I was impressed because here was a company that had developed a product that met a genuine need that was not being met by any product currently on the market. I was even more impressed when I found out how the product came to be developed. The product concept was conceived by the company’s Designing Women consumer panel. These women were involved in the entire design and development process from product concept stage to final production stage.

These women were also instrumental in getting the product into Target. According to General Manager Scott Pyle, Target was hesitant to take the product at first. But then the Designing Women mounted a successful grass-roots consumer campaign that convinced the retailer that there would be consumer demand for the product. As a result, Target agreed to take the Open It.

I really hope that other housewares companies will take a page from Zibra’s playbook. Zibra is a company that firmly believes that they need to listen to the consumer….something I’ve been preaching for years. The company so firmly believes in the importance of getting consumer input that they have made a long-term commitment to involving real consumers in the product development process from start to finish. That’s why the company created their Designing Women nationwide research program: “to tap into the phenomenal wealth of ideas women can bring to the product design process”, according to the company’s web site.

Zibra has taken the plunge and has established their own proprietary consumer panel. But creating and maintaining a consumer panel is no easy task. As the folks at Zibra will attest, it takes a lot of time, effort, and money to keep a consumer panel running smoothly and to keep panel members happy and motivated.

Are you intrigued by the idea of involving real consumers in your company’s product development process, as Zibra is doing, but don’t really want to have to maintain your own proprietary consumer panel? Then call me (602)840-4948 or e-mail me. My HomeTrend Influentials Panel can do for your company what Zibra’s Designing Women panel is doing for them.

Consumers Don’t Just Do Online Research For Expensive or Complex Purchases

A new study found that shoppers are not just doing online research on complex purchases like digital cameras or expensive purchases like cars. Shoppers are even doing Internet research on routine consumer packaged goods decisions. According to Media Post’s Marketing Daily, the study, which was conducted by Prospectiv, a Woburn, Mass.-based lead-generation company, revealed that 70% of survey respondents had researched brands before buying them at the grocery store. Typically, these consumers went online looking for information or savings.

The full article can be found by Clicking HERE