Virtual Shopping: Breakthrough in Marketing Research

Corporate success depends on breaking through the clutter of messages and products facing consumers in the marketplace. But the more innovative the idea--whether it is a new product, package, price, or promotion--the greater the risk. Traditional marketing research methods, such as test markets, focus groups, controlled field experiments, and even STMs, have limitations. Some are vulnerable to observation and manipulation by competitors; others are contrived and unrealistic, too expensive, or simply incapable of providing the information that managers need. But a new alternative--the virtual store--not only addresses those limitations, it also broadens the horizons of marketing research.