A conversation with … package pool and vinyl liner manufacturers: Pool & Spa News' round table discusses the business of design choice with leading manufacturers—and we also share tips for incorporating brick and rock coping for a custom-look package pool

Pool & Spa News, April 19, 2002 by Shannon Harman

Year after year, package pool and vinyl liner manufacturers unveil new and improved designs and patterns--bigger, better and more beautiful than ever. But how do they come up with the idea for these improvements? We talked to manufacturers of both package pools and vinyl liners to discover the secret of keeping their products fresh year in and year out.

We were interested in knowing which factors influence important design choices. And they provided the answers--taking us from the gathering of initial feedback from customers, to weighing opinions, to creating that new prototype. The step-by-step journey to creating the final finished product proved fascinating, to say the least.

What are some efficient ways a company can gather information from consumers?

Jim Zell: One of the most effective ways is focus groups. We have an outside firm that will set up some potential pool owners and ... we'll show them some ideas we have that are current or future considerations and [ask them] to rate them. It's kind of a precursor to production for any proprietary patterns. We also take potential new patterns and put them on our Web site and have people vote. We ask them what they think of the patterns, which ones they like and why. We ask what it is they like about the liner: the color, the design, the patterns? We also ask them what other options they'd like to see, so we get some good feedback that way.

Richard Sobel: On [our] warranty card, we have a small questionnaire that the consumer fills out. The information [they provide] helps us to understand why they bought [the liner] they did. It also helps us understand what the most important factors in the decision-making process were. Was it the retailer? The price? The brand reputation? Word of mouth? Product appearance? The liner pattern?

Jeffrie McKaughan: We follow up with telephone calls and other types of correspondence with our customers, past and present.

Tim Saxer: Our company gathers information primarily from our surfthepool.com Web site.

Dennis Chamberlain: We actually visit each of our 40 clients to get direct feedback from them.

Demetra Toomey: [Our] contact with consumers is through our Web site and warranty department.

Bob Hotaling: [We gather information through] dealer feedback.

Roshan Patel: I would say the best way [to gather information] is through asking [the dealers.] When we talk to them on the phone ... we'll ask how things are going or how the liner looks in the pool. We ask for their feedback and opinions. We'll also try to do notifications each year.

Joe McConnell: We do it mainly through our dealer base. Fox is a little different in that we carry 87 standard pool shapes, but we are geared to custom-design. Our dealers promote custom designs for unique backyards. We get a lot of feedback into our engineering department that way [and if the shape is popular enough], it sometimes becomes a standard shape.

Mike Smith: As a wholesale manufacturer, most of our feedback comes from dealers who resell and install our products. Over the years, we have utilized several contractor suggestions for better product design. More recently, we've received feedback from consumers as a result of Internet sales in areas where we do not have established contractor accounts.

Todd Mulvaney: We advertise with consumer magazines and incorporate a response form for consumer feed back, which has been very successful. We also have a formal query procedure in place with our dealers, which gives us specific information about what their customers (the consumers) are telling them they look for in terms of vinyl-liner pattern selection. Our design staff studies a variety of reports for a wide range of industries that reflect current consumer trends. Decorative consumer products and outdoor furniture markets are particularly insightful as to the trends in consumer preferences. We utilize this information along with the buying trends within our own product line to determine which patterns should be particularly popular in the season to come.

Roger Erdelac: We do it a few different ways. First, we have a form that dealers send out to their end-user customers asking them ... what they'd like to see in the future, and they send those comment sheets back to us. We also send a questionnaire out to our dealers, asking them what they'd like to see as far as designs go, or any input they might have about upcoming classes. We take that material and review it. Does it have an impact on what we put out in the marketplace? Yes. In fact, we have a couple of new designs coming out that have been strictly designed based on input we've gathered from our dealers and customers.

Speaking to that, how much importance or weight do you assign the opinions of consumers vs. the opinions and recommendations of your experienced staffers?

Zell: A fair amount. We balance what we get with what we know and what we have a past history on, to see if what [the consumer] is saying makes sense. Our past experience, as far as what has sold, certainly helps steer us in the right direction.