Product planning and product development are the terms used in the context of marketing, while both terms sound similar but there are many differences between the two. Product planning is the first step which is then followed by product development, in order to get a better understanding of both terms one should look at some of the differences between product planning and product development –
Product Planning Vs Product Development
Meaning of Product Planning and Product Development
Product planning in simple words refers to the process by which the marketing team or manager comes up with 5 to 10 ideas regarding the products by looking at factors like current market trends, the company’s financial position, company vision, competitor’s actions, and so on while product development refers to that process by which the product which the company had planned to manufacture become a reality. In simple words, if product planning is the script of the movie then product development is the movie actually being made or produced.
Number of Products
In the case of product planning, the marketing team or marketing head has ideas for a number of products out of which one or two products go into the next stage while in the case of product development there is only 1 product that goes into product development. In simple words, product planning acts like a filter that out of many product ideas filters the most suitable product idea so that company can develop that product going forward.
Nature
Product planning is more strategic in nature implying that the work related to product planning is undertaken by top management while product development is more operational in nature implying that work related to product development is undertaken by middle and lower levels of management.
Irreversibility
In the case of product planning the company can reverse or change its decision easily, hence if the company does not like one product idea then it can move to other product ideas without facing any major financial consequences but when it comes to product development once the product goes into development stage than it is very difficult to reverse the decision as the company has invested a lot of resources into developing a product. In simple words, it is very easy to change a decision in the case of product planning but when it comes to product development it is very difficult to change a decision.
Time Taken
In the case of product planning the idea for the product can be thought of quickly and hence the time taken for product planning is usually 1 week to 1 month but when it comes to product development the time taken for product development is long and can be anywhere between 1 month to even a year. In simple words product planning is more like a tiktok video just like tiktok video can be made quickly the process for product planning is relatively quick while product development is more like a full movie just like a movie takes a time to complete in the same way product development takes time to materialize.
Scope
The scope of product planning is wide in the sense that product development is one of the parts of product planning while the scope of product development is limited as it is just a part of product planning.
As one can see from the above that both product planning and product development are miles apart from each other and that is the reason why any company before doing product planning should think ten times before sending any product into the development stage as once the product goes into development stage it is very difficult to reverse the decision.