Product / concept development: Helping to bring new garden paving to market

The Complication

A European manufacturer of garden paving required support for their development of an innovative new tile. The project objective was to understand and define which developments in the product segment would have the greatest impact on customers with a focus on quality, scratch resistance, cost, overall appeal, easiness of laying, etc… The client received our support along the later stages of the product development process: the discovery, exploration, and physical concept testing among consumers.

The Solution

We conducted 45 in-depth face-to-face interviews with consumers in France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK. During the interviews, we stimulated the respondents to think about the ideal garden paving and we presented the respondents with four different tiles from our client. We explained the benefits of all four tiles and asked their opinion about it. Due to this approach (face-to-face interviews) we had the opportunity
of having our respondents actually touch and work with the products. USP has developed success criteria to filter winning concepts and prototypes. This tool is the framework for making “go/ no-go” decisions throughout product development.

The Insight

As result of this research, the client received detailed information on:
• The most valuable assets of each concept, product improvements and enhancements a future product could and should meet
• Unmet garden paving needs throughout the market
• Brand perceptions of the client’s products/ brands
• The routes to market and most effective marketing messages, channels and product pricing used for product development