The Context

As one of America’s leading slipper brands, Dearfoams sought a deeper understanding of consumer preferences to inform their product and brand development.

The Critical Questions

What defines the ideal slipper experience? Which slipper attributes do consumers most prefer? Which brand names resonate most with consumers?

Our Solution

Our research team embarked on a series of research projects, engaging consumers through focus groups and pseudo shop-alongs. The focus groups involved facilitated discussions of slipper attributes and possible brand names as well as observing participants as they tried on various slippers. The pseudo shop-alongs offered participants the opportunity to evaluate a diverse array of slippers, providing insights into their preferences and reasoning as they considered whether they’d purchase any of the products.

Illumination

Illuminology’s research revealed clear trends in slipper attributes and naming conventions, offering Dearfoams valuable direction for its future product lines and marketing strategies.

Resolution

Riding on the waves of its historical success, Dearfoams remains committed to its legacy of innovation. As of 2022, the company was the number one slipper company in the United States in terms of units sold for the last three years. In facing the question of how it would sustain its market dominance, the president of Dearfoams stated, “We want to stay true to innovation and provide the highest quality and best value to our customers — and continue to have the attributes that our customers have always liked, like washability. But having said that, we’re in a different time and 75 years later and there’s a lot of new technology that we’ve decided to put into our slippers.”