Market Development Strategy Made Easy To Understand

Updated on November 2, 2022 in Ecommerce by Nishant Shrimali

There are so many products sold on the internet today. How can you be unique? It’s hard and we get it. This is why you need to learn about market development strategy.

Market Development? What is it and is its something that small businesses can do?

Well yes, Market development is something that any business can start, even if they are just starting. And in this article, you’ll be learning the exact roadmap to do so.

This article is about learning what is a market development strategy and how can you develop a market for your eCommerce.

Hence, without taking much time let’s get started with the market development definition.

What Is Market Development?

Market development is a method of targeting your product to a whole new set audience, rather than the obvious consumer, and creating a whole new market for your product.

Market Development is also a strategic method of increasing the market share of your product by attracting the un-tapped, target audience within the same market. In a market development strategy, rather than trying to create a new market or penetrate an exciting market, the brand tries to acquire a new or undiscovered group of target audience within the same market.

To understand this in a much further context, let us have a look at Ansoff Matrix, also known as Product/Market Grid.

Ansoff Matrix Or Market Grid

Ansoff Matrix is a tool that is used by experts to create marketing strategies for their products. It showcases the relation between the type of market in comparison to the risk involved.

Here is a little breakdown of the following market grid.

Product Development

The first is Product development. As you may think it is not the most convenient way, but if you do things right, it is highly rewarding. Here the risk factor is certainly high. The reason is the uncertainty of whether or not it will fit the existing market.

But nonetheless, rewards within this segment are also high. All it takes is deep dive into market research and understanding what the audience wants. You can refer to our Ultimate Product Development Guide, which we just shared on PixelPhant.

Market Penetration

Next is the Market Penetration. In this scenario, you might already be running a business but would expand your target audience in the market by launching a new service or a product.

In comparison to the product development mentioned above, Market penetration has a much lower risk. It is due to the fact that you are already aware of your market and have already been able to make a name for your brand among your customers.

Diversification

Diversification, as we speak, is expanding the audience by introducing or developing a new product for the new market. It is highly risky for the same reason as product development and also highly rewarding due to the expansion of the business.

Market Development

And lastly, it is a market development strategy. Here, a business targets a new audience within the same market. The product is the same, hence the risk decreases. But at the same time as the new audience is added to the target audience, the market share of the business increase hence increasing the reward gain.

How To Create Market Development Strategy

Like or unlike any marketing strategy, market development strategy requires you to learn about the basics, of how to create a market development strategy.

Here, we are sharing some ground rules that have helped the business grow into brands. Learn from them, and create your own success story.

Research Your Audience

In order to successfully carry out your market development strategy for eCommerce or your business, you need to do thorough research first.

The first step would go back to your buyer’s persona. It is where you might have previously set up your target audience and it is the exact point to restart your audience.

Do remember that you need to start from scratch and look for new demographics and geographic data to find a new potential customer. And as you can think, it will be a time canoeing task if you have no idea where to start.

Once you have a buyer’s persona, it’s time to validate it with survey, data, and research. As you are taking a chance with a new target audience, you need to back your brainstorming with the research.

Set Your Goals

In Market Development Strategy. If you have done your research well, you will know the scope of growth. And now, it’s time you set up your goals. Simple question. What do you want your new audience to do? Is it increasing your eCommerce subscription or do you want them to buy your product bundles?

Either way, you will have to ensure that you have a set goal, and a customer journey prepared for your new customer. Remember that your product is not exactly new, rather you are targeting a new customer.

This will help you in the next step, which is.

Tweak To Make It Market Fit

The point of any market development strategy is not to develop an entirely new product. But rather just adjusting it for the new target audience. For example, rather than selling your usual 3oz package, you can create a smaller 1.5oz package of your product that your customer might be interested in buying.

You must elevate your product to make it market fit. Only then will you able to attract new customers through the next step.

Creating Marketing Plan

At this point, you need help with both the steps above it. That is you will need the help with the research you did and match it with the goals you want to achieve. This is done through a thorough marketing plan.

Depending on the research, lookout for the best ways to reach your audience. That is found where does are your customers spend most of their time. You could choose any marketing platform such as social media, email, content, or even local marketing.

All you need to do is understand the pain point of your new customer and relive them through your product.

In order to start growing your customer from day one, began building a community even before the launch date. Interact with your target audience aware of the upcoming product launch.

Working On Feedbacks

This is the later stage of the market development strategy. That is after you have launched your product, you will have feedback for it (if not, then do make sure to ask for feedback). This feedbacks will literally pave your way and tell you what your next step will be.

In addition to the customer feedback, as an online store it time also important to keep an eye on the data. See what worked for you and what didn’t. The best way to do so will be through A/B testing.

Wrapping Up

And with this, we conclude our take on the market development strategy. As you now know, irrespective of the product that you are selling, you can market it if you know the basics mentioned above.

Moreover, with a market development strategy, you can even begin acquiring customers that are native to your target audience but are still overlooked by your competitors. If are looking to learn more about standing out within your industry, we recommend reading our guide on Developing your eCommerce USP: Best Strategy to Grow your Sales.