Quirky | Free-For-All | Help Us Decide: Threshold & Product Aging
Help Us Decide: Threshold & Product Aging
Building on my blog post which can be found here. I ask for your help in deciding:
What should we do about products that have been on the site for a very long time, and have still not hit threshold?
There is obviously a case to be made that an aging product that hasn’t hit threshold just isn’t a good product, given the amount of time it has lingered on the site.
The other worry, is that given enough time, everything will hit threshold.. just naturally. Problem with that is the people who committed 10 months ago no longer want the product, slow trajectory of sales is a negative indicator or the marketability of the product, etc etc etc.
Mar 25, 2010 02:38PM
Robert Clark Mar 25, 2010 02:50PM
I think option two, is absolutely, absolutely the best option here. I think that increasing the threshold just makes it restrictively difficult to ever hit it for even a good product. Like... Let's face it. The stash can, the melon master... These products are not going to hit their threshold, ever. Now obviously, some sort of exemption could be made for products that are quite close to their threshold, but I think we all know that there's some that don't have a chance.
I vote for option two. It's the most reasonable, and it doesn't hurt the chances of decent ideas by moving the goal posts back on them.
Ben Kaufman Mar 25, 2010 02:55PM
Robert,
Thanks for your feedback.. I will say that products hitting threshold are certainly also time/market dependent, which would be a positive case for increasing threshold with product age.
By way of example: I originally designed the mophie juice pack in late 2005/early 2006 for the original video iPod. No one wanted it. a year + later, the iPhone came out and the demand for a case with an integrated battery pack was huge which catapulted the Juice Pack into production.
Sometimes the market is not ready for great ideas, and killing the idea all together may be of a disservice to those involved.
More food for thought...
Greg Elias Mar 25, 2010 02:56PM
Are you going to be giving the person who paid for the product to be submitted their money back?
Ben Kaufman Mar 25, 2010 02:57PM
Greg- I don't think that's in the cards at the point in which a product was "killed", if we choose to go down that route, Quirky (both staff + community) would have already invested a ton of time into getting it developed and up on the store.
Robert Clark Mar 25, 2010 03:02PM
What kind of time frame would be reasonable for letting a product sit in pre-sales, before sending it to a hypothetical graveyard anyways? Also, there'd always be the option of resurrecting a product at some later point in time, possibly with a slight rebranding if things seemed to be on the upturn for such a product, or something new came on the market, such as with your iPhone example.
Last Edit: Thursday, March 25 at 03:05PM Link
Ben Kaufman Mar 25, 2010 03:04PM
brent & robert, great ideas. I'd encourage both of your thoughts to be explored / commented on by the entire community.
Robert Clark Mar 25, 2010 03:06PM
Say the design and patents were sold off by quirky, to someone they legitimately felt could market it better. That's fine. How would payments work on that? 30 percent? 10 percent? Does Quirky get to keep that?
Sandra Lehr Mar 25, 2010 03:07PM
I think option 2 is the best. I don't think the person who paid should get their money returned to them. I consider it a sunk cost. Thanks for letting the community provide feedback on this question, Ben. Appreciate it!
Maria Mar 25, 2010 03:08PM
I know nothing about marketing, this is just a thought. What if there was some kind of compensation to those that find companies that would like to license these products. Many of the products that are not moving I noticed would do really good if they were in their "environment" For example the Melon product might do very well if a company like Presto bought it. I am sure quirky has thought about this. But the compensation for the community to help find a "home" for the product might actually benefit everyone...just a thought.
Ben Kaufman Mar 25, 2010 03:09PM
®robert, under our T&C's it would be 30% on the sale of the ip or the product royalty that comes from such a sale.
Michael Cavada Mar 25, 2010 03:16PM
What about seasonal products. This will be a sure kill for Frosty Faces.
Robert Clark Mar 25, 2010 03:20PM
Frosty faces, I think would benefit, if anything from option 2. It can be put in the box for a few months, and maybe be released again as autumn comes around.
iAndy Mar 25, 2010 03:28PM
I'd go with a combination of 2 and my option 3 - Put them on a timer AND allow the community to invest cash instead of purchasing the product and calculate that toward the threshold. As I mentioned in another thread, there is no way on earth I'm ever going to buy an iPad but I bought a Cloak because I believed in the product. I also bought 22 Wrapsters (guess what my friends are getting for their birthday and Christmas?)
I think if folks are able to "invest" to buy influence rather than a product - Quirky and the community benefit- and I don't have to by 76 snow shredders...
Thanks Ben for allowing the feedback.
Ben Kaufman Mar 25, 2010 02:46PM
Here are the options, As I see them:
Increase threshold with product age. So Far, this is my favorite. Basically, as a product ages (say every 2 weeks or so, we will increase the threshold by another 10% (actual number TBD). This will guarantee that products that hit threshold are on a proper trajectory indicative of future market success.
Set a timer. Just like quirky development projects, we can set a timer for threshold to be hit. If the product does not hit in the predefined time, the idea gets sent to the graveyard. (where may choose to resurrect the product for events, upon demand/request, etc)
Whatever else you guys think of.. This is just an early part of what I hope will be an exciting conversation. We are hoping that you guide us and provide us with a ton of food for thought. In your suggestions be sure to remember the reasons why we use the threshold model (detailed here)
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