Growth

Testing demand for a rugged mobile phone case study

A construction equipment company was interested in launching a rugged mobile phone for building site workers

Latitude’s job was to advise which features customers wanted, how to price it, whether to sell it to individuals or building companies, and to verify if the market opportunity was big enough to be worthwhile

~80% of people interviewed had damaged their regular mobiles and people had a strong desire for rugged casing, scratch proof screens and waterproofing. Some proposed features such as bluetooth and lobbying for insurance discounts were irrelevant; other practical features such as walkie talkie mode and large glove-friendly buttons came from customer sugestions and tested well.

Problems from previous damaged phones meant individuals were willing to pay a good premium for the proposed robust design; corporates ran tenders and were barely prepared to pay any premium

Individuals, even those working for construction companies, mainly bought their own phones, making this by far the biggest customer group

The large number of construction workers, high level of interest, and relatively weak and small competitve set made the opportunity big enough to be worth pursuing