From the course: Consumer Behavior Trends: Meet the Postmodern Consumer

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Today's consumers don't distinguish between sellers vs. buyers

Today's consumers don't distinguish between sellers vs. buyers

From the course: Consumer Behavior Trends: Meet the Postmodern Consumer

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Today's consumers don't distinguish between sellers vs. buyers

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- Most companies work pretty hard to keep customers away until a new product is absolutely, positively ready to enter the market. In many cases, that's the opposite of what they should be doing. In fact, a lot of companies, especially in industrial businesses, have long recognized that their best customers also are their best product developers and often even their best salespeople. It turns out that a majority of new product ideas in industries like chemical products initially come from customers rather than the companies that supply them. This technique is sometimes called crowdsourcing and it's the real deal. A popular example of crowdsourcing in a consumer-facing business is Threadless, a company that makes graphic t-shirts. On its online platform, aspiring designers submit ideas for new shirts and the community votes on the one they will buy. Because Threadless only makes the t-shirts that people say they intend…

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