Task

Suunto recognised an overlooked category and wanted to gain insights from a strategically important foreign market to decide whether they should develop a new product.

Suunto wanted to know:

• How are the sports in this category evolving?

• What are the cultures and values of the people practicing them?

• What are the different target groups within this category, and what sports do they practice? Who are the most potential audiences to focus on?

• What are their needs and problems? What equipment do they use and where do they buy it? What type of features would be relevant for them?

• How much do these target groups and their values differ from existing Suunto users?

Collaborative methodology

Since we started working with Suunto, our approach has been collaborative. We build insights and work together very closely in workshops, on joined platforms, and with shared presentation documents.

This approach is not only cost-effective but also ensures that empathy towards the user grows within the Suunto team, that we can make use of their full capacity as category experts – and that our shared understanding of the target groups accumulates over the years.

Because our client used internal resources, they could also maximize the depth of insights by spending four full days observing the target group in their own environment. Also, when we have joint ownership of the work, there is no guessing game of what our client wants. It is very efficient and fruitful.

Outcome

By understanding what drives the target group towards their sport, we could identify whether the Suunto brand fits with their values.

We could see that there was great potential. The target audience is large, and the relevant price point for products is realistic to achieve. As a concrete outcome, we concluded how to position Suunto in relation to competitors, what target groups to focus on, and how to differentiate and problem-solve in order to win them over.

Results

”We had a great experience working with Kuudes before and it was an obvious choice for us to choose Kuudes as our research partner again. The team is admirably talented in turning the customer data into insightful and practical results.

Despite the complexity of the topic, they were capable of understanding the customers, their motivations and needs, and helping us to identify the business opportunities. Working with the team was not only inspirational and efficient but they also helped us to grow in the field of business design.”​

Eeva Erkko
Business Design and Customer Insights Lead at Suunto