Crowdsourced Products Sell Better When They’re Marketed That Way

Companies are increasingly using crowdsourcing to identify promising ideas that they can translate into winning new products. Our past research highlights the promise of this trend: In the case of a major baby products firm, for example, the best user-generated ideas identified were even more innovative and provided better benefits to the consumer than the best ideas generated by the firm’s designers. In the case of the Japanese consumer goods firm Muji, we found that crowdsourced products sold better and were more profitable. However, we noticed that firms using crowdsourcing did not talk much about it. That seemed like a missed marketing opportunity. After all, people perceive organic food as tastier if they know it is organic, and handmade products become particularly attractive if we know they are handmade. A German engine, Italian pasta, or French wine will be perceived as higher quality only if the country of origin is revealed to consumers. Read more at Harvard Business Review.