Why Great New Products Fail

Even when companies are careful to listen to their customers, many great new products still fail. This is not a rare occurrence. A recent study of almost nine thousand new products that achieved broad distribution at a national retailer revealed that just 40 percent of them were still sold three years later.

Some of these products did not create value for customers and deserved to fail. However, many would have created value if customers had adopted them. But customers could not, or did not, recognize their value.

While most compan.....