need to supply lab people with information on what attributes consumers seek and
how consumers judge whether these attributes are present.
When the prototypes are ready, they must be put through rigorous functional tests
andcustomer tests.Alpha testing is the name given to testing the product within the
firm to see how it performs in different applications. After refining the prototype fur-
ther, the company moves to beta testing.It enlists a set of customers to use the pro-
totype and give feedback on their experiences. Beta testing is most useful when the
potential customers are heterogeneous, the potential applications are not fully known,
several decision makers are involved in purchasing the product, and opinion leader-
ship from early adopters is sought.^25 Here are some of the functional tests that prod-
ucts go through before they enter the marketplace:■ Shaw Industries At Shaw Industries, temps are paid $5 an hour to pace up
and down five long rows of sample carpets for up to eight hours a day, log-
ging an average of 14 miles each. One regular reads three mysteries a week
while pacing and shed 40 pounds in two years. Shaw Industries counts walk-
ers’ steps and figures that 20,000 steps equal several years of average wear.■ Apple Computer Apple Computer assumes the worst for its PowerBook cus-
tomers and submits the computers to a battery of indignities: It drenches the
computers in Pepsi and other sodas, smears them with mayonnaise, and bakes
them in ovens at temperatures of 140 degrees or more to simulate conditions
in a car trunk.■ Gillette At Gillette, 200 volunteers from various departments come to work
unshaven each day, troop to the second floor of the company’s South Boston
manufacturing and research plant, and enter small booths with a sink and
mirror. There they take instructions from technicians on the other side of a
small window as to which razor, shaving cream, or aftershave to use, and
then they fill out questionnaires. “We bleed so you’ll get a good shave at
home,” says one Gillette employee.^26Companies that position products on the basis of their durability even incorpo-
rate functional product testing into their advertising:■ Corelle Dinnerware High durability was the focus of some unusual adver-
tising for Corning’s Consumer Products Division’s Corelle dinnerware. On
five city buses in Phoenix, out-of-home media network TDI constructed a spe-
cial Plexiglas cage, four feet long by one foot high, that housed a Corelle
plate. Within the cage, the plate was free to roll back and forth as the bus
accelerated, decelerated, and took turns.^27Consumer testingcan take a variety of forms, from bringing consumers into a lab-
oratory to giving them samples to use in their homes. In-home placement tests are
common with products ranging from ice cream flavors to new appliances. When
DuPont developed its new synthetic carpeting, it installed free carpeting in several
homes in exchange for the homeowners’ willingness to report their likes and dislikes
about the carpeting.
When testing cutting-edge products such as electric cars, marketers must be as cre-
ative as the product designers and engineers: Rügen, a small island in the Baltic Sea,
has become the testing ground for the cars of the future. Fifty-eight residents of the
former East German island have gone from driving decrepit gas-guzzling cars to sleek
new electric models manufactured by BMW, Daimler Chrysler, and Audi. The Rügen
tests have made the auto manufacturers aware of several problems: Rügen drivers have
found that trips of any length must be carefully mapped out because of the batteries’
limited life. Recharging the batteries can consume anywhere from a half hour to an
entire evening.^28
Consumer preferences can be measured in several ways. Suppose a consumer is
shown three items—A, B, and C, such as three cameras, three insurance plans, or three
advertisements.Developing
Marketing(^346) Strategies