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530855 
Journal Article 
Review 
Consumer research in the early stages of new product development: a critical review of methods and techniques 
van Kleef, E; van Trijp, HCM; Luning, P 
2005 
16 
3 
181-201 
English 
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. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 
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; spreading activation theory; lead user method; focus groups; conjoint-analysis; industrial-products; marketing-research; idea-generation; tacit knowledge; perceptions; customer