随着Eagle Foods去年准备推出其Cretors爆米花的新口味，这家位于俄亥俄州的公司的高管决定使用非正统的方式与消费者一起测试他们的放纵产品：订阅盒。
在引入黑巧克力和农舍黄油品种淋上水壶玉米之前，Eagle想看看产品如何与爆米花爱好者产生共鸣。但是，在中央地点与消费者一起测试产品过于“临床”，并删除了通常会食用的现实环境，而Covid-19使与商店的人们建立联系几乎不可能。鹰从字面上不得不在盒子外面思考。
It partnered with Curion, a provider of consumer insights and product testing, to find 100 people who enjoyed popcorn. A third firm added full-size bags of the new Cretors varieties in still-unfinished packaging to subscription boxes, which also included products such as toothpaste, cereal, beverages, pilaf and a manicure kit, and mailed them to the consumers identified by Curion to try.
"We just saw this as a really, really great way to get a quick pulse and have people try the product in their homes in more of a natural setting," said Kate Delagrange, manager of category and marketing insights at Eagle Foods.
Once participants received the popcorn, they were asked to try it like they normally would during the course of a week, either by themselves or with friends and family. Soon after, they went online to answer questions like: How was the texture of the popcorn? Was there too much chocolate? How was the ratio of sweet from the chocolate compared to the salty of the popcorn?
Curion then assessed the data, which could be seen in real time, to determine how well the product was meeting Eagle Foods' objectives.
德拉格兰奇说，该公司最终没有对其水壶玉米进行任何更改，这些水壶玉米在黑暗巧克力和农舍黄油爆米花中淋上了反馈，然后在夏季正式推出产品之前。但是，订阅框提供了“在产品上市之前的验证非常好”。
“订阅的经济y" as a whole is forecast to increase to $1.5 trillion by 2025, more than double its level in 2020,根据瑞银的说法。这家金融服务公司在三月份表示，这将使它成为全球增长最快的行业之一。
订阅盒用于各种产品，从小吃和饮料到服装，美容用品，手工艺品以及与宠物相关的产品。
可口可乐, for example, has an insiders club where consumers could pay to receive new or limited-edition products before they hit store shelves. Beam Suntory's Jim Beam brand has a subscription service that sends users premium, limited-edition whiskeys and provides them with live tastings and access to member-only events.
The subscription box platform soared in popularity during the pandemic as consumers spent more time at home and looked to indulge and try new things, flocking online to sign up for the predictable delivery of their favorite products to their front door.
但是，使用订阅框实际测试产品是一个相对尚未开发的通道。院长Keren Novack表示，该应用程序“可能是CPGS消费产品研究的突破”。
"There's tons of subscription boxes that are out there, so why shouldn't there not be one where we focus specifically on customer research?" Novack said.
The novelty of using subscription boxes to test a product has been met with resistance by some food and beverage manufacturers concerned about relinquishing control over the testing or uncertainty over the other products being included along with their item when they are sent to consumers, Novak said. She added that companies risk missing out on a valuable opportunity to collect real-world information if they're hesitant to try something new.
诺瓦克说：“我们不会在真空中体验产品。
For its part, Delagrange said Eagle Foods would likely use subscription boxes again as a way to collect information quickly and to "check that we're on the right path."
The company may lean toward testing at a central location, she said, but in this instance, a subscription box "was just the right approach."
