Question

The design of goods and services require the firm or designers to understand the customers' needs and wants. It could be very difficult to solicit the right information from potential customers because sometimes many customers do not even know what they really want. How can you overcome this shortcoming and make your product/service design more relevant in this AI-enabled world?

Answer 1

In the competitive business world it is highly imperative to understand consumer needs and wants as accurately as possible. Understanding their preferences and offering them goods and services that suits their needs is critical for growth. However, it is important to note that consumers cannot describe their needs and wants precisely. Under such circumstances marketing research and observation techniques comes as needful.

Marketers can conduct marketing research to elicit the views of consumers. Focus groups can be good method wherein they can gain insights into consumer wants and needs. In a marketing research, consumers can be given samples to understand their opinions and what modifications can be made to them. For example, a sample of consumer can be drawn and different models of jeans can be shown to them to understand their preferences.At the same time modifications if any in the jeans can be noted.

Another method of reading and understanding consumers is observation method. Marketing personnel can post their functionaries at different places of sale to understand the purchase patterns and consumer preferences. Observation is a difficult method but it gives ground level information of consumer characteristics.