This question crops up quite often when we discuss New Product Development with clients and prospects.

‘Why should I spend money developing my own housing, when I can buy something ready made off the shelf?”

Bespoke Vs Off The Shelf – its a good question, and usually driven by the clients desire to limit cost whilst developing their new product.

There is always a cost to design and produce a totally bespoke product, but if its well done we believe this is money well spent, helping to showcase and differentiate your product from its competitors, and increase sales, which will pay for the design and set up in due course.

Today’s consumers are more demanding, and often have a choice of products to choose from when making a purchase. Its also true that first impressions count, which are often driven by the visual impact of a product.

We were asked for the pros and cons of this argument by a company recently and summarised as follows;

Pros – A totally unique product, potentially a lower unit cost, designed exactly with your customer in mind, very efficient use of space / volume, great ergonomics, great usability, branding and colour ways to your exact requirements.

Cons – Upfront cost of design / tooling set up.

Two recent projects delivered by 4D Products in the electronic sector have received fantastic feedback from our clients customers. The underlying technology is innovative and exciting within its relevant industry, but the object itself grabs peoples attention and creates a buzz of excitement. With the best will in the World that is hard to achieve using off the shelf components.