Joan Treistman

Focus Groups Take on New Format

January 25, 2010

FROM RETAILWIRE:
Focus groups 2.0 have arrived. One of the first, and arguably foremost, is based at 3M Company's St Paul headquarters and is known as a "World of Innovation" showroom. What do you see as the advantages and disadvantages of innovation centers versus other research techniques?      [more...]

This article does not describe another focus group methodology. I will spare the readers of RetailWire an academic definition of focus group, but I will comment on the process defined in the article.

Essentially, 3M is redefining customer service as it used to be. If someone called into customer service regarding a product problem, the representative was obliged to let someone in the company know. That person would be back in touch with the customer to work out the problem. Sometimes that resulted in an improved or new product.

3M is bringing customers together to learn about what works and doesn't work. If the 3M representatives are listening very carefully and are equally creative, new opportunities will be revealed.

We don't have to label it focus group research. We can just say that for its new product strategy 3M wants to pay attention to the needs of its customers and this is how they plan to do it.