It comes down to doing one thing: listen.
This is not true for all products, of course, but some. Here are examples that I thought would be interesting.
1. We had released our Bay Rum which was our first product. Customers loved it but I would get feedback on occasion, "Hey, can you modify it a little so it has more burn to it? I love having a good burn to my aftershave!" This went on here and there and I just had one thought: "Well, I am not going to mess with a successful formula... Maybe I will come out with a second one that is all about the burn." That is what led to our second most popular product right here:
2. We had aftershaves in Bay Rum, Cat O' Nine, and Lime. I wanted to start work on another aftershave but was not sure which scent. So I did some market research by asking and listening. I went to two retail locations of the chain, Art of Shaving. I browsed around a bit and then asked this question: "Forget product popularity - when you only consider scent, which scent is the most popular?" In the case of both locations the response was the same. "Oh it is not even close, Sandalwood is far and away the most popular scent." And so, next up was this:
3. Our ceramic lather bowls had been a hit for some time and yet once in a while I would hear back from a customer, thus: "My cat knocked it off the counter / the cleaning lady dropped it / my three-year-old was playing with it... have you ever thought about making an unbreakable lather bowl?" I passed this off for a couple of years and then started mulling it over. "Unbreakable but it needs to fit with the vibe of our brand, hmmm." Plastic was out, stainless steel was out, wood does not like getting wet every day - what would be oh so right? I recalled seeing a Turkish copper cup that some guys used for shaving. The process began and took six months but we ended up with an entire line of copper lather bowls and customers have responded. So much so that I have emails describing the tug-of-war that ensued with their Better Half when the box was opened. "I want to put poupori in it! That is a nice accent piece for the living room! Can I put my car keys in it by the front door?" And so we now have this:
I saw in online stores that high end soap makers have custom ceramic containers that their product is retailed in. When the soap is gone you can get refills to put back into the treasured ceramic container. The idea is that it is more than something to hold the soap, it is a presentation piece that enhances any shave den. Customers clearly loved the opportunity to upgrade the look beyond a plastic soap container. So we brought out what we dubbed a Soap Locker in our most popular color, Gunmetal. Often I read about guys "chasing" the soap around the bottom to load their brush so we added prongs in the bottom that the soap puck is impaled on for easier loading.
Especially during the holiday season we would get inquiries from ladies seeking feedback on what they should get for the man in their life. A family member with many years in retail assisted on this one. She said that for birthdays, Valentine's Day, Christmas, anniversaries, etc. the recipient is a guy but the customer is a lady. Ladies just want to make the purchase, not learn all about a whole category of products that they are not that interested in. Make it easy I was told. Have gift sets with no choices. So we added four different Gift Sets and they are a real time saver for customers.
This last one did not involve me listening as much as it did ruminating on who my customers are. "What else does a guy need or want that ties into our brand?" I kicked the idea of a mug around but it needed to be distinctly nautical and I was not sure what that would look like. After several prototypes and half starts we came up with a real winner. Mind you, nobody comes to our site looking for a coffee mug but once they see it - well, it is game over!
I hope that gives you some insight on how products end up being developed and released. I will say this: For every product in our store today there are twice as many that were failures. So don't get the impression that we whip something up and customers hand over the cash. It is far from that, believe me! Generally a new items fails, that is normal. But if you keep at it long enough one will stick and then another. Eventually after spending a lot of time and effort and money you end up with a store. Even then that store will have items that need to be closed out as we are doing presently with our line of shave balms. Slow and gradual change is normal plus it keeps things fresh and interesting for the customer!
This is not true for all products, of course, but some. Here are examples that I thought would be interesting.
1. We had released our Bay Rum which was our first product. Customers loved it but I would get feedback on occasion, "Hey, can you modify it a little so it has more burn to it? I love having a good burn to my aftershave!" This went on here and there and I just had one thought: "Well, I am not going to mess with a successful formula... Maybe I will come out with a second one that is all about the burn." That is what led to our second most popular product right here:
2. We had aftershaves in Bay Rum, Cat O' Nine, and Lime. I wanted to start work on another aftershave but was not sure which scent. So I did some market research by asking and listening. I went to two retail locations of the chain, Art of Shaving. I browsed around a bit and then asked this question: "Forget product popularity - when you only consider scent, which scent is the most popular?" In the case of both locations the response was the same. "Oh it is not even close, Sandalwood is far and away the most popular scent." And so, next up was this:
3. Our ceramic lather bowls had been a hit for some time and yet once in a while I would hear back from a customer, thus: "My cat knocked it off the counter / the cleaning lady dropped it / my three-year-old was playing with it... have you ever thought about making an unbreakable lather bowl?" I passed this off for a couple of years and then started mulling it over. "Unbreakable but it needs to fit with the vibe of our brand, hmmm." Plastic was out, stainless steel was out, wood does not like getting wet every day - what would be oh so right? I recalled seeing a Turkish copper cup that some guys used for shaving. The process began and took six months but we ended up with an entire line of copper lather bowls and customers have responded. So much so that I have emails describing the tug-of-war that ensued with their Better Half when the box was opened. "I want to put poupori in it! That is a nice accent piece for the living room! Can I put my car keys in it by the front door?" And so we now have this:
I saw in online stores that high end soap makers have custom ceramic containers that their product is retailed in. When the soap is gone you can get refills to put back into the treasured ceramic container. The idea is that it is more than something to hold the soap, it is a presentation piece that enhances any shave den. Customers clearly loved the opportunity to upgrade the look beyond a plastic soap container. So we brought out what we dubbed a Soap Locker in our most popular color, Gunmetal. Often I read about guys "chasing" the soap around the bottom to load their brush so we added prongs in the bottom that the soap puck is impaled on for easier loading.
Especially during the holiday season we would get inquiries from ladies seeking feedback on what they should get for the man in their life. A family member with many years in retail assisted on this one. She said that for birthdays, Valentine's Day, Christmas, anniversaries, etc. the recipient is a guy but the customer is a lady. Ladies just want to make the purchase, not learn all about a whole category of products that they are not that interested in. Make it easy I was told. Have gift sets with no choices. So we added four different Gift Sets and they are a real time saver for customers.
This last one did not involve me listening as much as it did ruminating on who my customers are. "What else does a guy need or want that ties into our brand?" I kicked the idea of a mug around but it needed to be distinctly nautical and I was not sure what that would look like. After several prototypes and half starts we came up with a real winner. Mind you, nobody comes to our site looking for a coffee mug but once they see it - well, it is game over!
I hope that gives you some insight on how products end up being developed and released. I will say this: For every product in our store today there are twice as many that were failures. So don't get the impression that we whip something up and customers hand over the cash. It is far from that, believe me! Generally a new items fails, that is normal. But if you keep at it long enough one will stick and then another. Eventually after spending a lot of time and effort and money you end up with a store. Even then that store will have items that need to be closed out as we are doing presently with our line of shave balms. Slow and gradual change is normal plus it keeps things fresh and interesting for the customer!
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