UL’s annual study The Product Mindset 2013 reveals an opportunity for manufacturers in the area of product performance. According to the manufacturers and consumers participating in the study, product performance was ranked at a higher importance for consumers than for manufacturers even though both groups rank quality as their #1 priority.
In a previous post, we highlighted results from the study indicating that 51% of the consumers polled believe that manufacturers use the lowest cost materials for their products, regardless of quality. Quality and performance/reliability are priorities that both groups represented in the report felt were closely linked.
The data indicates that consumers tie quality to performance. “Performance will impact consumer perception of the quality of a product,” comments Prospector food industry expert Jill Frank. But manufacturers rank quality at the top of their lists and put performance at #5. Why? Perhaps manufacturers have a more nuanced view of the relationship between the two.
Do you think manufacturers need to reframe their definition of quality to place a higher priority on including performance, aligning more with consumers? How has the weak economic environment impacted your pursuit of creating products with the best performance? Are retailers more focused on price, and how does that impact your ability to innovate?
Personal Care Industry Expert Priscilla Taylor advises: test products against category benchmarks for quality and communicate the performance to consumers via claims.
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About The Product Mindset 2013
The Product Mindset 2013 is an annual study created to better understand manufacturer and consumer concerns and priorities about the products they make, sell, buy and use. Using data collected from 1,521 manufacturers and 1,528 consumers from the world’s top 10 largest economies, UL is able to offer compelling data that defines the collective mindset. The full report can be downloaded in detail at www.productmindset.ul.com.
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