Designing a product to capture a new market segment

The Intel® Consumer PC Platform Group was looking to explore a new product concept idea and better understand its viability in the market. The “MyTop” product concept is a multi-use device that centers around activities in the consumer’s kitchen, but would have the flexibility to be used other places within the home as well. The most recent example of the product is the ASUS Eee Top released January 2009 (pictured above).

Opportunity:

Help Intel understand the viability of a new product concept by answering the following questions:

Do consumers envision this new product as something that would add value to their lives?

How would they use a product like this?

What features do they find most important?

What would they pay for such a product?

What type of industrial design is most appealing?

Approach:

Stakeholder Survey

We conducted a survey aimed at key stakeholders to provide feedback about their perception of the viability of the product concept, including key product features, pricing and recommendations for next steps.  We designed it so the results could be analyzed by the stakeholder’s area of expertise and background to ensure the product development team could make best use of the outcomes of the survey. 

Focus Groups

We designed the “MyTop” focus groups to include participatory design and contextual response to the product concept, features and industrial design wherever possible.  We are interested in not only hearing what people say they will do, but to also in observing what they actually do.  This allows us to gain deeper insight into how a product may or may not resonate with users in the real world.  We targeted participants based on not just traditional market demographics but also deeper held values, beliefs and lifestyle attributes.  This helps us to better understand who the potential target market for this product might be and what types of features and activities they perceive as adding meaningful value to their lives.

Conceptual Prototyping

We helped design low-fidelity conceptual prototypes for the focus group activities along two fronts.  One set of prototypes allowed participants to engage in participatory design, “building” their own products in various ways according to their usage priorities.  The second set allowed them to respond to industrial design, mobility and in home use.

Pricing Strategy

We helped Intel understand the pricing elasticity for both high end and standard versions of the product concept. More than that, we engaged the users in participatory design activities to gain insight into deeper pricing questions such as which features and/or offerings are key value triggers – i.e. what would experiences would the product need to enable for them to consider buying it?

Solution:

Empirical delivered a comprehensive report out of user feedback for the Intel “My Top” product concept, including the key value propositions of the product, factors in purchase decision, top usages, as well as the key barriers to purchase.  Intel used this information in discussions with its OEMs and fellow travelers to identify ways that Intel Architecture can enable new consumer experiences.  The information was also used in strategic roadmap decision meetings to understand overall direction of the organization.