Customer involvement in product development: Experiences from Scandinavian outdoor companies

In this paper the outdoor gear and clothing companieś experiences of customer involvement in product development are investigated and discussed. The purpose is to examine how customers are involved in product development and whether the companies believe there is a need for greater involvement. The study focuses on three customer groups: users, retailers and professional users. Surveys were sent out to 33 Swedish and Norwegian companies within the Scandinavian Outdoor Group. The results of the study indicate that the companies think there is a need to involve the users more than today in the early phases of the product development process. Smaller companies seem to have a need for greater user involvement. Most of the participants also explained that they would increase their customer involvement if they had more time and greater financial resources.