How Two Housewares Manufacturers Increased their Odds of New Product Success

I conducted online surveys among my proprietary panel of HomeTrend Influentials for two different clients this month.  The survey methodology (the online survey) and the people who took the survey (HomeTrend Influentials) were the same for both studies.  But, that is where the similarities ended. 

Client A is at the pre-development stage.  Before they come up with new product concepts, they want to figure out if there are need gaps, that is, if the products that are on the market today are meeting the needs of consumers or if there are some problems that current products are not solving as well as consumers would like them to.   Client B is at the end of the product development stage, trying to determine which of three different package designs they should go with.  

Both clients were able to get their questions answered through the online surveys.  Client A can now focus on developing new product concepts that solve the consumers’ problems better than what is already on the market.  Client B now knows which package design is going to be most effective at getting the product to fly off the retail shelves.

By doing these online surveys, both clients have now increased the odds that their new products are going to succeed.  They’ve done what Phillip Kotler, the world’s foremost marketing management guru, advises in his book Marketing Management: “if the marketer does a good job of identifying consumer needs, developing appropriate products, and pricing, distributing and promoting them effectively, these products will sell very easily.”   Client A has identified consumer needs and Client B is figuring out how to promote their product effectively.

Using tools such as online surveys and the HomeTrend Influentials Panel, I can help you identify consumer needs, develop appropriate products, and price, distribute and promote them effectively so that you greatly increase the odds that your new products are going to succeed.

If you want to greatly increase the odds that your new products are not just successful, but are wildly successful, contact me today for your comprehensive complimentary no-strings-attached telephone consultation.

Is there a need for an unbiased and comprehensive online resource for housewares product information and solutions to common household problems?

When I was walking the International Home + Housewares Show back in March, I noticed that All Clad was introducing a new slow cooker at the eyebrow raising price of $150.  I wondered if anyone would actually pay $150 for a slow cooker.  Since several members of my HomeTrend Influentials Panel were at the show with me, I decided to ask them that question.  To my considerable surprise, they said that they would consider paying $150 for a slow cooker if they were convinced that it was a much better slow cooker than less expensive ones. 

“How would you determine that it was much better than less expensive alternatives?” I asked them.  “That is the problem,” they replied, “there really is no way to find that out before you buy.   Except for Consumer Reports, there is no really good place to go to find out how small appliances stack up against each other.  We’d probably talk to our friends to see if anyone had purchased an All Clad slow cooker.  We wish there were a web site where we could go to get product reviews ... like what Amazon does with books.  It would be so cool to be able to go to a web site to find out what people think of small appliances once they have had a chance to actually use them.”

I thought about that conversation when I saw a video of an interview with Emrah Kovacoglu, CEO and Founder of Total Beauty Media, Inc.  In the interview, he said he launched TotalBeauty.com – which he described as “CNET meets WebMD for the beauty industry” – because there is a huge need for an online resource for beauty solutions and information.  He told interviewer BNET’s Dog and Pony show host Zorianna Kit, “Women are just overwhelmed by the amount of beauty products that are launched every year.”

At the same time, according to Kovacoglu, “marketers are looking to reach beauty consumers online ... but can’t find contextually relevant web sites to place their ad dollars.”

Kovacoglu believes that Total Beauty Media sits at the intersection of the needs of beauty products consumers and beauty products marketers.  Beauty products consumers are looking for objective product information online; marketers are looking to reach those beauty products consumers online.

I wonder if there is an opportunity to do in housewares what Kovacoglu is doing in the beauty products industry, a housewares version of TotalBeauty.com. 

I have no doubt that there is a need from a consumer standpoint.  Making a decision on what new slow cooker (or sauce pan or vacuum cleaner) to buy can be as overwhelming as making the decision on what new moisturizer to buy.

I wonder if there is a need from a housewares marketer standpoint.  Are housewares manufacturers looking to reach housewares consumers online and not finding, as Kovacoglu put it, “contextually relevant web sites to place their ad dollars?”