ID Product Design to blend at any price point.

1. W H I T E P A P E R
Balance
of cost,
quality and
aspiration:
A must at any
price point
Senior management “Principles of Marketing” course
at Indian Institute of Management (IIM)
Shombit Sengupta
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2. The balance of cost, quality COST DESIGN
and aspiration at any price Material cost is difficult to control because of market
dynamics such as inflation. There will always be a
point of any product or service bunch of competitors in any product category, but
is a must for tomorrow’s material cost could be the same for everybody. How
can one player overcome another?
forward looking marketing.
The selling price of any
product or service is a big
factor for target customers,
whether the category is low
or high priced.
Cost Quality Aspiration
Most people do not
flaunt money without having
the appropriate result from
any product.
Humane industrial design, is
the balance of the 3 elements
of cost, quality and aspiration.
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3. A strong cue to get customer mindshare is
added perceptible functional benefit.
This can change the volume game.
Production cost decreases when you
have more volume.
ID Product Design is based
on the ideology of “reduce
effort, increase comfort.” which
obviously adds functional
benefit for the user.
sports shoes, ink for pen to refill ball pens,
typewriter to computer, carbon copy to
photocopy, cash payment to card payment
among many others.
The pulley system is an ideal
metaphor of reduce effort,
increase comfort, which in But usage superiority is not a matter of
customer usage experience, automation or scientific lab work; rather it is
about understanding the consumer in the
changes the paradigm. psychological lab.
The unsaid aspect in any product usage
Excellence of functionality is the crux in the is the microtone functional improvement
evolution of ID Product Design. parameters that customers perceive.
Examples that effectively display functional
That’s why, to understand gaps in
excellence ranges from the steam engine functionality, we need the combined
to TGV, propeller planes to supersonic physiological and psychological balance
Concorde, basic canvas keds to Nike of consumers.
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4. Humane industrial design
is discovering the unique
functionality that customers
care to use, such as an air
bag in a car.
The consumer’s mind always moves
towards 2 baskets, the generic or unique.
An analogy for the unique find is the gold
micro particles mixed with sand or hidden
in rock, while something very easily found
is the generic.
Generic In any price segment,
whether it is high
or low, if the functional
superiority is obvious
and universal, it would
mean volume sales
Unique
will grow. This would
automatically
bring down the cost
of production.
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5. QUALITY DESIGN:
It’s no longer true that only A product should visibly reflect its
sophisticated, expensive products will quality in the customer’s hand. This will
have quality. encourage the customer’s confidence
as the quality of the product’s hidden
Customers get multiple options in the
mechanism cannot be seen at the
market today where both quality and
moment of purchase or during usage.
reasonable cost meet their expectation.
People discover its intrinsic quality with
In buying Chinese products customers
the passage of time.
don’t expect quality beyond a certain
limit as they think they are gaining in The proven example of how
better price advantage. the manufacturer has never
compromised on quality is
A branded mass product has to assure
the $ 30 Swatch watch which
unconditional quality during its durable
usage cycle. Otherwise the customer
has never failed in any quality
gets placed in a trade off situation parameter. And Swatch is no
between a Chinese product and a well less in aspiration than any other
known branded product. costly watch.
Rado Tag Heuer Swatch $ 30 Rolex
$ 7000 $ 4000 $ 10000
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6. ASPIRATIONAL DESIGN People’s aspiration
Aspiration is an important element for
sales growth. Once upon a time, it was the
level shot up
aspiration of royalty or feudal lords that
decided on functionality excellence.
significantly after
World War II. The
free economy is a key
driver for the growth
of aspiration. The
growth of industry and
globalization led to an
obsession for mass
production to have
Feudal Lord
When democracy came, the economic control over the global
level of people rose, and product
functionality became a factor for multiple
market. From the
societies to express through their
purchase behaviour. This was the
value game, it became
beginning of the creation of the mass
market.
the numbers game.
Car ownership limited to only rich People’s car “Volkswagen” in mass
people before World War II production unit after World War II
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7. How can we bring this aspiration to every
price point through humane industrial design?
Even seemingly irrelevant distribution logistics system can totally
destroy the business result of humane industrial design products.
See how Swatch customises its store according to the locality.
Swatch store in
Time Square,
New York Swatch in Soho,
New York
Here aspiration can be transcended
from multiple areas such as
functionality beyond expectation,
high order intensity in user
friendliness, touch and feel of
the product, in aesthetics which
amount to high craftsmanship and
the skill of art in business.
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8. If you only think of business, art will
escape you; and with art alone you
will not make business. You require
the finesse of art that drives business
through design.
A technical tool makes only a stereo typed An artistic tool for thinking of humane industrial
industrial design product design can create high volume products
So design that sells a product has
3 components:
• Cost design with uncommon functional superiority
• Quality design at any price point
• Aspirational design at any price point
But the perfection of these 3 designs depends on
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marketing design, in how, and in what context, you sell
the product.
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