"Assortment Styler is the only research tool that could provide us with a systematic and quantified overview of the trends within home design, with the detail necessary to provide insights beyond color and general style. It has been an invaluable tool for better streamlining our resources in product development to ensure the best possible fit into overall home décor trend direction.”
Growth Through a NEW Multi-Dimensional Perspective
(This is the first is a series of articles in reaction to reader responses to a survey we ran “What do you want to know about research”. Thanks to everyone who responded!)
Do you feel like your business is locked into a niche you can’t get out of? Do you lack ideas for new products or new directions? Are you finding success with your new introductions? Are your new introductions knocked off by the start of the next selling season? Do you face barriers to growth that seem insurmountable: pricing limitations, design limitations, limited retailer acceptance, limited consumer acceptance. Research has many ways to address such multi-faceted challenges. Research, nearly any type of research, can break you out of those logjams. Research will deliver NEW understanding, NEW insights, a NEW perspective and clarity which will lead to a NEW vision and NEW solutions.
Most companies are product focused, even if they actively try not to be. They can’t help it. A product-centered worldview focuses on the array of products you offer. It is bogged down in small questions regarding features, design and pricing. It is focused on which retailers are selling which products in which volumes and what needs to be done to keep those retailers happy. It is focused on cost reductions and profit enhancements, often in difficult times.
Now imagine you could see your category from an entirely new perspective. Imagine that you could see all the consumers who purchase the category, why they purchased and how they use the product. You would see your consumers demographically so you would see who they are. (Are they primarily Mother’s who are buying for their families? Are they serious cooks? Are they younger, older, a mix? Are they upscale, midscale? Do they live in cities, suburbs? Do they own their homes? Rent?) You would see how they use the product. (Some rarely use it, some use it every day. Some never use certain features. Others want features that no one offers.) You would understand why they bought the product they bought. (Maybe they didn’t know about your product. Maybe they did research. Maybe their research was limited to Amazon only. Maybe they bought on impulse, never having given the category any thought. Maybe they bought because they saw an Instagram post praising the product. Maybe they saw a YouTube video about it.) Do you see all the dimensions that you don’t see if you are not doing research?
Do you see how those dimensions could readily lead to NEW solutions? How you might decide that you don’t have a product that’s suitable for Moms? Or for couples? Or for renter households with small kitchens? Or for upscale households who want all the bells and whistles? Of for display on countertops? Or for storage under counters. Do you see how your internal debates on which of three features to add for next season could be pointless if consumers have no interest in any of them? Do you see how there could be a market gap that is not well served by any product on the market? Do you see how a current product category can open a path to new product concepts or categories for your brand? Perhaps through meeting the needs of a consumer segment that you currently serve well and which would be open to new products from your brand?
Do you see how much you don’t see when you don’t have the NEW multi-dimensional vision provided by research? Call 609.896.1108 or email us today (Rick@designres.com Janine@designres.com) and we’ll help you to help your management understand how research can bring new vision to your product and marketing efforts.