The idea behind virtual product testing is not only a brilliant idea but a futuristic way of solving problems. The Kimberly-Clark Corp is undoubtedly a leading company in innovation and technology, and their idea of a virtual space for testing merchandise is evidence of this. The idea of a virtual shop and virtual products undergoing testing by real world consumers is exciting. This technology provides retail store owners and product manufactures a way to experiment with new ideas without a penny spent on the real product itself. This means that the huge amounts of money previously used for products testing, would find more useful applications in other places thus helping the said company.
Based on the above merits of the Kimberly-Clark Corp, it is for the benefit of any company or retail store owner to implement it fully. Implementation of the system will ensure among other things smoother running of the store since any new ideas would be tested before execution. This will significantly reduce the expenses earlier on incurred on testing of new products that after some time fail to take off fully. The success rate of the company or store will thus be higher than previously since only consumer approved and working ideas will see full implementation.
The implementation of the idea would also lead to better customer relations. This is so because customers will be treated to a variety of products that they, themselves vie for. The placement of the products would also be as per the wishes of the customers thus ensuring full customer satisfaction.
For successful rolling out of this technology for mass usage, it would require the hiring of new personnel to deal with the system. Apart from people involved with the initial set up of the system, full time employees are required for maintenance of the system. Maintenance would include such tasks as making sure the systems software is up to date, the machines running the system are working at full functionality and troubleshooting any problems that may arise along the way. The new staff would also be required to design and animate any ideas that require testing into the system.
Like any other new product on the market, people are always skeptical about trying new things, especially things that they may not understand, or that may require the spending of money. This thus presents the obstacle of convincing any interested parties of the benefits of the system. Though, the system may be a bit expensive to roll out, the long-time benefits of the system far outweighs the initial set up cost.
The other problem that the set-up of this project would encounter would be finding the right and qualified staff to run and maintain the system. Even though, virtual gaming consoles have been around for quite some time, not many people are familiar with them. The few people that work with this system are both highly qualified and scarce. This would then mean the training of new people to be able to use the system. This reflects badly on the initial set-up cost of the system.
The third most likely obstacle that the system would face is hostility from non-tech savvy customers. There is a group of people out there who do not trust technology entirely. A majority of these people are persons over the age of 40. Most of them would view this with criticism and probably not want to participate in its implementation. This then provides a challenge of either including this people in the system or ignoring them altogether. The second option proves difficult to consider since ignoring customers of a certain grouping would mean alienating a sizeable number of potential buyers.
On the other hand, successful implementation of the system would probably see an improvement in the profit margin of the company implementing it. This is because customers would spend less time in the stores looking for products and more time buying them.
The customers would also be more satisfied thus more likely to return to the same store on a later date. This means that one would retain a faithful following of customers willing to spend money in the premise.
It would also lead to less money spent in the testing of products before they can be mass produced. Testing of products would be done in virtual space where far less costs are incurred such as setting up of the system and programming the system alone.
The Kimberly-Clark Corp is currently only using its virtual shop technology in product testing before implementation. The other area where this technology could prove particularly useful is in the housing industry. Much like in the shop, where new products are tested before mass production, the housing industry, would use this service to see how houses would look, and feel like after construction. This would make it easier for real estate developers to show their new designs to potential customers even if they may be far from the site.
The technology should also be fully implemented in the gaming industry. Though a few games have this feature of virtual reality, full implementation has not yet been achieved. It would considerably boost the sales of video games that use this technology.
Thirdly, the idea could also be used in the ministry of defense for weapon testing. New weapons would be tested in a virtual environment much like a video game. This thus ensures that no person is harmed in the testing weapons. Weapons of mass destruction such as the atomic bomb can be accurately tested in this case without incurring any human causalities or degradation of the environment.
All in all, the virtual products in virtual store idea is a multi-million idea that should see full implementation changing how products are handled before rolling out thus streamlining many businesses operations.
