subject: 3 Reasons Why Market Research Is Important For Your Invention [print this page] As an inventor, you will need to know if your product will sell on the market. You also need to know if there is a similar invention on the market so that you don't waste your money, energy and time on something that already exists or won't appeal to consumers. One way to find out is to search the internet and physically inspect stores that carry items similar to your invention. Making sure that your groundwork is thorough will help to get your invention on the market. Here's what you need to do:
*The first thing you should do is ask family and friends what they think about your idea. Ask them to be honest as in the long run, their honesty will save you a lot of time and money. You should ask them if they would be able to put your invention to practical use, if they are already using or know of something that serves the same purpose, what features of the invention would attract them enough to buy it, and how much they would pay for such an item.
*You need to establish your target market. Market research is not just about finding out who wants and needs the item, but also to whom you can sell the item. You will need to look at groups, taking into account demographics like gender, age, education, ethnicity, marital status, area they live in, and occupation and income. How you define the target market for your invention will influence the way it is developed and produced.
*One of the most important things you will need to do before taking your invention to a marketing company or financier is to take a patent out on it. Before that you need to do a patent search to look for inventions like or similar to yours which have already been patented, so that you don't waste time, energy and money producing something already on the market. It would be best to have this search done by a patent attorney or agent.
You market research may throw up products similar to your invention. However, you may not need to throw the idea totally out of the window. You could, instead, modify your invention so that it is not only different to but also an improvement on the product already on the market. This is something that is done all the time by most inventors. In most cases you will receive a patent on your new and improved product.
