Design Newness

Abstract

In several industries, new products are very similar in functional features but compete on their unique design. In spite of this, design newness is never discussed among the dimensions of product innovativeness. Instead, product innovativeness mostly focus on a product’s technical newness or the changes it implies for the innovating firm or for the market it enters. As several products exemplify that design newness and technical newness can go hand in hand, not only direct performance effects, but also interaction effects between both newness dimensions are investigated. This paper discusses the difference between design newness and technical newness and how they affect the consumers buying habits. These concerns open up interesting avenues for future research on product innovativeness in general and design newness in particular. Through in-depth case research, this paper investigates two successful physical product-based early-stage firms’ development processes versus large established firm norms. Below are 3 research questions that will be answered throughout this paper:

What is the difference between design newness and technical newness?

Why is design newness considered to be more important than technical newness in regards to consumer purchasing?

What is New Product Development (NPD)?

Keywords: Design newness, Technical newness, New Product Development

Product newness is a very vital construct in new product development (NPD) and marketing research. NPD is a process of developing a new product or service for the market. This type of development is considered the initial step in product or service development and it requires a number of be completed before the product can be introduced to the market. NPD may be done to develop an item to compete with a particular product/service or may be done to improve an already established product. New product development is essential to any business that must keep up with market trends and changes. Companies that aren’t able to keep up with these trends are those companies we usually see go out of business and/or get purchased by another company. When it comes to NPD a product differentiates itself from others by two concepts, which are design newness and technical newness. Of the two one has a greater impact on consumer purchasing behavior, but they both play vital roles in the success and longevity of a new product.