RiDC's CEO, Gordon Mccullough, shares his thoughts:
"We’ve had a recent client at RiDC (Research Institute for Disabled Consumers) where a prototype for a more accessible version of one of their products was designed and tested in collaboration with our panel of disabled people.
"When tested more widely, by non-disabled people, it also scored the top points for usability and was the favourite overall."
"But the design hasn’t gone to market.
The sticking point may well be production costs but it got me to thinking about how accessible products are marketed. There is a challenge for the retail market and its advertisers to decide how to position goods that meet the needs of disabled and older people.
Should you market it as made for disabled people, or simply designed and made well for the benefit of everyone?
"Primark, who launched an adaptive lingerie range earlier this year, lists the items within its full range of lingerie online. ‘Adaptive’ is clearly in the item description but little distinction is otherwise made. The ranges listed in its menu bar don’t include ‘adaptive’ which some may feel is unhelpful, others may welcome.
"Similarly, Marks and Spencer lists its items of adaptive clothing and footwear within its kids’ offering as a whole – adaptive school shirts with touch-and-close fastenings sit alongside button-up polo shirts. It doesn’t highlight its ‘Easy Dressing’ range as a tab on its children’s wear homepage or as a search filter. However, if you put in ‘adaptive’ into the search bar, a whole page comes up of ‘Easy Dressing’ clothing for both boys and girls.
"How to present accessible products in-store must raise many of the same question as online. Do you separate them from the main range or include them alongside the ‘less adaptive’ versions? I confess I don’t really know the answer to this, and make no judgment, merely raise it as a point for debate.
"What’s clear from the examples above, however, is how important the marketing mix is in driving customers to a website or a store with the anticipation they may find products that meet their needs.
"Of course, insight from disabled shoppers themselves is invaluable in considering how to market to them. Our consumer panel now has more than 4,000 members whose views we can canvas through a structured research programme - so if this blog has left you with more questions than it's answered, let's talk."
