Sligh-second life?

Dear readers: READ THIS if you do nothing else this Thanksgiving week…and PASS IT ONRob Sligh, well known to many of you as a traditional manufacturer and a leader in our industry has just taken a HUGE LEAP out of …well..something bigger than a box and has had an experience he will never forget.

Through his willingness to take a leap of faith with me into an idea I had about how to conduct primary consumer research using social networking, he has, hopefully, illuminated a path that retailers and manufacturers can follow to cut expenses SIGNIFICANTLY. through co-creation and conversation with real consumers in a virtual world telling you what they want to buy, how much they want to pay for it, what the product should look like and how they want it modified.

Welcome to virtual worlds. Read this c a r e f u l l y.

During the High Point Market this fall, I asked Rob (who, by the way, sits on WITHIT’s Board of Governors and who has two teenage daughters-one of whom was completely involved in this experiment-more about Laura in a minute) if he would be open to listening to an idea I had about how to cut product development expenses by giving consumer a chance to co-create a product line with him in a virtual world called Second Life.

I know…this is WAY TOO MUCH, but it is REAL and when I showed Rob the article from the Wall Street Journal stating the following, he took notice:

1. Sears Holding Corp. opened a virtual store on a site called www.zwinky.com two months ago to sell back to school clothes and DORM ROOM FURNITURE. In the first 16 DAYS, they logged 750,000 visitors and sold 850,000 virtual items. 16 days!!

2. Kohl’s went live on www.stardolls.com in August of 2008, too, with a new virtual apparel collection. In their first 16 days, 2.2 million units of virtual clothing were viewed, 1.8 million units were sold virtually and, most importantly, 97,000 visitors clicked through to www.kohls.com.

This is BRILLIANT marketing. And notice how it is completely measurable. If you want me to copy you on the WSJ article, please email me at leslie@tkpartnership.com

Ok, so here is what Rob and I did together with his daughter, Laura- a budding young designer. Laura is 17 yrs old.

Get ready..this is a head spinner..

There is a virtual world called Second Life. www.secondlife.com. In this world, regular people from all over the world create “avatars” and these avatars can go shopping, seek entertainment, etc. at thousands of places set up by real world companies within Second Life. Currently, there are over 15 million people signed up for Second Life and Second Life’s own website shows you how many people are active over the last seven days, 30 days, etc.

My idea was to use Second Life to co-create a product line with real world consumers who are using Second Life. I went searching online for a company that could guide the process. I found one. Jack Tatar, CEO of GEM Research Solutions in New Jersey runs a serious, professional, focus group “island” in Second Life-the only one. His real world business is to conduct primary research for companies in Second Life along with real world research, as well.

I contacted Jack. He kindly agreed to set up and run a focus group study in Second Life for me. I was able to specify the exact target audience I wanted. He recruited four of the participants and I recruited two of them from my LinkedIn groups. We were set.

Enter Ron’s daughter, Laura- a very, very smart and professional 17 year old who has designed, on paper, a furniture collection for Sligh.

Fast forward. Last Thursday evening, for two hours, Laura, Rob and I watched as Jack conducted our focus group. Laura’s line drawings of her collection were able to be projected onto the “virtual walls” of Jack’s focus group room on Second Life. Real world people who were invited to particpate (and not paid!) gave us their opinions for over an hour on ALL ASPECTS of Laura’s designs.

Needless to say, it was beyond fascinating and, for Rob, extremely useful. Even more useful is the transcript of the entire “virtual conversation” provided to Ron, Laura and I immediately afterwards so all the comments could be digested and sifted through for the nuggets that can make the difference between a successful collection at retail and one that flops.

Now, if you’re a retailer reading this, PLEASE send this to ALL of your vendors. Let them know that this tool exists. Have them call me or email me. Why? Because it is NOT EXPENSIVE to do this and, you, as a dealer, can KNOW with a great deal of certainty ahead of time whether or not consumers will buy what you put on your floor if the collection has been co-designed with consumers.

There is SO MUCH POTENTIAL here for our industry with a correspondingly DRAMATIC increase for you, retailers, in knowing what your consumers want to buy even before you put it on the floor.

THIS is what social networking at its best can do.

If you want more information and want to learn about how social networking tools can help you drive your business, may I suggest:

Leslie Carothers
Principal
The Kaleidoscope Partnership
www.tkpartnership.com
www.linkedin.com/in/lesliecarothers