Abstract:

The process from bench testing to national roll-out of consumer products is expensive and time-consuming, sometimes resulting in market-place disappointment. A resource-intensive component of new product development  is the cost of consumer evaluation of product alternatives. The incremental process of improvement, that usually characterizes the product development activity, can be significantly enhanced by rapid and cost-effective feedback on product performance during product development. If the timing of consumer feedback can be reduced from two or three months, which is typical of consumer product testing timing, to one or two weeks at signifcantly reduced cost, the product developer can explore many more options and increase the eventual likelihood of success in shorter timeframes. The purpose of this report is to explore a tool that may provide new product development and positioning guidance in a fraction of the time and cost of typical product testing scenarios.