Did you know that Time To Market or TTM is one of the key success factors of business? However, it’s not always easy to strive within the market, especially with the tech and travel industry.
It’s just not enough anymore for a company to come up with new prototypes of improved products, they have to make sure that those new products get to the market in time or at least as fast as possible. After all, we know that a delay in the commercialization of a product can be a deal-breaker.
So, let’s start by explaining what is Time To Market and why you should seriously review yours. Finally, we’ll show you how you can speed up the process of TTM and how you can improve your sales performance.
What is Time To Market?
If you never heard about TTM, here’s a quick definition: In commerce, Time To Market is the time it takes for a company to create a product until it is put up for sale.
For some brands, TTM is on their priority KPIs, especially in industries where products are outmoded quickly, such as mobile phones, wearables, gaming, etc.
How do you measure Time To Market?
There is no specific or correct way to measure TTM. In fact, the variation in how it’s measured is defined by the brand and the measured values can vary depending on the company, product or even depending on the team. For example, in the automotive industry, the development period starts as soon as the product concept is approved but if we take a look at the APP industry, it usually starts on its development cycle.
The same goes for the endpoint: some companies will define it when their product is finished, while high volume industries will often define the endpoint when they reach a certain volume of production.
As you can see, TTM can vary widely, but all that matters is an organization’s TTM capability relative to its direct competitors. If two brands develop the same product, TTM will have a huge impact on sales because consumers tend to purchase the product that goes first on the market.
Why you should improve your Time To Market?
Regardless of your main business strategy, improving your TTM should be on your top priorities. Currently, it is estimated that companies and design departments incorrectly use 40% of their supplies and resources.
The lack of organization is the number one reason why delays occur because it directly affects the launch of the products. Most of the wasted resources are due to the inefficiency of the development process; from repetitive jobs and redundant administrative paperwork to the addition of unnecessary product features.
It’s therefore critical for a company to speed up its time to market. Here are some of the main benefits of speeding up Time To Market:
- Improve Revenue Margin: Your business will benefit from improved revenue margins as new products and services are released earlier than expected, and it meets what the market demands.
- Competitive advantage: Your products will be on the market way faster than your competitors which means that you’ll also be exposed to more market opportunities and hopefully secure higher market shares.
How do you speed up Time To Market?
Now that you know the importance of TTM, what remains to be done is to find ways on how you can speed it up. Here are some suggestions.
1. Agile Development Practices
Software companies, per example, may use agile development practices to improve time-to-market. The Agile Method is an approach to project management that is used in software development. This method helps teams respond to the unpredictability of software development. It uses incremental and iterative work sequences that are commonly known as sprints (a period of time allocated for a particular phase of a project).
2. Find the perfect marketplace for your business
Finding the right marketplace for your business will enable you to sell your products and services immediately to a network of buyers and sellers. Joining a larger network will guarantee you instant access to all the major Bed Banks, DMCs, Tour Operators and Chains & Independent Hotels.
3. Design a better workflow
By developing a workflow that lessens downtime and encourages efficiency, the whole design and development process with be more organized and you’ll be able to see where delays happen.
4. Track your results effectively
Ideally, every team member should be involved in the design and development process but they should also be involved in the metric reports. Gathering the results of each department and sharing it with the rest of your team helps them develop agility and make good decisions quickly and efficiently, which translates into a faster development process — aka faster Time To Market.
As you can see, improving time-to-market can have a dramatic effect on your sales performance and on a product’s success. A fast TTM means consumers will receive your product faster, giving you a big advantage over your competitors.
