Robert Meyer - Faculty Research in Knowledge@Wharton

The Upgraded Digital Divide: Are We Developing New Technologies Faster than Consumers Can Use Them?

Wed, 05 Oct 2005 16:04:41 EST

TiVos and Treos and BlackBerrys. Wi-Fi and HDTV and plasma screens. Picture phones, digital cameras, iPods and now iPod cell phones. Complexity among consumer technology products has never been greater -- a good thing if the complexity means product improvement. But Wharton experts say new bells and whistles pose challenges to businesses and consumers alike. Complexity -- along with choice -- can have a big impact on how firms make and market new and improved gizmos, and on the decision processes of the people expected to buy them. Are we at a point, one commentator asks, where the next innovation will actually be the idea that ease of use is the most compelling feature of tech products?

An Elusive Goal: Identifying New Products that Consumers Actually Want

Wed, 15 Dec 2004 15:34:52 EST

Campbell Soup Company spent five years developing a new consumer product called Soup in Hand that its marketers say "changed the way consumers think about soup." Sony Electronics went on a successful quest to develop an even smaller first-generation Walkman. At Merck, it took nearly 20 years to create and launch Singulair, an asthma medication prompted by a Nobel Prize-winning study. And at Coca-Cola, 20 to 30 new products may be in the pipeline during any given year, but their order is constantly shifting. Executives from all four companies recently participated in a panel entitled, "New Product Marketing: Tomorrowland - The Consumers of the Future," organized by the Wharton Marketing Conference.

Retailers Expect Strong Holiday Shopping

Wed, 05 Nov 2003 14:18:18 EST

Chances are good that Santa Claus will leave a nice gift under the tree of

America

’s retailing industry this holiday season, but stores shouldn’t expect anything too extravagant. While the consensus view of experts at Wharton and elsewhere is that holiday sales will be up this year compared with 2002, several factors, including the absence of a hot new toy or electronic gizmo, suggest that it will be a respectable, not a blockbuster, season.

Which Customers Are Worth Keeping and Which Ones Aren't? Managerial Uses of CLV

Wed, 30 Jul 2003 00:00:00 EST

Managers have long been interested in weeding out customers that they consider to be less profitable than others. The question is, how do managers determine who belongs in that group? According to several Wharton marketing professors, there is no easy answer, despite new and increasingly sophisticated efforts to measure what is called �Customer Lifetime Value� (CLV) � the present value of the likely future income stream generated by an individual purchaser. CLV, it turns out, is hard to calculate and harder to use.

No Crystal Ball � or Historical Precedent � Can Help Predict Consumer Confidence

Wed, 26 Sep 2001 00:00:00 EST

How the events of September 11 will affect consumer spending and saving is anyone�s guess, although in the short-term at least, the arrows seem to be pointing down. Whether consumers regain their confidence depends on a number of factors, say Wharton faculty and industry representatives. A stable stock market, a return to routine and a restored sense of security could all help generate a rebound.