The economic slow down has certainly presented its challenges, but it’s also presented business owners with a unique opportunity to reassess both their products and the marketplace. Savvy business owners are making good use of down time necessitated by decreased sales and lowered production to shift more resources into market analysis and research and development. It’s a move geared to discover new opportunities in the marketplace and position businesses to compete more strongly as the market recovers.
While it’s stripped to its bare bones, this is an excellent time to focus on the most essential aspects that drive the market in which you compete. And that’s a smart thing to do periodically, but a chore that is easily put off in the hustle and bustle of meeting customer demands and production schedules when the market is thriving and you’re focused on sales. While the economy is slow, you have time to focus on the essential needs of your customers and that can sharpen your insight into the primary forces that ultimately drive your business. The process provides opportunities to discover new and innovative ways to meet those needs.
In every industry there are core needs that drive business. Applying new technology to address those core needs allows you to offer customers a competitive advantage they can’t get from your competitors. A down market allows you the time to research and develop new technologies and applications that will allow your business to stand out from the competition and offer your customers a way to compete more effectively in their own markets. This is also a time to explore new applications for your products that can open new, untapped markets for your products. The creation of multiple revenue streams through diversification minimizes your business risk when the economy tightens up.
DJ Products’ own story provides an excellent example of how analysis of core market needs can lead to the innovative application of technology to create unique new products. Early on DJ Products saw a need for the development of ergonomically-designed material handling equipment. You have only to look at U.S. Bureau of Labor and Workman’s Compensation statistics to recognize the high cost in both production losses and worker medical expenses caused by musculoskeletal injuries from moving equipment and products in the workplace. Applying ergonomic design techniques to material handling equipment provided a unique solution that successfully resolved these issues, providing practical and affordable solutions to a core industry need. DJ Products’ continued dedication to developing unique solutions to meet customers’ needs has made us an innovative leader in the material handling industry.