Frame and Wheel read an interesting article about how the recession has changed the way companies operate. This article is titled Recession Spurs Overdue Repairs and describes how Furniture Brand, a furniture company, decided to let its customers choose what designs of furniture it should produce rather than letting a select group of overfed dealers at a trade show in Las Vegas make the decision. This technique is called "consumer testing" and is actually pretty common in manufacturing. Management made this change (a very radical change for the furniture industry) because some of the company's product designs favored by dealers were in fact not favored by consumers. Consequently, the company could not sell a large part of its production and thus suffered losses.
The idea of customer testing resonates with Frame and Wheel; it seems like a good way to match supply with demand and to learn more about consumers. For the furniture company, customer testing worked like this: in on line surveys, consumers who purchased a line of the company's furniture or who planned to purchase it in the future, were asked to rate proposed designs based on renderings, prices and dimensions. The designs, prices and styles the consumers liked were the ones that were produced. That simple.
Using this technique, Frame and Wheel could learn if consumers really wanted internal cabling or integrated seat posts or BB 30 or whatever the latest detail is; customers would provide a lot information about what is important to them and Frame and Wheel would get a sense about market demand. It could be complicated to implement or maintain, but it would probably be worth the effort.
The idea of customer testing resonates with Frame and Wheel; it seems like a good way to match supply with demand and to learn more about consumers. For the furniture company, customer testing worked like this: in on line surveys, consumers who purchased a line of the company's furniture or who planned to purchase it in the future, were asked to rate proposed designs based on renderings, prices and dimensions. The designs, prices and styles the consumers liked were the ones that were produced. That simple.
Using this technique, Frame and Wheel could learn if consumers really wanted internal cabling or integrated seat posts or BB 30 or whatever the latest detail is; customers would provide a lot information about what is important to them and Frame and Wheel would get a sense about market demand. It could be complicated to implement or maintain, but it would probably be worth the effort.
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