The $4 Cup of Coffee and Market Research

Today I was listening to the summary of the book Break From the Pack by Oren Harari. In the book, which dicusses how companies can excel over competitors, Harari explains that companies must make leaps that go beyond traditional thinking.

He exclaims, "who would have thought people would wait on line to pay $4 for a Starbucks coffee from a paper cup." This started me thinking about entrepreneurial market research. I'm sure that if Starbucks conducted a market research study years ago asking if people would pay $4 for a cup of coffee, they would have balked.

As a result, entrepreneurial market research must focus on macro factors and not micro factors. You often can't get into specifics like the price a customer will pay for a product they currently don't fully understand or use. Rather, you can understand how many customers exhibit characteristics that correspond with the attributes and/or benefits of a product.

So, be sure not to get too wrapped up on studies that say that customer will or will not purchase a specific product. Rather, focus more on the overall market and creating products and services that provide break-through solutions that nobody has yet offered.