final project for hbs launching tech ventures course
TRANSCRIPT
Sweatshop free and sustainable
Do good
Fair Trade and Organic cotton
Look good
Designed to be flattering • Sophisticated – not distressed • Fit models size 8 • Construction – wide waistbands • Fabric - stretchy
Handmade details
Kismet Denim better-fitting jeans for sophisticated women
Julia Kastner 4.24.2012
Tested hypotheses to inform product design
Business goal: To serve affluent, sophisticated women 30+ and reduce production costs we can reduce denim washing and treatment processes:
Hypotheses:
• Women 30+ prefer dark jeans
• Women 30+ prefer fewer “whiskers” or artificial creases
• Women 30+ prefer less bleach
• Women 30+ prefer pencil legs or skinny jeans
• Women 30+ prefer simple but branded pockets
• Women 30+ prefer pockets without sparkles
• Hypotheses hold true for both premium ($100+) and non-premium jeans
K
K
Chose test design – conjoint vs. survey
Conjoint • breaks a product concept
into relevant attributes
• estimates the value potential customers attach to each attribute
• Powerful
• Analyze each attribute independently of others
• Expensive • ($1,500 student tool)
• Recommended • sample size = 400 • (by Survey Analytics)*
Survey • Show two pairs of jeans
• Ask survey taker to choose preferred picture
• Mix premium and non-premium
• Low cost
• Relatively easy to implement
• Learn basics about product features
• Difficult to write and ask non-biased, objective questions
• Hard to recruit representative respondents
Decided this was not feasible
Chose to conduct a survey
Advantages Disadvantages
*Conjoint research from Jack Geiger, Survey Analy<cs. 360.471.5514
Made and conducted survey
Filtered for age group: Asked participants to choose between pairs of jeans styles:
$89 un-‐distressed jeans (Banana Republic)
$200 distressed jeans (Seven for All Mankind)
110 responses 35 age 21-29 75 age 30+
Sample questions: coating, color & legs
Light vs. Dark
Coated vs. Clean
Skinny/Pencil vs. Boot/Flair
Survey results - styles
Percent chose style: Total Age 21-29 Age 30+
Clean ($60) (vs. distressed with whiskers)
68% 80% 62%
Dark ($89) (vs. very light $200)
94% 97% 92%
Distressed, coated rear ($69) (vs. clean $179)
26% 17% 30%
Boot cut/flair ($179) (vs. skinny/pencil $179)
41% 31% 54%
No bleach ($179) (vs. bleached knees $179)
65% 74% 61%
• Most women prefer dark jeans, clean styles
• Women in 20’s prefer skinny; women 30+ are divided between skinny & boot
Survey results: pocket branding & design
Percent chose pocket: Total
(79 women) Age 21-29
(31 women) Age 30+
(48 women)
Seven for All Mankind ($200) (vs. no brand)
55% 51% 57%
Levi’s ($50) (vs. no brand)
63% 59% 65%
True Religion ($200) (vs. no brand)
16% 12% 18%
Sparkle ($179) (vs. design without sparkle $179)
18% 6% 24%
Bigger pocket ($50) (vs. no brand)
59% 44% 66%
• All women prefer pockets with simple designs like Levi’s and Seven’s
• Women preferred Levi’s pocket slightly more than a clean pocket
• Most women surveyed do not prefer True Religion pockets over plain pockets
• When shown pockets without designs, women 30+ preferred bigger pockets
• Used understanding of pocket preferences to inform ongoing graphic design of jeans pockets
• Using preferences around colors to inform wash development process – darker colors
• Using preferences around leg shape to inform sample development – will make both bell and pencil samples
Progress made against business objectives
General lessons learned
• Conjoint is really expensive and difficult for an entrepreneur! But potentially solves survey problems.
• Surveys can surface customer preferences – providing surprising results and confirm/disprove hypotheses
• Hard to know if sample is representative, sufficient – especially when comparing 2 populations
• Nuances of writing surveys – some questions were misleading – when more than one attribute was even a little bit different (e.g. one pair distressed AND darker) hard to disaggregate preferences