The argument for Market Research

I sometimes get asked: What, exactly, is market research? From now on, I think I'll just use this as an example of why a business would want to do market research on a new idea:

From The Economist:

International hotel chain Holiday Inn is offering a trial human bed-warming service at three hotels in Britain this month.

If requested, a willing staff-member at two of the chain's London hotels and one in the northern English city of Manchester will dress in an all-in-one fleece sleeper suit before slipping between the sheets.

The bed-warmer is equipped with a thermometer to measure the bed's required temperature of 20 degrees Celsius (68 Fahrenheit).

Holiday Inn said the warmer would be fully dressed and leave the bed before the guest occupied it. They could not confirm if the warmer would shower first, but said hair would be covered.

Holiday Inn are promoting the service with the help of sleep-expert Chris Idzikowski, director of the Edinburgh Sleep Center, who said the idea could help people sleep.

Now, I do my fair share of sleeping in hotel beds and I spend much of my time trying NOT to think of the different people who have slept in my bed and what they may have been doing in that bed before I checked in. So to know that there was definitely another person in your bed moments before you entered the room is a little disgusting...and creepy.

Return to Simplicity

I've noticed a trend in the grocery stores lately: processed foods becoming less, well, processed. Or, at least, the perception of being less processed.

It started with Hagen-Daas, with their new "Five" ice cream. The ice cream only has five ingredients, giving a feeling of being pure and more natural. I bought into the hype and it is pretty good ice cream (although Breyers also has about five natural ingredients and is quite a bit less expensive. And can you really get any better than Breyers Vanilla? No, no you can't.)

And then today I see that Pillsbury is jumping on the bandwagon, with their premium ready-to-bake cookies. They also have about five ingredients, but beware - the five main ingredients are bolded in the ingredients section and each are followed by several ingredients in parentheses. Which brings their total ingredients up to about twelve. But they tout all natural ingredients, no high-fructose corn syrup and all natural flavors.

I've seen this same trend in Starbucks and, to a certain degree, at McDonalds. There seems to be a move away from all those ingredients you can't name and to something more natural.

I guess this is good- people know that all those added ingredients can't be good and aren't found in natural foods. People want to eat healthier. People want to get back to basics - not only with their finances but with their food, too.

Of course, nothing can beat the real thing you make in your kitchen. No preservatives, no MSG, no corn syrup. All ingredients found in nature.