The challenges of taking a new product to market

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One thing that has always drawn me into the metal fabrication industry has been the opportunity to be creative. Using your hands, imagination, and bringing any idea to life is a great feeling. When you have an idea or product that is unique and profitable, what should you do? Being first to market seems obvious. But what happens after that?

When the new Ford Bronco came out, I knew I was going to center most of my creative efforts around this vehicle. I had several ideas written down, and basic sketches to get my thoughts rolling. One of the first products we focused on at Mountains2Metal was the front door pockets. The factory door pockets are a stretchy bungee net. It looks cool with an accent color to match the different packages available. The problem is that you can’t store much in there, especially a water bottle or anything that is going to tear the net.

One day my youngest daughter was getting in the back seat and grabbed the net to use as a handle and nearly ripped it off the door panel. The Bronco does sit a little higher off the ground, so I could understand why any height challenged person would need the extra boost. Long story short, we had a successful short run of sales thanks to some social media posts.

I started noticing products very similar to ours popping up on social media and in the forums. Competition is great, but when I stood a few feet back and looked at the product made overseas, sometimes I couldn’t tell the difference between my product and their rip-off. What is that all about? I was pretty mad at times.

Reflecting back on our short run of selling those products in abundance, I wondered where we went wrong or what we could have done differently. One thing I did early on was put a feeler out on the forums to see who would be interested in the product. What that did was put my idea out in the open, allowing the “makers” to taste the chum in the water. Some people said great things about our idea while others said it was a potentially dangerous product. People pointed out there was a chance someone could cut their legs to shreds on our “cheese grater” every time they got in or out. We made improvements by adding an optional trim piece on the top hemmed edge to prevent those types of accidents from happening.

Similar metal products that came out were either thinner with no protection on the top edge or much thicker to alleviate the cheese grater impression. Maybe these companies had these ideas before. Who knows. Great minds think alike. Sales for our product dropped every time I saw one of these similar products advertised. People tend to flock to cheap over quality. It is what it is. I read one person's comment saying to “take American made with a grain of salt.”

For the next go round, I think I will wait to advertise any new products or post about it on social media until the item is boxed up and ready to go. There is some risk in that because not every product is a winner.

Some friends have suggested that I patent the front door pocket product. That is easier said than done. Some items are bound to be created similarly. No one is reinventing the wheel. And besides, patents do cost quite a bit of coin to get processed. But hey, if the idea is unique or good enough, why not take that leap and go through with it? We may have something up our sleeve, but I’m keeping ideas like this close to the vest nowadays.

Reverse engineering is easy for some, and that is all that some companies do. You will never be safe from that aspect. I want to keep our products American made, but I can’t compete with products that are coming into this country at pennies on the dollar. Maybe I need to get on the ball and diversify. Who knows what business will bring?

I do know that being first to market is very important. If you design the original for a unique product, people will remember that. Get in there and get your sales when you can. The hounds will be released very quickly, and with today’s technologies, your idea won’t be safe for long.

The need to solve problems is what leads to creating great products. So, I’ll keep pushing quality, creativity, and going forward with our ideas.

Mountains2Metal’s front-door pocket for the Ford Bronco allows for more items to be stowed away safety.