Product strategy for companies where the product is the market, the manufacturing and the economics
We help you see which products to grow, which to retire and how to build a portfolio that drives growth rather than complexity.
Our focus — manufacturing, FMCG, medical devices and technically complex products. We work with owners, CEOs and heads of product, marketing and commercial.
«Your project is the best thing that has happened to our company in terms of how we understand the business, inside and out»— Head of Product & Marketing, manufacturing company
When you need a product strategy
Product strategy starts with one question: what customer job are we solving, and what is the customer willing to pay for. Everything else follows from there — the portfolio, the product lines, the channels, the economics, the manufacturing, and the decisions about what to grow, what to refine and what to retire.
The range has plenty of products, but it is unclear which ones drive growth, which protect margin and which simply add complexity to production and sales.
New products keep shipping, but many launches fade fast: no flagship, no channel, no shelf logic and no repeat purchase.
Commercial asks for one thing, production talks about complexity, marketing about the brand, R&D about what’s possible, finance about margin.
Too many SKUs, variants and formats: on a report it looks like range breadth, in operations it is needless complexity.
The company is eyeing a new market, segment or category and wants to know whether it has a right to play there.
Competitors are changing price, packaging, channel or the technology standard — and the product’s future position is in doubt.
Marketplaces and retail chains are reshaping product economics: packaging, search, promotions, reviews and multipacks now matter as much as the product itself.
Ahead of an investment — a new line, M&A, R&D, localization — you need a clear answer on which product will actually drive growth.
Customers choose the product differently from how the team describes it: reviews, interviews and sales reveal different pains, barriers and reasons to buy again.
What clients usually come with
The brief usually arrives as a single question. In the work it quickly becomes clear that product strategy touches the customer, the portfolio, the channel, the economics, the manufacturing and the way launches are run.
Which lines to grow, which to maintain, which to trim, where a flagship is needed and where a new format is.
Whether the company has the right to enter: product, channel, price, production, service, brand, partners.
We pressure-test the launch business case: demand, economics, channel, manufacturing readiness, cannibalization risk and success criteria.
We design an architecture where new variants are created faster and cheaper through shared components, recipes and packaging.
Packaging, format, perceived price, the product listing, reviews, branded and non-branded search, retail media, multipacks and promotions.
We connect the range to engineering design, unit cost, capacity, localization, quality, service and the product life cycle.
When growth means acquiring a channel, content, technology, brand, community or customer base.
Understanding the job the product does for the customer: reducing risk, saving time, giving confidence, convenience, status, taste, safety or predictability — and how that should reshape the range, packaging, service and channel.
What we mean by product strategy
For part of the audience, «product strategy» is an IT term. Here it means something else: the product portfolio, the life cycle, the economics of a product line, manufacturing and channels. The question starts with the customer: why they choose the product, buy it again, switch to a competitor or simply see no value in it. Instead of a backlog and features — it is about the portfolio, product lines, launches, SKUs, unit cost, channel, the customer job and the product life cycle. It answers practical questions — which products drive growth, which hold margin, which create needless complexity, what to launch, refine or retire, where a new format is needed, where a platform makes sense and where product-driven M&A does.
For FMCG
who buys, when and why; what worry or job the product resolves; then — the category, assortment, packaging, taste and recipe, multipack, shelf, marketplace, promotions, repeat purchase, brand and channel.
For manufacturing
the customer’s or user’s job, the usage scenario, the requirements for reliability and service; then — the range, engineering design, modularity, unit cost, quality, localization, serviceability and the life cycle.
For B2B products
customer segments, configurations, dealer logic, service, customization, standards and total cost of ownership.
For technically complex products
platform, roadmap, R&D, certification, the production loop, data and the service model.
The customer job, the pain and the choice
Product strategy starts with something simple: why the customer chooses this product at all. In FMCG that can be safety, taste, convenience, stocking up, trust in the ingredients or the wish not to make a mistake. In manufacturing — reliability, service, speed, lower risk, compatibility and total cost of ownership.
What the customer is trying to do
The job the product performs in the customer’s life, production or business process.
Where the pain shows up
What gets in the way of buying, repeat purchase, use, service, trust or switching to a new format.
What the product actually competes with
Not always a direct equivalent: sometimes with a habit, an old process, a different category or the fear of making a mistake.
What that changes in the product
The range, packaging, format, service, channel, price, communication, warranty, configuration and platform.
How we test the hypothesis
When in-house data is thin, we add qualitative and quantitative research: interviews, JTBD, surveys, review analysis and tests of concepts, price, packaging and channels.
What the client gets
A product portfolio map: lines, categories, SKUs, the role of each product and its contribution to growth and margin
A diagnosis of the issues: where it is the product, where the packaging, where the channel, where perceived price and where manufacturing complexity
A list of product bets: flagships, new formats, categories, platforms, M&A hypotheses and the retirement of surplus lines
The range architecture: how core, premium and value products connect across segments and channels
A product launch process: how ideas move from hypothesis to a decision to launch, scale or retire — through an NPD / Stage-Gate framework where needed
An implementation roadmap and a list of questions best validated with dedicated data
A map of customer jobs and pains: why people buy, why they don’t, why they buy again, why they switch to competitors and what product changes that calls for
Research and hypothesis-validation results: customer segments, JTBD, pains and choice barriers, purchase criteria, validated product concepts and signals on price, packaging, channel and repeat purchase
Cases
Two very different storylines: a technically complex product, where strategy starts from the user’s daily scenario and runs into the platform, service and data; and an FMCG case, where growth runs through the parent’s job, packaging, the marketplace, the category, the brand and M&A.
From a range of prostheses to a product platform
A maker of bionic upper-limb prostheses was moving to its next scale. We rebuilt the product around the user’s job: wear the prosthesis every day, get service faster, reduce the risk of failure and return to an active life. That led to a platform logic: upper and lower limbs, modularity, telemetry, service and a roadmap to 2031.
FMCG · Baby foodGrowth through a product system rather than yet another flavor line
A large baby-food manufacturer was looking for category growth. We reframed the product around the parent’s jobs: choose safely, conveniently stock up, not get the format wrong, get variety and trust the ingredients. That produced two layers of strategy: a marketplace logic (packaging, multipack, perceived price, search, retail media) and a new growth architecture — subscription, a parent audience, content and audience-driven M&A.
How it differs from adjacent work
Product strategy aligns marketing, brand, R&D, manufacturing and commercial around one question: what exactly should become the growth product, and which customer job does it solve better than the alternatives.
Marketing strategy
Marketing answers how to sell and communicate value. Product strategy answers what customer job sits at the core of the product, why the market should buy it and what has to change in the range, channel or economics to make that happen.
Branding
A brand helps people choose, trust and remember. Product strategy checks whether there is a real product, format, economics and channel behind the brand.
Assortment matrix
A matrix records the set of items. Strategy explains why they exist, what role each plays and which products should appear or disappear.
R&D and development
R&D builds the technical solution. Strategy decides which solution is worth building given the market, channel, economics and manufacturing.
Commercial strategy
Commercial owns sales and channels. Product strategy ties the channel back to the product itself: packaging, configuration, price, service and repeat purchase.
The decisions that usually get made
Grow
The product or line gets priority, investment, a channel, an owner and success criteria.
Refine
There is demand or a strong customer job, but the format, packaging, cost, service, channel or positioning needs to change.
Trim
The product adds complexity but does not contribute enough to growth, margin, repeat purchase or strategic position.
Rebuild the range
The architecture changes: flagship, value format, premium, multipack, modularity, service, compatibility, a new channel.
Test a hypothesis
A test is launched: packaging, the listing, promotion, channel, segment, price offer, usage scenario or service model.
Acquire an external asset
Growth needs not a new SKU but access to an audience, channel, content, technology, brand, community or data.
How the work runs
We start from the customer, the portfolio, sales, margin, channels and the manufacturing reality — and take it through to the bets, the roadmap and a model for managing the product.
Portfolio diagnostics
We look at revenue, margin, SKUs, categories, channels, trends, repeat purchase, promotions, write-offs and manufacturing complexity.
Market and category
Market size, competitors, price tiers, the shelf, channels, technology shifts and comparable players in Russia and abroad.
Customer, JTBD and channel
Reviews, interviews, search queries, product listings, sales and the funnel show the job the customer is solving, where the pain appears, what blocks the choice and why a purchase is repeated or falls through.
Product economics
We tally the full cost of complexity: changeovers, logistics, packaging, stock, service, returns and promotions — on top of price and margin.
Product hypotheses
A new format, a new line, a flagship, SKU rationalization, a modular platform, M&A, a change of channel or launch approach.
Choosing the bets
We compare hypotheses on market, economics, feasibility, risk, time to impact and demands on the team.
Roadmap and governance
What we do over the next 10 weeks, 6 months and 2–3 years; where a product committee and gate-review decisions are needed.
Research and hypothesis validation
If the data is insufficient, we fold research into the project: in-depth and JTBD interviews, analysis of reviews and search demand, surveys, concept/product tests and checks of packaging, price, value proposition and channels. That way the product bets rest not only on the team’s internal expertise but on validated customer needs.
Frequently asked questions
Our clients and partners
Market leaders, state corporations and leading business schools
We’ll review your product portfolio and tell you whether you need a full strategy — or whether a diagnostic is enough to start
Send a request — we’ll reply within one business day.
Contacts
We work directly with owners, CEOs and senior leadership.