Kao Customer Reseach

Strong brands are the most important assets for consumer product manufactures. The question is how can a company produce and nurture strong brands? The secret is attractiveness to customers. This is the underlying concept guiding Kao¡¦s marketing policy. In addition to carefully listening to consumers voices, Kao seeks to understand their underlying needs and wants and provide products that exceed their expectations. All Kao employees in product related fields, from sales people to marketers and researchers, take a consumer-oriented approach and always keep in mind the requirements of each field by sharing information as they go about their work. This is the driving force behind Kao a success in generating hit products and developing strong brands in the mature consumer product market.

Three methods to obtain information from customers:

(i) Consumer Information Center (Kao Echo System) - consumer feedback quickly circulates throughout the company.

Kao¡¦s Consumer Information Center receives about 400 calls a day, or 90,000 a year, from all over Japan. The center not only responds promptly to consumers` questions, comments and complains, but also utilizes the

Immediately after launching new products. Kao begins working on product improvement. Careful consideration is given to consumer feedback. For example, the company has continued to improve Attack laundry detergent, its top brand, for the more than 10 years since the product¡¦s launch in an effort to constantly maintain Attacks position as the strongest and most innovative product. Skin care and hair care products, especially for women, constitute a field in which information about product performance, together with information about how to use the product more effectively and what the product provides, is critical. Consumer feedback is used in product development, product packaging, advertising and store display. For example, the approach enabled Kao to improve the hair coloring agent Blaune Hair Manicure by simplifying its use and making directions easier to understand. The changes have been well received by consumers. A 24-hour automatic telephone answering service is available to provide information to the many consumers who inquire about the use of hair coloring.

Exchanging information in real-time is important, but people involved in the product development process also need to think from the point of view of consumers` eve

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