Views from the Hills by R. E. Stevens, GENESIS II (The Second Beginning) E-Mail views@aol.com

The Preferred Product just may not be the Product of choice

Now doesn't that sound stupid? I must agree it does at first thought. However, if we think about it, it is true more often than not. I am reminded of a time in my vice president's office when he was expounding on the virtues of quality. His position was that quality leads to preference which leads to market success. My reply was to ask that he look out his window at the parking lot and tell me what percent of the employee's owned vehicles that were among the top ten models of quality on the market? There were very few. While quality is important, there is a considerable number of other important variables.

A good friend, Ken Dysart, the director of Proctor & Gamble's Paper Division R&D, actually had note pads made up that contained the saying, "Technical Studies Never Predicted Consumer Acceptance, Ever!" The culture Ken and I grew up in was to break down all the elements of a product and maximize each to make sure the elements worked in harmony. For instance with a liquid dishwashing detergent, we would look at each physical property (odor, color, viscosity, etc.), end results (cleaning, shine, skin care, etc.), packaging (durability, functionality, communication, etc.), economics (cost, amount per use, volume, etc.), habits and practices, and more. A dishwashing detergent may clean far better than anything else available but that is no indication of the market effectiveness of the brand.

Last Saturday in a twenty-minute period, there were two examples that drove home the above thinking. I had just finished working out and was about to shower. In the shower we have three brands of body wash. All three are good or they wouldn't be on the market and all three are acceptable to my wife and I or we would not have purchased them. When comparing the three, I have a strong preference for one over the other two. However, I noticed that I use the preferred brand only about ten percent of the time. No, not because it is more expensive. Because the container requires that I remove a screw cap. The other two have flip top caps. The one I use most frequently not only has a flip top cap, but it also sets upside- down on the shelf so that as the amount left in the bottle becomes less, it always has the product at the dispensing end.

After shaving I noticed that I actually have three aftershaves and again the preferred brand is the one I use the least. Why? For the same reason as the body wash, the convenience of the container. The preferred that is used least is Canoe which has a screw cap. The one I use most frequently is Drakkar which has a spray dispenser.

Bottom line is that I'm fickle. But how many others out there are also fickle? Basic product quality is only on of many elements making up consumer choice. In the examples above, it was utility over preference among a group of acceptable brands. 


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