Snowboard opportunity
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Contents |
Executive Summary
Market Research
Anthropological Observation
From our groups past experience of going several times a year to different ski resorts in the US and Europe, coupled with online video research we made several observations.
One of the most common problems experienced by snowboarders are struggling getting on and of ski lifts. Snowboarders, especially beginners have great difficulties getting on T-bar and J-bar lifts. These lifts originally designed for skiers requires that the snowboarder places the bar or disc agaist the inside of their leg. As the lift is moving at fairly high speeds when placed between the snowboarders leg, it can cause the snowboarder to lose balance and fall. This is an issue which can be both painful and embarrassing for the snowboarder, as not only does he/she fall but can risk getting dragged along on the ground by the lift still between the legs. This problem also affects the other users and ski resort owners as it increases queue time, as several lifts are wasted during the time the snowboarder gets back up and attempts again, often several times. Due to some snowboarders lack of confidence in these lifts they also often waste time by letting several lifts pass them by before attempting to mount the ski lift. Although less common than the T-lifts, J-bar lifts cause even greater problems for snowboarders as the disc surface designed to attach between the legs of skiers has very little surface that can be placed parallel to the snowboarders leg.
Furthermore we looked at snowboarders taking chairlifts. When taking ski lifts (either chair lifts or bar lifts) snowboarders detach their back foot from their binding. Getting on chairlifts does not cause many problems for either skiers or snowboarders. However this is not the case for gettign off chair lifts
User Interviews
Expert Interviews
Online Product Reviews
Top Stakeholder Product Needs
Top Design Concepts
Foldable Snowboard
Easily Turnable Bindings
Easy Release Bindings
Snowboard/Snowshoe Combo
Competitor Products
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