Is there anyone out there that would think it would be a good idea to set up a website that let consumers make demands and demonstrate wants in order to collect that data and use it to find out how to best please the masses?
I've been looking for a page like this, but nothing is really to be found. I know there are plenty of survey sites out there, however I don't find this to satisfy the idea I have in mind. What I have in mind is something more open to suggestion. That is to say that the website is basically an open forum for people to go in and express what they want. I think there would be a high demand for this tool from every aspect of the economic spectrum. Your thoughts?
I don't get it. Isn't this called "every shopping website?"
I thought I would receive a response like that. I had something a little different in mind though. I was thinking more along the lines of consumer demands that cannot be met. I was thinking about creating a database filled with such information in order to compile a list of the most demanded but not supplied.
I'm still a bit puzzled. If all you're collecting is what people want, regardless of any trade-offs/physical possibility/etc., then you aren't collecting preferences, you're collecting wishes. Wishes are infinite, so I'm not sure what you'd learn by examining wishes. Certainly one does not demonstrate a preference by typing "I want a time machine," other than the trivial preference for typing that over other uses of his time and internet connection.
You can always narrow down the types of answers by asking good questions and dividing the questions into different subject matters. Then again I think that collecting wishes wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing and might be good for the distant future. As a matter of fact you could market it in such a manner. The entire concept would be to gain an understanding of what people really want. After all it's not like the producers have to go and try to make a time machine. They can focus in on what kind of market there is for something they know they can handle producing.
An open forum focus group? I dont know think it would be very valuable.
Focus groups are only good for finding out if people like something that already exists. The cup holder was not invented by asking people what would make a car better, but by observing how people use their cars.
Peace
I was thinking more along the lines of databasing responses and using a search engine to yield results. Thereby you can collect statistics and post them for the world to see. But a forum would be good for getting feedback and making improvements.