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DEVELOPING NEW BUSINESS IDEAS216

actual needs (do they have a mouse problem?), customers’ perceived
needs (people who have mice but are not aware of their existence), the
definition of ‘better’ (style-conscious customers may consider that a
better mousetrap offers designer hues rather than enhanced technical
effectiveness) or the effort of beating the path (is customer perception of
product value strong enough to outweigh the effort of obtaining the
product?). Lack of acceptance by customers of apparently superior
products will often represent a major potential stumbling block.

overlooking the basics Sometimes the block lies in customers’
inability to make use of the innovation.

lack of acceptance by customers of
apparently superior products will often
represent a major potential stumbling block

Boo.com created a technically brilliant internet concept for selling
fashion goods online, including zoom and 360° rotation facilities, a
mannequin which you could dress in the clothes which you were
considering, and so on. The ultimate success of the venture was
doomed, however, by customers’ lack of access to computer facilities of
sufficient power to take advantage of the complex functionality. Early
estimates indicated that less than 25 per cent of those who tried to
access the website actually succeeded. Macintosh users could not
access the site at all, which hardly fitted the brand positioning of ‘geek
chic’.

the fear of the radically new At other times, the block lies in
customers’ fear of embracing the radically new. This realisation led
Edison to position the new technology of electrical lighting as an
added-value version of existing gas lighting. Similarly, Sony recognised
that a major implementation block to launching the Sony Walkman was
its new-to-the-world nature, which might intimidate customers. Its
creative response was to employ actors to use the Walkman in the main
park in Tokyo, thereby ‘normalising’ the product’s use.

Discount broker Charles Schwab recognised that security concerns on
behalf of customers represented a major block to implementation. The
provision of instantaneous computer confirmation eliminated that
obstacle. By the same token, Schwab identified that customers