Every product experience is of course unique, but each also offers learning that can be leveraged by others.
This month we go deep into the Power Leash™ weighted exercise system now in Petco stores, sharing the behind-the-scenes story and lessons from its launch.
The light-bulb moment
Husband & wife inventors Nick and Paula Benson enjoy spending time with their bulldog Lola and poodle Elvis. They also enjoy staying fit. One day, hoping to get in more of an arm workout, Paula tried to “power walk” with hand weights while also leading one of her pooches on a retractable leash. It was an awkward endeavor. So she asked Nick to fashion an all-in-one device to do it right.
The challenges
Nick’s prototype worked well. And the more the two thought about it, the more excited they became. So they filed for and later received a patent. The couple set up a website to sell their product. But no retailers came knocking on their door. And the couple didn’t want to invest large sums of time and money to market, manufacture and broadly distribute their creation.
The successful outcome
The couple sought help from AbsolutelyNew, which decided to license the Power Leash after finding others didn’t fully appreciate its potential. AbsolutelyNew’s development team refined the design and added features to increase its appeal. Now PETCO is putting it in hundreds of its larger stores within the next week, with a bunch of other AbsolutelyNew innovations, and other stores will follow in 2010.
The key lessons
This experience is both unique and typical. It also offers lessons for just about every inventive person. The Top 5 lessons:
1. Couple up. Most independent inventors tend to work alone. The Bensons in working together were able to build off each other’s thoughts and ideas, much like we do at AbsolutelyNew. Keep in mind that invention doesn’t need to be a lonely affair, and can in fact benefit from a team approach if you work well with someone.
2. Be trendy. This invention dovetails with two big consumer trends: more people are bringing pets into their lives, and more people are looking for ways to get daily exercise. Being “on trend” provided a strong foundation for sales. Pursuing the next fad isn’t likely to pan out—after all, they can pass overnight—but synching with a trend or two can pay rich dividends.
3. Add value. The Power Leash is more than a standard retractable leash with weights. AbsolutelyNew designed a new double-action leash control for single-finger control on the move, and added a small pouch for storage and reflective piping for safety. Adding features can get pricey, but a limited number of upgrades can add significant value and spark more sales.
4. Fit retailers. The Power Leash also holds a roll of waste bags inside its storage pouch. We added this primarily to encourage responsible pick-up. But a secondary factor was knowing that leading retailers are keen to sell more high margin bags. If you can tweak your design to better serve retailers’ needs, it will almost always serve you too.
5. Shop factories. The manufacturing team vetted many factories before selecting one to make the Power Leash. Its pick: a factory with extensive experience in retractable leashes. As you plan your production, look beyond what a factory says it can do and focus on what it’s already proven it does well—you don’t want a factory learning at your expense.
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