Project Description

“Identify ways to produce market differentiation against competitors in a tough market”

THE CONTEXT OF THE RESEARCH

A world leading refrigerator compressor company wanted UniqueView to help them Identify ways to produce market differentiation against competitors based on consumers and business partners future needs in this highly competitive industry. Our client was developing of a new compressor technology, and they wanted to validate if the benefits that they were foreseeing for this project answers end-users real needs or aspirations. They, also, wanted to find out how much is the consumer willing to pay in a refrigerator with the benefits provided by this new technology. Beyond this they sought to better understand their customers perspectives on:

  • Refrigerator usage
  • Purchasing considerations and motivations
  • Purchasing behaviors
  • General price considerations
  • Would consumers pay a premium for value-added features?
  • Value propositions & applications for different types of refrigerator
  • The value they place on various features of a refrigerator

OVERVIEW

To meet these objectives UniqueView proposed the following three areas of focus for the study:

  • Ethnographic research with Chinese customers, covering the range of refrigerator types needed. Go into user’s homes to understand them in their worlds.
  • , shop-alongs and interviews with retailers.
  • Customer learning, interviewing Chinese OEMs (Haier, Hisense, Whirlpool, Kinghome).

PHASE 1 – Ethnography Interviews (In-home and accompanied shop)

In-house interviews are particularly relevant for this project as the interview involved seeing the respondent in their home environment and demonstrating how they use their refrigerator. Being close to their refrigerator’s allowed them to discuss their likes, dislikes, issues and needs within the context of their actual refrigerators, without needing to rely on memory. They could also show us what they meant while discussing.

PHASE 2 – In-depth interviews with OEMs

UniqueView conducted a series of in-depth interviews with OEMs who have extensive experience and an in-depth understanding of the industry in China. The goal of this step was to gain primary research information from industry insiders which helped us understand their perception towards retail pricing key influential factors and channel pricing factors, as well as expected future trends in the industry.

PHASE 3 – In-depth interviews with Retailers

Additionally, UniqueView met with retailers and interviewed them, along with being shown around their stores. The aim of this step was to gain an in-depth understanding from retailers of the refrigeration from a retailers perspective. which helped us gain an understand consumers key purchasing considerations, along with factors affecting retail pricing.

PHASE 4 – Online Surveys

As a next step, 1,600 online surveys were conducted across a number of key cities in China to test and rank the attractiveness refrigerator features, along with how much consumers would expect, or be willing to, pay for each ‘value adding’ feature.

CONCLUSION – Analysis and Reporting

Finally, our consultants synthesized all the information gathered from both the qualitative and quantitative parts of this project to produce two full reports that helped our client to understand if the benefits that they were foreseeing for their new compressor technology answered end-users real needs or aspirations, including recommendations to help our client with the strategic decisions they are likely to face in the China market in the near future.