Our client wants to launch a new product: should it, and how?

• That you start from the end customer. Who is this product for, what problem does it solve, and what does that person do today to solve it? Without that, the rest of the analysis floats.
• That you think of cannibalisation. If the new product mostly takes sales from the client's current products, the real gain is far smaller than the launch revenue.
• That you tie the product to the client's capabilities: its production assets, its distribution, its brand. A good idea launched by the wrong company fails.
• That you reach a profitability calculation, however rough, with a break-even point or a payback period.

1. 1

   Understand the product and the objective

   Get the product described in one sentence and ask what the client expects from the launch: growth, a response to a competitor, a move upmarket.
2. 2

   Assess demand

   Who the target buyers are, how many there are, how often they would buy and at what price. Also look at what competitors already offer.
3. 3

   Check that the client can do it

   Production, supply, distribution network, sales force, brand image. Spot what is missing and what it would cost.
4. 4

   Quantify the net effect and decide

   Revenue from the new product, minus sales lost on existing ones, minus costs and investment. Then recommend, spelling out how to launch: which segment, which channel, what scale to start with.

"Our client is a yoghurt maker considering a range of plant-based desserts. I would first like to check one point: is it following a market trend, or reacting to a decline in its classic yoghurt sales? The answer changes how I judge cannibalisation.

I would structure the analysis in four parts. The first is demand: who buys plant-based desserts today, is it a regular or occasional purchase, and at what price compared with a classic yoghurt. The second is our client: can its plants produce this range without heavy investment, and will its brand, associated with milk, be credible here? The third is the effect on its current sales, since some of the buyers will be its own customers. The last is the calculation: margin per unit, investment, and the volume needed for the move to pay. I suggest starting with demand..."

This example is made up: it shows the tone and the construction, not a script to memorise. Your answer has to come from your own experience or from the data the interviewer gives you.

• Walking through the 4Ps as a list. Product, price, place and promotion are decisions to make once you have established that the launch makes sense, not a diagnostic structure.
• Confusing the new product's revenue with the gain for the client, forgetting the sales it takes from existing products.
• Ignoring competitors' reaction, when an established player can cut prices or lock up shelf space.
• Recommending the launch without saying how: nothing on the target segment, the channel or the starting scale.