New Innovation Design Center Helps K-C and Retailers Explore Store Design,
Merchandising and Product Concepts Based on Consumer Insights
NEENAH, Wis., Oct. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Kimberly-Clark
Corporation (NYSE: KMB) today announced the opening of its new Innovation
Design Studio, incorporating use of a proprietary virtual reality system to
help identify innovations, gain key insights and strengthen customer
relationships. Located in Neenah, Wis., the facility represents a powerful
addition to K-C's product, marketing research and customer development
toolkits -- further advancing those capabilities that touch customers,
shoppers and users.
At the core of the Innovation Design Studio is a state-of-the-art
visualization room with advanced virtual reality technologies and
equipment, including a high-tech kiosk called the K-C SmartStation that
simulates a person's shopping experience. Together, these help K-C research
new product innovations and store concepts from idea, through concept
testing to actual execution without the time and cost of physically
constructing mock-ups.
"We are one of only a few companies in the world to have an innovation
design studio with an integrated virtual reality system, and we believe
ours may well be the most technologically advanced system anywhere," said
Ramin Eivaz, Vice President of North Atlantic Insight, Strategy and Growth
for K-C, who led the development of the Innovation Design Studio. "By
engaging ourselves and our customers in this virtual world, we can spark
better ideas to improve the shopping experience and collaborate on new
product concepts and innovations."
Becoming an Indispensable Business Partner
Through using the virtual reality system and the K-C SmartStation, the
company can create real store settings, down to retailer-specific color
palettes, graphics and layouts. These 3-D, interactive store models allow
K-C and its customers to explore hypothetical in-store design and
merchandising concepts without having to move a single package of product,
enabling K-C and the customer to test the impact of these concepts prior to
launching them.
Additionally, the K-C SmartStation allows consumers to walk the aisles
of the virtual stores, shop the store via a touch screen panel and react to
virtual displays and in-store promotions. Through the use of sophisticated
eye-tracking technology, the high-tech kiosk enables K-C to study
consumers' engagement and reaction by tracking their eye movements and
physical motions in a 3-D simulated shopping setting to determine how
different shopping environments may influence their purchasing decisions.
"The K-C SmartStation allows us to see what catches the consumer's
attention, helping us identify which aisle formats, shelf arrangements or
in-store promotions are most effective at driving purchases," said Eivaz.
"We and our customers can then transform these insights into real-world
solutions to increase sales opportunities and shopper loyalty."
According to Don Quigley, President of Consumer Sales and Customer
Development for K-C, the new studio and virtual reality system is a hit
with many of the company's retail customers. "Those customers who have
already experienced our virtual reality system immediately recognized its
power to capture the essence of their stores and its unique ability to
bring to life insights into consumer shopping behavior," said Quigley.
As an example of the effectiveness of the Innovation Design Studio and
K-C SmartStation, K-C worked with Safeway to help the company create a new
format for the supermarket's baby care aisle that encourages moms to spend
more time shopping in this section. Safeway applied the shopper insights
gained from the K-C virtual store environment to reformat actual baby
aisles in three test stores. Over an 8-week period, the test stores
experienced increased category sales for all disposable diapers, disposable
training pants, baby wipes and toiletries. Safeway plans to leverage the
learnings and benefits of the new aisle format in additional stores in the
future.
Leveraging Proprietary Technologies to Gain Valuable Insights
Whether partnering with retail customers, or conducting its own
research, K-C can also use the system to design alternative packaging, show
how they appear on the shelf and compare their visual impact. Additionally,
K-C can use the system to receive immediate consumer feedback on new
product and packaging ideas -- making product launches an expression of
consumers' wants and needs, while helping K-C maximize its return on new
product initiatives.
"To open up new paths of growth, both marketers and retailers need to
create innovative, differentiated solutions that address unmet consumer
needs," said Quigley. "K-C's ability to collaborate with our customers in
virtual environments will help elevate the way we design and deliver the
right solutions for shoppers and users of our products."
About Kimberly-Clark
Kimberly-Clark and its well-known global brands are an indispensable
part of life for people in more than 150 countries. Every day, 1.3 billion
people-nearly a quarter of the world's population-trust K-C brands and the
solutions they provide to enhance their health, hygiene and well-being.
With brands such as Kleenex, Scott, Huggies, Pull-Ups, Kotex and Depend,
Kimberly-Clark holds the No. 1 or No. 2 share position in more than 80
countries. To keep up with the latest K-C news and to learn more about the
company's 135-year history of innovation, visit
http://www.kimberly-clark.com.
SOURCE Kimberly-Clark Corporation
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Related links:
http://www.kimberly-clark.com
Photo Notes:
NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19991117/KMBLOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
CONTACT:
Media, Joey Mooring, +1-972-281-1443,
joey.mooring@kcc.com, or Investors, Mike Masseth,
+1-972-281-1478, mmasseth@kcc.com, both of Kimberly-Clark
Corporation
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