Market Research and "Product-Commodity" Design

-- Zhang Nairen, Department of Industrial Design, Beijing Institute of Technology

In our country, market research is booming.

Dr. Serry Hadd of the US Gallup Company once stated in an article on the Chinese market survey: “When a company has more information about the market information of its industry and its products, information The higher the quality, the greater the likelihood of its business success."

In the era of handicraft production, the scale of production enterprises is very small, and there are few intervals between the designers and producers of products and consumers, and the information is consistent. Often, the producers themselves are both designers and manufacturers, and they are marketing staff. They always directly face the consumers, and they can directly understand the opinions and various demands of the consumers on the products and redesign and reproduce accordingly. In order to meet the different needs of different consumers, expand its consumer market.

After the industrial revolution in the 18th century, due to the rapid development and progress of science and technology, the continuous expansion of the scale of production enterprises has made the division of labor of enterprises more and more detailed, and the designers, producers and marketing staff of the products are no longer in one, only sales. People often face consumers directly, and designers and producers gradually move away from consumers and sales markets. They cannot directly hear people's opinions and voices on products. Therefore, they use specialized social surveys to obtain information on sales markets and consumers. In order to carry out redesign and reproduction accordingly, it becomes a must for modern designers and producers.

At present, with the continuous development and maturation of China's market economy, more and more corporate decision makers have realized that the traditional sales methods formed under the original planned economic system have been unable to adapt to the current market economy. Construct a big market. In this market, instead of relying on a top-down national plan to determine the production of its enterprises, it depends on the changing market conditions, that is, the status of the consumer market, to determine its production, and the market's sales status. Ultimately, it depends on the needs of consumers. Therefore, they began to realize that only by constantly understanding the market's supply and marketing information and understanding the needs of the vast majority of consumers, then relying on the feedback of these information, that is, relying on the analysis and research of these information from the survey, and relying on the The comparison of objective and scientific data, the re-enactment of a new production plan, and the development of new products can enable production and supply and marketing to coincide, resulting in a harmonious and good market cycle. Once people understand the importance of market information, the market investigation of this emerging issue has begun to be widely used and adopted by major Chinese economic companies.

With the general understanding of market surveys by companies, various forms of market surveys of varying sizes have begun to spring up in some economically developed cities. Due to the rich connotation of market research, complex operating procedures, and strong professionalism, specialized agencies for the specific implementation and operation of market research have emerged. They have emerged as companies, firms, etc., many of which have emerged. It is run by a design company and an advertising planning company. At present, companies with market research as their main business are expanding their scale and their customers are also increasing. Their business volume is increasing year by year. This not only shows that the business concept of Chinese companies is gradually updating with the changes in market conditions, but also shows that China’s market economy is developing vigorously. The emerging market research is bound to continue to develop. stand up.

The overall scope of market research is very large, from the product's design, production until entering the market into a commodity, and then sold into the daily supplies of consumers, this entire process of circulation, and the "product-merchandise The production companies, designers, producers, sales personnel, and consumers are the objects they want to investigate and focus on.

From the point of view of the product itself as a commodity, any "product-commodity" has its "life cycle", that is, the "product-merchandise" cycle formed by the market introduction period, growth period, maturity period, and recession period. The "product-commodities" of different periods have their own characteristics. During the lead-in period, new products have not been recognized by the majority of consumers, and sales and profits have been relatively small. However, due to the added value of “novelty” as their possession, the price is relatively high. During this period, there is very little competition. When it entered the growth stage, it was gradually recognized and accepted by more consumers. Although it was still in the early stages of sales, its sales volume and profits soared, prices began to flatten, and its competition increased. By the time of maturity, sales have peaked, profits have begun to fall, prices have fallen due to the loss of “novelty” added value, and competition has decreased. When it entered a recession period, sales began to drop sharply, profits fell to a low point, and only by relying on price-reduction measures and other means to maintain sales volume, they lost their competitors. Only by fully understanding and mastering the different characteristics of "product-commodity" in these different periods and adopting corresponding countermeasures can business decision makers adapt to their different changes and keep themselves in an active position and always be invincible. For example, when "product-merchandise" begins to decline from maturity to recession, corporate decision makers should try to slow down the rate of decline and delay the arrival of its recession. At this stage, market research should be used to find out the problems that “products-merchandise” will have during the mature period and develop targeted marketing strategies in time. For example, re-inspect and correct the corporate identity system and formulate corresponding tactics. ......

In short, only through adequate market research and understanding of the market's supply and marketing and consumer demand can we use the more objective and scientific criteria to give our products the proper and correct “positioning” so as to provide them with “displacement”. And the possibility of development. Only with the correct product concept, the plans and ideas of producers and designers can be realized, and the companies can remain invincible in the competition.

The general form of market research is to conduct extensive and in-depth investigations and gather necessary information and data from the relevant circumstances concerning the design, production, and marketing of enterprise products, etc. On this basis, experts will Data and data should be subject to an objective analysis and assessment, and the investigation report should be written accordingly and submitted to the decision makers of the company for reference when making new plans.

Market research also has its own different special forms. The main connotation of the survey can be divided into two types. The first is that it focuses on collecting economic information in various aspects, such as the impact of current national economic policies on the consumer market, and the specific conditions of marketing, etc., and conducts macroscopic studies based on objective data and data obtained from the survey. The development trend of the consumer market. To conduct market research from this perspective, the main consideration is the issue of “quantity” of products, that is, investigating and researching the occupation of various products in the consumer market and the future market demand. The second is to focus on collecting consumer opinions on the product itself, such as opinions on the quality of the product and the design of the product, and on the reasons for satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the product so that the producer and designer can Opinions, re-design and production, and on the basis of satisfying consumer demand, make products further expand their consumer market. From this perspective, market research mainly considers the "quality" aspect of the product, that is, investigating and investigating whether the quality, shape and color of various products are loved by consumers, so that they can be improved in redesign and production. The intrinsic quality of its products and the aesthetic appearance of external forms make consumers more satisfied and willing to purchase, and through the continuous improvement of products, improve the quality of life of consumers and meet their rich aesthetic needs, so that the production of products is not only The production of materials is also the production of spiritual civilization.

The market research that will be discussed further below is the connotation of “quality” that focuses on market research and focuses on the design factors therein.

In the modern society, people’s lifestyles and living connotations are increasingly rich and varied, and people’s demand for consumer goods is also more varied. As the productivity of the society has grown tremendously, the competition among manufacturers has become increasingly fierce. Not only in the improvement of production technology, changes in sales methods, etc., but also expressed in the upgrading of products as much as possible and in line with consumer needs and aesthetic needs, to win the consumer and consumer markets. All this has determined that the design of a product cannot always maintain its “old face”, but it must be continually refurbished to meet the changing market needs. Therefore, this gives designers more and more demanding requirements, and also provides market research with indispensable and relevant product design aspects.

Design, from the complete concept of "product-commodity design", its connotation goes far beyond mere "product design." The latter refers only to the design of the product itself, while the former further includes all the commercial value design that should be displayed for the product as a commodity, ie, the packaging design of the product, the advertisement design of the product, and the environment for the point of sale of the commodity. And window design and so on. Therefore, the tasks undertaken by designers in the “product-commodity” design should always change with the continuous changes in the “life cycle” of “products-goods”. There must be no need to ignore and pause, and, The design at each stage is not an isolated design. It should focus on the entire product-product circulation. If the designer does not understand the basic common sense of the company’s proprietary social survey content, and cannot always learn the circulation of the entire “product-goods” from an effective social survey, he will not be able to focus on the overall situation in his designs. Therefore, it is impossible for "product-commodity" to spend its "life cycle" in its best state because of its excellent design. E.g:

The shape of the product is the "prototype" of the product that the designer initially needs to consider and design. Because a product is limited by its own internal structure and the cost of external molds and production processes, it is impossible to constantly change its basic style, which determines the form of a product, and it will inevitably be required in the product's life cycle. From novelty to obsolescence, from the "import period" to the "destiny" fate. In order to effectively postpone the arrival of its "recession period," the designer must consider how to arrange the final fate of the product in his initial design. Under the premise of maximizing the use of the original mold, without excessive capital investment and without affecting the cost of the product, the designer can first carry out its design in the form of “preserving diversification” in the design of the mold itself. Design split molds that can be recombined and replaced so that the product can be locally changed in its shape and performance at any time with its basic shape and overall performance unchanged, enabling the same product to be multi-species and multi-functional. Series of products with various varieties of colors