today's store

Today’s Group has developed an NPD scorecard to rate the potential success of new products.

The group said the scorecards, which rate products on 27 elements, would inform wholesale members, suppliers and the central office on the favourable and unfavourable elements of each product. These can be used to predict its potential success.

New products will be judged on 16 product attributes. These include pack format, outer packaging, case cost, shared margin and price point, as well as 11 launch support attributes, including marketing campaigns and the wholesale and retail exit strategy if the product is unsuccessful.

Each product will be scored against the criteria and given a red, amber or green rating. A significant number of green attributes indicate the product is likely to succeed while a large number of red and amber scores indicate that the product could struggle.

Today’s wants suppliers to use the scorecard as a barometer to help product development and marketing teams launch successful products.

“It is well known that the success rate of new products is on average less than one in 50 (though this will vary by category), which presents a challenge to independent retailers who often have a core range of ambient products circa 650 lines,” said a Today’s spokeswoman.

“At a recent brand plans presentation, a supplier indicated that they saw significant value in using the scorecard and will be launching it internally to sense-check their offering to the channel.”