whether or not your product will sell, you can save yourself from a retail fiasco.
Instructions
1. Step away from the product emotionally. When you invent something or champion it, you become blinded to obvious flaws or perceptions. No matter how hard you try, you simply cannot get an objective perspective on it--it is absolutely brilliant in your eyes. Try your hardest to be neutral and realistic about the product. Or if you can't, find someone who can.
2. See what is selling now and why or why not. For example, if you think your product will do well because there is nothing else like it being sold, maybe it is because there is no market for it.
3. Look for niches in the market. Look to see if there is a void in the public's desires. For example, if people are continually complaining that they want a robotic vacuum that can also clean walls, that would be a good product to market.
4. Check out the competition. If the market is already crowded but you still want to introduce your product, see what the competition lacks and what will make your product stand out.
5. Do some informal research. Ask several dozen people how much they would pay for a certain product and compile the information into a demand curve.
6. Hire a market researcher. See the Resources section (below) for some links to market researchers who can do a thorough and professional job of determining the marketability of your product.
