Product Launch Hazzards – The Right Things in the Right Order with the Right Resources for Your Reta

Office Hours Expert Joseph Tarnowski has multiple industry experience when it comes to watching companies do what goes right and what goes wrong in terms of retail and marketing. With a degree in Trade Media Journalism, he has had extensive experience working in the food industry, general merchandise, health & beauty, and pharmaceutical industry. He is with Efficient Collaborative Retail Marke...

No product lasts forever. Consider yourself lucky if your original product is still in the market for five years– we call it a platinum record if it reaches the five year mark. Some of the products we have developed have been in the market for decades, including the Aeron Chair, which is still being sold 25 years after it first came out. How do you stay on top of the game and keep consumers coming...

Abby Duffield is the e-Commerce Implementation Manager for Shapiro, an established freight forwarder and brokerage company that has been in business for over 100 years. She shares industry knowledge and informed insights on logistics, regulatory compliance, customs brokerage, purchase order management, e-Commerce shipping and more especially to small business owners, up and coming entrepreneurs, a...

It is no secret that Tom and I are husband and wife business partners. It is our competitive advantage – what sets us apart from all the other product design firms in the market. Because most people cannot imagine working with their spouse at all, they are always fascinated by the idea that we do this 24/7, in a home office and have made it over 21 years so far. Love the show? Subscribe, rate, rev...

Loren West is a process and systems expert who has a ton of experience in growing brands by optimizing processes in big companies to make their business run more smoothly and efficiently. She gained her core professional strengths in business processing and marketing by working in the packaging, beauty, and health industry for years. Loren has worked for big brands like O.P.I., Keiser, and has als...

Especially if you are quite new to creating products and ordering them from small-run manufacturers, you might be left asking, “Why is this manufacturer giving me a hard time with high quotations, I just want very few samples of the products so I can be sure of the quality?” We started going directly to manufacturers in China back in 1998, and have learned the ropes about small-run manufacturing p...

Jeff Lieber, founder of Turnkey Product Management once dreamed of starting his own business, and he knew that Amazon would be the perfect channel to do it. He learned the ropes and soon, from selling one dog product, he quickly expanded his inventory, ventured into baby products, and then eventually sold his online business for six figures. Together with his cousin, Turnkey Client Manager Jenna L...

We first raised money for an invention way back in 1997 and had around 13 angel investors– way more than what we recommend now that we have learned through our years of professional experience as product designers and entrepreneurs. The two of us are cautious about raising capital via crowd funding because there is truly a lot of pressure in giving small pieces of your company to investors, and of...

As one of our Product Launch Hazzards experts, Paul D’ Souza, founder of Chief Revenue Officer as Service will be helping you product launchers design the right go-to-market strategy with his comprehensive knowledge gathered through years of practical experience in logistics, sales and operations. One of his most notable clients was the Pebble Watch company that started in KickStarter through two...

Here you are, with a great idea or invention and wanting to explore business opportunities with another company to expand your brand. Then suddenly, when you propose a legally-binding non-disclosure agreement (NDA) at the infancy of the negotiation stages, often even before your initial consultation with them, all communication with them stops. While you should seek proper legal counsel to make su...

“People ask me, ‘what’s the costliest part of patenting?’ I’ll tell them, the costliest part of patenting is your misinformation about patents,” says our Product Launch Hazzards expert Attorney Richard Goldstein, author of the American Bar Association’s Consumer Guide to Obtaining a Patent. Rich graduated with an Engineering degree before being a patent lawyer, and has the unique combination of ha...

The choice between creating a working prototype (a product sample that looks, feels, and works like the actual product), an appearance model (non-functional, but adheres to actual products physical appearance, and dimensions), or a functional prototype (a crude model with limited functionality, often used to present a a product under concept development) for product presentation has often confused...

We have been product designers for more than two decades and have won awards for our designs through out the years– but the ultimate accolade for us would have to be the longevity of our products in the market. Over 80 of the products that we have designed for mass retail have been bought and used over and over again by consumers for the past 20 years and counting. We believe that our success in t...

If you are a thriving vendor with products on Walmart, Staples, other mass retailers’ shelves, or you are selling online through Amazon, Alibaba, or any other big e-Commerce platform, be warned: the days of vendor loyalty are long gone, which is why it is essential for you to secure your products and customer base before launching your products. As experienced product designers, innovators and ent...

As one of our experts at Product Launch Hazzards, certified Master Amazon seller training expert Brenda Crimi will be dishing great advice every month for aspiring online sellers, as well as curious listeners who want to have an understanding of “all things products, and all things Amazon.” Meet Brenda as she shares her inspiring entrepreneurial journey– from being a consultant, to managing a law...

Tom and I are a husband and wife team of Industrial Designers. We are lucky to be working together not just because we enjoy each other’s company– we have a complimentary set of skills, and unlike in corporate settings where people have qualms in voicing out their opinions we are both capable of having an open, honest debate when designing products that involve gender-related perspectives because...

Is your idea, product or service competitive? The truth is, the best ideas don’t always win because there are many things in your way to making it happen. As an entrepreneur or an inventor, you should have the best system and marketing tactics to get ahead of the competition. One of the most crucial steps is to protect your trade secrets, original business concepts and ideas. Join internationally...

Picking the right colors for specific consumer goods is exciting, and can also be a very agonizing process for some product inventors, innovators, designers, and marketers, especially to newbies. Even experienced branding professionals get challenged sometimes, and rightly so, for there is so much is riding on choosing the right color for your product. Many factors can affect our opinions on produ...

A lot of new Amazon sellers often make the mistake of putting logistics and freight forwarding as an afterthought in the product launch process, and it can hurt profitability. Jimmy Tran, General Manager of World Craft Logistics is a Product Launch Hazzard expert on Freight Forwarding. He knows that Amazon sellers need a highly dependable freight forwarder who will cater to their needs to get thei...

When you’re selling something, some questions that come up in your mind are, are people going to buy what you’re selling? Are they going to respond to it? What features do they value? A great way to answer that is market research. Market research expert, Laura Hazzard, has worked with big brands like Target, Starbucks, Disney, Fox, and Sony. She’s done everything from plus size women’s apparel to...

Tom and I are a husband and wife team of Industrial Designers. We are lucky to be working together not just because we enjoy each other’s company– we have a complimentary set of skills, and unlike in corporate settings where people have qualms in voicing out their opinions we are both capable of having an open, honest debate when designing products that involve gender-related perspectives because...

The number one question that On The Shelf Retail Expert, Timothy Bush, gets is how long does it take? He says that most entrepreneurs who try to get their products on the shelf don’t struggle with the question of whether they are ready, even though they don’t really know what they’re doing at all. They actually need somebody else to tell them whether they are ready or not. For those that work in t...

It is not enough to put your product out there on Amazon, HSN, Walmart, or any other retail store. Those who spend at least 10% of their capital on brand promotion are guaranteed to sell more and increase their brand’s overall acquirable value. The key is to get your message out through a platform and resonate with your audience. Your goal as an entrepreneur should not just be focused on make a si...

Finally, you are done with the product development stages and are ready to produce your product for selling. As an entrepreneur, you know that it is absolutely critical to get your product right before launching it to avoid killing your brand with bad customer reviews and high returns. What are the things you need to consider for cost-effective and efficient materials sourcing, finding the right f...

Having intellectual property is good for valuation of your business. It is definitely an asset worth investing in especially if your goal is to become an acquirable brand. But first, you have to make sure that your trademarks, patents, and copyright are relevant to your long term business plan, or else they will be useless. We will talk about some examples of what we have done and how we operate a...