Consumer attitudes toward European small appliance designs in the U.S. market

¶ … innovative designs, I would design the research around customer reactions to these designs. The products already exist in Europe, so they could be sent to the U.S. For testing. Consumers could be exposed in person and asked for their responses to the products, up to and including the intent to purchase. This could be done using focus groups, but the major drawback to that method is that there may be groupthink with respect to the product. Some groupthink could help simulate accurate market response, however. Group methods could be blended with individual interviews that allow the company to gauge both responses and demographic/purchase behavior information.

Some of the interview could be quantitative in nature, where scores are given for the value of attributes, but more open-ended questioning is preferred. Open-ended questioning would allow the company to get accurate, instinctive responses from consumers with respect to the product. A set of answers is less desirable, because these answers may not be the real reason for a given consumer response. When understanding consumer preferences, it is sometimes beneficial to allow the consumer to best frame the response.

Q8.

Study of Small Appliances

November 9, 2010

Interviewer Name

Screening Requirements: The prospect should be the decision maker with respect to appliances/kitchenware. The prospect should have the financial means to make such purchases. The prospect can be of any gender, race, and age over 18.

Demographic Questions: Age, gender, ethnicity, income, occupation type, employment status, household size

Product/Brand Usage/Purchase questions: How frequent does he/she use such products? What brands are in the home now? How old are these products / how often are kitchen appliances purchased? What attributes are preferred in kitchen appliances? Is the person satisfied with their kitchen appliances?

Lifestyle Questions: How often does the person cook at home? his/her spouse? How sophisticated is the cooking? What types of foods are cooked? Questions can also be asked that are product specific (i.e. how often do you use your blender for smoothies; hand blender for soups, etc.). Ask about styling in general -- the importance of styling in furniture and home decor. Inquire what the customer thinks about the styling on the products that they are presented with. A control group could be asked blindly, with another group informed that the styles are European, to see if there is any cachet associated with that designation.

Attitudinal and Knowledge Questions: Do you prefer European styling? Do you like the styles you see? If functionality is the same, would you prefer the European style or the American style? Which colors do you prefer? Can you rank the colors in order of preference? Is there anything you do not like about these styles/colors?

Articulation and Creative Questions: What do you like about these styles? What do you not like? If you used these devices, do you think you would enjoy it more than your current device? How much would you pay for these devices -- more, less or the same as normal devices?

Termination: Thank you for participating in this survey, your help is very much appreciated.