When students of my entrepreneurship course ask me, “How can I come up with more good ideas?” I always tell them, study the marketplace. I believe that great innovations evolve from studying the products that already exist in the market, thinking about how they can be improved, and by asking, what do consumers need and want? It’s really that simple. And that’s why I write over and over again about how important it is to do research and understand buying habits before you use your creativity to come up with new ideas. Recently, a major fast food corporation really drove that point home for me. KFC, as you might have read or seen on TV, debuted an ingenious new product this month: The Go Cup.
I’m a product designer — so when I read that The Go Cup, which holds smaller, snack-sized portions of food, fits 83% of all car cup holders, my mind was blown. KFC spent two years designing this product! It has a slit at the bottom that can be collapsed to fit different car cup holders, because there is no industry-standard size or design. The Go Cup also conveniently separates the different kinds of food you order from comingling. The Go Cups cost less (about half of the price of the cheapest meal that was on the KFC menu) and there are five different varieties. Wow! I thought. How has no one come up with this idea before? It seems so obvious: People love to eat in their cars, because it’s fast and convenient. How great would it be if it were less messy? If you didn’t even have to work your hand into a paper bag on the passenger seat or your lap? If you could just grab a quick snack, instead of ordering an entire meal?
But KFC didn’t just rely on an assumption that their consumers yearned for a snack that was easier to eat in their cars. Their team gathered data that proved that a new innovation was needed. They learned that consumers wanted a snack that was a protein, portable, sold for a low price, and that didn’t need utensils. At the same time, KFC knew that about half its sales were being made by drive-through customers. And according a consumer research firm that surveys eating behavior, Americans order 21% of all their meals out from their cars! That’s an enormous market. KFC did their research. And they delivered a product that is going to be a smash, if the media blitz that has erupted in response is any indication. The Go Cups even look like mini buckets – they managed to extend their brand even while debuting a new line.
I haven’t ordered one yet, but examples of great, marketplace-based product design are all around us. The answers are in the market! Keep looking for them.
Originally published on Entrepreneur.com October 15th 2013.
