A lot of companies have been using crowd sourcing to gain better access into the minds and desires of their consumers- but it is still a very underused approach. As used by Threadless- a tee shirt company that allows its community to upload and then vote upon which designs to actually produce- the crowdsourcing tactic is very effective. 

A.) You only produce only that which your consumers want to buy- resulting in lower risk and less unsold overstock.

B.) Asking for and then producing what your market wants produces a lower mark up and retail price.

Brilliant! So why aren’t more people utilizing this amazing tool? For a couple of reasons. One, it is not yet ‘the norm’ and companies don’t think to do it. Two, for some reason we all get a little sheepish when we think about asking for something… even if you are reaching out to the people you are trying to ultimately serve.

Solution- start asking. Do it in a fun way. Give incentives- even if they are just small things like a 10% discount or online access to ‘Behind the Scenes’ from a photo shoot. You will build your community, get real and valuable feedback and become a better supplier of what people actually want. Oh yea- and you will save numerous pounds (if not tons) of resources that would otherwise have been wasted. Nice.