Potential of virtual worlds for marketing tests of product prototypes

摘要

For manufacturers of physical goods, conducting market tests of product prototypes to assess consumers' preferences can be costly and complex. To some extent, production and logistic processes need to be in place, not just the marketing rationale. We put forth the hypothesis that virtual worlds may be a feasible environment to conduct early market tests of product prototypes for some physical products. The rationale for this hypothesis is that such tests with virtual versions of product prototypes may be conducted with minimal overhead, based on resources from marketing and design departments, without resources from production or logistics. They could be a first filter or selection process to determine which product prototypes demonstrate better acceptance by the public, with reduced costs and complexity. An expectation is that by having simpler and less costly tests, a wider variety of product prototypes can be considered, and test number and frequency increased, supporting better information gathering. A central question in this regard is the level of similarity between the preferences of the public when presented with virtual items, in comparison with the actual physical items. To attain data about this, we carried out an exploratory study, creating a set of both virtual and physical prototype versions of a physical product: t-shirts. We then invited virtual-world users to experience the virtual t-shirts on their avatars and express their preferences. Finally, we presented users with the option to buy the physical t-shirts with their own money, at promotional cost (as a reward for participating in the virtual trial), but explicitly told them, as they held the various physical versions in their hands, that they could change their preference at no extra cost. The results identified the level of similarity and differences between buyers' preferences in these two situations, pointing to the significant potential of using a virtual world to conduct market tests to assess consumers' preferences on prototypes of physical t-shirts.