Product development
Production-ready tech packs that factories understand, plus sampling, sourcing, costing, and production readiness.
About
About Product Costing Desk
Last updated: Published by Cydney Mar
Product Costing Desk is published by Cydney Mar, a product development strategist who guides founders from product idea to production-ready product and market launch.
This site is one of a small number of websites Cydney Mar publishes. Its job is narrow: help founders work through product costs, margins, and pricing as they prepare for manufacturing and retail. Her main business website is cydneymar.com.
Who publishes Product Costing Desk?
Cydney Mar publishes it. She is a Montreal-based product development strategist with 45+ years of experience and $300M+ in global product sales across retail, TV, and direct-to-consumer. The guides, calculator, and comparisons here are written by her business, not by an independent publisher.
Why this site exists
Founders rarely fail because the idea is bad. More often they take the right steps in the wrong order: they jump into sampling without clarity, choose suppliers based on guesswork, or ignore margins until it is too late. Costs and margins are where that last mistake becomes expensive, because a product that cannot earn a profit at the price customers will pay is hard to fix after the production order is placed.
Product Costing Desk gives founders the formulas, a free calculator, and published benchmarks to check their numbers early, in plain language, for all three launch paths Cydney Mar has worked in: retail, direct-to-consumer, and TV shopping.
What Cydney Mar does
Business strategy
Business plans and cost structures strong enough for grant and funding applications, and diagnostics to find where a business is leaking opportunity.
Positioning and path to market
Pricing, offer design, and a clear plan to reach a product's first, and next, hundred buyers.
Background at a glance
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Experience | 45+ years designing and building product |
| Sales | $300M+ in global retail, TV, and DTC sales |
| TV shopping | 15+ years selling her own collections on QVC in 8 countries, 800+ hours of live TV |
| Design roles | Designed Cirque du Soleil’s first Boutique Collection; led design for Edwin Jeans in North America |
| Product categories | Fashion, jewelry, bath bombs, scented candles, homewares, paper products, car accessories, vitamins and supplements |
| Advisory | Expert advisor to Startup Canada and the EDC |
| Business | Indigenous-owned, 100% woman-owned product development firm based in Montreal; also founder of Cydney Mar Wellness |
The Concept-to-Reality Pathway
Cydney Mar's program for founders with a product idea who want an expert guide rather than guesswork covers product clarity, the right prototypes, the right suppliers, costs and margins, production readiness, and launching and scaling through retail, DTC, or TV. Prices are not published on this site. Contact Cydney Mar to discuss your product, or read how this site builds its guides.
Run your own numbers in the product costing calculator
Common questions
See all 45 questions in the FAQ- Who publishes Product Costing Desk?
- Product Costing Desk is published by Cydney Mar, a Montreal-based product development strategist with 45+ years of experience and $300M+ in global product sales across retail, TV, and direct-to-consumer. It is one of a small number of websites she publishes, built to help founders work through product costs and margins before manufacturing.
- What is the Concept-to-Reality Pathway?
- The Concept-to-Reality Pathway is Cydney Mar’s program for founders taking a product from idea to a production-ready product and market launch. It covers six areas: product clarity, the right prototypes, the right suppliers, costs and margins, production readiness, and launching and scaling through retail, DTC, or TV.
- Who is the Concept-to-Reality Pathway for?
- It is for founders with a product idea who want an expert guide rather than guesswork. Cydney Mar has created fashions, jewelry, bath bombs, scented candles, homewares, paper products, car accessories, and vitamins and supplements, so the approach is built around physical, product-based businesses.
- How much does it cost to work with Cydney Mar?
- Prices are not published on this site. The way to find out what working together would cost for your product is to contact Cydney Mar directly through the contact page on cydneymar.com and describe where your product is today, such as idea, prototype, or supplier quotes in hand.
- Do I need a product development consultant to calculate costs?
- No. You can calculate costs yourself with the free calculator and the guides on this site. A product development consultant helps most when supplier quotes conflict, when you are unsure what a quote leaves out, or when you need cost structures strong enough for a grant, a funding application, or a retail buyer.
- How do I get started?
- Run your numbers in the calculator on the home page, then read the margin and launch channel guides on this site. If you want an experienced second look at your costs, suppliers, or launch plan, contact Cydney Mar through the contact page on cydneymar.com.