Too many times in retail product development, importers find themselves competing with their own customers and their own factories too. Every product can become a commodity in a global-sourced world. It doesn’t matter how good a relationship you think you have or how much service you provide, if margin pressure is there, direct sourcing is tempting. An original-looking design is not a guarantee that you won’t be “knocked-off” either.
We recently found ourselves in that situation with one of our designs sold at a retail office super store. As a Genderblend style with a distinctive “female-friendly” color and pattern, it was designed for a U.S. import company and has been an in-store item selling successfully for about 2 years. We found out last month that the retailer put our design out to bid to replace it with a direct source duplication early next year. They asked for a “very similar” product at a lower cost – read “knock-off” with a minor design change.
We anticipated that this would eventually happen. In fact, we recommended that our client design patent to prevent just this kind of re-sourcing. They did not want to spend the money. Unfortunately, the less than $2,000* investment might have saved this chair from replacement and preserved millions in sales, not to mention our royalty revenue.
Because of these hard lessons, whenever possible, we have been practicing an Intentional Invention design strategy to create must-have products that defy commodity retail buying practices. We typically take it further than just design patenting, purposefully inventing a utility patentable feature that make our designs a must-have for the consumer and the retailer. The benefit is that on behalf of our clients (and ourselves) we preserve the rights to be the only source for our original designs.
Developed about 15 years ago when we had our mobile computer accessory company, ttools, we found an intentional invention strategy to be business-saving. When IDEO and Palm Computing came out with a similar stylus pen, we were able to save our business, be the only source for the style and generate revenue from the infringing product.
In our latest Brainstorm to Box video series episode, we discuss how and why we use Intentional Invention as a strategy to create must-have retail products that are “knock-off” proof.
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