New
New
Lesson 16 of 18
  • Year 10

Commercial viability: saving space

I can identify and understand the factors in making products commercially viable.

Lesson 16 of 18
New
New
  • Year 10

Commercial viability: saving space

I can identify and understand the factors in making products commercially viable.

These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

Switch to our new teaching resources now - designed by teachers and leading subject experts, and tested in classrooms.

These resources were created for remote use during the pandemic and are not designed for classroom teaching.

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Commercial viability is whether a product can be made, sold, and make a profit in the real world.
  2. Commercial viability helps businesses make decisions about materials, manufacturing, pricing, and marketing.
  3. It ensures the product is realistic, meets customer needs, and can compete with similar products in the market.

Keywords

  • Commercial viability - the likelihood of a product being successful in its target market and making a profit

  • Profit - the money a business earns after paying all its costs

  • Target market - the specific group of people a product is designed and sold for

Common misconception

Commercial viability only relates to how well a product works.

A product can work well or be aesthetically pleasing, but if it’s too expensive to make, doesn’t meet market demand, or won’t sell at a profit, it isn’t commercially viable.


To help you plan your year 10 design and technology lesson on: Commercial viability: saving space, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Use real-life product case studies (e.g., successful and unsuccessful products) to show students how good design doesn’t always mean commercial success. Discuss factors like cost of production, target market, pricing, and demand.
Teacher tip

Equipment

Examples of successful and unsuccessful products.

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

Loading...

Prior knowledge starter quiz

Download quiz pdf

6 Questions

Q1.
What are coatings or treatments applied to a material or product called?

protective films
surface textures
Correct answer: surface finishes

Q2.
Before applying any surface finish to timber, the timber must be properly .

Correct Answer: prepared, prepped

Q3.
The wood cut from trees to use in manufacturing is called .

An image in a quiz
Correct Answer: timber

Q4.
What tool does this image show?

An image in a quiz
smoothing plane
Correct answer: power sander
belt sander

Q5.
When sanding it is important that you always sand in the direction of the .

An image in a quiz
Correct Answer: wood grain, grain

Q6.
Put these grits in order from the roughest to the smoothest grades.

1 - 50 grit
2 - 100 grit
3 - 200 grit
4 - 400 grit
5 - 800 grit

Assessment exit quiz

Download quiz pdf

4 Questions

Q1.
The likelihood of a product being successful in its target market and making a profit is called .

Correct Answer: commercial viability

Q2.
What is the money a business earns after paying all of its costs?

Correct answer: profit
revenue
capitol
expenses

Q3.
The specific group of people a product is designed and sold for is called the .

Correct Answer: target market

Q4.
When should designers research and consider commercial viability of the product?

before they start the design process
Correct answer: during the design process
after the design process
once the product has been manufactured