Research Tip: Testing products out of “season”
Posted by Greg Stucky on June 30, 2010
Many products are seasonal products, meaning that they are consumed more or in different ways in certain seasons than others. Conducting consumer research with seasonal products when they are out of season can create some real challenges as well as inconsistent results. To the extent possible a seasonal product should be tested in season. When this is not possible, take a more focused approach to identifying the right people to participate in your research. For instance, we were challenged to conduct consumer research with bratwursts in the winter. While bratwursts are consumed by most during the summer and fall, we were able to identify a smaller segment that grilled bratwursts year round. They would shovel a path to their BBQ whenever it snowed to bring that grilled taste to the table. Bringing in these consumers to taste bratwursts during the winter fit right into their typical behavior and kept the research results consistent even in the off season.