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Decide where to compete, and how.

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Home / Commercial Strategy / Product & Service Strategy

Decide what to offer, who it should serve and how it should compete

Product and service decisions shape where a company competes, which customers it serves and how it creates value. Making those decisions requires a clear view of market opportunity, buyer requirements, competing offerings and commercial viability. We bring these perspectives together to guide decisions about new offerings, established products and services, and the wider portfolio.

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Market opportunity and requirements

Which markets, segments and use cases should the offering address, and what will it need to succeed?

We assess market size, growth, trends and segments alongside the needs and use cases the product or service could address. We examine the outcomes buyers value and the criteria they use to compare available options, then evaluate competing offerings, capabilities, strengths and limitations against those requirements.

Offering strategy and economics

What should the offering deliver, how should it compete and can it support a sustainable business?

We develop recommendations on the markets, customer groups and use cases the offering should prioritize, together with the role it should play within the company’s wider business and portfolio.

The work can define the features, capabilities and service elements required to meet buyer expectations and create meaningful differentiation. Revenue models, pricing, costs, investment and delivery requirements can also be assessed to establish commercial viability.

Portfolio direction

Where should the company invest, make changes or simplify?

We assess products and services against market potential, customer relevance, competitive strength, commercial performance and strategic fit. Recommendations identify which offerings to invest in, improve, combine, maintain or retire.

Established offerings can also be reviewed against changing market conditions, buyer needs and competing alternatives to determine what should be updated, extended or replaced.

How we work

Product and service strategy is developed with the people responsible for the commercial, operational and financial decisions behind the offering. Our process typically includes:

  1. Define the decision
  2. Assess the opportunity
  3. Understand the buyer
  4. Evaluate the competition
  5. Assess the business
  6. Develop the recommendations

Engagement formats

Projects and retained services

Defined strategy work supporting a new offering, the review of an established product or service, or a broader portfolio decision.

Fractional team

We can work alongside leadership, product and commercial teams over time, providing research, strategic analysis and support for ongoing offering and portfolio decisions.

Our experience

Variant1 is built on product and service strategy experience across global technology companies, professional services firms, software businesses and growth-stage companies. This includes product-strategy insights and recommendations for some of the world’s largest technology companies, new product introduction, the review of established products that no longer reflected market needs, service strategy, and the development of a software offering from initial concept through minimum viable product and customer use.

Our work has combined market opportunity analysis, segmentation, buyer needs and selection criteria, competitive capability assessment, targeting, differentiation, feature priorities and financial modelling.

From evidence to market

Product & Service Strategy draws on our Market Intelligence, Competitive Intelligence and Customer & Buyer Research services.

It can form part of a broader Growth Strategy and lead into Market Entry & Go-to-Market Strategy, Positioning & Messaging and Marketing Strategy. Variant1 can also support the marketing and sales activity used to introduce and grow the offering.

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