Consumer research in the early stages of new product development: a critical review of methods and techniques Ellen van Kleef a, * , Hans C.M. van Trijp a , Pieternel Luning b a Marketing and Consumer Behaviour Group, Department of Social Sciences, Wageningen University, Hollandseweg 1, 6706 KN Wageningen, The Netherlands b Product Design and Quality Management Group, Department of Agrotechnology and Food Science, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 8129, 6700 EV Wageningen, The Netherlands Received 14 November 2003; received in revised form 22 March 2004; accepted 27 May 2004 Available online 19 July 2004 Abstract Incorporating the ‘voice of the consumer’ in early stages of the new product development process has been identified as a critical success factor for new product development. Yet, this step is often ignored or poorly executed. This may be due to lack of familiarity on which methods are available, the use of disciplinary terminology, and difficulty in accessibility of papers on this subject. This paper reviews and categorises 10 of the most common methods in this area, in terms of what their key features are, and what strengths, weaknesses and appropriateness are. We develop a classification scheme based on three performance dimensions with specific criteria: (1) stimuli used as cue for need elicitation, (2) task format, and (3) need actionability. We provide guidelines for the appropriateness of these methods in the new product development process based on the newness strategy of the development process (radical versus incremental innovation) and identify which functional department (marketing versus R&D) the method should primarily support. Ó 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Review; Consumer research; New product development; Category appraisal; Conjoint analysis; Empathic design; Focus group; Free elicitation; Information acceleration; Kelly repertory grid; Laddering; Lead user technique; Zaltman metaphor elicitation technique 1. Introduction New product development (NPD) can originate from new technology or new market opportunities (Eliash- berg et al., 1997). But irrespective of where opportuni- ties originate, when it comes to successful new products it is the consumer who is the ultimate judge (Brown and Eisenhardt, 1995; Cooper and Kleinschmidt, 1987). So, in order to develop successful new products, companies should gain a deep understanding of ‘the voice of the consumer’. Consumer research can be carried out during each of the basic stages of the NPD process: (1) opportunity identification, (2) development, (3) testing, and (4) launch (Suh, 1990; Urban and Hauser, 1993). It is most widely applied during the development, testing and launch stages. Even the most technologically ori- ented companies use consumer research to verify that consumers will accept a new product when it will be launched at the market. Despite the importance of the later stages, it is increasingly recognised that successful NPD strongly depends on the quality of the opportunity identification stage (Cooper, 1985, 1988, 1998; McGuinness and Conway, 1989). The goal of this stage is to search for new areas of opportunities, which typi- cally involve the unmet needs and wants of consumers. Consumer research is often considered difficult dur- ing this stage because it is unsure what to ask consumers at this point. An often-heard argument is that asking consumers what they want is useless, because they do not know what they want (Ulwick, 2002). Consumer research, however, helps to raise the odds of success in the market. Even though consumers may not always be able to express their wants, it is important to understand how they perceive products, how their needs are shaped and influenced and how they make product choices * Corresponding author. Tel.: +31-317-482205; fax: +31-317- 484361. E-mail address: ellen.vankleef@wur.nl (E. van Kleef). 0950-3293/$ - see front matter Ó 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.foodqual.2004.05.012 Food Quality and Preference 16 (2005) 181–201 www.elsevier.com/locate/foodqual