Finding where a kitchen appliance could be worth more

The question

A home appliance maker wanted one of its kitchen appliances to be worth more to the people who choose it.

The category team had two priorities: which kinds of value to build into future versions, and how to raise the appliance’s standing with buyers in the meantime. Both depended on why people buy one, how they choose it, and why some renovators decide to go without.

Our approach

We heard only from people who had recently renovated a kitchen and made the decision on this appliance themselves, so every account came from a choice still fresh.

Online activities started from the kitchen people were trying to create before turning to the appliance, and online conflict groups then had owners and non-owners argue for and against having one, so each side’s reasons met the other’s.

In the UK, Germany and Poland alike, we heard from keen and reluctant cooks, and people led by looks as well as by function, so the read would hold across very different kitchens.

What the team came away with

The category team had innovation territories for future versions of the appliance, and a map of where its value could grow.

Each territory started from what people want their kitchen to be, and could be weighed against the reasons people give for going without, because non-owners had been heard as fully as owners.

With the territories came a read of how people choose the appliance, from planning a kitchen to the moment of purchase, and ideas for raising its standing in the meantime, compared across all three markets.

The team could set future product work and nearer-term marketing against the same evidence, from the same people.