For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

The Consumer Product Strategist's Guide To Segmentation Analysis

Don't Leave Segmentation To The Market Research Department Alone

by J.P. Gownder, January 15, 2009

Segmentation analysis is the hardest task in market research — and it's the most important research that consumer product strategy professionals will use. Segmentation means not treating consumers as one unified market with identical needs, desires, and . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Vista Will Enter The Market On High-End PCs

Early Adopters To Turn To Sony And Toshiba For Stylish Vista-Powered Machines

by J.P. Gownder, January 26, 2007

Windows Vista will first benefit niche players in the consumer PC industry. Natural winners will include vendors of high-end PCs like Sony and Toshiba, whose products will appeal to the nearly one-third of online consumers who show early awareness of . . .

For Consumer Market Research Professionals

Best Practices In SOHO Research

Maximize The Precision And Usefulness Of Small Office/Home Office Studies

by J.P. Gownder, May 14, 2007

Market researchers often ask Forrester about how to precisely measure the market opportunity for their products among small office/home office (SOHO) buyers. The best approach? Disaggregate into five subgroups: consumers who work from home, formal telecommuters, . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

US Digital Camera Owners Move Photos Online

The Internet Has Become A Key Medium For Photo Storing, Sharing, And Printing

by J.P. Gownder, Alexander Hesse, April 2, 2008

With more than six in 10 US individuals owning a digital camera, digital photography has gained mass-market status in the US. Digital camera owners are happy snappers who take about 28 photos per month, and they transfer nearly all of them to a home computer. . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

The Future Of Apple Inc.

By 2013, Apple's Product Mix Will Make It A Credible Hub Of The Digital Home

by J.P. Gownder, James L. McQuivey, Ph.D., May 22, 2008

Consumer product strategists frequently ask Forrester how Apple's product strategy will evolve: What will Apple's product portfolio look like five years from now, and how is Apple preparing for that future today? Forrester notes that Apple has completely . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

Marketing The Socially Responsible PC

Dell And Microsoft Bolster Their Consumer Product Brands With (RED)

by J.P. Gownder, February 21, 2008

Dell is offering PCs, with Microsoft's Windows Vista software, cobranded with the (RED) campaign, a philanthropic effort to combat HIV/AIDS in Africa. This type of social responsibility marketing appeals to a brand-loyal group of US consumers. Women, . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

Acer Creates A Global Titan With Gateway

This Strategic Move Will Thwart Lenovo And Give Dell And HP Real Competition

by J.P. Gownder, August 28, 2007

Acer's announcement that it will acquire Gateway is a clever plan, as Acer simultaneously improves its brand recognition, channel reach, and opportunity for gains in margin. Like IBM Deep Blue, Acer strategists calculated several moves ahead in the global . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

European IPTV Forecast, 2009 To 2014

IPTV's High Growth Rates Are Coming To An End

by Laurence Meyer, September 23, 2009

IPTV adoption in Western Europe will continue to enjoy dynamic growth between 2009 and 2014 — 19% per year — resulting in 20.3 million IPTV households in 2014. However, during that period, the dynamics of the IPTV market will change: The main growth factors . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

US Internet Access Forecast, 2009 To 2014

Broadband Reaches Maturity, While Dial-Up Goes Gentle Into That Good Night

by Doug Williams, November 9, 2009

Nearly 16 million new US broadband subscribers will emerge over the next five years, but more than half of those will come in the next two years. Due to slowing organic growth, the Internet access market will be characterized by shifts across platforms. . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

US Mobile Forecast, 2009 To 2014

Growth Will Continue Despite Looming Subscriber Saturation

by Charles S. Golvin, Seth Fowler, November 6, 2009

Mobile phones and networks have reached near-ubiquity in the US. Despite a paucity of new subscribers to sell service to, mobile operators will continue to reap the benefits of the advance of their technology over the coming five years. Postpaid subscriptions . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

European Digital TV Forecast, 2009 To 2014

Competitive Pressure In The Western European TV Market Is Going To Intensify

by Laurence Meyer, October 2, 2009

2009 to 2014 will see the end of the TV digitization process and an intensification of competition in the Western European TV market. Although the basics of TV reception in Europe will not change a great deal during that period, TV service providers will . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

What Makes A Netbook?

Shifting Technologies And Industry Players Blur PC Category Boundaries

by Paul Jackson, February 11, 2009

Netbooks were a major success story in 2008, propelling brands like Acer, ASUS, and MSI into the public consciousness. Inevitably, with success come me-too devices, consumer confusion, and some disappointment with what these early netbook iterations can . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

Case Study: Levi Strauss & Co. Exposes Its Environmental And Social Responsibility

A Global Vision For E&SR Product Strategy Drives Product Differentiation

by Sally M. Cohen, May 19, 2009

Levi Strauss & Co. has engaged in concerted environmentally and socially responsible (E&SR) product strategies since the early 1990s — but it rarely informed its customers of its market-leading E&SR behaviors. Over the past two years, Levi . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

Preventing DSL From Becoming The Next Dial-Up

by Doug Williams, February 26, 2009

Over the past two quarters, new US cable broadband subscribers outpaced new DSL subscribers by a margin of more than four to one. Although low cost, fast speed, and the convenience of a bundle are the top purchasing criteria for both DSL and cable broadband . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

Preserving Commercial TV Revenues In A Down Economy

Use The Internet, Interactivity, And Consumer Participation To Offset TV Advertising Budget Cuts

by Laurence Meyer, March 27, 2009

Western commercial TV broadcasters are currently facing an apparent paradox: While consumers will stay home and watch more TV during this recession, TV advertising will experience a worsening downturn anyway. With their budgets also tightening, commercial . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

Environmental And Social Responsibility In Consumer Product Strategies

How Central Is Environmental And Social Responsibility To Your Product?

by Sally M. Cohen, April 6, 2009

Consumers are increasingly aware of issues surrounding environmental and social responsibility (E&SR) and are making purchase decisions that take these into account. For this and other business reasons, consumer product strategists are leading the . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

Driving Consumer Product Innovation

Introducing Forrester's Consumer Product Innovation Viability Scorecard

by Paul Jackson, April 10, 2009

We are entering a period of near-unprecedented change in the consumer product space — available technology, global markets, and new levels of consumer engagement are clashing head-on with recessionary spending pressures, new competitors, and a raft of . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

Inquiry Spotlight: Consumer Wireless Strategy, Q3 2009

by Julie A. Ask, Seth Fowler, November 19, 2009

Mobile is rapidly expanding as a medium for interacting with consumers, and it will only continue to do so. Many of Forrester's nontelecommunications clients — from the travel industry to consumer product goods to automotive companies to financial firms . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

Consumer Product Strategists Target Generations

Age Cohorts Play An Important Role In Consumer Product Strategies

by Abe Garon, Doug Williams, October 9, 2009

Consumer product strategists today often employ a generational lens when developing product strategies. Forrester's panel data reveals that consumer product strategy (CPS) professionals believe that generational targeting will only become more important . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

Social Media For Product Development

by Paul Jackson, September 29, 2009

While much has been written about the marketing potential of social media, we often overlook how firms are using the technology to help innovation and product development. How do you actually capture the "wisdom of crowds" and use "crowdsourcing" to drive . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

Reaching Consumers Who Will Help Product Development

Where And Who Are Those Key Social Media Users That Can Help You Deliver New Killer Products And Services?

by Paul Jackson, October 21, 2009

Having established a need or desire to engage with a consumer community to help product and service development, how do you find, target, and engage the appropriate people? Locating the right channels, forums, and communities is not hard, but this should . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

Mediaset Gets Italians Used To Pay TV

Mediaset Premium Ignites The Italian Pay-DTT Market With Prepaid Cards

by Laurence Meyer, September 17, 2009

The launch of digital terrestrial TV (DTT) in Italy in 2004 gave leading Italian commercial TV broadcaster Mediaset the opportunity to diversify its activities; it launched Mediaset Premium, a TV service that offers premium TV content, in January 2005. . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

The Who/What/Where Of WiMAX In The US

by Doug Williams, October 1, 2009

After years of anticipation and temptation, true WiMAX has officially arrived. After a slow initial rollout to four US markets in the past year, network expansion has accelerated, with as many as 22 new markets expected to come online in the last four . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

Taking Digital Music To The Mainstream: The Music Product Features For The Living Room

by Mark Mulligan, November 6, 2009

The iPod heralded a new paradigm in music consumption, but it has done little to counter the impact of the CD's terminal decline; it may even have helped accelerate it. Although mobile music now looks set to start delivering on some of its promises, it . . .

For Consumer Product Strategy Professionals

Case Study: How HP Drives World-Class Product Innovation

Openness And Tight Management Define HP's Innovation Process

by Paul Jackson, September 21, 2009

In HP's 70-year history, it has innovated in many new and established technology fields. But how does the firm cope with the inevitable slide — faced by most dominant global firms — into driving established products rather than innovative ones? Whether . . .