I haven’t read your comment yet on the interview, but will do so. One thing to note if you are going to be a category creator, then it usually takes more money and time to gain awareness, trial etc. These categories usually take off when a competitor or 2 enter the market as there are now 3 brands promoting the segment. The inital brand can get the most lift from this as they were the first.

Usually there is market and trend data available especially for your type of product as well as trade magazines, press, industry reports, maybe Ibis data and look at overseas data eg. US for trends. For compeitors do searches, if sold in supermarkets there is data available to buy. Also buy each of the competitor’s product and compare them with yours including the claims they make. I will look at the Human Intelligence Taks.

If you need further information just email me.

Susan

Have you heard about the concept category creator? Example: First ordinary travel suitcases and then they added wheels to them. It was first catered to the aviation personnel so they could move their luggage in a quick way. Then it got popular with the travelers and how you almost see wheels on every luggage.

The company I have started to work with is belonging to “the fruit juice segment which is part of the total beverage market.” They also have fine bottled water and a new “category creator” that is really a specialized product within the fine water niche. (For more information on seabuckthorn and fine natural mineral water, click on my name.)

What kind of tools are you using in order to identify viable market niches, including competitors, customers and trends? I am thinking of testing to get date through “Human Intelligence Tasks” powered by Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. I have been talking with Brent Frei of SmartSheet regarding this matter.